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2008 was, for me, the year of not getting the little things done.
I am reminded of this today because the woman who produced the oneg ("delight" more or less in Hebrew; it's what we call the gathering after Shabbat Morning Services where people hang around and talk and, most importantly, eat) was doing it in honor of her first grandchild's first birthday. I had meant to give his parents a baby warming gift, but in the end I never did. That's kind of way my year went.
On a very small scale, for instance, I wrote up no capsule film reviews after February 08. Partly this was because I ended up watching a lot fewer films than I might usually do because I was writing so much. Also, major family issues (the illness and subsequent passing of my mother in law) took up a lot of time and energy this year, although all that time and energy was well worth it given how very wonderful she was.
I'm going to try to keep up my capsule film reviews this year, and I hope to fill in with what I can recall of the films I saw last year either at home or in the theaters.
Will I manage this? Who knows?
Here are a two bonus capsule film reviews (films I watched in 2008):
Swades:
This is a message movie, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't see it. I rather enjoyed it. Indian dude (not too overplayed by Shah Rukh Khan) is a successful scientist in the USA and wants to bring his childhood nanny to live with him. But when he goes to India to fetch her he finds her living in a tiny out of the way village with a young woman (love interest!!!) who is a (the?) teacher at the village school. This film tackles a kitchen sink's worth of issues--education, women's independence and work, child marriage, rural poverty, access to water--and all that with catchy songs from A. R. Rahman as well! The young woman's story and her determination that her work matters as much as anything was refreshing.
Not One Less:
In a poor rural community in China the school-teacher has to go on a trip, so he hires a student (she's only 13 or 14) to substitute for him with the proviso that she is only paid if all the students stay in class the month he is gone. One boy heads off to the big city, and she must go after to get him back. It's an engaging story (with a bit of sentiment at the end) but it's the details that really make this wonderful. As in the film Together, you really see China in the background and in the little things. Also, you will never again take arithmetic (and, I hope, learning) for granted.
Side editorial: I note that both these films display very clearly the central importance of school teachers in almost all communities. I wish that in discussions of home-schooling, it was acknowledged that home schooling is, in fact, the product of a luxury society (or, in earlier eras, of being well off).
I am reminded of this today because the woman who produced the oneg ("delight" more or less in Hebrew; it's what we call the gathering after Shabbat Morning Services where people hang around and talk and, most importantly, eat) was doing it in honor of her first grandchild's first birthday. I had meant to give his parents a baby warming gift, but in the end I never did. That's kind of way my year went.
On a very small scale, for instance, I wrote up no capsule film reviews after February 08. Partly this was because I ended up watching a lot fewer films than I might usually do because I was writing so much. Also, major family issues (the illness and subsequent passing of my mother in law) took up a lot of time and energy this year, although all that time and energy was well worth it given how very wonderful she was.
I'm going to try to keep up my capsule film reviews this year, and I hope to fill in with what I can recall of the films I saw last year either at home or in the theaters.
Will I manage this? Who knows?
Here are a two bonus capsule film reviews (films I watched in 2008):
Swades:
This is a message movie, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't see it. I rather enjoyed it. Indian dude (not too overplayed by Shah Rukh Khan) is a successful scientist in the USA and wants to bring his childhood nanny to live with him. But when he goes to India to fetch her he finds her living in a tiny out of the way village with a young woman (love interest!!!) who is a (the?) teacher at the village school. This film tackles a kitchen sink's worth of issues--education, women's independence and work, child marriage, rural poverty, access to water--and all that with catchy songs from A. R. Rahman as well! The young woman's story and her determination that her work matters as much as anything was refreshing.
Not One Less:
In a poor rural community in China the school-teacher has to go on a trip, so he hires a student (she's only 13 or 14) to substitute for him with the proviso that she is only paid if all the students stay in class the month he is gone. One boy heads off to the big city, and she must go after to get him back. It's an engaging story (with a bit of sentiment at the end) but it's the details that really make this wonderful. As in the film Together, you really see China in the background and in the little things. Also, you will never again take arithmetic (and, I hope, learning) for granted.
Side editorial: I note that both these films display very clearly the central importance of school teachers in almost all communities. I wish that in discussions of home-schooling, it was acknowledged that home schooling is, in fact, the product of a luxury society (or, in earlier eras, of being well off).