Battery of OA

[GreenLanternMD]

Yearbooks

I've been looking at my Senior Year Book from when I was in high school.

Senior year was odd for me. I had lived in Tempe, AZ from 1980 to 1988, when (in the middle of my Freshman year) I moved to Reston, VA. In 91, after my Junior year, I moved back and had my Senior year at the high school where I started... along side many of the kids I had known in elementary and junior high school.

I was so disconnected that year. Sure, I got involved in some things, got through my classes... but I felt as if I were going through the motions rather than having the experience.

Attending high school near Washington, DC had a profound influence on me. There was more pressure to succede. There was more of a liberal arts ideology in the education system. Many of my adult values were fostered in that environment. Coming back, I was not entirely the same person that I was when I left. I don't know if I would have become the same person had I never left Arizona.

I look at faces and names of people I had forgotten... dispised... or didn't even know... This is why I didn't go to my 10 year reunion. It depresses me to think that all of the people on those pages are in their 30's now.

Not that being over 30 is so bad, but to look at such young faces, it's hard to imagine so much time passing.

Being in such an environment again on a daily basis, I sometimes forget how much older I am compared to my students. Then, every now and then, I'll make a referance like "yuppy" that is completely lost on them... and I feel my bones begin to creek.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Regressing to Childish Insecurity

It's sad when petty things break your heart.

I was doing a favor for Tommy and Stacey today. They're both sick, so they needed someone to volunteer at the puppet theater for an hour. No big deal, I was happy to do it. I basicaly hung around the gift shop watching the register. Being around all the puppets reminded me of the two I lost with my stolen car earlier this year.

The one I thought was irreplaceable was replaced; Stacey made a new and improved Mr. McChutney in under 24 hours. That alone I'll never forget.

But the one I thought I could get easily... the one I bought retail 5 years ago... none exist anywhere.

The original vendor I went through tried to locate one, but I have not heard from them in months.

I looked on the manufacturer's web site tonight (why I didn't try that long ago, I don't know). I come to find that the puppet was discontinued just one month after mine was stolen.

:mope:

It's just a thing.

But it meant something to me. It... he had a name. I called him Bruce. He was the star of the one short film I actually completed. It was my first "gig" as a puppeteer (granted, I hired myself).

If anyone knows where I can get a 24" 2-Hand Black Bear Puppet made by Folkmanis from 1999-2005, let me know.

Now, I'm going to go cry like a 2-year-old.

:mope:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

No More School... Sort of...

The official grading quarter is over. The next two days are "Final Exam Days." All I really have left to do is to give a couple of tests and update grades. A lot of paper work and computer/data entry. No more teaching this year.

Travis is back with Apollo-12!!! I hope I see him around more. He came to practice today and is already finding his stride again. I'm looking forward to having him in shows.

I stuck around an extra hour tonight to re-record the Act 1 commentary for The Odd Couple. I hope it turned out okay. I think I lost a little spontaneaty by trying to remember everything I said the first time around. Oh well. It's still cool.

Hope Bill can get the disks done. He's doing me a HUGE favor. Can't thank him enough.

Now I'm tired again...:loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

I Can Sleep When I'm Dead

This was an awesome night!

Apollo 12 (which tonight consisted of myself, Greg, and Robin) did a bitchin' show tonight. And although many of our recent shows have rocked, this one was a-typical of us. For the first time (ever, I think) we did an entire show that followed one continuous story-line. I think the show may have actually run close to an hour. But the first scene we initiated just ran hot and kept going non-stop. There were multiple scenes, but they were lengthy and complete. There was a clear linear story. The audience could relate to the characters. The situations (for the most part) were grounded in reality. It was a beautiful experience.

Right after, I went over to Bill's house to work on the Odd Couple DVDs. Bill did a great job with these. I'm glad this is something he actually enjoys doing, because I'm exploiting the hell out of him here. It's now 2:30 AM, and I am just now getting home because I needed 10 DVDs for tomorrow (which is now today), and we had to burn each one... which takes about 15 minutes for each. We lost a little time when the first one we burned turned out to be a disc Bill was burning for Greg to give to his mom. Good thing we checked it, or we would have spent about 2 1/2 hours making claymation DVDs... which is not what the cast of The Odd Couple wants to see.

