Updates from Big Bear

Hello Everyone,

This entry will be lacking in pictures, but abunde in words. Let me just quickly explain: wi-fi in Big Bear lags too much for me to sit around and wait for the upload. Most of the pictures will go up on Facebook anyway (it takes way less time to upload to facebook), so you can just check 'em out there.

This week finds me in Big Bear, working on a very low budget project. The crew is rather small (15 people max?), but that makes it that much more fun. I'm staying at the StoryBook Inn, about one hour and a half away from Los Angeles, so if something catastrophic or awesome happens, I am fully ready to jump in my car and be back home for the grand event.

Let me recap a little bit the past couple of weeks. Several important things have happened. Cate K. has left town, for good. Although we have lost an always fun to have serious chiller from our adventures, we have plenty of good memories to laugh about. Like that one time Cate and I tried to go to Opening Ceremony after having a couple too many free PBRs at the Pacific Design Center, but didn't make it before the store closed. Because it was closed, we had to find the nearest bathroom which happened to be in a strip club. So yes, I am not ashamed to say it, Cate and I visited a strip club together. Not as racy as it sounds, seeing as it was only 7 pm, and there were no dancers or patrons in the club yet. Anyway, that's hopefully the only time I will ever visit a strip club (knock on wood?) and I am happy to say I got to do it with none other than Cate.

As sad as I am that she left town, I can't blame her. The SFV has recently infected me with that same old dying-to-get-the-fuck-out-of-there feeling. Maybe it's because I've been spending too much time driving around Van Nuys looking for crucifixes, or maybe it's because my dad's been on summer vacation and I don't have the house to myself anymore. Either way, I would like to congratulate Cate for leaving the nest (for the second time!) but also express a fair amount of discomfort about my own situation. Sure, ideally we're all supposed to get fab jobs post college and move into snazzy appartments where our friends can come over and act a drunken fool to our heart's desire, but so far I've been trying the unemployed, starving artist/philosopher/slacker/depenent thing. At this point in time, I've been doing a LOT of starving and a fair amount of art/philosophy/slacking/dependency as well. I'm going to venture a guess that my feelings towards my housing and job situation, which range from severe dislike to apathy, have also turned me off to some of the best Valley adventures. But I try to look on the bright side. I'm fairly comfortable, and I have more resources at my disposal than I know what to do. And even better, I can always blame the economy for my lack of results in the what seems like the infinite game of cover letter, resume, rinse and repeat. So i'm trying, trying real hard, to maintain a positive attitude and stay focused on my larger career and life goals. I need to come out of this rut eventually, and when I do, it will just the best thing ever!

For the past couple of weeks I have tried to keep busy either in Hwood and L.A. but have taken it upon myself to find things I love about the SFV. The absence of digital photos is due to the absence of my camera chord (have you seen it? do you have it? please return it to me). So until the thing sprouts legs and walks back to where it got lost from, I'll be sticking to film. I know that means a slow turn over rate as far as developing and posting, but I think it's totally worth the wait.

Event wise, here's what I've been up to.

On Thursday night it was the downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. I had been meaning to go to this for a very long time and Dylan finally convinced me to do it. So Brett, Jesse, Gabe, Dylan and I took the metro down town where we later met up with Jordan. Now this was something else... The streets of downtown were flooded with hip people of all ages, some dogs, and countless food trucks. It was seriously hard to navigate through the crowd of drunken girls in heels or oxfords and dudes in toms or nikes. It was pretty clear that the art walk has turned into a drunken hip fest, and I must say I was rather dissapointed with the art I saw. I can't give any specifics, but the overall feel of it was very commercial. I chose "commercial" as the word to describe it because all the art seemed to deal with subject matter that was trendy, over played and mostly a week ago's news to me. The methods and mediums were also not that innovative. A lot of assemblages of homemade objects juxtaposed with industrial materials, a lot of paintings in rasta colors, and a lot (A LOT!) of collage art that looked like it had been commissioned by Urban Outfitters resulted in a not very enlightening experience. I guess my expectations for art are pretty high. I usually want something challenging and innovative, not a recylced message or medium that I looks like it could very well come out of the bowels of Urban Outfitters or Anthropologie. Not to say there wasn't anything I liked, but I just thought over-all the work was mediocre at best. I dug the vibe and the crowd though. It's so great to see that there are a lot of young people in L.A. interested in art geared towards a community event. I'm going to go again as soon as I get back to L.A. and hope for some better work this time.

