holy cow!
First things first. My life is amazing. And tonight was the cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that is my life...
Tonight, I met Meryl Streep.
As it has been widely documented here, my love of all things Meryl flows deep and pure. Like an ocean. Anyway, tonight was the TimesTalks, brought to you by the makers of all things good; The New York Times. Before my story begins, I'm sitting on my bed waiting for my hair to dry so I can straighten it wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. When my mother asks me what I'm wearing I say "this" thinking that there's no way Meryl will notice or care what I was wearing. But of course, my mom convinced me to change into my aqua dress of awesome. GOOD CHOICE MOM! Anyway around four, my mother and I drove into the city, (midtown tunnel what-what?!) and drove past the building of awesome. I shout "Those are Meryl Fans! I'm getting out!" My mother proceeds to drop me off and drive away to go park. I make friends in line, other fans, and people there for what we named "Meryl Support" -- it's like moral support but for when your friends accompany you to meet Meryl. We are ushered inside at 6:00, and get seated by 6:30. There's still a half an hour before Meryl... this is where it gets crazy.
One thing is for certain, that crazy lady brings people together. Everybody around me was a fan, there was a 12 year old girl who I'm pretty certain was more excited than I was. The woman draws everyone. It's wonderful being surrounded by other people who get you, and get why she's so great. I chatted and made friends in that half hour, all of us watching our watches and cell phones for the time and freaking out in tandem. It was awesome.
The time came, Meryl entered, the auditorium burst into thunderous applause and we got our asses out of our seats and gave her a standing ovation. She seemed flustered, like she felt unworthy of the ovation. Lemme tell you something, it was worthy. She's even cooler in person.
Meryl, Stanley Tucci, and Nora Ephron talked about a lot of their films and Julia Child for the next portion of the night. For an hour I heard awesome stories from the set, about Meryl showing up to the first table read in Julia character, and how all three met the First Lady... The greatest story by far was from Meryl. She said that when Michelle Obama's mom walked up to her and said "I love you" that, AND I QUOTE! "I peed a little." And apparently, she also told Michelle's mom that she "did a good job" raising Michelle, to which Stanley ribbed her and said something along the lines of "Like she didn't know." Anyway it's all further proof that Meryl Fuckin' Streep is the man. She also talked about how she adapts accents really quickly and her kids get embarrassed when she starts up a British accent when they land in Heathrow. I, for one, wouldn't ever be embarrassed if Meryl Streep was my mother. The talking continued, I was sitting in awe, FROM THE SECOND ROW, watching my idol do her thing. They showed a clip that I hadn't seen yet from the movie. It looks so good, she was adorable, and watching the clip with the actors in it right in front of you is awesome. Meryl whipped out a "Bon Apetit" or two and they talked about recipes and were generally lovely people. But the first thing I turned to my mother and said was "she's so pretty," and she really is. In person you catch all those little things and how gorgeous she really is. Her laugh is so infectious, and it's not like a giggle. She full on throws her head back in laughter. She's so genuine. I don't know if that makes me shallow or not, but I really could care less.
Anyway, HERE COMES THE MOST EXCITING PART!!! So they announce a Q&A session, and I sit in my chair and shake my head and look at Stanley and Meryl and Nora and think "No way in hell. I can't make a presentation in class, there is no way I can look Meryl Streep in the eye and talk to her in front of all these people." But then I thought "this is my one chance, I will kick myself forever if I don't take it." So I shimmy down the aisle and hop behind a mic, behind some of the girls I met (including the 12 year old who was adorable and nervous and asked Meryl where her favorite filiming location was. Answer: Greece for Mamma Mia!). I thought, if they can do it, so can I. So everybody is asking Meryl questions and she's being so nice and I still have NO CLUE what to even say to her. I wanted to ask about all the butter they must have used filming, but then I realized that I couldn't stand up and ask Meryl about butter. That would be dumb, and I couldn't look dumb... especially since I'd been having dreams in which I meet her, say something stupid, and then she goes all Miranda Priestly on my ass. Yeah, there would be no questions about butter. All this time I haven't heard half of what's going on, too preoccupied about butter and trying to sound smart in front of a woman Vassar, Yale, Dartmouth and Princeton gave degrees to, until she answers a question about the hardest part she had to play, saying that Death Becomes Her was really challenging because of all the visual effects and the CGI and stuff and I think, "well it really paid off" and it hits me, I WILL START OFF WITH A COMPLEMENT ABOUT WHAT IS POSSIBLY MY FAVORITE MERYL MOVIE OF ALL TIME. And then I will follow up asking her if she was nervous about playing Julia Child, the worlds first cooking legend. No dumb-ass butter questions for me! This is how my queries came out:
"Holy Cow"
[audience and MERYL laughter]
"First of all, Death Becomes Her totally paid off, that movie - is awesome."
