Snowed in/Snowed out

I was scheduled to be in the Arnold Saturday at 7pm. I was also scheduled to be in the Saturday afternoon improv class that day as well. Well, Christmas day came along and the roads were packed...with snow. Classes were cancled by John...but the shows remained a go for the time. Saturday afternoon, my friend Chris came and helped me shovel snow off of the driveway.

Note to Self: I need to get a good shovel and a good pair of snow boots. This will keep the snow from falling again if I'm actually prepaired for it...that's how it always worked while I was still in public school.

Around 3pm, the snow was coming back down and everything that had been shoveled was starting to get covered again. I told Chris that I had a feeling that trying to get out to Bonner that night might be futile. No more than 5 minutes later, John called me to tell me that the shows were canceled because roads were still bad in Bonner. This made me feel relieved a bit because I didn't have to worry about getting out there that night. So Chris and I "finished up" what we could do and I took him to get lunch as part of the deal. I had promised $20-$30 and/or lunch to anyone who would help me shovel the snow. Before getting lunch, I gave Nifer a call to ask about the Sunday class. At the time, the class for Sunday was still on and she would call before noon on Sunday if she decided to cancel.
By the way, I know Nifer is responsable enough to let everyone from class know if she were to cancel. But with the driveway still needing to be finished (and redone what was already done because of the added snow) I wanted to have a plan of action to work with. If she had canceled the class, I probably wouldn't have cared. But class was still on, so Chris and I went across the street to a hardware store to get a snow shovel.

Note to self: Snow shovel: Check. Now to concern myself with getting some snow boots.

Sunday morning came. My family and I didn't get to church because of the condition of the driveway (and maybe even the rodes). Chris came back to help me finish the driveway. When we had the last 1/7 of the driveway to finish, a neighbor of ours (I'm not sure who or where he lives though...I only assume that he lives down the street) pulled his tractor into the driveway, lowered a pull shovel in back of his tractor, and cleared off the last 1/7. All we had left to clean off was the sides of the driveway where the cars had to drive over. Thanks to the help of this guy, Chris coming back to help some finish the job, and me having a new snow shovel, we got the driveway finished between 11:05am and about 1:25pm (with a 5 minute break around noon).
Nifer's class continued as scheduled. But it was just myself and Chris in class. So we did some quick warm ups and a few scenes and then at break, Nifer practiced some of her coffee making skills on Chris and I...and John popped up and had some coffee as well. I had a hot chocolate...by the way, I was Nifer's first hot chocolate customer...and by that, she said that she hadn't even ever made any for herself. Anyway, after break we got back together and discussed what we're going to be doing in our show coming up in about a month. Oh, did I mention we're having a show? Yes, we're having a show coming up in a month for an hour followed by an hour of Dial-A-Show! It's Saturday the 23rd and it's also got 92 Monsters at 9pm!
Tune in soon for anything concerning Monday night improv.

Warren Zevon title album Part 1

Here is my first new Warren Zevon video in over a year. The THE WIND album overview was originally made last December. I stop making the videos because I was having trouble with loading them on YouTube. I made this video this last week.

Christmas 2009

Okay, so, we've had a blizzard yesterday/lastnight/today. It sucked. Just the fact that it snowed sucked. I hate snow with a passion because of how much it represents death and distruction and depression and dispair. I'm so tired of everyone gushing over and making love to snow and commenting on how "beautiful" it is. Then, they get onto me for bashing snow. If you had a huge snarling monster running around killing everyone and stepping on dogs and eating them for breakfast, would you gush over the moster and call it beautiful? No. Yet, I'm the only one presenting the true light of the snow and I'm getting treated like a monster...and yet, their still complaining about being "pinned in". Well, don't cry to me, okay. I was the one who was dreaming of a green Christmas.
However, I did want to pass along and mention what I got for Christmas. The very first thing I opened was a new wrist watch! Yea! I haven't had a watch in about 6 months because the rubber broke (I use velcro wrist bands and the loop is rubber). I also got a guitar calender and many DVDs: Terminator Salvation, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, STAR TREK (the new movie), Star Trek Fan Collective: Q and Star Trek Fan Collective: Captain's Log.
Oh, and I've got money too. But you usually don't mention that when you're saying what you got.
Oh, and I found out today that my improv class is canceled tomorrow. There is a slight chance that the show will be canceled as well due to the weather. I'm hoping that the streets...side streets at that...will be plowed tomorrow...and I also home some neighborhood children will be willing to make $20-$30 in shoveling the driveway pay. The snow is too deep for my shoes. I should get some winter boots. Then, it won't snow anymore. That's how it always worked out when I was younger.

$25,000 R060t P@r@d3 Part 2

Okay, well, I never updated and I don't remember too much. Let's see what I remember:
Saturday's show was $25,000 Pyramid. I found out that I knew more about gambling than I thought, I knew absolutely nothing about herbs, and Nifer and Jessica (who Nifer was partnered with first) know a decent amout of Star Trek stuff. Anyway, second half had a mishap. I won't go into it but there was an injury that led to a 5-10 minute break (from the show, not in the injury). But there was an R.I. Spectacular show that went really well...from the point of view of an audience member. After the shows, we watched Dragon's Lair...it was fantasy before fantasy had a budget to work with and before the late Stan Winston had a studio...he's the guy who did the Dino effects in Jurassic Park and the T-1000 effects in Terminator 2: Judgemend Day.

Sunday: Regular church service and then came home and got ready to go to Nifer's class (finally, once again after a one week hiatus because of graduation). I think I did some leaps in that class. I tried to get myself to cry a few times.

Monday: In class, John tried the method actor approach on a few of us to get us to react the right way. Also, at one point I was a hit man for the secret service trying to protect the president's daughter. This was kind of a mistake because I took information I was given and interprated it a certain way that just caused confusion. But, I got to be a ghost for all of three seconds in a haunted library. Also, in the second half, we're now working with the iPod/mp3 shuffle that Omega Directive and Red Rubber Ball has used. Yea! In the end, I realized that something I need to do is to find the balance in my "Yes...and" responses. Sometimes, I'm too logical and sometimes I'm too "out there" wacky. A balence needs to be met. I've got both extreames and so somewhere in the middle can and needs to be found.

Finally, it's officially Christmas now. So whoever comes across my blog, I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

$25,000 R0b0t P@r@d3 Part 1

I'll just briefly sum up this last weekend. Friday night was Robot Parade. Due to illness, another improv show in town, and simply not being ready, the cast consisted of Nifer, Julie, Jenifer, Ashley, Chante', and myself...with some guidence from John. So I wound up being the only guy from class in the show...and no, I'm not complaining. However, looking back, I don't think I performed much in the first half. The most I remember was being in a few Roving Imp Shows and a celebraty location which had myself and Chante' playing Elvis (assuming Presley) in Camelot. I think the most interesting thing I did was die...but fake my death.
In the second half, we continued to play 7-Minutes In Heaven. But we started with a cocktail party with the suggestion "Past Jobs". By the way, Chante' and Nifer are both unemployed currently and I, as I stated at the beginning of what I said, had been financially unemployed for the past 261/2 years. I went on to tell about my expierence with Borders and Blockbuster...both the Shawnee branch. However, most of the stories involved poop. One had to deal with teaching high schoolers about Viagra...and water towers that were huge...and being in a small town...you know, double meanings and what not. The very last scene was "AND MY POOP LOOKED LIKE THIS". So I came out and said, "and it looked just...like...me..." Then John called scene and asked for the moral.
Saturday in class, we worked with the Harold and the suggestion of "False sense of Security." We gave a monologue opener and then did the 3 groups of scene and game, 3 groups of scene and game, 3 groups of scene. The one that I was in was I was in an office but I had an issue with "the yellow man" because my charicter had faught in 3 wars in South East Asia...WWII, Korean, and Vietnam...and the guy couldn't get over the fact that he thought it was still 1958...while it was 2009...and he had to put up with the fact that you first of all, had to call "the yellow man" Asians and second, get over the fact that they weren't a threat. In the second beat, it was 1958 and I was in Korea...and I was exactly the same as I was back in 2009. It's been a while since I've had to work with a charicter who is the same person but changes over time. Lately in both classes, our charicters have been entirely different people from the start of the long form to the end. I need to get used to the idea of changing a charicter while still being the same one...changed over time instead of different physical person entirely.

Anyway, I'll talk about $25,000 Pyramid and the rest of Saturday and Sunday and my Monday night class after I get home from class.

$25,000 Pyramid

I had a rehearsal tonight for $25,000 Pyramid that will be shown Saturday at 7pm. The celebraties are myself (from 92 Monsters) and Nifer (in pretty much everything...but representing Biblioclast). In rehearsal, it was boys vs. girls. In the first round I started with Justin and ended with Patrick, who had a tag team. It was the other way around for the second half. Nifer had Jenifer Harmon before break and Julie Robison after break. I don't know how it will be on Saturday. But I found out that apparently, a camode isn't a toilet just for handicapped people (I thought it was)...but it's not the bathtub either.
Anyway, after rehearsal, we sat around and talked for a while and then played Scottland Yard. It's a mind baffaler.

Barenaked Ladies

I saw Barenaked Ladies tonight. They were awesome! I never saw Barenaked Ladies before...not live anyway.
By the way, for those who don't know, Barenaked Ladies in this blog update refers to the band that is known for the song "One Week". I'm not refering to hot girls wearing nothing but what they had on when they were born....just for the record.

