Filming!

This weekend me and my group began filming for our CAP Hollywood project! My friend Allison is playing the main character, and she is perfect for the role. We began filming downtown Silver Spring and proceeded to the metro, which incidentally had some track maintenance problems, so we had to get off before DC. Now we will have to finish shooting next weekend, and hopefully the metro will be A-OK then.

In case anyone would like to read it, here's our script:

MONEYGIRL SCRIPT ©

Act I

EXT. CITY STREET

Kitty walks down a wide and busy street, clutching a purse.

Kitty rummages through wads of bills in purse.

Kitty looks around, paranoid.

Kitty looks and walks out.

RADIO BROADCASTER

You are listening to WEQ  AM Radio. My name is Chris Tanner, and I’m here with breaking news. Over 100,000 dollars worth of counterfeit money has been introduced into the United States economy, from the DC area in the past two weeks alone.The perpetrators have been traced back to several organized crime syndicates. Police also suspect the involvement of a teenage girl, approximately fifteen years old.The girl who has been sighted...(Fade out).

Goes down an escalator to the metro.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I love: Tomato Soup. Newspapers. Windows. Red Lipstick. Teeth. Pockets. Trains. Bathrooms. Lists. Teacups. Apples.

INT. METRO STATION

Kitty standing and waiting for a trian

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I hate. Pencils. Doors. Radishes. People. Eyes. Crying.

INT. METRO

Kitty boards metro

Kitty sits on metro writing in journal

Kitty reads in voiceover as she makes a list:

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I've never had: Chicken pox. A bulletin board. A dress. A dad. A TV. A pet. A home. A phone. Someone to call.

A man sitting behind Kitty watches her intently

Kitty glances over shoulder and notices the man watching

Act II

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I hate: Eye contact.

Kitty turns back to her journal but is suspicious and scared. She continues to watch him through his reflection in the train window.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I Hate: Men in suits. Men in general.

Kitty exits the train at the next stop.

The man follows her off the train.

Kitty looks over shoulder at man.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I don’t need: him.

Kitty runs up the crowded escalator, pushing someone out of the way as she runs. The man follows behind her, pausing to apologize to the person she pushed

EXT. CITY STREET

Kitty runs down the city street, the man chasing after her.

KITTY VOICEOVER
Things I love: Running

Kitty takes a sharp turn at a corner and some money flutters out of her bag.

Kitty panics and stops to frantically gather up the money.

The man catches sight of her and speeds up.

Kitty notices and speeds up as well.

Kitty ducks into a restaurant and runs into the bathroom, slamming the door.

Act III

Kitty accidentally spills her purse into the sink and looks into the mirror.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I hate: me.

KITTY

What the hell is wrong with you?

Knock on the door. Kitty jumps, startled.

MAN

Hey, c’mon, open the door!

Pause

More knocking, but quieter now.

MAN

Come on Kitty... I just want to help you.

Kitty grabs the letter opener out of her purse

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I don’t need: a dad.

Kitty slowly walks toward the door and lets the man in. He walks up to her.

MAN

Let me look at you...Kitty, living like this isn’t healthy. The money game is no place for someone your age. Look what it did to me. Please, just let me help you...

KITTY

I’m nuts, why would you want to bother with me again?

Kitty breaks down crying and man hugs her.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I love: Money.

Things I need: Dad.

Things I hate: Giving up. Growing up. Money.

Who I am: Moneygirl.

Things I love: Running away.

CUT TO BLACK

End

Hopefully it will turn out well! I'm excited, as are my group mates!

Thoughts about Destiny!

Something I've been wondering about lately is just the path of life, whether we choose our destiny or it's written in the stars as the Centaurs in Harry Potter suggest.

Famous passages have been written about this, which is particularly evident in Shakespeare's writing.

Cassius' speech from Julius Caesar, ""The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,But in ourselves, that we are underlings." shows one opinion, or maybe that was just a lie Cassius used to convince Brutus to kill Caesar. 

Then again Shakespeare references this in Romeo and Juliet  by calling them "star-crossed lovers", as does Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games dubbing Katniss and Peeta the same. Why is this? Because star-crossed means the stars are working against the couples, that their fates are not meant to end well or together. 

So obviously this theme is evident in literature, and it can also be related back to religion and philosophy. 

For example, Budhism, which has three accepted answers to "who conrtols destiny". 

"Theism believes in God or a supernatural power. It attributes our destiny to God’s power. God is the one who creates our life and designs every event that happens in our life. Therefore, whatever happens in our life, whether is good or bad, is God’s creation or God’s will. Only God has the power to change our destiny. We, as human beings, have no power to change our life or our destiny. We have to rely on God to change our destiny. It is this reason that we must pray God for his mercy."

