Wow, I suck at blogging.
Anyway, here's the new video.
This set up is one that could spawn a lot of videos, as long as you don't let it get too repetitive.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Three weeks without an update what?
Thoughts-
One- I am now twenty five. I don't know what to say about this.
Two- All My Sons at Mainstreet Stage, 8pm. Thursday through Saturday. Matinee on the 5th.
Three- Not enough things are like chapstick. Chapstick is a short term solution which is also beneficial in the long term. Most short term solutions screw you over in the long run. Not chapstick.
Four- The Red Room starts up again in three weeks. Hopefully I'll post again before then.
One- I am now twenty five. I don't know what to say about this.
Two- All My Sons at Mainstreet Stage, 8pm. Thursday through Saturday. Matinee on the 5th.
Three- Not enough things are like chapstick. Chapstick is a short term solution which is also beneficial in the long term. Most short term solutions screw you over in the long run. Not chapstick.
Four- The Red Room starts up again in three weeks. Hopefully I'll post again before then.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Heroes Live Blogging
Oh look, it's Heroes
9:02- Didn't Sylar kill this guy? If we're randomly bringing back minor characters why not DL or Elle? You know, people we like.
9:03- "I don't want to control people anymore. Hmm, apparently the villain becoming a hero plot line didn't leave when Sylar gave it up, it just moved to a smaller character.
9:05- Senators can walk through police lines. I guess the police don't want to fuck with a guy who could cut their funding.
9:09- Red Wire, seriously?
9:11- The constant harping on parenthood in this series leads me to believe that the writing staff has some serious daddy issues.
9:13- I think it would be neat if Wireless (Hana from the comics) was Rebel. But I doubt they remember she exists.
9:15- Nathan's lieutenant is actually pretty badass. I suppose that comes with the territory when you're created solely to allow Nathan to escape responsibility for his actions by being evil. Which in this case means caring more about the safety of thousands of strangers than your whiney brother and a dozen people you've met once or twice.
9:23- Claire getting a job a comic book store. Yeah.
9:25- What does that exchange in the store remind me of, oh right.
9:26- "You have an ability?" No shit Sherlock. How did he think his dad killed his mom, harsh language?
9:28- Does Sylar's dad have the power to make Sylar interesting again?
9:34- Do any of these people ever leave the comic book store? They live in California, there are plenty of blondes to oogle elsewhere.
9:36- No wonder Bennet is the most successful Company agent. He's the only one who shoots the dangerous super-powered maniacs before talking to them.
9:40- Could regeneration fix cancer? Or would the rapid cell growth exacerbate it?
9:41- Sylar Sr. uses telekenetic arrows. That is just classy.
9:46- I'm kinda hoping Sylar Sr. kills Sylar and becomes the new main villain.
9:49- The way power battle seem to work in this show is that only power can work at a time. Otherwise it might get interesting.
9:51- Yeah, Danko pushed a US Senator out a window. On camera. Only he saw Nathan fly. Yet somehow this is going to prove him right.
9:58- Ummmmm... Are they just going to blatantly rip off The Incredibles now? And didn't they establish Matt's kid wasn't his?
9:59- Sylar gave him a bunny! That's... nice.
Yeah, that was... yeah. I think it says a lot about me as a person that I keep watching this show even though it's gotten painful to watch. I suppose it's a kind of penance for all my various sins. I could blog about a show I actually like, but live blogging Chuck or Sarah Conor Chronicles would just be an hour of "This is brilliant" over and over again. And no one wants to read that.
9:02- Didn't Sylar kill this guy? If we're randomly bringing back minor characters why not DL or Elle? You know, people we like.
9:03- "I don't want to control people anymore. Hmm, apparently the villain becoming a hero plot line didn't leave when Sylar gave it up, it just moved to a smaller character.
9:05- Senators can walk through police lines. I guess the police don't want to fuck with a guy who could cut their funding.
9:09- Red Wire, seriously?
9:11- The constant harping on parenthood in this series leads me to believe that the writing staff has some serious daddy issues.
9:13- I think it would be neat if Wireless (Hana from the comics) was Rebel. But I doubt they remember she exists.
9:15- Nathan's lieutenant is actually pretty badass. I suppose that comes with the territory when you're created solely to allow Nathan to escape responsibility for his actions by being evil. Which in this case means caring more about the safety of thousands of strangers than your whiney brother and a dozen people you've met once or twice.
9:23- Claire getting a job a comic book store. Yeah.
9:25- What does that exchange in the store remind me of, oh right.
9:26- "You have an ability?" No shit Sherlock. How did he think his dad killed his mom, harsh language?
9:28- Does Sylar's dad have the power to make Sylar interesting again?
9:34- Do any of these people ever leave the comic book store? They live in California, there are plenty of blondes to oogle elsewhere.
9:36- No wonder Bennet is the most successful Company agent. He's the only one who shoots the dangerous super-powered maniacs before talking to them.
9:40- Could regeneration fix cancer? Or would the rapid cell growth exacerbate it?
9:41- Sylar Sr. uses telekenetic arrows. That is just classy.
9:46- I'm kinda hoping Sylar Sr. kills Sylar and becomes the new main villain.
9:49- The way power battle seem to work in this show is that only power can work at a time. Otherwise it might get interesting.
9:51- Yeah, Danko pushed a US Senator out a window. On camera. Only he saw Nathan fly. Yet somehow this is going to prove him right.
9:58- Ummmmm... Are they just going to blatantly rip off The Incredibles now? And didn't they establish Matt's kid wasn't his?
9:59- Sylar gave him a bunny! That's... nice.
Yeah, that was... yeah. I think it says a lot about me as a person that I keep watching this show even though it's gotten painful to watch. I suppose it's a kind of penance for all my various sins. I could blog about a show I actually like, but live blogging Chuck or Sarah Conor Chronicles would just be an hour of "This is brilliant" over and over again. And no one wants to read that.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
My Son is Crazy but Promising-- Review
If I were Jeffrey Borak this review would be titled: “’My Son’ certainly crazy, lacks promise.” I’m not that much of a dick though.
Review Synopsis: A bunch of really solid character acting, several actors far beyond their parts, a few actors burdened with unnecessary and irritating voices, and no plot to speak of. So let’s get down to business (to defeat the Huns).
Play Synopsis: A former screenwriter buys a hotel in the middle of the Arizona desert in hopes of finding the fabled Lost Dutchman Mine. The hotel is full of zany characters. That’s pretty much it. Later on someone who might be a mobster shows up.
The play is full of problems and once again the two people to blame are Doug Jenkins and the writer.
