Monday, April 30, 2007

post 343. the amazing brandons show.

the amazing brandons' show - the final exam for my advanced improv class out at brockport - went very well, and had a great turnout. good kids.

red light, green light. brandon keeps them away.

brandon and brandon practice scene-making.


perfoming in 112 - i've always loved lab theatres, but i'm starting to like smaller and smaller places...perhaps, if the stars align and i have another improv class, i'll get them to do a show in a broom closet.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

post 342. consolidation and simplification, part 2.

i've been working at record archive since mid-1999. before that i had been working at 90.5 fm wber, volunteering in various late-night dj slots. with those two positions, i've accumulated an obscene amount of cds. i remember a friend of mine in new orleans - the esteemed kevin law - who worked at blockbuster music and had a collection of cds that was downright criminal; so while i didn't have that, the thought of having to cut down my cd collection to fighting weight is a tough task. i mean, there's sentimental value, i-still-haven't-listened-to-this value, and i-might-need-this-in-the-future-in-order-to-make-the-ultimate-mix-tape value.

a lot of variables. once, when talking about getting rid of cds with the unmatchable mark "shark" rapone, we talked about what a writhing, painful task it is to get rid of cds; for some, books are tough to get rid of. for music geeks, even the dangerman cd you got just becasue you liked one song they played when they opened for fun lovin' criminals in 1998 is a battle of inner sentiments.


i'm going to try and get away with taking four of the "target bins" - as we call them at the archive - of cds, which means getting rid of a lot. the bin in the lower left has all the "untouchables," or cds that i'll never get rid of: nine inch nails, living colour, u2. another bin has the crowded house.

ok. easy, right? now i can just weed out everything...else...wait. i have to keep all - all, that is - of this fun lovin' criminals. and all - all, that is - of this ministry. and the hives. and so on.


one of the other problems were the 25, 30 cds i've made over the years of "onesies," or songs i took from play copies or frm the 90.5 vaults. i would ask the bosses at the radio station if i could borrow stuff, then take it home, burn a compilation, then bring them back. same with the archive. these cds are the reason i might have guests over and have one of them turn their head and ask through furrowed brow, "is this j.lo?"

enter the g5 imac. i've been burning everything into the computer, and plan to back it all up on an external hard drive. it's a little easier on the conscious, but, well, at least i still get to keep that one dangerman song.

Friday, April 13, 2007

post 341. the amazing brandons.

my advanced improv class is getting ready for their final exam - a show in front of an audience. monday the 30th, 5:00 pm, free. room 112 in the tower building out at brockport.



Wednesday, April 11, 2007

post 340. he made me want to read books. and write them.

post 339. consolidation and simplification, part 1.

i have too much stuff. i'm like my mom in this respect. a class-1 pack rat. an entire childhood of allowances spent on g.i. joes, christmases of star wars, and birthdays of everything else. so with my impending move to lake george, i've decided - much like i did with my comic books a few months ago - it's time to purge. so i opened up the closet, and dug out the grande-sized rubbermaid containers that hold all the toys that made it. in other words, my toy boxes.

i have three: one, i found, has atari 2600 games and the few things surrounding my video gaming resurgence in 1998 with the nintendo 64. another had a bunch of large vehicles and autobots. then there's the box pictured above, which my neighbors no doubt heard me opening: with paper-thin walls, there was no way they couldn't have heard my grande-sized expletive. what a mess. all the backpacks, miniature guns, familiar but unrememberably-named figurines, parts and accessories of star wars figures.

jesus.

my first rule: all the action figures i keep. starbuck from the original (and far superior) battlestar galactica, charley pizer from disney's the black hole, peter venkmann from the ghostbusters...they're easy to put in a little box.


so i first decided to categorize: action figures, star wars, g.i. joe, transformers, everything else. i put everything star wars-related into a bag - that's for baitchman, since he's still under the misguided belief that george lucas isn't a money-grubbing, legacy-ruining dickwad. i sometimes think eric was wearing a blindfold and covering his ears during episode 1.

wow. did you know i was single? as if the general nature of this blog post didn't give it away in the first place.


here's the other box of video game stuff. i'm going to keep a couple 2600 games and the system itself. i'm offering the 64 to friends. the star wars walkie-talkies will make nice props for the improv troupe.

after a few hours i was able to separate all the star wars stuff, then i stood there looking at it all for about fifteen minutes. frustrated at the sheer volume, i dumped it all back into the containers and put them back in the closet.

this is going to take more resolve than i thought.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

post 338. doodling.

having bought paul pope's batman year 100, it inspired me to get back into drawing, doodling, and generally relaxing with a pen and some paper every now and then. i drew this and then scanned it, messing around with shading in photoshop. pretty crude, but fun to do. and lights years away from paul pope.