englandsword

We filmed An Apology last weekend! We had a few little emergencies, like our zombies not showing up on Saturday, but everything worked out and I think the final project will be fantastic. Our 2nd AD had to fill in as a zombie: Our leading lady and me, before she got her makeup done: The writer and me: Behind the scenes: Our leading man with his shotgun: It was a lonnnng day. I woke up at 7:30, had to drive an hour to set and arrive by 9:30. I didn't leave until after midnight and then I had to give three people rides home! Totally worth it but still exhausting. I brought a smoothie for breakfast with fruit salad leftovers and greens. All of this... ... went into this... And I had vegan chili for lunch. I love it when I get well taken care of on set. =) On Monday I went on a multi-hour chopping spree and saw UCB shows in the evening. On Tuesday and Wednesday involved other random acting and living activities, like completely re-doing my website. On Thursday I interned for a commerc...

I wanted to focus on my 8-week recap yesterday so I didn't talk much about what I did this weekend. On Friday I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4 at 9:30 in the morning. That is definitely the earliest movie I have ever seen! I went as part of the internet TV show Movie Review Round Table, so you can see the review: I hope you watch it and like it! I liked doing the review and I plan on taking part again in the future. But I did more this weekend than think about pirates. Though I spent plenty of time daydreaming about Captain Jack. Saturday was kind of a dumb and frustrating day but Sunday was fun. I went to the Studio City Farmers' Market with my new roommate. We saw pretty peas and a super weird-looking orange. Oh, and look what I saw when I was walking to Whole Foods! Hugo's Tacos is now serving vegan soft serve. I haven't tried it but I know vegan soft serve can be a bit hard to come by so if you're interested and in the area, check it out! On Sunday nigh...

On Friday night I went with some friends to Harvard and Stone, a bar in Hollywood/Silverlake where they have some burlesque dancers who come out every 45 minutes or so and do a sexy dance. It was fun to watch! That's me on the right, obviously... On Saturday I had acting class and in the evening I went with some acting friends to see Sucker Punch. What a crazy movie! There isn't a lot of character development but there is quite a bit of ass-kicking and some well-defined abs. Abbie Cornish in particular looks incredible. I talked before about the movie Bright Star and how much I loved it, and I will always like her because of that movie. See? Gorgeous. There's been some controversy around Sucker Punch, saying that there's a discrepancy between the apparent female empowerment message of the film (it's all about abused women kicking the shit out of everyone who has hurt them, pretty much) and the skimpy outfits they wear throughout the whole thing, that reeks to some p...

I am terrible at painting my nails. I usually paint all over my fingers and then wash my hands and hope the extraneous paint comes off. That's a slight exaggeration, but whatevs. I do like painting my nails, though, and I usually paint them dark purple or black, sometimes with sparkles, because I like sparkles. But today while I was watching The Duchess I decided to get creative! I bought a new, more natural/vegan nail polish remover: It works just as well as my old stuff and it should be better for my nails. I used several colors of nail polish. I would like to buy the more natural ones, but those can be pretty pricey and all the ones I own now cost about a dollar or I've had them for a long time. I remember reading that you should throw away your nail polishes after a year or two. HA! I still have some I owned in third grade. Take that, hygiene. I used base coat, then the "gray suede" color, then the dark purple and pink glittery ones to make stripes on my left han...

This is my 171st post, which makes this blog equal in number with the blog I kept while I lived in China. Just something random I noticed today. My weekend was pretty low-key. Yesterday I had a workshop and acting class, and last night I hung out with some friends in Hollywood. Today I slept in, relaxed, cleaned my room, and caught up on some reading. Chill to the max. I have an amazing recipe to share today. It's so good, it might just blow your mind. Golden Beets and Apples 4 golden beets 2 small baking apples (I used a cameo and a pink lady) 1 yellow onion 1 tbsp mustard 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp gyoza dipping sauce (sub with Asian marinade or smaller amount of soy sauce) 1 tbsp raspberry vinaigrette dressing 1 tsp dried basil Peel and cut beets. Cut apples and onions into large pieces. Mix together dressing ingredients to taste, thin with a little water if necessary, and coat veggies. Cook in a casserole dish at 350 for 30 minutes, 425 for 15 minutes, and 500 for 15 min...

