I've moved

Trying out tumblr for at least a little while: mrsbuffy.tumblr.com

If you've ever seen a one-trick pony then you've seen me

As a follow-up to my post about all the movies I want to see RIGHT NOW, I should say that I finally saw "The Wrestler" last weekend and completely loved it.  I thought last year was a good year for movies, but so far this year (by which I mean the last couple months when I've been actively watching the movies) has it beat.  I didn't know what to make of the fact that Darren Aronofsky directed "The Wrestler," because while I've seen "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain," they are such a completely different kind of movie that they couldn't prep me for how much I was going to love "The Wrestler."  While I enjoyed both films, I can't forget that after watching "Requiem for a Dream" back in high school (or was it early college?) with my friend Gillian, that I had to watch like two hours of "Friends" re-runs before I could fall asleep.  Only a couple movies have so completely disturbed me -- the only other I can recall was "Dancer in the Dark," and I think this is a testament to the films (and of course, my own ability to being disturbed).

And of course I was completely affected by "The Wrestler," albeit in a very different place.  Sitting in the second-to-front row at AMC downtown because we got there last minute (and it was sold out), at first I struggled to get used to the shaky camera movement, especially as we moved around from the Ram's POV, but somewhere along the way I completely lost track of that as I got sucked in.  The wrestling scenes were so badass that I found myself looking to Colin for validation of what was going on -- is that staple really in his head, and OH MY GOD HIS BACK IS COVERED IN STAPLES.  A couple times I had to close my eyes, which is to say that the wrestling, from what I've read, was spectacularly accurate and real and frightening to watch at times.  And it made me want to attend a wrestling match.  For real.  I'll never forget what it was like to go to a Cannibal Corpse concert, and while I am not trying to equate the two, I think it's fair to say that I am really not a part of either subculture, but that the brief experience of them was and could be amazing.  

But the wrestling scenes weren't the only thing really working for me in the movie.  The performances, both Mickey Rourke (who I'm pretty sure I've never seen in a movie before) and Marisa Tomei were outstanding.  The small scenes with just the two of them were so heartbreaking and real.  And man, you've got to be impressed that Marisa Tomei is 43 and completely naked, plus dancing.  Man, she looked really good for someone that age who hasn't had plastic surgery, though it probably helped that she has small boobs and never had any children.  Still, a badass performance.  The only complaint I can have, and it's small, is that I really wanted more information on the relationship between the Ram and his daughter.  Past incidents are alluded to, but I really wanted to know how old she was (we guessed college age, though it wasn't clear).  I also thought that when she throws the Ram out of her house she was a little melodramatic, but these are quibbles I have, and not even flaws with the film.

Both "Rachel Getting Married" and "The Wrestler" really took me back to my film studies classes in college.  As dorky as this sounds, I really loved dissecting films and maybe this is something I can do in the future, but for right now, this is my only venue for it.  Coming out of the movie, Colin told me that the only thing that bothered him about the film was the scene where the Ram quits his job.  He thought it was too over-the-top, and then I started to think about it, not already set on my response.  It's easy to say that, but that's not making the connection, which I think Aronofsky may have deliberately made, between the deliberate showiness of wrestling.  In one of the film's earlier wrestling matches, Randy hides a little piece of razor in his arm wrappings to later pull out and make a surface scratch on his head, which then bleeds.  It's all for show.  When Randy quits his job, he shoves his hand into the meat grinder, but not in a way that causes any real damage (as far as the audience is shown).  He causes another surface wound for show, then running through the store, bashing boxes and making a real dramatic, showy, mess of things.  And then he's gone.  He's quit.  And where does he go - to a pay phone to call about wrestling his former foe in that highly-anticipated rematch he had backed out of after his heart attack.  It was a brilliant scene that so clearly demonstrated how much Randy doesn't fit in with that world anymore.  He can shoot the shit with old ladies about their deli selections, but only for so long, because there's a part of him that needs to wrestle, that needs that show and what the crowd gives back to him, that mix of awe and fear and delight that only a crowd can give you.  And from that point on, I was just waiting to see how it would end, because I was just that curious.  When it came, I knew it was going to happen right at the moment it did, and it was the perfect ending.  And then the Bruce Springsteen song written specifically for the movie played and we all just sat in the theatre, in awe.

Funny

Man, I save the weirdest things.  I just found a hilarious IM conversation I had with my mom like 5 years ago that for some reason I saved.  She's telling me about a bathing suit she found online and I ask for the link and she tells me, No I don't do that, it's illegal.  Anyway...

Possibly one of the funniest things I ever saved is this [see below].  Because you can't save drunken voicemails forever (at least, I don't know how to) I transcribed this one.  Name of caller is omitted but you can probably figure it out.

2008: year in review

Well, I'm about halfway through the last day of 2008.  So far, so not exciting.  It's snowing pretty intensely out there -- too dry of snow to make a snowman -- so I'm stuck inside, hoping my New Year's Eve plans are still a go despite the weather.  Here we go...

A lot of exciting and big things happened in 2008.  Also some sad ones.  The highlights and lows, all at once and not in the correct order.

- Traveled to Japan with Colin and my parents to meet my nephew BABY KAI.

