I Think...
I need to raise some HELL because I'm starting to bore myself. And not just get shitfaced, dance on a table, sleazy sex type HELL raising--something more infamous than that... The type of HELL raising that becomes mythology to all and adds more layers to the Rory Lore.
I'm not sure what it will be yet but it will most likely involve gold pumas, Jack Daniels, a pack of smokes, my 'Gay Pimp' necklace and a soundtrack containing Gwen Stefani, Mickey Avalon, Lady Sovereign and James Brown's 'Hot Pants'.
Everyone up for it?
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
48 Hours of Christmas
So the holiday has come and gone. I never have much to think about this time of year--I just go through the motions of parties and cards and quick drinks. Having worked in retail for more than one Christmas season I have learned to turn a blind eye to the music and the lights and the hodgepodge of trees and menorahs and instead focus on the bright flashes of rosey cheeks and gleeful greetings more than the semantics of it all.
It's not until Christmas Eve Day that I get with the program and start with the music and decorations. I hang ornaments from my orchild and string lights along the rail outisde my door, that I sit down and send out my e-greet cards and wrap my gifts then just as quickly as a day or two later it all comes down to be placed back in the dusty closet off my hall.
I'm not sure where my disdain for the trrappings come from, maybe it's just the retail business that killed it for me (Samuel, Davis and even Charity all hate the music and we were once lifers in retail so I don't feel far off), or maybe its some childhood tramua that I have yet to remember or maybe I'm just not a cheerful silly guy who can get into all the seasons.
But I do like giving gifts--not so much reciving--I like to give people something I think they need or can rock out in a sexy way. I like hearing what people are up to through their cards and catching up over Eddy cider at the various parties.
But now its over. And on to my favorite holiday. New Years!!!
So the holiday has come and gone. I never have much to think about this time of year--I just go through the motions of parties and cards and quick drinks. Having worked in retail for more than one Christmas season I have learned to turn a blind eye to the music and the lights and the hodgepodge of trees and menorahs and instead focus on the bright flashes of rosey cheeks and gleeful greetings more than the semantics of it all.
It's not until Christmas Eve Day that I get with the program and start with the music and decorations. I hang ornaments from my orchild and string lights along the rail outisde my door, that I sit down and send out my e-greet cards and wrap my gifts then just as quickly as a day or two later it all comes down to be placed back in the dusty closet off my hall.
I'm not sure where my disdain for the trrappings come from, maybe it's just the retail business that killed it for me (Samuel, Davis and even Charity all hate the music and we were once lifers in retail so I don't feel far off), or maybe its some childhood tramua that I have yet to remember or maybe I'm just not a cheerful silly guy who can get into all the seasons.
But I do like giving gifts--not so much reciving--I like to give people something I think they need or can rock out in a sexy way. I like hearing what people are up to through their cards and catching up over Eddy cider at the various parties.
But now its over. And on to my favorite holiday. New Years!!!
Monday, December 18, 2006
You Know You Want To
Dear Rory,
I _____ you. You have a nice______. You make me _______. You
should _______. Someday I will ______. You + me =________.
If I saw you now I'd __________. I would build a _______ just
for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________.
We could __________ under the stars.
Love,
_______________
(P.S. ______________.)
REPOST THIS "DEAR (YOUR NAME)" AND SEE WHAT ANSWERS U GET... this lots of fun!! and you can really make someone's day. Leave them a message after u fill it in
Dear Rory,
I _____ you. You have a nice______. You make me _______. You
should _______. Someday I will ______. You + me =________.
If I saw you now I'd __________. I would build a _______ just
for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________.
We could __________ under the stars.
Love,
_______________
(P.S. ______________.)
REPOST THIS "DEAR (YOUR NAME)" AND SEE WHAT ANSWERS U GET... this lots of fun!! and you can really make someone's day. Leave them a message after u fill it in
Sexy Legs, Baked Treats, Heartfelt Talks and Some Good Night Moon…The Cruise Finale.
(Outfit: Mint green Future Ex-Husband t-shirt, A&F jeans, brown sneakers and fur lined brown hoody.)
The final day of the cruise—where to begin? I woke up a bit late that morning due to my late night drunken packing and crawled into the shower. I did some more last minute bag stuffing then made my way with Lola out on to the ship. I barely remember making breakfast and shortly after ended up on the deck with Kelly, Robin, Ali, Lola, Johnny, and Henry in the day’s sun.
Kelly and I ended up watching the start of the sexy legs competition as I debated if I should go and get some more end of trip details down. I made my way down to my room where I filled out baggage tags and customs forms as well as changed into something cuter for pool side.
(Outfit: Yellow ‘Its Not You It’s Me T-shirt, red swim trunks, and black flip flops).
I made my way back to the pool area where they had moved on to the belly flop portion of the cruise Olympics. I was bored by it and engaged in various conversations with the gang while slowly working my way through a bloody Mary and studying several ship cuties including Cruise crush John. I wandered the decks after a bit and stumbled across a sleeping Alexander on a lounge chair. I talked with him briefly before heading back to my room.
The Club Car (as our room came to be known) was open with a sick Lizzie and a tired Lola both watching bad movies. I laid on my bed and read a bit more of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ while making light gossip. I then took a nap myself while the girls moved on with their day.
(Outfit. Gray sweater with yellow stripes, blue sneakers and A&F jeans.)
I woke up and finished off the last of my packing with the exception of two last outfits for the next few days. I made my way around the ship and playing catch up with various people while Kaylee, Ali, Robin and some others made their way to the ‘80’s Teen Dance Film’ tribute show while I had some drinks with the others. I made my way back to the room to fill out tip cards before dinner.
(Outfit: Brown metro motor scooter t-shirt, brown fur lined hoody and jeans.)
The last dinner had a last minute switch up with Ali and Robin joining us at our table for the night. We feasted on a little bit of everything and even though Ava and Lola were disappointed by the lack of crème Brule I had some baked Alaska. It was yummy and the meal finished off with some said good byes to our wait staff. They were great—and could even balance plates on their heads and dance for our enjoyment.
Post dinner we made our way back to the rooms to leave our suitcases in the halls, get some drinks and make our way for once stroll around the ship. It was cold on the top deck so a bunch of us formed a circle and cuddled for warmth while catching up. It felt like a very intimate bon-fire type gathering which was fun and silly with Carmen, Ali, Robin, Valeska, Liam, Alexander, Johnny, Kelly, Lola and Kaylee. And even though Lizzie wasn’t feeling well, I took a number of trips back to the rooms to see how she was feeling.
Eventually Lola and I came to the deck for a smoke and to catch up. She was cold and a bit tired but not so much so that we didn’t see two of the hottest guys on the whole ship. It was just our luck that it was the last night and we had ditched high fashion for hoodies. But we would honestly do with two cute strangers on a boat? Nothing that would be acceptable on dry land.
After walking Lola back to the room, and getting a refill on my vodka, I made one last run back to the gang and I came topside to see that everyone had gone—I think to a late night buffet—and I ran into Ty searching for them as well. Ty and I hadn’t much time to talk on the ship so he and I spent my last few hours on the boat walking the decks and talking about his engagement amongst the stars and the deep sea. A lot was said and felt and I was glad that we got some private time to just reconnect for a bit.
And then I took a bit of time for myself on the ship to just stare at the stars and think about my life. I have to say that I must have been a pirate in a past life because of how at home I felt on the ship. I had a cigarette or two as I said good bye to the night.
Bed came early but it was time for me to wake up in Los Angeles and I was more than ready. The cruise had been fun and relaxing and goofy and filled with many memories that surprised me more often than not. I hope the next time I’m on a boat more of my friends—and the boy--can be there. And that I will get my land legs back soon than later.
(Outfit: Mint green Future Ex-Husband t-shirt, A&F jeans, brown sneakers and fur lined brown hoody.)
The final day of the cruise—where to begin? I woke up a bit late that morning due to my late night drunken packing and crawled into the shower. I did some more last minute bag stuffing then made my way with Lola out on to the ship. I barely remember making breakfast and shortly after ended up on the deck with Kelly, Robin, Ali, Lola, Johnny, and Henry in the day’s sun.
Kelly and I ended up watching the start of the sexy legs competition as I debated if I should go and get some more end of trip details down. I made my way down to my room where I filled out baggage tags and customs forms as well as changed into something cuter for pool side.
(Outfit: Yellow ‘Its Not You It’s Me T-shirt, red swim trunks, and black flip flops).
