Tired

Man will I be glad when this week is over!

Well, back to work.

RENT

I had the opportunity to see the new movie RENT this weekend. It's a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical. It was fantastic. Most of the original Broadway actors reprised their roles. Only two did not... and they were as terrific as the rest of the cast. The translation to the big screen was made well by director Chris Columbus.

A lot of the shorter songs that were sung in the stage version were changed to dialogue for the screen version. The first couple of times this occured, it took my by surprise and I was mildly disappointed, but I soon adjusted to it, and was able to enjoy the rest of the film... and did I ever!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself the entire length of the movie. I never looked at my watch, and I was very engaged in what was going on. One of the best things for me was that I could see facial expressions of the actors, as well as getting to see most of the original actors playing the parts that I fell in love with when I first heard the music.

An excellent made film, wonderfully acted, and beautifully directed... definitely a must-buy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I'm shutting down my computer and heading North to visit the family. I hope everyone has a very safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Whether it being a simple meal with your immediate family, or a huge brew-ha-ha with cousins, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and relatives you hardly ever see, or didn't know about!

Done

11:00pm. We finished strike for A Christmas Story. It only took us an hour and a half to fully break down the set and load it into the truck. I got an interesting taste of tour life. I really think it'd be fun to be either cast or crew on a truck and bus tour. At least for a while.

As I sort of mentioned in a previous post, we performed in Somerset, KY tonight. Somerset is the town I grew up in, and I was really surprised to see so many people I knew after the show. Some of my mom's friends who would always come to see me in shows when I still lived in Somerset came to see the show.

A friend of mine that I knew in High School actually came to see the show. I kind of give her a little bit of credit for getting me into acting. Her name (at the time) was Krista Brown... not sure if she's married or not, now.

One of the most awesome people I knew from growing up in Somerset was a girl by the name of Katie Gregory (now Wood). She was a lifeguard at the pool I grew up near. Now she's a judge. It was so awesome to see her, as well as all the people that came to see the show that I knew!

Almost Home

One more performance, load-out, and a night at Hampton Inn, and I'm home free. I've really enjoyed my time here, but it'll be good to get back home. A lot of things in the works, and I need to get working on them.

A Christmas Story

Y'know... the story about Ralphie and his Official Red Ryder 200 Shot Carbine Action Range Model Air Rifle (BB Gun)?

The Show opens tonight for public audiences in Prestonsburg, KY.

Showtimes:
- Friday, November 18, @ 7:30pm at the MAC
- Saturday, November 19, @ 7:30pm at the MAC
- Tuesday, November 22, @ 7:00 at The Center in Somerset, KY

I play a few roles in the show. The main one is SCUT FARKAS, the yellow-eyed bully. I also play Black Bart and a random Santa's Elf. Come out and see the show, it's a great one to take the family to!

Check out either www.macarts.com or www.centertech.com for ticket information and to double check showtimes.

Batch of Firsts

The past few days have been pretty packed here in Prestonsburg. I've been busy helping to get the set finished on time. Over the past days, I've done a few interesting things that I've never done before.

- Wallpapered a room
- Layed down linoleum
- Installed a door
- helped build a staircase

I found most of it to be a lot easier than I had anticipated, which is great.

In other news... sort of... A Christmas Story opened this morning to hundreds of anxious kids in our first of many school matinee performances. We're all pretty proud of this show, especially since many of the actors put a lot of blood and sweat into the set, too.

A new bit for me this year is at the top of ACT II. I'm one of Santa's "elves" that help the kids see Santa, and keep the line of kids flowing. It's one of my favorite on-stage moments of the show!

I'm slightly dreading tomorrow's performances, though... and yes, I did say performances (plural). Tomorrow we have 3 (count 'em) shows. Two school matinee shows, and one evening public performance. It should prove interesting. I just hope the kids (and some of the adults) don't expend all their energy in the first two shows, so that the general public audience gets their money's worth.

OUCH!

Still in Prestonsburg... week two. This weekend the scenic designer for the show came in to work on the set a bit. The set had been built (mostly) off-site at Morehead University's Theatre Department. There was still a LOT to do. I went in to help on Saturday, thinking that I would be painting... ended up building. Worked about eight hours on Saturday (after rehearsal and posting here).

As I was leaving work, I turned my ankle. It was by far the most pain I can remember being in. Luckily, I was still able to walk on it. I woke up Sunday morning and was barely able to stand.

I knew how much work needed to be done on the set, so I went in around 11:00am to help out more, hobbling around on my one good leg. We worked for a few hours then loaded the set into the budget truck to take it to the actual performace space. We made sure everything was labeled properly in order to put it back together correctly.

At the MAC we unloaded the truck, put the set back together... and kept working. We finally finished for the evening around 10:00pm. A full 11 hours of work... yikes! It felt like the hours I'm used to putting in during the JWT's summer season.

Today, my ankle feels a little better, not quite as stiff... but still pretty painful to walk on. Hopefully, it'll start feeling better in the next day or two.

Take a Hike, eh?

I did just that. Thursday, a couple friends and I hiked all over Jenny Wiley State Park. There are several hiking trails setup through the mountains and along the lake. The total trek was around 6 miles... and there were a lot of steep uphill legs. It was great. The weather was perfect, the trees were beautiful, and the exercise was invigorating! Just another reason why I love coming back to Prestonsburg year after year.

