I tend to be pretty upbeat generally. Usually I stay pretty optimistic about projects I've engineered and been involved in over the last year or so. Still, I do experience the occasional moment of self-doubt.
One such moment struck me Tuesday, while watching the film Sweeney Todd at The Charles with my cousin Lori and two of our friends. (If you've never actually seen the movie or play or heard the plot, BTW, you might want to stop reading now--I don't want to be blamed for spoiling it for you.)
We were enjoying it free courtesy of The Baltimore City Paper, which was publicizing its big "not-to-miss" bash, the Cosmic Cocktail Party, to be held March 6th at the Belvedere (tix can be purchased through Mission Tix and at The 8 x 10 Club).
About half-way through the movie I found myself sweating. This was partly because the theatre was crazy-hot, a pipe must have busted somewhere or something, causing sauna-like conditions to prevail.
But mostly it was a thought that occurred to me while watching the ghastly results of the "creative collaborative partnership" between the movie's heroine, Helena Bonham Carter 's Mrs. Lovett, and the "demonic hero" Sweeney Todd, the extremely talented, charismatic, attractive (for in spite of the chalky makeup and ghoulish hairdo, when ever is Johnny Depp not attractive? ;) ), compellingly sympathetic, and tragically eccentric barber, unfold.
What freaked me was not so much the sight of blood spurting across the screen as Depp's Todd artfully "shaved" off the heads of many a customer in his upstairs barbershop, while Bonham-Carter's Lovett served their compatriots up to ravenous customers in a tasty crust at her pie shop below.
Really it was the thought that I was in certain ways perhaps not so very different from "Mrs. Lovett," deeply enmeshed in a few all-engrossing projects with at least two Baltimorean men with many of the "brilliant-barber characteristics," including the fiercely crazed single-mindedness of purpose, along with far more than the "healthy" recommended allotment of Baltimorean eccentricity to boot. It struck me then that for all of my good intentions and faith in my projects, that faith could easily be misplaced--not only might these endeavors come to nothing, they could also in fact still turn out quite badly, could even result in a rather bloody public mess.
At the end of the movie, I asked my cousin: "What if I've got it all wrong? All the good I think I'm doing--what if I'm just deluded? What if I'm really just making cannibalistic meat pies with my life, after all?"
Well, Lori laughed it off mostly, and I tried to as well; but the "cannibalistic meat pie" question hung over us the rest of the night. It lingered over us still next morning, as we headed to Columbia to pitch some of our "creative ideas" for better promoting the aims of an organization Lori deeply cares about, to the regional office's executive director there.
Actually the meeting went well, and we had a fun and productive day browsing together at Spencer's Gifts at the Columbia Mall later and then shoe-shopping at DSW at Hunt Valley besides (shoe-shopping will after all cheer up anybody). I also did lots of fun social stuff with friends and heard lots of local music over the weekend, two of my favorite things to do.
Really I did most everything I set out to do last week and weekend and then some, except I did not make it to the opening of the "If It's Yellow" exhibit at the Load of Fun studio Friday night, in which some art of my friend Renee was included. But perhaps that was just as well. Given my recent traumatic reaction to the "creative mixing" of human remains with food at the movie, staying clear of an art show incorporating urine in its exhibit was perhaps the wisest thing to do.
Well, last week at least. The show still runs through February 8th, I may be up to it by then...if you've got a hankering to see (and smell) "urine-inspired" art, well, at least proudly displayed on the wall of an art studio (and outside of the usual venues), feel free to drop me a line and let me know... ;)
Copyright 2008 by Lois
*The photo in my episode is not from Sweeney Todd btw, though it might easily might be. It's a pic I took of a Chucky doll that was at the Spencer's store we shopped at Wednesday. I did not pick it up, I was after a rather different kind of toy. But he was so "cutely evil" and "devilishly cheerful" I just had to snap him and incorporate him somehow in my latest LoisLife Blogstory.
July_10_2010_vlog.mp4
1 week ago
