1st Saturday! Free Comic Books

Thats right! Free comics! For those of you in Anchorage, Bosco's is participating, but if you aren't then I have the web linkage for you.

Most of us read comics as kids. Some of us really got into it. At one point in my life I had a collection, all organized with each one in its own mylar bag with a back board. I still have a lot of those, but I don't collect them that way anymore. These days I just get them because I enjoy reading the stories. Some of the classic titles, like Daredevil, have always had very compelling story lines. Others are less about the dramatic stories, and more about fun. So this is the list of what you'll currently find in my pull box at Bosco's:

• Daredevil - It manages to tell compelling stories, while being less wordy than many other titles, it is very art driven.
• Green Arrow - Just plain awesome. Oliver Queen is one of the original anti-heroes. Kevin Smith started writing for this title in 2000, and handed it over to Judd Winnick in 2002 (The author of two of my other favorites, Frumpy the Clown and Barry Ween: Boy Genius)
  
• Green Lantern - One of my all time favorites, the idea that GL's can create anything that they can imagine makes them my far and away favorite. Hal Jordan is back. Kyle saved the corps and he has gone on to become:
• Ion - Kyle is the torchbearer for the Green Lantern Corps.
  
• Dork Tower- This is a fun one, which is mostly about gamers and gaming (Old style table top gaming mostly). It's on the web as well.
  
• Knights of the Dinner Table - This one has evolved from a book about a table top gaming group, into a magazine full of useful stuff for role-players and Game masters. Put out by Kenzerco, the same folks who brought you Hackmaster.
• Xmen- Everyone is familiar with these guys.
  
• Warlord - One of the first comics I read regularly, it ended in 1989. However, they tried to revive it last year, but it only made it through 10 issues. From the comic:

"In the savage world of Skartaris,
life is a constant struggle for survival.
Here, beneath an unblinking orb of eternal
sunlight, one simple law prevails:
If you let down your guard for an instant you will soon be very dead."

If you haven't picked up a comic book in awhile, I encourage you to get out on Saturday, stop by your local comic shop and check some out! Hey while you're out stop by Barnes & Noble and help out TBA Theatre!

It's a good cause!

Most of the folks who read this with any regularity will probably have already heard about it, but this weekend is a fund raiser for TBA Theatre. The short version is that if you make a purchase from Barnes & Noble on Saturday they will donate a percentage to TBA. The best part is that it costs you nothing extra above the cost of your book or CD! All you need is a voucher, which you can print out by following that link or just ask your cashier for one. Tell all your friends!

Here is the full story from the TBA Website:

Hello Friends of TBA Theatre! Do you have books, music or movies you have been dying to buy? Looking for a fun afternoon out with the kids? We're giving you the perfect opportunity!

We have partnered with Barnes & Noble for a book fair to benefit TBA Theatre and our production of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island the Musical". Face painting and story time will happen from noon to 5:00pm, with special appearances by Folks Tales at 2:00pm, and by various scruffy pirates who'll sing songs from "Treasure Island the Musical" at 3:00pm.

So join us for some hearty, pirate-themed fun at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, May 5th! Simply present your voucher at the cashier's counter when you are ready to check out - this costs you nothing extra over the price of your purchase! Vouchers can be used during the entire business day from 9am to 11pm. If you can't print out a voucher, just tell your friendly Barnes & Noble cashier that you would like to use a voucher to benefit TBA Theatre and they will provide one for you.

Personality Test

I'm a sucker for online tests. This is a personality test I took at echemistry.com (You have to sign up for an account, and they make you swear you aren't married, since its a dating site. I don't plan on keeping the account so I had no problem lying to them to get the test :)

Your type is called 'The Surprise Philosopher.' You are steady and reliable and talk less than the people around you. You are laid back and fun to hang out with and at the same time have an underlying intensity in everything you do. You prefer low key activities like hanging out with friends, but also hate to be bored, so you're likely to try new things to keep life interesting.

You are intensely passionate. Your romantic relationships are much more passionate behind closed doors than your coworkers would guess from your stoic exterior.

There's a hard edge to your personality which really tests who is worth your time. You are probably quite sarcastic, or at least have gone through very sarcastic periods. You simply don't put on a facade when someone is being an idiot. You may not actually verbalize your thoughts every time, but in your head you call out people and that blunt honesty keeps idiots at a distance.

You expect people to say exactly what they want and need any time you're making a decision that affects them. You are extremely hard on yourself when a situation doesn't go your way because you didn't speak up and say exactly what you thought.

You see situations for exactly what they are, and you state reality so bluntly that people can't help but go along with what you see. You don't get bogged down in procedures or theories, you just do what needs to be done and get things overwith. You don't want to exert yourself any more than you have to, so you become an expert at using tools to the maximum advantage so that the time you spend working is extremely efficient in getting results. You excel at finding novel approaches to solving problems because of this and are somewhat of an inventor.

