A Return

Hey guys, check it out! I'm alive! Whoa, I know, it was doubtful there for a second.

Life has been a little busy, a little not. I've been working a little bit. Not the full time job I was hoping to have found by now but little odds and ends here and there. A couple of days as a story assistant, a night helping a friend with a wrap party, a day taking notes for someone else... that sort of randomness. Whatever pays the bills I guess.

I have been going through a bit of soul searching, a bit of that "what am I doing with my life?" business. All kind of boring really!

And since I don't want my first post in over a month to be BORING, let me share fun stuff.

Um... Fun stuff... I have to have something good to share, right? Okay, maybe not much.

I can leave you with a list of what I've been reading, watching, etc. All stuff that's worth checking out.

Watched the Super Bowl yesterday. But that's yesterday's news really. Not today's.

Reading Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)by Anthony Bourdain. Finally. Have loved him forever, No Reservations is a fabulous show, and his book is just as wonderful as I was hoping it would be. Sex, drugs, the seventies, food atrocities, mobsters, this book has got it all. Love it. And him. True story.

Watched An Education this weekend with the roommate. It is also wonderful. Carey Mulligan's performance lives up to the hype and her nominations are well deserved. I really enjoyed the screenplay by Nick Hornby. I have to admit to a bit of the nostalgia factor with all of the talk of French cinema, existentialism, jazz clubs, the wonderful dresses, etc. And there's the whole thing where I love almost all things British... including good looking men with British accents... The ending did leave me a bit unsatisfied, a feeling of "this is it?" Either way, it's a lovely movie that's well acted and I enjoyed it a lot. I'd actually love to see it again so I can think though a few things a bit more but that's what DVDs are for.

On TV I've been watching a lot of Chuck, which is delightful as always, Doctor Who, those last few episodes with David Tennant are Excellent and not to be missed if you're at all a fan, and The Inbetweeners on BBCA. OMG, have you guys seen this show yet? Please do. It's awkwardly hilarious. The kids in that show are such little shithead trouble makers... The episodes leave me in giggles for days.

Also worth noting that this week is the final episode of Friday Night Lights that's been airing on DirecTV. I actually still have the last two episodes to watch so Wednesday I fully plan on having a three episode FNL marathon to be followed up by an episode of The Inbetweeners. When did Wednesday get to be so good for television? I don't know.

Alright, that's what I've got. I will be back for more later.

The State of the New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

I have to say that I'm incredibly excited about the start of 2010. There are good things in the works over here people. I'm still unemployed, go figure, but I'm now moving full steam ahead on two projects. Two big projects.

One of these big projects is my novel. I've brought the first little bit to my writing group, I've started revisions, and I'm really excited to be working on it. My goal is to have it finished and readable and out in the world by the end of the year. Will see how life cooperates with me but I'm feeling rather confident at the moment.

Project two I can't really talk about yet but it's shaping up nicely into a very solid, very real thing. Project two is a film project. Project two has its first meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The monster is coming to life.

Can't really say much else about it yet but don't worry, you will hear all about it. It's very exciting. There will be things for you to get involved in. Just you wait and see.

Consequently I haven't been on this blog nearly as much lately. I'm going to try and continue updating but for the next couple of months I expect to be concentrating mostly on these two projects along with any work I may be lucky enough to find. Okay, the work thing may also not be that desperate at the moment. The maybes have also turned into at least one very real possibility. So we shall see.

Hope everyone has had a good start to 2010. And here's hoping that 2010 is an improvement over the last couple of years. I'm looking forward to a good one.

Unemployment Thursday

Today is not a good day in unemployment land. It's been one of those days where the light seems to have gone out of the tunnel entirely, where there is no end. I'll spare you the details but basically I started the day feeling like I was having a financial meltdown. Everything is overwhelming, I'll never get things straightened out, I will be broke forever, etc. etc. etc. Of course it's never as bad as all that but some days it takes a lot to convince yourself things will be okay.

The frustrating thing here is that it feels like I every time I start to get a handle on things, every time I can maybe get ahead, something will happen and there will be a set back and I never get anywhere. Stuck perpetually in the same hole. It never gets deeper but it's impossible to get out of nonetheless.

