Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.
I don’t know about my ideal day, but last night was pretty much my ideal Grammys. GenX, am I right?
I mean, Tracy Chapman performing “Fast Car” with Luke Combs (her voice still sounds great and she looks fantastic), Annie Lenox singing “Nothing Compares To You” in memory of Sinéad, Fantasia Barrino as Tina Turner, Billy Joel with his first new song in 30 years, and JONI MITCHELL absolutely wrecking us with that rendition of “Both Sides Now” – at age 80, after a brain aneurysm.
Well done, Grammys.
I also give two thumbs up to the new Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop.” It’s about the night they recorded We Are the World in 1985, which won Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson a Grammy for best song.
A seated Joni Mitchell performing Both Sides Now, with Brandi Carlile and other musicians at the Grammys last night 😭
GenX icon Tracy Chapman, age 59, singing “Fast Car” at the 2024 Grammy Awards
I can’t think of anything I’m scared to do that I actually want to do. I’m scared to jump out of an airplane, but fortunately, I don’t have a burning desire to go skydiving.
Hmmmm….
I love the ocean and have been snorkeling a few times. I guess scuba diving would be cool, but it also seems scary. What if your air tank fails? What exactly are “the bends” anyway?
I remember I couldn’t get myself back onto the boat fast enough when our guide pointed out a shark on a snorkeling excursion in the Bahamas. (I whacked my leg on the boat’s ladder so hard that I had a huge bruise on my shin for weeks.) I did NOT enjoy seeing a real shark without 4-5 inches of plexiglass between us. I prefer aquarium sharks.
In order for me to go scuba diving, I would need to feel very safe and have a highly qualified instructor. In addition, I would need one of those shark-repelling electronic shields, like Annette Bening had in Nyad. If all that could be arranged, I think scuba diving would be amazing.
Underwater selfie (Bahamas, 2012)
Snorkeling scenery
The SHARK – tiny at first, then pretty damn big when it came right up to the boat
The shin-whacking boat ladder (with shark in the water) – I was the first one up and out of the water, even though both of my kids were still in. I guess I figured my husband would save them.
Bloganuary is asking the wrong question today. The Oscar nominations are out, so this is the time of year when you try to see some (or all) of the nominated films.
I’m in the “outraged” camp that Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig did not get nominated for Best Actress and Best Director. WTF!
Here’s where I stand on the Best Picture nominees. (I’d like to see all of them eventually.)
American Fiction – seeing it tonight in a movie theater
Anatomy of a Fall – haven’t seen it yet
Barbie – saw it twice in movie theaters; LOVED it; it should win
The Holdovers – saw it in a movie theater, but probably would’ve been the same on a small screen; enjoyed the New England connection and scenes; more melancholy than I thought it was going to be
Killers of the Flower Moon – watched it last night on Apple TV; important story; beautifully made film, but I fell asleep a couple times (I knew it was 3.5 hours going in, but I had a drink and a weed gummy anyway, which was probably a mistake); DiCaprio is still hot – even when he’s playing pure evil with bad teeth
And yes, it’s a TRUE story. All Americans should watch it. I suggest coffee.
Maestro – watched it on Netflix a couple weeks ago; I’m a huge fan of Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway and classical music and have sung it many times (I even had a friend sing “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story at my wedding), so I was disappointed that there wasn’t more focus on his musical greatness; the big conducting scene gave me goosebumps, but the film is more about his marriage; didn’t need to see Bernstein snorting coke; the montage of Bernstein’s music which plays over the closing credits is one of the best parts of the film (listen until the very end)
Oppenheimer – saw it in a theater; other than the big blast scene, I found it pretty boring; I couldn’t keep all the white guys straight; the film is mostly about politics and would’ve been better as a miniseries; overrated!
Past Lives – haven’t seen it yet
Poor Things – saw it on New Year’s in a movie theater; it’s a weird, niche art film with a lot of explicit sex; I appreciate that it was making some interesting points about women and shame, but it’s too bizarre to be nominated for best picture
The Zone of Interest – haven’t seen it yet
Here’s the Leonard Bernstein display in the Musical Instrument Museum. The museum is well worth a visit if you find yourself in Phoenix.
In my experience, one key to leadership is being able to inspire people. You’ve got to: a) have a vision; and b) be able to communicate your vision in a way that makes others want to get behind it. This does not necessarily mean that your vision is a “good” or moral one. Massive numbers of people have gotten behind leaders with sickening visions. Hitler is the most obvious example, but Trump is another one. He’s literally running on revenge and lies.
I learned a lot about two of the most famous leaders of France on my trip to Paris in December—Louis XIV and Napoleon I.
Louis XIV, a.k.a. the “Sun King” because the nation revolved around him, reigned for a loooong time (1643-1715). He loved his mother and the arts and had a great personality. Allegedly, he made everyone feel comfortable when speaking with him. He managed to move the entire French government out of Paris to his favorite sleepy suburb—Versailles. People liked the guy!
One of many portraits of the Sun King in the Palace of Versailles. Don’t you just want to hang with him? I wonder if he loaned out his cool shoes.The “Gallery of Battles” in Versailles—a modest little wing of Louis’ house.
Napoleon, as you may have heard, was good at war. Eventually, he got cocky and went too far, but still, the French took him back. It was said that having Napoleon on the battlefield to rally the troops was equivalent to having 10,000 additional men. Clearly, he had something good going on personality-wise. Even now, he looms large in French life. A French couple asked me to take their photo, with his tomb, when I was in Paris.
