Bubble Boys: The Death Of Tesla

The idea for this episode came about when Tisher and I were researching 1943, come to find out Tesla died January of that year. We had referenced Tesla in the finale of season 1 and really wanted to have Bill back to reprise his role as Gustus so it seemed like a natural pairing. This episode also takes a little inspiration from David Bowie's Tesla in The Prestige.


Sven and Henry visit Henry’s uncle Gustus in hopes of receiving residuals from their voice changing gum. This leads to a cross country confrontation with the most mysterious scientist of the century: Nikola Tesla!

Featuring:
Steve Nelson as Sven Ingaborg
Andrew Tisher as Henry Mossmouth
Bill Arnett as Gustus Mossmouth
Griffen Eckstein as Nikola Tesla and Hitchhiker
and Tim Joyce as Sgt. Mertz

Old Ambitions

I had a real hard time acclimating to Chicago when I first moved in 2006. So hard in fact I packed it in after a year and a half and moved back in with my parents. There were many mitigating factors of course but the size, the crowded isolation, the grind of the city drained me. Chicago chewed me up and spit me out.

Settled in Rockford, gradually putting my life back together, I wrote this song about how much I hated Chicago.


Who knew Myspace was still active, I haven't looked at my profile since I uploaded this song 5 years ago. Unfortunately it's been about that long since I picked up my guitar. I was pretty passionate about music all through college and for a couple years after. I use to practice almost every day, learn about a song a month, and every once in a while write one of my own.

When I moved back to Chicago in 2010 I just stopped playing. Got too busy, couldn't find the time, got interested in other things. I miss playing and singing. One of my goals for this year is to restring my guitar and start making music again.

A Haunting Memory

Children sometimes say awful things to their parents while they are growing up. I certainly did. I regret a lot of my behavior over the past decade but only a few things weigh on me still.

Thanksgiving weekend 2003 I went out with some high school friends on Saturday night. We went to some apartment, I can't remember whose, an acquaintance of a friend, it was questionable. I played "never-have-I-ever" for the first time and we all got very drunk.

I made it home around 3am. I stumbled inside, fell up the stairs, and eventually made it into my room. The world was spinning. A short time passed which felt like a long time. I dragged myself over to my Chicago Bears trash can and threw up. At some point during my retching my mother opened my bedroom door. She asked "Steve...are you all right?"

I looked up at her- my eyes watering, body shaking, head hovering over the sick filled Chicago Bears receptacle- and replied gruffly "Shut. The Fucking. Door." And she did. It may be the moment I regret most in my entire life.

The next morning my father came into my room. Early. He asked "Did you puke in here?" and I cannot describe the scorn and disgust which my father injected into the word puke. I lied. "No." He looked at the Chicago Bears garbage can, picked it up, got a whiff of it, muttered "Jesus Fucking Christ" and walked out closing the door.

Shortly after I got up my friend Drew picked me up and we drove back to college. I don't think my parents and I ever discussed this particular event.

There were many similar events to follow which garnered much trouble, worry, and discussion. My parents have always supported me, loved me unconditionally, and endevored to help me. They never gave up on me, they never cut me out. I am grateful for them and sometimes astonished by the patience and restraint they showed.

Now I'm in a position to be truly loving, caring, and open with my parents. It's a gift. I can be there for them the way they have always been there for me. 

My folks July 2012 a week before they, along with my sister, helped me get some help.

Graffiti 116

I don't know what this is suppose to be. At first I thought Wonder Woman telephone. I think I like it. I think its funny. Maybe its just creepy.

"I've had years of bizarre hallucinogenic magical experiences in which I believed I had communicated with entities that may well have been disassociated parts of my own personality or conceivably some independent entity of a metaphysical nature. Both would seem equally interesting." -Alan Moore

'August: Osage County' A Review

August: Osage County is a dysfunctional family drama based on the Tracy Letts Pulitzer Prize winning play. Set in the Oklahoma plains the film opens with a monologue from patriarch Beverly Weston, played by a wonderful Sam Shepard, unfortunately this is the only time he is on screen. Beverly disappears and the Weston clan marshals around pill popping matriarch Violet(Meryl Streep) and old wounds are reopened.