I made my way back to the pool area where they had moved on to the belly flop portion of the cruise Olympics. I was bored by it and engaged in various conversations with the gang while slowly working my way through a bloody Mary and studying several ship cuties including Cruise crush John. I wandered the decks after a bit and stumbled across a sleeping Alexander on a lounge chair. I talked with him briefly before heading back to my room.
The Club Car (as our room came to be known) was open with a sick Lizzie and a tired Lola both watching bad movies. I laid on my bed and read a bit more of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ while making light gossip. I then took a nap myself while the girls moved on with their day.
(Outfit. Gray sweater with yellow stripes, blue sneakers and A&F jeans.)
I woke up and finished off the last of my packing with the exception of two last outfits for the next few days. I made my way around the ship and playing catch up with various people while Kaylee, Ali, Robin and some others made their way to the ‘80’s Teen Dance Film’ tribute show while I had some drinks with the others. I made my way back to the room to fill out tip cards before dinner.
(Outfit: Brown metro motor scooter t-shirt, brown fur lined hoody and jeans.)
The last dinner had a last minute switch up with Ali and Robin joining us at our table for the night. We feasted on a little bit of everything and even though Ava and Lola were disappointed by the lack of crème Brule I had some baked Alaska. It was yummy and the meal finished off with some said good byes to our wait staff. They were great—and could even balance plates on their heads and dance for our enjoyment.
Post dinner we made our way back to the rooms to leave our suitcases in the halls, get some drinks and make our way for once stroll around the ship. It was cold on the top deck so a bunch of us formed a circle and cuddled for warmth while catching up. It felt like a very intimate bon-fire type gathering which was fun and silly with Carmen, Ali, Robin, Valeska, Liam, Alexander, Johnny, Kelly, Lola and Kaylee. And even though Lizzie wasn’t feeling well, I took a number of trips back to the rooms to see how she was feeling.
Eventually Lola and I came to the deck for a smoke and to catch up. She was cold and a bit tired but not so much so that we didn’t see two of the hottest guys on the whole ship. It was just our luck that it was the last night and we had ditched high fashion for hoodies. But we would honestly do with two cute strangers on a boat? Nothing that would be acceptable on dry land.
After walking Lola back to the room, and getting a refill on my vodka, I made one last run back to the gang and I came topside to see that everyone had gone—I think to a late night buffet—and I ran into Ty searching for them as well. Ty and I hadn’t much time to talk on the ship so he and I spent my last few hours on the boat walking the decks and talking about his engagement amongst the stars and the deep sea. A lot was said and felt and I was glad that we got some private time to just reconnect for a bit.
And then I took a bit of time for myself on the ship to just stare at the stars and think about my life. I have to say that I must have been a pirate in a past life because of how at home I felt on the ship. I had a cigarette or two as I said good bye to the night.
Bed came early but it was time for me to wake up in Los Angeles and I was more than ready. The cruise had been fun and relaxing and goofy and filled with many memories that surprised me more often than not. I hope the next time I’m on a boat more of my friends—and the boy--can be there. And that I will get my land legs back soon than later.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Teddy This
You scored as A Big Bear. You are such a cuddle teddy bear it is untrue go scare them/cuddle them.
What type of Gay are YOU? created with QuizFarm.com |
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Mexican Melodrama/ Clashing Colours; Cruise Part 2
So we hit Mexico running by jumping on the first bus into town. We were quickly made aware of a place called Papas and Beers by a group of fellow shipmates via their many slurred requests for the nearest restaurant to our tour bus driver. After a hot ride we were dropped off in the heart of Ensanada to hit the shops running. A small group of us made our ay into a handmade craft store and began poking around a slew of Frieda Kohl boxes and woven serapes.
It wasn’t until the top of the stairs that the first wave of land sickness hit me, almost resulting in me falling down a full flight into metal mirrors. I quickly realized that something wasn’t right and made it my plan to stick to either Kelly or Kaylie so as to not get lost or hurt myself. We made our way down the crowded sidewalks with the rest of the gang in search of deals and meals. We followed the loud music and steady stream of old frat boys and hot young girls and ended up outside of—you guessed it—Papas and Beers.
What we learned was that Papas and Beers has wet shirts contests between ten and noon, that they flips customers upside down for their shots and that regardless of how huge the bar is that they can have a second huge merchandise store across the street which carries sticker, t-shirts and tank tops all fit for your average fourteen year old girl or 4forty year old man. Curiosity answered we moved on down to a nearby cantina and settled in with tacos and margaritas.
After foods and booze we continued to shop along the main streets; people bought Mexican wrestling masks and scarves while I gossiped with all the girls at one point or another. I was still be feeling bad though and was eager to return to the boat. After a brief stop at the customs store we made our way back to the boat and I collapsed into my bed while the others hit the hot tub and pool.
(Outfit of sweat shorts and t-shirt with cute sneakers.)
I slept for an hour or two then when I woke up and decided that I needed to work out a bit to get my body back in synch. I made my way to the ship deck and began my laps while thinking about some notes for a new project I was working on. It was actually soothing to make my laps—4.5 to do a mile—and after 2 miles I decided that I needed to hit the gym. This was a mistake as getting on any machine that requires you to possibly bounce while on a ship when you already have leg issues is guaranteed to make you almost throw up. Regardless of my nausea I continued bravely through then made my way back to the room to shower and change before the captain’s reception and formal dinner.
I returned to find Lola spread across the bed with Lizzie as they waited for their cheese plates and sandwiches from room service. They were hungry and taken drastic steps by calling for food from multiple rooms in order to get it faster. We also got a tray of cookies from Ali in honor of her birthday. I quickly showered and started to flip through my clothes while nibbling on brie and watching my favorite Ashanti video.
(Outfit—pinstripe pants, blue paisley button down shirt, black-gray blazer with black Steve Madden loafers.)
After a bit of rushing both Lola and I managed to meet up with the others for the big captain’s reception before the formal dinner. We made our way through the oat past other wonderfully over dressed guests and half dressed tourists. We wait for a group picture with the captain which ironically had to be taken by my ship crush John—the only one tall enough to get us all into frame. It was also somehow decided that I should have a champagne in my hands at all times; the crew was always handing me drinks whenever I saw them. I think they thought I needed to be drunk and damn if they weren’t right. There was some lovely slow dancing with Ali and Robin showing us how it was done.
It seemed like the reception ended too soon—7 glasses of champagne will do that to you—and we made our way to the dinning room to get one last photograph before our meal. Of course there were many tacky backgrounds including ships at night, a brightly dressed Lido deck and one that was model after the grand staircase from ‘Titanic’ but these had lines way too long. So we posed with abstract art for a very diva-like photographer who didn’t find it funny that we offered to help set up the chairs for our shoot.
After a few more photos, including a few ‘Brady Bunch’ style on the main staircase of the ship, we made our way into dinner. We all seemed to have a little bit of everything we wanted with great conversation and many laughs. Except when they served humus in some carved out zucchini which I really wanted—but it would have killed me. But it was all delicious and actually served in the proper portions. This means that Johnny had several dishes while Kelly watched her man go to town.
(Outfit, pinstripe pants, 70 inspired blue bird printed shirt with freshly tousled hair.)
After dinner a small group of us hit our staterooms, the girls to change shoes and for me and Kelly to change clothes as well as refresh our drinks. We made our way up stairs to the Schooner Bar where cocktails started for half the group while Lizzie, Kaylee, Lola and I made our way to the nightclub for singles night—unfortunately they were having what appeared to be bad couple’s karaoke. Though it was hosted by ship crush John so at least I was happy.
After several trip between the bar and the nightclub the music finally started and I managed to get in some great dancing with my girls to the hits of the 70’s and the 80’ until ‘Fergilious’ came on. Not to be deterred we managed to keep dancing as a group for a bit longer but slowly and surely the girls dropped off one by one and leaving me to own the dance floor the rest of the night. I did keep the moves going and the drinks flowing and even ended up dancing with ship crush John if only by accident. He taught me a very odd dance to some unknown hip hop song which was dirty yet crazy at the same time. It was fun.
I finally made my way solo back to the room around three thirty-four o’clock after a number of sweaty dances and smoked cigarettes with various strangers met in the nightclub. I, in my semi-impaired state, decided that while Lola slept I would start packing the played out outfit choices. I didn’t learn until the next morning that I had woken her up. I wish she had said something. But I climbed into bed—excited for the next day. Our full day out to sea.
Coming up next—belly flops, huddled masses and a farewell to night waters.
