who needs prozac?

Okay, after re-reading the "haiku of despair" post from yesterday, I kind of caught on to the fact that I'm a little down. Nothing major. I think it's just the combination of being between projects and my annual bout of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I've been inside a lot lately because I really fucking hate the cold--but that just means I get less sunlight and turn into Albino Grumpy-Pants. What to do?

For starters I'm going to go workout this morning--get the endorphins flowing, get my sweat on. After that I have an audition for a sitcom in which I get to read for a Janeane Garofalo type. And finally, I'm going drink lots and lots of beer (our friend is having a way-belated Octoberfest party today--the man brews his own beer and has a customized fridge with five taps on the side. Wicked Rad!).

And if all that doesn't improve my mood, then I'm a lost cause.

holiday haikus

freezing my ass off
frosty new england winters
suck like no other

Shakespeare auditions
consume my focus and time
yet no one hires

cooking and cleaning
hours of domestic work
kind of drive me nuts

lemonade

Sorry for the long absence, my friends. I've been wrapping up a show and doing a bit of traveling, so I haven't had much time to interact with my beloved computer.

Professional Skepticism was surrounded by an eerie curse... two of our actors sprained their ankles a few days before we went up. Completely unrelated accidents, proving the universe has an even more sick sense of humor than I ever imagined. Here's how the initial conversation with me and another castmate went:

Summer (arriving at rehearsal): Hey, Ben. Seth is going to be a bit late. You heard about his leg, right?
Ben: You mean Bill.
Summer: Um... no. Seth called me earlier today and said he sprained his ankle.
Ben: You mean Bill called you, right?
---silence---
Summer: Bill hurt his leg?
Ben: Seth hurt his leg?
Summer: Oh my god...

You can imagine the rest. Now, this was a few days before we opened, so we weren't entirely certain we could manage. But in the spirit of any seasoned thespian we forged ahead. We frantically reblocked the play to take out some of the more dangerous fight scenes and incorporated Seth's limp (which was more severe than Bill's) as a character trait. I thought we had salvaged the show and we all had hopes of putting on a beautiful performance.

Alas, the Powers That Be did not agree. Unfortunately the "show must go on" edict is not universally known, and as this was a production hosted by an academic group (at a business school), our producer decided to cut his losses and mount a staged reading instead. This news came to us the night of our final dress run and was a shocking blow.

As painful as it was to sit shackled to our chairs, scripts in hand, in front of hundreds of Bentley College freshmen for three nights, I must say that we put on the best damn staged reading possible. Lines memorized, characters fully developed, our freaking staged reading held a captive and entertained audience.

So, to my intrepid cast, thank you for bravely forging ahead, for keeping the faith against unbelievable obstacles, and for helping me laugh about the whole sad situation. I love you kids.

Here they are, my boys, my heroes...

life of a dog

It's funny, but "dignity" isn't the first word that came to mind when I viewed these pics (only two from a list of thirty-one "pet Halloween costume ideas!").

I understand loving your pets. They're amazing companions, and most of them are more loyal, good-natured, and--dare I say it?--intelligent than humans. But must we anthropomorphize the poor beasts? Can't we show our love and appreciation without subjecting them to the indignity of silly costumes?

At least these animals have it better off than Tinkerbell. That poor dog not only has to play dress up every day, but also has the unlucky fate of spending every minute of it's life with this.

a little monday treat

This is wicked rad:

http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov

we are the champions

Well, it's official folks. I've won my first Major Award! It's not a leg lamp, but I couldn't be more proud. To find out how I have achieved the distinction of "Master of Trivia" head on over to my friend Andy's Blog (pt. 1 & 2).

P.S. I know this is a sad excuse for an entry, but I'm too busy basking in the glory of success and can't be bothered to post about something more significant. You understand, don't you, darlings?

goin' to the chapel

A couple pictures from the wedding I went to this weekend. The groom proposed while scuba diving--perhaps one of the coolest proposals I've heard of--so the wedding cake was this fantastic tribute to the reception's underwater theme. And Thom and I? Well, my husband looks handsome as ever. I've got a bit of the deer-on-quaaludes-in-headlights look. You'll notice the fake eyelashes... that's what happens when you're a lightweight and decide to do your makeup after drinking a glass of wine. At least I was having a good time, right?

I'm huge in Europe

Her

This is a trailer for a short film I worked on. Watch close; you'll miss me if you blink. :)

It's nice to have one of the film projects I've done actually come to completion. One down, nine+ to go.

Still, apparently my name is getting around. My mom's friend, Liz, wrote the other day to tell me about an encounter she had with a sales rep for a textbook company. When the rep walked into her office and saw my picture on the wall, she said, "How do you know her?"

Liz told her she's known me since I was a little girl, and the sales rep replied, "She's an actress, isn't she? I think I've seen her in movies."

