Media Monday, Oscar 2012 Edition

OK, OK.  I said I'd "be back tomorrow" a week ago, and then I disappeared into the ether again.  But I was thinking about you, my readers, my friends, my family.  I was.

My computer finally came back from the shop, and we seem to be OK for the moment.  We being my computer (which is functioning enough to post this blog) and myself.  I've been battling depression lately. (Always? No, not always. But lately.)  It's been hard to even send a text-mesage, let alone an email, let alone a full blog.  The challenge of chemical depression is that sometimes there isn't a great reason to be blue, but you're indigo and cornflower and cerulean all the same.

When I'm in such a rut, I refer back to a phrase we say commonly in our home, that I "need to fill my well."  I first learned the phrase from my mother, referring to the general ennui and emotional exhaustion when one isn't taking care of oneself (or from taking care of others and not receiving care in return.)  Tom first learned the phrase in an artistic context, from Julia Cameron - author of The Artist's Way, a favorite book of ours.  It's the same basic concept - you're running dry of resources - but in the realm of creativity, it's about needing a steady input of inspiration before you can create a steady outflow of creation.  I find that when my well is running low in one way, it's also running low the other way. 

I put myself in a dearth of self-care and inspiration.  And when I do it, I often half-heartedly attempt to fill my well.  Oh, I'll watch some dumb TV.  Oh, I'll play some silly mobile game.  Oh, I'll watch something clever but only give it part of my attention.  Instead of well-filling, it becomes further well-draining.  To truly turn myself around, I have to be conscious and mindful -- not only about my self-care, but about the creative inspiration too.

And almost never am I more mindful about entertainment than while watching the Oscar-nominated films.  Ten of which I watched this weekend! It felt good to get out and spend time with friends while watching the Oscar-nominated short films (an outing I mentioned in last week's Media Monday post.) 

The films are still playing at the NuArt in West LA.
Photo courtesy of Rochelle

It was a pretty good batch this year!  I found something to appreciate about each of the films, which is perhaps the first time that has happened.  Often in the past, we've joked that the live action films are 80% cancer- or holocaust-themed (and nearly 100% of the time, a cancer- or holocaust-themed short wins.)  But this year, I was surprised to find that none of the films were malignant or swastika-ed . The one film that included illness didn't focus on the main character being sick, but on the eccentric hobbies he indulged in during his illness.)

Of the live-action films, I am torn between several, but I probably land on "The Shore" as my favorite.

When it comes to the animated films - which I tend to prefer - I'm fond of many of the nominees, but one definitely stood out.  I highly recommend "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," a fanciful and elegant love letter to the warmth and soul-satisfaction of books.  The short brought my bibliophile friends and loved ones to mind - Rena and Audra chief among them.  The two of them ought to see it... and so should you.  And, luckily, you can -- it's available on iTunes for FREE!

A still from the film, as Mr. Lessmore enters the library for the first time.

We're big Oscar-watchers here, and as of last weekend, we've seen all 9 of the best picture nominees, all but 2 of the acting nominees, and all but 2 of the writing nominees.  Here are my picks for the winners (of the categories that matter most to me) as well as who I'd vote for, were I voting.

Best Picture
Who I think will win: The Artist
Who I'd vote for: The Artist.  I loved it.  My favorite film of the year (and my favorites are not always nominated.)

Best Director
Who I think will win: Hazanavicius for The Artist.
Who I'd vote for: Hazanavicius for The Artist.

Best Actor
Who I think will win: Jean Dujardin
Who I'd vote for: Jean Dujardin

Best Actress
Who I think will win: Viola Davis
Who I'd vote for: Viola Davis

Best Supporting Actor
Who I think will win: Christopher Plummer
Who I'd vote for: Christopher Plummer. I just saw - and LOVED - Beginners.

Best Supporting Actress
Who I think will win: Octavia Spencer
Who I'd vote for: Honestly... this is the strongest category I've ever seen.  I have a deep appreciation of every one of these performances, and I'd be perfectly happy if any of them won.  If pushed, I'd vote for Spencer.

