Insanity, pleaded.

Fringe 101

2011-07-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

So it's almost time for the Winnipeg Fringe, and as per usual, a bunch of Fringe 101 articles are starting to go up: letting audience members know what to expect at a fringe festival and how they can maximize both their time and money while enjoying the experience to the fullest. These are useful articles, as while the Fringe movement in Canada is going strong, there are still many people (even in Winnipeg, which has the second largest Fringe in North America) who have never been to a fringe and need a little help figuring out how these things work. As a performer, I am all for that: Any way we can make the festivals more accessible and attractive to new people (or the to the people all ready coming out for that matter), the better. Why, back in the day, none of the venues had air conditioning! What will they think of next?

Anyway, the one thing that I've noticed HAS been missing is Fringe 101 articles for the performers- I suppose this is because out of the 80,000+ tickets sold at the Fringe this year, the majority of sales will not be from performers (although a good chunk of them will!) and much of the Fringe experience is best learned through trial and error, but still... For the brave first time fringers, or the patrons that might just be a little bit interested in what performers have to go through, here's some Fringe tips, albeit maybe a bit late in some cases. Oh well, you get what you pay for, right?

(I claim in no way to be an expert in any way shape or form- I've been doing the Fringe thing a while now, this year being my 7th year doing festivals, my 4th touring and at the end I will have done somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 different plays - about 25 individual festival runs for something like 150 performances- over that time, but there are people who have far out done me. Just consider this a few friendly words of advice from someone who has mostly learned the hard way.)

Don't buy cheap tape. If you're doing a show and you're putting up posters, you will need tape. If you buy this tape from the dollar store, or just use whatever you have left over from that time you helped your buddy move 7 years ago, beware that you are setting yourself up for a fall. You don't need to go crazy, but make sure you have tape that will stick to things and that will not rip into shreds as you attempt to use it to stick to things.
Bring a friend if you can. Not just for hanging posters either- Hand billing, watching shows, the inevitable drink after drink. It makes the tasks you may not enjoy go much faster and the ones you do become even better. Now, it's helpful to have a technique for putting up a poster by yourself in the middle of a gale force wind (I pin it to the wall with my knee while working the tape gun) but it will be way easier to do it with a buddy.
Stay hydrated. These are summer festivals, it gets hot and you may be drinking a lot of beer. If you decide to do a tour, you've got an even longer stretch ahead of yourself. Keeping yourself from collapsing from dehydration and heat exhaustion is a good idea. And in that area...
Pace yourself. It's a marathon, not a race. Make sure you know if you have a show the next day and plan accordingly. This is really more a do as I say, not as I do kind of recommendation: I work myself into a nice post-fringe death flu almost every year, but I have my own system worked out and I know my limits and patterns. At the very least learn yours and be ready to stay on top of it.
Talk to people. There are so many cool people at these festivals. The performers, the patrons, the volunteers and staff. Everyone is out to have a good time and the vast majority of them are super friendly and cool people. Take time to sit and gab from time to time- Talk about the shows they've seen, the shows they are doing, how they're enjoying the festival. You never know who you'll meet and when they'll pop up again. The Fringe tour community and the Winnipeg theatre community are all very small, and I'm proud to say, populated with some of my favorite people.
Passwords! Fringe performers have the option to set up passwords to allow fellow performers into their shows for free. This is a great way to see shows if you're doing a show and a nice way be a part of the community at large by letting others see the work you're doing. Most performers love to hear anything you have to say about their show (well, respectfully said at least) and I've had some great chats that started discussing elements of shows, mine or others that led to very interesting places.
Hang out. For performers with day jobs, this can be hard, but try to take the time to spend a little time at the beer tent or at the Kings Head after hours. Fringe is not an exclusive club, but you have to be there to get in on all the cool stuff going on around town.
Ask. If you need something, it never hurts to ask your fellow performers. Everyone is very cool about helping out when they can and if they don't know how to help, they'll probably know somebody who does. Then there is Facebook, twitter- There are resources to any question you might have.
Don't be a dick. Please.
Have fun! Yeah, it's kind of trite. But Fringe is awesome. If you're not having fun, then I'm afraid you're doing it wrong.

Cheers! Happy Fringe!

You Got NDP in my Social Media!

2011-04-20T13:15:00.001-07:00

Just a quick little note here- Holy crap are the NDP all up in the internet these days! With the Federal election coming up it's little surprise, it's just kind of weird to have Jack Layton's face creeping up on me while I'm on Facebook, reading Cracked.com or watching videos on Youtube. I'm not entirely unsympathetic to the NDP agenda, but Layton's mustache evokes images of some back-window creeper more than future-leader-of-my-country, and it just won't leave me alone! Wharg!

Anyway, since I have your attention, please vote this upcoming election, yes, even you, no, ESPECIALLY you, apathetic 20-something reader. This shit is important people are literally dying for the privilege of what far too many choose not to engage themselves with. Democracy is the worst kind of government, except for all the other ones that have been tried. VOTE!

(And preferably not for Harper, but hey, it's a free country.)

A Valentine's Day Post, From the Road

2011-02-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it certainly HAS been a while now since I've posted in this oft neglected blog, but what better time to do so than hundreds of miles away from home while in the middle of a tour? I'm not sure if that was a hypothetical question or not, so let's just move along...

This marks the first post of 2011, with only TWO posts from last year, which really gives me quite a lot to catch up on. So, instead, let's just get to the recent months where I've been busy working on "The Paperbag Princess & More" a show with Prairie Theatre Exchange. We've been at it a while now: Rehearsals began in December, we did about two and a half weeks in the theatre, three weeks touring around schools in Winnipeg and now we are starting week two of touring around Manitoba. It's been a great experience so far, working with fellow actors Ray and Charlene as well as our SM Heather, and I'm happy to say that we've come this far without wanting to beat each other to death, so I suppose that bodes well for the remainder of our time together.

I've been keeping a road journal, which is partly to chronicle the various events on tour, and partly to hold off various writing projects that I've been neglecting: I'm doing a CAFF fringe tour this year- Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Victoria and Vancouver, taking Edmonton off to go to Europe for a couple of weeks, which means between this show and that one I'll be spending about half of 2011 on the road. So, that means that show better be pretty god-damned good, which also means I should finish WRITING it. My current plan is to have a draft or two done by the end of the month, which also means that I'm supposed to be doing that writing whilst on the road. Progress has been... well, not the greatest.

I'd be lying if I said that the pressure of writing a show that will essentially be my JOB for months on end isn't kind of getting to me, as well as the fact that I haven't really settled on what show I'm actually writing: My first work was on a show tentatively titled "The Suckerpunch", which turns out to be the name of a movie coming out next month. That's really made my security about said show get a little weak, and so my work has been spread out on that and another show, "The Things We Leave Behind", which is shaping up decently but doesn't have a strong ending and is badly in need of a different name. Basically, I need to shit or get off the pot about deciding WHAT it is I'm making, but that involves locking myself into decisions I'm not sure if I'm ready to make. Basically, I'm being a indecisive asshole. But, those are problems for Future Brent!

As for the tour, things have been going pretty well, although a lack of internet and cell phone coverage have made me realize how much I enjoy having such things. I've been sick pretty much the whole tour so far, but I'm hoping that I'm finally getting over it all: At least I hope so, as our last couple of shows left me with pretty much no voice to speak of and it would be nice to not have to worry about that for the next couple of weeks before we head back home. We've all ready done the most remote leg of the tour, staying up in Leaf Rapids, eventually visiting South Indian Lake for a show. That was particularly interesting after having done a monologue about the history of the place for Unequal Harvest. Now we're slowly making our way southwards, from Flin Flon to the Pas, to Swan Lake, to Dauphin and finally Neepawa before spending a few days back home.

Anyway, that's the basic shape of things for now, with plenty to do once this crazy ride is finished: Specifically, I've got a huge hole in my life from March 20th-June 19th that I need to fill with SOMETHING. So, if anyone has a three month gig they need an actor/writer/professional procrastinator to fill up, let me know. In the meanwhile, I'm back on the road.

Happy Valentines Day!

Victoria Fringe and Other Events

2010-08-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well hello there friends in blog land. It's been a while, but unlike most of the time, it is not for lack of trying. In fact, I've got several blog posts sitting half-finished on my desktop, just waiting for me to get back to them and I will! But in the meantime I've been very busy, as usual.

I have a post about the Winnipeg Fringe, which was awesome as usual.
Another post is about Christopher Nolan's movie Inception, which you should definitely see before reading, so you've got a little more time to do so if you havn't all ready. I mean, seriously, go see it.
I've also got a little post about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a fantastic movie that is sadly getting it's ass handed to it at the box office. So, go see that too.

Anyway, all of those posts will have to wait since I've got more projects on the run then I can currently handle. I've got a script I've been working on that is due at the end of the month, preperations for two shows at Aqua Books in about a month, and of course, the fact that I'm currently in Victoria for the Victoria Fringe. Oh, yeah, I guess I should talk about that a little, huh?

I'm currently sitting in the Center Branch of the Victoria Public Library, taking full advantage of the free WiFi and airconditioning which is only fair considering how many people I deal with on a day-to-day basis who are doing the same in Winnipeg. Victoria has been pretty awesome so far so here is a quick recap (May not actually be quick):

Tuesday was the longest day of my life. I was heading out on a 6:30am flight so the plan was to get there for 5:30 and therefore get picked up by my ever obliging father at 4:30. I decided that since a few hours of sleep would probably do more harm than good and on top of that I still had tons of work to get done on my various projects that I'd simply stay up all night. I managed to complete a short demo reel (which can be seen at www.brenthirose.com) and do a few more things, although around 3am my brain was clearly not doing its best work. I finally got picked up and we headed down to pick up Kami, my co-star for Unequal Havest.

The flight out was more or less uneventful, with the exception of a very confused kitty who managed to escape his carry-on carrier for a few seconds before being picked up by a stewardess. I slept pretty much through the whole thing, including a stop over at Edmonton. That was nice, but only ended up being about 3 hours of sleep, on top of the fact that by the time we arrived it was only 8 in the morning.

We got picked up by our billet Lee who graciously came in to greet us. Chatting on the way over, she reveals that her father had died that very morning, which made Kami and I more than a little worried about imposing by being all over her living space. Once we settled in we went about doing the usual: Scouting the neighborhood, buying stuff that we neglected to bring, signing in for the festival, picking up posters. I'm standing in the middle of staples cutting up my handbills when Kami calls me to let me know that we're moving: Things are just too crazy with Lee so the fringe managed to find us a new space.

I head back to the main Fringe grounds where our new billet Betty arrived to pick us up. We went down to Lee's to pick up our things and to let her know that we understood her decision. Graciously, she still offered me a bike that I had asked to use, which I gladly accepted. It was a good thing too, as when we finished loading up the car there wasn't any room for me anyway!

I'm not concerned: I'm a commuter cyclist! I can handle this! Five klicks away? No problem! Well... except for the hills... Yes, my prairie living has done little to prepare me for some of the crazy inclines around Victoria, and while I manage all right most of the time, when the angle starts heading past 25 degrees my resolve is duly tested.

But, I arrive and am more than happy to find that our new billet is a fantastic little house on the coast of West Victoria. Kami and I spend a bit of time just enjoying the beautiful view from the deck while working on some show prep. Betty is also quite lovely, as can be expected of anyone who is willing to put up two strangers at a moments notice. Quite the lucky break!

That night Kami and I check out the Fringe block party, an event in Center Park to kick off the festival. It's nice to bump into a bunch of familiar performer friends: Jayson & Megan, Yanomi, Rob G. and others. The block party itself is kind of a wash as far as promotion goes, since most of the people are just there to see the bands. Most of the performers leave early as they all have had similar days to Kami and I. After a little bit we're gone too, and we decide to walk home, picking up some groceries along the way. This is an ill advised move at our current level of fatigue and when we finally, FINALLY arrive back at our billet we both agree that we will not be doing that again.

The next morning is a busy one- Kami and I are up early to get ready for our tech rehearsal at 10, although our ride is set to get us in for 9. Tech goes well, although I'm a little surpised to see that the venue isn't completely set up yet, with lights and rigging still lying around in places. Towards the end of the tech we're met by a reporter for a radio interview, which goes quite well. Then I'm off to pick up my posters (whose order had somehow not gone through a week before) and head off to the tech for When the Killer Mutant Lizards Attack. Again, the stage is not quite set up and frankly neither am I. The tech was all right, but with several projection effects not working out quite right I realize that I've got a bit of work to do before opening on Saturday.

Now the bike Lee had lent me was a godsend, but also a little bit of an adjustment for me, as it's post and handlebars were set super high, cruiser style. This is fine for leisurely pedaling around, but not very useful for getting more power while standing. The angles just didn't work well with my arms. However, the Fringe organisers pointed me towards Capital City Cyle, a great downtown bike shop who were happy to lend me a bike for the duration of the Fringe at the cost of a six pack of beer. That is some charity for artists that I can get behind. If you live in Victoria, I highly suggest you check them out.

After picking it up, Kami informs me that the Fringe Artist party has kicked off at the headquarters of a local micro-brewery. Free beer and pizza is another godsend and suddenly my day is looking better and better. From the party, most of the artists headed down to the Fringe Preview performances, which turned out to be a packed house of die hard fringe goers who were more than ready to watch all the signed up companies put in a two minute (theoretically) snippet from their shows.

The final results were a mixed bag: Some people definitely sold some tickets, and others did the opposite, but I was really happy with the event in general. All the people I knew did very well- Kami in particular really won over the audience with her bit from Unequal Harvest which is a difficult show to sell. I was happy with my own performance too, so hopefully I'll have did a bit of work towards negating the sting of being the ONLY replacement show in the festival.

It's hard being the only show that isn't in the printed program: People don't really know about you, particularly those newcomers to the festival who arn't as hip to the room with all the various twitter/website/newsfeed ways that Victoria seems to have embraced. I'm interested in seeing how this all translates into audiences; if word of mouth, digital or otherwise, works out for us, I think we'll do just fine. I guess it's up to the audience's reaction really. Our prep is done; it's showtime.

Today has been all about last minute prep- Putting up a few posters, getting all our ducks in a row. Had a nice nap and now I'm enjoying the library. It's a beautiful city, like a bigger Kenora with money and salt water. Jayson MacDonald told me that Victoria is a lot like Winnipeg, except instead of drunks they have junkies. This was never more evident then when I went to the public wash room here and saw that it included a box for safe needle disposal. Yikes! But, now it's time to think about the show.

Speaking of which, it's 6:15, and Kami and I are to meet in 15 minutes to get ready for our 7:30 show tonight. I'm ready to open this sucker... here we go!

Lost Season Finale: Thoughts

2010-05-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been ages since I’ve wrote anything in this blog, which has more or less been abandoned. Sad, considering how much I do enjoy blogging and how helpful a blog was in, you know, remembering what exactly I got up to in the past year, but life gets in the way. There is also the fact that microblogging through twitter and Facebook has drastically changed the way that people brag about their lives and share witty quips when no one is around in person to hear them. And then there is the fact that most of my writing time has been spent on time sensitive projects, plays and scripts and comedy bits, all screaming for attention just a little bit louder than my withered blogging muse. But the time has come for another post, and so here I am. What could have restored by desire to write rambling essays? Why, Lost of course.

Obligatory spoiler warning right here. I’m going to talk about Lost at length and if you don’t want anything (especially the finale) spoiled, turn away now. And since I really think you should see the show and see it unspoiled, please consider this some free friendly advice as well. Season six will be out on DVD soon, if you havn’t started yet that gives you plenty of time to get through seasons 1-5.

Last warning. I'm not responsible for any show ruining past this point! Mea culpa!

So Lost, one of my favorite television shows has finally come to an end. Six years of mystery and intrigue, action and excitement, and the occasional fumble and frequent frustration have come to an end. A two and a half hour finale- One that has left many people scratching their heads or even crying for blood. Thankfully, I don’t include myself in those numbers- I loved the finale, and after a few days of thinking, I’m ready to talk about why.

Lost is pretty unique amongst shows for me, in that it maintained a strong run from top to finish and finished when the creators wanted it to. My other favorite shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Arrested Development certainly can’t say the same. I have high hopes that others, like Dexter and Breaking Bad will have the occasion to do so. Now, Lost isn’t a perfect show- Nikki and Paulo, some clumsy exposition and Kate in general proved the writers were not perfect, but the fact the show never got mired in those things (well, except for Kate I guess, but I didn’t hate her as much as most people seem to) and managed to continue to tell compelling stories and offer tantalizing mysteries.

From the moment I started watching Lost, I knew it was not for everyone. In fact, I’m amazed that it did as well as it did and astonished that it was made on a major network. Part of me wonders if Lost might have fared better critically (from the fans at least) had it aired on HBO or AMC. Watching the first season and reading responses to it online, it was obvious that while the storytelling was indeed compelling most people didn’t have patience to be strung along for as long as the show promised to. When I said before the show was frustrating, I mean frustrating in a good way, one that riles you up and excites you. Some might say that there is no such thing as that kind of frustration. If you’re one of those people, then Lost probably isn’t for you. It was also a show that demanded close attention to detail, with a twist filled plot that came to include flashbacks, flash forwards, time travel, possible alternate dimensions and well over 50 named re-occurring characters. For mass audiences who don’t like their shows getting more complex than CSI or Survivor, there is little wonder that people were put off. They had to be.

But the show stuck to its guns- It stayed weird, it stayed mysterious and it kept the questions coming. This turned people off. Some of them violently so, throwing up their arms in disgust, particularly at those who stuck with the show. I know the feeling, having sneered at friends who stuck with Heroes after my patience had worn down past the point of endurance. But what those who abandoned the show would never experience and never really understand was that the show continued to reward, but in ways that were frankly too involved to explain to those who had lost interest. But frankly, it was their loss. They were lost, while the faithful, we had been found.

And after season three whenever one of them got snarkey about “When are they getting off the island?” we could just tell them that they had, and to shut the hell up because they clearly didn’t get it.

Lost was a show with layers, throwing around pop culture, philosophy and many many clever easter eggs along with the requisite drama. Those were the things that kept the faithful coming back- “Oh my god was that Sawyer walking down the hall?” “Holy crap, what was that Dharma symbol?” “Wait, what number was on that license plate again?” I recall an old live action TV series of my youth, Captain Power. You could buy a light gun to play along with the show at home, shooting the enemies as they appeared on screen in attempts to get a high score by the end of the episode. In Lost, you still had to be quick, but the score was checking how many references you caught, how many callbacks were skillfully inserted, and of course, how many answers were finally, finally revealed and what that meant for what you had seen and better yet, what you were to see in the future.

Even the haters had to agree that Lost featured pretty exceptional technical elements- The cinematography was never less than great, helped very much by the beautiful Hawaiian surroundings. And then you had some of the best production design on TV, which constantly fed the eagle eyed clue hunters while at the same time setting each scene with plenty of atmosphere and nuance. The first time anyone walked into a new location on the island, the viewers joined the characters in peering around the new environment, cautiously anticipating every corner while frantically taking in every detail. In fact, one of Lost’s greatest feats was bringing a real sense of exploration to the series. Side by side with the characters, we trekked through jungles, ran after Charlie, explored abandoned work stations and hid from that damn Smoke Monster. Recall the first trip to the hatch, finally blown open after so many setbacks and discouraging moments. There was a little bit of magic as the camera panned around and that magic is seen all too infrequently.

And then there was the acting, which was always good and frequently top notch. Michael Emerson was always amazing, creating one of the most compelling villains in TV history. Matthew Fox and Terry O’Quinn provided a nice contrast to play against each other, especially so towards the end of the series when their arcs had taken them to find themselves in opposition again but on the reverse sides. There were countless emotional moments in the show- Locke discovering he can walk again, Jin and Sun reuniting, Richard’s back story revealed, Charlie’s always controversial death- but the real acting moments that have stood out for me have been the fantastic subtly that the best of the cast have used to great effect. The last season had many of them, but two stick out: First, Sayid regaining his humanity in time to attempt to defuse the bomb in the sub. In a less capable actors hands it could have been heavy handed, a real “Oh, I guess he’s good now” moment, but instead it had a beautiful light touch, again a great treat to those who are paying attention. And then, Juliet reuniting with Sawyer in the finale- Elizabeth Mitchell had not really stood out to me until that moment, but when she and Sawyer regained their memories and she had to deal with the shock, happiness, pain and doubt- this from a woman who had painfully given up her love once before, only to finally give herself over to it- That’s a powerful bit of acting and well worthy of praise.

Both the acting and writing came together to make one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, with tons of great memorable characters all over the place. Again, mistakes were made, and production difficulties and various real life issues made some stays prematurely short- Sorry Ana Lucia, Libby, Eko and Walt! Walt in particular got the short shift, but I guess that’s puberty for you. The aforementioned Nikki and Paulo were also a pretty bad misjudgment with mediocre actors, unsympathetic characters and negligible plot development. Thankfully the writers managed a hail mary by tossing a helicopter full of interesting character on the island showing both their nack for new and interesting complications to the story while also proving that they can introduce new characters without insulting the show’s fanbase. Plus, Nikki and Paulo’s death was handled in such a great way that the writers won back much forgiveness with tons of style.

But none of this matters one iota in the grand scheme of things (at least some would have you believe) unless the show wraps up well and finally, FINALLY, answers are given. So now, after all this anticipation, and then two and a half hours of Lost running for home, was it all worth it? Will the timid have a reason to watch the series in the first place?

Yes, and here is why.

There are two main issues that people have with the finale that I want to address. There is the overall plot and the unsolved mysteries, and the ultimate ending of the show. Let’s take those in order.

The creators of the show prepared us for it. They let us know that not everything would be answered by the end of the series, and that we would have to live with that. For some people, that is not adequate. I can understand why, but personally, I prefer not to know everything. The people who claim the writers have been making things up from day one love to point out any plot holes of unexplained phenomena as proof of this, but much of it has turned out to be merely misdirection, and for the people who have been following the story at large without getting snagged on every bush left undisturbed can enjoy it for what it is. Yes, the writers, directors and actors are manipulating you- They do it on every show on television! The point is to let yourself get taken along for the ride.

Does it improve the show to know that the polar bears were brought to the island as part of weird science experiments from the 60s? Do you really need an explanation as to how exactly they managed to survive and potentially reproduce on the island? There might be interesting stories to be told about that, for sure, but it isn’t really what is at the heart of the island. More specifically, do we need to know what the light is, what it really does, or how the guardianship of the island works step by step? No doubt it would help explain some whys and hows and if sewn together elegantly enough, could reinforce the tapestry of mythology the show has built, but aren’t the basics clear enough? The key word here is mythology- something the series has frequently visited, and which in the final season finds itself in the midst of. It is a magical realism where the exact details are not as important as the meaning of things, and when you reach a primal struggle, of an evil (no matter how tortured) versus a good (no matter how flawed), you have all the pieces in place to see the story to the end.

In the two hours of the finale, we got to watch as characters re-united in one world and raced towards the finish line in the other. It was not a lot of explaining: Frankly, I had felt the previous three episodes had given us plenty of that. No, now was the time to start running for the exit, because the doors are about to close. Fans with long memories were treated to callback after callback accompanied by beautiful moments of resolution between characters. Daniel Faraday in particular was my favorite character and watching him re-unite with Charlotte after an all too brief time with her in the previous season made me intensely happy. I can’t imagine any more factual information about the island making me feel the same.

And so then we have the final ten minutes, in which our alternate reality is finally revealed. And yes, we’ve been tricked, misdirected, and if you wish to take umbrage with that you can but again, I found the sensation to be quite satisfying, particularly when I was so sure that the two worlds would be re-united. Instead the show subverted my expectations by indeed reuniting the characters, but only to move on together.

I know many anti religious viewers were miffed, upset that the show would delve into the afterlife when they had come for the mysteries. Men of science, this indeed might appeal more to the men of faith. But personally, I really enjoyed the twist, and found it to be done simply enough as to avoid a myriad of clichés that could have followed. And not being particularly spiritual, I think it is not out of question for a show that prominently featured ghosts and spirits to finally come to the final resting place of every character, or at least, most of them.

