Soap Making Fun

This is the sort of thing that happens when I go home and get crafty with my family.

Magazine Interview About Religion

To be completely honest I forgot the name of the magazine, I just remember that it was French and I was interviewed for it. Anyway there was this girl who was majoring in Jewish Studies and somehow she had this gig where she was getting coverage on religious American young people and like I ended up randomly sitting by her so she went on ahead and interviewed me and this girl about being Episcopalian.

I'll give more details when she e-mails me about photos and whatever. But yeah, that was pretty random. Outside of that I've been half-asleep and working on papers today.

peace,

-Tori

The World is Way Too Scary Right Now

"WASHINGTON - Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.

The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, showed the crucial employment market deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid clip, and handed Americans some more grim news right before the holidays.

As companies throttled back hiring, the unemployment rate bolted from 6.5 percent in October to 6.7 percent last month, a 15-year high."

Full article here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28067433?GT1=43001

Oh, always much fun to hear that jobs are getting harder and harder to get during finals. At least this hasn't affected my ability to get part-time gigs too much yet.

Ahhh, and then this sort of stuff makes you think of loans that need to be paid off in a couple of years. Ahhhh. I guess now I'll stop thinking about this and "relax" with final papers.

peace,

Tori

Proof that I got kicked out of my dorm at 3:30 AM a couple weeks ago because of a fire

Eh, that was the worst night ever. I had gone to bed late anyway and my hair was still wet because I didn't feel like drying it after my shower and it was so cold that night. Oh and apparently fire alarms don't wake me up, they just make me try to turn off my alarm clock and go back to bed. My roommate had to scream at me to get up, which I think still took a while anyway.

But yeah, I think someone caught a recycling bin on fire or something else really stupid. No major fire, just an insanely freezing hour long evacuation.

End of Photos

End of the photos. One of them is of an Entertainment Tonight interview that no one was supposed to take photos during.

Martha Stewart Show Photos Continued

Martha Stewart and Blake Lively Photos

Yeah, most of these are of Martha Stewart since they were making her pose for photos basically. There are a couple with Blake Lively though where she's dressed up as Cleopatra in a black wig. There's also just of the set.

Just a General Lack of Direction

I really wish that I could just sit down and say that I have one goal and that I'm going to do my best to accomplish it. Instead, I'm just playing around with this idea at trying to be successful at everything and I really think it prevents me from becoming really great at any one single thing. The title of this blog is pretty good for me to have simply because I am always steps away from whatever I want to achieve, but never in that moment of success. I also never have enough time for the life I live so it's making me turn into a half-asleep zombie that runs from one thing to the next all of the time.

Interesting things that occured today:

I went to the Martha Stewart show with a group from Women in Communications. Blake Lively was on the show, we got some free stuff, I guess it was really cool I'm just in a really lame mood for some reason. I'll add photos later. I also happened to be by Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes' place when they went to their car today. I actually walk by their paparazzi all the time, but that was the first time I actually saw them - I tried to get a photo of that but I didn't get my camera out in time.

My first day as an intern....

For some reason it seems incredibly weird to me that I'm an intern at all. I don't have an explanation, it just does. Anyway that was random, sorry.

But yeah so I sit at a desk and read screenplays and do write-ups on them and do fun things too like make deliveries and buy stuff at Duane Reade. I was also giving feedback on the trailers they made for their movie that's about to come out. What I guess is most odd to me is actually experiencing what it's like to have to write in an office for a job. Obviously it's not like a paying job so I guess that stress isn't fully there, but like it's so weird, but I guess it makes me more productive. I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Anyway I need to be writing for school I guess.

peace,

Tori

Getting Paid to be a Pretend Fan

Proof that it happened.

Basically the larger blond lady in the photo's fiance was paying $50,000 to pretend that she was a supermodel so that she would marry him. I guess that's life when you have a sugar daddy in your fifties.

Ra Ra Riot Photos & Photo in Prefixmag.com

So yeah I went to the Ra Ra Riot concert with this group from LSP (liberal studies program if you aren't at NYU) and they had the time to be there for the show wrong so we were all like front row. Anyway, I was stupid and forgot my real camera so I just have horrible quality close up shots of Ra Ra Riot taken with my cell. Also, after the show this guy from prefixmag.com was taking photos of people at the concert and I'm in one looking stupid like I usually am in photos.

Internship Time!!!

Yays!!

