Elizabeth: The Golden Age + The Accidental Cat
Andy and I (and my bros, yay!) did, in fact, manage to see Elizabeth: the Golden Age today. There was much excited squeeing, though I internalized the majority out of respect for my company. I couldn't help a number of nudges and whispered comments ("I know!" "That was the first thing I looked for!" "I totally called that!") and barely-strangled chortles over parts of the film though.
I am so pleased at how they handled the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Walter Raleigh. I was slightly a-feared they were going to depict a torrid love affair. Instead, we were treated to a believable and estranged love that died ere it began. It was actually quite human and vaguely heartbreaking.
They did an extremely good job in showing us what Elizabeth had to bear up under. They qualified her loneliness in a series of telling social moments, sadly embarrassing scenes of vulnerability and weakness, and stirring images of symbolism. I truly ached for Elizabeth, for what she had to bear and give up to maintain her position and achieve the great things that she did.
This isn't an exhaustive review, but I'd like to mention the film's biggest flaw (in my opinion): they completely threw out the Speech to the Troops at Tilbury. Oh, there was a speech. And it was given to the troops. At Tilbury. And Elizabeth was resplendent in armor, riding astride a white horse. ...And then the writers threw us Generic Pre-Battle Speech #79. They didn't even take the real speech and modify it, as they could have, to fit the film's dialogue and storyline. They just completely threw it away. What bullshit!
Also? I want fully half of Elizabeth's wardrobe. Including her wigs.
After the film, Andy and I stopped in at PetSmart to find some toys for Tiger. We've been more concerned with him recently, as I mentioned: he's staying home alone for longer hours and acting out in new (worse) and exciting (worse) ways when we're home. We found him an amusing plastic ball and a wavy-fluffy batting toy on a spring.
And we also looked at the cats for adoption. We didn't remember they were there until we walked in, and then we thought it wouldn't hurt to look. There was one grey cat in the window who immediately looked at us, slightly gruffly or disdainful, I thought, and said "Mao." We moved along. We were attracted to a tiny calico kitten. I figured it wouldn't hurt to hold her.
Well, the calico kitten was terribly skittish and Not Having With Us. She was brought in as a stray and we fear she may have been a stray for a while, or possibly abused. We didn't press the issue with holding her. As I shut her kennel-door, however, I decided to check out the grey cat who was now sitting at her bars. She desperately wanted to say hello to me, rubbing against the door as she was and putting her paws through to touch my hand. As soon as I opened up the kennel, she immediately climbed up my body, settled into my arms, and lightly dug her claws into my shoulder. She also commenced purring and waiting for the body-rubs.
I held her for a bit and then passed her over to Andy, where she repeated her loving behavior. We talked with the PetSmart employee who told us that she'd been in the shelter for four months. She was brought in by her previous owner, apparently, who complained that they were allergic to cats. She's had all her shots and she was spayed just after she was brought into the shelter. She's loving, a lap cat, and well socialized.
She also didn't want to let go, and I have to admit that we quite melted with her in our arms. And it bothered us that she'd been sitting in the shelter for four months and not been adopted-- why not? And how much longer would she have?
We didn't walk into PetSmart to get another cat. We are still very wounded from Willie's death and no other cat will ever replace what Willie was. But this cat was so loving and in need and ready to go home. And we've been increasingly worried about Tiger's social/emotional health when we start having to work holiday hours at our second jobs. He needed a companion. We needed another companion as well.
So even though it felt a little like betrayal and didn't come without worries, it also felt a lot like the right thing to do. We brought the grey-and-white lady home with us. Her attached name was Sassy, but she hasn't been responding to that. We re-christened her "Kaylee" after that adorable engine mechanic in Firefly: after all, both Kaylee's are laid back, have expressive and happy faces, are unapologetic about what they want, and like enclosed places.
Kaylee, meet Livejournal. Livejournal, Kaylee of the Maneki Neko Smile.
(She totally has a Maneki Neko face when she closes her eyes.)
She initially ignored Tiger Jack and then obviously suffered by him and then hid from him because he just wouldn't let her try to cope with her sudden shift in living space. We shut him away for a little while, though, and she much improved. Now she's actually making overtures to play with him and we feel comfortable with how things are progressing.
