ET's blog

Link.

Nicole Drespel

Do you know her?

You should. She's here and here and here. (She doesn't use the last one much but I assume that is only because she hasn't had much opportunity lately to visit old timey places... she's a busy woman).

She's also an improviser.  A talented one.  She's on the UCB Harold team Robber Barron, who are new but inspiring and awesome.  She's on a bunch of indie teams because (1) she is supportive and funny and smart, (2) everyone wants to have her one their team, and (3) she has a problem saying no.  I am pretty happy that I'm on a two person team with her.  Against All Odds.  We perform a breakup on stage.  It's pretty cool.  She makes me feel safe to go to more emotional places on stage than I normally go.  (We aren't going to do the breakup form for a bit.  Still perform but stretch our wings for awhile.  We are always looking for shows.)

She's also does storytelling.  I have yet to see her do this.  But I have heard by people I know and respect that she's great.  That seems about right.

She is really good at Taboo but gets competitive.

She's a good friend.  She listens well, laughs readily, cares large. All the good stuff.  She's also more insightful about others than herself.  No.  That is not true.  She seems very insightful about herself, but, like all of us, doesn't always take her own advice.

I can also say she's a good kisser.

It's fair to say that she is a good person to know.  And everyone should be nice to her and give her praise and a better job that she likes more.

There.

My social fears

I know, for a fact, that I can come across as stand-offish. Maybe even cold. Hell, maybe it isn't “can come across.” It might be “always come across.”

Here's the deal: I am scared of you all.

I know this is common fear, especially amongst people in the performing arts, but I often have the feeling, no, the belief, that no one actually wants to get to know me... or hang out with me. I'm not scared of folks actively disliking me (I already know who they are). I just assume I am not high on many people's radar/wish list.

It is nothing you do. In general, the people I want to get to know are great. They're friendly and warm. It's all me. (And as I type it, it sounds pathetic and sad and needy and whiny.) But it is honestly what goes on in my head, especially when I first meet people. “Oh, they won't want to get to know me.” And so I stand back, not putting myself forward. And that comes across as cold and indifferent.

The fear beneath that fear, is that if I let most folks see the non-cold me, they'd freak out. It comes out sometimes. When I get passionate about something. When I stop being concerned about being correct or making sure I see all sides of every damn issue and opinion. I rant from within. It's not an angry rant. It's a passionate rant, a fount of ideas and thoughts.

The weird thing is where I have recently tapped into that place in me: Storytelling in front of an audience. I've done in a couple of times, in a very safe/supportive place. And for some reason it is easier for me to formulate my ideas. I think sometimes being told “You have ten minutes and no one is going to interrupt or interject. It is all you” is just the freedom I need. It is like I am tapping into something that has built up and been stored. And, surprisingly, I lose that fear.

I also do it when I am gamemastering. Sigh.

RunPee

This is ALMOST helpful.

RunPee: A site that shows you when in a movie you should run to the bathroom.

The problem of course is that you can't really access this info without pissing off everyone sitting next to you.

So much better than a Dewback

(via Arbroath)

Archie finally choses... poorly

Terminator Salvation

I broke down and saw it yesterday. And yet again I am amazed at how wrong they got it. Felt like the typical script by committee failure.

I am not going to waste a done of time hear on it. if you saw it, I will gladdy rant about it. Until then, here's Mr. Bale in 1983.

Horrible joke? Or lesson they'll take to the apocalypse?

Yes. This is cruel. Do they make kids cry inthe name of entertainment? Yes. Do the kids kick ass? Yes. Yes they do. And the tabasco trick is brilliant.

You can stop watching after the attack unless you understand Japanese.

(via Geekologie)

Quick! Where do I find books and a cat?!

Map of Known Library Cats

(via Neatorama)

The Good Parts

The flu part is the only bad part.

(via baconbaconbacon and others)

ShatnerQuake

It’s Shatner VS Shatners!

It’s the first ShatnerCon with William Shatner as the guest of honor!  But after a failed terrorist attack by Campbellians, a crazy terrorist cult that worships Bruce Campbell, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world.  Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner.

Featuring: Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, Denny Crane, Rescue 911 Shatner, Singer Shatner, Shakespearean Shatner, Twilight Zone Shatner, Cartoon Kirk, Esperanto Shatner, Priceline Shatner, SNL Shatner, and – of course – William Shatner!

No costumed con-goer will be spared in their wave of destruction, no redshirt will make it out alive, and not even the Klingons will be able to stand up to a deranged Captain Kirk with a lightsaber.  But these Shatner-clones are about to learn a hard lesson…that the real William Shatner doesn’t take crap from anybody.  Not even himself.

It’s Shatnertastic!

Order here.

(via Topless Robot)

Only matter of time.

Really, I have nothing to say here.

(via Robot 6 via Topless Robot)

Video game cover art done right

These are from a large collection taken from NeoGraf.  (Thanks to Mr. Little for directing me to it.)  If video game were like Criterion DVDs. 

Octopi

(from Collectors Society via Howard Hallis, creator of The Picture of Everything)

This Is How The World Ends #10

(Off the suggestion "BBQ sauce" by David)

FRIDAY DINNER

"I hope you all don't mind but I tried something new."  Fredrick was almost bubbly this evening as he placed the plates of food before us.  It was slow going because he only had the one arm and his prosthetic right leg below the knew was just a touch too short.  "I experimented with the White #16 and Yellow #5 to make a something like mashed potatoes.  I think they came out pretty well.  Not that I can actually remember what potatoes even tasted like."  Fredrick laughed and everyone else politely laughed along with him.  Except me.  I wasn't in the mood to laugh.

