Sunday, December 8, 2019

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

I went to see this French film by CĂ©line Sciamma - Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It was a moody film that moved in slow panning shots.  It was quite beautiful. It won best screenplay at Cannes. The story peeled back layer after layer until it got to the beating heart underneath. It was a tortured romantic story so, of course, I loved it. The final scene had me in tears. No need to explain...it was heart-wrenching and it was exactly what I needed on a cold December day.  Voila!


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Seared by Theresa Rebeck

Photo by Joan Marcus
On Sunday, I went to see Theresa Rebeck's play, Seared at MCC Theater. The story is centered around Harry, a chef and his business partner Mike trying to take their restaurant to the next level otherwise they will lose the business. Raul Esparza playing Harry is sensational as the temperamental chef. His whole body at times vibrates with power as he and David Mason (Mike) spar in the kitchen about everything. The underlying crux is creative passion versus profit. Mr. Mason (Mike) held his own against Harry.

W. Trey Davis (Rodney) and Krysta Rodriguez (Emily) are wonderful counterpoint characters to Mike and Harry.  Mr. Davis steals a couple of scenes with his subtle but striking performance. He's got some really great one-liners. Ms. Rodriguez, as the consultant, manipulates and wrangles the characters to do her bidding. She plays a fine line between conductor and observer.  As an ensemble they worked really well together and played off each other beautifully.

As far as the story goes, I wanted more.  Mike is worried about money and being able to turn a profit. I wish his character had a little more to him other than the bottom line. He was at the end of his tether...yes, he could lose everything AND then what? Harry's character was a bit more developed, he cared about the creativity of his kitchen but he was also a hypocrite which is why his character is more interesting. That duality makes for a more rounded character.  Emily as the counterpoint character plays pretty well...she helps raise the stakes. But everything she does is pretty expected.  I was waiting for the unexpected, some  slight twist that I could sink my teeth into (pun intended).

I am a big fan of Ms. Rebeck, I think her level of work is pretty amazing. I go to the theater not just as an audience member but as a writer.  There are moments that I enjoy more because of her clever writing. I appreciate her craft and I know I have a lot to learn for my own work.  I just appreciate the work that she is putting out in the world. 

-Lily

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Rounding the Corner

We are rounding the corner on 2019 and I thought I would sit here and play ketch-up. It's snowing today.  It's been a grey day all day and we are supposed to get a nor'ester storm later this evening. Gale force winds and snow. I am hibernating. I took the day off before I ever knew about the storm. So glad to be indoors today. I've been playing Ani DiFranco in the background for the better part of the day while I did some creative work. I finally changed it over to some Christmas music.  Mariah Carey is singing All I Want For Christmas. I can't help bobbing along to the song.

I am late on Christmas shopping. It's the first week and I have only bought one gift. Ergh! I think that might be the only one I get this year.  My poor nieces will just have to get an envelope of cash from me.  Poor things!  I have plenty of time to get my family gifts...but I just don't wanna! I am so over the crowded Christmas crowds. Maybe I'll just buy everyone socks this year. Haha!  Just kidding...well kind of. In the grand scheme of things, who cares? It's just more STUFF! Stuff that will get stuffed in over-stuffed drawers never to see the light of day again. I think my capitalist gene died this year. We will be holding a wake for it any day now. Just need to get the bottle of tequila sitting at my work desk to pour one for the homies. Haha!

I'm in a bit of silly mood. I've spent the weekend writing and spending time doing creative work. I feel almost human again. It's been too long.  I put an entry into an Emerging Writing Program with the Public Theater.  I didn't think I was going to follow through with it because on most given days, I feel like that ship has sailed.  BUT...then I think, why not? I have nothing to lose.  Better to put in an application and get a rejection than NOT applying.

