If I embrace change, right now I'm the worst I'll ever be.
But if I don't, right now I'm the best I'll ever be.
-Jeff Seagrave
Take massive action now!
Nothing changes unless i change.
illustrated Tim Keller quote
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Chuck vs Les Mis
Theme song: Short Skirt, Long Jacket
No flash nor training nor all of GBeck's resources could have made both possible. When the CIA figures out how to give us more TIME, I want in on it!
Not enough time for a Chuckathon today, but we used what time we had to enjoy Chuck vs the Push Mix, grape soda (ok, Purple Cows), and cheese balls.
A real Chuckathon would of course have included Subway, but olives are verboten.
Then we went to the show.
And later, Toby's posted a cool Interview with Toby.
Tangentially, I found that in their free time, Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel both love Les Mis and sing Confrontation to each other. Here they mention it to Megan Mulally on her short-lived talk show, and they are completely willing to burst into song impromptu. I just wish the audience had let them finish it out. Can you imagine? And they were into it enough to leap to their feet -- I bet if they'd continued, they'd have been circling each other and jumping up on furniture.
The difference between "in the round" and "proscenium stage"
Things you never think of when you go to a show (until now):
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT! I am assuming you know the story of Les Mis. My intention in this post is to marvel at the execution of the show.
(Show photos from Toby's Dinner Theater Les Mis FB photo set) This is why I love tech theater. Even though the "same two questions"1 are 1) If you had the ability and the inclination to, who would you want to play in this show? and 2) Why?, as much as I watch the actors, I really do watch the techs. But that's on the back end of, "Wow, I love how they did this," not the creative end of "so, the dude jumps off a bridge, which rises behind him as he lands in a river. So how are we doing this without actually offing our leads every night but Monday?" I was wondering how they'd build a barricade at Toby's Columbia for Les Misérables, seeing as it's in the round. And they certainly pulled it off to astonishing effect. Prior the show, I figured they'd create the kids-in-a-snow-fort effect, with dense low stuff, tables and barrels, surrounding the stage, and they'd hole themselves "safely"2 inside. I am so glad they did not because, watching the show, what struck me was:
4 Mad props to Dan Felton (Valjean) for hefting and carrying Jeff Shankle (Marius) through the sewer set. Some serious weight training there, as well as sense of placement to not take Jeff's head off on a vertical post during a pivot.
The most dramatic bit of all was what I am deeming "Best. Death. Ever." was Larry Munsey (Javert) stalking the full width of the theater on a scaffolding bridge. Then, tethered to the ceiling, a thin cord holding him from a straight-up plummet, Larry jumped as the techs pulled the bridge out from under his feet. That, plus the lighting, plus the musical cue... W-O-W.
So. Guess I gotta see it again.
P.S. Kudos also to the pit orchestra -- all FOUR of them in a given performance -- who pull off the whole score as though they were each a dozen musicians. And to the conductor/keyboardist, who is also the ~Valjean~ understudy!
Gosh, I'm glad to be on this side of the barricade.
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT! I am assuming you know the story of Les Mis. My intention in this post is to marvel at the execution of the show.
(Show photos from Toby's Dinner Theater Les Mis FB photo set) This is why I love tech theater. Even though the "same two questions"1 are 1) If you had the ability and the inclination to, who would you want to play in this show? and 2) Why?, as much as I watch the actors, I really do watch the techs. But that's on the back end of, "Wow, I love how they did this," not the creative end of "so, the dude jumps off a bridge, which rises behind him as he lands in a river. So how are we doing this without actually offing our leads every night but Monday?" I was wondering how they'd build a barricade at Toby's Columbia for Les Misérables, seeing as it's in the round. And they certainly pulled it off to astonishing effect. Prior the show, I figured they'd create the kids-in-a-snow-fort effect, with dense low stuff, tables and barrels, surrounding the stage, and they'd hole themselves "safely"2 inside. I am so glad they did not because, watching the show, what struck me was:
I am glad to be on the behind-the barricade side. (50-50 shot!) If I were on the "outside" of the barricade, I would be very defensive. Rifles pointing at me? I would be using my fingers as guns to defend my table. And, knowing me, I would mime along with the offstage voice as though it were an onstage voice played by me: "You at the barricade listen to this!"31 Oops. The "same two questions" are 1) What was most impactful? and 2) What are you going to do about it? I guess that makes these the "different two questions...?" 2 Have you seen the show? Yeah. "Safely" is kind of a relative term. Plot-wise, of course. This is no Spider-Man: Turning off the Dark. All due tech safety precautions have been taken. 3 This is when it's good that I have the ASL of the show pretty well internalized from terping it at CVHS. When I sing along it's not auditory, and if the theater is dark enough, no one can see me. Loved loved loved the show shirts: Keep calm and build a barricade. The barricade set was rather industrial but visually open the whole width across the center of the stage. Scaffolding and trapdoors and ladders and stockroom-style rolling stairs, relying on the audience's mind's eye. I was surprised at how much verticality the show used, with permanent-for-this-show balconies on each of the four aisles. If the actors were any taller, people at center stage would have been braining themselves on lighting elements. This in addition to all the ladders and posts I was constantly watching people to jump off of safely and not spin someone else (or themselves) into, especially when carrying a corpse4. And massive set pieces coming in and out all the aisles, at high speeds, in the dark.
