I’m trying to think of a legitimate reason why we wouldn’t return to Chicago’s Amalfi Hotel (in the Near North Side neighborhood). It wouldn’t be for the service, location, dependability, cleanliness, accommodations, or perks. Check-in and -out was a breeze. The room was more than ample-sized for a Chicago hotel. There’s a deluxe breakfast spread every morning on each hotel floor—free. There’s a drinks and appetizer reception on the 6th floor every night—again, free. Newspaper—free. Water at check-in—free. In 10 minutes after our call, a hotel engineer appeared to fix our minor toilet leak. The only reason, expressed by my son, is that the boutiqueness doesn’t extend beyond the lobby.
By That You Mean
*tearing families apart since 2011
Filed under I’m Just Saying …
Argo
Let’s start with a bit of history via Wikipedia:
On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the Swedish and Canadian embassies. In 1979, the Canadian Parliament held a secret session for the first time since World War II in order to pass special legislation allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. In cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency who used the cover story of a film project, the six American diplomats boarded a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on January 28, 1980. Their escape and rescue from Iran by Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor has come to be known as the “Canadian Caper“.The subject of the six escapees and what went into the planning and execution was also covered in the 2012 film Argo, directed by Ben Affleck.
I liked two aspects of this movie—a lot! Continue reading
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close — But Not Close Enough
In Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, we follow a young boy’s searchings. We see his father’s (Tom Hanks’) tutelage and inspiration, which sends his son, Oskar Schell (played by Thomas Horn), on many a journey through the boroughs of New York City. Before he dies on 9/11 in one of the towers, Thomas Schell introduces his son to the “reconnaissance” mission of discovering the missing sixth borough. But his death, and the six answering machine messages that he leaves prior to the tower’s collapse, detours his son to search for the lock that matches a key found in a blue vase hidden at the top of his father’s closet. Was that convoluted enough? Through the five boroughs, Oskar visits everyone whose last name is “Black”—the single word written on the envelope containing the mysterious key. OK, it did get more convoluted. Continue reading
The Master
The Master, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams. The two male leads dazzled me with their full-bodied performance. Whether it was Hoffman’s face, which combined humor and sinisterness (ala Jack Nicholson) or Phoenix’s posture and gait, of which he constantly struggled to gain control of, both deserve to win best actor awards, as they did at the Venice Film Festival.
This is a movie that you must watch more than once to speak intelligently about it. I have seen it only once.
That leaves me with questions for my second viewing: Continue reading
A/Too Dangerous Method
Directed by David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method attempts two agendas—to show us how the genesis of Sigmund Freud’s genius (psychotherapy) inspires and alienates Carl Jung and how Jung’s affair with a patient unravels his life. Starring Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen, the movie adequately portrays each agenda but fails to correlate them seamlessly. That seems to be my job here. Continue reading
Cast Iron Steaks
The key to “grilling” steaks indoors is the cast iron skillet. You can use a flat one or a ribbed one. The ribbed ones are good for giving the steaks “grill” marks, but the flat one allows the steaks to cook in juices. Let’s start with those juices.
30 minutes before you preheat the oven, season the steaks on both sides. I use a steak seasoning from Aldis. Nothing extravagant, just lots of salt, pepper, and garlic. Continue reading
The Cote d’Azur Is More Than Nice
Nice isn’t what my husband and I expected. We expected it to be, well, French. But it’s just as much—maybe more—Italian. Picture being in an Italian countryside village like Assisi but with crepes and us speak English and practice it themselves. Gloriously, there’s no Parisian language conceit. In fact, Niceans are more accepting and relaxed all around. For example, suddenly, while eating al fresco at a “kitchen”-type restaurant, munching on a rather mediocre salad Nicoise (originated in Nice, of course), an older man at a nearby table broke into song, soon joined by his fellow diners. This went on for quite some time—until they left. No one except my husband and I seemed to notice, yet alone mind. Frankly, all my when-in-Rome hospitality convictions failed me as we found their extravagant warbling to be more annoying than charming. Rather than enjoy the novelty, we analyzed the spectacle to death: What if we tried that? What if we joined it? What if we voiced our disapproval? Bad, bad hospitality on our part, I confess. Other than that episode, we found Niceans to be friendly and accepting. Continue reading
Son of Man
Up until the last scene, Son of Man should be called Mother of All, for Mary becomes the self-actualized driving force for all in her community. If there is any hope for her neighbors, it is because Mary develops her self-confidence enough to inspire their hope and influence change. Jesus, on the other hand, walks through his scenes without much emotion and deliberation. Contrasting Jesus’ flat characterization to Mary’s fully developed portrayal; I hope to show how the film comes very close to portraying female self-actualization.
Let’s quickly review what I have determined (from Abraham Maslow’s work) to be the three criteria for self-actualizing: 1) know and accept who you are; 2) resist unhealthy, forced acculturation; and 3) contribute to a better relationship/world. Continue reading
Paris Syndrome
To be clear, I’m addressing Parisian hospitality, not the national hospitality of France.
France is my favorite place to visit, and Paris was high on my France list…until now. I just returned from 6 nights in Paris. Unfortunately, the Parisians—their rudeness, loudness, condescension, and lack of culinary effort—consistently disappointed me on my trip last week.
OK, I’m not saying I had “Paris Syndrome,” which is described by Wikipedia as follows: Continue reading
