Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Truth in Comedy

Just finished reading Truth in Comedy by Charna Halpern, Del Close and Kim "Howard" Johnson while at the same time taking an eight week improv class from The Torch Theatre. The two of them complemented each other perfectly.

Here are my take-aways from the book:

  • Don't tell jokes, just be honest, there's nothing funnier than the truth.
  • Take the scene seriously.
  • Always agree, this is the only rule that cannot be broken. i.e. Yes, and... Accept and build
  • Don't try and force connections, they'll happen naturally.
  • There are no bad ideas.
  • There are no mistakes
  • Make your fellow players look good.
  • Respect choices made by others.
  • Don't ask questions, instead, make assumptions.
  • Listen for the whole idea and remember what has been said. Don't try and think ahead when someone is speaking, instead listen carefully to them. i.e. avoid preconceived notions.
  • Follow the unexpected twist. i.e. pick up the exciting/different/unusual/active part of what's been given to you and go down that path.
  • Avoid exposition, the audience can invent their own past to a scene.
  • Be specific and avoid generalities. Don't be the Vague Man.
  • Welcome silences, allow this as time for thought.
  • Reflect the other person's ideas.
  • Find your purpose in each game and be it.
My biggest problem is asking too many questions. I always want to ask a question to the other players which puts them on the spot to come up with an answer. This is what I'm currently working on to improve.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Food poisoning in Mexico

As you can probably guess from the title I recently got food poisoning while on vacation in Mexico. However, it was not from food sourced in Mexico. My wife cooked this amazing chicken curry early in the morning before we left for Mexico. That evening at Rocky Point we had the curry and then a couple of hours later my stomach started evacuating the food in both directions.

Stomach: "This is not a drill, GET OUT, GET OUT!"

My wife, the angel that she is, insisted on calling the resort doctor. Turns out they didn't have a doctor but they said that they would send a paramedic. Within a few minutes we had three paramedics in the condo taking my blood pressure and temperature. They were ecstatic to hear that the food came from Phoenix and not Mexico and doled out anti-nausea and electrolytes. They were extremely nice and attentive and great to see such highly competent personnel arrive in such a short period of time. Viva Mexico!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Being hounded by the paparazzi

So I'm making a call to my broker. Apple are clearly going to crash now that the Droid is pushing the iPhone out of the market so I'm dumping all AAPL.



I look up and I notice that the bloody paparazzi are shooting me again. Is there no way to get any privacy around here?


There was only one thing to do. Grab that camera and smash it to pieces.



Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Wellness Score 2010

Last year my wellness score was 85. The year before it was 95. This year it's in the middle at 91. I'm convinced that they've changed the formula because I know that I'm in better shape than 2 years ago. Next year I'm going for 105.