Update on the Insane (VI)

Um...hi. Remember me? I know, I know. Bad poster.

Honestly there really hasn't been much to talk about. Rehearsals continue, the show gets better. My real worry is that we're already solid. I've noticed that in order to keep things interesting we're playing things up a bit, mostly the laughs. We talked about it and agreed that needed to stop. We had a six day break and then had three nights in a row of rehearsals last week and a lot of us (i.e. ME) felt totally out of gas. Thankfully this week it's come back with a ton of energy. We also aren't in the actual performance space, and set or no, that helps.

One of the great things about this performance is the sense of freedom that comes with it. Every director has their own sense of leadership, and ours really lets us make our own decisions. He only changes things when they aren't working, and doesn't really get too picky about it. Our real sense of checks and balances has been each other. As a cast we're continually having open discussions about character, how the scenes should work, how to adjust things. The great thing about this respect everyone has is when the advice come out of the blue. Someone who isn't even on stage for some scenes will approach me and offer adjustments, and they'll be totally right.

Also, with the huge mouth and fierce opinions I have, everyone is blessedly patient with it. When we've stopped and talked about things as a group I can find myself rambling on. I look over at the director and tell him to shut me up whenever. Usually he nods and tells me to get it out.

My big focus the last couple days is thinking of everyone I know and convincing them to come to this darn show. I've handed out posters, emailed, done the myspace (gag) thing, called, and begged. The group would like to see an attendance of 400 over the four shows. They read the numbers of the last half dozen non-musicals they've done. Never got over 230. Funny, you can't swing a dead cat in Western Mass without hitting a local theater group, but where's the audience? For some reason local papers won't review local productions, I guess there was bad mojo about negative reviews and nasty letters back and forth ten years ago, so it all stopped. So I am whoring myself to get people to this thing.

Update on the Insane (V)

Yeah, I never made a (IV) in the last post about the show. Sue me.


So as I always do when preparing for a show I scour the internet for information about other productions, I found some stuff on "Cuckoo's Nest."


Note: Some people will not watch a movie, another production, look at pictures, or hear stories about other productions of a show once they start doing it. They feel it will affect their interpretation, and don't want to be accused of "copying" another version, or they feel it will alter their 'vision.'


Happily, I have no such qualms. In fact, when I hear someone talk about their 'vision' my brain instantly goes somewhere else, like how long until I need my next oil change. If you want inspiration, go get it. If you think you're copying someone, stop. It's not like you're going to build the crazy bridge/junk thing in Les Mis and suddenly wonder where you got the inspiration from.


I haven't found much. I was looking for clips of other productions, and mostly got a couple high school versions that were played for laughs. I can reject those outright. There was a great piece on Charlie Rose with Gary Sinise that has a couple scenes but the sound is so choppy it's unwatchable.


I DID find this. I guess I've never looked at it quite that way before. I can't say I agree that was the intent, I mean Ken Kesey was so f*cked on LSD he probably had very little idea what he writing period. But I'm willing to concede the point, if you look at it from that direction.


Thankfully, most of the time, I don't.


I've been told by more than one person that the link doesn't show where the theater itself is. Try here.

Some Fun Things to Look At

A couple things I've seen floating around the internets lately. I was recently reminded of them on zefrank's site.

I've seen this twice. It's funny AND scary at the same time.

And if you ever need to know what the pinnacle of being awesome actually is, watch this clip.

Other stuff I've found that makes me happy...Webcomics. I don't read too many, chrissakes it takes me too much time catching up on blogs (I'm still catching up on some new ones) so here are my two favorites.

Questionable Content. Do I like it because it's set in my town? Yes. I actually recognize the bars and locales in the comic. But mostly I like it because it's hiLARious. Read from the beginning.

Penny Arcade. Balls out funny. If you're a gamer. If you haven't sacrificed GPA to playing Warcraft (the original) or lost two days playing Metal Gear Solid or lost a MONTH playing Neverwinter Nights, this might not be to your taste. It is to mine.

