|
Wednesday, 26 August 2009 15:46 |
I am in the midst of writing a one-man show. It is a comedy; comedic, as it were. I am learning a lot. As draft upon draft upon draft gets rewritten, and the script gets tighter and better and better, I am back to remembering that almost everything that comes out good took a lot of time to produce in the first place.
Over the past week and a half, I have gotten to catch three brilliant shows at UCB in New York. I saw 2 Square perform twice, John Lutz and Peter Grosz, and they are always amazing. The level of fluidity and trust and agreement they have during their 45 minute sets is inspiring. Oh, and they are hilarious. And last Monday (a week before 2 days ago), I got to see David Cross do stand-up. Well, he stood in front of us and was funny. He was great. I don't think he actually had a single joke fully planned out, one he stopped after about 10 seconds and skipped to the end and just told us the punch line and the concept he was going for. Still hilarious. So that is my plan for my show. To be as funny (and hoping to possibly be funnier) than these three brilliant performers.
Last night, I got a very special treat. My girlfriend through brilliance all her own, somehow got me a ticket to the Britney Spears concert in Madison Square Garden. I cannot say I am a huge Britney fan, but a concert by her in Madison Square Garden was something to see. The theme was "The Circus"...possibly "Circus Freaks," more specifically. It was kind of just that. Britney has pretty much thrown in the towel is how it seemed. She lip-synced every song but one (Everytime). Now the thought is that you lip-sync because you would be out of breath from all the dancing you would be doing on stage. Britney of old danced. As I recall. That was not really the case here. I think the most poignant moment came, for me, when there was a dancing legs double for Britney at one point during the show (right before Britney miraculously appears at a different part of the stage) and I knew it could not have actually been Britney because the legs were dancing as if they had energy and cared. I felt bad that Britney could only do half as good a job as all her backup dancers. It was a sight to see nonetheless. People who go to her concerts do get a show. Not the show they necessarily were hoping for, but they get lights and video and dancers, and even magic and circus freaks at this one.
Attending the show made think about performances, showmanship, and the performer-audience relationship a lot. There is a fine balance in that latter relationship that I learn about day in and day out. It is fascinating. Expectations and actual performance can differ strongly, sometimes that difference works and sometimes it does not. Perhaps it just depends on how big a star is performing. The tweenie boppers loved Britney and I definitely was dying from everything that came out of David Cross's mouth. Yes, I think he was really funny, but who knows, I could be the Cross groupie unknowingly pulled into his celebrity vortex. Then again, he didn't lip-sync any of his show. |
|
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 12:18 |
Every so often I find that I need space, in life. Not necessarily that I am overwhelmed, or have people taking up my personal space, or any of the things that come to mind when people say they "need space," rather I like to get away from the business (busy-ness?) of life and have time to restart and reconnect with myself. That sounds all new-agey, and I definitely do not intend it to come out that way. Let me explain. Presently, I find myself in a remote house in Martha's Vineyard, by myself. I bought enough food on Monday to last me the week and I have been cooking, going to the beach, reading excessively, and working on various writing projects I had put on hold until a time when I was "less busy." That is an odd phrase, "until a time when I am [was] less busy." There rarely is a time when life is un-busy, that is just how it is. There always seems to be something to do. So I like to take myself out of that equation, every so often, when I can make the time.
I have gotten a tan (something I've been trying all summer to do) and run on the beach in the evenings until waking up is painfully sore on my calves. And I'll run again tonight. As I go off on a tangent, I'll note it. Here I go. Running, being a runner, is a very interesting thing. I say "interesting," some would say "odd", "bizarre", or "crazy," I prefer "interesting." Yesterday, I cut up my big toe on my right foot trying to teach myself to skim board on a skim board I bought at Trader Fred's, on the island. I hobbled back to the house, put a bandage on my toe, waited an hour, and then went for a run--in shoes and then for 35 minutes barefoot (except my band-aid) on the beach. It was somewhat uncomfortable, I bled through my liquid band-aid and then the actual band-aid, but I still enjoyed it. There is a certain solitude of thoughts that comes to you when you run on automatic, especially when you find yourself on a beach at dusk and everyone has already packed up and left for the day. I say "interesting," you can call it what you want. End tangent.
Last night, I finished ready Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Admittedly, I cried the last 10 pages of the book. Maybe it was the last 4 or 5, I did not actually keep track. The thing was, I wasn't one hundred percent sure why I was brought to tears, I just was. The book is long and the reader goes through a journey with the two main characters, Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier, Sam, really being the main character when it comes down to it. So many things in this book I connected with, and made me smile. I highly recommend it, especially if you are a comic buff, as much of the book centers around Kavalier and Clay's exploits into the comic book industry in the mid-20th century. But it is also a story about the journey we all make in our lives, the decisions we make, and what happens when we follow things through, whether they are decisions for our benefit or for the love of others. It has definitely moved into my top 20 books list.
Today, I plan on finishing the second draft of a one-man show I have been working on, centering on Zombie Survival Training. Hopefully, if the stars align and the like, I will be able to put it up for a run in New York, in September. Well, I better get to it if I am going to have it finished (though I have just gotten interested in "The Guild," which is bad, since watching videos online is horribly addictive. Good thing I have Internet connection only via tethering).
|
|
|
Monday, 13 April 2009 11:09 |
First on my thoughts is that I saw "I Love You, Man" last night and someone whom I had known a while back, just as an acquaintance and then dropped off running into, popped up on the screen, one Sarah Burns, and that was awesome. I am wicked happy for her and that things are progressing and she is blowing up. So you should check out that film, because it is a really funny film, but her in it as well, as she is a really nice person and hilarious actress.
