First off some significant links.
Over on CNN.com there is a very interesting analyses of missed opportunities in the Obama-McCain debate. What I found most edifying was a list of factors that contributed to the decrease of violence in Iraq, *other* than the surge.
While the entire article is worth reading, there's the list of factors:
Lost in this discussion was the fact that while the surge of some 30,000 American soldiers certainly put more American boots on the ground in neighborhoods from Anbar province to Baghdad to "clear, hold and build" them and was clearly an important element in the sharp decline in violence in the country, there are several other key underlying factors that tamped down the mayhem in Iraq that neither of the candidates addressed:
• First, the appearance in 2006 of the various "Awakening" movements, in which Sunni tribes once allied with al Qaeda turned against it.
• Second, the implementation of the Sons of Iraq program consisting of some 100,000 Sunni militants, many of whom used to be shooting at American soldiers, who are now on the U.S. payroll. Now that's a surge!
• Third, the previous ethnic cleansings in Iraq and the millions of Iraqi refugees who have fled their homes, meaning there are fewer potential targets of sectarian violence.
• Fourth, the large size and increasing efficacy of the Iraqi army and police, some 550,000 strong, who are now beginning to operate with some level of professionalism.
• Fifth, the increasingly nonsectarian approach of Nuri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, who has taken on Shiite militias in Basra and Sadr City, an important signal that the government will act in something like the national interest.
• Sixth, the cease-fires ordered in the past year or so by the leader of those Shia militants, the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose position in Iraq has weakened significantly since 2007.
These underlying factors made the surge a force multiplier for the fragile peace we are seeing today in Iraq. And now that the surge is over, it is those factors that might ensure that the fragile peace holds, yet neither Obama nor McCain discussed how these factors might change their own Iraq policies going forward.
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As for me, I'm a pretty firm Obama supporter. I don't think he's the second coming, but I support him more than I've supported a candidate... well... ever. They way I see it lately, if he can deliver on a third of his promises, I'll be delighted. If McCain delivers on even a third of his promises, I'll be horrified.
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Things are pretty mellow on this end. Work is slow, and with the third Radiostar cartoon up, and new Audio shows posted, I'm trying to turn my attention to the 411 screenplay. The Sweetie Tanya soundtrack remains in limbo for legal reasons and I need to get some work done on that front as well.
Occupying most of my attention, however, has been a pinched nerve in my shoulder that has severely limited my neck movement. After recommendations of Flexirol and acupuncture, I was assigned to be bartender at Djoke's murder mystery bar-be-que and proceeded to make super strong drinks and send everyone flying... including myself. I woke up today still in pain, but with increased range of movement. Rum beats pharmaceuticals and needles, hands down. Still, I am looking forward to being pain free in the next couple of days.
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The Evil League of Evil is accepting submissions. They want applicants to sing, although it's not required. I have a few ideas, so perhaps I'll make my submission tomorrow night. If so, I'll post a link here.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
videos
So, I was going to a film festival last night, but my movie buddy came down sick. I decided to spend the night working on the third Radiostar cartoon instead, and am very pleased to say that it may be finished as early as tomorrow!
In the meanwhile, David Austin-Gröen posted this video, which brought a part of McCain's history to light that I had completely forgotten about.
and Eden Gallanter brought my attention to this SNL clip about sexism in the media that cracked me up.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be posting my own video.
In the meanwhile, David Austin-Gröen posted this video, which brought a part of McCain's history to light that I had completely forgotten about.
and Eden Gallanter brought my attention to this SNL clip about sexism in the media that cracked me up.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be posting my own video.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Radiostar spreads
An animation student used some audio from Radiostar for an animation test.
The original show, "Rebound" can be listened to here.
The original show, "Rebound" can be listened to here.
Ramping up for election theft
It really makes me ill. McCain's camp says that our economic woes are largely psychological. This isn't news, of course, but that kind of attitude makes the following even more reprehensible.
Republicans in economically devastated swing counties are gearing up to deny people who have recently been foreclosed on the right to vote.
The argument boils down to, "if you lost your home, then you aren't a legal resident, so you don't have a polling place."
That's right, if you're hit hard by our failing economy and want change, you don't get to vote for it. Thank goodness that the Republican party is all about a smaller government that won't meddle in the affairs of its citizens. Thank goodness that they're willing to fight for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the belief that "all men are created equal."
That, and kicking people when they're down in order to maintain their power base.
Republicans in economically devastated swing counties are gearing up to deny people who have recently been foreclosed on the right to vote.
The argument boils down to, "if you lost your home, then you aren't a legal resident, so you don't have a polling place."
That's right, if you're hit hard by our failing economy and want change, you don't get to vote for it. Thank goodness that the Republican party is all about a smaller government that won't meddle in the affairs of its citizens. Thank goodness that they're willing to fight for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the belief that "all men are created equal."
That, and kicking people when they're down in order to maintain their power base.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Earthquake
Thanks to Neil Gaiman who brought attention to these "comics" about the May earthquake in China.
"comic" couldn't be a stronger misnomer, as they literally brought me to tears.
"comic" couldn't be a stronger misnomer, as they literally brought me to tears.
Monday, September 08, 2008
8 and a half
I just finished watching Fellini's 8 1/2.
I've seen it before, but I couldn't tell you when. I watched it then for the same reason I watched it tonight: because it's an acknowledged masterpiece and because I should.
The last time I watched it, I was simply bewildered. I didn't understand it. I was overwhelmed by it's non-linearity, it's exaggeration, and generally didn't understand the plot or anything about it.
This time... this time I understood it. I understood how memory flows into the present, how the past is always with me, the inability to choose and how that inability limits one's capacity to love, the role of fantasy and daydream and self-delusion.... all of it made sense to me.
I'm not sure if that's a complimentary thing to admit about oneself. It's true, nevertheless.
I've seen it before, but I couldn't tell you when. I watched it then for the same reason I watched it tonight: because it's an acknowledged masterpiece and because I should.
The last time I watched it, I was simply bewildered. I didn't understand it. I was overwhelmed by it's non-linearity, it's exaggeration, and generally didn't understand the plot or anything about it.
This time... this time I understood it. I understood how memory flows into the present, how the past is always with me, the inability to choose and how that inability limits one's capacity to love, the role of fantasy and daydream and self-delusion.... all of it made sense to me.
I'm not sure if that's a complimentary thing to admit about oneself. It's true, nevertheless.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
RNC
I didn't watch the Republican National Convention, but I've been reading about it. Some of the quotes coming out of it I find just baffling.
All this talk about Republicans and smaller government, and how the people want a smaller, less invasive government so they should vote Republican... from the party that gave us the Patriot Act and has worked to remove so many of our rights.
All this talk about voting Republican so that Government can cut spending, when most of our money has gone to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will possibly go to fighting a war in Iran.
Democrats do want to spend money, on things like social programs and health care. The Republican pattern has been to spend money on war, and giving breaks to corporations.
Palin is portraying herself as someone who stands up to special interests and big oil after suing the Bush administration for declaring polar bears an endangered species, because it might block her goals to open up Alaska's wilderness for oil drilling.
Continual references to "liberal Washington", after 8 years of Bush and his policies. Look at what has been done in this country over the last 8 years... how liberal has Washington been? Hell, most of our Democrats have been acting like Republicans for the last 8 years. How is that liberal?
Romney referred to America as "what it has always been, the hope of the world." This, after Bush's arrogant approach to foreign policy has reduced the world's opinion of us to pathetic levels.
People talk about Steve Jobs having a reality-distortion field... well, apparently he's given it to the GOP for the season.
All this talk about Republicans and smaller government, and how the people want a smaller, less invasive government so they should vote Republican... from the party that gave us the Patriot Act and has worked to remove so many of our rights.
All this talk about voting Republican so that Government can cut spending, when most of our money has gone to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will possibly go to fighting a war in Iran.
Democrats do want to spend money, on things like social programs and health care. The Republican pattern has been to spend money on war, and giving breaks to corporations.
Palin is portraying herself as someone who stands up to special interests and big oil after suing the Bush administration for declaring polar bears an endangered species, because it might block her goals to open up Alaska's wilderness for oil drilling.
Continual references to "liberal Washington", after 8 years of Bush and his policies. Look at what has been done in this country over the last 8 years... how liberal has Washington been? Hell, most of our Democrats have been acting like Republicans for the last 8 years. How is that liberal?
Romney referred to America as "what it has always been, the hope of the world." This, after Bush's arrogant approach to foreign policy has reduced the world's opinion of us to pathetic levels.
People talk about Steve Jobs having a reality-distortion field... well, apparently he's given it to the GOP for the season.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Pentecostal Vice President
Considering how much the media flipped out over Barack Obama's old pastor, I have to wonder what they'll do with Palin's.
It's an interesting article about the church she grew up in and the pastor she followed and who gave the speech in her inauguration. Palin is a full bore fundamentalist Pentecostal. Now her views may differ from her old pastor, but based on her public statements, and the hard core authoritarianism of the church, I doubt it.
It's an interesting article about the church she grew up in and the pastor she followed and who gave the speech in her inauguration. Palin is a full bore fundamentalist Pentecostal. Now her views may differ from her old pastor, but based on her public statements, and the hard core authoritarianism of the church, I doubt it.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Big Green Bus
I got an email from Cynthia Gregory, who some of you know as half of Savage Eye Productions and the Angel who built the set for Sweetie Tanya.
It was about an event that happened in the Twin Cities. The low-down is that the "Permibus," a large green bus that tours the country making demonstrations about solar panels, composting, and hydroponic farming was pulled over by no fewer than NINE police cars. No reason was given for pulling them over and taking their vehicle (which is also their home) away from them other than "routine traffic stop" and "we need to see if this is vehicle is being used for commercial purposes".
Here's a short article by the Twin Cities Daily Planet. This is a much longer article from Twin Cities Indymedia, which is what Cynthia forwarded me in the first place.
Now call me crazy, but my understanding was that you couldn't pull over a bus and impound it for "potential later search and seizure" without a search warrant. The family was left with all their animals on the side of the road while the cops left with their vehicle and home. No arrests, and no explanations, just nine cars full of cops and vague responses.
I honestly don't know what to make of this, but it seems like something that can't be allowed to slip under the radar, so I'm posting about it. I'd post the police's side of the story, but so far they authorities haven't made a statement.
It was about an event that happened in the Twin Cities. The low-down is that the "Permibus," a large green bus that tours the country making demonstrations about solar panels, composting, and hydroponic farming was pulled over by no fewer than NINE police cars. No reason was given for pulling them over and taking their vehicle (which is also their home) away from them other than "routine traffic stop" and "we need to see if this is vehicle is being used for commercial purposes".
Here's a short article by the Twin Cities Daily Planet. This is a much longer article from Twin Cities Indymedia, which is what Cynthia forwarded me in the first place.
Now call me crazy, but my understanding was that you couldn't pull over a bus and impound it for "potential later search and seizure" without a search warrant. The family was left with all their animals on the side of the road while the cops left with their vehicle and home. No arrests, and no explanations, just nine cars full of cops and vague responses.
I honestly don't know what to make of this, but it seems like something that can't be allowed to slip under the radar, so I'm posting about it. I'd post the police's side of the story, but so far they authorities haven't made a statement.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Another reason for change
Many thanks to Jennifer Jajeh for bringing this to my attention.
Fulbright scholarship winner denied access to U.S., and his education.
Let's stop with the spook show, people. If you're going to screw someone over, let's at least let them know why. This kind of seemingly random douchebaggery doesn't do any good for anybody.
Fulbright scholarship winner denied access to U.S., and his education.
Let's stop with the spook show, people. If you're going to screw someone over, let's at least let them know why. This kind of seemingly random douchebaggery doesn't do any good for anybody.
Palin
I have to admit, I'm a bit baffled by McCain's decision to name Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
The obvious answer is that he's hoping to lure Clinton supporters. For some people who were only going to support Hillary because she was female... that might work.
But McCain's campaign has relied heavily on pointing out Obama's lack of experience in Washington, and Palin is a first term governor with only two years experience in that office. If experience is a key point of McCain's campaign, then why bring on someone with no national experience to be your running mate?
Obama is heavily stressing the environment in his campaign, and Palin is married to an oil production operator and vocally supports drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.
McCain keeps trying to distance himself from the image of continuing business as usual in Washington, and he chooses a running mate with direct family ties to the oil industry.
Palin won the Governorship based on ethics reform, and yet a staff member of hers tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired off the police force during a bitter custody trial. She claims that she had nothing to do with it, but the whole thing rings of "will no one rid me of this troublesome priest" to me.
Of course, this doesn't even begin to raise the point that Alaska, saddled with deeply corrupt politicians, finally elects someone who promises to turn the state around... and essentially jumps ship on the state during her first term to run for Vice-President.
The obvious answer is that he's hoping to lure Clinton supporters. For some people who were only going to support Hillary because she was female... that might work.
But McCain's campaign has relied heavily on pointing out Obama's lack of experience in Washington, and Palin is a first term governor with only two years experience in that office. If experience is a key point of McCain's campaign, then why bring on someone with no national experience to be your running mate?
Obama is heavily stressing the environment in his campaign, and Palin is married to an oil production operator and vocally supports drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.
McCain keeps trying to distance himself from the image of continuing business as usual in Washington, and he chooses a running mate with direct family ties to the oil industry.
Palin won the Governorship based on ethics reform, and yet a staff member of hers tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired off the police force during a bitter custody trial. She claims that she had nothing to do with it, but the whole thing rings of "will no one rid me of this troublesome priest" to me.
Of course, this doesn't even begin to raise the point that Alaska, saddled with deeply corrupt politicians, finally elects someone who promises to turn the state around... and essentially jumps ship on the state during her first term to run for Vice-President.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Other Fringe goodness
For those of you in town, Sweetie Tanya songwriter Thessaly Lerner will be up here doing a show for the Fringe Festival.
Here's the info:
Dear Friendsies!
Thessaly Lerner, The Ukulady and her Russian Nanny, played by Jayne Entwistle, are coming to the San Francisco Fringe Festival in The Ukulady's Ponyshow!!!!
WHAT:
The Ukulady's Ponyshow, a variety extravaganza which ran for 9 months in Hollywood! Every show has a different Special Guest and theme, such as Fake Moustaches & Corndogs! Nanny carves a different award-winning potato every show & The Ukulady sings songsies!!
WHEN:
September 5th, Friday at 7pm SHARP! Featuring Susan McCollom & Don Seaver
September 6th, Saturday at 1pm SHARP! Featuring The NeoSurrealists!
September 7th, Sunday at 7pm SHARP! Featuring Gerri Lawlor & Sam Shaw!
September 12th, Friday at 7pm SHARP! Featuring The Whistleaires & Don Seaver!
September 13th, Saturday at 2:30pm SHARP! Featuring OPM & Don Seaver!
September 14th, Sundat at 4pm SHARP! Featuring Gerri Lawlor, Don Seaver & Sam Shaw!
WHERE:
EXIT Theater, San Francisco Fringe Festival! 156 Eddy Street in SF, between Mason & Taylor!
NO LATE SEATING!!! ZERO Late-seating-policy! BE EARLY!!!!
Tickets available at:
www.SFFringe.org
$9 at the door, $11 online
www.ThessalyLerner.com
www.myspace.com/TheUkulady
www.youtube.com/ThessalyLerner
Here's the info:
Dear Friendsies!
Thessaly Lerner, The Ukulady and her Russian Nanny, played by Jayne Entwistle, are coming to the San Francisco Fringe Festival in The Ukulady's Ponyshow!!!!
WHAT:
The Ukulady's Ponyshow, a variety extravaganza which ran for 9 months in Hollywood! Every show has a different Special Guest and theme, such as Fake Moustaches & Corndogs! Nanny carves a different award-winning potato every show & The Ukulady sings songsies!!
