Gamecaster

Uh oh. Video games are trying to become a legitimate sport. Ummm…..well…..uh………..yeah.

Clearly, the price of concert tickets has gotten way out of control. Ali is now in the process of buying tickets to go see Peter Gabriel. These tickets are $131 EACH. Given the fact that the sound at concerts generally sucks, I think I’d rather just spend the $15 and buy the CD, or wait for the DVD to come out of the concert, where the sound will be better and I’ll actually be able to see the stage.

I just had students approach me about being the faculty advisor for the Film Club here at school. How odd. I told them I’d do it, because…well, why not? I feel included, now.

I’m given to understand that Monday is one of those days where you’re supposed to update your weblog. Y’know, give the whole rundown of the weekend and whatnot? Well, despite an incredibly long week and a long weekend full of work, I don’t really feel like I have all that much to say. On Friday, I went with my friend Becky to Tony & Tina’s Wedding, which she is the stage manager for. They needed to make a rehearsal recording of the wedding band, so I got the call. The show is interesting, and I wish I had gotten to see more of it, but I only heard what came through the headphones and I was mostly concentrating on my work, so I didn’t really get the chance to look around the room. But the concept is really interesting. You’re essentially living inside of the show. It takes place all around you, and you’re not necessarily intended to hear and see everything that happens. It’s basically like being at a real wedding, only there are definite characters and certain events that are scripted. Interesting stuff. Oh, and the recording came out pretty good, all things considered.

On Saturday, I made the mistake of having a crew call at PDS in the morning. By this point in the week, my brain was already completely fried. I couldn’t think straight, and I was very tired. I made the call for 10 am, and as soon as I got to school, I realized that I had left all of my school keys sitting on my desk at home. So I waited for a while to see if the students would show up. At around 10:30, I finally spotted one of them. I told her to wait while I went home and got my keys. By 11:15, I was back (with bagels), and after having some breakfast (or lunch, by the time I got there), we continued the lighting hang/focus that we had begun earlier in the week. Like I said, the entire call was a mistake. I never should have scheduled it. I couldn’t focus, and so everything went horribly. The lights look bad, and I think the kids (the three who showed up) were just as frustrated as I was. I left feeling depressed, exhausted, and just generally bad. I had planned to go home, meet up with my technician, unload a van, return the van, turn some equipment around, re-load my van, and then go see a movie with lots of stuff blowing up. Then Jen called and asked me to go to Atlantic City with her to pick up her brother. I love my friends, and I’ll do anything for them, but I just couldn’t handle that. I NEEDED to relax. So, although I felt really bad about it (I still do), I had to tell her that I couldn’t go. I think she understood (I didn’t lie to her or anything).

Sunday morning, I got up very early and delivered some equipment to Hunterdon Hills Playhouse. This was interesting for me, because it was the first time I ever had to hang speakers, and it went remarkably well, so that gave me confidence that I’m capable of doing such things. I got everything set up, and after driving 15-20 minutes back towards home, my cell phone rang. It was the guy who hired me for the job. He hadn’t been there when I was setting up. He said everything looked great, but where was the CD player? Well, it wasn’t on the order, so I didn’t put a CD player. I had one in the van, and I told him I could come back and set it up if he needed it. So, turning back around, I ended up getting back home over an hour later than I would have if I hadn’t had to go back. Whatever. I came home and went to sleep for several hours, which was much needed. I woke up, watched a movie with the wife, and then headed back to North Jersey to pick the gear up. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. I was told to come back at 8:30 pm, because that’s when everything would be wrapping up. The gig was outdoors by this lake behind the theater. When I got there, everyone was gone except for the guy who hired me. He said that they wrapped up earlier than he had expected. There were large outdoor lights on stands, the kind they use when they’re doing roadwork. When I got there, they were on, but the owner of the theater told me he wanted to turn off and secure the generators as soon as possible. No problem, I said. I’ll take the stuff down and be out of the way. So, I proceeded to take down the first set of speakers, and then the guy who was helping me turned out those lights. When I turned around to take down the second set, I noticed that the set of lights near those speakers had already been turned off. Now there were no lights. I was outside, in the dark, with a pair of speakers 15 feet in the air. I had to point my van at the speakers, turn on the headlights, and work as best as I could in the dark. Oh, also, everyone had left, so if I had dropped a speaker on my head, I would probably still be lying on the ground and bleeding right now.

Anyway, that was my weekend. I guess I had more to say than I thought. I’ll update again sometime. Not sure when. Right now the dog is barking and giving me a headache.

I didn’t think it was all that good, but because it’s Buffy related, I figured I’d post it.

This is a fan-created comic about Faith, the rogue slayer. Go check it out, if you want to. Maybe it’ll get you in the mood for next week’s season premier. Me? I’m just watching some episodes from Season 4.

So, I’m sitting here in my office at school. I just had my first “show”, which didn’t go nearly as well as I would have liked (although we pulled it off), but that’s not the point of this story.

These 8th graders just came up to my office a little while ago and called me “Mr. Sussman.” That’s weird. That’s my dad. They should stop doing that.

Just watched Reservoir Dogs. I had completely forgotten about the Hamlet ending. Good movie, though. Perhaps a bit less cohesive than Pulp Fiction, but definitely one of Quentin Tarrantino’s finer works, and definitely containing some excellent, and classic, dialogue.

I just sent a bunch of equipment out the door with one of my freelance technicians. The stuff is going to NYC for 9 shows (it’s Fashion Week, don’t you know?). I always get nervous when I send someone else out on gigs. I assume that I’m going to have forgotten something, or that I didn’t provide them with enough information, or that I haven’t done everything humanly possible to make the gig as easy as possible for them.

The thing is, I used to be good at this. This is what I used to do for a living. I would never go out on a gig. I would gather the information, and I would send the technicians out. And it usually had very good results. So I don’t know why I’m so nervous about it now. Perhaps because it’s my company and my reputation that is on the line. Perhaps because it’s been a while since I’ve done it, and I’m used to just doing the gig myself, where if something new is thrown my way, I know I can easily improvise something. I don’t want my technicians to think I’m not on top of things, and I certainly don’t want my clients to think I dropped the ball. So, I stress. But I need to get used to it, because I need to start sending out other people more often, especially with the new gig at Princeton Day School.

Okay. Deep breaths. I’ll just have to learn to adjust…

“Clones” Attacking on Imax

So, they’re bringing Attack of the Clones to IMax. And, you all know what a big Star Wars fan I am. But….I really don’t think I’ll be going to see this. It just seems like a gimmick to get more money out of this film, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t so great that I feel it necessary to find an IMax theatre, and then pay whatever exorbitant ticket price they charge, just so I can see the film again, only bigger.

I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but something struck me and I wanted to share this…

I came into school this morning in order to attend a brief 9/11 ceremony that had been planned. To be honest, I didn’t really want to go. I sort of want to avoid all of that today. But I went anyway. The entire school was there, and we were out on the lawn in front of a somewhat historic building (for the school). There was not a very good PA system set up, and it was difficult to hear the person speaking. As I strained to hear what was being said, I suddenly realized what the other sound that was making it difficult to hear was. It was the roar of an airplane’s engine. Something about that just seemed appropriate. It said that the terrorists haven’t won because here we are, exactly one year, almost to the minute, after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, and people are flying, and we are carrying on.

I hope that’s all I’ll have to say today. For some reason, although I was not personally affected a year ago, this entire thing has struck me more than I would have expected, and today, despite my best efforts to avoid it, my emotions seem to have been opened up and made raw again.