Happy New Year

Christmas and New Year: it's a bittersweet time to be in LA, feeling so far from home.  I threw a little Christmas party last week, taking full advantage of an otherwise empty apartment to tidy the lounge room up a bit and give the kitchen a workout.  I had a glorious time trying out various recipes for the first time; largely successful (well, no outright failures) but a couple I know I'll do better next time.  Bridgette's ginger caramel slice was delicious but my tin was a bit too big so it was spread a little thin.  I think it will be thicker and more sumptuous next time made in a smaller tin.  I pulled a red velvet cupcake recipe off the internet (thanks to the Food network); it's for 24 cupcakes, more than I needed, so I halved it.  I was then so bold as to guestimate replacing vegetable oil with melted butter and blithely dispensed with the dash of vinegar altogether.  The cupcakes turned out just fine, but not as moist and well, velvety, as I had hoped; serves me right for not following the recipe to the letter at least once before fiddling with it.  That being said, they all got eaten (being smothered in cream cheese icing didn't hurt either).  From Donna Hay's delightfully titled No Time to Cook book, I made lamb, feta and mint meatballs in tomato sauce (delish); potato, parsnip and rosemary rosti (can't go wrong with crispy spuds); and chickpea, cumin and coriander patties served with tzatziki (yummy).  I also made a very rich chocolate cake (made with almond meal and sour cream) smothered in chocolate ganache.  Heavenly.  This recipe was torn out of a Sunday Age magazine when I was in Melbourne in November, and it's author (forgive me, I've forgotten his name and I'm tucked into bed at this moment with no intention of jumping up and digging out the recipe just to check) notes that the cake tastes even better the next day.  He's right. The party was very convivial and attended by an assortment of friends from different worlds; acting, non-acting, neighbours.

Christmas Eve I spent with Jamie and Amber who have become good friends over the past year, and are excellent, generous and jovial hosts.  Amber cooks up a storm and we trade foodie stories, tips and recipes with each other, and witticisms with Jamie.  On Christmas Day my new housemate, Hannah, arrived from Australia.  With a shortage of good housemate material in LA, Nicole and I resorted to an imported item.  Hannah is delightful; we had a pretty chilled out day as she braved jetlag to see the day through.  On Boxing Day (although it's not called that here) we hung out with Laura, another actor friend who is from the UK and had the glums.  It's easy to get the glums when you're far from home and the people you love at this time of year, I'm certainly no stranger to them (the glums, not the lovely people).  Anyway, we had a cheery time with wine, pizza, and Christmas party leftovers.

CC and Hannah, NYE

I've been off work this week so I've been writing, sleeping in, and getting to the gym.  I also baked some yummy banana and choc chip muffins, just for the hell of it, and have been able to help Hannah out a bit by driving her around to buy a bed and apply for her social security number.  Back to work next week, for which my bank balance will be grateful.

New Year's Eve rolled around and I spent the evening with Alex and James at two parties.  The first was a house party, an intimate affair with a few people, and several sets of novelty ears.

CC, Alex and novelty ears

We then drove downtown to a loft party hosted by a friend of a friend.  This was way cool; not your typical LA bleach blonde'n'botox crowd.  A live band played the kind of latin-fusion music to which you can't help but wiggle your hips and tap your toes, several couples were salsa dancing with style, and everyone seemed friendly and happy.  It was a predominantly latino crowd, and with my skyscraper Hollywood heels on, I had the unusual experience of being able to see over most people's heads.  Here we saw the clock tick midnight. 

CC, Alex & James at the loft party: low light, phone camera, but captures the mood

It's 1/1/11; a cold but sunny day in Los Angeles.  I'm up, breakfasted and caffeinated, but still in my PJs.  I don't know what you've got in store for me, 2011, but I look forward to finding out and I have some plans for you, too.

Bonhomie

Holiday season is upon us in all its festive glory. The streets are twinkling with fairy lights and adorned with baubles; billboards urge us to spend; and grocery stores seduce us with food and liquor sales. The faint waft of cinnamon is in the air. It struck me, all of a sudden, why people decorate with lights at this time of year; because it’s winter and it gets dark early. This is no doubt perfectly obvious to most people, but this little Aussie is used to Christmas at summertime, when the days are long and (usually) warm. Not that LA becomes a snowy wonderland. Last weekend it was even verging on hot.


