My Jumbled but Joyous June...

Absence makes the heart grown fonder…. So, didya miss me?

A lot has been goin on, but I guess it’s good that I’ve been livin’ life and havin’ fun, not having an abundance of downtime to sit on my neglected couch with my pearly white macbook and blog everyday. As much as I’d like to do such, that’s just not how I roll most of the time HAHA.

So, I left off talking about my new job at P.C.-Goenner Talent Agency. So far, things have been pretty great. It’s definitely a job that can be pretty chaotic, but it’s great to be doing something I enjoy, but one where I am also learning more everyday. I love the variety of what comes in… of course we get local commercials and such, but things like a global Miracle-Gro commercial, a national Best Buy commercial starring Peyton Manning, and castings for Modern Family have also crossed my screen.

As I entered the new job, I also had the chance to revamp the office. Thanks to Sarah and Paul for the assistance :-)

Here are the in progress shots...

Sarah and I found wine and cheese was a necessity :-)

Here's the lobby with pics of my fabulous talent!

The hallway...

to the bathroom...

ANNND my office room...

Please excuse the broken blind.... i'm TRYING to find one that will fit it!

That’s the job… but let’s see… the end of May and the month of June was pretty exceptional in several other ways as well.

Let’s look at highlights:

Meeting Mark Ballas at the Taste of Cincinnati

But we also had a blast with a magician...

and winning blow-up monkeys that we named Maurice and Moe.

Oh yah… and PUH-LEASE watch this video of this man dancing during one of the concerts BAHAHHAA.

There is SO MUCH WIN in this video. Accolades also awarded to the stylish camo crop top lady for best ill-fitting, drunken dancing.

Then he started a dance lesson... apparently crack is a necessary part of his instruction.

And this is for my friend, Rachel... she can't resist old men or Asian children.

Maurice and Moe had a blast. They sang all the way home... or were throwing up gorilla gang signs... we were unsure.

NEXT- I spent Memorial Day at Cincinnati Zoo with Chelsea and her family...

Sarah and I had a fun night out with some of her old friends...

Sarah and I did an independent film in Cincinnati entitled "Call Me"…

Then Sarah and I, along with her brother and one of my talents, Zach, spent a day Huntington Field in Columbus shooting an independent film, "Gibsonburg," that will be shown at Sundance and potentially on Disney Channel.

Oh yah, and sidenote...in the midst of it all, I did a murder mystery.

Creepy Caper, eh? (P.S. it's me...)

Yea, so I was a little angry... I'm just misunderstood!

All in all, everybody had a good time :-)

June was definitely a month of run-around, but it was full of new beginnings, drama, and new connections.

Overall, aside from the high gas receipts, a pretty stellar 30 days :-)


(Photo credits: Sarah Brown, Cliff Fawcett, and Myself)

So... I am in a Clooney movie...

Yah.... RIGHT!?!?

My life is a constant series of random events and opportunities that seem to appear out of nowhere. The most recent occurrence appeared in the form of a text message at 11:30pm last Wednesday night.

My friend, Sarah is associated with a local talent agency and had connections to the upcoming George Clooney movie "The Ides of March" that was taping in SW Ohio. She had planned on needing to be on set Friday, but late Wednesday her agent called her and told her that not only did they need her on Thursday, but that she should grab a couple people to come along. Hence the late night text I received.

Now, who in their right mind passes on the opportunity to be an extra in a movie directed by AND starring George Clooney? I'll tell ya who, NOT this girl!


I stayed up all but 2 hours that night washing clothes and prepping outfit options as we were instructed to bring 3-5 choices for the wardrobe people to sort through. Hey y'all... the life is rough :-)

At 6am Sarah, two other friends Naomi and Stephanie, and I headed out as we had a call time of 8:30 and a 2 hr drive ahead of us. After getting to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, getting checked in, going through wardrobe and waiting for everyone to get coordinated, we were instructed to get on a bus that would take us across campus to set.

