Game of Thrones in Edinburgh, New Orleans, Downton

While Game of Thrones Season 4 is wrapping up tomorrow, it doesn't mean we can't keep the memes, riffs, and variations on the theme song going all summer long. Just enough to land us safely in Downton Season.

Here's the theme played by killer New Orleans band, Swamp Donkeys. Spoiler Alert: It's amazing. I also appreciated Vanity Fair for giving me the mental image of Tyrion Lannister passed out covered in beads at Mardi Gras. Kudos on that.

Next up, for the Scotland lovers out there aka The North, here's a title sequence featuring the beautiful topography of Edinburgh instead of Westeros. Calton Hill for the win! House Blair & House Grant Hollar!

Smize, You're on Perez Hamilton

If there's anything I love more than historical satire, it's historical satire mixed with modern gossip! Obvi. 

Oh, how I love Perez Hamilton, the nerdelightful spoof of Perez Hilton for Federalist times. Why am I such a sucker for these mashups? Remember Jane Austen's Fight Club? Downton Abbey with zombies? It's like I have a tapeworm for this kind of stuff. 

Someone get me some help. Or some company. Join me in my silly amusement. Wanna watch a costume drama? 

Milkshake, Boys,Yard Friday Links

We have officially entered crunch time for NYC trip/Nicholas & Alexandra reading extravaganza. I don't have much else to say besides that. This time next week, I'll be in NYC. In between now and then, I have to show a reel, finish editing a pilot, figure out my place, where I'm staying in NYC, hang with Scottish pals in LA, pass off my car, rewrite a song, go to therapy (bless) get a wedding gift, and come to terms with that fact that (other than that one time where I drove Kiki Vandeweghe's Mercedes SUV without a license) I'll be driving in Manhattan for the first time ever. 

Also, I have placed the milkshake in the yard. So far, no boys. 
Your links:

- Brides Throwing Cats. You're welcome. 
- Pretty cool NY story about a theatre & the rent controlled apts that go with it
- Alice Munro, ol' girl! Way to win that Nobel!
- Old movies more creative than new ones. No shit?
- Walter White's getting a real funeral
- Everything my Franzy currently hates
- I can't wait to read Michael Hastings' novel!
- I finished Dave Eggers' The Circle in less that 48 hours. 
- I love this Guardian review of it. 

Watch Out For Mattresses

So... I had a real blog post planned for today, but turns out, I ended up spending most of the day dealing with this disgusting mattress which got lodged in my wheel axel on the 105/405 junction. I didn't see it fall off anyone's truck and I didn't see it at all until it was too late because some giant SUV was blocking my view and veered away from it only at the last minute. Special thanks to the amazing Highway Patrol Officers who worked to free me and kept me company. 

(PS- Yeah, before you ask, I'm pretty sure that's urine.)

Want To See - Sontag Reborn

There's only a few people whose endless thoughts I don't mind listening to. Once of them is Susan Sontag. That's why when I'm in NYC in June, I'm hoping to catch this at NYTW. Based on Sontag's journals and adapted by performer Moe Angelos, this sounds like the perfect way to spend an evening on my old block.

Performances run through June 30th.

Amy Poehler's Smart Girls

While there are so many reasons to appreciate Amy Poehler, today, let's take a minute to revel in her creation of Amy Poehler's Smart Girls. It's a whole channel and website of content expressing appreciation for the awesomeness of ladies and living true to your authentic self. 

They have several fun series, including Ask Amy, Meow Meow Music, Operation Nice (love it!) Boy's Minute (even) and Smart Girls at the Party, where they interview inspirational women. The website also features a nice rotating reminder of all the kick ass women who have changed the world. It features a good many of my favorites right up front: Dolly Parton, Bernadette Peters, Michelle Obama and Suzanne Vega. 

Basically, this is one of the happiest, funnest places on the internet and one of the best ideas ever. Appreciation rules. Change the world by being yourself. Word up. 

See Our Nic & Alix Sing & Die...in a comedy

Just one more day until our Nicholas & Alexandra reading! I can't wait to see everyone and get crackin. But our Nic and Alix have worked together before so I thought you all might enjoy watching that first (and also musical) encounter between Autumn Hurlbert and Matt Lutz. Singing and dying... these guys are pros at it. 

I'm off to rehearse with him now! Hope  you're having a lovely Sunday!

#danceponydance

So I feel like this is going to be the first in a series I'm tentatively calling "Silly Shit That Makes Me Miss Britain." I think this speaks for itself, so I'll refrain from adding too much commentary. #danceponydance. I miss the UK.

More on Shetland ponies and Scottish tourism here.  To make your own pony mash-up, click here. 

