Til death do us part

Oh my goodness, this video is heartbreakingly beautiful: Brooklyn couple Danny and Annie tell the true story of their twenty-seven-year romance, from their first date to Danny's last days with terminal cancer. You have to watch it.

(Animated by StoryCorps, via Very Short List; thanks, Sarah)

Bachelorette finale (with live commenting)

Woo hoo, tonight is the finale episode of The Bachelorette! Who do you think Ali will choose--Roberto, Chris or neither? I think Chris...but who knows? I have a feeling there will be lots of twists and turns.

I'd LOVE to do "live commenting" during the finale episode. Just come to this post from 8-10 EST tonight, and we can gossip and chat during the show. It would be really fun to watch it with you guys; I'm so excited! xoxo

BEST wedding video

Oh. Lordy. Max and Margaux's wedding video (by Shark Pig) is the most joyous and beautifully edited wedding video I've ever seen. My heart is all aflutter. Amazing. (Love the dancing feet!)

(Via Once Wed)

The Bachelorette

Confession: I'm embarrassingly addicted to The Bachelorette. (I know.) Have you guys been watching it? The reality show, where one woman tries to find love among 25 guys, is sooo compelling. On my Glamour blog, I used to do "live commenting" during the finale episode, so everyone could chat about it as it aired. Would you guys ever want to do that here on Cup of Jo? The finale is in two weeks (Monday, August 2nd)!

P.S. Which guy would you pick?

The Kids Are All Right

This movie looks great (as does Mark Ruffalo). It comes out July 9th.

Inspired by Iceland

Inspired by Iceland is a new project by the Icelandic government that encourages people to travel to Iceland and not be too scared of volcanos. Don't you love this video that they made? The filming is incredible, and, oh, those glaciers!

(Thanks, Harpa)

Ten best documentaries

Do you guys ever watch documentaries? My friend Scott and I have a monthly documentary club, and I thought I'd share ten of my favorites that we've seen over the past couple years. I'd highly recommend them all...

Surfwise tells the story of the Paskowitz couple, who drops off the grid to drive their nine kids around in a camper and surf all day.
Food, Inc. examines the American food industry and corporate farms. Not for the squeamish! (P.S. We've bought only organic meat and dairy since watching this.)
My Kid Could Paint That looks at the runaway success of a four-year-old girl whose paintings are compared to Picasso. But is she the real artist?
Man on Wire is a documentary about a wild French tightrope walker and his jaw-dropping (illegal) stunts.
Mad Hot Ballroom follows an adorable group of New York City fifth graders taking a ballroom dance program.
Deep Water tells the gripping story of an amateur sailor who (insanely) enters a solo race around the world.
Seven Up is a series of incredibly compelling documentaries that have tracked the lives of fourteen English schoolchildren since 1964, when they were seven years old. Every seven years, the filmmaker releases a new documentary that checks in on their increasingly varied lives. (They're now 53!)
American Teen follows five high-school seniors--a jock, princess, heart-throb, geek and misfit--in a small Indiana town.
Autism: The Musical chronicles five autistic children as they rehearse for a musical production.
Stranded lets the survivors of the famous 1972 Andes plane crash tell their story of survival.

(Plus, of course, the new Babies!)

Have you seen any other good documentaries? I'd love to hear!

Baby movie

The baby is due in less than four weeks (I'm so excited), and our doctor told us that labor can take ages. She suggested bringing a movie to the hospital, in case things move slowly. After brainstorming, Alex and I decided on When Harry Met Sally, one of our all-time faves. It's funny to think of watching it between contractions. Which movie would you have chosen? (My friend Leigh watched Say Anything!)

P.S. The horror version...

Please Give

Last night, Alex was working late, so I took myself to see the new movie Please Give. It was really entertaining, and the female characters were hilarious, nutty and perfectly drawn. (Plus, Catherine Keener with her raspy voice is one of my all-time girl crushes.) I'd highly recommend it!

Hitchcock stamps

How seriously rad are these Hitchcock stamps?! (His cheeky face always makes me smile.) You could mail them on letters to lucky friends, or they'd look awesome framed above a desk, don't you think?

