"Nobody's talking to me except a bunch of dead French politicians who I'm pretty sure are just in my head."

Remember Masked?

That project I talked about back in October and have brought up occasionally on here since then, but haven't gone into a whole lot of detail about?  Yeah, that one.

Turns out I've been working pretty steadily on it all this time, and it's getting pretty close to what they call actual production.  That is, pre-production's almost over.  Filming will begin soon.  (Then comes post-production.  Yip yop yoop.  ...I have no idea what that means. It's supposed to be a Noise of Apprehension, I guess.)

But anyways! Things are progressing pretty well now and I'm pleased to inform you (if you didn't know already) that we've already cast almost all of the lead roles!  We haven't announced all their names yet... there's one particular chap who's being kept in reserve as of now, muwahahaha... but if you're curious about the few who are Out and About already, here they are.  (Just for fun, see if you can figure out who these characters' counterparts are in the novel, and leave a comment with your deductions. :D)

Alexandra Rovirosa is playing Margot James 

Isabella Rovirosa is playing Suzanne James

Jacob Funke is playing Drew Ffoulkes

Kristian Jett is playing Angelo St. Cyr

Michael Reiser is playing Tony Dewhurst

Maggie O'Neal is playing Julie Denman

(Julie is a character with a difficult-to-discern counterpart, as she's a blend of several different novel characters, haha. So don't bother trying to figure hers out.  ;))

Bonus puzzle-- the quote in the post title is an actual line from one of the scripts and it's spoken by one of the characters pictured here.  Care to guess which one?

To read more about the cast and the creative team, visit our website (oh yeah! we have a website!) and check out the Cast & Creative page.

Also we're on Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook and Pinterest.  Just so ya know.

...Yeah, this post is pretty shamelessly show-promoting.  But if you've stuck with it until now, thank you muchly, and here's a tidbit of Interestingness at the end.   Though most of our main roles are cast, we ARE still looking for at least two actors to play supporting roles... and we have a way in which you might be able to get involved, if you're interested.  So go check out this post on The Day Dream. Seriously, go do it.

(Also, while I'm at the business of self-promoting, go check out all the spring stuff in my Etsy shop, too.  Please.  Because all the proceeds from that are going toward Masked.  Worthy cause and all that. Just sayin'.)

(Also, I promise my next post on here will be an actual real thoughtful-and-intelligent piece of writing.  Like, a review or something.  Or a Musing.  Or something remotely intellectual.  But my brain's a little zapped right now. So I leave you.)

Two Are Better Than One

"I do not pretend to understand the nature of friendship between men, Dr. Marshland, but surely in its better points it resembles that between women. "

~Mary Smith, Cranford

"So I hear you're going on vacation this spring!" my friend Jenny said to me the other day.

  

I can never hold back the grin that comes to my face when this topic comes up.  "Yep, I'm off to State-That-Is-Far-Away-From-Here again. For two whole weeks!  Which is great, because by then it'll have been more than seven months since I saw Melody and I'll be in need of another Dose of Best Friend."

"That's going to be so fun," she said.  "So you're staying with her family?  And your mom said you're going to the Pacific coast, right?"

"Yeah, her family's being unbelievably sweet and letting me tag along on their vacation," said I, grinning even wider and probably resembling the Cheshire Cat.  "You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this.  I seriously can't wait."

"I guess it's kind of like having cousins out there," she said, considering.  "I mean, like extended family that you'd go and visit.  You guys must be pretty close."

You could say that.  :D  In fact, you could say a lot of things about Melody and me-- the phrase that her mom used once, "the two of you are like sisters, except a little bit better" is one of the best of the lot.  For the past three and a half years our relationship's strengthened more and more, and I don't hesitate to refer to my best friend as my twin sister anymore.  We don't have the same biological parents or the same birthday, but she's part of my family now and I'm part of hers and the two of us are separated only by a very large number of stupid, lengthy miles.

But now? Now I am, to borrow a Melody-ism (I do that a lot) absolutely Full of Squee.  Because now we're in the home stretch again, that delightful period of time directly preceding an Actual Real-Life Visit, and I'm so happy I could SCREAM.