Out of the five of us, Fredrick was the best cook and, as always, he managed to make the processed "food" elements that gave us most of our nutrients into something that actually looked like food.  And since it was Friday night, we were actually having our special dinner with real meat.  And, in spite of myself, it smelled delicious.

Jessica looked done at the thin slices.  "Barbecue? You made barbecue sauce?"

Fredrick sat down and tucked his clothe napkin into the front of his shirt.  Something about that felt vulgar to me.  Tacky.  Disrespectful.  "Yep.  Not only that but...." With a flourish, he removed the lid from ceramic dish on the table to reveal a thick brown fluid.

Peter leaned over and stuck the tip of his pinkie in it and stuck it in his mouth to taste.  I restrained the need to wince.  "Gravy!"

"Yes," said Fredrick with obvious pride.  "Yeah, I know that barbecue and gravy don't really go together but I thought it might make the potatoes feel more like potatoes." And with that he took a large spoonful and dripped it unto the mound of white on his plate. 

Looking at the four of them, I could see the anticipation and hunger in their eyes as they readied themselves to dig in.  We rarely stood on any sort of ceremony but this was Friday night dinner.  Fredrick was staring at me with that stupid grin on his face.  In someways, I was glad that he was to cook tonight since I knew the meal would be excellent.  But it irked me the joy he took in it.  Cooking Friday dinner always bothered the rest of us but not Fredrick.

The others awkwardly avoided my gaze which also made me mad.  I suppose it was a no win for them and me.  I looked down at my plate, both ravenous and nauseous.  The meat looked so delicious, lined with crispy fat and red with juices.  My stomach ached at the smell but my head rebelled at the thought.

Fredrick coughed.  I looked up at his questioning but smiling face.  I knew he didn't mean it, but I felt like I was being mocked.  I took a deep breath, knowing my roll.  "We thank you, Fredrick, for preparing tonight's meal," I said in measured tones.

He, in response, said brightly, "And we thank you, Noah, for providing it."  And with that they began eat.

We rationed the food substitutes we had slowly, keeping ourselves alive a long as possible.  We had no idea what we might be waiting for since we hadn't had contact with anyone in months and were isolated.  The last communication we'd had was jumbled and confused.  We could only guess when (or if ever) they'd be able to mount a rescue.  After six months, we'd realized that there was a gap in the nutrients, some type of protein we weren't getting.  So we'd come up with this solution.

I suppose it was an extra special Friday.  When our turn came up, we got to chose what got provided for the meal.  And I, unlike Fredrick, was not ready to give up an arm yet.  So this was our first thigh as my shins had been offered up on my previous turns.  I knew that the extra meat made this a large meal. And all that fat rendered down made the gravy possible.

The pain from the surgery still hurt.  I looked down at the bandages just below my right hip, where my leg had been just 24 hours before.  I refused to take any more painkillers because if I was going to have this meal, I wanted to be able to at least taste it since we had so few pleasures.

I pushed past my disgust and cut a piece of the succulent me.  Spear it with my fork I slowly drew it to my mouth and held it on my tongue.

Survivor/Amazing Race

I haven't watched either for a few years (or at least not attentatively). God bless the internet for allowing me to catch up mid season.

Survivor this season is actually pretty good. The vast majority of choces and moves have been smart. Not always correct, but they have made sense from a game stand point. Often the game gets bogged down in emotion. It's fun to watch people just play. And there have been nice turns and shifts.

One thing I have always enjoyed about Survivor is the editing. Some of it is just silly, yes. The inevitable shots of spiders when people are scheming or of snakes just before someone turns on an alliance... but it works. ("Alliance." Weird to think that in season 1 everyone was SHOCKED when Richard "came up" with the concept of an alliance, Weird.)

There is one character that is just mind blowing. Yes, character. Hard to call him "person." Coach. Soccer coach and symphony conductor. Looks like Aragorn... a skinny creepy new aged self-help Aragorn. Credit to the producers for drawing out the reveal on his craziness. Maybe he revealed it slowly to everyone during filming, but that is hard to believe. Once he starts referring to himself as "warrior," "samurai," and, my favorite, "dragon slayer"... it's hard to take anything he says seriously. Add in his campfire story ofthe time he kayaked the AMazon and was jumped by an indiginous tribe and beaten and escaped. And how he responds to someone saying, "Well, none of us have broken tiles with a slingshot before" with "I have." Lovely lovely madness. He is like Baron Von Munchausen.

I have always enjoyed the Amazing Race. The lack of voting off and it being more of a personal challenge and seeing the teams of two struggle to work together. Also it's mix of ADD travel show/random slapstick is entertaining.

I usually hate when teams talk about "proving" something to the world. "Old people can compete." "Gays are like anyone else." "Blah blah." So I was a bit annoyed with the deaf son/hearing mother team. But, I have to say, when they won the first leg of the race... I cried.

For Ben

...because I mentioned it the other night.  Also, for all improvisers looking to expand support work.

Maru & The Box

(via Unique Daily)