Living Well Is The Best Revenge

The Dictator... Really?!

2011-12-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Like an excited schoolgirl, I rushed to my computer to watch the trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen's upcoming comedy, The Dictator.

I've been a huge fan of his since Ali G, but I've admittedly been skeptical of both Borat and Bruno before they came out. When they announced Borat, I was actually disappointed. It was not my favorite character on Ali G, and I was hoping for an Ali G or Bruno movie--I thought they were stronger characters. Of course, when I saw it, I thought it was a masterpiece. Then when they announced Bruno, I was a little disappointed again. I thought SBC was going to just follow the same formula, I thought it was a bit of a cop-out. But then Bruno blew me (ahem) away! I also really enjoyed SBC's supporting performances in Talladega Nights and Sweeney Todd.

So when I heard he was making a new movie called The Dictator, for the first time I was thrilled. Maybe this was going to be another schmuck-the-real-people flick, but now he's a huge leader of a nonsense-named country, or something like that. I was going to forgive the potential that it would again follow the same formula, since it worked so well last time. He's gotta outdo himself with this one, right?

Well, when I fired up the trailer on YouTube, I was pretty excited until I saw all the famous people supporting in his cast--Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly, Megan Fox. And his jokes were the same pointedly offensive jabs at modern culture, but the only thing that was missing was the look of genuine horror/confusion/anger on the real non-actors he played against in the past.

I'll have to go back and check the other movies, but I suspect if the Borat or Bruno gags were taken into a pure narrative filmmaking scenario, they wouldn't be very funny. The "straight man", in the comic sense, in the other two films was absolutely integral. And while both movies had very funny narrative elements sprinkled in, and some of the candid moments were probably a little less candid than they let on, the places where I laughed and cringed the most were when people genuinely reacted--not acted reacted. In fact, the narrative sections of those movie just supported the anticipation of the real-people scenes.

I'll give it a chance--I've been wrong about SBC before, maybe I will be surprised again. But the trailer doesn't seem to do a potentially great movie justice. It looks like Adam Sandler in a schlocky remake of Coming to America. Am I alone here?

And, I mean, come on... Am I crazy for thinking this looks like a funnier movie:

Thanks for the 'tude, Doctor!

2011-12-05T13:12:00.001-08:00

Had to take the boy in for his scheduled vaccines. Robin and I have done a lot of research and discussion about putting together a vaccination schedule. Being itinerant for the first year of his life, then being on and off health insurance, we've unfortunately had to bounce from pediatrician to pediatrician.

Today, we saw a new doctor for the first time to get his fourth DTAP and his Chicken Pox vaccines. I brought in the spreadsheet that we made up for his schedule and showed it to her. I also showed her some of the past height, weight, and head size data I had in my iPhone. She seemed put off by it all.

First, she said she couldn't find all of his records paperwork, but she almost brushed off my iPhone with disdain. Sorry, lady, technology trumps your absent tree-killing papers! And then she had the gall to tell me, "I don't believe in this schedule," referring to our spreadsheet. The boy is almost two, he's been getting shots all along the way, he's healthy as a horse--now is not the time to judge our process. I didn't need her opinion about our method, I needed her recommendations, and we'll make the final decisions about our child's future, thanks.

And she also could have spared us the line about how she's seen children die of mumps, chicken pox, and HepB. I'm not a small-time bumpkin that just stepped off a boat. Of course I didn't go to medical school for X amount of years, but I do live in the 21st century, where a much better educated decision can be made than just blindly going along with whatever snotty person with a PHD has to say.

The little guy cried a bit at the shots but then recovered like a champ. I think I'll recover from the doctor visit by taking my child's healthcare elsewhere.

End of rant.

Apple announces Final Cut Pro X | Video | Creative Notes | Macworld

2011-04-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

Good lord AND it's only $300??????

Apple announces Final Cut Pro X

by Serenity Caldwell, Macworld.com Apr 12, 2011 7:36 pm

On Tuesday, Apple previewed Final Cut Pro X, the newest version of the company's professional non-linear video editing software. The announcement came at the Final Cut Pro User Group Network Supermeet, being held in Las Vegas during the 2011 National Association of Broadcasters Show.

In addition to a complete UI overhaul, Final Cut Pro X boasts a newly designed floating point linear color system, up-to-4K-resolution-independent playback, a magnetic timeline for keeping audio and video in sync, Compound Clips for easy video nesting, non-destructive color balancing, automatic audio cleanup, and Smart Collections for organizing clips.Apple says Final Cut Pro X has been rewritten from the ground up, with support for 64-bit, a user-interface redesign, and a whole host of new features. The software takes advantage of core Mac OS X features like Cocoa, Core Animation, Open CL, and Grand Central Dispatch to speed up and fine-tune performance.

The new software has additionally borrowed a trick or two from Apple's consumer-level video editing software, iMovie: It now supports full background rendering—“the render dialogue is gone!” said Apple video architect Peter Steinauer—and an inline precision editor. It also sports the same automatic face detection (single or group) as iMovie or and the ability to identify shots (medium, wide, or close-up).

Steinaeur spoke briefly about the new features before Apple’s chief architect for video applications, Randy Ubillos, came on-stage for a full walkthrough of the software.

Final Cut Pro X will be available this June from the Mac App Store for $299.

[via @FCPsupermeet on Twitter]

iPad 2 and iPhone 4 3D demonstration, no glasses required [video]

2011-04-12T21:40:00.001-07:00

Pretty eerie and cool!

iPad 2 and iPhone 4 3D demonstration, no glasses required [video]

via TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch blog by Chris Oldroyd on 4/12/11

The EHCI Research Group has produced a demonstration video of 3D without glasses on an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 that will make your jaw drop to the floor! The possibility of glasses–free 3D hitting iOS devices has just become a reality.

Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP) on mobile devices allows to create a glasses-free monocular 3D display. It is based on a efficient head-tracker that uses the front-facing camera of the device. We use an off-axis projection in order to adapt the perspective of the 3D scene according to the head's position of the user. Such spatially-aware mobile display enables to improve the possibilities of interaction.

The videos are after the break, you have to see them to believe how good they are. When you have, let us know what you think in the comments!
[EHCI via macstories]

iPad 2 and iPhone 4 3D demonstration, no glasses required [video] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

A 12-Step Guide to Fostering Your Creativity

2011-04-12T21:36:00.001-07:00

A 12-Step Guide to Fostering Your Creativity

via Mashable! by Kelli Shaver on 4/12/11

The Web Designer Series is supported by Wix.com, a free Flash online builder that makes website creation a breeze. Click here to create your own website now.
One skill that every designer must learn — and quickly — is how to be creative on-demand. While there will always be specifications that guide a project as well as tried and true methods of solving common visual problems, one must still be able to get focused, get creative and produce work that doesn't end up looking formulaic or forced.
Unfortunately, though, not every project will be tantalizing and fun, and there will be days when you simply don't want to go to work, no matter how much you love your job. How do you keep the creative spark going when you're not feeling particularly inspired? We have 12 simple tips you can use to foster a more creative mindset.
While most of these tips are for the freelance designer who works independently, anyone in a creative industry should be able to relate and gain insight from them.

1. Set a Schedule

Having a fixed schedule may sound counter-productive to creativity, but in fact, it has several benefits. Knowing what you're going to do and when you're going to do it can free your mind to focus on the task at hand without worrying about all of the little things that can distract you. Setting aside two hours on your Monday mornings to deal with business paperwork, for instance, means you won't be distracted from Wednesday's project by rushing out to pay the office electric bill. Fixed office hours means that — most of the time — you won't have to take work home with you, which will lower your overall stress level.

2. Have a Dedicated Workspace — Most of the Time

Similar to setting a schedule, having a dedicated workspace frees you from distraction and gives you a place where you can surround yourself with the items that inspire you and make you feel most comfortable. It also helps to separate work life from personal life, a mix that can leave some people overwhelmed. Establishing a good work-life balance is important to maintaining a healthy attitude about your job. That said, don't be afraid to mix it up now and then, though. Working from the back deck on a nice day can be a refreshing break in the routine, particularly when your creative juices have stalled.

3. Talk About What You're Doing

This is especially important for freelance designers working on their own — share your work with others and talk about what each of you is working on. Even if the projects aren't related, having someone to share ideas and discuss hurdles with is vital to keeping an open mind and developing creative solutions. Sometimes a change of perspective makes a world of difference.

4. Become an Observer

Study the world and the people in it, wherever you go. Whether sitting at the coffee shop or attending a local event, don't pass up opportunities to broaden your horizons and observe the world around you. The goal of design is to send a message or solve a problem. It's easier to communicate that message when you know your audience, and there's no better way to understand it than to engage and observe it in action. Learning not only how people respond to one another, but also how they interpret and interact with objects in their everyday lives can go a long way toward inspiring good visual communication.

5. Explore Other Creative Interests

Working every day on the same types of projects can become a bit of a drain. It's easy to get stuck in a creative rut and fall into patterns that you may not even realize exist. Exploring other creative interests, like photography, music or writing, can give you an outlet that's different enough to keep your mind stimulated, but still keep you thinking about design from a different perspective.

6. Collect Inspiration

Start collecting things you feel are well-designed, either by putting the actual product (such as a magazine ad or a mailer) into a binder, or saving digital photos and screenshots. Ideally, do both. A digital collection is more efficient and can be much larger, but a small physical collection of nicely designed things can be great to flip through for inspiration. Try and go a step beyond just saving things in a pile, however. Whenever you add an item to your collection, take a few minutes to include a note about what it was you liked about the piece and why you felt it worked. In this way, you're not just saving pretty pictures to emulate, but forcing yourself to examine the piece and study why it's good, drawing lessons from it that you can then apply to your own work.

