Day 2 of ???

Very little Isabella action to report today, beyond the random searching of images through Flickr. So I figured I should take care of a little "housekeeping".

The first response people have when they hear of our eBay win (technically second to the eye-roll) is to look mildly confused and ask "Who is Isabella Ross-a-whatever?"

My initial instinct is to usually crack their head on the nearest concrete, but realize that it's a less-than-helpful response and that I should use the opportunity for good rather than evil. Think of it as education, I tell myself.

Thus begins a long recitation of Isabella's filmography, starting (of COURSE) with Green Porno. I usually conclude with a poor - albeit HI-larious - rendition of the "It's Laminated" scene from "Friends". I  mention Lancome and Vogue and, as a last ditch effort, I will end up with "Ingrid Bergman's daughter." Sometimes a light comes on. Usually it's just a dull "Well, I've heard of HER." with no real sense of who I'm talking about. The next filmography rolls, starting with Casablanca. Whether or not I get an affirmative response is a crapshoot.

So if you're one of those sadly Ingridbella-Ignorant friends....Babes. This one's for you.

Isabella is an Italian Swede born to Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. You may or may not have heard of the Ingrid Bergman scandal, but it's not really important. They are her mom and dad, and they were/are famous in their own right.

Her filmography is a motley mix of movies, tv movies, television shows and Guy Madden craziness. Death Becomes Her, White Nights, Cousins, Roger Dodger, the Napoleon miniseries, Blue Velvet, The Saddest Music in the World, Immortal Beloved...yadda yadda. She was guested on Friends, made a few brief (but amazing!) appearances on Alias as Ekaterina Derevko, and was Alec Baldwin's ex-wife on 30 Rock.

She was also a supermodel. She was the face of Lancome for YEARS, starting at a time when most models are actually ENDING their big contracts. She was eventually fired for being "too old", and went on to create her own line of cosmetics/fragrances through Coty. She's written a couple of books, directed a few shorts, and these days spends a great deal of her time on her new project "Green Porno", as series of environmentally savvy shorts about the mating rituals of bugs/fishes/whatevers.

She is a celebrity, but not in the strictest sense of the word. Perhaps in the more academic form - she is successful and beautiful, well-traveled and well-read. A self-confessed high school drop-out, she is wonderfully articulate and yeah, I'll say it, brilliant.  Yes, she is an actress and a model, writer and director, but those are not the sum total of what I find fascinating.

She is an individual, faithful to herself, apparently unafraid of failure or of coming across as fairly nuts. Anybody who gets porny in cardboard insect costumes has to have a pretty solid foundation of crazy with a healthy dash of creativity, top notes of self-awarness underpinned with a helping of joy.

She has a laugh that defies anyone to laugh with her.

I've wanted to meet her to see that kind of spirit - that kind of "crazy" - in person. To meet a woman so self-possessed , who is aging gracefully and with humor, style and fun. To take from the experience some of that magic, celebrate that kind of individuality.

And it's an honor to be able to share it with 5 other women who each, in their own way, represent those parts of what make Isabella so amazing. Real, beautiful, fun, kind women who I'm so pleased will be able to experience it too.

To quote her mom, who is a blog entry unto herself, "Be yourself. The world worships an original."

And that is exactly who Isabella Rossellini is.