Sprezzatura #14 - The Sharpened Point of Time's Arrow
The summer is my time for quiet. I dial down my teaching and coaching. I go camping. I like to enjoy the downtime to reset.
That wasn’t really possible this year because we moved homes in July. We moved from a suburb-y neighbourhood to a more lively, central one here in Montreal. So if you see someone who looks like me wandering confused around the Plateau, it’s probably me.
It was quite the upheaval. We lived in our old home for 12 years so there was quite a lot of cruft to go through. It’s only been about a month and we’ve still got piles of boxes to sort through. And that’s normal, that’s ok. So it was a reset of sorts but it was not restful.
Regardless, the improv schedule is ramping up. Prep for both Camp Zipzaps are in full swing. New classes will be up for October. The calendar pages turn, blown by inevitable winds. All summers end.
On with the newsletter!
[MUSIC] Nahre Sol - SUPER MARIO THEME, in the Styles of 6 Classical Composers
I took piano lessons for about three years. That’s enough to be terrible at playing the piano and knowing enough about music to fill the eye of a needle. But I’m always curious about how it gets made by people who deeply understand it. It’s like watching your first few professional improv shows and marveling at how it’s done at all.
People who can communicate their knowledge in an accessible way are heroes to me. It speaks of a comprehension that goes right to the marrow. This video by Nahre Sol takes something familiar to me and then plays with it in six variations. The annotations capture exactly why these variations have the “voice” of the six composers. To me, it’s the very essence of deep play, to take one’s knowledge and years of practiced skill and then deploy it effortlessly in a joyful way. (sprezzatura!)
[IMPROV] Status (Digital Magazine)
There’s a monthly digital magazine dedicated to improv that’s been running since 2011. According to the site, Status is sent to over 1000 subscribers worldwide in four languages (English, Spanish, French, and Italian). That’s not bad! The articles and interviews are always worth a read and I legit get excited when a new issue comes out. Go take a look!
PS: Jim is fantastic.
[DOCUMENTARY] - THE BARKLEY MARATHONS
This is one of my all-time favourite documentaries. If we’ve ever talked documentaries, there’s good odds that this one came up. It’s about a near-impossible race that takes place annually in Tennessee. Only 20 people have ever finished the “long” version since it started in 1989, and the record time is over 52 hours. Potential entrants must complete an essay on "Why I Should be Allowed to Run in the Barkley" and pay a $1.60 application fee. If you’re selected and it’s your first time running, you also must donate a licence plate from your home region. It’s hilarious, it’s brutal, and it’s so very human.
Improv Tip
I always had a hard time with Keith Johnstone’s famous advice to “be more boring”.
Be more boring? I’m in a show! A comedy show! Why should I be more boring?? Even after reading all of his books and taking a workshop with him, this one bit of advice never made any sense.
But now, many years later, I think I get it. The advice isn’t meant to be read as: “Make your scenes or characters more boring. If something fun is happening, you’re doing it wrong”. But that’s how I took it and why it left me flustered.
I now see this advice as “Relax, don’t try to force something unusual into the scene.” Opportunities for comedy and fun and play will present themselves if you’re open to them but you don’t have to make things happen. Just be a normal person at the start (aka: “boring”) and be ready for the chance to be silly.
I’ve seen people be forcefully imaginative* in scenes and it always takes me out of the moment. It becomes very obvious when someone is TRYING. SO. HARD. to make something funny, and the irony is that it becomes painfully unfunny.
Just be a normal person. Give me a moment to relate to this new character on a human level so that when the cartoon anvils start to drop on your head, I’ll care about what happens.
* If you know who to credit for this term, please let me know! I heard someone say it who heard it from someone else and now its source is lost.
EVENTS
CAMP ZIPZAP (Montreal & Toronto)
I’m ordering hoodies. I’m booking buses. I’m testing marshmallows. I’m building a weather manipulator. Busy days!
If you haven’t signed up for either camp or want to nudge a friend to register, there’s still time. And as a bonus for signing up to this newsletter you (or your friend) can use discount code CAMPFIRE25 to save 25$ on your registration and get the Early Bird price.
Hope to see you there!
BONUS - Life and Death in the Gloaming Caves
In 2020, I wrote a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story on Facebook. Instead of pages, you chose which comment to visit and the whole thing took place on one post. It was fun to make and I figured I’d share it here in case you like that sort of thing.
An Interesting Wikipedia Page: Roko’s Basilisk
L8r sk8rs,
Vinny