BITS OF FOCUS: IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO

Ooops, I did it again. Three days without a post. My bad. I'm sorry. No excuses other than a) I still haven't been to see The Black Dahlia (although I may do that today) and b) I've had a remarkably busy week, but only half-expectedly.

Anyway, today is September 21. On Sept. 21 2004 and 2005, I mentioned some of those with whom I share this day of birth. Aside from my birthDATE-mate -- currently embarrassing himself on Fox's Celebrity Duets -- I'm not even going to allude to any of the others this time. Twice in a row is plenty, no?

But, I do have a couple blog-related and, I suppose, non-blog-related notes, so here goes ...

• First, it is now easier to get to this little corner of the internet if you don't happen to actually bookmark or bloglines me. I still can't get outoffocus.com (and the person who has it registered refuses to respond to my emails), but you can now get here via outoffocus.org. (And outoffocus.us and outoffocus.info!) One of these days, hopefully I'll be able to grab .com and maybe .net (also unavail) but hey, I don't make a profit (or even a penny) from this site anyway, so .org maybe makes sense.

• The New York Film Festival started its press screenings this week, and I'm planning to go to all of them. That's right ... every last one. Now, key word is "planning." Really, I suppose this should just be considered another "unattainable goal," although in the grand scheme of things, it is relatively attainable. But it's hard. Thankfully, my schedule is such that in this case hard is not impossible. So we'll see. So far, I've been to Marie Antoinette which I really liked -- much more than I expected to. It surprised me greatly, and I'll be one of the few (I'm sure) to say that I think its Sofia Coppola's best film. Yes, better than Lost in Translation. It didn't get a great reception in Cannes, and reading the few reviews I have (as well as talking to a couple people after Tuesday morning's screening), I know I'm going to be in the minority, but I think the film is much deeper than many people will give it credit for. Many seem to simply find it opulent eye candy, but I think there's a good deal more there. I'll write about it in detail before the festival screening.

• Speaking of must-see movies, I specifically intended to post a review of Old Joy yesterday since it was opening at Film Forum. That review will be up today or tomorrow, but in the mean time ... just go see the damn movie. It's truly wonderful, and it has stuck with me since I saw it over a week ago. I wouldn't say that I appreciated it while watching the film, but Old Joy is one of those pictures that coalesces in both your brain and your heart as the end credits start to role. If you're a late-20s or 30-something like me, I expect this movie should especially touch you.

• Speaking of my age again brings me back to my birthday, and yesterday I got the one and only present I was truly hoping for. No more unemployment whining from Aaron. The year-round, full-time, permanent position I had been hoping would become finalized sometime during the summer finally was. People have been asking if I'm "excited" or "happy" or "thrilled." Ultimately, I'm relieved more than anything else. However, I don't plan to allow my renewed non-freelance employment affect this blog again. In fact, I plan to continue writing in the mode I have been the past few weeks and keep pushing my little freelance writing side-career. Anyway, the phone call today was like a couple tablets of Alka-Seltzer! Oh what a relief it is.

And finally, also age-related ... today I turn 35. I'm not happy about that, although, of course, I'm happy about making it to another birthday. Still, I was thinking that not only am I cresting towards the downward slope to 40, but I'm actually somewhere close to, if not at, mid-life right now. That's kind of scary. Especially since I feel like I'm still 27 ... or really ... about 15. My early 30s haven't been so wonderful; they also haven't really been tragic. They just sort of happened, and suddenly they were gone. Now, there's no fooling mid-30s ... here they are. What does that mean? I don't know. Probably nothing actually. But I'm trying to be less of a birthday-cynic and not treat the day as a horrible occasion. That's good, right? That's growth, right?

Good. Just checking.

Comments

[Karina]

I love Marie Antoinette, too. Happy Birthday!

[sac]

35 is tough one. 38 is even harder to swallow.