Good Morning. Here's a baby dancing to the banjo.

This is pretty much how I picture my perfect family.  (Yes, I still have a thing for women who play string instruments).

Oh hell. For those you don't like babies or the banjo... hungry kittens.


(via Arbroath)

Where is Matt? (video game version)

I previsously posted about the dancing video that I found so charming.

This version also appeals to me.

(via Boing Boing)

Barack Roll

(via Michelle D)

Dancing

This is a short little film called Where the Hell Matt? Matt is just a guy who once made some videos of his particularly charming dance/jig while he was traveling. Stride Gum contacted him and asked if they could send him around the world doing the same thing.

Link to higher def version.

Lessons that can be learned:
• Dancing is universal.
• Commitment can sell anything.
• Sometimes corporate sponsored viral stuff is not bad.
• This the sort of thing that makes me laugh and cry in joy.
• If you don't find this charming, you are dead to me.

Cole Porter... IN YOUR FACE!

I watched the film version of Kiss Me Kate. Now, I am fully aware that Cole Porter musicals were just them coming up with a pseudo-plot to string together a few already written songs with a couple of specific songs written just for the show. (I can't believe Porter write a song about traveling actors traveling from on Italian town to the next before he realized the whole Taming of a Shew thing. Although, to be honest, it didn't actually have much to do with the play either). And the movie of course gets butchered even more by cramming it into and hour and a half. (Which does create the weird "We need to have Too Darn Hot because it's a hit song... but it doesn't fit... well, we'll sing it at the beginning and then just say it has been cut from the play within the movie." Weird.)

The weirdest thing was how it appeared the director thought he was shooting the movie in 3D. The actors kept throwing things at the camera lens. Maybe he thought it would make it more intimate. It just made it scary. Ahhh! A banana coming at me!

Then there is the song Tom, Dick and Harry. This is of course just a case of words taking on different meanings (I am assuming.) The chorus:

I'm a maid who would marry
And will take with no qualm
Any Tom, Dick or Harry,
Any Harry, Dick or Tom,
I'm a maid mad to marry
And will take double-quick
Any Tom, Dick or Harry,
Any Tom, Harry or Dick.

Harry and Dick doesn't sound quite right anymore, but I suppose if you're a maid mad to marry.... I lost it at the chant at the end:

A dicka dick,
A dicka dick,
A dicka dick,
A dicka dick!
A dicka dick,
A dicka dick,
A dicka dick...

Admitted catchy lyrics.

Plus side: The costumes of the play within the play were awesome, in a skin tight-Technicolor way.

Lessons of Oklahoma!

• It may seem like everything is going you way, but it's not.
• If you say you have a surrey with a fringe on top, you better damn well have a surrey with a fringe on top.
• Pornography is bad. Sometimes it could even kill you.
• Persians are sneaky, deceitful, and randy. But still okay.
• When confronting an arch-rival, why not try to convince him to commit suicide. You never know. It might work.
• Wolverine dances real pretty.
• If you are trying to make a not-so-tough choice and you inhale a special elixir, don't expect to get a real clear answer.
• In fact, it will probably put you to sleep out in a corn field. You will enter a horrible dream scape filled with prophetic images.
• Best not to trust anything branded as an elixir.
• To win the girl, sell everything you own at discount prices. Use the money to eat her pie.
• If your arch-rival tells to stick something in you eye, don't.
• To kill a farmer, you must become a farmer.
• Sure, cowmen and farmers can be friends. Especially when covering you murder.
• Oklahoma became a state due to enthusiastic spelling.

Countdown to V-Day: Not a love song. I just love it.

Idiotarod - Jan 27th.

Remember The 4th Annual NYC Idiotarod is this Saturday.

Time is running out. Pre-registration only lasts until Thursday. Go to the site. Do it.

The lives of small fluffy critters count on it.

If, for some god awful reason, you are too lazy to run (shame on you!), the after party shall be an event to remember.

WHEN: Sat., Jan. 27th, doors open at 6pm.
WHERE: 21-03 44th Ave (corner of 21st Street), Long Island City, Queens, NY
HOW MUCH: $10 (free with race registration)
WHAT: $5 Booze, $4 Beers
Kickass bands! Peelander-Z, Golem, Robert Urban & R.U.B., Flaming Fire, The Impulse, Gowanus Corral.
Jaw dropping Burlesque! Blackie Deuce, Moxie Block & Meatfingers, Runaround Sue.
Amazing! Dirty Finger (Black Label), James Stacher (Black Label), Rench.
Live Video Mixers!
Award ceremony!

Seriously, kids. How can you miss this?

"Who's Streets? Santa's Streets!"

(photo by 3rae)

SantaCon is just insane. It is like Halloween but you don't have to worry about making friends. Everyone is your friend. Maybe it is the whole conformist thing. You're all dressed relatively the same. You know everyone's name ("Santa"). You are all headed in the same direction. That is until the last series of stops. That's when folks start to break away. Be it too drunk, or too tired, or heading to another party, or having found that 'special' other Santa, or any combination of the above.

