and then it's showtime!!
but first: part 3 of our behind-the-scenes feature is live. this one focuses on the music.
speaking of music! tucci and bryan will be doing a special concert this thursday night at 9pm to promote You Are Not Special!. i'll be there, talking up a big game. so drop by for drinks and music and socializing! the whole thing is COMPLETELY FREE by the by.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
damn and hell!
what's this little thing here? why, it's part two of our four-part video series about how we are all making this little play here.
Monday, August 30, 2010
oh hey, i didn't see you there
we've got an event page set up on the facebook-y thing. it is here. click it and join and stuff.
LNT at Beowulf Alley Presents You Are Not Special!
and now, part one of the video series documenting this insanity (warning, contains rather nasty language. some might even say "NSFW.")
LNT at Beowulf Alley Presents You Are Not Special!
and now, part one of the video series documenting this insanity (warning, contains rather nasty language. some might even say "NSFW.")
Sunday, August 29, 2010
whoops
just realized today that i totally got the showdates wrong.
they are, correct this time:
Friday September 17th, Saturday September 18th, Friday September 24th, Saturday September 25th
at 10:30pm!
tickets are 8 dollars, cash at the door.
i mention this, mainly because we have some super-fucking rad videos that are about to go live sometime tomorrow, and we've got plenty of pictures galore.
--brian
they are, correct this time:
Friday September 17th, Saturday September 18th, Friday September 24th, Saturday September 25th
at 10:30pm!
tickets are 8 dollars, cash at the door.
i mention this, mainly because we have some super-fucking rad videos that are about to go live sometime tomorrow, and we've got plenty of pictures galore.
--brian
Friday, August 27, 2010
never the twain shall meet
hello readers! welcome to my blog about my show!
for those few of you who might be confused by this: in addition to working for low pay in a bookstore and writing plays for even lower pay, i am a paid columnist for Anime News Network. every week (usually) i write a little column called Hey, Answerman! where i take all kinds of questions from hundreds of thousands of readers all about the intricacies of japanese animation. this column is why i tend not to respond to your phone calls or text messages on thursdays.
the reason i bring this up is that there's sort of an odd connection between the two. usually the theater stuff and my anime writing are two completely separate beasts, kept in separate cages within my psyche, rarely interacting. but, there was this one time.
(cue flashback)
earlier in the year, zac asked me to pitch in 1200 words or so for a feature in Protoculture Addicts magazine. he wanted to gather all his writers and have them write personal, involving stories about how they fell into anime, what it means to them, et cetera. so, late one night i grabbed amber's laptop and headed to CoffeeXChange. Tucson natives will remember CoffeeXChange as the place where college kids hopped up on adderall and cocaine stay up all night drinking coffee and pretending to study. it was also a 10-minute walk from my apartment at the time, so i was a frequent customer.
i get to CoffeeXChange, and i start writing my article. it was all about how i came to become an anime fan, or more specifically, how i discovered anime. in my younger days i had big, lofty dreams of being an animator, winning awards for my idiosyncratic films in the vein of Don Hertzfeldt. considering that i was a self-taught artist without a clear grasp of standard artistic principles like anatomy, dimension, or staging, i had to come to the sad realization in my teenage years that, simply put, i didn't have the chops. and it wasn't until i discovered anime when i was 16 years old that i found something new and exciting in the world of animation to really cling to. i haven't let go since.
so, i wrote that piece. it was about 4 or 5 in the morning at this point. i start editing it, whittling it down to that exact 1200 word mark. i notice these... kids in the table next to me, making an awful lot of insouciant small-talk. very dramatic, very self-absorbed kids. and then it hit me. "oh, dear. these are DRAMA KIDS."
i was about to pick up my stuff and move to a different table when i realized something. in my bag, i had the first 7 or 8 pages, finished, from what would eventually become "You Are Not Special!" i tiredly turned to them, and i said,
"excuse me, but... i dunno, and i don't mean to sound rude, but... you guys are all drama kids, right?"
the token female of the group nervously looks at me and says, "well... i am, and he is. but he's not."
"that's great," i say, "and... tell me if this sounds weird to you, but. i'm a writer. i've got this script i'm working on. if you wouldn't mind, could i... just have you guys read it for me? just to give me an idea of how it sounds. i'm not so sure about it yet."
they agreed, sheepishly. they read it. it sounded great. even though they mispronounced words like "facile" and names like "Devereaux." whatever. it sounded good. it sounded authentic. it sounded real. i was pleased.
i thanked them. the girl looked back at me, and sort of nonchalantly said, "yeah, i want to be a writer, and i've written some like, poems and stuff, but um, i'm just like, going through all this writer's block."
then and there i think i've given the best accidental advice of my career.
"you know what's a good cure for writer's block?" i said. "writing."
i'm not sure if she thought that was just some asshole expression. but it was genuine.
my writing all comes from the same general place, i think. when i write about anime, i write about it because i'm compelled beyond belief to get up and sing and proselytize this artform that i love and fuck you for not loving it like i do. when i write these silly plays about balls and masturbation and heartbreak it's because i still can't shake that feeling i had when i was younger - to use my talents to create something worthwhile for someone other than myself.
this bit of introspection is brought to you by relative insomnia, and the adorable kitten that is chewing on my shirt.
--brian
for those few of you who might be confused by this: in addition to working for low pay in a bookstore and writing plays for even lower pay, i am a paid columnist for Anime News Network. every week (usually) i write a little column called Hey, Answerman! where i take all kinds of questions from hundreds of thousands of readers all about the intricacies of japanese animation. this column is why i tend not to respond to your phone calls or text messages on thursdays.
the reason i bring this up is that there's sort of an odd connection between the two. usually the theater stuff and my anime writing are two completely separate beasts, kept in separate cages within my psyche, rarely interacting. but, there was this one time.
