La Commedia e Finita!

It is finished.

I managed to capture all the signatures I needed and this afternoon, I delivered to my school's library, the requisite two complete copies of my thesis! When the university thesis librarian accepted them, I asked if there was anything left for me to do. (I keep waiting for some other shoe to drop; like a switched baby hidden in Vermont or something crazy.) But she said no. Once they've accepted it, I'm all done. To congratulate myself, I bought a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (book 6 - yes, I'm a book behind!) and a People magazine that pretends that there are enough varieties in Hollywood female body types to use them as examples of how to flatter any figure. (pfft!) It was a little anti-climactic for me, on campus. But I think that's because I'm not yet allowing myself to fully accept its finality and the relief. That, I'm certain, will change this weekend!

This weekend, my group is taking our performance to a festival I've been meaning to attend for years as an audience member, but I get to make my debut there as a performer! Woohoo!

... and speaking of "Woohoo!" ... one of my motivations to get all my thesis crap completed today was the opening of The Simpsons Movie. Though skeptical that a movie of my favorite show might ruin the show - Hollywood does not have a good track record there - I've been looking forward to this since I saw the first teaser for it in the theaters last summer. I promised myself that if I could get my thesis completed, signed, sealed and delivered by today, I could go see the midnight opening, tonight. And so we did!!

I joke that when (if) we have children, they will think the order of religious adoration and guidance in our household goes something like this: God, Jesus and The Simpsons. They will probably believe that we have somewhere a Gospel of Groening, consisting of the books of Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa, and including the non-canonized apocryphal texts of Futurama. We had to be in tonight's audience.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE, NOW. Not just because it's good, but because the sooner you see it, the fresher and more appreciative the audience will be. This is definitely a movie worth seeing with a hungry audience. This film would have been okay on its own, but it could not have stood alone without 18 years of stories and culture commentary. You almost have to see it with a full house who genuinely loves each and every one of the characters in Springfield. When the lights went dim and the initial vignette played out and the clouds parted to reveal "The Simpsons" with Elfman's iconic score playing in the background, the crowd - many of whom I'd spotted wearing Simpson's t-shirts - erupted in applause and cheers. The crowd ate up the humor, as well, of course. This was an opportunity for everyone who digs this satirical staple to come together and dig it together.

As Simpson plots go, there was nothing out of the ordinary in this one. That's what made it so good. The stakes were raised higher than they usually are, but the story moved just like any other Simpson's episode. It just ran three times longer than usual. Something I was afraid of was that they would litter the dialogue with profanity and lower the jokes with toilet, T&A lowest common denominator gags. When Hollywood takes TV to the silver screen, you can tell by how readily the studios go gutter how much they really trust the core material. The writers, however, must be given credit for responsibly handling their tone when the restrictions of broadcast regulations were lifted. They definitely crossed the FCC line at least one or twice and they punched a little crasser than usual a few times as well. However, when they did stretch the "good taste" line, they did so sort of tongue and cheek, implying that they couldn't get away with this in broadcast, without being heavy handed and without feeling forced. There's nothing I detest more in a film based on a TV show (or any film, really) than when a character utters language (profane or not) or engages in behavior which is absolutely uncharacteristic of him or her. It's quite clear the studio forces the character to behave in that way to appease the 15 - 23 year old boys in the audience who have no sense of character believability.

There is so much I liked about this movie. I know the critics aren't receiving it well, from the headlines I've read. I'll have to read the reviews later. And I happily admit I have drunk the Kool Aid with the marketing on this. But it's quite willing on my part. I know they're pimping and they know I know what they're up to. There is much I'd love to share about the movie with you, but I don't want to blow anything. I'll just say this: it's essentially a longer version of the Simpsons, but one which is best experienced communally. Go see it as soon as you can. Go with a big crowd who adore the Simpsons. You'll be glad you did.

Three Beautiful Things

since i've been stressed to the max, lately. i'm going to return to the 3BT formula which Clare has beautified the world with. plus, i think y'all would rather read what's going right in my life, for a change!

1. Despite a mix-up in the formatting of the signature page and sending it off at the wrong time, my first professor has dropped the signature pages back into overnight mail for me. I should get them tomorrow. How merciful that my prof doesn't mind doing the administrative bull on vacation!

2. Chatting with my favorite cousin on the phone this morning. And hearing her toddler, normally a terribly sweet, gregarious and precocious girl throw a fit in the background. She's being potty trained and apparently has a favorite kind of wet wipe, which my cousin didn't have available to her.

3. Knowing that well-placed, compassionate wisdom is a family trait. My cousin, after hearing of one of the stresses I've been under lately, emailed me some sympathetic encouragement her father, my dad's brother, gave to her when she was in a similar situation. And it sounded just like the kind of thing my dad would say to me - or anyone really. And he's so good at that kind of stuff. It warms my heart, for some reason, knowing it runs in the family.

Just when I think things are getting better ...

I met with the last prof who needed to comment on my thesis, this afternoon. My other two professors have commented and their adjustments are relatively simple to fix. I thought today's meeting would be about an hour long. It was three hours long. He basically took a scalpel to it.