I Can't Eat that Much Rice

Another night of rehearsal. Another night when I look around and wonder how I got so lucky.

Not only am I doing a show that's a favorite of...well, just about anyone who knows it, and doing the part that speaks to me, but I get to do it witht the most wonderful group of actors. I couldn't have dreamt up such a great cast.

What amazes me time and again is the quiet competence each person brings each night. There's no histrionics, no drama, just a simple working of each scene. A tweak here and there. A "Hey, I got an idea.." What's remarkable is that everyone listens to it, and everyone usually accepts it and adjusts accordingly. Our director seems to understand that he pretty much can let us figure most of it out, and only needs to jump in when it's not reading off stage. I was talking to the costume lady and watching the business on stage and realized how much was going on that I truly CAN'T be aware of. No one ever stops. No one stands, waiting for their next piece of business.

I already know this show will be incredible. How did I get so lucky?

If you're in the area (western Mass) you should come. If you're near the area, you should come. If you're way out of the area, I'll buy you a drink if you make it. Don't come for me. Come for the whole thing.

You can find the partic'lars here.

Update on the Insane (III)

So last week I had been to precisely zero rehearsals. Most canceled due to weather, one big one I never wrote in my calendar, so didn't know there WAS a rehearsal until the next day's email. "We missed you last night," came from the director. Consternation on my face, I check my little calendar. Nope, no rehearsal there. Then I check the emailed schedule. Hey look, there's a rehearsal I never wrote down.

And I felt horrible. I'm a pain in the ass about scheduling enough I don't want to miss the ones I DO get to go to. So to make it up I locked myself in a room for the weekend and got off book. I had about twenty pages done, but there were fifty more to go. Now that's done, all I have to worr yabout is this damn character thing.

Rehearsal this week were, in a word, awesome. It just keeps getting better, and we've added a fun new element...

We're drinking together.

Two nights this week so far a bunch of us have made it to the nearest bar, and several of us were there when the lights went off.

It's too damn scary that it's going so well.

In other news, I did a spec commercial today. Actually two at once, but it was great fun and they should be done in a week or two, so hopefully they will be someplace online for you to see them. They're very funny "Office"-ey type stuff.

A Love Song to My Town

I live in this wonderful little city called Northampton. Some of you may have heard of it. It's best known (or so I'm told) as the lesbian capital of the eastern seaboard. Check your fantasies at the door, frat boys. It might have a bit of that to it, but it's so much more.

Northampton in the 70's and early 80's was another broken mill town on the Connecticut River. No jobs, crime rampant, blah blah blah. Until a bunch of starving artists in New York couldn't afford to live ther anymore, and the rent in Noho was cheap.

Now it's a thriving haven for artists, to the ones who can afford it nowadays. (Real estate here is prohibitvely expensive.) Name your medium, it's probably living well here. (Except for community theater, but that's a much longer post.) Every day I go out onto the main drag I see something I've never seen before. Tonight it was a guy banging on a bucket and singing to it. To his defense, he sang well.

Because I'm a little bit of a lot of things, but not really great at one, I have never really 'fit into the mix'. I have good friends, great friends but I'm not the guy you turn to for a great tour of the parties of the town. I have a haunt where everybody knows my name. (Northampton Brewery, if you're in the area and miss it's amazing beer and incredible food, you should be brought up on charges.)

I could go on like this for a while, but what I really wanted to talk about was this amazing musician and friend that I had a ridculously long conversation with tonight. His name is Greg and you can check out his stuff here. I recommend 'The story of Catfish Slim'. It's what slide guitar is all about.

I bumped into him towards the end of the night, and we closed the bar and sat outside the bar and just talked about music for god knows how long. We've played together before, but he kinda breathes music the way I wish I could. I'm not a great player of music, but I think I write fairly well. Every time I listen to 'Catfish' I'm reminded of my failings. The best thing about Mr. Silvera is that he'll take your fears about music and make you realize how stupid it is. He's so inclusive about music you wish there were more musicians out there like him. the same goes to his partner, Josh Martin.