"Fatalism upholds that our present life is predetermined. They believe that every event that happened, is happening and is going to happen is absolutely predetermined. It is fate whether one is rich or poor, fortune or misfortune. Under this view, we have no hope to change our destiny. What we can do is just to accept our life because that is our fate."

"Accidentalist promulgates that everything that happens is all by accident. There is neither God’s will nor fate. Just as leaves that fade during the autumn. When the wind blows, some may fall in the middle of sweet flowers whereas some in the stinking pit. Whether in the middle of sweet flowers or in the stinking pit, they all happen by accident. So is our destiny. By chance, some may be luckily born in the noble families and some may be unfortunately born in the humble families. In a word, fortune or misfortune is just by accident. There is no other power behind them. Under this view, we have nothing to do with our destiny."

-http://edge.jadebuddha.org/2009/03/buddhas-perspective-of-mans-destiny.html

Does whether or not our destiny is predetermined fit into other religions too? 

Catholics don't. They believe that whatever actions we do or don't do will determine where we go in the after life, heaven or hell, or somewhere in the middle. 

So what do I think? 

I'm not really sure. I think we may have been sent into the world for a purpose, but we have hundreds or maybe even thousands of decisions to make each day. They range from what to eat for breakfast, to what question to bubble in on a test, to things that really reflect our character like whether or not to help someone in need or whether or not to cheat. I think some things have to be coincidences because so many people sway our decisions or are the reasons we made them in the first place. If our life really is predetermined, the story of not just my life, but everyone in the worlds lives are intertwined and relate to eachother. 

This concept is so complicated, and as someone raised catholic I'm supposed to believe in certain things like how I'll either go to heaven or hell. But how could I, if all of  my life was preset? My actions or decisions would be preset. It's most certainly complicated, which is why it is such a great precedent for literature, film, art, and maybe even religion. It's nice (and confusing) to think about all these different view points.

My Short Story!

I had a very busy weekend performing in my musical, and going Laser tagging for my beautiful friend Laura's birthday, so I apologize for this post's tardiness. 

This is the short story I wrote for my English Class. I really like it, and enjoyed writng it. This is my final draft, that has yet to be graded. Please read and enjoy! Leave comments if you please. 

P.S. This is Copyright material. 

Let It Be
© Kirin Taylor, 2013.

Lee, my psychiatrist, picks up her Beatles mug to take a sip of tea. Green tea seems to be her favorite. “Let It Be” is playing softly in the background. The Beatles seem to be her favorite too. Lee always tells me that music can help people to cope with stress, and it could maybe help my condition too.
“There will be an answer, let it be.”
I hope there’ll be an answer, that’s why I’m here right?
She places the cup back onto the worn wood coffee table, a little too hard.
It makes a CLANK sound.

CLANK
Mom slams down her beer on the table. The cheap drink sloshes everywhere, leaving a frothy mess on our already stained carpet. I don’t know what it is about Mondays, but my mom obviously can’t handle them. She’s stumbling around, knocking into our furniture, and tears are streaming down her flushed and frowning face.
“Your father left me stuck here with you two. So why do I have to be the saint? Why do I have to be the perfect parent?”
I can’t help thinking how far from perfect she is. All my memories of her consist of disappointment and booze. My brother Aaron is  standing next to me. He places a hand on my shoulder. He sometimes tells me I’m his rock, the only thing that keeps him going. I kinda like that.
“And look at you, not even listening to me. Ungrateful. Stupid. Worthless-” she trails off, looking nauseated.
I glance at Aaron, knowing he won’t stand for this much longer. He pushes his striped sleeves up, and grimaces at me. This is our routine, he’ll calm her down and carry her up to bed. It happens often enough, but how could I get used to something like that?
“You need to leave. You can’t stay here like this, can’t be a mother like this.” Aaron tells my mom seriously, as he offers a hand to steady her. His words surprise me. I realize that this time is different than the ones before.
He’s pushing her towards the door.
She can’t walk straight. She needs help. I open my mouth to tell him to just let her sober up and go to sleep, but it’s too late. She’s screaming again.
“You want me to go? I’ll go. I didn’t want you guys in my life from the start.” She’s backing out the door so fast, I can’t tell her I don’t feel that way. Would it even matter?
Aaron’s still shepherding her, and she’s still screaming at the top of her lungs, when she starts to trip and falls backwards down the cement steps...

