Ms. Hen reviews TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! and thinks it's like ripping off a bandage, painful but pleasurable at the same time

Pedro Almodovar 1990

TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! (ATAME!)

Directed by Pedro Almodovar

1990

Ms. Hen is a fan of Antonio Banderas, despite his lifestyle choices. She had never seen this film, in which Antonio (it’s okay if we’re personal with him) plays a mentally ill man released from an institution. Our Antonio was very young in this film, and he plays a fantastic lunatic. There are parts of this film where he is very unattractive, such as when he wears a long wig and later a mustache, but we know who he is underneath.

This is a film about a deranged man, Ricky, obsessed with a woman he had a one-night stand with when he escaped from the institution a year before the film takes place. He finds the woman he is fixated on while she is making a horror film in which she is the star. He steals money from some of the actors’ pockets and leaves the actress, Marina, a box of chocolates. Ricky doesn’t know that Marina had been a drug addict and a porn star.

Ricky follows Marina to her apartment and he breaks in and head-butts her and breaks her tooth. He explains to her why he is there, but she complains she needs medicine for her toothache. She tells him regular painkillers do not work on her because she had been a heroin addict. Ricky unwillingly takes her to a doctor who will give her some medicine, but he handcuffs her hand to his before they go.

Ms. Hen is a big fan of a lot of Almodovar’s films, but this one seemed a little flat to her. She knew she was supposed to have sympathy for Ricky because he was so pathetic, but she couldn’t help but think she wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley in Madrid if she went there again, though if she met Antonio that would be a different story.

Ricky tied Marina up every time he left her apartment. This was supposed to be romantic and funny, but Ms. Hen didn’t think it was funny. In a normal dating experience, men are not supposed to tie up women so they won’t escape. It wasn’t like S&M, it was because he was afraid she would leave and he would never see her again.

This film is reminiscent of SECRETARY, in the way that it is an offbeat love story in which Ms. Hen did not expect things to work out between the characters, but they do. The film also reminded her of the novel THE COLLECTOR by John Fowles, which is about a man who kidnaps a young woman because he is obsessed with her. In THE COLLECTOR, Ms. Hen has a lot more sympathy for the protagonist than the one in TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! because she knew him better.

Ms. Hen thinks it’s worth it to watch this film if only to see Antonio Banderas when he was young speaking Spanish. But this film is not for the faint of heart. If you don’t like violence or are deeply offended by mistreatment of women, this film is not for you. But if you have a dark sense of humor, and can tolerate perversity, you might enjoy this. Ms. Hen gives this film three and a half feathers up.

Ms. Hen reviews EMPIRE FALLS and makes it personal

EMPRIRE FALLS

By Richard Russo

Ms. Hen has not posted a blog in a while. She’s been busy doing other things that have not been pleasant. She read a very long and winding novel, EMPIRE FALLS, which she enjoyed. She found this book was easier to read in long segments because the characters are rich and dense. It’s not to say they’re badly written characters. They’re very complex.

This novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. Ms. Hen has read another novel by Richard Russo, THE RISK POOL, which she also liked, but when she told people she read that, everyone she talked to raved about EMPIRE FALLS. It has been a while since she read THE RISK POOL, but she finally got around to reading the Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

EMPIRE FALLS is about a small town in Maine by the same name. The protagonist, Miles Roby, is the manager of the Empire Grill, the diner in town, owned by Francine Whiting, the town matriarch, who happens to own everything in the town. Miles went away to college and never meant to spend twenty years at the Empire Grill, but he came back because his mother had cancer, and then he got married, had a child and he stayed to manage the restaurant. Few job options exist in Empire Falls.

At the beginning of the novel, Miles is in the middle of a divorce with Janine, who had an affair with The Silver Fox, Walt Comeau, the owner of the town health club. Janine has lost a lot of weight and is proud of that. Tick, Miles’ and Janine’s daughter, lives with Janine, but can’t stand Walt.

The town is full of local characters, most of whom have spent their entire lives there. A lot of them don’t like each other, or they might, but they are all so bored with their lives that they only tolerate their neighbors. Miles seems like the only sympathetic character in the novel. Miles’ father, Max, is despicable, Janine’s mother is a wisecracking tavern owner who is tired, Walt is obnoxious, Janine is narcissistic, Tick is an awkward child, and everyone else in high school is immature.

EMPIRE FALLS is an accurate portrayal of small-town life. Ms. Hen has never lived in a small town, but she has read enough books and has visited small towns often enough to know they can be insular and some of the people who reside there are provincial. A lot of people who live in small towns never leave, and everyone knows everything about the whole town.

