I am converting Buffy fanatics one person at a time. Or, should I say, "one by one". Which is a call back to the Remainders show, so if you didn't see it, then that's a dumb reference. Ok, fine, it's kind of a dumb reference even if you did see it. I digress. Greg borrowed all of my seasons, and I now have Faith watching them. We pretty much haven't left the couch all afternoon. The past two days have been great!

It started with the Remainders show. We had fun. Granted, the show wasn't really deep or mind blowing, but our song work was good, and we had amazing group mind. Which is not something we had in great quantities in L4. Then we went to Denny's because I was starving. Bill and Greg hadn't showed up yet, but I suggested we order anyways because I was so hungry. I got a ranch chicken melt with an upgrade to seasoned fries. I owed Jeff two of said fries b/c he correctly guessed Denny's was on the south west corner of the intersection. Oh, if your license plate is OMG LOL, Jeff and I contemplated slashing your tires. Bill and Greg arrive and order, and everyone's food comes out. Everyone except mine. They forgot. I get my sandwich when everyone else is pretty much done eating. But that's fine, the company was great. I take Jeff home and hang out with the boys for a bit, re-hashing the show. It was much fun! Reminiscent of this summer, when we were in a troupe together. Something I missed a ton. Then went back to Bill's b/c people were hanging out @ his place. I took him to the airport at around 5:30 in the morning. OK, so here's a sliver of how cool Bill Binder is. Other than him being a ninja for a month. Other than him being the most talented improviser I know. Other than the two arcade games in his living room. People just hang out at his place. They stayed after we left for the airport. And that happens a lot. People come and go as they please from his place. Anyway, so I went back to bed for a few hours. Woke up, talked Jesus with Faith for 2 hours, got a massage, then watched Elektra. Not Netflixed, just something Faith borrowed from her mom. It was a fun movie that makes me want to work out every day. Jennifer Garner seems to have that effect on me.

Then, Faith gave me a heads up that we were going someplace in the middle of the night. She wouldn't tell me what or where, just that it was around 3 am. I said as long as it didn't involve a ritual sacrifice, I trusted her. Then I wasted 2 hours and 57 minutes watching the abomination described below. Sleep for a couple of hours, then get up to go to the surprise. She tells me to pack my camera. We get in the car. Now, I love Tempe at night. It is so beautiful--everything all lit up. We're on University and we drive by Mill.

"Oh, WOW!!! Look at all the lights in the trees. That's gorgeous!"
"Yeah, that's where we're supposed to go...except everything's roped off!"

Faith is very upset by this. She brought me to Mill in the middle of the night so we could get some shots w/o people or traffic (how great is my roommate?!!), but because of New Year's Eve, everything was roped off. There were police out and the vendors were already setting up. We couldn't even park and walk. She was so sad. It was really sweet. Anyway, since we were up, we decided to watch 2 more Buffy episodes. Went to bed at 5, got up at 10 for Lolo's. The majority of the Phoenix improvisers got together this morning for breakfast. It was awesome! Except that an exact replay of Denny's happened. They forgot my food. This time I was too annoyed to wait for them to make more. Plus, everyone was done eating. So I had some of Michelle's and bitched about it for 20 minutes.

Then Faith and I ran some errands, I dyed my hair, and we've been watching Buffy ever since. Except for the food incidents, this has been the most perfect 48 hours. I've been able to spend some great time with some fantastic friends. I've had great conversations and got to perform with some incredibly talented people. If this is any indication of how 2006 is going to go, then I'm in for a fabulous year.

Movie Review: Troy

Well, I have Netflix again by accident, so I've been watching a lot of movies. Yesterday's waste of 2 hours and 57 minutes was Troy. Do not see it. Unless you are a freak for Greek history. In a similar vein, do not see Master and Commander unless you really like boats. The only redeeming quality of Troy was Brad Pitt's fight scenes. They were spectacular. The choreography was very inventive and fast. I was quite impressed with that. But the rest sucked.

"But, Ashley," you might say, "your boyfriend was in it."

Yes. Yes he was. And he sucked as well. His character was a wuss. Now, in Gladiator, Commodus was a wuss. But Joaquin Phoenix made him lovable. In fact, that was one of my favorite characters in that movie (which I liked better the first time when it was called Braveheart). But unfortunately, Orlando Bloom did nothing wonderful in this film. And don't even get me started on the female characters. They were all so one-dimensional. Helen of Troy wasn't even that pretty. And she's supposed to be the most beautiful woman in all of history. Diane Kruger is a hot chick, don't get me wrong, but Orlando Bloom was prettier. Hmmm, maybe he should have played Helen. And I couldn't tell if she loved Paris or if she was going against her will. Her actions did nothing to make me believe the former.

