Monday, October 11, 2010

Movie Monday 10/11

Not much time for movies this week.  After a busy week, we spent a wonderful weekend camping with good friends at Elk Neck State Park in Maryland, along the Chesapeake Bay.  The weather was gorgeous, the company was wonderful, and we all had a great time.  Craig brought a friend along, and Jamie's three best friends were there (and, coincidentally, their moms are my best friends!).  We walked along the beach and enjoyed sitting around a campfire at night.  I just love being outdoors (I wrote about the Joy of the Outdoors in a previous post).

I actually felt really good all weekend and was thrilled to be able to enjoy my friends' company.  I paid a bit today, though.  I went on the shortest, wimpiest little hike yesterday - I circled back to the car after about 10 minutes while our friends continued on - but I guess it was too much.  Just walking back and forth to the restroom while camping is far more walking than I normally do!  There are fewer responsibilities and "maintenance activities" (like shopping, errands, cooking big meals, cleaning, laundry) while camping, so I usually do pretty well.

So, with all that lovely time outdoors, we didn't watch any movies this weekend, but I did watch one during my lunches this past week:


  • I watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the amazing memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby (see my review of the book).  This is an incredibly inspiring book written by a man with locked-in syndrome who wrote the entire book by blinking one eye, spelling out each word, letter by letter.  I previously posted some favorite quotes from the book on a Quote It Saturday feature.  The movie was also excellent and really complemented the book.  Seeing his disabilities visually was very powerful, as was watching him dictate letter by letter, painstakingly.  I know it sounds depressing, but as I wrote in my review of the book, it's really not - sad, yes, but not depressing.  His spirit and will to live were inspiring, and the movie showed a bit more about his early days of feeling angry, frustrated, and full of self-pity - something anyone with CFS will recognize - followed by his acceptance of his condition.  I highly recommend both the book and the movie...in fact, watching the movie makes me want to read the book again!
Have you seen any good movies lately?

3 comments:

parenting ad absurdum said...

Oh - I love when my kids bond with kids of women I like - such a nice sychronous arrangement :).

No movies lately - we did tivo and watch the new television show Running Wilde last night - by the creators of arrested development - and loved it. My attention span only lasts about half an hour lately anyway - excpet for really good books!

Shelli said...

We read the book for my book club. The other women, the healthy women, found it to be horribly depressing. It was different for me; I could see what he means about finding the butterflies. I'm eager to see the movie and hope it's as good as the book.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful weekend! The weather was gorgeous here too.