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My Lunch with Kevin Bacon

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , , on February 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Is it tacky to order something with bacon when having lunch with Mr. Bacon?  I would be able answer that question after this lunch.  I am so tempted to work my two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon to actually try to have lunch with him.  I’m not related to him at all, but my cousin-in-law is married to Kevin’s brother so it is not totally out of the realm that I could meet Kevin Bacon.

How long I have adored him?  It became love with Footloose, I mean, I was in my critical teen years in the 80s.  I had seen him in Diner and Animal House and Friday the 13th, but Footloose put him forever on my radar.  Quicksilver, White Water Summer, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, She’s Having a Baby (huge influence on my life between him and John Hughes), okay you know what, just go read his list on imdb because it’s a lot to type.

Taking Chance.  I cry like a baby when I even think about that movie.  His performance is amazing.  Very subtle, very controlled, and very grown up.  Apollo 13-love him in that one too.  Oh, too many.  I wonder if he would play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with me?  I could probably kick his butt at it.

His appearance on Will & Grace-as himself.  Friggin’ hysterical.  Do people prefer friggin’ or frickin’?  Perhaps I should just use frakking.

I applaud his marriage to the awesome Kyra Sedgwick (my fave for her is Singles).  I’d ask how the kids are and then we’d start yapping about The Following.  Bacon and Poe and serial killers.  The show is addictive from the word nevermore.  Poe has been having a resurgence lately.  First the press about the end of an era with no rose and booze on his grave.  Did anyone start that tradition again?  The Poe movie, The Raven, with John Cusack (love him!).  Then the Ravens win the Super Bowl.  Poe is having an awesome year.

I like the flashback concept in The Following.  I love a good puzzle, a good mystery that slowly unravels and makes you question every twist and turn.  Who can be trusted?  I really have no frakking clue.  The show is creepy and made me jump more than once.  Felt bad for Maggie Grace-too bad Liam Neeson couldn’t have jumped in with his particular set of skills.

Kevin Bacon has portrayed characters that have helped to shape my perspective in every decade of my life.  I will follow him.

bacon

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My Lunch with Adrienne Barbeau

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Again…it wasn’t lunch.  This was more like ten minutes though.  When Hubby heard Adrienne Barbeau was going to be at Chiller Fest, he debated skipping his chiropractor conference so he could meet her.  My sons also thought it was cool that I would be meeting her.  They think she’s great in Creepshow.  They love when Hal Holbrook’s character gives her character what she deserves!

Ms. Barbeau was very nice.  While waiting in line, I selected a Creepshow poster with a boy reading the comic book (so many things in our lives go back to Uncle Stevie, don’t they?).

Cover for the Creepshow comic book adaptation.

It made me think of my sons (Creepshow was the first Stephen King book they were allowed to read).  I shared with her how the whole family enjoys her work and she asked who she should address the autograph to.  I told her to the S family.  She then asked, the S family?  Are you related to Richard S?  I said yes, and asked which one since there are three or so that live in the state.  I asked what line of work he was in to narrow the choices.  She wasn’t sure what he did, but he was her neighbor until his recent death.  She said he was a very nice man.  Then, in a bit of a role reversal, she said it was very nice to meet me!

As I researched which Richard she may have been referring to I discovered to my sadness that it was the Richard I was thinking about.  He was a very nice man.  I had the pleasure of meeting him via telephone when he shared some information for the family association’s newsletter.  He was a very impressive player in the newspaper business.  He also helped innovate newspaper recycling.  He told me over the phone in one of our conversations how he kept testing the process in his kitchen, using his blender.  He was a friendly man and our conversations marked one of the highlights of my term as secretary.

I wish I could see Adrienne again to thank her for alerting me to the loss of this dear man.  In discovering that I was a relative of Richard’s, she presumed I was a nice person.  I can only try to be as nice as this man was.  He was proud of his family’s place in history and worked to contribute to our country and society.  From what I know of him, he was a good family man.  Having only retired two years ago at the age of 97, he clearly loved the news.  But he seemed to have balanced it with family and friends.