7. Get Involved in a Good Cause

If you have the time to spare, consider putting your skills to use for a cause you believe strongly in. Not only will you be helping out an organization you support, but regardless of what you may be doing at work, you'll have a creative outlet that you can enjoy and feel good about. Not only that, but you'll be working with people who likely will very much appreciate your efforts. That's good karma all the way around, and when you feel good about your work, you'll produce higher quality results across all of your projects.

8. Get a Good Night's Sleep

Sleep deprivation can be as hard on the body as drinking. It's difficult to focus when you're tired, and you're not going to have any major creative insights if you're simply going through the motions between cups of coffee. Of course, you may have to pull the occasional all-nighter to meet a deadline, but try to get good sleep on a regular basis. Poor sleep habits over long periods of time can also contribute to depression and negatively affect your physical health, which are definite creativity killers. When your body is not at its best, neither is your mind.

9. Learn Something New Every Day

Never stop learning — the world is a big, complicated place and there's always something new and exciting right around the corner. Maybe you want to pick up a new language (spoken or programming — take your pick), master a new skill or just consume a few interesting trivia tidbits. Simply put, the more things you know, the more reference material you'll have to draw upon whenever you're trying to solve a task. The more research you do, the better you'll understand the process of discovery. Natural curiosity and creativity go hand-in-hand.

10. Take Breaks

If you're in the zone and find yourself working for hours on end, go ahead and embrace it. When that feeling hits, you can often produce some of your best work. More often, though, a couple of regular, scheduled breaks throughout your work day can serve as a great way to revitalize and re-energize. Losing yourself in your work is great, but getting lost in a project you're struggling with can make for some real creative bottlenecks. By forcing yourself to stop and step away from the desk, you're almost guaranteed to see the problem in a new light upon your return.

11. Use a Mood Board

Get back to the basics of design: space, balance, texture, repetition, line, color. We often get so used to incorporating all of these elements together, that we don't give a lot of thought to them individually. Sometimes, though, it helps to think about the individual design elements first and then work on the whole. Mood boards are a great way to work on establishing an overall feel for a project without being burdened by specifics.

12. Don't Feel Guilty

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try or what you do, things just don't work out. If you have more than one or two days like this in a month, then you might want to look into why that's the case, but everyone has an off day now and then. The important part is not to let it get you down. Find other productive ways to occupy your time, learn a new skill, catch up on paperwork or return phone calls and emails. Stop your work on a positive note and then take a break, relax, and try again tomorrow.

Series Supported by Wix.com

The Web Designer Series is supported by Wix.com, which brings amazing technology home to everyday people. Discover the amazing simplicity of its online Flash builder and enjoy creating beautiful websites with powerful drag and drop interface.

Cisco to shutter Flip camera business

2011-04-12T20:27:00.001-07:00

Wow. This seemed to have such promise only a few years ago. Though I rarely used mine soon after I bought it...

Macworld
April 12, 2011 10:32 AM
by Jim Duffy

Cisco to shutter Flip camera business

Cisco reportedly plans to shutter its Flip videocam business in a restructuring of its consumer operations following a disappointing string of quarters.

Wonderfully Creepy Sculptures Carved From Bananas

2011-04-12T19:56:00.001-07:00

They're all still oddly sexual...

Laughing Squid
April 12, 2011 3:00 PM
by EDW Lynch

Wonderfully Creepy Sculptures Carved From Bananas

Maybe it's their gooeyness or their unsettling curvature, but these sculptures carved from ripe bananas by Japanese artist y_yamaden are wonderfully creepy.
via Geekologie
photos by y_yamaden

Art Food Japan

Crime Scene Fleece Throw

2011-04-12T19:54:00.001-07:00

WANT!!

Neatorama
April 12, 2011 3:25 PM
by Tiffany

Crime Scene Fleece Throw

Crime Scene Fleece Throw – $15.95

Spring is here! Are you looking for the perfect picnic blanket? You need the Crime Scene Fleece Throw from the NeatoShop. It's to die for!
Be sure to check out all the fiendishly funny Home & Garden items available at the NeatoShop!

NeatoShop Features crime fleece scene throw

Gary Oldman Attends “O” by Cirque du Soleil

2011-04-11T13:11:00.001-07:00

More info and group pic at http://jslo.co/fUcdQ3

Chicks with Steve Buscemi Eyes

2011-04-11T13:06:00.001-07:00

Now this is a blog I could get off on. So to speak...

Neatorama
April 11, 2011 11:53 AM
by Stacy

Chicks with Steve Buscemi Eyes

Ever wonder what some of Hollywood's hottest starlets would look like if they had Steve Buscemi's eyes? No? Well, thanks to the amazing Photoshop work of Chicks with Steve Buscemeyes, now you won't be able to stop wondering. Is it just me, or does Taylor Swift with Steve Buscemeyes look a lot like Heather Graham?

Link via AVClub

Design Everything Else Buscemeyes celebrities Photoshop Steve Buscemi

White Clown!

2010-11-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Luckily, life after Kooza doesn't necessarily mean unemployment!

At the end of Kooza's run in Calgary last month, my drive to Las Vegas was event-filled to say the least. Within the span of 24 hours, I experienced a roller-coaster of emotions thanks to a series of completely unrelated occurrences.

First thing in the morning, on the last leg of my trip to Vegas, I get pulled over for speeding in Utah. Sure, I'm doing 90 in an 80 zone, but when I look in my rear view mirror, I see what looks like a Ford Mustang with two huge muscle stripes painted on the hood and over the roof. I'm thinking this hotshot is tailing me and wants to pass me. So I move over to the right, but he doesn't pass. So I go back left to pass a slow truck, then merge right again. He still doesn't pass. I don't know what this guy's game is until he throws on his flashers, and pretty soon I'm a few hundred bucks in the hole. Thank you, Online Traffic School for erasing my points. Those are 5 hours of my life I'll never get back.

When I get to Vegas in the early afternoon, everything is in high gear to prepare for a huge Halloween party that night at our friends Ben and Ross' house--a huge yearly blowout party that is always bigger than the year before it. The problem is, every year there seems to be more and more people there that fewer and fewer people know, which as one can imagine, could lead to mischief.

The party was great. Robin painted Ben and our friend Sarah as the Avatar couple, which of course took several hours. I hadn't seen her or my little guy Leo for three weeks before it, so I was catching up with them. Robin was dressed as a medieval princess, I was a swarthy knight, and Leo was a miniature dragon. We left a little early to put the little guy to sleep, but we realized that Robin left her phone at the party and I left my jeans. The next morning we went back to the house to retrieve them, only to find out that at the end of the party, around 4am, some girl who no one knew at snuck around the party and quietly stole people's bags, purses, phones, etc. and drove off. She barely drove a mile away, when she got into a huge car accident. She stumbled back to the party and told the other party-goers that someone stole her car and crashed it. By this point, people were noticing that their stuff was gone. They went to the crash site to investigate and found a bunch of their items strewn about.

Robin and I started to worry for our stuff--I had also left a brand new lens for my camera there, a $2K value. Amazingly it was still there right by the door, as were my jeans, but wallet was missing. And Robin's phone was nowhere to be found.

As we were desperately scrounging for our stuff, I'm beside myself with anger thinking I have to cancel all my cards and go to the DMV for a new license, Robin is crying because EVERYTHING is on her phone, and she has HUGE Halloween body painting jobs in the next three days. Moments later, I get a phone call from Cirque du Soleil casting, wondering if I'd be interested in a temporary position playing the White Clown in "O" at the Bellagio. It's at this point that I'm overcome with completely opposing emotions of joy and dread, quite a unique sensation.

Then, Ben gets a phone call from a synchro swimmer in Le Reve saying she got her purse back from the crash site, and my wallet was in it! So this thief girl went around picking up a bunch of stuff, including her purse, then she grabs my wallet from my jeans and puts it in her purse! I'm able to get my wallet back later that day, but Robin wasn't as lucky. It turns out all the phones that were taken were not recovered. This girl had an accomplice that made off with a good number of things from the crash site. She was subsequently arrested--not sure what became of her.

Luckily, the people at the AT&T store were surprisingly helpful, I think it helped that I brought Leo in to charm them. They were able to replace Robin's iPhone 4 for about $250, whereas an incident like this could have cost upwards of $700. So minimal damage done. I got my wallet back and a new job!

But it does make me a little worried about the state of things in Las Vegas. The housing market is not showing any signs of improvement, and reports of crime seem to be rising. We're going to have to be extra vigilant now that we're moving back there, relying on our home security system, not leaving anything of value in our cars, etc. But for better or for worse, we'll soon be calling Vegas "home" once again!

My stint in "O" begins rehearsals on December 21st, and my first show is scheduled for December 26th. And my contract goes until March 20, 2011. If you're in Vegas and have the means, please come check me out! It's a phenomenal show, and my part is a pretty sweet one!

Sunday in the Park with Cheetah

2010-10-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Please take a quick moment to vote 5 Stars for us!

LionHeart Theatrics, SkinCity Body Painting, Miron Rafajlovic, and I have collaborated on a TV commercial contest challenge for Cheetah Power Surge Energy Drink.

Corine Latreille and Sergey Nazarov, an engaged couple who perform a breathtaking hand-to-hand act in Kooza, approached me several months back about entering this contest they had heard about. They had seen my filmmaking work before, both in personal projects and with LionHeart, as well as collaborating with them most recently on SkinCity’s Missing Puzzle Piece project.

Coming up with the ideas for the commercial was easy, especially with their incredible talents and our adorable son! We found a great location in Vancouver, BC’s gorgeous Stanley Park.

My wife Robin quickly whipped up some beautiful sketches for body painting both of them, roped artist Jason Brass in to assist, and we were on our way. We were all thrilled with the results. And we hope you are too.