The highlight of the trip was finding this very small cafe called the Lost Souls Cafe in an alley downtown. It was fairly isolated from the crowd, and they served some of the most delicious $5 sangria. Although it suffered from the same short comings many cafes suffer from, namely bad art from patrons, hip music from 10 years ago and an incomplete set of Jenga (!!!), the atmosphere was pretty good. They had some sweet couches to chill on, some really good food and drinks, and board games that facilitated a couple hours of fun.


On Saturday night, the gang went to the Beatles performance thing at the Hollywood Bowl.

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Here we are, armed and ready to go with over 12 bottles of wine from TJ's (so we could each have one a piece), various ingredients for tacos, umbrellas and a blanket! Needles to say, the ratio of cheap wine to person invariably turned this into a shit show of hilarious proportions. The performance was um...not that great, but fun was had regardless. We were shushed several times during the show, which lead to me arguing in hushed tones that "you know what, this is supposed to be a communal experience!".

This night convinced me of several things:
- I still can't stand Beatles covers because the originals are the best
- I cannot drink an entire bottle of wine in under one hour
- People don't get what a communal experience is, and if they do, they're so not down
- We have fun together no matter what the hell happens.

So in light of all this, I just wanna thank Kami for planning this out, buying our tickets, reminding me to get beans from the store, and over all being fucking awesome! I will miss this face when you will be gone, but we're not gonna talk about that right now.

Kami's famous drunk face transfers to the hung-over part of the adventure as well. Photo taken in Santa Cruz, developed this week!

Anyway, that's it for now. It seems like I will have a lot of down time while I'm here. My responsibilities on this shoot are minimal, which will give me a lot of time to read, write, make calls and wish I were doing this instead:

Oh Santa Cruz, I miss you so! 

I'm Back

I know I have been absent for the past month. I know the blog has not been updated. I know we have been up to more fun things than I can shake a stick at, and I must apologize. Documenting adventures is hard when one is busy living them all the time. The bottom line is I have not had enough time, and when I have had enough time I have spent it planning the next show or event. So let's recap a little bit.

I'm back to living north of the boulevard. I went back to Utah for a total of 4 days last week and have taken a couple of trips to Santa Cruz, but other than that I've been staying put. In between I've either been working, or have been hanging out pool side with all the new books I've bought. In case anyone's wondering, I am many shades darker, and my olive tones have turned golden, especially on parts of my body where I accidentally forgot to spray sunscreen. To those that are not a regular part of my adventures, this type of lifestyle might seem frivolous, wasteful and even parasitic. Actually, I feel that way sometimes too, but I just have to remind myself to take it easy and enjoy the summer months with my friends, two of which will be moving out of town pretty soon. But let me show some photos, and then I can share some experiences and opinions.

 Kami, Dylan, Jordan, Tim and I went to UCSB for Extravaganza. We saw Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, Chromeo and Drake. Obviously my favorite on the line up was Drake. Just kidding, I can't stand that guy. Anyone who starts out a love song with "this one goes out to all the single ladies in the audience" loses points in my book. But then again, anyone who can entertain to the point where girls in the audience take their tops off wins points in my book. So Drake might be breaking even for me. No worries though, I'm not about to go buy his record or anything. Extravaganza itself was fun, especially the part where some people rushed the gates because it was taking forever to get it. This resulted in our missing most of Edward Sharp's set, but I can say I saw enough to notice they had really bad sound problems, resulting in a less than thrilling experience. Chromeo was cool, and Drake was, well, Drake.

Brett and I took a weekend trip to Santa Cruz. Besides sleeping until 4 pm on Sunday afternoon, everything went as planned. We had lots of fun, actually enough fun to get us to come back for a second time.

