Updates

Welcome to Gentle Waters is finishing up and we will begin submitting to festivals in April 2010. If you have a festival that you'd like us to submit to or suggestions feel free to leave a comment here. We are very excited about the film and look forward to getting it seen!

Our lives have been very busy in dealing with our sick cat Maris (who is now all better), finding a home for the kitten we couldn't keep (who now has a home), post production on the film (ongoing!! busy busy), Brent's schooling and planned trip to China via Purdue University in May (ticket booked), and my full time job. Life is moving rapidly, fully, and finally peacefully again.

I will not be attending Columbia University in the fall, as I was not accepted into their masters program. But I feel confident about other avenues, and am content to keep on with our pursuits!!

Stay tuned for occasional plugs on the film and my always funny blog posts!

The Turtle Neck Gets a Bad Rep

Ok so recently Jake, from The Bachelor, was caught wearing the same blue turtleneck three times in row.

Who cares!

I love turtle necks and I'm here to give them a voice.

Turtle necks are classic and mean no harm.

Everyone has this issue with the whole neck strangulation thing. It's cotton people! It's protecting you and your neck skin.

I, for one, own three turtlenecks. I need new ones next year b/c they get worn SO MUCH that they have faded. And faded turtlenecks are not stylish. Only vibrant ones.

Did you know you can get turtle necks in an assortment of colors and designs?

A Short Update

I need to seriously take a shower.

HOME LYRICS - EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS

Alabama Arkansas I do Love my Ma and Pa
But not as much as I do Love you
Holy Moly Me oh My your the apple of my eye
Girl aint never loved one like you
Man o Man your my best friend I scream it to the nothingness
that we got everything we need
Hot and Heavy pumpkin pie
Chocolate candy Jesus Christ
Aint nothin please me more than you

(Chorus)
Home, Let me come Home
Home is Whenever Im with you
Home, yes I am Home
Home is wherever Im with you

Lalalala Take me Home
Mama Im Coming Home

I follow you into the park, thru the jungle thru the dark
Girl aint never loved one like you
Moats and boats and Waterfalls, Alleyways and payphone calls
I been everywhere with you
Laugh until we think we'll die, barefoot on a summer night
never could be sweeter than with you

like its only you and me jade/ebes your somethin to see

(Chorus)

Lalalala take me home
Mama Im Comin Home

Jade, you remember that night you fell outa my window?
ya you came jumpin out after me
well, you were bleedin all over the place and I covered your ass with your dress and we went off to the hospital, you remember that?
ya
well there's somethin I never told you bout that night
what didnt you tell me?
well, while you were sitting in the back seat smokin a cigarrette you thought was gona be your last, I was fallin deep, deep in love with you, and I never told you till just now!

(Chorus)

Home, let me come home, home is wherever Im with you
Home, yes I am Home home is whenever Im with you!

Alabama Arkansas I do love my Ma and Pa
Yes Home, yes ward! home is whenever Im with you!
Home is whenever Im with you.

Hollywood BeJewels Their Vag's

Oooooohhhh Kaaaaaay. Hold it right there. I just heard that rich people decorate their vaginas with rhinestones.

Here's the article

I caught wind of this on Facebook and I just had to throw a blog post out there about this.

WHAT IN THE HELL.

If you have that much money please don't tell me that you actually go do this on a regular basis. And I heard they use hot glue??? Isn't that mutilation?

Anyhoo, instead of bitching about it for an entire paragraph I've decided, hey, why not come up with some designs that you can use, FOR FREE I WON'T CHARGE YOU, if you should go in to one of those places and they ask "what do you want on your vag" and you feel unartistic b/c you get all nervous and freaked out but feel that you should go through with it anyway.

So here they are. The black shape is your vag. The dots are the design, as if they are each a blood diamond.


A BOAT

JESUS DIED FOR YOUR VAG

CLIFFORD

FOR EVERY VAG BEJEWELED MY VAG DONATES TO HAITI



Last one is probably the most socially conscious and at the same time most offensive.

Texts on my phone

1. The cheese is old and moldy
2.Is this riverdance on crack?
3. brents gonna bang debbie
4. guitarist looks scrumptious we're gonna walk home
5. eating out world of warcraft
6. TOTALLY wet my pants
7.you guys look handicap
8.word meat curtain!
9. i'm nude too wait what?
10. i am 99% sure that tim meadows is to my front
11. in the deli at whole foods you can get a mothafuckin chicken burrito for 4 bucks

There are Angels

For those who know us well, you know that we had a very sick cat for the last two weeks. He is now on a strict regimented treatment and his health is improving. I have not updated my blog due to this mini crisis and because emotionally we were low and trying to focus on getting him better. Nevermind the circumstances surrounding why he got sick, that is another story. I wanted for a while now, to share a story about his visit to the animal clinic and why the experience we went through solidifies my belief that the universe works in mysterious ways.

