Things With Which I Disagree
1. Teenaged girls who call their boyfriends "hubby." WRONG FOR SO MANY REASONS! It's annoying enough when grown women who are ACTUALLY MARRIED do it.
2. Twitter.
3. The guy in the audience of Dazed and Confused last night who, when people 20 rows away in the back of the theater were talking, turned around and screamed "SHUT UP!" across the entire theater. Holy crap, man, it's not like they're sitting anywhere near you! Anyone whose hearing is that good and cares that much for silence in a movie they had presumably already seen should be put out of their misery.
4. People who register for gifts when they are not getting married or having a baby and just assume that they deserve said gifts.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Sunday, August 09, 2009
flummoxed
Yes, flummoxed. By this whole wedding thing. No, not my wedding, sadly. Or is it sad? Who knows. FLUMMOXED BY WHAT THE F TO WEAR/BUY AS PRESENT/WHERE TO STAY/HOW TO PAY FOR IT. I am a) broke, b) fat, c) clueless. I haven't been to a wedding since I was 16 and my cousin David was getting married. Now all of a sudden this whole slew of my friends are getting married left and right and I have no idea how to deal with any of it except to want to curl up into a ball and not go.
No, that's not true. I do want to go. I just don't want them to be humiliating.
Which is ridiculous! Why would they be humiliating for me? Nobody will care what I'm wearing. I hope. Right? The only thing people care about is the bride. And the food. Right? I hope. Eeek.
The most annoying thing is that these two weddings, Rachexis' and Jackn'Kat's, are a week apart and it would be lovely if I could just wear the same damn thing to both of them, except they are as different as they could possibly be. One is sun-dress-country-chic-Napa-hillside-sandal wedding, the other is formal-hotel-heels-church-black-tie-optional-what-the-hell-does-that-mean? wedding. And both will be exquisite, I know, so I want to look and be awesome for them. These are four of my very good friends, all getting married in the space of a week. Rachexis (hey, we started calling Rachel and Alexis that LONG before Brangelina and Tomkat) have been a staple of San Francisco ever since sophomore year of high school; Jack and Kat are by far the best couple to come out of CRC. I don't want to embarass any of them by being their dowdy looking fat friend who doesn't understand what to do at weddings.
By the way, I think I've figured it out. I think "black tie optional" means that you should look like you COULD be in the wedding party, even though you're not. So I should find a dress that looks like it could be a bridesmaid dress, but a LITTLE more casual, so I can wear it to Rach's wedding too. Right? But oh shit, I can't even wear dresses. Any dresses that fit my boobs don't fit the rest of me.
I wish I was a guy! One of those guys that just puts on nice jeans and a button down shirt and can have tea with the frickin' Queen he looks so good.
Then there's the question of presents- like I said, these are my good friends, and I want to get them something that actually matters, not just some dumb napkins from a registry. I know they're on the registry for a reason and that they don't want a whole bunch of crap, but it makes me feel awfully impersonal and uncreative. Also, do you bring the present to the wedding or just have it sent? In Jack and Kat's case I guess having it sent makes more sense, since they're moving and all. In Rachexis' case I have no idea. I think I'll have to get them, at least, something small and nice from the registry, and then collect all the pictures I have of the two of them from high school and beyond and put them in an album or something. That's important. It's not like I'll go to any other Lick weddings... I certainly won't be invited to the Sam Coffin/Sasha Osipova wedding (WHICH, LICKIE READERS, CAN WE PLEASE DISCUSS??).
Also, this is all going to add up in cost very quickly, and it would even if I didn't get them presents at all- the TRAVEL costs are ridiculous! One wedding in Napa (ok, that one's not too bad), one in Chicago, then next year Kate's will be in Indiana, and Richard's will probably be either in DC or the frickin' Virgin Islands-- then Jarrod Fischer is now getting married, and for all I know that will be in Minnesota, and basically I would just really appreciate it if everyone could get married from now on in either San Francisco or LA. Ok? Thanks.
OH, AND LISTEN, HAIR: you were supposed to be nice and long again by the time I had to go to these weddings, so that I could NOT look like a bag lady. I have been very nice and taken good care of you, and for my money you have not held up your end of the bargain. If there was some tangible way to punish my own hair, trust me, Hair, I would be punishing you.
