Well, it seems the ol' wagon train is headed out of Myspace land... (I am addicted to Western and Pioneer metaphors today) so I've decided to regroup at Word Press. 
http://rhinestoneworld.wordpress.com/
"So Come on in and pull up a chair, ya might as well since yer already here..."
Joshua by Dolly Parton
http://rhinestoneworld.wordpress.com/

To quote Lt. Dangle of Reno 911:  Somebody pooped in the book box.
I was reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.  I'd been looking forward to it for awhile.  I mean, c'mon...Hitchcock won his only Best Picture with his adaptation.  And then I found myself on the 156 LaSalle mumbling to myself,  "Get some self-esteem, Narrator Girl!  My God."  The nameless narrator of Rebecca is too needy for me, so I put it down and picked up The Sisters:  The Saga of the Mitfords.  And then I got inspired.  Why be hindered by excess literary clutter?  So I got rid of some books.
Now.  I've done this before.  Actually, right before we moved we got rid of a LOT of books ($50 bucks at Myopic!  What? What?) but last night was an exercise in...I don't know...willpower?  Maybe?  Basically I got rid of my book reading ego.
I'll admit it now:  Yes.  I own Swann's Way by Proust.  No, I haven't read it.  Haven't even cracked open the binding.  Why do I own it?  To say that I own Swann's Way by Proust.  But it's taking up valuable space.  And I can always get it from the library (I'm SURE there will be an available copy.  You guys the Proustian questionaire is just something he FILLED OUT!  He didn't come up with it!)  So into The Grand Pile of Ego it goes along with:
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Wapshot Chronicles by John Cheever
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (I actually read this one.  I did not like it.  However, I would consider rereading after learning more about Islam and Hindi.)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I also read this.  Will and I had our second argument about this book that usually goes like this:
BETSY:  Why can't we get rid of the Great Gatsby?
WILL:  I don't know, why can't we?
BETSY:  I thought you wanted to keep it.
WILL:  I thought you wanted to keep it.  I'm not going to read it.  I've tried.
BETSY:  Well I've read it.
WILL:...
BETSY:  It was alright.
WILL: I can't bring myself to care about the characters.
BETSY:  Yeah.  I remember I said, "Well...alright." when it was finished.
WILL:  So get rid of it.
BETSY:  Okay

And then usually I put it back on the shelf.  I mean, it's on the Modern Library Top 10!!!!  It's supposed to be one of the greatest novels ever written.  I READ IT.  Keeping a classic novel around is like the literary equivalent of a moose head on your wall.  There it is!  I did it!  I KILLED THAT NOVEL!  I READ THE SHIT OF IT.  Ask me anything!  Seriously. Ask me anything about that book. 
"How does the geography of the novel dictate its themes and characters? What role does setting play in The Great Gatsby?"
Uhhhh...
I said I read it.  Not slept with it.
Hey, I could bullshit my way through that question, but...as I am no longer in school, I don't have to!  Although, I suppose in that respect I didn't have to read it either...but you see I have this reading list....
Anyway, we also are getting rid of The Iliad, The Scarlet Letter (HATED it), A Room of One's Own, myriad Grahame Greene books, Justine (Ew you guys...Not into it.), Delta of Venus (We've got room for either Henry Miller or Anais Nin...we went with Miller.  DH Lawrence left in the First Purge along with Ayn Rand, Ian McEwen, and The Red Badge of Courage ),   ...the stack is above my knee.
Once I cleared out all the douchebaggery....what was left was well....telling.
Dickens
The Brontes
Douglas Adams
LOTS of sci fi
Some Arthurian Legend
Wind in the Willows (talking animals REPRESENT!)
Tolkien
Kingsolver
Bryson
Some lesser fantasy ( yeah I read it)
The only two poets:  Walt Whitman and Poe
...Alright...and Tim Burton
Calvin and Hobbes
The Far Side
Harry Potter
The Mill on the Floss ( I LOVE this book)
The Chronicles of Narnia
Pride and Prejudice
The Viewpoints Book
Holy Blood Holy Grail (OHHHH yes)
The Historian
The Secret of the Lockkeeper's House and Heritage of the Heart (signed by the author)
The Chalice and the Blade
Henry Rollins
High Fidelity
Backlash
Peyton Place (And Return to Peyton Place)
Bullfinches Mythology (It's really good.  Catches you up on myths you might have missed....heh...Mythth you might have mithed.)
Anna Karenina (I have to be honest...this almost got tossed.  But I would really like to read it.  And I figure that it's big enough that I will beat the shit of out on the train, so I might as well own rather than borrow.)
Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird (SOB)
A Separate Peace
Salinger (IF I had my choice...the Salinger collection would be smaller...)
Vonnegut (see description of Salinger)
Doctorow
Atwood
Nevada Barr (OMG just National Park murder mystery novel candy is all.  I save these for summer because they are so fun.)
Some graphic novels (Please remember this is not just my collection)
There's more but I'm not remembering. 
Basically it's the library equivalent of a british talking bear wearing lipstick and heels married to a tattooed badger trekkie with a decent vinyl collection .  But then...well...that's not entirely inappropriate.   Maybe I should bring my makeup and pin up books in from the bedroom.  Just to de-nerdify.  I mean, I may be a little bit nerd but I don't want to misrepresent myself here.

