Cats will be Cats...

Mulder, no! ... Mulder, yes...

2008-08-01T18:24:13Z

I know it came out a week ago, but I've been a bit busy lately with work and family in town.....and I saw it again (3rd time) last night.

So, The X-Files movie.....

Nailed It.

I seriously *loved* this movie, and not just because I'm a diehard fan. I had my share of nervousness about it before it came out, I was afraid it might be in the same vein as seasons 8 & 9, which, let's be honest, weren't all that good. But this movie kind of made up for that, and if Chris Carter and crew had had this kind of writing/directing for the last 2 seasons, it would have gone out with a bang, and maybe an extra season or two.
Not that the movie was perfect; it did have it's share of unresolved bits, and I think (with 6 years to work on the script) it could have had a little more to it, though i can't really say what...it just seemed lacking a little. But for the most part, it was amazing.

I'm gonna cut the actual ~~fan-girl squeeing~~ review, in case people don't want to be spoiled.

First, the bad:
It really bugged me that Scully was walking around using her own name and working under her own name, while they implied that Mulder was still in hiding. No matter who was looking for him, they would know that Scully would lead to Mulder, so why was she out in the open? The only reason I can see that being plausible is if they had faked Mulder's death, but then the FBI wouldn't be asking for his help. Also, why all of a sudden, after 6 years of his being a 'fugitive', did the FBI just decide to forgive him and wipe the slate clean so he could help on a case? And why/how did Random Special Agents have the pull to do this? Why not Skinner? It just really bugged me that the movie was made for fans, but they didn't address the one *huge* question most fans would have. (Though I know most have their own versions about how that all went down...) Also, how did Scully go from pathologist to neurosurgeon in a just a few years? I don't know medical stuff well, but that seems like quite a big jump to me.

Other than those, and a few tiny nitpicks which may or may not be brought up here, I really couldn't find anything I didn't like about this movie. The story was wonderful; it was like a throwback to the ealy seasons of XF, where the monster was human rather than something ultra-paranormal. I believe in spirits and such, but the idea of someone in this plane of existence (or in this world) being as evil as the worst demon or spirit is much more frightening. Those older human 'monsters' are some of my favorites because they were the most realistic, the ones that could be lurking just down the street without anyone ever knowing they’re there. And actually, the idea was fairly paranormal, considering the Frankenstein-esque character. I mean, decapitating people and sewing your dying lovers' head to the bodies in an attempt to keep him alive is very weird and paranormal to me. It felt like a modern twist to a classic sci-fi/horror story. (Diverting here to say: that's the one thing that bothered me about the critics' and some fan reviews; their criticisms seemed to revolve around the fact that there was nothing paranormal about the movie, other than the psychic priest, and/or that there were no aliens in it. *Nothing* in the previews gave the indication that aliens were involved, and the cast/crew specifically said it was a standalone, with no mythology in it. And just because it lacks aliens, ghosts, demons, etc, doesn’t make it not paranormal... but i digress)

I loved the parallels drawn in the movie too. Scully’s desperate attempt to save a dying boy with a painful and experimental treatment, compared to the bad guy’s attempt to save his lover with horrible body/organ transplants. The questions that that brought up of if we should try something radical and horribly painful to save someone we love, and if that horrible pain is just part of our care or a way of telling us to stop trying to save them.The religious parallel of Mulder wanting to believe the priest was psychic, or at least had some second sight due to his connection to the men commiting the crimes, because he’s still looking for his Truth, and Scully wanting to believe in God and his divine help, even while her patient was dying horribly and her partner was being led on by a pedophile priest who may be speaking for God. Scully working in a Catholic hospital where prayer and faith in God were very much a part of treatment, while at the same time, she (and probably the parents of the dying boy) were cursing God for putting the boy through such an ordeal. I so loved that they brought religion and faith/belief into the story....I always liked the plot point of Scully dealing with her faith while being faced with evil and/or things that she, as a scientist, believe should just not be.

