The OA, The Claw, and No Makeup
1) I used to hate the sight of myself with no makeup. Now that I haven’t had the energy for it much for over a year, I think I might actually now prefer my face naked. I’m not sure what that’s a testament to.
People’s capacity to get used to anything
My greater ease with myself because of my husband’s acceptance, so I don’t feel the need to “make myself look better” (Dr. Phil might be proud of me finding a measure of self worth in a man, but it'd probably make Sylvia Plath stick her head in the oven all over again.)
My failing eyesight
Alicia Keys
The decline of my makeup application skills
Something uplifting I haven’t thought of yet
Something sinister I haven’t thought of yet
2) I feel like I got lucky with my husband. You know that game in the arcade with the metal hand that picks up the toy you want, but it always misses? (“The claw, the claw” for those of you, like me, who use Disney and Pixar references to clarify your world view.) I feel like I got fed up with the lack of variety and walked away from The Claw and suddenly that toy you always aim for but is just out of reach…walked up to me in a bar and bought me a drink. Score.
3) During one of my semesters at Georgetown, the girl who plays the lead in/co-wrote the Netflix series, The OA, brought in a self-portrait to our photography class. (I know: this definitely gives me a personal edge with the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon concept.) Anyway, the light in that photo came strongly from the left and it lit up the corner of her lips in a way it wouldn’t have if she hadn’t opened her mouth slightly as if she were about to speak. That one tiny detail elevated the photo from simple to subtle, and that’s why I remember it. I didn't know her very well but she seemed a very reflective and thoughtful kind of person, which I guess you’d have to be to come up with the incredibly say what? storyline of her recent Netflix hit. It's a sensational premise, but it is somehow still tethered to the land of the cerebral with a couple discreet maneuvers that leave the whole story on its head by the season finale like an overturned applecart, wheels spinning. (My most nagging question: how did they choreograph The Movements? Was there a professional involved, or just beer?) I’m still not sure what I think of that show, but I’d maybe recommend you watch it, and then we could be puzzled together.
Couch Potato Tip Update: For something else to watch, try the TV show, Atlanta. (A good find by the hubs.) But be prepared for a long wait for Season 2, as the writer/actor is now working on about 16 new projects thanks in part to the success of the show, including a turn as Lando Calrissian in a(nother) Star Wars movie.
Or try Peaky Blinders. I'm quite enjoying that one, even though I have to watch said [English-language] show with [English language] subtitles thanks to the rhyming slang and occasionally thick-as-molasses accents. But once again, huzzah to the BBC.
Ok then. Now that I've shared all the thoughts, I guess that's it from the trenches.
