Customer Disservice
Current mood: aggravated
Category: Life
I don't like shopping anymore. Just thought I'd mention it.
To preface this, I should admit to you that once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away (Rexdale) I worked retail. I did it for 4 years in total, so I know what the job entails. Having confessed that I will continue...
In recent times I have been forced to deal with more than my share of retail staff. In a normal situation I go into a store knowing what I want, find it, and having found it, buy it. Simple. Direct. The only person you come in contact with are the cashiers, who are generally great people provided you don't have to get the price checked on something, then it can get nasty. On other occasions, I am content to meander through the aisles, picking up what attracts my attention, which I may or may not put back out of anticipated guilt. During these times I just want to be left alone with my shopping muse, and am just as inevitably bombarded with "Can I help you?" The answer to this if ever actually tested is "Probably Not", but that's for later
The horror of modern shopping is probably best summed up by my recent move and attempts to furnish an apartment. Trying to purchase a television comes to mind. It took over a week and involved 3 different stores which shall remain nameless, although their initials are BB. I'll not go into the details because it would force me to relive the horror. Suffice to say I was lied to on several different occasion by several different people (that is, once having found the elusive sales staff who seem to travel in flocks, like birds, but then scatter just as quickly), who came up with amazingly intricate reasons for why they didn't have the TV I wanted in stock, or if they had it in stock and how they would deliver it to me even though they didn't have it stock. Add to this the inevitable , "Well now you got this, you need this..." and you realize you've passed through the Twilight Zone , skipped through the Outer Limits and have taken up residence on something like Laputa, only without the geniuses. Also by this time you are so gobsmacked by the stupidity that you'll agree to anything. I can deal with incompetence. Most of the people staffing these places are working badly from a script and it confuses them if you vary from it. Don't believe me? Go into a Tim Horton's (any one of the million or so in the Toronto area and say these simple words.
"I'd like to get a travel mug, please"
If they don't ask you for your mug to refill first this is what will happen...
First there's the blank stare of them replaying those words in their heads in order to try to comprehend what has just been asked of them. Then comes the rabbit in the headlight stare of "Oh God, He asked for something other than a double double! Shit!! What do I do now?" Then comes the inevitable looking around for someone else to pass this off to (too late they've flocked off), and then after a final pleading look to you that says "You really don't want to do this, do you?", they shamble off much like a zombie fresh off a brain fast. If they manage to find a travel mug, and often they won't, when they do go to enter it on the register, they will get the price wrong. Then they will have to go find the manager to fix said problem. Try to get them to fill the mug with coffee, and the same cycle will start all over again, or their brains will explode. How do I know this? It happened the first time I bought a Tim Horton's travel mug...Then I forgot it at home so I decided to get another one (plus I was stocking a new apartment and needed cups)...And the exact same thing happened. From then on it became a social experiment. I own 6 Tim Horton Travel Mugs and I don't even have a car.
I don't want to keep giving you examples of this stuff. I could. I could tell you about the quest for the missing pieces of an IKEA dresser, that resulted in a trip to Scarborough and the wrong piece being replaced. I could tell you about the various entities at a certain Communications conglomerate (starts with R) who have trouble with English (and no that wasn't a slam at ethnic groups, from what I could tell they were all WASPs). I want to leave you on a positive note...
So I give you Rodger...
Rodger was my salesman at Leon's.
We had been searching for a sofa, a recliner, and mattress set, so we went to various furniture outlets. At Bad Boy's and The Brick we were stalked by 2 women who would not let us alone. (The "we" being my friend Judy and I. Judy has been a Godsend during this whole relocation thing). Giving us details we didn't ask for, asking questions we didn't want to answer, even after being told several times "we're just looking and pricing". At Sleep Country, the guy wouldn't get off his ass and sat in the middle of the store and just yelled at us "THE PRICES ON THE RED TAGS ARE THE REDUCED PRICES! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? A BED?"
Then we went to Leon's Warehouse Store off Jane, and there was Rodger. He introduced himself, and then he backed off while we looked around. If we had a question, he waited 'til we asked it. He knew his products, didn't try to up sell us, and there was never any pressure. If we asked his opinion he gave it to us honestly. We ended up buying everything from Rodger. Judy joked that because we had bought a Sealy mattress we should get one of those numbered sheep they used to give away. A couple of days later Rodger called to confirm delivery, he said "By the way, I found you a sheep" Which I gave to Judy for her troubles and efforts.
