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November 3rd, 2007
02:48 pm - Living with Tigers
Hells yeah!
So a few years ago, I randomly caught a special on the Discovery Channel called "Living with Tigers." It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, and I've forced most people in my life to listen to me talk about how awesome it was. Tomorrow (Sunday) night at 8pm (7 central time), Animal Planet is airing it. Watch it. NO, SERIOUSLY. WATCH IT. They train two captive born tigers to hunt (previously thought impossible), as well as explore the possibilities of building a controlled home for tigers in Africa. This involves not only teaching the tigers to hunt, but to hunt in a drastically different way than tigers naturally hunt because of the difference in prey and landscape. Also - there's tons of awesome behavioral stuff between the trainers/handlers and the tigers. They are truly 500lb kitty cats and even when they become hardcore killers, you still just wanna chew their ears a little.
TIVO it, DVR it, old school vhs it, or just watch it....it's not like the Simpsons won't be in reruns in two weeks anyway.
PS - Dear Livejournal - why am I no longer receiving email notifications even though my settings and email address remain the same? WTF, y'all?
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October 27th, 2007
10:11 am - "Pointless" - a bitchy rant
I know it's been a while, much and nothing is going on. This isn't exactly a real entry...just a quick rant while I'm at work.
My latest pet peeve: labeling certain aspects or activities on myspace/facebook/livejournal/xanga whatever as "pointless." What activities, exactly, on these sites have a point? Why, for example, would reading your blog about what you did yesterday or you rattling off ideas you picked up in some class (claiming them as your own) be a more substantial use of time than reading a survey of random facts and thoughts filled out by the same person. It's all FUN. It's all STUPID. It's all a meaningless waste of life that lets you kill time, unwind, relax, connect with old friends, whatever. If you were truly someone so worried about every facet of your life being filled with meaning, you probably wouldn't even be a member of these sites. Furthermore, do you really think you're witty or enlightened to point out that these things are pointless? And if you don't give a shit what these people have to say you can, A) NOT READ IT or B) REMOVE THE PEOPLE FROM YOUR LIST. I think making fun of people you added to a list titled "friends" says a lot more about you than it does any one posting dumbass online surveys. I think you should think less about "why do they think I care" and more about "why do I think I'm so much fucking smarter/cooler/whatever than everyone else on the dumbass sites to which I belong?"
But that's just my opinion.
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June 21st, 2007
05:35 pm - Pink Elephants
Pink Elephants - a very different note So for a complete change of mood from my earlier angsty post, I decided to share something that made me happy.
Last night, in my usual avoidance of packing and all work related things, I watched Animal Planet's re-airing of Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" series. They were showing the Jungles and Fresh Water segments. At the end of the jungle hour (which featured so many giant rain forest bugs that I could watch very little of it with out switching away), we see a rare waterhole gathering of usually solitary jungle elephants. Very clearly, though not the focal point of the shot, we see a pink elephant wander past. That's right. An actual pink elephant. Yet, this was not something the writers found worthy of a narrator's explanation. I sent text messages to several people - some of whom quickly switched over to see the pink elephant (which was never shown again). I began to wonder if I'd actually seen this pink elephant at all - or if my poor diet lately had caused me to burn some fat cells still laced with hallucinogens from past wild days (in case you don't know - that's the main reason people have flash backs). I went online to see what I could find out. Apparently, these elephants, who gain most of their nutrients by eating iron rich clay from the bed of aforementioned water hole, also spray this mud all over themselves and each other as a form of sunscreen/moisturizer. The pink elephant was either covered in its own homemade Coppertone, or had done so often enough to stain its skin permanently. I really wish I could find a pic, but alas -there are none.