So I just wanted to give a tip of the hat to both of you bad boys, for your amazing music and your 'keepin it real'.

Give them a good listen. They deserve it. You've earned it. When I write something I hink you'll like to her, Reader, I'll post it.

You live for something, or die for...aw, hell just blow something up

So in a much needed break from reality and all its shortcomings, I went to see Rambo today.

Surprise, it didn't suck.

Okay it didn't suck when you remove the moral platitudes that just don't work, the poor direction given to really good actors (Julie Benz and Paul Schulze come to mind) and the underabundance of...uh...RAMBO-ness that you'd be expecting, it wasn't half bad. At least it didn't try to be something it wasn't. Now I have to go rent the other two bad ones. (The first was a really good movie.)

Update on the Insane (II)

First, I am continually thrilled with what the cast of Cuckoo is putting out, and we've had less than five rehearsals. Most of us barely know each other and moments are already happening, and scripts are still in hand. The terrifying thing is that it's going so well. I'm used to the early stages being such a mess that I keep looking up, waiting for the piano to fall on my head. Tomorrow night is the first post rehearsal drinks session, and I'm terribly excited to get to know these guys more. I think it'll be great to be able to talk about the show outside of rehearsal.

Next, a mild rant. I just finished watching all of Six Feet Under. Whoa. Earlier in the season I was itching to write a post about how much I had come to hate the show. They never shied away from taking an interesting choice, but how come I had grown to despise these characters so much? The final two episodes completely floored me, and I'm glad I never gave up. If you want to see great actors doing great acting, look no further.

Finally, the rewards of making friends. The director of The Hop and Cillian has invited me to be a part of a spec commercial. It shoots later this month. This is why you show up on time, ready to work, even though there's no money in it. You never know what will come back to you.

Update on the Insane (I)

I guess this will be my series of entries on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Along with whatever else I feel like talking about. Really it's just an excuse to not think of entry names until the end of April.

So in more sane (sort of) news my blog friend Magickat is about to embark on The Crucible in her area. She will be playing Ann Putnam, who is a ridiculously hard person to portray, simply because it's too easy to make her out and out evil and phone it in from there. To make her a real person that you at least understand takes a lot more than that. Reading her last entry she's fairly nervous about the level of preparation they'll have before opening night. If you've ever done theater, you know what she's talking about, and let's face it, Crucible is no South Pacific. You can't just learn your lines then walk on the day before. Still, I'll never stop being amazed at what can happen with three days of panic attacks.

Those of you who've been keeping up know I played Rev. Hale last year. Keep scrolling down. It's all down there. Crucible has a very special place in my heart, partly because it WAS so hard, and the reward was so great. Unfortunately, it's one of the shows you either love or hate. Most of my friends and family fall on the latter side, so I didn't have too many folks coming to it. (All completely understood on my part. I wouldn't make anyone sit through it if they didn't want to in the first place.) So for the other three of you who read this, send some good mojo her way. We should all know what it feels like to be in the trenches. Break legs, Kat, break lots of legs.

Please not your own.

All of that leads up to what's going on HERE. We had the first read through of Cuckoo about a week ago, and I couldn't be more thrilled. With a few notable exceptions, this cast is mostly strangers to me, and you always wonder before going in what it will be like. Fortunately, this group is top notch. There will be some great crazies, and our Ratched will be positively chilling.

I'm not going to say I'm not a little nervous about it, because I am. When you look at all of the phenomenal actors who've played McMurphy before it's easy to feel a little daunted. Also, for those of you who've only seen the movie, there are a lot of differences between it and the stage version. The movie is far more brooding, less about dialogue. The stage version is more on the nose, a bit more beatnik in it's sensibilities. I guess more Kesey than Forman? As much as he fits, I want to do him as much justice as I can, push myself out of my comfort zone.

