1. As March 16th turned into the 17th at midnight, I was wide awake and it would be another two and a half hours or so before I went to sleep. I worked the daily Wordle puzzle. I listened to Imogen Sara Smith talk for about twenty minutes about the film director Howard Hawks. I listened to Sean Fennessey give a talk about film director Robert Altman. I listened to Charlie Rose interview Robert Altman about the movie The Player and then listened to another Charlie Rose interview, this time with Mike Leigh, Brenda Blethyn, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. They discussed the movie Secrets and Lies.
The Player (1992) and Secrets and Lies (1996) were two of my favorite movies thirty or more years ago.
I admire and enjoy how Robert Altman and Mike Leigh make movies -- they give their actors a wide range of freedom to develop their characters. Characters emerge from inside the actors rather than from a script and the result is a rare kind of authenticity and movies that are challenging and unorthodox.
2. I napped about four different times today. In between naps, I continued, but didn't quite finish, cleaning up the kitchen. I felt gratitude that my adventures with SPICY beef broth didn't wreck our family St. Patrick's dinner and I reveled in the comments people made to me online about my farcical day in the kitchen that seemed, in the end. to have been rescued by a combination of Martha Stewart and the hand of Providence.
3. I might be, at least for the time being, moving toward some balance in my enjoyment of the arts. For several months, I've been focused on classical music, not only listening to it, but reading more about it and listening to a series of lectures in the Great Courses series.
This single-minded focus on classical music led me, however, back to poetry, especially a I returned to a half-forgotten anthology of poems I purchased about five years ago, The Music Lover's Poetry Anthology.
Tonight I added a little more variety and returned to another love of my life, the movies.
Those videos I watched about Robert Altman inspired me to watch his movie, California Split (1974).
After I the movie ended, I went to kelloggbloggin and discovered I had watched this movie back on August 7, 2021.
In the ensuing four and half years, the movie had almost completely left my memory, so I had the pleasure of watching it tonight almost as if I'd never seen it before.
I had quite a bit to say about California Split back in August of 2021 and I had much the same response to the movie tonight. You can read my original response as my third BT here.
I don't blame you a bit if you don't want to wade through what I wrote before, so here's a very condensed version of what I experienced watching this movie.
I often wonder if we are born into emptiness and if the span of our lives is a long effort to fill the void within ourselves and make meaning, find enjoyment, and author our own purpose in life.
I thought that was the story of the four main characters in this move. Two of them are prostitutes and the other two are gamblers, one a professional and the other more of a compulsive gambler.
I've never gambled at the level the gamblers featured in this movie do.
I went to the Spokane Tribe Casino today with Ed so we could make our very modest bets on the NCAA men's and, in my case, the women's NCAA basketball tournaments.
I was not seeking an adrenaline rush today.
I was seeking relaxation and some laughs.
I relaxed at the coffee shop with a thick slice of banana bread with nuts and a 20 oz latte.
I wandered around the floor of the casino and many of the games I played made me laugh with their animations and gimmicks.
After playing a while, I relaxed in the Sportsbook area, long after I wagered on Arizona's men's team and UConn's women and enjoyed a smashburger and fries with a small Pepsi. My lunch was on the house thanks to my player card and the fact that today, like all Wednesdays at this emporium, was Senior Appreciation Day.
Ed joined me, enjoyed a hot dog, and we had a relaxing conversation.
I returned to the casino floor down twenty dollars and when I was done playing, I was even.
Did this give me a sense of elation? No.
Was I looking to spinning reels for joy? As a way to get pumped up? As a way to fill emptiness inside me?
No. No. No.
But, if you watch California Split, I think you'll see that these gamblers were not relaxing, laughing, eating banana bread, or enjoying small pleasures like a latte or the music playing on the sound system or a burger and fries at lunch.
They were looking to drink from a well that can never quench their thirst.
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