WHEN:
September 5th, Friday at 7pm SHARP! Featuring Susan McCollom & Don Seaver
September 6th, Saturday at 1pm SHARP! Featuring The NeoSurrealists!
September 7th, Sunday at 7pm SHARP! Featuring Gerri Lawlor & Sam Shaw!
September 12th, Friday at 7pm SHARP! Featuring The Whistleaires & Don Seaver!
September 13th, Saturday at 2:30pm SHARP! Featuring OPM & Don Seaver!
September 14th, Sundat at 4pm SHARP! Featuring Gerri Lawlor, Don Seaver & Sam Shaw!
WHERE:
EXIT Theater, San Francisco Fringe Festival! 156 Eddy Street in SF, between Mason & Taylor!
NO LATE SEATING!!! ZERO Late-seating-policy! BE EARLY!!!!
Tickets available at:
www.SFFringe.org
$9 at the door, $11 online
www.ThessalyLerner.com
www.myspace.com/TheUkulady
www.youtube.com/ThessalyLerner
Sunday, August 24, 2008
iScan rush
I haven't actually written much here lately. It's been mostly the link thing.
This is mostly because this week has been more of the same. Work has been busy, rehearsals for iScan have been going well, and everything has become a bit of a blur.
It's actually a good confirmation that I need to take a break from theatre for a while. It's not that I don't still really enjoy it. I do. But the wake-work-rehearse-sleep pattern becomes something like a trance state. This week just ... vanished.
The show, however, is turning out VERY nicely. I'm extremely pleased with the cast and am growing to like the depths of the script more and more as we explore it.
Come on opening night, if at all possible. We have a show opening weekend, and then we have three shows at the end of the festival. So, word of mouth has to happen on that first show. If people see a big crowd moving into Exit on Taylor on opening night, we've got a better chance to get good houses for our last three shows.
Here's the data:
EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street, San Francisco (between Eddy & Ellis))
FRIDAY 5 8:30 PM
THURSDAY 11 8:30 PM
FRIDAY 12 10:00 PM
SUNDAY 14 1:00 PM
TICKETS: $9
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No other news per se. I spent much of this weekend helping Radiostarlet Brianne Kostielney move into her new digs in the city, and got to visit Elizabeth and Jay Creeley's place last night. (What, Jay, you thought you got to keep your last name?)
Next week will be a blur, and then we do tech and opening. Keep me in your thoughts and come see the show!
This is mostly because this week has been more of the same. Work has been busy, rehearsals for iScan have been going well, and everything has become a bit of a blur.
It's actually a good confirmation that I need to take a break from theatre for a while. It's not that I don't still really enjoy it. I do. But the wake-work-rehearse-sleep pattern becomes something like a trance state. This week just ... vanished.
The show, however, is turning out VERY nicely. I'm extremely pleased with the cast and am growing to like the depths of the script more and more as we explore it.
Come on opening night, if at all possible. We have a show opening weekend, and then we have three shows at the end of the festival. So, word of mouth has to happen on that first show. If people see a big crowd moving into Exit on Taylor on opening night, we've got a better chance to get good houses for our last three shows.
Here's the data:
EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street, San Francisco (between Eddy & Ellis))
FRIDAY 5 8:30 PM
THURSDAY 11 8:30 PM
FRIDAY 12 10:00 PM
SUNDAY 14 1:00 PM
TICKETS: $9
----------
No other news per se. I spent much of this weekend helping Radiostarlet Brianne Kostielney move into her new digs in the city, and got to visit Elizabeth and Jay Creeley's place last night. (What, Jay, you thought you got to keep your last name?)
Next week will be a blur, and then we do tech and opening. Keep me in your thoughts and come see the show!
Biden Ballyhoo
Thanks to David Austin-Groen for this link.
I don't know much about Biden, but I like what I see. He's not the most careful speaker in the world, but I like where he's coming from for the most part.
at least so far.
I don't know much about Biden, but I like what I see. He's not the most careful speaker in the world, but I like where he's coming from for the most part.
at least so far.
Friday, August 22, 2008
late the party
This has probably been passed around so much that it's passé, but I still found it pretty funny.
I'm not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but I really like the fact that he's producing his own internet content.
I'm not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but I really like the fact that he's producing his own internet content.
See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die
Hands off
Mike Sugarbaker drew my attention to this article about sexual harassment at Comic-Con. I'm linking to it here because, as small as my readership is, the more people who are aware of this kind of thing the more likely the folks that run the Con will institute a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment of attendees and guests and provide a means for people to report this kind of behavior and have it acted on.
Personally, I don't know if I'll go back to the Con. I enjoy it, but it's expensive as hell to stay in San Diego and the Con is geared towards a much more plugged-in kind of geek. I don't watch TV and most of my comics reading is purely online. I find myself on the fringes of fandom.
If I was more of a toy-buyer, anime-collector, or erotic fantasy art curator, there might be more of a draw for me. As it is, my experience if cons is directly related to who I am hanging out with while sight-seeing.
Basically, Comic Conventions are a lot like Vegas for me in that sense....
Personally, I don't know if I'll go back to the Con. I enjoy it, but it's expensive as hell to stay in San Diego and the Con is geared towards a much more plugged-in kind of geek. I don't watch TV and most of my comics reading is purely online. I find myself on the fringes of fandom.
If I was more of a toy-buyer, anime-collector, or erotic fantasy art curator, there might be more of a draw for me. As it is, my experience if cons is directly related to who I am hanging out with while sight-seeing.
Basically, Comic Conventions are a lot like Vegas for me in that sense....
Friday, August 15, 2008
The Teen Wolf you never knew
Greg Ayers drew my attention to this.
It actually took me a few minutes to catch what they were doing, it's been so long since I saw the movie.
It actually took me a few minutes to catch what they were doing, it's been so long since I saw the movie.
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
Monday, August 11, 2008
Bonnie Erbe is my hero
Got this off of David Austin-Groen's Blog (which looks a lot like Chris DeJong's Noticer, which makes them, like, twins or something).
I've been without television for several years now, and this is part of the reason why. Entertainment will come out on DVD eventually if it's any good, and the news coverage isn't news at all. We're literally watching two different conversations, and while she acknowledges him, the Fox news anchor doesn't give any indication that he's listening to a word she's saying.
Utterly pathetic.
and Bonnie Erbe is currently my hero.
I've been without television for several years now, and this is part of the reason why. Entertainment will come out on DVD eventually if it's any good, and the news coverage isn't news at all. We're literally watching two different conversations, and while she acknowledges him, the Fox news anchor doesn't give any indication that he's listening to a word she's saying.
Utterly pathetic.
and Bonnie Erbe is currently my hero.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Basement Brothel
I just found out that the hippie sex business in the basement got evicted.
Maybe I should explain a bit. When I first moved in here, I needed to track down the apartment manager but couldn't find her phone number. I did Google search on my address, hoping to come across the original listing for the building. I found it, but I also found other listings for my address. One of which was for a very Berkeley-esque massage service that offered tantric services and nude couples massage in "the womb". The Womb was what how they referred to their apartment, which was located in my basement.
I, of course, found this to be hilarious. I really don't care that there's sex workers working in my building. Catching the odd client looking nervous and befuddled in front of the building was a great source of amusement. It was they way they were marketing themselves as a hippie massage-spiritual healing center that really gave me the giggle-fits. I'm all for spiritual sexuality, but I've found people who use their spirituality as a pick-up line to be skeezier than jocks at Marina bars. Spiritual sex, for me, is something that takes place in the midst of a deep and meaningful relationship. It's not something you drop $300 on a stranger for.
I've been using the plural, because that was my understanding of the situation. It seems that it was just a guy working as a male escort, but he had a long string of "girlfriends" who were apparently there purely an a professional basis.
I never mentioned it to anyone else in the building. Really, how he makes his money is his business and I have friends who have made their living in similar ways. I didn't want to be the asshole who got him evicted. I did have a hard time keeping the smirk off my face whenever we ran into each other doing laundry (which he, of course, did all the time).
I noticed signs up for apartment showings, and as I headed out for an emergency grocery-get quarters for laundry run I saw the manager. This is when I found out which apartment was being shown. She gave me a tour. It's a nice place. The ceilings are low, as befits a basement apartment, but it has hardwood floors, and an enormous long room in the back that would be an ideal dance studio or rehearsal room. If it wasn't for my lease on the Off-Market rehearsal room, I'd rent the place simply as a rehearsal studio. My pockets aren't that deep, however.
It seems that the combination of increased business for the basement brothel, combined with a routine fire code inspection, blew the lid off the operation and our friendly neighborhood sexworker got evicted. Apparently there was just a little too much velour to be perfectly safe... regardless of the context.
I'm a bit concerned that whoever we get to replace the last tenant won't be as colorful, but I'm heartened to hear that a couple of scientists are looking at the apartment. If I'm in luck, there will be explosions and abominations of nature lurking by the washer and dryer in no time.
Maybe I should explain a bit. When I first moved in here, I needed to track down the apartment manager but couldn't find her phone number. I did Google search on my address, hoping to come across the original listing for the building. I found it, but I also found other listings for my address. One of which was for a very Berkeley-esque massage service that offered tantric services and nude couples massage in "the womb". The Womb was what how they referred to their apartment, which was located in my basement.
I, of course, found this to be hilarious. I really don't care that there's sex workers working in my building. Catching the odd client looking nervous and befuddled in front of the building was a great source of amusement. It was they way they were marketing themselves as a hippie massage-spiritual healing center that really gave me the giggle-fits. I'm all for spiritual sexuality, but I've found people who use their spirituality as a pick-up line to be skeezier than jocks at Marina bars. Spiritual sex, for me, is something that takes place in the midst of a deep and meaningful relationship. It's not something you drop $300 on a stranger for.
I've been using the plural, because that was my understanding of the situation. It seems that it was just a guy working as a male escort, but he had a long string of "girlfriends" who were apparently there purely an a professional basis.
I never mentioned it to anyone else in the building. Really, how he makes his money is his business and I have friends who have made their living in similar ways. I didn't want to be the asshole who got him evicted. I did have a hard time keeping the smirk off my face whenever we ran into each other doing laundry (which he, of course, did all the time).
I noticed signs up for apartment showings, and as I headed out for an emergency grocery-get quarters for laundry run I saw the manager. This is when I found out which apartment was being shown. She gave me a tour. It's a nice place. The ceilings are low, as befits a basement apartment, but it has hardwood floors, and an enormous long room in the back that would be an ideal dance studio or rehearsal room. If it wasn't for my lease on the Off-Market rehearsal room, I'd rent the place simply as a rehearsal studio. My pockets aren't that deep, however.
It seems that the combination of increased business for the basement brothel, combined with a routine fire code inspection, blew the lid off the operation and our friendly neighborhood sexworker got evicted. Apparently there was just a little too much velour to be perfectly safe... regardless of the context.
I'm a bit concerned that whoever we get to replace the last tenant won't be as colorful, but I'm heartened to hear that a couple of scientists are looking at the apartment. If I'm in luck, there will be explosions and abominations of nature lurking by the washer and dryer in no time.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Journals
More links than blog posts lately. Sorry about that.
Still, this is delightful. Animator versus Animation.
In other news, I saw 1000 Journals last night at the Roxie with my friend Maria. It's a very nice documentary about a remarkable project.
Basically a man sent 1000 journals out into the world. People were supposed to fill as much or little of them as they wanted, then leave them someplace for the next person to find and do the same. When the journals were filled, they were to be returned to the man who started the project. People could send unfinished journals back to be scanned and then sent back out into the world. As word rapidly spread, a tracking website was developed, and enormous waiting lists for the journals queued up.
Only a few of the journals have been sent back, and 95% of them are out in the world... unknown.
At the encouragement of people who have become tied to the project, 1001 Journals as been born. People can start their own journals and send them out into the world. Start a journal and it's your responsibility. You become the contact person for people who want to work in it, or want to send it in for scanning and you're the one that will get it back when it's done... if it's ever returned.
I was sitting in the theatre, thinking that I should make a journal, when Maria turned to me and said "I'm going to make one. I'll send it to you first."
I'm very excited about it, and I hope that she makes the journal soon. I suggested that the instructions in the journal indicate that the last person to fill the journal should return it to the person they got it from, and that person will to the same, so that everyone who as touched it will be able to see what happened, and hold it again. This also has the side benefit of encouraging people to give the journal to someone they feel will actually return it eventually. Many of the stories in the film talk about people agonizing over giving the journal to someone they didn't really know, and it vanishing from the system at that point.
Seriously, 1,000 journals, and only about 30 can be accounted for as of the making of the film.
It's super cool, and I'll post the link to Maria's Journal when she makes it, in case you want to be on a waiting list. (i.e. if there's a list, you'll be expected to send it on to the next person on the list, or the person you give it to has to promise to do so.)
Apart from that, things are moving along as they always do. I'm trying to find the lead for the show I'm directing for the Fringe Festival, but refusing to panic about it. I made a breakthrough on the 411 screenplay and got an hour's worth of writing in yesterday. I'm making the puppets in Flash for the next Radiostar cartoon (which will be 33% longer than the last ones have been, so it'll probably take an extra week to get it done). Work is going well, and I generally couldn't be happier.
Still, this is delightful. Animator versus Animation.
In other news, I saw 1000 Journals last night at the Roxie with my friend Maria. It's a very nice documentary about a remarkable project.
Basically a man sent 1000 journals out into the world. People were supposed to fill as much or little of them as they wanted, then leave them someplace for the next person to find and do the same. When the journals were filled, they were to be returned to the man who started the project. People could send unfinished journals back to be scanned and then sent back out into the world. As word rapidly spread, a tracking website was developed, and enormous waiting lists for the journals queued up.
Only a few of the journals have been sent back, and 95% of them are out in the world... unknown.
At the encouragement of people who have become tied to the project, 1001 Journals as been born. People can start their own journals and send them out into the world. Start a journal and it's your responsibility. You become the contact person for people who want to work in it, or want to send it in for scanning and you're the one that will get it back when it's done... if it's ever returned.
I was sitting in the theatre, thinking that I should make a journal, when Maria turned to me and said "I'm going to make one. I'll send it to you first."
I'm very excited about it, and I hope that she makes the journal soon. I suggested that the instructions in the journal indicate that the last person to fill the journal should return it to the person they got it from, and that person will to the same, so that everyone who as touched it will be able to see what happened, and hold it again. This also has the side benefit of encouraging people to give the journal to someone they feel will actually return it eventually. Many of the stories in the film talk about people agonizing over giving the journal to someone they didn't really know, and it vanishing from the system at that point.
Seriously, 1,000 journals, and only about 30 can be accounted for as of the making of the film.
It's super cool, and I'll post the link to Maria's Journal when she makes it, in case you want to be on a waiting list. (i.e. if there's a list, you'll be expected to send it on to the next person on the list, or the person you give it to has to promise to do so.)
Apart from that, things are moving along as they always do. I'm trying to find the lead for the show I'm directing for the Fringe Festival, but refusing to panic about it. I made a breakthrough on the 411 screenplay and got an hour's worth of writing in yesterday. I'm making the puppets in Flash for the next Radiostar cartoon (which will be 33% longer than the last ones have been, so it'll probably take an extra week to get it done). Work is going well, and I generally couldn't be happier.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Addictions
Ok, I got hooked on The Guild and Retarded Policeman this morning.
The Guild starts off a little weak, but is one of those shows that gets funnier and funnier the more time you spend with it.
Retarded Policeman seems like a one note joke, but almost every show brings something new to the formula.
