My 2013 Halloween Party Shenanigans

From recent experiences, I think you could say I'm a yelp expert.  Several months ago, I visited the bowling alley, Jillian's at Universal Citywalk.  The service was appalling, so I do what I always do and wrote a yelp review.  A few weeks later I received a message on yelp from corporate about my review. They wanted to invite me back on their dime to experience the new and improved Jillian's since it was reportedly under new management.  Little did I know, they not only wanted to invite me back but wanted me to bring 19 of my friends.  I set the date around Halloween and began planning an epic Halloween party.

The night of my party drew near and the idea of a costume contest formed.  So not only was I planning the party, but then I had to plan a costume as well!  Trying to keep up with the flux of RSVPs was not easy, but I had a pretty packed list when the day of my party arrived.

The party was a huge hit!  Jillian's was ready when I arrived early at 9:30.  We were escorted to our lane where chips and salsa, wings, and a waitress was ready for drink orders.  We bowled the night away, most of us not doing so well (okay, maybe that was just me!) and munched on the great food.  Midway through the party, they brought us this awesome bucket filled with Halloween goodies!

Midnight came and we still had a few bowling rounds left.  The manager let us keep bowling until we were all finished.  I could not have had a better time and I think all my friends agreed by their goofy smiles on the below photos.  Thanks to my awesome friends for making the party a huge success!  I guess one of the best parts was, it was all free!  I should probably start planning my Christmas party...

On actual Halloween, I'll be going to the West Hollywood party that takes over Santa Monica Blvd.  I've been told I have to go at least once and this year seems like the year to do it.  I don't think I will dress up but perhaps I can throw on a Harry Potter beanie.  Should be an interesting experience!  Enjoy the pics from the party below!  I'll be in touch again soon, blog world.

♥ Mir

Getting ready for the party.  Too much hairspray?

 Me and Stephanie aka Debra Morgan when we arrived at the alley.

A panorama of the party.

 The ID Badge I made for Steph.

Selfie with Darius!  We look so pink!

Buzz, Debra Morgan, Orange is the New Black

Peter Pan and "Bro" 

Selfie with Jaime!

Halloween light up mouth toy.

 Debra Morgan is amused.

 Witchy and Superman

Selfie with Corinne!

Playing with more Halloween goodies.

Indy, Dr. Who, and Background Extra 

Oh these goofs.

The alley.

Me and Corinne!

We are goofs.

Lined up ready to bowl.

 Indy takes flight.

Bryan isn't amused.

Thanks for the lens flares, Dr. Who!

 2nd Round bowling scores group 1!

2nd Round Bowling scores group 2!

And the infamous group pics.

Told ya we had goofy smiles by the end.

I couldn't help but take in the view from our parking spot in the garage.  

Gorgeous ending to an awesome night!

Updates!

Hi blog world!  I'm sorry I haven't posted in a couple of months.  I don't typical find myself doing update posts but I thought I would give it a shot.  So...roll 'em!

The Work Front

Work has been quite busy these past couple of months!  We had the first International show I've worked on since starting at Don Mischer Productions over 2 years ago, The Huading Awards.  (I cannot believe it has been that long!)  My days (and many nights) were filled with conference calls, emails, and grid updates as I stepped up to do all of the Travel Coordination for the entire DMP team.  I worked with a Beijing travel agency to book flights, ferry tickets, and ground transpo in China for 10 different team members.  My daily top hit in google was 'What time is it in China?'  I tell ya, the time difference is quite awful.  The night I went with my cousins and friends to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, everyone in China was waking up to the morning they traveled back to the states.  I would exit one maze and email all the way to the next maze.  Travel Coordinating is one busy business!  As soon as I knew everyone was back in the States, I was ready for a long nap!  My awesome co-worker, Ben brought me this back from Hong Kong!  He knows how much I love Disney.

