Helloween.

To those expecting a jubilent post about Halloween Party at Boom: Sorry to dissapoint, but it sucked.

Sigh.

At least my costume made me happy.

Starting again.

It’s another gorgeous day in Amsterdam. The sky is high and clear, the breeze whistles lightly against my window frames. I’m about to head out into the city and pick up the last pieces of my Halloween Costume - a wig and some shoes. I’ve had my morning coffee and started a new anime series: Madlax.

I finished X/1999 yesterday and was grandly disappointed. From about episode 13 on, that show just got more and more mediocre. Sometimes I worry that I’m growing desensitized to the techniques and beauty of anime. But I guess I have disenchantment-anxiety about everything. Pretty sure everybody does.

Speaking of anxiety, I’m starting to get terrified of leaving. I have 9 months left in Europe, maybe one more (to spend actually seeing this continent) … and then I return to my Real Life. That is, of course, assuming that Josh doesn’t become Boom’s Videographer, in which case I’ll stay longer, I guess. Maybe.

Amsterdam has felt like home for almost half a year. I’m sure that upsets my mom; it’s real expensive to visit.

Unrelated Memo:

Possible Pizza Royale 2004 (Aka PR5 - Wow. A Half Decade of Pizza Royale Nights)

Movie Potentials:

Zatoichi
Battle Royale Requiem
Casshern
Crying out for love at the center of the World
Ju-On

I’m looking for a film to screen while we all eat Chicago Pizza. Traditionally, this movie has been Battle Royale - for the last 4 years, I’ve had a different group of friends every year, so watching the movie has been a unique experience for most of them (save Josh and Scott, I think. Maybe Lacher too. I think they all saw it twice?). Anyway, this year I’m faced with a new challenge; what movie do we watch? The requirements are: It has to be crowd pleasing or spectacular high-concept. It should be a film that hardly anyone has seen. Battle Royale 2 is supposed to be ~Terrible~, but I still have it on the list because I need a movie, and it may also be ok for us to all watch a bad sequel together. Anyway, I’m looking for suggestions ….

Lack of Updates

Sorry for the lack of Updates, everyone … I’ve been preoccupied. With nothing, really.

Anyway, today’s bit of news is that Pitof, the director of Catwoman, is going to be directing the Live Action Akira.

Great. Not that I was looking forward to an Akira movie — after all, we already have an Akira movie — but this is awful.

Terrible Movie

I can barely sit through “Sylvia.”

It’s playing right now, and I can’t even sit still and watch it. It’s awful.

A Saturday in October.

I just finished watching the series Fullmetal Alchemist. It was 51 Episodes long - a fictional journey that I’ve taken for 3 months. And in the end, it was poignant, rich, and satisfying. I’m so susceptible to the anime conventions - Optimism and Tragedy; great explorations and the heightened suffering that eastern heroes endure. I realize that modern fiction has so much more to offer than these sweeping operatic outlines, but I don’t think I need it.

Of course, I wonder if my addiction to these themes says something of the limits of my character. Does my attraction to these colorful worlds imply that I’m unable to see the subtleties of my peers? Do I envision people as caricatures? Or is it my everyday disappointment that feeds my desire to see stories played out in such black and white strokes?

Shrug.

Anyway, the point is, for those of you who like anime - or if you’re curious and looking for a place to start, I’d suggest FullMetal Alchemist. I think it comes out on DVD in the states sometime next January. Or you can Bittorrent it nearly everywhere. The last episode was just aired in Japan on October 2nd; this is the first time that I’ve had to wait a week in-between episodes like anime’s intended audience does - I can’t wait to rewatch the entire series (~25 and 1/2 hours!) back to back.

God, it was good. And there’s a movie coming out next summer.

In other news, I’m back in Amsterdam. Fantastic. Last night was the wrap party for DB2 - I played both shows at Boom so I didn’t show up until 2am. Most people were still there; Rob Schneider came over and thanked me (!?) again for my work, and I thanked him for letting me be a small part of the film. So weird. I mean, really really really weird. Weird. I had a couple drinks and said goodbye. Next August, look for me in the background of one shot for about 1/2 second. And then imagine how I shot that line 14 times, and how they flew me to Spain to shoot it. The film industry is totally insane. No one has a grasp of reality behind the scenes, and there’s no way to put anything in perspective. It’s just insane and I don’t have the vocabulary or focus to articulate it better.

