So, I finally got back to this. I'm about to name off the books I read (100% on my own), movies I saw at the movie theater, and new music I bought. Then, based upon how long it took for me to get this, this will be my last update about 2010.
Books:
The following are books that I at least finished on my own (no part aloud in groups or with audio help). These books are not in any order.
1) The Second City Almanac (barrowed from Nifer).
2) Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets (Sorcer's Stone was read aloud).
3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
4) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Goblet of Fire was read a little aloud and Order of the Pheonix was audio recorded).
5) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
6) I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Lives and Times of Warren Zevon.
7) Basket Case (barrowed from Allen).
8) The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe (Hitchhicker's Guide was read aloud at the Roving Imp).
9) Life, The Universe, And Everything.
Movies: The following are movies that I remember seeing at the movie theater but not necessarily in any order.
1) Sherlock Holmes.
2) The remake of The Wolfman.
3) Date Night.
4) Shrek Goes Forth.
5) Toy Story 3-D.
6) Alpha And Omega.
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
8) Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
9) Gulliver's Travels.
Music: The following is new music that I purchased...not all music published in 2010. But I bought it in 2010...or got as a gift...in no particular order.
1) Warren Zevon: Transverse City (Ordered).
2) Warren Zevon: Learning to Flinch (Found).
3) The Killers: Day and Age (Found).
4) Meat Loaf: Hang Cool Teddy Bear (Day it came out).
5) Meat Loaf: Midnight At The Lost And Found (Found).
6) John Lennon: Legend (*Bought from Nifer at the R. I. Garage Sale).
7) The Elders: Gael Day (Found).
8) Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Bethoven's Last Night (B-Day gift).
9) Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Night Castle (B-Day gift).
10) Bruce Springsteen: The Promise (Christmas gift).
11) Bob Seger: Mongrel (Steve gave this one to me).
12) Bob Seger: Early Seger Vol. 1 (Found).
13) Paul Simon: Graceland (*).
14) Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain't No Grave (*).
Well there it is. These are the books, movies and music that I have seen/bought/got in 2010. I could go in and say something about them but I've done that before on a few of them. I will go ahead and say that the top movies in 2010 were Harry Potter, Dawn Treder, and Date Night is tied with Wolfman. Reading the Harry Potter books probably very much changed my life...or at least the way I look at things. The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon took the longest for me to finish because I started it in 2007. All the others, I started last year. Basket Case had some help from Warren Zevon...hince the reason it was loaned to me. Unfortunately, I don't get into crime novels to well but I still enjoied it. I only added 14 albums to my music library but I wound up selling about 50. I was new to liking the Killers last year...I liked them before with "All These Things That I Have Done" but I really got into them last year. Warren Zevon's Transverse City was the first album I bought last year. It snowed the night before and I shoveled the snow...then found out it was in. My purpose for shoveling the snow was because there was a rehearsal that night and the first ever rehearsal for Dimensional Rift.
I did not include the movie Trust Us This Is All Made Up with TJ and Dave because, even though that was seen at a theater, it was at the Roving Imp Theater as a special night thing...not a let's go to the movie theater and see a movie thing. In other words, it was to hang out and watch an educational video about improv. But because I do think it should get honorable mention, I'm giving it its own paragraph. We saw it on Friday, January 1, 2010.
If I were to include a few other first time cultural things, I went to Chicago for the first time ever with my improv friends in April. But I talked about that a few times already. But I also saw an opera for the first time last February. It was out at KU and was being stage managed by Jenifer Harmon. I've also talked non-stop about this but I also went behind the scenes for the KC Improv Fest in September.
That's about it. There: 2010 summed up in a 2 part blog entry that took forever to finish.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
2010 Part 1: Improv.
A few weeks into 2011 and I want to think of 2010 as a play-doh ball where all the parts of it consist of memories that come together nicely but apart from eachother makes me want to, I don't know, emote somehow or something. There are parts of 2010 that I want to proudly parade around. There are parts I'd like to toss back into the confines of my own personal memory banks of my brain and look back on when I'm farther removed from 2010 and consider my growth since then. I'd actually like to remove it from the ball and change the shape but it's in the past and, due to lack of technology, that doh has gone hard and can't be re-shaped. And then, there are the parts that I want to take out and ponder them as to what exactly they are doing in the ball...and then remind myself that, yes, it is a part of what makes up 2010 and therefore, it's in the ball. I call these 3 parts "Yay! Awesome!" "Aww crap, man!" and "Wait, what?!?!"
Unfortunately, this is all a very simple way of looking at it. The "Yay! Awesome!" part has sprinkled in with it parts of the other two.