So here's the hilarious part: I haven't even seen me in movies. If there are completed copies of work I've done out there, I certainly don't have them. But I think I can solve the mystery of how this random sales rep from California would know me.

I've done a few industrials for Macmillan--video supplimentals to their textbooks--and being in the industry, she might have come across them. I should get in touch with her and ask her how they were--who knows how long it'll be until I get to see them.

facial hair

A few of the fine men who competed in the World Beard and Moustaches championships in Berlin on October 1.

It's all well and good to look like that for a competition, but can you imagine walking around with some of those beards every day?

have a nice trip, see you next fall

My grandparents' visit went swimmingly, and I even managed to avoid patronizing any frighteningly cheerful tourist traps (alas, that is a fate I haven't always escaped).

So gramps and grams are off on their great adventure in Canada and will be back to stay a few more days after their tour ends. In the mean time, my brother-in-law, Kevin, will be in town for a wedding (and hopefully some job interviews). We'd love it if he and his wife-to-be were just slightly closer than halfway around the world.

Our autumn is already looking packed with two weddings (one in Wisconsin), one trip to see friends (in Indiana), and family coming for Thanksgiving.

I don't know, if we were really efficient we could probably fit in a Bar mitzvah and a cross-country drive too.

fuzzy math

My gramps and grams are in town which means two things:

1) I will be enjoying grandma's homemade cookies and jam very soon.

2) I will almost certainly have to take the dreaded duck tour I have thus far managed to avoid.

The outcome of these possibilities may be illustrated by the following equations:

c2 + j > dt (cookies squared plus jam is greater than duck tour)

dt+ ch = bfe (duck tour plus Cheers equals bleeding from eyes)

So. Let's hope I still have the gift of sight the next time you hear from me. At the very least I will have the gift of cookies.

nerds on stage

I bit of news: I've been cast in a play called "Professional Skepticism" by James Rasheed to go up at Bentley College in November. It's nice to have something consistent to work on again (my cats were getting way too much attention for a while there) and very nice to be paid for it.

The play takes place in a Big Five accounting firm in South Carolina and apparently I am the office hoochie. It's a nice little play that shows the dark underbelly of the world of accounting--I mean it, these people are conniving and mean. I'll never look at a guy who casually peppers his conversation with the word "fiscal" the same way again.

I like that it's in the same vein as Copenhagen and Arcadia--making an otherwise academic subject accessible to "artsy retards" like myself by giving dramatic life to the subject.

art project

I apologize for being a lazy blogger lately, but here's something that will give you hours of fun:

http://spstudio.elena.hosting-friends.de/spstudio.html

Just don't come crying to me when you've wasted an afternoon trying to create your very own South Park clone.

so I married a corpse...

I saw a preview showing of Corpse Bride yesterday and as always, Tim Burton has out done himself with delightful creepiness. Stop-motion puppetry is the perfect medium for a story that might otherwise be too gory or gross to enjoy. The characters are fantastic, the visuals gorgeous, and the story absolutely sweet.

I've always been a fan of Burton's dark, subversive sensibilities and his longtime muse Johnny Depp. And I'm glad they're getting the word out early with these advance viewings because the natural audience for this type of film (um... goth kids and Tim Burton fans) is pretty small. It's certainly not a kids movie(though 8 and up would be pretty safe), and I don't imagine the Constant Gardener crowd will be rushing off to get tickets.

So here's my plug: underneath its gruesome aesthetic, Corpse Bride is a smart, funny, touching love story.

I'll be in my trailer

Okay, no, I'm not being abused by my husband.

This is actually a shot of the stage make-up I used for a play I'm doing in Providence this weekend. I was really impressed with how it came out and wanted to share the creepiness with you.

Ugh. It's not pretty. And I'm sure my mom is having issues right now.

The show is a series of five minute plays and we're performing at 6pm in Tazza Cafe tomorrow night. Sorry, short notice for anyone who might come, but I figure Providence is a bit out of reach for most Bostonians.

On a completely unrelated note, earlier this week I got to "work with" one of my long-time acting crushes (if you consider "working with" standing in the background as an extra while said actor is 10 ft. away from you and never acknowledges your presence).

I was on the set of The Hill, formerly known as Brotherhood, which stars Ethan Embry of Can't Hardly Wait fame as well as quite a few other notable actors. I mention Embry only because a scant few years ago the chance to breath the same air as him could have only been surpassed by the opportunity to suck face with Christian Slater (whom my father always referred to as "Christian Slobber"--much to my chagrin).

Sorry, Thom, I'll stop talking about kissing other men now.

Anyway, I was on set all day (15 hours!) and I'm pretty sure I'm prominently featured in the background of one scene for about 15 seconds. Sweet! Fame, here I come.