Offically a college graduate...Officially

Weekend update going back to Friday:
Okay, well Friday night, I was in the tech booth for Coma Chamilion and then I was in the audience for Dictionary Soup. This was Keith Curtis's return to The Roving Imp since 1)Imp Fest and 2)the birth of his baby girl somewhere around a month ago.

SIDE NOTE: I was reading Jenifer Harmon's blog update about working tech for Anomoly Orange and I was inspired to write a blog update about working tech at the Roving Imp based upon my own personal expierence. Look for this someday hopefully this week.

Anyway, in Coma Chamilion, the animal was an Austrailian ant eater that's a mamal but leaghs eggs. The Coma part had Nifer in a coma because she was hit in the head with a lead pipe. My choice to black out on Chamilion was when they had become ants again and they were all on stage talking about odd things to their species as ants...which was done early on for them as ant eaters. As the person running the lights, it had gone full circle. In Coma, I dim the lights back and forth. I had problems a few times. But other than that, they worked out for the most part.
In Dictionary Soup, Tom Kessler and I put in most of the suggestions that were pulled in the first half. There were a few that were not ours but we had most of them...which took care of all of the first half. In the second half, there was a friend of Julie's who got to pick the word.
By the way, let me say (possably once again) that Dictionary Soup and Biblioclast are tied as my favorite shows...but in voting, I put Dictionary Soup first. Dictionary Soup was the first show to make anyone laugh and cry in one show. John and Keith are able to connect on an emotional level with eachother in a way that makes me jelious as an improvisor. There was a show once in which one of them was a charicter that gets inside the other and comes out as poop. And they still had humanly realisitic emotional connections with eachother as human and poop.
Anyway, after the shows, a few of us stayed around and watched Muppets Christmas Carol for Biblioclast Saturday night.

Saturday: For starters, I shave for the first time in about 2 weeks. Then, I went on out to the Imp for workshop. We got to play Let's Get Stupid again. I had asked John to keep an eye on my YES...ANDing because I tend to get logical with my anding every now and then. I've been afraid to start anding for a while. Now, I've learned to try it because usually my anding's turn out to be fun. Every now and then, I tend to throw logic in to my and's. However, one scene I was in with Nifer involved TV shows. She started as saying she was watching Dharma and Greg and that our lives were like theirs. Then we sprouted off TV shows. (I need to watch more TV shows by the way). Anyway, we went next door to Red Fortune and then came back and got ready for shows. I was in the audience for both shows. The first was Anomoly Orange's last show at the Roving Imp for this decade...presenting their new long form: The Office. Then 9pm was Biblioclast.
The Office was a long form that Jessica Robins came up with. My personal opinion was that it was like a Shakespearien Romantic Comedy for the modern day. It wasn't as long, nor did it have any cross dressing. But it did have other Shakespearien comedy elements...like mistaken identaty/ideas and a confused love interest that doesn't know how to manifest itself until a lot of quibbeling (done half way through in stead of at the end though) and a fool...who was actually a news anchor for Fox News. It was the first one publically shown so I'm not sure how the format works on a show to show bases. But I'm interested in seeing how.
Biblioclast, which is second only when the shows have to be numbered in a survey but otherwise too close to Dictionary Soup to not be a tie in my opinion of shows, started with the magnetic board. about 3/7 of the ideas there were mine. Then in the 2nd half, was the main show and then the drawed suggestion was Dodgeball for next month. By the way, this wasn't my suggestion. I wouldn't want to put them through that torture.
Anyway, after shows, we played the Extreame Edition of The Game of Life.

Sunday: I didn't go to Nifer's class today. Instead, I went with my mom and grandma up to Lawrence to walk across the stage and be like hey, I graduated. My sister was there with her youngest son and my friend Zach was there as well. I was feeling really down about it. And by down, I mean in a "it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I died in a horindeous car accident" type of down. That actually all changed becuase after I got signed in, I got a call from a certain someone...randomly...wanting to congradulate me and talk about meeting up sometime. We weren't able to talk long because of time and what not. But it did change my outlook.
Anyway, the ceramony lasted about an hour. Then my grandma, mom and I got dinner and came home.
That was my weekend.

Bring it down slowly...TOO SLOW!

I love going to the Roving Imp. Have I mentioned that before here on this blog? Because if I haven't, I do. Tonight was a rehearsal for ONE and Coma Chamilion. I'm not in either show but I am in the booth for both of them. In ONE, the location was a Mad Scientist's Lab. All of the years and charicters were conected and continued through to future dates. The ONE person was a guy named Bill (some Italian last name that I can't remeber) who sales used cars, is married to a woman who keeps having children through his best friend and a Mexican uncle who has been in prison so he's been REALLY lonely to the nth degree.
Tech wise, what I do for these shows is I usually black out at the end. For the most part, that's all I do so it's not very tech heavy. Strangely enough, this has been the one that was the hardest for me to grasp the blackout...but the first ONE that I teched was during the ImpFest and there was an issue with the camera that left me not sure where to end. But 2 months later, I feel confident.
Anyway, during the Coma Chamilion rehearsal, they did 2 animals. The first was my suggestion which was a Red Breased Boobie (which came up in a DANG game a while back and there was an issue on if it was really Blue Footed Boobie or if the Red Breased one actually existed...I looked it up on the computer at home and it actually existed...but this is back story now.) That went well tech wise and then they did a crab...which also went well tech wise.
The Coma part uses lights more. The person is in a coma, they say why (Chante' was ran through with a Christmas tree or something like that) and then they are visited in the hospital by someone. The visiter says something and then lights down...lights back up on the dream of the coma patient. After a few scenes, it's lights out. Lights back up and another visiter is seeing them in the hospital. The fade on the light board is slow. This was a problem at the Imp Fest (for me anyway...always remember that in my mind, problems are blown out of proportian more than they really are) in which I had started to dim but someone came on stage so I had to hold off blacking out completely. We worked some with this and this is where the title comes from. I was bringing the lights down and I would go too fast. Then, I went too slow. Finally, I got it just right. I like blackout because it will black out right away. The fadeing changes slowly.
Anyway, that show and Dictionary Soup (which is my favorite show at the Roving Imp when I have to count down but tied very very close to Biblioclast) are tomorrow night and then Anomoly Orange and Biblioclast is Saturday night.

It snowed...

And I really hate snow. And quite frankly, I can't really remember ever liking snow. There were times we would get about 6" of snow and they would not cancel school. Then when I was in high school, we would get ice storms where the ice was 2" thick and they wouldn't cancel school and my mom would be mad at me for having to go to school...she would have to go to work and therefore, have to leave even extra early to drop me off at school. Every now and then, we'd get the surprise storms that no one knew what to do because they'd come right after an Indian Summer (days in January where it gets up to 65-75) and then temps plummet to 25 and rain.
When I went to JCCC, they hardly ever canceled for snow. It would snow about 2 or so inches and they still would not cancle and people like to act like they can drive in snow but they don't know how to do so. A drive that usually took 30 minutes would take about 65 minutes. Then KU NEVER canceled at all. The only time they actually canceled was when there was a microburst in March of 2006. Then they canceled when the Men's Basketball won the championship in April of 2008. One or two times, a class was canceled because of weather, but more often than not, there wasn't a snow closing...I'd have to tell my teachers that I commuted and if it snows too much, I may have to miss class.

So yes, I got to the point where I just absolutely hate snow and I curse snow all the time whether it snows or not.

Rightiouson Disease

I had Rightiouson's Disease tonight during improv class. I can't remember which scene it got mentioned but the scene wound up having me getting very movey with my head and neck and jerking a lot and I said I had Rightiouson's Disease. As I said it, I was thinking of the disease that Michael J. Fox has but I couldn't think of the name...actually, I had two ideas of the name in mind. I didn't want to say the "wrong" disease. So instead, I made of a disease that doesn't exist. This offered me freedom in two ways. The first way was that, since it sounds like the name of a disease that could exist but just simply doesn't, I got freedom to do whatever with it. (Eventually, it got me...in another scene...up on a block doing a two step while windmilling my arms like a member of The Who on guitar while still jerking most of my body). The second freedom it allowed me was not exactly improv related, but gave me something that wouldn't offend anyone in the audience if it were a show.
The improv take on offence...at least what I've been told...the best idea is to not go out of your way to offend people...and if you're going to do so, play the heck out of the offensive thing. If you're playing a charicter in an improv scene who's a total racist, play that racist to the fullest...you're not making fun of the race that the racist is making fun of, you're making fun of the racist himself. And don't do it apolgetically...the audience can tell that you're not the offensive one if you over play the one who is being offensive to the max.
This is how I interprated how it's been told to me.
Anyway, for the portion in which we got out challenge, I was given the challenge to do a celebraty impersonation and make it real...not make the celebraty real but to play them as a real character. I didn't do it well but I tried for Christopher Walken...mainly because I've never played him before.

It's Not Winter Yet!

And already there's snow predicted. I hate snow. There is anywhere from a trace to 2 feet or so predicted for Sunday...a trace and 2 feet is a huge difference between whether or not I can get out...specifically to Bonner Springs for Nifer's improv class.
But the main snow storm is scheduled for Tuesday. If I must, I'll put up with snow Tuesday since I've got no where to be that day.