I'll be going to bed soon. I need to get up in about 3 hours.

Good thing tomorrow is an easy day. :loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Shameless

Inspired by the latest post on Brain Vomit, I've decided to share my own wish list. Here's the thing: I had a ton of DVD's stolen a couple months back, and I don't have home owner's insurance, so replacing them is no small feat. Although I expect nothing to come of this, I'll post my "wish list" just in case there are any truly generous souls out there. :up:

Click Here for My Amazon Wish List

Merry Christmas!

(and I mean that in the most secular way)

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Merry Happy ChristmaKwanzicha Holiday

Okay, on the whole "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" issue, say whatever the fuck you want. They're just words. It's not a sin to wish a Jew or a Muslum or an Athiest or an Agnostic a Merry Christmas. Why? Because it's always December 25, and all you're wishing is that the recipiant of "Merry Christmas" have a pleasent day on December 25. They don't cease to exist on that day, so why shouldn't they enjoy it. As Jeff Griggs noted in Guru, Del was athiest and Charna is jewish, and yet they always exchanged Christmas gifts. So, fuck it! "Merry Christmas, Everyone!"

Okay, that's done. No one will ever argue about that again.

Today I went to work at 7 and came home at 9. Some days I love my job. I didn't even have to do most of the paper work I expected to do. Just went in, double checked my grades, checked my e-mail, had breakfast, borrowed the Christmas tree from my prop room, and came home.

Now, I have the whole break ahead of me... and it's already quite full. I'm throwing a party on Tuesday, so the next few days will consist of shopping, cleaning and decorating my cozy little condo. I also plan on seeing at least two improv shows this weekend (from troupes other than my own). Plus my normal business of doing laundry and meeting with the PIF board.

Lots o' fun.


Oh, and it looks like I found another "Bruce" up in OR... so I can quite my bitching.

Starting to look like a good Christmas this year.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Nothing Personal Intended, None Taken

Okay, on the whole "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" issue, say whatever the fuck you want. They're just words. It's not a sin to wish a Jew or a Muslum or an Athiest or an Agnostic a Merry Christmas. Why? Because it's always December 25, and all you're wishing is that the recipiant of "Merry Christmas" have a pleasent day on December 25. They don't cease to exist on that day, so why shouldn't they enjoy it. As Jeff Griggs noted in Guru, Del was athiest and Charna is jewish, and yet they always exchanged Christmas gifts. So, fuck it! "Merry Christmas, Everyone!"

.

Just for the record, the motivation for the above rant was the recent Bill O'Riley feuled debate about retailers using "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" in their advertising. I was just sick of hearing about it.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

The Procrastinators Work is Never Done

I got a good 12 hours of sleep. Felt good.

I started fixing my upstairs toilet last night (the tank fills up but won't stay that way). I have the parts I need, just having a hell of a time getting the tank disconnected so that I can fix everything. Good news is I have a downstairs toilet, so it's not like I can't live without the upstairs facility. Bad news is I'm having people over on Tuesday, so I'd like to have it done. Crossing my fingers. :up:

In the process of cleaning the place up, I've been interrupted twice by calls from my younger brother. He's writing his screen play, and he's stuck in an action sequence. I went into teacher mode and asked him questions like "who's the protagonist?" and "where do you want the audience's sympathy?" The first call lasted 8 minutes, should have been done in two. He makes these things too complicated for himself. I basicly told him to make some important decisions about the characters and where they are going to go before he gets too bogged down into minor details of action. Called me back to say he thinks he found a solution. Great. Well, now I'm severely off task and need to get myself back into it.

Back up stairs I go!

 

[GreenLanternMD]

In BJ We Trust

BJ Novac of NBC's "The Office" is an active user of "myspace." He has encouraged other actors and writers on the show to set up "myspace" pages as well.

