The Long Week
Radiation Level: Solar Storm
Listening To: Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell
FalloutGirl’s Movie Reviews:
John Carter Friends with Kids Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Last weekend I had a scratchy throat. But it seemed like it was on its way out. I went to Richard Simmons on Saturday and worked out extra hard for some reason. I was exhausted after and the sore throat got worse. I rested on Sunday, I don’t even think I left the house. Then Sunday night BurbankGirl asked if I wanted to help her strike props from the set of the Bachelor. The pay was good and I had the daytime free. So I said yes. THEN she said I had to be there at 6am.
I tried to cancel, see if she could get anyone else, but there was no one. It’s not that I can’t get up at 5am, it’s just I knew my sore throat may not go away. I was right.
Monday: Striking props from the Bachelor: I was tired, but it wasn’t that bad. I did a Starbucks run. I did an In N Out run. I worked from 6am to 2:30pm. I came home, thought about sleeping but I had a meeting at 6pm for my upcoming math and technology family night. I went. Feeling tired and my voice was getting scratchy.
Tuesday: Taught Zome class. I tried not to speak over my students, but they get so darn excited. We made the Great Wall of China, after all. My voice was barely in tact at the end of the class. I was happy to sit silently through two screenings – Intruders with Clive Owen and John Carter in 3D. Voice completely gone.
Wednesday: Was supposed to start Weight Watchers and go to a meeting with DanishGirl, but being mute seemed to make it moot. I postponed it. I had to teach my last historical mockumentary class. I emailed the other teacher to said I would not be able to speak. He said fine. I actually used the speech tool on my Final Draft software when I needed to say something. The kids got a kick out of it. Then, Family Night as Ada Lovelace. Would I have a voice? I’ve heard of singers getting cortisone injected into their larynx when they lose their voice. That seemed a bit extreme. So instead I decided I would take an anti-inflammitory and gargle with olive oil to lubricate my vocal chords. It worked - at first. My monologue as Ada Lovelace went swimmingly, including my hair piece falling out (big laugh) and then I stuffed it into my shirt (bigger laugh). But as soon as I started teaching, the coughing started. And wouldn’t stop. My lesson was on binary code which I never had a solid grasp on in the first place, then trying to teach it using as few words as possible? Let’s just say there were plenty of confused kids and parents. Did I mention I had THREE classes in a row?
Thursday: I spent the morning finishing up my movie reviews, trying to conjure up cheeky titles. Did I succeed? Judge for yourself by clicking on the links. Then I taught science – 5 classes in 3 hours – no way to keep my voice in tact. Then a screening of Mirror Mirror. Then I had to prep my M.C. Escher costume – but where the f*ck is it? I looked EVERYWHERE, texted my bosses. Couldn’t find it…
Friday: Found costume in the garage (whew!). I played M.C. Escher from 8am to 2:30pm. Teaching all day. Voice rough and raw. So tired. Feet hurt.
And that was my week. I’m hoping to go to Richard Simmons tomorrow, but I probably should take it easy. then I’m supposed to have a bar mitzvah video meeting at 3pm…
Work is good. I like to be busy. I’m exhausted. (wine)
Now That’s an Ada Lovelace Dress!
Radiation Level: En Vogue
Listening To: Jar of hearts by Christina Perri
I love this dress. So would Ada. I can’t wait to explore her further…Ada UNLEASHED!
Holy Oscar!
Radiation Level: Blood Red Carpet
Listening To: Immigrant Song from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Yes, the big night is TONIGHT! Can’t say this year is the most exciting award event, only because the films weren’t amazing, but I’m still looking forward to it. Here’s FalloutGirl’s predictions in black (and hopes in orange!)
Best Picture: The Artist Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*
*Okay, I know it’s not nominated, but SERIOUSLY, this was the best film of the year. HANDS DOWN!
Best Actor: Brad Pitt (Money Ball) Brad Pitt*
*He’s the only one I like.
Best Actress: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) Rooney Mara*
I’m riding the GWTDT train all the way.
