Remabulous

Updates on a crazy life... and: I'm in a movie!

Hello, all. I have been sorely neglecting Remabulous over here. I've been working on some new projects for coaching and I've also been promoted to Social Media Maven at Book Soup! Please check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and check out our Blog, where the staff and I are all posting. It's been really fun getting all of that started, but it's meant I have been a bit behind over here.

However, I have new stuff coming! My sales page is up for my new coaching package, and I recorded my first episode of the new Remabulous podcast, which I hope to post this week!

I have long meant to share this great film by Kristen Havens, called "The Demon Doily." We filmed it last year in the valley on a day so hot I was sweating everywhere! The film came out great and it is funny to see myself on a screen, even this one.

Hope you enjoy! Be sure and leave happy comments on YouTube for the film so Kristen will keep up the great work and make more films.

Inspiration Weekend!

It's Oscar weekend... and I've just finished watching the show with my mom, my brother, and my friend Erin. It is always fun to watch people recognized for that hard work that goes into film. Yes, it's a glitzy industry that encourages unrealistic plot lines in our lives, but it also encourages us to think big and to live outside the usual small box we can all get trapped in.

I am the sort who has always sought escape and new ideas inside a theater instead of in religion. I am so grateful to see that stories of hope were recognized... Milk's claiming Best Actor was a great piece of excitement in the house as it cast further light on the injustice of Prop 8 and the attitudes of those protesting outside the events, as Sean Penn pointed out.

And the big hit of the night was Slumdog Millionaire, the story of a boy who came from incredibly difficult beginnings to find incredible riches and the heart of the girl of his dreams. Who wouldn't hope for such a life?

We can all follow our dreams in the same way. And those other films that were honored with nominations, like The Wrestler, Wall-E, as well as Jerry Lewis honored with the humanitarian award made it a hopeful show.

And the new presentation choice of having five previous winners presenting each nominated star with a personalized statement of why they were nominated was a lovely and personal touch to the evening. And the gracious and thoughtful acceptance speeches, especially from Kate Winslet talking about dreaming of an Oscar as a child practicing with a shampoo bottle in the bathroom mirror, and the elequent words of Milk screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, who had the speech of the night. Here he is in an interview a month ago...

But then again, it's always fun to see people get dressed up to celebrate hard work and have fun. How will you dress up and have fun to celebrate what you've accomplished in the last year? I hope you are having fun tonight, too...

OK. I spoke too soon- Milk and Button are required, too.

I'm writing a lot about film lately. Partly because I am so delighted that there are films worth watching again, and partly because it's been a heavy weekend. But also because I am so moved by stories of people who have fought so hard to live lives of dignity and meaning despite obstacles.

We call all learn from these stories.

I saw Milk tonight at the Arclight. I was probably the only splotchy and tear-stained woman in the restroom afterward. Everyone else, who may have seen other movies in their defense, was touching up their perfect makeup and hair. I was a little proud to be a mess. This movie tells a story that's worth being a mess about.

image: Harvey Milk speaks at Gay Freedom Day, 1978.

Two movies to ring in the New Year with....

This holiday season, there has been no shortage of films to see. After the long dry desert of the past months, I have been delighted to return to the pleasant panic of worrying I won't get to them all.

In looking ahead to this wide open 2009, though, I think there are two that are essential viewing for anyone looking to make a leap forward into a more passionate and powerful life story.

I saw Slumdog Millionaire twice: once with a friend in LA, and again with my mother and brother over Christmas. It is one that I think will lose impact if not seen in the theater: part of the beauty of this film is its ability to completely suck you into the world it has created. First, and especially, the world that the main characters grew up in with all its chaos and overwhelm to the senses. Later the world evolves in ways they can't anticipate, but with the vibrant soundtrack you are carried along with it. A fantastic rags to riches story that will inspire you to follow your dream no matter what it takes.

My other pick for the New Year's inspiration weekend is Yes Man.  I know- there are profound movies out there to see right now: Milk, Benjamin Button... So why Yes Man?

Because I think it's a message that people need to think about and embrace in their lives. We have been so assaulted with messages about how things aren't going to be ok with the economy and how it's going to be a hard life for a while now, and I simply don't beleive that is all there is to the story.

Of course we need to be realistic and we need to look at how our country has been operating and how some high level businesses have been less than ethical. But most of us did not get us into this mess. The best thing many of us can do right now is to embrace optimism and possibility.

Watching the shift for the character, based on the memoir by Danny Wallace, shift from a sad guy who just can't get over his divorce to one who is full of life and able to choose to follow his passion is a treat and a big change from what we've been seeing on the news and in the papers. Don't miss the chance to look for joy in life, even and especially when things are tough. You'll be an inspiration to many.

Take some time and write down what your dreams and hopes for this year are. Make some plans. Make them bigger than you think possible. And then ask yourself every day, "What can I do to move this forward? What's next?"

Because if these two characters can trust their guts as they did and jump forward into greatness and a better life, I am certain that we each can, too.

Happy New Year!

On Sigur Ros's "Heima" and the meaning of home.

