A Dream Realized

This weekend, Houston (along with several other U.S. cities) was part of the 48-Hour Film Project! Right here in Houston, sixty production teams had 48-Hours to write, shoot, edit, and turn in a completed short film. I was thrilled to be part of the acting ensemble for one of the teams!

Our production team, Moon Unit 9 Pictures, was headed by Michael Aschner. We had an amazing crew and a wonderful group of actors.

Every film made had to include the following elements:

Character: Sherman or Sharon Brown, recently unemployed

Prop: a book

Line of Dialogue: "There's a $2 service charge."

It was so cool to read our script for the first time and see how Michael wove those elements into the film.

Given the 48-Hour timeframe, the shooting was focused and intense! It was one of those days when it felt like only fifteen minutes had passed, and then I would realize it had actually been two hours! The awesome thing, though, is that when you are passionate about something, all of that focus and intensity feels like pure joy!

At one point, in a quiet moment when I was going from one shoot location to another, I had an awareness that I was living my dreams--that God, in His goodness, had realized one of my dreams! How sweet it is to receive a good and perfect gift from our Father!

He's doing that a lot lately! Thank You, GOD!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Remembering Lynn Redgrave

Yesterday actress Lynn Redgrave passed away. The stage and the silver screen have lost a shining star.

In the mid-90s, my mother took me to see Lynn Redgrave perform her one-woman show, Shakespeare for my Father at the Alley Theatre in Houston. We waited to meet her after the show, and she was gracious and kind to us strangers.

I remember how brilliantly she used Shakespeare's plays to revisit her relationship with her father (Sir Robert Redgrave, a giant of the English stage). I admired her vulnerability, as she laid bare her soul's deep desire to know her deceased father better, and I respected how she could be honest about her own emotions (a deep longing for a closeness with him that he wasn't really able to give) while still honoring her father and his legacy.

You might remember her turn as the wife of prodigy pianist David Helfgott in the film Shine. Sheer genius! She brought such joy to her eccentric character, and I remember it vividly, even though I haven't seen the film for over a decade.

Thank you, Lynn, for YOUR legacy that lives on in your writings and film performances. And thank you most of all for your performance in Shakespeare for my Father that lives on in my memory. Your vulnerability on stage touched something in my soul, and I'm grateful.

I like to think of you reunited with your father in Heaven, finally getting to know each other the way you'd always hoped.

Lay her i' th' earth,

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh

May violets spring!

~Hamlet

Restraint is HOT!

Last weekend, some friends got together for a girls' night to watch the BBC/A&E five hour version of Pride and Prejudice.

Image found here.

What a great film! I'm amazed at how relevant some of the themes of this movie still are today, and how wonderfully rich the characters and story are.

My friend Catherine and I stared at the screen transfixed by Mr. Darcy's delicious gentlemanliness. Now that was a man of integrity! He was honest, a man of his word, one who could own his failures and apologize for them, and still be someone who stood strong for the things he believed were right.

Watching the movie was so different from watching the romantic comedies of today. We have grown so accustomed to seeing every other character fall into bed together that we've become desensitized to it. I was struck when watching Pride and Prejudice that the steamiest thing to happen between the protagonists was their first kiss after they were married!

As I pondered the thing that made Mr. Darcy so darn sexy, it was simply that he had stellar character.

When Brian and I were engaged, we were amused at how often people were taken completely by surprise when they would find out that we weren't living together. It was just assumed by so many people that we would be cohabiting. And really, why would people think differently? That has become the norm in our culture.

I'll never forget Brian telling me why "saving it" for marriage was so important to him (and yes, it was important to me, too): "This is my one opportunity to prove to you that I have self-control. You are the love of my life, and by abstaining now, you will know that after we are married, I have the self-control to save my love for only you."

I loved that logic. It wasn't self-righteous--it was totally selfless and affirming of me! My man was determined to love me with restraint in order to reveal his character, and to me that was HOT, HOT, HOT!

As Lizzie Bennett might say, "Indeed, I have married exceedingly well!"

This is how people described me as a child, and how I saw myself:

As a child, I was full of laughter. I always had the giggles.

My best friend's mother was a very serious woman who was forever telling her kids to "run along" so she could get on with her business. When I would go over to their house to play, my giggles would so irritate her mom! (My friend once admitted that to me when I asked her why her mom didn't seem to like me.) I never understood how a child's laughter could be so off-putting to an adult.

Laughter is still something I cherish at 35 years old. When Uncle Albert sang "I Love to Laugh" in Mary Poppins I knew he might have looked like a fool, but deep down? He got it!