4 Mad props to Dan Felton (Valjean) for hefting and carrying Jeff Shankle (Marius) through the sewer set. Some serious weight training there, as well as sense of placement to not take Jeff's head off on a vertical post during a pivot.
The most dramatic bit of all was what I am deeming "Best. Death. Ever." was Larry Munsey (Javert) stalking the full width of the theater on a scaffolding bridge. Then, tethered to the ceiling, a thin cord holding him from a straight-up plummet, Larry jumped as the techs pulled the bridge out from under his feet. That, plus the lighting, plus the musical cue... W-O-W.
So. Guess I gotta see it again.
P.S. Kudos also to the pit orchestra -- all FOUR of them in a given performance -- who pull off the whole score as though they were each a dozen musicians. And to the conductor/keyboardist, who is also the ~Valjean~ understudy!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Bug-birthday-backpack!
(No, not this bug. Bug Bug, in her bug boots, will be turning four next month! Stop growing, small frogs!)
Four of the small frogs I adore have birthdays in quick succession: 7/2, 7/26, 8/20, 9/27. December's pretty birthday-laden too. And February... I have a lot of small frogs in my life.
But I was stumped on how to celebrate D's 3rd. Until this bit of adorableness found its way to me. That, plus a few recent roadtrips with the yarn bag yield one happy preschooler. (Preschool! Starting preschool in TWO WEEKS! Stop growing!)
I think she likes it.
I think she likes it.
When I grow up...
... I'm pretty sure I *don't* want to be a pilot. But I sure am glad there are pilots, and ground crew, etc, because I sure do love to travel!
HIA (Harrisburg International Airport)'s open house today had 2500 people looking at and climbing around in:
- Hershey's Kissmobile. One time it was behind me on the highway -- let me tell you, it was kind of disconcerting a shape to see in the rearview! It wasn't until I pulled onto the exit ramp and it passed me that I saw what it really was. Even now, it, like the Turkey Hill cow car, reminds me of Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.
- A UPS plane, the 2nd *smallest* of the planes UPS uses to deliver packages. At Christmastime, UPS alone sends the volume equivalent of five of them to HIA daily. They pack containers full of packages, load them on skids, slide them on rollers to the right place in the plane, and lock them down.
- A replica of the plane from Tora Tora Tora, complete with bomb. Near the cockpit you can see two cruisers and three air-to-air battles noted.
- A FedEx Boeing 757, M's favorite of all the planes we were in, I suspect because they gave him stickers and a trading card.
- The lifeline medical helicopter, which I did not realize loads the gurney thru a door/hatch under the tail!
- This awesome blue tunnel for running down!
- Personal aircraft, with seats for 4.
- A cop car (we taught him the sign for cop). M got to use the radio to report "10-4" and run the siren. D wanted to drive off with the cop car, and Officer Steve said since she had the wheel, he could give her the keys. She immediately looked below-next-to the steering wheel and sadly reported, "No keys."
- A United Express plane (why is an "h" sound preceeded by "an" and a "u" sound by "a"?), seats approx 60.
We ongoingly work on "buckled up thumbs up?" with these two. And plane seatbelts are a lot easier to buckle (and unbuckle) than car seatbelts!
But the cockpits are tougher in a commercial plane than a personal plane.
That's a look of "Not so sure about this copilot," I'm sure.
- And more!
- HIA's airport code is MDT, which is short for its location, MiDdleTown.
- This entire event was located at the "old terminal", which is separated from the active terminal by parking lot barriers. Not the 2-foot-high K-rails, the curb-height ones kids practice balance beam on.
- We love flying out of HIA because once you get thru security (where the line is usually shorter than that of our local library), you're basically at either gate A, B, or C.
Mary Poppins says "Well begun is half done". Maybe I should work on my whistling and snapping? (12-Star Throw)
Red Heart 12-Star Throw
God has a sense of humor. I actually started this one, by which I mean I have two spokes of one square done so far. Then I set it aside because of another, more time-sensitive project, working out of the same yarn bag. And I managed to LOSE THIS PATTERN!
So I am throwing it onto the blog in hopes that redundancy in ways to find it will result it my actually making progress on it. Don't hold your breath.
God has a sense of humor. I actually started this one, by which I mean I have two spokes of one square done so far. Then I set it aside because of another, more time-sensitive project, working out of the same yarn bag. And I managed to LOSE THIS PATTERN!So I am throwing it onto the blog in hopes that redundancy in ways to find it will result it my actually making progress on it. Don't hold your breath.
Monday, July 22, 2013
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