P.S. Two more funny Hitchcock photos.

(Thanks, David)

Jamie Oliver

Have you guys seen the new show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? The British chef wants to completely revamp the United States school lunch programs by serving fresh, real foods, instead of fries and chocolate milk. I watched all three episodes on Hulu this past weekend, and the show is amazing and compelling with such a great mission. (Plus, his accent and rumpled hair are completely adorable.)

The Kirkepiscatoid School of Film: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

As many of you know, I am utterly intrigued with silent films whose message transcends time and space. The first time I watched this film, I became absolutely fascinated with both the cinematography and the musical score in light of the Joan of Arc story.

The movie itself is a source of triple fascination for me. Besides the story of St. Joan herself, the story behind the movie's production is also a passion story. Director Carl Dreyer, in order to maximize its cinematographic effect, makes the film almost entirely of head shots, in which the characters are very obviously without makeup, in order to enhance the realism within the story. He treated his leading actress, Maria Falconetti, quite shabbily in order to get the desired tragic effect of St. Joan's story. Falconetti endured kneeling on cold stone floors for long periods of time and periods of fasting to make her character more realistic. Real languishing and pain show in her eyes, in sharp contrast to the cruel countenances of her tormentors, and the sympathetic faces of her faithful followers.

The film's own birth is shrouded in tragedy, as two fires occurred during its production and editing process--an interesting aside considering St. Joan was burned at the stake!

Additionally, it is a "resurrection story" of sorts, as the film disappeared for many years, believed lost to the ravages of time. A single copy was discovered in a janitor's closet in a mental institution in Oslo, Norway, in 1981, and all subsequent prints derive from this copy of the film. Dreyer died in 1968 thinking that the bulk of his film was lost--only fragmented bits of it had seemingly survived.

The musical score is a modern enhancement to the film. No evidence exists that Dreyer had selected an "official" musical score for the film. Most theaters at the time of the original release of the film would have relied on the talents of their local musicians/piano player to create an arrangement (a common practice in the silent era.) It's interesting to think that one's movie experience back then was not as homogenized as what we are used to--seeing the movie in different locations would create a different movie-going experience. (In a spiritual vein, isn't that a little how we understand the Bible or the historical stories of our faith?)

But after the film was rediscovered, the version now available features a musical score from 1994, Richard Einhorn's 1994 oratorio Voices of Light. When this film is shown in theaters now as an "art film," (particularly on college campuses), it is often with a live score, featuring local singers. The sung text in the oratorio includes both writings with a feminist theme, and a misogynistic theme.

The film crunches the 29 sessions of St. Joan's trial into a single trial, and the effect is the sense that there is a rush to justice to execute a saint. She speaks very little during all this, but her heavenward-cast eyes and her tears speak volumes. The camera sequences are edited in such a way the viewers gaze goes back and forth quickly between St. Joan and the angry mob, the devoted followers, the judges and the religious authorities. Her impending doom builds during the music. The execution scene is graphic and frenzied, with the onlookers breaking out in a mob, and the soldiers rushing in to put the mob down. Some of the sequences move back and forth to the faces of peasant children--some nursing on their mother's breast, some crying near their fallen parents after the mob erupts.

For me, knowing all these back stories only enhances my take on the spiritual message of this movie. It's a passionate look at a young woman with a calling--a calling that, no matter what one thinks about the true historical story of St. Joan, resonates with anyone who has ever felt "called by God" for far less. Essentially none of us will ever feel called to lead an army to do the will of God, but the film touches about both the ecstasy and misery that accompanies anything that God calls us to do, no matter how big or how small. This is exemplified in a short interchange in the film between Joan and one of her judges:

Judge: "Has God promised you things?"
Joan: "That has nothing to do with this trial!"

