I'm so happy to be back in my own house. I love housesitting in the fancy house, but I do miss my little apartment (HOME!) sooooo much every time. Ahhhhh..... back in the saddle again.
My hair is so dirty when I take it out of the ponytail holder, it stays up. That's gross. Time to shower. :-)
My hands and feet get abnormally cold. I think I may have bad circulation or something. Of course there's also that "cold hands, warm heart" saying... but I'm thinking it's circulation. Need more Yoga in my life.
I took an African Dance class at Heartbeat House last night and my spine aches today from all that rib & hip thrusting. I love African Dance. I need more dance in my life.
The Evangenitals are officially slated to host a day during SXSW at the Thunderbird Coffee House. Izzy Cox and some other friends are going to come out and play with us... whomever "us" is going to be for that show... seeing as Brett is doing a Hollywood editing job right now, and Georgie and Chesney are far too professional to be running off doing gonzo trips to Austin for no guaranteed $. Lisa and I, however, are totally down for tent-living and mad-cap touring... so we're off! The 1 Second Film crew may be coming along with us (read: Nirvan) so there's a chance we will be heading to Austin in the Road to Oprah bus, which would be super-fly.
It's time to start rehearsals, both for my History of Water piece that I'm creating with Avatar: The Last Airbender composer Jeremy Zuckerman, but for HAMMERSPACE - my improv team that Patrick and I hand-picked and are crafting into the greatest show on earth... or something like that. We start doing shows in April, and we want to be READY!!
Things are gonna get busy, but that seems to be the way that I like them. I am so grateful to have the full-up life that I have and people around me who get it. Lisa and Patrick, for example, totally get it. If there's any room left on the plate -- FILL 'ER UP! Life is short, life is long, life is for living so let's get on with it. Pack it in! Pack it in!
Now if only I could prioritize, write some grants, and get some more money to make some more art!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Long day today...
Patrick and I stayed up super late last night playing with new designs for the soon-to-be-utterly-revamped-for-improv-comedy-etc SouperKlawBrazzz website. Hit the hot tube (ah.. the joys of housesitting), watched some Home Movies, then off to bed.
I love Home Movies. I am secretly in love with the utterly hopeless and damaged Coach John McGuirk. I guess it is not so secretly now. It is one of the greatest animated cartoons ever. I FRIGGIN' LOVE IT. Home Movies = Highly Recommended. Netflix that shizzz. You'll get over the shitty, shaky animation. Trust me. :-)
Patrick had rehearsal for his play today, and I had some student loan nightmare stuff to handle (god, please send me that student loan money soon!) and then it was off to the iO WEST for Improv Class. Patrick runs the light for the Tuesday night show, so I go to class and then stick around and watch the Harold teams until he's done for the night. Powerhouse and Sweetness are consistently alright, but GOAL with Dave Hill & Eric Hunicutt KICKS ASS! My improv teacher, Karen Graci, is on the team too. They are awesome and fun and flawed and human and supremely talented. I dig it. I'm inspired by it. I'm working toward it, dammit!
I've decided to take an Improv class at PCC in the Spring because a legendary dude is teaching it. Good reason, eh? I love school. I am not in the least bit ashamed by the fact that I will probably want to stay in school, to some degree, forever. FOREVER! I will probably also NEED to stay in school because my student loans are horrific, but that's another story. :-)
PCC is a hidden jewel of insanely awesome professors. A little diamond in Pasadena... right there on Colorado Blvd.
It looks like the Evangenitals may in fact be playing SXSW. That is supremely exciting.
I heard from Mike Flynn today, and that just put a cherry on everything. I hadn't heard from him in ages, and he's alive and well out there in Lowell, MA. For those of you who know me well, you've probably heard me speak of my undying love and adoration for one Mister Mike Flynn, formerly of Venice Beach (corner of California and Electric Ave). It made me all warm and fluffy inside to hear his voice again, and know that he and his woman are a-okay.
Life is good. Money is tight. Love is in the air. I'm opening up.
How are you?
