We spent as much money as could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one.
It would be rather foolish of me to actually review this novel, as it is Dickens' work. However, I will say that my feelings towards this novel changed a fair bit as I read it. At first I thought it was a definite joy to read this novel-- especially having just finished The Kite Runner. But as I read on, and on, and on...I found that Pip's life is not actually that joyful, and while I did enjoy Dickens' writing-- I think the book is longer then what the story is worth (keeping in mind that I am reading this novel in 2012). I do look forward to reading another of his novels though with hopes that it is a bit more up lifting and faster paced.
Stay Tuned for: The Great Gatsby
It is clear to me that I need to make money while trying to support my acting career. So, I have decided to become a party planner. It's a pretty easy job-- and by the end of the night everyone will be throwing their arms around you telling you that you did a great job (even if you didn't; they are not sober enough to care). I will now give you and example of they types of party's I will throw, by explaining to you the bachelorette party I had the pleasure of planning.
First thing I will do is ask you for an extended list of people who should be coming to said party. (By the way, I only do parties for 25 ppl or less). The more people you have the more discounts you get!
I will then send out an invitation to all of these people who included an estimated cost that is way higher than what the actual cost will be so they will be pleasantly surprised with their final email. (It also helps if you have incredibly rich friends-- that way they can do incredibly expensive things without thinking twice).
Secondly we must wait for the RSVP's. This could take approximately 5 million years depending on who you have invited and how often they check their Facebook/email. I would suggest that you start gathering phone numbers otherwise you will get frustrated and start telling people that they are no longer invited and, consequently, start a family feud because most of your guests are family members.
Now we start actually planning. In all seriousness here is what we did.
We started the day off with a car accident so that things could only get better from there (ha ha ha). Although it is hard to drive a car when you have this sitting beside you ;)
This is the bride to be: Nikita in her sexy pink boa!
Once we arrived (safe and sound, don't worry the accident was minor) we then rode the subway to Queen Street where we ran around in two teams doing a scavenger hunt. http://www.haleyproductions.com/
I basically tailored a pre-existing scavenger hunt that I bought from the link above-- I must say we had a blast running around Queen street asking people to take pictures of us :)
We ate at Everest Restaurant along Queen which basically has everything from Italian to Indian-- so if you have some picky eaters in your party (which you will) this is a pretty good variety!
What next hmmm...
Pretty much wanted some good laughs while we enjoyed some beverages ;)
Then onto VIP service at Bar 244
BUT WAIT! We had a surprise stop along the way, when we asked the fire men if we could come over to play ;)
Okay, now to Bar 244. Although with the lights off it doesn't really look like this>> I would, however, recommend to any of you going to a club-- that VIP service pretty much saves you. We had a safe zone to dance and hang with each other without being groped by strange boy/men. I say boy/men because the people here are about college students, and while yes, some males that age are men-- it seems as though when they get to a place like this they act like pigs thus reverting them back into boys.
Alright last, but not least, walking back to the hotel, only to wash our feet in the bath tub.
Some rules to remember on your grand adventures:
1. Pack anti-acid pills just incase dinner doesn't sit well.
2. Leave extra early for the show, because even if they will let you in late, the show is only like an hour long and you don't want to miss any of it.
3. Toronto is dirty so pack flip-flops because walking home in bare feet is not ideal.
4. If the security guard tells you that you can take a picture of a NYPD cop car being used in the next episode of Nikita-- don't ask if you can get it in at the same time, only to open the door and have him yelling NO and then giving you the cold shoulder when you still want the picture. 5. If you do have two strange boy/men/pigs following you home-- don't start talking to them and then stop to get a hot dog, they will only follow you longer.
If you follow these rules you will be fine!
Now I know what you are all thinking-- how can I get Meghan to plan my party. Well...just inbox me! My fee is reasonable and your are guaranteed to have a good time ;) only one rule-- if I plan it, I'm coming too!!
(I am still reading Great Expectations. Don't judge me I had a party to plan and a wedding to help with okay! I am back on the reading track now).
I have to admit to you that I cheated...Well, I didn't totally cheat-- I mean I read the book, but I had started reading it before I actually started the challenge. Techincally it's not cheating because there are other books that I have previously read that are on the list and that I have crossed off, it is just that I did not own up to this one. However, now I am and it is read and that is that.
