07 July 2007

Dept. of As It Is Lived

Woke this morning and rolled over to read the last two columns of a David Denby film review. It's my fifth morning in my tiny new apartment.

My curtains are drawn, but the windows are open, and on Nelson Street I can hear the cars and fire trucks, of course, but also bicycles and four kinds of birdsong—a squall, a hoot, a gurgle, and a pinched whistle—and pedestrians and their low conversations, footfalls, and pockets jangling with change.

The Denby review, of a film called "Evening," had a beautiful line, and I very much like the idea behind it:
"The two women look at the past, compare marriages, and make an accounting of their mistakes—which turn out to be merely life as it is lived, not as is hoped for."
I'm going out for a coffee, as it is drunk and not hoped for. That means a choice between the 7-Eleven and the better, pricier cafe, with something existential hanging in the balance. You want anything?

6 comments:

zoe p. said...

I actually liked that line too.

JJB said...

I don't know when I started taking pleasure in the bittersweet.

Anonymous said...

John, Congratualtions on your internship, 5 minutes of radio fame, and the CBC blog. I have a good excuse for being in the "Sorry I missed it" category: I was in Dubai by then. Can I listen to it through online archives? Send me the link.

It's too bad I missed handsome Mr.Hanomansing while I was interning at the CBC!

I'm writing more SOX-style stories for Reuters Dubai, which isn't always as painful as it sounds...im just tired of meeting suits all day long.

Deena

JJB said...

Good for you, Deena. Well done. I didn't think SOX was dreadful, but it does take a focused mind. No online archives for Feeling the Heat as yet, but there seems to be a clamouring for a podcast, which won't happen during the summer.

How's the UAE? Must be nice to be able to ski indoors.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I spend my mornings at the indoor ski, do brunches at Burj al Arab, meet friends at the world's tallest tower Burj Dubai, and top it off with a shopping spree at Mall of the Emirates. When I'm tired after a long work day I go for drinks with friends at the Bhudda Bar.

How are you spending your Vancouver days?

JJB said...

Similarly. Brink dawn-hour jetski around English Bay, couple of races up and down Robson on my 1000cc Suzuki, breakfast at the Wall Centre (the best Eggs Benedict in the city), then to work at my unpaid internship at the CBC, where I fix up the website, do odd jobs (clean the microwave, see if anyone needs coffees), and dream of one day landing my own helicopter on the roof (right now I only get to ride in Mr. Hanomansing's).