I like Larry Fessenden. Larry is a writer, director, and actor from New York.

My first exposure to Larry was when Andrew and I first started dating. He really wanted me to see Habit. Andrew saw Habit around 1997 when he drove to New York specifically to see it at Village Cinema.

Habit is a vampire movie, but that isn't what is memorable about it. The movie makes you feel something, unlike most movies. Larry wrote, directed, and starred in Habit, which is why one critic called it, "The Wellesian tour de force of the 90's."

The next movie he wrote and directed, Wendigo, is amazing, too. The parent/child interactions in the movie are some of the most true-to-life I've seen in a movie. The little boy actor is amazing. Just like Habit, the horror story elements seem secondary to the emotional story of the characters.

Larry has also shown up in a lot of great movies we've seen over the years: Bringing out the Dead, Hamlet*, Session 9, Happy Here and Now*, and Broken Flowers (where he gets to punch out Bill Murray).

One day I was alone in New York standing at the corner of Lafayette and Bleeker waiting for the light to change. I saw Larry across the street talking on his cell phone**. Since Andrew wasn't with me to verify the sighting, I emailed Larry when I got home. He emailed right back and told me it was him.

This year when I was looking for gifts for Andrew's birthday, I came across Larry's production company website. I decided to buy him a Habit t-shirt. The paypal button on their site was a little wanky so I had to email Larry about it. On a whim, I asked if Larry would include a Happy Birthday note to Andrew with the shirt.

I can't believe the awesome package Larry sent. Of course there was the t-shirt and the note, but he also included a handful of promotional postcards, and Habit collectible trading cards. He is such a nice guy! The gift was a huge surprise. It was so fun to give Andrew something completely unexpected.

Larry has a new movie coming out called The Last Winter. It premiered at the Toronto Internation Film Festival in 2006. If you get a chance to see it, please do. Larry is the kind of guy who deserves your support.

* Both are movies that we've seen in the last couple of weeks but I haven't had a chance to put on the blog yet. In the case of Hamlet, he's only in there for a second and it was totally unexpected. I squealed and rewinded the DVD to make sure it was him.

** I take such joy in unexpectedly running into people I know. It's not important that they be famous ... I'd love it if I was walking down the street and ran into a friend, or you ... it's just that in New York, I most often recognize famous people. The only other famous person I've emailed after seeing them in New York is Vincent Gallo. I don't recommend doing that.

[photo taken 2-11-2007 in Atlantic City]