Rehearsal and Water

First off, let me just say that I wasn't happy with Dimensional Rift rehearsal tonight. I felt off the entire time and down right horrable. Situation: You don't want to hit your scene partner. Your scene partner is telling you to hit them. Your charicter starts arguing that you don't want to hit them and they insist. If you're arguing, you're not avoiding conflict. I eventually had to go through with it because I wasn't sure enough of myself to avoid one without avoiding the other. Now, the desission to go with it was one thing. Doesn't mean I'm happy with that...or the results. I gave up and didn't know what else I could do that would make the scene work by not going through with it.
At least bad rehearsals usually lead to good shows.

I do have some good news to comment on for tonight, though. We're getting a new water filtration system here at my house. It will be set up Tuesday for all over the house. It's set up by Hague Watermax. As it is, our tap water is pretty bad. It's not horrible, but it's worse than okay. So this is supposed to be for a 25 year warrenty. We're also going to have a 2 year supply of various soaps sent to us...like shampoo and body soaps and loations and window cleaner and laundry detergent and dishwasher soap that has the water softener taken out because we're not going to need it over the course of 10 years or so. It's going to wind up saving money in the long run because of that...and also plumbing issues and also supposed to make us healthier. Also, I won't spend as much money on water bottles because my only need for water bottles would be to take it with me somewhere and be able to toss when I reach my destination. By the end of 10 years, we own the system. We still pay for the city water...but we're using less amounts. The warrenty continues through for an additional 15 years after that.
Anyway, that system is getting set up Tuesday afternoon.

And those would be the good and sucky of what happened Thursday eavning.

Panic!

So I had a few distracting things on my mind today. Nothing was on my mind that was actually important (important or drastic; the things on my mind/things pushed out of my mind by what was on my mind didn't lead to anyone's demise). When I woke up this morning, I checked my facebook and e-mail, like I usually do, and found 2 of my friends who updated their status with something concerning Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy (movie I love and book series I've only read 2 parts of and still mean to read).
One status update was stated "would like to know...what IS 6 times 7?".
I said, ""What is 6 X 7?" is the ultimate question from Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy. If you follow numerology, 6 is an inperfect number and 7 is a perfect complete number. Therefore, 42 is the answer to what is both perfect and not perfect thrown together."
Reading some more status updates, I came to one that said, "happy towel day everyone! Don't Panic!"
This being the second one I saw, I said, "Wait, is this international Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy Day? Why didn't anyone tell me?!?!"
So, when I updated my status today, I said "wants to know if this is international Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy day because I've seen at least 2 status updates associated with Hitchhicker's Guide but no one has told me anything! Did I miss something?"
I then commented on my own status to say "I hate to say it but I'm actually somewhat panicked about this. How ironic is that?".
Then Martha said, "DON'T PANIC! Where's your towel?!?".
Then John said, "42".

Anyway, I did want to update with a few other status updates. For a while now, I've been doing some status updates in which I ask for comments based upon whatever. Without giving names of people who responded, I'm wanting to give the questions and some replies:
David "wants you to type a comment on this status that, if you could travel through time, what date would you go to?"
Reply 1: Napoleonic wars
Reply 2: About 100 yers into the future.
Reply 3: Friday, February 29. 2008
Reply 4: (This was me commenting about the previous date. It seemed kind of random. I didn't get a reply on the status but the date given was public).
Reply 5: November 5, 1955.... (Carl making a Back To The Future reference).
Reply 6: no fair, Carl, use "Quantum Leap" rules!
(doubles back, under rock)
Reply 7: Last Tuesday so I can pay my phone bill on time. (Zach making a "Weird Al" Reference).
Reply 8: Carl could have traveled back in time and changed bodies with a family member. (Me commenting on the Quantum Leap vs. Back To The Future issue).
Reply 9: Quantum leap rules... Within your own lifetime, unless you are hit by lightning... :-/ (Carl, I guess, didn't like those rules).
Reply 10: Yeah, use "Quantum Leap" rules!
Reply 11: Lightning hit and Sam and Al traded places. However, Sam leaped into his great-great-grandpa and fought in the Civil War.
Great Scott (Bacula)! (Me showing off nerd knowlege like it's my j-o-b).
Reply 12: March 31st, 1984, and I'd be seventeen years old.