So finally it leads to preparation. We start rehearsals this Sunday. That gives us about nine weeks, which just typing makes my brain hurt, but one thing I am positively good at is memorization of a script. I can barely remember important birthdays but I can have a full script in my hard drive within two weeks if I put the time in. Disgusting, I know, but I want to get out of the blocking crap as fast as possible, so I can learn how to be nuts.

At least, McMurphy's brand of nuts.

Okay, so...

The only thing really worth mentioning is that tonight I go for the first read through of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yes, I most certainly am playing McMurphy. I am pumped.

I want to speak a little about the audition process for me on this one. Auditioning for community theater, to me, has always been a frighteningly hard to predict process. The film stuff I've done is very different. I know none of the people auditioning or holding the auditions for the most part, so I feel complete freedom to fail. I put everything out there and if they want me they'll let me know. Fine, no big shakes. I like the process of auditioning very much nowadays. Trying out different roles just for an evening is fun in and of itself, as long as you can forget that it's a competition of sorts. I also tend to think that the film auditions I've done directors are taking the best fits they can find for their piece.

Community theater has so many different levels to the interpersonal connections it's shocking. Many times I've seen shows cast for friends or relations. I've known directors to give friends parts before auditions, then not tell the actors coming in that a certain role has already been filled. (Interestingly, there is one area director who pre-casts some roles, and makes it very clear before someone auditions. For this reason, many local actors will not do his shows. In the same breath they will audition for companies where favoritism is heavy but it isn't ANNOUNCED. Strange.) I've seen casting decisions that just made no sense to me. For these reasons and more I always feel a bit queasy going in to these.

McMurphy, though, he just makes sense to me. I feel drawn to this guy, more so than in most parts I've played. Being him is like getting into a hand made suit. It fits. The audition for this show I left everything on that stage, and knew it. Everyone else in the theater knew it too, you coud feel it. A friend of mine came to the initial audition and said it seemed pretty obvious. Everyone knew it. I walked out of there knowing. It felt amazing.

The call back felt like more of the same. I try to be very encouraging to the other actors around me, even at auditions when we're more or less head-to-head, but this time I knew. I felt supreme confidence. Getting the email on my birthday just made it click into place.

So now I have to prove I'm not full of crap. THAT'S terrifying.

Happy Birthday to ME...

-Woke up at the perfect time.
-Nice breakfast.
-Afternoon snowboarding with my lady and my best friend.
-Email:

RANDLE P. McMURPHY

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, today is a good day.

Almost literally...nothing to speak of. Lots of writing but I can't talk about that. I have a stage audition coming up but I won't talk about that. Can't jinx it.

I'm just stopping in to say I just watched AvP:R and wtf, mate? Argh! Why do movies want to hurt me so? It wasn't awful. It certainly wasn't great. It was nothing more than a good popcorn movie, meant to watch for eye candy alone and nothing like plot or character really matter. That's fine. I don't care that you're bastardizing the Alien franchise. Only some of my favorite movies ever. (Poll: Alien or Aliens? I know what I'd vote.)

But don't...ever...try to alter the plotline or infringe in any way on the original movies. And that's what those bastards did in the last line of the movie. I was willing to forgive everything else, but not this.

Random: Just watched Heat with Michael Mann's commentary. Amazing. This beautiful movie and he almost never mentions anything other than character and the choices made by the actors. The flipside is John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. He describes lighting and lenses til your head hurts. Both are interesting. Heat for writing and acting, ItMoM for techie stuff.

Go watch Dexter.

Two things

Of all the shows I addict myself to, Dexter has filled me with the most joy. Check it out.

I'm sorry folks. I've watched as much as I can. I don't like Dario Argento movies. If a purple and orange light is all he's got, I'm out.

Ok, ok, I didn't forget about you...

...I just haven't been thinking about you. I've been doing so much other thinking that some days the idea of typing events of my life into this blog is just daunting. So I haven't done it.

The unfortunate side of effect of lazy blogging is all the interesting things I've done since my last substantial entry is no longer fresh in my mind, so you don't really get much in the way of witty or entertaining. I'll do my best...

