The Musings of a Director

Ah yes. So glad I can be the comical inspiration to Brian's creative writing. I guess "Joanna's Directorial Debut, Part Two" was too much to handle, huh Brian? I would like to say, for the record, that the previous post by Mr. Brian Patrick Leahy was entirely fabricated purely for the entertainment of our viewing/reading audience. You.

Yes, Brian can write fiction.

If there's a soul out there who hasn't yet seen the Goodbye Music Video, we would love for you to visit the YouTube link -- enjoy the music and make a comment if you feel so inclined. Best to click on "watch in high quality" under the number of views. The link is here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s6dYvIlYKr0

Okay, updates -- sorry this will be mostly informational -- but we've got lots of 'splaining to do!

Since our music video extravaganza, which was quite an awesome experience, Brian and I have been pouring ourselves into other works of art. Our writer/director friend Odin is making a short film in August called Mrs. Lovejoy, a horror/comedy about a mother whose teenage son is hanging with the wrong crowd, so she does away with the friends, holds the son hostage, and makes him watch old home-videos from when he was younger and still "good". Brian's growing out his hair, dying it black and playing one of the "bad kids". He'll also be doing Art Direction (creating everything you see behind the actors) and I will be taking photo stills and helping wherever needed. We've been attempting to raise money for the project (a $7,000 budget) but haven't stumbled upon the millionaire who is looking for a new short to invest in. If any of you know that person, would you have them give us a call?

We've also had quite a few visitors the past couple weeks. My brother was here for 5 days at the beginning of July, and we were up to our usual shenanigans. We attended a showing of The Room, which is by far the worst movie ever made -- so bad in fact, that it's hilarious. They have a monthly midnight screening at a theater here so young film geeks (and us) can laugh at the absurdity and throw things at the screen. It's Rocky Horror for our generation.

We also went to a Slam Poetry night that is completely sold out every week, jam-packed full of kids. Paddy, of course, was the first to volunteer and knocked everyone's socks off with his Greensboro Sit-In poem that he wrote when he was SIXTEEN. Seriously folks, if you haven't seen him perform this amazing talent, you are truly missing out. [SIDE NOTE TO PADDY: Why haven't you filmed yourself slamming and put it up on YouTube?? Um...we should totally do that at Beach Week. And I want 10% of everything you make.]

As soon as my brother left, my Mom and Ron arrived (never a dull moment out here) ! We had a grand time showing them around the city -- Ron particularly enjoyed the freaks on the Venice Beach Boardwalk and felt right at home. We all spent the 4th of July at this incredible house in Calabasas where our friends were house-sitting -- you know it's a good neighborhood when Britney bought the house next door and Eddie Murphy is down the street. The ten of us basked in the natural spring water swimming pool, complete with a waterslide and waterfalls, drank beer, and riffed on guitars around the sea-glass fire pit. It was a glorious evening.

Mom and I also had a shopping frenzy that weekend -- there's a vintage store around here that has a $1 sale on Sundays. And I know what you're thinking: when you mix a city full of costume designers, gay men, fashionistas and sale-o-holics with cheaper-than-a-cup-of-coffee vintage clothes, isn't the result TOTAL MADNESS? Yes. It is. We were lucky we made it out with our arms still attached to our bodies.

So that weekend was a blast, and now we're back to "normal" (is there such a thing?). I had a burst of fun auditions, including one for the LA Opera (Hey! Don't cover your ears so fast! It was for a non-singing part...). The role was the Virgin Mary, actually, and it involved me flying over the stage in a two-point harness. My trapeze skills would have come in handy then! Turned out I had too many conflicts since the rehearsals fell mostly during our trip back to NC in August, but they liked my look, and kept me on file for future productions when I'm not so busy. I guess they couldn't put this one on hold for my vacation. Bummer.

In the last few weeks we also:

1. Watched a screening of Dan Butler's movie Karl Rove, I Love You at West Hollywood's OutFest - a brilliant mock-umentary about an actor who falls in love with Karl Rove after portraying him in a one-man show.

2. Attended our first Dodgers game. We have 3 travel mugs to prove it.

3. Booked our third wedding for the fall. By November we will have weddings from Maryland, Colorado and Malibu under our belts.

4. Enjoyed the brilliance of The Dark Knight.

5. Drank wine in a cemetery while watching A Clockwork Orange.

Okay, okay. Is that enough? I will try my darndest to keep these posts more frequent and thus less lengthy. For now, I must hit the hay. Nighty-night...