On Blogging

Listening to Autumn talk about her blog is really interesting. The blogging world is huge, and I can never quite decide how into it I want to immerse myself. I know, I know--it's really uncool, but I have a livejournal, and I have for over four years now. Livejournals were a big deal back in the day, but it's the only consistent, well, journal, I've ever kept up in my life. Nothing is more satisfying or interesting to me than the ability to look back on how I felt, what I was going through, who I was talking to in October of 2006, or '08, or last week. I love it. I would give up my facebook, my twitter and my blog if I had to choose, only if I could keep my livejournal.

However, my livejournal is super private. Only people I know really well can read my thoughts and feelings, and having a blog is a bit different...I won't talk about my relationship freely here because anyone can come across it. So, this blog isn't about my dating life. I don't have any kids, or even pets, so this blog isn't about raising another life. I'm not crafty, so it's not about knick knacks I've created from my own hands. I like wine, but I'm not a connoisseur; I like baking, but not enough to post recipes and talk about food. I like exercising and watching what I eat, but I'm not quite healthkick enough to make it a health blog. So what is it? 

I've toyed with the entertainment aspect--I like to liveblog movie trailers, and I know my opinion is slightly more relevant due to my extensive movie knowledge. (Cocky!) I work customer service and coffee, so I think about making it a bit of a rant/rave blog sometimes, but--fear of getting fired for posting certain opinions on the internet holds me back. You know, I don't know quite what this blog is going to be. I have really pressing thoughts that I need to just write out sometimes, and that's what this blog started as. A deeper, more ambiguous version of my livejournal, but that got old kind of quick. So bear with me, my few followers. Bear with me as I decide what my blog will mean to us all. 

In the meantime: 

For Colored Girls 

I've never seen a Tyler Perry movie. Does that make me a bad Black person? 

Whoopi. Great start. Kerry Washington. Janet. Anika Noni. Loretta! Kiddos, seriously, Anika Noni Rose is incredibly underrated. Do you know her? Do you know what she's capable of? Discover her. And that goes double for Kerry Washington. You know what kind of trailers I like? These ones. The ones that display clips of ridiculous, overwhelmging emotions playing across an increasingly intense, beautiful song. 

This is my movie. A million thumbs up. 

I could easily rant about how there are likely hundreds of Black actresses (and actors) that are overlooked for the white counterparts. Why are people like Katherine Heigl famous when there are actresses like Kerry Washington? There is no shame in playing a Black role, a purely Black role, but I think it is far past the time that actresses are offered other roles, as well. There is no reason a Black woman can't be cast in a "white" role without it having to be about integration. GAH. 

Oh. Maybe my blog should be about race relations. Hmm.

"Being colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven't conquered yet."

Somewhere

The Ghost Writer


Starting with Ewan is a great plan, and following it up with Pierce is an even greater one. The beginning of the trailer definitely catches my interest, and I'm into Polanski. I really am, and I know I shouldn't be--morally, at least. The intensity of the music picking up is nice in a classic trailer technique kind of way. That trick always works, like really heartwrenching music in a sports movie trailer.

The beach is pretty, but reminds me of Nights in Rodanthe. Not a good thing.

Ghost Writer looks like any high-techy, fun, "who is the real criminal?" action film. I don't think I would see it in the theater, and the Oscar buzz seems like just buzz at this point, but I don't know. Cute British men, both great actors. It could be a thing.

Somewhere


Sofia Coppola has been working her way toward that gold for sometime now. Most people would say since Lost in Translation, but I'd probably say since birth. She's a Coppola.

The opening music is perfect to catch our attention--"our" being this indie/hipstery group that we Americans have become right now. It seems relatable immediately, even if we have no idea what's going on. The lack of well known actors is also good for us right now. Being unknown is so in. I think that girl, his daughter, is a Fanning. Elle? Is she the little one?

This is a story about a father raising his daughter alone? I am absolutely in. Any kind of "my family isn't perfect" story is directly up my alley. Ohp! Elle Fanning. I was right. This seems incredibly deserving of all of its Oscar buzz.

Oh, and music by Phoenix, eh? Good call, Jess. Liveblogging movie trailers is becoming my new favorite thing. Also, I <3 Phoenix. Theater worthy, Oscar buzz worthy, watching the trailer twice worthy.

On Ladies

My warm, cozy, hobbit hole of an apartment smells like pumpkin cinnamon muffins, it is 45 degrees outside, I spent the afternoon in a pumpkin patch and Bing Crosby's Christmasy voice is crooning out of my speakers, encouraging my happy spirit with even more fervor. 