Rodger is a prince among salesmen...
His delivery guys didn't want to bring my couch up, but that's another story....
P.S. The Television thing was finally resolved by a guy named Ray at BB, who also knew his stuff, didn't bullshit me, or try to up sell me either. So they are out there. You just have to look really hard to find them.
A Moving Piece
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Life
Did I mention I hate moving...
I hate moving...
Not in a physical sense. I'm always up for a good walk, or the occasional dance...
No, you all know what I'm talking about. I mean Moving in the sense of relocating your base of operations or "Home" if you will. I'm in the process of doing this for about the 9th time in the last 10 years( granted a lot of those were stopover moves between longer term residences, but still...) and I'm not having a good time.
The whole thing is exhausting, mentally and physically and no amount of coffee seems to be able to keep you awake, and no amount of sedatives can put you to sleep. So you shamble around from task to task like a George Romero Zombie.
And they tell you it's a positive... An opportunity to start fresh....A do-over...
Codswallop and Bushwah...Pardon my French.
True...You do get the long overdue shove to go through your accumulated detritus and toss it, as you should have been doing all along. It's amazing the amount of crap we can accumulate even over a short period time. I just threw out my audition notes for Odd Couple Female and I did those in November... And I do have this nasty CD, Book and DVD Jones (Hey...Some people smoke and /or drink). So there's a bunch of those to pack along the few new garments I've acquired over the last few months.
But this one's different. Because of the expense and duties and what nots of moving from Southern California to Southern Ontario, we figured it would be cheaper to ship as little as we could get away with, and buy the little stuff like say...oh I don't know... furniture.
And to be honest this is pretty much my first time doing this stuff. Yes...I'm not proud of it, but at my age this is the first time I've been making the big decisions like location, which apartment, furniture, dishes, color schemes (My initial idea of doing every thing in primary colors so that it would look like we lived in a comic book was quickly discarded...I guess that's a sign of some sort of maturity). All the other times I had my at the time spouse with me or I was moving into an already established residence.This time I was told in no uncertain terms " It's your design, honey" by Carol (who then turned around and emailed me her concept of the floor plan and how big the table should be, after I'd already bought it, and which I snickered at and promptly deleted*) And while I've had my friend Judy along to bounce ideas off of, it's pretty much been just me. So I've been, at long last, discovering my taste, and I am loathe to admit that it's pretty damn conventional...Turns out I like earthtones, and a lot of wood... I know, it scared me too.
So I'm spending a lot time in furniture stores, home improvement places and the like. I've been to Ikea twice in the last 2 weeks and am going back again this week. I'm getting brain bubbles...Brain bubbles with smarmy Swedish names. Bloopvisken...
See if this were a show I'd have no trouble making decisions at a snap. I'm a director. That's what we do. But this is my life and I'm finding that it's more difficult for some reason. I stood in a Best Buy for 3 Hours yesterday trying to decide on a television, and in the end didn't get one because I decided I had to do more research...
And don't get me started on the paint store thing...It's like inside me there's been this long dormant Debbie Travis/ Martha Stewart demon and its been woken and wants to come out and talk about accent walls and picking up the colours in fabric...GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!
And all I used to want was a basement that was a functional replica of Dr. Frankenstein's lab...With throw pillows...
Pray for me...
*I didn't actually delete it....but I did snicker...
Currently
listening
:
Anna Russell Again?
By
Anna Russell
Release date: 10 November, 1998
I was originally going to post this as a response to Gina's (See friends list) excellent blog on the passing of her favorite TV show, The Gilmore Girls. It was a show I liked too, and had a mad crush on Lauren Graham (Sorry Carol)
In the blog she says "Seriously, it's not healthy to be this emotionally attached to a TV show. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone."
I agree.
It also seriously sucks to become attached to a show that hasn't been on for 4 years...
To explain:
I'm staying with my friend Judy and her husband during the transition to my own place in Toronto, to be shared with the lovely Carol. Judy happens to own the complete DVD set of " Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
I'll admit to turning up my nose when the show first aired. I hadn't been a major fan of the movie, and thought the concept was stupid. In short, I didn't get it.
