Obsession # 3: Jimmy Stewart

This post perhaps takes off from the previous one. 

I don't know if it was Rear Window or The Shop Around the Corner I saw first. I don't think I put together at that point that it was the same actor. I liked Rear Window, which is a pretty awesome Hitchcock deal, but I fell in love with the tall, lanky guy from The Shop Around the Corner, and his unique way of talking and the flailing of his arms. This resulted in a whole black and white comedies thing, the highlight of which was The Apartment and The Philadelphia Story. Everything I read seemed to suggest that Cary Grant was the romantic lead to crush on, but I watched The Philadelphia Story (starring both) and I knew: James Stewart was the guy I would always root for. Particularly when it was him vs. the odds, as in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or It's a Wonderful Life. A few days ago, it started all over again. But this time, rather than sidetracking into black and white comedies in general, J. Stewart's filmography was the point of interest. This guy has done a ton of movies, and I am on a mission to watch every one that I can get my hands on. 

Today, though, brain-fried from doing probability problems, I laid back (feeling rather ill, to be honest) and watched this documentary about his life -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVn-NCXXoRo - and his reading of this poem he wrote about his dog -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwGnCIdHQH0. You really just have to read his Wikipedia page, I guess. What a fantastic man! What a remarkable life - from the accordion and Princeton to being an actor and a fighter pilot, building a life on friendship,

camaraderie, decency and all those things I am too unromantic to even completely believe in. I won't make the mistake of saying they're not made like this anymore - I've known a couple of spectacular folk - but I find that I am really rather sad that I don't live in a world with Brig. Gen. James Maitland Stewart in it. He was so fortunate in so many ways, but he watched almost everyone he loved most dearly die. His last words to his family: "I'm going to be with Gloria now" (Gloria Hatrick McLean was his wife for 45 years until she died in 1994). It seems like a great way to go, loving and loved.

The guy was a decorated war hero, a poet, a musician, an actor, a model citizen, and an all-around nice guy. This is one Republican (after Lincoln) that I don't mind at all.

Obsession # 2: Love

Sorry about the long break. There's really no excuse for it: it isn't like I haven't been obsessed with anything for this long. I went through a whole Pentatonix thing (during which I also watched way too many Superfruit videos). I watched a whole season of Blackish, got a new oven and got really excited about that, rediscovered my love for Nutella in a big way but, on the other hand, also got very into how awful sugar is. I also realized I'm not as sapiosexual as I thought I was, because of how much I adore this character named Billy from the (unfortunately) cancelled show Sirens. 

When asked to try the roux

Ah, beautiful, sweet, completely and utterly dumb Billy! Despite all this, there has been a definite undercurrent of math and love in the novella of my life for the past couple. And since math, though fascinating, isn't half as completely indulgent and ridiculous as l'amour, I figure I'll talk about the latter.

For at least more than a decade, I have been fascinated with love. Probably at some point, I even believed in it. A character in a movie, I seem to recall, said something about believing in it if it happens. In my case, love is like any obsession (I, of course, mean the subject of love, not the object). Recently, I compared it to my fascination with Harry Potter (my first recorded obsession). I love everything about Harry Potter, every nook and cranny of that world is interesting to me, but I don't believe it to be true. 

There is something rather incredible about delving into such an abstract, fantastical idea as love. You can give it any shape and form, inform it with everything you've read and seen, take things away from it, and add to it. You can do this on a ginormous scale. There are so many dynamic elements involved. I love writing about love, adding to that nebulous network of living, breathing bloodiness. And I am a sucker for a happily-ever-after. I've read every Julia Quinn book, and watched 78 movies off this list: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls058479560/. My tolerance for bad storytelling has gone down over the years, but there is nothing I love more than a well-told love story.

I'm pretty sure this is one of those things I'll carry with me for a while, and I think that's mostly owing to the fact that I still have so many questions, so many more aspects that pull me down so many different avenues with this thing. I don't have all the parts I need to shelve it, and chances are, I never will.

Here are some favourites:

Favourite Romance Movie: Moonrise Kingdom

Favourite Romance Novel: Romancing Mister Bridgerton

Favourite Romantic Couple: Oliver and Jen from Erich Segal's Love Story

tibi multo amore.

Takeaways: Landon Pigg songs.