Category Archives: extras

A Little Bit Famous 3: Scene List UPDATED

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Yo guys!
As promised, today I return with proof that we were in a movie. (Warning: his post will be entirely comprised of pictures of a TV screen, but hey). I also noticed as I was uploading these pictures that the only ones I took were of Thomas, but I swear–I really was in the movie too! In fact, there was a shot of me walking directly in front of the camera for like 4 seconds
Kinect party scene: Thomas (green shirt) fist pumping joyfully in the background.
Kinect party scene, Thomas (green shirt) casually walks in the background.
Kinect party scene, Thomas (green shirt) drinks water in the background.
Computer lab scene, Thomas laughs and hangs out with some cool cats.
Real life scene, Jack thinks this film sucks.
To be quite honest, we couldn’t even stand to watch the entire movie–we just fast forwarded and watched scenes we thought we might be in slow-motion style. Overacted teeny-bopper movies just aren’t something we’re into, but we are glad we could show up in a film at least once in our lives.
Here’s a full list of the scenes we’re in, in case you want to fast-forward through the film on your DVR:
Kinect Party:
1. Thomas background arm pumping
2. Thomas background walking
3. Thomas sipping water
4. I stand awkwardly (and looking at the camera) near some dancing girls; I mess with my hair
Library:
1. I walk through the library right in front of the camera in what we’ll call “the suggestion box” scene
2. Thomas stands at the back of a group gathered around a computer. Close up on his face.
I have to say, being famous is quite the experience–we will sign autographs for $5 a piece + shipping for anyone who asks.  HAPPY SATURDAY:]

UPDATE:
Here’s video proof (courtesy of my parents) that I was in the movie! I’m wearing a pink shirt and walking behind the main actors:

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

 

-Kinsey

A Little Bit Famous 2: Our Movie Premiers

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You know those times when you’re watching TV late at night and a movie preview comes on and you’re like “that guy looks familiar” and your husband is like “THAT IS OUR MOVIE.” No? Well, I know those times, because that happened to us last night. 
If you recall, we were extras in a movie a few months back–before we had jobs or anything–and I blogged about it here. At the time, I couldn’t mention the name of the movie (not that I actually knew it) but what we did know is that it was a made for TV movie premering in ‘a few months.’ 
Well folks, meet Game of Your Life, premiering tonight on NBC at 8/7 central. Nothing like being last minute, huh? Follow this link to see the trailer. 
Assuming that you have a DVR (we don’t), you should defintely record this one since it’s probably not going to be a stand out moment where we’re in front of the camera–it may require a few rewinds. I can assure you, though, we’re there. 
Tomorrow I’ll do a post on exactly where that there is, but for now I know just as much as you do.
-Kinsey

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake for Breakfast? YES

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Happy Labor Day!

We originally had plans to go to the lake today, but it’s rainy here in Atlanta which doesn’t mesh well with being on a boat. Instead we’re having a nice relaxing day at home, watching Dexter and reading (some of us are also playing video games–you know who you are).

Before we got word that the lake trip was cancelled, I had put a Chocolate Chip Pound Cake in the oven. For a second I freaked out and worried that we’d have a whooole cake to ourselves, but the day was saved! It worked out perfectly because we finally caught up on True Blood yesterday and were able to attend our first True Blood Party at Mari & Holly’s house, so the cake was obviously welcomed with open arms mouths. We had lots of fun drinking, eating, and watching vampires do vampire stuff. Now we’re looking forward to the finale next week!

It was hard for me to decide whether or not to blog about this recipe, because it’s one of my favorite and most requested birthday/party items. I kind of feel like if I tell you all my secrets, no one will invite me anywhere because they have no use for me anymore…but then I realize that I live half a country away from most of you and the likelihood of me bringing baked goods to your parties is slim to none anyway. So I decided to share this amazingly delicious recipe with you, trusting that you will still want to hang out with me even if you know all my baking secrets.

The only real secret about this cake is that its base is a butter cake mix (meaning that it’s easy). Even though I was the baker at a cupcake shop that truly does make everything from scratch, and I’ve been baking for my whole life…sometimes a cake mix (or brownie mix) really does the trick. One of the worst things in the world is a pretentious cook or baker, and I have no qualms about admitting that quite a few of my favorite recipes have a box base. I don’t think it means you’re a bad baker if you sometimes a mix. Really, it’s ok.

I usually bake this cake in a decorative bundt pan like this one. Since the move, we have markedly less storage in our kitchen, and there are still quite a few boxes holding specialty pans and other kitchen gadgets in our sunroom. I looked for my decorative bundt pan, but sadly could only find my angel food cake pan, which is much less attractive. The good part is, the cake still tasted super yums and no one thought twice about eating it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

First, I add the cake mix and the chocolate pudding to a bowl.

And I whir it up a little to get the initial chunks out.

