Be In The Right Now
Updated 2003-07-08 17:00:00
Credits. Cha, cha-cha, cha-cha. Cha, cha-cha, cha-cha. Cha, cha-cha, cha-cha, cha-cha, whee, go xylophone! Splashy bus! Cha cha cha.
An elevator door opens, revealing Carrie inside. She's wearing a rather farm-girlish red dress with white polka-dots. It's demure, even though she's rocking bumping cleavage. She's got a cream-and-black overnight bag in hand (I have a Puma one I love) and proceeds to an apartment door. The VO lists "important firsts in a girl's life" -- this is the first time she's seeing Berger's apartment. I cross my fingers for her that he's not a slob.
The door opens, and they kiss. His place looks great, with exposed brick on one wall, a neatly made bed, a great, well-equipped kitchen, and a neat stack of CDs and books on the desk. So *****ing neat and tidy. Carrie chirps "nice!" a lot, then says she's relieved. "Nothing in here says scary bachelor." Berger adds, "Except me." The music is far too cheery to indicate that. Gustave and I were hanging out one weekend, as we are wont to do, and watched snippets of two scary movies. One, a Lifetime movie about a charming and busy serial killer, and then the Johnny Depp Jack the Ripper thing, Like Hell. We noticed two sound choices in both these films: a keening, high-pitched singing. Does that mean "scary" in sound editing booths? I wish I could provide an audio clip of the sound I'm thinking of. It was also liberally used in the movie Wild Things with Kevin "I'd Like A Side Of Him" Bacon. Let me try for you. Haaaaaaaa! Haaaa-aaaaaaaaaah! Gustave and I kept doing that all weekend long whenever things got a little bit eerie. And if Carrie were in a slasher flick instead of this breezy fashionista-centered comedy, maybe we'd be hearing that sound now. It isn't, and we're not, but what happens next does change the tone a bit. Berger says he can't take credit for the decor in his place; "that's Lauren." Carrie states what she thinks is the obvious. "Ralph Lauren?" No. Berger's ex-girlfriend Lauren. She's a decorator. Carrie sags the teeniest bit and, making giant air-quotes with her long fingers, says, "Please. You have a 'decorator,' I have a 'decorator.' Do we need to have the ex-decorator conversation now?" Berger says "got it" and kisses her. Fade to black.
Post-coitus, I presume, Carrie and Berger settle in to sleep. He's all, "Welcome to my apartment, night," and then a chorus of crickets and a gulping frog starts up. The hell? Berger is a "troubled sleeper," and this is his audio sleep aid. Carrie is appalled. Then a bird calls. She says, "I feel like I'm camping. I'm not a big fan of camping." Berger says he'll make s'mores for her in the morning, then says the tape was a gift from Lauren. He tries to go on about it and her and his sleep issues, but Carrie shushes him. Then he says, "After a while you won't even hear it." She VOs that she "hopes he means his ex-decorator's name."