Every time Doug Jenkins puts on a play I find myself writing the same review: weird play, bizarre directing choices, cast whose talent is wasted by the production. And, while not as vile as the infamous “Blood Wedding,” this play is no exception. Having seen the same play three times from Doug, I really have to wonder at why he does what he does. Perhaps he doesn’t see his plays as performances, perhaps he sees them as an acting class writ large, theater exercises that are meant to benefit the cast and crew more than the audience. I could respect that, sort of. But the thing is I think he’s just a bad director, perhaps willfully bad. The choices he burdens his actors with are often wholly detrimental to their performances. He persists in casting people as living scenery, a cruel practice especially in this play where the freshmen playing the aliens are added characters and covered in makeup. He treats the production like a middle school play, put on for grade school children. But most of all, he chooses crummy plays.
The play was written by Tim Kelly, an exceptionally prolific writer of schlock. In his 60 years on this earth he wrote 300 plays. That should tell you something about the quality of his work. That is, it doesn’t really have any. “My Son” lacks a plot. Or rather, it lacks a real plot. The plot changes randomly as if Kelly repeatedly changed his mind about the direction of the play, was pulling plot elements out of a hat or simply had ADD. First it’s about a down on its luck hotel, then spies, then a buried treasure, then gangsters, then hiding a murder, then aliens, then I don’t even care anymore. There are subplots that have absolutely nothing to do with anything else and nearly half the characters are totally extraneous. The play is essentially a two hour game of party quirks. One or two straight men are surrounded by a dozen wacky character actors. No plot happens; the characters just come on stage, act goofy and leave.
Looking over his work it feels as though it was written for a community theater troupe, written with a specific company in mind and a need to find a part for everyone, played for a forgiving audience in the mood for light fare if not small children. If that was the case it makes sense and works for what it is, except for the fact that it isn’t being played at a small community theater in Arizona. It boggles the mind that Doug chose this play.
Let’s look at the individual performances because that’s what the play has going for it. In order of appearance:
Ben Leahy plays a Russian spy named Dimitri Jones. He wants to stay in Arizona rather than get recalled to the Motherland. He confuses Bud Granger for an undercover agent sent to check up on his FBI counterpart and decides to step up his game, leading to a series of random bouts of physical comedy which his lanky frame is ideally suited. That’s a lot of set up for a plot line that goes nowhere; his character is completely extraneous to the play and only serves to run through at random intervals to punch up slow scenes. He also has an accent that I suppose is Russian. It’s sort of hard to tell, not because it goes in and out, but rather because it’s just weird.
Accompanying Leahy in this pointless subplot is last semester’s it-girl Elizabeth “Lily” Cardaropoli as FBI agent Susan Claypool. She is held down by a truly pointless character voice which doesn’t compliment the character at all. The unnaturally deep voice sounds like she’s just lowering her voice randomly rather than it being the character’s speech pattern. As such most of her effort seems to go into maintaining her accent rather than doing anything else. The voice was clearly forced on her by the director. She could have gotten a lot more out of the role if she could have used her natural voice and focused on the acting.
Michael Barry again turns in a solid character performance. His Sheriff Bates is, well, he’s a south-western sheriff. He serves to mention the law every so often and cause other characters to do stupid things because they’re afraid he’ll arrest them for something. The character is full of fully realized mannerisms that both define the character and add humor to the part. The man is a damn fine character actor, more so when you realize he played another sheriff in “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and the two characters are completely different. Many actors would have just changed the accent and played the same character.
Kelly Flanagan plays Gert Witherspoon, the owner of the hotel. She deals with money problems and acts like an old coot. It’s probably my favorite performance from her. She looks like a stereotypical Native American grandmother and it’s great. She also has a bunch of quirks and idiosyncrasies. Unfortunately the focus on the character traits causes her to miss some of her jokes. I could hear several funny lines that she simply dropped the delivery of and it surprised me that the director would let that slip. But given my opinion of Doug’s directing I can’t say I’m really surprised.
Liz McWhirk plays Cora Ames, a woman who believes she was abducted by aliens. I bet her performance is pretty divisive among audience members. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people found her funny. I found her character annoying as hell. She’s a squeaky voiced space cadet who constantly moves her hands in giant, distracting loops to indicate spaceyness. The character wreaks of intentional humor that it kills the comedy for me. The kind of humor that says “look at me, I’m the funny one!” She also serves as, oddly enough, the main plot mover. Because she tends to move objects around randomly. Yes. Really. That’s where half the plot elements come from.
Jed Kravinsky is our straight man, Bud Granger. Bud is a screen writer of schlock horror films that moved out to Arizona to look for buried treasure. A quick glance at Tim Kelly’s Wikipedia page will show you that this character is clearly himself. Still, Kravinsky does an admirable job with a fairly bland author avatar. It’s good to see him get leading roles, even a mediocre one like this, because he has an understated charisma and everyman-ness that will inevitably get the audience on his side. However he isn’t taken too far out of his comfort zone here, in fact Bud is more or less his character from “Picnic at Hanging Rock” but through a comedy lens.
Brendon Graffum and Amy Rosvally play a newlywed couple that adds absolutely nothing to the show. Their characters serve only to provide a reason for Oysters Rockerfeller[sic] to show up later (mixed up luggage) and they spend the rest of the play doing nothing. Rosvally complains about the hotel and provides eye-candy to contrast the horrible screeching Lucille Ball voice she’s forced to put on. The voice changes and softens part way through for some reason. Graffum (nee McKean?) does nothing with nothing and is forgettable in the part.
Meghan Zaremba, as Jed’s mother Tilly, is so far above her part it’s like asking Patton to plan your capture the flag strategy or Sherlock Holmes to find your lost keys. She turns in her usual exemplary performance but is clearly unchallenged by the role. It doesn’t help that the part doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than to allow Bud to voice his problems aloud. The character’s status as a washed up actress almost becomes a runny joke but not quite. It’s sort of strange that no effort was made to make her look old enough to be Bud’s mother. Zaremba is honestly wasted as another more or less straight man character. She really excels at comedic roles but almost never gets the parts she because she has the looks and talent of a leading lady. Which is, I guess, a bad thing?
Joshua Smith plays Oysters Rockerfeller, a possible gangster who shows up looking for his lost luggage. At first he seems like he’s the antagonist trying to cover up evidence of his nefarious misdeed but no, he quickly turns into yet another wacky guest and then promptly goes into a coma which causes Bud and Tilly to think he’s dead and begin a weekend at Bernie’s plot, despite the fact that he’s wearing a medalert bracelet. Smith seems a little too reserved for the part, he has the character down it just lacks the force it feels like it needs. His voice is too soft and whether that’s natural or because of his character voice I can’t tell.
