Ok, technology is great. It allows us to do amazing things. It's shiny.
When it works, anyway.
I've spent most of today trying to get my copy of Parallels to NOT crash every time I launch it.
And I have stuff due on Wednesday.
Joy.
Monday, March 17, 2008
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.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The White Terror
I went to go see Crisis Hopkins and Revolving Madness at the Climate Theatre last night. I didn't mean to become part of the show, but these things kind of happen. Contributing a location for one of their scenes was standard audience behavior, but then they needed a book to pull words from and I was one of the few people in the audience carrying a book around with me. I've just started reading the Devil in the White City, which got a variety of comments from the gang onstage. At the end, as the end of the freestyle love-contest, they were trying to get people up on stage. They eventually got one guy up who was a good sport about the whole thing, but they wanted more people.
I am not a rapper. I do not aspire to be a rapper. I have considered practicing freestyle rap improv as a skill builder, but have not done so yet. Still, you do not leave improvisors on stage, twisting in the wind. It was very clear that no body else was going to go up and vibe was getting a little uncomfortable, so I stood up.
I muddled through. People seemed impressed that I didn't completely fall apart on stage and had a good humor about it. I also seem to have acquired a new nickname: the White Terror.
Yo.
I am not a rapper. I do not aspire to be a rapper. I have considered practicing freestyle rap improv as a skill builder, but have not done so yet. Still, you do not leave improvisors on stage, twisting in the wind. It was very clear that no body else was going to go up and vibe was getting a little uncomfortable, so I stood up.
I muddled through. People seemed impressed that I didn't completely fall apart on stage and had a good humor about it. I also seem to have acquired a new nickname: the White Terror.
Yo.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Delayed reaction
Things have been good on this end. Sweetie Tanya closed to a jam packed, sold out, wedge them in with a crowbar show on Saturday. We'll be doing it all again in May, at the Exit Theatre Mainstage, so the usual bittersweet feeling of a show ending wasn't present. We're not done, we're just taking a vacation before making the show even better.
The next project is getting the CD made, and I go into rehearsal for "The Riches" in a month. I need to do some space negotiating for this fall as well so that I can work on getting the rights for a show that Dylan Russell will direct.
So much for my slow year.
You can stop laughing at me now.
No one believed me when I said that this would be my year for doing LESS, but I have turned down a couple of projects! I just didn't expect Sweetie Tanya to do THIS well and it's kind of gloriously ganked my expectations for 08.
That said, I had an odd experience last night. I was coming home after Radiostar, and on my little two block walk from BART to my apartment, I had a wave of fear crash over me. I had my pepper spray in hand, as I've done for the last couple of months, and the streets were clearly empty all around me. As three cars approached, though, slowing down along side me, I started to feel a kind of scrabbling terror. The word "drive by" popped into my head, even though we don't GET drive-by shootings in my part of Oakland. They were all approaching a red light, and I knew that. Still, my heart began to race. The light changed, and like a scared rabbit, I got home, eyes darting about and my hands clammy.
I got inside and pondered my reaction. A delayed reaction to the mugging? Certainly. I knew this would happen at some point. Irrational fear, triggered by walking home in the dark on the same street, at the same corner where I got assaulted. Totally logical, but I still don't like it. I've never had fear as part of my landscape. I've walked halfway up Manhattan at 2am, carefully staying to well lit streets, without even the slightest fear of my life. But now I'm getting it a block from my apartment.
Moving won't fix this. It's part of me now. I just hope that last night won't become a common occurrence.
The next project is getting the CD made, and I go into rehearsal for "The Riches" in a month. I need to do some space negotiating for this fall as well so that I can work on getting the rights for a show that Dylan Russell will direct.
So much for my slow year.
You can stop laughing at me now.
No one believed me when I said that this would be my year for doing LESS, but I have turned down a couple of projects! I just didn't expect Sweetie Tanya to do THIS well and it's kind of gloriously ganked my expectations for 08.
