I had the amazing opportunity to go to New York for a few days this year and decided to time my vacation with the running of Denise's latest off-broadway production, 'Zanahorias', a bilingual play written by Antonio Zancada and directed by Alfredo Galvan.
The play starts out with two men and a woman, who was sitting on a chair watching them as they played a game. The game seemed like a one-up game and drama begins to unfold as the loser exacts suspicion regarding the fact that he tends to loose every time they play the game, wondering what was going on. The masked woman, Madame of the Sacred Heart, promised the king that the next match shall be the greatest match ever and so the story begins.
The play has quite a few surprising twists and turns in it as time goes out as we watch the mystery of Madame unfold as subtle (and not-so-subtle) forshadowing begins to catch up with its shadow. Hints that were given earlier in the play later made much more sense as the drama, tragedy, melodrama, comedy...piece of fun literature...unfolds.
The play, while a period piece, had a very modern feel to it and even used modern words within context of the discussion. They wittingly focus on intelligence, displaying such humorous (and sadly quite often true in the time period) examples such as the Marquette of "Aaaaah", a wealthy very well-known woman and lady-in-waiting to the Queen, not being able to read very well but the Countess of "Eh", a lower ranking and deemed "easy" right off (what else would you consider the King's concubine) being able to not only read fluently, but speak multiple languages as well.
I don't want to give the whole plot line away, because those of you who are in New York Saturday and Sunday should really stop by the Duke theater on 42nd between 8th and 9th Ave and watch a funny story play out as revenge's story, previously untold.
The cast was really amazing and seemed to be a good group of people. While this was a small cast of six people, each one brought a new and different characterization. Likely the most humorous addition to the play, outside of the main plotline, was the addition of Josefine, a Bulgarian house maiden played by Iva Gocheva, new to off-broadway. Josefine only spoke Bulgarian and would randomly interject during scenes with craziness that no one, but apparently the Countess of Eh!, could understand. The confused faces from the cast as they tried and failed to make out what message she was trying to get across.
Oh! the first King of Puritania, played by Francisco Reyes, was just as humorous always attempting to be clever and have the upper hand on any of his subjects. Francisco's work was very natural and fluent, as was the entire cast.
And as one might expect, the most intriguing character in the show, who seemed to take perverse pleasure in the agony of others, was Madame of the Sacred Heart. Denise delivered a stellar performance playing a wide range of emotions; going in one second from pleased and happy with the outcome of her game to outraged but always quickly trying to figure out where to move her chess piece on the great game of life.
The last three shows this weekend are Spanish performances, which is what the play was originally written in. The actors rehearsed in both English and Spanish at the same time. According to Denise, as she sat down to do the memorization in both languages she found that, due to repetition during rehearsals, she had the entire piece nearly memorized. Francisco mentioned that the production, while the same outcome, feels different in the native language and flows somewhat differently. It'll be an exciting show to go see during the Spanish production in its original form, so you really shouldn't miss out--not with only three performances left!
For more information on 'Zanahorias', please visit their website at "http://www.zanahoriasenbroadway.com/".
The
SMALLVILLE DVDs hit the shelves tonight at midnight across the United
States as thousands of avid fans rush to the local store to purchase their copy.
If you're unsure whether you want to purchase one yourself, perhaps this review
will help you make up your mind, because you really don't want to miss this set,
especially for any Allison Mack or Chloe Sullivan fan!
Season 5 marked the very first year that Allison has starred in every single episode. On top of her continuous appearance in all 22 episodes, she was also very heavily featured as Clark Kent's best friend and confident, as well as budding journalist at the most prestigious newspaper in DC history, The Daily Planet. And that's just the meat of these DVD disks.
It appears that Season 5 truly WAS Allison's
year to shine and fully form Chloe as she is also very heavily featured and
promoted throughout the rest of the DVDs as well, from the DVD Insert, to
special features, to high compliments in commentaries.
