Day 17 of 33

I went to see Shakespeare's "The Tempest" tonight at The Old Globe


I sat next to a very nice woman who was a native Californian and a frequent patron of the Globe. During the intermission, she pried from me that I was working as an Assistant Director there and was very impressed. At the conclusion of the show, she said to me "And you're one of the people that makes these things happen? I always knew that human beings were responsible, but I've never met one." Well, I had nothing to do with "The Tempest", but I still felt like a million bucks.

While I was watching the play, I thought to myself what a fine line there is between sending your audience out saying "That was beautiful and moving" and "That was beautiful... but I don't get it".

There are an infinite number of amazing things you can do in a production when you have money, imagination, or, best of all, both. It's important to analyze why you're doing what you're doing and also if the audience is going to understand it.

I think there are some genius directors out there with magnificent ideas that can weave fantastic stories in their productions. As I sat there, though, I wondered if the blue collar directors, who work with simpler and fewer ideas, aren't better suited for most types of theater. How can the average patron comprehend every idea, art form, and symbol being put into play when they are usually engaging themselves fully already in just the story of the play (if it has any merit).


I suppose my question is, what is the best way to tell a story? Simply? Flamboyantly? Or somewhere inbetween?

Day 16 of 33

I was planning to start this post saying that I had gained anew respect for homeless people.

After a short rehearsal and grabbing Mexican food with the cast (I got a kids meal to keep it cheap), I went back to Trader Joe's to pick up some food. It's really difficult to ride a bicycle with grocery bags hanging from the handle bars, which is where the homeless reference came in. Imagine tying different weights to each side of the steering wheel in your car. And then take away two wheels. And the motor. Ok, that's a poor example, but it's difficult. On the way home, however, a homeless man blocked my path with his grocery cart so I had to dismount my unwieldy vehicle and walk around. I immediately lost the short-lived respect I had for the homeless.

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to endeavor to buy more local products. Well, I did a little bit of research and paid extra attention to labels at Trader Joe's to try and buy local produce. Trader Joes is a California company, so when all else fails, I hope the generic products and created nearby. Here is my booty:

Some of the items include: Agave Nectar, Corn Flour, California Peaches, Figs, Strawberries and Walnuts. Mexican Tomatoes and Avocados (I know it's another country, but if I can ride my bike there, I figure it's ok.) Goat Cheese and Dried Sausage. Organic Free-Range Chicken.

I got home and started cooking immediately.

I roasted the chicken with some carrots I have, so that I would have chicken to throw into sandwiches, salads, or whatever else. I also set out to make a Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza with a Cornmeal Crust. In the one frying pan, you see caramelized onions (product of USA, at least) along with sliced figs. In the other frying pan, I am frying a small cornmeal crust (Cornmeal from Oregon... close enough).

Then I took the raw walnuts and mixed them up in the Agave Nectar, spread them on a cookie sheet and threw those in the oven as well. Candied Walnuts!

Here is a look at some of the finished products. Roasted chicken. Cornflour pizza with Fig, Onion, Goat Cheese and Spinach (some pizza bites with crust crumbles) and Candied Walnuts.

And of course you can't cook a bird without dealing with the wishbone - so named because you wish it wasn't there when you carve the bird.

All in all - I think it's safe to say that I'm awesome. Good night.

Day 15 of 33

Attention All Readers - All 2 and sometimes 3 of you!

This is an extra special blog post. You will be treated to a bicycle tour of San Diego, without ever having to set foot on a pedal! I cannot stress enough the pain, frustration, embarrassment, and physical and mental anguish you are avoiding by only looking at the pleasant pictures. Of course, it is at the expense of a previously happy and healthy 25 year old man, but everything comes at a cost.


Today, was my day off, and I wanted to finally get to a beach. I mapped out the way to Mission Beach, hopped on my bike, and left. One of the few smart things I did today was to stop and purchase sunscreen and water on my way (Mom), so at least I was prepared. The path too me past Old Town, which you may remember I visited last wee. On my way, I found a handy sign along the highway that said "Bike Path to Ocean Beach" which seemed much more promising than my current course, so I made a quick decision to alter my route.

The path took a course between the San Diego River and Highway 8. I found it an odd mix of smelly between the fumes and the... well.. smelly swamp. In fact, it rather reminded me of home! What could be more New Jersey than highways and swamps?