- 2 out of the 4 agents I queried were interested - leading to a few intense weeks of wondering if any day I could have an agent.  Clearly, the answer was no.  Still, it was an exciting time, and it's only just the beginning of the process.  (This Christmas break is also the 4 year anniversary of when I started writing said book.)

- "Sprung" my wrist conveniently less than two days before the half-marathon, and two hours before the first Red Sox - White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field.  So, never quite ran the race, but I did run one 10 miler, which is sort of an accomplishment in itself.

- Won third place TWICE in ?ub Trivia.  Thank god for that round on porn...

- Watched from Chicago as my grandfather quickly succumbed to Alzheimer's.

- Canvassed for Barack Obama in Indiana... and then won Indiana for the Dems !!!

- Attended the Grant Park rally where Obama was officially announced as the first African-American President-Elect of the United States of America.  God, I can't wait for the "elect" to be removed and for him to truly be our president.

- Ate octopus balls (at my first Japanese baseball game, Chunichi Dragons at Yomiuri Giants).

- Witnessed one of the most amazing single game championship comeback ever in sports history, as the Red Sox overcame a 7 run deficit in ALCS game 5.  Of course, they lost game 7, but what a miracle that game was.

- Resurrected my doll-making skillz and created the one of a kind Youk and Dusty dolls.  So creepy, so awesome, and so pet-able.

- Read 126 books (more than last year).

- Attended my little bro's wedding.

- Went to my first NBA game with the library teens.  The Chicago Bulls somehow managed to win one at home for the kids.

- Received my very own buffy pop-up card, handcrafted by Colin, for Christmas.

I'm sure other stuff happened too, but this is what I can remember at the moment.

Happy New Year!

Good God!

At least four people I know got engaged over the holidays... and New Year's Eve hasn't even happened yet!  Three of them are Sturbridge folks that I've known since elementary school, and one is from NDA.  Everyone's gettin' hitched!

As far as I know, this is looking to be another year for weddings.  Monica is getting married down under in August, and Kayla is getting married in the fall in New England.  I think I am now at the point in my life where each year I'll have at least one wedding to attend.  (I almost wrote that I didn't go to any weddings this past year and then I remembered, my brother's!)

So not Mia Thermopolis anymore

Mere weeks remain until the release of the final Princess Diaries book is released, but in the meantime, I caught Anne Hathaway in a decidedly un-Mia Thermopolis role: an addict just out of rehab to attend her sister's wedding.  Rachel Getting Married was superb.  I went to see it with my parents at the West Boylston second run cinema where it cost us $3.50 each.  Lynnie sure knows a bargain when she sees one.  The screen was tiny, but it was kind of the perfect place to see a movie like this.  It's a small, at times obviously dark -- given what's going on -- and super-intimate.  Director Jonathan Demme has taken a Dogme approach, only using music and sound effects that would exist in the scene.  I've seen Dogme films before at Doc, but it had been awhile.  Let me tell you, it is one thing to find yourself deeply affected because something sad is happening and the song playing in the background is orchestrated to just get you to cry.  It is quite another for the intensity of the acting to just cut away at your core.  Anne Hathaway was amazing, and while physically recognizable, she was no Anne Hathaway you have ever seen before.  I'm entirely rooting for her to win an Oscar for Best Actress.

I don't know what it is about Oscar season, but it sure makes me want to get out of my apartment/house and out to the movies.  So far, I've seen Milk, Doubt, and Rachel Getting Married, but there are many more that I'm dying to see.  In order:

1.  The Wrestler

2.  Revolutionary Road

3.  Slumdog Millionaire

4.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

5.  Gran Torino

6.  The Reader

7.  Wendy and Lucy

8.  I've Loved You So Long

That is a lot of movies!  And 1-6 I absolutely must see before the Oscars, so that's almost one a week until the end of February.  Sheesh.  This coming from someone who didn't see Dark Knight until the end of summer/early fall... and can't remember what movie she saw most recently before that one in the theaters.

Anyway, I never even posted about Christmas!  It was fun.  Crowded, different from last year, a little emotional because of my grandfather not being there at Christmas Eve, but definitely improved by the addition of some new folks.  Like the Colin guy!  Colin was a real trouper, putting up with a very relaxed schedule in Sturby, which turned out to be the calm before the storm.  A 13 month old Baby Kai adds a lot of intensity and challenges to normal holiday activities.  Like leaving the house to do things all together.  Also, opening Christmas presents.  An activity that usually was well over by 11 AM, well, this year we were still opening presents at 7 PM.  And this is without Grandma even coming out (with presents) since she wasn't feeling well.

I must admit, as much as I miss the little guy right now, I am super excited to sleep in a bed!  The whole night through!  It's been 3 nights on an air mattress in my brother's claustrophobic tiny room that just barely contained said double air mattress, and then 2 nights on the couch, praying the cat won't jump on my face at night.  Not one night did I get to sleep all the way through, thanks to the little guy who still doesn't sleep through the night.  I'm not complaining really.  I wouldn't want to not be spending all that time with the little guy... but I am really really stoked about having my bed and room back!

this is the worst day of my life

Crucifictorious t-shirts are SOLD OUT. 

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