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Yesterday I took the liberty of seeing not one but TWO movies. What?! I did that. I’ve never done that. And both were grand.

The Kids are All Right:

And Eat Pray Love:

I marked it up as ‘research’ and ate pounds of popcorn and decided I wouldn’t mind spending large parts of every day, slouched in the dark, being entertained and provoked.

I saw the twilight eclipse movie with some cousins yesterday, and I being slightly unfamiliar with the story, but knowing the basics, pretty much approached it like an outsider. Was I entertained? Sure. But I’m wondering: what’s the big freaking deal with Bella??? And why does she get to have both vampire AND werewolf fighting over her / dying to protect her? Why do all the clans risk THEIR lives? Sure, she is small and weird and has two giant front teeth and pretty hair. Sure. I guess it’s a nice lesson in loyalty, in terms of why the clans defend her / fight to protect her? I also found Edward’s chivalrous, old-worldly values to be quite romantical, which I guess is a good thing to be promoting to Kids These Days – this whole, kissing is amazing and you can even stick your faces close together for hours and NOT kiss and this in itself is amazing, and if you’re pale, that’s fine too. And so: Approve.

This movie: so good. Such a perfect blend of these really emotionally raw people with really deep needs – as well as the hillarious, quirky* things that they say and do. Jonah’s Cyrus (whose Mother, Marisa Tomei, has finally met a man, John C. Riley, whose relationship he is hell-bent on quietly sabatoging) is weird but the weird, funny things he says make PERFECT SENSE emotionally.

* I think I hate this word. What does this word MEAN? It sounds or feels like it means childish, without substance. I know it doesn’t, but. Maybe I just don’t want to be called this anymore.

I just received a giant box of old movies!!!  YES! I completely forgot they were en route. I’ve been working with this great company Yarn Films which pairs NY playwrights with LA directors to create screenplays – kind of bridging that gap if you will. My director Better Half has suggested all of these films, as our project is a crumbling love story of sorts. If you need me, I will be happily buried beneath these.

I’ve been working on a feature film version of my short play I Have it – a romantic comedy about two young people with HIV – for about a year now? And over the past few months, I’ve been revising and revising, draft after draft. I have bi-weekly phone meetings with the director and producer, they give notes – minutia to large suggestions – I digest and  fix. Definitely a different process than developing a play, as it doesn’t involve actors just yet. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on a script, but it’s been supremely rewarding, letting myself totally get rid of and change things. It’s a nice reminder that anything good thing requires work. And after work: more work. And after work and work and work: hopefully, greatness.

Finally watched Julie and Julia last night. While Amy Adam’s haircut was too bad and dialogue too kinda dumb for me to FULLY engage in THAT part of the movie, I had the best time bathing in Meryl Streep. Hmm. Bathing in Meryl Streep? That is weird. May I never review movies professionally, for a living. But seriously, she is so good. I was just reminded of what an amazing character actor she is. She really finds the truth in every character and creates this whole person – and never forgets to bring herSELF along for the ride. She is totally, totally adorable in this movie and you kind of just want to hug her while she makes you mayonnaise.

I went to see the Lovely Bones already knowing that I wouldn’t like it, because I loved the book so much, and sure enough, my premonitions were correct, I did not love it.  Things were sort of weird and brushed overand not nearly as powerful as the book (but can they ever be?) Instead, the movie pivots around the pretty face of its star, the irish? actress who plays murdered Susie Salmon. The movie itself seemed to be an exploration of how freakishly lovely she is, and how weirdly angelic she can be with echoey voice and quiet tears, without even changing clothes (because, well, she is the Dead.)

Stop whatever dumb human thing you are doing and go see this movie, and become a blue person with a sparkly face and long muscular limbs who can talk to trees and fly on dragon-birds, and immerse yourself in Metaphors pertaining to Native Americans, the war in Iraq. Bring with you popcorn and a scarf to chew on during extreme epic sections. Bows and arrows, rain water and said dragon-birds provided.

So, I saw harry potter / half blood prince last night, and I’m sorry, but I was slightly ‘meh.’ It was kind of MOSTLY about puberty (okay! okay! They are now old enough to make out with each other!) and did not contain NEARLY enough wizardy / graveyards. The effects were, of course, incredible.Also, please check out this sweet off-camera picture, in which Dumbledore sports a north face coat / beard-sock: