Copyright © 2006 Laurie D. T. Mann
Please read my blog entries at my Web site:
http://www.dpsinfo.com/blog.
There are many disadvantages to being unemployed. Some monetary constraints and general boredom to name two.
But there are some advantages. I did an awful lot of our house-hunting/house-buying/moving legwork. I finshed writing my novel. In early July, I got to be an unpaid production assistant for the day during a local documentary shoot, A Tale of Two Cities. I've been working with David Brody on the William Tenn documentary. And, today, I tried out for Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
The show asked all potential contestents to take two different trivia tests - the regular test, and the movie-trivia test for a week of movie-related shows that Netflix is sponsoring this fall. Over 230 people take the tests at a time (there were easily over 1,000 test-takers in line in Pittsburgh today). About 40 people pass the tests at each session.
I passed BOTH TESTS!
So I got to talk to an assistant producer for about a minute about what I love about movies.
This doesn't mean I'll get on the show. Maybe too many middle-aged white women passed both tests this year. Who knows. But after flunking the Jeopardy test twice, I'm psyched to have passed both Millionaire tests!
Since I got out of the test around lunch time, I wandered over to Bar Louie where I ran into some folks from the contestent line having lunch. I asked if I could join them, they said sure, so we had a very pleasant hour chatting on the patio.
So, tomorrow I'm doing something else I've always wanted to do - I'm going to the casting call for a movie. They are wisely shooting Michael Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, in Pittsburgh this fall. I'm trying out to be an extra. There is a tiny part I would be perfect for if only I was a little younger - they're looking for a fat female to play a bookstore employee. Unfortunately, she needs to be about 30, and I'm now way old for that part.
