Celebrities, LinkedIn and 2010 Films

I made it to 200! This morning I got in to work and found my linkedin account had been busy while I was gone. I find I was up to 199. This weekend I was catching up with old friends. After a late night Saturday, we were sitting around the kitchen table sipping Rye (apparently it’s the new scotch) and sharing what we had on our iphones. We realized (those of us in LinkedIn – ok I think it was just Fred and I) that we weren’t Linked yet.

So after seeing my count this morning I shoot Fred an invitation to link. And then in good measure, a few other folks. Lunch time I check and I’m at 203. I can’t find out who was my 200th connection – bummer (#1). I just went to find the link to a previous blog (this one) about my next milestone of 200 only to find I had targeted 250 – bummer (#2). On the upside I discovered my bro posted a comment I had missed. Still, not too shabby – getting there and it’s been some great conversations with folks I had worked with in the past. I was able to connect someone in my local sustainability group with someone who was in my sustainability group at my last grad school (out of state). That was pretty cool.

That’s now. This weekend, I had a great visit and think I hit a new record of quantity of films I saw at the film festival. I love the idea of a film festival, but when you sit down and add up the cost it gets expensive. Here’s what I got to see (note the last three films I saw back to back to back on Saturday so that might have affected my take away):

1. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. This political documentary is about how the man who spoke up against Wall Street and the state government in Albany is brought down. I give it a middle of the road rating. I felt the film did a good job of setting the scene although I didn’t follow Spitzer as closely as my friends who are in NY. The film sets up where Spitzer got his intellectual approach from (sitting around the dinner table debating issues) but it left two very important questions unanswered.

First, here is this knight fighting against the Wall Street barons. We know where he got his talent for fighting the fight, but I still want to know why was he fighting. Where did he get is drive to make things right – the morality part. From what I can tell, his father would fall in the general category of CEO business men that he was fighting against. Second, the ultimate question. Why did he cheat? Why an escort service? Was it an outlet? Just why.

2. Made in Dagenham. This film is about the equal pay strike that the women went on in the Dagenham Ford plant in England (think Norman Rae in England). Its directed by the same guy who did Calendar Girls. So I wasn’t expecting too much – pretty much along the lines of some working class English down on their luck struggling to overcome adversity that isn’t too heavy. And this film delivered that while catching me up on this part of women’s history. It’s a good Saturday afternoon film. It was very tidy and Hollywoodish. But good performances all around. And makes me appreciate my current paycheck and living in the 21st century even though I don’t think we’ve got equality in pay yet, we’re a lot closer than we were.

3. Black Swan. This is the Natalie Portman film about Swan Lake. I hadn’t heard anything about it and got pulled in. Talking about it afterwards, I do agree it’s a very malecentric take and it was somewhat confusing about what is real. But it sucked me into the story and reinforced why I like Natalie Portman. She did a great job. I only wish her black swan part lasted on the screen longer as it would only reinforce her ability to span such a large spectrum of acting. I did have an annoying woman sitting behind me who had come to the wrong film by accident and complained about how bad the film was a few times throughout. As she was remarking “people are clapping?! The film was horrible” I was tempted to turn around and make some snarky comment that it was more geared towards the type of intellectuals who know how to read a frickin’ film program schedule.

4. Fair Game. This political film is about how the husband of a CIA agent who spoke up against the white house is brought down. Ok, not quite, but it is eerily of the same genre as the first film I saw, Client 9. It was good for what it was – a Hollywood version of a political event in the news a few years back. I found Sean Penn really annoying but apparently this character is annoying. Lots of items glossed over – this is a Hollywood film, not a getting-to-the-bottom of things documentary. We all agreed we like how they transitioned the end – from Naomi Watts to the real Valerie Plame.

Interestingly enough, the female leads of the last three films are all tagged for Oscar nominations. Overall, fun time, glad I stumbled upon these films before I heard too much about them. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend any of them as an “OMG you must see this film”, but I wouldn’t say you’re wasting your money if you see the film. Writing this up, I do still feel a little exhausted from the inevitable outrage that simmers about the injustice in business and politics.

And I’ve saved the best for last (partly because I almost forgot to report it). This year, I finally saw a celebrity! I never see celebrities. The biggest one to date is Ken Burns which I’ve posted about before and if I’m realistic, I think only 2% of Americans know who he is (that’s optimistic, I’m revising it to 0.5%). This time, it’s not a 100%, but think I’ve jumped into double digits – it was Scott Cohen. Long pause, yeah, I don’t think I’d recognize his name either. But you know who he is. We either fell in love with him as Max Medina in Gilmore Girls (her teacher that her mother dates) or as a love interest in Kissing Jessica Stein. Here’s how it went down: Saturday morning I’m chasing Emilia’s two kids on the downtown streets of Chatham with her waiting for the early movie to finish so we can grab someone’s pass. The kids are riled up (I might have had something to do with that) and I’m just thinking “thank god we’re playing man to man versus zone defense here”. I’ve got Dunc who is a two year old who loves to run. He’s a runner. You turn your head a moment and he’s gone. So on the sidewalk, I’m running after him, trying to corral him away from any potential danger. We’re running up and down a fairly wide sidewalk. I’m scooping him up periodically. Or getting him to look in store windows. Not too many people on the street (as the movies are have not let out), but I keep passing this one person who is attractive and somewhat familiar looking. It was one of those catching each other’s eyes when you pass each other, which made me think I might know him. I couldn’t quite place him. Maybe someone I know from another chapter in my life – I almost said something, but with the runner, no chance. Fast forward 30 minutes, the movie has let out, we’ve picked up the ticket, head home, drop off the kids, and Emilia and I are heading back for the Made in Dagenham film. We cut through an ally and emerge onto Main Street. I almost run into the handsome fellow from earlier again. This time I’m thinking maybe I know him because he’s an actor. Of course, Emilia knows who it is, they even chatted. While we wait in line for the doors to open, I was tempted to go over and say “hi” and snag a photo. But I didn’t, mainly because the only reason why I would want a photo is so I can post it here, which doesn’t seem like a valid enough reason to invade on a strangers privacy. So no photo. But good sighting!