The writer in me marveled at the simplicity and grace of it: Harry Potter turned off fans by reveling the end through a flash forward- If everything was fine 20 years down the road, well that just killed any real adventures in that period. But by going to this floating point of death for all the characters, we get to see that indeed Ben and Hurley worked together, that Kate lived a while after escaping the island, and even that Sayeed’s soul was not lost. The clue hunter in me furrowed his brow in the penultimate scene, as Jack touched his fathers coffin, a stained glass window displaying a cross, star, wheel, moon and Hindi character- symbols for every major religion- “What kind of church would have that?” I thought. Ah. Right. Well I suppose THAT church would, wouldn’t it?

Some people really hated the fact that the sideways world turned out to be an afterlife, but personally, I loved it and really do more so after thinking on it at length. The title of the show was never about being physically lost. Had that been true, we would have been robbed of three seasons. No, the show was about the personal displacement each character experienced, as they dealt with their imperfect pasts and dysfunctional presents. There were complications and mysteries and fights and sacrifices. Many people died, some before they had a chance to find their peace. Some got to live another day, and maybe find it in the future. And then some, like Jack, used their last moments to come to terms with themselves and their choices. Not all of them have happy endings, but such is life. For a normal series, that might be enough.

But in the finale of Lost, the characters get a second chance to reconcile, to forgive, to move on. And those who are ready to all get a happy ending. There is something beautiful in that, and well worth six seasons to get to.

A Late Blog Update, But What Else Is New?

2009-10-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

So, once again a pretty damn unreasonable amount of time has gone on between posts. What can I say? I used to be better at this. Which I guess is to say that I used to have time for it. Or something.

So, what has happened since the Edmonton Fringe? A whole heck of a lot, actually. Thanks for asking!

September was a busy month, with tons of little projects to fill in the days along with a lot of working. October is much the same: I did a reading for FemFest, read a play for MTC and another for MTYP. I did a kids show with Funny Box Theater which was tons of fun although not particularly well attended. I've done a fair bit of voice recording, including two days of re-recording two episodes that were lined up for the big animation conference a few weeks ago. (On that note, Noonbory was recently picked up by NBC and can be seen all over the place now, so check it out!) I've also been writing, and am closing in on the end of a new short play called "The Two Step", written especially for a brand new theatre company that my friend Michael Duggan is creating. Excited to see everything come together! One last thing: I also tried my hand at Comedy a few weeks ago, participating in Comedy Loser at the Kings Head Pub, a fantastic monthly solo comedy show put on my Ryan McMahon, a great local comedian. The debut of my character Richard B. Manly, a.k.a. Dick Manly, a.k.a. THE MANLIEST MAN IN THE WORLD went over really well. I've already started work on my next bit. Looking forward to it!

I've also been huge on self improvement. I recently started a "drink only water challenge", for which I've set up another blog which you can find over yonder. As well, I've started taking Capoeria again, which is kicking my ass but is also tons of fun. And then, I've been filling my other "spare time" with my guitar which I've actually started to gain some ability with. All in all, I'm feeling really good about everything and couldn't be happier with the majority of my life. Can't really ask for much more than that, right?

The end of this month will really from my game plan: I'm waiting to hear about my application to the Fringe Tour Lottery for the '10 tour (I'd be doing Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver), I'm waiting to hear back about my WAC writing grant and I've also applied for a 6 month term position in the water and waste department, which would mean my first full time job EVER, something I've been actively avoiding for as long as I could. What is next for our intrepid hero? Tune in next blog post (which will be soon, promise!) to find out!

Steel Wheels... of DOOM!

2009-08-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

On the last episode of Brent randomly bitching about shit, I left you with a teaser for the bar that will be the end of me. It is currently Wednesday, and I have hours until my next show, so I might as well get this all out right now. You see, after my show tonight I will be heading back to this bar and tonight may very well be the night that I am done in for good... especially if my hours of handbilling today don't result in a decent house.

(A quick aside: Dave Dawson suggested "It's a play about a bubble boy" to replace my formerly long winded spiel, which was then augmented to "It's a play about a bubble boy and the man who may have made him up." Thoughts? Does that tickle anyone's fancy?)

The Fringe is tons of fun, where performers gather from around the city, country and world to entertain people with their art, mixing and mingling to create beauty where there was none before. However, this is not without a cost. I mean, these are artists and even if they can void the bad reviews, the nightmare crowds or malfunctioning technical elements there is plenty of self destructive behavior going on. There are various forms of self-medication rampant, smoking, smoking and a personal favorite of the fringe (read: the one they make stupid amounts of cash off of) drinking. If there is one thing most performers love after doing a show, it is going out and grabbing a drink, relaxing and letting the trials and tribulations of their shows just fall away to be worried about another day.

However! It is also very expensive to drink. At the festival beer tent you're looking at $4.50 for a canned beer, $5 for a cup of the ale on tap. That adds up and on hot days like today it can get a little overwhelming. In Winnipeg there is usually the option of grabbing a night cap at someones house to somewhat reduce your drinking costs. And while this festival has been blessed with some killer after parties away from the grounds, most nights people just want to talk to the nearest watering hole and drink. Enter Steel Wheels, a charmingly dilapidated bar, whose booths, bathrooms and pretty much every other surface are covered with graffiti. The Korean owners are super nice people and are happy to serve you beer and food at almost criminally low prices. $3 for a beer is pretty decent, but $1 water? $3 pizza? (TWO slices!) Bear in mind, this is with festival stalls seconds away charging stupid prices on pretty much everything. Steel Wheels is an oasis in the desert, a fantastic get together spot for poor performers to gather together and finish off the night right.

I know, this is basically just a love letter to this bar, but it has honestly been one of the brightest spots in my day. There's more too- they have a fantastic Bulgoki (teriyaki beef) pizza and meals, which are something that I will miss greatly when I'm gone, along with some of the best pork dumplings I've ever tasted. And sure, it's not perfect: It is small, and fills up when the bars let out. The washrooms are absolutely disgusting, and the beer menu is pretty sparse. But the combination of good times, good people and great prices more than makes up for its faults. Oh, Steel Wheels, you will always have a place in my heart.

In other news- the festival is nearing its end now, and I have but a single show remaining. I've seen some awesome shows- The Pumpkin Pie Show, Boat Load, Totem Figures, Reflections on Giving Birth to a Squid- and have had my share of good and bad moments- the infamous trip to the River, losing my digital camera, playing soccer with other touring performers, having homeless people making a racket during my performance today. But all in all, it's good times.

NEXT TIME- Random Stories. I'm sure I'll come up with something...

The Horrors of Handbilling (And How It's Not That Bad)

2009-08-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

So the Fringe continues, having finished the first weekend of the festival. It's been pretty eventful, with tons of people filling the Fringe grounds to an astounding degree. For a performer like me, that means more people to attempt to entice into coming to see my show, and in order to do that I have to- gulp! - handbill.

Yes, handbilling, the ancient Fringe tradition of coming up to strangers, interrupting their conversations and giving them bits of paper in hopes that your brief interaction will be suffiicent to win them over to the idea of paying money to see your show. I am not a good handbiller. Which is not to say that I am bad at the act in particular, but I really do not enjoy doing it. Which probably makes me bad at doing it, but hey, let me live in denial a little while longer. The problem with handbilling... well, there are a bunch of problems.

First and foremost, there is the simple fact that I did not get into acting because I loved foisting paper onto unsuspecting strangers. Yes, promotion is certainly part of the business and all that malarkey, but the simple fact remains that most actors will have handbilling moments where they can only stop and think "This is not what I got into acting to do". Another issue is the fact that it plays into the common actor need for approval. Having a room full of people applaud you feels fantastic. Having someone turn you away rudely when you just want them to take a stupid handbill does not. Here there are tons of stories: For instance, during my first day of handbilling, first day of the festival, I was quickly turned away by a couple of me who quickly barked "Seen it!". Since my show had yet to play, that kind of played poorly with me.

I think what may have added to my dissatisfaction with that moment is the simple fact that handbilling is something that requires a little momentum, at least as far as I am concerned. I need to start with some easy targets- people looking at posters and holding programs for instance- get in, get out and re-assure myself that it's not so bad as all that. Which is hard to do when it is. My favorite handbilling moment of the festival so far was when I was walking through the main grounds with Ryan Paulson (of the fantastic show "I'm Uncomfortable") both of us having just finished some handbilling. We passed a homeless man who stood with his hand outstretched, into which Ryan placed a handbill for his show. The man looked at it, confused, and asked "What is this?" Without turning back, Ryan replied "It's a five star comedy."

Which brings me to the people. Because really, handbilling is all about making connections with people, giving them a real reason to see a show over all the other shows playing at the festival. Some people are rude, some people lie (as pointed out above) and worst of all, some people just give you as much rope as you need to hang yourself. On more than a few occasions I have found myself giving my show pitch to someone whose only response is to stare right through me, giving no real feedback or emotional response. It's like they are wishing for me to vanish and only if they concentrate hard enough will their wish be granted. Unfortunately for us both, I use these occasions to go through every aspect of my pitch, until I am certain we can both walk away feeling a little bit violated. Again, not what I went to school for.

The handbill pitch is also a whole area that should really be taught in theatre school, as it is an important tool that requires a fair degree of skill. You have to be friendly and being funny helps too. You have to be able to answer any questions about your show and present information in the right way so that your audience has questions they want to ask in the first place. You need a great description of your show that will draw people in. And on top of that, it helps to have multiple variations on all of these, so that a) You don't get bored of doing it over and over and over again and b) So that people waiting in a line don't get bored/annoyed/disillusioned by hearing you do the same bit on either side of them. It really is a whole different animal, yet another performance that must be prepared and one that some people really just don't want to see.

The pitch for my show is pretty simple: "It's a comedic drama about a guy who receives a phone call from a young boy who has spent his entire life inside a sealed chamber. He is shocked by this, because as far as he is concerned, he invented that boy in a story he wrote years ago." It's not ideal- Sadly, my show is not exactly simple to explain. Good ones I've heard include: "Stand up comedy and songs about leaving the fundamentalist church and learning how to sin in New York City" (Ryan Paulson's I'm Uncomfortable), "A one woman comedy about weight and body issues" (Amy Salloway's Circumference), "My cat is really sick and I need a thousand dollars for an operation." (Jayson McDonald's Boat Load). Some shows do the selling simply by title- pornStar comes to mind, along with (my favorite title at the fringe) nggrfg.

But I don't have anything quite like that to sell the show, so I use my little plot synopsis and follow it up with follow up banter. Here is where my pitch with vary from person to person, depending on what kind of vibe I am getting from them and how responsive they are to my bullshit. First and foremost, you can mention reviews, if you have any good ones. In Winnipeg I frequently mentioned my Uptown review which is highly quotable, whereas in Edmonton I have four stars in Vue Magazine which I am more than happy to wave around like a drunken sailor. Then I have a bunch of personal tidbits- I was actually born in Edmonton two months pre-mature (which has led me to discovering a lot of people here who are either premies or born in Winnipeg although nobody yet who is both), I didn't know what I was doing when I filled out my forms for the festival and as such am one of the cheapest shows ("At the very least, come for the savings!") and the fact that I'm from Winnipeg and the most friendly way for Edmonton to beat our indoor attendance records would be to fill up the seats at a Winnipegers show. This last bit got me into a little bit of trouble the other day, when a woman responded back with "Oh, I don't think Edmonton has anything to prove, Fringe wise." Uh, okay, fuck you too lady. I'm being facetious.

Maybe I just take the whole thing too personally.

Talking to some of the other touring performers, particularly the ones like me who are new or newish and don't have any real following, the hardest part sometimes is dealing with people's gross indifference to you. Until (and unless!) you have a great review, some people won't even give you the time of day. And then there are the first performances, where many of us "Pumped up the Volume" and took to comping audience members, handing out tickets in the streets. To have complete indifference when you're GIVING AWAY tickets to your performance, something you've slaved away on for months and you NEED to make some money at the festival... a part of you dies each and every time someone says "no". Not to mention the utter disdain artists feel when they realize that they are selling themselves cheaply for no perceivable gain. At least actual prostitutes get paid.

But again, this is all part of the game, and if you don't play, you can't win. There are great moments in handbilling- meeting other performers and sharing the "we're all in this together!" feeling. Meeting fantastic festival goers who are geniunely interested in hearing what you have to say and maybe even actually go see your show! And while yes, again, this is not what I trained for, when it is working, when you're moving down a line, leaving laughing, smiling people behind you, carefully reading your handbill... there is something not unlike the feeling of having a great show that washes over you and it can be enough, just enough, to push you forward on to the next group of people. But best of all is when you see those people out in your audience, people who came because you did something right. Their laughs and sighs and applause feel so much belonging to you, something you worked your ass off for, not to be taken for granted, but treasured for every second, a gift that is unique to that expirience- That can make it worth it. Or at the very least, make it not that bad.

Next time: The Bar that will be the end of me and other tales of the Edmonton Fringe.

Huzzah! An update!

2009-08-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

As I write this post, the Edmonton Fringe is on its second day. My first show is tonight at 8pm, and I'm all ready just filled to the brim with Fringe awesomeness. I am currently surrounded by a large group of female belly dancers, unwinding after their first outdoor (and rainy!) show. Only at the Fringe...

As promised- The horrors of tech and the comedy of errors that was fixing a bike in suburban Edmonton!

First things first, I had a pretty easy flight out. I got picked up by my dad at 3:30, we ran down to my place to grab a few things that I had neglected to pack, and then got to the airport in plenty of time for my 5:50 flight. My only real complaint was the general boredom that surrounds Winnipeg International Airport, something one should hope will be fixed when the new building is finished. Will it actually do so? I'm not holding my breath.

The flight itself was pretty easy- about 2 hours long, most of which I napped through. I did have to endure a couple across the aisle from me who had one of the most insipid conversations I've ever had the misfortune of overhearing, but really, that's not much in the way of in-flight bothers, so no real complaints. I landed and walked towards the baggage claim, only pausing to note that a man in front of me seemed to be a prisoner of some sort- Either that or he enjoyed holding his hands in front of him while being led by the arm by two people flanking him. He looked a little sketchy as well, which never helps. On the way to the baggage claim I bumped into my billets, Gary and Gay, a wonderful couple who were quick to welcome me to the city and to their home. They have two cats, which does my allergies no favors, but having given me an awesome room- with en-suite bathroom! - cats are nothing, especially considering some of the billet horror stories I've heard from my fellow touring performers.

I arrived in town at shortly after 7 Edmonton time, giving us just enough time to grab a quick bite before heading out to my tech rehearsal at 8:30. We arrived early in fact, just enough time for me to make an ass out of myself trying to check out the venue while the techs ate outside: A bit of a no-no at a union run festival. Oops. After spending the next few minutes awkwardly checking my cell phone, I formally introduce myself to my techs. "How many cues do you have?" I am asked. "Oh, like 15." An hour later, programming our 26th cue I am told "I thought you said 15 cues?" to which i can only reply "Yeah. I lied". AWESOME. To top things off, my prop bag is missing a few essential elements, including the speakers I use to run my own sound cues and to top things off, I don't have any of my furniture. I ask- "Are there any tables I can use?". It turns our there aren't. "Uh, okay... so, these chairs are my table, and this one will be the end table..." That is how you know you are kicking ass at your tech time. Then, rummaging through my props bag, I cut my finger open and give myself a nasty scratch across my hand. Things seldom get better, and as I drip blood across the stage, asking for a band aid I cannot help but think that this is one of the worst techs I have ever done in my life. Thankfully, it's only a few hours long and soon I am free to ponder how exactly I am going to feel during my first show. First shows during Fringe are usually considered dress rehearsals. If I didn't feel that way before, I'm certainly inclined that way now.

But then again, I have a good show that I'm very comfortable with, so in the end I have no real worries. And I get to go home to a fantastic home base thanks to my billets, who, amongst other things have offered me the use of a bicycle. This is huge for me, since I have been conditioned to hate mass transit by Winnipeg's atrocious service and greatly enjoy cycling around new cities. There is a catch however- The bicycle lies partially dismantled on the garage floor, having not been used in years. Undeterred, I decide to spend the next morning doing all I can do to put the bike back together.

The Bonnie Doon Mall is only a few blocks away from where I was staying, containing a Sports Mart, Zellers and Sears amongst other fine retail outlets. Surely, I reason, one can find the materials needed to repair a bicycle in such a place. After all, the three mentioned stores all SELL bikes. How hard can it be to stock some bike tubes? And at the very least a bike pump should be found easily! Well, an hour and a half of searching ends after searching the mall store by store, where the final store in the mall (Sears) has a small spinning rack containing 4 bike helmets, 2 pairs of bike gloves and a pair of bike pumps. This entire mall contained 2 freaking bike pumps. What the hell? Thankfully, the bike tires hold air and my $10 bike pump manages to hold off breaking until both tires are filled, at which point the base cracks in two. Easier to store now, I guess?

So here I am, at a brand new festival, surrounded by fantastic touring performers, all ready to pour our hearts and souls for your money and adoration. If you're in Edmonton, come check out the festival. And if you're not, have you considered a last minute vacation?

Next time: Handbilling! And why it destroys your soul.

Fringe Theater Adventures!

2009-08-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

It's kind of cliché to write blog posts about the fact that you've been bad about writing blog posts, especially when you've been doing pretty much just that in every single one of your last posts. However, sometimes you really need to remark on your lack of work. It has been many many months since my last post. Far too many, really. (Shit! This is my first post here THIS YEAR) During those months there have been many things going on in my life, more shows, more thoughts, more ridiculous adventures, and now they will be forgotten both to the world and to myself. I suppose if any of those adventures were any good to begin with I'd have more vivid memories which could last without the support of my written musings, and if so, I guess I have nothing to complain about.

HOWEVER-

I'm sitting here at the Winnipeg International Airport. I have checked in my bags and I am ready to depart shortly. I am going to the Edmonton Fringe Festival, bringing my one man show “Life in a Box”. When I get back, I will have a single hour of vacation time left for the rest of this year. This is going to be an adventure, and one that I would like to remember. Therefore! Expect posts, pictures, the whole nine yard. Because you're invited too, to follow my wonderful adventure while I attempt to not lose money at the biggest Fringe in North America. So please, follow along, comment, do all that fun stuff. Let's have an adventure together.

Next time: Tech horros and the trials of buying a bike pump!

Also, if you want to follow my adventures minute by minute, follow me on twitter @BrentHirose

Resolutions

2008-12-27T17:53:00.001-08:00

So, I’ve decided to make an early resolution this year, starting today: Every day I will spend an hour working out and an hour writing, two things that I have been falling in and out of the habit of doing the last couple of years. Well, I’ve decided to get a little pro-active and take steps to ensure that I concentrate my energies as productively as possible.

The reason for this resolution is twofold. First of all, I sat down and sketched out what my typical day looks liked a couple of weeks ago. Hour by hour I broke down what I typically did- Sleeping, working, eating, traveling, screwing around on the internet, anything that happened with any regulatory I put down. I ended up with three different breakdowns- For days that I worked day shifts, for days that I worked evening shifts and for days off. The results were pretty surprising. I discovered that I usually got less sleep than is typically healthy, except on days off where usually I would get MORE than is good for me. Preparing and winding down from work usually takes me quite a while. And most days I have between four or five hours of “free time”. Since I have a lot of things that I like to do in this free time (writing, working out, rehearsing & memorizing, practicing guitar, playing video games, hanging out with friends, drinking) it struck me that if I want to be serious about any activity, I need to make a point of doing it because otherwise I’ll never get around to it through elimination.

The other reason is that I’m on a pretty tight schedule and I’m tired of falling behind in projects. I finished the draft of a play that I wanted to finish at the end of November on Christmas Day. I still have another draft that was due in September that needs tons of work before I can do anything with it. And then I have another script that I need to finish by the end of January. This is no time to screw around! As far as the gym is concerned, on top of wanting to meet some personal fitness goals, I also may be embarking on a very exciting (but also physically strenuous) journey come March. I’m in decent shape but I need to take my conditioning seriously if I want to be ready to go should all the pieces fall in place.

So there you go. I haven’t written in this blog for a while, so as part of my writing initiative I’ll try to keep up to date here.

The Rules:

For every day that I miss one activity, that hour gets stacked up and must be used by the end of the week, which is Sunday. For every hour not made up by Sunday, I will penalize myself five dollars, which will be used at the end of the year for something yet to be determined (Probably donated to a charity. Maybe a charity that I hate, so it will further motivate me.) Sunday is my “day off”, so I can use it to catch up on lost hours, to relax, or to continue writing and working out because it is good for me. There is no way to bank hours- If I write for five hours on Monday, I must still write the rest of the week. (If I work out for five hours, I probably have a glandular issue.) The point is not to get a certain amount of work done, but simply to write constantly, about whatever I can manage. Hopefully work will just happen to get done along the way. Also, “working out” is generously defined as any activity that is physically strenuous, within reason. So playing soccer would count, going for a walk would not. UNLESS IT WAS AN EXTREME WALK.

So, why am I writing this? Well, for one to keep myself liable. I have said I am doing this, so now it must be done. I also hope to see other people pick up on this initiative, or something similar. I told Cory the idea and he thought it was a good one. We haven’t worked out the details yet, but we might add some competition to it, possibly with the winner (he with the least amount of penalty hours) choosing the charity, or something like that. As well, if anyone has any suggestions, words of encouragement or racial slurs they want to throw my way, please, feel free.

Except for the racial slurs part. I was kidding, and it’s kind of hard to tell on the Internet sometimes. I WAS KIDDING.

Oh, and I’ve been updating www.brenthirose.com. You should check it out!

Billy Bishop in Mid-Flight!

2008-11-06T20:55:00.000-08:00

So Billy Bishop has devoured my life, which is why you haven't heard anything from me in a while. Also, Fallout 3. However, Fallout 3 will be around for a long time, while Billy Bishop only goes until the 16th.

Uptown liked it. The Uniter loved it. You'll probably want to marry it. So come see the freaking thing!

Another Still Alive Post

2008-09-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

Hey, just letting you know that I am still alive. I have been very busy as of late and very much so need to decompress, it's just that a public internet forum is probably not the best place to do so. Our princess is in another castle.

As an aside: For those of you who have the means, please play Braid. It is so good.

That is all.

P.S. I have a mustache at the moment.

P.P.S. I lied when I said that was all before. Sorry.

Sheepish Hello

2008-08-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so let me tell you all a story. This is the story about a guy named Brent who used to blog pretty regularly. But then, over time, he did so less and less until eventually he pretty much never blogged ever about anything. Oh wait, you know this one? Never mind then.

So, I've been busy, but that's a crap excuse, since I'm always busy. But, priorities get shifted, life gets crazy and your milk goes sour. Yeah, that kind of came out of left field. Except not, since my milk is ALWAYS going sour. Like, the carton I've got right now is supposed to be best before the 19th but it is already tasting a little funky. Come on!

It used to be that I could follow up on the events in my life by reading my blog. This has not really been the case as of late. I don't really know what to say to fill in the obvious gap in the time line here except that a whole crap load of stuff has happened: The Fringe has come and gone: I performed in and wrote Identity.com, directed Paper Jack, performed outdoors with Funny Box Theatre in our kids sketch comedy/improv show Candy Dish as well as appeared in the final performance of Bat Boy: The Musical. Identity.com and Paper Jack walked away with a Jenny award, bringing my grand total up to four: Coffee and One Last Thing being the other popularity contest winning shows. Currently the Jennies for Coffee and ID.com are either kissing or head-butting on the shelf above my bed.

Speaking of which, I am indeed sleeping at a new place these days: Right near Confusion Corner in a Bachelor suite on the second story of a house. I love it love it love it: It's nice a cozy, a near perfect location and I've got plenty of friends who live close by. I also just bought an HDTV, so I've got plenty of reason to hang around. My only problem is that there isn't a lot of space of have people over and because of that I havn't really spent too much time with friends here yet. Hopefully I can figure something out so I don't spend the winter cold and alone.... Holy crap that's emo.

You also may have noticed (if you're reading this at my blog proper and not in the migrated Facebook posts) that I've changed some of my links, most notably my former acting page. I've been working with my friend Kevin for ages to build a new site and it went live on June 27th! I just never got around to really advertising it anywhere. Well, consider this notice: As of now (a.k.a. June 27th) my old domain yous.iscrappy.com is retired and in its place will be BrentHirose.com! Check it out! There isn't a huge ammount of content but I think the whole thing is pretty damn spiffy.

