Multitasking before breakfast.

Oh my the life of a working thespian is tough. I had to get up at 8:00 this morning, to do a lunchtime playreading for the Prague Fringe Festival. And I have another one tomorrow. I didn't even breakfast, except for one coffee between the rehearsal and the actual reading.

I read A Short Play About Globilization. That's the title, and naturally, it's a short play about human trafficking. I had what you would call a supporting role (or roles) and was working with some real life professional actors, which was a bit daunting, I was afraid I would suck and the woman who organizes the thing would regret ever offering me the role. I read the stage directions, a woman's voice and another small role. It was a wee bit confusing, to me if not to the audience. I wasn't originally supposed to do the stage directions but the person who was going to didn't show, as happens here in Prague so I had the work of juggling different roles, and the parts I read were in the sections that were heavy on stage directions so I had to use my skills to switch sharply from one part to another.

I'm doing another tomorrow, which is a kind of fairy tale in which I play a child. It should be challenging. Or it might just be a laugh.

Getting the whip out..

I don't usually approve of corporal punishment, but some people just go to far and deserve a good whipping. I speak of course of people who can't spell. There are certain words I keep coming across that are just wrong! One of them being "rediculous". This pisses me off, what is it about that word that so many people get it wrong? And more importantly, why haven't all those people been round up and shot? There are others. I'll probably think of some later.

I'm also just a tad bothered by bad punctuation and English in general. I won't go on about the various ways of writing the words which sound like there, your and too because it's been written about a lot already, except to say that anyone who uses "ur" for "your" needs to stop it. It's not a frickin text message! You're not writing on a frickin phone! You have a whole frickin keyboard at your convenience! Write the whole word for fucks sake! If you can't frickin type you need to get off my internet and leave it it the big people!

I realize abbreviations are really popular these days. They used to really piss me off because I didn't know what they meant. As time went on I learnt what some mean, and now when I see "lol" I just think my that's silly. I've also learnt the meaning of rotfl, imo, imho and others. There are still some I don't know. Like fwiw. It pisses me off when I see it because people just write this shit like you're supposed to know what it means and you can't just interrupt a discussion to ask what it's about and you'll look like a dickhead anyway, so if anyone knows what that or any other of these things mean please let me know. When I know them all my internet browsing will be much less frustrating. I'll still think that anyone who uses them are bad people though.

Working for the weekend..

Life is hard when you're a dedicated thespian. I had to work both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. I'm worn out.

Saturday I had a rehearsal for the upcoming film I'm starring in. I played one woman's rational part. I am supposed to be all logic all the time, because two other women play the other aspects of her, the emotion and the morality. It's kind of a make it up as you go along deal, the director has the basic plot of the movie, about a couple where the woman is played by the different part of her, and we improvised the rest. We were supposed to rehearse this past Saturday and film next Saturday, but we only managed to finish one scene so far. By finish I mean come up with what's in the scene, not necessarily be ready to film it.

Of course now I'm (partially) trained in the Meisner Technique I had to argue with the director and the other actors about how we should all be playing our characters. I felt it was my duty to my art.

Yesterday I went to a meeting about the upcoming playreading I'm doing. I'm exaggerating a bit calling it work, I know. It was brief, the woman running it gave us a rundown of what's happening and gave us our scripts. I will be doing two, one on Thursday and one on Friday. I read the scripts last night and I'm not sure what to think. I'm a bit confused as to who I'm playing in the first one, there are so many characters who come and go, and only 2 described, I'm supposed to be playing "video woman" and there are characters called "woman" and "woman's voice" in parts who I think might be my role, but I'm not certain. I'm sure I'll find out. My character in the second play appears to be a child, not sure what age but it's a bit of a stretch all the same. Most of the people in the playreadings appear to be professional actors here for the Fringe Festival. The roles I have are minor ones, so I'm not terribly worried about it, though I may be later in the week.

Window kitty

Mutant Cat's wacky adventures..

Oh shit I've built it up too much. It's not that interesting really.

I was just on my way to "rehearsal", which is really practise in this Meisner thingy I'm doing. We are supposed to have these rehearsals regularly to prove that we're all dedicated and stuff, so I went to meet this guy at the park in Karlovo Namesti at 4:30. I hopped on a tram at about 4:22, easily enough time to get there, as it isn't far. Usually.

