Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

When you record a podcast about Boston sports, watching the Yankees on the brink of their 234546th World Champion is something you don’t want to do. At least it provided some fodder.

4 Sporton Boston: Casting Pods and the “Checking Facebook Statuses Game”

Tags: blog

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

This is the post that will finish any hopes I have for running for any kind of public office. As we know if you want to be President of the United States you have to dress up like a middle-aged parent.

I did not do that for Halloween.

While some people dressed up like trashy ice skaters, sexy genies, or clever puns; I did something a little more unorthodox. I’m not talking about forming a tracksuit mafia, changing my religion, or going back home.

I spent my Halloween putting on a midnight performance of the Rocky Horror Show (still going on for two more weekends!) I knew that Halloween, midnight, and Rocky Horror meant a big crowd and lots of costumes. Most of my cast arrived to the stage in costume, only to take them off and put on their show costumes. The director showed up looking like the belle of the ball. I was dressed in grey dress pants and a grey T-shirt.

But I had an ace up my sleeve.

First I had to get some make-up on, so I went downstairs and got the cast to put make-up on my face, citing I had no costume for Halloween. The cast was glad to help and I sat down and each cast member took some of their make-up and put it on a different part of my face:

Step One: Make-Up on Face

Next was the more nerve wracking part, earlier in the week I asked our costumer if she had any extra costume pieces I could wear for Halloween. She agreed to help me out and would pass by the stage before the show. I nervously waited in the upstairs loft for her to arrive. 20 minutes til curtain and no sign of her yet. Finally she arrived with a large bag full of pieces. The heels barely fit and the corset was way too small. But like Tim Gunn I made it work.

My sound guy and light board operator walked in on me getting undressed with the costumer, they wanted to take a photo of me in my boxers but I convinced them they would get a better photo if they waited 10 minutes. After I put on the fishnet stockings I got at Hot Topic earlier that day they got their photo:

Step Two: Hot Tranny Mess.

I was so hot. It was also very breezy, never wore anything that short before.

So I put on a long coat I brought from home and went downstairs to the dressing room. I was about to call the five minute warning and a few people noticed my legs and knew something was up.

I strut into the dressing room and yell, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your five minute warning!”

And with those lines I take off my coat to the roar of the cast.

I called the entire show in costume, walking in heels wasn’t too bad except for a few moments I almost took a spill. During every intermission I walk out on stage to sweep up the stage, that night I got a few calls from the audience.

There’s a reason I’m not a performer: I can’t act, sing, or dance. But I will tell you- I didn’t mind being on stage at all in that moment. Dressing up is part of the Rocky Horror Culture and I totally enjoyed being a part of it for a night.

Tags: blog, holidays, rocky horror show, theatre

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Tonight is a very exciting night for me, but it’s also a very scary one.

After a week long hell of technical rehearsals, tonight I make my debut as a production stage manager in Kensington Arts Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. For the past three months I’ve lived a life of 14 hour days between Virgina and Maryland, and while there were fun times and memories during the rehearsal process- those feelings of fun were replaced with high tension and sensitive feelings coupled with a few nights of sleeplessness. It’s the kind of stress that makes you question why you signed up for this thing in the first place.

For me it’s been very stressful because it’s my first tech run (and now performance run) as a stage manager. I’m no stranger to theatre, the best moments of my high school career was producing over seven plays in my last two years at CHS; however producing and stage managing are two totally different beasts.

I really tried my best not to seem totally inept at the position. I read books, made tons of lists, and tried to go above and beyond every-time I could. It was helpful that I knew what to do during the rehearsal period since I had some experience on a show that shall not be named. Despite this, the past week has been very tough on me- because I’m not used to failing. As much as I tried to not act like a complete rookie, I blew cues, mismanaged actor calls, and got in the way of the tech designers I’m trying to help. A stage manager needs to be cool at all times- and I was boiling over as I couldn’t handle everything that was being thrown at me.

But that’s ok.

The great Matthew Berry once said that, “If you are trying to do something and you haven’t failed at it yet, you aren’t trying hard enough.” After dress rehearsal last night where my video projector malfunctioned and communications headset died and I was finishing last minute videos until five minutes before places; I drove home thinking what a terrible job I’ve done this week. I wanted things to go perfect this week and I’m learning that things never go perfect on a tech week.

