remember the calgary winter olympics and the Battle of the Brians? and, in politics, the battle of the Brian (Mulroney, that is), with his second, majority win as PM? (no comment.) also, it was a decent year for movies: "Big", "Rain Man", "Naked Gun". but it's another 1988 film that comes to mind this afternoon in this downtown café...
enter the androgynous, animated, two-packs-a-day voice from three tables over. i don't even need to look. can close my eyes and see her perfectly. fifty-something. white. rotund. buxom. self-induced leathery tan. jet black hair (dyed, naturally. <-- get it?). unintentionally clownlike make-up. garish nails. chunky-cheap jewellery. and a real penchant for gossip -- generally of the "celebrity" variety. (perhaps she'll leak the news on whether Aniston is really preggers.) yes: it's Lainie Kazan as overbearing, atlantic-city mom from "Beaches". (you know this flick: with Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, and something about wind?) well, it's her double, anyway. when i do glance over (who could resist!) and see her with her friend, it's all confirmed. i'd missed only a couple of details: the white sun visor (not just a stylish choice; also very useful when indoors) and the hint of Anjelica-Huston-as-Morticia. shiver.
an hour later, the androgynous voice s(t)ings again. strange, since "the Beaches" have already left. but, as it turns out, this is a new coffee-shop dweller: bleach blonde, wiry and, overall, far less frightening than her counterpart. what i learn -- through what is clearly becoming a compulsion to overhear neighbours talking, despite how quiet they might be -- is that this blonde belle used to be a he.
so, i start thinking: in light of Blondie, there's surely something über-important to be said here, perhaps about how sex and gender are, in many ways, just constructs (acquired, accepted or rejected constructions and reconstructions), or about how cool it is that Blondie can nonchalantly talk about her transition, in the public domain of a coffee house. maybe something or other about the Charter? celebrating 30 years? but, nah. we know this already -- after all, it's not 1988 anymore! and, to be honest, it's Atlantic-City Mama i can't stop thinking about. she's like exhibit A in a case for making something all too clear: simply that, despite all the (however necessary) hubbub over cancer, the big C really isn't the only potential outcome of a bad smoking habit and too much time spent baking in the sun. yikes!
and now back to translating...
so, i start thinking: in light of Blondie, there's surely something über-important to be said here, perhaps about how sex and gender are, in many ways, just constructs (acquired, accepted or rejected constructions and reconstructions), or about how cool it is that Blondie can nonchalantly talk about her transition, in the public domain of a coffee house. maybe something or other about the Charter? celebrating 30 years? but, nah. we know this already -- after all, it's not 1988 anymore! and, to be honest, it's Atlantic-City Mama i can't stop thinking about. she's like exhibit A in a case for making something all too clear: simply that, despite all the (however necessary) hubbub over cancer, the big C really isn't the only potential outcome of a bad smoking habit and too much time spent baking in the sun. yikes!
and now back to translating...
No comments:
Post a Comment