Election Night...

After voting...I went to Rockefeller Center to watch the results.




I brought the wife.




And a few others came along.




The Center was lit up like a big graph...as one got more votes...it went higher...Obama in blue, McCain in Red.




And over the course of the evening...




And it also got a little chilly....





But...it kept climbing higher...




Until finally...





And then...





Ah....victory.

Voting...

I voted.

ELECTION!!!!

Holy crap.
I couldn't sleep last night.
It's like Christmas morning...but you won't know what you got until like Ohio and Florida stop voting.
ARGH.
Now, I guess I had better go stand in a line.

CLOWN!

ARGH!
For the past three weekends I attended a FABULOUS clown workshop as taught by the equally fabulous Jane Nichols. Did I mention it was fabulous?

It was.

Imagine spending 8 hours Saturday and Sunday sitting in a studio LAUGHING. That's basically what we did. Laugh. Sure, sometimes we weren't, but most times we were.

Clown asks of the performer generosity of spirit and of play. And it takes a helluva lot of guts to get up there in front of people and try to make them laugh.

And our group had a lot of guts. No one gave up, and sometimes, Jane would keep someone up there for 15 minutes...letting them swing in the wind.

Because in failure comes great ideas. It may not feel like it, it may feel like you haven't found anything...but...some little wiggly idea comes out. Maybe it's how someone turn their head. Or a little silly physical joke. Something. All of us failed to get laughs...but something would always spark a little giggle. And a giggle is a beginning.

Clown, to me, is play. Playing free, with abandon, and for US, the audience. One needs imagination, a willingness to reveal that playful side, and lots of energy. Even standing there in your clown character takes energy...you have to be ready to jump...metaphorically and really, at a moments notice.

Everyday we started playing these real complicated games...like tag. And I sorta mean that...for some reason these simple games at the beginning would seem complicated to us adults. But, finally, we would settle into the game and then play hard to win.

Sweating, we would begin with more play...simple entrances, tricks...I brought in my yo-yo, and Jane from the audience would play, ask questions, tease, provoke...And it was fantastic fun to watch.

(I haven't written a blog in ages, it seems, and I'm trying to get back into the habit, so forgive my poor writing skills...I'm not going to blame it on me, but the time of day...DAMN YOU 9:28!...and the coffee...DAMN YOU COFFEE!)

Anyway...the whole thing ended with performing in front of an invited audience. Without any sort of rehearsal...just things pulled from exercises and improvs. It was scary, intense, and a tremendous amount of fun.

Why, Larry, why did you take this incredibly fun class? Well...internet, I took the class because I've been talking about performing again, getting back out there and in front of an audience. I've always liked this kind of work and I get such a kick in the (big) pants from it.

Maybe next time I'll write better about clown...but it's tough for me...clown...and not the stupid birthday party clown...is a sort of mystical intangible creature for me...it is or it isn't.

And I'll write more soon...

PART FIVE!!!!

First draft done.
Off my plate.
Onto other projects. Let's see if I have to do any rewrites!

In the meantime...I start doing a Clown Workshop this weekend. I'm all excited and nervous. Terri fed really. Clowning, and we're not talking your Birthday Party clowning, demands complete honesty of a performing. And trust that the Heavens will open up and the ground will be there.

Oy.

So...a TV movie for Pakistan...PART FOUR!!!!

A draft is done.
Lordy.
Now.
Editing.
Because...it's a pretty crappy first draft...but...well...it's a first draft.

Alright...Part 3...I'm Writing a Pakistani TV Movie...*sigh*

Well.

Here we are again. Me writing about writing...rather than off and doing the writing.

There's something a little sick about that I suppose.

The Update: I think I'll have a finished draft done by the end of this week...that is if I don't start obsessively blogging. (And given my track record, I doubt that'll happen.)

I don't know if I'm built to write the straight up family drama. Meaning the family drama where just the ordinary troubles of family are the main source of the conflict. (Yep. I said ordinary). Jealousy, the past, etc. I don't know if I'm the best writer to do that sort of story.

Now...I do believe every writer can write all kinds of stories...but each writer is going to have a unique take on that particularly kind of story and each writer will have certain kinds of stories they gravitate to more than others.

With this movie, I'm a little bit limited...and normally, I have no problems with limitation, but I'll get to why I'm frustrated with some of the particular limitations...

First...this is going to be a low budget affair. Locations are limited. Personnel is limited. This is going to be in a foreign language...and if this was made in Pakistan that wouldn't be a trouble, but even here in a New York, actors who speak Urdu aren't common. (That's so WEIRD, right? Not really.) Anyway. Three actors, that's pretty much it.

Second...Well. Hm. I don't have a second limitation.

THIRD...third would be the style and subject matter. And this is the most constrictive for me. Basically: a family drama where I can only hint at certain things, a family drama where I can only go so far, a family drama that's...restrained in some ways, and melodramatic in others... It's what the audience will accept in Pakistan that sort of limits me.

(For all the outcries...American audiences LOVE it when boundaries are pushed.)

With these limitations, it's hard for me to be enthusiastic about writing the story. It's all me really. This particular story isn't playing to my strengths as a writer. It's going to have limited humor...(which isn't something that's universal--only slapstick really is...and cartoons) and it's not going to have something...unusual.

If I was going to write about someone having an affair I would do something crazy, like the guy is having an affair with...I don't know...something like...a goat. yeah. A GOAT. That's what I would do.

What's that? Edward Albee did that? In a play called The Goat. Shit.

Anyway. I guess what I'm saying, I feel like I'm muting my own voice to write this, so it's a challenge to engage.

(All of my writer friends are reading this saying: Don't cave! Use your voice! Make it yours!)

I think the audience in Pakistan might be a wee bit confused if the man has an affair with an Alien from the planet Xenon.

But, I know what you're saying.

Alright. Enough of this whining. Back to the grindstone.