UCLA closes for two weeks over the Christmas/New Year period, which happens to coincide with my roommates disappearing; one on vacation and the other to a new apartment. I’ll have the place to myself for a week before the new roommate moves in and I’m looking forward to getting all domestic and doing some cleaning, tidying and, best of all, baking! I’m going to throw a little party just to have an excuse to bake (and a means of preventing myself from eating EVERYTHING I bake). When I was in Melbourne I picked up a Donna Hay cookbook filled with delicious recipes, plus I’ve been soliciting recipes from friends and family in the wake of losing my precious recipe book somehow in the last apartment. Still a bit sad and annoyed about that. But it’s gone, I don’t know where, exactly when or quite how it happened, so I must simply start over. Bridgette, your ginger and spiced caramel slice is top of my list to try out!

On the weekend, I helped Alex shoot a scene for her showreel. It’s a little dramatic, slice of life moment in a car, which I wrote. With James behind his fancy, very neat, camera, and another friend behind the wheel of the car, we drove around for a few hours finding the best light and doing several takes. A fun afternoon hanging out with friends and creating something; what better way to spend your time! Looking forward to seeing the footage. I’m setting my webseries in a car, too. Why this preoccupation with cars? Must be an LA thing! With work being very quiet this last week or so, I’ve written three episodes and fleshed out a fourth in my head. I plan to write the remaining four eps over the next two weeks.

Sport of Acting finished up for the year on Tuesday night. We had a great class, during which Vinny encouraged me to deliver the whole St Monica monologue I’ve been working on in three parts. Last week I performed “Part 3” for the first time, so it is the section I’ve worked on the least (which I felt) but it was delicious fun to do the whole thing; like stretching out in a big bed, or hitting the freeway after traveling in stop-start traffic (there I go with the car thing again). Then the whole class hung out in the theatre and shared wine, cheese, chocolate and passionate opinions, not to mention wonderful bonhomie.

"Reflections" disturbed

What the hell is going on?  Checked in on my wee blog this morning to find that the insidious blank video link had once again attached itself to the blog entry formerly known as Reflections on a Holiday in my Favourite City.  I have therefore deleted the whole entry once again.

Quick entertainment review:  On the weekend I saw The King's Speech, starring the marvelous and thoroughly lovely Colin Firth, the rumpled and roguish Geoffrey Rush, and the sublime Helena Bonham-Carter.  An interesting episode in history involving the infamous abdication of King Edward (who chose the love of American divorcee Wallace Simpson over the throne), leaving his brother Albert (fondly known as Bertie, but formally referred to as George VI) to wear the crown.  Saddled with a crippling stammer, Bertie, thanks partly to his intrepid wife, starts working with an Australian speech therapist called Lionel Logue.  It's a classic tale of overcoming adversity which made me laugh and cry and applaud loudly.  Beautifully written and performed, it's an absolute delight.  Go see it!

I've also been watching new episodes of Misfits, an anarchic UK show that turns the superhero genre on its ear.  The show follows the exploits of a bunch of young offenders on community service duties who, in a freak storm, suddenly acquire supernatural abilities.  Do they go about saving the world?  Nope.  But they look after each other, and despite their prickly differences (and, in most cases, lack of social graces), form bonds as they try to hide their powers and half-heartedly perform their community service duties.  They have foul mouths, behave badly, but are not totally irredeemable (and the regional Brit accents are marvellous). The show is inventive, sharply written, hilarious and thrilling.  I'm told Season 1 is currently showing in Australia on ABC2.  Season 2 has just started screening in the UK, but no sign of it in the US (Netflix hasn't heard of it, either) so I've been resorting to YouTube!

Getting Sporty with it

December is here and with it, winter— LA-style winter—which means mostly cloudless blue skies and mild temperatures during the day followed by freezing cold nights. Weeelll, freezing is perhaps overstating it: quite chilly, might be a more accurate description. We’re thin-blooded devils here on the West Coast. Pity the poor fools languishing in snow drifts on the East Coast.