That said, I had an odd experience last night. I was coming home after Radiostar, and on my little two block walk from BART to my apartment, I had a wave of fear crash over me. I had my pepper spray in hand, as I've done for the last couple of months, and the streets were clearly empty all around me. As three cars approached, though, slowing down along side me, I started to feel a kind of scrabbling terror. The word "drive by" popped into my head, even though we don't GET drive-by shootings in my part of Oakland. They were all approaching a red light, and I knew that. Still, my heart began to race. The light changed, and like a scared rabbit, I got home, eyes darting about and my hands clammy.
I got inside and pondered my reaction. A delayed reaction to the mugging? Certainly. I knew this would happen at some point. Irrational fear, triggered by walking home in the dark on the same street, at the same corner where I got assaulted. Totally logical, but I still don't like it. I've never had fear as part of my landscape. I've walked halfway up Manhattan at 2am, carefully staying to well lit streets, without even the slightest fear of my life. But now I'm getting it a block from my apartment.
Moving won't fix this. It's part of me now. I just hope that last night won't become a common occurrence.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
oddly calm
It's been a very busy week at work, and socially as well. I saw Golden Thread's collection of short plays dealing with issues in the Middle East, and with being Middle Eastern. A mixed bag, but a very good evening for reflection and companionship. Game night before that, and then the show last night. It's been a week of excitement with the show, as the SF Weekly came out with a two page spread about the show. I was completely gobsmacked. We got a very positive write up in the SF Bay Times as well. Getting the call on Friday that the SF Weekly critic had just been on a local Jazz/public radio station, animatedly praising our show for two full minutes during rush hour pretty much sent me into orbit.
We had a good, but not sold out show on Friday night. They were a quiet bunch, which I hoped was due to the exhaustion of seeing a 10pm show on a Friday night. I seem to have been right, as they warmed up as the show moved on and the applause was thunderous at the end of the evening. People keep telling me that this is a show that could "run forever". It's a bit frightening, actually, to be sitting on something with this much potential. I can only comfort myself that I haven't screwed it up yet, and to keep trusting my instincts.
Today I had a film audition that I very nearly didn't go to. This would have been a large mistake, as what I thought was a faux commercial by Academy of Art University students turned out to be a national commercial for the University itself. I spent a half hour with the director and his crew and had a lovely time with them. We'll see if I get the role or not, but regardless of that I'm very glad to have gone.
It also got me downtown to meet with a friend and walk around Chinatown like a couple of tourists. My movements through San Francisco's Chinatown have always been a "get from A to B" affair, and casually strolling and window shopping on what must be the most temperate day of the year has settled me into a deep and graceful calm. I'm attending laundry and dishes, and doing a general clean and re-organization of the house right now.
And I'm profoundly happy.
We had a good, but not sold out show on Friday night. They were a quiet bunch, which I hoped was due to the exhaustion of seeing a 10pm show on a Friday night. I seem to have been right, as they warmed up as the show moved on and the applause was thunderous at the end of the evening. People keep telling me that this is a show that could "run forever". It's a bit frightening, actually, to be sitting on something with this much potential. I can only comfort myself that I haven't screwed it up yet, and to keep trusting my instincts.
Today I had a film audition that I very nearly didn't go to. This would have been a large mistake, as what I thought was a faux commercial by Academy of Art University students turned out to be a national commercial for the University itself. I spent a half hour with the director and his crew and had a lovely time with them. We'll see if I get the role or not, but regardless of that I'm very glad to have gone.
It also got me downtown to meet with a friend and walk around Chinatown like a couple of tourists. My movements through San Francisco's Chinatown have always been a "get from A to B" affair, and casually strolling and window shopping on what must be the most temperate day of the year has settled me into a deep and graceful calm. I'm attending laundry and dishes, and doing a general clean and re-organization of the house right now.
And I'm profoundly happy.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Weird Weekend
I think I can officially declare this a really weird weekend. Good, but weird.
