Post Holiday Post
The 4th of July was a nice day for me. Did some work on the modern monologue, then popped over to my friend Wayne's house to pick up some produce. Wayne, Kate, and I share an organic co-op for veggies. We chatted a bit then I was off to my brother's house. We had a communication snafu, and he thought I wasn't coming by until later if at all, and I'd planned to come on out for their whole deal. He told me they were starting at 2PM. I should have checked with the boss, the ultimate coordinator.
So I got there a little early and socialized a bit, and was of little use. So, I found a table where I could be out of the way in the shade on the deck, and worked on text analysis, figuring out my beats and key words. Actions and intentions will be next. Then people started arriving. My folks arrived, along with Joyce's son (my stepbrother) and family visiting from Chicago.
It was a great time, with lots more of Tonia and Eric's friends arriving throughout the day. They put up one Hell of a spread, and could have fed a hundred people. I think I know who is going to be eating a mix outstanding, exotic, and ethnic barbecue foods for a while. Charlie their Australian Shepherd Dog made me a bit uneasy. He's a firework hound, and charges any firework, especially the louder ones. Luckily he returns when called so he was kept from fireworks which might hurt him badly. Still, it made me a little uneasy. Despite my minor worry, no injuries or mishaps occurred, and a fantastic time was had by all.
There were numerous other parties I wanted to go to, and the one I was going to go to on the way to Eric and Tonia's was postponed until the 31st for a move. Ah, it is frustrating, not being able to do everything you want. Better than feeling like nothing you want is available!
Last week I was standing next to a conversation where one of the actors was going about how he felt his work was not up to snuff, and how the entire show was not quite clicking. Maybe, maybe not. Absolutely not an appropriate or helpful thing to moan on about backstage, especially to a very young actor. I broke the mood intentionally with something like, "Well it's that bastard Scott! He can't do anything right. Can't even do the same thing wrong twice in a row. Let's get him." I've felt that way about shows, and I believe "Silence is golden." If you feel things are dicked up, do what you can about it and don't worry about what you can't fix. Sounds like AA, huh? If you struggle to improve your own work, the worst case is that it won't help anyone else, but you still might breathe more life into your scenes. Isn't that what you should be trying to do with every scene, for every performance anyway? It is hard, maybe striving 100% isn't reasonable. It's a good target though. Even an ace misses the black once in a while, but he still breathes and pulls the trigger. Maybe not correctly, but he won't ever get close without that minimal effort.
Grrr.
Tuesday night I picked up organic heavy cream and whole milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla beans, and rock salt. Cooked up a storm, and last night picked up some shaved ice from Larry's Market to go with the salt. I like the simple recipe for a slightly custardy vanilla ice cream, and make a big batch. Instead of vanilla extract I put in 2/3 of a vanilla bean and two shots of very nice bourbon, for a strong vanilla flavor. Oh my God. It is so evil, I nearly failed to resist taking more than a taste, well two or three tastes. And my beard was trashed when I cleaned the paddles and such. I bought 15 of the disposable containers, each just under a pint and will pack them with home made ice cream. I didn't give people gifts or cards on opening night. For some reason I never think of that until someone hands me a nice gift. I like to give something towards the end of the run. So, I'll have a nice little card, and dessert for folks on Saturday or Sunday waiting in the backstage freezer. I checked the fridge and the freezer compartment is blissfully empty. For now.
I am saddened by the attack in London. I'll not vent exhaustively about it now. I will apologize for our president's policy which brought this on, by creating more motivation, operatives, and capability for terrorists. I also pray he'll wait a decent interval before saying he told us so, and how we need to get more blindly aggressive against people who had nothing to do with the attack. I very strongly suspect we'll see more attacks against the US and UK. Damn.
So I got there a little early and socialized a bit, and was of little use. So, I found a table where I could be out of the way in the shade on the deck, and worked on text analysis, figuring out my beats and key words. Actions and intentions will be next. Then people started arriving. My folks arrived, along with Joyce's son (my stepbrother) and family visiting from Chicago.
It was a great time, with lots more of Tonia and Eric's friends arriving throughout the day. They put up one Hell of a spread, and could have fed a hundred people. I think I know who is going to be eating a mix outstanding, exotic, and ethnic barbecue foods for a while. Charlie their Australian Shepherd Dog made me a bit uneasy. He's a firework hound, and charges any firework, especially the louder ones. Luckily he returns when called so he was kept from fireworks which might hurt him badly. Still, it made me a little uneasy. Despite my minor worry, no injuries or mishaps occurred, and a fantastic time was had by all.
There were numerous other parties I wanted to go to, and the one I was going to go to on the way to Eric and Tonia's was postponed until the 31st for a move. Ah, it is frustrating, not being able to do everything you want. Better than feeling like nothing you want is available!
Last week I was standing next to a conversation where one of the actors was going about how he felt his work was not up to snuff, and how the entire show was not quite clicking. Maybe, maybe not. Absolutely not an appropriate or helpful thing to moan on about backstage, especially to a very young actor. I broke the mood intentionally with something like, "Well it's that bastard Scott! He can't do anything right. Can't even do the same thing wrong twice in a row. Let's get him." I've felt that way about shows, and I believe "Silence is golden." If you feel things are dicked up, do what you can about it and don't worry about what you can't fix. Sounds like AA, huh? If you struggle to improve your own work, the worst case is that it won't help anyone else, but you still might breathe more life into your scenes. Isn't that what you should be trying to do with every scene, for every performance anyway? It is hard, maybe striving 100% isn't reasonable. It's a good target though. Even an ace misses the black once in a while, but he still breathes and pulls the trigger. Maybe not correctly, but he won't ever get close without that minimal effort.
Grrr.
Tuesday night I picked up organic heavy cream and whole milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla beans, and rock salt. Cooked up a storm, and last night picked up some shaved ice from Larry's Market to go with the salt. I like the simple recipe for a slightly custardy vanilla ice cream, and make a big batch. Instead of vanilla extract I put in 2/3 of a vanilla bean and two shots of very nice bourbon, for a strong vanilla flavor. Oh my God. It is so evil, I nearly failed to resist taking more than a taste, well two or three tastes. And my beard was trashed when I cleaned the paddles and such. I bought 15 of the disposable containers, each just under a pint and will pack them with home made ice cream. I didn't give people gifts or cards on opening night. For some reason I never think of that until someone hands me a nice gift. I like to give something towards the end of the run. So, I'll have a nice little card, and dessert for folks on Saturday or Sunday waiting in the backstage freezer. I checked the fridge and the freezer compartment is blissfully empty. For now.
I am saddened by the attack in London. I'll not vent exhaustively about it now. I will apologize for our president's policy which brought this on, by creating more motivation, operatives, and capability for terrorists. I also pray he'll wait a decent interval before saying he told us so, and how we need to get more blindly aggressive against people who had nothing to do with the attack. I very strongly suspect we'll see more attacks against the US and UK. Damn.
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