Tag-You're It!

Thanks for this tag goes out to "Ascian in Rose," "Claudia" and "Fancy New Beesly."

So the point of this game is you post a blog about ten weird habits/random facts about yourself, and then "tag" ten people who then have to post a blog about their ten weird habits/random facts. You have to tag them in your blog and then post a comment on their page saying that you tagged them. No tag-backs are allowed.

1)  I twist my hair when I'm thinking or distracted.

2)  I played softball in school for four years.

3) I once (when I was 16) got a job at a "sit-down restaurant," Arthur's, and thought I was hired on to be a hostess, or cashier.  I show up for work and the assistant manager shows me around.  He then takes me back into the kitchen and introduces me to this huge vat of clams or oysters (which looked like slimy brains) and told me to take one, dip it in breading and place it like so on the baking sheet.  He asked me if I had any questions.  I told him no but said I needed to go to the bathroom and I'd be right back.  I walked out of the kitchen and then out the front door, and ran.  I only lived a few blocks away but I ran all the way home.  I couldn't bear the thought of having to put my hands in that vat of brains.

4) My birthmark is in my eyeball.  I have a brown streak going across the iris of my right eye.  My mother has always told me it was my birthmark.  I tried taking a picture of it to post on here but you couldn't really see the streak.  You could see a good reflection of my camera in my eyeball though.

5) Believe it or not,  I'm shy.  I have to force myself to speak to strangers and make small talk.  It doesn't come naturally to me.  I do try and do it though.  However, once the alcohol starts flowing all shyness disappears.  Funny, uh?

6) When I was four years old I decided I was going to run away from home.  I guess I had had it with my parents and was going to liberate myself from their oppresive rule.  So, I packed my Barbie-doll suitecase (that Barbies were stored in) full of my white t-shirts and underwear.  I remember thinking that I would just wear the outfit I had on over and over again.  I made myself a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich and set off for a new and independent life.  I walked to the second house past mine, stopped, sat down, and ate my sandwich.  My dad came, sat down with me and convinced me to come back home.

7) I took an art class in the 7th grade.  We were learning to draw people and the teacher had students take turns being the model.  We had to stand very still atop a drawing desk in the center of the room.  The day it was my turn to be the model I climbed up and stood in position.  The next thing I remember was being slapped in the face by the art teacher.  I had fainted, fallen off of the table and onto the floor.  The teacher slapped me to "wake me up."  I had locked my kness.  Lesson: Don't lock your knees when standing for long periods of time.  You will fall, hit your head and get slapped in the face by an art teacher.

8) I asked Mike (now my husband) out on a date, while I was a student in his class.   It was the second class I had taken with him.  He was a brand new professor and had just received his PhD.  He told me to ask him again once the class was over.  I was so embarrassed!!!!  But, apparently not embarrassed enough to keep me from asking a second time.  That was the only time I had ever asked a man out.

9) I started a protest one year while I was in high school.  It was the first year that our school system was recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. day as a school holiday.  The problem was that only the city schools were observing the holiday and closing the schools.  The county schools (which I attended) did not get to close.  I thought a terrible injustice was ocurring and staged a protest, by encouraging fellow students to not attend school that day.  My friend, Angie, and I hung out with some new people and drove around and just had a good ole time.  The next several people were suspended--including me.  But justice was served!  Today, city and county schools are closed on MLK Jr day--just not due to my protest. ;-)

10) I got arrested once for hitting a girl over the head with a beer bottle.  It was part of a big ruckus in a bar and I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I did.  I was banned from the bar for a month.  Luckily, nothing really happened, I just went to a different bar for that month.

I hereby tag: Tee2, Bra$$ Knuckle$ (who never writes blogs!), King Matt (also who never blogs!), Karen, Corybelle, Lori, Dave, "Traveling Cats", Josie and James Gunn's Red Hat.

Santa, Family, Food, Movies & Advertising

So turkey day is over and now the malls, convenient stores, and even fruit stands are on a selling mission until Christmas.  Actually, I do remember seeing Christmas shit in Walmart and some drug stores right before Halloween.  Did anyone see people hang up Halloween lights this year?  There were several houses around here that strung Halloween lights like they do their Christmas lights.  What the fuck is up with that shit?!

I had my family in for Thanksgiving dinner and a couple of days following that.  I cooked--and yes, everything was edible.  It turned out pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself.  Well, maybe with the exception of the dressing.  I fucked that one up.  I didn't want to cook StoveTop out of the box, so I bought the Pepperridge Farm stuff along with some celery and onion and all of that.  I forgot the sage, though.  Oh well, I think there was enough other shit to eat if people couldn't stomach the dressing.