The talented but uneven ensemble struggles to get the film off the ground and the result is interesting but inconsistent. The main fault lies in the two leads Streep and Julia Roberts as oldest daughter Barbara. They both give incredibly loud over-the-top performances better suited for the stage. They both oscillate from caricature to sincerity so quickly nothing is believable. They also lay the Oklahoma accent on thick in the first half of the film and then it virtually disappears. The remaining ensemble ranges from mediocre(Ewan McGregor, Abagail Breslin, Dermot Mulroney) to great(Chris Cooper, Julieanne Nicholson, Margo Martindale) but the supporting performances fail to sew up the erratic Streep and Roberts. Nicholson especially hits the perfect balance of reserve and emotion the film calls for but she is overshadowed by all the shouting and drug addled behavior.

The story, billed as a black comedy, is itself problematic. There is nothing terribly redeeming, endearing, or sympathetic about many of the characters. A story about a fractured family coming together and being ugly to each other isn't very interesting. There is a lot of subtlety and layers that could be cultivated from the script but this version of August: Osage County is all bluster and no heart. A sappy and melodramatic score just hightens the tonal irregularities.

A film with a lot of potential, some amazing moments, fails to coalesce.

Rent It.

Affability

The major tenant of improv is "yes and". Initially this is an effective mantra cultivating acceptance, support, and collaboration. As performers gain experience and confidence the strict adherence to this philosophy becomes a liability for interpersonal communication and creative output.

Off stage the "yes and" credo can cause reticence for team members to speak up, stand up for themselves within the group, and voice personal wants or discomforts. This mentality can lead to a kind of stagnant apathy because everyone is thinking of "the good of the group" and doesn't want to "rock the boat" no decisions get made and problems get ignored until people are so fed-up they blow-up or quit. People make a lot of unnecessary concessions because they want to "yes and" their fellow performers/friends, going along to get along is prevalent. Being blindly agreeable is only accidentally beneficial, doubly so in a creative setting.

If something is bothering you artistically or personally you should voice it, do so in a calm and open way, I'm not advocating temper or slander, but I am advocating direct communication and letting concerns be known. "Yes and" does not mean do whatever someone else says, it means listen and collaborate, your personal feelings and opinions should not be sacrificed simply because they run counter to the perceived groups. Individuals make up a group and each individual needs to have a say.

On stage, after a certain point, the literal application of "yes and" becomes unnecessary. "Yes and" is an idea, a style, a mode of performance. There comes a point when actually saying it is no longer necessary and where doing so sacrifices the integrity of the performance. Recently I've noticed a lot of affable scenes. One person comes in with a point of view, an angle, and their scene partner is totally agreeable. And totally boring.

There's this idea that some players get trapped in, that whoever speaks first has ownership over the scene and they simply agree with whatever the person says. In order to build a scene, to truly collaborate and support, that other person has to contribute content. They don't have to say "yes and" they don't have to have overt(i.e. saying "yesyesyes") agreement, they have to "yes" the idea and "and" it further. That can be done through any number of ways- specific details, physical play, argument, emotion, back story, stakes etc. That isn't done by simply nodding at your scene partner and agreeing with what they are saying. That puts all the impetus on one person to invent everything about the scene and its boring to watch. Two people discovering and building a scene is fascinating, one person inventing a scene while the other person affirms their inventions bores me to fucking tears.

"Yes and" is a hard and fast rule when learning improv. But once learned it becomes mailable, it can be bent and twisted and tied and tucked. Once understood fundamentally its effective application is much more ethereal. Acceptance of others ideas(which does not necessarily mean accomdation of), honesty, and openess, these are the cultivated traits not blind obedience, assimilation, and passive agreement.

Groups are made up of individuals and individuality must be maintained and expressed. Only then can a truly cohesive and strong group emerge.

Attrition

another commute
another delay
misery reaps
a fine bouquet

emotions crack
in brittle cold
fatigue exhumes
what once was bold

Bubble Boys: Rosie The Riveter

Bubble Boys Season II is underway. Our old-time-radio style show is back and this time set during WWII. This season features some stellar performances from some amazing improvisers. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen here or subscribe on iTunes.


Season 2 begins with our heroes donning dresses and infiltrating the most secretive of American sects: the women’s workforce.

