I hate fast weekends! This past one went by so fast that it seems as though it never happened at all! It didn't help that my current employer doesn't regard Good Friday as a holiday or that I've been battling a bitch of a cold that just makes me want to sleep all the time. So, I haven't done much at all since returning from Boston a week ago. However, I did catch a couple of new flicks: The Upside of Anger and Melinda & Melinda. Both are worth seeing. Lately, I'm really into the human drama and both of these films delivers on that score. Joan Allen is quickly becoming one of my fav actresses since first seeing her in The Ice Storm. Costner is very believable as a down and out former baseball star and the supporting cast, though not as interesting, all do a good job with the small part of the story that they participate in. I believe Evan Rachel Wood is going to be someone to watch over the coming years. I think I first saw her in the film Practical Magic. Then she showed up in the TV series Once and Again. Since then she has done a number of good film roles including Thirteen and The Missing. As far as M&M, Woody can't really go wrong for me. I know he has garnered alot of criticism for his overly narcissistic films but within his greater body of work, I don't think anyone can argue his validity as a film maker or his pastiche for dramedy story telling. M&M isn't entirely new in its format. It reminds me of Sliding Doors and The Double Life of Veronique but it's still a fascinating way to explore a story from two varying viewpoints.
Also, this week, an article I wrote a few weeks ago for the community paper Rogers Park 2000 came out. The paper is a free quarterly and can be found at many Rogers Park establishments like The Heartland, library, and the Alderman's Office. I was asked to do a story of the growing involvement of two area SSA (Special Service Areas) concerning the Howard Street area and the Morse Street area. I hadn't done much journalistic type writing before but found the experience to be fairly rewarding. I say "fairly" because I'm happy with the end result (full page article) but the process about stressed me out.
