My interview article with Christmas Rocks! writer, director and actor Wade Lynch made it into November issue of The Buzz. It was done through my internship at the Confederation Centre. And for your viewing pleasure…

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Christmas Rocks!: Wade Lynch and Don Fraser write a new version

Wade Lynch grew up around musical theatre. “I got bit by the bug very early on,” Lynch said. “I recall being cast as Joseph in the Christmas pageant in Grade 1. You’d be hard pressed to get me offstage since.” Lynch, who serves as The Charlottetown Festival’s associate artistic director, is co-writing Christmas Rocks! with the Festival’s musical director, Donald Fraser. He also co-wrote Canada Rocks! and Canada Rocks Christmas.

Christmas Rocks!, which opens at the Confederation Centre of the Arts on November 25, is a holiday show with a little something for everyone, Lynch said. “Every age, every idea and every religion. It’s a show that celebrates winter, not just the Christian aspects of it. It’s about celebrating family and life in wintertime.”

Christmas Rocks! will include lots of recognizable holiday tunes—but audiences shouldn’t expect the traditional Christmas show. “What I’m doing for the comedy element is a little bit different,” Lynch explained. “The subtitle for the show is A Winterland Who’s Who and that’s a play on words on the old CBC nature spots, a Hinterland Who’s Who.”

Christmas Rocks! features characters you don’t necessarily think about at Christmas time, Lynch said. “Like the neglected Christmas tree. Like the New Year’s resolution. The class clown at Christmas. And my favourite, the Christmas turkey. These are all voices you’re going to meet and hear from on stage at the Confederation Centre.”

Lynch is also one of the actors in the show. He said directing and acting in a show can be difficult at times. “Thankfully, I have a good stage manager to rein me in.” Objectivity can become an issue when directing a show you’ve also written. ‘It’s like ‘Oh my God, who wrote this?’” Lynch said.

Being a director and the man in charge definitely has its perks. “It’s the power!” he said, laughing. “It’s really the ability to oversee a project, have a particular vision for a project and be able to see it come through on stage. There’s nothing more thrilling.”

The prep work for Christmas Rocks! has been particularly enjoyable, Lynch said. “It’s my responsibility to maintain the audience we had for Canada Rocks! and Canada Rocks Christmas!, but to deliver a brand new show that’s going to satisfy them, because people are going to have preconceived ideas of what the show is going to be.” He wants to ensure the audience sees nothing they’ve seen before. “I’m trying to outwit our audience and that’s a great challenge.”

Lynch also directed The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom and has appeared in Shear Madness, Eight to the Bar, 18 Wheels, Stones In His Pockets, among others. This past season was Lynch’s fourteenth with The Charlottetown Festival and his fourth as associate director. He was also in over 1,300 performances of A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline.

So, I’ve previously mentioned on this blog that I’m up for an internship during the school year. Well, as it would turn out, I am, in fact, getting to do the internship. And I’m thrilled.

I start the internship at the Confederation Centre of the Arts next Monday (I think). I very much look forward to the opportunity and I expect to learn a lot while I’m there.

I also have a new post up at my Maclean’s OnCampus blog: Five reasons why going back to school sucks. (Don’t take it too seriously. It’s meant to be satire.)

I wrote a post for Simply Bags, a website that sells personalized tote bags. (They really do have some beautiful bags. I have one of the black and white damask bags with Jillianne on the side!)

Anyway, I wrote this post for their blog, titled What Every Student Should Have In Their Bag.

You can now view my résumé (my nice, neat, pro-looking one) on this blog. Click here to check it out.

I’ve started a second Twitter account (in addition to my account for East Coast Overture, I mean). This one is for my non-music related stuff: friends, random interests and, oddly enough, it’s also my professional blogging account. You can follow me at _jillianne_.

Today was my last day working for the college search website, myUsearch. I’ve been blogging for them since April 2008. This summer, I learned some online marketing tricks during an internship with them. It’s all definitely been a learning experience. It also taught me a lot about blogging. I may do a guest post for them once in a while but nothing major. So, thank you Elizabeth very much for the opportunity. It’s been wonderful working with you. Thanks a mill.

Lastly, I started another blog. (I’m sick, I know. I have a problem, I know. I should seek professional help for my addiction. I know.) I love lists. I love, love, love them. The new blog, Listlove, contains lists and nothing else. Maybe some humor. But mostly lists.

Kill Jill Goes To College was back online when I woke up the next morning. No worries.

As a part of my online internship with myUsearch, I did a guest post at MyCampusChronicles: “How to Avoid Scams When Job Hunting Online“. That can be found here.

My newest post for my blog at MacLeans OnCampus was published last night: How To Spot a College Student.

I’ve also started a home/dorm/decor/decorating/photography/whatever blog: My Kingdom for a Margarita.

A new post of mine has been published at the myUsearch blog. I really enjoyed writing this article. I included a lot of my own personal experiences and it was just nice to write a good old-fashioned college article again. Click the link below to give it a read:

10 Tips For College Freshmen

Also, WordPress (which I usually strive to recommend to other bloggers as a great place to host a blog) has deactivated Kill Jill Goes To College because they seem to think the blog is meant for selling affiliate links and promoting other websites.

Gee. Last year, Kill Jill was named Blog of the Day by WordPress. Now it’s deactivated. How ironic.

So, if someone at WordPress is reading this post, I ask that you reinstate Kill Jill. I’m a poor college student who, yes, makes a few bucks from some small ads. I’ve been getting a lot of visitors lately because of a giveaway I’m doing with HP. That’s probably why your people think I’m up to no good. I ask you to reactivate my blog because I did nothing wrong. Thanks.

In the past couple days, I’ve added quite a few photos to my deviantART profile. Most of them are from a fashion photoshoot I did with my cousin. I’ve never done a fashion photoshoot but I think it turned out well, especially for my first attempt. I added several of those photos to my photography portfolio.

East Coast Overture celebrated its first month open yesterday. I updated the ECO blog, listing all the articles published in the first month.

A long time ago (and in a galaxy far, far away), I did an interview with Alina Simone (check out her MySpace) for a website I once had called Jill Pushed Jack (now closed). The article was recently picked up by Dollymixture, a new online magazine for cool, alternative chicks. You can check out my article on page 18 of the premier issue.

I’ve also recently done two guest posts as a part of my myUsearch internship. The links for those are below.

• Pros & Cons of Online Learning [MyNextCollege.com]
• Choosing a College: 10 Helpful Tips [Scholarships.com / their blog]

deviantART recently released a new service and I’ve decided to take advantage of it.

Thus, I have a professional-looking photography portfolio. No doubt about it, it looks much better than my deviantART profile (although it’s quite nice too). And they only let you show so many photos so you have to show your very best work instead of every photo you’ve ever taken.

I’m going to add another category soon, likely called “Miscellaneous” or something like that, very soon. But for now, I present to you: my photography portfolio.

(One of these days I’ll learn how to give it its own domain under J-H.com… but not today.)