Lucille Ball Plus Brigitte Bardot Times Charlize Theron Equals Me?

Keith did the "Celebrity Lookalike" thing, and, since I'm overworked and exhausted, I thought I'd totally waste some time finding out who I look like.

It's very scientific. Apparently I most resemble Lucille Ball, Charlize Theron (not accurate, but thank you!) some hot Indian chick I've never heard of, Brigitte Bardot, AND Peter Sellers. Because all of them are practically twins separated at birth.

Chicago Underground Comedy Highlights From May 20, 2008

Spring fever must be taking hold, because the energy was sky-high on Tuesday night at ChUC. Adam Burke is too Irish to enjoy the sunshine, Robert Buscemi wonders about the weirdness of mulch, Cameron Esposito discovers an unexpected musical bond between herself and some random dude on the CTA, Brendan McGowan reconsiders his lifelong fandom of the Chicago Cubs, James Asmus shares selections from his girlfriend the special ed teacher's going-away cards from her students, and Ricky Carmona is tired of the ever-evolving complexity of the modern handshake.

(EDIT: fixed the soundtrack problem and reposted the video...after four $#%#ing tries.)

Daisy Loves Cat Grass...and Bryan

Bryan: I like cats. I like Elizabeth. I'd like Elizabeth's cats to like me, but they take after their human mother and are little fraidies who hide under the bed 83% of their lives. I will buy cat grass and give it to them as a friendly peace offering. Then they will like me.

Elizabeth, Nellie, and Teresa: Aww! What a nice boy. Here, kitties, try some cat grass. It's delicious.

Elizabeth's cats Flora and Calpurnia: No thanks, we will continue to hide under the bed for all of eternity.

Nellie's cat Daisy: This is delicious! I like you, Bryan.

Bryan: Sigh.

I Am Ready For Indiana Jones!

I've heard some of the "meh" reviews but my enthusiasm is undiminished.

Harrison Ford! My very first movie crush (Han Solo)!

Shia LaBeouf! My jailbait, inappropriately young crush!

I'm heading for the theater Friday night with however many friends I can convince to go with me. Bring me Indiana Jones!

Nine facts about Indiana Jones, from Mental Floss:

George Lucas wrote a story called “The Adventures of Indiana Smith” in 1973.

Tom Selleck was almost the star of the Indiana Jones movies.

There was a glass wall between the actors and the snakes in the snake scenes (duh, I've known that since about 1981).

The name of the Shanghai nightclub in the Temple of Doom is Club Obi Wan.

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Dan Akroyd have cameos in Temple of Doom.

The Last Crusade had rat insurance with a "1,000 rat deductible.”

Indiana really was named after a dog: George Lucas' Alaskan malamute Indiana, the same dog who inspired the look of Chewbacca.

Real titles of scripts of ideas that were rejected along the way of creating the fourth movie include Indiana Jones and the Garden of Life, Indiana Jones and the Monkey King, Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars, and Indiana Jones and the Red Scare.

Spielberg has been insistent that the new film look as much like the first three as possible, despite the evolution of movie making technology. He insisted on using stunt men rather than computer animation, computer-generated effects are used only when other means were not possible, and all the footage was shot on film rather than digitally.

Bryan's New Headshots

Last Saturday, before writing group, Bryan took me to Johnny Knight's studio off the Brown Line Addison stop so I could help out with the photo shoot for his new headshots. Johnny sent Bryan the proofs online today.


A few notes:

#1. Johnny Knight is an excellent photographer who does some really interesting stuff besides his top-notch headshots, and he's super nice to work with. Somehow his desk drawer contained my very favorite flavor of Cliff Bar, which he happily offered me when I was in desperate need of snack.

#2. I could never be an actor (or a comedian who's serious enough to need headshots) because I'm nervous just being in the same room with someone else who's on camera.

#3. Bryan looks very different with and without facial hair.

#4. Oh my god I have a totally hot boyfriend.* How did the girl who was too fat to get asked to prom in high school grow up to date someone this foxy?

*I apologize in advance to Bryan, because I know this will embarrass him.

MMMMMmmmm More Spinach 'n' Tofu

Melissa invited me on a bike ride to an appointment she had today in Evanston. Then she treated me to a giant lemon meringue ice cream cone at Sweet Occasions, which I topped off with another giant spinach and tofu salad once I got home. I'm probably going to ride my bike to and from ChUC tonight, too, which means more delicious sweet potatoes in my near future. MMMMmmmm.

I promise this will not turn into a food blog, because, since I tend to eat the same things again and again (unless Nellie, Bryan, or Teresa are cooking for me), it would get pretty boring pretty fast.

Come To My Show TONIGHT! All The Cool Kids Will Be There

We took last week off, which felt sort of weird. I wouldn't call it taking a breather, since I biked to and from DePaul to tape Carrie and Cameron (and had a bone-rattling collision with a car). I admit I missed having new footage to craft into a highlight clip. I am turning into a major editing geek.

Anyway, we have a great Chicago Underground Comedy lineup for tonight.

Performers from our cast include the clever and nicely accented Adam Burke, the one-of-a-kind Robert Buscemi, the ebullient and charming Ricky Carmona, and the increasingly hilarious Brendan McGowan.

Special guests are wry and witty Lincoln Lodge cast member Cameron Esposito and the genius boys behind Hey You Millionaires, who, it's true, recently played Whirlyball with their heroes and namesakes, Kids in the Hall.

Better Living Through Beta-Carotene

If nothing else, I can start taking better care of myself in hopes of boosting my energy and optimism levels, right? Right!

