Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
Beating the Original Super Mario Brothers. Writing and directing my first narrative film. Reading the book about Pixar. Getting the high score on Galaga on the machine in my building. Traveling to Italy and drinking insane amounts of wine. Finally getting that tattoo.
It’s easy to want to do things. It’s harder to actually do them.
And yet it feels so good when we do things. When we wake up and realize: damn, I did that big thing. And I did it well. So why is it so hard to commit?
I have always wanted to be known as the kind of person that got shit done.
It started in high school, when my ultra competitive nature meant that I wanted to get into my choice colleges. It transitioned into that first year in the dorms, where I challenged myself to become a freshman staff reporter at the largest daily college newspaper in the country. (I totally did that too, by the way.) And it continued early in my career, when I decided to teach myself how to be a film editor to expand my creative professional options. That bet paid off immensely.
Then adulting got in the way.
And grocery lists.
And dating.
And all the things that don’t really have “dream” attached to them. Instead, it’s more like “obligation” with a dash of social expectations.
For me, so much of my growth this year has been about getting back to that girl. The one that said she was going to do something and then actually did it. It started simply: seeking out the challenges I’ve always wanted to achieve and forcing myself to make progress, no matter how small. Initially, this was about the simple task of crossing things off my to do list. Anyone who has ever had an absurd collection of post-it notes knows this: There is a sick level of self-satisfaction that comes from crossing things off of your to-do list. Imagine that tiny little personal pleasure being amplified by 10 or 100 when you do something truly life changing?!
Before I knew it, the dreams got bigger: write a script in the Wes Anderson cafe. Done.
Create my own start-up and actually hire some people. Done.
Write and direct a film. Done.
The point is: if you want to be the kind of person who feels fulfilled, work to fulfill yourself through goal-oriented ass kicking. Be the sort of woman who says: I want to do this. And then actually do it. Make the list. And do it.
You’ll be happier. Trust me. I know, because I am.
There are two sorts of people who wander into Bar Luce, the Wes Anderson cafe, in Milano, Italy:
1. People who know what Bar Luce is.
2. People who don’t know what Bar Luce is. But they’re thirsty and it’s there.
As someone who planned her entire Italian getaway around getting to Milano as soon as she could so she could see the filmmaker’s thoughtfully designed cafe, I was clearly part of the first group. It was a silly little comedy to watch the intermingling of the second group with the first. The second is actually quite baffled by what’s going on, but seemed charmed that anyone could care so much about mint green tables and pink chairs. But for me, it wasn’t about the mint furniture, or the perfect pink fonts or the delicate layout of cakes - it was about something that Wes Anderson himself said about the place:
“I think it would be an even better place to write a movie,” Anderson says. “I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons in.”
You can see now why it was so important to me. Plainly, it is:
1. The closest I will ever be to walking onto a Wes Anderson set.
2. The perfect setting to write a movie, as stated by Anderson himself.
3. In Italia. Perfecto.
It became this weird mecca. A place I must see. A necessary cornerstone in my healing process over the last 6 months. Again and again when people would ask what I would do in Italy for such a long time, I had been saying rather proudly: I’m going to Milan to write a movie. At Bar Luce. The Wes Anderson cafe.
And I did. I freaking did. All 98 pages.
No one questioned me. Why would they. I am nothing if not a person who does exactly what she says she is going to do. Plus, it seems like something a dramatic and artsy person like myself would embark on for no better reason than it sounds like a good idea after going through a dramatic break up. People have done far stupider things in reaction to heartache.
And while so much of it was perfect, there were some unexpected oddnesses to the whole ordeal. Turns out, Milano is not a city where people hang out in coffee shops working on their computers. Maybe that’s all of Italy. Either way, the idea that anyone would sit around and attend to… work… instead of having an espresso and moving on with their life is sort of comical to the Italians. And the adorable pink bow tied staff at Bar Luce were no exception. I appreciate this committment to efficiency. But I also don’t know how to function in such a paradigm. I love to write amongst the hustle and bustle of humans meeting and reading and networking and drinking. It’s productive and real and there is an energy to that. The temporary nature of the way Italians drink their coffee makes it much harder to enjoy all that.
And so instead, Bar Luce became a multi-day destination. Or, in my case, a multi-day, multi-meal destination where I would break conventional Italian norms in pursuit of increasing Final Draft page counts.
Here’s how I did it, should you ever want to embark on a similar quest: I would strategically arrive around 11 AM so I could reasonably consume coffee and then order lunch an hour later. While this isn’t traditional and probably made the wait staff feel like I was a total weirdo, it worked for me. It allowed me to be there for considerably longer and gave me the chance to people watch for the extended periods I would normally want to observe other humans. Frantically typing like a mad woman, I laid out each of the scenes of my next film. For the record, the film tells the story of a young photographer trying to understand the meaning of intimacy in the 21st century where so much of our lives are laid bare, including our bodies.