Why d0 I want things to be perfect? Because I want everything in my life to go well. Generation Y has been brought up as overachievers that believe we can do anything we want, and if we don’t get it right immediately we panic. Everybody gets a blue ribbon and everybody is coddled to think they can succeed- which is good but it needs to be grounded in values of hard work and the occasional failure along the way. I want to be a good stage manager, I want to earn the praise, respect, and acceptance from my peers. When you were in school it wasn’t that hard, except in the real world, you don’t always get that the TLC you were fed as children. As a result it takes me a longer to not take criticism personally, I can’t help but feel that I’ve become more incompetent when I work my ass off just to get new note on my performance.

In the end however I stop and realize why I care so much? It’s because I want to be good- I want to be a great stage manager that people can count on. That means I need to make mistakes and I need to learn from them. I can’t help but imagine there’s a whole generation of people that will graduate college and quickly realize that real life isn’t as coddling as it once was. There are going to be moments where you fail, sometimes terribly. In that case you have to ask yourself how bad do you want it?

Because if you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying hard enough.

Tags: blog, rants

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

In the latest episode of the 4 Sport Boston podcast, we discuss the Patriots shutout of the Titans and what to-do when it comes to catching Boston sports away from New England.

4 Sport Boston: Podcast Episode 7

Tags: blog

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Since I’m well into tech for Rocky Horror, I haven’t had a whole lot of social plans- however Saturday night I battled the endless rain when tech ended so I could attend the blogger event of the year. Pretty much every blogger I knew or heard of (and some real life friends) was in attendance at Stentson’s last night and with all the tweets about the event, it was like my timelime came to life last night.

I was really overwhelmed the minute I walked in, I sent a tweet that I got out of the cab and when I walked up to the bar Maxie and others were waiting for me. I haven’t seen so many people in the our bloggy circle at one place at the same time. It took me 20 minutes to get to the other side of the bar just to say hello to the LiLu, who was clearly excited that she pulled off yet another stellar event.

It was a very memorable night out, and I could try and list all the twerps that were there but it would be a very valiant, yet incomplete effort. Check out Lilu’s “guestbook” for complete details.

After seeing all my blog favs I swung by Ben’s Chili Bowl to say hi to Ms. Chanelle was also in the neighborhood celebrating her birthday as well. I’ve never really stepped into Ben’s before and it was the mess I expected it to be. I didn’t have time to sit down for a half-smoke however, I’ll have to save that for another time.

I’d like to say that I then ended my night with a traditional trek back home and passing out in a mess, but I actually had some work to do (it is tech week after all.) I proceeded to edit videos til 6:30 AM. I was pretty tired and sober at the end, and three hours later I was up and back on stage for another tech.

Because sometimes you have to play hard then work hard.

P.S. It looks like I wasn’t the only one playing hard- is it just coincidence that now every blogger is now massively sick? Did they all get swine flu or something?

Tags: blog, debauchery, fun times with friends, rocky horror show, theatre, u-street

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

It’s been a long time since I’ve put a show through tech week. Earlier this year, when Cat On A Hot Tin Roof went into tech it meant long hours but I haven’t felt so much stress and pressure since I was producing shows in high school. My first tech week as a stage manager is going to be a really interesting experience.

That being said you probably won’t hear from me for a week (or two), I’ll still be on Twitter sending out my regular Rocky photos of the day.

And if you are in the area, I hope you do come out to support my show- it’s going to be a truly special event and I think its going to be tons of fun once its up.

Tags: blog, cat on a hot tin roof, rocky horror show, stress, theatre

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

As you know I’m always a fan of celebrity iPhone apps, and when my co-worker tweeted about Chad Ocho Cinco’s new iPhone app I just had to see what it was all about.

The app costs $4.99 and  apparently, “gives you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look into the life of the most interesting football player, Chad Ochocinco, aka Esteban Ochoccinco, aka Chad Johnson.”

I mean just look at some of the features the program touts:

• The Ochocinco Soundboard in English and in Spanish. (Good thing because we all know he’s into the Hispanic heritage.)
• Exclusive videos & pictures of Ocho.
• Pictures of Ochocinco fans around the world. If you have a nice tailgate in Cincinnati, we will find you and upload select pictures on the app.
• What would Ocho do? Submit questions to Chad and he will select a few and answer them within the app.
• Ocho’s Family. See pictures of Chad with his family & closest friends. (And by closest friends they mean his entire entourage.)
• News feed on Ocho, NFL, Bengals and everything else that Ocho loves.
• Follow Ocho’s Twitter timeline and see what he is up to.
• In the bio section, see things you never knew about Ocho.
• Follow Ocho Cinco on a map. (Screw GPS, all I really need to know is where Ocho is at all times.)
• See Ocho’s music on his iPod in Ocho’s Jams. The same music in the locker room, his car and when he works out.
• Cincinnati Benglas 2009 – 2010 schedule.
• Ocho’s stats for the 2009 – 2010 NFL season

While it doesn’t surprise me that he’d have his own iPhone app, I am surprise he’d go ahead and make one. Who will be the next celebrity to demand their own iPhone app?