Anyway, I'm currently working on a couple of projects: However most of the updates for my theatre work will be migrating over to the new page. Henceforth, this blog will stay more on the random observation/life chronicle end of things. I've had other side blogs that have quickly trailed off before, but hopefully I've got that much content left in me.

Anyway, I've got an audition, a workshop and a stern talking to coming tomorrow, so I should get some rest! Later!

E-MAIL!

2008-06-18T11:10:00.001-07:00

So apparently when I'm away from my computer for about a week I get a lot of e-mail. I had 40 messages waiting for me today! Yikes!

If you're trying to get a hold of me, while usually e-mail is the way to go, I have yet to get it working at my new place, so, for the love of god, call me if you can!

Alive!

2008-06-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note: I'm alive, and very very busy, as is usual to these summer months. I'm also moving, and will be soon living very close to Confusion Corner in a great little bachelor suite. Hopefully once life has calmed down again I can resume my attempts at making it look like this blog is a priority. :)

In Soviet Library, Book Read You!

2008-03-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy-

I've been working on finishing up Identity.com and have promised the world that I will have the third draft wrapped up by tomorrow. Personally, I'm looking forward to it. I've actually made some decent progress today, so provided that a massive boulder of writer's block falls upon my head or an alien abduction or if I decide to play video games until the end of time I SHOULD BE ABLE TO PULL IT OFF. Still, thoughts and prayers my way are greatly appreciated.

Today has been the most friend-filled day I've ever had at the library: Cory, Erinn, Levon, Kami, Joseph, Kevin and even the ever elusive Meaghan Holden (now Brooks). Whew! This has actually made the day go incredibly quickly and I've actually enjoyed myself more than I usually am used to. WEIRD. So, from now on, friend, visit me at work. I'll ply you with library books and tales of wonder and merriment. Huzzah!

Speaking of video games (I mentioned it up there if you'll recall) I've been playing a crap load of No More Heroes in the time that I had originally put aside for Smash Brothers. Because of this I've yet to unlock all the characters but instead have now taken Travis Touchdown to the position of the number 2 top ranked assassin. Man, that game is awesome.

Anyway, back to writing and thinking and living and stuff. Later!

Masculain ou Feminain?

2008-03-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

(Apologies for possible French misspellings, high school was a long time ago.)

So today at work a very obviously transgendered person applies for a library card. On the application form there are two check boxes, M and F which are mainly used for statistical purposes but are otherwise not particularly important. The only problem is that our computer system forces you to enter a value in the field in order to create a card. Now occasionally it will happen that someone doesn't fill this field out (usually by accident) and so I will typically do it for them. However, in this case, there is no real easy answer as indeed this transgendered person does not choose one or the other: What is a guy to do?

Having a few transgendered friends, I'm aware of the politics here and certainly don't want to ask the patron which gender he/she identifies for fear of starting a debate on the issue. Is there a right answer here? We certainly didn't cover this in training...

You Know It's True

2008-03-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

If life was fair, it would be impossible to get scabs on the joints of your fingers.

Is It Secret? Is It Safe?

2008-03-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Random thought of the day: Who moves safes? I mean, those things are huge and by design difficult to be moved from where they are placed. So who moves them around? How do they do it? It certainly must take some sort of specialized device, so what is it? And what stops some thief from getting one of his own and going on a safe stealing spree? I suppose you would probably design a safe mover to be slow, but who is to say that there isn't a thief out there with some engineering and mechanical know how? These are all serious questions!

The only thing I can think of is if you created a safe that was like one of those patio umbrella stands that you fill up with water. Actually, that isn't too bad of an idea. I should design a safe that is light and easily moved because the outer walls are actually hollow- There will still be enough hard steel to prevent someone boring through the sides... In fact, instead of water we'll fill it with concrete! Perfect!

... Although I guess a concrete mixer is pretty bulky and difficult to use...

So who the hell moves those damn safes around?

On Publicity, Also, A Funny Story

2008-03-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

It’s recently been brought to my attention (again) that my blog is a pretty highly searchable thing and that anyone can access it at any point and learn many things about myself that I may not exactly want them to know. I never really thought of myself as being too concerned about what people knew about me, but it was pointed out that some of my projects might attract fans that don’t need to know some of the details about my life. It’s kind of like a mini paparazzi effect, except the one unearthing everything is me. I’m not sure exactly what I want to do about it- One of my posts has already been altered to protect the innocent but it does beg the question as to what exactly I should do in the future. I know many people who have eventually abandoned their blogs for such reasons but I would feel a little sad to do so to this one. It’s been around a while and while there is an argument to be made as to my all ready having more or less abandoned it this whole project is close to my heart.

I guess I’ll really have to make a decision once my new personal website launches, as it will have a blog component. I’ve contemplated the idea of making this blog anonymous, although that would involve a lot of back editing and I’m not sure if I really feel like writing such a blog. Still, it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had. Any opinions on this would be welcomed.

So, here’s a nice story of folly that the whole family can enjoy: Today I was scheduled to audition for “House Party”, a new limited series for the Comedy Network that was actually written by a couple of local actors. I’ve auditioned for it a couple of times for a different character and the project looks pretty fun. My audition was set up for 3:40 and my bosses managed to let me take my breaks so I was off work at 3:20- Plenty of time to get there and back. I take a few minutes to get ready, eat a little, make sure I look okay, and then I’m off towards the Radisson, a hotel about a block away where I’ve parked my car. I almost make it there when I realize that I’ve forgotten my parking ticket, required both to pay and to enter the garage. I’m annoyed, but not that put off. I make my way back to work, find the ticket and then turn right around.

This time I make it all the way into the Radisson lobby, where the parking payment machine is located. I put in my ticket and the machine, as it should, asks me for some money. I feel for my wallet in my jacket pocket but feel nothing. I stop. Suddenly I remember putting my wallet in my locker after my first break at work. Crap! I check the time- 3:33. Double crap! Now I’m sprinting back, fully aware that I’m totally going to be late for my audition at this rate. I’m approaching the library, contemplating simply walking down to the audition (I’ve already walked the distance at this point and only want to use my car to get it out of the garage so that I can go to the gym after work without worrying about moving it) when I suddenly realize that I no longer have my parking ticket. This means that it’ll cost me 11 dollars (as opposed to 7!) to get out of the garage and I have no idea what kind of headache getting into it to get my car in the first place will be. Things are going well.

So, I run in through the front, co-workers now obviously staring at me since I’ve been back and forth like a yo-yo. I head up to my locker, open the door… and I can’t find my wallet. In desperation I feel around my body… and it’s in the pocket of my hoodie, where it has been the WHOLE FREAKING TIME. “SON OF A CRAP!” I yell, and burn out of the library, into the parking garage and finally, FINALLY, get to the audition, just five minutes late.

Erg.

The audition itself was actually pretty good, and I found out that I’m the leading candidate for a role I auditioned for a while ago. It would be sweet indeed to land it, so wish me luck!

Aim for The Ides Boo, Aim for the Ides!

2008-03-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

Well, March has sprung upon us and I feel the nessesity to write yet another post, if only so my mother feels like she knows what is going on in my life. Things have been, as is tradition, quite busy, but I am quite happy with the general outlook that everything has taken as of late.

Of particular note: I had a good callback for a TV series called "House Party" and while I have no idea if I will get the part or not I do feel like I did all I could to secure it. I've been tapped to direct Paper Jack written by my good friend Shawn Kowalke, which I'm quite excited about, which means my involvment this Fringe will be one show as a director and a second as a writer/actor which seems to be a pretty sane level of involvement. I'm also in the middle (well, at the very end really) of this awesome Shakespeare workship being put on by Shakespeare in the Ruins and it has been an enlightening and delightful look at the works of the bard. Good stuff all around.

My guitar lessons continue to go well, although a recent performance by Papa Mambo for a MAP fundraiser made me realize how compeltely inept I am. Still, I can fake my way through a handful of songs which was certainly not the case a couple of months ago. I've also been totally engrossed with In Treatment, a fantastic Showcase program. After In Treatment and Dexter, I really need to keep an eye on that network- Fantastic stuff and really the kind of programs every actor wants to be involved in. Plus, I've been watching it with Erinn and I think our relationship really needs some good TV to help define it.

Rock Band has petered off a little bit after the extended marathon that was my birthday/Erinn's return house party, which is actually not the worst thing in the world. My ankle requires a little more strengh before we can hope to finish off the final tier of songs on hard mode, let alone expert.

Wow, that was a whole lot of random here and there. I guess I might as well continue, if only to empty my head of everything else that has been going on as of late.

I've succeeded in getting a few projects off my plate that have been lingering for a while: I finished reading Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What To Do With My Life And Started Driving A Yellow Taxi Cab, which is a great little book about... well, figure it out. I also managed to send in my restauraunt reviews early which was a welcome surpise to me: I guess I had always assumed that I would have put off finishing them until the last minute but apparently I cared about being professional or something. Now if I can bear that energy down into finishing of my current play commitments then I'll really be cooking with gas.

The only real negative as of late has been this horrible virus that has been plaguing pretty much everyone I know as of late. I was hoping that I'd avoid it but sadly have fallen victim and currently am on, I hope, the mend. I have some voice over work that I need to finish soon so hopefully I'll be A-OK in a couple of days. As it is, my throat is pretty beaten up from coughing that thankfully has been receptive to my frequent administrations of tea and losanges.

Anyway, that pretty much covers all of that. Hopefully you're all doing well. If not, uh, suck it up I guess.

Oh God, I'm Older Again

2008-02-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hey there folks. It's the 19th and you're reading this which can only mean that I have managed to survive yet another year of life in this world of ours. Thank you, thank you, don't clap, just throw money.

Yesterday was actually probably the weirdest birthday I've ever had: On Sunday I worked and then went home to have a family dinner to celebrate my birthday. I got some sweet swag: A bag of awesome rice and some green tea (because I am a living Japanese stereotype), the latest Fire Emblem game and a Fables graphic novel, a George Forman Grill and some rechargeable batteries. Good stuff all around. It was great to see my family again, particularly my puppy Hamish and my three adorable little second cousins. They made a hat for me which I'll have to post some pictures of. Typically that would have been the end of my day. However, this day was far from typical.

After everyone in the extended family left around 10 I was still hanging around the house, resting in my parent's bedroom reading my Fables graphic novel. Once it hit around 11pm I headed down to the Limelight where I was to begin shooting a student movie. Thankfully I knew a couple people involved (some I had met at the previous night's white t-shirt party) and was able to chat while we waited for the bar to empty out. The movie is a take on an urban legend where a girl managed to contract a rare flesh eating disease after performing fellatio on some random hook up from a bar. The twist? The disease is only found on corpses, and it is soon confirmed that her random hook up has a thing for the deceased. Can you guess who I play? Yep, that's right.

Filming goes until about 5, which would normally not be a big deal except for the fact that I have my Stratford Audition at 12:45. Still, I'm prepared for it and things go pretty smoothly. In fact, at one point I let slip that it is my birthday and the next thing I know I've been brought a cake. It was totally unexpected and very much appreciated.

So I head home, get a half-decent amount of sleep and wake up in plenty of time to prep for my audition. I head down to MTC and discover that I am in fact the final person to audition. The person before me leaves and I spend some time talking with the receptionist whom I went to university with. After about fifteen minutes go by she mentions that I can go in, meanwhile I'm sweating wondering when someone will come for me. Yipes. I head in, the auditioners obviously waiting for me for some time, and do my pieces. I do them well, but I don't feel like I'm making much of an impact on my audience. After we chat briefly and I am sent on my way. Glad I did it but if I get a call back I'll be pretty freaking astounded.

After all that I head home, play some Bioshock and relax until it's time for me to head off and finish the shoot on the movie. I exchanged long musings about the mechanics, politics and social implications of having sex with corpses. So much was learned. After filming wrapped we all headed out to get some food, which is apparently almost impossible on Louis Riel day. Earls was found to be the only place we could see that was open and, wouldn't you know it? They don't even have a birthday special! Jerks!

So that was my birthday. Still, the celebrations continue: Tomorrow is my Karaoke party and Saturday will be my birthday house party which is also a celebration of Erinn's successful return from Greece. Good times shall be had by all!

I'm really hoping my bass petal metal backing arrives before Saturday. A lot of people are telling me that they want to play Rock Band and it would be a shame to send them away without the experience. I do have to bitch a little here: Harmonix, you made an awesome game. Why didn't you make the bass petal stronger? Didn't you know people would play it religiously? Now I'll have to steal the pedal from our neighbor's drums. I hope you're willing to pick up that karma from me!BTW, I totally owe you, the blogosphere (and to a lesser extent Facebook) some pictures now that I've got myself a digital camera. (Welcome to the 21st century, jerkface!) Actually, I guess I have no excuse not to start What I Own back up again. Humm....

Reading back through my blog from the past years, it's pretty marked how I've changed, both as a writer and a person over the last little while. I guess the biggest shift now is the amount of responsibility I'm shouldering. I've got several "jobs" if you will, all of which require my attention and focus. I'm an actor, voice actor, semi-radio personality, a playwright, the venue liaison and company member of Theatre by the River, freelance writer, fight director and stage combat teacher, director, researcher as well as my own personal publicity service. Sometimes I think that being 25 is sad because I've not yet accomplished "enough", but then I realize that I've really accomplished plenty. On top of that, it's not about what you've done but what you're doing, and I'll be doing many things over the weeks and months and years ahead. Who knows what it will be next birthday?

Talky Talky Talk Talk

2008-02-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Hey interwebs. How are things?

I’m currently sitting on the precipice of a weekend that certainly possesses the potential to kill me. After a marvellously drunken evening last night for Seb’s birthday, I’ve got the rest of my workday followed by another party for tonight, and then more work and a family dinner for tomorrow, which I will have to leave in order to go shoot a student film I got cast in. Then, at 12:45 I have my audition for the Stratford Conservatory, which will be followed by yet more filming. Hopefully my voice (and body for that matter) will be up to dealing with a voice over session on Tuesday morning.

(Edit: Since I didn't get this post finished yesterday that second party has come and gone. It was totally good times with much merriment, drinking, and losing of hoodies. I hope it finds its way back to me! Also: Apprently white shirts do a very poor job of absorbing sharpies as I am currently covered in pen marks.)

Hell, for that matter I’ve got a Karaoke party on Wednesday and then my birthday/house party on Saturday. If I explode or something I don’t want anybody to be too shocked. Thankfully I’m doing all right at the moment, although I wouldn’t mind being able to finish off a few things on my plate so that they are over and done with.

Currently on deck I’ve got the tail end of The Monologue Project which is almost finished it’s first draft. I’ve got the start of the last two monologues finished and I just need to sit down and go over what I’ve got before I’m done. I meant to finish that all off yesterday but ended up just hanging out with Rory, Adrienne and Anna for a bit before playing a video game. Speaking of games, I’m also working my way through Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations as well as Bioshock. The Phoenix Wright games are great for periodic play but Bioshock is so damn engaging that it threatens to suck me in and drain my spare time for days to come. While that’s not the worst way to lose your time but it’s certainly not the most important thing I’ve got going on right now. Back to writing, I’m poised to blitz through my latest re-write of Identity.com, although again I’ve found myself putting it off for various reasons.

I’ve also been working on my new website, which will mark an end to the you.iscrappy.com era. Kevin has been helping me put the thing together and I’m hoping to take the site live before the end of the month. I’ve also got to find the time to review another two restaurants before the end of the month as I’m currently engaged to write some reviews for a magazine. Oh, and it’s just been announced that auditions are coming up at the end of the month for the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (a re-write actually) which will premiere in Winnipeg. Arghlabaghagagah…

Thankfully my work schedule eases up considerably and the spoils of my birthday should help lighten my load, as well as the opportunity to get some of that much talked about “sleep”. Work lightening up in particular is something I’m looking forward to, considering that I’ve been going full time for a while now and I’m getting a little sick of the stupid problems and patrons that seem to multiply the more you get fed up of them. Now, does this extra time off mean that I’ll get anything done that is worthwhile? Of course not! But, a guy can dream.

The other day at work my supervisor asked me if I wanted to help out with something going on upstairs. Not really understanding what was going on, I agreed anyway since it would get me out of the back for a while. I head upstairs and am quickly briefed on the project in progress: Winnipeg in Motion is in the process of filming some energizers in order to have a DVD and web based video that they can use to reach out to more workspaces. So, if you are sitting in your office in the near future and are watching a video that looks like I'm in wearing a dayglow orange t-shirt, you are not hallucinating, that is indeed me. Doing projects like that are kind of illuminating. One of the other volunteers was excitedly telling me how I could put the video on my resume which indeed I could, but I certainly won't. I know you never can tell what will give you the exposure you need for your next gig, but at the stage I am in my career there are some things that really arn't even a blip on the radar.

Rufus recently complained that his dreams were no longer interesting. I’ve got the opposite going on, where my dreams have become an endless parade of the fucked up shit my subconscious has put together, giving my stress plenty of fun new outlets with which to enter my live and make things ever so interesting. Okay brain, you’ll get a break, all right? Just leave me alone for a while!

Because Writing Here Is At Least Writing At All

2008-02-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well, my writing has stalled, yet again, although that has more to do with general business than my typical procrastination. I actually wrote a new first scene to Identity.com which is a huge step for me. I have a big problem letting parts of my plays go. I’ve outlined exactly how I want the third draft to go and I know that it is better in many ways but it still kills me to lose every single one of the character moments that I know are going to be transformed or forgotten in the process. The writing cliché is that you must let all your little darlings die. Well, die they will, but probably much later than originally planned. Basically, I’m a suck.

Rock Band is seriously awesome but it has almost become a second job for myself and my roommates. Granted, a second job that everyone enjoys, but still. I find myself playing the solo career modes not because they are fun (although they are) but to increase my ability for the good of my roommate band. I will become proficient at playing drums on Hard! Damn you weak bass petal foot! You must become stronger and faster! Only then will you prove your worth! Gabledygabledygable!

I’m kind of going a little insane. I’m in the middle of a ten day stretch and it’s really not doing good things for me.

The other day I wrote down a list of things that I want to accomplish and I think if I get myself on track so that I’m spending at least a bit of my time on one of those things every day than at least I know that I am making efforts towards my goals and not just marking time aimlessly. I hate it when people go on and on about their feelings and inadequacies in their blogs so I’ll spare you, but suffice to say that the winter is being the winter and my general inactivity is just that. I’m auditioning for some student films, so hopefully I’ll have something artistic to sink my teeth into soon. If not, watch yourself because… I bite? I really don’t know where that was going.

Hello internet. My name is Brent and I act and write plays except all that time that I’m not acting or writing plays. Hopefully we’ll talk again soon.

P.S. The next master playwright's festival is MILLERFEST. I think TBTR should do the Crucible, but we'll see if anything happens. Maybe I'll enter Stupid Gumball to do something. Gotta keep yourself busy, right?

Yeahbut- Excuse me?

2008-01-31T14:35:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting at the St. Boniface library at the checkout when this lady comes up to me to check out her books. I cough and she starts bableing about the avian flu or some such nonsense, talking at me as opposed to starting a conversation about it. I politely continue about my job and pass her items through. Before leaving she stops and stares at me, her round face looking at me with an almost manic quality.

"Do you know what happens when a virus becomes 100% untreatable?"

"Uh... an epidemic I think."

"A PANDEMIC. An untreatable pandemic with a 90% mortality rate."

And with that she twirled around and left the library singing to herself.

The fuck?!

Weak End

2008-01-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s Monday, so most people are coming off of their week ends. I suppose I am as well although it certainly doesn’t feel like one. I guess my issue is that more week ends I work from Friday through to Monday (at least) which means that my real week end, my days that do not require my wage earning presence, is set somewhere in the middle of the week, nebulous days that shift from place to place and leave me similarly floating around. I’m not really complaining… Or, I guess not really complaining, but it does grow a little bit tiresome to be so out of synch with the rest of the world. In the end, I wouldn’t have it any other way, as my work allows me the flexibility I need. Still…

I’m starting to feel a little bit down because I’m not involved in any current projects. My voice over work has been set to a regular schedule now which is both good and bad: It’s only one week a month now, so I can plan my life a little more capably, but it also gives the whole thing a little more of a “job” feel to it. I guess when it was randomly assigned hours I felt a little better about my life being arranged similarly. Now that yet another facet of my life is becoming more orderly I feel like maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.

I was on CJOB on Friday (still available in the audio vault at CJOB.com from about 11-12p.m.) and afterwards Richard took me out to lunch. The two of us discussed various aspects of our career choices that mirrored, and the sacrifices and hard work he put in to get himself where he is was good to hear for me. He did however make mention of the fact that he had given himself a limit when he was starting out, to establish himself before he was 30. He made it, landing a permanent gig that he could support his family with at 28. Can I think myself that lucky? In less than a month I’ll be 25. Can I get my myself established in 3 years? In 5? What will it take to get myself there from where I am now? It’s good to talk to people like Richard, who firmly believe that talent and perseverance will produce results. It’s just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when your life feels mixed up and directionless.

Acting is a tough gig, as I think I’ve said over and over again, but sometimes the worst part is simply missing it. I need to get myself involved in something soon, because the Fringe is just too damn far away.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to getting a tattoo, and really the only thing in my way at the moment is any stigma it might cause trying to get acting work. My thought is to get “This too shall pass” done across my right wrist, which has come back to me over and over as a message that I would be good to never forget. Those are the kind of things you want to etch permanently in your flesh, right? Oh, for the days of semi-permanent tattoos when wishy-washy fence sitters like myself can feel plugged into the inked subculture.

So, after having bought my Xbox 360 the other day it did not take me long to crack and put down the big bucks to own a copy of Rock Band. It’s been a huge hit around the Ebby House and the roommate band Ümlaut featuring Bret, Brian and the monstrous “a” has been setting the world on fire with their blistering performances on the medium difficulty level. The game is about as much fun you can have playing a video game with friends and coming from me that is really saying something. My only gripe is the fact that it only comes with one guitar and there do not seem to be any Xbox 360 guitars ANYWHERE in the city of Winnipeg. Believe me, I’ve looked. Also, the kick petal on the drums is a difficult skill to master and leaves you hobbling around like I’ve been doing all day. At least, that’s what I’m assuming the reason is. I could have just hurt myself at the gym or something. That would not be totally out of character.

While I’m talking about video games like a gigantic nerd, I might as well mention that I finished Mass Effect. I came away very much the same way I did off of the first Knights of the Old Republic, feeling like the ending was just a little too little- I loved how you were able to interact and build relationships with your crewmates, but I didn’t feel like they ended up meaning much in the end. Also, at a certain point you need to make a very important choice, probably the only choice in the game that can’t be “won”- I applaud the designers for doing it, and it was put in at the perfect moment, when I had begun to assume that I knew how the game was going to go (a problem with Bioware games in general). Still, the ultimate ramifications of the choice seemed almost minute. I guess what I’m saying is that the game is wonderful and immersive until suddenly it’s not. When your shipmates have tons of stuff to talk to you about and share, you feel like you’re dealing with other people. When you’ve exhausted all your options, they feel like mindless video game characters. When you’ve visited your 5th or 6th optional quest bunker that is just the same as the rest, again, you feel not like you’re exploring a vast galaxy, but that the designers were clearly trying to save some space and time. Still, an amazing game and well worth playing (I wanted to start an evil character almost right away) but it has some flaws.

But back to art and life the like: I've got an upcoming audition with the Stratford Conservatory, which I tried out for last year. This year I feel much more prepared, if only in understanding the level of preperation required. I also feel a little more personal about wanting to get in. For one thing, it would really simplify life for a while, getting me out of town for a bit, giving me work that I'm dying to do... Still, it's a difficult program to get into. Hopefully fate shines my way. If not, I've still got a bunch of plays that need to be finished and I am actually making respectable progress so I don't feel too overwhelmed. Colour me surprised!

I probably just need a vacation. My plans have been thrown up in the air, but maybe I'll just find a week to fuck off to someplace relatively close again. New York would be nice, but expensive... Maybe Montreal? I guess I've got some thinking to do.

Later!

Well(?), Well(...), Well(!).

