So, watching Troy on TV inevitably made me think of Handy, which lead to the YouTube:



EDIT: And here's the original:

Tags: anecdotes, television

I got excited when I found some affordable wire shelf-stuff that will let us make use of a lot of unused space in our over-sized, under-shelved kitchen cabinets.

Then I got depressed because I just got excited about shelving.

Tags: anecdotes

Wow, but technology isn't liking me lately. Two days ago, our fridge burned out. Last night, my car battery took a big, giant poop. Perhaps I'm storing up power for some alien metamorphosis. In any case, no one should be surprised if there's an area brown out sometime within the next week. I'm just saying.

Tags: anecdotes

I let this kind of thing go at the grocery store, because, you know, the express lane gaffe is rather a tradition. But: no, Gatorade. I don't want to know how much money you've sunk into your campaign to tell me that G2 has "less calories." You're stabbing my brain here. Stop it. Now.

Tags: anecdotes

Forgot to mention: seen on the way to the store on Free Comic Book Day



Just so you're clear, it's not just the plate, it's also the bumper sticker:



In case it's too blurry, that's "My cultist sacrificed your honor student at Muskatonic Middle School." Not visible: the truck also had a Cthulhu fish on the back window. Now, on a beat up compact, I expect these sorts of things. On a giant pickup truck? I guess that's what you call mainstreaming.

Tags: anecdotes

I was amused at the role-reversal of this Superman statue I came across on a recent shopping trip. After all those female super-heroes posed so that it looks like their breasts are the part they use to fly with, it's only fair Superman try something similar:



Though, sadly, he doesn't seem to have much there to provide the buoyancy.

Tags: anecdotes, comics

So, this morning, I reached into my bag to try to dig something out, and managed to gouge the tip of my left index finger, which bled quite nicely as I quested about for a band-aid (the place of business' first aid kit is in an amazingly convenient location: tucked into the small gap between the fridge and the kitchen wall).

Why, yes, that is the first finger I'm supposed to cut open in Little Shop. And, yes, I have had "Grow for Me" stuck in my head all day as a result.

Tags: anecdotes, theatre

We had an unexpected night off rehearsal last night, so I got a chance to see Noises Off at Manatee, which I hadn't thought I'd be able to do. Unlike the change made in the movie adaptation of the show, the actors last night had to maintain their British accents even when they were "out of character" (rather, when they were just playing actors, instead of playing actors who were simultaneously playing other characters. Yes, it makes one's head hurt, but that's part of the psychotic fun of the show).

I was especially impressed by the fact that the woman playing Dotty maintained two different British accents. Her "Mrs. Clackett" speaks with a thick cockney, while her actress Dotty smoothes out the harsh edges while still sounding distinctly British. It's hard enough acting through an accent and trying to keep it consistent, let alone maintaining consistency in two of them. And accents in general are tricky things, since it's easy to make a performance all about the accent, and lose character when all your effort goes to maintaining consistency.

It's one of the things I'm mucking around with in Little Shop. I think something as thick as Rick Moranis used in the film version has a tendency to overpower those moments when Seymour has to be genuine, so I'm trying to keep it toned down and subtler: leave enough in to make Seymour feel like the schmoe he starts the show as, but light enough so that when that schmoe falls away here and there--and the other facets of Seymour (both dark and soulful) eke their way up--the accent doesn't detract from those moments. Here's hoping I get it worked out.

Tags: anecdotes, commentary, theatre

You know how, with most shows, you get late in the process and there are things that just aren't happening? Really, just about every show I've been in, there's been a moment of panic-despair puree where I'm sure there is no way in hell this show's going to be ready for an audience. Except this one.

We actually did a stumble-through of the whole show on Monday. Not only did we get all the way through the show, we did it in under two hours. Last night, we did another run, more or less without stopping and with very few line calls. And we still have two weeks before we have an audience. I can't remember a time when a show was this far along with this much time to spare.

Certainly there's a lot of stuff we still need to polish, and of course the addition of the actual plants to work with (not to mention the quick-changes) will probably throw us all into a tizzy, but right this minute? Maybe I'm just getting all my neurotic worrying out in character and have none to spare, but I gotta say, I think we're in some really good shape.

Now if only I knew if we had a press release yet...

Tags: anecdotes, theatre

I believe the following local banking institution is hoping to attract people with Home Owner loans who are looking for better interest rates. They may, however, want to rethink their abbreviation for said loan types:

Tags: anecdotes