For some reason today the tram just wouldn't move. Well it did, but then it stopped. For a long time. When it got to Namesti Miru, the stop just down the road about 5 minutes later a lot of people got off. I thought, I ain't getting off this thing, I've already committed myself to going on the tram and I'm gonna get there on the tram dammit!

I changed my mind as soon as the doors closed and decided then that I wanted to get off and walk, but being a tram in motion, at least officially if not in the traditional sense of the word, that being "moving", the doors were closed. So I had to wait until we got to I.P.Pavlova, the next station which is a couple of metres from the Namesti Miru. During that time I got a message from the guy I was meeting, telling me exactly where in the park he was, so I wrote back saying that I was stuck on a slow tram, and would be there soon. He wrote back saying he was going to go ahead and start his activity. Brilliant.

It took about 10 minutes to move between those two stations. As soon as it stopped and opened the doors I ran out, and had to wait to cross the road as the light just went green for the cars as I got there. I waited, and crossed the road, then I ran until the next crossroad where naturally, the cars started moving just when I got there.

I took off my shoes, my little heeled sandals which are no good for walking in, let alone running in, and took off the overshirt I was wearing, oh and did I mention it was hot? It was hot. I ran, barefoot carrying my shoes, my shirt and my bag on the dirty hot street.

I got there pretty quickly, feeling hot and flushed with a red face and no shoes, and dived straight into what was supposed to be my door but was really just me coming straight from running barefoot in the heat. We rehearsed and went home. The end.

I told you it wasn't that interesting.

Overheard in Prague..

Last night.

You're like a wee puppet on a string without a master to pull the
strings.

I didn't exactly overhear it. This was in last night's class. The funny thing about it is that we're not supposed to have conversations while we're doing these exercises. The Meisner Technique is all about stripping away all the faking it and using language to cover up what we're really feeling, which is why the total of our communication is (or should be if we're doing it properly) calling out our partner's behaviour, as in "you're distressed" and they repeat it back to you and show how they're feeling by the way they say it, like a question if they don't agree, or angrily if they feel offended etc. Either that or they mention something about you like "you're concerned", and it goes on.

What you're not supposed to do it explain yourself, try to be witty or make strange poetic statements with quaint Irish colloquialisms. Which is what this guy did. It was entertaining though. Last night most of us were kind of spaced out and the class was kind of slow going which we blame the heat for, but it was nice to finish up with something that made us all laugh.

And though studying the Meisner Technique might be great for refining one's craft, it's not that often that you get memorable quotes out it.

Just stopping by...

My goodness, I've been so busy lately! Well for me anyway. I'm still going to my classes, and getting to know the mob there better. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it's terrible but mostly it's ok and I think I'm learning something.

There's a festival coming up which includes a series of playreadings, and I'm going to be doing one, possibly 2 of them. People will actually be coming to watch that, so I'm getting out there. It's not a full on well rehearsed play exactly but I'm hoping some of that will come in the future. I actually went to a playreading the other night which some of my classmates were in, as well as some other people I've met through student films and such over the past few years which I couldn't talk to because I had to leave early!!! I had a meeting to go to, which I was actually late for. See, I told you I was busy!

The meeting was with the same film group I worked with last year, and we are making another film. It's about a couple who are going through problems and the woman is played by 3 women who are different parts of her personality, not sure what I'll be or how it's going to be filmed but it sounds interesting.

Well, it doesn't sound as bad as some of those student films I've been in, which isn't saying a whole lot really.

Well you're dead now, so shut up!

The man who said this,

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists,
and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an
alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who
have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say
"you helped this happen."

Is dead.

Fucking asshole! Too bad there isn't a hell.

Who needs God when you've got these?

Looks like I'm not the only one out there who likes to translate the Holy Word for the laypeople out there. This is something that's been seen on a t-shirt in American schools recently.

God loves you a whole lot John 3:16

In case you're wondering what the original(KJV) text is..

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

True, one way of interpreting that is that God kinda likes you, in letting you live forever and all, but there are a few important points to consider.

First we need to remember that god created the universe and everything in it.

Second. It's not just that you get to live forever if you believe, it's that you get to go to heaven. And if you don't go to heaven you automatically go to Hell, which is everlasting torture.

