Then
I'm Angie. I was born in 1969 in Alexandria, VA -- just across
the Potomac from Washington, DC. I stayed near DC until college,
when I left for a small town in the Shenandoah Valley of West
Virginia. West Virginia, suburban Maryland, back to West Virginia
and finally down here to Florida. I think I'm ready to bag this whole moving
thing for a while. We have bought a townhouse not too far from the beach and
have doves regularly nesting in my hanging plants. In other words, we're not the
only ones putting down roots.
Now
So, here I am now, living on Florida's
Suncoast with my husband Sam. It gets hot,
but the beaches are close (we have this world-famous sand here..."sugar
sand"...pure white and as soft as baby powder) and there is citrus in the back
yard. Also, I can't get over these little gecko lizards that run
around everywhere. Kinda cute, kinda creepy. I figure that as
long as I throw in the occasional weekend North, I'll remain
sane.
Right Now
Adjusting to our new home...a wondeful
townhouse with lovely wood floors and the most fantastic flower-filled patio.
The cool thing about Florida is that something is always flowering. Sam added a
SamCam to his site and you can get to that from the front page of my homepage. I
can keep an eye on the man all the time now! Also, did I mention that my sister,
Tammy, is set to have her first baby in August. Good things are happening.
The Pen
I'm a reader. I'm a writer. I worked in publishing and the television media for years, but I am currently working as a digital graphic designer.
I've done it all...advertising, public relations, tv, newspaper, publishing,
editing, market research. I've got
the gambit going on the side: poetry, short stories, screenplays.
A favorite genre? Modern American Short Fiction. Give me some Truman Capote any day (his character sketches and local color are
without flaw -- check out The Dogs Bark) and follow it
up with a healthy serving of Pinckney
Benedict, Joyce Carol Oates, Susan
Minot, Harlan Ellison...even a sprinkling of Louise
Glück's poems. Not that it falls into my general reading
genre, but I have completely enjoyed The Alienist and The
Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr. Douglas Copeland (Generation
X) is a guilty pleasure and Griel Marcus gets me thinking (Lipstick
Traces on a Cigarette). Currently reading: a couple of novels by
Neil Gaiman. He does the Sandman comics, but these are unrelated, full-length
novels. Fantastic.
The Sounds
Ramones, General Public, Arlo Guthrie -- I have an
eclectic taste in music. Barenaked Ladies; Rancid; Soul Coughing;
Cowboy Mouth; Peter, Paul & Mary. Toss in a little Sublime,
Pachabel, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Bosstones, Patrick O'Hearn,
English Beat, The Alarm, Television, Toasters, Poor Old Lu, and very old
Supertramp. A night out for some old fashioned fusion can be as
good as it gets. I'll tell you, though, my favorite sound right now is the sound
of coming home from work, kicking off my shoes and listening to the total quiet
inside my house. Maybe I'm getting old.
The Stories
I love film. Lately, I could do the independent film thing
all day; just as long as it is offset with some good Russian
comedy (you have to see Window to Paris to believe it)
and a few French tearjerkers (Olivier! Olivier! unsettled
me, but I cried none the less). My youthful favorites are still
with me: Willie Wonka, Raising Arizona, and Over the Edge. Ask me
to entertain company and I am likely to pull out something I know
will please: Walking and Talking, Il Postino,
The Daytrippers, Europa Europa, or A Couch in New York. . . I loved Life is Beautiful!
And, I can completely, totally see why American Beauty is winning so many
awards.
Right now I am amazingly into a tv series, which is very odd for me. I am a huge devotee of Six Feet Under on HBO. If you've not seen it, do so. If you do not have HBO, have someone tape it for you. It's dark and real and unsettlingly funny. I had the rare good timing to actually catch the pilot and have not missed an episode yet. It overwhelmingly edged out Queer As Folk as the only series I bother to keep up with, but then QAF has lovable character (I am an Emmett-a-holic), but the storylines are already getting dry.
The Chameleons
I appreciate unbelievably talented actors who are
underappreciated in today's art world. I absolutely love Liev
Schreiber. Also, I enjoy Mira Sorvino, Evan Handler, Julian Sands, Isabella Rosalini, Eric Schaeffer, anyone who can change their entire being to completely melt into a
character.
Freedom Outside
There's nothing like being outside. I eat up whitewater
rafting, spelunking, hiking, tubing, . . . just sitting outside
and smelling the air, seeing the sky. I adore the rain. I miss
snow. Enjoying the outdoors in Florida is different than anything else I have
known in the past. A bit back I was walking on a pier over some shallow
water. I looked down and there below me was an adult manatee and its baby
swimming lazily past me. 1999 saw a record number of manatee deaths in Florida,
80-some. It kills me. Most of them die because people driving speedboats aren't
watching what they are doing.
Happy Things
I like to think about the random things that make me
happy: the sound of rain, spring bulb flowers, Heaven, tiramisu,
a great myth, writing, fog & mist, winged things, when my
mother cooks, Frangelico, big black boots, riding too fast on the back of a
motorcycle, a good book while taking a hot bath, dried starfruit, and paintings by Paul Klee.
Smelling a Memory
I believe smell triggers the most vivid memories. Smell is my favorite
sense. I just plain dig a good fragrance. The
smell of the sidewalk after the rain, spring flowers, a new doll
just out of the box, Yves Saint Laurent's Champagne and his new fragrance Babydoll, orchard
fruit, blackberries.
Clear Color
I love deep purple and crisp white and clear nothingness.
These are the colors of the mind, noble and true, no pretensions.