On May 19th, 2015, I shall take a very long plane ride and then sit around in an airport for three hours (yay layovers) and then take a not-so-long plane ride, and around 2 PM I'll be with my favorite person in the whole world (for whom I can thank this very blog, for introducing us in the first place) for two. whole. weeks.  And two days.  I'm not coming home until the FIFTH of JUNE.

Like I said, so excited I could SCREAM.

We have a lot of plans, of course.  Plans that involve drinking lots of tea (as always) and doing some cake decorating (I'll teach her) and going bowling (she'll teach me) and having a yard sale and playing games and going to libraries (she works at one, which is so cool :D) and watching lots of movies (we're currently planning on Death Comes to Pemberley, National Treasure 2, Newsies, Northanger Abbey... hmm, we like movies that start with N, apparently).  Oh, and making a blanket fort and hiding from people, because we're mature young adults.

Aaaaaand we're also going to the Pacific coast.  That is, her family's going on vacation and they're graciously letting me come too.  The two of us have taken day trips together before (and one overnight at my grandmother's house one time) but this will be our first real road trip, and to say we're excited would not only be an understatement, it would be redundant because I've already used that word too many times in this post.

Let's just say I'm elated and very much looking forward to it. 

(photo credit to Melody)

But in the midst of all our fun activities (and hiking and camping-- well, cabin-ing, which is my kind of camping) we'd like to make something fun to put on our blogs (that's how we met in the first place, after all) and that's where you folks come in.

We're planning to make a podcast together, or at least a voice version of a vlog.  (A v-vlog? Nope, too stupid.) With Internet privacy and all that, we decided not to make a video blog together, but we thought it would be fun to put together something like a podcast, perhaps accompanied by a slideshow of pictures or other Visual Aids.  In all modesty (of course), we are rather hilarious when together, and thought the rest of the world should be able to listen to at least one of our conversations and enjoy our hilariousness.  As one does.

So we'd like to answer any questions you might have, and here are some handy-dandy helpful guidelines for that sort of thing.

~Submit anything that you might be curious about, whether about one of us in particular or about the two of us together.  However, if you have a question specifically for Melody, submit it here in the comments of this post.  If you have a question specifically for me, hop over to Melody's blog and leave it in the comments on her post on this same topic.  We won't publish any of the questions just yet (but will let you know when we receive them) so that they'll be fresh when we read them to each other as we make the podcast.  Make sense?
~Ask whatever you like, but we do reserve the right to not answer anything we deem too personal.  ;)
~Jazz it up! Be creative! Feel free to ask the ordinary things like "what's your favorite color?" and "are you for or against flowers in church?" but we encourage you to ask even more interesting things like "which of you would be more likely to run away to New York and pursue the stage?" and "what's the dumbest thing the two of you ever did together?."  (Fair warning-- she might not let me answer that one. Not that I can think of a specific example right off the top of my head, but I'm sure with a little pondering...)
~Make sure your questions are submitted before May 19th! :)
~We shall do our best to answer all the questions in the podcast and get it recorded and published in a timely fashion. Howeverrrrr, there is a slight possibility that the podcast might not get completed during our visit, in which case we shall definitely answer all your questions in a joint blog post and will apologize profusely for not having had enough time to do what we promised.  Because, ya know, life gets busy sometimes. (But we really do want to do this.  It'll be fun.)

 

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled Sentimental Sap programming... in all seriousness, I am so thrilled to be able to go and see Melody again.  Over the last three and a half years (I'm still a bit mind-boggled that it's been that long!) we've really become like sisters, but even closer than that, and she is truly my other half.  We've been through ups and downs and sadness and joy together now, and had our share of spats (although we've never yet had any actually horrendous fights, just "foofalations" as we call them) and more than our share of communication (ha, if you could see the length of the emails we write to each other... and knew how much time we spend on the phone... heh, heh.  It's a wonder we get anything else done.).  

