On a More Frivolous Note

Will turned me on to Farecast recently and it's completely fantastic.

It's a travel search. You enter where you're going and when you want to travel and it scans all the airlines for prices.

Yeah, lots of sites do that. But what makes this one extra fancy is that it tells you if you should buy your ticket now or wait based on whether or not they think the price will go up or down. You can sign up for email alerts and they'll send it right to your inbox.

I'm watching fares on a July trip to LA right now. Yesterday, tickets were $395 on United. But I haven't purchased yet-- Farecast says wait.

One Reason (maybe) to Fear NYC

Yesterday's post was #300, in case you're keeping score at home. To tone down the high level of excitement a number like that can engender, I thought I'd post this little gem. You've probably already seen it, since it happened nearly a decade ago (in 1999-- yeah, nearly a decade ago), but if not, you may now witness true fear:



I'm not exactly claustrophobic, but this would definitely make me go nuts. I've seen too many movies for it not to! I simply cannot imagine being trapped in an elevator for nearly two days.

I think the video is beautiful, though, even though its subject matter is mildly terrifying. If only this poor guy could have lived the Time-Lapsed version! And it's fascinating to me that he managed to be on surveillance cameras the whole time without doing anything lewd or crazy! I imagine I would have, like, stood on my head a few times or thrown an all out kicking-and-screaming temper tantrum. What restraint!

The New Yorker via Gothamist

Another Reason to *Heart* NYC

Besides just being really cool, this is a great way to deal with all those pesky grocery bags you keep taking (instead of just using a reusable one). So is this.

via Gothamist

There's This Guy Outside Our Window...

... and he sits in his car.

... and he listens to music.

Loud Music.

Loud POP Music. In the double-parked car.

Music from the 80s. The late 80s. And sometimes the early 90s.

I was just treated to Seal's Kiss From a Rose, to which the guy sang along (an odd attempt at harmony). Now we're onto U2.

I'm going into the kitchen and closing all the windows.

It's times like these I miss the crackheads on Avenue C.

A Personal Secretary, perhaps?

When you tend to blather on as much as I sometimes do, it's good to have someone with a keen ear around to transcribe a gem like this one, from the Facebook page of my dear friend, Bryan Enk.

Clearly, the best part about this is being quoted alongside the very awesome Venture Brothers.

Bryan Enk, you wily dog, you!

What is Art?

A question that has plagued the ages.

Google "Art" and this is the first image on the list:

The first Google search item leads us to a site where you can buy stuff (like this masterpiece).

Wikipedia defines Art as

... a diverse range of human activities and artifacts, and may be used to cover all or any of the arts, including music, literature and other forms. It is most often used to refer specifically to the visual arts, including media such as painting, sculpture, and printmaking. However it can also be applied to forms of art that stimulate the other senses, such as music, an auditory art.

I was reading something this morning (for which I can't find the link...) and it led me to this title:

The Dubious Art of Torture

Costa Rican artist Guilermo Vargas Habacuc

tied a starving stray dog in a gallery space in Nicarugua, out of reach but not the smell of food, and let him die.

He argues

The purpose of the work was not to cause any type of infliction on the poor, innocent creature, but rather to illustrate a point.

Is that art? Does all art have to have meaning or "illustrate a point"? Does calling it "Art" lessen the moral or ethical implications of the act? This dog project is basically the installation art version of a snuff film, right?

I have a friend who considers the film Bride of Chuckie "High Art" simply based on the fact that two animatronic dolls have a make-out scene.

I, on the other hand, consider the whole concept of High Art to be defined by this video:

Did You Remember?

To file your tax extension? Or ... do you actually do your taxes on time?

Will Has Some Time on His Hands

Although Will has not yet officially launched Benchcoach*, a new company he's started with his buddy Sang, and he's working many many more hours a week than one should work, he still manages to find the time to do some very useful research.

Behold: Every musical variation on the Super Mario Brothers Theme Song you could ever dare to dream.

What would we do without Japan? Or Finland!?

*If you're into fantasy baseball, you can play around on their site for FREE until May. By then you'll find that you love it so much you'll want to pony up the measly subscription fee for the myriad statistical wonder that is Benchcoach. Because what's the point of playing Fantasy Baseball if you're not winning Fantasy Baseball??? Benchcoach is for winners.

Get Your Heels On, Y'all, It's Time to Go Grocery Shoppin'.

A week or so ago I was lucky enough to have a night free to see my good friends Dan O'Brien and Julie Shavers' new show, Silver Bullet Trailer.

Julie wrote it and you can hear her southern roots and biting humor throughout. Without giving too much away, I'll tell you that Julie plays a very pregnant Sari, whose unborn child longs for a name and takes off (yes!) in search of his maverick cowboy of a daddy. Along the way, the little chap encounters a merry band of crazies and has a considerable adventure for a fetus. Dan directs and hits one zinger after another. It's sharp, smart, funny and harshly realistic in its absurdity. And if I'm not mistaken, this marks the screen debut of their most adorable and already talented son, Ammon O'Brien (in photo with banjo).

