Monday, October 10, 2011

Happy Accidents

Yesterday marked my foray into making a DIY video. I am not the first and obviously, not that last. I've been neglecting my crafty side and decided to indulge.
And it was fun! Super fun! Especially since it was completely unplanned and improvised. What I had assumed was going to be a train wreck, turned out to be pretty awesome.

Video and finished product to be posted soon... :)

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Times they are a changin'

We live in a digital world and I am not a digital girl. But I have to become one.

In the age where technology is advancing at the speed of light, we as actors/performers must advance with it. No longer are the days where one could look pretty, bat her eyelashes and garner a studio deal. Now, you have to be the jacktress of all trades yet try to remain specialized in one. Hence, I dive into the digital media world head first and without a life jacket.... the Web Series. With my fabulous Monday Night Power Group, a group of fantastic actors and writers, we have come up with an idea. A funny one at that. There are three main writers/producers, me being one of them, and we must produce an entire series ready to be broadcast to any and everyone hanging out on the interweb. No pressure. And away we go.....

Our budget: $0

Yeah. That's right. We po'.

The Pilot
The first episode is pretty much written, just needs a tweek or two and we will be shooting at the end of July. We have lights, cameras, locations. We'll be making/borrowing/buying our own costumes, set pieces, posters and laser printers. Everything is falling into place! AND FOR FREE! Minus some costume costs of course... but hey....

I will keep you posted....

XOXO

Friday, May 21, 2010

Corsets = An Awesome Rack

One of the best compliments I get, selfishly so, is when a random woman comes up to me, pokes my blossoming tata's and asks "Are they REAL?!" Why my darling size two woman, yes, yes they are. This is what happens when you combine three things: A great bra, an even greater corset and the desire to shove lots of yummy food into my mouth giving my body a bit of extra weight resulting in THESE fine specimans. These three things combined can give you too, an amazing rack. There is always a silver lining when gaining about XX lbs has, and it um, enhanced my assets. Now that I'm on the road to weight loss, I fear the first thing to go will be the wonder twins aka my shelf of fun aka C+ and C- (cuz no one is perfect). However dear the price to pay, I'm looking forward to having a hot arse again. Oh, the trade off's. It's pretty much like Sophie's Choice. ;) I digress... We had a FABULOUS show at the Rainbow last night which, per usual, has lead to a sleepy sleepy Friday. As always, it was well worth it. I love performing with my friends, the Hells Belles, as they are a classy bunch of dames. I must say though, this swinging the creative and day job life can get a bit daunting. This is a glimpse into my week, it's a bit busy but close to it's normal craziness:

Monday: Work 9-6, sit in on a bunch of meetings that may or may not pertain to me and my workflow, type up a bunch of grids and spreadsheets to track this years pilot pick ups, what we worked on, what other post houses worked on, etc etc and so on and so forth. 7pm - Monday Night Power Group, the reason why Monday's no longer suck. A group of actors that get together, set goals and hold each other accountable for them, led by our fearless and fabulous agent. 10pm - Improv show at The Second City. Time to be funny after a mixed day of office job and creative chit chat. 1:30am - BED. Finally! Oh hi pillows, I missed you.

Tuesday: Work 9-6, sit in on a bunch of meetings that may or may not pertain to me and update my grids and spereadsheets. After all, it's Upfronts week! Every pilot being picked up to series is being announced and it's my job to document it. 7pm - Tuesday Night Power Group for special guest speakers: Producer and two actors deep in the thick of HORROR!! LOVE. IT. Listen to their stories, meet some new pals and send said Producer my picture, resume and link to my demo reel. 10pm - hit the gym. Gotta fit it in whenever possible. Home. Shower. 12:30am - Bed. Oh la la, an early night.

Wednesday: Work 9-6, sit in on a bunch of... you get the point. 7:30pm - Cater waiter time! Work the premiere party of 'A Special Relationship', a new made for HBO film being hosted at the Directors Guild of America. I see Dennnis Quaid running around hand in hand with his MUCH to skinny gf. I mean really honey, please eat some of this delicious Gorgonzola Bread Pudding and braised short ribs. Please. PLEASE!! YOUR LEG JUST BROKE MAKING A SHARP TURN! 1:30am - Home. Exhausted. Bed. But can't fall asleep, make some tea. 2:15am- ah, there we go.