I feel this way. I know that it's really not as awful as it feels on the bad days. I'll feel better tomorrow. I'll feel even better than that on Saturday. Then next thing I know I'll get a job, things will work out. It's the cycle, it's how it goes.

This week is probably particularly bad since we're also dealing with finding a new roommate to join us here in Bonaparte house. We'll be losing one at the end of the month, in three weeks actually, and neither myself or K are particularly happy about. We love J, we're sad to lose her, and the task of finding someone to fill her shoes is going to be huge. If you happen to know anyone looking for a place in LA, we've got an open room! Our Craigslist ad.

I should be sharing fun links, babbling about how pleased I am that I actually finished my NaNoWriMo novel, talking about other pleasant things. Will you forgive me if I don't? I have to admit I'm lacking in energy at the moment. I promise I will do better next time!

Unemployment Tuesday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Another installment of Unemployment Tuesday here. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we only have a couple of these left. There are glimmers of hope, good things on the horizon, possibilities. Like I said, fingers crossed.

Hey, so Thanksgiving is this week! Happy Thanksgiving!

This year's been pretty rough for a lot of people. There are always folks in need and this year is certainly no different. There are a lot of great programs out there, food banks and whatnot, and it would be great if we could all give something small. For example, in Santa Monica there's this Turkey Dinner. Or Amber Benson is running Tara 4 Charity where if you buy a Tara doll this week 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. If the price tag of the doll is a little steep for you, you can make a donation directly to the foodbank and send your receipt to Amber for a chance to win one of three dolls they'll be giving away. Check out her blog for more details.

For those of you not in LA, there are food and clothing drives going on in pretty much every city. A quick google search should find you a good one.

Other links!

My friend is still trying to go to China. Only one week left for him. Click to vote and help him get out of here!

Another friend of friend has a video trying to get on TV. Check out Be Like A Duck (it's really, really cute) And click it a vote if you're a fan. I think you will be.

Inkwell Bookstore had this link up the other day for this super cool little video. It's recommended viewing that's definitely worth the two minutes.

PC Pro ran this feature on the correlation between science fiction and, well, science. For anyone who's ever been inspired by a sci-fi story, seen the possibilities for the future, it's an interesting read.

LA Times has a couple of interesting reads this week. First there's this one about the changing of the guard at Disney. Disney's new chairman Rich Ross is changing the game on the lot. Several execs are out all ready, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake has been nixed (thank goodness for that one), and who knows what's next. The question remains whether or not these changes will all be for the best. (Thanks to L for linking to this one)

On a lighter note is this piece by Scott Timberg about Cormac McCarthy and the upcoming release of the adaptation of his novel The Road. If anything involving McCarthy can be considered light that is. The Road opens tomorrow and stars Viggo Mortensen. Whatever Timberg has to say about women relating to McCarthy's work, well, I'm a fan. The Road is a fantastic book and I'm looking forward to checking out the film. (And thanks to DL for this)

If nothing else it's gotta be better than New Moon. I actually went to see it this morning, don't ask what possessed me, and yeah. I almost walked out after an hour. I probably should have.

That's all I've got at the moment. Need to get back to my novel writing. We're into the final week here. I've got a lot of work to do.

Unemployment Tuesday: Still there

Another Tuesday, still unemployed. Sent my resume out to a bunch of different places over the last week, have so far gotten zero phone calls. Ah well, next week is Thanksgiving. I'm going to eat lots of food and more pie and by the end of November I'm going to weigh 500 lbs. Who needs a job when there's pie?

SPEAKING OF PIE!

I've spent a lot of time in the last week baking it. On Saturday I took part in KCRW's Good Food Pie Contest that was held at the Westfied Topanga Mall. Didn't win but I did get to eat a lot of pie so really, who lost? 

Actually, speaking of winners, I happened to be standing next to the winner of the cream/custard category as we were all waiting to hear the results. Her peanut butter pie looked amazing! She's got some pics up on her blog, they make me wish I could have tried it.

