death and movies

As I left work today, the sky was darkening. I walked the few downtown blocks between my office and my Arabic school, relieved that a long, intense day of dentistry was behind me, happy to be free and alive and all those good things. Just before an intersection, a woman who was walking by me turned to me. She smiled. I can't remember what exactly she was wearing, but know it was tailored, masculine. In contrast she had a very feminine, beautiful face, fresh. She wore a small hat, cocked stylishly to the side. She had some sort of asymmetrical, perfectly coiffed hair cut. There were some soft curls to one side and the other was cut close to her head. Cool but not hipster. Made-up but not overdone.

I met her look and smiled back.

"You look like a character in a movie," she said.

"So do you," I answered. She smiled bigger and kept walking, further ahead.

Weird, huh? I was wearing a sweater, a purple skirt, brown tights, my hair haphazardly up. She seemed much more character-like to me, but I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder, and a comment made to a stranger is all the more fascinating for its randomness.

I'm glad I looked like a movie character and not a celebrity. Speaking of which, what is this business with hot, young actors dying of drug overdoses? Last week Brad Renfro, who is more like a memory at this point that anything. And today Heath Ledger. How could Heath Ledger die? He was in glossy colors across the gossip mags in the last couple of months. He was in Brokeback Mountain. Of all the folks we see in the People and US magazines we get for the waiting room at work and pour over during our lunches, he seemed like someone worth having a conversation with maybe. Not like it would have ever happened. But now it's definite. It won't. That's what death means.

The Australian news piece I just read said Heath was paying $23,000/mo for his Manhattan apartment. I hope that's wrong. Now I'm rambling. And yesterday I found myself having a very serious conversation with a friend over some Ethiopian food and beer. We touched on the Iraq War, the upcoming elections, the impending recession, and Tom Cruise. Where did that come from? We seriously dissed the man for the weird rumors surrounding his religion and his identity. That's right...he came up because I was talking about my thoughts after seeing There Will be Blood which got us to Paul Thomas Anderson which got us to Magnolia and then Tom Cruise's excellent role in that movie. Apparently the character Cruise plays in Magnolia is most like him in real life, or at least very much like him in a recently recorded interview about Scientology. Creepy. What does this all say about characters and celebrities and movies and life? You tell me.