Sprezzatura #12 - Totally Unnecessary And Perfect In Every Way
Friends, I’m currently staring at a dry cleaning receipt by my desk that says it has been ready for pick up since Feb 1, nearly 3 months ago. I forget that I have it until I notice it and then make a mental note to go collect my shirts.
I suspect it only takes me about 5 minutes to 100% forget that I have dry cleaning to collect. I’ll get up from my desk in a blissfully ignorant fog and continue on with my day with a mental eigengrau where that task should be.
I’m writing this here not because there’a anything insightful to share in it (other than perhaps some insight as to why I do unscripted theatre) but rather because I’m hoping it helps me remember to go get those shirts.
Here’s a bonus pic of something I recently bought. Yes, it’s sickly sweet. No notes.
[MUSIC] Phoenix - One Time Too Many
This song from 2006 sometimes pops up in my shuffle mixes and it makes me happy every time. The lyrics are nonsense, a wadded ball of English words collected like pocket lint that’s gone through the wash one time too many, but the rhythm drives me through the countryside in a convertible; shades on, sun up. Play this one with the wind on your face on a beautiful day.
[DOCUMENTARY] Hip-Hop Evolution
An excellent history of hip-hop (mostly US focused) by Canadian rapper and broadcaster, Shad. Follow the birth of DJing, breakdancing, rapping, and more. It features great interviews with pretty much every key figure from hip-hop’s early days and through to its growth to the force it is today.
[ARTICLE] Voyager 1 is back is business!
NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth
After some inventive sleuthing, the mission team can — for the first time in five months — check the health and status of the most distant human-made object in existence.
What an amazing feat of engineering. They not only reprogrammed the probe but they split up the program to run in pieces in different undamaged sections of the computer systems. Unbelievable work. Maybe you recognize some of the engineers in the pic from the doc I highlighted last month? I wanna high-five them all.
IMPROV TIP
Be decisive. Be bold!
This might seem like simple or obvious advice but many of you need to hear this. Improv is generally such a supportive, positive space that it attracts a large number of quiet people who aren’t used to taking up space. These players are amazing supporters and listeners but they can struggle with initiating or endowing because it can feel too aggressive. They’re often the person who speaks second at the start of scenes.
It’s always a massive gift when my scene partner starts by saying to me, “Professor, I have a question about the final exam.” Three big decisions: who I am, who they are, and what is the focus of the scene off the top. You aren’t squashing any of my ideas. The whole thing is a blank page and I want you to fill half of it!
So make a big choice about yourself, about your scene partner, about the location, about what’s at stake. Any one of those is plenty. It’s a visceral rush to take your space and own it. And it’s a safe way to practice it for real life too.
EVENTS
This Sunday is the unstructured narrative class that I’m really excited for. It’s a new way to approach narrative that follows the instincts of the students present. We’ll work with your ideas to create improvised plays scene-by-scene without any structure to it. Together we’ll figure out what might work or why an idea might not work. We’ll still cover the ideas behind storytelling but in a much more organic way.
This class is open to anyone of any level and is a perfect intro to improvised narrative if you’ve never done it. I honestly think this might be the easiest and most fun way to teach this material.
We’ll spend 4 hours together from noon to 4pm Eastern and it costs 75$. I’ve tried to keep it as affordable as possible. In fact, as of this writing, there’s still a 25$ equity-pricing spot available! 25$ for 4 hours of training?? Improv deal of the century!!
Register now while space is still available.
An Interesting Wikipedia Page: Chevalier D’Éon
L8r sk8rs,
Vinny