Patrick and I stayed up super late last night playing with new designs for the soon-to-be-utterly-revamped-for-improv-comedy-etc SouperKlawBrazzz website. Hit the hot tube (ah.. the joys of housesitting), watched some Home Movies, then off to bed.
I love Home Movies. I am secretly in love with the utterly hopeless and damaged Coach John McGuirk. I guess it is not so secretly now. It is one of the greatest animated cartoons ever. I FRIGGIN' LOVE IT. Home Movies = Highly Recommended. Netflix that shizzz. You'll get over the shitty, shaky animation. Trust me. :-)Patrick had rehearsal for his play today, and I had some student loan nightmare stuff to handle (god, please send me that student loan money soon!) and then it was off to the iO WEST for Improv Class. Patrick runs the light for the Tuesday night show, so I go to class and then stick around and watch the Harold teams until he's done for the night. Powerhouse and Sweetness are consistently alright, but GOAL with Dave Hill & Eric Hunicutt KICKS ASS! My improv teacher, Karen Graci, is on the team too. They are awesome and fun and flawed and human and supremely talented. I dig it. I'm inspired by it. I'm working toward it, dammit!
I've decided to take an Improv class at PCC in the Spring because a legendary dude is teaching it. Good reason, eh? I love school. I am not in the least bit ashamed by the fact that I will probably want to stay in school, to some degree, forever. FOREVER! I will probably also NEED to stay in school because my student loans are horrific, but that's another story. :-)
PCC is a hidden jewel of insanely awesome professors. A little diamond in Pasadena... right there on Colorado Blvd.
It looks like the Evangenitals may in fact be playing SXSW. That is supremely exciting.
I heard from Mike Flynn today, and that just put a cherry on everything. I hadn't heard from him in ages, and he's alive and well out there in Lowell, MA. For those of you who know me well, you've probably heard me speak of my undying love and adoration for one Mister Mike Flynn, formerly of Venice Beach (corner of California and Electric Ave). It made me all warm and fluffy inside to hear his voice again, and know that he and his woman are a-okay.
Life is good. Money is tight. Love is in the air. I'm opening up.
How are you?
Monday, January 28, 2008
Day two of the new devotion. I will ride this MC Chris-spiration until it doesn't do the trick anymore, and then I can switch to Perez Hilton, lord of the blog, for my daily blogging motivation.
Today was an awesome day of suiting up and showing up. Yesterday I hid from the world. Today I was OUT in the STREETS with a PICKET SIGN! Yes sir, I was in the big crowd of picket-teers in front of Fox Studios as a supporter and representative of the iO WEST with a few of my fellow improvisors/interns. There were a gang of celebrities there, and luckily one super-excitable fellow with me to point them out.
Such luminaries as, "Elaine's 1st boss from Seinfeld", "the girl dwarf from that one episode of Seinfeld", "that dude from SNL", "the bald guy from Anchorman", and Skylar from Heroes (I spotted him!), Justine Bateman (I shall never forget "Satisfaction"), and a bunch of other folks whom I half-recognized but would need Patrick and his ludicrously encyclopedic brain to tell me who they were and 6-degrees 'em from each other on the spot. Patrick is currently in intensive rehearsals for his next play that opens on February 7th, so he couldn't be there. Alas! If the strike is still going on when his play closes, we'll be sure to hit it together.
It was an awesome thing to be a part of... there were many honks of horns supporting the striking writers and one nice old lady even drove up and passed a box full of French Pastries to help the strikers to keep up the energy. Good stuff!
After collecting our picket signs, I was off to the iO to return 'em, treated myself to some alone lunch at Truly Vegan. GODDAMMIT I LOVE TRULY VEGAN! Seriously, it's so friggin' good I can't stand it. YUMMY! And pretty dang cheap, too. God bless that joint. Side note: Patrick and I saw Eric Stoltz picking up food there once. Sub-side note: This was not intended to be a celebrity name dropping post, but seriously, the more time I spend in Hollywood, the more of THEM that I seem to see.