Straight off, once you open the DVD set, you'll notice that the insert/booklet features the Daily Planet and Metropolis on the front cover, and a picture of Clark holding Chloe at the Fortress of Solitude from the episode "Arrival" on the back cover. Now, those are iconic images, for sure. But it doesn't just stop on the covers! Once you flip inside the book you'll see Chloe/Allison very predominantly in multiple images on almost every page, and almost always in a very eye-catching position surrounded by either Lex or Clark.
One of the first disks I wanted to see was the
Vengeance Chronicles, since they were something I really enjoyed during the
season. These little mini promotional videos feature Chloe Sullivan and Andrea
Rojas (Denise Quiñones) who plays
superhero to Chloe's reporter while they work together to prove the mysterious
Level 33.1 was real and really controlled by the waxing villain, Lex Luthor. One
feature that did not originally air with these promotional videos last season
was the presence of two easter eggs.
In the VC chapter titled "Level 33.1" there is a moment where
Denise's character, Andrea, is standing in front of a set of monitors. If you
hover your mouse over those monitors, they turn red. Clicking on the monitors
will take you to a separate screen where you can learn more about what went on
in Level 33.1 with certain key characters from the show.
A second easter egg is in the last VC Chapter, as Chloe is typing
in her Digital Wall of Weird. Clicking on the word "Hero" will take you to an
updated version of Chloe's digital wall of weird, featuring some of the season's
most important people who piqued Chloe's curiousity.
As if Allison's predominant presence throughout the DVDs wasn't enough, people just couldn't stop talking about her even on the episode commentaries. James Marshall and James Marsters had nothing but fabulous and uplifting things to say about Allison during the commentaries. You definitely don't want to miss hearing those two go on and on about Allison!
Finally, if the above hasn't sold you on purchasing the disks, perhaps a mini personalized tour through wardrobe and make-up by Allison herself will do the deed. Go with Allison while she gets her makeup applied in front of cameras for the 100th Episode documentary feature on the DVDs. The default documentary is a half-hour long but if you buy your DVDs from Best Buy, you will also receive an hour-long documentary made especially for the Best Buy set!
Personally, season 5 was my favorite season so far
because of the amazing talent that was utilized on-screen when they choose to
expand their use of Allison. There were several episodes that were saved by
Allison's amazing performance alone (literally) and she deserves as much kudos
as possible. 
Some stellar episodes to check out immediately for the
Allison fan include Tomb, where Allison gave an outstanding emotional production
of a scarred woman facing her killer from a decade ago; Thirst, where the
fabulous voice of Allison is featured throughout the episode in a Veronica Mars
voice-over (or a Comic-Book Narrative) as it tells the story of how Chloe got
into the ground floor of the Daily Planet; and Vessel, where Chloe and Clark
share an intimate iconic moment with a variant of a Superman song playing in the
background.
So, be sure to get your copies as soon as possible! You can
purchase them through Amazon.com
or get them from Best Buy for the extra half-hour of the Extended 100th Episode
Documentary, produced by RetroFit Films and scored by Vengeance Chronicles
composer, Greg Nicolett. I hope you
enjoy it as much as I did!
Yesterday was day one of our Labor Day Weekend Excuse to Party. Day one was a pool party with special punch and special people. I remember the beginning of the party very clearly. I was in a pissy mood (when am I not lately?) and it was 4:00. "Why do you not have a drink in your hand?" was asked and my response was something like "Maybe because its 4pm." The apparently terrible excuse didn't fly and I found myself with a drink, regardless. Some infamous jen-conglomeration which tasted fairly good and grapefruity and rummish and tequilaish. Swam around a lot. Had a diving competition (which I regret slightly because today my ankle hurts even worse than yesterday) with two random guys who came down and ended up hanging out with us all night. I'm a large woman, and had a broken ankle, yet I still outscored the other dude in the diving. At least I think I did...they may have just been saying whatever appeased me. ;)
Anyway, we ordered pizza later and got back to Jen's apartment and from that point on I don't remember much until I was laying, feet up (my ankle was hurting, I was elevating) and we were all considering going home.
