Street Talk 9

I was getting on the train today and my CTA card must have gotten demagnetized. It showed me an error message on the turn style "see attendant". The attendant was very harried and seemed annoyed.

Woman: (thick accent) It no work! It no work!
CTA Attendant: OK, try this one here.
Woman: I had 5 dollars! I had 5 dollars.
CTAA: (irritated) You still have 5 dollars just go through.
Woman: But I already, I already, I already...I payed two twenty five already! It charge me!
CTAA: (louder, more irritated) It's charging you 25 cents! (woman boards) Jeez...(to me) Yeah?
Me: My card won't work. I have $8.10 on it.
CTAA: (rolls eyes) Try this one here. (I try it, it gives same error) Hold on, I'll get you a new card(sighs)
Couple: Excuse me?
CTAA: Yeah?
Couple: We're trying to get to 322 N. Jefferson...?
CTAA: (sighs, shuts eyes, pause, opens eyes) Go up the stairs here walk north to the elevated train stop then get on the green line and your stop is Clinton. Get off at Clinton. Then head west to Jefferson then take a right.
Couple: Thank you so much.
CTAA: Yeah. (to me, sighs) OK, you got your ID? This gonna take a minute.
Me: (smiles) Here ya go.
Snooty Woman: Excuse me?
CTAA: (frowns) Ahhhhh Yeah?
Snooty Woman: I'm looking for (unintelligible). You know by the Marriott.
CTAA: (rolls eyes) Yeah I know it. Go up to Grand and head east.
Snooty Woman: ...Grand...um...Grand.
CTAA: (disgusted sound, pause) So I got you a new card-
Cute Little Boy: (runs up, jumps to the window) Boo!
CTAA: (face lights up with the most amazing warm smile) Oh, hello! How are you today?
Cute Little Boy: Trains! (ducks below window, jumps up) Boo! (runs off to his mom)
CTAA: (chuckles) Ok here's your replacement card and I'll give you a free ride for the inconvenience. Sorry about the wait.
Me: Thanks. No problem at all. (smiles big) Have a great day!
CTAA: (returns smile, big and honest) You too.

Graffiti 79

"I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance." -e.e. cummings

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." -D.H. Lawrence

"I don't ask for the meaning of the song of a bird or the rising sun on a misty morning. There they are, and they are beautiful." -Pete Hamill

Inciting Incident 4

I ask friends "When did you first feel the need to perform?" This comes from my beloved collaborator and Shrink creator Ted Tremper.

Gratitude 4

I'm grateful for these last warm days.
I'm grateful for coffee and cigarettes.
I'm grateful for Punam and her love.
I'm grateful for stages to perform on.
I'm grateful for an understanding and loving family.
I'm grateful for Radiolab.
I'm grateful for Adam and Beanpole's joking texts.
I'm grateful for vegetables.
I'm grateful for cooking oil.
I'm grateful for salt.
I'm grateful for candles.
I'm grateful for fantasy books.
I'm grateful for reconnecting and staying connected with friends.
I'm grateful for feelings and talking about them.
I'm grateful for ideas and paper and ink and glue and push pins.
I'm grateful for hot showers and sandalwood soap.
I'm grateful for dreams even ones that leave me uneasy when I awake.
I'm grateful for movies and dark theaters.
I'm grateful for iO and all the friends and opportunities I've been given there.
I'm grateful for Christmas lights and candy.
I'm grateful for wind and clouds and sun and full moons.

And you, always you.

'Flight' & 'The Man With The Iron Fists' Reviews

Flight is a movie about a struggling alcoholic. The film opens with Whip, played by Denzel Washington, waking up, finishing a beer, doing some coke, and then flying a commercial flight. During the flight there is a mechanical failure and the plane goes down. Whip pilots the plane to a miraculous landing saving 96 of the 102 people on board. The rest of the film follows the fallout of the crash.

The first half of the movie is great. Denzel's performance is nuanced and engaging. The film falls apart however because it doesn't go anywhere. The second half of the movie loops in on itself and repeats the same series of actions over and over. Denzel's love interest is so underdeveloped and contrived it takes you out of the film anytime it's shoehorned into the plot. The ending is sappy, unsatisfying, and unbelievable.

After ten years of dealing with computers it seems Robert Zemeckis has forgotten how human's actually work.

Rent It.

The Man With The Iron Fists is a Kung fu movie written, directed, and starring RZA. The dialogue is terrible, the plot makes no sense, but the fighting is great. As I watched it I felt like it was a complete waste of time until I realized what a passion project it was for RZA. Everyone knows how much the Wu Tang Clan loves Kung fu movies. And it's obvious that a lot of love went into the movie however poorly it turned out. If RZA decides to make another movie I would simply suggest working with a professional screenwriter.

And the wigs were absolutely terrible.

Don't See It.

No Guts No Glory

The other night I saw something wonderful. I went to see 'Give Me 5' at The Playground which is a 5 minute solo performance competition. I knew most of the people performing and I'm always curious about the kind of solo stuff people write. I was entertained although not very surprised about most of the content until the last performer got up: Gary Richardson.

Gary is a friend who I've coached and performed with for a while now. His 5 minutes started off with someone introducing him as stand up Darryl Tubs. He warmed up the crowd by letting us know this was his 10 o'clock show not his 8 o'clock show. This was his dirty show. Then he started in on his act. Gary told a story about being in an ice cream parlor when an Italian woman and her son came in. The mother asked the son what kind of ice cream he wanted and he replied "poo-poo ice cream". What followed was one of the ballsiest performances I've seen in a while. For 5 minutes Gary went after and tore down Italians using slurs like wop, gabbagool, goombah, greaseball, and guinea. The gist of all stemming from this woman's child being dumb for calling chocolate ice cream poo-poo ice cream. After his time was already up he got serious and told a story about his girlfriend being killed by an Italian in a car accident. His set concluded with him being disqualified from the competition for using racial slurs, him picking up his bag, and leaving the theater.

I was entranced from the beginning. The rest of the audience seemed not to know how to take it. Gary committed so hard to playing this character and aggressively and offensively disparaging Italians. Of course Gary doesn't hate Italians and there is another level to the performance. Possibly a comment on that kind of set. Or a comment on that kind of comedy taken to an extreme in order to make a point. I understood that instinctually possibly because I know Gary but I think more so because anyone with any comedy experience would realize this kind of attack isn't funny taken on a superficial level.

Gary went up there and sold it. He committed to being unlikable and saying offensive things. He did it with an edge which was in-your-face forcing the audience to react. Which they did, me with joy the rest with confusion and some with dislike. It was a risk which he took and didn't apologize for. It wasn't safe, it wasn't some regurgitation of a bit that has been done before and it wasn't some standard observational humor. I applaud the risk.

Gary's set wasn't about putting down Italians, although that was the content. It was about something on another level. And that is something I'm always delighted to see. Something I wish I saw more of.

Take a risk. Do something different. Surprise us.

Flowers Under Streetlight

People fear the night.
And well they should.
Shadows and unseen things.
Lurking at the edge.
But there is beauty even in the dark.