I also identify with his thinning hair.

Believe it or not, I watched a lot of TV this weekend.  Would you believe it more if I said most of it was old?

I watched this week's episode (taped on Monday) of the PBS series American Masters about Carl Sandburg [new], the 2009 remake of Race to Witch Mountain [old], It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [old], Lady & the Tramp [old], Murder by Death [old], Auntie Mame [old], and this week's series premiere (taped on Thursday) of Elementary, CBS's update of Sherlock Holmes [new].

I wanted to watch the Carl Sandburg episode because he was from Illinois and my parents were from Illinois and because my mom has a copy of his book Rootabaga Stories on the shelf (although I haven't read it yet).  (If any of you don't think you have heard of him, he's the guy who said "the fog comes on little cat feet" and called Chicago "City of the Big Shoulders".)

It made me think of my past attempts at poetry and how I might want to try again.  It mentioned Poetry Magazine, which I though was an awfully neat idea and might want to subscribe to once I have a job again, but I see on the website that every issue is available for free online, so why bother?  (I also wonder why a monthly magazine offers its subscriptions in 11-month increments.)  So, I browsed through the website and found this (prose) offering from Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket).  Then I saw "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot (I've heard of both but haven't read yet, so I thought I'd try him since there was a convenient link), and I identified with this stanza.

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—

Almost, at times, the Fool.

I also recalled my last thoughts of reviving my poetry, when I bought several books about poetry but which didn't contain instructions on number of lines/stanzas/rhyme scheme/meter/etc. about the various forms of structured poems that I could try to emulate.  Now, though, I have the internet, so I should probably be able to find those easily enough now.

I watched Witch Mountain because I never saw the original, although I recall liking the sequel.  The remake was okay, but I can't picture the Eddie Albert version having quite so many car crashes and special effects.

I watched World because it has been a while since I saw it and because I like a good laugh.

I watched Tramp because I never saw that.

I watched Death because that's one of the movies I wouldn't mind seeing over and over again.  (For those of you with kids, rent it for them because they deserve to see Maggie Smith as someone other than Professor McGonagall.)  Also because I like a good laugh.

I watched Auntie Mame because I wondered if it had anything to do with Mame, the musical movie I have seen.  It does, but this post is already long enough, so I won't bother explaining.  (You can look it up on IMDB if you're curious enough.)  Also, it turned out to have been a good laugh.  I wasn't ROTF, but I did LMAO.  (There's a scene, late in the movie, where a man hits his head on a mobile, which I found hysterical, but that scene might be lost on you if you're not 6'3" tall and aren't used to hitting your head on things.  Plus, I have a habit of laughing at things in movies that the rest of the audience doesn't laugh at.  You could say those are inside jokes which go over their heads.)

Finally, I watched Elementary because the British update of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock) proved to me that "variations on a theme" could be done well (and probably is better done than trying to recreate the original).  It was all right for a first episode, but I do want to see more groundwork laid to establish the characters.  I suppose that's a good way to go about it, or else the entire episode would've been about Holmes and Watson instead of any detecting going on.

That wasn't all I did this weekend.  I did pack more owls, though I've decided I should pack books next, or else I'll use my good size boxes.  I can do that tomorrow, and I should start wrapping my artwork.  (The trick will be to leave enough books unpacked such that I'll have something to read up to my as-yet-to-be-determined moving day, so I don't read all the books I intend to take with me during the move.)  I'll also need to label my boxes (I bought a marker and more packing tape today) before I get too many done and can't remember what's in them.

I learned that I could not pack boxes for a living.  First off, I recalled the two packers who boxed up nearly everything in my parents' house (which filled the largest moving truck I've ever seen, to within three feet of the door) in three days.  I'm not anywhere near that fast.  Plus, I was incredibly bored with the process and wanted to postpone it even more than I already have.  Watching stuff on TV was a lot more enjoyable.