Brian Officially Runs Out of Titles

Well, it's getting to be that time of year, and everything starts to draw to a close. Except it's my junior year, and this upcoming week is going to be the most stressful of my life. But that aside, I think I've made some progress this past week. I've finished a George W. Bush dying his hair skit, but it looks like it may be scrapped for time at this point. Not that I mind - I've got enough on my plate as it is. As it stands now, I'm definitely going to be appearing in Frank's video game skit. My chances of appearing in Anika's Honey Boo Boo skit and the giant stuffed animal skit, while not set in stone just yet, are pretty promising, and it's possible that I'll be performing in Ellen's "Dungeons and Dengue" scene. Besides, I almost like my Vladimir Putin skit better than the George W. Bush skit. I've been tinkering around with ideas for Kerry's rewriting the national anthem idea, primarily one for the one percent to the tune of "New York, New York." I'm having some troubles with the rhyming, but I should have it done by Monday.

On a somewhat related note, I finished my STAC Art piece. It's German Expressionism. Before you all get too harsh, keep in mind that I'm not much of a painter.

This Week's Update

Kerry Prep was in again this week, and the portion of STAC Night that he'll be involved in is starting to take shape. It isn't fully formed yet, but it's becoming tangible. It seems as though most of us who are working with him have taken his advice and watched a bunch of comedy segments, because most of the ideas I heard on Friday would probably pass on a show like Saturday Night Live. Personally, I didn't necessarily like my own skit the best - I liked Ellen's "Hashtag Deep" the best out of them all, just because there's so much you can do with the idea. I also thought that Emily and Andrew's elevator idea, with a man saying "ding" (much to the chagrin of two executives) each time the elevator reached a new floor. But on the whole, I don't think that our skit - George W. Bush accidentally getting his hair bleached - was half bad. I just don't think that the premise was good as the others. I suppose we'll just have to see how it all turns out. Kerry's own idea - different groups rewriting and auditioning the national anthem - also sounds like a lot of fun, and I hope I'll get a chance to act in it!

Another Update...

On Monday, Kerry Prep (that's a better name than "Brian Brew"), a professor at Adelphi University, came into STAC for a workshop. Kerry strikes me as an eccentric sort of man,  and, of course, I mean that in a positive way. I'm in no position to judge anyone in an unfavorable way for being a bit eccentric. Kerry has a lot of great ideas for skits, some of which had me thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?" I'm glad he shared them with us, because it got us all thinking up new ideas of our own. My assigned groupmates for this skit-writing, Saturday Night Live-esque project are Tristen and Danielle M. Danielle might be a bit of a problem - she's a fantastic actress, but acting falls outside of her comfort zone, and all of our group's ideas  would require her to leap out of said zone. One potential skit involves a lesbian wedding being crashed by Vladimir Putin, while the other would involve George "Dubya" Bush accidentally bleaching his hair whilst attempting to dye it pink. Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit, but I'm already outlining potential scripts for both of these ideas. Don't judge me.
On a more-or-less unrelated note...Hedwig and the Angry Inch, starring Neil Patrick Harris, was phenomenal. On the off-chance that you haven't seen it, try and get tickets as soon as possible. It's one of the best shows I've ever seen.

An Acting Update...

Today, we worked on acting without acting, so to speak. A bit of background: yesterday, Luke taught us that everything we do is based on some mental goal or objective we have. It could be for people to like us, it could be to get people to leave us alone, it could be to make someone feel angry or depressed or cheerful. I'm pretty sure we all realized, almost right off the bat, that he was right. Back to today: we were given cards with a bunch of these objectives, and worked in pairs to try and achieve those objectives in a given scenario. Since many of the objectives counteracted each other (for example, one person trying to make the other feel better about themselves would be paired with a person trying to make him or her angry at herself), there tended to be a clear winner and loser in these scenarios, and we gave the others feedback on their performances. The point of the whole exercise was to act like you normally act in your day-to-day life when confronted with various scenarios. Luke's pointers were of a great deal of assistance: superimposing a mental image of somebody who makes you feel a certain way, be it overjoyed or furious or anything in between, over your partner completely changes the dynamic of the scene. Picturing physical actions, including punching, poking and comforting, had a similar impact on the nature of the performance. I'm really enjoying working with my fellow actors, and I'm excited for whatever's coming next!

