Seth to Rick:
Name Six things that would make me smile.
*Seth got some bad news, and wanted to be taken out of his bad mood.
1.) An inspirational story:
L. Frank Baum tried all kinds of jobs, and hated all of them. When he decided to become an author, he threw himself into that- and failed miserably for years. When he finally got a book published, he was 41 years old. It was not at all considered successful, and the publisher went bankrupt. He sent a copy to his sister with this inscription:
“When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything ‘great,’ I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one’s heart and brings its own reward.”
Three years later he published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
2.) An online game that I think you'll like:
3 Slices
3.) Three memories I bet you haven't thought about in a long time:
"This is the worst Chinese food I've ever had. Ever."
Jody.
Robbie's One Rule.
4.) A fun fact that you may not know:
The Bir Tawil Triangle is a four-sided area of 800 square miles between Egypt and Sudan that both countries insist belongs to the other country, and is one of a handful of places in the world not claimed by any country.
5.) Inspirational pablum:
A coworker in my office has a card on his desk that reads, "When work feels overwhelming, remember that you're going to die." I like that.
6.) My vote of confidence in you:
There is nobody that I would rather be onstage with than you. Any show I've been in with you, any show I've seen you in, is a fantastic show that hits my humor level exactly and is exactly what I want to see when I watch improv. Your improv shouldn't be for everyone, and if it's not for everyone, at least it's for people like us.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Name Six: Ways Teenagers Have it Easier Than We Did
Rick to Seth:
Name Six ways teenagers have it easier than we did.
*Seth and Rick are both in thier 30's, so it's been a bit of time since they were teenagers*
This is a fun one, cause I get to be the cranky old man for a bit. Most of these revolve around the world of technology, for those are the greatest differences between now and then. But I think people don't realise the specifics of things.
1. Cell Phones: For the modern teen these suckers are invaluable, and yet, we didn't have'em at all. Besides all the fun and distraction they can provide, it was a pain in the butt having to coordinate any type of event with friends. If someone was going to be late or had to cancel there was NO WAY to let people know. You just got ditched. I have walked alone in lonely malls in my life, these kids don't understand.
2. Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Evite etc.... we didn't have it. So if we wanted to plan a party or share news with folks, we had to hunt them down ourselves. Don't get me wrong, this stuff can be used for bad as well as good, but anyone who ever had to go to kinkos to get invitations printed out knows this stuff is way better.
3.Video games: This one is just simple. Compare the WORST game of today versus the BEST games of my time and there is still no comparision. Games today are amazing.
4. MP3's/Itunes: Back in my day, you had to buy an entire album if you liked one song. Then if you wanted to make a mix you have to get a double tape deck and record them one at a time, which left you with a crappy sounding tape. Now, you can spend a few bucks, get the newest songs in seconds and have them with perfect quality.
5. Hulu/TIVO/Netflix: I'm going to lump these all together because they all equate to the same thing.... people can watch whatever they want whenever they want. When I was a kid, I cried for a hour when I missed an episode of the Muppet show. AN HOUR! Now a days you can catch not only any show on TV, but also find almost any show ever made, and every movie as well. Oye!
6. Access to art: In general, the internet, the various TV programs, and every media outlet know to man is available to teens right now. I'll admit is is an overload and the one thing the internet desperatly needs is context, but it does give an interesting ability for people to seek out new things that interest them. I was lucky that I found Improv when I did and had a chance to start very early with it. And I just hope that kids will use what they have to find what they are looking for and be able to chase after it.
Readers: Name 6 differences between yourself and another generation. Good or bad.
Name Six ways teenagers have it easier than we did.
*Seth and Rick are both in thier 30's, so it's been a bit of time since they were teenagers*
This is a fun one, cause I get to be the cranky old man for a bit. Most of these revolve around the world of technology, for those are the greatest differences between now and then. But I think people don't realise the specifics of things.
