Welcome!

I've finally decided that I am a writer - all the other things I do just pay the bills. Someone eloquent once said that if you do what you love, the money will follow. Well, let's just see about that.

RIP Aggie

RIP Aggie
Aggie was my fifteen-year-old cairn terrier - or maybe I should say I was her 55-year-old person! She was my faithful companion, spoiled rotten and I am still trying to figure out what to do without her.

Peter the Cat...

Peter the Cat...
This is Peter the gingersnap tabby! He's seven years old and has just been promoted to Peter the Very, Very Good. He is working his way up to Peter the Great...

Bee - the Cat Who Came From Somewhere Else...

Bee - the Cat Who Came From Somewhere Else...
Bee is Peter's buddy. He's eight years old and has made himself right at home. I guess cats really do come in pairs or sets of three!

And Jasper makes three!

And Jasper makes three!
Jasper is our new guy - the Cat From Another Place. He's four years old and we think he likes it here - so far, so good!

Buzz about...

Thursday, July 01, 2010

An old movie...

to start the month off right...  Well, a short old movie anyway.  I haven't seen it in years - but I have always fondly remembered this film as a work of cinematic brilliance.  Now, mind you, I saw it for the first time in high school in an American lit class - just before reading the short story upon which it is based, so take that into consideration.  An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a great example of the stream-of-consciousness device in both fiction and film.  Didn't that sound scholarly?  I guess that means I still haven't lost it - that $32,000 piece of paper in my closet is still worth something.  Ambrose Bierce, famed Civil War era reporter and curmudgeon, wrote the story some time before he took up with Pancho Villa and joined the Mexican Revolution only to disappear into Mexico never to be heard from again.  (You can see a fictionalized version of Bierce's last days in Old Gringo.)  Anyhow, without giving the film or the story away, the action of the piece takes place in the main character's mind.  (Another good example of this style of writing is The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter.  A bizarre example is James Joyce's Ulysses - but I don't even want to go there.  Ever again.)  My seventeen year old mind was mesmerized by the film's ending and I never forgot it; I saw it again years later as an episode of the Twilight Zone.  I'd been wondering if it was available on DVD ever since I'd watched Old Gringo and sure enough, Netflix had it.   One click and a couple of days later, it was in my hands.  I have to say that I enjoyed watching An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge as much tonight as I did over thirty years ago. 

3 comments:

  1. Your post are as varied as they are always interesting! As YOU are, I feel sure! I will have to locate this film and watch it....

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  2. I REMEMBER that!!! Good of you not to give away the ending!

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  3. I enjoyed this post, especially since I teach literature and writing to high school and college students. Although I admire the writing of Bierce and find this story excellent for teaching stream of consciousness, Porter is one of my favorites of all time. I didn't know about Old Gringo, so I'm going to have to rent that and check it out. Good post!

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