Screenwriting, Adapted
Who I think will win: The Descendents
Who I'd vote for: Hugo, but The Descendents was also strong.

Screenwriting, Original
Who I think will win: The Artist
Who I'd vote for: The Artist, but I loved Midnight in Paris, too.

Best Song
Who I think will win: It had BETTER be "Man Or Muppet."
Who I'd vote for: I've been declaring it publicly since the day the film opened: "Man Or Muppet" needs to win the Oscar.

Best Score
Who I think will win: The Artist
Who I'd vote for: The Artist

I usually care a great deal about animation, but we couldn't see 2 of the nominees this year, so I'm not going to weigh in with a guess or a vote.

Wow!  There's usually far fewer categories where I'd vote for my predicted winner. 

It's funny to me how long this post became.  Because it's about entertainment... and as of this morning, I'm on a self-imposed entertainment diet.  I put a moratorium on passive entertainment, for one week.  As I described earlier in this post, my well-filling has been half-hearted, and I've too easily leaned on passive entertainment to distract me from self-care or active creation.  So this week, I will not be watching TV or movies, nor playing games that aren't social with someone in person.  I've tried this a few times in my life (while I was reading The Artist's Way - though Cameron's recommendation is for no reading.  Reading is not my particular vice.)

During this week, I plan to create my own entertainment.  I'll write, I'll blog, I'll photograph.  I'll clean, I'll organize, I'll call a friend.  I'll stop zoning out, and start tuning in to my surroundings.  It will give me the freedom to focus on self-care... which I'll share more about tomorrow.  Really, for-real, tomorrow.  Because I have no excuses - entertaining you will be my way of entertaining me.  That or braiding my cat's fur.  I don't know how crazy I'll be after several days without watching anything.  My hope is that when I finally turn that TV back on - for the Oscar ceremony - it'll be well-filling instead of creativity-crushing. 

I'm off to take care of me, with a prompt bedtime and some calming music. I hope that you will come back to visit here tomorrow, and that in the meanwhile, you will take care of you, too.

Bring it on, Adventure Wednesday! Or: I was a plus-sized cheerleader

Today's post is a rare Multimedia Monday and an Adventure Wednesday combination.

Tom and I are both big fans of Lin-Manuel Miranda - a Wesleyan alum whose Tony award-winning In the Heights was on near-constant rotation in our household for all of 2008.  (We saw Miranda star in it twice, once in New York, once in Los Angeles when Miranda performed with the tour as a special engagement.)

So when we found out that he was contributing to a new musical, we got excited.  And when the tour of that new musical began in Los Angeles, we knew we had to get tickets to see it.  So last Monday, we went to the Ahmanson to see Bring It On: The Musical.

Yes, that's right.  Bring It On is now a musical.  Or, rather, the franchise built around competitive cheerleading has expanded.  The play isn't adapted from the original film - it's clearly inspired by it, but it has its own characters and plot.  In this story, the preppy captain of a cheerleading team is redistricted to an urban school across the tracks - a school without any cheerleaders.





I liked the original movie.  I have a soft spot for stories about the high school experience, and Bring It On had surprising bite and humor.  (Other high school films I enjoy - aside from the obvious 80s ones - include Can't Hardly Wait and Easy A.)

But something about the musical version hit close to home.  This version features... a plus-sized cheerleader.  (Technically she starts out as a mascot, but she breaks out of her mold.)

And once upon a time, I was a plus-sized teenaged cheerleader.  (Technically, I was a pom-pon girl, but outside of former cheerleaders and pom-pon girls, who knows the difference?)

Yes, that's me.  I hardly feel like I look plus-sized in that picture, but at the time, my size-16 body seemed enormous to me in comparison with the single-digit sizes that made up the rest of my pom-pon squad.  One of the most embarrassing moments in my young life was realizing that there were no pom uniform skirts available in my size.  My mom had to take two of the small skirts to the tailor and have them made into one for me.