Ellen Rosati plays Chi Chi Vazoom, an aspiring starlet and Oyster’s moll. From a strictly craft point of view it’s the best part of the show. Having seen Ellen in many shows in the past, her character work is so far removed from the earnest heroines or shrinking violets she usually gets. It shows a remarkable range that has until now has been hidden by typecasting.
Nicole Dunn plays Fay Armstrong, a reporter trying do an exposé on Oysters. The character serves no real purpose except to be someone for things to be explained to. The role is largely non-comedic which shows the play’s age. Her attempt to prove Oysters is a mobster could have all the comedy of Geraldo Rivera’s infamous opening of Al Capone’s vault, but doesn’t. It’s another wasted opportunity for comedy. Dunn struggles to come to grips with a role that doesn’t do much and turns in a serviceable performance that finds little to do.
Alexander Munoz plays Larry Lime, Bud’s sleazy agent, and his performance should be considered grand larceny because he steals the fucking show. Everything he does in his greasy exploitation film maker role is awesome and hilarious, the high point of the show. It helps that he also gets the best lines, probably because he’s meant to be an outlet for Kelly’s frustrations with producers and directors. “Anyone can direct,” he says. So we’ve learned.
Alison Barker comes on stage at the very end to announce that Cora has won the lottery, a deus ex machina for a play without a conflict. Her character speaks with a squeaky voice that I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt on and say was a character voice so consistent that I thought it was her real voice.
Nicole Gelinas and James Dunn are two freshmen earning their credits by being living set pieces. Their characters are added into the play by Doug. They play the aliens that Cora believes are coming for her. They first appear on stage before the house lights go down and begin playing cards. This confused the hell out of the audience who weren’t sure if the play was starting or not (I just assumed the light board op was an incompetent drunk who’s also lousy in bed but we all have our knee-jerk reactions). The aliens peak their heads in the windows when Cora talks about them and at then appear in a highly unnecessary burst of special effects (though it does feature the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so props for that). I always feel really sorry for actors forced into these empty parts, though all of Doug’s shows feature them. It’s terribly unfair to an actor to expect them to continually show up for rehearsal when they don’t actually have a part. It’s even worse when it’s a show for credit which means they are actually paying to be there.
So there it is: another play beneath its cast. I think it could have been better if they embraced the nonsensical nature of the plot instead of treating it as a backdrop for wacky characters. At one point, Bud, trying to distract people from finding the supposedly dead Oysters, claims to have found buried treasure. He leads them outside, digs at random and actually finds a treasure chest. The sheer absurdity of that is hilarious but it gets dropped because the intermission happens in between his leaving and coming back. Perhaps addressing and accentuating the absurdity would have served better.
All that said, this may be the best Doug Jenkins show I’ve seen, which is like saying this is the coldest part of the volcano. Obviously anything is better than the staged abortion that was “blood Wedding.” “My Son” also clearly tops the endless shaggy dog story that was “Because Their Hearts Were Pure.” It is comparable to “The Doctor in Spite of Himself” though time has dimmed the memory of that show. Still, that is not an impressive list. Doug Jenkins is the Uwe Boll of MCLA Theater.
In the interest of fairness I should mention that the audience seemed to enjoy the show for the most part and my comments are mine and mine alone. (And those of several people I talked to about it).
Review Synopsis: A bunch of really solid character acting, several actors far beyond their parts, a few actors burdened with unnecessary and irritating voices, and no plot to speak of. So let’s get down to business (to defeat the Huns).
Play Synopsis: A former screenwriter buys a hotel in the middle of the Arizona desert in hopes of finding the fabled Lost Dutchman Mine. The hotel is full of zany characters. That’s pretty much it. Later on someone who might be a mobster shows up.
The play is full of problems and once again the two people to blame are Doug Jenkins and the writer.
Every time Doug Jenkins puts on a play I find myself writing the same review: weird play, bizarre directing choices, cast whose talent is wasted by the production. And, while not as vile as the infamous “Blood Wedding,” this play is no exception. Having seen the same play three times from Doug, I really have to wonder at why he does what he does. Perhaps he doesn’t see his plays as performances, perhaps he sees them as an acting class writ large, theater exercises that are meant to benefit the cast and crew more than the audience. I could respect that, sort of. But the thing is I think he’s just a bad director, perhaps willfully bad. The choices he burdens his actors with are often wholly detrimental to their performances. He persists in casting people as living scenery, a cruel practice especially in this play where the freshmen playing the aliens are added characters and covered in makeup. He treats the production like a middle school play, put on for grade school children. But most of all, he chooses crummy plays.
The play was written by Tim Kelly, an exceptionally prolific writer of schlock. In his 60 years on this earth he wrote 300 plays. That should tell you something about the quality of his work. That is, it doesn’t really have any. “My Son” lacks a plot. Or rather, it lacks a real plot. The plot changes randomly as if Kelly repeatedly changed his mind about the direction of the play, was pulling plot elements out of a hat or simply had ADD. First it’s about a down on its luck hotel, then spies, then a buried treasure, then gangsters, then hiding a murder, then aliens, then I don’t even care anymore. There are subplots that have absolutely nothing to do with anything else and nearly half the characters are totally extraneous. The play is essentially a two hour game of party quirks. One or two straight men are surrounded by a dozen wacky character actors. No plot happens; the characters just come on stage, act goofy and leave.
Looking over his work it feels as though it was written for a community theater troupe, written with a specific company in mind and a need to find a part for everyone, played for a forgiving audience in the mood for light fare if not small children. If that was the case it makes sense and works for what it is, except for the fact that it isn’t being played at a small community theater in Arizona. It boggles the mind that Doug chose this play.
Let’s look at the individual performances because that’s what the play has going for it. In order of appearance:
Ben Leahy plays a Russian spy named Dimitri Jones. He wants to stay in Arizona rather than get recalled to the Motherland. He confuses Bud Granger for an undercover agent sent to check up on his FBI counterpart and decides to step up his game, leading to a series of random bouts of physical comedy which his lanky frame is ideally suited. That’s a lot of set up for a plot line that goes nowhere; his character is completely extraneous to the play and only serves to run through at random intervals to punch up slow scenes. He also has an accent that I suppose is Russian. It’s sort of hard to tell, not because it goes in and out, but rather because it’s just weird.
Accompanying Leahy in this pointless subplot is last semester’s it-girl Elizabeth “Lily” Cardaropoli as FBI agent Susan Claypool. She is held down by a truly pointless character voice which doesn’t compliment the character at all. The unnaturally deep voice sounds like she’s just lowering her voice randomly rather than it being the character’s speech pattern. As such most of her effort seems to go into maintaining her accent rather than doing anything else. The voice was clearly forced on her by the director. She could have gotten a lot more out of the role if she could have used her natural voice and focused on the acting.