Napoleon’s tomb in its grand setting: Les Invalides cathedral The dome above Napoleon’s tomb
Whatever it was, the 2023 film “Napoleon” starring Joaquin Phoenix completely missed it. Boy, was it bad! I hope the Oscar nominators agree. (Check out Dan’s predictions here.) As my husband said when we left Les Invalides, “The guy that Joaquin Phoenix played in the film did not deserve that tomb.” He was wasn’t the least bit inspiring – or likable. For a laugh, check out what the French had to say about the film here.
A portrait of Napoleon as Emperor that hangs in Versailles
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
I was going to answer “no” to this prompt, but then I remembered I’ve been pretending to feed a giraffe I bought at Boston’s Snowport Holiday Market all week.
Her name is Ginger, because she is made from a ginger beer can. She’s imported from Zimbabwe. So far, my husband and son have refused to pretend she’s real.
Ginger having some basil
As previously mentioned, I have a thing for giraffes. If you haven’t seen the new film Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet, it’s worth it for the giraffe scenes alone. For GenXers, nobody can replace Gene Wilder in the role of Willy Wonka. His laissez-faire attitude toward his bratty visitors (“stop, don’t”) is priceless. But the message of the original film comes through in this latest prequel version of Willy Wonka. It’s all about “Pure Imagination,” which is liberally reprised throughout the new film.
There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you’ll be free
If youtruly wish to be
For me, nothing evokes pure childhood-like playtime than a good game of pretend.
OK, I cheated and googled it. A fantastic photo journey through 1965 from The Atlantic came up. Check it out here.
The eldest members of Generation X arrived in a big year – Selma, Vietnam, The Beatles, the first moon walk, the Voting Rights Act. I did not know that Winston Churchill died in 1965, or that the US occupied the Dominican Republic that year.
Now I’ll admit to a horribly vain thing that I do: I keep track of a select list of female celebrities – born in 1965 – for the sole purpose of watching them age and comparing myself to them. I’ll literally pause a TV show and ask my husband if Sarah Jessica Parker looks older or younger than me. He knows the right answer is always “about the same as you.” You don’t stay married for 30+ years without learning basic shit.
Here’s my “born in 1965” vanity comparison list with birthdays. I was born in June, so I’m within 6 months of each of them.
Kyra Sedgwick, 8/19
Diane Lane, 1/22
Sarah Jessica Parker, 3/25
Elizabeth Hurley, 6/10
Brooke Shields, 5/31
Kristin Davis, 2/23
Paulina Porizkova, 4/9
Viola Davis, 8/11
Julia Ormond, 1/4
Maura Tierney, 2/3
Marlee Matlin, 8/24
Shania Twain, 8/28
Linda Evangelista, 5/10
I seem to have a special fondness for my fellow GenX Gemini, Brooke Shields. (She was looking at colleges the same time I was and visited some of the same schools.) I really enjoyed the recent documentary about her (Pretty Baby). She’s keepin it real and, in my opinion, looks better than ever.
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?
I was very excited to see the new film Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix, because of my upcoming trip to France. We went on opening night.
Sadly, it’s not a good film. I’m sure it had a huge budget, but it just doesn’t work. My husband and I both fell asleep in different parts. It’s really boring, even with all those battles. I’m not sure what Phoenix was going for in his portrayal, but he comes off as a strange, quiet, boring creep.
The two most exciting scenes are when Marie Antoinette goes to the guillotine and when the soldiers at the Battle of Austerlitz fall through the ice.
Based on the film, I’d rather go back and meet Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. I’d want to meet her during the fun Versailles years — you know, before they turned on her.
Catherine Walker as Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine in Napoleon (a bad film by Ridley Scott)
Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, particularly the Commonwealth Avenue mall, is my favorite part of the city. I worked in this neighborhood my entire career, starting with my first job after college at The Institute of Contemporary Art, when it was on Boylston Street.
Back Bay is so beautiful and so historic. Many movie scenes have been shot here. I’ve seen several of them underway over the years, with my closest brush with fame being a glimpse of Benedict Cumberbatch. He was shooting a scene for Black Mass at the Harvard Club. Cumberbatch played Billy Bulger, the brother of Boston’s most famous mobster — Whitey Bulger. I saw the film, but can’t remember if he got the accent right. They rarely do!
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Some people don’t know that I went to very great lengths to get a solid fake ID before I turned 21. I had a friend who was two years older and lived in Florida. I memorized all her important information and went into a Florida RMV and pretended I was her and had lost my license. I managed to walk out of there with an actual Florida drivers license that had her name and birthdate, but my photo. I guess I wanted to go to nightclubs REALLY badly, because I’m sure that was a crime.
That same friend and I got up to some other stuff that I’m not proud of—shoplifting, dine-n-dash, and lots of underage drinking.
We never got in trouble for any of it. That’s white privilege for you. Also, in the 80s, there was no internet and few security cameras. You could look like Molly Ringwald, but act like Judd Nelson, quite easily.
I sing in a choir, which I enjoy, but I wouldn’t say that’s a “hobby.” I don’t think reading or exercising are exactly hobbies either.
Google’s top definition of hobby: an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure
I think doing puzzles is an actual hobby. A lot of people got into puzzles during the pandemic lockdown. We were in the habit of doing one 1000-piece puzzle per year, around the holidays, which we typically received in the mail as a gift from my sister-in-law. During the lockdown, we did additional puzzles, but I decided I really only like doing a Christmas puzzle. I’m a once-a-year puzzle hobbyist.
Our 2022 Christmas Puzzle It was pretty hard, but fun, because it brought back memories of the film, like “You’ll shoot your eye out!” and the Leg Lamp.
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