First Cortland Thunder

There's something about a first thunderstorm in a new place that's very exciting to me. Today, May 31st 2007, was the first thunderstorm in Cortland. I was exciting a fine dining establishment where I was enjoying an adult beverage with the rest of the electrics department when it was starting. (The reason for such adult-beveraging shall be the subject of a future blog entry that's being withheld for the moment.) Anyway, I always wondered what it is about lightning storms that interest me. Okay, so the lighting connection is obvious, and I'm certainly a light geek, but I think there's more to it than that. Maybe because I was terrified of the things when I was little-- I was terrified of anything with loud, sudden noises including fireworks and a certain ride at Storyland. But I do know that I always feel a little more... "arrived" at a place once I see a thunderstorm there.

Addicted to 'Net

My wi-fi connection with a house 70 yards away has begun acting up pretty severely. That far away I wasn't expecting much, like when it cut out any time the humidity got over 80%, THAT I could handle. But now it seems to be on some sort of solar calendar. I'm bloggin to the tune of 4 out of 5 bars right now, yet anytime after say 8pm I'm down to one, last night I had barely a bar and not sustained enough to actually connect to any websites. Sad.

Its times like these that remind you how addicted you are to the internet. I feel naked without my thrice daily email checks-- like the world is passing me by. (Hmmm, two metaphors in one sentence... I'll make sure that doesn't happen again.) I didn't even have the internet at home until 8th grade, yet here, 9 years later I'm enslaved to it. Perhaps the Matrix scenario isn't that far off, except we're all willingly committing ourselves to it. But back to reality, I guess I'll just have to cram my entire internet fix into the morning and sulk all day.

There's only one solution to a cable tv-less, internetless existence. Drink! So last night I played kings with the folks downstairs-- hey, I had to do something to pass the time.

Which File Extension Am I?

Which File Extension are You?





That's all for now, maybe more later.

Random Thoughts

Memorial Day = day off, woohoo! First out at poker last night, but I was trying to lower everyone's expectations so I can take them for the rest of the summer. Got to hang out with Kristie, which was really cool. Got a paper cut from a gobo on Saturday, not fun.

Only 10 days until the Tony's! Amazing how little I cared until having something to do with them.

One of my roommates has, at 26, traveled the world twice-- once back-packing Europe for a whole year, once on a cruise line for a year, lived in Fiji as a marine biologist (which sounds like the most beautiful place on the planet) and beat cancer the size of both of his fists that was between his heart and his spine. This makes me feel like I either need to A) stop bitching about grad school because comparatively its amazingly mundane and unimpressive or B) fuck it all and just move to California or travel Europe.

Pirates 3 Review

The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Short, short version: much better than the second one, not nearly as good as the first. Aye Matey, there be spoilers ahead.

Jerry Bruckheimer/ Disney's The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End regains the unique world and neat visuals of the first, something that was sorely lacking in Dead Man's Chest. What is still missing, however, is the tightly woven, efficient plot with clever turns and perfectly paced narrative of the original.

For those familiar with the ride, there are more obvious shout-outs, including an interesting transition that includes audio from the actual ride with "Dead men tell no tales" and a clip from the auction scene (you know, the "we wants the red head" part). But I still miss the clever, subtle allusions from the first, such as the hidden mickey in the smoke and the recreation of the dog with keys scene.

The dialogue is much better, gone are the "why is the rum always gone" tedious you'll-laugh-to-show-people-you-saw-the-first-one lines. One unfortunate sequence though has a character growing to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman proportions.... yeah. This is more than offset but some amazing visuals in the over-the-edge of the world section about 30 minutes in, including a clever reversal of ocean and sky. Once we get to the maelstrom (after the unnecessary 50-ft bitch) that too, has some great action cinematography.

Overall, go see it, definitely better than Spiderman 3 or Pirates 2, and generally an entertaining summer movie.

Nostalgia

Gas.... $35
Lunch at Phoebe's... $18
Back at College, if only for a few hours.... priceless. :-)

Visited SU for the first time since graduation today-- I was borrowing some stuff from their electrics department for Almost Heaven. It was weird seeing the building completely devoid of people, but was fun seeing some friends from the Stage. Seeing Pirates of the Caribbean tonight, that should be fun, review tomorrow.

Coffee Regular

For one to know the superiority of New Englanders look no farther than your nearest Dunkin Donuts, errrr.... coffee shop. Today I ordered a "coffee regular" as I've done thousands of times back home. Noticing the blank stare I got from the clerk I clarified "cream and sugar". This is not the first time this has happened to me outside of New England, the most common occurance is to be handed a coffee black. Now, if I wanted a black coffee, wouldn't I just order "coffee"? No additions no fancy crap, just "coffee".

Like most, however, I like cream and sugar. If most of us get it that way, "regular" seems like a perfect qualifier to add. It's quick to say, and makes sense. But somehow this streamlining has gone unnoticed outside of New England. And that, my friends, is why we run this country. Us nor-than-us are wicked smaaart.

A Summer in Ohio

without cable, hot water, Vietnamese food....

Ok, it actually seems pretty good so far for my first (and likely only) summer stock experience, and truthfully I was a lot closer to Ohio in Pittsburgh than here. Apartment is very nice, though came sans-shower curtain (figure that one out). We've got a porch up on the third floor, so we've got a really cool view and a great place to chill. I'll see the theater for the first time tonight at a dinner provided by the "Guild" AKA a group of old people with nothing better to do than raise money for our theater. First production meeting is in, oh, 2 hours... fun, fun.

Syracuse U's design showcase is today... goodluck everybody! In other news, I just found out a friend will be back up here for Memorial Day weekend. Some fun Ithaca-ing will be a blast.

At some point I'll post the obligatory "to return to grad school or not" entry, but for now I'm enjoying not thinking about it.

Introduction

The following are disallowed from the field of stage lighting for a period of not less than 5 years:

* Congo Blue
* LEDs color shifting from Red-Green-Blue
* High End Systems' "Hollywood Stars" gobo
* Sharp focus gobos on scenery

Violations will be punishable by fines, imprisonment, and/or death.

thank you.