A New EJC Film...

When a witch gets into trouble with the IRS, what lengths will she go to in order to pay off her debt?

A New Blooper Film! Late, I Know...

I finally uploaded our blooper film from the day we shot Doting on Your Absence...so, presenting,

The Annoyed Director Episode III: The Phantom Minutes.

DISCLAIMER: As always, I'm never quite sure if putting the video on the blog is going to squish it, so it's probably a good idea to click on the video to view it in a new window.

Doting on Your Absence

EJC's most ambitious project to date is finally complete!!! What starts off to be a serious filming of Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again soon turns into a fiasco in this two-part piece featuring the return of the Famous Producer, Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, and lots of humor!
Enjoy!!

EDIT: My films are filmed in widescreen, so they may show up squashed on the blog. Clicking again on the video to view it directly on youtube is recommended.







In other news, whilst accomplishing the above project, we finally had the Official EJC convention, which was the first time that all of the current members had ever gotten all together. We also got a cool picture....

A Post About Theater! No, Hair! No, Piano! No, EJC! No, ALL of Them!!!

I find myself in the same position as last time...I really want to post, but nothing interesting comes to mind.... With all the rehearsals and stuff I've been doing, whenever I do have an idea for a post, I'm busy, but whenever I want to post, I have no ideas....
Well, I guess I'll discuss
The Foreigner...
We have a trap door device now!!! Yes...I am happy. No longer does our Ellard have to yell, "Aah!" then just climb into the hole. Now we have this thing that I have to pre-pump, stick a crate on, then kick off as he's coming down so that there's room for him. This week I'm not supposed to let the actors call line anymore, so this should be...interesting. The Foriegner is a really difficult line memorizing play because many of the lines are, "What?" "Uh-huh" "Charlie!" "Ril good!" "Yes'm." and things like that.
Let's see...what other topics can I discuss....
Hair...
I finally got the tips of my hair dyed purple, yay!!! After the...let's see...fifth attempt over the past year??
Piano...I'm getting better! ("No, you're not! You'll be stone dead in a moment.") Showtunes and Titanic music are basically all I've learned so far by the way of pieces. Well...I take that back. I'm *attempting* to learn My Immortal, but I've only learned the easy last page...
Film....
OH! Film! Right.... New EJC film up called

The Balcony Scene.

One of our sillier films, I must say, which serves to answer the question what if there were no trellices or vines for Romeo to climb on? What will he resort to? Yes...this film is the second in our Stream of Consciousness Unscripted Film Series. We bascially made this film because we walked past that area and my friend said, (paraphrasing) "Hey! How's this for a film idea? Romeo and Juliet balcony scene in which Romeo makes a fool out of himself trying to get up there!"

Hmm...while I'm shamelessly promoting our films, I may as well shamelessly promote our best past films.
So here they are:
Outwitted ~quite possibly our best film
Eye of the Beholder ~our attempt at a mystery/thriller (the director has a thing for Shyamalan/Hitchcock type endings...I don't understand it.)
The Fireman Song ~parody of the Lumberjack Song with a Fahrenheit 451 theme
A Film About Amnesia ~basically what it is. This film was inspired by my saying, "We should really do a film about amnesia." The silliness that is this film resulted.

And while I'm on the subject of EJC, I can shamelessly tease our upcoming films! Next on the schedule we plan to shoot a parody type film about a film crew who shoots vignettes of musicals. But you know with EJC there has to be more than that... It feautures the return of the Famous Producer!
After that, we plan to shoot a sequel to Eye of the Beholder, which is still in the script writing phase, so I'm not at liberty to reveal anything.

Well...I feel that y'all can only take so much of Lady Brainsample being so random, so I will depart...Dancing with the Stars calls to me....

An EJC Announcement

We have a few new films up at my youtube page.

Outwitted is based on this poem that I've posted before.

Eye of the Beholder grew out of the Tell-Tale Heart but went in a new direction with the remake.

And The Fireman Song is a Fahrenheit 451 parody of the Lumberjack Song.

Enjoy!

A Meme About Books (big shocker there!)

Well, as anyone who reads my blog has probably noticed, I've been out of (blog)town for awhile. To kick in the New Year (a little late....) here's a book meme!

