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Irons in the Fire & 10 Commandments of Improv

Well Hi!  :)

 

This is me stopping by to say ... Whoosh!

 

I think the last time I stopped by here was to share the out-of-the-blue job offer I had received.  Well, let me say this about that!  I have exchanged several emails with the woman who contacted me and ... well ... I am in the running for the position of Director of Youth Ministry and Education.  Hmmm, sounds a little pretentious, but if you know anything about me ... well ... Let's just see what God does with this. 

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

Two friends of mine, both professors at nearby institutions, collaborated on a textbook that presents a new fangled pedogogy ... It's not really complicated.  In fact, it's pretty simple.  It can be used in any classroom for any discipline or business.  I'm hoping to be able to share more about it as we go ... but for now, as I finish cutting out my fish for daycare tomorrow, here is an a page from Chapter 2, The Art of Dramatic Writing ...

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

The 10 Commandments of Improv (or roleplay)

from Staging Stories from Real Life, Brackenridge & Koepfinger

 

1. Always say, "yes!"

    Add your ideas - This is the place to make assumptions!
    Do not block, deny, cancel, or negate the offerings of others.

2. Do not ask questions!

    Questions create pauses and STOP the scene.
    Instead, make assumptions, CREATE, imagine, continue, and build. Others will accept whatever you add to the scene.

3. Accept every offer!

    Whatever the others add to the scene is right. It is part of the scene and 100% appropriate, no matter what! If he calls you "Batman" - you ARE Batman! If he says, "Try this glass of squirrel juice," - it IS squirrel juice! Go with the flow. Accept, assume, and begin to build your character.

4. Don't just stand there, make a choice!

    There is no "right" or "wrong" - it is fiction ... fantasy ... make believe. Don't be SAFE, fly without a net!

5. Trust your first impulse!

    Thinking is BAD! Trying is BAD! Trying to think is VERY BAD!!! Don't be "smart" or "funny." Trust your first impulse and go with it! Play! Have fun!

6. If you break any of these "rules," don't worry!

    Just forget about it and move on and keep going.

7. It's fun NOT to be yourself!

    Create a BIG - BOLD - COLORFUL Character! Change your voice, your attitude, your speech, your posture, your energy - anything or everything!

8. Don't be subtle!

    Be BIG! Exaggerate!! Be "over the top!"

9. It is NEVER an "ordinary" day!

    Make it special ... weird ... exciting! Unusual stuff happens!

10. Focus mean - one thing at a time!

    Share the stage; give focus and take focus!

 
 
   
 

The iPhone
I once had a dream like ....way before iPhones that my original 40GB iPod rang and I answered it like it was a telephone. I thought it would be cool if they ever invented this contraption, but didn't see any point and wrote it off as a strange dream.

When the iPhone came out, I wrote it off, because it seemed overpriced.

But now that the new iPhone is coming out JULY 11TH!!!! I am sort of excited.

I mean I like going to the theater for two hours, coming back and checking my email? Won't it be a distraction if I'm continually able to check my email, checking it every two seconds? I think I may go blind that way.

As it is, I have a pre-paid service right now. My minutes probably won't run out until the end of the year which gives me plenty of time to think. But it IS tempting.  I probably wouldn't use it enough for it to be worth it.

But when I've been out & about and wished I had googled an address before hand? Yes, the new one has GPS or I assume I could always google it.

Tempting.........................................................................................................
VERY tempting!
 
 
 

