We're Winners! American Mary Swede Contest Entry

I had something else lined up for blogging today, but this is too wonderfully exciting to not share it today!

You may remember my post from a couple of weeks ago that detailed what I had been up to over the month that I didn't make any posts. One of those things was making a short film on my birthday that was for a contest hosted by Jen and Sylvia Soska (aka The Twisted Twins). If you haven't read that post, I suggest you go back and read it. Or better, read Mary's blog post about it!

Still from American Mary; Jen & Sylvia Soska as
the Demon Twins of Berlin (in addition to writing
and directing!)

Okay, you're back? Good. Anyway, we learned last week (ironically on Friday... after I had already posted my blog saying that I had no update on the contest) that we were chosen as one of the top twelve finalists, or one of the "best of the best" from the entries! We were beyond excited about even just getting that recognition. All the finalists were posted to the Soskas' personal YouTube Channel, so that was really an honor.

Mary and me as the Demon Twins of Berlin
(clearly we are twins and just as cool as the Soskas! Okay,
they're way cooler than we are!)

See, while we were filming, we never really thought that we would win. Not because we think we suck or anything. But we weren't necessarily even entering to win. The grand prize was going to be a limited edition banner from the film premier of American Mary from four years ago. A huge banner that they sell on their site for $500. So, yeah, a big prize! While it would have been super cool to win that, we really just had the intent to create something based on one of the movies we love and thought it would be amazing to have that film be watched by two of our favorite directors and filmmakers! Just knowing that the Soskas would see us and know who we were was awesome enough. Plus, we knew a ton of very talented people would likely be entering, so our chances were small.

Amazing super rare and expensive American Mary Banner,
prize for grand winners!

But create we did! And had such a fun and amazing time doing it. It really was the best birthday I've had in a long time. And after Mary was done editing our movie... I actually thought it was pretty darn good! Great, actually... but I may be a little biased. Anyway, she submitted our entry and we waited anxiously.

When we found out on Friday that we were a finalist and that our film was posted on their channel, we lost our shit! We were so excited! It's hard to describe the excitement! Everyone on our team started watching all the other entries--the amount of talent and creativity was awesome. Everyone had a different style and unique take on the challenge. Even with all the amazing entries, Noah was very certain that ours was the best and that we would "have a banner coming to us." I appreciated his biased view and opinion, but was hoping that maybe we'd at least get a signed Bluray or something.

Channeling my inner Mary Mason

Well... jump to the Tuesday after that (this past Tuesday) and I am at work and I get a call from Mary. Mary never calls me (we usually just text... a lot), so I was like, "oh shit, what's wrong?" But there was nothing wrong. She had just received an email from the Soskas stating that THEY LOVED OUR SWEDE FILM AND WE WERE WINNERS AND WE WERE GETTING A GRAND PRIZE LIMITED EDITION AMERICAN MARY BANNER!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! I think we were both in shock. And to be honest, I am STILL in a bit of shock. I loved our film and to know that the Soskas themselves also loved it is just like...wow! I don't really have adequate words. We're honored and excited and a million other happy things. It makes me want to get out and start making more films! And if they ever decide to have another swede contest... I beg that it is for Vendetta. Because I want to play Dean Cain being a cop in a Mustang SO BAD. Please, Soskas...make this happen! (Mary and I had the best time watching Vendetta together!)

So without too many further words on my part, here is our WINNING FILM for the 4th Anniversary American Mary "Swede Contest." We hope you also enjoy it, and be sure to check out the other entries/winners as well on their channel. (If you haven't seen the movie American Mary, our film may not make any sense. So, you know, go watch the actual movie too!)

Let us know what you think!

I Have a New Recipeh!

Welcome back! It's Friday, and in keeping with my original schedule, here is a new post!

From the title of this post, you might think I made a grave spelling error; after all, 'recipe' does not have an 'h' in it. However, you are wrong in thinking that! The 'h' is on purpose. Let me explain--

So, there's this game series called Final Fantasy. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you've already probably heard of it in some form or another, even if you've never played any of the games. I actually haven't played any of the games (unless you count Kingdom Hearts, which is Final Fantasy meets Disney). But Noah (my boyfriend) really loves the whole Final Fantasy series, and recently bought the newest game, FFXV!