Happy Place

I got to go to my happy place tonight. It's the Roving Imp theatre. I didn't even do any improv myself either. I was in the booth working tech for the rehearsal of It's Debatable. This is a very easy show to tech because the lights actually never black out. They dim and come up and dim again but there is no cue to black out. The topics for rehearsal involved replacing eyes with x-ray vision goggles. The second involved free sex and drugs for middle school children. But they are discussed in the style of a high school debate (I assume...I was never actually involved with debate in high school. I'm just going off the discription of the show).
After rehearsal, we all played a game called LIST. This is a game in which you get a topic and then you go around 2 times to get something with that list. For example, a topic would be favorite fruit. Suggestions would be like Apple, Pear, Pineapple, bananna, blueberry, grape, orange...anyway, we go around the circle of people twice and get 2 list. Then, we go around once and everyone chooses one to eliminate. Like blueberry and Pineapple would get eliminated. Then, we go around twice and vote for which one to win the main one...we vote for 2 of them...but 1 a round. I actually won one. It was Maggie Gyllenhaal for what female celebraty would you want to have as your naughty cuddle buddy. I've never won a list before but I never expected it to be that catagory.
Anyway, it was a fun night.

The Wind

This is the video overview I did for Warren Zevon's THE WIND. It was his last studio album. This is actually one that YouTube didn't really touch. But I removed it myself to keep it from being removed by YouTube.

Shot hazzard

Hey, here's an update that doesn't have anything to do with improv at all except for the mentioning of it in this sentence...
So, I went to church today to take care of the sign out front I've been taking care of since late September I think. This is not a weekly thing all the time but I still need to check every week. But today, at the south west corner of the bushes that the sign is between, there was an open needled surenge. I mentioned it to the office worker there I think mainly as a witness. She picked it up and said it looked like one for an inselin shot.
Frankly, I didn't care how or why it was there or what it was used for. I didn't like that it was an open needle (no covering I mean), lying around and almost hiding in the grass, and could easily be fallen onto/stepped on by some child who happened to be out playing. Should they be playing that close to the street? Probably not, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't. I know, because when I was younger, I had no fear. I rode my scooter (they used to be bigger and wider if you remember) down my street which sloped down towards the street of Lamar in Mission, KS. I lived 5 or 6 houses up the street then and the street was not even half a block from a major street.
Anyway, I just didn't like that the syrenge (or however it's spelled) was there in the first place.

Defeating Bowser

It was stated in a facebook status update that someone needs time off from their time off-ness and I said that I used to get a lot done on my days off...like defeating Bowser. But now I associate time off with days I don't go to Bonner Springs so I just sit around and mope.

Anyway, in improv class tonight, (just go with that segway why don't you) I found out that while I'm getting better with my own facial expressions, I'm not great with picking up on my scene partner's facial expression. As it turns out, this is one of those things I suffer from by being a man. We did a game tonight that was simular to "wake-up" in which everyone had been in a coma type state but regain conciousness...but we act with eachother through facial and body language. In a scene I was in, Nifer was my partner who started out really happy. I picked up she was really happy but I didn't pick up on what she was happy about. Her smile, to me anyway and only to me, looked more like a cunning smile as though she knew a secret/did something to me that I didn't know. It went from there but I was obviously off from the get-go.
John had told me before that lack of comfort in showing facial expression is inherent in the evolution of man as a gender...though that wording is my interpretation of what he said. I found out today that it is likewise in reading the scene partner's facial expression...and apparently, so is the ability in doing a scene without words. Predominately, without words, I am screwed.

This is my challenge for the month. Besides improving upon my own facial expressions...something I've already started working on, I need to work on reading the expression of my fellow performer.

7 Minutes In Heaven

Time for a "quick" weekend update. This may be Improv heavy. I can't be held responsable to what I find to be most fulfilling in my weekend.
Anyway, going back to Thursday:

Thursday: This was Thanksgiving. I didn't do much. I was on the back end of a sinus problem and trying to make sure I could be in the shows Friday and Saturday night. My mom and grandma went out while I stayed home and watch the Office Jim&Pam's wedding in HD. Then, after my mom and grandma got back from dinner, we watched Animal Crackers. It's a Marx Bros. movie.

Friday: Feeling more refreashed from the time spent getting over the cold...thing...I left the house finally for the first time since Tuesday. I went and had breakfast with my grandma at Pegah's family restaurant. That night, I was in Robot Parade at the Roving Imp. I'm not going to say I did great, but I did what I did and I'm proud of it. In the first half, we did celebraty/location and Roving Imp show and Super Hero Wedding. The main showcase in the first half was emotional facial exspressions. My scene partner and I were in a doctor's office and our emotions were "Shamed" and "in love". The second half was our long form which was 7-Minutes In Heaven.
Sucess was made in attempting and going through with an accent (I called it a former USSR country). As far as what I did, that's what I feel the most proud of. Then I was in the Tech booth for ONE. After the show, 4 of us stayed (John, Nifer, Chris, and myself) and we played Act 1. This is a game with lines from TV shows and movies and everyone has to guess the title from the lines.

Saturday: Improv workshop at 1:30-4pm. This was also the night of the Arnold and so class ran the way the show was supposed to run. Looking back, I can't remember many specifics. The first half pretty much had the same games as Friday night. However, I do feel good about my portrayal of "Terrified" and "Twisted". However, "Twisted" was more in my body than my face. The second half was Minor Charicters. I hardly ever had a spot light charicter (minor charicter who took the foreground) except for about once or twice and I'm fine with that. I was told over all that my performence has gotten a lot better since last month. The 9pm show was Omega Directive. I'm glad I was in the audience for it. The second half was ALSO 7 Minutes In Heaven. My favorite was on with Juliette Capulette and Marsha Bradey. Anyway, after the shows, a few of us stayed late and watched The Room...quite possably the worse movie ever made. I can talk about this more later.

Sunday: I got to church early to do the projector stuff. I got home and loaded Robot Parade pictures onto Facebook. I tried The Arnold but had too many problems. I took about an hour nap and then went to Nifer's improv class. As always, this was a fun class. I conciously "yes...and-ed". My problem...while I have no problem "yes"ing, I lack in "and"ing. I'm told my "and"ings are actually very good...but lacks in amount. This is based upon a fear of denying something that has already been set up...mostly...also, it's easy to go into "stuff-prov" which is okay in small amounts (when the stuff doesn't overshadow the relationship between those on stage) but can easily be thrown into overdrive when you're not careful.
I also tried an angry French-man and I also gave a reaction that wasn't expected that I feel proud of.

Anyway, that was the weekend.

Very quick

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

...because of the diamond

The following will be my attempt at a quick weekend update going back to Thursday.

Thursday night was rehearsal for ONE (I was there for the booth) and R. I. Spectacular. I was there to hang out. Anyway, after rehearsal, a few of us stayed and watched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Nifer had to write down lines for her and John to pull during Biblioclast Saturday night...for which I was also in the booth...more on that later.

Friday night, my mom, grandma and I went to see A Reduced Christmas Carol, Cinderella: Or The Shoe Must Go On and Christmas vauldville at Martin City Melodrama at Metcalf South (at one point it it's life it was a) Mall. Reduced Christmas Carol was the cast of 7 was reduced to 2...2 people doing A Christmas Carol with hats and props changes...Basically the show was NOT A Christmas Carol. The show WAS these two people left to do it on their own.
By the way, I have often considered auditioning for Martin City Melodrama...but I don't know if I really want to do scripted shows anymore. I got burned out the whole idea of scripted theatre a while back. But that's a blog entry for another time. After the show, we went to IHOP. Yeah, don't remind me.

Saturday afternoon was the Arnold workshop. I found out I wasn't the only one having issues with facial exspression. However, I was able to pull off a facial exspression in one scene that went from annoyed disgust to painful pleasure in a sorority scene where I was made all wet and then had to have a starfish placed on my left nipple. To keep this blog family friendly, I'll leave it at that. Then, I was given the personal challenge to be the person in charge. It didn't work great...not in my opinion anyway. I started as a charicter who yelled at his newborn son for not crying so we could know he was alive to being the current pope telling Max Weinburg that he couldn't be a priest because Max Weinburg is Jewish and the pope was a former nazi.
Anyway, Saturday night was R.I. Spectacular and Biblioclast. I was in the booth for Biblioclast but I really laughed too hard and realized 1/2 way through the first half that I was laughing too hard and loud. They don't mind the laughing. But I'm closer to the mic.
Anyway, Biblioclast for December was once again my suggestion (and I only put in 3). It's going to be The Muppet Christmas Carol. I decided I was going to put in some version of A Christmas Carol for December and that one was really my favorite as a child...also, I didn't actually believe it would be the one drawn.
After shows, a few of us stayed and we played a game of Past Lives. At the end, I wound up with 1,800 credits or so and level 2 which tells you at the end who you were in a past life. One time before, I was Fatty Arbuckle. This time I was Catherin the Great from Russia.

Sunday I was late to church...as always...though I was more on time than I've been lately. Anyway, after my teching was finished, I came home and got a nap. I had some decent dreams for my Sunday afternoon nap. They usually wind up with me getting attacked or something. Nifer's class was canceled (this is back to reality, not my dream) because of a belly dance that was at 4. It was actually quite interesting. Unfortunately, the CDs they were using had been scrached previously. So John's computer didn't want to play them. They would play the CD but stop as it got to the scratched spot. My computer does that as well. It will play any part of the CD but at the track that's scratched, it will play and then stop...of course, it was the tracks they were using that were scratched. The show went well otherwise. I can say I witnessed a cultural expierence today.
Anyway, I came home and my family and I went to eat at Applebee's.

