lauren w

so this photog

contacted me

for a photo shoot

i googled the hell out of her

found out she was born in honolulu

and her pictures are pretty rad.

bonus! they fit my aesthetic.

we scheduled a shoot this sunday

and i'm kind of hoping it's dreary and cold.

i could rock the shit out of sucky weather.

suddenly, everyone will be prancing around throwing dead twigs and grass into the air

"Oh, this? i'm so posh. it's coooooold."

just kidding.

orrr aaaaammmmm iiii?

now i'm having fun planning my wardrobe.

AS IN

i want to wear overalls and have sexy red lips.

where the hell can i find some overalls on such short notice?!

WEAR OH WHERE?!

^did you see what i did there? pun, intended, snark snark

i also want to wear a gorgeous princess skirt and a t-shirt

but ye! that shall have to wait!

oh, SNAP!

i forgot to tell you guys.

i had a live tv appearance this past sunday!

i hosted a spot for Ten Thousand Villages, where, as many of you know, I've worked and volunteered for years. They got picked up for an interview, and I got contacted for the gig. Sure, it's not your usual acting gig, but EVERY TV/FILM appearance counts on a resume, and this is definitely an excellently substantial one!

i wore my go-to tv outfit.

light pink flutter shirt

coral cardigan

high waisted wool skirt

belt

brown leggings

tall, tan boots

and hair down and wavy.

my multi-colored pink and gold glitter tone nails made an appearance

and i even got my first ever stalker call at Ten Thousand Villages!

apparently i'm moving up in the limelight world. :D

being in studios is REALLY great

i loved arriving early and watching how the news works

basically, there's one giant room with all these various backgrounds set up

and the anchor just walks around and stands in the various poses/locations.

i'm telling you HWAT

i learned a lot just watching the two anchors

one of them was very, very good

and one of them was very, very sour

of course i'm not saying which one is which.

obvs and duh.

:)

but i looooove being in studios and on sets

and this was such a great, fun way to have a great, fun sunday!

lady on set!

stills from my work with london house publishing



best acting experience post-CCM?

i had a beautiful moment today, 

a mere two minutes of purity and innocence.

i meisner-ed with a real person.

at a conference.

in a convention center.

for my day job.

in the middle of 200+ people.

he was very excited to tell me about his brother in new york who is an actor now, at the age of 54, and how his brother does "this thing with me all the time where we just say things back and forth to each other."

obvs, from my own learning frosh year, i knew exactly what he was talking about. :D

he continued. "for example, i will say 'your shirt is grey,' and then you will say, 'your shirt is grey,' and i will say, 'your shirt is gray,' and we keep going."

ahh, i said, putting sense to it.

"ahh, actually, we're being honest. i begin by saying, "your shirt is checked," because it's true. you would say, 'my shirt is checked,' and we continue making honest statements to each other."

he looked at me.

"we begin with honesty, and an emotion will arise. and when it does, we now have a more interesting truth to use. watch let's just do it."

a: your shirt is checked.

m: my shirt is checked.

a: your shirt is checked.

m: i like my shirt.

a: your shirt looks good on you.

m: your shirt looks good on you.

a: you complimented me.

m: i did compliment you.

a: that pleases me.

m: you are smiling.

a: i cannot help smiling.

....and then i stopped because our Meisner was almost a flirt session (as SO often happens when you begin to connect to other human beings,) and this man was OLD and we were at a CONFERENCE, and sometimes, in society, we have to draw lines to keep ourselves from being confused or in danger or in inappropriate situations like being at a conference with an old man beaming into your eyes, ya know? ;P

i thank him for his open heart, his honesty, his ability to share. in him, i find a kindred spirit, a human heart.

It warms and inspires me. <3

My Wishlist

if only, if only!

i've an excellent idea to begin making a movie soon.

as in, as soon as i get a laptop.

and then, as soon as i get a camera.

so soon, so soon!

Anne's Blog

"How presumptuous to consider a play a temple and yet I believe that we are constructing a temple because the work of theater, although ephemeral, is an act of hope, audacity and faith in a world not formally asking for it."

from Anne's Blog

as in, Anne Bogart,

as in my celebrity crush?

Fan Mail

i love her.

don't you? :)

<3

sisters sure know how to keep a lady laughing.

Something New

Community Theatre certainly isn't the place to build a career.

But it IS a good place for an actor "in between" to practice their craft.

And boy oh boy, do the challenges abound. :)

OH NO!

Once upon a time, I put this video on youtube as a way of finding housing in Hawaii for an internship I was slated to do with Manoa Valley Theatre in Honolulu:



And instead of watching that video, everyone at the theatres watched this one instead (embarrassingly also available on my youtube channel):



i became instantly recognizable for reasons I didn't predict.

**note** i'm not actually wearing pants in the first video. watch it again. and know that, now. ;)

my brain: new york new york new york new york new york new york new york new york new york new york new york new york

Rupert Grint and Maggie Smith

Saw the final Harry Potter movie the other day, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part2, and it leads me to stand by my original belief, made years ago when I saw the first Harry Potter movie, that Rupert Grint is the only good "child" actor in that movie, and Maggie Smith is AMAZING, blowing everyone else AWAY.

Seriously, let's talk about Maggie Smith a little more right now. How did she get so good? Could it be that she acted with Sir Laurence Olivier in countless Shakespeares? It could be. It could also be that she is just that good. Every time I see her, she just knocks my socks off. I could only HOPE to one day be as good and as amazing as Maggie Smith.



