It's a jungle out there...

Over the holiday break I re-watched the movie Up in the Air, a mildly depressing movie starring George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, and Vera Farmiga. It's about a man named Ryan (Clooney) who spends his life going around to different companies and helping them downsize, basically taking care of the firing of "unnecessary" staff. He's a travel lifer, perfecting the art of packing, getting through security (in the post-9/11 but pre-TSA pre-check days), and living a life of solitude that can only be described as bleak. He and Alex (Farmiga) meet in a hotel bar and begin a flirtation/affair over travel status and rental car upgrades. This what turns them on. It isn't until Natalie (Kendrick) comes along and convinces the boss that you can fire people from a computer console and not have to send out a fleet of people to do the dirty work that Ryan's way of life is threatened. Throw in some family drama, a sad apartment in Omaha, and Sam Elliott as a world famous pilot and you've got yourself a movie.

I saw this movie when it came out in 2009 at the height of my own work travel life. From roughly mid-2008-2011 I traveled once or more per week every week. There was a period in 2008 when I was on the road so much that I had to get my hair cut at the Mall of America while I was there for a work trip. There was another time that I was only home four days in two months. Like Ryan, I was obsessed with my mileage rewards and getting through security as fast as possible. I developed my own system for packing efficiently and cultivated personal on the road traditions that helped me feel more at home despite the fact that I was not at home. During part of this time, I traveled to Los Angeles and the Twin Cities a lot. I had friends there and that made all of the difference. I didn't hide in my hotel room, tired at the end of a long day of training. I went out and felt like a person who went to happy hours and tried new restaurants. Those moments made the road warrior life more like a regular life.

The year 2012 was a good one for me mainly because I stopped traveling as much. I would still have to go on an occasional trip but the weekly travel stopped. When you stop traveling like that you realize how much time you waste in airports, in line somewhere, or on planes. Now when I travel for work, I make sure to explore and to enjoy the trip while I get work done or do whatever I came to town to do. And this brings me to my recent trip to Cincinnati.

My company's global headquarters is in Cincinnati (it seems odd to me too but just go with it). I've worked for the company now for eight years and it wasn't until last March that I actually got to visit the mothership (as I referred to it) for the first time. I'm still amused by the fact that I get to be in Kentucky and Ohio when I'm at the airport and that the first question most people ask me about my trip is whether I had Skyline chili or not (the answer will always be no - I don't like Skyline chili). Lucky for me my friend Amy lives in Cincinnati so I have someone to hang out with and show me the ways of the city. On my last two trips, my delightful co-worker Jordana has been along too. We decided during this last trip (this week) that we needed to get out of our hotel and see more of the area. This is how we decided to visit Jungle Jim's.

What is Jungle Jim's you ask? A theme park? A bar? An international shopping extravaganza? It is all of these things and none of these things at the same time. Jungle Jim's is an international market that features tens of thousands of international items alongside Fruit Loops and normal old coffee. There's a fish market with live fish for you to select, a hot sauce section that could be its own store, a deli and cheese section that is probably the size of the fourth floor of our office building, and a wine/beer/liquor section that rivals any Total Wine out there. Did I mention that you can get a beer in a red Solo cup and drink while you grocery shop? You can, and I did twice. Oh yes, I've been both Jungle Jim's and it was glorious.

Like any expedition into the jungle, you need a guide and I had Amy (and her husband and their new baby) as mine. I met up with them for dinner early in the trip and the newer Jungle Jim's was right across from the restaurant. Of course we had to go. I'm so glad Amy was there to guide me; it is insane and overwhelming to walk into a Jungle Jim's for the first time. It's hard to decide where to go and what to see first because there's so much to see and explore. Do you go to the world-famous (I'm not joking) bathrooms first? Explore the international foods where you can buy an ostrich egg ($90) or find every type of rice and grain and spice known to man? What about the maple syrup and honey section?

The correct answer is to start at the beer and wine tasting area. Get a Solo cup of beer and begin your trek into the supermarket jungle. On my first visit I tried a peanut butter porter (excellent) and we spent two hours (no joke) walking around. I have never seen so many unusual and cool things in a grocery store before. Amy told me that there was even a hazelnut spread from Holland that was a chocolate and vanilla combo. The Eastgate location was out but I was able to find it at Fairfield. The international section is vast; I was impressed with the volume and variety of countries represented. All from a guy who started a produce stand in the mid-1970s. My first visit ended with a photo with Amy's new baby and the discovery of a section devoted to bugs for snacking. If you need some sago worms to replace your popcorn, I know where you can get some.

