I actually saw the movie "W" on its opening weekend. I banged out my review and turned it in the next day.  But due to some technical glitches on my Canadian internet home, it took a while to get it up.  That said, I'm pretty proud of this review.  Don't really know why.  I just feel like it's a good one.  It always helps when I don't like a movie for a very specific reason.  And this one has plenty.

So, check out the review.  Hopefully, by now, if you've seen the movie, you've developed your own opinions and can either heartily agree or get violently angry with me.  Either way, read on.  http://www.cinemaspy.ca/article.php?id=1535

I know my blogging has slowed to a crawl, for which I apologize to all four of you still checking it on an occasional basis, but I fulfilled a lifelong dream (sort of) last night, and that is reason to do a little blogging.

I remember the first episode I ever saw (and comprehended) of Saturday Night Live.  1987.  Sigourney Weaver was the host.  It's also the episode featuring the classic "Chopping Broccoli" sketch and Weaver strangely singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Buster Poindexter.  After watching that episode, I began an obsessive streak of recording every single episode of SNL, which I would insist that my parents and I watch as soon as I woke up on Sunday mornings.  This was followed by an almost obsessive rewatching of every episode of SNL from 1980-present day as shown by Comedy Central at 3 and 4 every afternoon for the majority of my formative years and a less obsessive watching of the 1975-1979 casts on Nickelodeon due to one particularly frightening to a 9 year-old parody of "Night of the Living Dead.".  I knew every cast member, every sketch, every moment of SNL greatness.

But in my live watching of over 20 years (yikes) of this mainstay of late night television, I'd never once managed to actually get inside the doors of Studio 8H. Not  for lack of trying, but there are only so many "give me a ticket" postcards one girl can send. 

However, yesterday, by the hand of fate or just knowing someone who knows someone, I finally gained entrance into the home of SNL.  Now, granted, I was hoping when I finally got into Studio 8H, it would be as a performer or writer or showrunner, whatever.  But if I've had to compromise a little on this one, it's not the end of the world.  I still got to stand next to the Church Lady and Beldar Conehead costumes.  I got to sit in the SNL bleachers and look down at the studio floor that I've been watching at home for two decades (of course, it's much smaller than it looks on TV). 

I was nearly giddy when Loren Michaels came speeding onto the floor and disappeared again directly under my feet.  I was highly entertained when Jason Sudekis and Will Forte decided to kill time by singing a very strange rendition of "Taking It To the Streets" and got a little misty-eyed when I realized I was watching a "Blues Brothers" impression on the same stage where The Blues Brothers were born.  And I nearly lost my mind when the lights came up and there was Will Farrell (who magically appeared behind the Presidential desk during a blackout).  And when I looked to the side and saw Tina Fey waiting to make her entrance, I actually vibrated a little in my seat.

Doesn't matter that it was only a half-hour special.  Or that I could barely hear what was going on on the stage below me.  I got to see Amy Poehler flub her lines and hear Seth Meyers make really tasteless jokes that never made it to air and get a preview of a too-long introduction taped by the real Sarah Palin for the Presidential Bash special airing in a few weeks.  No, it's not on par with seeing the original Not Ready for Primetime Players or even the Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Lovitz cast.  But it is enough that for a couple of hours, I got to be a part of SNL history.

Or as I text messaged my friend after the show, "EEEEE!!!!!!"

Here's the sketch that made me screech with glee.

So, the Dow Jones just dropped another 700 points.  I'm really, really good at denial - better than most, actually - but with these 500, 600, 700 and 800 point drops happening on a daily basis, there is just no way to not be petrified at what is currently going on with our economy.  I'm picturing myself dressed in hobo gear, riding the rails and eating in soup kitchens in the next year or so, along with everyone I know, and I'm not too pleased about that. 

The only thing keeping me from crawling under my desk and curling into the fetal position is the fact that we have people like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and the folks at SNL to keep the situation slightly lighter than it was back in the days of the great ol' depression.  Right now, they are the non-partisan truth speakers, who aren't afraid to tell the emperor that he isn't wearing clothes (even though they have absolutely no way to put any clothes back on him.)

So, in order to hopefully brighten the day of others, or at least to halt a bit of the panick, here are a few of the clips that have helped keep me sane the past few days.

Really? With Seth and Amy (wait till after the cat joke.  I didn't edit it quite right):



Jon Stewart and Sarah Vowell

The Canadians took a few days to put up my latest review of "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist."  But it's up there now, and y'all should check it out.

http://www.cinemaspy.ca/article.php?id=1452

Just a quick note about this movie.  I know officially we're out of the age range that is supposed to enjoy teen films, but I'm still a kid at heart and the kids in this movie aren't really kids.  They're more like early '20 somethings who accidentally were labeled as teenagers.  This film, in which the characters run around the Lower East Side of Manhattan (A place I am rather familiar with), is like watching a night out with my friends a few years ago.  Which makes me love it even more.

And more importantly, this is a film that inspires you to believe that your soulmate may still be out there.  This isn't a normal rom-com romance. Nick and Norah both love and hate each other through most of the movie, in very real ways.  They have exes that are all wrong for them who keep popping up.  They fight more than they're nice.  But their relationship and the evening they spend is totally believable.  And for me, at least, it made me remember the kind of relationship I always intended to have - with the kind of person that just "gets" you.  It's a reminder I needed at the moment I saw it, and it makes me love this movie even more.

So, read my review.  http://www.cinemaspy.ca/article.php?id=1452  And go see the movie.  You're never too old for something like this.