If you haven't caught any of these shows - you should. Especially if you like nature shows or give a crap about our environment (as they claim the reason for making this breathtaking, HD series is to encourage interest in conservation). It's about 16 hours of programming, recorded in the most beautiful HD quality available. It looks more real than real life - especially on Adam's giant tv and broadcast on Discovery HD (easily the prettiest channel on television). These documentaries showcase many things never before caught on film - like a giant pride of lions taking down a full grown elephant, and other very camera shy animals hunting and mating etc. But be careful of the Caves episode - it's awesome, but there's a mountain of giant cockroaches in it. *shudders at the memory*
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June 3rd, 2007
02:16 am - West Memphis Three Worldwide Awareness Day: June 3, 2007
West Memphis Three Awareness Day West Memphis Three Worldwide Awareness Day 2007 June 3, 2007
borrowed from www.wm3.org
June 3, 2007 marks the 14-year anniversary of the arrests of Damien
Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin.
These men have been locked up for almost a decade and a half for something they did not do, and the many efforts to expose what happened to them in those Arkansas courtrooms is even more powerful and committed than ever. Time hasn't diminished the outrage or the frustration over verdicts that grow even more absurd as the years have passed and more is learned about what really happened to the murder victims.
West Memphis Three Worldwide Awareness Day is a way for people all over the world to come together to organize their own benefits, awareness-raising and fundraising events to help keep this tragic injustice in the public eye and to generate funding for the ongoing legal and investigative work that will free these three men. The world is aware of this case and there's no chance of it disappearing. There are too many eyes and ears and voices now.
If you don't know anything about this case, which has recently become a celebrity pet cause, you should check out www.wm3.org. Three little boys were brutally murdered in the woods of West Memphis, Arkansas. Thanks to a bunch of folks who made livings in the early 90s by terrifying gymnasiums full of parents with tales of occult kidnappings and satanic orgies - the only motives/scenarios the police ever investigated involved black magic and human sacrifice (I guess that's less scary than a drug informant with a behavior altering brain tumor castrating his stepson and a couple of other kids). This, of course, lead to the arrest of the two local "scary" kids - the guys in everyone's high school who wear too much black and listen to bad music. Yes, these were the two main pieces of evidence used against the guys in court (one owned 13 black tshirts, the other had doodled quotes from Metallica songs and Shakespeare on his notebook - that got him the death penalty). Oh, that and a coerced confession by a mentally retarded 15 yr old with out the presence of a parent or lawyer; the facts of which were in complete contradiction to the known facts of the case (time and method of death, etc). This was immediately recanted and was not used during the trial against the other two - meaning that the evidence used to convict on these crimes was not even sufficient for an arrest. But, when you show a jury of stupid, poor people pictures of mutilated little boys then point to the asshole kid in a trenchcoat and say, "the person who did this should be punished." - well, sometimes they agree, whether or not the person you've pointed to has any real connection to the crime. But anyway.... I own both of the HBO Paradise Lost documentaries on the case, as well as Mara Leveritt's book on the subject (Devil's Knot - by far the most in depth account of the case) and will gladly watch them with any one who wants to sit down to several hours of a shocking and depressing glance into mass hysteria, poverty, and the legal system.
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May 22nd, 2007
12:30 pm
I'm looking for professional type jobs and have let myself be creeped out at the idea of prospective employers browsing my blog entries. So this is the Friends Only warning I always swore I'd never make. If you are lurking out there and want to be put on list, just let me know.
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May 21st, 2007
10:34 am
Ok - I apparently deleted half of my super crazy survey before I entered it. I corrected it and the whole thing is now available in my last post.
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April 7th, 2007
03:17 pm - Grindhouse
Can I say how much I enjoyed this movie?
It was FUCKING AWESOME!!! It should also be known that I didn't expect to love it. On the way there I told Adam that I'd probably like it overall but have some problems with it. This is based on my mixed feelings on just about all of Tarantino's stuff except Pulp Fiction (yes, I do love all of his other movies but only by ignoring things that bug me) and the commercials where there's the close up of the chick saying, "Oh you know we cain't just let you go" in neck swaggling sassy way. I groaned every time I saw that commercial. But I was WRONG. (yeah, Adam and Megan both, go ahead and print screen and highlight it...I actually admitted being wrong). I freaking loved every minute of both of the features. I guess what defied my expectations is that it didn't make the mistake of taking itself seriously - and yet didn't give into the crappy bad jokes and devices that bother me about spoofs or parodies or even satire (these movies are all of these and none of these at once...that doesn't make sense, but it's true) - Adam thought I stated it well by saying these were examples of bad movies being made incredibly well. So well, in fact, that you don't even think about how ridiculous the movie you are watching is. You find yourself swept away in the action and pure fun of it.