However during my frequent bouts of insomnia here, I started watching the tv show...and I was wrong (nothing new there, I'm frequently wrong). It was funny, extremely well written, I loved the characters. I found myself frequently laughing out loud, and I just don't do that often.
Also there were episodes that packed a solid emotional punch that was totally unexpected. In season 5 there's an episode entitled "The Body". Buffy comes home to find her mother lying on the couch dead. Nothing supernatural. No vampires. No mystical retribution. Just dead. And the emotions are so raw, and the episode so brilliantly written and directed by Joss Whedon (mostly in real time), and the reactions of the characters so real that there were a couple of moments that I actually found myself sobbing. And it's at moments like those that Television (and I don't care what the name of the show is) becomes art. I would put it up there with the final episode of "Six Feet Under" in terms of visceral impact. I also get very jealous of anyone who can write that well. I hate you Joss Whedon (not really)
And lets not forget the Musical Episode...
By way of set up, A demon with a penchant for musical comedy (played by Hinton Battle) has come to Sunnydale causing its citizens to spontaneously burst into song and dance numbers. Here are a couple of samples...
And, like the Simpsons, Buffy got away with murder because people underestimated it. There are so many great lines and visuals. One of my favourite exchanges happens when Willow and Tara are being interviewed abot Buffy and they're very nervous...
Unfortunately, I finished watching the final episode of the series on Sunday, and now I'm pissed.
I suppose I could move onto Angel, but it doesn't have Alyson Hannigan...and there are no Vampires on "How I met your Mother"...Well none that I'm currently aware of...
In the 1930's Animation was dominated by Walt Disney, but he had some competition. Most notable among them was Max Fleischer, and as far as I'm concerned his name should be mentioned in the same breath. Many of the things Disney became renowned for doing, mainly through their publicity department, Fleischer had done first, including first sound cartoon, first feature, first color...
Fleischer's cartoons tended to be edgier, and more urban than Disney's as were his characters. Betty Boop's world is a lot darker than Mickey's, Popeye ends up fighting for his life in most of his early appearances and Superman's Metropolis has some very dark corners in it.
Fleischer was also a pioneer in crossing the race barrier by using people like Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong marking some of their earliest film appearances.
Here's Cab...
And here's Satchmo...
Here's the Mills Brothers...
And here's Cab again...
And, oh yeah, the cartoons are racist as all get out. but they're the baby steps that opened doors, and on occasion I find myself wanting to share the pipe the Animators were smoking. Kicking the gong around, indeed.
Where was I?
Oh yeah... Max Fleischer. What brought that on? Nothing special... I was just taking time out from the apartment and job search and found the Minnie the Moocher clip, it made me smile and I thought I'd share..
And speaking of Max Fleischer, I am absolutely thrilled to find out that Popeye is finally getting his just desserts... After years of 2nd and 3rd generation public domain issues, Warner Home Video is issuing Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1 , A 4 disc fully restored collection of the one-eyed-obscenity muttering spinach junkie's first 60 cartoons, and I'm in geek heaven.
Me and Popeye go way back. I didn't have a Teddy Bear. I had a Popeye doll. There are pictures of me with a stranglehold on it when I was 3 or 4. He's one of my favorite characters to draw too, as illustrated here...
I won't post a Popeye toon. You'll have to wait for the good ones, like I am...
Okay...back to the search...News soon, I hope...Meantime I hope you enjoyed the tunes and the toons...
Fear of Flying (No, Not in that way...)
Current mood: annoyed
Category: Life
I've come to the conclusion that I hate flying...
It has nothing to do with anxiety about leaving the ground...actually I like that part. In fact give me a window seat everytime when it comes down to it. I live out my Superman fantasies, barely resisting the temptation to stick my arms out in front of me. Hell, gimme a long distance jetpack and I'll go without the plane...
No, it's all the crap that leads up to defying gravity that I can't stand...
I am recently (Monday) returned from Lahs Angaleez so I got it from both ends...I'm not sure which I find more annoying, the perpetually irritable attitude of the people working there, or the wilful ignorance of some of my fellow passengers ( taking for granted that I, of course, am the acme of the prepared traveler). I guess that would be 6 rotten eggs versus a half dozen stale donuts...
