November 2011
1 post
September 2011
4 posts
Cultural Difference #326:
In the British version of ‘Deal or No Deal’ you have to be polite to the banker or he will make you a bad offer.
A Roundabout Love Letter, I Think.
I’m moving to London to learn how to act. It’s the biggest commitment I’ve ever made to a single idea. I’ve thought, abstractly, about doing this thing, this specific thing, since puberty. As years passed I became more pragmatic about it, and more obsessed. By my senior year of college I was fixated on auditioning for these programs; I rehearsed and conditioned my body...
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
1 post
'Walking Through a Wall,' by Louis Jenkins
My dear friend Mark Rylance recited this poem in lieu of an acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Play at the 2011 Tony Awards:
Unlike flying or astral projection, walking through walls is a totally earth-related craft, but a lot more interesting than pot making or driftwood lamps. I got started at a picnic up in Bowstring in the northern part of the state. A fellow walked through a brick wall...
May 2011
1 post
A Big Audition Day
I have had a very specific, consistent dream since I was about 14 years old. This dream, like many dreams, was wildly ambitious, and nearly unattainable. But yesterday, on Saturday, I got to live my dream. It was incredibly scary and difficult— and it was, without a doubt, one of the best days of my life. Regardless of what happens next, I will have the memory of that day forever. I am...
April 2011
5 posts
New York Times Theater Review- 'Jerusalem' →
“Mr. Rylance has already dazzled Broadway this season with his portrayal of the inexhaustibly obnoxious title character of ‘La Bête.’ But his Johnny Byron is truly a performance for the ages.”
All right, I know I’ve been harping on this for a year now, but LOOK! BEN BRANTLEY AGREES WITH ME! ‘Jerusalem’ is in New York, everybody. I don’t know what...
New York Times 'Sunday Routine' Series- Wendy Kopp →
I found this article endlessly depressing. Please, parents of New York City, relax. Let your kids be kids. This sounds like the most joyless and sterile possible existence for a nine year old.
"If a Clown," by Stephen Dunn
From the August 24th, 2009 issue of The New Yorker:
If a clown came out of the woods,
a standard-looking clown with oversized
polka-dot clothes, floppy shoes,
a red, bulbous nose, and you saw him
on the edge of your property,
there’d be nothing funny about that,
would there? A bear might be preferable,
especially if black and berry-driven.
And if this clown began waving his hands
...
March 2011
2 posts
February 2011
6 posts
This is Dame Judi Dench:
She was voted the greatest stage actor of all time last year.
I was offered a place at her alma mater today.
I’m going to make you proud, Dame Judi.
Look out, Knut. Your day may come.
During the 1870 siege of Paris, the city’s food supply ran low due to the German blockade. Residents eventually ran out of basic goods, and turned first to horse meat, then cats, dogs and rats, and finally… to the zoo. But, in typical foodie fashion, the Parisians ate their zoo animals in style:
“Menus began to offer exotic dishes such as Cuissot de Loup, Sauce Chevreuil...
Parisians have always been weird. →
Lately I’ve been very bored with myself and with the egotism required for my particular life/career goals, so I’ve stopped writing here, because I feel like it’s just my narcissism taking another, public form (not for everybody, just for me). However. I’ve broken the blog-fast to bring you this very important piece of information. Friends, Gérard de Nerval, the French...
January 2011
1 post
This is not a Mark Rylance blog... but sometimes... →
December 2010
0 posts
November 2010
3 posts
October 2010
5 posts
New York Times Theater Review: 'La Bete' →
So, what you’re saying is, Mark Rylance’s performance is so good that the audience ends up rooting for him, even though he’s the antagonist? Is anyone surprised? He’s unreal. He figured out the acting secret. TELL ME THE SECRET, MARK RYLANCE.
A Regrettable Revelation
At ten o’clock on this Wednesday evening, as I lay freezing in the grass on my belly in a polyester skirt and pantyhose, my hair reeking of Aquanet, my face covered in foundation and leaves and mulch and rain, screaming and pounding on the ground as a camera filmed my feigned (but not so feigned) anguish and a camera person instructed me to continue pounding and periodically look into the...
I Strongly Disagree with the "Cheers" Theme Song
In my attempt to readjust to life back at Mount Holyoke, I frequently experience overwhelming urges to go elsewhere. Amherst and Northampton don’t satisfy this need anymore; I find myself driving to distant, more obscure destinations. Initially I attributed this feeling to an extreme sense of familiarity— I know this place too well, there’s nothing new to discover, etc. But...
