January 22, 2012

Blog Post: Starting the Journey

By Claire

The following blog post was first published on RE:NEW on January 21, 2012.

(Note: this post was written for a middle school/teenage readership).

I’ve always had big plans for the future. Growing up, I’d always be looking impatiently ahead for the better time that I was sure was coming, the time in a year or so when I’d get a different (better) friend group or get a driver’s license or graduate high school or start college.When all of those things happened, though (plus a lot more), and I got older, I started to realize that life isn’t so much about the future, or about big chunks of time. Life is made up of now, of days. In all the time I spent looking ahead or making big plans for how amazing the upcoming year was going to be, I would always forget to cherish and focus on the moment. So now, I try to live a little bit more in the present – to focus on the moment, and the day, that I’m living in, and see how I can make that day amazing or productive or glorifying to God.

That’s what this blog is about – redeeming the days. Finding joy in small things, and finding God in everything. That “everything”, for the record, will include – but not be limited to – music, books, Tumblr, Facebook, dating, devotions and worship. So please – join me, and come along for the ride as I walk through the days exploring how to look toward Jesus. I’m going to keep this first post short, but I will leave you with two little bits of magic. One is for today. And the other I hope could bless you for many days in the future.

Read the rest at RE:NEW

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January 22, 2012

Film Review: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

By Claire

This movie review was first published on The Christian Manifesto on January 10, 2012.

The latest installment of the Mission: Impossible films is a sleek, fast-paced, and thoroughly enjoyable ride. Tom Cruise proves that at 50, he still has what it takes to be an action star. Visibly older but just as toned and fit as in his previous Ethan Hunt turns, he engages in even more over-the-top stunts, and the film takes him on a wild ride.

Read more at The Christian Manifesto

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December 23, 2011

Freedom and Fashion Magazine

By Claire

In the summer of 2010 and 2011, respectively, I edited the 2nd and 3rd annual magazines of fashion nonprofit Freedom and Fashion.

Read Freedom and Fashion’s 2010 Magazine

Read Rebirth: Freedom and Fashion’s 2011 Magazine

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December 23, 2011

Web Column: 20-Somethings Love Thrift Stores

By Claire

This blog post was first published on Forever Twenty Somethings on November 2, 2011 (view with pictures there).

If you’re a 20-something and you have a job (and we hope you do), then you have some money for perhaps the first time in your life. But unless you’re this generation’s Mark Zuckerberg, chances are, you’re not making that much, and won’t for a few years yet. And while it behooves you to know where to find high-end fashion in your area if you need it, you should also be familiar with the opposite end of the fashion chain: thrift stores.

Two years ago, I’d never entered a thrift store. Now, I’m an addict. Thrift stores are a great place to find fantastic style deals and to round out your wardrobe (and who doesn’t love clothes and good deals?).

The first thing you need to know: you should to be willing to commit a little time to sort through the clothes on hand. The quality of clothes at a used clothing store varies all over the place, so you’ll find a sweater that look like it was worn by your grandmother next to a high-end silk blouse next to a cheap floral print. The plus side? Most items tend to be under $20, and in that mix of clothes are some steals that you will thank yourself for finding. I do half my shopping at thrift stores now, and get constant compliments on my wardrobe.

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December 23, 2011

Daily Bruin Review: “Break of Noon”

By Claire

This theater review was first published in the Daily Bruin on February 7, 2011.

“Break of Noon,” playing at the Geffen Playhouse until March 6, opens with a gunshot, as John Smith shouts “Bang!” Played with on-and-off intensity by Kevin Anderson, John verbally replays the shooting that just happened at his office building.

Disheveled and wrapped in a blanket, his foot bandaged, he gives the impression of arriving straight from the scene of the crime. He’s an oddly unconvincing narrator from the first moments of the play, neither hysterical enough to have just come from the shooting nor calm enough to be reflecting on it from much later. It’s unclear whether this ill-modulated emotional state is a weakness on the part of the actor or the script itself, but it creates an unsatisfactory opening scene.

Claiming that he heard the voice of God during the shooting, John is convinced that God saved his life and that he has been “chosen” to spread God’s word to the world.