Tags: blog, chad johnson, ipod

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Recorded another podcast with Craig and Jaws, and our good friend Sean joins us for a bit as well. Besides getting buzzered along the rundown, I’m happy to say we are well under an hour for this one- soon we’ll just have 30 minute bytes for you to digest!

4 Sport Boston: Episode 6

Tags: blog

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

OkCupid recently started a blog where they took all the data it’s collected as an online dating site and analyzed it. I was particularly interested in their most recent post on race. They took a look at whether a person’s race played a factor in getting a message back from someone they wrote to.

Their conclusion: yes it does- by a lot.

Here’s a graph from that post that shows reply rates between different races:

As you can see being an Asian male isn’t as great as being an White male.

Another chart from the post shows results of a poll question on the site:

As you can see White people, and White women, mostly prefer to date within their race.

A very interesting post, one that makes me very disappointed.

I’ve occasionally joked about my preference for White women over Asian women, much to the surprise of some less-than-open-minded friends, and I’ve hinted at it on this blog. I don’t think my taste is earth shattering, in fact it’s apparently something Asian guys like. My reasoning for this was explained quite clearly in their post:

On the contrary, white girls are many times the secret fantasy of any Twinkie. No, this is not a partially-hydrogenated pastry, but the Asian guy who has a bunch of white friends and does the things white guys do. There’s one problem: He’s stuck in an Asian body. Twinkies can be compared to a single kitten growing up in the midst of puppies. Twinkies feel like they are puppies because they are enculturated and they like what other puppies like, including the female dogs. Due to this immersion, Asians end up adopting white beauty standards. (but the same isn’t reciprocated by white girls.)

They are YouTube videos about it and apparently how-to manuals for it. But that doesn’t change the way I feel about this.

Honestly I think it sucks.

I will be the first to admit that I am a full fledged Twinkie. I do feel like that kitten that grew up in a world full of puppies. I like what White guys like: White girls.

What sucks is that White girls don’t like Asian guys.

I know I’m a smart, funny, outgoing, and caring individual; its just that sometimes I feel that I am trapped in this body, this shell that I actually like (I don’t think I’m that bad looking) but it’s a shell that’s not on the top of the list of the women I go after.

Sometimes I joke that I want to be white.

What I don’t tell you is that I want to be white so white girls would actually like me.

In today’s world we are changing the way we think about race in the workplace and life- but I can’t help but think there’s still a lot of hardwired racism I have to fight when it comes to physical attraction. I could have the best personality in the world but I doubt that’s going to make that brunette across the way like me any more if she’s into white guys.

Because I’m not a white guy, but sometimes I want to be.

If you have something to say about this post, feel free to leave me a comment or send me a tweet.  Also, if you’re not subscribed you can read this and all my other thoughts and rants, just subscribe via RSS or E-mail.

Tags: blog, favorites, feelings/reflections, girls, rants

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Out with a rib injury, Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams sat out this past Sunday and Austin Miles stepped up to take his place in the starting line-up.

And boy did he step up.

The 4th year backup from Monmouth caught 10 balls for a team record 250 yards. He also caught two touchdowns, one being the game winner. In 2008 Austin only totaled 278 yards an almost caught that many in one game. He will be clearly the most sought after pick-up in leagues that still have him on the waiver wire; however the Cowboys are off next week an come back from the bye facing the Pittsburgh Steelers who are currently 5th in NFL in total defense but are only 14th against the pass. Roy Williams is likely to return after the bye and we have clearly seen Austin’s career game. But will he have value going forward? With the departure of T.O., Tony Romo is free to pass the ball amongst many targets including Jason Witten, Tashard Choice, Roy Williams, and Patrick Crayton.

Remember last year when Donnie Avery caught six passes for 163 yars and a touchdown against the Pats? The performance ended up being a one hit wonder for his season as he went back to lackluster numbers. Now Austin has a better passer in Tony Romo but the situation doesn’t look good for him becoming a breakout fantasy stud after the bye. It is a situation worth looking at, just don’t pay too much for him.