Here's one of his recent blog entries:

"I'm excited to see King Kong.

I like Jack Black a lot, and Naomi Watts is great, and Adrien Brody is a fine actor too.

But mostly, I'm excited because I noticed from the previews that King Kong is in it. I would see King Kong in anything!"

Well said. King Kong rocks! :up: Just saw it with Bill, Greg and Ashley. Not a bad thing to do when the PIF meeting is nice and short. op:

I was going to come home right after the meeting and continue/finish decorating my house. It's almost midnight and while I don't have to get up early, I have to extend some courtesy to my neighbors. Looks like I'll be doing that tomorrow. Hopefully, I can finish the toilet tank, too.

Oh, and in a wonderful "Yes, And" moment, Tommy made out with Jose last night. No detail needed. I'm sure your collective mental images sufice. :loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Party Time!!!

It's now 30 minutes to my "Phoenix Improv" Party.

The house is clean and decorated... looking about as good as it's ever looked.

Baked the deserts. (The cake looks good, brownies are a little too moist.)

Deli platter is out (glad I had some Ritz crackers).

Candy dish is filled.

Fire in the fireplace.

"Yankee Swap" gift wrapped and sitting under the tree.

Beverages in the fridge.

Harder stuff on the bar.

Two things I had to do without:

1) Only have one working bathroom ("Out of Order" sign on the upstairs. Saved me a lot of time today).
2) I tried making Deviled Eggs, but they weren't turning out well... oh well.

Now's the part where I sit and wait for people to arrive. Pretty boring.

As soon as the first guest gets here, I start drinking. :loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

MMMMM... Hang-Over...

Fun party last night. So glad to have had people. I was hoping for a few more, but it was nice to see those who could make it. People from A12, Galapagos, and Originals all had at least one peep reprezentn' (okay, I'll stop doing that now...). There was even some "old school" BMi in the hizzie... (sorry, I'll stop).

A successful Yankee Swap resulted in my gaining literature on how to be a Ninja, Stacey getting a "how to be a boy" kit, and Bob Fisher going home with his own pooping rein deer. Those of you who watch "The Office" may recall the much covetted "i-pod" from their "Yankee Swap." Our equivalent (which I think was supplied by Greg) was an old style Atari 2600. I believe it was "stolen" three times before ending with Amy.

I mention Bob Fisher because he likes being mentioned in blogs. I also want to mention that he is gernously throwing his sponsorship behind my school's upcoming production of Guys & Dolls. Thanks, Bob. Every little bit helps. :up:

Had to take my car down to Scottsdale this morning. When waking up at 8:00 AM requires some help with a snooze alarm, that means a very good time was had the night before. My Dad is showing a great deal of generosity toward me today. Paying for my car repairs, and he has decided that the $600.00 I've paid for the car is enough and that I don't have to pay him any more for it. Sweet! Perhaps the holiday season has stimulated the domant Catholic within him. I know I sometimes snuggle up to my own spirituality this time of year. Nothing dogmatic, mind you... just enjoy connecting with the positive aspects of human nature... and maybe a little bit of ritual.

Now, I have all day to nothing but wait for my car to be done.

This is a good vacation.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

A Week Late to Grieve

I just learned that one of my favorite character actors, John Spenser, passed away a week ago.

I'm a huge fan of The West Wing, and Spenser's consistantly top notch performance as Leo is one of the reasons why I still love the show. The character was running for VP, so this will no doubt create some interesting dramatic wrinkles in the show... but the real love passing of Mr. Spenser is the tragedy.

Even if one is not a viewer of The West Wing, chances are you have seen John Spenser in a number of film and TV appearances. He has had roles in such films as The Rock and The Negotiator.

Oh well. Am I alone in thinking 59 is too young to die? My dad is 62. My mom is about to turn 59.

