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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:

  1. 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!

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  2. 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.

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  3. Anonymous3:56 PM

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

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