VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): As Barack Obama's inauguration day
approached, some astrologers were aghast that he would be taking the
oath of office when the moon was void-of-course. In their eyes, this
aspect is a bad portent for any new enterprise. If Obama would only
postpone the oath for 35 minutes, they said, everything would be fine. He
didn't, of course. But then the improbable happened. Chief Justice John
Roberts, who was administering the oath, got the wording wrong, and
Obama went along with it. Scholars then speculated that the oath wasn't
fully official. The next day, when the moon was no longer void-of-course,
Roberts and Obama re-did the ritual, making things right. And that's how
an apparent mistake allowed Obama to elude the curse of superstitious
astrologers. A seemingly inconvenient delay in your own process, Virgo,
will bring an equally beneficent loophole for you.

First sentence of first post of each month; you know the drill.

"I've just discovered that I have been a victim of identity theft. It's just that kind of a week, where I could use a dose of anonymous love. On the eve of the Texas primaries, I have put my sick husband to bed, done the rest of my research on the candidates on tomorrow's ballot, and now, I have spent an hour dreaming of flying. I love this man so much. Two and a half years after the last installation of this (mostly for my reference) list, here's Part Six of my movie rental history and recommendations. I feel lonely, distant, and friendless, even though I have no practical reason to feel that way. Last Thursday, I was in Philadelphia for a beautiful wedding. "The advantage of the incomprehensible is that it never loses its freshness," wrote French poet Paul Valery. I realized today that my last few posts require updates. Okay. I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year. These days, I'm thinking deeply about my teenage years, movie star crushes, fantasy worlds, women writers, and writing writing writing."

I love this exercise, as well as the 40 new year questions, which I will enjoy doing soon. Thank you, dear LJ friends, for another year together, sharing our thoughts and words in this fine virtual space.

Part One is here.
Part Two is here.
Part Three is here.
Part Four is here.
Part Five is here.
Part Six is here.
The BALE-ATHON (Part Seven) is here.

Man, there are a lot of movies on here! We've been getting our money's worth from Netflix's Watch Instantly, clearly.

The Good, The Bleh, and The Ugly

Good = anywhere from "I'd watch it again" to "It changed my life."
Bleh = anywhere from "I've already forgotten I watched it" to "Ugggghhhhhhhh."
Ugly = anywhere from "This movie was mildly offensive" to "I didn't finish it because it was so bad."
* = highly recommended!

Special note! I realized that I missed three movies in the BALE-athon! I watched "Shaft" but the other two I have yet to find. Copies of "Metroland" or "Howl's Moving Castle", anyone?

The Good
***The King of Kong
*Empire of the Sun
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
*Moloko: 11,000 Clicks
Little Shop of Horrors
The Shining
Passenger 57
*Newsies
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Seven Year Itch
The Breakfast Club
**Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
3:10 to Yuma
30 Days of Night
*The Office: Season 1 (U.S. Version)
*The Office: Season 2 (U.S. Version)
*The Office: Season 3 (U.S. Version)
*The Office: Season 4 (U.S. Version)
Rocky II
Weeds: Season 3: Discs 1-3 (Love Weeds, but toward the end, I was getting a bit stretched thin)
Love in the Time of Cholera
No Country for Old Men
Secuestro Express
*Antonia's Line
Man of Aran
Night of the Living Dead
*Gone Baby Gone
*The Business of Being Born
Dancing at the Blue Iguana - in this category ONLY because of the pole tricks, and because Sheila Kelley's role inspired her to create S Factor

The Bleh
Shaft
3 O'Clock High
The Wire: Season 1: Disc 1
The Wire: Season 1: Disc 2 (I tried to like it! I just didn't get hooked.)
Escape from New York
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Movie (but oh! the series that it spawned!)
St. Elmo's Fire
Little Britain: Series 1: Episode 1
Resident Evil: Extinction
Velvet Goldmine
Jesus Camp

The Ugly
Earth Girls Are Easy
Nine Months
Shanghai Kiss (I wanted so badly to like this one! But the script -- ugggghhh)

Rob Brezsny for this week:

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1952, renowned modern composer John Cage created the infamous "4'33"." It's a "song" that consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of pure silence. Recently a San Francisco performance artist, Jonathon Keats, did a remix of that tune and made it available as a ring-tone. I'd love for you to be inspired by those two geniuses in the coming week, Virgo. It'll be an excellent time for you to come to a perfect stop, fill yourself with stillness, and bask in the healing power of undiluted nothingness.

These days, I'm thinking deeply about my teenage years, movie star crushes, fantasy worlds, women writers, and writing writing writing. I brought home from Thanksgiving three boxes of old notes, letters, e-mails, and scrapbooks, and I am so touched by my fourteen-year-old self.

Nothing on these topics coming out yet on the page, but it's all churning.

Happy December, everyone.

YES
YES
YES

Part One is here.
Part Two is here.
Part Three is here.
Part Four is here.
Part Five is here.
Part Six is here.

Okay. So, in late July, after seeing "The Dark Knight" for the second time, I got all introspective. I started thinking about my adolescent crush on Christian Bale. I had it bad, people. To this day, I know almost all the lyrics to the music in "Newsies." I spent Christmas day 1994 with my mom, sister, and friend in the movie theatre, watching "Little Women." There was a time where I would have been at the front of the line on opening day to see any new Christian Bale movie.

The crush faded, as crushes do, and a dozen years passed, bringing with them 13 Christian Bale movies that I totally missed.

In a buttery-popcorn-induced crazy moment, I decided to do a Bale-athon -- I added all of his movies that I hadn't seen to our Netflix queue.

Chris gave my plan the go-ahead, but 14 movies and two months later, I think he regretted that decision. Yes, Christian Bale has made some real stinkers. Doing this round-up, I'm actually surprised by the balance of good ones -- watching them back-to-back, the bad ones seemed soooo much worse than the good ones were good.

And with that explanation, here's the Bale-athon edition of my movie recommendations:


The Good, The Bleh, and The Ugly

Good = anywhere from "I'd watch it again" to "It changed my life."
Bleh = anywhere from "I've already forgotten I watched it" to "Ugggghhhhhhhh."
Ugly = anywhere from "This movie was mildly offensive" to "I didn't finish it because it was so bad."
* = highly recommended!

The Good
The New World
*Laurel Canyon
*American Psycho
*Equilibrium
I'm Not There


The Bleh
The Secret Agent
All the Little Animals
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rescue Dawn


The Ugly
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Machinist
Harsh Times

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Many people who pray don't limit their conversations with God to purely spiritual and ethical matters. In fact, money is one of the main subjects the Divine Wow is asked to address. If you've never had the chutzpah to do this yourself, I suggest you try it soon. Higher powers of all kinds, from your boss to the loan officer at the bank to the Creator Herself, may be unusually receptive to your pleas. I'm guessing you'll be able to tap into financial help "from above," or that you will make a connection with an elevated source of wealth that has previously been out of your reach.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "The advantage of the incomprehensible is that it never loses its freshness," wrote French poet Paul Valery. From that perspective, Virgo, I bet you'll be sparkling and brisk in the coming days. You will be cheeky and saucy, crisp and rosy, bright and well-ventilated. There'll be so much delightfully hard-to-understand novelty flowing your way that you will be awakened again and again and again, rising to a higher level of awareness each time.

Yeah, I'll take some of that.