21 December 2011

Notes - the Don CeSar and stirred (not shaken) memories / the Shroud / GWTDT film comment

          For breakfast you had a handful of cashews and a glass of skim milk then from the balcony you snapped a quick photo down the coast towards the pink palace, the 1920’s Don CeSar Beach Hotel now owned by Lowes.


         This blog is not a travelog, orndorff. – Amorella
         What I was attempting to capture in the first photo was the Gulf of Mexico wave action which I realize is more natural than the Don CeSar – a birth in the twenties, then sadness, and then a rebirth. I think the archetucture is magnificant though perhaps a little much. It was called the “Pink Lady” but we always called the St. Pete landmark the Pink Palace. Hey, the original St. Petersburg has a palace or two if I remember correctly. But to your point, I know the blog is not a travelog but my mind took me to the spot and now that I wrote the ‘original St. Petersburg’ I am taken to Dr. Harold Hancock’s Otterbein College (now University) class of Russian History with I took in 1963 or 64. Wonderful class. I learned of people and events I had never heard of before – then the next class I took from Dr. Hancock was Far Eastern History. More of the same – more people and events than had ever entered my mind before. Later, at Indian Hill High School I had two students who reinforced that earlier learning experience. One student now in his fifties is a direct descendent of the last Tsar’s brother who escaped to Paris before the Revolution, and the other former student was on a boat hijacked by pirates as he and his family escaped Vietnam after the war. He and his family now live in the area of New Orleans. Such a diversity of students over those 37 years – my best, to each and every one always! I loved my students. I loved the literature. What a life, and I got paid for it. Here's that first photo, the one looking south, with the waves of the Gulf.


         Your few readers needed to see where you are coming from, old man. Post. - Amorella


          The Shroud of Turin is in the news again. Every time I read an article on the subject I remember an early Time magazine article on the Shroud. The article got me thinking how I could use this in a fiction. My concept was that scientists found a way to clone the blood from the ‘image’ on the cloth and thus recreate the man himself, he who is reported to have been Jesus. The humor is that no one could prove this one way or another but that the clone would have been a return of a man of some two thousand years ago – and could be the man who was Jesus – thus a ‘second coming’ but not exactly as proscribed in the prophecies. I thought the idea wonderfully ironic and the poor fellow would grow up knowing what people thought even though he was his own biological and psychological person. What a twist along with a bit of dark humor. And, believe it or not, that lead to the similar scenes in the “Pouch Text” that carries through all three books, and accidently, through the genetics of young hybrid Diplomat if I remember correctly. Very funny. (I’ll probably go to Hell for the thought but once it popped out of the blue what could I do?) – I’ve got to get ready to go to the movie.
         You are full of contradictions, boy. Very funny, indeed. Post. - Amorella



         After 2100 hours. “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (English version) is something else. I did not    read the books because I heard they were horrifically violent. I should have realized the film would show some of this; it did, but I have nothing to compare it to. Intense drama, wonderful script and delicious acting, some of which echoes in my mind still. I will see the next two. I did not see the Swedish films. I understand the author of the books, now dead, was passionate against violence towards women and this is certainly made clear in this film. I’m ready for bed early tonight.
         We had lunch after at a Chipotle/Panera; I exercised in the pool for an hour. Leftovers for supper. I have a little of the Sunday New York Times to finish up – the magazine and book reviews. I feel older than I look. Reading the Wiki plotlines of “Girl Who Played with Fire” and “Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest” did the aging. I imagine the films will be intense, well scripted and deliciously acted. I somewhat look forward to seeing them. Seeing the film makes me feel as though I have lead a very sheltered life, that is the reason for the “somewhat” in the previous sentence.
         Boy, if you had lead that sheltered of a life I would not be here. Post. – Amorella

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