So we hit Mexico running by jumping on the first bus into town. We were quickly made aware of a place called Papas and Beers by a group of fellow shipmates via their many slurred requests for the nearest restaurant to our tour bus driver. After a hot ride we were dropped off in the heart of Ensanada to hit the shops running. A small group of us made our ay into a handmade craft store and began poking around a slew of Frieda Kohl boxes and woven serapes.
It wasn’t until the top of the stairs that the first wave of land sickness hit me, almost resulting in me falling down a full flight into metal mirrors. I quickly realized that something wasn’t right and made it my plan to stick to either Kelly or Kaylie so as to not get lost or hurt myself. We made our way down the crowded sidewalks with the rest of the gang in search of deals and meals. We followed the loud music and steady stream of old frat boys and hot young girls and ended up outside of—you guessed it—Papas and Beers.
What we learned was that Papas and Beers has wet shirts contests between ten and noon, that they flips customers upside down for their shots and that regardless of how huge the bar is that they can have a second huge merchandise store across the street which carries sticker, t-shirts and tank tops all fit for your average fourteen year old girl or 4forty year old man. Curiosity answered we moved on down to a nearby cantina and settled in with tacos and margaritas.
After foods and booze we continued to shop along the main streets; people bought Mexican wrestling masks and scarves while I gossiped with all the girls at one point or another. I was still be feeling bad though and was eager to return to the boat. After a brief stop at the customs store we made our way back to the boat and I collapsed into my bed while the others hit the hot tub and pool.
(Outfit of sweat shorts and t-shirt with cute sneakers.)
I slept for an hour or two then when I woke up and decided that I needed to work out a bit to get my body back in synch. I made my way to the ship deck and began my laps while thinking about some notes for a new project I was working on. It was actually soothing to make my laps—4.5 to do a mile—and after 2 miles I decided that I needed to hit the gym. This was a mistake as getting on any machine that requires you to possibly bounce while on a ship when you already have leg issues is guaranteed to make you almost throw up. Regardless of my nausea I continued bravely through then made my way back to the room to shower and change before the captain’s reception and formal dinner.
I returned to find Lola spread across the bed with Lizzie as they waited for their cheese plates and sandwiches from room service. They were hungry and taken drastic steps by calling for food from multiple rooms in order to get it faster. We also got a tray of cookies from Ali in honor of her birthday. I quickly showered and started to flip through my clothes while nibbling on brie and watching my favorite Ashanti video.
(Outfit—pinstripe pants, blue paisley button down shirt, black-gray blazer with black Steve Madden loafers.)
After a bit of rushing both Lola and I managed to meet up with the others for the big captain’s reception before the formal dinner. We made our way through the oat past other wonderfully over dressed guests and half dressed tourists. We wait for a group picture with the captain which ironically had to be taken by my ship crush John—the only one tall enough to get us all into frame. It was also somehow decided that I should have a champagne in my hands at all times; the crew was always handing me drinks whenever I saw them. I think they thought I needed to be drunk and damn if they weren’t right. There was some lovely slow dancing with Ali and Robin showing us how it was done.
It seemed like the reception ended too soon—7 glasses of champagne will do that to you—and we made our way to the dinning room to get one last photograph before our meal. Of course there were many tacky backgrounds including ships at night, a brightly dressed Lido deck and one that was model after the grand staircase from ‘Titanic’ but these had lines way too long. So we posed with abstract art for a very diva-like photographer who didn’t find it funny that we offered to help set up the chairs for our shoot.
After a few more photos, including a few ‘Brady Bunch’ style on the main staircase of the ship, we made our way into dinner. We all seemed to have a little bit of everything we wanted with great conversation and many laughs. Except when they served humus in some carved out zucchini which I really wanted—but it would have killed me. But it was all delicious and actually served in the proper portions. This means that Johnny had several dishes while Kelly watched her man go to town.
(Outfit, pinstripe pants, 70 inspired blue bird printed shirt with freshly tousled hair.)
After dinner a small group of us hit our staterooms, the girls to change shoes and for me and Kelly to change clothes as well as refresh our drinks. We made our way up stairs to the Schooner Bar where cocktails started for half the group while Lizzie, Kaylee, Lola and I made our way to the nightclub for singles night—unfortunately they were having what appeared to be bad couple’s karaoke. Though it was hosted by ship crush John so at least I was happy.
After several trip between the bar and the nightclub the music finally started and I managed to get in some great dancing with my girls to the hits of the 70’s and the 80’ until ‘Fergilious’ came on. Not to be deterred we managed to keep dancing as a group for a bit longer but slowly and surely the girls dropped off one by one and leaving me to own the dance floor the rest of the night. I did keep the moves going and the drinks flowing and even ended up dancing with ship crush John if only by accident. He taught me a very odd dance to some unknown hip hop song which was dirty yet crazy at the same time. It was fun.
I finally made my way solo back to the room around three thirty-four o’clock after a number of sweaty dances and smoked cigarettes with various strangers met in the nightclub. I, in my semi-impaired state, decided that while Lola slept I would start packing the played out outfit choices. I didn’t learn until the next morning that I had woken her up. I wish she had said something. But I climbed into bed—excited for the next day. Our full day out to sea.
Coming up next—belly flops, huddled masses and a farewell to night waters.
Monday, December 11, 2006
IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)2. Put it on shuffle3. Press play4. For every question, type the song that's playing (don't cheat)5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
Opening Credits:My Life—Mariah Carey
Waking Up:Love Me or Hate Me—Lady Sovereign
First Day At School:Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me –The Smiths
Falling In Love:Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
Fight Song:Connected –Stereo MCs
Breaking Up:Calling It Quits –Aimee Mann
Prom:Tell Me Something Good –Rufus with Chaka Kahn
Life's OK:Le Disko—Shiny Toy Guns
Mental Breakdown:Fergilious --Fergie
Driving:Stars and Boulevards--Augustana
Getting Back Together:Party Lights –Claudine Clark
Wedding:Stars Are Blind—Paris Hilton
Birth of Child:Say What I Mean –The Like
Final Battle:One, Two Step –Ciara w/ Missy Elliot
Death Scene:Lovely Day –Bill Withers
Funeral Song:My Babydaddy—B-Rock and the Bizz
End Credits:03 Bonnie and Clyde –Jay Z and Beyonce
So, here's how it works:1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)2. Put it on shuffle3. Press play4. For every question, type the song that's playing (don't cheat)5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
Opening Credits:My Life—Mariah Carey
Waking Up:Love Me or Hate Me—Lady Sovereign
First Day At School:Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me –The Smiths
Falling In Love:Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
Fight Song:Connected –Stereo MCs
Breaking Up:Calling It Quits –Aimee Mann
Prom:Tell Me Something Good –Rufus with Chaka Kahn
Life's OK:Le Disko—Shiny Toy Guns
Mental Breakdown:Fergilious --Fergie
Driving:Stars and Boulevards--Augustana
Getting Back Together:Party Lights –Claudine Clark
Wedding:Stars Are Blind—Paris Hilton
Birth of Child:Say What I Mean –The Like
Final Battle:One, Two Step –Ciara w/ Missy Elliot
Death Scene:Lovely Day –Bill Withers
Funeral Song:My Babydaddy—B-Rock and the Bizz
End Credits:03 Bonnie and Clyde –Jay Z and Beyonce
I Was Giving Runway Looks While They Were Giving Sears Catalog
The cruise. Sorry it’s taken me so long to write about it but things since coming back to land have been rough. (Like waiting for my land legs to return. It took a week!!!!) Excuses made—I’m gonna start from a day or two before we disembarked.
So if you read my blog you know all about the passport drama and the fear that it wouldn’t arrive in time. It happened to show up the day of my faux anniversary with the boy so that was settled about a week before. So all that was left to worry about was money and packing.
Now the money worries are my weakness. I guess because I’m always worried that I’m two steps away from being on the street. I knew going on the cruise itself was fine, paid for, but I wasn’t sure how much money I might need for extra expenses. Between that and work not giving any answer as to whether we would be paid for Thanksgiving much less the following Friday I was concerned I might be really broke when I got back. That and I was on the tail end of my current show and hadn’t been totally sure that my next job was a definite. Even though I had been told by an executive to not take another job I am always worried until I have a little deal memo in my face. So I was very concerned about cash.
Add to the mix the fact that I hadn’t packed and was unsure what to bring and you end up with a very edgy Rory. Of course Samuel tried to help me out with the packing by explaining that all I needed was three pairs of pants, two shirts per day and some formal wear for the big dinner. But I would only maybe pack that light if I was going away for two days to his house, much less a cruise. That and I don’t so much pack outfits as much as visual experiences. But I made a game plan and managed to fit a fifth of my closet into two bags. And some booze too.
