Taking Stock: 2012

I guess it's progress that I'm doing this evaluation of last year's experiences a bit earlier than the one I did for 2011. I realize that you probably need some time to consider the value of the books you've read, the quality of the movies you've seen, the entertainment provided by a theatrical experience, and the resonance of an evening of music. However, the really good stuff turns out to be rather readily apparent when you're in the midst of seeing or hearing it. Each of the moments described below made a remarkable impression on me almost immediately.

This past year, I managed to do a lot of reading, 81 books in all. They ranged from books of poetry to short story collections, novels to nonfiction books. I'll readily admit that having a Kindle is allowing me more opportunities to read because I can carry several hundred books at one time in a small device. It's more convenient for me to sit with my Kindle at the car dealership or the doctor's waiting room or even the laundry room, and I can pick and choose from a range of options. If I get bored with something I'm reading, I don't have to wait until I get home to start a different book, and I don't have to carry a huge stack of possible texts. I just go back to the menu and select another one.

Favorite Novel: Something Like Summer by Jay Bell is the story of two teenage boys who fall in love while still in high school and the complications they endure to stay as a couple. This was a free download from Amazon, so I took a chance on it. It turned out to be a very emotionally powerful depiction of the conflicted emotions gay teens feel. I recognized in the characters the kinds of feelings that I myself had when I first realized that I was in love with another guy. It's beautifully written and rather heartbreaking at times. You know, of course, that a novel about someone's first love is not going to allow the main characters to avoid complications and obstacles, and this one is no exception. What sets this narrative apart, though, is the realistic way that it depicts the barriers between the two young men. Anyone who's ever been a teenager in love, gay or straight, would recognize the emotional honesty with which Bell tells his story.

Runners-Up: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender and Take Back Tomorrow by Richard Levesque are two rather different books. Bender's novel is the tale of a girl who develops the ability to tell the emotions people feel through the baked goods that they produce; it's a remarkable conceit that remains consistently powerful throughout the novel. Bender uses a distinct narrative voice to draw the reader into the story; it's a great, interesting novel. Levesque is one of my teaching colleagues, and his novel is a hybrid of science fiction and detective tale. I found it to be very cinematic, no doubt the result of Richard's educational training. I've read quite a few detective novels over the years, and this is a loving and adventurous homage to the pulp novels of the 1940s and 1950s. I've read a couple of stories Richard has written since publishing this first novel, and I'm looking forward to tackling his second novel this summer.

Favorite Book of Poetry: Reliquary by Constance Eggers is the first chapbook published by yet another colleague of mine--well, to be more accurate, a former colleague of mine since she's retired from teaching. Connie writes movingly of her past, her connections and disconnections from her father and mother, her husband and children. Each of her poems is grounded in the personal, but you can't read her work (or listen to hear read her work, as we did just last month) without feeling a powerful connection to the truthfulness of her imagery. I treasure Connie's friendship, and even though she now lives in Oregon, reading her poetry in this chapbook was like having a conversation with her again.

I didn't have as big of a year for movies. We just don't get out to the theater as much as I once did. When you have two people to get ready to go out, sometimes you just decide to stay at home. Including programs of short films, we only went to the theater twenty-six times last year. You can only add another thirteen films that we watched on DVD. That makes it a rather sparse year overall.

Favorite Movie: Argo won the Oscar for Best Picture of last year, and I'll have more to say about it on my other blog if I ever get a chance to get back to that one. What I enjoyed most about Ben Affleck's film is the way it harkens back to the political thrillers of the 1970s, a decade that saw some great films about politics and intrigue. Argo is based on a true story, and even though we all know (or should know) how it ends, that didn't keep it from  being suspenseful. Even The Boyfriend, who isn't familiar with U.S. history, found it an interesting movie. You care about each of the embassy people, and making them all clearly distinct personalities when you're juggling a lot of characters is a testament to Affleck's skill as a director.