So anyway, I bring pictures of Day One.
I've been asked by a couple of execs and producers before why I do what I do. Why do I spend all day working and then spend the rest of my free time on a set of fansites for actresses? Is it obsessive fannishness? Is it boredom? Is it craziness? Is it ever embarrassing? Those types of questions have been asked before and time and time again I find myself reflecting on those questions, churning the answers given. So, I figured I'd take the time out to talk a bit about why I do what I do.
First of all, answers to the questions above are: no (well maybe a little), started out that way, not at all, never. Respectively. But its so much more than that, to be honest.
A Hobby was Born
When I first got into the whole fansite thing, I was enrolled into a
small amount of courses at my university in order to complete my
degree. As a result of going to school (as many know) I could only work
so many hours. Back in the day, my title was "Technical Response Center
Lead" which means I managed about 10-15 people (TAs, student tech
assistants) as well as responded to on-campus technical issues with
computers. I built them from the ground up regularly. I've cleaned more
viruses than you really even know exists. We won't even get into how
many times I've had to install Windows XP (or in many cases, RE-install
Windows XP) or crack into the system to change an admin password for
some student who simply forgot what it was. Anyway, enough about what I
did back then, its not relevent anyway. The point being, I went to
school part time, and only worked 20 hours a week. I had a lot of free
time on my hands. I had only began watching Smallville the spring
before, and Season 4 was amazing. As I perused message boards, I
started to see some of them that were in severe need of updating or
maintaining. I was going to email the webmasters to offer my services
but then thought that that could be perceived as a bit snotty.
So, finally, while playing around on televisionwithoutpity.com someone mentioned that the fansite that was for Allison Mack hadn't been updated in a while, and that they wished there was an up-to-date fansite. Great! Challenges! So, within three days of that discussion, AMO's pre-launch site was up and running and I was tweaking layoutst and adding content.
At first, it was a bit hard to get any sort of recognition beyond TWOP, in part due to many defunct sites linking to the defunct (but gorgeous!) allison-mack.com. Then there were those who were loyal and good friends with the webmaster and weren't sure if linking to me would be some sort of betrayal or not. Then there were the sites that wouldn't link to me because certain other sites linked to me and it all just became so crazy and political and it made my head spin and I shouted to the ceiling "THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!!!"
Google didn't like AMO at first. It took about 8 months for google to really start registering AMO and even then the listing was usually on page 32 if even that.
And then, I fell into a groove. I have some amazing staff there and I ignored the politics going on within the fandom and just decided AMO was going to be about Allison. It was going to be a publicity portal and a place where her fans can gather without dealing with obnoxious message board posters or reading negative harsh stuff about real people.
Suddenly, AMO made six on Google, page 1. And the world was suddenly right. Or at least the AMO world.
I remember my first attempt to do an interview. I'd been told by so many people that fansites are unimportant and no one cares, but I was determined, even though terrified of rejection. It took me three days to work up the nerve to call Allison's agent, who happened to work eight blocks from where I worked after graduating college and moving to California. Finally, I did, and they directed me to the appropriate people, and somehow within 24 hours I was scheduled with a one-on-one interview with Allison the following Monday, which was only two days from then.
I was absolutely floored. I was sort of lost, to be honest, because aside from that one assignment in speech class, I'd never interviewed anyone before, much less a celebrity, much less for a fansite which, supposedly, meant nothing to anyone anyway.
Needless to say the interview was performed and Allison was fabulous! Back in that day, April 2005, AMO had 600 members, which was huge since it had only been open for about five months. We were lucky to get 200 unique visits a day and I remember thinking "Wow" once the interview was posted and we got close to 2,000 in a day and a half.
Now, almost two years into the site, I've done a second interview and AMO has 8000 members and on average 1200 unique visitors a day, and those numbers rapidly increase over time. 8000! For 1 actress! Some Smallville fansites that have been open for four or five years only have 14,000 for two or three actors, so I consider this to be a huge testament to Allison's popularity.
