It’s been crazy hard work but a whole lot of fun; only in a Quest show could I play three different presidents, Johnny Cash, and a rain cloud. Yeah that’s not a joke, I play a rain cloud.

Read the reviews (Trib, Reader, Time Out Chicago), come see the show!

Oh and if you are coming. PLEASE make reservations! We’ve sold out every single show so far and we already have some pretty full houses for the last two weeks.

I’m now in rehearsal for Toy Chest with the Tantalus Theatre Group. I think it’s really going to be an interesting piece. It’s a bit more focused than a lot of the stuff we’ve done in the past and I hope it shows when we reach opening night. The (slightly) scary part is I have to do a little dance/sing number. I’m not scared of the singing but I’ve got a pair of left feet when it comes to choreography so I’m a bit trepedatious about the dance number. We open March 10th with a preview on March 8th so mark your calendar now!

I’m feeding my bike addiction a new bike frame that’s in process of being built in my apartment right now. She doesn’t have a name yet, but it’d better be a fast one. Feast your eyes on this little number. It’s all scandium alloy and carbon fiber and it weights about as much as a cup of coffee. There will be more pictures along with my new track bike when all of the pieces get put together.

The bears have made it to the Superbowl. I think they may burn this city to the ground if they win it (although I predicted the same thing when the White Sox won the world series and I barely even noticed the celebration).

The big holiday party that my apartment was all decorated for in the pictures from the previous post was a huge success in more ways than one. I won’t get into details, but I’m pleased with the way life works sometimes.

So life goes on and these days I seem to be on the upside of it most of the time.

Wheeeeeee.

Cut to a few days ago. I was checking the web stats for my blog (which I haven’t been particularly good at updating over the summer months) and I noticed a had some very odd sites linking to mine– people I don’t know about on topics I don’t care about. After a little digging it turns out the reason is that they are direct linking/in-line linking my Snakes On a Plane picture. Now in case you don’t know what it means here’s the brief version. There were using pictures hosted by my web server for their websites– more from wikipedia
This pissed me off pretty well. If you’re going to take someone else’s artwork (and yes I use the term VERY loosely) and post it on your site at LEAST have the decency to

A: host it yourself and

B: ask permission first.

So I replaced the image with this:

This made me a feel a bit happier and it was taking up a LOT less bandwidth since the new one is much smaller than the original.

Cut to this afternoon. I was taking a closer look at the past few months web statistics and discovered the extent the linkage had gone, and how much it was still going.

Holy Crap! Over 7 GBs of data in August! 800,000 people viewed it! I never suspected that it was so widely linked. After doing some more digging it seems it’s still in very wide circulation, the numbers are decreasing but we’re still talking hundreds of thousands of people looking at this image I control over the next few months. The number one culprit?

MySpace.

Now I really hate MySpace. It’s an unattractive, annoying, pit of Internet stupidness. Yes I DO have a profile there but only for the purpose of keeping up with a few friends who are otherwise difficult to reach/keep up with.

So here’s the dilemma– I have the ability to replace that image again with whatever I want. It can be crass, ugly, gross, insulting, or whatever I want it to be! I can even advertise a good cause or my own website. My revenge on MySpace for being a eyesore on the face of the Internet is at hand!

What should I do? If anyone has brilliant idea’s please leave them here as a comment– but for right now I’m going to ponder the possibilities and giggle happily.

Their database of movies both new and old seems pretty extensive and it’s already helped me track down a few movies where I could remember basic plot points but not the title or any of the actors.  The only thing stopping Google from being the one-stop-shop for movie stuff would be links to Netflix and Fandango (or movietickets.com) for each title.
Way to go Google!

(I suppose I should point out that according to the Googleblog this feature has been around since February, I just never noticed it before.)

Oh… By the way, does anyone want to see any of these soon?

• The War Tapes
• A Scanner Darkly
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• Clerks II

Popcorn’s on me!

Here’s the press release.

The Strange Dreams of Nobody in Particular is a timeless pageant celebrating the power of stories. Tantalus Theatre Group presents a three-night mosaic of storytelling, song, spectacle, and food. Come hear the story of the child emperor, the tragic fall of his magical kingdom, and the hope that made his people whole again. Join us around the campfire and celebrate with us the simple magic of a story well told.