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror? Hmm.....I like all three to an extent, but if I had to choose, it'd have to be fantasy. I don't like not being able to sleep because of fear (that's why I hardly read Poe at night though I love his stuff), and with almost every single sci-fi book I've read, they've slapped me with alot of information about stupid futuristic technologies that didn't make sense.

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback? I don't really care. As long as it's readable.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar? I do not know what Brick and Mortar is, so I'll have to go with Amazon.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? I'm a teenager without a job, so I go with Half-Price Bookstore.

Hitchhiker or Discworld? *sticks out virtual thumb*

Bookmark or Dogear? Bookmark..

Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction? Ummmm......I'm not sure what the question is.

Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random? Well, I actually do *cough* have an inventory file, so first I categorize by genre, then by author.

Keep, Throw Away or Sell? Keep. Unless I didn't like the book, then I donate it to the library.

Keep dust-jacket or toss it? Keep it.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Depends....if the dustjacket annoys me, I take it off.

Short story or novel? I'd have to say novel.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I try to stop at chapter breaks, but it doesn't usually work that way...

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time?” Both.

Buy or Borrow? *cough* Um, both? I borrowed the Book Thief from a friend, but then went out and bought my own copy.

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? I do all three.

Lewis or Tolkien? NO! You can't make me choose!!!!

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)? Collection.

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? Cliffhangers, even though they keep me up late.

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading? Depends on the book.

Standalone or Series? I tend to like series.

New or used? Used books have character.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien or Chosen, by Ginger Garret.

Top 5 favorite genre books of all time? I'm not sure I understand the question.

Favorite genre series? I don't understand this one either....

Currently Reading? Ohhh various.....*exasperated sound*

I tag: anyone who wants to fill this one out.

EDIT: As one proof that I did something other than play backgammon this past Christmas vacation, here is A Film About Amnesia. I warn you, it is very, very silly.

Death Wears a Suit

As I've been rambling on about for the past, oh month or so? My company has been planning two major films. One was code-named Bookmark of Doom the other Death Wears a Suit. Filming was last Tuesday. But through a series of unfortunate events, plans got messed up and the actress I had planned to use for Marie couldn't come. So... piningforthefjords took over the part I was going to play, and I assumed the role of Marie. And this is the result. Enjoy!

EDIT: Mom tells me that when you watch it here, it stretches the video. So...if you want to see the non-stretchy version, go to the actual youtube page.

Seeing Double?

Lots of random bits of information I'd like to impart because lately Cease Repining has been almost entirely lame... You can blame it on my acting classes and current projects. (Bookmark of Doom and Death Wears a Suit) There's been alot of work on both of these things. (headshots, mock auditions, and preparations for the showcase for the former; script editing, pre-vis photography, and induction of a new member of EJC on the latter)

But anyhoo....first off. You are not seeing double. We have another kitten.

Here's his story... For about a week, we had been seeing him every once in awhile at night. He'd meow and want food, so we'd feed him. We thought he was one of Mimi's wild cats. Because we'd always see him at night, Dad started calling his Nightcrawler. (X-Men fans? Anyone? Anyone?) So then a day came when our dogs were going nuts for no apparent reason. I went outside onto our porch and found him again almost freezing to death (slight exaggeration...maybe) because it was windy and cold that day. From that time on, we kept feeding him and bringing him into the house.

We know now that he is NOT one of Mimi's wild cats because he LOVES being petted and none of Mimi's cats will let anyone come near them. We figure someone dumped him.

That's the story of our pet life. Some....(what I wish to say should not be said in polite society) has always left his poor dogs or cats on the road or in a ditch to let them die. I hate it!! It makes me so mad that people would be so cruel and irresponsible. How hard is it to take them to Petco or an Animal Shelter? Ugh....

What's really nice is that now Charlie doesn't drive the older cats nuts. She has Nightcrawler to fight and play with. And believe me, they fight and play hard. It's funny; now all of our cats are in pairs. Rochilimea and Pseudomonis, (who are, incidentally siblings) Lucy and Figaro, and Charlie and Nightcrawler. (Slinker and Crawler, hee hee.)

Speaking of M. Night Crawler, (that's one of his other nicknames) I am mourning...for a sillyish reason.