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Leave a comment | posted in Newspaper/Magazine, Reviews, Theater

December 23, 2011

Daily Bruin Article: From the stage to the silver screen

By Claire

This article on the trend of cinemacasting was first published in UCLA’s Daily Bruin on November 15, 2010.

It’s a Friday evening at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in La Mirada, Calif. As the show ends, the audience rises to its feet, clapping enthusiastically through several curtain calls. Yet the actors they are clapping for cannot hear them, and the show they have just viewed is not a live performance, not in the traditional sense of the word anyway.

The audience at La Mirada has just experienced a rising trend in entertainment known as cinemacasting. Cinemacasting is the broadcast of theater events such as plays, operas and musicals to cinema screens around the world. It is also known as simulcasting or live screening.

In 2009, London’s National Theatre Live began broadcasting some of its most successful plays to cinemas around the world. These performances are filmed in high-definition and broadcast via satellite to over 22 countries.

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December 23, 2011

Daily Bruin Article: Phèdre

By Claire

This theater review was first published in the online edition of the Daily Bruin on October 26, 2010

“I have abdicated the throne of my own being,” an aging, beautiful queen mourns, her agony portrayed in high definition on the screen. A stage performance from across the world leaps into full-bodied life in the cinema.

La Mirada Theatre, touted by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the best Broadway-style houses in Southern California,” screened “Phèdre” on Friday.

An encore screening from the first season of the groundbreaking National Theatre Live, “Phèdre” aired as part of an initiative to bring live British theatre to cinemas worldwide. A Greek tragedy written by Jean Racine and translated into free verse by Ted Hughes, it initially aired in the U.S. in 2009, when England’s National Theatre decided to broadcast some of its plays to cinemas around the world.

Touted as the “best of British theatre,” the selected performances are filmed in high-definition and broadcast via satellite to over 22 countries (most live, a few time-delayed).

“Phèdre” returns for the Theatre’s second season (the only encore offering; all others are live) and aired to a crowded theater.

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December 23, 2011

Daily Bruin Article: “Love, Loss, and What I Wore”

By Claire

This theater review was first published in UCLA’s Daily Bruin on May 20, 2010.

Smiles abound as theatergoers leave the Saturday showing of “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” playing at the Geffen Playhouse through July 4.

Nora and Delia Ephron, known for films such as “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” respectively, adapted the play from Ilene Beckerman’s best-selling novel of the same name while adding some of their own stories along the way.

With a cast of five top-notch actresses, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” is a witty and largely light-hearted series of vignettes about what it means to be a woman.

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Newspaper/Magazine, Reviews

December 23, 2011

Daily Bruin Article: Writing with Fire

By Claire

My first published newspaper article…perhaps the one I am the most proud of. This article was first published in UCLA’s Daily Bruin on May 3, 2010.

Genie Cartier starts her workout with a handstand on a chair.

The fourth-year English student has an aura of complete control as she slides down to twist in a graceful, seemingly impossible arch before rotating to land lightly back on her feet in the Yates Gymnasium at the John Wooden Recreational Center.

An acrobat, aerialist and fire dancer, Cartier has been performing since she was 11. A member of Los Angeles circus troupe Machina Candeo, She is also a published writer who pours the same creative passion that she brings to acrobatics into her writing.

“The first night she came in here we all stopped to watch,” said Terri Kinsley, gymnastics supervisor at the Yates Gym in Wooden Center where Cartier has been practicing every Tuesday since arriving at UCLA. “She draws you in with what she’s doing. … It’s artistry to watch.”

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1 comment   |  tags: , | posted in Newspaper/Magazine

December 23, 2011

Web: Literary Blogs

By Claire

This was originally published on the blog of Westwind, UCLA’s literary journal (which has since moved to a new home) on November 22, 2010.

In a world in which everything is moving online, the literary world is finally catching up, and in the last three to four years especially there’s been an explosion of lit and art blogs. But in the literally (hmm. pun?)  thousands of book and poetry blogs out there (the latter much more common than the former) it can be hard finding the actually good stuff. Well-written, frequently updated, readable blogs are as rare as diamonds in the rock (to quote Aladdin). Here are my picks, the gems I discovered after much surfing of the web.

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