Let’s look at it this way:

It cost them an estimated:

300 euro to fly me to Spain.
280 per day to put me up (=1400 ro)
180 per diem total
650 day rate *2
________________
3180 Euro for my 2 lines in the movie.

That’s 176 Euro per word that I speak on film.
Or, assuming I’m not cut at all (and that it takes me 10 seconds to speak those words), my (remember, I’m an unknown actor) hourly dollar rate for films is = $1,420,638.

The film industry is insane.

One other thing …

www.father-ramos.com/ramos/demonicdeviltry.pdf

So that’s why I’m a homosexual. Because of Final Fantasy.

SUPERSTAR

I just got back from shooting my line for DB2. I’m not even on film; I’m a video shot in the background of another shot of Duece. Oh well.

All of the things I’ve heard about Rob Schnieder weren’t in effect today on the set. He was a gentleman who grabbed me a bottle of water and some vitamins to counter the horrible heat and sun. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl. In fact, scratch that - it’s most likely because I’m a girl. Still, I had fun. Tonight’s the wrap party, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with the light guys and video feedback people that I’ve been talking to all week. The adult Dutch crew are very nice people.

Very nice? Christ, I sound like a hostage.

Yesterday was the 2nd highlight of the trip. I went into the mountains to the old city of Ronda. High stone walls protect this last stand of the Moors; it was unfortunate to see the gaudy decoration of the inevetable Christian takeover. What was still Moorish, however, was amazing. It was elegant and dusty, like a city made of favorite old shoes. Great food, and SPECTACULAR vistas. I went into a cave and into a bath and into a museum and into a church. The moors were good folks.

Tomorrow, I go back to Amsterdam and do two shows. I feel invigorated, I think. Or I’ve gone crazy from being alone so much.

Salvation

Today, it’s 10am and I’m in Puerto Banos. I took a bus here with all the old people, and immediately broke off to discover the city. I was hoping for some local charm mixed with some archeological depth. No such luck.

So what is Puerto Banos? It’s kinda like a giant “Century City”. Meaning first class shopping and overpriced coffee. But I’ll take anything over that damn retirement hotel. Yesterday my breasts sank 4 inches out of empathy.

After I posted on Monday, I read “The DaVinci Code” from nearly cover to cover. I was 4 chapters into the book (and anyone who has read TDC can tell you that’s akin to … 4 pages) and brought it along just in case I ran out of things to do.

I hated that book. And before I get accused of favoring the counter-cultural over the mainstream, I’ll point out that I love Potter. DaVinci Code is like a smug, real-world Philosopher’s Stone. TDC is arrogant and flimsy, and the cliff-hanger-chapter-endings don’t conjure atmospheric tension. Rather, they give you the impression that you’re reading a hiccup.

And no book should have a page to chapter ratio of 2:1.

Tomorrow I’m going to fork over 32 Euro to see Rhonda - I think it’s a Roman city carved into the mountains, with an impressive brick bridge some 700 feet in the air. Or maybe not.

Thank, everyone, for the encouragement and suggestions yesterday. I’m not in such a bad place now, thankfully. There’s even a book store here, and I didn’t know that Krakauer *sp* had a new book out. Can’t wait to read his take on Fundamentalism in the US.

Stuck in Spain

I don’t want to sound spoiled, but … let’s face it, what I’m about to write is just gonna sound bitchy.

I’m stuck in Spain. I don’t shoot until Thursday. That leaves me with 3 full days of … well, nothing. I’m at a hotel inbetween Estepona and Marabella - ‘cept it’s not really a hotel. It’s a “Retirement Resort”. What does that mean? 60+ Nude Sunbathing. I finally found an internet terminal, thank god, so that I could post updates and just generally keep my mind fed. I’ll have finished my 2 books by tonight. Oh my god, I’m going to go crazy. Think about what you would do for 48 waking hours of nothing. What would you try? Any suggestions would be appriciated.

I’m 45 minutes from Malaga, which is a shame because I’d LOVE to visit and see the Roman Ruins and archeological digs. I wonder how much a taxi would cost.

There are no places to eat outside the hotel. I’m really in the middle of nowhere.

In other news, everyone on the production hates Rob. Shh. Don’t tell anyone.