highlight (blooper?) reel
by Willow
I did not blog for a long time because:
a) I got sick of the movie,
b) I went to Denver and had limited Internet times.
I was keeping a mental log of great anecdotes to share here on PerfHart, but now enough time has passed that the details of these anecdotes are fuzzy/stale. So I will just post the highlights:
* Heather hosted an awesome party at her parents house featuring a homemade photo booth. You can totally see the progression from sober pictures of smiling families to tipsy shots of shaking bootys and thrashing heads. You can check out the flickr set here. I highly recommend taking a look.
* The next night the Flobots played a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was so neat to see this band who've been together in various incarnations for like, ten years play to an audience of screaming fans at one of the coolest venues in the world. After their set they were swarmed by teenage girls for about an hour. When it got dark they played "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" on a big screen and the woman who played Violet Beuregard in the original movie made a speech and shared some "behind the scenes" gossip. Did you know, for example, that Augustus was actually German?!? The only English he knew was his lines for the film!!! Electrifying, isn't it? Anyway, it was cool to see it on the big screen. Gene Wilder is sort of my hero.
* Heather, Dave, Stephen, Galen, Kagen and I made a pilgrimage to Lakeside Amusement Park to take some photos and relive our childhoods. Only it turns out they don't allow photos. Or sketches. (Sketches?????) Apparently these recording methods "detract from the carefree atmosphere of the Park," or so we were told by the 60-something manager lady with the walkie-talkie. She told us they'd had "one too many student groups around here," and that "if [we] were taking pictures of our grandchildren it would be one thing, but they had to protect their guests from exposure." Huh? Galen had to return his portfolio (not actually a sketchpad mind you, it just looked like one) and Heather her camera to the car before we could "enjoy the carefree atmosphere." Later another (less crazy) security person told us that there had been a lot of undercover reports done recently about safety issues at the Park, as well as an expose by Bill Moyers on "fading amusement parks," so the owners were a little sensitive. Whatever. We recovered from our indignation and managed to have a good time.
* The last noteworthy part of my trip (aside from seeing cool friends like Travis, Sam, Simone, Marissa, Brion and John Shoe) was the late night walk Galen and I took the night before I left. I had been hanging out at his house in Capital Hill, and needed to return to my mom's place in Washington Park (this is about a four mile distance, for you non-Denverites.) John and Aubrey offered me a ride, but then Galen offered to walk me there, and seeing as it was a pleasant evening I accepted Galen's offer. Now before anyone starts drafting haughty emails to Mike, let me assure you that this story does not lead to kissing (Galen is like a brother to me) but rather to nice conversations about public transportation, comic strips, and growing up. Maybe it doesn't make for good blogging, but getting back at midnight after walking through four distinct neighborhoods made me love Denver and my friends there so much, all over again.
Now I'm back and orientation has started in my district and in a week and a half I will have students. I'm feeling way more excited than nervous which is a good sign, I think.
Posted on August 22, 2006 | Comments (9)
it's raining right here
by Willow
They are making rain on my street now. Imagine manufacturing a rainstorm in Oregon! Ha ha ha ha ha. And yet they are doing it:
Lots of stuff is happening in my life besides this blasted movie, you know. Like... um... uh... hmm. Well, my friends are doing cool stuff anyway. Steve made this wonderful movie that I am very proud of/inspired by. And Mikey just bought a Sidekick, which means he's practically living in the future. And Rebecca is getting all geared up for art school, where she is gonna hang those suckers out to dry. (I don't know what that phrase even means!! But she's gonna be the coolest of the cool, I know that.)
And my cool book drive is going pretty well! Check out photos of the recent additions to my library from Mike, Nicole, Erica, Patti, and Tim (not pictured because I already brought his books plus a few of Mike's to my classroom.) Thank you, awesome dudes! I'm just a couple of weeks away from the start of school, so it's totally not too late to donate! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out my awkward plea/amazon.com wishlist here.
I'm getting pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I'm trying to suppress it so I won't blog about it yet. Teaching?!? Who wants THAT kind of responsibility? I just want to bang on these drums all day, you know?
Posted on August 9, 2006 | Comments (4)
star pics!!!
by Willow
Well, one pic. Here's MISter GREg KINnear, in his big scene:
It's an action film. You can tell by all the pyrotechnics!