If you are religiuos, I suppose you might say I'm speaking of angels. And if you are a logical scientific thinker you may say I'm speaking of energy. And if you are an atheist, you may say we encountered a bout of luck and a kind soul. It all makes sense to me, from any angle.

When we arrived to the animal emergency clinic Maris had not eaten for days and his energy was very strange and low. We were very worried as his health has always been well and he is young. Like a human ER, everything is fast paced, high stress, and worst case scenerio. But it was a Sunday, our regular vet was closed. The Dr. led us into a room, and without the drawn out story, I'll tell you the bottom line. She took his blood work and told us, emphatically, that with this information but without the technology to confirm it, our cat most likely had liver cancer and a tumor with a low survival rate.

The emotion that consumes your body when you receive unexpectedly terrible news creates an unstable body, and knocks the life out of you. I could not breathe and cannot even begin to describe in this blog post my devastation. How could this be? Is all I thought. How could we have missed it?

Over the next several hours I was told in so many ways that $1000 later our cat could stay overnight for supportive care, based on the idea that he most likely has cancer. And then he could go to another vet in the morning, who they would refer to us, to receive an ultrasound to confirm the tumor.

How do you make these decisions based on limited information, and at this point high blood pressure through the roof? I had been crying, sobbing in front of these people. I trusted their judgement, and yet, did he really need to stay overnight if they weren't quite sure? It was a haze of confusion.

They decided, while I was making up my mind, to give him some vitamins and fluids. This would take about 1/2 hour. I sat on the bench, staring at a wall. And that's when the woman approached.

I had seen the woman earlier, as she brought her dog in. She was unique because her speech pattern was slow, careful, and with intent. She seemed unusual, but not in a negative sense. There was something about her. She came and sat next to me. She handed me a tissue.

"What is your kitty here for?"
"He's not eating. They think he has cancer. They want me to leave him overnight. But I don't know what to do."
Pause.
"Sometimes we need to go home."
I looked at her.
"Sometimes its good to go home, eat dinner, relax and think about your options."
"Ya." I said crying.

She sat with me for about fifteen minutes. And I can't explain it but her presence was calming and I could feel her warmth. I felt she was sitting with me and my thoughts and she could feel my angst. Breathing with me through it. She looked at me a smiled one last time and then the nurse came back and brought her her dog. She told me God Bless and she was gone.

It was a difficult decision, but we took Maris home that night. I couldn't stop thinking about that woman. I didn't want to have false hope. But what was it about that woman?

The next morning we found out the ER clinic had jumped the gun. There was no tumor. And there was no cancer. Additionally they withheld information. They did not tell us that a competing ER clinic could take Maris in at any time to confirm a tumor as they are the only clinic in the city that has an ultrasound on hand and are open 24 hours.

I can't stop thinking about that woman. That angel.

gym etiquette please

this girl can stop talking on her phone now. thanks. its the gym.

C Minor Concerto Dinosaurs are Real, a short comedy by Eileen Montelione, Elliot Ivins, and Jessica Hardy

This screened as part of The Striding Lions Live Art Series on Feb. 15th.

And it pretty much terrified everyone that knows me. Including my husband.

Our movie trailer screening live at The Darkroom Bar this Monday night!

An art show by The Striding Lion group in Chicago will screen our trailer at their event on Monday night at the Darkroom bar from 7pm to 10pm. Eileen Montelione, Elliot Ivins, and myself will also be showing our short film "Concerto C Dinosaurs are Real" which doesn't just sound weired up it is weirded up. Abstract, odd, and hilarious. Darkroom Bar 2210 W. Chicago Ave.

sleeping hansel

Sometimes things just happen sometimes

I wonder what would happen if a person just jumped when they felt it was right to just jump. Without looking behind or ahead. I wonder how it would feel to use your arms to get momentum and then leap over a big big hill and on the other side would be marshmellows. I wonder how sometimes if a persons legs feel numb and yet can still feel the thoughts in the brain, chattering away like wildfire. Thoughts that carry them farther than the body can go. I wonder what would happen if light shone down through a tiny hole in the ceiling and burned a hole into the floor and little flower came through. But it would already be there fully grown. That would be a nice touch to a burned hole in the ground. I wonder if there is insurance for the sun burning holes in things, or melting a persons candy bar. Well, I know there's not. These things just happen and they are no ones fault or anything. They just happen and then oh well, it's done.