Wait, first, coffee...

...okay. (Aaahhhh.) First, that last short I did for Emerson was an absolute one sided blast. Picture this, if you will. We're doing a film about dealing with the devil. The Friday night after Halloween. In the (I shit you not) Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The next night we're shooting in the back alley of a haunted theater. You don't need to conjure up anything as an actor when you've got mood you can hang a hat on. The other actors were great, and great to work with. The crew that I knew were really excited to see me, and I them. These students were shooting two movies this weekend. They'd shoot ours all night then the other one all day. Their energy is just so...infectious. I always find myself wrapped at three in the morning still wanting to be there.

The director for this short was nothing short of awesome. I'm sure most of us have worked with all kinds of directors, from tyrants to mice. Some we've liked, others we haven't. Hopefully we've learned something from every one. This one, I say without doubt, is a truly wonderful director already. That's right Tina Densmore, I'm calling you out! Barely past the drinking age and she's got the right mix of confidence in herself and ability to let the actors (and crew) add to the project. When I originally got the script I had some thoughts about my character, certain ways I wanted to play it that would make it more original. Within boundaries, she left me free to explore different things. She let actors determine what worked best for them and would shoot to capture those moments we would find. At the same time, she was very clear on when to reign things in, and did so without being overly authoritative. Her crew was awesome, and you could tell they loved working for her. She was a mother hen to everyone. I never saw a crew member just walk away because they were frustrated, something I thought was pretty much a given on every student shoot I've done (and more than a few non-student films). If this business pays any attention to talent and ability, she will have a long career ahead of her.

There she is, busted finger and all. This is inside the theater, which has been mostly torn down inside.

I love getting these director-doing-directory-things pictures. I don't know where the pictures are, but I posed her with her crew pointing at something a couple times. All the good director candids they're pointing at something. In this case, it was too cold for bare flesh, hence the hands in pockets.

Other than that, not a ton happening lately in the outside world. I've been working on a script collaboration so I'm trying to kick that out as soon as I can. Those of you who might have gone over to Triggerstreet and read the short story I posted might be pleased to know that it still sits on the Daily Top Ten, which is pretty cool considering I didn't proof read it for plot holes at all. I was so nervous I finished it and fired it off without thinking. The reviews were good for finding out where I went wrong, and now I have the bug to write more prose.

I've been kind of itching to get on a stage again, but that's always such an iffy process for me. Rules I've learned about doing theater:

1) Only do shows you know. Or with a director you like to work with or a cast you like. Nothing is worse than accepting a part in a show you ultimately hate. South Pacific taught me that the hard way.

2) Don't do shows with people you've burned bridges with. Unfortunately, I have this habit sometimes. The more I watch Gordon Ramsey I realize he's a prick because he's a perfectionist, and he can't stand non-perfectionists. While I know I'm nowhere near his league of prickishness or perfectionism, I come across this way. I need to shut my mouth more often than not.

3) Schedule. This is the huge thing for me. My work doesn't allow me everyone else's Monday to Friday business hours. I've learned (the hard way) to be very upfront and specific at auditions. It's not enough to say, "Well, I have a weird schedule." Now on audition sheets I put up all my specific days from audition to wrap. This has cost me parts in the past year. In fact, it's kept me from doing any theater at all since The Crucible. But that show taught me more than any to leave nothing to chance there, which leads me to the final...

4) Reward/Effort ratio. It's gotta be pretty close nowadays. If it's something I believe in, something I want I'll move my schedule, call in favors, lose sleep and work my ass off to get it done. In the beginning I need to have the feeling that by the end I'll have no regrets.

Later.

Before the Next Big Post...

...here's a small one. Go to triggerstreet.com and register a profile. In the short story section you might find a story named Trauma. It's probably written by a guy named krtshadow. He might want you to read it. He might want you to review it.

He might be me.

Just might.

Mr. Karyhead wins....