Maybe it was me - my own hang-ups, my own shyness - that made me feel not a part of the group, either time I was on a pom squad.  (Once in eighth grade, once in tenth.  I skipped auditioning the other years, because I wanted to focus on theater, journalism and band.)  I felt separate.  I felt "other."  Among the pom and cheer set - with a few friendly exceptions - I felt like a total weirdo.  When I was with my goofy theater friends, or editing an article for the paper, I always felt included.  My weirdness fit right in.

With many years of retrospect, I'm sure everybody feels weird - even the cheerleaders.  High school is tough.  (Maybe that's why I like watching it - or writing about it.)

So, no surprise, I enjoyed Bring It On: The Musical.  Particularly the music that seemed to come from Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The simple pop-style numbers at the preppy school didn't grab me the way that the hip-hop songs at the urban school did.  When the main character goes to the first day at her new school, a deep reverberation of the beat sounds out, accompanied by the men's voices shouting "MOOOOOOOVE!"  It rips the musical right open.  From there it grows into a celebration of personal expression, of crossing lines and being yourself.

The characters grew on me throughout the show, but none more than Bridget, the plus-sized character played by Ryann Redmond.

She's the standard equivalent of the plus-sized-best-friend character, but the writers - and Ryann - bring a lot of spunk to Bridget.  As an unconventional quirkster, she fits in better at her new school than her old school, where she joins the dance crew and develops a love interest.  It's a lot more for a plus-sized actress to try on than they usually are given, and Redmond wears it well.

It was a pleasant experience at the theater, and for awhile, I thought that might be all it was... that is, until the very end, when an unexpected moment made me cry.  The very last dance move - and the most celebratory bird-fly to conformity and coloring inside the lines - was a cheer lift.  Coming on the heels of two and a half hours of cheer lifts, that shouldn't be particularly impactful.

But it was a plus-sized cheerleader at the top of the pyramid.  And that message - you can do anything you want to do - made sixteen-year-old Heidi (and thirty-two-year-old Heidi) very happy.

The show has left LA, but it's touring across the country, starting in San Francisco and heading to big cities throughout 2012.  You should check out the website for dates.

All right.  I'll be back with another post soon.  Until then - and always - remember that you can do anything.  And remember to take care of you.

Media Monday... Movies, Movies, Movies!

It's already Tuesday, and I missed Monday, so I'm including a quick post of short cuts, all about the movies we saw this weekend!

We always do a movie day on Thanksgiving weekend.  By the end of November, the Oscar films are starting to pour into the theaters, and we're usually so busy that we're playing catch-up with them.  It started on our very first Thanksgiving together (Kinsey, Finding Neverland, Saw, Sideways) and has continued every year.  This year, we caught five great films!

• The Muppets.  Major love.  More on this tomorrow, for Adventure Wednesday!
• The Artist.  An absolute must-see if you're a fan of silent films... and even if you aren't. Take a dash of Singin' In the Rain, a pinch of A Star Is Born, and you have a story about the silent age of cinema told... in the style of the silent age of cinema.  There's some really indelible imagery in the film, and it's created in the vintage-retro aesthetic that I love.  Plus, the two leads seem as if they were plucked from the 1930s.  Hollywood just doesn't make actors - or movies - like this anymore...  but it seems France can.
• Hugo. Two films in a row that are love letters to classic cinema - though I didn't really expect it of this Scorcese children's pic when I first saw the trailer.  I don't want to spoil anything for you, but it's a slow but immersive jaunt to France that entertains while it pleads for the preservation of film.  This actually may be my favorite Scorcese film.
• Arthur Christmas.  The most benign of the bunch, but a pleasant watch nonetheless.  I usually expect more of Ardman (the Wallace & Gromit studio) but it's still much better than many animated films.
• We Bought A Zoo.  It was playing in a "sneak preview" (the kind you buy tickets for, not the kind you're selected for.)  I wasn't expecting much, because Cameron Crowe hasn't interested me since Almost Famous... but I was totally won over by the film, the characters, the actors, and the depth of feeling.  I won't lie.  I cried - a lot.  I loved it.