Jordana and I decided to go to the original Jungle Jim's in Fairfield on our last night in town. I think she was a little disappointed that I went without her but upon entering the store for the first time, was glad that I could serve as her guide. Like me, she found the store overwhelming and had no idea where to start. I suggested we find the beer first and it's on this trek that we discovered new displays that I had either ignored at the other location or just hadn't seen. We found the exotic meats sections where we could buy python, alpaca, and alligator. I didn't even know people ate python let alone that I would be able to buy it in Cincinnati.

We found the beer tasting area and got drinks for our trek around the store. The Fairfield layout is different so it took me some time to get my bearings. We finally found the international section with stops at the maple syrup/honey section and hot sauces. At this Jungle Jim's some of the countries are set up like little store fronts. It's charming and cute like a stroll down a street in Holland. I found the combo hazelnut spread (and it's delicious). Had we been so inclined we could have selected a live tilapia from the tank or had our pick of octopus or tuna steak. Again we found ostrich and emu eggs along with tiny quail eggs. Even with having visited twice, I know I've only seen a fraction of what either location has to offer.

What's most fascinating to me (and Jordana agreed) is that people were buying these items. There were lots of people doing their regular shopping here and picking up a few more exotic and interesting items along the way. People drive from other parts of Ohio to get specialty items from Jungle Jim's. I guess it's hard out there for python meat enthusiasts and Jungle Jim's can fill that void.

Which brings me to the most important question from these expeditions - why don't we have a Jungle Jim's in the DMV? The DC metro area seems like the perfect place for this store. I'm sure I could find many of the items in specialty stores around town but I'd have to go to multiple places and I wouldn't be able to drink beer while shopping. Don't we deserve weird displays, monorails from Kings Island, and famous bathrooms?

Or would Jungle Jim's lose its specialness if I could go anytime I want? I think the answer is yes. Even if I lived in Cincinnati I don't think I'd go there all the time. It would be a special treat or when I got a craving for a jar of hazelnut duo spread. It's finding places like Jungle Jim's that make work travel seem less like work and more like travel.

Alpaca, python, and beer cup photos by Jordana
All other photos by me

The Island of Misfit Toys Fourth Annual Answer Your Cat's Questions Day

Since discovering the existence of National Answer Your Cat's Questions Day in 2011, I have attempted each year to answer the questions that Pumpkin seems to want answered. She's a pretty smart cat and this year she's got some hard-hitting questions for me. I hope she knows that I did my best.

1. What have you done with my couch? What is this big, red fabric monster that smells funny and blocks the heater?

At some point in every adult human's life, they make a decision to purchase more "grown-up" furniture. Since we didn't move (say thank you) this year I decided to redecorate the apartment instead. The "monster" is my new couch. There are several things that you should like about this new couch: you can hide behind it, it's squishier (probably not the technical term), and it has more pillows. Also, our dear friend Christian made some fantastic memes out of you hiding behind it. You're a pretty funny cat. You should figure out how to put that comedic talent to use. Pet rent ain't cheap.

2. Why have you blocked the sunshine from my life? Don't you love me?

I didn't "block the sunshine," I put up curtains. Not just any curtains, thermal curtains. They're supposed to keep the apartment warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. I hope these will keep the energy bills down and to make our home more comfortable. You can still see the sun and laze about in its warm glory.

3. Okay, I get the warmness but what about my patrol duties? How am I supposed to patrol? 

I leave the blinds open for you so you can jump on the window sill and behind the curtains to continue your patrol duties. The curtains don't prohibit you from keeping up on your patrol. I would never, ever want you to stop your patrol duties. How would I know about the threats of birds that are outside and the bugs you don't seem to be able to catch and whatever it is that you chase around the apartment at 3 am? Your patrol duties can continue. Calm down.

4. What happened to my hedgehog?

I thought you'd enjoy some cat grass; it's recommended by your vet so you can enjoy plants without eating something that will kill you. This is why I bought you the hedgehog planter and successfully grew the cat grass (you know I kill all plants so this is pretty great). Like so many other things, you got too excited and dumped the hedgehog on the carpet making a dirt mess. Thankfully, the hedgehog survived but the cat grass did not. This is why we can't have nice things. I'm sorry you miss the hedgehog but for now, you're not allowed to have things like this. Maybe we can try again this spring.