Congrats to all the winners :)

My pie all plated for the judges and stuff

My pie was okay but it was nothing wonderful. I made a Raspberry Marzipan pie which was pretty tasty but due to an unfortunate power outage the night before I never had time to make a test pie. Heh, I'll plan things better if I ever try this again. I did however have a chance to make a few adjustments and redeem myself on Sunday for a potluck I hosted.

Actually, you can see my pie in one of the pictures in the LA Times article about the contest! Okay, it's not even close to being featured but they did take a pic of the table my pie was on. It's the second from the farthest end in the picture of all the pies. That's at least a little bit neat, right?

Pear & Blackberry Marzipan I made for Sunday's dinner. 

Soooo much better than Saturday's effort!

See, I told you, this last week involved a lot of pie.

Otherwise I'm still just focusing on my writing. Got a little behind for Nanowrimo with all the pie baking but after 3k or so words today I'm starting to get caught up. This novel writing in a month thing is intense! It's also taking up most of my words.

Links! (Because I really am out of words now)

Meant to post this bit about Ginger Snaps way back before Halloween. Oh well, it's still an awesome movie which you should watch. Then you can read this. Lots of talk about the horror of female puberty. Mostly about the horror of being a female going through it, but also the damage that our raging hormones can inflict on others. Why do I enjoy these movies so much? Well, actually, I guess that's probably obvious if you've seen them.

Another link probably more Halloween than Thanksgiving related but whatever! Martin Scorsese's Top Eleven Scariest Films. Some obvious choices like The Exorcist or The Shining but also some other pretty great selections.

What else? NASA found water on the moon! Neat!

Entertaining blogging about the spectacle that is Megan Fox, her (fake)boobs, and how this all relates to feminism. One of these days I really will write about what it's like to be a woman in the film industry. Sometimes it's everything you'd think it would be, sometimes it's entirely different. Either way, it's pretty hard to forget about gender and the politics that result from it.

So anyone else think Left For Dead 2 looks pretty rad? I kinda wish I had a way to play it!

Since I haven't had a chance to scan things that need scanning, I haven't really written everything I've planned to write on my trip to Israel. My friend Jen is more proactive than I am! Check out her blog Creative Confectionary and see some great pics of the delicious food we ate.

That's all I've got for this edition of Unemployment Tuesday. Should I keep doing this every week? At least until I find a job? I'm thinking about it! We'll see how many words I have left next Tuesday.

Unemployment Tuesday: November Edition

A couple of months ago I posted this entry here mostly just talking about my mental state after a month of unemployment. Since that post I've had one job and have left town once for my trip to Israel. And now here I am, once again, unemployed and sitting on my couch. So now what?

(If you find my rambles about unemployment boring and/or depressing skip to the end for links to fun stuff! I promise fun links!)

What do I do with myself as an unemployed girl in LA? My lack of job doesn't leave much room for any sort of activity that requires money. Los Angeles is not a cheap place to live and I have to be incredibly careful about what I spend when and on what. Want to buy groceries this week? Guess I'm skipping the movies! Want to go to out with a friend on Tuesday night? Let's see if I can stretch the groceries I bought last week through til next. I don't have to cut out every single thing I'd like to do, I just have to be very, very careful in my planning.

What else do I do? Socially, things like hiking are wonderful. It's a mostly free activity (there's always gas to consider but I don't do that much driving in general), I get outside to enjoy the nice weather, I get exercise, I get to spend time with friends, and the combination of all of those things is wonderful stress relief. When I have groceries (I'm kidding, I eat) I spend a lot of time cooking. Another wonderful way to relieve stress, be creative, and save money. I usually get not just one meal out of whatever I cook but several. Fabulous way to save money and stay healthy! Woo!

I don't know what to say really about the state of the economy. Last report from the L.A. Times puts National unemployment over 10% and California's over 12%. The highest since 1983. The year I was born. Not sure what that means other than the fact that I don't have a job and I'll be lucky to find one before the end of the year.

One of the problems with my industry and trying to find a job this time of year is that typically productions don't start up now. The holidays are kind of deadzone. Hollywood shuts down for almost two weeks and what's the point of starting up a film office or a television show if you're just going to have to close it all down for two weeks anyway? Why not just wait until January? Most productions do. I would love to find a job in the industry now but I can't count on it. What else can I do? Troll craigslist, register with temp agencies, continue to send my resume out to wherever I can. This wherever now includes jobs that are not necessarily film or television related.