This is a Moogle. I'm not sure what they are, but they
are in Final Fantasy and I am obsessed with getting
my own Moogle doll!

I may not play a lot of video games, but I do enjoy watching people play certain games. This game is very cinematic, so it's interesting to watch. Plus, they released a full length movie that's part prequel, part "this is what's happening elsewhere when the game play starts." Additionally, they made several short anime episodes that explain the backstory and relationships of the four main characters. It's really detailed for a video game, but all pretty interesting.

That's not to say all parts of the game are thrilling and action packed. There's a lot of watching them drive in their car from place to place (and the player doesn't even have to control the car, it auto-drives), and there are lots of odd side quests like when your character has to fish for literally 48 "game hours" to catch the right fish (if you even do catch the right one). But overall, it's pretty cool. And even though I kind of make fun of it while Noah is playing (their kingdom is in ruins and the main character's family has been murdered...but let's take this side quest to get some cat food and catch some special frogs [actual game missions]), I really do like it!

The dialogue is pretty good, and even though the characters have the same catch phrases throughout the battles and stuff, they have more and varied catch phrases than in other games when a character may literally only say the same line over and over. That can be annoying, but in FFXV, certain lines grow on you.

St. Ignis, Patron Saint of Recipehs

Which brings me to this post's title! One of the characters is named Ignis. His special "skill" that he brings to the group (and that you level up) is cooking. So every now and then, when he discovers something new to cook he says, "Ah! I have a new recipeh!" And he says 'recipe' pronounced 'res-i-pay.' It's silly and awesome.

So now, Noah and I are constantly saying "I have a new recipeh!" when referring to things we cook and make at home. Neither of us are huge cooks/chefs, but we've been experimenting with trying to cook and make more things lately. Last night, we tried our hand at fresh baked, from scratch banana bread! He found two recipes online and we combined them a bit and made a couple of small changes-- thus, our new recipeh!

Ignis is contemplating his recipehs

My new idea is to somehow design and get a special notebook made with Ignis's face and his special phrase, and then write all our recipehs in it!

Our delicious homemade banana bread

Speaking of recipehs, here is one of the banana bread ones we used last night, if you are so inclined to bake yourself. It was quite delicious, but I won't leak the secret of what we changed. You can come up with your own new version. Also, if you want to read more about Ignis and the cooking in FFXV, Noah sent me this article today, which you can read here.

And finally, update on our American Mary swede film... still no results or judging from the contest. The "best of the best" are being posted on the Soska Sisters youtube page now, but the uploads are taking a long time. Hopefully they will be posted soon so that we can either link to their page (if we are one of "the best!") or we can upload it ourselves to share. Stay tuned!

So delicious!

"A Post?? WTF! I Know!" or "What I've Been Up To"

Remember when I said I may not be able to stick to my "every Friday a new post" goal? Yeah... I failed pretty miserably right from the start. However, I promise it was because I was doing some really cool things! So here is a quick run-down of all my "goings on."

Women's March on Chicago

I've always tried to stay somewhat politically active (I always vote, I've called my representatives, etc.), but I would never have called myself an "activist." I don't even think I would really call myself an activist right now. However, with the sad truth of Donald Trump somehow becoming president (or something), I have to say the world, my world, and the worlds of many others have changed drastically and could possibly change even more, so the time to be more active is now.

While I 100% acknowledge that I have a certain level of privilege over others because I can identify/pass for being white (and therefore not all of the horrible things this administration is doing will affect me), I still have the disadvantage of my gender--female. Women's rights should be a no-brainer. But those rights are under more attacks now than they have ever been. Reproductive health, the decision and choice of what to do with my own body, job/payment equality. These are all serious issues. And while I am affected, women of color feel those affects even more than I do. These are serious issues we are facing...not just for me, but for all women.

