Allison Janney

(I'm ignoring the political situation in my state and looking at something happier).

One of my favorite actresses is Allison Janney.  I first took notice of her work when she was playing C.J. Cregg in The West Wing:

She was a very strong character in the White House, a good role model.






She also takes quirky roles in other movies and I just love her for it.


 Like highly religious Prudy Pingleton in Hairspray:

And the student counselor/pornographic romance novel writer in 10 Things I Hate About You:

Juno's step mom:

The starfish Peach in Finding Nemo:

Not all are goofy, like her role as Charlotte Phelan in The Help:

Any role I've seen her in I love her. :)

English

I was informed by a friend that I have a 'thing' for older British men.

I will admit that I absolutely love Colin Firth (né 1960).
There are a slew of his movies that I have yet to see, including 'The King's Speech'.  Last Friday I watched 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' (Scarlett Johansson was gorgeous as well) and 'Valmont' (an earlier version of 'Cruel Intentions') for the first time.  I also rewatched 'Easy Virtue' (especially for the tango between Firth and Jessica Biel) and parts of 'Love Actually'.



It seems, however, that I have a great love of Scottish actors as well.


 I fell in love with David Tennant (né 1971) as the tenth Doctor Who.  When I have a bit more time I plan to follow his other works, especially 'Hamlet' and the upcoming 'Much Ado About Nothing' with Catherine Tate.

Along a similar vein I also love John Barrowman (né 1967).  He was born in Scotland and moved to the U.S. when he was eight.  I discovered him in 'Torchwood' (a new season is coming soon!) but then discovered that he can sing.  Boy can he ever sing.  I also love his personality- energetic, loving, and outgoing.  I wish I could be friends with him. :)

And then there is Tony Curran (né 1969) whom I'd seen in 'Underworld: Evolution' and then he appeared as Vincent van Gogh in Season 5 of Doctor Who.  I have since seen him in several tv shows in smaller roles (ex/ 'The Mentalist') The other night when I finally watched 'Ondine' I found him again.








I don't know if it's a 'thing' per-se, I just love watching them act.  :)

I really must get working so that I'm ready for tomorrow.

Eat, Pray, Love

Thoughts that I jotted down on Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert when I wasn't blogging:

     I am usually stubborn when it comes to best selling books.  I won’t read them.  It’s this odd character quirk of mine: if everyone else is doing it, then I don’t want to.  Great example: the Harry Potter books.  I refuse to read them still.  I know I will like them, they’re probably my type of fiction, but though my friends have pestered me to no end about them, I simply will not.  When it came to Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert I didn’t think much of it.  It was one of the best sellers that sat facing the front doors of Barnes & Noble and I directed many customers to its shelf.  I didn’t really know what it was all about, but everyone was reading it and everyone loved it.  In one of my more open-minded moments I decided to read a few pages on my break in the back room.  Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down.  I connected with her on many planes.  I’m not married, but I have felt my life fall out of my own control.  I did not lie on the bathroom floor crying, but I did lie on the floor of my room alone numb with self-medicated alcohol.  Elizabeth (my great-grandmother’s name (God rest her soul), and the name of most main characters in my writing) had a journey that was much harder than mine, but through her strength I see hope.  I’ve read her book many times.  Each time something new jumps out at me.  Each time I want to follow her practices to find internal peace.  Around the time I read this I was looking into the Sacred Feminine and the idea that we each are internally divine – her book spoke to me on both of those levels.  Both of my close girl friends have read it now as well and they also love it.


I found an article on NPR that shows that men too can have a love of this book: Man Enough to Love 'Eat, Pray, Love'.  I really enjoyed his take on it.


Thoughts from the movie:  While I've never been a big fan of Julia Roberts I had to give her a chance in this movie because of her performance in Mona Lisa Smile, one of my favorites.  While the movie had great cinematography - beautiful landscapes, vivid colors, fitting music - the story line couldn't live up to the book.  Much of the book comes from an internal perspective that is difficult to portray on the silver screen - the premise for the entire self-discovery voyage was downplayed in the movie and it resulted in the character coming across as selfish and capricious.  In reality - or so told in her book - it was a long drawn out internal battle.  It was that internal battle that hooked me, that I related to, but that the movie couldn't replicate.  So, while it was pretty to watch, I will stick with the book.