Aw yeah, baby: 207 and 207a

I moved. I have a wierd walk-in closet (207a) which is not big enough for a bed but appears to be considered a single dorm room for an unlucky Smith student, and a HUGE bedroom (207) with hardwood floors and a bay window, outside one of which there is a constant loud drip from the eaves after it rains (which lately is all the time). Penny bought me a catnip pouch and Poky played with it, got all bitey and paranoid, and then puked on the floor. Good thing we moved out of the carpeted room. Poor Poky's not good with the hard drugs.

We opened our show! It's not half-bad! This is a 500-seat theater, and it was insane to step out there tonight thinking, "Let's see if I say my lines and make all my entrances, and get all my scenes in order." And I did! See!? You CAN put up a show in a week. They've got it down to a science out here.

Party Pooper.

God, do I ever feel like the weakest link out here. These people like to PARTAAAAAAAAY!. I feel like I'm in NO POSITION to party, because I open a show in 3 days that I stared rehearsing 5 days ago. I'm still up there just praying the right lines, ANY lines, come out of my mouth. And meanwhile everyone from my show and the show that is currently running, and the artistic director, AND designers, come over to the actor housing and drink and whip up margaritas in the blender and bake cookies and grill and play cards and dance. You know what I do? Rehearse, eat, try to coordinate next season (and I'm trying to learn some callback sides) work out, work lines with the SM for 2 hours, check email, and go to bed.

These people are never gonna hire me again.

(...contented sigh...)

Oh, YAY!

The Young@Heart people were practicing in our building today! I was on a break at rehearsal (the theater I'm working for has a summer residency at Smith College) when I heard loud, jubilant music, so I popped my head in a door and it WAS THEM! Singing "Dance to the Music"! Apparently they were doing their final dress before they left Manchester, England. I tiptoed out feeling chastised because their founder and musical director turned and gave me a long stare.

But every break after that I ran over to the dance studio where they were working and listened from the hallway.

What a total bonus!

My new home (for 3 weeks)

I actually kind of love it here. My show is VERY hard, and I'm not sure why they cast someone who looks to be about 8- 10 years older than me to play my mother, AND I have a claw-foot bathtub instead of a shower (evening baths are sexy and relaxing; morning baths are annoying and inefficient) but I kinda like living in a dorm. Even Poky is feeling okay about it. We are happy in our tiny, tiny room.

I have LOTS of room it the foyer to spread out and do my Jillian video. Speaking of which,

Jillian:


When does this get easier? Sure, I'm slowly turning into a hot mama but I think I'm getting a hernia and I still swear and sweat SO profusely!

I spoke too soon.

I read an article in the NYTimes today which revealed that this was Anne Hathaway's first stab at Shakespeare. You know what: she was great. She just has great instincts about everything. She had a lovely, natural signing voice, she was funny-- she was just a natural.



And I must point out that for many years I had a sometimes sexy but always strange relationship with the 2nd dude from the left. Ah, youth.

Amazing.

I'm obsessively following the post-election insanity in Iran (mostly on HuffPo) and this video, while, thankfully, is not graphic or terrifying, is stunning. It has a conclusion you just can't beat. I'm sure the police are scared, too. Actually I shouldn't claim to know what they or anyone are thinking or feeling. I know this sort of thing has only happened a few times in this world in my lifetime. I just keep trying to imagine this happening in OUR country if we were so very oppressed.

It is amazing to see the people of Iran band together against a corrupt and powerful government, risking their lives to claw their way out of the dark ages.

Battle w/ Police - Tehran, Iran - June 20th 2009
by mightier-than

SOOOO Netfucked.

What was I thinking? I put Bergman Island at the top of my queue a while back, so I'd get it the second it was released onto DVD, and now here it is. I need more Six Feet Under!

It's for the best. Is should do nothing but study lines.

I did the Jillian workout today on an empty stomach and sweat like crazy, and then I BONKED so hard I just crawled into bed all damp and fell into an icky fitful sleep. Ugh.

I also burned my abdomen while I was doing some shirtless ironing yesterday. I like to do chores in my underwear. It's gonna leave a scar, I think.

Small problems compared to those of the people in Iran. My GOD. How is this going to play out?

Maintenance, baby.

So I just read yet another article about all the new fees that airlines are tacking onto the usual fares. Basically, the airlines aren't raising ticket prices because we are in a recession and they don't want people to stop flying, so they're creating new fees like charging even more for bags checked in at the desk instead of checked in online, and fees for a few extra inches of leg room (a fee I've paid and I can report that the extra comfort is negligible).

Here's what no one ever says in these articles, though: the money has to come from somewhere. We're in a recession, yes. Fuel is expensive, yes. And yes, these planes are getting old.

Do you want these airlines to go deeper into the red and cut corners by not updating and maintaining equipment, not paying and properly training good pilots, and not keeping the planes safe? Because it's becoming clear to me that in order to keep their businesses running, they have been cutting those corners already, for awhile.

I've always been afraid of flying, but in the last 2 years I feel even less safe that I did growing up. Because I look at those rivets and seams and go, when was the last time someone checked that? And what on this plane is broken or wobbly that they can't afford to fix or tighten up right now?

