Maryland renaissance Fair

Today, Chewie and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Fair. We had a great time, and the fair was extremely cool. In many ways it is what the 3 Baron's Fair aspires to be.

They have jousting. They were spectacular in their shiny armor, atop their gigantic horses and the actual jousting was pretty neat. However the hand to hand stuff they did was poorly choreographed and executed. I have to give them props for doing it in armor though. It might have helped if they practiced in the armor more often, they seemed to be real unsure when they were off the horses.

Their chess show is very different from ours. They have a slightly smaller board (This is mostly guess since we couldn't get close enough to see accurately measure), and didn't fight on the board like we do. Since the chess show took place in the same area as the jousting they had a large area and would move into a seperate space to fight. We got there late so were only able to see two and a half fights (I don't know how many total there were in the show. They were both performed better than the hadn to hand of the jousters, but the choreographic/staging choices were in many cases poor. They used a number of techniques that work well with specific stagings, but barely work in others. I felt they would have been better served by moving the board to the center of the arena (It was more upstage), and putting the fights (At least the ones we saw, which were the final two) farther upstage. Since the arena was a essentially a very long thrust (3/4 round for those that prefer to think in those terms), the fights would have sold better to a majority of the audience. One thing that seemed to work against them was that they had children as pieces on the board, I am referring to young children here. I assume they chose them from the audience. They put them in not only as pawns, but as power pieces (Rook and Queen were the moves that I saw). While being cute for the parents, it served to interrupt the forward momentum of the show, and the kids didn't generally end up on the right squares. Since the whole finale of the show hinged on neither side having reached a checkmate, it seemed an interesting choice to have the integral moves made by children who didn't really understand what was going on.

We were late to the chess show because we were watching one of Hack & Slash's performances. They were great! I highly recommend checking out the link to find out more about them. The short version is that they are a comedy sword fighting duo. I have long wanted to do a show of this style, and was very excited to see them. We enjoyed the first show so much, that we went back for the second show of the day, the Ale Extravaganza. it was great fun.

Other cool things about the Maryland Renaissance Fair:

- They have a permanent site and so that means they have permanent buildings. They have really done that aspect right, it was wonderful walking around and looking at the construction. We took some pictures which I'll link to once they're up.
- They have a replica of the Globe Stage, and one called the Lyric Stage which seems to have a working pipe organ.
- They had elephant rides, with 2 elephants. Thats twice as many elephants as we've ever had.


Definately worth the trip!

Dames Point Bridge

Dames Point Bridge

I am traveling for work again. I'll be in Jacksonville, Florida until thursday. It is very pretty here. the link above is to a very cool bridge I drove across to get to my hotel.

Workshop Photo

Here is a photo from the Aikido workshop last weekend with Yuki Hara Sensei:




















The workshop was great fun. I only made it to two out of the three classes, I was just too sore to make it to the second one. The first night, we worked on basically one technique (With small variations) for an hour and a half.

Since I haven't gone to class yet this week, I'm going to go tomorrow. I don't usually go on thursdays, but this will be the last week I'm likely to be able to go until September. Between my workshop next week, and traveling for work I won't have time. I'm going to try and go to the Aikido Shobukan Dojo while I'm in Virginia. It is the home dojo of Saotome Sensei, who studied with the founder of Aikido. I'm not likely to get to train with him, since he travels a lot but it will be interesting to traing in a large dojo. Aikido encourages training with different instructors periodically. Besides, it is something to do in the evening while I'm there.

Combat Workshop!

Here are all the details:

 

Frozen Steel Productions and TBA Theatre

PRESENT

 

A Dueling Arts International Event

Sponsored by the Wendy  Williamson Auditorium

Armed In Alaska III

August 14th -18th

Certification August 19th*

Instructor - D.C. Wright
Senior Instructor for Dueling Arts International
Society of American Fight Directors Certified Teacher
Assisted by Frank Delaney and Glen Wall, Associate Instructors for Dueling Arts International

Beginning Stage Combat                         Monday – Friday                 8:30 am—12:00 pm

 

Ages: 16 —Adult (13 and up with instructor's approval) Prerequisites: None

Techniques: Unarmed & Broadsword

Cost with Certification: $160.00 in advance or $180.00 at the door* Cost without Certification: $120.00 in advance or $140.00 at the door

Ideal for the seasoned fighter interested in sharpening their skills as well as the beginner looking to get their start in stage combat. This class covers the essential techniques of hand to hand fighting as well as the fundamental form and method of broadsword use, as well as the history of the sword as it relates to acting the fight.

