summer through the looking glass

so..... i haven't looked at my blog lately (as in more than 6 months)....and apparently this never got posted - from LAST YEAR!!!!!! anyway, here's what i had to say about last summer....enjoy!

(original illustration from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, drawn by John Tenniel.)

wow, i can't believe the summer season is almost over!! i feel as if i fell down alice's rabbit hole....

dish asked me to assist with the southampton cultural center's summer production of 'working' - a musical based on the book by studs terkel (and of course, i said yes!). going into the production just a few weeks before opening and knowing nothing about the show was an interesting experience. the show is really a great cross-section of the everyday american life, but can seem a bit disjointed, as there's no through story line. it's just a series of vignettes, loosely strung together. but....there's something for everyone. including songs that GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD FOR MONTHS. there were certainly some shining moments (along with some i wish i could forget) but attendance was unfortunately small. it was, however, fun to get back into the theater and work with dish. that man never ceases to amaze me, and every time i work with him i feel inspired.

there have also been several trips into the city....

1) i got to see jen & anna b. when we met to see clay walker & other songwriters at joe's pub (amazing).

on that trip, i also made time for myself to go see 'catch me if you can' - the new musical (closing already?!) starring norbert leo butz, tom wopat & aaron tveit. it was AMAZING. if i could have afforded it, i would have seen it two or three more times!!!! the set was so unbelievably cool. it looks like something dish would have wanted to replicate if we were still doing theater at the college.... and the choreography was to DIE FOR. of course, it was done by jerry mitchell, and i pretty much love anything he choreographs.

2) con & i took the day off because my FAVORITE author james rollins was doing an event. we decided to make a day of it, wander around the city & eat at bobby flay's mesa grill before going WAY downtown to the event. it was, of course, hot, humid & then rainy. i wanted to go to the mesa grill because i had seen an episode of 'throwdown with bobby flay' which featured green chili cheeseburgers from the area of new mexico where i grew up - and i happened to see that his version of the burger was on their menu. it was delicious.....but not as delicious as the burgers at the owl bar & cafe in san antonio, nm!!

after lunch, we wandered further downtown - stopping off at a comic book store where con nerded out for a little while, and then the evolution store, where i let my inner science geek run wild..... purchase? gigantic porcupine quills that make AWESOME hairsticks!






we finally made it down to the mysterious bookshop on warren street, which is in the COOLEST neighborhood! if i were going to live in the city, i think it would have to be in an area like that - mostly because it's very chill - and, i would ABSOLUTELY be at that bookstore all the time! it's TINY, but they have amazing events. this event happened to be part of harpercollins thrillerfest, so there were about 20 authors there!!! it was PACKED, and it became quickly apparent that most people were there to see james rollins (let's just say i wasn't the only one clutching my copy of 'devil colony', sans dustjacket).

look closely at that picture. on the right hand side, do you see the person in the yellow shirt? the person facing the camera, speaking to the yellow-shirted person (dark blazer, grey shirt) is mr. rollins.....he was basically pinned against the bookshelves right in that spot from almost the moment he walked in. as crazy as it was in there, he seemed to take it all in stride - taking pictures with people, personalizing books, answering questions and telling short anecdotes. it was kind of awesome.

there's another story here, but it's kind of long and requires a bit of backstory.....and i'm sure it annoys the hell out of con, but i'm going to tell it anyway!

as you would expect, i follow @jamesrollins on twitter and on facebook. while he was on tour, mr. rollins was VERY active on both, creating event pages for every appearance, encouraging questions & conversation, posting appearance dates & times, etc. i marked that i'd be attending the nyc event, and posted how excited i was about it and, of course, posted event details on twitter & in my facebook status pretty frequently (you may have seen).

so....day of event....we finally get up to the front of the line, at which point i asked a stupid question & got an appropriately snarky response. so, i revised my question to something along the lines of "i'm a biology major, and i was fascinated by 'subterranean'. it was like an adventure through the what-ifs of evolution. where did those ideas come from?" (this was his first published thriller) he says, "you know, when i submitted that book to the editor, i thought i was writing science fiction. i mean, i have telepathic marsupials living under antarctica! but they said, 'no, no, we'll market it as a thriller.' and i said, but i have telepathic marsupials living under antarctica!" (it was a lot funnier when he told it, i promise.)