Welcome to Gentle Waters Updates

We've been busy in post production once again! Our sound team is working on ADR and we are getting ready to generate a trailer with a release and screening date. If you want to learn more about our second feature visit the website here and become a fan on Facebook by clicking on the "Connect" link on the website!

All of These Dreams by Phish

There is a place on the mountain near by
Deep in a cave but its up rather high
There in the darkness I safely concealed
All of the dreams that you never revealed

And if you go there, and after you do
All of these dreams would be yours to persue
The rest of your lifetime, devoid of a care
If you keep your eyes open, you may find yourself there

Such is the promise, such is the curse
You could just live your life better or worse
Knowing the cache of dreams up on that hill
Beckons and sways but won't bend to your will

You might find a river under a mountain that
feeds a remote, subteranian fountain
drink from this taste just a hint of a dream
that some how leads in to the underground stream

And if you go there, and after you do
All of these dreams would be yours to persue
The rest of your lifetime, devoid of a care
If you keep your eyes open, you may find yourself there

If you keep your heart open

(we played this for our wedding party 5 years ago-it's sort of our mantra)

Listen to 89.5 on Monday!

8am on 89.5 or Vocalo.org you can hear Eileen Montelione and Jessica Hardy! We are being featured for our NYPD Safety Tip video!

Dear Bristol Palin

Dear Bristol,

Because I do not feel you will hear this from your mother, or many of those around you everyday, or media outlets that need you to boost their ratings, I'd like to write you this short letter of apology.

I apologize on behalf of America, on behalf of your family, and Oprah, and politics, and religion, for the public humiliation you continue to endure long after the 2008 election "scandal" surrounding your pregnancy.

I apologize that you are a young woman with choices, but are left to be part of agendas and do not have a voice.

I apologize that your sex life, your body, and your personal privacy were brought to light in order to both support those who feel your mother is a hypocrite and to now help her show that she is a "good mother" and should be welcomed by the public as a figure in the news now.

I apologize that your mistake is being treated as the deciding factor for your mother's wit and clout. It is not.

I apologize that over and over the phrase "here she was, a straight A, good student and she got pregnant" is used to enforce the idea that women should not be sexual creatures and that mistakes make us bad people.

I apologize that you were on Oprah today and people were picking apart your choice to have sex on national television.

Sincerely,
Jessica Hardy

New Disney Characters

Disney, hire us!

Happy 60th Birthdays!!!

To my mother and father in law:

Photo Sesh

Even at $295 American Girl camper add-on 'doing fine' :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Business

Even at $295 American Girl camper add-on 'doing fine' :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Business

I'm confused. I already can't step foot into American Doll Land. The clothes being as expensive as my maid of honor dress really further confuse me. And please don't ask me to comment on the hair salon.

So the first time American Girl offers an add on for a doll, and its her home, its a camper? I don't understand this. Why can't the very first add on be a full fledged home? Someone help me? I already feel that American Girl furthers the idea that females are boxed up, created to be made pretty and always happy. And now, these dolls that are always happy and supposedly "boosting girl confidence", are incapable of buying a home or an apartment.

Their website says "Every girl has her own secrets and dreams, her own talents and aspirations. Just Like You dolls help celebrate each girl’s unique story." Really? My dreams, if I remember correctly, were to have a home that sits in one place or to get a career or better yet, follow my passion. So thank you for encouraging elementary girls and preteens to do the same via a nice outdoor bbq. "....they [girls] can do great things if they believe in themselves." Ok, right.

I get it. There are girls across America that live in campers, and why discriminate or ignore the face that a vast majority of American girls are poor. Which is why American Girl makes it easy to purchase. ONLY $295 for the camper!! The dolls? Well Lannie, the girl that "discovers the world in her own backyard!", the one that matches the camper, $95. That's affordable for a single mother living on welfare. And let's go back to that quote "discovers the world in her own backyard." Real message? Poor girls, don't even think of trying step even further than your backyard.

The president of American Girl, Ellen L. Brothers? "Brothers has been a member of the Catalogue and Marketing Councils of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) for the past 17 years and served on the DMA’s board of directors from 1997 through 2000. Brothers is also a past president of the New England Mail Order Association, the largest association of cataloguers in the country, and she was selected as one of Target Marketing magazine’s “200 Most Influential Direct Marketers” for three years in a row."

Nothing is an accident. Marketing like this is a way to keep social and cultural barriers right in place. It has no intention of moving us forward. Some women find this type of criticism outrageous, taking away all the fun in shopping with their darling daughters, sisters, cousins, and friends. I ask you: what could possibly fun about cramming into a building full of ravaging women and children throwing dollars out to get a DOLLS HAIR DONE???? Take them to a museum, an art exhibit, a play. Anything is better than spending your money on regression.