MetLA

My friend Kirstin had a very thought-provoking bost on her blog. It's about being a Mom and all the things that changes in your life. It got me thinking, so I wrote her back:

Kir, that weekend was tough for me too. I understand completely catching glimpses of who you were at Pomona, I did the same thing. Cutoffs & long hair (and those brown mules you wore 24/7!), that's exactly how I remember you. You've changed, I've changed, we've all changed. And now you have the precious Munch to love.
The irony is, I feel many of the same feelings that you do, and I don't even have a kid! I'm trying to achieve success in my career, which sometimes feels like a mirage. Every time I advance a little, another hill appears that needs climbing. My ambition is out and in overdrive, but I'm wondering if it's all kinda pointless. I'm delaying having a child for some good reasons, but if I look back in 10 years will those reasons bear any weight at all? I want to achieve meaningful and important things too, but what are they? And why does the bar for that always seem to be moving?

The very fact that you think about what you want out of life means you're not losing yourself. You write a kick ass blog, you're going to school, you travel the world, and all with the Munch by your side! That's something to stand up and be proud about. And I have a feeling that you will figure out what works for you for work, something cool and outside-the-box. Because that's how you've always been. The world makes people choose - work vs. motherhood, career vs. life, etc. You know you can throw off those shackles and do important and meaningful things. You already are!

I went to a screening at the DGA of "Walk the Line", with a Q&A with James Mangold after. First, the film. I liked it, the performances were outstanding, Cash's music kicks ass. But it fell short of a truly great film for a few reasons. The first is the eerie similarity to "Ray". Cash is tormented by the death of a brother, cheats on his wife, even goes through the same type of drug withdrawal. Isn't there another way to film the inevitable slow fade, sweaty I'm-kicking-the-drugs scene? The other problem I have is one I have with many biopics - the filmmakers rarely portray the subject's drive to be famous. It's always like they "fell" into whatever made them a superstar. Johnny Cash is shown singing with his mother in a cotton field, playing guitar in the Army, and gazing longingly at a recording studio in Memphis. But he just doesn't seem to have the drive to make it in a really tough business. He succeeds by singing for Sam Phillips, who then puts him on the road with a young Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. But unlike "Ray", I never saw Johnny Cash's burning desire to be a famous singer.

But we do see his burning desire for June Carter, and that story elevates the film. Reese Witherspoon has her own special "movie star" glow that lights up the screen, you just can't take your eyes off her. It's no wonder that Johnny Cash fell so hard for June, and the two actors have intense chemistry. I loved the filmmaker's choice of playing up Johnny & June's stage performances. It's in front of the lights and the people that they were able to tell each other how much they loved each other. The love story eventually eclipsed the music biopicness of "Walk the Line", and it's a better film for it.

Alexander Payne interviewed James Mangold after the film. He said he studied "East of Eden" and "Coal Miner's Daughter" for inspiration. He wanted to cast a modern James Dean to play Cash - a tormented, ferociously talented actor. Joaquin Phoenix delivered that kind of performance. Mangold said that Phoenix said to him "This part is what I've worked my entire career to play", and unlike actors who can say that in back-to-back meetings about different films, Mangold felt that Phoenix was completely serious. Mangold met Witherspoon at a party shortly after he started working on the project. He didn't know about her Memphis upbringing, but it worked perfectly for the part. He put the actors though 3 months of singing bootcamp with T Bone Burnett which turned them into Johnny and June.

When they opened up the session for questions, the first person had the nerve to ask Mangold "Did Joaquin Phoenix use the death of his brother and his drug use as fuel for this part?" Mangold handled his answer extremely well, saying that he had the great fortune of working with 2 actors who are at the top of their craft. They know themselves, they know their work, and they don't need a director to stir up any emotions for them. Mangold thinks it's detrimental for a director to play shrink with actors, to manipulate their emotions to get a performance. He says the actors see through it in a second, and it ends up making them feel like they are in therapy rather than acting. So he trusted Phoenix to make his own method for the role. As far as he knows, Phoenix didn't use that experience for this movie, but even if he had Mangold wouldn't have asked him about it. That's classy.

