Not So Super 8

This evening I drove with Amber to the exciting town of St Johnsbury to see the movie Super 8. I had heard it billed as a real through back to the friend-gang movies of my childhood, Goonies, Stand By Me, with the alien underpinnings of ET. So, naturally, I had very high expectations. The movie did some things right. The characters and their relationships were delightful, if somewhat underdeveloped. I loved the kid obsessed with firecrackers, and the kid from the giant family of endless siblings who is an aspiring film maker. The main character definitely had the very likable air of the Goonies Mikey or Gordie from Stand By Me. The telltale fat kid, however, and subsequent jokes about his fatness, while definitely true to the times, may have been better left in the 80s. The real fault of the movie is my main complaint about most movies these days, and the thing that absolutely made it fall short of it's decades earlier counterparts, was it lack of heart. In the last 20 minutes of the movie you are supposed to develop some deep sympathy for this poor, Earth-stranded, alien creature that they basically spent the first hour and a half of the movie terrorizing you with. It didn't really work for me after watching the thing devour what were clearly human body parts it had retrieved from it's spider-like lair underneath the city. Plus there was just too much violence and too many explosions for me to really want to feel much of anything other than a little defendsive. The truly excessive train explosion scene (I mean really, they all, and the girl's car, survived?) for example, or the scene of the military torturing that poor professor before they killed him. It was a little much.

I'll end by saying that I think the truly amazing thing about those fabulous 80s flicks was that they could totally entertain with a deeply heartfelt, interesting, and often gut bustingly script and story that didn't have to resort of excessive violence and horror. Yay for the 80s! It's nice to remember the good things that happened back then. And now, I'm off to download a copy of the original ET. "Phone home"...

Viedo and photo shoot

I am exhausted. The day started at 6:30am. Shower, hair, getting my costumes together that were still damp from washing them the night before. Got to NECCA at 7:30am to load boxes, pipe, trapezes and Alissa's bed into her car and Tony's little red truck (thanks Tony!!). Wrapped everything up in a giant tarp cause it's been raining for days. In the end we got lucky and only had to deal with a few sprinkles. Drove to Landmark College in Putney, make-up, finishing touches on hair, and costumes, finally dry.

The process was interesting and exhausting. First off we'd shoot video footage, which usually entailed going through the act a few times, then repeating specific tricks a few more times. Eventually Bill would say "I've got what I need", and that would be that. The the photographers would take a few minutes to set up and we'd go through the act again, highlighting certain tricks and poses.

I'll be interested to see how the videos and photos turn out. Not my best runs, but Bill will edit in the best parts of the takes he got. The students at Landmark who took photos were awesome, especially Pablo who shot my trapeze act, and Veronica who shot my pipe. Got to have a look at some of the trapeze picks, all hazy because of Bill's smoke machine, but cool. And Pablo says he can lighten them up a bit.

Lunch at Putney coop, and we finally got back to NECCA at 4:30pm, finished unloading the truck, and I headed off to work. Thankfully I only had to be there an hour and 15 because it was super slow. I signed out as soon as Mrs. Kim said I could go. I felt like I was going to fall over.

Yes, productive day, yes!

Got some good stuff done on my pipe today. Figured out that I can do a back hip circle out of a handstand without knocking the thing over. So useful! It's just the transition I need, and means I don't have to come down to the ground. My back tuck off the pipe is solid now too. I'm doing it comfortably without a spot. Still kept my cell phone within reach though since I was alone in studio two all morning. Just in case...

Great work party tonight over at the circus house. Almost finished the top of my costume for pipe, and finished covering my trapeze! Also spring rolls, veggie stir fry, Whip It, M&M cookies and Burdick's chocolate bunny. Yum, and fun, and productive, and yes!

Beautiful Weather BBQ

I laughed harder tonight than I have in weeks. Got fed popcorn and hot dogs by a one year-old circus baby. Had an incredible discussion about the history of porches. Ate guacamole, grilled portabello mushrooms, and a cheeseburger. Indulged in hard cider and peach beer. Much needed laughs with fellow protrackers, and a great plan for all of us to email Elsie that at this point in the year we'd like to change our majors.

Also started cutting fabric for my costume this afternoon. It's all coming together. 

Shin La Update

So I'm just home from the restaurant. Made $80 in tips for 4 hours of waitressing, which kind of bites cause we were actually pretty busy and there were only two of us on. Not only that, I missed Juggle For Japan, a circus show/fundraiser that was happening at school tonight. Working every Fri and Sat night really stinks. Remind me to never do that again.