Rant over. In the end, I am really incredibly looking forward to both of these events. Each should be a small wonderful reunion, and one held for the best of reasons. I'm particularly excited about the Jackn'Kat wedding, as I'll hopefully be seeing people I haven't seen in years and years. Marc Lummis and Lyssa and Kate and Ross? Oh my! Yes please =)
No, that's not true. I do want to go. I just don't want them to be humiliating.
Which is ridiculous! Why would they be humiliating for me? Nobody will care what I'm wearing. I hope. Right? The only thing people care about is the bride. And the food. Right? I hope. Eeek.
The most annoying thing is that these two weddings, Rachexis' and Jackn'Kat's, are a week apart and it would be lovely if I could just wear the same damn thing to both of them, except they are as different as they could possibly be. One is sun-dress-country-chic-Napa-hillside-sandal wedding, the other is formal-hotel-heels-church-black-tie-optional-what-the-hell-does-that-mean? wedding. And both will be exquisite, I know, so I want to look and be awesome for them. These are four of my very good friends, all getting married in the space of a week. Rachexis (hey, we started calling Rachel and Alexis that LONG before Brangelina and Tomkat) have been a staple of San Francisco ever since sophomore year of high school; Jack and Kat are by far the best couple to come out of CRC. I don't want to embarass any of them by being their dowdy looking fat friend who doesn't understand what to do at weddings.
By the way, I think I've figured it out. I think "black tie optional" means that you should look like you COULD be in the wedding party, even though you're not. So I should find a dress that looks like it could be a bridesmaid dress, but a LITTLE more casual, so I can wear it to Rach's wedding too. Right? But oh shit, I can't even wear dresses. Any dresses that fit my boobs don't fit the rest of me.
I wish I was a guy! One of those guys that just puts on nice jeans and a button down shirt and can have tea with the frickin' Queen he looks so good.
Then there's the question of presents- like I said, these are my good friends, and I want to get them something that actually matters, not just some dumb napkins from a registry. I know they're on the registry for a reason and that they don't want a whole bunch of crap, but it makes me feel awfully impersonal and uncreative. Also, do you bring the present to the wedding or just have it sent? In Jack and Kat's case I guess having it sent makes more sense, since they're moving and all. In Rachexis' case I have no idea. I think I'll have to get them, at least, something small and nice from the registry, and then collect all the pictures I have of the two of them from high school and beyond and put them in an album or something. That's important. It's not like I'll go to any other Lick weddings... I certainly won't be invited to the Sam Coffin/Sasha Osipova wedding (WHICH, LICKIE READERS, CAN WE PLEASE DISCUSS??).
Also, this is all going to add up in cost very quickly, and it would even if I didn't get them presents at all- the TRAVEL costs are ridiculous! One wedding in Napa (ok, that one's not too bad), one in Chicago, then next year Kate's will be in Indiana, and Richard's will probably be either in DC or the frickin' Virgin Islands-- then Jarrod Fischer is now getting married, and for all I know that will be in Minnesota, and basically I would just really appreciate it if everyone could get married from now on in either San Francisco or LA. Ok? Thanks.
OH, AND LISTEN, HAIR: you were supposed to be nice and long again by the time I had to go to these weddings, so that I could NOT look like a bag lady. I have been very nice and taken good care of you, and for my money you have not held up your end of the bargain. If there was some tangible way to punish my own hair, trust me, Hair, I would be punishing you.
Rant over. In the end, I am really incredibly looking forward to both of these events. Each should be a small wonderful reunion, and one held for the best of reasons. I'm particularly excited about the Jackn'Kat wedding, as I'll hopefully be seeing people I haven't seen in years and years. Marc Lummis and Lyssa and Kate and Ross? Oh my! Yes please =)
Saturday, August 01, 2009
goin' goin' back back to Cali Cali
Well, folks, that's the end of it. I've been in Chicago for the fastest 5 weeks of my life, and now here I am at the airport waiting for a delayed flight. I have so much to say about the last five weeks that I don't know where to begin... except to say that hey, I really like teaching, and that this could potentially be something I'm interested in doing. Whether or not to pursue it is a debate that's been raging in my head for weeks now.