Specific things I loved:
1) The badass male lead in Planet Terror just happens to be the actor who plays Carla's brother on Scrubs.
2) Sayid from Lost cuts people's balls off and keeps 'em in a freezer bag in his pocket.
3) Incredible trailers by various awesome directors for movies that will, sadly, never be. I can't describe how great these are - and I think if you watch closely they are filled with star cameos.
4)Uma's stunt double from Kill Bill playing herself in Death Proof.
5)Not just one, but TWO stars of Rent
There's so much more to say...but I think I'll just start putting in pics.
I'm just sad that the gun leg is not in the shot...but Carlos and Sayid are (yeah, yeah, those are their character names from TV shows).
That's ok, cause here it is:
And, come on, as much as I like his movies, I hate listening to Quentin Tarantino talk and have often fantasized about doing this:
That's all I can find that really make me happy. There weren't a lot of good ones from Death Proof.
Apparently, there are action figures...maybe those are a joke, but I love it!
PS - You will either love this movie or hate it. But go see it either way.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/frogs/energetic.gif) bouncy
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March 27th, 2007
04:49 pm
So...I know the summer job offers haven't exactly been pouring in...but why in the world would I PAY $2700 to work 10-16 hours a day for 6 days a week? Are they fucking serious? I understand taking an unpaid internship (though I would not ever consider that at this point in my career)...but to charge your unpaid interns for housing, what the fuck? I almost replied to the email with an "you're kidding, right?" This isn't modelling - I don't need to pay to have a theatre on my resume (and that's sort of a scam in the modelling world too, right?). I'm just dumbfounded by this.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/frogs/horny.gif) predatory
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February 10th, 2007
07:21 pm
I just thought I'd let you guys know that my brother, Alan, was killed in Iraq yesterday. Apparently his unit was checking a building for weapons and when he kicked in a door it set off a bomb - he was the only one killed. I'm not sure about funeral arrangements or anything yet - but I'll let folks know as I do. I know that most of you didn't know him, actually many of you only know ME via the internet, and those of you who do know either of us probably don't really know what to say to me. That's cool - I'm not good at being on either end of these situations. But please keep your thoughts/prayers/meditations/whatever it is you do with my family and his wife.
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February 2nd, 2007
04:56 pm
Did anyone else hear about the rape victim in Florida who was arrested over basically an unpaid ticket while reporting her rape? That's just fucking perfect. What we need in this society are even more reasons to not report your rape. The fact that you are questioned and treated like a criminal anyway isn't bad enough - now there's actually a precedent for arresting a rape victim and then denying her access to ECP's. grrrrrrrrr
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/frogs/angry.gif) pissed off
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January 31st, 2007
06:31 pm - Pics by request
Ok people, here it is! I told my dear readers to request any aspect of my life they wanted to see a pic of...and here we have it.
I think that's about it - thanks for your requests, I hope it was all you hoped.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/frogs/nerdy.gif) accomplished
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January 23rd, 2007
09:34 am
It's been a while since I begged for comments via an "ask me for...." type entry. Usually those are answer by this horrible silence on my comment section until I post something new. Also...I've kind of been using myspace for that less journally type stuff...surveys and meme's (is that the right non-word?...I don't like it) - but I saw this on there and thought it'd be fun to try with livejournal.
Ask me to take pictures of any aspect of my life that you're interested in/curious about -- it can be anything from my favorite shirt to the inside of my glove compartment. Send requests via comments on this entry and watch all your wildest voyuer fantasies be fulfilled. Do it!
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January 17th, 2007
12:24 am - Perhaps the best things about the new semester
Apparently, I will be taught math this semester by a guy named Tyrone Crisp. That's awfully exciting. I think that beats out Esteban Gomez for best names (Esteban was my other math teacher here at Penn State) - but I hope he's as cool as Esteban who weighed about 80lbs, had long greasy hair and a weird fauxtee....sort of like a goatee, andwore only black shirts.