“Kate. Kate? Can you hear me? You need to talk to me.”
“What?” I look up from my pale intertwined hands. They’re shaking. I push my curly messy hair out of my face, and notice how clammy I am. It was just a memory.
Lee is staring at me intently, “Did you have another episode? These were the symptoms I was telling you about. Perhaps if we try medication, Celexa or Paxil, we could make improvements. For the meantime I’ve been researching ways to help you cope. What you should do will relate to which sense the flashback's being triggered through. I’ve already told you about listening to music.”
Lee has told me so many “ways to cope” that neither of us can remember all of them, let alone put them into practice. I love music just as much as any other fifteen year old girl, but I think Lee is overstating it’s usefulness.
Lee sees I’m losing interest and switches gear, “let’s switch gears. Can you tell me more about your relationship with your parents?”.
I don’t want to think about it. I say, “No.”
“What happened with your dad is something you need to recognize as a factor in your mother’s behavior...”
Her words begin to blend into one another. I don’t want to think about either parent, who had disappointed me time after time while in my life, and still disappoint me in their absence. I wonder how Aaron is now. I wonder when he’ll come back to me.
“Kate. I want you to listen to me. Are you listening?”.
I don’t have time for her. For this over-concerned, good for nothing, crazy, mean,
“BITCH!”
I am suddenly screaming at her, pouring out any insults that I can think of, everything I’ve wanted to say in the past months of appointments, from all those times I had held my tongue. I am screaming. I am screaming about Aaron, about my dead mom, about my dad who used to hit us and yell at us and then just disappeared from our lives entirely, about my life, and about how she can’t help me. How no one can. I want to stop.
“Calm down. Please.” Lee is begging me.
“Let it be,” The Beatles implore me.
SLAM
The receptionist, Mel, rushes into the room, slamming the door against the wall.
What happened to privacy?

SLAM
The front door hits the wall, as Aaron pushes through to the front steps.
Concerned neighbors begin to gather around, asking question and making phone calls.
“Do you think she’s dead? What will the police do?” So many thoughts were fighting for primacy in my head.
Aaron leans down next to mom, checking for a pulse. “She’s not breathing. This is all my fault, if I had just let her...” he trails off.
I look up at my brother. My devilishly handsome brother. His face is crumpled in misery, his eyes are leaking salt water. He looks a mess. I reach out for him, hoping this would bring me comfort, me and him. My head is pounding, everything except his face becomes a blur.
WHEEE-ERRRR-WHEEE-ERRRR
The ambulance comes into view at the end of the street, red lights flashing, passing by the Anderson’s, the Bluneer’s, the McGann’s.
My throat constricts, like I was about to have those out of control sobs that only come with true pain. I finally told him, “It wasn’t your fault. She’s done this to herself.” I take his hand as medics rush out from the ambulance. He leads me away, helping both of us to avoid the inevitable glances at her broken body.
Aaron tries to reassure me. “It’ll be okay, Katie.”

“Kate. Kate? KATE!”
Except that wasn’t what happened next. The shouting didn’t come until the police tried to take Aaron in for questioning, leaving me alone in our house.
Lee looks worried  but composes herself quickly.
Lee tells me that It’ll get better. I think I believe her.

After my appointment I’m taken back to my foster home, which is really just my neighbors. The Trevelier’s are nice enough, but they are extremely religious and Mrs. Trevelier is the most girly woman you’d ever meet. In any case  I don’t know why it’s called “foster home.” It’s nothing like a home, and consists of none of the comforts I had known before.I doubt anywhere will feel like a home again without my brother there.

What happened still confuses me. No one’s told me the whole story, but I guess after the police questioned him it was clear he didn’t do anything to mom, but the police needed a background check and all of that. So they found out he was using, and now he’s in rehab, and I’m stuck with fosters.
I don’t know how much longer he’ll be there.
RING RING RING
Mrs. Trevelier’s cell phone’s ringing.
Just as mine did that night...

RING RING RING
“Is this Kate Britton?”
“Yes, who may I ask is calling”
“This is Officer Trolley from the PAPD. Your brother is going to have to stay with us”

I Don’t WANT to think about the past anymore. I need to stop. It’s possible to stop.
What was it that Lee said? Listen to music... I start singing to myself the first song I can think of, “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
RING RING RING
“Hello?” Mrs. Trevelier sing songs in her high pitched voice.
I can make out certain words from the other side of the phone. The woman seems disgruntled, “...is...emergency contact...”
“Yes this Martina” She’s trying to act casual, but can’t relax for her life. She doesn’t approve of my brother, and has told me many times “a dog can’t be taught new tricks.”
“...calling...Saint... inpatient...center....,” comes from the other end of the phone.
Mrs. Trevelier starts moving away from me, but I grab her arm and say “is it about Aaron? What’s going on?”
“Sweetie this is private phone call.”
I can hear the lady more clearly now, “released Sunday...over 18..willing?”
“I don’t think we’re interested” Mrs. Trevelier says, and with that she hangs up the phone.
I grab for it but my hands have become slick with sweat, and can’t grip it.
“What the hell did you do that for?”
I rush past all her crucifixes and frilly pillows onto the street, the same street that my mother’s body was taken down, the same street she died on. I’m running as fast as I can off this street full of terrible memories. I need to go to Saint something’s inpatient something center, and see Aaron.

