First stumble-thru

Sat thru the first stumbling run-thru of the first show of our new season, BAD DATES. A fun, one-woman show looking at one womans return to the dating scene after leaving her husband a dozen years before. It's a show about shoes and clothes. A lot of the clothes are coming from the actresses own wardrobe, but some of them need to be upscale and HOT. The actress is also now starting to work with the clothes, getting used to the changes onstage. She's in a strapless bra and panties throughout, so it isn't as risque as "5 Women..." was last season, but she's in them a LOT. Yes, we have a very attractive actress. And tonight we got to see just how attractive. During one change, out of a slinky LBD (little black dress), she'd forgotten that she'd taken off her strapless bra in the last scene change. She's rambling on, doing her lines very nicely, she slips off one shoulder strap and then the second one before realizing that she's flashing the room full of designers. MyMyMyMyMy. Nicest boobs I've seen in a LONG time that's not on the internet. And no, there will not be pictures, sorry. This image is for me alone. Ah well, now that it's happened here, it'll never happen again.
Anyway, I need to get home. I've been here way too long.

Beloit college mindset list Class of 2010.

Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students.

The Beloit College Mindset List is used by educators and clergy and by the military and business in their efforts to connect with the new generation. Beloit creates the list to share with its faculty in anticipation of the first-year seminars and orientation. “It is an important reminder to faculty, some of whom are only a Ph.D. older than their students, that what we call ‘hardening of the references’ can set in quickly,” according to Nief. "It is meant to be thought-provoking and fun, yet accurate. It often provides the base for good opening seminar discussions as faculty and students address the challenges of examining important issues from differing perspectives."

BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST®
FOR THE CLASS OF 2010

Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead.

1.	The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
2.	They have known only two presidents.
3.	For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
4.	Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5.	They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes."
6.	There has always been only one Germany.
7.	They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.
8.	They are wireless, yet always connected.
9.	A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.
10.	Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11.	A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
12.	Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
13.	Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
14.	The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
15.	They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
16.	DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
17.	They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
18.	They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
19.	"Google" has always been a verb.
20.	Text messaging is their email.
21.	Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
22.	Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
23.	Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
24.	Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.
25.	Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
26.	"Boogers" candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.
27.	There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.
28.	Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents' attics.
29.	Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
30.	Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
31.	They grew up in mini-vans.
32.	Reality shows have always been on television.
33.	They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all get along?"
34.	They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."
35.	Young women's fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
36.	They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
37.	Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
38.	Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
39.	"So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else
40.	Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
41.	They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
42.	Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
43.	They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44.	Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
45.	Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
46.	Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
47.	Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
48.	Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
49.	They have always been searching for "Waldo."
50.	The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
51.	Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
52.	They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
53.	They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
54.	There have always been live organ donors.
55.	They have always had access to their own credit cards.
56.	They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."
57.	Sara Lee has always made underwear.
58.	Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
59.	Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
60.	They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
61.	Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
62.	Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
63.	Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
64.	LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65.	Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
66.	Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
67.	Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
68.	"Outing" has always been a threat.
69.	Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
70.	They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
71.	The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
72.	Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.
73.	They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
74.	Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
75.	Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

Movie reflections

I've seen a couple of movies recently that have made me think a bit. The first is The Aristocrats.
A documentary showcasing a hundred of todays top comedians telling the same joke. It's a joke that first appeared on the Vaudeville circuit over a hundred years ago. It's generally considered the dirtiest joke ever.
The joke can be summarized in a few sentences, but the variations in the telling can take as long as the imagination of the comedian or the patience of his audience.
A manager is promoting his act to a theatrical producer. He describes the act, a family act, involving both parents, children, grandparents, and even pets, indulging in all sorts of sexual and scatalogical depravities. The manager, aghast, asks what the act is called. The Aristocrats!
Now if you know me, I'm not a huge fan of 'in-your-face' crudity, and this joke is nothing but. And most of the variations got tedious in the repetition. The joy came in the few comedians who attempted to tell the joke in a classy way. There is no way to tell this joke for a family audience. The humor in the joke is in the juxtaposition of the crudity of the act, and pretentiousness of the name. But the few comedians who attempted to tell this joke in a classy way made the whole journey worthwhile. I think Wife probably disagrees, she's even more prudish than I am. But seeing the variations in the telling styles of this joke was fascinating. Seeing the comics trying to avoid telling the joke was equally amusing, John Stewart went to incredible lengths to finally not tell the joke. Contrasted with Gilbert Gottfried, who relished telling the joke, and who's version probably went on the longest. Or the British comedian who told the regional variant, called "The Sophisticates!" (which I happen to think works better than Aristocrats.)

Well, that's enough rambling for now. I'll go into my thoughts on the other movie some other time soon. I've got an AET season kick off party to get ready for.

Couldn't resist

Don't know why, but as soon as I saw this I thought of a friend, far away, who has an affinity for pink tool belts. Made me giggle, LOTS.