We've also been seeing more and more of our own script.  With Tom home this week, we've been going gangbusters, and it keeps getting better and better.  Thanks also to a long discussion over dinner with my mother-in-law this weekend, we having been looking into a new avenue for the main character that has been fun and exciting to research.  Woo-hoo!

Multimedia Monday: Don't Tell the Bride!

It's Monday again? Wow, the time moves so quickly.

My weekend was fun and exhausting -- I'm looking forward to sharing more about it in upcoming Adventure and Fashion posts.  But the weekend has passed, and you know what that means... it's time for some Multimedia Monday Short Cuts!

• I'm always impressed by the films that George Clooney directs.  The tabloids promote him as such a playboy, but from his films, it's clear to me that he has a sharp, intelligent mind and a boatload of talent.  I loved The Ides of March. It reminded me, kind of achingly, of how politics broke my heart once, too.
• After seeing - and loving - The Help, I wanted to read the novel from which it was adapted, and I finished it this week.  I'm always interested in the way things are condensed into filmic form, and I thought this one was handled very well - though I was surprised by a few of the differences.
• Tom and I have finally caught up on American Horror Story.  I can't say that I love it, but it has definitely intrigued me enough to add a season pass to my DVR.  
• We added another season pass this week, for Once Upon a Time.  One episode is usually not enough to judge, but I'm a sucker for fairy tales, especially revisionist ones.  I'm curious to see where they'll go with it.

There's one other show that I'm watching this season... and it's called Don't Tell the Bride.

  
Full disclosure - I'm totally biased about it, because Tom is one of the show's editors!

Each week, a couple is given $25,000 to plan a wedding... but the hook is that they only have three weeks to plan it... and the groom has to do it.  He can't see - or talk to - his bride for those three weeks, until she comes down the aisle.  And only his best man can help him.  (No, really. There aren't people behind the scenes aiding him or giving him recommendations.)

So far, two episodes have aired (and they are replayed during the week.)  Next Saturday, Tom's first episode premieres, and I'm really excited to see his handiwork.  I think we might have a viewing party for one of his favorite episodes, later this season.  (Let me know if you want to join us, heh.)

Clearly, the first topic that comes up when discussing the show is: "how would I [handle/have handled] this for my wedding?"

I love my groom more than anything else in this world.  Tom is a creative, thoughtful man who has such vision, and such a unique point of view.  Seriously, every day I'm grateful that he came into my life.  I'm sure that he'd do his best to be thoughtful in planning a wedding.

But let me tell you: there is NO WAY I would have had him pick out my wedding dress.  Not without me trying it on.  A wedding dress is supposed to make you feel beautiful and confident.  If I hadn't tried on all different kinds of shapes of dresses, I would never, ever have picked my own.  What you think you like is almost never what you end up liking.  (This past episode's bride had that experience, too.)

I loved, loved, loved my wedding dress.
Much as I love, love, love my husband.

When it came to our own wedding (which I wrote a little about on our anniversary), Tom did participate in the planning. He had veto power on everything, and I made sure to come up with ideas that expressed both of our personalities.  He had a few hard-and-fast rules about the wedding...

1. No groom's cake.  He'd seen them on shows like Bridezillas, and came to think of them as proof that the groom had nothing to do with the wedding except one dinky little cake.  So he nixed it.
2. No live animals as decoration.  When we saw photos of fish bowls on reception tables, he made it clear that there would be no animals used and then flushed.  Fortunately, I was never interested in that, either.
3. No garter toss.  It seemed embarrassing to all involved, and I'm relieved, too.
4. No Chicken Dance.

Funny story about #4.  My mother was disappointed that Tom ruled out the Chicken Dance, and asked him to reconsider.  Jokingly, he told her that he'd permit a chicken dancing, but no Chicken Dance.  And oh, my mother - what a prankster she was - secretly arranged for the rental of a chicken suit and the appearance of a dancing chicken at our reception.  Such fond, fond memories.

