Ch ch ch changes!

Holy moly, my blog sorely needs an update. Where have I been? Writing my newsletter! Well, that and painting and a few other creative shenanigans.

First of all, I hope you’re all doing ok and not stressing out too much over this holiday season!

Ok, let’s get down to it:

I’m still releasing my newsletter ‘Pia shares Her Dark Half’, woot! But, because Twitter turned into a shitshow and also decided to shut down their newsletter platform ‘Revue’, I had to move my content over to Beehiiv (which is probably a better move anyway). You can still catch all my previous editions and while at it, subscribe to catch my future editions. It’s been really fun writing regularly, and gaining a few subscribers in the process. This tells me, I’m doing something right.

Then, and this is important: I’ve stopped using the ‘Buy me a Coffee’ platform and moved all my creative projects over to Patreon, finally! And I’m having a blast with it – it’s definitely holding my feet to the creative fire and my supporters are keeping me accountable! It was a bit scary at first, being such a commitment and all, but it’s also inspiring and artistically rewarding! One of my projects there is my ‘Diary of an Indoor Cat’ where I release ongoing diary entries for my Patreon members to read, as I write them. The plan is to make it into a cute book with illustrations sometime late/end of 2023. And that’s just one of the projects!

If you’re intrigued and would like to support me, you can totally help me with my projects by becoming a member of my Patreon family! There are many other perks included, like free digital downloads of my art, behind the scenes stuff, works in progress, giveaways and more! You can see details and how it works or even sign up here (patreon.com/piathrasher). It’s super easy. Thanks in advance for even checking it out!


What else has been going on?

Film and acting news:

Remember the nominations I talked about in my last blog (um, back in the summer)? Turns out, one of the wins was for Best Production Design for my short film ‘Things we Dig‘. Big congrats (and well deserved – about time) to my friend and production designer Elsa Mickelsen, woot!

Something fun from last year’s 48hr Film Project: The telenovela/soap opera slasher comedy I got to act in, TerrorNovela, is now officially on YouTube! It’s “melodrama so thick you can cut it with a knife! Reality lines get blurred between soap opera and horror movie in this genre bending spoof”.

Check it out if you have about 7 minutes to spare. Thank you to Kanari Storm Productions and director Christine Gatlin for letting me come out and play with you! I had a killer time! ;)

There was another film project I mentioned in my last blog, the comedy “Sinderella”, directed by my film buddy David Ruiz. It’s finished and had a one day premiere at UltraStar in San Diego a few weeks ago. I couldn’t attend, but there will be more screenings in January, I believe. Hopefully it will be available for streaming at some point as well! This is the one where I got to play the evil step-mom. I love playing villains! It’s always great working with David and his peeps! I’m a little bummed I missed the cast reunion.


That’s all the big news for now – it’s been a busy summer/fall for sure. Between my ‘thrival’ job and a cool side gig that I’m keeping on the down low, I also managed to eek out a new crime/horror short script ‘Vacation’, lol. It still needs some revising, but it might become a future short film, who knows!

With that, I wish you all warm and safe holidays, however/whatever you celebrate, don’t let the Krampus get you, and a Happy New Year 2023!

xoxo,

Pia

Double, double, toil and trouble…

Double, double, toil and trouble has been my theme since the end of last year. I haven’t posted a blog since then because, you know…LIFE happens. And death. Unfortunately, in January, my hubby’s mom suddenly passed away and we’re just now coming to grips with it and re-emerging from our grief.

For months I was unable to do anything creative and whenever I did try, it was pathetic and made me feel even less motivated. Then Russia started the war in Ukraine and, of course that triggered my anxiety for my family overseas and only piled on. I barely made it out of the house to my part time job and just wanted to stay under my rock and hide. However, one good thing I learned from past bouts of depression is that nothing lasts forever, good or bad times! And, of course, it turned out to be true.