I'm embedding what is, in my mind, the pinnacle of the show. Retarded Policeman versus Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan's Laybrynth)
The Guild starts off a little weak, but is one of those shows that gets funnier and funnier the more time you spend with it.
Retarded Policeman seems like a one note joke, but almost every show brings something new to the formula.
I'm embedding what is, in my mind, the pinnacle of the show. Retarded Policeman versus Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan's Laybrynth)
Friday, July 25, 2008
New Cartoon
I'm down in San Diego at the universe's biggest Comic Convention (175,000 people today).
But I've got the new cartoon done!
Find more videos like this on Channel Frederator RAW
But I've got the new cartoon done!
Find more videos like this on Channel Frederator RAW
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Government Controls your Dreams
I woke up this morning from a dream in which I had a dragon. I was an independent "pilot" who was waiting for a client at a landing area. There were a lot of people who needed a flight, but there was a strike at the airport and I wouldn't cross the picket line... except for my client, because I had seen the future through some device that showed me taking the client to her destination.
Crazy stuff, but after I hit the snooze on my alarm, I went back into the dream.
I still had the dragon, but was trying to figure out a way to get FCC approval for flights, since I didn't have (or need) a pilot's license to ride my dragon. I needed portable radio for talking to air towers, and a way to get the license without turning the dragon over to the government. Dragons don't exist, after all, and they'd probably want to either dissect him or appropriate him for military use.
So yeah, I spent the rest of my dream trying to get around government paperwork.
Once I woke up fully, I decided this wasn't as odd as it seems. Most of my "fantastic" fiction take a concept like, say, owning a dragon, and taking it to it's logical conclusion in the real world. All good things become bad things over time, just as many bad things can become good things over time. Also, even as a kid, my dragon fantasies where always grounded in practicality. Ever since reading the Pern books, I had daydreams of dragons... but they mostly revolved around how I would feed the thing.
It seemed very expensive.
Crazy stuff, but after I hit the snooze on my alarm, I went back into the dream.
I still had the dragon, but was trying to figure out a way to get FCC approval for flights, since I didn't have (or need) a pilot's license to ride my dragon. I needed portable radio for talking to air towers, and a way to get the license without turning the dragon over to the government. Dragons don't exist, after all, and they'd probably want to either dissect him or appropriate him for military use.
So yeah, I spent the rest of my dream trying to get around government paperwork.
Once I woke up fully, I decided this wasn't as odd as it seems. Most of my "fantastic" fiction take a concept like, say, owning a dragon, and taking it to it's logical conclusion in the real world. All good things become bad things over time, just as many bad things can become good things over time. Also, even as a kid, my dragon fantasies where always grounded in practicality. Ever since reading the Pern books, I had daydreams of dragons... but they mostly revolved around how I would feed the thing.
It seemed very expensive.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Irony? You're soaking in it!
While I worked today, I listened to the latest mixes of the Sweetie Tanya soundtrack. Some of the songs are about as near to perfect as I can imagine them being. Others are very good, but still on their way. It's a thrill and a half to listen to these. They're so damn good, and I think it'll be a real treat for fans of the show, and will hopefully result in our being able to sell the show to other companies and make even more fans.
I did take a break to head down to the DMV and not only renewed my driver's license (55 minute wait, 5 minutes of interacting with the personnel) and got a parking ticket at the same time. I drive once a month, and boom.
Well, there you go.
I did take a break to head down to the DMV and not only renewed my driver's license (55 minute wait, 5 minutes of interacting with the personnel) and got a parking ticket at the same time. I drive once a month, and boom.
Well, there you go.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Man in a suit
I saw Hellboy 2 last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I was quite stunned today to find out that the character of wink wasn't done with CGI. I've gotten so used to amazing creatures on films being done that way, that it never occurred to me what I was really seeing.
I was quite stunned today to find out that the character of wink wasn't done with CGI. I've gotten so used to amazing creatures on films being done that way, that it never occurred to me what I was really seeing.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Headlines and statements
Like a lot of people I was appalled when I heard that Obama was supporting the bill that grants telecoms retroactive amnesty for wiretapping.
So I went looking for more information. Here's the full statement.
In particular, this phrase struck me. "It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. "
So, yeah, Obama is supporting what he considers a flawed, sub-optimal bill but acknowledges a major problem with it that he will continue to try to get fixed. Unfortunately, that's about all he can do right now. I am glad to hear that he still acknowledges that allowing retroactive immunity is wrong and will continue to strive towards something that meets our ideals and get something on the table that ends Bush's violations NOW.
This situation reinforces, more than anything, my distrust of our own media. The headlines I saw suggested very strongly that Obama was supporting amnesty for telecoms, but that's not the case at all.
So I went looking for more information. Here's the full statement.
In particular, this phrase struck me. "It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. "
So, yeah, Obama is supporting what he considers a flawed, sub-optimal bill but acknowledges a major problem with it that he will continue to try to get fixed. Unfortunately, that's about all he can do right now. I am glad to hear that he still acknowledges that allowing retroactive immunity is wrong and will continue to strive towards something that meets our ideals and get something on the table that ends Bush's violations NOW.
This situation reinforces, more than anything, my distrust of our own media. The headlines I saw suggested very strongly that Obama was supporting amnesty for telecoms, but that's not the case at all.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
From Cranky to Mushy
Feeling less curmudgeony today.
In fact, I'm even going to post this link that Sam Blanchard sent me.
Awwwwww
In fact, I'm even going to post this link that Sam Blanchard sent me.
Awwwwww
Monday, June 30, 2008
grouch
I think I need to change some gears somewhere. I went to bed grouchy last night and woke up cantankerous.
Objectively, I can understand it. I've had a lot of frustrations lately, most of which of an organizational nature, but also some of an artistic origin. Last minute reschedules that throw a carefully balanced day out of whack and even threaten to scuttle the work of a half dozen people, too many things on the same day so that I barely see the sun, hours spent reviewing material that ultimately isn't fruitful... it's not wonder I'm a bit cumudgeony. Still, I look at my behavior, and my mood, and know that I could be handling things more gracefully.
I'm too invested, if such a thing make sense. I take my own challenges and frustrations too much to heart. I feel responsible for everything, so when I encounter an obstacle to things working properly I feel that it's my fault or my job to make it right immediately. When people behave in a way that upsets my sense of order, or courtesy, I seethe but attempt to maintain a politic front because I feel that venting my spleen will damage the work.
My world is becoming very narcissistic. I have the power to make it work, or I have the power to destroy it all. This is making for a very grouchy Dan. Also a hypocritical one, at least artistically, as I had pointed out to me last night after Radiostar.
June and July are supposed to be my vacation months, but I'm not feeling particularly refreshed right now. Ironically, I have a lot of things to be happy about. The Sweetie Tanya CD is coming along nicely, and in truth Steve Kahn is the mastermind behind making it all work right now. As producer, most of what I've been doing is trying to assist with scheduling and people wrangling to make sure that the work can get done smoothly. The new animated version of Radiostar is eagerly embraced, and I really enjoy doing them. The short piece I've agreed to direct for the Fringe Festival in September is half cast (as opposed to half-caste, which would be a whole different kettle of fish) with my first choices, and the script is shaping up nicely.
But despite it all, I'm feeling surly.
I need to re-embrace the idea of vacation in July, and find the fun again.
Objectively, I can understand it. I've had a lot of frustrations lately, most of which of an organizational nature, but also some of an artistic origin. Last minute reschedules that throw a carefully balanced day out of whack and even threaten to scuttle the work of a half dozen people, too many things on the same day so that I barely see the sun, hours spent reviewing material that ultimately isn't fruitful... it's not wonder I'm a bit cumudgeony. Still, I look at my behavior, and my mood, and know that I could be handling things more gracefully.
I'm too invested, if such a thing make sense. I take my own challenges and frustrations too much to heart. I feel responsible for everything, so when I encounter an obstacle to things working properly I feel that it's my fault or my job to make it right immediately. When people behave in a way that upsets my sense of order, or courtesy, I seethe but attempt to maintain a politic front because I feel that venting my spleen will damage the work.
My world is becoming very narcissistic. I have the power to make it work, or I have the power to destroy it all. This is making for a very grouchy Dan. Also a hypocritical one, at least artistically, as I had pointed out to me last night after Radiostar.
June and July are supposed to be my vacation months, but I'm not feeling particularly refreshed right now. Ironically, I have a lot of things to be happy about. The Sweetie Tanya CD is coming along nicely, and in truth Steve Kahn is the mastermind behind making it all work right now. As producer, most of what I've been doing is trying to assist with scheduling and people wrangling to make sure that the work can get done smoothly. The new animated version of Radiostar is eagerly embraced, and I really enjoy doing them. The short piece I've agreed to direct for the Fringe Festival in September is half cast (as opposed to half-caste, which would be a whole different kettle of fish) with my first choices, and the script is shaping up nicely.
But despite it all, I'm feeling surly.
I need to re-embrace the idea of vacation in July, and find the fun again.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Confession of ignorance
So, I just read this article that talks about the different ways that the concept of free speech is handled in the U.S. and in Canada, with Canada being much more like the rest of the planet in advocating for limited free speech.
In particular, hate language is illegal.
If I felt we could actually trust the courts and the government to prosecute hate speech in a responsible manner, I'd probably fall a bit closer on the European/Canadian spectrum. I don't trust them, however, and so I end up in the "absolute free speech" camp.
And yet, what I don't understand is how first amendment rights merge with slander and libel laws. It seems to be that some of the statements made in the magazine in question (what, you haven't read the article yet? Go read it and then come back here) would be considered libelous. Does libel only count if you specify a particular person, as opposed to an entire religion or race?
I honestly don't know, but it does seem odd to me that you can't say true things about an individual that damage their reputation but you can say untrue things about a community that damages their credibility, standing, and even safety.
Or is my understanding of the libel and slander laws woefully shoddy?
In particular, hate language is illegal.
If I felt we could actually trust the courts and the government to prosecute hate speech in a responsible manner, I'd probably fall a bit closer on the European/Canadian spectrum. I don't trust them, however, and so I end up in the "absolute free speech" camp.
And yet, what I don't understand is how first amendment rights merge with slander and libel laws. It seems to be that some of the statements made in the magazine in question (what, you haven't read the article yet? Go read it and then come back here) would be considered libelous. Does libel only count if you specify a particular person, as opposed to an entire religion or race?
I honestly don't know, but it does seem odd to me that you can't say true things about an individual that damage their reputation but you can say untrue things about a community that damages their credibility, standing, and even safety.
Or is my understanding of the libel and slander laws woefully shoddy?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
My god, I'm political
I just made Obama's home page my "start" page in Safari.
This decision came after watching an edited version of a 2006 speech about religious diversity that David Austin-Groen had on his feed, and edited highlights of Obama's speech on the economy on CNN.
I realized that I want to watch the totality of these speeches, not just media determined highlights. I don't trust the news to fairly represent the issues, especially after seeing that a companion piece to the Obama speech was a snippit of McCain saying he'd "veto every beer..bill" in a speech. The man tripped over a word, for crying out loud. That's not news, and it doesn't deserve to be linked to Obama's speech about the economy.
I can already tell that McCain is not the man for me in the white house, militarily or economically. But I want to hear what they have to say, and not be distracted by the news media's three ring circus.
Is that too much to ask?
This decision came after watching an edited version of a 2006 speech about religious diversity that David Austin-Groen had on his feed, and edited highlights of Obama's speech on the economy on CNN.
I realized that I want to watch the totality of these speeches, not just media determined highlights. I don't trust the news to fairly represent the issues, especially after seeing that a companion piece to the Obama speech was a snippit of McCain saying he'd "veto every beer..bill" in a speech. The man tripped over a word, for crying out loud. That's not news, and it doesn't deserve to be linked to Obama's speech about the economy.
I can already tell that McCain is not the man for me in the white house, militarily or economically. But I want to hear what they have to say, and not be distracted by the news media's three ring circus.
Is that too much to ask?
Monday, June 09, 2008
Sex in the City
I'm afraid I need to see your driver's license before we bang.
oh. You're from New York City?
I'll call you a cab.
oh. You're from New York City?
I'll call you a cab.
Not for You
I got some mail today from the Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.
At first I was a bit surprised, but then I thought that it might be something about policy, or about Obama, or any number of things going on in my community. After all, there's no reason why the LBCF shouldn't contact me, just because I'm whiter than 80's Hair Metal.
So I open it up and find that it's a flier for a "Health Summit on Diabetes and Obesity: a growing epidemic among California's minority communities."
Hrm. Not really for me, as I am neither in danger of diabetes or obesity. I am a minority in my community, which is largely Chinese and african american, but I don't think that's what they are referring to. I wonder if every person in Oakland got the flyer, or if I should be expecting more erroneously targeted flyers to appear in my mailbox?
-----------
It's a slow work week. I've been doing lots of photoshop batch jobs, and lots and lots of uploading to servers, but at the moment, I'm mostly waiting for the deluge to begin. It'll be crazy for a few months straight, starting next week, but for now.... all is quiet on the Oakland Front.
So, considering how much I've been hearing about the housing market going to hell, I thought I'd see what I could afford. I love where I live, and have no burning desire to move, but if rates are super low right now, it would be irresponsible to see if there was a way out of the rent market.
I tried a few online rates calculators and established that with what I have in the bank for a down payment, and what I am comfortable paying monthly on loans/mortgage...I can afford property that costs around $200,000. In short, I can live out in the middle of the central valley, or in the absolute poorest neighborhoods of Oakland and Richmond. I'd be a home owner, though! Or at least a condo owner!
Of course, I'd have to give up my hardwood floors, tall ceilings, claw foot tub, two blocks from BART, top floor with no one walking on your head apartment.
I'll stay put for now. I'll check again in six months and see if things have gotten significantly worse/better by then.
At first I was a bit surprised, but then I thought that it might be something about policy, or about Obama, or any number of things going on in my community. After all, there's no reason why the LBCF shouldn't contact me, just because I'm whiter than 80's Hair Metal.
So I open it up and find that it's a flier for a "Health Summit on Diabetes and Obesity: a growing epidemic among California's minority communities."
Hrm. Not really for me, as I am neither in danger of diabetes or obesity. I am a minority in my community, which is largely Chinese and african american, but I don't think that's what they are referring to. I wonder if every person in Oakland got the flyer, or if I should be expecting more erroneously targeted flyers to appear in my mailbox?
-----------
It's a slow work week. I've been doing lots of photoshop batch jobs, and lots and lots of uploading to servers, but at the moment, I'm mostly waiting for the deluge to begin. It'll be crazy for a few months straight, starting next week, but for now.... all is quiet on the Oakland Front.
So, considering how much I've been hearing about the housing market going to hell, I thought I'd see what I could afford. I love where I live, and have no burning desire to move, but if rates are super low right now, it would be irresponsible to see if there was a way out of the rent market.
I tried a few online rates calculators and established that with what I have in the bank for a down payment, and what I am comfortable paying monthly on loans/mortgage...I can afford property that costs around $200,000. In short, I can live out in the middle of the central valley, or in the absolute poorest neighborhoods of Oakland and Richmond. I'd be a home owner, though! Or at least a condo owner!
Of course, I'd have to give up my hardwood floors, tall ceilings, claw foot tub, two blocks from BART, top floor with no one walking on your head apartment.
I'll stay put for now. I'll check again in six months and see if things have gotten significantly worse/better by then.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Windy
It's a curious week for me. WestEd work is slow, so I'm getting caught up on a lot of small issues and maintenance.
This also means cleaning up the home office a bit. My computer is processing gigs and gigs of raw photoshop documents, which means I can email, do some web stuff, and other tasks, but not audio editing, video work, or other photoshop work. My job has therefore been to dink around and occasionally swap the DVDs out.
