March 17, 2009 at 6:44 am (1)
Tags: Drafting, los angeles, stones, UCLA
How many people actually live in glass houses?
In my drafting class, we often use glass to substitute for more substantial architecture, because drawing glass is really much simpler than drawing almost anything else.
Simple to draw, even simpler to break.
People who live in glass houses…should not throw stones.
December 17, 2008 at 7:43 am (1)
Tags: art, ballet, dance, music, new year's, resolutions
(To) Resolve, in music, means to bring a chord or a pitch from a dissonant sound to a consonant or final sound. Most songs, at least ones that sound finished, end on a consonant sound. This ending note or chord signals the completion of the piece, the story, the journey…and similar to the lexicon of writing…it is called the resolution.
Bach Chorale
This year, I feel reasonably accomplished. I performed a solo with the ballet company I was training with, then choreographed for and danced in LA Unbound, moved up to Art Department Coordinator, which was and continues to be a huge step forward, bought a condo and moved up to Studio City…I think this year is…resolving pretty well.
I am lucky to be already accomplishing some of my long term goals and thus, as I begin or will begin 2009, I have some smaller things in mind:
New Year’s Resolutions 2009
1) Save money for retirement
2) Learn how to do fouette turns en pointe
3) Learn how to draft accurately
4) Spend more time reading and less time watching television
5) Write a play
6) Volunteer at the Catholic Worker (with Meagen)
No matter how things resolve, my dear Venezuelan friend Jesus reminds me constantly that its not about the end goal. Its all about the “yourney”.
December 7, 2008 at 10:55 pm (1)
Tags: brooklyn, manhattan, new york, street, this ain't queens
i’ve been in new york this weekend for approximately 32 hours. unfortunately, i’m about to get on a plane headed back to la.
i’ve spent a cumulative couple of months in new york, particularly when i worked for my dad a few summers ago. there is absolutely nowhere like new york city. no matter how cold it gets, how dirty, how packed in, how old…i will always love new york.
although i’m no new yorker, i love that new york, no bullshit attitude. plus, you can always get away with driving like a bat out of hell.
here’s how to play like you know new york even if you ain’t never been:
1) walk super fast and blow right by people who are slow (my favorite method of walking) so you can just get to wherever the hell you are going.
2) never use a subway map in public. track that from home and memorize the pattern. whenever you are going downtown, you head towards brooklyn, uptown is towards queens. you can’t just drop into any subway, you have to get to the right corner of the street.
3) spend some quality time with brooklyn. my beloved borrough. same city, same history, same people minus the crowds and cost
4) tell your cab driver where to go. “i’m going to 39th and 5th, head east on 23rd and then make a left on park”.
5) stay far away from times square.
and now for something completely different: this is my good friend alan with my exboyfriend from years ago, andrew, on the stage of andrew’s play “spring awakening”
November 17, 2008 at 6:58 am (faith)
Tags: cathoLic, detroit, faith, los angeles, st. blase
Los Angeles and religion are like Madonna and her fake British accent. They don’t go together naturally…everyone knows its a forced bond.
Luckily for me, there are a lot of Mexicans in LA and hence, a lot of Catholic churches. And although the pews are barely half full, I still regularly attend Mass on Sundays.
Many people find it extremely weird that I found my faith during the years when most people shed all beliefs and convictions. In Atlanta, I was often praised for my spirituality; here I am greeted with shock and awe…even by people I’ve known for a couple of years.
Lauri: “You’re Catholic?”
Me: “Yes”
Lauri: “Like, actually Catholic? Like you go to church?”
Me: “Yes”
Lauri: “On Sundays?”
Me: “Yes”
Lauri: “Huh. I didn’t think people still did that”
Well, people do. In fact, a lot of people do, because there is actually a world outside of Los Angeles.
So today, I was sitting in church having a really hard time sitting still. This is a running theme in my life, but especially hard to control in church. Even more difficult…trying to calm my mind. I kept thinking about the Of Montreal concert next weekend and my job and my house and Thanksgiving….on and on…until I heard the one song that can bring me back into focus: Glory to God
Most people don’t care much for Glory to God. We sing it every week. You’d think it would get old, but not for me. Glory to God is the ONLY song I can remember from my childhood church-going days with Grandma. Her church, St. Blase, sang that song with so much joy and energy.