   
Feburary Movies, 2008
Top Movies this month:
  1. The Amazing Mr. X / The Spiritualist (1948) (Theater) Great viewing!
  2. Château de ma mère, Le / My Mother's Castle (1990) Great, but make sure to see My Father's Glory first!
  3. Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki/When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) Was a very nice surprise. I didn't think I'd enjoy it so much.
  4. Suture (1993) (Theater)Wow, all I have to say is that David Lynch MUST have seen this before he made Lost Highway. It is a very interesting and yet silly look into the question of identity and I was impressed with it.
  5. Thieves' Highway (1949) An amazing movie. In the spirit of The Bicycle Thief. Very aggravating, but different. It explores the shallowness of women ;) and the greed of the evil, and the perseverance of the hard-working man.
The rest:
  1. Crime de Monsieur Lange, Le (1936) Not a huge fan of Renoir, this one was halfway decent. 6/10
  2. Evening (2007) Wow this movie was really mediocre and I anticipated things about 5 seconds before they were going to happen, predicted lines and everything. OMG!! The best cast with the worst acting. I guess it was good to see, but I could have missed it...I was laughing so hard at one point that I'm sure it did me much good.
  3. Gervaise (1956) Not Rene Clement's best film, however it was very good.
  4. Red-Headed Woman (1932) Pretty cute, but nothing fantastic.
  5. A Woman Under the Influence (1974) An interesting movie. Nothing special, but worthwhile.
  6. Katakuri-ke no kôfuku / The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) (Theater) Good, watch, pretty funny.
  7. Fanny (1932) sequel to Marius, pt. 2 of the series
  8. César (1936) sequel to Fanny, pt. 3 of the series
  9. Ornette: Made in America (1985) (Theater) Interestingly filmed documentary.
  10. Brewster McCloud (1970) Altman - I liked it, but it wasn't that great.
  11. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
  12. Portrait of Jason (1967) (Theater) Documentary.
  13. The Driver (1978) Nice chase scenes ;)
  14. The Browning Version (1951)
  15. Chanel Solitaire (1981) Ok, but strange in several parts when an almost 40 year old Marie-France Pisier plays an 18 year old CoCo Chanel.
  16. The Secret Bride (1934) An ok Barbara Stanwyck movie. But it has its moments.
  17. Sukkar banat/Caramel (2007) (Theater)
  18. Wings (1927)
  19. Fröken Julie/Miss Julie (1951) Weird movie, ok.
  20. Heir to an Execution (2004) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were unjustly executed during the McCarthy era. It is hard to believe that not only were these people put to death, but for crimes they did not commit.
  21. Horí, má panenko / The Fireman's Ball (1967) I'm not really sure why this was considered a good movie. A good director for sure, but Milos Forman has done much better movies.
  22. Taxi! (1932) A movie non-intriguing story-wise but James Cagney performs well in this.
  23. Total Eclipse (1995) Leo DiCaprio gets the chance of a lifetime as an actor. He gets to burp in this movie. Gross.
  24. Battling Butler (1926) Buster Keaton is always pretty good.
  25. The Atomic Cafe (1982)
  26. City Across the River (1949) (Theater)
  27. The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
  28. Romuald et Juliette / Mama there's a man in your bed (1989) Daniel Auteuil had bad hair in this.
  29. Summertime (1955) This movie proved to be pretty good even though I don't like David Lean movies in general.
  30. Hold Your Man (1933)
  31. Husbands (1970)
  32. Don Juan (1926) (Theater) Silent Even though this is a silent, it is the first movie with synchronized sound and you can hear swords clashing and such, but there is no spoken dialogue.
  33. Dong / The Hole (1998)
  34. Easy Virtue (1928) Alfred Hitchcock
  35. Blackmail (1929) Alfred Hitchcock
  36. Chameleon Street (1989) (Theater) An interesting look into a man that becomes a chameleon to suit his and everyone else's purposes. A little more of what I expected Woody Allen's Zelig to be and very enjoyable to see.
  37. Communion (1989) (Theater) This movie scared the socks off me!
  38. Miracolo a Milano (1951)
  39. Beau Brummel (1924) (Theater) Silent
  40. The Girl from Missouri (1934)
  41. The Last Wave (1977)
  42. Citizen Ruth (1996) A delightful and unnerving film by Alexander Payne. I didn't even know about it until Juno came out and someone referenced it.
  43. Passing Through (1977) (Theater) A film "made for the revolution" and very hard to see. I liked it, but it wasn't amazing.
  44. There Goes My Heart (1938) Moderately enjoyable.

Pre-code Movies:
  1. Hot Saturday (1932) (Theater) Cary Grant was amazingly funny and charming in this. Nancy Carroll was a great lead actress and it's too bad I haven't seen more from her.
  2. White Woman (1933) (Theater) Carole Lombard was charming in this and she even sang! Charles Laughton played a devious, creepy man. Even though it lost steam towards the end, there were at least two hot men in this. One was a wimp and one was a brave, strong man (hot!).
  3. Blonde Crazy (1931) Jimmy Cagney and Joan Blondell were great in this and I enjoyed it immensely.
  4. Footlight Parade (1933) Jimmy Cagney and Joan Blondell again! The beginning proved to be very interesting as it was about the transition from silent films to "talking pictures". BUT- it sort of lost its steam, THEN it had about twto or three great and impressive musical numbers. I was wondering how they were able to film such a great spectable: underwater coreography, etc. :)
  5. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920/I) (Theater) Silent Worth watching and enjoyable.