We had another battery of shows this weekend. Sweetie Tanya has begun to actually, literally sell out. For a small black box show in the Mission to start selling out during it's second weekend... it's pretty freaking awesome. There's lots of talk about our need to do a "bring your own venue" Fringe Festival remount. Whether we do something like that in September, or if I can secure us a theatre around June is unknown. But the consensus seems to be, this show is too hot to just let die after 8 shows.
To compound the weirdness, I was interviewed by some folks from Comcast before the show on Friday. We had to rapidly get the set on stage, and dress it while the camera crew set up. I had been alerted that they would be there by the fabulous Peggy Powell, but it's still very odd to rush to get your show ready, and then stop in order to get the microphone put on right and then get fed basic promotional questions. They seemed pleased and they remained to film the first half of the show, so if anyone sees "local event news" on a Comcast station and wants to tape it for me, that would be cool.
It gets even stranger though. As cast and crew Google "Sweetie Tanya", strange things have begun to come up. In particular, we've had TWO people post "missed connections" on Craigslist for people that they were checking out at the show. Call me strange, but a musical about sexual harassment is not someplace I would consider to be prime territory for scoping out your next lover. Then again, all the guys on stage are being so creepy, that maybe all the guys in the audience look good by comparison?
Before the Friday show, I was over at Zack Stern's for a round of "Rock Band". I've heard the hype on this game, and I have to say that I really had fun with it. I'm decent on guitar and bass, but I completely suck on drums. I mean, I played guitar back in High School, so fret work of the basic type required by the game feels pretty natural. Getting my hands and feet coordinated for the drum pads was a humiliating task. Still, I wish we had done it on a night I could have stayed longer. After the show I went out for drinks with Neil Howard, his fabulous wife Lex, and Eleanor Reinholdt. Normally, I'll go out for a single drink and then bolt for the BART, but with Neil and Lex out all the way from NYC, I decided to go ahead and make a late night of it. I don't do the $40 cab ride home often, but what'cha gonna do? We stayed until the bar literally threw us out... at 1:40am!
I love San Francisco, but that's just ridiculous.
Saturday night was another late one, as I went to Consumating's "Prom" after the show. I went to the first prom two years ago, shortly after discovering the site. I met a lot of great people that first night, so I had been looking forward to Prom 2. Arriving after midnight, however, was a bit anti-climactic. I didn't have the benefit of the hours of drinking that everyone else had, and the party was much thinner than the first one. Still, I got to see Nina and to finally meet Will. So for me the trip was well worth it. I got to meet a few new people who I had only experienced online, but mostly it was just nice to see some familiar but infrequent faces. I ended up crashing at Brian Schirmer's place afterwards, much more tired than I realized.
Sunday was characterized by sleeping too late on the couch, relaxing with brunch, devouring a book on the way home, taking a deliciously hot bath (while still devouring the book) and Radiostar. I got a show about a third edited before heading into the city with our new microphone stand for our weekly recording session. We haven't met over the last two weeks, and we decided to take our first experimental steps towards the planned Radiostar SERIAL. This involved the return of Jennifer Jajeh to our ranks, who has been MIA for months now.
My evening was just beginning, however, as I needed to get to the DNA lounge in order to catch Kurt Larson's return to the stage. I found out long after I met Kurt that he had been in the band Information Society, but as I was into "Contemporary Christian Music" at the time the band was at it's hottest, I failed to have more than a peripheral awareness of it. So, this was really my first experience of Kurt's showmanship. I had heard a good sampling of his work over the years, but never seen him perform live. It was a hell of a show, and jam packed.
It's always strange to watch people throwing their bras and panties at the guy who you've spent hours hunched over Magic: the Gathering with.
So yeah, all in all... a weird weekend.
