Work is Paying Off: Music

Hey All,

So today was the shooting of the first episode of the show my TV partner, Tara, and I have been working on for too long now (like 4 months -way longer than 5 episodes should take).

But yeah, we had singer-songwriter Caitlin Timmins on the show this morning, and she's amazing, everyone should check her out on Youtube and iTunes. It was incredible seeing everything we've been working for so long for come together into this beautiful video, so everyone should check it out:
Fast Forward Rewind Music, episode 1

Tuesday's show is going to be great, too, because we have two members from Me vs Gravity on the show, lead singer Zach Nelson and drummer Ben Meyers. They are amazing, they've been on Good Morning Emerson before, but we love them so much that we couldn't resist having them on again for Fast Forward Rewind. Check out their songs here and here.

Here's the link to the episode!

On Wednesday we had pop-rock singer Melanie Lynx in the studios to perform for the Fast Forward Rewind Music Series, and she sang her original songs "First Love" and "Impossible to Leave." She sang them acoustically with her guitarist Anthony playing, and we loved having her in today.

She was so sweet and excited to sing, and the whole studio crew has been singing her songs all day -they're that catchy!
Take a look!

That's it for now, I'll keep updating as the week goes on.
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

I'm Setting Some Goals for Myself for this Semester

Hey All,

Again, it's been too long since I've been back here and updating on a regular basis. I'd like to have a good reason, like I'm too busy co-producing a web show for the freshmen at my school, or preparing to move into a new apartment. But in all honesty, I've had plenty of time to go on the Internet and goof around of Facebook and Tumblr, so I have no excuse for not showing up here other than being lazy.

Well I want that to change. This year I'm going to set some goals and goddammit I plan on meeting them by New Years.

1. All A's in my classes this semester.
2. Produce the best 4 episodes of The Lowdown that Emerson can handle!
3. Production position on Good Morning Emerson.
4. 50-100 pages of "The Weaver Journals" completed.
5. SAVE MY F***ING MONEY
6. Make this (or something very similar):

I mean, I work in a costume shop and stock room, I should be able to figure out how to make one of these, right?

Because it will be a cold day in Hell when I pay $160 for a fleece jacket that probably doesn't even keep me warm. Screw that, I'll make it myself (with a little help from my friends and bosses).

(For those of you rich enough to dole out the cash for one of these: http://www.etsy.com/listing/107317627/water-tribe-fleece-avatar-the-last?ref=v1_other_1)









OK, so six things may not seem like much, but it's gonna be hard to do, I can already tell. Classes haven't even started yet and I'm already feeling overwhelmed with all that I still have to learn about producing (not to mention actually paying attention and retaining whatever's being said in my classes).

It's going to be tough, and I'll probably be missing out on some sleep most weeks (aka don't call me on the weekends, because I will be dead in my bed) because it's now about a 40 minute ride to school four days a week.
Awesome.

But the only way I can make things happen is if I set my bar and run for it.

That's all I wanted to say today.
Sorry I've been away for so long.

Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

It is truly amazing...

The lengths I will go to not do work.

Like, I haven't updated this in FOREVER because I got a little too excited about The Legend of Korra and my new Tumblr so I just sort of...forgot I had a real blog.
Oh well, past is past.

Well, I don't want to go write this email or those thank you letters, so:
I'm listening to fun. "It Gets Better"
I'm watching "King of Queens" on TBS
My phone has been dormant since I left work
I'm reading a few things, including Jodi Picoult and Sam Van Leer's "Between the Lines", oh and my best friend's dad's book "The Fourth Trail." He's kind of new to this whole writing game, so I'm going through it and making comments as I read. I'm ignoring grammatical errors, though, or else I'll never finish the darn thing.
I'm wearing a t-shirt and dark-wash skinny jeans
Oh, and I changed the channel. "Victorious" is on Nickelodeon.

I should be making progress in my Weaver Journals manuscript, but because I'm a lazy fuck, that's not happening. Or technically, I should be writing an email to this guy's manager so we can get him on my show in a few weeks -and that will happen shortly. Or I really should be writing thank you letters to the people responsible for getting my scholarship for the 3rd year in a row...

God, why am I so lazy?

Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

PS
one more pug gif:

Review of Black Dawn; Morganville Vampires

Amazon summary:

Ever since the draug—mysterious creatures that prey on vampires—took over Morganville, the lives of student Claire Danvers and her friends have been thrown into turmoil. Most of the town’s residents have evacuated, but Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael have chosen to stay and fight.

