#ONEANDOTHER + FLASH + MUSIC =

HAPPYSHOPPER (#oneandother) + Insomnia + Stress Puppy Cat = Haiku:

Three dark thirty eight
Flash asleep across the door
Music + rain notes

PUNFULS OF FUN (+ WERETACOS)

Having realized that in my heart beats the rhythm of Disco Banditry, I’m going to furlough Flagamuffin to focus on the Wild and Wooly Adventures of larf — currently wearing an eXtreme scarf + fighting an upgraded ram on the slopes of The Icy Peak) in Kingdom of Loathing. KOL is a blast to play, full of fun, sharpness, references that make me both laugh + think and not nearly as boring as trying to be a proper holy paladin in World of Warcraft (thanks ever so for the pep talks, Beau ; / ) Apparently, the KOL PTBs are trying to convince “some folks” they rock so they asked for shout outs on their Twitfeed–and they caught me on my shout out night (you could too; @ me)

All I demand as tribute is the right to buy something with a weretaco printed on it.

ROBOT FUN

Pinging like a fiend tonight….this will be my new favorite t-shirt as soon as it arrives.

NEED A BAND?

My buddies Red Sea Radio the band (Jeremy, the Lonely Pond sound guru, is the bass player, co-creator + they ROCK live) are looking for gigs in the PA/MD/DE area.

Hire them so Jeremy can afford not to get paid by me — to be fair, I don’t pay me either. And I’m pretty sure one of us owes the other a beer.

If you haven’t clicked on the link above, get in touch at redsearadio@gmail.com…tell ‘em lonelypond sent you.

smallVILLE SPOILERS

Season 9 teasers.

NEW HOBBY

Watching the weather radar and this song in my head.

UPDATES + AN OPENING

Two articles in the local papers about Taming of the Shrew and Theatre Under the Trees. The Dispatch’s does a great job of giving you a sense of what the Theatre Under The Trees experience is like and the Record’s article is a fairly lively overview of the play.

Newest internet finds:

Have been having fun with Shirt.Woot — a new t-shirt for $10 posted each night at 12:01 a.m. They have a Derby every week with new designs — this week’s theme was Tatoo (finalists); it’s a fun and relaxing way to get a look at (and vote for) some cool art. @apelad tipped me to it and his was the Monday shirt.

The Cabonauts starting following me — new web series — and I got to thinking that I might want to find out more about what’s out there. And then The Web Files starting following me, I caught their trailer, I’m a sucker for a good hat and a trenchcoat, I followed back, watched their first interview with Tay Zonday, liked the questions and thought this is a good way to get to know what’s out there…They’re up to 3 episodes so far — Safety Geeks SVI looks like a fun and funny show.

A flash of enthusiasm/inspiration visited and I decided it might be fun to put host Kristyn Burtt in a Blink Kitty Love episode and we exchanged a few e-mails. They are hoping to cover animation at some point, they’re just not sure how. I don’t think Blink Kitty Love is ready for the big time yet, but I am mulling over how to increase your favorite crazy crushing band’s fan base (as well as redesign their website) and it was nice to be taken seriously. So best of luck to The Web Files…I’m looking forward to picking up some tips from your future episodes. And maybe Ms. Burtt and Tammy can go out in their hats + trenchcoats for cupcakes and coffee (yes, in the next episode, Tammy puts on the hat + trenchcoat disguise to find out more about Ty’s girlfriend –TY HAS A GIRLFRIEND??????? Don’t worry, you’ll find out more about it after #tamingshakespeare’s over. Until then, check out your favorite episodes –and drop some redesign comments PLEASE — on the Blink Kitty Love site. Tomorrow (Friday), we do a special Guess or Sneak the 80’s Sax Solos.

And I really enjoyed the Apollo 11 rebroadcast. Thanks and props to John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for the experience. And NASA for joining in on Twitter.

And the Fourth Plinth is still happening. I pop in a couple of times a day — random bits of weirdness and/or mopping. Right now, very energetic guy with a guitar who just turned in his doctoral thesis.