Please visit our contest page and vote 5 Stars for us. There’s good money to be won, and since I'll be leaving my cushy Cirque job at the end of the year, this would be good diaper money!

Click here for more behind-the-scenes photos!

The Time is Now!

2010-08-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end--even a great thing like Cirque's Kooza. On Friday the 13th, I signed my non-renewal letter for the show, officially stating that I won't be going to Japan with the show in 2011.

Probably the most difficult decision in my life. On the one hand, spending a year and a half in Japan, continuing in my secure job with great benefits for my family was incredibly enticing. On the other, focusing on being a father, working on re-imagining myself as an artist, and resting in the pool in my backyard was a little more enticing. We will for sure miss the great friends we made on tour and the amazing one-of-a-kind talents each person brought to the show.

My superhero wife was very supportive of either decision. And even she was torn about which she would rather do--an incredible experience in the Far East for both her and our little Leo, or continue her skyrocketing bodypainting business in Las Vegas. Ultimately, Vegas won out.

It's a great thing for all of us. And although the Cirque salary won't be there, we have strong feelings that the next stages in our careers and personal lives are going to fill us with more wealth than we ever imagined.

And we can't do it without you. Every success I've had was thanks in large part to friends--more so than colleagues, more so than luck, maybe more so than talent. I can't thank my friends enough for their support and love. I am happy to return the favor. And now is the time when we could use your help again. Even if it's just some words of encouragement, keeping an eye on our comings and goings, all the way up to giving us a job--it's you that I turn to. You're all that I've got, and it's more than enough.

That said, I'm now a free agent as of January 2011. I'm planning on getting some roots replanted in Vegas for a little while, but I'd love to field any and all opportunities. Some of you may have heard about my buying a fancy camera and some lenses. Another money making idea is for Robin and I to start taking stock photos to sell. I mean have you SEEN my son?! I for one think his mug could easily send him to college! And, who knows? Maybe photography will be my next big thing. I'll give it a shot!

So come on over and follow me on my new Twitter account. I've also started a photography Facebook page. And no photographer is complete without their Flickr page. Website and photoblog are soon to come as well, stay tuned. Of course, there are the usual webby areas to keep an eye on, including my Showman website, SkinCity Body Painting's website, and Robin's art website. Don't be a stranger!

For now, Robin, Leo and I will enjoy the rest of our time in Kooza in Vancouver, Calgary and Miami before landing back into Sin City. Life keeps getting more exciting!

Unbelievable Clown Hating Bullcrap

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

So far, the New York Times has yet to approve my response to Neil Genzlinger's review of Banana Shpeel. Until then, I'll reprint the review and my response here.

-----

The review:

Dear Theater Ethicist: Should I feel guilty that, for me, the most satisfying moment of Cirque du Soleil’s “Banana Shpeel” came when a clown was riddled with mock machine-gun fire?

Dear Theatergoer: No. For one thing, the “mock” suggests that the clown was probably not seriously wounded. For another, clown eradication is something that would benefit all of humanity and would certainly benefit this show, which is not as entertaining as something that lasts almost two and a half hours ought to be.

“Banana Shpeel,” written and directed by David Shiner (who created the wonderful “Fool Moon” with Bill Irwin), is partly a vaudeville-ish variety show and partly a scripted story involving some clowns who vex an impresario named Marty Schmelky (Danny Rutigliano). The variety-show acts — Coney Island with very, very high production values — are diverting enough: a woman (Vanessa Alvarez) who juggles mats with her feet; a hat juggler (Le Tuan); a muscular fellow (Dmitry Bulkin) who does all sorts of gymnastic things around and atop a pole; three somewhat creepy contortionists.

These elements are, in short, the kinds of polished routines Cirque fans have come to expect at the troupe’s ever-growing collection of shows: impressive physical feats performed in cool costumes (by Dominique Lemieux) and bathed in arresting lighting (Bruno Rafie). But they take up less than half of this extravaganza, whose New York opening — a retooled version of a show that critics treated harshly last year in Chicago — was delayed several times. The rest is devoted to production numbers and the lazily written story of Schmelky and the clowns.

Schmelky is a bombastic showman who early in the show oversees “clown auditions.” The three competitors escape backstage and spend the rest of the show harassing him. In the process Schmelky tries on a personality change — trading his anger for a more Zen-like approach — but it’s hard to care because the character is thinly drawn, and Mr. Rutigliano doesn’t invest him with any sympathetic qualities. You know your show has a bad book when the audience spends its time wishing the lady with the juggling feet would come back.

Give the clowns their due: they are sometimes funny, with Patrick De Valette getting the most laughs, primarily because he’s wearing a raincoat and isn’t shy about flashing his orange undies. But with clowns, less is always more. By Act II these have worn out their welcome. The high point of the show’s second half — besides that machine-gunning — is provided by the lighting and costume designers, who combine for the production’s most eye-popping bit, a dance under black light featuring outfits that seem to change color as the number goes along.

-----

And my response:

I have not seen this show, so I cannot speak on Mr. Genzlinger's review of it. And I have, in the past, worked intimately with four of the clowns in this show, as well as the director, so I am not without bias.

However, I take umbrage with Mr. Genzlinger's blanket distaste for all clowns. He snarkily writes of the benefit of clown eradication and in the next breath calls Fool Moon "wonderful"--a clown show created and performed by clowns. This leads me to believe that Mr. Genzlinger really doesn't dislike all clowns, but rather he was making a cheap and artless remark against an art form that is already much maligned these days. Do you wish Buster Keaton's work be eradicated? Dick Van Dyke? Carol Burnett? Roberto Benigni?

I wish my friends Claudio, Daniel, Gordon and Wayne, as well as Patrick, Danny, and the rest of the cast and crew a long and successful run. And I wish Mr. Genzlinger many fitful nights as he is haunted--nay, devoured--by creatures in rainbow wigs and polka dot pants in his dreams.

Sincerely,
Jimmy Slonina
Clown

Social Media - LIVE!

2010-04-23T01:40:00.000-07:00

I'm on Twitter. And I enjoy reading news, what my friends are doing, ephemera, and also what people think about Kooza. I keep an eye on people coming to see the show as well as people who have already seen the show and sharing what they think. That's not a new concept. Businesses often look to Twitter to see what their customers are thinking and then use that information to their advantage, or not.

For me, I'm mostly just curious. But every once in a while, more often than I'd like I run across a tweet like this:

Off to Cirque de So Lame with my family despite a particular dislike of clowns.

Now right off the bat, he's knocking the Cirque company, eluding that he's probably just gonna have a bad time no matter what. But add to that, he mentions the clown thing. Any follower of my blog should know how I feel about clown haters. This one too. But I thought I'd let it go. Then, less than an hour later, he pushes further:

"Coulrophobia is abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns." Bugger off! If there's anything that's abnormal or exaggerated, it's a clown.

Okay, so the guy is starting to have an annoyingly good time with his clown-bashing venom, and does so by popping onto Wikipedia for some zinger fodder. I'm trying to keep my cool. A follower of his pipes in, somewhat ignorantly:

Last I checked, there aren't really clowns at Cirque du Soleil...

To which our first guy says:

My ass there are no clowns at Cirque desolé!. It's like the friggin' Blaire Witch Project with grease paint.

And with that, I held my tongue no longer. During the show I wrote to him, knowing full well he'd read it at intermission:

"Blair Witch Project with grease paint"--Great line! Hope we didn't totally ruin your night. See you in your nightmares!

Intermission rolls around. This pops up:

"Hope we didn't totally ruin your night. See you in your nightmares! *<:o) /via @jimmyslo". From the clown. In the show. On stage!

And then three minutes later:

Totally p0wn3d — or should that be c70wn3d by @jimmyslo from somewhere in the tent about 2 minutes into intermission.

And then five minutes after that, directly to me:

Well played. Truly well played, my funny friend. How on earth did you even see my tweet? I'm not sure if I'm reassured or freaked.

Then Ron, my fellow clown chimed in to both of us:

Why don't you two just get a room? Geez.

To which I respond to both of them:

Well I DO know where he's sitting. Hint: Look behind you!

Quoth the guy:

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

And then even his wife got in on the action:

This is his wife and I SO want to tell you where we're sitting.

Despite my encouragement, she didn't. At the end of the show, our guy gives his final thoughts:

I had a great time, guys, and should be able to sleep with the lights off in a few weeks.

Mission accomplished? Have we won this guy over? By playing into his bullshit fear or hatred of clown, have I turned him around?

I'm mostly tickled by the idea of using Twitter as another performance layer. Meta-cyber-theatricality. Taking audience reactions, or even pre-actions, from the web and using them in the performance. At one point in the show when I'm screaming with fear, I screamed this guy's name, followed by "I'm...so...scared!!" ala Blair Witch Project.

It isn't even the first time this was done in Kooza. My former clown partner, Christian and I would scour through Twitter for just this kind of opportunity. It not only gives us instant feedback on the show from the public, but we also get their preconceived notions and, when possible, we can use them as an added advantage for our control. It's like a performance within the performance JUST for them!

The evil clowns just got evil-er.

Zombies, Tigres, and Close Friends--OH MY!

2010-04-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

After closing a run of Kooza in San Diego, the whole family drove right away up to Los Angeles to stay with Leo's godparents, Voki and Anais. Also staying with them were our good friends Jonathan and Anne, who all were prepping for their brand new tent show/mini-circus/travelling cabaret, Le Tigre.

Getting into LA late night on a Sunday was easy traffic-wise. And little Leo had no problems sleeping through the drive.