anyway....chit-chat, photos, etc....he asks if i would like my book personalized, (um. YES.)  and asks what my name is. when i tell him & spell it out, he pauses, thinks for a second, and says...."baker?" as you can imagine, i almost passed out. i'm sure i babbled some ridiculous nonsense & got out of the way so the next person could have their time. con & i moved over across the room and i got a look at what had been written in my copy of 'devil colony'.........

 (con cracked that if there was a phone number in there, he was going to have to throw down....lol)

-------it was totally worth dealing with the heat, humidity & rain. absolutely. 100%--------

3) later in the summer, jackie came down to visit & we went into the city again. we were able to get tickets to 'how to succeed in business without really trying' starring daniel radcliffe. my first choice was 'anything goes', but jackie offered to buy the tickets since i was pretty much broke - so i gave her first choice of shows.....and she's obsessed with daniel radliffe.....but it turned out to be a good choice! i haven't ever seen a production of 'how to succeed', and it was GREAT! jackie & i both walked out with the songs stuck in our heads. who knew the kid who played harry potter is good at singing AND dancing? not me.

**photo credit unknown. this was the show's promotional art**

while we were flipping through the playbill, we noticed an ad for the 'harry potter experience' at discovery times square, which advertised a discount on admission with our tickets from the show. so, of course, we headed over there to see how much admission was.....and since jackie is also obsessed with all things harry potter, she offered to also buy my ticket to get into the exhibit. ANOTHER good choice by jackie. while i am not a super-crazy-know-everything kind of harry potter fan, i did enjoy the books and the movies. and i REALLY enjoy the behind-the-scenes stuff. seeing the costumes & props used in the actual filming was pretty cool. the exhibit was HUGE & took us a while to walk through, and eventually dumped us into the inevitable gift shop.....which had a lot of cool stuff. a lot. jackie ended up with a few odds & ends, including a replica wand she got for her mom, and i walked out with a hat that says 'wizard'. it's amazing.

all this was sandwiched in between 'working' (see above) and 'of mice and men'.

(but i'll save that for next time......)

THOR

memorial day, 2011.

a beautiful monday, perfect beach weather.

so....naturally, we went to the movies! the perks? us and ONE other group in the theater! :-)

let me start by sharing a quote from one of my best friends...."the movie would have been better without so much shirt" (ha) chris hemsworth is certainly easy on the eyes.....

i am NOT what one would consider a 'comic book person'. that being said, i REALLY enjoyed this movie! i feel like they did an amazing job tying in all the bits & pieces that have been introduced through the last few movies. (you DID see the easter eggs after the credits of the iron man movies, right?) there were a few things that were loosely alluded to that are not important to the outcome of the movie, but are nice tie-ins to other stories (i asked for a few clarifications from the comic encyclopedia known as my boyfriend).

i didn't do a lot of research before going to the theater, so my knowledge of the cast was only what i had seen in the previews....anthony hopkins as odin was a piece of casting brilliance. his always commanding presence was perfect for the part. the one casting choice that surprised me was rene russo as thor's mother.....not that i don't enjoy her as an actress (and this was practically a bit part), but it was a little - ok, a lot - unexpected to see her in this type of movie! natalie portman was fantastic as the geeky & gorgeous jane, and idris elba turned in an appropriately creepy performance as heimdall, the gatekeeper.

while we saw the 3d version, i feel that the special effects in this movie were MORE than enough to make a regular 2d version just as incredible. there were so many amazing graphic effects, but the one that continues to stick out in my mind is the rainbow bridge. it was fascinating. the first time it's introduced in the movie, it's just out of focus enough that you have to just accept that it IS, without spending too much time wondering 'what is it?'. as the movie progresses, the bridge is explained a bit more and as it becomes a more prevalent plot point, the bridge graphics are sharper and more detailed. i LOVED that it fluoresced where it was touched!

the biggest thing this movie did right? it remembered that, ultimately, it's a COMIC BOOK MOVIE, and never took itself too seriously. it was fast paced enough that i never found myself fidgiting in my seat & checking the time, yet not so short that i felt the story wasn't able to play out. if you're still undecided about whether or not you should see it, SEE IT! (make sure you stay till the end of the credits.....)

