the Dalaverse

Still here. Been reading flist and whatnot, but sporadically. Brought Dad home yesterday. Tuesday we picked up Grandma Lorraine and my cousin Jack, who's nine and couldn't go in ICU, to visit him. My god, that child not only talks incessantly, he knows everything about everybody in the family. And Grandma was very grandma-like, refreshing after Grandma Libby, whom I can never actually bring myself to call grandma -- you know, to her face. Grandma Lorraine is always, always a bastard pronunciation sounding something like "Gremmaw." But I mostly avoid calling Grandma Libby anything at all because...it just doesn't seem to fit, somehow.

Monday night sucked. Yes, the second half of "Fahrenheit 9/11" was exactly the right thing to watch in such a mood. I cried for an hour.

And in the opposite direction, time-wise, I rang in 2005 sitting by myself in the basement, watching "South Park." Mom came down at 12:59 to make me change the channel, but honestly, the ball is not that exciting. And Philbin would not shut the fuck up. Earlier we'd made a halfhearted effort to get people together, but to tell the truth, all I was really interested in terms of going out was having steak for dinner, not getting wasted as you're supposed to do, or even really hanging out anywhere but home. Dad went to bed at 11, but we watched PoA first. After the Shrieking Shack scene, regarding Sirius and Lupin: "Are they brothers or lovers?" Dala: "Weeeeelllllll..." And then with Lupin's whole "people like me" speech at the end, I said, "You see what I mean?" and he nodded sagely. Heh.

He has five stints/stents (I'm still not sure how to spell it) in one artery now. Grandma Lorraine, who had a quintuple bypass a couple years ago (heart trouble runs in the family. Swell), thought that sounded iffy, and so did Meg's mother, who's a nurse. But Dad likes Dr. Schindler and turned down the idea of seeking a second opinion on what they've already done, so...::shrugs:: Mom still wishes he'd gone to Washington Hospital Center, but Shady Grove was the closest. He has to take a month off work and go back for cardiac therapy, whatever that is. I'm thinking we're going to singlehandedly support our local Blockbusters for that period of time.

Mean to donote to the Red Cross. Let my paid LJ membership run out, but I wasn't going to renew it anyway, I don't think. Later today I'm going to run to Borders for the fourth series of "Coupling" and a low-fat cookbook, and I think we're going to rake the leaves in the backyard, and...that's about it. Tomorrow my mother and I are going to the Redskins game, even though we don't really want to, because Dad threw a fit when we suggested giving the tickets away.

Much love to everybody else who's had personal problems recently. And to everybody whose holidays went off mostly hitch-free. And...to everybody, really.

I watched PotC again on our late Christmas Day (the night between Shady Grove visits), for the first time since that insane week when I was writing "Collide" and playing it at least three times a day. Once again, I found new things to fascinate me, just little lines and bits here and there that made me go, "Huh." It's very likely that they'll pop up in fic at some point or another.

1. Will's clothing in the first few scenes -- the gentleman's outfit. He is clearly uncomfortable in it, as evidenced by the extension with him scratching his leg (::dies of teh cute::). I always noticed how he starts to undress the second he steps into the smithy -- coat comes off, buttons are popped -- and always figured, "Well, there's a swordfight coming up, and sweat collects in those little hollows above the collarbone, and the fangirls dutifully squee," but now I'm connecting it to the deleted scene. That fancy, stiff, itchy clothing makes it acceptable for him to enter Elizabeth's world, but he's still not really a part of it, and it never suits him as well as his more disheveled appearance in the rest of the film. And then at the end, his outfit is completely different, but not entirely piratical either. He's learned to walk in both worlds, and he's proud of who he is, and he doesn't give a damn if Elizabeth or anybody else approves.

2. "I know those guns." I mean, what a line. First of all, the fact that Jack actually knows what the Pearl's cannons sound like. And then, presuming that he hasn't encountered the ship in a long, long time, perhaps not in the entire ten years since he's lost her...I imagine something in his brain just goes *CLICK* and the gears start turning. It's ON now.

3. The way Barbossa is just...standing there (on the quarterdeck?) when Elizabeth is being rowed up to the Pearl, like he owns the fucking world. You can't even see him properly yet, but somehow you know that this is the guy you want to watch -- and the one our heroine needs to watch out for.

4. The way Elizabeth blinks when her shutters are thrown open. I don't know why I find it so interesting; it just makes me wonder how exactly she feels about living in a tropical -- well, paradise isn't quite the word in the 17th/18th century, I don't think. Also, Keira looks like Julia Stiles at that exact moment, and it amuses me.

5. The cleverness of the donkey starting upon seeing the glowing poker. It's an excuse to make things on the set MOVE! Awesome!

6. A few specific things about the smithy swordfight -- Jack's genuine-seeming praise of Will's footwork, the various expressions of triumph from both of them during the course of action, the disappointment in Will's face and voice on "You cheated." I mean, it must be really fun on some level to fight somebody really good, on Will's behalf because he can't have had many opponents in his life, on Jack's because he's obviously better trained than the average pirate. On one level, they're engaged in deadly swordplay; on another, I bet they're both geeking out on the inside over the sheer exciting challenge of it.

7. Will's "bzuh?" look after Jack says "This shot is not meant for you." It's just funny. Also his little "mmhmm" look after "Just doing my civic duty, sir." And just before and after he gets clonked on the head during the raid. Orlando Bloom may not be the best actor in the world, but he's got an awfully expressive face.

8. The way it sounds like Elizabeth is biting her lip when she says "He's a fine man."

9. Her snottiness when she's dining with Barbossa. That's my girl. And the way he seems almost charmed by it.

10. Cotton staring at the compass when they're approaching Isla de Muerta, and then handing Jack his hat at the end. I love me some Cotton.

11. The way Elizabeth says "That's it?" after Barbossa cuts her palm, as if after all this adventure and danger and fear, all she gets is a freaking two-inch-long scar on her hand. It's kind of insulting, after all. (Before, of course, the completely creepy response from Barbossa.)

12. Her delivery on "I mean, yes they are, but..." Like the way she speaks to Estrella -- she's always kind of carelessly arrogant. It's one of the character quirks that keeps her from becoming a pure Mary Sue, keeps her realistic amidst her almost anachronistic spunk and asskickery.

13. Anamaria's quick willingness to give up Elizabeth to Barbossa's crew. Just a reminder of "hey, PIRATES."

14. Mmm, I don't quite know how to describe this...blocking, maybe? Of Elizabeth, in relation to the people around her. She's elevated a lot. We start out looking up at her; Will first sees her hovering over him; at the top of the stairs; up on the parapet; up on the treasure mound in the cave; standing over Jack for a moment until he pulls her down onto the sand; looking down at the monkey/Mallet and Grapple; being up on that...thing when Will is declaring his love; and I think she's up some steps again at the end when Norrington is walking away. And then when she's brought low: looking up at the Pearl for the first time, sitting down during Barbossa's speech, cowering from her first encounters with the undead pirates, looking up at (poor woobie!) Norrington on "As a wedding present", having the lowest footing in the scene when Barbossa aims the pistol at her.

Actually, now I have no idea why I find all of that interesting. It was just something I noticed, and then kept noticing.