NYR 3-7-11 - on the occasion of our 13th wedding anniversary

Some days, I'm pretty sure I stepped into my mother's grown-up life.

How can I be almost 40 with an 8 year-old, celebrating my 13th wedding anniversary today when I still feel like a 20-something year-old?

Sometimes I feel like I have no idea how that happened, but I can tell you that it's gone by in the blink of an eye.

13 years?

POOF!

And it's been bigger and better and more fun than anything I could have ever imagined for my life.

For the charmed life that I live with my love and my son, I am so eternally and truly and profoundly grateful. Happy Anniversary, Babe!

Itzhak Perlman and the errant cell phone

On Wednesday night, Jimmy and I went to a beautiful new theater here in Bogota to hear Itzhak Perlman play his violin like only he can do.

Before the show started, they made the now-normal house announcement to silence your cell phones. Personally, I think if you know who this guy is and have shelled out the money to see him play, then you should know to turn off your cell phone without being told.

That's what I get for thinking.

Perlman was in the middle of the first portion of the concert, playing a sonata by Mozart, when, like nails on a chalkboard, somebody's cell phone on the theater floor started ringing. It wasn't a little ring tone - it was a full-fledged song bleating out from that phone that was obviously programmed for the "outdoors" loud setting. Perlman didn't miss a beat on his violin nor did he lose any momentum, but his head snapped around in the direction of the offender and if looks could kill, the people in the area of the offender would have been toast.

I don't know who was so important that s/he didn't turn his cell phone off, but had that been me, I would have crawled out of the theater on my hands and knees and left before anyone could say anything to me.

Apparently the offender did not feel the same way.

Perlman continued on and maybe two minutes later, THE SAME CELL PHONE RANG AGAIN. The audience let out a collective gasp and everybody's heads turned from facing forward to looking off to the left to see who could be such a heel as to let this keep happening.

(I have given a lot of thought to the cell phone user. I've convinced myself that he's a heart transplant surgeon who was using cell phone code ringing for a life and death situation. Like "if it rings once, it means the heart's not a match so don't need to leave the concert, but if it rings twice, you need to bid Perlman adieu and get yourself on down to the hospital because we've got a transplant getting ready to happen." It was probably just a call to confirm the carpool schedule for Thursday morning, but I'm thinking big.)

Perlman didn't react at all this time. He finished the movements of the sonata and then he and his accompanying pianist left the stage to great applause.

When they returned to play the next sonata, Perlman made a great show of pulling out his Blackberry and pushing the off button over and over. It was totally brilliant and charming and made us feel like he'd forgiven the offender even if we hadn't.

I am still so excited that we got to see Perlman play. Aside from his obviously mastery, he brought such joy and energy to the music - he really made you feel "filled up" with his spirit and love of and appreciation for the music.

After playing for an hour and a half, he and his accompanist then played an encore of another 4 or 5 short pieces that he discussed with great knowledge and wonderful humor. Jimmy was slightly disappointed that he didn't play "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" as an encore, which would have been the ultimate nod to his sense of humor, but alas, I guess he saves that for when he's hanging out with the Charlie Daniels Band. We'll have to keep looking for that particular concert series to be announced!

NYR 2-16-11 - Itzhak Perlman Concert

For the privilege of being able to listen to this man make music from his violin, I am so truly thankful.

NYR 2-13-11 - the circus!

The maternal instinct in me that wants to introduce Mac to as many arts-related activities as possible has kicked in. I'm not talking Crayola and gluestick projects (which are totally beyond my abilities). I'm talking about spending money and buying tickets to see events that are somehow artsy. After a slow start, there are all these great things happening in Bogota right now.

For instance, Shakira, the Colombian bombshell pop singer, is hosting the Shakira Pop Festival in Bogota next month. It's in the afternoon in the Bogota version of Central Park, and she wants it be family-friendly (for kids 7 and over!), so there are special places of the venue designated "preferable" for families. Of course, those tickets were the VIP ones, but I couldn't put my 8 year-old child in a mosh pit, so I shelled out the money for the VIP section. After watching the Grammy Awards last night, I'm even more excited about the Pop Festival because newly minted Grammy winner Train is also playing there.

Yesterday, we went to a fabulous new theater in Bogota to see a Cirque de Soleil-esque circus called PSY performed by Les 7 Doigts de la Main, a Canadian company out of Montreal. According to the website, "for their fourth creation, Les 7 Doigts de la Main delves into the rich and surreal underworld of the human psyche. PSY travels through a shifting landscape of distorted visions, fading dreams and fractured memories. Insomnia, addiction, amnesia, paranoia, hypochondria. juggling, Chinese pole, German wheel, aerial rope, teeterboard. By juxtaposing these darker issues with the invigorating and life-affirming language of circus arts, PSY brings out the humour, beauty, and commonality of these various neuroses, all the while celebrating the power of the individual to surmount their ailments and self-imposed restrictions, finding moments of strength, courage and joy while flying through the air."

