- The Dark Knight was AWESOME! I didn't dislike a single thing is this movie. The acting was amazing, which is saying something for a movie mainly dubbed as a "superhero" flick. When Batman is Batman I do not see Christian Bale under that mask at all. He had transformed the character into a separate entity. And then there was Heath Ledger. Oh my God, I can understand how this role got to him, as people said it did. He was so immersed in his character – there was not one moment in the movie where I looked at him and recognized Heath Ledger the actor. He was brilliant. I know it would be odd for this to happen for a movie in this genre, but I think he should seriously be considered for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

- Wizard went well last night. I decided to participate in the ditl yesterday, so I'll be doing "A Day in the Life" based around the show. Hopefully I can get it done and posted by the Monday deadline.

- I took Madison to the vet this morning. I was worried she might have feline leukemia because of some non-healing scars around her neck. Well, she tested negative for that, but the doctor found she had a 104 degree fever! She figured there must be an infection (although couldn't find anything wrong with her), so Madison is on a week of antibiotics. I feel so bad for her. I'm hoping she just got sick because of the stress of the move and having to deal with Tam Lin (who has gone from curiously friendly to an aggressive mode :-/)

- The Smoked Salmon sandwich from Bruegger's Bagels is amazingly delicious.

- I am wearing the shirt that appears in this icon today! Hooray for losing enough weight to not feel sub-concious in it! (15 lbs now!)

Internets is down at my house. Oddly, the computer can see the wireless signal, but not load anything on the internet. Right now I am at Spilling the Beans, having lunch and using their net for $5. So, if you need to reach me, call me.

Shows have been going great. I have this super awesome wig/hair peice I get to wear in the Emerald City scenes. Everyone is saying I should dye my hair red. Pics will go up sometime this week.
THank you to all who came to see it already!

I stayed at Garside's party until 5:00 this morning and woke up at 9:00. I'm tired!

I am a big fan of the show Car Talk on NPR, as well as PBS, so I was excited this morning when I heard a commerical for Click and Clack's new show on PBS As the Wrench Turns. I thought it would be awesome to watch a TV show that actually shows you how to do car repair, although I wondered how long a show formatted like this could exist.

Turns out that the show is actually an antimated cartoon that follows Click and Clack's imaginary exploits. These guys are really funny, but I guess I was hoping for something a little more...educational.

Oh well, I'll probably still watch (once I'm actually home on Wednesdays at 9).

Well, a lot happened this weekend that I'll update later, but of course the big news is how the cats are doing. I guess I'd say "as well as can be expected". The funny thing is that Tam Lin is taking things in stride and really seems interested in Madison and wants to investigate who this new cat is in our house. I thought he would be the defensive one. Madison is the one hissing whenever Tam Lin is near by and trying to get closer. Tam Lin at first had his fur on end when this happened, but already he's calmed down and I think just wants to introduce himself.

I'm giving Madison the benefit of the doubt and just assuming she is scared because it's a new place and Abigail isn't around. She is still being sweet to me and will let me pet her and pick her up. Right now I am still keeping them separate, with short periods of exposure while I am in the room with them. In general Madison has been kept in the cat room, and Tam Lin in the house, although last night Madison had reign over the house overnight. Tonight I think it will be about time to just keep the doors open and she what happens. They did swipe at each other once, but I hope once they realize they aren't out to hurt each other then they can be friends.

Ok, here are some other highlights from the weekend
- Went to on the 4th Orchard Park to see my Mom, Dad and sister.
- Went hiking at the Eternal Flame. This is basically a naturally occurring natural gas leak that is underneath a waterfall, kind of protected by an overhang. When we got there the flame was already lit, although we did bring matches just in case it had gone out. In this picture the flame is the little flicker of ornage kind of in the dark spot under the falls toward the bottom middle-right of the picture.


( a close up )

- My dad made chicken and beef Satay for dinner
- We went to see Hancock. I really enjoyed the movie. It wasn't your typical superhero movie though. Most of the movie focuses on Hancock discovering how he became a super hero.
- Went to watch fireworks at Chestnut Ridge, which has this huge sledding hill, so you can see all the surrounding towns, for probably 20-30 miles having their fireworks displays. The area around Buffalo was particularly neat to watch – it looked like there were fireworks going off on every block!
- Went shopping with my sister
- Went to Duff's for wings and Antoinette's for ice cream for lunch. I definitely ate too much, but it was SO GOOD.
- For dinner my mom took us to Toro Tapa's Bar. Their stuffed portobello was amazing!
- We then went to see WICKED! The show was really amazing, and I loved the music. I was just kind of surprised and distracted by how much it deviated from the book. The first half was a pretty good interpretation, but the second half was totally different. I knew it would be different because the section of the book where she meets the Wizard and meets Dorothy is very long and boring, but I thought they would at least stick with the main plot points. Nope, not at all. In retrospect, it's probably good because I did find the book so long and tedious at times, and they ended up making it a "happy ending", which is really what most musicals are based on.
- Went out with my sister and her friend on Chippawa St in Buffalo. It was fun, but I needed to wake up early so I left before she did.
- Drove back home, quickly had nellbell79 stop at my house on her way home so I could give her a book, and then worked on the cat adaptation process and some gardening before I went to rehearsal.