2008-01-21T13:46:00.000-08:00

So a lot of things happened at the end of last week, things that kind of threw all of my short term plans (which is to say, my "long term" plans, such as they are, as well). My first weekend off in months and I spent the majority of it either yelling, feeling like crap, or generally avoiding people in my room. Things are better now, but that's really relative: I'm not angry anymore which is more or less inevitable- After about a dozen hours of raging you really don't feel up to it anymore. I don't want to smash my head through whatever is handy anymore, something that I couldn't say a couple of days ago, so that's a plus. If you think I'm being vague, that's because I am, and my reasons for that are many fold. For one reason, I don't really know what the hell is going on right now so I don't have too much to say. Maybe (hopefully!) I will in the next few days, weeks, months... sooner rather than later would be awesome.

I had a point here somewhere. Ah, yes, there she is: To those of you who came to my aid when I was calling out for it (or not), thank you. Your help was and is much appreciated and without you I'm sure I would have attempted to drive my head through many more objects. For those of you who have expressed concern, that is also felt and I am thankful. If I didn't have the friends I did I wouldn't be here, nor would anyone be reading this blog, so hurray for everyone. Anyway, to everyone who cares: Brent is okay and he's managing just fine, although he would be happy to partake of your company and fine wines.

So, the silver lining to the particular cloud? Well, quite a few things, even skipping past my friends rallying to me (okay, you guys are great, we've been over this. Get over yourselves!) and the most surprising one was my little sister giving me some genuinely useful and much needed advice. Since my sister and I are pretty much polar opposite people whose lifestyles and M.O.s rarely cross paths it was a welcome surprise to receive some good council from Regan. Plus, at that point I was getting sick of telling my sad sack story over and over again. So, thanks Rigi, you helped a lot. On top of that, you never appreciate your dog as much as you do when you're feeling shitty. You KNOW your dog loves you and they are more than happy to share that with you. Also, they want you to give them food. Still, I can deal with that kind of relationship: We both know what we're there for and are more then happy to pay each other's prices. No surprises, unless you grow weak and they decide that you look pretty tasty. But at that point we can assume that you love the dog enough to see how you're still contributing to your relationship in your final moments.

I know, I'm sick in the head. WhooooooOOOooo!

The other thing that I did was spent some money: I went to drink some beers with Cory and Sean at the Toad, which was extra nice since I hadn't been down in a long time. Then I went to see Cloverfeild with Sean and Sheldon, which would probably have been a lot better if I hadn't seen it in the bottom right corner at the front in Silver City. Rant time: Why the hell does Silver City even have those seats? Does anyone like watching movies that close? The screen is too big to watch a freaking dialog heavy movie, let alone an action movie, let alone one shot entirely HANDHELD. If I'm paying 9 bucks to see a movie, I should think that you could design the theatre so that everyone can, you know, SEE THE DAMN MOVIE. What the hell Silver City? Why do you have to be such rat-ass bastards?

On Cloverfeild: Pretty cool concept, although I think I went in expecting a little too much intrigue because of J.J. Abrams' involvement. It's a monster movie told from the perspective of the clueless public. If that sounds cool to you, and you don't have a serious hate-on for handheld work (or even a little one. The camera work is almost too bad to be believed some times. Honestly, if we're suspending our disbelief enough to think that at no point the guys just drop the camera and book it, you can get away with some better than average shooting as opposed to the god-awful drunk-cam shots that the audience gets instead. Okay, this aside has gone on forever.) if you can deal with those things, you'll probably like the movie. Just don't go in expecting too many answers. Monster wants to kill you and the city you live in. That's pretty much it.

Finally, I picked up a copy of Mass Effect, and, since I don't own an X-Box 360, one of those as well. The last time I felt like absolute shit I spent 2 days playing straight through both Knights of the Old Republic games and it was a nice way to kill the time and take my mind off of my problems. On Sunday I did pretty much the same think with Mass Effect, which was just what the Doctor ordered. If you like massive RPGs in space settings, especially the KOTOR series, of if you like emmersive role playing, or if you like squad based shooters (all checked off for me) then Mass Effect is worth all your money. Which is what the set up pretty much ended up costing me, but who is responsible for their finances when in distress? That's what I keep telling myself.

And so now begins a new week and I feel like I have a lot to do, which is nice since I like to keep busy. I have writing to catch up on, exercise to make up and a few outstanding invitations that I'll probably take up. Biking to work today was a nice kick in the face (in many ways) that made me realize that I'm still got a lot of life to deal with and so wallowing in self pity won't get me by for long. Hell, two days almost killed me, so I better get all my shit in order, and fast! So, on to work and all sorts of other fun. Stick with me folks!

Extra shiny bonus: Do you like wallpaper? Do you like knowing what happens when the internet is take away from library employees on checkout? Do you want me to finish this damn post all ready? Then check this out:

It's part three in an epic saga. I was telling my co-worker Betty that there is some serious deep storytelling going on here but she didn't buy it.

Later!

Return From Castle Hawaii-instein

2008-01-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a few days now, but I might as well sign in with you all and let you know that the Brent has landed and is officially back in the magical land of Winnipeg. It was a fantastic vacation, but now it's time to head back home and... plan the next one, I guess. At this point I'm looking at April 8-18th, which is a decent amount of time, I think, and will be placed well with the next major break being July for Folk and Fringe Fest. Speaking of which, I should really buy my Folkfest tickets and figure out who all is going to be camping with me. Last year was tons of fun and I'm a huge sucker for some time spent out with the folkies and a whole lot of beer. Man, I can see it already. Bring on the summer!

I stumbled into something fun today: Go to http://www.thecookiejarcompany.com/ - Check out "Noonbory and the Super 7" in the pull down menu. That's one of the cartoons being done out of Winnipeg right now. Nice to see it so far along and I can't wait to get my hands on the inevitable Noonbory plush toy or PVC Statue.

Anyway, I've spent the last few days writing and finishing off a list of things to do, a veritable smorgasbord of various neglected tasks from the past few months. It's actually gone quite well and I'm feeling like my two current writing projects are really starting to come together. My biggest complaint is a lack of time to sit down and actually do the grunt work, that is, the writing. Between finishing up my venue list for TBTR, brainstorming about a possible season 3 fundraiser, working at the library, working out, sleeping, playing my DS (Currently on the very excellent Final Fantasy 6 GBA game) and making vague attempts at maintaining my network of friendships and whatnot... I mean, god, how does anyone get any work done? Frankly, I could do without this "job" malarkey. In all honesty I cannot imagine anything better in the world than getting paid for the hard work I'm doing in all my other "hobbies" (thinking theatre here, not my video game addiction, thanks) but I guess that would be the case with most other actors who are trying to make their own work. I've put off attempting to write a grant proposal for some of my play ideas: Maybe it's time to get off my ass and see if I can get serious about all this. I better.

I actually came to a rational decision today: I was looking at the X-Box 360 and seriously considering a purchase. However, I quickly realized that there was no real way for me to justify the cost against not only my limited finances, but also against the huge amount of time I would have to put into the games I want to buy. I want to play Mass Effect, I want to play BioShock, I want to play Portal and I want to play Dead Rising, but I don't really have the time to sink into them and frankly I would rather get the work done. Does this mean I'm growing up? Or maybe I'm just a cheap bastard. Who knows.

Anyway, this entry has been a big mess of randomness, so let's leave it here so that I don't start a horrible trend of long blog posts that are near unreadable due to my self involvement. I mean, you'll still get those but effort should count for something, right?

More Hawaiian Adventures

2008-01-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

If you will please, a moment of silence for a joke that will define a generation:

Q: Who is Mr. T's favorite rapper?
A: Pity Cent.

(Pause for applause)

Thank you, I'm here all night. Actually, not much longer than that: Yes, my vacation in Hawaii continues and I'm having a hell of a time. So far I've been up the Diamondhead Crater, biked all around Honolulu and Waikiki, checked out a huge (as in circling around a professional area) swap meet and just this morning went snorkeling down in Hanube Bay (I'm sure I've spelt that horrifically wrong). The snorkeling was amazing: Fish were all over the coral reef and I managed to take a few shots with an underwater digital camera. How good those pictures will be remains to be seen since the camera was a cheap deal that my dad picked up for something to the tune of around 10$, but at the very least I'll be able to keep the great memories of exploring the bay. We actually got really lucky too, since we planned on coming out early. That meant no lines whatsoever to get in or rent gear and we got a great burst of sun as we came out of the water. Good times.

The weather has been a bit weird the last couple of days- Many light sun showers that last quite a while. We met a guy from Edmonton who has been out here several times and noted that this was the worst he's ever seen it. Still, I expect no tears, as the family has still been treated to plenty of sun and any "bad weather" that you can safely endure in shorts and a t-shirt is a light burden indeed. I just wished I had planned a little better packing wise- A light jacket would have been nice on the windy nights and it would have been a great idea to pack a few more shirts: Note to future Brent: When going to hot climates, please pack more shirts then you have planned days. It's really not that hard. As it stands I am currently wearing my last clean shirt which leaves me the option of washing what I have or buying more. It would probably be cheaper to buy more... :D

The best still lies before us: Tonight the family is going to see Cirque Hawaii, which should be a fun night of family entertainment and tomorrow we plan on hitting Pearl Harbor. While I'm not a big fan of doing the tourist thing it is a lot more fun with family- It becomes less about seeing the sights (wooo...) and more about having experiences with your loved ones. Sappy, sure, but whatever keeps me from smashing my brain against a wall in frustration (and consequently ruining a very nice family vacation) is a good thing, sap or no.

A couple of nights ago I had a dream that I had flown back into the city for a day of work before being able to fly back out again. As my work day finished it occurred to me that it would cost me more for the flight than it would be worth for the single day of work. Also, I couldn't remember for the life of me where I had put my passport. At that point one of my bosses came up and was telling me that I needed to fill out some forms before I could leave because of some ridiculous payroll requirement. Then I mercifully woke up. I like my job, but what does it say when I'm having dreams like that about it? Maybe I just need a longer vacation... Here's to Montreal and New York in March!

The nicest thing about this vacation has been my ability to sit down and read- I've just flown through a whole bunch of reading over the past little while: God Jr., Pirates! in an adventure with Scientists, AK-47: A History, Blood Rites, a couple of plays and a couple of graphic novels, (including the only-released-in-the-states League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier) man, I have missed having the time and opportunity to read. That is one thing I will say about Winnipeg's craptacular transit system: It gave you plenty of time to read.

Well, that is about it for today. I'm heading back into town come Saturday night so I might not have a chance to write again. If not, hope you're all doing well and I'll see you again back in Winterpeg!

Amazing Fantastic Catch-Up Post! Supreme!

2007-12-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hey there folks! Sorry to say that I have yet again let myself slack off on the posting. I can certainly take a bit of solace in the fact that I'm not the only one who got sidetracked during the holidays, but to you, my faithful readers (let's just entertain the fantasy that I may actually have readers) I have no true excuses. So, a thousand apologies and let me get on to the obligatory round up of the recent comings and goings.

First of all, Christmas went well, albeit in a much smaller scale than normal. I managed to spend a lot of time both with family and with Erin, both of which were greatly appreciated. I certainly didn't get much "rest" in that period, but it was a nice break from the norm. I even managed to put in an appearance on Richard Cloutier's show again on Christmas day, sharing a story about my dad's attempted homicide against my Uncle. Nice holiday fun. It's weird- I'm coming up on almost a year doing the show and I've had many people come up and ask me about it. It's kind of weird too- Whereas I'll be recognized by strangers from my acting gigs, on the radio it's people who know me who come up to me, raising a tentative eyebrow saying "Did I hear you on..." YES. Yes you did. Thanks for noticing!

So, you might wonder, why do I suddenly have time to post now? Has the post Christmas period eased up my burden? Hell no. I'm on vacation! Yes, in a wondrous repeat from a couple of years ago, my grandmother has taken 22 of her brood out to the land of surf and sun! Twenty two! What could possibly go wrong?

Yes, there is an answer to that.

The flight to Hawaii is a long one, our route taking us from Winnipeg to Minneapolis and then from there to Hawaii. The first leg of the journey went very smoothly, considering that the 20 of us en route made our way to the airport at 5am. Present were: My dear Grandmother, My father and mother and sister Regan, my Uncle Ken with his kids Kim, Krista and Jennifer along with Krista's boyfriend Owen, Kim's husband Richard and their son Reily and finally my Uncle Gerry, Auntie Jan, Cousins Darren and Jason along with Jason's wife Cathy and their children Zoey, Joan and Aaron. My uncle Zero and sister Jane would meet us in Hawaii.

After our 2 hour layover in Minneapolis we boarded our plane and settled in for our 7+ hour flight over the ocean. I managed to sleep most of the trip, pausing to play with the inflight entertainment system. I had made it about half way through Cars (a really fun movie BTW) when suddenly the pilot announced that we were making an unscheduled stop in San Fransisco to deal with some "concerning" cargo. Glup. We touch down to be surrounded by fire rescue trucks. Quickly the captain announces that there is no need to be worried and that the fire rescue were simply there as a matter of protocol. The plan is simply to drop off the cargo, refuel, and make our way back over. People are getting a little restless, so quickly the passengers are walking around the aisles, killing time. I play with my little cousins for a while, and then head to the washroom. Suddenly the captain is on the microphone again, noting that some passengers have been calling local media and spreading "false information". At this point, things are getting a little weird.

Finally, we're ready to go, but then stop because of a fuel imbalance. The captain's words are something to the effect of "We think that we can handle the imbalence, but, uh, we're gonna check first. Thank you for your continued patience." Another 20-30 minutes drag by and finally we're on our way to go when suddenly I hear my cousin Jason shout behind me: "Seizure! Help! SEIZURE!" I turn in shock, looking around- Who is he talking about? My grandma? His wife? A stranger?

It's Zoey, his three year old daughter. Quickly he picks her up and runs her to the open back of the plane, yelling out for a doctor. There's genuine and very palpable shock and fear- What the hell is happening? Thankfully the plane contains several doctors (thank god we were going to Hawaii!) and the pilot stops the plane and alerts the locals on the ground. Looking back, seeing Zoey just lying still on the ground, unmoving after playing with her only 20 odd minutes before, I was scared and worried more than I've ever been before in my life. Thankfully help arrived soon and Zoey was carried off by an EMT, awake if not entirely aware of what the hell was going on. With her left that whole wing of the family, 8 in all, leaving the rest of us for an almost dreamlike flight to our final destination.

Upon arriving in Hawaii (three hours late!) my dad quickly called to see how everything was going and was thankfully met with good news. Not only was Zoey doing fine, but the rest of the family would be joining us the next day.

So, that's enough excitement for this vacation.

Today we went out for a nice breakfast, after which I rented a bike for the day and flew around the main strip in Honolulu, all up and down the tourist area and into the actual town. Sights have included beautiful mountains, surfers stretching out to the horizon, police officers berating my dad and I for Jay-walking, many sleeping hobos and far too many old men lounging on the beach in thongs. Dear Old Men, I regret to inform you that thongs are a very very very poor choice. Yous, Brent.

Anyway, that's how things are hanging right now. Hope you're all enjoying yourselves at home and away and have a happy New Year!

And I Was Doing So Well

2007-12-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, just a little pop-in to let you know that all is going well and I continue to function, if somewhat off-kilter.

My time has been sucked up into a vacum consisting mainly of work, hanging out with Erin and prepping for my upcoming audition for Urinetown (tomorrow!) along with the usual Christmas tomfoolery. Highlights so far have been my shopping being done in record time, a very successful second annual Library Christmas party (followed by more drinking at the Windsor afterwards) and a fun wrap up party for Theatre By The River's second season. Speaking of which, I have a lot of phoning to do for TBTR in the next little while...

I'm trying to write, although the hours I've been putting in at the library have really gotten in the way in that area. The draw for the Fringe is on Wednesday so I'll soon know how much writing I have to do in the near future. Hopefully, all going well, I'll be able to find plenty of writing time before and after the holidays. If not, at the very least I'll do an awful lot of drinking. Wish me luck!

Reading Level, Eh?

2007-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

So, according to this interesting little meme my dear old blog is High School level reading, which I actually don't feel to bad about. Lord knows there are enough people who are incapable of reading at a high school level, let alone writing. It also puts me ahead of a whole lot of my favorite websites, many of which rank at the junior high level. Give it a try and see where you rank, although a warning- The linking text has a blatant advert in it that is easily removed although a whole mess of annoying.

Another thing- I've noticed that since the advent of Facebook I've been greatly remiss in posting photos in the old blog. I'll have to do something about that. Perhaps things will pick up when I restart What I Own, which I plan to do shortly. Moving out has changed a lot of the things that I own and really got me down to the basics, so it should be a fun time.

Wrong For The Part

2007-12-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

As an actor, you're frequently faced with with challenge of meeting some invisible standard for a role you're auditioning for. If that seems like an impossible task, well, it is, and coming to terms with that is a frequent hurdle in this wonderful land of make belive called acting. Sometimes you're just wrong for the part, and you need to suck it up and move on, despite the fact that you just had the best freaking audition of your life or whatever.

It's weirder still when you're called in to audition for parts that don't really feel right in the first place. I mean, I've auditioned for plays where I knew I was making a bit of a stretch, but in theatre that's usually all right, both because you can get away with more range on stage and it's good to be seen even if you're not ideal for the part. But in film it can get downright ridiculous. I'm frequently called in for weird film parts but what can you do? No, I don't feel like I can really play a 35 year old business man, but I'll still dress up in a suit and learn the lines if it's the only thing I've been called in for in a month. Why do actors do such things? Well, you can't win if you don't play, right? One of these days something has got to work out. It's got to!

Urgh.

So last night I'm having a dream, no doubt inspired by my upcoming auditions for American Buffalo and Urinetown. I arrive early with some friends of mine to find no one present so we end up running the auditions ourselves for a while, something that seems to makes sense at the time. Once there is a lull I walk outside to find the room across the hall is being used for the actual auditions. Startled, I run on over and find myself in front of a small group of African Americans who explain to me their company mandate of creating work for actors of colour. I do the audition anyway.

What the hell is my brain trying to tell me?

Downtown Crazies

2007-12-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to write smaller posts to increase my overall content creation. I'm doing the same thing with my playwrighting, starting with a suite of monologues I'm crafting for fellow actors. I'll let you know how both of those turn out. In fact, if you don't find yourself subject to a steady stream of updates then you'll know that at least one of them (but probably both) have turned into abject failures. Yay for progress!

Working downtown, from time to time I'll get a concerned comment from friends or family. You know, it's downtown, that savage land occupied by day workers and various weirdos and drug addled vagrants. Having spent the better part of that last half decade here, I've become appropriately desensitized most of the time. Still, from time to time a particularly remarkable individual will catch my attention and make me wonder if perhaps all that concern isn't as unfounded as I might otherwise try to belive.

There are many varieties of downtown crazies, as frequently commented upon in one of my favorite blogs, the long ago mentioned http://weirdosofwinnipeg.blogspot.com - Still, they generally fall into two categories, the amusing and the sad. Yesterday I had a particularly amusing encounter with a fairly well known crazy at work, who was insisting that we trade (not sell, he insisted) over 30 dollars in rolls dimes to him so that he could do some photocopies. He wouldn't take a loonie- in fact, he insisted that there was no such thing as a loonie- A loonie is a PERSON. Yes sir, we know. You're kind of being ironic right now. Eventually the whole return counter staff had to gang up on him, letting him know the very rational reasons why we couldn't do the ridiculous things he was asking of us. He then began stating how much education he had (always a good sign!) and told my co-worker flat out "I HAVE AUTHORITY OVER YOU!". I am seriously going to say that the next time I want to win an argument.

Then there are the sad ones, like today, when an aboriginal man lay on the ground in the foyer, moaning and telling the downtown patrol that "I don't want to live anymore!". It's a weird town that we live in, frozen in so many ways, a place where hope and despair live in neighboring houses. It's a funny place.

And it's home.

Wow, a month, eh?

2007-11-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

So, apparently I have been a bit errant in my blogging. Almost a whole month gone by with nary a post! Yikes! I guess I'm just a horrible person or something. I suppose I should regale you all with what exactly I've been up to in the past little while... So, onward!

The past month really just flew by and frankly I don't have too much to account for it. I've been keeping busy, mostly with work, but I have found other things to fill in my "idle" hours: I've been keeping up with my block of TV shows, doing a nice chunk of reading, feeding my facebook addiction as well as playing a few video games. I just finished off Contact on my DS which was sadly a bit of a dissapointment. While the game has a definite Earthbound influence ultimetely I found myself longing for the game game to be a bunch of things that it wasn't and annoyed at many of the OCD level grinding elements that were constantly front and center. A lot of fun ideas to be sure but very little satisfactory execusion. Thankfully I've now got the newest installment of Phenoix Wright to deal with and that's always a good time. I've also been putting some time back into that SNES classic Chrono Trigger. Man, that is one solid game.

I've also been spending a whole lot of time with Erin, most notably going bingo bowling for my first time (despite my intense sucking our team did quite well) and checking out the vocal jazz group Cadence. Watching those guys pull out a near flawless 4 part harmony acapella version of "Cry Me A River" was pretty damn amazing and makes me want to look back into my recenty dropped idea of starting a barbershop quartet. What, you think the world couldn't use a little more barbershop?

Anyway, this post took me two freaking days to write, so I'll cap it off here. Baby steps, right? Let's hope the next post is a little sooner coming!

Because I Can

2007-10-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

So, apparently I'm busy or something. Uh, yeah. Quick list of what is, uh, up:

I'm officially moved into the Ebby house, as of last Wednesday. So far things are going quite well although for all I know my roommates might already hate me and be planning my demise. Who can say?
I had two Halloween parties on Saturday, both of which were tons of fun. There were also amazing costumes: Billy Cosby, Terrance and Phillip, Kempachi, the iPod commerical, Harry and Lloyd (of Dumb and Dumber) all immediately spring to mind. There was also some amusing cross-over between the two parties: Two Paperbag Princesses as well as two Justin Timberlake "Dick-in-a-Boxes". Still, the best costume by far was my buddy Dylan who came as Al Borland from Home Improvement, which greatly complimented by costume of Wilson J. Wilson. It was a conincidence FOR THE AGES.
I just realized I've watched a crap load of TV as of late- Dexter, House, The Office... When Lost and Battlestar Galactica start back up I'm screwed!

Anyway, just wanted to drop the interweb a line so that everyone knows that I'm still alive. Also, in case you care, I was on CJOB this morning, which can be heard at the usual spot. Later folks

Downshift

2007-10-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, time flies sometimes and just like that, *snap*, Oedipus Rex has finished an incredibly successful run. This last week in particular was fantastic with increasingly impressive crowds, finely turned performances and all sorts of fun and tomfoolery behind the scenes. While I really haven't had an opportunity to knock off the great moments from the other shows I've done this year (and there have been many) I think it is worth making note of a few from this great show:

Working with the Choir- My roles was small line-wise in the play but I got to have tons of great interaction with our Gospel Choir and it was a fantastic time. Erin, Bernie, Emily, Dexter, Ally, Chantal, Scott- You guys all rule!
Pranking the Choir- While I quit pretty early on, I had a lot of fun trying to make the choir laugh during their exit at the end of the play. It just turned out I was too damn good at it.
Karaoke- Those who know me are aware of my deep love for Karaoke. Doing it with the cast of this show was a real treat. Sadly our plans to partake on Friday night were derailed by a full-strength tone deaf frat party but we will return on Tuesday with hopes of rocking out some live band Karaoke later on.
Hanging out with Derek- This show gave me plenty of time to hang around with good old Derek Leenhouts and I personally had a blast. Plus he knocked his performance out of the park every night and I had no troubles being affected seeing my best friend fall from grace night after night.
Basking in the Glory- Oedipus marks a great moment for TBTR- A funded, successful and entertaining indoor show with plenty of outside support. It was a fantastic way to end our season and, I think, promises great things for season 3!

Last night was our cast party- It was an awesome time with only light puking and almost-getting-Lisa-and-James-evictedness. Plus I got to hang out with Erin, which, despite far too many smug sideways glances from the peanut gallery, was awesome. P.S. Ally, you were stupid ass drunk. I mean, really.

