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I Don't Ever Give Up

By Patty Griffin I'm no kid in a kid's game I did what I did, I've got no one to blame But I don't give up, no, I don't ever give up It's all I've got, it's my claim to fame

I'm no fighter but I'm fighting This whole world seems uninviting But I don't give up, no, I don't ever give up I fall down sometimes, sometimes I come back flying

Liars are lying, airplanes are flying Love isn't here, love isn't here But it's somewhere Time to forget me, but something won't let me Love isn't here, love isn't here But it's somewhere

And I cleaned and I washed up This dream I don't ever give up I don't ever give up, I don't ever give up No, I don't ever give up, no, I don't ever give up No, I don't ever give up, I don't ever give up

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpTyT1Wj_I&feature=related]

Baby Steps - Free Association

You've got ideas, ideals, goals, and dreams. They're so much brighter, better, bigger, of course, than where you are right now. And you want to get there. Right now. Why wait? But first you have to take steps, little steps, baby steps to get you on your way. But you don't want to take the baby steps because, dammit, you're not a baby anymore, Mom! You're a big girl. And you want to take the big girl grownup steps. So you leap, you jump, you freaking fly over all the baby steps and you soar... but then you realize that you don't literally have wings and no one bothered to teach you how to land this thing so you crash and you burn and you scrape your knee and skin your elbow and break your arm and you cry. You cry big warm baby tears and you feel like such a big baby and you wonder, if I'm such a baby, why didn't I take the baby steps to begin with?

Psalm

By Hey Rosetta! But often it happens you know That the things you don’t trust are the ones you need most. So it's cautiously into the dark, But you see before long that your eyes will adjust And under the night you can hear The full moon rise like a psalm in the air. And the air goes into your lungs, And around in your heart and on through your blood. It goes cautiously into the dark And you see before long that we all have a part. And under your skin you can feel That the fear that you feel is what will set you free

And under the night you can hear, The full moon rise like a psalm in the air. And the air goes into your lungs.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADZ6UY0H1KM]

Joyful Girl

By Ani DiFranco I do it for the joy it brings Because I'm a joyful girl. Because the world owes me nothing And we owe each other the world. I do it because it's the least I can do, I do it because I learned it from you. I do it just because I want to, Just because I want to.

Everything I do is judged And they mostly get it wrong, But oh well. 'Cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged And the woman who lives there can tell The truth from the stuff that they say. She looks me in the eye And says would you prefer the easy way? No, well o.k. then Don't cry.

And I wonder if everything I do, I do instead of something I want to do more, The question fills my head. I know that there's no grand plan here, This is just the way it goes. And when everything else seems unclear, I guess at least I know.

I do it for the joy it brings...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y-1H9kAg3s&feature=related]

The Fringe Crush

There's a little-known concept that I only recently became familiar with at Fringe Festivals at that is the "Fringe Crush". The amazing Emily Pearlman gives a fantastic description of the phenomenon on the Ottawa Fringe Festival blog, so I will give you a moment to click on the link and familiarize yourself before reading the rest of my diatribe here.

In her post, Miss Pearlman claims that the Fringe Crush is a wonderful way of getting rid of the stress in your life by shifting your focus. I, unfortunately, would like to disagree.

After hearing about the Fringe Crush earlier in the week, I began to panic in the same way Amy Salloway did in Heebs and Dweebs when she was 6 and everyone in her class was "getting married".

"What do you mean I have to have a Fringe Crush?" "Nancy! You can't not have a Fringe Crush!!! Everyone's got one! You better hurry up or all the good ones will be taken!"

But who?

Last year, it turns out I did have a Fringe Crush, but that person is not currently in attendance so that's a bust... Maybe I should do like Miss Pearlman and pick the one who helped me poster? Though I should probably pick someone with an accent, right? Cuz accents are hawt. Or maybe I should keep it local? Or from a really great show I saw... And what about the ladies?!? I can't discriminate against a potential Fringe Crush based on gender alone!

What the hell am I going to do?!?

