Weather Whiplash

Winter in New York can be beautiful. Spring is definitely beautiful, especially when the blossoms are in bloom. What is not beautiful is the bouncing back and forth between them. One day it's freezing and I need as many layers as I can manage, the next I'm in shorts and a tank top and questioning whether I need to put on sunscreen and thank myself that I was smart and have aloe.

I just want the weather to make up its mind whether it’s winter or spring. That's all. This is the winter season, this is the spring season. That's it. No more back and forth between the cool spring and the frigid winter. And tomorrow's high is in the low thirties? At the end of March? This climate is ridiculous.

I would like spring to last longer before the horrible New York summer kicks in, too. Much appreciated. 

journal

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Should Be A Limited Series

The adaptation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was finally announced, something I’ve wanted and been intrigued by since I finished the book.

However. It’s going to be a movie on Netflix, and that doesn’t feel right to me. Not just because it's a movie, but because it's Netflix and I have a feeling that it might not be the right fit for this book. Just from the tone of the book, I would've guessed it would be more in tone with HBO or Hulu. It's an epic period drama about Hollywood, and women-centered. HBO and Hulu have had success with stories about women adapted from novels, as evidenced by Reese Witherspoon's projects with both networks, Big Little Lies (season 1) and Little Fires Everywhere.

Now to the crux of my argument: you cannot pack this novel into two hours. You want to tell a multi-decade story about a woman, her career, and her seven husbands in two hours? Ha! It needs multiple episodes to breathe and giver her marriages enough time to show the impact each one had on her and how she lived and worked. I don't think it should be seven episodes, one per husband. I think it should be nine. One for Evelyn's early life, seven per husband and those parts of her life, and one for Monique and how this interview and all these revelations impacted her, make her a true character and not just our conduit. 

When adapting something, it has to be the right medium and storyteller. Storyteller, we'll have to wait and see, but I just don't think a Netflix movie is the medium for it. Unless, it's an awards movie, sometimes, Netflix movies aren't talked about for longer than a weekend, if that. I think this material needs the prestige of an HBO or, lately, Hulu series to give it all the time and attention this story deserves.

cinema, the telly, thoughts

My Jeans Shopping Odyssey

So, I have not had luck shopping for jeans over the last few months. And at first I was just looking to add another pair to my rotation. Then, all my jeans decided to wear out at the same time. And I got a new job where jeans are the best option. So, I needed jeans. 

Unfortunately for me, I am 4'10" and not a stick, so buying jeans is hard for me. I can't just buy some online and know they'll fit right. I need to try them on and see how the waist fits and, importantly, how long the legs end up being so it looks like I have massive ankles.  

When I do go jeans shopping, I do not care where I get them, as long as I can find pairs that fit me. I am not a jeans snob, because I can't be. So whether it be Zara or Walmart, if they fit me and they're cute, I will buy them. 

I decided to go to Times Square and check out Forever 21 because I can usually find jeans that fit me there. And I found a few pairs and a cute skirt to try on, but their dressing rooms are still closed. So that was a bust. Especially cause the skirt was cute, but it was a style and material I'd never worn before so also something I needed to try on. Onto the next store, but I was already starting to get frustrated and I hadn't even tried anything on. Thankfully I was in Times Square, which means I was surrounded by stores I regularly get jeans from. So I decided to head to H&M. There, I could actually try on the jeans. And all three pairs I tried on did not fit, and those were also the only jeans I could find that were my size and not those stupid 90s jeans that are trying to make a comeback. 

I was starting to feel more defeated after almost two hours of trying, so I thought I'd try again tomorrow. I went to the Times Square subway station, but decided to maybe try the H&M that's a twenty minute walk from home. So I changed subway platforms and headed to a second H&M. I found a couple different styles of jeans but those also didn't fit. So I left.

