I attended Funny People last night with Jamie, Bryan, and Nick (after winning my second Settlers of Cataan game. Boom), and our group all had mixed feelings, but I actually thought it was kind of fantastic.

It was by no means perfect, but considering that Judd Apatow has only directed two pictures, but is already seen as a TYPE of filmmaker, it's pretty amazing that he's already trying to branch out of what he's known for and make new types of films.

That being said, I saw the films as just what it's title implies; a look into funny people. Comedians. Often, not always, comedians ARE comedians because being funny is their way of coping with their own rough life. They're gifted at making people laugh, and accepting things that have been difficult for them. I don't want to generalize, as obviously, comedy is a gift, and you're either funny or you're not. But many comedians have stayed the same, damaged person they were when they started, and I wonder if Funny People is an analyses, or a look into that. The movie has a resolution and it doesn't. Things work out, and they don't. It's very interesting.

Adam Sandler is really fantastic, but I actually don't think he'll get the credit he deserves for this film. A lot of people in the theatre clearly came in expecting something like Superbad, and were surprised at how dark the film actually was. I think it would require a second viewing from most people for them to accept the film for what it is. Rogan is good too, it's a very low maintenance performance, and he actually seems like a different actor now that he's much thinner. There's a lot of wink wink jokes about his weight loss in the film. Leslie Mann is also very relatable. We've all dwelled on a past relationship that we wished could have lasted, and we all make mistakes, or think about making them, when we see that person again.

I enjoyed the film a lot, and don't want to say much else. Go see it with an open mind.

Things to check out:

Comics: Y The Last Man
Going to Read: Preacher, finish A Fine Balance
Listen to: Go for the classics this week. Zeppelin anybody? Also, I'm regoing through a Weezer phase.
Watch: Funny People
Anticipating (nervous for): Inglorious Bastards

Okay.

Rent has opened, life is good.

The real news:

I just finished Y: The Last Man.

Read it.

Hey folks,

Sorry for the late update (you were clearly rioting until the next post), but I've been swamped with Rent, which I'm now co-costume designing as well as performing in, moving into my apartment with Jamie this weekend, getting ready for my mom and dad to visit, editing Poor Boy, as well as working on my play BOYGIRL, which is debuting at the Vic Fringe Festival this August.

Plug plug plug and plug.

But honestly, I was most concerned with BOYGIRL. For any writers out there, or anyone who likes to create really, have you ever been so blocked that you wondered how you even started the piece in the first place? It's as if it was never yours because you can't find anything to add to it. I was having so much trouble figuring out how to keep working on BOYGIRL and fix a number of scenes.

But today I was packing and just trying not to think about it when I just dropped what I was doing and read the play over, and then suddenly all these ideas came back. I saw the play as like, NOT mine, and it made it so much easier for me to critisize and fix because I know sometimes when I read other people's work, or I see other people acting, I think to myself 'how would I do this differently' or, 'I would have liked THIS better'.

So now BOYGIRL is back into the game, and I should have two re-worked scenes plunked out by Monday. I'm very pleased with myself. I'm also almost done editing this portion of Poor Boy, so that's exciting.

Looking forward to seeing Funny People, Apatow is love.

What to watch: Trailer for A Serious Man. Coeeens.

What to Listen to: Run this Town, Jay Z (featuring Kanye and Rihanna)

Cool News: Limited run of Othello happening in New York, 23 performances, Philip Seymour-Hoffman as Iago. Sex. Ay.

Questionable: Trailer of the Other Man, with Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas, and Laura Linney. It looks like it could be crazy fucked up, or really bad.

Falling Back in Love with: Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

The Ugly Truth made 27 million on its opening.

Fuck my life.

God summer goes fast.

Moving into our place soon, parents coming to visit, Rent close to opening, getting better at Settlers of Cattan, waiting on the boy to go out on a date.

Life is normal.

Not so hot out today, it's actually a little nice. Had our movie night last night (in which Bryan, Nick, Jamie and I get together, and through an order, watch a movie that a person has picked and discuss it after.) My pick last night was Oliver! Though it is an older musical and some of the numbers are a tad cheesy, it really is so well-made. There are around 85 young boys in that movie, and they're all on their game in every shot. There's also so much going on in almost every musical number, that it looks as if it would have been impossible to organize. Credit also to Ron Moody.

The boys seemed to enjoy it, though Bryan wasn't there as he is off in another city for a couple of days. Nick and I had an excellent chat until like, two am, and I'd like to give a shout out to give friends you can stay up till two am chatting with.

Onto news!

