Broken Hearted Girl

The Beyonce music video I worked on in LA has been released! Check it out:

Let's Go To The Zoo...

This past weekend my R.A. partner in crime and friend Brendan and I went on an adventure. We first took a quick trip to the Oscar Nominated Costume Exhibit at the Fashion Institute downtown. The highlights were when Brendan secretly touched Heath Ledger's Joker costume and whispered "I just touched a dead man's clothes" and my discovery of my favorite 2008 film "The Fall" having their costumes on exhibit.

We then ventured to something I've been dying to go explore: The Griffith Park Abandoned Zoo. The Zoo closed in the 1960s after facilities weren't holding up (animals had escaped) and they decided to just move up the road to build a new zoo. The abandoned buildings were creepy and awesome and we climbed inside every old cobwebbed cage we could find:

The Birthday Month

Above Photos: My favorite bookstore in downtown Burbank; Laser Tag birthday crew; The crazies who follow me around; Mamusia comes to L.A! Yay!!; The Academy Award nominated Production Designer and Set Decorator for The Dark Knight; Right Booby and Left Booby; Family trip to Laguna Beach!; I was the only one who ran into the waves; Afternoon at Venice Beach reading Calvin and Hobbes.

Gotta Getty

Above photos from top: Free trip to the Getty Center!; The most disappointing thing about the Getty Center Art Museum is it's Art Collection - this was one of the few pieces that I truly enjoyed; Overlooking Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean; My fellow RAs Rachel and Brendan; The architecture of the Getty Center is what actually attracts the crowds and it IS beautiful.

Tabloids: Beyonce and Me

I'd like to think that I didn't make too big of a deal out of this - which is why I didn't go splashing it all over the internet and blog about it earlier. But today I was informed that the above photo was in all of the tabloids. Take a minute. You might have trouble looking away from Beyonce and at my butt - but there I am.

I worked on Beyonce's most recent music video shoot a week ago and it was by far in my top two Californian days since my arrival. It was a perfect 67 degrees and sunny in Malibu that day and dolphins, Beyonce, and the paparazzi were out. It was an incredible experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity, especially since I got to assist the art department on set.

What was great about working with the art department was that I didn't have to work as a P.A. the entire time: I instead was able to help build the set, hand roses to Beyonce, clean the car she pretended to drive in the video, and ask the wonderful guys I was working for a million questions about working professionally in the art department.

In the above photo I am chasing Beyonce and the camera crew down the beach with a handful of roses, waiting to hand them off to Beyonce.

The Last Of The Mohicans

Last Of The Mohicans is one of my family's favorite movies - we've been watching it for years and I remember being confused as a small child when I was asked to leave the room when Hawkeye and Cora got a little tooooo friendly. Mmmm dreamy Daniel-Day Lewis...

I recently bought the book in a fantastic used book store to satisfy a desperate need for new and challenging reading material. I'm about forty pages in and the book is getting really good. The first few chapters were difficult to power through but I did and the pages are falling out. The copy of the book is faded and torn and very loose and the smell of the book seems to be making it more enjoyable to read. I'm considering just tearing out pages as I get through them as so many have already jumped ship...

Birthday: How to turn 22 in a new city

I love birthdays. You may think that you love birthdays too, but nothing makes me happier than making someone else's birthday totally awesome. So my birthday is really important and I was worried that since I would have to plan everything myself it wouldn't be as fun.

I was wrong.

I had the best day since being in California even though I had to work part of the day. I was simply in the best mood. I woke up late, found an incredible used book store in Burbank, bought a top at Urban Outfitters with a gift card, ate some french fries and frozen yogurt, and went to work at Emerson's LA center. My friend Brendan covered the first few hours of my shift so I worked the afternoon/evening and then...we went to laser tag.

Let me explain something: I happen to be a master of laser tag. This is in part because of the excellent facilities in Rockford, IL and the countless birthday parties I attended there and partly because I'm just awesome.

I ANNIHILATED everyone in both games. And it was awesome.