Miles Roby is a man who wants to improve the life that he has. Mrs. Whiting told him years ago that he would inherit the Empire Grill when she dies, and he has been waiting for her to die for many years. He wants change, but that is difficult for him to achieve.

Ms. Hen wanted to tell most of the characters in this novel to get a life and don’t be a jerk because life is short and you should appreciate what you have while you have it. Most of the characters in EMPIRE FALLS are petty and selfish and need to get a grip on things. Ms. Hen realized that when a person or a hen reads a novel or watches a film or a play, that person or hen brings her own feelings to the piece. Ms. Hen brought her own emotions to her reading of this novel. But the characters in the novel are exactly the way people are in real life. People hardly appreciate what they have until they’re faced with its loss.

Ms. Hen does not recommend reading this novel when you are in a crisis or if you’re depressed, because it will make you angry and want to punch all the characters. But if you want to read a novel in which characters are realistic and difficult, and you’re in a good place in your life, EMPIRE FALLS is fantastic.

Ms. Hen reviews KRIK? KRAK! by Edwidge Danticat and becomes superstitious

KRIK? KRAK!

Edwidge Danticat

Ms. Hen chose this book because it was on the list of women writers to read during Women’s History Month, which she has mentioned previously. It’s not Women’s History Month anymore, but Ms. Hen thinks it’s always a good time to read women writers.

At first, this collection of short stories startled Ms. Hen. The language used is sensual and poetic. She stopped reading a different book because the writing style was too plain and old fashioned and the difference between the two books is sharp.

All of these short stories are about Haiti, women in Haiti, men and women in Haiti, and people who have left Haiti for the United States. Ms. Hen loves reading about people with difficult lives that are different from her life.

The first story in the collection is “Children of the Sea,” is told through two characters, a man on a ship heading towards Florida and the woman he has left behind. The fear and dangers that these characters face changes them. The young woman in Haiti hopes in her heart that her loved one will survive, but she discovers what happened through an omen of a butterfly.

Superstitions run rampant in these stories. The people of Haiti carry their superstitions inside them the way some women hold their purses. Curses and charms bring good luck or bad luck. In the story, “A Wall of Fire Rising,” Guy dreams of a better life when he sees a hot air balloon rising near their tenement shack. His wife, Lili, thinks it is a bad omen. He does not think of consequences. His young son, Little Guy practices his lines for the play in which he will appear. He says the lines while his father faces his destiny. Lili wishes Guy had never tried to leave without them.

In the story “Caroline’s Wedding,” a family plans for a woman’s wedding. Caroline was born with half an arm. She and her sister teach ESL at a school and live with their mother. The mother carries her Haitian roots close. This is a thoughtful story about a family dealing with problems, and trying to work things out.

Ms. Hen really loved this book. She loved the language of this book and the singing voice of the writer. The epilogue was also intriguing to Ms. Hen. In it, the author talked about women who write and how women in her family didn’t write. If they did, they were considered kitchen poets because that is the only place their poetry mattered or could be heard.

Ms. Hen understood what it is like to be in a family of women who have never written. If the women in Ms. Hen’s family did write, they didn’t write anything substantial. Sometimes, a person has to be the first one in the family to talk about history and why things are the way they are. Ms. Hen came to this realization when she finished the book on the train one night. There should be a person to tell the truth. Ms. Hen wants to be that person.

Ms. Hen raves about Busboys and Poets

Busboys and Poets

14^th and V Streets

Washington D.C.

Ms. Hen has not done that many restaurant reviews, but she experienced a great place on her trip to Washington D.C. that she has to share. She found a café in the neighborhood where she was staying, the U Street Corridor, called Busboys and Poets. She was intrigued by the name of the place because she likes poets, so she had lunch there one day.

When she got to the place, the host asked her if she wanted to sit at a table, a couch or the bar. She was intrigued by the options, but she was having lunch, so she sat at a table in the café, and she was given a seat near the window. The place was beautiful, decorated with art on the walls, with funky chairs and couches in the middle. She felt comfortable there.

The waitress who took her order was very smiley. She smiled a lot. At everyone. A group of what looked like high maintenance women sat in the middle and ate French fries and she smiled at them.

Ms. Hen ordered a chicken salad sandwich and it was outstanding. The side salad tasted like no other salad Ms. Hen had ever had. The dressing seemed like it was made with magic. She had coffee afterwards and that was fabulous as well.

Ms. Hen was so impressed with Busboys and Poets that she went back for dinner the next day. She had to wait for a couple of minutes for a table so she went to the bookstore and bought a book. The store is a little different from other bookstores she’d visited. It is a non-profit bookstore run by a group called Teaching for Change.