Part of the chat I had with Nick entitled a long discussion on my problem with romantic comedies, and the tv series Sex In the City. It actually is NOT because I don't enjoy love stories. I actually adore a great love story. My problem with the rom com genre lays solely in the consistent selfishness, and superficiality at base with almost all of the stock characters.

What I mean to say is, a girl as young as thirteen or fourteen is watching these films thinking that this is how women are supposed to act when they want a man. Women are supposed to be stressed about getting married, settling down, and ALL women are suscpeptable to a shoe store. So none of the women in rom coms seem to have any character differences other than 'uptight' or 'free-spirited', but at core, they're all superficial about the same thing. The men, on the other hand, have to be the woman's convenient opposite in order for the story to be interesting. The process of their falling in love is as such:

1. They meet cute
2. They have a moment
3. They have a montage where he realizes how 'fun' and 'free-spirited' she is/can be
4. They fight
5. They make up

The fight is almost always entirely their fault, and always a misunderstanding, if they actually took the time to wash out the sand from their ears, they'd understand all they have to do is be more patient. And the women ALWAYS have that 'power to women' moment, that I, as a proud women, never relate to. Because I think they're acting in a way that they seem to deem as universally female, when really, it's just universally consumerist.

Why can't we have a rom com about two people who meet and just love each other? Why do they always have to be such idiots? And can't the woman say anything BUT 'I love shoes, har dee har'. Maybe she loves something else. Books. Comics. Cars. Flowers! But why are the women all obnoxious buyers?

Perhaps I'm being unfair and I just want something more catered to the type of woman I am.

In defense of a rom com, I love When Harry Met Sally. But what I love about that movie is that I really believe the two characters, and they're FRIENDS, they look out for each other, they make sacrifices and they argue reasonably and realistically. As in, their arguments aren't about stupid misunderstandings like, Harry fell on another woman or something and Sally walked in on it.

But maybe I should stop complaining and just write something that works for me.

Trailer of my week: An Education (Peter Sarsgaard is keeping himself busy)

Thought of the day: Though it occured to me/Jamie a couple of days ago when he was djing his dad's baseball tournament. Jamie was doing very well, and one person put in a request for that awful 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy' song. And I have misjudged how popular that song is. It brought the house down. Who knew.

Band of the week: Grizzly Bear

Waiting on: My Michel Gondry sketch.

Review:




I saw the film on Wednesday, 7:20pm, and before I go into detail on my thoughts, a history of my relationship with Potter should be noted. I have read every book 2-4 times, and I know my Potter. I also LOVE Potter. The films and I have never been particularly close, even though I recognize how well made they are, and what a huge task it is to make sense of what happens in the larger books within a two and a half hour time frame. The sixth book especially is a huge treat if one understands and goes into all of what happens in it.

That being said, Harry Potter 6 does NOT go into all of what happens in the series at this point, but it is virtually impossible at this point. I stand by that if someone really enjoys the movies but has a hard time understanding some of the plot, or thinks something is unnecessary, or glossed over, the books hold the answers for you. Nothing is as obvious as it seems in the films.

Now onto the review of the film.

I thought it was just great, I really did. Yates has a very clear concept of what he's doing, and a strong love of the actual world that these characters live in. This is especially noted because of how much he got out of the actors, the young actors, in this film. Emma Watson, I believe, will never be a great actress, but she is miles better in this, and her haywire acting eyebrow is much more contained. There is an obvious improvement.

Rupert Grint, of course, is fantastic. Always the most talented of the three, he's given much more time to flex his comedic muscles, and he does so very, very well. He has one long take on his face that is such funny acting, a better known actor would have had difficulty with it. He's very very good. My complaint with the films has always been that Ron is often reduced to JUST comedic relief, and his more courageous, and important plot points are ignored. But sadly, I doubt this will be fixed very soon, so if someone wants a true account of how good a character Ron is, read the books. The same is sad for Hermione, though her character is more appreciated in the films.

The big surprise of the young company was Daniel Radcliffe. Always the stilted, just okay character, Dan has revealed himself to not only be believable in the emotional stress of Harry's life, but exceedingly funny. I had no idea that he was capable of getting such laughs out of such huge audiences, but he was very, very funny. No doubt his part in the broadway play, Equus, had something to do with how much he's improved, and David Yates clearly worked with him to dig a little deeper, and go a little further. He carries the film beautifullu.

Also of note is Tom Felton, as Draco Malfoy, who's character takes a GREAT turn in the books, and I thought his plot line was well handled, and he acted it very well. Bonnie Wright, however, as Ginny, was nothing more or less than a piece of cardboard. Very very boring. The series has stayed loyal to the young actors and replaced no one, but all the same, Bonnie should have been replaced. It is very clear that when she was cast, no one had any idea of how important a character Ginny would be, and Bonnie has none of her fire, and it's hard to believe she has any of the skill and intelligence insinuated upon in the movie.