Sorry. It's Christmas time. I need to stop thinking about grandparent-age mortality.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Last night I dreamt that I had taken Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" and combined it with "`Twas The Night Before Christmas" (which I believe was actually titled "A Christmas Eve Visitor" or something like that)... Anyway, in my dream, it was brilliant and I posted it up here.

In my waking life, I really don't have that kind of time, so I'll just simply say...

"Happy Christmas To All, and to All a Good Night... Evermore!"

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Happy Boxing Day!

In England and Australia (and other English Speaking countries that are not the US of A), they celebrate Boxing Day (12-26) thusly: Employers and employees, management and labor, bosses and staff, trade places for one day. The notion is that while Christmas is a day of prayer and family gathering, boxing day is an opportunity for servants to be served and for the served to serve.

Not over here...

We celebrate the day by mentioning the other countries on our calendars (so that they can be bought and sold outside of our borders), and by invading retailers with our insane need to return the shit we didn't like getting under the tree.

I plan a celebration of this nature in the near future. I anticipated that I would recieve a number of DVD's from my family this year. This is to help me re-coup my losses from the break-in two months ago. I did recieve some DVD's... all but one were movies I had already replaced or hadn't been stolen in the first place (to be fair, I did get a set of Monty-Python movies that weren't totally off the mark... there were three movies in the package; but I DID already replace Holy Grail; as for the other two, And Now For Something Completely Differant is probably the worst of the Python flick, and Barron Munchousen is okay, but not really worth keeping if I don't have to). My mom anticipated my dicipointment and preemptively appologized for the error knowing I wouldn't say anything other than "thank you." She had been very sick last week and planned on returning the movies in exchange for some I had actually listed, but she never got out to do it. It really is the thought that counts. I'm glad she keeps receipts. Although, there is that twinge of guilt I always feel when I swap out something that was given to me... but it passes quickly.

There is one gift I can't return and wouldn't want to; My older brother bought tickets for the Billy Joel concert that's coming in April. Increadibly generous (his store must have done well this year). Lucky thing Guys & Dolls will be done a whole month before then, and it's NOT during PIF. Cool. :up:

Christmas had been pleasent... well... Everyone else has been really sick. This kind of made most of the day really slow and boring. The only one with any energy was my 5-year-old nephew. We had all originally planned to stay for dinner, but by the middle of the afternoon that idea seemed more of an endurance test than something we were looking forward to. And, my younger brother has epilepse; not the kind where a seizure will send you into violent convulsions. Nathan's eplepsie causes him to lose control of his emotions. A seizure will manifest itself through unexpected and irrational rage followed by painful guilt, groveling appologies, and about 45 minutes of crying and bad head aches. Nathan had a siezure yesterday. Merry Christmas.

I got home around six, unloaded my spoils of war, and debated with myself about how to spend the remainder of the holiday. I had been second hand invited to a party beingh thrown by a couple of the Jester'Z. I trully sat and thought about it for an hour before I decided to go. What made me nervous was the fact that I wasn't invited directly (I got an e-mail from Bill that was a forward of an invite to him), and I wasn't sure I really knew the hosts. There was a bit of a gamble as to wether or not I would actually know anyone there; but, I decided the greater good would be served by my pressance. (Okay, I didn't intend for that to come of as concieted as it sounded) So, I gathered up some beer left over from my party last week, printed out the directions from mapquest, and headed over.

It wasn't far at all. Just over 10 minutes away from me. Unusual that any event like this would be that convenient. I get to where I think it is... but I can't see any house numbers so I'm not sure. Lucky for me, Jose is there too (hurray! a familiar face), so I send him in ahead to one party just to make sure it's the right one. It isn't. We determine that the party is the next block over, so we wander over and manage to find it without incident.

There was a fair balace of people I knew versus those who were new to me. No bad blood in the room that I could see. This party couldn't have happened two years ago... that is to say, the party could have happened, but I don't think members of Apollo 12 and Galapagos would have been invited. I was pleasently surprised to have people come up to me and say, "Hey, I've seen you on stage. You're show is really funny." Cool. That's why I went. Not to stroke my ego, but to continue our movement to get the improvisers in Phoenix to support each other all around.