September 2010
4 posts
This was an insane day for news: Part 2 →
This was an insane day for news: Part 1 →
Mass MoCA
I needed a daycation, so my friend and I made a trip up to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. The Sol LeWitt retrospective was absolutely fantastic, as were many of the other installations. It also happens to be a great museum to photograph. Here are some of the results:
I like to play. I like art. I like to play in art.
Please forgive my absence. Here are some delicious...
I’m sorry for recently neglecting the blogosphere. I could take this opportunity to write an exhaustive entry in which I described my feelings towards leaving a fulfilling, independent, artistic life in the city and transitioning back to my rural women’s college for one more year of a comprehensive liberal arts education, all the while preparing to audition for wildly competitive...
August 2010
5 posts
Look. I am a FAMOUS PUBLISHED BLOGGER. →
Utterly Refreshed
Sometimes a person gets tired. Twelve-hour work days, countless obscure internship errands and morning commutes up to the Heights for a head shot session (!) add up… and result in an incoherent, stumbly Jane who only has time for a Fig Newton and a bottle of Diet Coke on the M57 bus. So, what does this young woman elect to do on her one, precious day off? Laundry? Sleep? A much needed...
This is an actual email that I received today:
Subject: TA for Math 120?
Dear Jane,
Jim M. has recommended you as an assistant for his Math 120 class this fall. Your duties would be negotiated between the two of you and might include reading homework papers and/or meeting with students for extra help, approximately 2-4 hours per week.
If you would be interested, please fill out the attached application and email it back to me. If...
July 2010
9 posts
If only he'd had raspberries.
Jane: Does the Uptown 6 not stop at this station late nights?
Lonely MTA Booth Worker: No... but you can stay here with me. I have a banana and a peach and some cherries.
Jane: What is my alternative option?
LMTABW: Take the Downtown 6 to Brooklyn Bridge and transfer.
Jane: Awesome, thanks. [Leaves.]
A Little Patch of Green
I was talking to my boss at the restaurant yesterday, and we got on the subject of gardens. Our restaurant has a Garden Room that houses dozens of potted plants and fresh-cut greens and bouquets. It’s incredibly beautiful, and I swear you can feel the difference in air quality when you walk into that room as a result of all the vegetation.
My boss loves those plants, and, as it turns out,...
Today:
As my doctor filled out my prescription, he made a crack about how embarrassing it would be to spell my name wrong. I looked at the prescription, and he had written “John.”
Some women attract hipsters, others smarmy businessmen. This woman attracts Mexican busboys. Many, many Mexican busboys.
A little boy rested his head on my shoulder on the subway ride home and we played his...
No big.
Today I sat on Judith Malina’s terrace and she held my hand and looked into my eyes and told me that I need to be vigilantly innovative because I am a part of the next generation of theatre artists. So, you know. Just another Thursday.
Barbara Walters Interviews Katherine Hepburn...
playingthecards:
morningwaffles:
Hepburn: “I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man…I’ve just done what I damn well wanted to and I made enough money to support myself. And I ain’t afraid of being alone.”
Walters: “Is that why also you wear pants?”
Hepburn: “No, I just wore pants because they’re comfortable.”
Walters: “Do you ever wear a skirt, by the way?”
Hepburn: “I have...
Fickle
Lately I’ve felt like the unfaithful mistress, torn between two lovers. As thrilled as I am to indulge in the occasional bagel with cream cheese, I find myself pining for a scone. As much as I appreciate the (relative) dependability and air-conditioning of the New York City subway, I miss those little, pod-like Tube cars with their garish, blue seats.
I love New York. I love the grime,...
One of my all-time favorite city life activities:
Bonding with strangers over the strangeness of other strangers. Nothing makes me happier than catching the eye of another incredulous observer as we watch a girl take hundreds of digital photos of herself making various “funny faces” at the bus station and giggling with delight as she reviews each one, or see a young man furiously draw pages upon pages of cartoon breasts in his...
June 2010
4 posts
“What feels like a great achievement now? ‘Maybe the teaching,’ she...”
– “The 60-Year Stage Life of Marian Seldes,” New York Times Magazine
Back in New York
I considered terminating this blog upon leaving London. But. Yesterday I saw Alec Baldwin perform in Equus in the Hamptons, and today I watched some guy from CSI Miami shoot an independent film in which he plays a set of twins who are in love with the same girl, except (SPOILER ALERT) the twins turn out to be one person with multiple-personality disorder. I also saw a man with crumbs in his...