You are definitely an idea person. You come up with concepts for new businesses or products all the time without even trying. You are a natural born entrepreneur and, more than other types, are likely to work for yourself, even as a contractor to someone else, rather than work in a regular 9 to 5 job. You are incredibly skilled with problem solving and not inclined towards desk work. In fact, paperwork can slip through the cracks for you. You avoid all mundane, repetitive, boring work and excel at anything requiring physical skill and finding solutions to surprise problems.

You're called the Surprise Philosopher because you spend so much time in the background, particularly in groups, and just when you've blended totally in you're likely to say something really abstract and meaningful and people are likely to turn their heads in wonder that you were just hanging in the flow a moment before and suddenly reached such a deep level. You spend so much time in your own mind that you simply listened to the topic, then took it step by step, breaking it down, and came out with your final conclusion without verbally helping everyone else along your train of thought. When the conversation turns toward the philosophical topic you've brought up you're likely to tire of repeating yourself while others catch up to what you were thinking.

You communicate more through actions than words. You learn by doing, rather than by hearing, seeing or reading. Standard grade school was not intended for students like you, and you probably found it incredibly tedious and boring.

You were designed to use your hands and mind to master tools which other people cannot. When introduced to new tools, including weapons, your skill develops faster and further, and you speak more technically about it than others could, even if they were given more time and practice. You are drawn to music and, if you try, you find that you are much more of a natural at playing instruments than other people. You also have a natural talent for self defense and become more skilled more quickly in that subject area than others who began learning with you and are left in the dust. It all boils down to the fact that you want to be comfortable and secure and you excel at anything which helps advance those goals.

You feel most comfortable when other people don't know exactly what to expect from you. This leaves your options open to take whatever action you'd like without it being particularly shocking to anyone. You realize that you're less vulnerable if you can't be stereotyped. You may intentionally do or say surprising things just to keep other people guessing. In fact, even those close to you never know whether you'll respond to something with instant enthusiasm or reserved thought.

You particularly enjoy unexpectedly stepping up to tackle a mechanical or instrument problem and then solving it with ease. Although, you'll steer clear if the problem involves attitudes or emotions because you don't want to get bogged down in unclear situations with no clear answer. If you absolutely must refer to the directions then you will read only the part which specifically applies to the problem at hand. You like work which has a definite end, a completion point, rather than 'research' or 'administration' which could continue on forever.

You are observant and will watch your environment, collecting data, constantly.

When you're not at work you don't waste energy on creating plans which might not work out. You prefer to face each day anew and tackle problems as they arise. You rely on yourself and trust common sense to get things done in nearly all circumstances.

If you choose to become a parent you do not feel the need to impose yourself or your standards on your children the way others do. In your eyes your children are individuals and you will respond to each of them according to their situations at any given time. Your spouse and your children will know that you will give them the freedom and space they need to be their own person and you will expect the same treatment in return.

You know what tastes good, what feels good against your skin, and what smells satisfy you. Of all personality types, yours is first to notice the signs of hunger, fatigue, sleepiness or discomfort in your body, and you can get quite irritable and distracted if those issues are not resolved in a timely fashion. Because you are attentive to the needs of your body you are likely to stop and remedy such issues before they become a problem.

You portray a very even tempered image and that matches a calm interior. There's not much that gets you visually excited.

Your level of conformity to any group is always negotiable. One day you may be an excited participant, but in general you find groups and strangers to be irritating. As an adult you've learned tact, but in your heart you still prefer the private company of a few close friends, or time completely alone, to time with any particular large social group of people.

You really want to like people, and there are some that you truly love, but you take each new person in a group as an individual. You maintain your individual personality in any group and are repelled when people pressure you to conform. If you do participate regularly in any social group it is with minimal investment of your feelings. You are something of an observer even while being a participant, and it takes very little to convince you that you need a break or to leave the group altogether.

You are particularly wary of manipulative individuals. You can spot such people because you have similar skills but choose not to use them except when really necessary. You are the most common type to be suspicious of your personality profile on this site because it contains too high a ratio of good to bad statements about you.

You don't desperately need a relationship like some others do, but the reality is that you're almost always looking for someone new when you're single. Much more than other types it's important to you that your romantic partners are physically attractive, the more extremely attractive the better, and you're willing to forgo some of the deep emotional connection for someone who physically turns you on. That trade is necessary most of the time because you're simply that much smarter than most people.