<3 til next time!

i'm back!

did i really not post anything for the entire year of 2010? must've fallen into a black hole....

but, now i'm back, and since i've been spending a ridiculous amount of time online anyway, i decided i should start blogging, for real. lots of summer movies starting to come out, so that ought to make for PLENTY of reviews!

right now, i'm ADDICTED to the new Sixx A.M. album - 'this is gonna hurt'. as you may know, i will listen to just about anything....with a few exceptions, but there are always exceptions, right? this album is such a good blend of sounds, i would recommend it to anyone!

if you're not familiar with Sixx A.M., i understand.....here's a quick rundown:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixx_am (and, if you've called my cell in the last year or so, there's a good chance you've heard a bit of 'life is beautiful')

what music are you addicted to right now?

memories....

went to see 'into the woods' in southampton tonight (directed by dish, of course)....and i realized, again, how much i really do miss doing theater....i was also laughing because i started taking a mental tally of all the bits & pieces i recognized from the shows we did at the college....you know, a belt here, a fur collar there, one very long blonde wig, a sparkly blue curtain....maybe now that i'm working daytimes i can start participating a little with some of the productions...if only i lived a little closer to the hamptons....

oh well....

whew! these past couple of weeks have been busy...lots of birthdays the last week of may - we went out on friday to celebrate damon's birthday, then again on saturday for con's....then it was out to water mill on sunday, and monday (june 1st) kicked off a week of 7 am days at work! we were short two people this week, so it was kinda hectic. i ended up with something like 51 hours in a week (i have been averaging about 34). not that i'm complaining - that's gonna be a freakin awesome paycheck tomorrow!

we got an entertainment center (finally) - thank you to justin! even though it was con's birthday present, it certainly benefits both of us! it's GIGANTIC - we have enough space for both tvs, all the game systems, and all the dvds! we even have surround sound hooked up because justin also gave us some of his old speakers. the whole thing (including speakers) goes EXACTLY wall-to-wall in our living room! we're not quite done wiring it yet, but when we finish, it's gonna be amazing! the thought of having to take it apart if/when we move just solidifies my statement when we moved in to this apartment.....i am going to die in this apartment, because i won't survive another move! (yup, i still have a lot of crap!)

yesterday and today are the first nice days we've had in about a week or so, and i didn't get outside really at all....saturday i pretty much slept all day, trying to recover from the week & today was spent alpha'ing & organizing the dvds....we were supposed to go out to see sue v's show in easthampton tonight, but since con wasn't feeling all that great, damon came over here & we're playing with his wii....well, the boys are...i am (obviously) here at the computer!

anyway, time to go see what's going on with the tony awards!

till next time -

xoxo~cara

had a great time in denver at the dog show with my mom....actually got to spend mother's day with my own mother! that hasn't happened in a while.....i even took a dog in the ring! (and that hasn't happened in well over 14 years!)

but now it's back to reality (oop there goes gravity).....oookk...internal jukebox kicked in there - sorry! (haha)

anyway - no more traveling around for a while - just work. which isn't a bad thing.....i have really enjoyed my new job at the chiropractic office so far, and i think they even like having me around....of course, my randomly extreme case of o.c.d. makes doing paperwork & filing pretty interesting! i will also be working on the website (http://www.aqueboguehealthchiropractic.com/) - still under construction. at any rate, it's an office full of pretty awesome people....and they make me feel appreciated.

so happy that the rain has finally subsided! maybe we can have a few days of decent weather over the holiday weekend....i know i would really like to be able to get out in the sun for a little while! con even cleaned the grill today, so as soon as we get some propane, we can start grilling again! yum, yum, yum.

yay, summer!

xoxo