Yes. This:
http://dontevenreply.com/

Labels: humor

If you are wienering around (isn't that more pleasant than saying "dicking" around?) and haven't got much to do - or just don't feel like doing it - reward yourself by watching scenes from Alan Berliner's documentary "Nobody's Business"

enjoy these clips here because it's hard to find anywhere!

And enjoy this clip from the Documentary "American Movie" about some Wisconsin guys trying to make a low budget movie, where pretty much everything goes wrong that could go wrong - this is a scene where the director is trying to get his dad to do a voice over:



And here's an excellent film about cat massage:


I truly love this new Massive Attack song and very NSFW music video:
New Massive Attack Video - "Paradise Circus" (Feat. Hope Sandoval) (NSFW) Adult movies used to be shot on real film and were completely visually different, and a truly unique look at 1970s human behavior.

Speaking of NSFW - Chef Academy's Emmanuel!!!! I love reality shows about cooking and now I love them more.


AND ON A PERSONAL NOTE
My first semester of film school is just about over. Tomorrow the faculty evaluates my film, and I've already started shooting my documentary project and writing my adaptation (we adapt a short story into a short film) which will keep me well occupied till May!

That's about as personal as it gets right now. I shall lead you to believe that I am a goal oriented and focused young lady.

Labels: movie

(it's real, not a joke)



Courtney,

When I say I love you, I am not ashamed, nor will anyone ever ever come close to intimidating, persuading, etc me into thinking otherwise.

I wear you on my sleeve. I spread out wide open with the wing span of a peacock, yet all too often with the attention span of a bullet to the head.

I think its pathetic that the entire world looks upon a person with patience and a calm demeanor as the desired model citizen, yet there’s something to be said about the ability to explain ones self with a toned down, tune deaf tone.

And I will say it: I am what they call the boy who is slow. How I metamorphosised from hyperactive to cement is for the lack of a better knife to the throat hu, annoying, aggrevating, confusing as dense as cement.

Cement holds no other mineral. You can’t even find fools gold in it. Its strictly man made and youve taught me it’s ok to be a man and in the classic mans world

I parade you around proudly like the ring on my finger which also holds no mineral.

Love Kurt

This makes me happy:


This makes me afraid:
Alligator F---house

This weekend I decided to sing again.

Reason:
to enjoy it.

The last time I sang I was 18. I had about 10 years of voice lessons, mostly classical, and used to sing in all sorts of choirs. I miss it. It felt good, it kept my mind active in a partly soul warming partly mathematical way.

So I will start taking private voice lessons again, 1 hour a week, get my voice back into shape - because it is out of shape, and I want to relearn all of my favorite classical songs. I prefer to sing Italian arias and have a couple favorites in French and Spanish too. So I'd like to relearn those, and if I get good enough, I'll perform them on a stage! Maybe mix classical Italian pieces with comedy. Could be something fun to play with there - already getting ideas!

I'll start lessons in a couple of weeks.

Here's one of my favorite songs by Claude Debussy

And I will definitely relearn this one!!!
Beau Soir (Beautiful Evening)
Claude Debussy, arranged by Linda Steen Spevacek

When, ’neath the setting sun,
flows a river in evening,
and the warm summer wind blows out across the field
Then from all things a thought arises to be happy,
and it counsels the troubled heart.
And it tells us we should enjoy the gift of living
while we’re young and the sun is setting in full bloom.
For we shall go away,
like water that is flowing.
It to the sea,
we to the tomb.

See - hilarious.

Labels: music

One of the reasons my ex best friend dumped me is because he said I've been too sad and too negative all this year.
And he's right.
I've been much more sad and negative than in the past.

I'd lost my job.
I left my favorite apartment where I used to love life.
I was getting too old and not amounting to anything yet.
And I was in a terrible relationship with a wonderful man who I loved deeply.