It was fun to share with Adrienne about my husband’s crush on her.  And she seemed to understand when I told her my sons love it when she gets thrown under the stairs in Creepshow.  If we had met in a different way, I think she and I could sit at a diner for quite a while chatting about life and family and exploring this world.  She was even game enough for a cutesy pose for Hubby.  It was truly a pleasure to meet Adrienne Barbeau.

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My Lunch with Andrew McCarthy

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , , on November 4, 2012| 2 Comments »

Okay, it wasn’t lunch.  It was about five minutes.  I went to Chiller Fest and Andrew was tops on my list.  Yes, I did gush a wee bit, but after all I was meeting BLANE! “His name is Blane? Oh! That’s a major appliance, that’s not a name!”  He looks absolutely beautiful.  He was very friendly and jovial.  He seemed a little surprised when I brought up The Beniker Gang.   I’m guessing no one else had mentioned that flick yet.

If you haven’t seen The Beniker Gang, try to find it.  It’s like an after-school special type movie.  There are five orphans and they make their own family, and Andrew is the head of the family.  There’s drama of course as to whether they will be able to stick together.  I don’t know that the rest of the cast has done much since (well, there was a young Danny Pintauro as one of the children), and the girl in the movie has done some movies since and a bunch of theater (a Jules Feiffer play!).

It was lovely to thank Mr. McCarthy for the many films that filled my teen years.  Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, of course.  I also love Weekend at Bernie’s.  It’s aged just a bit over the years, but remains very funny.  Isn’t it funny how the films from your teen years stick with you?  They seem to remain clear in my memory, clearer than movies I’ve seen in the past few years.  For example, supposedly Hubby and I watched the Spiderman movies together (the ones with Tobey Maguire).  I have NO recollection of this at all.  But feed me a cue line from Pretty in Pink and I’ll recite the whole scene.

Perhaps it’s because we are shaping our futures.  Creating our dreams and planning how to make them come true.  We see possibilities in those movies, ideas of what we can do with the rest of our lives.  I always invoked the spirit of Annie Potts’ character, Iona, when I worked in retail.  I loved doing the displays and when I had created an interesting one, the line would come “Applause, applause, applause.”  Sometimes I miss retail, but retail from the 80s and 90s.  Those were the days to work behind a counter.  Now I wouldn’t want to face the public.

It was white hot to meet Andrew McCarthy.  A nice fellow.  I would like to read his travel book.  See where he’s traveled to and what he’s discovered through visiting these places and continuing the journey.

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My Lunch with Judy Garland

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , , , , , on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Today during a lunch meeting, we quoted The Wizard of Oz.  I think I make a reference to this movie at least once a week.  I can’t help it.  There is so much in the story that has invaded our culture that it just works its way in all the time.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

I love Judy Garland.  Our lunch would be at a place like the Brown Derby.  Some great old Hollywood restaurant with the big, fancy, private booths.  I would tell her how I sing to my coworkers one of the songs from Babes in Arms with Mickey Rooney and my coworkers love it (or so they say…).  “Good morning, it’s a lovely morning, good morning, what a beautiful day…” Well, I guess you have to be there.  I have ruby slipper salt and pepper shakers on the shelf in my office.  Cute decoration and very practical.  (I know, I know, the slippers are silver in the book).  But we’re talking Judy so they’re ruby.

Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, 1938 Sixteen-year-old...

CBS Logo LightAfter thanking this beautiful woman for all of the happy memories she has given me, I would ask if she was just as angry as I am every time the Winkie says, “Please, and take it with you” after she asks for the witch’s broom.  Doesn’t asking for the broom imply she plans to take it with her?  Plus, Glinda, you couldn’t have let her try to click her heels together in Munchkinland?  I have such special memories of watching this movie each year when I was growing up.  The “Special Presentation” bit would play and I would be so excited sitting on our couch with the subtle plaid pattern.

