I am feeling better. A little weak but at least I am not projectile vomiting anymore. Our postbox was overflowing today from 3 days worth of mail. There were 2 NetFlix DVDs waiting for us. One of them was a movie I chose: One, Two, Three starring James Cagney, Pamela Tiffin and HORST BUCHHOLZ!!! I saw it years ago and loved it. Watching it again, it held up. Lisa wasn’t thrilled with it but this is the girl who received Win a Date with Ted Hamilton from NetFlix today. Now I would love that movie if the Ted Hamilton they are referring to in the title is the Ted Hamilton who played the Pirate King in the Pirate Movie. Horst Buchholz was so beautiful in One, Two, Three. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the reasons I fell so hard for Heiko was a subconscious desire to have my own little Horst Buchholz. At any rate, speaking of H, everywhere I turn there is an article on Green Day. The lead singer of that band is H’s doppelganger and I can’t seem to escape his image. Grrrrr.

ATA lost my bag on Friday. Luckily I got it back this evening. I leave tomorrow afternoon. The Hong Kong bootleg DVD errrrr, I mean the official Asian release of La Femme Nikita second season arrived Saturday; however, the postman did not leave it by my door. He left a little card telling me to pick it up at the post office on Monday. I wish he just left it.

This evening I had dinner with my parents. It was nice although I am still somewhat grogged from my late afternoon nap. I have one more Netflix DVD to watch from this last batch. The DVD is Office Space. I doubt if I will watch it before I leave. I have so much to do before I go to bed. Mainly pack and pack and pack. The one positive is I am returning on Thursday rather than Friday so I should have a pretty decent weekend. Maybe Audra and Lisa and I will be able to go out on Friday. I could really go for some DeLorenzo’s pizza. Mmmmmmm.

This afternoon I take off once again for Chicago. This will be my summer. Home weekends, Chicago weekdays. One of the reasons I am leaving a little later is I thought my phone might arrive today. When I checked the AT&T Order Status page, it doesn’t show a tracking number and so I am thinking it may not have shipped as I assumed. Darnit.

Last night I watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I’ve been wanting to see the play for years but I never made it to NYC for a performance. When the film finally came out, I never made it to Philadelphia for a showing. Finally via Netflix I was able to catch it. Oddly enough it is very much what I expected and I really liked it. The music was fun and I loved all the East Berlin references. It reminded me of a movie I saw on IFC or the Sundance Channel a few years ago. A German man and his girlfriend illegally immigrate to America with no language skills or common sense. They imagine America is paved with golden roads and opportunities are at every corner. Somehow they manage to borrow some money from a bank to pay for a mobile home and a television set and they think life can’t get any better. That is until the bank starts expecting loan payments. Unable to speak English, they can’t really do anything. The girl becomes a prostitute for truckdrivers and the man goes to a deserted fair, gets on the Sky Lift, and blows his brains out with a rifle. It wasn’t an uplifting movie, that’s for sure. I can’t remember the name. I thought it was Woyzeck but that is a Herzog/Kinski film.

Just got back. I had Delorenzo’s pizza for dinner with my mom and dad. YUMMY! I saw John Beck who didn’t attend my party the other week. John said my hair looked nice short. Made me feel special… in that Corky, Life Goes On way.

Two more movies arrived from Netflix today: Under the Tuscan Sun and The Royal Tennenbaums. I’ve wanted to see the Royal Tennebaums ever since it was in the theater. The commericals for it reminded me of the movie: Hotel New Hampshire. I don’t know if that is a correct assessment, but I will find out soon.

I spent the day with my sister at our old alma mater, Rosemont College. Today was Lisa’s 5-year college reunion. There was a barbeque out on Connelly Green for all the classes ending in 9. After the barbeque, Lisa and I walked around to all of our old haunts. At the library there was a table full of old yearbooks with a sign reading: Old Yearbooks, FREE! So I grabbed a 1974 and a 1980. Pat Ciarrocchi graduated in 1974 and Linda Fiorentino graduated in 1980. Pat is a news anchor here in Philadelphia, Linda is an actress, best known for The Last Seduction. I hoped to find a yearbook with Rosalind Russell but the earliest one on the table was 1939 and I think Ros graduated in the 20’s. In the art room, some of Lisa’s sculptures were still displayed. One of them is a plaster cast of my ass. I can’t believe after 5 years, it is still in the art room. My ass!

Lisa left for work leaving me all alone. I made a pot of coffee and drank it listening to Great Moments In Opera while doing a crossword puzzle out on the patio. Now I am trying to motivate myself to clean the house since it is quite a wreck since the party. I sent back all but one Netflix movie, Calendar Girls. Lisa and I have been wrestling with Netflix. She logs on and reorders my queue without my knowledge. Next thing I know, Along Came Polly is at the top of the queue and That Obscure Object of Desire is at the bottom! When I confronted her she told me it was for my own good since “weird foreign movies” aren’t healthy. I guess she’s right.