The final issue on my list of things to worry about was how exactly I would be not only getting down to the port but also the return trip. It had been somewhat settled when Rocky offered to take me with her when she dropped of Lola (My roomie for the cruise) that Friday and to pick us up the following Monday. My only concern was that it would take us awhile to clear customs and Rocky would have to work so it didn’t seem the most realistic game plan and so I decided to look into other options for the ride home. Fortunately Kelly and Johnny said they would be able to squeeze me and so the game was on.
(Outfit: My brown ‘Miss Scarlet in the Hall with the revolver t-shirt, cute brown sneaks and dark jeans with my fur lined hoody sweatshirt.)
The morning of the cruise was a bit hectic. Between getting up early after a day of turkey and wine, dragging my bags down the longest apartment complex ever and last minute passport, wallet, paperwork check we finally go underway. After a quick stop to grab Lizzie (and debate about whether we needed to go by her office to get her luggage tags) we made our way down to the Port of Los Angeles. It was a fun ride filled my many jokes including several about the unfortunately named Terminal Island. (Don’t take the bridge; it will bring you to Terminal Island. It’s a dead end. Ha!)
After hugging Rocky and telling her to give love to the boy (who had his appendix burst and had operation the night before Thanksgiving) the girls and I ran into the rest of our cruising buddies. After checking in (where I was terrified something would go wrong and I would end up detained in some way) and making our way through a labyrinth of pre-cruise photo ops, we finally boarded the boat.
Lola and I tired immediately to get to our room; we were both worried about our contraband but I was unwilling to engage in conversation about it. (I tend to find when I am in the midst of doing something I shouldn’t that it is best to ignore the issue lest I give someone the impression that I am doing something wrong.) After a bit of a wait we were finally able to see the room and get a lay of the land. After having our beds separated and realizing that we still had to wait for our bags we decided to make our way to lunch.
Now the cool thing about a cruise ship is that it is almost exactly like a hotel, in that everything pretty, clean and easy to find once you spend some time there. We made our way through the huge lobby and up to the buffet lunch. There we were joined by Ava, Henry and Lizzie after we stole the table from Kaylee and Alexander. Lunch was fun if a bit unnerving with all the vibrations of the boat but I did learn some things. Like some of us aren’t thrown by boys in dresses. Matter of fact—some of us might date them.
After lunch we made our way back to the room to begin the unpacking process. I sorted outfits as Lola sorted through the television to the video channel and we made ourselves at home. We kept the door open so people could pop in and out—with gossip of course. I found out that Ty was engaged—shocking—and Kelly got to see the reaction on my face. And then it was time for the lifeboat drill.
I really wanted to dress as a pirate in my life jacket but no one had an eye patch so then I suggested that we run screaming to the deck ala ‘Poseidon Adventure’ but no one took me up on that idea. So depressed and grumpy I made my way to our lifeboat with the rest of the gang for a school on proper escape policy. Only because I was told they would know if I was not there. It was actually kind of fun—we got shushed by a crew member and I found my sailor crush. He was British and tall and cute but he did have big ears and British teeth so most of the girls didn’t agree with me on his hotness. But afterwards was nap time. Not.
No sooner than I had curled up on the bed then Kelly came in insisting that Lola and I had to come to the Bon Voyage party on the roof deck. It was odd to wave good bye to Terminal Island, the odd freighter ship docked nearby and even the odd grouping of custom agents standing boat-side. The exciting ‘Love Boat’ moment finished I finally napped for a few hours—after a couple of chapters of ‘Sense and Sensibility’.
(Outfit. Black polo, blue and black tie, blue velvet blazer with cute jeans.)
Feeling refreshed I woke up to change for my first formal dinner which was a bit more perplexing than I imaged. I pride myself on always knowing what to wear and say in any given moment of time but it was my first time in ages being around multi course meals and men that would leap to pick up my napkin. So nerves were had but fortunately I was seated with a great table for conversation and distraction. Dinner was wonderful—even though Robin did compare my outfit to Avril Levine. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment. But I did get to have steak. Yum.
(Outfit. Vintage green short sleeved dress shirt with mint green t-shirt underneath and patterned denim. )
Dinner finished the only thing left to do was find fun. I briefly returned to the room with a handful of people for a quick change of clothes. I was getting ready for fun and formal wear was not part of the plan. I made my way with a small portion of the group and hit the piano bar. Now I have issues with piano bars—the first bar I was ever thrown out of was a gay p[piano bar back in Boston and there was a particular birthday (Looking at you Heddy) held at a piano bar that lead to a disastrous affairette. So piano bars and I are not friends.
That and I just wasn’t feeling like sitting much but Lola wasn’t feeling well and most everyone else was tired from the holiday. Everyone except Ali and Robin, Ali’s sister Sari and Marissa who were in the nightclub dancing up a storm. So of course I spent the next hour jumping back and forth to both places and unsatisfied with both. And let me tell you, the ship’s nightclub looks exactly like a set from the every cruise film you’ve ever seen. But regardless, the piano bar was more fun at points than I expected and the nightclub more draining that I would have guessed.
The night round out with me on the ship deck with Lola, smoking cigarettes and talking with Lizzie and Valeska as we waited to see where Liam went off to. I learned some interesting gossip and was even called a best friend by someone unexpected. And was given a hint about some past romantic tension that at some point I will have to deal with. But bed that night was early and very much needed.
The next day was Mexico and a daytrip to Ensedana. Imagine my surprise when I woke up that morning to look out our porthole to see the foreign equivalent of 7-11 but with people snapping pictures; I could be in the background of some poor family’s photos. In my pajamas with full on bed head. But I managed to overcome my horror and close the shades before Lola woke up. Why should we both have international shame?
(Outfit. White sweater hoody with my FCUK cap, board shorts and my cute black and white Vans.)
We slowly got dressed and made our way to breakfast with Ava and Henry. We decided to see who else we could round up before going on to the shore but everyone was in various stage of prep so a small group of us headed out. It was hot and crowded and a bit familiar when we hit the pier, which was nice but we could hear the sounds of traffic and smell the food before we even got on the shuttle. Where we learned all about Papas and Beer.
Up next—Mexico, formal night, drunk packing….
The cruise. Sorry it’s taken me so long to write about it but things since coming back to land have been rough. (Like waiting for my land legs to return. It took a week!!!!) Excuses made—I’m gonna start from a day or two before we disembarked.
So if you read my blog you know all about the passport drama and the fear that it wouldn’t arrive in time. It happened to show up the day of my faux anniversary with the boy so that was settled about a week before. So all that was left to worry about was money and packing.
Now the money worries are my weakness. I guess because I’m always worried that I’m two steps away from being on the street. I knew going on the cruise itself was fine, paid for, but I wasn’t sure how much money I might need for extra expenses. Between that and work not giving any answer as to whether we would be paid for Thanksgiving much less the following Friday I was concerned I might be really broke when I got back. That and I was on the tail end of my current show and hadn’t been totally sure that my next job was a definite. Even though I had been told by an executive to not take another job I am always worried until I have a little deal memo in my face. So I was very concerned about cash.
Add to the mix the fact that I hadn’t packed and was unsure what to bring and you end up with a very edgy Rory. Of course Samuel tried to help me out with the packing by explaining that all I needed was three pairs of pants, two shirts per day and some formal wear for the big dinner. But I would only maybe pack that light if I was going away for two days to his house, much less a cruise. That and I don’t so much pack outfits as much as visual experiences. But I made a game plan and managed to fit a fifth of my closet into two bags. And some booze too.
The final issue on my list of things to worry about was how exactly I would be not only getting down to the port but also the return trip. It had been somewhat settled when Rocky offered to take me with her when she dropped of Lola (My roomie for the cruise) that Friday and to pick us up the following Monday. My only concern was that it would take us awhile to clear customs and Rocky would have to work so it didn’t seem the most realistic game plan and so I decided to look into other options for the ride home. Fortunately Kelly and Johnny said they would be able to squeeze me and so the game was on.
(Outfit: My brown ‘Miss Scarlet in the Hall with the revolver t-shirt, cute brown sneaks and dark jeans with my fur lined hoody sweatshirt.)
