Thursday, August 30, 2007
Ghost stories and things that bite back
I met Joe last night at the Greenway, to walk the trail and get an idea of how many stations we were going to have for the Ghost Walk in October. We were discussing possible stories, scare tactics, scouting for electrical outlets and such, when we were joined by a feline friend, who decided to be out official mascot and follow us every step of the way. Kristen joined us a bit later and we had dinner at Chens which was good (at least until afterwards when I was up with heartburn). Kristen asked for my number so she could give to a friend of hers and I honestly don't know who was more excited about me possibly getting a date; me or Joe. So we take Kristen back to her car go play a little Wii tennis, where we of couse kicked ass, and then I headed back home. When you live alone getting out with your friends is a newsworthy event folks. We also ran into my fabulous director, or as some of you know her, mockingbird, and her friend from out of town. They are headed to the "geek fest" as she so lovingly calls it, so I wish them a safe trip to and from. As most of you know tomorrow is the premiere of Halloween. I am hyped up and have a good group of friends going; so it should be fun. You can be sure i'll be posting a review Saturday evening after work.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Deceit or something like it
My brother Jason called late last week to ask if I had plans Sunday. He complained that he would be bored sitting at his girlfriends house and would like to get together and "hang out." Let me pause at this point in the story to give you a bit of a background on my brother and I.
Growing up, early in our childhood we fought like typical brothers. By the time I was in middle school, we never fought, told each other everything, and were best friends. So close in fact that he and i decided to move out together and become roommates. About a year ago however, he started dating Emily and moved in with her so we don't see each other very much at all anymore; so when we get the rare chance to hang out we jump at it.
On the way to Jason's house I see a truck pulled over on the side of the road... nothing too abnormal right? At first glance you may think, flat tire, or engine trouble, but you would be wrong. There beside their car were numerous amounts of items packed in bags... on fire. Yes folks let this be a lesson to you. DO NOT THROW OUT LIT CIGARETTES.
I arrive at Jason's and after taking him to get a spark plug for his car and getting it up and running, he tells me he needs to go to Wal mart to get a bed frame. I'm thinking " no big deal just a little bed frame maybe 50 pounds." Little did I know i was wrong. This thing contains two night stands and a solid bed frame and weighed around 400 pounds. Not an exaggeration of weight, literally. The two of us were struggling to slide this thing off it was so heavy. The real fun would occur later when we get to Emily's house and had to carry it down the hill into her house. I was suckered into this one folks.
So after moving the bed we headed up to Gastonia, and did a little shopping. I picked up a few trinkets for my house and we grabbed some lunch. I had debated catching a movie but opted to lie on my couch and catch the Steelers game (which they won).
I probably should have spent the day working in the house and doing some decorating and so forth, but it was nice to hang out with Jason for the day. At one point in time during the day, Resa called to say her air conditioner was out in her house... which anyone in N.C knows at this point in time is a death sentence. I'll keep my fingers crossed that she gets it fixed rather quickly.
Growing up, early in our childhood we fought like typical brothers. By the time I was in middle school, we never fought, told each other everything, and were best friends. So close in fact that he and i decided to move out together and become roommates. About a year ago however, he started dating Emily and moved in with her so we don't see each other very much at all anymore; so when we get the rare chance to hang out we jump at it.
On the way to Jason's house I see a truck pulled over on the side of the road... nothing too abnormal right? At first glance you may think, flat tire, or engine trouble, but you would be wrong. There beside their car were numerous amounts of items packed in bags... on fire. Yes folks let this be a lesson to you. DO NOT THROW OUT LIT CIGARETTES.
I arrive at Jason's and after taking him to get a spark plug for his car and getting it up and running, he tells me he needs to go to Wal mart to get a bed frame. I'm thinking " no big deal just a little bed frame maybe 50 pounds." Little did I know i was wrong. This thing contains two night stands and a solid bed frame and weighed around 400 pounds. Not an exaggeration of weight, literally. The two of us were struggling to slide this thing off it was so heavy. The real fun would occur later when we get to Emily's house and had to carry it down the hill into her house. I was suckered into this one folks.
So after moving the bed we headed up to Gastonia, and did a little shopping. I picked up a few trinkets for my house and we grabbed some lunch. I had debated catching a movie but opted to lie on my couch and catch the Steelers game (which they won).
I probably should have spent the day working in the house and doing some decorating and so forth, but it was nice to hang out with Jason for the day. At one point in time during the day, Resa called to say her air conditioner was out in her house... which anyone in N.C knows at this point in time is a death sentence. I'll keep my fingers crossed that she gets it fixed rather quickly.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Another angle of madness
Now, as anyone who will probably read this blog knows, My two buddies and I just finished up "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged". When we heard that a college not so far away was performing it, we immediately jumped at the chance to see it from an audience view. Last night after work, showering, waiting out the hail storm and so forth; I went over to Joe's. He and Kristen (his date) were there and shortly thereafter Chad and his wife Rainey arrived, and a bit later Julie showed up. There was talk of others coming but no one else showed, which was sort of disappointing as I would have loved to have a few of the others who worked so hard on the show come see a different group doing it.