It's got another two weeks at the Ohio. I highly recommend you check them out.

Why Make Two Trips...?

... when you can lug 35 lbs. of laundry and 20 lbs. of groceries up three flights of stairs all at once? The ladies at my laundry place think I'm out of my mind.

My arms are jello and the rest of me, a puddle of sweat. What's wrong with two trips, rr?

It Was an Emergency!

On Monday I was doing a lot of running around-- recording session in the morning, back to the Brooklyn to record an audition, grab the car, hit an audition near Grand Central then get to rehearsal.

I think it would be easier to prance through Midtown on your hands than to find parking near Grand Central, so I figured I'd park down in Murray Hill; a more residential neighborhood was sure to have more street parking. Apparently I was not the first to figure this out, as finding parking took longer than I expected.

With about 15 minutes to get twelve blocks up and two across, I hopped in a cab. I thought it was great that the driver seemed to sense my urgency as yellow lights turning red didn't phase him in the least.

On Third Ave approacing 42nd Street, out of nowhere Speed Racer screams,

"Lady! I ain't gonna charge you nothin'. I gotta let you out here!"

I am confused. Things were going so well. Was it something I said?

"I gotta go to the bathroom-- it's an emergency. (pointing left) Grand Central is that-a-way and the bathroom (pointing right) is that-a-way. It's an EMERGENCY. I gotta go!"

I got out of the cab and off he sped. I sure hope he made it.

I've been in New York nearly ten years now and this was the first time anything this hilarious has ever been said to me in a cab. This place never ceases to amaze me.

Working.

Recorded a commercial for the Prime Outlets chain this morning. The audition script was for Prime Outlets in Williamsburg. For the life of me, I couldn't think of where there was an outlet store off of the L Train. Then I remembered the rest of the country does not center around Hipsterville; this was a commercial ready to air in Virginia.

So if you're in Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Western Massachusetts, parts of Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mississippi or Michigan, keep your ears perked up-- it should air soon.

In other VO news, I bought a new microphone. This was a big deal, as my old one was on the fast track to Deadsville. With the help of Will's friend, audio genius Larry Legend, I am the proud owner of a fancy little Snowball by Blue. Some joker at another store thought he'd try to sell me nearly $4,000 worth of equipment by laughing at my current mic and saying that USB mics are no good, but Larry sent me to the guys at Guitar Center where I was in and out in mere minutes without my credit card getting demolished.

I also recorded another bit of promo for HGTV last week. That makes my tenth or twelfth so far this year.

Am I one of the only people on the planet actually looking to be inundated with work?

Come and Play, Everything's A-Ok!

As I'm sure you could have imagined, Sesame Street is just about the Funnest Place on Earth. Here are some photos from my day on the Street!




The day begins where the real magic happens-- in hair and makeup!











My scene partners, the Triangle Lover's Club!

(l to r: Isaac, me, Jaelyn, muppet Phyllis McCrackin and Triangle Man himself, Mike Haugh)






No wonder Oscar is a Grouch-- that can is not exactly roomy!











Taking five in-- where else?-- Big Bird's nest!













All in all, a great day at the office!

The episode should air sometime in August or September. I'll keep you posted!

Will is Out of Town; Had to Call Carrie

One of my first (and funniest, WAY after the fact) memories of moving to New York happened within my first week of being here. It was in Brooklyn, actually, where I was sharing a 1-month sublet with my friend at the time, a lovely ground floor of a Brownstone in Prospect Heights (on Park Place between Vanderbilt and Underhill).

I had a plan to meet Carrie at the coffee shop down the block. She was coming out from Manhattan, so I had enough time to take a shower. It was a small shower, just a stand-up stall as I recall. I turned on the water, then went to undress in the undressing room. I returned and, in my towel, pulled back the curtain to get in.

To my shock, horror and ultimate shrieking yelps, waiting there for me on the shower wall was my introduction to one of the most disgusting terrors of New York City Life: a waterbug. (for the 16 non-New Yorkers who read this blog and don't know what a waterbug is, click on the link because I can't go into detail-- it's just too gross).

Screaming, and wrapped in my towel, I sprinted out to the living room and called Carrie, who luckily had not yet left her apartment. I don't remember if I had worked myself up to the point of tears, but I was definitely panicked and I asked her if I thought it would be appropriate for me to go to the coffee shop at that very moment-- granted, I was only wearing a towel, but I needed to call in reinforcements and I didn't know anyone else in the neighborhood!

