Socializing, Writing, and Widows

[davetheanalyzer]

After reading an article on apologizing online, I decided to edit my apologies for my past mistakes here and here. From the lack of comments I get these past many years, I don’t know if anyone ever reads my blog, especially those I encountered and hurt many years in the past, but I should try to make the apologies proper anyway.

In other news, I’m doing a new pattern where I take a writing and blogging break on public holidays and even socialize a bit, starting this Thanksgiving, with some extended relatives coming around. It was a bit harder than I thought, since I had to find lags in the conversation where to jump in and it’s hard for me to keep socializing for long. I often lost interest and wandered back to my computer. The most I remember is telling my aunt and nephew amusing anecdotes of texting autocorrect fails I’ve seen on that Ellen Clumsy Thumbsby youtube playlist. That certainly went down a hoot, though I dodged the more sexual humor. I did wonder if I socialized enough but Mom said I did just fine and she seemed happy about it.

I didn’t linger during most of the Thanksgiving eating since the sights and smells of the food doesn’t appeal to me and Dad would have bugged me to try the food, even the stuffing again. I gave a loud “no” the second time he asked me about it, which was probably rude of me. I do try stuff but maybe once or twice a weekend, when no one is paying attention to me, so they won’t smugly go “I told you so” if I like it or be annoyed when I (more likely) don’t like it and insist I try it again until I like it. The anxiety about what happens if I try something is a reason I don’t do it every day or might skip some weekends.

In writing matters, I still think I might be able to make a December posting the next. We Will Hold On Forever chapter, even with these holiday breaks. I making careful edits of chapters 17 and 18, and I might finish them today. I have some changes in mind for 15 and 16 but hopefully they won’t be too time-consuming. I’m beginning another edit of Exile’s Lone Company. Things are coming together a bit, but there are still things in the later half that feel sudden and odd, and need to be fixed up more. I’ll have more writing time when the term ends two to three weeks into December.

Speaking of that, I wrote a story for Seminar in Fiction I to workshop. It was separate from my Writing Portfolio work but it was another test pilot for an idea I had kicking around. There was good feedback but there is one I have some pause about since that throws a wrench in some ideas I have for the story. I could theoretically work around them and it could make my story more distinct but I’m not sure about doing it in the first place. I will work with that when I submit the revision in at the end of the semester, which started a bit late since she revealed that was the final project this Tuesday. Mind you, she did hint at it with the feedback session. It’s a challenge but I’m getting through them a bit faster than I thought, with two pages a day. These next two weekends, I hope to do more extensive edits.

I saw the film Widows. I only saw one trailer and was only vaguely aware of the film but I decided to give it a shot. It was good. The Director Steve Gilliam, the writers, and the cast and crew did a good job of making distinct characters out of even bit parts. Some of the shots, like the long take where we hear Jack Mulligan’s racist and self-pitying rant in the car among others (Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember those other shots even though I typed this section an hour and a half after seeing the film), were stylized and very well done. There were twists and developments I fortunately didn’t spoil myself for and was surprised by.

As the lead, Viola Davis plays Veronica Rawlings’ grief over losing her husband and the shock and fear from certain developments with great range and subtly. Veronica is harsh to her fellow widows and Belle, but dealing with the grief of losing her entire family with Jamal Manning directly threatening her on top of that, she has to be in order for them to survive. Linda is a mother of two who has some hints of conflict with her husband and must not be feeling very good about him upon learning he sold her shop’s deeds in his gambling habits. But when she tried to get the plans for the heist, she breaks down over his death when meeting the widow of the person who made the plans, indicating the complexity of her grief. Despite some hesitance of because her children, she decides joins the heist to save her now impoverished family and show her children their situation lying down. Alice was in a tough place, abused by her now dead husband and a mother who pushes her into escorting to get money. It was the adversity of the heist planning that she seems to rise to the challenge and become more assertive. I was confused at first about why Belle as a outsider joined such a risky job, but running two jobs as a beautician and babysitter with barely any time for her daughter, she shares their need to get a better life for themselves. I did like she tried to press a beautician coworker to drop Jack Mulligan’s exploitative support and gave her money from the heist so the coworker could start out on her own.

When watching the film, I did wonder why there was so much camera time devoted to the antagonists at first, since it felt like the titular Widows were getting less attention by comparison. As the film went on, I realized in addition to building up their threat and who they are as people, it was also to show partly why they wouldn’t go after the Widows after their heist. Jamal Manning’s ruthless brother and enforcer Jatemme was killed when he tried to steal the Widows’ heist. This depleted his power but he got the $2 million from Jack Mulligan he wanted and, with his desire to get into politics, there was a hint he disapproved of his brother’s ruthless ways. Jack Mulligan never wanted to become a politician and he hated his controlling and abusive father. With evidence pointing elsewhere, he would have less inclination to investigate what had happened. The twist with Veronica’s husband Harry being alive at the fourth widow’s place shocked me. It shows how loss and grief, as with his son’s murder at the hands of the cops (Which he inadvertently caused by ordering him to turn back home), could change someone for the worse, and he wants to run away from the pain so bad he would trick and even kill his wife to do so.

The heist moment was great, flawed but efficient for first (and only) timers. I did laugh when they got the safe code wrong, because they were holding the code upside down, and it feels like something that would happen. They did good with leaving little evidence behind and only shooting Mulligan senior in self-defense. I did worry Alice might die but she was fine. Veronica having to kill her husband thereafter must have hurt her so much. It would take some time for her to recover from all this. I did wonder what happened to the fourth widow Harry was having an affair with. Maybe she decided to quietly live on her life or Veronica paid her off. Veronica did say after they did the heist, they wouldn’t have to have anything to do with each other again. However, after making sure her son would be remembered, it was heartwarming to see her greet and smile at Alice. She still has some time to recover but it seems she’s moving to a better place and maybe willing to pursue new connections. All in all, a grim, complex movie but one with a hopeful ending that I recommend.

That’s all for now. I’m editing this post before during another session of We Will Hold On Forever chapter editing. Until the end of the year, see you!