Blue Jasmine... The Movie Poster And Cypress Green... The Car

"The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues."

~Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

 

Finally... the poster has been unveiled! Little by little, inch by inch, we move closer to the premier of Woody Allen's latest film Blue Jasmine. I have been waiting since last summer for this movie, and in just a couple months it will finally be in theaters and the big question I have had since we turned the corner onto 20th street, in San Francisco, that hot August day last year... Is the top of my Cypress green 2007 Saturn Ion visible from the second floor window where Woody was filming a scene? LOL. Did my car become a star that day? You bet! At least in my hopes it did! You see, to me, if you are seen in a Woody Allen movie, even if it is just the top of your head, or hood of one's car in this case, then you have made it into cinematic history. If the top of Lilith, my car, can be seen, I will have a permanent smile the rest of my days! I kid you not. I wouldn't want to have been seen in the film in a million years, I much too shy for that. But to see my car would be like having the best secret ever, a secret that's all mine, because who else would care but me? Does that make sense?

If Lilith is nowhere to be found in the movie, no worries, I enjoyed watching it being filmed so much that I am still smiling over it. Alan and I continue laugh about how completely out there I got just standing across the street from Mr. Allen. There I was, maybe 20 steps from someone I have admired and appreciated my whole life, I had all my cameras with me, I had every opportunity to get the quintessential Woody Allen photo, and what happens? My hands wouldn't stop shaking! I had to work incredibly hard to get the handful of photos I did, but at least I didn't give up! I didn't run away, or rather shy away. I stood there, tried to calm myself down, and got the photographs I came for! I met the challenge! Fear BE DAMNED!

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must no love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness."

~Woody Allen

If my car, Lilith, did indeed make it into the film, here is how she would appear...
 

I know, at first sight, not much to write home about. But to me... the thrill of a lifetime. I hated having to get rid of my beloved car last year. She and I have a lot of memories together! Oh my... alas... it was time. My Lilith died less than one month later. And I miss her, I really loved that car! So I can't help but hope, a little, that she somehow has done will I will never be able to do, live on immortal. To be seen, if only in a glimpse, world wide, as a splash of color in a Woody Allen film!

How can I not think of her lovingly, after all, if not for her, and Alan of course, I would have never been able to reach my lifetime goal of making inadvertent eye contact with Woody Allen! And I did it not once... but twice! :)

Tee Hee!

 

"80% of success is showing up."

~Woody Allen

Mood: Happy


~Me :)

Movies Photography And Basket Weaving

 

"My films are therapy for my debilitating depression. In institutions people weave baskets. I make films."

~Woody Allen

Mr. Allen has his films. I have my photography. Whatever one has or does to chase away the debilitating sadness is terribly personal to the one experiencing it. I know that a fellow human can't be thing... no. It has to come from deep within, way down deep. It is through the expressions of creativity come the emotion that makes us... us. Fear, sadness, despair, loneliness, there is no difference between those emotions and happiness, joy, contentment, popularity. Having too much of any one of those things can lead one to some dark ledges, in the middle of the night, during a storm... with lightning.

But I digress.

As I stood on the corner of Lexington and 20th, on that late summer day last year, I was filled up with all the motion back and forth, all the sights and sounds, all the life going on during the filming of Woody Allen's latest film, Blue Jasmine. In between the calls of QUIET... ACTION..., there was plenty to see both on the set and off. The public was allowed to come and go at will, and the neighborhood provided plenty of visual art. The young man in the photo above has a story, which is his to tell, but what caught this photographer's eye was the fact that he was dressed in garb that could have into fit almost any of Woody Allen's films! He probably dresses that way every day, and yet on this day he was simply moving about his life for a moment he became a part of the scenery of life like never before, at least as imagined by this observer! It was one of the many spontaneous, surreal moments that made me feel like I wasn't watching Woody Allen make a movie... no... it was more like I was sleeping walking and suddenly I was in a Woody Allen movie being made!

Have you seen it?

It's about a lifelong admirer of a genius, writer, producer, comedian, film-maker who brings the magic of movie making close enough for her to hear his voice across the street.

And she brought her camera along to document what it was like to watch a movie being made. But found instead that the danger of walking a sleepwalker is finding out you aren't in a dream but rather reality.

But hearing his voice across the street made the dream come true, and it was a more like a scene from a movie than reality.

Then suddenly she realized... she's in the movie.

And it was one of those days that remind her, no matter how things felt, or life got lonely, or world events scared or exasperated her, there would always be movies... and photography.

Art. And basket weaving.
 
:)

"The difference between sex and death is, with death you can do it alone and nobody is going to make fun of you."

~Woody Allen

Mood: Tired of coughing (That's a mood... right?)

~Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 102~ Do One Thing Everyday That Scares You

"Do one thing everyday that scares you."

~Eleanor  Roosevelt

Funny Story...

See that pretty admiral butterfly above? A lovely creature, right? Someone once said, butterflies are flying flowers. Well, I don't know if I would quite go that far, but I know this, last Thursday, I was grateful for her visit. She helped me focus last Thursday, and without her help it would have been a much more difficult day. Here's what happened...

