Ciao! I felt like posting again, plain
and simple; Xanga may have lost its gleam, but it's still fun to post a
few thoughts every now and then. There's something to be said for the
challenge of yanking your train of thought off the tracks and sending
it full-steam at other people. I think of it as a sparring match between you and the English language: I want to say this, but the words revolt and say something completely different. Or perhaps we are the problem? We have a thousand different ways of saying something, yet we go and choose the simplest way to say it--which, on paper, could be interpreted a hundred different ways. It's our fault really, since we are responsible for dumbing down the language instead of adding to it, and using it as it was intended. Don't get me wrong--I don't think we should pile on the yeas and the neas or thees and thous, but throw in the good ol' grammar and stop saying, "D00D, k lyk OMG dat wuz tt@1y 1yk @w3s0me DOOD!" Lyk d00d! joo sown lyk soooooo st00p1d!!!1111oneone!1!
So, moving on... It's time to talk about acting. I enjoy acting, being dramatic, and being random and a little strange (the two go together). I'm taking an Introduction to Acting class at Chabot, and it's quite enjoyable! My teacher--an actress/director in a local theater company--is teaching around 20 or so of us various things about acting. At first, I didn't like her choice of exercises: a coordination game where the class had to keep hitting a ball into the air while counting the hits, or the time everyone had to form into a circle and hug the next person. Wait, what?! What??!! After the weird pointless stuff, we finally got the cake: improvisation. My teacher started the class on improv scenes, some involving completely made-up dialog or actions, but most beginning with a certain action or setting. Here are a few of the highlights:
In a recent one, 5 people had to come forward and pretend to be in a car: the driver led, and 3 other people had to follow his lead and behave as he did, while a hitchhiker waited to switch with the driver. I was in a relatively tame car with a bunch of whooping cowboys on their way to a rodeo--I'm glad I wasn't in the car with the druggies snorting cocaine.
In another one, 5 people came forward as party guests and a host, with random character roles assigned by the teacher. The best party was the one with an eager photographer, a rapper, an athlete with waaay too much energy ("Wanna race? wanna race???! I'll race ya, I won, I won!"), and...a vampire. The host, an Obama impersonator, tried to smooth things out as the vampire slunk into the room and stood in the corner with his jacket over his mouth, asking for some of the lights to be turned off. The photographer picked up on it and tried to take his picture, "Smile! Wait, you're not showing up on the film! I think I'll just take some pictures from the corner over there..." The guests kept getting more and more uncomfortable until the vampire suddenly lunged at the host and bit him in the neck! Vincent, the host, writhed on the floor like he was having a seizure, got up and joined the vampire in chasing the screaming guests around the room and trying to pick them up.
The next party had an opera singer and a soap opera star competing for attention, "No! I'm the star!" The opera singer kept standing on a chair and singing "LA-LA-LA-LA!" to the ceiling in an off-key tone while the soap opera star tried to yank him down.
The latest improv called for 4 people to each speak one randomly assigned line--they had to coordinate the lines into a short scene by their actions, with no extra talking. I joined a bank-robbery, "There's cash, lots of cash!" "I really need this to work." "If you really want me to do this, I need the hat." "I'll meet you at the train crossing!" Our scout left the class room and came back, we discussed our plan, drew our guns and ran out of the class room, complete with mad banging on the doors outside and a mad dash to the get-away car carrying money-bags. I robbed a bank, hehe.
In what universe does Geoff blog before the earths crust cools?
What cryptic bit? I am, but the babies are sleeping. Ok, so they aren't really babies anymore...
Ah, acting. I remember having to do some improv in a drama class I took. It was fun, but challenging too. I bet you'd be great at it! If you gain nothing else from this class, at least you are coming home with some interesting stories to share around the dinner table.
Comments (3)
In what universe does Geoff blog before the earths crust cools?
What cryptic bit? I am, but the babies are sleeping. Ok, so they aren't really babies anymore...
Ah, acting. I remember having to do some improv in a drama class I took. It was fun, but challenging too. I bet you'd be great at it! If you gain nothing else from this class, at least you are coming home with some interesting stories to share around the dinner table.