The morning of the cruise was a bit hectic. Between getting up early after a day of turkey and wine, dragging my bags down the longest apartment complex ever and last minute passport, wallet, paperwork check we finally go underway. After a quick stop to grab Lizzie (and debate about whether we needed to go by her office to get her luggage tags) we made our way down to the Port of Los Angeles. It was a fun ride filled my many jokes including several about the unfortunately named Terminal Island. (Don’t take the bridge; it will bring you to Terminal Island. It’s a dead end. Ha!)
After hugging Rocky and telling her to give love to the boy (who had his appendix burst and had operation the night before Thanksgiving) the girls and I ran into the rest of our cruising buddies. After checking in (where I was terrified something would go wrong and I would end up detained in some way) and making our way through a labyrinth of pre-cruise photo ops, we finally boarded the boat.
Lola and I tired immediately to get to our room; we were both worried about our contraband but I was unwilling to engage in conversation about it. (I tend to find when I am in the midst of doing something I shouldn’t that it is best to ignore the issue lest I give someone the impression that I am doing something wrong.) After a bit of a wait we were finally able to see the room and get a lay of the land. After having our beds separated and realizing that we still had to wait for our bags we decided to make our way to lunch.
Now the cool thing about a cruise ship is that it is almost exactly like a hotel, in that everything pretty, clean and easy to find once you spend some time there. We made our way through the huge lobby and up to the buffet lunch. There we were joined by Ava, Henry and Lizzie after we stole the table from Kaylee and Alexander. Lunch was fun if a bit unnerving with all the vibrations of the boat but I did learn some things. Like some of us aren’t thrown by boys in dresses. Matter of fact—some of us might date them.
After lunch we made our way back to the room to begin the unpacking process. I sorted outfits as Lola sorted through the television to the video channel and we made ourselves at home. We kept the door open so people could pop in and out—with gossip of course. I found out that Ty was engaged—shocking—and Kelly got to see the reaction on my face. And then it was time for the lifeboat drill.
I really wanted to dress as a pirate in my life jacket but no one had an eye patch so then I suggested that we run screaming to the deck ala ‘Poseidon Adventure’ but no one took me up on that idea. So depressed and grumpy I made my way to our lifeboat with the rest of the gang for a school on proper escape policy. Only because I was told they would know if I was not there. It was actually kind of fun—we got shushed by a crew member and I found my sailor crush. He was British and tall and cute but he did have big ears and British teeth so most of the girls didn’t agree with me on his hotness. But afterwards was nap time. Not.
No sooner than I had curled up on the bed then Kelly came in insisting that Lola and I had to come to the Bon Voyage party on the roof deck. It was odd to wave good bye to Terminal Island, the odd freighter ship docked nearby and even the odd grouping of custom agents standing boat-side. The exciting ‘Love Boat’ moment finished I finally napped for a few hours—after a couple of chapters of ‘Sense and Sensibility’.
(Outfit. Black polo, blue and black tie, blue velvet blazer with cute jeans.)
Feeling refreshed I woke up to change for my first formal dinner which was a bit more perplexing than I imaged. I pride myself on always knowing what to wear and say in any given moment of time but it was my first time in ages being around multi course meals and men that would leap to pick up my napkin. So nerves were had but fortunately I was seated with a great table for conversation and distraction. Dinner was wonderful—even though Robin did compare my outfit to Avril Levine. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment. But I did get to have steak. Yum.
(Outfit. Vintage green short sleeved dress shirt with mint green t-shirt underneath and patterned denim. )
Dinner finished the only thing left to do was find fun. I briefly returned to the room with a handful of people for a quick change of clothes. I was getting ready for fun and formal wear was not part of the plan. I made my way with a small portion of the group and hit the piano bar. Now I have issues with piano bars—the first bar I was ever thrown out of was a gay p[piano bar back in Boston and there was a particular birthday (Looking at you Heddy) held at a piano bar that lead to a disastrous affairette. So piano bars and I are not friends.
That and I just wasn’t feeling like sitting much but Lola wasn’t feeling well and most everyone else was tired from the holiday. Everyone except Ali and Robin, Ali’s sister Sari and Marissa who were in the nightclub dancing up a storm. So of course I spent the next hour jumping back and forth to both places and unsatisfied with both. And let me tell you, the ship’s nightclub looks exactly like a set from the every cruise film you’ve ever seen. But regardless, the piano bar was more fun at points than I expected and the nightclub more draining that I would have guessed.
The night round out with me on the ship deck with Lola, smoking cigarettes and talking with Lizzie and Valeska as we waited to see where Liam went off to. I learned some interesting gossip and was even called a best friend by someone unexpected. And was given a hint about some past romantic tension that at some point I will have to deal with. But bed that night was early and very much needed.
The next day was Mexico and a daytrip to Ensedana. Imagine my surprise when I woke up that morning to look out our porthole to see the foreign equivalent of 7-11 but with people snapping pictures; I could be in the background of some poor family’s photos. In my pajamas with full on bed head. But I managed to overcome my horror and close the shades before Lola woke up. Why should we both have international shame?
(Outfit. White sweater hoody with my FCUK cap, board shorts and my cute black and white Vans.)
We slowly got dressed and made our way to breakfast with Ava and Henry. We decided to see who else we could round up before going on to the shore but everyone was in various stage of prep so a small group of us headed out. It was hot and crowded and a bit familiar when we hit the pier, which was nice but we could hear the sounds of traffic and smell the food before we even got on the shuttle. Where we learned all about Papas and Beer.
Up next—Mexico, formal night, drunk packing….
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
I Act 16!!!!
[x] I know how to make a pot of coffee
[x] I do my own laundry
[ ] I can cook for myself
[x] I actually enjoy intellectual conversations
[x] I think politics are exciting
[ ] My parents and grandparents have better things to say than my friends
Total: 4
[x] I show up for school and or work every day unless I'm sick
[ ] I always carry a pen in my pocket/purse.
[ ] I've never gotten a detention
[ ] I've watched talk shows to point out the credibility of it all
[x] I know what credibility means without looking it up
[x]drink coffeee/cappucino atleast once a week
Total: 3
[x] I know how to run the dish washer and or do the dishes.
[x] I can count to 10 in Spanish.
[x] When I say I'm going to do something I do it.
[ ] I can mow the lawn.
[ ] I can make adults laugh without being stupid.
[ ] I remember to water my plants.
[x] I study when I have to.
[x] I pay attention at school/work
[ ] I remember to feed my pets
Total: 4
[x] I can spell experience without looking it up
[x] I clean up my own mess.
[ ] The first thing I do when I wake up is get Diet Coke.
[ ] I can go to the store with out getting something I don't need.
[x] I understand jokes the first time they are said.
[ ] I can type fast.
Total: 3
[ ] I have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour.
[ ] I can look at someone hot without thinking of sex.
[ ] I've realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job.
[x] I can read a book and actually finish it.
[ ] People have said i act/look older than i am.
Total: 1
Now add up all of the x's you have and put "I act __ years old" in the subject line
[x] I know how to make a pot of coffee
[x] I do my own laundry
[ ] I can cook for myself
[x] I actually enjoy intellectual conversations
[x] I think politics are exciting
[ ] My parents and grandparents have better things to say than my friends
Total: 4
[x] I show up for school and or work every day unless I'm sick
[ ] I always carry a pen in my pocket/purse.
[ ] I've never gotten a detention
[ ] I've watched talk shows to point out the credibility of it all
[x] I know what credibility means without looking it up
[x]drink coffeee/cappucino atleast once a week
Total: 3
[x] I know how to run the dish washer and or do the dishes.
[x] I can count to 10 in Spanish.
[x] When I say I'm going to do something I do it.
[ ] I can mow the lawn.
[ ] I can make adults laugh without being stupid.
[ ] I remember to water my plants.
[x] I study when I have to.
[x] I pay attention at school/work
[ ] I remember to feed my pets
Total: 4
[x] I can spell experience without looking it up
[x] I clean up my own mess.
[ ] The first thing I do when I wake up is get Diet Coke.
[ ] I can go to the store with out getting something I don't need.
[x] I understand jokes the first time they are said.
[ ] I can type fast.
Total: 3
[ ] I have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour.
[ ] I can look at someone hot without thinking of sex.
[ ] I've realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job.
[x] I can read a book and actually finish it.
[ ] People have said i act/look older than i am.