One of the things I've turned up was my old journal from my trip to Dublin, Ireland. It's always interesting to look back at things like this, and I gave it a quick scan. My mood fluctuated a lot during that week, and I wrote some truly awful sonnets.
Awful.
I would be tempted to just transcribe and toss the paper journal, except for the scrawls made in it by the drunk in the pub where I met Sandra and Catia, the Norwegian and Swiss who wrote in it as well, and of course, the little phrases and pictures that Sandra and Catia themselves wrote.
It's kind of a cliche, but it's still true. Travel changes you. I walked out of Ireland with a slew of experiences and a dear friend. Also a bunch of really bad poetry. Did I mention the bad poetry?
I went out to Chicago last weekend. The genesis of the trip was in talking with my friend Debbie, and deciding that the week after we closed Sweetie Tanya would be an excellent time for me to get away from things for a bit. Also, it was her birthday, so that made it an even better deal. I've now been to Chicago twice since my old Seminary days and I still have a deep affection for the city, even if my original time there was filled with struggle.
There's a feel to the city that I just really, really like. I love the midwest comfort food, the brickwork everywhere, the no bullshit attitude of the people I meet, and the fact that we couldn't walk five blocks without coming across a storefront theatre. This is a town that embraces its arts in a way that we just don't see in the Bay Area. Some people coo at babies. I coo at young theatre companies.
While in the Windy City, I drank too much, ate too much, slept too much and had a splendid time. I saw an innovative but mediocre show and an utterly brilliant one, and the two were in the same theatre complex in Evanston. Yep, the two shows I saw weren't even in Chicago proper. The brilliant one, however, featured one of the improv comics that had couch surfed with me back during the SF Improv Festival. I hadn't originally planned to meet up with any of the Storybox improv folks, but a last minute inspiration paid off with an excellent show.
I returned to Oakland with a slew of things on my to-do list, meetings to attend, and projects to pursue. I haven't made as much project as I should for mostly social reasons, and the schedule packing will continue through next week. Still, I continue to hope to get the 411 screenplay (first draft) done by the end of June.
This makes it sound like the trip didn't change me. That was a theme I was developing and didn't follow through on. Truth be told, it's not always immediately clear how that change will manifest. The most obvious thing is that I desperately craved alone time when I got back. I had a fantastic time, but I had virtually no alone time during the whole trip. I didn't realize how much I needed it until I got home. I have a strong introvert side, and it's easy to forget that when I'm in my regular rhythms.
Also, I was constantly tired while I was away. That was partly jetlag, partly the excess of beer and food, but also the exhaustion of the previous months settling in on me. I have a lot going on, but I don't have the pervasive deadlines right now. Things get done when they get done. Earlier is better, but we aren't racing to meet an opening night or any other such thing. So, the coils of tension in my shoulders are unwinding... and I am so very tired as a result.
I'm waking up more and more, each day, but it took a bit.
This also means cleaning up the home office a bit. My computer is processing gigs and gigs of raw photoshop documents, which means I can email, do some web stuff, and other tasks, but not audio editing, video work, or other photoshop work. My job has therefore been to dink around and occasionally swap the DVDs out.
One of the things I've turned up was my old journal from my trip to Dublin, Ireland. It's always interesting to look back at things like this, and I gave it a quick scan. My mood fluctuated a lot during that week, and I wrote some truly awful sonnets.
Awful.
I would be tempted to just transcribe and toss the paper journal, except for the scrawls made in it by the drunk in the pub where I met Sandra and Catia, the Norwegian and Swiss who wrote in it as well, and of course, the little phrases and pictures that Sandra and Catia themselves wrote.
It's kind of a cliche, but it's still true. Travel changes you. I walked out of Ireland with a slew of experiences and a dear friend. Also a bunch of really bad poetry. Did I mention the bad poetry?
I went out to Chicago last weekend. The genesis of the trip was in talking with my friend Debbie, and deciding that the week after we closed Sweetie Tanya would be an excellent time for me to get away from things for a bit. Also, it was her birthday, so that made it an even better deal. I've now been to Chicago twice since my old Seminary days and I still have a deep affection for the city, even if my original time there was filled with struggle.
There's a feel to the city that I just really, really like. I love the midwest comfort food, the brickwork everywhere, the no bullshit attitude of the people I meet, and the fact that we couldn't walk five blocks without coming across a storefront theatre. This is a town that embraces its arts in a way that we just don't see in the Bay Area. Some people coo at babies. I coo at young theatre companies.
While in the Windy City, I drank too much, ate too much, slept too much and had a splendid time. I saw an innovative but mediocre show and an utterly brilliant one, and the two were in the same theatre complex in Evanston. Yep, the two shows I saw weren't even in Chicago proper. The brilliant one, however, featured one of the improv comics that had couch surfed with me back during the SF Improv Festival. I hadn't originally planned to meet up with any of the Storybox improv folks, but a last minute inspiration paid off with an excellent show.
I returned to Oakland with a slew of things on my to-do list, meetings to attend, and projects to pursue. I haven't made as much project as I should for mostly social reasons, and the schedule packing will continue through next week. Still, I continue to hope to get the 411 screenplay (first draft) done by the end of June.
This makes it sound like the trip didn't change me. That was a theme I was developing and didn't follow through on. Truth be told, it's not always immediately clear how that change will manifest. The most obvious thing is that I desperately craved alone time when I got back. I had a fantastic time, but I had virtually no alone time during the whole trip. I didn't realize how much I needed it until I got home. I have a strong introvert side, and it's easy to forget that when I'm in my regular rhythms.
Also, I was constantly tired while I was away. That was partly jetlag, partly the excess of beer and food, but also the exhaustion of the previous months settling in on me. I have a lot going on, but I don't have the pervasive deadlines right now. Things get done when they get done. Earlier is better, but we aren't racing to meet an opening night or any other such thing. So, the coils of tension in my shoulders are unwinding... and I am so very tired as a result.
I'm waking up more and more, each day, but it took a bit.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Interim
I have several things I could post about, and I will eventually. But I was searching for an image of "failure" for a project, and I found this video.
The Stupiest Woman In The World - video powered by Metacafe
Clearly, our hope must be in future generations, cause it sure as hell ain't in the current one.
The Stupiest Woman In The World - video powered by Metacafe
Clearly, our hope must be in future generations, cause it sure as hell ain't in the current one.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
child found
The child I put out a missing persons post for yesterday has been found at a women's shelter and is on her way home.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Keep a lookout
I got this email from my friend Cynthia (Producer of Chinese Angle and set genius for Sweetie Tanya) last night.
"My family is suffering a crisis and I need your help!
My niece Lisa Gregory( you may have heard my stories about her) has gone missing from the Antioch CA area on May 14, 2008 with her 2 year old little girl Katie.
My sister has legal custody of Katie as well as Lisa's older daughter. Lisa is drinking heavily and endangering Katie. The police have the missing persons' case. There are existing warrants for Lisa's arrest for other drinking related issues.
The report is also in the state-wide data base.
We need your help. Please forward the attached to people in Northern California where Lisa was last seen and claims to be going into a live-in rehab with her daughter.(We think that is unlikely as most rehab won't take children.) She may have traveled into Nevada or even Oregon, we really have in way to know. Her funds are limited and she may be staying in a cheap motel.
If you see her call the police immediately. Please don't confront her as she will likely flee in a risky manner that could cause greater harm to Katie.
THANK YOU for your support. If any of you have ideas on other ways to find her please let me know."
I don't know a lot of people in the area mentioned, but I'm putting this out there in case someone knows something or sees something.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tabs
Things are looking up.
I loved this article about Senator Joe Biden calling Bush on his bullshit.
article here
Bush used the anniversary of the foundation of Israel to slam anyone who wants to try to negotiate with Iran.
Bush's comments
Biden's response?
"This is bullshit."
and it really, really is.
----------------------------------------
A girl who was raped went on YouTube to out her attacker and find some support.
article here
I read this and just hurt. It hurt because so many of "Tanya"'s lines in the show mirror the comments of victims about there not being any justice in the system for rape victims. We state in the show that one in three women are assaulted in the course of their lives, and the article lists one in four women under 25. A small difference, and when you got 25 and up I have no doubt that the 33% figure still holds true. It makes me want to vomit...
----------------------------------------
I loved this article about Senator Joe Biden calling Bush on his bullshit.
article here
Bush used the anniversary of the foundation of Israel to slam anyone who wants to try to negotiate with Iran.
Bush's comments
Biden's response?
"This is bullshit."
and it really, really is.
----------------------------------------
A girl who was raped went on YouTube to out her attacker and find some support.
article here
I read this and just hurt. It hurt because so many of "Tanya"'s lines in the show mirror the comments of victims about there not being any justice in the system for rape victims. We state in the show that one in three women are assaulted in the course of their lives, and the article lists one in four women under 25. A small difference, and when you got 25 and up I have no doubt that the 33% figure still holds true. It makes me want to vomit...
----------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Invisible Forest updates
It appears that The Invisible Forest was reviewed by a Swiss Jungian Analyst. Given that the movie is essentially a tour through a dreamscape, that seems extremely appropriate.
An excerpt:
In filmmaking, Antero Alli, playwright, poet, actor and director, is a Pied Piper of the imagistic, imaginal world, enchanting, enticing, with the mercurial, quicksilver flute of his instinctive, intuitive style. Perhaps this is especially true in The Invisible Forest.
The review is here.
Antero was also interviewed up in Oregon, where he's been showing the film.
Here's the June schedule for showings:
Thursday June 5, 9pm: DIVA Center, Eugene OR. $5.
Friday June 6, 9:30pm: Hollywood Theatre, Portland OR. $6.
Sunday June 15, 2pm: NW Film Forum, Seattle WA. $8
Wed. June 18, 8:30pm: Pickford Cinema, Bellingham WA $7.50
Friday June 27, 7pm: Shiny Object, West Sacramento. $5.
Filmmaker in person at all screenings.
An excerpt:
In filmmaking, Antero Alli, playwright, poet, actor and director, is a Pied Piper of the imagistic, imaginal world, enchanting, enticing, with the mercurial, quicksilver flute of his instinctive, intuitive style. Perhaps this is especially true in The Invisible Forest.
The review is here.
Antero was also interviewed up in Oregon, where he's been showing the film.
Here's the June schedule for showings:
Thursday June 5, 9pm: DIVA Center, Eugene OR. $5.
Friday June 6, 9:30pm: Hollywood Theatre, Portland OR. $6.
Sunday June 15, 2pm: NW Film Forum, Seattle WA. $8
Wed. June 18, 8:30pm: Pickford Cinema, Bellingham WA $7.50
Friday June 27, 7pm: Shiny Object, West Sacramento. $5.
Filmmaker in person at all screenings.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Four for Four!
The SF Bay Guardian came out today and had this to say:
The return of "Sweetie" Tanya (after its debut run at the Darkroom in January) feels like an off-Broadway-bound show that's generously consented to remain off–Union Square for now. Dan Wilson's inspired take on Sweeney Todd — re-imagined as a tale of sexual and class exploitation at the economic fringes of the white yuppie-hipster makeover of the Mission, narrated by a schizophrenic homeless man (sharply played by Bryce Byerley) — is more than mere spoof. Just as the original Sweeney had a real beef that made his monstrous deeds explicable if not necessarily forgivable, "Sweetie" Tanya (a terrific Kate Austin-Gröen) derives her campaign of vengeance from a situation as much personal as political, aggravated by the harassment she receives behind and over the counter at a Mission coffee house. Beneath its delightful foam of frothy comedy, "Sweetie" Tanya hides a depth charge of caffeinated cruelty and outrage. Among the show's many qualities are some very good songs (from various contributors), sung especially well by Austin-Gröen and costar Alexis Wong, and backed by composer and musical director Steve Kahn's fine five-piece band. There could be more in way of plot development, the staging is occasionally too static, and the supporting performances are uneven. But none of these weaknesses much impinge on Sweetie's remarkable success. (Avila)
That's four reviews, all of them positive. All acknowledge that the show is flawed, but so much fun that the flaws are easily (and happily) overlooked. I'm giddy as a schoolgirl.
Are schoolgirls really giddy? I honestly don't know, but if they are, I'm as giddy as one.
The return of "Sweetie" Tanya (after its debut run at the Darkroom in January) feels like an off-Broadway-bound show that's generously consented to remain off–Union Square for now. Dan Wilson's inspired take on Sweeney Todd — re-imagined as a tale of sexual and class exploitation at the economic fringes of the white yuppie-hipster makeover of the Mission, narrated by a schizophrenic homeless man (sharply played by Bryce Byerley) — is more than mere spoof. Just as the original Sweeney had a real beef that made his monstrous deeds explicable if not necessarily forgivable, "Sweetie" Tanya (a terrific Kate Austin-Gröen) derives her campaign of vengeance from a situation as much personal as political, aggravated by the harassment she receives behind and over the counter at a Mission coffee house. Beneath its delightful foam of frothy comedy, "Sweetie" Tanya hides a depth charge of caffeinated cruelty and outrage. Among the show's many qualities are some very good songs (from various contributors), sung especially well by Austin-Gröen and costar Alexis Wong, and backed by composer and musical director Steve Kahn's fine five-piece band. There could be more in way of plot development, the staging is occasionally too static, and the supporting performances are uneven. But none of these weaknesses much impinge on Sweetie's remarkable success. (Avila)
That's four reviews, all of them positive. All acknowledge that the show is flawed, but so much fun that the flaws are easily (and happily) overlooked. I'm giddy as a schoolgirl.
Are schoolgirls really giddy? I honestly don't know, but if they are, I'm as giddy as one.
Press
Opening night for Tanya was tough. Six people, two of which were critics. One of them, the critic for the San Jose Mercury News, left like a shot after the show (which hadn't forced a single audible laugh out of the crowd). I was convinced that we were going to get reamed.
I was wrong.
Let's hope it gets some butts in seats this Thursday.
I was wrong.
Let's hope it gets some butts in seats this Thursday.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
images
Since my job focus has switched to developing multimedia pieces, I've become disconcertingly aware of people's appearances. I don't mean in person, but as I shuffle through the hundreds of photos I have, trying to find one that fits the content I need to express.
I find myself asking myself questions like, "why aren't there more kids of color in this classroom? I can't show the same kid three times. Oh, this teacher is kind of wall-eyed, can I use this shot? What the hell is that device on that kid's head?" (I still don't know the answer to the last one)
It kind of makes me uncomfortable, because I like to see the beauty in every face, but some people are photogenic and some aren't. I don't like feeling like I need to exclude representing someone because they have funny eyes, or bad teeth, or any other feature that marks them as being "different". At the same time, if I want people to look at the project that is being described, I don't want them wondering what that thing is on that kid's head.
Like with film and theatre, it's about drawing the eye to what you want to communicate. I deal with this all the time, but for some reason, it's bothering me more in this context.
I find myself asking myself questions like, "why aren't there more kids of color in this classroom? I can't show the same kid three times. Oh, this teacher is kind of wall-eyed, can I use this shot? What the hell is that device on that kid's head?" (I still don't know the answer to the last one)
It kind of makes me uncomfortable, because I like to see the beauty in every face, but some people are photogenic and some aren't. I don't like feeling like I need to exclude representing someone because they have funny eyes, or bad teeth, or any other feature that marks them as being "different". At the same time, if I want people to look at the project that is being described, I don't want them wondering what that thing is on that kid's head.
Like with film and theatre, it's about drawing the eye to what you want to communicate. I deal with this all the time, but for some reason, it's bothering me more in this context.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Hope gained
Today went... surprisingly well.
I needed to be in the city for a video conference at noon, and also to meet with the new project manager at work. I got a call at 9am from Kinkos, saying that the Sweetie Tanya glossy posters were ready two hours early.
