People in the news

I've seen a lot of interesting people in the last week.
This past weekend was the City of Angels Film Festival, which is run by the director of LAFSC and some of our professors. So I went and saw The Nativity Story (the new movie coming out in December about the birth of Christ) on the Friday night, and then I volunteered on Saturday and Sunday night. The guest of honour for the festival was Randall Wallace -- the writer of Braveheart and writer/director of Man in the Iron Mask and We Were Soldiers. He was such a sweet man!! He said that I was pretty.. :) I got a picture with him which was cool.
Then today I was at Film Independent's Filmmaker Forum... which is a two day event geared towards indie filmmakers. My dept was working the event so I spent the whole day there. It was really great. The whole day consisted of eating and listening to panels. I got to meet some really cool people there too -- Faye Dunaway was there, which was really cool... she's a really beautiful woman for her age. I also got to talk to the Polish brothers (two indie film directors who are starting to become more well known), and the directors and the people who filmed Wordplay.... also there was Stephanie Allain (producer of Hustle and Flow), Lindsay Doran (producer of Stranger than Fiction, Sense and Sensibility, and Nanny McPhee), and other producers of big name projects. It was a really fun day and I learned a lot about filmmaking!
There was also this guy who came up to me and asked me where I was from. When I said I was from Ontario, Canada, he told me that "Wow, there are so many beautiful people that come from that city -- and you continue to prove that"... oh my gosh. smooth buddy. smooth.
On that note, he is probably the fourth guy in the past couple of days who has told me that I'm beautiful. My poor ego -- I think it's definately suffering.... :)

And now for the creepy people

Elaine (my Malaysian roomate) and I shot my last five minute film this past weekend.. It was a lot of fun becuase it was just her and I and we walked down and around 3rd and Fairfax writing words on the sidewalk with chalk --- but we also met a bunch of very interesting males on the streets of LA. Must have been becuase we were just the two of us, and my shirt was a little low. haha
The first weirdo was about early to late 40's and he had a little bit of an accent. Elaine was kneeling down writing some words on the sidewalk when he came up to us.
Creepy man (speaking to me): Hi, is she (speaking about Elaine) Asian?
Me: Yes! She's from Malaysia.
CM: Wow, she is, she is beautiful.
Me: Yes, I know. That's why she's in my film! (kind of joking)
CM: Is she yours?
Me (slightly taken abake): Is she mine? Uhhh.. like, mine? Huh? (Seriously --- is she my slave or something?)
CM: Is she your girlfriend?
Me: Oh... no. No she's not.
CM: (with a hopeful look on his face) So does that mean she's available?
---- Yes, Elaine is still kneeled beside me like a foot away from this man ----
Me: No. She's not available.
CM: Are you positive?
Me: Yes. Yes I am very positive.
CM: Ohh... but she is so beautiful..
He then went on to ask me about my film, etc. A little while later, he found us again in the Grove and asked us if he could help at all; carry anything for me.. I was grossed out.
Then we were filming a bit later and another man of about 40ish was biking past. I said hi because some people are a little put off by filming so I tried to come across as nice.. He said hi and then told me that he really liked what I was wearing. I said thanks.... and then went back to filming. A couple minutes later he was back....
CM2 (speaking to me): Excuse me, but do you think that there's any possibility that I could take you on a date sometime?
Me (slightly shocked): Umm... no. Probably not. I'm only here for a couple of months..
CM2: Oh really? Oh I'm sorry.
Me: That's okay. I'm from Canada so I'll be going back there soon.
CM2: I'm sorry. You just looked so good in your outfit. Did you have a good thanksgiving?
Me: Yeah! Thank you! Goodbye.
Gosh. We also got numerous honks and a couple of whistles out of cars. One guy whistled at me out of his car and then kept raising his eyebrows at me and saying stuff to me which I obviously couldn't hear because he was in his car.

Being a young female in LA can an interesting experience.

I love the little piculiarities of this town...

