Merrily, Merrily

*trailer available here*

I finally got a copy of the short film I worked on almost a year ago. I've only seen two of the five films I've made in the past year, and so far, this one is the best.

It was my first time being a full fledged Art Director, and I was so excited, flattered and nervous that James M. Johnson asked me to do the job. He wanted a slightly surreal surban home with the feel of a rainy day. His original plan was to shoot black and white, but because of budget constraints, we went with a monochromatic palette of blue.

It was the first time I've ever had so much control over the process and I got to pick costumes as well. As I mentioned, it as unbelievably exciting. And the people I worked with are so talented. There is nothing like working with rising stars (in the sense of performers and crew members)

Merrily Merrily was submitted to the Sarasota film festival and got a nice review by Keith Uhlich. I hope it continues to be well receipted on the circuit, its next stop being Tallahassee.
The film was directed by James M. Johnson and edited by Davis Lowery .

Sleepwalking

I made this headboard in 2005; it was for my first apartment, a little 425 a month one bedroom in a not so great part of Dallas.

I slept pretty well there, despite the suspicion that my across the hall neighbor was a drug dealing pimp and the time I called 911 because I thought I heard gun shots (it was some domestic violence that involved throwing things really hard, but no gun.) It really wasn't as bad as it sounds.

I like the 2-Dness of it. My room was too small and my budget too tight to afford a real headboard. One of my goals when I graduated from college was to find a job that gave me health insurance and to buy a queen sized bed, all for myself. I grew up entirely in twin sized beds, so it was an amazing luxury to have all that space to my self.

This time of having a space and a bed completely to myself was rather short-lived, but I moved into a happy relationship and I wouldn't trade an empty bed for a full one.

Still, I treasure this moment in my life.

Third

I like my music to either add a cinematic quality to my day or make me happy. The new Portishead album does both. I bought it yesterday, a grey rainy spring day that brought a mist over the hills. I was angry about something that had happened at work the day before and on my way to get fingerprinted. The off-kilter insistent beats of Silence paired perfectly with Beth Gibbons' vocals.

The whole album makes me happy because it's been so long since Portishead has done anything. I remember the first time I heard them play was on Saturday Night Live, back in high school. I was 16, and my Metallica-loving boyfriend and I scoffed at the weird broken song. It was "Only You". I heard it again a couple of years later and it rocked my world.

I sought out more of their music and then became a fan of trip hop in general. UNKLE, Massive Attack, Sneaker Pimps, yum. Trip hop is good for adding a cinematic sound track to your freshman year if you are a Philosophy major looking at everything as a question and learning to smoke.

I really appreciate that Third is definitely Portishead, but the sound has grown up. (Maybe not the right phrase, but it sounds more mature and ten years are past, so that makes it grown up for me.) It's like some of the later Radiohead albums that evolve but are still clearly their music.

This is an album that definitely needs to be bought and listened to on a rainy day is bed with a book and red wine or your beautiful but tragic lover who will only hurt you in the end.




This is not on Third (could only find the NPR link), but another one of my favorite songs.

Fledgling

I'm not the best in the morning. I don't wake up well and would possibly never get out of bed if it wasn't for basic needs like food and bathroom breaks.

So, on this, the maiden voyage of my new blog, I don't really have any fine champagne which to christen it. Maybe just some cheap sparkling bum wine.