Runners-Up: Moonrise Kingdom and Magic Mike will sound like a very odd pairing, but each one has its particular charms. Moonrise Kingdom is the most recent Wes Anderson film, and some might find its rather precious nature a bit too much to enjoy. I, however, smiled throughout the film. It's just charming in its depiction of two kids who decide to run off together and cause a great deal of havoc in the lives of their families and communities. It takes place in a time and place that are so artificial in many ways, but the emotional resonance of the movie is as realistic as possible. Magic Mike might seem like an obvious choice for a favorite film of mine given the display of hot male bodies, but I did enjoy it for the points that it made about the economy. Yeah, I know that's not exactly what drew the crowds of women and gay men into the theaters, but I hope some of them noticed that these men are all struggling in some way with how they will make their lives work. I hope the director, Steven Soderbergh, is only joking about retiring. If you can make a movie about male strippers have some deeper meaning beyond looking at mostly naked men, you shouldn't give up your job.

Favorite Actress: Penelope Wilton in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel doesn't get the attention that her costars like Judi Dench or Maggie Smith get, but she gave one of the best performances last year in a role that is hardly sympathetic. She's one of an ensemble of older British actors playing expatriates living in India, a sort of experiment on finding a new life. Her character of Jean is married to Bill Nighy's Douglas, but he's developed an interest in Dench's Evelyn. And why wouldn't he? Evelyn is charming and beautiful and nowhere near as irritating as Jean. What Wilton accomplishes, though, is a remarkable turnaround in our emotions. Jean never quite acclimates to India, and the meltdown she experiences near the end of the film makes you realize just how frustrating her life has been and how much she has tried and tried to make everyone happy. Wilton is also one of the best things about Downton Abbey, and it was refreshing to see her in a movie role that played to her considerable talents as an actress.

Favorite Actor: I'd have a tough time picking my favorite male performance this year. I really enjoyed both Michael Fassbender in Prometheus and Daniel Craig in Skyfall, neither of whom got much "award" attention. Fassbender has been great in every movie in which he's performed; his performance in Shame last year was a revelation, and not just because we got to see the whole of his body. He plays an android in Prometheus, a sort-of sequel to the Alien/Aliens movies, and he manages to imbue his character with an empathy that you wouldn't expect. You actually begin to care what happens to him, and you can't say that about all of the other characters in that movie. Craig has really grown into the role of James Bond; Skyfall was a more personal story that incorporated some lovely moments of the franchise's history into its narrative, and there were some nice touches that relied on the mythology of the character that he brings to the role. He's a bit more muscular and brutish than some of the other Bonds, but I've come to anticipate each new Bond film thanks to him.

If you thought we didn't get out much for movies, we're even worse about going to see plays and musicals, live theater. I love going to the theater, but last year we only had four chances and all of them were musicals. Not a so-called "straight" play in the bunch. 

Favorite Theatrical Production: The touring company of Follies came to the Ahmanson Theatre downtown, and almost everyone from the Broadway revival cast except for Bernadette Peters was there. It's a great show, and the production design for the decaying theater in which the action of the show takes place was just remarkable. It's a musical with some great songs by Stephen Sondheim, many of which people know even if they've never seen the show. For example, "I'm Still Here" is a staple of cabaret acts everywhere, and I'm sure has been sung by way too many people at auditions. "Broadway Baby" is a marvel when you see it performed in context rather than sung by someone who is obviously too young to make the meaning of the lyrics resonate for an audience. "Could I Leave You?" and "Losing My Mind" are some of the other great songs, but my personal favorite is "Too Many Mornings," and the production at the Ahmanson made for a particularly memorable duet. I loved the show, and I got to share the evening with a dear friend who is a particularly brilliant connoisseur of Sondheim musicals.

Runners-Up: La Cage Aux Folles and Justin Love are productions on very different scales. La Cage was the touring company production at the Pantages in Hollywood. It's big and splashy and brightly colored and really a joy to watch (and to sing along to). I've seen the French film that was its inspiration, and I've seen The Birdcage, the Americanized version of the French film, but the musical is a different story. It incorporates great music into a story of a long-term couple coming to terms with the ways that their lives have changed. The "star" of the show was supposed to be George Hamilton, a true old-fashioned movie star, but the person who really captured the audience's attention was Christoper Seiber playing the drag queen Zaza. I guess that's to be expected; if you get the flashiest role and you live up to the part, you'll get the affection of those in the theater. Justin Love was a very small scale production at the Celebration Theatre, a tiny theater on the edge of West Hollywood. It's the story of a young man from the Midwest who moves to Los Angeles with the hopes of making it in the movies as a writer. He winds up meeting and falling in love with one of the world's biggest movie stars, a closeted gay movie star at that, and watching the arc of their relationship throughout the show was a thrilling and emotional experience. Hopefully, Justin Love can make it to a bigger venue; it deserves to be seen by a wider audience. It's got a lovely score and several great parts, including a real scene-stealer in the role of the head of a public relations firm.

