Fact #351: Casablanca

I saw Casablanca at the Regent Square Theatre with some friends tonight. I'm glad I went, I'd never seen it before! There are tons of old movies on my 'to watch' list, but I can finally check this one off.

I have some thoughts about it:

1) They played all the credits at the beginning of the movie instead of the end. I liked it.
2) It's weird watching a movie for the first time and recognizing so many iconic lines. I sort of felt like I'd already seen it.
3) People in old movies often appear to be terrible kissers.
4) There are some amazing one liners in the movie (besides the famous ones).
5) The 'single tear halfway down the cheek' appears to be a very powerful argumentative technique.


Til tomorrow!

Fact #339: Tom Cruise got one thing right

And that one thing is: Scientology.

Haha. Just kidding!

But seriously. No matter how hectic, stressful, or busy life gets, Tom Cruise taught me never to forget the value of occasionally cranking up some music and dancing around the house, most likely in your underwear.

It's very important.




Til tomorrow!

Fact #338: It's just a flesh wound

I got another mole sliced out of me today! On my foot this time. Which, incidentally, is my new least favorite place to have stitches. How am I supposed to run with stitches on my foot?? I guess the answer is, "painfully and with a limp." Or, "you're not."

Sigh.

I'm not letting it stop me from doing yoga though! I took today off, but I think that's good enough. I've got a month pass that expires in 10 days, so I've got to soak it up while I can!

Anyway, after two hours at the dermatologist's office (88% waiting, 12% mole slicing), I spent the rest of the day watching the Tony's and puttering around the house sorting through the rest of my stuff. I've got it mostly sorted into three piles: keep, donate, and foist off on friends. The pile of stuff that's coming with me to Houston is actually amazingly small. I downsize pretty easily, I guess! 

As my prize for getting all that stuff done, I limped over the the Southside Works to watch Bridesmaids with a friend. (I realize I'm a little late to the party on that one, but I haven't been to the movies in forever.) It was so funny! And gross. And funny! And sweet. I really like Kristen Wiig, she gets the humor without letting go of the truth. 

Now I've gotta take some ibuprofen for my sore little footsie and go to bed.


Til tomorrow!

Fact #314: We made it

A few years ago I was lucky enough to work on a film called The Christians, written and directed by a ridiculously talented guy named Stephen Cone. Funnily enough, the film is about a group of people who believe that the Rapture is about to happen, and the fallout in their lives when it doesn't.

So in honor of surviving my second brush with the apocalypse, here's the trailer for The Christians. I'm very proud to be part of this movie, and feel especially lucky to have met some of the most wonderful people I know while working on it.


The Christians (Official Trailer) from Jeffrey McHale on Vimeo.


Til tomorrow!

Fact #276: What happened to the BEGINNING of April???

How is it the middle of April already? Where did the time go??

Someone must have turned on Ludicrous Speed.



(On a separate note, I love Rick Moranis.)


Til tomorrow!

Fact #182: Punch. Lucy Punch.

As a lady who is an actor, I'll admit that sometimes I'm a harsh judge of other ladies who are actors.

I can watch a male actor and think, "Wow, what a great performance." But watching a woman playing a part that (ostensibly) I could also play, there's an impulse sometimes to think, "Meh, I could do better."

I'm not proud of that, but those are the facts of life.

But the upside is, when I watch an actress whose performance just blows me away, I know she must be really super-duper amazing because her awesomeness has overwhelmed my natural bitchy instincts. Instead of thinking, "Oh, she was all right... I guess," I think, "Holy crap, I wanna be like her!!!"

That's the reaction I had when I watched Dinner for Schmucks the other night. Lucy Punch, a British actress who plays Paul Rudd's stalker, pretty much walked away with every scene she was in.


She was so outrageous and honest and committed and funny and fearless. It was so fun to watch her. The only other thing I've seen her in is Hot Fuzz, but I hope she gets lots more work because she totally deserves it.

Also, her name is Lucy Punch, which is awesome.


Til tomorrow!

Fact #82: The 31 Days of Halloween

O.M.Candycorn.

It's October!!!! I love October. October, I love you.

I would try to explain my feelings, but I just... can't... find... words. I'm getting all choked up with emotion.

So I'll have to express my love in pictures.

Watch out pumpkins. You would make very good jack o'lanterns.

Pumpkin beer!!!
Southern Tier's Pumking is my favorite so far.

One of my all time favorite movies!

These are real trees!!! So purty.

Remember when you used to get a pillowcase full of
candy just for dressing up weird? Those were the days.


What's scarier than Chucky? Slutty Chucky.

There should be more whipped cream on top, but still...

Yeah, October rules.

The thing I like about it is that if you don't want to play along, you don't have to. You can skip the pumpkin everything, walk right by the beautiful fall colors, and refuse to answer the door when little kids come knocking, demanding candy.

But if you want to, you can make each of the 31 days of October a fun-filled, pumpkin-filled, Halloween-y extravaganza! And oh boy, do I want to!!

(Also, in case you were wondering, October is National All-of-These-Things Month. It's a little overwhelming, but I'll do my best to celebrate them all.)


Til tomorrow!

Fact #72: I give pretty good advice

This is what I tell myself whenever I start freaking out too much about my life:

It's not the end of the world.
Whatever it is.
It's not the end of the world.

I mean, when it's the end of the world, I think we'll know.

For a preview of what that might look like, watch 2012.


And if you take anything from that movie, let it be this:

When the end of the world comes, be wherever John Cusack is.

Til tomorrow!

Fact #53: It has to be written to be rewritten

So, I like writing. . .as you may have guessed from the blog post a day for a year thing.

I write other things too. I wrote a screenplay. Actually, I wrote a couple.

Work has been slow lately (by work, I mean the work I do that actually pays me money, not the work I do because I love it and hope someday will pay me enough for it be my only job). So while poverty taps gently at my door like a passive-aggressive neighbor, I've been trying to use the surplus of time and lack of money as a motivator to sit down and write.

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon at my little desk downstairs typety-typing away. And I realized two things:

1) I need more ergonomic office equipment,

and

2) I could be a good writer.

Does that sound like tooting my own horn? It shouldn't. Well, maybe it should. But it's a little toot, like a clown horn.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I am a good writer. Just that I could be. I just have to keep doing it and doing it until I get better.

The script I'm working on right now is in its 5th iteration. Yesterday I was pillaging an older draft for scraps of dialogue I might use in the latest version, and realized just how much it's changed through all the rewrites. It's a completely different thing now. Better, I think, than it was.

But it still needs to be more better. I know that. I can see it. I read it and with the tiny bit of objectivity I can muster up, I see how to someone who didn't spew it out of their heart, to someone whose job it is to find the weak spots, there are plenty to be found.

But I can make it better.
And I will.
I hope. :)


Til tomorrow!

Fact #19: This has been bugging me since 1989

Okay, maybe not that long. But it does bug me.

Ariel (heaving her seashell boobs over a rock while a wave crashes behind her, even though this is a kids' movie):

I don't know when
I don't know how
But I know something's starting right now

So. . . you do know when. You just said it.


Til tomorrow!

Fact #16: Some thoughts about Mel Gibson

I have a question about Mel Gibson. Remember that movie he was in called Braveheart? Remember the guy in that movie named Robert the Bruce?

Why the hell was he called that? Why not just Robert Bruce? I mean, is his middle name 'the'? Or is Bruce being used here as an adjective or a noun? Can I do the same thing and start calling myself Laurel the Schroeder? I want answers here, people!


Til tomorrow.