We arrive at the college and it's a nice intimate little theater, with probably 100 to 150 seats and a nice size stage. The setting for the show is very simple, basically a back wall with two doors, so the only noticable difference there was how it was painted. That being said the similarities stopped there. Of course the dialogue was the same, but the way it was read was different, the way they acted was different, and the things they changed were different. Some of the gags they used worked really well and we laughed at... but we felt very proud of our production. Here are a few differences (okay a lot of differences) in the shows in no particular order.
1. They had no costume changes. Our show was full of them, and it really adds to the show. These guys kept their base costumes on the whole show, and showed their change of charachters by throwing on the appropriate wig, cape, crown, etc..
2. THEY CUT OUT BUTT LOVE (enough said)
3. They sped through their lines so fast you could barely understand them at times. While the show is fast paced and you have to keep moving at all times, you also have to enunciate your words or you lose your audience.
4. In rap faster doesn't always mean better... I'm just sayin
5. THEY CUT OUT BUTT LOVE (Im just sayin)
6. If you don't play up Titus right, it gets totally lost on an audience and gets very few laughs.
7. If you do a pepto bismo jingle and mention diarrheah you get laughs.
8. A breakdancing robot is fucking hysterical on stage.
9. While the show is a hilarious show there are times it has to be pulled back to give the set up for other jokes... our director did a marvelous job telling us when we were going overboard
10. while you are playing yourself, the audience has to be able to tell the difference between you and your shakespeare charachters, otherwise it's not as funny. They didn't do anything to distinguish between charachters.
11. They got a LOT of influence from the video... we weren't allowed to watch it, I am thankful
12. You can really tell when someone is expecting to be a "volunteer"
13. THEY CUT OUT BUTT LOVE (Damnit)
14. Catholic jokes in a catholic college make for an interesting combination. It goes over much better than say a community college or a redneck town
15. The backwards scene is hard as hell, and if you don't do it right it's not NEARLY as funny... (They screwed theirs up big time.)
Overall the show was good, and some of the bits they added were really entertaining. Their mad Hamlet was hysterical. as was some of their football coreography, as well as the work with the volunteer. (Rainey thought they were mean to the volunteer; when she got on stage one charachter says, " and you said my wig was ugly. ") However they lose cool points for not having the converse high tops, (come on guys.) Also there is such thing as Karma, and this show was proof. I, even after raising my hands and participating in "maybe"" maybe not", got singled out for being "weak" and Chad got water spit on him....In our version he was the one spitting the water and I was the one alienating audience members...
In other news... I have today off and am going to hang out with my brother later. Next weekend is opening weekend for Halloween. Anyone wanna join me?
We arrive at the college and it's a nice intimate little theater, with probably 100 to 150 seats and a nice size stage. The setting for the show is very simple, basically a back wall with two doors, so the only noticable difference there was how it was painted. That being said the similarities stopped there. Of course the dialogue was the same, but the way it was read was different, the way they acted was different, and the things they changed were different. Some of the gags they used worked really well and we laughed at... but we felt very proud of our production. Here are a few differences (okay a lot of differences) in the shows in no particular order.
1. They had no costume changes. Our show was full of them, and it really adds to the show. These guys kept their base costumes on the whole show, and showed their change of charachters by throwing on the appropriate wig, cape, crown, etc..
2. THEY CUT OUT BUTT LOVE (enough said)
3. They sped through their lines so fast you could barely understand them at times. While the show is fast paced and you have to keep moving at all times, you also have to enunciate your words or you lose your audience.
4. In rap faster doesn't always mean better... I'm just sayin
5. THEY CUT OUT BUTT LOVE (Im just sayin)
6. If you don't play up Titus right, it gets totally lost on an audience and gets very few laughs.
7. If you do a pepto bismo jingle and mention diarrheah you get laughs.
8. A breakdancing robot is fucking hysterical on stage.
9. While the show is a hilarious show there are times it has to be pulled back to give the set up for other jokes... our director did a marvelous job telling us when we were going overboard
10. while you are playing yourself, the audience has to be able to tell the difference between you and your shakespeare charachters, otherwise it's not as funny. They didn't do anything to distinguish between charachters.
11. They got a LOT of influence from the video... we weren't allowed to watch it, I am thankful
12. You can really tell when someone is expecting to be a "volunteer"
13. THEY CUT OUT BUTT LOVE (Damnit)
14. Catholic jokes in a catholic college make for an interesting combination. It goes over much better than say a community college or a redneck town
15. The backwards scene is hard as hell, and if you don't do it right it's not NEARLY as funny... (They screwed theirs up big time.)
Overall the show was good, and some of the bits they added were really entertaining. Their mad Hamlet was hysterical. as was some of their football coreography, as well as the work with the volunteer. (Rainey thought they were mean to the volunteer; when she got on stage one charachter says, " and you said my wig was ugly. ") However they lose cool points for not having the converse high tops, (come on guys.) Also there is such thing as Karma, and this show was proof. I, even after raising my hands and participating in "maybe"" maybe not", got singled out for being "weak" and Chad got water spit on him....In our version he was the one spitting the water and I was the one alienating audience members...
In other news... I have today off and am going to hang out with my brother later. Next weekend is opening weekend for Halloween. Anyone wanna join me?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
New page
Ok So I was told by Chad to come to Blogspot... and as he may be the only one to read it could be pointless... but here goes. Not much to say today. I'm about to go see a show in Gastonia, and hang out with some friends. It's been a rough week, but I am off work tomorrow. Other than that all is well.
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