Even though we didn't get to go to as many movies or theatrical productions as I would have liked, we did see a lot of musical performances. We even managed to drag ourselves all the way to Chula Vista (!) in San Diego County to see Luke Bryan, The Boyfriend's favorite country singer, on tour with Jason Aldean. That's an experience I'd rather not repeat since it took us more than two hours to get out of the parking lot. The show itself was great, particularly Luke's part of the show, but two hours stuck waiting for other cars to get out of your way after midnight makes you forget momentarily just how much you might have enjoyed yourself.

Favorite Event: Barbra Streisand at the Hollywood Bowl has to be my choice for the event of the year. She rarely performs, but I have always tried to see her perform whenever she comes to Los Angeles. Her November concert at the Hollywood Bowl was the fourth time I've seen her perform live. I've joked that I've gone to (almost) every one of her farewell tours, but every few years she manages to develop a new show and wow audiences wherever she goes. She started this particular tour in her native New York and planned to end it in sunny Southern California; what no one expected was a colder-than-expected November night. The Boyfriend and I almost froze while waiting for the show to begin, but once Streisand appeared, we were both warmed by the lovely maturity of her voice. There's a bit of a rasp that has developed in recent years, but it adds a nice husky quality to her singing that is quite welcome. She managed to cover some of her personal history that she's not discussed in concerts before and she shared images from her early career that caught some of us long-time fans off guard. You think we'd have seen every picture of her that had ever been taken, but there are plenty more to be discovered. And she even managed to show that wacky sense of humor in a question-and-answer session and throughout the evening. I'd add that one of the traits I most admire about Streisand (and another of my favorite performers I'm going to discuss soon) is her generosity with others. She managed to find time during her show to allow Chris Botti, Il Volo, her son Jason Gould, and even her sister Rosalyn Kind to shine onstage. It was a full evening of amazing songs, and everyone left the Bowl with a smile.

Runners-Up: Diana Krall and Rufus Wainwright. The Boyfriend really likes Diana Krall, and I've owned quite a few of her albums over the years, so we agreed to see her at the Hollywood Bowl. She has a very low-key sense of humor that complements her style of singing. She does some very witty banter between songs and manages to cover a lot of her most familiar material. I guess she has a reputation for being a rather somber vocalist, but I didn't feel that way after listening to her show.

Readers of this blog know what a fan I am of Rufus Wainwright's music and how many times I've seen him over the years. He performed downtown at the Orpheum Theatre and later in the year at UCLA, and both were magical nights. The downtown show was part of his tour to promote his new CD, Out of the Game, which I had almost memorized by the night of the performance. This was the upbeat, playful Rufus that I remembered from the first few times I saw him live. The second show was in December, and it was the last event The Boyfriend and I attended. I decided to have at least one Christmas-y moment since we weren't putting up a tree or spending a fortune on gifts for people or traveling long distances to see family or friends. Rufus and his sister Martha have continued a tradition started by their mother of doing holiday concerts, and the family now donates a portion of the profits to a foundation looking to find treatments and a cure for the type of cancer from which Kate McGarrigle, their mother, died. As somber as that sounds, the Wainwrights bring a lot of people to these shows, other family members and friends like Emmylou Harris and Carrie Fisher. It was a magical night and a great way to end 2012. Maybe it was the afterglow from that show that kept me from writing this overview of my year for so long.

A Little Regret

What I Actually Said and Did:

I was returning graded quizzes at the end of my first class today when a student got up to leave. She told me that she had to leave early in order to get to her next class on time. I checked my watch: 11:34 a.m., one minute left in class. I told her that she would still have ten minutes to get to her next class since no class on campus would begin before 11:45 a.m. Besides, I was only seconds away from returning her quiz. She told me that she needed to go on anyway and just couldn't wait any longer. I told her that no place on campus was more than ten minutes away; I know this because I've had back-to-back classes in the northernmost building and the southernmost building on campus, and I made it from one to the other in under ten minutes. She said she walked slowly and needed to leave to get to her other class on time. At this point, I simply turned away and kept returning quizzes to the students who remained in class.

