Latest on twitter:
I…don’t follow what you’re saying at all. But maybe I am bad at metaphors.
So…because people are having trouble finding…rain…they should create a system whereby they … INTERVIEW other people to see if they want to let … those people …into their rain with them?
I wasn’t lucky. Ben. I organized 80% of the practice sessions I went to. And I kept them open sessions because I understood that my desire to find a place and to find opportunities within the community was probably shared by others.
Yeah. I’m saying it. When I was in 201 - I MADE IT RAIN.
I have no idea why I’m still talking about this. I DON’T EVEN LIKE TWITTER.
I have lost my mind.
Usually the fault for a bad metaphor lies with the writer.
Anyway, the point is that Caitlin posted something interesting which a lot of people reacted to, but Twitter didn’t have the space to give it the discussion the depth it deserves. So I did some copy and pasting and here we are.
Thanks, everybody!
But something about the instinct to formalize this crazy, organic process makes me really sad. And some of my favorite people (well, Miles) are people I never would have met if it wasn’t for being randomly invited to groups without previous knowledge. I discovered Kat T. because somebody from my 201 told me I would love the girl who looked a little like Helena Bonham Carter and organized everything. I miss thirteen person practice groups with Hiller because no one knew how to say no. The heartbreaking decisions come later. This is the easiest time. I hate to hear that people are so overcomplicating it.
My point was that some people aren’t as lucky as you were. Rather than being swept up into a wonderful hurricane of activity, some people are standing outside with a closed umbrella and a hand out waiting for it to rain. You’re telling them they should run around without an umbrella and just enjoy the excitement of getting wet. But for them, it’s not even raining, and they don’t know how to make it rain.
They aren’t overcomplicating it. They are looking for water.
I’ve been in New York for over a year now and probably as a result of my shyness and two inconveniently timed vacations I have had horrible luck forming and getting onto practice teams. I’m on a team now, mostly as a result of the heroic efforts of Chris McKeever. I’ve got to say, if this interview team was accepting applications a few months ago, I’d have written up a resume so fast my fingers would’ve gotten blood all over them. That’s how quickly I would’ve typed.
Does that make me some sort of scab? I certainly hope not. Maybe I’m projecting, but socially interacting with people can be terrifying for me. Maybe by making it into an interview, they were trying to eliminate that stress and turn it into an environment we’ve all experienced. I’m not sure what was going through that team’s collective minds, and I’m not sure I care. I just hope that the improv people of new york don’t turn their back on whoever did apply for that team. I imagine that they’re just trying to be accepted into this awesome but very intimidating community.
That being said, I laughed at most of those tweets when I read your post, Ben.
Oh, I didn’t say they weren’t funny. Just unfair.
Designer Tan Weihao Rios has created this incredibly cute-looking alarm clock, which will allow you to wake up or catch a bit more sleep. DOoP will help you figure out how many hours you’ve slept and how much sleep you’re getting, and how much you actually need. This sleep deficit is problematic for most people, as they become really inefficient due to lack of sleep. The red and green dials on the face will remind you where you are at. They will tell you how much sleep you need. There is also a countdown timer and a night light. DOoP will wake you up with sound and light, engaging more of your senses. (via Apartment Therapy Unplugged)
I tried to find out more information about this clock and discovered it doesn’t exist. Tan Weihao Rios is a fourth year design student, and as far as I can tell he didn’t even build a prototype, just designed a 3D model in a computer. I’m not even sure how much beyond the appearance he has designed, because all of the articles about it cite as their source a blogspot post which doesn’t describe how the clock works at all.
So, what actually does the clock do, and how much of the feature descriptions are projected desires? The idea of tracking your sleep debt, so that you can pay it off in the future, is attractive. For it to work, you would have to be pretty diligent about hitting a button before you go to sleep and after you wake up, and handle cases like forgetting to hit the button, or spending a night away from home. Or what do you do when you get in bed, hit the button, then two hours later find yourself awake and unable to fall asleep? Should there be another button for, “Nevermind, I haven’t actually been sleeping?” Now it’s starting to sound like, in practice, the thing would be too complicated to be useful.