Another one I had was "David wants to know this: If you knew FOR A FACT you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?".
Reply 1: Say F-U to my diet and eat all my faves!
Reply 2: Kill you (I guess James thought I was the one going to kill him...)
Reply 3: Make out with James, whether he liked it or not.
Reply 4: (I made a comment that I would use that time to get away. Then do what I'd do).
Reply 5: Get a second opinion.

Another one I had was "David wants to know, if you could claim one song, or a few songs that are pretty dang close, what song would you claim (or what songs are almost tied) as your number 1 favorite song?"
Reply 1: A friend from high school said, "For sentimental reasons my favorite song is my favorite things from the sound of music".
Reply 2: Chris said "“Dare” from “The Transformers: The Motion Picture.”".

Finally, one of them asked, "David wants to know, if you had all the time in the world and money wasn't an issue, where in the world would you like to visit?".
Reply 1: Jeremy said "I'd spend a while in Belgium if I could."
Reply 2: Another friend from high school said, "United Arab of Emirates."
Reply 3: Chris said, "♫ Trip to the world
Yo! Here we go unknown world e to umareta bakari no tabibito
narenai ashidori mo mata aikyou KIMERU toko dake BASHItto!
So many people in this world toki ni chuushou tokamonai wake ja nai kedo
SHIMANNAI toko ha Warp shite kou suji dake ha tooshite ikiteru That's our low! ♫ ...(slides back, under rock)"
Reply 4: John said, "only one place? Back to London then. It's the best city in the world."

These are some status updates I wanted to post about here. Now I can go back to facebook and clean out my profile some.
By the way, 1 month ago at this time, those of us who went to Chicago were on the MegaBus probably making (or just made or soon to make) our first convienent store stop back between Chicago and St. Louis.

2x2

I got to see 2 improv shows tonight! In 2 different locations! Improv-Abilities had there 10 year anniversary show at Lucky's Brewgrille in Mission, KS. That was at 7:30pm. Then, when that was overwith, I had to pay for a Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake (that looked better than this actually but I can't find a decent photo) that I had. But I never got a ticket. I just saw that it was about $5 on the menu so I handed about $7 (so gratuity would be added) to a friend to help take care of it so I could head on out. It was about 9:40pm and I had to get to Comedy City which was the back door of The Westport Flea Market (by the way, horrible name for a hamburger restaurant). I've got a friend who performs with Stitch Tactics and I told her I'd try to see a show there when there wasn't anything going on at the Roving Imp on Friday nights...which is when they perform - Friday nights at 10pm.

Chicago - Jeff Wirth workshop (Improv with an Audience member)

I'm finally to the blog entry about Chicago. As of right now, I'm only going to do this which are the notes that I got in the workshop that I took. While the Roving Imp group (John, Nifer, Julie, Jen, Justin, Keith, Aron, Ashley) were doing their Saturday afternoon workshop from 12 to 6, I took a workshop from 2:30 - 5:30. This was a workshop for the training of long form improvasation with an audience member, or a Spect-actor as Jeff Worth calls them. This won't exactly look like the neatest notes ever taken. But I just wanted to share the notes I got from that workshop.
Before I begin, let me just say that there are things in here that can work just in improv with only actors on stage.
*Let the scene build.
*Don't be afraid of stuff. Stuff can always come back around to being about the two of you (you and your scene partner-spectactor or actor).
*Let the audience member choose to be chosen. Don't pick them on your own unless you have too. (By the way, let me just say that at the Roving Imp, no one gets pick who don't volunteere themselves. When I saw StitchTactics last month, their rule was, if you volunteere someone, then you are the one who goes).
*Story can be built without following. The negating of something (something offered) can add to the reality. If you're the one being told "no," let that affect you. (Generally not good to say "no" in improv. But this was for working with an audience member).
*Don't be affraid to touch the person in a push the envelope kind of way. (The scene will be more interesting with the reaction...and some people actually do have smaller bubbles)... Not touching can also be affective depending on the type of spect-actor.
*When a third charicter comes in, it's easy for the spect-actor to "watch a tennis game" by watching the 2 others on stage talk. Keep the spect-actor a part of the scene (also good with regular actors).
*Make the spect-actor able to build trust with you. This is called being "The buddy." You shouldn't scare the audience member. They should feel comfortable being on stage with you. (Likewise, there should be trust between your fellow actors as well...even if for different reasons).
*Ask questions of the spect to buld a scene but not in a way that makes them feel they don't need an Associates degree to answer (ask where they were the night before, not about how to use Einstein's theory of Reletivity to propperly park their car). Then ask the follow up question. (Where were you last night? (1st question). I was at the pool. (Answer). You were at the pool? (Follow-up question). Yeah, I was having a skinny dipping party. (Answer)).
*Get a "want" early on. As soon as the "want" is established, make them change so that they are different without it and they have to fight for that "want" to get it back. (Find out early on what the protagonist wants. Then, make them fight for that so that they change in the show).
*Seats can be used for emotional reasons (as well as relationships...sitting down with someone suggest something different than standing with them).
*The spect-actor IS the protagonist. Someone on stage needs to be the antagonist. This is the one who makes it hard for them to get what they want. A good antagonist is unreasonable, unfair, and unreasonably cruel. The antagonist needs to challenge the protagonist (spect-actor in this case) to win. You can't JUST give them what they want.
*The scene ends on the spect-actor's line.