5. Movie question: Do you think that Jim Jarmusch was implying that Jack White is a vampire in the movie Only Lovers Left Alive?

When did you watch this movie and why are you interested all of the sudden? Is it because I have a minor Tom Hiddleston obsession? Is it because you watch movies when I'm not home? You know I don't like you watching R rated movies when I'm not home; stick to nature programs and reruns of Night Court. The movie takes place in Detroit, Adam and Eve drive past Jack's childhood home and talk about how much they like him, and at times, Adam resembles a later White Stripes era Jack White. I'm not sure if Jarmusch is implying that White is a vampire but he's saying something about rock stars and eternity. And the starkness and beauty of Detroit.

6. Why did you lock me in the bathroom for a whole day? Don't you like me? 

Of course I like you. As a thank you for renewing my lease this year, the apartment complex scheduled a free carpet cleaning for the apartment. Since I can't trust you to just sit somewhere when strangers are in the apartment and I have to you know, go to work, I had to put you somewhere safe. The bathroom was the best option. I put your food and water in there and your favorite pillow. I came home early that day so you wouldn't have to be in there longer than needed. Don't you think the carpets look really nice now? They managed to get the laundry detergent spill stain out which makes me super happy.

7. How many more seasons of Gilmore Girls are left to watch? I was hoping you'd re-watch Treme instead.

Technically there are four seasons left; I started with season four this time and have the final season left and then I should probably go back and watch seasons one-three. I agree that we should re-watch Treme sometime soon but I don't think I can do it right now. I have life stuff to do and watching certain episodes of that show make me homesick and sad. Let's focus on other things like reorganizing the pictures that are hanging up in the house. I know you'll be a big help with that project, ignoring me when I ask if the pictures are straight. You're always a big help around the house. 

8. Last question: Why is there a painting on top of the cabinets in the kitchen? It's sort of in the way.

Remember when we had that other cat visit us months ago and she got stuck in the inexplicable opening up there? After that incident I got the feeling that you might try the same thing so I left the painting I put up there so that you wouldn't end up stuck. I like to think that I take good care of you and this is just one more way to protect you from getting involved in a situation for which you have no exit strategy.


Thanks for joining Pumpkin and me for this year's Answer Your Cat's Questions Day. Hope that you enjoyed Pumpkin's questions; she always comes up with some good ones. It also looks like she figured out that the "monster" is her friend.

Lazy Movie Weekend: It's DTV Time!

Let's all jump in the Island of Misfit Toys Time Machine for a moment and take ourselves back to that magical time known as the late 1980s through the mid 1990s. Why is this time so magical you ask? Because we have places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video to go to whenever a slumber party or a movie night with friends was in the works. I fondly recall visits to Blockbuster to rent the same five movies: The Breakfast Club, Northshore, Pretty in Pink, Shag the Movie, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Occasionally I'd get creative and throw in Heathers or Say Anything. It's through these magical moments that many of my friends were introduced to these movies. Throw in our access to WGN movie marathons and USA Up All Night and our slumber parties were complete.

I miss the video store. It's not the same as browsing in a record store but it's just as loaded with memories and fun. I remember there being an alternative video store in New Orleans when I was in college, one of the last video stores that I recall going to. It's there that I rented Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a film by Todd Haynes that used Barbie dolls to tell the story of Karen Carpenter (you can watch it on YouTube if you're so inclined) and also got the filmmaker in deep trouble with the Carpenter family. I get that services like Netflix and Hulu are the future, but there's something so great about watching a video. I admit that I am too nostalgic sometimes.

For Christmas this year, my brother got me a Blu-Ray/DVD player since I decided that it was finally time to upgrade and to replace the VHS tapes (yes I still have a handful) and start switching to Blu-Ray from DVD. My first purchase was one of my slumber party favorites, Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I have had it on VHS since 1990; definitely time to upgrade. I haven't watched this movie in probably 10 years and it was still everything that I remember it being. So pop some popcorn, grab a Tab, and settle in for 1985's Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

