CCHS Theater and Drama Group

2006-03-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

My updates have gotten sporadic. Sorry. I have a lot to do these days. Dress rehearsal tonight, till eight. Also have to write a 1-page rough draft for a final paper in Intro to Drama (literary analysis of Fences). Take notes on Act 2 of Fences. Edit the video of CCHSTDG's monologues from last trimester. Talk to stage crew about getting some people to film the plays. Get Leia to take pictures of the rehearsals. (We really, really need those pictures.) Umm... There's something else, but I'm not sure what. OH! Physics. Chapter 22 and 23 physics problems.

Geronimo!

2006-03-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

We're comin' in! We've come in! We're in! the theatre! and I'm! excited!

Monday night people got a LOT done at the theatre (which actually surprised me--I wasn't surprised at their competency, but at their SPEED!). I only saw it briefly on Tuesday, and I was absolutely stunned. I wanted to tackle the SM with hugs. And everybody else. (Also, Tuesday was the day I straight-up knew that I AM GOING TO BE A TEACHER. Period! It's always been in my Top Five Careers I'd Like To Have, but now it's definite. It's what I want. But that's a different story.)

Tonight, Wednesday, was the first time I had a real rehearsal in the theatre. And there was all sorts of new-ness added to the set! I was so happy. I hung around waiting for 9th/10th graders (none of whom actually met at the school, so it was a waste of time, but whatever, no biggie), and then headed over to the theatre. When I got there, I was happy to see that there was even MORE done with the sets, and Real Death was helping John and Janice of "No Chewing" go over their lines. I took over "No Chewing" in the green room while "Unturned Stone" did a run through on the stage. At 5:30, we switched.

Jane, Janice, and John did a FABULOUS job. I was very, very pleasantly surprised. Especially with all of the new changes we have to make in the blocking (due to actually having a set now!). But I'm very pleased with rehearsal. I think it went quite well.

And tomorrow I get to stay and actually rehearse, on stage, for "The Fourth Wall". I'm totally psyched.

Rehearsals get intense.

2006-03-10T22:17:00.000-05:00

We're 13 days from Opening Night. Things are crazy now. Rehearsals have been running from 3:30-6. I was sick@home two days this week (Tues/Wed). School's Robotics team is at the FIRST Robotics Competition yesterday/today/tomorrow. I'm going to write an article about it for Journalism. Tomorrow some people are fixin' to come over to play games and hang out and such. I've rededicated myself to piano in recent weeks and have made progress even I can be proud of. The Direktor's mommy (+ family) are going to be coming to all three nights of the show, and I'm glad. (They give off good vibes, that lot.) Sunday night people will be moving things into the theatre, and I want to be there. The Direktor tried to make the cast of "Wall" play an improv game today, and it wasn't very good. (I hate improvising, especially in the comedy game-sense, because I'm not a funny person. I'd much prefer to watch.) I think that's it for now. I'm really exhausted.

This is about Movies. And not CCHSTDG.

2006-03-04T10:19:00.000-05:00

"The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops--no, but the kind of man the country turns out."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm currently watching Edison, The Man. That quote prefaced the film. I'm about five minutes in and I'm already really enjoying it. It must be Spencer Tracy in the leading role. Tracy = brilliant. Forty, and playing a 22-year-old? Lovely.

One thing I'm wondering--how exactly does a biopic get nominated for the Best Original Story Oscar? (As an aside, Edison was also nominated for Best Writing.)

Other movies I've seen recently: Libeled Lady, another Spencer Tracy film. It was a sort of romantic comedy, I suppose. But it wasn't romantic, and it wasn't comedic. It was entertaining. But not very much so.

2006-03-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

I thought that this was a pretty good article. Very to-the-point. Charles Krauthammer is a loser.

One of Those Madmen

2006-03-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

"In mathematics the art of asking questions is more valuable than solving problems." --Georg Cantor

Appropriate Wikiquote of the Day. I took a math test earlier. I guess I did well.

Yesterday's "No Chewing" rehearsal was a little disheartening. Well, first, we had to wait for space to open up for rehearsal--a certain faculty member decided that she just had to get married, and the other faculty members just had to be happy for her and celebrate. Once we did have a space, we had to wait for Janice. We waited. And waited. And waited. And when she didn't show, we started without her. Tried to work through better blocking. It didn't work. The play doesn't have a lot of obvious action.

I think I might schedule an extra "No Chewing" rehearsal for next Wednesday... I think. We could probably use it... No, we could definitely use it. Show opens, the Direktor reminded us many a-time yesterday, in three weeks.

We used this quote in the yearbook:

"You cannot carry out fundamental changes without a certain amount of madness. In any case it comes from non-conformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen."

--Thomas Sankarra of the African Congress.

2006-03-02T07:27:00.000-05:00

"Our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: 'Our country - when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.'" --Carl Schurz

Coincidentally, when assigning the essay for Monday's Mod Pol Thought class, Dave (the teacher) said to pay close attention to the "Wilt Chamberlain" part of Nozick's writing. Today, in 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a basketball game, still a record in the NBA today (says Wikipedia). Huh.

2006-03-01T12:03:00.000-05:00

Another Wikiquote of the Day.

I dreamt the past was never past redeeming:
But whether this was false or honest dreaming
I beg death's pardon now. And mourn the dead.

--Richard Wilbur

2006-02-28T22:39:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going to puke. Cathy is telling me fucked up stories about her friend's fucked up parents. And her fucked up friends. And some of them are my fucked up friends. I feel sick.

Small Favor

2006-02-28T20:47:00.000-05:00

Anybody who reads this, I have a small request to make. Check out this link: http://writingrights.livejournal.com/174825.html

It's a short survey for a journalism assignment. I'm not insisting that anyone fill it out, but it would be very, very helpful. :) Thanks.