I'm not going to go into too much detail on my day/night. Just assume that I had a great time. Karaoke. Dancing a few jigs. A toast or two or five. Good talks. Good humor.

I do have to remember next year to eat.

I would show you the pictures I took, but my camera went missing at some point. Sigh. Casualty of too much X-mas spirit.

The Geek Holy Grail

To put as simply as possible, video game Lego Princess Leia in chainmail bikini table dances for Han Solo. Until we get he Optimus Prime / Lara Croft porn on the Enterprise, this will have to do.

(via GayGamer)

The Performance

I'm not going to recount the performance, but I thought it was great. Not perfect, but it demonstrated to us, as a team, that we can can be consistent. I know that sounds like weak praise but it isn't. It means that we have a very very solid base to work with. We showed that we fully understand the Herald and can only keep getting better at it. We had so great moves and great energy and little fear. I am insanely proud of ourselves.

I have to say that I am uber-happy with how my scenes went. At risk of sounding like an ass, I thought I rocked. In no small part due to John Roberts setting me up so magnificently. He gifted me with so much and so unselfishly... he basically wrote himself out of the scene by making me the most interesting thing. I'm just happy I didn't drop the ball. (For the curious, I played a young man is disgusted by old people who has just got job at a S&M club/retirement center. The bennies were just too good to pass up.)

PappaSix came out which was great. Sadly he had to return the 3 Rivers... so he missed another interesting night at the Garden. Highlights (in no order): Listing to the dichotomy of Casey's and Abra's music choices; Summer Lovin'; Larry and I running away from weird Marine/Washington Heights bar owner, leaving Casey alone with him... and then get Abra to go save her; Ginger-Balls; The Simpsons Movie trailer; and Vin's amazing interpretive dances.

All in all a great night.

(Oh, one final shout out to Chris Gethard. Great great teacher. Thank you for an amazing eight weeks.)

Let's gloat a little

It's the day after. And while we yet again are left in limbo about who will control the Senate with Virginia and Montana surely going to recount, the Democrats did handily retake the House. And I certainly could be saddened by the amount of bans on gay marriage that passed across the country, but thank god South Dakota rejected their almost-total ban on abortions. So, all in all, it's pretty sweet.

But I certainly remember how I felt after 2004 (and also similarly in 1994). That total shock to realize that I was so not in sync with so many of the countries voters. And may friends all felt the same. There was rumblings of "I'm moving to Canada" and "The terrorists have created a nation of fear mongers" and "This will destroy working families" and "It seems like the country just believes everything that FOX News says."

So it is with empathy (yet joy) that I followed the Wonkette's link to the Free Republic's conservative message boards to check out how they are reacting.

-"This is a truly disgusting night. Outside of 9-11, I cannot think of a worse day.
I really want to hurt somebody."

-"This is going to hurt senoirs, more taxes on s.s. and higher costs for medicare. This is going to hurt all young families with kids, taking away the kids exemption on the income tax, plus tax increases & all the money to pay for s.s. & health care & college for the illegals.
I bet half the people who voted Dem have no idea, they believe what they read in the paper & see in the MSM. Wait til they find out!!

Those DUmmies who want us out of Iraq, will find out Bush was right. The terrorists will come here to kill us. They are in Iraq cause we are, once we're gone, they will be here, all they want is all of us DEAD!"

-"The Jihadi's have won. They have proven they have a stronger will than America. They are now emboldened."

-"They can go to Canada...the only place we have left would be Australia! I love Australia as much as the next guy, but I'm an American, dammit! lol :)"

-"Hard to make a silver lining when I don't see the MSM changing. The people in this country are believing every word they say. It will be the same in 2008!"

Now, I will point out that there were plenty of well though out and balanced posts over there. Just as there are liberals who realize that the Democrats won by default and are still lacking a cohesive agenda and plan. But it is nice to see that, deep inside, we aren't all the different.

So *hugs* to all the sad conservative fellow Americans out there. I know what you are going through. It sucks and it hurts. I feel for you. I really do. Now excuse me while I got drink another glass of champagne and do another dance of jubilation.

I'll Be Seeing You...

Just saw a show by a friend of mine from improv 101, "I'll Be Seeing You..." Jennifier Russo created a beautifully touching arrangement of classic songs into a dance/musical piece for five performers. A little rumination on love in wartime. A sense of grabbing at what joy one can when the world is so uncertain. It was sweet and funny and sad. It's run was just ths week, so now it is gone. But it is lingering with me tonight, like the taste of your love after they have gotten on the train and you don't know if you'll see them again.

Cock o' the Walk: Peachy!

Warning: you will be humming this to yourself.

The Patriots at P.S. 122

I want to write a review of this show, but I am not sure were to start. But in case anyone is planning to go see it tonight, I thought it was my duty to post something. So here is the letter I sent to P.S. 122 about the show The Patriots.