But, I saw the Old Navy across the street and thought why not, what else have I got to lose? Well. I found three pairs of jeans and they fit, including a pair of petite jeans. And then, even better, I found a cute pair of denim shorts that fit, too. And the icing on the cake was that there was a 40% off sale happening so I got all four for $78 bucks. And I had a visa gift card from Christmas so no cost to me, with $22 bucks left over as a nice cushion for when I have to buy actual fashion pieces, even though I've been having a hard time with that, too. But maybe this shopping trip will turn it all around for me.

journal

Earworm: "You Can Have It All" by George McCrae

Oh this song is a good one. I first heard it in the season 2 finale of Love Life, a season of television everyone should go and watch. As soon as the episode had ended I immediately looked up the song and has been in regular rotation ever since. It soars and gives the feeling that I could fly whenever I listen to it. If I could dance I would dance to it.

It's also a very simple song, and I mean that in the best possible way. The fact that it doesn't have a traditional song structure allows it to build its end, like you're rising right along with it.

earworm

Holy Smokes Batman!

The Batman is out now and it's got me thinking about all the past cinematic Batmans. The Batman was a good film noir, but he was still in the tradition of the grim dark that has encompassed Batman stories of over the last couple of decades. It's almost like a competition to see how grim dark they can take the character. Also literally dark, to where you can't really see what's happening on the screen. And on top of that, since The Dark Knight, each Batman and movie he has been in has gotten progressively dour. Somebody at Warner Brothers or DC needs to be brave and bold and take Batman into a whole new direction. 

There are a few different directions I would like to see Batman go in.

One is very simple: find a different kind of villain to be the antagonist. No more Banes or Jokers wanting the destruction of Gotham. Don't even repeat some of the villains from the older movies. Go to the comics and find a character from the rogues gallery that may not be as well known to the general public. Nothing shakes things up like new blood.

The second direction is to go full camp. Just go back to the style of the original Adam West show and update it for the 21st Century. Be fun and funny and bring color back to Batman. It is inherently ridiculous that a playboy decides to spend his wealth to dress up as a bat to "save the city" instead of donating it to charities or funding his own. Let's be real, Gotham really needs that money.

The third direction, and the one I hope that is taken, is put Batman into a 1940s film noir. The Batman is film noir, but I want classic Hollywood film noir. He is essentially a private investigator, and he's got quite the number of femme fatales, with Catwoman clearly on top. Have him actually be the world's greatest detective and make him solve a crime. Less brawling, more sleuthing. He should have plenty of rogues that aren't super powered, let's seem him go toe to toe with a regular human criminal mastermind. You want to be super stylish, film it in black and white with all the angles and hallmarks of a true film noir. 

I don't see why Batman needs to remain this one thing when he has a varied history. Why do we have to keep telling the same kind of stories about him? Is is just that people think that only one kind of Batman story can be told anymore? Or is it that the studios are trying to appease fans with what they want, and keep going further and further into the darkness with no sign of light?

cinema, thoughts

In the Midst of a Personal Style Crisis

I've written about this before, but I just went clothes shopping and it has crystallized: I don't know what my personal style is anymore.

My style has always been a mix of prep and punk and "girly". Ringer tees, black jeans, floral tops and dresses, combat boots, military over shirt, denim skirts. I'd mix and match all those pieces to create my style. And it took a while for me to get there, because I grew up and went to school in the 2000s and early 10s, when fashion was atrocious and low-rise jeans were a thing. 

I just can't seem to buy anything. I got to stores, find great pieces, even try some of them on. But I just don't buy them. My hesitancy about buying anything even goes for basics like a simple pair of sneakers, t-shirts, and jeans, which is a problem because it's time for me to get new jeans. 

And the worst part about it is I have gift cards! Visa gift cards that I can spend anywhere. No expense to my bank account and I still can't do it. I just don't want to end up having buyer's remorse, because I don't know what my style is and I don't want to buy pieces and not be able to build a wardrobe out of it. 

So now I'm stuck with an old wardrobe, wearing out jeans, and gift cards waiting for me in my wallet, taunting me, waiting for this case of the shopping yips to go away.

(I did end up buying this dress because how could I not. You can't go wrong with too many little black dresses in your wardrobe, and I didn't have a cool little black dress like this before now.)

journal