The bus slows down, approaching  the bus stop, making a SCREECH noise.

SCREECH.

I sing to myself, “Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah let it be.”
It’s past the time of letting things go and letting things be. I want answers now.  

The End.

The Joy Gods Return!

I'm in Greenbelt's Winter Youth Musical, which opens next weekend.
Being in my 2nd year of winter musical has been really fun, and rewarding.  Our show is called "The Joy Gods Return" and is a post 9/11 romance.

The show was written by Chris Cherry, a very talented city of Greenbelt employee, who established a musical theatre camp there more than ten years ago. The show has a very large, and talented cast. 

What's so great about the show is that everyone is involved. Anyone who wanted to be in the production could, and that's a really unique thing in the theatre world. 

I really enjoy performing, and try to have as much fun as I can with it-as do my friends in the show. 

The message of the show is, what if we decided to fight terrpr with joy? 

The show has parts which are a show within a show, as the joy gods are returning to New York through a musical written by the main character, Felicity's deceased hurband Tom, who died in the 9/11 attacks. 

The production will be great, and it's only 5$! 

Show dates are: 

Saturday March 2nd at 2 and 7

and 

Saturday March 9th and 2 and 7

Gun Control

Last week I went to the Young Democrat's club meeting. They discussed gun control, which I've had to research for projects in the past, but now know much more about. 

There are a lot of things about this topic which should be adressed, but haven't. 

There's the fact that anybody can purchase a gun at a gun show, and not have to have a background check or register it, 

People, when authorized, can carry guns on them in public, which could easily lead to an accident. 

Of course, it isn't possible (as of now) to totally get rid of guns, but people's attitudes have gotten to be unreasonible. Those who are convinced that their 2nd ammendment rights mean that they can have as many guns as they like, and there shouldn't be any restrictions, are encouraging the misuse of guns and unruly ways of obtaining them. 

Since the terrible massacre at Sandy Hook, more attention has been brought to the topic. People have been expressing their views:

It's clear that there are many sides to the gun control argument, but what's most important is citizen's safety. Is it worth having guns, when thousands of people die per year from it?

For me, the answer is no. I recognize I don't have all the facts, but life is a gift and there's absolutely no reason for so many of them to be wasted. 

It's impoortant to remember there's  NO SUCH THING AS GUN CONTROL. 

You can't control others actions.

Even if someone's background check comes out fine, that doesn't mean they aren't a threat, or that other people who may have access to their gun aren't a threat. We can't control what the guns that are distributed are intended to do, or what they'll end up doing. 

To learn more about gun control click HERE!

raison d'être

A big part of the book my program just read, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, included Raison d'êtres or reasons to live. The main character Oskar, listed his reasons for living, which included his family, collecting stamps, and for the most part making people happy (protecting his mom, making his mom happy, and not hurting his grandmother's feelings.)  “I didn't want to hurt her feelings, because not hurting her feelings is another of my raisons d’etre” (100).

Reading this gave me the idea to list my Raison d'êtres, so that I can look back and see what's important to me. 

• Friends 
• Family 
• Spending time with my god mother
• Listening/seeing music
• art
• theatre
• The beach
• Grandpa's hunting camp
• creating
• volunteering
• Writing 
• Babysitting
• Reading

So that's pretty much it, although I'm sure there's more I can't think of, and there's more to come. 

It's important to remember that we do have reasons to live, and that we shouldn't forget them as we grow and change. 

Here's my favorite song from the ELAIC sound track: 

Here's the trailer: 

Silver Spring Video!

Hey everyone!
Our newest assignment for class was to film and edit a video about our community, which for us would be Silver Spring.
This video certainly had it's challenges. Laura and I had already picked an idea, and gone through with it (which included waking up at 5 A.M. to watch the sunrise). However, on Thursday we were told to do something else...still not entirely sure why.
So working with those 4 days we couldn't film Thursday or Friday because of  the snow, and ended up filming Saturday night. I edited most of it that night, when WeVideo crashed. I then spent Sunday doing it all over again, as well as having a 3 hour change project meeting (at my house), going out with my family, and doing work on my LFFP documentary. So that made for a busy weekend.

Here's my final product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4JJd16JIe8

I enjoyed the project, although doing it twice was time consuming and a little inconvenient to my weekend.
The camera work and audio aren't as good as they could be with an outdated camera,
and the website I edited on, WeVideo, wasn't  working well.
I do like the final outcome.
Hope you enjoy!