Very cool, right? Makes me feel proud to be a wower :)

Her voice has always slayed me, such an amazingly gifted artist, and I knew of the issues her daughter had but wasn’t aware that she had died… thank you so much for this interview, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around her grief, or anyone’s grief who has lost a child, I wish there was something I could say that could in any way make some sense…

You most certainly do, Joan, as do many others on this site as well. So many wise words are expressed here (with a sprinkling of negligible ones here and there) that it is a little sanctuary for me, thanks for being such a wonderful part of it.

Joan, thank you so much for being a voice of hope and civility, I am so worn out by negativity everywhere I turn and not to be a Polyanna about things but I really do think there is so much good and so much beauty out there to be thankful for and it seems to all get lost in the sour shuffle of life lately. Your comment about the small things, like a bright smile, being what’s wonderful in life was like a breath of fresh air

Exactly!

Wow… if you describe it like that then it sounds like exactly the kind of movie I will enjoy, if it truly delves into all those very real issues.

I just saw Shirley MacLaine at my local drug store not long ago (I live in Malibu and wind up seeing LOTS of celebrities in the most unglamorous places) and if you think she looked scary yesterday you should have seen her in person, she has managed to sculpt her face into a completely flat pancake of a circle that looks like a Kabuki mask when she turns her head, it’s weird, it’s like full frontal is one thing and then profile she morphs into another person… I’ve even worked with a few of the people we saw last night (Anne Hathaway, Kate Beckinsale, Penelope Cruz, among others) on commercials and I think all these women (well, mostly women) wind up with the face they deserve, there is a lot to be said for the mark of kindness, compassion and self confidence on a face over the years.

EKA, you are right on the money with your Sting comment! I was worried about losing the tantric fantasy for a minute there too :) And thanks for the heads up on Revolutionary Road, that’s all I need, a depressing movie, no thanks, not right now. Go see Slumdog Millionaire, everyone, that’s a great one.

LOL, well, yes, I have noticed the fetish, you’ve got a point… the times I have gone to Argentina it has always been to shoot a commercial and every time during the casting process I am amazed at how good looking all you buggers are :)

Tee Zee, this Bookcrossing thing is brilliant! thanks for the tip :)

I do too, Tee Zee, but then felt guilty because last year I got a Kindle as a gift, my first reaction was that it was going to be great, like an iPod for books, perfect to travel with, etc., but as much as I try I just can’t get into it. Nothing like cracking a book open for the first time, holding it in your hands, seeing it slowly come to an end, and finally giving it to a friend to share the experience. And I agree that it’s just about tragic to see small bookstores disappear (even though I do take advantage of the lower prices on Amazon, etc.) and I think the ones that will survive and prosper are those that manage to create a community around themselves, I’m seeing it in a local place that opened up a couple of years ago near me and they are doing very well (well enough to open a second store soon) but their success is due to having regular readings and signings and concentrating on local areas of interest, as well as having a very passionate and informed staff, they wind up making you feel like part of a special club.

This question and the thread really hit a nerve with me, it’s a subject I’m really grappling with right now. Kermie, I’m really sorry about what happened to you, it’s extremely unfair and I only hope that it truly is a case of “everything happens for a reason” and that that reason is revealed to you quickly and positively. On the subject of a “career”, I remember being in high school and dreaming about going away to college to study art and I have to say somehow my ethnicity got in the way- on “College/Career Expo” day in HS my homeroom teacher made appointments for me with a beauty college and a trade college, I guess that’s what she considered most appropriate for Hispanics, and then my old fashioned father (God love him, he didn’t know any better) was very clear about the fact that college was not for girls, he would pay for my brother’s education but not for mine (hence at the ripe old age of 52 I STILL have student loans to pay). The thing is that the message I got out of all of this was “who do you think you are that you can go to college?” so I wound up taking a while to actually make it there (a detour thru marriage, divorce, and single motherhood ensued first). There was some sort of shame in it all that I unfortunately accepted. I wound up loving college and have recently even been thinking about how I know in my bones I will go back to school at some point in my life simply due to the love of learning. So how have I made a living? Sometimes I feel like I have done it by always following a man in my life, first, working in my father’s jewelry business, then after meeting my husband who was the first person I met that worked in film I completely turned on to the film business (by that time I had finished an Art History major at USC), subsequently starting a production company with him where we have done very well since 1989… till 3 years ago when the business started to slide to the virtual dead stop that it is now. The thing is that I have spent my life convinced that I was more Theo than Vincent and figured my role was to support everyone around me, what a crock… I don’t want to spend another day doing what I’m doing (producing commercials) but I’ve spun myself into an intermittent panic about what else to do. All sorts of financial obligations make me feel like I am buried under a life that I don’t want so I’m in the middle of planning a way out from under it, and maybe in the midst of this whole process I will finally figure out what I WANT to do when I grow up… wish me luck.

LOL! I know what you mean! the first time I went to BA I had just been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes so I was more vigilant than ever about what I was eating and was just floored by all those skinny people eating dulce de leche with every single thing, tons of pasta, and sides of beef that would make Fred Flintstone proud, I kept feeling like I was going to slip into a diabetic coma just by osmosis :) Nothing like traveling though, right? so much world out there to see!

Your comment about the napkins and toilet tissue made me laugh, yes, they are tiny but did you notice the tiny size of the women? :) I’ve been to BA several times for business (and always enjoy it) and I always marvel at how slim the women are. Glad you had a good time.

LOL! I know what you mean, Rita. I have been reading Vogue forever (since I was about 12, forty years ago) and it’s gone from great to bland. They used to have great articles on art, culture, etc. and now it’s just not all that. It’s turned into one more vehicle for the starlet of the month to tout her upcoming project, boring… And have you noticed how each issue gets thinner and thinner? used to be that you could build muscle mass lifting the May and Sept. issues of Vogue. But the one that bugs the heck out of me for thinking they are artsy fartsy is W. Don’t they get it? these are fashion magazines, we want to see clothes, trends, looks, not contrived soft focus pieces of women contorted into ridiculous poses… believe me, I can appreciate a good fashion photographer as much as the next person and if I want to see art photography I know where to find that as well, what I don’t have much use for is pretentiousness.