On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I wrapped up the last of two projects I'd been working on.  That project was called Junior Salesman.  It's a short film for a student at the Art Institute of Atlanta.  The plot is as follows: There is a young guy, Nick, who starts his first big job as a salesman at a local Volkswagen dealership.  Today is his first day on the floor by himself.  I, Joanna, walk in and become his first customer.  He is obviously very nervous and clumsy.  I am a business professional who knows what she wants and doesn't have a lot of time to coddle this kid (which makes him even more nervous).  I tell him I'm interested in a new Jetta, we walk to the lot, I like the car and as we get ready to test drive it together I pull off and steal the car before Nick can get in it.  Nick freaks and realizes he didn't follow protocol and get my license.  So he decides he's going to draw my likeness on a flyer and hand several of them out to people on the street, in hopes that someone will recognize the drawing.  But, Nick is careless and leaves the original flyer on the copier, where his boss, Mark, finds it.  Little does Nick know that Mark is my husband and I have stolen the car as a practical joke, initiating Nick to the company.  Mark calls Nick into his office and scares him by questioning his abilities, I pop my head in and ask Mark if we're still on for lunch and Nick about freaks when he sees me.  I leave but then immediately return handing Nick the key to the car and welcoming him to the company.  Mark reminds Nick to next time copy the license.  I thought it was a very cute story.

There were three cast members for this little short film: Joanna, played by me, Mark, played by Kent Igleheart (he and my husband, Mike, went to the same college at the same time--odd uh?!), and Nick, played by Brad.  The director's name is Whitney, her assistant is Valerie and the sound guy is Chris.  All three are students at The Art Institute of Atlanta.  Here are some photos from the set:


Funny little side note.  The storyline had to change slightly when we discovered the Jetta was a stick-shift, or straight drive.  Originally, Nick and I were suppose to walk down to the lot, he shows me the car, he pulls it out and then as we're switching places I jump in and drive off.  However, Brad had not driven a stick since he was in high school and it was proving to be a little difficult.  So, we changed it.  Nick got in the car, realized it was a stick, got out and told Joanna he didn't know how to drive a stick shift.  So Joanna offers to pull out the car, she does so slowly but then just as Nick goes to open the passenger door Joanna drives off.  I liked that.  I thought it actually fit Nick's character a little better anyway.

The other project I wrapped up is the feature movie, God Is Dead, with which I had my very first audition ever.  I did not get the part but I was able to be part of the movie as an extra and I ended up with a few lines.  Thank you, Matt! The company producing the movie is Mavin Productions.  Let me just say that everyone involved with this production was super nice!  I think they did an excellent job keeping the extras moving and we didn't have to sit around for hours at a time doing nothing. The location was awesome and the extras didn't have to wait in some room with folding chairs.

Here is a brief synopsis of the movie taken directly from the web site: "Rowan is an emotionally-handicapped twenty-something; never is this more evident than when he has no response to his girlfriend Cate's profession of love. But when an invitation takes him to a strangely surreal party, he is forced to take a closer look at parts of his life rarely analyzed: his relationship with his surrogate mother Rena, the engagement of his friends Lucius and Corrine, the possibility of a future without Cate, and the single most influential moment of his life - the death of his parents. What he discovers will free him."  There are also some photos taken on set posted here.  Here are a just a few pictures I took on the last night:


So, now I'm looking for new projects.  I'm also hoping to get a professional headshot done really soon.  I have started working with Southern Screen Report, in marketing and selling advertising.  SSR has a MySpace page now, so please request to be its friend by clicking here.   Anyone interested in placing an ad?  If you know of anyone just let me know.  Right now the print edition has a readership of about 7500, and growing.

Okay, that's it for now.  Beware of Santa Claus's in drug stores, convenient stores and selling fruit.
--Paula

PS
I saw Running With Scissors last night and was utterly disappointed!  The director totally fucked it up.  I absolutely loved the book but the movie sucked!  I don't think it's even worth renting.

Who's Better? Pete Townshend or The Edge

Okay, so Wednesday night I saw The Who!!!!!!!

The concert was awesome.  The Pretenders opened for The Who and I had almost completely forgotten about the wonderfully talented Chrissie Hynde.  I'm telling you, she fuckin' rocked that stage!  Isn't a woman rocking on a guitar sexy?!  She totally won me over.  I've always wanted to play guitar.  A couple of years ago I bought a guitar and planned to start taking lessons, but one thing led to another and I never followed through with it.  I really want to learn.  I have a book, so I think I will start using it to practice.  Okay, I so want to be a rock star now.  Just kidding.  Maybe in another life or something.  I am gonna learn how to play the guitar though.

