Entertainment Saturday

Happy Ending No Longer Required

My definition of a happy ending has changed in recent years. It used to be if the couple didn't end up walking arm and arm into the sunset, then I'd just wasted a whole chunk of my life. I wanted to leave the theatre knowing that love will conquer all, from ex girlfriends to volcano's. If I couldn't wax rhapsodic at the water cooler the next morning, then what was the point?

Now, however, I'm not such a stickler for the facile story and easy ending. Those have their places~sometimes you just need a predictable, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back kinda story. But I have begun to appreciate a deeper story with more complicated characters and meaningful themes. Without total spoilers, some movies I've liked recently without the traditional happy endings have been: (500) Days of Summer, Waitress, Whip It, Adam and Fur.

Sometimes it's enough to leave a theatre or put the DVD back in the Netflix envelope, being happy that the main character made it through the bad times, learned lessons and is usually ready to move on to better days.

What movies have you seen lately without the traditional happy ending?

Do What You Love!

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The World on a String

Whether you are a bead artist, a bead and jewelry admirer, or even if you’re a world history buff, you’ll be fascinated with The World on a String series of DVD’s, produced by Diana Friedberg.

Through the Bead Society of Orange County, I’d seen several of the movies. My impression was that they were professionally produced, exhaustively researched and very well edited. Little did I know that Diana Friedberg shot every second of footage on a Sony camcorder by herself! No crew, no assistants, sometimes not even a solid destination while on location. She edits at home and her husband, he of the smooth English accent, narrates.

Yesterday, the BSOC hosted Diana, who spoke about shooting the project. I won’t tell her funny and amazing stories here since she’s planning to compile them into a companion book for the series, but suffice it to say that the making of these movies has lead Diana to the ends of the earth and everywhere in between. She calls it a “blessed project” and I could see why. For me, a Motel 6 is roughing it… Diana traveled to areas that would make most of us shake in our beaded sandals, sleeping on dirt floors and eating whatever the indigenous people ate.

Diana is currently on deadline to finish the fifth and last installment of the series, which will be premiered at the Washington D.C. Bead Museum in the fall. Once that milestone is met, she will be trying to get PBS to air the movies nationally.

Here’s the link to her website:

http://www.worldonastringmovie.com I don’t want to sound poopy, but she makes much better movies than she does websites. The website isn’t too impressive but that’s obviously not where her talent lies! You can order the DVD’s through her website or if you’re in the Orange County area, you can pick them up at the Gallery Store at the Bowers Museum on Main St. in Santa Ana.

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