Let us begin with check-in, and the switch back lines that I suppose are meant to give you the illusion that A) you're actually moving and/or B) that you're about to get on some great theme park ride (taken for a ride, yes, but it ain't that great). When you get to the end of this, you have a couple of illusory options. If you check yourself (assuming you have an e-ticket, which is how most of us seem to do it these days) in then you have to follow the confusing instructions and computer prompts to print out your boarding pass, and wait for the surly agent to put the tags on your aptly named luggage which, depending on where you are, is either delicately slammed onto the conveyor belt, or handed back to you to lug (see?) over to a line to be x-rayed, or put on a conveyor belt yourself. If you don't check yourself in, still have to do most of the same stuff, you just get to the surly agent part sooner.
And boy do these people hate their jobs. I mean I've worked in customer service so I understand some of it, but these people might as well add "...you stupid asshole!" to the end of every sentence. For instance, on the trip from Toronto I had one piece of luggage to check and one carry on. The luggage was 5 pounds over. The agent visibly rolled her eyes and said "You're 5 pounds over (you stupid asshole!). I could let it go if it were 1 or 2 pounds, but you're 5 pounds over (you stupid asshole!)" So I shifted a couple of things into my carry on, and voila, 50 pounds on the nose. She seemed disappointed, but checked the bag anyway...
In fairness I got an illustration as to why they hate their jobs on the way back. A guy was having a very loud, very agressive hissy fit about the exact same issue. Only he was so much over that there was no way to redistribute the weight so he was either going to have to pay extra or lose a bag...Presented with these options he went for the one not behind doors number 1 or 2 but for what was in the box not being offered. He chose to have a meltdown. "WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY EMAIL ME? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!!!" ("It's printed on your ticket [you asshole!], sir"). This went on for a good 10 minutes. I know, because I was in line watching it. Finally they must have given him a pacifier or something, cause he finally calmed down, then the supervisor felt compelled to make a speech to the rest of us in line about how certain countries had imposed an embargo on any luggage weighing over 50 pounds, which made no sense, but then you can't expect the greatest writing at 4:30 in the morning.
Oh yeah...This arriving 2 Hours early for a flight thing...
First off, I don't don't know if it's better organized or the security is more laid back ( I don't think it is, because I still had to take off my shoes, which is probably the stupidest security measure ever put in place, and I still think it was somebody's idea of a joke..."Let's see what else we can make them do!! Hyuck, Hyuck!!"), but I was checked in and screened within a half an hour at 4:30 pm at the Pearson International (Toronto) which left me an hour and a half to kill before boarding...
At LAX at 4:30 in the morning, it took me an hour. Why? There weren't that many more people. It's just that everybody was moving very slowly, and I suspect it had little to do with the time of the morning. I think it was a different bureaucracy at play. At LAX they were only dribbling in 2 or 3 people at a time for no apparent reason other than that's what they were told to do. The Canadians have figured out a way to do it faster or just don't give a crap who gets into the U.S.
Once inside the Interminable, you walk long distances past crappy overpriced fast food places, neck pillow dispensers, and the clip joint known as the Duty Free Shop. I went into one of these for the first time on the way down, so I could buy my wife a lousy T-Shirt ( you know because...uh...yeah). In order to buy same I had to present my boarding pass which was dutifully stamped "DUTY FREE" in big red letters. It wasn't 'til I came back that I got the scam. Friends of mine, who still insist on smoking, asked me to pick up a carton of Marlboro Lights(soft pack) for them and I was going to do it until I read the small printed sign in front of the register which essentially says that if you buy anything here it has to be put into your checked luggage otherwise it's subject to duty and/or confiscation. You can't get inside the terminal with your checked bags because, well, they've been checked. So you 've got to put it in your carry on, or carry it in a bag, and since they stamp your boarding pass they know you have something, which is fine if it's something small and conceilable like a T Shirt, but not a big honking bottle or carton of cigarettes....I figure they just keep reselling the same stuff over and over again...The bastards...
I could go on...And if you dare me I will, but this is already too close to a Jerry Seinfeld routine.
I have a couple of suggestions that might make make the process of air travel more enjoyable for most of us, and I'll be forwarding this to the FAA and Transport Canada who I'm sure will spring into action.
1) Since Air Travel has become so angst ridden I suggest a Nitrous Oxide/Clonazepam mix be piped in through the ventilation system. Sure, the same shit will be going down, but who'll care?
2) Put the moving sidewalks in the check in area as well as the the terminal...In fact the entire airport should be one long conveyor belt...with rotating knives at the end...