Me at the Women's March on Chicago

So on January 21, I attended my first political march/rally and went downtown to join the Women's March on Chicago. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up, not just women. The crowd was so large, the official organizers "canceled" the marching portion. But with that many people (and a very bad PA system where most couldn't see or hear anything being said at the rally portion), the message didn't take and we all marched anyway. Streets were closed for hours. Signs and puppets and chants filled the city. It was pretty amazing. 

I helped my friend (who went to the March in D.C.)
make "suffragette" style sashes

Since the march, I have tried my best to continue being active. I've made calls, filled out witness slips for Illinois House Bills, and called out people posting and sharing fake or misleading news on social media. 

It is difficult to say what is to come in the next year (or, God help us, four years), but it is so encouraging to see so many people involved and trying to make a difference for everyone!

Rights for Women--suffragette and Chicago flag style!

My Birthday!

Along with all this political drama, I managed to celebrate my 33rd birthday! It was a pretty awesome day, probably the *best* birthday I've celebrated since coming to Chicago, and definitely just one of the best of the 33 that I've had, in general! 

A surprise birthday cake from Noah! My real name blurred
to protect the "innocent."

One of my obsessions is horror movies. And I LOVE two female horror directors--The Soska Sisters! (Side note--February also happens to be "Women in Horror Month.") Jen and Sylvia Soska are amazing and they make fantastic horror films. Their biggest film is called American Mary. If you have not seen it, do so immediately! If you call yourself a horror fan and haven't seen it...I don't think you can call yourself a true genre fan! (Just kidding...sort of...)

Mary and me during filming of our American Mary swede film

To celebrate the 4th anniversary of the release of American Mary, the Soskas announced a contest for fans to make what is known as a "swede" version of the film. The idea is to recreate the film from memory and to not spend any money--you should only use costumes and props you already have around the house. Fortunately,  my friend Mary (yep, that same Mary I've blogged about before... told you you should get to know her early on!) and I both love the Soskas and have seen the film many, many times. So, from memory was no problem. Oh, and we both cosplay and perform, so having a ton of random costumes and props around the house was also not a problem! 

Our cast of characters (not pictured Maggie as Beatriss)

So, what does this have to do with my birthday? Well, we decided to enter the contest and make our own version of the film. The only date that everyone was available was on my birthday! I was super excited to film on my birthday because I knew it would be a ton of fun, and it was! Mary made me cupcakes, our friend Maggie (who joined filming at the last minute) brought me champagne, and later when we were done filming, my boyfriend Noah surprised me with an American Mary theme cake! 

Noah and me laughing about something while filming!

The judging hasn't happened yet for the contest, so we don't have our film posted yet, but it turned out so good and is so funny! I really hope the Soskas enjoy watching it as much as we had making it! Mary wrote a whole blog about it, so I suggest checking it out HERE! I also stole borrowed a few pictures from her blog, so you'll see a few doubles!

My Birthday part 2!

As if filming all day at my house wasn't enough, I had a great idea to indulge another one of my obsessions on my birthday! I am overly obsessed with the Harry Potter series (mostly the books, but I enjoy the movies as well), and a local theatre was screening Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at midnight on my birthday! It was like they did it just for me. Tickets were sold out. In fact, when Noah tried getting them online a few days before, they were already all gone. However, they still had a few left to be purchased at the physical box office, so I jumped into my car and drove over right away! 

Harry Potter! Midnight Screening! On my birthday!

Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite Harry Potter novel, although it also happens to be my least favorite of the movies. But that didn't matter! Before the movie, they had two rounds of surprisingly difficult trivia. I really thought I did pretty well. They were supposed to email the individual winners...I did not get an email, so maybe I didn't do as well as I thought. Nevertheless, it was still a ton of fun! 

Amazingly, I also did not fall asleep at all during the TWO AND A HALF HOUR movie. Keep in mind... it started at midnight. And I had been filming all day. But I was too excited, so I stayed awake the whole time! 

Other Happenings

I've had a couple of other adventures in the last month. School started back up again, and while I have said I won't go in to detail about that, just know that I'm kicking some pretty major ass at my classes this semester! 