The highlights to 2010 for me revolve around improv and reading. Some of the Improv highlights, in my opinion, in clude the new but short lived Dimensional Rift which was strong for a while but didn't survive to the fall. Joining the group going to Chicago...although I took a different workshop than everyone else that went to Chicago, I actually enjoied
the workshop I took. It involved doing a long form improv show with an audience member. Almost everyone else that went were accepted as an apprentice team members taught by a guy who, if I understand it correctly, didn't know improv well enough to teach but knew it well enough to wind up on SNL. I think John might have apprecieated the workshop I took because it wasn't until he and Keith went to Phillie in early October that he got inspiration to do a show called Special Guest Star.
Special Guest Star is a long form show that John does with an audience member that, by now, he has done 4 times. My mom, pictured, was the first. Anyway, the group didn't recover from that until they took a class in May with Dave Razowsky. This was a class that, due to lack of exspierence, I wasn't able to take. And due to misunderstanding, I didn't take the workshop that I would have been able to take with him. But the spring turned into summer. Then a lot of changes started to take place between July and September.
In July, I did my last Dimensional Rift show. I also started doing the powerpoints for the shows and keeping track of show totals. Then I got to join R I Spectacular and had my first show with R I Spectacular in mid to late August. Then in September, I got to be back stage at the KCiF. Also around this time, I started to take on more responsabilities in the tech booth. But about a week before my first R I show, Nifer moved to Chicago which switched caused a lot of things to switch around schedlewised and what not. It also lead to the breaking down of some groups, like Red Rubber Ball and the new but even more shortly lived Dimensional Rift reboot. Within a month of Nifer's moved, Hannah moved to England and Patrick dropped out for school and job stuff. All of them taking with them there unique style...good news though, Nifer and Hannah still return...just few and far between.
As Summer turned into Fall, I found I got stronger in short-form games but I wasn't getting casted in longforms that much for reasons that I still need to work on. I found myself having a knack for games like Shakespeare Switch...Thank you
English major! I also got to perform in Dial-A-Show for the first time during the 2nd annual Imp Fest!
But I also, as I said, got more tech responsabilities. I wound up helping with lights for Omega Directive, Deep Space Emily, and Dictionary Soup when they performed at the Living Room...even though, unfortunately, the lights didn't help with the theater background of Kansas City. I helped set up the tech for a scripted show at the Roving Imp that dealt with traveling shows in early October. I also did the lights for Dictionary Soup and Biblioclast during Imp Fest 2. I'm proud of having done the tech for Dictionary Soup for making the appearence of the fire dance along the back wall. I'm proud of having done the tech for Biblioclast because I found and played the game. The unfortunate thing is, I have also learned that weird light things affects the focus of the camera. Live and learn.
As fall turned into late fall/early winter/holiday time, many people couldn't make it out to the Imp due mostly to prior engagements and family related stuff...and a few can't do the drive things. I wound up performing in someone's place in an elimination round of The Next Big Improv Show. Thankfully, I wound up in the middle so I didn't need to worry about getting judged...something that laid heavily on my mind the entire day that day. I also wound up performing almost once each
weekend, which is fine with me, and winding up in the tech booth a lot...a few times for the entire night, once again, fine with me.
This is winding down part one of my review of 2010 part 1, the one all about my 2010 involvement with improv. To end, I'm posting a picture of me in the Halloween show as Arthor Dent from Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. By the way, lesson learned, while it may be good to keep your towel with you at all times, it'll just get in the way in improv scenes.
Next time: 2010 Part 2: Books, Movies and Music.
Unfortunately, this is all a very simple way of looking at it. The "Yay! Awesome!" part has sprinkled in with it parts of the other two.
The highlights to 2010 for me revolve around improv and reading. Some of the Improv highlights, in my opinion, in clude the new but short lived Dimensional Rift which was strong for a while but didn't survive to the fall. Joining the group going to Chicago...although I took a different workshop than everyone else that went to Chicago, I actually enjoied
the workshop I took. It involved doing a long form improv show with an audience member. Almost everyone else that went were accepted as an apprentice team members taught by a guy who, if I understand it correctly, didn't know improv well enough to teach but knew it well enough to wind up on SNL. I think John might have apprecieated the workshop I took because it wasn't until he and Keith went to Phillie in early October that he got inspiration to do a show called Special Guest Star.