So, enough with the history lesson already! On the the post! Reasons...yes that's the topic. Well...
It's a professional thing
This is the first and foremost reason why I work on fansite is very simple. Future contacts. Portfolio work. Dress to Impress. Ultimately, I'd like to run my own business which specifically focuses on the very narrow niche of "Official Sites" and what better way to do it than to start on "Unofficial Sites" first? Through AMO, my work has been widely recognized and the site has even helped land me multiple jobs due to all of the hard work I have put into it over the last two years. I've made several "hollywood" contacts from it, which is ultimately the point - getting known in the industry as an online publicity manager, or at least working in conjunction with managers for online publicity.
It's become a respect thing
Another reason why I continue work on AMO is because of who it represents. I've always come from the perspective in the industry that it doesn't have to be a dog-eat-dog world. And I strongly believe that. And from what I know of Allison, she doesn't behave that way either. In fact, she's the single most happiest celebrity that most people have ever met. She's often described as having a myserious, soothing, happy glow about her and she's famous for her smiles and friendliness. That is exactly how I hope to be and how I want to run my business. She serves as a hopeful role-model in a really mess up world of entertainment. Her positive attitude reminds me often that SHE is the reason why fans love her, not her character she plays.
It's a unique position thing
As being the fansite admin for SMALLVILLE's most popular female character, who unfortunately isn't billed that way in the credits, it's caught a lot of attention from a lot of people. I try to often extract myself at the narrow "Allison" point of view and reach globally throughout the fandom and see what people think in general about the show. Since I can do this, I feel I can accurately represent most of fandom's thoughts, even when I don't agree.
It's rewarding
To see the numbers on my site sky-rocket. To get to actually talk to Allison occasionally. To get to run special charity auctions with her participation. Its all absolutely rewarding for me and totally worth my time. To hear Allison call AMO her fansite? Priceless! Also, AMO is such a positive environment! Allison's attitude is so happy-go-lucky and shiney that her fans tend to be similar. They're more gentle, more caring, more thoughtful, and that really gets reflected on the site and within the fandom quite often.
So, the other question that occasionally crops up is "does it ever get frustrating?" and the answer to that is: Yes. There are many reasons why it can be frustrating but the largest of all is having to deal with fandom politics. Ideas like "you shouldn't link to so and so" or "lets steal AMO news and not credit them, but credit to random members that showed us the news instead" or being blacklisted from other sites who somehow think AMO is less than what it really is...Allison's fansite. Fandom politics is huge for me. Its supposed to be fun! Not political. So have fun! Again, "the world doesn't HAVE to be dog-eat-dog" mentality coming into play.
Other things that get frustrating, which isn't really a problem anymore now that its so huge, is having to do every single bit of news searching or posting myself. Members don't use the "submit news" link very often, and most of my time spent on AMO was posting news, if it was even reported to me. Also, event images and gallery images. I'm not one of the lucky people who have access (or hacked in) to publicity photo sites, and that was at times noticeable when I didn't have images up that others did.
Aside from those small things, I wouldn't trade the extra work I do in for anything. I love it.
Hey, just because I am having a shitty month doesn't mean my hair has to know!
Another superficial "omg look at my hair" post, because really? That's one of the few things I've got going for me this month (aside from the super awesome cool friends of mine).
Do you have any tattoos? If not, if you were going to get inked, what would you get?
Yup, I do have one. Its a Superman Shield in my lowerback. If I were going to get inked again I'd probably get something on my ankle. The one that's not super swollen and black and blue at the moment.
Seeing an opportunity for Smallville to reach a larger audience through new viewers who will tune into the show after watching the newest Superman movie, Superman Returns, the creators of Smallville have joined up with the popular “coffee table book” company, DK Books, and KryptonSite’s own Craig Byrne to bring to you “Smallville Visual Guide”.
This paperback book covers quite a bit of ground from Seasons 1-5 and introduces new and interesting ideas that we’ve never even heard of as well as clarifies many controversial topics.
