Friday, August 31, 2007
booooooo
I was just at Jammin with Ralph and now I am going to drink. I had good energy at the top of the evening but unfortunately I didn't get to go up on stage till the last group. I think the beers had taken effect and I became a wall flower. I don't know why and I would think there is no excuse since I have been doing improv for more than a year. In the end I ended being grabbed by Gil who was pimping me but I think my energy got me in a bad zone. There were even pretty girls there. I guess more girls that won't talk to me this week :P
So the end result is that I am going to try to get some drinks at Boulevard Tavern. I figure at least I will know one or two people there. If not, there is the Pirates Of The Carribean pinball machine and the Omnitouch machine. Other than that I didn't plan on anything this weekend and its wide open. Its weird that my life happens more during the week.
I did think about an ex girlfriend today. I was thinking about a trip to Governors Island and it reminded me of Helen Calip. We started dating while I was living on the Goast Guard base in Petaluma, California. We used to get caught having intimate moments a lot, in the car by a guard on the base or on a culdesac on top of the car. She an I unfortunately split up after about three years. It is for the best because I could have become a military lifer. I ended up not even completing Reserve Duty, that a good story.
Well I am about to get into the bar, see ya.
Holy crap, buy those MegaMillons tickets
MegaMillons is 330 Million tonight. I have to remember to by a ticket.
I friggin hate the trains sometimes. It wasn't even 10:00pm and the F train at 2nd Avenue wasn't showing up. There was a V train waiting, running but closed in the station. This was making the station feel hotter than a tea kettle. Then after 20 minutes a C train showed up. What?!? The C train announcer stated we would make all local F train stops. I thought fine. Then the train didn't move. After another 15 minutes the train finallly closed doors and went to the next stop. It moved a couple times in the next station because the conductor and driver didn't aggree on where the doors should be opened. I got off a West 4th to change trains out of fear.
I bumped into Charlie and Zack outside the theater last night. Charlie asked me if I could whip up a little promo for SummerSlamMania. We discussed a couple ideas and came up with maybe Ben and Eric maybe doing the promo after the show.
The show was great and Chubby Chase was great. They won by only 8 votes over Brothers Hines. A couple of things that might have clinched it were the handling of a heckler and the time out they called where they went to find food in the theater.
Inside I saw Amy and we caught up for a minute. It was cool especially since she has T-Mobile as well and told me that it was T-Mobile wide problem that I experienced the other night, when I had no GPRS.
After everyone left, Eric and Ben came out to shoot some promos for the upcoming SummerSlamMania. I think we got some cool stuff and it was fun to shoot it. I packed up and dropped the crap at home. I decided to go to McManus and see people. I saw the regular crew and it turned out to be an OK evening. Before I left, Rachael gave me the DVD that I made for her to duplicate. Luckily when I got home I stuck it into a machine. It triggered my mind to dupe it today.
I don't think I mentioned it, but Deanna dropped me a line and said she would be in the city Tuesday. Pretty cool since I haven seen her for almost a year I think.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Not so shabby
I mentioned yesterday how I saw Nights Of Our Lives wiith Joan. Well, on the way home I bought two scratch off lottery tickets, both poker themed. On the first ticket I received $40. Kick ass huh? The second one didn't pay crap but no worries, it was only a $10 investment.
I noticed when I went to upload my blog last night, my phones GPRS wasn't working. I reset my phone and got the same symptoms. What the fudge t-mobile? Its been up and down for serveral hours throughout today also.
Today consisted of finishing some video stuff that was incomplete. I copied a bunch of DVDs I received. I got Make Your Own Damn movie of DVD and although it is visual, the book seems better laid out.
I am heading to the Rochelle Show right now to drop off a DVD I filmed for her two weeks ago. After that I am off to UCB to film the UCBW at Cage Match. Tomorrow, the only thing I planned on is Jammin with Ralph at midnight.
Check out the UCBW videos at http://youtube.com/tommeepickles1
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Darn MegaMillions
I bought a ticket last night for the MegaMillions Jackpot drawing but I didn't win.
Yesterday I went to see Summer, Dave, Curtis and Melissa perform at UCB. I stayed for Harold Night and then watched Blender. It was a great lineup of comedy. After UCB, I went to McManus to get my drink on. I saw Brian and heard about his latest trip. I also hung out with Joe and talked about his new improv group 12 Thousand. I forget if it was Eileen or Emily I danced and sang Andrew WK's Party Hard by syncing up our iPods. Brian and I left the bar and he told me about the dark underbelly of the neighborhood. He told me the Rainbow store's video booths had glory holes. I had to check this out. Luckily for me at this early hour on a week night, there was noone to upset my humor by putting their member through the opening.
