New Job

So, on the news front, I officially have a new job.  It's only for a week, but I'm really excited for several reasons:

a) I have a reason to get up and leave my house every morning.

b) the job is as a production assistant at a Disney Channel show (I think it's on a pilot they're producing, but I'm not 100% certain), which is going to be SO DIFFERENT from the lit department at The Public.  Not that I didn't love the lit department, but I'm really excited to try something new.

c) It's in the offices of "The Suite Life on Deck," where I spent a week observing the daily life this summer (my cousin is a writer on it) so I actually know some people in advance, which will help with first day anxiety.

I mean, (b) kinda trumps (a) and (c), but yeah.  I'm very happy with this development.

The Grammys

I've had a lot of down time on my hands since Harvard-Westlake's winter break ended as I haven't started a new job yet, so I started watching "Twin Peaks" on the CBS website.  First of all, this show is incredibly fucked up but somehow still so good.  And it also got me to watch Blue Velvet for the first time.  This movie is also incredibly weird, and also very long, although I was surprisingly engrossed and it didn't feel over 2 hours at ALL.  In fact, I was surprised when the end came about since it didn't seem like enough time had gone by for it to be over already.  Maybe I'm just a David Lynch kind of person... although my one attempt to watch Mulholland Drive was kind of a fail.

Anyway, this is all very far from my original point, which is that during the online "Twin Peaks" episodes they incessantly showed these commercials for a contest to sing Katy Perry's song "I Kissed a Girl" at the Grammy awards (I'm not really 100% sure what the prize is, although I think there's a cash component).  This reminded me of this guy Max Vernon who went to my high school.  I didn't really know him during school, he was just a friend of my best friend's older brother, but I knew of him.  Actually, I ran in to him in New York City once.  I think that's pretty much the only time I've ever talked to him.  It was outside the theater after seeing the revival of Sweeney Todd (directed by John Doyle and starring my new friend Michael Cerveris!), and we briefly discussed how great Patti Lupone is and then I had to go.

So, anyway, he has this cover of "I Kissed a Girl" that's really popular on the internet (it's actually really good, especially considering that I don't really like the song itself all that much), and I recently came to learn he entered the CBS contest.  So here's the link to go vote for him:

http://www.cbs.com/specials/grammys/moment/video_player.php?vid=93

Now, why should you do this?  Because:

a) it's pretty good

and

b) (the selfish reason) I think it would be really cool if someone I know (or... kinda know... or... kinda used to know...) won the contest

I don't know when the Grammys are exactly, but I think they're the first or second week of February so there's still some time left.

So... yeah.  That's about it.  Like I said, I haven't started a new job yet, so there's not much to report.

My parents are at Obama's inauguration today.  I could have gone, and I so very very much wish I had, but I guess I can't change anything.  So I'll get the scoop from them soon and that'll be that.

Wrapping Up

Ok, so, I have an interview for what will hopefully be my next job tomorrow, and in light of the beginning of the next gap year phase I figured I should wrap up my account of and thoughts about New York and being back in LA.  

Leaving The Public was really sad for me.  It was such an amazing job, and a huge part of the mission at The Public Theater is producing socially conscious plays, so working there is really meaningful and political.  The job I'm interviewing for tomorrow sounds amazing and will definitely be a great opportunity, but it won't be the same in that way.

I was also really sad to leave my new friends, and to leave the opportunity to be around people like Michael Cerveris and Tony Kushner on a daily basis.

Oh, the night after I saw "Road Show" for the second time I saw Mandy Patinkin in concert at The Public.  The Public had free tickets for staff, but I'd bought mine before they offered us though so I had this seat in the very very front row, which was on the floor of the stage.  It was kinda scary, although it was fun to be so close.  The concert was all Sondheim music, which was really fun, although his selections seemed almost purposefully esoteric.  He forgot a lot of the words to certain songs, including "Losing My Mind," which ended up being unintentionally hilarious, and the audience coached him through it, and he sang the concert almost completely with his eyes closed, which was a little odd but it still sounded great so it wasn't too distracting. Deborah and her friend were there as well, and after the concert we hung out in the lobby and saw Michael Cerveris one more time (my last).  I might go back to NYC this winter (if I get a chance) and see him in "Hedda Gabbler."

I was back in LA for about a week, then we left for Utah for a brief ski vacation before Christmas.  On our first day of skiing my sister fell down on her thumb at the bottom of the last run.  We took her to a clinic the next day, which took up the whole day, and discovered that she'd chipped a bone fragment off.  They fitted her with a removable cast and she was able to ski the next day.  We flew home and had a nice Christmas, then left the day after Christmas to visit my mom's parents in Michigan.  That wasn't terribly exciting but it was nice to see them, and we looked at my grandpa's old photos which are really really great.