I can't find Confederacy of Dunces.  I think it's in my Parents' attic along with the Shining and Carrie.  Those will probably make it onto the shelf. (All the theatre books are in a big box out back.  I keep the plays around for audition purposes.)  I gave back Gone With the Wind to my Mom.  I really need my own copy.  Same with a Tree Grows in Brooklyn. 
I'm super glad I don't own The Celestine Prophecy or anything by Julia Cameron.  Otherwise the Book Box would be heavier. 

I do sort of wish I owned Jaws...the book.  What?  It's fun.  So is Congo by Michael Crichton.  The movie might suck but the book is like a big huge greasy pizza on a Friday night.  I really do equate books to food.  Sometimes I know it's time to hunker down and eat some carrots and grilled chicken and salad.  Othertimes, I know I've earned Nachos with a side of mozzarella sticks.  It's all about balance people.  I just don't like the reading equivalent of The Master Cleanse and friends, that would be Prunes...I mean Proust.   

Well, she's served us well, but our dearest Van is telling us it's time to think retirement planning...hers, to be exact. 
So, as with any other endeavor that involves research, planning and large sums of money, I've plunged in with the force of a humpback whale diving for krill. 
Can I tell you how much I'm looking forward to shrewdly negotiating?  I can't help but cock a grinchy eyebrow when I think of the parrying we're about to do.  Did you know that some car dealers bug their sales office so they can hear what you are saying when they are out of the room?  Knowing this, I've come up with a few scenarios:
1.
INT Sales office
Dealer:  Let me just go get my manager so we can discuss this further.
Me:  Take your time!  I'd like a moment to speak with my husband.
Will:  Yippee.
Dealer Exits and goes to the stakeout van parked in the parking lot.
INT. Van
Dealer:  Okay, let's see what they have to say:

INT:  Sales Office.
Me:  Oh my God, it itches!
Will:  Well did you put lotion on it?
Me:  Yeah but I bet it wiped off on the dealer's hand when we met.
Will:  We'll find out soon enough.
Me:  Well, no matter.  As long as you can't see the buboes from my plague in this shirt?
Will:  Nah...you can't see them.  Maybe the armpit ones a little.
Me:  If he would just give us this car for $3,000 less than they quoted, we could get the hell out of here.
Dealer (Over office loudspeaker):  I've talked it over with my boss.  How about if we knock $3,000 off the price? 
Me:  (To loudspeaker)  Sounds great!
Dealer:  Okay, well you two can go home today and we'll handle the rest of the deal over the phone!
2.
After Dealer leaves

Me:  I love it, but can you get a body in the back of it?
Will:  Or at least parts of one.
3. 
Dealer:  How does that sound?