1. Cell Phones: For the modern teen these suckers are invaluable, and yet, we didn't have'em at all. Besides all the fun and distraction they can provide, it was a pain in the butt having to coordinate any type of event with friends. If someone was going to be late or had to cancel there was NO WAY to let people know. You just got ditched. I have walked alone in lonely malls in my life, these kids don't understand.
2. Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Evite etc.... we didn't have it. So if we wanted to plan a party or share news with folks, we had to hunt them down ourselves. Don't get me wrong, this stuff can be used for bad as well as good, but anyone who ever had to go to kinkos to get invitations printed out knows this stuff is way better.
3.Video games: This one is just simple. Compare the WORST game of today versus the BEST games of my time and there is still no comparision. Games today are amazing.
4. MP3's/Itunes: Back in my day, you had to buy an entire album if you liked one song. Then if you wanted to make a mix you have to get a double tape deck and record them one at a time, which left you with a crappy sounding tape. Now, you can spend a few bucks, get the newest songs in seconds and have them with perfect quality.
5. Hulu/TIVO/Netflix: I'm going to lump these all together because they all equate to the same thing.... people can watch whatever they want whenever they want. When I was a kid, I cried for a hour when I missed an episode of the Muppet show. AN HOUR! Now a days you can catch not only any show on TV, but also find almost any show ever made, and every movie as well. Oye!
6. Access to art: In general, the internet, the various TV programs, and every media outlet know to man is available to teens right now. I'll admit is is an overload and the one thing the internet desperatly needs is context, but it does give an interesting ability for people to seek out new things that interest them. I was lucky that I found Improv when I did and had a chance to start very early with it. And I just hope that kids will use what they have to find what they are looking for and be able to chase after it.
Readers: Name 6 differences between yourself and another generation. Good or bad.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Name Six: Books You Love
From Seth to Rick: Name Six books that you love.
*Rick is one of those “book people”. He reads, but he also just plain likes books.
1.) Pickle-Chiffon Pie by Roger Bradfield.
This was my favorite book as a child, and I would read it over and over, turning back to the beginning when I got to the end. It’s a simple children’s story, very much based on the rule of threes (in fact, each of the three sections is a rule-of-three story) with cute drawings and a main character that looks a little like me.
Oh! In looking this book up on Amazon, apparently there is a sequel that came out this past April! I read this book in the early Eighties, and it was ten to fifteen years old at that point, so the idea that he would write a sequel 45 years later is great. I may need to buy that.
2.) The Girl, Gold Watch, and Everything by John D MacDonald.
A cute girl who worked at Borders with me bought this book, so I bought a copy to have something to talk with her about. By the time I finished it, she had quit, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. MacDonald’s Travis McGee detective novels are more popular, but I could never get into them.
Speaking of sequels, I recently found out that this book (which has no sequel) has a made-for-tv movie starring Pam Dawber, and the tv movie has a sequel- written by MacDonald, but never turned into a book. Just like Fletch, which could easily be on this list. Love that book, too.
3.) Algebra 1 by Paul Foerster.
I know how nerdy it is to love a math book, but you have to understand how good this book is. Algebra is a disaster of a class, and every book on the market tries to make it better by adding in pictures of roller coasters or using story problems that make no sense (If you’re smart enough to have an equation for your flower bed’s perimeter, why can’t you use a tape measure to find out how long it is?) This book does none of that, and is the only Algebra book I’ve ever seen that makes a distinction between variables and pronumerals- something I’d never heard of before. I’ve learned more reading that book than any college class I ever took. If you want to consider Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus ‘sequels’ to Algebra, then Foerster wrote some pretty good sequels, too.
4.) Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.
I’m a big fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide books, but Dirk Gently is something I read often. While Hitchhiker’s asks you to constantly imagine different worlds and creatures, Dirk Gently asks you to accept one or two fantastical elements and otherwise grounds the story in reality. Mysteries typically either are easy to figure out, or cheat by keeping information from you, but at the end of this one, I immediately read it through a second time and took in all of the foreshadowing that existed, but would be impossible to piece together. That doesn’t even describe it, because foreshadowing makes you think of a couple sentences, while Dirk Gently has entire chapters that only loosely make sense until you see them in hindsight. Again, a sequel- The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
5.) Improv! By Greg Atkins.