And Rupert Grint? A Total Natural. Sure, Daniel Radcliffe gets all the hoopla, doing a Broadway show (How to Succeed in Business without Even Trying,) and making racy marks all over London (Equus,) but if there's one thing that's been consistent throughout the entire Harry Potter series, it's that his character remains one-dimensional, and Daniel Radcliffe doesn't actually relax and breathe on stage. Rupert Grint, however, is unbelievable. He's such a natural, so relaxed, so alive, so full, and a delight to watch onscreen. Both Harry and Herminone look somewhat contrived onscreen, waiting, stiff, and boring. But I always love ANY SCENE with Rupert Grint in it. YAY Rupert!



Oh, and the Harry Potter movie? It was okay. The books got kinda crazy at the end, and there's no way a movie could do any of them justice. So it's epic, heightened, and a little crazy. They were always only kinda so-so.

oh ho ho

guess who shows up on curiosity's home page in a bright yellow dress?

first of all, i'm super lucky. there were 15 talent at that shoot and i've consistently been the forefront runner in advertising, screen time, and outreaching exposure (even if it is teensy-tiny)

hmmm.

second of all, maybe it's time for my next project? a film, perhaps? even i'm getting tired of only seeing me in this one commercial.

i think yes.

Texas

Respite

Saw "Midnight in Paris" last night, Woody Allen's new film.


First of all, I love Woody Allen, forever and for always. Netflix is going to experience a Woody Allen surge of flicks as soon as I get ye ol' Netflix.

And, again, he does not disappoint.


I will admit I was VERY hesitant to see Owen Wilson in the lead role. He has a way of making his characters bro-riffic, and modern. Doing that talking-himself-up thing, the "Come on, man...yeah, baby's...." to get his character pumped up for whatever comes next. Not only is it not necessary for whatever emotional current his characters are experiencing, but to an audience, it makes every single one of his characters OWEN WILSON, and not...well, whoever they actually are. Resistance is difficult, Mr. Wilson, but, nevertheless, important.

So...I was skeptical. However, all my preconceptions were absolutely reconciled when the MIL in the story comments about Wilson's Gil Pender...."I wish he would stop being such a defeatist." and BAM, of course, Owen Wilson makes sense.


Not only that, but seeing that Woody Allen used to star in his own films, putting Owen Wilson, a neurotic, romantically-torn, yes and no kind of guy is obviously filling the Woody Allen shoes very well. It works. He works. I believe the story.

The movie itself is fantastical and wonderful. It centers around character Gil Pender, a Hollywood sell out who longs to actually write an acceptable novel about a man who longs for a different era, a different time. He finds himself in Paris with his raging bitch fiance', and by a stroke of magic, is picked up every night at midnight by a 1920s car (aka time machine) that transports him back to the roaring '20s, and the company of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, and a SLEW of other amazing artistic figures from the past.

These "figures," these caricatures of cultures-past, in the film, are HILARIOUS. The film takes such pleasure in portraying honest-to-God, larger than life, portraits of such amazing people, and the laughs keep rolling as cameo after cameo of modern-times super movie stars portray previous era super stars. And they all do it with such CLASS. Amazing. It's wonderful to see actor after actor breathe and laugh on film. So delightful. The cast includes Marion Cotillard, Carla Bruni, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, and Lea Seydoux.

OH, and it's set in PARIS. Need I say much more? Allen is superb in directing what I describe as "Anticipation." Instead of "jump, jump, jump," cutting from scene to scene or face to face in dialogue, Allen presents long, beautiful, consistent shots that show arrivals into amazing buildings, places, or people--one character's mesmerizing impression on another. It's gorgeous, and instead of yanking a viewer around, gives us time to witness and form our own very accurate opinions of the subject in question. All--exquisite loveliness.

Alison Pill shows up being incredibly grown-up, seeing as I last recognized her in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," and "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." Turns out she's HUGELY recognized on Broadway, which obviously is only credit to her exceptional performance here in "Midnight." Her internal pace sets her counter the languid Parisian tuning, and she brings honest to goodness reality to her Zelda Fitzgerald. Lovely.

Rachel McAdams very honestly plays a raging bitch, manipulative, in a long-term relationship, who, ultimately, thinks that cheating on her fiance' is acceptable and he better get over it and settle down before they return back to California and prepare for the wedding and move to Malibu.

I hated her so much.

She plays her so well, and I begin to wonder how nice Rachel McAdams may be in real-life. Holy cow she was good at that.

Beware.

A West-Sighting by Mikayla Stanley!

Mikayla found my Cincy Bell job as an ad for the Once Wed site.


Thanks, Mikayla!


I love being updated on the latest. :)

FOUND: My Oscar Dress

In five years, these will be yesterday's news, and everyone'll be screaming about how I'm wearing upcycled Elie Saab.

drrooooooolz.

it ain't easy being green

Seriously.

I have red hair.

And I'm FOREVER looking for vibrant, exciting greens to wear to auditions.

Also, I've never loved green. Heck, I've barely even liked it.

But now I think it would be HILARIOUS to wear as much green as possible.

Wouldn't that be cool?

Wouldn't you like to see a phantom green woman traversing the subways of New York City?

I could be that girl.

That would be super sweet!

Here's the latest green, and a kick-ass pair of boots, from Modcloth.com

You can follow my lovelist, here.

New York State of Mind

i've been dreaming about my new life in new york, which is coming up soon. :)\

and i want to grow up my wardrobe a little bit.

i recently went through and threw out many, many things.

and now i'm searching for audition shoes (the most important thing,) sexy black boots, and dresses that stand alone or can be layered with many, many things (preferably green things.)

i've got some favorites, and here's a few.

many of them, far, far out of my price range, but nevertheless, amazing.

geodes

dauphin shoes

black combats

purple

twisted