What my friend said about extended family is true, though.  She's become a real part of my family, and not only do I not know what I would do without her, I don't even like to think about the possibility of having to do without her.  She's just the best, you guys. :D

In recent months I've become closer with other members of her family too, and I think I can say truthfully that yes, I am traveling out to see my extended family.  My un-biological family, yes, but extended family nonetheless.  Because Melody's family is an extension of her (so to speak) and she herself is an extension of me, and... you get my drift.  I like her. And her peeps. :D  

So!  There you have it.  This exceedingly ramble-y and hyper post now comes to a close, and you are left with the knowledge that Amy and Melody are going to see each other again, a fact which makes the world a better place, duh.  (Because we're self-centered and like to think that way.)

And now I will stop sentimental-ing at you.  (Um, that's totally a verb. Because I said it was.)

“So closely interwoven have been our lives, our purposes, and experiences that, separated, we have a feeling of incompleteness—united, such strength of self-association that no ordinary obstacles, differences, or dangers ever appear to us insurmountable.” 

–Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Odds and Ends

"Hour of Tea" by Vladimir Volegov

Oh, hi there, all of you whom I haven't talked to for almost two months.

Still alive over here.  *waves* Life's been a little crazy and a little busy and not exactly conducive to writing long blog posts of late, but I promise I haven't abandoned this spot!  I do have a few new posts in draft right now (including a couple of movie reviews that realllllllly need to get finished) and they'll be along eventually.  ;)

But for now I thought I'd do one of those random update posts because I always like reading those and they make good filler when you're not feeling particularly Creative.  (Hey, I'm being honest here.)

So right now I am...

~Turning

Well, I'll let you guess. :D

"Upon my word," said her ladyship, "you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person. Pray, what is your age?"

"With three younger sisters grown up," replied Elizabeth, smiling, "your ladyship can hardly expect me to own it."

Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence. 

"You cannot be more than twenty, I am sure, therefore you need not conceal your age."     

"I am not one-and-twenty."     
~Pride and Prejudice, chapter 29

Yep, I'm turning twenty.  Or that is, I did-- almost a month ago.  (Heh, heh. I was going to write a commemorative post to bid farewell to the teen years, but yeah, that didn't happen.)  Last year my age matched Elinor's and this year it matched Elizabeth's and next will be Emma... and then I'll be out of Jane Austen heroines (unless you count Jane Bennet, but nobody does :P) until I turn 27 and match up with Anne Elliot again.

~Reading

My mom and I are reading A Chance to Die (a biography of Amy Carmichael) by Elisabeth Elliot together right now, and I just got Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won't Stop Talking from the library, so I've been enjoying what I read of that so far. :D  My sister gave me The Making of BBC Pride and Prejudice for my birthday, which has been SO much fun to poke through, and I recently finished up The Penderwicks In Spring.  Which I pre-ordered the moment it was available.  No shame. :P  I'm still working on a Goodreads review for that, but let's just say I was not disappointed. ;)

The book in the picture above is The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee by Marja Mills, which DID disappoint me, and in fact I have a review of sorts in draft right now (with a lot of philosophical rambling about the role of truth and ethics in journalism) but I'm including the picture because I thought it was pretty and I don't generally take good pictures, haha, so this one needed to be commemorated.

~Listening

I saw Into the Woods back in January and have been enjoying various recordings of that musical (Bernadette Peters is a majestic empress, y'all) and I'm also binge-listening to Cecilia Bartoli and a lot of pieces by Scarlatti.  But really, just about anything Cecelia Bartoli sings. Because she's amazing.   And hilarious.  Proof below-- this is a piece called "Papagena" from Mozart's The Magic Flute and this video cracks me up every time. :D

~Working

I started a new nannying job in January (in addition to the one I've had for the last two and half years) and it's a little bit exhausting (four VERY energetic kids ten and under) but rewarding and lovely and all that.  And the kids are beyond cute, so that's a plus.  No pictures, because privacy, but here are some amusing conversational tidbits from the mouths of babes...

 6-year-old: You wore earrings today!

Me: Yes, and so did you!
6-year-old: I always have these in.
Me: I know.
6-year-old: But yours are just SPECIAL. They're just... I don't know. So CLASSY.


3-year-old: I like my pasta clean and fresh.
Me: ......
3-year-old: I LIKE MY PASTA CLEAN AND FRESH.
Me: ..............
7-year-old: He means he likes it without any sauce on it, duh.