Using the city’s water system to spread, the draug have rapidly multiplied. Things in Morganville look grim, especially since vampire Amelie—the town founder—has been infected by the master draug’s bite. 

Now, if Claire and her friends don’t figure out how to cure Amelie and defeat the draug, it looks like Morganville will become little more than a ghost town…

The Morganville Vampire books by Rachel Caine are a great way to lose yourself for an hour or two. They are quick and easy reads, and Caine really knows how to write fast action and make the reader's pulse race with excitement and anticipation. 

The plot for the 12th book of this series, I felt, moved in circles. Morganville is being terrorized by a vampire-eating monster called the draug that showed up in the last book (Last Breath), and for some reason Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael are the only (semi)normal people still in town. Morganville Founder Amelie is dying from getting bitten by the Master Draug, Magnus, and no one knows how to fight these water-infesting monsters. The fights between the main characters and the draug got very repetitive very quickly. 

The self-hating Shane that we experience for the better half of the book reminds the reader that Shane's character has addressed most of these issues in other books, and I wondered how much those dreams/nightmares really could have messed up his head in such a short time. 

The sidelines story with Naomi and Oliver fighting over power that supposedly hasn't been relinquished yet came out of no where. Naomi wasn't really in many of the books, despite Claire meeting (rescuing) her in, like, book 4 or 5. So this sudden run for the title of queen seems random, and a radical change of the character she's been the few times we did hear from her after first meeting her. That demi-plot also went in a wide circle, as well, with Naomi saying she deserves to rule and being shot down, to trying to kill for it -then being shot down again, to thinking she has a little more power than before -to being shot down yet again. To me this just looked like a roundabout way to make a new possible enemy for Claire (and Eve, due to Naomi's weird obsession with Michael) to have to worry about later.

The final twist with Myrnin kidnapping Claire to use her as bait for Magnus came out of no where. I don't understand why Claire couldn't have been forewarned about his plan, if nothing else than for her own safety. What if Magnus had showed up and killed everyone before Claire regained consciousness? Then everything would have been ruined. 

The added bit with the teen psychic Miranda read like it was a last minute inclusion. It looked like Caine needed a way for Claire's friends to all get to the Glass house without just "guessing" that's where Myrnin took her. Oh, and she needed someone else to die that wasn't one of the Glass house roommates. I don't like the idea of Miranda being the new ghost/spirit of the Glass house. I personally didn't like Miranda's character and internally groaned whenever I saw her name coming up on the pages throughout the books.

Overall, I still like Caine's writing, and she really has a talent for making me feel the action of what is happening in these stories, but I think Morganville has run its course.

Personally I give this new edition of the Morganville Vampires 2 out of 6 stars. 

I think the draug-plot had the potential to be a big Morganville finale, but instead we "found" a new attitude in Amelie to be afraid of. I am still interested in where this story will end up, especially if someone else is influencing Amelie's new attitude and how the town will be rebuilt. 

Review of: Linger, Wolves of Mercy Falls

Front Flap Summary: (from Amazon.com)

the longing.
Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.

the loss.
Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of a human.

the linger.
For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is a constant struggle between two forces--wolf and human--with love baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?

Amy's Review:

I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing. If you've never read anything by her, go pick up "The Scorpio Races" -that's my Stiefvater favorite right now. She has this weird style of writing, like everything is a musical poem. Most books in first person "speak" as if the character is talking to you, but even through the multiple views that The Mercy Falls books take us through, there is the rhythmic quality that makes the writing beautiful.

As for the plot of this book, it moved a little slowly. There was a lot of exposition from two previously secondary characters (Isabel and Cole) that was, plot-wise, next to useless. It interrupted the flow of action between the main characters, Grace and Sam, and made the book seem a lot longer than it needed to be. The first 200 pages moved a little slowly because we had to be introduced to Cole St. Clair and his moody, depressing and drug-filled rock star background, but I would have appreciated more about his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and his best friend and bandmate, Victor, whom he also had made into a wolf -"for the high of it." More details on these characters and Cole's relationships with them would have made me feel more sympathy for Cole later on in the story. The story following Grace and Sam moved a bit faster, especially because Sam had to rediscover all of the possibilities life can now offer him and his wolf-less state. Grace's parents needed more of a reason to dislike Sam (at least before they found them in bed), and more of a reason to become so overprotective and authoritative. Also, Grace's illness/the wolf's death at the beginning needed more connection. The reveal at the end that they went hand-in-paw was a little far-fetched because in 300 pages it wasn't brought up after the initial discovery of the dead wolf.

