Wow, I have been severely lacking in the blog-posting area. Sorry about that. I guess life hasn't been exciting enough to write about...? Okay no that's a lie. Life is always exciting! Perhaps it has been TOO exciting...! :P
Well, the first two weeks of April I was working on a film called Snow Beast. Then I somehow ended up planning this absolutely MASSIVE party that ended up being at my house on April 30th (it was supposed to be outside at the park, but stupid weather forced a location change). Once upon a time, I had on my bucket list that I wanted to host a successful party of 100+ people or more... yeah, after that party I'm calling that one good. I don't know how many people total came, but it was crammed. I'd say at least 60 or 70. But I didn't really get to enjoy the party at all because I was constantly running around trying to fix things that had gone wrong (ie Rockband wasn't working, the live music area had some glitches, needed a new cable, etc; projector wouldn't hook up to the cable). *However*, despite all of that, I am still glad that I put it on.
The whole idea of having this party was to get the four 'older' wards in my stake to socialize a bit more. I feel like a lot of people in these wards have a harder time branching out and getting to know people if they are not at a ward activity, etc. So with the help of others in the neighboring wards, word went out and it was a success. I even had a friend come up and tell me later, "your party = huge success. Someone asked for my number and we're going out next week!" Well, that was the whole idea of the party, so I'm glad it worked!! :)
Aside from that... I worked on 127 Hours for two days, but that was it. I have high hopes for that movie. It will definitely be rated R (I mean hey, they film - in detail - the arm cut off. It's based on a true story - of the hiker in Utah who cut his arm off to survive) but I could see it getting lots of awards.
My birthday is tomorrow! Yay, I'm excited. Although, somehow 24 seems so much older than 23. 22 to 23 wasn't that bad, but 24 sounds like a bigger jump. Yeah yeah, I know - I'm still young and blah blah. 24 will be a good year. :)
Oh, and a random funny story from yesterday. So, this week I have been TRYING to get to sleep at a decent hour (ie sometime between midnight and 1) and each night something has come up and I have failed miserably. Last night was just so funny I swear it had to have been timed to happen like this. Around 12:30 or so, I was still talking with a friend and finally said that I really ought to get some sleep. We said goodnight and RIGHT as that conversation ended, another friend of mine messaged me. This friend needed advice on a few things, and it turned into a super long (but good) conversation. But it was past 2:30 and I finally said that I really should hit the sack. Agreed. But no joke, less than a minute after that was said, and AS I was reaching to click "go offline", another friend messaged me! Luckily, that conversation didn't last too long and I was in bed by 3... yeah, 2+ hours past my goal. Fail. Tonight will be better... I hope!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Snow Beast
Well, I started writing this on April 9th, thinking I'd actually have enough time to write a full entry. Apparently I was wrong. haha. But here's at least part of it since I wrote absolutely zero about the film.
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So, sometimes I'm really good at posting regularly while filming... and other times? Not so much. This has been one of those not-so-much ones. Almost the entire first week was spent on top of a mountain (Aspen Grove area) in the middle of a blizzard. By the way, this was all outside. The first day was fine (wasn't snowing) and so I thought I would do just fine with the gloves and boots that I had. Boy was I wrong! Day 2 was a full on blizzard and by the end of the day, I seriously was worried about frostbite. My fingers were so cold that they hurt... and I couldn't feel them. Yet somehow they still hurt. I don't know how to explain that.
As soon as we wrapped that night, I texted Doug and Joe to see if I could borrow their massive snow boots that they let me borrow during "Frozen" last year. They're currently filming 127 Hours in SLC and I had no idea when they wrapped, but I didn't care - I would come pick up the boots at any hour. I wanted to maintain feeling in my toes the rest of the week! Joe called me when they had time (in between takes, etc) and Doug gave me instructions as to how to acquire his snow boots at his storage unit.
Day 3 was amazing. I had snow boots from Doug, snow pants from Brittany (one of our producers), gloves from Stan (in my FHE group), and winter attire from my own wardrobe. I was ready to take on anything! Of course, it didn't dump snow on us this time, but I was plenty okay with that!
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So, sometimes I'm really good at posting regularly while filming... and other times? Not so much. This has been one of those not-so-much ones. Almost the entire first week was spent on top of a mountain (Aspen Grove area) in the middle of a blizzard. By the way, this was all outside. The first day was fine (wasn't snowing) and so I thought I would do just fine with the gloves and boots that I had. Boy was I wrong! Day 2 was a full on blizzard and by the end of the day, I seriously was worried about frostbite. My fingers were so cold that they hurt... and I couldn't feel them. Yet somehow they still hurt. I don't know how to explain that.