Intermediate Stage Combat   Monday – Friday 1:30 pm—5:00 pm

Ages: 16 —Adult           

Prerequisites: Instructor Approval

Techniques: Broadsword, Quarterstaff & Swashbuckling Single Sword Cost with Certification: $160.00 in advance or $180.00 at the door Cost without Certification: $120.00 in advance or $140.00 at the door

 

This course is designed for the experienced fighter interested in developing their skills, increasing their range of weapon expertise and/or DAI certifying or re-certifying. Class-work covers in-depth treatment of the quarterstaff and broadsword as well as exposure to the single sword swashbuckler style.

 

Master Classes • $30.00
For ages 16-Adult (or 13 and up with prior experience and instructor's approval)

Laban Technique for the Actor - Wednesday Aug 16^. 7:00pm to 9:00pm

A system created by choreographer, Rudolph Laban, which has been adopted by actors as a movement based training or method. Through Laban the actor becomes aware of their own subtle and obvious physicality in everyday life, forcing the performer to explore a new range of movement. This remarkable style helps actors to recognize and understand where and how thought, emotion and intention live in the body and how it is expressed simultaneously through text and character.

Sticks of Jackie Chan - Friday Aug  18 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Jackie Chan is best known for his action packed movies with their special mix of humor and martial arts. No normal day would be complete for Jackie without defending himself against multiple attackers using only a broomstick, cue stick or some other improvised quarterstaff. This class focuses on employing the staff in the style of the master himself.

 

 

* For an additional $40 teaching and certification fee and four additional hours of training on Saturday the 19th students can be registered with Dueling Arts Intemational as a Certified Actor Combatant. Both workshops will have their DAI tests on Saturday morning beginning at 6:30am until all tests are completed. Beginning students will test certify in Unarmed Techniques and will receive additional training in Broadsword. Intermediate students will take a DAI skills test in Quarter Staff and Broadsword, and will receive additional training in Single Sword.

To register or for further Information call TBA Theatre at 677-7529

so tired.

Yesterday, I realized at about 9ish that my wrist hurt. I assumed that I slept on it wrong. I'll somtimes curl my one arm in tightly to me while I sleep.

 

Today, a little while before lunch I received a weird injury. I was on the phone with Elle, and was holding the cell phone to my ear in the standard fashion (Not craining my neck oddly or anything) when I sneezed. Immediately my shoulder started to hurt. Not just a little twinge, but an intense sort of pain. A few minutes later as I moving my arm around (Working it through its range of motion) I heard a little pop sound. So perhaps I managed to pop my shoulder out a little bit while on the phone. Decidedly one of the least cool injuries I've ever received.

 

 

There is a guest instructor in town for Aikido. Her class was awesome. She worked us hard though, and my knees are very sore. The technique we worked on primarily involved dropping your center as part of the take down, which means a lot of up and down motion. My right knee is still a little weak from my injury last summer (Almost exactly a year). I still had a great time. There are two more classes tomorrow. I'm going to the morning class, and hopefully won't be too sore for the afternoon one.

 

So the tally so far:

 

1 Sore wrist

1 Hurt shoulder

2 sore knees

 

 

Man, I am falling apart.

Commercial!

Last week I shot a PSA for the State Troopers. It was an interesting experience as I've done very little video/film stuff. The copy had been written to be about 25 seconds long, but they wanted me to do it in 24. The guy with the camera was walking about 2 feet in front of me, while I tried to walk a mostly straight line (With a gentle curve at the end). It starts airing around town on the 16th of August. I got an email that it was posted to the Troopers website today, so I grabbed it!

Check it out:

Some old pictures

Leif took these pictures at the Valdez Theatre Conference in 2004. I can't remember what exactly I was doing in the first one. The second I like for the contrast between Jill and Aron, and myself.

The sea, she is harsh

My Seward trip ultimately was a bust, as far as catching fish goes. However, the boat ride was great fun. We were stepping hard on the waves. For a long time I was outside the cabin, with the sea spray in my face. I felt a firm connection to the sea, and kept thinking how much fun I was having.

I loved it.

However, the sea was rough. When we stopped for a few minutes the movement of the boat side to side, and in circles was an entirely different experience.

Yes, I ultimately gave up my breakfast to the sea.

I learned some important things that day:

1> I really like being on a boat
2> bananas are bad luck on a boat
3> Ginger really helps to settle your stomach fast.

things

So, this update is happening while I wait for leif to arrive for lunch.

I'll be providing a more in depth entry later tonight about my trip to
Seward. Some thoughts that have been boiling in my head.

