December means Snow!

Welcome lovely month of December! I have quite a bit to blog about, so I am going to get right down to biz-niz.

Yes, I'm pregnant. For the record, this blog will not be solely dedicated to charting/discussing/monitoring my pregnancy. While I will take moments to discuss SOME things, I will try my best to keep this about news, facts, and current opinions. I feel like a blog dedicated to Baby Horton Norton would be not in my character. I follow two great blogs:

www.ourbeckerblog.blogspot.com
www.joshandjessicabrown.blogspot.com

Both of these blogs are wonderful. Kady and Jessica have done a beautiful job recording their pregnancies with pictures, ideas, and moments----I am keeping pregnancy to the professionals. They are way more artsy-fartsy, and I would look like a fool trying to make something as cool as theirs.

Pregnancy update: I feel great. I get tired in the evening. I don't have a belly, just a beer gut. I crave ramen and Spaghettios. I have to take it easy because Baby Horton is being difficult. Beans totally knows I'm pregnant, while Biscuit could care less. I'm not decorating or painting anything yet. I am finding out the sex. My great friend from middle school, Mrs. Melissa Wills Bowles, is due a week after me. Awesomeness.
Thanksgiving break, Part II:
I have since recovered from the Lions' horrible loss to the Pats. I don't blame Tom Brady OR Shaun Hill. The Lions need more talent. They have plenty of heart. I am hoping for a win this weekend against the Bears. I'm not a Bears fan, though I think Bears' fans are hilarious. ROAR!
Dave and I spent the rest of our holiday weekend in Fort Wayne with my kick-ass in-laws. We told the grandparents about Baby Horton. They are super pumped. Dave went on a bunch of hikes, and I decided to continue my "taking it easy" to the coach. I caught up on tons of HGTV and Food Network with Big Jim Norton. FYI, he is great to hang with. He is super relaxed, he laughs at all my jokes, and he wears the slippers I gave him for Christmakkah two years ago. He definitely is #1 in my book. Oh, and he loves Purdue, which is hilarious. (Dave received his MBA from Kelley at Indiana University. This creates minor friction.)

I started to dabble with Christmas shopping. I have a pretty good game plan on how I'm going to attack my list. I'm going to keep things simple and strategic. I love shopping during the holidays, though the mall can be overwhelming. I am going to take my plan to Brown County this weekend. It smells nice and there is a great jewelry store there, Silver and Gold. It is a family owned small store with gorgeous estate jewelry. They also do custom pieces as well as repair. Dave has been tricked into going in the store before----He is clear on what my tastes are. Maybe one day I'll finally get the 3 carat sparkler with sapphires that I desire. However, I can wait.

I have began my annual bad-Christmas-movie-marathon. I started with John Denver's The Christmas Gift. I Love This Movie! It is super cheesy, but more importantly, it was filmed in Steamboat during the 80's. It doesn't get any better than that. During the month of December, I usually watch The Family Stone about 40 times. This is by far the best holiday movie of all time. I will go ahead and post from Dana's blog about her critique of this film. I think her writing captures my sentiments as to why it is so frigging awesome:




Ah, yes, The Family Stone. This film ranks very high on my list of favorite all-time movies, and even higher on the favorite holiday movie list. I've decided that I won't write an actual review of it, because I'm beginning to think that I can't write a decent one. I love talking about movies, but as yet, I can't write a cohesive, coherent review. Instead, I will just write a sort of commentary-- that way, I can highlight the aspects that I love, and won't feel compelled to discuss the aspects that don't interest me. [Note: I am very interested in directorial prowess. I really am. But, I have no idea how to judge a director. I look at episodes of television shows that had one of the actors at the helm, and I don't see any difference between those, and the episodes that are directed by legitimate directors. Given that I've studied film academically, I should probably get a handle on that. Like, soon.] So, I made some notes as I watched the film, and my commentary will reflect the order in which I made these notes. Ah, blessed, blessed autonomy. Basic plot: Everett Stone, the oldest child of the Stone family, brings his girlfriend, Meredith Morton, home for Christmas. Chaos ensues as Meredith tries to fit in with Everett's family. And then awesomeness ensues because Diane Keaton is involved. * Some movies are written with built-in "bookends"-- literary or cinematic devices that occur at both the beginning and end of the story. TFS has two kinds of bookends. First, the story begins and ends on the afternoon of December 23rd, in the Stone family home, when one of the Stone siblings, Thad, returns to his childhood home for the holiday and holiday preparations are in gear-- there's a year that separates the two. There's a significant shift from one arrival to the next, but still. Also, cinematically, the main story begins and ends with a shot of a pair of female hands wearing a striking silver ring. This second set of bookends is a little more sentimental than the first, but both are powerful and effective tools to shape how the story is told to the audience. * Hands play a significant role in the movie. The title of the movie is a double-entendre-- the main characters are part of the family Stone, and a significant element in the story is the passage of an heirloom diamond ring, a family stone. Get it? One of the promotional shots for the film is of a female hand holding up a ring finger, much like one would hold up a middle finger. Cheeky. And clever, because it clues the audience into the idea that hands play a role in the story. One of the characters is deaf, so some of the spoken dialogue is coupled with American Sign Language, so we are forced to watch the actors' hands. Again, one of the first shots is of female hands-- Diane Keaton's character is introduced first through her hands. We see female hands, looking like they have epic stories to tell, folded and holding onto a white Christmas tree ornament. The camera tilts up to show Keaton's gorgeous and powerful face, her expression pensive and pained. We find out soon enough just why her expression reads that way, and we also find out why those hands are so valuable. Keaton plays the Stone matriarch, Sybil-- she is a wife, writer, mother, cook, and grandmother. Her hands stroke, type, comfort, stir, and squeeze-- much of the story is based on how the various characters interact with Sybil's wise hands. One particularly tender moment, between Sybil and her husband Kelly (played with surprising gravity and aplomb by Craig T. Nelson), shows Sybil taking her husband's hand, and leading it to her chest. She silently asks for the same comfort from her husband's hand as she offers to her loved ones. (Oh, I dare you to watch the scene without tearing up. Plus, in marvelously torturous Hollywood fashion, the most bittersweet holiday song is playing, sung by Judy FUCKING Garland. Seriously. That whole sequence is brilliant.) Anyway, there are a handful [hahhaha] of other instances of how important hands are in the movie-- and it's one of my favorite elements. * The set designers, production designers, location scouts, and costume designers all had a SERIOUS hand in telling the story. Even though the script and actors are wonderful, so much richness and detail is gleaned from the look of each shot. The house where most of the action takes place is decorated to the hilt-- it really looks like a family occupies it, and if you look closely, it gives details to each character. For example-- Everett, the oldest Stone child, played by Dermot Mulroney [hhhhhhhot], is introduced to us as a straight-laced, successful businessman. He has met his girlfriend while on a trip to Hong Kong for something involving an upcoming IPO. We are invited into his childhood bedroom, and see nothing that would indicate his interest in finance. His walls are covered with maps and cultural artifacts. The back of his bedroom door is decorated with a large poster of [I think] Vishnu, a Hindi deity. The remnants of his athletic success are tucked into a drawer. All of these things run counter to what we've learned about him prior to seeing his room. Another example-- Sarah Jessica Parker's character, Meredith Morton, Everett's girlfriend, goes through a major transition from beginning to end, and the changes in her appearance serve as little guideposts