White & Nerdy

"Weird Al" Yankovic's music video from his new album "Straight Outta Lynwood." It's brilliant and hilarious as usual.

Casted

Whoooo!!!! I’m so excited! I made both Beauty and the Beast and Our Town! I’m Maurice (Belle’s father) in BatB, and I get to sing in a duet, and then solo in a reprise! And, in OT I’m Editor Webb, whose part I was looking over and it looks like it has got some good stuff in it. We went out on a sort of celebratory dinner last night, and the first meetings for both shows are on Monday. I’m so glad that I’m a guy, because I can get all these awesome parts, without as much competition (and they usually are bigger/better parts). I guess guys are just easier to write for than women because they’re less complex, and are a little easier to typecast. So, I’m basically playing the same part in all three shows this year (the loving father), but it’s a fun role, so who am I to complain?

I’m not really sure how vigorous my rehearsal schedule will be, I hope it’s not too bad, because I have got a ton of schoolwork now. Everyday I’ve usually got at least 3 hours, more if there is an AP American outline due the next day, like right now, what I’m supposed to be working on. Right, I’d better get back to work, I just had to spread the good news! Whooooooo!!

"She Stoops" and Music Theory

All right- I'm back. And I'm not going to even try to promise to update, more because everyone knows that it won't happen. Anyway, I'm really excited for She Stoops to Conquer! We are in the middle of our first run-through off-book (no script for you theatre newbees) and I am having a great time with my role. I play Hardcastle, who is the master of the house, and I get an awesome breakdown scene in the fourth act, and the last line of the show! I'm working on being off-book, and am not doing too terribly, but you never know as the show is in two weeks(!!!!). We have a tech on Saturday, and the show is the following Friday. You should come, I think it's going to be really funny.

As for music theory, it started out as first period, but then the class was stuffed, and Strooz didn't want to turn people away, so he opened up another section period 4, which I had free everyday. He asked for volunteers, and I loved my schedule, so I didn't say anything. Then a couple of days later, I got called down to see Mr. Hanna my counselor, who said I had to change. Since it would go in my free period, and I didn't want to lose lunch, I said I didn't want to. But, we had to, so I had to change my AP Language class to first period, with a different teacher, who I've heard bad things about, but seems okay to me.

That about raps it up for now. I've got to go to the first day of orienteering in Gym. Place your bets on how long you have to wait for me to update again.

Quick Vent

Ugh. The school year is off and running. I'm in 2 AP's and 2 ES's and I got a huge part in She Stoops to Conquer (128 lines. I counted) and I think it may kill me, especially if I start working on the weekend. Okay. Other people have done it, and I'll get through it, I just need to focus and organize. My Spanish teacher made me feel terrible today. We were supposed to take notes in the margins of this article on Pablo Neruda, and I did it, but apparently we needed to rewrite the whole article or something so I got a 0 for doing quite a bit of work. And then I found out we were supposed to write definitions, not synonyms of the two words in the vocab. Plus we were doing hard subjunctive translations. Ugh. I'll update more later (including info on She Stoops and my other classes, plus my adventures in Music Theory scheduling).

Ricky Bobby is a Driver!

Just got back from my wonderful week-long vacation to the Finger Lakes. Among other things I saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby the new Will Farrell movie, and I must say it was hilarious. Many good jokes, and I was laughing throughout. So, visiting the website, I had this made, with Will Farrell and John C. Reilly (a very overlooked actor, who I recognize from Chicago, showing a delightful comedic touch as Ricky's best friend).
Google "Talladega Nights" and visit the official website for your own, and to add your face to a poster or play games and watch clips.

I'm Having a Really Good Day. . .