Special Guest Star is a long form show that John does with an audience member that, by now, he has done 4 times. My mom, pictured, was the first. Anyway, the group didn't recover from that until they took a class in May with Dave Razowsky. This was a class that, due to lack of exspierence, I wasn't able to take. And due to misunderstanding, I didn't take the workshop that I would have been able to take with him. But the spring turned into summer. Then a lot of changes started to take place between July and September.In July, I did my last Dimensional Rift show. I also started doing the powerpoints for the shows and keeping track of show totals. Then I got to join R I Spectacular and had my first show with R I Spectacular in mid to late August. Then in September, I got to be back stage at the KCiF. Also around this time, I started to take on more responsabilities in the tech booth. But about a week before my first R I show, Nifer moved to Chicago which switched caused a lot of things to switch around schedlewised and what not. It also lead to the breaking down of some groups, like Red Rubber Ball and the new but even more shortly lived Dimensional Rift reboot. Within a month of Nifer's moved, Hannah moved to England and Patrick dropped out for school and job stuff. All of them taking with them there unique style...good news though, Nifer and Hannah still return...just few and far between.
As Summer turned into Fall, I found I got stronger in short-form games but I wasn't getting casted in longforms that much for reasons that I still need to work on. I found myself having a knack for games like Shakespeare Switch...Thank you
English major! I also got to perform in Dial-A-Show for the first time during the 2nd annual Imp Fest!
But I also, as I said, got more tech responsabilities. I wound up helping with lights for Omega Directive, Deep Space Emily, and Dictionary Soup when they performed at the Living Room...even though, unfortunately, the lights didn't help with the theater background of Kansas City. I helped set up the tech for a scripted show at the Roving Imp that dealt with traveling shows in early October. I also did the lights for Dictionary Soup and Biblioclast during Imp Fest 2. I'm proud of having done the tech for Dictionary Soup for making the appearence of the fire dance along the back wall. I'm proud of having done the tech for Biblioclast because I found and played the game. The unfortunate thing is, I have also learned that weird light things affects the focus of the camera. Live and learn.
As fall turned into late fall/early winter/holiday time, many people couldn't make it out to the Imp due mostly to prior engagements and family related stuff...and a few can't do the drive things. I wound up performing in someone's place in an elimination round of The Next Big Improv Show. Thankfully, I wound up in the middle so I didn't need to worry about getting judged...something that laid heavily on my mind the entire day that day. I also wound up performing almost once each
weekend, which is fine with me, and winding up in the tech booth a lot...a few times for the entire night, once again, fine with me.
This is winding down part one of my review of 2010 part 1, the one all about my 2010 involvement with improv. To end, I'm posting a picture of me in the Halloween show as Arthor Dent from Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. By the way, lesson learned, while it may be good to keep your towel with you at all times, it'll just get in the way in improv scenes.
Next time: 2010 Part 2: Books, Movies and Music.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Update: 12:12 AM Monday morning 1-10-11
I fully intend to update this sooner or later...especially over the events of 2010 as a whole. In the mean time, I'm updating this with something random.
Now please excuse me while I go find something random.
Now please excuse me while I go find something random.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Matthew of the IHOP Restroom Part IV
“Matthew,” Kalper said, “I think it’s about time that I told you what the situation is with the battle.”
“Really,” Matthew began, “right now, I’d like to find a way to get rid of Mary Ann over here.”
“I’ll have you know that the feeling is quite mutual,” Mary said. “I’d like to get away from him also. But here’s the problem: He wished specifically ‘to have a girl who was just like his beloved Katie Waller in everyway’. I know because that’s what the wishing star told me and the wishing star makes a living out of careful listening to desires.”
“You wished specifically to have a girl that was just like her in everyway?” Klaper asked.
“Do you have to…” Matthew began. He was going to ask why Klaper had to rub it in but then he was more intrigued by something else. “Why did you put the emphasis on the word ‘have’ like that?”
“Well, then,” Klaper said, “there’s not really anything that can be done. The wishing star, because of your wish, gave you Mary Ann. She is yours until you die. You own her.”
“This was not what I asked for! I didn’t even know I made the wish! She’s just on my mind…” Matthew paused because he finally understood the proverb Klaper told him about the path knowing what the heart desires but the brain is stupid. “…I think I finally got that proverb you told me.”
“So Klaper told you the proverb about the brain and you didn’t listen to him?!?!” Mary cried. “That’s just great. Now I’m yours until you die.”
When in the Path of Desire, if one asks specifically for a person, then either that person or an embodiment of that person is literally given to them by the wishing star as their property kind of like a gift. This person must remain with this person as though on a leash; chained to the wisher’s hand and this last until the owner dies. Mary actually has a lifespan of about 765 earth years and was really only 20 earth years. She would outlive Matthew a long time and will be able to go about wind-gnoming for centuries after Matthew dies. However, wind-gnomes can’t be touched, Mary, in human form, could. This added to her despise for Matthew.
