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May 31, 2006

WIL

Last weekend of faire is done and I have slept. This year was amazing. This is my twelfth year doing this show. Every year I learn something.

When I am unhappy as a performer it is because I am not working/playing hard enough. This is one of those things no one can tell you. I had to figure it out on my own. In this kind of theater when it is not working, it is usually because you do not have enough invested. Unlike normal theater here the actor gets to determine how much stage time they get. They even get to choose if they are the lead or a supporting role. This confused me my first couple of years. Ultimately, my success as an actor depends on time in front of an audience. That means working as hard to find a audience whether it be working the lanes, stage combat, dueling, talking to people one on one or on stage. My ultimate happiness as a performer depends on how hard I work from canon to canon.

I have a super power. It is giving others super powers. Teaching at faire is really like walking around with a magic wand giving peoples super powers. It works because you believe in them, not because they believe in you. For example, I stopped and waved to this young girl in a princess dress. She immediately started crying and ran to her mother. In her hand was a toy magic wand. Her mom convinced her to wave it at me. I dropped into zombie mode. Using the power of the wand the little girl made me go away. Latter I ran into her again this time no tears but she used the wand once again to make me go away. This time I ran into a tree to the sound of giggles. My powers are not confined to small children. They work on everyone from small girls in princess dresses to fellow cast members in inprov classes to close personal friends. That is my super power.

There is nothing more humbling then to have a hero of yours tell you that you are their hero. Faire is full of heroes for me. I dream of being that talented. As actors they risk, as performers they amaze audiences, as people they are humble and giving. To have one of those people say that I am their hero. This astounds me.

These are the things I learned this year….

Posted by Dan at 02:01 PM |

May 26, 2006

From 75 to 95 in 20 years

One of the guys I work with does not trust state licensing. He uses drivers’ licenses as his example. The assumption is that everyone you see on the road passed their drivers license test at some point. A passing score for most states is 70%. Therefore, everyone should know at least 70% of the rules of the road. That does not mean they practice any of them.

GMAC Insurance did a study where they asked people common questions on the drivers license and see how they scored. Oregon where I took mine scored highest average score at 90.6. Texas was tied for twenty-fourth at an average score of 84. The state that scored the worst was Rhode Island at 75.1 as an average score.

Here is the link if you want to take the test yourself.


GMAC Insurance Drivers' Test

I scored a 95. On my origninal Oregon test I scored a 75.

Posted by Dan at 03:03 PM | | Comments (3)

May 19, 2006

Marvin Jones Memorial Service

From Marvin Jones’ Memorial Service,
Josef Lindholm (5 May, 2006)

Lord God,
Creator of All Things,

We are told you made men and women in your own image –
Thus we desire to create things ourselves.

We are also told you gave our species
Dominion over the Fish of the Sea,
The Birds of the Air, and the Cattle,
And Every Creeping Thing that creeps upon the earth.
(Since we are not told that you gave dominion over insects to chameleons or pangolins,
or dominion over fishes to the beavers,
We may presume this means something more than eating animals
or altering their environments to serve our needs.)

And we are told how you brought every animal to Adam
To see what he would call them –
A task far from over today.

And after we began to name them,
We learned their way, and painted their pictures on the walls of caves.
And we established flocks and herds.
And other animals became our trusted guards and beloved companions
or conveyed us from place to place.

And some we put in cages to stare at.
Cages and Aviaries
and Parks and Pools and Aquaria.
And as we gathered these animal together,
We asked questions,
and gained all sorts of knowledge
and we took delight in their beauty.

And so the people you made…
Made Zoos.


And God created Marvin Jones.

So that the knowledge we have gained should not be lost.
And that the men and women who did these things should not be forgotten.
And that Achievements and Ideas and Wisdom should be shared,
and known by many people.

So, Lord,
We thank you for this Life.
We thank you for Marvin’s Enthusiasm and Hard Work.
We thank you for his Generosity and his Friendship.

Lord,
We ask that you bless Marvin’s work,
The things he left us,
That this knowledge will spread,
And others will build from it.

And we ask you to bless the work we do,
That we will carry out that ancient Dominion
wisely and well.

And Lord,
We commend to you Marvin’s Spirit.

(We like to imagine he’s busy taking notes from some document –
Perhaps one in Greek,
That went up in smoke with the rest of the Library of Alexandria –
Maybe an invoice for delivery of Saiga Antelope from the Black Sea
To Ptolemy’s Menagerie FOB)

We ask, Lord,
If that is not so,
It’s only because it’ better than anything we can imagine.

In Your Name,
Our Creator and Redeemer,

Amen

Amen indeed...

Posted by Dan at 02:46 PM | | Comments (1)

May 12, 2006

What's next burning websites?

When I was 18 I did a dumb thing. I drove to Southerland a town about 30 min from my home at the time to meet a girl. I talked to the girl about a dozen times on the phone, but we had never met before. She had said she saw me out cruising one night and asked a friend for my name. My phone number was listed and she called me. As it turned out, she was 14 not 19 and had just picked my name out of the phone book. The whole thing sounded funky. The good news is I had brought an adult chaperon. The whole farce ended when her father answered the door. It was dumb. The number of things that could have happened is serious.

I tell you this story to make a point. We did not have to have the Internet for kids to do dumb things. The stories about MySpace, LiveJournal and other social networks being place from predators to hunt kids forget this is note about technology. It is not blogs and LiveJournals that create the opportunity. It is lack of judgment. Teach your children to use theirs.

“The campaign to crowd out predators from MySpace.com is gathering steam in Washington. House of Representatives lawmakers proposed a bill on May 9 that would block access to social networks and Internet chat rooms in most federally funded schools and libraries.” ~ Halperin for BusinessWeek Online in New York

Now first, as far as a ‘campaign to crowd out predators from MySpace.com’ goes, what about the bill does that?

The problem is that the bill is so vague that any sites where users post there own content counts as a social network. Blogs, LiveJournals, wiki, you name it. Congress is so ignorant of how to handle tech issues they tend to side with the side with the most money. That side in this case is media companies and ‘family groups.’

The Internet is not a bad place full of unseen predators. It is your local mall. In fact it is everyone’s local mall. It is a safe place as long as you do not talk to strangers and you use your judgment. Trust me, I was a kid once. You can not parent lock me out of danger. However, if you teach me to use my judgment and trust me, I will talk to you when something sounds funky.

Posted by Dan at 05:54 PM | | Comments (3)

May 05, 2006

the alpha-southern woman

I have often lampooned the southern woman. The southern woman is a creature of such charm and humor. It would be a crime not to point out when someone around me is acting like one. They signs are easy to see. The southern woman must make everyone comfortable. When I say must, I mean must. It is flat unacceptable to be uncomfortable, even on purpose.

Lets take the example of your doctor tells you not to eat 12 hours before a blood test. My suggestion is avoid any home occupied by a southern woman. She will have called the doctor and rescheduled you surgery so that you can eat something, before you can say no thanks. Here is another example; you are standing around talking with the boys at a home occupied by a southern woman. Count the number of minutes before you each have a chair.

I know a number of southern women (hi shaggy!). What I have come to warn you about is the alpha-southern woman. The president of are company is an alpha. Lisa is force of nature. Being Cinco de Mayo we thought it would be great to have a Mexican pot-luck. This was pre-Lisa knowing. Now we have a spread of food that could feed a company 10 time our size, plus a big pot of chili for ‘snacking.’ I may have lampooned the southern woman in the past. I assure you, I will never speak ill of them. After all it is not nice to speak with your mouth full.

Posted by Dan at 12:03 PM | | Comments (3)