So, then I was off to Los Feliz for a meeting with Nirvan & Dana Bean about the Collaboration Foundation and Grant Writing. What we are trying to do with this Collaboration Foundation and The 1 Second Film and the 5-Phase Plan is simply crazy... outrageous.... impossible! And it's super-inspirational and I'm so friggin' happy to be a part of it.... whatever part of it I can continue to be, I will, cause it's a mighty big vision, and I love those.
If you're not a producer of The 1 Second Film, you totally should get on board, and when you do, add me to your crew!
So, that went on for a while and we gabbed about recent viral internet phenomenons and I headed home to make some tea and take care of my puppy. I'm house-sitting (and car-sitting a Hybrid SUV - woot woot!) right now, so there's a lot of volleying between places. Thanks goodness for the bomb-ass GPS in the Hybrid... I would have never been able to navigate all that Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Los Feliz action today on my own.
Driving the SUV also gave me the opportunity to listen to the Everlovin album while driving around today. It's kinda of weird listening to my own voice, but gosh darn it that album is friggin' GOOD. On certain cuts, no amount of negative self-talk and low self esteem can stop me from really experiencing the music. For example, "We Just Get Along".... that song came out sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Listening to it made me really love the Evangenitals and everyone's contributions on that album. There are moments where ever single person who played/sang/worked on the record gets to shine... and that's a pretty beautiful thing.
To bed, to bed
To rise again tomorrow?
Who knows
xo
juli
Today was an awesome day of suiting up and showing up. Yesterday I hid from the world. Today I was OUT in the STREETS with a PICKET SIGN! Yes sir, I was in the big crowd of picket-teers in front of Fox Studios as a supporter and representative of the iO WEST with a few of my fellow improvisors/interns. There were a gang of celebrities there, and luckily one super-excitable fellow with me to point them out.
Such luminaries as, "Elaine's 1st boss from Seinfeld", "the girl dwarf from that one episode of Seinfeld", "that dude from SNL", "the bald guy from Anchorman", and Skylar from Heroes (I spotted him!), Justine Bateman (I shall never forget "Satisfaction"), and a bunch of other folks whom I half-recognized but would need Patrick and his ludicrously encyclopedic brain to tell me who they were and 6-degrees 'em from each other on the spot. Patrick is currently in intensive rehearsals for his next play that opens on February 7th, so he couldn't be there. Alas! If the strike is still going on when his play closes, we'll be sure to hit it together.
It was an awesome thing to be a part of... there were many honks of horns supporting the striking writers and one nice old lady even drove up and passed a box full of French Pastries to help the strikers to keep up the energy. Good stuff!
After collecting our picket signs, I was off to the iO to return 'em, treated myself to some alone lunch at Truly Vegan. GODDAMMIT I LOVE TRULY VEGAN! Seriously, it's so friggin' good I can't stand it. YUMMY! And pretty dang cheap, too. God bless that joint. Side note: Patrick and I saw Eric Stoltz picking up food there once. Sub-side note: This was not intended to be a celebrity name dropping post, but seriously, the more time I spend in Hollywood, the more of THEM that I seem to see.
So, then I was off to Los Feliz for a meeting with Nirvan & Dana Bean about the Collaboration Foundation and Grant Writing. What we are trying to do with this Collaboration Foundation and The 1 Second Film and the 5-Phase Plan is simply crazy... outrageous.... impossible! And it's super-inspirational and I'm so friggin' happy to be a part of it.... whatever part of it I can continue to be, I will, cause it's a mighty big vision, and I love those.
If you're not a producer of The 1 Second Film, you totally should get on board, and when you do, add me to your crew!
So, that went on for a while and we gabbed about recent viral internet phenomenons and I headed home to make some tea and take care of my puppy. I'm house-sitting (and car-sitting a Hybrid SUV - woot woot!) right now, so there's a lot of volleying between places. Thanks goodness for the bomb-ass GPS in the Hybrid... I would have never been able to navigate all that Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Los Feliz action today on my own.
Driving the SUV also gave me the opportunity to listen to the Everlovin album while driving around today. It's kinda of weird listening to my own voice, but gosh darn it that album is friggin' GOOD. On certain cuts, no amount of negative self-talk and low self esteem can stop me from really experiencing the music. For example, "We Just Get Along".... that song came out sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Listening to it made me really love the Evangenitals and everyone's contributions on that album. There are moments where ever single person who played/sang/worked on the record gets to shine... and that's a pretty beautiful thing.
