|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I saw one dead skunk, which made me sad.
But then I saw another live skunk walking around, so that made me glad.
I also had a hawk fly right up past my face chasing some prey. You know how in a city, when a pigeon flies up in your face, narrowly escaping taking off your nose? That was what happened! I could see its pupil. This huge… red hawk maybe? No! Western Red-Tail. See here. I remember the big yellow eyes. Later, I drove down the hill and I saw the big bird perched up in a tree, ripping a tiny bird to shreds and all the down feathers, fluttering down in the air.
Also that day, in class (with the Dominatrix)—my idea for a new script (this one I call a watered down Brokeback for kids) went over well, but the praise came in an interesting manner.
DOM: Well, R. and Me, we just have you two left. R… I can’t seem to find your file, but that’s ok. I remember my comments. The story was really good, I really liked it. It was the one with the two brothers, but the one is sexually ambiguous…
ME: Wait, that’s mine!
DOM: Oh--!
Haha, she thought someone else’s story was mine.
After that, I ended up meeting So. Africa to see “Children of Men.” I was SO excited to see this film. I thought the trailer looked amazing. At the film though, we ran into three other AFI people! How’s that?
Has anyone else seen this movie?
It wasn’t as good as I would have liked, there were parts I considered down right clumsy. It was well-made and I loved the second half, but yeah. It would be a, say, three stars out of four for me. I was really surprised though, when we left the theatre and everyone else thought the movie was BRILLIANT.
I always feel stupid in those situations: when I am the only person who doesn’t think something is really, really good. I feel like I am missing out on something or I am not smart enough to grasp how DEEP something is.
Also, this is stupid—but I was TOTALLY annoyed by Michael Caine’s character. I didn’t understand why there were still hippies in 2027 and I really didn’t like that it was like watching John Lennon. When I mentioned to the group, I didn’t like the John Lennon figure he played everyone told me I was nuts. He wasn’t a John Lennon figure, it was just because I liked the Beatles that I thought such.
Argh! That comment annoyed me so much.
I came home and looked up screen caps and interviews with the director I feel the need to share here as well:
An interview by Alfonso Cuaron.
AC: Michael Caine -- ever since we were writing the script, we used to refer to Jasper as the "Michael Caine" character.
Cinematical: I didn't even recognize him until I saw his name in the credits.
AC: (laughs) His own wife didn't recognize him! One time he was dressed up in character, and his wife walked into the room
and asked for Michael, and he was right there next to her. And that's when he knew, this is how he wanted to play this
character. He wanted Jasper to be like an older John Lennon – he was friends with Lennon -- and he wanted the body language
and the nasal voice and the cadence of how he portrayed this character to reflect the way he said Lennon used to talk. And
then after we shot some scenes, I saw some old footage of Lennon and it was identical.
He actually mentions it in other interviews too: "That is so alien to what he is. It's just that he is such an amazing actor. We did
make-up tests and costume tests. We were in his place and he mentioned from the get go, he says 'I want to play this like John
Lennon' because he was friends with Lennon. And then he started to tell me how Lennon used to talk like very nasal. And if you
see the way he performed the whole thing, he speaks in a very nasal kind of way."
Lennon 1968.
And old photo of the Michael Caine character.
Yeah. I’m just a Beatles fan with a fetish. WHATEVER.
I think I ended up annoying So. Af. by sending all this via email, but whatever. I really like proving my point and he’s pretty, so I think we are ok. <3
Oh, speaking of So. Af., did I tell you guys about the salad party?
That’s a nice story.
Well—oh, I didn’t tell this either. So. Af. has a couple of friends at AFI, very nice people, though older than I am and married. When those guys found out he had a GF they invited both of us to a dinner party. I was really scared about the dinner party because, though I think the two AFI guys are nice, I didn’t think I would have independently become their friends. Also, since they are all a older and married… I didn’t feel like I had anything to really talk about…
Still So. Africa was SO excited about it, you can’t even imagine.
