i'm so excited!

i just read this article and i think this could potentially be a brilliant movie! i can't wait for it!


Casting: Elton John Ditches Disney

Elton John's CGI-animated musical "Gnomeo & Juliet" still has a heartbeat. According to the Hollywood Reporter, this version of Shakespeare's tragic romance set in the world of tacky garden gnomes will move from Walt Disney Studios to sister division Miramax. When Disney bought Pixar and appointed John Lasseter as its new animation head earlier this year, the long-in-the-works "Gnomeo" was shut down. Discovering it was available, new Miramax president Daniel Battsek jumped at the chance to bring John's edgy musical to his revitalized division and a deal was struck. In its new incarnation, "Gnomeo" will most likely be animated by an independent British animation house, where the production will now be based. With a script in place, plans now call for John to collaborate with Oscar-winning lyricist Tim Rice on the film's songs. Kate Winslet still remains attached to voice Juliet, but no word on who will play her Gnomeo. It's tough when the leading candidate, the "Roaming Gnome," is always ... roaming.

please send good thoughts my way

the mega millions lottery jackpot is $220,000,000. the drawing is tonight.
yesterday at work, three co-workers and i were talking about the recent trend of groups of people winning lottery money. i think the most recent group was a bunch of packers from a meatpacking plant, who pooled their money.
so we decided to do it. the 4 of us pooled our money and i bought the tickets last night. if we win the full amount, my cut would be $55,000,000. not to shabby, eh? i'd be happy even if we just won $100. but i do have to admit, i have most of how i will invest/spend the millions already planned. i want to buy an old williamsburg warehouse and build a theater in it. i want at least one performance space, some rehearsal spaces and a gallery space. if there's any room left, i'd like a few apartments, that i would use to provide subsidized housing for artists. as part of the requirements for them to live there, they'd also have to help manage the arts complex. it'd be my dream to build and manage something like that.
please send your good thoughts my way tonight. i wanna win the jackpot!

good vibrations

last night i went to a concert at warsaw, a really interesting venue in greenpoint. most days of the week, it's the polish national home, hosting events for that orginization. then a few times a week they host indie rock concerts. they sell pergoies and other polish foods and the stage gives me flashbacks of highschool plays. the quirkiness adds to the cool factor AND it's walking distance from home. :)
the headliner of the show was regina spektor. i first saw her perform when she opened for keane at radio city music hall. i was far more impressed with her than the headlining band at the time, so when i heard about this show, i jumped at the chance to see her again. the recordings just don't do her justice. anyone impressed with her cds should definately see her live.
she had two bands open for her. paul, hatim and i had contemplated skipping them, but it had been so long since i've seen new music (besides metal bands) that i was up for seeing them even if it meant going without paul and hatim. (by the way, paul and hatim had never seen regina, but were interested after all of my raves about her. i do not think they were disappointed).
the first band up was the hysterics. apparently they had REALLY nice guitars. i wouldn't know the difference but my escorts couldn't stop talking about the guitars. the guys in the band looked super young, but i was pretty sure they were a local band of twenty-somethings and they just looked young (like people tell me i do). when i got home that night i looked them up on myspace. nope, they're all 16 and 17 years old. they sounded pretty good and may mature into something really good. they were a lot of fun to watch though, even when the lead singer coulding figure out his guitar strap and needed help from the roadie. and the guitarist had a sex pistols shirt on, which is always a good thing.
the next person up was jenny owen youngs. and she was amazing. i've had her song "fuck was i" running through my head all day today. her voice was incredible and she's an awesome guitar player. she told a story about opening for regina in boston and a guy showed up with a rubber fish in his sleeve for her to sign. i thought she was pretty cute and was looking for an opportunity to talk to her after the show without sounding like an idiot. with hatim's encouragement i was going to ask her to sign my boobs (and then take a picture so i could save it for posterity...like on my birthday). but the show ran really late and i was tired from fighting with the crowd and straining to see over people's heads (it's really hard when you're only 5'4"), so i ended up not doing it. i kind of regret that, but i was grumpy and had to go to work the next morning. i didn't want to fight through the crowd to buy her cd, but i did order it from her website as soon as i got home. can't wait to hear it. i really need to learn the lyrics to "fuck was i". i only know the first line and the chorus so i keep singing "love grows in me like a tumor. parasite bent on devouring it's host." and then "what the fuck was i thinking" over and over and over.
and of course regina was brilliant. she has this one song where she plays the piano with one hand, hits her piano bench with a drum stick, stomps a melody with her foot and sings all at once. and it sounds good! she does crazy things with her voice as she's playing complex classical music on the piano...she really should be a lot more famous than she is! if you ever have a chance to see her (or jenny owen youngs) please do. they're both great!
i know i'm raving a lot, but it's been so long since i've been to a concert that was my type of music (whatever that is). the boyfriend's in a metal band, so most of the new music i hear are other metal bands that could only hope to be as good as his band. and i'm not saying this because i'm partial. they really are good. and if the other bands they played with were as good, i wouldn't mind seeing them so much, ya know? i kind of feel like a bad girlfriend, but metal's not my thing.
but anyway, last night was SO much fun...people watching, laughing, and good music. very refreshing. i needed that.

i didn't intend the aerosmith reference, but it's accurate

i'm restless. i need an adventure. i need one of those nights that, while it's happening, you know you'll look back on it fondly for years to come. i need new experiences and new people. it feels like i used to have moments like these so frequently and now my life has settled in to such a monotony. how do i recapture that passion? i feel like there's such a hole in my soul. how do i find that excitement again?

pic

since so many people from my past are popping up and asking me for pictures, etc., here's the most recent one, taken at the read through this sunday for a play my theater company commissioned.

a poem about my pain

a friend sent this poem to me a while back and i love it! it's too funny...and true. i just had to share.

My Pain Keeps Me Regular
--Edward Thomas Herrera

My pain
My pain
My pain

My pain is better than anyone else’s
My pain is more serious than anyone else’s
My pain is more important than anyone else’s

Compared to my pain
Everyone else’s pain is petty
Everyone else’s pain is meaningless
Everyone else’s pain is a day at the beach a walk in the park a
Fucking
Piece of fucking cake
It’s my pain
My pain my pain

My pain beating breasts
My pain licking open sores
My pain crying thick red tears of arterial blood
My pain twisting the knife blade around and around and around
My pain representative of all the injustice that has ever happened
Is happening
Or will happen to anyone anywhere anyhow

My pain
My pain
My pain

I blame my lovers
I blame my parents
I blame organized religion
I blame the current administration
I blame the capitalist system of economics

But most importantly
I blame everyone who has ever lived
Because they have all been party to my torment
If not directly
Then indirectly
If you don’t believe me
Just give me a little time
I can find blood on your hands
Somehow somewhere some way

Trust me
My pain
My pain
My pain

Some say I need to get over it transcend
Some say I need to put it all behind me go on with my life
Some say I may require professional help in order to accomplish all this

But what do they know?
They’ve never experienced my pain
My pain is so truly enormously unique
If I don’t dwell on it then just who would?

My pain
My pain
My pain

Boy howdy does the world owe me but big time

My pain
My pain
My pain

My pain
Allows me to be bitter and resentful
Towards those who have caused my suffering
Towards those who do not share my suffering
Towards those who have not heard about my suffering

My pain
Releases me from the responsibility
Of having to accomplish something with my life
Because I can always blame my failure on my status
As a member of a socially disenfranchised group of people
My pain
Makes me the most important person in this room
And if you don’t agree with me
That’s because you don’t understand
And there’s something horribly horribly wrong with you

Thank you