Today was a delightful day, clearly. Beside the fact that I literally have no voice at this point (I'm not remotely exaggerating; I cannot speak at all!), I am the happiest girl in town. Heather came up last night, we had a couple of Big Mamas at Milagros, had lovely conversation as it is so easy to do with her, walked to the store, bought some goodies, walked home, drank cidermosas, watched Beauty and the Beast and fell asleep immediately. I slept like a rock (nyquil and champagne will do that to you), didn't get up at 3:30 in the morning, made pumpkin pancakes, greeted Rachel, had pumpkin spice lattes, went to the patch, ate fresh donuts, picked out pumpkins, saw some goats, went to Northfork for pizza, went to Village Books. It was the perfect day, even sporting my hot chest cold. 

You know why it was so great? Girls. Girls are my cure for any ailment I may have. "They" say that laughter is the best medicine, but I think women are the best medicine. It's funny--I was never a girly girl. I mean, I'll scream if a bee flies by me, and I always have, but I've never considered myself a girl's girl because I have so many brothers, and I've had so much male influence in my life, even sans a father. My mom always had male friends, I have three brothers and they have a million friends each. There were constantly men in and out of my home, my entire life. Even as I got older and started making friends, a good majority of them were men. Beside Casee, Megan, Lauren and Annie, my original group of lady friends, all of the people I hung out with in high school were boys. Coming up to Western, Casee and I didn't meet, or at least didn't like, many girls, but we immediately befriended Ben and Erik and Jeff and John, and these were the people we spent the time we weren't spending alone with. 

But for the first time, I was living with another girl and it immediately changed me. I could leave my bra on my bed and it wasn't weird, or we could change really quick and it didn't matter, and I didn't even to be apologetic about the extra twenty (or forty) minutes I needed to get ready in the morning in order to do my makeup. "Girl talk" became the only real way of talking, because the male friends Casee and I had made gladly partook in talking about whatever we thought was most important to talk about. 

I got closer to Lauren, and closer to Casee, and even closer to Megan, despite her distance. When I started working at Haggen, though I was friends with plenty of men, I also became extremely close friends with Cara, and Jordan, and my love affair with women continued. 

I love hanging out with men. I always have, and I likely always will. There is something so invigorating about the energy in a boy. In my experience, men are free spirited, full of life, laid back--and honestly, the attentiveness that comes with being the only girl in a group of men is endearing. I'm a Leo, we like attention. I'm not going to deny it. But there's something different, more special about being in a group of women. It's less pressure, there's more silent understandings, my laughter flows freer and more often. I love ladies. I love Heather, and I love Rachel, and I'm overwhelmingly grateful that they managed to maintain a friendship with me despite their relationship with Nikki. I adore them, and I know Nikki does too, and I would never want either of those mutual feelings to change. 

I love my girls, all of them, no matter which faraway city they are in. But don't get me wrong: I wouldn't trade any of my boyo friends for anything in the whole wide world. 

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench



Anything that says "Stanley Tucci" on it WILL be good. The title is interesting enough to catch my attention immediately, but as I'm an admitted "judging books by their covers" kind of person, I judge a movie by its title, and/or poster, if I have access to that information. Great music from the very beginning, and the tap dancing looks adorable. I'm pretty sure we're all the kind of people who like watching movies about dancing because we all wish we could spend our lives tap dancing in diners. Maybe not? Maybe that's just me? Regardless, I'm the one reviewing this trailer, so. It's what I want for my own life. I'm all about this movie. ALL ABOUT IT. Plus, one of the reviews calls it, "this year's Once" and as much as I don't like comparing one movie to another in that fashion, I fucking love Once.

Night Catches Us

A movie about the Black Panthers is obviously a movie I'm going to see. For some reason, there aren't very many movies like this. "For some reason" is wildly sarcastic. We don't get movies about Black Panthers for the same reason that the government overthrew the entire operation. If one thing is grossly misrepresented in American history--okay, more specifically, one "Black" thing, it is the Panthers.

"Music by The Roots" means we'll have an even more realistic, heartwarming film because The Roots create music that reminds us of ourselves. Good start. Kerry Washington is absolutely one of the most underraated actresses we've got, but that's how I feel about a lot of our Black actors, so I bet everyone in this movie will blow my mind. These movies, and of course, I'm judging just the trailer, are the kinds of movies that should be winning Oscars. Movies that tell true stories, that teach us something we didn't know about our own history, movies that we can relate to and feel for and learn from. Obviously, I'm going to see this one--if I can find it somewhere in Bellingham. PS Anthony Mackie is fine as hell.