    There are probably more pre-code movies I saw, but this is what I saw in the beginning of the month.

Ernst Lubitsch (had previously seen 6 of his movies):
Good movies.  My goal  was to see as many of his movies this month as I could.
  1. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927)
  2. Cluny Brown (1946) Great.
  3. Sumurun / One Arabian Night (1920) Silent
  4. Bergkatze, Die /Wildcat (1921) Silent Good, reminds me of The Oyster Princess visually.
  5. Eternal Love (1929) (Theater) Silent
  6. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
  7. Carmen/Gypsy Blood (1918) Silent
  8. Angel (1937)
  9. Puppe, Die/The Doll (1919) Silent Pretty good and entertaining too.
  10. Anna Boleyn (1920)Silent Good period piece.
  11. Design for Living (1933) Delightful Jules-et-Jim-esque movie.
  12. The Marriage Circle (1924) Silent A silent silent. The VHS version I had was without music or anything. It was ok.
  13. Ninotchka (1939)
  14. Broken Lullaby (1932)
  15. That Uncertain Feeling (1941)
  16. Lady Windermere's Fan (1925) Silent
  17. The Love Parade (1929)
  18. Monte Carlo (1930)
  19. One Hour with You (1932)
  20. The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
  21. So This Is Paris (1926)
  22. Fidele Gefängnis, Das (1917)
  23. Madame DuBarry aka Passion (1919)
  24. A Royal Scandal (1945) Light and funny, I enjoyed this.
  25. Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin - Von der Schönhauser Allee nach Hollywood (2006) (V) Great documentary. His daughter Nicola Lubitsch provided insight. The documentary also had footage of several of his shorts he directed:
    Blusenkönig, Der / The Blouse King (1917)
    Wenn vier dasselbe tun / When four do the same (1917)
    Schuhpalast Pinkus (1916)
    Meyer aus Berlin (1919)
    as well as some he acted in:
    Doktor Satansohn (1916)
    Fräulein Piccolo (1915) Chaplinesque
    Hans Trutz im Schlaraffenland (1917)
    Robert und Bertram, die lustigen Vagabunden (1915)
    Stolz der Firma, Der / The Pride of the Firm (1914)
    see: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0907732/movieconnections
    Also:
  26. Prelude to War (1943) Apparently Ernst Lubitsch directed the second part of this documentary on the Nazis and how evil they are Smile
  27. Desire (1936) Produced by: Ernst, directed by Frank Borzage
Shorts:
  1. When It Rains (1995) Charles Burnett, rent money
  2. Magic Yellowstone (Theater)
  3. Niagara Falls (Theater)
  4. Prairie Chicken (1917) (Theater)
  5. Friend Husband (1924) (Theater)
  6. The Horse (1973) A Charles Burnett short.
  7. On s'embrasse? /Can We Kiss? (2000) Video
  8. The Frozen North (1922) Buster Keaton
  9. The Haunted House (1921) Buster Keaton
  10. All Jazzed Up (1920) (Theater) An enjoyable slapstick movie where a man on a cart flies all over town.
  11. Dog Heaven (1927) (Theater) A dog tries to commit suicide after his owner (a little boy) betrays him over a girl.
  12. Frederick Chopin (1925) (Theater) about his affair with Georges Sand.
  13. Stage Struck (1928) (Theater) Felix the cat like character, old man with a flute.
  14. Several Friends (1969)
  15. Ko-Ko's Tattoo (1928) (Theater)
  16. Ko-Ko Smokes (1928) (Theater)