As soon as we wrapped that night, I texted Doug and Joe to see if I could borrow their massive snow boots that they let me borrow during "Frozen" last year. They're currently filming 127 Hours in SLC and I had no idea when they wrapped, but I didn't care - I would come pick up the boots at any hour. I wanted to maintain feeling in my toes the rest of the week! Joe called me when they had time (in between takes, etc) and Doug gave me instructions as to how to acquire his snow boots at his storage unit.
Day 3 was amazing. I had snow boots from Doug, snow pants from Brittany (one of our producers), gloves from Stan (in my FHE group), and winter attire from my own wardrobe. I was ready to take on anything! Of course, it didn't dump snow on us this time, but I was plenty okay with that!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Hare Krishna: Festival of Colors
For those of you unfamiliar with this ritual, if you want to know more, go here. If you're ever in Utah the last week in March, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the Festival of Colors!!! :)
Anyway, here are some pictures from this year!! :) (PS, sadly, I took none of these. A girl in my ward did)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Stickies and a Film
Man o man I have not done a good job at keeping up very well lately. In my defense, my computer is still dead. Thus, it makes it much harder to write when the computer I have will - without warning - turn off and anything unsaved (ie a blog entry) is immediately lost. PS, my computer is officially dead and I am quite sad about it. Well, dead but it can be repaired. I need a new hard drive - but I won't have any money until this film starts (I'll get to that). Sooo... I guess it's a few more weeks of using my 6-year-old computer! :P
Let's see... another quick update since the last time I posted:
--I came up with a great idea that works pretty well for me. I always have this problem of wanting to get all this stuff done, but never actually getting it done. Usually, it's because even if I make a list, I rarely see it. SO... I came up with the sticky-note idea. The walls in my room are pretty empty (normally, I don't go through the effort of decorating because I tend to move to a new place every 6-8 months), so I decided to plaster one wall with something: sticky notes! Any time I think of something that I want to get done, I slap a sticky note on there with the 'task' written on it. Once I complete it, I take the sticky note off. It's right by my bed and the markers are right there too, so that way even if I'm trying to fall asleep and think of something that I need to do, I can easily write on one of the stickies real fast (I have blank stickies on the wall, too). Anyway, it has worked pretty well so far. I highly recommend it. :)
--I caught up with a bunch of old friends, and made friends with a bunch of random people. Every week at Institute now, I make it a point to sit next to people I've never met before. It's way more fun that way because hey, I already know the people in my ward - why not broaden my horizons when given the chance at a stake function? :P
--I went to this party last week and started talking with this guy... only to discover that he was my friend's little brother (21). haha!
---------------------------------------------
Now the biggest piece of news: the FILM. I was playing volleyball last Saturday when I got a phone call. I think his name was Andrew and he told me they were looking for a boom for this sci-fi movie they're shooting in a week or so. The best part though is that this is a direct result of my unexplainable ability of "right time, right place" syndrome. haha.
A couple of weeks ago I was on the set of Den Brother (TV Disney movie that was being filmed in SLC) to talk with Doug (the mixer I frequently work with) and Joe (the boom I frequently work with). However, the day that I decided to come, another local mixer showed up as well. He and Doug are both mixing this film "127 Hours" right now and they needed to have a lil pow-wow about what all was going to go down the following week (Week 1 of 127 Hours). But a lot of the time Doug and Joe were actually working because hey, they WERE filming that day. So in the down time, Steve (the other mixer) and I had a lot of time to chat.
Though we have never actually worked together, both knew of the other through the grapevine and the most recent thing he had heard about me was to do with Hatchet (the slasher movie I quit in January). He said, "So... I hear you worked with Bobby for about two days..." At first, I thought "oh great... I blacklisted myself from Utah people too..." I hesitantly said, "Yeah... that was me..." But to my surprise, Steve's reaction was quite the opposite from what I expected! Not in these words, but he basically said "that must have been a tough decision, but good for you sticking up for yourself and your standards." Wow! Really? Cool!
Turns out, Steve is one of the oddities in this business who is actually still active LDS. He told me about a time where he signed on to work this film but after looking at the script realized he couldn't in good conscience work on this film because it was the exact type of film he tells his kids not to watch. So before it started, he respectfully declined and they used someone else for that film.
Anyway, apparently I made a good impression on him because HE was the one who recommended me to this producer! Andrew told me that he got my name from Steve and that they were looking for a boom operator, etc. Wow! I have still never actually worked with Steve and he's already tossing my name out there. Guess I made a good impression on him! It was funny too because a few days later when I went to the production office to talk with the director about the 411 of this film, the first thing he asked was "so you've worked with Steve a lot then?" haha well...