Slowly, I emerged from my self-imposed abyss, but man, it was ROUGH! I saw the first glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel at my birthday bonfire and was touched by so many friends coming to celebrate with me. You have no idea how much that meant to me! Then, first weekend in April I went to WonderCon in Anaheim and felt myself thriving and really coming out of my shell, finally! I met and re-connected with lots of creative people and found my motivation again! As a matter of fact, on my second day there, I decided to start my ‘daily doodles’ again! I had to force myself a few days in between, but it didn’t take long until that creative urge settled in again and made itself at home in my daily life. I can’t recommend it enough: Do something creative every day – paint, draw, write – even just for ten minutes! Make it a habit and watch what happens! I first did this about 8 years ago; and besides painting it also inspired me to write my first scripts and then it just snowballed into so much more! My mistake was letting it go when I thought I didn’t need it anymore because I was always involved in at least one type of project. Learned that lesson!

So, let’s get to the fun stuff – I have lots of updates!

• First off, I’ll return to the San Diego Comic-Con Art Show and this year it will be in person again, yayyy! SDCC runs from July 21st – 24th. Stay tuned for more details down the road!

You can now watch all three of my short films: The Appointment, Things We Dig and The Test on YouTube! Go ‘like’ them and feel free to share on social media! It never hurts to get a few more eyes on them.

• Speaking of short films….Things We Dig won the Silver Award in the Horror Short Film section at the Munich Independent Star Film Fest late last year; and it finally arrived in the mail – thank you to my sis in Germany for safeguarding it!

Congratulations again to my rockstar cast and crew! Prost!

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You can now get licensed images from my Picfair store at piathrasherfotografie.picfair.com. Buy my photos as printed products or digital downloads for marketing including editorial purposes. Check them out and bookmark the page!

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• I decided to start a fun newsletter giving my two cents on finding your own creative ‘dark side’ and whatever updates on current projects I’m working on – in part to hold myself accountable and keep a schedule. My plan is to publish one every two weeks. Can I keep it up? We shall see! Depends how much interest there is, too – maybe you wanna subscribe? If yes, please do it here. Otherwise, keep checking this blog (which you can also subscribe to, but fair warning: it’s not updated regularly). Come on…what’s a little more email spam? But seriously, if you DO subscribe…might wanna check your spam folder cause Gmail isn’t messing around and might relegate my stuff to the dustbin of history before it even gets a chance to shine!

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• Oh, and one more thing – most urgent and time sensitive! I will display/sell art at Secret Morgue: Witches’ Night Edition on Saturday, April 30th – also known as Walpurgisnacht! Secret Morgue is such a cool annual event here in San Diego! It hasn’t been held since 2019, thanks to the pandemic, and the theme was aliens, as in sci-fi creatures. I had such a blast and can’t wait to see what the Film Geeks and Beth Accomando are conjuring up this time! This year it’s all about witches… and of course, when Beth asked me if I had any art relating to this theme I just couldn’t resist! There will be six films (which you won’t find out about the titles until you get there, but they’re all witch-related…hence “secret morgue”, get it?), two meals (Bombay Coast returns!), a talk about witches in history from SDSU professor Dr. Elizabeth Pollard, art show, and raffle prizes. You will also have a chance to purchase a ticket to the Comic-Con Museum for 50% off and there will be a raffle for witchy prizes too! Get your tickets here before they sell out …(they have every year so far)!

See you there!

That’s it for now – phew, it felt good to get all that out! Till next time – or subscribe to my newsletter mentioned above! Have a great weekend!

Ppppia

The end is near!

The end of the year, that is… I’m pretty sure the earth will keep rotating for a little longer – with or without us. Oooh, can you tell I’m in my gloomy mood? Must be the jolly season!

Anyhoo, I DO have great news to share!

Today, the 10-Day extravaganza aka The 6th Annual Ax Wound Virtual Film Festival! is starting and I’m damn stoked to say that my short film Things We Dig will be part of it – making this the official end of its 2021 film festival season run!

Ax Wound Film Festival features horror films written and directed by women and nonbinary filmmakers. It’s an imaginative and immersive virtual horror film festival with slumber party vibes!

You can catch my horror comedy in Block G on Friday, Dec 17th, 5:00 pm PST. See the schedule/get tix here and check out the rad film selection here. Oh, and I almost forgot: There will be a live Q/A stream with the filmmakers right afterwards, including yours truly!

What makes this even more special to me is that I’m an alumni – my second time having one of my shorts as an Axwound FF selection! (The first time was in 2015 for ‘The Appointment‘). Can I get a bloody hellz yeah! Thank you #AXWFF!

‘See’ you in the virtual world!