Total: 1
Now add up all of the x's you have and put "I act __ years old" in the subject line
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
How Sad
Director Robert Altman dead at 81
By DAVID GERMAINAP MOVIE WRITER
Director, producer and writer Robert Altman poses with the honorary Oscar he received from the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the 78th Academy Awards telecast on, March 5, 2006, in Los Angeles. Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H," "Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. He was 81. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
LOS ANGELES -- Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H," "Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood, has died at 81. The director died Monday night at a Los Angeles Hospital, Joshua Astrachan, a producer at Altman's Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York City, told The Associated Press.
The cause of death wasn't disclosed. A news release was expected later in the day, Astrachan said.
A five-time Academy Award nominee for best director, most recently for 2001's "Gosford Park," he finally won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006.
"No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have," Altman said while accepting the award. "I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition."
Garrison Keillor, who starred in Altman's last movie - this year's "A Prairie Home Companion" - said Tuesday that Altman's love of film clearly came through on the set.
"Mr. Altman loved making movies. He loved the chaos of shooting and the sociability of the crew and actors - he adored actors - and he loved the editing room and he especially loved sitting in a screening room and watching the thing over and over with other people," Keillor said in a statement to The Associated Press. "He didn't care for the money end of things, he didn't mind doing publicity, but when he was working he was in heaven."
Elliot Gould, who starred in "M-A-S-H," said Altman's legacy would "nuture and inspire filmmakers and artists for generations to come.""He was the last great American director in the tradition of John Ford," Gould said. "He was my friend and I'll always be grateful to him for the experience and opportunities he gave me."
Altman had one of the most distinctive styles among modern filmmakers. He often employed huge ensemble casts, encouraged improvisation and overlapping dialogue and filmed scenes in long tracking shots that would flit from character to character.
Perpetually in and out of favor with audiences and critics, Altman worked ceaselessly since his anti-war black comedy "M-A-S-H" established his reputation in 1970, but he would go for years at a time directing obscure movies before roaring back with a hit.
After a string of commercial duds including "The Gingerbread Man" in 1998, "Cookie's Fortune" in 1999 and "Dr. T & the Women" in 2000, Altman took his all-American cynicism to Britain for 2001's "Gosford Park."
A combination murder-mystery and class-war satire set among snobbish socialites and their servants on an English estate in the 1930s, "Gosford Park" was Altman's biggest box-office success since "M-A-S-H."
Besides best-director, "Gosford Park" earned six other Oscar nominations, including best picture and best supporting actress for both Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith. It won the original-screenplay Oscar, and Altman took the best-director prize at the Golden Globes for "Gosford Park."
Altman's other best-director Oscar nominations came for "M-A-S-H," the country music saga "Nashville" from 1975, the movie-business satire "The Player" from 1992 and the ensemble character study "Short Cuts" from 1993. He also earned a best-picture nomination as producer of "Nashville."
No director ever got more best-director nominations without winning a regular Oscar, though four other men - Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Clarence Brown and King Vidor - tied with Altman at five.
In May, Altman brought out "A Prairie Home Companion," with Keillor starring as the announcer of a folksy musical show - with the same name as Keillor's own long-running show - about to be shut down by new owners. Among those in the cast were Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones. "This film is about death," Altman said at a May 3 news conference in St. Paul, Minn., also attended by Keillor and many of the movie's stars.
He often took on Hollywood genres with a revisionist's eye, de-romanticizing the Western hero in 1971's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and 1976's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson," the film-noir gumshoe in 1973's "The Long Goodbye" and outlaw gangsters in "Thieves Like Us."
"M-A-S-H" was Altman's first big success after years of directing television, commercials, industrial films and generally unremarkable feature films. The film starring Donald Sutherland and Gould was set during the Korean War but was Altman's thinly veiled attack on U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
"That was my intention entirely. If you look at that film, there's no mention of what war it is," Altman said in an Associated Press interview in 2001, adding that the studio made him put a disclaimer at the beginning to identify the setting as Korea.
"Our mandate was bad taste. If anybody had a joke in the worst taste, it had a better chance of getting into the film, because nothing was in worse taste than that war itself," Altman said.
The film spawned the long-running TV sitcom starring Alan Alda, a show Altman would refer to with distaste as "that series." Unlike the social message of the film, the series was prompted by greed, Altman said.
"They made millions and millions of dollars by bringing an Asian war into Americans' homes every Sunday night," Altman said in 2001. "I thought that was the worst taste."
Altman never minced words about reproaching Hollywood. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he said Hollywood served as a source of inspiration for the terrorists by making violent action movies that amounted to training films for such attacks. "Nobody would have thought to commit an atrocity like that unless they'd seen it in a movie," Altman said.
Altman was written off repeatedly by the Hollywood establishment, and his reputation for arrogance and hard drinking - a habit he eventually gave up - hindered his efforts to raise money for his idiosyncratic films.
While critical of studio executives, Altman held actors in the highest esteem. He joked that on "Gosford Park," he was there mainly to turn the lights on and off for the performers.
The respect was mutual. Top-name actors would clamor for even bit parts in his films. Altman generally worked on shoestring budgets, yet he continually landed marquee performers who signed on for a fraction of their normal salaries.
After the mid-1970s, the quality of Altman's films became increasingly erratic. His 1980 musical "Popeye," with Robin Williams, was trashed by critics, and Altman took some time off from film.
He directed the Broadway production of "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean," following it with a movie adaptation in 1982. Altman went back and forth from TV to theatrical films over the next decade, but even when his films earned critical praise, such as 1990's "Vincent & Theo," they remained largely unseen.
"The Player" and "Short Cuts" re-established Altman's reputation and commercial viability. But other 1990s films - including his fashion-industry farce "Ready to Wear" and "Kansas City," his reverie on the 1930s jazz and gangster scene of his hometown - fell flat.
Born Feb. 20, 1925, Altman hung out in his teen years at the jazz clubs of Kansas City, Mo., where his father was an insurance salesman. Altman was a bomber pilot in World War II and studied engineering at the University of Missouri in Columbia before taking a job making industrial films in Kansas City. He moved into feature films with "The Delinquents" in 1957, then worked largely in television through the mid-1960s, directing episodes of such series as "Bonanza" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
Altman and his wife, Kathryn, had two sons, Robert and Matthew, and he had a daughter, Christine, and two other sons, Michael and Stephen, from two previous marriages. When he received his honorary Oscar in 2006, Altman revealed he had a heart transplant a decade earlier.
"I didn't make a big secret out of it, but I thought nobody would hire me again," he said after the ceremony. "You know, there's such a stigma about heart transplants, and there's a lot of us out there."
---
Associated Press writers Jeff Baenen in St. Paul, Minn., and Jeff Wilson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Director Robert Altman dead at 81
By DAVID GERMAINAP MOVIE WRITER
Director, producer and writer Robert Altman poses with the honorary Oscar he received from the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the 78th Academy Awards telecast on, March 5, 2006, in Los Angeles. Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H," "Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. He was 81. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
LOS ANGELES -- Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H," "Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood, has died at 81. The director died Monday night at a Los Angeles Hospital, Joshua Astrachan, a producer at Altman's Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York City, told The Associated Press.
The cause of death wasn't disclosed. A news release was expected later in the day, Astrachan said.
A five-time Academy Award nominee for best director, most recently for 2001's "Gosford Park," he finally won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006.
"No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have," Altman said while accepting the award. "I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition."
Garrison Keillor, who starred in Altman's last movie - this year's "A Prairie Home Companion" - said Tuesday that Altman's love of film clearly came through on the set.
"Mr. Altman loved making movies. He loved the chaos of shooting and the sociability of the crew and actors - he adored actors - and he loved the editing room and he especially loved sitting in a screening room and watching the thing over and over with other people," Keillor said in a statement to The Associated Press. "He didn't care for the money end of things, he didn't mind doing publicity, but when he was working he was in heaven."
Elliot Gould, who starred in "M-A-S-H," said Altman's legacy would "nuture and inspire filmmakers and artists for generations to come.""He was the last great American director in the tradition of John Ford," Gould said. "He was my friend and I'll always be grateful to him for the experience and opportunities he gave me."
Altman had one of the most distinctive styles among modern filmmakers. He often employed huge ensemble casts, encouraged improvisation and overlapping dialogue and filmed scenes in long tracking shots that would flit from character to character.
Perpetually in and out of favor with audiences and critics, Altman worked ceaselessly since his anti-war black comedy "M-A-S-H" established his reputation in 1970, but he would go for years at a time directing obscure movies before roaring back with a hit.
After a string of commercial duds including "The Gingerbread Man" in 1998, "Cookie's Fortune" in 1999 and "Dr. T & the Women" in 2000, Altman took his all-American cynicism to Britain for 2001's "Gosford Park."
