friday ramblings, the next friday

Ah it has been a pleasant week.

• I got a haircut!
  
• I surpassed page 50 on my first draft. sure that's 24 pages behind on my "3 pages a day" pledge for August. But I have time to make it up. If I'm lucky I will be done by the time Hunter Gatherers closes. That may be pushing it.
  
• Hunter Gatherers is really really closing on September 3. Sad there will not be a "fourth smash month." Alas. But it has been an incredible ride. My god, there was a "third smash month"!
  
• I'm off to Tahoe to perform in a murder mystery. Then I'm off to Chicago to do one. And then it's to Seattle in September to act in some sexual harrassment workshops. When did acting become my job and playwriting become my art?
• I saw that ant video linked inteh post below. In a classic cut and paste mishap, I accidentally sent that link to someone instead of a link to a New York Times article about a playwright. My note in the email was something like "Look! It's a cool thing about your friend!" And it was a video of ants jumping. Well, I guess I was already a bizarre person.
• Seeing the HG show tonight. My math teacher, history teacher, and spanish teacher from high school are coming.
• Colorado is rehearsing away in Berkeley. I am popping in now and then and having great discussions with Elkanah the director on the phone. So excited to see that alive and hopping. Melissa Hillman just sent the entire cast and crew background info on e-coli. Ooo. How's that for a teaser?
  
• SF is in its typical summer pattern of foggy morning, sunny afternoon, windy dusk and foggy night. I welcome this. As I do many of the remixes on the Feist remix album.
• Mark is in Mass right now visiting his peeps. We miss him very much.
• I am currently wearing my new pair of New Balances. Got them from oddball of course. Store shopping is depressing for a tall person. Everything remotely and different is restricted for the shorter or less footed of the species. god bless the internet and a larger global marketplace for making us heighties welcome in fashion arena.

And thus completes another RIVETING blog post from peter nachtrieb. What will happen next in my non-stop life of amazingness?!?!?!?!

wanna see some cool ants?

Check this out

Friday Ramblings

• The new couch is awesome. Not scratchy at all. Maybe a little sticky (it's leather). But significantly more comfortable.
  
• Saw Orbit last night, the dance/performance show from the Erika Shuch Performance Project at Intersection. It's one of those theater/dance experience where I found myself transfixed and constantly engaged and I couldn't explain why it was doing it. I was feeling it in the chest. So surprising and engaging and moving. Reminded me, as I write a first draft of a new play, to not forget about the visual possibilities. Go see it this weekend (it's the last weekend).
• First readthrough of Colorado at Impact this weekend. Craziness! I'm excited and nervous.
• I bought this book of prints by Albertus Seba called Cabinet of Natural Curiousities. A collection of gorgeous color prints of natural life, all drawn in the 1700s I think. It is a supremely gorgeous book.
  
• I'm going to New York in October! I think I will see a play or two, but not sure which ones. Any recommendations?
• May go see The Descent today but I really really don't want to. Mark really wants to. I'm scared already. Maybe I should bring my iPod.
• Have I mentioned I'm the proud owner of The Best of The Electric Company on DVD? Did that color anyone else's pop culture and creative sensibility as much as it did me?
  

Some responses from the HG audience survey

The Hunter Gatherers audience survey has been garnerning much interest after getting a mention in Leah Garchick's SF Chronicle column.

At long last, some of the best survey results are coming up online. Read them here

Farewell To Couch

Mark and I took our white couch, the main furniture piece of our "non-bedroom" room to the dump today. We were compelled to do this after being told by many thrift stores that they would not accept our donation. A hand-me-down from the Nachtrieb family, it was time to let it go and replace it with a "new" hand-me-down couch from the Nachtrieb family: this time it's a leather one that sat in my Dad's law office for many many decades, a gift from his mother, and now has a new life as part of a Mission District apartment.

The white couch was a little tattered. Shreds of fabric on the sides where two cats over 20 years had worked their claws into the side. Metal coils protruded out the bottom when we looked at the underside, having snapped off when an enthusiastic sit from one of us would break the metal attachment holding the coil to the wooden frame, something that had been happening with more and more frequency. It was a little dirty. In its 7 years in San Francisco, it has been part of many meals, sleepover guests, countless movies, and various significant developments in Mark and mine's relationship. Numerous sleepover guests remarked on the comfort of the couch, its lenghtyness, softness, and general welcoming vibe being a satisfying bed to many. It was also a little scratchy to bare skin. Occassionally a weird smell would waft through our apartment for a couple days. It was probably the couch.

Going farther back, the couch had been witness to numerous Christmases and present openings back at our Mill Valley house, where it occupied the important living room couch spot (it was too big for my parent's later San Anselmo digs). Brother George would often take a mid-afternoon nap on it on Christmas day. Multiple dinner parties started near the couch, with brie and paté and cornichons always nearby. Guitar playing, countless books read, the couch has been sat on for many many years.

At the dump, we carefully placed the couch on the cement, putting all the cushions back into place for one, last time. Mark and I sat in it together and had a smooch. In the distance, a large forklift scooped up the debris of other folks and dumped them into huge metal tins.

That Christmas Tree story by Hans Christian Anderson is like the saddest story ever!

Farewell, couch.

pop culture roundup

• Little Miss Sunshine - awesome
• Quiñceanera - pretty good
• Project Runway - loved the Pam Grier Dress too.
  