1. Fun bonus on this version: a preview for the movie we all know and love as Heathers but is being promoted as Lethal Attraction. I imagine this was a way to make a teenage version of Fatal Attraction. How very of them.
2. I suppose part of the reason I liked this movie so much was that Janey (Sarah Jessica Parker) was an Army brat like me. She moved around a lot ("Eleven schools but the uniform's always the same. Even on Guam.") and was very nice and polite. And of course, she loves to dance. 
3. Helen Hunt! Y'all, why isn't she in more these days? She was so amazing as Lynne Stone, Janey's new BFF and resident Catholic school rebel. I never wanted to be Janey; I always wanted to be Lynne.
4. Explain to me why shows like DanceTV (DTV for the rest of this post) don't exist anymore. Why? This is why everything is terrible.
5. Fun fact: Richard Blade plays the DTV host. He's one of the DJs on Sirius Radio's First Wave station. I don't have satellite radio (I don't get why regular radio can't just be good) but anytime I get a free preview week, I listen to this station obsessively. He's my favorite and I didn't realize until this viewing that it was him.
6. "Velcro. Next to the Walkman and Tab it's the coolest invention of the 20th century." One of my favorite Lynne Stone quotes.
7. Lynne's dinosaur hair clips are everything. She takes quirky best friend fashion to a whole other level in the this movie.
   
8. Lee Montgomery is the forgotten heartthrob of mid-1980s movies. He was a child actor (he was the kid in the movie Ben, you know about killer rats) and was a model. He is one of the great "bad boys" of these types of movies except that he's not really bad but he has a motorcycle and wears a leather jacket. 
9. Jonathan Silverman and Shannon Doherty in the same movie? You are not hallucinating. 
10. "Decisions are the worst." We meet Natalie Sands, the resident rich mean girl who will spend the movie pouting, saying incredibly cheesy femme fatale-esque lines, and sort of dancing. She's pretty decent as the film's bad guy.
11. The original version of the song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper is never used in the film. Licensing issues prohibited the song from being featured so cover versions were used instead.
12. I guess the DTV dance contest is a precursor to American Idol auditions - a bunch of moderately talented pretty people gather in a place to showcase their talents and be randomly picked to dance on tv. It's the American dream.
13. Drew: She's a punk. Maggie: Do you really think I'm punk? It's not as cool as New Wave but it's better than preteen. Jeff: Do all women throw themselves at your feet or is it just the ones that can't reach any higher? 
14. Of course Janey and Jeff are matched up to dance together. And of course Natalie paid some dude to get Lynne disqualified. This is the stuff of teen comedies. 
15. Janey, put your damn hair up! This drives me crazy throughout the entire film. How can she dance and do gymnastics with all that hair in the way?
16. Biff Yeager! Jeff's dad is played by Biff Yeager. Fans of Gilmore Girls will know Biff as Tom, the greatest contractor of all time. Another fun GG tie in: Kristi Somers who plays Rikki in the movie was also in Hardbodies a movie Lorelei and Rory talk about several times throughout the series. (I do this research so you don't have to.)
17. Janey: He's just uh. You know, I mean uh! Lynne: Is he gonna call you tomorrow? Janey: Yeah, I think so.
18. Lynne and Janey get their revenge on Natalie in an awesomely epic way. Punks crash Natalie's birthday party including an uncredited Robert Downey, Jr. (he's the one that flips the table). 
19. Does Jeff know anything about Catholic schools? You can't just roll up on a motorcycle and think that's going to be okay. That's not how Catholic school works. 
20. I'd sneak out of my house for Jeff too. Let's all be very honest about that. He and Janey go to a cool teen dance club, have fun, he defends her honor, there's an awkward comment about a motorcycle, and they have their first kiss. All of this leads to the dance practice sequence, a requirement of any 80s movie that includes a contest of some form (you can sub in boxing or rowing if needed).
    
21. Of course they have a fight after Natalie's dad threatens to fire Jeff's dad if he doesn't let Natalie win. Janey gets caught sneaking out in an 80s ironic twist by a Sands Security System (that's one of Natalie's dad's companies).
22. Janey's family is sort of odd: her mother is a 50s housewife stuck in the 80s, her father is General Patton dropped in Chicago, and her brother is a 7 year old extortionist. No wonder she sneaks out and wants to be on tv.
23. How does one figure out how to wire a security system to a hair dryer so it won't go off? Is this a class they teach at Catholic school?
24. I love, love, love Lynne. She gets Janey to the station, has the greatest fashion sense, and then gets completely star-struck by Rikki, who has just quit DTV. This is important for later.
25. You have to give Jeff credit for making us all appreciate the male midriff baring shirt. Not all guys could pull that look off. 
26. "Dancing in Heaven" is a favorite of mine. It was one of the first songs I bought when I got my first iPod. Every now and then when I'm at the gym it's shuffles through and I'll admit I sing along in my head.
27. Compared to Janey and Jeff the other contestants are ancient (probably in their 20s) and some are better dancers. And again I say, Janey put your damn hair up!
28. Of course there's a tie. There has to be a tie because we have to hear two of the greatest words in the English language spoken by Richard Blade: Dance off!
29. You have to admit those lifts are impressive. This movie predates Dirty Dancing by two years so think about that when you watch this. 
30. I think we all know what happens at the end. It wouldn't be a 80s teen movie if we didn't. What's great about the end of this movie is not the Janey and Jeff story (although we all want them to win), it's really that Lynne gets to be the new Miss DanceTV. If anyone was destined for dance show glory, it was Lynne. 