The other best thing is that I am finally the proud owner of a shiny, brand new copy of OUR BODIES, OURSELVES - the new updated version. Hawt!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/frogs/happy.gif) amused
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December 4th, 2006
10:42 pm
An attempt at a quick post as I should be working...but I'm tired. The last few months have been a ridiculous mix of the incredible and the insane and the incredibly insane.
Highlights (and lowpoints)
- Went to Boston for ovary related madness. Krista came with...it was awesome, I will eventually post pics. We spent Halloween in Salem - there were funny witch hats and devil horns and people in awesome costumes. We also went to the mapparium in the Mary Baker Eddy library. I wanted to go there because it's mentioned in a Jhumpa Lahiri story...and it was my favorite thing we did. That place is gorgeous.
-After the Boston trip I returned to all day rehearsals for Cloud Nine. Due to a mixture of my own unwillingness to ask people to help me with lifting and moving shit and a complete lack of sympathy (about me just having had surgery) from the director, Travis, and my assistant ...I ended up with ovarian hyperstimulation. This pretty much means that my ovaries got huge and it made me sick. I was retaining an insane amount of water...enough to increase my belly by about 4 inches. I have a map of new stretch marks from my little water baby. I couldn't walk across a room without getting winded or stay awake for more than a few hours without feeling like I hadn't slept at all. While these are minor annoyances if you don't see them as warning signs and change your bad post op ways you can end up with an ovarian tortion (when it twists around under the fallopian tube usually requiring emergency removal of female parts) and in severe cases fluid in heart and lungs. It was an awful week physically and my hormones were out of control. Meanwhile, the director was a complete ass to me constantly. I don't know if I've ever cried so much in a week in my life.
- Of course that had some to do with the most insane thing of all...Jason Gregory (pretty much my first real boyfriend ) killed himself. He took a bunch of pain pills and jumped off the roof of the parking deck by the Arkansas Rep. I was not surprised...at all really. He'd sent me what amounted to a suicide letter via myspace about a month before. I cut off all contact with him after that, as the last thing I needed was some melodramatic ass sending me faux suicide letters. There are a zillion things about the situation that I could connect to myself or my relationship with him but I know they are probably not real. I don't feel guilty or anything - just sad for him. But this was hard info to deal with along with all the other crap.
- Cloud Nine tech may have been a few of the worst days EVER. I was so excited about the show going in but it ended up being a disaster that shredded my self esteem and has caused me to doubt every major life choice I've ever made. There was no professional chemistry between myself and the outside director they brought in for the show. He was constantly demeaning and rude to me...from our first interaction when I introduced myself to be answered with "Yeah, I'm gonna need a copy of your resume." Ass. He was a control freak who wouldn't allow me to do my job (and did the same to most of the designers). The worst part was I got no support from the department, the faculty who saw how horrible he was being refused to stand up to him because they're afraid he'll go tell people bad things about working for Penn State. That's really all I can say without getting into examples which will mean little to anyone who isn't a theatre person and the theatre people who read this were either along for the ride or have heard my bitching enough. But he's gone now and the run of the show has been alright - except for a fire alarm incident on Saturday night.
-I spent Thanksgiving weekend with Adam at his mom's in Conneaut Lake. It was a great time. There was lots of yummy food, fun with guns, and reluctant kitties. Adam took me on a tour of all the homes he's lived in there. We stood on the dock by the canal, held hands and looked at the stars, snuggled in a bunk bed, and played board games with quads. It ruled. I got along very well with his family. His mom and I hit it off very well and teamed up on him for fun making purposes. I got to see a bunch of awesome pics of Adam as a kid and teen. I loved his mad sexy senior pic posing coyly with a laptop and various software guides. Thanksgiving Day, his stepdad set up a shooting range in the back yard. I impressed with my superior Tecumseh learned gun skillz. I was an ok shot but I handled the gun like a total badass...and that's what's really important.
