Someone who I don't have a love/hate relationship with is Mr. Ricky Gervais. He is one entertainer who brings me pure joy. No matter whether he is making me cringe as David Brent on "The Office" or making me smile as himself, I always love him. He has this purity that is amazing. I noticed it first on the special features on the Office DVDs. Seeing the man laugh his huge open-mouthed full body laugh makes me so happy. And I love that everyone around him is usually totally irritated by him, but he still does whatever he wants. I love that.

He has a new show called "Extras" that will be debuting in the UK this summer, but has also been picked up by HBO! for America. It is about people who are extras on tv shows.

I was thinking, I don't think that there is anything you could tell me about that ham Ricky that would make me not like him.

http://www.rickygervais.com

I am currently listening to the "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" soundtrack. It is my favorite movie of all time, and yet I have only seen it twice. I used to watch my favorite movies of all time over and over again. When "Annie Hall" was in the top spot, when I was about 19, I think I must have watched it 50 times. And "The 400 Blows" got me out to a movie theater twice in a week. But I keep my distance from Eternal Sunshine for some reason. I think it affects me too deeply. I think I see myself too clearly when I watch that movie. I think I experience love and the pain of love too much to watch it over and over again.

And listening to the soundtrack is doing the same thing to me right now. I just get this insane emotional response. Most people I know have told me how much I remind them of Clementine in the movie, not just because of the colored hair, which is just a way to define one's self as different really, but her personality as well. I didn't go into the movie expecting it, but I guess i can see it. Ok, actually, I was shocked by it. Sometimes, I think i am more like Joel, though. Deep down. That in some ways, those characters could actually be two halfs of the same person. I love when Joel says all that mean stuff about Clementine, like... "all the hair colors. who does that bullshit when they are 30 years old." I think that about myself a lot. And knowing Clementine, I think she thinks it about herself a lot too. I don't know. I just think it is a masterpiece of character development. And it is such a small, quiet movie about love and people... the same for "Lost in Translation." I wonder a lot about when another movie like this will come out. I wonder if I will just have to watch Eternal Sunshine again to get my fix. Or perhaps I should just pay more attention to real life.