macb

My goal for the second half of 2010 was to go on stage 50 times. Through mid-November I had 37 trips under my belt. Did I make it?
The week of 11/22 I did 2 Master Pancake Theater The Blindside shows (just the skit) 39
11/29: This week I did 1 show of MPT Lord of the Rings as a benefit for KOOP. I also did my first full weekend at the Velveeta Room, hosting the open mic night on Thursday and then 4 shows that weekend opening for Jonathan Pace, Chad Warren, Chip Pope, Kerri Lendo and Andrea Grimes. I also got talked into doing an improv show. I think I was on stage for a minute total and felt really shitty about my performance, but hey, my improv cherry has been busted and bronzed.
12/13: Hot Property made their triumphant return at Monday Night Mash, and Stag Comedy took the stage at Salvage Vanguard Theater for an encore performance of Episode 3.
12/27: I signed up to do the Velveeta Room open mic on Thursday to get me to 50. However, Stag Comedy ended up taking the stage at the Whip-In for Owen Egerton's good-bye party thing, then the Velv open mic, and Stag also did a piece at Coldtowne's New Year's Eve show (which was actually at SVT) and lo and behold 52!

Boom! I did it! I think this was easily the most stand-up I've done in any year, plus the most sketch, and I did my first improv show. A complete success! Goal reached!

Next up a year end wrap-up and some hard looks I bet.

Time for another update of my stage log. As a reminder, the goal is to go on stage 50 times during the last part of the year (July to December). Here's how October went and November is going.
For the week of Monday, October 3: Stag Comedy hosted the Monday Night Mash (1), trying out three sketches that would later make it into our full show. I also did a set at Live at Coldtowne that week (2).
10/10: David and I mocked the video for Rick James's "Give it to Me Baby" as part of Master Pancake's Video Jukebox at the the South Lamar Drafthouse (3). Almost every Master Pancake rotational player and some that weren't made fun of different music videos. The ones that got the best reaction were going to perform at Fun Fun Fun Fest. I'm not sure of the order, but we did well enough to "advance", as it were. I also did a set at the Velveeta Room (4).
Also that week, the Mascot Wedding show hosted the Saturday portion of a KOOP benefit (5). I don't know if I'd call this a performance, but throughout the day we were on the Club De Ville stage cracking wise for probably over an hour, so it's getting a nod.
10/17: I don't think I did anything this week. Bew
10/24: I hosted the Velveeta Room's open mic on 10/28 (6), only my second paying stand-up gig. I also got booked to host a weekend in December, which is awesome. John wanted to promote the Fun Fun Fun Fest show by having different Video Jukebox teams up before showings of their Twilight mock, so David and I made fun of Give it to me Baby again, on 10/30 (7).
11/1: Another Hot Property show at the Monday Night Mash (8). Not as good as the first time around. However, I was neck deep in Stag Comedy stress by this point, so I wasn't really able to give it my all.
The much-practiced for Fun Fun Fun Fest show was this Saturday (9). I was a little worried about how a video-based show would go on an outdoor comedy stage at a music festival where the music from the other stages' is bleeding over. However (pant pant pant), it went really well. So, sweet.
11/8: Stag Comedy episode 3 made it's long awaited debut at the Downtown Alamo Ritz (10). Putting on the show cost me quite a bit of money, time, and sanity, but we sold it out. People seemed pleased with the final product. More shows are planned.
11/15: Nuthin. Still exhausted from Stag. I had signed up for the Velv this past Thursday but had to cancel.

10 shows during that stretch, which brings the current 19-week total to 37 shows, one behind the curve. I have one small Pancake thing in November, but December brings more stand-up, Stag Comedy, Hot Property, and more Master Pancake. Together that's 10 booked performances, which means I'll need to squeeze 3 open-mics in there and that should be a wrap. Information on my December dates will be posted to the Mascot Wedding site this week.