The older company, as usual, brings the house down. Gambon was at his very best, better than he has been in any of the other films. Jim Broadbent was my particular favourite. His acting is very over the top for most of his characterization, but that could be said of Alan Rickman (or under the top?) and Helena Bonham Carter, but I believe all of their choices work for the world. Broadbent however, has one moment in the film so subtle and well acted, that a poignancy that has never before existed in the films occured, shortly. It was very, very good. Maggie Smith, though underused, was also a delight to see back, and Rickman and Carter, as usual, were fantastic.

Yates handled the flashback scenes a little too 'odd camera angle and tone' for me, but the young Voldemort was terrifying, and they were well written, to the point where I think a non Potter person would have followed. The films were also more funny than they have ever been, and Radcliffe and Grint's scenes together were something out of a teen comedy. Very funny stuff.

Now onto the last two films. We'll see how they do. But we're nearing the end, and like with the coming of the end of the books, it does make me a touch sad.



See. Sad.

(To British Office fans, Chris Finch is in the movie! He's a death eater in the tower scene near the end. Look for him.)

I'm just editing Poor Boy, sitting, searching for some new music to listen to at the gym, and heavily anticipating Harry Potter 6. Jamie, Nick, Bryan and I have tickets for the 7:20pm showing tomorrow. I'm getting all my insider info from this great Potter site:

www.the-leaky-cauldron.org

It has all sorts of podcasts, galleries, interviews, and more, relating to the books and the movies. It also has updates on contests and all sorts of prizes Warner Bros. gives out, if you're into that sort of thing. It's a great website.

I'll also do a shout out to something I'm sure everyone already knows about, but here it is. Kanye West's blog is one of the most interesting places on the internet to visit, mostly for a lot of cool posts he makes on design, music video direction, and shorts. There was an amazing stop-motion short he posted not too long ago made by a young director, all done with post-its. Check out the blog.

In movies:

Jamie, Bryan, Nick and I all watched the Hurt Locker last night, and it is worth the watch. It was so relentlessly intense, and the suspense is of a kind I've never experienced before. It was like a reality thriller, because instead of some random 'evil' guy hiding behind a door waiting to get a beautiful blonde woman, the suspense was all too real, and put a whole new light on the war in Iraq, and war in general.

It's a film about something I have never quite seen before, and the performances are real and ego-less, there is no flashy speech about life and it's hardship, and the testosterone-fuelled scenes are much smarter than I've seen in any other film.

It's a must-see, and I apologize for my badly worded mini-review up there. It's better than that, I swear.

My music goal this summer:

I have always been a fan of Modest Mouse, but never all the way. I have never just sat down and listened to ALL of them, taken the time to become familiar with more than one album. Which is bizarre because every Modest Mouse song I ever hear blows my mind. So I'm going to get niiice and cozy with some Mouse. Sexy.

Oh.
My.
Lord.

Everyone needs to watch Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li.
Now.

Chris Klein gives the most brave, brilliant, horrible performance I have ever seen in my ENTIRE. LIFE. I can't even begin to DESCRIBE how miserably beautiful his acting is in this movie. He is working SO HARD, and giving SO MUCH and all it is is piles and piles of shit. Beautiful shit.

Please.
See. This.

I have nothing else to say. Nothing else needs to be said. Get out of here. I love this job.

Been having a nice comic-reading week. Started with Local, then Jamie had me read this amazing Superman comic called "Superman: For all Seasons" by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. It was fantastic, my god, I cried. Clark was so well characterized; it was one of the first times I've read Superman and regarded Clark as the primary character over his masked (unmasked? Unglasses-ed) counterpart. I suggest it highly.

Then I read Lost at Sea, by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and I thought it was pretty good. It could have gone deeper, and gone on longer, but it was a nice piece. The writing was fantastic.

Then I started reading "Ultimate Spider-Man ULTIMATE COLLECTION" by Brian Michael Bendis, and I'm not finished yet, but I'm not really into it. I love Spider-Man, so it's a bit of a disappointment. The concept is essentially doing the whole series over, but modern, hip, cool. But it's not, they're talking like no one I know, and Uncle Ben kind of reminds me of Tim Robbins character from High Fidelity. Only sincere. But I'll finish it and see if it gets better.

Currently editing the last chapters of Poor Boy for B (man it all seems like so long ago...), and prepping for a drop in to Vic tomorrow to catch Salesman.