A combination murder-mystery and class-war satire set among snobbish socialites and their servants on an English estate in the 1930s, "Gosford Park" was Altman's biggest box-office success since "M-A-S-H."
Besides best-director, "Gosford Park" earned six other Oscar nominations, including best picture and best supporting actress for both Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith. It won the original-screenplay Oscar, and Altman took the best-director prize at the Golden Globes for "Gosford Park."
Altman's other best-director Oscar nominations came for "M-A-S-H," the country music saga "Nashville" from 1975, the movie-business satire "The Player" from 1992 and the ensemble character study "Short Cuts" from 1993. He also earned a best-picture nomination as producer of "Nashville."
No director ever got more best-director nominations without winning a regular Oscar, though four other men - Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Clarence Brown and King Vidor - tied with Altman at five.
In May, Altman brought out "A Prairie Home Companion," with Keillor starring as the announcer of a folksy musical show - with the same name as Keillor's own long-running show - about to be shut down by new owners. Among those in the cast were Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones. "This film is about death," Altman said at a May 3 news conference in St. Paul, Minn., also attended by Keillor and many of the movie's stars.
He often took on Hollywood genres with a revisionist's eye, de-romanticizing the Western hero in 1971's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and 1976's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson," the film-noir gumshoe in 1973's "The Long Goodbye" and outlaw gangsters in "Thieves Like Us."
"M-A-S-H" was Altman's first big success after years of directing television, commercials, industrial films and generally unremarkable feature films. The film starring Donald Sutherland and Gould was set during the Korean War but was Altman's thinly veiled attack on U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
"That was my intention entirely. If you look at that film, there's no mention of what war it is," Altman said in an Associated Press interview in 2001, adding that the studio made him put a disclaimer at the beginning to identify the setting as Korea.
"Our mandate was bad taste. If anybody had a joke in the worst taste, it had a better chance of getting into the film, because nothing was in worse taste than that war itself," Altman said.
The film spawned the long-running TV sitcom starring Alan Alda, a show Altman would refer to with distaste as "that series." Unlike the social message of the film, the series was prompted by greed, Altman said.
"They made millions and millions of dollars by bringing an Asian war into Americans' homes every Sunday night," Altman said in 2001. "I thought that was the worst taste."
Altman never minced words about reproaching Hollywood. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he said Hollywood served as a source of inspiration for the terrorists by making violent action movies that amounted to training films for such attacks. "Nobody would have thought to commit an atrocity like that unless they'd seen it in a movie," Altman said.
Altman was written off repeatedly by the Hollywood establishment, and his reputation for arrogance and hard drinking - a habit he eventually gave up - hindered his efforts to raise money for his idiosyncratic films.
While critical of studio executives, Altman held actors in the highest esteem. He joked that on "Gosford Park," he was there mainly to turn the lights on and off for the performers.
The respect was mutual. Top-name actors would clamor for even bit parts in his films. Altman generally worked on shoestring budgets, yet he continually landed marquee performers who signed on for a fraction of their normal salaries.
After the mid-1970s, the quality of Altman's films became increasingly erratic. His 1980 musical "Popeye," with Robin Williams, was trashed by critics, and Altman took some time off from film.
He directed the Broadway production of "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean," following it with a movie adaptation in 1982. Altman went back and forth from TV to theatrical films over the next decade, but even when his films earned critical praise, such as 1990's "Vincent & Theo," they remained largely unseen.
"The Player" and "Short Cuts" re-established Altman's reputation and commercial viability. But other 1990s films - including his fashion-industry farce "Ready to Wear" and "Kansas City," his reverie on the 1930s jazz and gangster scene of his hometown - fell flat.
Born Feb. 20, 1925, Altman hung out in his teen years at the jazz clubs of Kansas City, Mo., where his father was an insurance salesman. Altman was a bomber pilot in World War II and studied engineering at the University of Missouri in Columbia before taking a job making industrial films in Kansas City. He moved into feature films with "The Delinquents" in 1957, then worked largely in television through the mid-1960s, directing episodes of such series as "Bonanza" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
Altman and his wife, Kathryn, had two sons, Robert and Matthew, and he had a daughter, Christine, and two other sons, Michael and Stephen, from two previous marriages. When he received his honorary Oscar in 2006, Altman revealed he had a heart transplant a decade earlier.
"I didn't make a big secret out of it, but I thought nobody would hire me again," he said after the ceremony. "You know, there's such a stigma about heart transplants, and there's a lot of us out there."
---
Associated Press writers Jeff Baenen in St. Paul, Minn., and Jeff Wilson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Get Into It
So I’m finally getting in the process of being excited for the cruise. The passport is here, the sea pass printed and transportation handle. (Thanks Rocky) So now all is left is to think about outfits and activities. We’re all been shopping and grooming and get ready for a wild time. And while there is slight drama it should be fun.
I think I have decided on my theme for the trip—something I do a lot when I go out of town. I’m thinking of making my look kind of a ‘Now, Voyager’ meets ‘Love Story’; preppy with elements of tragic overtures. Like sunglasses and black and lots of collared shirts and high end shoes.
(If you don’t know, ‘Now Voyager’ is a Bette Davis film all about her mother makes her crazy, she goes to a sanitarium where she becomes sane, sosphiscated and sexy, ends on an exotic cruise to South America as suggested by her doctors and falls in love. There’s more to the story than that but why ruin it? And ‘Love Story’ is college grads dealing with cancer in Cambridge. Very white, clean and preppy.)
I plan on being in layers—no scarves though as that would make it wicked gay—with sweaters and hats and no funny t-shirts but sad t-shirts. I plan on bringing a copy of ‘War and Peace’ with me or maybe so Kafka. I haven’t thought that far ahead. But there will be lost of forlorn looks for the pictures sure to come from the trip.
It’s going to effing rock!
So I’m finally getting in the process of being excited for the cruise. The passport is here, the sea pass printed and transportation handle. (Thanks Rocky) So now all is left is to think about outfits and activities. We’re all been shopping and grooming and get ready for a wild time. And while there is slight drama it should be fun.
I think I have decided on my theme for the trip—something I do a lot when I go out of town. I’m thinking of making my look kind of a ‘Now, Voyager’ meets ‘Love Story’; preppy with elements of tragic overtures. Like sunglasses and black and lots of collared shirts and high end shoes.
(If you don’t know, ‘Now Voyager’ is a Bette Davis film all about her mother makes her crazy, she goes to a sanitarium where she becomes sane, sosphiscated and sexy, ends on an exotic cruise to South America as suggested by her doctors and falls in love. There’s more to the story than that but why ruin it? And ‘Love Story’ is college grads dealing with cancer in Cambridge. Very white, clean and preppy.)
I plan on being in layers—no scarves though as that would make it wicked gay—with sweaters and hats and no funny t-shirts but sad t-shirts. I plan on bringing a copy of ‘War and Peace’ with me or maybe so Kafka. I haven’t thought that far ahead. But there will be lost of forlorn looks for the pictures sure to come from the trip.
It’s going to effing rock!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Quote of the Year
As Lola, Kelly and I finished up shopping, we're in the process of getting rung up at Old Navy when the stupidyingly hotte salesclerk said the following to me....
"Is it hard or soft?"
This was so unexpected that it stopped the girls conversation to the point that Lola made a face and I felt myself go fully dumb. Of course I was wearing my 'I have candy' t-shirt but still...
I did manage to reply that it depended on the audience. And my mood.
But seriously people. Seriously.
As Lola, Kelly and I finished up shopping, we're in the process of getting rung up at Old Navy when the stupidyingly hotte salesclerk said the following to me....
"Is it hard or soft?"
This was so unexpected that it stopped the girls conversation to the point that Lola made a face and I felt myself go fully dumb. Of course I was wearing my 'I have candy' t-shirt but still...
I did manage to reply that it depended on the audience. And my mood.
But seriously people. Seriously.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Friday Fun
I'm currently having
1) A Food Freak Out. (Left over from eating disorder days.)
2) A Financial Freak Out. (This month has been expensive and will continue to be.)
3) A Fat Freak Out. (I thought I was okay but a certain picture almost made me cry.)
4) A Fashion Freak Out. (Formal wear makes me cry but the cruise calls for it.)
Fabulous!!!!
I'm currently having
1) A Food Freak Out. (Left over from eating disorder days.)
2) A Financial Freak Out. (This month has been expensive and will continue to be.)
3) A Fat Freak Out. (I thought I was okay but a certain picture almost made me cry.)