I’d have my dolls with me and my pillow and blanket, all settled in for the best movie ever!  Till I was around eight years old, I would fall asleep right before the WWW would show up to find her dead sister.   Eventually, I was able to stay up and watch the whole movie.  I would cry every year.  Then we got a color television.  I was angry that the movie turned to color.  I had a lot of issues adjusting to the concept of color TV.  Anyway, I love that movie.  I love Judy Garland.  I love her singing, dancing, the movie magic she was a part of back in the day.

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My Lunch with the Kramers

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , , on October 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I caught the last hour or so of Kramer vs Kramer tonight.  Good Lord.  The movie came out in 1979 and I’ve watched it I don’t know how many times yet still it makes me CRY LIKE A BABY!

Dustin Hoffman is so amazing in this movie.  The scene in the park when he tells Billy that he’s so lucky because he gets to go live with Mommy breaks my heart.  When Billy asks if he’ll still kiss him goodnight and he says he won’t be able to do that anymore.  Tears, down the side of my face.  Then the scene when they make breakfast and they show how they got a routine with the french toast…sob fest.

Joanna as she comes to pick Billy up and she says how she should have painted clouds in Billy’s room so he would feel like he was home…”I realized he already is home”.  The smile on Ted’s face that peaks through Joanna’s hair as she says she’s not going to take him is awesome.

This movie struck such a chord in the country at the time and it stuck with me for decades.  Divorce was becoming common at the time but to have the child be with the father was groundbreaking.  The court testimony was so riveting, still is.  When Ted wonders why mothers are naturally better…why can’t a father do all of that.  Anyway, he says it better.  He had a script.  Both performances, and Billy’s performance, were wonderfully nuanced.  It is one of my favorite movies, but I do tend to only watch it when I need a good cry.

I love that oxymoron.  There is such truth in it.  Sometimes you just really need to cry.  I could use a good cry tonight, but I came into the movie so late I only wept a little.  I could throw in another tearjerker (Terms of Endearment anyone?) and bawl my eyes out.  Or I could fold laundry.  That could make me cry too!

I realized watching Kramer vs Kramer tonight that this may be where I developed the habit of painting murals on bedroom walls.  Why not use the walls in your house as space for art?  Might as well enjoy the space you are living in each day.  And like Ted and Billy, I love french toast for breakfast.

Might go look for another movie.  A tearjerker.  Have myself a good cry.

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My Lunch with Christopher Walken

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , , , , , on July 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Our lunch would be cooked by Chris and probably involve spaghetti.  I watched The Best of Christopher Walken on Saturday Night Live tonight and the man is simply hysterical.  Even with a crap sketch, Walken gives a classic performance.  My favorite skit on SNL with him is one called “The Continental”.   “It’s time to meet The Continental!”  I know he played the character more than once and if memory serves, in one of the skits, I think he loses it a wee bit.

Someone on youtube has cut together ten minutes of Christopher saying “is more cowbell”.  We are quite fascinated by this man.  I loved him in The Dead Zone.  Obviously his classic scene in Pulp Fiction.  Sleepy Hollow.  Love all of his work. As the dad in Blast from the Past-he just makes sense in that role.  I would love to see him on stage.  And I love when he dances.

Some quotes attributed to him from IMDb that are interesting…

“I never was a big fan of school, to tell you the truth. I never had kids, but I suspect if I did, I wouldn’t encourage them to go to school. I never liked it myself. I was always grateful for being taught to read. I figured that once that had been done for me, that’s the big thing. A little bit of adding, subtracting, multiplying, that sort of thing. And you have to learn to write, at least a letter. But beyond that, I think people are over-educated. I think education will come if you want it. I read what I want to read, so that’s what I know about. You can’t know everything, so you should concentrate on what you’re interested in. The whole concept of general education-I think it makes for vague minds.”