I told him, "Actually, I haven't. But I have worked with Doug a lot and I know Steve through Doug." I guess that was good enough for the director. haha. Oh and the day rate is actually decent this time. Finally!! So I start on March 30th and wrap on April 13th. At least, that is the tentative schedule. The only thing that worries me is HOW low-budget this thing is. They may be paying me a decent rate, but the rest of the production sounds really low-budget. I'm honestly kind of worried as to how it will all pan out.
Oh, but one parting thing for those of you who know who he is and would appreciate it, John Schneider is the lead in this film and I'm kind of excited about that because he seems like such a nice guy. Just FYI, he was the dad in Smallville, and played "Bo Duke" in the 80s Dukes of Hazzard. So starting Tuesday, I will TRY to keep you all a tad more updated now that I have something to actually update on. :)
Let's see... another quick update since the last time I posted:
--I came up with a great idea that works pretty well for me. I always have this problem of wanting to get all this stuff done, but never actually getting it done. Usually, it's because even if I make a list, I rarely see it. SO... I came up with the sticky-note idea. The walls in my room are pretty empty (normally, I don't go through the effort of decorating because I tend to move to a new place every 6-8 months), so I decided to plaster one wall with something: sticky notes! Any time I think of something that I want to get done, I slap a sticky note on there with the 'task' written on it. Once I complete it, I take the sticky note off. It's right by my bed and the markers are right there too, so that way even if I'm trying to fall asleep and think of something that I need to do, I can easily write on one of the stickies real fast (I have blank stickies on the wall, too). Anyway, it has worked pretty well so far. I highly recommend it. :)
--I caught up with a bunch of old friends, and made friends with a bunch of random people. Every week at Institute now, I make it a point to sit next to people I've never met before. It's way more fun that way because hey, I already know the people in my ward - why not broaden my horizons when given the chance at a stake function? :P
--I went to this party last week and started talking with this guy... only to discover that he was my friend's little brother (21). haha!
---------------------------------------------
Now the biggest piece of news: the FILM. I was playing volleyball last Saturday when I got a phone call. I think his name was Andrew and he told me they were looking for a boom for this sci-fi movie they're shooting in a week or so. The best part though is that this is a direct result of my unexplainable ability of "right time, right place" syndrome. haha.
A couple of weeks ago I was on the set of Den Brother (TV Disney movie that was being filmed in SLC) to talk with Doug (the mixer I frequently work with) and Joe (the boom I frequently work with). However, the day that I decided to come, another local mixer showed up as well. He and Doug are both mixing this film "127 Hours" right now and they needed to have a lil pow-wow about what all was going to go down the following week (Week 1 of 127 Hours). But a lot of the time Doug and Joe were actually working because hey, they WERE filming that day. So in the down time, Steve (the other mixer) and I had a lot of time to chat.
Though we have never actually worked together, both knew of the other through the grapevine and the most recent thing he had heard about me was to do with Hatchet (the slasher movie I quit in January). He said, "So... I hear you worked with Bobby for about two days..." At first, I thought "oh great... I blacklisted myself from Utah people too..." I hesitantly said, "Yeah... that was me..." But to my surprise, Steve's reaction was quite the opposite from what I expected! Not in these words, but he basically said "that must have been a tough decision, but good for you sticking up for yourself and your standards." Wow! Really? Cool!
Turns out, Steve is one of the oddities in this business who is actually still active LDS. He told me about a time where he signed on to work this film but after looking at the script realized he couldn't in good conscience work on this film because it was the exact type of film he tells his kids not to watch. So before it started, he respectfully declined and they used someone else for that film.
Anyway, apparently I made a good impression on him because HE was the one who recommended me to this producer! Andrew told me that he got my name from Steve and that they were looking for a boom operator, etc. Wow! I have still never actually worked with Steve and he's already tossing my name out there. Guess I made a good impression on him! It was funny too because a few days later when I went to the production office to talk with the director about the 411 of this film, the first thing he asked was "so you've worked with Steve a lot then?" haha well...
I told him, "Actually, I haven't. But I have worked with Doug a lot and I know Steve through Doug." I guess that was good enough for the director. haha. Oh and the day rate is actually decent this time. Finally!! So I start on March 30th and wrap on April 13th. At least, that is the tentative schedule. The only thing that worries me is HOW low-budget this thing is. They may be paying me a decent rate, but the rest of the production sounds really low-budget. I'm honestly kind of worried as to how it will all pan out.
