… and I’m involved. Again. We’re moving viral this year, with user generated content, multiple blogs, and almost nothing on campus.
Anyone reading this blog (I need to increase my numbers here) should participate! It’s all about Open Spaces. Boundaries. And breaking them.
Look for updates here… but I’ll start teaching how to navigate the festival, which can be pretty intimidating at first… and 20th glance.
The play was called Rumors. Don't tell...
Rumors was brilliant. And the awkward pause in the beginning, during which the cast had no idea that director Dave Grossman (whom I had the privilege of sitting next to) had already introduced them, was perfect for the farcical piece. As Grossman himself said, “John Cages 4'33.”
On the acting front, the first act (out of two, with a 15 min. intermission) was a tad weaker, with a few delayed lines. However, the slips rarely if ever diminished the hilarity that is Rumors, nor did it squelch the humor that each member of the cast brought to their characters.
Overall, the acting was... adorable. And insane. And fast. And right. I never stopped smiling. Not even when Grossman's cell phone went off during a quiet moment in the play. Fortunately for him, it was quiet, but there it was, the director's phone rang during the show. I suppose everyone's human.
Oh, yeah. And the moment when Geoff Pictor (playing Ken Gorman) opened the “bathroom” door and the prop picture fell off, and Geoff yelled “FUCK.” And the uproar of the crowd was deafening. And Joe Roksandic (playing Ernie Cusack) tried opening the back door with paper towels all over his hand, asked for help from a member of the audience. Also an uproar. And, when Alex Zenn (playing Cassie Cooper [All the women were exceptionally radiant and I like nested parentheses]), said “You're not [New York] Times man of the year yet!” Grossman gave a thumbs up. Was she having a problem with that line during rehearsal? Who can tell?
Overall, if this show comes anywhere near you, see it. Just do.
First meeting of the FLEFF LAB syncopation group was a giant success. We had a 10 person turnout, though nearly all of us were Cinema & Photography film students from IC.
In this session, we were asked to think about sound in new ways: what (or who) defines music? The human voice? The purpose of a child's toy? Who decides that "good sound" is a luxury only the rich can afford to produce? The session was about democratizing the creation of meaningful sound.
Did you know that an awesome little walking stomping robot can be turned into a strange "musical" instrument, or sound producing tool? A large part of the discussion revolved around "reappropriation," the process of taking an object, concept, etc, and using it for unintuitive purposes, but purposes that are (arguably) inately a part of the object, concept. "Cuircuit bending" (or playing around with the electrical connections) a toy to make new and cool sounds, or placing a speaker in a stuffed bear that instead of playing something cute, plays an air-raid siren when it's furry little hand is pushed.
Expect intriguing things from the lab, to meet again April 3rd or 4th for their final installment: the participants will have workd together to create one or more projects in the vein of sound art, and at this meeting, we invite all people to come and hear and listen and discuss and think.
Watchmen. One of us died tonight. It was me. In fact, I was simply blown away last night. Big explosions kinda blown. If you're in the mood for an incredibly morally ambiguous action film, watch Watchmen. If you're in the mood for a funny action flick, watch Watchmen. If you're in the mood for a lot of blood, watch Watchmen.
One difficulty: if you haven't read the novel, it may take some time to figure out the world. Let me help: the world of Watchmen is a hybrid of fantasy and reality, in the time of Nixon and the Cold War, but several major historical events are skewed to be results of costumed heroes.
I never read the graphic novel, so I can't judge the film based on its book. Just what I saw. The acting wasn't that great on some parts. In fact, there were certain moments that were down right terrible from an acting standpoint. From what I've heard, the ending was altered from the novels end. Wakas and Yakas described it to me, and in my opinion, the film ending is superior... motivated.
Today, I saw the Smiffenpoofs (A Capella group from all-women's Smith College) and the IC Voice Stream (from yes, Ithaca College) perform for 2ish hours in front of a shiny backdrop.
The Smiffs were SMOOTH, if there was one word to describe them. Turns out, the Smiffs are the first official collegiate A Capella group to grace the US stage. Their ensemble sounded as if there was one big, multi-timbred vocalist on each part, if that makes any sense. They shone when it was just the full chorus singing; each part mixed into the other, with rising and falling pitches that made a quite, soothing symphony.
They had excellent beatboxers, with a rock solid internal group tempo and synergy. However, during solos, the entire group seemed to lose it's edge. Perhaps due to the sound system, or perhaps because of something else, soloists in this ensemble never stood out. Their rap wasn't fantastic either; most of the laughs came from the extreme sense of irony... but hey! They got us to laugh. And clap during songs, and whoop and holler. So, they engaged their audience... BUT...
Not as much as ICVS. Partly due to the energized Ithaca College crowd present, and partly due to a more upbeat selection of repertoire, ICVS made a visceral impact on the audience.
Soloists, although mixed too low, were intense and open, giving themselves up to the crowds scrutiny. The group is fairly large, and builds to climaxes brilliantly; it's sense of rhythm is impeccable. Tight hits and holds and pauses and harmonies.
Even with all this praise about the ensemble's synthesis, individual voices did not blend very well. It seemed like everyone was in chest voice, which is where voices are usually most distinct. There was rarely a perfect blend, where it was a single chorus of voice.
The show's lighting was nice. Simple, effective, pretty. The sound could have been AWESOME, particularly since they had three choir mics and some trusted SM-58s. But the mix was poorly done. There was little separation between the solos and ensemble, perhaps resulting in the low solo performances mentioned above. The choral mix could have used a bit of stereo separation as well, since the room proved itself to be stereo by having random loss of sound on the left channel occasionally. And the mic stands should have been gaff taped to the ground, so one didn't have to fall on the Smiffs!
Watched this ep. while drawing a possible systems model of filmmaking from a director's limited perspective. Limited in this sense is not derogatory, simply a definition of scope.
First the rant: For some unknown, stupid reason, Sci-Fi decided to post BSG eps. 8 days after air on Hulu. Eight? What is that? Think of it. For the first few we've been watching, they posted the things the day after. Now it's a week and a day. If I usually watched on TV, then missing ONE showing of it would stop me from watching it on TV at all! Because the previous ep. (the one I missed) wouldn't even be available until after the next aired on TV. Boo Sci-Fi!
So, about BSG. Good ep, a bit slow, but brought in some strange moments. Apparently, Cylons can't make babies unless they truly love each other, says Ellen. Nah. That's silly. She's just infertile. Clearly.
Furthermore, an admiral is clearly willing to give big guns to female religious fanatics and a man who destroyed all but 50,000 of the human race so that they can protect their food. I'll keep those profiles in mind next time I have to procure weapons.
As you can tell by the post, I didn't hugely enjoy this ep, but I like BSG as a whole, so I get to make fun of it's quirks :) I win.
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