The emotional impact of this book is powerful, especially if you've been with Sam and Grace since Shiver. I found myself crying at the end in a few places, mostly when Sam couldn't bring himself to change back into a wolf to be with his Summer Girl. Stiefvater definitely knows how to squeeze a few tears out of a reader, and she did it well in the conclusion of this book.

Overall, I give Linger, Book 2 of the Wolves of Mercy Falls 3 out of 6 stars. Despite its slow beginning and questionable attempt at a connection to science, the characters of this world have intricate and beautifully tragic personalities and lives, and the musical quality of the writing kept me reading until the end. I will most certainly be picking up the final book in the series, Forever, to see if Grace and Sam can be together for, well...forever.

Thank you for reading.

Help Me Get Some Writing Done

Hello All,

So it seems like my biggest problem with writing is that I'm easily distracted and start working on another project just as I start growing bored with the one I'm working on.
So I need some help.
I'm going to introduce you to three different characters from three different novels. One is from a possibly trilogy, a "journey" story, and the other two are fairytale retellings.

Tell me what you think when you:

Meet Maya:

She's wanted for a crime she didn't commit.

She's trapped in a castle with a self-loathing monster.

She's timid and loyal to a fault.

She will risk her future, her life, and her love.

She can see beyond the exterior and understand a person's true soul.

She will be forced to choose between being with the one she loves, or allowing him to live.

Meet Maya Frye, a beauty stuck in a beast of a situation.

Meet Phyre:

She's a princess, with a dangerous secret:

She's a fire weaver.

All of the weavers of the world have been killed because they are too dangerous for normal society, especially the fire and earth weavers, who have the ability to cause so much destruction.

She's been sent on a mission to save her people and her kingdom.

She's on the brink of losing everything.

She's scared, but she keeps moving forward.

She is in a lot of danger if anyone finds out what she is, and who she is looking for.



Meet Phyre, the Valley Princess of Fire.


Meet Cordelia:

She's looking for her sisters and trying to break a curse that she's lived with all her life

-she turns into a swan.

She knows her father isn't quite what he seems, but she never thought it could be as bad as it is.

She knows she shouldn't trust anyone with her secret.

She knows her father will be furious when he finds out what she's been doing.

She knows the woods are dangerous, but
she also knows that Samuel will die if she doesn't help him find his way out.

She doesn't know that she's falling in love, and
that's the most dangerous thing she doesn't know.

Meet Cordelia, the Swan Princess.


So what do you think of these lovely ladies? I know it's not much to go on, but I can't reveal much more of their characters without divulging too much of their stories and plots, and I don't want to do that just yet.

So please please please! Comment or FB or Twitter or Tumblr message me what you think of my girls, so I can pick a story to stick to this summer!

Thank you for reading,
Amy Liz

Absence...

Hello All,

Sorry I've been a little absent lately, but you see...I made a tumblr. 

It's mostly about what I love best about Disney with some splashes of whatever I'm currently obsessing over at the moment, like Legend of Korra, Smash, and stuff like that.

Also, the semester is almost over, so there's been a lot of homework and a lot of projects, finals to get ready for, and my shows are closing up, not to mention the literally CONSTANT search for an internship that won't completely waste my time this summer.

Another thing consuming my brain-space is the thought of what I'll be doing next semester in terms of working at school with the Emerson Channel. 

My friend Tara and I have pitched a show and we don't know if it's getting picked up or not and it's been like two weeks since we've heard anything, but we keep hearing rumors that we're not sure we can trust but how freaking AWESOME would it be to produce our own show?!?

Also, even though I've been on the show since forever, I always get nervous at the end of a semester about my status on Good Morning Emerson. I love this show and would literally sell my soul to the devil to keep working on it, and I always pray that the new producers won't be like "well, we should give someone ELSE a chance to work on this show," so there's that stress. I eventually want to senior produce the show with Tara, but right now I'm still figuring out what that might entail, so I'm working on just taking on more responsibilities and learning more about all of the different positions and stuff.

Which brings me to... figuring out what I want to do for OTHER shows next year.

I am 1000% positive that I never ever EVER want to segment produce again, because it is the most annoying job in the world and I have so much respect for people who do it over and over again.

I really want to get into technical directing, which can be super difficult because you work with this:

SO

MANY

BUTTONS!!!

I know a lot of people really respect a good TD, so I'd like to be one of those. Or a good director, but idk if I have the attention-span for that kind of work. 

So yes, I hope to be getting back to blogging very quickly, now that things are winding down.

Thanks for reading,

Amy Liz

Also,

WATCH THE 31ST ANNUAL EVVY AWARDS