The next day, Monday was reserved mostly for Voki's zombie character workshop. It's one of the first steps in creating a huge zombie circus show. So about a dozen of us gathered in a theatre in Atwater Village, and for about five hours, got into zombie makeup, improv-ed zombie scenarios, and by the end of the night, put on a mini zombie circus. It included zombie acrobatics, zombie ultimate fighting, zombie burlesque, and yours truly featured in a zombie clown scene--a classic damsel in distress being saved by a hero, yet we were all zombies of course.

Through the entire evening, our son Leo was nothing but an enrapt audience member. At no time was he freaked out or fussy. In fact, he seemed to really enjoy the attention of all these zombie-clad performers.

The next few days were spent intensely on helping Jonathan and Anne with Le Tigre. They found a space in the courtyard of the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica--a perfect location to pitch their tent for their inaugural show. Robin had been working on two beautiful banners (shown below) to be hung on the sides of the tent, and she also painted the tiger above the tent's entrance.

A lot of painting, sewing, shopping, done all in and around Voki's apartment in Los Feliz. Three couples (and one baby), all tight friends working together for a common, fun, fulfilling, historic experience. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to surround myself with.

On Wednesday, we went to visit our friends Lisa and Richard in their sweet Downtown LA pad for lunch and good times. They got to meet the little man, and we entertained each other with various YouTube viral vids. But we had to cut it short to get back to Santa Monica for more Le Tigre set up.

Thursday was opening night. Lots of last minute running around and finishing touches. Fish Circus set up to entertain the crowd in the courtyard next to the tent. All members (sans Anais) were facepainted as tigers by my beautiful and talented spouse, Robin. It was a cold evening, but everyone seemed to have a good time before the actual show. Our friend Sarah was bodypainted with a snake boa. Sarah was there to bartend and mingle, but the cold weather made us rework her role for the evening. She would be my lovely assistant, as I hosted the show.

Showtime! Fish Circus marched the audience into the 40-seat tent to begin the show, and I stepped up to the stage with Sarah to welcome everyone and introduce the first act, The Honeymoon Cabaret. Good clean, naughty fun as always from Jon and Anne as Marc and Svetlana Buttersworth. The crowd was instantly charmed, and it became quickly apparent that this mini circus experiment was going to be a huge hit. They brought on their special guest, Voki and Anais for some good old fashioned Zombie Juggling!

Some racy contortion and a few spent bananas later, the first intermission was announced. Everyone exited the tent for more fun in the cold and listening to the DJ spin tunes.

I introduced the second act of the evening--[with French accent] American Stupid. These are the newest characters from Gazillionaire stalwarts, Voki and Anais, as a rude French gameshow host and his hilariously elderly mother poking huge fun at the mostly (but not all) American crowd. Wheel spinning contestants, funny hats, lame American prizes, even an apple pie eating contest--another successful romp.

Second intermission. More drinks and DJ'ing outside. The final act was about to begin.

I started the final act with a ukulele solo, a reprise of my Creep song that I did originally at the Illusions Bar in Baltimore, this time dedicating the song to my new little bundle of joy, Leo. Good times wailing out Radiohead on the uke. And then I introduced Freaks in the Box. And Jon and Voki came out with their awesome ventriloquist act, with Jon as puppeteer and Voki as puppet. Seemingly harmlessly silly at first, but things go darkly hilarious real quick. At the end of this first part, Anais and I stepped up to start our duet, Tonight You Belong to Me on uke and accordion. During the song Anne popped up from behind to join us on, of all things, a kazoo. Anais and I played it up as though three's a crowd through the whole song. Then Jon and Voki returned as Freaks Clowns, a horrible pair of seemingly ordinary yamma clowns, but again things go way south and disturbing in no time. At the end of the second part, Anne, Anais and I returned to the stage for our final ditty--Anne singing a beautiful rendition of Amado Mio, with Anais and I accompanying. Anne donned a not-painted-but-only-a-little-more-animated snake boa during the song. Then Jon and Voki returned for their final magic act, with Jon as magician and Voki as his high-pitched and high-heeled wife/assistant. A running theme, a lame-seeming premise gives way to a gutbustingly dark undercurrent.

Once Jon pulled the appropriate card out of Voki's absurd prosthetic vagina during a handstand, they exited the stage, and I reentered with Leo in my arms--much to the audible chagrin of the audience. "What?! Oh NOW you draw the line?!" I exclaimed. I brought back everyone to the stage for a final bow, thanked the Powerhouse Theatre, and asked everyone to drop some money into the hat for them, since they let us use the space for no money!

A big success, and an obvious long and successful road ahead for Jon and Anne's Le Tigre. We all went back to Voki's apartment for Thai food and regaled the evening's hilarities.

The next day, Robin, Leo and I met with our good friend Krissy and her beautiful 16 month old daughter, Olive, who of course was smitten with Leo and promptly showered him with hugs and kisses.

Day two of the show, things were even more under control, since we had one show under our belt, and the Powerhouse Theatre let us use the actual theatre for the audience to enjoy Fish Circus and the bar before the show and at intermission. This time the lovely Sarah was bodypainted as a tiger as she tended bar and assisted me on stage. A bigger, even more hip turnout this time, and I didn't think the laughs could get any louder. All the acts went off without a hitch and much to the delight of all attending. Afterward, we all celebrated in class and style, at Denny's, with old friends, Chris and Jen and artist Christopher Ulrich.

The next day, we had to say our sad farewells to our friends and start the long drive to Portland. We swung by to give a quick hello and goodbye to our good friend Joy, whom we tragically missed the whole week we were there!

Being in southern California with Kooza for so long afforded us a lot of great time to spend with our friends there. The drive was long and arduous, but traveling thru wine country and the majestic redwood forests was phenomenal. The whole time, we thought of the Le Tigre crew who had one more show to do without us! Word was out that it all went very well.

It was, in all, a most artistically and spiritually fulfilling week. And rather than wish I didn't have to leave, in an odd way it really made me appreciate what I have. I'm overly thankful that I have a steady, fun job in a field that I love, making thousands laugh each day, that affords me security and (relative) comfort for myself and my family. It suits me to a tee. I mentioned in an earlier post, that I'm a company man. I'm not the kind of performer who is comfortable living hand to mouth and hustling for the next gig. Coming back to Kooza was bittersweet, especially leaving the warm sun of SoCal to the rainy cold of the Pacific Northwest. But this whole week came together perfectly for me BECAUSE of where I'm at and what I'm doing. And thanks to that, I'm making a concerted effort to rid my circle of negativity and shed sour grapes for much sweeter ones. Taking what I have for granted ends now!

Thanks Jonathan, Anne, Voki, Anais, Fish Circus, Lisa, Richard, Chris, Jen, Sarah, Krissy, Joy, K.C. (for the amazing pictures!) and all that came to the workshop and Le Tigre, and of course my Robin and my Leo!

The Big Date

2010-03-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Big Date @ Yahoo! Video

My good friend and former colleague Christopher Johnson has completed his first film called The Big Date. It was shot on film (no digital camcorders here) in Chicago with a band of usual suspects from the Chicago theatre scene, including some former Defiant Theatre stalwarts.

Chris almost single handedly started Defiant Theatre. Without his determination, along with the hard work and talents of a small core group of his former college buddies, the incredible 11-year institution that was Defiant could not have happened.

This film offers a very keen representation of the theatre company's fundamental spirit and artistry. Please enjoy.

The Cold Civil War

2010-02-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched the unedited interview with Jon Stewart on the O'Reilly Factor. It was a riveting and eye-opening look into the media circus and the great divide between the right and the left. I recommend watching the whole thing here. That same day I listened to a Fresh Air interview with John Oliver from the Daily Show. He also provided a great insight into the current tea party movement.

Both interviews solidified my notion that we are under a cold civil war in our country. It used to be that democrat and republican citizens could actually live and work side-by-side and have healthy arguments about their differences and come out of it unchanged but affable. That doesn't seem to be possible any more.

As both interviewees have illustrated, the tea party movement--the grassroots GOP gatherings--are a formidable force that's sweeping the heartland. These are angry, determined men and women who are hell-bent on steering the country more to the right, mostly by venting their anguish over what they consider a tyrannical president. These everyday Joes and Janes have a lot of venom in their movement. All the while, Fox News gives an illusion of washing their hands of it all, yet at the same time fanning their flames. "Obama is a muslim." "He's a socialist." "He's a tyrant." It's almost as though the tea partiers themselves don't know what they're talking about, but they need to spout out bad-sounding epithets to quicken their blood and the blood of those around them. And Fox has the cameras well-focused on it all.

And the differences between Stewart and O'Reilly confirm my rationale of being a democrat. Stewart is a comedian whose passion is politics, and O'Reilly is an political opinionist whose passion seems to be bullying. Stewart was his usual self-effacing funny man with many good points--not all of which necessarily fell in line with the left. O'Reilly kept this smug, 'gotcha' look on his face and really only stood out when he was name-calling. He called the Daily Show audience a bunch of 'pot-smoking slackers' and its writers 'pinheads'. But that's how I see a lot of intelligent right-leaning folks, like it's all a big joke or a game. It doesn't seem like they're FOR anything. They're scrambling to reverse things or keep things from happening. There's no progression in their politics, just prevention, reversal and maintenance of the status quo.

There were lots of shades of gray in Stewart's set of beliefs, which showed thoughtfulness and care. O'Reilly was dismissive and priggish, which was off-putting, and it didn't really get any point across. I agree that Obama's first year in office has been flawed. But this mainstream GOP media outlet has whipped the public into so much an irrational frenzy, that it seems impossible for this president to get anything done.

Jimmy Slonina: Instructor

2010-01-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

When Anthony Gatto asks you to do something, you should probably do it. Anthony and I collaborated on a grassroots Barack Obama ad right before the elections. It was such a success, that CNN called to enter it in their contest at the time, and it made it into the top 20 (it was robbed from winning if you ask me). That vid can be seen here.