The horrible, unthinkable mid-air break-up of Air France Flight 447 wouldn't have happened in a world where there was enough money for the airline industry to take care of itself. Yes they were flying in crap weather, but so many little things went wrong on that plane all at once. Now they're scrambling to replace the likely faulty parts and equipment on other Airbus a330s. But it will take time and money.

I am flying to Europe this summer (incidentally on the same type of a330 that Flight 447 was) and I'm taking three Klonopins, and I will buy a shotglass of red wine for 5 bucks. And after that, I think I'll drive everywhere or take the QE 2.

I don't think they're charging for pillows out of greed. It's desperation. And I just can't trust these folks anymore.

Beats that house near the Majestic...

So I'll be living here for three weeks:



And I think this is my little room! It is very, very small, but I was told I have windows on 3 walls and I am at the front of the house, so this has gotta be it:



I was hoping I'd have space to do yoga and workout, but it looks like I'll have to get creative again.

I just hope this one is fun. It actually ought to be a nice change of pace to wear a suit and strut around acting like a tough, smart bitch. I don't think I have to cry or sink to my knees or dance in this show. Maybe I shouldn't speak so soon...

Work it, WORK IT!

Look at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's official portrait! Who took this!? It looks like a coy headshot! It looks like my old headshot, in fact. Well he's not gonna flirt his way into MY good graces!

Stop eating for one second so I can take your picture!

Performance Anxiety

Just to let you know how freaked out I am about learning and retaining all these crazy 1980s lawyer-speak lines from Other People's Money, I'll share with you that last night I dreamed I was expected to suddenly star, with no rehearsal or training, in an opera. On ICE.

Get Ready.

Reza Aslan on Rachel Maddow:

What's really fascinating about what's happening right now in 2009 is that it looks a lot like what was happening in 1979. And there's a very simple reason for that. The same people are in charge -- I mean, Mousavi, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Medhi Karroubi, the other reformist candidate -- these were all the original revolutionaries who brought down the Shah to begin with, so they know how to do this right.

And so what you're going to see tomorrow is something that was pulled exactly out of the playbook of 1979, which is that you have these massive mourning rallies, where you mourn the deaths of those who were martyred in the cause of freedom. And these things tend to get a little bit out of control, they often result in even more violence by the security forces and even more deaths, which then requires another mourning rally which is even larger, which then requires more violence from the government, and this just becomes an ongoing snowball that can't be stopped.

That's how the Shah was removed from power, was these mourning ceremonies. And so Mousavi very smartly calling for an official -- not a rally -- but an official day of mourning tomorrow. I think we're going to see crowds that we haven't even begun to see yet, and then follow that, on Friday, which is sort of the Muslim sabbath, the day of prayer, which is a traditionally a day of gathering anyway. This is just beginning, Rachel, this is just the beginning.

Good TIMES!

What do you think: is this enough culture for one weekend in New York?

• hit Broadway musical: Next to Normal
• Sheakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night
  
• Movie: Star Trek
• Exhibit: MoMa
• one woman show: The Amish Project
• fun cliche: 2 bottles of wine and vivid comparisons of sexual techniques with friends
• sad but delicious cliche: too many donuts and whole milk

Next to Normal was wonderful and totally new and I cried the whole time, despite some generic lyrics which included boring rhyming (like DAY/AWAY; CRY/DIE). Highlight: Michael Hogan was a few rows ahead of us (yes, Colonel Tigh!) in a navy blue knit cap he wore a lot on New Caprica when he was part of the resistance.

Twelfth Night (photos not out yet) was an unexpected bonus: Isaac won the virtual lottery and we got great seats by the director and his entourage. The show was merely fine, except for some hilarious moments from Audra McDonald and some gorgeous songs by the band Hem. Oh, And Julie White was adorable. But I'm Shakespeared-out at the moment, and was surprised to see that for the most part no jokes or text work were handled any better than I've seen in Boston.

(In the lobby outside our theater)

Star Trek was super-fun and I have a big crush on Zachary Quinto (for the record it's not ANY less useless for me to have a crush on a gay movie star than on a straight one, and I get just as much out of it).



The MoMa show was food for thought: contemporary drawings by EVERYBODY. So many rooms. It was overwhelming and inspiring. I'm gonna buy a canvas and smear paint all over it and hang it up in my house. Because why not.



The Amish Project was a deep disappointment. I was ready and even hungry to be moved and challenged and haunted, and it got such good press, which is why we went, but I felt the praise was very generous. Not sure what her (the playwright and star's) connection with the material was, but it felt like "Crash" The One Woman Show: people from different cultures pushing past their hate and fear and learning that they're not so different after all. Great design, but cliched to the max. Luckily for her, I guess, I'm in the minority. She seems like a very talented actress but we weren't buying the play.






It was good to come home. I belong here. If something brings me to New York naturally someday, I'll go with the flow, but 'til then I'm working here. But it was fun to be in the city (although I'm starting to lose my rhythm there), and of course soooo good see Isaac and Ian.