The last part that I've got notes over are the different types of Spect-actors.
*The Caregiver - They want to care for others in the scene. This is something they naturally lead to do off stage and it becomes part of their charicter.
*The Judge - This for that. They will try to reason and will probably be more logical.
*The Game Player - They try to map out solutions. This is usually plot and should be avoided in improv. However, someone from the audience who is leading the story won't know the usual rules.

When you as a regular performer find their weakness, you need to utalize that weakness so they get into the story.
Some people may drive the scene. You want to play to their charicteristic. When they have power, make them us it by giving them the ability to use it rather than just show off their power.
OR
Give them something to have to fight against.
(Why are super heroes cool? Because not just do they have their super powers, but they also use it for good and/or stop the villian from doing harm...just saying).

Anyway, those were the notes that I was able to get from the workshop in Chicago. I may give an update about the trip itself. But most of the people who might come across this were either there, already heard it from me, or not really interested in reading about a trip to Chicago...

New CDs.

Yes, I realize that I've been lacking in the Chicago update. I promise you that it is coming.

But right now, I want to mention these CDs I've purchased in the past 2 weeks.
1. Warren Zevon: LEARNING TO FLINCH (1993 - RARE)
2. Bob Seger: EARLY SEGER VOL. 1 (Late 2009)
3. The Killers: DAY & AGE (2008)
4. Meat Loaf: MIDNIGHT AT THE LOST AND FOUND (1983...rare)
5. The Elders: GAEL DAY (Early 2009)
6. Meat Loaf: HANG COOL TEDDY BEAR (May 11, 2010).

Okay, now I promise to update soon about Chicago. Okay? Deal?

Artist and Death

By the way, one of these days, I WILL have an update about Chicago. I promise.

Now, tonight, after playing The Office edition of CLUE, I was talking with Nifer who was working on a drawing that she wasn't exactly pleased with. I told her that she could hide it away to be found after she died and then it would be worth millions.
This was not a reflection on her drawing but rather a reflection on the worth a person has...especially if they are an artist...after they have already passed away. That would seem to be how it works.
Anyway, artist, good or bad, always have work that they would have rather just destroied. Even after their death, those are something that become highly treasured. Look at what a VanGough would go for when he was alive and then after he had died...
By the way, I started this post out to say something philosophical. Looks like I failed. Oh well.

A Gun

So, I found out through Facebook...
By the way, I'll have a Chicago update later.
...that there was a gun found on the KU campus. Because of this, there was a lock down in one of the dorms.
By the way, I don't go to KU anymore and when I did, I never stayed in the dorms. I never even set foot in the dorms.
Anyway, I found it ironic that they made a big hoopla over finding a gun on campus after everyone made a big deal about wanting people to have the right to carry guns on the KU campus. Then, all of a sudden, when someone does have a gun, everyone is like "OH MY GOSH! A GUN! RUN FOR THE HILLS; BECAUSE THIS IS LAWRENCE, KANSAS AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF HILLS TO RUN TO!"
Now, I'm not pro-gun in the slightest. But seriously, they should really make up their minds if they're going to allow guns on campus or not.