It’s a really simple book- it’s essentially a list of games and exercises- but it has a good section on a class curriculum, and best of all, has a great section that lists common problems improvisers have matched with exercises that will help them work past those issues. Donna gave me a copy for a birthday one year, and the kind note inside the front cover always makes me smile. It’s one of my favorite possessions.
6.) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
This certainly isn’t one of my top books of all time, but you just asked for books I love, and I’ve been looking for a reason to recommend it. It’s a kids’ book- won the Newberry award last year- and it’s fantastic. I try to take an afternoon each summer and read the recent Newberry award winner, and this was my favorite since I started doing that. Just a very good book.
Readers: What are some books that you love? Why?
*Rick is one of those “book people”. He reads, but he also just plain likes books.
1.) Pickle-Chiffon Pie by Roger Bradfield.
This was my favorite book as a child, and I would read it over and over, turning back to the beginning when I got to the end. It’s a simple children’s story, very much based on the rule of threes (in fact, each of the three sections is a rule-of-three story) with cute drawings and a main character that looks a little like me.
Oh! In looking this book up on Amazon, apparently there is a sequel that came out this past April! I read this book in the early Eighties, and it was ten to fifteen years old at that point, so the idea that he would write a sequel 45 years later is great. I may need to buy that.
2.) The Girl, Gold Watch, and Everything by John D MacDonald.
A cute girl who worked at Borders with me bought this book, so I bought a copy to have something to talk with her about. By the time I finished it, she had quit, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. MacDonald’s Travis McGee detective novels are more popular, but I could never get into them.
Speaking of sequels, I recently found out that this book (which has no sequel) has a made-for-tv movie starring Pam Dawber, and the tv movie has a sequel- written by MacDonald, but never turned into a book. Just like Fletch, which could easily be on this list. Love that book, too.
3.) Algebra 1 by Paul Foerster.
I know how nerdy it is to love a math book, but you have to understand how good this book is. Algebra is a disaster of a class, and every book on the market tries to make it better by adding in pictures of roller coasters or using story problems that make no sense (If you’re smart enough to have an equation for your flower bed’s perimeter, why can’t you use a tape measure to find out how long it is?) This book does none of that, and is the only Algebra book I’ve ever seen that makes a distinction between variables and pronumerals- something I’d never heard of before. I’ve learned more reading that book than any college class I ever took. If you want to consider Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus ‘sequels’ to Algebra, then Foerster wrote some pretty good sequels, too.
4.) Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.
I’m a big fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide books, but Dirk Gently is something I read often. While Hitchhiker’s asks you to constantly imagine different worlds and creatures, Dirk Gently asks you to accept one or two fantastical elements and otherwise grounds the story in reality. Mysteries typically either are easy to figure out, or cheat by keeping information from you, but at the end of this one, I immediately read it through a second time and took in all of the foreshadowing that existed, but would be impossible to piece together. That doesn’t even describe it, because foreshadowing makes you think of a couple sentences, while Dirk Gently has entire chapters that only loosely make sense until you see them in hindsight. Again, a sequel- The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
5.) Improv! By Greg Atkins.
It’s a really simple book- it’s essentially a list of games and exercises- but it has a good section on a class curriculum, and best of all, has a great section that lists common problems improvisers have matched with exercises that will help them work past those issues. Donna gave me a copy for a birthday one year, and the kind note inside the front cover always makes me smile. It’s one of my favorite possessions.
6.) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
This certainly isn’t one of my top books of all time, but you just asked for books I love, and I’ve been looking for a reason to recommend it. It’s a kids’ book- won the Newberry award last year- and it’s fantastic. I try to take an afternoon each summer and read the recent Newberry award winner, and this was my favorite since I started doing that. Just a very good book.