Then a few months ago, Anthony approached me to do a pratfall how-to video. I wasn't convinced at first that A) I was the right guy for the job or B) that an instructional video of that kind was possible or marketable. Anthony was creating juggling how-to videos himself, and he wanted to expand it to include other circus skills, effectively providing a suite of instructional vids to would-be circus performers. After seeing his instruction style, I could see how to piece together and break down several basic pratfalls--funny or stage combat--into a tutorial.

Here's the result! Thanks to Gatto's keen sense of fancy directing and editing, for a measly $12 you can own a download of a slick video of how to pratfall effectively. I think we did a pretty good job of it.

Hope you enjoy, and please forward to anyone you might think would be interested. Thanks!

CLICK HERE FOR GATTO'S DOWNLOAD PAGE.

Unfriend

2010-01-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was hostilely 'unfriended' on Facebook for the third time in six months, that I know of. If it wasn't so unsettling, I would wear that sort of thing as a badge of honor. Pissing people off is what gets people laid, better salaries, and generally more interesting lives. But it just made me ponder the difference between unfriending on Facebook and unfriending in real life.

It's so much more devastating to be unfriended on Facebook. It's a light switch that gets thrown off. Whereas in real life, you're never really sure where you stand in friendship status even after a heated argument. None of these unfriending Facebook friends were really my friends in real life. In fact, I'm surprised some of them accepted my friend request in the first place. I shouldn't feel sad that any of them have gone, but the "off" position of that light switch is a pretty effective knife to the gut.

The word "unfriending" calls to mind Orwell's Newspeak--removing words with opposite meaning because they're redundant. Ungood. There have been calls to add an "Unlike/Dislike" button in addition to the "Like" button on Facebook. How about an "Enemy" status? Might be nice to have a social network of everyone you hate. All would get together and call each other names and send each other bile-laden apps to each other. Instead of "Poke", one could "Give the Finger".

These unfriending experiences also really broadened my circle of awareness. Chicago was such a warm, comfy blanket of community. Even some people I didn't like somehow remained close friends. Since leaving it, the rest of the world reared it's ugly head. In real life, as well as in cyberspace. My mom was right. There ARE people out to get you. There ARE people only looking out for themselves. There ARE people who are jealous, spiteful, and insecure, and they're not looking to be my 'friend'.

Since I left the comfy blanket in my mid-thirties and didn't really explore the world in my youth, the shock of these "unfriendlies" is still big. I'm still trying to grapple how to move on and take it in stride.

UPDATE: Huh! Apt: 'Unfriend' Picked Oxford Dictionary's 'Word of the Year'

Gotta Love the Germans

2010-01-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

If there's anything I've learned of what Germans like, it's the Hoff, my lipsync videos, and this!

Leo Robert

2010-01-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

It's great to be a dad!

I know it's been a while since I posted, after promising myself I would write a little something everyday. But life just takes its turns, ya know? Speaking of...

Leo Robert Slonina gets himself born on December 17, 2009 in Whittier, CA after a 44-hour laborious labor process (more on that story later). And in the few weeks he's been around, the concept of fatherhood really starts to set in. I kinda just take everything in life in stride and try not to make a big deal out of anything, for better or worse. Even during Robin's pregnancy, I went along with everything as I do with most things in my life, without too much emotion one way or the other. Just doing my job as dad-to-be and helping her out wherever needed. In the last few weeks of pregnancy though, things get pretty ramped up. Anticipation gets the better of you, and pretty soon you get anxious to see the little guy already!

And once the final moments of pregnancy into actual birth rolls around, practicality and level-headedness gets thrown to the wind. And the real meaning of life and the cycle of the universe washes over you like a raging, warm waterfall. I'm not an emotional guy, so I can't imagine what more emotional guys go through when they see their first born coming into the world. Cuz I was an ecstatic wreck!

Now that Leo is here, practicality sets back in. We had some friends over yesterday with their 4 year old. And the dad said he didn't really feel a 'bonding' with his boy for the first four months. Then, when he saw his son smile and laugh at his jokes and really connect, that's when the bonding hit hardcore.

It made me think about how I'm bonding with Leo. I'm not even sure what that means. I'm sure when this four month mark hits (which everybody talks about), I'll hit another level of connection and elation with the little guy. But for now, I'm loving every minute--even when he cries mysteriously after being fed, changed and burped, or he stinks up his 40th diaper of the day. There's something about his face that's perennially irresistible.

Looking forward to it actually getting better!

I fall down

2009-09-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Every muscle in my body hurts. It really is an eye-opener how out of shape I am. I really get a good perspective about how my body gets used to the twist and turns and bangs I have in the show everyday. I don't get sore from all of that, but once I do anything new and strenuous, I get sore beyond all comprehension. I can't believe I got on with the show today.

Yesterday, master juggler Anthony Gatto and I worked on a collaboration for his suite of circus skills instructional videos. Anthony asked me to put together a stage pratfalls how-to. I was reluctant at first, thinking it's really not my thing. But really, when Gatto asks you to do something like this, you can't turn him down.

I've seen his videos for how to juggle three balls and seven balls. Quite a leap between the disciplines, I know, but both are marketed to very different groups of people, obviously. I was able to get a sense of his teaching style, which is very thorough and accessible, and it's fun to watch. So it was easy to tap into his style for my own how-to.

I spent a few days writing out how to physically fall down on stage--super strange--keeping in mind that I would be going back and forth between showing the moves and talking about the moves in front of a green screen.

He's editing it together now, and he hopes to have it done by mid-October. Stay tuned!

I can't go on, I'll go on

2009-09-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

I received a sad email today from Ernest Hemmings of Test Market announcing the end of the Las Vegas' Annual Samuel Beckett Festival.

In 2007, Robin and I decided to officially collaborate on our first theatrical production as LionHeart Theatrics at the 5th Annual Fest. We produced Act Without Words I & II. It was very successful and a delight to work with Ernest, his wife, Fran, and all the other collaborators that year. That experience brought back floods of great memories of my time in Chicago with Defiant Theatre--working in dusty, cold, less-than-desirable conditions in order to produce something very special and meaningful for our audiences and ourselves. In the attached letter, I feel Ernest comes down hard on himself, but my wife quickly and deftly tries to pick him back up. Her response follows his letter.

I can't go on.

I've learned a lot from former President GW Bush. You won't hear many people say that, which is a shame because he made enough mistakes to educate everyone on how to avoid causing multiple disasters. The main disaster that comes to mind is the multi-trillion dollar cluster-fuck we've come to know and love as the Iraq War. Completely high on the idea of American righteousness, he refused to listen to the U.N. Inspectors and instead took the warhawk advice from Dick "The Penguin" Cheney, and invaded the nation with enough shock and awe to give the U.S. complete access to the sleeping scorpion. Weeks into the invasion it was clear that the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" didn't exist and the hundreds of lives and billions of dollars were a waste.

Now, at this point, Former (I love saying that) President G.W.Bush could have stepped back a few feet from the situation, realized that he was lied to about the supposed "smoking gun", turned to the American people, and simply stated "there is no point in going any further, we were wrong" and, like Catholic birth control, pulled out. He would have saved 5000+ U.S. soldiers' lives, 100,000+ Iraqi civilians' lives, and trillions of dollars (which, by the way, would have paid for Single Payer Health Care for the next 30 years). Instead of shedding his own ego, taking the political blows, and dealing with the very real situation that there would be no end in sight, he arrogantly trudged the nation deeper and deeper into an ever-expanding problem that he agitated with each passing minute. At the end of the day, even the chest-thumping Glen Beck fans have to wonder if it was all worth it.

It is no coincidence that active battle is refered to as "theater" in the military.

The Annual Samuel Beckett Festival started out as a challenge between two friends who were bored to death of producing comedy...or, more accurately, it was a demonstration of skill to keep both of us (Test Market is a two person opperation) from being cemented into the "comedy" category. It was a one-night only performance stunt in a junk yard (aka The KGPA) witnessed by a total of 30 random strangers. The lighting "system" consisted of two par cans tied (literally) to 2X4s, and the "stage" was the concrete slab that happened to be in front of a trailer on the property. 6 years later we found ourselves in a 20k square foot warehouse, producing multiple shows over a period of four weeks and operating at an average loss of 10k per year. Prior to Holland Hemmings' arrival into this world we (Test Market) chalked up the losses as "collateral damage" and, like former President Bush, trudged forward, even when all signs pointed to "crazy".

Is it still worth it? Should I double down on stupid? Spending 2 months away from my family is equivilent to abondoning them (I am amazed that single mothers don't go complete batshit). To what nitwit purpose will all this serve in the end aside from expanding the entertainment options in this town by one? As I begin to re-learn Endgame and make frantic phone calls to fill roles in this and other plays, I'm kept awake at night asking myself these questions over and over.

No. It's not.

The beginning is at the end? Quite possibly. In any case it seems that I would be able to contribute more to the art community by buying art than producing the 7th installment of the Iraq War. So this is me pulling the plug. This is me admitting that there are no weapons of mass destruction and making my troops go back home. A non-traditionalist creating a tradition seems absurd enough on its own, but moving forward for the sake of ego is (as the Weatherman/Negativland would say) totally stupid.

So this is the end. We appreciate your support of this enormous effort, but we have to close the doors and narrow our vision. I'm sure you can understand.

Kind Regards,

Ernest Hemmings

Test Market

And Robin's response...

RIP Beckett Festival!!!! You will be missed...

Ernest, I truly wish some cushy sponsorship would pop up to make it a winning situation for you, your family and and your audience, but that does not seem forthcoming, alas!

