Clint Eastwood = Love?

When somebody asks you if you've seen any good movies recently, you almost instinctively say, "No," just like when someone asks you how you are, you almost always instinctively say, "Good." There are no details involved. The person asking the question just wants an answer, and doesn't want too much trouble to get it out of you. I get asked the question, "how are you?" quite a bit, and I almost never answer anything but, "Good."
Sometimes, when you ask questions geared toward initiating a real conversation, you get about two minutes into it and think that you wished you hadn't asked that awkward silence-killing ice breaker. Sometimes the person will get really into answering that simple question, and you just instinctively want to leave right in the middle of it. Ha! I've been there, too.
I was asked the question, "Have you seen any good movies recently?" today. She was a stranger to me, yet the two of us were in a situation where conversation seemed to be the natural route, and her being in the position of certain authority as the hair stylist, or barberette, she opened it up with that titillating query. To which I most certainly wanted to respond, "No," so as to get this person off my back as if saying, "What do you want? Just cut the hair and get done with it?" I feel like it's natural to feel that way, it's natural to just want to be left alone and not get involved with people. But in this case, it's more polite to actually engage with the person who is performing a service for you, and in doing so, maybe you learn a little about something that you didn't know before.
Life is a constant battle between your natural instinct and your conscience. I learned that my junior year of high school, but never figured it out until now. It was taught to me by my (gasp) religion teacher. Next time I see him, I'm gonna have to thank him. The point is, that when I was grilled on the topic of recently viewed movies, I played the part of the eccentric with a long explanation for my answer, which probably made my stylist a tad uncomfortable, even if just for a second.
I had recently viewed a good movie that I wanted to share. I told her I had seen Million Dollar Baby, and that it was good. It was a good movie, the best movie I had seen all year, and she mentioned that a lot of her clients had mentioned it as well. That gave me a good feeling, like one of correctness. I feel like I was able to come up with an answer because that movie has been on my mind subconsciously ever since I saw it. I really feel that a good movie does just that, stays on your mind. And in an interesting way, it keeps your mind guessing and curious for more. So what I did was, I rented Mystic River, and watched it. It wasn't as good as Million Dollar Baby, but it was still good, and has since kept me thinking about it.
Million Dollar Baby was directed by Clint Eastwood, who produced the movie and won the Best Picture Award at the Oscars just this year. He did the same for Mystic River last year, only he did not win the award. Clint Eastwood has approached me in a way that love has. Clint Eastwood was brought to my attention years ago, and I've always known him as a Hollywood big shot movie star, been in a lot of westerns, seen his face a lot on TNT. He's just kind of always been there, and I've just had to put up with him.
Similarly, women have always been there, stealing my attention from more important things, like the James Bond marathon I was in the middle of. Women have always been there, taking up space and time, not really affecting my life, similar to Clint Eastwood.
Until now!

I haven't written anything for a good few weeks now, and there are several reasons behind this. I have been spending a lot of time with a woman for whom I care very deeply, and I also have been watching a lot of movies, playing and listening to a lot of music. All the while thinking of things to write down in my blog, just never getting around to doing it. But tonight I came to a realization.
Clint Eastwood has really touched me with his movies, but he didn't do it right away. The attention and the glamour and the glitz didn't do it for me, it was just the nature in which he approached me and subtly invited me to the majesty of his wisdom and art. Similar to the love found in a relationship. Finding true love is a lot like fighting your way through all the Hollywood malarky and glitz, and getting to the nitty gritty roots of human feelings. You have to get through the initial bits of relationship baloney and the quirks and tricks men and women have amongst themselves, before you find something you can really cling to.
Like a good Hollywood movie, true love should keep you guessing, should challenge you, and should be on your mind constantly, but not leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. It should leave you with a feeling of wanting to get at it again and again, but not have to pay an arm and a leg for it. It's like buying the DVD. Maybe you save up for it, maybe it means a lot to you and whenever you watch it, it makes you feel good inside. But there's that undeniable quality of ownership, that when you are finished watching it, you always know that you can watch it again, and that that movie, that love, is yours forever.