...a big boatload of internet sprinkles.

(Seriously, there was no REAL prize, other than my respect, which will stand you for a few drinks in my neck, just get north, boy.)

However Mr. Disc Champion, you succeeded where others failed, and your knowledge of the pop culture that pertains to me gives you mad ups in my book. Just get up to Sox country and you'll know how we treat friends.

Everyone else, go buy Tenacious D's album RIGHT NOW. I don't know if we can relate without it.

Brain Aneurysm!!

So you all know, the show went very well. Better than well, we had a lot of fun, and our audience seemed to have a good time too.

All day I'd been chugging down tea to help my voice. I'm pretty much a complete coffee person, so the tea was a welcome soother to my throat. It wasn't until an hour before the show when I wondered why I was so freaked out, pacing, sweating, heart racingly freaked out, that I realized said tea was caffeinated. I must have had twelve gallons of the stuff through the day. Good times.

My partner and I were both terribly nervous beforehand, but we settled in fairly quick. Hammerbone likes to do a min-set, then have their guests do their set, then they finish off the night. It's a nice way to do things, imho. Usually openers play to the four or five people who made the mistake of showing up on time. We had a decently packed bar to play to. We did a bunch of covers with a couple originals tossed in. crowd favorites seemed to be the Violent Femmes "Country Death Song" for mandolin and guitar, the White stripes "Little Ghost", and our totally basic version of The Band's "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down."

The thing I was afraid of most, and this'll sound stupid, was between-song-banter. I'm a pretty funny, entertaining guy, but I can't necessarily do it on command. I hoped desperately we wouldn't be those weird guys on stage. Thankfully, the entertaining muscle was fully flexing that night. It also helped that Game 2 of the World Series was on TV. Asking for a score made it easy to get set up.

Our friends all had good things to say, and the owner actually asked us to come back to do our own show. Weird. This was all for fun.

I've been asked by a couple of the theatrical folk about the difference between doing musicals and being 'in the band.' I'll try to answer here as best I can. It's a different animal from theatre and film in many ways.

First, you have to get the right people together. Whether you're writing your own material or doing covers, the right mix is essential. It's fine to be in a show with someone you can barely stand for three months, being in a band for at least a year can take its' toll on friendships. Usually there isn't someone who's 'the director' that you go to with issues. Someone might be more or less in a leadership role but it's far more egalitarian than any stage show. The right mix of personalities isn't necessarily obvious. It's far deeper than musical ability as well. The most creative band I was ever in we almost all disliked each other, but a new song was written every week, and we were good. Comb through the histroies of your favorite bands and you'll see at least half the best were fueled by their internal strife. If you're just out ot play, you don't want that. Make sure your goals are the same.

Second, practice, kid, practice. Your rehearsals are more important than you think. Any time you get together yoiu need a clear idea of what both you personally and as a group need to get done. Don't be satisfied with less than what you need. The reason my show last week went so well was because my boy J and I have been playing together afte hours for years, and for the week running up to the show we were playing together for two to fours a day. That was for eight songs, most of which we both already knew. If you aren't tight and something goes wrong you're toast. Mostly, for that first minute on stage, when you don't know if you 're gonna fall apart or not.

What I experienced at our sound check was frightening. Being on stage was new. Dealing with mics and sound mixes was weird. I could hear myself through the PA and that's a whole different sound than I was prepared for. Not that it was bad, just that it wasn't how we'd rehearsed, and I'd have to learn mic technique over again in the first song. Fortunately I knew J, who's WAY more talented musically than I am, would be rock solid next to me. So I would have to be for him too. Pretty soon I was having fun being able to hear myself again. So practice, kid, practice.

Third, have fun. It can't be more simple than that. If you aren't having fun at it and it's not your job, why are you doing it? You can have just as much fun playing to four people as you can to four hundred if you approach it with heart.

I think that's it. Any more questions, I'll be glad to attempt an answer.

(Special prize to anyone who knows where the last two entry title came from.)