So what is next on deck for me? Well, Rufus moved out a couple of days ago, so I should get on to moving soon. Plus, NaNoWriMo is starting up soon, and I would like to win one of these years. Anyway, I've got some time to think. In the meanwhile, I've got an Equity meeting and then the final show of Talk tonight that I've been really looking forward to.

So, uh, how are you guys doing?

Well, I Suck

2007-10-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

For a couple of reasons:

Firstly, I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks, which is not too awesome. I've started having all sorts of crazy ass dreams (for various reasons) and usually my first step is to start writing again. So, in the interest of my continued (facsimile of) sanity, I shall make my return to the world of blogging.

Secondly (and also concerning writing), I officially dropped out of YEPP today, sending in my letter of surrender to my dramaturge/playwright advisor. It was a hard decision for me, but feeling the relief of not having to finish the play has me thinking that it was probably the right one. I've been stubborn about the play and the program, thinking that I could write while being constantly busy with various other projects (I've been on the go since April with no real break) and then thinking that I could polish a turd into something worthwhile. Then I began to believe that I could take many turds, all poorly polished and completely different from each other and somehow hammer them together into a play. Well, today sanity prevails.

I'm not being too hard on myself- I know there is a play in there somewhere. Maybe a couple of them. But the various scenes and characters just don't fit together in any elegant way. At this point I think I need to step away from the concept for a while, give myself a little writing break (he said, as if he had been doing a terrible amount of writing in the first place) and get something else in the can before coming back. I actually have a few things I would like to look at: Identity.com is ready for another draft and has the potential to be the most polished play I've ever written. There's also a one man idea that I've had kicking around, plus that musical I need to put some time into... Well, here's to the future.

An aside: Some kid was lying on the ground, yelling, bare foot in the library. Where the hell were his parents? Why don't they put some shoes on their freaking kid? It's the public library! If he just gets tetanus he'll be lucky.

Anyway, "What's new?" you may be asking: Well, quite a few things:

Oedipus goes very well- Our attendance is doing quite well and I wouldn't be surprised if we got our best indoor attendance ever on the run. Tonight is the last show of the first week and I'm looking forward to it quite a bit. That being said there is a little bit of worry in my mind. Not because of my performance or the audiences, but rather the choir... You see to end the show the choir walks into the same area where I wait for the show to finish up and I've made a bit of a game of finding different surprises to spring on them as they exit. On our third show I almost made the whole choir burst into laughter at the final moment of the play, so I've been awaiting their revenge ever since... So, if you come see the show and I do something weird or laugh at a stupid moment, now you know why.

Other big news? I'm moving into the Ebby house at the end of the month. I've got more to say about that, but for the moment- Should be fun. 'Bout time I got out of St. Vital anyway. :)

For Martyn Godfrey

2007-09-29T13:04:00.001-07:00

Quick check in- Oedipus is going to be awesome, but it is also eating my life. Such is the way of things.

At work today Roch Carrier came in to read his classic children's book "The Hockey Sweater". Some of my co-workers were talking about him in the back area and I noted that I had met him about a decade ago, having made some cardboard cut-outs of his characters with a book club at my old elementary school. I actually got to meet a lot of my favorite Canadian writers, all of whom had come into town for an event at the convention center. I believe I met Eric Wilson (who was far and away my favorite writer at the time although Bruce Coville was up there too) along with... Godfrey? I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember one of my favorite childhood writer's names. A quick check through the system for his memorable book "Can You Teach Me to Pick My Nose" (it's about skateboarding and, obviously, coming of age) reminds me that his name is Martyn Godfrey. Bringing up his record I note that he hasn't written a book in a while and a quick spin on Google reveals that he died in 2000. A quick moment of shock-

Robert Jordan, another favorite from my younger days recently passed away. Still, finding out about his death didn't affect me in the same way. Partly that was due to the fact that he had been ill for quite a while, but also I think because my rose-coloured glasses regarding his writing have faded over time. A while ago I was throwing away some of my old papers and came across some writing I had done early on in Junior high, clearly influenced by the Wheel of Time. It was awful. I've got two books in the series that rest unread and will likely remain that way for a while. Godfrey on the other hand... his books were part of my youth, books that I devoured and read as soon as I could get my hands on them. The fact that he was a Canadian too gave me hope that one day I might be able to do something similar, that artistic pursuits have merit and can find financial success. It's good to be reminded that from time to time.

A moment of silence for Martyn Godfrey, for books eagerly consumed in childhood, for all the good times. Gone but not forgotten. (Sorry about the name thing.) ;)

Because Writing Is Good For Me

2007-09-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

Well, yet more time has passed in the wild and crazy world that is my life. Frankly, I have to admit that my writing (or more specifically lack thereof) has been less than impressive as of late. Nowhere is this more evident than the progress I've been making on my various writing projects: Holy crap I need to get on all of that. Luckily this week looks like I'll have the ingredient that has been missing as of late: Time! Last week was an almost endless flurry of working, voice work, audition prep followed by auditions and, thankfully, parties. This week... not so much. Is good? I think it might be.

I'm pretty annoyed at the moment by my inability to find a whole bunch of things: I've lost my Nintendo DS (along with two awesome games!), my black hat, and TWO library books, both just before finishing them off. I would like to say that the lack of those books explains my scattered thoughts as of late, but it's really not a great excuse, especially for people who actually know me. I'm dumb that way.

Things are happening: I saw the Blue Man Group (good show, although the back up band's vocalists were mediocre), Anita and Anders had a fun social where I won a Texas Micky of Rye, said Micky was used to good effect the next day for Erinn's "About to fly all by her lonesome" party, and then I went to my first service at Springs Church. It will probably be my last too: Interesting (especially since I was there to research Oedipus) and it gave me a lot of youth group flashbacks, but clearly not for me.

The guy next to us (Derek came with me) tossed 200$ into his collection envelope. That kind of hurt my brain.

Something to Say

2007-09-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've finally figured out what has been stopping me from working on a couple of my projects, and in retrospect it seems ridiculously obvious: I haven't quite figured out what I'm trying to say with them. While I consider myself a writer, I would be the first to admit that my craft is often lacking. I've taken classes and read books, I've assimilated some systems and check lists and other such devices that are supposed to ensure that your basics are all in place before writing begins. I should be able to avoid such obvious pit falls, right? But I'm lazy and inconsistent in my work ethic (not quite the same things) and above all I'm still not quite sure what the fuck I'm doing. I'm not beating myself up about it, I just find it interesting that I still need to be reminded about such things from time to time.

JC, IS was about coming to terms with rifts in face, finding peace in uncertainty. One Last Thing was about closure. Identity.com is about... well, that's pretty obvious. Coffee almost wasn't about anything, which was the problem towards the end of the writing process- I guess it was about friendship? Anyway- My YEPP play, my musical project- I don't really have a solid message yet. I've tried a few things, thrown some crap against the wall hoping that eventually something will stick but so far... nothing. This all bears some further thinking.

What makes all this revelation of note is the fact that I've realized that I also have been lacking that same purpose, having a message to broadcast, in my life. It's not quite the same thing as being directionless; I know where I am going and how I plan on getting there. It's more about having that extra drive, something to propel me towards whatever is to come next. I spent last year in the city because I allowed my life to happen to me. I've been very passive in that way for a while now and it's time to stop. I was telling Veronica the other day how I don't want to be one of those people who constantly talks about things but never does them, but maybe I've already passed that point. No longer. It's time to do something, to say something, to be more than the sum of what I have done.

On that point- I've found that to be a very easy trap for people to fall into. As an actor it becomes apparent: Your resume is a constant stream of projects, the quality and quantity of which measures you. Facebook is a great example of this: Your activity, your friends, your pictures, all some measurable quantity that is an indication of your existance as a human being, on your impact in life. I'm not saying I buy that, and you shouldn't, but it's an easy out and something that your brain can slide into in tired moments. Beware my friends, beware.

Oedipus Rex is now officially underway. The play will be awesome. Prepare thyself.

A Short Break

2007-08-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

And suddenly another show is done.

Yesterday was the final performance for Two Gentlemen of Verona. We were pretty worried that the rain would end our run on a sour note but the incoming storms managed to just miss us and allow a great (and large!) audience enjoy the very last chance to catch Theatre by the River's second show of the season. If you made it out, a thousand thank yous. If you didn't, better start getting to work on your Delorian because you've missed out on a very good show to your own detriment. Plus, you know, you suck.

So now a coveted week off before rehearsals kick in for Oedipus Rex. Not that I'm actually getting much time off: I'm working quite a bit this week, as well as auditioning for a couple of shows - Oedipus, PTE's Munch show and a voice over audition that I had this morning - really, the pace doesn't let down all that much. (Edit: Where did the rest of the paragraph go? a mystery!)

You know you're getting a reputation for being late when no less than 3 co-workers comment on your early arrival. Jesus.

Anyway, speaking of work, I should get to it soon. Hope you're all doing well and I'll be back again soon!

A Return to Writing

2007-08-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks. It has, as per usual, been a while, although perhaps a bit too long. When Erinn is calling me out in my comments I know she means business, so I guess I should, you know, write or something. If I want to finish watching Battlestar Galactica with her anyway.

Reading the past few entries is actually a little embarrassing for me, mostly because of the fact that I have managed not to post much in the past few months at all. I've had similar periods, true, but this is getting to the point that could spell the end for my blogging days if nothing is done about it. It's weird- I started this blog to keep me writing and now getting back into it (or any writing at all) is amazingly difficult. I can actually feel my brain working a little harder then it used to right now. They say that your mental abilities can atrophy in the same way your physical ones can when you fail to work them out and at the moment my writing "muscles" as it were are feeling the strain. All this to say that the following post might be a load of donkey crap and you have been more than warned.

It always feels weird when I have a large period of time to blog about- I can't really talk about everything that has happened and so what do I choose to go over? Bearing in mind that while I enjoy the fact that other people read that I write but that my blog is extensively for my own use to be read at a later date, what will I care about a year from now? I should probably go with the old standby- To simply unload whatever is currently on my head so that I no longer have to deal with it as much, such is my usual strategy. Still, that strategy has become a bit blunted: What with the increasing frequency that I find other people stumbling onto my blog I find myself more and more acting with self censorship, trying to avoid comments that may come back to bite me in the ass. It's always been there: I've never really talked to much about people in my personal life that piss me off and I try to delve into my personal life only when there is a story worth telling- but you can see some changes. Go back a couple of years and you'll see tons of posts talking about my dissatisfaction with my job, something I never really talk about anymore. Part of that is because I do genuinely enjoy the work I'm doing, but also because more and more of my co-workers (and there are many many more than there were when I was working at St. James!) read my blog and so to them I must hold myself accountable. A bit of a pain in the ass, really, but that is what you deal with when you work with other people.

So why start writing now? Well, in large part because I can't really put it off anymore: I've got a lot of projects that need working on and while I was rehearsing 3 shows I could certainly claim a massive degree of preoccupation, with only Two Gentlemen to contend with I really can't play that card anymore. I let myself slack off at the end of the Fringe but I'm running out of time for that. My YEPP play need my attention, as do a handful of projects that I've let gather cobwebs. So, my hope is that a little bit of writing here will get my brain back into a writing mood. At the very least, it will be a step.

Other than writing (or not writing), my life has been pretty busy as of late: There is the show, obviously, which I now notice I neglected to properly pimp. Therefore- TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, PLAYING UNTIL SUNDAY! ASSINIBOINE PARK AT THE CRICKET PAVILION! 7PM! Be there or I'll kick your butt. On top of that I've been doing the usual actor things; auditioning for things I'm not getting and desperately trying to figure out what my next few months look like. With the 15k grant that Oedipus is getting we're all pretty pumped about the show- We're going to cast it next week, so I'll let you know what comes of that. I've also got an audition for the Munsch tour with Prairie Theatre Exchange, which is more or less my last shot at getting a professional gig this year. Once I know one way or another about that the next little while will really decide itself. Staying, going, working, whatever. I've of the mindset right now almost to just grab all my money and run for the hills. Still, I'll need to head back to reality eventually and I'm not sure I'm going to like what is waiting for me when I do. Still, for now, I continue to live waiting on the decisions of others, such is the life of an actor.

For those of you who are keeping track of the girls in my life, well, I wouldn't mind a hand figuring out everything. I guess this goes hand in hand with my general uncertain future. How can I know what I want from anybody when I don't know what I really want from myself? That all being said, there are some very cool chicks out there who apparently like hanging out with me, for whatever reason or possible end. Thanks ladies, you're all awesome and you make being a heterosexual male a never ending adventure.

I was on Richard Cloutier's radio show again today, basically just discussing the upcoming Justin Timberlake concert. I honestly didn't have all that much to add to the conversation, but it was fun as always and I managed to get a plug in for Two Gents. If you're wanting to check it out, go the the audio vault on the website and look around 11:11. I said "stoked" on the radio. I don't know if that makes me a good or a bad person, but it is certainly notable!

One thing I never really got to talk about on-air was the recent ads around the city for the Alpha Program, a "discovering Jesus" initiative, designed to act as a gateway to get new members into churches. What is weird about the ads is that they show pictures of people in fun situations: A bunch of friends having fun at a bar, a guy standing triumphant on top of a mountain, with the caption: "Is this all there is to life?" I'm not sure if it is a good or a bad campaign. I guess it works on some level- I'm blogging about it, aren't I?

Anyway, I've got some writing to do. Hope you're all well!

A Short Respite

2007-08-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

And with a surge of speed, the Fringe is suddenly done. Man, what a wild ride it was.

All in all I'm quite pleased with the final results: One Last Thing did quite well, garnering decent houses at every show and some very appreciative audience response. The History of Theatre was likewise appreciated, although audiences were sadly smaller than we would have liked (the show deserved better!) but that was offset by our nomination for the Harry Rintoul Award for the best original Manitoban play. We didn't win, but it's a nice addition to the old resume. Between both shows that's 15 performances over the festival: Not bad!

As far as my own show attendance goes, I think I did pretty well overall: Giant Invisible Robot, Improvision (Twice!), Scratch (3 times!), Richard Is A Dick, Lucrezia Borgia, The Fugue Code, Not Even An Ostrich, The Story of a Sinking Man, Glory Be, The Good Daughter, The Big Stupid Improv Show, Water, Bye Bye Bombay, Grudge Match, Hair, Homely Woman #2, Men Seldom Make Passes, Petey Mack: EMBALMED, The Churchill Protocol, The Ingrates, The Genghis Khan Guide to Ettiquette, The Mighty Platypus Variety Show, Tangelico and ...your company/table for... : Making it a grand total of 27 shows! Just shy of my goal of 30! Maybe next year, right?

Other fun fringe stuff: I managed to catch a good deal of the outdoor entertainment, which is impressive considering the downright oppressive temperatures. I managed to grab a bite from all of the various food vendors (and greatly missed the Philippino food trailer, lovingly dubbed as the home of "Meat on a stick") downing at least half a dozen tasty-tasty samosas. Far too many beers were drunk (but that's what the Fringe is for!) and far too few hours of sleep were had (which is also what the Fringe is for!) but I can safely say that I had a successful Festival. Not only did I enjoy a great amount of fantastic theatre, but I got to hang out with tons of fantastic people, old friends from in town, from out of town (FRIGID Fest represent!) and a whole slew of new people: In particular a big high-five to the cast of Lucrezia Borgia who took me in as one of their own. Dexter, we still need to throw down again with Guitar Hero!

And now a brief calm before the storm: Two Gentlemen of Verona opens on the 14th and we're now in the last few moments before the insanity that will be the full show. It's been a rough and crazy ride, but the show is really coming together. I'm incredibly pumped to get this sucker on its feet and run in front of people. Full fledged post about it coming soon.

I just wanted to end with a great note: Theatre by the River has received a full grant for our upcoming production of Oedipus Rex: That's $15,000! Holy fuck! The show is going to rule!

Tending the Neglected Child

2007-07-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hey blog (and blog readers), sorry I've been so negligent as of late. Sadly, there just hasn't been too much time for you and there probably won't be more time forthcoming. Still, I'll take the little I have to let the world know what I've been up to.

Well, I actually havn't been up to much that isn't Fringe as of late, but that's still something!

Yes, the Fringe has begun and both shows opened as of yesterday: Great crowds for both shows and I'm pleased as punch with pretty much the whole deal. Thank you one and all who made it out. Now we play the waiting game, hoping that the reviewers liked the show as much as our audiences apparently did. History of Theatre is actually two shows down now: Our second show didn't go quite as well, partly due to the fact that we were greatly concerned with the fact that we ran the first show almost 10 minutes over. Now comes the delicate act of cutting late in the game, never a fun thing to do. One Last Thing plays tonight (late! 11:45pm, make it out if you can!) so hopefully we won't have any similar issues.

I've also managed to catch a few shows, although less then I would normally have liked to: The Churchill Protocol, Giant Invisible Robot, Scratch, Improvision, The Mighty Amazing Platypus Variety Hour are all in the books. I've still got tons of shows I need to see: On deck are The Good Daughter, Grude Match, Lucrezia Borgia, Hair, The Feel Goods, The Story of a Sinking Man and more... let's see what I can manage!

The only other real things of note: I saw a bunch of security guards at work sitting on some dude out front of the building. That was pretty funny. Also, I picked up a copy of Harry Potter at Wal Mart today. Evil, I know, but sooooo cheap. Screw you, actual book stores!

See you at the Fringe!

Crunch Time, And I Don't Mean The Candy Bar

2007-07-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Although now that I mention it, I could totally go for one of those. Do they even make them anymore?

The fringe starts in 5 days. 5 DAYS! That's a little scary, truth be told. Still, I think my productions are ready and I'm certainly proud of all the work that has gone into them... it's just that there is still so much to get done in a very little amount of time.

For those of you who care about such things, I was on Richard Cloutier's show again yesterday around 11am. We talked about the Fringe, a few pop culture tidbits and in the end had a rather all over the place discussion about music downloading and stuff. I always have a good time doing the show, although I'm guaranteeing no entertainment for anyone else.

Anyway, since the Fringe is coming up, I better get my pimping action on:

One Last Thing

Co-written and co-directed by Brent Hirose and Cory Wreggitt

Starring James Firby, Brent Hirose, Keri-Lee Smith and Cory Wreggitt.

From the fringe program:

"The grand romantic gesture may be dead, but that doesn't stop Carlo from attempting to resurrect it with the help of his reluctant roommates. A romantic comedy about friendship, lost loves and having one last thing to say.From the co-creator of the '05 Fringe hit Coffee and the '06 Winnipeg Best of Fest show Jesus Christ, I'm Sorry."

Venue #1, MTC Backstage at the Mainstage

Tickets: 8$/ 6$ for students, seniors, matinees and those suffering the sting of a lost love.

Fri, July 20 8:00 PM

Sat, July 21 11:45 PM

Sun, July 22 12:00 PM

Wed, July 25 9:30 PM

Thu, July 26 4:15 PM

Fri, July 27 2:15 PM

Sat, July 28 11:30 PM

The History of Theatre:

A Factual Journey Through the Development of Theatre (With Some Lies)

Written by Brent Hirose, Mel Marginet and Matthew Tenbruggencate

"So you're at the Winnipeg Fringe, going to see some plays.See some plays?Really?When it's this nice out?"Join three actors as they examine the hilarious history of the Theatre in a desperate search for its significance.There must be some reason we're not all just going for walks!!

Venue #5: Son of the Warehouse

Tickets $8/$7 for Doug Arrell or his students

Friday, July 20 5:30

Saturday, July 21 7:00

Sunday, July 22 11:00

Tuesday, July 24 4:00

Wednesday, July 25 Noon

Thursday, July 26 9:15

Friday, July 27 10:45

Saturday, July 28 1:45

See you at the fringe!

Yeah....

2007-07-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

... Move along.

Pre-Canada Day Update (Good Title, Eh?)

2007-06-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

hey there friends. Yet again, time has passed and left us in its wake. Let’s catch up, shall we?

The two great festivals (Folkfest and Fringe Fest!) loom above and frankly I cannot wait for either to begin. Folk Fest looks to be a fun eclectic group of people: At the moment I believe the participants in our camp are myself, Erinn, Miah, Erica, Seb, Laura (Erica’s sister), Athena, Cassie, Brenna, Adam, Veronica, Andrea, Steve and dear old Cory Wreggitt. I’m sure I’m missing people, but that crew alone should be fun times. I’m taking the time off this year after the debacle that was working during the festival last year. Having to leave every night for work in the morning was a highly regrettable and annoying experience that thankfully I have learned from. So now, I get to look forward to 4 days of good friends, awesome music, relaxation in the sun and all sorts of drunkenness and debauchery. Or, you know, being passed out around a bunch of hippies. Whatever.

It just occurred to me that I didn’t write anything commemorating the end of Andrea and my relationship. We had (are having?) a pretty damn amicable break up, the test of which will probably be Folk Fest. I think, all things considered, it’s going pretty well, although there are always two sides to such things. Andrea is a great gal, and I hope she sticks around a while seeing as how we’re not sick of her yet.

The catalyst behind the break up (and apparently something I havn’t been talking too much about since a half dozen people have asked me about it in the last few weeks) is my potential move to Vancouver come September. The short version of the whole thing is this: If I get any acting work for next year I will stay in the city and do it. If I fail to get any, I’ll head out to Vancouver in hopes of making headway in a larger market. There are tons of reasons for my wanting to do this and many reasons to stay, but it really all boils down to a few things.

I want to act, but I can’t pursue it endlessly. Therefore, if there are steps I need to take, I need to do them sooner rather than later. In fact, this move was originally set to happen last year, so I’ve already got all my delaying out of the way. If I want to dedicate myself to acting full time, I need to do it somewhere where there is enough work (or at the very least opportunities for work) to do so. So, Vancouver.

Another part of it is that a year ago I was in pretty much the exact spot that I was today. It’s a little scary actually, to think of all the ways that my life has not really moved since then. I’ve taken a few courses, written a few plays, done a couple of shows… But on the grand scale? Nothing. Emotionally, financially, professionally, I’ve more or less tread water. Life is too short for that and I need (in a very fundamental way) to move forward.

Still, the move is not yet set in stone. I’ve got a bunch of projects to go: I’m doing a reading for MTC that something might come from, my two Fringe plays and Two Gentlemen of Verona, along with an episode of the No Budget Show that looks like it’ll be fun. There are auditions for the next Munch show and who knows what else that might suddenly appear. So I live in uncertainty. Frankly, I would love to be able to say one way or the other what my future was going to be like. (And since I’m a leading candidate to replace Joel at the Ebby house, I’m sure they’d like to know as well!) But it doesn’t make sense for me to be here if I’m not working and I can’t say if I will be or not.

Anyway, let’s switch gears here: While rehearsal and work have kept me pretty damn busy, I have managed to check out a few things: I’ve finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS, which is 11 shades of awesome. I also saw Lord of War and Idiocracy, both of which are well worth checking out. I’m also reading through Jim Butcher’s Desdin Files books, which, while fluffy, are good fun. I should probably get sleep sometime though, eh?

Expect full Fringe pimp posts upon my return from Folk Fest.

Happy Canada Day!

More On Life

2007-06-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks. Seeing as how it’s been over 10 days since my last post, might as well get you all up to date on the latest happenings, what little happenings there are.

Frankly, my life is currently not my own. I was talking to Kevin the other day on Gmail chat, and I noted that we haven’t seen each other since my birthday party almost 4 months ago. In order to try to figure out a time to hang out I sent him my google calendar, which he responded to with some amazement. Between rehearsing three shows, work, auditions (3 in the next week!) and my vague attempts at having a social life, it’s getting so that every second of my existence is accounted for. So, for those of you planning on framing me for a murder, you’re gonna probably have to wait a couple months, okay?

For those of you who made the fundraiser two weeks ago (a surprising amount of you!) Thank you so much for doing so! The show went fantastically from the performance point of view and was a great season opener for Theatre by the River. Sadly, we didn’t pull in very much money on the fundraising side of things, but life is like that sometimes, right?

