Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

First, the dissertation update: after leaving my advisor the answering machine reminder he'd requested (since I hadn't heard from him by Friday morning last week), he finally got back to me by e-mail late Friday. Since I was at work then (my new temp job at the publisher), I didn't open his e-mail right away, but I took great comfort from the subject line: "Proposal ready for prime-time: to the committee . . .".

When I finally got around to reading the rest of the message first thing Monday morning (I know, I know! Even when the subject line is good, I procrastinate, for fear of finding out it's all a big April fool's joke! I'm sick -- what can I say?), I found that he had cc'd the other three people I'd named for my committee with his approving e-mail and an attached file copy of the proposal, and that he was recommending I contact them to get their input. If they approved, we could go ahead and apply for departmental approval, and so on.

And today I heard from the first of those three professors: he approved whole-heartedly, but suggested doing live interviews with real people, to make the dissertation more engaging, even though it meant bearding the fearsome Internal Review Board in its den (the board that has to approve all "experiements" involving human subjects conducted by university-related folks).

Now, on to the frivolity!

I kept forgetting to check the newspaper for the latest movie listings (there was an Independent Film Festival going on for a week and a half at the local "art house" multiplex where all the interesting independent and foreign films are shown, and once I'd confirmed that none of the movies I was eagerly waiting to see were on the film festival schedule, I got out of the habit of looking to see what was new at the multiplex) this week, but fortunately, I'd picked up a new paper yesterday afternoon at the local grocery, and I finally remembered to look at it this afternoon.

Sure enough, I saw that a movie I'd been dying to see, "Dear Frankie," was leaving town after tonight. Since the last matinee showing (and the only showing that I could get to) was at 4:40 PM, I selfishly canceled my 6 PM office hour (not that any student has EVER stopped by, but you never know!) and played hookie!

It was so worth changing my schedule for! I'm sure everybody else has already heard about and/or seen this movie (or read the book it was based on), but just in case you haven't, I'll avoid anything spoilerish.

I'll just say that the previews -- charming and lovable as they were! -- didn't do justice to the complexity of this movie. It wasn't just funny and lovable; it was highly intelligent, and managed to keep surprising me to the end, never taking the easy or obviously predictable route.

Plus, Gerard Butler as "The Stranger" was a revelation: I totally forgot he was Gerard Butler, couldn't picture him in any of his other memorable roles, and completely accepted him as being THAT GUY and no other (and was more than content with him, as is!).

And Sharon Small (whom I'd only previously seen as Sgt. Barbara Havers in the imported "Inspector Lynley" mysteries on PBS) was delightful as the sunny-natured Marie, owner of the local chip shop and part-time deus-ex-machina. I'd gotten so used to seeing her almost always wound too tight and feeling frazzled as the detective sergeant, that it was a sheer joy to see her playing someone so comfortable in her own skin and happy to be alive.

And the main characters, Frankie and his mother Lizzie and her chain-smoking mom, all seemed just perfect -- perfectly normal and believable and human and idiosyncratically endearing.

If "Dear Frankie" hasn't hit your town yet, you've got a real treat in store. And if it's already been and gone and you missed it, then I know you'll love it on DVD one of these days.