(no subject)

[tvordlj]

What started off looking like rain ended up hot and humid today. I went to a few shops, bought some really big mugs at Pier 1 Import. If i ever win lots of money i''m going to furnish my house there! I also bought the other two books in the Philip Pullman trilogy! I'm nearly at the end of book one and it's got me turning pages all right! I also saw and bought I Capture The Castle which abishag recommended awhile back. I guess they've rereleased it because they've made a movie out of it. Not see it come out here yet.


To complete the youthful literary type day i went to see Whale Rider which is about a girl of about 11 and her Maori tribe. Their ancestors arrived many generations ago on the back of a whale. There is a tradition that a new leader to come along will be born. The chief takes great expectation from this and when his son's twins are born but the baby boy dies, he thinks the surviving girl is the cause of what becomes a turn of bad luck for the tribe. You see the village looking very run down amid the spectactular east coast of the North Island, New Zealand coastline.

Forward to the present. The girl's father spends his life away and wants nothing to do with his heritage though by rights he should be the next chief following his father's footsteps. The girl, Paikea, (or Pai) named after the illustrious clan founder who rode the whale, is very interested in the Old Ways, but keeps getting shut out because she's a girl. The grandfather does love the little girl but it seems to her he doesn't like her very much because she survived and her brother didn't. Still she loves him anyway.

The grandfather, Koro, is so strongly traditionalist that he can't seem to meet the challenges of the modern world and won't accept that Pai is the "chosen" one, not her dead twin. We can tell though and so can her grandmother. Pai never gets beaten and insists on trying to learn the old ways even when she is punished for it. She is quietly determined almost to the point of tragedy.

The child that plays Pai, Keisha Castle-Hughes is amazing. It was her first acting experience but she is a natural. She brings Pai's quiet dignity and determination to life without going over the top or playing it with high emotion. All of the acting was really, really good though i did have a bit of trouble with the accent. The photography and location was wonderful and the story is one that even adults can get into and probably leave you with a tear in your eye.

It's a little movie and it might not be playing everywhere or in the big movie theatres but search it out. You'll be glad you did.


And then coming home on the bus.. this drunk obnoxious asshole gets on and is loud and came back to the back of the bus and started in on some teenagers giving them hell for being disrespectful and oh they don't know anything at their age. The driver came back and threatened to toss him at one point and he settled down a little but kept going on about kids disrespecting adults etc. And nobody would speak up so he could say what he wanted. Well i nearly did but then he finally got off the bus. You don't like to do you, when someone is very drunk and being at least verbally aggressive, you just don't know what they'll do but i wanted to lean forward and tell him that if he was to show the kids a little respect he might get some in return. I was that close! And i practiced my speech in my head all the way home LOL!

Comments

[acey.livejournal.com]

I feel really sorry for bus drivers, having to deal with crap like that (and worse). Once I was on the bus and an innebriated guy was sitting in the front seat mouthing off the driver. He got louder and more obnoxious so finally the driver mumbled something into his radio, pulled over and sat there until the Transit Police came and removed the drunk. I think everyone on the bus cheered when that happened. Sad to say, this being the USA, I am always scared the weirdos will pull out a gun. :((

[sendingsmiles.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree. They (bus drivers) put up with ALOT of BS, and like you say, some people being so volatile these days, you just never know if and when you should speak up, cause you just never know what'll set someone off !!!

But,I find in my "old age" (grin) I am getting more and more vocal. Little things used to set me off, and I never said a word, quietly stewed, but nu-uh, not anymore. Now, I'll more often than not, say something to let the offensive person know that "hey, you're being a jerk"!!

Esp with kids (OK, going off on a tangent here) dontcha find more and more kids SO DISRESPECTFUL these days?? I personally hate it, and always say something when I can.

Re:

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Yes they are in a lot of cases, but these kids didn't seem like they were being disrespectful though may have been quietly joking about the drunk "old" asshole (the man might have been 45-50) which he picked up on and started in. But they really didnt deserve that. I still find most kids are pretty good if high spirited on the whole.

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[tvor.livejournal.com]

Yes that's happened here too, the driver calling control dispatch to send an inspector or even the police if needed. Not too often but it has happened. This driver was a burly man in his 40's so probably could have handled this situation pretty well.

[browncoweyes.livejournal.com]

...wonder what those kids felt like doing when they got off the bus...

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[tvor.livejournal.com]

They didnt' seem too upset, kept telling him to shut up although not loudly. But they were three or four to his one so courage in numbers. Or should i say bravado lol They handled it quite well and i do feel bad i didnt' defend them.