Really?

I'm back-I made it through my husband's driving through the Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains, I survived hiking to 3 different waterfalls, and I almost made it up Chimney Rock-but dang that "rock" is a freakin' CLIFF. A FREAKING HIGH CLIFF. After hiking all day, I don't do a 26-story cliff. Sorry nature, you're beautiful, but you also make me hyperventilate sometimes.

And through all the mountain driving, my hope to read the whole way was dashed by...well...the inability to read comfortably. We'll leave it at that.

But, BUT, dear readers, I watched some movies. And those movies had, what I'm hoping, are some excellent chunks of text. And I can't help but think: "Really?"

Ok, now I'm totally guilty of watching auditions or hearing about other's experiences and cringing uncomfortably about people performing monologues from a movie. I've seen good presentations, don't get me wrong, but I feel like movies are easy to imitate. Text, and text alone, really makes you *work* for your interpretation. Watch a movie too much, love a performance so much and you could be re-enacting...not performing. Well...at least that's what I'm afraid of.

Seriously-I'm an imitator. I have been since I was a child. My mother bought me a pair of tap shoes at a garage sale when I was 4 or 5, and she asked me if I wanted to take classes. My response: "No. I know how to do it," as I continued to make crazy clicks and watch my reflection in the dishwasher. Why? Because I watched the Lawrence Welk Show (come on, young people, thinking PBS, think variety show, too many sequins, and BIG hair), and I thought I knew how to tap. I don't think this imitation skill is always a bad thing (that's how I pick up on dialects easily), but...

In any case, the movie. My favorite: A Coen Brother's flick-"The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994) There's a GREAT female character (Amy Archer) played by Jennifer Jason Lee. She has a great speech, and luckily, she plays the role in a very stereotypical-1950s-I'm-Katherine-Hepburn kind of way that would be easy *not* to imitate-to make a bit more believable, more grounded. I'll be investigating. :)

On to a busy week-have a great one!

Whitney