Weekend Update. Or is that trademarked by Saturday NIght Lethargy

T'was an eventful weekend, or at least the first half of it. Saturday was the second HMS/Wandering Sons concert. No pics this time, it looked much the same as the last one. They played a few of the same songs, but for the most part, they played new stuff. Again, they were joined by Rick Nielson and Bun Carlos from Cheap Trick. So after the show, I booked out as fast as I could and headed out to the Stateline Area Theatre Party. It was booked as a sing-for-your-supper party, where you had to perform for 30-60 seconds of anything, or do something else to help out for the party (such as build footlights, rig stage lights, and help build the stage).
(Yes, that's left over scenery from Mid- summer) Of course, all the acts were done by the time I got there, almost midnight. As a matter of fact there were only a dozen or so people left when I got there. S, exTD (I guess I'd better start calling him B, so it doesn't look like I'm saying sex.), our Marketing person and her husband, U and his wife. No Boss, since I left him to lock up the building (HA HA!). I also found myself drinking heavily. I met several of A's very eccentric and colorful roommates. I got home about 3, much to Wifes consternation.
Sunday was supposed to be going out and cleaning up and taking down the set after the party. An hour before I was to go out and help, A called and said that it was already done. He said the wind picked up about 10 and did it for us. Amazingly, he said, that it was almost slow motion. A very controlled fall, that took out a few of the chairs, but didn't damage any of my lights. So strike was taken care of, and A told me to take the day off. Cool.
This morning I had to wrestle with Unemployment people. I missed a call date to re-open my claim that had been closed, not just made inactive. So I've filed my appeal and we'll see if I get my last weeks claim amount. After that, work was lots of little projects, sorting a new cable donation, and starting to sort and put away gel, prior to doing my fall inventory. I hate inventory, but I force myself to do it twice a year anyway.

another Friday Five

1. How much time do you spend on the Internet daily?
Quite a bit. If I'm up early, I'll check my (and my friends) mail, blogs, and Spaces before work. I usually check my work email first thing at work. I'll occasionally then sit at the computer over lunch, and then after work, which is also occasionally time to chat with other friends in distant parts of the country. After I go home, Wife is usually pretty jealous of my time, though I'll get on if she's watching a TV show that I don't care about.

2. What are your favorite 3 websites?
Hmmm. Favorites in what sense? My most visited? or most interesting? or most artistic.
I spend a lot of time checking for updates from MySpace friends.
I love browsing the collections of Flickr.com for interesting and artistic photos.
I usually get my current events news from Fark.com

3. Do you eat at your computer?
Sure. Most often Lunch, though occasionally a weekend breakfast bagel or grilled cheese.

4. Pick one and why - Reading the news online or in a newspaper?
I like the ease and expandability of online news, if you want more info or a different point of view, its only a click away. With print news, you're stuck with what you're given. But I prefer the physical act of reading a newspaper more. My eyes don't have to keep up with a mouse scroll (or conversely, my mind doesn't have to divide itself from the article to scroll the window).

5. How many people are on your instant messenger buddy list?
Six and one of those is pending. I'm not a big chatter.

Well, tonight I'm back to the college to drop off some brochures, and to pick up the two AET scripts that I'll be doing in the spring. I was out there earlier this week, and saw E. Maybe it was just the summer tan, but she's looking nicer than ever. Too bad her life is more screwed up than ever (and my life isn't?). Oh well. I don't even get news on her life anymore. S and she hardly even talk, let alone hang out, so I miss that, and I'll miss hanging out with them for their first two fall shows. Grrr.
And I just found out that Boss has scheduled a Sister Bernies Bingo Bash performance in two weeks. He has NO IDEA how much that Fucks up my life. That weekend is between my light hang and focus; the lights will be up and circuited, but not pointed at anything. I get to decide whether to move my whole schedule three days earlier, or shove everything back into tech, making that tighter. Either way, I'm not going to make the changes quietly.

This is not going to be a good season.

A nice weekend and a long week already

So last friday I went to a 'Friday night game night' at a local church. It was mentioned by a friend from MySpace (the same one from the Stuart Davis concert in July). Fun time, played a bongo video music game, Simpsons Jeopardy (that phrasing in the form of a question comes back to you quickly), and Balderdash. I got some cool pix of the outside of the church and a couple from the games up on my flickr site. The next night, S and I made plans to go out for drinks. During the day, I'd gotten a call from actor U about a party that night (he's notorious for his spur of the moment parties). So after a full flight beer sampler (10 small glasses, varying from 4-10% alc. content), we wandered over there. Who all should be there, but the great SM (not the crappy SM), and the Troll herself. A bit of drinking and chit chat and we settled into some Poker. S ended up winning the pot, a $1 buy in, 7 total. Her boyfriend got off work at midnight so we all pretty much decided to call it a night then.
Wife wasn't too thrilled with all the nights out so Sunday on was home time.
Monday I started back at work. It's been kinda laid back. Monday, Boss was off, since he sat thru call-backs with the Troll all weekend. Today was the first production meeting for this season. We got info on season designers, and finally found out who is doing the various staff jobs of people who've been 'phased out'. Bad SM (in addition to his normal duties of ASM and Company manager. Can't wait for that one to blow up.) is acting as TD and Carpenter for the first show, until a replacement can get in here. Props are being jobbed in by a couple of people over the season. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
The rest of the week is looking up. Thursday is going up to Beloit to see I Do, I Do, and sit thru their photocall. Friday, maybe the game night again, maybe not. Saturday is the second HMS/Wandering Sons concert, this time with the Elanors. However Saturday is also A's big regional Theater mingling party. Any theatre person in the stateline area is invited. The trick is that to attend you need to "sing for your supper", and perform something, anything, for 30-60 seconds. I'll go on out after the concert. I'm considering asking MySpace Friend if she wants to go too. Hm. maybe too forward. There is also a party for AET people the following weekend, and her roommate is also involved in AET so I may ask if she wants to go to that one. We'll see. I'll keep you all posted.

