"Feed Me, Seymour"

WALKING TO WRITE These Sunday walks are actually much more helpful to my writing than almost anything else. This is where the ideas come together for what will eventually be books, especially if I’m writing a New York book. I wander these streets — my mind attuned to the idea, “Must feed ... must feed ... must feed” — but the wandering is really an excuse to look at the city and to reacquaint myself, consider how things are changing. What do people look like? It’s fun to see spring turn into summer, and people getting to shed their clothes. This is where I pick up new vocabulary — I remember a few years ago when I heard somebody say “OMG!” I was so excited. Back then, I didn’t have an iPhone. I had to write it on my hand.

-Gary Shteyngart "A Day Spent Foraging Food and Ideas" 

The creative process is an active and dynamic process. I've also been reading loads of acting theory and that keen powers of observation is a necessity.

The title of this post? The company is about to embark on Little Shop of Horrors rehearsals, so I thought that was fitting.

In other news, I've gleaned three monologues (a piece) from the following plays:

Leonce and Lena
Julius Caesar


There are plenty more, but I don't want half of my portfolio to be Buchner monologues.

Some Robert Lewis quotes

Lewis to Brando:

"Why go to class at all if not to stretch yourself? Even if you never play a part like that, it will at least help you find the prince in any bum you have to do. Don't hang around in comfortable places."

"When you are relaxed, with no muscular tension, your technique is not apparent."

"In acting...you must not think 'leaders' as being BETTER than 'followers.'"

"The actor should WELCOME unconventional demands on his thinking and his movements. The solutions, when found, inevitably lead to a more interesting performance."

"Crying...is not the sole object of acting." (This makes me chuckle a bit)

I'm on a reading/media diet

Yesterday, I went to Barnes and Noble in Sioux Falls—mainly to get a change of scenery from the plush couch at home (and to get away from the monster that is Samson—this pup thinks he’s a lap dog and needs someone to constantly pet him. It’d be okay if he was only 7 pounds. He’s not. He’s at least 55 pounds).

I can spend quite a long time perusing shelves and tables at a bookstore. This fall and winter, I subscribed to quite a few lit blogs and would devour any article that came my way via twitter or Google reader.

This doesn’t happen anymore.

Yesterday, I promptly went to the café, ordered a drink, and started a new book from my “Monster Reading List.” That was about it. I glanced at some books on the main path, but I didn’t diverge. I have no need for more books and I don’t have time for them.

Life has changed. It is changing.

Now, it’s not a 180 or anything, but some habits and other comforts are dripping away—bit by bit. I packed up most of my books in my room. They’re sitting in tubs and will remain unread for quite some time. It’s okay. One day, they shall join a comprehensive Library of Tim. For now, it’s all about training and prepping for grad school. I don’t think it’s worth lugging them around for the next two years.

I use Google Reader for blog subscriptions. Lately, I’ve been on a media diet. I’m quite happy to click on a feed and select “unsubscribe.” If I find that I’ve been skipping or skimming a particular blog’s content on a repeated basis, it gets the axe. If I were to have done this a year ago, such an action would be met with such a ridiculous sense of guilt. But not anymore. I even gave up Tumblr. That site did me no favors.

(For those of you who exclusively use Tumblr, I have put your feeds in my Google Reader. But I would find myself on these “following binges” for strangers who post quirky, fun things and it starting becoming such a waste of time.)

It’s liberating to focus my energies on necessities. Sure, there are still diversions. I think those are healthy and necessary. And believe me, I have my fair share of diversions. But it’s become increasingly easy to cut away the muck that isn’t useful.

This is also coming to terms with a life in art, particularly acting.

Robert Lewis said in a lecture on clarifying Stanislavski’s system:

“Performing dancers, singers, violinists—especially great ones—study and practice all their lives. And the finer their equipment the more technique they need to support it.”

There seems to be a wonder from acting and theatre folks why actors don’t have this sense of life-long discipline about their art. I’m generalizing, and I don’t wish to discredit those who have made such a commitment. But there are plenty of people who make a career out of acting and don’t hone their chops (I'm sure there are even musicians and other artists who coast by as well). I’ve read quotes like this from a number of sources. I have some ideas on why the acting world has such a wide spectrum of skill and technique—that can be saved for another blog post.

In any case, I’m sensing a shift already. This life of studying and practice begins NOW. I knew it would happen. I mean, I’m bracing myself for a kind of seismic shift to happen once I drive into Houston with all my stuff. That’s bound to happen. But I’m starting to get a sense of what exactly this training and the M.F.A. is going to mean in a more...I dunno—tangible—way.

It's exciting, quite a bit freaky, but mostly awesome.

Okay, enough of this blathering. I've got some monologues to find.

Happy Star Wars Day

May The Fourth Be With You...

Local Twin Cities artist Jeremy Messersmith hopes to make this an annual carol.
It's awesome.

YouTube/Blogger is being dumb. I wanted to embed it, and it wasn't able to find the video or something weird like that.

Just trust me on this. It's not spam.

There's Nothing To See Here

Today, I felt quite adult.

I went to the optometrist (appointment scheduled all by myself), got a checkup, and got new glasses and contact lenses. I hate dealing with paper work and insurance. The guy selling lenses was upselling up the wazoo. I'm lucky I didn't take the bait (well, most of the bait), but it still cost a pretty penny.

Ah well, I'm all set with eye care for a good year.

