Happy Valentine’s Day!

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We’re off to our partner yoga workshop in a bit. It’s been a nice day.

Love to you!!

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On Wednesday we went to the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax, and watched a bad Greta Garbo movie (she was the only good thing in it!). Before the film, they played two shorts, one with Felix the Cat and the other featuring Harold Lloyd. Every time I watch a good slapsticky old black-and-white comedy I’m struck by how incredibly funny it still is. There was a police-baiting scene in the Harold Lloyd short that had me laughing so hard. Some kinds of humor never seem to grow old.

The best part of the Silent Movie Theatre was the accompanist, 96-year-old Bob Mitchell. Mitchell has been playing the piano and organ to accompany silent films since he was twelve years old in 1924! He had to be helped up to the stage, but once he got going, he played with as much verve and enthusiasm as any young musician of any era. He was a complete marvel. I’m going to try to go see him at least once more before we leave LA, but all the same I’m sad I never made a habit of going to the Silent theatre earlier!

Last night we went to the Arclight with Angela and Jason to see Coraline in 3D. As we expected from a Neil Gaiman tale, the story was deeply felt and just as deeply twisted, but very enjoyable. The film itself was an incredible work of stop-motion animation (think Wallace and Gromit without the claymation) and since it was designed as a 3D movie, the 3D aspect felt natural and really enhanced the viewing experience; it wasn’t gimmicky. It was a really wonderful movie because it was so very creepy and yet it took these brilliant flights of fancy that were just pure joy to watch. A scene with a jumping mouse circus had me giggling with glee, and a burlesque sequence made the entire audience gasp with laughter. I highly recommend going to see it, though I recommend the 3D!

Funnily enough, going gluten-free has made me suddenly really love popcorn. I’ve never liked it but all of a sudden I just can’t resist it, especially at the movies. Yesterday I even broke my lactose-free regimen to ask for butter on my popcorn, and oooh, I enjoyed that (and thankfully, my stomach didn’t seem to mind).

Even though I don’t often go to the movies, I’m really going to miss LA’s movie scene. The number and variety of theaters is just unparalleled anywhere else, and the Arclight is such a perfect place to get lost in a good movie, it’s spoiled me for cruddy chain theaters forever.

An odd thing: when I cut my fingernails today, they appeared distinctly pink. Strange.

This morning marked my fifth straight day of yoga and though I’m still sore everywhere, I am loving this practice.