Underneath your stoic appearance, you have a massive heart. When you do finally get into a relationship you love much more deeply than most people. Someone with all that you have to give truly deserves a partner with the same amount to give back. People at your level are few and far between, but the relationships created by bringing two people like you together are closer and create a greater amount of overall joy than they do with most other people, so our system specializes in matching exactly your type.

ou have a very practical, realistic view of love which makes you much more likely to have a successful relationship than other people. You realize that romantic relationships are based on a mutual commitment and you don't expect to be madly in love with your mate every day. That said, you have such a massive heart that you're always sure that you love the other person even when they aren't making sense.

Your big picture skill for seeing the best way to clear out the logjam of the moment is based on the same trait that makes you disinclined toward mundane and routine tasks. In studies of high chemistry old married couples, the highest chemistry matches were those where your type was paired with someone who, among other things, balances you in that way. Your match is a detail person who takes care of the paperwork while you solve problems and keep things comfortable.

Based on your personality traits alone, we estimate that approximately 1 in 100 people will have the personality traits required to qualify for a high likelihood of very strong long term romantic chemistry with you.

You prefer work where you can see the completed results when you're done. Rather than focus on the same project for ten years before seeing results, you're the type that would like to refine your skills over time by repeatedly using them to produce visible results on a much faster basis.

You hate to be bored and love to be entertained. You want entertainment that stimulates you and makes you laugh.

Wow, all the tired is gone

Over the last several weeks I've had lots of ideas for interesting blog posts. I've done nothing to follow through on that though. Leif's recent post reminded me, since he voiced similar sentiments. My reasons are different. At least for the last couple weeks.

I'm generally tired all the time. I'm not entirely sure why, I've got a sleep study scheduled later this month, perhaps we'll figure something out from that. In any event, on my last trip back east I ended up getting around 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. That coupled with the time change left me more than a little discumbobulated. When I got back to town I never really got a chance to catch up. The last two days I've stayed home from work and slept in, I was just so run down I wasn't much good at work. I feel pretty good now.

So, I'll try to get some of those ideas up. We'll see how it goes, this time of year is the most stressful for me. There is simply too much going on, with work, shows ,and gearing up for Ren fair.

If you've seen the commercials, then you know what I mean when I ask: What the heck are boyfriend trousers?

Fishy fishy fishy fish

Here are the pictures from my visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore
.


Lot's of sharks, and such. There's a pretty good clown anenomefish picture. All the birds are from the rainforest exhibit (And so are a couple of the turtles).

Enjoy!

Today in the life

I'm back on the east coast again. Today I took a little side trip and went to Baltimore and went to the National Aquarium. It was very cool, if you get the chance you should go. It's in downtown Baltimore, right on the water. There are several historic ships in the maritime museum (I think thats what they called it), one of which was a Coast Guard cutter that is the last remaining ship from Pearl Harbor.

My friend and I stayed for the dolphin show, which was great fun. There is just something about dolphins, they always seem to be having a good time.

I got some good pictures, but my camera died just as the dolphin show started. Once I get batteries in my camera I'll upload the pictures.

I want my mummy!

The Curse of the Mummy!

Opens this Friday, at APU Grant Hall in the E.R. Brown Theatre.

Friday, October 27 at 7pm
Saturday, October 28 at 3pm & 7pm
Sunday, October 29 at 3pm
Tuesday, October 31 at 7pm & 9pm

We'll see you there!

The FCC Hates the Deaf and Hard of Hearing?

I'm sure most, if not all, of the readers of my little blog are aware that I'm hard of hearing. I'm fairly up front about it. I'm not the only one in our circle of friends who has the problem, and in fact several of the kids we work with do as well.

I often rely on closed captioning to help me with enjoying television, movies, and other similar forms of entertainment. Not exclusively mind you, often times I will use them to augment whatever I am watching. They help me catch things that I would otherwise have missed, make it so that I don't have to rewind to better understand part of a conversation, or constantly bother Elle asking what some character has said.

I read on Boing-Boing about some changes the FCC has made to the rules governing closed captioning. These new rules make it easier for companies to get away with not captioning things.

If you are so inclined, I would appreciate it if you would go to the American Association of People with Disabilities website, where they have a form letter you can customize and a list of email addresses for people at the FCC you can send it to.

Ye scurvy dogs

Avast, and pay heed, for we be sailing through unfriendly waters. Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. So be sure to get yerself some Piratitude.



May ye find a fair wind and a following sea.

New layout

So I'm trying some of the new elements available in the beta that blogger is running, including the new templates and layout management.. Good stuff so far.

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality has been a burgeoning issue over the last several month, so some internet celebrities (Although I may be using that term loosely) got together and created a music video to help explain why you should be for Net Neutrality. Check it out here.

Then for more information on net neutrality and to find out a bit more about the celebs go to We Are the Web.

http://www.wearetheweb.org/

Don't let the video fool you. Net neutrality is an important issue.

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.