May 24, 2011 - Los Angeles is trying to kill me

So, the other weekend I went out to LA again to help out as an extra on The Guild. They needed cosplayers and anytime I can help out with my fellow geeky friends you can count me in! But of course LA tried to stop me again. Much like my previous trip when a drunk driver tried to kill me, I had yet another highway incident. This time it was at 6:30AM on the 134 on my way to set. My tire blew out and thanks goodness I made it to the shoulder without dying! Luckily I have wonderful friends in LA and I was rescued. It looked like I tried to run over Wolverine. As you can see, the side of my tire was attacked! So I was stuck in LA for an extra day and a half until I could find a place to give me a new tire I could afford.

I know a lot of people were asking me to post photos and stuff from my time on The Guild set. Sorry! No spoilers for you guys! You’ll just have to wait until it airs. If you are unfamiliar with The Guild, watch it here. I was glad to see my friends most of all. <3 them!

And in case you hadn’t heard yet, you need to go order your copy of the Cosplay for a Cause calendar. I’ll be posting some pics of my new Cutey Honey costume soon, but the photo in the calendar is exclusive!

May 06, 2011 - Perform This Way - Part 2

So allow me to pick up the story from where I left it in my last post. Right after my awesome and epic meeting with Al Yankovic, I started my 4 hour drive home.

I was approaching Primm on the California border driving in the left lane. Suddenly there were headlights coming straight at me. A car was speeding down the wrong side of the highway in my lane. I swerved over crossing the right lane and got into the shoulder. I was so lucky that there was no one in the lane next to me. I put the car into park on the shoulder and looked in my rearview mirror to see where the car went. I saw them flipping a U-turn in the middle of the highway and start speeding back up the highway past me. They went back up the exit for Primm where I assume they found their way to the correct side of the highway.

Another car had pulled over near the entrance to the exit. I don’t know if they were also forced off the road or if they just saw me almost die. But they just sat there for a minute and then drove off. At this point I was hysterically crying because I had just almost been murdered by what was most likely a drunk driver. I got my husband on the phone and he called the police for me and was headed out to get me. I sat on the shoulder of the highway for a while with my hazards on. When it was clear no police were showing up immediately I drove my car to the couple hundred yards to the Primm exit and pulled into the gas station parking lot. It had been almost 10 minutes by this point and was on the phone with Rob making sure he told the police where my car was and where to find me.

I was sitting outside my car on the pavement, crying and asking where the police were while clutching my stomach which was in a severe amount of pain. There were 3 people getting gas, a group of kids on skateboards, and at one point two of the gas station employees that came outside to do something. Not one of these people asked if I was okay or if I needed help. They just looked at me and then tried to pretend I wasn’t there.

About another 10 minutes went by when I saw an ambulance casually cruise by. They circled around and then came back to ask if I had called them. I told them the police might have. They sat me in the ambulance and checked my vitals. Aside from hysterically crying I seemed to them to be fine. The severe pain in my mid-section did not seem to concern them and they said goodbye and left me there.

Still no police had shown up. My husband came all the way from Vegas and made it to Primm before the highway patrol showed up. It took them longer than 45 minutes to show up. Which means the drunk driver that nearly murdered me was on his way home back to California, probably putting other people in danger. I gave them the description of the car the best I could and that was that.

So now my stomach and back muscles are completely sore. I’m guessing having to swerve and slam my breaks wrenched my body pretty badly. Also my voice is half gone from all the crying I was doing. Yes, when someone tries to murder me it makes me cry.

I’m just glad the trip wasn’t a complete bust and that Al Yankovic made it worth almost being killed.

May 05, 2011 - Perform This Way - Part 1

So in case you guys don’t know, Weird Al Yankovic has a new album coming out. His big single is a parody of Born This Way. Fate threw me the casting call for the music video. Now, I am an actress and can dance. But I would never consider myself a look-alike for Lady Gaga nor am I a professional dancer. So I sent something back expressing that, and also mentioning the fact that I’ve been a fan of Weird Al for a very, very long time. I’m sure I sounded like a weirdo. But somehow my headshots were convincing and I was invited to come to the audition. I’m guessing whoever was doing the casting was really drunk and/or crazy when they invited me.

I got the audition invite on May 3rd at 10PM. The audition was May 4th at 7:40PM. So I dropped everything, got my gear together (the casting call requested girls dress in fishnets and shorts, and otherwise dress “Gaga-esque"), and got on the road to LA on Wednesday afternoon. The audition called for girls who could learn choreography and had comedic timing. And since those are both things I can do, I figured it would be a fun audition. And plus just being asked to audition for a MOTHER F’ING WEIRD AL VIDEO was so exciting to me. So I got to my friend’s house in LA, changed into my whorish outfit, and headed to the audition.

When I got there, I signed in and found out we would be taught some choreography for the try-out. I wasn’t worried until the choreographer teaching us went through it maybe twice before leaving us to our own devices. I got there 10 minutes before my scheduled audition time, but it seemed like everyone else had been there for a while. While I can (and have) learned choreographed dance, it takes me more than 10 minutes to do so. And the group of guys and girls I was with weren’t the most friendly either. They all seemed to be trained dancers, which was awesome for them. But they were mostly completely unfriendly. No one was fun to talk to or could even joke about anything. And the icing on the cake was that none of them knew who Weird Al even was! I’m hoping there were other groups that were more friendly and knew who Weird Al was and I just ended up in a grumpy group of people.

So anyway, after 10 minutes that was mostly without even music to practice to, I was told it was my time to go whether I was ready or not. Now, I figured I’d just be in front of the casting people. But I walked over to where they were having everyone perform and AL YANKOVIC WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE. Holy crap! So I proceeded to make a fool of myself in front of him and his casting people. Luckily, I like making a fool of myself and I didn’t care how stupid I looked because I got to tell Al Yankovic what a fan of him I am. Also I’m wondering where any of the other qualifications for the part came in since the only audition requirement was learning a dance in .5 seconds with no music. But whatever, it was worth it!

So after that, I pulled off my wig and threw a t-shirt over my whore outfit. I saw they had a space where they weren’t auditioning anyone so I went up and asked if I could wait there until they were finished with the auditions for the night so I could get a photos with Al. Instead he offered to take one right then and there with me. He is amazingly nice and genuinely friendly. I felt so honored to meet him and it was completely worth the trip and acting like a total crazy person.

There is a second half to this story that is not nearly as happy (and involves my almost-death), but I’ll save that half for tomorrow. For now I just want to think about the good parts of yesterday!

April 28, 2011 - Cosplay for a Cause

Be sure to check out Cosplay for a Cause. We are releasing a calendar of well-known cosplayers from around the world to benefit the Japan Red Cross. All the photos will be new, never-before-seen! 

April 11, 2011 - Doctor Who Insider #1

If you haven’t yet, be sure to pick up the first issue of the US Doctor Who magazine, Doctor Who Insider. And it’s just a bonus that you’ll find me in it!