After we came back from Michigan I hung out with friends for the last few days of the high school's break, with a really nice New Year's party at Leland's house, and now they're back at school and I'm just chilling before my next job starts (assuming the interview goes well, of course).

Oh, and it turned out that my sister tore a tendon (or ligament?) in her thumb, and she had to have surgery to reattach it.  This is unfortunate since it's her right hand, which she writes with, so she can't write well, can't play the harp in the orchestra concert that's coming up soon, can't swim with the swim team for almost 2 months, and can't even go on the trampoline our parents got her for Christmas.  Sad stuff.

So that's the short version.  And the long version is pretty boring so... yeah.  That's all folks.

December 31, 2008

It's New Year's Eve, and I'm going to Leland's house tonight so I won't get another chance to post in 2008, so I'm taking the opportunity now.  I still have a lot to write about re: the end of my time at The Public and in NYC, but for now I have just a few things to say.

First of all, I ran into one of my teachers from 7th grade in the Ralph's parking lot today.  Crazy.

Today I also tried to go to the post office, but the doors were literally locked.  I got there JUST after 4:00 PM, and on the door it said they closed at 5:30 Monday through Friday.  But the doors were locked.  It listed holidays, and today was not one of them, so, thanks Post Office for being a jerk.  But I went to the nearby Kinko's and Fed-Ex'ed what I needed to send, and the guy there was nice, I didn't have to wait in a long line, and it was pretty cheap, so I'm not that upset.

Finally, is there like a law somewhere that states that all 7/11s have to be super sketchy?  I was driving in Westwood today, which is the area of Los Angeles near UCLA and is a pretty nice, clean area, and I passed the 7/11 and it just looked so sketchy.  Is it in the franchise agreement that the location has to be the seediest lot on the block?

New (Old) Photos

So yesterday I went to Harvard-Westlake and hung out with Mr. O'Malley for a little while and got some CDs of my old photo projects from the backup files O'Malley keeps, since I'd lost my own backups when my external hard drive fell on its head.  One of the CDs didn't work, but on the one that did work were some portraits I took with the digital Hasselblaad (nicest camera I will ever use) in the photo studio last year of my friend Sarah, Jordan, Laura, Catie, and Angela, which I've put up on facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015939&l=a2f33&id=1063440464

You don't even need to log in to facebook to look at them, although if you're my facebook friend I always love photo comments, haha (clearly I am not above begging).

Book List

So, I'm still trying to make sense of what NY meant to me and how I feel about moving back to LA (not so great right now), but in the meantime I'll share the list of books I've read so far on gap year and some thoughts.

Pyramids, by Terry Pratchett

-  Very funny, usual discworld stuff from Terry Pratchett.  My enjoyment was also heightened by my prior investigation into/infatuation with ancient Egyptian history in my early years, since this is highly mocked (in a loving way) in this book.

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

-  I wrote a previous blog post about this, but I adored this book.  It was wonderful.

The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan

-  nice little thriller, the basis for the movie and play of the same name.  However, those two are very loosely based on this book.

Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney

-  I thought this was going to be more about NYC drug culture in the '80s, but it was more about one guy and his dissatisfaction with his life and stuff.  It was good, though.  And a quick read.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

-  This prompted SO much thought, my goodness.  It describes a world controlled, not by fear like in 1984 (George Orwell was a colleague/I think a student of Huxley's), but by genetic predestination and euphoria-inducing drugs.  It's pretty good, and, like I said, very thought-provoking.

Brave New World Revisited, by Aldous Huxley

-  Huxley discusses why the world of Brave New World is still feasible 20 years after its publication, in the '50s.  He discusses how he didn't include nuclear technology in the book and wishes he did, as well as ways in which he thinks we can avoid the future of Brave New World.  I took a lot of notes in the margins in this book, since quite a few of his ideas are pretty outdated, and I want to write more about that at some point, but not right now (especially since I don't know exactly where the book is at the moment...)

Stiff, by Mary Roach

-  This is a book about cadavers.  Quite a good book, actually, although the first half, when discussing the more direct scientific uses of cadavers, is better than the second, which gets a bit metaphysical.  I'm also pretty morbid, so... yeah.

