Time to read: 10 minutes.
In this week’s newsletter:
The Timbit Times
Kate Film Club, 18 of 52: “Keeper of the Flame”
Kate Film Club, 19 of 52: “Stage Door Canteen”
French Study
We Can Have Nice Things
Every time my main doctor goes on vacation (which is not often, poor guy), and I manage to stay out of the hospital while he’s gone, I’m very proud of myself, it feels like unlocking a video game achievement. The even better news is he’s back this upcoming week, and as soon as the compounding pharmacy gets me my antifungals (combo itraconazole and nystatin), I can start those. It might be several days before that prescription is ready, however, so I might try adding in a probiotic or two that I’ve had my eye on for a while, while I wait. Per my proposed roadmap (remember the slides I was talking about last time?), I’ve added multiple things for intestinal lining repair, cytokine management, and adrenal support, and they’ve all gone well. I think I’m getting a nice psychological boost from the ashwanga in particular. The low-dose aspirin has been discarded since it wasn’t doing anything for me, after 3 weeks on it.
The other fun medical experiment I’ll be trying soon is those robo-compression boots. One of my most disabling symptoms is what I call “molasses muscle” feeling, as if my entire body is walking through a vat of molasses. I feel it all over, and it is especially pronounced in my legs. This is a symptom that particularly responds well to the fascial counterstrain physical therapy visits I have once a month, likely because something is subpar with my venous return, (likely due to suspected occult tethered cord), and the PT work improves it. I’m curious to see if the boots can help the benefits of that work last longer in between PT appointments. I’ll be sure to report back on this when they arrive!
I’ve got another two Katharine Hepburn movie reviews for you this week as I was running one behind for a couple weeks, but am now caught up! I’m excited that I’ve been able to stick to this 2024 goal so well; I’m going to begin adding a counter to the subheadings to show my progress.
The Timbit Times
The bush in the backyard next to my tiny home is flowering, and I can already tell it is going to be gorgeous! Just in the past week it’s gone from a single flower to now this. (I absolutely plan to take photographs of my home once the bush is in full bloom, so that in case I ever decide to sell Timbit, I will have very pretty photos to share!)
That’s it for Timbit news, I just wanted to give you an update on this bush that’s about to explode with flowers.
Kate Film Club, 18 of 52:
“Keeper of the Flame” (1943)
Well, we are definitely into the World War II era movies now. This was clearly—narratively, stylistically, visually—a movie set against a dark historical moment. Evidently the whole movie was shot on sound stages, not on-location, and I kinda like the vibe that painted distant backgrounds lended to a film that I think verged on Gothic. (Which isn’t always my cup of tea, but I really liked the cinematic style here!) This is another Hepburn and Tracy movie, which I understand I’m about to encounter a series of such! It’s been fun even so far watching an actress evolve over the course of her early filmography, and I suspect it will also be interesting to see the dynamic between two stars evolve over the course of their acting partnership.
Overall I liked the movie well enough, but my main complaint is one of pacing. The basic plot is that a legendary, All-American guy dies, and a journalist (Tracy) is sent to write about his life. The widow (Hepburn) is sort of getting in the way of the reporter’s attempts to learn more about her late husband, and a slew of other reasons to suspect foul play begin to add up. To me, the problem is that the twist is sort of revealed all at once in the last few minutes of the movie, so it feels like a bit of a gotcha or a trick as opposed to a profound climax of a movie that is thoughtfully trying to make a political point. (Which is what I think this movie could have been, but missed the mark.)
There’s one conversation that’s specifically foreshadowing, but mostly what we get are very vague clues that something is amiss, rather than a consistent making of a clear point. And even then, you’ll only pick up on the vague clues if you’re familiar with real-world details of Nazi-era Germany—as one example, the youth groups chapter scene really felt off to me, in a real-world historical context, but there was nothing in the world of the film that agreed with my real-world “uh oh” sense: there was no creepy twist in music, no change in lighting, not even any dismay on the faces of the characters talking to the youth. Moments that should have felt creepier, and would have ultimately served the overall aim of the movie, missed opportunities to pack more punch.