So anyway starting Monday I'm going to be an intern for Atlantic Pictures. Apparently I'll mostly be reading scripts and helping with casting for a film they'll be shooting in the spring. It's mid-semester and totally not applicable to my major so I'm just doing it for the experience not credit, but it should be cool nonetheless.

-Tori

I have not posted in ages.....

Anyway, I just deleted any even remotely political posts because that in no way is the point of this blog and I'm completely a moderate and don't feel like dealing with people who want me to recruit me to their side.

As for updates on life I went to Long Island for the first time on Saturday to work a promotion at the Oyster Bay Festival. I thought that it would be really cute, but it was actually really corny and mad freezing. And yet, so many people were taking the hour and a half train ride from Manhattan to go there. Silly people. Anyway, I was getting paid so I could care less, I just had trouble understanding why you would travel so far for a little small town festival with an oyster eating contest when it was like 40 degrees outside.

I also went to a Ra Ra Riot concert in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Friday. That was complete awesomeness and I'll put up photos later today.

Oh and on last Tuesday I went to this completely awesome political panel hosted by MTV. Diablo Cody, Rosario Dawson, Larry Wilmore and a few journalists were there - biggest names being Luke Russert and Hilary Rosen. It was completely random that they had Diablo Cody though because she clearly wasn't that into politics and apparently was there because they were claiming that the "Juno effect" was going to make people like Palin because of her daughter and her response was like "If I knew that I would have so much power over people I would have made a movie titled 'Don't Vote for John McCain' instead." Which although a great comment, kind of summed up all she really was prepared to say. Nonetheless, still awesome to have seen her in person. Also, I was really surprised how seriously into politics Rosario Dawson actually was. I knew she was the spokesperson for Voto Latino, but I assumed she would only point out obvious facts about the organization like Natalie Portman did for FINCA when she spoke at NYU last year. I would like to say that I would be posting photos for that as well, but I'm sure MTV would have kicked me out had I tried for any.

My goal is that in the future I will just write posts immediately after I do things, even if I'm piled with homework and real work like I was last week.

peace,

Tori

If only I knew how to post YouTube Videos to blogger.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NUxMgzHdic

Anyway so yeah I'm lame and only provided a link to the video.

So last Friday I did this promotion for LG on Pier 17 for this LG Rally for Music event and for like the first time ever I heard / saw Gym Class Heroes perform. They are incredibly awesome live, in fact maybe it was all in my head but I thought they were a lot better in person than in their recordings. Anyway it was awesome as shit so I provided a link to their cover of "Take Your Clothes Off" if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Peace, love, and much happiness,

Tori

so it's raining

It's also one of those very rare days where I have nothing that I actually need to do because I actually finished my homework ahead of time. It's official that I did get into that screenwriting course just at the shitty time because the one I originally wanted just won't open up. I'm still happy though because they were both closed until Friday.

As for that PA thing I was possibly going to do today... they called and tried to set an interview for today which made no sense and I don't have time to be an unpaid PA for and entire film so I just ditched the thing. Also, people who tell you that you are applying for something that you are not creep me out and don't get me to go to an interview.

I don't think that I'm going back to Town Hall because as much as I loved it, the pay was terrible and I barely have time for Gin Lane Media and school as is. But I don't know, I still need to talk to them because they should have a check for me and maybe if I only worked a few days a month it wouldn't be that much of an added stress.

I'm also considering writing for the newspaper again, mostly because if I'm even halfway considering going the journalism route, I should probably be spending my time actually writing articles.

First Day of Classes

I'm not ready for this semester, but it's here anyway. Today I simply had journalism and my film acting class at Tisch. I have no idea what to think about the journalism class because the guy kept saying that it was real tough, but as he said it everything sort of sounded easy. As for the acting our teacher was out and there was this super-old teacher who made us do this improv exercise that I fucked really badly. Anyway though, the class isn't about improv so I'm not going to worry about it, plus it's pass / fail so it doesn't matter if I'm not perfect.

As for things that have happened since my last post....

I worked as a PA for this short called "Go to Sleep" and I got some experience working with the boom, slating, being a stand-in, and doing female jobs like ironing and washing dishes. It was the first time that I went down to Staten Island and it was kind of fun except for the fact that during filming they turned off the A/C because it was noisy. I also might be a PA for an audition that this independent film company is doing on Saturday but I'm still waiting for a final call about that.

I also started some better paying promo jobs (my week of $10 / hr gigs is totally over) one of which had me go out to Brazil Fest where a bunch of guys kept giving me kisses.