Hope you're having as good a Saturday as this little dude. 

Downton Zombey

Sometimes I think I've had it with Julian Fellowes and I'm going to boycott his show. But then I remember I am an addict and furthermore, I just want to see how he digs his way out of this. I mean, does he realize you can write someone off the show without killing them?

Anyhow. I always enjoy a good Downton riff. This is no exception. Perhaps this is the answer to bringing some of those actors back once they realize they aren't destined for even bigger, better things. Thanks to Christa for the head's up on it. 

Lena Dunham Auditions For Zero Dark Thirty

After several days spent chained to my editing suite, we've submitted the rough cut of Birthday Cake to Frameline Film Festival. Yay! I'm pretty drained, and prepping for my NYC trip, so here's something funny. Chelsea Davison's impression of Lena Dunham is too good. I love it. 

NYC, see you this weekend!

The Middle Middleton

You know I love any good poke at the Middletons. To me, the Middletons are the British version of the infuriating Kardashians. I could go into it further, but I'm trying to lower my rage level lately-- not amp it up. So, instead, I'll just say, Oh, you St Andrews folks with your strange, subtle, humorous videos. 

Meet Doris Middleton. The lesser known, frumpier Middleton sister. This is so weird, I just couldn't resist. 

Oh, and why not! More St Andrews & Middletons.

Terminator: Termination

Here's a little laugh for Sunday. A comedy short my friend directed. I'm so tired and hiked for so long today, I just want to lie on my couch and laugh. Enjoy!

Angelinos and Winter

Okay, but seriously. I moved here to be warm. For. The. Warmth! And I'm still cold all the time because there are no properly insulated buildings here... because its never supposed to be cold! Nevertheless, all the Angelinos have been circulating this video which is equal parts hilarious and true. I mean, yes, we're over reacting, but also... Brrrrrr.

The Californians

When I was living in the UK, my friends experienced the strange pull to duplicate "an American" accent in my presence. The crazy thing was, when they'd do it, they almost always spoke like Valley Girls or Kardashians. "Do I talk like that? Is that how I sound to you?" 

They would always say no, and I have to believe in my heart that I do not speak like a Kardashian. When McC was in the UK and kept trying to explain to people that she had just a generic accent, like the one used on American TV. There isn't really a direct equivalent in the UK. RP has a class connotation. 

But there is a thing about the West Coast and speaking. And now it's really being studied by Stanford linguists! Here it is on the California Report. And here it is with some additional commentary (featuring the fabulous Californians from Saturday Night Live) from the incomparable Lindy West. Boom. (PS- McC, did you know Lindy West is from Seattle?!?) 

Groom's Cake/ Birthday Cake/ I'm a Film Editor Now

Sometimes the skills you pick up on accident while you're peddling your own wares pay off! I've been honing my film editing skills for for years now-- largely in my quest to promote our musicals and through osmosis from having so many film maker friends. Eventually, I realized it was becoming a skill I could probably and should probably get paid for. And now I am! 

I'm excited for my first big project, Birthday Cake, which is the feature length follow up the hit indie short 'mockumentary' Groom's Cake. It was written by my pal Chad Darnell (one of Haviland's first life friends: they met when she was 10!) and has won pretty much every film festival it entered. 

Now, the team is getting back together to make Birthday Cake and I could not be more thrilled to join the gang. We had a read through last night while celebrating Chad's birthday at Hamburger Mary's and I was in love with this script. I wholly support the message and spirit of everything they're trying to do up in here. It's a really lovely, heartfelt story and the main character's name is Ferguson! 

See, there are places in the arts where being anal retentive, detail oriented and obsessed with precision are calling cards and I'm just glad I'm finding my place in those places. We're also raising a few additional funds for the feature via indiegogo. Check it out!

Shout Outs From The Swing States Friday Links

Greetings from Las Vegas in the latest adventure in returning to functioning adulthood. I'm not sure whether I'm more excited to finally have wheels again or to vote. Since it's the last links day before the election, there might be a few more of that variety on here than usual. Bear with me. It's important. 

Here are your links:

- Oh, wait, you mean the economy DOESN'T grow when you tax the rich less??
- Way to show 'em how it's done, George Lucas. Bravo!
- Another rich guy with a heap of sense. Bloomberg endorses Obama.
- More good reads on wealth in America. 
- More on values. Interesting. 
- Go balls out, I guess Jonathan Chait. No arguments over here. 
- Probabilities are not the same as predictions. AKA, get off Nate Silver's back.
- FUNNY. 
- More Cronin!
- Better Book Titles. 
- If VOTE! were on the Daily Show, might look a little something like this. And this. 
- It's the perfect time to buy the VOTE! Cast Album if you don't have it already!
- It's a little old, but I'm obsessed with this LA neighborhood demographics guide. 

