January 2011
32 posts
“I’m going to be shot for saying this. But who said art has to cost money? And therefore, who says artists have to make money?”
—Francis Ford Coppola on making a living as an artist. The context: “You have to remember that it’s only a few hundred years, if that much, that artists are working with money. Artists never got money. Artists had a patron…or they had another job. I have another job. I make films. No one tells me what to do. But I make the money in the wine industry. You work another job and get up at five in the morning and write your script….Try to disconnect the idea of cinema with the idea of making a living and money.” (via austinkleon)
Uh oh. The Communists will not like this.
But I whole-heartedly agree.
“We may safely assume that children and young people have been a component of theatre as long as there has been theatre….Until the present century, few plays were written specifically for children. Even the exceptions represent works that pleased audiences of all ages….One might expect that when dramatists began writing explicitly for young people’s pleasure and edification, as they have in recent decades, children’s theatre would be the better for their efforts. But the majority of children’s plays of this century prove this not to be the case. In fact, the dramas most loved by youngsters have come from the adult theatre…
The question thus arises of whether the polarization of “adult’s” and “children’s” theatres may have performed a cultural disservice to the youth of this century. By giving them a theatre of their own, one composed heavily of hackneyed dramatizations and stereotypical musicals, we deprive children of the best drama of their time.” —
The question thus arises of whether the polarization of “adult’s” and “children’s” theatres may have performed a cultural disservice to the youth of this century. By giving them a theatre of their own, one composed heavily of hackneyed dramatizations and stereotypical musicals, we deprive children of the best drama of their time.” —
from the Introduction to All The Word’s A Stage: Modern Plays for Young People edited by Lowell Swortzell
A collection of plays I’m reading in order to find scenes for my classes. I found this profound and pointed, considering how difficult it is to find good material to work on that isn’t maddeningly juvenile and flat on one hand but isn’t too mature on the other.
“Now, I think you’re just remembering the good stuff. Next time you look back, I really think you should look again.”
—Rachel Hansen (via littlemissgayle)
“I’ve fallen in love with the musical genre. It’s the art form of the common man! If you want to communicate something to the proletariat, cover it in sequins and make it sing. It’s noisy, vulgar and utterly meaningless; I love it.”
—Slings & Arrows
The Big 2-8
Ok, so turning 28 isn’t really a big deal. Other than that it’s an even number and I like even numbers.
In fact, this year, more than any other I can currently remember, feels really like nothing. Void. I’m not sad or depressed about getting older. But I’m not excited about “my day”. I guess I’m officially an adult…?
Last year, I wrote a post called “It Was 27 Years Ago Today” which you can read here. It was kind of a letter to my younger self.
This year, I’m thinking about how this will be my fifth birthday celebrated outside of the States: this and the last four in Canada, the first in Ireland.
I had my “Champagne Birthday” in Ireland when I turned 20 on the 20th. It wasn’t much of a celebration at first, though. I was there attending The Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin for a 3-week intensive and it lived up to its description: there were days when we got a scene and have to have it staged and memorized for that same day. And that’s with Irish Theatre History, Acting Class, tours and trips in between! That course is why I am the killer memorizer I am today.
The whole experience was life-changing and I mean that literally. The techniques we learned are created who I am as an actor, whether I intentionally reference them or not - they’re embedded in me. It was my first taste of living on my own (albeit in a hostel). It exposed me to the world outside of the United States, as well as art and culture like I’d never experienced. The Pan-Pan Theatre Symposium was going through Dublin and that week we saw anywhere from 2-4 shows a day! We also got to attend the 50th Anniversary performance of Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT at the Gate Theatre. The whole experience was magical - just like Ireland herself.
I stay in touch with all my classmates from the program who have Facebook, all of whom are acting and doing quite well - some very, very well in NYC - and even with the head of the school.
Back to my birthday - we were nearing the end of our intensive so everyone was desperately trying to memorize and prep. I was pretty bummed out, I recall, that no one wanted to celebrate. I was memorized, prepared and ready to go! Eventually, my friend Melissa from Manchester, England, took me out for cider at a fancy bar (I wouldn’t call it a pub even though everything - from grocery stores to pizza parlors - are basically pubs in Ireland) and we actually had a long conversation about life and love and career and happiness.
Last year, my husband took me horseback riding for the first time. This year, a friend is taking me to lunch, then I’m teaching for two hours before my husband takes me out for whatever secret plans he has this year.
I don’t really know where I’m going with all this other than I just got to thinking about spending my birthday out of The States and what that’s been like. It always feels a little lonely and I just don’t think there’s any getting around that.
All that said, I do feel like this is going to be a great year. And, Husband, you better have something wonderful planned!
