I love old movies and new books

Two things appeared to me recently that encouraged, motivated, terrified and entranced me.

One of them was a black and white classic starring Anne Baxter and Bette Davis. They other was by Kelly Cutrone.

All About Eve is a brilliant movie about an aging diva and a manipulative rising star. Anne Baxter is frighteningly brilliant and I wasn't sure whether I loved her or hated her - regardless, she is GOOD at what she does. One of my favorite aspects of the film is that there is no clear hero. The audience is never clear who they are supposed to side with; the drama queen who's career is crumbling? the ingenue who looks sweet but is a fearless liar? the best friend who isn't very exciting but does her best to hold everyone together? or the conniving, schemer of a theater critic who in the end proves to be a match for all of the characters? It is a gripping, captivating story that left me reevaluating my own ethics and speculating the inevitable rises and falls of a dramatic career.


If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. This is a brilliant book. No other way to say it. I devoured it in one four hour sitting. Alex Angst wrote a particularly good review on the blog http://goodbooksinbadtimes.wordpress.com/

"The tough-girl’s guide to a kick-a$$ life

It’s on, b*tch.

In If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You, fashion PR tycoon and reality TV boss to Whitney Port of MTV’s The Hills/The City, Kelly Cutrone proves she’s no sweet-talking mother of an author. Her writing rages against the current in that it advocates the unconventional lifestyle of the modern adventurer in Cutrone’s classic, shut-up-and-listen kind of voice. OUT is the A-to-B-to-C type of life that today’s media consumers have been catering to.

It’s Cutrone’s signature tone, coupled with her brutal-but-hilarious honesty, that makes this a refreshingly unique and spicy read. Her anecdotes – from being home- and car- less to establishing her own business to single-handedly raising a daughter (with an average of three different lovers in the house at one time) – will inspire readers to diverge from the glorified path of perfection and to follow their own hearts, minds, and mouths in whichever order suits them best. A literary chili compared to the average, low-cal celery of a book."

I highly recommend these to an up-and-coming young woman who wants to make her mark in the world.