nyny

Tonight...

...Tonight I saw "Flags of Our Fathers." If you don't know, "Flags" is about the Battle of Iwo Jima of WWII. The follow-up movie is "Letters from Iwo Jima," and tells the same story from the Japanese point of view. Both movies were set up at the beginning of "Flags" where a character says something like "we all want to make things simple: good vs. evil, heroes and villains. There are lots of villains, but they're rarely who we think they are." They didn't mention anything like that for the rest of the movie, but it's the basis of "Letters." I can't wait to see it.
"Flags of Our Fathers" was really great. Sometime during the film I was suddenly struck with the thought that in another 15 or 20 years there won't be any WWII veterans left to tell their stories firsthand. It's cheesy, but I was really moved by several older people who, when the movie ended, just sat there staring at the screen until the last credits rolled. If not actually in the war, they were alive at the time, and I was wondering what their stories were. I didn't really expect for the movie to make me think about these things, but I felt so proud of my Grandad who was in WWII, my Grandpa who was in the Korean War, and my dad who was in the Navy and spent time on a submarine off the coast of Russia during the Cold War. Then then I felt kinda weird because I realized that I don't know even one person currently serving in the military.

...Tonight I went to a Catholic Mass. Every time I drive by this Catholic church I notice how beautiful it is. One thing I love about cities, particularly New York City, is all of the gorgeous Cathedrals. I love how at any time you can walk into them and sit in the quiet with the candles lit. There's this great transcendental quality about it, and so much history involved. I've never really gone to a service though. Tonight it was so beautiful inside, even more than it usually would be since this week is the Feast of Epiphany and so the Christmas lights and decorations were still up. The weird thing was that I did not at all feel comfortable, but yet I felt extremely comforted. Everything that was happening was so foreign to me, but at the same time there was something unmistakably familiar about it. I think I liked it.

...Tonight I went to Panera. Unfortunately they no longer have the fuji apple chicken salad, which was my favorite. Apparently it's seasonal. Whatever. There is good news though...I tried the fandango salad and it is fantastic!!

posted by becka @ 8:22 PM