There was a scene between Priam and Achilles that could have been so great, but it was a flat performance by Peter O'Toole. Which made me think it was poor directing. However, Eric Bana was wonderful, so I'm not sure about that theory.

Brad Pitt was naked most of the movie, which was all well and good, but he mumbled. That's my note on all of his films. I think he's a terrific actor (see 12 Monkeys, Fight Club, Se7en), but he talks like his mouth is full of rocks. It's annoying.

In short, Troy blew chunks. Unless you watch it for the fight scenes or the history, I would not recommend it. In fact, I almost turned it off, but I have this thing where I will sit through an entire movie no matter how much I hate it. Because I have to at least give it a chance.

Johnny Depp is the finest actor on the planet. Not "fine" as in "hot", but "fine" as in "genius". John Malkovich and Gary Oldman are tied with him, but I've seen more of Johnny Depp's work, so therefore I'm biased. I just watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and was blown away by his performance. See also "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Benny and Joon". Who am I kidding...see *all* his films! He has fun. I mean, the man loves what he is doing. He is so empathetic and soft. In "Finding Neverland", you really felt for his character. It is so inspiring to watch this actor transform.

*On a side note, something that makes me love him even more: His two children are named Jack and Lily, the names of the main characters in "Legend"...only one of my favorite movies!

zha, i will never be able to express in words what your friendship means to me because they haven't been invented yet.

i love you.

I've had food poisoning one other time in my life, and I thought I was going to die. Actually, I wanted to die. I've never felt anything like that before. I just kept thinking, "I haven't eaten in 24 hours...how is it possible that I'm still throwing up?" Today is nothing like that. I'm more exhausted than anything, seeing as I've been up since 4 this morning. This time, I don't want to die. I just want to be able to sleep for more than an hour without getting sick. And my stomach muscles hurt already from laughing so hard at Liz & Matt's.

I've moved up from water to saltines and diet 7 up. Let's hope they stay down.

You know it's time to leave the party when...

You're wearing the hostess's robe and the dog dry humps your thigh because of a case of mistaken identity.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

A Public Apology

Dear Pancreas,

I would just like to apologize for the consistent abuse you have been putting up with for the past two weeks. It ends tonight (after that coldstone creamery fiasco). Thank you for not giving up on me and walking out. Tomorrow you will get eggs and tuna instead of cookies and chocolate. You did nothing to deserve this horrid, horrid treatment you've been receiving. I promise to be better to you in the days and weeks to come. In fact, lets go out on a date tomorrow. How about the gym? We can work off some of that pure sugar I have been dousing you with. Thank you for not sending me into a diabetic coma out of spite.

Love always,
ac

I guess I could explain a little more for those of you who aren't in the email chain:

My reasons for leaving are just that I'm ready to work on different formats of improv. I've been studying with the Remainders (musical improv, long form), but I haven't been able to play. Next Thursday will be my first show with them (and only their 2nd show as a troupe). I just felt like it was time for me to try something new.

I love the JesterZ, which is why this was so hard for me to decide. But I feel like I've made the right choice for myself.

The End

This Friday night at 8 or 10 will be my last two shows. Come see if you like.

Wow. So, okay. I just quit the JesterZ.

I love my parents. They are calling me everyday with a Christmas Countdown, and also with the current Ohio temperature. The message today:

"Hi, Ash. Well, 5 days till Christmas! It's 6 degrees here, which is damn cold. Love ya!"

I love the fact that they tell me the temperature evertime I talk to them between October and April. I wish they'd just move. That'll be my gift to them after my first big movie roll. A house in AZ.

Because one time I mentioned that I met a myspace friend, this it the message I get from Hagrid (P.S. I hope you don't mind, but I nearly peed my pants when I read it. You make me laugh.):

How is frickin +'m, that's all I ever hear. Oh +'m is my friend, and +'m owns a house, +'m has a nice car, +'m, +'m, +'m!!!!!!

Ok, so that isn't happening, but it could and I am very emotional.

Cheers,

Lets do some F'ng IMPROV ASHLEY!!!!!!! I am sooooo stoked. Break out and bring it on.

WOOOO HHOOOOOO... CAPTAIN FURIOUS HAS ARRIVED.

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO END THIS MESSAGE...

LOOK OUT... arhhhghhhgh. un.. uh..... ouch.


******************
I have the coolest friends on the planet.

Just as I was congratulating myself for another fabulous batch of banana nut bread I was about to put in the oven (it's for a lunch tomorrow), I realized I had left out a key ingredient. That would be the nuts. So I poured the nuts on top of the batter, which was already in the loaf pan, and used a wooden spoon to mash them in. We'll see how that works in 65 minutes.

stupid kelly clarkson and your stupid lyrics that make me cry stupid tears in my stupid car




stupid broken heart

There were only 10 of us at rehearsal tonight. That's less than half. Then one person left. OK, so I'm the last one to say anything, especially since I have been loathing rehearsals lately, but show some respect. Yes, the exercise may not be the best use of our time, but the director chose it, so support it.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my future with this troupe.