My relationship with my writing is pretty strange these days. On one hand I’m just dying to be finished with my current projects but I’m also wanting very much to get into a few ideas that I’ve had over the past little while. I really want to write another draft of Identity.com, although I have no idea what I’m doing with it. I really don’t want to wait another year to produce it, but what other options do I have? If I had money and another performer, I wouldn’t mind going to FRIGID again with it, although I know pretty much that I wouldn’t make any money off of that… Who knows. I’ve also got another one man show boiling up inside me. Well, let’s give those a little more time to simmer. Still more work to do: History of Theatre is pretty much done but needs a few more pages and a ton of edits- Just for time, thankfully. I’m 100% confident that the show will be awesome, but there is (as always) much work to be done.

My other shows are going well: One Last Thing is in fine shape and should be coming together as a show in the next week or so. Rehearsals have also started for Two Gentlemen of Verona, and even at this early stage the work is quite exciting. I’m looking forward to performing it, as well as bringing Hamish to the stage for the first time. That’s right, my adorable puppy will be part of the show. How can you not go?

There’s a sign by one of the terminals at the returns desk at work, a little bit of paper someone printed out: It’s a large printed “NO!!!!” When I first saw it, I thought it might be a joke of some sort, but I don’t really get it. I took it, turned it over and wrote “Maybe?” on the other side and left it there. That sums up my attitude in general. That silly little sign is still there: In fact, it was flipped back to the “NO!!!!” side. I have to admit that it gets on my nerves, if only for the sentiment. Working at the library is not hard work, we’re not out to save the world, but some people just get so uptight about things. I know this is something everyone faces in every workplace, but it just irks me when I know that if everyone just relaxed all the work would still get done and everyone would be a lot more happy. Of course, some people just can’t relax. Pity you still have to work with them.

Anyway, that’s enough for today. Hope you’re all doing well and I’ll see you soon at the Fringe!

Or Folkfest. Folkfest is coming!

Introspection

2007-06-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. Life continues to kick my ass, but I've still managed to find a few moments to relax. A few days ago I was randomly skimming through my blog. It's strange, looking back and reading my old posts. I can tell when I had been engrossed in one writer or another: It's strange, actually, to see my own particular voice emerging from the maelstrom of typos and run on sentences that was my feeble attempts at mature writing. That's actually overstepping: I've never considered my blogging to be the least bit formal in any way shape or form, but I have always took pride in my ability (insistence?) on keeping my prose at a certain level, higher than the poorly punctuated and capitalized LOL OMGTWF bBQ~! fests that engulf a good majority of the interweb and blogosphere.

If you skipped that last paragraph for whatever reason, you didn't miss much so no worries.

I, like many, have become taken with the many functions of Facebook, that swelling behemoth of a website that seems to be intent on interconnecting and archiving every facet of information on its members and their various preferences, personal details, and crippling addictions. (In fact, you might be reading this post from there, as I have now freed my blog feed to give any subscribers or readers of any other syndication the full post. I'm a nice guy, right?) Before you know it all your friends will be hooked into a constant stream up updates on your every move. They will know every relationship, every crush, every hook-up, every drunken advance, every blow up, every beat down, every blow-job, every masturbatory fantasy, every breath, every single step you take, the horrible things you do, the thoughts of inadequacy, the brief moments of joy, the endless thrall of eternal loneliness, every single moment as it happens, when it happens, in a real time stream of information shot directly to your brain, burned eternally in a constantly flowing record, every fact taken, none placed above another, just an constantly updating list of the moments of a human life (made less so?) changed by the self imposed voyeuristic/exhibitionistic parade which we have mired ourselves into Why do these things? Because we can. Because we want to. Because everybody else is and god forbid you should be left behind while all your friends are embarking onto the wave of the future. The future is here. The future is now. Embrace it and be saved.

(I just started re-reading jPod. So, yeah, Douglas Coupland. Woot.)

Facebook can now be updated from your cell phone. It's both a very cool and very creepy feature. On one hand, I can use my phone to access all the public info from my friends. On the other hand, shouldn't I have that info anyway? The idea of updating my status throughout the day at first seemed ridiculous to me, but after a little thinking on it seems almost brilliant. Only being able to update while at a computer is almost archaic in our wireless world. Life does not happen in front of a computer screen. If I'm being shot at by terrorists in the middle of nowhere, you can bet that my status is going to be "Brent is being shot at by terrorists! Seriously! Jesus help me, call someone~!" Well, I would be typing it on my cell phone, so probably more like "Brent is shoot @ by terrist! Srsly! JEsus, hlp!"

I don't really have a point, I just think it's pretty interesting. Sorry, I'm just deliberately wasting your time.

Yesterday was Jeremiah's 25th birthday, which was celebrated by a get together at Shannon's, where many drinks were drunk and much merriment was had by all. I got pretty drunk and ended up crashing at the Ebby house, with a plan to watch the final episodes of season 2 of Battlestar with Erinn in the morning. At around 7 I wake up with my sinuses clogged all to hell, so I decide to go grab some anti-histamines in my car. I get there: I didn't bring any. I go back to the house: I'm locked out. I end up spending the next hour and a half napping/reading/playing DS in my car until Erinn is finally awake. What a stupid morning.

My stories used to be so much better on here. No idea what happened.

Actually, I would like to point out how easy this blog entry is for me to write. I think I might have my writing bug back, which is nice after spending the last month or so burnt-out to all hell. We'll see how long this lasts, eh?

Finally, New Beginnings is TOMORROW. If you don't have anything better to do, get your ass down there. T'will be awesome, PROMISE.

Dear Universe: I Owe You One!

2007-06-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

I was working and wondering if I could manage a lunchtime nap without my phone to wake me when one of my co-workers let me know that a weird looking guy was asking for me by name. I didn't think much of it- Who knows what that could mean? - when this grizzled, pretty dirty looking older fellow comes up to me and asks "Are you Brent Hirose?" I say yes and he hands my my cell phone and walks away.

Checking my phone it doesn't look like the guy even touched it which brings up a whole lot of questions: How did he know it was mine? How did he know my name? How did he know where I work?

I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth: I have my cell phone and all is right in the world.

I really need to pay this one forward, eh?

Ahh, CRAP!

2007-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

If you've run into me in the past couple of days, I might have shown off my fancy new cell-phone holster, which was great for two reasons: 1) I no longer had to have my cell in my pocket at work in case of a family emergency or a branch calling to offer me a shift and 2)It was ONE DOLLAR.

Well, it appears my smugness was not to last: In my haste to get out the door this morning I clipped my cell phone to my belt where it was to stay. However, about 20 minutes after biking to work I noticed that my phone didn't seem to be anywhere around, which means that anywhere over the 12 km stretch to work it fell off. Crap crap crap crap crap!

So, here's to hoping that someone finds it and calls me, otherwise I am without a phone for a while. I suppose it was time to replace the damn thing, but honestly this whole situation is a huge piss-off. Anybody have a crappy phone they don't want anymore?

One Last Thing Publicity

2007-05-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

I know I shouldn't be pimping anything else with the fundraiser just a week away, but I wanted to give people just a little taste of the many awesome One Last Thing publicity photos taken by my friend Joel Stubson. He truly makes us all look cool. The fringe is less than 2 months away!

Things Happen

2007-05-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

Wow. Another week gone and so much still to do. Well, better stick to it then, right?

For those of you keeping score, the Theatre by the River fundraiser is one week tomorrow, where months of hard work and overwhelming support come together and hopefully raise a whole whack of money. I'm very pleased with the fundraiser so far: We've got tons of great prizes from local businesses for our silent auctions, our readings look to kick all kinds of butt and the general atmosphere is looking to be epic. That being said, the thing that will make this event picture perfect is you, so buy a ticket all ready.

You are invited to
"NEW BEGINNINGS"

A Fundraising Event For

THEATRE BY THE RIVER

FEATURING:

A Reading of Fringe sensation Joseph Aragon's "The Book of Changes"
Musical accompaniment by local band "Sortie Real"
Food and beverages
Exciting Season Announcements
Fabulous prizes (theatre tickets, movie rentals, gift certificates, and MUCH MORE!)

Thursday, June 7th, 7pm
The Gas Station Theatre(445 River Avenue at Osborne Street)

Tickets: $20/$15 for Students and Underemployed

Reservations Suggested!

770-0093 or theatrebytheriver@gmail.com

Also, if you're an early buyer you'll receive some gift certificates for Fude! Really, how can you say no to that?

What else is going on? Well, since we last spoke I won the Carol Shields Festival of New Works Instaplay- A ton of free tickets as well as $500. Not bad for 90 minutes work. Now all my playwrighting energy is being devoted to my Young Emerging Playwrights Program play, which is chugging along and the final scenes for the History of Theatre. Speaking of YEPP, it appears I might be the only surviving member of the program this year: It's been one of those years, right?

Anyway, I should run back into my wonderful world of rehearsals and general insanity. Woot woot woot!

My Life Asplode

2007-05-24T14:08:00.001-07:00

Hey there folks. Just so you know, I'm not dead. Yay!

As if I didn't have anything else to do right now, I did the 90 minute play writing competition for the Carol Shields Festival of New Works again. Last year I won the amateur division and I'm pretty happy with my debut in the professional grouping: I paced myself really well and managed to control the amount of ideas I was playing around with, leading me to finish the whole thing off in about 10 pages with 15 minutes to spare. This was a huge change from last year where I was struggling to include everything at the end and didn't quite finish the story were I would have liked to. (If you want to read it, it was posted a while ago in my writing blog which, thanks to its never being updated, should be post number 2 or three on the main page.)

I had a few issues: In the competition you're forced to include several elements: This year it was 2 male and 2 female characters (like last year), a jar of pickles, The Bay Downtown, John A. MacDonald's birthday and this quote: "Charles Darwin, now there's somebody who knew something about stalling". With the aid of a wise fool character who spent most of the play spouting non-sequitors (and made the play much funnier then it would have been without her) I managed to fairly smoothly include all of the elements, with the exception of the Jar of pickles which had been poorly thought out by me. In the end I went with a pretty weak gag to include it right at the end (it could have ended a few lines before much more organically), but overall I think I've got a decent shot at the prize. Plus the theatre tickets and $500 prize would be awesome. In any case, I'll post the play should I get it back.

Work continues on all my various projects. Expect an update before the fundraiser on the 7th, but otherwise I'm going to be swamped with keeping my head above the torrent of work I've got going on right now. Also: My body does not appreciate me trying to tough out this weather and bike it everywhere. Well you know what body? Screw you!

Edit: For those of you who care, I'm set to be on Richard Cloutier's show on CJOB tomorrow at around 11:15. Check it out!

It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!

2007-05-16T17:17:00.001-07:00

*Doo do doo doo! Doo do doot doot doo! Doo do doo doo! Dooo do do doot doot do dooo!*

As of today there is 2 months before the tech rehearsal for One Last Thing. Even less for The History of Theatre. When this was pointed out to me I nearly shat a brick. That's far too many flavors of ridiculous. Luckily things are going pretty damn well: OLT is sitting around where Coffee stood, script wise, about a week before we opened. History has some time to make up, but I have every bit of faith the things will start to slide together over the next couple of weeks. My YEPP play, formerly Heads Held High but now Life in Exile has it's form and just needs to be given shape. The Book of Changes, the main event at our fundraiser in June has had its first read and I'm confident that we'll have a good show ready for the festivities. I can't even start to think about Two Gentlemen of Verona or any of my other plays... Note to self. This is your limit. Do not exceed! Really, I mean it!

In another bit of theatre fun, I ran across this site the other day: http://www.schuppel.homeip.net/ (Be careful, its a pretty fragile IP) This guy has made a database of every play he's seen going back to the mid 70s. The crazy thing is that he's seen a good chunk of my performances: Coffee, Everyone's a Critic, Before the Fog of Thirst, Jesus Christ, I'm Sorry, Arcadia. It's pretty nuts. It's fun for me to go through, to see what shows he's seen with friends of mine in it. He's even made PDFs of many of the programs, digitally preserving many of my regrettable spelling errors and typos. Yay.

Anyway, all of this means that my schedule is quickly becoming a solid block of busy. If you wanted to do something with me and you havn't gotten a hold of me, please do so ASAP! Get me while the getting is good!

Blogging for the Sake of Blogging

2007-05-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks. How have things been? I've been away, it's true, and neglectful, but not without reason. It's a hard knock life, y'know? Anyway, at work today an old friend came up to me and asked if I was still blogging. The day before a guy I was in bagpipes with years ago found me on Facebook and apparently spent a while going through my various blogs and sites (Hi Kelsey!) and then Andrea always mentions when I don't post. All this to say that I feel slightly obligated to post every once and a while when I can manage. So there: I can manage and I am posting. ARE YOU PEOPLE HAPPY?

Ahem.

Life is still really crazy right now: Looking at my Google Calendar (which, by the way, is an awesome kick-ass program. It is quickly replacing my Palm Pilot!) is a very scary thing: I've got rehearsals starting up, auditions, work shifts, meetings and fundraisers out the wazoo. Keeping my sanity is going to be a bit of a struggle over the next little while but I will be trying my best. That being said, should you hear about me doing something crazy like, I don't know, kicking a baby, you'll understand why. And, you know, hopefully forgive.

I've managed to see a few theatre shows over the past little while which is always a treat. I saw the final play with Theatre Projects Manitoba: Two one person shows at the Gas Station theatre which was a great way to spend an evening with Andrea before she took off for Hecla. Neat, well-acted, political theatre. Good for the soul. Then on Monday Erinn and I caught Broken Glass being put on by the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. I really enjoyed the play, which featured the always enjoyable Gord Tanner. Next time I see him pass through the library I'll have to give him a kudos. I like Gord Tanner, if only because he reacts to praise pretty much the same way I do. I mean really, what can you say without sounding like an asshole? Anyway, fun nights of entertainment.

Speaking of which, I've come to the conclusion that I really have too many entertainment options open to me at the moment and I need to start weening myself off them in order to get all my work done. On top of the literal stacks of games I have sitting around waiting to be played (Zelda! Paper Mario! Giest! God, why do I keep playing Geist?!) I just recently downloaded Civilization 4, Medieval 2: Total War and Deus Ex. Civ 4 alone has eaten away many hours that could have gone to other things. Thankfully, I think I got myself to a good point with the game, having played my most recent campaign exactly how I wanted and creating an in game war machine that is capable of almost effortlessly crushing my opposing nations. Deux Ex is also manageable as while the game is quite good I still don't particularly enjoy first person shooters. I don't hate them, but they don't take over my mind like a good strategy game. If Medieval worked for me, who knows, I might still be stuck on that. Anyway, computer games are all good and fun, but I don't really have any time on my computer that shouldn't be spent either writing or maybe catching up with the few TV shows I allow myself to keep up with.

Andrea, as mentioned before, has left for Hecla island for her summer of work. If there's one thing that all this business is good for it's keeping me so busy that I can't get too lonely. That being said, I am looking forward to her getting back in this weekend. Now I just need to get all my work done so that we can chill out when she gets here...

A story before I run off and leave you for a undetermined amount of time: On my way to work today I'm coming up Osborne making good time before the start of my shift. I'm humming along until I get to the Legislative building where I go to jump onto the curb: As I approach I get a little pensive, which is strange considering that I've jumped hundreds of curbs before. I make the jump, and suddenly find my intuition to be right: My bike's back end begins to skid and I quickly jump off to avoid totally wiping out. What could cause such a thing? Well, apparently I hit the curb a little too fast: My back tire is totally flat. What a pain in the ass. I have to walk 20 minutes to work in the boiling heat, arriving 10 minutes late for my shift. Lovely.

Anyway, I hope the rest of you are enjoying the beautiful weather (if you're in Winnipeg) and if not, I hope that you're insanely jealous. Later folks.

Air! Oh, God, Air!

2007-05-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm still stupid busy right now but I wanted to just check in again. Today are the auditions for One Last Thing: I'll be seeing people for over 6 hours, so wish me luck. *Gulp*! Also, Andrea is taking off for Heckla on the weekend. If you want to get drunk on Friday, join me down at the Ebby house for some good old-time drinking your face off.

I was on CJOB again today. If you're interested in checking it out, look around 11:30 in the audio vault. Basically I was just a huge nerd on the radio, talking about super heroes, super hero movies and comics. At least I didn't use any PG-13 words this time.

Anyway, auditions start in an hour and a half and I've got some more things to get done beforehand, so that's all from me. Catch you later!

And For My Next Trick...

2007-04-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

It is April still and all ready my life is reaching the heat of summer levels of insanity. Which is good, as long as I can actually keep this juggling act going. As soon as I start dropping the balls, I'll be left with a ridiculous mess, but hopefully my resolve and energy will hold and everybody will be laughing all the way to theatrical merriment. Or something.

Cory and I threw together an impromptu reading of One Last Thing yesterday with Erinn, Allison and Andrea playing the three guy roles and Rory reading the stage directions and the girls. There was much unintentional comedy but the gist of it came across. In short: The jokes we both love still work, even between smart ass comments. That is good. The parts we were both thinking of cutting do indeed need to be cut and while there are still several flaws and many areas to tweak and perfect, the play is a good one. That being said, the entire reading took almost 2 hours which is pretty insane. Granted, a half hour of that could be knocked off because of everyone just screwing around and whatnot, but it still makes the play a bit long at its 61 pages. Thankfully, Cory and I both have good ideas on how to fix all that and already I've cut a good 2 pages of the play on my first re-look at the first 10 pages. We'll tighten this sucker up, don't you worry.

Since the wheels have started turning on the show I finally got around to posting our audition notice. Through the magic of Yahoo groups, Facebook and e-mail I've already got a half-dozen people interested in the show. Cory and I need to figure out a good rehearsal space soon (Anybody know anyplace that might have free/cheap space? We'll love you forever!) and sooner than that I need to figure out where the rehearsals are taking place. I do have a few ideas and a couple of fall backs, but it would be nice to have everything nailed down ASAP.

Meanwhile, prep work on the workshop has begun. I'm actually quite happy with how things have started moving, but we do have a lot to get done before the end of the day. Andrea is out of town until Thursday, visiting her brother in Edmonton. That sucks because I'll miss her, and double sucks because next month she'll be taking off for her job in Hecla, but it does mean that I'll be able to concentrate on figuring out all the stuff that I need to deal with to keep this summer from getting out of control. If only I weren't working every day that she's gone...

I've seen a bit of theatre over the last couple of days: The Vagina Monologues at the U of W and The Skinny Lie at MTYP. Both were very interesting for me. The Vagina Monologues was interesting on several levels: As show that has become a phenomenon, it's worth examining to understand both it's success and appeal. The show itself isn't the best in the world: It doesn't have a through line and as such suffers from serious momentum problems. The Greek chorus parts were interesting but became lost very easily, as did the audience watching them. At several points during the show a bit would just totally lose my interest and there wasn't much that could be done to regain it. That being said, there were some really good performances in the show and they almost singlehandedly won me over by the end. I really enjoyed Lorraine James in particular whose monologue was simple but fully fleshed out and a joy to watch as it swung between comedy and tragedy, a fully realized journey.

The Skinny Lie was a fun kids show, that held some extra interest for me since I was short listed for it. It's kind of interesting that the other show I was up for, Over the Tavern, is on now as well. It's kind of weird, seeing shows that you really wanted to be cast for, but at a certain point you need to let go and just enjoy the performances. It's also nice to be able to enjoy the work of your peers: I know, at least in passing, three of the four member cast and they did a great job making the show interesting and fun. The biggest thing that I took away from the show however was the style: Children's theatre seems a bit hokey (and it is, really) but when you're in a room full of kids you know why it is that way: It works. Kids love it. I'll bear that in mind for sure my next MTYP audition for sure.

Anyway, I've got a lot of work to do. Wish me luck!

My Life, Kinda

2007-04-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

You know you haven't been posting in a while when your girlfriend complains about it. This also means that my girlfriend is super ass cool or a gigantic nerd. I pick both.

Uh, so yeah. A lot has happened since I saw Grindhouse. In terms of my input, I've seen J. Williamez twice, most of season one of Arrested Development with Andrea along with the entirety of Clone High, I've played a whole hell of a lot of Puzzle Quest and not quite enough Phoenix Wright (sadly, Puzzle Quest's pick-up-and-play nature has pushed Phoenix aside) and have read a few plays and finished off several graphic novels. I just bought Super Paper Mario and picked up Slaughter House Five from the library to re-read (RIP mister Vonnegut) but lord knows when I'll have a chance to get to them.

On the output end I've got a good length into Heads Held High, my YEPP play, as well as having a first draft done (well, mostly done) for One Last Thing. More work to be done on both, but they are chugging along nicely. The same can't really be said for The History of Theatre which currently spins its tires in notes form. Hopefully once Cory and I set up auditions for OLT I'll be able to get some time in on that one. What I Own has managed to pull of a full week of regular updates: hopefully that will hold true for a while, if only to prove to myself that I can do it.

I've been working at the library, which goes as it ever does (I love my job, but the other day a patron came up to me: "This book is a day late. I owe, I owe, off to work I go" Good lord...), and working out at the Y, which is working out pretty well for me. Last weekend I played in the Civic Employees bonspiel- I only managed to play in two of the teams four games and we lost both of them, but I had a lot of fun playing and hanging out with my workmates. Next year Laser, next year we will rule supreme.

The day between those curling games was probably the craziest social night of my life: I went out with Matt and Eric to Teasers and then 10 pin bowling (my first time!) - Strippers and Bowling. A weird combo, it's true. And which I swung down to Joseph Aragon's birthday party, where I got to hang around with various CMDC and KTG folk- Man, indy theatre in Winnipeg is all about the initials! after which I joined up with Cory to discuss the end of the play. My only regret is that I didn't manage to join up with V in checking out an old high school friend's 7 year 18th birthday party anniversary. Don't think about that too much.

The day after the curling and the bowling my arm was complete jelly- I was trying to write out hold slips at work and I couldn't manage a straight line. Apparently I don't bowl enough. Or something.

I've been having night after night of intense and crazy dreams, which I figure has to do with he huge amount of work looming over my head. I'm looking forward to my vacation this summer- Folk Fest and Fringe Fest. Before that comes though, I've got to find space to rehearse both Fringe shows, cast OLT, cast my workshop of Joseph's Book of Changes, rehearse it, perform it, advertise and do the TBTR fundraiser on the 7th, spend time with Andrea before she leaves for Hecla, rehearse, produce and advertise my fringe shows, prepare and perform all my upcoming auditions, try not to die in the process and a thousand other things I'm overlooking.

I love my life.

And that friends is my update. Hopefully next one will have something a little less list-ish, but you never know. Hope you all are doing well and I'll see you soon!

Grindhouse

2007-04-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I caught a matinee screening of Grindhouse. If you want to skip reading this review, a review written specifically because of how much I've been thinking about the movie, than at least leave knowing that it is awesome. However, it's not everybodys awesome, and that is also worth knowing.

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are known for being stylish directors with a skill and passion for homage. So, when they announced Grindhouse it was not without justifiable excitement that movie fanboys began quickly salivating in anticipation. In case you don't know, Grindhouse is the two filmmakers love letter two the old B-Movie theatres, the grindhouses, which would frequently film double features of all sorts of shameless low-budget exploitation movies. Zombies, psycho killers and scantily clad beautiful and easily killed women were the order of the day- And now they are back, and back in style.

For your ticket price, you've get two 90 minute features: Rodriguezs Planet Terror and Tarantinos Death Proof, plus a handful of fake trailers made by a handful of famous filmmakers, Rob Zombie and Eli Roth amongst them. I won't ruin any of the genius there, but the titles of the sadly-not-real films include "Machete", "Werewolf Women of the S.S." and "Hobo with a Shotgun". All of this comes together with grainy film-stock effects, "lost reels" in the features and great old-school rating announcements and the like to effectively and with a great sense of fun re-create the style and experience of the era of the grindhouse theatre. And then there are the movies themselves...

Terror is Rodriguez's over the top take on the classic Zombie genre: It follows the formula pretty much as you'd expect, except with a very deliberate sense of fun and intense over the top violence and effects. It's a B-Movie with a budget and it is out to prove that it can fill every single one of its 90 minutes with awesome. It's also amazingly gross, to the point that seeing it in a theatre is a true experience, groaning and wincing along with your fellow moviegoers. It's fast paced, funny, and ultimately very satisfying. A true shot of what Rodriguez can do when motivated. Also, it probably clocks in at a perfect time. Any more and it could have gotten old, but as it stands it works fantastically well.