A reminder to any of you who do choose to read this reflection-- these are only my opinions and I am not trying to push them upon you at all-- I am only trying to seep into your mind subconsciously so you feel exactly the same as I do about this novel, and therefore prove that my feelings are correct.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini left me with mixed feelings. When I read a book I generally look at the story more than the writing itself (tsk tsk), but this is how I have always read and enjoyed books. I have to admit that I had a hard time getting through this novel. As much as the subject matter is hard to deal with-- that is not what turned me off necessarily. I have read my fair share of novels that take place in third world countries or novels that deal with incredibly difficult situations (take Lovely Bones, The Book of Negroes, or Prizoner of Tehran for example) and have ended up enjoying them immensely (not that I like disturbing and dark, I just mean that I can generally find the light in these types of novels...okay so what if I am dark and twisty (yay Grey's Anatomy references!)), but this one is a special case. The first third of the book takes place when the main character, Amir, is a child. The first third of the book is the part I had the most trouble with. I found very few redeeming qualities in the main character and had to actually put the book down and walk a way for a bit before I could read on.
Perhaps this is the reaction Hosseini was hoping for?-- but the only reason I picked this book back up was because of the incredible reviews it has received, so I was convinced that there must be something in this novel that I hadn't read yet. Maybe I am judging the character far to harshly-- maybe as harsh as the character himself, which is funny and I doubt this was the intention of Hosseini--I just don't think it would have withstood the scrutiny of the general public if so many people had to put the book down part way through. I am not sure what this says about me or about other readers-- but I am starting to realize what I actually look for and enjoy in a novel (a main character that I can identify with..something along those lines).
Upon picking up the novel again, I had given myself enough time to put these feeling aside and lucky for me, the very next chapter took me away from the events and disturbing choices that took place. The middle of the novel was enjoyable although I do feel like I was trapped in the limited characters that there are in this lengthy book, despite the fact that it is written in first person. I say this because even though there are other characters, you don't seem to really know any of them-- I don't think that this was an accident. On the contrary, I think you are meant to feel as trapped and unreachable as the character himself feels.
However, just when you think Hosseini is going to let you feel safe again, it all goes to hell. For the record, I like bows, silver linings, and happy thoughts (just putting that out there), and while this book has definitely left me with the experience of being caught off guard as a reader, I can't say that it is my favorite feeling in the world. Although props to Hosseini for making me feel this way because I thought this reflection would be a lot shorter than it has turned out to be. Let me just say that for me, for my own personal enjoyment-- the sliver of hope that this novel has is not enough.
Read the book, judge for yourself.
In the meantime, I now have the Bible by my bed like a good Christian girl, and Great Expectations in my bag as I board the subway --I am off on some new adventures!
Alright-- here we go. This is something I have wanted to do, and there is a good chance I will fail at it OR it will take me a really, really, really long time to complete BUT here is goes:
I am challenging myself to read and review (and not in an analytical sense, but just my overall reaction) the 100 books that the BBC released on their "books to read before you die" in 2003. Now why is said actor doing said challenge. Well, I am of the firm belief that films are often based on 'bum bum bum bum' books! Weird, I know. I will be reading these in no particular order (pretty much because I don't want to start with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy). By allowing myself to have the freedom to pick out of the 100 books I won't feel like I am reading just to get them read but rather to enjoy the book. I have to say that one of my favorite things to do, is curl up in the afternoon with a tea and a book...now judging by the amount I am about to read, I need a lot of tea-- and I am seriously hoping that my teeth don't turn yellow because of this challenge!
I have completed 27 of these novels to date (August 14th, 2012), (which the BBC says is 20 more than the average reader will read-- but I am no average person and therefore cannot be deemed an average reader). Also, I am not going to change the list, but having both Hamlet and the complete works of William Shakespeare on the same reading list is redundant (just to point that out). I will not be reviewing the ones that I have previously read. I cannot promise that my reviews will be good as I am not going to pretend to be a literary expert, and I cannot promise that this challenge will be done in a timely fashion, as I have lots of things to do in my life, and reading is often left to do on public transit. The titles that are crossed off are the ones I have already read (duh), and I will readjust as I go on throughout this challenge.
I don't want you to think that I think that this is the best list I have ever found-- it is simply a list that I have found and that I am using. I realize that there are some amazing titles missing from this list but for now I am going to start here-- If you think that there is a novel (or a few novels) missing from this list and you can't bear the thought that it is not included-- by all means comment and I will see what I can do to tack it on (but no promises cause there are already 100 titles here). If you would like to join me on my adventure by all means!