We got food after laser tag and hung out at my apartment watching the Princess Bride and eating homemade cake and cookies (courtesy my cousin Lindsay) and delicious banana cream pie (my favorite!). I haven't laughed so much since coming to L.A.

Such a perfect day.

Californian Dreaming

Above Photos: Santa Monica Beach; I sat in the shade so as to avoid burning... I am white; Manuel! Max was visiting L.A. so we sat in the shade together; Orange County; My trip to the Los Angeles Zoo!

Good/Lame

One great thing happened today:

I got accepted on the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel which is going to feature "Elbows" on a segment and it'll be great to have that to my name and I'm totally excited.

One lame thing happened as well:

I got an offer to feature at a poetry festival here in LA and I had to turn it down cause it's during College Nationals in Philadelphia. The woman who called me was so bummed but probably not as bummed as me. ALL I'M SAYING IS WE BETTER DO REALLY GOOD.

If only I were a CeleBRITNEY... oh well, close enough!

Tonight I had my first experience at In and Out burger with some friends after class (I had a grilled cheese with a strawberry milkshake) and as I walked up to the counter to place my order the girl took one look at me and said "You perform at the Poetry Lounge! You're really good!!"

The people I was with just stared at me. And then we ate In and Out.

Oil Factory

The company I am interning for produces music videos and commercials. Their lead director has made videos for Beyonce, Shakira, Coldplay, Kings of Leon, and my personal favorite, No Doubt. Here are some videos from Oil Factory you might recognize:

Kings of Leon, "Use Somebody"

Ting Tings, "That's Not My Name"

No Doubt, "Don't Speak"

Coldplay, "Fix You"

The Devil Wears Yogurt

Welcome to California: The Mecca of Frozen Yogurt.

As the Queen of Ice Cream, I will say that I miss JP Licks. A lot. However, I have begun to succumb to the tastiness and lifestyle of Californian Frozen Yogurt. I was informed by one of my favorite friends, Tynan Potter, that I should accept my addiction to Pinkberry before I arrived in L.A.

"Pinkberry? What's that" little naive Carrie asked.

Pinkberry is the chic frozen yogurt place that has been called a "cultural phenomenon" and "Tynan's favorite thing about California." I quickly tested the waters upon my arrival and decided that despite mixed reviews it WAS good. They offer an upscale atmosphere, three flavors, and many toppings, but it's a bit pricey.


I was next introduced to Yogurtland. Which is basically the cheap disneyland version of the disneyworld of Pinkberry. It's a self serve yogurt store with twenty flavors and unbelievable flouresent lights: but I accept that. Cause it's good and addictive. The best think about Yogurtland is you control how much you want and how much you pay for as you weigh your cup after filling it with toppings.



As with most things, you get what you pay for. I would say that Pink Berry's toppings are fresher and yogurt is more tart, but I'm going with the cash flow right now and working on the art of mixing Yogurtland flavors (cheesecake and vanilla wafer are winning right now).

I've spotted several other yogurt chains and it's clear that California loves the facade of eating healthy and still divulging. And I am totally okay with that.

Internship, Family, and Rachel Getting Married

The weather took a turn yesterday and I experienced my first California rain. It does not in any way compare to Boston rain. But in lighter news I secured and started my internship!

This was such a stressful experience - researching and applying and interviewing and following up... I applied to so many internships and I interviewed at about 8 different companies. Everything from strictly development film companies where I would only be doing script coverage to music video companies offering on-set experience to Working Title Films who didn't know what the hell I would be doing. So I was actually offered positions at my two top choices and after some confusion (I accepted one and then was offered the other and realized I needed to switch) --- I will be working at a Music Video company out in West Hollywood (edge of Santa Monica) called The Oil Factory. It was really similar to the other company I first accepted, but I liked the more comfortable feel of this place and the people were also friendlier. I think it will be a good learning experience and hopefully I will have some time on set.

