Since movies seem to be the theme of the day.....

................... can we talk about how much I love Gwyneth Paltrow?

I love her so.

I love her for doing Great Expectations and Emma and Shakespeare in Love and Sliding Doors.

I love her for that slouchy goth outfit she wore to the Oscars that one year, with saggy boobs and braided hair. Not sure why but I do.

I love her for being warm and human and sweet to her fans and rather creepily obsessed with her deseased father (there, I said it, 'creepily'. Someone had to say it.)

I love her for eloping.

I love her for making a movie about a plane crash, titled 'Bounce', because that amuses the hell out of me. And I love her for making it with an ex/still friend. I love her so much I go to see all her movies when they open, even The Talented Mr. Ripley on Christmas Day.

I love her for having a mother named Blythe. Not sure how that's to Gwyneth's credit, but somehow, I do love her for it.

I love her for the fat suit in Shallow Hal.

I love her for her obsessive diet, and for breaking it when she had her daughter.

I love her for singing Bette Davis Eyes in that karaoke movie I can remember the exact plot but never the name of.

Naturally, (you guessed it) I love her for breaking loose of conventional names, and although I don't care for the particular one she choose (actually, I like it for a baby girl, but lets be honest, by age 22, she's going to have outgrown it) I love the spirit in which it was choosen. Great start, Gwynnie, call me next time, k?

Or come to your husband's concert. I'll shyly ask you for an autograph, blather something about how I'm a huge fan and that I think you carry yourself with such grace and radiance and then I'll run out of articulate words (actually I'm not sure I'll even make it this far) and hug you and you'll laugh that surprised laugh that is probably the only rational reaction to the weird, weird thing that is idol worship and pat my back in that nice way that means, 'ok, we're done now' and I'll talk about you all the way home.