Life as First-Mate

they wont grow up

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:44:06 GMT

So i just went to see a production of peter pan (the musical) at diamond head theatre and it was good. that show gives me the willies in a good way. its poigniant and tragic. it did however occur to me for the first time just how tragicthat show really is.
scene one: the darling household, london, england, 1904.

1904.
london.
boys aged maybe 5-14 approx.

what do you think these boys will be doing in 1914 as brave young englishmen?

now i think i am just becoming a crazy person with lists

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:22:35 GMT

bagels - watching gargoyles on saturday mornings
doughnuts - long drives with adri
tuna fish - days when uncle bill would stop over for coffee and my mom would make lunch
freezer pops - days in the above ground pool with jessica
peanut m&m's - in my dormroom senior year with pat and julia
easy mac - sophomore year with brendan,and all the kids in wagner 100
cheese bread - hawaii with pat and megan
whatchamacallit - going to the motel pool with the slide with kevin carla and kate
dinty moore beef stew - winters at butterfield with steph, sarah and kristin
sunchips - long roadtrips which would inevetably give zac gas
taco bells nacho cheese chalupas - wednesday nights in highschool watching star trek voyager
burger king kids meals - seeing the ninja turles with jimmy and kyle in 1990
bratwurst - standing on the jeffs back deck grilling drinking beer after spending the afternoon on the lake
microwave lasgana - junior year with ash and adri in my single
ranch dressing - watching evan add it to everything in stimmy
cinnamon toast - cut into 3 strips and brought to me by meams after a sleepover at my grandparents
microwave popcorn - sitting on the floor of my dads home office playing with legos and watching thundercats and mtv's spring break

BROWN BREAD- do you remember the brown bread?

good day

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:29:06 GMT

today will be considered a success. I..
-Slept till 1pm
-ate toast while watching bad tv
-read
-ate cheesebread, peanut butter and a huge apple while watching worse tv
-showered
-rode to beach
-read hearts in atlantis
-swam
-read
-watched sunset and giant rainbow
-rode home
-showered off the beach
Now i am updating LJ
soon i will
-Eat popcorn while finishing book
-read Saga of the Swampthing Book 2
-watch cartoons while drinking beer
-sleep
(ice cream may be inserted into this process at any point)

Update

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:22:58 GMT

So, um i do read this thing every day, sometimes twice i day, but i guess its been a while since i've written here. Some things in my life have changed. For instance, did you know that live in hawaii now? Hmmm betcha did, but still, there probably isn't much on here that says that. My last legitimate post, if it can even be called legit, was from right after NY Comic Con. Hmmm that was fun.
Since then, i have resigned from my Museum Job, moved back home to my parents house from the baltimore place, and a few weeks later packed 3 bags and moved to Hawaii.
Now why people allowed me to do this is beyond me, but they did, and for the most part everyone as been very encouraging.
I've been living in Honolulu now for hmmm, math math math about three months? That time simulaniously feels like a just a couple of days and FOREVER. I am living with my friends slight_mishap and Megan. Pat moved out to go to grad school, and Megan like myself moved out because she had an excuse to move to Hawaii.

For a short time i worked at chain bar restaurant, in their store as a sales assosciate selling overpriced t-shirts to drunken sunburnt midwestern couples, and tiny confused Japanese Tourists, who never actually went to the restaurant, but liked the cartoon frog that was on all the Merch. Because that job kinda sucked, i kept looking, and eventually stumbled into THE EXACT FUCKING JOB I WENT TO SCHOOL TO DO. Now this may sound like a weird statement, but at Goucher i studied theater, but with a focus on theater tech, Specifically with hopes of being a Technical Director.

When i got here i took a bike ride around to all the comic shops and chatted and dropped of my resume, but as i expected there were no takers, nice folk, but no takers. I also kept my eye on newspapers monster, jobs.com and all those traditional sources as well as craigslist, and there really wasnt any reference to any theater gigs. I checked all the local theater websites, and found a couple of leads, applied one place and shot out my a quick note to a couple of them just saying: "Hey, im new in town, and availible and interested in overhire or temporary work if ever you have it. Now pat read my note and said it was kind of stupid, (i had included alot of "theater is life" bullshit, but it worked.
Manoa Valley Theater shot me an email saying that they were hiring a TD.
Little more than a month later i have finished the build on my first show, Frost/Nixon, and am planning the build of the next one. calitetra came out to visit me last week, and my family is coming out for X-mas and New Years, were actually going up to the North Shore for Christmas. (Turtle Bay)
So things are going well, I miss family, I miss Crew, and I miss friends from Baltimore, but Hawaii really is as beautiful as it was made out to be.
The weather is amazing, the beaches, the mountains, the flora and the fauna. I often wish i had a pocket sized ornithological expert like say cyaneus to ask about all the amazing birds, that are everywhere, actually i see the most looking out the bathroom window, but thats just TMI.

DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOMDOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOMDOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:50:13 GMT

Sarah Palin's hometown newspaper is "The New Frontiersman". If you don't know why this terrifies me feel free to ask.

this is an email test

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:54:34 GMT

this is an email test

Posted using TxtLJ

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:53:38 GMT

this is a test

Freedom League Assemble!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:03:18 GMT

Hello world,
I Miss You.
Call me.
Love,
Ben

ps. i won new york. i saw stan lee, and got a redheads number.

NYCC

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:56:25 GMT

Hello World,

So business first, my good friend Patrick and I will be in New York for the New York Comic Con April 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th. We will be working the GEM booth, and at some points I will be wandering around and trying not to drool. We are staying right in Times Square. I luckily have some days off after that so I am going to be hanging out in the city ever so briefly and then hanging out in Saratoga till Thursday.

First off anyone want to hang out that weekend, crash on our floor?

Second, anyone want to house me on that Sunday the 20^th?
Beyond that, um, things are going well, it is summer time now (almost) which is nice. Mol and I decided to Re-up on our lease, but Ray is moving out to get a place with Warren, so I guess we need a new roomie…

Um, I heard from my buddy Jeff, who is serving in Iraq, he and his wife should be headed back to the states sometime soon, I hope.

Looking forward to that time off a lot, it will be fun to get home for a bit. Anyway hope all is well, I know it seems that I don’t write often, but I read almost daily and I really enjoy reading all of your posts!

bragging

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:40:08 GMT

EDIT: i know that this does not constitute an entry. nor should it. but the NYCC (new york comic con) website was appparently "H4X0R3D by THE MONARCH" it goes on to say "Never Use a Venture Industries Firewall!"
This is awesome. like a hundred billion hot dogs.
cause immina gonna be there.

Another Chapter of Sister Monica by Kevin McKrell

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:51:16 GMT

Due to the positive response i got from posting the last bit of my uncle Kevin's story here is another bit. Check out this story and his other work at :

http://kmckrell.com
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/kevin-mckrell.html
http://www.myspace.com/themckrells
http://www.myspace.com/thehardroadcéilidhband
http://www.celticlounge.com
The Sacrament of Confession as it was known in the world of the
Catholic Church of the early 1960's was a bizarre and troubling event.
Keeping in mind now that the act of confession has changed
considerably in the years since that time. In this modern age of
enlightenment the Sacrament of Confession is observed in the full and
healing light of day with all the joy that forgiveness brings. But in
1962 in Sister Monica's class, it was done the old fashion way, in the
dark with all the fear that visions of eternal damnation can conjure.

Once a week we were marched up to the church to purge our immortal
souls of all of those horrible sins against God and man that we had
committed since last week. Although I am sure we were most certainly
well within the national average for murders, rapes and robberies
committed by grade school children, no chances were to be taken that
any sin should go un-confessed. Even now, the mere thought of
confession evokes those feelings so familiar to Catholic school
survivors: panic, fear, guilt, nausea and hunger. That last one, I
think, is due to the fact that we always seemed to go to confession
just before lunch.
For those of you unfamiliar with Catholicism, I will attempt to
explain this idiosyncratic neurosis generating religious oddity.
Imagine, if you will, you are eight years old and kneeling in a small
very dark closet that smells of old people, when directly in front of
your nose a one-foot by one-foot space of light suddenly appears with
a loud and frightening BANG! In this light is the silhouette of a head
of some one you have been taught to believe is a direct conduit to God
himself. And the way this silhouetted head is slumped, you're not real
sure if God's rep is having a bit of a snooze or perhaps reading the
Times. But nevertheless, you are now expected to tell this ear of God
almighty any and all sins that you have committed. God then hears
these sins through his earthly proxy and, if there is any real justice
in the universe, says, "Why are you bothering me with this? Can't you
see I'm busy? The kid is 8 years old, fer Christ's sake! Now leave me
alone! Go on, git!" However, you are then given prayers to say that
are supposed to be equivalent to the severity of the sins committed.
Sort of, let the punishment fit the crime. Your soul is now a clean
slate. Should you, God forbid, get hit by a truck on the way out of
church, technically speaking, you should be able to by pass all the
red tape and fast track it right through the pearly gates and on into
heaven. Unless, of course, you mutter the words, "Ah shit," just
before the truck flattens you. Then you have to do the whole damn
thing over.
So, there you are standing in line waiting your turn to have all
your sins forgiven. You would think one would welcome this
opportunity, even rejoice in the possibility, to have all one's
transgressions washed away, to begin anew. Well, the hell with that.
It was the same every time, waiting my turn, scripting out exactly
what I was going to say and how I would say it. For if you were to do
something as insane as to tell Sister Monica, "Hey Sister, gonna pass
on confession today, thanks, I'm good, maybe next week," you would
immediately become a target for The Flick. Or, if the good sister was
feeling particularly peevish, her vice grip like hand would lock onto
your earlobe. Wherewith you would be marched to the head of the line,
the confessional door knocked on and the priest told that he would
next be hearing from the grade school equivalent of Vlade the Impaler.