Now there are 2 things that should be mentioned:
1) The title "...because of the diamond" is a phrase that John uses to describe anytime plot is being used in improv. If you're saying anything that can be imidiately followed with "...because of the diamond" you're going into plot. However, I think it would be a good title to a writen story.
2) If I'm going to give a "quick update" I have to leave improv workshops and rehearsals out of it. I even went back to shorten out some details from Saturday. Then Monday night is another workshop for Robot Parade...which is this Friday. Maybe I'll be able to give a shorter update for that.

New Parody

I wrote a new song parody. I used to write them all the time between 2002 and 2005. But it slowed down. The last one I wrote was for Poetry Writing II which was a parody to Bruce Springsteen's "Jungleland" called "Funco Land".
This is a parody to Kid Rock's "All Summer Long"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEyV3DVv1o
I was upset that it samples Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London" but has nothing to do with werewolves...however, it over glorifies one of the worst songs ever written which is "Sweet Home Alabama." I put a link to the youtube video that plays the song with the original lyrics. You can use it to read along to my lyrics. This new song is about this guy who goes to Alabama hunting a werewolf. But he meets this really kinky girl from the UK who just so happens to be a werewolf. But he's so annamored with her (if that's the word) that he doesn't realize that she's the beast he's been hunting...until it was too late.

Chasing A British Werewolf (All Summer Long)
By: David Rushing
Parody to “All Summer Long” by: Kid Rock

It was 2009, I was visiting the Southern States
When I met this really kinky British girl
We met in the city of Loxley and she was very foxy
In Alabama she took me for a whirl!
CENS-Sord! Censored!
Censored! Censored! Censored!

That summer was a blast
And went by way too fast
If only I knew then why we were both there
I was personally on a hunt
Didn’t know she’d be all I’d want
Whenever the moonlight grew out her hair

[Chorus:]
But I was hunting a Wolf Man
Didn’t think it was a Wo-Man
As we got very kinky to a Zevon song
I’d only see her in the daylight, packed silver bullets before midnight
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long

Yes I was on a mission
But distracted by her kissin’
Never got the hint when she started licking me
I had to try to remember
To stop the beast before September
I didn’t know but somehow, she was the key

While I was hunting some Wolf Man
And never knew it be a Wo-Man
As we would get very kinky to a Zevon song
I’d see her only in the daylight, Silver bullets packing before midnight
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long

Now nothing sucks as much as when my blood began to rush
When my silver bullets brought her life to an end
She just had to be the one I was chasing since I begun.
I’ll never hear “Werewolves Of London” the same way again

[Chorus]

But I was hunting a Wolf Man
Didn’t think it was a Wo-Man
As we got very kinky to a Zevon song
I’d only see her in the daylight, packed silver bullets before midnight
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long
Chasing a British werewolf all summer long

Short...maybe

So, I've noticed that a lot of my blog entries have been really extreamly long. For some reason, I have a tendency to get over discripted about things that don't really need to be overly described. I'm hoping for this entry to be shorter though at this point, I have no idea how long it's going to be. But I think I can sum up what I want to say for this entry with a few sentences.

My mom rented STAR TREK tonight from redbox. So my mom, my grandma and I had a movie night!

There, that was short and to the point. Good night.

That Wasn't A Cookie...(die)

So, tonight during improv workshop, I had one personal challenge for myself. I wanted to attempt one more accent that I haven't decided yet to try out myself on stage in the safety of class. I wound up using a French accent. I don't know if I did it well; but I did get a laugh. 2 personal challenges completed...attempt an accent and make people laugh.

Side note: Making people laugh isn't an improv goal. It's a personal goal I have in everyday life. If I can do something that makes someone laugh, it makes me feel good...whether I found it to be funny or not. When put into an improv context, making people laugh is not the goal for the performer as much as good scene work and relationships. Put it this way; if good improv is like good cake, then getting a laugh from the audience is like icing on the cake...cake that is just as good without the icing (Dictionary Soup is a good example of this...one of THE BEST Dictionary Soup shows that I've seen had the audience crying at the end). What is important is what you give to the audience. If they laugh, it's great. If they are engaged at the ending of the scene and not board to death, that's the improtant thing...like a slice of cake that doesn't need icing...
Side note 2: It still feels good when I get a laugh...especially from the class instructor...but then again, I always liked icing.

I also got to play Cookie Monster in a scene and I got killed by a NerfBall (hence the title). But the challenge from John tonight was for me to play a steriotypical homosexual. I wasn't too sure why at the time. He had me play a non-steriotypical homosexual 2 Saturdays ago for the purpose of exspressing emotion. I think he wanted me to play a steriotypical homosexual tonight because I've been having issues with physical body movements and poses on stage; there is me, and then there is me with a hunched back. I've been trying to change but I haven't been able to based upon body size and phsicality of my body as it is. Well, if that was the purpose, well then I clame sucess. But there is a possability that he wanted me to see if I could do so without actually calling my charicter a homosexual. I never brought it up...well, not in subject anyway. I hinted at it through body motions and what not.
Anyway, based upon my issue with physicality and what not, Julie had me do an exercise in a mirror after class was overwith to walk up to the mirror leading with a different part of my body...leading with different body parts...leading with my elbows creates a different character for example than leading with my nose...or my ankle, or my butt, or my pinky finger, ect. She actually suggested that I "lead with my knees" on Saturday during class in a scene we were in...I now understand why.

I need to keep these in mind:
1) Workshop is there for me to try out things that might suck before I try them out on stage.
2) The audience laughing at something said on stage is like icing on the cake...and I will get more laughs attempting something at full force than shying away from trying.
3) Changing my physical stance could be as simple as what part of the body I lead with.

I could give more...but it's late and I didn't mention anything else.

Thursday - weekend...yeah

So, I haven't updated since EARLY Thursday morning. So let me give a brief run down on what's happened since then...

Thrusday:
After I got up I had breakfast. While eating breakfast, I got a call from my church asking me to come in that day or Friday to change the sign. I just simply decided to take care of it Thrusday afternoon since I was taking care of everything Thursday. So I went to church and changed the sign. (By the way, this is the "old style" sign...a glass case still has to be unlocked to changed the sign with individual letters...not the digital type in like some more high tech churches have). It was extreamely windy Thursday afternoon and the case is propped open with a pvc pipe that is really too thin to hold it up when it's that windy. For one side of the sign, I had to prop it up with my back. But all in all, it took aproximately an hour to change and put the old letters back in the cubbies they're kept in when not in use. Then, I headed out to Lawrence. I made sure I'd be able to walk in December with the Summer and Winter graduates from KU. Then I went to get my cap, gown, tassle, and announcements...for just over $48.00. It's like KU's way of getting the last butt kick of cash out of me. Anyway, I left there and headed to Bonner for 92 Monsters and Red Rubber Ball rehearsal. Then after raising a blue streak because of traffic at 5:15, road construction and a train, I made it to rehearsal with about 4 minutes to spare. Anyway, 92 Monsters and Red Rubber Ball were the shows at the Roving Imp Friday night. I was in 92 Monsters and boothed for Red Rubber Ball. At the end of rehearsal, we played Lunch Money...remind me to do a blog about that game sometime...
Friday:
After I got up, I took my grandma to breakfast. Then after getting home, I watched Thursday's The Office on NBC.com. I think it was one of the shining moments for the season so far...even though some of my fellow Office watching friends think it totally sucks this season...I could do a blog about that too but I really want to get on with this. Anyway, I got ready and headed to the Roving Imp to perform in 92 Monsters. We did Ellen DeGenerous. I feel that I was able to succed in 1 goal which was to play a high energy character. Unfortuantely, the character I had wasn't a strong character...just very energetic. Anyway, that was the first half. The second half of 92 Monsters, took place in a cartoon world and we learned a lot about the personal life of Elmer Fudd. I was able to call out a funny line when my scene partner attempted to be Buggs Bunny with a "carrot" in his mouth, I told him to take the spoon out of his mouth (this succeded in a laugh because the audience expected it to be a carrot too). Unfortunately, I don't remember much else about my role other than that my scene partner and I were members of a city councel who couldn't agree on anything...oh, and we had a running gagg with the "spoon" where he would smack me on the forehead with it. Anyway, for Red Rubber Ball, I went back to the booth and hooked up someone's iPod to the speaker system. But for some reason, it didn't want to interface with the computer (it was in a rubber casing and the chord seemed to not go in all the way...that's one possable reason). Anyway, John came back and had me hook it up to the Imp's computer library database...it got worked into the scene as Billy Joel was killed. Second half was smoother. They did a Plus Ronde and I was able to pull the lights and have it end with Julie and Nifer...who had started the show...only this time, their situations were reverse. And that was Friday night. We entered into the early hours of Saturday morning hanging out and talking.
Saturday:
I got up, ate breakfast, showered, and headed to the Imp for the Saturday afternoon workshop. We had a very small class that day. It was just myself, Nifer, Julie, Steve, and Justin. Joey was their for the first half of rehearsal with his new girlfriend. But they left at before we started working on the long form. I can't remember if anything really stood out in my performance in class but I do know that I want to work a lot with accents. Maybe tomorrow night/morning, I'll have a blog about accents. Anyway, after class, I came home and got ready to go back out to the Imp to see Dial-A-Show and for the Improv Jam. It was packed...but that's nothing new for Jam nights. I got to be in 3 games during the Jam. One was 3 Simple Rules. The rules were 1)No using a words that started with the letter S, 2)An impersonation of Paris Hilton (to keep this blog family friendly, I won't mention any lines), and 3)hunch-back. The other game I was in was Sports caster. I was participating in the sporting event of vaccume cleaning. There is really no other way around saying it but I truely feel like I sucked at that...I did okay...I had done that a few times back when I was in Survivor and it worked out well, but of everything I was involved with, that was the game I wish I could have not been in...but I'm not used to 3 contestants. But whatever...the other one was "I like my woman (or I like my men) like I like my _______." I personally felt like I was on fire in that one. Anyway, after the Jam, a few of us headed over to the house of the family that got everyone to come to the Jam and we hung around and talked. Anyway, future results of some of the things I talked about may show up here in the future.
Sunday:
Got to church late again...as usual. Came home, then took my grandma...but she came back with my mom while I came home and napped. Then, I got up late from my nap...again...to get some lunch and head out to Bonner for Nifer's improv class. I do have one high light I want to mention. I did attempt in pulling off a Russian accent. It wasn't executed great...but did come across as central-to-Eastern European. I call this not on the nose...but on the face. Anyway, I felt good about it (except that I decided to attempt it in a scene that wouldn't last longer than 1 minute...that's the only thing I'm not happy about it). I also attempted different physical stances...this needs work on I think it's harder because I don't exactly have a body that can comfortably do that and sustain a character. But we'll see how it works out.
Anyway, to me, it's still Sunday. But it's 6:20 Monday morning. So I'm going to bed.
(I just hope it doesn't snow today like they're predicting. I hate snow so much).