And I am so glad that Mulder and Scully were together. I'm very much a shipper, but even without that bias I doubt I would have liked the movie nearly as much if they were separated. It just added a whole other element to the movie, their relationship in the midst of Mulder coming out of hiding and going back to work with the FBI. The issues that it brought up in their relationship; Scully’s fear that she would lose Mulder to the investigation and Mulder’s unwillingness to give up on the kidnapped women even as he saw how it was affecting Scully. As much as it annoyed me the first couple times, I think I get the deeper meaning behind Scully’s stupid "I won’t be coming home" line. Because we all knew that she wasn’t about to leave Mulder. It wasn’t an ultimatum, it was something she said that she didn’t mean, brought about by emotional stress. She had just finished an experimental surgery on a young boy, she was emotional and confused over Father Joe’s telling her "Don’t give up" (which made her consider doing said surgery), and Mulder basically refused to listen to her when she asked him to stop looking into the investigation. It was her last ditch effort to get him to listen to her, and she said the one thing she knew he would hear.

Let’s face it, neither of them are the most emotionally stable or emotionally mature people, and that aspect was addressed beautifully. All the emotional crap they had gone through in this investigation and in their personal lives for the past 6 years (nevermind the 9 years before that) was taking it's toll and neither of them knew how to fix things before they got worse, but they were fighting so hard to keep their relationship going and to not lose each other.

And the ending just made my romantic shipper heart leap with joy, because Mulder (finally) realized what she had been saying to him the whole movie, and told her the same thing: they’ll be fine as long as they are together. Cheesy, but oh so fantastic.

Seriously, this was an amazing movie. Go see it if you haven't yet. (I know a couple people in Dallas I'm going to drag to the theatre with me when I'm back next month.) It is not a summer blockbuster by any means. It's a movie you have to think about and really read into to get the deeper meanings behind things. Fox made a mistake releasing it when they did.

As much as I want more XF, I'd be happy with this being the end. It was the best good-bye they could have given us.

bazzleelf @ 2008-07-24T12:01:00

2008-07-25T14:20:16Z

In 12 hours, I will be in a movie theatre, watching The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

:)

bazzleelf @ 2008-06-30T22:22:00

2008-07-01T03:59:40Z

I had my first foray back into tech theatre today, after being away from it for about a year. I didn't realize how desperately I missed tech until I got back into it. And despite the 10-hour day, I'm a lot calmer and more at ease and comfortable than I have been in a while. The whole Cirque fiasco still bothers me a little. I did take the job, but I'm not 100% happy with it and I know I'm not going to be. Today helped heal that a bit, since I was doing actual theatre tech work, and the girl I worked with most of the day gave me a couple places/names to check into, and said she'd talk to her supervisor at Chicago Scenic for me. So Wednesday, or possibly tomorrow if I don't sleep all day, I have 3 theatres and/or studios to visit. Also, I might have impressed the people at Lookingglass enough that they'll hire me for their next show...

It's going to be so hard to go back to my literally Crappy retail job tomorrow.

And because everyone elseis doing it (moo...)

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare – might be cheating because i doubt i've read *everything* he's written, but
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - looooooong time ago...
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - I think i read the first of this collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Total Count: 30

A Request for all retail customers...

2008-06-27T23:26:35Z

Please do not poop on the floor. Especially not the carpet.

That is all

bazzleelf @ 2008-06-17T16:27:00

2008-06-17T21:52:19Z

I'm fairly pissed off right now.
I had the interview for Cirque today, and I' pretty sure I got in...except it's *not* for a backstage crew position, it's for an usher position. Meaning, i get to seat people for the show and tell them to turn off their phones and put away their cameras.
The temp agency was 'mistaken' about who would be hiring for the backstage crew and the Wardrobe position they told me I would be recommended for (which, apparently, was all but mine at the time). There's a union rep who hires all the crew folk, who goes through the city rather than a placement agency. I'm wondering why the agency didn't know this already, since they had hired people for Cirque last summer as well. I'm also kicking myself, because the thought of a union didn't even cross my mind, even though I should have checked into that before I moved here.
So now, I don't know what to do. A small part of me wants to just do the usher job and hope that somewhere along the line i'll meet someone who'll take my resume and get me a better job, but a bigger part of me wants to say "This isn't the job I signed up for, this isn't what you claimed it would be, screw you."