When one looks at a line of Catholic school children as they wait
to enter the confessional, looks of concentration, easily mistaken for
piety and prayer, are in fact a mind feverishly at work. For a
successful confession is a question of strategy and planning. The
following are a few simple but vital rules in making a good
confession. Always have a minimum of 4 strong sins that you are
comfortable with and can convincingly convey to the priest that you
did in fact commit these harmless and marginal offenses, thereby
distracting the priest from any real penance generating behavior. In
the game of confession, the winner gets two Our Fathers and 3 Hail
Marys. On a good day, these can easily be rattled off in 45 seconds.
"I lied to my mother," is a good steady working class sin. Always
have the lie ready to go. DO NOT ad lib. That's trouble. Keep the lie
harmless, such as, "my ma told me to brush my teeth and I told her I
did, when I didn't." This is an effective lie and one that will not
inspire any extra curricular activity such as the, "I told my ma I did
my homework when I didn't" lie. This lie will nine times out of ten
illicit a reaction from the priest that will entail 1000 words on why
lying about your homework will send you on a path of corruption and
evil with little or no chance of redemption. Stick with the brush your
teeth lie, as priests generally have very little interest in dental
hygiene. "Hit my sister," always a good one, hard to disprove, and
completely believable under any circumstances particularly if the
priest knows your sister. "Took a cookie," simple yet effective.
Involves stealing, which gives the priest the opportunity to use his
powers of forgiveness on a real sin but the item stolen is harmless
enough thereby bringing the penance time down to a manageable level.
Do not use the, "I stole some change from my father's dresser" lie.
This will always get you big penance time. Granted, on the outside it
seems a small sin, on the same level as the stolen cookie sin. There
is, however, a subtle difference as this lie involves money which in
the eyes of the church is the root of all evil, which always made me
wonder why they have so much of it ... Ah, well, another mystery of
faith. Always keep one sin in your pocket in case the priest is not
happy with the ones you've used. Or if he, for some reason, recognizes
your voice and cops on to the fact that you've confessed to the same
three sins every week for the past six months and that you are either
a desperate liar or have developed a serious Jones for cookies. And
remember, remember, remember!!! It is always one week since my last
confession, ALWAYS!!!! If you are to tell the priest that you did not
go to confession for your entire summer vacation, he will be expecting
a litany of villainous and satanic transgressions that will keep you
saying Hail Marys and Our Fathers until the cows come home.
Now once you actually enter the confessional box, do not panic. Do
not let the fact that it is really dark and stinky throw you off your
game. Do not try to anticipate the priest opening that little window
of his as this will only cause nervousness and will over time lead to
facial ticks and a fear of bright lights. Just focus on your lines and
concentrate on creating a flow, getting in the zone. "Bless me Father
for I have sinned. It's been one week since my last confession..."
From this point, sail right into the sins, don't pause, don't
hesitate, you're in control, create the flow, remember you are just
one of a hundred confessions this poor bastard is hearing today, so do
not give him any reason to come up out of his private reveries to
acknowledge you in any way. Get your 2 O.F.s your 3 H.M.s and get the
hell out of there. These are tried and true strategies that have come
down through the ages. There are, however, limits to the effectiveness
of these methods. For example, they do not work on Jesuits and should
you try it on a Christian Brother you will be wearing your ass for a
hat. So be careful.

i forget where i started

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:10:59 GMT

no work today or tomorrow. two days in a row is always slighly overwhelming in a good way. my plans so far include a shower, cleaning the house, and getting the oil changed in my truck. anybody wanna hang out?

hmm. Other news, my truck is finally completely legal, just after i got it down here in MD, the mufler decided to not be so much attached anymore. It sounded cool. Like a horny griffin. Sadly it would never pass emissions testing like that. but i finally got it fixed and inspected.

Roommates and I want to have a party at our place sometime early 08.   Any thoughts?

dnalloh 's house warming party was quite fun. I hate dogs. but i liked purple. she seemed neat. plus cupcakes.  wahoo!

I bought a bunch of x-mas-ing gift from the distributor parent company of my place of bussiness, but i dont know if they will actually come to me. they may be sent to the timonium office. which is fine, but i dont know where to go to pick them up. Still a 50% discount is worth the stress (if i get them).

I am rereading the dark tower books, really only the first time that i've done that suprisingly enough. I do really enjoy them. I think it all falls in with my love for the beauty of decay. Roland's world is old, beautiful, and broken. There are things that were meant to hold everything together, and those things are falling apart. The beams are breaking, and the tower may fall. If ever you have time to you can drive around baltimore and you get the same feeling. Even where there is new growth the world has moved on.

Hmm, I havent been able to think of X-mas-ing gifts for the parents. This is unfortunate.