2017 International Motorcycle Show (my favorite custom bike entry!)

Last weekend, Noah and I went to the International Motorcycle Show in Rosemont. This was my third time there--two years ago, I was actually a "booth" girl for the Motoblot booth, and last year Noah and I went just for fun (like this year). One of my birthday presents from Noah is he is going to get me the motorcycle helmet of my choice. I didn't find the perfect one there, but I did try on some brands, so I know what size to order. 

Figure Drawing Art of me by Ethan Colchamiro

I also did a figure modeling session for my friends at Grotesque Burlesque in Chicago. The name makes it sound like a burlesque show, but it's actually a figure drawing group! The name comes from the fact that many of their first models were all burlesque dancers. I used to hold the record for sitting/posing the most, but had to take a couple of years off. Well, I made my grand return and it was so much fun! They encourage costumes, so I chose to be a Cenobite. Some of the artists have shared a few pieces with me, and they're awesome!

More figure art of me in my Cenobite cosplay
Art by Joseph Taylor

And finally, it was also Valentine's Day! I had class, but when I got home, Noah got me my favorite pizza from Jets Pizza, and it was shaped like a heart! Awww!

Heart-shaped Jets Pizza, delicious!

Overall, it has been a very busy last four weeks or so since I last posted. I'm sorry I didn't keep to my schedule...at all... but I hope to be much better going forward. As you can see, it was a very busy time, so I wasn't trying to put off writing. Just busy living! I will definitely be posting about more topics and will post the American Mary swede film as soon as I can!

Awkward Hair... Kinda Care

Well, this schedule of new content every Friday is already turning out to be trickier than I thought. I wrote a long post a few days ago, but (after some reflection) I decided I hated it, and that you all would hate, so I scrapped it. Yep, literally just deleted the whole thing. So, here we go again!

The original post was about my hair and the difficulties I have been facing lately. I'm still facing those difficulties, and this post will still be about my hair. As I wrote the original one and read it, it just fell flat. It was boring and it also sounded like I was just whining and complaining. I don't want you to think I'm a whiner. Or a complainer. So rather than lament about the state of my hair, I will just try to describe the hilarity that is happening with it at the moment!

I'll start at the abbreviated beginning. Except for a miserable time in 4th grade at the age of 9, I've always had long hair. I've always considered it my best feature. I've never found myself to be extraordinarily attractive-- I suffer from bad skin and acne, I'm average height, have to wear glasses, and had really crooked teeth as a kid (I was even "that" kid that had to wear an embarrassing head-gear...not just at night, but during the day. At school. And if you don't know what a head-gear is, you lived a blessed childhood!) Now that I'm an adult, I still suffer from bad skin and acne, I'm still of average height, I still wear glasses, but my teeth are perfect!

Me with awesome purple hair!

Despite all these physical "obstacles" (I will concede I'm a good looking person, but I'm no runway- or super-model by any means), my hair has always been awesome. Long, thick, healthy, and just about every color that's possible to have your hair. Although in retrospect I find this exchange to be a lot creepier than I did at the time, I once had a boy in high school look me dead in the eyes and told me to "Never cut your hair. Never." When I sort of chuckled and assured him I hadn't planned on getting it cut, he again stated, "just never cut your hair." Yikes. Again, much creepier in adulthood, looking back!

Still, I didn't lie to him. I never did cut my hair short. Well...sort of.

You see, four years ago, I did decided to cut my hair short. Very short. All shaved off, in fact. But only half!

Where did all that hair go?? Photo by Greg Inda

Yes, I decided to get a "side-shaved" haircut, and it's 100% that best style I've ever had. I loved it so much. It really felt like the most authentic me! During the side-shave time, the color changed a bit (first a dark brown, then bright purple, then red), but the style remained. Everyone complimented it-- friends, strangers, co-workers. It really was the best!

But I must now sadly announce that I am letting it grow out. After four years, it has now been about five months since it was last shaved. It's not a decision I wanted to make, but one I felt like I needed to. Because my hair is so long, it's going to take a long time for the shaved part to grow out to be able to catch up. Probably two years. Conveniently, I have about two years left in school. I guess I kind of need my hair to look more "professional" for the job that I will be going after as soon as I graduate. I could have continued to shave it while still in school, but since the only way to really even it out would be to shave all of it off and start fresh... well, there's NO way I would ever do that. That boy from high school wouldn't hear of that!