for the audience. (It's as though the costumer and make-up artist are sending us a message, "Did you guys get that? Her hair is messy now. That should tell you something. Also, she's not wearing anything with a collar. Don't ignore that!!") We first meet her as the picture of yuppie polish. Perfectly tailored grey suit, tight and intricate chignon, icy diamond earrings, somewhat severe albeit immaculate make-up-- she's an ice queen. In the denouement, her hair is loose around her shoulders, her eye make-up is smudged and flattering, and she is wearing a comfy-looking t-shirt. Lovely. I just really like that the costumes and personal artifacts on the actors tell us something about them, if we just look a little closer. When you watch the movie, pay particular attention to the ring on Diane Keaton's hand at the beginning. It plays its own little role. Also, the way the actors interact with the set is great-- one particular shot that I love is when Meredith is coming down the stairs at the Stones' house, and she stops to greet Ben Stone, her boyfriend's younger brother (played by Luke Wilson), and the shot is just hilarious. There's a crystal chandelier hanging above her head, and the camera captures her face with a few dangling pieces of crystal just above her hairline-- it looks as though she's wearing a crown of ice. This is a subtle sight-gag, but the movie has plenty of them. It's like the DP (director of photography) is developing inside jokes with the audience, and I love that. * The Stones are the consummate family-- they communicate in quirky ways, and there are specific relationships between different members, and they all have different stories to tell, and different windows on the world. There is a fluency between the members, and it is interrupted by Meredith. There is a huge contrast between Meredith and the Stones', and it is shown in stomach-churning detail when Meredith tells the story of how she and Everett met. Her inability to tell a decent story is like nails on a chalkboard to the rest of the characters. That scene is excruciating to watch. But it sets up the main conflict. We begin to differentiate the priorities and values of the Stone family versus those of Meredith. I can't quite articulate this point, but the idea of fluency plays a role in the story. Conflict arises because Meredith can't speak the language of the Stone family, much like she doesn't understand the sign-language used whenever Thad is present in a scene. * There are thousands little flashes in the movie that are just breath-taking. I find new ones each time I see it. Claire Danes, as Julie, Meredith's sister, has one such moment when she raises one eyebrow in response to something happening to one of her hands [yep, for real...it's an archetype], and that eyebrow speaks volumes. Ty Giordano, as Thad, watches his brother Everett react to meeting Julie, and there's this quick moment where we see a flash of amusement in Thad's face. I noticed a new one when I watched the movie again tonight-- Sybil is taking a nap when her pregnant daughter, Susannah (a very talented-- and Michigan-born!-- Elisabeth Reaser) lays down next to her. It's a silent acknowlegement of a hard truth, and Sybil's tortured realization is written all over her face. We see Sybil grimace and blink hard, fighting back her demons, and then she turns to face her daughter with a calm and capable face. Diane Keaton is BRILLIANT. Rachel McAdams has several of these flashes, where she relies only on her gorgeous face to forward the story, and her portrayal of Amy Stone, the youngest sibling, is made all the richer for it. (McAdams seems on point to take up any mantle she chooses. I love that she chose this role, an immature and frosty little sister, and just acted the hell out of it. She carried The Notebook and could've held out for other plum roles. Instead, she was a smaller part of an ensemble, and showed she could support and keep up with a powerhouse like Lady Awesome Diane Keaton. Ballsy move, McAdams.) Hers is the last face we see, and it's the best kind of gut-punch. I am particularly drawn to Amy Stone because we're both the baby-girls of our families, and we're both smart-assses, and we're both still trying, with uneven success, to adjust to being adults. Shh. Of course, there are funny parts, and quotable parts, and pretty scenery, and there's the whole Christmas element to it, but these really play second-fiddle to the other elements that I've mentioned...at least, in my opinion. The best and most resonant movies in DanaLand are those that straddle the line between drama and comedy, where not everything turns out ideally, but the characters find a way to move forward despite obstacles. Plus, coming from a larger family and a very close network of friends, I identify with stories that address how a single person fits into a community of loved ones, and how one can carve out a life, not just a living. Anyway-- see this movie. If you've already seen it, watch it again. Watch it with your full attention and look for the details that I've mentioned. Think of it as a holiday gift from me to you!

Clearly, Dana's writing is grand. Me, not so much.

Oh, it also snowed on December 1st. I am taking this as an omen. I love snow. I love Christmas. I'm hoping this a great holiday season with much to be thankful for.