Readers: What are some books that you love? Why?
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Name Six: Times You Made Someone Laugh Intentionally.
From Rick to Seth:
Name Six times you intentionally made someone laugh, and how.
This is a trickier one, not because it is difficult to find examples, it is just tricky to find specific ones. Like most improvisers (and this includes Rick) I am always looking to entertain those around me in some way, and I tend to get bored easily. Combine those two things and you get a person who always has a comment or quip loaded and ready to fire. So, I will try and choose a few moments that A. I can remember clearly, and B. I'm some what proud of.
1. My Cousin Lance: My family is full of good laughers. Not just people with good senses of humor, but rich infectious laughs as well. Not more so then my cousin Lance. He has one of the best laughs I have ever met. It's layered and pitched and if you get him started, he keeps going for a while. Needless to say, I try to make him laugh as much as possible. My two standing strategies are either quotes from Caddyshack ("This is an exclusive club Wang, so don't tell them you're Jewish. OK? Fine.") or non-sequitur jokes. My favorite of which is: Two birds are in a bird bath. The first bird turns to the second bird and says "Can you pass me the soap". The second bird says "What do I look like, a typewriter?" Classics.
2. Messing with Sammy. My little sister Samara and I didn't always get along (see previous blog), and when we're younger, we got into a lot of arguments. Now, I learned early on that nothing upset Sam more then making her laugh when she was crying. It would make her voice warble in a way that I can't convey through writing, and would usually send her off to slam a door in the house somewhere. On one specific occasion that I can remember, she was unable to do that, because we we're traveling in the car with my parents. I think it was one of our long trips we took when we first got to Wyo. It was late, and we we're all a little tired, so I told my father the non-sequitur joke about the birdbath. For what ever reason, my Mother and Father found it hilarious, but Sam didn't get it, which made her upset. So I told another one: You are paddling your canoe down the street and your canoe runs out of gas, how many bones are in a yogurt? None. Chickens don't have fur. This joke made them laugh even harder, and Sam get even madder. By the third joke, my Father's eyes were watering and Sam was screaming: Is it further to Paris or by train? BATTING CAGE! It was a perfect storm of comedy and cruelty.
3. Meeting Blake. I was out at a bar in a situation where I was meeting a few people for the first time. One of which was this highly entertaining guy named Blake. We were passing stories back and forth, as people do, when it came out that when Blake was younger he used to work at a Hot Topic in Arkansas. Without even thinking I said "What's the hot topic in Arkansas, electricity?" Blake laughed for a solid minute and we've been friends ever since.
4. Other Bathroom. Back in high school, when we had just moved into the new house that my parents had built, I had a group of people over to check the place out. This one girl, Julie, went to use the small bathroom next to the kitchen. Just after she settled in to do her business, I knocked on the door and said "Oh no Julie, this one is just for show." She laughed after I told her I was kidding.
5. Par's Wedding. I have spoken at a few weddings, and in each one I've tried to be a mix of funny and heartfelt. One of my favorite moments from any of them was at Parwaiz and Katie's wedding. The wedding took place in a suburb of Chicago where Katie's family is from. So, before I started the real meet of my speech, I went over to Katie's dad and quoted Luca Brasi from the Godfather. "Thank you for allowing me here on the day of your daughters wedding. My their first child be a masculine child." Half the room got what I was doing, and that's all I need to make me smile.
6. Poker in Vegas. I was in Las Vegas playing Hold'em poker at a table in Bally's with my great buddy Parwaiz... and I was getting very drunk. And the more I drink, the looser my words become, and the more I try to be funny, which really got under the skin of half the guys at the table. The other half, including Par and the dealers, loved me. The comment that put me over the top was when the dealer told us that the monorail had been shut down because someone had been hit by it. I drunkenly cocked my head to the side and said "Hey, anybody that gets hit by a monorail....deserves it." The dealer like that so much that he called the pit boss over to tell him.
