Michelle Rocked

I recently saw My Week With Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe. The film also stars a number of my favorite British actors, including Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Michael Kitchen from Foyle's War, and even Jim Carter (Mr. Carson from Downton Abbey). Others include Dame Judi Dench, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Emma Watson, Miranda Raison (MI-5), and Julia Ormond. Dougray Scott from Scotland also gave a standout performance as Arthur Miller. Whew. There were so many, I probably left a few out. I so enjoyed seeing all these actors all together on the big screen. 

This film recreates the story of Marilyn's time in England filming a movie with Sir Laurence Olivier, based on the book by Colin Clark. Kenneth Branagh and Eddie Redmayne star as Sir Laurence and Clark, respectively. Williams is totally believable as Monroe in 1956. Get used to seeing Eddie Redmayne on screen in the next few years, because I think his unique face will be seen everywhere. What can one say about Branagh? He did his usual superb acting in this one. And I have been waiting for the next Wallender. 

The main reason to see this film, however, is Michelle Williams. She is beautiful and perfect and tragic. I thought I was watching Marilyn Monroe in the film and not Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe. I could only feel sorry for how difficult this role must have been for her (pills). Michelle Williams also did her own singing in the film. And she can sing, too. Michelle rocked. 

Wordless Wednesday: Structure

Wordless Wednesday:

--Photo courtesy of Bubba Hernandez (see also Moon Zero Bird Records)

A Tuesday to Remember

Wow. I woke up very, very early this morning and immediately turned on espn2 to watch what was happening in Australia at the Open. Great way to start the day. Nadal was playing Berdych. I like Nadal a lot, but was rooting for underdog Czech Tomas Berdych. He didn't come through. I really tuned in to see the outcome of Federer versus Del Potro. I was afraid for RF, but was happy to see he beat Juan Martin as easily as he had young Aussie phenom Tomic in his previous match. Gotta love Fed.

--(January 11, 2011 - Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Then I went to work. I was busy the whole morning on several different projects that seem to never end.

At lunch, I decided to go to the mall to walk around and get out of the building. When I was walking, I decided to pop in to the Martin Lawrence Galleries that is located in Galleria Dallas. I have been meaning to go in there and check out the art I have been noticing as I walk by. Also, I was looking up an artist for a blog posting and noticed that some of this artist's work was represented at MLG. The gallery was in a bit of a disarray because they were hanging some new arrivals. Lo and behold, the artist's work that I asked about was stacked at the desk and so I got to look at the works piece by piece at my leisure. Cool. I am buying a signed print soon and will post about the artist soon. I finished walking and went back to work.

On my way back to work, I received a call from a travel coordinator that I have been playing phone tag with for the past few days and got some info on a trip I am planning to a quite exotic and fascinating place. I am simply stoked to go to this place and I think it is going to happen sooner rather than later. I am happiest when a trip is being planned. I'm not saying when or where yet, because you just never know what might happen before then. I have been burned before a time or two and had learned not to say too much too soon. And thankfully learned that lesson and tragedy had been avoided just weeks ago. But now there is total excitement. A great lunch hour. 

Another few hours of long distance correspondence with one of the engineers I work for (who is in Stavanger, Norway on business) and the day was nearing an end. Well, not quite. When you work for someone who is traveling overseas and is staying up at least until midnight to get work done, then you really don't want to fret about leaving the office right at 5. So, even though I had plans for later, I stayed and finished up some problems dealing with unexpected late situations. Even though it was pouring rain, I actually made it to the book signing I was going to fairly quickly. This signing was at the indie bookstore I love called A Real Bookstore. I met Pam from pixelimpress at the store for the signing because one of the two authors this evening is her client. More on these authors in another posting. Waiting for Pam, I chatted with the owner of the store, Teri Tanner, who was the driving force behind the recent Stephen King appearance that I posted about not too long ago. Did I tell you that I happened to luck into getting one of the 250 out of 1,000 books at the Stephen King talk that is signed? Oh yeah. 1st edition signed copy of 11/22/63. That was very much a night to remember. Before tonight's talk, I also met several of the other people who ventured out in the pouring rain to see these authors. I came away with two new books and an enjoyable evening of a talking with other like-minded people who love books and blogging and authors, etc. 

And guess what? I am ending this day of work and satisfaction by watching the Australian Open. The day has come full circle. Especially with many things that truly make me happy: tennis, art, accomplishment, travel, books, friendship, and tennis again. One terrific Tuesday. 

Wordless Wednesday: Trafalgar Square

--Wordless Wednesday

Animation of a Gerald Murphy Painting

One of my favorite paintings to view at the Dallas Museum of Art is Watch by Gerald Murphy. The museum has moved the oil-on-canvas painting around the building to different locations in the past few years, but it is usually prominently displayed. The last time I viewed Watch, in early August, Murphy's work was on the third floor of the museum amidst a number of works by strictly American painters. Below is Watch:

Watch is a fairly large painting. The dimensions of Watch are 78 1/2 x 78 7/8 inches (199.39 x 200.36 centimeters). Following is a picture by Michael Spear Hawkins, photographer, of one of his friends in front of the painting that gives perspective as to how large a canvas on which Gerald Murphy worked:

Inspecting Watch close up is interesting in that you can see the precision in which Murphy delineated all of the parts of a watch. Some pencil lines can still be seen in some places from what I recall. 

I always wondered what it would be like to see Gerald's* Watch start ticking. Guess what? I was doing some searching regarding Watch and happened upon this short animation of Gerald's work by an animator from Stuttgart, Germany. Following is what I was excited to find on Henning M. Lederer's website:

HERE is a link to Henning Lederer's website posting of the animation. Henning's wordpress site is entitled "machinatorium" as he apparently enjoys animating similar works to Watch, as well as other works. Henning's wordpress site is only one part of his complete website, which can be found HERE. I have enjoyed perusing Henning's site the past few days and have enjoyed his animations, collaborations, artwork, and creativity. 

For a little more information on Watch, the DMA's educator blog posted an entry that can be found HERE.

Finally, you can view a short episode of KERA's show think about the Murphys and the exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art that was shown in 2008 by clicking HERE.

*I use Gerald, as I have read Everybody Was So Young by Amanda Vaill a couple of times, as well as several other books about the Murphys, and have a real appreciation and affinity for the style and creativity of the Murphys (Gerald and his wife, Sara) and their group of friends from the 1920's in Paris and Antibes. 

Wordless Wednesday: From Lanai

--Wordless Wednesday

Fun Video Friday--Finca Vigía

--beautiful video with music of Ernest Hemingway's Finca Vigía near Havana, Cuba.

Wordless Wednesday: Kitty Cat

--Wordless Wednesday

Short Story Reading in 2012

I've decided to read a short story a day in 2012. I am sure there are formal challenges out there in the blogosphere, but for some reason I grossly fail at any challenge I enter. I am keeping track of the stories in my new tab above called "2012 Short Stories."

For today, I just finished reading "Hearts and Crosses" by O. Henry. If you didn't know, O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter and he lived in Austin, Texas, for many years. Porter worked at various occupations and gathered experiences and stories in Texas that he later used in his writing.

In this particular O. Henry story, two cowboys were having a conversation as they were herding cattle on the range. My favorite lines from "Hearts and Crosses" is the following:

You may fill in a mile, a meal, and a murder between your paragraphs without detriment to your thesis. So, without apology, Webb offered an addendum to the conversation that had begun ten miles away.

--O. Henry from www.simtalk.com