ME: Ok, I’ll go.
SOAF: I AM GOING TO WRITE THEM AN EMAIL NOW.
The dinner party ended up being really nice. The one couple, though nice, was a bit I don’t know—too something for my taste—the other two though, So. Af.’s best pal and his wife (let’s call the pal Tex), were awesome! Tex’s wife was so funny and open—I never would have thought she and Tex would be married, because Tex is so quiet and methodical in the way he talks and such.
Anyhow, after the dinner, they wanted to play board games (gah, I don’t like board games). One game was called, (“Does that say queef?” says Tex’s wife) Quelf and the other one… I can’t remember. But in the second game, you would ask a question. Then everyone would write down an answer, someone would collect up the answers and you would have to guess who wrote what.
One question asked, “On a scale of 1-10, how hip are you?”
The answers were like: 7, 5, 6, 11 and 11 baby!
So. Af. and I were 11 and 11 baby!
ME: I KNEW there was a reason I liked you!
Also in the game there was a thing called “reversal.” That meant if you landed on such a spot, only you would answer a question then everyone else had to try and guess what you wrote down. So, the key was to try and be REALLY general in your answer, so everyone could guess it—otherwise, you’d be stuck on that place forever.
So I land on one of these reversals and my question is, “What doctor would you least like to visit?”
So, I write, “The Lady Doctor,” because what girl LIKES to visit the gynecologist?
Everyone writes down their guesses and it goes like this:
Gyno.
Gyno.
Gyno.
Gyno.
The vet.
The last one was So. Af’s guess. This will never fail to make me laugh. It got even better when he had a huge reasoning behind it. As Raedances of LJ once said, “Anyone who answers ‘the vet’ to that question is ok in my book.”
ANYHOW. That was a long tangent. Tex and his wife threw a salad party about a week ago. Basically it was a tiny little dinner party, but everyone brought a salad. I made a green apple salad with spring greens, goat cheese, vinaigrette and candied pecans—and well, obviously, chunks of green apples.
I spent most of the evening with So. Af. and Tex, because we were the AFI peeps. Everyone else there were Tex’s wife’s co-workers or neighbors and I had no idea what to talk about with them.
It was very nice though. Tex and his wife live down on Venice beach, which is quite a drive. After the salad dinner, we walked down to the water. It was so cold outside! Below 40 degrees! Though I didn’t realize it was QUITE so cold at the time.
SOAF: It’s so cold.
ME: You’re weak.
SOAF: I’m from Africa!
ME: That’s no excuse.
SOAF: I know it’s an explanation.
ME: That’s no explanation.
SOAF: … I have nothing to say to that.
ME: I win!
We got down to the water and I took off my shoes and ran around in the sand. I even ran to the wet part, where the waves were rolling in. It was pitch black dark and it was such fun. I would run all over the place, then run back to So. Af.
Walking back to the walkway though, I realized how freezing it was. My feet started to hurt and then went numb. By the time I got to the sidewalk, it was like trying to flop a piece of dead meat back into my shoe. My feet felt so fat! My arches even felt like they fell. By the time we got home, my toes were bright red.
It was such a lovely time running around that beach at night though.
Sigh, I’ve been typing up forever, I think I shall be done.
You know, I actually started writing a post about when I flew home, I should find this.
P.S. I’m training my kitten to walk on a leash!
suddenly i was @ 12:54 am
(no feathers)
friday, january 19, 2007
So far, this morning I got up, walked into the hall and my nose exploded with blood. One of those faucet-down-the-face types of nosebleeds. I am choking, spitting out blood trying to get to the sink. I deal with that. Then think: WELL. At least I will have a cool breakfast.I pour a bowl of cereal and...
the milk had spoiled.
5 days before it should have.
WHAT MORE WILL TODAY HOLD?
suddenly i was @ 10:52 am
(no feathers)