We'll see.

Since everyone seems pretty keen on a drive-in movie, what are y'all up to Saturday night? Chronicles of Narnia, anyone? 7:30? Anyone wanna go?

The other day I withdrew $40 from what I thought was my checking account. When I pulled my card out, I realized it was my credit card. I didn't even know I could access that cash. "Oh, well," I thought. "No big deal," I thought. Well, I just checked my account and I have a $10 cash advance fee. That is 25% of what I withdrew. ON ACCIDENT! Seeing as I am Stingy McStingerson, this realization almost sent me into atrial fibrillation.

Yesterday's shows were so great, especially considering the circumstances going into them. I spent the entire day on the couch in front of the tv trying to summon the will to get up. I have a cold and generally feel miserable. Looking at the lineup, I knew there would be enough people to cover the 10 o'clock in case I couldn't make it the entire night. But I thought I'd go and give it a shot, even though what I really wanted to do was stay holed up in my room. The 8 o'clock was supposed to have 7 people & a director, then we were adding an 8th for the 10 o'clock. Well, things didn't go exactly as planned.

Liz and Matt S were sick, so they stayed home. Ben was a no call/no show. Now, he always lets me know if he's going to be late or miss rehearsal or something, so I was a little worried when he hadn't contacted anyone. At about 7:30 I called him to make sure he was okay. Well, apparently he never got the email for the lineups, so he didn't even realize he was in the show. Luckily, He was able to make it just before 8. As we're trying to hammer out the details of how we're going to do a sold out show with a small cast, some head-butting went on. So the vibe was a little off right before lights.

But then the show killed. I think because we were all hyper-aware that we needed to really pull together, it worked. My alltimefavorite game is nightmare, and I asked if we could do that as one of the games. It ended up being my favorite scene. The guy who interviewed us was with a group of 53, and they loved it! A new edit was invented that really works for the dream sequence. It was sort of a peel-away.

I ended up sticking around for the 10 o'clock, which was also really great! Even though I didn't get to bed until close to 2, I was so happy I did the shows. Sometimes when I get in these hermit moods, I get discouraged about everything. It was nice to end the day on such an up note.

Now I am off to bed to nurse this cold.

Sunday Morning Drive rocked Cooper'stown tonight! On my way home from dropping Kelly off I drove past the drive-in movie theater. Anyone wanna go? I haven't been to the drive-in in forever. How much fun!?!

P.S. Hello Allied Riser Communications, Canada. Especially if you are Jason!!

This is ridiculous. I should have been in bed 2 hours ago. What's even more ridiculous is the fact that I'm complaining about being tired, and yet not going to bed. And tomorrow I will probably be out late, and Saturday I will be up early for work. But Saturday night I will be out late (doing both JesterZ shows). Then Sunday I will be up early. But I think Sunday night I will not see the Originals show and I will instead go to sleep. Or watch more Buffy Season 7.

I am a goober.

EVERYONE was nominated for a Zoni tonight--both casts...including my beautiful, talented roommate, Faith!! Yea! I can't wait to see you next Thursday!

As most of you know, I'm huge into letting people know they're appreciated. So, last week it was really cool when Greg told Bill how much he respected him as a friend and a performer, and how important he is to the PHX improv scene. As cheesy as this sounds, it warmed my heart to hear someone else do that. In the same sense, I'm also huge into complimenting people. Even if they're complete strangers. Because, why not? At the Thanksgiving Thursday service, a girl spoke who had gorgeous eyes. I told her so as we were leaving. It's small, but sometimes that can really brighten someone's day. And you never think it will come back to you. Well, yesterday it did. At the JesterZ workshop a woman complimented me, and I got all choked up. It felt really good. And also just re-emphasized that I will continue to do that for others.

So here's the challenge: Compliment one stranger a day. Because you never know how that's going to affect them, and how much they may need to hear something nice at that moment.

It's amazing what a good pair of shoes can do for a girl. I look supercute today and wish I wasn't wasting it on my office people. We're normally allowed to wear jeans, but today there were "special visitors", so we had to look nice. So I decided to wear my kickass boots. The only place I've worn them before is when I'd go out dancing. I'm in all black w/ a pink 1950's-style sweater. Today is a good day.

I sometimes forget the power music has over me. My ipod decided to play Thomas Newman and I wanted to run my car off the road.

Well, maybe not that extreme, but it definitely made me want to cry.

Cedar Point. Now THIS is what I'm talking about!