To bed, to bed
To rise again tomorrow?
Who knows
xo
juli
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Mc Chris is awesome. And not simply for his outrageous talent, dope ass music, improv comedy, participation in rockin' adult swim cartoons, unique business model... no, I'm talking AWESOME because of his ludicrously committed blogging regularity. That guy's communication with his cyber-friends-a-plenty is friggin' inspirational.
In fact, he's inspired me to try to get back on the beam with this blogging stuff. Open up. Live in the digital age. COMMUNICATE in the CURRENT MODE of COMMUNICATING with the WORLD AT LARGE... or whomever happens to be out there reading. Even if it's nobody, it's kinda therapeutic and the equivalent of a modern ritual to B.L.O.G. ones thoughts and experiences, so... TAA DAA! Thank you MC Chris.
So, what the heck IS going on?
2008 started out busy as hell, it seems, yet also in slow motion. The Evangenitals are still kind of in a stupor after the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustions of the Road to Oprah tour, so Evangina was playing a ton of shows. Right now we're waiting on a couple of dates for both bands, so the calendars are empty, and that always makes me really uncomfortable.
For the past couple weeks, though, my calendar NEEDED to be empty, as I was teaching theater workshops up at my alma mater CalArts for my History of Water project with the supremely awesome sonic artist Jeremy Zuckerman. That was an incredible experience, and I've been super-tired and doing this fighting off a cold/giving into a cold dance since it ended.
In the meantime, I've performing improv and taking classes at the iO WEST (I'm in Level 3 now, and it's kicking my ass -- this is the level where you face your improv demons!)... so here's the real deal....
Long ago, when I was but a girl in high school, I was CRAZY about acting. Since I was in Kindergarten, I wanted to be an ACTOR. I went to one of those "Fame" schools in High School, as an ACTOR, and then I went to NYU and started DIRECTING. Acting quickly fell away (I did a couple short films and plays for friends) and I focused more and more on DIRECTING. I went to CalArts and got my Master's in Directing.... of course, I started boxing at the same time I started grad school (misdirected performance desires?), and then I graduated, retired from boxing, started a band, yadda yadda yadda... the point is, I'm suddenly overcome with the profound desire to get back into ACTING. HORROR OF HORRORS!!!! I am seriously out of shape for that... it's been a looooooong time. But of course, I've been doing all this other stuff that has given me a rather interesting foundation as an actor.
And then there's the question of finances. Yes, another phenomenon that has taken over my life is my total (seeming) inability to work a "regular" job. Call it stubbornness, call it impracticality and denial, but there simply has to be a way out of the rat race. Seriously now. I can't do it anymore. Technically, I'm working for The 1 Second Film (sort of) helping that production along... however it seems that I'm having more and more difficulty doing ANYTHING that isn't DIRECTLY related to my creative life. Yes, yes, I know that it may sound like I'm being a big, selfish baby and maybe I am... but maybe it's about time. At the end of the day, it's like the song says... Fuck 'em All. I'm going for the brass ring, dammit. I'm reaching for those friggin' STARS!!!
So, I'm going to try to start blogging more... from the heart, from the hip, and all that shit. Hopefully it will bring us closer together and we can inspire each other to greater and greater feats of human experience. Or not. Either way, I am loving you from over here. :-)
In fact, he's inspired me to try to get back on the beam with this blogging stuff. Open up. Live in the digital age. COMMUNICATE in the CURRENT MODE of COMMUNICATING with the WORLD AT LARGE... or whomever happens to be out there reading. Even if it's nobody, it's kinda therapeutic and the equivalent of a modern ritual to B.L.O.G. ones thoughts and experiences, so... TAA DAA! Thank you MC Chris.
So, what the heck IS going on?
