I realized suddenly that I promised you all (all 4 of you) that I would update every weekday, and I haven't sent anything today. However, I also realized that I have nothing interesting to say today.
Rather than post a pointless and uninteresting update of my day (I went to some classes, came home, and now I'm drinking), I thought I'd post a random question that comes from my list of questions which I have been writing down during classes.
These questions may or may not be relevant to what I'm studying in class. If they're not, they're random constructions of my mind. If they are, chances are good I might discuss them in more detail later.
Anyhow, the first question is as follows:
Why is it that, when we are asked to answer a question in class, we always speak directly to the teacher?
This happens whether the teacher asks the question, or when we are following up to a previous student's response. It happens whether the question is personal or on the topic of the class discussion. My open question to the world is, why?
So say we all.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Drunk Chronicles Part 1
As can be read in more detail from Myles, I have a habit of getting drunk, stoned, or otherwise inebriated with Myles and coming up with some of the most irreverent, nonsensical, and utterly transcendent dialogue I've ever come across. Because we are (almost always) in an altered state at the time, we naturally assume we will forget it. Therefore, we have come up with a system wherein one of us sends a text message with the salient portion of the dialogue, in the hopes that we will both remember it forever, and laugh about it the following day.
Often, these texts come as something of a mystery the following morning. Because we rarely put the entire quote into the text, and because context is all but impossible to describe in 160 characters, we often have to perform some detective work in order to reason these things out.
In that spirit, Myles and I have decided to start posting these texts, every once in a while, and working out that detective work on our blogs. He posts a text, I try to remember the how and the why of it (and in some cases where other friends were involved, the who), and then he posts his memory of it. You may never get a definitive answer. In cases where we disagree, assume we were simply that out of our heads the night we sent it. If we disagree completely, chances are neither of us really knows.
Without further ado, I will repost the first message, and then try to figure it out.
"Highness is the plurality of the world."
I'd really love to go into detail about the exact metaphysical debate which was either created by, or summarized by, this quote. But I can't, because, as one would reasonably assume from the sentence, we were both high. As far as I remember, this took place in the glorious summer of ought 6, wherein Myles, Rager and I lived at our friend Steve's apartment in Newton Highlands. We were most likely sitting on the couch, and we were most likely watching TV.
I would have to suspect that our elevated state led us to discuss the fuzziness that the world takes on during one of these escapades. If you've ever tried a bit of the green stuff, you probably know what I mean. Being high, it seems, makes everything happen multiple times, in multiple ways.
I honestly can't remember much more about this one. Sort of a poor showing for our first attempt, but no matter. Maybe next time.
So say we all. (bonus points if you can reference that one)
Often, these texts come as something of a mystery the following morning. Because we rarely put the entire quote into the text, and because context is all but impossible to describe in 160 characters, we often have to perform some detective work in order to reason these things out.
In that spirit, Myles and I have decided to start posting these texts, every once in a while, and working out that detective work on our blogs. He posts a text, I try to remember the how and the why of it (and in some cases where other friends were involved, the who), and then he posts his memory of it. You may never get a definitive answer. In cases where we disagree, assume we were simply that out of our heads the night we sent it. If we disagree completely, chances are neither of us really knows.
Without further ado, I will repost the first message, and then try to figure it out.
"Highness is the plurality of the world."
I'd really love to go into detail about the exact metaphysical debate which was either created by, or summarized by, this quote. But I can't, because, as one would reasonably assume from the sentence, we were both high. As far as I remember, this took place in the glorious summer of ought 6, wherein Myles, Rager and I lived at our friend Steve's apartment in Newton Highlands. We were most likely sitting on the couch, and we were most likely watching TV.
I would have to suspect that our elevated state led us to discuss the fuzziness that the world takes on during one of these escapades. If you've ever tried a bit of the green stuff, you probably know what I mean. Being high, it seems, makes everything happen multiple times, in multiple ways.
I honestly can't remember much more about this one. Sort of a poor showing for our first attempt, but no matter. Maybe next time.