[MORE LAUGHTER!]
"Second of all, wait. Okay I remember. Were you worried about playing Julia Child because she's such a, you know... She's Julia Child! She's an icon"
All through this she listened! And nodded! And laughed at the appropriate jokes! And totally understood where I was going with my question and what I meant! And then she talked about how really, she wasn't playing Julia. She was playing Julie Powell's idea of Julia. She had license to play around with the character, but she never wanted to play a characterized version of Julia and just had to be aware of how far she was going with Julia. I, of course, hung upon her every word and nodded and looked impressed... because I was impressed. I was impressed that I didn't faint, and I was impressed at how easy it was to look her in the eye and talk to her. She's so normal. I love it.
Anyway, the night wore on, she blew kisses to the crowd exiting and then they escaped out the back door... which I fully understand. It was still effin' awesome. Honestly it was probably the most amazing Meryl Experience I'll ever have, and I'm so lucky to have a mom who gets it, and indulges my every whim to go and see her in person or whatever. I'm so excited to tell people this story forever, and bring up the fact that I indeed got up the nerve to speak to the greatest living actress. And now we're like, practically best friends :)
Tonight, I met Meryl Streep.
As it has been widely documented here, my love of all things Meryl flows deep and pure. Like an ocean. Anyway, tonight was the TimesTalks, brought to you by the makers of all things good; The New York Times. Before my story begins, I'm sitting on my bed waiting for my hair to dry so I can straighten it wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. When my mother asks me what I'm wearing I say "this" thinking that there's no way Meryl will notice or care what I was wearing. But of course, my mom convinced me to change into my aqua dress of awesome. GOOD CHOICE MOM! Anyway around four, my mother and I drove into the city, (midtown tunnel what-what?!) and drove past the building of awesome. I shout "Those are Meryl Fans! I'm getting out!" My mother proceeds to drop me off and drive away to go park. I make friends in line, other fans, and people there for what we named "Meryl Support" -- it's like moral support but for when your friends accompany you to meet Meryl. We are ushered inside at 6:00, and get seated by 6:30. There's still a half an hour before Meryl... this is where it gets crazy.
One thing is for certain, that crazy lady brings people together. Everybody around me was a fan, there was a 12 year old girl who I'm pretty certain was more excited than I was. The woman draws everyone. It's wonderful being surrounded by other people who get you, and get why she's so great. I chatted and made friends in that half hour, all of us watching our watches and cell phones for the time and freaking out in tandem. It was awesome.
The time came, Meryl entered, the auditorium burst into thunderous applause and we got our asses out of our seats and gave her a standing ovation. She seemed flustered, like she felt unworthy of the ovation. Lemme tell you something, it was worthy. She's even cooler in person.