Financially, I’m feeling the pinch of my Aussie Odyssey, on top of Thanksgiving holidays. However, I also feel rested and re-energised. And the good news is I’ll be at UCLA until at least the end of January. We break for two weeks over Christmas (sigh, more penny pinching required!) during which I plan to lay low and write. And if I’m lucky I might score a few days work here or there through the temp agency. If I’m really lucky, I’ll be cast in a commercial!

Almost as soon as I got off the plane, I was back in rehearsals for the Sport of Acting’s class project: the performance of four short plays, written by the talented Jeffrey Addiss, and directed by friends of Vinny (also industry pros). The plays were each very funny, with a dark edge, which made them all the more satisfying. It was great to see everyone involved working together. It was especially wonderful watching the members of the class who have less stage experience; they worked so hard and really grew as actors. To use Sport terminology, it just goes to show that no matter how many practice sessions you have, some lessons are learnt out on the field. Performing for an audience puts you on your toes and increases your “match fitness.” OK, enough with the metaphors. Putting on a show and performing for an audience is very familiar territory for me. I must confess I was not particularly challenged (or nervous) but that’s not to say I didn’t get anything out of it. I had the fun—and honour—of working with an exacting director who made me think about the script in different ways, and playing with two of my classmates, both of whom did wonderful work. Plus, I love performing. Gimme a stage, I’ll get on it.

Gotta love Thanksgiving. With no religious connections, it is an occasion in which everyone can participate. Indeed, it is all about inclusiveness and sharing. This year I was once again embraced by some American friends and fed lots of yummy food. Thank you Amber and Jamie for your generosity and friendship. With a belly full of turkey, pumpkin pie and roasted marshmallows, sloshing around in some excellent pinot noir, I eventually rolled home to bed.

I had a big commercial audition last week in which I was able to use my natural accent. It was in fact a requirement. How lovely! Authentic Aussie accents were required because this is a commercial (or, potentially, series of commercials = serious money) being made to screen exclusively in Australia. How ironic to go all the way to LA to have a shot at a big Australian commercial. Aside from the accent, I felt this one was right in my milieu; slightly quirky, girl-next-door, comedy and improv background. So I was excited about it, and felt that the audition went well. However, I haven’t heard anything, so must assume I’m not in consideration. This is a real bummer. It makes me question what I’m doing. People keep telling me I have talent, that I should persevere, but sometimes I think I must be lacking something. That extra something special. Star quality? Pop? Zing? Call it what you will. And I am tired of living like a pauper, being a charity case! I shouldn’t despair at one audition, but I don’t know how much longer I can push on this without a return. I promised myself two years in LA to see what happens, then reassess. The next 12 months will be interesting.

Eating, drinking, and frocking

Melbourne rocks.  After a chilly start last week, this week has been full of sunny gorgeousness.  In fact, I'm wishing I had packed more summer clothes and a more practical, walk-around-town pair of sandals than the LA skyscrapers that I brought.  Not that I haven't had occasion to trot them out, but they're not really for walking in.  Today I found myself trying on a lovely pair of Filippo Raphael flat sandals in a favourite shoe store in Toorak Village.  Oooh, I really want them... but it's craziness to buy shoes in Australia (this pair are a cool $250) when they are so cheap in the US.  Italian brand, but they don't seem to be sold in the US.  In fact, even in Australia they seem to be retailed exclusively through Edward Meller stores.  Sigh.

There has been LOTS of catching up with friends over food and wine; damn, the food is good here.  OK, generally it is cheaper to eat out in LA but frankly most of the time you get quantity over quality.  It's so lovely to be on holiday in my favourite city.  Aside from eating and drinking, talking and laughing, frocking up (main event frocking to happen tomorrow - the wedding!), I've been working out at my old gym (Nada and Dr Soph are two of the best Step instructors in the world, bloody awesome routines), getting thoroughly massaged, and have lined up a facial next week, the day before I get on the plane home.  The idea of LA as my home is still a little alien (as am I, legally speaking); I guess I have two homes.