Enjoying a lychee-cucumber martini at Aqua Bleu. This and the next photo are what make me want to live in Santa Cruz.

New Leaf Sandwiches!!!! I kid you not, they are the best. One can get anything from sun dried tomato pesto to fakin bacon on their sandwich of choice. I have yet to find any place in Los Angeles that has the same variety of ingredients. I guess I could try Whole Foods, but I really don't like paying an arm and a leg for a meal, so maybe not.

 

Amongst other things we have been up to, we went and saw Neon Indian at the Natural History Museum. This was the last show of the First Friday series. I thought the tickets have gotten terribly over priced, and I hardly got enough music for my buck. Neon Indian's set was um...short, and they pretty much played their entire album track by track. I guess it could have been worse. Sound wise I thought it was decent, but I didn't dig the crowd at this show at all. Photo-wise, this is what most of the night looked like.

Dylan, Cate, Brett, Jesse, Matt and I then headed to Big Foot lodge where we met up with some other UCSC alumnis. Before venturing in, we had some very spicy papusas, after which, in typical Claudia fashion, I decided I'd rather nap in the back of Jesse's car and hope that no one tries to kill me.

This week that just passed, I went to a couple of shows. Woods + The Mantles + Real Estate = one of my favorite shows I have seen in a while. Then on Thursday it was Broken Bells on Jimmy Kimmel, which made me realize: 1. I like the Shins a WHOLE lot better, 2. Seeing a band on talk shows is not the best way to see a band, 3. James Mercer is now, officially, a rockstar. Yeah.....

Anyway, there's a lot more to do and to talk about, but now I have got to walk away from the computer and go do something more physically engaging.

Yours truly,
Claudia

Since I've been back

I don't have any words for this post. I've been talking and writing and talking some more every minute since I have been back, so I've used up whatever I was going to say on this blog.

So here's photos instead.

Simon, my absolute favorite, waiting to cuddle with me. 

We busted out the champagne, obvs. SO GOOD TO BE BACK.

It's cool, they're just de-linting each other.

 

It was Stef's bday. He made us vegan brownies. I have it on video, which will be uploaded to facebook soon. Good job son. 

Kami and I went on 3.8 mile booze walk on Ventura Blvd. We started out with two expensive bloody marys a piece, and then moved on to the Mexicali Happy Hour.

I'm obviously trying to show my legs to the waiter for a free drink.

By the time we got to Mexicali, we were pretty worn out and had almost sobered up. But no worries, their Margarita pitcher saved the late part of the afternoon.

Fuck yeah, Ventura Blvd.

"Drink more goddamn Margaritas!"

"I mean, just kidding, let's keep walking to the fox and hounds."

Lauren picked us up on the way there. We held on to some red balloons, for kicks.

This is the place Lauren picked us up from on Ventura Blvd. We were gonna hitchhike, but um...that's an adventure I will not go on sans pepper spray.

Trivia Night at the Fox and Hounds. Literally EVERYONE was there. EVERYONE. We had to split up into two teams. Both teams did poorly, as is tradition.

Dyl-do.

Cate!!!!

Dude, why's your hair longer than my hair? 

Thanks Jordan.

Lauren! Yeah!

I think Andy and I were debating some sports question. Just kidding, I don't know/care about sports. 

No photo op is missed. Not even those I can't explain later. 

The night got blurry from there, but there was some debate about feminism, gender roles, and what biology has to do with both. As expected, I did not let anyone have a turn at talking besides me, and maybe Jesse Durkin, but it's cool. I just love apologizing to people later.

There's more to post, more to say, and more to see, and I'll be back in my once a week routine as soon as things settle down. For now I'm just enjoying being back, and trying to finish unpacking.

Claudia. 

Back in Hwood

Oh shit it's already happened! I've been back for a few days, but I've quietly migrated to Los Feliz, where I am house sitting Erica's apartment again.

I've caught up with my sleep and only some of my partying, but more on those adventures later. I'm posting a few more photos from my trip and then I'm changing the subject. It's nice to reminisce, but once I had my first vodka martini I realized reminiscing is better left for when the experience isn't so fresh in my mind.