Now obviously Mac didn't get all the psychological stuff (and I only got some of it because the little speaking they did was in Spanish), but he LOVED all the acrobatics and juggling and Chinese pole stuff. It was incredible. Great music, great theater, great performance. If PSY comes to a theater near you, you need to go!

For a great matinee at the circus with Mac, I am truly thankful.

P.S. Jimmy and I have tickets to see Itzhak Perlman on Wednesday night. Can't wait!!

NYR 2-12-11

For a yummy dinner out and getting to see The Fighter, which I practically produced (and LOVED as a movie), I am truly thankful.

my life in the movies...

Our childhood friend Jeremy works in the film industry in the accounting department. He's worked on some very cool stuff that I can remember, like Oceans 12 and 13 (or was it 11 and 12 - I lose track of those numbered movies), Batman with Heath Ledger, Bride Wars, etc. And he's worked on lots of other stuff that I can't remember the names of right now. It's currently 1:45am, which is well past my bedtime so my brain's not fully functioning, but I had to share this day with you!

When Jeremy visited us in Sao Paulo in May, I happened to mention that I'd love to go to a movie set and that you'd think with a friend who worked in the business that possibly I'd have the opportunity at some point in my life. Jeremy is a very clever guy and invited me to come to a movie set at some point in my life, but especially when we were back in the US over this next year.

He started working on a movie in Lowell, Massachusetts, outside of Boston in June. The movie is called "The Fighter" and stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, and co-stars Amy Adams. It's based on the gritty, but true story of Lowell boxer Micky Ward and his brother and trainer Dicky Ecklund. Micky Ward is probably most well-known for his three fights with Arturo Gatti, who committed suicide a couple months ago in my favorite Brazilian beach town, Porto de Galinhas. (HBO also did a documentary called "High on Crack Street" in 1995 which chronicles part of the Micky/Dicky story. You can watch it in 7 parts on YouTube but it is not for the faint of heart.)

This movie is being made on very small budget and there are just 33 filming days in total, so I didn't have many choices for visiting the set. By the time Jimmy left, they were already on something like day 14 with just 3 weekends left to go. One of those weekends is our 20th class reunion and the other weekend is just before I start work, so this weekend was the only good choice. So I booked my ticket and off I went today to Boston.

I will be the first to tell you that I think I lead a charmed life. I continue to get to do things that are beyond any expectations that I ever had for myself and my life and visiting this movie set is one of those things. I had promised Jeremy I'd be a model of discretion, I wouldn't make a peep, I would speak to no one unless spoken to first, I wouldn't stalk movie stars, etc. You have to understand that this world is so foreign to me that I'm completely and utterly fascinated by it. My one true guilty pleasure is reading People magazine - everything in it is so far removed from my normal existence that I may as well be reading about life on Mars. To be on a movie set around movie stars and people who make movies was a way cool experience for me.

Anyway, I got to the hotel (where I would like to tell you that Amy Adams is also staying but I have yet to see her - maybe tomorrow morning at the breakfast buffet??) and ironed my clothes because I could not go to my first and probably only movie set in wrinkled clothes. Jeremy picked me up about 7 and we went to the set. They were shooting on location at a bar in a gritty part of Lowell. I got a very cool badge that I had to wear and we walked right in. Apparently all you need is a badge. There are so many people running around that as long as you have the badge, you are obviously supposed to be there.

Jeremy introduced me to one of the producers who was seriously the nicest, most non-stereotypical movie type person that you could imagine. This guy took us around the set and pointed all these different things of interest to me. At this point, they were having stand-ins stand around to check lighting and whatever else movie people check before they film so we eventually moved off to the side to get out of the way.

While we were watching all the activity, Christian Bale apparently walked right past us and I missed him. Can you believe it???? I should have come up with a signal system with Jeremy so he could notify me of close star proximity, but that thought came to me too late. The producer introduced me to the real Dicky and another guy from the High on Crack Street documentary (and we saw the real Micky when we got out of the car earlier). The producer also introduced me to this other actor who plays Dicky and Micky's dad, but I'm drawing a blank on his name right now. TOTALLY C-R-A-Z-Y!

So when it got closer to filming time, the producer took us outside to this place where they had monitors set up with director's chairs with different names embroidered on them. The producer told me to sit in his chair - CAN YOU IMAGINE??? - and he gave me a set of headphones so I could listen to the filming while watching the monitors. How cool is that? I thought I was very VIP. So we watched for awhile but let me tell you, movie-making is a seriously slow process. We left the set about 9 to go eat dinner with one of Jeremy's friends and they still had hours of filming to do.

BUT I get to go back to the set tomorrow afternoon so maybe I'll see Mark Wahlberg. And if I see Amy over Rice Krispies in the morning, I'll be sure to pass along your regards!