Patriots Pride

I always get nervous went a game goes into overtime. I feel that there’s a bit too much luck involved when a coin flip determines who goes first in a sudden death situation. That’s what happened last year when Brett Favre dealt a loss to Matt Cassel.

I mentioned in the last 4 Sport Boston podcast I recorded that Tom Brady looks like Peyton Manning last year: a stud quarterback trying to get back into his rhythm after injury. I think Tom is slowly but surely getting better every game and I hope that down the stretch he’ll be back in his groove. I’m not hoping he returns to 2007 Brady, I don’t think we’re seeing that again, but it certainly possible for him to get back into 2004 form- the year we last won the Super Bowl.

The Patriots jersey in my closet right now happens to be Laurence Maroney’s and I’m beginning to think I need to find a replacement soon. With Fragile Freddy off getting ankle surgery, Sammy Morris is back in the top RB slot. He didn’t look too bad with his 68 yards over 17 carries. It’s good to see Wes Welker getting back into the thick of things and Julian Edelman is becoming an interest name in the WR corp. Joey Galloway was inactive again for the second week in the row- I hope he’s enjoying the dog house along with Maroney. Galloway is to the Patriots as John Smoltz is to the Red Sox.

Reading The Box Scores & Watching The Highlights

• When I started playing Carson Palmer and Marc Bulger were top tier Quarterbacks. Now  Bulger is a shell of his peak years but Palmer isn’t that bad as a QB2to
• Cedric Benson maybe for real- not as a RB1 but if you have him as a flex
• I can’t wait for Chad Ohocinco to pull off another crazy TD celebration, and with the way he’s performing I think he will.
• Ray Rice & Willis McGahee are the new Chris Johnson and LenDale White. Ray Rice runs between the 20s and is involved in the passing game, McGahee is the short yardage battering ram.
• You see 117 yards from Jamal Lewis, I see 31 attempts which equals 3.7 per carry- his average in 2008 was 3.6.
• Sell high on Clinton Portis after his 2 TD game? Well the schedule ahead looks a little challenging, the question is- how much do you trust the Redskins this year?
• Ben Roethlisberger has more touchdowns this season than Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner and Tony Romo. I wouldn’t say a repeat of 2007 is out of the picture.
• We saw how turf toe bothered Darren McFadden all last year, how will it affect Willie Parker and will he get his job back with Rashard Mendenhall playing so well?
• Just a gut feeling but Matt Cassel could be heating up for the Chiefs.
• Ahmad Bradshaw isn’t that bad as a flex going forward, he tore up the Raiders like nobodies business, now if Brandon Jacobs could get in on the fun…
• Rib injury? What rib injury. McNabb looked totally fine as he threw, ran, and dove all over the field.
• People maybe talking about Jeremy Maclin’s big game, but I think Brent Celek deserves some credit for that awesome leap over Ronde Barber’s head!
• You know who’s the number one rusher is in Minnesota, but do we really know who’s the number one receiver? Both Rice and Harvin caught some passes but along with Berrian they all have similar stats to date.
• Stephen Jackson didn’t do too bad against the Vikings D, now if he was only on a better team…
• Welcome back to fantasy football Michael Turner and Roddy White.
• When Gore is out, Glen Coffee is going to get all the touches but he hasn’t convinced me he’s anything more than a RB2 when he starts.
• Larry Fitzgerald had a good game this week but both him and Anquan Boldin have yet to have a 100 yard recieving game.
• Matt Hasselbeck returned from injury with a vengeance, 2 of his 4 TDs went to Nate Burleson who will no longer be ignored in fantasy this week.
• The Colts are very much like The Saints, they are both high powered passing attacks which will always make fantasy owners wonder which reciever will have the big game .
• I didn’t get back from rehearsal til late last night and I only saw the last quarter of the Jets-Dolphins game. However it appears that all I needed to see- Chad Henne looked good, and the Wildcat was exciting to watch.
• All the talk last night was about Braylon Edwards resurgence after being traded, I do want to note that Thomas Jones needs to thank Braylon for the two penalties that gave TJ all those goal line runs.

I Rock At Fantasy Football

After Week 5 I went 4-1 in my leagues.

4 Sport Boston League: L (2-3)

DC-Boston League: W (3-2)

Couch League: W (3-2)

James Bond League: W (4-1)

Fantasy Football Librarian League: W (3-2)

Tags: blog

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

V not for Vendetta- but for Virgin.

It’s true. I was a virgin on Friday night but no longer.