D.W. Griffith Shorts:
  1. The Female of the Species (1912) VIDEO
  2. The New York Hat (1912) (Theater) VIDEO
Brakhage Shorts:
  1. Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962) Played with a selection of instrumental songs.
  2. Dog Star Man: Part I (1962) I tried rock songs for this one. A variety of Bob Dylan, Garbage, Strokes, Connie Francis, Tom Petty. It didn't really seem to work, but sometimes it did.
  3. Dog Star Man: Part II (1963) played with Bizet - Carmen Suite No. 1
  4. Dog Star Man: Part III (1964) Played with J.S. Bach - from Suite III, BWV 1063
  5. Dog Star Man: Part IV (1964) This last one was so short, that I'm not really sure what was playing. But I needed music to keep my interest in the sound-less movies by Brakhage. And I liked the music more than my images, and so I'm not sure what's the point.
  6. Window Water Baby Moving (1962)

TV:
  1. Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) A good film about relatively unknown producer Val Lewton.
Partial Movies:
  1. "A Year in Provence" (1993) (mini) Winter and Spring epsidoes only. It was ok, but not good enough to seek out the other episodes.
  2. Janie (1944) I'm sure this would be an ok watch. Directed by Michael Curtiz, but it seemed like a waste of time.
  3. Johnny Angel (1945) I watched most of this, but couldn't take anymore. I think George Raft is an interesting person, but he does absolutely nothing for me.
  4. Crime School (1938) Only able to see part of it, because I get the movies with the Dead End kids mixed up (plus they annoy me). But Bogart was really young and handsome and had a great scene without dialogue. I kept waiting for him to speak but he spoke without speaking. Amazing actor.
  5. Suzy (1936) Unfortunately, I didn't set my DVR in time so I only caught the last part. Cary Grant is charming and Franchot Tone...two of my favorite men. And Jean Harlow is in it too which makes for an excellent cast.
  6. The Good Thief (2002/I) The remake of some Melville movie (Bob le Flambeur I think), it is unrecognizable from the amazing original. Nick Nolte (blah) was getting on my nerves and I couldn't take it anymore.
  7. Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) A tiresome movie, with good stars. I got so bored with it after about 40 mins. that I ffwded to the end. It was a pretty lousy ending too. Not worth it.
  8. Via del petrolio, La (1967) (TV) (Theater) Actually went to the theater for this one. When Bertolucci is good, he is great. When he is boring...snore. I had too much to do that day and since I was bored I decided that leaving the theater would be best.
  9. Sunnyside Up (1929) Video Janet Gaynor is one of my favorites. While she is not a great singer, it's kind of a cute clip.
  10. Big Trouble (2002) My library had this listed under John Cassavetes and then gave me the wrong version after I placed the hold on it. I heard JC's version was SO BAD, but after AN HOUR into this movie I realized that not only was this movie SO BAD too but it wasn't even John Cassavetes. I am planning to ask my library to change the listing so no one else will get the wrong movie.
  11. Tell Your Children / Reefer Madness (1936) Caught part of this on IFC. Basically, I wasn't expecting to see people from the thirties smoking pot on TV. I only caught a minute before watching something else.
 
 
   
 

Improvements over the Weekend
Things got a lot better over the weekend. For starters, I got to a section in my math course that's just simply flying by for me, and I spent maybe four hours yesterday working problems and studying until I was nearly suffering brain fatigue and had to walk around the block a few times. This is far better than last weekend, when I worked for three hours before realizing that I wasn't getting around the brick wall that my math book had seemingly put up in front of me.

And this will be a short entry, since I'm about to go to the theater with jewfroart and her friend... going to see Angels in America in Boston. Phenomenal play, and I'm so looking forward to seeing it.

Last night was pretty decent too. Nothing too out of the ordinary... met up with two friends downtown, including the one who's lending me a lot of support right now, and we did nothing more than have a couple of beers and eat wonderfully greasy pizza and jalapeño poppers. Still, I think I needed that.
 
 
 

   
Share the love!! The Amazing Mr. X
I saw a movie in the theater today that I found out was in the public domain. And I found it online so you can watch it too: http://www.archive.org/details/amazing_mr_x_ipod (or you can watch it on my blog but I imagine it would be highly annoying)

The theater was nice bc I had no distractions, but I highly recommend it. It is exceedingly thoughtful. I am also not crazy about movies with seances, depending on the matter, bc I believe that playing around with spirits is truly dangerous. However, the director was blacklisted and highly regarded, so I was interested in checking this out.

And if you don't have a couple extra $$, no worry. The link I provided was for the ipod size (you can watch it on the site w/out downloading), but if you search the site there is a bigger file for download.
 

 
 
   
 

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