Tom's biggest involvement in our wedding was editing our wedding movie, which we screened during our cocktail hour at the local movie theater (the very theater I grew up attending.)  I'll leave you today with the wedding movie - which still makes me cry.







Don't forget to watch Don't Tell the Bride on OWN, Saturdays at 10PM.  And... don't forget to take care of you!

A Multimedia Monday post... in which, I still exist.

Hello.

Long time, no see.  I know.  But I still exist.  I promise!  And I'm still on this long journey of self-care.

I went from vacation preparation, to beautiful vacation, to a coldy-flu plague.  I was all refreshed from Palm Springs, and feeling ready to be present here on the blog... but let me tell you, this grippe had a grip on me for almost a week.  I threw my hands up and decided just to rest and try to recover my strenghth.

One thing I've noticed this year is that I face some serious some food challenges while I'm sick.  I'll talk more about this soon, but the good news is that as my energy grows, so does my will to cook for myself.  I think my stomach is feeling better as a result, as much as my sinuses feel better than they did last week.  I am very much looking forward to tomorrow, which will be my first day back at Slimmons since I left for vacation.

It's Monday, so that means it's time for some Short Cuts.

• While I was sick last week, I spent a lot of time staring blankly at the watching tv.  I learned the following:
• Even if I am only half-watching Toy Story 3, when Andy plays with his toys one last time, I will still be racked with the equivalent amount of sobs as I did upon first viewing.
• Trick 'R Treat is (as per my friend's recommendation) a fun and playful horror romp worth watching.  The horror script that Tom and I have been developing will have a different approach, but I hope it will capture the same sense of glee.
• The Parenthood TV series is underrated, and I should have listened to my friends Sara L. and Rena W. when they raved about it.
• I can't make it all the way through Stephen King's Thinner without feeling sick and turning it off.  It wasn't the rapid weight loss or the mocking of fat people or the unhealthy dieting or even the depiction of food addiction that bothered me.  It was the way that the film - and many films - portray binge-eating. Seriously. I have binged.  I know what it looks - and feels - like.  It's not like that.  It's less disgusting, and far more sad.  And geez- how many Multimedia Monday posts will it take for me to listen to myself - I ought to finish Yoga For Fat Girls, which includes a character who suffers from binging, which I hope to portray honestly and without cruelty toward the character.

In movie marketing news, I keep bumping into various ads for Adam Sandler's upcoming comedy, Jack & Jill - in which he plays a man and his twin sister.  And every time I see anything to promote the movie, I can't help but think of Funny People.

Did you see Funny People?  Or, more specifically, did you see the Funny People websites?  Perhaps some of you don't know that in a past life, I was a movie marketing interactive producer, which essentially means that I helped to conceive and (manage teams who) create movie websites.

One of the sites I produced was a portfolio for Sandler's character, George Simmons -- a past-his-prime actor who has made a lot of zany high-concept comedies. Featuring titles like Merman, Dog's Best Friend, and My Best Friend Is A Robot.  (If you read the reviews on that website, you might see some interesting fake critics named, such as the formidable Brian Powers and the remarkable Michelle Vander Missen... who happen to be my siblings. Ah, the little joys of marketing.)

Anyway, all I can think whenever I see that Jack & Jill poster is...

And in movie marketing old-news, there are bus ads all over town for this season's Project Runway, which (I think?) is about to end.  Now, don't me wrong: I love Tim Gunn's catchphrase, "make it work."  But this particular one-sheet design for demonstrates just how important it is to treat marketing copy carefully.

Yeah, it's clever and visually interesting to tuck little words into bigger ones.  But when you're doing that, you have to make sure you're not turning the phrase into something else entirely.  Whenever I drive past this one-sheet, I don't see the "it."  I see "MAKE WORK."  Which is regional slang akin to "busy-work," or work undertaken not for the purpose of completing a task, but for the purpose of keeping you busy.  This poster is telling you - though I don't think it intends to - that Tim Gunn appears on Project Runway not because he wants to be there, but merely to make him seem busy and engaged.

