YSF | Marvin Big Show, Autumn 2014

(N.B. - it has come to my attention that I should say that all of these opinions are my own & I am not an official representative of YSF. I'm just a lucky observer who loves the organization. So yes. Read on for unofficial joy-sharing, follow this link for official joy-sharing. :) )

There's the Glee Biggest Show and the other Biggest Show, but where the realest, bestest, mostest wonderfulest magic happens is at the school Big Shows. And with sentences like that, I could totally be a writing mentor for these kids. ;)

Every kid in the program gets to walk the red carpet in front of their classmates, having a paparazzi of mentors and actors snapping their picture. The excitement of the children - both the writers and the audience - is palpable.

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There is nothing on this earth better than a child's joy. Not a thing. Being in the audience, in a sea of eager 10 year olds, you can't help but smile and feel oh-so-happy. YSF doesn't just help kids learn to write, it makes writing a fun treat. Gone are the laborious sentence-constructing exercises of the classroom! Writing becomes an expression of their creativity, they get to tell their very own story. Plus, they get to see other people celebrating their very own story, performing it and applauding it. If you could bottle up the joy of the students in that room and save it for the rainy days of self-doubt and discouragement that every human being experiences... well, life would suddenly be so much better.

I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to be involved with YSF. My mother's involvement has gifted me the opportunity to see this wonderful program do amazing things. So thank you, Mum. You're the best!

For those of you who don't have that opportunity or availability to be involved in YSF, I've captured some photos and some moments... just giving you a small window into the magical event that is a Big Show.

First lesson of the day: when in a place such as Candyland, if someone asks "Who's there?" after you break in and enter their home, a valid response is throwing a fireball at them.

Also, if you're going to have a "Battle Contest" with the evil witches, it will be held in the castle's "Battle Area." Obviously. Also obvious is that it is constructed with indestructible bricks. Oh, but the heroine can destroy them with her firepower.

The guy in the shorts is a tree, FYI.

If you find yourself to be the POTUS and someone is trying to kill you, just yell, "Don't kill me! I haven't paid my bills!" Probably more effective than our current foreign policy, but that's not what we're here to talk about, is it, Bridget? What are we talking about? Oh, yes. Another strategy for conflict resolution is a dance party. There is always dancing and it always makes things better.

By the way, this president is a woman, who wears a grey dress, is 31 years old, and actually is really funny.

Since we live in a world where dogs in movies sometimes talk vocally, if you want your dog to talk, but only psychically with its owner, you must specify that in the script. Otherwise, the director and actors could totally miss your vision. Important stuff, guys.

This villain turns everyone into robots.

The guy with the chair on his head is Robot A.

Here, Robot A is yelling, "WE WILL RULE!"

Every story needs a villain. Every story needs a hero. And every story also needs an epic dance-off to decide who shall win all of the power over the country. Or dimension. Because sometimes we're fighting for power over a dimension. But there must always be dancing.
 

Big Jock Bully vs. Small Quiet Nerd
Spoilers: the nerd wins.

Sometimes villains have three heads. Three very expressive heads.

 Last, but not least, some heroes can rock the lady shades.

I didn't do a very good job catching photos that went with the bits of dialogue I wrote down, so here are some non-photographed, but laugh-out-loud snatches of wit and banter:

Sometimes guys say things like this: "I'm so excited to start doing knight in shining armor things with you!"

Sometimes the action happens at a place called "History of the Past Museum." Yeah, that one makes you think, doesn't it?

Sometimes conversations go like this:
Magic Man: "Wait! Wasn't I going to help you?"
Knight in Shining Armor: "LATER!"
Magic Man: "Aw, man. Why does this always happen to me?"

Sometimes the lesson you learn is that it's much easier to "destroy your enemies" together than it is to do it alone.

Some villains could really be very good for helping you live a balanced life: "I'm not going to let you leave until you party with us! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Also. PSA for all those in the industry. These kids are brilliant. Scene changes should always be done in the way imagined by one of these writers:

1) Have actors line up, shoulder-to-shoulder.
2) Make them do a wiggling sort of dance, side-to-side.
3) Have them begin waving their arms up and down.
4) Also have them wiggle their fingers erratically.
5) Make them sing, "doodlebeedoo doodlebeedoo doodlebeedoo" while wiggling, dancing, and waving.

This process perfectly indicates a scene change. Get on it.

At the end of the show, everyone needs to take a bow or two before signing autographs. It's just how we roll around here. :)

When one of the students was asked why she wrote her story, she said the most heart melting thing:

"I wrote this story because I need entertainment in my life."

Everybody together now. One, two, three, awwwwwww.

 ~~~

We can't go to Marvin without having lunch at the Grove... and honestly, it was the perfect day to look at the pretty Christmas window displays, giant tree, sparkly bows atop street lamps, cut glass stars, etc...

We took a selfie, of course. Totally obligatory. There was a humungous Christmas tree, we were wearing sweaters because it was cloudy and chilly... basically, this is how we do winter here in Southern California. It's pretty fabulous.

This place - Morel's French Restaurant & Bistro - is hands.smack.down the best place to eat at the Grove. Everything is delicious and perfectly portioned. Seriously. They don't give you piles of mediocre food; they give you a satisfying, but not overly-indulgent amount of delicious, fabulous, perfectly prepared food. And to make it even better? They are ready, willing, and incredibly able to accomodate my weird, but severe, dietary needs.

And they have a domed ceiling with a painted mural of old-timey French people.

I crash-landed on the concierge couch with a migraine after dinner (yes, I'm the classy girl who gets horrible, vomit-inducing migraines any time, any place). They showered me with gifts... well, bottles of water... and let my medicine catch up to my central nervous system. When I was able to stand up again, all the beautiful Christmas lights had been turned on. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. So there was a silver lining to the migraine.

Not only did the man-made lights glitter away beautifully, the God-made light decided to be a bit of a showoff over the skyline of downtown LA.

Such a good day. :)