Down in San Diego

I'm sitting in a conference room in the Sheraton in San Diego. It's ELC time again, and all the Superintendents are deeply embroiled in small group discussions. This is the largest ELC since I began doing the conferences ten years ago, and it's really exciting to see so many school leaders packed into one space.

I'm always a little nervous going into these, as I offer lateral thinking that usually makes sense to them, but sometimes goes completely out to left field for them. They don't mind that so much, as it presents a cognitive challenge for them. So far, though, everything seems spot on. The theme, memory and how to make your message "stick" is a theme that is more directly touched on in film than some of the others in the past. (for those not familiar, I make a video montage of the conference theme, and provide metaphor illustrations from movies at break points to reinforce whatever they are currently talking about)

It's been a very encouraging week, with songs coming in for Sweetie Tanya from Arwen Anderson and Steve Kahn, and the peace that comes from having The Chinese Angle finally cast. I got photos from a shoot on Sunday for The Chinese Angle, and they look fabulous. I think we'll have a final postcard image by tonight. I'll post a link to it here!

I had the great pleasure of running into Oliver Crow last night. I was walking back from my meeting with Antero for The Invisible Forest and realized I was walking only a few blocks from the Crow/Shaferman residence. I got voicemail though, and headed back to Oakland. I needed to swing by the office, as I had left a crucial piece of cabling there that I would need here in San Diego. Oliver called as I was walking into the building, and he was only two blocks away at the Lake Merritt Dance Center. I haven't hung out with Ollie in at least six months, so we went for a lake walk and chilled out for the rest of the evening.

Needless to say, I was *very* glad that I had finished my ELC montage the night before.

Tomorrow I'll head back home, and then it's off to Rangoria next week.

Just updates.

not a lot of time, so just a few quick updates.

Life is good, thank you very much.

Work continues to challenge with new Flash development projects, and now I've started doing video subtitling as well. Of course, I'm still acting as Oakland's primary tech, so the distraction/frustration factor can get high at times, but it all balances out at the end of the day.

No movement on Sweetie Tanya right now, as I wait for songs to come back to me.

I'm working with Chris Hayes on a series of events that will take place at the Eureka Theatre in September. Among these events is "Submergency: Damp Summer" and a Playwright's Development workshop that Radiostar will be involved with. We've just confirmed that El Gato Diablo Children's Theatre will be joining us for Saturday matinees, which further rounds out our program.

Casting for Savage Eye Production's "The Chinese Angle" should be complete by tomorrow. I am very glad for this and will post a full cast list once I have it.

Radiostar downloads continue to skyrocket. I'm super pleased with the growth in this area!

Vacation is drawing very close, and I am watching the days tick by with glee. The only blot to all this is that there may be some passport issues. This is going to be down to the wire in some ways, and I'm trying not to dwell on it overmuch, as it's something that is completely out of my control.

Part of this new collaboration with Chris Hayes is re-looking at the space in Fruitvale. I've mentioned this before, and I hope to send a proposal to the school. I sat in at the Theatre Services Committee meeting today, on behalf of Bay Area Professional Small Theatres, and there was some significant talk about the need of theatre spaces in Oakland, so the timing on this may be perfect after all.

ok, that's it. I'll post something with a bit more wit and color later.

almost, but not quite

Strange weekend.

We were able to catch Zack Stern's show, The Great Puppet Musical, on Friday. It was an absolute treat, and even more so since it had a full and happy house. Audience energy is such a huge part of live performance, and everyone who was there was amped up and ready for a good time. But then again, who would go to an improvised musical puppet show and not be amped up?

I found out, however, that we would not be able to get in to see First Person Shooter at the SF Playhouse the next night as they were sold out. Shows were available for the matinee, but I already knew that I'd be engaged in a rare instance of doing my day job on a Saturday afternoon due to a Monday morning project deadline.

While I worked away on WestEd work, Mayu went off to watch 28 Weeks Later, which I had deemed to scary for my tastes. Sadly, Fandango.com had given us the wrong show time, so she didn't get her zombie fix and went for pirates instead. I was a bit annoyed that she saw the Pirates without me, but by all accounts I didn't miss much.

Unable to see First Person Shooter, we decided to try and catch Diana Brown in Eavesdropped at the Off Market Theatre, but arrived to a sold out show, which was startling for an opening weekend. Denied for both of our 8pm shows, it was too late to consider a third show option. We pondered our non-theatrical options and decided to get something for the X-Box that would allow us to shoot things for the evening. Off to EB Games, which was closed. Not to be deterred, it was off to CompUSA, which was closed. Finally we ended up browsing around the Virgin Superstore (since we weren't doing anything else) and I found a copy of Gears of War, which Mayu had been talking about for the last month or so. Electronic mayhem in hand, we headed home and engaged in gratituous virtual violence.

Despite getting to bed at a fairly early hour, we managed to *not* make it to class/workout in the morning.

We did, however, make it out to Kurt and Michelle Larson's for their son's 1st birthday gathering. This mostly involved techies standing around a playground talking shop and trading war stories. Techies have the *best* war stories.

Radiostar went exceptionally well, with one of the most enjoyable and solid improv sets we've had in weeks. It would have been the perfect end to the evening if I hadn't left my bag (and my laptop) at the restaurant/bar after the recording session. I didn't realize it until we got back to Oakland. Mayu, bless her, didn't miss a beat and we were back on the road in seconds. I called the restaurant and they hadn't seen the bag, which sent me into a sweating panic. By the time we arrived, however, they had located it and placed it behind the bar.

I am going to advocate for going back there after every Radiostar and buying lots of food and drinks out of gratitude for not having to commit ritual suicide over the loss of that bag (and laptop!)