Some thoughts: I heard a podcast on the Watchmen movie (which I didn't love, but it had it's moments) and I still think no one is disgusted enough by how horribly the Silk Spectre was demolished as a character in that film. But no one EVER cares but the women in super hero film adaptations. Thoughts.

Excited for Harry Potter. Seven days I think? Something like that.

I have a job interview for EB Games on Sunday morning, so everyone cross their fingers for me. AND, Jamie and I got an apartment.

Sexy!

Le Life?

Yes, legit. Don't question it.

Apartment hunting with my guy, and generally just trying to figure out how to make myself feel like I'm being productive now that I'm a graduate. I rehearse Rent on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, so that gives me a couple of free days to figure things out. I'm with holding getting a job until I move just in case I get one close to where I am now and then move a good two busses away.

My boys birthday is this weekend. Should be fun. Wont spoil gifts.

The real star of this entry is the amazing graphic novel, Local (Art by Ryan Kelly, written by Brian Wood), which is so fantastic. I bought it yesterday and finished it. Yesterday. I could not put it down. The world of comics is an underrated one on the mass level. Local was so relatable and heartbreaking, and I felt my own perceptions of MY life change as I was reading it. The world of comics is so fascinating; there's so much you can accomplish in them that isn't as effective in any other medium. This is partly why I don't think the Watchmen movie worked (besides the fact that Malin Ackerman is just horrid. A miserable performance, but it's partly Snyder's fault anyway.) Local had so many specific moments drawn SO perfectly, and no actor could have necessarily have gotten the expression as perfectly as Ryan drew it.

It's a MUST read.

Next on my list is to re-try Scott Pilgrim. I read the first two, and sort of read the third, but the main problem is that I don't like SCOTT. I like the art, the story, most of the characters, I just think Scott is a little weiner. But I have been told by EVERYONE that it's amazing, so I'm willing to give it another try.

Looking Forward To: Birthday Weekend, Rent run through on Sunday, apartment viewing today
Regret: Being grumpy for the morning.

Thoughts: Get adobe again and make some more icons, not that I mind mine. I have missed you live journal.

Well none of you have heard from me siiinnnceee...November? Well, here I am. Somehow, you survived. If you read this. But none the less, here I am.

I have GRADUATED.

Plus I finished Ride the Cyclone, and then I did As You Like It, and now I'm in a production of Rent in Vancouver, but I've only had one rehearsal of that. The cast is great! I'm in the show with a friend of mine from school, so that's a lot of fun as well.

Re-reading the sixth Harry Potter, excited for the next movie. It's weird to remember lining up at like, tenpm with my friend Sarah to get a copy of these books. I still love them, that isn't what I mean, it's more so that I'll never get to do that again...and it was so much fun. I think part of my graduation symptoms have involved going back to all the things I used to like to do, as a teenager and as a kid. So I have had this huge impulses to like, buy crayons, and go on swings. I want to watch Digimon, too (yeah, I loved Digimon, what.)

Thought for today: If you had to go back and spend a day doing one thing you did as a kid or a teenager, what would it be?

I think mine would be to go back to the time my dad could carry me on his shoulders.

And summer vacations where I didn't need a job.

On a positive note for graduating, as there are many of them, I would like to say that it's really nice to earn the time to chill out and do nothing. It's really, really nice.

Movies I'm Looking Forward To: Harry Potter 6, 500 Days of Summer, the Road, and Where the Wild Things Are

Movies to See: The Hangover, Up

Current Book: A Fine Balance, and Harry Potter.

We open Dark Of the Moon next Thursday. So right now we're in Tech week, Saturday is our ten-ten, and Monday is dress rehearsal before previews. God.

I'm so tired all of the time I'm starting to wonder what it was like to NOT be grateful for even six hours of sleep. I also have six courses, so I'm just...tired and running on Auto-Pilot, except at rehearsal, which has become my main priority over school. I'm curious as to how I'll pass my Listening to Classical Music final, as it turns out it's almost November and I only mildly know what the fuck this teacher wants. She's ridiculous. A smart, nice woman, sure, but she's a ridiculous dresser whom has this annoying tendency of turning off the music she wants us to hear and re-creating it with her own voice. As in, "baba BUUUUM, do you hear that!?"

Crazy.

Anyhow, Tech Week is going as well as a Tech Week CAN go, which is lovely! Our director is very good with stress and heavy loads. I'm just getting anxious to open the show. Everyone is doing a really fantastic job, and the design of the show is fantastic. The set and costumes are just stunning, and the lighting is incredibly unique. I can't wait for people to come and be scared, or moved. The effects particularly have taken some of the cheese already existing within the dialogue.

