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Oct 29, 2009

i'm going to be one of those mom's that does their kids' homework for them when they have too much to do.
i can already tell.
my creativity is not being put towards the academic things it should be right now.

and i don't think i care.

Oct 27, 2009

The tables have turned on Lauren Laws.

Last night I sung in my sleep.

Oct 26, 2009

"love is not a conquest. it is sweet and close."

-Brother Perkins (my d&c teacher)



i think a lot of times we are too rough with each other.
too quick to judge. too quick to hold a grudge (unintentional rhyme)
people are unusually fragile.

Oct 25, 2009

good moments

"are you talking about love?" -jennie
"no." -jordan and i (simultaneously)

"i love the pills!" -jennie

"i could be a DP and a PD, put that together and it's a palindrome" -me

"is it okay if when lauren says 'why do my windows keep fogging up' i say, 'it sounded like lauren said "why do my windows keep f-ing up?" -djb

"i have witnesses. everyone notice that lauren pinky swore she would come back and eat a something substaintial" -lyvia

"guys, i'm not wearing a shirt."

"..stop embracing your culture and be an individual." -djb (in a british accent)

"when you find the right guy, you'll want to devote all that snuggle power to him, and it'll be heave for him!" -jordan aug
"it's like a superpower."

"it's several hours closer to tomorrow than it was!" -jennie

"drat muffins." -melanie

"can i shift for you?" -djb
[i drive an automatic]

"is there blood on my stomach?" -girl jordan

"i like that all of us have been sick or are getting sick, and yet, it's 3am and we're all like, 'lalala'" -steph

"easy, easy..." -me
"i am thanks." -jennie

and i'm too tired to remember all the other hilarious things said when everyone was drunk off sleep deprevation.

i love film.

i'm thinking it might be all i need right now.

maybe food (which is generally provided on a film set, so that solves that)
and a couple hours of sleep a night.

and...puppies? i like those.

i feel really lucky to have a major that I am in love with it.
(and if you're thinking "then why don't you marry it?" right now.
i would if i could.)

Oct 24, 2009

the loooove doctor

so as cynical as i am about love
(speaking of, there was waaaaay too much teenage romance in HP6)

i have been on a roll with my love advice lately.

so ask away!

Oct 21, 2009

Reasons I Miss Oregon

1. candy smith, megan knowles, hilary browning
2. mom, dad, siblings
3. laika, even though she's dying
4. the smell of moisture in the air
5. trees absolutely everywhere
6. my hoodies...how did i manage to leave all good hoodies (camp greider, lifeguard, snow college) at home? what was i thinking? that i wanted to be trendy and forget comfort? i am soooo over trendy. i want warmth.
7. Roth's apple cider donuts!!!
8. donut places besides krispy kreme
9. coffee shops with good apple cider
10. nice drivers
dear world,

i don't pretend to know everything.
okay, i do pretend.
what i should say is that i don't know everything.
most my advice is shoddy at best.

just keep that in mind when i am voicing my opinion.
but so help me, i will have an opinion.
this is something i'm practicing.

Oct 19, 2009

dear world,

there is no such thing as a perfect love story.
sometimes we think we need the passion of the Notebook, the quirkiness of *insert various Indie movie titles here*, the drama of the Holiday, the mystery of You've Got Mail etc. etc.
none of this is true.
first of all, anyone can have an Indie Romance because all it is usually are people being goofy in a totally human way.
i can have just as much fun at ikea as Zooey D, and i can certainly be as hilarious as Juno (without getting pregnant even!)

the facts are these:
you can love someone and it can be completely average.
but if there's love, it will never feel average.

movies exaggerate things for a reason.
it's great to be fantastical and wonderful and dramatic and passionate.
and oftentimes life is every bit as glorious as the movies.
and like i said, Indie Romance is sooo easy to accomplish.

but we need to make our own things.
it doesn't matter how great any one else's engagement story is.
it doesn't matter what jim and pam do.

what matters is that we make awesome memories with people we love.
and stop comparing our lives to other people's

so when i say there's no perfect love story
what i mean is every story of love is perfect in it's own right.

the end.

that being said,
i have become a serious love cynic lately
"So I loved her all the more, seeing she could be so cheerful when there wasn't anything to be cheerful about."