“I use punctuation, but I finish the sentence and put [in] a period but it’s not necessarily where somebody else would. I think everybody should talk the way they want. You go to school and you all sit there and all learn to do the same thing. I guess it’s necessary but it’s too bad also, in a way. Kids, you know, get kind of restrained in a lot of ways. I probably wouldn’t get a job as an English teacher.”

I would LOVE him as an English teacher.  Could you imagine how entertaining The Turn of the Screw could be if taught to you by Chris?  I might finally like that book!  I don’t know that people are over-educated, I think we may put too much emphasis on the need for degrees.  I like the idea of learning about what you are interested in and pursuing that for the fun of it.  I believe in that idea.  I love learning about different stuff.  I plan on learning the rest of my life and I do try to instill this love of learning in my sons.  They do feel restrained in school which is why hubby and I take them on grand adventures.

It would be fun to learn with Chris about any topic.  Referring back to his quote, and not having kids, I think he would have been an extremely interesting parent.  Imagine himwith his own kid…”So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.” (Pulp Fiction)

If the quotes on IMDb are accurate, he has a down-to-earth way of living life and I would enjoy that same lifestyle if I could.  Except with my family.  I’m more interested in people than he is.  He probably wouldn’t talk much during the lunch.  But supposedly he’s a good cook so at least the eats would be good.

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My Lunch with Indiana Jones

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , on July 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and X never, ever marks the spot.”  Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Indy is speaking about enjoying the journey because if you only follow the map and only pay attention to the stuff that is right in front of you, you’ll miss something.  He likes getting another perspective and this is often when pieces of the adventure fall into place.

This continues to be a struggle for me.  Enjoying the journey and not worrying so much about the destination is not my strong suit.  Perhaps because I have ended up in some strange places in my life.  Pretty normal places, really, but places I never expected myself to end up because it wasn’t “in the plan”.  I watch others sometimes and they seem so very content and do not demonstrate an obvious map to their lives.  The cliche of the grass is always greener comes to mind, and I fear, gentle reader, this post will may more cliches to follow.

I have a very nice life.  Why do I clutter it by worrying about silly stuff?  By seeking more than what I have already?  When will I come to realize that I am there…that very nice spot to sit and tarry a while?

Perhaps because I still feel a drive to do more within this world.  Hubby gave me two books for our anniversary (yep…I’m a nerd…books are a really good gift on all occasions and smart hubby picked up on this early in our 12 years together!).  One of them was about the butterfly effect and how every action you do has an impact somewhere, even if you don’t see it.  Makes sense he would give me a book about the butterfly effect.  First, he knows I’m grappling eternally with purpose in life and, as part of the chaos theory, the butterfly effect fits into our way of life.

I then wonder what butterfly effects could I be having?  Are they positive for the world, or I am sending out dismal influences that will haunt folks for generations to come?  By nature I am a worst case scenario-ist.  I have to go through all the worst possible end results to feel comfortable with a situation.  If I explore this idea of sending out the dismal stuff, I’ll work my way back to a more centered reality.

During this lunch, in which I hope there are no truly exotic foods, like in Temple of Doom, Indy and I would  talk about the digs, rights of the modern countries to archeological finds, and his uncanny ability to enjoy the journey.  Not only does he enjoy the journey, he does it with great style and in his own way.  One never really realizes how much you can learn about life from Indiana.  Ah, Dr. Jones, you chose wisely.

      Each day I hope I don’t choose poorly.

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My Lunch with Superman

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , on July 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I spent the day watching the Superman marathon on Encore Action.  Superman II is playing right now.  I love these movies.  Watching Superman earlier today I was sent back to my childhood and all the joys of super heroes.  It was neat to remember how much Superman meant to me.  It helps me to realize how important Spiderman and Thor and all the super heroes are to my sons right now.