Of course I am referring to my Rocky Horror Show virginity.

The E Street Cinema was holding a midnight screening of the show I happen to be working on and members of the cast thought it would be cool to go out and check it out. I’ve only watched the movie once (after I accepted the stage manager job) so I was excited to see it would be like live in a theatre with fans cheering and jeering.

We met at a cast member’s place at Thomas Circle for a little pre-game, and I know it was only two days ago that I said how much I really love my cast but being able to hang out with this group of people really makes everything I do for the show worth it. I pre-gamed with the skittles vodka that I had left from the summer.

At the theatre, we found out that the show was going to be shadow-cast by a local group called the Sonic Transducers. Members of the group were walking up and down the line looking for “virgins.”

A cast member pulled my hand up and someone rushed over to give me the mark of shame: a lipstick V on my forehead.

Live performances are typically known for rookie hazing, luckily we didn’t have to do anything too embarrassing.

The screening was really fun, it was one of the only times I could openly sing the numbers and not look stupid. Good thing I had a drink or two beforehand- because I can’t really sing, I leave that job to the cast.

People the audience were shouting callbacks to the screen during the screening, some were good, others were long, ridiculous, and basically lame attempts to attract attention. I know that callbacks are part of the culture and tradition but I think that they should be left short and simple. Too many people tried to recite an entire paragraph into the space of a pause in dialogue and I have to say it was bordering on obnoxious.

Yikes does that mean my show will be like that? I hope the run doesn’t get too obnoxious- I think most of the bad callbacks were coming from the front row who were full of friends of the shadow-cast.

Well regardless it was a fun night out and I am even more excited to put on our own version of the show. I hope to see you guys there on the 23rd!

Tags: blog, debauchery, fun times with friends, rocky horror show

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

As I’ve written before, working on Rocky Horror this Fall has made my life a non-stop express train of stress and exhaustion, but it’s been worth it to work on this show so closely. Thinking back, I think that the combanation of show and cast has made working on this show the closest thing since doing productions with the CHS Theatre Guild. I really think that everybody on the cast has been great and they have been really sociable. We’ve been out for drinks and tonight a bunch of us are going to the E-Street Cinema for a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

By the way if anybody wants to come with- just send me a message.

Rehearsals have been nothing but hard work but we often find moments of levity, if you follow me on Twitter, I’ve started to post a Rocky Horror Rehearsal Photo of the day.

This past weekend we filmed some cut scenes that will be featured in the show, including some steamy shots that left us hot, bothered, and feeling awkward. All I’ll say is I’ll never hear a Dr. Seuss story the same way again.

So much like the way I wrote up The Shiz My Family Says, I’d like to show you how rehearsals roll LiLu style, with The Shiz My Cast Says.

Upon finding out she needs to be felt up by Rocky in a number

Amy: “I’m sorry my breasts aren’t fabulous tonight.”

Which leads to..

Mike: “So how long do I keep my hands on her breasts?”

While trying to correct a mistake in the dancing:

Darnell: “You just fucked his hip!”

John: “I’m too short!”

Darnell: “I’m too short and I got in it!”

Let’s say the choreography of our show concentrates on certain body parts:

Amy: “My boobs are having a lot of fun in this show.”

Again while giving notes to the dance numbers…

Darnell: “This is really hurting you Frank, I mean Ryan’s coming from your hole.”

To see what all the fuss is about come see Kensington Arts Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show- opening October 23rd! Click here for ticket info!

Tags: blog, chs, friends, rocky horror show, theatre

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

I’m too busy to post here, I’m too busy to post on Metblogs, however apparently I’m not too busy to guest post at The Gospel of JP.

Obviously my priorities are A-OK.

A Pop Culture Intelligence Briefing

Tags: blog

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

It’s a vicious cycle

Last week I talked about the DMB concert I missed out on, and while it’s been the only time I wasn’t able to make a sure I bought tickets for- trying to find last minute concert partners has always been a problem for me.

I never thought DMB was widely popular; despite being the 9th highest tour in 2006 in gross revenue I always had trouble finding other friends to go to a show with me. Every time tour dates were released I’d go see which shows I wanted to go to and buy a pair of tickets for said show. Without a go-to person, I’d usually ask around and I’d usually get excuses that DMB wasn’t really their thing or that tickets would be too expensive. Trying to find a concert partner usually ended up being a problem up until the week of the show. I rarely have been to a concert that didn’t include weeks of worrying of who my extra ticket will go to.