As far as our next project, I can't disclose any information yet!  Stay tuned to my facebook page as I always post press releases as soon as they are available to the public.  On that note, I'll just leave this right here...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nbc-revives-american-comedy-awards-650481

On a side work front, I'm back on LinkedIn!  If you're on LinkedIn, let's connect!

• www.linkedin.com/pub/miryam-fail/83/b25/b30/

  
  

  
  

  Giving a Project Legs

  For over a year now, I have been working with my good friend, Sean to get a short film off the ground.  Sean and I have worked together as a Producing/Directing team for a while now.  The project fell into the cracks last year as our work loads grew, but we are finally going through the motions to get the Kickstarter prepped and ready for launch.  We brought on an awesome producing partner, Stephanie Bitterman to our team.  Together we have made progress towards our goal and hope to launch the Kickstarter in early 2014.  We are so thrilled to be working on this project and are collaborating with friends and co-workers as well as bringing in new creative artists to help us achieve our vision for this project.   You might be wondering what the project is about, but due to the beauty of a document called an NDA, I'm unable to disclose any info at this time.  I will post all of the social networking sites and Kickstarter links as soon as they go live!

  
  

  
  

  On the Personal Front

  I have finally begun to explore my new state, California!  It only took me 2 years to want to travel!  Recently I made the trek to San Diego.  I went to the zoo which I was told I went to when I was very little.  The zoo is huge and even has a huge skyline tour you can take.  I highly recommend the zoo to anyone who hasn't been!  I took a few pictures which I've posted for your viewing below.  I also went to a Joseph Gordon-Levitt show at the Orpheum in downtown LA, went whale watching with my cousins in Newport Beach, explored the 'Bat Cave' where one of the original batman films was shot at, and went to Medieval Times with my cousins!  A very exciting night was when my friend, Corinne and I met the newest Illustrator for the Harry Potter series.  He did a demo and signing at a Barnes and Nobles near me.  I'm hoping my next trek takes me to San Francisco!  I've always wanted to tour Alcatraz and see the Golden Gate bridge.  I'm also excited to explore the mountains whenever I get a chance.  For now, my next adventure is hosting a VIP Halloween party at a bowling alley in Universal Citywalk for myself and 19 friends.  Pictures to come!

  
  

  
  

  I hope you enjoyed my updates.  Stay tuned to my blog and I promise to post again soon!  Stay classy, peeps!

  
  

  ♥ Mir

  
  

  
  

  The San Diego Zoo

  
  

  
  

   
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  A Joseph Gordon-Levitt Show at the Orpheum

  
  

  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Adventures with my Cousins
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Hike to the 'Bat Cave'
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Meeting the New Harry Potter Illustrator
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Post-College Practices

 Sometimes I find it funny that the practices in college I found annoying turn into life practices I find important.  In my Business of Film class in Senior year of college, my teacher always made us respond with a simple 'got it' whenever we received an email from her.  These days I set many conference calls and I seriously wish everyone I email would respond with something that would assure me they received my email and are confirmed for the call.  This way when I initiate the call I'm not anxiously listening to make sure everyone who needs to be on the call is on it.  It's so funny how something as simple as this is so important.  So many times you're asked about the college you went to and if you feel you got a great education there.  If I told someone the most important thing I learned was email etiquette, they'd laugh in my face.  Honestly, learning etiquette was part of my college experience.  I took workshops on dining etiquette through student life, and all throughout film school you learn the etiquette of how to work in the film world.  I look around at others my age in my daily life and even my Facebook wall and sometimes I'm shocked to see how people act.  I guess I just got lucky.

I recently had dinner with the college professor who taught me business of film, and she asked me some important things I had discovered post-college.  My number one was constantly being in the know about what is happening in the entertainment world.  In order to be on top, you have to be on your game.  You have to constantly check for breaking news and it's always great when you can be the first one in the office to break and story and say, "Hey, did you see that so and so just dropped all their agents?"  Or "Hey, did you see that such and such network just picked up that new pilot?"  Those are silly examples, but when your boss comes in the room and asks you what you know about a certain celebrity, you better be up on your celeb gossip and be ready to give him everything he needs to know before he walks into a pitch meeting.