I took some pictures of The Pretenders.  Then, while they were changing the stage I asked some guy behind us to take a picture of me and Mike.  You can see the monitor behind us.  As soon as The Who took the stage I reached for my camera to snap a shot but my camera battery died.  I was so dissappointed.  So, here are some photos of The Pretenders and Mike and I waiting for The Who to take the stage.  There's also a picture of me in my  new Who t-shirt.  It's a very cool t-shirt!

Needless to say when The Who took the stage the whole audience stood and remained standing for quite some time.  For the ladies out there, let me just say that even though Roger Daltrey is 62, he can still move all over that stage and he's definitely still "doable!"  Very sexy!  Here's a picture I found from Google:


Pete Townshend blew me the fuck away!!  Damn, that man can play!  I, like so many others, anxiously waited for Baba O'Riley (my favorite Who song), Won't Get Fooled Again and Who Are you (second favorite).  After they played Baba O'Riley Pete told the audience that the band was never quite sure why everyone like that song so much.  I remember being a teenager and hearing it on the classic rock station.  I once called the radio station and requested they play "Teenage Wasteland."  The DJ was so rude to me and refused to play it for me because I didn't know the correct name of the song--Baba O'Riley.  That DJ was a jerk.  But, I wonder how many other people out there called it "teenage wasteland."  Anyway, watching and hearing them play most of favorite Who songs was excellent!

Pete:


I'm still just so amazed at the sound that Pete can make come out of that guitar.  I thought back to the U2 concert Mike and I attended about this time last year.  The Edge also played his ass off and put out this huge sound.  I started wondering which one is a better guitarist--Pete Townshend or The Edge.  I don't think I'm really qualified to determine the answer.  So, please tell me your thoughts.  Who is a better guitarist--Pete or The Edge?  Also, please let me know if you were able to see them in concert and what you thought about it.

Later.

What the hell is "The Gay Store?"

So, I've been asked quite a few time about the name of my page (or my url, rather), The Gay Store.  Here's the story:

Well, earlier in the year I decided to start an online retail business.  I got the idea one year while at Georgia Pride.  My cousin and her girlfriend always come down for Pride and we go and walk around and spend money and have a good time.  Well, year before last I noticed that the vendors were missing something that I thought could sell really well--those car-magnet ribbons designed in rainbow colors.


I told myself I would rent a booth and sell them the next year (this past June).  So, I did rent a booth, but I didn't sell the rainbow car magnets.  I sold other magnets, stickers, body jewelry and just a bunch of shit like that.  I would've done really well had it not stormed like hell.  It stormed so badly that they had to close the park Friday evening, an hour after I set up and then again on Sunday as I was setting up.  But, Saturday I did pretty well--just not enough to break even.  I totally would've broken even had I sold on Friday and Sunday.  You can see how gray the sky looks in this picture.


Anyway, I started an online website, www.thegaystoreonline.com, to sell my shit.  The only problem was that people didn't want to buy it online.  So, I started a MySpace page after Shane urging me to do so, in hopes of increasing (or should I say prompting a) sales.  It didn't help sales one bit but it did provide me with a new drug.  I'm now addicted to MySpace.  It's like crack, only I don't get the wonderful side effect of weight loss.  So, I closed the online store (I still own the domain name though, along with a few others) and tried selling my stuff on e-Bay.  That wasn't so hot either.


So, that's why my MySpace page is titled thegaystore.  Now, here are some fun pictures from Pride.  Deanna and Jessica didn't make it down until Sunday, for the parade, and then they had to turn around and go home.  However, my mother and my other cousin, Jon, came to help me with my booth.  Here we are at WetBar.





And this one was taken by my mom next to the pool at the Hampton Inn in Atlanta.


Okay, that's the end of my blog.

Red Hats, Hot Lesbian Love, Salons and Changing Flat Tires

Hmmmmm...........where to begin.

Let's start from the top, of my head that is.  Dude?!  What the fuck is up with the red hat?  Well, I've joined a cult.  An internet cult that is.  It's called James Gunn's Red Hat Nation.  (I highly suggest you join by clicking here.  My mother was always afraid I would run off a join a cult.  I guess she knew I possessed cult-like-following characteristics.  I hadn't joined one for all of these years so I decided to quit letting her down and just sign the fuck up.

James Gunn's Red Hat Nation actually started due to a fan of James Gunn, Tee2.  See, James Gunn is the writer/director of SLiTHER, and writer of Scooby Doo 2, and some other shit.  Well, he used MySpace to promote and market his movie, SLiTHER.  He wrote blogs and provided fans with interesting behind-the-scene-pictures and other fascinating tidbits.  One of the pictures showed him wearing a red hat.


