weaving9

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

Day and night, the halloween house.

weaving8

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

Day and night, Davis Square.

weaving7

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

This one was finished on Friday; I’ll have a couple more up in a few days. Night and day in Davis Sq.

weaving6

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

Night and day at Victor’s convenience. I just finished this the other day.

I read Gatsby again in the darkroom recently, and it was better than ever. Then, I read Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac which was lots of fun but just a little silly. Still, getting all the time to read is yet again another advantage of the darkroom time — and I haven’t read a book in 24 hours like that in a while (as I did with Amnesiac.) Now reading: What It Takes To Pull Me Through: Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of Them Got Out. It’s kind of random, but I am really enjoying it so far.

macys

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

This one is also a bad picture of a new project, but I’m beginning to get excited about how everything’s shaping up.

It was such a pleasant surprise to realize that one of my perks as a part-time SMFA student is free MFA movies. . . and I am taking full advantage of this. I think I’m going to miss the Alice Neel movie, the preview for which made me drool for its insidery soap-opera promises — but I did see a documentary about Abelardo Morell called “The Shadow of the House” — and it’s wonderful. I won’t even lie, I cried at the sometimes silly but ultimately touching documentary moments — and it was incredible to see his working process. I also gained more of an understanding of how more varied his work is than I ever realized.

Coming into the theater, I expected somewhat more of the rollercoaster offered by the 2005 Eggleston documentary, which as a side note literally made me sick to my stomach because of its Blair-Witch style camera work. The Morell piece, following the way he presents himself to the world, is not as frenetic and wild as the Eggleston, — but each gives a look into the working processes of a talented photographer, and I’m glad to have seen them.

I also headed to the Manhattan Short Film festival (shown at the Boston MFA) last weekend. I hate to say it, but I thought it could’ve been better; lots of over-wrought plot lines and unnecessary repetitions of pretentious ideas from other movies. One of the few standouts was an Israeli film, Boris’s Complete Book of Rules — which I ended up voting for, and which did not win. Not that I’m bitter.

I watched this movie with a friend last night. It’s firmly in the realm of art films that are intentionally obtuse, but it’s filmed in a beautiful way and the story, in the end, is very sweet. It’s also impressive as an example of a modern, almost entirely silent film. I would recommend that you watch it on the largest screen available, and prepare to be confused but amazed.

This morning I was sitting on the T (as a side note, it has been beautiful in Boston this week, and I want to recognize it for the hen’s teeth that it is) and I saw a man struggle on, obviously on his way to the airport. He already had the look that the T gives you sometimes when you’ve got some luggage and it’s a little humid, a bit strained and uncomfortable, the already-been-in-the-airport-3-hours -and-the-escalator-stopped-working look. I glanced at his shirt, which had some “Life is good” looking art on it, and glanced again when I realized he was actually wearing something much more appropriate. What was he wearing? A knockoff: “Life is crap.”

Someone just called me on the telephone to ask if I would be interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Shakespearean studies. After a long day at work, this is the real test of a person’s tolerance for unusual requests.