What I Wanted to Say and Do:

Had I been more inclined to be unkind, I would have turned to this student, who has had a habit of coming to my class late and leaving early and not being particularly well prepared at any time, and said, "And that's why you're going to wind up with a 'D' for this semester."

Summertime in the Other Venice

I have watched David Lean's 1955 film Summertime many, many times. It's one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors. Each time I have encountered it while flipping through the channels, I stop to take in the breathtaking visuals and the performances by Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi. It's really one of the most gorgeous films ever made, and I can't imagine that tourism in Italy, particularly Venice, didn't skyrocket after the film's release.

The story concerns Jane Hudson, a middle-aged woman from Ohio who has come to Italy to have an adventure for the first time in her life. She's never been married, and you quickly get the sense that her life has always been rather loveless. She's always been an observer, not a participant, in life, and that approach continues even after she arrives in Venice. You can tell this by the numerous moments in the film where she's filming with her little personal camera. She's enchanted by the city, of course, but even in Venice, she's surrounded by people in love and that just makes her feel even lonelier. She is an outsider, a "third wheel," even among the American tourists she encounters.

Jane is played by Hepburn, who gives what I would consider the greatest performance of her career. In fact, it's one of the greatest performances, by a woman or a man, on film I've ever seen. She allows us to see Jane's emotions so very clearly, and we readily empathize with her, perhaps especially if we've ever felt like we were not attractive enough to find someone to love us. And I do think most of us have felt that way at some point in our lives.

Jane's trip changes, of course, when she meets Renato, an antiques dealer, who is played by one of the best looking men in the movies. (Brazzi was perhaps not the most talented actor, but man, was he a looker.) Their first encounter is a lovely moment. They are at separate tables in St. Mark's Plaza, and she notices him looking at her. They eventually strike up a conversation, and he vows to show her Venice. Reluctantly, she agrees, but it takes her a while to allow herself to become open to the possibility of love with this handsome Italian who seems devoted to making her feel special and beautiful. What follows is a series of scenes depicting romantic moments the likes of which Hollywood has never been able to duplicate. What passes for romance nowadays is a pale imitation of what filmmakers in the past could accomplish.

However, this being a romance, you know there must be a complication. Renato is, of course, married. I realize that some readers might think that constitutes a spoiler, but the movie's been out since 1955, and I honestly don't think that knowing that piece of information could possibly ruin the movie for a new viewer. It certainly isn't the ending of the film, which I won't spoil. The conventions of a romantic movie, even one from more than fifty years ago, were already well established.

Jane, naturally, is incensed by Renato's infidelity. She feels betrayed because she has let down her defenses only to have someone misrepresent the nature of their relationship. She accuses him of not being serious about romance the way that Americans are. He accuses her and other Americans of not fully appreciating what love has to offer. He then makes an astonishing statement: "You are like a hungry child who is given ravioli to eat. 'No," you say. 'I want beefsteak.' My dear girl, you are hungry. Eat the ravioli." I'm sure the metaphor isn't too difficult to comprehend. When I posted that quote on Facebook a few months ago, along with a picture from the film, it generated quite an interesting discussion, most of it from female friends who were talking about the gender implications of that statement. I realize that it's certainly a product of its time period, and it demonstrates quite clearly the distinctions between men's and women's expectations back then. However, I couldn't have imagined that a movie from so long ago could stir up so many emotions.

As you probably have already guessed, she does "eat the ravioli," so to speak. However, other than a rather intense kiss, the movie doesn't show much else of their sexual union. Instead, you get a close-up of one of Jane's shoes. It's quite the symbol, full of Cinderella connotations. I know that if this film were to be made today, the scene that follows would be very graphic, but it would lose that delicacy that we once had in the movies. As much as I enjoy current movies, we did lose something by becoming more "realistic."

What I perhaps most love about the film is how much you yearn for Jane and Renato to become lovers. We want to see them happy, and we start to believe that they truly might be soul mates. That must have been pretty radical for a 1950s audience, to root for infidelity. I've not read all of the reviews from that time period, but I'm certain there was criticism of that theme, criticism of the characters' "irresponsible" behavior. What helps an audience overcome its resistance, though, is the star power of the performers. It's a testament to Hepburn's particular talent that she shows us the change from Jane's intense and confining lifelong sadness at the beginning of the film to the relaxed and beautiful posture of a woman who has perhaps fallen in love for the first time in her life. It's quite a remarkable transformation.