Everybody Everybody!

*image from Homestar Runner

Wow, it has been quite some time since I last wrote a blog.  Shame on me. Each week as I vow to do better with this, I fall more behind. This evening, I’d like to take the opportunity to decompress after a busy month of August and very inspiring summer. I’ll try to keep this brief. The past few days have been somewhat of a whirlwind, but I’m sure everyone has been feeling it lately.

Today, I launched the IndieGoGo fundraising campaign for my thesis film Nebula! It’s all very exciting, but makes for little sleep, and even less of an appetite, which can sometimes result in my body breaking down. I have been fortunate not to go completely out of commission but my allergies have definitely been flaring up. This past weekend was labor day, each labor day I seem to revisit Homestar and friends, for a good laugh. With characters named Marzipan, Strong Sad and the Poopsmith, it’s more suited for the young or crass. High school was so much better because of them! Check them out in Labor Daybor.

Homestar Runner hasn’t published any new content in 3 years, but I carry the laughs with me… I also carry Michael Jackson with me and I was super excited to celebrate his birthday in style with Karaoke at Yakitori Boy. They had a happy hour luau party, where I sang so many songs I can’t even remember, but I do remember shutting the house down with Wanna Be Startin’ Something. It was perfect!

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to putting the final touches on the Nebula campaign but held some very important revelations, and even some surprises.  On Friday, I got into an interesting debate about freedom and expression, sort of triggered by the Miley Cyrus fiasco from the previous weekend. The following day at yoga, the word for the day was liberation, and we talked about freedom and expression coming through structure, practice, and discipline and how those ideas are unique to each individual. The instructor talked about doing less and receiving more.

I was starting to feel like I was doing too much, my brain going in so many different directions between figuring things out for graduation, my thesis and the Fulbright to New Zealand. I decided to just be, and let things come to me, and not try to force or control aspects of my situation. Right after yoga, a friend of mine offered me tickets to see Beyonce at the Made in America Festival. How is that for manifestation? It was truly fantastic, and something I definitely couldn’t have planned.

I plan to review the concert in greater detail, but for now I’ll say this: when I saw Beyonce, I saw a woman in transition. (Her birthday is tomorrow). It reminded me of our current place in time/space…entering virgo and transitioning into fall, in addition to my personal transition, out of graduate school and further down the path of my dreams. Powerful and affirming.

Since then I’ve been trying to manage the stress that is directing a film. I must give a shout out to my producer, Chase at Eight Peace Productions. He is such an amazing individual and Nebula would not be possible in the slightest without him.  He also released a preview of his first feature film, Dear Dad. Check out the trailer below. The full length film is streaming on vimeo.

“Dear Dad,” Teaser from Eight Peace Productions on Vimeo.

Chase is such an amazing person, and this is such an important film. I am so glad to have him on my team. Some of the greatest people on the planet are contributing to Nebula, and I am filled with love and gratitude for each of them. I can’t wait to share more about them in the coming days.

Today, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, as my campaign launched. Already the project has raised $150 of it’s $6000 goal with 27 days left to contribute. We’re at almost 50 likes on Facebook, and this is only the beginning. As Chase says, join the moviement! This film could not be possible without the support of my community, I am so thankful each day. You can watch the fundraising video below. Shout out to Madeleine, Chase, and Nile for their help! You guys are awesome!

With all that’s going on in the world, I appreciate the reminders that life is beautiful. We all have so much for which to be grateful.

I want to leave things off on an unusual/comical note (which is not so unusual for me). At 3 a.m. when I had finalized everything for the campaign, I fell asleep watching Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone You Know. I became interested in the film after I saw it listed as one of the 20 best feature debuts from a female director on indiewire.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. I laughed myself to sleep (had some interesting dreams at that) and ended up waking up around 8 a.m. to finish the movie. I found it very intriguing, and at times laugh out loud funny, the following subplot in particular. I text Chase to ask if he had seen it. He informed me it was one of his favorite movies since college. He said of the following “It both made my entire life and ruined it at the same time.” I could not agree more. What is really happening here?