I completely forgot to blog about my last Movies 101 class, which was now 2 weeks ago! Our last night of class was a little bit different in that it started with the guest interviews. Do you remember at the beginning of class, I got to see a screening of “The Great Buck Howard” with Colin Hanks (he is still my most favorite interview of the class – love him)! Well, that movie is based on the life of a magician named Kreskin. So, my teacher reached out to Kreskin and over the course of our class they became friends and Kreskin came to our class. He is a very old, funny man. He was hilarious just to watch – he has a huge smile on his face at all times. After the interview, he did 2 magic tricks for us. The second one was pretty impressive, but I later figured out how I think he did it. People really think he has a 6th sense, but I really don’t believe it.
Then, we got to have a 2nd interview! A blog-writer for Hollywood.com (I think) came to discuss the movies we’d seen and how they’d done in the theatre compared to other movies that came out during the same time period. It was interesting, but by this point it was getting really late and we still had a movie to watch!
Our final movie was another French film called Summer Hours, starring Juliette Binoche. I really liked this movie – didn’t love it, but liked it. It was about a woman who lives in a beautiful house in the French countryside who passes away. The woman’s uncle was an artist and the house was full of valuable pieces of his and other artists as well. So, her 3 children are left to deal with deciding what to do with everything in the house. I think my favorite part was just the house – I’d love a house in the French countryside.
Overall, I am glad I took the class – it was something I’d wanted to do for a couple of years and I am happy to have had the experience. I don’t know that I’ll take it again anytime soon because it isn’t cheap (although, he is offering recession specials this summer)! I do want to take it in the fall sometime though. This past fall they got almost all the big Oscar-nominated movies and had guests like Kate Winslet and Clint Eastwood. That seems like the time to take the class! Maybe some year!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Making It Big
I just know that I know (or will know) someone during my time in NYC who will make it big in the entertainment industry. There are just so many people here trying to make it in film, theatre, TV, dance, music, etc... I don't know who it will be, but I really think I'll know someone who actually makes it. Maybe it will be little Sydney, the girl in my Sunday School class with an amazing voice who always entertains us with her acting. Or maybe it will be Kira or Chris who both had stand-in parts in Duplicity. Perhaps it will be Tom who leads worship at my church and on the side plays shows of his own secular music at night - his first album comes out this summer. It might be Evie who is currently starring in the tour of Hairspray the musical. But, I hope it's my friend Mindy!
She has become one of my favorites this year. She moved up a year ago after going back to school and graduating with a Master's in Theatre from Oklahoma City University. OCU is known for its theatre department (especially musical theatre, but Mindy doesn't sing). Its most famous graduate is probably Kristin Chenoweth. Upon graduation, Mindy was offered a nanny position in NYC. It was a job she never really wanted, but one that would allow her to live in the city with the most opportunities for her dream job. She used the year to make contacts, audition, take acting classes from the best, etc.... whenever she had time away from the family. She has now left for the summer to work at the Fine Arts camp the family owns in Massachusetts. She'll be back in the fall when she will be a free woman with more time to focus on making her dream a reality. One thing she did this year was take voice-over lessons. She had about 5 lessons and then made a demo to send to agents. She sent me the demo and I just love it! Check it out here!
She has become one of my favorites this year. She moved up a year ago after going back to school and graduating with a Master's in Theatre from Oklahoma City University. OCU is known for its theatre department (especially musical theatre, but Mindy doesn't sing). Its most famous graduate is probably Kristin Chenoweth. Upon graduation, Mindy was offered a nanny position in NYC. It was a job she never really wanted, but one that would allow her to live in the city with the most opportunities for her dream job. She used the year to make contacts, audition, take acting classes from the best, etc.... whenever she had time away from the family. She has now left for the summer to work at the Fine Arts camp the family owns in Massachusetts. She'll be back in the fall when she will be a free woman with more time to focus on making her dream a reality. One thing she did this year was take voice-over lessons. She had about 5 lessons and then made a demo to send to agents. She sent me the demo and I just love it! Check it out here!
Friday, May 15, 2009
I Can't Believe I Just Said That
Walking into a store today, there was a man standing in between lines and I was trying to figure out if he was in a line or not. He spoke up, "I'm not on line." To which I repeated, "You're not on line"? I wanted to bite my tongue off. Did you catch it? I said ON line, not IN line. That's how they say it up here and I will never, ever get used to it. You'll be in line at the post office and hear the lady behind the counter yell out "Next ON line" or someone will say "We had to wait ON line for 30 minutes to get tickets". I can't believe those words came out of my mouth. I know, I was mindlessly repeating what the man had said, but no excuses! I will not conform to using this phrase!
