Samantha Brown

Montreal

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:33:03 -0400

Last time I was in Montreal was when I was 13. It was a business trip for my father and we all tagged along. I don't remember it that well except for one very vivid memory. My parents bought me a really cool outfit that was mustard yellow and charcoal grey. It was a sophisticated ensemble that would betray any New Hampshire Mall purchase and make me stand out in 6th grade.

Montreal is a dead ringer for Europe and we are visiting at a time when due to dollar/euro conversion rates more people are looking for European alternatives. The two are so similar that even though flight time from NY to Montreal is a whopping two hours with no time change I still feel tired. I have phantom jet lag triggered by European architecture and the smell of cigarette smoke.

Being a more international city the sport of choice here is Cricket. Well, that is of course after Ice Hockey. We head to a playing field on the outskirts of the city to join a league already in play. My attention is completely distracted by a homeless kitten that has wandered out of the bushes and has begun to play with whomever will give her attention. The players are concerned with the little kitten getting walloped by the ball and chase her away others show no sympathy and just want her to go. It's a totally heartbreaking scene. Christina, my stylists, is bound and determined to get the little girl a home. My feelings are torn -- where's the mother? Will mom cat miss her baby when she doesn't come back? But working at an animal shelter I know that kittens and puppies get adopted and then those animals are fixed and that helps stop the cycle of homeless animals. Christina has convinced a lovely cricket player whose girlfriend has a little girl (what better way to win her over than with a kitten?) So our work is done. As we were leaving we see another little kitten come out of the bushes. Ugh.

samantha brown montreal canada cricket kitten

Colorado

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:20:19 -0400

In Colorado, I was buried in the snow in a mock avalanche rescue drill to teach dogs how to find people who may still be alive. Kevin from Breckinridge dug out a very nice cave in the snow so that when I laid down in it felt like a cross between a tanning bed and the egg in Mork from Ork. Once in, Kevin started piling the snow up to close up the opening completely. I heard him ask on his walkie if the dog Lucy was ready but she wasn't, in fact she was about twenty minutes away. I was told I would only be in this slightly claustrophobic situation for five minutes. So there I lay. I am sure when someone is truly caught in an avalanche and buried alive under snow their thoughts tend to be of the more serious kind: death, leaving of loved ones, things never done. Mine were more of the what should I order for lunch? Hamburger and fries? The chili in the bread bowl -- a ski resort staple? But after ten minutes I found myself getting cold so I started to do sit ups just like I did back in Ely Minnesota while camping out on the ice I found that the shivering to death really made it hard for me to get a good night's rest. Doing sit-ups to keep warm while lying on ice once in your life is an experience but twice?

I am really loving this episode. I love the winter and winter sports. I ski, snowboard and snowshoe and I will be able to take advantage of all that while here. On Friday we head over to Copper Mountain where I get to join the ski patrol as they re-create the coke commercial everyone knows and loves by skiing down the mountain after dark with torches. There's of course some trepidation on the Copper Mt. part about my safety but luckily there has never been one on the side of the production company who loves to see me in all manners of danger just to get the "realness of the situation" but I'm not worried, I'm a pretty good skier and there's nothing like two fire arms one in each hand to keep you upright. It's when they light the two torches at the top of the mountain that my own internal light goes off and I realize that good skier or not this is my first time down a mountain in three years and I'm not sure just how rusty I am.

The feeling of being on the top of a mountain with only blackness around you, no sounds and a steady frigid breeze is absolutely thrilling. Once all flares are lit a great noise generates thru the crowd of a hundred or skiers and it's away we go. With no light you feel the mountain under your feet more. Thru a waxed ski and hard plastic boot the subtle changes in the slope guide you, I soften my knees to let the earth do most of the work and I stop fighting the fact that I can't see a whole heck of a lot accept for the slightly darker shadow the ski lift and its thick as sequoia trees support poles -- I make sure I always know where that is. It's a great feeling. Glad I signed the waiver.

samantha brown colorado ski patrol copper mountain

Dallas

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:54:35 -0400

Back in Dallas. I say back because I was born here and even though I only lived here for a year and therefore have no recollection of it at all I still consider myself a little yellow rose. I have been back to Dallas a couple of times and I always enjoy it mainly because the people here a bigger than life and what the cityscape here lacks in personality the people more than make up for.

My day off falls while I am in Dallas and I am told by the hotel staff of the Katy Trail which sort of cuts thru the city on what used to be a raised railroad bed. I head out and what a little jewel this trail is that takes you passed small croppings of bamboo forests and lilac bushes all the while keeping you safe from traffic. Its such a lovely jog I outdo myself and run a lot further than I usually do, my muscles are already starting to ache and I just think "oh no" I'm sure the Texas wardrobe is going to be of the high-heeled kind. It could be a long shoot day tomorrow.

One thing we know we have to do is to create a "what I would have looked like had I grown up in Dallas look." Christina comes beyond prepared and fully passionate about my outfits. She shows up with two sexy leopard print dress, Lee Press On nails and enough hair extensions to outfit the entire Dallas cowboy cheerleading team (who turned me down, but I don't want to talk about that). Okay I will. When I was a little girl I had the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader poster and I would just stare at them and their uniforms and wish upon wish that I could be one of them. Remember the TV Specials where we got to follow the ups and downs of a few girls as they pursued their dreams during the yearly tryouts? It ended with all of them at the first game doing a dance routine to the song "If my Friends Could See Me Now."