The only thing I don't agree with in your statement is when you said you would have kept it going for ego. You are more like Obama than Bush, my friend, if we must beat the presidential analogy senseless, and I believe your mission was an altruistic (not egotistic) one: to give the gift of theater to your neon-dazzled Vegas community. I was the lucky recipient of that gift, as well as a participant. Taking part in the Beckett Festival with you, Fran, Wes, Andy, the musicians, and my man Jimmy was a supreme highlight of my time in Vegas, and I cherish the memory. Hell, even my camper van had a drive-on role! It was pure, hard-core, underground, messy, artful magic. I left a bit of my heart in that dusty warehouse, and Jim literally left his blood on the stage. I thank you for your time and love and dedication, and the memories will be with us forever.

Much love to you and the family and blessings on all your future endeavors!

~Robin

Kooza Prep

2009-09-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

At this point, I've performed about 500 shows of Kooza. And this is how I start every day of work.

"Le Box" - It's French for The Box

2009-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Last night, the technicians, administrators and other non-performing workers of Kooza presented, "Le Box", a full-on, no-holds-barred, no-punches-pulled parody of Kooza.

The evening started with a hilarious video presentation of Kooza bloopers, compiled by Ganji, edited by Teign-Teign, and played in a loop on the big screens in the concession area. As expected, alternate reactions of gut-busting laughing and eye-shielding cringing filled the room for this preshow presentation. The good folks at New Belgium, once again, came through as heros by providing SIX kegs of free beer for the festivities.

The animation began with very clever conglomerations of preshow characters, including Phil as a combo handyman/delivery man/maternity nurse, graphically delivering Mathilde's "baby" in the Guy Laliberte's seats.

Andree's very touching turn as the Innocent opened with a kite-flying attempt, only to succeed in shooting a bird with a gun. Bo entered spectacularly, re-invisioning the Trickster as the late Michael Jackson, complete with single white glove.

A pajama-clad Charivari cast slept-walked onto stage, danced the Macarena, and hopped around on inflatable bouncy balls.

Some of the more manlier technicians gave a turn as the contortionists, barely hiding their own frames with their show blacks, and having impossibly skinny foam appendages attached to their arms and legs. It degenerated into a big Twister game, led by Vera on microphone calling the positions in the fashion of her stage management cue-calling.

After a funny, split bowling scene revealed dueling trapeze girls, Matias entered with a flourish and actually performed a jaw-dropping, impressive version of the number. Jessica, still dressed in her Yulia trapeze outfit, remained on the sidelines flirting with and distracting Jimbo as he tried to manipulate the rigging.

Phil and Dominique took to the stage for duo unicycle--or more accurately, duo stationary cycle. Dominique was hilarious as Diana with her ubiquitous book in hand the entire act.

Hand-to-Hand was next featuring Andree and JC in the old Hand-to-Hand costumes, deftly yet ineptly rolling around on the ground and on each other.

The clowns came out for some inappropriate audience interaction. I was especially, and delightfully, disturbed as Marie-France, dressed as my character sat on my lap. Surreal and meta-theatrical.

The last number of the first act of course was High Wire. Two rolling platforms were brought in to represent the upper wire, while the stage itself sufficed as the low wire. Highlights included a round of manly patty-cake and cardboard cutouts of the Spaniards' actual cars representing the bicycles. All the while, Jessica as lead singer danced in the bataclan with possessed abandon. The quartet appropriately took an inappropriate number of bows.

Drew as Heimlos announced a 20 minute beer-drinking intermission.

The second act began with Liz in her turn as the Innocent, summoning the masts to light up. She got the order of the last two wrong, and I'm not sure if it was intended or not, but either way it was very funny.

Crooner began with the cast in makeshift skeleton tights making their entrance and the clowns running out of the trap pursued by a human-sized rat. Mary Manon did a bang-up job singing as Crooner in the bataclan, and the lineup of all-male skellettes featured a lot more skin and diapers than I was expecting from the evening.

The Wheel of Death was brought in, but Jimbo played it solo on a treadmill on casters, thanks in part to Andy and Dylan as not-so-invisible roadies and several failed attempts to throw the jumprope.

JF's hard work practicing on the trailer drum kit paid off, as he performed a flawless drum solo in full rat costume. Michael cut it short by shooting him with a toy gun and finished the solo himself.

After a passage with the Mystere snail playing the pooping rat, Pickpocket began with Collette entering from the trap door in clown hat, purple suit, and bottle of Jager. She brought up Gracie as a "volunteer" having pointless chatter with her, while stealing unseemly objects from her pockets, including a bullet belt, a whip, a gun, and knives. As Gracie was led off the stage, Collette deftly tore off her rip-away clothes, revealing Gracie's underthings.

It was Annie and Phil's turn to play Juggler and Assistant, respectively. The rolling juggling table doubled as a baby carriage that they both doted on from time to time and gave the "baby" a nice nippled bottle of vodka. Annie successfully, and repeatedly, flashed three balls as her major juggling trick. After a few failed attempts at balancing a ball on her head, Phil brought her into the bataclan and nailed the ball there, which the audience witnessed behind the curtain in shadow play. She was then placed on a rolling dolly and bowled over three bowling pins as their finale. During the act, they creatively (if not that successfully) announced that Annie was expecting Phil's baby.

Clown Crown was replaced by a ukulele-wielding Jimbo recreating my performance in the Kooza Cabaret in St. Paul. He lipsynced the second half of Total Eclipse of the Heart, complete with fabric-throwing and empty-seat-surfing. When he got to the stage, Edwin as Criss Angel magically floated out of the trap door to the Mindfreak music. Jimbo screamed at him for interrupting him, making it absolutely clear that what he was holding was MY FIRST UKULELE that I learned to play on. After triumphantly calling Criss Angel a douchebag, he smashed the uke on his back and slid him back into the trap, before cheerily exiting there himself.

Chinese Chairs was next starring Steve and about seven stackable outdoor chairs. It was Aleta's turn to sing quite well in the background during the number. Steve tried in vain to ignore several persistent longe offerings and a human-sized bat. Finally, at his last trick, right on cue, an annoying train sound blew by.

For the Teeterboard finale, the cast came out as cheerleaders, complete with pompoms, attempting small human pyramids and lamely diving onto a mat.

The whole evening was a monumental success. For such a slapdash, crackerjack parody, the organizers, cast and crew did a fantastic job of smoothly, creatively and hilariously recreating the show in their own vision. I was reenergized by the experience and am proud to be a part of such a fun-loving family.

Better Red Than Dead

2009-09-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Awesome. I can't find the origin, but it's pretty great...

"This morning I was awakened by my alarm clock powered by socialist electricity generated by the municipal power utility. I then took a shower in the socialist clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the socialist radio to one of the FCC regulated channels to hear the socialist National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determine what the weather was going to be like using socialist satellites designed, built, and launched by the socialist National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of socialist US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the socialist drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

"At the appropriate time, as kept accurate by the socialist National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my socialist National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the socialist roads build by the socialist local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the socialist Environmental Protection Agency, using socialist legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door, I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the socialist US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the socialist public school.

"If I get lost, I can use my socialist GPS navigation technology developed by the United States Department of Defense and made available to the public in 1996 by President Bill Clinton who issued a policy directive declaring socialist GPS to be a dual-use military/civilian system to be managed as a national socialist asset.

"After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the socialist workplace regulations imposed by the socialist Department of Labor and the socialist Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the socialist USDA, I drive my socialist NHTSA car back home on the socialist DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the socialist state and local building codes and socialist fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the socialist local police department.

"I then get on my computer and use the socialist Internet which was developed by the socialist Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and browse the socialist World Wide Web using my graphical web browser, both made possible by Al Gore's socialist High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. I then post on www.freerepublic.com and Fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right."

Company Man

2009-09-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

We had the good folks from The Handsome Little Devils sit and watch the show from backstage tonight. While I haven't see their shows, I have poured over their website and have gotten great testimonials from the wife and other good friends.

Just the thought of a neo-traveling vaudeville show putting on hyper-creative, fun, outdoor theatre for all ages and types, on their own dime is pretty spectacular. It really hit home for me the fact that I'm a company man. I'm doing what I love, but there's a lot that I love or loved about doing free, guerrilla, or even community theatre.

It's really difficult to even think of giving up good, steady pay, health insurance, and the ability to raise a baby without financial worry. But getting the energy off of these guys really makes it more attractive.

I don't know what the future holds. Anything could happen to change plans, but today brought on a new perspective on the direction my life is headed.

I thank those guys for that.

I'mma let you finish!

2009-09-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

I found it amusing that Kanye got up and ripped the mic from Taylor Swift and paid tribute in his way to Beyonce. I'm pretty surprised at how seriously everybody took it, though. Especially the prez. I'm surprised he even had the energy to make a flip comment about Kanye being a jackass. The whole MTV award process is a jackass. And it's riduculous that Kanye himself went all mea culpa afterwards. It's not the Grammy's for god sakes. That at least has an air of dignity around it. News flash: Any MTV award doesn't really count! People are in it for the outrageousness and naughtiness!

Remember when Lil Kim wore that over the top dress with the one boob exposed except for a pastie, and Diana Ross felt her up? The guy from Rage Against the Machine climbed the set one year and was arrested afterwards. Tommy Lee and Kid Rock fighting over Pamela Anderson. Hell, Michael Jackson even kissed a girl that one time!

And the biggest shocker of them all: Taylor Swift won! It was obvious that Beyonce's video would sweep, so they threw Swift a bone. Cuz nothing matters!

Best line regarding this found today on Twitter on this the Jewish New Year: "Yo jews. I'm real happy for you and I'mma let you finish but the Chinese have the best new year of ALL TIME!"

