Extra, extra! Read all about it

As I previously mentioned, I've been trying to make the most of my free time, so when I saw a post about being an extra on this website I frequent, I knew I had to do it. It was unpaid, but so much fun. The movie, Mr. Tambourine Man, stars JK Simmons.

Sample Work: Spider-Man, I Love You, Man (plays Paul Rudd's dad) and Juno and on TV in Law & Order and The Closer.

Mr. Tambourine Man is based on a true story written by Oliver Sacks about Gabriel, a man who after having a brain tumor removed, loses his ability to form short-term memories. His family hires a music therapist and together they discover that because we hear music differently than we hear speech, he can respond to music from Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead and can begin to form new memories.

The scene that I am in is a Grateful Dead concert that I can only assume happens towards the end of the movie. JK Simmons and another young actor attend the concert and other stuff happens which I am not obliged to disclose.

The movie takes place in 1987, so the first daunting task for me was to figure out what to wear. Should I go with Grateful Dead garb, or should I go 80's? I realized after getting some tips from the wardrobe crew and from asking friends, that most Grateful Dead concert goers style didn't really change much based on the decade. I decided to go with a short hippie-style dress over torn jeans. I think it worked. I didn't have tie-dye or have the time to make one, so I went with this and it worked well with what other people were wearing.

Let me tell you though, making a movie is a difficult task. There's a lot of waiting around, a lot of standing, a lot of blocking and not a lot of actual filming. I think we filmed a total of 4 scenes from 10am-6pm, including the concert and a couple of dialogue scenes.

I'm fairly certain I will be in one shot. They did 6 takes and I'm not in only 1 of those (which is the one they'll probably use, haha). It's the scene in which the young actor and Jk Simmons walk into the concert. I'm standing there dancing to some low pre-concert music with my friend Jess and chatting while they walk in. It was so cool to have JK standing a foot away from me while we were filming. As I joked with my brother, we are co-stars! hahaha

The concert scene was exhausting because we had to have a lot of energy. They had a cover band and I think they looked pretty good.

Waiting for the next shot with "Jerry Garcia"

Jk Simmons was extremely nice to everyone. He took pictures with a lot of people (unfortunately, those people were very pushy so I wasn't able to get one with him) but I did get this one to document the day.

It was a long, but fun day. It was interesting to see what goes into making a movie and how much work it really is. I am so glad I did it and I'm excited to see the final movie, even if you can't see me in it :)

An Epic of Epic Epicness

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a story about Toronto resident Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who is the bassist for the Sex Ba-bombs. He meets the girl of his dreams (literally) only to find out that he has to defeat her 7 Ex-Boyfriends in order to date her.

The movie is based off of a series of graphic novels and is a very highly anticipated film, so when my friend asked me if I wanted to go I was like "Hells yeah!" This movie has been on my radar for awhile now, even without having read the graphic novel beforehand. I knew Michael Cera was in it and with Edgar Wright as the director I had a hunch this movie would be good. I was not disappointed one bit.

The screening theater was not as packed as I thought it would be, but everyone in there was very excited. We were told right off the bat that the movie was not completely finished yet: the credits were still being created and wire-work was visible in some of the fight scenes. Luckily, it didn't take away from the film at all and a lot of the gaming and graphic novel related graphics were already included.

The movie opens just like you'd expect, with gaming music and a pixelated version of the production company's logo (I believe it was Universal). The audience applauded and laughed from the start and we continued like that for 2 hours. I was amazed at the detail that was put into the movie, from the music, to the graphics, to the text on screen detailing different aspects of each character - everything that was included gave that extra punch.

Each character was hilarious and the actor's portrayals were awesome. Michael Cera was definitely good (he's got the "weird" thing down pat) but the real scene stealer was Ellen Wong as the young and lovestruck Knives Chau. The moment she appears on screen she had us laughing and "awwwing" at the same time. She gets a tad crazy as the movie progresses, but remains cute throughout the story.

Brandon Routh and Chris Evans, who both played an ex-boyfriend, also stood out. Routh's character Todd Ingram derives his psychic power from his vegan-ism which is hilarious because of the relevancy to our time. Evan's character Lucas Lee is an action star whose one-liners are noteworthy and definitely "CSI: Miami cheesy".

Everything else about Scott Pilgrim vs. The Word was 4 star including the screenwriting (dialogue was spot-on "If I pee my pants will you pretend it was from the rain?") the editing (the cuts and transitions were phenomenal). Overall, I highly recommend this movie and can't wait to see it again in August.

I seriously cannot talk this movie up enough. The trailer was released on the same day I saw the movie and it does not do it justice.

Click for trailer

2010 Oscar Predictions

I'm too tired to go into the whole experience at the AMC Best Picture Movie Showcase I went to yesterday, so I'm just going to post my Oscar Predictions for now. These are the movies I think will win, not necessarily the movies I think should win.

Best Picture: Avatar
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Best Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino
Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner
Cinematography: Avatar: Mauro Fiore
Editing: Avatar: Stephen E. Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
Art Direction: Avatar: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
Costume Design: Coco avant Chanel: Catherine Leterrier
Original Score: Avatar: James Horner
Original Song: Crazy Heart: T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham("The Weary Kind")
Best Makeup: Star Trek: Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow
Best Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker: Paul N.J. Ottosson, Ray Beckett
Best Sound Editing: Avatar: Christopher Boyes, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andy Jones
Best Animated Feature Film: Up: Pete Docter
Best Foreign Language Film: Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (Germany)
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove: Louie Psihoyos, Fisher Stevens
Best Documentary Short: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (TV): Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill
Best Live Action Short: The New Tenants: Joachim Back, Tivi Magnusson
Best Animated Short: Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' (TV): Nick Park

Bam! done and done. Now, time for a nap!