When I moved to LA, I could not find a church that sang the song with the correct arrangement. Every church sang Glory to God as a solemn, quick song to get through. Not a celebration. Certainly, not glorious.
Today, when I heard Glory to God sung in the jubilant way of St. Blase, I started to cry. On this particular Sunday when I found it so difficult to be centered, so hard to remember why I was sitting in a church, something moved in and grabbed me back…dare I say, it was God?
September 1, 2008 at 10:05 pm (art, dance, design, le cinema, money)
Tags: art, dance, los angeles, theater
LA is full of starving artists. Especially actors, although I think they count reasonably less than everyone else depending on their talent and goals. However, there are tons of visual artists, dancers, writers, playwrights, directors who are producing work even when it actually costs them money.
Most of my friends are artists in some way. I am an artist sometimes. I studied art, I used to produce “art”, I dance and I contribute to set design. I find it very important to patronize the arts.
Last weekend, Maritza and I both came to support Jesus, who loves dance more than life itself. He had a 2 minute solo in Sarah’s Zodiac piece (he was Libra). 2 minutes is a very long time to be on stage by yourself. He was brilliant! A very thoughtful and spiritual dancer. I am so lucky to be invited to watch him grow and perform.
At the same performance were 2 very young dance companies, in addition to Sarah’s. All 3 companies perform modern pieces based in culture and society. They extract their inspiration from literature, politics and social constructs.
A week or so ago, I bought 3 photographs. The interesting thing about me purchasing photography is that I always said I had no respect for it. The other interesting thing is that it is all over my apartment. A 5 x 4 picture of New York, a 11 x14 photograph of Hugh Hamilton’s dancer/butterfly given to me by Lisa and Hugh, and now 3 collage photographs of LA icons, the Capital Records building, the Arclight movie theater, and Hollywood Forever cemetery.
Not only are these photographs beautiful in the way they are designed, but they are beautiful in what they represent. A Hollywood era nearly coming to end. In addition, these 3 unique places are each a block from my office in different directions. I can see 2 of them from the window I sit at everyday.
It is vital to support independent artists. Particularly when you are an artist yourself. Often, I find people talking about how the arts are unfunded and how programs are being taken out of schools. But are these same people putting their money (and time) where their mouth is?
August 16, 2008 at 5:28 pm (1)
The valley is too hot. Its ugly and crowded. Its too far away from anything interesting. I don’t travel over the hill on the weekends.
These are previous sayings of mine.
I may be moving to the valley.
Both Gina and Brad think its hysterical. The girl who used to rag on the valley all the time, may live there longer than the rest of em!
I’ve been looking at condos in Studio City, which is just over the hill from Hollywood. Studio City is actually the only acceptable part of the valley to me for this reason. Its just over the hill. (This will become my new mantra).
Studio City is actually very nice and slightly less crowded, especially when it comes to real estate. It has a lot of its own nice restaurants, bars, coffee shops, stores, etc. Its right next to many of the major studios, hence its name, which would be great if any one wants to hire me in this industry when I’m wrapped on Dexter.
I actually may…..really…..love…..living there.
July 3, 2008 at 5:46 am (1)
Tags: johnny appleseed, los angeles, The Whole 9
“above the fold” was the last project i worked on at TheWhole9.
in trying to get more consistent traffic and build a stronger membership base, Lisa decided to launch a blog section. Lisa and I built a template from scratch, obviously referencing popular blogging sites. we talked in depth with our site designers. after weeks of meetings and throwing ideas around, we finally got one of the developers of wordpress to implement our design.
Lisa decided to only allow a few professionals in various fields to write blogs. there is Johnny Appleseed (a green living consultant), Mike The Wine Guy (a Disney employee who moonlights as a sommelier at a wine bar), Mannix (our resident chef) and several others…
Tonight I went to the launch party and met some of the other new “bloggers”. Word on the street is that the blogs are highly effective. Good news. Its always good to know that something you worked on had a lasting effect. Way different from working with product placement…
Check out above the fold (and my winning template…i even helped design some of the headers):
June 29, 2008 at 4:22 pm (1)
Tags: art, art student's league, new york
a few years ago, when i was working in new york for the summer, one of my co-workers told me about the Art Student’s League. The Art Student’s League, as she said, was an old, public school for visual arts where you can take classes in nearly any medium for relatively cheap and with no restrictions. About to begin the process of painting my thesis, I took the D train up to Columbus Circle to see what this place was all about.