2008 started out busy as hell, it seems, yet also in slow motion. The Evangenitals are still kind of in a stupor after the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustions of the Road to Oprah tour, so Evangina was playing a ton of shows. Right now we're waiting on a couple of dates for both bands, so the calendars are empty, and that always makes me really uncomfortable.
For the past couple weeks, though, my calendar NEEDED to be empty, as I was teaching theater workshops up at my alma mater CalArts for my History of Water project with the supremely awesome sonic artist Jeremy Zuckerman. That was an incredible experience, and I've been super-tired and doing this fighting off a cold/giving into a cold dance since it ended.
In the meantime, I've performing improv and taking classes at the iO WEST (I'm in Level 3 now, and it's kicking my ass -- this is the level where you face your improv demons!)... so here's the real deal....
Long ago, when I was but a girl in high school, I was CRAZY about acting. Since I was in Kindergarten, I wanted to be an ACTOR. I went to one of those "Fame" schools in High School, as an ACTOR, and then I went to NYU and started DIRECTING. Acting quickly fell away (I did a couple short films and plays for friends) and I focused more and more on DIRECTING. I went to CalArts and got my Master's in Directing.... of course, I started boxing at the same time I started grad school (misdirected performance desires?), and then I graduated, retired from boxing, started a band, yadda yadda yadda... the point is, I'm suddenly overcome with the profound desire to get back into ACTING. HORROR OF HORRORS!!!! I am seriously out of shape for that... it's been a looooooong time. But of course, I've been doing all this other stuff that has given me a rather interesting foundation as an actor.
And then there's the question of finances. Yes, another phenomenon that has taken over my life is my total (seeming) inability to work a "regular" job. Call it stubbornness, call it impracticality and denial, but there simply has to be a way out of the rat race. Seriously now. I can't do it anymore. Technically, I'm working for The 1 Second Film (sort of) helping that production along... however it seems that I'm having more and more difficulty doing ANYTHING that isn't DIRECTLY related to my creative life. Yes, yes, I know that it may sound like I'm being a big, selfish baby and maybe I am... but maybe it's about time. At the end of the day, it's like the song says... Fuck 'em All. I'm going for the brass ring, dammit. I'm reaching for those friggin' STARS!!!
So, I'm going to try to start blogging more... from the heart, from the hip, and all that shit. Hopefully it will bring us closer together and we can inspire each other to greater and greater feats of human experience. Or not. Either way, I am loving you from over here. :-)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Alright, for any Office Space fans in Los Angeles, this is big news:
Ron Livingston (that's Peter from OS if you don't know) is going to be hosting "The Armando Show" at the iO WEST (formerly the improv olympic) in Hollywood on Monday January 21st (that's TONIGHT!)
So, if you could come on down and/or help spread the word to other Office Space fanatics, this is an awesome opportunity to see him performing LIVE improv comedy. Heck, you can also bring all your Office Space memorabilia and have him autograph it... take some pictures.... all that fanboy stuff that I AIN'T TOO PROUD TO DO!!!
The show is at 10:30pm, only costs $10, and half the box office goes to the WGA Writers Fund.
For more info about iO WEST, you can go here: www.iowest.com
Cheers,
Juli (an Office Space uber-fan)
Ron Livingston (that's Peter from OS if you don't know) is going to be hosting "The Armando Show" at the iO WEST (formerly the improv olympic) in Hollywood on Monday January 21st (that's TONIGHT!)
So, if you could come on down and/or help spread the word to other Office Space fanatics, this is an awesome opportunity to see him performing LIVE improv comedy. Heck, you can also bring all your Office Space memorabilia and have him autograph it... take some pictures.... all that fanboy stuff that I AIN'T TOO PROUD TO DO!!!
The show is at 10:30pm, only costs $10, and half the box office goes to the WGA Writers Fund.
For more info about iO WEST, you can go here: www.iowest.com
Cheers,
Juli (an Office Space uber-fan)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Del would be proud...
Bill Murray speaking at Manhattan High School where founding father of long-form improv Del Close was inducted onto the Wall of Fame.
read more | digg story
Bill Murray speaking at Manhattan High School where founding father of long-form improv Del Close was inducted onto the Wall of Fame.
read more | digg story
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