That's why this morning I woke up enough to brush my teeth and dash down the block to the gym, where I knocked myself out for 45 minutes before coming home to stuff myself with a giant spinach and tofu salad and a big ol' hunk of sweet potato. (It looks like the sweet potato is 95% butter, but I swear it isn't. It looks like my hair is sweaty and matted down...because it is.)

Hope

I am feeling down today.

Maybe I shouldn't be. Things are going well. People observing my life from the outside are saying "Wow, you're kicking ass!"

But I am feeling drained and sort of absent from my own experience. I've been tough on myself lately in a way I thought I was growing out of. I feel like I'm working really hard and not letting myself enjoy the rewards.

I've also been reading too much detail about upsetting recent news stories, which just makes me feel tremendously sad for the suffering of others. Hopeless. Powerless. Today I read about a little girl whose life has been changed forever in China's earthquakes and the pictures just made me burst into tears. I seem to be going through yet another period of stringent self-examination and yet another round of "what am I doing with my life?"

The questions are, "What am I doing with my life, and what should I be doing differently? Am I forgetting something? Am I letting the clock run out on things I'll regret not having done? Why am I immune to the enjoyment of my own accomplishments? How is it still my default response to let praise bounce off my armor? What am I doing wrong?"

As of yet, no answers.

For now, this photo of 75,000 Obama supporters in Portland, Oregon makes me feel better.

Yes, Obama, yes!

Pics from here and here.

Nellie at Second City

Nellie had her first show at Second City today. She has been nervous for weeks and was petrified until the moment she hit the stage, at which point magical sparkles emanated from the top of her head and everyone laughed. We missed the performance debut of Teresa, who is in Thailand, but the show was still lots of fun.

To cope with the loss of our roommate, we've put a Teresa wig on a stuffed scarecrow, propped it up on her bed, and jammed a flute into it's splintery fingers. Every time we come in the front door, we greet Scarecrow Teresa, and she happily waves hello.

More pictures to come.

Edit: pictures here. Video here.

Writer, Producer, Long-Distance Facilitator of Comedy

I seem to be doing more producing and booking by proxy these days. More and more people from both coasts are emailing me about finding shows to perform at while in Chicago, and booking people for shows they're planning on doing here.

Check out the poster for NYC comic Ben Lerman's upcoming show at Hamburger Mary's (a few blocks from my house). Ben emailed me via a Bastion/Apiary connection (namely, the lovely Mackenzie Condon) and wanted to see about finding some strong local talent for a show here.

I hooked him up with three of my favorite comics/best comedy pals, Cammie E, Carrie C, and DPolyDo (no, I've never referred to any of them using those nicknames before, and honestly, I don't know why I'm doing it now).

Also notice the second press soundbite: "'Sick and brilliant ukelele comedy' - TheBastion.org." Yep, that was me, too.

Anyway, it's just funny how a quiet and essentially shy person like me, by just sitting at a MacBook and sending out friendly, well-written emails, can do so much connecting and facilitating for creativity. Kinda cool.

I'm The Apiary's Honey Shot

...which just goes to remind me I have not done stand up since December of 2007. Anyway, it's an honor! Thanks Apiary Keith! And thanks to Bryan for taking the picture.

"How Do You Feel About Your Mother?" By Elizabeth McQuern, With Julianna Forlano and Nellie Ann

Shot last night in about an hour. From raw idea to online clip in under 24 hours!

Based on the stand up comedy of Julianna Forlano. With Julianna Forlano and Nellie Ann.

Video, music, and editing by Elizabeth McQuern.

Julianna Forlano -
http://juliannaforlano.com/

Nellie Ann -
http://writeymcwritealot.blogspot.com/

Nellie's Mom Gets Crafty

Hey, everyone, my dear Nellie's Mom Nancy is doing a big craft sale (click on the banner at left to check out her goods). It's been a tough week for the Huggins family, as Nellie's paternal grandma passed away, so I thought it would be nice to help Mrs. Huggins promote her handmade goods.

How a lady with nine kids and countless grandkids can even find the time to be creative is beyond me. She must be quite a dynamo. Good luck with your sale, Mrs. H!

When Worlds Collide - My First Real Bike Crash!

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. First off, I'm fine. No one was hurt. And before the comments start coming in, yes, my roommates both said "it's going to rain, take the bus, idiot," before I left, but I'd been cooped up inside writing most of the day and I wanted to do something really physical.

Last night I was biking home in the rain at about 9:00 from DePaul after taping Carrie's stand up set there and, steaming my way through an intersection (Broadway and maybe Addison? I was already off track and disoriented), when I was swept up by the wind, almost got knocked into the road, skidded hard, and was thrown into a parked car. I banged my arm pretty hard stopping myself but wasn't really hurt, just really, really scared. I was totally out of control for a second, and really thought I was going to hit the street and get run over. I walked past the car and gestured "your car is fine" to the dude sitting inside, and his body language was all "I don't care about the car, are you okay?" He looked as scared as I felt. I was a little panicky and disoriented for a few minutes afterward but I'm fine now.

Funny, while it was happening, I was totally terrified and thinking "my mom will be so sad if something happens to me, and who will love my cats if I die?, and I hope I said something extra sweet to Bryan last time I saw him," -- yet also had enough time in my brain to get annoyed and think "of course this would happen today, the very day I write a long post for Metblog Chicago called '10 Reasons to Bike Chicago More.' I'd better not die because I'm sure they'll mention that conveniently ironic fact in the Trib - 'Local Comedy Producer, Bike Enthusiast Killed The Very Day She Blogged About How Swell Cycling in Chicago Is' and that would really tick me off."