I have been trying to write a post for the last 45 minutes. “Mastery Is Not Success!” It was going to be relevant, interesting, and almost well-researched. I was going to touch on what it really means to be successful, give examples, and say something superficially inflammatory.
So why, then, am I not writing this article? I’ll tell you why. “Mamma Mia”.
Chris’s parents are in town and his mother really wanted to see “Mamma Mia”. For some reason, she thought that I might like to go as well. So, sure enough, all four of us trekked to the nearly empty Sunday matinee. (Most ladies were not nearly as lucky as Lois was in securing company for this movie.)
I resisted, believe me, I resisted. A musical thrown together based on the music of some band I don’t even know? And disco, no less?! Perish the thought.
Yet here I am, completely unable to concentrate, because the songs are running through my head! How can I think about the deep exigencies of life if ABBA has hijacked my brain?!
The biggest surprise? My husband knew the words to more than just “Dancing Queen”. When I noticed he was mouthing along, I shot him this incredulous look. He smiled sort of sheepishly at me and said “Erasure redid this.”
Mamma Mia, indeed.
Dangit the movie was fun, slightly campy, gorgeously filmed, and man (!) could those people sing. Suddenly I have an urge, heretofore nonexistent, to travel to Greece. I actually looked up two ABBA songs…on purpose! I am suddenly succumbing to a bit of, dare I say, respect for ABBA. My god, can they work a melody.
And then Meryl Streep, of all people, sings the heck out of it.
I don’t like Greece, I don’t like ABBA, and I definitely don’t like Meryl Streep…and yet, here I am…wishing someone would upload the clips from the movie to YouTube so I can jam to the Meryl Streep versions at work.
I feel like I have been washed into a parallel universe. If it hadn’t been for Chris’s insanely wonderful mother, I would never have given this movie a chance. I would have never experienced how amazing Meryl Streep and ABBA can be.
For a moment I wonder, should I rethink my dislike of all things Stanley Tucci? Sienna Miller? “Blade Runner”? Butterscotch? And then I come back to earth and breathe a sigh of relief. I will never like Stanley Tucci. All is right with the world.
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August 25, 2008 at 5:14 pm
donstuff
“…ABBA has hijacked my brain.”
The funniest line I’ve read today.
Thanks for the read. Now some of their songs are running through my mind (make it stop).
hayden tompkins says:
LOL! I wish I could say I am sorry, but you have to admit your Monday is just a little more peppy as a result.
August 25, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Night Writer
I can watch an occasional “chick flick”. My wife’s favorite movie is “Out of Africa” and we’ve watched the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslett “Sense & Sensibility” several times. I even incorporated that movie into the Fundamentals in Film class for the young men (“Are we being punished?” was their response). A chick flick + Abba? Sorry, I think I’m too old to stretch that much without risk of permanently dislocating something. The Mall Diva made Ben go with her, though. He’s young, flexible and (I suspect) more eager to please!
hayden tompkins says:
I was actually thinking of you last night! I was watching “Kate & Leopold” and was wondering if you had ever seen it. “Leopold” is just about the perfect manifestation of ‘manliness’ in a movie. I really think you should consider it for Fundamentals in Film.
For the record, I don’t think your brain would explode while watching “Mamma Mia” but it is definitely better to be safe than sorry!
August 25, 2008 at 5:40 pm
SanityFound
Whoohooo and I was trying to think of a song to post today now I got it stuck in MY head!!! I shall now go forth and source a true brain ‘jacker and omit from conversation that we covered this in a school thing… deny deny deny till my dying days.
hayden tompkins says:
Do what you must!
August 25, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Writer Dad
I just can’t hop on board. People I love and respect tell me that I’ll love Mama Mia. I do not believe them and feel insulted by their lies.
hayden tompkins says:
LOL! These people are clearly women.
Either way I am sure there is something somewhere else that ‘you hate’ that maybe you could reevaluate. You know, like how most kids hate mushrooms but how there are a ton of adults who love them? Somewhere along the line somebody (who shall remain unnamed) tried a mushroom for a second time and decided they were delicious.