We had another battery of shows this weekend. Sweetie Tanya has begun to actually, literally sell out. For a small black box show in the Mission to start selling out during it's second weekend... it's pretty freaking awesome. There's lots of talk about our need to do a "bring your own venue" Fringe Festival remount. Whether we do something like that in September, or if I can secure us a theatre around June is unknown. But the consensus seems to be, this show is too hot to just let die after 8 shows.
To compound the weirdness, I was interviewed by some folks from Comcast before the show on Friday. We had to rapidly get the set on stage, and dress it while the camera crew set up. I had been alerted that they would be there by the fabulous Peggy Powell, but it's still very odd to rush to get your show ready, and then stop in order to get the microphone put on right and then get fed basic promotional questions. They seemed pleased and they remained to film the first half of the show, so if anyone sees "local event news" on a Comcast station and wants to tape it for me, that would be cool.
It gets even stranger though. As cast and crew Google "Sweetie Tanya", strange things have begun to come up. In particular, we've had TWO people post "missed connections" on Craigslist for people that they were checking out at the show. Call me strange, but a musical about sexual harassment is not someplace I would consider to be prime territory for scoping out your next lover. Then again, all the guys on stage are being so creepy, that maybe all the guys in the audience look good by comparison?
Before the Friday show, I was over at Zack Stern's for a round of "Rock Band". I've heard the hype on this game, and I have to say that I really had fun with it. I'm decent on guitar and bass, but I completely suck on drums. I mean, I played guitar back in High School, so fret work of the basic type required by the game feels pretty natural. Getting my hands and feet coordinated for the drum pads was a humiliating task. Still, I wish we had done it on a night I could have stayed longer. After the show I went out for drinks with Neil Howard, his fabulous wife Lex, and Eleanor Reinholdt. Normally, I'll go out for a single drink and then bolt for the BART, but with Neil and Lex out all the way from NYC, I decided to go ahead and make a late night of it. I don't do the $40 cab ride home often, but what'cha gonna do? We stayed until the bar literally threw us out... at 1:40am!
I love San Francisco, but that's just ridiculous.
Saturday night was another late one, as I went to Consumating's "Prom" after the show. I went to the first prom two years ago, shortly after discovering the site. I met a lot of great people that first night, so I had been looking forward to Prom 2. Arriving after midnight, however, was a bit anti-climactic. I didn't have the benefit of the hours of drinking that everyone else had, and the party was much thinner than the first one. Still, I got to see Nina and to finally meet Will. So for me the trip was well worth it. I got to meet a few new people who I had only experienced online, but mostly it was just nice to see some familiar but infrequent faces. I ended up crashing at Brian Schirmer's place afterwards, much more tired than I realized.
Sunday was characterized by sleeping too late on the couch, relaxing with brunch, devouring a book on the way home, taking a deliciously hot bath (while still devouring the book) and Radiostar. I got a show about a third edited before heading into the city with our new microphone stand for our weekly recording session. We haven't met over the last two weeks, and we decided to take our first experimental steps towards the planned Radiostar SERIAL. This involved the return of Jennifer Jajeh to our ranks, who has been MIA for months now.
My evening was just beginning, however, as I needed to get to the DNA lounge in order to catch Kurt Larson's return to the stage. I found out long after I met Kurt that he had been in the band Information Society, but as I was into "Contemporary Christian Music" at the time the band was at it's hottest, I failed to have more than a peripheral awareness of it. So, this was really my first experience of Kurt's showmanship. I had heard a good sampling of his work over the years, but never seen him perform live. It was a hell of a show, and jam packed.
It's always strange to watch people throwing their bras and panties at the guy who you've spent hours hunched over Magic: the Gathering with.
So yeah, all in all... a weird weekend.
Monday, January 07, 2008
let's hear it for the little guy
This from Neil's blog. It looks like United Artists is the first major studio to sign a new contract with the Writer's Guild.
This is the beginning of the end of the strike. Three cheers for the writers! And let's hope that nobody else needs to strike in the coming months.
