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I just got back from watching a sneak preview of The Great Gatsby.  I’d been interested in the movie, in the mild “if I went to a movie, I might choose that one” way.  But I admit it, I probably would have given this one a miss, if the Universe hadn’t conspired to send me.  How you ask?

Well, first I went to lunch with a good friend, and her history of getting free stuff rubbed off on me.  At lunch Shore 104.3 gave us both free pre-launch screening passes to see the movie. They happened to be on hand at the local McDonald’s for McHappy Day.  (I had a Big Mac, but I don’t feel bad about the extra calories…because it was Big Mac for the kids, and my hips, but mostly for the kids.)

Normally I still wouldn’t have been able to go because I had planned to go to the Aacademie for a little swordplay, but my wrist is injured so I can’t fight right now, which meant I didn’t feel too guilty for missing my night at the Aacademie.

So off I went (virtuously walking the three blocks rather than driving and paying $20 for parking…cheapness may even help me get thin on day) to the movie.  I waited in line with movie enthusiasts who dressed for the event.

I did not dress for the event. I was excited, but I had no idea the amazing show that was in store for me, and now I wish I’d worn my best flapper wear. And I wish I liked champagne.  And I wish I had a cute short haircut, and could look good wearing nothing but a net of crystals.  But before I wish anymore, thank you Universe, I needed that movie.

I want to tell you everything I loved, but two and a half hours of film are arguing on my fingertips for the right to go first.  (Compliments to the writers of that film for inspiring that line.)

I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so I wont.  I’ll just say these three things.

1. Go see the movie.  You’re going to think it will be the same on the small screen, and you’re wrong.
2. I am buying a copy of The Great Gatsby to read tomorrow. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, why have I ignored you so long?)
3. Tragic, unrequited love is still the most romantic kind.

I know I will write tomorrow; Mr. Fitzgerald has seen to that.  Thanks.

Writing Exercise:

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

This quote makes me smile.  I know the feeling.  I know the freedom of being in a large room of people who have no knowledge of who I am.  I can be anything.  I can be successful.  I can be a starving artist.  I can be shy or confident or brash.  Tell the story of a person who enters a party and throws off the real them to explore the freedom of a large room of strangers.  Happy writing.

NB.  SPOILER

Seriously stop reading until you’ve seen the movie.

I totally warned you.

• I love how they used letters as snow, and typed messages directly onto the big screen so it wasn’t just the main character speaking, but F. Scott Fitzgerald himself.
• I love that the movie was completely un-real where it needed to be, and completely real where it needed to be.
• I love how the tragedy of the story was made even more real because we saw it through the eyes of someone who really, had so little to do with the story, that he was us.
• I love the freakish part of me that can see a happy ending in a tragedy.