-Mark Twain's 100000000 pound note
regarding that last post.

i get suuuuuper melodramatic when i'm feeling even slightly unwell.

i am, at this point, about 78% alive and improving.

Oct 18, 2009

i have been laying in bed for 16 hours now.
i want to die.

Oct 17, 2009

aroooooooooo.

Where the Wild Things Are
was written amazingly.
I think it captured nearly perfectly how kids think/feel/are.
And there were wonderful parallels
and magnificently disorienting lines that seem to come out of nowhere.

Also, I think it's important to remember the value of
sleeping in piles and making things for each other out of sticks.

And jumping around and howling.

So....go see it.


Oct 14, 2009

i love people #475

lately i've been noticing i love how people speak/laugh/communicate.

i love how jordan p gets wrinkles around his eyes when he laughs really hard
i love how kelsie says, "sweet as" and it sounds like she's cussing. or when she says "jumper"
i love how david jon banks begins stories.
i love how dean sometimes looks like he's going to cry when he lectures.
i love how jennie sighs.
i love when babetta talks in a way that lets you know she grew up just outside the 'hood.
i love how brother perkins looks people right in the eyes when he lectures and his voice gets softer when he gets more serious.
i love how dan enunciates individual words.
i love how wyatt pauses for a split second before he busts out laughing.
i love devin's inflection when he asks questions.
i love alex's lumberjack/cheri dew fan accents.
i love that voice jordan a. does when he's immitating a. todd.
and the voice a. todd does naturally.
i love how jake calls everyone sweetheart.
i love how anna says, "am i right?"
i love how sharlie's eyebrows go together when she's concerned/laughing.
i love how willem asks, "how's it going?" about once every ten minutes
i love how nathan speaks in puns and back to the future quotes.
i love how lyvia writes her plays like people actually speak.
i love how brooke freaked out, "not a real dead cat!!!" when looking up windjammers on google images.
i love how alyssa's voice goes more and more southern when she talks to her family on the phone.
i love how melanie talks like Ariel when she's in love.
i love diana saying, "hey girl hey" and "squirrels are BETTER."
i love how evann explains things.
i love how angela tells stories.
i love how olivia does that voice (i.e. u r so wize)
i love how mike talks casually about things like firefighting and then yells about things like making thai basil rice.

etc.

also, in general, i love when guys try and act all authoritative and put on their "dad voice" as i call it.

and i love campell:
"i can't be hardcore, i have a baby."
"haha. how is--"
"my baby? great."
"actually, i was--"
"how's my wife? she's great."
"well, i was going to ask how joseph's project was going."
"oh."

Oct 11, 2009

oh, bother.

Here's what's bothering me right now:

I recently decided I want to take more photos. Maybe, just maybe, I want to be a director of photography.

My DREAMS have racking focus in them (when the focus changes from something in the foreground to something in the background and visa versa)

I am in love with the slides I shot around down-town and outside a Target in Sandy.

I love taking pictures of things that happen everyday. People's faces, inanimate objects, the sky (I really, really love the sky, all times of day), candid photos, thought out photos....It doesn't matter, there is beauty everywhere.

I just feel I can express life easier visually than I can through words (hence, changing from English to Film as a major).

And after all this determination and planning of my life...

My camera breaks.

wah wahhh.

I am tempted to run out and buy another one, but I'm gonna give it a bit and see if it fixes itself like it did last time. Also debating if I can hold out for Christmas or something.

Meanwhile, I guess I could just film everything, ha. Really wish I had gotten some footage of the epic fence demolishing.