Advice?

bazzleelf @ 2008-05-31T14:18:00

2008-05-31T19:41:51Z

I've finally started thinking of Chicago as 'home'. Which is weird since i've been planning on moving for a year and have already been here a month, but before this week it felt more like a vacation than real life.
But I think I'm settled now. Still don't know anyone in the city (outside of work), but I figure that will happen fairly soon. It's getting warmer outside, which means more wanderings and outings and more chances to chat with people on the beach or in the parks. Not too worried about the social end of things.
The only issue right now is my retail job, where I have very few hours (4 days next week i think, after only 3 days this week). I really need a second job, but I'm putting off looking for one for the next couple weeks....I'm waiting to hear about the Cirque job in July, as that is infinitely better than retail.

Speaking of that, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the Cirque job. Called the temp agency Tuesday and was told the second round of interviews, with the actual recruiter, will be starting around June 2nd. Also was told that I was marked down for the Wardrobe job, which sounds to me very much like an Assistant (or Assistant to the Assistant) Costumer job. Not my first choice and definitely not what I want to do, but since it's Cirque du Soliel and I thought I'd be doing crew work anyway, I'll take it. Next week sometime I will hopefully have my second interview. And even if I don't get any job for Cirque, at least one more person will have my name and resume.
And on the off chance I've jinxed things, I hoping for broken legs...

BIG update

2008-05-21T02:40:36Z

So, as most of you know, I now live in Chicago.

Got here about 3 weeks ago, and i *love* it. I'd like it a bit more if it didn't keep getting chilly (50 in May? seriously?) and if i had had a job when i moved and didn't have to worry about funds so much. I do have a job now, though it's still a retail thing....I'm working at Linens N Things. I was hoping not to do retail anymore, but I kinda knew i wouldn't get out of that for a while. And it'll be something to pay the bills between (and before) theatre jobs. I did get "hired" by a temp agency early last week, but they haven't yet called with any jobs for me.

Theatre-wise, things are looking fairly decent. There's the possible-job-that-we-won't-name (for fear of jinxing), which may involve costumes. It's not really my thing, but I think I can make an exception for this show. Not sure what other crew they need for it, but from the way it was originally descried to me, i'm thinking they're looking for quite a few people.
Monday I had an interview with Means of Production, a production company obviously, which looked like home. Big open warehouse-like area next door to a demolition company, music blaring, people covered in paint and sawdust, yelling to each other across the room, dogs sleeping in the back (wisely away from the work/commotion)...
The manager told me right off the bat that they aren't hiring now because their season is over, but he wanted to meet me for future production work. He also contacted some of his buddies and gave me a couple numbers of places that might be hiring. Which is actually the best thing that could have happened besides being hired, because this company apparently does a lot in the area, and the manager is well-known in the production circle. So having him call people about me is wonderful, and it gets my name out to the places i'd want to work.
One of those folk called me today and I have another interview Thursday morning (more broken legs!) to work run-crew for an opera company. It's kind of a blessing in disguise because run-crew is pretty much the bottom rung of theatre, but it's a start, it's some kind of theatre job, and it gets me into the Chicago theatre scene. Also, the interview should get me into the company's system for later shows and the production manager knows that i'm looking for build/paint/design jobs rather than crew. She actually said over the phone that that's all they're looking for so i wouldn't get my hopes up.

Next thing on the agenda is calling Chicago Scenic again and seeing if they need anyone. Apparently the place is like grad school for design/build folk, so I'm really hoping i can do something there....

bazzleelf @ 2008-05-08T22:07:00

2008-05-09T03:07:54Z

Wish me broken legs (or not, if you're afriad of jinxing things), my Cirque interview is tomorrow morning....

bazzleelf @ 2008-05-07T07:09:00

2008-05-07T14:13:37Z

Don't want to get my hopes up, so I won't make a big deal of this, but it's too awesome to not post.

There's a chance that I will be working Cirque du Soleil this July.

bazzleelf @ 2008-05-04T22:08:00

2008-05-05T03:05:40Z

For those wondering...