Me:  I don't know.  I mean, maybe we should bring in Uncle Don to take a look at it?
Will:  Which Don?
Me:  Corleone.
Or we could always do it my Mom's way:
(This actually happened)
Dealer:  (Pushes piece of paper across table)  How about this?
Mom:  (looking at paper)  Mmmm...(Puts it back down, looks at me)  You know, maybe your Dad was right.  He really wanted us to go look at Neons.
Me:  What?  Dad didn't-
Mom:  (Flashes evil look of terror-inducing malice)
Me:  Cough Cough...Right...Neons.
Mom and I get up and head for the door.
Dealer leaps up and slams himself into the door.
Dealer:  (looking at my Mom.  With great effort)  What do I have to do
Mom:  Knock down the interest rate, take 2 grand off the price.
Dealer:  You got it.
Me:  WHOA Mom!
Anyway, I'm researching.  Preparing my bargaining tools.  Hell I'm even going to pack a snack.  I might even buy a pack of cigarettes for Will if it will increase his patience. 
I've got loan preapprovals and all sorts of fun things up my sleeve. 
But before I show my cards, I play dumb.  What's little ol' thing?  Oh a HANDLE.  like to get in...huh...  So how many miles to the gallon does it?  Hopefully more than 12...but more importantly What colors does it come in?  If you don't say pink, I'm out of here.
 
 
 
 
 

I am a sentimental sap.  I really am.  Sure I have my limits (Chicken Soup for the Soul), but generally speaking you can stick a puppy in it, and I'll cry.  Ergo I'm not going to see Marley and Me.  I don't see animal movies.  I just don't.  It's too emotional.  I've never made it all the way through Jurassic Park II.  I suppose most people would say this because it's a shitty movie, and rightly so.  But the T-Rex growling over that golden retriever has many times resulted in a panicked pressing of the stop button.  My Dad forbade my Mom and I to ever watch Lassie again.  Most likely because we called him on his lunch break, from two different phone extensions bawling and snotting and making no sense and generally allowing him to think something terrible had happened.  In fact, it did.  We watched Lassie.  So, with that in mind, you should know I've never seen nor plan to see the following:  Old Yeller, The Bear, Milo and Otis, Shilo, Where the Red Fern Grows (I mistakenly read that one.)
I've seen the Incredible Journey with the thought that if they didn't make it home, the journey wasn't that incredible.  I can't watch Animal Cops.  I can't even watch documentaries about predators IF they show them being predatory.  Now, if they show them playing and doing funny things with dubbed voices, count me in.  I haven't watched Bambi or ET since I had control over the remote.  Just talking about American Tail gets me going.  In short, animal movies are my kryptonite. 
And to think, that's not what I was going to talk about. 
See, I did a lot of introspective thinking yesterday.  One has a tendency to do that when they ride a train from Logan Square to Forest Park.  And I realized a couple things about myself:  1.  I am not a perfectionist.  I'm talking mostly about theatre here.  Actors often berate themselves backstage for myriad undetectable "mistakes" and I just don't have it in myself to do that.  If I do the work in rehearsal, the product is ready to run.  Sure, I might slip every once in awhile.  But I am so clutzy and distracted that the fact I'm capable of doing it at all has to be enough for me.  That's not to say I condone laziness or lack of focus.  Not at all.  In fact, I highly encourage focus.  All I'm saying is that I give it my all, and if I screw up, there's nothing I can do about it.  Now you're thinking, "Ah.  She dropped the ball at the show yesterday."  Newp.  Just thinkin'. 
2.  The book Carrie by the illustrious Stephen King is actually, although admittedly pop fiction horror, an important book.  The lesson is "No matter how wierd someone is, you have no idea what's going on at home.  So give the kid a break."  Also you should know he or she may be telekinetic, and might light a gym on fire when you're at the prom.  So...there's that.  But seriously, we're all freaks, just in different ways.  I.E. I need to stop being so judgmental.  (See beginning of this entry wherein I admit to being sappy).
3.  There's nothing you can say to someone your cat just sneezed green stuff onto.  Just nothing to say. 
4.  I have an art and craft area in my house now.  I love it.  I totally get why my Mom loves Joann's and antiqe store now.  Typo, I realize but I'm all about moving forward today.
5.  Forest Park really needs to shovel or snow blow municipal sidewalks.
6.  There has to be a way to wear an updo and a hat at the same time.
7.  I said the most domestic and married thing I've ever said yesterday which was, "Okay, but don't forget about the crockpot."  Luckily, this was followed by comparing leg lengths with a male cast member while we were both wearing dance accoutrement and makeup.  And then I told a poop joke.  Disaster averted.
8.  When I say, "I'm not trying to be Pollyannaish..." I basically mean, hold on, I'm about to be Pollyanna.
 

