Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
All Good Things Must Come To An End....
About a year and a half ago I started the writing program at Second City. After drafting our sketches we wrote, edited, rewrote, auditioned, cast, rehearsed and put music to the revue we named 'New Years Revelations'.
After a 4 week run this month, and 1 more to come (tomorrow night, Friday 1/30) it is amazing to look back and see how far we've come from the day we entered the intro to comedy class seemingly so long ago. Putting this show together and watching it run over the last month is the most fun I have had since I moved to Chicago.
Of course the best part of the experience has been meeting and working with all of the writers (Anthony, Susan, Maria, Rob, Carolyn, Jay, Ron, David), cast (Anne Dunn, Emily Walker, Rachel Perry, Jon Silver, Rob Grabo, Bobby Rafferty, and Jillian Burfete) and of course Andy Miara, the director. I am so sad that this experience is coming to an end tomorrow, but feel so proud and happy that I completed the program, and feel like I have learned so much more than I ever thought when originally signing up for the class.
Well, even though I have to say goodbye to 'New Years Revelations' tomorrow, the fun does not have to end. Stay tuned folks...there is more to come...
Oh! And thanks to all of my friends who came to the show! ...And to my Mom, who tried!
After a 4 week run this month, and 1 more to come (tomorrow night, Friday 1/30) it is amazing to look back and see how far we've come from the day we entered the intro to comedy class seemingly so long ago. Putting this show together and watching it run over the last month is the most fun I have had since I moved to Chicago.
Of course the best part of the experience has been meeting and working with all of the writers (Anthony, Susan, Maria, Rob, Carolyn, Jay, Ron, David), cast (Anne Dunn, Emily Walker, Rachel Perry, Jon Silver, Rob Grabo, Bobby Rafferty, and Jillian Burfete) and of course Andy Miara, the director. I am so sad that this experience is coming to an end tomorrow, but feel so proud and happy that I completed the program, and feel like I have learned so much more than I ever thought when originally signing up for the class.
Well, even though I have to say goodbye to 'New Years Revelations' tomorrow, the fun does not have to end. Stay tuned folks...there is more to come...
Oh! And thanks to all of my friends who came to the show! ...And to my Mom, who tried!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Back to the old routine...
About 6 months ago I started doing something I thought I would never do on a regular basis...I started going to the gym. And not even just a couple times a week, 5 or 6 times a week. I also changed my diet at that time, just ate better portions and made better choices at restaurants, noting too crazy, but it paid off because I lost 20 lbs by the end of the year.
Over Thanksgiving when my family went to Puerto Vallarta for a week of non-stop eating and drinking I made an attempt to stay in my exercise routine, but of course after 2 days I chose sangria over the stairmaster, and laid on a lounge chair the rest of the week with nachos. A diet killer you may say? Nope, only gained one pound over the holidays, and then got back to the old routine again once I got home.
Over the past two weeks I wasn't able to go to the gym at all as I had a cold one week, and had to fly home when my sister had emergency surgery the next. For a few days I had no appetite because I was worried about my sis, but once we found out she was OK my appetite came back and I ate what I wanted and really didn't stick to any routine. Regrets? Well, no, because today I was down 1 lb. WTF?
How come I can work out every day and eat right for a week and MAYBE lose 1 pound, but another weeks I do nothing and eat what I want and get the same results!? Have I raised my metabolism? Is this exercise really helping? Are we just allowed a grace period until the body decides to hold onto some of the crap? Well, I don't know...but today I got up, got dressed and went to the gym...back to the old routine.
Over Thanksgiving when my family went to Puerto Vallarta for a week of non-stop eating and drinking I made an attempt to stay in my exercise routine, but of course after 2 days I chose sangria over the stairmaster, and laid on a lounge chair the rest of the week with nachos. A diet killer you may say? Nope, only gained one pound over the holidays, and then got back to the old routine again once I got home.
Over the past two weeks I wasn't able to go to the gym at all as I had a cold one week, and had to fly home when my sister had emergency surgery the next. For a few days I had no appetite because I was worried about my sis, but once we found out she was OK my appetite came back and I ate what I wanted and really didn't stick to any routine. Regrets? Well, no, because today I was down 1 lb. WTF?
How come I can work out every day and eat right for a week and MAYBE lose 1 pound, but another weeks I do nothing and eat what I want and get the same results!? Have I raised my metabolism? Is this exercise really helping? Are we just allowed a grace period until the body decides to hold onto some of the crap? Well, I don't know...but today I got up, got dressed and went to the gym...back to the old routine.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
'They' Really Know How To Ruin A Good Thing...
The peeps who make most American TV shows really know how to ruin a good thing. Anytime the public finds something funny on one of these shows, 'The Powers That Be' think they need to take that one funny thing and build the show around that - Do I have some examples? Yes.
First, let's take American Idol. During the first few seasons, during the audition round, we got to see a lot of the good singers, and once in awhile they showed someone who truly thought they can sing, but really could not...and that was pretty funny. This format went along just fine until William Hung came along and actually made some $$ off of his bad singing and persona and suddenly the AI people thought all America wanted to see was a bunch of jackasses who think they can sing, but can't. But, is this what we want to see on AI? NO! We do not...watching people cry because they thought they could sing but were given a dose of reality by the judges (or Simon) was only funny because sometimes we saw some pretty bad singing, and were amazed when these people were surprised to find out they don't have a voice. Today when they show us the 'bad' singers, it just boarders on sad because most of these people are actually real life crazy people, and it just doesn't feel right to laugh at someone who has really got a problem, and not being treated with the proper medication.
