Lanesboro, Day 1

*yawn* Thanks for waking me up, Jill. Heh.

Ok, so here I am. I've been teaching from 9 - 4 all week and the little rug rats are wearing me out. They're cute and fun, but they're wearing me out.

Lanesboro. I'll start on Thursday.

Thursday morning I got a late start from my house (as usual), but I knew I'd still be ok dropping off a CD at Youth Performance Company then heading down to Lanesboro. In the middle of my drive I got a call from one of my agents asking if I could stop in sometime that day and do a voice over audition. I said, "Um, I'm on my way out of town. I really can't make it" and hung up. A few minutes later I thought, "Well, I'm already in Minneapolis, so going to Golden Valley won't be too much trouble." I called them back and told them I was on my way in five minutes.

Over to Golden Valley to audition (didn't get it, by they way), then I zipped down Highway 100 to 494 to 52. The traffic was nil, but I was running low on gas and was already an hour or so behind so I had to speed. I kept thinking I was going to see flashing lights in the rearview mirror, and then my car would run out of gas, and then I'd be reeeeeally late getting in and Chris would be mad at me. None of that happened, of course. I got gas in Zumbrota (I think; it was one of those little towns along there), and made it to Lanesboro by 12:30. Not too shabby. (And by the way, once 52 gets outside of Rochester it turns into a two lane road with a 55 mph speed limit. Lame.)

The sky was still overcast and misty, so part of the reason I didn't feel too bad about not getting in right at noon was that I knew we probably wouldn't be shooting with the weather being so uncooperative. The valleys and farmlands surrounding Lanesboro looked gorgeous and mysterious in the mist. I mentioned later in the weekend that I felt like I was in Ireland with the overcast skies and the green grass and whatnot.

Lanesboro is situated in a valley, and the hill to get down into it seems like it could be treacherous if it gets icy in the winter: without even pressing the gas you can get up to 55, 60 miles an hour. It's kind of fun. The town doesn't have any stoplights, and it's all quaint shops and restaurants and sporting gear outfitters. I came to realize that it's a very outdoor sport-centered town. There were canoes for rent, and tandem bikes, four-person bikes, single bikes, rollerblades, etc.

Our accommodations for the week were in an old building above a store called "The Amish Experience." Heh. The rooms, however, were recently updated and very, very nice. I highly recommend the Historic Lodge Inn to anyone visiting Lanesboro. There are three bedrooms with private baths, a nice living room with comfy couches and a big tv, and a full kitchen (although they were short on pots and saucepans). We all thought, "Ok, this makes up for the not getting paid thing."

The weather still hadn't cleared up so we all got a snack and plunked down to watch television. There wasn't much in the way of television, so we might have watched a couple things on Chris or Alex's computer. I can't remember.

Anyway. I got into my wardrobe (I've come to hate that white shirt and those black pants and stinky black socks and sweaty Doc Martens) and we headed out to Eagle Bluffs, the nature preserve where we would be shooting most of the outdoor scenes. Unfortunately, there was no one in the main house so we headed back to town to chill out. We made dinner (mmm..."just add water" pasta!), then watched "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "The Beast of Yucca Flats." Hi-larious, both of them. I'd seen disjointed bits of "Plan 9", but never the whole thing. I'd never seen "Beast of Yucca Flats." In that film, Tor Johnson, one of the stars of "Plan 9", is a Russian doctor who, while running from some random people trying to kill him, gets caught by a blast in the middle of a nuclear testing site in the desert. He then turns into a caveman and kills people. This is a 6 foot tall man with a really big belly and a bald head.

One scene in "Beast" had us all nearly peeing in our pants. (Oh, I almost forgot an important point: all the dialogue was recorded in the studio. You never see anyone's mouth moving, and at one point the camera is focused through a car window, a husband and wife walk up to the car and hold a conversation, but we can only see them from the neck to the waist. Hi-larious, I tell you!) This scene that made us pee went something like this:

Narrator: Thwarted in pursuit of his prey, the Beast unleashes his fury.
Beast awkwardly reaches down, picks up a rock and throws it about two feet, then does a Howard Dean-style scream while waving his arms around. Beast walks a few steps, then turns his head and bellows again like a perturbed cow.

Heh. Heh heh. You should see it. It's really good.

After that movie was over I went to bed. We were supposed to get up at 5 am and film the sunrise shots, but that didn't really happen. More on that tomorrow.

Dehydrated

Lanesboro was lovely. I'm taking a nap now. More later.

Ciao.

Hey all, I'm in Lanesboro until Sunday. Check back on Monday for new stuff.

Fun

Late Monday afternoon I found myself driving up to Foley, Minnesota. Where is Foley, you ask? Well, it's almost two hours outside of the Twin Cities, somewhere near St. Cloud. That's what the maps say, anyway. If you ask me, I'd say it's in the middle of nowhere. It certainly felt like the middle of nowhere as I drove along a country road with farms as far as I could see on either side and me having to pee like the dickens and the needle on my gas gauge threatening empty. When I called Chris to find out if I was anywhere near the location I tried not to sound panicked by the predicament I was in. (And no, I don't know why I didn't fill my tank before I started. I was late getting going so I just started driving. Yes, I know it doesn't make any sense. You try being a girl.)