- Adam and I went to see the D last night. In case you're not cool enough to understand - that meant we went to see Tenacious D in concert. It fucking rokked. As you'd expect from them - there was much more going on than just the two of them standing around playing songs. There were purposely craptastic sets, a plot, it was awesome. It took you on quite an adventure from KG's duplex to the depths of hell. They played damn near all the songs from the show and the cd...and lots from the movie. It was all very rock opera (they even performed Tommy as their final encore) and kick ass. The "nay, we are but men! Rock!" moment during Tribute was one of the coolest concert moments I've ever experienced...sooo fun. It was a really diverse crowd and I've never had so much personal space and so few obnoxious interactions on the floor at a concert. I did get annoyed before the show by these two chicks behind me pretending they knew a lot about tech theatre while watching the follow spot ops sets up. It made me really paranoid about how I sound when I talk about that sort of shit. I may never do it again. But overall the entire day was incredible. Adam and I drove to DC in the mid afternoon and back after the concert - the road trip itself was sooo fun. We listened to music and talked about the future and were in love and it was super. Things have been exceptionally awesome with us lately. I don't know how he keeps up with my ridiculous mood swings...especially with all the insane hormone crap and rough stuff.
Now I must get back to the ridiculous amount of work I have to do in the next 2 weeks. Then I will be going to Arkansas to see my family and all my awesome friends. Yay!
Current Mood: chipper
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October 26th, 2006
01:28 am
A few quick thoughts...since this is the last thing I should be doing.
My boyfriend is amazing - I can't say this enough. He rocks my fucking socks off - this is inspired by no particular event, just his general ongoing state of awesomeness.
I started rehearsals for Cloud Nine. We are rehearsing 8 hours a day in addition to my classes. That fucking sucks. I'm having trouble getting excited. I really wanted to be excited for this show. But the director seems to dislike speaking directly to me. It's very odd. It's like I've horribly offended him somehow and I don't know how. This makes me sort of glad I will missing the majority of staging rehearsals due to my medical induced trip to Boston. See, my big secret is that I HATE rehearsals. The only good thing about sitting through rehearsals is that my sudoku and cross word puzzle skills get honed. I'll be back pretty much just in time for tech..my fave part. Tech and run, that's what I love.
The evil theatre I worked at in DC needs a non-equity SM for next summer's production of Reefer Madness the Musical. I'm going insane and thinking of applying. But they are SOOOO evil.
My tummy looks like a pin cushion.
I haven't even thought about packing.
I have a four page list of stuff I should do before bed.....but this is all I will do.
Good night!
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October 6th, 2006
12:20 am - Tecumseh! Recap Vol. 2 - The Ladies of Pablo
As is often the case - I did not bond especially closely with most of the women on the mountain. Actually, of the 15 or so women in the cast and crew - there were under 5 that I didn't find to be completely reprehensible human beings. There was a lot of the usual actress self-absorption, made worse by being around a bunch of horny guys who were stuck on a mountain with only 15 women to about 40 men. This created the idea of "mountain hot." By the end of the summer many of us were excited to see those girls return to real world and be reminded of how truly mediocre they were. These women fucked men they knew to be in relationships and generally walked around being cumdumpsters while calling themselves "sassy." I now hate that word. But amongst the group of skanks there were two especially exceptional women with whom I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time. These were two spirits truly kindred with my own. They shared my sense of no nonsense empowerment, love of raunchy girl talk, desire for deep fried things, and obsession with Scrubs and the Brak show. And to top it off they were easily the sexiest, smartest, and most fun ladies in the company. In a hilarious moment that isn't funny when retold - we dubbed our little group "Pablo." Pablo can be used to refer to all of us, any of us, or just as a general war cry of awesomeness!
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October 2nd, 2006
04:06 pm
I've tried 3 times now to post about how I'm feeling these days. But that's just gonna turn into a sad and pitiful rant. So I will say these things:
1. For some reason I don't quite get, the clinic I'm doing my egg donation with made me go on a new birth control. I cringed when I saw the name...it's the generic form of Desogen (the birth control blamed for some of the bitchiest years of Amanda). I hoped that it had been overly blamed but holy fuck. I'm like a freaking crazy person. I've been crying uncontrollably, lashing out fiercely, screaming over little misunderstanding...and just being pretty fucking psycho.
