I watched Julie and Julia last night from the delicious comfort of my bed. I highly recommend everything be done in bed, quite frankly. It’s my womb and safe haven. Except eating. Husband frowns on this. I have amended the no eating rule to exclude ice cream. Ice cream is fine because there are no crumbs. Crumbs make husband turn into the Incredible Hulk.
Seems lupus was annoyed to be sharing the stage with a cold last week so she is rearing her ugly head. Everything takes energy. Going to the store to get a few things requires I come home and nap for two hours. God forbid I do two things at once. My hands ache, at time painful to use. I’ve been gobbling ibuprofen, which only does so much. Whatever. I hurt. Blah blah blah. I’m dealing.
I digress…
The movie.
I wanted MORE Julia Child. Perhaps it was Meryl Streep’s portrayal of her but didn’t that woman just ooze enthusiasm and joy? So inspiring and delightful. Her husband ADORED her, which I loved as well. What a love story. Julia and her husband, Julia and food, Julia and life. She didn’t just embrace it, she French kissed it. (I have cards from here that say FRENCH KISS LIFE, now I want to frame one).
The problem I had with the film was the Julie part. I didn’t care about her. At all. I found her irritating and trite. I understand she “found herself” through her cooking project but I didn’t SEE that in the film. I saw a whiner who well, whined a lot, and neglected her husband and was unhappy. A lot.
At one point, Julie (played by Amy Adams) says to her friend “Am I a bitch?” The friend says “Yes”. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe that she was a bitch. A bitch is aggressive, goes after what she wants, takes control, etc. She was just kind of a whiny asshole. Maybe the real Julie Powell is a bitch (which is fine) but Amy Adams portrayal made her just seem sort of meek and pathetic.
I wanted to like her and root for her. I just couldn’t do it. I thought the juxtaposition of these two women was clunky.
Hm. Still processing…This of course brings up all sorts of things in my head about bloggers and how they come across versus reality. Do I come across as a whiny asshole? Perhaps. Am I really one? Perhaps. A post for another time…
I will say though that I immediately wanted to read everything and anything I could get my hands on about Julia Child. The movie should have just been about her.
And I wanted to cook. And eat. And say to my most fabulous, handsome husband “You are the butter to my bread. The breath to my life.” ( a fabulous quote from Paul Child to Julia in the film.)
Speaking of my darling bearded better half, I got the idea from Dooce to buy this t-shirt for him for Christmas. Being a font/word lover, I thought it was SO creative and thought he would appreciate the nerdiness.
Get it? El Vetica. Helvetica.
I love it and love the random Mexican wrestling mask with quotation marks for eyebrows.
Seeing as how PGP is clueless, I bring up the t-shirt casually in conversation thinking he’ll shriek (ok, he doesn’t shriek but perhaps chuckle) at the funny and creative shirt idea. So I tell him about it, not revealing that I had already purchased said shirt.
His reaction? (don’t worry…he doesn’t read my blog)
blink blink.
I smile and say “Isn’t that funny? Get it?”
blink blink. “Yeah, I get it.”
blink blink.
(turns back towards his computer)
Oh.
So when he opens it I’m going to be really dramatic and excited and shriek for him.
And then see if I can return it for a smaller size.
I wish you a lovely Sunday. I’m headed to Fancy Tiger this afternoon. Hadley is taking a craft class with her little pal. I heart her pal’s mom so we’re going to hang out while the girls get crafty. (anyone else have the Beasties just pop into their heads?)
Special holiday shout-out to the male J.H. Thanks for reading.
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