This week, I moved into my new home. As of today, I am back online and am settling into my beautiful and magical new space. It feels a little bit like I have always lived here. This is the first post I have written at my desk in my new office, and still it feels like I have been here before. Moving has been a gift. I am so grateful to have achieved another of my goals in my 31 for 31 list; finding a beautiful new home. Thank you to all who listened, sympathized, and agonized with me as I struggled through the past few months. And thank you so much to those who helped pack and unpack: Ann, Paige, Erin, Tim, and Roz. You are the best. Thanks to all of you and many more I won't list out here, I am starting to feel like a real person again.

Tonight, I must thank my friend Kalyanee, who wooed me over to her place to watch a little documentary called Heima, about a tour the band Sigur Ros did of their home country of Iceland.

I think it might be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

image: still from Heima.

Adaptation: Worth watching again for more than just the film.

I saw Adaptation orginally in the theater in 2002 when it came out. I liked it very much, and thought it was clever and funny and original. I might have watched it once more and then hadn't thought about it much since. WARNING- spoilers if you haven't yet watched it...

Michael brought it over to watch after dinner last night and I was surprised how much I loved it even having seen it before. I think there is something to the idea that movies have very different things to say at varying points in our lives and this one spoke pretty directly to everything I am muddling through at the moment...

adventure of the week: t.a.m.i. show @ cinespia this past sunday

i have long been a fan of cinespia. getting to sit outside and watch a movie on the side of a mausoleum after a picnic dinner with friends is certainly my idea of a good time.

this year, cinespia has added films on sunday nights as well as the usual saturdays between memorial day and labor day. my frist sunday sampling: the t.a.m.i. show, a concert film showed in conjunction with the don't knock the rock fest, now showing at the no longer silent silent movie theater on fairfax.

this film is a sweet and often hilarious journey back into the concert world of the 60s- an extremely rare offering, it shows james brown at his dancing best, the rolling stones when they were young and mick jagger looks pretty tasty, the supremes, lesley gore, the beach boys, jan and dean, smokey robinson, and more...

the funny thing about watching this is to see that the dancing is outrageous and, in many ways, much racier than what we'd see now. watching a buxom bikini-clad lady jump up and down in a go go seizure with bosoms everywhere was shocking to almost everyone in my party. and the athletic ability and need for chiropractic on perhaps a daily basis by these back-up dancers was nearly breath-taking.

if you go on an adventure for yourself this week, try dipping into another era... how are the values of this era different than the ones you hold now? what can you learn from this (i learned that i can't begin to call myself energetic in the pursuit of my own creative work in comparison to these people)? i am trying to inject a bit of go-go level enthusiasm into my work life and see how much more i can get done. let me know if you're able to do the same.

image: caroline donahue for remabulous via flickr.

sex and the city: the perfect girls' night out movie.

this saturday night, i had the pleasure of seeing the summer movie i was embarrassed to admit i was extremely excited about to some people: sex and the city. i was a dvd satc watcher and plowed through almost the whole show in one summer a couple of years ago. and loved it. of course, it's excessive and ridiculous in many ways. i mean i work for myself, and there is no way that i buy shoes like carrie does, nor could i, so i am a bit dubious about the economics of making it in new york with a couture habit like that. perhaps that's why they are all still to tiny: the clothes they are buying make it impossible to afford food.

but i sound snarky and i don't mean to be. i know many ladies who cried in the movie. more than once, and one i know started in the opening credits. what i love about this movie is that it continues the story into the forties and, for samantha, it touches 50. this is inspiring to see on the screen: women over 40 still having a role and a focal point. forty seems to be the beginning of the black hole years: when you're too old to be a leading lady (unless it is something like "one fine day" where age and adulthood with kids is the point) but you are still too young to be a grown person's still-attractive mother. it's bad enough that we don't see enough movies about women, and it's even worse that there aren't stories about women over thirty.

as a thirtysomething, i would prefer to watch stories about the issues women in their forties face: career versus family, relationships with unconventional approaches, kids vs. no kids, and so on. i would even be interested in this kind of story without all the glam fashion and shoes.

but the shoes are fun to watch. if you've been swayed by less than admirable reviews, don't miss this film for that reason. of course it's superficial in it's way, but the show was always playing with those themes. see it because you want to support stories about women in film and see it because it does look at issues no other film this summer cares to look at: who women are and what they struggle with.

plus it's a fun event to dress up for. enjoy!

lottie wilkins, unsung guru

yes, it's true. i wrote about enchanted april this time last year on literature life. and until i cease to get something out of it, i will keep  on going!  most people pick a guru from a spiritually advanced nation, from some illustrious yogic or zen buddhist tradition. for me, lottie wilkins says it all.

"fair play to those who dare to dream"

for those of you who weren't glued to the academy awards last night, don't miss the chance to see the beautiful acceptance speeches from the music award, when the song from "once" won. this was one of the inspiring moments of the night. glen hansard's message in both the movie and his acceptance speech about making art and persevering is so amazing. marketa iglova was originally cut off by the move-it-along fascists and then was asked to come back out by john stewart and delivered a speech every bit as moving.

irglova's thanks and thoughts on independent musicians and hansard's exclamation "make art, make art!" are the best motivational speeches on sticking with your dreams that i have heard in quite a while. try out one of your dreams this week. happy monday.