Just After Sunset, by Stephen King

- As much as his novels (well, mostly the recent ones, but really anything since like Misery) are quite self-indulgent, he's still a great story teller and the short story form really helps him stay focused.  I was so happy to see that he had a new book of short stories out when I found this at the airport.

The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts

-  This book was AMAZING.  It's a biography of Harvey Milk and it's so inspiring.  It tapped into the part of me that, in the sixth grade, wanted to join the Peace Corps or save the world or something like that.  Harvey Milk has a lot in common with Barack Obama, actually.  Both were charismatic leaders who changed the face of politics.  Also, Milk's stump speech was called the "Hope Speech" since it revolved around the message that life is always worth living because there is always hope.  And Milk relied on grassroots volunteers, and had his swearing-in outside because he knew so many people would want to see it, much like Obama had his convention speech in a football stadium for increased capacity.

The Tales of Beadle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling

-  I had to, for completeness.  Not amazing, not incredibly disappointing.  Obviously a must for Harry Potter fans and those of us who have grown up with those books.

So... yeah... that's what I've been up to, at least reading-wise.

Last Day

So this is probably my last blog post ever from The Public Theater. I'm incredibly sad to be leaving this office. New York I won't miss, but working at The Public has been amazing. And I mean, where else do you have experiences like this? Yesterday I had to scoot around Tony Kushner in the hallway in order to get to my boss' office, on top of which, said boss is also a very well-regarded director. Crazy. And the people I've met here are all incredibly kind and supportive.

And I'm writing this from reception, my last day as a sexy secretary as well.

This is depressing. I'm sure I'll write much more about this tonight or tomorrow on the plane, but I'm just sad to be leaving.

What the...?!

I just found this article and it's crazy. There was an episode of "Monk" about this, and probably many others. Check it out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/11/actor-slits-throat

Road Show - Take Two

I went to see Road Show again tonight with Zoe.  They've changed a lot since the dress rehearsal, which was the last time I saw it.  They even added a new song to help establish the relationship between the two brothers/main characters.  I talked to Michael Cerveris afterwards and he said that the new song was added a week before the opened, so that's pretty intense for the two men to learn and everything.  There were some props added that gave it a little more sparkle, but it still wasn't amazing.  The music is good, very Sondheim-y, but I just can't get over how similar to Assassains some of the themes are!  But that's my own problem so... yeah.  Like I said, we talked to Michael Cerveris afterwards for a few minutes.  Once again he was very nice, and looks so different offstage than on!  He asked me if I was an actress/singer person, which I guess is fair since I work in a theater.  He isn't the first person to ask me that recently either.  That guy Isaac I met while flying home for Thanksgiving also asked me if I was an actress (although I think that's because I looked vaguely familiar).  Anyway, maybe I give off actress vibes?  Also, apparently Zoe's NYC-based voice teacher coached Michael Cerveris for something at some point.  The voice teacher was at the show tonight but didn't stick around afterwards so I'm not sure exactly what the connection is.  But yeah, they know each other somehow.  Anyway, it's pretty much my bed time so good night everybody!

Oh Yeah

So here is something interesting(ish) I forgot to mention in my post about last Thursday:

Before going in to The 39 Steps I wandered over to Rockefeller center to take some pictures of the tree (up online here), and I popped into the J. Crew store to look for a Christmas gift for my friend.  I didn't find a gift, but I did see a woman getting taken out of the store/handcuffed by policemen.  She was probably shoplifting.  Some girls in the store were talking about it amongst themselves and they said she was kinda standing in the corner doing god knows what/acting sketchy, so yeah I'm guessing shoplifting.

Today was not the most exciting day at work, I was just working on my usual stuff.  But at the end of the day there was a meet-and-greet (like I've mentioned before), and this time it was for Mandy Patinkin's concert series.  He's rotating three concerts, one featuring yiddish songs, one featuring general Broadway music, and one featuring the Sondheim songbook.  I'm going to the Sondheim one this Thursday.  Anyway, there was sadly no food at this meet-and-greet (although that was probably good, since I was about to leave for dinner), but we all circled up and introduced ourselves.  Apparently the last time Mandy Patinkin performed at The Public was 20 years ago.  He gave this speech to the assembled staff people that was very heartfelt, mostly about his friendship with Joe Papp (founder of The Public).  It was pretty cool.

After that it was time to go so I walked up to Union Square and met up with Madeleine.  We went to dinner at an NYU dining hall and the food was surprisingly good and the space very nice.  It was fun.  We also saw some of her friends I'd met before, and some new people I met tonight.  Also cool.

So I have stuff to do and I'm watching House, so I'll catch you all later!