A Life in Pictures

My friends Patricia, Dan, and Amanda have an annual day-after-Thanksgiving leftovers party which has become one of my favorite annual traditions. There are about half a dozen people who I met at the party, and whom I only ever see there. There are a couple children who I've seen grow up—one of them in particular who I barely know, but have seen transform from a rambunctious little toddler into a wordly tween. I've met Jesse Eisenberg at this party. I met someone fabulous who invited me out for lunch on what turned out to be a date, but I was already with someone and then in later years I got to see them with their new person who they eventually married and got pregnant with. I've discussed the racial, political and historical context of zombies vs vampires. Finally one of my favorite parts of the party comes at the very end—a special trade secret super-fun something that happens once most people have left (and for which I have always stayed.) OK, I'll tell. After everyone leaves, a few people stay and formally judge everyone else. What food they brought, what they wore, what they talked about, who they're together with, how their kids act, their new haircuts, their recent life choices ... I just love this, and feel I also have an annual party so that I can also have a small judging session at the end.

This year, however, I did not stay for the judging, so that I could high tail it over to see the new Bond film. I've been wanting to see a movie for weeks. I want to see Skyfall, Lincoln, The Sessions, Cloud Atlas, Silver Linings Playbook.  I'm afraid I've missed Seven Psychopaths, The Master, and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer. I'm going to want to see Not Fade Away, This is Forty, Zero Dark Thirty, The Hobbit. The only things I did see in the past 2 months are Argo and The Perks of Being a  Wallflower. Independent film? I haven't even looked at what's playing at BAM or IFC or Film Forum in weeks. Let alone Filmwax, my friend Adam's incredible film series in Brooklyn that I have somehow never even been to.

So with the weight of supporting the entire film industry resting on my shoulders, I dashed out of my favorite part of the party to see the new Bond film, and wouldn't you know it—the 8:30 screening was sold out.

So I guess my special selfish joyful thing of the day was going to the party that I enjoyed thoroughly, even though I didn't stay til the end. I met someone new this year. Someone I hope to see in years to come. Someone who told me that there's now a big screen theater inside the Brooklyn Central Library. (I can't find a link to the actual theater online, but I found a link to the movie in the screening series she saw.) So now I have a new movie venue, and hopefully I can free up enough time to actually go there.