Oh, but one parting thing for those of you who know who he is and would appreciate it, John Schneider is the lead in this film and I'm kind of excited about that because he seems like such a nice guy. Just FYI, he was the dad in Smallville, and played "Bo Duke" in the 80s Dukes of Hazzard. So starting Tuesday, I will TRY to keep you all a tad more updated now that I have something to actually update on. :)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Back That Thing Up
Well so much for planning to post every day in March! My computer had other thoughts on that one, I guess! On Tuesday, it started acting up. It froze on me a few times and I thought maybe it just needed 'a day of rest.' So I turned it off and didn't really use it that day. Wednesday, I turned it on and it seemed to be working fine again... or so I thought. It started getting incredibly slow, and froze on me again! This repeated 2 more times before I decided to put it away for the time being.
Now, luckily I have been paranoid about my computer crashing since 2004. My freshman year my old PC pulled the "blue screen of death" on me and I thought I had lost everything. Mind you, I write my journal on my computer (and have now for 6-7 years) and at that point in time, I had no external source on which the entries were saved. When my uncle pronounced that computer dead, I thought I was done for. But miraculously, it came back to life and I was able to retrieve my data. But ever since then, it has left me uber paranoid that something could go wrong with a computer at any moment.
So now, I back up my files every month or two. As for my journal, I send myself the attached file nightly - as soon as I finish the entry. And all of my journals are on some attachment saved in a special folder in my email. My pictures are also in several places and because I back it up once every month or two, I always have *almost* all of my pictures. Same goes for the music. Those are the three most important things on my computer.
Now, back to Wednesday. I have a few 'computer nerd' friends who work with computers for a living, so I asked one of them about it and he told me he knew who could help. I was told that I probably needed to defrag and that would most likely fix the majority of my problems. So we started defragging it... but alas, the computer froze in the middle of what it was doing. Ultimately, the computer was turned off... and has not booted since.
You may wonder how I am writing this right now if my computer is still in a coma. Lucky for me, because I am such a big packrat, I have my 6-year-old PC still here with me today. Broken power source, missing keys, chipped edges, stained casing, slow-running, louder-than-a-hair-dryer, and all. I have never appreciated my Mac so much in my life.
Anyway, so my Mac was dead. It wouldn't boot. Now this is doubly problematic because (1) it is still very much a PC world (and thus most are unfamiliar with the dymanics of a Mac), and (2) Macs aren't supposed to die, so when they do... most people don't know what to do to fix it. I broke my 'facebook fast' for a day in order to post on my status that I was in desperate need of some computer help. Thank goodness for facebook - I had a friend over here within a few hours.
My uncle told me how to get to a command prompt screen and with that, Steve (the computer whiz friend) was able to start accessing my stuff. Luckily, because I back my stuff up on a regular basis, I was not stressed about losing my stuff because even if it was pronounced 'dead', I had my most important files. However, he discovered that he could mount an external drive, access certain files and folders and transfer them onto my external drive while in the command prompt setting. Awesome. So he set that up and we went our separate ways. It is still yet to be fully fixed (he's coming back again sometime today) but it will be back to normal within a day or two.
I am coming back a few hours later to finish this post and I just want to reiterate how incredibly grateful I am for my Mac!! Though it is awaiting some serious surgery, it'll pull through and will be up and running in no time. And this old PC is reminding me more and more how lucky I am to have the other computer!
Basically, this entry is to remind all of you to BACK YOUR STUFF UP. You never know when your computer will just go kaput without a moment's notice. Hopefully you won't lose any important documents in the shuffle!
Now, luckily I have been paranoid about my computer crashing since 2004. My freshman year my old PC pulled the "blue screen of death" on me and I thought I had lost everything. Mind you, I write my journal on my computer (and have now for 6-7 years) and at that point in time, I had no external source on which the entries were saved. When my uncle pronounced that computer dead, I thought I was done for. But miraculously, it came back to life and I was able to retrieve my data. But ever since then, it has left me uber paranoid that something could go wrong with a computer at any moment.
So now, I back up my files every month or two. As for my journal, I send myself the attached file nightly - as soon as I finish the entry. And all of my journals are on some attachment saved in a special folder in my email. My pictures are also in several places and because I back it up once every month or two, I always have *almost* all of my pictures. Same goes for the music. Those are the three most important things on my computer.
Now, back to Wednesday. I have a few 'computer nerd' friends who work with computers for a living, so I asked one of them about it and he told me he knew who could help. I was told that I probably needed to defrag and that would most likely fix the majority of my problems. So we started defragging it... but alas, the computer froze in the middle of what it was doing. Ultimately, the computer was turned off... and has not booted since.
You may wonder how I am writing this right now if my computer is still in a coma. Lucky for me, because I am such a big packrat, I have my 6-year-old PC still here with me today. Broken power source, missing keys, chipped edges, stained casing, slow-running, louder-than-a-hair-dryer, and all. I have never appreciated my Mac so much in my life.