Ms. Hen did research about the store later and she discovered that the bookstore only sells certain kinds of books, ones with a socially conscious message, or by a minority or a woman and the book must fulfill the mission of the non-profit. Ms. Hen thinks this is a beautiful way to run a bookstore. In order to sell a book in the store, it has to fit the criteria and be approved by the committee.

After Ms. Hen bought her book, she sat at a table and was greeted by another very happy waitress. She wondered what they did to these waitresses to make them smile so much. She thought they might just be so happy they work at such a cool place that they can’t help but smile.

Ms. Hen ordered a falafel salad and it was breathtaking. She sat and looked at the people having dinner. There were young people and families with children. Different kinds of people ate there, and everyone seemed relaxed.

Ms. Hen loved Busboys and Poets and wished there was someplace like that where she lives. There are cool places in Cambridge and Somerville, but they’re not everything at the same time: a bookstore, a café, a bar, an art gallery and a place to have readings. There are a few locations of Busboys and Poets around the D.C. area. Being there made her feel content. Ms. Hen loves being in a new place, discovering new things. Ms. Hen could discover all the cool places, if only she could go everywhere. A hen can only dream.

Ms. Hen reviews her favorite thing yet, THE CHICKEN CHRONICLES by Alice Walker

THE CHICKEN CHRONICLES

By Alice Walker

Ms. Hen found this book by chance in a bookstore in Washington D.C. called Busboys and Poets. She knew it was destiny because it has a chicken on the cover that looks just like her. She read the first few pages and decided to buy it.

This memoir is about Alice Walker’s experience owning and taking care of chickens in her home in Northern California. She had always wanted chickens, but then she saw a chicken and her brood crossing the road and she was enraptured. She thought she had never seen a chicken so beautiful before, even though she had been raised in the South and had chickens when she was young.

Ms. Walker acquired some chickens and she grew to love them. She would watch them and they would bring her joy. The chickens all had names: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, Agnes of God, the Gladyses and Babe. She loved them like her children. She is a vegetarian and every time she ate chicken by mistake she felt ashamed and guilty.

The chickens brought back her memories of her childhood. She remembered her mother’s thumb that appeared disfigured. She remembered going to church on Sunday and seeing her mother all dressed up. She remembered her siblings and other members of the family leaving home, and how she felt sad when they left. The chickens helped her remember what it was like to be young and how she felt as a child. The chickens did many things.

Ms. Walker traveled a lot to India and Nepal while she was taking care of the chickens. Some chapters of the book are letter to the chickens, who she calls her girls, telling them about the things she saw and did when she traveled.

Ms. Hen thought it was strange that Ms. Walker wrote letters to her chickens. Ms. Hen is strange, so she understood this. It’s like Ms. Hen having opinions of things. She does it to make herself feel better. People have to do what they can to survive, and if Alice Walker thinks it’s okay to write letters to her chickens to tell them about India, Ms. Hen is fine with that. Ms. Hen is a strange hen, and she admires people and chickens that can go out on a limb and be different.

Ms. Hen can’t stand people and things that are normal. She thinks that nobody is normal, but some people can’t help but try to fit in. When she’s an old hen, she wants to be as strange as Alice Walker and maybe write letters to chickens from Nepal or somewhere else that’s just as exciting. She doesn’t want to sit on her couch and watch soap operas and worry about game shows and celebrities.

When Ms. Hen is an old hen, she wants to be able to write a book as beautiful as this one. It’s small and could be a fast read, but it should not be read too quickly. It should be savored like a good cup of coffee, drinking every last drop to experience the taste and beauty of the whole thing.

Ms. Hen reviews the Airbnb she stayed at in D.C.

The Grand Victorian Airbnb

Vermont Avenue

Washington D.C.

When Ms. Hen decided to go to Washington D.C., she wanted to make it as cheap as possible, so she decided to stay at an Airbnb, a service where a guest can stay in a room or a house that is rented by the owner. The hosts rent out space for extra money, and it gives people the opportunity to stay in unique and affordable spaces.

Ms. Hen looked at lots of Airbnbs for the week she was planning on going to D.C., but the complete apartments were mostly full, since it was cherry blossom season. She found a room in a Victorian mansion that was only 85 dollars a night and it was available for the nights she wanted to stay, so she made a reservation.

She had never stayed in one of those places before, and she had some apprehension. She didn’t know if it would be safe, or clean, or if strange people lived there. But when she got there, she found out she had nothing to fear.

When she arrived, she discovered it was beautiful: a brownstone mansion on the corner of a street. The host welcomed Ms. Hen kindly. The room was charming, but functional. Ms. Hen thought it lacked a desk and a mirror. But there was cable TV.

