Ordinary World

I thought you might be interested in seeing the trailer for Ordinary World, a film I did back in April. I think it's being released in a month or so. Exciting times!

You see my best feature rockin' the green DVF dress.

Sunday Morning

I think this is officially the longest I've gone without posting in years. And I haven't even been on vacation! I've been working and rehearsing. That basically sums up my life the past couple of weeks. Oh, and I've been running. The Indy Mini-Marathon is in five weeks. I was supposed to run an 8K today called The Shamrock Shuffle. It's a big Chicago tradition. It was thundering and snowing when I woke up this morning. So I just turned over and went back to sleep. It's too dangerous to run in the slush and snow when I have a race coming up. I'm not broken-hearted about it. I got the free t-shirt.

Last night I had a Playground show. Since everyone was supposed to be taking part in "Earth Hour" we decided to celebrate it with our show. In case you haven't been connected with the real world, it's when everyone is supposed to turn off their lights for an hour last night from 8:30 - 9:30. I, of course, accidentally left on a lamp in my apartment. I don't like coming home alone to a dark apartment. So, there went that idea.

What was I talking about? Oh yes, our show. We decided to have all the lights turned off to perform the show. This is normally called a "Bat" - when you can't see anything on stage and you have to listen. It's a fun form. We decided to all bring flashlights and create our own lighting. It was pretty cool. Some of our scenes suffered because of it, but some really came together. I don't know if the audience liked it, but we thought it was pretty interesting and created interesting atmospheres and situations. I'd totally do it again. This time we will at least have an idea of what we're doing instead of discussing it as we warm up in the theatre bathroom five minutes before our show. That's improv. And I love it.

Hope your day is much sunnier and warmer than ours here in Chicago. I did watch a movie with the rooommates. Happy-Go-Lucky. It was a cute/interesting movie. I was just happy to be relaxing and not running off somewhere.

New Features

Happy March! March is a magical month in which you are pining for spring and yet still have to scrape the snow off your car. It's also magical in that there are many birthdays to celebrate this month - namely, MINE! Plus a couple of cuties (Liam and Connor - I'm looking at you!) turn a year older this weekend.

March is also known for hosting the worst movies of the year. Oscars are over and summer blockbusters are around the corner. This is when they turn out bad movies. I'm usually wary of big hollywood movies coming out this time of year. Don't get me wrong, if they offered me a movie part in a film coming out in March, I would embrace it - a full-on, lingering embrace that becomes uncomfortable for all parties involved. I'll probably spend more time at the movie theater down the street that shows independent films.

Why did I start writing this post? Oh yeah! I added two small little features to the left side. You can easily subscribe to my blog now. And I added a "Friends Who Blog" list. I started adding some and realized not all these people might want to be listed. So if you're listed and you don't want to be listed, just tell me. If you're not listed and would like to be listed, tell me. I'm on it!

Romance Addicts Beware

Duh!

Reminiscing

Last night I cozied up on the couch by the lighted Christmas tree with my cup of hot cocoa and watched The Holiday. I can't help it that I find this sappy movie so completely adorable. I caught myself smiling throughout the whole thing. The horror! To smile throughout a movie and actually enjoy it? I don't understand.

Anyway, it brought back memories of two years ago and my post about Jude Law's chest hair. Click here for your reading pleasure.

I also realized that I blogged much more last year. I'm so sorry for having abandoned you so often these past few months! Hold tight little ones. Mommy has been working hard to provide for the family and hates being away as much as you do.

What I'm Doing This Weekend

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a film student at a college here in Chicago. She said she ran across my headshot and was interested in me playing the lead in one of her student films. She said the lead is lonely, sad, in a dead-end marriage, and that the part required "brief nudity done tastefully." How do I put this? "NO!" I actually said, "Thank you so much for contacting me but I don't feel comfortable with nudity. Good luck with your project." We all know I'm totally fine with nudity - but not on film or to be shown to people! Crisis avoided.

A week goes by and I get another email saying that she changed the script and nudity is no longer required. Well, I'm not doing anything else so I said okay. We'll be filming all weekend out in the suburbs. Auntie is kind enough to let me stay with her this weekend since she lives 15 minutes from where we're shooting. Thanks Auntie!

I decided to do it because there are two parts in the script that will make me go way outside of my comfort zone and I can experiment in a safe environment where the stakes aren't high and I can play with it. The first is a scene by myself in a bathroom where I basically go nuts and beat myself up. Did I mention that she wants this film to be in the vein of "Dancer in the Dark"? That's probably the saddest and most depressing movie I have ever seen. Tracy, remember my swollen face and unstoppable sobbing? It was brilliant, but so utterly tragic that I can never watch it again. Bjork should have one the Oscar by the way.

