Nov 21: Where the wild things are hiding in your id

So first off, I've gotten whatever Paul and Tobo had this week, so if you see me, beware.

Secondly, in an effort to not be crawled over for a few hours as I desended into sickness, I went to go see Where the Wild Things Are. I remember this book, though I do not remember it word for word.

Here's a little background I came across about the influence of the original story (wiki): "Francis Spufford suggests that the book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story of anger"...In Selma G. Lanes's book The Art of Maurice Sendak, Sendak discusses Where the Wild Things Are along with his other books In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There as a sort of trilogy centered on children's growth, survival, change and fury.[8][9] He indicated that the three books are "all variations on the same theme: how children master various feelings…"[8]"

The movie, I felt kind of took this aspect of the book and just ran with it. The most frequent criticism of the film that I read was that it was inappropriate for children. After seeing it, my response is if your kid understands about the id the ego and the super ego, he/she's probably not be scarred by this rendition. Younger than that and it's you that will be dealing with the fallout about how the sun is going to die.

There was also a lot of discussion about how Max is a horrible/misunderstood/delinquent, etc as well on the web. Which I personally think misses the point. I feel like this movie was made for adults about being a child. And not in a happy-clappy sing-a-long way. It really does capture what it is like to be out of control and small in a world that is confusing and big.To some extent I feel it panders to the tendency of our society to foster 25 year old teenagers, i.e. "modern adult[s]...reverting to childish habits en masse". I say that as one of them. This movie is a way to relive being 10 again. But beyond that, it's a good movie, beautiful to watch. I teared up at least a couple of times and laughed out loud at least as much. The monsters are all entertaining and "real" in their characterization.

About the only other thing I can say is that Max is so out of control in this movie, I couldn't help but think what his story would have looked like if he knew he was loved by more than his mother, but by God as well. But, then again, that also wasn't in the original.

You might be asking yourself, "What ever happened to Cat and Paul? Didn't we know people by that name in Denver once?" and I think you would be justified. We have been absent for quite awhile, but are now back in town, mostly recovering from 5 (count'em 5) weekends out of town or in emergency mode. I'm happy to say every one has been fed and most laundry has been cleaned, though all food and laundry are in various stages of disarray around the apt.

Last weekend we were in OR, visiting our niece and her parents for our first opportunity to meet, Anna, the sweetest little girl in America.

Anna 8/7/07 8:17 AM

What a good baby! These are my crappy phone photos. Guru has much better photos from the camera. You'll notice that I have a lot of pictures of rocks and trees, because we had to indoctrinate Anna into the family vacation pastime. ;)

It was a great trip, though a bit rushed. We had direct flights there and back, which was good except for the trip home. Got home Monday night. I took Tuesday off and manage to get nothing accomplished. I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on the trip. I highly recommend it as kind of a grown up Harry Potter. You know, to ween you off of the last book. Think Magicans, Napoleon and King George. Yum!

I did manage to drag HP and Settlers of Catan both all the way out there and all the way back without opening either. I will have to corrupt -- I mean teach -- the wetzel's catan at a later date. I still haven't finish Harry yet, so NO SPOILERS!

This weekend we are looking at more houses, reading over the agreement about how we don't have to pay for the privilage of a sky light (being on the first floor), meeting with friends, meeting with other friends, and hopefullly going to a new/old church with hopes of finding some hope. and maybe some grace.

Anyway, that's the news from here. What have you been up to?

weekend trip

Well we are back down from the mountian with some photos to boot:

Evergreen 6/24/07 4:58 PM

It was great as always. This is the cabin that is owned by OMF and staffers can rent for a minimal fee + some clean up work when you leave. They have done a fabulous job of cleaning it up and redecorating since we were there last. We've got it around paul's birthday too, but the rest of the weekends are full up. It is a very popular place these days. Made me start thinking about decorating our place..whenever we get it. I came to terms that I will probably make a lot of mistakes when painting/decorating and that's ok. We also talked a bit about having space for a raised garden where we can do veggies and such. So much depends on what we buy, but it was fun to talk about it none the less.

Mostly we sat around and read, which is really common when we go up there. go for a walk, sit on a rock, listen to the birds, it's very peaceful. I always end up reading about WWII up there for some reason. Last time was Thread of Grace, this trip was Maus I&II. We also watched 2 parts of Band of Brothers. All of these are very good, but sometimes hard to watch/read.

The only part that sucks is getting down/up the driveway (dirt road with 8% grade) and having to drive in denver traffic on the way home.

Now I'm off to find something for dinner and maybe veg out a bit more before the week starts.

Excuses.

So first of - I appologize for disappearing into the black hole of no communication for the last month. I've not written or talked on the phone other than brief calls to the folks for about a month now. That includes reading any journals. Hell, I've just started catching up on comics this week. I never feel bad about it until after it happens. When I look around and realize I've probably been offensive to folks who I care about. So again, Sorry. I feel much better now.

This bought of quiet was generated by a)travel followed very quickly with b)sickness. It was a very quiet Easter that went something like this:
1. sit on couch
2. get up and make ham
3. collapse on couch

We did get out to the rockin' Lutherans [insert guitar riff] though honestly I was kind of out of it when we were there. Most of Good Friday I spent huddled on the couch watching movies. I watched Life of Brian at some point. I did not make any rabbit of Inley cookies. I did get our taxes sent in. Two weeks later, I'm finally not so sick that I can't do anything. Of course, guru is now looking flu-y. :/

I read a few books since my birthday - the Hallow Hunt by Bujold and Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Ving. I've also discovered a library branch on my way home from work, so I now have a whole new fiction section to go through. For my birthday, Guru fixed and upgraded our G4 so we now have a good computer to play Civ IV on. He's started to play more, which makes me feel like less of a game hog. Beyond that we've just been trying to stay above water.

Tax wise we came out even, which is just the way I like it. I've got to do some banking soon, but at least I know there's no hugh payment waiting out in the dark for me. We've been chatting more with our lender and now have some numbers based on our inflow/outflow. She's saying we can afford what I've termed as a "standard house" instead of of a condo or a townhouse. Guru is *highly* sceptical. We go for a second opinion sometime in may. Not just another lender but a friend in missions work who has lived abroad and state side. If anyone has a decent perpective, it will be him. Basically I'm looking to answer two questions about buying a house:
1. Are we selling out to the american dream of keeping up with the jones? Families live in apts all the time.
2. Conversely, are we squandering the bounty God has given us by not investing it wisely? Could we help more people if we weren't renting.