I enjoyed re-watching this movie more than any other movie I've done for Lazy Movie Weekend. It was funny in all the parts I remember and a little more adult in parts that I didn't remember. I wanted to be friends with Lynne and Janey and Maggie (more Lynne and Maggie but I get Janey's appeal too) and still have a tiny crush on Jeff Malene. That's what these movies were about; mildly relatable teenagers doing teenager things.

And of course, I love to dance (said in a whispery Sarah Jessica Parker voice).

Video cover photo
Helen Hunt photo
Lee Montgomery photo
Janey and Jeff
Helen Hunt photo
Quotes from IMDB (I use IMDB to make sure I didn't miss anything.)
Dancing in Heaven

What's the big commotion? Finding your television soul mate

Recently I had a conversation with one of my trusted guy friends, Matt, about the possibility of setting up an online dating profile. This is something that I've been hemming and hawing about for some time now and I decided that 2015 is as good a time as any to actually do this. Again. I have to try harder this time or something. Matt sort of agreed to provide his opinion on my profile should I actually go through with this. This is why all women should have a handful of trusted male friends and all men should have a handful of trusted female friends. I'm sure we serve other purposes (I'm excellent at reminding people to make smart life choices, assisting guys with shoe purchases, and serving as a fill in date to weddings) but really it's to make sure that we don't embarrass ourselves in front of people we may or may not have some form of romantic relationship with at some point in the future.

One of the other things we discussed was my criteria for guys - did I want to be with someone who was exactly like me or incredibly different? Was a more middle of the road guy my speed? My response to this question was simple: I would like to be able to watch television with my significant other. I'd like us to have a few shows in common; not every show but enough. Additionally, the guy would have to be someone who would occasionally watch a stupid Hallmark movie with me and I would in turn, watch something that I hate like basketball or procedural dramas. I don't think this is too much to ask but as dating profiles tend to be loaded with garbage and words I hate, I have a feeling this will be more difficult than it should be. I dream of a day when I can be honest in a dating profile in a way that doesn't make me sound like a spinster cat lady or a weirdo who has too many interests.

I'm not helping matters by re-watching my favorite television show of all time, Gilmore Girls. Anytime I re-watch this show, I reevaluate the way I view relationships and what I envision my future manfriend (is that more grown-up than boyfriend?) will be like. I started re-watching over the holidays and have not been able to stop (although I did pause long enough to hate watch the season premiere of Girls - we all need something to hate watch). I started with season four, my favorite season, and finished up season six, my least favorite season, last weekend. Lots of very significant things happen during these three seasons: the Dragonfly opens, Jason Stiles appears, Rory loses her virginity to Dean (sorry for the spoilers but seriously binge watch faster), Jess makes an appearance or two, Luke and Lorelei happen, and Logan enters Rory's life. I am firmly Team Logan and nothing will ever change that.

Both Lorelei and Rory have a lot of stuff going on in their love lives during these seasons so it's easy to lose focus and neglect a very important relationship going on in the background. No, I'm not talking about Kirk and Lulu but Lane and Zach. It's through re-watching the romance of Lane and Zach that I came to my criteria of wanting to be able to watch television with my significant other. Lane and Zach start off as bandmates in Hep Alien and eventually become much more. Lane and Zach are musical soul mates but have enough sense to have a few things that are just theirs (bluegrass music for Zach; Fleetwood Mac for Lane). I wouldn't be able to do that; I have in the past and it's meant having to listen to way more Kid Rock and Enya than anyone should ever have to listen to in their lives. I have learned that I can't make compromises when it comes to music but I am willing to be more open about television shows. It's weird I know, but it's me.