The school was founded by artists in the late 1800s and has been run by artists ever since. Some incredible artists have taught and taken class there including Thomas Eakins, Georgia O’Keeffe, Man Ray, Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, and William Merritt Chase.
The building, settled in a great part of Manhattan (used to be right near the Broadway Dance Center where I took dance), is an older building, with dark grey walls and beautiful skylights. The teachers are phenomenal and the cost is ridiculously cheap.
Even though, there are no qualifications and little expense, it is highly respected to attend this school. Very well known for being absolutely excellent and run by complete passion for the artforms.
This is the kind of thing you find only in New York. Los Angeles needs a little bit of this selflessess. This compassion for young artists. This mentorship and availability of the professionals. Los Angeles needs its own Art Student’s League.
I still have my student card on my refridgerator.
June 28, 2008 at 4:19 am (1)
A snapshot of the week of June 23-27:
Bo: The director wants a bloodbath, just pools of blood everywhere…you know just like your sorority in college.
—————————————————————
Jason: Hi, I’m Jason
Me: Are you playing the child molestor?
Jason: Yes, hide your children
—————————————————————
Brad: (about my failed attempt to move to Melrose) Alexa, I cannot believe you were going to live in that apartment
Me: I always did say I was going to move to a box in Hollywood. I guess I was just chasing the dream.
—————————————————————
Me: She’s just kind of full of that LA bullshit, isn’t she?
Gina: Yea….but…..I mean, we’re all full of LA bullshit
—————————————————————
Me: Brad made more money than me this week.
Rami: Welcome to coordinating.
—————————————————————
(Note from Bo):
“A: DIRT! – Bo”
(Note in reply from me to Bo)
“Bo- Plenty o’ dirt at cemetery. Yogu will place it wherever you want. He’ll even dig you a grave. – Lex”
June 20, 2008 at 4:39 am (1)
Tags: Apartments, atlanta, Beverly Hills, los angeles, The Valley
One of my curtain rods fell down on Sunday signifying that they needed a change. Apparently, my curtains would rather be located on the floor. Unwillingly, I unscrewed the other side and detached it from the wall.
My wall is lopsided now.
I have been in LA for one year and 18 days. While I feels like I’ve lived here forever, I remember just yesterday having a parking space, a balcony and…fresh air. Trying to find an apartment in LA is like having a baby. You’re optimistic at first, but then quickly realize it will be long, painful and very expensive.
I started looking for apartments two months ago. I have to admit, I barely tried, because I have very little motivation. Its a huge effort to move and I don’t necessarily have to. However, writing my 1100 rent check every month is like giving away one of my limbs.
Every time I tell someone in LA that I’m from Atlanta, they inevitably have a cousin, sister, mother, friend, uncle, or neighbor who moved to Atlanta. This person has discovered low real estate prices, new job opportunities, good weather and less traffic (compared to LA…) For a moment, I remember my beautiful 4 bedroom house in Decatur when parking on the side of the house felt like such a hassle.
In my effort to increase my quality of life, I have been trying to move over to LA’s Westside, which is obviously closer to the beach. A few days ago, I realized I work in Hollywood and most of my friends live and work in the valley. I have no friends on the Westside, no job on the Westside and no chance of a future job on the Westside. So I informed my friends:
Me: I’m moving to Silverlake
Erin: Lex, Silverlake is not safe. You’re going to get shot.
Me: I’d rather get shot than live in Burbank.
(Erin lives in Burbank)
I also called my Dad:
Me: Dad, I’m moving to the Eastside
Dad: Oh honey, I want you to be safe.
Me: I feel very safe in LA
Dad: You do? Perhaps its because you live in Beverly Hills.
Me: Perhaps. I do live in the sketchy part of Beverly Hills though.
I went and looked at an apartment in West Hollywood today. Great neighborhood, ok building, sad apartment. Pitifully sad. One small room, a tiny closet, one cabinet, half a stove, a mini fridge and a sink in the living room. No parking. 900 a month.
In Atlanta, for 900 a month, you can get a brand new one bedroom apartment with new carpet, a balcony, pool and a parking space.
Maybe its time to move to the valley…
