"you got a piece of me / and honestly / my life would suck without you"
1. I think people need to write a thesis about the phenomenon of peanut mist. So I've been eating peanuts for the last hour or so - when I cracked the first one open, it kind of sent up a little POOF of mist. What was that?! And don't tell me dirt. Because I've already eaten it. :P
2. HAVE YOU MISSED MY RANDOM?! Hee. It's been three days. Filled with work (yuck), movies (ranging from yuck to yay) and good friends (MUCH yay). Balanced out pretty well, I'd say.
3. Epic work day of epic fail - it's the main reason I disappeared for such ages. Honestly it was terrible. I went out for dinner with my sister and brother at a lovely fish restaurant in Greenwood (mmm, I love cod SO MUCH), and then for gelato (peanut butter & cookies and cream XD) after that, but had to go back into work because something was due first thing the next morning. (Even though I got the draft in on time, my stupid boss took ages to clear it, which makes me BITTER but argh, let's leave that can of worms closed, shall we?) I think the day that I realised I could work throughout the night in time for a morning deadline and ACTUALLY DID SO was a bad bad day for me - because it set a precedent. Once I've done it, staying all night is no longer off-limits, you know? No matter how tired it makes me or how plain stupid it is. Also, I hate that I stayed for HOURS on what should have taken me, like, two hours. WHY SO STUPID AND UNFOCUSED, ME? Grrr. Darn job.
4. So that was bad - but I went home, slept until noon-ish and went in to work. Was in NO MOOD to work, so didn't, and had an epic chat with irnbruise about, you know, awesome movies and awesome actresses (Isabelle Huppert ftw, seriously), among other things, and that was GREAT.
5. Airport after, to send mirime off - it was great having you back, Ka. ♥ And thanks for spotting Julia going to NYC with me. I'm so glad we got to do that together! XD
6. Met noldoparma in Borders after that, at about 9.15pm, figuring we'd have our usual epic chat over dinner/dessert/whatever. AHAHAHAHA. We didn't know what we were about to embark on. I think we stayed a couple of hours at the Borders bistro, chatting over calamari, and then we moved on to TCC (mmm, green tea freeze with red beans!) for QUITE a few more hours... until 3am, by which time we were ready for more food. So we moved onto McDonald's for... supper/breakfast/something, and ended up talking until 5am. If you did the math, that's AN EPIC EIGHT HOURS OF CHATTING. Like, a legit WORKING DAY, guys. We spent all of that chatting about EVERYTHING: politics, philosophy, work, our childhoods, art and fandom and everything ELSE in between, and omigod. Honestly, one of the most epic chats of my LIFE. Thanks for sitting there and picking through my brain with me, J. ;) It was fun.
7. Collapsed at home after that at about 7am, and slept 'til 4.30pm (!!!). Then it was time for a TON of movies: three, to be precise. Let The Right One In was creepily atmospheric, and I'm GLAD I subjected myself to it (I don't usually watch horror/vampire movies except for very good reason i.e., well-reviewed, as this one was, or epic lulz i.e., Twilight). Best movie of the day. Then, Marley And Me. AUGH. The ending made me cry, because it WAS sad, but the film was so manipulative. PUPPY PORN, for one thing, but it just... wasn't well-written, or particularly engaging, and Owen's character seemed SO neglectful to me of his family. Did not like. Third film was Last Chance Harvey - I would watch Emma Thompson in anything, and she and Dustin Hoffman had a nice chemistry. A sweet little film, not AMAZING, but nice. It was like Before Sunrise for the geriatric crowd, and set in the stone-washed loveliness that is London rather than Paris. I want to go back!
8. I decided to pretty up this rather boring entry with a minor pic-spam of my favourite film actresses - inspired by chatting with Leslie about Isabelle - and EEK. It ended up taking me SO LONG to find pictures and put them together. But, worth it.
These are the actresses for whom I've had at LEAST minor flail fits over: by which I mean I've actively pored through their back catalogues and tried to watch more of their films, as many as possible (before the flail passes, that is). There are other actresses, of course, but if it's MAINLY rooted in tv (Gillian Anderson, Lauren Graham, Allison Janney) or music (Julie Andrews), I left them out. This is for FILM. Honourable mentions to Ann Miller, Laura Linney, Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore and Myrna Loy, but if I made pics for everybody, I'd never go to bed EVER.
Kate's Susan Vance had me at anything that comes before hello. A zany, breathless, madcap creation SO at odds with Kate's reputation and stereotype, Susan was a force of nature. As was the actress who brought her to life.
