*** 8/5/00 Show Taping -- Whose Line is it Anyway?
*** 7/30/00 Show Taping -- Whose Line is it Anyway?
*** 7/28/00 Show Taping -- Whose Line is it Anyway?
*** 6/21/00 - 6/23/00 Movie Shoot -- Slackers
*** 5/26/00 Show Taping -- Wayne Brady
*** 4/27/00 Book Signing -- Michael Palin
*** 4/18/00 Concert -- Ani Difranco
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Somehow I managed to not save a copy of my transcript from this taping, which is unfortunate as it was probably the best of the three that I went to. I attended this one with Laura, Sara, and my sister, Dana. Greg was the guest. It was pretty well immediately after Jeff Davis' first taping, and I heard about him from Vanessa and her friend whom we got to sit with in the 'never get to be on camara' section of the audience. My personal highlight from this taping was that at the beginning when Drew asked for questions, I tossed him the bracelet I made him. Heehee... that was pretty cool, especially as I tossed it down to him and he caught it. And I left everyone else's bracelets with some crew person who hopefully got them to the guys. I hope so, anyway. Sorry I lost the transcript. It was a good taping. It was the one with the episode with the game of Weird Newscasters where Ryan was an Inca high priest looking to sacrafice a virgin...I get so confused about which things I saw at the tapings have actually aired or not... *tsk*
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I'll spare you the long story of how I read about the casting of extras for Slackers and how I called and was called and sent in two letters and eventually was scheduled to be an extra the day after my late night return from Santa Cruz.
I got there, filled in my daily voucher and sat down. I knew Laura's sister Kerry would be there but did not know what she looked like so I trusted her to find me. Which she did. So I sat with Kerry and the friends she had made the day before. They warned me that on Tuesday they had all sat there doing absolutely nothing until noon when they were dismissed because the lead actress was ill. I hoped fervently that we wouldn't be doing the same thing again.
We sat until around 8:30 [I had a 7AM call time, Kerry had a 6AM call time] when the various crew slave began to choose 'The First Group'. Kerry and I were chosen because we had glasses. We grouped up but then were told to sit down. So Kerry and I went to the restrooms again and when we got back, the first group had gone. So we rushed after them and eventually found the lecture hall. We went in and reported to the guy seating people. He sat me down on the end of a row in the middle section, left hand side. However, the little minion in the front called me down and sat me on the right aisle of the third row and Kerry was given my original seat.
Essentially, so as not to prolong this, I was sitting directly behind the seat that Jason Schwartzman and Devon Sawa argue over in that scene and right kiddy-corner to the two female leads, played by James King [anorexic heroin-addicted supermodel] and Laura Prepon [Donna in That '70s Show]. I was really thrilled when Jason came out and just stared at him the whole time. Eventually, though, I concluded that he and the other three leads just had their heads up their asses and were too fucking snobby to associate with the extras. Though I did get Jason to sign my Phantom Planet CD booklet.
Filming the scene was tedious and took forever -- I had to be there the whole time really, being in the heart of the action... and it got very old pretending to study for Physics and then pretending to take the test... I have to mention now that I eventually fell head over heels for the fellow playing the head TA -- essentially the teacher of the class. I noted the first day that he was cute, but I was still slowly letting my disappointment in Jason sink in. Whilst doing that scene, Jim [the TA] would walk by me, and then they had him stand in front and get bitchy and one of the things he said, and it really caught me by surprise, was 'Yeah, you in the yellow bandana -- you're cheating.' !!!!!!???? so if they keep that line in the movie, look for it!!
One particular incident I'd like to mention is that during the first break I got lost on the way back from the bathroom. I went to the one on the third floor of the other Physics building and thought that in going back I needed the first floor when I really needed the second. So I got off the elevator on the first floor and was growing more and more concerned, but I walked to the end of the corridor and there was Jim [!!! though at the time it didn't mean much to me] and I asked 'I'm lost, how do I get out of here?' and he mentioned a stairwell that I didn't see and also just pointed through this other room so I thanked him and headed out, passing by the [didn't know it at the time for sure] director, Dewey Nicks [fricking idiot] who said to me 'Hey, you're in a lot of these shots you know' -- I guess he thought I was leaving. I said 'Yeah I know, I'm lost' and proceeded around the building and back to the quad.