Nice.
I leave early for SF, pick up the posters and do my supervisor meeting early. The video conference also ends an hour early and was actually quite productive. I am supposed to be at the Exit by 3:30 to move our flats, because another group needs the dressing room our flat are stored in. I get a call at the end of my meeting saying that the rehearsal was cancelled and I don't need to make an early trip.
Nice.
I pick up the truck at 5th and Mission. I love City Car Share, I really do. I get to Hal and Cynthia's about 4:15pm and we load everything into the truck and their car. We tie it all down and drive very slowly back to the Exit, arriving at 5:02pm. We're exactly on schedule.
Nice.
We unload, then Hal and I go to the rehearsal room to get props, table, chair and bar. We get everything loaded, unloaded at the Exit and get the car back to City Car share a full hour and a half before it was due.
Nice.
Steve shows up and starts to figure out the band setup after the Exit manager gives Peggy and Rhiannon the lowdown on the space, the lights and the sound board. We've all worked here before, so this is mostly review. I've been terribly worried about how to plug the band into the sound board, but Steve has a perfect low-tech solution: we'll use the band's monitor amps and point them towards the back wall. The sound will then bounce to the audience and not overwhelm the singers. Brilliant, and eliminates the host of tech problems I was expecting to deal with.
Nice.
The group before us, Medea Knows Best, had a light plot that fulfilled 85% of our needs, so they just left it up for us. We only have to refocus three or four lights and re-gel four or five others. The lighting plot isn't much more complex that what we did at the Darkroom, but the difference between the light on our lovely cream colored set walls versus the black curtains of the darkroom is night and day. It looks infinitely better.
Nice.
Cynthia and Hal put up all the flats, adjust the bar size to something that looks better and gives the performers more space. The Odwalla cabinet looks awesome. We still need to tape and paint scenes, add the door and do more general dressing, but it already looks like a coffee shop. Tomorrow we'll do most of that work before 7pm. Wednesday will bring minor additions. We'll easily be done before the preview on Thursday.
Nice.
We finish load in at 10pm and go home. We didn't have to stay late at all. I made a list of props we need, and things I seem to have left back at the rehearsal space. I'll get most of those resolved between 5-6 tomorrow. Our tech will involve starting and stopping for light cue building, but since all but one song is being done live, sound shouldn't be much of an issue.
It's all been a little too smooth. A lot of work, to be sure, but no fiascos, no huge setbacks, no problems we weren't expecting. Quite the opposite. Problems I expected to happen never materialized.
Niiiiiceee
I needed to be in the city for a video conference at noon, and also to meet with the new project manager at work. I got a call at 9am from Kinkos, saying that the Sweetie Tanya glossy posters were ready two hours early.
Nice.
I leave early for SF, pick up the posters and do my supervisor meeting early. The video conference also ends an hour early and was actually quite productive. I am supposed to be at the Exit by 3:30 to move our flats, because another group needs the dressing room our flat are stored in. I get a call at the end of my meeting saying that the rehearsal was cancelled and I don't need to make an early trip.
Nice.
I pick up the truck at 5th and Mission. I love City Car Share, I really do. I get to Hal and Cynthia's about 4:15pm and we load everything into the truck and their car. We tie it all down and drive very slowly back to the Exit, arriving at 5:02pm. We're exactly on schedule.
Nice.
We unload, then Hal and I go to the rehearsal room to get props, table, chair and bar. We get everything loaded, unloaded at the Exit and get the car back to City Car share a full hour and a half before it was due.
Nice.
Steve shows up and starts to figure out the band setup after the Exit manager gives Peggy and Rhiannon the lowdown on the space, the lights and the sound board. We've all worked here before, so this is mostly review. I've been terribly worried about how to plug the band into the sound board, but Steve has a perfect low-tech solution: we'll use the band's monitor amps and point them towards the back wall. The sound will then bounce to the audience and not overwhelm the singers. Brilliant, and eliminates the host of tech problems I was expecting to deal with.
Nice.
The group before us, Medea Knows Best, had a light plot that fulfilled 85% of our needs, so they just left it up for us. We only have to refocus three or four lights and re-gel four or five others. The lighting plot isn't much more complex that what we did at the Darkroom, but the difference between the light on our lovely cream colored set walls versus the black curtains of the darkroom is night and day. It looks infinitely better.
Nice.
Cynthia and Hal put up all the flats, adjust the bar size to something that looks better and gives the performers more space. The Odwalla cabinet looks awesome. We still need to tape and paint scenes, add the door and do more general dressing, but it already looks like a coffee shop. Tomorrow we'll do most of that work before 7pm. Wednesday will bring minor additions. We'll easily be done before the preview on Thursday.
Nice.
We finish load in at 10pm and go home. We didn't have to stay late at all. I made a list of props we need, and things I seem to have left back at the rehearsal space. I'll get most of those resolved between 5-6 tomorrow. Our tech will involve starting and stopping for light cue building, but since all but one song is being done live, sound shouldn't be much of an issue.
It's all been a little too smooth. A lot of work, to be sure, but no fiascos, no huge setbacks, no problems we weren't expecting. Quite the opposite. Problems I expected to happen never materialized.
Niiiiiceee
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Richer for Poorer
"Riches" closed last night. As I think I've mentioned here, it was an artistically successful show, but a horrible failure in terms of audience draw. It's just hard to get folks to want to come see a play about divorce. I even had one acquaintance do box office for us, but left before the show started because she wasn't in an emotional place where she could handle the subject matter.
Discouraging.
We are using all the flats for Sweetie Tanya, so the Riches set guy left them all lined up for us in the Phoenix Theatre. We got them in Bahati's truck and drove them the five blocks to the Exit. I'm really pleased that these are all wood flats, using thin, thin wood for the surfaces as opposed to canvas. Canvas flats tend to wobble and sag in unconvincing ways. These babies felt sturdy, and were still extremely light. I haven't actually used flats for a show in quite some time, so I'm really glad that we had access to them.
I've been obsessively worrying about the set, and the lights and the sound system. Most of the reason for my worry is that I wouldn't get to really see or work with any of them until Monday night. To be a few days away from opening and to be pretty in the dark about how things actually look is normal for theatre, but it doesn't get less stressful for me. More and more, I have excellent people handing these parts of the productions, so I'm not as hands on as I once was. That is a great boon for me and I'll probably live longer, but it's still a bit unsettling to not be exercising direct control.
But, today a large portion of our set got moved into the theatre. We had to store it in the "Stage Left" dressing area, because "Medea Knows Best" was in the midst of an enormous strike. I was just glad we didn't have to move it to the rehearsal room and then move it again tomorrow. Having those flats moved over has eased my nerves quite a bit. I know how many we have, I know how heavy they are, and therefore how hard it will be to assemble them as needed. I saw Cynthia and Hal the other night, and Hal said that the cabinets are looking great, which is the first real feedback I've gotten on them, and that calmed me a great deal as well.
It's all going to work out.
I closed a show last night. I open a show in four days (five, if you don't count the preview).
Sparta? This is madness!
Discouraging.
We are using all the flats for Sweetie Tanya, so the Riches set guy left them all lined up for us in the Phoenix Theatre. We got them in Bahati's truck and drove them the five blocks to the Exit. I'm really pleased that these are all wood flats, using thin, thin wood for the surfaces as opposed to canvas. Canvas flats tend to wobble and sag in unconvincing ways. These babies felt sturdy, and were still extremely light. I haven't actually used flats for a show in quite some time, so I'm really glad that we had access to them.
I've been obsessively worrying about the set, and the lights and the sound system. Most of the reason for my worry is that I wouldn't get to really see or work with any of them until Monday night. To be a few days away from opening and to be pretty in the dark about how things actually look is normal for theatre, but it doesn't get less stressful for me. More and more, I have excellent people handing these parts of the productions, so I'm not as hands on as I once was. That is a great boon for me and I'll probably live longer, but it's still a bit unsettling to not be exercising direct control.
But, today a large portion of our set got moved into the theatre. We had to store it in the "Stage Left" dressing area, because "Medea Knows Best" was in the midst of an enormous strike. I was just glad we didn't have to move it to the rehearsal room and then move it again tomorrow. Having those flats moved over has eased my nerves quite a bit. I know how many we have, I know how heavy they are, and therefore how hard it will be to assemble them as needed. I saw Cynthia and Hal the other night, and Hal said that the cabinets are looking great, which is the first real feedback I've gotten on them, and that calmed me a great deal as well.
It's all going to work out.
I closed a show last night. I open a show in four days (five, if you don't count the preview).
Sparta? This is madness!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
an unexpected break
I'm sitting in Union Square, working on the fourth hospital show (end of the mini-series), but my battery is waning so I'll be forced to relocate to the rehearsal studio soon.
No show today, as we only had two people show up for the matinee. Frustrating, to say the least, but it is sadly something I consider to be a normal part of small theatre life. It no longer even has the power to throw me into despair. It's happened too many times. Good shows that for one reason or another don't get the buzz they deserve. I've had a few people say that it's my best work yet as a performer, but very few people will see it, it seems.
A shame.
Emotionally, I've been feeling too washed out lately to get riled about it, though. The typical highs and lows of Tanya eat up what little energy I have left after increasingly grueling days at work.
More and more I just look forward to May, and especially to June.
Still, today I sit in the square, enjoying the gorgeous weather, and it's just too nice to feel emo, even if I can't help but feel numb.
No show today, as we only had two people show up for the matinee. Frustrating, to say the least, but it is sadly something I consider to be a normal part of small theatre life. It no longer even has the power to throw me into despair. It's happened too many times. Good shows that for one reason or another don't get the buzz they deserve. I've had a few people say that it's my best work yet as a performer, but very few people will see it, it seems.
A shame.
Emotionally, I've been feeling too washed out lately to get riled about it, though. The typical highs and lows of Tanya eat up what little energy I have left after increasingly grueling days at work.
More and more I just look forward to May, and especially to June.
Still, today I sit in the square, enjoying the gorgeous weather, and it's just too nice to feel emo, even if I can't help but feel numb.
Friday, April 11, 2008
A refuge
Dave sent this out, but for all his malice... it's good to know that there's a place I can go.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
psychic
years ago, when I deeply feel for someone and we had been going out for almost a year, she began corresponding with someone on the east coast. It was someone she had admired professionally who had also become aware of her work. I knew almost immediately that it was going to be the end for us. She didn't really know it for another month, interestingly enough.
It's a trick I've managed a few times, always involving people I've dropped my walls with. I know who they are going to fall for before they do.
It's not a terribly useful psychic gift.
It's a trick I've managed a few times, always involving people I've dropped my walls with. I know who they are going to fall for before they do.
It's not a terribly useful psychic gift.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Sunday morning recap
Sunday morning. I'm chilling out and loving it.
"Riches" went well this weekend. I'm not word perfect, but that's to be expected with this much text. Every now and then a tiny line that doesn't actually impact anything gets dropped, but the audience is none the wiser. This isn't shakespeare, after all, and no one is following along with their own text on their lap. The important thing is that people are laughing at all the right spots, and some of them are leaving with tears in their eyes. It's a powerful bit of theatre, and I hope more people make it.
Audiences so far have been small, but pleased.
As for me, I'm doing well. I was able to go to Brian's birthday gathering yesterday, and that was lovely. I did the afternoon early-bird set (basically, me and the Austin-Groens) and then came back for an hour after the show closed. I got to see Zack and a bunch of animators from the SF Academy of Art.
I'm not feeling too freaked out at the moment. We start rehearsing again for Tanya on Thursday, but many of the technical details are pretty much worked out, or are being worked out by people who are more than qualified to handle them. I am again reminded what a blessing it is to be working with a qualified and committed TEAM. I do far too much myself, and I'm glad to be a little more balanced nowadays.
That said, that last few weeks have been particularly hairy. I missed Radiostar updates for TWO WEEKS. The reason was a good one, however. Between TBA, Tanya, and Riches, I've had no time in the evenings, and I've also been editing our first pass at a Radiostar serial format. I.e. a storyline/persistent universe that lasts for a full four episodes. That's over two hours of raw audio, broken down into 25 scenes. I think it'll be well over an hour of audio when it's all done. The first week is now done and ready for posting on Wednesday. The next two episodes will be cake, since I've already done a lot of the hard lifting over the last two weeks.
I hope to get one of them done today, actually.
but for now? Sunday morning, I'm going to goof off on the X-Box for an hour or two before tackling more Radiostar goodness.
"Riches" went well this weekend. I'm not word perfect, but that's to be expected with this much text. Every now and then a tiny line that doesn't actually impact anything gets dropped, but the audience is none the wiser. This isn't shakespeare, after all, and no one is following along with their own text on their lap. The important thing is that people are laughing at all the right spots, and some of them are leaving with tears in their eyes. It's a powerful bit of theatre, and I hope more people make it.
Audiences so far have been small, but pleased.
As for me, I'm doing well. I was able to go to Brian's birthday gathering yesterday, and that was lovely. I did the afternoon early-bird set (basically, me and the Austin-Groens) and then came back for an hour after the show closed. I got to see Zack and a bunch of animators from the SF Academy of Art.
I'm not feeling too freaked out at the moment. We start rehearsing again for Tanya on Thursday, but many of the technical details are pretty much worked out, or are being worked out by people who are more than qualified to handle them. I am again reminded what a blessing it is to be working with a qualified and committed TEAM. I do far too much myself, and I'm glad to be a little more balanced nowadays.
That said, that last few weeks have been particularly hairy. I missed Radiostar updates for TWO WEEKS. The reason was a good one, however. Between TBA, Tanya, and Riches, I've had no time in the evenings, and I've also been editing our first pass at a Radiostar serial format. I.e. a storyline/persistent universe that lasts for a full four episodes. That's over two hours of raw audio, broken down into 25 scenes. I think it'll be well over an hour of audio when it's all done. The first week is now done and ready for posting on Wednesday. The next two episodes will be cake, since I've already done a lot of the hard lifting over the last two weeks.
I hope to get one of them done today, actually.
but for now? Sunday morning, I'm going to goof off on the X-Box for an hour or two before tackling more Radiostar goodness.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Lion's mouth
March may go in like a lion and out like a lamb, but as we enter April, I feel more like I'm putting my head in the lion's mouth.
Riches opens on Friday. This is tech week. Whee! The show is feeling good, but there's still a LOT to do.
We're continuing to find the enhanced and groovy sound of Sweetie Tanya. Dealing with personnel fluctuations there, but everything looks doable. The team was have is pretty kick ass, and that goes a long, long way.
WestEd work is kicking my ass, and just bought a new pair of shoes, so that means less flex time to address other concerns.
I won't even go into my inability to get caught up with Radiostar right now.
This is the month of crazy, plain and simple.
If you don't hear from me here, it's because I have nothing useful to say and don't feel like whining.
Riches opens on Friday. This is tech week. Whee! The show is feeling good, but there's still a LOT to do.
We're continuing to find the enhanced and groovy sound of Sweetie Tanya. Dealing with personnel fluctuations there, but everything looks doable. The team was have is pretty kick ass, and that goes a long, long way.
WestEd work is kicking my ass, and just bought a new pair of shoes, so that means less flex time to address other concerns.
I won't even go into my inability to get caught up with Radiostar right now.
This is the month of crazy, plain and simple.
If you don't hear from me here, it's because I have nothing useful to say and don't feel like whining.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Miracles and prognostications
Yesterday afternoon, as I emerged into the San Francisco sunshine, the path of my day suddenly struck me as something extraordinary.
I had breakfasted in Santa Barbara, been driven to Burbank, flew to Oakland, and taken an underground train under the Bay to San Francisco... all in the number of hours I could count on my fingers.