Okay, so you already know that I had more than a few obstacles block my quest to find Woody Allen in San Francisco last week. First it was my wacky Fibromyalgia, then we found a ridiculous Hornworm had invaded the tomatoes, then when we finally went on Wednesday, Alan and I found that Woody had wrapped up shooting at the place we heard he would be at before we could get there. LOL. It was a bit disheartening to say the least. As we drove by the empty intersection at 14th street and South Van Ness, Alan said it would be silly to not try again the next day. I agreed, and closed my eyes for the long ride home along the coast.

Thursday morning came, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky! The only thing that seemed out of place was that I somehow kept losing my SD cards and the batteries for the camera. Odd. But finally off we went, this time taking the Bay bridge, rather than the coast by way of the San Mateo bridge, so we would be downtown earlier then the day before. Even so, I wasn't altogether sure it would make a difference. I have terrible luck. Always have. Well, you know, what ever can go wrong... will. So knowing that, I was completely prepared to get to the new location at 20th and Lexington, just in time to see the last truck filled with filming equipment turn onto Mission street, as they made their way back to wherever film is kept while awaiting editing.

Nope. That wasn't what I found as we turned onto 20th. No, I came face to face with not one studio services truck, but more like 6 or 8 BIG WHITE studio services trucks, lots of people milling around, lots and lots of technical equipment and the one thing I thought I would NEVER see in a million years... a sleek, black town car, with the driver standing in front of it. And it wasn't just any driver, it was the very same driver I had seen on the news a week earlier, that was waiting to drive Woody Allen back to the house in Marin County that he had been filming in.

Suddenly, then whole scene in front of me went a kinda surreal BRIGHT WHITE! Alan was taking to me, but even sitting here right now, I have NO idea what he was saying, or if it mattered. I kinda remember something about how neat IT was, whatever IT was! All I know is that as I sat in the passenger seat, rolling through an obvious movie set was... EVERYTHING WAS REALLY WHITE. But I didn't know what I was looking at. ALL I COULD FOCUS ON WAS A BLINDING WHITE LIGHT. Had I just died? Was I going into the light? How could I have simply turned onto a street and just... died?

It only took about a minute or less to get to the end of the street. I am sure of that, but GOOD LORD, WHY WAS EVERYTHING... SO... WHITE? As Alan turned onto Mission, I realized that I wasn't actually going into the light. It had simply been that as we rode down 20th street, the sun was in the perfect place in the sky to bounce right of one of the many white trucks which led to a temporary blinding. WHEW! Okay... I was okay. That was certainly a close one. But I was ok. WHEW. Dodged one that time!

We found a place to park, gathered our cameras, and began to walk to the corner of Mission and 20th. As we turned the corner, my pulse began to beat really hard. I was sweating from head to foot, and I was keenly aware that I hadn't dressed right that morning! Why in the HELL had I chose to wear black pants and a grey top? What had I been thinking? Why had I worn THAT blouse? OMG... I am completely dressed ALL WRONG. I SIMPLY DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH CLOTHES ON! I stopped dead in my tracks, and couldn't take another step!

Alan must have asked me two or three times if I was okay, before I could find the common English words to answer him. LOL. I explained that I was dressed ALL WRONG! He just stood there, listening to me babble on with an amused look on his face. "Oh come on" he said... lets go. He then gently took me by the hand, and pulled me along as we walked down 20th... toward the corner where the filming was going on. OMG. The same side of the street where they were filming???? WHAT WAS ALAN DOING?

Okay... my heart is now beating at full capacity. BEAT BEAT BEAT, and I was beginning to see that white light again. OKAY. ENOUGH! I stopped dead in my tracks, about 25 feet from ground zero. "ALAN, I am... going... to... go... across... the... street... and... that's... all... there... is... to... it! I am NOT going to continue on this side of the street. I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH CLOTHES ON!" And across the street I went. I am pretty sure I heard Alan laughing his ass off... but I immediately ignored it!

While I wasn't making a whole lot of sense, my decision was absolutely the right thing to do. You see, I knew deep down that if I continued along on the same side of the street that Woody Allen was on, I would be right there, as he came down the red stairs, which would have resulted in an embarrassing scene along the lines of my having peed myself, or speaking in tongues, or perhaps... I don't know... passing out cold or something. I think this was one of the most vivid cases of fight or flight that I have ever experienced. I am sure sometime around late November I will experience a full on panic attack, but I will cross that street when I come to it.

So with myself across the street, at a safe distance, I gradually calmed down. I counted. I people watched. I snapped off photos of interesting things, like that beautiful butterfly. I enjoyed the lovely tree we were standing under. I listened to other people's excitement. I enjoyed listening to everyone share why they wanted to be there, and what their favorite Woody Allen movie was. So were film students, so were celebrity hounds, some were just like me, a fan, who admired his work. The time passed quickly, suddenly I realized I had been there for about 2 hours, and a little while later, there he came down the red stairs. I had expected someone in the crowd to yell something to him, but instead everyone was really quiet. There wasn't even a single "HI WOODY" to be heard. It was surreal unto itself. He just got into the town car, and silently rode away.

And I had just faced a fear.

There is just nothing like it.

It always makes me feel so alive to know... I did it. Whatever "it" is.

Thank you Alan. :)

"What if everything is an illusion and nothing existis? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet."

~Woody Allen

~Me :)

 Today's Link Comes From My Friend JR...

JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/08/apadf6-100.html