Happiness

Today was one of the amazing days where time moved in a very odd and deliriously, delicious way. One minute forward, two minutes on hold, what feels like three hours turns out to be only :42 minutes. Have you had this experience? It's either some kind of acid flashback (Hey - I saw the Grateful Dead in my 20's) or it's just life's way of pointing out that time in fact doesn't ACTUALLY exist and the key to a stress-free year is to keep that lil fact front and center in the ol' cranium.

I wonder if time is going all Salvador Dali on me due to my proximity to the BHB? He's in a really cool phase of what appears to be his first class on perspective. He is constantly searching for a new angle on the shiny things in life. He ducks his head under to look up under the window shade, then checks the streaming light from 14 more observation points along the way. He dives sideways to observe the brown dog in a 90 degree angle, and then with great abandon and thrill, he flings himself back up in my general direction. I haven't caught the digital image of it yet, but he's been using his hand in an L position to observe the world. Like a viewfinder.

Me: Ah jeasus, just what this family needs, another director.

BHB: (grins) Squeek! Gurgle. Bah. Bah. Bah.

Me: No seriously dude, one control freak per household, please.

Who knows? I may have to step down from that auspicious post. We'll see in a few years. Here is a photo of our hero finding his reflection particularly fantastic in a shiny trash can at Whole Foods.

And the light in LA was perfect today. Rose Bowl Parade fans, did you notice?  It was that soft pink light, like what they get in Paris in the fall. (Umm, okay. I've been once. In the fall.) They have the most amazing grapes. Have you eaten french grapes? Holy crap, it's like eating perfume only that sounds dastardly and this is the opposite. If I could live in Paris, I would move in a heartbeat. Although, wait....since I don't drink anymore, that might suck. Harummph. I may need to rethink that fantasy.

But back to the USA. And today with it's long, lingering beauty. I realized something that I almost didn't want to admit to myself, and it's kinda shocking that I'm sending on over to you in this etherweb of wires and wireless-ness and other mysterious techno-weenie magic.

I am really happy.

I am. Life is really good. It's like a french grape. It's big and juicy and not covered in pesticides. My mom is in town and decided to stick around for three more weeks (sob! joy!). I'm all yummed up on good food and the good lovin' that occasionally a holiday season will deliver. I'm healthy. (we all are) My baby is STOOPID cute and killin' me with his fantastic ways. I should note that the cynical side of my brain wants to jump in here and type out all of the reason's I shouldn't be so damn joyful. But.

Hey, of course Mr. C-side has a point...but, you know what? I'm going to tell it to eff off. This kind of unreasonable satisfaction doesn't come all the time, might as well surf it's sweet little well-lit wave.

Happy New Year pretty internet friends!



PS - Also a big ol howdy welcome to the new followers. I know Stefanie sent you over and I will totally make out with her tomorrow when I see her to thank her. (I kid, but you know, she is hot) I hope to keep y'all entertained over here too!

PPS - Be sure to vote in my shmancy new poll over there to the left and up. What movie shall I type to you about on Monday? 

My Mom rockin' the Ergo @ Zen Zoo. Speaking of happy, right? Separating these two will NOT be easy later this month. Best not to think about that.











Santa takes a break from the hard Santa Baby workload. That look is so faraway and sweet, isn't it?

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset Hike Edition

Happy New Year!

Just a few words on this wordless Wednesday. So my friend JJ does this thing, (or oops, not today, but usually?) I don't know if she made it up or what but I think it's super neat and I've meaning to join in the fun for a long damn time. New Years time makes you want to do thing things you've been meaning to, so here we go.

Some recent pics from recent sunset hikes in the beeyootiful Griffith Park.

Avatar

Okay! So here @ LCD I've decided to start a new thang. It's called Monday Movie Musings. 
Magic
Masterpieces
Wait! Back-off strikethrough, jesus!  I like that last one.

Monday Movie Masterpieces.

What do y'all think? Here's my thought. Let's talk movies on Mondays. It's as if I have a life and go out to movies on weekends and since I am a big-shot film school graduate (oh yea!)  I'll use big film geek words and talk about why I think films are in fact achieve Masterpiece status or live in total crapland. Or something inbetween. I know what you're thinking - whatever Jane! We can just go to Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes and hear from a REAL film critic. But, but I say to you. Where else can you hear from the POV of a new-ish Momma, a sensitive little soul who cries in every movie, a filmmaker about to break through and a total smart ass? Here, that's where. Game on y'all!

(deep breath)

I saw Avatar today and HOLY CRAP IS IT GOOD!

But let me back up and say this.
I seriously didn't want to go. I am not a fan of guys who are mean to their actors. In a recent NPR interview he said that meanie stuff was just legend. But Kate Winslet got into trouble for saying she would never work with him again. Oh, hold on, maybe she was misquoted. She said she'd never work with water again. Ok. Well, you decide what you think based on this evidence. I was upset because I have a friend who was an extra on the set of Titanic down in Mexico and she said he terribly mis-treated not only crew and extras (often treated like kee-rap) but even his stars. He tried to drown them. Or well, no. He didn't try. He just almost did inadvertently and then said 'let's go again'. Insensitive. Driven. Jerky.

but.

A fargin' genius.

My estimation of Avatar? Yep, a masterpiece. I was truly blown away by this movie. And yes I cried my head off. For anyone who's seen it, um hello, the tree scene? Were you bawling like a baby, or was it just me? OMFG. I gasped at the beauty. GASPed, not once but many, many times. The world he and his team created can only be described using E words. Extraordinary, exquisite, elaborate, enduring and well extra-terrestrial yes with such a loving wink back at earth and also the rave scene.  One of my favorite scenes of all times that induced the ol tear roll down cheek was in Wall-E. You know - when the use the fire extinguishers to propel themselves through space? There was a scene in this movie that rivals and possibly surpasses that scene. Oh no, I'm not kidding. I do not say this lightly people, I heart Pixar so deeply. But. This. is. Stuuuning. On the aforementioned review sites I saw that one of the reviewers called it the new Star Wars. I totally agree. In fact, that was one of my thoughts as I stumbled blinking back into the light today with my mom. I can't wait for 2010 or so when I can show this to BHB.

Only drag is, if you've ever read that lil 'Story By' over there to the left you know that I dreamt of making the next Star Wars. Dammit! That's done. I guess I'll be happy to make the next Garden State. I'm not enough of a sci-fi geek to have been that guy anyway, but I am a Joseph Campbell fan so expect a hero's journey with all the trappin's.

Ok, I forgot to use big words. This is my freshman effort,  I'll bring those and some more complex sentences next Monday. Having seen Avatar 3d today I'm still in this amazing space of sitting in it and near it and just wanting to breathe in the goodness of their planet. (with one of those breath-ee things on my head of course) Oh and I will say this. If When Mr Cameron wins a bajillion Oscars for this and goes up there for the fourth time (Editor, Writer, Director, Producer) to take home Best Picture, if he even THINKS about pulling a "I'm the King of Pandora!" I will personally kick his ass.

So, did you guys like it?