Obviously I want to gush and gush, but I won't because others have said it more eloquently than me.   "I'm going to leave Ol' Texas now, they've got no use for the long-horned cow.  I've plowed and fenced my cattle range, and the people there are all so strange..."

Actually I want to provide a shout out today.  Even a white flag...perhaps.  In college, the theatre and music departments shared facilities.  They don't any longer, but that is neither here nor there.  As such, a vicious rivalry had developed between the two departments.  I'm not exagerating when I say there was actual scorn and verbal outbursts between students and professors (i.e. My husband and a trumpet professor).    So even though our musicals were filled with music students in the pit, even though we shared a green room, practice rooms, occasionally traded minors and majors (We had a voice major with a theatre minor in my studio class.  I considered minoring in piano until I realized that I would never graduate ever if I did that.)  we really, as a general rule, loathed each other.  Miami's theatre students were never quite the black-wearing, post-high school, Shakespeare joke making, overly enthusiastic nerds that populate many theatre departments in the midwest.  So we couldn't understand, and therefore hated the haughty nerdiness of the music department.  I mean, what were they so effing arrogant about!?  WE were the attractive ones...mostly.  If not, we hung out with the decidedly attractive art department students who, unless scenic painting, never darkened the hall of the Center for the Performing Arts.  Sure they littered the front of Presser Hall with post it notes in the shape of giant dog turds, but it was no problem.  They were experimental.  And hot.

 The music students would take over the music library, shoving us musical theatre girls into the half aisle filled with various scores by Sondheim, Bernstein, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the like, babbling about their performances, grades, class work, music student social life, music student sex...I'm still not quite sure how that many thin 20 year old boys in short-sleeved button downs manage to actually consumate relationships, but that's beside the point.  (Maybe I'm not aware of the possibilities of brass instruments.)  The point is, we were enemies.   The vocal majors would traipse into our auditions, copy the performances from musical cd's, sing well, act terribly and steal roles so that SOME of us were forced to have a single solo line about erections in Once on this Island and permanently scarring their Fathers for life.  For example.  But then I started getting leads so I chilled out.  And the Vocal Majors got notes like, "Please stop singing in a Caribbean accent.  You are pale and from Cincinnati."

ANyway, we move to Chicago where all of a sudden, minus the HUGE disparity in pay (meaning musicians get paid, Actors get "stipends" i.e. enough money for a beer and a hot dog post show) musicians became my friends.  My lifesavers.  Sure, the vocal majors get cast in musicals, but generally speaking not as much because they have venues!  They have grad school!  THey have opera.  They have recording studios and American Idol and all that crap. 