Me Me Me Me Me Me

2009-09-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

I'm now wired into every one of the most popular (read: common) online social-networking/self-promotion/nonsense-posting-place thingamabob that a person can sign up for.

1) Blogger - This is now starting to be an obsession for me. I'm really wracking my brain for interesting things to note and write about life. A friend of mine (Laura Scott Wade) wrote me (on Facebook) telling me how great it was to see me blogging. That she tried to do it everyday, with varying degrees of success. That got me to try this everyday thing myself. We'll see how long it lasts, I'm really gonna try for it. Once the baby comes, it could go either way. Either I'll be posting more, or not at all.

2) Facebook - I can't live without this thing. All my friends in one place. When I'm mass notifying people, this is my go-to, and I have to keep a separate list of non-Facebook people so they're not left out of the loop. I've read some things about the evils of Facebook. Anything that is THAT powerful, that you're THAT dependent upon, that people who don't use it are almost ostracized, should not be in existence. That it's own popularity is its downfall. Seems counterintuitive to me, and like I said, all my friends in one place. It's better than email!

3) Twitter - I'm still getting the hang of this thing. I'm not really "getting" it. Maybe I'm not the right guy for it. I'm following very clever people with poignant things to say in 140 characters or less. And I'm really just using it as a status update like Facebook. In fact, I have it so that every tweet updates my Facebook status. It's fun looking at others' tweets, but I'm not really feeling myself contributing effectively and creatively.

4) My Website - This is a place for self love. Nothing else. Nobody goes here. Why would they?! There's just something about this that makes me feel like I've accomplished something in my life. I can't just have regular-old inner self-satisfaction. No, I gotta put it all down in a website and have it be searchable on Google. I'm not promoting anything, I'm not looking for work, I'm not selling a product. I just thought I should have a website. I think it's pretty.

5) YouTube - A sudden burst of inspiration a few months ago with the lipsyncing series, and all of a sudden, YouTube has gotten back on my radar. The weirdest thing about YouTube and the syncing thing is that some of them got onto a German blog site and became something of a mini phenomenon. I got thousands of hits literally overnight. I felt like the David Hasselhoff of lipsyncing for two days.

6) Flickr - I just restarted this after downloading the new app for the iPhone (more on that below). I'm still not sure when to put pictures here and when to put them on Facebook. Do I post them in both places?

7) I've tried other, not-so-common places like SoulPancake, the Cirque Tribune, ukulele forums, etc. Maybe I should give these places a better college try. I think these off-the-beaten-path places are more focused and niched and could actually shape myself as a person and as a performer more effectively. I can still swim in the public pools, but the water in these other places may have less urine in it.

I'm plugged into all these places, admittedly, only because I think I should be. It hasn't really sunk in as wholly satisfying or an important part of my existence. And the iPhone makes the immediacy of all these elements that much more strong. The iPhone may be the one thing that wrangles all six of these online places together, more so even than my laptop.

And as I've stated before in this blog, maybe I'm just doing this for my son-to-be. Maybe he can look to these postings, status updates, videos, pictures, and tweets and piece together some sort of inner wisdom (or purposeful lack thereof) that he can't get from me one-on-one. Or maybe he can eventually pick up where I leave off and contribute to some vast, electronic Slonina stream of consciousness. Or not.

The Brostrom Procedure

2009-09-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

Doctor's orders.

Looks like I'll be getting myself into surgery sometime next year. After several sprains on my right foot, my MRI has shown a complete break in my ankle's ligament. Luckily for me, the Brostrom procedure that they'll perform on me is a pretty standard one with a high rate of success. And since I'm not in immediate pain and can function in the show with a torn ligament, there's no rush for surgery. Bad news is, recovery time is 12 weeks.

When to do it? I think it's important to do it after the baby is born, but before he's walking. And the show is going overseas in 2011. If I stay with it, I'll want this procedure done in the States, for sure. So, we're looking at June 2010, when the show is in Seattle, Vancouver, and partially Houston.

The baby will be six months old, and we're pretty confident that the wife can take care of two babies in the house by then! With Worker's Comp footing the bill and partial lost wages payment, taking 3 months off, yet staying on tour, AND spending full time with Junior sounds like win-win all around.

Now I gotta get around my fears of the competency of the health care system. Don't get me started.

More Laughter Hating

2009-09-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

This was brought to my attention by my buddy, Jonathan Taylor.

www.ihateclowns.com

You know, it's not so much this guy who runs this site: Rodney Blackwell (email him if you'd like at rodney@ihateclowns.net). He's obviously got some chronic, latent, sexual attraction to clowns that he feels he needs to mask at all cost. But it's the people that subscribe to and have fun fueling this saddening trend.

Clowns seem to be getting the bad rap mimes have been enduring for the past few decades, another dying art form thanks to dimwitted knee-jerk reactions. But at least clowns have been portrayed as terrifying monsters in movies and such, even this Blackwell idiot attributes his hatred for clowns to the killer clown scene in The Wiz. (Really?) And sure, John Wayne Gacy doesn't help the situation any. But where does the mime stigma come from?

I brought all this up on SoulPancake.com a while back, hoping for a mature, maybe even spiritual, point of view. This from one commenter:

"Comedians are not the same as clowns. Silent film stars were mimes, of a sort. But when clowns in clown make-up are floating around anything outside a circus ring - even outside on the periphery, working the circus crowd, they are just plain creepy. Hospital Clowns = creepy. Birthday Party Clowns = creepy. As in serial killer-creepy. Masks are fine. Clown make-up is creepy. It's ruined, I tell you. So no, there is no way to redeem it. I defy you to try. I dare you. You know what people will say? 'Creepy.'"

So there it is. Creepy as a fact. It's not this person's opinion, it's a fact of life. Someone told me just yesterday that all TV was a waste of time. Again, just something to say to sound interesting. Full House is maybe a waste of time, but Mad Men itself is worth the price of cable. In the same vein, the clown from Stephen King's "It": creepy; Avner the Eccentric: genius.

Maybe just think twice before you give your opinion on clowns and mimes. If nothing else, my future may depend on it.

Fat Ale

2009-09-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, CO invited the Cirque folk to their headquarters for a tour and some R & R.

This is a company with the right idea all around. A business that cares about its employees as much as its product, hosting beach volleyball every Thursday in the backyard of their brewery, among other oddball perks. Environmentally conscious, artist-friendly (they host the bacchanalian Tour de Fat every year), and their beer don't suck. It's the sort of thing that might turn this imported beer snob onto a domestic ale with good karma.

Why Stop the Laughter?!

2009-09-13T23:50:00.001-07:00

I recently found out from a Canadian colleague that there is controversy in Quebec about clowns entertaining the elderly in nursing homes. The government has alotted some money to provide these specially trained clowns at senior's residences. And the opinion columns in the Quebec newspapers actually raised a stink!

----------------

Quit clowning around with the elderly
The Gazette
Published: Saturday, May 23, 2009

Marguerite Blais has some big shoes to fill - literally. The minister in charge of seniors affairs has apparently got it into her head that what the residents of the province's old folks' homes need to bring a little sunshine into their lives is a squad of clowns. Blais told La Presse this week, in the middle of that newspaper's devastating series on the drab conditions in many senior's residences, that she'll announce officially on Monday that her department has signed an agreement with "Dr. Clown." Hmm - given how many people can't find a general practitioner these days, we wonder if she had to wait long for an appointment.

The program is to cost $293,000 over four years, and that's no joke. Surely it would be cheaper and the antics just as clownish to provide every old-age residence, public and private, with a free live feed of the National Assembly's daily question period. Now in fairness, these are specially trained "therapeutic clowns," not the common or garden variety red-nosed, flower-squirting, floppy shoed sadists you see terrifying kids at some birthday parties. But we're not sure what they can contribute, if anything, to aging gracefully or happily.

There's nothing wrong with providing a little stimulation for the elderly. Indeed, it's sorely needed. With no job to go to any more, no family or home to care for, no rose bush to prune and no lawn to mow, the old can find that time often hangs heavy on their hands. One of La Presse's most depressing stories focused on the air of boredom and torpor in many old-age residences.

But clowns, for heavens' sake. The whole notion smacks of condescension. These aren't wrinkled 4 year-olds we're talking about, but mature adults rich in experience and knowledge. They deserve better than clowns. Lectures, perhaps, movies, string quartets, stand-up comics, even. Or maybe if the government really wants to help, it should find ways to reconnect the elderly to their communities and to their families. Unvisited and alone, their ennui often springs as much from alienation as it does from fading faculties.

Last week we found out the government had invested in a luxury hotel for dogs and cats, and now we find it's sending in the clowns. Tired governments usually run out of ideas; Jean Charest's Liberals seem to come up with bad ones instead. If it's not too late, Minister Blais should cancel her appointment with Dr. Clown.

----------------

As a clown with an elderly mother who lives in a nursing home, AND who's deaf, so she can't hear 'lectures, movies, string quartets, or stand-up comics', I take particular umbrage with this shithead. He obviously knows nothing about clowns or the elderly. It brings to mind another question I've wrestled with recently: Will the art of clowning or mime ever become respectable again?

To this, I turn to an astute Facebook entry from an exceptional actor and clown, Molly Brennan.