Michael Barry again turns in a solid character performance. His Sheriff Bates is, well, he’s a south-western sheriff. He serves to mention the law every so often and cause other characters to do stupid things because they’re afraid he’ll arrest them for something. The character is full of fully realized mannerisms that both define the character and add humor to the part. The man is a damn fine character actor, more so when you realize he played another sheriff in “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and the two characters are completely different. Many actors would have just changed the accent and played the same character.
Kelly Flanagan plays Gert Witherspoon, the owner of the hotel. She deals with money problems and acts like an old coot. It’s probably my favorite performance from her. She looks like a stereotypical Native American grandmother and it’s great. She also has a bunch of quirks and idiosyncrasies. Unfortunately the focus on the character traits causes her to miss some of her jokes. I could hear several funny lines that she simply dropped the delivery of and it surprised me that the director would let that slip. But given my opinion of Doug’s directing I can’t say I’m really surprised.
Liz McWhirk plays Cora Ames, a woman who believes she was abducted by aliens. I bet her performance is pretty divisive among audience members. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people found her funny. I found her character annoying as hell. She’s a squeaky voiced space cadet who constantly moves her hands in giant, distracting loops to indicate spaceyness. The character wreaks of intentional humor that it kills the comedy for me. The kind of humor that says “look at me, I’m the funny one!” She also serves as, oddly enough, the main plot mover. Because she tends to move objects around randomly. Yes. Really. That’s where half the plot elements come from.
Jed Kravinsky is our straight man, Bud Granger. Bud is a screen writer of schlock horror films that moved out to Arizona to look for buried treasure. A quick glance at Tim Kelly’s Wikipedia page will show you that this character is clearly himself. Still, Kravinsky does an admirable job with a fairly bland author avatar. It’s good to see him get leading roles, even a mediocre one like this, because he has an understated charisma and everyman-ness that will inevitably get the audience on his side. However he isn’t taken too far out of his comfort zone here, in fact Bud is more or less his character from “Picnic at Hanging Rock” but through a comedy lens.
Brendon Graffum and Amy Rosvally play a newlywed couple that adds absolutely nothing to the show. Their characters serve only to provide a reason for Oysters Rockerfeller[sic] to show up later (mixed up luggage) and they spend the rest of the play doing nothing. Rosvally complains about the hotel and provides eye-candy to contrast the horrible screeching Lucille Ball voice she’s forced to put on. The voice changes and softens part way through for some reason. Graffum (nee McKean?) does nothing with nothing and is forgettable in the part.
Meghan Zaremba, as Jed’s mother Tilly, is so far above her part it’s like asking Patton to plan your capture the flag strategy or Sherlock Holmes to find your lost keys. She turns in her usual exemplary performance but is clearly unchallenged by the role. It doesn’t help that the part doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than to allow Bud to voice his problems aloud. The character’s status as a washed up actress almost becomes a runny joke but not quite. It’s sort of strange that no effort was made to make her look old enough to be Bud’s mother. Zaremba is honestly wasted as another more or less straight man character. She really excels at comedic roles but almost never gets the parts she because she has the looks and talent of a leading lady. Which is, I guess, a bad thing?
Joshua Smith plays Oysters Rockerfeller, a possible gangster who shows up looking for his lost luggage. At first he seems like he’s the antagonist trying to cover up evidence of his nefarious misdeed but no, he quickly turns into yet another wacky guest and then promptly goes into a coma which causes Bud and Tilly to think he’s dead and begin a weekend at Bernie’s plot, despite the fact that he’s wearing a medalert bracelet. Smith seems a little too reserved for the part, he has the character down it just lacks the force it feels like it needs. His voice is too soft and whether that’s natural or because of his character voice I can’t tell.
Ellen Rosati plays Chi Chi Vazoom, an aspiring starlet and Oyster’s moll. From a strictly craft point of view it’s the best part of the show. Having seen Ellen in many shows in the past, her character work is so far removed from the earnest heroines or shrinking violets she usually gets. It shows a remarkable range that has until now has been hidden by typecasting.
Nicole Dunn plays Fay Armstrong, a reporter trying do an exposé on Oysters. The character serves no real purpose except to be someone for things to be explained to. The role is largely non-comedic which shows the play’s age. Her attempt to prove Oysters is a mobster could have all the comedy of Geraldo Rivera’s infamous opening of Al Capone’s vault, but doesn’t. It’s another wasted opportunity for comedy. Dunn struggles to come to grips with a role that doesn’t do much and turns in a serviceable performance that finds little to do.
Alexander Munoz plays Larry Lime, Bud’s sleazy agent, and his performance should be considered grand larceny because he steals the fucking show. Everything he does in his greasy exploitation film maker role is awesome and hilarious, the high point of the show. It helps that he also gets the best lines, probably because he’s meant to be an outlet for Kelly’s frustrations with producers and directors. “Anyone can direct,” he says. So we’ve learned.
Alison Barker comes on stage at the very end to announce that Cora has won the lottery, a deus ex machina for a play without a conflict. Her character speaks with a squeaky voice that I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt on and say was a character voice so consistent that I thought it was her real voice.
Nicole Gelinas and James Dunn are two freshmen earning their credits by being living set pieces. Their characters are added into the play by Doug. They play the aliens that Cora believes are coming for her. They first appear on stage before the house lights go down and begin playing cards. This confused the hell out of the audience who weren’t sure if the play was starting or not (I just assumed the light board op was an incompetent drunk who’s also lousy in bed but we all have our knee-jerk reactions). The aliens peak their heads in the windows when Cora talks about them and at then appear in a highly unnecessary burst of special effects (though it does feature the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so props for that). I always feel really sorry for actors forced into these empty parts, though all of Doug’s shows feature them. It’s terribly unfair to an actor to expect them to continually show up for rehearsal when they don’t actually have a part. It’s even worse when it’s a show for credit which means they are actually paying to be there.
So there it is: another play beneath its cast. I think it could have been better if they embraced the nonsensical nature of the plot instead of treating it as a backdrop for wacky characters. At one point, Bud, trying to distract people from finding the supposedly dead Oysters, claims to have found buried treasure. He leads them outside, digs at random and actually finds a treasure chest. The sheer absurdity of that is hilarious but it gets dropped because the intermission happens in between his leaving and coming back. Perhaps addressing and accentuating the absurdity would have served better.
All that said, this may be the best Doug Jenkins show I’ve seen, which is like saying this is the coldest part of the volcano. Obviously anything is better than the staged abortion that was “blood Wedding.” “My Son” also clearly tops the endless shaggy dog story that was “Because Their Hearts Were Pure.” It is comparable to “The Doctor in Spite of Himself” though time has dimmed the memory of that show. Still, that is not an impressive list. Doug Jenkins is the Uwe Boll of MCLA Theater.
