my umpteenth blog

Two nights ago, my body had an epic battle with itself.

As a result, I barely slept.

The next day (which was yesterday), I almost passed out in the bathroom at work (or I might have actually passed out, I'm not sure? I don't remember, and I had kind of propped myself against a corner in case I *did*, so I don't really know what happened. All I know for sure is that my body hates me). So as a result I left work early (only an hour early...lame) and went home to watch old tv on my computer. All I wanted to do was sleep, but it was so early still that I knew I would wake up in the middle of the night all chipper and ready to go. So I took one Benadryl (only one) knowing that (1) my allergies have been acting up (though that's unrelated to this incident), and (2) Benadryl does something terrible to my brain that makes it unable to function.

And then.....I slept for 13 hours straight. Go me!

In other news:

Don't laugh at me, but I kind of loved Cowboys and Aliens. It was a classic, formulaic Western...but with ALIENS. What could possibly be better? I'll tell you what, nothing else that's in theaters right now. Big theaters I mean, not independent theaters. It was fun, it had Harrison Ford, and it also had (spoiler) a giant alien ship exploding. Fantastic.

Although, this was what I saw the afternoon before my body exploded. Either it was trying to tell me something about the movie, or I'm not supposed to eat theater popcorn anymore.

You need to watch this movie.

It's hard to watch- I left with a headache from too much crying, but it's good.

I'm starting to really love Kristin Scott Thomas- she's been making some really wonderful movies (in both French and English, or in this case, a mix of the two) over the last few years.

In this, the young Starzynski family (along with tens of thousands of others) who happen to be Jewish are rounded up by the French government and deported to camps in Germany and Poland. Just one month later, another family (not Jewish) moves into the apartment vacated by the Starzynskis. We follow the Starzynski's daughter, Sarah, as she is shuttled from place to place, desperately trying to escape so she can go home and find her little brother who, when the police came to "arrest" the family, she locked in a closet so he would be safe. We also see how Sarah's story becomes tied closely to the other family who took over her apartment- the Tezacs. Is that confusing? Sorry. I don't know how to describe the story without giving away too much. A wonderful, emotionally draining movie.

A small movie- written by the main actress, Brit Marling, and the producer/editor/cinematographer Mike Cahill, while they were still in college.

It's sci-fi, but not. The kind of sci-fi where yes, there is something extraordinary going on in the background of the story, but that is not the focus. The focus is on lives and how they converge (or, as with Rhoda and her family, diverge).

On the night that a planet identical to Earth is discovered, a drunk-driving Rhoda (just graduated from high school and on her way to MIT) runs into a car carrying John and his family, killing all but John. She goes to prison. She is released four years later and goes to John's house to apologize, but he does not recognize her, so she loses her nerve and tells him she works for a cleaning service and is going door-to-door offering free trials. She becomes his regular cleaning woman. They eventually start a relationship. She still can't tell him. She wins a trip to go to "Earth II" as it's now called. Some more stuff happens.

Brit Marling is both pitiful and devastating as Rhoda. She should not be sympathetic, but she is so obsessed with making amends and yet so unable to take the necessary steps. She is paralyzed by her inability to face the devastation she caused in John's life. It was interesting. It was enjoyable.