Today the sky is giving out coldness and beautiful interesting drops of half snow rains.
I love the rain and love the snow more.
I miss the view out of my 5th floor window onto Delancey Street.
I miss going out into the living room with weird Annemarie and the ease of laughter that came along with it.
I miss the warm oven and the meals we made.
I miss Stephen and Evan and Adam on Saturdays eating my cooking.
My fridge always stocked with beer and my cabinets always stocked with whisky.
The stemless wine glasses before they all broke, they would sit on my windowsill in the mornings after.
My iPod alarm clock played all of the songs we loved.

Last Christmas I bought a wreath made of fresh pine.
My bank account was full and fat and the streets of SoHo invited me to buy things made of leather.

I'm still in love with the man who made me cry too many times.
Still in love with the view from the fifth floor window and the music of the people and cars below. I always dreamed about the empty penthouse across the street with the big windows and spiral staircase.

I'm absolutely nowhere right now but in between.
There's really no love, just labor.

This is the year of doing the right thing.
Clinical
Pharmaceutical
Goal Oriented
Road for Traveling.

Labels: essay

My best friend doesn't like me anymore. No, seriously. And it would be weird to go into details, but he basically thinks that we aren't like each other, that he's grown out of me. His reasons that he gave hurt. Bigtime. It feels deeply terrible to be judged and rejected by someone you really care about, and especially as I feel blindsided by it, and that it is a surprise.

I've also broken up with my boyfriend recently.

And this year I'm no longer affiliated with the fashion designer I used to support, nor am I a part of their world which includes events that many of my friends take part in. That's due to an offensive incident that was too offensive to forgive without an apology.

A closed door, a person with whom I need to stop speaking to because it's not healthy, and a burned bridge.

There are some people in my life I've experienced great difficulty with. Some that I need to love with distance because we don't get along, and I love them nonetheless. But ending love where it doesn't need to end is quite the beast, which is how I feel about the ex friend.

Human connections and relationships are deeply valuable and shouldn't be taken for granted or thrown away. Especially not completely. I think, for the sake of humanity, it's important to try to connect, sometimes especially when it's challenging. At least in a case where a sincere connection existed.

I'm really hurt - I mean how could he? Right? That's there. It's sad, disappointing. How could he. It's pain, it's ugliness, it's bad stuff - and that bad stuff is so hard to understand.

I'm going to try and learn from the things he told me he didn't like. I'm going to try to focus on the friendships I do have and strengthen them. I'm going to focus on myself, my career, school, developing my abilities. That's all I can figure out, and I have to remind myself of it because it isn't an automatic instinct. There's definitely petty, angry, discouraged moments - which are fine to experience - those honest emotions should be dealt with.

In Terminator 2, Arnold said "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves." as a robot speaking about humans.

I'm not sure if he's right, but if we are a people who devalue human connection, who cannot see the humanity in each other - no matter if someone is a bad guy, weak, or misguided - then we will fail. I believe there is a balance between destruction and creation. The destruction of love between people probably sends pulses of evil through the ether. But there is joy and there is happiness and there is creation. It exists.

Both god and the devil are inside us, and we destroy and nurture ourselves throughout our existence. I'm sure that the destruction of love hurts our souls. So in conclusion, I say - try not to.

And I don't think the robots will take over in the end, but there might be lots of lasers, which seem awesome until they are searing your flesh.

Labels: essay

tonight I am experiencing terrible insomnia, largely because sad things and stressful things are distressing me and making me toss and turn

I didn't want to get up out of bed

I wanted the sleeping to commence

but I'm thankful that I did

I found my way to some really great kitten videos



thank you kittens
for being cute and being proof of goodness

I needed a reminder

cause there's poopies in my tea
really, that's what I'm feeling like, to an extent

That I had a really nice cup of tea and there's an actual real little poopy in there.

wtf

the kittens. the lack of sleep. that's why I said that
just forget it.

Gwar is coming to town Dec 13 and I think I want to go to that.


Rob Lathan did something very funny for Improv Everywhere! Rob makes the best confused face.