I don't recall anything else significant from the first day -- the days just tended to blend together really. Jason was really funny and the only one that really was until the next day when Michael, the red haired punk guy playing Jeff, showed up. The food sucked ass and Kerry and I had great fun speculating on James' eating habits since she's so fucking skinny and scrawny. I guess what really pisses me off is that Devon and especially Jason were just fawning ALL OVER her. You'd think some people wouldn't buy into that shit of only-skeletons-are-beautiful.... stupid. We got signed out at 8PM and Kerry had a migraine. It wasn't fun.
The second day was the nicest filming-wise. We all wore different shit and they sat us in different seats -- I was in the second row in the seat Laura Prepon had been in the day before. So I won't really be as visible in that scene -- the ending scene. This movie is going to be so dumb, man. It's gunna just reek, dude. So cliche, really. Jason's character, this creepy obsessive-stalker type, is quite extraneous. He's not even needed in the movie. It's all about this pretty boy and supermodel who get together. They're ending it with a voice-over -- I read it in the script thing they handed around. Ick.
So the third day was the worst. We went til past 10PM. I was in the second row for the little bit they filmed of us, then I was filler in the very ass-back row for Jim chasing Jason out, and for Jim's scenes during the mid-term, I was in the row right in front of the camara. I didn't like the third day at all, except for Jim. I would watch him instead of the action we were supposed to watch and we made eye contact several times. It was awesome. I intended to approach him afterwards, but I was soooo tired and just wanted my fucking voucher validated, so I didn't. Jim Jackson. He is sooooo adorable!!! ACK!!!!
I might be in the filming at UofR next week, so this may be continued later. This has been the VERY SHORT version. But I will definately be in the movie!!! See my links page for links regarding Slackers. Oh, I'm planning on at least $150 for this bit. Hoping for more.
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I read about the signing on the internet, thanks to E.P. Gumby's Palinland site. I was really excited, even though I'd never heard of Book Soup, I knew that West Hollywood isn't too far from Universal City and I'd just been *there* the week before, and my parents love Michael Palin too, so they were very willing to drive! Yah!! I did have a moment of panic the afternoon because my mom's van started acting up again and we had to take it in, but we were able to take the other car.We set off at about 5:15 [the signing was at 8], stopped for a camara at Vons in Redlands and continued on, stopping only for dinner [from a Burger King, eaten in the parking lot of the wrong address for Book Soup on Sunset Blvd. *sheepish grin* I need to double and triple check addresses now] and finally reaching Book Soup at about 7:30. I was very nervous because, well, quite frankly, it's MICHAEL PALIN and I expected the biggest crowd in the world and was sooo... just nervous. I barely stomached my dinner. Well, we approached the store and I saw that there was the main bookstore and a sort of annex -- a little extra store for all the bargain books I suppose. Anyway, I saw the people seated there, but it took a trip inside the main store to convince my mom that the signing was in the other room. We went in and I just have to go into a description of the room. It's a long, thin room lined with book shelves. The way it was set up was that at the far end was a desk with piles of Hemingway Adventure and a podium & mike. In the thin aisle between the shelves and tables of books were two short aisles of chairs -- two chairs on each side of the thin walkway and only about 4, possibly 5 rows of these 2 chairs on each side. Then, on the right is the rather cumbersome register desk, so the chairs continued on the left, which is where I was sitting, about 5, possibly 6 rows back, next to a rather strange young [?] man and in front of my parents and brother. We arrived before the huge crowd arrived in the back. I was the youngest _adult_ type there -- there was, of course, my brother, a little kid and a lady with a baby, but mostly it was a crowd of older folks -- also a few 30s-ish looking hippy guys.