I drank very little (two beers). I didn't want to get to the level of drunk that I achieved on Tuesday. I knew I had the personal resposibility of driving home; plus, I didn't know how long I planned on staying. Ironic, I was one of the last to leave. Within the irony, of the five of us who "closed" the party, all of us were members of "The Remainders," (no joke) and none of us were members of Jester'Z... not anymore, that is. Cool.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

No Day Job, But Busy Improv Week

Tonight was our last REMAINDERS practice before doing our second show this coming Thursday. I feel another "hit" coming our way, but I don't want to get cocky about it. The first one well exceded my expectations, so I don't think I should build it up too much for Thursday. We'll actually have 10 players playing, plus Shane on the stick. That's a very large group for Trunk Space. That's a large group for any improv show. Well, the advantage is we each only have to do 10% of the work. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to having Ashley, David, and Michelle in the show this time.

I started the practice a little uncooperative. We began with a "check-in" warm-up and since I was standing beside Bill, he turned to me first. Normally, this isn't a problem for me, but for some reason my thoughts were very disorganized and my impulse was to not share anything tonight. Perhaps I should have asked for him to come back to me. The truth is, I had seen most of these people within the past 24 hours so I initially wasn't sure if I had anything to say that was new or interesting. Plus, I've blogged the hell out of my life in recent days, so there was a part of me that wanted to say, "Oh, just read about it on one of my blogs." The fact is that in spite of my rambling in the form of the written word, in life, I hate talking about myself. Since I lived it, I've experienced it, and therfor reliving it through recounting it can be quite boring for me; and if I've already written about it in a recent hour, it's even more so. :sigh: I'm just lame that way.

Apollo 12 resumes normal Tuesday workshopping tomorrow, followed by our bi-monthly show on Wednesday. Then, the Remainders show on Thursday. The only weeknight that is without any improv for me is Friday. Weird.

Well, I'm sure I forgot something, but I feel like moving on.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Invisible Theater and The Awkward Issue of Over Promotion

I had some extra time this afternoon, so I went to the mall to practice some invisible theater. I need work with this. I'm still too chicken shit to initiate anything with a stranger, regardless if it's a genuine establishment of a relationship or if it's labled as "art."

Much of my experiment involved me adopting a behavior (or behaviors) and emersing myself in said behavior, and having no regard for whether or not those around me reacted to my behavior. Some of these behaviors included:
1) Walking into the Disney store and coming close to vomiting.
2) Being in Suncoast Video, talking to people that were not there (defensively).
3) Mimicing the walking paterns of those I observed until I found a character I wanted to use.

As the last character, I encountered a few kiosk venders. One woman buffed my thumb nail in an attempt to sell me beauty products. My character was disgusted with the whole exercise... for my remaining time in the mall, I was quite upset to the point of tears. I cried all the way to my car.

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I have two shows at the Trunk Space this week: Apollo 12 Tomorrow and The Remainders on Thursday. I've been plugging both hard-core (including posting announcements on this web site). I just read an e-mail from JRC saying I shouldn't have been so agressive with plugging the Wednesday show... that it's really more of a private party and I really shouldn't have been pushing it to the general public. I guess the best I can do now is not plug tomorrow's show tomorrow... Can't really "untell" people now (How does that work? "Yeah, we have that show tonight... don't come." ) I love JRC, but sometimes his communication with us leaves something to be desired. It's getting better, but every now and then it's confusing. Vital info like "don't plug the show" can get missed sometimes. Oh well. I hope I haven't caused too much of a problem (sure... now will be the week when my IRC/ASU/Myspace posts actually work). At least we've got the word out for Thursday... and there should be good audiences on both nights.

My head hurts.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Minimal Information

I'll be brief.

Did little during the day.

Show tonight... Not bad, but very overshadowed by the main event of the guest of honor... who was cooking.

Came home, had a burger.

