tralfaz.

[spacemud]

Krispy Kreme attack:

it just feels like a wonderful night for partaking in overly sugary carbohydrate goodness that's been fried to artery-hardening perfection.

in my head, i keep hearing the siblings-at-war sounds of "Who Do U Worship?" from De La Soul Is Dead -- it jumps from peaceful and quaint classical-guitar-plucking to axe-shredding riffs. thank God for the genius of Prince Paul.

i took my sister shopping and whilst waiting for the end of her dressing room adventures, i plonked myself down at a table within the hullaballooza that is Virgin Megastore and read Michael Moore's Stupid White Men. i got through most of it and dug it (which isn't surprising since i'm distinctly pretty far gone left in spite of my consumerist tendencies). still, there's a pretty little chunk of it that comes off as ultra-facetious and it registers as Moore trying to get cute.

i'm curious to check out some sort of rebuttal to SWM - especially the whole first chapter detailing Dubya's (alleged) hijacking of Florida during the election.

----- .
from the New York Press (?) :

(A.H)..It was interesting to see you having technical difficulties down there, because a lot of your lyrics are about an uncomfortable relationship with technology. Historically, a lot of hiphop was partly about being overjoyed with machines.

(EL-P)..I’m not overjoyed with it, man, it’s a love-hate relationship. I appreciate that it enables me to do things that I wouldn’t have been able to do five years ago, but I’ve also been known to take hammers to pieces of technology. People have witnessed it. I snap every once in a while. I just feel like every once in a while you have to show technology who’s the master, y’know? I actually took a hammer to a five-disc CD changer about a year ago. I flipped out. It wasn’t working correctly. I was trying to get a CD out of it and the door wouldn’t quite open, it just kept going, "vvvvt." So I opened it. It’s like, "You are my slave. My whore. My bitch. If you don’t work for me…" I can’t do the role-reversal thing. I don’t want to sweet-talk it. At the same time, y’know, I love technology because I love making music. I love videogames. I have every stupid gadget that comes out. I’m 100-percent a consumer. But I do it with the understanding that I’m a pathetic person.

 

[spacemud]

slumpbuster (c) someone else

not my best work, but it felt good to rush it out:

Victorious?: Triumph Signs With Murder Inc.

by Larry D. Wyattgeye
New York City (AP)

In the latest escalation of rap artist feuding, Murder Inc. Records, home of such chart-toppers as Ja Rule and Ashanti, has signed Late Night with Conan O'Brien's popular mainstay, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Kind words have been scarce between thug crooner, Ja Rule, and rap wunderkind Eminem ever since Eminem's recent signing of odd-man-out rapper 50 Cent.

"Did y'all see how that talking dog backed that fake-ass, blonde nigga down? That shit was gangsta; that's the thug firepower Murder Inc.'s bringing you in 2003!" said Irv Gotti, CEO of Murder Inc., referring to Eminem's brief face-off with Robert Smigel's comedic dog-puppet at last week's MTV Video Music Awards. "Triumph's a thoroughbred and we're glad to have him in hip-hop's most dangerous family."

Murder Inc.'s signing of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is seen as the latest salvo in Ja Rule's burgeoning feud with the controversial Eminem, stemming from his newest affiliation with hardcore rapper 50 Cent. 50 Cent is known for his appearances on promotional hip-hop mixed tapes around the city, but struck notoriety many years earlier for his song "How To Rob."

"How To Rob" name checked many popular rap artists as being precarious victims of 50 Cent's celebrity-mugging high jinks. Many of the high-profile rap luminaries mentioned, such as Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, and Kirk Franklin, sought vengeance by way of threats recorded for albums or passing references in songs, while Ja Rule confronted 50 Cent for some various comments face-to-face, leading to some physical altercations.

"When we set Triumph on (Eminem's and 50 Cent's) ass, it's gonna be murdaaaah!" Ja Rule bellowed while waiting for his spouse's permanent eyeliner tatooing.

Irv Gotti has apparently set his goals high, explaining that the next Murder Inc. group effort will be a re-imagining of the Jacksons' "Victory" album.

"Ja's definitely the Michael of the group and Nas is the deep thinking Tito of the squad but we throwin' Ashanti, Triumph, and Caddilac Tah up in the mix to round it out -- 'Victory' was great on its own, nah mean, but MJ an'em only had Mick Jagger as a guest, we got a talking dog in our crew for life," explained Gotti.

"Yeah, the album redoes the 'Victory' album almost exactly the same, but we spiced it up -- kinda like that new version of 'Psycho' a few years back. I may have to drop 'Gotti' and call myself Irv Van Sant," added the exuberant CEO.

One of the demo versions of the first single is a reworking of A Tribe Called Quest's "Award Tour" entitled "Victory Tour." This early version is without Triumph's vocal contribution, but Robert Smigel is pretty nonchalant about his possible contribution.

"Yeah, it should be kind of fun having one of my characters on an album. 'The Simpsons Sing the Blues' did wonders for that show," says Smigel.

Smigel's Triumph is no stranger to unusual feuds. The dot-com bust Pets.com attempted to sue the raunchy, rubbery puppet with laughable results.