Ceremony

On December 13, 2009, I have a chance to be recognized in a graduation ceremony along with other summer and winter graduates from KU. This is a Sunday starting at 2pm. I don't know how long it'll take but I am pretty sure that, at best, I would be late for Nifer's improv class if I even go to class at all. I know what anyone who will come across this blog would probably be saying:
"This guy is contemplating between his own graduation ceremony and an improv class he does on a weekly basis."

And if you're not thinking that, you're thinking:
"Wow, this guy really likes his improv!"

Or you might even be thinking:
"I'm hungry, when's lunch (or breakfast or dinner depending on when you read this)".

Well, the truth is that at least 2 of these are correct. The last one is correct in some cases because you may really be hungry when you read this. It just doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand. The first one is correct because, though I do intend on going to the ceremony, nothing hurts me worse than to miss an improv class. And that is because the second one is correct. If I'm lucky, I'm doing something involving improv as much as 5 nights a week. Thrusday night - Monday night...though sometimes as seldom as Saturday afternoon - Monday night. Improv is really the only thing in my life currently that makes life worth living.

Side note: I suffer from mild depression every now and then...To the point where I don't care about anything and...though I don't become suicidal...I do question the usefulness of my life and if it would matter to anyone if I died in a horrindous car accident. Sometimes I feel the need to cry but without knowing a reason. I call this "mild depression" because it's not diagnosed by a profeshinal...I can't afford it because I don't have a job...I will explain this in another blog update. I tryed to hear and it just got really long...

Anyway, so yeah, improv is what I find makes life worth living. Even if I don't perform, it's the haning out with my friends afterwords that just helps me unwind because we all have past issues and things that have made us who we are today. Some of my issues are shared with others and some aren't.

But this update is really about the fact that I don't want to have to miss class for a ceremony that only a select number of family and friends will be able to attend...but I spent 7 years trying for that degree and I know people will be upset with me if I don't walk across the stage. I even brought it up in class last Sunday and everyone was like yeah...go for it.
I don't know what I hope or want to accomplish in typing this update. I think I just wanted to get something said in my own words.

Sentimental Hygiene

This is my overview to Warren Zevon's SENTEMENTAL HYGIENE album.

Monday

Well, the weekend ended and Monday came...Monday night being the last night of improv for me for as much as 3 nights...sometimes as much as 5 nights but this week, I'll go back on Thursday.
But that's not the point to the blog.
Tonight's improv class was lead by Nifer. At one point we played Super Hero Wedding (simular to Super Hero Funeral only more fun than depressing). I started as a charicter that was mostly myself.
Let me take sometime to say that I usually wind up playing "myself" on stage when I'm not stopped and reguided. I put quotes because I'm not really myself...I'm a character. But for some reason, I keep playing charicters who are very much like me...in stance and speaking quality...they just don't have the same personal history.
Anyway, back to the Wedding. Nifer stopped me and told me that she wanted me to play a charicter who had an Irish accent. Honestly, the only way I can get an Irish accent is after I've listened to The Elders for a while. I told her that I couldn't guarentee an Irish accent...it may be a Mexican Irish Pirate accent (or whatever was the phrase I used). She told me that it's quite alright to be wrong with an accent and infact extramely funnier to the audience if you're off on an accent. So I gave the Irish accent a go...
I have a couple of fears when I play a charicter outside of my personal physical/genetic disposition (if that's an acurate phrasing). I'm worried about playing someone who's female, homo(bi)sexual, from another country, migit, or any number of charicters unless I've done it before. My main fear is actually offending someone in the audience. So far, the only thing I can think of that could have actually offended someone with what I said was when I brought up H1N1 and someone in the audience had had it...and the last time they were there it was mentioned...I place it under current event rather than offencive. But that's just me. But part of the reason that some people have been turned off of improv is because they have been offended. Recently, improv in KC got a bad rap for doing gay steriotype jokes in a "scripted" show. It's associated with improv because apparently everyone involved is from an improv troupe. I also have some friends who perform improv...but saw a show in Chicago and then said that they were offended saying if that was their first idea of improv, they would be turned off of improv for life. So I have a fear of offending someone. This is more likely when you play someone of a different gender or sexual orientation or physical handicap. But depending on where they come from, a bad accent may be offensive. That's my main fear.
I also fear being ridiculed for having a wrong accent. I don't mind getting a laugh. I'm just not wanting it to be something that get's called out like "wait, by that accent, you can't be from Russia, you're obviosly from Austraila." This is like building a pyramid with your improv and then removing the lower block...and it all comes tumbling down.
In improv, we're told we can do no wrong. We can wind up doing no funny...which is why we take classes...but we can do no wrong. So I'd like to be able to choose for myself to play a character with different things like I stated without feeling like I am wrong...or without fear that I will do something offencive.

By the way, I succedded in being funny with the accent. It was completely horrible and sounded more like a Mexican-British pirate. But everyone found it funny.

Follow Through

Okay, so first things first, I finally found the school I was looking for where I'm seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technocolored Dreamcoat tomorrow night...FINALLY.

Also, there is now finally a "dislike" option for Facebook. Here's what you need. You need to have Firefox. Then, you need to follow a link to a place where you can download the add-on. Then, you need to restart Firefox. Then, you need to go back to Facebook and open it up. Finally, you need a faster modem (apperently) than I have.
Oh well, I promise to only use the "dislike" option for good. For example, a status update says "Katie Dongohimer has gotten the Swine and died because her health insurence didn't give her permission to get it..." that would be a "dislike". "Jim Branson chopped off a toe on my way to work..." that would be a "dislike". "Mary Huntington got an A in Anthropology. Good thing I stayed up 2 nights in a row studying..." that would not be a "dislike" because Mary passed...although in this situation, I'd probably go for a "like" and a "dislike". She passed...Like...but she stayed up 2 nights in a row studying..."Dislike" because coming up to finals, she really needed to study but she really needed to sleep too.
Anyway, that is my general rule of ethics for liking and disliking. By the way, Katie, Jim, and Mary don't exist. I made them up. I don't really have time to get permission from my real friends to mention their status updates...and so are the status updates made up.

RED BOX

So, I watched the movie ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS this evening. My mom had Red boxed it yesterday and watched it with my grandma while I was at my Monday night workshop. So I watched it tonight. What is it with the sequels to the "family friendly" movies that they have to dumb themselves down to the point where they're now meant for stupid 3 year olds who aren't going to get any smarter with the help of their parents. I know I pick weird things to diss on movies about. But I decided I couldn't really watch it anymore the moment that the main charicters go into the underground lair of all the dinosaurs who avoided the mass extinction from 65 million years ago from (or in relation to) the huge asteroid that crashed into the Yucotan Paninsala probably by hiding in a cave that led to a lava dome that preserved their species...okay, maybe I should just choose that as the reason not to watch it in the first place...but there wasw an Ankliosaurs that right away tried to attack the main charicters so that he could eat them like the carnavore that he was...when ankliosaurs was not a carnavore. If he was, he wouldn't have been made with armor on his back but with weapons on his feet...
I know what you're saying: David, you're arguing about a kiddie movie being wrong.
First of all, it's not a "kiddie movie" it's a "family movie." If it were a kiddie movie it would be G instead of PG...of course, this is why I don't like a lot of PG movies because they just dumb everything down...more often than not, a kid or a dog saves the day by kicking or byting the bad guy in the butt or the frontal region. People are complaining that America becoming dumbed down and the truth is that we're making them that way from a young age.
By the way, back in my day (look at me talk like a grumpy old person), children knew the difference between what dinosaurs ate meat and what ate plants. Granted I always called the T-Rex a carnival instead of a carnivore...but still...actually, I at one point wanted to be a palentologist. But that's besides the point.
Anyway, in other news, I'm planning on going to Sumner Academy this Friday evening to see Joseph And The Amazing Technocolored Dreamcoat. Shannon from the Roving Imp sent out invites and that was always one of my favorite musicals when I was younger. But I went out to see if I could find the place and my cell phone was on navigator and was telling me to turn right where there wasn't a street...at all...just a small sidewalk. So yeah, I don't know how to get there...but I guess I should look when it's light out.