Best Movie Ever

Waltz No. 8

This is a portion of a short film I worked on in May. It is called Waltz No. 8 directed by Ann Acacia Kim. It is the story of an elderly woman named Sylvia who finds an old photo of herself that brings back a memory and flood of emotion. I play the part of "young Sylvia" in the flashback scenes. It was so much fun to embody a character from the 1940s. I feel really proud of the quality of this film, and I hope you enjoy it, too.

Don't Judge a Film by its Title

When I saw the previews for the first installment of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I thought, "The story had better be better than the title." And boy, was it!  I absolutely LOVED the movie, so when I heard that there would be a sequel, I knew that I would want to go see it. 

I wanted to bring Hubs to see TSotTP 2, but he wouldn't go near it with a 10-foot pole, given the title, and frankly, I don't blame him. So I took myself to the movies, and I loved the sequel almost as much as I loved the first one.

If you have a chance to see it, go for it! You'll feel for the four lead characters, who are played by very talented young actresses: Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Amber Tamblyn. 

The movie left me feeling good and left me thinking, too. I walked out feeling happy to be a woman and happy that I found love with Hubs. I was also asking myself what I really want to do with this gift of life that God has given me.  Not too shabby, for a movie with a name that just doesn't do it justice! 

"F" is for the Forties

I had a great day of shooting on Sunday. Here is a photo taken of me in my costume, hair and makeup. I just love the 40s! I think I'm going to keep this dress, which I found at a thrift store, and wear it out swing dancing with Hubs.

P.S. I Love You

I went to see the movie P.S. I Love You last weekend. Hubs was out of town, so I saw it by myself. I am one of those rare exceptions who doesn't mind going to movies alone. I started my solo cinematic outings in my early twenties, and realized that it can be fun to get lost in a movie and cry like a baby or laugh like a hyena without sharing the experience with anyone else.

As you can guess by the title of the movie, it's a romantic comedy. I didn't get married until I was 32, so I had plenty of single years to go to movies alone. In the last couple years since meeting my eSuitor/Hubs, I haven't gone to too many movies alone. As I walked out of the movie, still wiping away the tears (it was a real tear-jerker!), my heart was so full! It reminded me of all those times I walked out of romantic comedies alone with hope in my heart that I would find my special someone (and wondering if that hope was just a pipe dream). It was so tempting to believe that the great romances I saw in those movies were somehow just the stuff of fiction.

My friend Kelly was a real rock for me during my final two years in Texas before I made the move out to LA. She prayed for me to find a husband (because she knew that was the desire of my heart). She even encouraged me to go to see chick flicks because she wasn't jaded and was wise enough to know that the reason people love romantic comedies is because deep in our hearts, we believe that kind of love is possible.

I praise God for the great love He has blessed me with! Walking out of the movie last weekend, it was wonderful to see that the hope I held out to find my husband wasn't in vain. God really answered my prayers! If you haven't found your guy yet, don't give up hope!

I am living my own sweet love story, and it is beautiful!

I love you, baby!

Dan in Real Life

Update: Well, the softball audition went really well yesterday. It is for a Japanese electronics company, and the commercial will air in Japan during the summer Olympics. Cool, huh? Thanks for the prayers! I'll let you know if I hear anything!

Now for today's actual blog entry:

Movie Review: Dan in Real Life

On Friday night, I got together with a couple of friends for dinner and a movie. Gotta love girls' night out!

Dan in Real Life is a wonderful movie about Dan (played by Steve Carell), a widower and father of three daughters who range in age from 9 to 16 years old. Dan takes his girls out of school for a week to go to a family reunion in Rhode Island. What happens during their week away is a redemptive story of healing and restoring wholeness to their fractured family. It is sweet, full of humor, and very slice of life (which I love!).

Steve Carell turns in a dynamic performance. It is so fun to see his moodier colors, as I am more accustomed to his comedic character on my favorite tv show, The Office. Juliette Binoche is lovely as always, and she truly shines as Marie, the eccentric free spirit (and one outsider) who descends upon the family reunion.

Starshine gives this movie: a big, shiny gold star! Go see it!

Two Good Movies

Over the past several days, Hubs and I have seen two fantastic movies.

The first was Bella. It is a sweet film about the relationship between a waitress (who discovers she is pregnant with an unplanned baby) and a cook at the restaurant she works at (who is not the father of the pregnancy, and who is carrying around a dark issue from his past). It is a moving story about their journey as friends and how they ultimately help each other find redemption in their tragic situations.

The second film we saw tonight at a special screening at the Writers' Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills. 3:10 to Yuma is an awesome western with another redemptive story. The movie is about a lot of things, but mostly it is about a man whose family misunderstands his integrity as weakness, and the amazing journey he takes with his son that rights that misunderstanding.

I highly recommend both movies. Hubs also enjoyed both movies, so both would work for a date night!