Commission a Play, Help a Friend

I just got an email from my colleague, often director and friend Jeffrey A. Lewonczyk. It touched me a little close to home.

Back in my bartending/table-waiting days, when restaurants closed/redesigned/went-under, I collected unemployment, anywhere from a whopping $300-405 per week. These are monies that we all pay into, and the payout is reserved strictly for times of need.

Click here to see how my pal Jeff is sort of getting screwed by his collection of unemployment, and the steps he's taking to make it right. I don't have all the details-- I expect I'll have to spring for a can of PBR (or a one-page play) to get him to spill it-- but I say, if you have the means, why not throw it his way? (although, don't forget that Ed and I, under the auspices of our theater company Cardium Mechanicum, will probably be hitting you up for something resembling a tax-deductible donation within the next year or so, so give what you can, but reserve a slice for us!!)

Will Calls Me "Clown", Giggles.

I don't know if it's the fact that there are stripes on each item I'm wearing or if it's the fact that I've got on bright pink styrofoam shoes, but Will got quite a chuckle out of my outfit today.

Cut me some slack, man.

I was running around all morning doing last minute errands before our trip to Korea (we leave Thursday), including picking up some unmentionables for my friend who lives there-- apparently there's no Gap Body in Busan, South Korea.

I also had to find something to wear to Sang and Lisa's wedding. Having never before been to a traditional Korean wedding, I asked Will to ask Sang what I should wear. Sang's reply? According to Will, he said "whatever".

Now take a look at the photo above. When given poetic license with my dress, I will outfit myself like Rainbow Brite, especially if there's a party.

Perhaps Will realized this. He told me I should ask Lisa, the bride. Her response? "Conservative." Remember, I think what I'm wearing in that photo could be considered "business casual". She said that she had seen a video from a wedding that looked like a business dinner.

I'm having my briefcase polished as we speak.

You'll Never Believe This One

I found out yesterday that I booked a voiceover job.

I'm going to be the voice of a talking remote control. Like an actual device. With buttons.

It's working title is the "Control-a-Man" and my guess is that it will be sold at novelty shops in malls around the country. Buttons pushed will say things like "Kiss Me, You Fool!" and "What About My Needs?".

I'm starting to amass a peculiar resume... but I'm getting paid to talk. What could be better?!

Busy. Wait, no. Swamped.

It's been a maddening couple of weeks. Sorry I've been out of touch.

So I'm working on that show at the Museum of Natural History. It's fun, but I've still got a bit of work ahead of me-- kids are coming to the dress rehearsal tomorrow, so technically, I've got a show in about 24 hours.

After working for a few years on the movement-based and word-free Bizarre Science Fantasy shows, learning lines has become quite a task! I've watched myself in rehearsal and my instinct is to keep moving, especially when I can't remember what to say! I know that I will pull it off, but right now I should really have my nose in a script.


But no, instead I'm choosing to procrastinate. I just broke out the iSight camera and started goofing off. Technology is neat! (Don't worry, I'm saying my lines while I'm doing this...)

Will is currently in Berlin checking out apartments. I was originally going to go with him, but then I got this show, so I'm here in New York dodging the hailstorm. The initial report back according to Will is that Brokers are the same even all the way across the globe-- he says X is how much I want to spend, so they show him apartments that cost X + XYZ thousand.

Then in two weeks, we're off to Korea for Will's friend's wedding. My friend Jennifer O'Donnell is there, too, teaching English, so we'll get to pay her a visit as well. I've never been to Asia (unless you count Russia, which I really don't), and I'm really excited.

We're home for two weeks after that, then off to London for my friend Julia's wedding.

Doesn't anyone get married locally in the states anymore? We've got Will's cousin's wedding in Pennsylvania in May, a college friend of mine in Massachusetts also in May then my friend Katie Brack in August in Utah.

Anyone ever heard of New York City Hall???

In other news, I finally sucked it up and got a haircut last week. When we got back from Italy, I learned that my hairdreser of more than four years had left the salon where I last saw her. I tried calling, I put a lost and found ad on Craigslist, I asked everyone I knew but nobody knew where she went. So I found a little shop in my neighborhood run by a sweet little Japanese couple. It was great. Chi washed my hair for like 20 minutes-- so long that I actually fell asleep!

I also got a new cell phone. My old phone literally broke in half, so there was really no option. Not exactly sure how I feel about it yet. Part of me is excited that it's so new and small and cool, but another part wonders why a phone can't just be a phone-- does is also need to be a camera, video camera, modem and video arcade? I figured out how to play video pool before I learned how to check my voicemail. Eeesh.

I guess this month is about me learning that change can be good...

More More More!

We are officially available for download as a podcast on iTunes. You can subcribe by clicking here. Then you can carry us around in your iPod or mp3 player and have us with you wherever you go. Boy, you're lucky!

Will Has a Go at Acting

We're still plugging away at the Crush Project. Will has officially become a part of it, and not just on the technical side! Check it out here-- he's pretty good!

In Other News...

I got a job. Well, I've had jobs-- a bunch of them, actually. And they've even been acting jobs, in a way... But this one I'm very excited about. I'm going to be "working" in the Science Musuem here in the city doing a show for kids about Evolution! (after having just watched Jesus Camp this week, though, I'm wondering how often Fundamentalists roll into the Evolution exhibit and if there will be any altercations... I'll keep you posted.)

It's actually technically my first one-woman show and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. They are just finishing up the exhibit that is centered around three skeletons: one of a chimp, another of a hominid and then a human skeleton. I go into rehearsal next week and the first show is open to the public on the 18th of February.

It's not Tony-nomination material, but I think it's gonna be fun just the same!

I also had a couple of meetings with Ed, my theater company partner, this week. We're finalizing plans for submitting his plays to festivals this summer and talking about a whole bunch of other stuff. He and I are turning out to be a great match: the stuff that he's good at is not necessarily my strong point and vice versa. It already feels like we inspire and encourage each other. I'm really excited to get into an actual production with our new company.

Also, there has been a hair of interest sparked over our Crush Project. I met a guy who does promotions and press stuff and he thinks the project is really unique and interesting. We're going to sit down with him within a week or so and see how we can work together. Until then, Will and I are working on making the actual site more streamlined and the actors and I are building more content, which is totally fun. I think we might even be on iTunes as a podcast... last I heard we were awaiting approval.

I still don't fully know the shape this whole thing is going to take, but I'm happy that people are finding it intriguing... it's a fun ride!

How's it goin', friends in Boston?

Not quite sure how I feel about the recent, um... Terrorism Scare (?) in Boston.

If you have not yet heard, you can read about it here, here and here (yeah, that last one is from the Times India-- Boston news journals surprisingly are not top on the search engines... but India is on it!) You can also see videos here, and my favorite is here.

Now here's the thing. I know it's fun to say "oh look at the politicians/cops/firemen/news jerks who didn't even know that these were Lite-Brites and not bombs" and "who doesn't know about the Aqua Teen Hunger Force?!". It's acutally pretty funny, like when the three-year-old is the only one in the house who knows how to program the VCR.

I don't think it's funny, per se, that cops and firemen and whoever else had to run out and "dismantle" the suspected terror. What I don't understand, though, is that these light boxes cum guerrilla marketing campaigns were just sitting around under bridges, etc. for two weeks and it wasn't until a phone call came in from an average citizen that the alarms were sounded.

If we Americans have learned anything from our strict diet of fear infusions over the past six years, it's that ... well ... um. Any ideas?