Hollywoodland
All this time I’d thought I’d posted about Hollywoodland. I worked on it over a year ago, but I just checked the archives and it’s not there.
When I worked on it, it was called ‘Truth, Justice and The American Way’.
The week before the shoot, I went to a costume fitting. The costumers on the show were very picky. Very, very picky. Or at least the designer was. The other girls were pretty cool, nice, lacking the holier-than-thou attitude which gets tiring as an extra. Background actors are truly the bottom of the totem pole and get treated like dirt most of the time. This was no exception so I kept my mouth shut and changed outfits three times even after saying, “I’m extra small.” and variations on that theme because sometimes in order to fit me, I’m given clothes out of the section they consider children’s even though they really are adult. But still, costumers never believe me when I tell them how small I am and I have no idea why.
The Costume Designer finally settled on a green gingham sundress that I absolutely loved, too. The belt she added didn’t seem right, but I guess from far enough away, it’d look okay. The light pink button-up sweater reminded me of my grandma and was super-soft. And I was glad for that little sweater because I get cold very easily. The shoes looked great, but felt awful. I prayed that I wouldn’t have to be on my feet for very long on the day of filming.
The Hair and Make-up lady gave me nail polish and lipstick and a sheet on how to do the rest of my make-up. I was pretty scared because I’m lousy at putting on make-up, but it didn’t sound too difficult. And she was the first Hair Designer who didn’t freak out that my hair is short. The scene was to take place in 1953, I think.
Fast forward to the big day.
I showed up early to the school auditorium that’d serve as holding. There were two categories: children and parents. Guess which category I fell into?
For some reason our costumes either didn’t make it onto the truck or were misplaced. It took a little while to find our outfits, but I got into mine just fine. The shoes…oh, the shoes…ow, the shoes.
Anyway, they were shooting in multiple locations. Of course, my scene was up last. I got my hair done in a great 50s style and my make-up was retouched from the job I’d done. I felt like I looked great to start. But I was feeling pretty wilted after waiting in holding for nine or so hours and finally boarding a bus to the set.
It was a neighborhood scene in which about twenty kids were playing with all sorts of cool toys and the three of us ‘Moms’ were gathered together talking. Then, all of our kids start running toward the houses and we break up and follow. You see, the theme song to Superman came on and all the kiddies had to go inside to watch. It was a very big deal for us.
UPDATE: Yes, that really is me waaaaaaaaaaay in the deep background, almost hidden by the tree and the bicycle. This is probably one of my smallest appearances on screen!
We did several takes. My feet ended up numb, but I felt pretty good about the work I’d done despite the pain. I don’t know if I can be seen, but my little bit was supposed to be during the opening credits of the movie. I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know if I’m on the cutting room floor or not.
The best part about the long wait and then the single, relatively simple scene was that once it was done and the sun was going down, I got to leave…and slip on my comfy shoes for the drive home!
busy girl
After cancan-ing my little heart out at WorldCon last month and then enjoying a visit from my parental units this past week, I’m pretty darn exhausted, but pleased.
Otherness: Rift comes out in less than two months and I’m beside myself with glee!
‘Course there’s also tons of work to be done in preparation for that big day, but one step at a time is all I can handle right now.
As I’ve blogged before, I’m currently producing a wine review video podcast website at www.wineass.com and good golly has that kept me busy in such an awesome way. I love to learn and much learning I have done. Perhaps there’s a novel or two in the experience as well.
And I’ve been sewing… Not just my Leeloo {from 5th Element}-Does-Cancan costume (still awaiting pictures ’cause we had a camera meltdown at WorldCon). I’m trying to shovel out my beautiful craft room and in order to do that, these projects new and old need to either be finished or tossed.
I’m votin’ for finished.
First up: A pair of jungle green satin pants with a royal blue lace overlay–complete with appliques. Sounds kinda bizarre, huh? It probably will be. I’m not far enough along to know for sure!
Pardon my little chuckle here, but I’m multi-tasking… I’m exporting a freshly edited video while blogging and while waiting for my iron to heat up. I feel like some odd combination of techno/textile geekage has come over me.
And I LOVE it!
Life changes, sometimes quickly
I haven’t forsaken my blog, I swear it. I just got very sick and then very busy. During those sick weeks, my life sort of got rearranged…for the better, but it’s just not the same thing it was before RT.