Oct 10, 2009

re-cap

I love my life...Because in one day I managed to

.Change my mind 32 times
.Go to the wrong classroom for 185
.Learn about mulit-camera directing
.Carry around a flag that said, "Hooray for the Everyday" with my 114 lab.
.Lay in the grass in the sun and discuss life
.Break my camera :(
.Go to the Asian market
.Go to Smith's and spontaneously dance in the aisle
.Have a conversation with an apparently drunk man (who was buying liquor AND beer). He asked me if I had a lot of kids
.Throw a surprise engagement party
.Invent a game (Pin The Ring on Melanie's Finger, which was beautifully illustrated by Kels)
.Sort of fail at the surprise part of the surprise party
.See many wonderful friends
.Make Moroccan Tagine which included learning what a butternut squash looks like on the outside.
.Eat Chicago style pizza, baked ziti, Arroz con leche, bratwurst and potatoes, and Moroccan Tagine with Cous Cous
.Convinced Dan to kiss Jennie on the forehead (which he happened to do, on the rooftop, and I desperately wish I had been there)
.Let people borrow our table, which I almost fell over this morning because they just left it in front of our door....

Then Yesterday
.Went to an amazing forum for all film students.
I want to take a moment and talk about what an incredible experience this was. It was just an hour of going over procedures that they are changing, but there was something crazy in the air. When you have 100-200 (have I ever told you how I absolutely CANNOT estimate numbers, like, I have no concept of how numbers relate to actual things..) or so creative people in one room, there is just this sort of tension. But a wonderful kind of tension. I loved it. And I was looking down the rows thinking how much I LOVE so many of these people. I love the people in 185, I love the people about to graduate, I love the people who are never going to graduate, I love the faculty (some more than others). I have loads of great friends, but right now most of them are in the film program, and it was just nice to have everyone in the same room, just sitting, instead of running around on a film set, or passing in a hurry in the hfac.

After that was free sandwiches at Dew, which is in fact open again, for lunches. I'll be working there Tues,Thurs,Sat. Yummy Red Curry Pulled Pork sandwiches! And three different curry rice boxes.

Speaking of food, have you been to Sensuous Sandwich? SO good. I want to make a commercial for them. Okay, so I've only had the chicken sandwich, The Satisfier, but it is delicious. Always leaves me smiling and satisfied. And the weird wall decorations and horrible country music blasting? Just adds to the atmosphere.

I just realized I had THREE sandwiches on Thursday, because that night I had grilled cheese (thanks, Willem!) Also had a ridiculous conversation that consisted of me and someone who was in another room yelling at each other.

Wednesday I decided I love photography. I got my slides back and they look so so so good. I think I love slides. The colors in them are amazing. So, of course, after I decide I'm in love with photography, my camera breaks. :'(

Which sort of brings us up to date on my life.

Oct 9, 2009

dear blog,

it is 10:53 on a friday night.
and i'm completely content to be here, nestled in couch.

Oct 6, 2009

well, just failed an interview.
but it pretty much went how i expected it to...
because i couldn't lie and tell them i wanted to be an editor.

curse this honest face!

Oct 5, 2009

right now my brain is all over the place, trying to keep track of everything i have to do.
about three times in the last hour i thought it was Tuesday and started panicking about everything i need to do by tuesday night.

but mostly my brain is going: filmfilmfilmfilmfilmfilmfilmfilmfilm.

laundry list of events:
crepe party i managed to do some sweet julie&julia-esqe crepe-making. but more than that, a lot of failed attempts. and almost everyone i love in provo showed up. thank you, diana.
general conference love, love, loved all the talks. did you hear Elder Holland? there was power in those words.
smith house we went up and spent the night with the girl who lives above us. i love being in a family setting where everyone is jumping on each other and singing phantom of the opera at the top of their lungs. not to mention brisket with potatoes, cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, fruit/veggies of all kinds, etc. etc. homemade food galore! thank you to the Smiths.
the commute friday i drove ang to the airport and got to catch up. i miss living with her. butthen it took 2.5 hours to get back! so i took pictures of the sunset (while driving) and rocked out to good songs.
casting for Jake's senior project he is doing a scene from Ender's Game(!!!) the casting consisted of old men and little kids. i love actors, they are so interesting/cute. i'm 2nd AD and art crew member on this project and i am excited for it.
classes i love my professors, i love my classmates (because it's the same people 6 hours a day, twice a week) i'm actually sad 105 is pretty much over (it's a first block class) Wyatt is always such a joy to have as a teacher and we always have fun in that class. but our final project will be bomb, just you wait. as for 185...turns out i need to read the syllabus more carefully because the last couple things i got marked off for dumb misunderstanding.
the chair i'm sitting in pops my back when i lean back...wonderful.


tomorrow i will get everything done that i've been neglecting...