"The funny thing," Smigel adds,"is that I think that Irv Gotti guy thinks Triumph is really a talking dog."
-----

 

[spacemud]

tumble.

self-evaluation clearing house:

there's about a million things i could do to improve,
but these were the only ones i could figure out how to
articulate:

-- keep my initiations positive (too often, my
initiations are conflict-related)

-- character work: sustaining characters, making
stronger choices, playing high status characters
instead of the smaller, fearful ones that i tend to
play, keeping my character's p.o.v (often i'll yesand something @ the expense of it, rather than yesanding within it)

-- i need to be better @ pausing mentally and checking
in to see what's been created on stage

-- environment: need to visualize the environment more.

-- object work

-- have more fun ... just be more playful on stage, i think

-----

"It's stupid and it actually removes any sense of reality from the scene, making it highly unbelievable."

i've always had an uneasy existence with reality anyway, but over the years, i've come to an understanding that reality and truth don't always skip across the meadow hand-in-hand.

i think that's why i've never liked when people equate the word "myth" with lies/falsehoods/untruths. i've also disliked when people dismiss religions, folklore, and, well, ancient myths as being inherently flawed due to whatever inaccuracies they may hold or not being realistic. all of these tales (for lack of a better all-encompassing word) have, at least, small shards of truth embedded in them. usually, even when the tales revolve around ancient dieties, terrifying beasts that never lived, and generally impossible, supernatural occurances, they're speaking to truths about human nature and our reactions to the world around us.

"the intellectual truth of the scene can get weird, but hold on to the emotional truth"

so, when scenes take a left turn and reality takes a vacation, i usually don't worry too much about it -- in fact, i kinda relish it.

i don't think anyone would fault Picasso or Dali for not being realistic, especially since they had a truth that they were trying to convey.

"The point of art is not to create reality, but verity." - Catherine Breillat

 

[spacemud]

Planet Purple

origin of Purple Panda -- i have love for Mr. Rogers (who doesn't?), but that robot-voiced creature was a bit trippy. i was always bothered by the fact that none of Rogers' puppets had mouths that moved when they talked. i guess they'd all be great ventriloquists, though.

-----

here's some notes from my CIF experiences. they're not as cohesive as Charlie Todd's recap (in fact, they'll be pretty fragmentary, straight out of my notebook) maybe someone'll get something out of 'em.

-----

April 6th

Susan Messing's "Shut Up!: the Bliss of Silence"

- started by walking around the room, leading with different body parts (knees, hips, chest, etc.)

- words = golden (we should treat them as such, sparse)

--> often times, we let ourselves become a victim of our own work/words

- "you always do ..." & "again?!" - when these show up in scenes, they can be a kind of negation; they make the out of the ordinary thing that just happened instantly commonplace

{eye contact = important; engage with your scene partner}

- scenes are about people

talking ==can.lead.to==> a status struggle

(fear/insecurity that someone's not listening to you)

"yes, but ..." (but what about my asthma?)

- sometimes people share a world but don't interact

[finding the game]

the game = anythin you do more than once

--> the initiator does not own the scene

--> the only thing you own is your own body (emotional standpoint, etc.)

discovery/do something

don't throw away scenes

---> power comes from making strong choices (and staying committed to self, partner, and scene)

exercise: "good morning, fucko!" - 2 people, waking up from their night's sleep on the same bed, go about their morning routine silently until it's indicated when they can talk

- if you hate what you're doing (ie. if you're stuck doing something you hate or are avoiding something that you dislike), do it more!

"help me" = calling for support/drop the other thing

taking care of yourself ==leads.to==> taking care of your partner
taking care of your partner ==leads to==> the scene taking care of itself

when you're lost, do more (of whatever you began your scene with)

when in doubt, match your scene partner's energy

do object work @ home
---> environment = 1/3 of your world (don't sacrifice your world/environment for words)

---

- scenes: can be about -- a) a slice of life
b) the day the shit hits the fan (the day
something happens)

- strive to show, not merely tell

- comedy: - is sometimes a surprise
- is sometimes expected

{comedy comes from being surprising or having a surprise twist; comedy comes from being expected (meeting people's expectations)}

(feeling) rushed on stage
(everything's important on stage)

improv = antithesis of life

life - we like to fix problems; power in saying "no"
improv - we love to live w/ the problem; power in "yes"

scenes = educate or relate
- educational to audience (possibly new to people)
- relateable by audience (familiar to people)

every choice you make is great ---> don't drop your choice

--> everything you do on stage is important
-----> you will discover why are you are doing something (whatever's done @ the top of the scene/whatever activity you end up doing)

{commit.}

"there are no mistakes in improv, fuckers!"

- the audience is more patient than we think

the goal of improv = discovery, not laughs

- cumulative effect: scene = this + this + this ...

---

reality

- speaking to fill space = not good
- don't drop anything, stick to offers

a relationship is established as soon as the scene starts

establish yourself first to support your partner
{the best way to support your partner is to make a strong choice & commit to it - it gives your partner something definite to work with}

selfish vs. bad selfish

---

if you hate it, do it more

--

reason for a stupid game

--

push through fear ===> discovery

there are no mistakes on stage

characters/people: onstage (continual victim = humorous/interesting) & offstage (continual victim = needs therapy)

other exercises done:

- silent death scenes (possibly called "die!"): a single person goes up and silently creates their character's own death scene

- mostly silent scenes: 2 or 3 people non-verbally create a scene with one or two sentences spoken @ the end of it

------

the workshop was awesome, and much better than what i've probably conveyed ...