The Illusionist

On Wednesday, we watched The Illusionist, an animated film directed by Sylvain Chomet. I must admit, I was surprised by the film's depth. Of course, I wasn't expecting some cutesy Disney-esque film, but I wasn't expecting anything so profound and melancholy as this film proved to be. There's a lot that can be taken away from this film, and a lot to ideas to steal from the film as well. The overall plot of the film, for one, in its basest form, can be an example of this. The main character, quite obviously a caricature of French actor Jacques Tati, gives and gives and gives until he has nothing left to give...and gives up. You can make any number of story arcs out of that theme. Other plot elements can be made into entire plots themselves. The depressed clown and homeless ventriloquist, for example: I could have watched another full film about either of those characters. And the whole idea of ironic characters, who should be one thing (cheerful and happy, as is present here) but in actuality are the opposite (suffering from depression and being forced to make sacrifices). Just sitting here, I'm getting a bunch of ideas...friendly terrorists, racist minorities, mean Canadians...moving on. Many of the plot elements could become plot elements in other productions. For example, the part where the Illusionist has to wait for the British boy band to get off the stage multiple times could be adapted into many other pieces, as can the obnoxious audience members who take it upon themselves to point out the flaws in a performance. And, of course, the drunk Scotsman in the kilt dancing to rock music. Sometimes, a completely anachronistic character can add a bit of humor...or a lot of it. That's something to keep in mind.

Ten Events That History Would Be Unrecognizable Without

You didn't think I forgot about my blog, did you? No, I've just been pretty darn preoccupied this past week, what with my A.P. tests coming up. Wish me luck. I'm going to catch up on everything before the weekend is out, I promise. But first and foremost...I have a bit of unfinished business. Same rules apply as in the last post: big events that most definitely impacted the way we lived today, and not always the really obvious ones. Here, we have events six through ten.

6) Battle of Tours-Poitiers
If you don't know the story, I'll fill you in: in the eighth century A.D., the Islamic empire was on the rise. The Muslim Moors conquered Spain and advanced into the lands of the Franks, modern France. They only encountered futile attempts at resisting their approach into Europe's Christian heartland, before they were halted at a spot between the modern cities of Tours and Poitiers by the full force of the Frankish military, under the leadership of the legendary Charles Martel, whose surname/title means "The Hammer." In the short term, the Battle of Tours-Poitiers, which ended in a crushing victory for the Franks, halted the advancement of Islam into France. Its long-term impact, however, can still be felt today. Though it's unlikely that the Moors would have Islamized the whole of Europe, people feared that they would have. The battle lead to widespread mistrust between the Christians and Muslims, and that mistrust contributed in large part to the Crusades. The lingering mistrust continues to shape our lives to this day.
On a side note...the western world today would look very different if it wasn't for the Battle of Tours. A study concluded that almost all people of western European descent can trace their ancestry to Charlemagne, first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire...and grandson of Charles Martel (http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/07/charlemagnes-dna-and-our-universal-royalty/). And if the battle had turned ill...well, some of our forty-greats-grandfathers would have died that day. And then we wouldn't be here to analyze this all, would we? Somebody else would.

7) Gunpowder Weapons
The Chinese invented them. The Turks improved upon them. The Europeans improved upon them even further.
This one doesn't need much of an introduction. Cortes used rifles to conquer the Aztecs. Russian explorers pushed back the native Siberians, carving out vast swathes of territory for their burgeoning empire. In every major conflict since the fall of Byzantium in 1453, firearms have had a role. That legacy continues to impact us up to the present day, in very obvious ways. If it wasn't for the humble gun, we'd still be hacking away at each other with swords, and a lot of nations would look very different.

8) American Revolution
This isn't actually an egocentric, nationalistic sort of thing. The American revolution had a major impact around the world. The Haitian revolution, the Latin American revolutions, the French revolution...virtually every political change since 1776 has ripped something off from the Declaration of Independence. And it's not just that - social movements often turn to Jefferson's document for inspiration and vindication.
And, of course, there's the egocentric, nationalistic bit - this whole thing gave us the United States.

9) Pearl Harbor
I suppose "American Involvement in WWII" would be a better title for this one, but that all goes back to the date which will live in infamy. After Pearl Harbor, America's industry boomed, lifting the nation out of the Great Depression. American actions in Europe ensured the fall of Nazi Germany (although, in all honesty, the Soviets would eventually have beaten the Germans back), and the U.S. almost single-handedly crushed the Empire of Japan in the slugfest of the Pacific Theater. The Second World War turned America into the world's biggest superpower, with a few insignificant things called NUCLEAR WEAPONS, which, quite obviously, have had no impact whatsoever on human history since then. It's not like the war lead to a half-century-long standoff between America and the Soviet Union that caused distrust that endures to this day, either.

10) The Internet
As much as I hate it...the web is here to stay. People who got along just fine without the technology suddenly rely upon it. And my generation cannot function without the web. The possibilities are endless, for both good and bad. We're only feeling the short-term impacts of the Internet...mark my words, this bit of technology will revolutionize almost everything we know, from travel to household chores to shopping. It will even impact warfare in ways we're only beginning to imagine. The Internet is going places...and I'm not sure whether or not that's a good thing.