Now I’ve been lucky to have a few go-to buddies in the past, growing up in Chelmsford Jimmy was always down with a DMB show and more recently I was happy to find out that my friend LJ was a big DMB fan. I also have to acknowledge that thanks to my friends at Am I Dreaming, I’ve had a great network of friends I’d meet up with at shows.

The problem still remains of who be my extra ticket.

And so I go through the same motions tour after tour, excited to see one of my favorite live acts, somewhat disappointed that I didn’t have anyone to really share it with.

I know that despite my schedule and excuses I made last Thursday, if I had someone that was just as excited to see DMB that I was- I would of done anything to get to that concert.

DMB is my lonely passion, lonely in that I have nobody to share it with.

And it’s moments like last week that make me realize how much I hate not having someone to share something I love with.

Don’t you have something you’d love to share with someone? Maybe it’s a hobby or a YouTube clip, doesn’t it suck a little bit when you don’t have someone to share your interests with? Sure your interests are your interests- but doesn’t your love for something grow when you are able to spread it?

Tags: blog, dmb, friends, girls, rants

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

It was a setlist that started with Proudest Monkey and ended with All Along The Watchtower, a pretty good encore that I haven’t heard in awhile.

Unfortunately I won’t hear that song or any of the others on tonight’s setlist.

Tonight Dave Matthews stepped onto the stage at Toyota Pavilion in Scranton, PA and I had two tickets for it, tickets that sit on my desk here in Arlington as I write this. A reminder of a the stresses in my life and its consequences.

Two months ago I had tickets for a DMB show in Bristow, but I had to sell the tickets and instead go to my sister’s engagement party. I still wanted to go to a DMB show this summer so I looked at the tour calendar for another date where they would be remotely close. I circled the September stop in Scranton and figured it was within driving distance and it would be a good excuse to get out of town for a couple of days.

Then life got busy.

I couldn’t find anyone else to go on this trip with me. Between work and the musical, I’ve been working 13 hours days since August which has left me little time to even think about the concert until it was too late.

Without a travel companion I thought about selling the tickets, but doing so was harder than I thought. The show didn’t sell out and a Wednesday night show in the middle of nowhere PA didn’t make my tickets a hot buy. Craigslist was already flooded with tickets and I couldn’t sell the tickets even despite offering them way below face value.

I contemplated just going by myself to the show- something I’ve done before, however I crunched some numbers:

If I didn’t go to the show I’d stand to lose the $170 I spent on the tickets. If I went to the show and not manage to sell off the other ticket, it would only be a $85 loss. However since Scranton is 4 hours away I’d have to stay the night at some motel, which would cost me an additional $60-$70. Also my car was fresh from a trip to Pittsburgh the past weekend, and has developed several noises and problems that made me nervous about taking the car on another long trip. Knowing my car is a piece of shit, I wouldn’t of wanted to take that risk. The cost of renting a car for a day would of been another $60.

So if I didn’t manage to sell the tickets I’d be out $170. If I ended up going by myself I would be out $205, plus all the time I’d have to take on Wednesday and Thursday.

Is seeing DMB worth all that time and money? I’ve been to concerts where I spent more than that. However I’m found myself drained mentally and physically to really want to go through with it.

So here I am at 3 AM, tired and angry at myself. I’m not really angry about the money- I bought the tickets so long ago that the financial loss doesn’t really register.

I’m angry at something else about this whole ordeal, but that’s the subject of another blog post.

Tags: blog, rants

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Baskin Robins became known for its 31 flavors. Oreos come in all sorts of varieties from Double Stuff to those weird Golden Oreos that Donald Trump is pimpin’.

Distillers like Absolut and Smirnoff have vodka in about every imaginable flavor (did you know there’s a Banana flavored vodka? Now that’s a vodka I want to try!) However there’s one flavor that hasn’t been developed to my surprise: Skittles.

I was instantly hooked when I saw the Lifehacker post, and I gave it a tried as a farewell gift for Sarah. My first batch came out all-right, granted I didn’t actually get to try it since it was a gift. The vodka wasn’t as filtered as it should be since I was really impatient about waiting for the infused mixture to strain.

Next time I have some free time I’ll definitely be making another batch, but I just want to say it’s a neat project for your next party and/or drinking occasion.

Tags: blog, food

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

You may have noticed my adventures have been scarce recently, that’s mostly because my days and nights for the next few months have been claimed by work and theatre. While work will always be work, it’s been a real challenge to fit stage managing into my life. The daily commute from Arlington to Kensington has been especially tough, I’m not the kind of worker that is strictly 9-5 but I when you factor in traffic, I have a really tight window to get from my office to rehearsals on-time (which for a stage manager should be before the rest of the cast.)