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Increadibly Close)*
*The move was dreadful – DON’T SEE IT – but Von Sydow was a ray of light.
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Original Screenplay: Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)*
*Gotta give it to the girls – they earned it!
Best Adapted Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin: story by Stan Chervin (Moneyball) John Logan (Hugo)*
*The Descendants can eat sh*t.
Best Documentary Short: The Tsunami and the Cheery Blossom*
It’s Lucy Walker‘s night, all the way.
Film Editing: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
So those are the films I’m shouting out. Please let me know if you agree! Also, you can follow the fabulous RioGirl as she tweets live from BACKSTAGE at the Oscars tonight…
Oh, No!!!
Radiation Level: Super Fricking High!
Listening To: Funeral Beat by Peggy Sue
So “The Plan” has backfired! I’ve been exercising one hour a day but have managed to GAIN 16 ounces! Oy vey! I’m freaking out!
Okay, so the French onion soup I ate didn’t help. BUT I WALKED FOR AN HOUR! 180 CALORIES according to my app iTreadmill. Okay, I have to stop eating the Spicy Yellow Lentil Hummus that I LOVE.
This stuff is dope. But making me fat. I guess I have to stop eating. Maybe juice diet again? Ugh…
I’m grateful for any suggestions…
The Plan
Radiation Level: 30 grams of fat
Listening To: A Certain Person by Light Asylum
So I’m back on the weight loss kick again. I like my new job reviewing movies but it means an additional 2-3 hours a day where I’m SITTING. Longer if you count driving to Hollywood or the Valley for a screening. It’s even worse when they offer you free popcorn.
10 pounds. That’s it. I can do it. I’ve done it before. Dieting makes me panic SO I’m going to exercise one hour a day, every single day until it’s gone. Walking counts. Saturday I did Richard Simmons. Sunday I worked at a Rocket Launch and loaded/unloaded a truck with heavy equipment. Today, I’ll go to the gym.
I will post my weight in ounces, because I’m too embarrassed to post it in pounds. Those of you who really want to know can do the math.
2/20/12 current weight: 2320 ounces
I want to weigh 2160 ounces. That’s 160 ounces to lose. I wonder how long it will take…
While I go sit on a spin bike, feel free to click on the links to my latest movie reviews.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
L.A. Rain and Vampires
Radiation Level: O Negative
Listening To: Happy and Bleeding by PJ Harvey
It is “raining” in LA, which is more of a drizzle, really. Inspiring mass hysteria. And I’m working on a play about why teenage girls like vampires so much. Biting is sexy. Twilight isn’t. I find it baffling.
I’m writing a lot these days, busy for the first time in a while. I’m being productive, which is healthy. Only, I have to get the exercise thing going again. Ah, life. Ah, aging.
I was so happy to see KodakGirl on Saturday. She’s endless inspiration. The theme of her next playwright’s festival is “From the Mouths of Babes” and as I wrote before, I was really struggling for an idea suited to this theme. Babes, babes. Babies. Funny things kids say? Ah, I know! I’ll write a play called “In the Mouths of Babes” that takes place on the set of a porno shoot. But when it became about the “adult actors” wanting to have rules about using condoms and then organizing for a union to get health care, I gave it up. Seemed a bit, well, not so much fun.
So instead of “babes” I focused on “mouths”. I researched ancient dentistry and discovered something called “Waterloo Teeth“. Apparently, the battle at Waterloo decimated the French soldiers so much that teeth diggers retrieved enough teeth from the fallen young men to inspire an entire denture industry. Real teeth were prized for dentures and of course, hard to come by until then. It’s an interesting part of history, but not really a short play. So I was stumped. Again.
Then I read Patty Smith’s memoir, Just Kids and found it fascinating. She talks about her relationship with Sam Shepard and the play they wrote together, Cowboy Mouth. It was performed one time by the two of them, then he left town. I had read the play years ago, but wanted to read it again. I found a copy at Barnes and Noble at the Grove and plucked it from the shelf, sat at a table and read it. It’s pretty out there, but it was the 1970′s after all. So using the play as inspiration, I decided to do my own homage to Cowboy Mouth, updating it for modern times. Vampire Mouth is the result. There will be a guitar. There will be drums. Even a gong. And one long, slow juicy BITE.