Didn't exactly "Carpe Diem" today.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Crossing the Delaware

I don't know if I'm awake enough to recount tonight's events... but I'll try.

Galapagos did an awesome set. From the suggestion of "Stabbing," they did a montage of scenes... mostly hitting themes of trust and fear. A particularly lovely arc involved Jose playing a home invader while Bill made him welcome in his home... Jose had a knife to his throat the entire time, but the tone of the scene resembled a that of a neighbor dropping by.

The Remainders - 2 shows down and still going strong.

Packed house. Awesome.

Suggested title: "Crossing the Deleware" Thank God for Greg Jarvis and is deep well of historical knowledge.

The show was... goofy... but fun. A lot of group mind agreement and commitment to the silly.

There were a few places where I dropped the ball musicly. Didn't commit to some songs and forced Jose to pick up my slack. I'll try to avoid that in the future.

Shane was at the top of his game. Awesome instrumental tonight.

First show for David, Ashley and Michelle. YEA! David had a really nice death durge.

Bill gave a rousing patriotic speech worthy of Shatner... and I shot him.

Jose and Bill both came back as ghosts.

Audience was entertained.

We're all eager to continue to sharpen our craft and do more of these.

A year ago, I would have not persued membership in another improv troupe.

(As Ashley chimed after the show, "I'm so glad I quit Jester'Z." I'm so happy I didn't have to make that kind of choice for myself.)

So glad this one happened by accident.

Ah Serendipity...

 

[GreenLanternMD]

The Race to Become Web Master

I had originally titled this entry "Web Master Race," but once I had seen it typed out, I realized it could be misinterpretted as some kind of commentary on high-tech cyber-naziism. It is not.

Today was going to be the one day this week that I would do nothing improv related. So what do I do? I create a myspace page for "The Remainders." I believe it had to be done.

Apparantly, Michelle had the same idea. The moment I finally got the thing posted, I sent out "friend" requests to everyone in the troupe who had a myspace account (as well as others who are just friends of the group), and I immediately get this message:

"damn you!

i was literally in the process of creating a remainders page. damn you beat me. is this mack?
i'm going to upload the show tonight, and i can rip the songs and put them up on myspace if it is a band page. "

HA! HA! Group Mind is Awesome!!! Liz Allen would be proud! (Maybe not, but I'm going to allow myself to believe it anyway).

So, Michelle also has access to the page so she can update it whenever. I just have to make sure we're not trying to get into it at the same time.

We should have a "real" web site as well. You'd think with all the computer geeks we have on hand it shouldn't be a problem.

Hmm...

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Chicken & Waffles: The Great Social Equalizer(s)

I actually had to set my alarm to wake me early enough to be somewhere at 10:30. I hate the end of a vacation.

Jose had the excellent idea of inviting everyone in the improv community out to Lolo's for Chicken and Waffles. Yes, Chicken & Waffles. Not sure of the origin of this particular combination... but it is both brilliant and deadly.

We had players from six troupes at our very long table: Jester'Z, Apollo 12, Galapagos, The Originals, The Remainders and Barren Mind. Sure there was some cross-over, but we had so many people at the "table" that we took over an entire room and even had other parties kicked out for us... and this is with Bill Binder in Detroit! (that is to say, it's rare to have some many Phoenix improvisers in one place when none of them are Bill Binder)

A good, unhealthy breakfast had by all. I had the unique vantage point of sitting at the head of the table against the wall. I could see every single person in one glance. It was a think of beauty. I had done nothing, and yet felt accomplished. I know I've been saying this sort of thing a lot in the past few months, but it's still true: This wouldn't have happened two years ago.

I now have to decide which NYE event to attend. I actually have options.

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Just an aside: Bill's in Detroit hanging out with high school friends... people from his pre-improv life. I can't remember the last time I traveled for anything that wasn't in some way connected to improv. Even my trips to CA in recent years have been with people I either improvise with now or have improvised with in the past. I can't even recall taking a trip with family since 1998. I'm not complaining... it's just a recent observation.

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This is post #200! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!