This is a great play. Its a 93 minute comedy playing at the Seven Stages theater. It is about a couple that have a son with Asberger's (well, one of them does, his mother, the other is his step mother). The son is rather in denial of this fact. The mother is a high school teacher and the step mother is a psychologist at the extremely PC local university running Body Awareness Week. Frank, an artist who takes nude photos of women, shows up as the guest artist in their home and all hell breaks loose.
Without giving too many spoilers in the play I will say a) It is a comedy. b) It has some surprisingly insightful things to say about the human condition. c) It is an excellent opportunity to learn a lot about the dictionary and what not to say at McDonalds. The actors are all quite talented, and with just four characters, they are able to establish unusual and interesting chemistry between all four of them. Seeing the group dynamics is one of the more interesting elements of this play as it the slow descent into madness or apotheosis for three of the four characters involved.
It runs through the 28th.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Movie Review: The First 20 Minutes of Percy Jackson the Lightning Thief.
The Book is interesting and fun.
The movie is a joke.
The book spends the better part of the book building up who Percy's father is. It is no secret he's a demi god, but it spends a long time trying to make the reader guess.
The movie reveals it in the first 30 seconds.
The movie goes from scene to scene with adequate but mostly forgettable flare after that. Its not really good, but its not horrifically bad either; about on par with the average forgettable fantasy movie until they get to the scene with the minotaur right before they get to the camp.
First of all, this is a critical scene that defines Percy's character, and they do it in about 2 minutes 30 seconds....but even that is forgivable (if not a tragic loss.)
Then his mother dies.
He looks about as upset as if stepped in a pile of dogsh*t. He doesn't cry. Doesn't stoically swear revenge. He just goes, (essentially) 'bummer'. Then they proceed to show him the camp.
And that's when I stopped watching.
The movie is a joke.
The book spends the better part of the book building up who Percy's father is. It is no secret he's a demi god, but it spends a long time trying to make the reader guess.
The movie reveals it in the first 30 seconds.
The movie goes from scene to scene with adequate but mostly forgettable flare after that. Its not really good, but its not horrifically bad either; about on par with the average forgettable fantasy movie until they get to the scene with the minotaur right before they get to the camp.
First of all, this is a critical scene that defines Percy's character, and they do it in about 2 minutes 30 seconds....but even that is forgivable (if not a tragic loss.)
Then his mother dies.
He looks about as upset as if stepped in a pile of dogsh*t. He doesn't cry. Doesn't stoically swear revenge. He just goes, (essentially) 'bummer'. Then they proceed to show him the camp.
And that's when I stopped watching.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Voice Acting Class by September Day and Bob Carter
So, if you have the slightest interest in doing voice acting work, I can't recommend this class enough. They typically advertize by only advertizing on Craigslist, primarily because they really don't need the class to make a living but use it as a recruitment and filtering tool for their talent agency. And they both make an excellent point, about the fact that you really want to take a class from someone who has recent industry experience and someone who knows how to get more work.
In fact that is the first half of the class. The basic XYZ's of what you need to do to put together a home studio and how to put together a demo reel without coming across as a jackass. It is practical and it works.
The second half of the class involves how to network and basic studio etiquette. It also involves taking concrete steps and setting up a plan to put their counsel into concrete format. The last portion of the class involves an actual audition in the studio where you read for a commercial and then an anime character.
To be honest, the banter and chemistry between Bob and September was worth the price of admission alone. Their story is the kind of thing you can't make up, proof that reality is more interesting than fiction, and they make even the driest subject seem interesting. There is also a genuine honesty about them that makes them very fun to watch.
If you want to get into voice acting, contact them and take their class. You won't regret it.
In fact that is the first half of the class. The basic XYZ's of what you need to do to put together a home studio and how to put together a demo reel without coming across as a jackass. It is practical and it works.
The second half of the class involves how to network and basic studio etiquette. It also involves taking concrete steps and setting up a plan to put their counsel into concrete format. The last portion of the class involves an actual audition in the studio where you read for a commercial and then an anime character.
To be honest, the banter and chemistry between Bob and September was worth the price of admission alone. Their story is the kind of thing you can't make up, proof that reality is more interesting than fiction, and they make even the driest subject seem interesting. There is also a genuine honesty about them that makes them very fun to watch.
If you want to get into voice acting, contact them and take their class. You won't regret it.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Play On Con 2011
This was a most excellent con. Play On con is a largely gaming based convention merged with party and other fan aspects. The entire thing takes place in a Birmingham Mariott this absolutely the right size for what it does. I don’t have precise attendance numbers but I’d estimate it between 300-400 people, which lets it have enough numbers to sustain the parties, the costuming and the gaming but still keeping an intimate feeling. By the time the con is done you’ve had a chance to get to know many of the people there though there are still strangers.
