18 February, 2002
I watched a movie last night: "Tortilla Soup", starring Hector Elizondo. (I like Hector, by the way. He always looks very classy. Just something about his overall look. The neatly-trimmed beard, his wardrobe... I wish I could look as good as he does when I'm his age.)
Anyways, the movie was basically about a Mexican-American household. The mother had died
some years before and Hector was the benevolent patriarch: an unflinching bedrock
upon which the lives of his three daughters rested. His loneliness for his wife
was softened by the interpersonal connections he enjoyed with his daughters and
the children of his daughters' friends. He was also a professional chef- but with
age, his senses had been dulled to the point where he could no longer taste or
smell. He would always create these incredible-looking dishes, but he couldn't
enjoy any of them or even test them while he made them. He cooked on instinct.
Much of the story focused on the interpersonal lives of his individual daughters,
but all of them would gather-together in a common room for information-swapping
when Hector would cook for them as a sort of reality-check.
So I'm
watching this film, and I'm thinking- hmm, in 1995, didn't I see a Taiwanese film
directed by Ang Lee called "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" that was more or
less the same exact story? (Well, "Yin, Shi, Nan, Nü" was the original
title, at least.) I watched "Tortilla Soup" a bit more... yup, this
story paralleled the Taiwanese film almost exactly 100%! It couldn't be
a coincidence. The story of the American movie matched the earlier Taiwanese one
almost perfectly. And I perfectly predicted the ending, because I knew what would
happen.
The names and places within "Tortilla
Soup" were different, but the character types were pretty much the same.
As were their personalities and interpersonal struggles. Well, there were some
differences: in the Taiwanese film, one of the daughters was a devout Christian
(that aspect made her stand-out as being a little bit unique in a Taiwanese film.
Near the end of the film, she convinces her new fiancée to get baptized.)
but conversion to a new faith wasn't an issue in the American version.
Anyways, I guess... the main male character in both films was such: a dignified guy who
was there to support his daughters through thick and thin. He was the constant
around which their lives could achieve stability. No matter what happened to his
daughters, they could always come to him for support... no matter how in the wrong
they might possibly be. The males were generally portrayed as warm, big-hearted
folk. They were positive figures with strong, deep characters. Although half the
females were portrayed as emotionally complex and kind people facing the difficulties
of real-life, the other half were a little bit nutty but were still accommodated
because they were friends or family.
I later checked online- Ang Lee collaborated
in writing the screenplay for "Tortilla Soup". That confirmed it- this
sort of movie had to have been based on a non-American story! It was a
delightful departure from the shop-worn 'men are awful, women are angels' family-centered
dramas that we see everywhere nowadays... Oh, I shant spoil the end for you, though...
On a different note: a friend of my dad bought a brand new computer for his office, and he asked me to drive-over and set it up for him (because I have a reputation of being good at that sort of thing). It was an insanely simple job. I plugged the keyboard and monitors together- less than 20 minutes of work that almost any moron could do. And in return, he gave me... his old computer. A Pentium machine, 32 megs of RAM running Win95. About five years old- it wasn't an awesome machine, but it was loaded with Office97 and it was perfectly suitable for basic home use, like writing papers or stuff like that. But not suitable for any good games. Gee, wonder what I'll do with it? Well, if I had a girlfriend who didn't have a computer, I'd probably upgrade the processor and memory and give it to her as a present. But no- no such thing will ever happen because no woman will ever touch me with a 20-foot graphite baton. I guess I'll make the monitor into a damn terrarium or something. Feh!
Oh, and I'm still on my last 10 days of my 40 Days Without Sex or Masturbation. No problems in sight so far. Maybe I should've aimed higher? Maybe I should've set-out for eighty days without sex, or six months without sex. That would've been more of a challenge, I suppose- but not MUCH more of a challenge.
And Gabrielle (Number Seven woman) who I corresponded with by email last week invited me to dinner with her. I'm really divided on whether or not I should go... but I said I'd go with her if I could fit it into my busy schedule. And my schedule is actually pretty busy- I'm trying to get as much time with family and friends before I leave the country, so that's not a lie. I have more fun things to do than sup with a woman who unceremoniously kicked me to the curb nearly three years ago.
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