And now a shameless plug about an upcoming project.  I'm currently in the throws of pre-production on a short film with two of my friends.  I'm co-Producing it and we're working hard to get the Kickstarter ready for launch.  It will be the biggest project I've ever Produced and we are going to need a lot of funding.  I can't say much about the film yet, but it is a fan film that we have thought about making for a while now.  The project is going to be very collaborative with both graduates of my college as well as my new friends in the LA film world.  Keep a lookout for the project launch and I do hope we have a lot of support!

That's all for now folks.  I've had a hard time figuring out what to blog about these days, but hopefully my creative blogging brain starts thinking of more ideas soon.

<3  Mir

Learning the Important Things in Life

I want to start off this blog post by saying I'm very sorry I have neglected this blog since May.  I would normally never go this long without writing.  Life has had many ups and downs lately, so it was hard to find a topic and idea for a new post.  Because of those ups and downs, I was able to develop a new idea for a post.  

Important.  Significant.  Necessary.  

It has been almost 2 years since I moved to Los Angeles.  2 years is a very long time when you think about what can occur.  I moved 2,135 miles across the United States to Los Angeles from Niceville.  I moved away from my family and many close friends.  Currently, I only get to go home 2 times every year to see them for 2 week increments.  While I was home visiting my family this summer, my Uncle Stanley passed away very suddenly.  Suddenly my fairy tale world was turned upside down.  Deciding to live in Los Angeles and pursue my dream in the entertainment industry requires sacrifices.  Sacrificing valuable time away from my family which I can't gain back by a few trips home.  I began questioning if it is truly worth the sacrifice   No man knows the day nor the hour when their time on earth will be up.  We can all hope and dream the ones we love lead long happy lives, but we never know if a car crash will end their life tomorrow.  What decision did I make regarding if sacrificing time was truly worth it?  It's honestly not a decision I could really make on my own.  My mom actually helped remind me while I was home that it truly is.  When you go home and you have so many family and friends cheering you on and truly excited and happy to see you succeeding you realize you aren't just fulfilling your dreams for you.  You're also fulfilling your dreams because you know it makes your parents, extended family, and friends so happy to have helped you along your journey to where you are today.  Parents look at their infant child growing up wishing and hoping for the best things to happen to them in their lives.  The dad might dream of his son being a pro football player, the mother might wish her daughter to become a well-respected surgeon.  You grown up, graduate school, and it's time for you to realize your dreams and your parents finally get to realize their dreams for you.  After all, where would we all be without them?  I know I definitely wouldn't be where I am.

I try to surround myself with friends in Los Angeles who support me and give me emotional stability in my crazy life.  Most of my friends experience the same situations I do as we work in the same industry. I actually don't have a single friend in Los Angeles who doesn't have a job with ties to the entertainment industry.  (Man Buzzfeed really was right about that one!)  I frequently visit my cousins who live 50 minutes away (on a NORMAL traffic day).  After all, ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind.  Or forgotten.

So, in the end did I waste your time with a sappy blog post?  I hope not.  In my blog I always try to make my readers think and pose questions.  So, here's my question for this blog.  

"Fifty years from now, when you’re looking back at your life, don’t you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car? "

Yes, I did just use a Transformers quote to emphasize the point of this post.  I did get in the car and it ended up taking me to Los Angeles.  Do you have the guts to get in the car and begin whatever journey your dreams take you on?

My Ohana

My mom and I cooking a Game of Thrones Feast

My Dad and I eating Cajun Food

 RIP Uncle Stanley - He always called me, "Ms Hollywood"

My besties and I setting our sights on Orlando.

My besties and I at one of my favorite places in the world.