My goal for the month of December is to find some creative projects to work on. I'm going to push past my comfort zone and find some new ways to challenge my creative brain. It's been lying dormant for about three years now...no more excuses.  Off the top of my head, here are some things I've been thinking about:
1. Continue to learn French. Perhaps get over my shyness and speak it, out loud.
2. Sign up for another drawing class.
3. Attend art lectures after work.
4. Take a cooking class.
5. Take a jewelry-making class.
6. Learn welding. Yes, for art projects
7. Learn weaving.
8. I've even thought of ballet classes but I can't get the Fantasia image of hippo in a tutu out of my head. Again...working on getting past my comfort zone. 
I will have to try a few things and see what I connect with.

On a last note, I'm going to leave you with Eartha Kitt's- Santa Baby

-Lily

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Foo Fighters - Everlong (Acoustic)

Just because....

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Ed Sheeran - South of the Border

I love Ed Sheeran's song South of the Border. I was going to attach the cheesy video but I thought the lyric video would be better. Enjoy!  


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Beautiful

It's a damp, cool October night, a full moon is out and the clouds obscure it so that there are only slivers of moon peeking through.  I walked down a tree-lined block in Brooklyn at 10:30 pm. I went to see Beautiful, The Carole King musical. I have such a soft spot for musicals and although it didn't give me the emotional payoff that I usually look for in musicals...it was still quite wonderful. I love singer songwriters and seeing her influence in music.


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Phoebe Waller-Bridge - Hoorah!

I am obsessed with Phoebe Waller-Bridge at the moment. I have gone through two seasons of Fleabag, a season of Killer Eve, and a season of Crashing. There is more work out there...so can't wait to dig my teeth into her other works. I follow writers like most people follow actors or musicians.  Love her voice and her sense of humor.  Can't wait!  


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Monologues, Musicals and Plays, Oh My!

Photo by Marc Brenner
For the past month, I have been going to see pieces on Broadway.  It started with Harold Pinter's Betrayal, directed by Jaime Lloyd. This performance gave me goosebumps.  Tom Hiddleston played Robert, Zawe Ashton played Emma, Charlie Cox played Jerry in a love triangle. Now I know this Pinter play was not one of his strongest pieces but with the direction from Mr. Lloyd and the subtle nuanced work from these amazing actors...it was a devastating piece. Weeks later the play is still reverberating in my writer's soul. Tom Hiddleston has one of the most heartbreaking moments and the scene still chokes me up. There is something about the emotional impact that has me tempted to buy another ticket to go see it again.

Then I went to see Bat Out of Hell playing at City Center on a high recommendation from a co-worker. Lord was that a mistake.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE music by MEATLOAF, which was why it wasn't a hard sell for me to buy a ticket to go see this show. Let me start with the positive...the stagecraft/set design was actually amazing. The performance of the songs was a bit cheesy but I went with it since the performers could hold the notes.  But the choreography was laughable. It was so basic and juvenile that it felt more like a school performance than a Broadway show. I was waiting for "jazz hands" to come out somewhere. The story arc felt forced...trying to fit songs into the story line felt a bit random. I love a good rock opera...hello, rocker chick here...but this did not work for me. The one saving grace was Danielle Steers, who played Zahara; that woman could belt out a song.

Photo by Annie Liebovitz, 2019
On Saturday I finally went to see Sea Wall/A Life....Monologues written by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne. Tom Sturridge played Alex in Sea Wall and Jake Gyllenhaal played Abe in A Life.  Both pieces talked about life, death and loss. Tom Sturridge's staccato performance of Alex was a bit rough. I'm not sure if he forgot lines or if his pauses were on purpose but it really pulled me out of the material. Stephens has some really beautiful transcendent lines that felt a bit butchered by Tom's performance.
Meanwhile, Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was quite captivating. He handled the telling of two stories simultaneously in a seamless manner without losing the meaning of either. It was an hour long monologue and he relayed the material with emotional impact. He made me laugh and also welled me up with tears at some of the more poignant moments. Truly an actor mastering his craft.

