These are my inner-most thoughts, mostly about comedy and technology, but also occasionally other non-sequitur, tangential rants.
Well OK, maybe these aren't my INNER-most thoughts. Those are mostly about dancers and Swedes, and would probably get me locked up if they ever became public ... but some hopefully interesting thoughts, anyways.
7/06/2008
Ode to Italy
A friend of mine sent this lovely little Ode to Italy before I left on my trip. It's so poetic I asked if I could share it with you.
GIVE MY LOVE TO ITALY by P.
Remind her she has my heart, that she has the power to break it at the slightest memory, at the slightest sound and scent of her. And that she makes me happy for the very same reasons.
Tell her her sons make me crazy. That I hate them because I have loved them. And that she owes me....
Toss a coin at Trevi when the tourists aren't looking. Please. For me. So I might return.
I didn't know what Trevi was or even that I would be passing by on this beautiful afternoon. I rounded a corner and its beauty took my breath away. As I tossed a Euro cent into the crystal waters, she was right there with me for just a moment and I felt all warm and squishy.
Instead of one of my usual, malcontented rants, I thought I'd post something that actually complies with the stated purposed of this blog, just to be different.
Two years ago I wrote Ode to the XBox 360 as a satirical blog essay. I liked it and decided to try to perform it as stand up. It failed utterly. But I remained convinced that it could performed and enjoyed in some other form.
I dusted it off, edited the intro slightly and performed it for the Nerd Poetry Slam at the Bowery Poetry Club this week. What fun!
It was my first time performing at a spoken word event and it was a smashing success. The crowd was jammed with nerds. The host wore a T-Shirt bearing the image of The Simpsons Comic Book Guy and asked questions about Star Trek and Muppets.
Anyone who failed the trivia challenge was mocked by audience chants of "Not a nerd! Not a nerd!"
Where previously the bit had failed, it worked here for four reasons.
1. Most importantly, it was the right crowd.
2. The writing conformed to the format of the event.
3. While the changes were minor, the edited intro set up set the tone of satire and condescension rather nicely.
4. My performing skill has increased dramatically. I'm still no Sir Ian McKellen and I never will be. But I was able to project a variety of emotions and use a variety of vocal and mic techniques to punctuate the bit. I really enjoyed what I was doing and felt in command of the performance.
The event was judged and I didn't win. But I didn't care. I got what I wanted out of it and had a lot of fun.
Oddly, they played a continuous video of 80s cartoon toy ads behind the performers during the show. At a stand up club this would be unheard of and fatally distracting. But somehow it worked. Having the Transformers behind me as I sing the praises of a video game console seems to fit in some strange way.
The cherry on my ice cream Sunday of nerd came at the end. After the last performance the theme to the original Battlestar Galactica was played and the host started in on the monologue. He made a mistake and in the rather raucous atmosphere I chided him, "get it right!" He asked if I knew it and when I affirmed he surrendered the mic.
With the music rising to a majestic crescendo I stormed the stage, and with the crowd cheering recited....
Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest: a shining planet ... known as Earth!
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