So, with those two things in mind, we've got this God that made everything, including people. We didn't ask to be created, we just were. He makes us the way we are, puts us where he puts us so we only have so much choice in what we do with our lives, and certainly what we believe. He made a place called Hell for some unexplained reason, where each and every one of us is destined, also for some unexplained reason, due to the fuckups of the first two people he conjured.

One day after thousands of years he felt kinda bad that everyone had to suffer forever and he sent himself to earth as his own son, and for some unexplained reason had to suffer and die in the place of humanity, to let them into heaven (avoid hell). And then he came back to life again.

And now, we're allowed to avoid our destiny of eternal torture (which we deserve, according to god, who made us) if we accept this wonderful gift. If we don't we go to hell, but that's our own fault, considering the great lengths god went to let us avoid going there.

What a great guy!

Monkeys are cute...

It's been a while since anything interesting happened in my life, but there was a period there that was pretty wild. Lots of crazy things happened to me. One was the time I went to the Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall. That in itself wasn't so weird, although it was interesting, and the monkeys are very cute. What was strange about it is that I actually got kidnapped and taken there.

Oh they took me home afterwards. In between some other crazy stuff happened. Anyway, I'm too lazy to write it out again, you can read about it here.

I was going to write something today...

And then I thought I can't be bothered. It's a combination of lethargy, anxiety and lack of inspiration.. or maybe more like having things in my head that are so important while being so pointless at the same time that I can't bring myself to share it with the world, or even to go so far as to type the words into the browser. I just can't do it. So I'm not going to.

Or did I just do it?

And the answer is...

Boobs.

I refer to the competition I ran on Friday, in which I asked you to guess what the ad with the woman on the bike was for.

I'm not joking. The answer is really boobs, or rather breast implants.

Nobody guessed it, but I'm not terribly surprised that an ad with a photo of a woman with small-ish breasts which are not very visible under a hooded sweater, riding a bike and smiling with the words "you've never looked smarter" under it did not immediately make people think "boobs!"

Though I can see how such an ad would convince a woman dissatisfied with the size of her breasts to go through with the operation.. "oh, they'll make me look smarter? Just like the woman in the ad grinning like an idiot who's boobs you can't even see? Ok.. I'll get them, here's the money!" I'd just don a pair of glasses myself, but I've proven more than once that I'm hopelessly out of touch, so don't listen to me.

You're still all welcome to drink with me in Prague by the way. I won't even make you pay for me, I'm that nice.

Friday Competition

Can you guess what this ad is for? A few hints, it doesn't have anything to do with bicycles, hoodies or any type of clothing, toothpaste or feminine hygiene products.

And no cheating by looking at the source of the photo or anything, and if you think I can't tell if you've cheated then you're seriously mistaken. I have my ways.

The winner wins a date with me. You'll have to make your way to Prague to claim your prize, but there's no time limit. I'll let you buy me a beer whenever you want.

Where the plucking bell is everybody!!!

I hope you all know, I am seriously allergic to those little Add a comment message I get at the bottom of a post, signifying that I have, as yet, zero comments. It makes me wonder if there' s any point in continuing...

anyway, I have been featured in 2 carnivals this week..

Carnival of the Godless at Light Remembered, and
Carnival of the Feminists at KitKat's Critique...

godless feminist that I am.

I'm truly honoured to be in not one, but two carnivals and welcome to anyone who's come here through them..

SAY SOMETHING GODDAMMIT!!!!

Evening in the park..

I'm off to class soon, though we don't really have class today, it's more of a sorta something like class but not class class. Both of our regular teachers are busy and we don't have the keys to our usual space, so we're meeting outside the building at a regular time and will go off somewhere.. park, pub, someone's flat... pub.. outside the studio... pub.. and do our stuff. One of our students is more advanced than the rest of us, having studied it in America too, so she'll be guiding us through our exercises, not teaching, just sort of teaching.

Not sure how much will get done. It will probably be more like a "rehearsal" which is something we're supposed to do a few times a week but I hardly ever do. I actually had one yesterday though, which was in the park. About 8 people said they'd show up but one other person aside from myself did. We went through one exercise, which was kinda lazy and short, but it was something.

So, if we're in the park again I think we'll get anything done. We're just going to have to do it in the pub.