The Center Seat

This January has brought two momentous occasions... well, they're momentous to me, anyway.

1. On January 4, I turned thirty.
2. And today, January 15, this blog o' mine turns one year old.

So 2008 was a pretty amazing year for me. I'm hearing a lot of people talk about how 2008 was one of the worst years ever (usually they're talking about the economy, the war, politics, what have you), but I think it was one of the best of my life. And I owe much of it to this blog, and to all of you.

It all started with a conversation in Diamonds Coffee Shoppe in Northeast Minneapolis. Dad (there he is on the left...handsome, huh?) and I were having one of those Meaningful Talks... this one was about where exactly my life was headed. I'd been divorced for about a year, and everyone knows how life-changing a divorce is. But for me, it was more than that: it was self-changing. After I had gone through the anger, and the depression, and the self-pity (believe me, there was plenty of that), I stepped back and looked at myself. I realized I was not the person I wanted to be, and only I had the power to change that. So how exactly does a person go about a full overhaul--a head-to-toe reinvention?

The thing that Dad said to me that was so powerful was that he had become successful when he had found something he was passionate about and then just pursued a career in that field. I honestly had a bit of a Juno moment (remember Mac McGuff? "Heating and cooling.") Dad's passion is life insurance, retirement plans... financial shizz. *Snore* Oh, sorry. And mine--as we all know--is the world of film. I have no idea why I never thought about writing on this subject... but I can say that ever since I started, it's changed my life. I dived headlong into this passion, and guess what? I'm happy! Will this ever lead to a full-blown career? I don't know. But I hope so. I've gone to college for journalism, psychology, special education... none of that has really lit my fire. But for the first time in my life, I have a vocational dream, and I feel like this blog has started me on that path.

Of course there were other things that changed. I had to take a frank look at a lot of things, including politics. (Can y'all believe I used to be a staunch Republican?) There were crises of faith--how can I love my gay friends, advocate for them, and still hold true to what the Bible says?* I grew close to a new group of friends, and moved away from others. And for some reason I decided to get crazy-ass hair (the dreads are totally sick now, by the way... check me out on the right). All these crazy changes have added up to this: if I look at the "me" from twelve months ago, she's barely recognizable. And that's ok. Because I'm So. Freaking. Happy.**

So what's up for 2009? Well...

I'm going to keep it up.
I'm going to stay true to myself.
I'm going to try to blog more frequently.
I'm going to try to do my job (my real job, the one I get paid for) better.
I'm going to be a better person.
And I'm finally going to show you my face.



*The answer is really quite easy. But that's a whole other blog post, on a whole other blog. Buy me a beer sometime, and we'll chat.
**I hear Kevin Kline from French Kiss in my head "When people tell me they are happy, my ass begins to twitch." But I don't care. That's how freaking happy I am. :-D ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

It's not because I don't enjoy a good dumb summer comedy. I do. Matter of fact, the manhole incident on the trailer is pretty damn funny.

It's not because I have a problem with Playboy. I don't. Like many intelligent women my age, I actually enjoy "The Girls Next Door". Go fig.

This is why: It seems to be a makeover movie, and I think I like the "before" better than the "after". House Bunny's basic plot is this: a Playboy Bunny is kicked out of the mansion and decides to become the house mother to a sorority of "losers". Of course, she decides to make the "losers" over in her own image.

But... if the trailer is any indication... the losers are cool. I'd hang out with them. They seem like earthy, intelligent girls with a sense of what makes them unique; unlike the cookie-cutter "after" versions of themselves which the movie cranks out.

Do we have to get rid of our freakishness to be accepted? Honestly, I'm not interested in looking, acting, or thinking like anyone else. I choose to, as Marilyn Ferdinand once suggested, let my freak flag fly. And I want friends (and movie characters) that will do the same.

Check the trailer out, and tell me what you think:

...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

Ugh. You people are difficult. (I'm talking to you, Karl Hungus!) But I hope you know I say that with the utmost love.

OK, OK, I'll breach my policy of net anonymity.... just this once.

This was taken with a cell phone in my bathroom yesterday morning.

They're very new... still need to mature. One friend suggested I try corporal punishment. But I love them, love them, love them! (My officemates still aren't too sure.)

...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

I have dreadies. They are utterly boss. Yay me.

I am one of the nine people in this world (Captain Crash included) that actually prefers the 1995 Harrison Ford/Julia Ormond Sabrina to the classic 1954 version with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.

I know, I know. But don't go trashing my movie cred right away... let me explain!

Of course no one can compare to Hepburn and Bogey. I know that... everybody knows that. Her fresh face and elegant manner is inimitable, though it is hard to accept her as the frumpy teenager in the beginning of the film. And Bogart is just so damn moody and mysterious--but he doesn't project the vulnerability which is necessary to make Linus Larrabee (his character) work.

I am fully aware that the original Sabrina is a classic, and that people have trouble with classics being tampered with.

However...

When I first saw the 1995 version of Sabrina, I had no idea that the original even existed. Maybe that allowed me to see it with a fresh eye. The story is enchanting: a dowdy girl has a massive crush on a rich playboy who doesn't know she exists... she goes off to Paris and reinvents herself... she comes back and--boom! He falls head over heels. What comes after is even better, with an extremely satisfying ending.

In both movies, the story is fairly the same, with a few teensy changes: for one, the 1995 Sabrina goes to work for Vogue instead of cooking school (cooking school? such a domestic cliché! and the Vogue thing explains her transformation so much better). And naturally, the grand old steamships are replaced with jets, including the Concorde.

But what swept me away when I first saw Sabrina at 16--was Paris! Oh, how it made me want to go to Paris. The City of Lights is almost another character in the film; it's so pivotal to Sabrina's reinvention. That's evident in one of my favorite lines, spoken by Ormond as Sabrina: "I met myself in Paris." (Incidentally, the reinvention theme so strikes a chord with me right now.)

The 1995 film was actually filmed there (unlike the original), so we're treated to lush Parisian vistas and some fabulous French actors. The remake captures the city so effectively that you can almost feel the mist on your face as Sabrina meanders down the Ponte des Artes, and smell the flowers when she wanders through the Jardin des Tuileries.

I saw the original version of the film for the first time last week. It was definitely amusing, with a lot more laughs than the Sabrina I'm used to... (and I have to say, Hepburn singing La Vie En Rose was supersweet) but in my opinion, it just doesn't compare. Sabrina was done right in 1995. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.