Scenes From a Weekend



We stuck around the house. Built teepees, photographed teepees, hung around the garage, played guitar, slept in and even managed a late night *Movie Date! But mostly, we simply slowed down and relaxed a little. The one plans we were counting on, fell through. We ended up getting a bit lost along the Ortega Highway, on one of those narrow turn offs and I started to panic (like I do on any kind of long, dense mountain road) so we headed back down the hill, to San Juan Capistrano for lunch. We missed the party, and the camping. But we made the most of it and ended up enjoying a late afternoon meal of tacos by the Mission.



This coming weekend we'll be looking forward to the Holiday. To barbecuing with friends, hanging around the pool, and whatever else we come up with in between.


Countdown starts now.

* We saw The Great Gatsby, and as much as I wanted to love it, I just did not. I thought it was a cheap, over the top portrayal of one of the most beautiful novels of all time. For a few reasons: One, I was not a fan of the Jay Z / Beyonce tracks replacing what could have been an incredible (time appropriate soundtrack) even though I love both those artists in every other circumstance. Two: I thought it was much louder (visually) than it needed to be, so that the special effects  - stunning as they were - only took away from the breath of the story, rather than complementing it. Three: the gritty, underlying wasteland that shadows the novel so effectively in book, seems almost laughable in the film. Overall I found the whole thing slightly silly in comparison to Fitzgerald's genius story, in words, and images that truly defined the fraud of the whole American Dream. But, I guess that's what you get when you dare watch one of your favorite books retold in movie form? Made me wonder: Is it ever worth it? 

I'm not sure. But I can't help thinking what it might have been had a different director had taken it on...

Anyone else see it?