P.S. On the last picture I link to, look at the size of Tiger Jack vs. Kaylee. Tiger is only about 8 months now; Kaylee is supposedly over 12 months. Tiger Jack is a big damn cat.
I am so pleased at how they handled the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Walter Raleigh. I was slightly a-feared they were going to depict a torrid love affair. Instead, we were treated to a believable and estranged love that died ere it began. It was actually quite human and vaguely heartbreaking.
They did an extremely good job in showing us what Elizabeth had to bear up under. They qualified her loneliness in a series of telling social moments, sadly embarrassing scenes of vulnerability and weakness, and stirring images of symbolism. I truly ached for Elizabeth, for what she had to bear and give up to maintain her position and achieve the great things that she did.
This isn't an exhaustive review, but I'd like to mention the film's biggest flaw (in my opinion): they completely threw out the Speech to the Troops at Tilbury. Oh, there was a speech. And it was given to the troops. At Tilbury. And Elizabeth was resplendent in armor, riding astride a white horse. ...And then the writers threw us Generic Pre-Battle Speech #79. They didn't even take the real speech and modify it, as they could have, to fit the film's dialogue and storyline. They just completely threw it away. What bullshit!
Also? I want fully half of Elizabeth's wardrobe. Including her wigs.
After the film, Andy and I stopped in at PetSmart to find some toys for Tiger. We've been more concerned with him recently, as I mentioned: he's staying home alone for longer hours and acting out in new (worse) and exciting (worse) ways when we're home. We found him an amusing plastic ball and a wavy-fluffy batting toy on a spring.
And we also looked at the cats for adoption. We didn't remember they were there until we walked in, and then we thought it wouldn't hurt to look. There was one grey cat in the window who immediately looked at us, slightly gruffly or disdainful, I thought, and said "Mao." We moved along. We were attracted to a tiny calico kitten. I figured it wouldn't hurt to hold her.
Well, the calico kitten was terribly skittish and Not Having With Us. She was brought in as a stray and we fear she may have been a stray for a while, or possibly abused. We didn't press the issue with holding her. As I shut her kennel-door, however, I decided to check out the grey cat who was now sitting at her bars. She desperately wanted to say hello to me, rubbing against the door as she was and putting her paws through to touch my hand. As soon as I opened up the kennel, she immediately climbed up my body, settled into my arms, and lightly dug her claws into my shoulder. She also commenced purring and waiting for the body-rubs.
I held her for a bit and then passed her over to Andy, where she repeated her loving behavior. We talked with the PetSmart employee who told us that she'd been in the shelter for four months. She was brought in by her previous owner, apparently, who complained that they were allergic to cats. She's had all her shots and she was spayed just after she was brought into the shelter. She's loving, a lap cat, and well socialized.
She also didn't want to let go, and I have to admit that we quite melted with her in our arms. And it bothered us that she'd been sitting in the shelter for four months and not been adopted-- why not? And how much longer would she have?
We didn't walk into PetSmart to get another cat. We are still very wounded from Willie's death and no other cat will ever replace what Willie was. But this cat was so loving and in need and ready to go home. And we've been increasingly worried about Tiger's social/emotional health when we start having to work holiday hours at our second jobs. He needed a companion. We needed another companion as well.
So even though it felt a little like betrayal and didn't come without worries, it also felt a lot like the right thing to do. We brought the grey-and-white lady home with us. Her attached name was Sassy, but she hasn't been responding to that. We re-christened her "Kaylee" after that adorable engine mechanic in Firefly: after all, both Kaylee's are laid back, have expressive and happy faces, are unapologetic about what they want, and like enclosed places.
Kaylee, meet Livejournal. Livejournal, Kaylee of the Maneki Neko Smile.
(She totally has a Maneki Neko face when she closes her eyes.)
She initially ignored Tiger Jack and then obviously suffered by him and then hid from him because he just wouldn't let her try to cope with her sudden shift in living space. We shut him away for a little while, though, and she much improved. Now she's actually making overtures to play with him and we feel comfortable with how things are progressing.
P.S. On the last picture I link to, look at the size of Tiger Jack vs. Kaylee. Tiger is only about 8 months now; Kaylee is supposedly over 12 months. Tiger Jack is a big damn cat.