The Good Wife

No, I'm not gonna give a lecture on how to be a good wife... :P Yes I'm talking about the TV series! Lately I've been watching this addictively. It's sooooo good!



To be honest, though Julianna Margulies is the leading lady, I tend to think she has the same facial expression in MOST scenes. Really, if you don't believe me, go watch it... yes, I do know that her character Alicia is a serious person and she has to be cautious all the time judging the circumstances she is in, but as an experienced actor perhaps Margulies could have given something 'different'?

I absolutely love the two men in Alicia's life. Both are stunning and charismatic to me - I guess it's really hard to decide: one has cheated on you but is your husband and the father of your children, one is an old chum back in uni and there's always been this feeling between them...hard, huh?

Now that I'm done with season one I'm at a loss. Anywhere I can get season two? I think it's not finished in the States yet but there must be some way to get hold of the episodes that are out already...

'A rose for Emily' by William Faulkner

Read 'A rose for Emily'. I find the narrative a bit puzzling, but it's a good story nonetheless. The only thing is that I'm not sure if it should be read as a thriller - if it were, then really, the suspense is not created very well, as you can so see what has happened to H. B. way before it is actually disclosed. (Read it for yourself if you're interested; do not read on: potential spoiler)

We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.

+++

For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him.

I find the second quote, taken from the final scene, very interesting and puzzling at the same time. Does H. B. offer Miss Emily 'an embrace', or is it purely her imagination? It is definitely she who renders him dead, probably because of anger, disappointment and the desire to cling onto her idea of a lover, but why is H. B. 'cuckholded' by the long sleep? Does that imply he has been reluctant to consummate the relationship (because of his sexual inclination) and therefore his life is taken?

La dame de trèfle

I haven't kept an eye on artsy events for a long, long time. I guess the interest started fading 3 years ago when I started working, as I had significantly less time to dedicate to such events. I still went to those events time and time again for some time, but I guess 1-2 years ago I took a complete hiatus. Well maybe not exactly, as I still go sometimes, but with my drama/dance/play-going partner gone I have no company and therefore no 'drive' to go. Last year I didn't see one single HKIFF film, and this year I only saw one.

Anyway...so I went to see the film La dame de trèfle (translated as Queen of Clubs) last week, coz dear Vivien reserved tickets for me. It's not my normal cup of tea, and oh boy, it's really a bit too much for me. It's supposedly a thriller, but the director's focus is more the very close relationship between the siblings in the film.

I saw it on 4 June, and curiously, it reminded me of the dark side of human nature in a totally different (and yet familiar) way. We're all such utterly selfish creatures, even those who appear to be nice and harmless.

Quotes from 'Everything that rises must converge'

I don't read a lot of American writing, but this story caught my attention as I remember it to be the title story of the volume which appeared in Flashforward.



I don't care much for Flashforward, but there must be some kind of meaning why the book's used there. Anyway, the story itself  is quite meaningful, and I read it as a kind of reminder to all intellectuals about their own sense of superiority and their false beliefs, which are no different from the bigoted views of people who they consider intellectually inferior.

Some quotes:

They should rise, but on their own side of the fence.

***

'True culture is in the mind, the mind,' he said, and tapping his head, 'the mind.'

'It's in the heart,' she said, 'and in how you do things and how you do things is beacuse of who you are.'

'Nobody in the damn bus cares who you are.'

'I care who I am,' she said icily.