The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I'd never seen it before, can you believe it? I guess I was twelve when it came out, but still. I savored every single moment. Sexy, honest, and heartbreaking, it made Milan Kundera digestible. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Day-Lewis were wonderful, and I was having fits of jealousy over Lena Olin's lingerie. Between this and Quills I'm suddenly very interested in Philip Kaufman. He also helped write Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which just confirms that he kicks ass.

Pride and Prejudice. Aimee gave me a copy of the BBC production for Christmas, mostly because we're both obsessed with Colin Firth right now thanks to Bridget Jones's Diary. Pride had aired in England while I was still living there, but I think I was far too busy skulking at the pub to watch it at that time. Better late than never. This is an absolutely sumptuous rendering, and it does Austen justice because it remains riveting even though just about every little detail is included. Lizzie is played by Jennifer Ehle, and she is a fine match to Firth's Darcy. I'm just a sucker for good verbal sparring. The whole thing is six hours long, but Aimee and I polished off the last three in one sitting Wednesday night after she brought me hot and sour soup to chase away my cold. Ehle, incidentally, is playing Christabel LaMotte in the film adaptation of Possession, which has been on hold long enough that I've actually gotten used to the idea of Gwyneth as Maud. Tybalt's name was going to be Christabel before I noticed he had boy parts, not girl's. If I got another cat right now I would name it Christian or Satine. But I digress.

Saturday night I was feeling recovered enough to make a trip into the Mission for carnitas and a tamarindo agua fresca at the wonderful Tlahuica Mission Villa Restaurant. The motto on their menu was appropriate: "Food is our healing, healing is our food." I wasn't feeling brave enough to try any of the house specialties, but even my carnitas had a touch of the exotic about them. A cut above your average Mission taqueria.

After dinner I went to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to see Be With, a new collaboration from Japanese dancers Eiko & Koma and the Bay Area's own Anna Halprin with music by former Kronos Quartet celloist Joan Jeanrenaud. I got a secret thrill out of the fact that my seat had been dedicated to Jeanrenaud by its donors, and another one from spotting Kathleen Hermesdorf and Albert Mathias of Motion Lab fame in attendance as well. The piece itself was unexpectedly meditative, with the three figures of the dancers moving slowly against an impressionistic backdrop accompanied by Jeanrenaud's emotive cello. Their poses and costumes often reminded me of Greek relief sculpture. In their movements I saw struggle—with life, with each other. Wonderful stuff. After intermission Halprin performed a solo piece called "From 5 to 110" that brought tears to my eyes. She spoke a poem that covered the first 81 years of her dance career and then begged the time to do even more. Eiko & Koma ended the show with "Snow", a mesmerizing work in which their bodies entwined and then disentangled while they moved from dark to light and back again, all the time surrounded by softly falling snow. Rentaro Taki's Koujo no Tuki (Moon Over Ruined Castle) provided the musical backdrop, a sparse piece for voice and piano.

Finally, a sad note. Stormy, beloved whuppit and last of the Truecats, died peacefully Saturday morning after a period of declining health. We took him home from the pound 16 years ago when he was just a little grey ball of fluff; later we went back for Panther, his brother, and Misty, his mother. I last saw Stormy Friday night, and when he saw me he lifted his head and meowed and then started purring. I scritched his ears and gave him a big ol' smooch. As I was leaving I looked up and here he was coming down the stairs to see me go, even though he hadn't moved much all day. He spent some time in my dad's lap that evening, but he was unconscious Saturday morning, having suffered a major stroke. He was a very good cat. I love you, Stormycat, and I'll miss you.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Joan Jeanrenaud
Anna Halprin
Eiko & Koma with the Kronos Quartet