This is when life gets fun…
Writer’s Blawck
Radiation Level: 24 hours notice
Listening To: Everybody Dance Now by C & C Music Factory
I am on deadline for a play. It will be part of the Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Project, brought to you by the fabulous KodakGirl. You may remember my play Ring Around the Collar was part of the last one in Prescott, AZ and I had a super-duper rockin’ good time. The theme this year is From the Mouths of Babes. And I’m stumped. Maybe because I’m teaching so much, I keep thinking of writing about children. But how will we get good child actors to do a play for free? Hmm…maybe they will want to. I would have when I was a kid. Okay, so maybe I won’t rule that out. After children, I keep going to writing about “mouths”, particularly Poe’s Berenice. Maybe I could write an updated version of that? I don’t know, I want something fun. Alive. I want the blow the audiences’ minds.
Any suggestions?
In the meantime, here’s another post-modern Mona Lisa one of my students created. Genius.
Busy, Busy
Radiation Level: Ovoviviparous
Listening To: At Last by Etta James
Okay, as I mentioned in the last post, January has hit the ground running. I started my new job this week and it was a wee bit more complicated than I thought it would be. I’m reviewing films for an online magazine (I will link to them as they start to go up). Of course I enjoy going to screenings and giving my opinion (if only one could walk the treadmill while watching new films). What I didn’t know was that I would need to enter the articles onto the site’s server and format them with photos and videos. Ever heard of SEO? That’s what I’m talking about, bitches!
Okay – I do this stuff with my blog, but let me tell you, for-profit websites are a heck of a lot different than using WordPress. Sure, learning WordPress takes some time, but really, a nine-year-old could do it. I spent seven hours yesterday trying to get one of my reviews properly formatted and it’s still not there. Pictures have to be a certain size, placed a specific way depending on whether or not they’re vertical or horizontal, there are tag words, meta words, meta keywords to add, code to embed and don’t get me started on uploading video.
Well, the good news is that I’m learning all this stuff and certainly it will come in handy as I add more content to the web. And a BIG thanks to RioGirl for getting me the gig (you seriously rock)!
So while I finish typing all my 1′s and 0′s that will magically turn into a movie review of Underworld: Awakening, take a gander at my students’ drawings of carnivorous plants (that’s right, Venus Flytraps!).
Hello 2012!
Radiation Level: Isotropic
Listening To: Little Black Submarines by Black Keys
Okay, I was hoping for changes this year. Didn’t think they would happen so fast. Today I got offered a new job (details of which I will share when it’s official). Right after I hung up, my phone rang again. It was a current employer telling me a job I currently have is coming to an end. Spooky that those two calls happened within minutes of each other. Earlier this week my manager sent me an email that he’s moving into producing and out of management. That’s three major changes this WEEK. I know it’s the beginning of January and a lot of people resolve to make changes at the beginning of the new year, but still – didn’t see these things coming.
I want to be a well-paid screenwriter. I want to make feature films. BUT last week, I decided to open myself up to the universe for other types of writing work. And it seems to be coming. I’m going to forego writing the clone pilot and start working on my book. I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m willing to work hard. I’m ready.
I’m making a film with gifted 3rd-5th graders called Psychotic Stabbing Nerds. We had the table read yesterday. Considering half the students forgot to take their scripts home with them to learn their lines, I’m not sure how smoothly it will go. But it should be exciting (or harrowing) to see it all come together.
Learn your lines, darn it!
AND I’m going to be teaching another class where we’ll make a movie. This time it will be about an historical event. One of the suggestions from the school was the British burning down the white house. !!!!!! If you know me, you know my love for Dolley Madison and the war of 1812. I finally get to make a movie about it! GO DOLLEY!
So. Things are changing. Things are good. I’m hoping they get even better for us all.
