Wednesday, April 18, 2007

YET ANOTHER SLEEPLESS LIST

And a little diversion, at least for me, from all the media focus on the recent tragic deaths.

The other night I woke up because of a leak in the ceiling of the little alcove I use for an office. Oh no! My precious papers and books etc.

After strategically placing pots and pans, tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. Thus, list time again.

I tried several variations on the little trinity lists I obsessively make, but they weren’t taxing enough to knock me out, so finally went back to the usual sleep-inducing alphabet list.

This time, I thought of women I’ve fallen in love with through their work. Some of whom I probably wouldn’t have wanted to meet because, not to be arrogant but the few women who thought they fell in love with me through, or because of, my writing or acting, when they actually got to know me were sometimes disappointed.

So these are only women I fell in love with from afar and never met.

AMANPOUR, CHRISTIANE (TV journalist)
BERGMAN, INGRID (film actress)
CASH, JUNE CARTER (singer & songwriter)
DANDRIDGE, DOROTHY (film actress)
EDWARDS, ELIZABETH (political campaigner, teacher & charity head)
FAITHFUL, MARIANNE (singer)
GELLHORN, MARTHA (writer)
HESSE, EVA (artist) and HAYAK, SALMA (film actress & producer) a close second
I
JOHANSSON, SCARLETT (film actress)
KELLY, GRACE (film actress & princess)
LAKE, VERONICA (film actress) tied with LEE, PEGGY (singer & songwriter) and LEE, ANDREA (writer) a close third
MILLER, LEE (photographer/writer) and MANHEIM, KATE (actress associated with Richard Foreman’s stage pieces) a very close second
NEMIROVSKY, IRENE (writer)
O’HARA, MAUREEN (film actress)
POINTER, JUNE (singer)
Q
RHYS, JEAN (writer) and RUDNER, SARA (dancer & choreographer) almost a tie
SADE (singer)
THOMPSON, EMMA (stage & film actress & screenwriter)
ULMAN, LIV (film actress)
VARGAS, ELIZABETH (TV news anchor)
WRIGHT, TERESA (film actress) and WELLS, MARY (singer) a tight second
X
YOUNG, LORETTA (film actress & TV star)
ZHANG, ZIYI (film actress)

2 comments:

Nina said...

what is up with men and scarlett johansson? every guy i know has a thing for her.
i usually enjoy her movies- especially lost in translation. i get that she's talented and beautiful, but i'm missing what the big deal is.

Lally said...

I can't speak for anyone else, but part of the appeal is that she isn't conventionally beautiful, and certainly isn't the norm for "beauty" these days. She's not skinny, or gym-toned boyish, like so many of the models and actresses of her generation, and beyond, but instead has what seems on the screen to be a soft and curvy body, like what has been throughout history "normal" for women. And her face isn't flawless either, like those that have either had work done on them or were just created perfect—her ears are too big, if I remember right she has some kind of mole somewhere I think, her nose and mouth a little off—she seems human, approachable, and accepting of herself as she is, comfortable in her body and not worried what others think. Maybe that's an illusion, but that's the way she comes across to me. And then her intelligence, when she acts and when she's interviewed she always seems candid rather than calculated, intelligent and articulate, aware of her strengths but not neurotic about her position, etc. And she seems to like men and not be threatened by them. Not to mention she's a consumate actress—as someone who made his living at that profession for decades, I know when someone is looking good because of the director, or tricks, or etc. and she simply is very very good at it, and that comes across as almost effortless and natural as well. I could go on, but I realize, now that I've tried to answer your question, Nina, that it is the her naturalness and acceptance and seeming comfortableness with herself physically and intellectually, while also seemingly natural and comfortable physically and intellectually with men, that makes her seem like a throwback to a time when "American" women were mostly that way themselves, or like European women who seem so comfortable with their femaleness and womanly-ness and even their age etc. i.e. she's more a woman than a lot of "American" females who seem to often be self-centered and self-conscious "girls" and want to stay that way as long as they can (as corrrespondingly "American" men seem to be "boys" and want to stay that way as long as they can, e.g. "W." and Imus and Snoop et. al.! Does that help?