Yes, and...

That's right, it's an improv update...and I have a new goal:
I still want to improve upon BIG facial exspression. It is currently the no.1 thing still holding me back from being a stellar improvisor. However, I've gotten to the point where I am aware of it and I'm taking the steps to improve upon it.
Tonight in class, I had to exspress severe physical pain. In the scene, Julie had gotten up on some blocks (near the lobby door) while I ducked behind some blocks (near the green room door). I don't at this point in time remember what the original suggestion was, but in my mind, we started out as children playing and I said, "you can't get me!" She said something like "alright, I'll just stand here and twril my panties around." (These were improvised panties).

Before I tell anymore, let me just say that, while it takes me a while to mentally adjust to a change in the reality I had set up in my mind at the VERY beginning, I actually really enjoy what can happen when a scene is changed by someone with more expierence than me. It will usually turn out better anyway...

Anyway, I built a fort with 2 blocks. I say something like "I don't want to be hit by your underwear," but I say it in a coxing way like I bet you couldn't hit me if you tried and she came back with "okay, we won't fight I'll just twirl my panties around." My first instinct was to get up and walk around the blocks and be like "Wait, why do you think I built the fort?" this was me trying to act emotionally to the fact that she didn't go for the bluffing voice. But John stopped me and told me to respond to not just what Julie said but also what she was doing...twirlling her improv panties around for play on top of blocks. So, with this new insight to the scene that John gave me, I stepped up on the blocks and said, "okay, well, if you're going to just pull out and play with your underwear, well, I can too." Then I reached down into my pants (improvised) and pulled out my underpants from the front (still improvised) giving me an atomic frontal wedgie. I had to act like I was in a tremendous amount of pain...both with voice and facial exspression.


So, working with facial exspressions is the primary thing that I'm currently working with. But the second thing now that I want to be able to step out of is my logical mind set. The evolution of man (as a gender, not a species) has lead to me wanting to reply logically as opposed to emotionally. This causes me to miss the "between the lines" things that a scene partner says.
In another scene in class tonight, I was in a scene with Nifer in which the suggestion was "DISCO". I came on with a physical diference to my usual normal (after being suggested to) that was assigned by Nifer in the scene as being a hunchback (once again, the scene became better when my original reality got changed...I came on as a chimp in my mind). Nifer at one point, playing a charicter who was a hunchist (like racist only has problem with people with a hunch backed), told me to go ring some bells. Logically, I came back and said "There aren't any bells in this town to ring!" John stopped the scene and told me that, while my reaction did have some emotional undertones to it, it was a very logical response and that I should respond not to what Nifer said about going to find some bells to ring but what she REALLY meant by that. So I came back and said something like "well I tried to ring YOUR bells but you weren't having it!" which, though suggestive, instantly added flavor to the scene.

So, to sum up this blog entry into one statement:
Yes, I still need to work with my emotional responses and facial exspression, AND I also want to work on not just listening to what was the thing that was just said, but the meaning behind what was said...

I Want To Move It Move It

Blogger has reminded me of traffic today. Because it's going SOOOOOOOooooooooooo SLOOOOOOooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...
Ugh.

Warren Zevon's Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School

This is the overview I made for Warren Zevon's Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School that had to get taken off of YouTube due to Warner Music Group being total jerks.

Whatever You Like

I'm currently obsessed with "Whatever You Like." It's the "Weird Al" Yankovic song parody that came out a year ago to the song "Whatever You Like" by T-I (or however it's spelled). The "Weird Al" version is a parody of that song and a satire on the economy.

Anyway, I got a schedule on when I'm in shows at the Roving Imp, Teching shows at the Roving Imp and needing to go for rehersal. And since I'm on the subject of Teching, I want to say something about it. I had gone to 2 tech workshops. There weren't 2 originally set up, there was 1. But after 1 tech workshop, I didn't really feel comfortable teching shows. Then, I got a chance to tech a regular rehearsal since I asked have another tech workshop. Teching a rehearsal for a regular group was different than teching during a tech workshop. It's a difference of doing everything you need to do with lights and the camera during the time of 2 minutes at the longest, to everything you need to do with lights and the camera during the duration of how a regular show would run. Needless to say, the tech rehearsal where you take care of it for the duration of how a regular show would run (aprox. 35-55 minutes) is a bit more relaxing than start tape, start recording computer, bring house lights down, bring house lights up, watch 1 minute worth of scene, blackout, stage lights back up as show is exited, blackout, house lights, stop computer recording, stop cam-corder from recording, rewind and set up for the next half of what the show would be and do it again. Technically, you do the same at either. But there is a difference between 2 minutes and 35-55 minutes. That's all I'm saying.

Weird Place

I'm in a weird place right now. It could be because it's like 2:04am. It could also be the fact that I took some NyQuil for this cough that I've started to get and I want to avoid anything like Broncitus.
It could be both.
It seems almost everyone I've been hanging with this last weekend has come down with some level of something. I'm just hoping anything I come down with will stay at level 1...and that's it.

We'll see.

End Of The World

So, my Monday night improv class will be heald Tuesday night instead. That's fine. If it were held tonight, it would be overwith now. Anyway, this Friday and Saturday, I'll be in 3 shows. The first is Robot Parade at 7pm on Friday. That's the Monday night class show. The second is the Arnold. That's the Saturday afternoon class show and it will be at 7pm. My third show will be Game Show. It's gone away for a while since before I started improv. But it's coming back. This Saturday, it's Match Game. All 3 shows are at the Roving Imp.

I wish I could be in more 9pm shows at the Roving Imp. It's not that there is anything wrong with 7pm shows. It's just that 9pm shows are more memorable. I don't really know if one is more memorable than the other, though. It's really based upon the fact that almost all of my improv association friends will reference the 9pm show on their Facebook status updates.

Speaking of Facebook status updates, I want to type here one I had today. This is based upon my theatre background:
"David is imagining a tale of Armageddon in which the 3rd antichrist (as predicted by Nostradomus) will step onto a stage in a crowded theater and shout "MacBETH IS ON FIRE!" bringing about the end of days. Hey, as a theater person, it's just as plausable as any other "end of the world" scinario."
See, a theatre person would say that saying MacBeth on stage and not performing it is bad luck. Yelling FIRE in a crowded theatre is a no-no. Comebine both and have them said by the third antichrist and you've got Armageddon on your hands.

Weird day

The ImpFest offically ended today. I wasn't in any classes so I didn't go out to Bonner Springs today like I normally would on a Sunday afternoon for Nifer's class. The workshops that were going on were still part of ImpFest. So instead, I napped. However, usually I nap when I get home from my church and then get up to get ready to go to class. But for some reason, I had gotten on the computer and then wound up getting my nap at the time I'd be leaving. Then I napped for 3 hours. I had some weird dreams too. But I have weird dreams all the time. And I always find myself zoning into the weirdest thing within those weird dreams. I don't care what the point to the dream is, I zone in on the most obscure thing.

In fact, I wrote a poem about that one time called "I Dream of Zombie (and Nipple?)?" Yes, the double question mark is on purpose. In the poem, the charicter is having this dream where everyone is in an old KMart when these zombies attack and they've put up a fort and they have clowns and a T-Rex and BatMan...specifically the nippled BatMan from BatMan Forever and "And Robin". At the end, the charicter wakes up and he doesn't care about anything else, he just wants to know why BatMan had nipples. There were zombies who would attack him and do a song and dance numbers and a T-Rex but the only thing significant was why did BatMan have nipples. I wrote most of my poetry to be humours. A few people in class complained first of all that it rhymed. Someone complained that I ended it with waking up as a dream that being cliche'd. I titled it "I Dream..." so what are they complaining about. Then someone also complained that I should focus more on the nation's view of sexuality. So much for humor and fun. The class for the most part enjoied it though. I did wind up doing 1 serious piece in class (this is Poetry Writing 2 by the way). I hated it because it was too personal for me but everyone loved it. Okay, well, I'm a fiction writer more so anyway.

ImpFest has ended

The ImpFest has come to an end.
However, I got to take an ImpFest improv workshop today. John led it and since I had build up enough credit through working there, I got to take it for free with that built up credit. It was working with emotion which is a huge thing that I've been working on...mainly with expressing...not to mention knowing the acurate emotion I'm wanting to portray. I've figured out that one thing I think will help me with this is to look at myself in the mirror and just make emotionally inflicted faces at myself so I can see what I personally look like to be over-the-top sad...or happy...or mad...or scared. This has been an issue for me...though I can blame it on my manly gender. It's not that my charicters lack emotion, it's that they lack the visable evadence that I've got a clear emotion...and so therefore, I've been lacking in strong emotions anyway. This doesn't mean I'm going to improve over night. This means that I know what I need to work on and through that means, can take steps to improve.