On an unrelated to me note, we are in an interesting time, the past couple of decades have been preparing us for a golden age of comic book writing. and we are in it. But who know how long the center will hold the critics and the fans have been predicting the death of the comic book format since the 1930's.  but we are approaching a time when there is no diffence in the amount of respect that a short story writer and a comic book writer get.  We are approaching a time when the general public are going to recognize comic book authors on the streets. The medium is becoming more readily accessable t the rest of the general population, as writers like Stephen King move into comics, and as writers like Brian K Vaughn move to the head of the writers table at LOST.
Not really a well thought out rant, but having made comic bookery my main source of income i have been noticing that we really are at a time when the comic is simply becoming what it should have been all along, simply another medium. Like a novel, a film, an essay, we are getting to a time when people wont say "Oh i dont read comics." they will simply accept them into their live like any of those other media.
That will be neat.

The Christmas Pageant. By Kevin McKrell.

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:41:34 GMT

It was called The Christmas Pageant, and I believe that for whatever
reason, and I am sure there are many, this practice is a thing of the
past. But back in the 1960's in our parish school the Christmas
Pageant was alive and well. From the 1st of December until the night
of the Pageant, typically the Saturday night before Christmas, our
little school became like the back lot at Warner Brother's Studios.
The entire place was caught up in theatrical zeal. Parts were learned,
songs rehearsed, scenery painted. Cecil B. Demille, Busby Berkley or
Steven Spielberg, none of these boys had anything on this production I
can tell you. Kindergarteners teaming up with first and second graders
for a M. Night Shyamalan meets Ed Wood Jr. meets Our Gang avant-garde
production of ' The Birth of Christ '. Complete with nose picking
shepherds, crying angels and surrealistic barnyard animals. A Joseph
who in grand classical theatre style perfectly recites his lines to
the background noise of a desperate mother's anguished cries. The
cries are not because of the realism in which the lines are read, or
the emotion displayed in this riveting portrayal of the part. But due
solely to the fact that our little Joseph's hand never, not for one
second, ever, during the entire production strays from mucking about
with his willie. The most coveted role of the production was of course
that of Mary the Blessed Virgin. This part always went to the nun's
current favorite suckup who had been racking up brownie points since
day one of the school year in hopes of securing this most juicy of
roles. There was always the rumor going around the playground that the
role was secured by the girls' parents who had struck a deal with
Mother Superior. The deal breaker being that the parents buy up the
end of the year un-purchased pagan babies.
The older grades always took on more ambitious productions. Grades
3-5 might do a recitation of poetry or song, as we did in 4th grade.
Sister Angelus chose for us to recite a rather obscure and annoying
English Folk Ballad ' Who Killed Cock Robin'. Dear Sister Angelus, a
young nun from a rather backward and innocent village in the wilds of
County Clare, new to America, new to teaching and clueless as to the
workings of the mind of your average ten year old American boy. So
she may be forgiven for not foreseeing the debacle that can occur when
a dozen or so 4th grade boys get to stand together in a group and yell
one particular word of this tortuous mind numbing tune at the top of
their lungs. But she will never, ever be forgiven for making me recite
the verse:
Who Killed Cock Robin
I said the dove,
I'll mourn for my love,
I Killed Cock Robin

Only through years of intense therapy am I even able to discuss it.
As you went into the higher grades the productions grew in scope the
eighth grade might venture into some Shakespeare always Julius Caesar,
the toga being one of the easiest costume to make.
The making of costumes for the Christmas pageant was a duty that fell
upon your mother. On or around the 1st of December a note went home
that told parents of the upcoming theatrical extravaganza and laid out
the roles to be played by their offspring and their responsibilities
as the parents of these aforementioned thespians. Now keep in mind
please that my parents were strict Irish Catholics and being strict
Irish Catholics there were quite a few tenets of the church that must
be blindly adhered to. First and foremost being that you send your
children to Irish Catholic schools, second you observed the Sabbath
and each holy day of obligation, third, you carried more guilt than
twelve synagogues put together and four the only method of birth
control available to you was something called the rhythm method. Due
to the fact that neither of my parents could keep a beat my ma was
constantly and densely populated. Looking back now I can never
remember my ma getting up off the couch by herself. In later years she
changed to the Mickey Mantle birth control method, if my Da came
within two feet of her she hit him with a bat. What does this have to
do with the Christmas Pageant you may well ask yourselves? Well one of
the other less talked about cornerstones of the Catholic religion was
that not only must you clothe, feed and educate this brood brought
about by your adherence to a contraceptive method that seems to rely
heavily on positions of the moon, gravity and shear luck. But that
come each and every Christmas season you had to design fit and
fabricate costumes for the Christmas Pageant. The note arrives from
school:
Dear Parent, it is once again that most glorious time of year in
which we celebrate our dear Saviors birth. When we take time to
reflect on the message of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Holy
Father in Rome. Make costumes for 2 shepherd's, 1 goat, 1 wise man, a
donkey, a cow, 2 Roman guards and an angel.
Yours in Christ,
Mother Superior.
Upon receipt of this letter my mother would go into a radical and
venomous anti- church, anti-nun, anti- Christmas tirade that would
have made any atheist proud. Nothing and no one was safe, as our house
rang with her heretical pronouncements. Heads were ducked, cover
sought, stay low being the watchword of the day. The next morning
having more or less recovered from her rebellious tirade the poor dear
would have a resigned yet determined look. A look that said that she
was a modern Catholic woman with a voice and role in the education of
her children who would now spent the next 3 weeks slaving like an
illegal in a sweatshop making costumes for 2 shepherds, 1 goat, 1 wise
man, a donkey, a cow, 2 Roman guards and an angel.
The costumes were always made in ascending order youngest to oldest.
Younger siblings would get the more elaborate, imaginative and
time-consuming designs. Angel wings constructed in intricate patterns
involving cardboard, Reynolds Wrap and tinsel. Sheets and pillowcases
transformed through the magic of the Singer Sewing Machine model 185J
into flowing Bedouin robes complete with a beard that had once resided
on the haunches of the family Irish setter. By the time my Ma had
created five or six of these elaborate designs her creative juices,
ambition and zeal for her religious and educational responsibilities
would be used up. So any one who did not manage to get their costume
completed under the wire would be pretty much SOL. Which is why I
always seemed to do my portrayal of a Roman guard in an old set of
football shoulder pads, an empty corn flakes box on my head and a pair
of my sisters tights.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:52:55 GMT