The second is a scene where I have to kiss the other lead. It's all my initiative and I end up getting massively rejected. Who enjoys that? Not me. So when I met the director I realized she was really young - fresh out of high school. Immediately I asked the age of the other lead. She said he was 26. WHEW! Saved by the bell on that one. I mean, what if he was her age and it would basically be kissing someone the same age as my little brother and his friends. Yikes!

Well, it turns out that he couldn't do it and so she had to get someone else. I show up to the set yesterday and meet the guy - who is very nice and easy to talk to. They met on their way to college. GULP! I don't even want to know his official age but I can almost guarantee that it has a "teen" on the end of it. Oh dear Lord! Seriously, am I breaking any laws here? I'm just not going to think about it. I am a professional! I can handle this professionally! I mean, old guys kiss 22 year olds all the time in movies. Think Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones. Yeah, okay. Cringer.

Bat Cave

I did it! I finally finished the Twilight series! I have hidden in my little cave for the past couple of weeks - pun INTENDED! Get it? Vampires? Cave? Bats? All I've been doing is reading. Now I can have a life again. I can shower, eat, socialize, floss, and remember that I have family and friends - real family and friends who do not exist only on paper or in my imagination.

I was oh so tempted to head to the mall yesterday to attend a meet and greet with the "star" of the Twilight movie. I would have had to fight with pre-teen girls. No one is stronger than a pre-teen girl. So I just couldn't do it. Plus, what would I have said to the guy? "Hi, I'm old enough to be your mother. I'm a COOOOOGAAAAAR!" Okay, so not mother, but definitely former baby-sitter. Creepy.

I seriously can't handle all the buzz the movie is receiving. It's making me dizzy. Sigh.

Twilight

I am so addicted to the Twilight series. I am tempted to stay home from work so I can read all day and all night. I am in love with a 17 year old vampire. And I'm not the only one. This really isn't good for my tendency to fantasize. Forbidden love, gorgeous vampires, danger, rescue, love...its a recipe to suck me right in and make me disappear into their world. Sometimes I look up from reading and expect to see the characters. That or I forget the world is going on around me.

The movie is coming out in two weeks! You can bet I'll be lined up early with all the giggling pre-teen girls. I'll probably join in with the giggling.

Sex and the City!

Ladies, today marks the day we've all been waiting for! Sex and the City opens today and you can guarantee my roommates and I already have tickets to a 6:30 p.m. showing. Martinis and fancy shoes will follow soon after.

Remember that time we all met Steve at Victory Gardens Theatre? He's a sweet goofball.

To celebrate this momentous day, I took many "Which Sex in the City characeter are you?" quizzes. Most of them say the same thing: Carrie. I may look like Charlotte...


Take the Sex and the City Quiz at Quiz Rocket.com!
Free MySpace Quizzes & Online Quizes.

My Family

Saturday was the screening of a film I shot a year ago. The director just finished her MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold screenings of their students' films at the end of the year. Ours was shown along with four other short films ranging from two and a half minutes all the way up to 38 minutes. I expected our film to be 10 minutes long. I was wrong. It is 38 minutes. So now I have to sit through nearly 40 minutes every time a friend or family member wants to see it. I do have to say that it was surreal seeing myself on a big screen.

You all will be happy to know that I didn't see myself on the big screen and immediately want to throw up and yell FIRE! so everyone would have to leave the theater. I was doing my best to act calm and collected as my friends held my hands beside me. My final thought was "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Sure the sound wasn't the best but it ended up being somewhat charming. I'm mostly proud of the director because she came so close to giving up half way through the project. I was also secretly delighted because she received the most interest/questions from the audience.

It was such a fun experience to go to the screening and see people share their creativity and stories. It's a fun thing to do on a weekend if you ever get a chance to do it in your local city. My favorite was a guy who did a home movie that lasted six minutes. It combined black and white 16 mm footage with no sound and kid-like art/cartoon crafts to tell a story about his family. It was thoughtful, sweet, truthful and creative.

I have a DVD of our flick if you ever want to see me running around Chicago carrying a rug. I'm not kidding. I did a lot of that. Oh! and I didn't appear nearly as sweaty as I thought I would. I did notice I have really shiny hair.

Lobby Hero

Saturday night I had another opportunity to do a student film for Columbia College. I was cast as Dawn from Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero. She's a rookie police officer who is "befriended" by a security officer in a condo building. But we didn't have a police uniform available (Thankfully! Those pants would have looked horrible on me.) so I was quickly elevated to "detective." Typical detective uniform: Boring black shoes - check! Jeans - check! Bas-ass black leather jacket - check, double check! A killer glare - check! Badge that said "Special Police" and handcuffs from a children's police officer kit - check! Teenage acne - sadly, check.