Matthew Rossi proposed this mosaic of storytelling and song to the Tantalus Theatre Group last year. His idea was to tell a story by telling the stories surrounding it. It would be like learning the story of Hamlet through the stories of Fortinbras, Polonius , Rosencrantz, and a guard in the castle Elsinore. The project began to take shape this winter with the help of Apollo M Weaver who joined the writing team and was signed up to direct the production. By the spring they had created a complete three-night epic that told the stories surrounding the Child Emperor and his palace made of paper. After a period of work shopping, the production got underway with the help of the talented cast of Mikayla Brown, Tina Carney, Jordan Keller, Joanna P. Lind, and Parrish Morgan. Each night’s performance is a celebration so come join us for stories, songs and food around the campfire.

Schedule:
The Storied Sun: Fridays June 16 – July 21
The Fall of the Tower: Saturdays June 17- July 22
The Rising Moon: Sundays June 18 – July 23*

All shows are at 7:30. In heavy rain, the show will be cancelled.

*On Sundays July 2 and 23 we will present all three stories:
3:30: The Storied Sun 5:30: The Fall of the Tower 7:30: The Rising Moon

Location:
Waters School Community Garden (Sunnyside and Campbell – 1 block West and 2 blocks South of Western Brown Line.)
Map

Cost: $10 suggested donation

Concessions will be available at all shows.

Here’s the official press release:

02/11/06

– For Immediate Release –

The Tantalus Theatre Group Presents: The Serpent Woman

By combining elements of commedia, fairy tales, a classic love story, and giant puppets the Tantalus Theatre Group has created a new and exciting production of a classic Italian commedia script.

The original production of the Serpent Woman by Carlo Gozzi was popular in its time but the years, and subsequent translations, had not been kind to its audience appeal. Devin Brain (director and Tantalus Theatre Group company member) adapted the script to both simplify the overly complex plot lines, and to further explore the darker, more frightening side of the fairy tale archetypes.

The project really got off the ground when Brain teamed up with veteran puppet maker Marc Chevalier. Marc wasn’t daunted by Devin’s artistic concept; take a very small theatre (the Side Studio with a capacity of about thirty people) and place the largest, most technologically advanced puppets he could into it. Marc has created larger than life, fully articulated puppets of mythical creatures that take up to four actors to control.

The combat sequence between the main character Farruscad (played by Andy Kirtland) and the 12 foot tall skeletal giant posed a particular challenge to Lindsey Noel Whiting whose influence can also be seen in the hypnotic fire dance inspired by traditional Indian candle dancing.

Plot Abstract:

Farrascad is a mortal man trapped in a fairy kingdom who must overcome his own nightmares to be reunited with his true love, despite the efforts of the mischievous fairies Farzana and Zemina who long to keep her for themselves.

The show opens February 24 and runs every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 pm through April 1.

The Side Studio 1520 West Jarvis Street (map)
Tickets $10.00

Phone for reservations: 773-960-2066

P.S. I know I owe the world an U/RTA update but that post takes more time and energy than I have right now– Expect it once SW opens!

This was the result:

It’s not professional or anything but I like it quite a bit. I’m now off to the photo lab to see how well it prints.
(If you’re curious you can click on the one above and download the whopping 2mb version I’m going to try to get printed.)

Update: I just go back from CVS and I have to say I’m really impressed. The prints turned out simply fantastic. The only way you can tell the picture was digital is a little spot where I cut the mask wrong to fake the depth of field right around my ear. Anyone who says 1.2 Megapixels isn’t enough for an 8×10 is a dirty liar!

Thanks to pOps for the hints on how to set things up in photoshop.

(thanks Ross)

Oh poor Samuel L.– You do know you CAN turn down roles don’t you?

Lets get watching!

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe ✔
Memoirs of a Geisha
Rent ✔
Jarhead
Aeon flux ✔
The Producers
King Kong
The Weatherman
Oliver Twist
A History of Violence

If you have an interest in seeing any of these let me know!
—————————————————-

At any university there are a myriad of little communities that appear seemingly out of the ether. I’m not sure why this happens so readily at a university (vs. private companies)– Maybe it’s that people at universities are naturally collaborative and social, maybe they feel put-upon and confused enough by the unnecessarily complex series of systems and groupings that govern the workplace that they band together out of necessity, maybe both.

Regardless I find these little social and professional circles to be pretty interesting and useful, in fact some days they’re the saving grace of what can otherwise become a pretty dull and uninspired job.

