Send it to the cellar to mop

It wasn't perfect but I did get a lot of posting done this month. And while I realize that May is not yet over, I know that for the next two days I will be at Book Expo and assorted other events which will necessitate me treating this blog (and the cleaning of my apartment) like an undisciplined step child or a part time employee. That is to say, I have to send it to the cellar to mop. What? Isn't that what all stepchildren and part time employees do? Fear not, I have many, many things in the works. If you ever find yourself wondering what I'm doing at any given time, just close your eyes and remember this:

In keeping with a tradition I began in January of this year, here's a list of the films I watched, tempered with the knowledge that Mad Men began quite recently and I have watched each episode of that twice.


Man on Wire (2008)
The Details (2012)
Marwencol (2010)
Emma (BBC Miniseries) (2009)
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)
Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry (2011)
Tarnation (2003)
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Sense and Sensibility (BBC miniseries) (2008)
Miss Austen Regrets (2008)
The Breakfast Club (1984)
The Angel's Share (2013)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (2012)
Bridget Jones Diary (2001)
From Up On Poppy Hill (2012)

I can see now that this month was a bit lacking in the movie department. I can chalk that up to nicer weather and the fact that in the coming months I am going to be very busy doing a lot of different things and film watching will have to fall by the wayside and that began this month. However, I am both astonished and happy to say that as of today I've watched a total of 115 movies so far this year. I'm sure I'll squeeze in some more this coming month but it won't be as many. I need to write more. And then there is the Game of Thrones series I need to finish reading. I briefly toyed with the idea of starting a separate blog wherein I would just review films and books but then I realized, I am neither a film critic nor a book critic and likely most of my reviews would read something along the lines of what my long Google film doc DOES actually read. For example: next to my "notes" for "Marwencol", a striking documentary about a man who recovers from being beaten within an inch of life by creating an entire city out of dolls and miniature houses and sets that take place during WWII in his backyard, I wrote "Truth is stranger than fiction." That is some hard hitting criticism there, let me tell you.

I suppose May was full of plans, some kept, some not. So far it has been my leanest month, money wise. I wish could account for all the places where my money went. I know that a large portion of it went to replace my car's windshield. I know I spent about $14 on one movie and that I had at least three vodkas last Sunday. I got some great guidance and advice about my career from an old friend. I spent more time with my grandfather this month than I have since he moved back up here, probably since that one day in 1976 when he had to fly from Louisiana to New York in a plane with me and my ear infection. (I suspect this traumatized him since he never fails to mention how I would not shut up until he fashioned a hammock between his seat and the seat in front of his.)

This month presented itself in one long, run on sentence with lots of adjectives like funny, familiar, cluttered, wet, enlightened and sore. As of today, that sentence is punctuated with really tiny house bugs that, in the end, I've decided are carpet beetles that have taken residence in a corner of my kitchen. Actually considering how many I've seen, it was more like an ellipsis.

I should go take care of that....