We filmed in an awesome office that was way cooler than my real office. We had the whole lights, camera, action...and lapel mics that were not-so-discreetly placed. Hilarious moment: John forgot to turn off his lapel mic before going to the bathroom. Seven and a half hours after arriving we were done. I was hungry and delirious at one point and kept screwing up one line. After I finally got it, we all gave a "Thank God!" and moved to the next scene.


I'll post pictures when I have time to upload them. My scene partner, John, drew a caricature of me with my tag line for the day, "I'm a cop!" I'll post it too.

Young at Heart

Sign me up! I cannot wait to see this movie! Jessie and I saw this preview before we saw a really depressing movie. I had tears in my eyes watching it. I think it defines "warm fuzzy."

Beckles emailed me that she saw a segment that the Today Show did on Young at Heart.


I've got nothing but warm fuzzies going....

Note to Self #43

When preparing for a five mile race, actually do some preparation. Otherwise you're destined to feel like you've been hit by a truck. Then you'll find yourself lying on the couch for seven hours straight watching Ben Kingsley's Academy Award winning role in Gandhi. During intermission you'll decide that you do indeed need to take an intermission, so you eat a huge pizza meant for two people and then nap for two hours. Later you'll wake up a groggy mess and wonder what day it is and if you've slept through the night and forgot to go to work. When the panic subsides, you'll have enough energy to do two loads of laundry and consume a healthy dinner made up of leftover chocolate cake from a birthday party your roommate threw for her sister-in-law. Coming down from the sugar high you'll then watch yet another movie. It's well worth it since it's a Wes Anderson film. Minutes will be lost as you daydream about what it would be like to be one of Wes Anderson's friends and get to be in all his films. During this lovely daydream, you'll walk into your room and slip into bed. While sliding, you'll think to yourself, "I really must shave tomorrow."

Bathing John Malkovich

This video disturbed me to no end for the following reasons:

1. It confirms the fact that John Malkovich is getting older...and has a borderline case of man-boobs.

2. The bathtub is way too small for grown men. Is there actually water in the tub?

3. I'm obsessed with the question, "Are they really naked?"

4. John Malkovich seems to have no problem with a man sitting close behind him, washing his hair and asking him questions.

5. They need candles in order to create a little ambience and warmth.

6. John Malkovich lost 60 pounds in 60 days eating only jello. I don't have the discipline. I would be a raging, desperately-in-need-of-a-shower girl.

7. They performed THE WORST IMPROV SCENE EVER! John Malkovich as a McDonalds employee?

8. I felt a little dirty watching it.

9. It made me want to get my hair cut so I could have someone else wash my hair.

10. Why didn't I think of this first!

Academy Awards

Europe has taken over all of the American awards shows! Seriously, what does that say about our film actors this year? We weren't up to par!

I'm disappointed in myself because I ended up watching all one bagillion hours of the Academy Awards last night. I told myself I wasn't going to watch and instead I would do productive and fulfilling things like read, organize, memorize scripts, or write my own Oscar acceptance speech. Instead I ate too much cake and ice cream at Quinn's first birthday party (where I was wrestled to death by three year old, Piper). Then we got home late so we watched the DVR version of the Oscars. We sped through the "boring" awards and speeches, yet after two hours we still hadn't caught up with the live taping. BRUTAL! But I like John Stewart and I like making snarky comments about what people wear. So I should be satisfied.

Speaking of satisfied...Atonement DID NOT win for best picture!!! hahahahahahaha! Vengeance is mine! I didn't realize until last night that I had it out for this movie. I mean, what did this movie ever do to me? It just disappointed me. Blah story + blah characters + high expectations = bitter me. The one part I did love about the movie was the musical score. So congrats to them on winning an Oscar! Yay musical score!

Speaking of music...THREE CHEERS FOR ONCE!!! Seriously, Janell and I hugged when we saw them win their Oscar. FAVORITE SONG OF THE YEAR! I could listen to that album over and over again. And thank you John Stewart for bringing Marketa Irglova back out for her acceptance speech. It was the most inspiring and beautiful speech of the night!

Speaking of beautiful...Favorite dresses: Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl, Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner. I really didn't see that many of them. Worst dress: Sorry Julie Christy, loved your movie, not so much your dress.