In the interest of fairness I should mention that the audience seemed to enjoy the show for the most part and my comments are mine and mine alone. (And those of several people I talked to about it).
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Huh, yeah
Apparently there is a species of cabbage called "Dwarf Essex Rape."
Yeah.
I don't know what to say about that.
Yeah.
I don't know what to say about that.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Driving Ms. Helen
I just re-found an old article I wrote a few years ago while interning at the Media Giraffe Project convention during summer 06. Helen Thomas was the guest of honor and after she gave her address or what have you she needed a ride to Newton where she had an interview with a Boston TV station. It turned out that only one of the interns was of sufficient age to drive a rental car. Guess who. (I suppose they didn't trust a national media icon to my 93 Geo Prism)
So here's the article about the experience: Driving Ms. Helen
It's weird to look back on the story now. Like just about anything I have ever wrote I;m rather displeased with it. I talk too much about myself for one thing. I think that may be because I put off writing the article for a few weeks and thus didn't retain more useful details about things she actually said. In fact I remember thinking to myself "Remember this, damnit! Remember this!" all the while knowing I wouldn't retain half of it. Perhaps that's why I stick to writing fiction. The other weird thing about this article is that, more so than other things I've written, it really takes me back to that summer. Perhaps because more of the stuff I was doing then appear in the article. I didn't end up following up on interning with NECN, instead I went to Europe for the rest of the summer. Interning probably would have been a better idea in the long run, though I can't really say I regret the choice.
So here's the article about the experience: Driving Ms. Helen
It's weird to look back on the story now. Like just about anything I have ever wrote I;m rather displeased with it. I talk too much about myself for one thing. I think that may be because I put off writing the article for a few weeks and thus didn't retain more useful details about things she actually said. In fact I remember thinking to myself "Remember this, damnit! Remember this!" all the while knowing I wouldn't retain half of it. Perhaps that's why I stick to writing fiction. The other weird thing about this article is that, more so than other things I've written, it really takes me back to that summer. Perhaps because more of the stuff I was doing then appear in the article. I didn't end up following up on interning with NECN, instead I went to Europe for the rest of the summer. Interning probably would have been a better idea in the long run, though I can't really say I regret the choice.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Goals for 09
I'm currently housesitting, and on the refrigerator door the two kids of the household have posted lists of their goals for 2009. Oliver's seem to be a list of things he wants to make out of Legos, but Charlotte's are neatly divided into goals of Mind, Body, Heart and World (as indicated by a small crayon drawing to the left of the three items in each category).
Rather than get shown up by a ten-year-old again, I think I'll post my goals for 2009.
Mind
1. Read more non-fiction
2. Write more frequently
3. Blog more or less, I'm not sure which
Body
1. Exercise at least once
2. Eat at least two meals a day
3. Fume less (stress reduction)
Heart
1. Forgive somebody for something- probably not going to happen but worth a shot
2. Make fewer jokes about killing prostitutes
3. Plot fewer murders
World
1. Say bad ideas aloud less frequently, people enact too many of them
2. Go somewhere, do something
3. Make the perfect Youtube video, the one that unites all of humanity
Rather than get shown up by a ten-year-old again, I think I'll post my goals for 2009.
Mind
1. Read more non-fiction
2. Write more frequently
3. Blog more or less, I'm not sure which
Body
1. Exercise at least once
2. Eat at least two meals a day
3. Fume less (stress reduction)
Heart
1. Forgive somebody for something- probably not going to happen but worth a shot
2. Make fewer jokes about killing prostitutes
3. Plot fewer murders
World
1. Say bad ideas aloud less frequently, people enact too many of them
2. Go somewhere, do something
3. Make the perfect Youtube video, the one that unites all of humanity
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Profane Conversion tables
Ever wonder what your roommate means when he says he has an assload of homework? Wonder no more. Here are the conversion tables for profane units of measurement.
1 fuckton = 5 shittons
1 shitton = 226 assloads
1 assload = 4 buttloads
1 buttload = approximately 16.3 pounds
Note: the above measurements are all in imperial units. A metric fuckton is approximately 1.1 fucktons.
1 fuckton = 5 shittons
1 shitton = 226 assloads
1 assload = 4 buttloads
1 buttload = approximately 16.3 pounds
Note: the above measurements are all in imperial units. A metric fuckton is approximately 1.1 fucktons.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Maybe they should call the show Antiheroes
Oh Heroes, you just don't know what you're doing anymore do you?
I see that you've decided to switch the format from five plots that go nowhere per episode to one plot that goes nowhere per episodes. I suppose that's an improvement, maybe.
You're still pretty hung up on this whole "paint the future" thing. So much so that you've given that power to SIX CHARACTERS across three seasons. The artist who draws all the pictures must have one hell of a contract.
I think it's telling that the protagonists are such colossal fuckups that they need to check the future once a year to see how their current actions are going to destroy the world. I mean, really, each season has featured at least one catastrophic power-related disaster that our heroes need to STOP THEMSELVES FROM CAUSING. It's gotten to the point where you've even run out of apocalypses, such that they're using season one's over again. A picture of Washington blowing up right where the picture of New York blowing up used to be. Was that supposed to come off as extremely lazy? Did you even bother to draw a new picture or did you just photoshop the old one?
While we're there, why is it that the government bugs Bennet's storage locker, a place only he knew existed up until a month ago yet doesn't bother to watch Isaac Mendes' loft, a place that practically every character in the series has visited and a site used as a lab by both Pinehearst and the Company? Maybe the government figures that two such utter failures as Matt and Peter are just going to screw up and get caught anyway that it's not worth chasing them. Those two are so incompetant that they'll probably kill themselves trying to fix a toaster.
I see that you've decided to switch the format from five plots that go nowhere per episode to one plot that goes nowhere per episodes. I suppose that's an improvement, maybe.
You're still pretty hung up on this whole "paint the future" thing. So much so that you've given that power to SIX CHARACTERS across three seasons. The artist who draws all the pictures must have one hell of a contract.
I think it's telling that the protagonists are such colossal fuckups that they need to check the future once a year to see how their current actions are going to destroy the world. I mean, really, each season has featured at least one catastrophic power-related disaster that our heroes need to STOP THEMSELVES FROM CAUSING. It's gotten to the point where you've even run out of apocalypses, such that they're using season one's over again. A picture of Washington blowing up right where the picture of New York blowing up used to be. Was that supposed to come off as extremely lazy? Did you even bother to draw a new picture or did you just photoshop the old one?
