and then our exile

Less affected by 3am sentimentalism, i now proffer some criticism, my more "professional opinion" (ahem): for the first half hour (just as with the book) i had to constantly readjust my coordinates for the name "Lara"--i was actually starting to snark about how J*lie Christie should look more like LC deBeyer. And was J*lie Christie named after Larisa Antipova? No? Well then what's she doing in the movie? At that point too much of the movie looked synthetic, and i felt the people chosen to fit the roles didn't match the roles they were meant to play. But, in Lawrence of Arabia (where Arabs in general are cast as savages and Lawrence as the white saviour) Omar Sh*rif played into that stereotype, and so i appreciate him more here, and Komarovsky and Tonya were good, and in the end i even reconciled myself to "Lara"'s blonde hair. Two points critical to both the movie and book: Zhivago's poetry is not elaborated upon as it should be and the children-characters are not rounded enough. In Lawrence of Arabia the redeeming factor were the cinematics--the spectacular scenes of hundreds of camels and horses surging through the desert and red sunrises. Here too they're glorious--the train to Yuryatin, for example. They cut too much of the content, though--after reading the book "something great had been outlined in the dark": a feeling of life, essence without external exigence, that was heart-throbbingly delicate. Here there's a slight hint at that, but its form makes one wonder. And, i'm also led to wonder what in the dunya is going on, in that i'm appreciating a film wherein stuff happens that is totally contrary to everything i hope to stand for. ^_^

Last night as i started the northern lights were red, green, elusive and Celestial; as i finished the moon had stayed its course heavy and orange. Editing an article of father-mine, drinking some tea, eating peanut butter and a short walk, and then sleep. Awoke at 9, four hours later than is my habit, by news of a moose next to the house. Right now light-shadows filter through smoke hanging o'er the land and through the trees, a wond'rous sight, and i wonder who of you is coming to hear Said Rajeah speak today.

George Bush on CBC: "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."