I went to another Sears store today to pick up 2 additional pairs of drapes. Because they were holding them for me, the saleslady taped the two packs together. The cashier must have thought they were 2 for 1 and only charged me for one pair. The total was lower than I expected but I paid and walk away. I did the math in my head and realized what had happened. There was a part of me that thought, “This is great! A free pair of drapes!” I kept walking and weighed my decisions. What hit me was there really was no decision to make. I had to pay for the extra curtains. Quite simply, it is the right thing to do. And so I went back to the cashier and explained the situation and paid for the drapes. I am glad I acted ethically.

Yesterday my Mom handed me a newspaper article she had saved for me. It was about a local matchmaker. The phone number for the service was highlighted. My mother is not a subtle woman. Oddly enough, I am actually considering it. I did Match.com & eHarmony and had my self-esteem chewed up and spit in my face. Maybe dealing with a Hello Dolly will be different. The thing is, I really don’t want a boyfriend. Would it be wrong to contact the woman mainly to find a friend? That is a little pathetic. Heck, the entire dating scene is pathetic. I must think about it.

I watched Water Drops on Burning Rocks the other night. I really liked it although the movie was nothing like the trailer. The trailer was kooky and fun whereas the movie was dark and just a touch disturbing. I hate when a movie is advertised as one thing but it really is another. At least with Water Drops on Burning Rocks, I would have watched it even if the trailer was more truthful to the movie’s core. The only bad thing is after renting Water Drops… Netflix is now recommending some really weird movies to me like Paris is Burning.

Funny story about that movie. When I was in college, one of the nuns had a field trip to see the movie Is Paris Burning to supplement a French/German history lesson. However, she got the title mixed up and instead took the girls to see Paris is Burning about a bunch of drag queens. Those were the days!

Last night I tried desperately to clean my office. I went through box after box of papers and crap, throwing away as much as possible. I still have a few piles left of the more important or ambiguous items that I couldn’t toss. Tonight I will finish the task– hopefully. As I sorted and organized, I watched Marlon Brando in The Night of the Following Day. Typically, if I am going to watch a movie, then I am going to sit down and watch it. However, the next movie in my Netflix queue is Water Drops on Burning Rocks and I wanted to get at least one movie out the door so I could get the pseudo-Fassbinder film in. If you want to see an amusing trailer, check out the one for Water Drops on Burning Rocks— it’s really the only reason why I want to see the movie.

Flew the puddle jumper home yesterday. As I zoomed over Boston, I waved to Larry and said “Buh Bye Boston, Buh Bye!”

Once home I crawled into bed and watched the newly arrived dvd, Candy. If I had a DVD library, I would place Candy in between Barbarella and The Magic Christian. Myra Breckinridge wouldn’t be too far away. What can one possibly say about a movie whose beginning scene features Ringo Starr (portraying a Mexican gardener) who rapes the lead character, Candy, on a pool table while Richard Burton, right next to them, makes out with a porcelain doll? The thing is, it gets progressively weirder. James Coburn as a sadistic surgeon, Walter Mathau as a paranoid general, Marlon Brando as a long-haired, sari-wearing guru, and John Astin in a dual role of staid father and dirty uncle. Yes it was disturbing and sexist and disgusting but it was also pretty innocent. So with Candy down, now all I have to do it find a copy of Skidoo.

Here are the next movies on my Netflix queue: The Night of the Following Day, Water Drops On Burning Rocks, Swept Away, The Women, Victim, One, Two, Three, De Sade, Sailor Who Fell from Grace, Charles Bronson: Vital Hits, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Querelle, And Now … Ladies and Gentlemen, The World of Henry Orient… and 150 others.

I had dinner at home last night. My dad made Italian Hotdogs. He doesn’t cook a lot of dishes, but those in his arsenal are incredible. After dinner my mom and I went shopping at TJMaxx and I bought two pairs of summery pants and two pretty skirts. Back home we watched the last half of Blood and Sand starring Tyrone Powers! What an incredible movie! Even though it is such a cliché, I can honestly say the movie was visually stunning!
The last few films I have seen have all been oddly interconnected. Take for instance Blood and Sand. Tyrone Powers was the star; he was also the fellow Ava couldn’t romance in The Sun Also Rises because of his war injury. Ava was also unable to romance Rossano Brazzi because of his war injury in The Barefoot Contessa. Something’s Got to Give contained a scene where the characters go to a store called, The Barefoot Contessa. The stupid American in Bed and Board, Billy Kearns, was also in Purple Noon, playing a stupid American. Returning back to Blood and Sand, playing Tyrone’s mother was Nazimova who stars in Salome, that just arrived today from Netflix.

Maybe I just have too much time on my hands?

I exercised, washed up, got into my pajamas, grabbed a tall glass of water, climbed into bed and spent 2 1/2 hours watching the Barefoot Contessa. Reclining in bed with the flickering TV in my eyes, I had a strange feeling that this is how I will spend many nights. It was an interesting movie. Not one of my favorites but I enjoyed it. I got a kick that this is the second movie I’ve seen with Ava Gardner where the man she loves is rendered impotent by a war wound. (Can anyone name the other movie?)

Today I will place The Barefoot Contessa in the Netflix envelope and send it back. Gosh, I love this service!

Erin’s new Web site, Dust Designs is doing very well! Google indexed her site almost immediately. Her paintbrush is poised and ready if anyone wants to commission some art!