• Laguna Beach Marathon - kind of disappointing the second time around to realize what was so addictive last summer is really the most boring collection of pretty people, ever. Can't wait for the next season!
• The Comeback, Rome, Entourage, more, HBO ON Demand - Digital cable subscription has been great so far. But, is it just me, or does that show Cathouse feel like an infomercial?
• The Community Supported Agriculture Food Box from Eatwell Farms - getting better and better, and we're getting better at eating all of it. Summer squash -mmm. The organic eggs - mmm. Can't wait to eat the melon and finally getting heirlooms. We haven't seemed to get too many of the summer fruits, peaches for example. I remember peaches being in the literature.
• Currently Heavily rotating in the ipod - Feist, Herbert, Goldfrapp, Gnarls Barkely, N Lannon, Mylo, Thom Yorke, songs that feel melancholic and hopeful and personal and grand at the same time (inspirational mix for new play).
• I need more mashups!
  
• The 2 dollar Tecate pint at the Homestead.
• The New Couch - maybe I'll get a picture of it. But it's stirring up a revolution in the living room today. Mark and I took the Old Couch out and was soundly rejected by multiple thirft stores, including the Salvation Army. We took it to the dump where the check in guy said "That's a nice couch!" Wait a minute. This needs it's own post.
  

HG till September 3, Actors Benefit Monday

Yes people, Hunter Gatherers is now running till September 3.

This monday is "Actor's Benefit Night"! All dough gets split among the actors and run crew! They deserve extra cash for their 2 hour Bikram Theatre Workout every night.

Pay what you can nights are back on Wednesdays and they're holding more at the door for those so go there and pay what you can.

OK. Sorry about this brief return to selfpromotiondom

My initial image of Kelly Clarkson in my post "Guess who I'm going to see tonight" has sadly been removed from the internet. I did find the source of the photo, this handy "From Justin to Kelly" wallpaper I found at www.fromjustintokelly.com.

This is now my wallpaper for my computer. Or, since I have a mac, its really my desktop image. It replaces the previous desktop image, which was a Dolce and Gabbana ad featuring the Italian Soccer Team.

the ads on myspace...

make me feel like a trashy whore every time I use it.

Firstly, I'm not sure if I fully understand the logic of the new small car from Toyota, Yaris, and its sponsoring a "look back" at Season One of Prison Break.

Secondly, the fact that I get ads for "OutPersonals" and other dating ads featuring shirtless men makes me feel uncomfortably targeted.

Thirdly, why in God's name is Classmates.com still in business? They need to shut their asses down and stop sending me a daily email about a new Alumni just having joined their ass service.

Fourthly, 1-800-PetMeds?

Fifthly, has anyone played Outswim The Piranha and emerged victorious? And if so, what ringtone did they win?

ok enough of that...

Notes on the Kelly Clarkson concert

I went to the Kelly Clarkson concert last night. Lawn seats were an amazingly affordable 25 dollars (plus a nine dollar bullshit ticket fee) and the Shoreline Amphitheatre was packed and ready to see what was behind those hazel eyes. On our night, lots of mascara was behind them. Here are some notes and observations:

• GOOD CONCERT! Kelly put on a great show. She has apparently been a little hoarse recently, but was having a "good night" and seemed to be enjoying herself, chatting up the crowd, and letting all the feelings and heart out during each of her songs. She's got a great voice, charming twang, and some of her new songs sound good. Get ready, America.
  
• Thank god I'm gay 'cause I would have felt like a mild pervert at this concert which was about 70% early teen and tween girls. I'm guessing most of the men there were homos, dads, coerced boyfriends, but then there was a bizarre smattering of high school dudes who may have taken a wrong turn heading for the Warped Tour. It's weird to watch someone try to be badass and macho at a Kelly Clarkson concert.
  
• Personalized shirts for concerts, with either iron-on or paint pen, are still in!
• The men's bathroom was empty.
• So were the bars.
  
• 3 bluesy songs were set in the "Bayou." With big trees and a pier of some sort. And then the set returned back to its standard metal, tv screen and moving lights.
• One song was rather explicitly a Ford Commercial. You can take the girl out of American Idol, but I guess you can't take....
• I saw someone with a Hanson hoodie.
  
• The opening band was called "Rooney." At the end of each song the lead singer would say "Thank You Very Much!" which would lead me to think they were done. But then they would play another song. At the end of their set, the lead singer waved a "Rooney" flag. A little premature, don't you think, Rooney?
• Before Kelly Clarkson, they gave away a Ford. People were asked to vote for who they thought was most deserving of a Ford between 3 finalists who had made "Bold Moves": One had given up her high paying job to sail around the world. One had stopped a thief from stealing a purse. And one, at age 26, took in her sister's 4 children and raised them. Who do you think won the Ford?
• Occasionally people were brought up on stage. Instead of just having fun and dancing with Kelly, a great deal of the lucky people's time was spent attempting to take digital photographs of themselves on the stage. People in the front row seemed to always have their digital cameras up and clicking. When did proving to others that you have had an experience become more important than having an experience?
  
• Since You've Been Gone was the final number. We all jumped up and down and I may have stepped on the toes of a 9 year old standing behind me (who must have been pissed off to be standing behind me, but also perhaps a little intimidated). A great end to the concert, and we blasted it out the windows of Malibu as he we headed out of the parking lot. Everyone walking back to their cars sang along. That's community!
  

Guess who's concert I'm going to tonight?