The Flashband

Here's the video I edited this evening of all those beat experiments my research group did. We'll be showing it as part of our conference presentation. Never mind me--the real star of this is my friend Lisa, who is pretty much a genius.

If you're lucky, someday I'll explain what this is all about.

Sometimes it's like that.

Obsessed with my MacBook, I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning to make this video. It's footage I took sometime last summer ('07) of a mouse with a broken foot. I came across it in Central Park with a coworker when crossing from a meeting on the Westside to my studio on the Eastside. It kind of epitomizes how I feel sometimes with this whole move, and I'm proud of my amateur film, so here it is. Enjoy!

(The song is from Modern Times, PS.)

"what they wanted I didn't have/and what I had/they didn't want."

Wednesday I received a UPS package from the British Consulate. I had assumed this was to be my visa. I was wrong. Apparently I was supposed to send my physical passport to the consulate, not just a color copy which was what I had sent off--in this day and age, the idea of letting my passport out of sight is frightening. So today I'll be getting a certified check made out for $12 (the mailing fee for the next time the BC tries to send me anything) and returning all of my paperwork, complete with actual passport, back to the BC. I'm concerned about how long it's going to take. I'm concerned about having my passport out of reach. And I'm concerned that I will get neither back in time to get on the plane at 9PM on the 30th.

Other than that, I have been trying to decide what to pack. I've talked myself into taking only five books with me, and only five movies, however I may ammend the latter and allow myself those five movies and all my seasons of Battlestar Galactica. Because, let's face it--I'll be lost without it. Here's what I have thus far:

1) Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire
2) History of the Theatre by Brockett
3) My copy of The Little Prince, circa 1943 (I like the older translation better)
4) The Pythons: Autobiography by the Pythons
5) TBA

The thing about choices 1 ,2, & 4 is that they are all weighty coffee table books. So one asks if there's much point in bringing three books that each weigh a little over a pound each. And now, the movies:

1) Trainspotting
2) Amelie
3) Withnail and I
4) Finding Nemo
5) TBD

Number five is going to be a really hard choice. Not as hard as trying to get on a plane without a passport or a visa. But I'm sure you understand.

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!! Why can't life just fall in place already?! I am D-R-O-W-N-I-N-G here, damn it!

I've also become terribly curious of all the hits my blog has gotten lately from out of the US visitors. Who are you people? Make yourselves known, please!

Temporary Goals

It's no secret I have a lot of time on my hands. So for every day I'm home in New Jersey, I am going to try to read at least ONE play and watch ONE movie. This will:

1. Keep my Netflix cue in check and running.


2. Help me decide which play scripts/theatre books I can donate to my high school and what I need to keep. (Incidentally, if anyone out there is looking for anything in particular, let me know, I may be able to oblige you.)


3. Hopefully enlighten me.


4. Hopefully entertain me. For a while.

There's only so far a girl can jog in one day, anyway.

Today's play(s):

2.5 Minute Ride & 101 humiliating stories, both by Lisa Kron

Today's movie(s):

Good Night and Good Luck, and Capote<--both of which I've had since May. Ah, Netflix. Thank goodness for no late fees.

RANDOM TRIVIA: Capote and Lisa Kron have an obscure connection. Who is it? A postcard from Lebabnon to anyone who knows!

(Dudes, if you can't get it, don't worry. It's REALLY obscure.)

NY Event Number Eight: Seeing "Indiana Jones" before anybody else.

I stood outside for two hours in the rain, on line, in my soaked-through sneakers, standing under an umbrella, the use of which I find morally abhorrent (I'm a noir girl, damn it), that I had to buy, all in the abysmal area of Manhattan known as Kips Bay, which is the island's closest answer to a suburb. I don't like standing on lines, I don't like being wet, I don't like standing for two hours, I HATE umbrellas, and Kips Bay is lame. What does this prove?

Answer: People will do anything for Indiana Jones.

My friend Jenni got advance passes to see the movie two days before its official release on May 22nd. I don't know how she got them, but I feel like it may have something to do with her job in advertising (She went to a New York Times sponsored event the other day, and occasionally has a new bag, courtsey of various clients. I wish was fancy, but alas, I am not.). In any regard, she got them, passed them off to me, and I headed over through the pouring rain to grab us spaces in line. And was it worth it?

You bet your ass it was.

I won't talk about the plot of the movie (there's probably some secrecy clause I'm entitled to uphold, although I signed nothing), but let's say that while it went a direction I wasn't expecting, it did the legacy proud. And there were a lot of nod-backs to the first three films, which allthe fans will Love. And Marion Ravenwood, the best Indy girl EVER, was in it, and I can't ever complain about that. (Apparently, Karen Allen actually teaches yoga and designs knitwear. Both make her even more amazing.) I also think it was a nice close to Indy's story, and even after all these years, he will always be the first man in my heart.

Or maybe second to Han Solo.

Damn it. Who could choose between them?!

No, okay, Indy.

NO!

Damn it. We'll save that debate for another time.

But seriously: check this out.