While we're there, why is it that the government bugs Bennet's storage locker, a place only he knew existed up until a month ago yet doesn't bother to watch Isaac Mendes' loft, a place that practically every character in the series has visited and a site used as a lab by both Pinehearst and the Company? Maybe the government figures that two such utter failures as Matt and Peter are just going to screw up and get caught anyway that it's not worth chasing them. Those two are so incompetant that they'll probably kill themselves trying to fix a toaster.
Fun with geneology
My many times Great Grandfather, Sir Henry Wallop, was Royal Surgeon to Queen Elizabeth. For his service he received a coat of arms featuring three unicorns.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Great Historical Deaths
King Charles VIII of France 1470-1498
Notable life events- King of France for 15 years. Launched successful invasion of Naples. Conquered Florence. Expelled from Italy by Venetian coalition.
Cause of Death- Low door frame.
Notable life events- King of France for 15 years. Launched successful invasion of Naples. Conquered Florence. Expelled from Italy by Venetian coalition.
Cause of Death- Low door frame.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thoughts from the Oscars, cause I'm original
Apparently the way to save the Oscars is to turn it into a low-budget version of the Tonys. And the funny thing is it works.
I think the industry that's going to pull us out of the recession is the making fun of the recession industry.
Steve! Open it! Way to go Steve. You ruined the Oscars.
A tribute to past Best Supporting Actress winners? Um, what?
I think the Best Supporting Actresses are a secret society. Or maybe a cult.
Okay, this new method of introducing the nominees is weirding me out. On the one hand it's sort of sweet to give everyone genuine complements but it reminds me of the last couple episodes of an American Idol season. What was wrong with showing clips from the films
Penelope Cruz is looking like a Young Angela Patrelli.
Wow, someone put some serious thought into this. The Best Screenplay presentation was both clever and appropriate.
I like that the first person to throw out some politics was a writer.
Pixar burn!
Senseless barrage of animation! We're back to form.
If you didn't know WALL-E was going to win you may be clinically retarded.
They're really going over the top for the set on the Art Decoration award. See my previous comments re: the Tonys only minus the low budget thing.
I think its funny that Dark Knight was nominated for the Makeup award and it featured a guy wearing actual makeup.
Ah technical awards. Nothing like forcing people used to being behind the camera to give speeches in front of a room full of actors.
Slumdog Millionaire draws first blood against Benjamin Button.
The entire Oscars should be done by two stoners on a couch.
DP stands for Director of Photography. You have a dirty mind.
Random musical number. The hell?
Robert Downey Jr. as Shaft. I would watch that.
Letting Heath's family accept his award was a classy move. I just wish they could have had a less Joker picture of him to have in the background.
This may be a little tactless to say right now, but the Ledger family has one hell of a gene pool.
Philippe Petit just balanced an Oscar on his chin. Hell yes.
2008 was a big year for car stunts.
I like how the technical awards are presented in the order they happen in the production of the film. Were they always done that way?
Boom goes the dynamite.
I like that Slumdog actually got an Indian guy on stage. That guy made a sound mixing award seem like it was a much bigger award. Good for him.
Do they make sure the people who vote for the technical awards actually know something about sound editing and visual effects? Or is it like a selectman election where you just check a box at random?
I didn't realize that "Down to Earth" was an African spiritual.
Song duel! East versus west! That's how they should settle it.
Hey, what's this new show that Nathan Filion's doing? Why haven't I heard about it before?
Goddamnit, stop the pretentious camera work on the people we've lost montage. I can only read half their names.
So did they leave Heath Ledger out of the montage because he won the best supporting Oscar?
It must be interesting to be the guy whose job it is to film shots of the director working to use for the best director montage.
Danny Boyle thanked Tigger. Not enough Winnie the Pooh characters get thanked in award shows.
So the Jai Ho dance was choreographed by the man who pierced the side of Christ with the Spear of Destiny? That man has range.
Way to sneak in self congratulating into someone else's Oscar nomination, Halle Berry.
Sophia Loren scares me.
Kate Winslet's dad has an impressive whistle.
I just saw Edward Cullen sitting behind Mickey Roarke and it creeped me the fuck out.
The Academy gets over its homophobia. Brokeback Mountain is avenged.
Slumdog for the win. It is written.
Every film that wins Best Picture should have the whole cast rush the stage.
I think the industry that's going to pull us out of the recession is the making fun of the recession industry.
Steve! Open it! Way to go Steve. You ruined the Oscars.
A tribute to past Best Supporting Actress winners? Um, what?
I think the Best Supporting Actresses are a secret society. Or maybe a cult.
Okay, this new method of introducing the nominees is weirding me out. On the one hand it's sort of sweet to give everyone genuine complements but it reminds me of the last couple episodes of an American Idol season. What was wrong with showing clips from the films
Penelope Cruz is looking like a Young Angela Patrelli.
Wow, someone put some serious thought into this. The Best Screenplay presentation was both clever and appropriate.
I like that the first person to throw out some politics was a writer.
Pixar burn!
Senseless barrage of animation! We're back to form.
If you didn't know WALL-E was going to win you may be clinically retarded.
They're really going over the top for the set on the Art Decoration award. See my previous comments re: the Tonys only minus the low budget thing.
I think its funny that Dark Knight was nominated for the Makeup award and it featured a guy wearing actual makeup.
Ah technical awards. Nothing like forcing people used to being behind the camera to give speeches in front of a room full of actors.
Slumdog Millionaire draws first blood against Benjamin Button.
The entire Oscars should be done by two stoners on a couch.
DP stands for Director of Photography. You have a dirty mind.
Random musical number. The hell?
Robert Downey Jr. as Shaft. I would watch that.
Letting Heath's family accept his award was a classy move. I just wish they could have had a less Joker picture of him to have in the background.
This may be a little tactless to say right now, but the Ledger family has one hell of a gene pool.
Philippe Petit just balanced an Oscar on his chin. Hell yes.
2008 was a big year for car stunts.
I like how the technical awards are presented in the order they happen in the production of the film. Were they always done that way?
Boom goes the dynamite.
I like that Slumdog actually got an Indian guy on stage. That guy made a sound mixing award seem like it was a much bigger award. Good for him.
Do they make sure the people who vote for the technical awards actually know something about sound editing and visual effects? Or is it like a selectman election where you just check a box at random?
I didn't realize that "Down to Earth" was an African spiritual.
Song duel! East versus west! That's how they should settle it.
Hey, what's this new show that Nathan Filion's doing? Why haven't I heard about it before?
Goddamnit, stop the pretentious camera work on the people we've lost montage. I can only read half their names.
So did they leave Heath Ledger out of the montage because he won the best supporting Oscar?
It must be interesting to be the guy whose job it is to film shots of the director working to use for the best director montage.