What T-Shirt do I Wear?! What T-Shirt do I Wear?!

I have a gig tonight. It's been so long since I've said that it's almost funny to hear it coming from me. Nothing special or huge. A friend of mine was asked to be the opener for a pair of fellas we know called Hammerbone. He then asked me to play with him, as we are fond of closng bars then going back to my house to pound on instruments to the same five or six songs over and over. Of course I agreed. So for the past week we've been getting together to hammer out a set list and play together when sober, which is something that never really happened before.

I'm mildly terrifed and somewhat excited. It'll be fun to do it again and it's been a loooong time, more than ten years, since I played out. Fortunately nearly everyone who will be at this show will be people we know, mos tof whom have been to my house after the bar closes to hang out and pound on instruments, so they know what they're getting.

What doesn't help is that I woke up this morning sick, sick, sick. Throat thing, this sucks. Long day of doing nothing and drinking tea.

So if you're in Northamptin tonight and lookin for some hot fun swing by Silent Cal's on Pleasant St after ten. We'll be there. Drink a lot first.

P.S. Go take a listen to Hammerbone on their myspace page. Them boys is top notch.

I love the smell of death in the air

Seriously, I've been writing posts for the last month, just all in my head. Then I get too lazy to TYPE them.

Not a ton of things going on. I was just invited to be in another Emerson project, which is way cool. Cool script, very weird and twisted. So it's totally inline with me.

I finally finished all seven weddings this weekend. So all of you out there know, any invitations to nuptials in the next twelve weeks will be RSVP'd with a letter bomb. Okay, probably a stink bomb, but a bomb nonetheless. (Let's see Homeland Security work on that one.)

I've had a fire lit under me by a musician friend in the last couple weeks, which means I keep trying to lock myself into my 'studio' and hammer away at stuff I've been too afraid to finish. We'll see what happens.

Saw Across the Universe this weekend. Any level of Beatle's fandom will suffice. Amazing movie. Unless of course, you're a purist. Then you might not like it. Happily, I feel no such slavish loyalty to the source material.

Hopefully I'll have more to tell you when I feel more interesting.

It stands for Hates People

I had a laptop. It wasn't great, but it was nice. It allowed me to play some of my older games when I was at work (I'm totally a gaming addict, and I don't care) and I could get the real internet and not the crappy work internet that doesn't let you do anything actually useful. I could write on it, stay connected, you know, it did the things computers do.

Then it died.

I won't go into details. Really, I can't because it makes me physically ill to think about it, but basically HP sucks the big one. Service and Support should really be Shitting on Suckers. Not only was it impossible to understand them, but just when you think the next call can't get any worse, they went and screwed it up more. I took it to someone and they told me what I didn't want but needed to hear: she's dead, Jim. Cost more to fix than replace. that was more than a week ago.

TODAY I get a call from a Customer Service Manager from here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Here's what I basically told him:

"While I do not hold you personally responsible, your company's claims of caring about your customers is completely invalid. If I had to wait this long to reach someone who could understadn me, you've failed. The BBB already has my complaint. I even sucked it up and bought a new HP from Best Buy and guess what. I'm in the parking lot right now to return it. It runs like a donkey, it already locked up twice. I contacted your crappy tech support a week ago and haven't heard from them. Thank you, HP, for sending me back to Dell."

To Best Buy's credit, they didn't even try to charge a restocking fee.

In lighter news, I saw the lady friend's production of Baby yesterday. Amazing. God, that girl's good. I barely even liked the music before yesterday, despite auditioning for it. It's also interesting to be at a cast party for a show you weren't in. I've done this before, but this is the first time I've really thought about this. Every production has its own secret language, sayings and instances that you had to be a part of to understand. I didn't know it, and I miss it.

Lord please, don't give me the theater bug again. I'm barely done with all the $%^&ing weddings.

Also, welcome Stephon to my list of blogs. Just looking at how long you've had it, I'll still be trying to catch up on your blog when I'm having my first bypass.