Crash and Burn

music: Hippy New Age Crap
mood: Motivated

It's been so dry for so long and then last weekend it rains buckets and I mean BUCKETS for nearly 24 hours straight and there's an inch or more of standing water on all ther roads and in some cases a lot more. This of course does not deter people from driving like reatards. In fact I think it makes them expotentially more dangerous. Driving home on the 101 from helping a friend move last Saturday it was actually kind of scary and I don't nerve easily as I survived the Alex Greenwood School of Defensive Driving, but people were just driving too fast and too close to each other. And as is usually the case, I knew before it happened it was just destined to be. A fender bender of sorts which could have been really horrendous if not for my cat like skills, the cat like skills of the cars behind me and my kick ass guardian angel. No injuries, but essentially a woman spun out in the fast lane causing a chain reaction. Hydroplaning, break lights everywhere and all sorts of stuff, and the only two cars to hit each other of course, mine and Mr Tim Phan's. The woman spun into the median but didn't hit anyone and didn't get hit amazingly as she was turned completely the wrong way. I did some "controlled" defensive driving fishtailing with no traction but even the Greenwood school of driving couldn't prevent me from ultimately, gently gliding into mr Phan who was nearly stopped in the lane to my left.

I never know when things like that happen whether they happen becuase I was THINKING less than a minute before, "what would I do if I had to stop suddenly and lost control of the car in this weather on the highway, remember to turn into the spin first" or if I thought that becuase I knew it would happen. And then sometimes you wonder what the real timelin of it all is. It's a matter of a few seconds, slowed down, but when does the though REALLY occur to you, after it's already started but befor you consiously know, or is it well before. Cause or Effect. Who knows. Anyway, as I said, no harm done, my car, fucking awesome vehicle of justice that he is, came out virtually unscathed. I just have to glue in the little orange reflecter side light thingy (technical term). Mr Phan's car had a dent which I don't know why it wasn't bigger, but both of us insured, and I have the best insurance company ever, should be no problem thought they haven't called me back yet. I got home safe after that and the rain has stopped to reveal excellent almost spring like weather this weekend. Of course I've been in the office most of it, but no matter.

On a Karmic note I do think it ammusing that I got up EARLY on SAT, bought my friend coffee, helped her move, got a call from work about something NOT my fault, rushed over to the office to fix it, did my reporting early so I could go back and help Cheryl finish moving stuff into storage, didn't eat lunch so I would be able to help, didn't even PEE after 9 in the morning, and after all these lovely wonderful helpful things, I some how still end up in a car accident. But the first accident in 5 years. The CLEAR thing though I really have to believe is that it is a bloody miracle at 60 miles an hour with such limited visibility, no one else skid into me or hit me and the damage was so minimal. So I'm glad I wasn't lazy today, I think it paid off big time. And I was very proud of myself for how calm I was. I should have been a surgeon. That and I imagine having a bright yellow car doesn't hurt.

Post "trauma" I nested a bit and watched some films....

Lucky Number Slevin: GREAT. CLEVER. A surprise at how well written and executed it is, no surprise that Ben Kingsly, Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis are the bombs. BOOM. SO fun to watch them. And Lucy Liu and Josh Harnett had great Chemistry. You will pleased to know I was mostly surprised but the end as well. Mostly. 4 1/2 RRD's

Saw II: Good stuff. Mostly Predictable but less so than the first one. Sick Sick stuff. Love it. Saw III at home.

The Dead Girl: Saw this in the theatre. A "film" not a movie. Very arty, slow moving, obscure, and the first movie in a long time where I wasn't SURE I knew some of the things that happened or didn't. A very Vague film in some places, but good. Brittany Murphy, Toni Collette, Piper Laurie, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Marcia Gay Harden and many more make this movie worth watching. Not easy to watch but worthwhile. 3 RRD's

Interspersed with movies, Saw Prelude to a Kiss at Northside which was very respectable and evoked many a laugh from me in the good way, Saw La Traviata with the Artsopolis Team which was a fun evening but mostly due to the happy hour before hand, saw the SJ Ballet Repatoire program which had two outstanding pieces and two less outstanding pieces, and this morning before coming into work to battle an ever irritating computer, I saw some great photographs at the De Saissant Museum in Santa Clara. Very Cultured. Filthy room. But Cultured.

For those of you who have been so patient, yes, next week is the date. His arrival is preceeded with lovely flowers that arrived on Friday and if the universe plays nice you won't hear from me for a few. It's been crazy as it is, and I've noticed a huge increase in nightmares that make little to know sense (people drowning, people breaking up, cats tails fallng off, odd odd stuff) except that I attribute them to all that is going on work and theatre wise. I was glad I got to go see some stuff and not have to work the events as well as visit with some friends. My apologies for not keeing in touch as much as I would like, but sometime in July I should be more apt to return calls and emails in a more timely manner.