I, of course, made it to the location before my car died or my bladder burst and poisoned me, as I'm sitting here in (mostly) good health typing this entry. The location of Monday's shoot was a 40-acre spread owned by the family of Chris' friend. It was gorgeous land and I was extremely envious, wishing I had 40-acre money because I would most surely buy land now and build a house on it later. (Although, I really can't really conceptualize how much 40 acres is. I know it's a good sized piece of land, but the scope of it escapes me. Maybe if someone were to explain it in walking time. Or city blocks.) We drove (we had to drive!) on a one lane dirt track out to a barbed wire fence, and then we trekked on foot to an area with rusted tankers and various other cylindrical things whose names and functions I don't know. My character walks through such an area toward the end of the film.

We started with a long tracking shot, meaning I had to go far away and come closer and then Chris followed me while I stared quizzically at rusted metal things. I tried to vary my staring quizzically, but there's only so much one can do. We did a couple takes (maybe more like six), and each time I walked back to my starting point I had to look around and chuckle to myself, "This is part of my job. I may not be getting paid for it directly, but this is work that will hopefully lead to other work, so it's part of my job. Who else gets to play like this for their job?" It was a beautiful, sunny, breezy day, and I got to spend the best part of it outside.

As it turned out Chris probably won't use that first shot, as we switched to one where I came down a hill and tromped around (a much shorter walk for me). After we'd finished with that shot I requested one where I walked through one of the metal monstrosities. The minute I stepped inside of it, though, I saw somewhat sharp edged things all over and I told myself "No falling allowed," even though I'm up-to-date (I think) on my tetanus shots. It was a cool shot, though, and I hope it's included just because it's cool.

After that I was done for the day and we returned to the house where they waited for Emily and I changed clothes to head home. I may be living paycheck to paycheck (and right now they are few and far between), but I'm enjoying myself. I suppose I might have to get a boring job eventually, but I hope not until I move somewhere else. And even then, I hope, I fervently expect, that I won't have to get a boring job.

Catching Up

Well.

Well.

The Fringe Festival has eaten my life, and just today I've been to reach into its jaws and down its slimy throat and claim some of it back. (Sorry, that was gross.)

We've had two shows - of Jordan, that is, and the first went really well. The second was wonky, and I think there was a reviewer from the Pioneer Press in the audience. Nightmare! But we still got a "Worth Considering", so I'll take it. If you haven't come to see it already (and you're in Minnesota), come tonight at 5:30 or Thursday at 10:00 or Saturday at 8:30.

The other news is that the short film I had signed onto, FEED, had some cast changes in the middle of last week. The man cast as the lead, Roger, decided he couldn't commit to the project and bowed out. The director called me and left a message that merely said, "I have something important to talk about with you. Please call me back as soon as you can." Of course, I'm thinking, "Uh oh. It's cancelled. They decided they hate me and they're dropping me. They're moving the shoot to the end of August/beginning of September and I'll be in Europe. Crap." But no, he was calling to tell me that there was no more Roger and to offer me the lead role. I was driving at the time, so I had to restrain myself from getting too excited, but I was excited. Then later I thought, "Well...who's going to play my old part? And will it be a girl or guy?" I asked Chris what he was thinking about all of that and he explained it to me over email and I'm satisfied.

So this past weekend, I opened a show on Friday, went to the Fringe opening night party at the Varsity, got to bed at 2 am, got up at 6:30, drove to Minneapolis to shoot the first few scenes, ended early, went home to take an hour and a half nap, drove back to Minneapolis to perform again at 4 pm, then went to see a show I didn't care for at all, then took a break to eat and write a blistering review of said show that I have yet to post, then saw Theatre Unbound's Best of the 24 Hour Plays and loved it, then performed in "At Arms' Length", then went to Town Hall Brewery to schmooze and hand out postcards, then went to sleep at 3 am, got up at 7, drove to Minneapolis to shoot, went home in the afternoon to take a nap, went back to Minneapolis to catch Christiana's show "Tape", performed in "At Arms' Length" again, went to see "How to Cheat" at 10 pm, hung out with Ariel and Will, went to bed at 2 am, got up again at 7 to shoot in Minneapolis, then went home and took a nap, then drove back to Minneapolis to see "Love in a Time of Rinderpest" at 5:30, "Moment of Life" at 7, and "Pomo Looks Like Porno" at 8:30, then to The King and I Thai to see Janet, a CLIMB Theatre friend who moved to NYC a year ago, got to bed at 1:30 am. I slept in until 10:30 this morning.

And that is the longest sentence I've ever written.

And can you believe I'm not getting paid for any of this? I guess that's how I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing: I don't mind being broke.

Oh! And I finally met Melissa! I gave her a hug, and I hope that wasn't inappropriate, but I felt like I knew her.

Hoo boy.

My day was "Bleh," then it was "WOOOOO!" then it was "Uh oh," and now it's "um...well...?"