2. For reasons both related and unrelated to above mentioned craziness I'm thinking of going ahead and changing my whole life path. I don't even know how I'd do that. I'm just having trouble knowing what's really gonna make me happy . I've always wanted to be a stage manager, I'm really good at it - but lately I wonder if those are the only reasons I'm still in it. What I really want to do is talk to people about sex and women's health...but with the exception of Sue from Talk Sex...how the fuck am I gonna make a career out of that?
3. I am sooo in love and have the most awesome boyfriend ever. Despite his own shit he's dealing with these days he's been incredibly supportive and super sweet and has taken more than his fair share of Amber style meanness and insanity. He redefines "awesome" as well as "kick ass."
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/frogs/silly.gif) crazy
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September 27th, 2006
02:32 pm - A non-Tecumseh! related post
The other day I watched a show on Animal Planet about clouded leopards. They were hand raised (as most big cats in captivity are not very good parents as helping a newborn survive in a bad environment goes against instinct) by this lady who worked for the zoo - and apparently handraising involves keeping the animals in your home. That's right, she had two baby leopards running around her house, fighting with her housecat, like they were her pets. That means that there is a career out there that would actually allow me to keep baby tigers in my fucking living room. WTF? How do I become this lady?????? Then that dream of waking up one morning to a baby tiger jumping on my bed could be a reality!!!!
Current Mood: cheerful
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September 25th, 2006
04:19 pm - Tecumseh! Recap Vol. 1 - Sugarloaf Mountain: The Place
I'm doing this! I'm gonna recap the summer as quickly as I can and with lots of pictures! This will probably happen in 3-5 installments so they are actually readable.
If I say nothing about this summer, I must say this - I killed at least 6 raccoons during my stay in Chillicothe.
For those of you who missed the train...I spent the summer in Chillicothe, Ohio working as an Assistant Stage Manager for the outdoor drama, Tecumseh! Actually...it's the ULTIMATE OUTDOOR DRAMA EXPERIENCE...and it's not really in Chillicothe, it's about 10 miles away on the side of a mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain to be exact. I was there for 4 months and lived, with the rest of the cast and crew of about 60, in the "compound" located on the property of the amphitheatre. We lived 2 or 3 to cabins which were actually pre-fab tool sheds like you see in front of Home Depot. We shared a big kitchen and dorm style bathrooms that also served as dressing rooms. Communal living, especially with that many actors, was hard on me but I think I did quite well. My roommate very seldom stayed in our cabin, so for the most part, I lived by myself for the second half of the summer. The hardest part of being home is the difference between living with your best friends and living alone in a town where I have very few friends...especially now that Zack and Karyn are gone. It was very much like adult summer camp....especially with all the horseback riding and leatherworking that went on. The mountain was actually very beautiful. There were always deer running around on the drive in but once or twice I was able to look out the window of my tool shed and see a doe and two fawns frollicking.
Now - the first installment of my recap...devoted to the actual place.
More later!!!!
Current Mood: happy
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September 4th, 2006
06:28 pm
Upon returning to my long empty apartment here in State College, I noticed a few things that seemed rather strange. I looked down at the floor and there was carpet. Not just that, but my kitchen doesn't seem designed to share with 60 extremely messy people. THEN I walked into the bathroom and there was just the one toilet. That's right. Just one. Just sitting there in middle of the room. Same thing with the shower. Quite odd. I don't know if I can go if it's not in a stall. And what will showering in bare feet feel like? I'll keep ya updated.
That's right...I'm back to the civilized world and also the internet. I'll make a nice long post about Tecumseh! and include lots of pics. For now I'll say this - it was a very mixed experience. I was rather unfulfilled...ok, downright bored and frustrated....on a professional level and can't express how annoying it is to live around 60 actors who sometimes show up at your door drunk at 4am, enter and refuse to leave for hours. But now that it's over I'm ridiculously sad. Sure - I can't stop vibrating with happiness to be reunited with my awesome boyfriend whose hand I never want to let go of, but I made some incredible friends.
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