Julie & Julia & Julia

We watched the movie Julie & Julia on the weekend. I was definitely disappointed, I was expecting more. Meryl Streep's performance was, as usual, beyond reproach, but, overall, I found the film to be pretty dull. I didn't become emotionally invested in the characters, so I didn't really care what happened to them. On a positive note, it was quite lovely to look at, the portion of the film focusing on Julia Child (set in France) was particularly beautiful.

One thing that happens to me when I watch a film or TV show whose characters are based on (or allegedly portraying) "real" people is that I become sort of obsessed with finding out the "real" story. Historically, very few filmic portrayals of famous figures are done without some degree of artistic license, and I find myself wanting to know more, needing clarity as to what actually happened, wondering where they ended up etc etc.

At the end of Julie & Julia I immediately reached for the computer to find out how Julia Child ended up becoming the famous chef & TV personality "Julia Child" (the film focused on a brief period in her life when she first moved to France, learned to cook "the French way" at the Cordon Bleu and collaborated on her first cookbook).

I also became curious about the "Julie" of the title, who became quite well known back in 2002 for her food blog, the "Julie/Julia Project". If you've read the book on which the film was based, or seen the movie, you already know the story: In her 2002-2003 blog, Julie Powell chronicled her endeavours to prepare each of the recipes contained within Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a 1-year period.

My preliminary internet search for Julie Powell turned up a plethora of ink* on the author & her 2nd book, Cleaving, that had been released in the latter half of 2009.

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*Can we still refer to written press as "ink" even if there's no ink involved and it only exists in cyberspace? Ladies & gentlemen, my pointless conundrum/aside of the day....applause, applause, applause...
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In reading the (mostly) scathing reviews of her new book and profuse indictments of the author herself (moreso for her attitude and "shocking" stories she reveals in Cleaving, than for her writing) I became intrigued. The Julie Powell being described in these pieces - foul-mouthed, unapologetically self-centered,  brazenly adulterous - bears little resemblance to the bland, saccharine-sweet, semi-endearing, pathetic, oft-victimized Julie Powell portrayed in the film. The real Julie Powell sounded eminently more appealing and my interest was piqued.

I figured that I should start from the beginning and hoped that the original "Julie/Julia Project" blog was extant on the internet. I wasn't sure it would be, considering its contents were made into a book  (you know...cow, milk, free $$$...etc.) However, a bit of searching revealed that it is still out there and set upon my quest to read the entire project, from beginning to end...which I accomplished in less than 48 hours.

You could say I was a trifle obsessed.

I'm not sure why I found it such compelling reading. But, I suppose it shouldn't be all that surprising, considering its popularity during its original incarnation (apparently becoming one of salon.com's most visited blogs ever, with hundreds of thousands of hits during that first year alone).

I will confess, I did speed-read parts of it...and, by speed-read, I mean, I only skimmed certain portions. Since I have no interest in French cuisine, either preparing it or consuming it, the sections devoted to the minutiae of the recipes - ingredients, cooking methods etc. - were quite tedious & extremely repetitive (butter, anyone?).

Besides which, consuming all of that French cooking (writing) in one sitting can't be good for one's arteries.

So, as I read through the blog entries, I did skip what I considered to be the more rote sections and went straight to what I considered the meat of the saga: The successes & failures, trials & tribulations of Julie Powell in both her kitchen & her life.

I can see why so many people became fans of the blog, it was quite entertaining. And, other than her penchant for using the word "phase" when she meant to be using the verb "faze" (as you know, this type of faux pas is anathema to me), I thought it was exceptionally well-written.

I actually found her voice as a writer to be alarmingly similar to my own: Self-deprecating (yet superior), self-aware (yet self-absorbed), witty (yet whiny) and replete with mother-fucking expletives. Odd dichotomies, to be sure, but, as the douchebags at my old job were wont to say: It is what it is.

Additional similarities became apparent when I visited her current blog "What Could Happen?" (http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/). I was immediately taken aback by the subtitle of the blog: "Musings from a Soiled & Narcisstic Whore" - because I had literally *just* hung up the phone after speaking with a gentleman about pre-planning my funeral and I had told him that I wanted almost that EXACT phrase carved into my tombstone! What are the odds??!

Just kidding. I'm not pre-planning my funeral (I'm totally getting cremated).

But....whore? Yes. I have been characterized as such.

Narcisstic? Who me? Me me mememememe!!! Look at MEEEEEEEEE!!

Soiled? Hmm. I'd say spoiled. Or rotten. But, close enough.

Anyway...

I'm definitely going to read Cleaving, despite the plethora of negative reviews I came across. I have to assume that the detractors are puritanical, morally superior, vegetarians: Who *doesn't* want to read a sordid tale of extra-marital S & M, interspersed with first-hand accounts of what it takes to become a butcher?! That's gold, Jerry...gold!!

The bottom line result of this week's obsession is that I plan to try more new things in the kitchen. And not be thwarted when I see an unfamiliar ingredient listed in a recipe (So what if I only use it ONCE?! Big deal!)

And I will share these endeavours with the world...why not...if she can do it, I can do it!

Plus, I desperately need to get working on a project of some kind, so that those business cards that I had printed up with my title listed as "Project Manager" won't just big fat falsehoods. I hate handing out falsehoods when I'm networking.

Until tomorrow, lovelies!
 ~ Julia Patchoulia