This is Halloween!

Hope everyone's Halloween was fantastical!
Mine was actually pretty good this year. I only had one trick or treater (who was adorable by the way, he was The Cat In The Hat and his mom and dad were Thing 1 and Thing 2. I just found it to be really creative.) I have no idea why trick or treaters don't come to our house other than the fact that we live semi-close to a graveyard. We give out good things and have our little light on for the youngins! Why do they not come?!?!? Seriously, this year we handed out Snickers,Twix, Hersheys, Suckers, Twizzlers, and put it all in a convenient dollar store cup like this;

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! 
But for some reason I have never gotten a lot of trick or treaters at my house. I believe that it is because I do not live in the trick or treat zone which is on the longest street in my village where all the houses are trying to outdo each other when it comes to their decorations. 


But despite all of that for some reason the spirit of Halloween was just with me today. ALL DAY. I have always enjoyed Halloween even if I can't go treat or treating anymore. However I CAN still dress up if I feel like it. I was Zombie Barbara two years ago (from Night of the Living Dead) and this year I was an escaped crazy girl from an insane asylum. I really do not understand why I dress up other than the fact that I feel spirited that way, I don't go to parties and I have only ever entered a costume contest once in my life and lost to a little 5 year old because of the age factor. Curse my 10 year old body!!!


In reality October has to be my all time favorite month of the year. Because I can act like a crazy person and it is totally acceptable, or atleast it is on Halloween. This morning I heard Michael Jackson's Thriller and whenever you hear Thriller on the radio your day is going to be fantastic. Same goes for when you hear Thriller and join a little dance group in your college at 10 in the morning. 

Speaking of Halloween at college, I will never understand why some of the girls think going as a 'sexy' whatever is cool. I don't care what Mean Girls says, if you wear something provocative it gives girls every right to talk about it. Please do not degrade Snow White like this;




I understand that you wish to be provocative but in my opinion this type of costume just doesn't fit the Halloween theme of 'scary.' I cannot respect Sexy Snow White and sadly, some guys can't either. In my opinion if you want to look nice and actually fit what Halloween is all about I would recommend something like this;

But overall it's your life, do whatever you want to do.

Other than some of the female costumes at college though Halloween college time was pretty great. There were a lot of great costumes I saw as well. For some reason 'zombie' is the theme this year. I pulled of zombie years ago, you all are a little behind the times. XD The Shakespeare teacher gave the class candy, which was appropriate because we had to sit through the most sleep worthy documentary in the history of the earth.  The music teacher let everyone out early, and some guy brought in candy for my theatre class. Overall college today = candy. 

Halloween should be about candy though, or at least candy is a part of what makes Halloween so great. My mom actually brought me home some DOTS today which was really cool considering those are one of my favorite candies next to Raisinets and Pop Rocks. I admit that I do have wacky tastes when it comes to my favorite candies. The DOTS will more than likely be gone by the end of the week.




My question to the readers of this blog, just for fun, what is your favorite part about Halloween and what is your all time favorite candy?

Hope ya'll had a very Happy Halloween!!! 

Favorite Halloween Movies

Happy Day Before Halloween Everybody!

For a blog post I thought that I should incorporate what some of my all time favorite scary/thriller movies are for this time of the year! Granted, they will not be in any order, these are just some of my favorites.

HALLOWEEN

Story time: My grandmother made me watch the first Halloween movie when I was 8. It scared me to death when the knife went missing from the kitchen. I have watched all 8 since then and let me just say that if you watch 2007 you are wasting an hour or so of your life. Because of my crazy grandmother I don't find many horror films horrotastic today so I guess I should thank her for introducing me to Michael.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Technically this is the first horror movie I have ever seen and gotten through. One of my friends said it scared her to no end so of course I had to check it out. Absolutely loved it. I also really liked the sequal, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.

Night of the Living Dead

"They're coming to get you Barbara." My all time favorite horror movie hands down. The 1968 version in black and white.