Danny Boyle thanked Tigger. Not enough Winnie the Pooh characters get thanked in award shows.
So the Jai Ho dance was choreographed by the man who pierced the side of Christ with the Spear of Destiny? That man has range.
Way to sneak in self congratulating into someone else's Oscar nomination, Halle Berry.
Sophia Loren scares me.
Kate Winslet's dad has an impressive whistle.
I just saw Edward Cullen sitting behind Mickey Roarke and it creeped me the fuck out.
The Academy gets over its homophobia. Brokeback Mountain is avenged.
Slumdog for the win. It is written.
Every film that wins Best Picture should have the whole cast rush the stage.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Dollhouse- Actual Review
So, that in depth discussion of Dollhouse just turned into speculation about what the myth arc of the show will be about. I neglected one key detail: Is the show actually any good? So here are some actual thoughts on the quality of the show rather than the plot hooks. Bear in mind that all statements and assertions made here should be read with a "thus far" immediately following, as there have only been two episodes, so yeah.
Is it good?
Short answer: Yes
Long Answer: Yes if it was written by anyone other than Joss Whedon. Whedon has set the bar for himself pretty high and over the past couple years managing to deliver sequentially more with less (Buffy ran for 7 seasons, Angel for 5, Firefly for 1/2, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog for 42 minutes of pure awesome). So from anyone else this would be phenomenal, from Whedon it's a little below par. So far.
Pros:
Eliza Duskhu- Eliza Duskhu is always great, and giving her a show she can essentially use as a massive demo real can only be a good thing. Her ability to create substantially different personas for each set of implanted memories
The ensemble- For the most part the ensemble is pretty solid, with a few welcome familiar faces (Look it's Helo! Look it's Fred!). Harry Lennix as Echo's handler, Boyd Langdon, is the moral center of the show, and combines fatherly affection for Echo with trepidation at the actions of the Dollhouse. Reed Diamond's head of security, Laurence Dominic, was mildly irritating in the first episode but by episode two I began to sympathize with the guy whose job it is to deal with rogue actives and cases gone wrong. The only false notes are Fran Kranz' smarmy lab tech and Olivia Williams' Dollhouse CEO. The former is annoying, and the latter... I'm not sure what it is exactly, but the character doesn't feel all there yet.
Cons:
Sketch- The premise of the show kinda sketches me out. I mean sure the Dollhouse creates hostage negotiators and assassins and, I dunno, Pilates instructors, but a lot of what they do is essentially prostitution. And that's a little creepy. I find myself wondering if, in addition to wiping the Actives' memories after mission, they also check them for STDs.
Humor- Or rather, lack thereof. All of Joss Whedon's works to date have been awesomely funny, even (especially?) at their darkest. Dollhouse is not especially funny. There is a distinct lack of the idiosyncratic dialogue Whedon is known for. Perhaps part of the problem is that a lot of the "funny" lines come from Topher, the sketchy lab tech, and he's just annoying.
Jury's Still Out:
Universe- All of Whedon's previous works have had exceptionally well realized universes. So far we haven't gotten much of a glimpse at the Dollverse or whatever term fans are calling it. The technology exists to extract and implant memories, so what also exists? The terms haven't been defined yet so we don't know what to expect. So there's a little super science, but how much? Is Active creation the one divergence from reality or will we later run into robots and ray guns?
Overall:
It's neat. Certainly worth watching. Give it time and it may become something truly awesome. Place your betts on how Fox will screw it over.
Is it good?
Short answer: Yes
Long Answer: Yes if it was written by anyone other than Joss Whedon. Whedon has set the bar for himself pretty high and over the past couple years managing to deliver sequentially more with less (Buffy ran for 7 seasons, Angel for 5, Firefly for 1/2, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog for 42 minutes of pure awesome). So from anyone else this would be phenomenal, from Whedon it's a little below par. So far.
Pros:
Eliza Duskhu- Eliza Duskhu is always great, and giving her a show she can essentially use as a massive demo real can only be a good thing. Her ability to create substantially different personas for each set of implanted memories
The ensemble- For the most part the ensemble is pretty solid, with a few welcome familiar faces (Look it's Helo! Look it's Fred!). Harry Lennix as Echo's handler, Boyd Langdon, is the moral center of the show, and combines fatherly affection for Echo with trepidation at the actions of the Dollhouse. Reed Diamond's head of security, Laurence Dominic, was mildly irritating in the first episode but by episode two I began to sympathize with the guy whose job it is to deal with rogue actives and cases gone wrong. The only false notes are Fran Kranz' smarmy lab tech and Olivia Williams' Dollhouse CEO. The former is annoying, and the latter... I'm not sure what it is exactly, but the character doesn't feel all there yet.
Cons:
Sketch- The premise of the show kinda sketches me out. I mean sure the Dollhouse creates hostage negotiators and assassins and, I dunno, Pilates instructors, but a lot of what they do is essentially prostitution. And that's a little creepy. I find myself wondering if, in addition to wiping the Actives' memories after mission, they also check them for STDs.
Humor- Or rather, lack thereof. All of Joss Whedon's works to date have been awesomely funny, even (especially?) at their darkest. Dollhouse is not especially funny. There is a distinct lack of the idiosyncratic dialogue Whedon is known for. Perhaps part of the problem is that a lot of the "funny" lines come from Topher, the sketchy lab tech, and he's just annoying.
Jury's Still Out:
Universe- All of Whedon's previous works have had exceptionally well realized universes. So far we haven't gotten much of a glimpse at the Dollverse or whatever term fans are calling it. The technology exists to extract and implant memories, so what also exists? The terms haven't been defined yet so we don't know what to expect. So there's a little super science, but how much? Is Active creation the one divergence from reality or will we later run into robots and ray guns?
Overall:
It's neat. Certainly worth watching. Give it time and it may become something truly awesome. Place your betts on how Fox will screw it over.
Dollhouse
So yeah, Dollhouse. Thoughts.
I just finished watching the second episode. As far as I noticed, people held off on reviewing the series after the pilot, which was a good call. The pilot basically said "Hello, I am the premise! Goodbye!" It was interesting, but left you waiting for the other shoe to drop. In essence, the pilot set up a fairly formulaic adventure of the week series. Echo gets a new personality each week to deal with some new problem. Agent Ballard slowly gets closer but never quite finds the Dollhouse. You could milk two or three seasons out of that, and it wouldn't be that bad. Take a look at Burn Notice for a show that gets a lot of mileage out of a solid cast and a good formula.
But the thing is, this is a Joss Whedon show, so we expect more. Joss Whedon's shows have over arching plots, and season or series long adversaries. That's where episode two comes in. It says to us "Hello, I am the Meta-plot! My friend premise is here too, but I think you and I can be great friends!" And we all breathe a sigh of relief because that's what we were waiting for.