Drummers rock.  Second chair pianists rock.  Accompaniests can make or break you.  But in particular, this shout out is directed to music directors.  I can't begin to explain how difficult their job is.  It is also neverending.  It involves creating music where music needs to be but was not provided.  It involves reading the chicken scratch style notation of which Samuel French and Dramatic Publishing Company are oh so fond.  Then they hire musicians.  Then they notate.  They teach people parts.  Over and over.  And over.  They deal with choreographers, directors, sound people, musicians, actors.  Their job is soul-sucking.  They are teacher, composer, conductor, personal assistant, friend, translator, and coach all wrapped into one.   Hell, occasionally they have to provide therapy for a wounded ego. 

They only want a few things out you:
1.  Learn your parts forwards and backwards and then forward again.
2.  Ask appropriate questions in reference to the music at hand, not editorial ones.
3.  Be honest about your abilities, but don't be a pussy.
4.  Shut up and remember that it's your job to remember one part.  It's their job to remember not just SATB, but also all the musicians. 

Give 'em a break.  Give 'em a hug.  Buy them a drink.  Give them a place on the board of Underrated Underappreciated Theatre Professionals:
1.  Stage Manager
2. Music Director (Only second because they are not involved in every production)

The only one that puts up with more crap is the janitor after a late-night.

So brava and bravo music directors of the world! 

 

 

I don't really know the story behind this thing, but just one more reason I would have done alright in the fifties. 

Great Lash mascara sucks.  Every Beauty Editor in America can tell me otherwise but I hate it.  I hate it.  It is the worst.  It smears.  It makes me look like raccoon eyes.  It never fully dries.  It just blows.  I don't care what sort of makeup accumen one has.  If one thinks Great Lash is the best, one is a fool.  This is the reason I continue to read "The Cosmetics Cop".  She may be a fuddy duddy when it comes to application and color, but the woman knows formulations better than anyone.  And she agrees about Great Lash. 

Instead I recommend L'oreal Voluminous.  It is by far the best mascara.  High end included.  I have yet to try Dior Show, and I'm keeping an open mind, but it would have to basically wash the dishes and run lines with me before it could convince me it is a better product that L'oreal Voluminous.  I'm not a scientist.  I'm not a beauty editor.  But between my love of makeup and my career in theatre, trust me.  I know what I'm talking about.  This is about quality of product, not preference.  Some people love Bare Minerals.  I'm a liquid foundation girl myself.  That's opinion.  This is a fact: Voluminous is the highest quality mascara I've come across. 

With that in mind, this was inspired by a recent blog post at www.carrieanddanielle.com, I'd like to offer after much trial and error, my favorite beauty products of all time.  After years of doing theatre, and being girly, and having sisters who are the same (one trained by Aveda), lots of trial and error and experimentation, I want to tell you what are my standby's (almost all of them are cheap, which right now helps.  Although I have to say, being in theatre, that always helps).

Now, keep in mind a few things.  I don't have a lot of money.  I'm vain.  I have combination to horribly oily skin.  My undertones run from golden to decidedly green.  For all you cool blondes out there with normal skin...this list may not be for you.

1.  Voluminous Mascara.  See above.  I like it black.  Straight brush.  My Mom converted me to this mascara.  I'd been wearing Great Lash for years, following the advice of all the beauty editors and looking like Ranger Rick and one day my Mom, who rarely steps to my makeup opinions, said that she doesn't understand why anyone would buy anything other than Voluminous and I came up with some sort of excuse that ended being a veiled cover of "because my Mom wears it."  But she was right. 

2.  Neutrogena Deep Wrinkle Night Cream and Satin Pillow case and a huge glass of water before you go to bed.  You wake up with way better skin.  No I don't have deep wrinkles, but the concentration of Retinol is high and beneficial.  I'm anti cosmetic surgery for myself, barring injuring, so I'm fighting wrinkles as soon as I can.  PLUS Deep Wrinkle's packaging makes sure the retinol doesn't lose it's potency.  Watch out for jar packaging ladies.  Once it's open, it's done. 