I eventually made it to Ocean Beach. I was actually at a beach in warm, sunny, southern California. You know what? It was f'ing cold! Fortunately, that has never stopped me before. I spent a good half hour karate chopping waves and reaffirming my inability to body surf, and decided it was time to move on.

The time was only about noon, so I did not feel like heading back already. I thought maybe I could explore some of the coastline. So I took off again, without a specific destination in sight (mistake #1). My first stop was just down the road at a large fishing pier. There was a cafe/fishing shop at the end, where I decided to grab a bite (Mistake #2, and really?!). I got their version of Jalapeno Poppers, which they call "Sinkers" (Really, counting the mistakes is going to get tiring). I can attest that the "Sinkers" certainly sunk in quickly.

I kept pedaling down the coast of Point Loma, and discovered the Sunset Cliffs Park. The park ran along the water and consisted of beautifully colored strata of rock, quickly dissolving into the ocean.

I kept going along the coast until I hit a huge hill. I really did not want to go up, so instead I tried following some little dirt paths, hoping they would be easier. After 10 minutes or so, I found myself walking through high dead brush with prickles, with a canyon on one side of me, and facing a sign that said "US Government Property. Trespassing is strictly Forbidden". Well, as you know, I have quite a track record for making bad choices, but this time I chose to head back and tackle the hill instead.

I reached the top of the hill and discovered the beautiful campus of Point Loma Nazarene University. This campus was simply unfair. 1) It was situated atop a mountain with amazing ocean views in San Diego. 2) All the buildings were constructed in beautiful Spanish revival archiecture and 3) They were RENOVATING to make it even BETTER! Aren't there rules about how nice a University is allowed to look? Isn't there a quota of a certain number of ugly buildings which must be present on a campus? Or were these all lies told to me by Rutgers?

I continued on, uphill no less, and found myself in the midst of a Naval Base. To quaify, it is hard to walk 10 feet without finding yourself in Navy property in San Diego, but this one was particularly large. Nobody seemed intent on stopping me, so I continued on. Do you think this is where they train dolphins to blow up Submarines?

I wanted to make it to the end of Point Loma, so I plowed forward. Eventually I hit Cabrillo National Monument and Tidepool Park. The signs said I owed $3, but the ranger waved me through. I think he either thought I was active military (because who else would go that far on bicycle) or just plain took pity on me (because who else would go that far on bicycle). I first took the alluring path down to the tide pools. Paths downhll always sign like sirens at first, but you find their dangers after. More on this later.

I think the tide was high, so I did not find much in the way of tide pools. However, there was a great hike along the cliff's edge, with water splashing up against the side.

The time had come to head back up the mountain. I put the bike into the lowest gear and settled in. I had run out of water and I found myself scaling a mountain in the desert under the mid-day sun. I heard a screech above me and found birds of prey were circling overhead, anticipating my demise. Mind you - do not take it for granted that I survived this occasion just because I am writing this now. It's possible that I could have put certain precautions in place to complete my blog posts should I fall.

Anyway, I did survive. I headed over to the Cabrillo National Monument Visitors Center, seeing it as my oasis for water and civilization. I did find water, and after drinking 10-12 gallons, I sat down for a video on whales. I found it boring. I left the movie early, but luckily got outside just in time to see an ACTUAL whale swimming by. Can you see it spouting off?

By the way, this is something something Cabrillo, who the monument was named after. He was one of the early Spanish explorers. He did not settle in San Diego (no gold), but did land and give it it's first name of San Miguel.

For the first time, I actually turned around. You see, there's no other way off Point Loma. I rolled back down to Sea Level and found myself in a very familiar situation. I was at Shoreline Park, which has a number of marinas. I am almost positive I found the marina where my uncle Perc used to harbor his schooner. I started going door to door (hatch to hatch?) looking for him.

Speaking of fond memories, check this out! I spotted this ship from far away and chased it for a mile or two to get a good photo. I hope you appreciate it. I'm almost positive that this is the ship that first inspired my passion for pirates, long before Pirates of the Caribbean and all the "Pirate Fads". At that time, we were racing against it. Now, it appeared to be doing Pirate-themed cruises around the harbor, so I guess they sold out. I still really want to go on a pirate cruise, though...

