at least try "Brief Encounter"...

So Dark Horizons (http://www.darkhorizons.com/study-millennials-dont-like-pre-1970s-films/) said that Millennials don't like pre-1970s movies...as there would be a 40+ year difference, that would be akin to me not liking pre-1930s movies: although the difference would not stand.  There are technical limitations with the comparison, as many of the silent era movies are a bit harder to grasp.  So understandably with Millenials, black and white would be harder to grasp.

Attune yourself to constrasts and light is my response.  Black and white to anyone is jarring, as it would have been to anyone for the first time...however you adjust.  You see nuances you don't see in color.  Textures.  Facial expressions are not hidden behind garish hues - but open.  Emoting is straightforward, subtle.

As a case in point to pre-70s movies that will change your perspective on cinema (if not life), try David Lean's 1945 drama, Brief Encounter.

If you want a solid stay-home date movie, you'll find no better.  Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard offer the best performances on film, all guided under the expert of subtle gravitas, Sir David Lean.  The music is incredible, using motifs from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2.  It lingers with you after, forever.

There may be free versions on-line, but that's simply not our style, spend a few dollars and enjoy: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-Encounter-David-Lean/dp/B001OAZC4Y.  If it is a date night, enjoy a vodka+soda with salt and pepper popcorn.  If you're lucky to make a meal for your date, I would go for beef medallions in a red wine reduction with peas and lightly toasted focaccia.

Langston Hughes: "Dinner Guest: Me" (1967)

in Harlem by Robery W. Kelley/LIFE

Dinner Guest: Me (attrib. 1967)
I know I am
The Negro Problem
Being winded and dined,

Lucian Freud Reflection 1967

Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To probe in polite way
The why and wherewithal
Of darkens U.S.A. -
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Murmuring gently
Over fraises du bois,
"I'm so ashamed of being white."
...
To be a Problem on
Park Avenue at eight
Is not so bad.
Solutions to the Problem,
Of course, wait.

- From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

poem: ode to a tangled sheet (19aug17)

submit to me

an admonition
now the act is done
and we lay here in our own thoughts
intimate more with the moment
as we've pulled away from one
another's skin
and breathing softens
the sheets cool
and we can hear
the sound of the freeway
in the distance

is our agreement to mend
because all I'm looking for is the safety
of anonymous motion
the cover of
long soft red hair
if a second of peace is all I'll receive
then so be it

give me that
give me that
who knows what is tomorrow
but fire

and I'll offer you the same

I'll sign it in sweat
and motion
in all I have right now
and it is admittedly poor
but you may have it

an occasional smile, my time
the light conversation
about the eclipse
your completion first
and hide a tear that may
come as I try to work this out

that is all
tonight

- assortment 19aug17

Carrie Fisher, a Focus on Princess Leia Before SLO (Slave Leia Outfit)

There was a moment in time, before the unfortunate slave Leia outfit of Return of the Jedi (ROTJ), where we had a Princess Leia that wasn't part of a mind-boggling creative break that extended from two of the most arguably best pop sci fi films of all times -  not only in ROTJ does she [albeit unwillingly] don a metal bikini to satisfy the whims of Jabba the Hutt, but, after they free Han Solo, she takes a back seat of all the tactical machinations of the Rebels.  Instead, she tags along with General Solo, who doesn't seem to understand strategy in the Battle of Endor.  Only Ewoks should get statues here.

[I would have much rather seen ROTJ with a Commander Leia directing the Rebellion wings (and the Falcon), against Death Star II - perhaps even commanding control over the timing of forces on the ground of the Forest Moon of Endor.]

[I digress.]  So, before ROTJ, there was this heady period of time where we got a Princess that not only took command of situations, as she did with her escape from the Death Star, but also straight up commanded flight wings and ground troops in the Escape from Hoth.  This is the period that we should think on Princess Leia.  We luckily get a glimpse of her again in The Force Awakens, as she leads her forces as the fighting arm of the New Republic, called the Resistance.

It is within this character framework that we see Leia.  Vulnerable, but constantly thinking.  It's these images that I remember Leia, my Leia.  The one I had from 1977 until 1983.  I'll always carry a candle for Carrie Fisher, since she was definitely my first crush.  A strong, decisive woman of glimmering eyes and a perfect smile.
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