I remembered how much I wished I could meet Superman.  I thought his planet was so cool and then the “home away from home” in the north was awesome.  Talk about a cool fort!  The crystals were so beautiful and seemed to possess such strength.  I don’t care that the movies today have CGI and better special effects.  These were groundbreaking when they came out.  The movies have great moments of humor.  I love in the first movie as Clark Kent is looking for a telephone booth and he comes upon one of those half-booths without a door.  The look on his face is classic.

To spend the day revisiting my childhood was a blast and to have my sons watching son of Jor-El with me made it a great way to celebrate the 4th.

We did take a break from Superman at one point because as you probably know there is a federal law that one must watch Jaws on the 4th of July.  In honor of that film I will quickly list some favorite lines:

You’re gonna need a bigger boat.

That’s some bad hat, Harry.

Blow up…blow up…blow up…smile you son of a bitch (BANG)!

As you know Amity means friendship.

I love that my sons sing along to “Show Me the Way to Go Home”.

There is a part of me that feels sad when watching Superman.  I miss Christopher Reeve.  If you haven’t seen Superman in a while, sit down and watch it again.  Watch Somewhere in Time, Deathtrap, and Noises Off and you’ll have a wonderful time courtesy of the amazing talents of Christopher Reeve.

Gene Hackman, Valerie Perrine, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve all have some great comedic moments.  The moments are so good because of the sincerity in the characters.  Reeve has some great looks he gives with some of the tongue in cheek moments.  Plus that piece of hair on his forehead with the cute little curl.  Younger son used to have curls and he usually had one just like Superman’s curl.  We’d call him son of Jor-El.

Superman…truth, justice, and the American way.

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My Lunch with Neil Diamond for 30 Years

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , on June 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The man was rocking last night.  You can’t even add the qualifier, for a man in his 70s, because it don’t matter what his age, Neil Diamond was rocking.  I think he’s lowered the key for some of his songs, but he always had a deep voice.  It was a great show, just as great as the shows I’ve seen over the past 30 years.

30 years.  How did that happen?  In looking back through those 30 years, looking at it from how many Neil concerts I attended, puts an interesting perspective on where I am in my life.  He’s been a constant in my relationship with my mom.  Mothers and daughters all have ups and downs, shifts in the normal of their relationships as each role changes over the years.  But through all of the shifts my mom and I have gone through, we have always had Neil Diamond and the concerts as a touchstone.

The song I love the most is “Beautiful Noise”.  It just makes me smile and think about the good things in life.  During our lunch I would try to explain to Neil that the lyrics in the song remind me of so many stages of life.  I also love the rhythm to the song.

“Like the clickety-clack of a train on the tracks.”

“What a beautiful noise coming up from the park.  It’s the song of the kids and it plays until dark.”

My family is my beautiful noise.  The sound of us eating dinner at the dining room table.  The sound of the boys playing in their room or at the park or in the backyard.  That beautiful noise is one I try to keep floating around in my head to remind me of where my energies belong.  I need, want, to spend my energy on my family.  I don’t want to waste any of it on petty situations that arise in my life.  I try to remember that this too shall pass, whatever “this” I’m facing in a day.

Life is full of many beautiful noises if I don’t fill my ears with idle chatter and clatter.  This photo is a visual representation of a beautiful noise for me.  It is Neil in there, you just have to look at it from the abstract.

I enjoyed savoring the music last night, the energy of the crowd that had come together to enjoy the many decades of beautiful noises created by Neil Diamond.

                               

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My Lunch with Neil Diamond

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged on June 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I would love to have lunch with Neil Diamond.  Don’t know where we would have lunch, perhaps a good New York deli.  Someone told me today that her cousin met Neil Diamond at a restaurant.  He was alone and he said the “it’s not glamorous” speech.  Her cousin gave Neil his telephone number.  But he went out on some errands and missed the phone call from Neil!  I would have gone home and taken a seat by my phone for at least a week!

To be continued tomorrow…

Because tomorrow my mom and I will see Neil again.  Thirty years ago we saw him together for the first time.  Ah, it’s a Beautiful Noise.

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