Readers: Can you Name Six times you have intentionally made someone laugh? Then do it!
Name Six times you intentionally made someone laugh, and how.
This is a trickier one, not because it is difficult to find examples, it is just tricky to find specific ones. Like most improvisers (and this includes Rick) I am always looking to entertain those around me in some way, and I tend to get bored easily. Combine those two things and you get a person who always has a comment or quip loaded and ready to fire. So, I will try and choose a few moments that A. I can remember clearly, and B. I'm some what proud of.
1. My Cousin Lance: My family is full of good laughers. Not just people with good senses of humor, but rich infectious laughs as well. Not more so then my cousin Lance. He has one of the best laughs I have ever met. It's layered and pitched and if you get him started, he keeps going for a while. Needless to say, I try to make him laugh as much as possible. My two standing strategies are either quotes from Caddyshack ("This is an exclusive club Wang, so don't tell them you're Jewish. OK? Fine.") or non-sequitur jokes. My favorite of which is: Two birds are in a bird bath. The first bird turns to the second bird and says "Can you pass me the soap". The second bird says "What do I look like, a typewriter?" Classics.
2. Messing with Sammy. My little sister Samara and I didn't always get along (see previous blog), and when we're younger, we got into a lot of arguments. Now, I learned early on that nothing upset Sam more then making her laugh when she was crying. It would make her voice warble in a way that I can't convey through writing, and would usually send her off to slam a door in the house somewhere. On one specific occasion that I can remember, she was unable to do that, because we we're traveling in the car with my parents. I think it was one of our long trips we took when we first got to Wyo. It was late, and we we're all a little tired, so I told my father the non-sequitur joke about the birdbath. For what ever reason, my Mother and Father found it hilarious, but Sam didn't get it, which made her upset. So I told another one: You are paddling your canoe down the street and your canoe runs out of gas, how many bones are in a yogurt? None. Chickens don't have fur. This joke made them laugh even harder, and Sam get even madder. By the third joke, my Father's eyes were watering and Sam was screaming: Is it further to Paris or by train? BATTING CAGE! It was a perfect storm of comedy and cruelty.
3. Meeting Blake. I was out at a bar in a situation where I was meeting a few people for the first time. One of which was this highly entertaining guy named Blake. We were passing stories back and forth, as people do, when it came out that when Blake was younger he used to work at a Hot Topic in Arkansas. Without even thinking I said "What's the hot topic in Arkansas, electricity?" Blake laughed for a solid minute and we've been friends ever since.
4. Other Bathroom. Back in high school, when we had just moved into the new house that my parents had built, I had a group of people over to check the place out. This one girl, Julie, went to use the small bathroom next to the kitchen. Just after she settled in to do her business, I knocked on the door and said "Oh no Julie, this one is just for show." She laughed after I told her I was kidding.
5. Par's Wedding. I have spoken at a few weddings, and in each one I've tried to be a mix of funny and heartfelt. One of my favorite moments from any of them was at Parwaiz and Katie's wedding. The wedding took place in a suburb of Chicago where Katie's family is from. So, before I started the real meet of my speech, I went over to Katie's dad and quoted Luca Brasi from the Godfather. "Thank you for allowing me here on the day of your daughters wedding. My their first child be a masculine child." Half the room got what I was doing, and that's all I need to make me smile.
6. Poker in Vegas. I was in Las Vegas playing Hold'em poker at a table in Bally's with my great buddy Parwaiz... and I was getting very drunk. And the more I drink, the looser my words become, and the more I try to be funny, which really got under the skin of half the guys at the table. The other half, including Par and the dealers, loved me. The comment that put me over the top was when the dealer told us that the monorail had been shut down because someone had been hit by it. I drunkenly cocked my head to the side and said "Hey, anybody that gets hit by a monorail....deserves it." The dealer like that so much that he called the pit boss over to tell him.
Readers: Can you Name Six times you have intentionally made someone laugh? Then do it!
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