Part of the change was because I agreed to do something rather odd… I agreed to dance the Cancan while costumed as Leeloo from the Fifth Element. Come to WorldCon and catch the costume Masquerade. The show I’m dancing in is the half-time show.
Yeah. Not only am I soooooo not a dancer, I also had to build my costume. Believe me, cancan dresses are quite involved. I’m about half way through construction and while I love it, good grief, what a lot of work!
But the one thing I can say for certain is that I’m learning a lot. A helluva lot.
Also, in the life changing department, Jason and I plus a couple friends have started up a wine review site featuring video podcasts. We’re trying to break the barrier between wine snobs and the general public. We don’t want to use colorful language (ie. our reviewer would never describe the ‘nose’ of a wine, he’d say, “smells like…”) and we want to be accessible to everyone, not just people with boatloads of money.
See for yourself at wineass.com.
I’ve learned so much just in these last couple months, it’s incredible. I have learned how to edit video and sew a mean pair of bloomers.
But, I tell ya, I can’t wait until September…or at least until after WorldCon so that my life can chill out and get back to…uh…well…”normal”.
Numb3rs
Very long day, but not a bad experience.
Upon arrival at the abandoned hospital location, I became aware that there were two productions sharing the place. Unfortunately, the production I was working on was the least obvious. See, the basecamps sort of glommed together and where I was supposed to be was down in the loading dock. Everyone I asked failed to mention that tidbit and I ended up walking around the building a time and a half.
Which gave me blisters.
Yeah. Before the day had started, my heels had grown blisters the size of nickels. And we were there for 13 hours…walking through frame.
Well, it wasn’t all walking through frame…
I went to wardrobe and got my scrubs. (I was playing a nurse.) The girl who handed them to me said that they were Mediums and that they’d be a little big on me. I went to change and I actually felt the need to back to the wardrobe trailer and ask if I looked okay. I felt like I was wearing a tent and I had to pull the pants up and roll the waisband in order not to trip on them. The costumers said I looked, “Very comfortable that day,” so I shrugged and walked away. I really don’t care what I’m wearing, I just don’t want the costumer to look like an idiot for putting me in something wrong, wrong, wrong.
At that point, I went to my car and changed shoes, but it was too late. The damage had already been done. Thankfully, my other pair wasn’t as tight and I was able to slide my heels away a little.
The prop guys set us all up with badges and name tags. I became an Orderly named Jordan. Nice.
The first few hours were great. I sat in holding and read a book. CRAZY HOT by Tara Janzen. OMG, it was incredible. By the time we were called to the set, I was deeply engrossed and didn’t want to put the book down so I brought it with me.
Right from the get-go, I could tell that the day would be long, but not difficult.
I was placed and when the time came, I crossed up, then halfway down, then across, then all the way down. Ignoring my blisters became more and more difficult with all of that walking.
Most of the day was spent doing either all or portions of that sequence and in between, I read CRAZY HOT. It was so freakin’ good!!!! People were asking me what I was reading and noticing my progress on it.
After two more scenes, I finished the book and was almost disappointed just because it was sooooooo good I wanted more!!!!
I wish I had more to report from this shoot, but apparently I missed the good stuff. They’d done a stunt before coming to the hospital location. Ah well. Maybe next time.
I don’t even have any good spoilers because I couldn’t hear most of the conversations going on. *sigh* At least it was a great crew and I did have fun–even when my nose wasn’t buried in CRAZY HOT.
Brothers and Sisters
Good golly it has been ages since my last gig.
Okay, Brothers and Sisters. It’s a new TV show with a huge ensemble cast. There were familiar faces plus a few I recognized: Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Balthazar Getty.
And I must say everyone was looking wonderful–despite the shot being a funeral.
This was my first trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and I wish I’d had more time to explore. I suppose I’ll have to go back in order to pay my respects to William Desmond Taylor, Rudolph Valentino, Florence Lawrence and others. I did, however see Mel Blanc’s grave. That was the street I was instructed to park my Viper on when I arrived.
My trip through wardrobe wasn’t surprising. I always try to wear something that might spark interest in diversity, so it was no surprise when I had to change. Every show loves my plain black pants. (Thanks Mom for buying those for me in, like, 1990)(They’re good pants, and I wore them so infrequently that they’re still black!)(And now that every costumer under the sun loves them, I dry clean them to keep them black!) The costumer gave me a black shirt with beige flowers. She sounded apologetic when she gave it to me, but I really didn’t care. It wasn’t ugly. It was considerably more conservative than I usually wore, but it wasn’t a bad shirt.