Sucktastic

The thing that sucks about being unemployed is that it's always hanging over your head. No matter what I'm doing, I'm still unemployed and I always feel like I should be doing something to not be unemployed. If I'm out doing laundry, I'm thinking about how I should be applying for jobs. If I'm at a museum, I'm thinking about how I should be preparing for an interview. It's like never-ending homework!

But, while there are sucktastical things about unemployment, there are some good things too. Such as dinosaurs.

A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen

Sigh. As you all know, I'm a HUGE Jane Austen fan. HUGE. So when I heard about the Jane Austen exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum on 36th and Madison, I was beside myself.

I went last night to the last Gallery Talk and the experience was awesome. Obviously I can't actually meet Jane Austen (that will be the first person I introduce myself to up in heaven, believe you me), but going to this, seeing her actual letters and the first editions of her books, was more amazing than meeting any author or celebrity that is still alive.

The Gallery Talk was presented by the curators of the gallery. They gave us insight into why they picked some of the pieces and they offered a little more information on Jane Austen's life. The exhibit contains 51 of the 160 or so letters that are still in tact, first editions of all 6 of her complete novels, the first draft of The Watson's (that is scribbled and scratched on and if I didn't think I would have gotten caught stealing it, I would have snagged that thing so I could sleep with it at night), and various line drawings by artists in the 1800 and 1900's of the characters in her books. Also, they had around 15 books from Jane's own library. And finally, there was a reproduction of the watercolor drawing Cassandra did of Jane (the only way we know what Jane looks like) and a reproduction that Cassandra had someone do after Jane died.

Which leads me to the heart-breaking part of the exhibit, Cassandra's letter to a niece after Jane's death. She goes on to say,

"I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself. "

Of the other letters, I especially loved one of them that starts with:

"I believe I drank too much wine last night at Hurstbourne; I know not how else to account for the shaking of my hand to-day. You will kindly make allowance therefore for any indistinctness of writing, by attributing it to this venial error."

Jane Austen was hungover! There was another one in which she drew the lace pattern of something new she had just gotten on the paper. The neat thing about Jane's letters were how she used all available space on the page. Back then, sending a letter of more than 1 page to a recipient meant the recipient had to pay extra, so she often wrote over her paragraphs in a different direction and between lines.

One thing I learned about her though, was that she could be sarcastic. I might be slightly off about the facts on this, but I believe at one point, a clergyman of the king gave Jane tips on a new novel she could write. She goes on to write a plot outline for it full of cliches and ridiculous plot points!

After the Gallery Talk there was a video which I didn't watch because it's available online and I wanted to look at all the stuff again and go to the museum shop. The shop had some of the stuff I already have (puzzle, paper dolls) and some stuff I do not (notecards, notebooks, earrings!) and I wanted to buy everything. But I didn't.

The gallery is over March 14th, so if you are a Jane Austen fan, run, do not walk, to this exhibit!

Adventures of the Unemployed

So it's been awhile and quite a bit has happened, most notably I was let go from my job. It sucks, blah blah blah, but whatever. I'm looking at it as a good thing. I wasn't necessarily happy at my last job so onto better things!

The thing with unemployment is that you end up with a lot of free time that is super easy to waste if you're not careful. So, along with sending out resumes I've been trying to take advantage of my free time.

I've been making things. This is a tea bag holder I made for myself (and one for my mom)

Going to as many talk shows as possible.


Pretending to be a tourist with Jess, my partner in crime (my co-worker who was also let go). We went to the MOMA to see the Tim Burton exhibit.



And volunteering with NY Cares when I can. (sorry no picture of that)
Soooo, I've been keeping busy and just doing my thing!

Fall TV Preview at Paley Center for Media: NBC Preview

I went to the Fall TV Preview's at Paley Center tonight. It was NBC night and they showed Community, Mercy and Trauma.

Community

Community is a comedy about a group of students who attend a community college. The show has comedy veteran's Chevy Chase and The Soup host Joel McHale. Even though a lot of the funny parts of the pilot have been shown on the promos, I enjoyed the episode. There is the set-up that's involved in every pilot , but unlike a lot of shows, it's not overdone. The comedy is subtle and funny and Joel McHale's character Jeff, the ex-lawyer whose main goal in life is to talk his way through everything without having to do any real work, is extremely likeable. The real star, however, is Danny Pudi, the fast-talking, over-zealous Abed, who will be making the audience laugh out loud with his movie references and hilarious exchanges with the rest of the characters.

I'm going to DVR this show for awhile.

Mercy

The pilot of Mercy throws us into Mercy Hospital and the lives of the people who work there. The main character Veronica, an ex-military nurse fresh from Iraq, has a tough outer shell, running from her almost-divorced husband and treating patients as though she's still on the front lines. At first glance I thought her character would be annoying, one of those over the top "tough guy" nurses who knows more than their doctor counterparts, but about a half-hour in I actually started to like her. Michelle Trachtenberg (of Buffy fame), plays the kinda-hearted newbie nurse just trying to get through the rough first days on the job.

I probably won't stick with this show. It didn't quite draw me in, but not because of quality, just because it's not really my bag.

Trauma

Trauma is an action-drama that gives us an inside look into the lives of first responder paramedics living in San Franscisco. We learn in the pilot just how much baggage these paramedics are carrying with them when an accident turns into a tragedy and kills some of their colleagues and bystanders. The main complaint I had with the pilot is that the characters aren't that memorable to the point where I can't remember 1 character's name!

I probably won't stick with this show but only by default. There are just so many good shows on and only so much room on my DVR.

Next Wednesday I will be going to the ABC fall previews, woohoo!