Thursday: Work 9-6, sit in on a blabbity, blabbity, blabbity. Home. Shower. Finally shave my wookie like legs. Apply burlesque make up and hair. 10:30pm - Arrive at The Rainbow Room to host the fabulous Hells Belles Rock n' Roll Burlesque show. Hang out with my girls, have some wine, chat up the regulars and harass some adorable Finnish out of towners. 1:30am - Home. Wash off my burly girl make up and tame my hair. Can't sleep, have some tea. 3am - Sleep. Finally, sheesh!

Friday: Work 9-6, hang out with some friends.

Saturday: Taking a silk class, going to an engagement party, a 'dress like you did in high school' party.

Sunday: Hike, writing with my fantastically funny writer friends and hopefully will get to lay out by a pool or see some theatre. *ah, friends and fun time*

SOOOO a week's work is actually more like two weeks work, ha! Keeping busy is something I don't have a problem with doing, as you can tell. As the week goes on, my body expects business and sleeping becomes an issue which is Sucky McSuckerson. This is where I have to look deep into the cockel's of my being and remember WHY I moved to LA. Once I remember that feeling, that emotion, that passion and desire, the tiredness remains, however, I'm a bit more happy. No, a LOT happier. I'm where I'm supposed to be.

I finally think the stress of the last 1.5 yrs-ish is finally letting up! My eyelashes are growing back in (yeah, I started losing hair due to stress! EW.) AND with the help of my fabulous friends, power group pals and agent, and of course O Magazine (Thanks Oprah!)I'm starting to change the way I look at the creative life in me, and being in LA. For once, I truly feel that if I focus and work harder than the rest of em', which I really think I am, (see above) then SOMETHING will happen. It has to, that's just how the universe works. It's only a matter of time...

Armed with an acting binder chalk full of knowledge, a trunk full of rhinestoney costumes and a pc loaded with MS Office.... I think I'm good to tackle just about anything, day OR night job related. Juggling will be hard, but well worth it once I reach the place I see myself landing. And I WILL land there.

So today I'm feeling grateful, happy and very very sleepy. Thank the Lord for Starbucks, for I know HE created it for those of us that have weeks like these :)

From messy-rocker-burlesque hair nights to stuanch-skin-pulling-bun hair days...

Keep it shiny, fun and fabulous,
Rima

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Not so perfect, perfect plan

I'm not sure when this happened, but I'm a perfectionist... now. I've always liked to plan a great party to a T, make the room appear pretty and upkept, make awesome looking treats or dinners, I like to semi choreograph a burlesque number and then improvise the rest... BUT, in the last year that need to have things look 'good' has turned into "IT MUST BE PERFECT." Now, I have a good guess as to why this is and my theory is this: I had a rough 15 months. It hurt, even cut my little heart and made me bleed a bit. I think one of my coping mechanisms is to control the things that I can actually have some control over because everything else is going crazy town. Doing something as simple as providing a gift for a wedding shower is proving to be a near impossible task. "Is this better? What does this say, cheap or creative? Is it cute? OR but there's THIS..Oh wait, I don't like that color.. I know I'll google it, find every color possible and decide against it anyway." It goes on and on and on. This bleeds over into my workout regime, or lack there of. If I don't create the 'perfect' workout for my body type, then I'll have issues entering the gym and not knowing what to do to maximize my time and who wants to waste time!?!?! I have changed the choreography on one number at least 75 times. When I cut something out of my diet that I'm 'supposed' to, I don't give it enough time to prove cutting it out was worth it. The list goes on and on and on.. point is, my perfect plans never work out. I won't know if it will work if I don't try it out first. When I travel, I say NO to plans, fly by the seat of my pants and have a grand ol' time! I'm so open in some areas and so BLOCKED in most of the others. *GRRR, HISSSSS* As always, the clear cut answer is fear. Fear, mutha-effing FEAR. I loathe fear. If I saw fear right here, right now, I would punch it in the face. Actually, I probably wouldn't. It's probably my worst nightmares manifested into a solid scary figure/shape/horned thing. I'm (apparently, THANKS subconscious) afraid of failing in some, if not most, areas of my life. The need to make everything PERFECT will, in my mind, prevent those things from falling down the shitty mcshitterson level everything else had done starting in October of 08'. It's sad how much a rough period can really stifle someone.

