Thursday, January 29, 2004

The Second so Red...

The most important thing I learned from The Company:

Gloss black spraypaint can make anything--from wooden dowels and tubing to the cheapest of plastic children's toys--look like legitimate and authentic medical equipment.

I'm up in Connecticut having a wonderful recovery period. Granted, my connecting flight out of Detroit was canceled and I had to spend the night up there, but they gave me a room with a jacuzzi, so all was quickly forgiven ^_^

I've been spending the time when Carleton is in class sleeping, lazing about, and even doing some artstuffs! I'm trying very hard to think as little as possible about the upcoming spring term. At least winter term came to a nice close, there isn't going to be anything drastic to do when we start teching the play.

Come see The Yellow Boat!!!!!

Sunday, January 25, 2004

The First was Blue..

Of course it is the day when I decide to wear my shoes with the least traction that we have a freezing rain disaster. I walked out the door to discover the world had been covered in a very thin sheet of ice while I'd slept.

It was somewhat adventurous--trying to find the best courses to the nearest patches of grass to walk on and such--and when I ran out of grass on my trip to the bank, I resorted to walking on bits of slush between the road and the sidewalk and small streams of running water. I often found myself standing, precariously balanced, the start of the grass merely two steps away, but dangerous icy pavement one step away, pondering the best way of moving to avoid an Alison Furlong accident.

It was treacherous and frightening, but I made it to and from the bank and to the theater without falling and killing myself. The icicles forming on the cars as the drove were very pretty.

EDIT: Okay, that's it, every time I find one of you Centre kids' journals I end up finding 3 more. So I demand that all of the Centre people that I know that have journals that I don't know have journals post a comment, so that I know...umm...yeah. That is all.

Saturday, January 24, 2004

There sailed 3 boats from the harbor...

Last weekend of winter term, one more official day of class, and I am totally beat. I'm having trouble getting motivated this weekend, as there is much to do before it is through.

I'd like to go in today and do some work on Yellow Boat--mainly painting and touch-ups and small bits of work--but the thought of going in on a weekend to work is terribly exhausting for some reason. I'll have lunch and then muster up the motivation to go in.

In addition, I must clean clean clean for winter break, as well as pack for my trip to see Carleton. There are other things, like filling out and sending in my registration for SETC and cleaning my fishtank (oh, did I mention I have a fish now? Well I do ^_^ ) which need to happen soon as well.

In other news, downstairs in the prop room yesterday and I found ANOTHER abandoned and forgotten Christmas cactus. It was in pretty much the same shape as the last one, so hopefully I can revive it (I'm considering making a sign for props storage that says "NO LIVE PLANTS!!")

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Busen lull, cook the kettle full...

More important information

More specific dates and times for our performance of The Yellow Boat

Public performances:
Sunday, February 8, 2:00 pm
Wednesday, February 11, 8:00 pm
Friday, February 13, 8:00 pm

There are school performances at 9:30 am and 12 noon on the 9-10, and Lord of the Dance is coming in on the 12, which is why we don't have a performance then

Also, we are getting 12 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to display in the Norton Center lobby. Each panel is made of four smaller, individual panels, so that's 48 people represented. There will be an opening ceremony after the first performance on Sunday and the quilt will stay on display most of that week. We tried to request quilt panels of people who were connected to the local community, and we also requested the panel for Benjamin Saar, who the play is about.

I really encourage anyone who will be nearby during that week to try and come see the play! The class has put an incredible amount of work into it and I know it's going to be a great show. Acquire tickets through the Norton Center for the Arts box office at (859) 236-4692 or 1-877-448-7469.

Press Release...
http://www.centre.edu/web/news/2004/show04.html

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Swan Lake, art, and pondering

The last time I saw a ballet was in gradeschool when our class went to see The Nutcracker, and I remember being really impressed and excited about the whole rat battle, but after that it got a little slow. Sure the realm of the Sugarplum fairy was nice, but where were the rats? Where was the action??

That being my only experience, I was a bit hesitant to go see Swan Lake tonight, but I needed the convo credit and figured what the heck. Watching dancers exhausts me. The way that they've totally harnassed and utilized the capabilities of the human bodies fascinates me to the point of being sick to my stomach and leaves me wallowing in dizzying admiration

It reminds me of a play I saw called Resident Alien by Tim Fountain. It's a great one-man play about Quentin Crisp, and is essentially a string of his little tidbits and insights on life that are all woven together. Because of this, it's difficult to pluck a quote out of context, but I'll do my best. In an explanation about ridding oneself of superfluous things and actions, the main character goes on to say...

"It's alright if you are learning to sing or dance because these are activities the results of which you take out into the world and wear like a crown. People who have learned to sing will always have richer, rounder voices. People who've learned to dance will always have bigger, bolder movements, but as for pottery and basket weaving, what good are they? The moment the doors of the evening institute clang shut behind you you are back where you started. On the way home you might get into an argument with a stranger at a bus stop. It's no good saying I can't express myself you'll have to come and see my baskets."

When I first heard this in the play it really struck a chord with me, especially the part about dancers and singers being able to wear their talents like a crown, because they are always present within the person. It got me thinking about art, and sure enough, the character of Quentin soon brings up the visual arts...

