I apologize - it's been so long since I saw or read the movies and books I'm reviewing that my memory of them is already fading. So forgive me if this is short!

I read the Wilkie Collins novel The Woman in White when I took a class called Dickens and Friends in college. That was one of the most awesome classes ever offered. Apparently Collins stood represented "Friends". Victorian melodrama is my cup of tea, even though it is often outrageously melodramatic. The Woman in White is no exception.

The movie revolves around a set of characters residing at an English mansion. One of them is a young painter who has come to teach a young lady named Marian and her cousin, Laura, a bit about painting. On his way to the mansion, he meets a woman in white upon the road, who seems to be in a lot of distress. He points her in the direction she's looking for, and thinks nothing of it until he finds out that her story may be linked to the people with whom he has come to stay. He falls in love with Laura, but unfortunately she is already engaged to a rather sinister-type guy. As the movie progresses, the young painter and Marian try to uncover the mystery behind the elusive woman in white.

I loved this atmospheric little movie. It definitely adapts the book a little bit differently, but it is still effective. I really enjoyed the entire cast and the wonderful settings - especially the opening sequence on the road to the mansion. It had been a long time since I read the book, so I had forgotten the details of the mystery. It was great to revisit the story, and to find this movie, which I didn't even know existed until I was browsing through TiVo listings one day.

It's not available on DVD, so if you like this type of story, keep an eye out for it at Turner Classics. It'll probably show up again one day.

Because today is Pi Day (3.14) I decided to try something different: In my iTunes search bar I typed the word pi so that I would see only the tracks that have those two letters together in either the song title, artist name, or album title. I then set iTunes to random and hit play to see what popped up.

Sunship Balloons - The Flaming Lips (from Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EP)
Like Spinning Plates - Radiohead
The First Full Moon - Sufjan Stevens (from To Spirit Back The Mews)
Cassiel's Song - Nick Cave (from Faraway, So Close: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
My Dark Life - Elvis Costello and Brian Eno (from Songs in the Key of X : Music from and Inspired by The X-Files)
In the Flesh? - Pink Floyd
Inspiration - Gipsy Kings
The Spirit - Jandek
All We Have Is Now - The Flaming Lips (from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots)
Sit in the Middle of Three Galloping Dogs - A Silver Mt. Zion

It seems ages ago that I listened to this book, but it was probably just about a month and a half. The Awakening, written in 1899, tells the story of Edna Pontellier, the wife of a successful New Orleans businessman. While their family vacations at Grand Isle, she meets a young man named Robert and spends a lot of time with him. She soon detaches herself from her husband, her children, her social circle, and even her own home, and takes up residence in a small cottage where she can work on her illustrations and be free to socialize with whom she chooses.

The novel was significant for its time, because it addressed women's issues quite directly, and it was heavily criticized for doing so. It suggests that the role of wife and mother were assigned to Edna, and that she was not given the freedom to live her own life. While I agree that certain social constraints were overboard in those days, what The Awakening fails to contemplate is any sort of actual morals. Its emphasis is on personal choices and desires. Edna finds herself feeling unhappy in her roles as wife and mother, which is something I might expect from someone in her situation. But she feels no moral obligation to remain a wife or mother.

Edna experiences this awakening when she realizes she has sexual desire, or when she hears music that inspires her to become an artist. She definitely had affection for her husband and children, so why not transfer that sexual desire into her relationship with her husband, and find ways to express herself artistically in her day-to-day life? She had no problem leaving social constraints behind when she moved out of her house. Being afraid wasn't an issue. So why could she not have been an unconventional mother? How could she feel nothing for her children and just leave them at the in-laws'? Her husband was actually rather supportive of her. If she had remained with him, I doubt that he would have prevented her from being an artist. For me, the error of this book is that Edna is completely selfish.

What I do admire about the book is that Edna does have an awakening of sorts, although she's misguided in how to approach life now that she sees it differently. Edna has had her life arranged for her, in a way, which is unfortunate, and the expectations of society that she behave a certain way are unfortunate. She lives life as a routine, but doesn't seem to feel very much of anything. While some people read the book and think that Robert (the man she admires) is what stirs her out of her routine, I feel like he made a difference, but wasn't the sole instigator. It is when she is listening to Mademoiselle Reisz play the piano that she is first greatly affected, which brings about her desire to try swimming again. The successful swim brings about a new sense of confidence and an awareness of her own capabilities. I like that this awakening isn't only about having an affair.

I enjoyed Chopin's writing style very much throughout the whole novel. Edna makes for a very interesting character study. She finds a newfound interest in life, but doesn't know how to apply it and still feels as though she will not be able to exist alongside the current form of society. Unfortunately, she looks to the figure of Robert to be her crutch--her hopes are that she will lead her new existence with him. She doesn't see that she had enough confidence to do many things on her own and that she can continue living a new life without him in it. And so the book ends the way that it does, which makes me feel a bit dissatisfied. Is the ending based on Edna's feelings for Robert, or her own insecurities? I'm not quite sure, but I don't think I care for the ending either way. Chopin is definitely making her statement, but perhaps more pronouncedly than necessary.

Even still, I thought it was a book with a wonderful writing style, injected with a real essence of the French Creole community. It was thought-provoking and always interesting, and for that I do admire it. I wish it might have gone in a few different directions or approached an ending differently, but I still liked it overall.

It's the Pi Day edition of the Random Ten. Let 'er rip, Mr. iPod.

1. Erasure - Breath of Life
2. Snow Patrol - Untilted
3. The Postal Service - This Place is a Prison
4. The Beatles - Lady Madonna
5. The White Stripes - Now Mary
6. The Hives - It Won't Be Long
7. Modest Mouse - The Good Times are Killing Me
8. Better Than Ezra - Daylight
9. The Beatles - Sexy Sadie
10. R.E.M. - Make it All Okay

Nicely done, iPod. I think I need to name you. Any ideas? I would give this mix an 8.5/10, pretty solid effort and two Beatles songs while pretty much avoiding A-Sides.

WWdN: In Exile: when come back, bring ?

Wil reminded me that today is 3/14, otherwise known as Pi (I'm too lazy to type that pi symbol) day. In honor of this I will be having a super geek weekend, consisting of comic conventions, television panels, video games, computer hardware installation, and other assorted activities. As Wil notes, it's even more Pi day at 1:59 PM!

Bully: Scholarship Edition

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The Brothers Martin

Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence by Paul Feig

Remember a few years ago when Pepsi was giving away millions of free iTunes downloads? Those days are long gone, my friends. Now they have a new promotion where you redeem codes from bottle caps for Amazon MP3 and Unbox video downloads. At first this sounded all right. Then today I found out it takes 5 freaking codes to get one MP3 download. I guess if you normally drink Pepsi this isn't that big a deal since you would have the caps anyway but I'm a Diet Coke guy. I switched for this promotion, assuming that I would be raking in the MP3 downloads. After weeks of drinking crappy Diet Pepsi I can now download a whopping four songs. With the old promotion I would have had a few albums worth. Thanks guys.