Super awkward short hair AND super awkward face.

Right now, it's super awkward. The short side is all shaggy and sticks up in weird places. It's getting harder to slick it down with hair products, but I'm still fighting with it and figuring out how to make myself look presentable. I haven't had my hair cut or trimmed on the long side since *last* January. It is so long, down to my hip bone! It's crazy. I also can't really afford a haircut at this time, so the ends are a little frizzed. The last two times I performed (both for "That's a Wrap!" filming and my last burlesque show) I resorted to wearing wigs. (Fortunately, I own many wigs, but they kind of hurt after having to wear a wig cap for a long time.)

Extreme length on the other side. You can't even fully appreciate
the length in photographs. But trust me, it's long!

There is good news, though! So... I'm actually not really ready to give up the side-shave completely. My new goal is to fully grow out the short side now to then get another side-shave, but just much more subtle! Previously, it really was half my head (as seen in photos above). But I think I need to let it all grow out, and keep a good portion of long hair on the right side of my hairline part, and shave underneath. It will look more natural, more subtle, and more professional. I've already been searching for photo examples on what I want.

Example of a more subtle side-shave.
 I have no idea who this is, but she's awesome!

Check back in two years when I can finally accomplish this new goal!! Or maybe not! Who knows, once it's all grown out, I may just like to leave it all long. Until then, I'm planning to dye my hair again, probably go back to all black. I'll let you know how it goes in this continuing "Awkward Hair" saga.

Site Features, Updates, & More

My second post! Another milestone we've reached together, dear readers. I was going to make a post today with an amusing story about my hair, but instead I think I'll cover what my plan is for the blog and point out some featured pages I've created! You will, hopefully, still find this entry enjoyable and informative. (And don't worry-- the story of my hair will likely appear next week!)

My goal is to update and have a new post every Friday. It's a reasonable goal, to be sure. But if I'm going to be completely honest, I may not always hit that mark. If I fail to update on certain Fridays, it's very likely to do with the non-performance side of my life. You see, the life that belongs to _______ is, as I said in my first post, a lot less exciting than Ramona's life. Ramona dances, makes costumes, performs, acts in television shows and movies. But ______ .... well, she's back in school getting her second degree.

Look, I even have a notebook for all my ideas!

As much as I love school (and what I am studying is absolutely fascinating and would probably blow your mind), I don't really want to talk about it on here. This decision saddens me because it really is interesting and would be a ton of great material for blogging. But since my initial goal was to create the persona/stage name of Ramona to keep my two lives separate, I am going to honor my own plan. So while I may not write about school or what I'm studying, just know that at times it can keep me busy and it's something I need to focus on. (Of course, if we're actual "IRL" friends, as the kids say, feel free to ask me about what I'm doing in school. It's kind of crazy!)

*          *          *

So last night as I was creating this page, I decided I wanted to make it a sort of website as well. Primarily it is a blog, for sure. But I thought it might be helpful to have some menus at the top directing readers to various pages with other, non-blog stuff. So far, I have three pages in addition to the main home page, which contains the real blog posts. I encourage you to check them out, especially the---

Videos, Films, etc. Page!

This page contains quick blurbs and descriptions along with embedded videos of some of the projects I've been in or worked on. Now again, these can all be found at the top of the page, just under the blog title. Just click on the menu tab, and bam! It will take you there.

The first two films posted were made by my friend Mary. You can thank Mary because she is the one who encouraged me to start this blog because she loves reading blogs! And she's also a blogger herself! You can find her's by clicking this link right HERE. But more than that, you really should watch the two films I have embedded, as well as the other films on her YouTube Channel. I promise there will likely be future collaborations between us as well as me showing up in her new films. Mary is also my cosplay partner and collaborator, so, really, you should get to know her now because you will be hearing a lot more about her!

Social Media Sites

This page is super straight forward. I am on Facebook and Instagram. If we're not friends in real life (like we haven't met face-to-face), please don't be offended if I don't accept your Friend Request on Facebook. I do post some "friends only" stuff, but I try to make my performance related events and other stuff available publicly. Facebook has an option to "Follow" someone (rather than send a Friend Request), and I encourage you to do this.

