BADLY DONE, MG! YOU KNOW YOU MUSTN'T LINGER ON ROMANTICIZING

Robert Pattinson - Reese Witherspoon

I've been watching romantic movies all afternoon and I've been so moody and melancholic while trying to work till now. "Badly done, MG! (Austenesque echoes?) You know you mustn't do it when you have to work on correction and planning lessons. Too distracting"  

The voice of my conscience. I tried to ignore it and forced myself to do some work all the same. Very little, in fact. So, I thought I may share what I saw with you. Maybe, I can stop fancying about languid, sensual, romantic love stories and go back working a bit. 

You know I love both reading and watching romantic movies. Strange is I wasn't like this in my younger age. The more I grow old, the more I become sensitive and fond of silly romantic stuff. Is there a treatment, a cure? Well, is it a disease? Something I should worry about? Let me know, if you think so. Any suggestion will be well accepted. 

Now I'll try to stop rambling about and tell you something of what happened, of what I watched.  This post is meant to be quick therapy to remove destracting (indecent?) thoughts and  go back to work soon, focused and concentrated. Hence, not a long one, I hope.

First of all, I came back from school with a painful headache after 6 lessons and, fortunately, I didn't have to cook. My sons had already eatean and I just heated some vegetables in the microwave oven for me. I sat and turned the TV on, something I rarely do. Satellite TV. Lots of channels among to choose. TV news? The earthquake shaking our beautiful country again and again? No, not as I feel now. BBC news? No, not with this headache. Zapping here and there, I bumped on a 2011 movie, just started: Water for Elephants. I started watching and couldn't stop.

Set in the bizzarre, fascinating world of the circus, in America and in the years of the Great Depression, this movie is the adaptation of a best-selling book of the same title by Sara Gruen . It is a lovely story. But you will forgive me if I don't tell you much about the plot since,  as I said, I'm in a hurry. Here are two short summary / synopsis from imdb:

1. After his parents' death, Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) is left penniless and homeless. Events lead him to joining the circus as their vet, working under their unstable boss August whose violent tendencies give everyone reason to be cautious around him, including his beautiful and quiet wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) , whom August (Christoph Waltz) is very possessive of and who Jacob finds himself soon falling in love with. 

2. An old man meanders around a circus late at night: he's missed his ride to a rest home. He tells the circus manager about his time in 1931 with the doomed Bandini Circus. He's Jake: when his parents die before he finishes veterinary studies, he hobos his way toward Albany, falling in with a circus. He diagnoses a lame horse, and August, the mercurial owner, hires him as a vet. August is in debt, throwing employees from the train in the dead of night. To sell tickets, he buys an elephant, tells Jake to train it and his young wife Marlena to ride it. While August's temper threatens the elephant, Marlena and Jake find a mutual attraction.

Lovely, lovely, lovely story. The wicked husband is terribly wicked. This means Mr Waltz was terribly good! As for beautiful Pattinson, I've never much found him attractive but his Jacob is quite so. More than Edward the vampire or 19th century lover boy , Bel Ami. 

After the end of the movie, I cleaned the kitchen and prepared my pile of paper to dive into on the table. Only, I forgot to turn the TV off and ... Dirty Dancing was starting and ... could I resist? I know. I should have had. I've seen that movie more than once, no need to re-watch. Easy said not done, I left it on and started correcting, making the effort not to look at the screen but from time to time. Don't I remind you one of those kids coping with facebook, loud music and their homework to be done? Oh my God...my students?   Difficult task, impossible: when this scene ( below ) started I completely forgot I had a red pen in my right hand ... Gasp... how gorgeous young Patrick Swayze was! And have I ever told you how much I love dancing? Maybe once or twice (HERE) . To be precise, I like watching other people dance. Have a look at this scene. Better, let's re-watch it together!

I was aware  that much, much more thrilling scenes were going to come soon -  like this one or this one - and went on watching with greater interest till the unforgettable end ... I had the time of my life... After the movies, I hadn't had enough and looked for clips on Youtube where I  found this one. Incredibly touching, especially thinking he is no longer with us.  
Guess what time it is!?!  MIDNIGHT. I'm finishing this post and it is midnight right now. Never mind. Thursday, tomorrow, is my day off. I'll try to catch up with all those papers to be read, corrected, assessed, archived. Promise, I'll be back as the dutiful teacher tomorrow. Meanwhile, time to go to bed. What is it that you ask? Did I manage to free myself from that strange mood? Mmm, I'll tell you tomorrow. I suspect I'll have to learn how to dance meanwhile and even try to work in a circus with the elephants before then. In the next few hours. In my dreams. Good night!