It feels like forever since I last sat down to write about my adventures – but here I am at last!

I’ll start where I left off – India. I was blessed to travel to India for 3 weeks with Candace Silvers from Los Angeles and 13 other talented and amazing people for a spiritual journey in Rishikesh, at the foothills of the Himalayas. 

Rishikesh – the home of Yoga, the place where the Beatles famously travelled in 1968 to stay in an Ashram, and the birthplace of Anand Mehrotra – our other spiritual guide on this journey and Yin to Candace’s Yang.

What an amazing adventure! There’s too much to detail here – but it was an immense journey of self discovery for all involved…. we climbed mountains to temples, meditated in caves, swam in the mighty Ganga, participated in Diwali celebrations, did morning yoga, played with monkeys and elephants and made life long friends. We laughed, we cried, we broke through barriers – We talked about the universe and quantum physics and splashed each other with water. We jumped off a cliff and changed our lives forever. I took so many things from my journey to India – lessons about life and insights into self. I have come away a stronger and fuller person and am blessed to have had the opportunity. Perhaps my highlight of the trip was visiting the school children supported by Candace’s charity – New Possibilities Children Foundation. To see the smiles and joy in their hearts touched me deeply and was an experience I won’t soon forget.

For more information, check out:

www.candacesilvers.com

www.childrenofrishikesh.com

www.anandteachings.com

Apart from my trip to India – October has been a HUGE month! 

Firstly, there was the voting for the AFI awards. I have to say what an amazingly strong field of great Australian films it was this year! I really enjoyed tearing through my viewers and getting to see some fantastic features and documentaries. 

I have to say two films that stood out for me were:

The Combination, directed by David Field – and Beautiful, directed by Dean O’Flaherty. Admittedly, I might be slightly biased towards Beautiful as it featured several close friends and was shot on location in Adelaide,  but all in all, it was a fantastically written and shot piece. The Combination was a surprisingly powerful and emotional piece about marginalised youth which really packed a punch. I can highly recommend both of these films.

In other film news, The Boys Are Back is on release from this Thursday the 12th of November in selected cinemas. I attended the cast screening on Monday, and discovered a beautiful, emotional and delicately crafted film. Again, although I may be slightly biased, I found it to be very well written, with fantastic cinematography and strong acting – particularly from the leads, Clive Owen and Nicholas McAnulty. It was also a perfect showcase for the beauty of the South Australian coast. Let alone on a personal level, the opportunity to work with Scott Hicks, which was amazing. Look out for me at Katie’s wake…..

I’ve also had the great pleasure of reading several scripts this month – mostly in the developmental and pre-production stages. It has inspired me to get off my backside and start working on some fresh projects myself, as well as some scripts that have been on the shelf for a while!

Whilst I didn’t hear anything about the audition I went for as discussed last blog, I was cast in a guest role for the upcoming new radioplay, “Starpol”. I appear as Commander F’Iner in Episode One, Power of the Emperor. I had a blast at the recording session yesterday with many familiar faces. Someone commented that I sounded like Frank Sinatra whilst recording! Whilst I personally can’t see the comparisons….. make up your own mind! Episode One available online in the coming weeks at:

www.starpol.net

Now, FINALLY to the news we have all been waiting for…… my O1 Talent visa to go and work on some projects in the United States has been conditionally approved! I have booked my consulate appointment and am starting to make the preparations to relocate….. Phew! So many things to do, and not enough hours in the day! 

I’ve also been invited to attend a Masterclass in Adelaide with Marcus Graham in early December before I plan to make the move to LA – how many things can I squeeze into my itinerary? Ha!

And if that is not crazy enough, I sit here on the eve of my departure to Egypt. Yep – that’s right – I’m going on another 3 week spiritual journey! Meditations in ancient pyramids and temples and journeys down the Nile (as opposed to journeys in Denial!!). I can’t wait!

So, to all, I bid a temporary Adieu, as, in true Alicia fashion, I still haven’t packed yet! I like to think of the Internet as my personal packing procrastination medium………

I look forward to sharing more adventures with you soon!

Until then, enjoy the sunshine…

Leash

I returned briefly to LA to organise the business side of things in a whirlwind tour over 3 weeks in August… and thankfully it was a very fruitful trip! Bek and I dashed from meeting to meeting – although we were able to slot some time in for shopping and catching up with everyone! I will update everyone further in my next blog – I should have tied up all the loose ends by then……

Unfortunately, our masterclass with Jason Alexander was cancelled at the last minute, but we had some very fruitful workshops with Casting Directors including Caroline Liem and Lauren Bass at AIA Studios. Also, we had some amazing new headshots taken with Mary Grace Mckernan in LA, with gorgeous makeup by Lisa Marie Deroma. They are very natural and really communicate my essence. I’ll be uploading the new shots on here very soon. In the meantime, check out the amazing work by Mary Grace and Lisa Marie via my links page. I highly recommend that anyone wanting to get new shots done in LA contact Mary Grace as she is amazing to work with and really gets results!

In other fantastic news, my O1 Visa Application was finalised last month and has now been lodged! Many thanks to my hardworking immigration attorney, Gil Brito at Beltran Brito for many tireless hours slaving away at the finer details of my case. Now, it is just a case of waiting for the outcome of my application. Yay!

Of course, I have returned home to more madness, as usual! When I arrived home, there was a lovely fat parcel awaiting me – almost half the films up for contention in the AFI awards for 2009. Phew! I almost forgot that we are swinging around to awards season once more…. Luckily, as a professional member, the kind people at the AFI have sent the majority of the films direct to me for judging in the comfort of my own home! For the ones they were not able to send to me, I have a fistful of film passes that arrive almost every other day, so I am taking my excited little self off to the cinema for an Australian cinematic extravaganza! I have made a very small dent in the collection so far and am looking forward to a bit of a filmfest this week, now that I have cleared some space in my diary……. I am very excited, as the calibre of Aussie films this year seems exceptional as always. I’m especially excited to check out Lynda-Maree and Bek in ‘Beautiful’. Otherwise, I’m not going to give too much away – my votes are secret! At least for now……

In other film news, I saw Judd Apatow’s latest effort ‘Funny People’ last night in Gold Class…. it lived up to it’s title and was a very funny film. I was especially impressed with Apatow’s ability to nail the Australian persona on the head, with Eric Bana cast in the role of “Clarke”. It was great to see Bana return to his comedic roots in a way that an international audience have probably never seen. Think of Bana in ‘The Castle’ and as the Comedy Company clashic – “Poida”. I have to say it was an extremely funny yet accurate portrayal of the Aussie character, and was very well written. Two thumbs up from me!

I also have managed to sneak in last week an audition for a small role in the upcoming feature “Oranges and Sunshine” with Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham, shooting in Adelaide in 2010. It is a very well written script, and I cried my way through a majority of it – need I say anymore?

Whilst on the subject, I am currently reading “Women Who Run With The Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It is an inspirational read – highlighting the culture of storytelling to tell tales of the ‘Wild Woman’ who lives in the female psyche. A great read I can highly recommend to anyone wanting to unleash their inner wild side!

In other news, I am heading off on more world travels in two weeks today – I’m going to India! I am travelling with acting and life coach, Candace Silvers from LA and a whole bunch of other actors. This will be a bit of a down time for me, with yoga and meditations and treks aplenty! I’m looking forward to some relaxation, as 2010 is shaping up to be a monster of a year with plenty on the go already!

So – that is my world in brief for now…… I have many other things on the burner that I am trying to slot into the next few months, and I’ll update you all on my return from India. Refreshed and revived and ready to Go!!!!

Smiles and Sunshine,

Leash