Those UHO jars are a scam.

This is sad and scary. This photo is especially haunting.

Speaking of sad, scary and haunting, I finally saw Schindler's list, which I avoided because who is ever up for sitting down to experience the holocaust in film? I will say that I was more afraid of it than I should be. It's more historical, and trying to be uplifting, especially with the ending, than I expected. I feel like I learned something from this depiction. I was afraid that I'd just be sitting down to hours of horror, considering the subject material, but it's mostly hours of humanity - yes showing horror but not in a way that is simply meant to be terrible. Get it? See it.

Emails from Crazy People.


Jan Terri!!! Please watch until she starts to sing. This song is so catchy. Gotta love her.
"Jan Terri (born December 31, 1960?) is a former musician from Chicago who gained notoriety for her VHS music videos. She recorded two albums, High Risk[1] and Baby Blues[2] in the early 90s, along with VHS cassettes including her music videos, which have recently become popular with the advent of YouTube." - wikipedia

Also saw Funny People while at home for thanksgiving. So many bad words! And naked boobs! My parents insisted on watching with me. SOOO embarrassing. Thought it was a well written story and good film, not especially funny, but also I think overdoing on the dick jokes on purpose to realistically portray what you will find in standup these days. Still a big fan of Apatow and Rogan.

Here, have some:

Bear in Heaven - Lovesick Teenagers

Yeasayer - Ambling Alp

Both links give you mp3s.

And these lyrics to Ambling Alp just feel so good to hear:

Now, the world can be an unfair place at times
But your lows will have their complement of highs
And if anyone should cheat you, take advantage of, or beat you
Raise your head and wear your wounds with pride

You must stick up for yourself, son
Never mind what anybody else done

The track has a joyous 80s feel, and is so positive, uplifting, and fun.

If you really want to take off to another level, have yourself some Feel Flows


I was also really excited to see this video from a fellow classmate in my film program:

Pink from Sarah-Violet Bliss on Vimeo.

The dialogue is really awesome and smart! There's a lot of talent among my classmates, but it made me especially excited to know I'm in the company of someone who wants to make great comedies too.


How are you spending your sunday? I'm having a nice evening at home licking my J&D's Bacon Flavored Mmmvelopes.

Labels: music

Musical ones. I don't really know how to play them.
I tried guitar when I was 15, and sang and read sheet music and all that.
But I've never absorbed an instrument successfully.

It's crazy how you have to learn something with patience, diligence, and precision, in order to burst it apart and make hysterical noise.

I think musical instruments are artificial appendages that must be learned to be used.
Sad that one must be calmed down for the learning process.

Mostly I'm just sad, I'd really love to get inside Dave Grohl's brain like in the Malkovich movie, and feel what it's like to drum Lithium, and I'd really like to feel that RIGHT NOW!

Labels: music

I've started up classes again and have lots of things to do, which is fueling me with energy at the moment. All kinds of energies - positive and negative.

There's certain things you need to know.
One is that The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is an excellent and sophisticated film in spite of its title. It tells a story from a female perspective that is honest, not black and white, but true. There are many very subtle, delightful jokes in the film, everything from a funny framing to a wardrobe choice. The acting and directing are also superb. I hope Robin Wright gets an Oscar nom. I think Rebecca Miller, writer/director, could get an adapted screenplay award too.

I met Harvey Weinstein recently. He's a hilarious and friendly man. Which shocked and awed me.

And I saw the film NINE, and got to meet the cast. I'm not into musicals, but this was really well executed, and FULL of sexual energy. Penelope Cruz is going to make an impression on a lot of people's pulses. The finest moments to me were the opening with Daniel Day Lewis, and a scene during the screening of dailies with Marion Cottilard and DDL.

I've also seen the Wild Things movie when it opened. If you'd like diversity in this blog post - I did not like this film. Monsters should be monsters, not melodramatic turdburglers. I thought a story was forced out of the subject material that lost the original appeal of the book. Also, my favorite moment was missing - where the boy's room transforms into the forest. So sad, I do love Spike Jones. So I blame Eggers.