4) A Fashion Freak Out. (Formal wear makes me cry but the cruise calls for it.)
Fabulous!!!!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Music Bitch
It’s been awhile since I posted one of these lists. I have discovered my new hobby is to track down various songs while watching bad b-roll at the job. So many new songs—and several people who make multiple appearances.
Maps- The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I had this on the computer before the bad crash from last year. I didn’t realize it was missing till a few days ago.
Goodies- Ciara. Because I should have already owned this song. Serious.
Everybody Knows- Leonard Cohen. I actually prefer the Concrete Blonde cover from ‘Pump Up the Volume’ but figure its best to go old school on this classic.
Joey- Concrete Blonde. The song is depressing but haunting in its own way. And the video sticks with me to this day.
Delta Dawn- Tanya Tucker. This is totally from working on ‘Tuckerville’ and having it played everyday for almost 7 months.
Let Me Talk to You/My Love- Justin Timberlake w/ T.I. This is the first of three appearances and the runner up to gayest music on the list. But this song makes me smile and dance which is quite good depending on who you ask.
FutureSexLoveSound- Justin Timberlake. I just find this song very captivating. I just a fan of people who experiment with sounds.
Sexy Back- Justin Timberlake. Just because the video makes me hot.
Wind It Up- Gwen Stefani. I know this song makes some people crazy and if you told me a dance hit based off ‘Sound of Music’ would make me ‘get into it’ like this has… I would have called your crazy but I think this single proves that crazy is Gwen’s job.
The Actor- Robbie Williams. This song just makes me laugh my ass off. All the funny actor quotes are so true even if the lyrics don’t make sense.
Fergilous- Fergie. It’s totally a rip off of ‘Super Sonic’ and I used to worship that song. For some reason the line 'I be up in the gym just working on my fitness’ cracks me like no other lyric as of late. The gayest song on the list.
London Bridge- Fergie. I used to hate this song. But hearing it everyday in my office has made me get more into. Even if I don’t respect it.
You and Me- Rie Sinclair. Yeah it’s country light and the love theme of Jason and Sam from ‘General Hospital’. That being said—I really like the lyrics—even if I hate Jason and Sam on ‘GH’.
Le Disko- Shiny Toy Guns. Just so different and cool. Yeah—this one was suggested by Perez Hilton but it’s very worthy.
Irreplaceable– Beyonce. I saw the TRL performance and just really got into the sound. I always love a ballad that’s really a ‘get out of my life, I’m over you’ song.
Beware of the Dog- Jamelia. This is that ‘SOS’ song’s British cousin and lift the hook from ‘Personal Jesus’ so it’s really not that clever. But I like it. Judge me.
Love Today- Mika. You don’t know this song most likely. But you will after this holiday season since it’s in a huge ad campaign. And it is very worthy of the honor.
Grace Kelly- Mika. This song grabbed me the first time I heard it via myspace. I love his voice, his lyrics, his samples and it stayed with me for days after one listen. It’s that good.
Blue Bayou- Linda Ronstadt. I don’t know why I have such a sentimental attachment to this song. I suspect someone in my family used to listen to it a lot.
When Will I Be Loved- Linda Ronstadt. I have always loved this song. And I always forget that it’s Miss Linda. I am so going to karaoke this one.
Bossy- Kelis. It’s nasty, rude and mean but I have been into since I first heard my current monsters play it on one of our show’s tapes. Kelis grows in love every single I get my hands on.
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing- Scissors Sisters. I love irony in music—not Alanis style-so this song caught me with the upbeat sound and downbeat lyrics.
Do You Realize?- The Flaming Lips. I have always loved this song and lost it in the Great Crash of 2005. Now it’s back and just in time.
Spider Web- No Doubt. This was my voice mail greeting in college and still gets me jumping today. I just love the ska sound.
I’m Just a Girl- No Doubt. Another classic lost and found. I really needed a copy of this on the soundtrack for Samuel’s birthday party.
Little Less Conversation- Elvis Presley. Because he’s the king and it makes me feel like one too.
Why Do You Love Me- Garbage. This song is just so unlike the band but so great. Just a list of why someone isn’t lovable and wonders how you can love them with all the faults. Perfect.
Are U that Somebody- The Gossip. It’s a cover of the Alliyah song that works. I love when a cover is all about a new sound and new interoperation of the lyrics. Soulfully yet rocking too.
It’s been awhile since I posted one of these lists. I have discovered my new hobby is to track down various songs while watching bad b-roll at the job. So many new songs—and several people who make multiple appearances.
Maps- The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I had this on the computer before the bad crash from last year. I didn’t realize it was missing till a few days ago.
Goodies- Ciara. Because I should have already owned this song. Serious.
Everybody Knows- Leonard Cohen. I actually prefer the Concrete Blonde cover from ‘Pump Up the Volume’ but figure its best to go old school on this classic.
Joey- Concrete Blonde. The song is depressing but haunting in its own way. And the video sticks with me to this day.
Delta Dawn- Tanya Tucker. This is totally from working on ‘Tuckerville’ and having it played everyday for almost 7 months.
Let Me Talk to You/My Love- Justin Timberlake w/ T.I. This is the first of three appearances and the runner up to gayest music on the list. But this song makes me smile and dance which is quite good depending on who you ask.
FutureSexLoveSound- Justin Timberlake. I just find this song very captivating. I just a fan of people who experiment with sounds.
Sexy Back- Justin Timberlake. Just because the video makes me hot.
Wind It Up- Gwen Stefani. I know this song makes some people crazy and if you told me a dance hit based off ‘Sound of Music’ would make me ‘get into it’ like this has… I would have called your crazy but I think this single proves that crazy is Gwen’s job.
The Actor- Robbie Williams. This song just makes me laugh my ass off. All the funny actor quotes are so true even if the lyrics don’t make sense.
Fergilous- Fergie. It’s totally a rip off of ‘Super Sonic’ and I used to worship that song. For some reason the line 'I be up in the gym just working on my fitness’ cracks me like no other lyric as of late. The gayest song on the list.
London Bridge- Fergie. I used to hate this song. But hearing it everyday in my office has made me get more into. Even if I don’t respect it.
You and Me- Rie Sinclair. Yeah it’s country light and the love theme of Jason and Sam from ‘General Hospital’. That being said—I really like the lyrics—even if I hate Jason and Sam on ‘GH’.
Le Disko- Shiny Toy Guns. Just so different and cool. Yeah—this one was suggested by Perez Hilton but it’s very worthy.
Irreplaceable– Beyonce. I saw the TRL performance and just really got into the sound. I always love a ballad that’s really a ‘get out of my life, I’m over you’ song.
Beware of the Dog- Jamelia. This is that ‘SOS’ song’s British cousin and lift the hook from ‘Personal Jesus’ so it’s really not that clever. But I like it. Judge me.
Love Today- Mika. You don’t know this song most likely. But you will after this holiday season since it’s in a huge ad campaign. And it is very worthy of the honor.
Grace Kelly- Mika. This song grabbed me the first time I heard it via myspace. I love his voice, his lyrics, his samples and it stayed with me for days after one listen. It’s that good.
Blue Bayou- Linda Ronstadt. I don’t know why I have such a sentimental attachment to this song. I suspect someone in my family used to listen to it a lot.
When Will I Be Loved- Linda Ronstadt. I have always loved this song. And I always forget that it’s Miss Linda. I am so going to karaoke this one.
Bossy- Kelis. It’s nasty, rude and mean but I have been into since I first heard my current monsters play it on one of our show’s tapes. Kelis grows in love every single I get my hands on.
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing- Scissors Sisters. I love irony in music—not Alanis style-so this song caught me with the upbeat sound and downbeat lyrics.
Do You Realize?- The Flaming Lips. I have always loved this song and lost it in the Great Crash of 2005. Now it’s back and just in time.
Spider Web- No Doubt. This was my voice mail greeting in college and still gets me jumping today. I just love the ska sound.
I’m Just a Girl- No Doubt. Another classic lost and found. I really needed a copy of this on the soundtrack for Samuel’s birthday party.
Little Less Conversation- Elvis Presley. Because he’s the king and it makes me feel like one too.
Why Do You Love Me- Garbage. This song is just so unlike the band but so great. Just a list of why someone isn’t lovable and wonders how you can love them with all the faults. Perfect.
Are U that Somebody- The Gossip. It’s a cover of the Alliyah song that works. I love when a cover is all about a new sound and new interoperation of the lyrics. Soulfully yet rocking too.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
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