Last day of Memorial Day weekend and last post about killing people.
In the face of natural disasters like tornadoes and earthquakes and tsunamis and floods - the loss of life is felt by everyone deeply. The victims aren't just numbers, they walk around, do things, breath, people know them. Each person has a value, the scale does not matter.
In the aftermath, people are overwhelmed with passion and the question of "What can I do?"
A bombing raid is not that different than a natural disaster to the...Read more
There's an old joke:
A man sees a woman in a bar and asks her, "Would you sleep with me for ten million dollars?"
The woman is a respectable professional, but that's a lot of money and she says, "yes."
The man then says "How about a hundred dollars?"
The woman is outraged, "What kind of woman do you think I am?"
"We've already established that," says the Man, "Now we're just negotiating the price.
I feel that way about ...Read more
It's Memorial Day Weekend in the US where traditionally fallen soldiers are remembered and it's inspired me to write a few blogs about war.
Precision Targeting, Smart Bombs, Guided Technology, Target Recognition - There are a growing list for buzz words combined in countless ways which celebrate how advanced our weapons technology has become so that the public doesn't fear using them. We've demonized the idea of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" as something "the other people use."
The ...Read more
As humans, we're born with lots of instincts that are shamed out of us as we get older. One of the most important experiences, lessons, and guidelines of improv is to let go of judgment.
Don't judge yourself or others.
Don't think, "Oh this scene isn't going well," or "I'm not doing well," or "My partner isn't doing well." Because none of that is going to change the fact that you're on stage with this person. If you begin to let the shamed instinc...Read more
I'm going to talk about writing by talking about Video Games.
I feel that most games do not understand how to create drama. The primary problem seems that most game writers don't understand what drama is vs. a series of problems.
There was a mod to Return to Castle Wolfenstien called "Gold Rush" and it had perfect drama:
Two teams starting opposite bases with gold scattered through out the location. You...Read more
Hey! Thanks y'all for coming out to the
Los Angeles AliveNotDead
Birthday Party. What a BLaST! I only got a couple shots, but here's when Teddy jumped onto the mix board and did a little Jay Chou Karioke. Go Teddy!
Improv Rules 02: Don't Ask Questions (Add instead)
In life, curiosity is a good thing. If you're doing an interview, questions are great. For a society to work well, questioning authority is a healthy attitude.
But questions in improv are trouble.
The basic problems with question is that you are unfairly putting the responsibility of the scene on your scene partner.
Example:
You: What are you doing?
Partner: I'm looking for gold.
You: Find an...Read more
Singer/Composer: Toaana. Since I first heard her on YouTube, she has seemed to get quite a following, so perhaps she's not quite that under the radar in that community, but for the world at large, I thnk she still is. I like her voice. I like that it sounds natural to her and isn't trying to mimic another person. I particularly, though, like this one song.
Song: "Don't Say Goodnight" The music was written by Doctorcastille for her to finish. It has a 70's fo...Read more