Sleepy Hollow

Tim Burton. Johnny Depp. Headless horseman. Beautiful costumes. Windmill on fire. I watch this movie every year. I actually wanted to go to the theatre at the time and see it but I was only 8 years of age at the time and because it was rated R that was a no go for me.

The Haunted Palace

My all time favorite Vincent Price film which I think should be considered a classic. If you like Price then I  also recommend House on Haunted Hill, House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Masque of Red Death.

13 Ghosts

Fantastic movie if you are into old school terrors. This is the 1960 version. The 2001 version irritates me. Basically most movie remakes irritate me. One of the surprises I had while watching this was that Margaret Hamilton (aka Wicked Witch of the West) co-stars in it.

Classic Alfred Hitchcock movies- The Birds and Psycho

Both are classics. Hitchcock in general is a classic.

An American Werewolf in London

Saw this on a plane trip to Minnesota. I thought the movie was quite clever. This is what a werewolf is, if you use Taylor Lautner as your werewolf reference you automatically fail.

Dracula (1931)

I really do not think any movie adaptation can compare with the book, they all are pale in comparison. However Lugosi IS the real life image of Dracula.

Scream

Classic and wonderful movie. The biggest movie star is killed off in the first ten minutes, the audience has to expect that anything might happen. 

Nosferatu

This was one of the first silent movies I have ever seen. I think that it is an absolute classic.

Shadow of the Vampire

This movie is a fictionalized account based on the making of Nosferatu. When I first heard about the film I wasn't expecting much but I definetley think that it is worth a watch if you are into vampires/filimg/ or Nosferatu.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

One of my all time favorites. It is a silent film but this is a movie which I would depict as the one that started the entire horror genre.

My favorite not really scary but still great Halloween movies;

Hocus Pocus

This is a Halloween movie that I have to see every year or someone's child will go missing.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I think that everyone and their mother have seen this. If you have not then please come out from under the rock you are living.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

When I was a kid I was not able to get through this film.Now I could watch it every single day and be happy.  I would recommend this movie to kids 8 and over.

The Corpse Bride

This is not only one of my favorite Halloween movies, but it is one of my favorite animated films in general. Great artwork and great voice cast.



I have probably forgotten quite a few on my list and will curse myself later for forgetting. Question of the day; what are some of your favorite Halloween movies?

Hurricane Sandy

To everyone on the east coast who has been hit by hurricane/Super storm Sandy or is preparing for her arrival I just wanted to say that I am praying for your safety and hope that you are taking all the precautions that you can. I know some of you do not have electricity at the moment and for that I am sorry. I am sorry that the subways are closed and that people are getting rambunctious when it comes to getting gasoline. But please try to keep a calm head, nobody needs to be against each other at times like this.Hopefully, you all can recover easily from this devastation and become stronger because of it. 

Now to put a smile on your face; 

Les Miserables- PICTURES

This is basically just going to be picture spam.

Finally, FINALLY we get pictures of the Thenardiers!

Fantine(Anne Hathaway)

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) and Fantine

Filming

Valjean and young Cosette (Isabelle Allen)

Colm Wilkinson

Marius (Eddie Redmayne)

Members of the ABC

Cosette (Amanda Seyfried)

VALJEAN AT LAST WE SEE EACH OTHER PLAIN!

French Revolution!

Enjolras in red (Aaron Tviet)

Thinking this kid may be our Gavroche.

Cosette and Marius

Javert (Russell Crowe)

Eponine (Samantha Barks)

Whore (Frances Ruffelle)

Well that's all for now! Bye bye lovelies!

Bullying- It Is Never OK

Many of you have probably already seen the video or have read the story about Amanda Todd. For those of

you who haven't, she was a girl of 15 who ended her life because she was bullied and constantly harassed 

every day about her mistakes. She didn't deserve it. Nobody deserves to be treated that way no matter what   they have done. Yes, she is getting a lot of media attention because of her youtube video and maybe because she was a good looking girl, but either way hers is just one of the many stories about bullying and she is one of the hundreds of teenagers who have ended their life because they couldn't handle the torture any longer. I don't necessarily agree with everything she did, but Ms. Todd is just an example.