Twins?

Two Alpacas








Chewie and I









As stated previously Chewie and I went to the Virginia Renaissance Fair last month. As you can tell from the picture it was very hot. In my happy hands you can see the mug I purchased. I got a pretty cool one for Elle with a pirate logo on it.

As you can see in the picture I was wearing a bright red baseball cap. We were sitting in the bar, enjoying the frosty goodness of a couple beers, when I was called up on stage by "Dinty the Moor". I figure my hat got his attention. He of course had no idea what he was getting himself into, we traded some banter back and forth for a bit. The gist of his schtick was that myself and the other guy he pulled up were going to fight a duel, with Plastic French Cocktail Swords. The first person who's sword broke was supposed to die in a dramatic fashion. Mine did. So I died. In a dramatic fashion. The audience loved it. Afterwards as we were taking pictures of some random things we wanted to remember, one of the ladies from the audience approached me to tell me what a good job she thought I had done (Specifically she said that I should think about taking lessons, so I could do more). It was a pretty good day over all. There are more pictures here, you can even see Dinty in a couple of them.

View from my hotel in Seward

Note: I had originally included the pictures in my post, but couldn't get them to size right so I just changed it to links.


This is the view out of my hotel room in Seward (Looking to the left).

Here it is to the right.


I didn't get any pictures from the boat since the weather was too rough, which is unfortunate since we saw Orcas and some other whales I wasn't able to identify. More pictures can be found by going here. They are mostly from my trip back, just some general scenery pictures.

updates are a harsh mistress

The update for my Seward trip is forthcoming. I've been trying to
organize everything in my head.

In the mean time, I am currently sitting at lunch typing this into my
Crackberry. Pretty spiffy really, I can blog from anywhere. Not that I
will, but it's good to have options.

As you are aware I'm sure yesterday was independence day (or as
Fosberg would call it, Tuesday)n and the usual party happenings were
under way at Leif's. Lindsay often writes about how cool our friends
are, and she is right. It was nice for all of us to get together.
There was a great deal of laughing, some catching up, and much singing
done.

Highlights for me included:
- bocce (always fun)
- chasing down the folks who hit Angela's car in the parking lot (we
didn't catch them, but it was a fun Special Ops kind of moment)
- taking Lily for a ride on my motorcycle

I may add more as they come to me.

Also, I picked up a soundboard that Leif had in his garage. So now I
can get my home studio together. Very cool.

Looky there

Well, I arrived in Seward just a little while ago. I have settled into the hotel room. I never fail to be surprised by the beauty of this area everytime I come down here. It really is amazing. I took some pictures from the balcony here, but I left the USB cable for my camera at home. so, pictures will come later.

Fw: Ahoy!

 

Earlier today I received a call from a guy I used to work with, who now works for one of my vendors. They had a spot on a fishing charter open, and he offered it to me. So long story short, I'm going fishing tomorrow. I'm driving down to Seward tonight, since the boat leaves at 6:30 am. I got a hotel room (a little more than I wanted to pay, but worth it to not sleep in the car). I will be taking my camera with, so I should have pictures when I get back.

 

I'm very excited, I haven't gone on a charter boat before.

Home again jiggity jig

I am home again after spending two weeks in Virginia. I was there helping one of our divisions move into a new office location.

 

While down there I got 1 day off, last Sunday. Matt Sun (Chewey) drove down from New Jersey and we went to the Virginia Renaissance Fair (http://varf.org/). We had a pretty good time. Although, I was surprised that it was smaller than our faire. It was interesting to see the differences, and I came away with a few ideas of things to try and appropriate for ours. I'll get links up to some of the pictures.

 

 

Big Spanish Castle

Big Spanish Castle


The link above is a very cool optical illusion. I thought I would share since it has been so long since I put anything on here.

Chris Moore

Chris Moore


So one of my favorite authors is Christopher Moore. He is coming to Anchorage on April 24 for a book signing (New book!) The link above is to his blog. Much goodness. Drink deep.

FW: Blackhole of meetings

 

We are currently evaluating Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software at work. For the last several days we have had several demonstrations. This coupled with exhaustion from rehearsals for Robin Hood & The Lady of Sherwood have left me in a somewhat zombie like state.

 

Mmmm, brains.

 

LASIK@Home

LASIK@Home

This is astoundingly cool. You will ask yourself, how have I lived this long with out it?

Don't blink!

Eat Spam

Ok, so today I received spam from:

Androcles Mor


Another very good name. I've decided to start collecting the ones I like, and use them in some short stories I'm working on. That should be fun.