Another question I'm frequently asked by friends is what I do with my day when I don't have a job. I do things like go for hikes with friends and ride my bike of course. Mostly though, I do actually work. I write. A lot. I read, another important activity for anyone wanting to write. While I have this free time I spend several hours a day at my computer just writing. I spend another big chunk at my computer job searching. I take advantage of the time I have being unemployed but I don't relish the idea of remaining in this state forever. If for no other reason than the difficulty it causes for things such as paying rent. I like to pay rent. It's nice having a place to live!

Hey also, guys, this whole healthcare thing... Dude, healthcare is expensive! I'm not completely thrilled with the bill that passed the House on Saturday but hey, it's something. When did trying to care for people become such a bad thing? Don't we all deserve a basic level of care? The healthcare system as it is broken. Any step towards actually fixing it seems like a step worth taking.

ANYWAY. Not trying to start a political debate on my film blog.

Hmmm... what else? How about you guys go see some movies for me and tell me how they are? Suggestions: Where The Wild Things Are, Antichrist, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Paranormal Activity... anything else out worth seeing? I'm also super excited about the upcoming Mr. Fox movie. Looks great!

How about some books? There are good reading things to do! I finally finished Stays Crunchy in Milk
which is fabulous, especially if you like fun stories about cereal characters (and you should really). Actually that's the only book I've read lately. I have another pile of reading things to do from friends so I'm focusing on those. I have a lot of talented friends!

Speaking of friends, a couple of mine and the things they've done have been mentioned places lately. A few days ago Roger Ebert's twitter (@ebertchicago) linked to this piece at Etheriel Musings about "Medicine For Melancholy". Elsewhere my friend Amy and her film "City On A Hill" was mentioned here. Nice things were said in both places about good people doing good things! Check 'em out.

Finally, my friend is trying to go to China. Vote for him?

Oh, while you're at it, you can check out my pie video on youtube (like you haven't all ready), rate it, and let me know if you think I should make another one. Maybe this week? Not that I'm going to make a video EVERY week but I am making more pie anyway... so maybe? What do you think?

The Work Excuse

This is it, it's finally here. Thursday. Maybe not as good as Friday but certainly better than Wednesday (minus the Reno Happy Hour of last night, that makes any Wednesday brilliant). There are lots of reasons why Thursday is a great day. For one, it's bagel day in the office. I don't care if they're not healthy, if I shouldn't eat so much bread, deep down I'm still a Jew girl from New Jersey who loves her bagels. I also love free food.

Thursday is also great because it's Girl Talk Thursday. Sadly I will not be participating in this one. As comfortable as I am with many things, talking about my underwear on this blog is not one of them. Sorry guys, you don't get to read about my panties this week.

Mostly though, Thursday is great because it's only one day before Friday which is the last work day of the week. Then comes the weekend and sleep. Glorious, glorious sleep. Sure, Thursday is the new Friday or some nonsense like that but no matter what else it is, I still have to wake up and go to work Friday morning. I'm looking forward to the weekend morning when that doesn't happen.

All this being said by the girl who was unemployed for most of the year. I'm one to talk about waking up and being tired from work, right? You know what though, I'm about to play the Work Card. Because for almost the first time all year I can! I'm tired because I'm working. I am probably not going to go out tonight because I'm working. I'm not writing or sketching as much because I'm working.

Wait, what? That last one isn't good! That last one kind of makes me sad! It's true though. I've been working and cooking and socializing and not writing nearly as much as I'd like. Saturday was supposed to be a writing day but after spending an hour staring at the screen, writing nothing, I gave up and made it a reading and sketching day instead. Which isn't a terrible thing but it's not what I wanted to be doing either. The sketching was my tree climbing story that I still haven't been able to scan. The reading was a bit of Harlan Ellison.