Let's see within the next month where I'm at.

I can post again!

Hey, I wanted to come on to blogspot yesterday but there was some weird issue.

Anyway, I'm on now. I wanted to tell about the ImpFest going on at the Roving Imp in Bonner Springs. Unfortunately, my memory isn't what it used to be when it comes to what I've seen and also, I don't have the expierence of blogging to talk about something other than myself...including how I feel about something (which is why I CAN tell about things like improv).
The first night had 4 shows. Anomily Orange, Tantrum, Triv-Prov, and Spite. I had seen Anomaly Orange and Triv-Prov before. Anomaly Orange was the first local improv group I saw back when they were Hype 7 for a free show on Apr. 1, 2008 at the Union at KU. This was the group that made me realize that I wanted to get back into performing again. There is a longer story there that would be better suited for another blog.
Triv-Prov is a two person (once 4 person but only once) show that is the game of trivial pursuit only instead of playing for pies, there are points when they're right and a game when someone gets it wrong.
Last night was my first night seeing Tantrum and Spite. Both excelent...unfortunately, I lack a lot of knowlege when it comes to their groups...but maybe after more shows.

Now tonight, I'd have a better knowlege of. There were 2 halves. The first half was Anomaly Orange, Biblioclast: Charlie Brown Christmas; and Spite. The second half was Improv Abilities, Coma Chameleon, and Tantrum. Biblioclast is just John and Nifer. They take suggestions from the previous show and take the lines from the suggestion (book, movie, play, long-form poem...) and put together a one act play based upon the lines. There first was about a year ago when they did Endgame by Samuel Becket. After the December show when they did Star Trek Deep Space 9 (my suggestion) they revamped the format. Until then, they just simply did what came after the ending of the original suggestion. Improv Abilities is a group I've seen 3 times now. The first time was last year when I was still new to improv. Second was at the Record Bar 2 months ago. Tonight made time number 3. Then Coma Chamilion is one with 2 parts. There is the Chamilion part (everyone takes on the charicteristics of a specific animal that can walk and talk like a human). Then there is the Coma part (one performer is in a coma and they get guest who come talk to them). This is the only group performing in the ImpFest that I've actually been in. Tonight, they just did the Chamilion part which was a little monkey of some kind.

Anyway, I worked the lights for I-A and Coma Chamilion. Saturday night, I'm working the lights for both the 7 and 9pm with the exception of Brownies Don't Lie.

I will end this now because it's after 5am. But I want to include that the after party took us to a pub/bar and grill at K-7 and Shawnee Mission Parkway where I got to sing "Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison on Kereokee!

A number of things

I have a number of things I want to say. This is maybe why I don't update a lot because I want to say a lot but that leaves the blog update looking scatter-brained. So, I will number the things I want to talk about so they at least look neat.

1) The ImpFest starts tomorrow at the Roving Imp at 115 Oak Street in Bonner Springs, KS. In fact, it starts tomorrow (well, I guess technically, it's today now) at 8pm. It's going to be Anomaly Orange, Tantrum, TrivProv, Spite. There will be 2 groups of shows at 7 & 9 (when I say group here, I mean time slot...the 4 groups I just mentioned for Thursday night is 1 group of shows by my counting). Friday at 9pm and Saturday at 7 and 9pm, I'll be working the light and sound booth...except for a few shows...I'm thinking Tantrum and Brownies Don't Lie.
What I'm worried about is that a friend asked me to give him a ride to the Saturday show Monday night after it was too late to financially researve a seat from John for my friend. I didn't think to ask him because he's told me before he couldn't come to my shows because he couldn't afford them and they're $6. The shows for ImpFest run from $9-$12 for a specific group of shows to $35 for the whole thing. And there were some issues between this friend and another friend of mine that apparently have all been settled now. News to me by the way. Anyway, if I'm lucky, I can maybe pay for my friend to be able to get in so it's not cutting it too close.

2) I got my flu shot on Tuesday. It's not a total big deal that I got my flu shot since I get it every year. But I had to go to the CVS pharmacy store on 75th and Metcalf. This was the last pharmacy in the area to still have the flu shot and they were running out. If I didn't get it Tuesday, I wouldn't be able to get it until late November...from anywhere. This is for the regular flu, not the swine flu...also known as H1N1.

3) The drama department at the high school I went to is putting on RENT (The School Edition) the Musical this weekend. I was thinking about seeing it...Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. I won't get to because I lost track of my time and I'm busy the rest of the weekend...what with seeing and working the ImpFest and all. Anyway, I found out within the last 2 days or so that Fred Phelps is going to the high school to protest them. For those lucky enough to not be in the know, Fred Phelps is the preacher (i.e. "Man of God") who goes around blaming God for everything from Columbine to 9/11 to the Virginia Tech shooting to what not and even protesting the funerals of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the children shot in the schools all because of his dumb-ass "God hates fags" agenda. When someone on facebook talked about go to the school and asking if anyone wanted to join him and hold sings while standing next to Fred Phelps that say "I'm With Stupid". I commented that I'd like to have a sign that says "LOOK, WE GET IT, YOUR SON IS GAY AND YOU DON'T LIKE IT AND YOU WANT TO BLAME GOD FOR EVERYTHING LIKE THE SELF-RIGHTOUS BASTARD YOU ARE!" Then the back will say, "MOVE THE F**K ON WITH YOUR LIFE!" I know that that is something that would be a really large sign. But in total honesty, it has to be said.

That's all I have for tonight/this morning. I'm sorry I can't seem to get anything that I can post before midnight.

My Ride's Here album overview

This is the overview video I made for the Warren Zevon album MY RIDE'S HERE. It was one of the one's that either got pulled or faced getting pulled from YouTube because Warner Brothers couldn't stand to have anything advertised for free that would just wind up making more money for them. I know, weird, right?

Yeah...

Okay, the time has come to admit that I may never have a normal sleeping schedule again.
That said, I'm just going to comment on my weekend...specifically Saturday.
Saturday, I went to a wedding. It was the 4th wedding I had ever been to in my life. Seriously. It's not that I don't have that many friends...and it's not like none of my friends are getting married. It's just that the one's who are getting married aren't that close to me and vica/versa.
Anyway, that night, I went to the Roving Imp to see RI Spectacular and 92 Monsters Of History. I really enjoied the shows. I also injured myself I believe between the 2 shows. There was a baloon that everyone was playing with and I decided to get in on the action...so I smacked it with a water bottle I had baseball bat style. By the way, I've had tendonitus in my right wrist since April. Now I think there is a chance I may have sprained it. I'm wearing a wrist brase on it. Movement is limited. But it keeps me from suddenly jerking my wrist in directions it shouldn't go.
Anyway, Sunday, I went to church, came home, got a nap then headed back to the Roving Imp for Nifer's beginner's class. She told me that I'm getting better with exspressing my emotion on stage. Now, I want to 1)keep it up with other scenes that I'm in and other scene partners that I'm in with and 2)Be confident about it.

Anyway, this coming week is Imp Fest and a few other things. In fact here's a list of what I'm wanting/expecting for this week.
Monday night: 6:30-9pm is the Monday night Improv class at the Roving Imp. That's right, I'm in 3 Improv classes! Somewhat to expand my ability to do Improv...and partly just because I love going to the Roving Imp so much.
Tusday: At somepoint, I will be getting my Flu Shot.
Wednesday: Laundry (I hope it doesn't hurt my wrist though) and taking the recyclables to my church to be recycled.
Thursday: first night of Imp Fest at the Roving Imp.
Friday-Saturday: Imp Fest continues...and I will be working the tech booth for the Friday 9pm show and the Saturday shows...with the exception for the group Brownies Don't Lie and I believe maybe 1 or 2 other groups who have their own sound and light person.

Oh, and before I post this, I want to say I'm planning on loading my overview and information video on Warren Zevon's My Ride's Here album. Until next time, good night...or morning everyone.

Life'll Kill Ya album overview

Once again, in my personal vendetta (I'm guessing that's the correct work) to make sure that people hear about Warren Zevon, I uploaded the video I made telling about the album Life'll Kill Ya released in the year 2000.

Sleep and Blogspot

I swear:
Someday, I will not only get a better sleeping schedule, but I will also upload things that I want to blog about sooner than after midnight.

Please come

I wish I could get people to come to my blog somehow...
or at least get people to leave some kind of comment so I at least know they're reading.

This weekend

I don't really have time for a big post. But I just wanted to mention that I will be working tech for Biblioclast this Saturday night at 9pm. John and Nifer are doing Gremlins. This particular movie was not my suggestion. So therefore, I am not obligated to provide a copy of the movie for them. This is not out of spite or anything. This is based upon a promise I made that any suggestion I gave that got picked, I would provide a copy of said suggestion. For example, when they did Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Back To The Future, I provided a copy of said media. Gremlins wasn't my suggestion because I don't own a copy. That makes sense, right? Anyway, I'm doing the tech for Biblioclast. That's all I really wanted to say. I just tend to get wordy sometimes.

Stand In The Fire: Warren Zevon Live album

Same story as before. YouTube...Yadaa Yadaa. This is The Stand In The Fire live album that was first released onto CD in 2007. Before that, it was only on vinyal. This has some extra songs not on the original album.