The moral of the story here is that one little word... be it "it," or "no," or "thanks"... can make all of the difference.  And I'll end today with four little words. I apologize for not being here to tell them to you regularly the last few weeks.  But I've had them in my heart, nonethless.

Multimedia Monday - checking in and checking out

Phew.  I think I finally came up for air.  Hi, everybody.

Between freelancing and preparing for another Supper Club event, I ended up so busy that I couldn't swing my usual daily posts.

The good news is that despite my total absence here since last Tuesday, I had a terrific health week.  (More on that in my weigh-in post, coming soon.)

Here are my Short Cuts for the week:

• I finally watched Splice, which I added to our DVR during HBO Free Preview Weekend. Is there anything more fun than a premium cable channel free preview?  I was mesmerized by the film, which was a surprisingly intimate character exploration, not a sci-fi horror as it was advertised.  (Much like the film I mentioned last week, I understand why the marketing team did this, but I'm bummed that it missed its audience.)
• It's nice to have our regular shows back.  I've been enjoying How I Met Your Mother especially.  The use of flash-forward (the wedding, the labor, the goat, etc) is an excellent way to entice audiences to keep coming back.  It definitely works on me, anyway.  I'd like to use that structure in an upcoming project, myself.
• It's weird not to have new 30 Rock until mid-season.  I miss it.  But it's nice to have reruns in syndication for the first time.
• This week's Saturday Night Live was the best I've seen in years.  Which brings me to today's topic.

Melissa McCarthy.

Here's my favorite sketch from Saturday.  In this sketch, she sexually harasses a coworker.  With balloons.





It was hard to pick a favorite.  She was so different in, and so committed to, each of them.  Knocks each one out of the park.  Blows almost every other guest host away.   

More proof that this is her hour: she's on the cover of Hollywood Reporter this week.  When was the last time a plus-sized woman graced that cover?  Roseanne?

It's not just that she totally stole the biggest female-starring comedy from the higher-billed actresses this summer.  It's not just that she won an Emmy for best actress in a comedy. Or even that she's plus-sized and in her forties. It's that she seems totally comfortable in her skin while doing all of it.

On top of all that, she just announced she'll be starting her own clothing line.  Count me in, Melissa.  Count me in.

Not to mention the fact rumor has it that in an upcoming film, Melissa may be paired romantically with my other favorite SNL host (who happens to be my preferred flavor of eye candy), Jon Hamm.  I. Can't. Wait.

But the thing that makes me most excited about her growing stardom is her new production company.  Because I dream of casting her in the script I've been writing (on and off) for five years - called Yoga For Fat Girls.  She would be a perfect Maggie.  And if I can just finish this thing, maybe someday, she will be.

Multimedia Monday: It's time to start the music...

Today I'm introducing a brand new "day" theme: Multimedia Monday!  Each Monday, I will be reflecting on creativity in a variety of ways, including sharing my TV/film/art/music/literature recommendations, as well as - when I'm able - my own creative work.

Finishing the Hat started out as a way for me to communicate about - and share - my creative endeavors.  When I began my weight loss journey, so much of those creative endeavors began to focus on my fitness and my food, so the blog took a sharp turn in that direction.  Don't worry - I'm definitely going to continue my journey, and writing about it every day.  It'll even play into my Multimedia Mondays.

I still have a long journey ahead of me, but part of me has felt a little disconnected here at Finishing the Hat.  So much of my passion stems from watching (and creating! and also, in previous work, selling) film and television.  Actually, any creative endeavor makes my heart sing.  So each Monday, I'll singing my heart out here about it, here.

I'll start each MM post with "Short Cuts," a quick list of my thoughts and recommendations for the week.

• The fall TV season has begun!  Tom's been working 7 days a week for the past few weeks, so he and I have been struggling to keep up with the new shows (and the new episodes of our old shows.)  We finally killed the last new ones on our DVR last night, and we think we've honed in on one new show to follow, so far: The New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel.  It's charming without being twee, it has bite without being too cynical or ironic, and - this is a big one - it actually made us laugh.  

