La Rosa Knows

Watching Shark Week right now?

I am on a sugar high because I ate this gingerbread cookie thing and then may have had another one just for good measure.

As reblogged from Neatorama:

Heather McDougal talked to 5th and 6th graders about how the ideal body image of women has changed over time, from the corsets of 100 years ago to the Photoshopped images of today. And the modern altered bodies and altered images are the hardest ideal to even consider living up to. As an example, contrast the image of Usula Andress in the 1962 movie Dr. No with one of Halle Berry in the 2002 movie Die Another Day.

The thing that disturbs me most about these two images is how our daughters must feel about themselves when they see them. The girls in 1962, seeing Ursula rising from the waves in Dr. No, knew that what they were seeing was a real woman, something they could aspire to (if that was what they wanted). Seeing Halle Barry, above, holds no such comforts, particularly when digital film has so much option for smoothing out those flaws. Such perfection is absolutely outside the realm of anyone who is honest with themselves. They might as well throw themselves against a brick wall, because you can’t live, and breathe, and be that perfect. It’s impossible, and our daughters know it.

When she presented the changing ideal image of men, she found fewer changes over time, but a difference between what men and what women consider ideal. Read the rest at Cabinet of Wonders. Link

That the junk food you ordered to make your shitty day better has completely disappeared into your belly and you are now a sad, fat sack.

I am really REALLY excited for Jeffrey Eugenides new novel.

It’s called ’The Marriage Plot’ and comes out in October, it’s his first novel since writing ‘Middlesex’ in 2002.

New York Magazine aptly pointed out that there’s a David Foster Wallace character in the new book… because there aren’t too many bandanna wearing, tobacco chewing, nut jobs in the world.

Still excited.

Comic-Con is coming up, and we’ll be giving a sneak peak at the new show and hosting a panel with the cast (yay!!), so it only feels fitting to share some more insider info from ‘The Secret Circle’ offices.

Whether it be pure coincidence, a bit of ghost activity, or some true witchcraft starting to seep in, our offices seem to be a little… spooky.

I’ve previously written about our possessed electronics, and how the writers seem to be under some sort of spell, and the fact that on the set of ’The Craft’ witchy things started happening– could this be our fate?

I’ve never thought about whether or not I believe in magic, the real kind at least. I love reading about witchcraft and all things supernatural, but now that it’s starting to happen to me it’s I’ve become a whole lot more aware of what’s going on around me.

The latest terrifying thing is happening with my phone. You see I’m an assistant, so huge chunks of my day are devoted to making calls and listening to people gush over how much they love our show (and why shouldn’t they?).

But last week I started getting these calls from an unknown number. Essentially, whenever someone calls I can see their number. Always. But with this one, no number comes up at all, and when I pick up the phone no one is there. It’s just almost a dead line– no heavy breathing, no “Sorry, wrong number” just silence.

Last week I got one of these calls everyday. It was usually late at night when the office grows a bit darker and our writers start filing out to head home. It’s unsettling to be alone in a room and get a dead call from an unknown number, trust me on that!

And now that it’s a new week, it seems to be an opportunity for things to escalate. On Monday I got three of these dead calls. And yesterday, as soon as I walked in the office I heard my phone ringing, and when I looked at the screen it was again an unknown number and when I picked up it was eerie silence. That one weirded me out in particular because it was almost like someone was watching me and knew when I had walked in the door.

So, it’s either a stalker or some witches trying to mess with me.

Either way, I’m considering trying out a spell. I’ve been confiding to one of our writers about all of the crazy things that have been happening, and they pulled out a spell book they have in their library (we are a show about witches so, yeah, we have real spell books).

There’s this one spell that’s used to ward off evil doers. I don’t know if the people behind all this are evil, but I do know that I am starting to not feel so safe anymore. The only issue is that I’m not Wiccan and have never tried out a spell of any kind, so I’m not sure it would even work.

Maybe I’ll just leave it up to you all. Do you think it’s safe to try out the anti-evil spell, or should I just keep letting this crazy stuff happen?

I’m having one of those days where I just want to buy a ticket to Paris and fucking GO. Not tell anyone, not bring anything. Just take my purse, throw my cell phone in a river (where I’d find one in Hollywood is unclear), and buy myself a Starbucks while waiting at the terminal.

My fantasy life is what’s keeping me going.

That, and the fact that I’ll be seeing HARRY POTTER tonight!

Before I jump into the story of how witches are invading ’THE SECRET CIRCLE’ office, let me start with a little background information:

I’m working on a new CW Show called ‘The Secret Circle,’ and I’ve been with them for a little over a month now. I seriously couldn’t ask for a better job; I love the show, the concept, witches, my coworkers, and I’m learning so much.

