To kick things off, I’m taking my charity-of-the-month tradition public. Last year, I gave a small donation (usually just ten bucks) to an organization whose mission I supported, and I found it made me feel a lot more connected to my community. So if you’d like to join me, I’m starting with Against Malaria in January.

Against Malaria is a rad organization that protects people all over the world from malaria. 100% of the donations they receive go toward buying long-lasting insecticidal nets, which are extremely effective at protecting people from malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Better yet? Each one only costs $4! Click here to donate as part of my campaign (or donate independently if you’d rather I wasn’t all up in your business). And if you want to participate every month, check the Current Projects page on the first of every month.

Best wishes for 2013!

Actually, I’ve got an answer for that. Since I last updated (in October; whoops), I:

• Got engaged (yay!)
• Accepted a new job
• Finally sold a handful of stuff through my Etsy shop
• Made a music video
• Ran my first (and second) 5K
• Read exactly 100 books (not since October. Just in 2012.)

And here’s what’s on the docket for 2013:

• Get married
• Buy a house
• Start a new job
• Finish the Teen Movie Project

I’m most afraid of that last one, to be honest.

So unless I pass out from exhaustion, I’ll see you in the new year! Happy holidays, everyone.

What is facts + figures, you ask? Why, it’s an online boutique where my friends and I sell our crafty little wares! Fancy a custom silhouette portrait of yourself? A handful of wildflower seed bombs? A set of vintage teacups? We have you covered!

Do me a solid and go check it out. I’m pretty proud of it.

How ’bout a dollar or two, huh? You’d make a handful of poor artists very happy.

So, I’m making puppets again.

You’ll notice these are less, uh, meticulously sculpted than the last ones. And they’re not done, of course. But a good rule of thumb is that if a project involves googly eyes, you won’t be staying up until 4 in the morning too often.

These are for that music video that I’ve suddenly found myself directing. I love how the one in the middle seems to be rolling her eyes. Probably about the fact that she has not only googly eyes, but googly eyelashes. Love it.

In the meantime, I was surprised and flattered by my friend Beryl, who asked me to direct her upcoming music video. Wha wha what? I mean, ok, I guess I just directed the TMP, and I’ve certainly worked on music videos before, and she’s even thinking of including puppets…but that’s all been my own stuff! I don’t know if I should be allowed to execute someone else’s vision.

But then she offered me pizza and beer, so I said yes.

Here’s the storyboard she and teen movie DP Jonathan put together. Good stuff, right?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, David sat in front of his laptop, headphones on, recording the “Elizabeth’s Flowers” songs for the soundtrack.

Here is some relationship advice: pick the person who will spend his entire day off learning how to cover 90s songs for a movie project that maybe a dozen people will ever see. That one is a keeper.

In other news, Star Wars Uncut has finally been released! And I was thrilled to discover that both of the scenes that Rhonda and I submitted made it in to the director’s cut. You can watch the whole thing below, or skip to 20:56 and 1:58:57 to see our cameos. Sweet!

Exhibit A: The Entourage Video

At my work, there’s a little-known program called Entourage that I happen to administer. Being the marketing department and all, we decided to raise its profile with a little informative video. Nothing special, just something visual we could use to draw a bit of attention.

Somehow it became this:

Yes, that’s Rita Moreno in that video. Winner of the Oscar, Grammy, Tony, and two Emmys. And that’s me, winner of the “Most Dramatic” award (Santa Teresa High School yearbook, 2002) which is…not quite the same thing. I wrote that script in about 15 minutes and the whole thing was terrifying. I wrote about it on the Berkeley Rep blog here.

Exhibit B: The Teen Movie Project

I don’t know how we did it, but somehow we did it. It’s over.

It took a month of filming and countless hours of scheduling, prop-making, costume-fitting, and hair-pulling, but yesterday we wrapped on production. Which is, I don’t know, liberating? Terrifying? Now that it’s done, there are no more chances to fix things or insert new great ideas, and it means I have to start the epic chore of editing this entire thing into one cohesive narrative. Although, to be honest, I’m really looking forward to that part. Because I was in almost every scene, I didn’t have a lot of chances to really direct the thing. Fortunately, I had an amazing DP, who made it easy to let go and rely on his talent. I know he got some amazing shots–probably way better than if I’d told him what to do, anyway–and I’m looking forward to standing on his shoulders and making a movie out of his images.

And now it’s finally time to relax. Haha, just kidding! I’m flying to England on Saturday and not coming back for two weeks.

Maybe next year I’ll take a nap or something.

I have no idea what how this film is going to turn out in the end, but I know I can’t wait to see it.