Court Appearances

2006-02-28T11:01:00.000-05:00

Tuesday: David Safavian, George Bush's top procurement officer (responsible for billions of dollars in federal spending), will be in court for pretrial motions in his case involving lying to investigators about his dealings with Jack Abramoff.

Wednesday: Michael Scanlon, Abramoff's associate, who pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, will be in court for a status conference on his sentencing.

Friday: Former Republican Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham who pled guilty on November 28th, will be sentenced.

Ganked from Reid's latest DSCC email.

2006-02-26T14:33:00.000-05:00

Good, straightforward article on the Dubai Ports World scandal-wannabe.

I have to finish reading "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls today. Here's the intro to it from my Mod Pol Thought text:

John Rawls, a Harvard University philosophy professor, takes the primary problem to be addressed by social and poliical philosophy to be that of justice or fairness. The difficulty is how to decide what social arrangements are just. Rawls's suggestion is that we construct a decision-making model within which we are forced to make equitable decisions. Conceiving of ourselves in 'an original position' in which a 'veil of ignorance' prevents us from knowing any particular information about ourselves while at the same time we try to make decisions which will be in our own best interest, he argues, will have the effect of forcing us to be fair to everyone. Under such conditions he argues we would make decisions on the basis of the 'maxi-min' principle drawn from game theory. This principle would lead us to choose the best-worst outcome. It is Rawls's position that use of this principle would force us to adopt a democracy within which we all have equal amounts of basic rights (voting, speech, participating in the political process, etc.) but one which would require us to distribute social and economic goods (health care, respect, housing, etc.) so that the most disadvantaged would have more of those goods than they would have under any other distribution. On this account, differences in shares in economic goods could be justified only if they enhanced the condition of everyone. Hence, Rawls regards economic goods as communal to be divided fairly and not on the basis of prior ownership, and he envisions an expansive role for government in making distributions.

"Sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crud...

2006-02-26T10:42:00.000-05:00

...That's because ninety percent of everything is crud." --Theodore Sturgeon

And that, ladies and germs, was the Wikiquote of the Day. In other news. I have it on good authority that I typo here... a lot. Feel free to let me know if you catch any (as I don't usually proofread this).

And that's all I have to say for now.

2006-02-26T00:44:00.000-05:00

Cathy and I just finished watching Gone with the Wind. She'd never seen it before. End comes, and she says, quite bitterly, "No fuckin' way! Is this the end?!" Har har har. That made me chuckle.

2006-02-25T17:17:00.000-05:00

Oh man. How bitchy is this? If you are offended by an email, either don't respond, or send an email saying that you don't appreciate the tone of the email, something. Whatever. Solve the friggin' problem for yourself!

Professors have to realize that people are not stupid. And they're paying MASSIVE amounts of money for school. From the article: "While once professors may have expected deference, their expertise seems to have become just another service that students, as consumers, are buying." Duh.

And while, no, I don't think that a professor should answer emails that say, "By the way, I'll miss class today," or "I missed yesterday's class; can I get the notes?"--Actually, I take that back. Professors shouldn't answer "I will miss class". They should, I think, answer questions like "can I get the notes?" with emails like, "Everyone else took their own notes. You should too. You friggin' idiot."

When I learned about Cornel West (in Moral Dilemmas class), there was a clear bias towards "Larry Summers is a horrible human being". And that was all that I heard about him from the media, too. And yet, the more I read about him, now that he's quit Harvard, the more I think that, okay, maybe he wasn't the best for the job, but he should have been cut some slack. Gray area, people. Gray freaking area.

EDIT: Changed a typo--"to" to "too".

2006-02-25T16:07:00.000-05:00

New email address, people. jniedecker[at]gmail[dot]com

I think the best thing about watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report is how often both hosts (Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, for those of you living under rocks) make it plainly evident that they're having a freaking blast doing what they do.

Wikiquote of the Day: "That so many writers have been prepared to accept a kind of martyrdom is the best tribute that flesh can pay to the living spirit of man as expressed in his literature. One cannot doubt that the martyrdom will continue to be gladly embraced. To some of us, the wresting of beauty out of language is the only thing in the world that matters." --Anthony Burgess

Also, read another John Podhoretz article this morning, and it was stupid. And bad. Period.

2006-02-24T20:14:00.000-05:00

I'm... almost positive I just a friggin' epiphany. But then I was like, "Whoa, this episode of Grey's Anatomy is good." And then it was gone.

No. You don't understand. I'm actually, genuinely pissed off with myself for that.

2006-02-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord,
Count your blessings.
We're sick of being jerked around
We all fall down.

I was really out of it right before/at the start of rehearsal today. I had just spent the previous hour in journalism. Everyone was reading everyone else's movie reviews. All of the reviews were anonymous (marked only with a letter), and we were supposed to rate each. And somebody got mine and spent the whole class critiquing it. Line by line. Out loud. And then people chimed in. Oh, it was so much fun. Let me just tell you how much I love that class.

And then, of course, I came to drama and had the pleasure of watching one of my favorite people have a panic attack, and she couldn't breathe, and I didn't even fucking PAY ATTENTION to her at first, because I was too wrapped up in my own BULLSHIT to realize that she needed someone. And then, even when I wanted to, I couldn't help at all. At all.

Add to that the fact that the Direktor was stressing, and I couldn't help him at all either. And my argumentative cast, who I haven't done a good job directing so far.

EDIT: Put the "e" on "breathe". .__.

More bitching.

2006-02-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

This school. I don't know. I love it most of the time. But sometimes... They do dumb things. Seriously dumb things. Like berating us all the time for not volunteering for things. But last year's prom committee? Hand-picked by the Klimasaurus. Graduation committee? Hand-friggin'-picked, again, by the Klimasaurus. There's nothing to volunteer for! And you can't volunteer if you're not given the opportunity to do so!

