i got star struck

last night i had the great thrill of going to the where the wild things are pre-screening, thanks to an invite from a very boring store. with the anticipation of other things going on this week, i hadn't given the screening much thought. when i got there just after 5:30 the line-up at the door was huge, so clearly it was on the minds of many other chicagoans.

the night included a few nice surprises: max* records was there and did a Q&A, led by dave eggers, before the screening. he talked about the eccentric audition spike jonze put him through and what it was like to be on the set in australia. my favorite part was when someone said something like so you're pretty young but do you see yourself doing more things like this in the future? max replied with a pause and an ummm and finally well, i guess it depends on the project. and then followed up with another huge cliché like, we'll just see what comes my way. the audience erupted, and i don't think max had a clue why. it was touching to see a 9-year-old that was so mature and yet so innocent.
[*in line for the bathroom after the movie, a little girl asked her mom, do you think they only interviewed boys named max for the movie?? yes little girl. yes they did. welcome to the wild world of discrimination.]

the showing of the movie was interesting because the screen was much smaller than a "normal" size screen. giving up the screen size in favor of the music box's atmosphere was alright by me, though. as for the movie itself, i thought it was great. i was most impressed by how dave eggers and spike jonze took this short, illustration-heavy book and turned it into a full-length film with developed characters. in reading the book i always took the land of the wild things as pure escapism on max's part-- a secret place where he could flee to, be reckless and untamed, and be the "ruler." the movie, however, revealed the wild things as an extension of max. carol, THE wild thing, is dealing with the same issues in his world as max is at home. not to mention, all the other wild things (the bull is still my favorite) have their own personalities and problems.

i also loved how the movie treated the mother-son relationship. in the q&a spike jonze mentioned how disliked the book was by certain groups when it was published because of it's unconventional portryal of parenting. like the book, the movie shows an undeniable love between mother and son, and yet there are complications and problems. at times, the roles almost reverse and catherine keener becomes more child-like as she asks max to tell her a story or falls asleep while he's eating at the kitchen table. i think that's why i loved the movie so much: while it reminds us what it is to be a child--all the strife, all the joy, all the adventures--it suggests that it shouldn't stop after adolescence. oh, and everything else about the movie was awesome too. karen o. can officially do no wrong by me! the way the score was so seamlessly integrated into the movie so that you didn't know whether it was her or the wild things bansh-y-ing was perfect.

after the movie spike jonze and catherine keener (another surprise!) did a Q&A. sj seemed incredibly nervous, which i found both surprising and endearing. ck was quiet and a little loopy, but it was a nice mix of the two. they made mention of a few interesting things like how sj shot dave eggers with a BB gun on set and that ck has never seen being john malkovich even though she was nominated for best supporting actress. to end the night, sj opened up his itunes to show a film that he and ck had made for maurice sendak's 82 birthday. he had a whole list of items in the "movie" section (umm, duh.), one of which i spied titled as "adidas hello tomorrow". oh yah, just in case you forgot you were in the same room as a REALLY awesome and famous person!!!!

then i rode home in the cold rain with my paper crown on my handle bars. i jumped in the hot shower and then put on my pj's, and as i towled my hair dry i howled a little wild things howl.

french friday

comme tout le monde sait ce que on n'utilise pas, on perd. pour cette raison j'ai décidé d'écrire en français ici de temps en temps, même si le poste est plein de fautes comme résultat.

alors, une langue différente mais toujours le même problème: de quoi j'écris?  peut-être juste un petit sommaire du semaine? comme d'habitude il me semble qu'il y a beaucoup de coïncidences. je sais que souvent c'est simplement la tête qui reconnais et donc fait cette connections--qu'il y a toujours des événements qu'on peut reconnais, et c'est seulement quand on veut les voir qu'ils deviennent un .  n'importe! 

mardi j'ai déjeuné en dehors avec une amie de boulot. après nous avons fini, elle est allé pour faire un visite à trader joe's pendant que j'ai cherché un bon coin dans le soleil. le petit tache que j'ai trouvé c'était sur les étages de l'église où se trouve une autre amie de boulot que j'ai voulu voir pendant pratiquement le mois d'août entier. nous avons parlé et puis un homme avec qui j'ai eu se croisent. hier soir, c'était même chose sauf qu'un autre homme. mes parents et leurs amis, nous avons en train de manger au resto. en rentrant de la salle de bain, mais voilà-- il était là aussi, avec une fille belle. ça suffit de mon passé pour quelques jours. 

le prochain hasard est beaucoup moins mélodramatique. juste une décision de préparer du quinoa pour le dîner. pendant que je le mangeais un ami me dit que ce jour était la première fois qu'il a entendu de ce grain! un peu bizarre, non?

il y avait un ou deux de plus, mais j'ai les oubliés.

j'ai vu le film cœur en papier ce semaine. au début, j'étais un peu déçu. la vedette, charlyne yi, me semble complètement affecté--comme hyper conscient de son apparence aux yeux des autres même si elle est fameux pour ne penser pas de cette choses. mais, comme le film a déroulé j'ai oublié ce criticisme pour penser sur les idées que le film a nous présenté. à la fin, il n'y a pas des grandes conclusions au sujet d'amour. quelle surprise! mais j'ai trouvé une consolation dans ces personnages familiers--mêmes émotions, mêmes problèmes... et là dans cette confusion était la clarté.  pour maintenant je ne cherche pas; seulement prendre plaisir dans ce que j'ai. et avec ce qui je l'ai.