Upcoming Clay appearances for people like Cat:

Tuesday: TRL performance; American Idol Christmas Special
Wednesday: Nothing so far
Thursday: Macy's Turkey Day Parade (word has it he's the next to last float)
Friday: Nick at Nite Holiday Special

I got my cloak today. It is a dark purple wool, with silver Celtic trim and a silver crushed velvet lining in the hood. It is floor length, and so pretty I just want to hug it. Lovelovelove the cloak. Another great thing happened today: my boss pulled me aside and told me I was doing a great job, and to show his appreciation, he was going to give me a full dollar raise. Dude. That's a big raise. A whole dollar more? Awesome. It was very exciting.

I'm kind of sad about leaving Jack Sparrow alone in the apartment over the break. He gets very lonely when we're at class; I can't imagine him being alone for several days. Poor kitty.

I just read this line on someone's livejournal (I don't want to bring over context, because it would involve a lengthy discussion on what is transgressive in fandom and what isn't), but this particular sentence struck me because of its wording. I think I understand now how "cellar door" can be considered the most beautiful phrase in the English language, because I just had a reaction to this sentence that was almost like appreciating art.

"And then I'll creep sullenly back into my hermit crab shell and continue to make up my own little world using shadow puppetry and a bare light bulb, and after a while I feel sane again."

I wish I could write like that.

This was an interesting past couple of days. George Lucas came to the Star Wars class Wednesday night, and he was just as terse and laconic as you might expect. No one dared ask a serious question, so everything we heard was pretty much what one could read in any Lucas article or book. He spoke a lot about digital (he actually worked with Sony and Panavision to get 24 fps digital cameras for the film world, as opposed to the 30 fps digital cameras you and I, lowly peons, use for our home movies), about special effects (they're just a tool to tell the story, he says), and about his future plans (less Star Wars, more American Grafitti-esque stuff). It was cool, but not as exciting as I had hoped.

One of my actors was hospitalized for the flu, so we got a week-long extension on our final scene. Which is nice, since I really did not want to shoot immediately before Turkey Day Weekend, and then come back and edit after the break. I like to shoot, and then edit, like, the next day, while it's all still fresh. This also means that my final scene is no longer due the day as my final Star Wars paper, a fact that fills me with much joy and relief.

New movie rec at the side. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. I have brand new love for James Spader. Quite interesting.

A Weekend of Clay

I think I have only just now recovered from all the mainline Clack I did this weekend. First up, the Nick at Nite Holiday Special. This was shooting on a tiny sound stage, with seats for maybe 300 people, most reserved for friends and family of all those present. We (myself and some folks from the People's Republic of Clay) decided to show up and see if we couldn't get in (although a few folks managed to get spots through Seatfiller). Arriving at 3:00, we stood in line until 5:30, when we were then told no seats were available. We were disappointed, but we didn't feel too bad, beacuse we saw Clay drive in. Not in a limo. He drove himself, and his hair wasn't all spiky, and he was wearing a blue shirt. It was very exciting. Because a few aforementioned folks did get in, we decided to hang out for a bit so we could do something afterwards. Went to The Grove, ate, window shopped, and came back to CBS Studios.

They were still filming. It was 8:00. We talked to a security guard, and he gave us an estimate of one more hour. We sighed at the thought of Clay inside, right then. 9:15 rolled around. We asked the security guard again what was up. He went to go talk to one of the people in charge of the audience. Came back ten minutes later and told the three of us there were seats, since a few people had left. At this point, I prayed:

Dear Jesus. Please let Clay not have gone on yet. Thank you. Um, Amen.

We snuck inside, where the stage was set up like a lodge, all decorated for Christmas. Martin Mull was running the joint, along with other random TV people. We saw other PRoC people and joined them in what we thought were really bad seats way over at the side, in the very front. Ten (10) minutes after we came in, Clay arrives. He is wearing a tuxedo, a long gray tailored flannel coat, and a long black scarf. He plays himself; he shows up and tells Mull that he's stuck in the "blizzard," and can he watch a favorite holiday special on the TV? He comes in, chats with Joyce DeWitt (?) a moment, then starts watching Bing Crosby. We find out he filmed himself singing the day before, to be digitally inserted in with Bing later.

Clay is there for about 20 minutes. He leaves right in front of us. I was in the very corner seat, and I swear that he was no more than five feet away from me. I could see the color of his eyes. He was so very, very pretty. He looked up and smiled and waved at us, and then left.

Sigh.

Sunday was the American Music Awards at the Shrine, which I walk/ride my bike past every day going to class, so it seemed kind of silly not to pony up the thirty (30) dollars and go. I was way the hell up in the balcony with several other folks; PRoC represented with almost 25 members in attendance. Clay was amazing. His voice just filled the entire auditorium. It was so incredible being there for his win. We all jumped up, freaked out, and made people all around us turn and stare at us with bewilderment and a bit of fear. Good times.

That concludes this update about the Weekend of Clay. And yes, it was worth it. Mmhmm.

I did it in 15 seconds.
I deserved an A!!
Take the How Dexterous Are You? Quiz