Why Harlan Ellison? Why pick up another book when I still have a stack of three next to my bed (and one in my purse, two in my back seat, and one more next to my TV...)? I blame it on Josh Olson. Last week two friends, independent of one another, linked to articles by Josh Olson. The first was a story he wrote about a friend who had fallen victim to an emotionally abusive con artist. The second was about screenwriting and how he will not be reading your script. I read both and recommend both. In the first he mentions Harlan Ellison. After reading so much about Harlan Ellison it seemed logical that I actually read a little Harlan Ellison. Put it all into context, you know? Not that I haven't read him before, but it's been a while.

This is how my brain and my life works. One thing links to another, connects to another, flows to something else. It's how I discover new and interesting things. Hopefully I can occasionally share a little of that all here with my dear readers (all 5 of you).

I digress.

What was I talking about?

Oh yes, Harlan Ellison and Josh Olson and how I haven't been writing. Forget about the part where I'm slacking on my writing for a moment, I'm playing the Work Card remember? Let's go back to Josh Olson because it's an interesting discussion.

As a writer, I have to admit that I'm still quite insecure in my writing. I've only ever taken one screenwriting class and beyond that I've never really had any kind of instructional feedback or peer review or any of that. In lieu of that, I send my writing to my friends and family. Who I send something to depends on what it is I've written and I always send it to at least two people. Two people because I figure that 1) I like different opinions and 2) if I send it out to two then I know at least one of them will get back to me. People are busy! Yes I want feedback but I also don't want to force my writing on people who have lots of other things to do. If someone doesn't get back to me, that's cool. I totally get that. I hope it's because they haven't had the time to read rather than they thought it sucked and were afraid to tell me. Even bad feedback is good.

Even so, these are my friends I'm talking about. Beyond the fact that I don't believe my writing is anywhere ready for professional reading, I can not imagine approaching someone of bare acquaintance and asking them to read my script. It just seems so awkward to me. Awkward and rude and an imposition. As far as it goes, I love talking to writers. I love hearing stories and tips, ideas and techniques. I see value in good conversation, you can learn a lot just by listening to what people have to say. If someone happens to offer to read what I'm working on, then great! Honestly it's an offer that I may not even take you up on, yet at least. When I'm ready to share I will. At the moment I am very not ready. However, it is still not something I am going to ask.

So if I've asked you to read something, it's because I think of you as my friend. I respect your opinion and you, I believe you're going to give me honest and full feedback. Along with that, I respect your time. I'm not going to be pissed off if you don't have time to read what I've sent. I'm also going to do my best to ensure that what I'm sending you is something that I feel is ready for others to read. Time wasting is bad! I don't want to do it to myself or others!

That's my opinion as an amateur trying to work work my way towards professional. I find the opinions from the professional side even more interesting. You should go read what Josh Olsen has to say ("I will not read your fucking script") and then follow the discussion over to POV online. Mark talks about Josh's article a couple of times.

I'm sure there are even more people talking about writing and sharing their opinions and whatnot. I'm going to play the Work Card again. I'd love to read more but I just don't have the time at the moment to find the more to read. Feel free to share links if you have them!

Girl Talk Thursday - Ladies' Night!

Wow am I tired tonight. So tired that it took me three tries to spell “Girl” right. One of the things I’ve been trying to do with my unemployed time is workout regularly. I figure that once get another job I probably won’t use my free time for the working out thing. I like to be in shape (and let’s face it, look good nekked) but I do have other priorities. Like writing. Or sleeping.

I have no job now though and lots of time so I’m more than happy to spend a little of it doing crunches or pretending I know what I’m doing at the gym. The result of the excess of activity is that beyond the nice abs I will eventually have, I am incredibly tired. I’m not really used to this level of energy expenditure. I’m also having difficulty lifting my arms.

But I digress. This is my Girl Talk Thursday writing! This week’s topic is a good one, what do you like to do with your chick friends?

I love my girl time. I need my girl time. A lot of the things I do I don’t necessarily designate as “Girl” things vs. “Boy” things. I’m just as likely to grab a drink with my best guy friends as I am to go out with my ladies.

That being said, there are a few things that usually top the list when I’m planning lady time:

HAPPY HOURS

While certainly not limited to Girls’ Nights, I do enjoy a good girl only HH. Martinis and girl talk, one of my favorite combinations! I was evenly recently convinced that I do indeed like olives. At least the vodka soaked kind that comes in my Dirty Martini. Mmm… More than that though I just enjoy the chance to get drunk and giggly and gossipy with other girls. I like talking about boys and bitching about work and waxing philosophical about the other random topics that are bound to come up.