This movie thing is actually getting to be sort of a drag. They started setting up equipment on the street around 6 this morning. It was very loud. Mike and I had to be up early anyway because he left for San Fransisco today (I loathe that boyfriend-stealing city), so it wasn't TOO bad. But once I got back from the airport exhausted and hungover I was pretty irritated. There is this crane that holds lights or something and they kept raising it up and then bringing it down over and over, and it made this terrible chainsaw sound. Ugh. I napped for a bit and then headed down to the makeshift Fresh Pot to gripe with the other displaced regulars, while at the same time angling for a glimpse of Morgan Freeman's stand-in. The ballroom below me is being used as a "holding pen" (their term!) for extras. They are all dressed up in these cheesy hipster-parody clothes and look exhausted from being here all day occasionally being called to ride a bike 40 feet over and over in the hot sun. Ha ha ha! The price of fame! Some of my disgruntled neighbors are showing their displeasure at this brouhaha by blasting music out their windows, forcing P.A.'s to scurry around trying to appease and silence them. So far I've heard Led Zepplin (8am) and Black Sabbath (10am).
And now a tip for telling Morgan Freeman apart from his double...
*** His double has a beard!***
Wow. US Weekly should be banging down my door any minute. Any. Minute...
...
...
Hrmph.
Posted on August 7, 2006 | Comments (9)
a quiet day on set
by Willow
No stars present today, though the director is hard at work... looking at blueprints? Large maps? A poster? I don't know. But I remain ever vigilant:
And Fresh Pot remains disguised as Jitters:
I will keep you abreast of all developments. Also, all breasts will be developed.
Huh?
Posted on August 4, 2006 | Comments (3)
more stars!
by Willow
* Radha Mitchell (the woman from Melinda Melinda)
* Mike Mills (from REM) (He is not involved in "Feast of Love." He is recording with REM sans Stipe down the street at Mississippi Studios)
And that's the latest from the UrHo star stalker!
Posted on August 3, 2006 | Comments (2)
Star Sightings!!
by Willow
The movie stars are on my street.
I just arrived home from Rebecca's birthday lunch at Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory and glanced out my window at the Fresh Pot (now ridiculously renamed "Jitters" for the duration of the filming.) Who was sitting on the step talking to a couple of pretty ladies? One Ga-Reg Kin-Near. He's out there right now, as a matter of fact. He's wearing sunglasses. Inside I noticed a large black man sitting at a table. I couldn't see his face, but I guessed it was Morgan Freeman. Cha-ching! He came out a moment later, presumably to rehearse an entrance. I overheard Kinnear say to him, "Didn't they tell you? I'm sitting on the stoop in this scene!" What a dork. Freeman laughed a little "heh heh," clearly unimpressed with the bit, but then patted Greg's back affectionately as he entered the cafe.
Notes:
* Kinnear is a very slight man. Slighter than you'd think.
* Freeman is quite large.
A piece of trivia:
* This is not the first time I have seen Kinnear on the set of a movie. In 1998, on an ill-fated trip from Denver to NYC and Providence, RI to visit a "boyfriend," I stopped to watch a scene from one "You've Got Mail" being filmed on the Upper West Side. Yup, I spent 20 minutes of my life watching Kinnear sigh and then walk down the front steps of Meg Ryan's brownstone holding a typewriter over and over. Later that night I got dumped. Ah, young love.
Posted on August 3, 2006 | Comments (6)
here are some things
by Willow
1. I don't care what you say. "Lady in the Water" is a good movie. There are flaws. I won't deny that. But the characters are so likable and the story is refreshing somehow. Not your typical thriller/hero story/dramady. There is a magic realism vibe that hits home for me. Favorite movie of the summer so far. There. I said it.
2. Settlers of Catan is the new coolest nerd-game. We played two nights in a row, and I won once and came in second once. That means that the game is awesome. I strongly recommend it to the following readers: Liz & J, Sonny, Jon, and Larry F. I moderately recommend it to everyone else (as it is a strategy game, which is deadly boring to many, many people. Myself usually included. But not this time. Probably because I won.) Here are a bunch of nerds playing this nerd-game:
3. They are filming a movie across the street from my apartment. It's called "Feast of Love" and stars Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear. If you give me a dollar you can come stargaze from my window. For two dollars you can show your ta-ta's to Kinnear after getting his attention by shouting "Look at me!!"
4. Why is it so hard for me to blog when I have all this time on my hands? I could be blogging 6 hours a day, for crying out loud. It would be pretty boring blogging though. Adios!
Posted on August 1, 2006 | Comments (11)