One thing I’ve come to realize from these cons is that the costuming aspect is very important. Its kind of the glue that brings a lot of fandom subcultures together, and more importantly the costume contest is often the single largest gathering of a con. Especially of the medium sized ones. The effort that goes into building them ranges from the sublime (such as the winner of the contest who made a Steam Punk bordello owner who was able to give functional body shots on stage to the MC with an extremely elaborate hand piece) to the simplistic (such as the Liono costume the guy put together in two to three hours the night before which still looked pretty damn good.) Many of the secondary prizes seemed invented on the fly, but they were also appropriate such as ‘fan favorite’ for Judge Dread or ‘most creative’ etc etc. Each of the costumes that won an award definitely deserved something. One VERY nice thing about a medium sized cons is that there are no huge lines anywhere.
There were six panel/room locations sites which tended to be going for all of the prime hours and only seemed to have a few vacant spots. One of the more interesting to me was the ‘how to’ element which showed everything from how to make your house haunted, how to dance (anticipating national dance off week) to how to design your own world. It also included a whedon track, media track, anime and gaming. The Cheese Grinder from dragon con was also there and ran a marathon session from Friday through to 1pm Sunday. I made three characters, which lasted from 2-3 hours to 5 seconds. The rooms can be lethal but fun. I spent most of my time doing the alternate activities rather than the games, primarily since the rpg aspect of things focused mainly on Pathfinder. If I end up going next year I’ll probably run some Shadowrun missions. It could use a bit more variety in that department.
The parties were very fun. There were three parties I wasn’t able to go to Sunday night. Attendance dropped off a bit on Sunday afternoon and Evening but they also had an election and party congress. I also greatly enjoyed the casino on Friday night where I won enough chips to be able to become a party judge. The con suite was very well run as was the video game room. Basically the whole thing worked very well.
One thing I’ve come to realize from these cons is that the costuming aspect is very important. Its kind of the glue that brings a lot of fandom subcultures together, and more importantly the costume contest is often the single largest gathering of a con. Especially of the medium sized ones. The effort that goes into building them ranges from the sublime (such as the winner of the contest who made a Steam Punk bordello owner who was able to give functional body shots on stage to the MC with an extremely elaborate hand piece) to the simplistic (such as the Liono costume the guy put together in two to three hours the night before which still looked pretty damn good.) Many of the secondary prizes seemed invented on the fly, but they were also appropriate such as ‘fan favorite’ for Judge Dread or ‘most creative’ etc etc. Each of the costumes that won an award definitely deserved something. One VERY nice thing about a medium sized cons is that there are no huge lines anywhere.
There were six panel/room locations sites which tended to be going for all of the prime hours and only seemed to have a few vacant spots. One of the more interesting to me was the ‘how to’ element which showed everything from how to make your house haunted, how to dance (anticipating national dance off week) to how to design your own world. It also included a whedon track, media track, anime and gaming. The Cheese Grinder from dragon con was also there and ran a marathon session from Friday through to 1pm Sunday. I made three characters, which lasted from 2-3 hours to 5 seconds. The rooms can be lethal but fun. I spent most of my time doing the alternate activities rather than the games, primarily since the rpg aspect of things focused mainly on Pathfinder. If I end up going next year I’ll probably run some Shadowrun missions. It could use a bit more variety in that department.
The parties were very fun. There were three parties I wasn’t able to go to Sunday night. Attendance dropped off a bit on Sunday afternoon and Evening but they also had an election and party congress. I also greatly enjoyed the casino on Friday night where I won enough chips to be able to become a party judge. The con suite was very well run as was the video game room. Basically the whole thing worked very well.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
BOOK Review: The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
I enjoyed this book. It provides an excellent view into the future, or at least one possible future. It is the best look on the potential ramifications of nanotech that I’ve read since Diamond Age. I admit I was far more interested in the implications of the ubiquity of drone technology than the nanotechnology, because I think robotics are finally starting to come of age, and this book reflects a potential path well on that vein. It also explores a lot of social questions in interesting ways.
The other thing I liked about this book was that it was set in Turkey in the 2020’s. I learned a lot about Turkey and it is quite clear McDonald did his homework. In fact I’d be rather shocked if he didn’t spend a good deal of time in Turkey conducting research.
The immerse quality certainly makes it feel like you’re there.
I do think that the book is definitely hard science fiction to me. The characters are interesting and engaging but the novel might be a bit too in depth for the casual reader to truly enjoy. Having said that it does provide a payoff for those who stick past the first 25 pages.
The other thing I liked about this book was that it was set in Turkey in the 2020’s. I learned a lot about Turkey and it is quite clear McDonald did his homework. In fact I’d be rather shocked if he didn’t spend a good deal of time in Turkey conducting research.
The immerse quality certainly makes it feel like you’re there.
I do think that the book is definitely hard science fiction to me. The characters are interesting and engaging but the novel might be a bit too in depth for the casual reader to truly enjoy. Having said that it does provide a payoff for those who stick past the first 25 pages.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Book Review of Feed - by Mira Grant
Book Review – Feed by Mira Grant
This novel is awesome. First of all, let me say that I’m not really a fan of Zombies. I mean, they’re fun. But I don’t go out of my way to see them or read about them like I do, say…Alternate Timelines (which is odd because I find that I actually LIKE a lot of zombies stories but rarely enjoy Alternate World fiction…sometimes the fill is not the same as the genre. Just like my taste towards Steampunk. Love the genre….less than impressed with almost anything this side of the original material.) Which is doubly particularly odd since my third book is “Grenademan vs the Zombies” (though admittedly that was written on a dare).