Well, needless to say, everybody started ragging him about it.  (C'mon, you've got to admit it really deserved a good ragging.)  So, Tee2, being the brilliant artist she is, started photoshopping red hats on people.  She's a freakin' tagger!  (That's a graffiti artist for all you old folks out there.)  Next thing you know, people are doin' it to themselves and James Gunn starts Red Hat Nation.  No one knows where this going to lead, but Tee2 did provide us with the Mothership (so at least we know there is a higher purpose).



Also deserving an honorable mention is Maddy, maker of this excellent orientation film, soon to be shown to all new recruits.



Hot Lesbian Love
Last night I watched Loving Annabelle part of  the line up of the Out On Film Festival, and got to meet the writer/director, Katherine Brooks.


Let me start off by saying that I first learned about Katherine Brooks here on MySpace.  She befriended me and then I followed the promoting and marketing of her movie.  MySpace is excellent for marketing and promoting!! (See Salons further down)  Since I've been following Katherine's success and watched the clips she posted from time to time, I really turned her into this celebrity in my mind.  So, when I met her last night, I was like all fucken nervous and shit, like I was meeting Angelina Jolie or Borat.  Luckily, I did muster up the courage to ask for a photo and told her that I was one of her MySpace friends and how I'm addicted to MySpace.  She was nice and said she's addicted too, and she said she has to take like three days off from MySpace in order to get work done.  She's very thin, short and beautiful.  Just like one of the lesbians from the L-Word.  I guess they do exist--maybe only in Hollywood though.

On to the movie.  I liked the movie.  I have to say I was sort of disappointed though.  The first half of the movie seemed really rushed and didn't flow as fluidly as it could've.  However, it was like watching an entirely different movie once we got to the sex scene.  The overall quality of the movie improved as did the scene changes.  The storyline and acting was good.  During the Q&A, following the movie, Kat (since we've met, we roll like that now) acknowledged the continuity problems in the first half of the movie.  Basically it all came down to the budget.  She couldn't disclose the exact budget for the movie but she did say it less than a million.  So, she said if one part of the movie was going to be great she wanted it to be the sex scene.  "At least the sex would sell the movie"--which I would have to agree.


Salons
I got an interesting request from Image Film and Video yesterday.  Gabe, the new president and CEO of Image, thought it would be cool to do a salon on Pimping MySpace.  Basically, the salon would cover how to use MySpace to promote and market yourself and/or your movie.  Since I'm addicted, he asked me if I would like to give the salon.  I said yes.

Here is the web site description of a salon:

Each month IMAGE provides informal, educational salons, which are free and open to the public. Salons cover a variety of issues dealing directly with independent film and video making. Previous salons have featured guest speakers offering their expertise on such varied topics as grant writing, digital filmmaking, and animation. Our Winter/Spring series promises a wealth of information and networking opportunities.

So, I'll be doing a Pimp MySpace salon at Image in March.  Now I have a reason to be on MySpace constantly--RESEARCH!  Ideas, comments and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged. (Please!)

Changing Flat Tires (in the drizzling rain)
On my way home from the screening last night I had to stop for gas.  After filling up, I started rolling off and felt and heard this kaplump-kaplump sound.  Sure enough, I had a freakin' flat tire.  Luckily, I was still in the station lot and I pulled my Jeep out of the way of the pumps.  It's about 11:00pm and there are a few cutomers in the parking lot.  I look for my jack and get the tire iron to loosen the lug nuts (before I jack it up).  I take off my spare tire (luckily all Jeeps come with a full spare, not a donut) and roll it to the side.  Then I jack up my Jeep.  I take of the lugnuts and remove the flat tire.  I go to put on the spare but it requires that the tire be lifted into position.  Well, I had major back surgery in August and I'm not suppose to be lifting heavy things.  I still try but I cannot get it on.  Mike is out of town so I can't call him (plus, it's ridculous to call him to drive all that way for like 10 seconds to lift a tire).  Meanwhile, several cars and trucks and have pulled in and out, looked at me, but not one person offered to stop and help.

So, I see two teenage boys in a car looking over my way as they drive by me.  I flag them down and ask them to please just lift the spare and place it into position.  They did so and I was greatful.  I tightened the nuts and put the flat in the back of my Jeep.  Now, being a self-sufficient and independent woman, I specifically learned and know how to change a tire, just for this reason.  However, being a human being, I think it's rude that not one person stopped to offer their help.  So, if you ever see anyone trying to change a tire by his/herself, please be kind enough to offer your help.