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Report from London

The acting job that sends me to exotic tradeshow locales and forces me to grow a goatee dispatched me to London to entertain computer security professionals from all over Europe. It was a grand time. Mark and I travelled a few days before my official work start and fought jet lag hard to see the city for the first time. It was a blast, though I seem to have packed so much in that I am left flu-ish and with a sore throat. The sore throat is also due to being loud and talking for about 22 hours straight at the tradeshow and bad vocal training.

Some thoughts and discoveries:

• The Thames is not as romantic as the Seine but still seems nice. I liked the Thames, and its foot bridges, and its ability to give you a scope of the city. And the South Bank with its institutions. But it's definitely not as romantic as the Seine, because, well the Seine is narrower, has cute islands, the batobus, and more uniformly pleasant architecture.
  
• Fashion noticing #1: More black eyes on Sunday.
• Celebrity Sightings: Daniel Radcliffe in Equus (And Richard Griffiths), and Tobey Maguire at the Tate Modern. Both happen to be on the cover of last weeks EW. Awesome. Also saw Madam Hooch (i know she's more than that) in The Rose Tattoo at the National Theatre. It's interesting seeing a cast of British actors perform a Tennessee Williams play about Italians in Louisiana. Some of the accents were a little all over the place, but show was good. It's fun to see a play that has 16 actors in it!
  
• Favorite Thing I ate: The Indian food.
• Least Favorite Thing I ate: The Italian food.
• Most Expensive Thing I ate: A 15 pound (monetary unit, not weight) roast beef sandwich at Harrod's. That's 30 dollars.
• Harrod's on no sleep is an interesting experience.
• Fashion noticing #2: Some hipster Londoners are wearing Palestinian neck scarves out to bars and dance clubs. Like gay dance clubs. Um, hmm. Is it solidarity, or are patterns coming back?
  
• The Tube is the best public transport ever. I am a firm lover of public transportation, especially when it runs on rails, and this was my favorite. Clean and yet you can drink beer on it. Reliable, fast, and the cars have smaller domed roofs. They're narrower, more intimate, and I appreciated that. I know I'm not the first one to come up with this opinion.
  
• Everything is at least twice as expensive in London, except for Theater which is cheaper. Sigh. So nice to go to shows where there was a great diversity of age present at the performance. It's just something you do there.
• New late night cab discovery: When you take the overpriced Gypsy cab after a club closes because the real cabs are nowhere to be found, you will also get a lecture about what's wrong with America, forcing you to say "uh huh....yeah...I agree" Actually, wait a minute, that's what I usually say when cabbies begin to pontificate.
• International travel is still nice. You still get a hot towel! You don't have to pay for meals, they give you a snack, intermittent trays of drinks, they're friendly, it was great. On Mark's flight home (a couple days earlier) he became a favorite of the purser and we now have a airsick bag full shortbread and Toblerone.
• I am begrudgingly appreciating having to pay more for "Economy Plus" on United. It still makes me angry, but I ponied up on both legs for extra legroom and it made a tremendous difference to my flight pleasure. I really don't fit into a normal seat, lengthwise. When someone reclines in front of me, my legs are jammed into the seat. I am angry that I must pay money to get more room, but I am doing so with more regularity. You got me, United! bastards.

This concludes the busy travel spring where jobs and playwriting things and one vacation sent me to Providence, New York, Orlando, Vegas, Louisville, and London. Maybe that's why i have the flu now. I am ready for some stationary time.

To London!

Yes the trade show acting job that surprises and delights is sending me to London, which I is even more exciting than Orlando (where I never actually left the resort). Always fun to have a surprise European trip. It will be my first time in the city and country and I'm getting a few days to sight see and enjoy before I put on the ol costume for 3 days and speak in my vaguely eastern European accent and entertain computer security professionals from all over the world.

I'm hoping to catch a play or two, see some sights, dance it up, and celebrate my twang. Not sure what to see/do specifically. Any tips? Any must see shtuff?

i'm pretty sure i'm not hot

Thanks to Jon, for sending me a link to this article which breaks down America's current number one song.

my first spam comment

I just deleted a comment from a post below that I believe was my first spam comment on the blog.

It began:

"This article is fantastic; the information you show us is very interesting and is really good written. It’s just great!!"