“Matthew of the IHOP Restroom,” Mary said, “you may own me at the moment time; but I want you to know that I hate you, despise you and loath you with every core of my human-form body.
“Yeah, well, guess what Mary Ann,” Matthew said, “the feeling is mutual. I don’t even know what your issue is. I didn’t ask for this!”
“Oh yes you did,” Mary said, “the problem is that you don’t even know enough about this Katie Waller who I look like to even have a decent judgment on what you wanted.”
“OKAY, OKAY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” Klaper cried. “I’ve had it with this whole I hate you well I hate you too arguing!” Matthew was stunned. This was the first time he had seen Klaper blowup at him like that. “Now are you interested in knowing what the impending battle is that could get you killed or not?”
Nobody moved. Matthew was still in awe at Klaper’s outburst and at the same time, wanted to know what it was that could kill him. Mary already knew what the issue was and was merely board…or at least tired of arguing her way out of being someone else’s with the wishing star and also just plain arguing with Matthew. Either way, she was really only interested because she was there, and it could lead to her freedom.
“Now,” Klaper said, “we’ve been fighting a group of Shipgoes for the past 30 years. It’s a crusade. The Shipgoes are from the planet Splirk which is the next planet over. They seek the holy grail and they think it’s on the Planet Stroganoff,” he said.
Matthew was stunned. He wasn’t sure what it was that surprised him more. It could have been the fact that the Shipgoes were looking for the holy grail on the planet or that they were from the planet Splirk as opposed to the Planet Stroganoff which doesn’t sound anything like a planet while the Splirk does. But the only thing he could ask was, “so they came to the Planet Stroganoff to find the cup of Jesus?”
“No,” Klaper said. “That would be the Holy Grail in your dimension. The Shipgoes have been looking for a holy grail of their religion. Their fundamentalist in their religion and think everyone knows what they’re looking for. But honestly, no one on this planet has any idea.”
Matthew went from confusion to fear to excitement to fear to confusion to fear again. He was always interested in the concept of finding the Holy Grail, he just didn’t think it would be one for a religion foreign from any he’s ever either studied or read about. He was excited for the quest to find a holy grail. Mary wasn’t because she simply had to follow him since those were the rules. Klaper felt the need to explain one more thing…
“You look like you’re gearing up to look for it to find it yourself,” he said. “Let me just say that I have no idea where it is but we all think it wound up in your dimension if anything. It might explain why we can’t find it here. And what we really need is someone who can do battle with them.”
Matthew thought and then said, “but don’t you think if we could find it, and then give it to them, they may stop fighting?”
“That’s a good point,” Klaper said, “but first we’d have to figure out what it looks like.”
“I know someone who might know,” Mary said, “or maybe at least studied it before. You know, it would be that much closer to you dying”
Matthew didn’t really like the sound of that but expected it from Mary. He asked who could help and she asked him to take her to the sea. Klaper lead them to the sea where Mary pointed out a ship that appeared to double as a submarine. Klaper said that it was a pirate ship and, being a holy man, couldn’t go near, so he left Matthew and Mary to go to the ship. When they made it to the ship, Mary called out to one of the men on board. “Is your captain on board?”
The man nodded and went to the captain’s quarters. Matthew turned to Mary and asked, “how exactly do you know the captain?”
“Oh, he used to be a wind-gnome as well,” she said. “But he went to the path and asked to be human. So he was made into a human. But you should know that he’s a very unusual pirate. And he will have a ball with you, trust me, Matthew of the IHOP Restroom.”
“Oh great,” he said, “he going to go calling me that as well?”
“You’ll see exactly what I mean,” Mary said.
“Really,” Matthew began, “right now, I’d like to find a way to get rid of Mary Ann over here.”
“I’ll have you know that the feeling is quite mutual,” Mary said. “I’d like to get away from him also. But here’s the problem: He wished specifically ‘to have a girl who was just like his beloved Katie Waller in everyway’. I know because that’s what the wishing star told me and the wishing star makes a living out of careful listening to desires.”
“You wished specifically to have a girl that was just like her in everyway?” Klaper asked.
“Do you have to…” Matthew began. He was going to ask why Klaper had to rub it in but then he was more intrigued by something else. “Why did you put the emphasis on the word ‘have’ like that?”
“Well, then,” Klaper said, “there’s not really anything that can be done. The wishing star, because of your wish, gave you Mary Ann. She is yours until you die. You own her.”