What has been on my mind these last few months? Creating rather than waiting. I have begun to push myself to write more and more. As projects do not fling themselves at me like I have a large gravitational pull, I have decided that the more good pieces I can create to put myself in the more chance I have to be in stuff I will enjoy and will be able to be put out there for people to watch. There is a screenplay that I have been working on forever with a friend of mine and I am hoping the script will be ready sometime in the very near future. As it is a feature length script, with the need for a budget, not huge but not tiny either, we will pitch it to various whomevers and hope someone bites. It is an interesting concept, an intriguing script, and if we could somehow pull off getting it made and I could play the man character, oooooh it would be fun. It is a dramatic script and is different than most of the other writing projects I have thrown myself into. I have a dark comedic musical I am working on (the book), and a number of sketches for my improv team's new Web site (Ghost Fight Improv dot com), and a one-man show I have just started. Yes there seems to be work being done out there, despite the trying times, but I also do not seem to have my foot in the right doors at the moment so it is time to take matters more into my own hands. Hopefully, another feature comedic script will also be in the works in the very near future. Much writing, but if I can focus, hopefully you will be laughing and crying with and at me more in the nearest of futures.
Other things that have been on my mind...I wish people were not so isolated these days. I get on an elevator and no one looks at each other; no one makes eye contact. People usually look at the number that tells us what floor the elevator is passing by, and more recently, people just look at the floor. I looked at the floor of an elevator the other day, I have to say it is really not that interesting. No cool designs. Nothing embedded to be dug up and then extracted to turn into dinosaurs on remote islands. Just a boring floor. When we walk outside, rarely do we make eye contact. On the subway (NYC), no one looks at anybody else. I do and I feel weird. I look and see the types of shoes people wear. I look at couples and see how they are relating. I see the man or woman reading a book or taking care of a child and it is fascinating. But I sometimes feel like I am the only one who notices. We isolate because we feel weird connecting with others these days. If I make eye contact with someone on a subway I definitely turn away or I feel awkward. Sometimes I'll nod hello. It is a lost art, connecting with others. We need more of it. Not in a rude sexual way, or a sketchy-man-on-the-subway way, but in a "hey, we all live here, we are people, we are a society, a community" kind of way. We'd be happier if we connected more, I think. Maybe I am just rambling. I once had a class and we were reminded to look up as we are walking, every so often, and I was amazed at what I was missing--because apparently I never looked up to see the tops of buildings or to see the sky. I do not know if we remember to do that, if we remember to look out beyond the world right within arms reach, or inside our heads as we think about ourselves. We should do that more. |
|
Last Updated on Monday, 13 April 2009 11:48 |
|
Tuesday, 30 December 2008 12:05 |
At the end of each year, on the 31st of December, I take a day of reflection and contemplation. I write this now because I am getting a head start, I guess. A friend of mine explained the idea behind fasting on Yom Kippur to me a few years ago--that the day is meant for reflecting on the past year's experiences and the individual does not think of not eating, but instead should be so concentrated on reviewing his or her year, forgiving those who need forgiving, and learning from this reflection that eating just does not come to mind. I really respect that idea that puts such an importance on reflecting. I think that so often we go through life and forget to learn from ourselves and our experiences. I live in New York City and we sometimes forget to look up in this city because we are so much always on the move. I do not necessarily mean metaphorically, but in actuality, in New York, if you stop and lookup, oftentimes you will be in awe of what you see. Tourists, they look up, that is what they are here for--to see the sites, to reflect on the city. Maybe that is the metaphor for an individual I am getting at--we can see others and observe their experiences easily, but we rarely remember to look in at our self and review and reflect on our experiences. So tomorrow is that day for me. And it is amazing what one can find out by reviewing a year, because, frankly, we do a lot and do not even realize it. I don't reflect with any set goal, more of a listing of achievements and failures and asking myself how I think I improved over the year, how I reacted to certain circumstances and if I liked the way I responded, who I met over the year and what that person has meant to me, what I have learned, and where I still need to improve myself.
The passing of one year and the birth of another, it is an interesting thing. On one hand, there is an ending of a year, what was done is done and cannot be changed, the time has irrefutably been past and actions have been made, for better or worse. Then on the other hand, we usher in a new year, a beginning of something new and a chance to start afresh and make changes--we have New Year's Resolutions, and the calendar starts all over from the beginning again, we even count down to that new beginning with Dick Clark, or now Ryan Seacrest, we raise glasses and toast the beginning, and we kiss those around us (as a sign of enjoyment of their company, or a new beginning, or because that is what we saw in movies or television or were told that is what we do, I am not quite sure; or maybe we just want to make out with someone). Our biased is already set from the beginning...we call it "New Year's" and not "Year's End," which I have to say I am glad for. Optimism has a lot going for it (and well, pessimists can't say pessimism has a lot going for it or they wouldn't be pessimists, so it works either way). Life, seems to me, to be about learning and evolving as an individual. We can become sidetracked and not realize our own evolution but it is always happening. I am not saying that reflecting would change the world or anything, but it definitely gives me perspective.
(You can also check out Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture," it is all over YouTube, it is a poignant example of reflection and evolution of character that I found out about this year.)
Happy New Year's everyone! |
|
subscribe to the News/Blog feed 