The List
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (March20'13)
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Two Towers
- The Return of the King
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (April14'13)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte(Sept8'12)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (Aug31'12)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (Aug8'13)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (Feb'14)
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (Sept12'12)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot (July28'13)
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (May15'14)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (Sept2'12)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (Oct4'12)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (Jan28'13)
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (Jan'14)
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (Oct9'13)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
- The Magicians Nephew(Oct28'12)
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Horse and his boy
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen(Oct11'12)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (Aug14'12)
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres (Nov17'14)
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (Dec14'12)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (May13'15)
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy (2015)
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth (2015)
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Mar6'13)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Dec'14)
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (Aug1'13)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (Apr24'15)
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (2016)
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding(Dec7'13)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (May27'15)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (Oct8'12)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (Dec17'12)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (2015)
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (Jan22'13)
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (2015)
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle(May'13)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (2016)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factoy - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo(Oct'15)
Total: 68
So if you feel the need to support me or if you are looking for a way to join the challenge without actually reading you do have a few options. First of all, you can always just leave a comment...or if you want to be more involved then that you can drop me off a can/tin/bag of tea anonymously outside the door to my apartment-- where I can think that someone is being extra sweet to me and I probably will boast to many people that I have a secret admirer. But make sure you go to David's Tea and ask which ones are good for your teeth (they have that now), and purchase those kinds because I do not want to end up with severely stained teeth and no dental insurance..... Or if you are looking for a gift idea simply because you love me-- there are a lot of books that I am going to need and some of which I do not yet own hint hint.
I will begin with The Kite Runner (because I have already purchased it and it is waiting for me on my Kobo now;) )
Well, the olympics are over for another two years. And while we didn't have the excitement of the gold medal hockey win of 2010, the women's soccer team provided us with some good entertainment-- which in my opinion is what the olympic are all about. I mean, if there were no viewers,spectators...dare I say audience-- the olympics, or any sport for that matter, wouldn't amount to very much. Perhaps sports are more of a show then we allow ourselves to think. They say (you can figure out who "they" are) that sex, money and power are the three key ingredients for a great acting scene...apparently. So I am always so amazed when actors are asked if they were ever involved with sports throughout school, and their immediate response is"uhh no! Do I look like the kind of person who would be into sports?" (or something along those lines). I am generalizing-- not all actors avoided athletics like it was the plague. I myself, took great joy in competing on the wrestling team, cross country team, track and field team etc. But I am going to share a little secret with you: athletes are like actors . Let me break it down for you.
Sex.
Okay so I realize that these are all of wrestling so:
I think this sums it up rather nicely.
Money
Now lets face it, I think we all know where the money comes to play: there's the sponsors, the wages, the ticket prices, and of course the gambling (just to name a few).
Power
This is where the emotions play their part. The strong versus the weak, the winner versus the loser, the athlete who reaches the objective and the athlete who fails.
Who succumbs to their emotions? Who is the strongest?
In all honesty though, like the actor, the athlete must live in the present. Any attack, any move made on them or their team-- they must make a counter move/react. Their goal is simple, to score--to win; There are many obstacles: the other team, the injuries, the scores made on them etc; and the stakes are huge-- you must make your fans proud otherwise you bring great shame. So for all of those who think they are not like an athlete-- I beg to differ. I am not saying that we should all go out and take up a sport-- I am just saying that some of us should. If we are basically doing the same thing except one of the options forces us to be in better shape, pays way more (if you make it professionally), and has more men than women so being a women in the industry is actually a rare and special thing... All I am saying, fellow actors, is that we are not as unique as we think-- and incase the acting thing fails, there is another option that we would easily fit into. I mean hey, even if we are not actually athletic-- we can always just act like we are ;)
This Video is actually funnier when you are trying to tell someone about it while using a Jamaican accent.
I realize that some of you might be wondering how it is that someone would go about becoming a famous actor. Well, I have comprised a guide for any ambitious individual to follow.
How to become a famous actor in 10 easy* steps:
1. Be talented
Do you really think everyone in Hollywood is actually talented? I realize that I put this as first on my list-- BUT let me explain to you that if you are not talented in acting, Don't Worry! It is not about talent (don't let those training programs fool you).