This would have seemed miraculous a mere century ago. Any of these actions in 1906 would have been the stuff of pure fantasy, the most outrageous science fiction. (Ok, maybe not having breakfast in Santa Barbara, but otherwise....) The radical shifts in human experience over the last few generations is profound, and it is so easy to forget about them, so easy to forget that the way we live today has very little resemblance to how humans have lived throughout history.
And, of course, it continues to change at a lightning pace.
My attention was drawn to this article from Newsweek in 1995, decrying all the optimism about the internet.
A short quote: "Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense?"
And yet, today I am working from home, use Wikipedia regularly for basic fact checking, and help people use online classrooms for training seminars that include participants from all over the country. Most of my dating life comes from people I meet online, and many professional and personal relationships started and are maintained online. MoveOn.org uses the online world to push hard politically on a regular basis.
Some of the critiques of the 12 year old article still remain, but the vast majority of his comments reveal someone who can only see the state of the world as it is, not how it will continue to change. This particular pundit saw the state of the internet at 1995 and mocked those who were envisioning the miracles of tomorrow, the logical extensions of what they saw in the present.
I am not a technological visionary. I don't know what the next twelve years will bring us. I don't know what the world will look like in my dotage (although I am hoping for something other than a smoking ruin). But I was suddenly reminded that we are indeed in an age of miracles.
I had breakfasted in Santa Barbara, been driven to Burbank, flew to Oakland, and taken an underground train under the Bay to San Francisco... all in the number of hours I could count on my fingers.
This would have seemed miraculous a mere century ago. Any of these actions in 1906 would have been the stuff of pure fantasy, the most outrageous science fiction. (Ok, maybe not having breakfast in Santa Barbara, but otherwise....) The radical shifts in human experience over the last few generations is profound, and it is so easy to forget about them, so easy to forget that the way we live today has very little resemblance to how humans have lived throughout history.
And, of course, it continues to change at a lightning pace.
My attention was drawn to this article from Newsweek in 1995, decrying all the optimism about the internet.
A short quote: "Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense?"
And yet, today I am working from home, use Wikipedia regularly for basic fact checking, and help people use online classrooms for training seminars that include participants from all over the country. Most of my dating life comes from people I meet online, and many professional and personal relationships started and are maintained online. MoveOn.org uses the online world to push hard politically on a regular basis.
Some of the critiques of the 12 year old article still remain, but the vast majority of his comments reveal someone who can only see the state of the world as it is, not how it will continue to change. This particular pundit saw the state of the internet at 1995 and mocked those who were envisioning the miracles of tomorrow, the logical extensions of what they saw in the present.
I am not a technological visionary. I don't know what the next twelve years will bring us. I don't know what the world will look like in my dotage (although I am hoping for something other than a smoking ruin). But I was suddenly reminded that we are indeed in an age of miracles.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Paradise Lost
I've come to some interesting realizations about myself and my relationship to the city of Santa Barbara. I lived in Santa Barbara as a student at Westmont College from September of 1988 to May of 1990. Freshman and Sophomore years only, with my education there cut short by the economics of my misguided decision to get married on May 27th, 1990.
It would be irrational to describe my time at Westmont, and in Santa Barbara, as an idyllic Eden, but in my mind it has taken on that flavor. I've not spent too much time wondering about this, but my recent (I just got off the plane) visit has led to reflection. Things in college were as real as anywhere else, and hardship and pain were by no means banished from the campus. Students died on a mission trip to Mexico. A star soccer player fled the country under sexual assault charges. The lone vocal Democrat on a campus of Republicans endured a great deal during the election.
Personally, I experienced loneliness, heartache, stress, and sorrow.
So, why is Santa Barbara my Eden, other than the fact that it is the most heart breakingly beautiful city in America that isn't located on a tropical island?
Two things, primarily, stand out. First, it was the end of my adolescence. I went straight from Santa Barbara into my wedding, and then to Chicago. The day I stepped away from that city, I became a man in the truest sense. I shouldered a man's burdens, responsibilities, and struggles. I entered a marriage that would send me into three years of depression before it finally ended in February of 1996. While bad things happened, while there were hurts and struggles and pain, it was still the pain of someone who was in many ways an innocent. Jeff Maurer said to me one day, "there are those who are innocent and those who are not. Dan, at this point, you are still an innocent."
An innocent in Eden. But once I left that place, my innocence was not to last.
The innocence I lost has little to do with sexuality, and more to do with responsibility, deepening awareness of my own capacity for hypocrisy, weakness, and inadequacy. As I traded Santa Barbara for Chicago, I also lost my conviction in certain right and wrong. My blacks and whites began, more and more, to bleed into shades of grey. This was a slower process, certainly, than the time it takes to drive from California to Illinois, but nevertheless, these two cities represent for me a time and place of innocence and potential, and a time and place of struggle and loss.
That's one thing. The second is that it was in Santa Barbara that I found what has become my life work. To be sure, I started acting in High School. I did shows at College Park and with my church, Hope Center. But it was in Santa Barbara that theatre went from something fun to something transformative. It went from a hobby to a passion.
Looking back, it would not be unfair to say that two men outside my family deeply impacted my life before I turned twenty. One would be my pastor, Roger Dill. The other would be my director and teacher, John Blondell. I've said before on these pages that everything I do with theatre, on some level, is my trying to get back to the experiences I had on that campus, the belief that with art we are doing something that can truly impact people. I may have been the only person who felt that way at the time, but again, as I look back, the word "transformative" is emblazoned across the sky.
Thus, when my hostess tossed off a casual question over breakfast, I about fell off my chair. "Do you know John Blondell?"
Oh, the man who irrevocably shaped my idea of what theatre is? The man who provided the educational and philosophical foundation for my life's work? The man who inspired and excited my mind and soul more than any other teacher before or since? Yes, actually. I do.
Although, in truth, I don't. The John Blondell I knew has, like the city and the school, become a figure of legend in my personal history. The real John is no more the mentor I knew than I am the student he had in his first years at the school. He's a man with a long history, two kids, and who knows what else. All of us have changed immeasurably since 1990, let alone people who have in the imagination taken on almost iconic importance.
So, as fun as it would have been, it is probably best that he did not attend the wine tasting we went to that afternoon, although he had been on the guest list. I would most likely have embarrassed myself more than I did.
This is a digression, however, from the question of Santa Barbara as Eden. I did six shows while in Santa Barbara: Peter Pan, Mother Courage and Her Children, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare on Location: Just the High Points, An Evening with Williams and Mamet, and The Dining Room. Of these six shows, five of them are points of frequent recollection, fondness and inspiration. (The Dining Room simply taught me that I don't much care for A.R. Gurney's writing.)
All of this history, this mythology, this baggage, I carried with me this weekend. I'd visited Santa Barbara before, on single-day work trips that had just enough time for me to drive up to the campus and walk around for five minutes, find the memorial for the students who died in Mexico, and then leave in order to return to the airport. This was the first time, however, that I'd spent time wandering the city with someone who lived there. The first time I had accidentally turned down a street I had known, walked past a building full of memories, or really taken the time to feel the passage of years.
It was very, very hard to leave.
It would be irrational to describe my time at Westmont, and in Santa Barbara, as an idyllic Eden, but in my mind it has taken on that flavor. I've not spent too much time wondering about this, but my recent (I just got off the plane) visit has led to reflection. Things in college were as real as anywhere else, and hardship and pain were by no means banished from the campus. Students died on a mission trip to Mexico. A star soccer player fled the country under sexual assault charges. The lone vocal Democrat on a campus of Republicans endured a great deal during the election.
Personally, I experienced loneliness, heartache, stress, and sorrow.
So, why is Santa Barbara my Eden, other than the fact that it is the most heart breakingly beautiful city in America that isn't located on a tropical island?
Two things, primarily, stand out. First, it was the end of my adolescence. I went straight from Santa Barbara into my wedding, and then to Chicago. The day I stepped away from that city, I became a man in the truest sense. I shouldered a man's burdens, responsibilities, and struggles. I entered a marriage that would send me into three years of depression before it finally ended in February of 1996. While bad things happened, while there were hurts and struggles and pain, it was still the pain of someone who was in many ways an innocent. Jeff Maurer said to me one day, "there are those who are innocent and those who are not. Dan, at this point, you are still an innocent."
An innocent in Eden. But once I left that place, my innocence was not to last.
The innocence I lost has little to do with sexuality, and more to do with responsibility, deepening awareness of my own capacity for hypocrisy, weakness, and inadequacy. As I traded Santa Barbara for Chicago, I also lost my conviction in certain right and wrong. My blacks and whites began, more and more, to bleed into shades of grey. This was a slower process, certainly, than the time it takes to drive from California to Illinois, but nevertheless, these two cities represent for me a time and place of innocence and potential, and a time and place of struggle and loss.
That's one thing. The second is that it was in Santa Barbara that I found what has become my life work. To be sure, I started acting in High School. I did shows at College Park and with my church, Hope Center. But it was in Santa Barbara that theatre went from something fun to something transformative. It went from a hobby to a passion.
Looking back, it would not be unfair to say that two men outside my family deeply impacted my life before I turned twenty. One would be my pastor, Roger Dill. The other would be my director and teacher, John Blondell. I've said before on these pages that everything I do with theatre, on some level, is my trying to get back to the experiences I had on that campus, the belief that with art we are doing something that can truly impact people. I may have been the only person who felt that way at the time, but again, as I look back, the word "transformative" is emblazoned across the sky.
Thus, when my hostess tossed off a casual question over breakfast, I about fell off my chair. "Do you know John Blondell?"
Oh, the man who irrevocably shaped my idea of what theatre is? The man who provided the educational and philosophical foundation for my life's work? The man who inspired and excited my mind and soul more than any other teacher before or since? Yes, actually. I do.
Although, in truth, I don't. The John Blondell I knew has, like the city and the school, become a figure of legend in my personal history. The real John is no more the mentor I knew than I am the student he had in his first years at the school. He's a man with a long history, two kids, and who knows what else. All of us have changed immeasurably since 1990, let alone people who have in the imagination taken on almost iconic importance.
So, as fun as it would have been, it is probably best that he did not attend the wine tasting we went to that afternoon, although he had been on the guest list. I would most likely have embarrassed myself more than I did.
This is a digression, however, from the question of Santa Barbara as Eden. I did six shows while in Santa Barbara: Peter Pan, Mother Courage and Her Children, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare on Location: Just the High Points, An Evening with Williams and Mamet, and The Dining Room. Of these six shows, five of them are points of frequent recollection, fondness and inspiration. (The Dining Room simply taught me that I don't much care for A.R. Gurney's writing.)
All of this history, this mythology, this baggage, I carried with me this weekend. I'd visited Santa Barbara before, on single-day work trips that had just enough time for me to drive up to the campus and walk around for five minutes, find the memorial for the students who died in Mexico, and then leave in order to return to the airport. This was the first time, however, that I'd spent time wandering the city with someone who lived there. The first time I had accidentally turned down a street I had known, walked past a building full of memories, or really taken the time to feel the passage of years.
It was very, very hard to leave.
Double Agent
Bahati loaned me her copy of Casino Royale at rehearsal the other day. I haven't watched it yet.
On a plane, off on an adventure, the airline magazine has a large photo of Don Adams as Maxwell Smart on the cover, shoe phone clamped to his ear.
Secret Agents. Super Spies.
Sometimes I feel like Bond. Not the Bond of the novels, thuggish and misogynistic, but the Bond of the films. In control, smooth, and blessed by luck. I have just the right words, my timing is flawless, and every setback proves to be a launching point to move me forward. Everything clicks.
More often, however, I feel like Maxwell Smart, or Inspector Clouseau. Bumbling, fumbling, walking into walls, making a general ass out of myself. Sure, Smart and Clouseau bumble into saving the day, but that's the way it is with comedy and fiction. But in the real world, bumbling is bumbling and rarely do you step into a two foot hole at a full run without breaking your leg in the process.
The scary thing, though, the truly frightening thing, is when everything feels like Bond, but when all is done and you take stock of where you are, and you realize that it's *your* home base that you blew up, *your* colleague mistaken for an opposing agent that you shot, *your* little world reduced to ashes.
Every Clouseau thinks he is MacGyver. Every Smart thinks he's Bond. Every Charlie Brown steps up to the pitcher's mound, ready to be the hero but knowing in his heart that he's more likely to be the goat.
But I'm mixing my pop-culture metaphors. Let's move back from the round headed kid in the jagged stripe shirt.
I've been flipped inside out, back to front all weekend. Visiting someone I have known for years, and yet know very little about. Rediscovering a city I once called home, but that oftentimes asserted itself as a sequence of powerful memories so insistent that they pulled me out of the present. Encountering people I did not know, who greeted me as warmly as my own tribe, while I stood awkwardly aware of my outsider status. I have been amused, amazed, inspired, illuminated, revealed, intrigued, ashamed, astounded, aloof, intoxicated, aroused, apprehensive, nostalgic, gastronomically pampered, and existentially befuddled.
Within the space of 48 hours, I have been all over my emotional map. I haven't been driving a supercharged BMW that can fly, swim, shoot rockets, and convert itself into an irresistible boudoir. I've been bumbling, stumbling my way around, colliding, ricocheting, and tumbling from point to point... and horribly aware of it most of the time.
I am Maxwell Smart with self-awareness.
I can't even pretend to be Bond.
On a plane, off on an adventure, the airline magazine has a large photo of Don Adams as Maxwell Smart on the cover, shoe phone clamped to his ear.
Secret Agents. Super Spies.
Sometimes I feel like Bond. Not the Bond of the novels, thuggish and misogynistic, but the Bond of the films. In control, smooth, and blessed by luck. I have just the right words, my timing is flawless, and every setback proves to be a launching point to move me forward. Everything clicks.
More often, however, I feel like Maxwell Smart, or Inspector Clouseau. Bumbling, fumbling, walking into walls, making a general ass out of myself. Sure, Smart and Clouseau bumble into saving the day, but that's the way it is with comedy and fiction. But in the real world, bumbling is bumbling and rarely do you step into a two foot hole at a full run without breaking your leg in the process.
The scary thing, though, the truly frightening thing, is when everything feels like Bond, but when all is done and you take stock of where you are, and you realize that it's *your* home base that you blew up, *your* colleague mistaken for an opposing agent that you shot, *your* little world reduced to ashes.
Every Clouseau thinks he is MacGyver. Every Smart thinks he's Bond. Every Charlie Brown steps up to the pitcher's mound, ready to be the hero but knowing in his heart that he's more likely to be the goat.
But I'm mixing my pop-culture metaphors. Let's move back from the round headed kid in the jagged stripe shirt.
I've been flipped inside out, back to front all weekend. Visiting someone I have known for years, and yet know very little about. Rediscovering a city I once called home, but that oftentimes asserted itself as a sequence of powerful memories so insistent that they pulled me out of the present. Encountering people I did not know, who greeted me as warmly as my own tribe, while I stood awkwardly aware of my outsider status. I have been amused, amazed, inspired, illuminated, revealed, intrigued, ashamed, astounded, aloof, intoxicated, aroused, apprehensive, nostalgic, gastronomically pampered, and existentially befuddled.
Within the space of 48 hours, I have been all over my emotional map. I haven't been driving a supercharged BMW that can fly, swim, shoot rockets, and convert itself into an irresistible boudoir. I've been bumbling, stumbling my way around, colliding, ricocheting, and tumbling from point to point... and horribly aware of it most of the time.
I am Maxwell Smart with self-awareness.