2006-02-23T13:26:00.000-05:00

There's a group of seniors that are mentors for the ninth graders. I really want to be a part of that group. I really, really want to. And I have no idea why I'm not. I guess the teachers feel that I wouldn't be a good mentor, for whatever reason. They did seem to pick mostly nice, fairly quiet (in front of groups they don't know) people. Though some of them... yeah. Some of them I wouldn't have chosen. Definitely. God, I wish I were a part of that! That's a program that's actually DOING something. Man. I wanted us to have peer mediation back in tenth grade, and Sharon was totally supportive of me. But... Man!!

"Attack" Countered

2006-02-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Laurie of "Attack of the Giant Ex's" had to drop out. So the Direktor canceled "Attack" and Danny is becoming Tillman of "Unturned Stone". Tillman is becoming the emcee of the event. Umm. Yes. Things will be better this way. I need to memorize my lines.

2006-02-21T10:45:00.000-05:00

Saw the movie Kings Row this weekend. Didn't do anything else. Row was really good. Not great, I don't think, but very good. I want to see the play and read the book. There's a lot of things I want to read first, though. This weekend was seriously cabin feverish. At least, that's how I'm describing it. Because that's what it was like. Until yesterday, when I got to go to CCAC. Chilled before class with the College Dems prez, doing a crossword. (Terribly exciting, I know.)

The direktor just came in and was all "waah waah know your lines and I can't believe you're going to make me run Capoeira even though I've skipped out for forever." Jerk. Physics sucked. Math sucked. Have to finish essays for mod. pol. thought, which I'm excited about. I'm excited to read John Rawls. I'm excited that I saw a connection (a valid one, I think) between Hobbes and the Classical Liberals.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

2006-02-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

Oh man. I just saw the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?--Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton. I absofriggin'lutely LOVED it. Lovex3. Times ten, even! If you haven't seen it, go now. Go find it and see it. Right now.

John, to his father: You listen to me. You say you don't want to tell me how to live my life. So what do you think you've been doing? You tell me what rights I've got or haven't got, and what I owe to you for what you've done for me. Let me tell you something. I owe you nothing! If you carried that [mail] bag a million miles, you did what you're supposed to do! Because you brought me into this world. And from that day you owed me everything you could ever do for me like I will owe my son if I ever have another. But you don't own me! You can't tell me when or where I'm out of line, or try to get me to live my life according to your rules. You don't even know what I am, Dad, you don't know who I am. You don't know how I feel, what I think. And if I tried to explain it the rest of your life you will never understand. You are 30 years older than I am. You and your whole lousy generation believes the way it was for you is the way it's got to be. And not until your whole generation has lain down and died will the dead weight be off our backs! You understand, you've got to get off my back! Dad... Dad, you're my father. I'm your son. I love you. I always have and I always will. But you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.

People. Are. So. Dumb.

2006-02-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

I try to avoid MySpace. I really do. I think it's stupid. But look. I'm in the groups, I have the friends added. That sort of thing. I was browsing my school's group-page or whatever the hell it's called. And the only messages on there are back-and-forth "I H8 UNDERCLASSMEN" "F-BOMB THE UPPERCLASSMEN" "CITY HIGH SUX". It's stupid! Part of me wants to get on there and be like, "Hi! Yearbook committee wants some help!" But most of me knows that it's not worth it. Idiots.

2006-02-17T12:48:00.000-05:00

First, [Michelle Kwan] whined and lawyered her way onto the Olympic team (when she couldn't qualify). Then, she soaked up the media's treacly adulation and overwrought concern for a couple of days. And then, she dropped out after her very first practice. Oh, come on—she thought she could compete, clawed her way in, came all the way to Italy … but then, after just a quick run-through, realized she couldn't hack it after all? That makes no sense. She just wanted some spotlight. Be gone, grasping careerist Michelle Kwan! Make way for bright-eyed, good-hearted Olympians like Shaun White.

Man! I haven't followed the Olympiadickness at all this year. At all! I got my taste of pop culture watching the SAG Awards, the Grammys. I'm saving my palate for the Academy Awards! For Jon Stewart! But I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying reading Slate's commentary. In honor of my burning love for Slate, I'm going to interlace my rambling with excerpts. But speaking of Jon Stewart, I saw a commercial the other day for an animated film in which he will be voicing some character. Blah blah blah. What's with all the animated films recently? Seems like Shrek did well and now everybody wants a piece of the action. Sure, Disney had a good thing going there for a while (and they still occasionally pop out something that's good for the whole family)...

Are you psyched for men's doubles luge tonight? Two guys lying atop each other, grunting with concentration. This is perhaps the gayest of all Olympic tableaux. Men's doubles lugers, a post-Brokeback America embraces you and your lifestyle.

So Thursday's rehearsal! I think it went well. "The Fourth Wall" was bumped up to Th instead of Fri because of the lack of school today. I'm happy to announce that this will be a four-day weekend. Filled with much relaxation on my part. Haha! I speak in jest. Last night was relaxation, this morning was relaxation. The rest of the weekend will be spent struggling with Integral Calculus (damn you, Direktor, for being a "math fan" who lies about his experience with Integrands and Integrals and Integration), memorizing lines (damn you again, Direktor), and writing essays for Mod Pol Thought!

When I hear about skiing over "moguls," I half expect the competitors to be racing not over artificial snow mounds but rather over the supine torsos of Ron Perelman and Harvey Weinstein. I picture the well-fed executives compressed farther down into the snow as each racer slides his ski-tips up and across their bespoke-suited midsections. By midway through the event, a small trail of blood runs down the slope from Weinstein's abdomen. Stray Italian dogs enter the course and lap at the red-tinged ice as the film exec moans in agony.

Also, I'll probably be opening up a bank account today. Hooray for me. I've got some cash laying around and a few birthday checks to cash. Every birthday that passes reveals my hot breath on the Glass Ceiling a little more prevalently. But that's a different story (rant?). Yesterday at lunch I checked out the latest exhibit at the Wood Street Galleries. Very cool. Very strange. It's been advertised with the tagline "Can man fall in love with a machine?" My favorite piece was called something like "Fish/Bird". Two robotic wheelchairs that interact with people walking in this space. And print out messages. Strange, and incredibly lovely. There was a full-page essay about it, too.