Meryl, Stanley Tucci, and Nora Ephron talked about a lot of their films and Julia Child for the next portion of the night. For an hour I heard awesome stories from the set, about Meryl showing up to the first table read in Julia character, and how all three met the First Lady... The greatest story by far was from Meryl. She said that when Michelle Obama's mom walked up to her and said "I love you" that, AND I QUOTE! "I peed a little." And apparently, she also told Michelle's mom that she "did a good job" raising Michelle, to which Stanley ribbed her and said something along the lines of "Like she didn't know." Anyway it's all further proof that Meryl Fuckin' Streep is the man. She also talked about how she adapts accents really quickly and her kids get embarrassed when she starts up a British accent when they land in Heathrow. I, for one, wouldn't ever be embarrassed if Meryl Streep was my mother. The talking continued, I was sitting in awe, FROM THE SECOND ROW, watching my idol do her thing. They showed a clip that I hadn't seen yet from the movie. It looks so good, she was adorable, and watching the clip with the actors in it right in front of you is awesome. Meryl whipped out a "Bon Apetit" or two and they talked about recipes and were generally lovely people. But the first thing I turned to my mother and said was "she's so pretty," and she really is. In person you catch all those little things and how gorgeous she really is. Her laugh is so infectious, and it's not like a giggle. She full on throws her head back in laughter. She's so genuine. I don't know if that makes me shallow or not, but I really could care less.
Anyway, HERE COMES THE MOST EXCITING PART!!! So they announce a Q&A session, and I sit in my chair and shake my head and look at Stanley and Meryl and Nora and think "No way in hell. I can't make a presentation in class, there is no way I can look Meryl Streep in the eye and talk to her in front of all these people." But then I thought "this is my one chance, I will kick myself forever if I don't take it." So I shimmy down the aisle and hop behind a mic, behind some of the girls I met (including the 12 year old who was adorable and nervous and asked Meryl where her favorite filiming location was. Answer: Greece for Mamma Mia!). I thought, if they can do it, so can I. So everybody is asking Meryl questions and she's being so nice and I still have NO CLUE what to even say to her. I wanted to ask about all the butter they must have used filming, but then I realized that I couldn't stand up and ask Meryl about butter. That would be dumb, and I couldn't look dumb... especially since I'd been having dreams in which I meet her, say something stupid, and then she goes all Miranda Priestly on my ass. Yeah, there would be no questions about butter. All this time I haven't heard half of what's going on, too preoccupied about butter and trying to sound smart in front of a woman Vassar, Yale, Dartmouth and Princeton gave degrees to, until she answers a question about the hardest part she had to play, saying that Death Becomes Her was really challenging because of all the visual effects and the CGI and stuff and I think, "well it really paid off" and it hits me, I WILL START OFF WITH A COMPLEMENT ABOUT WHAT IS POSSIBLY MY FAVORITE MERYL MOVIE OF ALL TIME. And then I will follow up asking her if she was nervous about playing Julia Child, the worlds first cooking legend. No dumb-ass butter questions for me! This is how my queries came out:
"Holy Cow"
[audience and MERYL laughter]
"First of all, Death Becomes Her totally paid off, that movie - is awesome."
[MORE LAUGHTER!]
"Second of all, wait. Okay I remember. Were you worried about playing Julia Child because she's such a, you know... She's Julia Child! She's an icon"
All through this she listened! And nodded! And laughed at the appropriate jokes! And totally understood where I was going with my question and what I meant! And then she talked about how really, she wasn't playing Julia. She was playing Julie Powell's idea of Julia. She had license to play around with the character, but she never wanted to play a characterized version of Julia and just had to be aware of how far she was going with Julia. I, of course, hung upon her every word and nodded and looked impressed... because I was impressed. I was impressed that I didn't faint, and I was impressed at how easy it was to look her in the eye and talk to her. She's so normal. I love it.
Anyway, the night wore on, she blew kisses to the crowd exiting and then they escaped out the back door... which I fully understand. It was still effin' awesome. Honestly it was probably the most amazing Meryl Experience I'll ever have, and I'm so lucky to have a mom who gets it, and indulges my every whim to go and see her in person or whatever. I'm so excited to tell people this story forever, and bring up the fact that I indeed got up the nerve to speak to the greatest living actress. And now we're like, practically best friends :)