Hello world.

Im still here.
still fighting the good fight.
sorta.
I dunno if i said this, but im done with the FPCT game, they are great folks but i needed more time in my life. sadly i am quite poor now. but i have friends again. other work is going well, though to be honest it is wearing me out in certain ways. i am sorta bored with alot of it, and the new task i get are also kinda lame alot of the time. but its still possibly the best job ever. ya know. i am in a show. Strangely back at Goucher. i got a phone call asking if i wanted to play Mr Dalloway opposite calitetra 's mrs dalloway. Mrs. Dalloway being the title of the piece, with stargazin987directing. It should be fun.
anyway um...
oh
MY DAD IS AWESOME. He started a business not too long ago and it is doing really well: http://shipccs.com/
like super well. like that credit card commercial. "were gonna need more of that stuff! Wood? Yeah! Isn't that the idea?"
this is all as it should be because my dad is like the best guy in his field.
anyway.
people are moving to baltimore alot lately, this is cause for great joy. for now we can all hang out. which is keen.
being back at goucher so often {cause of rehearsal} is weird, but i really like theater exercises.
i think someone could make alot of money just having a place to do that stuff, and learn new theater games and stuff. not to any end, but just to move, streach, get a little workout, to hang out.
ive been watching alot of the new Doctor Who series. i was never a fan before, but this show is super-fun. i imagine its just what buffy fans like outta that show. goofy, low budget, but they are passionate about making it. i also like the idea that this is not a remake, or an alternate version, but simply a continuation of the same show the BBC has been making for something like 40 years now.
my little brother is cooler than yours.
he's not done anything new or exciting that i know about, but i just think he is keen.
that all for now.

goddamn

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:24:53 GMT

I just met Fuckin' Art Spiegelman

this is what i think like now

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:42:26 GMT

darkwing duck was amazing
he found the time to both be a superhero and a single father of an adopted child.

More Free Literature

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:15:34 GMT

Dont know why I forgot this one, Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom Another Creative Commons copyright short novel that is worth a look. http://www.craphound.com/down/

These posts may have been more for me than you all i suppose, i want to reread these someday and dont trust myself to find the links again.

Good Story

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:02:14 GMT

http://www.tedthecaver.com/

also

http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/

some fascinating early web 1.0 content

good reads if your bored at work or home.

Enjoy.

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:51:03 GMT

Holy Freekin Crap!

"The new season [of Futurama] will be set two years after the events of the last season, and will re-visit Fry and Leela's relationship and unanswered questions about Nibbler, dark matter and Seymour the dog."

From Wikipedia

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 04:07:28 GMT

hey.

you like music.
DAMN FINE MUSIC.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls we are pleased to introduce to
you for your listening pleasure

Kevin McKrell and

The Hard Road Céilidh Band

A Céilidh or céilí (pronounced "kay-lee" or kayleigh) is a social
event, typically with Celtic music and dancing. The word is in fact
the usual Scots Gaelic word for 'visit',

The members of The Hard Road Céilidh Band change from time to time.
They are.
Victor Gagnon Fiddle, mandolin and vocals
Rick Bedrosian Bass and vocals
Steve Butler Bodhran
Katie McKrell Vocal and Bodhran
Brian Melick percussion.
Steve Candlen Drums

Important bits:
http://www.kmckrell.com/home.html

iTunes Wind Upon the Hill BUY THIS CD. NO FUCKING REALLY BUY IT. I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LIKE IRISH AND BLUEGRASS. AND HOW MUCH OF THAT MUSIC YOU STOLE FROM THE INTERNET. MAKE IT ALL RIGHT. BUY THIS.

