Saint Fred the Redeemer.

Today is my third snow day in a week. We've suddenly had winter come upon us all at once. It's given me a nice break from work! Plus, I don't mind snow. I do mind driving in wintery weather, but after making it safely (although, completely shaken) home last Thursday during the first snow storm of this week, I've stayed  away from driving as much as possible. But, in all, I think snow is really pretty and I love it. Always have. I think we've got something like over a foot of snow on the ground right now. Still, back to work tomorrow.

I've gotten lots of movie-watching, music-listening, and book-reading done over this week. I've been watching "Lark Rise to Candleford":

Holding a resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

I'm currently reading "The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry, which was my choice for the task of reading an award-winning novel. It won the 2009 prize of best Irish Literature. I'm sort of, 'eh' about it. I haven't read a lot of Irish lit, but between this one and Angela's Ashes, I'd swear that Ireland is the most miserable place on Earth. Not a single good thing has happened in the over 250 pages I've read so far. Everything is misery, heartache, and sadness. It's really a downer and I am never that fond of picking up the story again because it's always sad. Still, I'm going to finish it. It's not a poorly written book. It's well written and I sort of understand why it won the award, but I hope that it wasn't, like, the saddest of all the books written that year or something? I did find one passage that I enjoy:

Fred Astaire. Not a handsome man. He said himself he couldn't sing. He was balding his whole life. He danced like a cheetah runs, with the grace of the first creation. I mean, that first week. On one of those days God created Fred Astaire. Saturday, maybe, since that was the day for pictures. When you saw Fred you felt better about everything. He was a cure. He was bottled in the films and all around the earth, from Castlebar to Cairo, he healed the halt and the blind. That's the gospel truth. St Fred. Fred the Redeemer.

I agree with that. Everything about it. Growing up, I had a framed 8x10 picture of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. I found it at some old antique store when I was little and decided I needed to have it. And that I needed to have it in my room. I don't know which movie it was from. It sat on my dresser in a fancy black and silver frame. This isn't the picture that I had, but it's close enough. They were so graceful and lovely when they danced. But, like the passage from the book above, when not dancing, Fred Astaire was sort of awkward and goofy-looking. And he always played sort of a know-it-all kind of character who tended toward lecturing his fellow characters. But then he danced, and you don't even care anymore about anything because he's so beautiful and makes everything look effortless. And life is good:

Sigh. I loved their style. I still do, really. Did you see the Oscars? It was painful to watch at times, but my favorite part was the very early stages when Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron came out and ballroom danced a bit. They were great and lovely. More of that, I say. Very pretty.

I didn't really think Seth MacFarlane was a terrible host; he was what he was. If they wanted somebody with a more sophisticated sense of humor, they should have picked somebody with a more sophisticated sense of humor, you know? When you know the dude who writes for "Family Guy" is hosting and you choose to watch anyway, you have absolutely waived your right to get upset when he sings a song about boobs. Come on, America.

The True/False Film Festival is set to take off this weekend here in Columbia. I was going to volunteer for it. Well, I did volunteer, actually, but I've withdrawn my volunteering skillz. For a bunch of reasons, but now I'm debating whether to actually go see a film or not? I've never gone to the film festival. This is the 10th year. I looked at the program and there is one documentary I'd love to see. It is about a British farmer and his small herd of cows. It's called "The Moo Man". I know it doesn't sound like gripping stuff, but it sounds really adorable. There are some others that sound good, too including "No", which was nominated for an Oscar this year. It's about Pinochet's demise in Chile and stars Gael Garcia Bernal. I wonder whether or not Gael Garcia Bernal will be in attendance this year? He's the star of two movies being featured at the fest. He could come, if the snow allows. I think it would sort of make sense, yes? James Franco came last year, unexpectedly. Usually the directors come to the film fest and, I guess, more and more of the actors themselves are making the trek to the midwest for this film festival. At any rate, I'll probably see "No" at some point. It looks interesting. I like South American plots...especially when they shoot on-location. The scenery is always really really beautiful. I look forward to going back to S. America someday. I liked Bernal in "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "The Motorcycle Diaries". Travel is sort of messed up this week, so maybe nobody will make it in from far away if they were planning to fly, anyway. More seats for me at movies?!

Stay safe in the snow! Have fun in it, too!