My First Lyric Credit
I’m excited to post a link to Mousehunt - a companion album to the Facebook game of the same name by HitGrab, Inc, the gaming company of Joel Augé , friend of mine and artist of my husbands. (Whew…mouthful)
This game is so big in Asia that they have conferences about it and even flew Joel Augé out to attend one as an honored guest.
Since he’s a recording artist, he decided it would be fun to produce an album and sell it within the game.
My husband wrote the melody and I wrote the lyrics to the song “I Will Wait” while our friend Nathan Finochio aka Alexander Fairchild sings and plays it. I am now an official member of SOCAN but, more importantly, it is the piece of work that, so far, I am most proud of in my writing career.
So, please buy the album - it’s only 6 bucks and while the content is themed mainly towards the game, the songs stand on their own as well. At least buy “I Will Wait” - you won’t regret it :)
“There are roughly three New Yorks.
There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable.
Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night.
Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.” —I love this quote from EB White in “Here is New York” (via thenycnomad)
There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable.
Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night.
Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.” —I love this quote from EB White in “Here is New York” (via thenycnomad)
my year in books and movies: THEY JUST DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TA →
leslielosesthings.tumblr.com
I know, I know. You’ve heard it before. Most who shakily avoid anything made pre-1980 merely roll their eyes when some film-nerd or classic-fanatic utters the phrase above.”Thank GOD they don’t make ‘em like they used ta or I’d be snoring in the theater,” skeptics say as they push up…
“My Husband: So…Taylor Swift is single again. Jake Gyllenhaal broke up with her.
Me: I didn’t even know they were together.
My Husband: Yea, Gwyneth Paltrow hooked them up.
Me: You need to stop reading the Huffington Post.
My Husband: I know, right?”
—
I really like Emma Watson but this short haircut of hers makes her look like Winona Ryder in 1993. Who advised her on this? A pixie is one thing but never ask for the “Receptionist with Upper Management Dreams from a 1995 Day Time Soap”. You’ll regret it every time. If she wanted to go short, why couldn’t she do something cool like Rhianna or Keri Hilson? That girl can rock a short cut!
Seriously though - a fabulous actress and looking forward to seeing where her adult career goes. (There’s gotta be a better way to say that, right Michael Bluth?)
In related news, I am so angry that Michelle Williams is playing Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, which Emma is also in. I look more like Marilyn Monroe than she does. And in the teaser photos I see no spark, no magic. She’s supposed to be a sex symbol and she looks like your grandmother. Maybe it’s the styling…?
Hell, Lindsey Disaster Lohan looked more like MM in that naked Vanity Fair shoot she did: http://www.fashionising.com/forums/t—Lindsay-Lohan-as-Marylin-Monroe-NSFW-2704-1.html Jamie from fromme-toyou did a photo shoot with a woman who looks more like Marilyn: http://fromme-toyou.tumblr.com/post/336190094/to-marilyn-with-love
My top pic? Honestly? Megan Fox - she’s got the acting chops if her SNL performances are any indication and she has that glint in her eye. She can play strong and fragile and a little nutso. Only problem is that she’s not old enough. Cate Blanchett could do it! But she can do anything.
Side note: I read The Prince, The Showgirl and Me (and watched the film - brutal and only entertaining because I’d read the book about its filming) which was written by the same guy, Colin Clark, who wrote My Week With Marilyn. It was fascinating. Found it in an antique shop! I have to read My Week now to catch up.
And I’m mainly ranting because I’m frustrated with this bloody feature I’m working on. So…beggin’ your pardon.
You’re not writing anything worthwhile if you don’t spend the first hour of writing your writing time surfing the Internet, sending emails, changing your sweater two times, making a snack, playing a level of Angry Birds and moving from one couch to the other to the dining room table at least once.
All of that is writing. Trust me.
I’m a writer.
Far greater than YOU'VE been told, maybe.
Just watched the preview for “I AM”. I’m intruiged but the voice over of someone saying “We’re far greater than we’ve been told” kind of made me scoff. The bubble that non-believers live in must be made of steel with no windows. How this could be a revolutionary concept is beyond me. I’ve been told this as far back as I can remember!
But I guess when you see the universe as a random accident of numbers and atoms where nothing really matters and even the thought you’re thinking this very moment is just the random firing (or misfiring) of an organ inside bones that have evolved from an ape ancestor making you really not that much more special than chimps, realizing that we’re all connected and that we each have only scratched the surface of what we’re capable of is an astounding discovery.
As a Christian, as someone who believes in what’s “behind or beyond” as C.S. Lewis put it, this concept is as everyday to me as ketchup. Of course, I have to be reminded and I forget it more than I should. But to hear “we’re far greater than we’ve been told” makes me feel like I’m watching something from another dimension or another planet. I couldn’t relate to that statement less. And neither could millions of other people, not only Christians but anyone who believes in a higher power, I would think.
At any rate, thought that was interesting.