So say we all. (bonus points if you can reference that one)
Reading vs. Acting
This semester, in a effort to cram a bunch of classes in, finish up all my requirements, and get the hell out of this place, I somehow got signed up for a Theater Arts course (U101 for anyone reading this from Northeastern). I read the syllabus, and although the teacher is a director (a generally pretentious occupation), has an annoying attendance policy, and habitually cold-calls his students, I thought it might be an interesting class. It seemed like a lot of reading plays, watching movies, and possibly going to a production, all of which I'm fairly interested in.
I was wrong. First up on my list of complaints is the fact that, at some point this semester, I'm going to have to get in front of the class and act out a scene (with a few other people).
This is a problem for three major reasons, which I will lay out below:
1) I hate group work.
2) I hate acting.
3) I hate watching other non-professional actors stumble through lines, or worse, ham it up in order to show that they really were born actors.
As if that weren't bad enough, the teacher tried to make an example of me in class today. He asked for anyone who had never acted before (other than my co-starring role in Chicken Little in kindergarten, I haven't), so I foolishly raised my hand. I gave him my best, "Please don't call on me," stare, and so of course, he called on me.
I walked up to the front of the room where he handed me a monologue from "Six Degrees of Seperation," a play which I actually have read, and enjoyed. Those of you movie buffs out there might remember the stirring rendition given by Will Smith in a movie with the same title.
I'm not generally a public speaker, but I felt I had to try to disprove his point, that nervousness is a part of acting on stage. My heart pounding in my chest, I began to read.
A short aside here. In high school I had two classes with a man known only as "Stevie." I'm pretty sure his name was actually Steve Stevenson, which is a pretty cruel thing for a parent to do to a child. He would call on me constantly to read out loud in class. I still can't quite figure out why, but I know that everytime he did, I loved it. I have this odd part of my brain or my psyche that just loves reading text out loud.
The reading went great. But I kept shuffling around, unsure of what to do with my body. The words, I'm confident, sounded great. Even though it was a woman's part, I think I got the tone of the paragraph down.
What is it that makes the difference between acting and reading? He told me I looked nervous, shuffling around and what not. I suppose if I hadn't had my face buried in the book, if I had actually memorized my lines, I might have been able to do a bit more movement. But really, I had trouble imagining what the woman would be doing while she said this. Would she have a drink in her hand (the play involves a lot of drinking)? Would she pace back and forth? Would she just stand and stare at her intended listener, maybe gesticulating in a fashion that only the most Italian of us recognize? I really couldn't say.
I'm not sure what the point of this is. Really, I'm not sure what the point of this whole blog is. But I guess I'm just wondering why I have such interest in reading things out loud, and almost no ability to properly act out those same readings.
As a side note, I'm going to try to post in this every week day (at least). This may mean that some of my updates are stupid, pointless, and boring (as I'm sure this one was). However, I hope that by confining myself to that sort of schedule, maybe I'll pull some stuff out that I didn't know was in there.
Also sorry this was so long. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a pretty verbose fellow.
Bis später,
Good night and good fuck. (I'll try this one on for size)
I was wrong. First up on my list of complaints is the fact that, at some point this semester, I'm going to have to get in front of the class and act out a scene (with a few other people).
This is a problem for three major reasons, which I will lay out below:
1) I hate group work.
2) I hate acting.
3) I hate watching other non-professional actors stumble through lines, or worse, ham it up in order to show that they really were born actors.
As if that weren't bad enough, the teacher tried to make an example of me in class today. He asked for anyone who had never acted before (other than my co-starring role in Chicken Little in kindergarten, I haven't), so I foolishly raised my hand. I gave him my best, "Please don't call on me," stare, and so of course, he called on me.
I walked up to the front of the room where he handed me a monologue from "Six Degrees of Seperation," a play which I actually have read, and enjoyed. Those of you movie buffs out there might remember the stirring rendition given by Will Smith in a movie with the same title.
I'm not generally a public speaker, but I felt I had to try to disprove his point, that nervousness is a part of acting on stage. My heart pounding in my chest, I began to read.
A short aside here. In high school I had two classes with a man known only as "Stevie." I'm pretty sure his name was actually Steve Stevenson, which is a pretty cruel thing for a parent to do to a child. He would call on me constantly to read out loud in class. I still can't quite figure out why, but I know that everytime he did, I loved it. I have this odd part of my brain or my psyche that just loves reading text out loud.