This week…let's see, rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal, rehersal, and then SHOW! Our opening is this Friday, and I know crazy_mike and possibly spiffstress are going to that show. I also have Phil's wedding this weekend, ushering for Bakerloo's Sunday matinee, and performances Saturday and Sunday! I hope to see some of you there!
ETA: If you're coming, I suggest bringing the following:
- a lawn chair
- a blanket or jacket is it cools down 10-20 degrees between the start and end of the show
- A flashlight is good for after the show - picking up your stuff and getting back to the car
- BUG SPRAY - the bugs are horrible there!

I had a couple people e-mail me about my Craigslist listing regarding my room for rent. Last night I had set up two interviews, one with Lucas, who has contact me last week, and one with "Phenix", who contacted me yesterday.

Here's your lesson on internet safety folks. (Don't worry there isn't an unhappy ending)( Read more... )

Yesterday I went to an open casting call for extras for a movie. The movie is called "Taking Woodstock" and will be directed by Ang Lee, filming in this area during Aug, Sept and Oct. I went with my friend Erick James.

I arrived at 9:00, and the casting officially started at 10:00. We had to fill out a form and attach a personal picture. The form had interesting questions like, "Would be willing to grow your body hair?", "Do you smoke?", "Would you be willing to do full frontal nudity or go topless?", "Would you be comfortable not wearing a bra with your costume?", "Would you be willing to camp on location?" It was interesting. Also, so many people there looked like they could have been right out of the 60s. It was pretty cool. I had gone with the "blank canvas" approach and was wearing a white top, but I think it would have been better to wear something more hippy-ish. They basically said to everyone that we should expect to get called a few days before they need us, so I won't know for a while if I'll actually be in the movie. I did put down that I had theater experience and they highlighted that on my form, so that's generally a good sign.

Outside the auditions someone was taking pictures for the "Seen" photo gallery of the Albany Time Union. They took a picture of Eric and me. Besides the weird thing I'm doing with my arms, it's a pretty nice picture.

ETA: There's also a Times Union article that shows pictures and talks about the Extras casting call.

So, Joe Bruno (aka "Uncle Joe"), my State Senator, is retiring. I couldn't be happier. Mike McNulty, my US Congressman, is also retiring. This one makes me upset, but it's for health reasons so I understand. In any case, I see some potential political campaigning this fall, probably for Phil Steck for Congress. No one has come forward about running for Bruno's seat yet, but it will be an important seat to fill, and I want a Democrat in there. I've come to the realization that it will be these "little" elections that will actually make a difference for my area, and that these are the candidates that you can actually influence by letting them know your position through calls and e-mail. Yes, Obama winning the presidency is important to me, but unless I find time to go to New Hampshire or Pennsylvania (which, who knows, I might do this), my campaigning for him isn't going to impact the results very much.

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I forgot to specifically mention this before, but this Saturday, during the Co-op's Troy Food and Film Festival, we are giving tours of the Pioneer Market. So, even if you can't stay long, you should come down and see our building!
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Tuesday night was the EVE OF DESTRUCTION. Oh my god, this year was the best yet! Besides just the regular crazy stuff that normally happens, it was just extra insane. For example, during the trailer race (the cars race with boats, pop ups, RV, etc hitched to them) the following things happened: (1) two of the largest RVs crashed into each other and were DESTROYED even before the race started. (2) One guy purposely tapped another car, then that car did a U turn and CRASHED into him, then the first car did a U turn and crashed into the guy's trailer, THEN they both got out of their cars and started fist fighting! (3) As the three cars vying for winning spots neared the finish line, they converged and the car in the middle went up OVER the other cars, turned onto its side and its trailer totally FLIPPED over! It was an INSANE race! Besides that, we also saw Frank "The Tank" Sorrento (he hero) flip his car 3.5 times during the roll over competition (I've only ever seen 2 times, max). Also, there was a huge RV they painted like the Batmobile, and they "flew" it off a ramp, over another RV, and the thing went far enough that it CLEARED 6 rows of cars (parked lengthwise) beneath it!
( I found a bunch of youtube videos of the stuff! Including a montage by my friend Phil Henry )

It was a really fun night, and I'm glad shatterwake and jonthebrit got to share it with me. The rest of you missed out.

Oh, and a crazy coincidence is that the guy we made fun of admired last year for his awesome hair was sitting in the row right behind us! His hair was indeed, still awesome.

There's a short article about our production on Did youweekend.com. Included are some cute pictures of our main characters.

They just had Quincy, IL on the Today show due to the floods. That's where hatemk lives...

Tetanus
Hep B
Hep A
Yellow Fever
Typhoid
Malaria pills (proguanil, doxycycline or mefloquine NOT chloroquine)
Cipro prescription "in case" we need it while there

Apparently normal doctor's won't give out all of these, so we have to go to a Travel Health Services place. Hopefully they'll take my insurance.

Anyone have any advice on taking these? aceofwands, I'm looking at you!

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinationTanzania.aspx