A Very Firthy Year

Well, 2011 has come and gone.  With it goes a long list of goals made in the frosty hope filled wonder of January last year.  A list that I just happened to glance at this last week to find that while I did amazingly accomplish some things, most fell by the wayside as they were not given more than a fleeting thought 12 months ago.  It can be a little diminishing to the fresh New Year hopes when you see how similarly you felt last year and then think of how easily you just gave up. 


Not that the whole year was a loss.  Actually 2011 was not too shabby.  I worked too much, played too little, and procrastinated just as often.  But I did begin and end my year with Colin Firth, and when can that be considered a bad thing?

In February I was lucky enough to attend Oprah's Oscar After Party in L.A.  I decided a few years ago that I would not land at LAX until I was going for a film industry meeting. I did have an exception if my request for red carpet bleacher seats was ever granted, but so far I'm 0-3 in that race. However, on a whim I signed up for Oprah's show and was first turned down.  But then I received a second chance invitation. Crazy, expensive, and so not worth it for most people, I never hesitated. I was in. Luckily I have a fantastic mom who is willing to accompany me on my strange adventures.  I'm not sure it was the trip of a lifetime for her, but there was a moment, sitting in the Kodak theater a mere 12 hours after the Academy Awards, when I could have died very very happy.

The King's Speech was a fantastic movie, my pick for Best Picture, so it was just icing on the cake when it was such a clear audience favorite that even the screenwriter, David Seidler, was present in the audience.  Such a beautiful sound, hearing all those fans cheer for the writer of a film.

I wish I could say I used my renewed desire for screenwriting to finish a screenplay this year. Instead, I have a little more than a handful of pages of a very rough draft.  But I resolve to do better this year and you never know, maybe someday I'll be back at the Kodak.  

Until then, I will enjoy the Christmas presents I received from my siblings -- a Blu-Ray of the film that began my year...

and a very covetable mug ...

Even if I come to think of this Darcy ahead of Firth's,

I would settle for a Mark Darcy kind of 2012, especially as like Bridget in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, I truly believe that happiness is possible... even when you're thirty-three and have a bottom the size of two bowling balls.