HomeSeptember 13, 1997
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toadAs I'm lugging the laundry to the car, I notice movement in the grass next to the fence. At first I think it's a mouse because there have been some around. Nope. It's a toad. Bufo Americanus. Size of a fist and then some. A fist and a half maybe. It hops along the edge of my yard next to the fence never really coming out of my unmowed lawn. Finally it goes under the fence into the Beans of Egypt Maine's yard. I haven't seen a toad here in years. Of course I haven't let my lawn go this wild in years either. Maybe there's a correlation. I'm happy to see the toad. I may never mow my lawn! coffeeAfter I drop the laundry off, I head to Starbucks for some coffee. Philosophy Larry is sitting there correcting papers. I haven't seen him most of the summer so I sit down to find out how the philosophy department is surviving - they lost the major but saved the department, and Larry is full time now. So Larry benefits and philosophy loses. He asks about the Coastal Aesthetics Summer School. As I'm filling him in, Julie arrives looking for Tom. She is surprised he's not here. I buy her a latte and Larry invites her to sit down too. Soon we're discussing everything under the sun. Tom finally appears, surprised that Julie has been looking for him. We fill him in on the state of philosophy. Julie goes to buy vegetables. Larry goes home. Tom tells me he's reading at the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac festival on Oct. 3. He's one of three poets chosen to read in the street (Palmer Street). His car is in the shop - busted fuel line and blown head gasket. This could run into big bucks. Julie returns with vegetables and baguettes. I give them a lift home. children of natureI head down to Rhode Island. Nancy and I had planned to see Brigitte Bardot in Contempt at the Avon, but after dinner at Cafe of India I'm too tired. I want to stay in. So does Nancy 'cause she's got the beeper and didn't want to chance having to leave the movie anyway. We decide to check out Acme Video, a new place on Brook St. where Seward's Folly used to be. Amazingly they have Children of Nature from Fridrik Thor Fridriksson who did Cold Fever, one of our favorite movies - the best Icelandic/Japanese road movie you'll ever see. Ever since we saw Cold Fever, we've been looking for any other Fridriksson films. Turns out, Children of Nature is remarkably similar to Cold Fever. Another road film about funerals, full of symbolism and magic realism and bizarre features of Icelandic culture as well as stunning Icelandic landscapes. It's in Icelandic with English subtitles so it was fun to see how much or how little Icelandic we recognized. Great movie. Loved it. I do have to wonder about Fridriksson's early life though. Is there some great void that can only be filled by constantly recreating proper funerals? Nancy's theory is his Dad flushed his pet goldfish down the toilet and he's been obsessed with proper burial ever since. Having received a new catalog from Mal og Menning, our favorite Icelandic bookstore, just yesterday, I have the perfect activity for apres video. We browse the catalog reading favorite descriptions aloud. We find a memoir by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson. Maybe this will tell us why he has created and mastered the funeral road movie genre. Alas, it is only in Icelandic. We fantasize about having Gary Wake, weather reporter for the DAILY NEWS FROM ICELAND, translate it into English for us. Nancy dogears the pages of all bilingual editions of Scandinavian poetry. I mark the geology books. Finally we decide to go to bed. |
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