Oct 4, 2009

memory loss

So, that last post I didn't think I had actually post.

The scene went something like this:

INT. Living Room - Evening

LAUREN (20) brown hair, average build, devilishly good-looking, sits with a laptop on her lap. She pulls up her blog and stares at the empty box intended for text.

LAUREN
I'm going to blog

She proceeds to type gibberish, several letters that have no connection to each other, or anything. And then completely forgets about it.

INT. Smith's Kitchen Next Day - Evening

Lauren and Emily discuss blogs.

LAUREN
Yes, I have one. It's lawsren.blogspot.com

EMILY
Cool.

Lauren notices her last blog entry is a jumble of letters that have no connection to each other, or anything.

LAUREN
I don't remember posting that.





p.s.
This post was inspired by Babetta who now thinks in screenplay format.

Oct 3, 2009

jfdsfjpodskdsfkdspgdskjdskfpsdkpof

Oct 2, 2009

i just wanted to make sure this got recorded for posterity.


Lauren Mickelle Laws At some point in my life I'm gonna listen to Stars while looking at stars. And eat cake while listening to Cake. and well, I'm not going to do anything while listening to the Killers.

11 hours ago · ·
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
hahaha brilliant.
and then light an arcade on fire while listening to arcade fire..
11 hours ago · Delete

Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
and we'll light it with our Matchbox...20.
10 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
Which will also set alight all The Beatles and you'll Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah!
10 hours ago · Delete
Lyvia Martinez
Lyvia Martinez
and distill something with the distillers. and have a stroke with the strokes. i approve of this train of thought! :D
10 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
And once we bail ourselves out of jail we'll be Sixpence None the Richer.
10 hours ago · Delete
Lyvia Martinez
Lyvia Martinez
And we'll learn about the Bird and the Bee from Barenaked Ladies. Oooooh suh-NAP!
10 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
Then Billie Holiday will come and take us on a holiday to Nickel Creek where we see the Sea Wolf that has an infection of The Shin(s)
10 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
While in the car we'll have Dashboard Confessionals, at the creek we'll be sure and use our Aqualung. And if anyone tears their clothes we'll need to find a Taylor Swift(ly). Shortly after we'll have a Bloc Party where someone Saves the Day by realizing a handful of Doves into the sky.
10 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Keep in mind, this'll cost us a lot of Johnny Cash.
10 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
Maybe we'll have to join the Postal Service to get a Yellowcard that will allow us to reclaim our title of the Great Lake Swimmers because Cute is What We Aim For.
10 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
As long as the title is in the correct Format, we'd be okay. The Kings of Convenience will make all of this easier.

While Counting Crows we might notice Fruit Bats with Bright Eyes that live in Magnetic Fields with other All American Rejects. I just hope no one is planning on Flogging Molly with Eels. Because I would not be Keane on that.
10 hours ago · Delete
Lyvia Martinez
Lyvia Martinez
Everything tastes better with a little Spice Girls. B*Witch(ing)!! We can also Dream that we dance N*Sync through the Backstreet (Boys.)

