Post Surgery Musings

It’s now one week after surgery (more on that experience in another post).  So did I meet any of my sick-bed goals?  link

Well, I didn’t stay in bed a lot.  I created a nest in the lower living room with a direct shot at our large flat screen TV, my computers on the other side of the room, a pile of books and a stack of movies.

My mp3 player was on the stand behind me full of podcasts, spoken word stories and music.

The first night I didn’t feel like reading, so I watched the four episodes of Masters of Science Fiction that I had recorded.  Why ABC buried this series on a Saturday night and stopped with just a few episodes, I’ll never know.  It contains some of the best acting and thoughtful, intelligent writing on TV.

I finished Journey of Souls in a couple nights and  Deadline in three sittings (“lyings,” actually.  I couldn’t sit).  I have read  some Hemingway short stories and will read more, appreciating again the concise  and powerful writing.

I will get to Jim Harrison.

I went through several TV shows that I had recorded, including The Dog Whisperer, The Office, and in a sweeping bow to my 70s past, recorded WKRP in Cincinnati.

Though I’d seen Once Upon A Time In The West, I watched it again, totally intrigued with Sergio Leone’s  sense of composition, and those hypnotic, lingering close-ups on Charles Bronson,   Claudia Cardinale,
Jason Robards,  and of course, Henry Fonda, who shocked his fans by appearing as a murderous villain (yes, he even shoots a young boy, a scene censored from the TV versions).

I followed this up with watching the director’s commentary version of Pan’s Labyrinth.  Director Guillermo Del Toro goes from formal to very informal  -even colorful — in his description of how a masterpiece is constructed.

I went completely to the other side and recorded a few episodes of Family Guy.   It’s irreverent, written by joyously brilliant politically incorrect fiends.

More next post.

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