Megan Fox
All that really matters is that you are good looking and if you aren't...well...use your "training money" to enhance your beauty instead.
2. Move to L.A
It's pretty much the only place to be if you're anybody (and you are somebody).
3. Be popular
Hellooooo! Connections, connections, connections. Come on people-- if you don't get invited to the best parties and start meeting the big directors and actors, how do you expect to land your first role and become a star?
4. Be Rich
Obviously. How do you expect to be able to pay for your L.A mansion while becoming an actor and pretending to take classes while really just partying and sleeping in late? It's hard to be you, so make sure you have some mullah to help you out a little!
5. Get an Agent
Unless it is an open call audition, there is no way you are getting in those doors without one of these, so start doing some research and find out who it is who takes care of all of the stars. That is who you want to be with. And don't worry-- just because you have nothing on your résumé does not mean that you can't bribe them to get in the door and then again to be your agent-- I mean you are already wealthy. And Remember you are beautiful! You may not have started out that way-- but your past does not matter, what matters is that you are now.
6. Get Head shots
Again-- find the best, pay the most, and look fabulous. This is what gets you the audition.
7. Land a role on a major motion picture on your first try
It has, and can be done-- when you are that beautiful (*cough talented
cough*) anything is possible. I mean just look at what's her face from
True Grit. She's pretty famous and she had done nothing before that!
True Grit Girl
Plus she was up for an academy award from her first role-- and you, you are way better and there is no doubt that you too could be nominated and actually win an Oscar for your performance.
8. Get another role because you were so great in the first one
Screw auditioning-- you've already done one and because you are incredible you will no longer have to audition for anything ever again. Trust me, the offers will be rolling in and when you say 'I want that role' no one will make you read for the part because you are great and you deserve it. Instead of getting headshots done people will be paying to take a picture of you, and your agent will be so pleased that you practically harassed him to take you on as a client because now he has dropped everyone else just to focus on you!
9. Marry Tom Cruise before your career is over
So what if he is gay?! You are not in this for the love, you are in this
for the fame and the money so who better to get with then Tom? And he
is single now, so you won't have to break up a marriage (even better), unlike getting with Brad (although who really knows what's going on there) . I
just hope you can stand his religious views.
And if you're not sure exactly what the background of scientology is-- just watch South Park Season 9 episode 12 and that should clear it all up for you. Hey, perhaps you will find that you too are a Scientologist.
10. Live happily ever after
So you are rich, famous and married to a major movie star what more could you ask for? You have done a few films, but now it is time to relax, retire and buy a few houses around the world. But remember me when you are rich and famous.
*These steps may or may not be easy...or plausible in any way shape or form if you are not already born into this situation.
To begin with, if you think that sarcasm is the lowest form of humor...well you best stop reading now. My gene's are English, Scottish and Irish and believe me there is no getting past sarcasm with that lineage. I like to think of it as an ironic form of humor, and because irony is a complex and intellectual concept, I am, therefore, expanding your minds in ways you can't even imagine (ha!).
I must confess that I am not the best speller, and I do not have the best grammar despite the fact that I do have an English degree. I like to think that it comes from the fact that I started my schooling off in french immersion and could never figure out the "wh" combo in the who, what, and where's. But, even though I blame it on my early years of schooling... I am pretty sure it is just my brain and the fact that it doesn't function in that way. So if you come across one of the numerous errors and you want to point out that you are more intelligent than I am and that I should proof read my work-- save it. This is proof read, I already know I can't spot the mistakes, yes you are smarter than me, the end. Good. Now that we have that out of the way, we shall move forward.
If you do not know me and are judging me based on my previous paragraph I have to clear something up-- I say I have an English degree, but really I have a theatre degree with a dash of English on the side. I studied at both University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College in their Theatre and Drama studies program-- but of course my acting resume has those listed the other way around ;). Also, another thing that you have to know about me (if you are going to bother reading this blog) is that my greatest ambition in life is to become an actor (there is no sarcasm in that sentence).
I have been thinking a lot about starting something like this lately. I feel like I have a lot of stuff collecting in my brain, and I think it's time to set some of it free. I say some because I can't reveal to you all of my secrets that have gotten me so far in life (ha!)... But aside from my secrets, I think that this is an excellent medium to share what I think about books, films, and acting stuff, and of course if you have opinions on my opinions then, by all means, share them with me please!
I will leave you with this first thought: So you really want to be an actor?