To change tracks completely, let's talk about how Northwestern always smells the same. You'd think that things might change slightly over time, depending on who lives in what dorm, what the weather is, how old the building is, etc, but no. No, every Northwestern building I set foot in this summer smelled exactly like I remembered it. Walked into the library and immediately felt like I was going to Opera and Betrayal class in the Media Center... walked into the dorm and immediately missed Martha, my freshman and sophomore year roommate in CRC. Louis still smells like stainless steal and watery sunshine, and Fisk still smells like radiator heat and rain. What is that? Why is smell such a strange sense? It's the only sense you can't readily conjure up to remember... or at least I can't. I usually can't remember a smell until I smell it again. Even the SIDEWALK at Northwestern smelled like it used to. It was comforting and strange and sad all at once.
Along the comforting/strange/sad lines, the best thing about this summer has really been being with my friends. They weren't all my best friends or anything, but it was awfully nice to be in that effortless environment of a college dorm with people you genuinely enjoy- Kevin and Jim and Kevin Welch, and all the others I either met or got to know better over the course of the summer. I think that was really the best thing about college, being so close to all your friends. It's a lovely little alternate reality where you don't have to pay for things, your friends are nearby, and everything is within walking distance. Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came, etc. I'm really going to miss these people and the brief yet divine falling-in-love-with-new-friends period.
Anyway. Enough with the waxing nostalgic. You'd think it would be hard to be nostalgic about something you just finished today, but I (like many of the kids who were bawling as they checked out of the dorm today) am doing a bang-up job of it, thank you very much.
NHSI is a summer program where rising high school seniors come to basically take a one-semester college class over the course of 5 weeks... except that it's more than just taking a class, because the program occupies them just about 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We had Film Producting kids and Acting For the Camera kids, and despite their annoying habits (like staying up late and shrieking), I was very attached to them by the time they left this morning. I was the Production teacher, which basically meant that I taught them how to compose and light shots, use the camera and lights, and to record sound. Well, I did the best I could, at least, and I hope I taught them a few more things along the way. It sounds pretty obvious, but to teach something you have to remember what it's like to not know anything about it, and that's really hard to do. If I do this next year (and I really hope I do), there are a lot of things I'm going to change about how to approach teaching. It's hard to teach them things when you're not there looking over their shoulder all the time, but you also don't want to be hovering and doing things for them. I wrestled with how to treat them a lot, whether they needed me to babysit them or not-- and I realized that sometimes they do better when I'm not around to tell them exactly what to do. Granted, they also sometimes come up with the worst possible way to shoot whatever it is, but you take what you can get.
Jim and Kevin Welch are the directors of the Film program; Kevin Cannon teaches animation; Glen teaches screenwriting; Caleb Johnson (who briefly went to NU as a grad student) teaches editing; and then we have 5 Faculty Associates, or FAs- Marci, Adam, Dusty, Joe, and Melissa. Marci and Adam were students of Jim's at Montana State, Joe and Dusty were cherubs themselves three years ago, and Melissa just randomely applied for the job. We were a strange bunch, to be sure, but it seems like sometimes the strangest groups of people are the ones that end up getting along the best. Not that we were without strife, but for the most part the summer went pretty smoothly among the faculty.
I also got to do some random fun things with my friends from college this summer, although not nearly as much as I would have liked- NHSI sucked up a lot more time than I was expecting. Tim and Pat and I made screwdrivers and watched Mamma Mia! just to be masochistic; The three of us plus Jack, Kat, Mike Depilla, Kat's sister and a friend of Pat's went to a White Sox game (my 2nd of the summer- we took the kids to a Sox game in a rainstorm, too); Kevin and Tim and I met Jack and Kat at Jack's last ever Public Observing session at Dearborn Observatory (which he's run on Fridays ever since I've known him); Jennifer Welch and their baby Avelyn came up to visit Kevin, and we got to hang out a bit; I went to the Kane County Fair with Jill, Natalie and Alec; Kevin and Jim and I went mini golfing with Jamie Madison, Matt Repchak, John McGlothlin, Dan Peringer, and another guy, and Jim and I BOTH won free games on the final hole; I went to trivia night in Lincoln Square with Tim, Kreutzer, Andrew Linnehan and John Tsarouchas, Kevin Cannon and Amanda and I went to Harry Potter at midnight in Skokie, as you already know (first time I ever took the Skokie Swift!); and David, Jessica and Willa Marie came up to watch fireworks on the Lakefill with us for the 4th of July. Oh, I have so much to say about it all. I can't say it now. It's too late. I'm too tired. There's too much to do.