"There is something unsettling about garish makeup, on a clown, a senior citizen, or the young women who stagger around my neighborhood on weekends. And I can't help but feel for people who have real phobias of anything. But, because I clown, I am often engaged in the "clowns are scary" conversation, and I think there is a certain amount of just saying "I'm scared of clowns" because it's perceived as a funny or interesting thing to say. Like hating mimes. Mime is an incredible practice, and people who are good at it are really mind blowing. But somehow it has become cool to say "I hate mimes." Or hating lawyers. I know some awesome people who are lawyers. I've even met some pretty incredible cops in my time. It's part of the same conversation we started a few weeks ago, Noah. "Are Mountain Dew and Cheetos really delicious? I don't THINK so, but we've believed it for so long, it's hard to tell what I really think." People say things sometimes without thinking, and the more they say it, the truer it becomes. So, if you honestly asked a scary clowns person: "Really. Really. Are you REALLY afraid of clowns? Are you afraid of Buster Keaton? Are you afraid of Lucille Ball? Are you afraid of Paul Kalina?" That person might respond with "What the fuck are you talking about?" To which, a great response is: "What the fuck are YOU talking about?" And, with any luck, there is a reexamination of the rote statement that the person has been making, and PERHAPS, change happens..."

Not My Job

2009-09-12T21:08:00.001-07:00

I accidentally kicked over a patron's drink in the audience today. I apologized. She looked at me and fumed, "You're gonna pay for that, right?" I looked at her with disdain and said, "Yeah right!" and started to walk away. She said, "Excuse me?!" and started to shout, "Don't ignore me. Do not ignore me!" I ignored the crap out of her. She went and complained to the head usher and got her free refill. And she proceeded to watch the rest of the show in her first row center seat with air of huffiness around her. Never clapped, didn't join in with the standing ovation at the end of the show.

One of my favorite things to blurt out to people in preshow when I'm getting in people's way is, "It's that kind of show!" It IS that kind of show! If you're in the front row of a Cirque show, you're gonna get messed with and spills happen. If you're gonna get angry over an overpriced drink, you shouldn't have bought your tickets in the first place.

Today I'm grateful that I can be obnoxious and surly in my profession and get away with it. In fact, it's encouraged! And I'm grateful when I can effectively piss people off who deserve it.

Contact Your Elected Officials to REALLY Get Stuff Done

2009-09-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Facebook was littered with people updating their status thusly: "No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick." This would usually be followed by instructions to cut and paste this to the reader's status for anywhere from a whole day to a whole week. It got me frustrated that people were thinking that updating a Facebook status could make a difference.

But perhaps it has. I have decided to not only plug the Congress.org site, but also to provide a dummy-proof step-by-step, just to illustrate how damn easy it is to actually make a difference.

1. Go to www.congress.org and enter your home ZIP code.

2. Choose your Senator. (Once you've completed this process, go back and choose the other one, and repeat the process).

3. Click on the Contact tab.

4. Click "Web Form".

5. Select your message. This will be the email's subject line. There's an option at the bottom to compose your own letter. Again, you can start the process over again later and choose another message. Then click Next Step at the bottom.

6. Add your own message. This is where you need to write the body of the letter, but GOOD NEWS, shorter is better! Even one or two sentences. Tell 'em what you really feel. They'll get the point. Put your name in the appropriate box...

7. Same page further down: The obligatory Prefix, Name, Email, Address, etc. Keep the "Remember Me!" box checked, cuz you can come back here with all your grievances and make this process even fricking EASIER! Click Send Message at the bottom. And you're done!

You'll get a confirmation email and the satisfaction that you've behaved like an actual citizen of this country.

Thanks for your time!

Bottoms Up

2009-08-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

This print and its attached story was found in Anton's Fish & Whiskey in Waite Park, MN. Enjoy!

“Bottoms Up”
The Story Behind The Painting

It may be helpful for you to know the history of the Bottoms Up painting, it often takes the “sting” out of the subject matter, as well as provides a great story.

The painting was commissioned of Edward T. Grigware in the early 1940’s by a wealthy Denver-area oilman. Edward T. Grigware was a well-known artist, most notably in Cody, Wyoming for his “historic Cody murals” in the Latter Day Saint chapel on Wyoming Avenue. This is the only nude that Grigware ever did and is historical in that fact alone.

The Denver oilman wanted a “tasteful nude” for his den. Some say it was of his mistress, others claim that he did not know the woman who posed for the painting. In any event, this was Grigware’s rendition of a tasteful nude. The painting was originally framed by Thomas Molesworth (the maker of Molesworth western furniture of which there is presently a great “rebirth” of want). It had a pine pole frame with red velvet drapes that parted to bordello music and hung in this man’s den in Denver.

If it was of his mistress, the wife put up with more than just a painting she hated for many years. When the oilman died, his wife sold the painting to Quin Blair. The popular telling is that she sold it to the first buyer who would A: come and get the painting before her husband was in the ground, and B: would publicly display the painting in Cody, Wyoming (the home of the “model”). Quin did purchase the painting on very short notice, and it hung originally in the Teepee Tap Room of the original Buffalo Bill Village resort. This would have had it on Main Street, about where the great sign is today. It was sufficient embarrassment to the model to cause her to move shortly after its return to Cody to Palm Springs, California. To the best of our knowledge she still lives in Palm Springs and would be in her mid/late 70’s today.

In 1972 with the opening of the Holiday Inn, the painting was moved to its present location -- The Bottoms Up Lounge. Holiday Inn granted a specific dispensation to Quin allowing him to display the painting due to its historic nature and to avoid any conflict of subject matter. The dispensation is still in effect today. Over the years the painting has been superimposed on coffee mugs, beer steins, shot glasses, T-shirts, posters, post cards and baseball hats. As it was the wife’s wish that the painting be put on “public display”, and as some of this memorabilia is as public as it can get, we fondly say that model or mistress -- the wife got her revenge in the “end”.

Building Porn/Archisexture

2009-07-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Getting busy in Downtown Saint Paul, MN. Both the Twin Cities famously have skyways connecting many of their buildings, so workers don't have to brave the subzero temps the area gets in the winter. But this one seems to have been built pre-modern skyway boom. And it seems to suggest a 'boom' of its own.

Sometimes a smoke stack is just a smoke stack. But not this one. Bling-ed to the nines with colorful and shiny mosaic, this erection proudly beckons all comers to the Thai deli that it's attached to on University Avenue in Saint Paul, MN.

The Fun Perspective

2009-07-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

[Photo by Stephan Landry]

I've had a lot of people shake their head at what I do and say something like, "You must have the most fun job in the world." Maybe. It's certainly the most fun job I've ever had.

Lately, I've really been conscious of the show's various perspectives. Audience members, performers, artistic and technical teams.

A first-time audience member sits in awe (or in scrutiny) and lets the magic of the show wash over them. Or their mind wanders to the performers themselves, and they imagine the joy they must be experiencing at that very moment, creating unbelievable feats, defying gravity.

Then there's the performer, waiting in the wings, their mind on a various number of things. Fatigue, concentration, their family, stuff they gotta do tomorrow. Then there's the performer on stage. Now, any number of things could be going on in their minds at any given moment. Mostly, it's concentration, application of notes given by a director or coach, maintenance of a number or act that has been performed almost a thousand times before. Sure there's been evolution within the act, but that evolution has likely been so slow, it almost seems like the exact same act all this time.

The artistic and technical teams watch the show, and their scope and focus zoom in and out from big picture elements like ticket sales and the "story" of the show, to microscopic elements like an uneven trap door or a misstep of a performer. And you know they gotta be thinking about groceries or an upcoming day trip from time to time.

I won't lie. At times, your mind wanders. Mostly at the moments where you can afford to wander. I'm sure the guy on the Chinese Chairs rarely has those moments, but maybe on his last few chairs on the way down? Or when he first enters, before the dangerous stuff starts?

Maybe not, but I find myself at times thinking of how tired I am, noting whether the audience is with us tonight or not, controlling my body and facial expressions, maintaining timing and leaving myself open for improv if needed.

It's all wildly interesting, but I can't say it's "fun" every second. When all is said and done it's work. There's a job to be done, it needs to be done well, and it may require physical or mental strain. And then, on top of all that, fun indeed enters into the equation.

First thing's first

2009-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well, hi! Welcome to my blog. I feel like I'm just telling myself this, since I'm not really spreading the word about this blog's existence for now. I guess I've started this to give me some impetus to begin a memoir and to start documenting memories, random thoughts on life... You know, blog stuff I guess...

I'm also currently going through significant changes in my life, the big one being upcoming fatherhood. My beautiful wife is gonna give birth in December, and maybe some life lessons or words of developmental wisdom can be worked out here and eventually be imparted to my spawn.

The title of the blog, Living Well Is The Best Revenge, was found in a New York apartment complex called the Marmara Apartments in Yorkville. It's a Turkish company, and that's their tag line. It's on everything, their marketing materials, their posters, even their room key cards. I initially thought it had kind of a harsh tone to it, maybe a bit conceited. But the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me as a really great mantra. It was originally coined by a 17th century English clergyman and metaphysical poet, George Herbert. It is indeed the best revenge you can have on any adversarial force, be it a person or a personal demon, etc. It's non-violent and yet it's not inactive. One has to work at living well. And that satisfaction can and should well suffice at getting back at the curve balls life inevitably throws at us sometimes.

In my childhood, especially in the awkward junior high school years, I was not a very popular kid. Well, I was very popular with bullies who liked to pick on smaller smartass kids like me. There were some dark, humiliating days on the playgrounds at that time. But it was only a few years later, in most of my high school days, when things started to turn around in my favor, and I started 'living well'. After that, 'living well' began to sink in as a form of revenge for me. The bullies on the playground of course never knew it, and I never really put the 'revenge' label on it, but at one point I found myself saying, "I've arrived at this great point in my life. I'm happy, I have great friends, I'm doing what I love. And guys like Tony Gugliuzza and Chris Siuta are surely somewhere serving 8-10 years for grand larceny, possession with intent to sell, or assault. Advantage: JimmySlo.

Bumps in the road aside, I can count my blessings, lucky stars, thank god, whatever one does to be grateful for what I have and where I am now. Too often I lose sight of that, and it's something I need to work on. Perhaps this blog will help me with that too. Here's to living well!