Plunging Headlong Into the Abyss?! Why Not!?

Well, Hi! Just thought I'd "drop in"... BUAHAHAHAH!!!! Nice to "ski" you again! BUAHAHAHAH!!! There's "snow" time like the present! BUAHAHAHA!!!

*cough* *cough*

Whew, man... I should stop smoking my Sherlock Holmes pipe... sure, it looks distinguished, but, man, it makes it hard to laugh comfortably at my own ridiculosity...

So, yeah, I'm not going to apologize for the time between updates. You know how it is... Man, so much to talk about!

But first! Here's the President out for a stroll in DC, surprising the heck out of random people on the street.



Now, I find several things interesting about this clip. First, I loved it. Say what you want about the President, politically, but I love that he did this. Can you imagine the President just randomly walking up and greeting you, and chatting with you like that? I just think that is so cool.

I used to be more political. As I've aged (or "matured" sounds more flattering) I've decided that getting mad about politics is ridiculous. But I must be alone in that assessment. If you scroll through the comments on the video, you'll be amazed... well, maybe not. Such venom, so many ridiculous insults... I guess it could be argued that it's that way with every video on YouTube, or rather with people in general. I can pretty much guarantee that just about every one of those anonymous retards spewing hate online about the Pres in the comments section would sing a far different tune if they were the ones that met the man on the street.

It reminds me of this video from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where a Yankee baseballer returns to NYC after having accepted a trade to Seattle for a 10 year, 250-million dollar contract. Here, watch this....



Exactly!

Those commenters would do *exactly* the same thing with the President. I think it ties into my long-running fascination with the theme of "the idea vs the reality"... I know I would get a huge kick out of meeting the President.

Anyways...

So there's a lot of potentially interesting things on the horizon, acting/writing-wise. Once things solidify a bit more, I'll spill it here. But things are looking awesome.

We have a new instructor on staff at our acting school. It's this guy...

His name is Kaleti Williams, and he's been acting professionally for over a decade now. Check out his IMDB page, for the long list of things he's been in... what I loved most about him were the numerous real-world on-set illustrations and examples he gave... very specific, useful stories, as opposed to more general, conceptual things...

You may recall him from one of the Pirate's of the Caribbean movies (At World's End)...

He even did the impossible! He actually gave me new insight into why improv is important! As in, real-world application! He said, with the bigger-named actors, many of them will glance at the script, chuck it on the floor after getting a feel for what the scene is supposed to accomplish, and then find his/her own route there, which may or may not stay on script. If they deviate at all, and you're acting with them, and you're locked onto the lines, waiting for a certain cue, you're going to get lost. You need also to be able to know the lines, but also know the points that the scenes are supposed to hit, so if your co-actor dances off the path, you can dance with him/her.

Duh! It makes sense now! All this time I've despised improv because it never really made sense to me! Now it does!

Also, he had a really interesting take on audition attitudes. He said never go into an audition giving a crap about the role you're auditioning for. Instead, go into auditions with the mindset that what you're there to do is make an impression on the producers holding the audition, so in future projects, they remember you, and call you to simply offer you parts outright in the future. If you're angsty about a specific role, you'll likely make safe choices, and thus blend into the vast crowd of other actors auditioning, making your odds of landing the role next to nil. But if you strip that angst and tension away, focusing on future roles, then that will also affect your performance in this audition, meaning you'll be more relaxed, willing to take more chances, and able to make yourself stand out from the crowd, increasing your chances of getting that role, as well as future roles.

Anyways, it was very interesting, and it makes sense to me. I hope he subs in on our Advanced Class again. I love our regular teacher, don't get me wrong. But this guy has a lot to offer as well.

OK, change of topic.

Watch this. If you are a golf fan at all, watch what Jack Nicklaus does here...



That... is amazing. Not just that he sank a 102-foot putt that broke all over the place, plus traveling like 5 feet up in elevation, but that he looked at the putt for maybe a second before walking up and smacking it in. Unreal.

What am I reading, you wonder? Well, wonder no more! I'm rereading Best Served Cold, by the great Joe Abercrombie. I gave it 3 stars the first time I read it, and had issues with it. But a funny thing is happening now that I'm re-reading it. I know what will happen, so I'm able now to focus on enjoying the craft that went into the book. The story structure, the scene choices, the dialog - I mean, individual sentences, word choices, phraseology... it is *so good*... I think it was basically invisible the first time around, because I was flowing with the story... but now, I'm definitely going to revise my score upwards when I finish.

It makes me wonder about other books I've given less-than-stellar reviews to, including Abercrombies other book Red Country. I better re-read that one again soon. Man, my reread list is getting almost as long as my read list! It's a great time to be a fantasy fan.

On the gaming front, the Minecraft Creative server that I've been building on for months had a hacker attack, and lost all the plots. My domain was once again erased, wiping out an embarassingly enormous number of hours of work. It's therapy, really. It's a low-stress, mellow way to unwind, to create, to build, to vent tension... I love Minecraft. To have it all wiped out hurts in a way that all of you, I'm sure, won't ever "get"... sounds foolish to you, I'm sure. If it wasn't me, it would sound foolish to me as well...

OK, I'm going to stop here. I've unloaded enough nonsense on you for the day. If you read through it all, you have my appreciation.

Adios for now,

Dave the Appreciative