Inside of the 96 page book there are 46 detailed spreads jam-packed with useful information that can serve you well for that afternoon heated debate on your favorite message-board.
As the webmaster for AllisonMackOnline.com, I can attest that the visual guide is especially friendly to the Chloe fan, as it contains two spreads devoted to her and her role in Smallville. The first spread, titled “Chloe Sullivan” takes the reader through her history and purpose on the show and gives important family history. This spread clears up the common misconception regarding ages in which Chloe’s mother left the Sullivan family and tells us that Chloe’s readers for The Torch had at least 1000 subscriptions. That’s quite a lot for a small town!
The second spread for Chloe is titled “City Girl” and features Chloe Sullivan in her element as a Working Woman of Metropolis. It takes the reader through her journey to Metropolis and getting into Met U as well as how she got her job at the Daily Planet working for Editor in Chief Pauline Kahn.
In addition to the two Chloe spreads, Smallville fans can also enjoy pages on Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, and even a surprise return of Pete Ross! The book also dives into the romantic relationships on the show with spreads for Clark and Lana as well as Lex and Lana. It also follows the Luthors in-depth and explains further detail on the complicated relationship formed between Clark and Lex on the day of “The Rescue.”
Even more intriguing than relationships are the in-depth details regarding show plots and sets including the caves, kryptonite and how it affects Clark, Supervillans and much much more.
The book itself contains beautiful graphics and never-before-seen photos. Almost as attractive as the characters themselves are the wonderful computer generated graphics of maps, rooms, caves, and objects which explain in a great detail concepts that mere two-dimensional photographs could never explain with such clarity and detail.
This is an excellent book to add to any collection and a must-have for any Smallville “Completists” out there because it’s packed full of information and handy tips that make for easy look-up and to-the-point explanations. Owning this book is owning a part of Smallville, a piece of written canon designed to enhance the show itself and clear up or tie-up any loose ends from the previous five seasons.
This book will become available on September 4, 2006 and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com to ensure accurate and on-time delivery.
Well, I was finally invited to the ever-cool "VOX" RAR! So, I'm making the obligatory first post in hopes that, by this post, one might get a better grasp at me and my styles and know what to expect from future postings.
In general, I tend to be a very open book. I have about four different places in which I make life-updates for people to read and stay caught up with the goings on of my life. Primarily I do this, not because I have a big head and just know that people want to know, but because I am the world's worst when it comes to actual communication with people if its not in person, on IM, or a business-related email. Yes, priorities. So, I keep different "blogs" for different groups of people. Who knows though, perhaps one of these days my blogs will all merge. If vox becomes better than myspace, then who knows, I may merge here.
Online, I tend to have four things to talk about, and nearly every post falls within. "Personal" which I describe as something along the lines of "omg i've had the worst day ever!", "Professional" which is me talking about my job in general, "Entertainment" which is when I discuss anything Smallville and/or fansite related, and additionally "Topical" where I pick a topic or two and expound on my own personal beliefs and ideas within the topic. Some instances includes controversial topics such as sexuality, religion, politics, happiness, and even often talk about websites and programming in general.
Few tidbits: 1) I don't like sleep. I do it because its necessary. I view sleep as a total waste of time. If I could have the self control to go to a polyphasic sleep cycle, I would. 2)I have next to no self - control. 3) I'm selfless to a fault (people tend to walk all over me) 4) I'm not humble about my selflessness. Its a very "I'm socialist and proud of it" type of things, where I always *HAVE* to put others first. 4) I also hate eating, unless I am with friends and its a social event. Otherwise it is also a huge waste of my time. Everything I do involves using my hands so when they have to be tied up doing something else, I get annoyed. 5) I read comic books. Primarily DC comic books. I am a n00b in the comic book world and have only started reading since the Infinate Crisis. Eventually I'll read backwards.
I actually had a lot more to discuss but a wave of exhaustion (read point 1 from above) just hit and I need to take a break and refocus in order to get work done.