I've loved Meryl forever, and I can't remember the role that made me go AHHHH, this woman has it. But it was Mamma Mia that reminded me just how thrilling a performer she is: yes, she can be distant and chilling and quite quite terrifying (see Doubt), but she is also warm, vivid, full of life and colour... not to mention song.
SO HARD to choose one picture of Cate. Her beauty is... luminous, and yet utterly UNIQUE. Far from being simply pretty, but always, always disarming: and she managed to play one of my favourite actresses of all time with respect, grace and charm. How could I NOT love her?
Diane's Erica was everything she has come to be known for: kooky, charming, irrepressible - Annie Hall grown up. I LOVED Something's Gotta Give, beyond all reason, and a lot of it was due to Diane's energy and spirit.
I'm cheating with Flicka because I THINK the flail started with Desperate Housewives (also Sports Night, zomg), but man. Felicity is a chameleon, and this was never more obvious than in Transamerica - her achingly different transgendered character was the performance of the YEAR. I like Reese, but Felicity should have won that Oscar. No one on this LJ is allowed to say different.
I need to find a LOT more of Isabelle's films, because I haven't hunted them out as much as I would like. But OMG. She is absolutely a breathtaking actress: she LIVES her roles, each as different as can be from another, and literally she is one of those stars you can't stop staring at whenever she's onscreen. Yes, even when she's supposed to fade into the woodwork as in Huit Femmes - which, btw, was a FRENCH MURDER-MYSTERY MUSICAL starring the most awesome French actresses across four generations. What's not to adore?
Really my flail was restarted with West Wing, so I'm cheating again, but really I have always loved Stockard - I have loved her in Grease pretty much since I was a kid. Rizzo has always been my favourite character, and although Stockard really wasn't picked for her vocals, she was the perfect fit for the role. Sassy, even bitchy, and yet vulnerable. Did y'all know she was 300 34 years old when she played this part?! Seriously, Grease had the oldest high-school seniors in the history of the universe.
Oh Toni. ♥ She was the broken, sweet heart of In Her Shoes, a surprisingly mature female drama that didn't stray too far into cliche or soppy sentimentality. As a comic actress, she is untouchable - so why is it that I haven't yet watched United States of Tara? FAIL, ME.
Clearly I have a thing for sassy, kickass women who can REALLY ACT, y/y? No teenyboppers for me, kthx.
9. Brunch at 11.30, eek, and then work after that. I'D BETTER GET TO BED NOW.
2. HAVE YOU MISSED MY RANDOM?! Hee. It's been three days. Filled with work (yuck), movies (ranging from yuck to yay) and good friends (MUCH yay). Balanced out pretty well, I'd say.
3. Epic work day of epic fail - it's the main reason I disappeared for such ages. Honestly it was terrible. I went out for dinner with my sister and brother at a lovely fish restaurant in Greenwood (mmm, I love cod SO MUCH), and then for gelato (peanut butter & cookies and cream XD) after that, but had to go back into work because something was due first thing the next morning. (Even though I got the draft in on time, my stupid boss took ages to clear it, which makes me BITTER but argh, let's leave that can of worms closed, shall we?) I think the day that I realised I could work throughout the night in time for a morning deadline and ACTUALLY DID SO was a bad bad day for me - because it set a precedent. Once I've done it, staying all night is no longer off-limits, you know? No matter how tired it makes me or how plain stupid it is. Also, I hate that I stayed for HOURS on what should have taken me, like, two hours. WHY SO STUPID AND UNFOCUSED, ME? Grrr. Darn job.
4. So that was bad - but I went home, slept until noon-ish and went in to work. Was in NO MOOD to work, so didn't, and had an epic chat with irnbruise about, you know, awesome movies and awesome actresses (Isabelle Huppert ftw, seriously), among other things, and that was GREAT.
5. Airport after, to send mirime off - it was great having you back, Ka. ♥ And thanks for spotting Julia going to NYC with me. I'm so glad we got to do that together! XD
6. Met noldoparma in Borders after that, at about 9.15pm, figuring we'd have our usual epic chat over dinner/dessert/whatever. AHAHAHAHA. We didn't know what we were about to embark on. I think we stayed a couple of hours at the Borders bistro, chatting over calamari, and then we moved on to TCC (mmm, green tea freeze with red beans!) for QUITE a few more hours... until 3am, by which time we were ready for more food. So we moved onto McDonald's for... supper/breakfast/something, and ended up talking until 5am. If you did the math, that's AN EPIC EIGHT HOURS OF CHATTING. Like, a legit WORKING DAY, guys. We spent all of that chatting about EVERYTHING: politics, philosophy, work, our childhoods, art and fandom and everything ELSE in between, and omigod. Honestly, one of the most epic chats of my LIFE. Thanks for sitting there and picking through my brain with me, J. ;) It was fun.