Rating: 3.5/5 – A curious film that could have been better than it was, but still worth a watch given its relevancy to our current historical moment.
Where to watch: Streaming on Apple and Amazon.
Quote: “Who won?” “It’s not over yet.”
Kate Film Club, 19 of 52:
“Stage Door Canteen” (1943)
Folks, I suffered through this one and it took me three sittings to finish. Worth noting: it is a movie with Katharine Hepburn in it only in the sense that she shows up in the last few minutes of the film (as herself), has a few lines, then a patriotic monologue that sort of ties the whole thing together. Were it not for my goal of “watch every Katharine Hepburn movie”, I would’ve skipped this one, but I’m committed to the bit. When I said every Katharine Hepburn movie, I meant every Katharine Hepburn movie.
Ok so here’s the deal. Back in WWII there was a free cafe for soldiers in the Broadway district in New York City. There was food, music, dancing, and lots of actors, actresses, and musicians would volunteer there to support the troops who were returning home or about to ship out. “Stage Door Canteen” is about this cafe of the same name. The movie itself is less a movie and more a variety performance with a thin narrative around the edges to tie it all together. The performances ranged from quite good (Count Basie and Benny Goodman make appearances!) to cringe-worthy (such as the dystopian experience of watching a lady cheerfully sing about shooting down Japanese planes with the same sort of bubbly charm she might use to sell laundry detergent.) Mostly, I had a lot of time to think on how some of humanity’s worst moments are when we treat other humans like non-player characters (to borrow video game parlance).
Rating: 1/5 – Skippable.
Where to watch: Amazon has it included for free with Prime membership. Note this movie is public domain and so you can probably find it free any number of places!
Quote: There wasn’t a single line that moved my heart; no featured quote for this one!
French Study
I’m trying to keep my French class commitments a bit more lightweight while I prepare to go on some prescription antifungals again, in case they kick my butt and I need to rest even more than I already do. So I signed up for a once weekly Coucou conversation class that runs for 10 weeks. I currently take classes at their “Spécialiste” level, which folks are expected to take multiple times before they’re ready for the top level Coucou offers, which is basically fluent. The problem is that I seem to be lost in a missing step, where are lot of the students in the “Spécialiste” level are farther behind than I am, but I know I don’t meet the criteria for their top level yet. But, the conversation classes are very open to student feedback on what topics they’d like to cover, so I think I’m going to ask if we can do some structured work on practicing verb conjugation for tenses we might not otherwise get much chance to work on, like plus-que-parfait and the subjonctif. That would be a good focus of study for everyone in the class I think!
We Can Have Nice Things
A few weeks back, I was supposed to have an ENT appointment regarding my stubborn, long-running sinus infection (definitely staph aureus, likely fungus of some sort too). But the day before I ate a salad that was too big and it landed me in a crash the next day that was so bad I had to cancel my appointment. (It has now been rescheduled for July. Sigh.)
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, and it is pretty bullshit that simply eating a somewhat too big salad can fuck me up that badly. I already know that I need to eat smaller than average meals thanks to some mix of my MCAS and gut issues, and usually I’m mindful of this. I realized upon sitting down that I’d made my salad too big thanks to not paying close enough attention while I was constructing it, but I thought “it’s just salad, it’ll be fine”, but oh ho, it was not fine.
Since I already have to mentally track an astronomical number of things for my medical care every day, I decided I could make the meal size thing fool-proof by getting smaller dishware. Can’t make a too-big salad if the dish simply won’t allow it. (Cue meme of smart guy tapping the side of his head.) My existing white/cream dishware, which I love, was however looking kind of plain against the white walls of my tiny home anyway. So I took the opportunity to go for some color, and put meal size on autopilot. I’ve also found it’s already helping with my perceived satiety, since my small meals look “bigger” in these dishes and so my brain thinks I’m having a “normal” sized meal.
So anyway, there’s a little autopilot hack if you, like me, strictly need to eat small size meals for medical reasons.
Kate Violette 