good advice
June 26, 2010, 9:01 am
Last night as I was putting Huck to bed I asked him what he thought this movie was about, curious if he's figured out the more dramatic story lines of a family dealing with anger, religion, homosexuality, acceptance and forgiveness (to name a few). He made a facial expression that led me to believe he was thinking up a good answer, but when he finally spoke this is what he said: "Do you know the best way to hold in a toot? You hold your bottom together really tight for a few minutes and then you don't toot."(That is NOT what this movie is about.)
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[ 8 comments ] ( 63 views )two weeks
June 22, 2010, 9:46 am
We've been here in beautiful Texas for two weeks now and are getting closer and closer to finishing the movie. We've gotten used to our very long days, the heat, trips to the neighborhood pool and our very comfortable home. Huck can't get enough of playing with chalk and a hose on the driveway, and often he and Rachel entertain themselves by carrying around their backpack and suitcases and wandering around the house and yard on a quest to find a will. That's what you get from two kids who read books like Nancy Drew and the A-Z Mysteries. On Father's Day morning the two sleuths found a dead mouse floating in our hot tub (which is really a cold tub) and they promptly scooped it out and insisted on a proper buriel. Bartholemew Jenkins III is now forever a part of this lakehouse.Last week we shot a "family talent show" scene, and Huck was given the direction to mess up a magic trick so that one of the characters could help him later. For us magicians this is not an easy task, but there in front of all the cameras and a room full of people he brilliantly messed up a trick he knows very well. Again I shake my head in wonder at this natural little movie star who wants to be a volcanologist and live in Hawaii when he grows up.
One of the best parts of being in the Austin area is that we get to hang out with Shannon. Huck and I got to spend our day off Saturday at her apartment and in her glorious resort-like swimming pool with our good friend Kathy, and then she joined us at our place for a slumber party. Our good friends Mike and Chris came over, too, and we enjoyed a meal together, some romantic sky writing, the hot tub pre-dead mouse, fireworks, and star gazing around the fire pit. Not going to be easy to leave this place.
But the most exciting thing to happen in our lives lately is the birth of Huck's new cousins Jackson Thomas and Rylee Grace! Aunt Tina and Uncle Scott became parents on Saturday morning and we couldn't be happier for them! Ten more days and we get to hold those babies ourselves, and that will go a long way in taking the sting out of leaving our Texas paradise ...
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[ 7 comments ] ( 61 views )texas greetings
June 14, 2010, 10:45 pm
We just finished day five of our "Beyond Belief" film shoot here in Lago Vista, Texas, a beautiful town about 45 minutes outside of Austin. We're staying in a beautiful lake house, which is also our film set, along with our good friends Greg, Jennifer and Rachel. By day (and sometimes night) this place is filled with an incredible film crew and a whole lot of cameras and other equipment. Once everyone packs up and leaves after a long 11 to 12 hour day it becomes our quiet home once again until they all return in the morning. Two nights in a row Huck somehow fell asleep with a scene being shot right outside his bedroom. There are no words to describe the absurd noise being made just a few feet away from where he snoozed. But he's so exhausted at the end of the day that it doesn't seem to really matter.On our way here last week I asked Huck what he was most excited about. He said, "That we'll be living in a big house and I can make all the noise I want." This is true some of the time, but unfortunately once the shooting begins he and his onscreen sister Rachel are expected to be totally silent. Torture! Thankfully Rachel's wonderful grandma Fran takes very good care of the children and entertains them with quiet activities and snacks. And we're figuring out ways to get them in the car and drive them far away from the demands of a movie set.
Tonight while tucking Huck into bed I asked him why he's so natural at acting. He answered my question with a question of his own. He asked, "If I'm infinity good at movie acting, what are you?" I decided I was 1000 good at movie acting. He agreed and said that all of us are only 1000 good at movie acting (and elderly people are only 1 good) and that he and Rachel are both infinity good because they are so young. And really, the cast and crew all agree: they're naturals. They never look at the cameras (and there's always three on us, as well as two sound guys with their gigantic mikes and at least five other people doing various things), they often improvise brilliant lines and are very cooperative even when we have to do the take over and over again. With the air conditioning turned off because of the noise. While wearing flannel pajamas. Honestly, one of these days they're going to figure out that they can go on strike and we're going to be in a lot of trouble.