I was waiting in anticipation. I looked at the pictures in H.Adventure to sooth myself, but I kept watching the door behind the desk up front, thinking for sure that he must come out of there, but also being aware that they were going to bring him in from the back... Finally, HERE HE IS, brushing against my sleeve, 'excuse me' and 'good evening' his way to the front!!! YEEE!!! It's MICHAEL PALIN!!!! He was wearing a greenish t-shirt with a black suit jacket and suit pants. The weedy guy from behind the counter gave a little introduction [it is good to note that when the weedy guy mentioned Flying Circus with the comment 'involving several hours of wearing a dress', Michael chuckled to himself.] and then Mr. Michael Palin walked up to a great deal of applause!!! Yah!!! There was a fellow filming, by the by, and he did a short audience sweep that included MEEEEE!!! Just by the way.
So Michael talked for a while about his first introduction to Hemingway, the story of the conception of the idea for the Hemingway Adventure, and he read three selections from the book, as well as just commenting in general on some of his experiences. Included in this was the story of the 'worst sales pitch in the world' from Cuba, for the Grandma newspaper: " 'Grandma?' 'Oh, no thank you' 'Well, fuck off then' " Following all this, Michael took some questions from various people. Let me see. I liked the one who asked 'Would you want to meet Hemingway now and what do you think he'd think of your program?' and Michael said that he wasn't sure he'd want to meet Hemingway, though he likely would as he knows so much about him now. He said that he figured Hemingway would think that he [Michael] was a 'limey wimp', but would like that the program was all about him [Hemingway]. Also, someone asked the inevitable question about the Monty Python reunion issue. Michael said very tactfully that he wouldn't want to get back together and do anything unless it was going to be better and transcend their previous work, but that he didn't relish the idea, as much as he loves the old scripts, of getting up on stage and going through them. My favorite quesiton was the very last one -- "What was the name of the pig in 'The Missionary'?" to which Michael gave a very lovely *blank* stare and then asked "Don't you mean the pig in 'A Private Function'?" -- Of course, yeah, and so Michael said there were 3 pigs, all named Betty and only one could act. His antecdotes about the pig and his little pig-waddle imitation was soooo funny. Well, then it was time for some SIGNING!!
[*** as an aside *** I want to make a note here about the 'nodders' in the crowd that night... I felt like I was at a church listening to a sermon. Every time that Michael said something pointful there would be loose heads wagging throughout the audience. It made me wonder why they do that -- is it necessary for their personal internalization of the information presented to them? Certainly they can't think that Michael cares if they nod or what. Maybe it's one of those 'audience connection things. For me, the indication that I'm paying attention is if I keep my eyes on the speaker the whole time and I'm not glaring. I think it looks extremely silly to just nod and nod away. It's probably just me, but I think it makes a person appear a bit empty-headed and like those blind followers so brilliantly satirized in that poem we had to read about Achilles shield. Anyway...]
Now this was not very well organized, I don' think. The sales people said to form a line, be sure to purchase your book first, and then they set about folding up the chairs, doing a little to help with the extreme congestion. I ended up in line at about the point where I had been sitting, so I was lucky. Dad bought the books well before I got up there. We got Hemingway Adventure for me and Full Circle for my Grampa. The guy filming only filmed the first few autographs, then he packed it up and left. When I was next, the mediator lady grabbed my book and we [my mother and self] asked if she [my mother] could take a picture and she [the lady] said sure. *grin* So I stagger up, the lady hands Michael Palin my book, I say, 'Hi, I'm Darcy' and give him the birthday card I made him. Oh, I made him a birthday card. *grin* It was just about 1/2 of a page folded paper card I wrote out with markers that said 'Happy Birthday' all decorated on front and 'Hope it's great, just like you! Love From Darcy' on the inside and the URL of my site on the back. *grin* He said 'Oh! thank you! and you made it yourself!!' *grin*** And then my mom took our picture -- i just zipped behind the desk and hugged him. *wink*** sort of I guess. I don't know -- have yet to develop the picture. Then he signed my book & my mom took another pic of him signing. He handed me the book, thanked me again for the card and reached for whatever alcoholic beverage was lurking behind the stack of books. *grin* He had that, a bottle of water and his silver glasses case. He then signed the Full Circle book for my grampa [erm... my mom had him sign it] He signed my book 'To Darcy, Love from Los Angeles Michael Palin' and my Grampa's 'To Bill, Best wishes from the world Michael Palin'. *grin*
So that's it. I met Michael Palin and got a picture or two and a book signed and I gave him a birthday card [for the curiously in the dark, his birthday is May... 5th I guess, I don't know, but it was a week after I met him. *YEEE!!!***]. So. YAH! That is all.