Rats! Now I’m hungry…
August 25, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Brain ‘jackers ya gotta love them… « SanityFound’s Rambling’s
[...] ya gotta love them… August 25, 2008 Listen here first and then read Hayden’s When Life Forces You To Expand, your choice, either way know this, you’ll have it in your head for the rest of the day. My [...]
August 25, 2008 at 6:24 pm
mssc54
If I want to listen to music I surely won’t go to a movie theater!
hayden tompkins says:
Me neither! I feel it incumbent upon me to stress that this was against my will. I was absolutely forced by a not-evil-at-all mother-in-law!
I may never recover.
August 25, 2008 at 6:40 pm
donstuff
Mama Mia!…mushrooms.
Now I’m hungry (pizza with mushrooms is sounding good) and have Mushroom Mia running through my head instead of Mama Mia (actually, not a bad trade off).
August 25, 2008 at 6:43 pm
SanityFound
When’s your birthday? I have the perfect present now!
hayden tompkins says:
…Um… Today.
HAHA, actually it’s May 6th.
August 25, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Night Writer
I saw Kate & Leopold a couple of years ago in the theater with my wife. We enjoyed it and I’ve thought of it a couple of times for FinF, especially in terms of being the “perfect gentleman.” (I think Leo, though, may harbor the quaint notion that women are the weaker sex.) I don’t think there’s enough action (fights, explosions, disembowelings) to keep the lads’ interest. There wasn’t any of that in Sense & Sensibility of course, but there was still a lot of “drama” in men having to choose their behavior and honoring their commitments (or not) even to their own hurt.
I don’t normally disclose the upcoming movie in advance, but next month we’ll be watching “The Ghost & the Darkness”, the Val Kilmer/Michael Douglas in Africa film based on a true story about the Tsavo lions. It’s one of the most intense films I’ve ever seen. The main point I’ll be covering in the discussion is dealing with fear; in particular not “absence of fear” but “mastery” of fear.
Btw, we did a group outing to see The Dark Knight earlier this month. Here’s the question I asked that really stumped the guys: Why was it necessary, at the end, for Gotham that the Batman be pursued as the villain?
hayden tompkins says:
I think yes. Do you remember that scene in “Gladiator” where the Queen says “Rome is the mob”? Well, they needed to give the city a ‘fall guy’ after all that had happened. Most people want someone to blame when something goes wrong. It is very hard to have a bunch of pent-up anger and nowhere to release it.
Also, if they didn’t have the Batman (who is on the edges of the ‘law’ anyway) they might have focused more on Harvey Dent’s death and someone may have discovered that he wasn’t actually a hero to the end.
No, it shouldn’t have been necessary, but I think it’s clear that the people of Gotham are much like Batman themselves. A little dirty, not always on the right side, and certainly not the hopefilled people of Gotham that Bruce Wayne’s father believed in. That movie was all about saving the ’soul’ of Gotham. Perhaps it is easier to see what is right when faced down with something that is terribly wrong.
Perhaps it was very much like dealing with children. Sometimes you will do things that your children won’t like, nor will they understand. Sometimes you have to be ‘the bad guy’. I know my dad made a very clear choice about being the ‘bad guy’ when it came to my mom. He never, ever blamed her for anything so he always ended up the bad parent.
I’m starting to ramble. I’m curious to know what you all decided. (And by the way, I have never seen “The Ghost and the Darkness”. I may have to check that out.)
August 25, 2008 at 7:06 pm
donstuff
My birthday is old news. However, as a kid it was great – June 25, exactly six months to the day from Christmas. I was given new stuff every six months – like clockwork.
hayden tompkins says:
That sounds like a sweet deal.
August 25, 2008 at 7:18 pm
When Life Forces You to Expand « Persistent Illusion
[...] | Tags: adapt, change, cheerleaders, cheerleading, grow, sport, sports, team | Apparently liking ABBA is so far away from the realm of understanding of my male readers, I think I need to revisit this [...]