I can't even pretend to be Bond.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Obama's speech on Race
It took me a couple of days to get around to watching it, but it really is something remarkable. Frank, honest, and unapologetic. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out
Monday, March 17, 2008
Well, I got my tech troubles all worked out finally, and I think I'm pretty much back on track. Of course, now I can't find my script for "Riches". It's probably at our rehearsal space. This would be a bigger deal if I had actually had time tonight to work on my lines, but as it is, I spent most of tonight doing the work I didn't get done this afternoon.
Feh.
On the plus side, I had a meeting with our light designer for Tanya, and on the BART ride back I wrote down all my thoughts from a meeting with Steve Kahn yesterday. A short film got sparked in my head while sitting in his back yard, checking out his little fish pond. I have a cast in mind, and a pretty extensive breakdown of what happens in the film. It would be a short film, maybe 20 minutes, tops, and with no dialogue whatsoever.
It would be fun to do, and a good practice run for a feature length project that is looking like something to do in 2009....
Feh.
On the plus side, I had a meeting with our light designer for Tanya, and on the BART ride back I wrote down all my thoughts from a meeting with Steve Kahn yesterday. A short film got sparked in my head while sitting in his back yard, checking out his little fish pond. I have a cast in mind, and a pretty extensive breakdown of what happens in the film. It would be a short film, maybe 20 minutes, tops, and with no dialogue whatsoever.
It would be fun to do, and a good practice run for a feature length project that is looking like something to do in 2009....
Friday, March 07, 2008
fiddle, fit as
At 6'3" and 195 lbs, I'm a big guy. I'm not a big guy though. My dad was closer to 300 than 200, but while I managed to inherit his kidney stones, I haven't inherited his obesity. That said, my eating habits have always been heavily influenced by my roots, which go back to Missouri on both sides of my family before they meander their way back to Ireland and Scotland and other pasty nations. So, lots of starches, complex carbs, sugar and grease. I don't much care for sushi and I didn't consider it a tragedy when my urologist told me that I shouldn't eat a lot of spinach, kale, or other dark leafy greens because they were dangerous for my brand of kidney stone.
My lack of dietary purity has been a point of concern for some, and annoyance for others. This is the San Francisco Bay Area, after all, and people take their carnal temples pretty seriously. Still, I walk a lot, and am in decent shape for a 37 year old thespian, computer tech, and playwright.
When I was approached to play David Rich in Triple Shot's production of "Riches", I was pleased. When I read the lines in the script where David talks about all the time he spends at the club running around the track, playing racquetball, swimming and weight lifting, I didn't flinch. After all, it's not like I'm taking off my shirt.
Or am I?
Two nights ago, Bahati Bonner, my esteemed director, said "Oh, didn't I tell you? You need to work out. Towards the end of the show, we're going to have you in a wife-beater. It's easier than dealing with distressed clothes."
So, I'm suddenly cutting out as many starches as is reasonable (I should cut them all out, but we'll see how long I can maintain that discipline), focusing on a more vegetarian diet, and doing push-ups and sit-ups three times a day. My chest has begun to feel very sore, and a few minutes ago when I tried my second set up push-ups for the day I found I couldn't do even my paltry minimum. I'll be tackling it again in a few moments, but it was a rude awakening.
I have three weekends to fight against a lifetime of less than optimal habits so that I don't look ridiculous on stage.
My lack of dietary purity has been a point of concern for some, and annoyance for others. This is the San Francisco Bay Area, after all, and people take their carnal temples pretty seriously. Still, I walk a lot, and am in decent shape for a 37 year old thespian, computer tech, and playwright.
When I was approached to play David Rich in Triple Shot's production of "Riches", I was pleased. When I read the lines in the script where David talks about all the time he spends at the club running around the track, playing racquetball, swimming and weight lifting, I didn't flinch. After all, it's not like I'm taking off my shirt.
Or am I?
Two nights ago, Bahati Bonner, my esteemed director, said "Oh, didn't I tell you? You need to work out. Towards the end of the show, we're going to have you in a wife-beater. It's easier than dealing with distressed clothes."
So, I'm suddenly cutting out as many starches as is reasonable (I should cut them all out, but we'll see how long I can maintain that discipline), focusing on a more vegetarian diet, and doing push-ups and sit-ups three times a day. My chest has begun to feel very sore, and a few minutes ago when I tried my second set up push-ups for the day I found I couldn't do even my paltry minimum. I'll be tackling it again in a few moments, but it was a rude awakening.
I have three weekends to fight against a lifetime of less than optimal habits so that I don't look ridiculous on stage.
Monday, March 03, 2008
inching back to me
I'm in a weird state. I'm pretty much back to health, except for the cough that I'm sure I'll live with for a bit. I'm back to work, although work is still pretty quiet at the moment. Rehearsals are in full swing, Radiostar is exploring more extended narratives which is causing a few growing pains. New arrangements are coming in daily for Sweetie Tanya....
and I feel directionless.
This is probably just the after effects of a week of illness. I was unable to do much of anything, so I feel disconnected from everything.
Every day is an improvement. I trust I'll have my spirit back by tomorrow... or maybe the day after.
and I feel directionless.
This is probably just the after effects of a week of illness. I was unable to do much of anything, so I feel disconnected from everything.
Every day is an improvement. I trust I'll have my spirit back by tomorrow... or maybe the day after.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
bleh
I sound like Wolfman Jack. This dates me, and if you don't know who I'm talking about, go get culturally educated. I feel fairly awful as well, although I am most definitely improving. Pema sent me a recipe for a cold busting tea that involved seeping six cloves of garlic, a couple inches of ginger root, most of a lemon and some ground red pepper in my tea kettle until it burst forth with a particularly ... powerful brew. I can't say I like it, but it certainly does clear the sinuses and I've had three glasses of it today. Many thanks to Jill, who brought over the ingredients on her way to work.
I clearly can't complain too much when I have beautiful women near and far aiding in my recovery.
Still, I have gotten very little work done, either job or personal. I just can't maintain focus or interest in anything active. Even video games get boring after a half hour. Normally, that's a sick person's godsend.
What I have managed to do, however, is read Thom Camp's novel and Brian Schirmer's screenplay. Both of which I utterly and totally enjoyed. Reading them, however, has made me even more frustrated that I haven't been able to scrape the focus together to work on my own projects aside from some basic email management.
Yeah, I know. I'm sick. I need to deal with it.
In fact, I'm gonna go to bed, right now... at 10pm....
I'm not old, I'm sick.
I clearly can't complain too much when I have beautiful women near and far aiding in my recovery.
Still, I have gotten very little work done, either job or personal. I just can't maintain focus or interest in anything active. Even video games get boring after a half hour. Normally, that's a sick person's godsend.
What I have managed to do, however, is read Thom Camp's novel and Brian Schirmer's screenplay. Both of which I utterly and totally enjoyed. Reading them, however, has made me even more frustrated that I haven't been able to scrape the focus together to work on my own projects aside from some basic email management.
Yeah, I know. I'm sick. I need to deal with it.
In fact, I'm gonna go to bed, right now... at 10pm....
I'm not old, I'm sick.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
too hot
I woke up yesterday with a mild case of "cold nose". Congestion, sneezing, a general "this sucks" feeling everywhere. I stayed home form work and slept most of the afternoon. I did, however, to go rehearsal. I was able to rally for 2 and a half hours, but I felt awful at the end of it. I felt slightly warm, as well.
This morning I woke up restless, hot, and with my skin as sensitive as dry parchment. I tried to sleep most of the day, but my visions were mild fever dreams and not restful at all. I looked in vain for my thermometer. Kitchen, bathroom, living room. Finally at 3pm, feeling loopy and concerned that I am not MORE congested than I am, I found it in my pencil drawer.
I have a 101.7 fever. I took it twice, just to be sure. I downed some ibuprofen, and will wait an your to see if it responds at all. If it doesn't, if it is 101.6 or higher, I will go to the hospital and have them x-ray my kidneys to be sure that I am not passing a stone. Or more to the point, that I'm NOT passing a stone, but that a stone would very much like to be passed.
I have a grim feeling about this.
This morning I woke up restless, hot, and with my skin as sensitive as dry parchment. I tried to sleep most of the day, but my visions were mild fever dreams and not restful at all. I looked in vain for my thermometer. Kitchen, bathroom, living room. Finally at 3pm, feeling loopy and concerned that I am not MORE congested than I am, I found it in my pencil drawer.
I have a 101.7 fever. I took it twice, just to be sure. I downed some ibuprofen, and will wait an your to see if it responds at all. If it doesn't, if it is 101.6 or higher, I will go to the hospital and have them x-ray my kidneys to be sure that I am not passing a stone. Or more to the point, that I'm NOT passing a stone, but that a stone would very much like to be passed.
I have a grim feeling about this.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Home and Away
Last night was a small game night over at Brian's. Just three of us, but a lot of fun as Mateo had a lot of Halo game variants for us to try out. Playing with gravity can be fun, and the absurdity of it all kept us laughing all night.
I crashed at Brian's, since he had scored me a pass for WonderCon, which is this weekend, and it seemed foolish to head home just to come back into the city first thing in the morning. I had packed everything I might need, including my copy of Thom's novel that I *finally* printed out, and the laptop so I could do any editing of Radiostar if I found I had time.
I've gotten about a third of the way through the novel, but I didn't touch Radiostar until got back home this afternoon.
WonderCon is a decently sized comics convention, but after ComicCon in San Diego, it can't help but feel somewhat anemic. Brian and I walked the floor for about three hours, doing at least a cursory look over of every book and table. Comic conventions are curious things for me. I am very fond of the art form, and have enough comics and geeky DVDs in my house to make it quite clear that I am a fan. Still, I don't buy lots of memorabilia, back issues of comics, endless collections, t-shirts, or knick knacks. I don't feel at home at a Convention, but feel like I'm in the home of a neighbor. Close, but not really where I live.
I see actors from shows I enjoy, but don't feel the need to get autographs. This is true even for the actor who played Lita on DS9, who I had an enormous crush on (and still do.. she's still hot). I only really saw two things I was tempted to buy: a card game from Phil Foglio and a Star Wars print that was exceptionally well done artistically and elegantly funny. I may still get the card game, but I have nowhere to put the print (a very 1920's style print of Leia in her Jabba slave girl outfit, as if it were an ad for an exotic revue... with the word "cancelled" at the bottom).
For the most part, however, the Con, like all Cons, felt like an orgiastic geek consumer frenzy. More than anything else, I felt inspired to go home and edit Radiostar and play with the new Wacom tablet I just bought. I wanted to create art, not buy it.
So, home I went. I didn't play with the tablet, but spent several hours on Radiostar and took a few more halting steps towards improving my piano playing. (I can read some music now, and play the Cm and G7 chords with both hands)
I might have finished Radiostar, but tonight was Joseph's birthday gathering, and that was unequivocally the priority. The evening was, as to be expected, a delight. There was an unexpected amount of focus on the recent success of Sweetie Tanya, which surprised me more than it should. I don't see my friends nearly enough, and so in many respects the show feels fresher for them than it does for me. I start rehearsals for "Riches" tomorrow, and am much more aware of what lies ahead of me than what lies behind.
I crashed at Brian's, since he had scored me a pass for WonderCon, which is this weekend, and it seemed foolish to head home just to come back into the city first thing in the morning. I had packed everything I might need, including my copy of Thom's novel that I *finally* printed out, and the laptop so I could do any editing of Radiostar if I found I had time.
I've gotten about a third of the way through the novel, but I didn't touch Radiostar until got back home this afternoon.
WonderCon is a decently sized comics convention, but after ComicCon in San Diego, it can't help but feel somewhat anemic. Brian and I walked the floor for about three hours, doing at least a cursory look over of every book and table. Comic conventions are curious things for me. I am very fond of the art form, and have enough comics and geeky DVDs in my house to make it quite clear that I am a fan. Still, I don't buy lots of memorabilia, back issues of comics, endless collections, t-shirts, or knick knacks. I don't feel at home at a Convention, but feel like I'm in the home of a neighbor. Close, but not really where I live.
I see actors from shows I enjoy, but don't feel the need to get autographs. This is true even for the actor who played Lita on DS9, who I had an enormous crush on (and still do.. she's still hot). I only really saw two things I was tempted to buy: a card game from Phil Foglio and a Star Wars print that was exceptionally well done artistically and elegantly funny. I may still get the card game, but I have nowhere to put the print (a very 1920's style print of Leia in her Jabba slave girl outfit, as if it were an ad for an exotic revue... with the word "cancelled" at the bottom).
For the most part, however, the Con, like all Cons, felt like an orgiastic geek consumer frenzy. More than anything else, I felt inspired to go home and edit Radiostar and play with the new Wacom tablet I just bought. I wanted to create art, not buy it.
So, home I went. I didn't play with the tablet, but spent several hours on Radiostar and took a few more halting steps towards improving my piano playing. (I can read some music now, and play the Cm and G7 chords with both hands)
I might have finished Radiostar, but tonight was Joseph's birthday gathering, and that was unequivocally the priority. The evening was, as to be expected, a delight. There was an unexpected amount of focus on the recent success of Sweetie Tanya, which surprised me more than it should. I don't see my friends nearly enough, and so in many respects the show feels fresher for them than it does for me. I start rehearsals for "Riches" tomorrow, and am much more aware of what lies ahead of me than what lies behind.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Missed Adventures and Invisible Forests
I got an email yesterday that invited me to do something wild and impractical last night. I had made promises and commitments, however, so I postponed for a more scheduled wild and impractical event in a few weeks. A few hours later, the person I had made promises and commitments to called to cancel our plans due to personal crisis. This ate at me for the rest of the evening.
It is a point of honor to me that I honor my commitments. I am not perfect in this regard, but if I say I will do a thing, or be somewhere, there is a 95% chance that I won't back out on you. But still, last night's event *was* something that could be cancelled, but I chose a pleasant and planned evening over a wild and impulsive one.
This bothers me.
I don't mean that I want to become someone whose word cannot be trusted, or someone who can't be relied upon. But I do want to be someone who can say "this is an adventure, and *this* can be postponed" and embrace the adventure. I should have been on a plane last night, had dinner with a friend, and flown back a few hours later, just for the madness of it.
Madness.
Madness and Dreams are the themes of Antero Alli's new film, Invisible Forest. This is the film I grew my beard out to lengths that helped destroy my relationship with my then-girlfriend. The film I bleached my entire damn head for. It's strange, and beautiful, and meditative, and very much of a piece with my first project with him, "Hungry Ghosts of Albion" back in 1999.
It's showing at the ATA on March 14th. Here's the info:
Vertical Pool presents the San Francisco premiere of
"THE INVISIBLE FOREST"
(2008; 111 min., USA) A Film by Antero Alli
Friday March 14th, 8pm
Artist Television Access
992 Valencia (& 21st St), San Francisco
Admission: $6. Filmmaker and actors in person.
Venue contacts: 415- 824-3890. http://www.atasite.org
http://www.atasite.org/calendar/?x=2799
Filmmaker contact: 510-464-4640. antero@paratheatrical.com
A theatre director traverses the internal landscape
of his dreams in pursuit of the radical visions
of French Surrealist, Antonin Artaud.
The Trailer
http://www.fractalvideo.com/HTML/IFFV2.html
SYNOPSIS
A theatre troupe camps out in a forest to perform their director's vision of Antonin Artaud's magic theatre of ghosts, gods and spirits. During their forest experiment Alex, the director, is haunted by disturbing dreams where Artaud appears and mocks his theatrical ambitions. When these strange nightmares persist, Alex stops sleeping in an attempt to regain control over his mind. Sleep-deprived and with his sanity pushed to its limits, he seeks help from a Psychotherapist who suggests hypnosis as a means to discover the source of his problems. What follows is a journey through the internal landscape of Alex's subconscious memories and dreams, a sojourn that leads us to a place beyond belief, beyond words, and beyond the mind itself.