DWTS Season 6

Most of you are familiar with the short-lived Dancing with the Stars addiction I had a couple of years ago. I realized after months of professional psychiatric evaluation that my addiction was mostly founded upon my love for all things Texas, aka. Emmitt Smith. Love him! (spoken with a sing-songy voice)

Well now there's a new pack of "Stars" ready to dance their way back into the spotlight. You can read the new list here. I'll just point out a couple of my favorites:

1. Kristi Yamaguchi: I wanted to be her! Did I ever mention I used to be an ice skater? Probably. I saw her once at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. We were at the women's volleyball championship and she was sitting a few rows in front of me. She was gorgeous! And so tiny! Hated her. Kidding! I love you Kristi. Come over here and let me give you a hug!

2. Steve Guttenberg: What little girl didn't fall in love with the movie Three Men and a Baby? Police Academy defined "comedy" back in the 80's. He was the man. How come in the 80's, leading men looked like Steve Guttenberg and Michael Keaton? Now they have to look like Brad Pitt or Eric Bana. I mean, I'm not complaining. Somehow we all loved the geeky, funny guy. I still do. Sorry Brad Pitt. You're good to look at but can you make me laugh? You can? Well....whatever, you ruined my point.

and....I don't think I really am excited about any of the other dancers. Plus I refuse to get into the show. I have enough to think about with LOST (seriously, how amazing was Thursday's show?) and Project Runway.

Blue Ray vs. HD DVD

I don't get it. Someone just tell me what to buy already.

Oh Indy!

I'm not going to lie to you folks, I'm pretty excited about this:

Place My Hands Where?

Riddle me this: How on earth does one turn the scene I picked for my On Camera class into a seduction scene? Little innocent Kate Winslet telling little innocent Johnny Depp that she wants to keep pretending they're a family until she dies doesn't exactly seem sexy to me. Somehow teacher Doug thought so.

Thinking I'd have to gear up and get some fat tears ready for a dramatic part, I selected Fernando as my scene partner. He's a good friend. We've never done a scene together in class. It will be fun. Next thing I know Doug is telling me to play a seductress. Katy is to seductress as Ben and Jerry's is to health food. Then he tell us in front of the class to "pretend you're naked...." Uno momento. I'm sorry Doug, could you repeat that? I thought I heard you say, "pretend you're naked." Oh he said that alright, AND SO. MUCH. MORE. He was getting all Nora Roberts on us. I cannot repeat the words whispered to me in the corner that night.

Never would Fernando and I have guessed that in Monday's On Camera class our relationship would become so. much. more...in front of seven other people...and then have to watch it played back to us on video. Magic. I will never forget this as long as I live.

Why is it that I have to take acting classes to get a little action around here? It's a tough job.

Good news, we get to do it again next week. Then he's putting it on DVD for us. DO NOT count on me posting it...EVER! I'll show a private screening at my place and all proceeds will go to charity.

Scene 1, Take 1

Today is nasty in Chicago. Be happy today if you call somewhere other than Chicago home. It snowed for nearly 20 hours straight. I had such high hopes for a snow day. Then I remembered that I live in Chicago and not Texas where they'd call a snow day with the mere threat of inclement weather.

Onto more fun topics...

In my On Camera class we are asked to select a one minute scene from a film that moves us or is from one of our favorite films. We will then rehearse it and perform it for the camera and afterwards we'll have a nifty DVD. I'll have something to show my kids someday. They can take it to school for show and tell.

I procrastinated for several weeks. I felt such pressure to find THE PERFECT film scene. I began to panic, "What IS my favorite film?" "Is there a scene that TOTALLY impacted me and changed my life?" Then I just gave up and decided to find something I enjoyed. I jokingly said I selected the final dance scene from Dirty Dancing and needed a partner. That would be AWESOME! I realized most of my favorite films are period pieces or involved a foreign language. Not gonna work. But in the end I went through my movie collection and pulled out a few that I liked but didn't completely wreak of chick-flickness. I picked out Little Miss Sunshine, The Royal Tenenbaums and Finding Neverland. The first two didn't have long enough scenes with only two people to pass the test. Finally I selected a scene with Kate Winslet (I want her career) and Johnny Depp from Finding Neverland. It's the scene where Sylvia is dying and tells John Barrie that she needs them to keep pretending that they are a family. It makes me cry everytime. Do you think Johnny Depp would do me a favor and be my scene partner? That would really help me out.

Other films or scenes from my collection that would be fun to do but would either be too difficult, not fitting for me or totally inappropriate:

1. The final dance scene in Little Miss Sunshine



2. Anything from Blue Crush
3. Any scene involving Cookie from Best in Show (we had to do a dramatic piece)


I want Winky.

4. The scene from Princess Bride when Wesley finally reveals his identity. "As you wish...."
5. Kick some ass like she did in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

That's all I got at the moment. I'm sure there's plenty more, but it's Friday and my brain is shot.