4/18/00 Concert -- Ani Difranco .
I read about the Ani concert in the paper before the tickets went on sale, way back in mid-February and had been excited. But nothing really happened, so I really just forgot about it...Fast-forward to two weeks before the concert: Lunch: 1st crop circle --> Melissa, my dear Canadian friend, says "There's a concert I want to go to on the 18th" and I said "Ani Difranco?" and she said "Yes" so we started plotting!!! At first Melissa thought maybe her parents could drive, then they couldn't, so I said maybe my parents could, and Melissa, Sarah M and I were all set to go. Then my mom blew up at me, etc. and it was not looking pretty. So I went to Santa Cruz all bummed. I was hopeful, though, cuz Ani was playing Santa Cruz that night. It was sold out though. Doubly disappointing cuz I had my parents talked into taking me!!!
THEN!! Out of nowhere Melissa called me on Monday and said that her parents were able to take us!! YEEE!!!
So Melissa and I went to the Wherehouse in Redlands and got our tickets [we couldn't reach poor Sarah and she wasn't home. boo.] and then on the 18th we headed off into the dark heart of the depths of Los Angeles. Yeah, well, whatever. We got into Universal City and found the line in front the Amphitheater [I had no idea the place was just tucked away in a corner back there...]. The line was populated with some people I hesitate to refer to as 'typical', but obviously Ani fans.
So we finally got in. They checked our bags, but my camara was underneath a pack of Kleenex, so it got through. I only took one picture and did not come out. boo!! oh well. My point...
We went in and they had not opened the doors yet. So we stopped at the merchandise booth and I got a shirt [grey long sleeve with the righteous babe on the back and 'rbr' on the front] which i changed into in the bathroom...
Then the doors opened and we went to our seats which kicked ass. We sat there FOREVER while the opening act [Hammel on Trial -- he rocked. pick up his stuff cuz he was funny. He sings really fast and just beats shit out of his guitar. The topics vary from how they better treat his mom right in heaven or he'll beat shit out of them, and how John Lennon told him to fuck off. He's brilliant!] and then some sort of 'what the shit?' intermission thing following some radio lady mispronouncing Ani's name.
Then Ani came out -- well. The lights went down, everyone JUMPED up and started screaming and she came out all sillohetted-like! It was fab. And she sang a bunch of songs and I had the greatest time of my life. *hee* She opened with some new song I'd never heard [I believe it was Freakshow from her new album] and then sang 'Shameless' which is one of my favorites. Among others I remember were 'Loom', 'Pulse' and 'Gravel', 'Dilate', 'Not So Soft', 'Shy', 'To the Teeth' [as her encore], 'Angry Anymore', 'Out of Habit', 'The Diner' and an impromptu rendition of 'This Land is Your Land'. *hee* It was sooo great!!
In the middle of 'Dilate' she stopped to scold some people who were singing along. it was interesting. It was a great fun time!!! During 'Not So Soft' she and the drummer got out some African drums and did a little duet thing. She and her [pardon me, but dyke] keyboarder did a little mini-guitar and accordian duet for 'Angry Anymore'. It was cool beans. 'Shy' was the ender before the encore and I will never forget it. So cool. She also did this one song that I don't know the name of. She was talking about how she writes songs as 'security blankets' for herself -- 'Out of Habit' being the first ('So that if I feel afraid or something I can just go - Fuck this time and place - you know, when I'm playing my piddly-ass gigs... Hey! You people are *way* too defensive...') and she sang it by herself, all purdy-like. Very nice. Well, that's about it. *grin*
This page last updated August 21, 2002 [Main | Launchpad | Links | All About Me]