"Walk the Line" is a film worth seeing, if only to catch 2 of the finest actors of our generation in peak form.

I saw this film tonight at the DGA. Sidney Pollack interviewed Rob Marshall after. I thought this was a teriffic film. I've never read the book, so it's all new to me. The cast was outstanding, the DP should win the Oscar, and John Williams's score was one of the best of the year. Rob Marshall didn't fall into the sophomore slump at all - in fact this movie is arguably better than Chicago. Sidney Pollack asked Rob Marshall repeatedly how he was able to take on two of the most technically difficult movies in recent memory, adding "I hate you!" Marshall simply said he watched the directors when he worked as a choreographer, and always made his stage shows into films in his head as he worked on them. To prep for the film the cast & Marshall went through "Geisha Bootcamp", with 7 rooms for makeup, hair, kimono training, dance, etc. Marshall also commented on how hard the language barriers were. 5 of the main cast were making their English language debuts. And when he filmed scenes with Gong Li and Suzuka Ohgo (young Sayuri), he had Japanese, Chinese, and English translators going at once, and the only time the actors could speak to each other was when they were speaking English during the scene. They built the Japanese village on a horse ranch in Ventura, shot the coastal scenes in Northern California, and then went to Japan to shoot the temple & landmark scenes. Rob Marshall seems like a very personable director and one who really uses his crew to maximum effect. All and all, it's my favorite film of the Oscar season so far!

I love my girlfriends. This weekend we all got together and attended Arianne's Halloween party and Petrea's induction into the Pomona-Pitzer Athletic Hall of Fame. Both were a blast. The highlight of the Halloween party was seeing Jen climb out of a car after making out with her boy toy and getting busted by her friends who just wanted to go home and sleep! Her wig was all backwards...It made us all feel young again! It was a treat to see Petrea get her award and give a fantastic speech. We missed Arianne, who was with her parents. After the dinner we crashed Harwood Halloween. Let me tell you, those kids today! All the girls were dressed like Paris Hilton - a sure sign of the apocalypse!

Well, I almost got out of Jury Duty in one day. I sat around all morning, didn't get called, didn't get called, read, fell asleep, wondered how many germs were floating around the windowless jury room, did some work on the computer, etc. Lunch was fun walking around, I almost splurged and went to Patina, but ended up at Koo Koo Roo. Unfortunately, MOCA was closed, they are putting up some surreal exhibit on VW Bugs. But the store was open so of course I did some shopping.
After my afternoon nap, it was getting towards the end of the day and I was feeling pretty good. People were actually finishing their service and were getting to leave. Then they called a whole bunch of us to a panel. And they told us to go across the street to a different court. As 40 or so of us were tromping across the street, I got to thinking this can't be good. And it wasn't - we ended up at the criminal court. I'm on a major panel. Of course I can't talk about it, but let's just say that some Very Bad Things were allegedly done by the defendant. Very, Very Bad. And if I'm on this jury, I'll be downtown for a very long time. They haven't gotten to question my group yet. I spent the whole time telling the guy next to me what was going on, because he was basically deaf. And we kept signalling the bailiff and doing the "Can't Hear" sign language. Baliff guy didn't seem to think it was a problem, not even after the judge read the nine bazillion charges against the defendant and my fellow juror didn't hear a thing. Tomorrow I get to be questioned and tell a room full of strange people things I don't want to tell them but that pertain to the case (D-R-U-G-S). It's sadly amusing to listen to everyone admit what they've been arrested for, what illigial substances they've taken, and other, worse things that I can tell you when I'm done.
Fingers crossed that I'm too.....something, and I get bounced on out of there and sent on my merry way.