This is such a good day for me I just have to share it with the world. I slept in until about 10:00 AM this morning, and then I got up and checked my email. After that I had an excellent breakfast, and called BJ's to schedule a job interview (they said they would call me next week to schedule one for the following week). I mowed the lawn, and ate a great lunch. Then my report card came. I was kind of nervous, but I ended up with A's as a final grade in everything except for Spanish, which I got a B+ in. And, ot top that all off, all of my final exam grades were A's. Later tonight I am going to see Superman Returns at the IMAX. I'lll update afterwords with my thoughts. Later.

Harry Potter: Will He Survive?

Just thought I'd post this poll I found over at HPANA.com (my favorite Potter fansite for the latest news). I personally think, yes, he will die, but if you think otherwise, explain yourself in the comments. Here's the poll:

Harry Potter: Wanted dead or alive
Vote now!

More Later.

What Is Going On?

Sorry it's been so long. I have not even been particularly busy. I really have no idea what is so important in my life that I can't update this thing more often. Okay, rant over . . . On to the good stuff!

It's TV Turn-off Week. And I hate it. My family is forcing me into it. But it's only one week. I imagine I'll be better for it, but how can I be expected to miss quality programming like Great Performance's South Pacific Concert featuring Reba McEntire and Alec Baldwin (Wednesday at 9)? How? How? I suppose I'll survive, with or without Alec Baldwin doing Rogers and Hammerstein, but I am certainly missing some quality entertainment. And a lot of advertisements. A lot a lot of advertisements. I need to know the specials this week at McDonalds! Especially since I never go there! Sorry. I just hate commercials.

I have not seen any good movies lately. Over my brothers birthday I went to see The Benchwarmers which was a terrible movie that really doesn't deserve the italics formation I just gave it. It was pretty much the same few jokes over and over and over again. How many times can Jon Heder throw a bat and have it be funny? (Answer: zero) The only funny person in the whole movie was Jon Lovitz (What do you know, to Jon's with no h's in one movie!), who is always a stitch, and he had a fairly interesting character to work with. Avoid this movie at all costs. You know you are in for a bad time when the first joke involves a kid farting into another kids nose, and that the best actor of the 3 leads is (shudder) Rob Schneider. My brother, however, greatly enjoyed it, and it was his birthday after all. I suppose the movie is just targeted towards 14 year olds.

Wow. I just had 2 more rants when I promised my first one was over. All right, now I promise to move onto good news.

I am in a staged reading of The Crucible by Arthur Miller this Friday. And I am extremely excited. I play Giles Corey and we are being (extremely well) directed by EJ (last name left off to protect the innocent), as her Independent Study Project. It is this Friday at 7:30 at Brighton High School. And it is free. If you are in the Rochester area you should come see it. Its going to be awesome. However, it is very untraditional, as it is just us standing on stage, reading from music stands and acting from there with very little action. While it is still interesting and very good don't come expecting a full on production with scripts in our hands.

I saw The Lion King at the Auditorium Theater a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed it and I think it is one of the best shows I have ever seen. Not that I have seen many. It's really expensive to go see a live show, so we only go if we can get some kind of discount, or even better for free. I really love being in the audience and seeing something happening on stage. I am not sure whether I like performing or watching more, but they are very different experiences and it is really hard to compare them. One you are participating as a creator, and with the other you are only an observer. Both are important. You need both people to do a show and people to watch a show. One without the other feels really stupid. Anyway, I had great seats at the performance (first row balcony) and it was a wonderful evening, even if I did have to get up for school the next day.

The only other thing I've seen recently is Working: The Musical at the high school. It was okay. Excellent performances all around, but the material was not the best. Nobody really learned anything or developed as a character, as it was just a bunch of shorts taken from real interviews from Studs Terkel's book. It was definitely the worst production of the year, but both Razzle and WSS were outstanding and they set the bar really high.

A ton of stuff today! Wow, I can write a lot if I wait months in between posts! Well, I'll try to give shorter, more frequent posts. Whenever I do something remotely interesting, I am going to work on thinking "I should blog that." Not that I'll actually do it, mind you, but it's a start.