(cue flashback)
earlier in the year, zac asked me to pitch in 1200 words or so for a feature in Protoculture Addicts magazine. he wanted to gather all his writers and have them write personal, involving stories about how they fell into anime, what it means to them, et cetera. so, late one night i grabbed amber's laptop and headed to CoffeeXChange. Tucson natives will remember CoffeeXChange as the place where college kids hopped up on adderall and cocaine stay up all night drinking coffee and pretending to study. it was also a 10-minute walk from my apartment at the time, so i was a frequent customer.
i get to CoffeeXChange, and i start writing my article. it was all about how i came to become an anime fan, or more specifically, how i discovered anime. in my younger days i had big, lofty dreams of being an animator, winning awards for my idiosyncratic films in the vein of Don Hertzfeldt. considering that i was a self-taught artist without a clear grasp of standard artistic principles like anatomy, dimension, or staging, i had to come to the sad realization in my teenage years that, simply put, i didn't have the chops. and it wasn't until i discovered anime when i was 16 years old that i found something new and exciting in the world of animation to really cling to. i haven't let go since.
so, i wrote that piece. it was about 4 or 5 in the morning at this point. i start editing it, whittling it down to that exact 1200 word mark. i notice these... kids in the table next to me, making an awful lot of insouciant small-talk. very dramatic, very self-absorbed kids. and then it hit me. "oh, dear. these are DRAMA KIDS."
i was about to pick up my stuff and move to a different table when i realized something. in my bag, i had the first 7 or 8 pages, finished, from what would eventually become "You Are Not Special!" i tiredly turned to them, and i said,
"excuse me, but... i dunno, and i don't mean to sound rude, but... you guys are all drama kids, right?"
the token female of the group nervously looks at me and says, "well... i am, and he is. but he's not."
"that's great," i say, "and... tell me if this sounds weird to you, but. i'm a writer. i've got this script i'm working on. if you wouldn't mind, could i... just have you guys read it for me? just to give me an idea of how it sounds. i'm not so sure about it yet."
they agreed, sheepishly. they read it. it sounded great. even though they mispronounced words like "facile" and names like "Devereaux." whatever. it sounded good. it sounded authentic. it sounded real. i was pleased.
i thanked them. the girl looked back at me, and sort of nonchalantly said, "yeah, i want to be a writer, and i've written some like, poems and stuff, but um, i'm just like, going through all this writer's block."
then and there i think i've given the best accidental advice of my career.
"you know what's a good cure for writer's block?" i said. "writing."
i'm not sure if she thought that was just some asshole expression. but it was genuine.
my writing all comes from the same general place, i think. when i write about anime, i write about it because i'm compelled beyond belief to get up and sing and proselytize this artform that i love and fuck you for not loving it like i do. when i write these silly plays about balls and masturbation and heartbreak it's because i still can't shake that feeling i had when i was younger - to use my talents to create something worthwhile for someone other than myself.
this bit of introspection is brought to you by relative insomnia, and the adorable kitten that is chewing on my shirt.
--brian
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
forboding?
... We (the cast) locked ourselves out of the theater last night. Michael had to come rescue us so we could go home with our keys, wallets, shoes, etc. Hah!
That is all.
That is all.
state of the union: week 2
alrighty. so here we are, second week of rehearsals. here's some cool things that've been happening so far:
josh came by and filmed a whole boatload of material yesterday. look forward to that soon, plastering your youtube screens with joy and profanity like a hobo with a jetpack.
i threw together a quick dvd of one of the pieces of animation i want to use. here's a little snippet of one of the drawings:
other than that, i just found out today that one of tucci's tremendously amazing accomplices in musical adventures is keen on performing one of the songs in the show with his amazing guitar playing. i can guarantee that'll be something that people won't be expecting.
i'm still a little worried about the whole issue with the cartoons and the projector - i think the demo i made looks good, but it all comes down to how comfortable the theater director is with letting us use their fancy and expensive electrical equipment, as well as how well that'll work on a set that isn't ours. questions, questions.
for now though, i can take solace in the fact that my actors are absolutely killin' it and are still managing to make all of us either crack up or heartbroken even after seeing the same damn material for the 10th time in a row.
regardless, the future is bright, and i think we've got a stellar show to perform. i can guarantee you it will be worth the eight dollars.
--brian
josh came by and filmed a whole boatload of material yesterday. look forward to that soon, plastering your youtube screens with joy and profanity like a hobo with a jetpack.
i threw together a quick dvd of one of the pieces of animation i want to use. here's a little snippet of one of the drawings:
other than that, i just found out today that one of tucci's tremendously amazing accomplices in musical adventures is keen on performing one of the songs in the show with his amazing guitar playing. i can guarantee that'll be something that people won't be expecting.
i'm still a little worried about the whole issue with the cartoons and the projector - i think the demo i made looks good, but it all comes down to how comfortable the theater director is with letting us use their fancy and expensive electrical equipment, as well as how well that'll work on a set that isn't ours. questions, questions.
for now though, i can take solace in the fact that my actors are absolutely killin' it and are still managing to make all of us either crack up or heartbroken even after seeing the same damn material for the 10th time in a row.
regardless, the future is bright, and i think we've got a stellar show to perform. i can guarantee you it will be worth the eight dollars.
--brian
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