CREDITS
ANTERO ALLI, GARRET DAILEY, CLODY CATES, JAMES WAGNER, DAN WILSON, JESSICA BOCKLER, NICK WALKER, ROBIN COOMER, SYLVI ALLI, JOJO RAZOR, DAVID GAUNTLETT, and JULIET TANNER.
Cinematography by CHRIS RASMUSSEN (HDV), SEAN BLOSL (Super-8 film), ANTERO ALLI (DV). Edited by ANTERO ALLI (offline) and CHRIS ODELL (online). Written by ANTERO ALLI, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (excerpts from "Romeo & Juliet" and "The Tempest"), ANTONIN ARTAUD (excerpts from "New Revelations of Being" and "The Theatre and its Double"). Music by Sylvi Alli and others. Produced by VERTICAL POOL. Conceived and Directed by ANTERO ALLI
"The Invisible Forest" Movie site
http://www.verticalpool.com/if.html
Antero Alli -- Filmography
http://www.verticalpool.com/filmography.html
It is a point of honor to me that I honor my commitments. I am not perfect in this regard, but if I say I will do a thing, or be somewhere, there is a 95% chance that I won't back out on you. But still, last night's event *was* something that could be cancelled, but I chose a pleasant and planned evening over a wild and impulsive one.
This bothers me.
I don't mean that I want to become someone whose word cannot be trusted, or someone who can't be relied upon. But I do want to be someone who can say "this is an adventure, and *this* can be postponed" and embrace the adventure. I should have been on a plane last night, had dinner with a friend, and flown back a few hours later, just for the madness of it.
Madness.
Madness and Dreams are the themes of Antero Alli's new film, Invisible Forest. This is the film I grew my beard out to lengths that helped destroy my relationship with my then-girlfriend. The film I bleached my entire damn head for. It's strange, and beautiful, and meditative, and very much of a piece with my first project with him, "Hungry Ghosts of Albion" back in 1999.
It's showing at the ATA on March 14th. Here's the info:
Vertical Pool presents the San Francisco premiere of
"THE INVISIBLE FOREST"
(2008; 111 min., USA) A Film by Antero Alli
Friday March 14th, 8pm
Artist Television Access
992 Valencia (& 21st St), San Francisco
Admission: $6. Filmmaker and actors in person.
Venue contacts: 415- 824-3890. http://www.atasite.org
http://www.atasite.org/calendar/?x=2799
Filmmaker contact: 510-464-4640. antero@paratheatrical.com
A theatre director traverses the internal landscape
of his dreams in pursuit of the radical visions
of French Surrealist, Antonin Artaud.
The Trailer
http://www.fractalvideo.com/HTML/IFFV2.html
SYNOPSIS
A theatre troupe camps out in a forest to perform their director's vision of Antonin Artaud's magic theatre of ghosts, gods and spirits. During their forest experiment Alex, the director, is haunted by disturbing dreams where Artaud appears and mocks his theatrical ambitions. When these strange nightmares persist, Alex stops sleeping in an attempt to regain control over his mind. Sleep-deprived and with his sanity pushed to its limits, he seeks help from a Psychotherapist who suggests hypnosis as a means to discover the source of his problems. What follows is a journey through the internal landscape of Alex's subconscious memories and dreams, a sojourn that leads us to a place beyond belief, beyond words, and beyond the mind itself.
CREDITS
ANTERO ALLI, GARRET DAILEY, CLODY CATES, JAMES WAGNER, DAN WILSON, JESSICA BOCKLER, NICK WALKER, ROBIN COOMER, SYLVI ALLI, JOJO RAZOR, DAVID GAUNTLETT, and JULIET TANNER.
Cinematography by CHRIS RASMUSSEN (HDV), SEAN BLOSL (Super-8 film), ANTERO ALLI (DV). Edited by ANTERO ALLI (offline) and CHRIS ODELL (online). Written by ANTERO ALLI, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (excerpts from "Romeo & Juliet" and "The Tempest"), ANTONIN ARTAUD (excerpts from "New Revelations of Being" and "The Theatre and its Double"). Music by Sylvi Alli and others. Produced by VERTICAL POOL. Conceived and Directed by ANTERO ALLI
"The Invisible Forest" Movie site
http://www.verticalpool.com/if.html
Antero Alli -- Filmography
http://www.verticalpool.com/filmography.html
Monday, February 11, 2008
sweathog
"I've got a yoga class on Monday. You wanna come?"
I've talked about taking yoga for years. I was dating a yoga instructor for a while, for crying out loud. I've made plans to do weekly yoga with people. But it's never happened. Soooo, "sure!"
I'm a bit nervous. I know this is an intermediate class, and I'm sure to let her know that this is my first yoga session EVER.
One of my bosses is at the studio. I'm only half surprised. It's that he's at THIS yoga studio that is surprising, not that he's at A yoga studio. He asks, "you're doing the next class? Awesome!"
"Yeah, it's my first class, ever."
He pauses, grins at me, laughs. "Really? It's BRUTAL!"
The room is jam packed. My companion has never seen it so full. We haven't even started, and the room is humid and smells of sweat.
I am able to participate in maybe half of the poses and exercises. Some are physically beyond me, some I cannot due because of light headedness or head-rush headaches from all the up in the sky, down beneath your knees cranium action. My clothing is utterly and completely drenched. I don't mean that I have a good sweat going, I mean *drenched*. Some of the moves, even exhausted, I can pull off. They are very similar to things I've done in Suzuki class, and both the instructor and my companion are surprised and pleased when they see me rally. One or two moves I do fairly easily that even my companion has a hard time with. For the most part however, I am left to gasp and admire the power, grace, strength, and stamina of those around me.
It is *very* humbling.
If I am going to continue going with her on Monday nights, I will need to get a mat, and I will need a DVD I can do beginner yoga to during the week. My upper body strength is unimpressive, and my stamina is tragic.
But I got through the class. Tomorrow I will be a creeping cramp, but tonight... I got through the class.
I've talked about taking yoga for years. I was dating a yoga instructor for a while, for crying out loud. I've made plans to do weekly yoga with people. But it's never happened. Soooo, "sure!"
I'm a bit nervous. I know this is an intermediate class, and I'm sure to let her know that this is my first yoga session EVER.
One of my bosses is at the studio. I'm only half surprised. It's that he's at THIS yoga studio that is surprising, not that he's at A yoga studio. He asks, "you're doing the next class? Awesome!"
"Yeah, it's my first class, ever."
He pauses, grins at me, laughs. "Really? It's BRUTAL!"
The room is jam packed. My companion has never seen it so full. We haven't even started, and the room is humid and smells of sweat.
I am able to participate in maybe half of the poses and exercises. Some are physically beyond me, some I cannot due because of light headedness or head-rush headaches from all the up in the sky, down beneath your knees cranium action. My clothing is utterly and completely drenched. I don't mean that I have a good sweat going, I mean *drenched*. Some of the moves, even exhausted, I can pull off. They are very similar to things I've done in Suzuki class, and both the instructor and my companion are surprised and pleased when they see me rally. One or two moves I do fairly easily that even my companion has a hard time with. For the most part however, I am left to gasp and admire the power, grace, strength, and stamina of those around me.
It is *very* humbling.
If I am going to continue going with her on Monday nights, I will need to get a mat, and I will need a DVD I can do beginner yoga to during the week. My upper body strength is unimpressive, and my stamina is tragic.
But I got through the class. Tomorrow I will be a creeping cramp, but tonight... I got through the class.
Sure, I'll use them
I know some extremely cool people who do extremely cool things. One of them is Kalina Wilson, who does things like make shower curtains out of decommissioned boat sails.
I am not yet that cool, but I did make some purchases in a fit of optimism that I would actually utilize them. I.e. I got a wacom tablet and ordered some books on learning piano as an adult. The former item I've wanted for a while, as I'm rather sick and tired of doing Photoshop work and drawing by mouse. With my nifty new 1080p projector, doing art on my wall is a pretty pleasing proposition. The books are because of the 88 key Yamaha keyboard that I bought for "Sweetie Tanya". It lives in my home office now, and it's silly to have something so lovely and cool there if I can't play it.
These are possibly irresponsible purchases since I go into rehearsals for "The Riches" in a couple of weeks, and go back into rehearsals for the remount of "Tanya" two weeks after the Riches opens. Still, we had a piano in the house growing up and no one knew how to play it. I remember plinking on it every now and then, but it feels like an opportunity lost. I don't even know why the thought of taking lessons never came up. I played trumpet very briefly in grade school, but my grades dropped so they took it away from me. I played guitar in High School, but never really had a knack for it. Still, I love the idea of taking little breaks in my day and playing a song.
Most of my creative energies lately have been directed towards Radiostar, which seems like of like a lame excuse for not doing other things because I've been doing Radiostar for the last two years. Still, lately it seems like editing the shows has been taking up more of my time. What's probably more true is that I've been far more social over the last month than normal, so my creative time has seemed less and less.
That and the XBox 360. Stupid XBox.
I am not yet that cool, but I did make some purchases in a fit of optimism that I would actually utilize them. I.e. I got a wacom tablet and ordered some books on learning piano as an adult. The former item I've wanted for a while, as I'm rather sick and tired of doing Photoshop work and drawing by mouse. With my nifty new 1080p projector, doing art on my wall is a pretty pleasing proposition. The books are because of the 88 key Yamaha keyboard that I bought for "Sweetie Tanya". It lives in my home office now, and it's silly to have something so lovely and cool there if I can't play it.
These are possibly irresponsible purchases since I go into rehearsals for "The Riches" in a couple of weeks, and go back into rehearsals for the remount of "Tanya" two weeks after the Riches opens. Still, we had a piano in the house growing up and no one knew how to play it. I remember plinking on it every now and then, but it feels like an opportunity lost. I don't even know why the thought of taking lessons never came up. I played trumpet very briefly in grade school, but my grades dropped so they took it away from me. I played guitar in High School, but never really had a knack for it. Still, I love the idea of taking little breaks in my day and playing a song.
Most of my creative energies lately have been directed towards Radiostar, which seems like of like a lame excuse for not doing other things because I've been doing Radiostar for the last two years. Still, lately it seems like editing the shows has been taking up more of my time. What's probably more true is that I've been far more social over the last month than normal, so my creative time has seemed less and less.
That and the XBox 360. Stupid XBox.
Friday, February 08, 2008
China, Album, Wandering, and Cock
So, in about an hour I'm going to head over to 21 Grand for a screening of The Invisible Forest. This is the film I shot back in August for Mr. Antero Alli, where I grew my hair and beard out to insane lengths and then dyed it all white in order to play an actor who was playing Prospero. I've seen an almost finished cut of the film already, but I am very curious to see what a paying audience thinks of it. It's a very beautiful film, but I'm too close to it to know if it will make sense to people not involved in the project. Films about madness and dreams are funny that way.
The Sweetie Tanya cast album is limping forward right now, although everything is currently depending on me getting all four musicians into the same room at the same time so they they can jam the songs they have and get a feel for how they work with bass and drums. I've never sat in on something like this before, so it promises to be quite the experience.
I've just been asked to appear on the Jennifer Justice show on Feb 19th. This is a somewhat underground comedy-variety-interview show that Ms. Justice was doing out of 50 Mason until they had to close their doors due to some mysterious problem that most likely involves the Yakuza and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. All I know at this point is that I will be the guest for a segment called "Ask a Man's Cock". What my cock has to say will be a matter of great interest and surprise, especially to me. Normally all it tells me is that it wants to go into a nice, warm, wet, dark space and throw up. I wonder if it wants to vote for Hillary or Obama. Neither are normally its type.
I've started being a bit more intense about monitoring what's going on with Radiostar, since we're getting between 12 to 15 thousand downloads a month. I've already identified a couple of daily download robots and blocked those, but other potential non-humans are harder to target. One IP address downloaded the same show 43 times in eleven days, but there was no clear pattern in when those 43 downloads happened, and any remote site that has a Flash based medial player that is referencing our stuff could generate those kinds of responses. The fact that the IP address comes out of China adds another layer of mystery since my understanding is that everything online in China is being filtered through their servers before it gets to the end user, so 43 people in Beijing could very well be listening to our shows, but we're only seeing the government server they're passing through.
I'll continue to monitor shows that get extra high amounts of traffic and see if I can determine any other patterns, but for now I expect to see our "audience" shrink over the next few months while I remove access of the bandwidth sucking robots that are coming way to close to costing me extra domain hosting monies.
Life has generally been greatly improved since I started working at least three days a week from home. I get much more done here, and when I *do* have some down time, I can be much more productive with it. For example, I did laundry, swept, vacuumed, and mopped the kitchen during time I would normally have spent waiting for downloads to complete, or walking to and from the office. My home smells like pine sol.
Yesterday I took the day "off", since I had only about an hour's worth of work to do all day, and only about fifteen minutes work that I knew of. I ended up walking all over Lake Merritt and downtown Oakland with a new friend who lives nearby and who was also off work. It was a gorgeous day and I can't remember feeling so good and refreshed between 11am and 4pm on a Thursday.
The Sweetie Tanya cast album is limping forward right now, although everything is currently depending on me getting all four musicians into the same room at the same time so they they can jam the songs they have and get a feel for how they work with bass and drums. I've never sat in on something like this before, so it promises to be quite the experience.
I've just been asked to appear on the Jennifer Justice show on Feb 19th. This is a somewhat underground comedy-variety-interview show that Ms. Justice was doing out of 50 Mason until they had to close their doors due to some mysterious problem that most likely involves the Yakuza and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. All I know at this point is that I will be the guest for a segment called "Ask a Man's Cock". What my cock has to say will be a matter of great interest and surprise, especially to me. Normally all it tells me is that it wants to go into a nice, warm, wet, dark space and throw up. I wonder if it wants to vote for Hillary or Obama. Neither are normally its type.
I've started being a bit more intense about monitoring what's going on with Radiostar, since we're getting between 12 to 15 thousand downloads a month. I've already identified a couple of daily download robots and blocked those, but other potential non-humans are harder to target. One IP address downloaded the same show 43 times in eleven days, but there was no clear pattern in when those 43 downloads happened, and any remote site that has a Flash based medial player that is referencing our stuff could generate those kinds of responses. The fact that the IP address comes out of China adds another layer of mystery since my understanding is that everything online in China is being filtered through their servers before it gets to the end user, so 43 people in Beijing could very well be listening to our shows, but we're only seeing the government server they're passing through.
I'll continue to monitor shows that get extra high amounts of traffic and see if I can determine any other patterns, but for now I expect to see our "audience" shrink over the next few months while I remove access of the bandwidth sucking robots that are coming way to close to costing me extra domain hosting monies.
Life has generally been greatly improved since I started working at least three days a week from home. I get much more done here, and when I *do* have some down time, I can be much more productive with it. For example, I did laundry, swept, vacuumed, and mopped the kitchen during time I would normally have spent waiting for downloads to complete, or walking to and from the office. My home smells like pine sol.
Yesterday I took the day "off", since I had only about an hour's worth of work to do all day, and only about fifteen minutes work that I knew of. I ended up walking all over Lake Merritt and downtown Oakland with a new friend who lives nearby and who was also off work. It was a gorgeous day and I can't remember feeling so good and refreshed between 11am and 4pm on a Thursday.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Slack doesn't slack
More news about friends. Nina Bargiel got some good ink on her perspective as a WGA writer and a striker. It's worth taking a look at, especially if you're not really familiar with what this means for the average screenwriter.
cause she's bad-ass
Heather McCulley, the inspiration for "Sweetie Tanya" just demonstrated what a bad-ass she is.
Heather's story will make an excellent Lifetime movie some day. I hope to pen the script.
Heather's story will make an excellent Lifetime movie some day. I hope to pen the script.
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