My biggest objection to anything was simply that I didn’t want to be wearing black on a 90+ degree day outside in the sun, but as this was a funeral, there was no chance of wearing anything other than black.
Once through wardrobe, I was instructed to stay with my car. No biggie. I pulled out my blanket and layed it on the grass over some nice people’s graves and sat down to read a book–A Horrible History of England by Terry Deary. It wasn’t for another hour or so that I pulled out my folding chair. And then, of course, it was time to go to the set.
All the cars got turned around and in line to go about a block down the cemetery road to provide a backdrop for the memorial. It was going to be a day of leaving the car parked while I worked. Cool… ‘Cause ‘drive-forward, back-up’ in my Viper can get super expensive.
When everyone was being placed, I did my best to get in the shade. At that, I succeeded, however, during the first shot, I was literally behind one of those standing bouquets of flowers. I’ve learned never to take offense and to just let the day go on as it will.
Wise choice. As it turned out hours later, there was even one shot where they gave me my very own mark on the grass. Oddly enough, in order to frame the shot properly, I was standing in front of the line of cast members. Weird, very weird. But nifty in the same manner.
There were several shots of the memorial itself and several more shots of everyone breaking up and going to our cars. And I think I really had the toughest job of all. See, once the flowers were gone, I had a straight shot of Balthazar Getty. So there I stood, for hours on end, forced to look at such a beautiful man. Oh, the hardship! (OMG I wanted to call Jen just to tell her how hot he was in person. Very intense in his acting, yet easy with a smile and a joke between takes. I have one word to describe him: Yummy!)
Anyway, somehow, I ended up working in every dispersal shot except one. Depending on the footage they edit together, you might be able to see me walking away in both directions!
I mentioned it, but no one seemed to care. And because of that, I assumed the shots weren’t very wide and if I’m seen at all, I’m only a blur. Fine by me. I get paid whether I’m on camera or not. It’ll just be funny if can pick myself out of both directions.
I wish I had more action and adventure on this one–seeing as how it’s my first one back from that bizarre, extended hiatus I unintentionally took. Oh well… I still have yet to cash in my ticket to stunt driving school (And I gotta do that this year!) Hopefully, I’ll get a few more exciting gigs soon.
I came home very ill
In fact, I don’t fully recall any head colds in my recent history which were this evil.
I do recall one back in ’94 or ’95 when I was the technical director of a high school production of the Sound of Music…or was it South Pacific when I was so ill? Either way, I completely lost my voice and was having to whisper-holler from the back of the gym. See, if I’d taken a day off, the show wouldn’t’ve gone on very well. The show always goes on, but I owed the kids a damn good show and that was what they put together my illness notwithstanding.
But ten years later? Well, let’s just say I’m taking those days off that I missed back then and I’m not entirely convinced that I ‘missed’ much those years ago. I’ve watched the entire 6th season of Highlander in the last two days. What I wouldn’t give to be able to read a book without my eyes getting all bleary. Another day or so and I’ll be writing again. I have so much to say, too!
RT was AWESOME! I missed Jen a lot, but I also made a lot of new friends. I’ve got tons to write about there. One of my new, well…newer, friends Kathy Love is a finalist for the Prism awards. I can’t wait until RWA National to see how it all turns out.
Also, today, I discovered that my hubby, Jason Stoddard is a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon award. I love my man. Yeah, the same guy with the “I think. I can.” shirt on in some of the engine swap pics is a finalist. That’s awesome. Life is good.
Off to RT!
It’s do or die now.
The wardrobe has been carefully chosen and packed.
The shoes are to die for.
I think I’m ready.
I think.
No. I know I am. ‘Cause if my bags are packed, I’m totally there!!!!!!!!!!
See ya’ll upon my return! I have sooooo much posting to do.
Just ’cause it’s Friday!
I tend to do mini-celebrations on Fridays for no apparent reason. You’ll likely catch me wearing my wildest and weirdest stuff on Fridays or perhaps driving a car that I haven’t driven all week. Hell, even lighting a different candle, wearing silly socks or drinking a different tea than my usuals ones. Granted, it doesn’t take much to get me to celebrate. But the amount of celebration tends to be according to the day. And well, today’s celebration is simply…
‘Cause it’s Friday…
Meet Toad and the Toadlets (Warwick and Llewelyn).
