Lazy?

Me, lazy? Never....

OK, it's been a while since I've updated, but that's only 'cause I don't have any news. I haven't heard anything about the callback, and my life continues in much the same way it has done for a while. My visit home was brief, but relaxing (I spent most of it force-feeding a steady diet of Justice League and Batman cartoons to my sister, and massive dorkdom abounded).

And as soon as I got back, I went to work, and worked every day this week because Deirdre was sick.

Still, I did manage to get myself to the comic book shop, and lo and behold, I wasn't there two minutes when another girl walked in! A range of emotions overtook me: excitement, curiosity, jealousy... Wait a minute, I thought I was the token girl of my chosen comic book store! What is this hussy doing here? Gasp! What if she has been coming here longer than I have? Or what if she is here to replace me?

However, there was no need for me to fear. As she picked up a figurine and brought it to the counter she said, "I was in here with my BOYFRIEND, and he pointed this out, so I have to get it for him. 'Cause he's my BOYFRIEND and I'm such a good GIRLFRIEND to my BOYFRIEND."

Ahh, sweet relief. She's a one-timer.

Still, it irked and (dare I say) vexed me something fierce that she couldn't just buy the toy, but had to explain it away. "What this? No no no, this isn't for me...it's for my BOYFRIEND. I would never buy a ridiculous toy for myself, but you know boys, they love this sort of thing, so I guess I'll just have to live with it and then throw it out when we get married and it is time for the purging of all things dorky." Was she really so ashamed of being in a comic book store that she had to justify herself? Why? It was just the clerk and me, which one of us was she trying to impress? And, OK, I don't collect figurines like many comic nerds (except my Wolverine action figure...and Jafar...and Crazy Cat Lady...and my pirates...and that figure of Han Solo that was tragically lost in the hurricane, which I still cry over late at night when everything is quiet and I feel so alone...) but what is so shameful about buying a "toy" for yourself when you're an adult? Why do we all have to be so grown up all the time? Can't we be grown ups and still feed our inner child? Can't I enjoy thought-provoking novels (I really like Identical Strangers, by the way) and comic books without compromising my maturity points?

OK, I feel the subtext is rapidly becoming the text, here, so I'll stop ranting now. You get my point. I just can't help feeling that if more people would look seriously at Batman who does whatever it takes to save lives and stop the bad guys WITHOUT killing them, the world might be a better place. That is always the number one rule for superheros: No Killing. And that is a moral standard that I can really cling to in this world of ever-increasing chaos and violence. You should never descend to the level of the bad guys in order to take them out.

All right, I'm done. No more ranting, I promise.

And now, to lighten the mood, here is a video that I made! Yes, that's right, folks, I have started making videos that I put up on youtube. My computer came with software for editing home movies and I started fiddling around with it. This is the first one I really want to post here, but you can see the other two on youtube under ParkerPoyer, which is my username.

The Call Back

I went, I sang, I read, I left.

The director said, "Thanks Julia, that was great!"

'Great,' he said "Great!" Usually it's just, "OK, thanks. Bye." Or maybe, "That was good, thank you." But not "great!"

Anyway, I took that as a good sign. Whether or not it will result in my getting the job, I don't know, but it made me feel good about what I had done.

I don't know when I'll know, but I'll let you all know as soon as I know. You know?

While I wait, I will be in PA visiting the fam for Thanksgiving.

So, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! May you all stuff yourselves silly, then pass out on the couch.

Jules

Not Very Exciting News

OK, I don't want everyone to freak out over this, 'cause nothing is definite, yet.

Wait.

Let me start at the beginning...

I got an e-mail from a theatre company, inviting me to audition for their upcoming season. This is important for two reasons: one, THEY contacted ME, and two, I was going to be given an appointment time which meant a lot less stress on me.

The only trouble spot was that the audition was for Saturday, which is, of course, one of my work days. However, both Annette and Deirdre are extremely supportive of my pursuit of an acting career and told me not to even worry about it, that it was no problem, and that I could work part of the day, and then go to the audition whenever I needed. Yeah, they're wonderful. Plus, working right up until I had to leave meant that I was doing something other than waiting around being nervous, which helped tremendously.

I got to the audition 20 minutes early, and they were running ahead of schedule so the monitor told me I could go in and sing whenever I was ready. I went to the bathroom, composed myself, then told her I was ready. I sang Wild and Reckless (a favorite of mine) and was going to sing But Not For Me, when the casting director said "Do you have any Pop?" Oh God, I thought. Pop? I don't sing Pop! I only have classic musical theatre! Don't panic...

I looked frantically through my book. "Well, I have this...The Weekend of a Private Secretary." I took a moment to grin at the thought of Mary Katherine who always wants me to sing this song at auditions because she loves the way I do it.

Of course, he's never heard of it; no one has. But he tells me to give it a whirl, so I do. Then he says that he wants me to read some scenes. "You should read for Nick" (Alexander's brother. Oh, did I mention that I was dressed in my Goonies t-shirt, ripped jeans, and a baseball cap because all the parts I'm auditioning for are boy roles which are traditionally played by females?)
So I go back outside and get the pages for the scene from the monitor, and start looking them over. Another girl went in to sing while I was practicing, then I went back in and did the scene.

"OK, now I want you to read for Piglet." Back out I went, to get the Piglet scene in which Piglet is disguised as Roo to play a prank on Kanga, only to find that when he says the code word for when everyone is to jump out and yell "surprise, it was just a trick!" no one is there. He must now convince Kanga that he is not Roo, he is Piglet.