Monday

No really, I'm going to start getting to sleep/bed earlier at night. I just may be "in bed" by 2am.
Anway, Monday, I slept late...like until 1:20pm. My grandma might have come in and asked me when I was getting up so we could go get breakfast. But she had fallen asleep. So I actually woke her up.
I drove out to Lawrence today for pretty much the last time. I got my degree for Bachelor of Arts - English. Finally! I have proof that I am a college graduate!
After leaving KU, I went to the 1 Quizno's that was in Lawrence in cording to my cell phone (but apparently, there are 2).
After purchasing my meal from Quizno's, I went out to my car and ate it there...there was no bottle water there so I drank the apple juice I got from KU before I left. From there, I headed to Bonner Springs going East on 6th Street (this was in extream Western Lawrence) to Mass St. From there, I went to Highway 24 or whatever to 32 highway. I got to the Roving Imp for my 6:30pm Monday night class around 6:10...leaving Quizno's around 5:40...and I had to take a detour.

SEE! YOU CAN GET TO THE ROVING IMP FROM LAWRENCE IN 30 MINUTES! WHO EVER SAYS THEY CAN'T IS A LIAR! Now that that is out of my system...

Anyway, at workshop, I tried my best to work with emotions that respond based upon that. This has been hard for me because it's like I'm trying to work with something I've tried to not use...or something. Anyway, I'm still working with that. But John gave me a personal challenge for the long form which was to have 1 charicter be a 1920's jolly rich man...or something along those lines. He told me the posture was one who looks towards the sky. I did this in one scene but it didn't matter because I wound up being the 3rd-dary caricter who was a near sited artist who paints nude models.
The time I got to play a main charicter was when I got on stage and started typing. But someone else came on and started typing as well. Shortly there after, Nifer came on and it turned out we weren't typing but we were tickling her. Chante' then came in as my mother complaining about me tickling the neighbor girl. John commented that my mother coming in and me continuing to tickle is like continuing to enjoy myself after my mom walks in on me. Therefore, I was David Jack, the tickler...specifically the spine. At the end of each scene, the one who started the scene gives a moral. I said that the moral of the story is that if you start out typing, say that before you start tickling someone.
Anyway, bed time now.

Weekend and Sleep and what not...

Know this: As Chris (who so far as of this point in time is the only one following my blog) and anyone else who happens to come to my blog is my witness, I am going to try and get a better sleeping schedule for myself. To give you some idea, it's 5:01am and I haven't gone to bed yet. But I will shortly after I post this.
Going back to Thrusday night, I watched The Office (not a great episode of it but Riann Wilson who plays Dwight got a chance to show off his Dwightness) and then I headed out to The Roving Imp. Thursday night is rehearsal. I wasn't rehearsing for anything so I didn't get there until 10pm when who ever stays around plays some games and what not. This last Thursday, it was Triviol Pursuit: The Best of Edition. John won that game and Nifer and I tied for second with 2 pies left to go each. However, there were several times when each of us would start getting question after question right in a row...I was able to pick up 3 slices of pie in one turn, but not 1 roll. But anyway, that's enough talking about that game.
Friday was a b-day party for my friend Zach's girl friend, Chante'. I got my times wrong and I was over there an hour early. While there, we played Texas hold 'em. We didn't play for money, but we did play for chips. By the way, I suck at any kind of Poker when the games don't count. Back on Labor Day, there was a party at the Roving Imp in which we played 5-Card Draw. I played one game that counted and I got a pair of 4's. That was it. Any more tries would not count. Of course, the tries that didn't count, I wound up getting 3 A's, and 2 Kings. I got 4Kings and a Queen or something like that. Anyway, my game started to improve once it didn't matter. I have decided that if I ever go to the boats, I should play at the kiddie table.
By the way, speaking of playing at the kiddie table at the casino, the It's Debateable on Saturday night at 9pm had the debate of Affirmative or Negative "should the US legalize gambling for children...or children legally could go into a casino...or something like that". Kind of ironic how that worked out...that wasn't the suggestion I put in though. Anyway, the show before that was Triv Prov. John won...first against Jeremy in the last 2 rounds against him.
Sunday was world wide Communion Sunday...this is where all the (I think Protestant churches but don't quote me on that) take communion around the world on the same day whether they do it on a weekly basis or not. The church I go to decided to have a combined service that started at 10:30 in stead of 9am like my service usually does. So I got to sleep in a little longer. Then in the afternoon, I went to Nifer's beginner's class. By the way, I now know what my major issue is with improv. The thing I need to overcome is that I need to be able to show on my face and with my body what my charicter is feeling. This is going to be hard for me because I'm a guy...well, that's one obsticle anyway.
Anyway, it's Monday now. At some point, I'm driving up to Lawrence to SHHHHhhhhhh! get my degree...keep it hush hush for right now.
Anyway, try and have a good Monday. Oh, and please leave a comment if there's something you would like for me to comment on at some point...or let me know if there's anything that can make this blog more interesting.

The Envoy

This was, I believe, the second Warren Zevon album that I attempted to upload to Youtube. As I said for the album on Excitable Boy, Youtube had to pull this because Warner Music Group concist of a bunch of cry babies who don't want to get money for free. Okay, I didn't call them crybabies in the last post. But I did think of them as something I won't mention on a family friendly post. So there you have.

Excitable Boy

I kept having issues with my videos about the Warren Zevon albums on Youtube. Apparently, Warner Music Group doesn't like anything that's going to just wind up making them money. Kind of weird for a big corporation to not be interested in making money. But oh well, I guess that's there business. So this is mainly to see if I can load my videos ABOUT the Warren Zevon albums here. Mainly, I feel something with the music of Warren Zevon and I want to share that with others. That's another thing that Warner Music Group doesn't understand because there a bunch of stuff that I don't want to say on a family friendly site.

End of Wednesday/September

Well, it's now officially October. Well, that is for every single location except for maybe parts of Alaska and Hawaii and what not.
Anyway, Wedensdays are usually my day for doing laundry. It's also my day for taking recycleable (did I spell that right?) goods to my church where they go into recycle bins. Also, I go to Perkin's to get my favorite kind of soup...Cheesy Potato Soup. Yes, I know, I'm a man of habbit.

Anyway, while I was out running around, I also went to the bank. You see, I had no money to speak of. This is mainly because it was my mom's birthday on Monday and so I got her the soundtrack to Mama Mia! because she keeps watching it everytime it's on HBO or whichever. Also, since Monday night was an improv workshop night, I paid her way to a movie last night (Tuesday). We saw CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS in 3-D. I don't know why 3-D cost so much. But I have yet to really like any movie I've seen in 3-D. MONSTERS VS. ALIENS was in 3-D and wasn't that great. Also, UP was in 3-D and I absolutely hated that movie. I know, I know, "Oh my gosh, how can you hate that movie?" I just do, alright! Give me a break! Anyway, Monday night was also the birthday of a friend of mine who's an improv friend but I know her because she and one of my best friends are dating. So after workshop, 7 of us went to this really expensive restaurant at the Legends. I can't remember the name. But it's either a Bar&Grill or a FINE-DINING RESTAURANT depending on who you ask. Anyway, I paid $25 for Mac&Cheese and a bottle of water and tip (it was like $22.45 or so before tip). So I didn't have much left is what I'm trying to get to. But did I have change...
Quaters: 19 = $4.75
Dimes: 18 = $1.80
Nickles: 5 = $0.25
Pennies: 79 = $0.79
Total came to $7.59

Now I had some money. I preceded to, after taking care of what was to be recycled, going to get my hair cut. I last got it cut in June. Though, I wish I had just 1 more penny in that counter so I wouldn't have to have any dang pennies. But oh well.

Anyway, happy October everyone!

First Post

Hello there, my name is David.
I've had a few blogs over the past 4 years. But I wound up with trouble with getting people to come to my site or getting feedback or anything like that. I think one problem is that I never really had anything specific thing I was blogging about for any one person to take interest in what I had to say. So just to get things off on the right start, let me just say something about myself here:
I live in Shawnee, KS. I've lived in Shawnee for 19 years and 3 months and I've lived in Kansas all of my life.
I went to 2 years of preschool at Trinity Lutheran Church from '87-'89. I went to Rushton Elementary for Kindergarden from '89-'90. I went to BlueJacket Elementary for 1st through 6th grade from '90-'96. I went to Hocker Grove Middle School from '96-'98. I went to Shawnee Mission North High School from '98-'02. I went to Johnson County Community College from '02-'05. I went to Kansas University from '05-'09.
I have earned my Bacholor of Arts in English mainly in Creative Writing. (and if I went on to Graduate school, that would mean something).
I was heavily involved in drama in high school. Had a semester of theater at JCCC and wanted no more of it. Summer '08, I got involved with improv and I've been doing improv for over a year at The Roving Imp in Bonner Springs, KS.
I also do the tech/visual for my church and I've done various other volunteere work.

I labeled my blog as David Prov because my name is David and I do a lot of improv (not as much as I'd like but it is the one thing that keeps me sane). There is nothing in improv that is specifically my nitch. But I have gotten to play a giant sculptured naked guy from the Bible with the same name.
I also like rock and roll and will probably post a lot about that subject. But anyway, I'm hoping this blog lasts a while.