-- a woman got on the bus this morning and hollered out to the whole bus: "I want you all to know that Jesus loves you! Jesus Christ loves you all and he wants you to go to heaven!" Then stood in the middle of the bus completely silent for the rest of the ride
-- A highly made-up (she had a lot of make up on) European woman who didn't speak very good english had quite the little hissy fit in the middle of the sidewalk while a young girl who might have been her daughter looked on like there was nothing wrong
-- walking home from work today I passed by a Starbucks. At one table sat a woman with a little dog on her lap, at the next a man talking to himself and writing a screenplay of somesort, and at the third there sat a homeless man -- it was like a representative of hollywood all in one coffeeshop
-- on the bus ride home this really weird guy talked to me most of the ride about how I should really do some work as an extra, and was I raised by timberwolves since I'm from Canada (he thought that one was just hilarious)? When I went to leave, he said, "awww.. you have to go? Well, see you later you cute canuck!" And then he laughed to himself again at how funny he was..

I am thankful for Six Flags

I LOVE ROLLERCOASTERS. Oh my gosh. I am a rollercoaster person!!! I never knew!! This past weekend was our minibreak -- appropriate since it was thanksgiving back at home.. But instead of eating turkey dinner and admiring the fall colours, I spent monday at Six Flags: Magic Mountain riding rollercoasters and basking in the beautiful sunshine! Not a bad trade in my opinion... :)
Though I definately missed my family and the turkey, I couldn't have asked for a better day!!! So far it was probably the best day of the whole semester. I was kind of nervous going becuase the last time I was on a rollercoaster it was ThunderRun at Canada's Wonderland and I was in my early teens. I definately thought that I was not a rollercoaster person. But when I heard that we could go to Six Flags for 15$ if we wanted to, I thought well I can't miss that experience! So I went. And I couldn't be happier I did!!
When we got there a whole group of us started out around the park together. Surprisingly enough I ended up staying with this group the whole day despite that there was around 10-12 of us. Our first ride was Goliath. Oh my gosh. What a way to start.. The first hill on the ride is 255 ft high and the coaster goes 85 miles-per-hour. People black out on this ride. And the last ride I rode was ThunderRun 10 years ago!!!!! I honestly freaked out the entire way up... and it was long way up. And then we went down... and around.. and all over the place. And then it was over and it was the most awesome thing that I had ever experienced!!!!!! I screamed the entire way and I actually put my hands in the air!! :) Look at me go!

Once I did that one I was hooked.... we ended up riding 8 rides through out the day.. and three of those 8 we did twice. The best ride was SCREAM.. it was just a really great ride. Then there was Tatsu -- it flipped the chairs forward so that you're hanging on your stomach through the whole ride, almost like you're flying! So cool.. But the scariest ride was Deja Vu. This ride pulled you back up a tower then drops you into a complete vertical 20-story free fall.. you go through the ride (including a 102 ft tall loop and 110 ft tall butterfly turn) and the end of it rockets you up a 200 ft tower (Yes I'm getting all the numbers from the website).. you're suspended there for a couple seconds and then it lets you go and you do the whole ride again -- except backwards!! OH MY GOSH. I just about died. Myself and three other guys waited in line a little bit longer so that we could be in the front of the ride. I don't know what on earth possessed us to do that. It was the scariest thing I've ever done in my whole life!!!! The first tower that they pull you up.. since we're at the front there is absolutely nothing under you except the ground. I was sooooo freaked out I had my eyes closed through most of the ride and I screamed like there was no tomorrow --- and I almost thought there wouldn't be!!! And yet I came off the ride and thought it was so exhilerating!! What a rush!

It was such a special day. The amusement part atmosphere was so much fun, I ended up loving roller coasters more than I ever thought I would (even though I now I have a soar throat from screaming on every ride), and I spent the day with people that I really wanted to spend the day with -- even if they're giving you statistics about the number of deaths on rides as you're going up the first drop...... haha these people are so great.

This is James McAvoy

He played Mr. Tumnus. And here he is with me.