~Sewing

Experimenting with 50's style dresses and skirts for SPRING!  What I'd really really like to make is a reproduction of Maria's lilac dress from West Side Story, but I have a bunch of other projects lined up right now so that will have to wait.  I'm also modifying a Regency dress to fit my youngest sister so she can wear it when she plays piano for a Jane Austen themed fundraising tea at our library later this month.  (SQUEEP.)

~Watching

Last year I won a DVD set of Wind at My Back, season one, from Sullivan Entertainment, and I immediately fell in love with the show.  Recently Melody and I have been watching season two as well (and I've been showing season one to my sisters!) and I can definitely name it as one of my favorite TV shows of all time.  It's a sweet family story set in 1930's Ontario, following the struggles of a widow and her three children, her absolutely abominable mother-in-law and their friends and relatives and all their trials and triumphs and blah-de-blah.  Pretty much impossible to describe without sounding incredibly schmaltzy, but if you can get your hands on an episode or two (they're expensive and/or hard to find, unfortunately), the show is definitely worth watching.

~Writing

Lots and lots of stuff for Masked!  Screenplays, of course, but also audition sides and script treatments and character studies and all those other little things that go into producing a show.  It's a bit of a whirlwind at present, but we're getting very close to the actual filming now and that's SO exciting!

~Laughing

Well, these pictures have been cracking me up for days now. :D

~Enjoying

I was going to make this one "drinking" but decided that didn't sound quite as nice as I would like it to. :P  I'm talking about tea, people, sheesh.  My aunt recently gave me some Yunnan black needle tea which I was a little cautious about trying because it sounded quite different from anything I'd had before, but I ended up really enjoying it.  A couple of weeks ago I also happened upon Celestial Seasonings' Tangerine Orange tea in a grocery store I don't go to very often, which was a happy occurrence indeed, because that particular kind is quite hard to find these days.  :/

~Learning

Humility is a big thing the Lord's been impressing on me lately-- that along with trust and letting go.  The three go hand-in-hand, really.  I like to saunter through life with my own plan in mind, confident in the (narcissistic) assumption that everything is going to go the way I want it to, and if it doesn't, well, I'll fix it.  But "life is what happens when we are making other plans" and I've been learning time and time again that roadblocks will come up and tragedies will strike and times of hardship will come hurtling toward us, and there's not a whole lot we can do to stop them.  Or, even, get rid of them when they come.  Which is, in its way, incredibly humbling, because it reminds me that I am not the all-powerful being I like to think I am :P, but it is also incredibly uplifting because it reminds me that the God I serve IS an all-powerful Being and absolutely nothing in this world happens outside of His perfect plan.

Happy spring, everybody!

How to Get the Girl, Period Drama Style

"Am I not sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, as kind as I'm handsome and heir to a throne?"

"You are everything maidens could wish for!"

"Then why no--?"

"Do I know?"

"THE GIRL MUST BE MAD!"

~Agony, Into the Woods

The guide I published a couple weeks ago with instructions on how to catch a man proved rather more popular than I'd hoped-- so at the suggestion of Ginger, I've written a second guide, for the benefit of all the hundreds and hundreds of guys who frequent this blog.  Because I'm totally an expert at the whole romance thing, duh.   Listen up, boys, here's how to hunt down a wife.

1. Stare at her from across the room.  Intensely.  Smolderingly.  Creepily.  It may take her thirty chapters or so, but she'll fall for you.  (Note: you have to be pretty good-looking to pull this off.  Otherwise you will just come across as sleazy.)

2. Don't bother proposing to her or acting remotely intelligent or anything like that.  If she wants you, she'll do it all herself.  So will that other girl over there. Oh, and that one.  Wow, you're more desirable than I thought.  And that one is also apparently interested.  And that one too?  Yikes.  You might need a trusty valet to get you out of this fix.

3. Talk wittily to her in a crowded public assembly room in Bath without being formally introduced first.  OH SHOCK.  You'll scandalize her so much that she won't be able to resist you after that.

4. Help her family out of poverty and prison, but pursue some other brainless young thing in the process.  When BYT marries a total loser, pine briefly, get trapped in a Ponzi scheme, and land in prison yourself. Eventually she'll come back and bail you out.  Protest, as a gentleman would do, but leave enough time for your business partner to pull a deus ex machina and get you back on your feet.