In season five there is an episode entitled "To Live and Let Diorama." During this episode, Lane, Rory, and Paris all enjoy a little too much of the Founders' Punch and end up lamenting their love lives to one another. Lane suspects Zach of having some sort of relationship with Sophie, the owner of the music store, played by Carole King (who is awesome in this role). Lane's suspects this because Zach declines to go with her to buy cleaning supplies, a chore they like to do together. This is how a drunken Lane confronts Sophie:

"You've not only been to New York; you've lived there, so you know where the best coffee and bagels are. But you don't know him like I know him. For instance I know what cleaning products he likes, do you?"

It's in this moment of this episode that it dawned on me that it is something small like knowing the favorite cleaning supplies of a person or being able to watch a television show together even if you don't love it completely that you find love actually. I, and most women my age, have been raised to believe that it is in the grand gesture, the song about them, the elaborate scheme to get your attention that one finds love. We neglect the little things and are disappointed when no one shows up at our house with a boombox to play our favorite song outside our window. Romantic comedies and sitcoms have made it hard out there for a single lady.

At minute 2:07 in the below video, Zach writes a "hit song" with Mrs. Kim (Lane's mom). I've had this song in my head for six days. I hope one day Todd Lowe will be on another television show playing a guy who used to be in a rock band and he makes plans for a comeback. He dusts off this song and it becomes the hit song Mrs. Kim asked him to write.

I plan to be watching that show and maybe, just maybe someone will be sitting next to me enjoying the show not because it's his thing but because it's something we do together.

Lorelei image
Lane and Zach image
Video

Let's hope The Dreamgirls make it Into the Woods to get to Chicago so they can pay the Rent so we can all be Les(s) Miserables

I listened to the original Broadway cast recording of Rent on repeat from its release in August 1996 until the end of my freshmen year of college in 1998. I had the show memorized by the end of September 1996 and can still quote from it and sing along anytime I hear any of the songs (or they just randomly pop into my head which happens more frequently than you might expect). My parents, being the incredibly amazing and awesome people that they are, got me tickets to see the Rent for my high school graduation. We also saw Miss Saigon (that helicopter landing is legit) and visited all the places one visits when you go to New York for the first time. Most of the original cast was still in Rent at the time so I consider this trip one of the highlights of my life.

I've loved musicals my whole life. I remember seeing my first live musical, Oklahoma. It was the longest musical of all time and one of my least favorite but I do recall the magic of the music and the costumes and the darkened theatre. This moment cemented my love of musicals and theatre (and I did major in theatre in college). I've watched countless hours of musicals on video and PBS and gone to more than I can count. I even met Sebastian Bach from Skid Row because of a musical (no leather pants - shame). Some of my favorites include A Chorus Line, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Cabaret, Once Upon a Mattress, and My Fair Lady. My favorite Stephen Sondheim musical is Assassins and I have a soft spot in my heart for The Sound of Music.

Rent is my absolute favorite musical. Unlike the other musicals I love, Rent was mine. It was about people that lived lives that I think my theatre friends and I imagined we'd live when we all became artists in New York after we graduated (minus a few things I'm sure). The songs were more rock and roll than Rodgers and Hammerstein which I loved most as I was forging ahead in my punk rock/hard rock girl identity. I knew everything about Jonathan Larson, the genius writer of Rent, who left this world before his time. I had and still have a crush on Roger. I wish I could sing "Over the Moon" like Idina Menzel. Like all aspiring theatre artists, I was expecting a life of poverty and cold New York apartments and crappy jobs (or no jobs) until I got my big break. The characters of Rent were living and that's exactly what my seventeen year old self wanted to be doing. Damn suburban Virginia and college! I want the Life Cafe and buying coats on the streets of New York and Evita-like dogs and protests that involved mooing. That is life.

There are songs in that musical that still give me chills when I hear them nineteen years later. My favorite is "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" (audio version here; movie version here). I cry every time I listen to this song; I cannot listen to it in my car because I will get in an accident. Collins and Angel (played originally by Jesse L. Martin and Wilson Jermaine Heredia) are my favorite couple in the play. I think their love story is the purest and most touching of all the love stories; there's no conceit, no expectation of anything but what happens each day. This is the song that plays as Angel dies and when Collins sings "When your heart has expired" I dare you not to become a pile of mush. Part of it is Jesse L. Martin (second crush of the cast) and his delivery; most of it is the raw emotion of the song.