Snowboard cross itself was a revelation, exhilarating, a No. 1 debut. It's like a Mountain Dew commercial directed by David Lean: Four snowboarders simultaneously negotiate a twisting 900-meter course, taking jumps, taking spills. The announcers kept telling us that "incidental contact is allowed," neglecting to mention that "incidental" means one thing when you're pushing a shopping cart around the A&P and another when you're negotiating curves at 40 mph. There was plenty of material to feed your crash habit. Any favorite collisions?

2006-02-16T14:18:00.000-05:00

Check it out: http://kevan.org/johari?name=writingrights

2006-02-16T10:54:00.000-05:00

Last night, the Direktor welcomed me to the world of being a role model. I know he was kidding, but I was insanely... humbled. I have to clean up my act!

Yearbook, How I Despise Thee, Let Me Count The Ways.

2006-02-14T23:01:00.000-05:00

I probably hate it about 110 ways.

I got to write my own biography for the yearbook. I feel like a cad for it, but I couldn't stand to have the generic "she wants to go to college and she earned MOS certifications and she had a cool internship" rap sheet. So I wrote one that I thought made a statement. And I hope people like it. And don't think it's too horrible and cheesy. Here it is:

Jamie Niedecker hopes people will remember her as having a "can do" attitude, even when that did mean that she bit off more than she could chew. She was involved in several activities at City High, including the Theatre and Drama Group, yearbook committee, and Capoeira club. Jamie knows that she wouldn't be the person she is today without City High and the people she met here. Her peers--her friends--pulled her through the rough times (and at times, back down to Earth), and the teachers were not only her educators but also moral guides and friends. She promises to make them proud.

Reading this again, I realized how much easier it is to say mushy, sentimental things when you're speaking (writing) in the third person.

2006-02-14T11:07:00.000-05:00

Check it out. I wish I could see the winners' actual performances!

2006-02-14T10:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was ridiculous, and it's obvious that the Direktor doesn't approve of anything, and that's unsettling me. I have about fifty minutes to finish an assignment on Hamlet. Le sigh! Going to do that now.

2006-02-13T00:51:00.000-05:00

I hate yearbook, and can't write. I can't do physics. I can't do math. And goodness knows I can't direct. And I get to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

2006-02-12T18:27:00.000-05:00

::sings:: I hate everything. The Jostens site isn't working again for some reason. Le sigh. That's okay, I guess. I'm going to get my physics work done.

2006-02-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

I'm ridiculously sick of the Yearbook.

My sister made a giant cookie. Seriously. A giant cookie. She took a cookie sheet and put a giant slab of cookie dough on it. "Just because it's a cookie sheet, and not a cookies sheet?" I asked. Cathy didn't get it.

Anyway, I just saw this on MSN. What the FUCK is that? Can a hospital just TAKE property? A hospital!? I don't understand. Everything is so fucked up. I'm exfreakin'hausted.

2006-02-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

My cat needs to go to the vet, badly. No one will take him.

2006-02-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

I'm eating "Cup Noodles". For breakfast. Cup Noodles? Cup o'Noodles? Whatever. Something by Nissin. "Much More Than A Soup", it says. I didn't expect that. I've never had one of these things before. I've never had Ramen, which is what my sister tells me the noodles in this are. Why are they so... crinkly? So Cathy also tells me that it cost something like six bucks for a 24-pack of these? Whoa nelly.

Yesterday my crazy gma took me and Cathy out for our (upcoming) birthday. We have a small ritual now: going to Barnes & Noble, where she buys books for us, and then going out for lunch. This year the rest of the girls in the family met us for lunch at the Olive Garden. I got two books: Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) and Getting Mother's Body (Suzan-Lori Parks). I am psyched about the second one. I mean, I'm excited about Ashes, too, but that's s'posed to be really depressing. Not that Body doesn't have a depressing premise. Cathy got two books, too. Second Chances (Megan McCafferty, sequel to Sloppy Firsts) and... Confessions of a 10th Grade Social Climber, I want to say? That's not right. But it's something like that. Wow. I just Google'd to check the title. There is a book called Confessions of a 10th Grade Social Climber, but the one Cathy got is actually The Rise and Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber (Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser). I teased her about reading this book early so she'll be prepared when it comes to high school.

Anyway. I suppose I'm going to move on to Yearbook now. Have to get it done!

2006-02-10T22:02:00.000-05:00

So. Haven't heard from the Shakespeare monologue people. Probably because I didn't do as well as I and my (biased) cheerleaders and (even more biased) Direktor thought. Already called the Direktor. There is the (unlikely) possibility, however, that they emailed me at my school email (the one I provided), and due to the school's servers being maitenanced, I haven't gotten it.

In other news, school's getting a little stressful, and I was feeling kind of down earlier, so I just spent some time learning some basic sign language. (Totally non-sequitor, I know, right?) I can now say things like "I HAVE MOTHER" "I HAVE FATHER" "I HAVE TWO BROTHER" "I HAVE THREE SISTER" "MY SISTER HAS RED HAIR" "MY BROTHER HAS BLONDE HAIR" "I HAVE BLUE EYES" etc etc etc. "I LIKE ART" "YOU CAN TEACH" "I CAN COOK" etc etc etc. Exciting, I know. I'm going to finish watching Angels with Dirty Faces just to make sure that I waste as much time as possible this evening.

Oh, and Tuesday's my birthday--big one-seven. Tomorrow at eleven I'll be out 'making a day of it!' (inside joke) with my crazy gma.

Play Timings

2006-02-10T14:23:00.000-05:00

NO CHEWING should take about 23 minutes.

THE FOURTH WALL should take about 40 minutes. (Oh snap.)

ATTACK OF THE GIANT EX'S should take about 31 minutes.

Aaaand I don't have scripts for the other two.