3)Flight Attendants should have tranquilizer guns
4) Children under 5 should be checked in carriers like pets...
5) Children over 5 should be under mandatory sedation. Demerol or Haldol and lots of it...
6) If you're going to show an inflight movie in the morning, make sure it's something that will keep people awake. I'm thinking Red Eye, Flight Plan or United 93...
7) Arm everybody. That way nobody will try anything and, if they do, it will be far more entertaining than say "The Holiday" or "The Wedding Guest".
Until then I'll be waiting for my jet pack...or the Flying Cars that they promised us in "The Jetsons"... ...of course that would mean I would have to get my license... *sigh* More peanut free peanuts , please...
P.S. During my stopovers at George Bush International Airport, I played Dixie Chicks on my Walkman...Power to the People...Right On!
Currently
listening
:
Barenaked Ladies Are Me
By
Barenaked Ladies
Release date: 12 September, 2006
I titled the email version of this "Leaving on a Jet Plane" but then realized that that little ode to aviation was composed by John Denver, whose own air travel experience was less than stellar , so I instead opted to name this one after a song about dope smugglers on the pretext that it would be safer...Don't check my blog if you please , Mr. Customs Man.
Yes, that's right. On Monday, and for the 3 weeks following, I'm returning to the City of the Angels to see my wife and kiss my cats, and vice versa. I'm also going to do all those touristy things that I never did during the 6 some odd years I lived there, because it wasn't cool. I just spent a harsh Canadian winter here and I know from cool.
Yes, back to the land of cheap booze and smokes which would be fabulous if I, in fact, drank and/or smoked. Still it will be good to see the old homestead before it goes condo.
See ya Monday, Buckaroos
Mike
P.S. My stopovers, both there and back, will be at George Bush International in Houston, and I couldn't be prouder.
P.P.S Can I bring anybody anything? Or bring back anything for anybody?
P.P.P.S.
Goodbye Betty, and thanks for all the laughs and the music ..
Currently
listening
:
Uncover Me
By
Jann Arden
Release date: 08 February, 2007
Notes on/in a New Blank Book
Current mood: Miffed
Category: Miffed Life
*written at the Future Bakery at some point in the afternoon yesterday*
This is a new blank book that I'm writing in. I have a love/hate relationship with new blank books. There are a number of reasons for this, but I won't bother to number them, because numbering implies order and importance and nothing about this is deserving of either.
I love new blank books because there is nothing so full of potential, not even your average first grader ( odds are she/he's already not living up to her/his). So much promise. I picture them stuffed full of my musings, beginnings of plays, song lyrics, spontaneous drawings, excerpts from novels in progress, overheard snatches of conversations.
I imagine historians pouring over the scribble for some clue to my psyche (even though I don't actually have one...I did but it was on loan, and I returned it late...heavy duty fine. Since then I cheat by looking into the psyche of others) I imagine the new blank book eventually fetching a hefty price at Sotheby's or, at least, on EBay. That's the romantic in me...
The realist in me knows better, and wishes that the romantic would just go back to listening to Jann Arden CDs. The realist has seen this before countless times. This is #godknowswhat in a seemingly never ending series of new blank books, and it will no doubt wind up with the others...Lost at the bottom of some forgotten pile of stuff, somewhere other than where it should be (i.e. My Knapsack, Carry Bag, purse) in case any random stroke of genius should bite me on the proverbial ass, so I can jot it down, post haste. More likely it gave way to some CD or Book I am currently not listening to or not reading, respectively.
And so it languishes, only knowing that it has been or will be replaced. It knows this because it is no longer blank and, therefore, no longer new. It's cherry has been popped, defiled by a random list of titles of things that will never be written (Unlike most smart writers who wait for the title to evolve, I always start with one...Can't help it. I figure if I have a good enough title, the story will take care of itself. This goes a long way towards explaining why I'm not all that prolific)...Somebody's phantom phone number (because writing down their name would be just stupid)...A verse of a bad lyric...Or just garden variety random gibberish written in a noisy coffee shop, under the influence of caffeine and pastry, and while praying to God that none of the cool kids (most of whom have laptops) will notice that you're only on page one and identify you as the dilettante you really are, because it's important when one is sitting in a public place putting out the "Look at me! I'm an Artsy writing in a Coffee Shop" vibe, that it not look as if you just started. This is the way of the world. Pretend, pretense and pretension. Try to look deep, you never know who's watching.