Featuring:
Steve Nelson as Sven/Selene Ingaborg
Andrew Tisher as Henry/Helen Mossmouth
Annie Donley as Mitzie Slaughter
Allison Ringhand as Norma Titan
Lily Sullivan as Ronnie Winkle
and Tim Joyce as Ron Skelton

Comfort

blankets
over bare skin
warmth
in crooks and cranies
neck nuzzles and shoulder hollows
tangled limbs which softly kiss
spoken word sends adrift

horror comes
swift and low
panic and premonition
gasp awake
lingering intuition
reality sounds paper thin
until sleep comes once again

Philip Seymour Hoffman: A Reminder

Whenever drugs or alcohol take a life it is tragic. There is nothing selfish or weak about the struggle with addiction. Some people are born with a genetic disposition for excess, a gift for boundless consumption, often augmented by psychology. It is a struggle. A desperate, lonely, painful, guilt-ridden struggle. It requires constant vigilance and support. Frequently you have to ask for help. Sometimes you get tired of fighting. I know what it is, I've been there.

The passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman is lamentable but he leaves behind 20 years of incredible work as an artist. He has an uncompromising legacy. He will be remembered.

His death does not surprise me. It is a mantra of those in recovery that taking that first drug or that first drink has only two potential outcomes: jail or death. Relapse is common and perpetually lurking. Addiction is insidious. Drunk, high, or sober it gains strength. Any sober alcoholic or drug addict is days, minutes, even seconds away from total ruin. Myself included. It is a precarious place but with diligence, care, and compassion a sober life can be a rewarding life if never an easy one. I proffer no judgement on the late actor I'm trying to elucidate the tenuous position he and other people with addiction are in.

I do not know the circumstances of Hoffman's death but I would bet it was not some huge event but something small that drove the actor back to excessive drug use. Maybe he saw an advertisement for an alcohol he never tried. Maybe he watched the heroin scene in Pulp Fiction. Maybe he was worn down by the cold and cooped up and bored. Whatever it was I bet it was small. A fleeting moment. A brief craving. A passing trigger. And for that moment his cunning addiction had been lying in wait. One moment was all it took.

I hope his death opens peoples eyes about addiction. How serious it is and how many people need help. There's still a stigma with addiction- that its a matter of will power, that its not an actual disease, etc. Regardless of what you call it or how you classify it addiction is fatal. And these fatalities are avoidable.

I take it personal. That could be me, not that I could be a lauded movie star with an Oscar, but I could be dead. Rich/poor famous/unknown addiction does not discriminate. I would not receive accolades or retrospectives but I might warrant a headline like "Local Comedian Found Dead, Alcohol Related".

For those in recovery this is a reminder. Death is close.

'The Invisible Woman' A Review

The Invisible Woman is a period romantic drama about Charles Dickens and his mistress Nelly Ternan. The film opens on Nelly(Felicity Jones) aggressively walking alone across a cold, wind swept beach. She makes her way to a school, which her husband and her run, and starts a rehearsal for a play written by Charles Dickens. The film unfolds in a series of flashbacks showing her meeting the famous author and their eventual relationship.

Ralph Finnes as Charles Dickens is charming, charismatic, and at times childish. The viewer is seduced along with Nelly initially by his material in a scene where Dicken's is giving a reading. The passion and performance of the reading create a mystique and Finnes follows it up with incessant care, attention, and likability. He is always upbeat almost to the point of recklessness or a disconnect with the world around him, this is juxtaposed well with Jones's understatement, caution, and naivete. Their romance evolves gradually and relies more on the mood, tone, and score of the film rather than scenes with heavy dialogue. We get a sense of real love between the two but the sensitivity, discretion, and prudence of their courtship carries more weight. It is a dance of impending guilt rather than seduction.

There is virtually no judgement of the relationship by the supporting characters, even from Dicken's wife Catherine portrayed by a strong, reserved, yet  heartbreaking Joanna Scanlan. The judgement comes mainly from Nelly herself. Nelly is conflicted, melancholic, and seems mostly unsatisfied but unable to separate herself or her morals from the alluring Dickens. Finnes plays Dickens sympathetic and struggling to be a good man(by the definition of the times) but unable to give full focus or priority to anything but his work. A famous man use to getting what he wants, gets what he wants the way he wants it. At the end of the affair Nelly is cloistered, kept secret for Dicken's, and you get a sense she is resigned but not happy.

