collisionwork | Feb. 19th, 2010

So on Monday I finished the Devils script to the point where I felt okay sending it to actors and discussing doing a reading. Sent it to the 27 actors who (plus me) I'd love to be the cast of the show, with a list of possible dates for a reading (and some notes to the effect that no, this is probably not the last draft of the script -- it's very likely too long and needs cutting, but we won't know where or how until the reading).

Found a date in late March when 19 of us can definitely get together and read it. As for the others, two of the actors are unavailable and/or uninterested, three are interested in the reading and/or eventual production, but can't make the date, two can probably make it but aren't sure, and another two aren't sure on any account yet, it seems (the last two especially concerning me right now, as they're the two female leads in the thing, and I'm REALLY hoping these actresses do the show). So we're moving forward on that. Now I can barely wait the month until that reading.

I read and reread the script and each time I keep having a different opinion of it. I'm hoping the reading will convince me 100% that I'm on the right track here. Still very self-conscious about the current casting of myself in what is really the lead role in the thing, for a number of reasons I don't want to go into right now. I'll see how I feel about that after the reading as well . . .

Trying to get into the other writing this week, with limited success. Some good ideas coming for Wedding, but not much apart from that.

David Finkelstein of Lake Ivan, on whose work I've been collaborating for the past year, has, as my director, given me a writing assignment, asking me to write something about our work from my perspective, for posting here and/or maybe on the Lake Ivan Improvisation Blog and Forum where David posts his notes, instructions, principles and thoughts. Wow, 41 years old and I'm suddenly getting homework again. I really feel on the spot.

I'm still trying to put my thoughts about this improvisation work that we do into the kind of words I'd feel fine with sharing (and that would, in any event, be useful to me in terms of learning from the work I'm doing with David, which is a good deal of why he wants me to write about it). The improvisational work I've been doing with David (which he videotapes in front of a green screen for potential future transformation into a video art piece) has been extremely useful for me as a director, writer, and actor this past year, and I'd like to maybe codify why a bit.

But that's a little hard for me sometimes when the work is so fluid and ever-changing. We're always learning more. We started work again after some time away two weeks ago, and wound up having some kind of useful breakthrough that resulted in a particularly fine group of improvisation pieces (for some reason, our improvisation duets usually wind up lasting around 45 minutes, consisting of several shorter "movements" of 10-20 minutes each). Last week, despite having prepared and focused on what we had learned the previous week (and reread David's blog entry on "The Improv AFTER a Great Improv," which was originally an email to me and a good "warning" piece), things didn't go so well. We discussed things afterward and pretty much reasoned out why -- and it may have come down to simple semantic issues, that words used in our preparation that were suggestive to David in one (good) way had quite the opposite effect on me.

But this is something I'll continue working on writing about to share here sometime soon.

As for the normal weekly business, here's today's Random Ten from the iPod, with links to YouTube videos of the songs themselves, or something related . . .

1. "Take Pity with our City" - Box of Fish - Trousers In Action 7"
2. ""I Guess I'll Peanut" - Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins - Sluggo!
3. "Harry, You're A Beast" - Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money
4. "Misirlou" - The Deptford Beach Babes - At A Loss For Words
5. "Faith" - The Boy Least Likely To - download
6. "Sticks And Stones" - The Golden Ear-rings - Just Ear-rings
7. "7-Up Ad (Sitar)" - Promo - Psychedelic Promos & Radio Spots, vol. 8
8. "Imagination" - The Quotations - The Doo Wop Box I vol 4: The Doo Wop Revival (1959-1987)
9. "Lisbon" - Pere Ubu - St Arkansas
10. "Closing" - Philip Glass - Glassworks

The kitties have been very cute this week, but I've been thwarted from getting a good photo of them, as they always seem to know when I'm about to take a good picture of them (especially Moni) and stop being adorable just as the shutter is about to go.

And the one time when they were out cold and I could get a bunch of shots of them, and did, I used the flash and wound up with hideously overexposed shots that Photoshop could not repair any more than this:

But I did get an OK shot of Hooker doing his snake impression on the couch:

Besides my writing assignment for David, I should get back to more thoughts on Godard.

I've finished up watching all of his features from 1960-1967, and continue to love and be inspired by his work, though I seem to have some different opinions from the majority on his "great" films versus the merely "good" ones (let alone the one absolutely awful one in there).

Seeing Two or Three Things I Know About Her when I was 17 did something to my head, set me on the path that got me where I am today, artistically. Maybe I should be pissed at it for doing that, but instead I love it all the more.

He certainly makes me want to get behind the lens of a motion picture camera again, I'll tell you that. I started seeing how much I could maybe find a 16mm sync camera on ebay for last night, found an okay one in my price range, but was automatically outbid. I'll keep looking.