And then goes on to discuss a great site for making your own bong. It's a smooth transition.

My favorite spams are the ones that embed a paragraph of somewhat meaningless text in an effort to confuse the spam filter. A few of these entries are quite poetic and fascinating.

Here's me reading one

Does Olive Garden really have a cooking school in Tuscany?

Just asking.

upcoming Nachtrieb

Some self promotion for you today. I've got a bunch of stuff coming up such as

a new work in progress called

boom
I think it's a play about fate versus randomness and impending doom, but many other themes are prickling in there. As per usual, there is some sex but only light violence in this one, most of it happening offstage with characters you never see. 3 actual characters instead of the usual four. Fish play an important role. As does craigslist. And comets.

I just finished draft 2, much to explore and discover and fortunately I'm getting some on its feet exploration and discovery time which YOU can witness!!!!!!:

Where to see it
Staged Readings at Stanford on May 21
and in San Francisco on May 22
produced as part of the Playwright's Foundation In The Rough Series
Directed by Kent Nicholson

And East Coasters don't feel left out!
Cuz it's going to be in Providence this summer in a workshop production at
Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre
You can see it July 11-14 and August 3&4
(Come on the 4th and see all 3 plays presented this summer)
Directed by Ken Prestininzi


Last but not least, another treat for those of you in New England, or maybe even the Tri-State area (what's the third again? sorry, i'm from california):

anyhoo, it's the East Coast Premiere of
Hunter Gatherers
July 26 - September 1
at Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theater (W.H.A.T.)
Wellfleet, MA (on Cape Cod)
Directed by Gip Hoppe

It's going to be awesome, and showing in W.H.A.T.'s brand new 5 million dollar theater. And maybe even some rewrites! OOOOOOO!

Speaking of rewrites, I need to clean myself and get on that.

new comments on last year's salt and pepper shaker post

After a year on the blog, a posting has received some potentially revealing comments, unlocking a mystery. Will it fuel or quell the debate?

check it

one recent fashion trend noticings while lounging by a large hotel pool

teenage guys seem to be wearing swimsuits with underwear underneath
The swimsuit is baggy, hanging low, and boxers and the occasional brief sticking out the top. Doesn't this sabotage one of the key purposes of a swimsuit, which I always though was intended to be a quickly drying short garment that generally includes gauzy gonad container to prevent any exposure? Why is wet cotton being added to this mix?

This bothers me.

i had a nice time in louisville

And not only because of the supremely awesome obvious reason.

Some highlights, and thoughts:

• It's like the best theater party ever (in America): I attended on "Special Visitors Weekend" and it lived up to all three of those words. "Special" in the sense that in one weekend I got to see eight (plus) World Premiere productions of American plays both long and short and that alone was a shot in the arm. "Visitor" in the sense that there were people from all over the country present to research, enjoy or criticize the work. "Weekend" in the sense that it was Friday through Sunday. In between the shows I got to meet a wild array of interesting people, many of whom had name tags on and we did much dining and partying and talking and I watched a lot of people smoke. I put in the parentheses (in America) because I get the sense that Edinburgh is off the hook.
  
• The plays: Pretty darn great stuff. Particularly affecting for me was Dark Play which knocked my pants off, gripping scary sexy real yet out of this world, fascinating, heartbreaking and also very funny. It hit all the spots of me and I hope it gets done in many places, especially here. And I loved Batch: a combo bachelor/bachelorette party/boxing match/movement/hilarious and scary tribute to the night before a marriage. Phalluses and even one real penis that was live on stage and yet obscured so you had to see it on the surrounding video screens. Great ensemble and amazing use of a trap door.
  
• Bourbon: It was like a homecoming, the sour mash being my brown liquor of choice (either on the rocks or named after my second favorite city). I can't really say whether the Maker's Mark tasted more fresh in Kentucky, but they do have their own restaurant, where I had Bourbon Balls, a phenomenal chocolatey and bourbouny dessert that I promised everyone I would buy for them during my speech. Only a few people held me to that offer, fortunately (They're in the mail).
• Good T Shirt - I bought Mark a t-shirt at the airport that says "I heart KY!" Which makes sense, but in San Francisco means something entirely different.

more thoughts later

here's something that doesn't happen every day

woah!