On a side note, I really can't stand the Northeast accents. If I hear the VP of my group say what sounds like "sore" for the word "saw" one more time, I might punch him. I really hope my slight accent w/ a little bit of mid-west and little bit of Texas (depending who you ask) stays like it was when I got here.
On a side note, I really can't stand the Northeast accents. If I hear the VP of my group say what sounds like "sore" for the word "saw" one more time, I might punch him. I really hope my slight accent w/ a little bit of mid-west and little bit of Texas (depending who you ask) stays like it was when I got here.
Catch Up!
Over the past several weeks, I've had time to just do short entries and the few long ones I did from my mom's visit. In the meantime, I've missed updating on other things that have been going on. So, this is a bit of a catch-up post! Here's where I've been:
-- Work, work, work! Things at work have been insane and all I keep thinking is "I did NOT sign up for this"! It's our budget season, which is normally a little busy, but this has been crazy. There have been some midnight and 1am work nights and then it all came to head this past weekend when I worked until 10pm on Friday night, went back at 3pm on Saturday and stayed until 3am (who is at work at 3AM on a Sunday morning....ridiculous). Then back again on Sunday from 3-7 and back Monday morning at 7AM (WAY early for me). I thought it would basically be over Monday when there was a big meeting, but there were more changes to be made and this week was still a little crazy- although the latest I stayed was 8:30pm. I don't deal well with these kind of hours, so this better not continue!
-- Tonya & Sean came into town for work and I got to meet up with them for dinner. It was raining, so we wanted to stay close to my office/their hotel. There aren't many good options in mid-town, but I did remember that I'd heard about a restaurant called Aspen was supposed to be pretty good. We decided to check it out. It's in a hotel, but it has a really cool atmosphere and we enjoyed the food...small plates that we shared. We got a little thing of chocolate fondue for dessert - yum! It was fun to catch-up with Tonya and Sean for a few hours!
-- Kids Club Carnival! I've been trying to serve at Kids Club at the Chelsea Projects once or twice a month. This past Saturday was the annual carnival with the kids. So fun!
The kids won tickets at the games and then got to get prizes with their tickets. There were some great toys & games! And it was all completely free for the kids - so awesome.
I helped out with what was definitely the most dangerous game at the carnival. You probably can't tell in the picture below, but this little girl is holding cardboard with push-pins sticking out of it. Grab that sucker the wrong way and ouch!! We had a board with balloons stuck on it (also with push-pins) and the kids would hurl this little disk at it in an attempt to pop a balloon. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea. Kids would pick up the disk the wrong way, the balloons would come flying off the board along with a push-pin that would go sailing through the air, the disk would go no where near the direction of the balloons and towards crowds of people, etc.... I don't know how we survived without any casualties...especially me since I was in charge of replacing the popped balloons and it's hard to get a kid to stand still and wait their turn...the disk was thrown my way more than once. 
This is Sassary. Sassy, Sassary. I know you're not
-- Work, work, work! Things at work have been insane and all I keep thinking is "I did NOT sign up for this"! It's our budget season, which is normally a little busy, but this has been crazy. There have been some midnight and 1am work nights and then it all came to head this past weekend when I worked until 10pm on Friday night, went back at 3pm on Saturday and stayed until 3am (who is at work at 3AM on a Sunday morning....ridiculous). Then back again on Sunday from 3-7 and back Monday morning at 7AM (WAY early for me). I thought it would basically be over Monday when there was a big meeting, but there were more changes to be made and this week was still a little crazy- although the latest I stayed was 8:30pm. I don't deal well with these kind of hours, so this better not continue!
-- Tonya & Sean came into town for work and I got to meet up with them for dinner. It was raining, so we wanted to stay close to my office/their hotel. There aren't many good options in mid-town, but I did remember that I'd heard about a restaurant called Aspen was supposed to be pretty good. We decided to check it out. It's in a hotel, but it has a really cool atmosphere and we enjoyed the food...small plates that we shared. We got a little thing of chocolate fondue for dessert - yum! It was fun to catch-up with Tonya and Sean for a few hours!
-- Kids Club Carnival! I've been trying to serve at Kids Club at the Chelsea Projects once or twice a month. This past Saturday was the annual carnival with the kids. So fun!
The kids won tickets at the games and then got to get prizes with their tickets. There were some great toys & games! And it was all completely free for the kids - so awesome.