A complicated film with layered, poignant performances from the leads, made all the more complicated by the ease in which the love could have blossomed in modern times.

See It.

Graffiti 115

I started smoking three years ago when I first tried to get sober. The old substitution method. I kept on and now in my recovery I cling to it in a way, the only vice I have left. I want and hope to quit at some point. But not now. I'm not willing to give it up. Not yet.

"Coffee and smoking are the last great addictions." -Lara Flynn Boyle

"So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it's bad, it's really simple." -Damian Hirst

"Every citizen who stops smoking, or loses a few pounds, or starts managing his chronic disease with real diligence, is caulking a crack for the benefit of us all." -Mitch Daniels

The Hague: Fin

After 8 months The Hague had our last show tonight. It was a very eclectic group and our time together fun and challenging. Everyone had their own style and more often than not we would come together, clash, and create something that worked despite the disparity of our different approaches. Sometimes it didn't work which is no rarity in improv. And when it didn't it was never boring, everyone on the team is strong, aggressive, and opinionated so our failures were just as interesting as our successes. Sometimes we were water and vinegar other times we were vinegar and baking soda. There were always surprises.

I don't feel any regret. For me the desire for the luster and love- the cultivating of a close knit group- faded after my first iO team FireCup. It's not as if we weren't friends but we were all, or at least I was, more concerned with the shows and the quality of the improv than with hanging out with each other a ton. I'm grateful for our time together and for a chance to get to know the people on the team I didn't and to spend more time with the people on the team I did. I took pleasure in most of the shows, pride in some, and I learned something from them all.

The two people that made the whole experience exceptionally special for me were Rich and Caitlin. Caitlin I've been friends with for over a decade and aside from one directing scene in college where I was Richard III and she was Lady Anne we never got to perform together. I consider it a great gift and something I'll very much miss, seeing her each week and improvising with her. The Hague gave us a chance to reconnect and get close again. Rich on the other hand I did not know. I knew who he was but we had no connection. When he was added I think we were all a little cautious. We had no need to be because although Rich is perpetually dry he is open. I loved playing with him despite, at times, his moves and ideas going directly counter to mine. It was frustrating but stimulating. He made me stretch. And he became a friend, not something I anticipated given his outward reserve and sarcasm.

Of course I loved playing with everyone else. I always love playing with Julia, James, Pants, and Ellen who I've been on teams with on and off for a couple years and it was a treat to be on a team with Mark and Dan who I had known previously only tangentially.

It was a good run and a good team. Improv can be fleeting and ethereal. Sometimes the teams are too.

'The Broken Circle Breakdown' A Review

The Broke Circle Breakdown is a Belgian musical drama.The non-linear film explores the relationship between Elise and Didier, their love of American bluegrass, and their burgeoning family centered around their daughter Maybelle. The film skips and jumps from past to present back to past, showing Elise and Didier's first meeting, concerts, their accidental pregnancy, their marriage proposal, more concerts, and Maybelle's eventual cancer diagnosis and treatment at age 6. At points visiting the same scene more than once. The fluid nature of the narrative structure allows the film to build and defuse tension quickly without getting bogged down in depressive ruts.

There is an alien, almost bizarre, quality about The Broken Circle Breakdown. The American traditionals sung in perfect English juxtaposed directly after with lilting Flemish is some what jarring and the story itself takes many twists and turns subverting normal "Hollywood" expectations. There is a sweet melancholic authenticity to the film, it is at times heartrending in its realism, and exuberant in its emotional discoveries.

The film is intense, at times overwhelming, but ultimately deeply moving. The ending is disappointing, unharmonious, almost belonging to a different story. But the journey and the questions that are raised are satisfying and reinforce love, faith, and perseverance.

See It.

Season 2 Intro

Tisher, Tim, and I have been working hard over the past couple months on our improvised comedy radio serial and we're finally ready to start releasing episodes. Bubble Boys Season 2 promises more idiocy, lunacy, and idolatry than the original. New episodes each week with an array of amazing guests. Listen to the intro below and look for episode one next week.

The Cold

No work today due to hazardous weather conditions. This relentless cold is draining. My mobility is hamstrung or at least the effort it takes to travel doesn't seem worth it most of the time.