I headed back to the downtown. On the way, I passed the San Diego airport and I took a picture, since I missed it before. This is the only city I know of that actually has its airport in its downtown. Can you imagine riding a bicycle past EWR?

I continued along the coastline into downtown. I came across a Nautical Museum for historical ships, as well as a new exhibit on "Urban Trees", which was basically just a bunch of statues.

In the two pictures below, I give you two different perspectives on San Diego Bay. The first was taken atop the mountain at Point Loma, looking down on Coronado Island and Downtown. The second was taken from downtown, and the ridge way in the distance is where the first picture was taken. Remember - ONE DAY - ONE BICYCLE.








I kept on trucking down the harbor of the city and ran right into the USS Midway, an Aircraft Carrier turned into a museum. I did not shell out to go on, but it seemed from the number of chairs strewn about, that much of it had been converted into various cafes. I don't know about you, but to me that seems like a pretty cool place to eat.

Finally I turned up the main drag to try and get home. I had been reduced to about .5 MPH. The downtown area seemed more or less like most other cities, except that it had rather wide streets. This helped me considerably since I had a hard time keeping my bicycle pointed straight ahead.

I crept back through Balboa Park, a familiar picture subject on this blog, and finally made it back home. In total, I estimate that I rode between 25-30 miles today. Imagine riding a bicycle from Metro Park to Times Square, and then add in canyons.

Now I plan to remain immobile for the rest of the week.

Day 14 of 33

We finished our second week of rehearsal with a great stumble-through. The director is flying back to New York on the day off to see his family, so we had a relaxed day today. I thought the show looked in pretty good shape for the second week, and he agreed. I find his style so interesting because he is so good at watching the whole scene, or whole act, and finding the two or three notes to give that can send the scene in a new interesting direction. Once you see it implemented, you realize that was exactly what needed to happen.

I need to work on my attention span, because I find myself unable to do that. I always feel the need to jump in and fix every moment as it comes up, especially early in rehearsal. As I watch and learn, I realize my old methods might just pick at small details and ignore the overall picture, which would create a very disjointed show. This is why we have to assist the veterans before becoming one!

I wanted to go see another show tonight at The Globe, but apparently they did not have a show tonight due to Pride Celebrations in the San Diego Zoo. The outdoor stage buts right up against the zoo, so a large celebration would be very distracting on stage. It seems to me that having a LGBT celebration inside a zoo is not the message you want to send... but what do I know?

Besides running lines with a cast member (which I actually enjoy immensely because it gives me a sense of purpose) I did not do much with my night. I have found myself in video game withdrawal and I have been scouring the internet for an interesting flash game. I settled on an Emulator for Pokemon, thinking that would hold my interest, but the gameplay was so slow that it ended up putting me to sleep. That was my weekend!

Day 13 of 33

I'm behind schedule! Do not fear, I am ok.

Saturday was a fun day. The whole San Diego to Los Angeles has been in anticipation of the much hyped CARMAGEDDON. It involved shutting down the major freeway for the weekend to do work on an overhead bridge. There was much concern that it would cause traffic nightmares, since it is already one of the highest trafficked highways in the county. However, they built it up so much, that nobody even bothered leaving their homes and it was absolutely no issue.

At the same time, San Diego was celebrating Pride Weekend. We had the Pride Parade on Saturday which was momentous since it was the first time there was active military marching in the parade. I think that is pretty cool. Pride weekend was also very hyped up to me from all the locals (between this and Carmageddon, I had high expectations for the weekend!) and they told me the neighborhood we were in was "Ground-Zero" for the celebrations. One person told me to leave extra time to get around and not to even bother trying to ride my bike.

Well, when I left in the morning, there certainly seemed like more people walking around than usual, but nothing that would stop me on my bike! I spent the majority of the day inside between rehearsal and running lines with actors outside of rehearsal, but I headed out again Saturday night. I walked down to the main strip in the neighborhood, University Ave, hoping to do some serious people watching and perhaps join in the festivities. However, I felt it was pretty underwhelming. There were throngs of people waiting to get into clubs with dance music blaring, but that seemed like your typical Saturday night in Hoboken. There were people showing pride, but nothing worth people watching, just your typical East Village fare.

I must admit, I was disappointed with San Diego. I thought more people would be, you know, showing their pride! Especially with everything that is going on in politics and society. Then I thought about it more, and why should we be that excited? I mean, you should be proud of yourself, regardless of orientation, every day. It's sort of like doing your homework - Yeah it's great that you did it today, but everyone should always do it.

