Just finished watching August Rush with the kids, even though I initially told them we were only going to watch 30 mins and then go to bed, because they stayed up late watching Willow last night. When Daddy's away...
Anyway, what does anyone make of this movie? While watching it, I kept having flashbacks to this confrontation Lebo had in the Blockbuster in our old neighborhood in Dallas with a couple of effetes who were checking out Mr. Holland's Opus, which she promptly derided as Mr. Holland's Doofus. So she stood and argued with them about the de-merits of this movie, which she claimed was overly sentimental, canned, predictable, etc, while Nate, Dan and I stepped out of the store to avoid engaging. Same comments could be made of August Rush: adolescent acting, manipulative emotional scenes, a love affair built on a couple of upclose eye-locks. Robin Williams is a cheesy rehash of Fagan, supposedly threatening, but really laughable, who spouts a bunch of neo-platonic hoohah about the music of the spheres to the kid musicians he's hiding in an old theater. And the ending is predictable. And even though it took Annie awhile to figure out who August's parents turn out to be, everyone else knows as soon as the movie starts. I did fastforward a little of the romance at the beginning: it goes from a rooftop kiss, to the lovers waking on the roof, all clothed, but spooning.
But at the same time that I'm going through this argument in my head, after fast forwarding the scenes where the girl cellist's father tries to break them up and the rock star renounces his music, we started watching when August is at the boys' home and learns to whistle. And I got sucked in, as did all the kids. I tried telling myself that I appreciated the movie's message about the power of the arts to lead to transcendence. And it had a good message about faith. And a warning about falling in with suspicious characters. The choreographed grand finale was almost too obvious to enjoy, and yet I enjoyed it. I let myself be manipulated. And I hope my kids are now more interested in music.
In other news, our inspection seemed to go well today: no electrical, plumbing, roof, or foundation problems. We don't have the final report of what we'll have to fix, but most of the repairs the inspector noticed are minimal - biggest is getting the wrought iron railing resoldered and the bricks that it's anchored to replaced. And getting a window in the stairwell replaced with tempered glass, which is apparently now the code. To celebrate the inspection being over, I let the boys get down the little GI Joes from the attic, where I've stashed a bunch of toys. Next step: the appraisal. Happily a house similar to ours just sold, and it compares favorably to ours. St. Joseph, we're not quite ready to dig you up yet and have a feast in your honor. but we're starting to think about it. Keep petitioning for us!
As you all know, we spent a few days with the Tharps on Caddo Lake and had the opportunity to do some fishing in the cypress swamp. Here is a view of one of the scary fish that are found there. We did not get pictures of the cotton mouth snakes that were plentiful!