Next, add the water,

And the oil. Then beat the mixture on low for a few seconds until mostly incorporated.

Next add the eggs. I do add them directly to the bowl, because I’ve cracked a lot of eggs and I trust myself, and because I’m a rebel. Beat them in.

Next, add the sour cream. I realize this may look and sound a bit unappetizing to some, but sour cream makes cakes (and donuts) unbelievably moist and tasty. You’ll see.

The sour cream will really lighten the batter and make it fluffy and creamy. Beat everything until incorporated, leaving out only the chocolate chips. Scrape the sides of the bowl well.

Finally, fold in the chocolate chips just until incorporated.

Your batter will look like this.

Now pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan (as I mentioned, mine is an angel food cake pan with an attached bottom–NOT the removable bottom kind). Turn the pan while you’re pouring to evenly distribute the batter.

Smooth the batter out with your spatula, then pick up & drop the pan a couple of times (from a foot or so off the counter) to get any air bubbles out. This will be loud, and your dog and cat will probably be scared. Do it anyway.

Bake the cake at 350F for around an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. It will come out looking like this.

Let it finish cooking in the pan for around 15 minutes, then invert it onto your cake plate.

Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting OR covering. It can be served with chocolate syrup and/or a sprinkling of powdered sugar if you want to get crazy.

This cake is unbelievably moist and delicious. Everyone loves it, and I’ve been guilty of eating it for breakfast regularly. Judge me, it is amazing.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Ingredients:
1 Box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 8 oz. sour cream
1 small box fudge instant pudding
6 oz. milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips chips. Mix well. When batter is mixed, fold in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased & floured bundt pan and bake at 325F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

So there you have it. Not including the hour this cake takes to bake, I’d say prep time is less than 20 minutes. It’s a really impressive cake, and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t like it. As Thomas put it, “it’s good for people who like chocolate or cake.” Pretty sure that covers everyone.

Earlier in the week I mentioned that we were extras in a movie. We went back to work on the same movie again Friday, and this time the day was longer and much more tiring. We did meet some fun people though, and we got paid…so I think it evens out. Hopefully I’ll be able to give you more details about what we actually did pretty soon.

When we came home from a long day of work (7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m), we went to check on the litter box situation in the bathroom. Progress has been made! We discovered a strange, cat poop (from now on CP because it’s less gross) like substance in the toilet! Since then we’ve seen the same substance 3 times–so we’re hoping that’s a good thing. We haven’t even gotten to that point in the training–right now we’re still getting Charlotte used to walking around on the open toilet seat, and using it to jump into the box–but we’ll take what we can get.

The litter box has continued to get higher, and the next step is moving the box directly over the toilet. We’ll be doing that early this week, and of course I’ll keep you updated. We’ve now met/heard of at least two people who have really done this, so there is hope for us!

Jack always brushes his teeth after eating cake!

-T, K, J, & C

A Little Bit Famous

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Yesterday Thomas and I participated in one of our most exciting Atlanta adventures so far–being extras in a movie! Because of confidentiality agreements, we can’t give too many details…but I can tell you about our experience as a whole. I will say, because I know you’re curious, that the movie isn’t a huge budget film and hasn’t been highly publicized. We didn’t recognize the actors or even know the premise of the film, but it was still fun and we get paid. We’ll let you know where to look for us as soon as we know:]

We had to get to the set at 8:30 a.m. and it was very very emphasized that we needed to be early (or at the very least on time). I had prepared during the days before, and read up what extras should/shouldn’t do, etc. We were asked to bring 5 outfit options each with a late summer, early fall vibe but that didn’t include colors that were super bright, red, white, blue, black, or purple. We left our house an hour and a half early, which put us getting up at around 5:45. Since I haven’t had a job to get up for, I’ve been sleeping in a bit (ok, a lot) and 5:45 felt really early to me. It didn’t help that I couldn’t sleep the night before, and I ended up staying up til 2:30. Oops! We did get up on time, got ready, and I happened to have an awesome hair day. Sometimes you get lucky. We made it out of the house on time and headed on our way.
On the way to set, I reread the e-mail telling us where to go for the millionth time and worried that it wasn’t very clear. Again, I can’t say where we were, but it was at a location roughly 30 minutes away (without rush hour traffic) from our house. I was super anxious and sick feeling; worried about our clothes, being on time, and accidentally doing something wrong that would ruin the movie. Obviously dumb, but everyone knows I worry about things–especially if they’re out of my control. We got to the location about 45 minutes early, but weren’t sure where to park. The e-mail didn’t specify a parking location, it just said “where directed.” After driving around for a while, we noticed what looked like a roped off area where we assumed the set would be, but got no direction. We looked for close parking spots, but ended up having to park in a garage around a 10 minute walk from the set. 
We parked, got our bags of clothes, and started walking. Once we got there, we were told that extras were supposed to park at a location called ‘base camp’ where trailers and such are parked. We were given terrible unclear directions on to how to get there, and sent back to our car. By this point, I was VERY concerned that we were going to be late. I hate being late, and the e-mail I had gotten made a huuuge deal about being early, so there was a mild panic (read: I was completely freaking out) about getting to the location on time. We practically ran back to the car and somehow managed to find our way to base camp by following small yellow signs that we hadn’t spotted before. To be fair, these signs said nothing about a movie or extras, but now we know that yellow signs are to be followed.
I was relieved that everyone we met was super nice. We were even 5 minutes early! The wardrobe people said we had “great options” and chose three outfits each that they thought worked best. Then we jumped in a van and headed back to the actual filming location. Thomas and I were both in a couple of scenes (nothing big, we were just somewhere in the background) and then hung out watching the production process.