I am in Chicago. Got here Thursday and have been unpacking and cleaning and making the apartment home. Don't have a job yet, because my old manager is a bitch and completely screwed me over and didn't transfer me (called the Bath and Body store i was supposed to transfer to and was told that i need to talk to the manager, which makes me think that it didn't go through...) I'll be looking tomorrow and calling the few studios that contacted me, and i found a black box theatre half a block away from my apartment.

Also, I live 2 buildings from either a psychicatric care facility or a rehab/detox center, depending on who you ask.

bazzleelf @ 2008-04-22T19:37:00

2008-04-23T00:47:24Z

I've just sold my dear car, Camryn the Camry.
As of 1p tomorrow (when the title is signed and i get the moneys), she will no longer be mine.

I really shouldn't want to cry because of a car, but I feel like I'm gonig to. This is just one of the smacks upside the head that makes me realize I'm *actually* moving, and it's kind of freaking me out....

Road Trip!

2008-03-26T00:19:22Z

I'll be moving to Chicago in about a month, and I've been thinking....I need a driving buddy.

So who wants to drive with me (and help me move) from Fort Worth to Chicago at the end of April? I can pay for your hotel room for the one over-night we'll have to do, and you can be the first to stay in my filled-with-boxes-and-assorted-moving-paraphernalia, still-to-be-leased apartment while you stay in Chi-Town.

Unfortunately, how you get back is up to you...i don't have that kind of spending money, especially with the move and the job situation still unknown.

bazzleelf @ 2008-03-21T15:34:00

2008-03-21T20:47:45Z

Got an email yesterday from the Director of Production at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. She was only asking me to resend my resume, because she couldn't open the attachment in the first email, but that's something right? They're hiring, and apparently I sounded at least vaguely interesting from my cover letter....

Ineed to talk to my manager about transferring my job to one of the Chicago stores, and hopefully getting an assistant manager position for a while if i don't find a theare/studio job soon. I also need to find full-time jobs with flexible schedules, so if I get offered a show I can leave for a couple months without having to quit....any suggestions?

I'm getting nervous....May 1st isn't that far away anymore....

bazzleelf @ 2008-03-19T15:40:00

2008-03-19T20:41:10Z

Mena, I didn't forget your birthday (because that would be kind of hard for me to do) but i didn't know that you had my LJ. So it's a day late, but...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MENA!

hope it was a great one!

bazzleelf @ 2008-03-18T18:46:00

2008-03-19T00:01:27Z

For Mata/Kaitlyn & Aryne:
My flight gets in to Midway at 8:45a on Tuesday April 1st, ATA flight 4956. I have a 12p appointment with the apartment finders so I'll just need to drop off my suitcase briefly about 10:30-ish that morning.
I'm leaving at 8:45p Sunday the 6th, ATA flight 4965. At least a day in there will be spent looking for a second job (or what will hopefully turn out to be a second job) and talking myself up to the places I haven't heard back from, and another will be/should be spent with family. So I shouldn't be too much underfoot while y'all are moving and unpacking....though I do suggest a movie night or something social.

Let me know if there's anything else y'all need to know.

See you in 2 weeks! :)

bazzleelf @ 2008-03-12T22:01:00

2008-03-13T05:07:01Z

CONGRATULATIONS ARYNE!

even though it's probably not what you'll be designing, i have this for you:

and then this one is awesome, and closer to your tastes (i think):

It'll be a belated birthday gift to myself...

2008-03-08T22:47:04Z

B.B. King at Billy Bob's on April 5th. Who wants to go with me? (depending on ticket prices)

Also, sometime soon I'm getting a tattoo, and i need moral support because I hate needles.

bazzleelf @ 2008-02-27T18:00:00

2008-02-28T00:07:31Z

I just found out that my best friend from childhood is getting married this August. It's left me with kind of a weird feeling....

I'm really happy for him, I've already 'made plans' to be back here for his wedding in August and I will probably cry and make him dance with me...
But it makes me feel like I've fallen behind somewhere, either in real life or love life. I dunno....maybe i'm feeling weird because he's the 3rd person I know who has gotten engaged in the past 3 months. And I've been really lonely lately....