The doorknob on the door to the room fell off the first time Ms. Hen tried to shut it. The door also wouldn’t open all the way, so Ms. Hen had to slide through. She is not a fussy traveler, and most things don’t bother her, but she knew this would bother some people.

The host explained that the bathroom is shared with a person who lives in the house regularly, a man in the Marine Corps. Ms. Hen did not see him the entire time she stayed at the house. She thought it was strange that she shared a bathroom with someone for four nights and never saw him. Ms. Hen thought it might be polite to introduce herself, but she didn’t want to bother him.

Sharing a bathroom does not bother Ms. Hen because it reminds her of being in graduate school in Vermont and also of traveling in Europe. It would bother some people, but Ms. Hen is a hearty hen and is not afraid of sharing a toilet and a shower with someone she has never seen.

The house shone with cleanliness. Ms. Hen wasn't used to being in such an immaculate house. She made toast with hummus in the morning and she was so afraid of getting crumbs on the counter that she made sure everything sparkled when she left.  The host said nobody ever hung out in the beautifully decorated living room downstairs, everyone who lived or stayed in the house retired to their rooms.

The neighborhood was stylish and upscale. It boasts lots of restaurants, bars, coffee shops and stores a visitor could experience. Ms. Hen enjoyed the neighborhood. It is also located only about a six-minute Metro ride to the center of Washington D.C. where Ms. Hen went to art museums, saw the cherry blossoms, visited The Library of Congress and The Holocaust Museum.

Ms. Hen had a lot of fun of her trip to Washington D.C. She doesn’t travel often enough, but she wants to travel more. Now that she has discovered Airbnb, she knows that traveling can be affordable and exciting. A new world has opened with the advent of Airbnb. The world could be ours, if a hen could open her mind.

Ms. Hen reviews The Hirshhorn Museum and gets all contemporary

The Hirshhorn Museum

Corner of 7^th St. and Independence Ave. NW

Washington D.C.

Ms. Hen visited the Hirshhorn Museum on a rainy Tuesday in time for a guided tour. The docent directing the tour, Janet, told Ms. Hen that she likes to give interactive tours, having each person give an opinion and talk about the art and what it makes that person think. Only one other person went on the tour with Ms. Hen, a man from Poland who told Janet he was studying art history.

The first piece they looked at was a photograph by an artist named Hiroshi Sugimoto. It showed a picture of an ornate old-fashioned theater with a glowing light where the screen would be. Ms. Hen told the guide that it made her think the artist was trying to say that the movies are a void and he contrasted it with a picture of a beautiful theater. The art history student said he had seen photos like these before.

Janet said that it was an entire film exposed and that’s where the glowing light came from. She said she didn’t know if it was supposed to be a political statement of the movies. But she said the artist wanted to show old theaters that used to be in their glory contrasted with the bright light of an entire film.

The next piece the group looked at was a bunch of what looked like rocks on the floor. Janet asked Ms. Hen what she thought it was supposed to be. Ms. Hen said it looked like it could be bones from animals placed in a circle that meant the circle of life. She also said that it reminded her of pieces of ceramic cows because she used to collect cows.

Janet said they were actually pieces of flint that the artist Richard Long picked up on his walks in the countryside in England. She explained he is an environmental artist and makes art from the natural world. Janet told the group that he sent the stones in a box and told the curator that he wanted them formed in a circle with a nine-foot diameter. Somehow, no matter how they displayed them, they always came out circle with a nine-foot diameter.

The group looked at a piece of art with a mannequin sitting at a desk dressed in African print 16^th century period clothes. Ms. Hen cheated a little and looked at the title of the piece, THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT. She told Janet it was ironic it was called that and the model didn’t have a head.

It turned out that this artist, Yinka Shonibare is famous for his art with models of people with no heads. He is a political artist from Africa living in England and makes statements about the history of Europe and Africa by making art like this.

The group looked at another piece of art that was simply the words A RUBBER BALL THROWN TO THE SEA written in large blue letters on a wall, by artist Lawrence Weiner. Janet told Ms. Hen and the art history student to close their eyes and explain what they saw. Ms. Hen said the way it was written was like the ball was bouncing. They also looked at the words on the windows that said REDUCED backwards and forwards. Ms. Hen said it make her think that what was in the museum was reduced and also what was outside was reduced, that it wasn’t worth anything anymore. Janet told them that The National Archives was outside the window and that might have been what was thought to be reduced, like it was on sale.

Ms. Hen doesn’t usually go on tours of art museums, but she really liked this tour. She enjoyed thinking about the art and explaining what she thought of it. It was a clever way to do a tour. She went to this museum on a whim; she wasn’t planning on it, but she was glad she did. She liked being surrounded by things that were strange, because she’s a strange hen that likes art.