It’s cheaper. A couple of weeks ago, I was checking out prices on plane tickets from BOS to LGA. Cost? A lot more expensive than my $49 ticket on the Amtrak Northeast Regional. If you make the mistake of flying Delta, Continental, or United, I arrive in New York for less than your bags do.

It’s less of a hassle.
Please remove your electronics, your shoes, and your dignity. Instead of sparring with the airline, stripping down to pass through security, and having the sushi I stowed in my carry-on treated as a possible bomb threat, I arrive at the station, pick up my ticket, and hop right on the train.

It’s safer.
Ready to entrust your life to an underpaid child-pilot as he embarks on his fifth flight of the day? Me neither. More secure from a terrorist attack? Probably not. However, as the United States’ chronic under-investment in public transit leaves us with trains more decrepit than those of our European, Japanese, and Chinese counterparts, I doubt the terrorists will bother.

It’s more comfortable.
While the airlines are either discriminating against you for being fat, or packing you in economy-class sardine cans with your fat seat-mates, I’m enjoying seat comfort and legroom equivalent to an airline’s domestic business class. If it’s a relatively empty, off-peak train, I’m probably napping across a row of seats. Rough life, I know.

It’s more connected.
Sort of. Free wifi was implemented on Amtrak’s Acela trains last week. On the Northeast Regional trains? Coming soon.

Do you share my love of the Amtrak? Or are you a traveler of the Fung-Wa/airplane/vehicle variety?

(originally published on Travel Blog Exchange, 3/14/10)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Unfortunately, his other, more recent stuff isn’t publicly available on Vimeo. But when it is, I’ll definitely post a link! We shoot next week. …I can’t wait.

If I was Seth Godin, and cared less about telling a story to accompany my point of view, the article would read like this:

If it can be systemized, it will be. If the pressured middleman can find a cheaper source, she will. If the unaffiliated consumer can save a nickel by clicking over here or over there, then that’s what’s going to happen. …When everyone has a laptop and connection to the world, then everyone owns a factory…. …we have the ability to come together virtually, to earn attention, to connect labor and resources, to deliver value….The future is about gigs and assets and art and an ever-shifting series of partnerships and projects.

For the full text of the article, see here (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/the-forever-recession.html). I agree with this, but not as revolutionary truth; I believe it to be the statement equivalent to “water is also known as hydrogen dioxide.” Which, to some people, apparently is news.

“But Elizabeth,” you may be wondering, “if this is obvious fact which you believe it to be, why didn’t you write this article yourself?” Two reasons.

1.) The truth of your statements is the size of your following. As my following is small, my truths are, at best, irrelevant.

2.) I’m an actress. While it may be interesting to do so, making prophetic statements concerning marketing and the economy won’t pay my bills. It won’t get me an agent. It won’t land me film roles or SAG commercials. It isn’t my brand. And as Matt Kepnes of NomadicMatt.com writes, your brand is everything.

I relate to people through the characters I play. I find a common ground through experience. I entertain. I write. I ask questions.

Here’s the point in the article where I propose a question I don’t have any hope of answering*: what does “the forever revolution” mean for healthcare? What will our system of “employer-based” healthcare look like when we live in a world of “gigs and assets and art?” What will pay our medical bills? The government won’t. Neither will happiness, nor smiles. What can we do about it?

*Short of move to France, eat baguettes, and laugh at my friends in the US while enjoying the [supposed] superiority of national healthcare. Is it actually superior? I don’t know. But it doesn’t sound so bad.

I know what you’re all thinking; “one dollar books? What trash. I can download shitty book PDFs at home, for free thankyouverymuch.” While, yes, there are an obscene amount of shitty fiction, hiding in the garbage are some absolutely great reads.

Searching for books at The Strand is not unlike panning for gold.  It was amidst stacks of uncorrected publishers proofs, old cookbooks, and copies Auction House Quarterly – 1974 that I hit the jackpot: Body Language, by Julius Fast. An great read for an actress, or for anyone.

———————

Draft, written mid-September 2011

The point of the post? “Body Language” is a great book, and body language itself–the dynamics of a group, the politics of a look, territorial and humans, to speak without saying a word–is incredibly fascinating.

I’ve also spent a lot of time writing. While I’ve worked on my short film, and I’ve worked on “Knowledge of the Infinite Dark,” most of what I’ve written has been poetry. Did I set out to write poems? Not exactly. They’re a byproduct of vacation, time outside the city, and time to myself; they just happened. I guess some experiences are best expressed in verse…

After motivating 4 weeks on set with the go-getting cast and crew of Zandrak Productions’ “April Grace,” I’ve collected them in a book, entitled “Alone In A Million.” In a few short days, I’ll begin raising money to get it published. If Mark Twain is any authority on literary advice, then “all we need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.” Wish me luck!

Me = Back in New York.

Role of “April” in “April Grace = Booked.

Over the past month I’ve been writing, spending time with friends, shooting a short with my ridiculously talented DP friend Josh Batista, and getting excited for my upcoming vacation: 1 week in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Above: “Tillman” family photo. I play April (center), the 17-year-old, misunderstood middle child of the Tillman family. I can’t stand my family’s constant bullshit and feel most comfortable communicating through technology.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Above: A teaser from “Over Easy.”