Of course I don't know anyone like that. *cough*
At least I think I'm getting smarter about the whole new blank book thing. Instead of blowing 10 bucks on a new Moleskin (The Legendary Notebook of Hemingway, Van Gogh, and Picasso...2 Suicides and a guy who inspired a bunch of them) I picked this one up at a dollar store...and noone is any the wiser...*twiddles imaginary tie*
"Why not tear out the used pages out of the old blank books and use them, thus saving trees?" I hear you ask (or maybe it's just one of the voices)
Well, I reply, in the first place the new blank book already existed in the universe, and I neither cut down said tree, nor ordered the cutting down of same. In the second place, I chide, you're missing the point. It has to be a NEW BLANK BOOK in order to give the illusion of re-birth and the re-ignition of the dying ember of what was once a veritable conflagration of creativity. Old blank books are the puddles leftover when the previous fire has been extinguished. A reminder that you forgot to clean up your campsite...There's a better analogy in there somewhere, but I haven't got it at the moment...
So this is a New Blank Book! Full of hope and promise and...
Odd Couple Redux
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Blogging
So the Odd Couple (Female Version) closed on Sunday Afternoon. It was by most accounts* a resounding success. We even got a good review in the local paper that was posted online here
The cast was wonderful throughout, and it was a great way to get back in the directing saddle so to speak. I haven't quite let go of it yet, as i'm literally in the middle of editing the Video of the show and, quite frankly, I'm having a ball.
The previous video was nothing compared to this. First off, there's a lot more footage. I taped the show on 3 separate occasions, so I can pick and choose (sort of) what scenes worked better at different performances. Or (provided I was smart enough to get the shot) do cut aways to reactions. It's actually letting me do something I've always wanted to do (at least in the back of my mind) and that's get into film on more than just an appreciation level
The other side to this particular coin is that I get to see where I goofed over and over again. The editing process helps cover some of those up, and to be honest there aren't as many as I thought, but they're there. Mocking me...Taunting me...Giving me the visual razzberry.
So once I've got it together I'll put a sample up for your edification. Hopefully you'll like it.
And now I have to look for a real job...Later...
*My pal Martin, lead singer in the previously posted Totally Committed Video and an accomplished actor/director in his own right, had several nits to pick, but then I do that whenever he does a show, so fair's fair
What? And give up show business...
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life
Hi!
How ya doing?
Long time no blog.
Sorry...I been busy.
As you may have noticed my picture is a flyer. It's the flyer for the show I've been directing which opens next week. Yesterday began what is lovingly known in theatre as "Hell Week". The show you've been rehearsing in the comfort of your rehearsal hall suddenly has to leave its safe haven and move into the performance space. And suddenly there are real doors and walls instead of tape marks...Sound effects instead of an ASM saying "Ding Dong" or "Flush". You discover all of the stuff you are suddenly missing...In other words it's kind of like starting back at square one. So far (knock wood a lot) there haven't been a lot of major problems...Just minor irritations (The furniture place sent a table a foot wider than we picked out and with space at a premium this was something of a pain in the ass...The sound effects cd I thought I burned was blank...stuff like that) so far. You can't blame me for being nervous, though. The road to this point has been somewhat bumpy, to the point where I was thinking of offering up "The Odd Couple: Female Version" as an alternative to the Scottish Tragedy, but then I'd have to say it. Besides "The Neil Simon Female Comedy" doesn't have the same ring to it.
Up to this point we lost 4 rehearsals, we've had 3 family members die, 3 major illnesses, and we lost a cast member a week and a half ago (family emergency because of one of the deaths). It was enough to have us all shaking our heads at a certain point.
And despite all this it has, thus far, been a positive experience. The actors have been great to work with, the crew have been swell, and I've been enjoying getting back into the whole process.
And I think it's going to be a good show. I think it's funny.
I hope it's going to be good show.
We've all worked very hard.
So if you're in Toronto anytime between February 1st and 11th stop by the Toronto Centre for the Arts and see the show.
And just to be safe, make sure you're insured...
P.S. The Midgets and Drag Queens will have to wait until I do "The Children's Hour"...That or "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Currently
listening
:
Eye To The Telescope
By
KT Tunstall
Release date: 07 February, 2006
I made a music video!!