That night a few of us went after rehearsal to the Holiday Inn which hosts a comedy club every Thursday night (for the last 17 years). They get some great comedians, none I've ever heard of, but my face and stomach always ends up sore at the end of the sets from laughing so hard. After the comedians are done, it turns into kind of a "club scene", which is cool. It's really fun to watch the "mating-rituals" happen on the dance floor.

On a last note... welcome Mikey back to the blogging scene!

How Cool am I?

The fun never stops here in grand ole' Prestonsburg. Last night to stave off the boredom after rehearsal, I trekked to Wal-mart and bought a puzzle. Not just any puzzle, mind you, but a Puzz-3D. Y'know, the puzzle where you put together a building or something like that.

Last night I bought the Notre Dame (pronounced Nohtra Dahm, not Noter Dayme) set. Started building it around 10:00pm, went to bed around 2:30 with it only half-finished... woke up this morning around 11:00am and finished it by about 1:30pm. It's pretty neat. I was hoping it would take me a bit longer, though... as now I'm back to not having anything to do in my off hours. Sigh.

It Begins

Reporting to you Live from Prestonsburg, KY.

Well, I'm all settled in here at Jenny Wiley again. The place looks pretty much like I left it. I'm actually amazed that the leaves are still on most of the trees, yet. The past couple of falls I've worked here, it's been very dead. But actually, right now it's very beautiful. Lots of Autumn-y colors, and the temperature outside during the day is very pleasant.

Friday I arrived, stopped by the office to visit for a few minutes, then went to the house, unpacked and grabbed a few groceries.

On Saturday, we had our first read through of the show. Most of the people are the same as last year, and it was kind of like a family reunion. That night a few of us went to Reno's for a drink and some food.

Sunday, Beth, Heather, and myself went to see a matinee movie... Chicken Little. It was REALLY good. Far better than I expected. It was one of those movies where I thought I would enjoy it and be entertained, but didn't expect much else. That night we had our second read through of A Christmas Story.

Right now, I'm just hanging out at the Floyd County Public Library and moochin' their high-speed internet access. I feel kinda technologically naked without my computer and all my bookmaks, etc.

Heading Out

Well gang, I figured I'd post one more time before I shut my computer down to head out to Prestonsburg. If I have the opportunity, I'll post a couple times in the next couple weeks. I won't have readily available internet access for that time, though... so who knows? And maybe I'll be too busy to post anyway... we'll see.

Until then... take care and God Bless.

Trendy... Me?

Still reporting on location at LiveWire Cafe.

I'm feeling very trendy right now. I just got up from my table to goto the restroom, and when I returned, I noticed several people (other than myself) sitting around the room with laptop computers open and working on them. Very internet-cafe' cliche'.

IM

maxx7736: You have got to read this! Link
Scott: uhm...
maxx7736: yep
Scott: ... wow...
maxx7736: yep
Scott: ... i need to bathe.

Ahh... Home

Reporting to you, on location from LiveWire Cafe in beautiful downtown Richmond, KY.

Ah... I love LiveWire. Friendly people, nice environment, wonderful beverages, and free wireless internet. Just stopping in for a bit after running some final last minute errands around Richmond.

Tomorrow, I leave for two and a half weeks for beautiful Prestonsburg, KY! *cough* Actually, in the fall and winter it's really dead and depressing there, at least scenic-ly speaking. I'll be working at good ole' JWT again this season for their production of "A CHRISTMAS STORY". Most of the cast is the same as last year, so I'll get to see some familiar friends and faces. I'll be reprising my role of SCUT FARKAS, the yellow-eyed bully.

What's really cool this year, is that we're doing three shows in Somerset (my hometown) at the Center Theatre (Center for Rural Developement). It's where I first got my start in theatre and I haven't performed on that stage in over 7 years. It should be a real treat.

Photo of the Moment

This is either totally awesome, or extremely frightening.

Sent to me by Bub.

Two Eleven

I saw gas priced at $2.11 at a BP on Winchester Road today. ROCK!

I purchased gas for $2.14 at Speedway on Todds Road, Monday. It was the first time in several months that I didn't spend over $30 for a tank of gas. Whoo hoo!

News of Note

Puh-lease. -he says with disgust. An article on CNN's website about cartoon violence and the G rating for movies.

Now the Christians are offended thanks to Winter Lights.

Do you think they know what "that" means?

Okay, everyone in Italy didn't get the memo about Halloween.

Weekend Turn-around

This weekend took an unexpected, but welcomed turn from what I had planned. Originally I was going to head up north to visit my mom for the weekend, but I ended up staying in Lexington to help out at church. On Saturday morning, I got a phone call from my good friend Ben. He was in town from Nashville with his girlfriend Rebekah. So after the Sat. evening service, we met up at Starbucks to hang out and catch up. It was really great to connect with him again.

Sunday was spent at church til noon, and then I enjoyed the afternoon to myself watching Family Guy and Simpsons DVDs, as well as working on the "secret project".

I know Monday isn't really part of the weekend, but... well... who cares. Monday was spent at church getting our new intelligent fixtures (Martin MAC 500s) ready for the demonstration of our new lighting control system (happening later this morning), and then I met up with friends Dustin & Katie for a movie, some dinner, and to watch the Steelers vs. Ravens game on TV.