So you can imagine all the feelings I had (and all Rent fans had) when it was announced that a film version of our beloved musical was being made. Many of the original cast members would be reprising their roles; Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs (and his abs), Idina Menzel, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia were all back for the film. Missing were Daphne Rubin-Vega (the original Mimi) and Fredi Walker (the original Joanne). Rubin-Vega was pregnant at the time and Walker declined the role. I enjoyed Traci Thoms as Joanne; she was somehow quieter than Walker but still seemed to be a match for Maureen. I have a hard time believing the Mark-Maureen-Joanne love triangle in the film but it has nothing to do with Thoms. It just doesn't seem as vibrant as in the stage version. I never warmed to Rosario Dawson as Mimi. Technically, she was the name in the film. She wasn't bad but she wasn't Mimi either. The film version wasn't terrible; it wasn't the musical but it wasn't the worst adaptation of a Broadway musical to grace the silver screen. I cried at all the places I cried when I saw it on Broadway and when I listen to the soundtrack. The changes to the film didn't bother me as they did others but the film lacked the spirit of the stage production. It's a musical that needs an audience and a stage. It just makes more sense that way.

I was thinking about this in the lead up to the release of Into the Woods (I have not yet seen it; I'm going this weekend). I've been dying to see the film version of this musical since the first rumblings that it was coming soon to a theatre near me. Stephen Sondheim was going to be involved and the casting seemed ideal. I will confess something now: I'm not an Into the Woods super fan. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a beautiful, dark musical (my favorite kind of musical). I've heard the original cast recording countless times and have seen both the concert version and a version of the show with the original cast (y'all support your PBS station) but unlike other musicals, I was never "captured" by Into the Woods so I'm less likely to get riled up about the film adaptation. The same thing happened when Les Miserables came out; I understood that there would be things that Broadway fans like myself would not enjoy or agree with. My favorite musical theatre actors would probably not be portraying the characters they created on Broadway because that's not the way it works in Hollywood.

Do I agree with this? Not particularly but it's part of bringing musicals to film audiences now versus the 1940s or 1950s or 1960s when film adaptations of musicals were popular and made studios money (for the most part). Theatre actors could, to some degree, make the transition to the film and still go back to the theatre when they were done. There were exceptions to casting of course, Natalie Wood in West Side Story or Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady; maybe those were the first moves by Hollywood to change the game when it came to movie musicals. Unfortunately, Carol Lawrence (Maria from the original Broadway cast) wasn't going to open a movie and that is an important part of making films in Hollywood (at least from what I can tell). It's also what drives NBC to mount two live productions of musicals on tv with unusual casting choices (or really ridiculous ones). They want people to watch.

We (the collective Broadway musical fans of the world) have to remember something: they are not making these films for us. They are making these films for a larger, non-musical loving audience. That larger audience may not have the encyclopedic knowledge of original casts and recordings. They may not obsess over everything Stephen Sondheim has ever written. They may not have an interest in sitting through a three hour movie that involves singing rather than dragons and explosions. But that interest might be piqued if someone famous that they do love (Wolverine or the new Captain Kirk or Superman's dad or the girl that sings the cups song) is in the film. They will come out to see Beyonce be a Dreamgirl or Renee as Roxie. I can have my opinions on all of these things and hate the film version or love it or feel ambivalent about it. That's my prerogative and the prerogative of every musical theatre fan. Get your feelings out; it's healthier that way.

But still go to see the film. Even if you think you're going to hate it (and it's very possible that you will hate it, I'm looking at you Rob Marshall and Chicago). If we don't go to see these films and be vocal, then the next one won't get made. Someone like Stephen Sondheim will say, "Nope. Sorry, I don't want to be involved" the next time someone asks him to adapt one of his musicals for the screen. If that happens, chaos will follow. We'll never see another musical movie again.

My hope every time a musical movie comes out is that in the audience in some theatre somewhere in the world, someone is being inspired by the musical. Maybe that person never had the opportunity to go see a play or musical; that's a reality for a lot of people. Maybe the experience moves this person to find out more about the original musical or go see a live production in their town. Maybe it inspires them to go to Broadway to see a show or two. Maybe they sit down and write their own musical and that musical touches our hearts the way Rent touched mine. Maybe that musical gets made into a movie one day. And maybe that movie inspires someone else.

Remember, "Children Will Listen" or so the Witch tells us at the end of Into the Woods. So let them listen.