But apparently no one but a bona fide Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader gets to wear the uniform. I wanted so badly to show them my resume which would read something like this:

Pussycat Doll
Sang back-up with Reo Speed wagon and Styx during a concert
Worked out with the Marines
Cut a song with Vince Gill
Spent day with a New York City Rockette AND wore the famous Santa Suit
Got a Pitching Lesson with John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves

For some reason none of THESE people, franchises, brands.... WHATEVER had a problem with it. Oh well, at least now that I don't have to bare my midriff, I can have a big juicy steak...followed by an ice cream sundae.

We had a very long day that put us two hours behind. This became a problem since it was at the end of the day that we were going to create "Dallas Sam". But none of us wanted to call it quits even the fellas. Damion on sound and Alan on camera were like, "This has to happen." Poor Christina worked for a solid hour clipping in hairpieces and curling them individually to get the look. We did this in a small back room of the shooting club we were at. I didn't want to look in a mirror to watch the process I just wanted to see my transformation in one complete instant.

When she was done I looked and I didn't even recognize myself. The long hair completely changed the look of my face, and then there was the bright blue eye shadow, the fake plastic nails, the garish shiny animal print dress. It's like we did a makeover in reverse. The guys were stunned and none of us could stop laughing as we tried to film what we could in the dying sunlight. We went back to our hotel and people looked at me with such disgust-I think they thought my profession was slightly different then it was. When it was time for me to take off "the look" both Alan and Damion came over to me and asked if they could get their picture with Dallas Sam. I was like sure! Then It hit me...I had been working with Alan and Damion for a year and in that time did they ever ask to have a picture with me? Nope. I was like, now I know what look men prefer. And I ain't it. I hope no one in Dallas finds offence with Dallas Sam. It was an exaggeration to be sure; we were having a blast with an old perception perpetuated by one of the greatest shows on television. Of course I am talking about Dallas.

samantha brown dallas christina katy trail cowboys cheerleader

Santa Barbara

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:05:00 -0400

Santa Barbara Blog I love Santa Barbara, how could you not? It's devastatingly good-looking with its mountains and oceanfront. I arrive and do what I always do at a destination: head out for a jog to get some exercise and take in my surroundings. I get back to my hotel, shower and head out to a nice-looking restaurant nearby that had a great menu and wonderful wines by the glass. When I walk up to the host she says she's sorry but the kitchen is closed. I look at my watch. It's only 9:30! She didn't seem to think that was a strange time to close everything down. Oh well, I can tell by my level of perturbness that I am cranky because I am really hungry so instead of looking for another exciting menu I decide to go right next door and have a bowl of soup and a beer.

First up, I try out being a Zookeeper for the day at the Santa Barbara Zoo. I helped feed the Gorillas by measuring out 100 grams of both sweet potato and cantaloupe for their snack. Only 200 grams? I eat more than a Gorilla!

Then we see the giraffes. The giraffe has a 15-inch tongue. After feeding the giraffe about 100 treats, it then started licking me. It's over a foot long tongue coming out like a lasso hitting my shoulders, head and chest. Tough to speak to camera when you're getting a tongue lashing!

Later, at the Plow and Angel we drink a 160-dollar margarita! I couldn't get bartender Chris to divulge the recipe which is so highly secret that he was flown to Mexico to learn how to make it and then sign a confidentiality contract.The cocktail was out of this world and the price definitely kept my usual two-drink maximum to one.

Our dinner scene for Santa Barbara is at Cold Spring tavern. At first you can't believe your eyes -- it looks like it's been around for 100s of years. Almost. It used to be where the stage coach drivers for wells fargo would rest and have a good meal. It feels like you've stumbled upon an old frontier town with log cabins and a mill.

Next door to the restaurant is a pretty wild bar, after a half a beer I end up asking a man over 30 years my senior for a dance. He knows how to two-step like nobody's business. After dinner it's dancing. We go to the Stateside Lounge for some Salsa dancing, thankfully before the official event begins there's an hour's dance lesson. After about 20 minutes I realize my new shoes are killing my feet. They are sexy strappy deals, they look great but in reality they are like tight nooses around my feet, the thin layer of leather cutting in deeper and deeper with every turn. At least I have a really good excuse for dancing badly. One margarita at the bar and I am now pain-free.

Next on the agenda: get a Polo lesson. This should be good. I am terrible on a horse, sometimes quite frightened and now I get to play a sport on top of one of them. Polo looks hard and it is hard. I have a problem letting the weight of the mallet follow thru to the strike. My main issue is that I don't won't to mistakenly whack the poor horse. I actually didn't do too badly at Polo, and I was able to forget my fear being on a horse since I was more consumed with hitting the ball.

In Santa Barbara I found my new sport! Paddleboarding. Basically you are standing on top of what looks to be a very large surfboard and you move with a Paddle. Anyone can do it after about 20 minutes of instruction. Pretty soon you are out on the bay soaking in a great view of the Ocean.

It's odd looking out and seeing other paddleboarders, it's striking in that it looks like people are walking on water.One of the challenges of my paddleboarding is that because of a scene that we have to shoot right after, I can't get my hair wet. My whole crew and I place bets on whether or not my skills are up to the task. The fellas don't think I can, but both Christina and I know that I will do anything not to have to re-style my hair.

There were a few moments where the wakes from other boats passing by almost knocked me off my board but in the end … I won.

And while shooting on the main street I ran into my old friend Jim Dubinsky whom I haven't seen in almost 10 years! We both moved to NYC at the same time and started waiting on tables at a now defunct restaurant called Perretti's. We couldn't believe we found each other again without the help of Facebook.

samantha brown santa barbara paddleboarding polo salsa dancing margarita zoo keeper gorillas