Despite all that I kind of love working at Shin La. Mostly I love Mrs. Kim. Sure, she can be a bit of a tyrant, and some of her policies are ridiculous, but you scratch the surface of her and she's about the sweetest lady on the planet. She gives free chicken and rice soup to people nursing sick relatives. She loves to laugh and joke with us about customers we think are cute. Plus, she's told me so many amazing stories about her life. She basically single-handedly saved her husband from sinus cancer, and when the dentist said he should have all his teeth removed because certainly he'd never eat again, she refused and told him to fill every single one. Now he's years in remission and eating everything he did before he got sick. Many other amazing stories, but you'll have to get to know her yourself to hear them. I highly recommend it, she's delightful...when she's not reprimanding you forgetting to get a crab for cold noodle salad.

Good day at school too. Doing back tucks off the pipe without a spot. Reassuringly, I can now do all of the tricks in my pipe act on my own at this point. Not 100% consistent, not always pretty, but I can do them. I think that's a good place to be a month before the final show. I'll be able to polish it up a bit, but it'll still feel challenging and fresh by the time the show goes up.

OK, headed to bed to read more of The Hunger Games, my most recent sci-fri post-apocalyptic young adult literary find. And while I'm falling asleep I'll pray to the Goddess of pointed toes to help me, please help me, with my form on trapeze. Where's Rackim with his foot stretcher when you need him :)

Acts for the final show

OK, so I haven't posted anything in over a month. Thanks to my friend Tiffany who let me know she was missing my updates, I'm writing today. If you've ever blogged then you know how hard it can be keep writing when your just not sure if anyone (except your mom :)) is out there reading. But thanks to Tiff, and Rayna, and (yes) Mom, I'm getting back on the horse.

It's been an intense couple of months at school. Emotions have been running high for everyone off and on through Feb/Mar/Apr. First it was hard to weather to storms of the winter. The snow and lack of sunshine was getting us down. Also, the pressure to gain tricks and skills and start crafting acts for the final show has been stressful. Lately, big questions are on everyone's minds (except Marshall's who will be working for Cirque starting in June) about what next. People have been setting up gigs for the summer, starting new performance projects and making plans for traveling home and setting up their circus lives in a new place. Some folks are staying around Bratt to keep training.

Under great duress we came up with a name for our final show, Circus Clockwork. We were interested in exploring the passage of time and what all of us have been through as individuals and a group, throughout the year. Originally, we wanted to call the show Clockwork Circus, but that just reminded our coaches too much of The Clockwork Orange, so the change was made.

Lots of progress on trapeze and pipe. I love my pipe walking apparatus. So much. Even despite the feelings of betrayal when I crotched it a couple weeks ago while doing a cartwheel. Yeah, it hurt. A lot. Been seeing a chiro since to try and set things straight, and it's been generally very useful. Still feeling a little bruised tailbone action though. No fun. But really happy in general with my progress with handstands and excited about some of the tricks in my pipe act and the act in general. Yay!

Maybe that's enough for now. Another problem I'm having is getting my new phone to sinc with my old computer, which means no pics for the moment. But I've taken some cool ones lately, so soon, soon.... 

Trapeze building and pipe construction

So on Monday Vern and I put the peddle to the metal and started building the blocks for my pipe walking/hand balancing apparatus. The whole process of planning, design and building took a week. Actual construction just took a morning. The blocks are four feet tall and will eventually do the job of holding my 12 foot long, inch and 5/8ths thick walking pipe in place. Still planning to add some little flourishes here and there, like a plank off one side to hand balance on, and holes in front to walk up, but these are the basic building blocks (hehe) of the thing. I ordered the pipe at Dunklee's metal and will pick it up on Tuesday, so the whole thing should be done this week. Yay!

There's Vern working on drilling one of the walls.

Aren't they beautiful! We left the back end of both blocks
open to make placement and removal of the pipe easier.

Yesterday's trapeze building workshop was equally fun and productive. Turns out I'm a natural at splicing rope. I'm already in love with my new trapeze. Just need to finish constructing and sewing the arms, then I'm good to go. I guess Khoja the one eyed cat likes her too :)

Ah, splicing. Not bad for my first time, eh?

There she is.

That doesn't really look too comfortable, but she looks
totally blissed out. Maybe she has secret kitty aerial
aspirations. 

I've always enjoyed building things. Man, circus just won't stop giving me the opportunity to do ALL the things I love!