Now, it would be a little of a walk on the psychotic side for any of us who have felt any sort of calling to liken ourselves to St. Joan, but because her story is so in the extreme, it lays bare the elements of what any of us feel in a "calling", big and small. On the positive side, there's the sense that we are an agent of something bigger than ourselves, the sense that to follow the call is to engage in "right action" for our lives, and the sense that others will see it in us, and be supportive. On the negative side, we experience the fact some others see it, but they don't like it. It represents loss and grief to the "you" they once thought they knew, and it means they have to adjust without you in your former state. We experience doubt. The doubt might be "is this really a call or am I just being narcissistic here?" "I'm not sure I can do this; I might fail." "Have I lost my mind?" We feel anguish if we resist the call, and sometimes movement comes only as a result of relieving the anguish.

In short, it's easy to talk about the good stuff to others, but very hard to be open about the hard stuff.

These feelings, in various amounts, are present in all "callings," whether they are big or little, religious or secular. They can be as big as a calling to one's lay profession, choosing one's life partner or a call to religious ordination. They can be as small as changing a minor detail of how we deal day to day with a loved one, to give more money to charity or church, or to create more "down time" to recharge and restructure our lives. Yet they all contain varying amounts of these conflicting feelings.

The other thing that struck me in this movie is the use of holy objects--namely the cross--as an object of yearning for St. Joan. In the trial sequences, the fast paced, always changing camera views also dart back and forth to crosses--a cross atop a church barely visible from a rock wall, the crosses on the bishop inquisitors, a cross interposed with a scene showing a bare skull with a worm crawling out of the skull's eye socket. Just before she is burned at the stake, she is given a large cross to hold before being taken off to be burned. She wraps both her arms around the cross and cradles it lovingly. If only all of us could embrace God's will so lovingly and with such indifference to what the world thinks of us in our various callings--and it's a safe bet that what we fear is far less consequential than being burned at the stake!

Anyone who is exploring a thought of any size of "What does God want for me--what does God want me to do about (fill in the blank)," ought to watch this film. Try not to watch it for the story line, but watch it in a way where the goal is to feel what is expressed in the numerous faces. My guess is it will allow similar clarity of the confusing aspects of one's calling to rise with a different sort of clarity.

Academy Awards 2010 Winners List

Best picture "The Hurt Locker” Actor Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart" Actress Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side" Supporting actor Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds” Supporting actress Mo'Nique, "Precious" Director Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker" Animated feature "Up" Original screenplay "The Hurt Locker" Adapted screenplay "Precious” Best

Olympics commercial

This Olympics commercial is so sweet!

Emma miniseries

Have you been watching Emma, the new PBS miniseries? It started last Sunday night, and it's AMAZING. Emma is so charming and adorable with her gossip and matchmaking, and the show stays really true to the book. And don't worry if you missed the first episode; you can watch it online here. I absolutely love it!

Cutest street style

Red lipstick + big smile = adorable.

P.S. My friend and I saw Up in the Airlast night, and it was so entertaining!

(Photo by Tamu McPherson. Via Unruly Things, via Refinery 29)

30 Rock

Jack: You’ve been avoiding me, Lemon.
Liz: How do you do that without turning around?
Jack: To be perfectly honest, the first couple of people I did that to were not you, but…here we are.

(The new season of 30 Rock starts January 14th. Get psyched.)

The Shining

On Monday evening, Alex convinced me that it was a good idea for us to turn off all the lights and watch The Shining. Needless to say, I totally freaked out and had to check under the bed before going to sleep that night (seriously) (I'm 30). So, yesterday, Alex showed me this hilarious spoof trailer from 2006, which makes the movie look like a romantic comedy. I was dying laughing. Now that's more my speed.

Do you like scary movies?

Sex & the City 2 Trailer

I really didn't like the first Sex & the City movie. Big was the absolute worst! Carrie should have run for the hills. Still, I loved the show and am curious about the sequel. Here's the trailer. What do you think? xoxo

(Via I Heart You)

Room with a View perfume

When I was growing up, A Room With a Viewwas one of my favorite books and movies. (I remember reading the book while lying on our trampoline in the backyard!) So I was thrilled to hear about this new perfume inspired by the passage where George and Lucy kiss for the first time in a field of violets.

(Via Frolic)