Death Proof on the other hand starts out at a much different, much slower pace. While this is made less jarring then it might be otherwise by some previews in between, it certainly feels a bit lethargic off the top compared to the frantic energy of Terror. Luckily, the viewers patience is rewarded, and rewarded well. Death Proof is really two stories: The first about a group of girls who meet Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russel, and eventually meet their gruesome ends, and the second about another group of girls, who are found by Mike and suddenly find themselves in a death defying car chase. Maybe the slow build helps in this, or the first act that ends so abruptly, but the car chase in Death Proof is the most thrilling and exciting that I've ever seen, bar none. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, suffice to say that you will be gripping your seat, white knuckled as you watch the mayhem unfold. Tarantino is brilliant in having one of the actors here played by an actual stuntman- when you see this chase and her involvement, you'll wonder why nobody did it before - who pulls of an admirable acting job along side some of the best shot stunts... So freaking good.

All that said, Grindhouse is not for everybody. If you don't like B-Movies, then you will not like Grindhouse, as it is just a B-Movie with a bud jet and tons of fun cameos. However, if you don't have that stick up your ass, you will have a shit load of fun watching Grindhouse, all three hours. 9.8/10 on the arbitrary number scale. Dig it.

An Update of Sorts

2007-04-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks. I'm proud to announce that as of today, my official quota of work on One Last Thing the first draft is complete: Sure, as soon as Cory finishes off his scenes it will be back to work on the script but I'm pleased that I've managed to get as much work done in as short of time as I have. I feel pretty confident in my new ability to sit down and write: It's something I've always struggled with and I think now I've broken through my procrastination barrier. I can only do it on one computer in the house- I think it's something that is very situational, that I've really conditioned myself for, but really, being able to do it anywhere is a huge help in my general productivity. Next on the list, The History of Theatre and Heads Held High.

Speaking of personal control, I've also managed to get off to the gym pretty regularly, which has me feeling pretty damn swell. If you've got a Y membership and would care to join me, give me a call and we'll figure something out. It's amazing how much energy you have when you get that blood flowing again. I knew that was the great thing about biking, but it's so easy to let winter just push you into a corner from which you never want to return. I don't even know if that makes sense. It's late and I should get to sleep.

A few more things first: I continue to be addicted to Facebook. Sign up friends! It's seriously fun! Really! And there are a bunch of awesome pictures of Hamish on there. How can you say no? I'm actually pretty pleased: I think my new found love of Facebook will really help inform my next draft of Identity.com. The last draft really didn't have much to say about social networking sites and I think I've got a lot more to say about them now. I mean, I'm addicted to Facebook but that doesn't blind me to it's glaring social pitfalls. But still... so much fun!

I've started updating What I Own again, now set for a regular Monday-Friday schedule. I'm doing it partly as a writing exercise, but I'm actually really enjoying the project a lot just for it's own sake. Hopefully it stays that way, as I've already cued up the next 20 or so entries. I'll give you a sneak peek at a future entry. Anyone have any guesses as to what the story could be to the item on the right there? Bonus points for anyone who isn't Matthew Hansen.

Finally, I've somehow managed to fit gaming back into my life, if only in very short bursts. Sadly, I'm not managing to play the huge pile of games that still need finished in my collection, but rather have picked up a whole bunch of new ones. In particular I've got Pheonix Wright: Justice for All! and Puzzle Quest for my DS and Beyond Oasis on my Wii. All three games (the DS ones because they are portable and Oasis because of the Virtual Consoles suspend feature) are great for short little bursts. I've also been reading various things, although nothing worth reporting. Just finishing off the pile of books I've got sitting around waiting to go back to the library.

Anyway, I think that's enough of that. Hope you're all doing well. Gimmie a call sometime, eh?

Projects

2007-03-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

You probably won't hear much from me over the next little while: I'm in a self-imposed crunch time to finish off my current writing projects. For those of you keeping score at home, that would be my Fringe shows One Last Thing and The History of Theatre in 45 Minutes as well as my YEPP show, currently titled Heads Held High. Once that is all done, I've still got a 3rd draft of Identity.com to finish off, and I would like to have a first draft of Digital World: The Musical for Eliot since he's coming back (so I've heard) for the summer. Gulp.

In other project news, a secret project I was involved in has come and gone, so now I can talk about it here: In case you don't know, let me break the news to you that my good friends Matt Tenbruggencate and Mel Marginet as of last Friday are engaged! Applause all around. So Brent, you ask, how could you be involved in such a thing? Well friends, let me tell you a story:

The plot was simple: Mel, upon leaving an audition would discover a note informing her to go to the riverwalk by the Legislature building. There, donning trench coats and hats with feathers coming out of them would Jaquie Lowen, James Firby and myself jump out with swords, laughing at Mel falling into our trap. Cornered, she could do nothing but cower in terror as we yelled arrogantly "Nothing can save you now!"

As if on cue, suddenly Matthew would jump on the scene, in full renaissance battle regelia, shouting "I am that nothing!" A brief but entertaining swordfight later, and the three of us are dead, leaving Matt and Mel alone to get on with the mushy preposing buisness.

Things didn't work out quite as planned: Mel took a while getting down and accidentally stumbled upon someone else's Amazing Race styled scavenger hunt (mistaking it for something for her!) but in the end everything worked out and those two little lovebirds are now on the way to becoming a married couple. Congrats guys.

Anyway, my life has been utterly consumed with writing these days, although a good deal of it has been done on Facebook. You know how much I talked about not getting the point of Myspace? Facebook I think has shown me what all those myspace addicts were into. Really, it's quite disgusting and I've promised myself no more Facebook until One Last Thing has a first draft. Oh god, wish me luck.

Later folks.

And Home Again

2007-03-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys- This post is a long time coming, I know, but I've been pretty busy since getting back into town and I'm afraid that's just how it goes sometimes. Anyway, let's get this thing finished, shall we?
New York is come and gone, and with a little bit of distance I can safely say that while my show did not do terribly well financially that the experience as a whole was well worth it. My best audience topped out at around 14 people: Which, while contending with my lowest audience in Winnipeg, was actually pretty decent for the out of town shows in the festival... I'm not sure why I mention that here. In fact, it's kind of structurally awkward for this paragraph, made even worse now by this questioning of its placement. Oops. Uhh.. onward?

Here, let's try this: THE BAD STUFF-
Small audiences, some really nasty weather (which further shrunk the audiences and prevented my mom and aunt from coming into the city), high cost of pretty much everything (You know, it is New York), spending a day not getting into Colbert, Anne frequently getting carded at bars and not allowed to stay (damn you, higher minimum drinking ages!) and probably consuming too much junk food.

That should be followed by THE GOOD STUFF-
A well run festival, tons of awesome performers, volunteers and staff, lots of fun nights out drinking (some of which we snuck Anne into!), great shows in the festival well worth seeing, new friends, seeing Stephen Colbert, a few days of awesome weather, stumbling upon some amazing break dancing, delicious food everywhere and all in all a good time. I also did a fun podcast, which you can check out over yonder.

A few stories before I leave this all behind:

I went for a haircut on Wednesday or Thursday, in Astoria near where I was staying. The barber was a young Russian guy who spoke to me in a thick accent, asking me various questions about Canada as he cut my hair. As he went on, he began lathering up my neck, and telling me about how the whole strip that we were on was run by the Mafia, although "good Mafia- Not with drugs, but to keep neighborhood good, nice, you know?" He then took out a huge straight razor and began stropping it. In the back of my mind I'm hearing strains from Sweeney Todd. Anyway, he didn't butcher me and then he showed me a picture of him with Tony Bennett. Apparently he used to live nearby and comes by annually for a haircut. I guess his hair doesn't grow too fast anymore. ;)

There's a restaurant chain in New York called Papaya Dog- They sell, predictably enough, hot dogs (cheap hot dogs! $.99!) and papaya juice. Okay, maybe the juice wasn't predictable, but whatever. Anyway, Matt (previously mentioned in this blog and now one of the links over to the right) was always talking about Papaya Dog, apparently eating there constantly. Whenever I would ask someone where it was, they would tell me that they are all over the place. Well, I looked and looked and never came across one. Finally, I decided to check it up on Google maps and find the damn place. True enough, several locations popped up and I found one that was close enough to where I was headed and I set out: Now at that point, the weather was not treating us too well, but I was determined. I would make my way to this fabled "Papaya Dog" and I would sample what there was to be had. About 15 minutes later, I had finally arrived. So, I walk in and have a couple 99 cent hot dogs and... they taste about exactly how you'd imagine a 99 cent hot dog to taste. Oh well, I at least found the damn place, right?

Well, to add insult to injury, as soon as I leave, I find that this Papaya Dog right next to a 99 cent PIZZA PARLOUR (If I hadn't just eaten, I would have gladly loaded up on a couple of slices!) and then, suddenly, I'm seeing Papaya Dogs all over the place. In fact, when I finally arrive at the comic shop I had set out to find originally, what should be across the street but another Papaya Dog. Not only that, but suddenly I'm noticing all sorts of Papaya Named stores: Tropical Papaya, Frank's Papaya, whatever. The best part: Most of these places don't sell papaya juice. No, they just sell hot dogs. In New York, Papaya is synonymous with hot dog. Only in NY.

Now that bad weather that had made my Papaya hunt so arduous (and kept my mom from coming into town) left many slushy puddles all over the place. In New York, puddles can be treacherous: Pot holes are all over the place and before you know it you can be ankle deep in water. Anyway, it's Saint Patrick's Day, and I'm walking up Times Square about about 2pm. All around are groups of ridiculously drunk people, wearing green, shouting and generally making asses of themselves. It's worth noting at this point that some bars opened at 7am for the festivities. Anyway, as I'm walking, I see one of the aforementioned drunks slip by one of the aforementioned puddles- SPLASH! - and suddenly he's rolling around, unable to get out of the puddle that has him soaked. I look to his friends: They are pointing and laughing their heads off. Good times.

And that pretty much wraps up New York. I was a good trip, one well worth taking and now I have had my fill for a while.

This post has been brewing for far too long so here is what has held me up:

Working to make up for all the money I lost doing my show
Attempting to write One Last Thing, The History of Theatre, Heads Held High and The Digital World. I've got a lot of writing to do.
Battlestar with Erinn (we WILL catch up with Rufus!) as well as getting up to date with Heroes, Lost and The Office. I still have 3 episodes of Lost to see.
Signing up for a membership at the Y. Because there is nothing fabby about being flabby.
Hanging out with Andrea, which is going awesome, for all of you who ask.
Sleeping. I forgot my body liked to do that.
Mucking around with Facebook. Like mySpace, only good! (Seriously, you mySpace jerks should sign up!)
Enjoying having my car back and wanting very much to be able to bike. Soon! Soon!
Also, I did another appearance on Richard Cloutier's show on CJOB. If you check out this link, I was on Friday at 10am.
I also managed to sign up for a curling team at work. Our team name is LaSeR. It's probably not supposed to be written that way, but I think it works.

And that's all for now. I've got to finish my writing projects, get What I Own back on track and a whole bunch of other things. Life is fun. Also, TMNT tonight. Whoo!

Guess What?

2007-03-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

So, you might have noticed a little something to the left over there. Yeah, I wonder what that could be all about? PERHAPS STEPHEN COLBERT IS SALUTING MY EFFORTS AT GETTING INTO HIS SHOW? Hells right.

Yes, yesterday I did actually manage to get myself into a taping of the Colbert Report. You're all jealous, and you damn well should be, because it was pretty freaking awesome. But let's backtrack, and give you the story of the day, because that's how I roll.

After unsuccessfully trying to get in yesterday, Matthew (Ottawa performer doing the hilarious G-Men Defectives) and myself decided to try our luck again. We agreed to meet at the studio for 3:30. That morning, I decided to check out the drama bookstore again, but got sidetracked by Midtown Comics, which was selling off a bunch of graphic novels at 70% off. How can one say no to that? I managed to pick up the first three essential volumes of Wolverine for $12. I remember liking the comics well enough, and really, $12? That's a steal. I also picked up another Allan Moore trade (because that's the thing to do) and Brian Lee O'Malley's Lost At Sea. Quick review: Good book with some neat moments, but not even close to the awesomeness that is Scott Pilgrim and a little too angsty.

With my bag now breaking my back in two, I headed down to the taping, walking instead of taking the Subway, both to get a little exercise (it's hard being in a city where every street corner has some delicious unhealthy food screaming to be eaten) and to look for a fruit smoothie which I had been craving. Eventually I found a Jamba Juice, which is pretty much exactly the same thing as Booster Juice. I wonder if they are related in any way officially? In any case, the drink was awesome, so no complaints.

Matt and I both got to Colbert around 3, which was kind of funny to me: Apparently we just couldn't wait to get in line. We hung around until 4, again getting the first spot in the stand-by line. We then killed some time: We stumbled upon the Library of Performing Arts, which had a fun exhibit up that we checked out. Right next to it was Julliard(!) which we decided to check out. Fun fact: Julliard has a very small bookstore. I mean, it is cramped in there. Also, Julliard merch is really lame. I kind of wanted to buy a t-shirt, but they all sucked. Boo-urns.

Anyway, it's getting close to 6, so Matt and I head back and to see if there's any room in the studio again. Someone informs us that the studio only holds 109 people, so our chances don't look good. Then, when it seems that we're just not going to make it, a group of 5 have to leave the line because the person who reserved the tickets wasn't with them. Matt and I begin to sweat it out: The group is calling their friend, telling him to hurry up. One of the PAs comes by and tells another PA that if he isn't there by the time they've finished letting the rest of the reserved tickets in that they're going to let in the stand-bys. It's a race. Finally, after agonizing minutes, she announces that it's too late and 5 people off the standby list are getting in: It's also worth mentioning that at this point there are about 30-40 waiting! And so, just barely, I make it into the taping.

Entering the studio, they have everyone go through a metal detector, much like an airport. Also somewhat like an airport, everyone has to wait in a small room before being let into the studio. It's hot in there and people are pretty pumped about the whole experience. Finally they let the crowd in, after letting them know some of the ground rules: We have to be excited and we should laugh, but don't touch Stephen unless he initiates it and don't do shout outs as they can throw his concentration. Then, by the numbers, people are let into the studio. I'm number 86 and right at the end. On the way in, I get a quick look at the back, where some of the writers are hanging out. I'm then seated in the far right corner, which gives me a great view of the interview area.

There's a lot of the stage that you don't really get to see at home: All of the various things that have been added to the Colbert mantle, including Captain America's shield, which was pretty damn cool. There is also a nest by the desk which you never see on TV- It is the future home of Stephen Junior, apparently, for whenever they can get him back. The warm up routine begins: A comedian comes out and chats for a while, tells some jokes and messes around. He's pretty funny actually. At one point he asks if anyone is from another country, and Matt and I let him know we're from Canada. On cue, a production guy plays the Canadian national anthem which we sing along to for a while, handfuls of people standing up with us. He comic then asks for the American national anthem and gets the banjo tune from Deliverance. Awesome.

Finally Stephen comes out before the show, slapping hands and obviously really enjoying himself. Before the taping begins he does a little Q&A: Matt and I collectively asked him what the best way to roll a natural 20 was. That secret will now die with us. Colbert then went on to let us know that he once had a 18th level Paladin that was killed by a crit from a Goblin. I told him that was ridiculous and he nodded in agreement. Then he informed us that he had met Gary Gygax, which caused us to look at each other shamefully. "Deal with it!" He started walking away, but then quickly turned again and started gloating about how he had been at GenCon 10 and was the first to play with the aerial combat rules. At this point he stopped and apologized for the rest of the audience for geeking out in front of them. It was awesome. Then, just before the show went to air, he even mimed a dice roll and pointed at us.

The show itself was really cool: At one point Stephen stopped and looked up at the camera: "Oh, I screwed up the words. Umm..." At first we thought it was shtick (and god is that man funny) but no, there had been a genuine mistake during The Word. So, after a little break, he started again from his last spot, something I'm genuinely curious about how they delt with in editing. Shortly thereafter another mistake was made. They re-set and did a turn again, which Stephen really played up and made huge for the studio enjoyment. I have no idea how that will play on TV, but we thought it was awesome. At the commercial break he started joking about how he was done and he's sorry we all had to be there for the end of the show. We started awwing and telling him to keep at it, which he met with an outburst: "Don't humor me! I'm not humoring you! Tit for tat!" Good stuff.

All in all, the show was totally worth the 2 day investment. I was thinking of trying to get into Connan today, but I work up right on the line so I decided against it. Eh, whatchagonna do?

Anyway, that's my Colbert experience. The rest of the day was pretty much Matt and I gloating, which this post, essentially, was, so I don't think I've got anything more to tell you. Hope you all had an awesome pi day!

More On New York

2007-03-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, and I'll hanging out a bit before moving on with my day.

Apparently you can use the internet for free at the apple store. And apparently I'm too damn lazy to do that, so instead I drop by the local 'net cafe. I skipped a day of internetdom and when I came to my e-mail, I found myself with over 20 new messages. Yikes guys!

So yesterday I went off with some of my fellow Canuks in attempts to attend the Colbert Report. We managed to be the first in line for standby tickets, but that didn't end up helping out too much: After hanging around for a couple of hours, we were informed that there was no room for the standbys and we had to head on home, heads down.

Afterwards I managed to catch 3 shows at the festival: I'm pretty close to being able to see all 30 shows (well, 28, since I'm in both my own show and the secret show that has replaced Canterbury Tales) So far I've seen a lot of really interesting theatre, and the variety is truly all over the place. I like it. After that we all tried to go off and sing some Karaoke, but unfortunately Anne, who is 18, can't get into any of the bars which quickly Shanghaied those plans. Boo-urns.

Speaking of shows, my own has got good news and bad news: The good news is kind of awesome: The festival got a mention in the Village Voice, and 3 shows were pointed out as "potential highlights": Wit's End, The Honeymoon Period is Officially Over, and my own. I've seen both of those shows and both ladies are amazing performers and big names on the Fringe circuits. To be included with them is frankly quite humbling. That said, the blurb announced my show as "The Winner of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival" which doesn't make any sense in so many ways (I'm assuming they were trying to condense or re-phrase the fact that it was a Best of Fest Show) and that it is a "comedy about religion". In one of my Winnipeg reviews I got that as well: Apparently I advertise my show as a comedy about religion. Which is really great and a quick way to talk about the show, if only that were what the thrust of it was. I go out of my way to call it a serio-comic show about a young man's crisis of faith: Apparently that is the same thing as a comedy about religion. Sure. Whatever. I'm still in the Village Voice, and that is pretty awesome.

On the bad news side, my review has finally been posted at nytheare.com. My biggest complaint? That is pretty much is the same as the last reviews that didn't like my show, and that the second paragraph SPOILS THE ENTIRE THING. Oh, you thought I only had one real surprise in the show? Well thanks for telling everyone what it was. It's just plain silly. Anyway, I've come to terms with the fact that people come into the show expecting something and that expectation pulls them one way or the other.

Anyway, I'm off now, to try my luck with Colbert again. I'm back in on Monday (which means I'll miss St. Patrick's day Erinn... although I will be in New York for it, which could be incredibly interesting...) Wish me luck!

Presenting: The Furthur Adventures of New York!

2007-03-12T15:41:00.001-07:00

I called my mother today in order to get a couple of numbers that I lost last night (I'll explain shortly). As I was talking to her, catching up and letting her know how things are going she says to me "Oh yeah, I've been reading your blog. You haven't updated it in a while!" ... I guess that is my cue to do an update, eh? Never thought I'd see the day...

On Saturday I wandered about the town: First checking out a show in the festival, then heading Midtown for a drop-in improv class. On the way out there, I stumbled across the filming of the next Borne movie. I managed to watch a car crash, and then see Matt Damon in the distance. That puts me up one celebrity sighting on Andrea and Micah, despite their various bus tours. In your face, girls! The class was a whole lot of fun, and I got to talk to some natives who are into the theatre scene around town. One of the guys in the class looks disturbingly like Will Ferrel. So I'm one and a half celebrities ahead now. Go me!

That night my third show came and went, bringing with it a descending gloom of depression: As I started the show, only ONE person was in the audience. Shortly thereafter a volunteer and a performer snuck in, which allows The Third Way (thankfully) to be the reining champ in poorly attended shows with it's truly awesome 2 people. It really put me in a funk, and so Andrea and Micah and I went off to try our hand at some Karaoke, which I knew would cheer me up: Sadly, it was also Saturday night, so no such luck. Oh, and it was also raining. If we had walked passed a dying homeless man punching a puppy I don't think I could have felt any worse. Anyway, we eventually made our way to a bar and grabbed a couple of drinks. My stomach wasn't up to it, and at 2 am I decided to pack it in. On my way back to Astoria I missed 2 trains, and when I moved my watch forward for daylight's savings time I was delighted to discover that the time was now 5:30. Ouch.

Thankfully the next day was much better: I had 9 people at my show (which, belive it or not, is in the high end of the crowds that the out-of-towners are getting, still. You know, I'm kind of using italics a lot this post. Sorry.) and they all seemed to appreciate it. Then I caught some great sketch comedy with the Death League Tea Party, who then swung down to the Kraine theatre for the first FRIGID Not So Secret Performers Jam Show. While not too many performers showed up to perform (other then the DLTP it was myself and Jayson from Can't Get Started), we managed to get quite a few people into the theatre and they really seemed to enjoy the show. On a personal level I had a lot of fun, so yay for that.

Afterwards we headed upstairs where the Festival was celebrating its first weekend with an open bar. Things got kind of blurry around there... Andrea and Micah hung out for a while, and I got to have all sorts of fun chats with the other performers. Highlights included pissing off Tom X. Chao by telling him how much I enjoyed his work and want him to keep doing theatre (C'mon Tom! Leaving theatre for film is for jerks!), speaking French for long periods of time (made all the more hilarious by the fact that my french, already not stellar, becomes ridiculously limited when drunk), watching as Anne Wyman quickly ran towards the edge of oblivion and having to prove to one of the techs that my middle name is, indeed, Akira. Somewhere over the course of the evening I lost a couple of papers that had all the info for stuff I need to do and whatnot. Not good things to lose. Still, it could have been a lot worse. When I awoke (how the hell did I get home? I stayed at the party until the bitter end...) my wallet was dispersed in various pockets about my person, but thankfully everything that should have been there was. Weird.

Anyway, now it is Monday. I've been trying to get ahold of Andrea all day (note to self: Do not form plans when ridiculously drunk. Check and check) with no luck, as this is her last night in the city. I had inquired about a workshop for today, which started 5 minutes ago: I had considered going, but if they aren't going to respond to my e-mails it's probably not worth it. I spent most of today checking out the Bodies Exhibition, very cool stuff. Pricey ($25!) but really interesting. I found it interesting that they posed so many of the bodies- Maybe to add a little humanity to what could have otherwise been an overly cold and scientific display? It's pretty weird: Without skin, human bodies stop looking like individuals and just meld together. The most interesting part of the exhibit for me was looking at the development of a child from fetus to full term.

Afterwards, I got some kick ass Empanada. Because it's sooooo damn good.

Anyway, that is you caught up with me: Now I'm going to head off and catch a couple of shows before the next Performer's Jam, tonight, at 10:30pm. Tomorrow I think I might try to see the Colbert report, and maybe get a haircut. Stay tuned!

Because Everyone Hates a Tourist

2007-03-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

Especially when they think it's all such a laugh.

So, another day gone by the in the Big Apple: I had my second show last night, which had a record breaking THREE PEOPLE in the audience, two of which had come from Winnipeg to see the show. Ouch. Sadly, this is still the trend for out of town shows. We've had reviewers out there, but no reviews yet posted which doesn't really bode well for the accumulation of any momentum heading into the weekend. But still, here's to hoping. I've got a late night performance tonight - 11:30pm - so who knows what is going to happen. I'm hoping at the very least to get some of the companies that I haven't been hanging out with to come on down and check it out. In the end, I don't care about not making any money so much as I really want to perform for people.

I've gotten a ball rolling here now: Canterbury Tales, which I mentioned yesterday, has left a slot open in the festival. I'm of a mind to attempt to fill it with an actors jam of sorts. Basically we'd just get any performers who wanted to to come down and do some improv for free to get some publicity going for the show. We'd take a donation at the end of the show to support the festival and get to plug our individual shows. I think it's an awesome idea and many of the other performers, techs and organizers agree. We'll see if anything happens though.