More soon.... wink
princess on 02.18.07 @ 04:44 PM PST [link] [Be the first to comment on this article]

Oscars, Winners and Losers.

music: vienna Teng and Moulin Rouge
mood: productive

One objection I think lots of people have about the Oscar nominations is that they stack the deck and so many of the movies come out in the months of January and February. I like to see movies, but at $9 + a pop, and with my theatre schedule, it really is much easier for me to watch 3 movies in a row at home, then to go see a film in the theatre. Now don�t get me wrong. I definitely go see them when I can, but I took a look at the nominees and like most years, but even worse this time around, I have seen 5 of the films nominated for ANYTHING. Cars, Little Miss Sunshine, the Devil Wears Prada, Pirates of the Caribbean, and now Pan�s Labyrinth. Babel and The Departed come out on DVD this week or next and I will hopefully see those before the 25th ceremony but it�s a bit disappointing. The films themselves look boring too. The Departed? I swear, if it weren�t for Mark Wahlberg I wouldn�t even bother. Blood Diamond? I�m sorry, didn�t I already explain not to give Leo an accent in a movie. Venus? Looks GREAT, how come I haven�t HEARD of it. Where did this film even play?

I will see these films, eventually, that�s not the point, it just that stacking them all for the short term memory voters makes the actual Oscars ceremony less and less compelling. It used to be about the films, then it became the actors and directors getting recognition they should have gotten for much better films they did before, and now it comes down to, most of the films look boring, I don�t really like the actors, I have no vested interest in the ceremony other than the fashion and I already saw the Golden Globes and the Grammy�s are this week. Still. I�ll watch. And I�ll not know if my opinions is �valid�. Wait, who am I kidding. Of COURSE it�s valid. I�m Susannah.

Here are some movies that won�t be winning any Oscars and a few that should.

Crank: Oh. My, God. If there was EVER a movie made for a Friday night. This is it. It has Sex. Violence. A good soundtrack. It doesn�t take itself too seriously, and it�s only an hour and a half. Loved it. Fucking rent this movie now. And turn the volume up. 5RRD�s

Ultraviolet: I actually was prepared to hate this movie lots. I didn�t. It was no award winner clearly, but it was interesting. Special effects are nothing groundbreaking but interesting. 2 � RRD�s

Saw: I finally saw this. Ar ar ar. It will surprise none to know that I guessed 90% the plot in about 4 minutes of the film. I only missed one crucial bit. The biggest shock was I didn�t know until the credit rolled that the main character was played by Cary Elwes. Funny too, because at one point when he is yelling (as is often the case with any accented actors) and I thought I detected a British accent. Didn�t even occur to me to see who it was though. I did enjoy the sick and twisted puzzles. I�ve been told there is more of that in Saw II, so that�s on it�s way as we speak from Netflix. 3 � RRD�s for trying and for Cary going undetected.

Tagedellaasdkadslak nights�more fun to try to pronounce/spell than to watch. I was in fact disappointed. Sacha Baron Cohen was amusing but annoying�par for the course. 2 RRD�s

Nanny Mcphee: I don�t know why I watched this other than I adore Colin Firth and Emma Thompson. Well executed but nothing too original. Lemony snickets meets Mary Poppins. Angela Landsbury is worth a watch. Pleasant. Kids would probably like it. 3 RRD�s

Nacho Libre: Again as with the Will Farrell movie, I love Jack Black, but I was not very entertained by this film. It wanted to be a lot funnier than it was sadly. 2 � RRD�s.

Pan�s Labyrinth: Wow. Dark. Beautiful. Violent. Very Spanish as my friend Kim can attest to. Best Scenic design and makeup I have seen in ages. It�s up against Dead Mans Chest for Art Direction, and it�s tough call. 4 RRD�s but this really is a violent film, there were a few parts that even phased me.

It�s been a winning couple of weeks. Along with winning sharks tickets for last Thursdays HUGE grudge match against Dallas and witnessing from row 9 a KILLER fight, I also have been given the opportunity to design sound for a staged version of Crime and Punishment at Northside. This along with finishing my children�s play by June to have it produced next April and directing and sound design for the current Pear show, makes for Susannah to have a productive next several months. This is a good thing. Bout damn time I gave myself some structure.

Losses include our beloved Sandor Salgo, a wonderful, family friend who will be missed terribly, and of course my personal tearjerker story of the year Barbaro. All that time, money, and love dumped into saving this spectacular creature and it still ended up a tragedy. Brought up lots of thoughts of Bear and how nothing could save him. No matter how much he was loved. Which sucks. Pretty much.

What DOESN�T suck though is all the great theatre I am seeing this week and next. Ballet, opera, contemporary and classics�.a good smattering and a fix before my weekends are shot with rehearsals of my own.

More soon�

princess on 02.07.07 @ 03:46 PM PST [link] [1 Comment]

Princess Susannah's Web Footed Blog Palace

Crash and Burn

Oscars, Winners and Losers.