OTHER THUMBS UP FOR A CLASSIC THAT I FINALLY SAW
- Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing: full of vibrant energy and life. A critical look from the inside of brooklyn culture.

SO NOW
In school, for the next 4 weeks, we edit our 4 minute B/W film, we start pre-production for our upcoming 5 minute observational documentary, and we start reading the short stories we will adapt for our last project of 1st year - an adaptation. Busy month!

I ALSO LIKE
- Gregor's blog about great food of NYC/reflections on his life here before hopping over to LA

BLOW YOUR MIND UP


Joy Division and Buzzcocks, punk rock circa UK late 1970s, have been pumping up my jam majorly lately.

Labels: movie

I saw a screening of the new film "The Messenger" followed by a Q and A with director/writer Oren Moverman and stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster - and I couldn't have loved it more. I've been seeing so many movies lately by all of the masters in film school - and this film really impressed me.

It's about the soldiers who have to tell families that their son/daughter/husband/wife has been killed in combat. It takes place in the present, with the war going on right now.

It's largely about the working relationship/friendship between Harrelson and Foster - and their acting couldn't have been any more natural, real, both funny and moving. I've always loved Woody Harrelson for his balance of humor and sincerity on screen. Foster got to me as the irritating Russel in my favorite tv show, Six Feet Under. Foster totally blew me away in this role.

Samantha Morton and Steve Buschemi also played so movingly and realistically in the film.

A lot of small choices added to the reality of the film. Samantha Morton gained some weight, so she looked a lot more authentic. She has a half black kid, which speaks to the fact that hey - there's also a lot of black men in the military too, though they weren't the main characters. I was surprised by the use of sex and nudity in the top of the movie. If you like Jena Malone's butt, you're going to love seeing her in a very realistic sex scene. I think the reason for this is it sets an emotional tone, and heightens the level of intensity of the charactor's experience.

There is an intimate scene between Ben Foster and Samantha Morton that seems so real, such a balance of pushing toward and pulling away - and I've really felt that in different circumstances. Moverman explained that he got it all in one long take, placing the camera through a window outside of the room, and actually used one long rehearsal take because he thought it was perfect. Smart thinking, and a pretty clever way to get around producers messing with your edit.

The story is well rounded and offers a thought provoking exploration of the soldier's reality.

I hate war. I think if the world was run by women, we'd have UN meetings and verbal battles instead of combat. It's primitive, unnecessary, and not progressive. BUT it's reality. And it's a part of the world we live in. Many young men and women live this reality, and Oren Moverman helped me understand a lot more about their experience.

I'm sorry for the soldiers that this is the way the world is. I wish the politicians and angry terrorists would stop sending them to die.

---
They will have a screening this Friday and cast and directors will be there as well. Go!

Labels: movie

"Why are songs like three or four minutes, and why are records 40
minutes long? They're based on the record, vinyl, the CD, and these
forms are antiquated now. So can't an album be eternity, or can't it be
five minutes? ... I no longer really have faith in the album anymore. I
no longer have faith in the song."
- Sufjan Stevens
http://pitchfork.com/news/37026-sufjan-stevens-calls-the-50-states-album-project-such-a-joke/

Way for Sufjan to try opening my gosh darned mind. I will say that something feels natural and right about these times. The same thing bothers me about movie and tv show lengths and how arbitrary they can be. Then again something seems to feel right experientially about them. Uh. Go Yankees.


ALSO

Finally a new Bright Eyes song that's good ... cause I didn't really like the last album/solo stuff as much :(

BRIGHT EYES - LIME TREE from Alex Turvey on Vimeo.

Labels: music

I'm going to perform some comedy again in early January.
So that's when I'll perform again.

And then I'll stop again for school.

And then I'll perform some more in the summertime most likely.

So that's when I'll perform some more again.
And then I'll stop for school.