I must say, I want and WILL move forward. As of today, I will work on turning off that fear and be okay with a not so perfect life, accept what has happened and move onward and upward. I will choose a shower gift and be OK with it and I will understand that the perfect gift is NOT out there... Alright, that last one will be hard because I'm kind of a great gift giver. POINT IS, as of today I'm turning the tables back around on fear.

Cuz fear can suck it.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

If it's cheap and/or free, I will love it and share it with you.

Hello Friends :)

On a quest to be able pay off debt I must concede to the fact that I should probably never go out and spend money for the next year. However, you and I both know, that's just not going to happen. I can, however, place some major rules and restrictions on spending which coincedentally I have already been enforcing for quite some time. These are my save money tricks and tips...

FREE

My friends are uber talented, so much so, that I simply can not afford to attend EVERYONE's show. Just how it goes. SO, comps are always welcomed. When you can't afford a friends show, ask if they have comps and if not ask about a 'pay what you can day'. Otherwise, we'll be reading the reviews.. ;)

Sometimes Jamba likes to give back: http://www.jambajuice.com/#/home/

Noah's bagels, free every friday before 11am: http://noahs.cre8.com/offers/noahs6.jpg

DISCOUNT

1) Sing up for email deals and coupons! The midwest side has officially won when it comes to saving money and I now clip coupons and wheel and deal whenever possible. Join these websites!

www.groupon.com - it literally is a coupon that is emailed out that gives GREAT savings on anything, dinners, spa treatments, boot camps, you name it and they have probably given deals on it.

www.livingsocial.com - it does the same thing as Groupon, except it's called Living Social (who doesn't want to?!)

There's more, I just know there is... I will keep you posted.

To spending my days and nights in a mentholatum haze..

XOXO
Rima

Monday, April 26, 2010

Grilled Cheese, Birthdays and Strip Teasin' Pirates

Saturday started off with a cheesy BANG. Literally. I spent the day at the Grilled Cheese Invitational which means cheesy goodness All. Day. Long. That is, unless you've stopped eating dairy. Once upon a time I ate cheese without thinking twice, I gorged on Gouda, Gruyre and Mozzarella without a second thought. In order to help whittle my waistline AND more importantly help my system run smoother, I cut out my best friend, Dairy. Oddly enough, I don't miss it. Outside of the occasional cream cheese and tomatoes on a bagel (tried and true amazing yumminess that's much to hard to say no to ALLLL the time) I don't eat the stuff. However, I have this crazy notion that even though I have removed things from my daily life, I can somehow eat them randomly and in abudance without any repercussions what-so-ever. Hey guess what!?!? NOT the case. Note to self: when I cut out dairy, I CUT OUT DAIRY. A day celebrating out beloved grilled cheese is great in theory but not in practice. Don't get me wrong, I had AMAZING sammy's!!! Dessert sammy's to die for!! But, I really did feel like I was going to die for them. The day was super fun though because I got to hang with my girl Chanda, wear a fun t-shirt and experience something I never had in LA. So kudos for that. I'll probably go again next year...

After spending my early evening trying to cleanse my system with Kombucha, I met up with my good friend Kiff who was celebrating his birthday in LA! But not with his fam in Chicago :( SO, I felt cupcakes and gelato were in order. Despite my daytime dairy overload, I indulged in some of the aforementioned fair. Masochism = 3, Rima = 0. However, CRUMBS was delicious as always and gelato place next door had some GREAT flavors. The birthday boy got Double Stuff Oreo Cookie which did in fact taste exactly like a double stuff Oreo cookie. It wasn't just a clever name. We had a Cotton Candy cupcake and a Reese's Pieces Cupcake as well. Heavenly. Sat outside in 'downtown' Beverly Hills and noshed on some fabulous treats. It was fun. But alas, but stomach disagreed. I don't know why I expected anything different...

Sunday, I spent all day trying not to get sicker. Kombucha, water and the couch became my bff's. In that order. I did however muster up the energy to attend my friends fabulous Pirate Burlesque show at the Redwood with two of my gorgeous friends Jaime and Ali. The girls looked AMAZING! Sadly, during halftime, I had to sneak out. The sound was much to loud and I realized I'm getting much to old to enjoy mind blowing speaker systems. In addition to a cranky tummy, my eardrums were about to start bleeding at any moment. I thoroughly enjoyed the lovely ladies I saw and sad I missed the others :(

Overall, I had a great weekend! Part of my goals for this year were to get out and try new things, go to new places and get some new experiences under my belt.