This is due, with all signatures in two and a half weeks. But really, it's due in 10 days, because I'll be out that last week.

The good news is that he knows it's unrealistic and unreasonable that I would be able to implement all the changes he suggested. Also good news is that it won't require any new research. In fact all his feedback was excellent, however daunting. I just wish I'd gotten it a week or two earlier, as I had originally sent this to him over three weeks ago! His request is that I "do what I can." And that is what I will do.

In the meantime, I've still got travel adjustments to make for our upcoming trip. I've got a movie review to write for my friend's rapidly growing blog. I've got medical appointments to line up. I've just been named logistics goddess at work for a project that's about to vomit all over us in the coming weeks. I've got articles to proofread and somewhere in the mix: sleep to get. I'm really writing complaining about this to get my juices flowing so that I can begin to tackle the beast in earnest yet again. Okay ... let's try this one more time.

Cutter! Come bandage the scrape above Molly's eye and blot her bloody lip. Alright Molly, round 5 now. What did Mama say? Mama said knock you out! I'm gonna knock you out!

Hard to balance heartache.

Parents do stupid things.

My sister in law once accidentally locked herself out of the house as she was retrieving mail. Not a big deal until you consider that my then - three year old nephew was taking a nap in his bedroom. She realized her error and managed to break into the house via the garage. My dad once forgot he was supposed to pick me up from school and left his Kindergartener daughter crying on the school steps for a couple of hours. (I don't remember if there were school aides waiting with me; but I assume so.) There will no doubt be times that Honey and I do stupid things as parents (if we're lucky enough to ever get that distinction) which are done out of carelessness or oversight or during a bungled emergency. Nonetheless, I find I have decreasing sympathy for parents who seem outright derelict in their duty.

Last weekend, Honey and I took in a 9PM showing of Ratatouille. It was cute, but frankly, I can't tell you too much of it because most of what I remember of the movie-going experience involved a friendly pre-lingual toddler. He could not have been more than 22 months old. His parents saw fit to bring him and his three year old sister to a movie which would not let out until 11PM. The children were, thankfully, quiet, but their parents' behavior was rather disquieting. We were in a theater with stadium seating. Honey and I were at the fore of the top section, so that we had the railing in front of us, the floor and bottom seating section were below us. The childrens' parents took seats on either end of the handicap accessible seating at the top of the bottom section and let their children wander. During a movie. In a large room filled with strangers. In the dark. The little boy was really adorable and had we met under different conditions, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. But as the parents kept their backs to the children - in a dark room filled with strangers - only to check in on them ever 30 seconds or so and to retrieve them when they began to wander up the steps of the top section, I could not fully enjoy the movie. Why? Because, I felt like I had to keep my eye constantly open for this little boy in case someone did try to nab him. His parents certainly weren't doing it. Safety aside, it's simply rude to let your kids run around a movie theater. People are there to enjoy the film, not your cell phone text messaging session, not your comments to the screen and not your toddler's happy dance in the aisle! It's called, "pop for a babysitter or wait for the DVD," buddy. If you know your three year old can sit through a movie, bring her and let the other parent babysit.

What irks me most about this is that clearly, some people have no concept of safety, when it is their moral charge as parents to do everything in their power to ensure the safety of their children. I have been in a cave lately, so I just learned of this today, but when I did, I thought immediately of the parents at the movie theater. Little Madeliene McCann was nabbed from her family's resort apartment room while on vacation in Portugal. It's truly tragic and terrifying. But when I learned that the parents had put her and her 2 year old twin siblings down for the night in the room unattended while they went off to dinner for the evening, I was sadly unsurprised. How easy would it be for someone to break a window and take her? Or a hotel staffer who has a key to waltz in and nick her? Then when I read that her parents had actually left the room door and the patio doors unlocked I was livid. That's not just a stupid parent move - like leaving your kid in the car for 10 minutes to run in to buy milk - that's patently negligent. If that family were American, those parents would be arrested and separated from their remaining children. Who leaves toddlers unattended while you're 100 yards away?! (That's the length of a football field, mind you!) It's not as if her parents were 19 year old dumb kids. They're doctors!! I understand that abduction is not as common in England as it is in the US, so for the sake of those who live in "more civilized" societies, let's pretend kidnapping does not exist, that children are at no danger of ever being nabbed and harmed. You still don't leave a couple of toddlers alone in a hotel room to sleep! What if one of them falls off the bed and bangs her head? Or another wakes in the night and pulls the TV on top of himself? Doctors don't understand this?!

I certainly cannot begin to imagine the bereavement these parents must be feeling, nor their sense of guilt. I do feel sorry for them. But in my mind, they are just as accountable for their daughter's loss as the villain who took her. This was not a momentary separation from their child at the store or in a crowd or even a missed rendezvous because of poor parent communication. This wasn't even a piss-poor decision to let their kid run around a movie theater under a lazy parental eye. Theirs was a deliberate decision to leave their pre-literate children alone in a hotel room in a foreign country without even giving them the barest dignity of a secured room. They could not respect their children enough to lock. the. door. I have immense sympathy for the little girl. I pray that this comes to a happy ending for her. And I hope other parents take a moment and get a clue from this.