I learned how to play Pyramid of Death in Utah. This is what happens after too many rounds where I suddenly find myself blessed with "luck".

Make-up artist extrordinaire/enabler of Pyramid of Death Games, Galaxy.

Goblin Valley, Utah. Got boring after about 5 minutes.

This one looked like a duck. Some rocks looked like various cute animals, most looked like large scale phalli. 

Lovely room-mate/ over all cutie, Che. This is a Utah Jazz umbrella. Lakers' fans on the crew were appalled. I, did not care...

I found a flower in the desert! It cheered up my frequent cigarette breaks. 

Giant monkeys on the drive back! Giant blurry monkeys. 

Jesse, Kami, Brett, and Jordan welcomed me home. We tried to figure out which one of us was taller, because of course my newly buzzed head endowed me with extra altitude. Just kidding, it all depends on  if I'm standing up straight or not. 

Brett, I'm going to steal your sweater.

Um, Kami what are your hands doing on my ass?

Fondling aside, we had some beers and I squealed at every exciting detail of life in Los Angeles that I missed while I was gone. When I got back I also realized a few things. Summer's not here just yet, so it's not as warm as I anticipated it to be when I came back from Utah. Regardless, nothing compares to Los Angeles. I was so grateful to be back in such a great city I secretly prayed there would be traffic on the 101 while I made my way from the Valley back to Los Feliz. I've been blasting KCRW and absorbing every second of new music and world news I was deprived of in Utah. I'm enjoying everyone's sour attitude and the "I don't give a fuck how your day is going"expression when I walk up to a service counter smiling. I still get odd looks for my haircut, but who cares...I love it, and I love that at least the looks here are about an aesthetic judgement rather than amazed perplexity. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I love Los Angeles, I love being back, and I'm ready to have some great North of the Boulevard worthy adventures. Utah was fantastic and more than anything, refreshing. It gave me a lot of perspective that I badly needed before I left, but now I'm ready to make the most of this oyster.

Until next time, 

Claudia 

I'm alive, and (now) well.

I'm sorry about my recent absenteeism. I have been way too caught up in the whole movie process to blog, but here's a brief update! These are some of the only film photos I've taken and found interesting enough to post. My thoughts/criticism/digital photos of Utah will come once I'm in Los Angeles, which should be sometime at the end of next week. When I get back I plan to sleep for like, a week straight, and then also party for a week straight.

I will make a few brief remarks about my time in Helper so far.

The locals have actually enjoyed having the crew around, which to me is completly surprising. In spite of my many snide remarks, general grumpiness due to sleep deprivation and shaved head (oh yeah, im bald), they've treated us better than I expected. Usually the locs get sick of the crew a week into the process, but we've been here for about three, and they've started treating us like family. This certainly has added to my positive feelings towards Helper.

Oh yeah, before I forget...I did shave my head. No I did not have a Britney moment or catch lice from one of the locals, so just forget those two theories. The director cast me in a very small part in the movie, and it required me to be bald. So I accepted. At first, my head was really fucking cold, and I felt like a cross between Sinead O'connor, Nosferatu, and a very hip skin head, but now I'm ok with it. Everyone says I have a great skull, and let's face it...how many times in my life can I expect to hear that. I have photos of the actual head shaving process, but I'm not ready to post them just yet. In order to help my hair grow faster, I have started taking pre-natal vitamins. This has made me realize I've pretty much experimented with every drug in the pharmacy that I could buy without a prescription. Right... Anyway, my hair is growing at a nice speed, and i'm very content with my decision to buzz it.

And now it's photo time!!! 

Here are pictures of weird things, some through color filters, others just simply psychedelic. More to come as soon as my internet connection stops crapping out.

A room I stripped and decorated.

Snow. I've experienced enough of it here to last me at least a few years.

My next post will have more and better photos, I promise. 

Claudia 

Livin' it up in Helper

I've been way too busy to write, but I'm going to take some time before I go to bed to update.

