More Romance

Last night I finished Up Close & Personal (1996). I started it Monday night. It won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song - Diane Warren - for the song "Because You Loved Me". It was sung by Celine Dion and brought back memories...it's a good song. "A veteran reporter takes a chance on a bright, young novice and turns her into a TV news star in this romantic film. Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) begins her reporting career as a weather woman at a local Miami station. But it isn't long before her boss, Warren Justice (Robert Redford), notices her natural on-air talent and trains her to become a successful field correspondent. As Tally's ambitious career moves her to Philadelphia, Warren follows his young protege and falls in love with her behind the cameras. With Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna, Kate Nelligan, Glenn Plummer and James Rebhorn. Directed by Jon Avnet, written by Joan Didion & John Gregory Dunne." It was not such a great movie.
I went to yoga Monday night and I'm hoping to go today too. I really need the stretching, I'm so stressed out and tight. Phillip is having a birthday party tonight at Fiddlesticks in the West Village. I hope I'm not too tired after yoga and a shower. It should be fun.
Wow! I just found out Aliza is engaged, I haven't spoken to her in sooo long. I must call her and wish her congrats. Amy signed her post and I realized that I haven't spoken to her in forever, another call to make....
Here's a list of all the people I should call today/tonight (lets see how many I get to):
1. Auntie cuz she's in Helen Hayes recovering
2. Mom to see how she is
3. SLW to return her calls
4. Busty to discuss options for wedding transportation
5. Shira or Rosa to see what bus to take to Passaic
6. Aliza to wish her congrats
7. Amy cuz we haven't spoken in forever
8. Leah to say thanks for getting the gown
9. Ahuva to see if she'll be in Monsey for the weekend (borrow her hair iron)
10. Garyn about vacation
(11. Faye though she doesn't leave messages)

Romance

On Saturday night I went to the gym and watched Love Actually (2003). It was nominated in the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay - Motion Picture. "Love is everywhere in this smartly concocted romantic comedy featuring an excellent ensemble cast that includes Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. Written and directed by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill), the film sets in motion a series of affairs and relationships in London during the holidays. Bill Nighy won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his stellar performance as an aging, drug-addled rock star who sells out in order to succeed in his comeback. Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Billy Bob Thornton, Laura Linney and Rowan Atkinson co-star."
On Sunday I saw The Shape of Things (2003). "The unlikely romance between two graduate students sours and leads to complications with another couple in director Neil LaBute's adaptation of his own play. Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Frederick Weller star." Evelyn(Weisz) uses Adam(Rudd) as the subject of her graduate thesis project. She doesn't really care for him, he is her sculpture - all for the sake of art. Interesting...Here is Ebert's review (from the Chicago Sun Times) http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030509/REVIEWS/305090306/1023
I've been thinking about romance a lot...it is the holiday season. I wish I had a boyfriend or even some guy friends. #2 is really getting to me ( not in a good way) but I don't have anything else so I put up with it.

Sundance

Wednesday's Holiday Party was fun. It was at Social Bar and then we headed over to Scruffy Duffy. #2 picked me up, brought me a menorah and we lit together. He then put together my bed, which looks really good. We were together for about 2.5 hours and I had a good time with him.
Last night I saw The Spitfire Grill (1996). "A pretty ex-convict with a mysterious background relocates to a small Maine town where she stirs up controversy while working at a local diner in this winner of the 1996 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. Alison Elliott delivers a "remarkably nuanced performance" (The Hollywood Reporter) as the young woman in search of a second chance. Ellen Burstyn co-stars as the Grill's reserved owner whose decision to take the girl's advice and sell the place via an essay contest sparks an uproar. Also with Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock) and Will Patton (The Mothman Prophecies). Written and directed by Lee David Zlotoff." I read that there is a play that had its debut in 2001 and is much better and has a happier ending. I also read reviews that compared to Percy to a Christ figure, but I didn't think it was that blatant cuz I didn't even think of it until I read the reviews and I'm not even sure I buy it.
I have to start watching more Sundance Film Festival films, they're good and artsy...just what I like.