Try the Lamb

One of my favorite popular novelists is the lovely Wally Lamb. She's Come Undone, I Know This Much is True, and The Hour I First Believed remain some of the most emotionally affecting works I've ever read. 

On top of all that, Wally Lamb has always just seemed like the nicest man ever. Kind of a cross between Tom Hanks and Toby Ziegler in a way that makes you wish he was your father in law. As it happens, he's got three sons. 

Two of those sons live in New Orleans and one, Justin Lamb,  is a spoken word or performance poet. (I can't bring myself to use the term slam poetry, as it is no longer the nineties.) He does a lot of spots for The Saints. If professional football held any power over me, I'm sure I'd find these very moving. They seem to have the gravitas and high production quality that resonates with sports fans.

My second favorite Justin Lamb moment is this little rumination on his home state of Connecticut. I don't really think of Connecticut as what you'd call 'gangsta,' but I'm glad Justin does. Or is at least willing to wink at us. Continually for three minutes. 

My FAVORITE Justin Lamb moment is his "New York."

He also says one day he'd like to be 'snack laureate.' Snack being one of my favorite words, I'd like to say to Justin, let's just get married. I know Crush Week isn't until February around here, but I just couldn't wait. 

For more Justin, check out here & here. 

My Grandmother is Maggie Smith

While we only have a few days left to wait until the premiere of Downton Abbey's Season 3, I feel the urgent need to tell you something: My Grandmother is Maggie Smith. She's Maggie Smith in The Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood (A movie I'm still surprised Maggie Smith was in, but moving on...) because, obviously, my grandmother has a Southern accent. 

She looks like her, (startlingly so, actually) she acts like her, and she's just as funny. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with her in the hospital this week, and even though the Perry, Georgia Hospital is not my ideal scene setting for hanging with the GrandMary, it did allow for some of her most Maggie Smith-ness to flourish. She had quips and one-liners about the food, the annoying man who always came to do her breathing machine after she'd taken her ambien, who was common, her continued annoyance at people's incorrect use of grammar, and of course, how she missed the gossip of being amongst her friends. 

I will admit that my relationship with my Grandmother has never been quite the same since my Grandfather died. We used to have a kind of deep understanding, some kind of unspoken fun wavelength we were both on at the intersection of historic homes, love of novels, and UNO. There's so much I'm desperate to make her understand about my life, the way she used to so effortlessly when I was a little girl. But instead, we meet at a new intersection: Queen Elizabeth. She wanted to know all about the Jubilee. Which reminded me all the more of Maggie. And I was happy to tell her all about it. 

Even though I'll be missing my Grandmother, I'll be riding high from my time with her happy to have Maggie back on telly, reminding me of my fab family matriarch. 

The Cast of Mad Men Sing Rick Astley

Something funny is just what I need. Been feeling under the weather and my Grandmother aka my primary female role model is in the hospital and not doing well. I may be headed South to see her. In better news, I booked my flight to LA. September 28th, McC will pick up me and Tom Smith from the airport and it will be  LalaLiving for at least the next six months. 

Anyhow, let's watch the cast of Mad Men sing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

The Mindy Project

I'm staring into the mouth of some pretty serious writing deadlines these days. It's the same old thing with me and writing deadlines. I remember this time last year with my dissertation. Oooh, did I want to be left alone. I view pretty much any distraction with resentment. And then I feel guilty that I feel so resentful. Sigh.

But I felt absolutely no resentment whatsoever yesterday when I took some time out to watch The Mindy Project on sneak preview from Hulu. I've been eagerly anticipating this show from the moment I knew of its existence. And though it felt a little sacrileg to watch it without McC, we'll have to wait until the end of September to premiere properly and resume the rest of the season, so I comfort myself in knowing that McC and I can watch this show and its obvious natural counterpart, Downton Abbey, together in Los Angeles splendor. 

Speaking of Downton Abbey, one of the high points of the show was Mindy's crack about Downton Abbey in her drunken, uninvited wedding speech. I loved the cameos, I loved the constant rom-com commentary, you know I loved the Chris Messina (though obviously not as much as, inevitably, McC will love him in the show) and I loved how just like all the good rom coms you know right away that Chris Messina and Mindy are supposed to get together, even though they hate each other. 

I think most ladies of my generation-- at least my friends-- feel more like Mindy Kaling than Lena Dunham. I've bought Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? for almost all of my close girlfriends. Her blog, The Concerns of Mindy Kaling is one of the funniest on the internet. Mindy, girlfriend, I'm coming to Los Angeles. Let's be pals.