This is a young Martin Scorcese LOOKING AT YOU.
He played a creepy man in his own movie, Taxi Driver, which I just watched.

To me taxi driver is about loneliness and the need for meaningfulness, specifically love and human connections, as a vital part of human existence.

Otherwise, the mind is chaos, and anything is possible as a consequence of an aimless and unloved human soul. Joys are random, the soul is detached.


This is a Windows 7 Whopper in Japan. It is a real thing.

- This is an article about Tim and Eric Awesome show which is pretty much the best thing going in new comedy.

- I really like the idea of Sonic Fabric but have yet to experience it. It's absolutely beautiful to revive old data.

- Read about the concept of Data Rot aka Bit Rot. Watch Google's great Vint Cerf talk about Data Rot among other things.

Labels: knowledges

Below a section from this article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/28/scovell.letterman.vanityfair/index.html

There are no women writing for the Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien shows, Scovell said, and it's not because there aren't any who are interested in applying.

"[Women] certainly don't [apply] in the same numbers as men. But that's partly because the shows often rely on current (white male) writers to recommend their funny (white male) writers," she wrote. "I'm also aware of several worthy females who have submitted material and never heard back."

She wonders if women aren't on the staffs because male writers believe they would throw off the workroom dynamic.

"[Men] want to be able to scarf an entire bag of potato chips while cracking fat jokes and making lewd comments without fear of feminine disapproval," she said. "But [women writers] are co-workers, not wives. Crack a decent fart joke and, as professionals, [women] will laugh."

to add to the fantasy to-do list:
BE the gosh darned late night comedy talk show host.
(but honestly I'd rather write/direct/perform in episodic comedy television and films. still. there's people who've been considered for these jobs when i was at their level. so. i'm still doing something about it. just that, well. better freaking be able to crack the system sooner or later.)


also related:

Female comedians can't be too distracting with their boobies and such! Or can they? Maybe they just have to be funny or talented and nobody cares what they look like.

I met Angela Trimbur back in June at UCB and thought she was amazing. We commiserated about the experience of being a lady comedian. When she visited NYC this summer, we thought - let's do a video together! So here's what we whipped together. Enjoy.

Written/Directed by Heather Fink
Featuring:
Angela Trimbur
Heather Fink
Trevor Williams
Jordan Brown
Bob Acevedo
Sarah Nusya -Natochenny
Lizette Garcia

Cameramen: Dan Zimmer and Trevor Williams
Edited by: Ed Mundy

Filmed at Cake Shop

Labels: video

So as a part of my film program, classes stop for 4 weeks when we shoot each other's films. We are a class of 36 divided into 6 groups of 6. We each take turns doing all of the roles in the crew - writer/director, director of photography (cameraman), assistant camera, sound, and producer/ad. And we each get one shoot off. Most shoots are 3 days. We did mine first! Now I'm sound person. It involves a lot of stress and running around and hurting your back and being up at 5am and standing outside in the cold. I'm tired, but I'm also quite happy. I had some scary times with the handling of my film itself, but I think all will end well. Best of all we had lots of fun and my parents spoiled us (our shoot took place in suburbia near my parents house), my actors Ann Carr, Rob Lathan, and Adam Good were amazing, so was my makeup artist ... ugh I'll wait till the film is done and share all of the great credits cause now I'm getting tired again.

In the meantime, a photo of young Martha Stewart when she was a model:


an article about lots of dead bodies in Washington Square Park

a creepy weird Martin Lawrence monologue for SNL back in the day

an interesting discussion on the topic of O sounds

and a photo of your parents

I bet you didn't know them. Now you can know them.

(on Janie Marshall's Dude Wear This)

Labels: press

When you break up with someone, it feels unavoidably terrible. And you just have to get through it.

So. There you have it. I must accept that terrible feeling of repetitive stabbing pain as necessary and essential.

Living each day to the fullest doesn't quite apply when you subject yourself to the masochism of doing the right thing.

Labels: essay