Donna in Hollywoodland

Hey, its the 3 day weekend !

It poured out today, This morning, Cinnamon the cat was sitting on my lap as I had my coffee.I did not want to get up. It was raining terribly out. I just wanted to stay in the apartment with the cat on my lap for the rest of the day. But I finally got moving and drove to work in the downpour...

Then when I got to the parking lot, there is a huge flat-bed truck moving concrete dividers into the parking lot behind our builing. Turns out the parking lot is now tented for Oscar Night parties. I had to sit and wait in the pouring rain while the workers tried to get the huge flat bed truck to back into the lot. I ended up calling my boss from my cell phone telling her I was stuck at the parking entrance.

Today at work just dragged on. Usually on the Friday before a holiday, they let us leave early.Not today. Oh, it was painful. Especially since half of the employees took vacation days, so the place was half-empty.

After work, I dashed over to the Laemmle Sunset Five to see Vera Drake.
Driving down Sunset Blvd, lightening flashing in the sky. I made sure my cell phone was off because they say you can get struck by lightening if you use your cell phone. So as the bolts flashed over West Hollywood, I made sure the cell phone was off. Ah, sunny California ...

That 8000 Sunset Mall that the Laemmles is in must have been designed in the 1980s.The escalators are outside. Which really doesn't work very well with our new weather in California. They had yellow tape wrapped around the escalators. And the stairs up to the theatre were slippery with rain. I managed to find the elevator that goes up to the upper floors -its the one near Buzz coffee. The walkways are made with a covering that gets very slippery in the rain.

I got my ticket for Vera Drake .

Then, since I am trying not to eat junk, figured I would go eat at a Restaurant. Well, all the restaurants were closed. What used to be Wolfgang Punks is being turned into a California Pizza Kitchen - and that won't be opened until Summer.
It looks like there is some remodeling going on - I guess everyone needs to catch up to The Grove and Hollywood and Highland just to keep the people visiting.

So I navigated the sidewalk on Sunset, risking injury by Cars that don't want to stop. And walked over to the Subway sandwich shop. When I got back to the movie theatre,I ended up getting Red Vines anyway. So much for my healthy dinner.

Vera Drake was a good movie. Dramatic. I wanted to see Imelda Staunton's performance since she is up for Oscar's Best Actress. She goes from being this naive do-gooder "helping" women who are in the "family way" during the 1950s - and by the end of the film she sees that what she had done has has hurt her husband and children.

I don't see this movie as pro-abortion, even though abortion is the topic. To me, it is about a woman who feels strongly about something.. and is pretty naive about how she handles it. She gave a medical procedure to women, and then didn't bother to check up on the afterwards to make sure they ended up alright. And she didn't think about what it would do to her husband and children if she ever got caught doing what
she was doing. The movie doesn't really portray her as a crusader for her cause - but as a woman who does something illegal without thinking the entire thing through. I mean, she doesn't even accept money for what she is doing, allowing herself to be taken advantage of by the woman who is getting her the abortion assignments.
She does these only because she just wants to help these young girls get out of trouble. So the movie really just tells the story of what happened to this character without being preachy about the topic. It is the dramatic story of this womans life. The scenes at the end where Vera is arrested and her family is shattered, are very dramatic and handled with raw emotion.

Oh, just as I am writing this, there is more thunder and lightening... and the lights are flickering. I better light some candles and get off the computer.
Just keep repeating.. Sunny California... Sunny California ... Sunny California

posted by Donna Grayson # 11:33 PM

Donna in Hollywoodland

Friday, February 18, 2005

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