It would be unfair to say that the setting made my script better, but it felt like a worthwhile journey to experience. Writing a film can take months, but forcing myself to do it in a week in a limited number of visits to Luce gave me a sense of purpose that can sometimes go missing in the creative process. When you don’t have anything holding you to a deadline, it can be challenging to force yourself to impose an artificial one.
And that’s what Bar Luce did for me.
So yes, I wrote a film at Bar Luce. What you’re really wondering about is the sugar packets and cakes. I know. You can see my instagram video tour of the place here. Like a Wes Anderson movie, the style of Luce is entirely immersive. Everything about it oozes specialness. Sweetness even. The exact color of the pink. The floor and it’s distinct style of both being tacky and not tacky at the same time. The way it surprises you with its size and high ceilings. The adorable pink bow ties around the necks of all the staff. Even the tiny little single chair seating options with their pivoting desk spaces feel distinctly their own, like a throwback you didn’t even know you wanted to return.
It’s hard to imagine not knowing that it’s a special place.
In my week there, it was fun watching people realize it is.
And most importantly, it really felt dear to me to be able to write a film there. To do the thing that someone I admire so much suggested one do. There are very few “wins” when you’re living a creative life and this was definitely one for me.
I went to see The Life Aquatic in 35MM this week at a local theater that was trying to steal my heart and make it beat extra happily. That’s what happens when you bring back my favorite movies in good old fashioned film form. My heart is like a jumping bean of joy. Anyway, it’s been a while since I had seen this seminal Bill Murray classic. And I was reminded of 5 totally strange points about life that just jump out to you when engaged in this cinematic treat:
1. Helping your friends and loved ones achieve crazy things ISN’T the point. Being there with them through the crazy things IS the point.
2. Doing anything for revenge never really works out.
Comic book readers, close your eyes. I don’t believe in revenge. Revenge is not a good motivator. It leads to emotional messes and violence. Doing things to bring people together, find common ground and achieve something… that’s difference.
3. Despite popular opinion, people CAN change.
There is this strange cultural idea that people don’t change. I disagree. And I think Steve Zissou is the perfect example of that. Changes in people are usually small and sometimes even hard to see. But we’re all capable of change if we decide to think things through and be better.
4. It’s never too late to do the right damn thing.
Steve Zissou is not a very good guy. He’s a bit of a mess of a man. But that’s why we love him. And that’s why we want to see him take fatherhood and embrace it. When he chooses that, he doesn’t fix his past screw ups, but he does make the right choice.
5. Just because you go looking for something doesn’t mean you’ll find it.
Whether it’s a Jaguar Shark, closure, a perfect pair of black skinny jeans or a long lost friend, sometimes we have to accept that the simple act of going to find something doesn’t mean we’re going to be successful. We must be open to what NOT finding it will mean and what it will teach us.
I promised you I’d finish the set of Wes Anderson desktop backgrounds and now I have. Because, well, when I say I’m going to do something, I usually do. Hoorah.
This set is wonderful for reasons that I will describe now: first, Grand Budapest. My love of that movie is so beyond explanation or comprehension. No part of the Wes Anderson collection of anything, ever, would be complete without a special call out to this incredible film.
Second, fun story about me: I lost my virginity while Life Aquatic was on the television. Maybe you didn’t want to know that about me. Sorry, not sorry. It’s one of the weird things about my life that I really appreciate.
Here is your second set of Wes Anderson Desktop backgrounds:
DOWNLOAD THE GRAND BUDAPEST DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE BOTTLE ROCKET DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE RUSHMORE DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE LIFE AQUATIC DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
And of course, you can get the first and original set here. We do free desktop backgrounds on the regular around here, so maybe check out the archive for a few more options. You can find those here.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been re-watching all of Wes Anderson movies recently. Like, maybe instead of eating. Or showering. Or brushing my teeth. It’s intense. While it’s easy to think of his films as eye candy and therefore an obvious choice for that reason alone, it’s actually his writing that absolutely draws me in every single time. I really needed a new desktop background, so while watching Hotel Chavelier, I decided to combine his brilliant quotes with some imagery in the form of wallpapers I could share. I’ve been coyly thinking of them as “Westop backgrounds.”
If these are popular, I’ll add Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Budapest and Life Aquatic too. For today, I’m going with Tenenbaums, Hotel, Darjeeling, Moonrise and Fox. Why? I don’t know. Cause when it comes to Wes, it’s not about favorites. It’s just about what speaks to you in the moment. And no matter when you see them, they’re all amazing.
So onward, here are the links to download each one:
DOWNLOAD THE HOTEL CHEVALIER DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE DARJEELING LIMITED DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE MOONRISE KINGDOM DESKTOP BACKGROUND HERE.
We do free desktop backgrounds on the regular around here, so if you’re not a Wes Anderson fan (who are you?!?!?), then maybe check out the archive for a few more options. You can find those here.
Now onto Rushmore. Because Max Fischer may not be crush-worthy, but at least he’s honest.