• I always feel happy when I make a good recommendation for someone else.  I had suggested to my father that he go see The Help, and though he was hesitant to see a "chick flick," he gave it a glowing review after seeing it.  If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth a look.

•  As a former market-eer, I take close notice of film and TV campaigns. Though I haven't seen the film, I'm impressed with the tagline (which is the slogan typically on posters and in ads) for 50/50, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen.  A good tagline says it all in one punchy phrase, and the 50/50 tagline definitely does. "It takes a pair to beat the odds."  From that little sentence (and the accompanying photo of Rogen as he watches Gordon-Levitt shave his head) we can gather that this is both a cancer movie (his odds are 50/50; "a pair" = nads) and this is a buddy movie ("a pair" = Rogen + Gordon-Levitt.)  Ingenius!

• Over the weekend, we happened to see a trailer for a film I saw in early preview this spring.  I can't tell you anything about it.  I won't even tell you the name of it.  But I will tell you two things.  One, I loved the movie thoroughly.  THOROUGHLY.  And two, the trailer goes WAY out of its way not to tell you what the movie is really about.  I hate when that happens!  (As a former market-eer, I understand why it happens.  But I still hate it.)

 And on to today's topic.  I saw someone describe these beloved characters as "heartfelt, by hearts made of felt," and I can't help but agree.  I love me some Muppets.

My parents were fond of telling the story about how I used to dance to The Muppet Show before I could even walk.  Apparently, I would squeal as soon as I would see that spinning-top ITC Production Logo. 




My fondness for the Muppets certainly didn't end when I became an adult.  In fact, I may be crazier about them now than I was back then.  (I squeal less, though.)  Luckily for me, there's been a big revival of the Muppet franchise, and if you haven't noticed the resurgence of Kermit and the gang, you're bound to see it before the new film opens November 23.

I'm looking forward to it.  Besides my beloved felt-hearted frog and his friends, it includes the talents of Jason Segel (who is starring as well as screenwriting), Amy Adams (who I've followed gleefully since her Oscar-nominated performance in the wonderful Junebug), and music by Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords.

They're building buzz around the film with a variety of different interesting projects.

For one thing, a cover album of Muppet greats - The Green Album - came out last month.  It's a surprising collection of Muppet classics as performed by a variety of popular and indie artists.  I knew I'd love the already-amazing "It's Not Easy Bein' Green," and the haunting-even-when-sung-by-Gonzo "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday," but I didn't realize how brilliantly clever (and kind of painful) the lyrics to "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along" really were until I heard it performed by Matt Nathanson.  Big thumbs-up.

For another thing... I'm not a frequent purchaser of nail polish, but I can't wait to buy my own bottle of O.P.I.'s "Rainbow Connection."

Or "Fresh Frog of Bel-Air." Or "Excuse Moi."  Those two pictured above.

Oh, for that Excuse Moi polish a few Octobers ago, when Tom and I went as my favorite fuzzy duo for Halloween.

My favorite duo costume. Ever.  We don't fit 'em anymore, though!

As fun and playful as the Muppets are, there's such a deeper side to them.   Sometimes deeply sad.  Sometimes deeply inspiring.  I got the idea for this blog topic yesterday, when I stumbled upon a video that Henson Studios posted in honor of the 75th anniversary of Jim Henson's birth.

It's the finale from the television tribute special, after Jim's death.  I won't lie.  It made me cry. 





I was so inspired by the video that I started doodling... and it became another Art Journal entry.

Thank you, Jim, for the beautiful legacy you left to all of us.  Your creativity inspires me every day.

As far as my weight loss journey... it has been a bit of a challenge in the last week, and I'll write about it more tomorrow in my Weigh-In update.  This may be a hard path to travel on, but as I doodled, I realized that having all of you in my life - believing in me - has helped me to believe in me.

I believe in you, too.

Take care of you.