So, I don't post for seven years, then I crawl out from under my rock and say I'm going to post every week, and then promptly drop off the face of the earth again. Sounds like me. Anyway, I did mean what I said and I still want to get this blog going again, so I'm going to practice yet another exercise in futility (how many calories d'you suppose that burns?) and attempt to resurrect this blog once more.
50 Years of Junk
I have a lot of stuff. Not just my stuff, the stuff accumulated by various family members that has somehow made it into my collection. This means I often lose track of my stuff and am buried in theirs. I also had a family member who was a packrat, and let's just say I'm not surprised by the stories of those people who die amongst their piles of possessions and are not found for many years.
Every year I try a proper spring cleaning but always run out of steam. This year, though, I have to get through it all and even through I've just gotten started I already feel doomed. I moved a little over a year ago and have two family homes full of crud that needs to be gone through and hopefully tossed. There have been a few good moments, such as finding parts of my music collection that I thought I had lost, including some old cassettes (I don't have any cassette players, though, so there's that). However, for the most part it's been excruciating.
In particular, trying to go through my grandmother's belongings. She had dementia at the nd, and left behind a mess that I'm still trying to unravel. She was a hoarder, which I knew, but I wasn't prepared for how emotional it would be sifting through her collection of thrift store purchases and various odds and ends that should have been chucked in the bin years ago. Yarn she never used, patterns for clothing and crafts she never made. When someone has dementia or Alzheimer's, it's like losing them twice, and going through the remnants of my grandmother's life was like losing her a third time. This is going to be a long process.
Another person's trash...
My wardrobe has always consisted primarily of clothes from the thrift store. It's hit or miss and definitely not for the faint of heart. It takes consistency and patience and a eye for detail - after all, you have to check for stains, tears, missing buttons and other flaws that make even the quirkiest thrift store find just not worth the money or effort. Where I lived before, there was a thrift store nearby that had 5 for $1 on specific color tags every Sunday. Once I moved to a different city, it just wasn't worth the drive, but I found a thrift store right around the corner from me that has sales ranging from 50 cents to even 10 cents. I haven't found much there, but I did snag a few 10 cent pieces I'm pretty excited about:
Movie of the Week - "The Merry Gentleman"
Many of us know Michael Keaton from his comedic, often over-the-top roles, like "Mr. Mom," which is the first thing I saw him in. In fact, there was incredible backlash when Tim Burton cast him as the brooding "Batman." Keaton has also played some serious roles ("My Life," "Clean and Sober"), but many people associate him more with Beetlejuice.
In "The 2008 film "The Merry Gentleman," Keaton plays an unlikely leading man - a hitman named Frank who wants to exit the biz. By day he's a tailor, and while he carries out his hits in a matter of fact way, it's obvious he wants out - of his job, of his life, of everything. And then he meets Kate (played by Kelly McDonald) a woman on the run from her abusive husband (who's also a cop). Kate witnesses one of Frank's hits,, and we at first assume that he'll have to kill her too, to eliminate any witnesses. Instead, he befriends her, and we watch as both characters evolve and attempt to come to terms with their lives.
Though set at Christmastime, the movie is hardly cheerful, and it's definitely not something you'd watch with the family on Christmas Eve. However, the festive setting only enhances the bleakness of the characters' lives at the beginning. Keaton also directed the movie, in which he delivers an understated, quiet but somehow equally imposing performance. You wouldn't think you could sympathize with a hitman, but in this case you do. Kelly McDonald also delivers, portraying the abused Kate as not a victim or a damsel in distress, but as someone doing everything she can to rebuild her life.
The Merry Gentlemen is free on Tubi and Plex.