Miss The Big Bang Theory, haven’t really had a chance to watch Eureka — although S.A.R.A.H. is tweeting about TIRDS?, still looking forward to the Wizards movie but can’t catch the first half of the vampire saga as we have SHOWS (very exciting; see articles above), haven’t see the newest Harry Potter yet, annoyed that (500) Days of Summer isn’t in town, a little excited about G.I. Joe, and tired. Don’t forget to pick up your Middleman DVDs next week and take care! I’ll miss you, but SHOWS! Taming of The Shrew rocks a park maybe not near you, but you’ll hear the laughter.

Have a great afternoon — and wish me nice weather.

FASHION + HOLLYWOOD

Vanessa Friedman on what Emma Watson as a fashion icon represents — I’ve been noticing the Burberry ads, but after seeing Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett photos, I know what Friedman means. Stewart is one of those chameleons who takes on a role with such force that it burns itself into your mind, even in a photo. And no, I still can’t convince myself to watch Twilight…if only I’d actually been able to finish the book. I might rent Adventureland though. And The Runaways is now on my calendar. And on a tangent, the New Moon trailer will run exclusively before Bandslam, the rocking summer movie I’ve been looking forward to, opening August 14th.

Stella McCartney introducing a touch of Disney into her winter fashions advertising campaign…I’m not sure if that means cute is coming back or we’re taking aim at Bambi with a rifle scope. Actually, it does kind of look like Disney meets Stewart so McCartney’s probably doing something right.

#tamingshakespeare tech

And what, you wonder, is tech rehearsal for Theatre Under the Trees like…well, we borrow someone’s backyard, unload three carloads worth of stuff, put up the set, put on costumes, run the show, take off costumes, eat things you cook on a grill, put costumes back on, run the show again, break everything down, and reload it into three cars. Then I come home, notice I don’t have anything fun and semi-healthy to eat that can be dipped in milk, watch Flash friendly TV, and then Gayle goes to bed, I put on last.fm’s Radio FlashCatFlash and transfer pictures from my camera so I can e-mail them as promised to the York Dispatch’s Entertainment Editor. For the finish, I write a tersely worded costume notes e-mail to my costumer, who was the most disappointing part of the day.

It’s sad when the professional lets you down…no costumer at tech (and I asked politely aka begged) and thousands of questions. Gayle has been so busy coping with set, prop and spillover costume questions when I’m dealing with other questions that there really hasn’t been time for music. So we have two more rehearsals to see if we can work incidental music in, we’re ditching the keyboard and Gayle’s going to see if she can get enough up to speed on her clarinet that audiences will be able to hear “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate.”

Grump…but it was mostly a fun day in beautiful weather and lines flowed better the second time through. Costumes that were present and fit looked great. The 8-9 yr old troublemakers actually policed their own behavior after a glitch caused by overexcitement due to beach ball. I think that bodes well for the future (the self policing).

And I really need a producer + a stage manager + a full sized truck, but I have from the beginning. We will manage. It’s what you do when you tour. And Friday, we open and I find myself thinking I might start looking forward to it.

Oh, and wonder of wonders, I have cracked the big horrible awful Kate speech. You see, the thing is, it’s not a polemic about marriage or a declaration about the rights of womenkind. It’s notoriously tempermental Katherina ticking off her annoying little sister and Hortensio’s smug, witchy new wife. And with Bianca and the Widow’s reactions, you just get drawn into the scene instead of hurrying off your small children or thinking, gee philosophy of life is happening. And I am very happy about that.

And here’s a picture to commemorate the day — Petruchio, Kate and Grumio, after the wedding:

O.2.S.T.K.

And because I know you’re as excited about this as I am (and if you’re not, you might be the reason ABC Family didn’t pick up Season 2 immediately so I think I’m ignoring you) — a snazzy new Middleman site exists. Now, let’s get us some snazzy new content.

DVDs (July 28th) and a comic are coming and a panel at San Diego Comic Con where the cast will read the script of the scuttled 13th episode. I have a show, but you, yes you, go and take video.