Anyway, so my Mac was dead. It wouldn't boot. Now this is doubly problematic because (1) it is still very much a PC world (and thus most are unfamiliar with the dymanics of a Mac), and (2) Macs aren't supposed to die, so when they do... most people don't know what to do to fix it. I broke my 'facebook fast' for a day in order to post on my status that I was in desperate need of some computer help. Thank goodness for facebook - I had a friend over here within a few hours.
My uncle told me how to get to a command prompt screen and with that, Steve (the computer whiz friend) was able to start accessing my stuff. Luckily, because I back my stuff up on a regular basis, I was not stressed about losing my stuff because even if it was pronounced 'dead', I had my most important files. However, he discovered that he could mount an external drive, access certain files and folders and transfer them onto my external drive while in the command prompt setting. Awesome. So he set that up and we went our separate ways. It is still yet to be fully fixed (he's coming back again sometime today) but it will be back to normal within a day or two.
I am coming back a few hours later to finish this post and I just want to reiterate how incredibly grateful I am for my Mac!! Though it is awaiting some serious surgery, it'll pull through and will be up and running in no time. And this old PC is reminding me more and more how lucky I am to have the other computer!
Basically, this entry is to remind all of you to BACK YOUR STUFF UP. You never know when your computer will just go kaput without a moment's notice. Hopefully you won't lose any important documents in the shuffle!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Exercise: You Don't Have Time Not To
I was curious to the actual number I see on a typical drive, so as I was driving to the gym today I decided to count the number of runners I saw. My 4:30pm drive TO the gym consisted of 17 people. Seeing as how my drive is only about a 7-minute drive to begin with, I thought that 17 was quite a bit!
I got to the gym (the massive one in Orem) and like always, about 90% of the cardio-related machines were in use (there are easily 50 if not 75 or more machines there). Luckily, I went for Zumba, which requires no machine. Afterward, I did weights in the "Women Only" room where there were a good 10 or more women in there lifting weights as well. There was even a pregnant woman in the weight room! Also, the weight machines in the 'open area' were about 40% in use; I counted 6 people swimming laps in the pool and there were a bunch in the basketball/racquetball rooms, too.
I went to the smaller gym (in Provo) on Saturday morning and have discovered that it is apparently the place to be on a Saturday morning. I have never seen that gym so crowded! Just about every machine was in use, and the cardio machine that I usually use only had one open one left! Luckily, I claimed that one. :)
I have run into more people I know while at the gym than any other place in Provo (aside from campus when I was actually a student). Almost every time I have gone to the Provo Gold's, I bump into at least one person I know. I guess we are all 'staying fit' together. hah.
So take that L.A. and New York. I have FOUR Gold's Gyms to choose from - all less than 10 miles from my house - and SAFE sidewalks to run on if I so choose!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Moral Obligation
The Academy Awards were on tonight. Because of this, I had my computer out the whole time, with imdb open... just in case I wanted to look anything up. That somehow landed me on the main page for the disturbing film I worked a whole two days on. I think it was during that "horror montage" they had tonight, and something about it made me curious. I think I saw someone I recognized from that film. Anyway, I found myself on the imdb page and saw an interesting "trivia" thing listed, so I proceeded to click and look at the other random trivia they already had for it, seeing as it was only filmed a month and a half ago.
Most of the trivia dealt with pointless facts about the film, but then I saw the second to last 'fact.' I had to re-read it to make sure I had really read what I thought I'd just read. Yep, I really had. I had made it onto the trivia page. At first, I wasn't sure if that made me angry or happy. I mean, my name wasn't included, but I knew darn well that it was about me. But after about 5 seconds of "freak-out", I loved it. And this is why:
"It was reported on the horror websites that a crew member quit on day 2 due to "moral reasons" with what was taking place within the scenes."
Haha I love it. Yep, that's me! Yes, I was definitely 'morally opposed' to this film! It was so bad! And like I stated in earlier entries, it's not like it was an easy decision. I definitely needed the money (it would have brought me 4-5 grand). And I loved the crew! But man that subject matter... I can deal with most gore on sets because it is so fake when you're filming. I mean hey, you see the tube attached to the back of the guy's head and you see the effects guy waiting for the director to call 'action!' so he can press the button that will shoot out the fake blood. It's actually kind of cool...!
But the sex scenes were what did it for me. Day One and we're already filming those? Oh no way no how. And if I were any other part of crew, I could probably work around it because most crew members aren't actually ON set when filming stuff like that. So were I not in sound, I could totally disappear for those scenes. However, it is the exact opposite when you are the boom operator. You are in fact the ONLY crew member in the room with the actors during scenes like that... and it's days like those when booming suddenly becomes the worst job in the world.