More when I'm back from Camp!!
To change tracks completely, let's talk about how Northwestern always smells the same. You'd think that things might change slightly over time, depending on who lives in what dorm, what the weather is, how old the building is, etc, but no. No, every Northwestern building I set foot in this summer smelled exactly like I remembered it. Walked into the library and immediately felt like I was going to Opera and Betrayal class in the Media Center... walked into the dorm and immediately missed Martha, my freshman and sophomore year roommate in CRC. Louis still smells like stainless steal and watery sunshine, and Fisk still smells like radiator heat and rain. What is that? Why is smell such a strange sense? It's the only sense you can't readily conjure up to remember... or at least I can't. I usually can't remember a smell until I smell it again. Even the SIDEWALK at Northwestern smelled like it used to. It was comforting and strange and sad all at once.
Along the comforting/strange/sad lines, the best thing about this summer has really been being with my friends. They weren't all my best friends or anything, but it was awfully nice to be in that effortless environment of a college dorm with people you genuinely enjoy- Kevin and Jim and Kevin Welch, and all the others I either met or got to know better over the course of the summer. I think that was really the best thing about college, being so close to all your friends. It's a lovely little alternate reality where you don't have to pay for things, your friends are nearby, and everything is within walking distance. Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came, etc. I'm really going to miss these people and the brief yet divine falling-in-love-with-new-friends period.
Anyway. Enough with the waxing nostalgic. You'd think it would be hard to be nostalgic about something you just finished today, but I (like many of the kids who were bawling as they checked out of the dorm today) am doing a bang-up job of it, thank you very much.
NHSI is a summer program where rising high school seniors come to basically take a one-semester college class over the course of 5 weeks... except that it's more than just taking a class, because the program occupies them just about 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We had Film Producting kids and Acting For the Camera kids, and despite their annoying habits (like staying up late and shrieking), I was very attached to them by the time they left this morning. I was the Production teacher, which basically meant that I taught them how to compose and light shots, use the camera and lights, and to record sound. Well, I did the best I could, at least, and I hope I taught them a few more things along the way. It sounds pretty obvious, but to teach something you have to remember what it's like to not know anything about it, and that's really hard to do. If I do this next year (and I really hope I do), there are a lot of things I'm going to change about how to approach teaching. It's hard to teach them things when you're not there looking over their shoulder all the time, but you also don't want to be hovering and doing things for them. I wrestled with how to treat them a lot, whether they needed me to babysit them or not-- and I realized that sometimes they do better when I'm not around to tell them exactly what to do. Granted, they also sometimes come up with the worst possible way to shoot whatever it is, but you take what you can get.
Jim and Kevin Welch are the directors of the Film program; Kevin Cannon teaches animation; Glen teaches screenwriting; Caleb Johnson (who briefly went to NU as a grad student) teaches editing; and then we have 5 Faculty Associates, or FAs- Marci, Adam, Dusty, Joe, and Melissa. Marci and Adam were students of Jim's at Montana State, Joe and Dusty were cherubs themselves three years ago, and Melissa just randomely applied for the job. We were a strange bunch, to be sure, but it seems like sometimes the strangest groups of people are the ones that end up getting along the best. Not that we were without strife, but for the most part the summer went pretty smoothly among the faculty.
I also got to do some random fun things with my friends from college this summer, although not nearly as much as I would have liked- NHSI sucked up a lot more time than I was expecting. Tim and Pat and I made screwdrivers and watched Mamma Mia! just to be masochistic; The three of us plus Jack, Kat, Mike Depilla, Kat's sister and a friend of Pat's went to a White Sox game (my 2nd of the summer- we took the kids to a Sox game in a rainstorm, too); Kevin and Tim and I met Jack and Kat at Jack's last ever Public Observing session at Dearborn Observatory (which he's run on Fridays ever since I've known him); Jennifer Welch and their baby Avelyn came up to visit Kevin, and we got to hang out a bit; I went to the Kane County Fair with Jill, Natalie and Alec; Kevin and Jim and I went mini golfing with Jamie Madison, Matt Repchak, John McGlothlin, Dan Peringer, and another guy, and Jim and I BOTH won free games on the final hole; I went to trivia night in Lincoln Square with Tim, Kreutzer, Andrew Linnehan and John Tsarouchas, Kevin Cannon and Amanda and I went to Harry Potter at midnight in Skokie, as you already know (first time I ever took the Skokie Swift!); and David, Jessica and Willa Marie came up to watch fireworks on the Lakefill with us for the 4th of July. Oh, I have so much to say about it all. I can't say it now. It's too late. I'm too tired. There's too much to do.