The reading went great. But I kept shuffling around, unsure of what to do with my body. The words, I'm confident, sounded great. Even though it was a woman's part, I think I got the tone of the paragraph down.
What is it that makes the difference between acting and reading? He told me I looked nervous, shuffling around and what not. I suppose if I hadn't had my face buried in the book, if I had actually memorized my lines, I might have been able to do a bit more movement. But really, I had trouble imagining what the woman would be doing while she said this. Would she have a drink in her hand (the play involves a lot of drinking)? Would she pace back and forth? Would she just stand and stare at her intended listener, maybe gesticulating in a fashion that only the most Italian of us recognize? I really couldn't say.
I'm not sure what the point of this is. Really, I'm not sure what the point of this whole blog is. But I guess I'm just wondering why I have such interest in reading things out loud, and almost no ability to properly act out those same readings.
As a side note, I'm going to try to post in this every week day (at least). This may mean that some of my updates are stupid, pointless, and boring (as I'm sure this one was). However, I hope that by confining myself to that sort of schedule, maybe I'll pull some stuff out that I didn't know was in there.
Also sorry this was so long. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a pretty verbose fellow.
Bis später,
Good night and good fuck. (I'll try this one on for size)
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
OMG first post!
Aller anfang ist schwer.
It's been a long time since I've sat and watched that vertical line blink, begging me to start typing. The past few years, writing papers for school, I've always known what to say. Even when I don't know what to say, sometimes the words just come, magically.
Today begins a new chapter to that story. I sometimes feel like I have so much to say, that I decided to create this blog (amazing what a few years can do to the english language) to say it all. Now that I'm finally here, of course, I'm at a loss for words.
So, I'll start with an introduction. Chances are you didn't come upon this by accident, so you most likely already know me. I won't bore you with the gory details. However, I'd like to explain what I hope to accomplish during our time together. I want to use this as a way to discuss all the myriad topics that show up in my every day life. I'm working at a tech startup so you'll probably be hearing a lot about new technology (starting with the new iPhone, for which I'm quivering with excitement). I'm going to school for (hopefully) my last semester, so I'm SURE you'll hear about that. I live with two very interesting characters, so I guess they'll probably be in here as well. I recently started playing bass so you might hear about my trials and tribulations there. I've also made something of a personal decision to become a music afficionado, so I'll probably talk about bands I like, bands I hate, and bands that you heard of 5 years ago that I'm just now listening to.
If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea...well I'll probably be writing about a lot more than that, as well. I spend a lot of time just sitting around thinking about random stuff, and I'm sure that'll come out in writing from time to time.
For now, I guess that'll do it. We'll see how long I can keep this up for.
Until next time,
[I can't think of a good sign-off]
It's been a long time since I've sat and watched that vertical line blink, begging me to start typing. The past few years, writing papers for school, I've always known what to say. Even when I don't know what to say, sometimes the words just come, magically.
Today begins a new chapter to that story. I sometimes feel like I have so much to say, that I decided to create this blog (amazing what a few years can do to the english language) to say it all. Now that I'm finally here, of course, I'm at a loss for words.
So, I'll start with an introduction. Chances are you didn't come upon this by accident, so you most likely already know me. I won't bore you with the gory details. However, I'd like to explain what I hope to accomplish during our time together. I want to use this as a way to discuss all the myriad topics that show up in my every day life. I'm working at a tech startup so you'll probably be hearing a lot about new technology (starting with the new iPhone, for which I'm quivering with excitement). I'm going to school for (hopefully) my last semester, so I'm SURE you'll hear about that. I live with two very interesting characters, so I guess they'll probably be in here as well. I recently started playing bass so you might hear about my trials and tribulations there. I've also made something of a personal decision to become a music afficionado, so I'll probably talk about bands I like, bands I hate, and bands that you heard of 5 years ago that I'm just now listening to.
If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea...well I'll probably be writing about a lot more than that, as well. I spend a lot of time just sitting around thinking about random stuff, and I'm sure that'll come out in writing from time to time.
For now, I guess that'll do it. We'll see how long I can keep this up for.
Until next time,
[I can't think of a good sign-off]
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