But then my bank thought I was undergoing some suspicious activity. I think it's because my cards are still aligned with the Sioux Falls zip code, and a major purchase at a Rochester, MN Target may seem a bit shifty. Fraud protection called home instantly and my credit card account is frozen. I think I've gone through the necessary steps to "un-freeze" it. I haven't been using the credit card a whole lot (just for online purchases for books on my Monster Reading List and the new Fleet Foxes album!)

I'm going to the dentist on Monday, and I'm not looking forward to that. I'm flossing a lot more recently, as if they won't be able to notice the irregular flossing schedule! HA!

IN OTHER NEWS
I'm trucking along with grad school duties. I sent my head of program a 5 page document entitled: TIM _____________: A Life, Abstracted. I fear this is going way beyond what he's looking for, but we'll see.

I'm working on Stanislavski reading. I'm reading the new Jean Benedetti translation of An Actor's Work (which is a fusion of An Actor Prepares and Building a Character). The end of the first half was tough. The same jargon was repeated ad nauseum. This next section is (thankfully) different and stresses the importance of physical training (voice and movement) to stir the inner creative life. It's not as dry. After this, I still have Creating a Role and My Life in Art to complete, but I think I will take a break from Stan "the Man" islavski to dive into more plays and some voice work (Skinner and Hobbs).

Next week, I have a 5-day vacation. I'm going home, dropping off a TON of stuff, going through my belongings at home. On top of that, I'll be reading, reading, reading. I will take a break from reading to do more monologue poaching.

Today, I refined my spreadsheet for the reading list.

I have to figure out a better way to work through my monologue project (which I will perhaps describe some other day). Right now, I'm just copying/pasting the monologues in one large word document. It's not fancy. I'm not obsessing over the font and formatting (which, for me, is saying something). But it's becoming cumbersome to categorize them and keep track of the order and such. I think I'll need to create a spreadsheet, print it off, and fill in the blanks with a pen. That way, I don't have to worry about the order and categorizing on the computer screen (scrolling through 100+ pages ultimately). That can happen once I'm finished (who knows when that will be).

Another solution is to have multiple documents:

Ten Contemporary Rock the House Monologues_1 Minute
Ten Contemporary Rock the House Monologues_2 Minutes
etc. etc.

This could be a bit easier, but I'd still be dealing with a lot of documents.

This blog post is probably the driest thing you've ever read today. It's more for me than anything.

My goal for this "vacation" is to have a system in place for maximum monologue organization (and have a nice chunk of reading finished).

TIM: You also need to back up your files on your laptop.

Egad, I better make a checklist now.

Insomniac?

I cannot get to sleep. It’s been a strange day.

I finished Tina Fey’s Bossypants. This is one of the funniest and smartest people in the world. Her life isn’t glamorous (not that I ever thought it was). This book is a scattered selection of essays that tracks her life chronologically. I was most fascinated by her 30 Rock and Sarah Palin impersonation chapters. It made me laugh many, many times.

I had a matinee of An Enemy of the People. It didn't go so well for me. I had a headache for most of the show and just had a weird energy funk. The audience was great, and we got a slow, but earnest standing ovation.

I cooked tofu for the first time in my life. I'm not a big tofu or even strictly vegetarian, but I've had tofu a few times, and I like it (when it's seasoned well). So I fried some up with a teriyaki sauce and served it with some steamed veggies. It was tasty. I mean, I'm kind of lazy vegetarian in that I'm terribly at cooking any kind of meat and it's too expensive.

Later this evening, I got to work on some writing for grad school. Our head of program wants background info on our lives (family, places we've lived, hobbies, pinnacle moments, etc.). Having just finished Bossypants, I feel like I may be going a bit overboard. I mean...this is an excerpt:

Soccer – I have a bit of pride with this one. I played soccer for 8 years. In Sioux Falls, I was part of the Arsenal, a rec team for four seasons. I can’t recall if we were any good, but I know we weren’t terrible. I spent the beginning of that career playing midfield and ended up on defense. I’d like to think that I was pretty good. If I wasn’t such a band nerd in high school, I may have stuck with it.  

***********WE NOW INTERRUPT THIS WRITING BECAUSE THE WHOLE
OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD NEWS HAPPENED…*************** 

[cut to 30-40 years from now] 

Grandchild: Grandpa, where were you when you heard about the news of Osama’s death?

Gramps Tim: Oh, I was working on this pre-grad school assignment….and then my Twitter account was going absolutely insane…

[back to the background info]

Oh boy...I don't know if that will make the cut.

But I'm all worked up. 

I watched both Seth Meyers and Obama's White House Correspondents' Dinner speeches (both 20 minutes long). Seth, not even five minutes into the speech, starts joking about finding Osama Bin Laden. The camera cuts to President Obama, and he's got the LARGEST smile I have ever seen. HE KNEW! He MUST have. I mean, the joke is funny anyway. But it's a bit eerie. I'm not saying he knew he was dead. Because that would necessitate time travel, I'm pretty sure. I later find out that he had signed off on the operation on Friday morning during the Royal Wedding before flying to Alabama. I guess this can't be confirmed yet. But I read it on Twitter, and that's where news leaks first, apparently. Needless to say, our President has had QUITE the week. Guess he really did have more important things to worry about than his birth certificate.

The cuts to Donald Trump during the speeches are GOLD.

So, I can't sleep. I'm in a strange mix of great spirits, completely tired, and fascinated by the responses on the news, Facebook, and Twitter. It's stunning. Uplifting. Scary. Hilarious. And everything in between. I'm not a big fan of this kegger/spring break rave happening at the White House.

I think I'll read some Stanislavski now...