Grilled Cheese Fest? Check!
A cupcake from Crumbs and NOT Sprinkles? Check!
Pirate burlesque? Check!

Now, back to the day job. It's a slow morning but I'm going to be doing some more
training this week. Fun times!

From eye patch nights, to glasses days.

XOX
Rima

Friday, April 23, 2010

Secret Lives Hurt. No really, I fell down some stairs in four inch heels....

Sunset Blvd, The Rainbow Room, Rock-n-roll burlesque Hells Belles style, a tight corset, four inch heels and ME. Sooooounnnds like a fantastically fun combo and it WAS! Until I took a tumble that in all honesty, had I seen it, I would have BUST out laughing.

Picture it: it's a semi dark room, dim lights, a corded mic and a man who I will refer to as "Midwest Mom Dancer (MMD)" dancing at the base of the steep stairs that are obviously the originals. If you've ever been to The Rainbow Room, it has an odd shape to it. Nustled in a random building on Sunset, it clearly was built to fit the space and nothing more. So there are a lot of stairs, nooks and crannies, etc etc. SO, MMD is having the time of his lift dancing ALL night long. No literally. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Just swaying back and forth and seriously if you can imagine your mom dancing at club she's much to old for, that was him. As I'm walking down the death- defying-if-you're-wearing-four-inch-heels stairs, I was trying to avoid MMD's swaying body and hair. *Side note: I talked to MMD at the end of the night, and he was a very sweet, gentle man who has probably been going there since the place opened, and has probably partied with every rock legend there is* OK. In lieu of asking MMD to move, (I mean, who wants to interrupt someone's GROOVE THANG?!) I was trying to shimmy around him. One misstep...oh oh oh OH!! just one misstep and I felt my ankles twisting in their sockets and cursing me for wearing these fabulous heels. First one foot loses it's battle, and then the other not so demurely WHIPS itself out from under me and I did what I now believe was a perfect triple sow cow. As I was headed knee first into the hardwood floors, my face slamming into MMD's hand on the way down. I basically got slapped in the face as I was falling. Let's be honest...it was HI-LARIOUS. I just started laughing while lying on the floor and MMD ever so sweetly gave me the hand that slapped my face to help me to my feet. And I took a short bow to everyone asking if I was ok. Oh, how graceful I am in heels sometimes. Seriously, I can teach you to be just as sleek and sexy.

More importantly, THE SHOW!

It was a very fun night and we had quite the unexpected number of guests. We started with three and I believe got up to 40 or so which was really fun. As with any good burlesque show, I riddled my sets with sexy humor and jokes about names for our *special* parts. Hence, C+ and C- were born. Yes, it's what you're thinking. One is a little bit bigger than the other, you know how it goes! One pierced, tattoo'd hottie told me his nickname was 'The Wizard' to which I replied something to the effect of 'Pull back the curtain and show me your magic.' HA.. FUN. TIMES. I forgot how fun it is to host!! Interacting with people while they are inebriated is SUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!! And my friends, The Hells Belles are AMAZING. They are SO beautiful, SOO talented and are just a stunning group of performers. Needless to say, I feel very lucky and grateful that they asked lil' ol' me to host for them. It warms the cockals of my heart. Check them out:

http://hellsbellesburlesque.com/home.html

2am = bedtime, take off the fishnets and eyelashes and release 'C+ and C-' from their corseted death grip.

7am = wake, shower and put on my cute corporate dress and adorable heels. (yes, heels again, I'm obviously a masochist).

Welcome back to the day job. Drinking Kombucha and even though I shouldn't be doing this, partaking in a delicacy you may have heard of... a lemon filled powdered doughnut. MMM. Every Friday someone usually brings in a breakfast treat AND we have happy hour at 5pm. Did I mention I love my full time day job?!?! I do. I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with work, great employers, learning a NEW side of the business ANNNND insurance benefits. Dental, ohhhh how I've missed you. I just had a lengthy convo with a new coworker about our secret lives. Apparently SHE has one as well! She's a dancer and an actress. Oh how I love finding out people's truest desires and dreams.

I feel as though things are working just as they should. My path feels very open and accepting and I THINK is veering me in the correct direction.

Tomorrow, The Grilled Cheese Invitational! More to come...

To fishnets nights and pantyhose mornings.

XOXO
Rima aka Miss Estella Detroit aka C+/C-