After the initial scenes we filmed, we were taken to change for our next scene and then to a room called ‘extras holding’ where extras wait until they’re needed. The room was big, and it was also freeeezing cold. This also happened to be where lunch was served to the crew. We waited there for around 5 hours total, reading, sleeping (Thomas), talking, and snacking. We had read that being an extra involved a lot of waiting, but we did get pretty bored and sleepy sitting there in that cold room for that long.

After lunch, we continued to wait around for a bit until they needed us again. We finally headed back to set and filmed there for around 3 hours. Thomas and I got to be a couple in the background, which was nice because it meant we at least had each other to talk to while we waited (before we had been split up, and funnily enough they actually put him with another girl for a scene). We walked back and forth holding hands as background people for a solid 2.5 hours. It was fun and interesting, but towards the end we started to get really tired. Our walk distance was pretty lengthy, and my shoes that started off being comfortable became pretty uncomfortable after 20-25 takes from different angles. All and all we had a great time though! In fact, we’re going back Friday to film again because it pays pretty well.

We finally wrapped (aka finished) around 7:10. We took a van back to base camp and headed home. On the way, we splurged and picked up a pizza from our favorite, Mellow Mushroom.

When it comes to being an extra, there is a lot of hurry up and wait and it’s a long (10-12 hour) day. We had been told that and were expecting it, but we also don’t want to break into the movie business, so it was kind of a one time (or two time) thing that we did just for fun. It’s not necessarily something I’d want to deal with regularly, but it was fun to see for a while.


Sorry I don’t have any pictures! We were told not to take photos of anything at all or we could be sued, so I wasn’t going to take that chance. Someday we’ll be able to give you more info on what we did where! We’re pretty sure there were some fairly close up shots with us in them, so maybe someday you’ll see us in a movie!


In other news, last weekend we began our newest pet training feat: teaching Charlotte to use the toilet instead of a litter box. I know some of you (all of you?) will think we’re crazy, but I read an article about the idea and then watched YouTube videos of countless cats actually using the toilet, and I started to feel like it was possible. This isn’t the first crazy animal related thing I’ve done, and I’m sure it won’t be the last! Thomas is a litter box hater, so he of course went along with my plan willingly. 

The process we’re using is step by step and takes anywhere from 2-8 weeks, depending on how willing your cat is to try new things. So far we haven’t had any trouble, but we’re just in the first stage of raising the box. I never really thought I’d be showing you pictures of my litter box or bathroom, but alas, here they are together:
One of the most important aspects of the training, making it a habit to leave the lid up and seat down. I made this sign because we have a habit of putting the lid down. It will also be here for guests if our training is successful.
Sunday, Day 1: Move the box to the bathroom.
Monday, Day 2: Put something steady (a small box) under the box to gradually begin raising it.
Today, Day 3: Put a taller box under the litter box to raise it even higher. Ultimately the bottom of the litter box will be level with the toilet seat.

The basic premise is that you start by moving the box into the bathroom, raise it a few inches every few days (making sure that your cat has used it normally in between moves) until the bottom of the box is toilet bowl height, and ultimately remove the box all together. We look forward to that step because having a big litter box in our tiny bathroom is sort of style cramping, but if it ultimately saves us the trouble and money of cleaning out a litter box, it would all be worth it! It’s obviously more in depth than I described, but that’s the basic idea. If you want to know more about our training tactics, read this article.


I know you’re wondering if we’re going to try to teach Charlotte how to flush (you’re probably not really wondering). We’ve read controversial opinions on that subject–it can be done using a weight on the flush handle that you train the cat to pull down–but we decided against it since lots of cats never associate the flushing with using the restroom and instead just do it all the time to be funny. Sassy cats!


We’ll see how the toilet training works out. Rest assured, I’ll keep you informed every step of the way. For you doubters out there, a woman we met yesterday trained her cat to use the toilet, and there is video proof! It is possible, and hopefully it works for us.


Here’s a video of Charlotte investigating a disturbance in the Xbox. Disclaimer, this is sort of long and has bad lighting. MY BAD.

-T, K, J, & C