Now that we’ve gotten my tastes out of the way, let me say that one of the things I like about this book is the title. That’s because zombies are largely peripheral to the plot, even though they are not. See, this book is about a group of young bloggers that follow the presidential campaign in a post zombie world. Getting one scene element brilliantly right is an accomplishment, getting two is a work of genius, but Grant manages to do it quite well. She shows us a viable world after a zombie apocalypse that incorporates changes in as many areas as there actually would be, while still maintaining the level of normality that actually happens despite titanic changes in our own (such as 9/11). She also does an excellent job of showing one possible thread in the future of journalism.
In the world of Feed, Bloggers gain respect and prominence because the traditional media are lying to them about the Zombies. People, especially the younger generations simply do not trust the traditional media after their betrayal. (And who could blame them?) Such a trend is already kind of happening in the real world, though it is more of a jaded apathy rather than a religious following of stalwart independent journalists. Still, if we had a transformative event of a magnitude of what is happening Egypt or Syria in the United States, I could easily see this happening. Even if it does not, it is still a remarkably realistic future.
The characters are excellent as is the plot. Some elements are fairly predictable, but others are not. And even the ‘predictable’ elements leave just enough of an X factor that you’re never entirely sure, just mostly sure. And all of the characters are also interesting. I also really like her mirror image of the United States post apocalypse, since it is clever and I think realistic in the way people are reacting. She is quite clever in addressing elements that most people might not think of, such as Animal Rights when some of them might be zombies, the desire for some people to hunt said animals in massive numbers, and the fact that there is actually a slightly positive element that resulted from the zombie apocalypse in that people no longer get common colds or cancer.
I highly recommend reading this book.
This novel is awesome. First of all, let me say that I’m not really a fan of Zombies. I mean, they’re fun. But I don’t go out of my way to see them or read about them like I do, say…Alternate Timelines (which is odd because I find that I actually LIKE a lot of zombies stories but rarely enjoy Alternate World fiction…sometimes the fill is not the same as the genre. Just like my taste towards Steampunk. Love the genre….less than impressed with almost anything this side of the original material.) Which is doubly particularly odd since my third book is “Grenademan vs the Zombies” (though admittedly that was written on a dare).
Now that we’ve gotten my tastes out of the way, let me say that one of the things I like about this book is the title. That’s because zombies are largely peripheral to the plot, even though they are not. See, this book is about a group of young bloggers that follow the presidential campaign in a post zombie world. Getting one scene element brilliantly right is an accomplishment, getting two is a work of genius, but Grant manages to do it quite well. She shows us a viable world after a zombie apocalypse that incorporates changes in as many areas as there actually would be, while still maintaining the level of normality that actually happens despite titanic changes in our own (such as 9/11). She also does an excellent job of showing one possible thread in the future of journalism.
In the world of Feed, Bloggers gain respect and prominence because the traditional media are lying to them about the Zombies. People, especially the younger generations simply do not trust the traditional media after their betrayal. (And who could blame them?) Such a trend is already kind of happening in the real world, though it is more of a jaded apathy rather than a religious following of stalwart independent journalists. Still, if we had a transformative event of a magnitude of what is happening Egypt or Syria in the United States, I could easily see this happening. Even if it does not, it is still a remarkably realistic future.
The characters are excellent as is the plot. Some elements are fairly predictable, but others are not. And even the ‘predictable’ elements leave just enough of an X factor that you’re never entirely sure, just mostly sure. And all of the characters are also interesting. I also really like her mirror image of the United States post apocalypse, since it is clever and I think realistic in the way people are reacting. She is quite clever in addressing elements that most people might not think of, such as Animal Rights when some of them might be zombies, the desire for some people to hunt said animals in massive numbers, and the fact that there is actually a slightly positive element that resulted from the zombie apocalypse in that people no longer get common colds or cancer.
I highly recommend reading this book.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
BOOK Review of Cyroburn - By Lois Bjold Mcaster
This story is about an Imperial Auditor coming from a neofuedal planet that suspects someone is attempting to mess something up in Imperial space. His cover is to attend a corporate sales camp, but when the local ‘freedom fighters’ attack things go horribly wrong. He is given the wrong drug and ends up meeting the son of the one hope this world might have. It turns out that the entire planet is filled with Hibernation Coffins filled with people waiting to be reborn. These people have given their votes to the corporations that care for them until the sleeping dead and their proxy’s rule the planet.
This book is an excellent mix of old school Asimovian science fiction with modern expectations of plot and character. The auditor is very likable but also has flaws, as is the young child that he accidentally runs into. The story is very engaging and makes you want to read more. I would definitely recommend reading this book.
This book is an excellent mix of old school Asimovian science fiction with modern expectations of plot and character. The auditor is very likable but also has flaws, as is the young child that he accidentally runs into. The story is very engaging and makes you want to read more. I would definitely recommend reading this book.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)