Yesterday was actually my first day at my internship- I carpooled with the other intern who is in the LA program with me - and we mostly got acquainted with things and watched a ton of director's reels of commercials and music videos (everything from Jet to Gwen Stefani to Beyonce to car commercials to kodak commercials) and ate free lunch.

After work I met up with my cousin Lindsey who lives by Cal State Fullerton and we drove down to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Lake Forest to hang out and spend the night. And today Aunt Pat and Lin and I went to see "Rachel Getting Married" (which Anne Hathaway is nominated for a Best Actress Oscar) and got lunch.

"Rachel Getting Married" was really interesting - it's about a dysfunctional family: Anne Hathaway gets out of rehab in time for her sister Rachel's wedding which is taking place at their family's house in Conneticut and the film takes place over three or four days around and during the wedding. The performances were all really honest and there were some very moving moments - and though there are times it feels long and some scenes that were unnecessary- it had a very real feel to it and it seemed very alive. The overwhelming realness to the relationships and friendships in the film are fantastic.

Also the Production Design was really awesome! The film takes place mostly in the family's giant house and the set was really really cool - very layered and personal with a lot of history. And the wedding design was so unique - it also has many layers and themes to it. The design was just so encompassing and natural and really beautiful. Oh and Beau Sia the poet is in the film.

$75? Thanks, I'm broke.

Last night I went to check out "Da Poetry Lounge" in Hollywood at the Greencourt Theater on Fairfax. I'd been researching it quite a bit and was looking forward to going. It's Shihan's venue and I like Shihan, but I knew it was going to obviously be West Coast slam and was college/high school kid heavy. I went alone and ended up in line by a girl and a guy who rode up on bikes so I talked to them and they were both cool UCLA kids and we sat together during the show.
The venue has limited seating - it's like a mini-theater and once all of the audience seats are filled, everyone else has to sit on stage. There are also two halves to the three hour show so a huge line of people wait outside for their chance to get in the second half. I was just planning on reading for the open mic but the first half was a slam so I put my name in at the last minute.
There were about ten poets in the Slam and all of us were high school or college aged - three white, seven black, three girls, seven guys - mostly bad hip hop/Def Jam style stuff. One girl was really great- really powerful in both her stage presence and writing. They pull names at random from a bucket and surprisingly score creep wasn't really an issue in the slam and everyone was really vocal and open about scores (in the sense that people booed high scores for bad poems). The second round would be 4 poets and third round 2 poets.
I got pulled last in the first round and I knew I was going to open with Elbows. Nobody said anything or reacted or made any noise whatsoever while I was performing... I thought I was just bombing so hard. You could hear a pin drop. When I finished I got the first 10 of the night and the two kids I was sitting with were FREAKING OUT -- one of them leaned over and said "I'm so glad you don't suck, that would have been so awkward."
There was a sorbet poet and as I had the highest score I went first in the second round. I did Carburetors and simply prefaced it with "I wrote this about a party I went to once." Which I think definitely helped. The performance felt good and I got two tens.
I wasn't expecting much but I ended up in the final round with this kid who was pretty decent. Coin toss elected me to go first and I went up with Open Letter To The Last Person I Will Ever Love - which is my most recent performance piece and somewhat on page (it's almost completely memorized). Though I got another ten and high scores, I was pretty positive that I had lost because the other kid did a very political piece that the audience really liked and scored really well.
The prize was $100 -- and Shihan had the audience vote on the winner getting the whole $100 or splitting it with second place, $75-$25. I voted for the second and ended up screwing myself out of $25 haha.
It was totally unexpected and cool and a bit like walking into a saloon and being the new gun in town. A ton of people talked to me and kept asking "Where the fuck are you from?!" and I was like "BOSTON" and then this one guy goes "Ahhhhh Cantab!! Now I get you."
Which was perfect.
I did get told I reminded a lot of people of Buddy Wakefield. HA.
We got food at a 24/7 weird chic DJed restaurant bar. I got oatmeal. It was delicious.

It felt so incredible to perform in an entirely new place for all of these new people and be the complete opposite of what everyone else was performing ... and have people like my work.

Los Angeles!