I'm having one of those "man I need to get my shit together" days. Only two options:
1. Get shit together
2. Just go to bed and then wake up the next day all like daaaaaaaaaammmmmm
3. Pizza
I forgot about Pizza. So there are three options. If I could combine 1 and 3, that'd be the straight jam. Thanks livejournal. I knew I could talk to you about it.

Between preparing for Stag Comedy shows, school, stand-up and trying to keep things on an even keel, my schedule is... not accepting new submissions at the moment. Can we just say that?

Anyway, September is in the books so let's recap my progress towards my goal of 50 performances in the second half of the year.
The week of 9/5 I did the Velveeta Room open mic that Thursday
9/12: Three performances. BOOM. I did that Thursday's Velv. Then that Friday, my berfday, I did Live at Coldtowne and also the Midnight Society's gong show, Midnight Special. David and I did this quick thing I can best describe as a joke meme that we've all been doing at Stag Comedy writing meetings. It was stupid but we had fun with it and I think the audience could tell that and had some fun as well.
9/19: One show of Master Pancake Theater Independence Day with actor Bill Pullman live on stage with us. That's right, I got to act, make fun of, and have fun with the guy who played the President that beat back alien invaders and delivered a bad-ass speech. You know what I'm talking about. That one before they launch the counter attack.
/Chills
This performance (part of Fantastic Fest) led to a late night after-party with BP and some other cool folks, including a famous hobbit. I made my littler sister, a Lord of the Rings fan, jealous for life.
9/26: Another Velveeta room open mic, my first extended set there. Movin' on up!

I should probably write about my birthday and maybe more about the other stuff but eh, I'm tired right now. I just wanted to make sure I wrote all these dates down before my brain pushed them out to make room for other facts. It does that. Dumb ol' brain.

Numbers crunched: 12 weeks in, 27 shows deep.

Over halfway to my goal. This month should keep the train rolling with already-scheduled shows with Stag Comedy, Hot Property, Master Pancake, and some stand-up including a hosting turn at the Velveeta room. I'm a busy beaver. Cry for me, Argentina.

I have been trying to keep that goal in mind of going on stage 50 times by the end of the year. Thanks to a bunch of Master Pancake shows I was at 13 by the end of July. Here's how August went:
The week of 8/2 I had 4 shows of Master Pancake: Spider-man. Took the next week off.
8/16 This week I did a sketch-prov show with Nick Ramirez, Lance Gilstrap and David J called Hot Property at Coldtowne.
8/23 Punchline on Friday (the last one)
8/30 Another Hot Property show (still good, not as good as the first one) and the Velveeta Room's Out of Bounds Festival Open-mic.

Total: 8 weeks in 21 shows deep.

In other news, preparation for the next Stag Comedy show keeps chugging along. Plus, more stand-up and more Hot Property in the future.

It's for a class
Digital Creative Portfolio Class

Most of my tweets disappeared from my twitter account. I left a comment in the appropriate place on their help page, but I'm guessing they're not coming back. The thing is - they're still on the twitter app I have on my phone. I thought about posting them all here, but when I started reading them - they're not that interesting. But is anything I chronicle on the interwebs that interesting? This thing? Facebook? My status updates aren't exactly "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
I get too attached to internet stuff. Just because twitter is designed for these micro posts doesn't mean it's unlike other places you spend your time. Plus, it's there - what I was doing on that day, what I was thinking. Does it need to be chronicled? Nope. But it was, and seeing it go feels a little like losing an old photo album.
What's going on with me. My two finals for my two summer courses got turned in today. Next up is a week and a half break before fall classes start. I'm going to try and knock out some dangling projects between now and then. Saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World this weekend. The more I think about it, the more I liked it. Supposedly it's not doing super awesome at the box office, but a movie with that much crazy energy almost feels better as a "cult" hit. I kinda want to see it again. That gives me an idea.

