it pays to stay awake at the movies

We returned from circling the country to visit family in a mellow but physically exhausted condition. At one point in our travels we had a scheduled plane change, but evil weather in the southwest and Midwest blew the schedule to bits. Departures were moved back, other departures were moved ahead - the problem being that a plane which was supposed to leave Airport X early in the morning had not been able to leave airport Y in time to do so. Thus we arrived at Airport Z kind of lateish to change planes to get to our next stop, and were told that late-arriving passengers had been put on other flights, some of which were being cancelled as we stood gaping at the arrivals/departures board.

Net-net: the travel day that was meant to begin at 7 a.m. and finish at 3 p.m., instead began at 4:30 a.m. (text messages from airline re schedule changes on first flight) and ended at 2:45 a.m. when we staggered into our hotel). It was all the frustration and pain of a business trip put together at the last minute by someone who'd never booked a flight before, except we weren't getting paid. When I have achieved a little distance from these events, I may do a little travel post, because the real part of the trip was lovely.

Returning to New York was uneventful but for the residual tension from the Travel Day of Horror and Self-Pity, and so a day or two of rest perked us up.


Or so I thought. Yesterday Himself suggested a movie, and since we'd been wanting to see The Lady in Gold, we stumbled over to the theatre and arranged ourselves in comfortable seats. The room was warm. It got dark, and then darker. Images spun before me, Klimt's dazzling painting, cute little girls, furniture, elegance, bad guys in armbands, chase scene, bad guys in uniforms, Casablanca(?), courtrooms, library stacks, bad guys in suits, California... 

Even someone who's wide awake will have trouble staying attentive while watching an actor do a research scene - unless of course the research invokes loud noises or puffs of smoke or some substance lighting up or changing color. A film with multiple scenes of "research," even varied by the use of computers here, documents there, oh look a folder... will not keep a sleepy traveler focussed. Or even awake. I'm not making excuses for what happened as we left the theatre. I'm just setting the scene. 

Me: She just gets better and better, doesn't she?
Himself: Sure does.
Me:  Hair and makeup were perfect. Only I thought she didn't quite hit the accent. When she spoke German she had kind of a Russian accent.
Himself: Who did?
Me: Meryl Streep.
Himself: That was Helen Mirren.
Me: eeps. I really need a cup of coffee.
Himself: Yes, you do.
Me: Mit Schlag.


For more information about Maria Altmann , her life,  and the fascinating story of the recovery of the wonderful portrait, see this article.

16 comments:

  1. Too funny! We loved the movie; but then, I am a sucker for movies when the little guys wins in the end, even if it us meryl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Wendy, 'twasnt Meryl. But Helen was marvelous. And of course, that explains the slight overtone of Rooshian....

      Delete
  2. Laughing! That is completely something that I would do. I have a great ability to mix up actors. I've been dying to see this movie, it's still not released her (or at least I think it's next weekend maybe?). A Jewish family that escaped Vienna with their incredible furniture and artworks intact ended up in Australia, and offered the Klimt portrait of their grandmother to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in the late 1960's… who rejected it. They were collecting "classical" paintings only, and were not interested. THe family went on to sell it in London at auction, and it was bought by the National Gallery in London.
    Sorry to hear about the travel woes. Travel is by and large a very unglamorous event these days - akin to catching an overcrowded bus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Overcrowded busses are no pleasure, but they do ultimately show up at the bus stop and go where they're meant to.

      I'm amazed by how many fine works are went missing in the 30s and 40s and still haven't surfaced...

      Delete
  3. I can see how your sleepy mind did this, as Meryl is the One for accents. Funny though. Haven't yet seen this, but plan to. So many stories like this one; I'm reminded of "The Hare with Amber Eyes".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was drifting in and out, and I could have sworn when she dished up the strudel....

      Delete
  4. If you had done your research WFF, you would have known that airline flight scheduling is now overseen by the shipping department at Anthropologie and ultimately managed by Lasership : )
    I never noticed the resemblance before, but wow, that is marked!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And hence a favorite song, Walkin to New Orleans.

      Otherwise put, you can't get there from here.

      The city-to-city-to-city long day was still with me when we went to the movie, which is probably why I mistook the little airport in Vienna for the little airport in Casablanca - I guess in those days most airports were little. And most passengers looked worried, well, that part hasn't changed much.

      I'm due for another update on the well travelled skirt. Sigh.

      Delete
  5. What an exhausting travel day. Movies are a perfect remedy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. hahaha, so funny, but I can totally relate....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, A, just glad it wasn't a quiet suspense movie, I might have been heard to snore. I did love the clothes and accessories... I think.

      Delete
  7. So great, all lost in translation but I totally know what you're talking about

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Jody, at least I didn't hallucinate Olympia Dukakis.

      Delete
  8. Ah Mirren/Meryl - sound similar, look similar - you're forgiven, especially after that journey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Trish, I think it was the accents that tripped me up. I'd be the first to Dmit thy I'm not good at groggy.

      Delete

As Alice Roosevelt Longworth said, if you've got anything bad to say, sit next to me! No, really, please remember to be kind, and don't say anything fred's mother would not approve of (Diner's mom didn't approve of anything. Including fred.)
Wellfedfred and the Whining Diner reserve the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to this blog without notice if we find:
1. Comments deemed to be spam or questionable spam
2. Comments including profanity or objectionable language
3. Comments containing concepts that could be deemed offensive
4. Comments that attack a person individually
and since there's been a flood of spam lately, we're trying the Robot thing to see if we can block some spam...