Finster Finds

1.Your SPY name (middle name and current street name): Margaret 141 2. Your MOVIE STAR name (grandmother on your Dad's side and your favorite candy): Margaret Ann Rockets 3. Your RAP name (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name): K-Fin 4. Your GAMER TAG (a favorite color, a favorite animal): Green Smeep 5. Your SOAP OPERA name (middle name, and city you were born in): Margaret Two Harbors 6. Your STAR WARS name (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, first three letters of your pet's name): Finkersme 7. Your JEDI name (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards): Teragram Rekrap 8. Your SUPERHERO name: ("The", your favorite color and the automobile your Dad drives): The Green Jeep 9. Your ACTION HERO name (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate): Bolt Cupcake

This afternoon, the family went to see Bolt , the new Pixar film. More often than not, if I am in a movie theatre it is for a kids film. Some are a waste (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Surf's Up...). However, Bolt , is really good! What a good movie. It was enhanced by the 3D, which I hadn't expected. The kids liked it and so did we so it was money well spent. Oh, well, I actually used the gift certificates I got for my birthday so it was even better being 'free'!

I know, I know, I have already talked about my frustrations with the evaluation in my drama class, but I thought I had reconciled myself to the fact that they don't give As and I would be happy with the Bs and B+s that rolled my way. That was until I found out that some people did get As (they might have been A-s) on the last assignment. I was really frustrated when I heard who got them. There were a couple of people I wouldn't have been upset if they got higher than me, but 3 of the 4 I heard about I thought were in no way as strong as mine. I don't think it would have been the written portion, because my written work kicked a$$. I think she marks me harder. If you ask everyone in class to name the top two students in class, 9/10 of them would have me as one of those. However, the way it sits I am in the top third, but there are about 5-6 people who I would guess have higher marks. My problem is, that if those people are ' better' than I am, then I think I...

So, my extended family has a listserve that we can all post to. The idea is that we can share family news and photos with everyone at once and in the past it has been a lovely way for us all to keep in touch. However, over the past few days a chain of discussion has gone on regarding politics in the US ( most specifically Sarah Palin's communication skills... I thought the election was over? ). The problem is within my family we have a wide divergence of political opinion. We have die-hard Democrats and die-hard Republicans. We are also a family full of people who are too smart for their own good and perhaps some who may be smart but at the same time they are rather dumb about it. So this discussion was going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... and I was worried that someone was going to get personal and we were going to have an incredibly awkward family reunion next summer. So, I put out a "Cease and Desist Order", with a please for good measure. A...

Rush, rush, rush.... So, this week I submitted an application for a position I really, really want... more on that when and if I get it. I won't know for at least a month. Yesterday I submitted my application for an indoor venue at the 2009 Fringe . That is for From Something . Cross your fingers and think good thoughts for me on December 1st. That's the lottery day. I am hopeful and I feel good about it. This month I developed a draft policy for auditions at Walterdale Theatre . The Board is currently reviewing it and making suggestions and we will vote on it at the next Board meeting.

Well, for a long weekend, I didn't feel like I got much rest. Perhaps it was the child-activity filled day with show with friends out in Sherwood Park in the evening on Saturday (winding up with a late night at a Irish Pub), followed by rehearsing all afternoon and going to the movie with Mark on Sunday. Then Monday, all kid activities were still on (including school). On Tuesday, Remembrance Day, I did not have class, but my Final Project group met for 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon and then I rehearsed for Black Hearts in the evening. Wednesday, actually felt like a break, even though I had to go in to the University to meet up with my group again for an hour. Black Hearts is starting to feel more solid. It has been the most challenging script I have ever had to learn and I don't even have that many lines compared to Steel Magnolias or Gypsy . It is the nature of having ghosts in the script, who we can't hear, but who may be our cues lines. It is hard for the brain. ...

I went to see A Pair of Threes last night out in Sherwood Park at Festival Place. My best friend and several other friends were involved in the show. The first act was a One Act called Three Viewings and the second act was a One Act called Three Hotels . In total the plays were comprised of 6 monologues. Overall the evening of theatre was good. There were lots of laughs and some poignant moments. However, the evening really showed how everything matters; the acting, the directing, the space and the playwrighting. Of all the components, the acting was the strongest, but there were challenges in the playwrighting that didn't necessarily serve the actors well. A bit stronger direction might have helped, and some better staging to deal with the lack of depth to the space. The shows were clearly well-cast, which is often 90% of the directing, but really the biggest challenge was overcoming some of the stilted writing of the first 2 monologues. In the second show, I was puzzl...

There was a lot of discussion on Facebook about this the other day, but I wanted to document it on this blog as well. Great that Obama won, BUT, apparently a lot of his supporters come from a very traditional, church-going, christian background and while they voted him in, they also banned gay marriage. So much for equality of man. One cannot simply assume that Democrat=Enlightenment. I am a little annoyed that the politicians are not being leaders and instead passed the decision onto the unwashed masses. I don't know about you, but I don't want Bubba and Trixie making decisions for how my society is structured. That's why we pay the politicians the big bucks!

This past week we received our midterm marks for my drama course. I was a little disappointed, but was reassured when I was informed that it is extremely rare to see an A in a first year drama class. I was also disappointed in the mark for my midterm group project. We didn't do as well as I had hoped. The comments and mark were likely valid, but I was frustrated because they were things we had cleaned in rehearsal but apparently regressed to in performance. This frustrated me, because I like to work to full potential and I saw those things and worked to clean them, but there they were. I don't anticipate the same issues with my group for Final as we have a much different dynamic. I find it hard to deal with evaluation in drama. It makes me second guess myself.

So, two good friends of mine asked me to direct them in the show, The Last 5 Years . It will be a co-production between their 2 production companies and it will go up in March. We met yesterday to check in and discuss the project and see if I am on board. I am. Oh yeah! I am very excited about this. It is a beautiful musical for 2 with really great songs that are dramatic and compelling. Very much the stuff I like to do and see. Plus, the two of them are great for the roles so it is not one of those 'okay, I'll do it - yikes, how will I direct them? ' kind of things. ( And I am not just saying that because one of them reads this blog !) There are still a few pieces of the team to put together and we probably won't start actually working on it until late January, early February, but that is alright because it gives me time to plan and structure the work time. Finally, a musical to direct in Edmonton! Great weekend over and done with. Friday was Halloween and the...