As for Instagram, I believe that is a public page, so I allow anyone to start following me! My feed there gets most exciting around C2E2 time here in Chicago (C2E2 = Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo) because I am working on cosplays and then going to the con in the cosplays. So you can expect a lot of photos. You can also expect to see a lot of pictures of my dog and cat. Deal with it. And for those of you who are just here for the burlesque photos... I don't often post what are known as "pasty shots," but if I do, they are always exclusively on Instagram.

About Ramona Mourir

I hope this one hardly needs an explanation. But basically, it's a performer bio. Very straight forward. Check it out. It also contains a couple of links to groups that I perform with regularly, so check out those as well!

See... it's legit. Blog Ideas.

Alright, I think that brings this post to a close. Since today is Friday, I have already succeeded in keeping to the schedule in my first week. I will return next Friday (or sooner... who knows...) with an actual story post. Hope to see you then!

Goodbye for now! Me (center) onstage at Motoblot 2014

Welcome to My Blog!

Greetings! Welcome to the blog of performer Ramona Mourir!

UPDATE: On January 18, 2018, I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, otherwise known as Breast Cancer, at the age of 33. In the past I have been a horrible blogger, but in an effort to keep my friends and family up-to-date with my progress and journey through this mess, I will be writing about my cancer and treatment here. And hopefully it can serve as a resource to other young women who are going through the same thing. (I'll probably still blog about random things from time to time as well, so it won't be all doom and gloom.) Thank you for your support! Original post is still below.

January 2015, photography by Greg Inda

It's been a long time since I've had a blog, and I've never had one under my performance persona. But don't worry, the "character" of Ramona Mourir is honestly really just me, the actual girl behind the name. That's right. Spoiler Alert -- Ramona is not my actual legal name. It is a stage name, a nom de plume, and performance character, if you will. 

I've always been a performer. I started dancing and performing when I was four years old, and although there have been times here and there throughout my life when I wasn't active in some form of creative arts, I like to think I'm a "lifer." When I created the stage name and character of Ramona in 2012, it was simply to perform burlesque and a way to keep my stripper life and my normal life separate. 

Now, that's not to say that I'm embarrassed or try to hide the fact that I make money by taking off my clothes; I'm not and I don't. My family (yes, even my parents) is very supportive of all my theatrical and dance projects, including burlesque. They have seen me perform in ballet shows and they've seen me take off my clothes in front of a theatre full of people. However, I recognize there are some people that may not appreciate the art for what it is, and also my real legal name wasn't very exciting to be shouted out by an emcee. I mean, Lady Gaga sounds a lot cooler than Stefani Germanotta, right? Same principle with Ramona. 

My very first performance with Original Tease in 2013.
I don't even do this act anymore! Photo by Pez Photo

Over the past few years, I started asking to be credited as Ramona on other things too, not just burlesque performances. I acted and worked on a couple of independent television shows, took part in some short films by my friends, and started figure modeling. My life as Ramona was a lot more exciting than my life as ______, so eventually I even deactivated my regular social media pages and started to exclusively present myself online and in my creative projects as Ramona Mourir! 

So, that is where we find ourselves now! If you are here, reading my blog, that likely means you either know me or are familiar with my performances and other projects. And hopefully this blog will keep you entertained with posts and stories about the projects I have worked on or am currently working on. I hope to cover burlesque stuff, modeling, cosplay, and other performances, as well as just talk about some of the things I love to do, watch, and read. I might even have a few regular "segments" focusing on some particular hobbies or amusing anecdotes!

Thanks for stopping by and reading! As I finish typing this, it will be the first post on this site and I'll also mark it as the first post that should be read by new viewers. So right now (as of January 5, 2017), there's nothing else to read. But maybe you're in the future! And it's years later, and I've made hundreds of posts (because I will obviously diligently and faithfully update this blog on a regular basis...of course). If so, now that we've been properly introduced, go check out the archive and all that there is.

~ Ramona

Also from January 2015, by Greg Inda