Rather than discuss the plot of either episode I'm just going to talk about possiblities for meta-plot. There may be spoilers though. So far the plot hooks established:
An escaped Active, Alpha, with a composite personality and a tendency to cut people up. (Note: Something about being called Alpha leads to weirdness. Alpha was a rogue agent in the MiB cartoon and the master AI in RvB: Reconstruction.) He spared Echo's life during his killing spree.
A myserious naked guy who knows Echo's past. Odds that it's Alpha- 2:1
Mark Sheppard, world's greatest character actor (Badger-Firefly, Romo Lamkin-Battlestar Galactica, Whatever the villain's name was-Bionic Woman, Awesome bank robber-Burn Notice, I watch too much tv), plays his least sketchy role ever. Odds he's actually sketchy- 3:2
Dollhouse has mysterious backers. Odds they're evil- 1:1
Echo is retaining some memories, at least subconsciously. Not giving odds as I'm pretty sure that her developing her own personality is the main plot of the series.
Odds that at least one character we've already met is secretly an Active- 5:1
Some mysterious agency orchestrated a massive plot to hire Echo for a round of "Most Dangerous Game," involving hiring a psycho outdoorsman, hiring a mercenary disguised as a cop, falsifying a complete background, and killing two people. During the chase she drank a canteen of drugged water that made her start to see past incarnations of herself. Odds that the whole plot was a Xanatos Roulette to get her to do that- 3:1
Alpha killed the aforementioned mercenary. Odds are split even whether he was doing it to protect Echo or cover his own tracks.
At one point the Actives' base programing was Ninja. They flipped out and killed each other. Odds that that is awesome- Chainsaw:Bacon
I just finished watching the second episode. As far as I noticed, people held off on reviewing the series after the pilot, which was a good call. The pilot basically said "Hello, I am the premise! Goodbye!" It was interesting, but left you waiting for the other shoe to drop. In essence, the pilot set up a fairly formulaic adventure of the week series. Echo gets a new personality each week to deal with some new problem. Agent Ballard slowly gets closer but never quite finds the Dollhouse. You could milk two or three seasons out of that, and it wouldn't be that bad. Take a look at Burn Notice for a show that gets a lot of mileage out of a solid cast and a good formula.
But the thing is, this is a Joss Whedon show, so we expect more. Joss Whedon's shows have over arching plots, and season or series long adversaries. That's where episode two comes in. It says to us "Hello, I am the Meta-plot! My friend premise is here too, but I think you and I can be great friends!" And we all breathe a sigh of relief because that's what we were waiting for.
Rather than discuss the plot of either episode I'm just going to talk about possiblities for meta-plot. There may be spoilers though. So far the plot hooks established:
An escaped Active, Alpha, with a composite personality and a tendency to cut people up. (Note: Something about being called Alpha leads to weirdness. Alpha was a rogue agent in the MiB cartoon and the master AI in RvB: Reconstruction.) He spared Echo's life during his killing spree.
A myserious naked guy who knows Echo's past. Odds that it's Alpha- 2:1
Mark Sheppard, world's greatest character actor (Badger-Firefly, Romo Lamkin-Battlestar Galactica, Whatever the villain's name was-Bionic Woman, Awesome bank robber-Burn Notice, I watch too much tv), plays his least sketchy role ever. Odds he's actually sketchy- 3:2
Dollhouse has mysterious backers. Odds they're evil- 1:1
Echo is retaining some memories, at least subconsciously. Not giving odds as I'm pretty sure that her developing her own personality is the main plot of the series.
Odds that at least one character we've already met is secretly an Active- 5:1
Some mysterious agency orchestrated a massive plot to hire Echo for a round of "Most Dangerous Game," involving hiring a psycho outdoorsman, hiring a mercenary disguised as a cop, falsifying a complete background, and killing two people. During the chase she drank a canteen of drugged water that made her start to see past incarnations of herself. Odds that the whole plot was a Xanatos Roulette to get her to do that- 3:1
Alpha killed the aforementioned mercenary. Odds are split even whether he was doing it to protect Echo or cover his own tracks.
At one point the Actives' base programing was Ninja. They flipped out and killed each other. Odds that that is awesome- Chainsaw:Bacon
Voice Actor Recognition
Is it just me or is Jim from the Office the narrator on those Blackberry Storm commercials?
Goddamn it, I have a blog
The fact that I am giving in a creating a blog strikes me a some gross personal failure. Blogs have always seemed to me equivalent to annoying yappy dogs: they achieve little and are all their owners can talk about. (I suppose the comparison can also be made that if you don't feed them for a couple days they die)
As a result I have steadfastly avoided one of my own. (That is excepting a brief period in 04 when I had a live journal dedicated to nothing but sensational lies about myself. However that floundered when I lost interest.) Then why, you (and indeed I) may ask, are you now creating one of these tiresome creatures? I guess I'm just that bored lately and slightly wasting the time of some dozen or so people I would otherwise have to speak to on Instant Messenger gives me something with which to occupy my time. Bully.
So then, what to speak, ugh blog, about on this little slice of nowhere? I have named the page "Wonderful Starfish" in hopes that I may connect it in someway with my video projects, authored under the same name. Theater of course, both things I participate in and things I see. Movies, should I ever go to another one or actually watch my goddamn Netflix. Television, as I watch far too much of it these days (though very little of it on tv). Literature perhaps, for given values of "literature." Politics, should something iratate me enough to warrant a return to political editorials. Gaming perhaps, as it's one of the few things I do any more outside the theater. Food maybe, as I find myself cooking more and more these days.
Okay, wooo! Blog. Goddamn it.
As a result I have steadfastly avoided one of my own. (That is excepting a brief period in 04 when I had a live journal dedicated to nothing but sensational lies about myself. However that floundered when I lost interest.) Then why, you (and indeed I) may ask, are you now creating one of these tiresome creatures? I guess I'm just that bored lately and slightly wasting the time of some dozen or so people I would otherwise have to speak to on Instant Messenger gives me something with which to occupy my time. Bully.
So then, what to speak, ugh blog, about on this little slice of nowhere? I have named the page "Wonderful Starfish" in hopes that I may connect it in someway with my video projects, authored under the same name. Theater of course, both things I participate in and things I see. Movies, should I ever go to another one or actually watch my goddamn Netflix. Television, as I watch far too much of it these days (though very little of it on tv). Literature perhaps, for given values of "literature." Politics, should something iratate me enough to warrant a return to political editorials. Gaming perhaps, as it's one of the few things I do any more outside the theater. Food maybe, as I find myself cooking more and more these days.
Okay, wooo! Blog. Goddamn it.
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