5. Befriend her at a party, hang out with her and her sisters, and basically get adopted into their family.  (This works best if you live, like, next door.)  Propose to her once you're old enough for that sort of them.  Get turned down, because the two of you really wouldn't work too well together as husband and wife.  Be crushed for a while.  Sow your wild oats, grow a mustache, do your thing.  Rediscover her little sister (this, basically) and realize she's been the one all along.  She'll tell you to get rid of the mustache.  Do it.

(I'm a terrible person, btw.)

6. Stalk her ceaselessly.  Teach her how to sing.  Dress up a dummy that looks just like her in a wedding gown and keep it in your sinister underground lair.  Don't show it to her, though-- you might freak her out.   Can't think why.  Oh, and kidnap and hold her fiance hostage until she agrees to marry you.  ...Wait, come to think of it, this might actually not be that effective.

7. So yeah, scratch that.  If you really want this girl, make sure you're a wealthy, handsome, charismatic, playful, gallant, adorable viscount with a really good singing voice who looks good in a tux.  You can be a little bossy and controlling if you want.  No, seriously, girls like that!  Duh!  Be prepared to deal with nooses and all that, though.  You might have some competition going on in the basement.

8. Save her from a vaguely dangerous situation in downtown Florence (it has to be Florence, because Artistic Moods and Angst and Wonder and Travel and the Great Italian Sun and all that), smooch her unexpectedly in a field of barley and then be weird and moody whenever you see her after that.  Oh, and collect her tennis balls for her.  And kiss her again when her fiance isn't looking.  Women find this irresistible.  No, really.

9. Treat her like a little sister for years and years, then fall head over heels for a self-centered schemer.  Realize your mistake at last when said selfish schemer's scurrilous brother runs off with your (already married) sister.  Dump said selfish schemer, realize heroine's worth over the course of half a paragraph, and then-- wait, what? Dude! She's your cousin! Gross! Stop it!

via

10.  Make one of the stupidest decisions in your entire life and propose to a vapid, soulless girl while you're still in school.  When The One comes along, regret this.  Proceed to be even stupider and don't even tell The One that she's not technically eligible to be your One.  You're a good and honorable guy at heart, though, so when Vapid Soulless gets in trouble with your mom for being too poor for you, stick by her anyway.  You gave your word, after all.  Fate will smile on you, however, and in the end she'll dump you for your brother, who stands to inherit the fortune that was supposed to be yours.  You and The One can live happily ever after, after all.  (Make sure The One has a sister who's marrying a rich guy who can give you a house to live in, though.  Otherwise the two of you might end up being happy on the street together.)

11. You know what, forget it! Scorn all women!  Who needs them, right? Your only girlfriend is Patria, and for the ignorant, that means France, not some chick.  Women are a distraction from the cause. Hearts and roses have no right to be red, because red stands only for revolution.  Love is a waste of time.  One purpose and one cause is all you'll ever need.   Soulmates?  Bah.  ...Be forewarned, you might not survive the movie... just so ya know.

(ButIwillstillshipyouwithEponineforeverandamenandhatersgonnahatebutIjustshakeitoff.)

12.  But yeah, like I said in the last one, if the right one's out there, then she's out there and you two will meet eventually.  Don't sweat it.  And don't start hunting out women who look like qualified wife material just because you feel you should get married.  That's not looking for love, that's fulfilling a shopping list.

Seriously, though, wish you all the best and all that.  Oh, and make sure you know how to dance.  And ride a horse.  Period drama ladies seem to like that.

How to Catch a Man, Period Drama Style

"But if you DID want to catch a man how would you go about it? I want to know," persisted Davy, for whom the subject evidently possessed a certain fascination.

"You'd better ask Mrs. Boulter," said Anne thoughtlessly. "I think it's likely she knows more about the process than I do."

"I will, the next time I see her," said Davy gravely.

"Davy! If you do!" cried Anne, realizing her mistake.

"But you just told me to," protested Davy, aggrieved.

"It's time you went to bed," decreed Anne, by way of getting out of the scrape.