 In my opinion bullying is a serious issue which I think needs to be addressed more and done something about. True, people talk about bullying all of the time but what are we actually doing about it? Nobody ever seems to take bullying seriously until someone does something drastic (like suicide) and I just find it really pathetic and sad that someone has to take their own life before somebody takes action and says that bullying is not ok.

Frankly when I read stories like this, it pisses me off. Not just when teenagers are bullied but adults as well. What the hell were people doing when all of this was going down? Why didn't anyone step in? Why do people just assume that the person sitting alone 24/7 wants to be alone? Do bullies even really know the person they are bullying? More than likely not. If you do not know someones favorite color you do not know them. Just because someone is different or has done something stupid that gives you absolutely no right to treat them like a piece of garbage or an outsider. 

By the way I would just like to point out that telling someone who is being bullied to 'ignore the bullies' is stupid. It is nearly impossible to ignore the people who are giving you hell everyday. Also, "stick by your friends" is stupid advice as well. What if they have no friends? What then? Some more stupid advice

- Try to be friends with them!- Hell no. Why on earth would you want to be friends with someone who hates you for no other reason than your shoes aren't cool, or something to that effect? 

- Tell them that their behavior is not ok!- They already know what they are doing is not ok. They obviously do not care and have their own issues to resolve.

- Tell a teacher/parent/ etc.- Ok this advice is not bad.It is always a good thing to let someone, anyone know what's going on. But in my case with bullying it just made everything somewhat worse. I'm not saying it could not help because more than likely it can. 

- Don't react to them!- This is ok advice too, but it goes along the same line of ignoring the bullies. It is hard.

Overall if you are being bullied there is absolutely nothing NOTHING wrong with you at all. The bullies are the ones with the problem, not you. They will be miserable human beings all of their life and sadly there is nothing you can do to change what type of evil person they are- it is not your responsibility to. You are a wonderful person, the bullies are cowards- especially if they are people leaving mean comments online. Do not be peer pressured into anything, do not change just to make someone stop picking on you, you are fabulous just the way you are, never forget that. 

And to the bullies; there is nothing 'cool' or 'funny' about what you are doing. Knock it off. You have no idea what kind of life the person lives so shut up, sit down, and mind your own business. I know that some of you do it because you are insecure, but half of the human race is insecure as well so just know that you're not alone out there either. Instead of hurting other people I recommend that you start accepting others the way that they are and say one kind thing to a stranger each day. You'll feel better about yourself and who knows, those kind words may just stop another person from reaching their bitter end.

Blips of Rehearsals

1ST Rehearsal

I do believe that I am going to like this cast.
Tonight we all sat down around the table and introduced ourselves and were able to read half of the script. Me and the stage manager read the stage instructions, I made them sound incredibly evil. But it was fun. Everyone spoke in a British accent so of course I enjoyed it.

2nd Rehearsal
I was actually able to read for one of the characters because she came down with a case of bronchitis  I feel really bad for her but in the end I was just happy to be able to read the lines and not the stage directions.  The director was not there tonight but the cast kept saying the I was a great >insert characters name here.<

3rd Rehearsal
The girl who had bronchitis showed up last night. I'm actually glad shes feeling better. Shes really sweet and has cool shoes. As for a not so sweet person, this guy was in the last musical I was in here at college. It said to ask him or another guy about joining a theatre group, so I asked him if I could join. He tells me, and I quote "The theatre company is for actors, you're just an UNDERSTUDY" well then...

5th Rehearsal
Me and the dude understudy went downstairs and found a lot of the props for the production. It is going to be sweeet. I also found a really convenient book for the show which ties in with one of the characters back stories  Granted, no one will probably even see the book but I'LL KNOW IT'S THERE.