3.  St. Ive's Apricot Scrub.  Ellen, my Aveda trained sister, says that you actually shouldn't use this stuff because the walnut granules are mishapen and sharp and can damage your skin.  She also says beware if you have nut allergies due to the walnut content.  Well.  I still love it.  I use it on my whole bod.  Great for manicures.  Great for faces.  I love how it smells.  My Aunt Hope introduced me to this product when I was little.  She would steam my cousin Jackie's and my faces, scrub us with Apricot Scrub, make a homemade masque, and then astringe us with some sort of toner.  Usually Suave.  It was so much fun, and floods with wonderful memories.  And respect for homemade beauty products.

4.  Queen Helene Cocoa Butter Lotion - If you buy it at Walmart, it costs 2.50.  It's enormous.  It smells great and makes your skin incredibly soft.  You can't beat it.

5.  Shick Intuition.  I admit I was wary at first.  Is shaving cream really costing me that much time in the shower?  Answer. YES!  I guess so, because Shick Intuition is so fast.  Sure I'm a little allergic to it, but if I avoided everything I'm a little allergic to, I would live in a bubble.  With no cats.

6.  L'oreal Translucide Loose Powder.  Am I L'oreal obsessed?  No.  It's just drug store or department store, it's the best line out there.  Translucent powder is harder and harder to come by, and this is the best.

7.  DHC Deep Cleansing Oil.  It removes everything.  Waterproof.  Long wearing.  Doesn't matter.  This is my stage makeup remover.  I love it.  Yes, it's greasy, but nothing a little facewash won't take care of.  Pond's cold cream is a classic and will do in a pinch (also looks lovely and old school on a vanity) but DHC is the best. (Remove contacts before using)

8.    Certain Dri.  It gets sweaty in auditions.  It gets sweaty on trains.  This makes sure it doesn't.

9.  MAC concealer.  In the pot.  I use NW 20.  It lasts for over a year.  I just replaced the one I had during my WEDDING.  It is amazing.  And, at 17 dollars, not too scary in price.

10.   Jane eyeshadow in "clubbing".  I use it on top of black liner.  Best smoky eyes at about 3 bucks a pop.  It sparkles and can be used wet or dry depending on desired intensity.  Admittedly, it's hard to find.  But you can get it at the Walgreens at Madison and Wells.

11.  Hold on...Wheww....I'm sputtering over conservative email forwards.  I have to calm down...Wow.  I don't have many more sleeves to slap my bleeding heart onto.  Although truly...has an email forward ever changed anyone's mind?  No.  God give me the strength not to respond.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....breathe.  Okay.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  Sorry.  Alright...Face wash.  Purpose by Johnson and Johnson.  It's the best.  It dries Will's skin out.  But this isn't Will's list.

12.  Sea Breeze astringent.  Sure it's harsh.  But it disinfects.  It's like Lysol for your face.

13.  Blood red nail polish.  There are myriad options and I'm not dedicated to a particular one.  Although Gash by Urban Decay has a nice ring to it.  Anyway, in the fall, I like it on toes.

14.  Tweezers.  I like Revlon.  Again, beauty editors swear by Tweezerman because they are the sharpest.  Yes, they are.  That's why they cut my eyebrows instead of remove them.  Revlon is sharp enough for precision, but dull enough for plucking.

15. Got 2 B whipped pomade.  It smells like vanilla soft serve.  It's not too heavy.  Great for texture on curly or straight hair.

16.  Jon Frieda Secret Weapon.  Makes hair super soft.  Gets rid of static.  Smells the way Jergens used to smell.

17.  Makeup sponges, wedge-shape, by Just For You.  The Wonder ones smell like rubber.  I don't recommend.  Although...they do remind me of community theatre. The official Roar of the Greasepaint and Smell of the Crowd.

