On the other hand

I've been thinking about Sex and the City, and while I still think it appeals to those who love the series, there was something in it that stayed with me. A terrible thing happens to Carrie, and because it is terrible, she needs her friends and because this is TV/Movies they are there. And that's what stayed with me. It's rare to have friends who will rush to your side and stay there when terrible things happen. But this is the movies and in the movies Carrie's friends are there and have the financial means to make a bad situation somewhat better. That's what friends are for. And to have friends like that in real life is rare. I wish I had the facility to make and keep friends like that, but I am careless. Friendship, like a garden, needs constant maintenance and care. So, in the end, it's not the fabulous jobs or terrific apartments, or luscious men, or expensive shoes that stays with me, but the fact that when a terrible thing happened, Carrie has her friends, who cannot take the sting away, but who are there to apply balm and comfort. And who, in the throes of terror, do not need the warmth of a loving embrace? Occasionally, that's all that stands between us and the long dive off a high bridge. Boyfriends come and boyfriends go, jobs are lost, marriages disintegrate, but friendship remains. So, my babies, if you have friends, call them tonight and ask how they are, and really listen when they speak, and don't let them slip away. Because if you don't, if you are not a friend, than you will end up like me, old, alone, and broke. The alone part hurts the most and is the thing that is forever.

Indiana Moans and the Temple of Groom

Know from the get-go that I planned to like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I hoped to love it, but I planned to like it. So when Indy appeared, first his hat and then his foot (did you ever notice that Harrison Ford had a small foot? Did I mention that I like small feet). And then his shadow and the music wells and there he is, looking every bit of his 65 years. Okay, here's the thing: I found all those references to every Lucas/Spielberg movie annoying (except I did miss Bruce the Shark) and distracting. Unless you know about Area 57, and not everybody does, you are lost, lost, lost. And then Cat Blanchett channeled Natasha (I truly expected someone to yell, "Stroke, stroke," to her "Bail, Bail"--and if you don't know what I'm talking about you're too young to remember Boris and Natasha). Anyway, I hated what she was doing. BUT, and this is my constant complaint with Spileberg: He does not know how to end a movie. What I wanted, at the end of the, the very last scene, was for Cate Blanchett, who now knows everything, locked-up in a nut house. The movie was fine, bloated, talky, but fine--no matter what the Russian government says (and who doesn't believe that Spielberg didn't bride the Russians to ban Indiana Jones etc). And, had this been a better world, instead of making those lame Star Wars prequels, Lucas would have done Indiana Jones ten years ago so we could have been on number 5 by now. Have you ever noticed how Indiana goes into a cave that has no one has seen for thousands of years and he finds a torch and it lights on the first try? And how everybody and everything gets sucked into the vortex but them? And no matter how lame the movie is, if it's Indiana Jones, I know I will have a good time (Ok, with number two I had to will myself to have a good time) even if the ending is lame.