These pics are actually about a year and a half old, but I just found them last week while looking for pics of England to share on this blog and I had to post them. I mean, it’s Friday and these pics made me giggle. I figured I’d post the following picture so that you could get an idea of the magnitude of my desert tortoise. The two on his back are his children.
So far, Toad has tons of personality, but even a year and a half later, the Toadlets have yet to develop distinct personalities. I suppose there’s decades for that to happen!
LaLaCon 2006
This past weekend was a blast! My hubby, Jason Stoddard, was the Writer Guest of Honor at LalaCon 2006 and I got to sit in on a couple of panels with him.
This con is a very relaxed, fun one that I’ve done for two years in a row now and absolutely love it. Of my favorite moments, one of the best was discussing the future of writing with Jason, John DeChancie, George Van Wagner and Larry Niven. Had this been more of a writing conference, that would’ve made for a fantastic panel discussion with all of us having different ideas. Very fascinating stuff.
Here’s a shot of the panel I did with Jason. Special thanks to fellow Fictionado George Van Wagner for snapping this pic!
We’re seated at the head of the hall where all LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) meetings are held. Jason was probably talking about his short stories or the novel he just finished. Me, however, I’m listening intently, trying to think up another question to ask, but failing miserably. This con is so relaxing, it relaxed all the good questions out of my brain!
Okay, I can’t resist… I need to point out and explain a few things in the shot. Starting with the buttons on my shoulders. One’s the con nametag. The other is my geeky scrolling LED badge that I tried out for the first time this weekend. Definitely a worthwhile purchase. It’ll get loads of use at the Romantic Times Booklover Convention in a few weeks.
Also of odd note, the way I’m sitting… I had no idea that yoga has permeated into my regular habits. Also, of note are my shoes. Outside the panel, I was engaged in a conversation about them. They are real Victorian shoes and are super duper narrow and pointy. They might not be quite 1800s, but darn close to it. They aren’t copies, they’re the real deal. I can’t believe they’re in such great shape for their age, either. I love them to pieces, but can only wear them once or twice a year for fear of damaging them.
I’ll be getting to my bits of England soon. There are so many pics, I might just have to choose random shots from all of my trips there.
In other news not quite suitable to announce on my website because it isn’t really worth shouting about just yet, my new novel, _Otherness:Rift_, has a cover even though it won’t be coming out until this Fall. I’m so excited! I’ll share the artwork as soon as it’s officially finished.
Getting it done
And here we have the final post about the engine swap experience. I only wish I could’ve done an mp3 of starting up the car. 1) I didn’t even think of it. 2) If I had, it would’ve prolonged turning the key. I was so jazzed that my car was finally back together that I simply couldn’t wait a moment longer than necessary.
That final day, Jason and I were putting the last bits on the engine and buttoning everything up. As you can see in the following pic, I was glad that yoga is such a big part of my life now. Not only am I even more impossibly flexible, I’m also a lot stronger and both of those qualities come in handy while working on cars… Well at least they do for me!
The following is Jason’s favorite pic of the adventure. The car is together and we’re just about to start it. Right after this shot, we opened the garage door and I turned the key…and gas promptly leaked out of the fuel rail. Arrrrrrrrrgh! We didn’t get to officially start the car until the next day after I made a parts run. And wouldn’t ya know it? The darn thing started as though I’d just parked the car an hour ago. What an awesome sound that is, too–a new engine starting up. Yeah, there’s smoke and weirdness, but there’s also nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done.
Actually, I think that previous pic might’ve been just after I’d put in the starter. With headers on the car, it’s impossible to get the starter in without cranking the steering wheel. Jason had taken the starter out but then couldn’t figure out how to get it back in. He cranked the wheel while I went under while the car was still jacked up…And discovered that because starters are so heavy and my arms are so wimpy, the only way I’ve been able to wrestle with and install them is because my forearm happens to be the perfect length to tilt my hand back, cradling the starter while shoving it into place. We had to set the car back onto the ground because my arm got too tired holding up the damn starter! I’ve learned the funniest things about myself and how I work on cars…
Anyhow, this last shot (sorry it’s dark, my flash didn’t go off when I needed it), is after the test drive. My valve covers didn’t have baffles in them and too much oil was coming out of the breathers. We used Eddie’s method of tying red shop rags around the bases. Worked brilliantly! (And it’d be months before I solved this problem more permanently!)
There you have it!!!!! I’m a chick who works on cars and you’ve seen the photographic proof!
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