That is why I thought a city like San Diego might be just be over it. For instance, when New Orleans won the Superbowl, it sent the whole city and state into a state similar to a sugar-hyped child. When New York won the Superbowl a couple years back, it was cool, but not the first time we've had a sports team win. Perhaps cities like New York, San Diego, San Francisco, etc are just past their honeymoon period when it comes to celebrating LGBT pride. Now we just have to get the rest of the country on board.

Day 12 of 33

Today in rehearsal, I was reminded why I want to be a director. I want to be in control! Certainly I cannot complain about my current situation, because I am working with a brilliant director and cast, in a fantastic theater, and I am learning very much. And certainly nobody is discarding any ideas I have or shutting me out of conversations. In the end, however, I am an assistant - wet behind the ears, and I know my place. It's just that it drives me crazy. Hopefully it can drive me forward as well.

I went out after with some of the company members to go to dinner and to see Harry Potter. Dinner was at In n Out Burger, a West Coast institution known for their Secret Menu. I ordered a Cheeseburger "Animal Style" (inside the quotes in the secret, pass it on). Animal Style means they cook the patty with mustard, and then top it with extra pickles, grilled onions, cheese and of course the famous spread. Once we had succeeded in slowing the flow of our arteries to a gentle trickle, we headed to the movies. Even though we had purchased tickets in advance, we still arrived at the theater, over an hour early, to find ourselves at the end of a long line.

Expelliarmus!

This post has been hijacked by Harry Potter and other rambling thoughts.


Remember when they were only that old? It is funny to imagine how long we have followed this craze. Even further back than this if you were one of the earlier literary fans. I watched the final installment of the movie series tonight and I find it very interesting how everyone reacts to it. One person I went with was speechless in the lobby, quoting "Catharsis". Other friends on Facebook have noted this day as the end of their childhood. That is how deeply this phenomenon has affected some people.

Well, I enjoyed the movie. Looking back, I think I enjoyed some of the other movies more. However, I don't know if I enjoyed the actual movie less, as much as the movie going experience. This is no knock against any of the brilliant people in the Cast and Crew of The Old Globe, but it does not compare to going with your family over Thanksgiving break, or getting a group of your best friends together and spending a night together.

It made me wonder whether the movies we look back on most fondly are not influenced more by our movie watching experience. I can still remember the first time I watched the original Star Wars trilogy. There was a marathon on late at night, and we had a large group of family staying at our house. All my cousins and I were allowed to stay up into the wee hours to watch the series, and we ended up making popcorn and all those things. That trilogy still holds a special place in my heart. Each movie of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy came out near my birthday, and I went to see each one with my family ON my birthday. I went to see the first Pirates of the Caribbean (really the only one I can remember liking) with a large group of high school friends dressed as pirates in lieu of a graduation party.

However, the movie theater experience does not really encourage collective audience reactions. Of course there are moments where everyone will laugh, cheer, clap, or cry, and these moments are more poignant in theaters where there is a large group of people. The movie moves on, though, and quickly! You must focus on the story, and often you will miss the next line of text if you are clapping or laughing. This is what we THRIVE on in the theater, and really one of the only reasons theater must continue to survive, despite the fact that a Broadway show is almost 10 times the cost of a movie ticket.

Do we realize what we have in the theater? Do the movies realize what they are missing?

I don't think either business has figured out how to successfully capture and market the experience of watching. There is so much more to our entertainment than just the value of the media. What can we do to capitalize on this? I don't know, but I'll keep thinking.

Day 11 of 33

I have hit the 1/3 mark of my stay in San Diego.

We kept plowing ahead in rehearsal, and today I also got to sit in a design meeting for sound. Everything continues to progress well, but continues to be very boring to tell.

After rehearsal, I went to the Padres vs Giants Baseball game at Petco stadium. This was also my first chance to see downtown San Diego. From the view of the car window, it seemed more or less like any other city. Perhaps another night I can really check it out.

I have only gone to baseball games in New York and LA, and San Diego had a very different feel. The crowd was decent, but almost half seemed to be San Fran Giants fans. In general, the West Coast baseball fans don't hold a candle to East Coast fans (and I'm not even a baseball fan).

That's all for today.