August 2008
This is a list of posts published in August 2008.
Method Man
Editor’s Note – Yes, my Photoshop skills are quite lacking in this pic but I couldn’t find a proper match of any of my headshots with any stills from the film. I actually think the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float motif I’ve got going here works well enough for a laugh.
Looks like the Acting Bug is working its way around my household. Fresh on the heels of Andi’s star-making turn in The Sound of Music, I have picked up the call sheet and found my name etched on the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Cuckoo’s Nest is being directed by Dave Corkum, who played the role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Once again, this production is being staged by the local community theater group, the Gateway Players, who have ... Continue reading »
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
This weekend I came face-to-face with a truth I’d long tried to suppress. As Andi took the stage and stepped into the role she was born to play – The Sound of Music’s Maria – I realized we couldn’t dance around this topic much longer. No longer could we ignore the elephant in the room, no much how much booze I imbibed in hopes he’d turn pink. The truth was no longer out there – it was now out in the great wide open.
I’m the “ball and chain” weighing this beautiful bird down.
I kept my identity a secret during the two performances I attended over this whirlwind weekend. If word leaked out that Maria’s real life husband was in the audience – that the loathsome troll who has kept this damsel hidden from the bright lights and white knights of Broadway was seate... Continue reading »
Home
Last Thursday evening – just a few minutes after Andi waltzed through the door upon her triumphant return home from The Sound of Music’s official Dress Rehearsal – she lobbed a playful question my way.
“Do you know what today is?”
Enter the male panic insitinct. I try to jump start my cerebral cortex. Kick start my cranium. Bash my brain pan in a bid to prime those neural synapses and spit out something halfway resembling cogent thought. In essence, “Think Dammit, Think!!!”
Her birthday? Nope – that’s June 6th. (Editor’s Note: It’s actually February 11th).
Colin’s birthday?? Nope – he was born May 5th, our little Cinco De Mayo Nino. Every year on that blessed day, the fine frat brothers at Chug-A-Lug House r... Continue reading »
The Hills Are Alive
Note: I originally published this back in May. This past weekend, we thrilled to the performance and I have a piece coming soon that details my reactions. Check back in a day or so for that.
One thing that I love today… the news that my beautiful wife Andi has landed the lead role in The Sound of Music.
As many of you know, I married up. My wife, Andi, is a lovely songbird who took a chance on this hideous troll. Unlike most trolls, I have not tried to cage her – instead enjoying the great symphony she adds to our lives.
OK – that’s all a little too much exaggeration. I’m no troll and she’s damned lucky to have found ME!!! And just as lucky as she is with me, so am I with her. What I am trying to say is we both deserve each other and we’re for... Continue reading »
2007 – The Year in Review
Note: I have a piece coming up that details my reactions to the masterful performance of The Sound of Music we enjoyed this past weekend. I’m planning on publishing a note to a wide distribution list calling attention to that piece and to Andi’s accomplishments. As I may see some new readers, I thought I would repost this ‘Best Of’ to help aid people in navigating the site and seeking out some of the more interesting posts within.
By now, most of you should have received your annual Humphries Family Christmas Card and Rambling Manifesto – carefully choreogrpahed to provide each of our loved ones with a picture-perfect rose-colored view of the year in the life of Clan Humphries. It’s what we writers call a work of popular fiction.
If, per chance, you are reading this and did not receive a Christmas C... Continue reading »
Why Not Y?
I’m not an avid comic reader, not like I was back in the early 90’s, but I keep a close watch on all manner of pop culture so I usually have a handle on What’s Hot and What’s Not in most forums – be it movies, books, television, music, comics, name your poison. And, given a few exceptions, I’ll usually take someone’s advice and give a tune a listen, catch a flick or page through a comic or novel if they tell me it’s the equivalent of Must See TV.
That said, I probably went a healthy decade without reading the ‘funny books’ before my 36 year-old Bad Self descended upon 2008. As you Constant Readers know, earlier this year I went under the knife to correct my inner schnoz. The one-hour septoplasty called for a one-week recovery during which there was very little I could do but watch TV and try not to bleed... Continue reading »
Dumb White Guy Part 4
There’s been a startling new development. We have a plot!!!
Today’s episode begins with a little montage – checking in with our three amigos and laying bare the possibilities that any one of them could be the Turner Cove College Killer (we have seen a murder right??? Maybe that was No Country for Old Men – sometimes I get these flicks confused).
Anyway, the montage ends with the long awaited arrival of our own Javier Bardem, Joe Dolat – playing Roma Scarpetti, Skip’s new roommate.
I have embedded a little Easter Egg in here for those souls unfortunate to have seen this flick in its original, raw state. When we cut to the static image of a newspaper (reporting the death of that Smith College student), there’s a pic of Jar Jar Binks under the headline – “Purists Argue – ... Continue reading »
Dumb White Guy Part 3
So here we are, midway through The Ed Zone’s first official miniseries, and the only thing late on arrival is the plot. Fear not, faithful viewers, it’s coming. Maybe not in today’s installment but it’s definitely out there. In fact, I think Part 4 introduces the shady character, Roma Scarpetti (Joe Dolat) who creeps onto campus just around the time the strange happenings start to ramp up. And then – you are in for a bevy of twists and turns bested only by Mad Libs.
In today’s installment, it appears the boys and I are marking time for Joe’s arrival. The setting of the scene is a college classroom (of which Juice, Chaz and Skip are the only attendees – and yes, that would include the teacher – when your budget barely covers the cost of Rich’s camisole, you learn to make some tough cuts). It’s here in the classro... Continue reading »
Dumb White Guy Part 2
So you suffered through Part 1 and that wasn’t enough for you? You actually decided to waste whatever ounce of energy it takes to click on that Play button, and you’ve returned to continue the thrilling adventures of the Dumb White Guy. Good for you, you sick masochistic bastard.
As I mentioned in my prior post, I’ve decided to raid the vaults and offer up some choice cinematic selections from my past. I’ve actually got some gems out there (as these things go) but this first feature wouldn’t be one of those. That said, I have no shame and judging by the dialogue in Part 2, no sense of proper structure, cadence or form of the English language. Me good with hammer, though.
In Part 1, not much happened. There was a fancy new credit sequence that I appended to the front of the film. The original credits were done on my old 1992... Continue reading »
Dumb White Guy Part 1
I have been trying to figure out a way to upload my videos to this site for months and finally I found my solution. Yup, this newfangled doohickey YouTube is my ticket to fortune and glory. And what’s this I hear about a Google on the Internets?
As some of you know, I was a helluva’ videophile back in my day with my eye on one day taking Hollywood by storm.
It began back in my college days at UMASS Amherst. As the sand ran down on my senior year, I decided instead of taking some random Polaroids (that was WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY before digital anything), instead I would grab a video camera and film my cronies. And none of that ad-hoc “look into the camera and say a few words” cliche BS. Nope – I decided I would script something and have some of my friends act their parts out. And not just an... Continue reading »
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