Brad and I went to see I'm Not There this weekend and we loved it.  He covered the Todd Haynes territory in this blog he posted earlier this week, but I thought I should chime in a little since I'm a big Dylan fan.

The movie is very stream of consciousness, kinda like most Dylan songs.  If you have not seen it yet, please don't go to the theater expecting something easily followed, with a traditional narrative storyline, cause it's not like that at all.  In fact, that was one of the reasons I really liked the film-- it was different and unafraid to be so.  Throughout the film I wondered what others in the theater were making of the movie, and I wondered esp what those who may not be big fans of Dylan were thinking.  It seems like it would be pretty hard to follow if you didn't know much about him.  Dylan has always avoided being concretely characterized or pinned down by anyone or anything, and it was so cool to see someone as fantastic as Todd Haynes working within that fact and making it into something creative instead of trying to create a typical biopic.

There are 6 different actors each portraying a different aspect or period of Dylan's life.  Cate Blanchett has been getting all the press for this film it seems, and she deserves it-- she's brilliant!  All the details in the movie were just perfection-- it's obvious that Todd Haynes did a heck of a lot of homework to make this film happen.  I have to admit sometimes I thought it was weird to recreate scenes from his life or to take things that have happened and refashion them when this really is about a real person, but overall I was willing to suspend my belief and just go with the film as another piece of art.

Although I recently posted about seeing Morrissey shopping in our own store, music-wise I have to admit I am completely late to the Morrissey game.  It's a bit scary to admit this amongst the musically literate crowd I hang within, but what the hell. 

It seems like I am just a little too young to have caught on to The Smiths, his earlier band, or to have heard any more of him than the single "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" on the radio in 1994.  In high school, when kids a few years older than me were clinging to their Morrissey CDs with dour faces, I was still bopping to The Beatles.  I guess I wasn't ready for it yet.  Fast forward to just a couple of years ago, and Morrissey suddenly had a new surge in popularity among the hipster crowd. At that point, I had well heard of The Moz, as he is known in certain circles, but this new over- the- top hipster cred popularity he had gained turned me off and I still never got around to listening to his music.

Finally, this last week I have picked up a Morrissey CD-- Your Arsenal (1992)-- and listened.  One very strong sign of a great CD is when it's still very new to you but you can't get the songs out of your head and they seem to be following you around constantly -- when you lay your head on the pillow at night, when you are out grocery shopping, or waiting on the train.  This happened to me with Your Arsenal almost immediately.  One other thing that is exciting about Morrissey is how funny his music is!  I love that about him! What took me so long to embrace his music? One of the songs on Your Arsenal that is a favorite is entitled "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful".  Another fave is "You're the One For Me, Fatty".  His sense of humor is so dry I'm never quite sure if he's serious or not, but the fact that he's British cues me in to the fact that he's probably just being silly -- I believe we call that "tongue in cheek".  And how refreshing is that? -- silly, sad songs of yearning and intelligence.  I do see why all those dour high school kids saw Morrissey as the second coming.  I know everyone else figured this out over a decade ago, maybe even longer, but I am just a little bit slow here!  It's all kind of new to me.  Still, I am glad I have waited until it felt right to me to listen.  I think I'm going to end up listening a bunch more.  Maybe I will finally catch up to the rest of you!
 

Have you ever felt like someone stole your dream life before you even got a chance to pursue it?  That's how I feel every time I think about Cameron Crowe.  He's a writer, first of all, and a fine one at that, but he also directs and produces. Three of my favorites he's created are Say Anything (writer), Jerry Maguire (writer/director/producer), and Almost Famous (writer/director/producer). 

Say Anything is so cutting, hilarious and real, my friends and I still quote it on a daily basis, even though it came out back in 1989. (Among the most quotable moments: "Joe lies/When he cries".) It's a first love movie about the high school valedictorian and a schlumpy trench coat guy, and it's how so many of us fell in love with John Cusack.  The thing that I like so much about Crowe's writing is that he's both honest and tender.  It takes guts to be either of those things in Hollywood.  The characters he creates are true to life-- they are flawed but lovable. 

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Tonight is the night!  Project Runway is FINALLY coming back to Bravo!!  I am a huge fan of this show.  It's maybe the only reality competition show that actually RULES.

I am one of those poor unfortunate souls who does not have cable so I have eagerly anticipated each season's release on DVD, and Season 3 just came out on DVD this week also, so I will be hitting that as soon as possible as well.  Even though I already know who won Season 3, I can't wait to sink back into all the drama and the fashion.  I tend to blaze through the whole season in only a few days, so it will be interesting that for Season 4, for the first time I will actually see it all unfold each week thanks to a friend's cable!  I was a little late to the game with Project Runway, so this is actually the first time it's gonna be starting up a new season while I am on to it, and I will not miss an episode now!

Project Runway works so well because it has all these creative, intense, driven people working and living in such small quarters and under so much pressure.  It's fabulous to watch them cope with the challenges, like making evening wear out of items bought from a half hour shopping spree in a grocery store, or designing an ice skating outfit in one day for Sasha Cohen after experiencing the ice and leotards for themselves.  I love it.