2006-02-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

Haven't updated in a few days--I've been busy. I'm still busy. Mr. Capp wanted some more people to be apprehensive about the Feb. 13th deadline, and now I'm apprehensive. Things to get done:

ASAP: timed plays
Monday: Yearbook bios
Monday: Physics problems (5)
Monday: Math problems (about a thousand)
Tuesday: Hamlet stuff

2006-02-07T23:55:00.000-05:00

It's late. I'm tired. I'm feeling very bitter. Very, very bitter. I was going to make some real commentary about my Shakespeare monologue, but instead I guess I'll just point out that I didn't rehearse it at all tonight. Now I have to go read an essay by Rousseau.

2006-02-07T08:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's rehearsal was awkward. The Direktor showed Danny and Laurie how to stage-kiss, and they spent the time making out. (Kidding.) The blocking for "Attack" is really weird without the set. Especially because I just found out what the set is supposed to look like last night. Le sigh!

Went to see Suzan-Lori Parks' lecture last night as a part of the Drue-Heinz Lecture series. She was awesome. It was like watching a comedian, instead of a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. She read excerpts from her work, told jokes and stories, and played her guitar and sang. She also mocked the use of the word "connectivity". I have to write an article about her/the event for Journalism this afternoon.

Breindel waited with me for a while; we were both waiting for rides. We chatted--mostly about the Direktor, but I think that's because that's the most obvious thing we have in common. She's easily now one of my absolute favorite people. Absolutely.

I ended up standing around until almost ten; got home about quarter after ten. Was getting that "you haven't had real food since Saturday" headache. Made myself a delicious concoction of leftover Chinese food--white rice mixed with chopped onion and a spoonful of garlic stuff on it. Microwaved for about a minute and a half and mixed and eaten. Mmm. Rice.

Now I'm just blatantly avoiding science class. Le sigh, again.

Time Out!

2006-02-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

Just doing the timing for the plays. The first scene of "Wall" takes about twelve minutes. If my ratio of aloud to silent is right.

Speaking of silent, I'm working in an empty classroom right now. I told Savvy that it was because I had to read out loud and didn't want to bug anyone. It was really because everyone in her classroom was being mean. Whoa negative energy. Two people were talking about renting a Hummer limo thing and Leia interjected that that was not a good idea--there are people dying over in Iraq for oil and you're going to overuse you typical fat lazy Amerikkkan!! Except Leia was actually quite pleasant about it. But the girl reacted badly and told Leia, and I quote, "You kin keep yuh-pinion to yuh-self." I'm glad that the soldiers aren't dying for grammar. Because that would be in vain. ::rimshot::

But seriously. People at this school are so... mean. I tried to do No Name Calling Week in tenth grade, and got only about five people who actually said they'd be willing to talk it up. That's sad. I tried to get a teacher to sponsor a peer mediation program in tenth grade, too, and that didn't happen.

What, Ms. Kay leaves and suddenly it's okay to be an asshole?

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

2006-02-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

And the battle's just begun.

A group of deer just ran through my yard. Ran across the driveway and then up the hill, across the road and further up the hill. It was a pretty big group, too. Four or five little ones. And a big momma.

I made a new station on Pandora yesterday--called it "Easy on the Ear". It's oh-so-pleasant.

On the agenda for today: Finish doing the dishes, straighten up my room, Intro to Drama work, and then Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare.

2006-02-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so bored. I started to time out one of the plays, and then stopped caring. Then I was going to rehearse my Shakespeare monologue, and then stopped caring. My head hurts so, so badly. I took a handful of Excedrin Migraine about half an hour ago, and hopefully it'll kick in soon.

I clicked on a link from MSN and ended up idly clicking through pictures of celebrities. This picture surprised me. Rufus!

2006-02-04T17:54:00.001-05:00

John Podhoretz is crazy. He also gets to write articles like this.

Aside from the fact that the article sucks, I also have to point out that he makes lots of references with no citations. He says things like "a bunch of polls" without naming any. He says things like "a article"--look at that grammar!--"in the New Republic — a very silly article, but one that's gotten some attention nonetheless" without offering up the article for readers to examine for themselves. (As best as I can tell, this is the article he's referring to.)

He gets to use phrases like "The wacko Internet Left" and call a letter written by Hillary Clinton (which he didn't provide a link to, thankyouverymuch) "incoherent". It's nothing of the sort, though there is the inexplicable use of a bulleted list towards the end.

John Podhoretz says things like "And on Tuesday night, [Hillary Clinton] sat stone-faced during the State of the Union Address, refusing to crack even the slightest smile when the president made a fond reference to her husband and his friendship with the president's dad. She's been getting some heat for that too." Which, er, is wrong. I would never in a million years describe her as "stone-faced". She politely smiled and nodded at that joke and was the furthest thing from "stone-faced" when she stood and cheered with other Democrats after Bush pointed out that his Social Security reforms didn't pan out. (Not to mention that I've seen her getting no "heat" for her alleged "stone-faced"-ness.)

And can he honestly believe things like "[Hillary will] clearly have no credible competition" for the '08 Democratic nomination two years out? He keeps referring to the extensive amount of cash she'll have at hand, which the "very silly article" from The New Republic says, with quite a bit of evidence, will do her no good.

I don't know. To me it just seems that John Podhoretz made his conclusion first and then scraped together shoddy evidence to support it.

Norman Podhoretz? I've read some of his work; I respect the man, though I don't always agree with him, and I'm not a fan. His son? Eh.

"Do you think they'd thank me or sue me?"

2006-02-04T15:01:00.000-05:00

Friday's rehearsal was very productive, I think. The Direktor put us through all of the blocking for the first scene of "Wall". Next week we're doing scene two. Real Death didn't have anything to do, and Leia showed up and kept me company for the first hour of rehearsal. I scribbled in my diary (yes, I'm that lame) until my part came up. Which the Direktor pretended(?) to read later. He called it a journal. Makes no difference to me.