“This was not what I asked for! I didn’t even know I made the wish! She’s just on my mind…” Matthew paused because he finally understood the proverb Klaper told him about the path knowing what the heart desires but the brain is stupid. “…I think I finally got that proverb you told me.”
“So Klaper told you the proverb about the brain and you didn’t listen to him?!?!” Mary cried. “That’s just great. Now I’m yours until you die.”
When in the Path of Desire, if one asks specifically for a person, then either that person or an embodiment of that person is literally given to them by the wishing star as their property kind of like a gift. This person must remain with this person as though on a leash; chained to the wisher’s hand and this last until the owner dies. Mary actually has a lifespan of about 765 earth years and was really only 20 earth years. She would outlive Matthew a long time and will be able to go about wind-gnoming for centuries after Matthew dies. However, wind-gnomes can’t be touched, Mary, in human form, could. This added to her despise for Matthew.
“Matthew of the IHOP Restroom,” Mary said, “you may own me at the moment time; but I want you to know that I hate you, despise you and loath you with every core of my human-form body.
“Yeah, well, guess what Mary Ann,” Matthew said, “the feeling is mutual. I don’t even know what your issue is. I didn’t ask for this!”
“Oh yes you did,” Mary said, “the problem is that you don’t even know enough about this Katie Waller who I look like to even have a decent judgment on what you wanted.”
“OKAY, OKAY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” Klaper cried. “I’ve had it with this whole I hate you well I hate you too arguing!” Matthew was stunned. This was the first time he had seen Klaper blowup at him like that. “Now are you interested in knowing what the impending battle is that could get you killed or not?”
Nobody moved. Matthew was still in awe at Klaper’s outburst and at the same time, wanted to know what it was that could kill him. Mary already knew what the issue was and was merely board…or at least tired of arguing her way out of being someone else’s with the wishing star and also just plain arguing with Matthew. Either way, she was really only interested because she was there, and it could lead to her freedom.
“Now,” Klaper said, “we’ve been fighting a group of Shipgoes for the past 30 years. It’s a crusade. The Shipgoes are from the planet Splirk which is the next planet over. They seek the holy grail and they think it’s on the Planet Stroganoff,” he said.
Matthew was stunned. He wasn’t sure what it was that surprised him more. It could have been the fact that the Shipgoes were looking for the holy grail on the planet or that they were from the planet Splirk as opposed to the Planet Stroganoff which doesn’t sound anything like a planet while the Splirk does. But the only thing he could ask was, “so they came to the Planet Stroganoff to find the cup of Jesus?”
“No,” Klaper said. “That would be the Holy Grail in your dimension. The Shipgoes have been looking for a holy grail of their religion. Their fundamentalist in their religion and think everyone knows what they’re looking for. But honestly, no one on this planet has any idea.”
Matthew went from confusion to fear to excitement to fear to confusion to fear again. He was always interested in the concept of finding the Holy Grail, he just didn’t think it would be one for a religion foreign from any he’s ever either studied or read about. He was excited for the quest to find a holy grail. Mary wasn’t because she simply had to follow him since those were the rules. Klaper felt the need to explain one more thing…
“You look like you’re gearing up to look for it to find it yourself,” he said. “Let me just say that I have no idea where it is but we all think it wound up in your dimension if anything. It might explain why we can’t find it here. And what we really need is someone who can do battle with them.”
Matthew thought and then said, “but don’t you think if we could find it, and then give it to them, they may stop fighting?”
“That’s a good point,” Klaper said, “but first we’d have to figure out what it looks like.”
“I know someone who might know,” Mary said, “or maybe at least studied it before. You know, it would be that much closer to you dying”
Matthew didn’t really like the sound of that but expected it from Mary. He asked who could help and she asked him to take her to the sea. Klaper lead them to the sea where Mary pointed out a ship that appeared to double as a submarine. Klaper said that it was a pirate ship and, being a holy man, couldn’t go near, so he left Matthew and Mary to go to the ship. When they made it to the ship, Mary called out to one of the men on board. “Is your captain on board?”
The man nodded and went to the captain’s quarters. Matthew turned to Mary and asked, “how exactly do you know the captain?”
“Oh, he used to be a wind-gnome as well,” she said. “But he went to the path and asked to be human. So he was made into a human. But you should know that he’s a very unusual pirate. And he will have a ball with you, trust me, Matthew of the IHOP Restroom.”
“Oh great,” he said, “he going to go calling me that as well?”
“You’ll see exactly what I mean,” Mary said.
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