Well, tonight I was brought right back to that fateful afternoon in August 1999. After a long day of rehearsal, Fringe Adjudication and seeing an early evening show, I came home and turned on the stove to boil some water for a quick little pasta dinner. The water boiled, I puttered around, I cooked pasta. Just as it was nearing al dente, I got the strainer and as I moved aside a pot in the sink to place it down, I shrieked the horror-shriek of 8/99 as there was a really-HUGE-and-really-GROSS waterbug just sitting there in the sink.

Now besides being an excellent person to have around when your computer dies or ... well, there are other things Will does around the house but it's late and I can't quite muster a list (forgive me)... Will is great at flushing a bug down the toilet.

Murphy's Law: Will is out of town (for his dad's birthday-- Happy Birthday, Larry!), a bug sets up camp in the sink.

I know you're all probably at the edge of your seats right now wondering how I survived. Well, I called Carrie. She suggested I throw on a towel and hit the nearest café. Just as I was trying to figure out how I could maneuver past the sink to grab my towel without being spied by Mr. Bug, I realized she was only kidding. I ended up straining the pasta into another pot then pouring the hot water into the sink-- don't worry, I looked away. Actually, I only half-looked away. I saw Mr. Bug sort of spin out in the current. I think he was already dead, because neither my screams (can bugs hear?) nor my pasta water seemed to make him make a move. Unfortunately, he's too big to slip down the drain (GROSSGROSSGROSS!!!), so...

Well, let's just say that I've left some of the fun for Will's return home.

Yes, dear. If you're reading this before you've been in the kitchen, that brown paper cup sitting upside down in the sink is there for a reason. I'll leave the toilet seat up. Thanks!

An Extra Side of AWESOME

There aren't enough positive adjectives in the English Language for me to describe how just plain BADASS and SUPER AWESOME the Vampire Cowboys' current show, Fight Girl Battle World, is.

Will and I saw it last night and were both completely engrossed-- it is a rare chemistry when we both like a show so much that we're simultaneously belly laughing throughout. It's smart, it's oddly sexy (for being so, in their words, "comic geek chic") and it's laugh-out-loud hilarious.

I'm late to the game, since the show closes on Sunday, but if you're in the area, Go See This Show!

In other news, also from the AWESOME department-- I'm off today to do my spot on Sesame Street. Triangle Man is waiting for me in Queens-- I've just got to pack up all my most colorful garb and head out there. I'll be back over the weekend with photos, I'm sure. Today will most likely be one of the most fun days of my life.

Busy. Mind-blowingly So.

My to-do list as of late has gotten out of control. So much so that yesterday I cancelled my debit card, convinced that I had lost it.

This morning I turned my chair 90˚ to the left from my desk and there it was, in all its Citibank-y glory.

Luckily my new card comes tomorrow.* And not a moment too soon. Operating strictly on cash makes me uneasy for some reason.

Anyway, what's keeping me busy is all good. I have a bunch of performances coming up, including my improv class show this Thursday at 7pm at the Magnet Theater.

Also, be on the lookout for Babylon, Babylon, coming in April to the Brick.

Until then, I may seem like a distant memory, but rest assured, I'm alive.

*The Customer Service Lady said that it would take a week, but if I needed it sooner she could get it to me by Wednesday. Who doesn't "need it sooner"??

I Could Get SO Much Done If This Was My Office

Seriously.

Could there be a more perfect place than the Google Offices in Zurich?

I've been thinking what's missing from our home office is clearly the aquarium room with foam cube-filled thinking tub. And chill-out pods, massage room and hammock chairs!

Wow. We're gonna need a bigger apartment if I'm ever gonna get anything done around here!

Things I'd Miss if I Had a Dayjob, Volume 2

Seeing Glen Hansard on the street! He wasn't doing his musician thing, he was just walking down Broadway above Union Square, but I got totally sideswiped by excitement. His movie Once was incredibly moving (and his Oscar acceptance speech even more so) and it was great to see him for a split second. (or his doppelganger, whatever!)

That Was Fast!

Geez, the man barely has time to get his pants back on and hold a press conference and the moment-to-moment industry that is pop culture kitsch has already got his mug on everything they can think of!

And lest we forget the power and general *zing!* of the quippy headline!

Personally, I don't much follow state politics here-- it's all I can do to keep up with happenings on the national level without throwing my blog reader out the window. I will say, though, that were it not for his rumbling against the "bad guys" as Attorney General, etc. I almost wish that they would leave him alone since this falls as another check in the column marked "Let's All Be Way Too Concerned With What Goes On In Each Other's Bedrooms".

But the lesson we can all walk away from this with is to make sure your closet his sparkling clean before you go poking through someone else's.

Which reminds me. Spring cleaning!

via Gothamist

Will Finds "Religion", Takes Sundays Off

Sometimes he just cracks me up.

Once Babylon, Babylon opens and I no longer have full-weekend rehearsals, I'm taking Sundays off too, dammit!