7. Collapsed at home after that at about 7am, and slept 'til 4.30pm (!!!). Then it was time for a TON of movies: three, to be precise. Let The Right One In was creepily atmospheric, and I'm GLAD I subjected myself to it (I don't usually watch horror/vampire movies except for very good reason i.e., well-reviewed, as this one was, or epic lulz i.e., Twilight). Best movie of the day. Then, Marley And Me. AUGH. The ending made me cry, because it WAS sad, but the film was so manipulative. PUPPY PORN, for one thing, but it just... wasn't well-written, or particularly engaging, and Owen's character seemed SO neglectful to me of his family. Did not like. Third film was Last Chance Harvey - I would watch Emma Thompson in anything, and she and Dustin Hoffman had a nice chemistry. A sweet little film, not AMAZING, but nice. It was like Before Sunrise for the geriatric crowd, and set in the stone-washed loveliness that is London rather than Paris. I want to go back!
8. I decided to pretty up this rather boring entry with a minor pic-spam of my favourite film actresses - inspired by chatting with Leslie about Isabelle - and EEK. It ended up taking me SO LONG to find pictures and put them together. But, worth it.
These are the actresses for whom I've had at LEAST minor flail fits over: by which I mean I've actively pored through their back catalogues and tried to watch more of their films, as many as possible (before the flail passes, that is). There are other actresses, of course, but if it's MAINLY rooted in tv (Gillian Anderson, Lauren Graham, Allison Janney) or music (Julie Andrews), I left them out. This is for FILM. Honourable mentions to Ann Miller, Laura Linney, Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore and Myrna Loy, but if I made pics for everybody, I'd never go to bed EVER.
Kate's Susan Vance had me at anything that comes before hello. A zany, breathless, madcap creation SO at odds with Kate's reputation and stereotype, Susan was a force of nature. As was the actress who brought her to life.
I've loved Meryl forever, and I can't remember the role that made me go AHHHH, this woman has it. But it was Mamma Mia that reminded me just how thrilling a performer she is: yes, she can be distant and chilling and quite quite terrifying (see Doubt), but she is also warm, vivid, full of life and colour... not to mention song.
SO HARD to choose one picture of Cate. Her beauty is... luminous, and yet utterly UNIQUE. Far from being simply pretty, but always, always disarming: and she managed to play one of my favourite actresses of all time with respect, grace and charm. How could I NOT love her?
Diane's Erica was everything she has come to be known for: kooky, charming, irrepressible - Annie Hall grown up. I LOVED Something's Gotta Give, beyond all reason, and a lot of it was due to Diane's energy and spirit.
I'm cheating with Flicka because I THINK the flail started with Desperate Housewives (also Sports Night, zomg), but man. Felicity is a chameleon, and this was never more obvious than in Transamerica - her achingly different transgendered character was the performance of the YEAR. I like Reese, but Felicity should have won that Oscar. No one on this LJ is allowed to say different.
I need to find a LOT more of Isabelle's films, because I haven't hunted them out as much as I would like. But OMG. She is absolutely a breathtaking actress: she LIVES her roles, each as different as can be from another, and literally she is one of those stars you can't stop staring at whenever she's onscreen. Yes, even when she's supposed to fade into the woodwork as in Huit Femmes - which, btw, was a FRENCH MURDER-MYSTERY MUSICAL starring the most awesome French actresses across four generations. What's not to adore?
Really my flail was restarted with West Wing, so I'm cheating again, but really I have always loved Stockard - I have loved her in Grease pretty much since I was a kid. Rizzo has always been my favourite character, and although Stockard really wasn't picked for her vocals, she was the perfect fit for the role. Sassy, even bitchy, and yet vulnerable. Did y'all know she was 300 34 years old when she played this part?! Seriously, Grease had the oldest high-school seniors in the history of the universe.
Oh Toni. ♥ She was the broken, sweet heart of In Her Shoes, a surprisingly mature female drama that didn't stray too far into cliche or soppy sentimentality. As a comic actress, she is untouchable - so why is it that I haven't yet watched United States of Tara? FAIL, ME.
Clearly I have a thing for sassy, kickass women who can REALLY ACT, y/y? No teenyboppers for me, kthx.
9. Brunch at 11.30, eek, and then work after that. I'D BETTER GET TO BED NOW.