We filmed inside the auditorium in the building seen here... :-)

On the bus, we were told more information about the movie, the scene we were shooting that day etc. I can't tell ya toooo many details because you'll have to go see the movie when it comes out in October, but it is a political movie and we were a part of a debate scene where Clooney (Gov. Mike Morris) stands his ground against a Senator Pullman.

To not bore you with step-by-step commentary of the day, I'll give you the overview.

• Naomi and I sat together house right just a few rows from the stage, but had annoying college boys behind us.
• Clooney is quite the jokster. He was constantly trying to make us laugh and finishing the scene by ad libing things like "George Clooney is very attractive," "This movie is going to be awesome," and "I love green beer." (That final comment in connection with it being the infamous "Green Beer" week at MU.)
• The crew and AD dept. were super awesome and fun to work with. I assumed I'd feel like part of a cattle call and pushed around, but it really was a lot of fun and I was able to learn a lot by watching how they set up shots and just operated in general.
• After a few hours, everyone was dismissed except the first few rows in the auditorium, which included Naomi and I... awesome. We got to do a few extra set-ups and then headed out to get lunch, be told we were getting paid (which was in contrast to what we had originally believed) and cross our fingers as they announced door prizes. Unfortunately, the itunes gift cards, tv, and wii set were not in the cards for us. Over it.
  

Here is Naomi and I on a bathroom break... we couldn't take pics where they were filming, so here is out "kinda-on-set" picture!


That was day 1. Luckily, as 80-90% of the extras were dismissed, we were part of the group invited back for Friday shooting. Score.

Day 2...Friday morning Sarah, Naomi, and I headed out even earlier as our call was 8am. By the time we got to set we were told that a few other of the actors would be in the day's scene. Who you ask?

RYAN GOSLING! (Not to contradict popular belief, yes... he was very attractive.)


the always entertaining Paul Giamatti...


and the classic Phillip Seymore Hoffman.


Although it was only a few hours of shooting, we had glimpses of the additional celebs, got to be involved in another part of the debate, and we were able to get a better understanding of how the scene would be coming together in the movie itself.

On top of that, I almost got to meet George. Almost.
Long story short, George and I have a mutual friend in Hollywood storyboard artist, J. Todd Anderson. I worked with him recently doing some choreography for "Nativity: A Pop Opera," an annual show he does in the Dayton/Cinci area, and George has collaborated with him on projects like "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Upon texting J. Todd to tell him I was on set with George, he told me that I should tell George that I know him. After our final scene on Friday I talked to a few members of the crew and asked if I could stick around to try and catch George in a "down" moment. We waited for a bit but seeing as he was working double duty acting AND directing, and since we needed to catch our bus back to not have to walk in the rain, we decided we'd have to catch him the next time :-)

Among all of that, what was the craziest thing we saw? Well, since you asked, I'll tell ya. After we concluded shooting, we were standing outside trying to escape the rain waiting for the buses back to our base. There was a woman, baby in stroller, camera phone in hand, standing in the ever-intensifying rain apparently hoping for a star-studded glimpse. Unfortunately, they would still be shooting inside for quite a while, but I'm sure your baby will thank you for that pneumonia later. **Mother of the Year nominee**... syke.



So overall, it was just a pretty cool Thursday-Friday combo for my average Ohio life. But let's hope this was a peek at my fabulous life to come!

My Take on the Globes that are Golden... (PART II)

Drum roll please... time for awards recap!

Let's chat TV first.
Although I usually pride myself on the wide array of shows I take in, I found myself while making my predictions, far more informed in the comedy genre. For a majority of drama, I ended up being persuaded by the buzz I gathered from my various sources :-)


For best drama series, I had my money (figuratively, of course) on . I mean, a period drama with Jackie O. style, skinny ties, and Jon Hamm? Yes, Please. Although I don't follow it, it is one on my "I-can't-believe-I'm watching" list. Unfortunately, although a well-hyped show with impeccable fabulous-lness it lost to Excuse me, what?? Who are you? Well, it does apparently boast Steve Buscemi. I doubt his performance can top the rifle-touting, childhood bullied, lip stick-wearing crazy face he portrayed in Billy Madison, but I assume HBO has some differing audience targets.