There’s just one little issue: My boss and I disagree about how low we should keep the thermostat.

Andrew Miller is an amazing guy– he wrote the pilot for 'The Secret Circle,’ he’s smart, funny, has a beautiful wife and a newborn baby who is adorable. But he also likes to keep our office to the temperature of an igloo.

I’m not exaggerating here– we had the temperature on so low the other day that it burst a pipe and caused a leak in our kitchen.

So, sometimes, I fiddle with the air conditioner… I can’t help it! I’m from Florida, and I’m used to tank tops and flip flops. Plus, it’s right next to my desk, and when my parka is up over my head and my teeth are chattering as I type, it’s just too tempting not to try and make it warmer.

I tried to do this about an hour ago. The temperature was at 70 (which, may not sound chilly but to my wimpy skin it is), and I went to turn it up to 73– an even compromise, no?

So, let me walk you through this: I stand up, go around my desk, remove the cover for the thermostat, and turn it up to 73. When I finish I put the cover back on very tightly and go around to my desk. A few minutes later the cover falls off the hinge and lands with a loud thump on the ground.

Okay, so this alone is a little odd. Because it’s a cover that’s secured with a latch and it shouldn’t be able to just fall off. That being said, I got up and went to put the thing back on.

Here’s where the creepy comes in.

As I held the cover in my hand and stared at the thermostat, I saw the numbers falling down from 73, then 72, then 71, and finally landing back at 70.

Let me explain: In order to decrease the temperature you have to hit the down arrow buttons on the thermostat. Somehow this thermostat was changing temperatures all on its own, without me touching it and while I was LOOKING at it.

I nearly screamed.

I ran out of the office and into the hallway. I have never felt colder in my life, my whole body stiffened and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had to take a walk outside and convince myself that no one was trying to hurt me.

It’s only now that I’ve calmed down and come back into the office.

The maintenance guys were called to come check on “the problem” but they said everything looks fine and there’s nothing wrong with it.

Yeah, nothing wrong, except for the fact that there clearly is!

I am super freaked out right now. And this isn’t the first time a weird something has happened in this office.

Right now I am trying to look at all of the rational explanations for why this could have happened or how. But as things stand, it looks like whoever or whatever is in this office also likes to keep the temperature low and cold. The witch/ghost/what have you is on Team Andrew, and so the thermostat will remain at 70.

I just have to ask though– has this ever happened to anyone else out there? Maybe this is totally normal?

As some of you know, I’ve been blogging about the rather odd and spooky office happenings that have been going down where I work on THE SECRET CIRCLE.

We have a possessed printer, writers are showing up wearing the same outfits, and there’s something or someone who keeps turning on all of the lights and computers at night, after we’re all long gone and have already turned them off.

It has all gotten me a little concerned and, to be honest, nervous.

Not to mention the fact that the folks who run the Twitter for @SecretCircleTV brought it to my attention that during the filming of the movie “The Craft” they had similar freakish happenings: “I’m guessing the show might be cursed. Weird stuff also happened during filming of The Craft… Those computers are just the beginning. During The Craft couple crew members died, equipment inexplicably turned on or off etc”

I found this article to back that claim up:

• About the invocation scene, Sony Pictures’ World Wide Web site at the time the film was featured on its website has to say: “The crew had to return to the location a second time to complete filming interrupted by several weird occurrences that even caused witch consultant Pat Devin to raise an eyebrow. As the fog rolled in at midnight, the four actresses used actual Wiccan rites and language to invoke powerful forces. Then, as Fairuza Balk’s character Nancy attempts to invoke the deity Manon, a flock of bats hovered over the set and the tide rose dramatically, extinguishing the circle of candles. Witchcraft consultant Devin recalls that ‘Manon, a fictitious creation for the film, sounds very close to Mananan, the Gaelic god of the sea. Luckily, we weren’t all swept to sea!’” The Web site quotes director Andrew Fleming: “'Every time the girls started the ceremony, and only when they would start the ceremony, the waves would start coming up tremendously fast, pounding heavily. Then, right when Nancy says her line, "Manon, fill me,” right at that exact moment, we lost power. It was a very strange thing.’“

Okay, so maybe we’re cursed!

I’m not sure what to do. Maybe it’s something we should worry about later if anything else happens, but I am going to keep a lookout for any more witchy weirdness.

So, everyone who reads this blog knows that I work on THE SECRET CIRCLE.

Is it normal to be the first one to come into work and have all of the lights and computer screens be on? Even though you clearly turned them all off the night before…?

WtF is going on here?