Ash Wednesday

Mormons don't observe Carnival or Lent, and I have never given up anything for Lent before. But this year, I've decided to give up drinking and soda. This stems less from a religious/devotional place and more from a physical place as I'm trying to eat healthier and lose weight. I'm giving up all soda till Easter, but I will allow myself to have the occasional glass of wine on Sundays as allowed. Lent is also a time for self-reflection which I could use more of, especially when my life doesn't seem to be going anywhere. 

I did celebrate Mardi Gras in my own little way, making red beans and rice, macaroni & cheese with a Cajun twist, and a King Cake frosted in the Mardi Gras colors. I then went with Kristen to Bar X in downtown SLC for some final cocktails and then we went to Denny's. And nothing says Mardi Gras quite like Denny's.

Finally, here is a poem by the devotional poet George Herbert which I think is fitting for today.

Church Monuments

While that my soul repairs to her devotion, 
Here I entomb my flesh, that it betimes
May take acquaintance of this heap of dust,
To which the blast of Death's incessant motion,
Fed with the exhalation of our crimes,
Drives all at last. Therefore I gladly trust

My body to this school, that it may learn
To spell his elements, and find his birth
Written in dusty heraldry and lines;
Which dissolution sure doth best discern,
Comparing dust with dust, and earth with earth.
These laugh at jet and marble, put for signs,

To sever the good fellowship of dust,
And spoil the meeting—what shall point out them,
When they shall bow and kneel and fall down flat
To kiss those heaps which now they have in trust?
Dear flesh, while I do pray, learn here thy stem
And true descent, that, when thou shalt grow fat,

And wanton in thy cravings, thou mayst know
That flesh is but the glass which holds the dust
That measures all our time, which also shall
Be crumbled into dust. Mark here below
How tame these ashes are, how free from lust,
That thou mayst fit thyself against thy fall.

1633              

Gerwig & Gerwig

Over the summer two indie comedies starring Greta Gerwig were released, Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress and Daryl Wein's Lola Versus. I wanted to see both films, but sometimes I am far too lazy to actually go to the movie theater--and I love movies! Anyway, they are both on DVD, and so I sent them to the top of my Netflix queue and watched both of them this past week. 

I wanted to like the stylized Damsels in Distress so much, and based on the trailer, I thought I would. Gerwig stars as Violet (not her real name), the leader of her own little college clique who runs the campus's suicide prevention center, dates fraternity (Roman letter not Greek) "doofi," and wants to start an international dance craze. It's all just too-too. She sees herself as some kind of know-it-all golden girl rescuing the less fortunate until she herself is dumped by her boyfriend and succumbs to depression. "I don't really like the word 'depressed.' I prefer to say that I'm in a tail-spin." I never bought any of the characters, I couldn't get a handle on Violet at all, and the dialogue was arch and stilted--that's the kind of whimsy, off-kilter movie this is--but it didn't really work for me. That said, I've never seen any other Whit Stillman films, so I'm going to try out Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco. Side note: Megalyn Echikunwoke as Violet's friend Rose, was probably my favorite character. She spent two weeks in London and now speaks in a British accent all the time and believes most, if not all, men are "rat, playboy operators."

If Violet was unbelievable, Greta Gerwig was a convincing delight as Lola, a 29-year-old New York grad student whose fiance leaves her shortly before their wedding. Over the next year she struggles with her ex, sex, friends, school, and herself. If Stillman's film is all arch irony, Wein's film is all awkward naturalism. The plot is overly familiar (at least it had one! kind of), but I laughed throughout. I have never seen the HBO series Girls (sadly), but Lola Versus is a lot like what I imagine Girls to be. Many complain that the characters, especially Lola, are narcissistic, grating, and self-involved, but I think Gerwig keeps Lola endearing, and I often enjoy "unpleasant," self-absorbed characters. 

But what the hell do I know? Damsels has a 76% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes while Lola is rotten at 34%. Either way Greta Gerwig is a quirky actress and I hope big things are in store for her.