Oh and this was another trivia: "[The set] was plagued with accidents, injuries, trips to the hospital, and a swine flu epidemic that took out almost half of the personnel on set." Sounds lovely... I think I'm glad I left when I did! May I remind you that this is the same film where I stepped on a nail and ended up at the hospital that night? Yeah, that trivia can technically include me as well, since I had to spend the better half of my evening that night being treated and x-rayed! (It took nearly 3 weeks to be able to walk fully normal again) Now it makes me curious what else happened after I left!
Anyway, in the end, that first trivia made me happy to see. Yes that was me, and I am proud OF it! Just because I work in film doesn't mean that I have to drop down to their level. If that confines me to TV Disney movies and the likes for the rest of my life, so be it. I love me some ultimate cheese. :)
Most of the trivia dealt with pointless facts about the film, but then I saw the second to last 'fact.' I had to re-read it to make sure I had really read what I thought I'd just read. Yep, I really had. I had made it onto the trivia page. At first, I wasn't sure if that made me angry or happy. I mean, my name wasn't included, but I knew darn well that it was about me. But after about 5 seconds of "freak-out", I loved it. And this is why:
"It was reported on the horror websites that a crew member quit on day 2 due to "moral reasons" with what was taking place within the scenes."
Haha I love it. Yep, that's me! Yes, I was definitely 'morally opposed' to this film! It was so bad! And like I stated in earlier entries, it's not like it was an easy decision. I definitely needed the money (it would have brought me 4-5 grand). And I loved the crew! But man that subject matter... I can deal with most gore on sets because it is so fake when you're filming. I mean hey, you see the tube attached to the back of the guy's head and you see the effects guy waiting for the director to call 'action!' so he can press the button that will shoot out the fake blood. It's actually kind of cool...!
But the sex scenes were what did it for me. Day One and we're already filming those? Oh no way no how. And if I were any other part of crew, I could probably work around it because most crew members aren't actually ON set when filming stuff like that. So were I not in sound, I could totally disappear for those scenes. However, it is the exact opposite when you are the boom operator. You are in fact the ONLY crew member in the room with the actors during scenes like that... and it's days like those when booming suddenly becomes the worst job in the world.
Oh and this was another trivia: "[The set] was plagued with accidents, injuries, trips to the hospital, and a swine flu epidemic that took out almost half of the personnel on set." Sounds lovely... I think I'm glad I left when I did! May I remind you that this is the same film where I stepped on a nail and ended up at the hospital that night? Yeah, that trivia can technically include me as well, since I had to spend the better half of my evening that night being treated and x-rayed! (It took nearly 3 weeks to be able to walk fully normal again) Now it makes me curious what else happened after I left!
Anyway, in the end, that first trivia made me happy to see. Yes that was me, and I am proud OF it! Just because I work in film doesn't mean that I have to drop down to their level. If that confines me to TV Disney movies and the likes for the rest of my life, so be it. I love me some ultimate cheese. :)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Murder Mystery Dinner
A few weeks ago, my friend Jess and I were talking about how neither of us had ever done a murder mystery dinner and decided that we should do one. We looked it up online, found one that sounded rather entertaining, ordered it, and got a group of 8 together to do it. Tonight was the 'big night' and everyone came over to my place. Our theme was old western, so we all had to dress the part. The names alone were hilarious. They were as follows:Butch Chastity
P'Elvis Swagarin
Helena Handcart
Chief Breaking Wind
Elvira-Lynn Fekshin
Wyatt Hertz
Dee Adela Muerte
Elias Truis-Heath
It ended up being a lot more risque than we thought it was, but honestly, I thought it added that much more to it when we discovered 'frightening secrets' of our characters' hidden pasts! Just about every character had a secret lover that was made known at some point during the game and the reactions were great. Anyway, I highly recommend doing and/or hosting a murder mystery dinner. We already want to do another one. Below are some pictures:
(Oh and by the way, I was "Butch Chastity" and was the only girl who got to wear jeans! Yeah! Believe me, I had fun with this one. I LOVE (and collect) knives, so I was packing six knives in various places, a fake gun, and a whip my friend let me borrow. It was awesome to have an excuse to wear all of this stuff!)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Alice in Wonderland
I think I can take another 10-year break from Alice and Wonderland after yesterday! haha. I'll admit, Alice in Wonderland was never one of my favorite Disney movies. It's a little out there, and doesn't really make sense. I honestly don't think I've seen the Disney version in 10 years or more. But last week a friend in the ward called me and asked me if I'd help host her birthday party - Alice in Wonderland themed. Hey, I'm always up for helping plan a party. I thought it was funny when I found out she wanted to have the party at my place, even though it was technically going to be her party. But I love coming up with crazy ideas, and it was actually easier to have it at my place, so I was all for it.
