10/16/2006: "Curtains, Critics, and"

music: Eve 6, Neil Finn, Busted, Presidents of the United States, Stone Roses, Splender
mood: Yes please.

Big old catch up here. In my effort to relieve myself of theatre obligations and get stuff done I am both not surprised and not impressed with the amount of progress I am actually making on the list of really important stuff I need to get done. But there are plenty of less important things getting done. For example…

Curtains. Yes your little girl is growing up. Sort of. After years of using sarongs from Cost Plus World Market as curtains which would also double (or quadruple actually) as table cloths, bath towels, and unique fashion statements, I finally bought myself deep burgundy semi sheer flowy curtains complete with tension rod. Cheap at Target but suffice to say my lovely bay window is no longer a big old peep hole for the deer that seem to be frequenting the back yard. This purchase however led to two major life interruptions though. I realize JUST how much are rely on the sun to wake me up with these curtains, and so I been reduced to keeping my windows OPEN. Which, sadly, kind of defeats the purpose. But I can’t be late, and I mean LATE to work EVERY day. Can I? The second interruption came from the fact that simply putting the curtains up somehow made it a moral imperative to rearrange and clean EVERYTHING in the room. Lamps, bookshelves, closet, under the bed, sheets, carpet, all my knicks and knacks, swapped for another location somewhere in the confines of my 15x15 sanctuary. This is nothing new mind you. As my parents and all my roommates throughout my history will attests, my nomadic spirit and deep ambition to be a window display artist has always inspired me at the oddest of times to “remodel” as it were. Collage on a life size scale is in my blood somehow. Call it obsessive, call it restless, call it a substitute for travel, I’m not sure where it comes from but with three moves in 2 years this is the first time I’ve been in a place long enough to rearrange, and after a spontaneous 7 hours, I have a new room. Sort of.

There has been yet another radio format change that is very interesting. KFRC the oldies station for certainly the last 15 years if not longer, changed to “Movin’ Fm” which is baffling to me. It’s actually pretty good, sort of. It’s certainly nostalgic. They play about 60% old school hip hop and rap, 20% current dance hits and 20% not old school but not “new school”. It is seriously frightening how many of the word to Salt N’ Pepa’s “Shoop” and even more terrifying that the last time I heard that song was probably when I was 13 and I am JUST now understanding what the song is about. Fascinating.

And speaking of lyrics, have you heard Hinder – Lips of an Angel. Here is an example of a band with a great sound, and musically their song is very catchy and solid, but the lyrics…made my stomach turn. And the video…worse. I know I’m biased, and to be fair you know, maybe it’s about time there was a song about this, but it was a like a trainwreck listening to it..couldn’t…turn..away.

FILMS: I’ll try to be super quick here..best to worst…

Madagascar: So funny. LOVED the monkies, Chris Rock so funny, and the fact the Lion was named Alex (dad and brother’s name) it just made me laugh. Very cute. 4 ½ RRD’s

Final Destination 3: This movie did exactly what it was supposed to. I never saw the first, and I liked the second, but this one perfected the triffeca of emotions that should be associated with horror. The tension of knowing exactly WHAT is coming is intense but what really makes this movie great is 1) the timing of each “big bang” which scares the bejesus out of you even though you’ve been expecting it, 2) the graphic disgust “oooooohhhhhhhhhh” of the blood and gore and then 3) the laughter from the pure ridiculousness of it all. So. Awesome. The special features allow you to “change the fate” of the movie and rearrange some scenes and edit others which is interesting but as a whole, GREAT Friday night no brain movie to watch in the dark. Yes, I’m afraid this movie gets…4 ½ RRD’s

Eye of the Leopard: National Geographic special that follows the life of a leopard for 3 years. It’s brutal and graphic but real and amazing and besides the constant utterance of HOW DID THEY GET THAT SHOT!?? And the hyper sonic squeals from a girl who REALLY needs some fur about the house, right NOW, this is a moving, educational film that just without a doubt will move you. 4 1/2 RRD’s

Pride and Prejudice: I was all set to hate this movie. I loved the book, I’ve been in and seen the play several times, and of course seen the various mini series. Do we need to remake this movie? Do we really need Keira Knightly. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah. It was fine. It was actually pretty good. Bride and Prejudice is in Queue next to compare. And though Darcy wasn’t exactly my dream version, it worked well. Really, it did. 3 ¾ RRD

Word Wars: Reminds me of a documentary from the late 90’s that I can’t remember the name of about 4 eccentric people one of which devoted inordinate amounts of time to the study of hairless rodents (voles?). Word Wars was in fact a documentary that followed 4 national scrabble cometittors. Too funy. Sad in some way, triumphant in others. Much like Spellbound, I dug it. Very interesting insight into some very odd people. I’m not that bad am I? 3 RRd’s.

Silent Hill: Based on a d video game which I never played, but the graphics and the journey of the film actually make lot of sense if you keep that in mind. I liked this movie for its pacing and visual scheme, the color palette was interesting and acting sufficed, and this movie was well on its way to being a 3 ¾ RRD review. And then SUCK happened. The ending blew chunks. I don’t need resolution, but make your ending make sense. Maybe someone can explain it to me just in case missed something, but I made a serious yuck face at the end of this film and can now only give it a 3.

Dark Water: This was the flip of Silent Hill. It was getting 1 RRD until the very end. There were about 10 minutes where the film was so intense I was out of my seat, thinking WHY wasn’t the WHOLE film like this. It was jolted up to 2 ½ RRDs and then the last minute and a half kicked it back to just 2 RRDs. You can skip it. Really.


FOOD: Spotted a new restaurant in Palo Alto that looks BEAUTIFUL! And yummy! Awesome when the outside of a eating establishment makes you stop, walk back around, peer inside and go around the back to look at it again.

SMALL WORLD: Was at a part a few weeks back now, and was telling a story about where I went to college. Cut to the part where I am talking about Mt. Vernon, town of 23,000 in the middle of cornfields in Ohio and someone stops me and says “wait, I got a speeding ticket in Mt Vernon” which cracks me up. Mt Vernon is in fact a speed trap. It was jokingly thought that the city survived on speeding ticket revenue alone, particularly with the students at Kenyon that drove into town for fast food and Wal-Mart field trips. It brought up the rather amusing image of the time my friend Kate got pulled over. Aubrie kept asking if it was okay if she smoked while were waiting for the cop to give the ticket to Kate, I kept telling Kate if she cried she could get out of it, and Adrienne kept asking if we thought it would be okay if she asked to see his gun. Nice to know someone else knows the dangers of speeding in Mt. Vernon. It’s a small world indeed.

OPPORTUNITY: Funny as soon as I state I’m not going to do any shows, I am asked to audition for no less than 3 amazing shows, and offered a directing job as well….all of which so far I have had the strength to say no to. The universe tests and the universe laughs. But laughter is the best medicine so, I figure I’m on my way to a flatter stomach if I join in with it.

LOVE: Happy 4th wedding anniversary to Rebecca and Mark and Happy 44th anniversary to Mom and Dad both on the 19th.

And that kids is all I have at this moment. Countdown is suspended but projected to start back up again in early November and my own travel plans to the UK for New Years will no doubt start to shape up in the weeks to come…stay tuned…