Shall I Scream?
These weeks are vanishing at a terrifying rate, and yet have that strange endless quality to them too. It’s confusing. The week before last, which was filled with splendid improv shows and wonders now feels like it was months and months ago. I blame work. And relativity. Frankly I’m exhausted, despite last week only being a four day effort. There should be a limit to how much frustration, bad communication and failures in decision making can be fitted into a single week. The organisation I work for has an unlimited ability to fail itself and its employees. Good skillz.
It is unfortunately making it rather difficult to get anything of value accomplished (I don’t just mean at work; that’s a foregone conclusion) – my mornings are spent staring at my computer, hoping that words will find their way out of my fingertips. Not to worry! We plunge onwards with the writing schedule!
This week’s scribbles
Tuesday My Grandfather’s House Part 2
Despair reigns in the house as the dreamer awakens.
Wednesday Shankulation – The Screamery of Angry Poetry
Yup, it’s been that sort of week – time for some more hateful poetry.
Thursday Alex Trepan: A Cyborg Calls part 3
Further night time disturbances and revelations!
Friday Film Review: Warm Bodies
A short review of the new zom rom com.
Updates on my thrilling life
Writing
As usual a simple three part story is starting to elongate itself. Yes, I’m afraid it comes as no surprise that A Cyborg Calls is now heading for four parts. Sorry! It’s just what happens when I start editing what I’ve scribbled. In all honesty I was suprised that My Grandfather’s House ended up in two halves. I’ve got some more bits of mock-Lovecraft prose knocking about and I aim to tie them into the ongoing ‘My Grandfather’s World’ series. I find them fun to write; there’s nothing quite like burying yourself in purple.
Last week’s scribbles
Tuesday My Grandfather’s House Part 1 A return to the wonder of nonsense adverbs in a continuing homage to H.P. Lovecraft (see My Grandfather’s Watch).
Wednesday Lego Creations: A Mini City A few pretty pictures of a miniature Lego city (well, a couple of streets anyway).
Thursday Alex Trepan: A Cyborg Calls part 2 An unwelcome guest disturbs Alex’ sleep.
Friday Book Review: Spacepaw by Gordon R. Dickson A short review of an old science fiction novel.
Lego
Plans, only plans. I was able to help a friend by finding a piece of Lego they needed. That offered marginal satisfaction. I’m getting some Lego in tonight though! Also, it really annoys me when people say “Legos”. It’s just Lego – these are Lego bricks. Jesus.
Improv Comedy
A quietish week at last, which is probably a good thing, although I find that I dip emotionally when I’m without a show to move straight on to. It’s probably also a reflection of my current work state – the fun I had gets washed away with disturbing power and speed. Maybe I need to get myself more shows to look forwards to.
Last week the Fisticuffs team had a look at a form which Alan Starzinski told us about – Tracers. The idea is that it observes the unities of time and space- everything that happens takes place within the same period of time, so it could be what’s happening next door, or on the other end of a phone conversation. It’s possible we’re too concerned with getting a story told throughout, rather than just following the scraps of scenes and narrative that emerge. It feels like you’ll never get a proper conclusion, which might be unsatisfying. I think we need to see one done though as it’s definitely harder than it sounds! Structurally it seems odd and the IRC is unusually little help with getting a better grip on it. Time to make our own thing up I think.
Gorilla Burger on Thursday was fun, but given the nature of the night I didn’t get to do much improv. Definitely need to perform more.
Media Intake
Books
I love Pandora’s Star. The aliens have just invaded the Commonwealth and nuked twenty-four human worlds. We have five warships to counter them. We’re fucked. It’s postively thrilling. Will I be able to resist going straight into the sequel when I finish it?
Films
Just the one film this week – A Good Day to Die Hard. Awful. Just awful. I loved Die Hard 4, it was really silly and had huge action scenes, and a sense of humour so I’m very disappointed. The delayed trains afterwards didn’t help, but have unfairly tilted me even further against the film. We also re-watched The Birds, which is somewhat slower and less good than I remembered. The overlaid birds in flight are hilarious though. The trailer is far superior all round:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZjaVdJt59U&w=420&h=315]
Events and Excitement
Improv shows
Friday 22/02/13 MissImp in Action: Improvised Comedy Show – The Glee Club, Nottingham.
Thursday 14/03/13 Gorilla Burger: Improv Comedy Chaos – The City Gallery, Nottingham
Related articles
- This week, Monday 28th January 2013 (captainpigheart.com)
- This week, Monday 4th February 2013 (captainpigheart.com)
- This week, Monday 11th February 2013 (captainpigheart.com)