"It would be difficult to express the dilemma that lies before the visual artist. If I showed you a huge great piece of concrete with a hole in it everybody would say it's a Henry Moore, but if I could show you Henry Moore himself nobody would know who he was. So all that clipping, all that chipping, all that chiselling, it's been in vain."

I'd like to say I disagree strongly with the character on this point, being a visual artist myself. However, it's not so simple, as the words make sense. Whenever I read it, it spins me off into deep ponderings about a talent's ability to portray who a person is and this and that. Far too incoherent ramblings to journal about, but I wonder if it strikes chords with anyone else, too?

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Pain and Announcement

Thanks for the suggestions on names everyone! I've decided to name the plant Cap'n Stitch.

First weekend of winter term and all is well. I decided to go play in an Ultimate Frisbee mini-tourney yesterday, and was needed as the only girl, and after some other people dropped out, we had 8 people. 7 people have to be in play, leaving us one sub, and after Abbot got injured before the last game...well....we were all pretty exhausted.

I had a lot of fun, but since I hadn't played since early fall, I knew right away that my body would be screaming at me all day today. That's what I get, I guess.

And Now for the First of a Series of Important Announcements that I'll be making periodically

As you all know, I'm taking this theater class and working on this play this term.
The play is The Yellow Boat by David Saar, and just from the progress made this week, I can tell it is going to be an awesome play. Awesome as in well-acted and designed, but also in that it's a very important play.

So that is why I'll be announcing in my journal now and again to harass anyone I can into coming, because you all need to see this play. I believe the performance dates will be Feb 10-13, but I'll get more details.

If you are in or near Danville, Kentucky at that time, you are hereby obligated to come and see this play. You Have no choice in the matter. So there.

Thursday, January 8, 2004

Plant adoption

I acquired another houseplant today. Well, I suppose "rescued" would be the more appropriate term.

I was rummaging about the prop storage room today when I passed by what I thought was a remarkably well-crafted fake plant. Upon closer inspection, I found that it was indeed a real, living (barely) plant.

Through further information gathering, I discovered that the plant was a prop from A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which was performed last fall. So this poor plant had been down in the completely lightless prop storage for over a year!

It's a Christmas Cactus, but its leaves are totally flat and limp. I suppose it lived off the moisture in the air, as the prop storage room can get somewhat dank, and scratched up all the light it could from the incandescent bulbs on the rare occasion that someone enter prop storage.

A shriveled blossom at the base of the plant indicates that it did bloom at one point.

So, I've adopted it under my care, and hopefully I can nurse it back to help. Sara says that putting it under a UV light might help, so I may see if I can borrow her blacklight, or perhaps send the plant over for a visit. Any care tips from plant people would be welcome!

That said, this trooper of a plant deserves an appropriate name. Any ideas?

Tuesday, January 6, 2004

Props, puppets, and artsy things

Second day of winter term completed: so far so good. The prop load for this play is turning out to be more and more managable. There is a lot of stuff to buy, but most of it consists of small, cheap, easily obtainable things. There are a few larger things to buy, but I still think we can work them into the props budget, and a few hard things to get (like an endoscope and IV pumps), but Matthew seems to be taking care of all the medical schtuff we have to obtain.

My goal for tomorrow is to get all the pieces for the practice puppet, so I can have it made by the end of the week. That way Ian will have plenty of time to mess with it, and hopefully will make an easy transition to the real puppet when it is complete.

As for life in general, I guess I'm doing okay. I've been feeling very tired lately, and very unrested. I've been fighting hard not to take naps after class/work, but it's difficult, and I've slept away the evenings for the last two days. It hasn't been a total loss, though, I've been getting bits of my current drawing worked on in the evenings. Here are some process shots... (it's too big to fit under the scanner, so I used my digital camera, which is why some of the shots are all crooked and stuff).

http://www.wertle.com/dump/wcp-process.jpg

I'm proud of how it's turning out, though there is much layering of colored pencil to go. I'm trying very hard to take my time and be neat about things, as patience has always been an artsy problem of mine.

I really hope this term will be a productive one (both in class and out), and I think that if I try and overcome my current exhaustion, I can make good use of my free evenings.

Friday, January 2, 2004

Creepy Bug! Bleeeeh!

So I found out those horrifying little bugs with a billion legs that move like lightning are not silverfish, as I once though. They are called House Centipedes.

Check out this creepy bug

I'm not really one to be frightened of bugs, even though I do find regular centipedes to be quite creepy. But these things, I dunno, there's just something about them that strikes fear into the hearts of mortal men.

I remember once at school I found one scurrying across my floor, so I trapped it under a plastic cup. I was intending to take it outside, far away from my dorm, but was very busy, so "left it to do later" and then promptly forgot about it.

Three days later... "hey, why is there this overturned cup on the ground?"

I was quite startled when I lifted it up, as the creepy bug continued to scurry on in the same direction, as if being trapped by a cup for three days was merely a momentary obstacle. I suppose I would have felt kind of bad if it had died under that cup, and I admit I felt a twinge of guilt for making it sit under there for 3 days. The boredom must have been unbearable. Of course, it could have used the time to sit quietly and meditate on the deeper aspects of buggy life.

Regardless, I felt bad for not freeing it, but felt okay that I hadn't killed it either. Then, of course, I couldn't sleep for days, knowing that horrifying thing was loose and roaming around my bedroom.

Creepy frickin bug.