CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 3 Days to Opening Night

Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden is now less than 72 hours away from opening (June 20th and 21st at 7:30 p.m. and 22nd at 2:30 p.m., with the same times for June 27th-29th). Everyone involved has been working whatever time they can squeeze in to get this thing ready. This past Friday night I worked with some other cast members in getting the lighting set up ('cuz all cast members are expected to work at least one day during "Tech Week" and I wanted to take the opportunity to learn some stuff about lighting, since it might come in handy with videography). Most of the other cast loaded the props on Saturday. And Sunday was our first technical rehearsal: going through the show with everything going full-bore so as to tweak the lighting cues, the sound levels, and the props.

The thing about Children of Eden is that this is a very props-intensive show. The first part of Act I involves moving lots of foliage on stage very quickly so as to create the Garden of Eden. And even then, it's not static: stuff gets shifted around all the time. And there are two scene changes - one in Act I and another in Act II - that also require certain items to be brought on and taken off. Those alone have taken significant time to consider and then re-consider how to best do it. One of these is something that I've been assigned to, and if you know anything about Children of Eden, you'll know what I mean when I say that it's possibly the most mysterious part of the story.

So Sunday was our first tech rehearsal. It ran from 2 p.m. until past 9 p.m. that night.

Last night we did it again, practice starting at 6:30 p.m. and then running to about 11.

Tonight was our first full dress rehearsal. We began going through the show at around 7:30 p.m., and finished just after 10:30. Almost average for a typical production of Children of Eden. We have definitely come a long way since where we were just two days ago.

Tomorrow we'll be taking pictures and maybe shooting some video. I can't post any video, but I will certainly try to have a pic or two up of what this is looking like, including me in my getup as Seth :-)

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 1

The Associated Press is now demanding $12.50 to use 5-25 words in quotes from its stories on blogs. Presumably, 4 words or less is still allowable.

According to the Associated Press story...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 2

Press, following criticism from

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 3

bloggers over an AP

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 4

assertion of copyright, plans

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 5

to meet this week

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 6

with a bloggers' group

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 7

to help form guidelines

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 8

under which AP news

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 9

stories could be quoted

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 10

online.

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Associated Press to demand fees for quotes, Part 11

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Baby Paige's dedication video

A few weeks ago I wound up helping with the video for a friend's baby dedication ceremony. Well actually she's more of my sister's friend (and my sister's in this video too) and they called here wanting some advice about audio editing, and I offered to do it for them and e-mail it for their project. Or something. Anyhoo, they had the ceremony for baby Paige a few days ago and because she's the cutest lil' thing, and because her parents are really great people and also 'cuz Lord only knows when I'll ever get to use pink as a border color for a YouTube video again, here is their presentation!

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Behold... Davros

Confirmation at last. There had been some concern that the last photo was not even genuine.

Let there be no doubt now: The greatest murderer in the history of the universe is back.

Credit Planet Gallifrey for the find. They also have a pic of the new Red Dalek over there.

Click the image to magnify the evil...

These seem to be leaked (unintentionally or not) press photos made by the BBC. This one of Davros matches up well with the still from the mid-season trailer a few weeks ago, particularly the indentation on the front near the top of the chair.

Yeah I know, this blog has been going a little crazy lately about the return of Davros to Doctor Who. But ever since news came out almost five years ago that the show was returning after a sixteen-year hiatus, this has been the single bad guy that fans have been wanting to see back the most. And Davros isn't your average insane evil genius hellbent on universal domination, either. From the very beginning he's had one very clear motive for everything he has done: perpetuate himself through his creations. This is how Davros wants to achieve a kind of immortality for himself. That his creations happen to be the most xenocidal lifeform to ever exist is inconsequential to him.

Davros last wrecked havoc in the 1988 story Remembrance of the Daleks. So what does Davros for the new millennium look like? Pretty darn sweet! I love how they've tweaked the original chair design: very modern but still classic Davros.

So now that we've concrete proof that he's returning, let's celebrate with this excellently-produced video that I found on YouTube called "Davros Vs. The Universe"...

Speaking of Doctor Who, I haven't watched this past weekend's new episode but I might get a chance to in the next day or so :-)

EDIT 7:39 a.m. EST: Surrey Dave in the comments passed along The Sun's reporting that the BBC has FINALLY officially confirmed that Davros is back, and is being portrayed this time by Shakespearean actor Julian Bleach. Previously there had been speculation that everyone from Sir Ben Kingsley to Patrick Stewart was going to be in the chair.

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Ross Perot launches Perot Charts website

Ross Perot was the first man that I ever voted for President, and almost 16 years later I'm still proud to say that. Heck, I still have the "Ross for Boss in '92" button that I had made at a crafts fair at our high school, along with some "Perot for President" yard signs and bumper stickers from when I volunteered for his Rockingham County campaign. Yeah I've come to disagree with him on some things over the years (so far as I know he still backs abortion "rights") but other than Ron Paul, I don't know if we've ever had anyone run for President in the past 20 years who had Perot's grasp of fiscal responsibility. If Perot had any flaws regarding his bid for office, I've come to believe that they were that (a) he started as an outsider who tried to play by the rules of the party too much, and (b) some of his ideas needed a few more years before they could be appreciated. The "electronic town hall" that Perot loved to talk about: well, isn't that what blogging and YouTube have turned into? Perot's campaign in 1992 - quirks and all - was a thing of both wonder and madness. Wonder at the inertia that came together to try to get him elected, and madness that for all the frustration, this country's mindset is still locked into the status quo.

If you were around then, you'll no doubt remember those famous "infomercials" that Perot ran simultaneously across most of the networks, where he'd look into the camera while showing charts that depicted the state of the economy, while using down-home lingo and cornpone humor to get his point across: "This deficit's like the crazy aunt the family keeps in the basement. Everyone knows she's there but nobody wants to talk about her." Well, the man himself has just launched Perot Charts (at perotcharts.com) and he's bringing his flip charts into Web 2.0's realm.

Have to wonder what this country would have been like had he won the election that year. Would it have been any worse than what we've had from sixteen years of Bill Clinton and then George W. Bush? I doubt it.

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Stan Winston has passed away

Ain't It Cool News seems to be the first place breaking the sad news that Stan Winston died last night of cancer...

Stan Winston was the special effects and makeup genius responsible for some of the most iconic images to burst out of the movie screen of the past thirty years. Winston was the man who made the Terminator function across three films, unleashed the Aliens (and then Predator), brought dinosaurs back to life in Jurassic Park and its sequels, made us believe the mecha of A.I., and scores of other films over the years. Most recently he created the armor and other effects for the hit movie Iron Man.

Along with Aliens, you wanna know what my personal favorite example of Stan Winston's work is? It's The Thing from 1982. It could only have been Stan Winston who could turn someone like Wilford Brimley into one of the most sickeningly horrific creatures ever shown in a film. Or the scene where Norris has his heart attack (as in: his heart attacks and bites right through Copper's arms).

Think I'll pop The Thing in the DVD player tonight after our rehearsal for Children of Eden, and toast Winston's memory.

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"We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us."

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