Example #2: The Office / Flight of the Conchords (Turning quirky characters into retards). Ugg. Yes, these shows used to be funny because of the quirky characters and different personalities...but since viewers responded to these things 'TPTB' have obviously demanded MORE MORE MORE quirky-ness and character-ness and now most of the characters come off as mentally handicapped because the lines they are given to say and the objectives they are given to achieve are just now longer believable anymore. And if it's not believable, I'm out. On the Office the horse is beat with a stick over and over again as Jim 'plays a joke' on Dwight that anyone with half a brain would pick up on immediately, but Dwight just forges ahead blindly never thinking a rational thought like...eh, it's probably just Jim again!
A character like Dwight needs to be ahead of the game for his quirkiness to come through, not behind (much like Kramer on Seinfeld) or it just doesn't work. Watch the UK office to see how the dynamic between the 'Jim and Dwight' characters is supposed to work. One is confident and one is cocky, and they will both go to any lengths to prove their point, but both are aware of the bigger picture.
OK- On Flight of the Conchords season 2 premier last week it was almost impossible to watch (After a great first season) because the 3 lead characters were suddenly A) Caricatures of their former selves (Murray) and B) A Shell of their former selves (Bret and Jemaine), trying to play the one note of what I assume 'TPTB' thought was funny from the first season.
The last example comes from (my personal favorite) 30 Rock- here, the show was ruined when someone noticed after the first (and best) season that the show was original and funny, and quickly getting a lot of attention, therefore deciding to stick any celeb trying to hock their latest book or stoke their own failing career onto the show, taking all of the focus away from the characters that were being developed on the show. After two seasons of this, the original concept is now almost completely lost. Sure we get a glimmer of it's old self here and there - but I'm not sure they will ever fully get it back. So sad. Don't even get me started on Lost....
Anyway, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Leave comments if you agree to any of this or have your own take. ~SCS
First, let's take American Idol. During the first few seasons, during the audition round, we got to see a lot of the good singers, and once in awhile they showed someone who truly thought they can sing, but really could not...and that was pretty funny. This format went along just fine until William Hung came along and actually made some $$ off of his bad singing and persona and suddenly the AI people thought all America wanted to see was a bunch of jackasses who think they can sing, but can't. But, is this what we want to see on AI? NO! We do not...watching people cry because they thought they could sing but were given a dose of reality by the judges (or Simon) was only funny because sometimes we saw some pretty bad singing, and were amazed when these people were surprised to find out they don't have a voice. Today when they show us the 'bad' singers, it just boarders on sad because most of these people are actually real life crazy people, and it just doesn't feel right to laugh at someone who has really got a problem, and not being treated with the proper medication.
Example #2: The Office / Flight of the Conchords (Turning quirky characters into retards). Ugg. Yes, these shows used to be funny because of the quirky characters and different personalities...but since viewers responded to these things 'TPTB' have obviously demanded MORE MORE MORE quirky-ness and character-ness and now most of the characters come off as mentally handicapped because the lines they are given to say and the objectives they are given to achieve are just now longer believable anymore. And if it's not believable, I'm out. On the Office the horse is beat with a stick over and over again as Jim 'plays a joke' on Dwight that anyone with half a brain would pick up on immediately, but Dwight just forges ahead blindly never thinking a rational thought like...eh, it's probably just Jim again!
A character like Dwight needs to be ahead of the game for his quirkiness to come through, not behind (much like Kramer on Seinfeld) or it just doesn't work. Watch the UK office to see how the dynamic between the 'Jim and Dwight' characters is supposed to work. One is confident and one is cocky, and they will both go to any lengths to prove their point, but both are aware of the bigger picture.
OK- On Flight of the Conchords season 2 premier last week it was almost impossible to watch (After a great first season) because the 3 lead characters were suddenly A) Caricatures of their former selves (Murray) and B) A Shell of their former selves (Bret and Jemaine), trying to play the one note of what I assume 'TPTB' thought was funny from the first season.
The last example comes from (my personal favorite) 30 Rock- here, the show was ruined when someone noticed after the first (and best) season that the show was original and funny, and quickly getting a lot of attention, therefore deciding to stick any celeb trying to hock their latest book or stoke their own failing career onto the show, taking all of the focus away from the characters that were being developed on the show. After two seasons of this, the original concept is now almost completely lost. Sure we get a glimmer of it's old self here and there - but I'm not sure they will ever fully get it back. So sad. Don't even get me started on Lost....
Anyway, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Leave comments if you agree to any of this or have your own take. ~SCS
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Modern Body?
Does anyone (besides me) ever think that if the human body were created from 'scratch' today it would be made to last longer than 16 hours before needing an 8 hour battery charge and food every 3 hours?? Seems a modern body would take you through a good 3-4 days before needing to be recharged...and be in need of sustenance every 24 hours. Just think how much we'd get done...but how many good meals we'd miss... hmmmm
Friday, January 2, 2009
Second City Show Opens Tonight!!!
I'm so excited. It's been a year and 3 months in the making, blood, sweat, and yes, even some tears...but tonight the show I've been working on at Second City finally opens. I began the writing program at SC in late 2007, thinking I would take a class for fun, but ended up really liking it and decided to see how far I could get in the program. I just took it term, by term, and even considered dropping out at one point, but the closer I got to the putting together the show, the more I wanted to stick it out. ...And I'm so glad I did! It's been such a great experience, Going from the whole writing process, to re-writes, piecing the sketches of 9 writers together to form a cohesive show, then casting, rehearsing and all of the details that go along with that, finally, tonight it all comes together! Two of the sketches I wrote are in the show. I hope you will all come and enjoy!
The show runs every Friday in January, 10:30pm
http://www.secondcity.com/index.php?id=theatres/chicago/donny
The show runs every Friday in January, 10:30pm
http://www.secondcity.com/index.php?id=theatres/chicago/donny
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