The first scene I read with the monitor, but for this one I read with the girl who sang after me. She was auditioning for Kanga.

Then he said he wanted us to read the Alexander and Alexander's mother scene. "I don't think Alexander is something we'd be looking at you (meaning me) for, but if you wouldn't mind sticking around to read with her..." Of course I didn't mind! The scenes were fun, and I was having a good time (something unheard of in the auditions I've been to...) so I stayed and did the scene.

OK, now that we're all caught up...

I got a callback. I just got an e-mail this morning telling me that they would like me to audition for the director. Next Saturday. SQUEAL!! Sorry, the excitment got away from me...

I don't want everyone to get their hopes up, because I still have a lot to get through before I'm finally offered a role, but it is exciting just to be called back!

And now, I have to wrap this up, because I have to go to work...

Love you all!

Jules

No no no

Let me explain.

One day, as my roommates and I were hanging out together, looking through Backstage for possible auditions, I picked up the subscription postcard (even though we don't need it 'cause we already have a subscription to Backstage) and started filling it out with the most ridiculous info I could think of. I named myself Fallulah Baker, and I live at 523 Norrington Rd. in Cowtown, MI. My e-mail is Bakeit99@cookers.com. I showed my roommates what I had done and now my name is Fallulah when I'm in the apartment. Becca and Billie made up identities too. Becca is now Theodoe (that's not a typo, there is no 'r' in Theodoe) Baker, my husband who actually lives next door, and Billie is our across-the-street neighbor, Muhollah Clementine. We then spent about three hours speaking with Southern dialects and pretending to be these people. Call us strange, accuse us of having too much time on our hands, but then admit that it might be fun to pretend to be someone else for a while. And then remember that the three of us want to play pretend professionally. Who wouldn't? No, we're not weird...we're actors.

Fallulah Baker

PS- Our apartment name is Hogwarts. Not very original, perhaps, but there you go.

Julia comes out of the Batcave...

Oh my gosh, so much to tell you!

Last Saturday I was invited to Annette's birthday party. Annette and Deirdre own the store in which I work. (It's just the three of us running the store, they don't have any other employees.) The party was at Deirdre's house and consisted of Deirdre and her husband, Vito; Annette with her husband, Phil; their friend Louise and her mother Ruth, and Louise's boyfriend Ralph. And me. Awkward!

No, I'm kidding. It was fun! Especially once we'd all had a bit of liquor... Ralph plays the guitar and they kept threatening to make me sing along with him. Finally, after much wine, Ralph went to get his guitar and some music books. And I sang. A lot. Sometimes Louise and I sang together, which was fun. Everyone was very nice and said that I had a lovely voice and why hadn't I been snatched up by Broadway yet? What they don't understand is that there are barrels of pretty young girls who can sing well and I'm just waiting for that big hand to reach in and pick me up and stick me in the frying pan with butter and a little garlic and....that sentence ended up in a different place from where it started...

Anyway. I had fun. And, it turns out that Louise sometimes works with this theatre company as a director. She was very impressed with my voice, so here's hoping she directs a show soon! Right now she's working on a documentary which she hopes to enter into a contest.

Then, on Monday, I went to a Halloween party with my roommate, Becca. This was a party of people my own age, all of whom had graduated from AMDA. I went as Batgirl. I found a black mask which was actually part of a male stripper costume (it came with tuxedo cuffs and a bow tie) but it was only $1, so I got it. Then I searched everywhere for a t-shirt with the bat-logo on it. I thought, "surely I'll be able to find a black t-shirt somewhere with the bat-symbol! And then it will be something I can wear whenever I want and not just on Halloween." But no. The only place I could find it was in the boy's section at Daffys. So I bought the largest size of boy's Batman pajamas I could get and hoped that the top would fit me. It did. Barely. The sleeves became 3/4 length on me, and the, erm, chest area was a bit snug, but otherwise it looked great! It's got the bat-symbol, a painted-on utility belt, and a small cape attached with velcro. There are pants too, but I barely squeezed into them, so I decided to wear my own black pants. My black boots completed the outfit. I know Becca took pictures, so I'll try to put one up.

Anyway, I got to see some people I haven't seen in a long while, and just generally relaxed and had fun.

Tuesday, Chris and I went to see Transformers in Imax. (I hadn't seen it yet. Not as lame as I was expecting...)

Wednesday, Chris and I went to the Park Slope Halloween parade. He was dressed like a pirate and I was in my Batgirl costume again. Surprisingly, I got more comments than he did. All these little kids kept exclaiming with delight "Look, it's Batgirl!"
I didn't see anyone else dressed as Batgirl. Lots of Wonder Women and Supergirls, but no Bats.

Next Saturday, I'm invited to another party at a friend of Annette's. Apparently they have it every year and there will be about 150 people there. The man who's hosting it used to perform on Broadway and there will probably be a lot of people there who are "in the business" so I'm looking at it as a way to make contacts and schmooze a bit. I've also been warned that there will be more singing, so I'll be prepared this time. Maybe warm up a little before I go...

Goodness! My life suddenly went from 0 to 90mph! But, you've got to just roll with it, I guess. It's just strange the way everything happens at once. My friend Phil called the other day, too, and I haven't heard from him in ages. We're tentatively making plans for Sunday with Mary Katherine. In which case, my weekend is booked, which hasn't happened in a while.

There. Now you're all caught up. Mostly. For more details about Chris, you'll have to either call or e-mail me. I'm not going to put anything else up here from that department.

Later,
Jules