Things I was into (in a major way) during the Summer of 2010 (so far)
-Scott Pilgrim (the last book in the comic series also came out)
-Sangria
-Mario Kart 64 (David, Andrew Rosas and myself cannot stop playing it)
-Deadwood
-Adventures

More to come, probably.

excake: got a full 4.50 bux at half price for a fucking box full of things, including the matrix reloaded and chris rock standup dvd
i mean
wtf

me: Damn, I would paid that much just for the Matrix DVD
Yeah Half Price always lowballs

excake: i traded all that in for stephen hawking's A Brief History of Time, so i feel slightly better

me: Look at you
Buying fancy books

excake: i mean, i'm glad i did. otherwise i woulda spent it on pizza and a ball-in-cup and really wasted it

me: But the fact that you turned a big box of stuff that you were done with into one book you're interested in... that's cool
Though, if you're going to diss ball in a cup, let's just stop being pals

At the beginning of each year, I've traditionally written a yearly recap and then checked my progress on some goals I made, make some new goals, etc. Didn't do that at the beginning of this year. I don't really feel like coming up with some goals for the remaining 5 months or writing a long recap of 2009, because who cares?

Well, the other day, I was sitting in class and I was thinking about when I quit that job, started that other job, did this and so I made a little list of major life events + milestones from 2007 to today. Crazy to see it laid out like that. Crazy but awesome - I've had a lot of sweet times with a lot of good friends. Because this journal is mostly for me, here's my 2009. Some personal stuff deleted. My 2009 doesn't kiss and tell. Family deaths were also left out.

January
-Working for BV
-Taking another Graphic Design class at ACC
February
-Started working for CL,
-Mascot Wedding's Joy of Painting wins 1st place. Filming involves Mascot Wedding hotel night (badass).
April
-Accepted into Grad School, Master's in Advertising
-Master Pancake's Lord of the Rings show starts
May
-Mascot Wedding New Orleans road trip
-Master Pancake: Rocky IV shows
June
-Contract's up, leave CL
July
-Master Pancake: Independence Day
-Took a summer class at UT, first step in Grad program
August
-Master Pancake show at QuakeCon in front of 1,000 people.
-Fall semester starts
September
-Mascot Wedding Show wins Best of Austin Critic's Pick
-New Mascot Wedding short: Rampage
-Stag Comedy! We sell out the Ritz. Great show. Among life highlights so far.
November
-Master Pancake: E.T. shows
December
-Fall semester wraps up. Two A's and a B

I guess what this really represents are creative/professional/academic endeavors. Although that New Orleans trip was badass. Saw a lot of good shows in there as well. NEway, back to work.

me: I voted this morning
made that ballot my bitch

excake: how long did it take?

me: like 15 minutes
I waited until after my shift
and then walked over to the school next to my house
then walked back
Nice to get a walk in there too

excake: i was expecting voting to take a bijillion hours what with the crowds. No crowds?

me: Not at mine
I bet there were crowds this morning
or maybe after work

excake: ah

me: but yeah, I only had to wait on one person

excake: thas cool
in nica you have to wait for the paper to be made and then pens to be fashioned out of chicken feathers

me: I heard that
In san antonio you can only vote if you own land
and women can only vote if they're holding their husband's genitals in the other, non-voting hand
My friend Raul said he voted by buttering a tortilla that said obama on it

LATER...
me: remember that blanket fort party?
that was kinda lame
woke up the next morning - I was sleeping on a binder clip all night

excake: hahahahaha
lurl
man i remember that shit
i hate it when ppl throw get-togethers and call them parties
like i dont know what a party is

me: Yeah it totally was just people from the office too. I think one non-office person showed up

excake: a party has ppl and music and lots of drinking. get-togethers involve small group and is tame enough to have drinking games where everyone has a seat

me: haha
trudat
man
I miss drinking games so much

excake: sigh
id do anything to go back to those days

me: throw a horse warming party
and then (looks around) drinking games
whoa
horse warming?
house warming

excake: hahahhaa
horse warming!
all of us with gloves on, throwing blankets on a horse, rubbing his belly

me: No no
Arg too late
Now that horse warming idea will be stuck in your head
sigh
I'll go get my pony blanket