Bah.

SaturDay of the Dead

2008-02-24T18:47:13Z

As promised, here is the breakdown of Saturday's Frightmare convention...which may as well have been called an Of the Dead convention because there were only 3 or 4 people there not affiliated with those movies.

We got to the convention around 8a, so we would be in the front of the line for tickets, and met various other nerds who were also trying to get inas early as possible. We made a few good con-friends while waiting. The doors to the dealers room/autograph room were opened around 10, and we immediately headed for the back, where George A.Romero (director of the entire "Of the Dead" series) was going to be signing. I had nothing, but I knew there would be various photos and things for sale before we got to him. And the I found Creepshow, an apparently great movie directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. So given that, I bought it and got an autograph. Romero was really nice...he had a chair pulled up next to him so we could sit and chat for a little while as he signed, andso we wouldn’t have to crouch down to get a picture with him. He also didn’t seem to be bothered much by the swarms of people milling around and snapping photo after photo of him.
After Romero, there were two aisles of various stars from various Of the Dead movies. We were able to get pictures with all of them, even if we didn’t buy anything or get anything signed. Everyone seemed to just be happy that we (fans in general) we there and wanting to talk with them and such. I met the actors who played two of my favorite characters: Roger (Scott Reiniger) from Dawn, and Charlie (Robert Joy) from Land.
One of the actors we met was fairly drunk, which we were told had happened at another couple conventions, had a little crush on Anna, and pretty much invited us to the celebrity after-party. He had asked if we would be there, we told him the tickets had sold out before we were able to get them, but joked that we could get in if we went with him. He considered it for a while, andagreed with us, but nothing more was said of it then.
We were attacked by the Cemetary Zombie from Night, (the first zombie in a Romero film) and ‘zombie hugged’ by Big Daddy, the intelligent leader zombie from Land. Ben was bitten by Bub from Day, where he looked both excited and terrified, and then had his throat slit by Michael Meyers.
I got in line to get Malcolm McDowell’s autograph, while Ben and Anna got in the Elvira line. Malcolm McDowell seemed very tired, but he was very sweet and we had a (very) brief chat about Heroes. Then I joined the Elvira line, which took nearly 2 hours to get through. She looks almost no different than she did in the eighties, which is a bit disconcerting.
We got Tom Savini’s autograph (also on my new copy of Creepshow), where Ben and Anna told him they were bigger fans of his then Romero was, which Tom Savini yelled across the aisle to George Romero.

After a very late lunch, we went back into the dealers room, where we looked at various booths and where Anna used her charm to talk to the drunkish actor about getting us in the after-party. He told us to meet him at the front desk at 7:30. We went to part of a screening at 6, left early, and hung out in the lobby waiting for him. At that point, we decided that even if he didn’t show up or if he couldn’t get us in, at least it would be an amazing story to tell. But he showed up, and we got into the party. It was an amazing feeling to walk past the line of fans waiting to get into the party following this actor.
Almost as soon as we got in, Scott Reiniger (Roger from Dawn) invited us to sit with he and Judith O’Dea (Barbara from Night). We wandered around a bit, said hi to some friends we had made during the day, chatted with a few actors, and Ben got a couple candid shots of George Romero...who was still surrounded.
We very slowly made our way over to Scott and Judith (who I am now comfortable calling by their first names....even if they don’t remember mine), and spent most of the night there. Robert Joy came by for a few minutes, as well as the actor who got us in, whom Anna and I hugged in our gratitude.
Ben and I talked Judith about the ‘Night of the Living Dead’ play (which we had seen at Jesuit in Fall 06), and which she had seen in California. She was amazed by it as we were, and she and I had a good 20-miunte talk about that play, and plays in general. I mentioned that I was a designer/artist of live theatre and doing my first show in April, and she congratulated me and wished me "the best of luck in your work". She is a very sweet lady, and I am so glad I got to meet her.
Judith had to leave, so Ben, Anna, and I spent the rest of the time talking to Scott. In all honesty, I don’t remember what all was said, but we were chatting with him like old friends. He and Ben talked about Ben’s job as a probation officer, which apparently is an area of interest for Scott, we talked about life in general, acting/movies in general, and asked Scott what he was doing now. Apparently, he’s been direct ing plays in LA for a few years. I told him I graduated with a BA in theatre arts, which earned me a bear hug and a high five. He had late evening dinner reservations with some friends, so he left around 9:30, but we got one final group shot with him before he left. Also before he left, Anna got his email address, which I really need to steal.
After that, the night pretty much ended. We were all exhausted, but there was one more screening we had been waiting to see. It was absolutely terrible, but we whispered snarky things to each other about it.