More when I'm back from Camp!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
HERE I AM NOTICE ME
I'm sitting in Studio 105 in Louis Hall at Northwestern, waiting to tape one of the acting classes for the Acting For The Camera students we have in the NSHI Film program. I offered to help out with stuff for the end of the camp, because I had the afternoon free, and this is what I got stuck with... but I suppose it's vaguely interesting. Our acting kids are so much less annoying than the Theater Cherubs. Bane of my life, the Theater Cherubs! They sing in the dining hall and walk around in loud attention-getting clothing, hug each other and climb on each other and just generally make sure that EVERYONE NOTICES THEM AT ALL TIMES.
I HATE people like that.
Theater kids have always bothered me, even in college when I was friends with a lot of them. Hell, even at Lively Arts Summer Camp in 5th grade when I had to be in a play- even THEN I secretly knew it was all bullshit. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good actor more than you know- it's murder being on a film set with only bad actors, or even just one bad actor who throws things out of whack. But when theater people are grouped together, there's just this loud, impenetrable wall of PERFORMING that surrounds them and dwarfs all the normal people. Gag.
Random! Yes I know! I shall be coherent again someday!
I HATE people like that.
Theater kids have always bothered me, even in college when I was friends with a lot of them. Hell, even at Lively Arts Summer Camp in 5th grade when I had to be in a play- even THEN I secretly knew it was all bullshit. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good actor more than you know- it's murder being on a film set with only bad actors, or even just one bad actor who throws things out of whack. But when theater people are grouped together, there's just this loud, impenetrable wall of PERFORMING that surrounds them and dwarfs all the normal people. Gag.
Random! Yes I know! I shall be coherent again someday!
Friday, July 24, 2009
elementary
After a) reading my first Agatha Christie novel and b) seeing the trailer for the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes film (with Robert Downey Jr!), I have been thinking a lot about how I used to want to be a detective. Observe:
This is me in my oft-present Detective Hat. I had The Young Detective's Handbook, which taught me how to find clues and dust for fingerprints, then save them with Scotch tape, and I had this hat, and a magnifying glass. Heather and I used to set out to "solve a mystery" oh, probably about once a week. It was either that or looking for secret passages. Random, yes, but man, those were the days. Maybe I'll quit film and become a marine biologist who studies narwhals... and when there are no narwhals I will solve all the mysteries in Greenland.
This is me in my oft-present Detective Hat. I had The Young Detective's Handbook, which taught me how to find clues and dust for fingerprints, then save them with Scotch tape, and I had this hat, and a magnifying glass. Heather and I used to set out to "solve a mystery" oh, probably about once a week. It was either that or looking for secret passages. Random, yes, but man, those were the days. Maybe I'll quit film and become a marine biologist who studies narwhals... and when there are no narwhals I will solve all the mysteries in Greenland.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
cherubs gems, volume 5
KID DIRECTING: "Oh wait, she's supposed to cry in this scene. (To actor) How fast can you cry?"
KID DIRECTING: "So, when she leaves, it's like a slow pan, and then you guys are like, da bomb wiggity."
SAME KID, STILL DIRECTING: "Can we up the LOLing?"
KID DIRECTING: "So, when she leaves, it's like a slow pan, and then you guys are like, da bomb wiggity."
SAME KID, STILL DIRECTING: "Can we up the LOLing?"
Sunday, July 19, 2009
FRIEND OR FOE
I've mentioned before that I am sort of addicted to the Stuff You Missed In History Class podcast and blog... and obviously you are all painfully aware of my deep obsession with narwhals and burgeoning desire to ditch the film industry and go be a marine biologist in Greenland. So you can only imagine my surprise when Stuff You Missed In History Class got a new co-host who is also obsessed with narwhals. Is she meant to be my bestest friend whom I can stealthily stalk via the internet? Or is she an enemy out to thwart my narwhal-related job search? HOW CAN I TELL?
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