18.  Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer.  I'll go generic if it's a better deal, but it's non greasy and has SPF.  It also has something else in it that kind of tingles.  I don't know what it is, but many dermatologists recommend it.

19.  Smith's Rosebud salve.  Old fashioned, pink, glossy, effective, and can add a little glimmer to cheeks and eyes.  Alice Wendelken would have dug this stuff.

That's it.  Throw that shit in a bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste and an inhaler and I'd be alright for awhile.  I wouldn't be happy, but I wouldn't be put out. 

At this time of year, my love for Halloween and stress over the election clash in a way that results in back pain and lack of sleep.  But I always remember these wise words, "Never discuss religion, politics, or the Great Pumpkin." 

I know I know.  I've been sporadic in the blogging arena.  But then, I'm pretty sporadic in the Life arena, so there you have it.

My conversations of late has ranged from football to cat food to religion...specifically how it's really hard to sing Amazing Grace without crying... and back again.  But today....today I talk about movies.  Again.

Like I usually do.

See, I'm of two minds when it comes to The Movie.  One mind is that of a film buff.  Someone who has high expectations and raves when these expectations are met, and rants when they are not.

But Mind Two loves campy campy goofiness.  The worse, the better.  October brings out these tendencies in full force.  I love October, it's my favorite month.  So I like to do my favorite things like watch movies.  But the Octobery movies I like are of the campy variety.  This year is worse because I'm still rebelling against the AFI list.  So I've rented movies like Lady in White...starring Katherine Helmond.  I didn't like it, but I had high hopes.  Autumn, scary story.  It was campy, but not campy enough.  Often a fatal flaw.  Unlike Wicker Man which proved to be too campy to be tolerated.  Too Camp for Camp.  It was...well...I actually recommend it if only to show you that I'm not exaggerating.  70's folk songs, Christopher Lee, naked women, singing....more singing....pagan rituals....phallic symbols....all on an island in Scotland. 

Sooo...I'll watch my typical Halloween favorites:  Hocus Pocus, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Adventures of Mr. Toad, The Canterville Ghost, The Ninth Gate, Sleepy Hollow, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Disney's Halloween Treat (If I can find it...it's impossible), and any form of ghost story which I invariably watch when I am home alone and doing laundry which results in my leaping three steps at a time out of the basement having convinced myself that "something" (i.e. nothing) is after me.  I've done this since childhood, and I can't stop.  If I don't hightail it out of the laundry room, something is going to grab my ankle and most likely shake it around and I will faint, and then someone will stick my "hang dry only" clothes in the dryer. 

HOWEVER, my quest for the ultimate Top 100 list continues.  Soon I will be watching the following movies and hoping for the best:

1.  Mildred Pierce.  I'm fairly convinced I'm going to love it.  Which is why I've been holding off.  I mean...you can't repeat the experience of seeing a movie you love for the first time.  I'm still clutching my heart over The Man Who Cried. 

2.  Bee Season.  I loved the book.  Am curious about the movie version.  BUT oh my did I love the book.  In fact...I want to read Myla Goldberg's second book, but I've been holding off on that one too....because I'm convinced I'm going to love it.  This may not make sense to anyone but then we aren't all descended from Prussians.  And Scottish people.  It's a difficult combination.  Throw that little bit of Welsh in there and you've got just the right combo of pleasure/denial that results in my reading of things like Proust and then treating myself to Cary Grant movies.

3.  Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?  It's my, "I'm giving you one more chance Jayne Mansfield," movie.  "The Girl Can't Help It," while having inspired costumes failed to peak my Campy side, and didn't even shake hands with the Connossieur side.