I helped out with what was definitely the most dangerous game at the carnival. You probably can't tell in the picture below, but this little girl is holding cardboard with push-pins sticking out of it. Grab that sucker the wrong way and ouch!! We had a board with balloons stuck on it (also with push-pins) and the kids would hurl this little disk at it in an attempt to pop a balloon. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea. Kids would pick up the disk the wrong way, the balloons would come flying off the board along with a push-pin that would go sailing through the air, the disk would go no where near the direction of the balloons and towards crowds of people, etc.... I don't know how we survived without any casualties...especially me since I was in charge of replacing the popped balloons and it's hard to get a kid to stand still and wait their turn...the disk was thrown my way more than once. 
This is Sassary. Sassy, Sassary. I know you're not supposed to pick favorites, but I just can't help it!
Dean manning the Lemonade & Popcorn stand
Face Painting Booth
There was a Christian singing group there doing fun kids songs
-- Walking, walking, walking! At work, we're doing a 10,000 steps a day challenge. I love it! To kick things off, a physical trainer from Equinox came and took us for a 1.5 mile walk. It was a fun outing! We're doing it again on Monday. I've also enjoyed wearing the pedometer...it motivates me to walk more. I've been trying to walk a mile at lunch and then walk home in the evenings which is about 2.5 miles and also trying to do little things like walking the platform while waiting for the subway. My walk home takes me either through Central Park or along Central Park West (which is lined with beautiful high-rise apartment/condo buildings that have views of the Park). When Brooke was here, she asked if the Park gets flowers during the Spring/Summer! Yes, and it's gorgeous!
The trees with blossoms are my favorite!
Dean manning the Lemonade & Popcorn stand
Face Painting BoothThere was a Christian singing group there doing fun kids songs
-- Tribeca Film Festival! I went to see one of the Tribeca Talks forums and it was the one with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It was at the Apple Store in SoHo and I think they actually do this kind of stuff all year long and have some pretty big actors come in, so I need to stay on top of their calendar - it's FREE! She was talking about her new movie that is coming out in June. It was so much fun! The next day, I went with Mindy to a screening. The number of films at this thing is overwhelming and it's very difficult to know how to choose what to see and then getting tickets can be tricky as well. We ended up seeing a French film that was made to look like a documentary, but wasn't. It was about actresses trying to make it and some of the best actresses in France played the main characters. It was kind of a strange movie, but we enjoyed it. The writer/director/star of the film was there for a Q&A afterwards which was probably the most interesting part.
-- Max Brenner's! Mindy and I had lunch at Max Brenner's (The Bald Chocolate Man) after seeing our Tribeca movie. I had a veggie burger and it was so delicious! I need to go there more often. After lunch, we went back to the theatre with the intentions of seeing another movie, but decided the lines were too long and we couldn't decide what we wanted to see, so we went to the other Max Brenner's for dessert! We split a souffle that was amazing!
-- Walking, walking, walking! At work, we're doing a 10,000 steps a day challenge. I love it! To kick things off, a physical trainer from Equinox came and took us for a 1.5 mile walk. It was a fun outing! We're doing it again on Monday. I've also enjoyed wearing the pedometer...it motivates me to walk more. I've been trying to walk a mile at lunch and then walk home in the evenings which is about 2.5 miles and also trying to do little things like walking the platform while waiting for the subway. My walk home takes me either through Central Park or along Central Park West (which is lined with beautiful high-rise apartment/condo buildings that have views of the Park). When Brooke was here, she asked if the Park gets flowers during the Spring/Summer! Yes, and it's gorgeous!
The trees with blossoms are my favorite!Thursday, May 14, 2009
And a couple more...
I am a little embarrassed to admit I recognized these two guys from the Real World:Brooklyn walking home last night. I don’t even really watch that show and still knew who they were! Couldn’t have named them, but definitely knew they were the RW boys.
Chet
Scott
Chet
7s4cadpruv
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
And Another...
Celebrity sighting today. I saw Kristin Chenoweth while I was out walking at lunch. Some of you may not know who she is, but she’s pretty much the Queen of Broadway (was the original Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked). She’s also started popping up on TV and in movies like Four Christmases. The new rumor is that Wicked is being made into a movie and she will again play Glinda. I really like her!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Latest Celeb Sighting
I saw Elizabeth Berkley walking down the street on Saturday.
Remember her from Saved by the Bell? Or perhaps Showgirls? I can't believe my roommates and I actually went to see that movie in college. I remember so well going to our favorite theatre...the one in Lacey Lakeview, just north of Waco. We loved their kids snack packs!
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