My roommates don’t see me back at the house until 11 PM at night. I check some e-mail, try and get some personal work done but I’m usually exhausted and in bed around midnight. I get up the next morning the and the entire cycle repeats. The days are starting to blur together and it’s tough to realize that we’re already a month into rehearsals. However this is the life I chose to pursue when I decided to get back into theatre, and it’s been a long an weird journey ever since the day I was recruited by TAP to do something I’ve never done before: stage manage.

The Theatre Guild at Chelmsford High had a big following who’s membership included many of my friends. I was already busy being a geek in the TV Club, taping football games and news segments for the student-run news show. The idea of working in theatre didn’t enter my mind until I was in the hall with my friends, all of them signing up for production roles in the CHS Fall Play.

My friend Jimmy was getting audition information and noticed that nobody signed up to be the show’s producer, and urged me to sign up. We thought it would be neat to work on a show together and next thing I know I was thrusted into the job without any clue of what a producer does. If you ask me now I may have half a clue what a producer really does.

However like most things in my life, I took to the job with the enthusiasm and excitement that locked me into the job for the final two years of my high school career. The Theatre Guild has led to many friendships and memories and is arguably the defining experience of my high school life. When I got to Fitchburg State, I tried to get into the theatre scene- but I never felt as comfortable there as I did at CHS. It’s weird to think that something about high school could be the most enjoyable part of my life.

Theatre eventually fell out of my life when my I moved down to DC and three years later I got an e-mail looking for a theatre company looking for not a Producer, but an Assistant Stage Manager. Much like that day in high school, I didn’t have the slightest clue how to stage manage, but the opportunity to get back behind the stage tempted me into trying something new. So I apprenticed on TAP’s production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, excited to be back around the stage.

After Cat I caught the eye of another theatre and was asked to be the Production Stage Manager on what is now, the show that shall not be named. Going from Assistant Stage Manager to full fledged stage manager was a really exciting yet nerve wracking- I now had an idea of what I was supposed to do but like a first-round college Quarterback, I haven’t played in the real game yet. My experience on the show that shall not be name ended up to be a red-shirted season after the show was suddenly canceled.

However I quickly was asked to do another show, and now I’m working on Rocky Horror Show for Kensington Arts Theatre. I’m not into musicals but I heard nothing but great things about the theatre: a place everyone wants to work with in the DC area. So I committed the rest of my summer and fall and belted myself in for weeks of hour long commutes. So far I haven’t been disappointed.

The production is bigger than what I would usually be comfortable working on- bigger casts, bigger numbers, and a really intense rehearsal schedule. However I got an e-mail during work one day from a cast member, subject line: “Drinks Tonight?” I think I made the right decision.

Tags: blog, cat on a hot tin roof, chs, college, fsc, high school, rabbit hole, rocky horror show, theatre

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

I swear my writing isn't this messy, just when it's typed into a computer.

You know what would be a cool font? One entirely based on my handwriting. Pho Sho. Well thanks to Lifehacker, I discovered this amazing site that turns your handwriting into a font and now my dream typeface is a reality.

Unfortunately the font didn’t come out was clean as I expected, but then again my handwriting isn’t the most immaculate example of penmanship.

Tags: blog

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

TGIF right?

That’s usually most people think when Friday comes along, and for me I couldn’t wait for a weekend to relax and recover from an unusually stressful week at work (however stress at work is a growing problem that I’m not happy about.)

I made the most of my Friday night at Lilu’s housewarming party. She certainly had a big crowd in her new Columbia Heights pad, and all the A-list people were there in style. I even met a few other cool bloggers.

The night was nothing short of fantastic, there was a Pinata full of candy that nobody wanted to eat (probably explains why we are too old for it), and we crammed into Lilu’s bathroom to do some things we haven’t done since college.

Lilu’s wasn’t the only stop in the neighborhood that night, I also visited my pals Ryan and Sara and we hit up a couple of places to end the night.

Wonderland wasn’t that great since the patio was already closed and for the first time I went upstairs and saw the mosh pit of popped collars and sweat. Thanks but no thanks.

So we decided to go to Commonwealth where on the way we walk by an apartment building where a middle-aged Hispanic guy was looking out his window while drinking some Miller Lites. That’s where the oddest thing happened.

He struck up a conversation with us which somehow led to him coming down to give us some free beers. I have to say that the people are nothing but generous in Columbia Heights.