About two months ago when I realized that there were quite a number of music fans in my office so one of those little communities was born. Last night was the second meeting of RAWK (Which stands for the rockin at work krew– not my idea). Once a month the five of us meet and each person brings four copies of a favorite obscure album to share with the rest, then we talk about the previous months selections. It’s just like a book club, but it’s four albums a month and we meet at a bar and talk music for hours while drinking sangria. So far, it’s been a resounding success.

Oh and on a semi-related side note This came in from one of those university microcommunities (click on the Relax link). It’s a truly amazing piece of music, download it and give a listen if you have the time. Of course I can never leave well enough alone. That link led to the writer of said song, which led me to songfight.org, a really cool website where each week a group of composers duke it out for audiance approval by writing and recording a song based on a common theme. I know a few song writers who might reallt have some fun with this.
*cough* *Steve* *cough* *Luke*

The fantastic thing about Ravinia is they allow you to bring any food/wine/beer/whatever with you, it’s like a giant picnic with 10,000 total strangers.

Since I fancy myself an amateur chef I made the spread:

Appetizer:
Champagne crackers
Brie
Fresh green seedless grapes

Soup:
Chilled tomato soup with crab salad & pesto

Salad:
Baby greens salad with balsamic vinegarette infused with thyme

Entree:
Poached salmon with watercress mayonnaise

Dessert:
Far Breton

Wine:
Cheap Italian Pinot Grigio
Cheap Cali. Riesling

My thoughts:
The soup was fantastic although far more difficult than necessary to prepare. Next time I’ll either skip the corn or just steam it, heck I could probably use frozen corn– I doubt I’d notice the taste difference with everything else that’s going on in this dish. I also substituted a mix of hothouse and plum tomatoes for the heirloom tomatoes because I couldn’t find any. I’ve never cooked with good quality sea salt before it really makes things pop, quite tasty!

The Salmon was good although the sauce, which sounds pretty exotic, tasted like a run of the will tartar sauce that someone chopped up watercress into.

The Far Breton was fantastic and extremely easy. The one thing I might experiment with is the fruit, I bet it would have been better with some fresh fruit instead of plums and raisins, maybe rainer cherrys and peaches or something like that. I bet you could do something with an almond/walnut/chocolate thing as well.

I really regret that I didn’t get any pictures. Maybe next time

I know I haven’t updated this in a bit but there’s a good reason. I’m currently in rehearsal for a Tantalus Theatre Group play 6 nights a week, 3 hours a night. It’s called Ragnarok and it’s all about the Norse mythology revolving around the end of the world. It’s been a fantastically fun, and extremely exhausting, process so far. If you happen to live in the Chicago area and feel like seeing it goes up February 24th.

As if 6 nights a week wasn’t enough theatre I’m also doing a 24hour theatre piece. 24 people have 24 hours and 24 dollars to create a play from start to finish, writing begins tonight at 9 pm and the show, complete with costumes, sets and lights goes up tomorrow at 9 pm. It’s a joint venture with the Munki Haus and the TTG. Oh, and after the last performance, we’ll party until we fall down. Come and see the show if you can!

So those are my lame excuses why I haven’t updated my blog lately.

Wheee.

Luckily they aren’t going to get away with this travesty unscathed. Le Guin herself has written several articles about how disappointed she was. This one in particular was interesting to me.

It’s just amazing how people can butcher a fairly simple and elegant tale.

I have to say I’ve had it two days and I already don’t know what the hell I did without one. It really makes TV something you watch when you feel like it or when you have the time. No more scheduling life around TV (or, as is more often the case, forgoing things I’d like to watch for real life commitments/slackness/forgetfulness).

So far on the season pass list:
The Simpsons
The Family Guy
Futurama
Nip/Tuck
King of the Hill
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
… and about 1/2 a dozen movies I picked out of the browsing list.

One of the most interesting features Tivo has is it trys to guess what kind of show you might like (based on what you have watched/recorded in the past) and if it has the disk space it will record them for you. So far it obviously doesn’t know me very well since it recorded Maury(daytime talk show) and some children’s show called Recess. I think the reason for the strange choices might be because some of the previous owners information is still stored in it’s little head.. but even Josh doesn’t watch children’s shows.

This weekend I plan to install TivoWeb and Tyserver which will let me program my Tivo from anywhere and download all of the shows for burning to DVD. If anyone knows of any other good Tivo hacks let me know and I’ll scope them out.

Oh the geekyness factor is huge ain’t it?