Peace to All (And Happy Belated Easter!)
Andy

Live Action Simpsons

You've probably seen or heard about this if you frequent pretty much any website at all:

It's pretty good, the only obvious error being the drivers side with Marge and Maggie. I think they found pretty good actors to represent eveybody, adn this is supposedly going to advertise, which I think could work.

February Break

So right now I'm on February break, then it's six straight weeks of school. Uninterrupted. Wish me luck (and a snowday or two). I am taking a break from my homework right now, thought I'd update all 0-1 of you who read this. WSS was brilliant. We got a standing ovation every night, and at the end we could hear people crying. Dugan (the director) was really proud, and he was having trouble figuring out how to follow up what many are calling the best musical performed in at Brighton High School. Everybody was top notch, and we all felt we did a wonderful service to the work that is West Side Story. I am so luck to have been a part of two wonderful productions this school year, and hope that my next two years will be just as good. Working: The Musical is being rehearsed now, although I am not involved in it, I am looking forward to seeing it. Other than Art of Acting II, which I am taking now, I will not have anything big until the 24 Hour Plays in June. These are performances that are written, staged, rehearsed, and performed all within 24 hours. Last year was great, and I hope that I do as well this year as then. I have been recently thinking about why I love acting. I have quite a few on a list so far. I should finish it, and post it later on this for the whole world to see.

In other news, I selected my courses for next year. I am taking three advanced classes, AP American History, AP English Language and Composition, and Spanish 4ES. In addition, I am taking Music Theory, and all my regular classes. It's going to be a tough year, and I will have to work hard, but I'll manage. Also, I'm applying to work at the Rochester Museum and Science Center over the summer, which could hopefully transition into more paid work during the year. I'll see what happens.


As for what this blog is really supposed to be about, Entertainment, let's get back on track. The season finale of Arrested was pure genius. I cannot imagine a better end to thes overlooked show. Maybe it will continue on another network, but I am content with what we have now if nothing comes out of the talks. I am excited for Monty Python's Personal Best on tonight, next week, and the week after at 9 for two hours each night on PBS. As a fan of the Pythons who has not seen much of the original show, this will be a great experience for me. I can't wait. Other shows doing great right now House, Scrubs, The Office, and all the usuals have kept me watching for sure. Also, I have been semi-illegally downloading The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. They are so hilarious, which is what we really need in the world today. I have not really had the chance to see any movies lately, not even a rental, so nothing to report on that end. I have become semi-addicted to EW's popwatch, and check it frequently. Also, broadway.com has been a recent haunt for my browser, mostly for the videos, and news of stuff I can see, not so much for tickets and the like.


Well, that's all I have. Quite a bit today. I am trying to work on posting more frequently, and hopefully I'll work on that in the coming days and weeks.

Until Next Time,
Andy

Happy New Year

Same old, same old going on around here. Christmas was great. I got some really great stuff, like Arrested Season 2, Simpsons Season 7, and some CDs, Movies, a new MP3 player, a CD burner for my computer, and a cell phone. A got some good presents for my family and all seemed much appreciated. About what I got my mom for her birthday, it was a nice Celtic Cross from the Irish Imports store, and my brother was mad at spending that much money without permission from him. Good news for Arrested that ABC or Showtime might pick it up. My vote goes for ABC, because A. I don’t get Showtime, and B. ABC needs some good comedies to increase their reputation a little bit. WSS is moving along well. I have (almost) all my lines memorized, I just have to keep refreshing, and full scale rehearsals are beginning. We are just running and running the show over and over again. School is great, I just got my progress report, and I currently have A’s in everything, so I just have to maintain for 4 more weeks, which shouldn’t be too hard. Then we have midterms, which will be good. I am not sure how well I’ll do on Living Environment, but if I study well enough, it should be fine. School starts after tomorrow, and our next break is MLK Jr. day. Happy 2006 everybody, see you soon.