Um. Anyway. Rehearsal. Direktor SIR made some weird request of two actresses and then couldn't stop talking about how bad he felt about it. Jury's still out as to the exact nature of the request.

I think I did, er, I don't know. Okay, I guess. I think Host did well. Dead Person makes a lot of her lines sarcastic; I thought of the character as more... exasperated? I think is the right word? Maybe. I think Hostess doesn't come across as bitchy enough. I have all the faith in the world in Butler. And Maid is wonderfully similar to Brooke in "Attack"--she changes how the Direktor tells her to. Who else? We didn't get to Real Death's part. So she stuck around (and the Diktator--er, Direktor--made that her leave early day!) for nothing.

By the way, have I mentioned being in love with Pandora? (I just wanted to make a link and BLOW THE DIREKTOR'S MIND.)

"I kind of think I'm a good listener, [ASM]."

2006-02-03T10:28:00.000-05:00

Last night's rehearsal went well. It was "Attack" and "Next!" night. For "Attack", we first read through the lines--there were some things I really thought that we needed to talk about, and I needed to have a conversation with ASM. Afterwards, we went through the play again, blocking. It's really awkward to block for that play with no set. Especially when I have no friggin' idea of what AASM is planning. We haven't talked about that set. At all. Well, no, that's not true--we did discuss the fact that a rotating box in the center of the stage would be not a good idea. I suppose I should seek him out and figure out what the hell is going on.

Danny did well, again. He needs, I think, to still work on his enunciation. We'll address that next time, I guess. Laurie does better and better each week; the only issue I take with her is that she doesn't put her heart into every piece of her role every single time. She'll half-ass something--like the Beauty Queen Scream-turned-Broken-Hearted Girlfriend Cry--to avoid, I guess, embarassing herself? But when she really tries, she does great. Denise was really busy last night, so she didn't get much rehearsal in, which is alright, I guess. For Brooke, I made a lot of changes to her role. She does the whole thing very... sexpot-ish. Yeah. So. Some of them didn't fit well, and we changed them. So. We'll see.

The Direktor came in to see me a few minutes ago. Showed me how to time the plays. I'll be doing that now. Have fun in real classes everybody else in the world.

2006-02-02T20:07:00.000-05:00

I've been dying for a political outlet. Seriously. I've been throwing everything at anyone who would listen. Notably Andy Capp. But we're both busy people with lots of work to get done. And who takes my 'politicking' seriously, anyway? Because they shouldn't. Because I like stories like this. Mm. Isn't that a sweet story? I love it.

Oh my gosh. I'm going to puke.

2006-02-02T10:52:00.000-05:00

Let me elaborate on Tuesday's visit. AASM was absolutely ecstatic about the space. I was absolutely ecstatic about the baby of the guy who brought the contract. Really, she was quite cute. Muy kawaii. (Talk about multiculturalism!)

Okay, I lied. I don't really want to elaborate on the visit, because there isn't much to say. The Direktor signed all of the papers, and I played with a baby. Babies! Gross!

The elusive Klimasaurus has taken up momentary residence in this room. She's not very camouflaged, either. Mei Mei is crouched by a table... talking. And talking. And talking. And freaking talking. Well, I lied, she stopped. No, she's talking again.

While Mrs. Dough was talking, every computer screen I could see was on MySpace. Nice. Really productive, no?

Ms. Portman just came in! She makes my day. Even though she's across the room from me. :(

Oh, happy Groundhog Day, everybody! Twelve days until my birfday, em effers. Now I'm going to write an outline that will eventually be the backbone of an essay for which I don't have the information yet. Lovely.

You know what they say about guys who crunch ice!

2006-01-31T16:16:00.000-05:00

Today, the Direktor, AASM and I went to see Open Stage. And it was enjoyable. I got to hold the, uh, Stage Manager's(?) baby. For the whole meeting. Oh baby. That was the most adorable baby. Drool and all. She loved the root beer, Direktor. And it was fine.

A Trip and a Half

2006-01-31T11:25:00.000-05:00

First things first. The Direktor and I had a funny moment. We were talking, and then we both paused at the same time to take a sip of our respective drinks--his, whatever he happened to have in his "Big Gulp", mine, vitamin D milk. Mmm. And I laffed, "We both drank at the same time!" And he grinned and nodded, "That's 'cause we're directors." He's such a dork. Then I ruined it by admitting that I spent time Google'ing him on Sunday morning.

The Direktor had originally planned to have "Unturned Stone" and "No Chewing" on the same day so that he could direct "Stone" and I could co-direct "Chewing". He's been emphatic about the Co- part.

But after the first rehearsal when he could really focus on the kids in "Stone", he said that they were not as far along as he thought they would be. "They're a trip and a half!" I think that play, though he classified it as easy (it's basically a series of monologues) is tougher than he thought. Which is funny, because I think he sees "No Chewing" as harder than it really is. Maybe I'm just defending my autonomy.

Right after rehearsal, the cast of "No Chewing" and I got to watch a new member of the drama club perform a few dramatic exercises. I like her. Mmhmm.

Another Day, Another Rehearsal

2006-01-30T15:53:00.000-05:00

We're here. For rehearsal. Everybody's milling around, waiting for the Direktor and I to start. Actually, Chris is showing me backgrounds for yearbook. Hooray. The Direktor wants me off of his computer now, so bye.

Phantom of the Opera

2006-01-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

Yep. I just saw this movie. Chatty Cathy, who's next to me, says, "That's right, make a post about one of the greatest movies of all time."

That's the first time I really figured out the whole story of this, too. I mean, I didn't know what Phantom was about, prior to seeing the movie. Raggedy Andy's girlfriend brought it over. Very good movie, I think. Very interesting. Cathy recommends I read the book.

2006-01-29T11:26:00.000-05:00

It sounded like someone was hammering outside my house. Le sigh. Apparently it's hunting season?