Katie's MySpace

Kevin & Katie's Myspace

WARNING: NOT EDITED

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:19:44 GMT

So, for those of you that remain within the sound of my voice: I am moved, i am now a full fleged baltimoron, residing within the cozy confines of charm city. Living now with a couple of old freinds which will be interesting im sure. We are in an old row house remoldeled in the 70's by some hep cats. (It was the swingingest pad!) And then remodeled again a few years ago, by some complete morons. But i digress. Still working at the Museum, where i finally feel like we are starting to get some traction (in becoming an attraction). Im almost constanty giving tours to kids adults and seniors. Its fun to tell kids that they should criticize their parents taste in music. It interesting to see how what was popular in american music all the way back to the turn of the century would be the stuff that the older generation would think is well ' THE DEVIL'. Popular music of the 1900's was certainly not church music, the 20's had the beginings of jazz, the thirties swing, the fifties big band, the fifties had rock and roll, the sixties had electric/psychadelic rock, seventies had disco, eighties had glam rock, ninties had rap and grunge rock. Anyway, music isnt as is was is the idea, and the older you get the worse the current stuff seems. I got a call from an old freind the other day, and i dont really know what that means, she is married and has a baby. The two people i was closest to in high school are bow both married. This girl and then my buddy Jeff, who is now serving in baghdad with his wife. I worry about my freinds. I have a deck now and no deck furniture, this is a quandry. Many of my freinds graduated from college this semester. This is most impressive. I am happy for them, but sad that most of them are leavingthe area and i wont be able to visit them quite so easily. I love streetsweepers. I remember that one day when i was in ireland with my mother, we had to get up rather early. In this town it was just my mother and i walking these streets looking for coffee. It was just us and street sweepers. Im not sure if i want to stick with the theater job. Its taking up alot of my time and my relationships with my freinds is suffering. Not to menton my sanity. The last couple of shows that i had to do nearly killed me. The stress, the anguish the long hours in the theater by myself. I think i miss acting and want to do that again. I still have that elitist idea though. I think that that is matisse's fault. Involving me in a piece of theater that made me think and made me know that we could use theater as a tool. The Children didnt affect anything massive, but it did affect me massively. So there is that. Do you ever feel rudderless in life? Yeah i figured. I had an 'altered' experience recently and it was mostly good but i think it really tapped into the fact that i dont know where/what i am in life. I defenitely wanted to go home. But i couldent really figure out what that meant to me anymore. Anyway, it was an altered experience, so it doesnt hold too much weight, i doubt if i could figre out what upmeant to me then either, but still, it made me realize i had a problem. Anyway, i look forward to wandering this city i live in. I also look forward to naps, and dont know which i should do first... Also there is little food in this house. Im glad i dont have to drive much these days, im not far from work. I miss riley. Logan too, but riley is being disabled today. A frind let me know that he was being declawed today. THis is a procedure that i am not okay with. When my (then) roomey said she was going to get another cat, i said fine but the cat was hers, i wasnt going to do anything beyond feeding that cat and the other, when she was unavailible. Then she announced plans to declaw this kitten. AHveing had clawed cats all my life and seeing how pathetic her declawed cat was i said no. She argued, and then i said that the only things that the cat could possibly destroy are all mine. I offered to keep his claws short and help with the initial outlay of cash for fixing and giving him shots. She accepted, I did my best to keep his claws ata reasonable length, and also paid a couple of joint roommate bills myself to offset her alone paying for the cat stuff. Anyway al this was fine, he was a cool cat. Definelty my cat. Slept in my room, my bed, he played chase with me, came when i called him, and genreally he and i were buddies. When we were making plans for moving out roomie announced that she was taking both cats, (which is fine and part of the arraingement) and then having this cat, Riley, declawed. I protested, Roommate said it was a moot point. That the cat wasnt mine. This SUCKS. There is no need to declaw the cat. Roommate bitch does not own anyhitng that she cherishes. Nothing that this cat can destrow with its claws. She refuses to acknowlege that this cat, though initially hers is now ours. And refuses to let me have a say in its future. I offer to buy the cat. She says no. I can do nothihg to convinince her that declawing this cat will do nothing beyond hurting and confusing this cat. And even though everyone ive talked to about this agrees with me. I can convince none of them to back me up. Anyway ive worked myself up. Peace kids, hope all is well.

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:15:39 GMT

the 4 year old in the store now is Soo excited about a GI Joe Destro doll, this makes me very happy.

"It's DESTRO, mommy! DESTRO!"