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[ 4 comments ] ( 57 views )what a character
June 7, 2010, 8:48 pm
Tomorrow we head to Austin for Huck's movie star debut. He'll play Jack, the son of Mattie (played by me) and Thomas (played by Troy) and sister to Annie (played by our little friend Rachel who looks quite a bit like him) in "Beyond Belief," a film directed and written by our friend and CHALK director/writer Mike Akel. The other day Huck stopped eating his dinner and looked at me with a wistful look on his face and said, "Mommy, this is the first movie where I'll play a CHARACTER."Today I talked about playing in the sand down by the lake where we'll be staying and he said, "But what about the movie?" I asked, "What about the movie?" And with a hint of irritation at my stupidity he said, "I won't be able to play in the sand. I'll be working on the MOVIE."
We'll be sure and get you all an autograph when he's famous.
New York? We'll see you in five weeks. Don't miss us too much.
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[ 9 comments ] ( 79 views )mystery solved!
June 5, 2010, 10:26 am
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Yesterday was Huck's last day of pre-K. The rest of the children go till June 28th but since we’re about to get on an airplane and spend the next five weeks in Texas and Kansas we had to take him out early. This means he’ll miss his tap recital and his moving-up ceremony, but he insists that’s okay with him. His teachers and classmates gave him lots of loving goodbyes (he was greeted upon his arrival to school with shouts of "HAPPY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, HUCK!") and we celebrated afterwards by spending the afternoon and early evening down at the river with close friends (and some fire trucks, police cars, an ambulance, helicopters and a Coast Guard boat because Troy called 911 a few times, worried about a man whose kayak capsized). Talk about exciting!
I am happy to say that Troy and I have finally solved the mystery of "Where Will Huck Attend Kindergarten In September?" It's been an exciting and excruciating journey of tours, Q&As, application forms, a test and those test results. We always knew we had our neighborhood's wonderful public school PS187 (where Huck went to Pre-K), but we felt we should explore other options, and this being New York there are lots of other options. Our dream school was always Muscota, a progressive education place nearby where there's no text books, no grades, little homework, lots of emphasis placed on the individual student and many exciting field trips all over the city. Sadly, Huck's name was not one of the lucky 28 drawn in the lottery and he was placed on a wait list along with many other children from around here.
Then a couple months ago we received his Gifted and Talented test results which opened up more possibilities. Most of these schools are too far away for us to even consider, but we did tour, fall in love with and then apply for a coveted spot at an excellent school called Anderson on the upper west side around the block from the Museum of Natural History. Being a G&T school, Anderson is accelerated and enriched learning with an enormous amount of resources.
And then out of the blue Muscota called and offered Huck a spot! I was literally in shock, having decided his chances at this school were over. It felt a little bit like an ex-boyfriend wanting me back after I had accepted the fact that we would never be together again, just when I was starting to have feelings for someone else. I was quckly reminded of how nurturing, loving and creative this school is and how much Troy and I would love for Huck to go there. I decided to take back my boyfriend. But we knew there was still a tiny little chance Huck's name could be drawn in the Anderson lottery on June 4th, so we braced ourselves for that.
After a grueling several weeks of waiting for Huck’s educational fate to be decided, we finally got the news yesterday afternoon immediately after saying goodbye to Pre-K that he did not have a spot at Anderson. And though I’m sure it would have been a wonderful school for Huck, we are quite relieved that the school we wanted for him all along is going to be his. Muscota, here we come!
Now I can begin the next stage of my life ... freaking out over Huck going to kindergarten.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcjaCwYu518
http://www.muscota.org/
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[ 51 comments ] ( 178 views )another goodbye
June 3, 2010, 4:41 pm
The worst thing about living in New York is that every so often close friends pack their bags and move far away. This time it's our friend Heather and her wonderful family. We had a goodbye picnic celebration this morning at FACPAC complete with slip 'n slides and edible dirt. And after hugging and saying our goodbyes we decided we'd see each other tomorrow at the Schremmer goodbye picnic down at the river. It's hard to keep track of all these goodbyes.(Don't worry, New York, we'll be back in a few weeks.)
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[ 14 comments ] ( 68 views )