A Friday Five

1. Are you named after anyone? If so, explain.
My parents have never explained how they came up with my name. It's not a family name at all, I guess they just liked it. I do know that I was almost a Matthew, but my older brother is Mark, and they didn't want a Matthew and Mark.

2. Do you have your children's names picked out already? If so, is there any significance?
It was tradition in my family to give three given names, not just two. I'd like to also use family names, so Probably Louis Rudolph Carl (Louis 'cause I like it best, Rudy after my dad, and Carl after his dad.)

3. If you were born a member of the opposite sex what would your name have been?
I have no idea about that. I hope not named after my mom's mom, she was Harriet. My dad's mom was Anna, that'd be ok.

4. If you could re-name yourself what name would you pick and why?
I would pick another middle name to follow family tradition. But I've really come to like my name.

5. Are there any mispronunciations/typos that people do w/ your name constantly?
With my first name, they usually ask if it's Eric with a C or K. My last name is very German, and has an unusual letter combination that usually confuses English speakers, so that often gets mangled.

Long boring week

Although with such a long boring week, you'd think I would post more. Sorry.
With the current heat wave, I've been less motivated to get out and do stuff outside, and Wife is pressuring me to stay in also. Although, I'm thinking about going out tomorrow night to a 'Friday Night Game Night' that a Myspace friend told me about. I mentioned it to Wife and it may even be that she'd come with me. hmmm. not my original plan, but it could work. I'll take Scrabble and Backgammon, games that are common and easy to transport (it's the travel scrabble edition, foldable board holds the tiles and racks and bag inside).
Haven't heard from S in almost two weeks. She's dealing with a real job, no money, and a boyfriend, so no real opportunity to go out. Soon I hope. I miss seeing my friends.
It's also now August, so I can start posting pics to Flickr again. I'm still on the free account, so I'm limited to how much I can post a month, and I shot my wad on the HUGE show shots at the start of July. Now I know to edit the shots down to a reasonable size before I post them.
I've gotten word that I'm starting back to work on Monday. Where did the summer go. Oh yeah, I worked most of it. The good thing is that I've gotten all the scripts for next season already. I even got an original Oliver script, one that says "Do not mark or deface in any way or we'll hunt you down and kill your children". Yeah, I'll make a copy, even though I have no children for them to hunt down. It's also official, we're getting the Troll back to direct it, Christie Montour-Larson, who did Joseph's Stupid Coat for us a few years ago. Well, at least she's good, and will have strong ideas about the show that aren't based on a whim or a movie version. Too bad her personality is so abrasive. Better than Boss I guess.
We plucked the first cherry tomatoes off our plants last night. Mmmm good. Now we just have to let the rest of them catch up. Mmmm catsup. (NO. Its too much work for that little payoff. Unless we get people to donate extra tomatoes later in the season, then I'll think about it. But it's a full day of using the stove; either blanching, or boiling, or sterilizing jars.)
Wife found DVDs for sale on EBay of two classic cancelled series, When Things Were Rotten (from the 7o's, starring Dick Gautier as Robin Hood, Dick vanPatten as Friar Tuck, Mel Brooks created. Funny, pun-based take on Robin Hood, precurser to Men in Tights, I think.), and Covington Cross (Nigel Terry and Cherie Lunghi from Excalibur, Chris Quinn and Ione Skye, star in medieval castle family drama). Both shows lasted less than a full season but were fun to watch in their own way. Turns out the guy taped them off the TV and burned them to DVD. Hmmm just a little illegal? No attempt to disguise the fact of what they are, not even lables on the disks, only 1, 2, 3 written on them in sharpie. Box lables are bad scans of the artwork, and badly inkjetted. So that's kept us busy this week, that, and the fact that Wife just got Digital cable installed. So now we have BBC America and Fine Living, and G4, the video game channel, and a butt-load of sports and MTV/VH1 channels. However, on one of the sport channels, they were covering the Rockford Riverhawks at the Washington WildOnes (Frontier League) baseball game! Cool! Perhaps that'll be a regular occurance.
Well, I guess that's enough for now. I'm in at work teching the last Kids Drama School show. Yes, School House Rock Live, Junior, again. But that ended an hour ago and I want to get to the library. Maybe Hot Dog Guy for lunch.