Why am I on a theater jag I am trying to connect back with my own writing. I want to be inspired, moved, shaken awake...I need "something" to get me going again. I've been dormant for far too long and my inner writer is aching for some creativity. I journal to keep me writing but that's not nearly enough. The writing is slow, thick, molasses-like.  I've put so many years into this craft and the past couple of years there has been so much neglect that I can barely call it up. That might be why I've shown up to my blog again after all this time. Keeps my mind working on short pieces, hoping to spark that ember in my belly, breathe it back to life. I am a bit lost at the moment

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Bank Holiday

It's a rainy Monday. I slept like the dead last night and woke up 11 hours later. I don't usually sleep that much...in fact it's been quite some time since I've been able to sleep that long. All the windows in my living room are open. A quiet breeze comes through from time to time but this humidity is making me a bit lazy. I am sipping a cup of sweet, milky tea...and I'm almost ready for a second cup. It's early afternoon and I don't really have plans for today. That's not a bad thing.

I'm listening to Ed Sheeran/Justin Beiber's song, I Don't Care. I would put up their silly little video but I can't bear to watch it again. Ooo, I will put up Black Eyed Peas, Be Nice.  It's such a swaggy song that I can't stop listening to it. Enjoy! 
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Storm clouds are moving in. Time to go.

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

10 months away

It's been 10 months since I last wrote on this blog. Quite frankly, I thought I would shut it down and be done with it.  But I was putzing around my apartment  and I wanted to write...so of course the first thing I go do is start cleaning my apartment. 'Cause that's what I do when I want to write...housework. Make sense?  Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me either.  After I finished washing dishes...the compulsion to clean subsided and I came to my computer to write entry.

I haven't done much writing lately. I have half-hearted attempts at different projects but nothing is kindling the fire in my belly. Something seems to be missing lately. The joy of it seems to have fizzled out, which is a difficult realization. I spent last night talking like a has-been writer with my best friend over watered down gin and tonics. Let's just say I woke up feeling a bit pathetic.

Let me go back a bit since there a whole slew of reasons/excuses why I'm not writing, should I share? Does it really matter? Well here goes anyway: at the beginning of this year, I received a promotion at work. But it's been challenging, learning this new role, having so much on, working Saturdays to try to get ahead of the workload, working at home to organize my priorities for the following day. It's a good decent job and I'm enjoying the challenges, for the most part. We have so much on that the higher ups gave us the nod to add a junior member to our team. We just started the interviewing process, it will probably be late October before the person will be onboarded to the team. In the meantime, I am still trying to learn all aspects of the job. I'm flexible enough to take on new information but there is not much time to process it. Ergh. I feel a bit burnt around the edges lately. All my grey matter has been going to the day job. I have very little left over for anything else.

I spent the better part of this summer working full stop. I've only taken a couple of days off and it was just to help some friends with a home reno'. Even now, I'm looking around my apartment and I can see all the things I have to take care of in the next couple of weeks. For example, re-seal the the window ledge to prevent the winter from seeping in. I have a stack of mail that I need to go through...most of it just needs to be thrown out. There are also all these odds and ends that need to be discarded. A bag full of clothing that I need to bring to one of the donation centers. It's never ending. I just want to simplify things/my life. That usually means scaling things back. Discarding, donating, getting rid of all the superfluous matter in my life.

My mom recently took a look at my closet and commented that I barely have any clothing. She has three walk in closets worth of clothing. Hmmm. I have just enough clothing to get me through 21 days worth of work, play and sleep. And I could still pull out articles of clothing that I never wear but haven't given up yet.  After writing this, I'm probably going to add them to the donation bag. * sigh *

I know this blog today is really a stream of consciousness entry but after almost a year of silence, let's just go with it...shall we?  It's 4 pm in the afternoon and I'm steaming up some leftover black rice with calamari squid for an early dinner.  I just had my third mug of tea and I need another.  I'm trying to figure out if I want to binge something on Netflix or start reading Memoirs of a Geisha.

Anyway, that's all I have for today.

me.

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2019 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.