This is the beginning of the end of the strike. Three cheers for the writers! And let's hope that nobody else needs to strike in the coming months.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Press
Some amazing press is coming out for the show, so I thought I'd share a bit of it.
We have a lengthy article in Backstage magazine, which can be found online here.
An excerpt:
"In San Francisco's artsy Mission District, theatre experimentalists stage premieres in hole-in-the-wall spaces, mostly for youthful, adventurous audiences. One such company, Cassandra's Call Productions, is mounting an original musical "for people who don't go to a lot of musicals," says company founder Dan Wilson. The venue, a tiny black box called the Dark Room, is known for campy adaptations of films and TV shows.
Even so, "Sweetie" Tanya: The Demon Barista of Valencia Street is different. A modern-day Sweeney Todd meets Monster (the film about serial man-killer Aileen Wuornos), it departs from tradition in that writer-director Wilson engaged 13 songwriters, including himself and music director Dave Malloy, to create the score."
The article is more about the process, since all the interviews were done about halfway through the rehearsal process.
A full on review is offered up by Chloe Veltman of the SF Weekly.
"There's a ghoulish little musical by the name of "Sweetie" Tanya: The Demon Barista of Valencia Street playing at The Dark Room in San Francisco's Mission District and it's terrific black-box stuff for all kinds of reasons.
This musical is a spoof of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, involving an unhappy San Francisco barista's bloodthirsty way of coping with difficult customers. But it takes on such a life of its own, that the relationship with the source material feels more like the seed of inspiration for the show than its overbearing shadow."
We have a lengthy article in Backstage magazine, which can be found online here.
An excerpt:
"In San Francisco's artsy Mission District, theatre experimentalists stage premieres in hole-in-the-wall spaces, mostly for youthful, adventurous audiences. One such company, Cassandra's Call Productions, is mounting an original musical "for people who don't go to a lot of musicals," says company founder Dan Wilson. The venue, a tiny black box called the Dark Room, is known for campy adaptations of films and TV shows.
Even so, "Sweetie" Tanya: The Demon Barista of Valencia Street is different. A modern-day Sweeney Todd meets Monster (the film about serial man-killer Aileen Wuornos), it departs from tradition in that writer-director Wilson engaged 13 songwriters, including himself and music director Dave Malloy, to create the score."
The article is more about the process, since all the interviews were done about halfway through the rehearsal process.
A full on review is offered up by Chloe Veltman of the SF Weekly.
"There's a ghoulish little musical by the name of "Sweetie" Tanya: The Demon Barista of Valencia Street playing at The Dark Room in San Francisco's Mission District and it's terrific black-box stuff for all kinds of reasons.
This musical is a spoof of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, involving an unhappy San Francisco barista's bloodthirsty way of coping with difficult customers. But it takes on such a life of its own, that the relationship with the source material feels more like the seed of inspiration for the show than its overbearing shadow."
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Sweetie Tanya has come to town
We opened tonight. The day was fraught with 70mph winds, major power outages in the Mission, bridge closures, BART delays, and torrential downpours. I was convinced that no one would be in the house for our opening night.
Then, almost miraculously, it cleared. We not only had people in the audience, we had far more than I had hoped for.
And the show worked. It worked pretty much exactly as I had hoped it would. I was feeling pretty confident after our tiny test audience saw it the previous night, but I wasn't expecting the thunderous applause at the end of the show. I wasn't expecting the continual laughter throughout, and the gasps of shock, and the bloodthirsty delight that came from our small crowd.
We nailed it.
I'm so exhausted.
I'm so happy.
Then, almost miraculously, it cleared. We not only had people in the audience, we had far more than I had hoped for.
And the show worked. It worked pretty much exactly as I had hoped it would. I was feeling pretty confident after our tiny test audience saw it the previous night, but I wasn't expecting the thunderous applause at the end of the show. I wasn't expecting the continual laughter throughout, and the gasps of shock, and the bloodthirsty delight that came from our small crowd.
We nailed it.
I'm so exhausted.
I'm so happy.
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