4.  Ace in the Hole.  It's on Rosenbaum's list, it's been recommended to me, it sounds really good.  Guess I just want to see it

5.  The Piano.  I watched it in seventh grade thinking, Hey!  I play piano.  This will most likely be a movie to which I relate.  So, then my 13 year old self saw a lot of naked Harvey Keitel and well....14 years later....I'm able to stomach the idea of trying to watch it again.  Yay Jane Campion, and Yay Holly Hunter and Yay Anna Paquin and Yay beautiful and haunting score and Yay movies with pianos and good for you, Harvey Keitel.  Judge not lest ye be judged, Betsy.  Give the man a break and watch the damn movie.  Most likely you will love it.  Now, I do own the piano music to the score and find it to be brilliant, difficult, just one of the best.  I don't know why I had to add that. But there it is.

6.  Freaks.  It looks....really really entertaining, and I think it's pre-code which I always love.

7.  The Betsy,  C'mon...humor me.  If there was a movie called "The (your nickname)"  you'd watch it.

8.  Harold and Maude.  I've never seen it but I did read the play. 

9.  Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock.  It's not on DVD yet!  Can you believe it!?  I hope they have it at the library.

10.  Ziegfeld Follies.  Hey Mr. Ziegfeld....HEEEERE I AMMMMMM!!!!!! (duhn nuh nuh dunh nuh nuh Cymbal crash!) Have you guessed yet...(bumpa doo) who's the best yet???  If ya ain't I'll tell ya one last tiiiiiiiiiiiime! (budduh duh buddah dub doomp!) HEY WHAT ARE THEY BLIIIIIIIND!"  Listen, if there's one musical out there that I could do and then promise never to do a musical again (and boy wouldn't a lot of people around me be happy) it would be Funny Girl.  And because of Funny Girl, I want to see Ziegfeld Follies.

So there it is.  The Betsy's Ultimate Top 100 viewing committee's assignments.  Past nominees that have made it through the viewing committee include: Night of the Hunter....dear God...I love Robert Mitchum.  I love him.  Even when he is horrifying.  It Happened One Night, Family Plot, The Thin Man, and the Best Years of Our Lives...just to name a few examples.  What do they have in common?  Nothing...other than I loved them. 

I love this:  http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-contempt.html

 

Well, Project Watch Movies I Like (PWMIL....maybe it should be WIMPL...Watch I Movies Project Like....)  Wimpl.  I like that.  Anyway.  I continue on my journey.  The last film was...or no wait...it should be Project Find Good Movies for my Personal Top 100 List.  Oh whatever.  You know what I'm up to.  Anyway, yesterday I watched Real Women Have Curves.  It's good.  Not great, but good.  There is one scene near the end that is so overdue in movies I can't even tell you, but it's worth watching for that very scene.  I don't want to blow it.  You'll know when it comes on.  So I recommend it.  It probably won't be on the Top 100, but it's still good.  Up next:  Wicker Man.  I think.  If it comes on Wednesday.  I mailed them my old ones today.  I also watched Mystery Science Theatre 3000 the Movie, but I've seen that a lot.  So it wasn't new.  Lots of Chicago references I never noticed before. 

The Steelers won, so my Sunday evening was pleasant.  Will even helped me cut stray threads off some aprons I sewed.  All for the theatre.

Radium Girls approaches rapidly.  Go to www.pointofcontention.org/blog for the podcast!  I've started to try the...uh....there's a name...it's called the...something....Time Management System...something... Entrepreneurial!  That's it!  Anyway, you choose Focus Days, Buffer Days and Free Days in your week.  Although I've onlybeen able to carve out two free hours in the past few days, I still managed to straighten my hair.  And that....that takes good sleep to want to perform any heat induced hair styling in the morning.  Free Days are supposed to be just that:  Free.  No negotiations.  No nothing.  Just whatever you want to do.  Like I said, I managed two hours, but this week I have high hopes.  Hope is...as you know...my middle name. 

So anyway, I should be working on my lines now.  This was a really dumb blog.

But first, I'm off to Amazon to check out Neil Gaiman because RZ recommended it and I am beyond curious.  Luckily, I carved out a couple hours to go to the library on Wednesday!