Monday, March 31, 2008

She's BaAaAaAack...



This shepherd girl will be returning to her home flock at approximately 6pm this evening. She returns home with a better knowledge of scripture and all things Aussie (include a spot on impersonation). I'd be a lying fool if I didn't say that I've missed her terribly.

I will now resume my role of Kathy Samsam, Besty Extraordinaire as she gets used to the flat lands of the Midwest once again.

Welcome home, RayRay :
)

Friday, March 28, 2008

Gawking

Please enjoy The Hardest Part of Breaking Up is Changing Your Facebook Status


ALSO- check out this lovely Elizabeth Hasselbeck montage.

(Courtesy of Gawker.com)



Hilarious. I love this site.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Aaaand Scene!

On Monday, I shot a scene for Peter's pilot, I Am Diana Ross as a favor to my favorite Greek from Canada by way of LA...

I completely viewed it as a favor, so when I pulled my tired rump out of bed @ 6am on Monday, I was not feeling very inspired to deliver my four lines...HOWEVER, I ended up having a great time! It was totally a legit little shoot. They even clapped for me when I was done filming just like the kind of thing you'd see in the "Making Of" portion of the special features. Oh! And they had a food! They even catered! I was impressed. I wish I could do it more often (uh oh!). From what I could tell, it seems like a pretty funny concept they've got going on, so I'm definitely honored that Pete asked me to be a part of it.

I still love acting, y'all- I just don't love the business, BUT if I get a chance to do a little bit every few months, it definitely soothes my tortured artist soul.

It's my first love, after all.







((If I get a hold of some pics, I'll post them; I looked wonderfully hideous))

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Clownin' Around




So, I happened upon this ridiculous picture the other night and my first thought was "Even baby clowns are kind of creepy!" then I realized it was supposed to be a baby Ronald McDonald and then I was even more creeped out. Are you creeped out? You should be. Sorry to be so bossy, but come ON!

Anyway, I immediately thought of my hungry-for-knowledge best friend, Rachael- she's currently reading Consumed by Benjamin R. Barber, and being the good little Blogita she is, she posted an interesting and informed blog all about it. She mentions the "infantilist ethos in the current marketplace". What does "infantilist ethos" mean exactly? Well, Barber says it "
Dumbs down adults into impetuous consumers and empowers children as consumerist decision-makers".

Thanks, McDonalds- you never fail to embody the capitalistic dream.



Barf.


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

It Was Five Years Ago Today...

Approximately five years ago, while donning my bright tie-dyed hoodie that SCREAMS “idealistic liberal”, I, along with some of my high school teachers and peers walked out of school and stood alongside Kensington Road with signs protesting the war that President Bush had just proclaimed.

The whole thing felt so cool and retro to me at the time. After years of being inundated with stories, movies, songs and trends related to the sixties, I’d fallen in love with the decade (thanks much in part to being raised by Baby Boomers). I had a romantic idea about protesting. I imagined myself in a long, flowing (yet ill-fitting) sarong, swaying to the music, and flippantly proclaiming, “Give peace a chance…dude!”

Well, if you’ve met me, you know that I usually don’t proclaim things in opposition flippantly while swaying. It just doesn’t look all that great on me (kind of like that sarong). Plus, it’s not so effective.

When I was eighteen, I knew I was opposed to war and I knew that it didn’t make sense. I conscientiously object to violence, and as cliché as it may sound; I learned at an early age that it never is the answer.

Nowadays, I try as best I can to inundate myself with information about current events and the role I play in them. The more information I learn, the more I find that it would be much more painless to just turn away and not know…because it sucks. Sometimes the weight of the problems we humans have caused in the world is a big, disgusting pill to swallow.

Five years later and I still wear that hoodie sometimes (usually in the comfort of my own home), and I’m still an idealistic liberal, just a whole lot more informed- not only in terms of current events, but of myself as well. (Aww, shucks.)

It isn’t fun to protest a war. It has nothing to do with flippant proclamations and looking cool. It has everything to do with being disgusted and heartbroken at what one’s country has embarked on for reasons that are still unclear, and utilizing our rights to stand up and say “No!” and to vote accordingly.


For your reading displeasure, here are some stats:

- 3,989 US Soldiers Killed, 29,395 Seriously Wounded

- About $600 billion of US taxpayers' funds.

o President Bush has requested another $200 billion for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to close to $800 billion.

o U.S. Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion in 2008

- Journalists killed - 127, 84 by murder and 43 by acts of war

- Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

- Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 8,009

- Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualities have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000.

- Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

- Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 548

- Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 305, including 54 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 94 status unknown.



Also- check out Gary Kamiya’s article, “Of War and Cancer”.



Never think that war, no
matter how necessary, nor how
justified, is not a crime.

Ernest Hemingway



Peace out. Literally.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I Just...

...had to.


Please enjoy yet another Wil.I.Am video in honor of my manidate.




Sunday, March 9, 2008

1429

Classier times


I spent some time on the street I grew up on today. The fam gathered with a few of our close friends/former neighbors. The people I grew up around and with are like family now and it's great to all get together again. I think if you're lucky enough to be close with neighbors at some point in your life, you're bound to experience a different kind of closeness because...well, they are the people that were always around. Needless to say, it was great to see my peeps and reconnect.

However, it was not so great to see my old house. It looks hideous. I'm not kidding. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not doing that bitter "Well, it looked better because of us" thing. I'm being honest here, people. What once was a lovely, all-American bungalow is now starting to resemble a house from the set of a Nick Jr. show, complete with bright and mis-matched colors with a lop-sided bench on the [small] front lawn.

Every time I see it I start writing an anonymous letter to the new owner in my head. Sometimes it's short and sweet- "Common sense: the green roof doesn't match the bright blue and yellow house". Sometimes I go on and on about how I am a long time resident of this neighborhood and am appalled at how this once charming home has be come so tacky. I want this fool to know that the mental picture I have of my home-sweet-childhood-home in my head will NOT be tainted!


But...

It's not my say.

It's not
my house.

It's not even
my neighborhood anymore.

So, I opt out of the useless, spiteful, mean
(and true) letter.


I blog instead.



There is an obvious moral here. I can hear the narrative of the HBO series of my life that plays in my head as I stand in the middle of the street I used to pedal down as a child:

"...And then she realized- she had moved away...and on. The obnoxious colors of her once safe haven were an unapologetic reminder of the constant and inevitable change in her life..."


(The camera pulls away as I endearingly shrug and walk to my car
)

Still Puttin' the O in Hope


Inside the grass-roots field operation of Barack Obama, who is transforming the way political campaigns are run




...Oh, and then there's this.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Book It


I love reading. This is not a secret. If you think it is a secret, then you are surely mistaken. Anyway, I just finished American Pastoral by Philip Roth and it was a gem. I picked it up after it was referenced in one of my favorite podcasts (PRI's To The Best of Our Knowledge). It deserved the big P. Prize for sure. I won't bore you with my detailed opinion of how relevant and smart this book is, but I will share my favorite quote from the book with you...


The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that, well, lucky you.







On to the next read....


Monday, March 3, 2008


Check out this "I Can't Believe It's Vegan!" list, y'all. I mean, most of it is processed crap, but it's still interesting to see what common, well-known food products don't have any animal products in them!







*Don' forget....vegan = cholesterol free.