Friday's Rehearsal

2006-01-29T10:24:00.000-05:00

I hate getting up early! Here it is, 10:30 in the morning, and I've already read about a third of tomorrow's essay for Mod Pol Thought, done the dishes, and sent out the only "Happy Chinese New Year!" ecard I have ever sent. What the heck am I supposed to do for the rest of Sunnonday?

Oh well. On to a recounting of Friday's rehearsal! Friday was the first rehearsal for just "The Fourth Wall". We can only have one show on "Wall" days, because I'm in it, and the Direktor is, well, direkt--I mean, directing.

Rehearsal started out a little slow. Host ate a bunch of paper. I'm not sure why that happened. But it did. Our original Hostess dropped out, which is fine, I guess. Better now than later, right? We had someone waiting to be in the show, so that worked out well. Our Audience Member and Stagehand didn't show. I'm Death, in that show, and I was not very good at all. Had a bit of a headache--not that I'm making excuses, just explaining.--

My little brother just called me from church. Well, my dad did. Then he put the Ghost on the phone. Ghost says, "I need you to Google appendicitis symptoms for me." "What?" "Appendicitis symptoms. I need you to Google it for me." "What? Why?" "Everyone thinks I have appendicitis." "Everyone who?" "Mom, [Raggedy Andy], [Chatty Cathy]." Well, okay then. I Google'd them, read them off to him, and that was that. Lawdy, I hope he doesn't have appendicitis!

--Butler was decent. Host was very good. Real Death was very good at times. Leia stood in as Hostess. Maid was decent. Dead Person was decent. We can pull this off, I think.

...I forgot to post this when I finished writing it. I spent the last fifteen minutes Google'ing the Direktor.

Thursday's Rehearsal

2006-01-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

I lied when I promised to post about this on Friday. So sue me!

Thursday's rehearsal was very encouraging. The Direktor took "Next!" and I took "Attack of the Giant Ex's". You'll have to ask Direktor SIR how "Next!" went. For "Attack", Brook(e? it's spelled two different ways in the script!) showed up a little late, which was alright, because she was really quite good for most of the play, and when she wasn't, I was able to easily change her tone. She knew what I was talking about. Lovely. "Attack" has four absolutely lovely people to work with. Danny is easily one of my new favorites. I don't know Denise well enough, I don't think. And Laurie! Laurie is just one of the most pleasant people I know. They're going to be great. I can feel it in my bones.

Things to work on: Denise's expression, Danny and Laurie's enunciation, Brooke's indignant voice.

ASM is awesomex3, but I think he was getting a little bored. Danny answered his cell phone during a lull in rehearsal, and he got a little righteous. S'okay by me, 'cause he didn't take it or anything. I hope he doesn't push anybody too hard, or anything. I don't need anybody pushing back. ::shrug::

After rehearsal, three of my people had to go; Danny stayed after for a few minutes. I left Danny my email, so he could get in touch with me about individual rehearsals, if he wanted. He worked on some things with the Direktor and I. Which basically means the Direktor, heh. I defer to him if and when possible. He's the one with the (intimidating amount of) experience!

I think this rehearsal went pretty well, for my first time really telling people what to do in a theatrical sense. I don't know when we're going to start planning the sets, but I'd rather start sooner than later. I have some doodles. Rehearsal, I think, went especially well, considering I was stretching myself between it and a meeting with the Yearbook Committee, where I played madlibs with someone: "Anyone who verb +s a adjective noun is adjective stupid." My answers? Joins, f-bombing, gang, and f-bombing. Fill in the blanks! Le sigh. "Respect? That and fifty cents will get you a cup of [vending machine] coffee," says our resident Picasso.

Expect some notes about Friday's rehearsal sometime tomorrow.

2006-01-26T21:37:00.000-05:00

Someone called for me--sometime between 6:30 this morning, when I left the house, and 7:15 this evening, when I got back--and asked if I could babysit on Saturday. Score! I just called her back. She is the Soccer Mom to destroy all soccer moms. I kind of miss her crazy, rambunctious kids.

Wow. I just realized that this has nothing at all to do with the TDG. Well, what can you do.

Chromatikharmonononicka.

2006-01-26T21:18:00.000-05:00

When my grandparents moved out of this house some years ago, they left behind some things. Mostly junk, but some of it they wanted, and had just forgotten. Like a marble paper towel holder, that my grandmother insisted!, about a month after moving into her new home in Las Vegas, had to be shipped to her. They also left behind a relief map of Hawaii that Raggedy Andy sold on eBay for something like $800. Pap left behind his trunk of magic trick stuff, none of which anyone else knows how to use. Same story for the magic paraphenalia as for his old Hohner Chromatische Mundharmonika. "CHROMONIKA III" is emblazoned across the top of the instrument itself and its wooden case.

I've wanted to learn how to play the harmonica since I fell in love with Alanis Morissette's "Head Over Feet", which features a harmonica solo, and with Billy Joel, many of whose songs feature harmonica.

Well, Raggedy Ann #2 found Pap's chromatic harmonica in the closet in her room today, and has been carrying it around for hours. She's finally put in down in the last half hour or so, and I snagged it and pretended like I had any sort of musical talent. Google'd harmonicas and how to play them and the like--that's how I learned that it's chromatic, and that's also how I learned that it's a "monster" for having 16 holes instead of 10 or 12.

I don't think I was ever meant to even attempt to play the harmonica.

Expect a post from me tomorrow about this evening's rehearsals. I'm worn out.

Current Events

2006-01-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

Two days ago (aka January 24th), I got to see Open Stage for the first time. Nice. Met with a lovely woman who reminded me of the social worker from Mrs. Doubtfire. I went with Leia and Direktor SIR. Leia wanted to get back for digital photography class, but I wanted to stay out and about. Direktor SIR put his foot down and we headed back. Bah humbug.

Last night I worked on “blocking” for the play “Attack of the Giant Ex’s”, because today is my first day of directing, hooray! “Blocking” is, Wikipedia says, “a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play”. The Direktor explained it to me as writing down what the actors do.

