The Second Coming of My Screen Goddess

Honey and I just spent this lovely, lazy Sunday afternoon and evening watching movies. It was great. Finally got to see The Queen. Helen Mirren is wonderful and as if I wasn't already happy that such a talented (and non-20something cutie) actress got the Oscar this year, having seen her performance, I think it was a hands-down win.

In the meantime, I know you're wondering what's up with the lush ginger mane to the left there. Well, I figured I should for once put up a picture of me. But Molly, we can't see your mug. That's right, folks. I still like a modicum of mystery in this tell-all digital world. But I included this picture because I think my hair looks nice and red, here. My hair varies throughout the year, sometimes browner, sometimes blonder, but always red somehow. (I do not color it.) And on the morning this picture was taken, it was feeling particularly like a honeyed orange-almond creme brulee.

But more importantly, I thought I'd use this homage to vanity as a segue into a discovery I made tonight. Apparently, Cate Blanchett is reprising her role as Queen Elizabeth in the upcoming Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I cannot begin to tell you how sauced I am about this! Cate Blanchett, in my estimation, is a goddess among mortal actors. And her performance as the Virgin Queen in 1998's Elizabeth was the moment I fell hopelessly and blissfully in love with her. I firmly believe that when Gwyneth Paltrow won the Oscar over her, when my goddess was nominated for her Elizabeth, what transpired was nothing short of rapacious nepotism and flagrant Hollywood thievery. If Gwynny hadn't been up against the powerhouse that is Blanchett that year, maybe the cornsilk waif should've gotten it. But she wasn't in an easy field; she was up against Cate and Cate blew Gwynny out of the water like so much dynamited trout! I really won't go into a whole lot of detail about why Elizabeth is on my top 5 list (usually at the top), but here are some reasons I'm looking forward to this sequel:

* Wicked beautiful cinematography
* More Cate in a position of authority. God, she nails that stuff!
* The return not only of Cate and Geoffery Rush, but also the original director, Shekhar Kapur. (We'll overlook The Four Feathers, Shekhar.)
* The addition of Clive Owen and Samantha Morton (woo-friggin-hoo!) They so rock, there's no way this is going to be anything but SO-LID!

To satisfy any other Cate-as-Elizabeth lust which you hopefully share, here are some photos. I'm off to bed, to dream of dead-on performances, magnificent cinematography and women who rule!

Resurrecting Discipline

HA!

In order do resurrect something /someone, that entity had to have lived. I have never been terribly disciplined about anything in my life! (Save for birth control.) Nonetheless, now that the thesis - aka, Grendel - is slain, I recognize I need to get back into the habit of posting on a daily basis and cruising the blogs of friends. I'm sure there is plenty I could blog about today, but as I need to hurry to work, I'll just update and riff and then I need to get dressed and go.

Since my last post, I've been either traveling or traveled upon. My group took our gig on the road in late July where we performed at a marathon festival that included over 100 groups performing back to back to back for 56 hours. Of those, only 3 groups got standing ovations. We were one of them. Considering that included among those scores of groups were a smattering of highly talented professionals and some celebrities even - none of whom received that kind of audience accolade - we were all pretty sauced! Then Honey and I zipped to Texas on a much-needed visit to family. We saw my grandparents (which was good since I think this may have been the last time I see grandpa alive), his grandparents, some cousins, my parents, and lots of friends. And as Texas is a big state and we have pretty much our whole families there, we still missed a lot of people. It was a bit of a whirlwind, traveling up I-35 to see all these folks in the span of 4 days, but I'm glad we did it. We're in that cycle of life where everyone's either getting married/having babies or on the other end, breaking irreparably or dying. Being Home always makes me feel so good and though I'm happy when we're back at this home, I've found lately that I'm literally sick to my tummy when the plane leaves Texas, the last few trips. It just makes me sad to leave, even when there's something wonderful waiting for me in our East Coast home - like BabyDog and Cootie Cat.
... eh, bygones.
My parents followed us back up here and visited for most of last week. That was fun, but it is nice to have our house back. Last night, my best friend from adolescence arrived for a job interview, so we went out for a beer and bocadillos. We lunched with her in Austin 2 weeks ago, but we still had lots to catch up on. It's funny, I saw her maybe a total of twice in the last three years, and then this year, I see her twice in three weeks!

Now that Grendel is rotting in the Great Mead Hall (mmm, mead!) that is the school library, I find I have a teeny bit of free time on my hands. For now, I think I'm just going to enjoy it - especially since work is burbling towards a Vesuvius like eruption and my group is retooling for a bunch of shows this fall. But in the next few weeks, I'd like to start finding other ways to train my creative energy. There's a 10K I'd like to run this fall and I need to start training my soft, flabby self. Likewise, I need to get back into the habit of writing for fun. Maybe fix that horrible screenplay of mine. Eek! That reminds me: I still owe my friend an essay for his site. Schiesse!
Well, off to work! Happy Monday!