Last night I saw Electronic City, the new show by local theatre group Hoy Polloy.  It was preview night, and I'm so glad I happened to be in town to catch it.  Directed by Wayne Pearn (with assistance from Bridgette Burton), the show is in very good shape.  It's a challenging piece for actors, with a lot of chorus work creating vocal soundscapes of frenetic, madness-inducing chatter, robotic instructions, alarms and electronic white noise.  The effect is quite thrilling, even as it spins your head around and reminds you what you hate about travelling, and how paranoidly (is that a word?) reliant we are on electronic devices such as phones and computers, and the panic that can set in if we forget the charger, can't get online, or find ourselves in an interminable line at airport security.  The show officially opens tonight.  If you're in Melbourne, check it out.

Right, gotta dash.  Another lunch date.  Time to get out of this t-shirt and into a frock!

I Heart Melbourne

Halloween night, Mum and I took the Flyaway bus out to LAX, where we found ourselves in a queue for 2 hours before we reached the check-in counter.  There we were greeted by a swarthy young man wearing a very saucy serving wench outfit (complete with blonde wig and fake boobs bobbing out of a bustier), which was almost worth the wait.  By that time we had little more than 30 minutes to get through security before our plane was due to start boarding.  It's such an unnatural thing to climb into a machine that can hurtle through the sky, a crude emulation of a giant bird, and emerge 15 hours later on the other side of the world, tired, dehydrated, and slightly disoriented.  But worth it. 

For the record, I watch Dinner for Schmucks (although I snoozed through much if it, which shouldn't be taken as criticism, Jemaine Clements was HILARIOUS as the sexy beasty artist), SATC2 (the perfect thing to watch on a plane, because you don't need to hear most of the dialogue, the outfits are really pretty, and it's mostly a pile of luxury brand crap) and a couple of episodes of Nurse Jackie (a pity not to catch all the dialogue there, such a great show). 

We sat next to a very Grumpy Woman, who shall hereafter be referred to as Grumps, for that amuses me.  Grumps had the aisle seat, which meant Mum and I had to disturb her every time we wanted to stretch our legs or go to the toilet.  And it was always necessary to disturb her as she never got up of her own volition.  How does anyone sit in cattle class for 15 hours and not have a burning need at some point to stand up and move around, let alone relieve one's bladder?  Grumps was lumpy, avoided eye contact, never acknowledged a 'thank you' and complained about having to move.  Too bad, Grumps, you're in the aisle seat.  And it's not like Mum and I were up and down every 10 minutes.  It seemed Grumps was determined to be miserable.  And she smelt bad.  She should have stayed home.  Seeya Grumps, your couch will welcome you with open arms.

Oh Melbourne, how I love you.  I had a coffee at Melbourne Airport while Mum and I waited for our ride; even the takeaway brew at the arrivals terminal was better than the average excuse for a coffee one encounters in LA.  I'm beside myself with excitement to be here, busily making plans to catch up with as many friends as possible.  This morning I took a train into the CBD to meet a friend, and had a coffee and croissant for breakfast at one of my favourite little cafes.  Bliss.  Then a tram to Carlton to meet another friend, trundling past charming old terrace houses and shops with wrought ironwork verandahs and a local pub on every corner.

Anticipating Melbourne

October disappeared in what feels like a matter of hours, and now the Halloween fun is upon us. Shops, offices, homes and cars are decorated to varying degrees with Halloween paraphernalia from the ghoulish to the cute, and TV shows are screening their special holiday episodes. I must admit to delighting in Glee’s Rocky Horror tribute, and observe that Mr Schuester should take off his shirt more often.


I’m somewhat inured to the loopiness of the season, having already experienced it twice, but Mum has been running around taking photographs of giant pumpkins and animatronic zombies lifting their glassy-eyed heads on and off in purgatorial repetition. This last week, however, she has been visiting friends in Vancouver. We’ll be spending a lot of time at airports this weekend as I collect her on Saturday, and then we head to LAX on Sunday night for our 14 hour blind dash in a speeding tin can back to Melbourne. We land on Cup Day! Oh, how I’m looking forward to being back in Melbourne, albeit for barely more than two weeks. A flying visit indeed, with many catch-ups, dinners and assorted revelry on the agenda.