Oddly enough that was only the second weirdest thing to happen to us that night.

Once we got to Commonwealth it was getting late and the amount of people left inside told that story. We walked up to the bar and grabbed some seats, we sat at the end of the bar where there was this girl in a red dress to my left. She was fumbling through her purse and noticed me as soon as I sat down.

She had an empty can of PBR and a glass full of Guinness and turned to me to complain about how she was already cut off by the bartending. Upon hearing her slurred delivery and failure to sit up-right while telling me this I already figured she was telling the truth.

She proceeded to hit on me while I was talking with Ryan and Sara, she said she was a lawyer but the glitter on her face and the large amounts of cash she kept digging out of her purse told me otherwise.

Sara and Ryan walked outside to take a smoke and that’s when she made her big move.

She leaned into to me for the kiss and I did something I don’t believe I have ever done in my life.

I turned the other cheek.

Mind you I love making out with girls but there was something about this girl that just wasn’t right. Actually everything about this girl wasn’t right.

As she made out with my cheek she questioned my refusal of her advances, “what are you gay or something?” I wish I could tell her what I really thought, “No, definitely not gay but I enjoy a disease free body thank you very much.”

It’s a decision I won’t be regretting anytime soon.

Tags: blog, columbia heights, debauchery, fun times with friends, stress, work

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

I'm not going to say you are a jerk- instead I'm going to ask why did you think it was cool to turn your hair into a maze? Also you are a jerk. (Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

If you look at the footer, you see I’ve already categorized this post as a rant. In fact I rescheduled another post that was originally supposed to go up now so I could immediately say what was on my mind.

Kanye West pretty much did the same thing during tonight’s MTV Video Music Awards.

I’ve long since given up on watching MTV, even as a 25 year old it’s a network that’s fallen out of touch for me. Lucky for them they have Kanye West stirring the pot and bringing the spotlight back to the network for 15 more minutes.

While I was watching the Bears/Packers game, I noticed a few people were watching the VMAs and weren’t very happy about it.

After the game I decided to see what all the buzz was about: Kanye had yet another meltdown during an awards show, where he stormed the stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to say he thought Beyonce should have won.

Well at least we didn’t rant about how he should of won. Kanye must know that ranting about how Kanye should of won is SO 2007. In 2009 it’s hip to rant about how OTHER PEOPLE should of won. And of course he must think it’s ALWAYS cool no matter what you rant about, that you disrespect whoever is on stage by telling him or her you mean no disrespect.

Of course he was booed and is probably banned from future awards shows (how hasn’t he been already?) At least Beyonce was classy enough to give Taylor her moment after it was ruined.

When I first heard of this incident of course my natural inclination was to think Kanye is a bag of douche. Lots of people had the same reaction (if you didn’t already think Kanye West is a douchebag.) I also immediately thought of this SNL sketch he did:

When I first saw this years ago I thought it was funny. I still think it’s funny but now I realize he really does say the same things when he rants on stage.

He’s already apologized on his blog but this time he’s gone too far. It’s one thing when you get mad toward a group of other artists because you didn’t win- that’s being a sore loser. However it’s different when you walk up to the winner and say to her face in front of millions that she wasn’t worthy of an award. Also it doesn’t help when the person you embarrass happens to look as cute and innocent as Taylor Swift. You pretty much look like the villain in a cartoon movie.  It not only takes balls to do such a thing but it takes a certain cockiness as well; a quality Kanye is very self-aware of.

So you can say Kanye is a douchebag, you can say he has no manners, you can talk about how much this is going to hurt his image and how it’s going to boost the image of Taylor Swift and Beyonce. All these things are true and irrefutable.

However the huge media backlash we’ll see on blogs, TV, and news is exactly the kind of attention Kanye West doesn’t deserve.

Everytime he pulls a prank like this we can’t stop talking about him, and while nobody will really know why he decides to do these ridiculous things- we know that every time it happens we can’t stop talking about him and how much we hate him or how stupid he is.

Simply put, Kanye is a heel (if you aren’t a pro-wrestling fan it’s a term for the bad guy, the guy you are supposed to root against.) Kanye meltsdown, we root against him, he gets his due attention and we’ll boo him again when he does his next dastardly deed.

If you really want to express your disgust towards Kanye, do so and then never speak of it again. Because whether it’s bad news or good, Kanye is now the center of attention- just like he wanted.

Do you really want to give him that satisfaction?

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Tags: blog, rants