A Blanket Of Fog

7:00

Both Evie and I are up to a morning of dense fog, as the lake has disappeared behind it, only our noble trees are visible at 7:00.  It's still Chautauqua spring warm, 42º, after yesterday's highs in the 60º, the first time it has felt spring like.  Looking at the weather forecast for the next ten days, no snow is forecast and the temperatures appear to be above freezing as well.

Yesterday began as most Thursdays do, with breakfast at the Bemus Point Inn.  There were only three of us because the snowbirds have yet to return.  I assume they will be back next week.  Because I did not have yoga, I went crazy and ordered poached eggs on hash but stayed healthy with wheat toast.  It's good way to start the day, a hearty breakfast and good friends.  When I returned, I still had a large morning ahead because of no yoga. So, I spent the morning helping Evie, as I worked on roughing up and wiping down the front bedroom.  It sounds like a quick, easy task and it is easy but not quick, especially doing the door jams and windows, which take time.  The base boards, however, are easy. It took an hour and a half to get it done, while Evie painted the doors and trim in the back bedrooms.  We are learning once again there's much more to painting then putting a brush on a wall.

For lunch, we had toasted cheese and ramen soup, and I watched another episode of Banshee, not your most realistic series, as the Sheriff and friends somehow survive after being surrounded by Redbones with machine guns. They open fire on the police station with their machine guns and guess what?  None of the good guys inside were hurt despite the machine gunning, which destroyed everything in the station but the people.  No sex in this week's episode, but lots of violence and ultimately killing. What a great series!!!

I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon to see what could be done about my bum tooth.  So far, so good.  The dentist thinks she can save the tooth; she took off the crown, filled the cavity, and put on a temporary for a couple of weeks.  If I have no trouble, I will get a permanent crown.  That does not sound like the best scenario but it is.  It took an hour and a half of sitting in the chair, but I was free to go by 3:30.  I stopped at the local grocer, Brigiotta's, for some vegetables.  It was packed with patrons, good to see them supporting a local store.

5:08 PM

For dinner Evie browned some chicken thighs, added mushrooms, some tomato sauce and spices and put it in the oven for an hour.  I got the brussel sprouts ready and cleaned up the kitchen, so we could relax for an hour, with a glass of wine, while the chicken braised.  We ate around 7:00, chicken thighs on rice, with a salad, and brussel sprouts and, we finally got around to another Academy Award winning film, BIRDMAN.  I cannot say we liked or enjoyed it much, in fact, Evie left midway through to do the dishes, her comment on the film.  It's not meant to be entertaining, like most of today's adventure hero films, in fact, it's written as a antidote to these thrillers, to our senseless, mindless enjoyment of them, need for them, preference for illusion over  reality.

6:25 PM

BIRDMAN, thus, is interesting, thoughtful, at times confusing but not entertaining or enjoyable. Michael Keaton won the Academy Award for Best Actor, which I can understand; he was the character, a once famous actor because of his lowbrow but entertaining BIRDMAN films. He is trying to prove that he's more than just a cartoon character, that he can be authentic, as a writer, director and actor.  His struggle to prove this is by putting on a play is the stuff of the film.  And, having just watched WHIPLASH, which we really liked, about an obsessed young drummer, it was ironic that we had to listen to a monotonous and mind numbing drum beat throughout much of this film.  That alone was enough to turn off the DVR.

Needless to say, you have to be really bored to take up this film.  I know, I have become a philistine, a sybarite, but you watch it and tell me if I am wrong.  The reviews are mixed, some hating it, most critics thinking it was a great film, a black comedy, a satirical look at Hollywood. And it won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screen Play, Best Cinematography.  Still, I cannot believe it won best film over BOYHOOD.  Just because it pretends to be serious, heavy, profound does not make it a great film.

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A Must See