I didn't post yesterday because I couldn't think of anything to say. I've been working so much on the book that my brain is kind of fried. The good news is that I've made a ton of headway - the manuscript is totally formatted and ready, including pictures, I got my ISBN number (that's the identifying number every book has, usually with the bar code on the back), and now all that's left is to find someone to review the book and supply a blurb for the cover (I did get someone cool to agree to read it, but I don't know yet if he'll like it) and get the cover designed. I'm not doing the cover design myself because I'm not an incredibly visual or artistic person and I want it to actually be good. =) Somebody took a picture of me at the LA Actor's Tweetup on Monday night: That's me and my new jacket (second from left, y'all). I've been rather boring in the health department. Eating my three-fried beans , some of this: (That would be s...

It has been 75-85 degrees out for the past several days. AMAZING. I've been spending as much time outside as possible. On Friday I went for a hike in Griffith park with one of my friends. Today I spent more than five hours outside, reading and studying Italian and Arabic. This was my day - Look how much my plants have grown? There's a mystery plant that started growing a few weeks ago. It's on the right: There's little berry-type things - Does anyone know what that plant is? I have no idea! My other plants are growing a lot, too! I just hate that the sun goes down at 4:45! I recently bought a new kind of almond milk at Trader Joe's - and it's refrigerated and $3! By the way, in most places you can recycle the refrigerated boxes if you tear out the plastic spout. The nutrition facts are very similar to Almond Breeze but the flavor is slightly different. It tasted less sweet to me and more vanilla-y. Putting it in my coffee reminded me of Silk vanilla so...

Today for Fashion Friday I'm featuring my favorite shoe company - Olsen Haus ! Olsen Haus makes beautiful, fashionable, well-made shoes. Oh yeah, and they're all vegan. These are the shoes fashionable vegans should wear to parties and famous vegans should wear on the red carpet. They're not cheap, running about $200-$300 depending on the style. I lusted after the Paris shoe for months, looking on Ebay and sale sites for months until there was a freak sale on Amazon and I managed to get a pair for about $50. It was magic. Aren't they beautiful? I love how they're a perfect classic black pump, except for the glittery heel! I won't lie, these shoes aren't exactly comfortable. But they don't give me blisters anywhere and they aren't uncomfortable. But you're never going to find four-inch heels that feel like tennis shoes and that's just how it is. For what they are, these shoes are quite wearable and they never rub at my heels, which...

My diet has mostly consisted of this and this And I've been feeling great! Mmm, I missed cereal. Yesterday I went to an event at The Actors Network and a workshop with the associate casting director of 90210. I love that show and it was fun to hear everyone read scenes from it. In between those events I stopped in Whole Foods and bought a few necessities. I had a coupon for $3 off Alba Acnedote products so I bought this scrub. I've talked before about using coconut oil as lotion . I bought one jar in March and it just ran out. This jar cost $7, making it about 49 cents per oz - that's approximately half the price per ounce of most lotions. And lastly, I'm going to try out this toothpaste that was on sale. I realize I've been talking about movies a lot lately, so I decided to make a new feature. May I introduce: Mini Movie Reviews Yesterday I watched two movies - first up, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This adaptation of the play by Tom Stoppard exp...

I had an audition downtown on Friday. I snapped a picture on the drive home: The audition went well - thanks to the people who wished me good luck! I felt really good about it and got positive feedback. I'm supposed to find out on Monday or Tuesday. Friday night I watched "Winter's Bone," a critically acclaimed indie about a 17-year-old girl in the Ozarks hunting down her meth-cooking dad who jumped bail after putting their house up for bond. Jennifer Lawrence is getting potential Best Actress buzz and it's definitely a good movie with a very authentic feel and a surprising twist at the end. Saturday morning I had a workshop with Sara Isaacson, the casting director for Fringe. I love that show! I watched a couple more movies last night - East of Eden and Sin Nombre. East of Eden is a classic, loosely adapted from John Steinbeck's novel and featuring James Dean's arguably best performance. He really was great to watch - you feel like you can see stra...

Tonight I was fortunate enough to go see a screening of Frankie and Alice, Halle Berry's new movie, and a Q & A with Ms. Berry herself. Her performance is getting Oscar buzz even though the film doesn't come out in LA until December 10th and in the rest of the country until February. I won't tell you anything about the movie besides that it's based on a true story of a woman in the 70's struggling with multiple personality disorder. I just have to say again - I love the 70's! Ahhh, the clothes, the makeup, the interior furnishings... I just want to live in it. And oh. my. gosh. Halle Berry is so gorgeous in person. I'd never found her to be drop-dead gorgeous until I saw her in real life. I was only in about the fourth row so I was fairly close. Her skin is incredible, and so luminous, and she wasn't wearing a ton of makeup like some celebrities do. She's just naturally beautiful and obviously takes great care of herself. What an inspir...