I have to be careful though or one of these days Gracie is going to convince me to join Match.com. Yikes!

SHOPPING

When I go shopping it tends to be more of a Mother & Daughter thing than a Girl thing. Granted, at this point in my life hanging out with my mom is very much so a Girl activity.

I do enjoy wandering through the clothes store and I like doing it with other ladies. It’s fun to play dress up and shop and compare. I’m not a huge shopper but if I’m going I don’t mind the lady company.

THE BEACH

I adore the beach. I love riding my bike out there, stopping for a beer, lying in the sun. The only thing that makes the beach better is going with my lady friends. It’s a lot of the same with the chatting and the being goofy, there’s just sun and, when we’re lucky, really hot surfer boys to ogle. I like ogling the hot surfer boys.

PIZZA AND BEER NIGHT

Pizza and Beer Night is almost exclusively a roommate activity on top of being a girl activity (well, being that both of my roommates are girls… I guess that goes without saying). After a week working with the hours that we tend to work when we actually have jobs, staying in, ordering a pizza, grabbing a six-pack, and putting on some terrible movie is the perfect Friday night. It’s the time to stay in, bitch about work, gossip about boys, be tired, plan the weekend, and pass out. From exhaustion rather than alcohol.

THE GIRLS’ NIGHT

The common thread that runs through all of these things is that rather than what the activity may be, the point is the company. While I adore grabbing a beer with G, sometimes what I really need is an extra dose of estrogen. To vent, to bitch, to commiserate, to laugh, to be goofy, to relax. I like boys, I enjoy doing many things with them, but I don’t always want to be around them. Sometimes I just want/need my ladies.

Sometimes I Do Things: Bad Art and Baked Eggs

Believe it or not, unemployment can occasionally be boring. Shocking to hear, right? I fill my time with a lot of things: my writing, cooking, reading. The internet can be a huge time suck. However sometimes, that all is not enough. Or sometimes I just need a little additional inspiration.

The other day the boredom got the best of me. So I reached out to my dear friends and asked for suggestions. I've gotten a couple of interesting ones.

Unfortunately the one involving a trip to Portland isn't quite possible for the girl who has hardly worked this year. Drawing a Mermaid Punk Band though? That I can handle.



Even more exciting than my bad art, is my baking. My friend Liz suggested I bake but left the What up to me. After some thought I decided to go savory with some baked eggs. You can bet I am happy I went with that decision.

Combining ideas from Tastes Like Home and 101 Cookbooks (I love this site), I made this incredibly satisfying lunch.



Baked Eggs

3 Eggs (or 2 or however many you want, I was hungry)
Butter
1/2 Tomato
1/2 Onion
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic
paprika
cumin
red pepper flakes
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat Oil in a skillet. Add Onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, red pepper, salt (and any other seasoning you want). Saute a few minutes until the onion is soft but don't brown the garlic. Add the tomato. Saute another few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Line a small oven safe dish with butter (or whatever buttery spread you prefer). Crack one egg and add to the dish. Add the onion and tomato mix. Add the next egg or two. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I decided to top my eggs with salsa and it was delicious. If I had planned ahead a little more I think I actually would have made some salsa from scratch. The tomatoes from the Farmer's Market were that good. I also had a couple of pieces of toast and a side of blueberries.

I think next time I'd go closer to the 15 minute end rather than the 20 minutes. Or possibly try the oven at 350. Either way, this oven I'm using runs a little hot and I generally like my eggs just slightly less done than they were. I think next time I'll also leave off the salt. The cumin and paprika were more than enough and the red pepper adds a nice kick.

I seriously need to make this all the time. It's so amazingly good. I also really want to try a few of the variations suggested on 101 cookbooks.

Sunday Brunch anyone?



***

I've also received a few other suggestions I plan on exploring over the next couple of weeks. Or however long it is I end up being unemployed for. Next week there will be cake baking. There may also be some knitting. And more bad art. Definitely some more bad art.