Joaquin Phoenix is retiring from acting.

.....................................................................

I'm dead serious. I wish I wasn't. Apparently, the aquirance of his skills for playing Johnny Cash in Walk the Line inspired him to become a musician instead.

So, to start the mourning process, the other night I watched the Village which is one of my favorite movies. I SO want to do a spoof of that great scene where Ivy is holding out her hand and the creature almost gets her. That is SUCH a beautiful scene, yet still creepy. Ah well...maybe we'll have time to spoof it after principal photography of the two main projects.

***************

Final bit of news: Poll Results.

Is our country doomed?

Yes: 5 (55%)

No: 2 (22%)

*sigh* It depends on the election: 2 (22%)

I guess tonight we'll find out our fate.

*Sigh*

I haven't posted in a long time....as in, since last Friday, I believe. But, I've been doing SOME worthwhile things. I finished my script for Death Wears a Suit in a matter of a couple days, and I'm semi-satisfied with it. The final plot twist scene needs some work, I think...
So because I don't have much to say (haven't seen any new movies or finished any books worth reviewing) I'm going to combine a few tags I found on Q's blog because I like them.

My ideal...
Snack: popcorn or goldfish and a glass of milk
Day: is spent at the bookstore for hours or spent making films with EJC co-founders and whoever other actor friends I hire
Book: *sigh* again.....it's hard to squish an ideal book into a tag...
Friend: trustworthy, encouraging, and weird enough to understand me
Weather: cold enough to have a fire

3 Must Read Books:
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
(I have wayyyyy more responses to this question, so see here)

3 Keep Your Eyes on These:
hmmm....not sure what is meant by this question, so I'll leave it blank

3 Look For These Soon:

Third book of Echoes from the Edge, by Bryan Davis (don't know the name...)

Bones of Makaidos, by Bryan Davis

Can't think of a third...

I tag...anyone who wants to do these.

As for the filming of upcoming projects, (i.e., Bookmark of Doom and Death Wears a Suit) we're looking at Thanksgiving week. I'm getting really excited because this will probably be the first time we do sketches with an ACTUAL script, not just impulsive improv.)

Presenting, Tribute to Charlie

Unashamed fluff about my kitten growing up set to music.

Tribute to Charlie

PS I got the main actor I wanted for the upcoming project. Hmmm....I need a secret name for it. Here we go: Bookmark of Doom. Right. So I have my leading actor for Bookmark of Doom, and as soon as we get our agents together, we should have a schedule for principal photography.

PPS I'm counting 71 as complete. 83 too.

Cause maybe....you're gonna be the one that saves me

I absolutely LOVE songs that tell a story. Not just narratives, but an underlying relationship or event that isn't expressly stated.
My musings are inspired today because I finally got Wonderwall (by Oasis) from Mom. The reason she thought to get it is that Charlie sings it in Desmond's flashes and it's such an ironic song for him to sing in regards to Desmond.
Here is a snippet:


And all the roads that lead you there winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that
I would like to say to you
I don't know how

I said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me?
And after all
You're my wonderwall


Isn't that ironic??? Desmond, the man who sees flashes of Charlie's death in many different forms, witnesses Charlie singing THIS song in his flash. The music directors of Lost are awesome at finding songs that perfectly pertain to what's going on. So yeah. That's my current song that I'm obsessed with.




NOTE: I will have a new EJC Productions video up soon. Just a fluff piece on my kitten, but I thought it was fun to watch her be a cute little baby rat looking thing again, ha ha.
And also, in the works is another film that is Phantom of the Opera related. The script has been written and negotiations will start soon for a guest actor in the production.

An EJC Productions Film....

A short film made from old footage depicting an epic battle of good versus.....well, good.

Fight for Honor


And, if you haven't already, don't forget to check out Encyclopedia Salesman and the Annoyed Director Montage. (The montage has bloopers from the other two films)

*Evil Laugh*

YES! I have figured out how to master Mom's video editor, and have taken our video clips of Encyclopedia Salesman, put them together, and made a video worthy of youtube. Mwah ha ha!!!

Our take on the Encyclopedia Salesman sketch.

See also: The Annoyed Director montage