The people of Helper have been very helpful (just bear with me, I promise I won't use that pun again), and now I have a full house decorated. This is by far the biggest set I've done so far, and thanks to the kindness of the locs I've managed to have it almost finished two days before we actually start filming in there.

Today was the first day of filming, and we went out to the desert for a faux-fishing scene. Here's one of the only pictures I've had time to upload so far.

Here I am, at dawn in the Utah desert, getting ready to prep the actors to go fishing in the desert. It might look like I'm a bit heavier, but I'm wearing so many layers. I got a few compliments that I looked like the most stylish (and obviously delusional) fisher-woman within a 200 mile radius at least. I attribute that to the fabulous sweater I stole from my dad. He's owned it since the 1980s, so I figured it's time for me to snatch it. I'll return it if he misses it, but I don't think I've seen him wearing it since we left Romania.

Other than the cold in the morning and at night, so far it's been rather warm. I'm happy the cold broke before we got here, but there's still enough snow on the mountains to give the landscape some color. Seriously, this place is so brown, it amazes me that I've managed to find some beauty in all the sharp angular cliffs. I miss the lush stucco strip malls of the SFV and all the ironic plaid. Here, plaid is not a fashion statement, which is perhaps the most prominent reminder I am in farm land. About farm land - being vegetarian here is the equivalent of being a saint, as in...I feel like I'm fasting. I got a really intense stomach ache today that no amount of pink gooey pepto has been able to cure. I went digging through the cupboards at the brothel I'm staying in and found some vegetarian lentil soup, which has saved me from a long night of agonizing stomach pain. But my health isn't completely fucked just yet. So far I've been working for about a week and I have not smoked a single cigarette, which I consider a personal victory. If I make it through this shoot without smoking at all, I will reward myself somehow. The best reward would obviously be a cigarette but I'm trying to restructure my reward system. The booze situation is rather dire, but I think I'll survive until I make it back to Los Angeles.

That's all I am able to say for now. I have a very early call time tomorrow, so I need to go to sleep in order to wake up for a 6 am breakfast.

I miss L.A. dearly, but thankfully I really like this place. The people are sweet, the landscape is growing on me, and the food situation could be worse (but not by that much).

My best thoughts to everyone,
Yours truly,

Good night.

Terminally ...busy in Helper

I tried to do this last night before I left, but I was too exhausted from the excessive packing and cleaning I had to do.


So I'm finally in Utah. The drive here was interesting. I realized I was out of Los Angeles when I woke up at the In N Out in Barstow, and I saw a lot of pick up trucks and plaid. I ate a burger (Yes, with meat. No, I'm not going to continue eating meat because it completely grossed me out). After Barstow came Nevada, then briefly Arizona, and finally Utah. We encountered about 45 terrifying minutes of blizzard, and 3 or 4 hours of snow. Helper is the name of the town I'm staying in, and apparently it snowed here all day but thankfully it didn't stick. I'm not too worried about freezing my ass off because I'm going to be four layers deep pretty much all the time. Thankfully I packed enough to clothe a small army of petite, cold-susceptible, vegetarian art directors so I think I'll be a-ok. As far as my accommodations go, I'm staying in what used to be an old brothel, haunted and everything. They cranked the heat up before i got here, so now I am sporting cut off jean shorts and a tank top - typical Claudia uniform. The only thing that's missing is a cold beer in my hand, but thankfully the brothel is two store fronts down from the local state run liquor station. About that...what the hell? It's going to take some getting used to, but I tend to get angry when people, in the name of institutions and principles I disagree with, try to control my consumption of any substance.

Anyway, that's it for now. I have to go sleep in order to be perfectly rested for my location scout tomorrow morning. Pictures will come soon, and you can be sure there will be plenty. This place seems really great so far. My only anxiety (besides my work) is the terrible home sickness that I'm feeling right now. I really appreciate everyone's good thoughts and energy that they sent me, and I don't think I need to say I miss all of my friends, parents, sisters and pets very dearly. I wish I could share this with everyone who helped me get here, but all I can do right now is focus on my work and send a shit ton of postcards/letters.


Miss you guys!
I promise to update soon!
Claudia