Feel free to suggest anything else I should try! I'm open to almost all things new.

Video Overload

Lots of videos to share tonight. There are some cool things to be found on the internet.

I probably don't really need to share this is one as it's all ready all over the place. That's right, Jed Whedon's Guild music video Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? Featuring Felicia Day and the rest of The Guild cast members in all their Avatar-y glory. You can watch it for free on YouTube but the single is also available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes. If you buy it you're supporting The Guild and all things geeky. Why not?



Season 3 of The Guild premiers September 1st.

District 9 is another big thing of the moment. It rocked the box office this weekend and everyone I know who has seen it loved it. I haven't gotten to it yet but I'm hoping to check it out maybe Thursday evening with my mom. In the meantime, I have watched Neill Blomkamp's original short film that District 9 is based on, Alive in Joburg. You can find it here on the Spy Films website.



Going an entirely different direction is this Episode 1 of Creature Cast. Guys, it's about squid! It's very cool and even a bit educational.

CreatureCast Episode 1 from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.

In other news, I've been watching True Blood and Eric is hot. Er, well, I guess that's not really news. That's just stating the obvious.

In other news (for real this time), a friend of mine is making a movie! My friend Cherie is getting set to shoot this fall in Northern Florida. Check out the website and throw some love, and maybe even a little cash, her way.

No Matter What

That's all I've got at the moment. Look for another post tomorrow detailing what I do when I'm unemployed and bored (beyond trolling the interwebs for videos). It shall involve bad art and a recipe for baked eggs.

Unemployment Tuesday

Remember a month ago when I claimed I wasn’t going to let unemployment get me down? I like to think of that post as more of a pep talk before a big game than anything remotely realistic. So now a month later when unemployment is most definitely getting me down I have something to look back on, something to remind myself of all of the positives.

Why is it always worse at the beginning of the week? I’m guessing it’s because after a weekend of being able to forget about searching for a job, everyone around you has gone back to work and you have to go back to facing reality.

I feel like I have to keep repeating the words “I’m okay” to myself and to others. Really I am though. I know this is all temporary, a job will come. Preferably sooner rather than later, but it will come eventually. And then I’ll go back to bitching about how bored I am, how miserable the hours are, etc. etc. etc. all while I’m secretly thrilled be doing anything, not matter how mundane it may be.

One of the things that had been helping me with my sanity was the number of friends and acquaintances who are also unemployed. I say “had been” not because they’ve now gotten jobs, they haven’t, but because rather than making me feel less alone those numbers are now making this feel more helpless. If all of these people can’t find jobs, how will I?

I know these aren’t healthy thoughts to dwell on. It’s just impossible to keep them from popping up.

I briefly had the thought of counting the number of resumes I’ve sent out (a lot) as compared to the number of phone calls or interviews I’ve had (one) in the last month. But those numbers truly are depressing and that’s definitely not something I want to dwell on. Even the temp agency I’m signed up with has this encouraging message pop up when I update my availability:

As you might expect, the number of applicants/associates is currently quite high relative to the number of available positions. However, if we can locate a good match for you, your AE will contact you.

Encouraging.

Of course it’s not just LA and it’s not just my industry being hit. The New York Times reports on how Unemployment Aid will be running out for many now claiming benefits by the end of the year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported unemployment in June was over 9%. There’s even a nifty color graph by state. The black ones are all over 10%, including my lovely California.



Image from The Big Picture.

Am I shocked I don’t have a job? How can I be?

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not writing this for sympathy or anything like that. I don’t particularly mean to be whining. This just is what it is right now. I’m facing a bit of the inevitable. I want to be a creative type? I want to live some sort of artistic lifestyle? Chances are that no matter what the state of the economy, I’m going to be facing financial difficulty while I get started. That’s how it’s always been. This economy just means I’m not alone in my pain. At least I just have my own ass to worry about. I feel bad for everyone with families and a million more problems than the ones I’m facing

I really don’t want to be a complete Debbie Downer here. Stay tuned for a more fun post filled with awesome weekend discoveries and fun links and other things that make me smile. Coming as soon as I put my sheets in the dryer. At least unemployment has left me plenty of time for laundry…