Hanukkah = No Fun For Me

After my yoga class on Monday I watched the rest of American Splendor. It was artsy but the guy didn't really have such an interesting life so a movie about him couldn't be that great.
Last night I saw Le Divorce (2003). It wasn't very good but I think Kate Hudson is adorable so I just like watching her films. "An American girl crosses the Atlantic to visit her pregnant Parisian stepsister whose husband has just left her in this French comedy. Kate Hudson stars as Isabel Walker, a California native who sets off to Paris to visit her half-sister Roxeanne (Naomi Watts) and her family. But upon her arrival, Isabel learns that Roxeanne's husband has left her for another woman while she is pregnant with their second child. As Roxeanne deals with her anguish and pregnancy pains, Isabel flirts about Paris and finds a lover in the City of Lights--the uncle of Roxeanne's soon-to-be-ex-husband!" It is based on the novel by Diane Johnson, which I would like to read at some point.
Hanukkah is supposed to be a fun and happy family holiday. Not for me. I didn't even get my menorah cuz #2 flaked out on me last night at the last minute so I went to Rachel & Rachel. They didn't even light properly in front of a window and I basically had to sing the songs by myself. I hope tonight is better even though I won't be getting my menorah tonight either cuz my mom brought it to work so #2 can't get it and neither can I cuz I have the Holiday Party and I'm wearing pants.

Artsy Films

Last Tuesday, I watched the second film in The Matrix Trilogy - The Matrix Reloaded (2003). It was also written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and has the same actors. "Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and the rest of their crew continue to battle the machines that have enslaved the human race in the Matrix. As their quest unfolds, Neo learns more about his super-heroic abilities, including the ability to see the codes of the people and things around him. Simultaneously, now, more humans are waking up out of the Matrix and attempting to live in the real world. As their numbers grow, the battle moves to Zion--the last real-world city and center of human resistance." It was considerably worse than the first Matrix and I don't plan on seeing the third one cuz I heard it just gets worse.
On Wednesday, I got my under arms waxed at a place on 96th btwn Broadway and Amsterdam and then went to my first yoga class. It was really good and I felt much better and more relaxed after. I worked out at the gym on Thursday and Saturday nights.
On Saturday night I finished watching Sylvia (2003). I had watched the first half last Wednesday. It stars Gwenyth Paltrow as Sylvia, which is why I watched it. It was kinda boring and dragged on. "Talented but plagued by her owns demons Sylvia Plath's early relationship with husband and fellow poet, Ted Hughes, is dominated by Ted's ambition and success. In the early years of their marriage Sylvia lacks inspiration and increasingly senses Ted's infidelity. The unspoken question is whether Ted's extra-marital affairs are the result of Sylvia's own insecurities or whether Sylvia's deepening depression is exacerbated by her husbands philandering. It is only towards the end, when they are separated, that Sylvia is able to truly explore the dark depths of her soul and write the searingly brilliant poetry that earned her fame."
Yesterday I got a Brazilian waxing and went shopping. I bought an outfit from Anthropologie, 2 mini-skirts from Banana Republic, and a mini-skirt from Urban Outfitters where I met Chad whom I left my e-mail address for. I hope he writes to me. He was a basketball player in college and now he's an actor and works part-time in Urban.
Last night I started watching American Splendor (2003). I hope to finish watching it tonight. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2004 for Hope Davis as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. It was also nominated for a 2004 Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. "Harvey Pekar is file clerk at the local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the monotony, and their discussions encompass everything from music to the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey fills his days with reading, writing and listening to jazz. His apartment is filled with thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland's thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Robert Crumb, a greeting card artist and music enthusiast. When, years later, Crumb finds international success for his underground comics, the idea that comic books can be a valid art form for adults inspires Harvey to write his own brand of comic book. An admirer of naturalist writers like Theodore Dreiser, Harvey makes his American Splendor a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life, a warts-and-all self portrait. First published in 1976, the comic earns Harvey cult fame throughout the 1980s and eventually leads him to the sardonic Joyce Barber, a partner in a Delaware comic book store who end ups being Harvey's true soul mate as they experience the bizarre byproducts of Harvey's cult celebrity stature."