from coffee tree, Jeju Island

This is how my 2011 began (14 hours before yours!) digging in the snow for a very excited Korean man's cross (we found it grandma). If you had told me last year when I was driving down MacDill Ave singing "Party in the USA" at the top of my lungs with Emily Grim I would be here in exactly a year I would have been speechless, here's to 2011 and more surprises.

Jeju island is rapidly turning into one of the coolest experiences of my life, I am astounded by just how purely different it is here. I had pretty much given up on travelling, since I wasnt seeing much of a difference between LA, Boston, DC or Tampa except a few local eccentricities it seemed corporations and the internet had effectively homogenized the entire world. Right now I am sitting in a cafe, a true mom and pop cafe where the owner is trying to give me lessons in Korean from the counter, and making her daughter sit across from me and practice her english. "Espresso make me sad, to learn to english to be flier" was her last sentence, which I roughly translate to, I dont like working in this cafe, I want to learn english to be a flight attendant. I am getting really good at understanding broken english, especially when the subject of the verb is 'cute boy'. My female students seem almost exclusively interested in the cute older boys in the other camp. The girls bring them water at meals, and carry mirrors to constantly adjust their hair, which most American girls would make a tertiary priority when the wind is howling at 30 miles and hour and the slush is flying up off the ground. These girls are driven, at the tender age of 14.



These are my students on new year's day (forgive the quality, it was shot on my phone) playing a game pretty much like a dice throwing game.

I have to go now and write a 45 question test that my boss didnt tell me about until 30 minutes ago.

nancy can ride her vespa

so, I've heard when big guys(myself being 5'10" have to rely on the testimony of others) walk into bars or are just out in public* in general, people threaten to fight them more often than their shorter counterparts. as aforementioned, since I am regular size I do not get this type** of aggressive attention (except in the la cienega coffee bean parking lot). since I have announced I am a chess teacher though, everyone who meets me quickly says, "oh I should play you" or the weirder, "my boyfriend is russian***, you should play him."

some People just say they didnt know that was a job.

some Just want to talk about owls.

some Ask why I spilled their coffee.

some Questions arent even related to chess.

people just ask questions.****

*by far the coolest link.

**not as cool as retro publix.

***not as cool as movable type.

****anyone need any postage?

comic genealogy

I recently realized the links on my blog are quite similar to Stephen Colbert's "The Word" in terms of humor. It is important (or massively narcissistic (or both)) to know one's comic roots. I like to think I find myself on a comic family tree with Woody Allen, circa Annie Hall, circa the opening monologue, which I believe is one of his best written pieces. This places me in the same family as Larry David Jason Alexander and to a lesser extent Jerry Seinfeld. This sense blends in with my definite comedic father, Bill Murray (ignore his striking resemblance to my pediatrician's husband). A professor(no not that one) I had once described my sense of humor as recognizing the same "screaming madness" as Bill Murray, although for a period of time last winter I probably was taking things too far. Honorable mention on my comic family tree goes to Jeff Goldblum, Bradley Whitford, Ira Glass and John Cusack. The biggest philosophical drive behind my comedy definitely goes to the Bush Administration, in particular the DOJ and AGs, for teaching me there is no such thing as too destructive or too crazy, and lastly nothing, nothing is sacred. A friend of mine once likened my comic sense to Sherman's March to the Sea, and simply refers to it as, "scorch the earth".

Completely unrelated but somehow similar, in performances I tend to make references to movies or songs or anything that have found their way deep into my subconscious. It is not always overt or intentional, but I will lilt a sentence a certain way, or move a prop in a way that harkens to some piece of art I love. The most common thing which recurs is a reference to Christian Slater in the 80s teen movie, The Heathers. Heathers isnt the best movie ever made, but I think because I watched it so many times while falling asleep when I tell jokes on stage I find the same caustic dryness that Slater had at that time. The most similar resemblance is from a song, Alice's Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie. In practically every play, I find I steal some turn of phrase from the song, normally during a long stretch of text, most frequently I return to the "you may find yourself in a similar situation" line, or the near hysterical (seinfeld esque honestly) pitch Guthrie's voice reaches when talking about files in folders in Washington DC. The man who has fused himself most closely to my cerebral cortex though is Garrison Keillor. The man who made me scream as a child because of his hypnotizing fluency, still appears every time I go on stage. Thanks WUSF.

frame of reference.

this summer I spent a good deal of time in boston. the first night I was there, I told my brother my main complaint with boston. a lack of straight lines. when I think about boston I see the curving banks of the charles river, which is much different than my experiences with rivers (see: the hillsborough, the los angeles) which are usually tamed by large concrete walls, except when things go wrong. the houses themselves have these curves and flourishes in the northeast, the interiors usually have some amount of clutter, and coat rooms and vestibules, designed to keep out the elements. when I spoke to Ben about it I described it as a city built entirely in serif fonts. when what I really crave is the helvetica-like streets of washington dc.

yesterday I was walking on hillhurst though, and I realized I live in a neighborhood of curving(I live on the right side of that image) streets, above ground power lines, hills and infringing wildlife. objectively I life in a serif landscape, but when I am going about my life, walking to the grocery store, and seeing and old professor (one of the great unexplained characters on the west wing) they all melt away and I live my ideal san serif lifestyle.

___

As a side note: I was cast as Hamlet in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead performing in November in Long Beach with the Alive Theatre. It opens Nov. 5.

an ode to southern california modernism.

when your name is as common as wright, you learn there are many wrights in many fields(like kitty hawk). I find it to be kind of a rorschach test of a person of what famous 'wright' they identify the last name with.

the people I truly love are those who know 'wright' as Frank Lloyd Wright. who I love because of his contributions to southern california modernism, but more particularly how that movement manifested in the southern california middle class home later. my friend ian lives in one of these houses, but his beach house in laguna niguel is the best example I have ever spent much time in. here it is in a few pictures.

sony 3d workshop

This week I started with this workshop at Sony Pictures. The idea is that there will be a lot more filming in 3D in the future so directors, cinematographers, and directors of photography all have to learn how to use this technology. So they have these little nonsense scenes on various sets for the directors to play with. On tuesday a pretty star studded cast of directors was there, not to name names but the directors of Thirteen Days, Boys Dont Cry, and Alvin and the Chipmunks were all in attendance. In the morning they were loudly arguing over the technology, some bemoaning the fact they had to be there, others wondering what would become of their critters in 3d. So me and Lauryn Cantu went through a scene with a pizza delivery boy, too much furniture and ex cons operating the cameras. In the afternoon I got to watch the footage and it was really just a cool experience all around. Today I did it again for some directors of photography and it was a completely different experience, and a room with more polaroid cameras than any room since the late '80s. It isnt paying but it is a useful experience any time you can get up in front of the best technology in the world with some of the most successful directors working today.

Track of the Day

Billy Bragg & Wilco - California Stars