8th Rehearsal
Sat around for over two hours and watched everyone rehearse. Tonight it was more nerve racking than usual, maybe because I was the only one not on stage and my partner in crime wasn't there and I wasn't able to talk to anyone. I overheard one guy stating that he has no intention of memorizing his lines. If you say stuff like that you need to SIT DOWN. I already have all of the lead female character's lines down. Overall it was just a bad rehearsal day for me.

13th Rehearsal
 I saw my literature teacher today who I had last semester. I have to say that I love having her support when it comes to the acting field, she is just overall a great person. She was surprised that I didn't get into the play and was only an understudy but she said that she was seeing the show all the same because I have something to do with it. =P 
A girl on twitter told me to watch a movie titled "All About Eve." It is a great film and definetley shows how low some understudies can go just to get the lead.
I had to help people practice lines during rehearsal today. I think they're getting them down. But to everyone in the theatre world I would just like to say that the memorization of lines is crucial for a production to be successful.

October 3- I'm not sure what number this is.
I have been sick for a few days so of course tonight the lady I auditioned for doesn't show up. I got to read for her though and do the blocking and I had a ton of fun doing that. The cool guy who's name I didn't remember when the cast list was posted told me that I brought something to the role that the girl playing her didn't. The director also said I did good. Praise makes me feel lovely!!!

October 4
Helped people with their line memorization. One guy rapped one of his lines to remember it. I found that hilarious. I also learned that only 3 of us did not go to the same high school as the rest of the people cast. 

October 5
Helped the guy with his lines who really needed it. I had to have a heart to heart with him (the same guy who stated that he had no intention of learning his lines) and found out that he would rather play with necklaces and ka-knives instead of practicing. Same dude also found it neat-o-riffic to change the words to some of his lines because "He is not feeling the sentence." I told him that doing that was not wise and if he was really going to do that he needs to talk to the actors who get their cues from him. Also "Not feeling the sentence." What kind of bullshit is that?!?!? Then these other BISCUITS want to interrupt this guy and I'm just like NO. HE NEEDS TO GET HIS LINES DOWN! But they don't care and just want him to"look at this funny picture!" And the guy actually encourages them to interrupt. WHY DO I EVEN TRY? 

October 6
The other understudy was not there today. =( But I DID learn that the guy who has none of his lines down quit one of the college's plays 3 days before to work at a haunted pumpkin patch. Good God. WHAT A STORY I WILL HAVE TO TELL MR. UNDERSTUDY. 

October 7
Guy who has nothing memorized is starting to work my last nerve. I have been trying and trying and trying my best to get him to learn his lines but NOTHING IS WORKING! Maybe I'm just a failure. Today he went on stage and is like OH NO! I HAVEN'T HAD TIME TO LOOK OVER MY LINES BECAUSE I'VE BEEN BUSY! I should bloody kill you! NOBODY CARES! Just call out line if you do not know them! Another reason to call out line; if it takes you more than a minute to think of it! You are wasting precious time young Jar Jar Binks!  I am also sure that the stage manager did not enjoy you telling him "Please don't tell me my lines unless I call out line. It distracts me." IF IT TAKES YOU 100,000,000 MINUTES FOR YOU TO THINK OF YOUR LINE YOU NEED TO EITHER MEMORIZE THESE LINES MORE THOROUGHLY OR SIT DOWN!!! 

Oct 11
Found out that the guy understudy took over one of my understudy characters' parts while I was in Chicago. I don't show up two days and this is what happens. The character barely had any lines those two days.Then this guy asks me to run the female characters lines with him. No. I am beyond mad about this and am so confused it is unreal. Well at first I was mad. Then I was sad when I found out that yeah, he will be stealing this character if the girl doesn't show up or can't go on. Now I'm just mad again. I really hope this girl shows up everyday because I don't think I can handle having him play this part. This FEMALE part. I am a FEMALE and I have had this parts down for months. I guess I am just really hurt about this. What's worse is that the director didn't even tell me, I had to find out from 5 members of the cast. I actually left today in tears. 