Man I'm fighting off a cold for sure.

Everything will go swimmingly! I know this.

Hello folks.

Studying for Theatre of Indonesia mid-term I have tomorrow, but having a lovely Sunday all the same. Last night I was out till four am drinking wine and having a lovely time with good people. Then I woke up at ten this morning (from Jamie's phone call that got me up and insisted on coming over and helping me clean my place. Nicest guy ever.)

So we cleaned my place up, then trecked on over to his place, ordered chinese, and watched the Happening, which sucked a lot, and now I am studying/deliberately distracting myself with Sloan.

Despite the fact my live journal is not widely read (which is actually okay), I am going to make a big nice post about how I feel now that I'm approaching my final year of university, getting ready to graduate, and MAY be facing a show that could be something professional.

It has been an amazing summer. Well, it had its down, but it also had amazing ups. It was fast, and, for once I think that made me realize how much time I spend wasted. Not enough creating, not enough REAL relaxing, not enough free-spirit. I worry too much, and I need to learn to just take things as they come.

Working at a dry cleaners was one of the most important experiences I have ever had. I hated it. I hated it a lot. But I also got GOOD at it, and took pride in doing good work every day. It reminded me why I went to university in the first place, and also made me realize how I really don't think I can go that long without theatre. There was a lot of time for self-reflection, but, I missed performing so much that I got a little mopey. However, I can't validate myself on whether or not I have work, so that also means I have to work on...who I am outside of theatre!

...easy.

Hahahaha.

I also became even closer with friends I already adored, spent even more time with my bitching boyfriend, and watched a lot of fantastic movies I had never seen before. (I had never seen Being John Malcovich.)...(I know.)

Now, as I prepare to go back, I realize I am PSYCHED, and maybe I take some things a little less for granted than I did before. Except parents...unfortunately, I still take parents for granted.

Here's to tomorrow!

School starts on sept 2nd. Workshops for the musical start that week, and rehearsals for Dark Of the Moon at the end of September (unless we work shop that too, in which case we start a little bit earlier.)

It has been an odd summer. Living with Jamie has been a blast, but the lack of theatre really made me a bit ashamed of how lazy and mopey I could be at times. Maybe it was working a job that was a little exhausting physically, but all the same, I should have been a lot more creative this summer than I was. I wrote a bit, certainly came up with ideas for so many things, and filled up notebooks with thoughts and bits of dialogue and drabbles and such, but...all the same, I feel as if I had sunk a bit.

I also need to work harder on my auto-harp skills, or Dark Of the Moon rehearsals will begin and I'll look a fool.

Creatively, this summer, I did achieve this: I re-ignited my passion for writing, as it has taken a back seat for the past three years to school and slumber and, I can't lie, going out a lot and having fun. But it felt in my gut that something was missing, and this is what it was. So...now it's simply getting to it and creating something and FINISHING it, regardless of how good it is. I also need to get back to drawing, something else I abandoned (though my doodles and comics are still thriving.)

Thoughts are muddled. Thinking of school and many other things. Wondering when I got to that age where having a relaxing last two weeks of summer not doing much made me feel restless. I remember being a kid and summer was non-stop NOTHING but doing whatever I wanted, which was nothing. Or maybe it was something at the time.
Er.
Or something.

I make no sense.

Get this and other HP countdowns at LeakyNews.com


Bummer.

Off to visit the parents. Am currently loading a video on broadwayworld.com to watch some of the tech rehearsal for the Hollywood Concert of Les Mis, and am also going to watch the pilot of The Wire, season 2. Wow, how cultured am I. Watching shit. Aallll week. This is what happens when you sit around during an employed session of your summer.

Looking forward to seeing the Summerstock production on Saturday, and wishing luck to aaallll involved.

Aaaahh, summer. You went by so fast, and I spent most of you working in a dry cleaners, and going out for doubles night (on Tuesdays.) Youth, youth.

OH MY GOD THE WIRE.

Okay, so...

The plan had been to have a huge crew of us go check out Pineapple Express. So we all make it over to the theatre, and we're stupid, because it's sold out (of course) and we didn't think of it. It's sold out EVERYWHERE. So people still want to see a movie, and we're all in a giddy, fun, lets fuckin' just have a good time mood, so someone talks us all into seeing Mamma Mia and just laughing at it and enjoying ourselves.

It was ridiculous.

Pierce Brosnan is so BIZARRE and everything is so random it's like...I can't believe the people that are involved with this movie and how they got them to do half of the things they do.

It kind of really, really sucked.

Wow.

MY. OWN. FAULT.