After seeing Schoolhouse Roxx's The Patriot on Friday night, I myself fill with questions. That is of course what great theater does. I am hoping perhaps you can help me with them or at least forward them to Adam Dugas.


-What sort of criteria does P.S. 122 use to book shows? I can imagine that The Patriots looked interesting when it was a one sentence idea scribbled on a cocktail napkin.

-How much lead time did this show have before opening? Three days? A week? I am assuming it was not more than that. But I am very curious how the company puts together a show so quickly.

-How much money (if any) did P.S. 122 spend on this production? It appears to have gone to flag purchase, which is wise as the flags can be used in the future. 4th of July is coming up!

-How do you set prices for performances? $15 for 45 minutes seems a little steep, but since I was relieved when it was over, I understand that these things are hard to balance.

-I absolutely loved the idea of drawing the entire text from historical documents and records (honestly, I do). I am curious as to the decision to use so few sources. It seemed to me that the Gettysburg Address, Washington's inaugural speech, the Day of Infamy speech, our declaration of war into World War 1, any of a hundred Vietnam era speeches, etc etc, would have fit well in with that idea. But as it appears that it was difficult to creatively use the pieces that were used, perhaps other less obvious choices would be too much to ask. It also would have made the show longer which might have caused the audience discomfort.

-I have no questions about the band as they were quite talented.

-Were the songs drawn from historical documents? I mean beyond the ones that were old chestnuts. It was hard to tell as the lyrics were so simplistic that they may have come from just about anything. Say like a cocktail napkin.

-Was the show supposed to be campy? Or serious? Or both? I am unclear as it didn't seem to achieve either. For example, I couldn't decide if the smoke machine was being used in jest or because it just happened to be lying around.

-I like that the show's message was about as deep as an inflatable kiddie pool. This made the show easy to digest as its viewpoint has been stated simpler and clearer in a thousand other places. Once I got the show's point (after about five minute) I didn't have to pay attention anymore. Bravo!

-The idea to "borrow" the Rumsfeld poetry... ( http://www.slate.com/id/2081042/ ) ...was that a commentary on America's consumer culture where ideas are perpetually repackaged... or was the show running short (at 35 minutes) and was used to fill the show to a robust 45 minutes?


I still have a hundred other questions. Thank you for putting on a show that made me think so much in so little time for $1.66 for every 5 minutes. Looking forward to a response,
SixSider

I want to restate that the band was very good.

UPDATE: P.S. 122 sent me a very nice response. They are good people.

Sita Sings the Blues

As you know I just love mash ups. This isn't really a mash up. More of a great mixing of genres. I find this extremely charming. So I present to you...

Sita Sings the Blue

Showgirls: The Best Movie Ever Made. Ever.

Went to UCB last to see some improv (homework for my improv class) and saw the show before hand — Showgirls: The Best Movie Ever Made. Ever.

Brilliant. Glorious. Loved the John Reynold's portrayal of Joe Eszerhas. Also the woman who plays Nomi (whose name I can't seem to track down online), captures is exquisitet. She dances with the grace of agazellel... that has been hyped on uppers and perhaps shot. No script book is safe from her solutionn to everything: a swift slap and a scream.

It's like the Actors Studio from Hell. Vegas showgirls number as the story of Christ. Rape scene as interpretive dance. The word "topless" repeated over and over. A beautiful tribute to an American Masterpiece.

Lonesome Jack

Saw them at Sin-é last night. Good cover of "Sunny Side of the Street." I think I scared Bethany with a tiny birthday gift. I just can't go to a party without a gift. I would have brought a Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" for the banjo player (whose name I can't remember) if I had known.

It was a good gift for me, their show and music.

I was sleepy and I am looking forward to the day they have a weelend show at a decent hour at the decent venue so that I can dance.

B-STAR

B-STAR Live
Tuesday, November 22nd, 10:00 pm
At Trash Bar
256 Grand St. between Driggs and Roebling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$5 cover, open bar between 9:00 and 10:00.
They’ll be on vacation for a while after that, so don’t miss you last chance to rock out with them in 2005.

That's all I have to say about that.

Drunkin' Post #1

Let's see how this goes. I am many G n' Ts and countless PBRs in, so I have no idea if this will make any sense.

B-Star. Man, have they ever gotten better! The first 3rd of the show was plagued by bad sound. Michi's violin (fiddle, whatever) kept goin' in and out and Sleuth's turntables weren't going through at all. But once it all kicked in? Damn! As a band they just drive me forward, get me off my ass and jumpin'! Now that the socialist thing has been pushed back a bit, they're just frickin' fun. Nothin' wrong with socialism... it just does'tt say "dance." It's how I felt at ska shows in the late 80's / early 90's.

Good crowd. Go listen to "How I Could Just Kill A Man" on their website (see Link-A-Dinks). Tell me that is not the shiznit.

What's a shiznit? I don't know, but B-Star is it.

So, anywhozits, I am off to try my hand at a bit of drunken novel writing. We'll see how it goes. Characters still knockin' Vegas, so it should fit.

Love ya all,
Six Sider