I guess, in all honesty, I don't need to pick just one... After all, on Sunday night, during Chats with Cat, she will be revealing her Top 10 Fringe Crushes. I think I could pick ten people too.

Number one on the list? WhyEmily Pearlman, of course.

Such A Common Bird

By Wendy McNeill, featuring Ane Brun I am a lone wolf A beauty and a beast Both hunter and hunted Soft tongue and sharp teeth I toned from my travels Yet raw from this road As I drink from storm puddles And the stories I'm told

Help me figure this out Help me figure you in You're a shadow to me That I echo when I sing Help me figure this out Help me figure you in To this simple little melody

I have seen angels They were sleeping in gutters They were standing in bank lines They were jumping from towers They were calling like seagulls But nobody heard Such a beautiful message From such a common bird

We want freedom for ourselves But we can't give it to each other We want peace between nations Yet we battle with our lovers We're blinded by billboards And trying to get ahead Choking on ambition And the words left unsaid All the words left unsaid From a simple little melody

I am a lone wolf A beauty and a beast Both hunter and hunted Soft tongue and sharp teeth I toned from my travels Yet raw from this road As I drink from storm puddles And the stories I'm told

Help me figure this out Help me figure you in You're a shadow to me That I echo when I sing Help me figure this out Help me figure you in

You're a shadow to me That I echo when I sing

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz-VinqzIE4&feature=related]

Help! I Need Somebody

The ego doesn't want you to get help.  Whether it's having someone look over a draft of a script I wrote or getting coaching on a monologue, my ego immediately flares up, wondering why I would need help in the first place.  I should just "know" how to do it well, how to do it right, and if I can't make it awesome the first time around, well screw it!  I'm not doing it anymore. Ouch!

Is this some kind of self-preservation thing?  Protecting ourselves from potential criticism and, gasp, heartbreak?  Yes, in some fucked up way, I guess it is.

I can't tell you how hard it's been for me to get past my own ego, to stop self-sabotaging myself.  I try to take little baby steps everyday to ensure that I keep moving forward, but sometimes even baby steps feel like jumping over mountains.

So I've got two choices:  I could lay down and just give everything up or I could just ask someone with some mountain climbing gear  how to go about it.

Can I sleep on that for a bit?

I Learned Something Today

Nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes.  We're all learning something.  The howling beasts in the night usually turn out to be wounded animals in the daylight (unless it's Halloween, in which case that was a howling beast).  Everyone is feeling hurt and scared.  Once I figured that out, everything else seemed so much easier to deal with.   That's also when I found the fun in simple everyday situations.  Sorry for being so vague and random, but I'm just in awe right now.

Seriously, how blessed am I?  I own a beautiful home.  I have a family (and yes, friends are family too) that loves and supports me.  I am young and healthy.  I'm doing what I absolutely LOVE to do and I am good at it. The whole world is open to me with endless possibilities.

I am grateful.  Life is good.

I Don't Believe in Coincidences (or I Need to Get Out More)

Yesterday, I was catching up on my TV Can-con by finally watching Flashpoint since you can catch all the episodes online on the CTV website.  It stars the Pink Power Ranger, Keith Mars, and a guy I met at an NAC opening night party. I'm watching the first episode of this ho-hum cop show (unless anyone involved in casting is ready this, in which case, it is a wicked awesome show that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time!) and I'm kind of tuning out.  The show's almost over and I'm about to roll my eyes at the cheesy ending montage, but something stops me.  I actually really like the song their using.  I have no idea who is singing or what the song is called, but it was just beautiful.

So I spend the next half hour just trying to figure out who it was.  Not an easy task since CTV doesn't have the credits listed anywhere.  But finally, thanks to my google persistance, I find some forum that leads me to a myspace page that leads me to Dala.  I listened to a couple more songs on their myspace and realize that I like their style.  Then something catches my eye: Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre.  Hey, I know that place!  Dala is playing as part of the Acoustic Wave Series with the Ottawa Folk Festival on September 21st... Really?

