Sand

Brunlieb, Thomas, and Scott are the improv team Sand. They had a show last night at midnight at iO. It was a great show and the crowd was packed to watch 'em. It was one of those nights that happens every once in a while where friends perform and they are great and the audience members are all friends who perform and the energy in the room is full and positive and loving.

It had been a while since I had seen them and I think, for me, iO is the best place to watch improv. I don't mean the best improv but the best stages, the best set ups, and I feel the best in them. So watching them last night I enjoyed them more and was able to be more open when I was watching. What struck me was there form, their structure. It is relatively rigid or seems so- they do a monologue then three scenes with the person who gave the monologue, another monologue from a second person then three scenes with that person, a monologue by the third persons then three scenes with them then done. They called their own out and just took a bow without a light pull. What struck me was given the spartan simplicity of the structure they could stop worrying about form completely and focus exclusively on the characters which they are wonderful at, its their strength.

It just seemed so genius to me and almost like a trick, have a form so set and firm that any thought of it vanished- freeing you up. I enjoyed the show as an audience member and laughed my face off but also felt liberated as a performer watching my friends be truly original not as improvisers but from a longer view as theorists, inventing a new canvas, a new solo, a new way to play.

A great team, a great show, an eye-opener.

'Philomena' A Review

Philomena is a English drama about a woman trying to find her son she was forced to give up for adoption. Martin Sixsmith(Steve Coogan) has been outed as a political advisor and is at loose ends when he is approached by the daughter of Philomena(Judi Dench) about helping her mother locate her first child she was forced to give up while confined in a convent. After some persuasion he agrees and Martin and Philomena begin a journey into her past following a trail that is very cold.

The most striking thing about the film is it's realism and authenticity. There is the feeling that these are real people in a real situation, a spotlight on a story that doesn't have great political importance but significant universal emotional weight. Dench and Coogan both give multi-faceted performances playing somewhat against type, Dench as a simple, dotty country Irish lady and Coogan as a distant, quietly angry man suffering a mid-life crisis. The chemistry between the two is enough to carry the film but the story contains enough twists and surprises to create a shocking amount of tension for what would seem, on paper, a rather conventional drama. Dench and Coogan's relationship develops as most friendships or partnerships do, slowly. There is no large change or transformation form either character but we get to know them as they get to know each other, in unfolds beautifully.

A moving, surprising, resonate story which elucidates a small secret with large implications.

See It.

Nastiness

I don't enjoy being nasty to people. I doubt most people do. But sometimes the pressure of the daily grind, the cold, or city living get a whole lot of emotions percolating and you need an outlet.

This week has been particularly grating. Talking to and receiving a substantial amount of scornful animosity from women creeping into old age. I've been taking, what feels like, a disproportional amount of calls from sour, bitter, unhappy, angry, entitled, unreasonable old ladies. Interacting with them is poisonous. I can feel their attitudes infecting me and I feel the impetus to lash out. It's unpleasant. I don't like feeling angry and don't like to be put in a position where I interact with aggression.

The feelings get stirred up and have to go somewhere. You have to release the pressure or the boiler explodes. Humor is the solvent. I've got friends with sharp and wicked senses of humor and a couple times this week used them as conduits to alleviate the bad juju. I can say nasty things to Tisher, not at him but about others or in general, biting things, tee off on this or that and say things I have no belief in, and he can laugh and commiserate without judgement, and there's no residue, it's forgotten. I chatted with Brunlieb a couple times this week and jokingly confronted him and challenged him about a couple things. He's got a considerable dark streak hidden under his unassuming lovable exterior and we went back and forth saying, what could be considered, some hateful shit. It was all in fun, or if not all was of no consequences, reflected no genuine malice.

It's nice to have friends you can rail at or to. The world can be an ugly place and no matter how hard you try to have it roll off your back it can effect you. It's good to have a place to channel that negativity, to dissipate it with laughs, to let yourself go with someone safe, to revel in it for a moment then let it go.

Don't keep it to yourself, don't revel in it for long. Negativity is toxic and thrives in the dark, secret, lonely places.

One Last Ride

Tonight I took what will most likely be my last motorcycle ride of 2013.

A friend of my grandfather taught my dad to ride his motorcycle when my dad was 18, he's never said much about it but I get the sense he thought it was really fun. The next year in college my dad borrowed a friends motorcycle and crashed it, got pretty banged up. After that he didn't ride again for thirty years. At 50 he got the bug- maybe because his friends were all getting motorcycles, maybe it was part of some typical male midlife crisis, maybe he wanted some danger or excitement in his life, maybe he just wanted to live more- I don't know. This time he fell in love, for a couple years he ate, drank, and breathed motorcycles. During this honeymoon period he got me to get my motorcycle license, taught me a bit, and we started riding together.

Motorcycle riders are surprisingly inclusive, it's a distinct commonality that ties all kinds of people together. When I started riding I noticed my dad and other riders gesturing to each other when we'd pass. They would extend their left arms and point diagonally down or gesture with two fingers like a peace sign. I asked my dad about it and he just smiled and shrugged. It's the motorcyclists secret hand shake, the high sign, the password.

It says- I see you, we share this wonderful, dangerous thing, ride safe and ride well.

A Fable About Indecision

There once was a lion with no killing instinct.
He could track and stalk and pounce but he could not kill.
Every time he brought down an antelope or oryx he could not deliver the final stroke.
His mothers had forced him out, he was too old to be fed by the pride.
He haunted the plains slowly starving.
When his jaws were poised over his cornered prey his mind raced.
Who was this creature?
Did it have a family?
Was it relied upon?
Who would be left waiting?
Would it suffer?
Certainly it would suffer.
Would it suffer long?
What comes after?
For this creature and for me.
What is beyond?
Then he would look down at his prey in dazed confusion and let it free.
His thoughts were long as he paced the sun kissed desert.
And his stomach ached.
Thoughts are not deeds.
And something must be done.

'About Time' A Review

About Time is a romantic feelgood movie about a young man who can travel back in time and relive/change parts of his past. The movie follows Tim(Domhnall Gleeson) as he moves to London to becomes a lawyer, falls in love, and starts a family. Tim meets Mary(Rachel McAdams) randomly at a blind restaurant and sparks fly. After a couple hurdles involving time-travel, paradox, and his own ineptitude Tim and Mary get together. The rest of the movie follows their burgeoning life together.

The movie is simple, heartwarming, and fun but at times problematic. Not much time is spent on getting to know Tim and for the first part of the story he comes off relatively sophomoric. There is also little time spent showing how and why Tim and Mary fall in love, there's a montage and were expected to buy that they are. The faults are out weighed by the time travel device and the ease with which McAdams and Gleeson navigate there some what contrived love story. The supporting cast is dynamite with the actors giving stunning depth to characters that must appear startlingly flat on the page, they bolster and patch any remaining flaws.

A buoyant cheerful love story with a cool time travel twist.

Rent It.

Suits

We wore suits for Prime tonight, I haven't worn one in a while and haven't performed in one in even longer. It felt good being dressed up but it was a bit constricting when it came to the flow of the show, the scenes were longer and there were less of them, sedentary.

Overall it was a great night, the shows weren't amazing- they can't all be, but the dreamer during the 8 o'clock show was this lovely, portly, newlywed Indian guy named Thomas and I gave notes to the team Morehead coaches Sonis. It was nice to look at a show like a coach again- to analyze, diagnosis, and give feedback.

I doubt we'll be wearing suits again for some time.