This morning I emailed him: "Blocking is stupid. ::scowl::" His reponse: "Though stupid... imagine how dumb a cast would be if they are just sitting there."

Backtracking

2006-01-26T11:43:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not talking Haloscan backtracking or any of that. Er, but that's Trackback... Anyway, before I get too off-topic, I want to write about what I've done up until this point.

Over the December break, I went to the library to look for plays. None of the ones I found really suited our needs. A lot of them were inappropriate for school, required more staging than we could provide, and were lengthier than what we wanted. Much of the contact information (in regards to royalties and script costs) appeared to be outdated.

Direktor SIR, however, thanks to his theater experience knew about a catalogue of modern plays that was really good. Eldridge made the search easy, with plot summaries, casts broken down into male, female, and flexible parts, and previews. The Direktor ordered nine plays from the catalogue--"In Search of the Holy Grill" (no), "Next!" (yes), "Don't Say 'Macbeth'!" (no), "Unturned Stone" (yes), "Office Zone" (no), "Attack of the Giant Ex's" (yes), "No Chewing" (yes), "The Fourth Wall" (HILARIOUS! definitely a yes), and "Not An After School Special" (uh, no way).

The last performance the T&D Group did--the monologues--was an emotional rollercoaster (humorous monologues alternated with dramatic ones), so this one was decidedly going to be more upbeat.

Auditions were advertised around the school via fliers and word of mouth. Students were asked to come to the City High Great Room after school on Thursday, January 12th. Direktor SIR and I stayed until all auditions were completed. The first step was to take down every hopeful’s name and phone number. As an audition piece, each person could choose from one of two monologues: either a comedic or dramatic piece. After auditions, Direktor SIR and I stayed late to work out some preliminary casting.

I just heard Direktor SIR laff--a really, really loud, super-happy laff--in the hallway. He's so... happy.

Anyway. One issue that was immediately evident was the low number of males that had tried out for the program. In over thirty students that showed up, males only numbered about one in six. So the casting began by assigning actors to all of the strictly male roles. The male parts were balanced—no person had more than one leading role, or ended up with a multitude of small parts. After all of the male roles were cast, we started casting play-by-play.

Every student that was cast was asked if they would be able to commit to the amount of time that was being asked of them. The timeframe in question was once or twice a week after school from mid-January to mid-March. During the week of March 13th, the cast and crew would be asked to meet a few times a week off-site, at Open Stage Theatre (OST). Between the 20th and the 22nd will be full cast and crew dress rehearsals every night at OST. The performances would be the 23rd, 24th, and 25th, and set breakdown and a cast party would take place on the 26th of March.

The first official full cast and crew rehearsal was held on Thursday, January 19th. All of the parts were read and cast members were given photocopies of the scripts (as the scripts that were ordered hadn’t arrived yet—the photocopies that were given out were to be collected and shredded when the real scripts arrived). After announcing parts and handing out scripts, the cast members split into group by each play and read through their parts.

On January 23rd, there was a full cast and crew rehearsal. The Assistant (to the adult) Stage Manager (ASM) met with the stage crew to discuss settings for each of the five plays. The toughest staging would be for “Attack of the Giant Ex’s”, which required multiple setting changes without a break in the action of the play. The suggested setting in the script was to have a rotating four-sided box; each side would have a different background painted on it. SM and his Assistant Assistant Stage Manager (AASM) nixed this idea as too complicated. They also pointed out that the rotating box would probably still necessitate breaks in the flow of the story; the rotating apparatus could also get in the way of the staging of the other plays. ASM suggested adding height to different areas of the back of the stage, giving the appearance of different rooms or sceneries. I'm glad to have ASM on my side.

Aside from “Giant Ex’s”, most of the plays required minimal staging. “No Chewing” takes place in a back alley, in front of a doorway. “Next!” is about high school students trying out for a play, and so requires no staging. “Unturned Stone” takes place in a graveyard, in front of one tombstone in particular. “The Fourth Wall” takes place in an upper-class, 1950s living room.

Now a little bit about the theatre (theater?): OST is located in the Strip District, has a stage of 36 by 50 feet, offers seating for up to 200, has professional light and sound equipment, a brand new heating and air conditioning system, free parking, and offers event staff as needed. Super!

Grad Proj

2006-01-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

That's what this is. It's my Graduation Project--it's the be-all, end-all of whether or not I get to graduate--required in two of fifty states (Pennsylvania and Oregon). This is as much definition as the PA Department of Education gives it:

§ 4.24. High school graduation requirements.
(a) Each school district, including charter schools, shall specify requirements for graduation in the strategic plan under § 4.13 (relating to strategic plans). Requirements shall include course completion and grades, completion of a culminating project and results of local assessments aligned with the academic standards. Beginning in the 2002-2003 school year, students shall demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics on either the State assessments administered in grade 11 or 12 or local assessment aligned with academic standards and State assessments under § 4.52 (relating to local assessment system) at the proficient level or better to graduate. The purpose of the culminating project is to assure that students are able to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information and communicate significant knowledge and understanding.

That is it. "Requirements shall include ... completion of a culminating project ... the purpose of the culminating project is to assure that students are able to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information and communicate significant knowledge and understanding." You know what that means? Jack friggin' shit.

No, really. Do you know what that means? That means that a student can do a book report and graduate. But do you know what my school requires? A whole bunch of craptasticism. This is turning into a rant, which is not what I intended for it. I just wanted this to be an explanation of what this is for and who it's target audience is (I'm looking at you, Direktor-in-Chef).

So this is for my graduation project. I'm going to document every last little itty bitty step I take. My graduation project is to student-direct and act in a series of one-act plays. I'm going to be working with Direkor SIR and the rest of the Theeaytrah and Drizzama Groupies. And the wonderful, beautiful Stage Crew. Who I guess are part of the T&D Groupies.