I don't know how I'm going to graduate since I'm not paying attention to what classes I'm taking. Oh well, at least I'm doing a bunch of cool stuff while I'm here.

Because apparently I can't put a third photo in a post...

Carmen Electra Sighting!

Ok so I was working this promotion holding up signs for Disaster Movie and Carmen Electra just walks out and starts shaking hands with people right where I was standing.

Day One of Welcome Week

Ok so the whole move-in crew thing went alright and after watching how today went I'm so happy that I got to move in early. I met one of my roommates and she seemed pretty cool, but the other one apparently isn't coming in until next week when classes start. I'm happy with the room and I've come to the conclusion that I don't mind the area although it's not the best place in the world to be living. I feel like I'm writing like a first grader right now, but instead of re-writing anything I'm just going to apologize.

My whole job situation is entirely up in the air right now. I have a promo for tomorrow and Tuesday morning during Good Morning America for Disaster Movie but after that I have nothing booked. I do however have an interview with this one promotional company Monday, I'm waiting for a response back about doing the seamlessweb promo again, and I haven't called Town Hall to see if I can get my job back yet but they don't have any shows until mid-September anyway. But it's better that it's all up in the air than not having any job possibilities like this time last year.

I'm sleepy for no apparent reason and I even had coffee and coke, which is just pathedic.

First Day Back

Ok so this morning when I got on plane number one I was scared to death because that one Spanair plane had crashed the other day and then the sky looked really scary and full of rain clouds and it didn't seem safe to fly in. But anyway, after being on the plane for 20 minutes or so I was fine and outside of my window the sky was pink and the clouds were purple. It was so crazy weird, I wish that I had pulled out my camera for the flight like I usually do but it was in the overhead compartment and I couldn't pull it out mid-flight.

On another cool note the guy at the US Airways desk had trouble signing me in for baggage check and forgot to charge me for my luggage. Never hurts to save $40.

My new dorm room is nice, but I'm still unsure about the area. Not the worst part of Manhattan, but not the safest either. There is also no good grocery store near me and I'm not really in walking distance of campus anymore so now I'm pretty much forced to ride the subway anytime I go anywhere, oh well at least I'm gettting my value out of a monthly pass.

This Next

So I've recently become a fan of the website www.ThisNext.com It's pretty fun, you basically search the internet fashion world for what you consider to be cute finds and review them. You can also read reviews written by others before you decide to buy something, so it's pretty rad. You can check out my profile and picks at http://www.thisnext.com/by/AlmostFamousTori/

peace,

Tori

Just a little rant

I'll be back in New York in 11 days and quite possibly leaving Louisville for good as well. I don't hate Louisville or anything, it's alright, I just don't feel like I can get what I want out of life here. I need to have something constantly going on around me and I need to always have the ability to be a part of that something. New York was great for that, and probably Paris or LA and anything along those lines would be just as good.

I don't know what I want to do about NYU. I'm definitely going for all of this year in order to get at least get an associates in arts and humanities (or whatever the major is) from GSP, but I'm not sure if I want to continue beyond that or not. This semester I'm taking one of my last required GSP classes, a token English class that focuses on modern drama to look like I'm halfway on the right track as a CAS English major, film acting and screenwriting through TSOA open-arts, and I'm signed up for journalism but I might switch over to French. I have no focus and I'm determined to take as many open arts classes as I can now even if I end up taking too many electives to graduate in four years. I hate that I'm in CAS, I hate that in order to keep my NYU scholarship (not even close to a full ride, but still money I don't want to lose) I need to graduate in four years, and I honestly don't know how much a degree in a field I don't care about will help me.

I have no solid goal right now and it's making it impossible for me to focus on anything. I want to do something sort of creative that pays and puts me in some sort of a spotlight. I would be happy with anything from event-planner to dancer to film reviewer, and that's my problem, I let myself chase ten dreams at once without focusing on becoming great at one thing. But maybe my chasing after everything will lead me somewhere good. It's always better to play the game without a clear strategy than to not play at all.

I'm such a lazy ass blogger

So since I've last posted I was a PA for American Idol during the Louisville, KY auditions, had a day as a Vault energy soda (not drink as I was told 20 times) ambassador, and lived my normal life doing Wal-Mart demos and wasting away summer.

