Don — Page 25

Shutting the World Out

September 5, 2021 at 9:37 am by Claudia

It’s a rainy Sunday morning, which is a relief. After lots of mowing yesterday that left us feeling very tired, we decided to take today off. It’s as if the universe is supporting that decision. Don mowed even longer than I did and I had to force him to stop. We still haven’t finished but we’ll get to the rest of it tomorrow or Tuesday.

Of course, I do have to work today as I have a Zoom session with the actor I’m coaching in the movie. But that’s only an hour or so and he’s delightful, so it will be fun.

And laundry. And dusting. And….

But still, no yard work!

It’s a quiet day. We’ve been talking a lot lately about our preference for Lockdown Mode. By that, I mean a bit more cut off from “the world” with a feeling of being snug and safe in our cottage. Turns out, we prefer it – at least for now. I guess I’m thinking about it a lot because I have to go out into the world for work in October, November, and December and that makes me uneasy. I would never turn down either opportunity, I’m grateful for them, and I will be masked in the rehearsal room for Anastasia, as well as on the movie set. The safety protocols for film are rigorous. But – I’ll be commuting around NYC, going to various locations, I’ll be around lots of people. After more than a year and a half of only working via Zoom, turns out I actually have to go out there to really do my job(s) and get paid. Who knew?

Also, of course, is the fact that world seems more insane by the moment. People are more insane. I’m so tired of it all and I know you are, too. There was a brief moment there, around the Inauguration, where I thought we might be relatively home free. Silly me. I’m tired of willful stupidity and ignorance. Tired of a barrage of misinformation. Tired of liars and cheats and those who want to overturn everything we hold dear. Tired of natural disasters. Tired of white men trying to tell women what we can or can’t do with our bodies, with the added bonus of putting a bounty on us. At times, I’m enraged.

Self care. That’s what we all need to do and that’s what I plan to do today and tomorrow. No news. N0 24 hour a day barrage of talking heads. Yesterday helped, as mowing the lawn, doing something physical, vacuuming, watering plants, etc., are all great ways to lose myself in the moment and shake off the world.

None of this is new, of course, It’s just what we’ve been confirming in the course of several conversations. Shutting the world out isn’t a bad thing.

Wanted to add that we’ve been watching a great French series on Netflix, Black Spot. It’s a mystery/police/detective series, set in a remote area of France, including a fair amount of magical realism. Beautifully captured on film, it’s full of wonderful actors and nifty plots. So far, there are two seasons. It definitely reminds me of Twin Peaks in its humor, otherworldlyness (I think I made up that word) and dense forest setting full of mystery. We love it. And we’re due to finish it tonight and then I’ll be sad.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Self-Taping

August 13, 2021 at 9:41 am by Claudia

Thought I’d share what a self-tape session looks like nowadays. You can see the screen we purchased behind Don, and the ring light in front of him. Adjusting the light takes a long time, let me tell you. Don’s iPhone is used for taping and it sits in a holder within the ring light, and everything is hooked up to Don’s laptop.

When the set-up looks right (it never looks perfect, believe me!) we go through the lines together, because I read all of the lines in the script other than Don’s. We usually do about 4 takes because something goes wrong; I flub a line, Don gets the word order wrong, that kind of thing. There have been times in the past where we kept flubbing it and got a huge case of the giggles.

After we’re done, all of this gets folded up, put in boxes, and stored up in our office. Self-taping was already becoming a viable option for auditions before the pandemic hit – sometimes actors are working out of town and can’t audition in person. Our friend Guy, who works a lot, now lives full time in the house in Illinois that his father owned. He self-tapes. As you can imagine, nothing happened during the pandemic for a while, but once things slowly started up, everyone self-taped. It’s handy for us because we save the yearly chunk of money we used to have to pay for bus/train travel to and from NYC. Don also saves time. Traveling into the city for an audition takes up most of a day. Now, we can tape for about an hour, then Don edits the tape, and then he sends it to his agent.

The unbearable heat continues for one more day. The lawn is more than overdue for a mowing but we are not foolish enough to try it in this weather. Remember how I said the oppressive heat was enervating? Yesterday, I fell asleep in the middle of the day for over an hour and that never happens unless I’m ill. It felt like I was drugged. Don did the same thing in the office. Cannot wait for this to end!

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

The Scamp

July 17, 2021 at 9:37 am by Claudia

We mowed the front lawn and the back forty yesterday. Even though it was relatively early in the morning, it was so hot and humid that we were drenched by the time we finished. But we knew we had to get it done before the weekend, which is going to involve a lot of rain and thunderstorms.

I always love looking at the lawn after it’s just been mowed. Everything that wasn’t an early bloomer is blooming in the garden now. The brown-eyed susans just started opening. July in the garden is the best. By August, things will start winding down, but let’s not go there yet.

Anyway, we worked very hard and we were pooped for the rest of the day. I also yanked some weeds while I was at it.

This morning as I was sitting in the den, I heard a little noise on the porch. Couldn’t see anything. But I got up to investigate and sure enough, our little groundhog had been exploring. And by little, I do mean little, this one is on the petite side. He apparently felt rather scampish this morning because he was soon heading toward the edge of the big flower bed, where he munched on some weeds. When he got up on his hind legs and started to investigate a coneflower, I opened the door and told him to move on. At one point this morning, I heard Don say “What is he doing?” Apparently our unnamed groundhog had climbed up on the bench on the funky patio, where I have two pots of lavender and a brush that I use to clean out the birdbath. Don told me the groundhog actually put the brush in his paws and held it up! Boy, I wish I’d been able to get a photo of that!

We actually don’t see him very often and we’ve remarked on that. So this morning’s frolics were unexpected and amusing.

Because of all that activity, I had to go outside a couple of times, so I gave in and yanked some more weeds. In this unbearably humid weather, early morning is the best time to do that kind of thing and I often forget to.

Still haven’t begun a new painting. See: exhausted from mowing.

Hey, I have a favor to ask of you. We’ve noticed that when we google Don’s name, that box that appears on to the right of all the search results sometimes shows something from Rotten Tomatoes, which is a film site. And it says, “Don Sparks was…” We’ve written them several times about that and I finally got a response from a guy who said that their data provider always uses the passive tense. And that, despite Rotten Tomatoes challenging that, they won’t change. I investigated the passages on Meryl Streep and Harrison Ford, and sure enough, they are also in the passive tense. The problem on Don’s is that the third word is ‘was’ which most people would assume means that he is no longer with us.

So, we are wondering if clicking on Don’s IMDB site a few times would, in Google’s “mind,” make that a more active result for Don and eventually eliminate the Rotten Tomatoes reference. I hope this makes sense. Anyway, if you’re willing, you could search “Don Sparks” or “Don Sparks, actor” and when the IMDB site comes up, click on it. I’m going to do that several times today.

We just don’t want anyone to think he’s left us.

Sigh.

Thanks in advance.

Today, some painting, finally, and a lot of rain.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Shutting the World Out

Self-Taping

The Scamp

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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