HAHA!!!! TAKE THAT UNIVERSE

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:17:08 GMT

Best of Baltimore Theatre 2006: Community Theatre

Friday, January 5, 2007; Posted: 1:27 PM - by James Howard

In 2006, the community theatres in Baltimore played host to dozens of major productions. Those theatres reviewed by Baltimore were: The Baltimore Playwrights Festival, Catonsville Theatre Company, Cockpit-in-Court, Fells Point Corner Theatre, Maryland Arts Festival, Mobtown Players, Run of the Mill Theater, Spotlighters, Vagabond Players and Winters Lane. We hope to add even more in 2007! The productions under consideration were, alphabetically: After Dinner, And Then There Were None, Angels in America: Millennium Approches, Beehive, The Boys Next Door, Dreamgirls, The Durang Double Bill, The Full Monty, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Gypsy, Hope’s Arbor, Inventing VanGogh, An Inspector Calls, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Mamaleh!, Man of La Mancha, Measure for Measure, Months on End, The Music Man, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Plaza Suite, Real Women Have Curves, The Return of the 5th Sister, Sight Unseen, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, SOD, Southern Baptist Sissies, Statements Made After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act, Steel Magnolias, Sunday in the Park with George, A Tuna Christmas. Plays and musicals were considered separately in all categories, except Outstanding Ensemble Acting, for which they were combined.
So, how did I get my picks? Throughout the year, as I reviewed each show, I divided the outstanding elements of each show into the appropriate categories, and “graded” them from 0 to 100. I kept nothing that received a score of less than 80. The top scores in each category, except Outstanding Production, were chosen as my “Best of 2006”. Outstanding Production was based on the top averages of each show (scores in all other categories were added up and divided by the number of entries per show). The “winners” are arranged alphabetically, not necessarily from top best to lowest best. I selected between 1 and 5 winners per category, depending on the scores, and numbers of possible winners. For example, there were more possible winners for Outstanding Supporting Actors, so I picked five, while there were many fewer lighting design possibilities, so I picked fewer. Also, when I felt so inclined, I named up to 3 honorable mentions in categories where there were so many exceptional possibilities. Again, these are my personal picks for the best of the past year. Comments? Email me at jameshoward@broadwayworld.com .
Outstanding Production of a Play
And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
The Boys Next Door, Fells Point Corner Theatre
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Mobtown Players
Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Statements After an Arrest…, Run of the Mill
Honorable Mention
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Spotlighters
An Inspector Calls, Cockpit-in-Court
Outstanding Production of a Musical
Dreamgirls, Winters Lane
Gypsy, Maryland Arts Festival

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
Richard Goldberg, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Spotlighters
John Kelso, And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Patrick Kilpatrick, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Spotlighters
Tony Viglione, Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Honorable Mention
Carlos del Valle, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Spotlighters
John Pruitt, The Boys Next Door, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical
Randall Dunkle, Sunday in the Park with George, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Michael Himelfarb, Gypsy, Maryland Arts Festival
Troy Hopper, Dreamgirls, Winters Lane
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play
Claire Bowerman, Sight Unseen, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Liz Boyer Hunnicutt, An Inspector Calls, Cockpit-in-Court
Christina Enoch, And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Karina Ferry, And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Courtney Webber, Statements After an Arrest…, Run of the Mill
Honorable Mention
Diana Cherkis, Measure for Measure, Mobtown Players
Courtney Krimmel, Hope’s Arbor, Spotlighters/Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical
Kelli Blackwell, Dreamgirls, Winters Lane
Tiffany Walker Porter, Gypsy , Maryland Arts Festival
Honorable Mention
Christine Annaliese Demuth, Man of La Mancha, Spotlighters
San tina Maioltesi, Sunday in the Park with George, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play
David Allen, Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
John Hurley, The Boys Next Door, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Alex Peri, Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Andrew Syropoulos, Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Honorable Mention
Chris Graybill, Statements After an Arrest… , Run of the Mill
Mark Squirek, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Mobtown Players
Russell Wooldridge, The Boys Next Door, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical
Alex Cecchetti, The Full Monty, Cockpit-in-Court
Dan Johnson, The Full Monty, Cockpit-in-Court
Aaron Reeder, Dreamgirls, Winters Lane
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play
Alison Buckley, After Dinner, Fells Point Corner Theatre
CJ Crowe, And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Tiffany James, Inventing Van Gogh, Mobtown Players
Tammy Kugler, Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Honorable Mention
Lydia Real, The Return of the 5th Sister, Mobtown Players/Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Towanda Underdue, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Spotlighters
Janise Whelan, The Return of the 5th Sister, Mobtown Players/Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical
Harriette Bush Clark, The Full Monty, Cockpit-in-Court
Rebecca LaChance, Man of La Mancha, Spotlighters
Kathryn M. Lyles, Gypsy, Maryland Arts Festival
Outstanding Ensemble Acting in a Play or Musical
And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Beehive, Maryland Arts Festival
An Inspector Calls, Cockpit-in-Court
Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Outstanding Playwright
Rich Espey, Hope’s Arbor, Spotlighters/Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Mark Squirek, SOD, Mobtown Players/Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Randy Dalmas, And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Barry Feinstein, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Spotlighters
Terry Long, Southern Baptist Sissies, Spotlighters
Alex Willis, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Mobtown Players
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Todd Pearthree, Gypsy, Maryland Arts Festival
Honorable Mention
Bill Kamberger, Sunday in the Park with George, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Fuzz Roark & Sherrionne Brown, Mamaleh!, Spotlighters
Outstanding Choreography
Anya Nebel, Dreamgirls, Winters Lane
Leslie Owens-Harrinton, Beehive, Maryland Arts Festival
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play
Sherrionne Brown, And Then There Were None, Spotlighters
Sherrionne Brown, An Inspector Calls, Cockpit-in-Court
Tala Chavez, Real Women Have Curves, Catonsville Theatre Company
Douglas Kotula, Plaza Suite, Cockpit-in-Court
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical
No award given this year.
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play
Bob Dover, Statements After an Arrest, Run of the Mill
Galen Lande, Hope’s Arbor, Spotlighters/Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Ben MacKrell, Sight Unseen, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical
No award given this year.
Outstanding Costume Design of a Play
James J. Fasching, An Inspector Calls, Cockpit-in-Court
Shannon Maddox, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Spotlighters
Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical
Helenmary Ball, Sunday in the Park with George, Fells Point Corner Theatre
Anya Nebel, Dreamgirls, Winters Lane
Taken from Broadwayworld.com

