Monday, October 28, 2024

Queue Tips: Eden is Cheese

When I was growing up in the Philippines, Eden was cheese.  Not sure why they named it that.  I remember picking at it sometimes.  You weren't supposed to eat it without bread.  And you kind of saved it for special occasions.  It probably was not cheap.  Do they still make it?

In any case, I saw "East of Eden" recently.  It stars James Dean.  I don't think I've seen much of his films.  A lot of his acting in here involves hugging trees and playing with their leaves and groping walls for some reason.  And then he runs with his arms flailing about.  And being overly dramatic like a hormonal teenager even though he looked middle aged at this point.

This film was made in 1955, and I guess that's just how those movies were.  But I just couldn't get into the melodrama.  I prefer a little more subtlety, but I guess that's just how acting was back then.  At the same time, I also can't stand some of the acting nowadays.  

Apparently, east of Eden is where Cain went to live after he killed his brother Abel in the Bible.  This movie does have two brothers having a rivalry, but one doesn't kill the other.  Unless I missed it somehow.    Instead it involves a girl.  One has a girlfriend and the other I guess likes her, too.  I have two brothers, and I can't picture myself liking any of their girlfriends.

And then apparently they don't know who their mother is or something.  But then James Dean finds out who she is.  And he follows her around and for some reason instead of talking to her, he throws stones at her house.  And then later on when they actually finally meet, it's like they just basically acknowledge each other as mother and son.  Like after making a big whole deal about it, suddenly it's just like nothing.  Like taken for granted.

Kinda reminds me of stuff I went through as a kid.  There was a lot of drama with my mom and dad, and they eventually divorced around the time I was in college.  And drama with the in-laws.  My mom used to trade letters with my aunt.  That was probably actually the main reason why she kept picking up my grandma from her house.  So that she could drop off her letter when she got there.  And then when she dropped off my grandma back there, she would come back with a letter from my aunt in response.  At one time I got a glimpse of it but either didn't get a chance to fully read it or just didn't want to.  My mom kept it somewhere else after, and I never found it again.  Or never looked for it.

Anyways, many years later, with me already an adult, everybody kinds of makes up with each other.  And everything is nice nice.  Meanwhile, I was in the middle of all this as a child, and even now no one has acknowledged that.  And I never got close with my aunt or my uncle or my cousin after, and with me spending all those lonely days and nights in a tiny apartment and all those boring summers with nowhere to go and nothing do.  I mean, it would have been nice to be around some family.  But let's just forget all that now that we are all cool with each other again.

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