August 25, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Connie
I LOVE ABBA…haven’t seen Mamma Mia yet…lots of people have recommended it. Maybe you just had to grow up in a certain era to appreciate the harmony and the funky costumes! I also do like Meryl Streep and would not say “No” to a trip to Greece! Maybe I’ll go play ABBA’s greatest hits on eight track now LOL just kidding.
hayden tompkins says:
If that’s how you feel, you really should see this thing while it is in the theater! And stay for the credits.
August 25, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Lindsey
… was that movie actually good? I mean, REALLY?
There’s a slight possibility my husband might actually take me out on a date this weekend… probably to Dark Knight (if it’s still out?) or something else along those lines. If I want to see anything with even slightly romantic overtones, I need to find someone ELSE to date me. Usually a girl. (Although I do have a few man friends who are allowed to date me. They also take my husband out to see the guy movies that have too little plot to amuse me.)
hayden tompkins says:
Well, at least “The Dark Knight” is pretty philosophically interesting. But romantic? No way!
You just make me thankful that Chris is A-OK with ‘chick flicks’. As long as I go to his asian/kung fu/subtitled movies he’s good!
August 25, 2008 at 8:21 pm
thedailydish
Agree w/ you re: Stanley Tucci but HAYDEN. Sacrilege. Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies of all time. The soundtrack alone is fabulous.
Having said that, people have been urging me to go see this b/c I LOVE ABBA. I will def. have to see it now, knowing you enjoyed it so. Also have to say I love the fact that Chris is my age. Erasure. “Give a little respect, to-ooo- meeeeeeeee!” Love that song. Going to have to youtube it RIGHT NOW.
Love ya babe!
hayden tompkins says:
I think you would really like the movie. But don’t tell John I recommended it! I definitely don’t want a strongly worded comment about how I peer pressured his Beloved into singing ABBA. I’m just saying.
August 25, 2008 at 10:26 pm
thedailydish
No worries baby. He already blames you – I mean, knows….
KIDDING!
August 25, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Night Writer
Re “The Dark Knight”: I suggested that Gotham had been conditioned to corruption for so long that people saw no point or reward in doing the right thing that they were complicit with evil or looked the other way (ala the East Germans with the Stasi, as illustrated in the great foreign film “The Lives of Others”). Along comes Harvey Dent and the Batman and the city starts to see/hope that there is a difference…hence the Joker’s (Chaos) desire to turn Harvey and thereby destroy the city’s spirit. IMO, Batman knew that the police had to be seen as pursuing him – and in doing so, pursuing Justice – to show that they were no longer going to look the other way at evil (even though Batman wasn’t the enemy). Not a perfect solution for Batman or Gotham, but we’d already seen that Batman wasn’t afraid to cut corners or offer a facsimile in the quest for a greater good – elevating Gotham.
Our group also discussed the Ferry scenario, along the usual lines at first, but then I tied it into the Charlton Heston film, “Khartoum” we watched earlier, reminding them of Heston’s line (as General Gordon) that “a man’s last weapon is his life. If he’s not willing to lose it, he throws that weapon away.” That is, as the people on both ferries in DK did, deciding that you are willing to die rather than play the enemy’s game, or cross an important line.
Here’s the link to my review of “The Lives of Others,” btw: http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1199771833.shtml
hayden tompkins says:
I looked at your review and I think I like the plot of this movie much better than “1984″. (Though it is very similar.) I love that book, but it is very insular.
August 26, 2008 at 1:37 am
marlajayne
What about the dancing scene the night of the rehearsal party? Wasn’t it great? Some of the people in the theatre with me went crazy! And you’re so right about that scenery…breathtaking. Right now I’m imagining (remembering) the steep ascent to the little church atop the mountain. What a scene!
hayden tompkins says:
Yes, literally breathtaking. When Donna finally gets to the top all out of breath I thought, “Finally! a movie that tells the truth.” Especially when she was explaining about the toilets, that was hysterical.