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 16:18:20 GMT

So apparently Jesus said "Beware the Groove". Actually its kind of an impressive honor, for people to think that a band is so good at what they do that they can change the way you live. This link was stolen from defenestrat0r who stole it from some else.

I have tomorrow off!!!! Sorta! I may have to come in to pick up some stuff, but at least i can sleep in some, which is awesome. My last day off was last friday and and that was a 2 day weekend, right after working for 8 days, blech. I love working where i do, but it is lame that i never have free time, and that when I do it is at a time when noone else is around.

Speaking work, one of the things i have been doing lately is creating an online presence for the museum, so everyone should reward my hard work by friending, adding or conjugally visiting any of the following sites www.myspace.com/geppismuseum http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=627630396 or http://geppismuseum.livejournal.com/ .

Anyway, Im doing alright as a TD but I am not really doing all that well as an SM, we havent started rehearsals yet but i failed at putting together a contact sheet, a working conflict sheet, and just mostly havent done anything useful. Though I did buy a calendar so i can remember to do things better. Thats smart right?

My parents bought me a 48 inch flatcreen plasma TV for Christmas, offbrand, but beggars cant be choosers. It has however been stuck in upstate NY due to its large nature and my inability to cleverly disguise it as my one personal item carryon. Hopefully, next weekend i am headed home to pick it up AND see my brother zac in a show. Yay the MacKrell boys being into theater faggery, actually he is performing in one of the little coffee shops that helped give Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, and Ani DiFranco their start.

So due to this new large telly, i am thinking of purchasing a surround sound system, additionally i am hypothesizing about buying a next gen game console. x-box 360 or the Nintendo Wii. I would like to hear peoples thoughts on this, I am leaning toward the x-box because i really enjoyed playing on the older console it is readily availible, and i suspect that many of my friends will purchase their own Wii therefore not necessitating me having one, for my invariably rare instances of gameplay. Also i (being the comic book kid that i am) want to play that new Marvel game with all the hero's. Sorry, but i have an addiction.

I would like to point out that the last game system I purchased was the Nintendo, yeah, the grey box one. Its been a while since i was interested in gaming. anyway, i forgot what i was talking about, so talk to you all later.
defenestrat0r

a weird note, and a bit of information about free stuff

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 02:36:47 GMT

so, does anyone remember the show 'Earth 2' it was on NBC back in the mid 90's. it was one of my favorite shows and i waited all week to watch it. that and 'seaquest DSV' well in the spirit of geekery, i looked both of those shows up on wikipedia today, and found that of the three child stars to play regular parts on those two shows, two are dead. jonathan brandis, who most of you probably remember more from the neverending story II as the snotty irritaiting Bastion, killed himself back in the late 90's. Sad.
Worse still, the girl True from earth two died quite recently of a strange heart problem. Her character wasn't a wonderful person, but i really did enjoy the program, and grew attached to the characters, it was neat to find out what had happened to them but suprisingly sad to think that someone who you hadn't thought of in years died without you knowing about it.
Anyway
quick FYI if anyone was interested in seeing the Museum, but too cheap to do so, this sat and sunday we are giving free admission to anyone wearing purple. GO Ravens! or...   something.

Not surprisingly the boy who works at the comic book and toy museum doesnt really care about the ravens all too much. And actually i was quite amused to hear them recently described as a pack of murders and theives.   Because for some reason i then pictured all the players as people in the Mos Eisley Cantina.