Had I known before I got there, I would have tried to get things signed for people. Kaitlyn, if i ever decide I no longer want my signed copy of Creepshow, it's yours. Also, my aunt is a huge fan of Elvira, which hit me just after I left her booth or I would have gotten sometihng for her as well.

But besides that...it was an absolutely wonderful day. The only thing that would have made it better is if Stephen King and/or Tim Burton showed up.

bazzleelf @ 2008-02-24T00:43:00

2008-02-24T06:51:00Z

This was the best day that i've had in quite a while....

Went to the horror convention Texas Frightmare Weekend (silly name for a great convention), chatted with variouis celbrities, got autographs and/or pictures of said celebrities, was "snuck" into an after-party where Ben, Anna, and I had an hour-and-a-half long chat with a couple of the nicest people at the convention.

More later (woke up at 6:30a for this, and haven't stopped), but tonight was AMAZING

bazzleelf @ 2008-02-16T11:47:00

2008-02-16T17:50:26Z

Eddie Izzard is doing the voice of Reepicheep in Prince Caspian.

that is all

bazzleelf @ 2008-02-13T18:41:00

2008-02-14T01:16:38Z

I found out today that the employee yearly reviews at my store are based off of my performance. Management compared every other employee to my work, and based their evaluations off of that.
I am the best sales associate there, the one who does the job exactly as she should, and therefore the "good example" that the management wants everyone else to be like.

If it sounds like I'm bragging.....I am. Seriously, nothing like this has ever happened before.
Even though I hate working there (really because of one person in particular), it's a huge honor to be The Best. Plus, this means all kinds of positive recommendations and references, and could lead to some kind of management job.

\o/ I'm happy

bazzleelf @ 2008-02-05T23:07:00

2008-02-06T05:09:58Z

Stolen from Amata....if you want to play, leave a comment with your birth year, and I’ll give you a year in your life to discuss.

Year given to me from 'Mata: 1999

I should start this by saying that i have a terrible memory....i remember things out of order or with big chunks missing, so this trip down memory lane might have a few gaps in it, or things that didn't happen until a year or two later (for more about the Childhood of Bazzle, feel free to ask *why* my memory's crap...)

so 1999....the second half of my freshman year in highschool. The previous fall, i met Karen and Chelsea; our 10-year anniversary is sometime in September. I also met various other Cats, who were then still just the UASF I believe, and immediately felt like i belonged, more or less. I had finally found people who didn’t think I was weird for watching Star Trek and The X-Files religiously, or for reading Bradbury, Stephen King, and any Narnia- or Madeleine L’Engle-esque fantasy. I remember having a great conversation with Mr. Frank about Edward Gorey at one point, because he had the Gashlycrumb Tinies poster on his wall and that was (and still is) a favorite of mine. Speaking of Frank, when I first saw him in early high school, I had no idea who he was but was immediately intrigued by his beard.

I ate out on the Balconey with the rest of the Sci-Fi Club and was introduced to Sarabelle and various other trees, which were then climbed, much to the annoyance of the faculty. Balconania was founded that year, and a converted Pokemon map showed the various goings-on of the Balconanians. I started going to the Poetry Club, then the DPS’s. I was also a CAVE member and was certain that I would have some sort of career in computers.

Billie, Amata, and a couple other upper-classwomen nicknamed me Bazzle, and we all know how well that went over.

