I was reading the new issue of Entertainment Weekly this weekend, and in a Q&A with actress Kyra Sedgwick, who is, of course, married to Kevin Bacon, I saw this exchange:
Do you pay attention to your press?
My husband is a Google Alert guy. He has one on himself and me. I’m like, Dude, I don’t want to know what people are saying.
So I just wanted to test that out. If you’re reading this, Kevin or Kyra … Hi there! How’s it going?
It wasn’t me who coined the phrase “The Day of All Days,” but whatever you call it, the day is here again.
Today is my birthday — number 35.
Jeez, I’m getting old.
Thankfully, I don’t feel 35. And of course, I don’t act like I’m 35.
Today especially, where I’m all about attention and celebrating, just like I was when I was seven. Continue reading
I’ve been fascinated by the story of the Beales for only a short time now — ever since I watched the movie Grey Gardens on HBO — and when I heard that there was going to be a production of the Broadway adaptation here in Boston at the Lyric Stage Company, I decided to check it out (with my friend Nina).
I’d never seen the Tony Award–winning show when it was on Broadway, never had much interest, but hey, why not see it now? The story remains fascinating to me, and thankfully, this production (which ends today) kept the mystery alive. Continue reading
Watching the new film Away We Go, it’s hard not to think of Billy Joel’s classic song, “You’re My Home.”
The story of a couple traveling around the country in search of a place to live before their baby is born, Away We Go is a very sweet film and a very nice surprise. Written by Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) and his wife, Vendela Vida, directed by Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road), and starring The Office‘s John Krasinski and Saturday Night Live‘s Maya Rudolph, it’s filled with enough quirky characters to fill a few independent films, and it defies a bit of logic (for example, how this couple that is just barely scraping by is able to afford cross-country travel), but it has so much heart and so many laughs, and the acting by Krasinski and Rudolph is so unexpectedly tender and good, that you can suspend your disbelief pretty easily. Continue reading
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words.
And then there are Pixar movies, where the beautiful imagery is just priceless.
So it goes in the company’s latest, the simply named Up, which is a gorgeous, bright, colorful movie that has as much depth and emotion as it does stunning visuals.
I just don’t know how those Pixar folks do it. Every single film they make is an impressive achievement, each one better than the last. Continue reading
What better way to spend my upcoming birthday weekend (psssst … the big day is Sunday) than by enjoying some free ice cream at Friendly’s? Woo hoo! So consider this your heads up. From noon to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Friendly’s is giving out free scoops of ice cream. I’ll be there. Will you?
I’m not one to complain about getting something for free, especially when it comes to ice cream. In fact, there are few things I get excited for more than free ice cream. So you have to assume that when the good folks at Cold Stone Creamery emailed me Sunday with a coupon for a free ice cream in honor of my birthday (which, ahem, is this Sunday), I was quite excited. That is, I was excited until I saw the coupon itself: good for a free small size original creation of my choice, i.e.: ice cream and one mix-in. One. You’d think that Cold Stone, which features a Signature Creation called Birthday Cake Remix (yum), would offer you a free cup or cone of that flavor — or at least a creation with enough mix-ins so you can make it yourself — on your birthday. Nope. Not that this is going to stop me from claiming my gift between now and June 14, when the coupon expires, but I just thought it deserved a comment.
Here’s another story from the “Sometimes I Can Be Such a Moron” department …
So as you know, Saturday night I went to see Dave Matthews Band at Fenway.
I drove my car to the St. Mary’s T stop on Beacon St., fed the parking meter, and hopped on the T to meet some friends at Bukowski’s.
As the train started to pull away, I thought to myself, “Wait a second. Did I lock my car door? Yes, of course I did. Why wouldn’t I? How could I forget that?”
(You know where this story is going, don’t you?) Continue reading
I spent Sunday evening at the Coolidge Corner Theater, which was hosting a screening of the new movie Away We Go. It was a benefit for 826 Boston, the after-school writing and tutoring center founded by Dave Eggers, who most folks know from his awesome book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (yes, I have actually read it). Eggers, who wrote the film with his wife, was billed as the headliner for the evening, and he was there to do a Q&A. However, he was not the only special guest. The film’s stars, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, were also there to take questions from the audience. (Sweet!!)
I’ll write more about the film itself closer to its theatrical release (it comes out in Boston on June 12), but suffice it to say, it’s a very sweet film about an unmarried couple three months from the birth of their first child, who travel around the country looking for a new place to call home. During the Q&A, Eggers talked of being inspired by the films of Hal Ashby and wanting to write a different kind of romantic comedy. In the film, the lead couple don’t go through the standard arc: there’s no meet-cute, courtship, breakup, and reconciliation, for example. The chance to be in a film where the couple is happy and together throughout was one of the aspects that drew Krasinski and Rudolph to the project. (As was the chance to work with Sam Mendes, who was apparently a very collaborative director.)
Not surprisingly, Rudolph and Krasinski drew the most laughs. Rudolph, who is currently pregnant in real life, talked about how she had a lot in common with her character and how awkward it was to film an oral sex scene on the second day. Krasinski (a Newton native, of course) was quite endearing with his Sam Mendes/Simon Cowell impression and tales of hanging out at Saturday Night Live tapings too often back in the day. He also gave some surprisingly insightful answers that were a long way from the sarcasm and dopeyness seen each week on The Office (maybe that’s because his family was in the audience).
On the other hand, I didn’t really believe Eggers when he said he wrote the screenplay with Krasinski and Rudolph in mind (really? You really thought of those actors?), and I thought his answer that none of the film was inspired by real-life people or events was less than convincing, given that Eggers’ personal story (well documented in AHWoSG) mirrors at least partly that of Rudolph’s character (in the film, her parents died when she was 22) and the overall journey they are on. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Krasinski and Rudolph were really great, and I wish the Q&A had been longer and had covered more than just the specifics of the movie, because obviously, it would have been fun to hear more Office and SNL talk. But, as Krasinski teased, maybe there’ll be a sequel to the film — Away They Went? — so we may have a chance to ask those questions at another time.
(Photos courtesy of Kirk Kittell)
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