OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING!

I know some people I don't know read this blog, and I don't know if any of them are considering aliyah....but if you are, just know one thing:

I can tell you from experience that dealing with your family's reaction is going to suck. It just is.



People told me that my family would be more prepared for this "second" aliyah of mine....well, they wouldn't. And, in fact, the reaction from my parents is so negative this time that I'm seriously considering staying with friends for the month that I'll be in LA.

If you go back and read the archives on this blog and see how many references I make to crying, it might surprise you to hear that I'm actually not much of a crier. For example, one of my closest friends of the past 8 years has seen me cry all of once. And her response throughout the whole ordeal? "Oh my G-d.....oh my G-d....I've never seen you cry before! Oh my G-d.....!"

But basically the past 24 hours have been a cry fest. Just sitting in my room? Yup, I'm crying. Taking a shower? Yup, you betcha, I'm crying. Last night I tried watching "Bridget Jones" which was my "I had a bad day" movie in high school and....indeed, I was crying again.

I figured I'd get out of my room today and see a movie, and I picked "Australia." Usually during emotional movies my eyes might tear up a bit or something, but that's about it. Today though, for almost a full three hours I was crying. Thank G-d it was an empty matinee.

A new low for me though? Yes, I actually cried THROUGH THE FUCKING TRAILERS! No, the trailers were not particularly sad. It was more like, "Oh my gaa-aaaaaaadd, [*sob*] they have a [*sniff*] do-o-o-o-g!!!!! [*bawl*] And its name [*choke*] is [*sob*] Marle-hee-heeeeeeeee!!!!!"


Well, speaking of "Australia," I thought it had its flaws, but otherwise was just the kind of movie I wanted to see today. My big problem though is that I always associate Hugh Jackman with "Oklahoma!" See, in "X-Men" the urge to picture Wolverine bursting out and singing the title song is not as strong, since "X-Men" has little in common with "Oklahoma!" In fact, when I first found out that the guys from "Oklahoma!" and "X-Men" were the same guy, I totally didn't believe it. Wolverine is much too hairy.
Unfortunately for "Australia," the atmosphere of "Oklahoma!" is very similar. You know, country folk and cattle from an earlier time. So basically the entire film I was waiting for Hugh Jackman to start singing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning!"



....which, surprise surprise, never happened. So in the sense that Hugh Jackman never burst into a Rodgers and Hammerstein inspired musical number, "Australia" was extremely disappointing. But in the sense that the movie was 3 hours of a scruffy cowboy with a sexy accent walking around and doing things....the movie totally delivered.

But that scruffiness was another problem. If its cowboy-ish-ness made the film seem too much like "Oklahoma!" then the fact that Hugh Jackman was unbelievably filthy and hairy for the vast majority of the film made "Australia" too much like "X-Men." To the point where I was afraid Hugh Jackman's claws were suddenly going to spring out and slice up poor Nicole Kidman and totally destroy the romantic aspects of the film.

So, for better or for worse, Hugh Jackman never burst into song and never extended his claws. But go see the movie.