As you can guess from my previous expression of affection for Jon Hamm, I was rooting for him over the snarky, wrinkly faced Buscemi for Best Actor, Drama. FAIL. Buscemi in for the win.

Thanks to what I've been readin' up on (yay magazine reading at work), I was ready to hear Julianna Marguiles' name read for choice drama actress for "The Good Wife," but I wasn't upset at all to see the always entertaining Katey Segal take the globe for "Sons of Anarchy." I mean, this girl has been working it since the days of "Married with Children" when she chomped on gum rocking leopard tights and heels. It was a big deal then, not like now when every 12 year old who walks out Charlotte Russe dons the aforementioned ensemble.

No huge upsets in the comedy category I'd say, although I did have my heart set on some of the... non-winners.
In the big category it was gonna be hard to disappoint me since I LOVVEEEE , , and like WOAH. When the latter won though, it was a lot of fun to the see the entire cast and crew engulf the stage... including little Lauren Potter who plays "Becky." A.dorable.

Breaking it down, Best Actor and Actress trophies went to "The Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons and "The Big C's" Laura Linney, respectively. Just a sidenote that MUST be stated...Uh. Tina Fey, my love, you are GENIUS. You should win everything. EVER. end sidenote.

"Glee" kept a dominating grabbing BOTH supporting role honors in Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch. One of my favorite moments of the night? Colfer's genuine surprise and honor in receiving the award. It's a must see.
Not a must see? Lea Michelle bawling 90% of the night... ugh. Please groan with me at her at the :50 mark. YOU DIDN'T WIN! Stop the antics for camera time... go home, put on your footie pajamas, your headgear, and sing some Streisand.

Now onto the BIG SCREEN:
As expected, there were a few names that we heard bounce off of envelopes multiple times. took the big prize in drama, and also boasted a Best Director win in David Fincher. The much-talked about missed out on Best Drama, but Natalie Portman grabbed Best Actress. Her dress was a lil awkward for me, but not as much as her acceptance speech laugh.
The impeccable Colin Firth took the top drama actor for and I must say, well deserved. I never really understood the big deal with the Firth-hype until seeing this movie, but he gave a stellar performance! And if the movie at first glance doesn't seem like your cup of tea (tehe) get over your strickly-shallow-Sandler-movie-seeing-self and CHECK OUT THIS FLICK! Historically accurate for ya "reality" lovers, yet knee-slapping funny moments as well. DO IT. Peer pressure.

Best Picture Comedy went to ... which after watching it, I'm trying to figure out what makes it a comedy, but whatev, it was good. Awkward at times, but good. Also from "TKAA," the timeless Annette Benning took "comedy-eqsue" actress, and the zany Paul Giamatti won over the Globe voters in . Again, what is that? Where did it come from? Whatevs, congrats crazy man.

"rounded" things out winning the supporting titles in Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. I've yet to catch "The Fighter," but I heard both of those performances were pretty fabulous, especially post-newsie Bale. I'm a fan of him in any way, shape, or form... so this is at the top of my list.

Oh... and top animated film was ... duh, right? I mean, watching this movie this summer was like reliving AND waving goodbye to my childhood at the same time while pathetically crying my EYES out! It was similar to a funeral... it provided closure, while it was something you didn't wanna see go... EVER! For reals, don't laugh... the next time I was at my parent's houses I grabbed some of my toys, brought them back to my place and my friend, Paul and I had a playdate and watched Disney movies. It was stellar.

That's the 2011 Globe highlights my friends. Any commentary? Surprises? Upsets?

Be looking out for the big game... THE OSCARS coming soon!!