I'm also delighted to inform everyone that I managed to fandangle my way into an audition for MTCs "Our Town" upon my return to the city. I don't have any idea what my chances are, but you know what they say, you can't win if you don't play, right?

Anyway, I've got another big day ahead of me, so I'll leave you all be. It's apparently colder in New York right now then it is in Winnipeg. That is, if you'll excuse my french, utterly fucking ridiculous. Later!

New York Continues...

2007-03-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Friday, and I'm sitting in this dingy little Internet cafe (really just a cold room full of computers) checking my e-mail and getting ready for the upcoming day. Might as well let all you folks know what is going on, eh?

Last night Jesus Christ, I'm Sorry opened: 9 people were in the audience, 8 of which were performers and one of which was a reviewer. Sadly that makes my show fairly successful: I've already sat in many performances with under 5 audience members. There's a few things that contribute to that: It's the first year of a festival that is competing against many other shows, it's not the weekend yet and there hasn't been enough time to generate a lot of interest. At least all the performers were expecting something similar: I don't think anyone is expecting to break even (except for the New York groups, who have a built in audience already) let alone make any profit. Still, if I don't have anyone coming to see the show over this weekend- I have good slots, really, I do! - then I'm going to be very disappointed. (BTW, I'll let you know when/if the review is posted.)

Speaking of money, I've been spending way too much. I'm not worried: I did budget for the trip after all! But I have already got my crazy ass impulse buy out of the way (Lost Girls by Alan Moore! I'm not even telling you how much it cost!) along with a few smaller ones when I popped into Midtown Comics on Wednesday: Did you hear? They killed Captain America! Or maybe they didn't. I bought the book anyway. What can I say, I'm easily influence by excited mobs of geeks. It's like being called back into the pride or something. Maybe it's just being in this city: New York is where Marvel Comics, the comics I grew up with, where all of them took place! Spiderman! Daredevil! POWER MAN. They live here, and I should buy a comic because... I don't know why. Some very good reason, I'm sure.

I've got some plans to save money for the moment: First of all, as a performer I get free passes into all the shows and I intend on seeing every single one. Not only will that save me precious monies, but it will also get me to see all sorts of awesome theatre and then I'll have something to talk about with said theatre artists when we hang out later. Also, Sunday, open bar. Boo-yeah, bitches. Also, it took some searching, but I have found the cheapest Internet cafes in the city. It's weird: an hour on the Internet can cost anywhere between 2 and 6 bucks- Which makes a difference (a huge difference!) when you've got an Internet habit as big as mine. In fact, I'm going to try to cut down while I'm here, if only to save myself the prohibitive cost.

I'm planning on taking a couple of classes while I'm down here: There's the workshop that I think I mentioned yesterday as well as some drop-in improv classes. I originally wasn't going to be able to make them, but the show that I was doing tech for had to cancel: Apparently South African puppets are not allowed into the USA while the error threat is set to Orange. Or something. It's both good and bad: I was looking forward to working on the show, but it also gives me several extra free days, which means that I'll be able to hang out with Andrea and Micah when they get here, as well as relax and check out some of the various sites I missed out the first go around. Also, maybe get tickets for the Colbert Report and Connan. Because that would rule.

And now, because nobody asked for it, some New York tips:

Whatever you do, do not be indecisive. New York will destroy you. If you're hungry, choose either something you want to eat or some arbitrary but attainable benchmark (the first place that won't cost 20$ for a meal!) and then stick to it. If you wander aimlessly without any idea as to what you want to eat, you will waffle endlessly and then probably die in an alley, your brain muddled beyond belief.
If you're uncomfortable with jay walking, you're not going to get anywhere. As a general rule of thumb, you will not spend a lot of time standing around unless you're in a line for something or waiting for a train. If you want to play it safe, take the lead of off someone in front of you. Worst case scenario, you get hit by a truck alongside a new friend.
I think I've mentioned this before, but you need to carry cash on you. Credit cards are fine at a lot of places, but I have yet to find somewhere that takes Interac. It was much the same in Texas, except in New York there are more places to shop.

Well, that's enough random banter from me for today. I'm off to grab something to eat (what could it ever be?) check out a museum and then get ready for my second show tonight. Later people!

The Return to New York!

2007-03-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hey there friends: I'm currently sitting in an awesome little Internet cafe in the East Village, one of my favorite places in the world. I'm in New York, and despite the cold outside I am very, very happy.

When I awoke on Tuesday, it suddenly occurred to me that I had a ridiculous am mount of things to get done before 10:30, and as such I managed to only finish about half of it: I got my packing done and a few errands, but managed to run out of time before getting everything finished. This dismayed me much when I arrived at the airport 2 hours early (as is suggested by the airport!) to find that people wouldn't be checked in until 90 minutes before the flight. And then, customs didn't open for another 20 minutes! When I realized that in my haste I had forgotten my awesome New York map and my soundtrack for the show (!) I was a little miffed. My flights in were good, which is to say uneventful, with a few minor quibbles: My flight from Chicago to New York was a few minutes late arriving, no big deal. But then, once we're boarded, the plane goes off into the far corner of the tarmac and STOPS.

"Alright folks, we've got a little delay here. LaGuardia is only operating with one runway, so we're going to sit tight for about an hour and a half"

Wha?

When we eventually got underway, everything was fine, although the wind made for a bit of a bumpy ride as we swung around New York to get our approach vector (Erinn, you would have probably died). Luckily, there were not luggage issues and I was met at the very moment I picked up my bags by Lara, who is putting me up in Astoria. We caught a cab (which managed to take the longest way possible to her place) and she set me up in the back of her living room which her roommate and she had prepared as my "room". We then shared a bottle of wine and talked about various theatre things, sharing our respective "worst show ever" stories. I'm both proud and ashamed to say that I won, as I always do in such competitions. I'll have to write down that story at some point.

Anyway, I woke early this morning with the sun, and decided to get out nice and early to get my bearings. So far, I've really drunk in my favorite things about New York: The subway (although my failure to see that the express terminals were not accepting debit cards slowed down the rush-hour lines.... oops!), the throngs of people and even the shopping: Since I forgot my soundtrack, I decided to swing by the Virigin Records in Times Square and pick up the Cake album with "Jesus Wrote a Blank Cheque"- I was abandoning all my music from the original production anyway in order to speed up the show and make it a bit tighter. I also managed to grab a copy of Wii Play: Score!

I've spent the last hour or so wandering around the Village and meeting some of the festival organizers. Now I'm going to head off to my theatre and get my welcome package. Afterwards, who knows: Maybe I'll swing by TKTS and pick up tickets for a show tonight. I've just registered for a workshop on Monday- All in all, this trip should really be useful for me. I'm very excited.

Anyway, I've got a couple of emails to send out before my time expires, so I'll sign off here. Keep watching this space and I'll let you know how my show goes. Hope all is well with everyone!

Spring Cleaning is Fun

2007-03-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

The other night the Ebby house hosted a "Spring Cleaning Party". Before you go too far with images of mops and dusters (If you've been to the Ebby house, you wouldn't have gone too far anyway, ha-ha) let me elaborate: You know all those bottles of liquor you've got haning around with a couple of shots left in them, half finished bottles of wine, ect, booze that needs drinking? This party was specifically meant to deal with all of that. Also, Erinn and I had some booze from Mexico that was begging to make some drunken memories and there were plenty of people who were ready and willing to be a part of that.

I swung by around 9:30 after a JC,IS reherasal and things were already well in swing. By the end of the night the party was attended by the usual Ebby house residents along with Levon, Amy, Adrianne, Jeff, Miah, Andrea, Erica, Seb, Allison, Doug John, Chad, Josh, Mike, Lisa, Dave, Bran-lok and possibly others that I am forgetting. Good times all around. Highlights (that I can remeber) included:

The kitchen table covered in various alchol bottles, which were duitfully emptied over the course of the night.
Erinn proudly proclaming that she's been drinking since 6pm and acting like that's not a normal Saturday (zing!)
Mike making several awful drinks, one of which was named "the Soccer Mom" (Miah made a joke something along the lines of "it smells bad, but when you taste it it's kind of alright") and another named "The Pre-'Bort" (Which Andrea drank, bless her soul.)
Erinn dragging people into her room to listen to "The Wisdom Song". It was actually pretty funny.
Chugging "the lady"- Erinn's Mexico purchase, an unidentied liquor in a bottle shaped like a naked female torso. The drink itself was pretty putrid: "Burnt carpet" and "popurii" where both pretty apt descpitions of its flavor.
Chad getting stupid drunk very quickly, eventually to the point of illness. That alone wouldn't be of note except that he then passed out, fell into his barf bucket and knocked it over, spilling the contents all over the place. Eventually Josh and I (Josh driving, as I was tanked) took him home and dropped him off in his bed.
Far too many shots... My first drink was over half voldka and triple sec, and then there was 2 shots of vodka with Erica, and chugging the lady and Dave's bottle of Jack... I've been drunker, but not by much.
Andrea falling asleep sitting up while the stragglers at the party watched Beerfest. I enjoyed it, although not as much as Super Troopers. I think that makes me the 300 Trillionth person to ever say that.
A final, not actually party moment: 7am the next morning, someone in the adjoining house had a shouting argument over the phone with her dad (or a guy named Dan. Not quite sure). Who wants to be screaming "YOU DON'T LOVE ME DAD/DAN!" that early in the morning? Apprently crazy girls who live in Sororities.

All in all a fun party and certainly quite enjoyable. In the morning a big crew of us: Andrea, Bran-lok, Rufus, Joel, Amy, Levon and myself - all headed down with Erinn to the Garwood for breakfast/work. That is to say everyone except Erinn had breakfast, and she worked. I wonder if she ate anything? Her stomach might not have been up to it. Good food, good friends, lots of fun.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for New York, and I'm pretty pumped. I still have a lot of things to get done before I can run off, but I'm ready. The play is in fine shape: A run with Heidi, Koren and Shannon and then another with the incomprable Ellen Peterson have honed it down to a much tighter and funnier show. All I need to do now is just run it a few more times (which I'm doing tonight) and I'll be ready to kick some serious ass. I'm pumped to be going: Although it does mean that my mom will be without all of her children: Jane has been gone since Friday, Regan left on Saturday for Miami and now I'm in New York. Luckily for her Regan comes back on Wednesday- I think she goes a little crazy when she doesn't see her kids.

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. Later!

More With The Updates

2007-03-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

So I'm an idiot.

This morning I was woken by my cell phone, something not uncommon as I'm frequently called relatively early by various libraries offering me shifts. So, when I see one of my supervisors from work on my call display, I'm not worried. I'm leaving for New York on Tuesday, so I figure I'm just going to be offered a shift that I'll be out of town for or asked if I can work today, which I don't want to since I've scheduled the day to be hardcore play work. I am then informed that I had switched a shift around and I was scheduled to work at 9. It was 9:20. I was understandably put out.

After letting her know that I was on my way and swearing my ass off for a good few minutes, I calmed down enough to realize that this whole ordeal was my fault and that as much as I might want this time to tighten my show it is lost due to my shitty time management and failure to mark down my final switch in my palm pilot. I mean, seriously, that's what I have the damn thing for.

All that is to say that I've been freaking out co-workers and patrons all day as I recite various scenes from my play to myself, making some edits and blocking decisions on the go, marking them down between shelving books and pushing carts around. Sometimes my life looks a little ridiculous from every vantage point. This is one of those times.

I feel particularly bad about this because I took last night off after work to go out to Gios for karaoke with Erinn, Levon, Miah, Girl-Miah, Erica, Leslie, Allison and Sean. Andrea was also supposed to go but had to stay home working out her flights and hotel so she can join me for a bit in New York. It's actually kind of funny- my mom and aunt Ethel are also going out so I'll have people I know around me pretty much the whole trip.

Speaking of the show, despite this setback, it actually goes quite well. I got some posters printed yesterday (thanks Koren!) and they look awesome. I have people coming to see the show on Friday, Saturday and Monday. I should have this baby tight as I could hope for before opening night of Thursday. (By the by, check out the official frigid site- Swanky, eh?) On top of that, I've got someone to run my sound now (a fellow performer: I'll be running his tech in exchange) and the various companies are really banding together getting ready for the event. All in all, it should be a good time.

In other news, my car now has a name - Brentmobile Mark 2 is now merely a sub-title: Phillip! In honor of my Texas pseudonym with which Erinn (a.k.a Natasha) and I convinced several Texans, winter and otherwise, that we were engaged. Good times! Phillip is running fine, thank you very much, and I figured out how to get his tape deck working. Score!

And now, back to work.

A Brief Stop Home

2007-02-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

Texas has now come and gone- A nice little vacation that accomplished it's job in getting me out of the city for a while and allowing my head to decompress a bit from my last couple of very busy months. Whew!

Other Texas trip events of note:

A trip to Mexico- We headed off to a little town called Progresso for the afternoon. It was a constant steam of poverty, dentists offices, cheap pharmacies and booze, endless margaritas, and the requisite tourist crap. Erinn and I managed to find a little restaurant that sold Coronas for a buck a pop. It was worth going, but I wouldn't want to do it again soon. (Fun fact- It costs 25 cents to leave the states, but 30 cents to leave Mexico... now you know)
Hanging around with a lot of old people- The Travel Lodge Erinn's folks hole up at is filled with a bunch of retired winter Texans. Erinn is looking forward to retirement, while I think it's a nice place to visit but not somewhere I plan on living anytime soon.
Constantly being mistaken as early spring break kids, which pissed Erinn and I off to no end. For the record, South Padre Island is a popular spring break spot which was to be inundated with the young and incredibly drunk the week after we left.
Going to a bar set up for the coming flood (huge bar, smelt of fresh paint. Awful music.) to find that Erinn and I were the ONLY PATRONS THERE. We were both tanked from dinner ealier on so we decided to eventually call it a modestly early night- No use being sick the next day when we'd be spending all our time in transit, right?

I'm sure there are other things to bring up, but nothing comes to mind off the top of my head. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? It's nice to be home: I missed my bed, I missed Andrea and I was starting to feel the impending weight of all the work I have to get done in the near future. Here's hoping I'm up to the task. :)

Yesterday was also the Kibo concert, the fundraiser for the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. I was actually impressed by how well everything went, despite the time constraints and my own body not quite being at 100%. My own contribution went perfectly fine and the guests we had flown in were astounding. A Japanese dancer from Japan blew my mind when she performed a move where she slowly rotated in a perfect circle as if on a turntable, her body almost perfectly still. The turnout was also quite good, so no worries there. Now I can concentrate on Jesus Christ, I'm Sorry!

So, wish me luck friends. I've got some crazy days coming up!

A Note From Texas

2007-02-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hey there- Just letting you all know that I'm in Texas and all is well. Highlights of the trip so far include:

Having our luggage lost somewhere along the line, only to be returned to us (slightly damaged) the next day.
Going to a Sea Turtle hospital and learning about them. Apparently, plastic bag=jellyfish=turtle death. Good to know.
Pretending to be engaged with Erinn on our night out, which resulted (we think?) in some guy named JoJo buying us drinks. Score!
Seeing dolphins earlier today. They were pretty cool.

Anyway, the beer just arrived for the hotel happy hour, so I should be going. Back on Friday!

24 (The Show And Year)

2007-02-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm now 24. Whew. Almost a quarter century of avoiding death, huzzah!

First of all, thanks to everyone who made it out to my celebrations on Thursday at the Limelight and Saturday at my place: So many of my friends made it out and both events were just great. Also, thanks to the many, many, people who couldn't come but sent me messages wishing me well: I truly appreciate it and it has made this past few days a whole lot of fun for me. Thank you thank you thank you: You guys rule.

Thursday, for those who missed it, was a whole lot of karaoke madness- I was especially pleased by the fact that about half a dozen of my co-workers managed to make it out. We don't hang out nearly enough and I can only hope that I'm starting a larger trend with everyone. Also, due to the Limelight's quite reasonably priced drinks and a couple of concealed flasks, I was very quickly drunk out of my mind. The next morning at work was actually quite funny as Keith, Janet and myself were all sporting hangovers from the fun the night before. Still, totally worth it.

Then, on Saturday, a whole whack of people came over to my place in order to get drunk, socialize and play a whole lot of Wii, Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution. Amy and Phil also celebrated birthdays, and we all got to blow out the candle (singular) on the cake before it was quickly destroyed by hungry party attendees. All in all, an amazing birthday. Thanks again guys.

Now it's Monday, and I'm hours away from heading off to Texas with Erinn- On the menu, sun, sand and a lot of play prep. Whoo hoo! :) I'll be back in town on Friday.

It Never Stops

2007-02-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Greeting for the land of being ridiculously busy: A shorter post this time, I promise.

I've been caught up in a flurry of activity over the past little while: I've been working pretty much full time to cover all the time off I'm taking for Texas and New York, and on top of that the various writing projects I've become embroiled in. Plus spending time with Andrea, and I can't figure out when I find time to sleep. Oh wait, I don't sleep. Right. Well. That explains that then.

Andrea and I managed to catch the Fuck cast in the U of W production of Geroge F. Walker's Better Living. It was... interesting. As I've gotten deeper and deeper into theatre, I think I've found a pretty defined idea as to what I like to see on stage, and I have to be honest in saying that while the production had many good qualities, over all it didn't really do it for me. In part I think the script was to blame: It just wasn't stylistically the kind of thing I go for. But still... I felt like the whole affair could have have been tightened up- The jokes would have been funnier and the tension much more... tense. Oh well. I feel bad when I don't care for something I see that I know people in, but I've been in my fair share of disasters (and this was no abortion play, let me tell you that) so I guess I stand by honesty.

I was looking around digg today, just perusing the various new articles. Usually digg is fun: Neat stories on the latest tech and funny bits that have floated around the news wire. My personal favorite in recent memory was a story I originally read about on the Wii News Network- About a Chewbacca impersonator who attacked a tour guide, apparently shouting "Nobody tells this wookie what to do!" You just can't make shit like that up.

But today, I came across this picture. I've put it behind a link because it is amazingly sad- A wedding photo of a soldier wounded in Iraq. At first I though that it must be a fake, a photoshopped image that somebody posted in incredible poor taste. But no- in the comments section someone had posted a link to a gallery of other photos, before, during and after the wedding. I don't know if there's anything I can really say, other then that war is a very sad and horrible thing. Regardless of the reasons, it seems too high a price to pay. (Edit: The story behind the photo is up here)

A few updates my personal Internet world: I've been playing around on Facebook over the past few days. It is the social networking site that mySpace should be. It lacks the multi media aspects (the video and music specifically- who needs it?) but has a very nice, very usable design. The things that I endure on mySpace simply because of the people on it: Frankly, it's ridiculous. People, there are other sites out there. Sites that have some small amount of elegance! mySpace is not one of them.

I've also done a little redesign on yous.iscrappy.com, in preparation for the changes I'm doing to the Jesus Christ, I'm Sorry page to get it up to date for FRIGID New York. It's a simple redesign, essentially turning the main page into a hub for all my other projects and abandoning the idea that the domain itself will generate any new content. I mean, it might, but not any time this decade.

Falling Down A Hill

2007-02-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

Arcadia is dead. Long live Arcadia!

It took me a couple of days to really feel it, but Arcadia is well and truly finished. But man, what a ride it was. 12 performances, many of which were sellouts or near-sellouts, a hold over show, several return audience members, good critical reaction and Robbie Patterson managed to come. What more could you ask for?

Thank you, Chris, Brenda, Heidi, Andrew, Keely, Dan, Richard, Lisa, Jock, Dave, Duncan, Eric, all the wonderful audience members who came out to see the show and anyone I might have negligently forgotten. Arcadia is without a doubt the best show I've had the pleasure of performing in and I am really truly sad to have to leave it behind. Some highlights from the run, since I've been so negligent in updating this blog during it:

My monologue in Scene 4, where I ramble on about Science and Math: It was always great to have moments where I knew I had the audience's undivided attention. The only part I regret was the day I hit legs with Sherry Phillips on my way out. Sorry Sherry!
Watching the play from backstage, especially the very end where Heidi poured her little heart out on her final exchange with Andrew "I will wait for you" indeed. Everybody fell in love you you Heidi, just according to plan.
Our amazing painted set: Rodel, you did a wicked job man. People couldn't believe that the country house scene on the floor was put there by hand, but it was, and done well too.
Trading barbs with Chris during rehearsals and the pre-show warm ups. I think my favorite went something like this:

(While talking about the process of rehearsing)
Me: I'm just trying not to peak too early.
Chris: That's the problem with you young people, always peaking too early.
Me: I don't feel to bad about that Chris. At least I can still peak at all.

Being drove home by Richard- The only thing I really missed when I bought my car. On the long trek home Richard would tell me all sorts of tales about his former lives, as a drug addled teenager and young adult, as a cab driver, as an ambulance attendant, as a photographer and so on and so forth. I don't think Keeley and I will ever forget the night he told us about his play idea featuring a dog playing a human. Chris later informed me that it has been floating around for years now. And as silly as it might sound, I'll be damned if he didn't convince me that there was something to it in the end.
All sorts of fun warming up: Andrew taught the group a little Tai Chi, Brenda some Yoga, and I managed to take a few of Gail's Alexander Technique methods out of the mothballs. "The Human Torch Was Denied a Bank Loan" also came back, which the cast of Coffee should remember. Andrew's favorite exercise seemed to be pronouncing Keeley's name from his nasal cavity, as loudly as possible. It was always pretty funny.
Jock's stories during intermission, always a great source of entertainment. My personal favorite was the "Two shits and a fuck" story. Classic.
All the little happy accidents and crazy mistakes that happen during a live performance. Heidi made a memorable night by falling flat on her ass during one show. I had a couple of close calls slipping on the leaves scattered about, and did manage to spill some tea all over one of the tables on one of our last nights. It was always really fun though when somebody would make a mistake and manage to cover it so that only the other actors knew anything had gone wrong at all. That's a little bit of acting magic.
Reading! During the run of the play and the rehearsal period, I read a whole bunch of plays and books. I love reading, I just don't have time for it much anymore.
Drinks with the cast afterwards. Particularly fun was the night that Heidi got totally silly after 2 measly drinks and started incessantly calling me a man-whore. She never stopped apologizing afterwards, it was funny.
The little Scottie dogs from down the hall that would occasionally wander by to visit. Cute little guys.
Our antagonists, the smokers in the stairway. Things took a turn for the worse when a costume went missing and while accusations started to fly, but eventually cooler heads prevailed and it was discovered that Richard had put it with his own costume. Silly.

There are tons of other stories that I can't think of off the top of my head, but I've enjoyed every step of the ride on this production, except for the struggle it was to get Equity permission to do it. Well, that's just the way the game is played I guess. Thanks for all the good times Arcadia. Until we meet again for the "post-mortem" and we all get paid. And then, most probably, ridiculously drunk.

Well, what does the future hold for Brent now? Quite a lot actually. Since my last post, I've agreed to go to New York, which means that from March 6-18th I should totally be out of town. Before that I'm going to Texas from Feb 19-23, and before that I'm going to do something for my birthday: I'm thinking Karaoke on the 15th and probably the final house party at 83 Everingham on the 17th. Thoughts?

Organizing all this has been a bit of a pain, as somewhere between Saturday and now I managed to lose my palm pilot. It's absurd the extent to which I let that thing run my life, that that's just how it is. Pray for it's hasty return people! I will be! And I don't care to whom!

There is lots of good stuff though: Most notably, Andrea has consented to fill my opening for "girlfriend", and everybody here on the team is happy to have her. Her qualifications are impeccable: She knows all the right movies and books, can pull of a mean-ass Lawnmower, Running Man and Shopping Cart and she's totally cute. Plus, she like Arrested Development, which I exposed her to last night. Thank god. Who knows that I would have done if she hated it? Or even worse, didn't get it?

So, again, anybody who wants to be a proof reader for the rewrites to JC,IS that are coming up SOON, please, let me know. And if you're not going to read that, at least continue (or start!) reading What I Own, because projects that keep me sane are a good thing. Anyway, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you when my life isn't ridiculously crazy busy. Maybe in 3 months? :D