~Anne of the Island

On this day of love (love!) and romance (romance!) and denial (augh! denial!), I wish to extend a hand of sympathy to all my fellow single sisters, struggling through life without a significant other by their side.  You brave souls, you beacons of cold clear light in a sea of sentimental slop, you courageous warriors against all odds in this dark time that comes around every February... I salute you across the bonds of our fraternal (sisternal?) aloneness.  May this pitiable, tragic state last as briefly as possible, and may we all find our other halves soon so our lives can finally begin.

In the meantime, I thought it would be helpful to compose a little handy-dandy helpful guide to getting a guy as quickly as possible.  It hasn't worked for me yet, but maybe someone else can be helped.  If just one girl can be redeemed from a life of singledom by these invaluable tips and tricks, then my blogging shall not be in vaaaaaaaaain.

{All images via Pinterest, except #3, which I made.} 

1.  Have fine eyes.  This one has been proven time and time again, but seriously, all you have to do is blink at the guy across the room, and if he's The One, he will go head over heels for the Windows to your Soul and all that rot.  Just go with it.

2.  Let him fall in love with your stepsister first.  Be patient.  Eventually he'll realize she's shallower than a kiddie pool and realize it was actually you he wanted all along.  (If he rides seven miles to bring you a wasp's nest, it's a deal-clincher.  Nobody does that for no reason.)  When this fact hits him over the head with all the subtlety of a two-by-four, accept his proposal graciously... but if you want to let him wallow and grovel and call himself an idiot for a little while, nobody will blame you.

3.  Stare at him from across a crowded marketplace.  Be sure you're wearing a bonnet larger than the cumulative mass of his entire wardrobe, so as to get his attention.

4.  Be rude to him time and time again over the years, repeatedly refuse his proposals, and call him names.  He'll stick by you anyway.  We're not sure why... maybe it's because smooching you is at least better than kissing his dog.  (I'm sorry, that was probably crude.  Hey, I didn't say 'filthy', did I now?)

5. Have a stupid younger brother who gets himself into trouble that Cute Guy will have to get him out of, thereby meeting you and falling hard.

6. Insult his business and the way he treats his workers.  Then shake his hand.  Don't forget to look beautiful.  He won't know what hit him.

7. Tease him, pester him, and annoy him incessantly, but follow up with bearing his scolding and lecturing as no other woman in England would have done.

8. Rescue him from drowning when you were both children.  When he inevitably runs into you ten years later, he will of course be completely smitten.  Either the attraction of your amazingly well-developed personality stayed with him for all those years, or else he doesn't get out much and you're one of two women he knows who aren't his sisters.  Pick your preference.

9. Fall deathly ill.  Let him play courier and fetch your mommy so you'll feel better.  Thank him and let him read you poetry.  Boom, wedding.

10. Get annoyed over a childhood teasing episode, hold it against him for a while, then finally mellow and be friends with the guy, but don't let it go any farther than that.  (Continue to hold out for your tall, dark and handsome ideal.)  Finally, when said guy contracts typhoid fever, come to grips with your own idiocy and realize there's never been anyone else for you.  (Let the audience cry their happy tears.) Oh, and look, he's tall, dark and handsome after all.  Yoop.

11.  If all else fails, flirt like crazy, steal the chap’s sword and let him chase after you for it, dance with him even when no one else is doing so, and generally make yourself annoyingly irresistible.  Please note, this procedure may result in running away to Gretna Green and then getting shepherded back to London for an honorable marriage by your sweetheart’s stick-in-the-mud childhood friend who’s actually in love with your big sister. What a drag.

(This particular one was made by my best friend)

12.  Seriously though... if The One is out there, he'll find you and you'll find him, and the best way for the two of you to fall in love with each other is just to be yourselves.  Do you really want someone to fall in love with you because you were cute and attractive and always said the right thing at the right time?  Or do you want someone to fall in love with you because you're you, and that's all he needs?  So forget the tips and tricks, just be you (there's no one alive who's you-er than you, after all) and go live happily ever after.

...And if he's not out there?  Then he's not, big whoop.  Romantical love is a beautiful thing, but it's not the be-all, end-all of life.  I mean, have you had dark chocolate?