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Music
Okay, it's not exactly my video, but I did do the camera work ( such as it is...cause I'd never seen the band before, and I only had the one camera) and the editing (ditto). The band is Totally Committed, a fun Commitments Tribute band, and is fronted by one of my best friends, Martin Buote (pronounced Beeyott). I shot the video on November 17th and have been working on it on and off since then... Here's the opening and the tag from the end. If it works...
Various Stuff of No Redeeming Social Value or Discernable Interest
Current mood: creative
Category: Life
It's been a while. How are you? How's the family? Swell! You look ,well, just great...
The Great Toronto Experiment proceeds apace (the pace of a 200 year old Giant Tortoise riding a Glacier, but still moving despite the absence of visual confirmation).
I saw Christine Lavin perform at Hugh's Room a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who don't know Christine's work, shame on you. She is one of the master practitioners of that dying art known as folk music. And before you go "Oh God! Granola Eating Acoustic Players singing endless rounds of Cumbaya" I would say "Not so fast, you musical snob, you".
Christine is one of the funniest people I know, and that's saying something. She's been at this since 1981. Her songs are full of observational and topical humour, and what's more she twirls a wicked baton. If you're on the east coast, which is where she plays the most you have to see her. Trust me on this, you will not be disappointed.
I have been a fan of hers since I first heard her in the late 80's. I even drew some cartoons based on some of her songs. She apparently liked them enough to ask me to design the CD package for her album "The Subway Series" (the creation of which was a long story itself).
So seeing her again after 5 years was a real treat on it's own. But when she asked what I had been doing, I told her I had written and illustrated a book but was having trouble finding a home for it. She asked the plot, and I told her it. She thought it was intriguing and told me to send it to her and she would see what she could do. This is the kind of person Christine Lavin is. It has been said of her that if she spent as much time promoting her own career as she has helping others, that she would be a household name. She certainly deserves to be, and I do my part to spread the word whenever I can
In other news, I got my first directing gig in 8 years. I'll be directing "The Odd Couple (Female Version) for Encore Entertainment. It opens Feb 1.
I'm more than a little familiar with the material. When I worked in the box office at Stage West, the show that came in after Corpse (with the late lamented Gale Gordon, a real sweetheart of a guy) was the Odd Couple(Female Version) with Stella Stevens and Sandy Dennis. The buzz was that the 2 didn't get along and really,when you think about it, why would they? One was a respected actress, with a solid body of work and an Oscar, and the other schtupped Hugh Hefner, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis among many, many others...And guess who the mega bitch was? Hint: It was not the one with the Oscar. In fact Sandy Dennis was an extremely nice woman, and it was a real pleasure to meet and talk with her. I was really sad when she died not too many years later.
"The Odd Couple (Female Version)" was only the 3rd Show I produced. I'm not a great Producer. It involves coordination and organization, neither of which are my long suits, but I managed to pull it together long enough for this one and the show was a big success, mostly due to the director Maureen Lukie, and the leads, Gael Hannan and Dalene Uveges.
During my, thus far, only experience with Summer Stock I was in rep so I ended up playing one of the Spanish Brothers in you guessed it. As if that weren't enough, I played Oscar in "The Odd Couple" (male version).
So, yeah, I know the play.
And it's not like I haven't directed Neil Simon before. 2 of the best shows I ever did were "Fools " and "Lost in Yonkers". And I won my one and only acting award for playing Lenny in his play "Rumors".
So yeah, I know Neil Simon. Even met him once. But that's another story.
So what am I going to bring to the party to put my own unique stamp to this production?
Fabio: Leading Cause of Suburban Lesbianism
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Music
Here's one of the reasons I Love YouTube. I didn't know there was a video for this song (one of my favorites by Jill Sobule, also one of my favorite artists) but it also has the bonus for all you Winchell Wipers, and the implicit message that being married to Fabio causes Lesbianism...Who knew?
During the 3 Day Contest I got to around Page 43 and the arrival of Charity. Since then I figured I had to finish off the chapter, so anything after that is new... And so is anything that presumably will follow...
Hope you like it
Mike
Currently
listening
:
Live Noise
By
Moxy Früvous
Release date: 19 May, 1998
aggravated
exhausted
awake
annoyed
..
curious
hopeful
accomplished
cranky
creative
bouncy
drained
