Diner Mandala 2

Don't be a drone

Put down your phone

You're not a clone

Change your tone

No need to groan

Get in the zone

You're not alone

When you're on your own.

Rick Tonight!

Rick took the stage for the last time tonight after performing for two and a half years. We had a great run with many memorable shows. Recently we'd been having some numbers problems. People advancing in their careers, people having kids, and people getting married. It felt like the team had run its course, the majority of the team was moving onward in their personal and professional lives. It was a good time to end, closing the chapter on Rick with a great track record.

I love all the members of Rick, past and present. I learned so much from everyone, I was supported by everyone, I was elevated and propelled by everyone. I took more risks, played more characters, played faster and with more abandon because of Rick. There are so many great shows and great moments that I will remember forever. Moments that a unique group of incredibly talented people cultivated in a spontaneous flash of inspiration. I've documented many of them in this blog which you can browse by clicking the tag Rick at the bottom of this post.

I became a better performer because of the time I spent with the members of Rick on stage.

I became a better person because of the friendship and support I received from the members of Rick off stage.

I love you Rick. I always will.

Ebert

Roger Ebert passed away yesterday only a day after he announced a "leave of presence". It's a sad time for writers and film lovers everywhere.

My dad loved and lauded Ebert ever since I can remember. One of my first memories about movies is my father saying, which he has repeated countless times since, "Well, Ebert gave it..." I've nurtured a love for movies since an early age and at age fourteen started watching at least a movie a week in the theater. Starting at 14, when I had the patience to read a newspaper, I began reading Ebert's reviews. Using his writing as a signpost and sounding board for movies I liked, disliked, and wanted to see. It become much easier when all his reviews became available online and I could go back and read his reviews of older movies I loved and loathed.

Ebert most importantly loved movies, was passionate about them. Articulated why the highs were high and why the lows were low. I always felt an affinity for him, I could hear his voice in my head while reading, he elucidated points I could only vaguely grasp. He was also a fellow recovering alcoholic, which I only found out recently, he blogged about AA in as articulate and straightforward a manner as all his reviews(Ebert on AA). I didn't always agree with his assessments. His 2012 review of Flight in particular comes to mind. A movie I hated which he gave 4 stars to and said "It is nearly flawless." but I can sympathize with wanting a movie to be good when the main character is in recovery.

What I liked most was reading his reviews of a film I didn't like which other people did or a film I did like which other people didn't and him being able to articulate what was wrong or right. I didn't care for The Master when most people did. Ebert gave it 2 1/2 stars and said:

"The Master" is fabulously well-acted and crafted, but when I reach for it, my hand closes on air. It has rich material and isn't clear what it thinks about it. It has two performances of Oscar caliber, but do they connect? It shows invention and curiosity. It is often spellbinding. But what does it intend to communicate?

Another film of 2012 which I loved which was widely panned Ebert gave 4 stars and said:

"End of Watch" is one of the best police movies in recent years, a virtuoso fusion of performances and often startling action...After too many police movies about officers who essentially use their badges as licenses to run wild, it's inspiring to realize that these men take their mission — to serve and protect — with such seriousness they're willing to risk their lives.

Ebert inspired me to start writing movie reviews and to date I've written around 150. He's inspired and cultivated a host of film makers, film lovers, and film critics. His presence and influence will echo for decades.

"Kindness covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try." -Roger Ebert

Graffiti 95

There was a time this image would have resonated with me. Catapulting forward towards some questionable goal, thoughtless of the consequences, driven by selfish desires, aggressively pursuing with teeth, nail and temper.

"The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." -C.S. Lewis

"America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still." -e.e.cummings

"A belief in hell and the knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton have never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumor." -Aldous Huxley

Bubble Boys: Chain Gang

Episode 4 with Blair Beeken takes a little inspiration from Cool Hand Luke and David Lynch. There's some weird stuff in this one: infantalism, filicide and more.


The Bubble Boys are put to work on a chain gang and remind their boss about the importance of family.

Featuring:
Steve Nelson as Sven Ingaborg and 193568
Andrew Tisher as Henry Mossmouth and 193567
and Blair Beeken as Boss Bev

Winds Of Change

I woke up today and had a job. It's a weird feeling considering I've been unemployed for the past eight months. It's a great relief. And for the first and probably the only time in my life an office job seems like a new adventure. Unknown and exciting.

Since the last time I was in an office and had a job my life has been transformed. My perceptions, mood, and the way I communicate have changed and continue to evolve. I don't think I will be any more interested in relatively tedious office work but I will look on it with fresh eyes. I don't anticipate being phased by things as much, I don't anticipate getting caught up in the minutia of things, I feel I've cultivated an increasing ability to let things that don't matter slide. Like rain off a slicker.

I'm excited to make some money. I'm excited to get my days going earlier and to do more in them. I'm excited to be part of the grind again and to put myself to the test.

I'm not exited to work in customer service for a highly specialized insurance firm but I am excited to return to the shifting-churning-pulsing human machine that makes Chicago purr. For the first time I'm in a place where I can look on the opportunity with cheerful anticipation rather than cynicism and dread.

The only constant in life is change. More often than not for the better.

The echo of Echo

Echo the team I coach at iO had their last show tonight. They are the first team I was appointed to coach by iO and we've been together since they graduated classes around this time last year. Almost a year exactly, not a bad shelf life for a harold team.

They taught me a lot and I hope I taught them as much. It's been a fulfilling, at times pleasantly frustrating, experience. As a coach you walk a fine line between friend, peer, and authority figure. There were times when I knew what I wanted to communicate but couldn't articulate my point, times where I knew what I wanted them to do but couldn't elicit it. I learned how to coach a team and they learned how to be coached. We had some interesting times not least of which was a steady change in roster.

Looking back, I break down the evolution of the team in three acts. Act One: a beginning. Getting to know each other, getting to know the harold, feeling things out, and dealing with one of the original members who was relatively unstable who was subsequently removed. Act Two: a transition period. We got Trevor, Ariel went on a boat, Blair quit the team, and Allison joined it. Act Three: progress. The last six months of the team we really gelled and put up some great shows and consistently had great rehearsals.

I'm so grateful to have been Echo's coach. To have been witness to and partial catalyst of their creative growth as a team and as individuals. Allison, Ariel, Blair, Chris, Chris, Claire, Dave, Mike, Molly, Paul, and Trevor will always have a special place in my heart, they gave me an experience I'll never forget.

This is good luck but not goodbye.