Dress Down Friday | Guest Blogger Cate

How flattering to be the first DDF guest blogger! I’m afraid I might not measure up to some of Wess’ posts, but I’ll give it ago. I’m no theologian, so don’t be expecting anything on deconstruction or ‘The Light’; I’m much more interested in pop culture – it makes my brain hurt less. And this post is far wordier than most DDF posts, but oh well.

Anyhow, here we go:

Being that I work in movies & TV, I couldn’t not mention this week’s Oscar nominations. I was disappointed to see Into the Wild not get much recognition, but that disappointment was quickly replaced by my glee at seeing Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova of Once get a Best Song nomination for “Falling Slowly”.

I’m working on location in Vancouver, Canada for the next couple of months on a re-make of the 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. I’ve had time to do quite a bit of exploring and must say that the thing that’s struck me most (other than the fact that there’s a Starbucks every 12 yards, uh, meters) is the sheer beauty of this city. It’s the perfect juxtaposition of urban and natural landscape. Part of the beautiful urban landscape is the Christ Church Cathedral. Walking to church is a novelty for me, what with being an Angeleno and all, so it’s been fun.

Back in Los Angeles, it seems the artists have taken over the traffic islands. And also in LA, the Echo Park Time Travel Mart is open for business. Here’s the (not so) secret dealio: it’s the store front for 826 LA East, yet another chapter of the non-profit tutoring organization put together and run by those McSweeney’s people. A great organization and some super cool people to boot, so if you’re in LA and looking for a place to volunteer, look them up.

U2-3D was released on IMAX screens on Tuesday. I’ve got my ticket to see it this Saturday, and if this review is any indication, I’m gonna love it.

Speaking of music (and while I have the ear of the progressive Christian blogosphere), please allow me to pimp a couple of musicians you all should be listening to. Andy Zipf is awesome and you won’t really know the truth of his awesomeness until you catch him live – do so if you can. You can download a bunch of of his stuff for free here. The Gena Rowlands Band, fronted by Bob Massey, is another dose of awesomeness. Go here and listen to “Fuckups of the World Unite” (Wess, can I say that here?). It might not be work/church friendly, but it sure does make sense to me. And a few other songs can be downloaded for free here.

Both of these musicians are part of Brewing Culture, something I know next to nothing about and only found upon googling both of their names, but it looks pretty interesting.

Lastly, I’d be remiss to not mention the untimely passing of Heath Ledger. His death has upset me more than I would have expected, probably because his perfect performance in Brokeback Mountain was more than enough to endear him to me. I can’t think of any other performance that so heartbreakingly displayed the sheer agony of what it means for a human to not be allowed or able to fully love and be loved. The Annie Proulx short story the movie was based on can be read here, it’s well worth your time.

And that’s that. Many thanks to Wess for inviting me and should you so desire, you can catch me blogging about nothing specific over at Cate’s Musings.

2 responses to “Dress Down Friday | Guest Blogger Cate”

  1. Cate – A great dress down friday, one of the very best I’d have to say.

    I think you can say that on here, I’m not sure I’ve ever tried or checked with my superiors, but since they don’t pay me much I don’t think they’re are any restrictions.

    I didn’t know anything about brewing culture at all, and I had no idea you were a U2 fan!

  2. Hey, glad you like it. Hardly one of the best though.

    And yes, I’m a massive, huge U2 fan – they’re without a doubt one of my favorite bands. I’ve seen them play a whole bunch of times and it’s always an amazing experience so I’m looking forward to the 3D movie version!