1. I had a particularly satisfying day with the movie Conclave today.
No, I didn't watch it again.
But, a New York filmmaker, a person I do not know, nor had I heard of, named Loren Christiansen, saw what I wrote about the movie on my blog via Bluesky, where I post a link to my daily blog post(s) every day.
Loren Christiansen made and posted on YouTube, a most illuminating video about the movie from a filmmaker's perspective with special emphasis on lighting, cinematography, and how specific moments in the film were shot and related these artistic aspects of the movie to the movie's theological and ecclesiastical content. He also included salient analysis of the acting in the movie, with special attention to the genius of Ralph Fiennes.
And, having read my blog post, Loren Christiansen posted a comment to me on Bluesky, telling me he thought his video would add a fourth beautiful thing to my existing list. He posted me a link. He told me that he bet I'd enjoy it.
He was absolutely right. I loved his video and his analysis and when I told him so, he responded that he was "happy to have contributed to your happy birthday."
He did.
Coincidentally, in our phone conversation on December 28th, Diane Schulstad raved about a video she had watched about the making of Conclave, but we got sidetracked and she didn't mention who made it and she got busy with other things and didn't send me a link to it.
Well, it was Loren Christiansen's YouTube video she had watched. After I watched the video, I confirmed with Diane that this was the video she referred to in our phone conversation and told her that I'd seen it because Loren Christiansen himself had contacted me on Bluesky in response to my blog post.
As Loren Christiansen warns in the video, it contains spoilers.
That said, if you'd like to watch it, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTXnwRACt0
That's not all that happened today regarding Conclave.
Debbie and Josh watched the movie on Saturday and Debbie sent me two brief emails with two of the movie's best quotes.
One of them had to do with faith and doubt, a central question in the movie. Debbie told me she's been saying what the movie said about faith and doubt for the last ten years.
I mildly disagreed.
To my memory, she has been articulating how faith and doubt walk hand in hand for the entire twenty-seven+ years we've known each other.
In fact, when characters in the movie addressed this question, immediately I thought of discussions Debbie and I have had over the years about the power of doubt in relation to the power faith -- these have been superb discussions.
2. Today was the third straight day I spent with Gibbs and Copper in our house with only the slightest of human contact. On separate occasions, Carol or Paul came over to scoop out Copper's litter box and I shopped once at Yoke's, but otherwise I was alone and never lonely.
I've enjoyed and felt very fortunate to live in our little warm and comfortable house. These days have been restful, relaxed, and quiet, great for my sense of peace.
With the volume on low and with the help of subtitles, I watched the second of Rian Johnson's Blanc Benoit mysteries, Glass Onion (Knives Out was the first).
What a wild movie! Intrigue. Duplicity. Murder. Bending of reality. Excess. Hilarity. Exposure. Hypocrisy. Sycophancy. Betrayal. Greed. And more.
It's a chaotic movie swirling with all the things I mentioned above and while people all around him are losing their minds, we get to enjoy Daniel Craig as Blanc Benoit floating above the fray and maintaining his sane and rational detective mind and soul.
I totally enjoy Daniel Craig in everything I've seen him in.
3. I rested a bit from Rian Johnson and then plunged back into his mind at work by watching the third episode of the first season of Poker Face.
I know in my rational mind that the star of Poker Face, Natasha Lyonne, really doesn't have much in common with the late great Adrienne Shelley.
For some irrational reason, I keep seeing Adrienne Shelly when I watch Natasha Lyonne play Charlie Cale on Poker Face.
Tonight's episode upset me because it featured an unruly dog and I feared for the dog's life.
As it turned out, the episode's plot and Charlie Cale's breakthrough in figuring out that the death of pit master George was a murder and not George's suicide turned on what happened to the dog in the story.
I'll leave it at that except to say that Charlie Cale's affection for the episode's unruly dog moved me to love Charlie Cale more than I had before -- and made me think that if the role were played by Adrienne Shelley (RIP), she, too, would have cared deeply for the dog. I KNOW IT!
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