Since I found out my practice was cancelled, I thought it was a sign that I should go check them out.  And they didn't disappoint.  The ladies from Dala have great vocals and harmonies, an easy cameraderie on stage (which probably comes from years of playing together), and their big dorks (like me!).  Two songs in, when I thought I couldn't like them any more than I already did, they pulled out the big guns: Joni Mitchell. Now I was hooked.

It was an awesome little concert that made me realize that with all my involvement in the theatre/film scene around here, there are tons of other artists out there working in different mediums that I don't take the time to appreciate.  I need to make more of an effort.  When people are asking me to Vote Culture, I need to remember that it's not just the actors who are affected.  We're all in this together.

Diablo Cody Is My Hero

This comes from the Juno writer's own personal blog.  You can view the post in it's entirety here. I didn't LOVE Juno, I didn't hate it either, but I give the woman mad props for how she answers to her nay-sayers.  I can only wish I were half as sass-mouthed and eloquent.  She makes me want to become a stripper so I can quit and win an Oscar too.

"I like my fake name.  It's engraved on an Oscar.  Yours isn't"

I think I'm in love.

I am not Charlie Kaufman or Sofia Coppola (much as I supplicate at their Cannes-weary feet.) I'm not Paul Thomas Anderson. I'm not even Paul W.S. Anderson. I am middle-class trash from the Midwest. I'm a competent nonfiction writer, an admittedly green screenwriter, and a product of Hollywood, USA. I am "Diablo Cody" and if you're not a fan, go rent Prospero's Books again and leave me the fuck alone.

I may have won 19 awards that you don't feel I earned, but it's neither original nor relevant to slag on Juno. Really. And you're not some bold, singular voice of dissent, You are exactly like everyone else in your zeitgeisty-demo-lifestyle pod. You are even like me. (I, too, loved Arrested Development! Aren't we a pretty pair of cultural mavericks? Hey, let's go bitch about how Black Kids are overrated!)

I'm sorry that while you were shooting your failed opus at Tisch, I was jamming toxic silicon toys up my ass for money. I get why you're bitter. I took exactly one film class in college and-- with the curious exception of the Douglas Sirk unit—it bored the shit out of me. I also once got busted for loudly crinkling a bag of Jujubes during a classroom screening of Vivre Sa Vie. I don't deserve to be here. We've established that. But I'm here. Five million 12-year-olds think I'm Buck Henry. Accept it.

(Incidentally, if you were me for one day you'd crumble like fucking Stilton. I am better at this than you. You're not strong enough, Film_Fan78. Trust me.)

I'm sorry to all those violent, semi-literate fanboys who hate me for befriending their heroes. I can't help it if your favorite writer, actor, director, or talk show host likes me. Maybe you would too, if we actually met.

I know my name is fake and that it annoys you. What, do you hate Queen Latifah and Rip Torn, too? Writers and entertainers have been using pseudonyms for years. Chances are, you're spewing bile under an assumed screen name yourself. I'm sorry if you think I'm like some inked-up quasi-Suicide Girl derby cunt from 2002, but I like my fake name. It's engraved on an Oscar. Yours isn't.

Listen: I've been telling stories my whole life. Even when I was a phone sex operator, I was the Mark Twain of extemporaneous jerk-off fiction. I took every perspiring creep on a fucking journey. I don't know how to do anything else.

I'm going to make more movies and shows. I doubt they'll all be good, but that's the nature of this life. Even though the public only knows me from one book, one movie, and several aborted blogs, I've spent the last few years hustling like Iceberg Slim out here to prove myself professionally. The people I currently work for, and with, are more than pleased with my post-Juno output. My pilot was so good (thanks, Toni Colette!) that it got picked up for series. That is rare, children. That is blue-rare.

In summation: you try it.

This is the last I have to say on the subject, unless I'm provoked by a journalist in which case I'll gladly reload. With relish, as Betty Rizzo might say. That said, I'm a 30-year-old woman with a dwindling interest in blog culture, and I don't have time to address this bullshit every time one of my projects comes out. I'm in love, I just bought a house, and my boss made E.T. I kind of have to focus on reality.

And drinking. I have to focus on drinking.