October 12
Pretty much had a psychiatric breakdown when I got home after rehearsal today. I deserve to have one once a year, this was the day. The guy understudy starting freaking out earlier because the girl he's now understudying for wasn't there and the director apparently does want him to fill in for her. It wasn't a rumor like I had hoped. I am sad. I guess it wouldn't hurt me so much if it didn't feel like the director thought I wasn't good enough. 

October 13
FINAL DAYS OF REHEARSAL. I got to read the lines to the cast. The guy understudy left early today. Mr. Pumpkin Patch  started getting snippy with me when I gave him his lines. DON'T BE GETTING SNIPPY WITH ME YOUNG FELLOW! Next time I am going to give you a line about a hippopotamus on a balloon ride to Paris if you keep snipping! 

October 15
2nd to last day of rehearsal. I think that I may be a little glad when this is over with, I am kind of tired of hearing the same thing over and over and over again. The cast is great don't get me wrong, but the repetitiveness can be a bit tiresome after awhile. I also learned that I will be the 'quick changer' and basically the backstage put-the-props-away-on-the-table girl. 

October 16
Learned today that I get to do something really cool in costume for the play. The costume guy (who tends to be a bit bipolar during tech week) found this beautiful fur coat and Rose- from Titanicish dress for me to wear. When he brought those two items to the dressing room I thought it was the most gorgeous dress I have ever seen and was going to be uber jealous of the person who got to wear it. I'M THE ONE WEARING IT! EEEEE!!! Good news!!!! Basically what me and Mr. understudy are going to do is talk to people in the lobby  in a 1930s/50s British-improv type fashion. It is going to be so much fun! Joyous day!

October 17
Me and Mr. Understudy get to jump out of a window for bows. That's what's up. I think everyone will do fantastically tomorrow. By the way, Mr. Pumpkin Patch, you kind of need to remember your prop aka your weapon. IT IS NOT SCARY TO FINGER GUN ANOTHER PERSON! He also got snippy with me again tonight telling me that I need to make sure that "the newspaper is in his coat" I responded like so;

I asked the stage manager if it was, he told me that I am not the prop bitch. Lol. Hugs to the stage manager! But honestly, despite the headaches, I am proud of Mr. Pumpkin Patch, he has 95% of his lines down and I know that it must have been hard for him. 

October 18
THE DAY HAS COME! Tonight was a lot of fun, learning the skills of improv and talking to people was crazy fun. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the show and overall I am glad to hear it. Apparently it was the biggest audience we've had in the college's history. SUCCESS! 

October 19
Everyone did super great today. However our mic girl didn't show up so Mr. Understudy took over her job after we spoke to people before the show. I was running all over the place backstage tonight. I had to throw snow maniacally, quick change people, hang up coats, run back and forth for certain scenes and to get people certain props. It was exhausting but I felt a sort of accomplishment at the end. 

October 20
Thought that we did fantastic at improv tonight. I was really feeling the whole crazy British wife character. Again, the cast did splendid and it is setting in now that I am really going to miss them. =( The lead female character actually had Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody playing in the dressing room today and of course that is always a great song to jam to! =P

October 21
THEEEEEEEE ENNNND. THE SONNNNG WRITERS DEEEAAAD. Ok, today was the end of the play. Sad times. I actually saw a ton of people I knew at the matinee today and was overall just excited. The costume guy was also there at today's matinee.He screwed up my groove when I was supposed to be doing my JOB by being snippy about proper coat etiquette and how one should hang certain coats on certain hangers. I understand costume guy, but if at all possible, please tell me this AFTER I hand the girls prop to her who needs to be back on stage in 2 seconds. Thank you. Costume guy was ok after that though. Everyone did amazing during the last performance and overall this was just an experience that I am proud to say I was a part of.