We were getting so cool and indie, I had to shame myself.
10 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
Maybe if we meet a Modest Mouse, he can help us find Tegan and Sara who i think are Taking Back Sunday unfortunately.
If we go Bowling For Soup wearing The Cardigans we bought, im sure our Offspring will thank us in future years.
10 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
kelsie just won right?
10 hours ago · Delete
Lyvia Martinez
Lyvia Martinez
The Academy is... in agreement. We should really go to Owl City in the After Midnight Project and we'll Say Anything we want to She & Him. We can then get in our Death Cab for Cutie and go pick The Wallflowers at Chicago.
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
I like Panic at the Disco.
9 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Somebody call the Snow Patrol if Regina goes MIA while skiing among the Mountain Goats with Wreckless Eric who loves to take snowmobiles that are Built to Spill. She's such a Jewel, but kind of Feist(y). I suppose the Decemberists know their way around snow, even if it's all a Blur. And if we feed her Red Hot Chili Peppers and Hot Chocolate and escape to an Oasis that should be some Hot Hot Heat where she can get her REM cycle on, because anyone would need it after that Journey.
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
Who doesn't like Panic at the Disco? ha! ha!
9 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
alex is laughing like Will Smith but The Police brought their Guns n Roses and proved they are The Killers of this town. no Iron and Wine for him.
but he did give the Cat (s) Power. so know they rule the world.
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
I love Iron and wine! They are great musicians!
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
You have Stung me with your words! (did I get that right?)
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
I meant sting!!! OH NO!
9 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Making every human an Outkast, that means U2.

But there were Five For Fighting who were Drifters (one was a Blondie) and willing to stand up to the Blow the cats had delivered. However they were too busy Scouting for Girls and got stuck on the Chairlift.
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
I REALLY ENJOY THAT SONG CALLED DREAMWEAVER
9 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
9 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Where they said, "Oh No! Oh MY!" because they were no longer Proclaimers of the good things in live such as Sufjan Stevens. Who really, is just a good artist even though it's near impossible to pun on his name.
9 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
thats a shame about the Blondie, she was pretty hot. I think the new Queen is the whole Cat Empire.
9 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Especially in that Plain White T of her's. But letting the cats win was The Cure. Now everyone has a Muse they can use to Imagine Dragons.
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
Hey have you heard that new song by THE CUTTING CREW? It's really good. I also like BLIND MELON. (Am I doing this correctly?)
9 hours ago · Delete
Kelsie Moore
Kelsie Moore
shutup just shutup shutup as the Black Eyed Keys would say.
9 hours ago · Delete
Alex Christman
Alex Christman
WHO HERE LIKES INDIGO GIRLS?!!!!
9 hours ago · Delete
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Lauren Mickelle Laws
Sigh. Alex just wants attention, per usual.
9 hours ago · Delete

Oct 1, 2009

Sleeves+Blanket!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!

We all made fun of the Snuggie when it came out right?



Then, how/why/how/why is there so many rip-offs of something when the ORIGINAL wasn't even taken seriously?


Snug Mee


The Slanket




Soft Fleece Blanket With Sleeves
(the only one that tells it like it is)

p.s. that parody video still makes me laugh a ridiculous amount.

shades of grey

Dean, my 114 teacher, is a masterful man.

Sometimes his lectures are filled with comments like,
"There'll be H to pay."
"Oh, I thought you were special, but you're just like everyone else."
"It's like that movie, Remember to be the Titians."
"When I don't know what to do I usually just watch a western."

But other times he is overwhelmingly profound.
Perhaps its the contrast that makes both sides of his lecture so full of impact.
Yesterday we were talking about Psychological Narrative.
He was saying how it is unethical to create characters you don't love. We are done with the days of melodrama where bad guys are all bad. That is not how humans work.

It is so convenient to say, "That person is doing bad things, they must be a bad person."
But there is no such thing as a bad person. We are designed to be good.
Then he said, starting to choke up, that you simply cannot criticize a character until you love them.

He said it in the context of movies and other forms of literature we read and create.
But I think more importantly this applies to the people around us.
We cannot judge the people we see in passing, the people we hear rumors about.
The only way we are justified in criticizing is if it's in the form of loving support.

We have to constantly fight the instinct to put labels on people and oversimplify their personalities. The ex-boyfriend isn't inherently scum. The best friend who stabbed us in the back isn't Satan. The boy/girl that broke our heart/stole our girlfriend/boyfriend/called us names/ran over our dog probably just had a moment of poor judgment.

The person we think is not living the right way is not going straight to Hell.

Life is more complicated than an hour and a half movie.
Just keep that in mind.
(and I will too, as much as I think I'm living in the Truman Show sometimes)