(02/14/03 5:00am)
No discussion regarding The Hours fails to mention Nicole Kidman's nose. Most of the world was unaware that Kidman contained such dramatic depths -- to think, she temporarily disfigured her face for a part. But sometimes obstructed by that honking schnoz is a novel that was winning awards before Kidman's nose ever got involved.
Recently, I took part in a conversation with The Hours author Michael Cunningham in which he, too, confessed his awe of Kidman's acting abilities as well as life in general.
The Hours interweaves three narratives through their relationship to Virginia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Cunningham, who won a Pulitzer for the book, is modest about its beginnings. "The original idea was not very interesting," he said. "I just wanted to write a modern day version of Mrs. Dalloway... And very gradually, over the course of about a year, I sort of hammered it into the shape that it ultimately took." That form incorporates a housewife reading Mrs. Dalloway for the first time, as well as Virginia Woolf, herself, on the day she began to write the novel.
Although Cunningham did not limit The Hours to a strict retelling of Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf's tone served as an ever-present inspiration. "I don't know another writer who wrote more persuasively, directly and fully about the simple joy of being alive," he said. But his is no dictionary-defined optimism. Cunningham's philosophy, which he also attributes to Woolf, is that "life go[es] on, even in the face of the worst that can happen to people. That's the only kind of optimism I trust." In that light, maybe it's not so surprising that his self-avowed "life-affirming" novel begins and ends with the suicides of two central characters.
In response to questions regarding his ability to create three such vivid female main characters, Cunningham has an easy answer: "I know many biological women, and I speak to them frequently on a variety of topics." He makes it sound simple. "If I couldn't get to the point where I knew what it was like to be this person, whether it's a man or a woman, a dog or a cat," he said. "I wouldn't write about the person. Frankly, how I get there, I couldn't tell you."
Cunningham's first reaction to the success of The Hours, was a surprised, "is it all downhill from here?" But, with his own brand of cynicism-turned-optimism, he quickly rebounded. "If everyone's going to hate the next book that I write, no matter what I write," he said, "then I'm free to write whatever I want"
(02/06/03 5:00am)
Today is not my lucky day. As you read this, terrible, untold things might be happening to me, because this week my lucky days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But, forewarned is forearmed, and thus, I am well fortified in my bedroom, in my pajamas, reading a book, staying out of harm's way.
I bought this protection for a mere $15 and two SEPTA tokens, where a psychic named Doreen read my palms and aura (a bonus upgrade), revealing priceless details about my future and my personality.
Doreen Marks practices out of her home on 15th and Chestnut, reading tarot cards, crystals and offering sundry other psychic services. Her clairvoyance is hereditary, she explained, running mostly along the female line. She noticed her talents young, but she did not harness the power for profit until much later. Yet, for a person who bases her business on knowing the intimate details of strangers' lives, she was quite reticent about sharing the details of her own, deftly avoiding some questions and equivocating on others.
Marks did, however, offer a small peek into the psychic world, explaining several psychic phenomena and discussing her perceptions. Auras, for instance, appear like a glow of bright or dark light around a person's body. They reveal information both about the disposition of the person and their fate. Mine was a light white-gray color -- a good thing, she said. Some auras are more unbalanced, she said, but when I asked what a bad aura would look like, she smiled portentously and warned, "you don't want to know."
Marks' ability is untaught. While some learn to read tarot cards from books or courses, for Marks, it's as plain as the words on this page. But it's not as if she automatically sees the auras of every person walking down the street -- that, she joked, would just get confusing.
So let's get down to brass tacks. Technical details about auras and lifelines aside, could the woman read my future? She told me a litany of wonderful things about myself and my rosy future, which will include true love (with a Leo, Gemini or Cancer), financial security and a successful career.
She spoke in vague terms and prompted me to supply the details, such as when she remarked that an old woman worries about me, and asked me if I knew who it was. About the only verifiable fact she offered me was that I will die at age 82. So, look me up in sixty years, and I'll let you know how that goes.
But, taking a page from Miss Cleo's book, Marks repeatedly insisted that her services are for entertainment and curiosity only, and on those, she delivers. And she got a few things right --I do plan to find true love, a successful career and financial security, and she might have been right about the rest as well. So all you Leos, Geminis and Cancers, maybe Friday will be your lucky day, too -- wink, wink.
(10/18/01 4:00am)
At first glance, Justin Theroux looks like he was born and bred to
play Adam Kesher, the movie director in David Lynch's latest
whacked-out film, Mulholland Drive. Black-clad, chain-smoking,
good-looking and cynical, you might be able to recognize the guy
who was also in independent films like American Psycho and I
Shot Andy Warhol. But looks, as usual, are deceiving. Theroux is
actually charming, smart and funny. But he's still cynical.