She bought 4 decks of dollar store cards and I hole punched about two decks and strung them up everywhere. We still have cards hanging all over our house. The other two decks are splattered on various walls, windows, and doors throughout our main floor. We also still had a bunch of red hearts still up from our big Valentine's Day party and since we have the whole "Queen of Hearts" thing in Alice in Wonderland, we just left it all up. Why not reuse them? :P I also wrote about 12 signs saying "THIS WAY" and "THAT WAY" pointing both left and right, and posted them all over. We made all sorts of goodies and labeled them "EAT ME" and bought mini water bottles, put food coloring in them, labeled them "DRINK ME," and distributed them all over the living room and kitchen. I know this is bad, but I couldn't resist - I put one of the yellow colored "DRINK ME" bottles in the bathroom. hehe.
We also had various shapes and sizes of teacups and had a bunch of herbal tea and hot chocolate for people to choose from. We hid two "Queen of Hearts" cards just for fun, but everyone ended up getting really into it! They were looking all over the place for the two cards! Eventually, both were found and the two who found the cards had a duel in Alice in Wonderland trivia for the 'grand prize.' It was actually quite entertaining. We also had in attendance our very own Alice, the Queen of Hearts, and the Mad Hatter. Below are pictures.
At about 10 o'clock, my friend called to see if I was going to see the midnight showing of the new Alice in Wonderland with the group from my ward. I really wanted to (I LOVE midnight showings), but I'm trying as hard as I can to say "NO" to anything that costs right now - I am beyond broke. She then proceeded to inform me that her brother (whom I have already met) had an extra ticket that I could have if I wanted it. Seriously? I am so there! So I left around 11:30 to meet up with this other group, and watched the midnight showing! Woohoo!
All things considered, it wasn't that bad! I mean, this is Tim Burton we are talking about... he is always bound to be rather "off his rocker"; but this is Alice and Wonderland after all. What better story for Tim Burton to re-create? My favorite character by far was the Mad Hatter. I know it may sound cliche, but Johnny Depp really is an amazing actor. Who else could go from Edward Scissorhands to Gilbert Grape, to Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow), to Jack Sparrow, to James Barrie, to Willy Wonka, to Sweeney Todd, and now the Mad Hatter? ... he is definitely not a typecast actor. Although, I found it rather amusing to see bits of Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka come out of the Mad Hatter!
Anyway, it's definitely worth seeing at least once. I found it much more enjoyable than the 1951 Disney version. And maybe it was just me, but I laughed a lot in it...
All things considered, it wasn't that bad! I mean, this is Tim Burton we are talking about... he is always bound to be rather "off his rocker"; but this is Alice and Wonderland after all. What better story for Tim Burton to re-create? My favorite character by far was the Mad Hatter. I know it may sound cliche, but Johnny Depp really is an amazing actor. Who else could go from Edward Scissorhands to Gilbert Grape, to Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow), to Jack Sparrow, to James Barrie, to Willy Wonka, to Sweeney Todd, and now the Mad Hatter? ... he is definitely not a typecast actor. Although, I found it rather amusing to see bits of Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka come out of the Mad Hatter!
Anyway, it's definitely worth seeing at least once. I found it much more enjoyable than the 1951 Disney version. And maybe it was just me, but I laughed a lot in it...
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Brick by Brick / Terrified
About every week or two, I find a new song that I just want to listen to over and over on repeat. Last week it was Jason Reeves/Kara DioGuardi's song "Terrified." Luckily, my roommate shared the same liking for that song, so we just listened to it on repeat for over an hour while chatting.
Yesterday I was in Borders just perusing the shelves, trying to figure out how to spend my $25 gift card I got for Christmas when this new song came on. I had never heard it before, but I instantly loved it. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing the 'now playing' song. So... I pulled out my phone and wrote a 'note' to myself with part of the lyrics from the chorus of the song so I could look it up later (this is a frequent occurrence for me). I came home to discover that it was actually a song by Train! Train usually has a very distinct sound, but for some reason it sounded different when I was at Border's. I downloaded Train's newest album, "Save Me, San Fransisco", and I love it. Brick by Brick is still my favorite track, but really, the whole album is awesome.
Anyway, when I find songs I love this much, I want everyone to love them as much as I do! So, I am posting both "Terrified" and "Brick by Brick" on here for you to enjoy as well. :) The lyrics and links are below. :)
"Terrified" (as sung by Katharine McPhee)
You by the light
Is the greatest find
In a world full wrong you're the thing that's right
Finally made it through the lonely to the other side
You said it again my heart's in motion
Every word feels like a shooting star
I'm at the edge of my emotions
Watching the shadows burning in the dark,
And I'm in love and I'm terrified.
