Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Lunar New Year, and Happy February to you all!  You know my birthday’s coming up.  I won’t say how old I’ll be, because I’m just so young at heart.  ^_^

FILM UPDATES

So I just got back from Sundance recently, and I had the greatest time.  I met some incredible people and got to see the films I needed to see.  The sad part was that after all the marvelous luck we had getting in to Salvation Boulevard, I never got to see my scene, because it was a victim of the cutting room.  Fortunately, I ran into George Ratliff after the Q&A, and he was so extremely kind about it, and said that it would be on the DVD extras.  Yay, something to look forward to!  He’s a great director, and the film itself was very hilarious.  After having seen his last Sundance baby, Joshua, I had no idea what to expect.

I also saw Cedar Rapids, directed by Miguel Arteta, and starring Ed Helms, and boy oh boy was it a riot.  I really liked the relationships they showed in the film, they were very real, and the cast chemistry was great.  It was nice seeing Ed Helms in a new role, too, as a small-town Iowan who has never been to the big city.

The most controversial film at Sundance (no, not Red State) was The Woman.  I had the extremely fortunate experience of getting to see it twice.  I had to support my friend, Lauren Petre, of course.  She played Miss Hindle, a smaller role in the film, but she was great!  And she looked great on film. The Woman was definitely great horror.  I had nightmares after the first viewing and spent the entire night tossing and turning, thinking evil little boy actors would sneak into the house where I was staying and knife me!  Lucky McKee knows how to elicit some raw emotional responses, and on the night of their first screening, a girl fainted, and he being the great and wonderful man that he is, tried to get the theater to halt the screening, but they didn’t.  Then, an irate viewer got up and started spewing all sorts of horrible things ignorant thoughts about the film.  He obviously didn’t see the bigger picture, the ENTIRE POINT OF THE FILM…Some people.  Anyway, if you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.  Lucky said, “It’s designed to be viewed multiple times.” So I’d say get it on dvd, and watch it a couple times, within the week.  It’s one of those films that keeps you thinking and processing, and I hope you’re able to see beyond the gore and evil to see what Lucky is trying to show the audience.  Sometimes evil hides in plain sight.  Pollyanna McIntosh was stellar, actually the entire cast was.  Angela Bettis, Sean Bridgers, and oh the children, (I’ve got to say that again) oh the CHILDREN!  It should also be noted that the soundtrack is amazing, and I need it!  Sound design was also superb, and really added to the feel of the film.

Q&A at The Woman screening at Sundance

Cindy Chu in front of The Egyptian for Sundance 11, in her Snow Leopard Spirithood

Lauren Petre and Cindy Chu at Salvation Boulevard screening, Sundance 11

The Woman, what I told Lucky...

PRESS

While I was at Sundance, Robert del Valle of Real Detroit Weekly contacted me about their biweekly local stars’ Michigan Motion Picture column.  My friend (she’s so pretty!!!) Treasure Groh, also staff at RDW, had asked awhile ago if I’d like to be interviewed for it.  Of course, I said yes.  I’ve also got tons of people that I think they should interview in the future, too!  The link to the article is here.

OTHER STUFF

When I returned from Sundance, I was on this inspirational kick!  I had a drive to make some videos pure awesome Youtubeness!

So for your viewing pleasure:

A sneak peek of my Sundance adventures.  This wonderful woman who hosted us took us to this delicious sushi place called Yamato’s a few times.  Her “roundeyes” son works there as a sushi chef, and I gotta tell ya, he’s good!  So the fish in the aquarium clip was from there.  Those fish weren’t for eating, LOL.

And then we got hit by Snowpocalypse 2011 in the Midwest (although it really wasn’t that bad in Ann Arbor) so I had to make a cutesie little video for that, and used a song from Scott Pilgrim by Anamanaguchi “Another Winter” for the backing track

Aaaaaand I was in the mood to play my ukulele after being away from it for a week, and uploaded TWO songs in one night!  Then a third the next night! Talk about feeling inspired.  So the first one I’d been working on learning the strum pattern for awhile, and I was sick when I made these so I didn’t sing them as well as I would have liked.  The second one was the song that was in the trailers for Blue Valentine, the one Ryan Gosling’s character plays for Michelle Williams’ character while she tap dances.  The third one is a cover of a song by Soko (from Paris!) called “I Will Never Love You More” and it’s very funny.

Last Friday night, Fitz and the Tantrums played at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, and it was a sold out show (it was free, but filled up immediately upon doors opening).  Luckily, I had met the female vocalist, the very beautiful and talented Noelle Scaggs, back in LA a few years ago, so my friends and I were able to sneak in the back with her.  I shot a decent live video of their final encore song, their hit single, “Moneygrabber”.  (<—Did I get that punctuation right???)

And one last one, because I miss warm weather and am feeling nostalgic for warm sunny days.  I switched the audio on my skydiving video, and now it looks and sounds cool.

Alright, my lovely readers, that was my huge February update.  Remember to smile, spring is just around the corner.  Appreciate the little things in life.  Don’t forget to laugh, especially at yourself.  And always tell your family you love them.  They might not always be there.

Peace, blessings, joy,

~cindy

Gorgeous icicles outside my balcony