For a product, all of those considerations are part of the design, and whether they have been addressed separates a great product from a mediocre piece of junk. Too many people with Great Ideas haven’t considered all the unpleasant edge cases that a product will have to deal with in the real world. The worst is when those issues are brushed aside as mere details that somebody else will deal with.
But in the details is where the devil hides.
Vacation.
I plan on going to Ohio next week and I just noticed that every single show in the history of man-kind that I would’ve loved to see is happening those six days I’m gone.
[List of Shows Removed]
This is why nobody takes a vacation in our little comedy sub-culture. Part of my brain knows this is ridiculous, but the other part is just so upset and loves to indulge. I figure this will be my short detox - an introduction to what my two-month Colombian adventure will be like in December.
I’ve learned that every epic, must-see, you-had-to-be-there show/party/fight is talked about for at most 4 days after the fact. Then something else comes along, and nothing before it matters.
Plus, if it’s really a big deal, your friends will talk about it so much that you’ll have false memories of being there. So it’s a win-win.
Enjoy your vacation.
So, this happened on Twitter yesterday:
caitorade At the UCB Training center right now, an improviser is interviewing to become part of a practice group. Let’s push back against this, agree?
benzado If that group wants to do it that way, it’s up to them. And if it catches on, that probably means it works. But I doubt it will.
katespencer Interviewing?!
WinstonNoel Listen, I wrote that guy’s rec letter. Back off.
timothydunn Hey listen. My improv might not be very strong, but I’m very proficient in Excel.
jpurnell wow, that’s what it’s come to?
patbaer I dislike it when half a practice group no shows because they’re not committed, but this seems extreme.
adambozarth This makes me really sad. Unless this practice group offers 40k/year with health and dental insurance.
mikescollins What ever happened to the improv days of just making prospects strip naked and circling whats wrong with their bodies in marker?!
ruby_sneakers unbelievable.
DStoley are they still accepting applications?
I think those of us who are already “plugged in” take for granted how hard it is for someone new to the scene to get a group together. If I want to, I’m spoiled for choice, but it took some time to get here. Most of the people I started practicing with were not classmates. You would likely never have heard of me if I hadn’t been a regular at Improdome. I never would have been a regular if I didn’t used to live so close to the PIT; I had a day job.
If “interviewing” isn’t acceptable, what’s the right way to do it? Sitting in for a practice is great, if you can afford to spend the time and money. What’s wrong with wanting to talk to the person first, to get an idea if you get along or not?
I know it’s just Twitter, where the goal is to fit as much snark as you can in 140 characters or fewer. But it’s unfair pass judgment on interviewing, or any idea, if you don’t have a better idea to offer.
awkward
there was a doorbell ring, I suspected it might be con ed, i didn’t answer it, someone else in the building did. when he came to the door I was already at the peep hole peeping.
He stopped and knocked.
Man: Con Edison
rang the doorbell.
Man: Here to read your meter.
Man: I can see you looking at me.
Chelsea: Can you come back another time!
UGH!!! I ALWAYS SPY OUT OF THAT PEEPHOLE!! SINCE FOREVER!!! YOU CAN SEE MY SPYING EYE?!?!?!!?!?!!!! This is a blow.
You can see a small amount of light through the hole, so that when somebody puts their eye to it, it goes dark. That’s why some peepholes have a cover: from the outside they always look dark.
Of course, he probably just said, “I can see you looking at me” to the door, not sure if anybody was on the other side, but hoping you would give yourself away. Like a magician announcing that he will pull a rabbit out of every hat he reaches into, eventually he’ll be right.
Next time: call his bluff, and don’t answer.
My review of the pilot episode of "V"
It felt a little careless and rushed, as though the writers wanted to get all the boring (to them) exposition out of the way in one episode (yeah yeah first contact blah blah big deal) so they can get to the good (to them) stuff (fuck yeah alien human war). We’ll see.