For the first time in the last time
In my only life.
This could be good
It's already better than last
And love is worse than knowing
You're holding back
I could be all that you needed
If you let me try
You said it again my hearts in motion
Every word feels like a shooting start
I'm at the edge of my emotions
Watching the shadows burning in the dark
And I'm in love and I'm terrified
For the first time in the last time
in my only
I only said it cause i mean it
I only mean cause it's true
So don't you doubt what i've been dreaming
Cause it fills me up and holds me close
Whenever i'm without you
You said it again my hearts in motion
Every word feels like a shooting star
Watching the shadows burning in the dark
And I'm in love and I'm terrified
For the first time in the last time
In my only life
"Brick by Brick"
The dust has finally settled down
The sun is shining on these pieces that are scattered all around
This house was everything we knew
Its where we kept our love and
every single memory of me and you
Every letter, every note, every dress you never wore under your coat
Thrown away
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor
If we hold onto each other, we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we will get back to yesterday
When I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
The sky has made it back to blue,
everything that's left is telling us the worst of it is through.
Home has never felt so right, there's nothing in the way.
There's nothing in between us
knowing where we're going is inside.
Every letter that I wrote,
every dress you never wore under your coat
Thrown away
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor
If we hold on to each other,
we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we'll get back to yesterday.
When I made your body shiver
and when you took my breath away.
All the pictures that we've taken
and the songs that we have played
They have all kept track and
followed back the love that we have made.
Now they're spread out on the
surface where we can try to congregate
It's not too late to believe that we can get it all again
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor,
If we hold onto each other,
we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we'll get back to yesterday
When I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
Brick by brick
We'll get back to yesterday,
when I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
Yesterday I was in Borders just perusing the shelves, trying to figure out how to spend my $25 gift card I got for Christmas when this new song came on. I had never heard it before, but I instantly loved it. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing the 'now playing' song. So... I pulled out my phone and wrote a 'note' to myself with part of the lyrics from the chorus of the song so I could look it up later (this is a frequent occurrence for me). I came home to discover that it was actually a song by Train! Train usually has a very distinct sound, but for some reason it sounded different when I was at Border's. I downloaded Train's newest album, "Save Me, San Fransisco", and I love it. Brick by Brick is still my favorite track, but really, the whole album is awesome.
Anyway, when I find songs I love this much, I want everyone to love them as much as I do! So, I am posting both "Terrified" and "Brick by Brick" on here for you to enjoy as well. :) The lyrics and links are below. :)
"Terrified" (as sung by Katharine McPhee)
You by the light
Is the greatest find
In a world full wrong you're the thing that's right
Finally made it through the lonely to the other side
You said it again my heart's in motion
Every word feels like a shooting star
I'm at the edge of my emotions
Watching the shadows burning in the dark,
And I'm in love and I'm terrified.
For the first time in the last time
In my only life.
This could be good
It's already better than last
And love is worse than knowing
You're holding back
I could be all that you needed
If you let me try
You said it again my hearts in motion
Every word feels like a shooting start
I'm at the edge of my emotions
Watching the shadows burning in the dark
And I'm in love and I'm terrified
For the first time in the last time
in my only
I only said it cause i mean it
I only mean cause it's true
So don't you doubt what i've been dreaming
Cause it fills me up and holds me close
Whenever i'm without you
You said it again my hearts in motion
Every word feels like a shooting star
Watching the shadows burning in the dark
And I'm in love and I'm terrified
For the first time in the last time
In my only life
"Brick by Brick"
The dust has finally settled down
The sun is shining on these pieces that are scattered all around
This house was everything we knew
Its where we kept our love and
every single memory of me and you
Every letter, every note, every dress you never wore under your coat
Thrown away
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor
If we hold onto each other, we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we will get back to yesterday
When I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
The sky has made it back to blue,
everything that's left is telling us the worst of it is through.
Home has never felt so right, there's nothing in the way.
There's nothing in between us
knowing where we're going is inside.
Every letter that I wrote,
every dress you never wore under your coat
Thrown away
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor
If we hold on to each other,
we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we'll get back to yesterday.
When I made your body shiver
and when you took my breath away.
All the pictures that we've taken
and the songs that we have played
They have all kept track and
followed back the love that we have made.
Now they're spread out on the
surface where we can try to congregate
It's not too late to believe that we can get it all again
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor,
If we hold onto each other,
we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we'll get back to yesterday
When I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
Brick by brick
We'll get back to yesterday,
when I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
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