Today I've obsessively cleaned my apartment and reorganized my movies and books. I watched the first three episodes of True Detectives(shows promise) and started a collage. I checked how much a tape player would cost and then I read for a little bit.

Now I sit and think of things to do, potential projects, and come up blank. Ice gathers on the window sill and the pane is frosted over. Soon I'll be able to go for a walk, run, ride a bike, or browse a book shop without having to bundle up and concentrate my will. This winter has been daunting and the extremity of the cold makes it drag on and on.

But the end is in sight, it must be. One more month or six weeks or eight. Sooner or later, warmth is inevitable. Spring gathers. We wait. Time ticks.

"You can't get too much winter in the winter." -Robert Frost

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." -Albert Camus

The Snap

I've had the desire to be an artist as long as I can remember. I took piano lessons for a while but didn't have the discipline to practice. I took art classes in school and out from age 7 to 13 but showed no facility with any medium or ability to bring my ideas to actuality. I first got on stage at age 8 in a production of the Pied Piper, I was Councilman #3, and was intrigued. At age 11 I was in a staged production of a number of Aesop's Fables. It was the first time I got laughs from an audience, I was hooked and decided I wanted to be an actor.

Through middle school and high school I was in a number of plays and musicals. I cultivated my modest singing and dancing abilities. I had fun but I wasn't totally satisfied. I didn't feel like I was getting to express myself fully, I felt like acting fell more on the side of interpretation rather than creation. There was still something I wasn't getting, an undiscovered outlet.

Recently I've been reading, per Clayton's recommendation, this fantasy series Mistborn. In the books they describe the pivotal moment in someones life wherein they discover their magical abilities as "snapping". The moment I had my creative snap wasn't onstage but in my dorm room.

My college roommate was a guitarist and bassist, he turned me on to a bunch of musicians and I turned him on to a couple too. Fall of 2003 we were big into Tenacious D, Keller Williams, and Martin Sexton. One evening we were sitting around, Bob was playing guitar and I was playing Final Fantasy X on mute. For no particular reason we started singing- improvising lyrics and harmonies. By the end we had a complete song with a double chorus and two free-form verses, it was called "Trees".  We performed it a couple weeks later at Theater of Ted, a weekly sign-up variety show, and got a great response.

It was the first time I put out something  I created, the first time I felt a genuine collaboration. Bob and I wrote and performed songs the remainder of college and he taught me how to play guitar. Writing and performing original music gave me a unique satisfaction, a satisfaction I hadn't gotten from straight acting. A feeling of originality, singularity of purpose, and direct artistic expression. I continued to act but I became increasingly frustrated with speaking others words. That discontent eventually led me to improv and sketch comedy.

Soul of a Man

There's this new movie coming out called Son of God evidently cut from The Bible miniseries. I have no intention of seeing the movie but this song was in the trailer and it struck me. I got goosebumps despite the over-the-top subject matter. Come to find out it was also used for the Mad Max video game trailer. It's a cover of one of my favorite songs by 30's blues musician Blind Willie Johnson.

'Lone Survivor' A Review

Lone Survivor is a military drama based on the true experience of Marcus Latrell and his SEAL team in Afghanistan. The film follows the SEAL team from their base on a surveillance mission in the Afghan mountains. They objective is to identify two Taliban leaders in a small town. The mission is disrupted when three goat herders discover the team. After debate the goat herders are released and inform the local Taliban of the whereabouts of the soldiers. They are surrounded and attacked.

There are two striking things about the film. First the performances given by the four SEAL team members and the brotherhood that they portray. The second is the military tactics employed by the SEAL team in opposition to the 200 Taliban members that engage them. The film feels true from the dialogue to the deaths.

The film doesn't pass judgement on the war, those in power, or the Afghan natives. It's purpose is to show the courage and love of the US Navy SEALs, to remember those that have fallen. Lone Survivor paints a complex portrait of an even more complex situation. The film allows and encourages us to be proud of our military in the midst of an untenable position.

Although Mark Wahlberg is top billed it is the supporting cast that brings the film to life.

See It.

Compelling Copy

I'm back in Rockford for the weekend and while I was indulging in some cable I saw this ad. I'm not an Apple guy. I don't have a MacBook, an iPod, an iPhone, or an iPad. I'm not going to run out and buy one or all of those things. But. This may be the most striking 90 second spot I have ever seen.