Anyway, the American Idol thing was pretty cool / crazy. Essentially I was one of like 30 people doing random tasks for them starting out with crowd control, registration, and greeting on the first day and then set-up / tear-down of the audition area in Freedom Hall, giving out and collecting release forms, and forming audition lines (which although should have been easy after 14 hours of waiting people could no longer understand the concept of lining up in a group of four). So essentially it was a bunch of manual labor for 16 hours a day with catered lunch breaks and producers freaking out non-stop because they were so scared of people thinking that American Idol is an unfair competition. It was cool though and it should be a nice addition to my resume.

Oh and I did the can-can and other stupid dance moves with all of the American Idol PA's on film, so possibly you will see me looking like a retard on the show.

As for the Vault thing, after drinking three I was the most outgoing and excited promotional model ever.

And tomorrow I'm doing a promotion for Cartoon Network because apparently everyone wants to hire me this month.

peace,

Tori

Indie Fest and other such things

So this morning I went out to the Independent Music Festival at ear x-tacy and that was kind of awesome. It would have been tons more awesome had I been able to stay long enough to hear some of the bands play like I did last year, but I had to miss a lot of that because of my silly Wal-Mart job. Anyway, basically I had a bunch of free CD's and random samples thrown at me - which is always cool. And, I got this July 2008 - July 2009 calendar of random Indie bands which is totally replacing my creepy Cirque du Soleil calendar (why do I buy such weird things?). I'll perhaps review some of the free CD's throughout the week, but as for now I'm going to bed.

peace out,

Tori

My Wal-Mart filled day

Essentially I've been spending my Fridays and Saturdays giving out steak samples at Wal-Mart. The work is a little dumb, but since I'm doing it for a promotional company and not Wal-Mart the pay is actually pretty awesome. Anyway, here's what my not so glamorous job looks like.

My bad luck with US Airways

"US Airways will assess a $15 fee for passengers’ first checked bags. If you purchased a ticket before July 9, the fee won’t apply. We’ve also recently begun charging $25 for second checked bags. The new checked bag policies apply to all flights to and from Canada (beginning July 28, 2008 for flights to/from Canada) Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as flights within the U.S."

Of course I booked my flight on the 10th of July. Oh well I shouldn't be complaining since I was using a comp ticket for getting bumped on my last flight. And on the bright side this means that I'm going back to New York in only a little over a month.

Kikkoman Pearl Green Tea

This is the ultimate in yummy:

I didn't realize that Kikkoman made green tea flavored soymilk until earlier today and by the way it tastes incredible. If you've only had Silk or one of the other American soymilk brands than this probably sounds horrible, but Kikkoman (and other Asian brands of soymilk) are really sweet and creamy and the addition of green tea powder makes it that much better.

The Audit

Admittedly, I would normally not waste my time blogging about an upcoming Christian independent film, however this film gave me a tiny speaking role.

I'm not 100% sure what this film is really about after filming with them, reading part of the script, and reading the synopsis on their website, but I'll past the synopsis here so you can try to figure out the plot.

"The Audit explores the relationship between Courtney Jacobson, a frightened bookkeeper working for a corrupt pharmaceutical manufacturing company, and Conrad Ledford, an IRS agent conducting an audit on this company. As Conrad crunches numbers, he finds evidence of Courtney hiding more than a paper trail, and of terrorists planning a devastating strike on US soil. Caught between wanting to help Conrad bring the terrorists to justice, and protecting her secret, Courtney must make a painful decision."

The movie's tagline is also "would you sacrifice America to save your son?"

Basically I'm in two scenes handing one of the actors and earpiece and I say "Ledford" once. I'm also wearing an ugly long skirt they had for another actress because I came in with too short of a skirt on. Hmm, maybe I should start dressing less slutty when I'm working for extremely Christian directors.

It sounds so stupid it might be amusing to watch. I'll give a review when they send me a DVD for being in it. And on a side note they were really nice people, I'm just having trouble with the idea that this film will be worth watching.

You can check out the film's website at www.TheAuditMovie.com

It Should Be

I genuinely feel as though my first blog post should be utterly amazing, however that probably will not occur. Basically I work as a PA / promotional model / indie actress (mostly small roles) / usher at Town Hall in NYC and I'm a wannabe journalist. I do a lot of random things and I meet a lot of famous people and I'm extremely opinionated so I figured I needed a serious blog for my little life. And so I'm going to end this on the best quote ever that was a big part of the best movie ever (Rushmore).

“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself." ~Jacques-Yves Cousteau