Early that year, or possibly very late ‘98, I saw Edward Scissorhands for the first time, and became hooked on both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. I made it a mission to see every Tim Burton movie that had been made then, and loved him more with each one. The Nightmare Before Christmas made it’s way into my favorites, then to *the* favorite.

In Late February/early March 1999, I acted (yes *acted*) in my first play, The Fiddler on the Roof. I loved the theatre experience, but didn’t care for being on stage. Little did I know that that would end up being a major turning point in my life. That fall, i acted in one more show at Jesuit, then stopped acting and worked tech for every other UA show.

That May, Star Wars: Episode I opened, and we went in a huge group. Kelly and/or Amata still have the picture of us outside Cinemark 17, where Meara and I did mirroring lightsbaer-weilding poses and Mus dressed as Princess Leia. That was also the day that Zahnnie nicknamed Chelsea "Sok", and it was decided that she was no longer allowed to name people.

Sophomore year started that fall, and Juli Day came to school with a shaved head. It was later found out/rumored that she had been in a mental hospital for a few weeks that summer. Honestly, I still don’t know if that was true or not.

Sometime that year, there was a great party at Adela’s where we watched multiple fantasy movies and played sexual innuendo Scrabble where Mary Fieler surprised everyone with the words she formed. There was Planned Famine at UA (which may have been 2000...) where 5 or 6 of us slept on the balcony in a pile, and Z’s boyfriend climbed the roof of Haggar to see her. Z, Nik, and I also scaled the roof outside the upstairs math room during the "Ghost Tour" and made Billie and Kelly think we were ghosts.

The year ended with a wonderful New Millennium party at my house, where we set off fireworks in the backyard and threw blackcats at Tim when he refused to get out of the line of fire.

I know there was more to the first months of sophomore year, but I’m blanking. I do know that it was great fun for the most part, and I wish I could remember more of it. If anyone (any Cat) wants to add anything in a comment, feel free.

bazzleelf @ 2008-02-05T08:36:00

2008-02-05T16:40:49Z

Note to all retail folks:
If you say the week's schedule will be posted online, post the schedule online Saturday evening, then change it randomly but keep it online as is and give no indication to your employees that it's wrong, don't be surprised that they have their schedules wrong and have no idea when they are actually supposed to work.

In good news....
I'm meeting with the director of Little Shop later this week; i just need to call him and set up a time. I have multiple ideas for the look of the stage, so we won't be stuck if he doesn't like one or two of them. I've found a couple places that will rent out Audrey II, so we won't have to worry about building a puppet (if rentals are in our budget). We actually *have* a good budget for the set, so I won't have to worry about holding back too much.
And, I have one more contact in Chicago. UA theatre Cats, do you remember John Sabine? he's apparently been working for Second City for a few months now, and knows folk up there. I might be able to use him to find a job....

Where the hell did i put my drafting books?

2008-01-30T00:46:18Z

I JUST GOT MY FIRST DESIGN JOB!!!!!!

No, it's not in Chicago, and this will push back my Chi-Town arrival by about a month. Longer if they offer me a permanent job. Yes, i know i kept saying i'd be leaving early April, but...come on people. First Design Job.

It's with the McKinney Repertory Theatre, which i've worked with a few times in the past. The show is Little Shop of Horrors. Pretty appropriate first show for me....and a favorite.
I had heard about it a few days ago, and just today contacted the director of Eternal Romeo & Juliet (the show going on now) to see if he knew the director of Little Shop, and if they needed any help with the build. He called just 30 minutes ago saying he is the director of Little Shop and needed a designer, and asked if i would like the job. We're meeting very breifly on Friday when i go see ER&J,and then sometime next week to hash out our plans and such.
I'm insanely excited about it, and scared to death. I haven't done any drafting in about 2 years, so i need to get on that. Also, i can't for the life of me remember where i put my drafting books. This might mean that a trip to the UNT bookstore/theatre library is in order....

This calls for some serious celebration. Karen, Niel....we need to do something.

Edit for Amata and Aryne: this probably means i won't be in Chicago in late February....so i won't be there for your birthday 'Mata. I should be there in late March for apartment hunting though