jgoforth.com | we(b log)

I had a long-ish post mostly written about how I hardly ever get cast in parts I really want, which is entirely different from getting parts which I enjoy. It also said something about how, regardless of how disappointing it is for me personally, it has been my observation that the director almost always choses someone that is better for the part in the long run. But then I deleted the whole thing and saved you from reading 3 paragraphs of my quasi-whining, while still getting the same point across. You can thank me later. On a side note, if any directors out there in Central Florida are looking for a very old Artful Dodger for Oliver, or Jack from Into the Woods, or any speaking part from Jekyll & Hyde, give me a call.

The observant will have noticed that I sort of just mentioned that I did not end up getting any speaking part in CVP’s current production of Jeckyll & Hyde. I did however end up with a collection of solos and trios throughout the chorus numbers. Last night we had the first run through, and I can tell you this is going to be a crazy show. I was sitting on the floor, in a rehearsal room (not the actual stage) with a piano in the way, with no costumes, props or lights, and the death of Lucy still creeped me out a little. We open in two weeks, and run for at least 3 (maybe more) and if you can, you should definitely see me about getting tickets.

The last thing I wanted to mention concerned the audition for this show. I was called back along with 10 or so guys  to audition specifically for Jekyll/Hyde. It was, by far, the longest, most intense audition I have ever been a part of. Each one of us did the second half of This is the Moment, and the entirety of Confrontation. The Confrontation, in particular, was just crazy. I know the song forwards and backwards so I did it completely off book, and have very little idea of what I actually did. It was completely adrenelin. I do know at one point I realized I was up on my toes, and one of my legs was jumping uncontrollably. Afterwards, the director made a comment about how getting a taste of the part would make it harder to not get the part. Most of the time, I would completley agree. Most parts, once I want them, getting to do a little bit of it would just make me want to do it all the more. In this case, I am not sure that is the case. It might have only been like 15 people watching, and it certainly wasn’t anywhere near perfect, but as an actor I think it was one of the most “real” moments I have ever experiened on stage. I was Jekyll/Hyde. The only time I have had that kind of rush, that kind of natural high while on stage was the final megamix of my final performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat at the Greenwood Community Theatre. It was our last show. It was the final show of our director of 10 years. When that happens it’s greater than a single show. It’s for more than the audience. It’s the reason I do theatre. So, yeah, it was a good audition.

It took awhile, but I need a new list now.

things to find

There is something I am noticing in this political cycle that is really starting to annoy me. It might have been around before, but this is the first time I have really noticed it. Go and watch TV news outlets and take notice of what they are talking about. You will begin to notice that they are not actually ever talking about the qualifications or stances of the candidates. They never really get around to talking about exactly what the candidates are planning on doing for the economy or foreign relations or education. What we hear from the TV news outlets is how people are going to respond to their stances. They don’t talk about what McCain wants to do for the energy crysis. They talk about how rural Americans as opposed to senior citizen women as opposed to young white collar workers perceive McCain’s stance on dealing with energy. How do we expect to properly elect the right candidate when we aren’t ever hearing anything about who the candidates really are?

Add to this the fact that with their need to fill air time, news of outrage and terrible things have to be basically created from nothing, and sometimes from less than that. One person makes some comment. It is then taken out of context and twisted and then anchors around the country can get all up in a tivy and demand apologies from everyone and their mother. The newest example of this is based on a Wesley Clark statement. You need to just watch the video which plays his original comment, and then shows the media reaction to it. The media was trying to say we should be outraged by him, but in fact I found myself quite mad at them for completely misleading the American people. The condensed version of the video is that Wesley Clark, who is a retired general, actually praised McCain’s military service, but then, correctly in my mind, said that his military service is not automatically a qualification for being president. From this, we see anchor after anchor wondering, “How dare Clark belittle McCain’s service to the country?” To top this off, they then try to push this outrange on do Obama. Why is it that presidential candidates are now responsible for any and everything their supporters say? Clark is in no way connected with the Obama campaign, and there is no reason for his comments to be connected with Obama, as Clark himself said in his response.

Now that I have thought about it, I have seen this sort of political situation before. The race for American president has almost completely devolved to the level of high school class president elections. We have been divided into our cliches by the media so we can do our voting as a group. We just have older women, and middle class white men, and southern evangelicals instead of jocks, and nerds, and goths. And we are doing our best to ignore actual issues and instead go with the basis of class elections where all we hear is “I totally heard from the girlfriend of my best friends brother, that candidate A said that blah blah blah.”

May the most popular guy with the least controversal supporters win.

Uhhhhh uhhhhgghgh ughhhh uggggg. Day 4. I believe I have reached my fitness level. I finished all the required pushups. But just barely. ugggh hhgggg

Well Friday came and went. So did 63 pushups, but only barely. It was enough to move on to week two. Now time to rest for a couple days, you know, the kind of rest you can get when you are trying to finish up a project demo in time for a conference at work, and trying to move out of the apartment you have been living in for 3 years, oh and getting married in less than a week. That kind of rest.

Last night, Amy and I went to see the midnight showing of Wall-E. I have been incredibly excited for this movie for a long time, and despite being tired and the fact that the main character only knows like 3 words, it absolutely did not disappoint. I loved the movie, and in fact, might have almost shed a half-tear towards the end of the movie. Anyway, after the movie we were talking about how the various Pixar movies stack up against each other so I decided to actually rank them all. This is sort of a silly endeavor since Pixar simply doesn’t make bad movies. They are all fantastic. My list does not include “A Bug’s Life” which for some strange twist of fate, I have never seen it. The only one I definitely know were to place is “Cars”. I enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t as good as the others. As far as I am concerned the other 7 are almost a tie, but for the sake of ordering them, here you go:

1. The Incredibles
2. Wall-E
3. Ratatouille
4. Finding Nemo
5. Monsters, Inc.
6. Toy Story 2
7. Toy Story
8. Cars

After the first day, I didn’t feel much until late last night, at which point I felt like my upper body had been punch a few times too many. It is entirely possible I am not very fit. Regardless, day 2 arrived and I more than made it through what was asked of me. The total for the day was 57 pushups, though that came with a number of rests that went a little over the recommended 90 seconds. Also of note, Amy has started doing this with me, so I might actually keep with it. She is starting out a little behind me in terms of number of pushups since she has a hard time with doing full pushups, but we are both defintily working on getting to a 100.

The personal challenge of doing 100 consecutive push-ups has begun. In the initial test, I was able to do 17. That put me in the highest level going into the first week, which means that I did 43 push-ups just now, and my arms are a little wobbly. More to come on Wednesday.