Today I received a call to arrange a meeting for the West Coast opportunity. I am set to talk with them again on Tuesday morning and an offer is soon to follow. I am a little upset that I might have to move from NYC and leave my comedy pals. There are probably a lot of opportunities for my comedy brain to be used for out west, I shouldn't worry.
I met Joan at the theater to see Nights Of Our Lives. It was a great show. In attendance was John Flynn, Chris Gethard, Ben Rogers and John Mullaney. Mullaney's story was awesome but he probably has the best delivery supplied by his standup background. I saw a bunch of friends there and it was a great time. I went home right after that. I have to finish the Cage Match video and burn the video of the Rochelle show to drop it off.
I don't think I am going to hit too many bars for a while. I lost my Gitmo lighter and have been pretty sloppy lately. I need to clean this place and possibly start arranging things in case I have to move soon.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Tuesday feels like a funday
I feel pretty good today. I didn't go out last night and I got plenty of sleep. I remember something I didn't get to blog about yesterday. Sunday night I was introduced by Joan to a guy named Barrett at the bar. She was talking to him because it seemed no one else was talking to him. We invited him in to our conversation and he seemed not to hit the same comedic rhythm that Joan and I had.
During the conversation we got on to the subject of Halloween costumes. After Joan and I explained our costume ideas, Barrett chimed in. He said he was lazy and for the last couple of years he wore just a Mike Myers mask (from the movie Halloween). We talked about how there was a new Halloween movie, which explains Mike Myers killing spree and mask. I told Barrett that a great costume would be to get some jeans altered so they would look like child's pants and then cut some sneakers to put around the knees. It would make a little Mike Myers costume. Barrett was upset that I was suggesting this. He got pretty upset at the fact I was asking him to change his costume. It was just funny. Booze does funny things.
I got a phone call today. A lot of you might remember me running my mouth about an opportunity out in Los Angeles. Several weeks ago I was told I was passed over. Today, the call was to tell me that I they were sorry that they haven't been in touch. They went on to say that they wanted to meet with me again and that I was their number one choice. Oh my god! I am supposed to meet with them this week and hear about an offer. What?!? Am I moving again afterall? This got exciting again.
Tonight I plan on seeing Summer, Melissa and Jason do some improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade and then I will probably stay for Harold Night and The Blender. I hope my friends appreciate me seeing them perform because they didn't show up any my performances. I am sure karma will follow me anyway.
Tomorrow me and my friend Joan are going to see Nights Of Our Lives. I wanted Joan to experience the show since her show is along the same lines. Chris Gethard coached my workshop Sunday and he got our group to tell a great personal stories that led to some fantastic improv. I am planning on recording my stories at Joan's events so I can post them on my myspace or just to email to Chris. Maybe someday I can be on Night of Our Lives. Some of you know some of the adventurous stories I have.
Monday, August 27, 2007
I think that peanut council advertising campain is working
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Clack Clack, Home Run and someone shot j/k
I thought this was funny the other day because they are official Yankee merchandise
After a protest in East Harlem baseball cap manufacturer New Era has
agreed to pull Yankees caps from store shelves. A number of caps seem to refer to the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings and became a controversy during a back-to-school shopping trip. Jose Rivera liked a Yankees cap with a gold crown on it and wanted to buy it for his son, but his son explained that he could be in danger for wearing it. Rivera told NY1, "It was [my son] who said this crown might be construed as something possibly associated with a gang. I said ‘what kind of a gang?’ He said maybe the Latin Kings. I said ‘why? It’s just a New York Yankee hat.’ It’s quite nice. I liked it and the crown to me said ‘you're the king!’ That’s great."
If you watch the video from NY1, you'll also see Rivera's son explaining how the red bandanna cap stands for the Bloods while the blue one is for the Crips. And the NY Times reports that Rivera also asked many kids what the caps meant, "From 8 years old and up, they knew they represented violent gangs."
New Era, a Buffalo based company, released a statement saying:
In response to the situation in New York City regarding our caps, New Era Cap offers the following statement. It is our mission at New Era to create, design and market headwear that follows fashion trends around the world. Recently, it has been brought to our attention that some combinations of icons and colors on a select number of our caps could be too closely perceived to be in association with gangs.
In response, we, along with Major League Baseball (MLB) have pulled those caps.
In addition, as part of our ongoing effort to ensure that there is no possibility that our products are seen as promoting gangs or gang related activity, we are working closely with MLB and continuing our internal efforts with local gang suppression units to set-up training sessions to better understand gang symbols, names and locations.
A good move, but really, it seems pretty clear that the caps were referring to gangs. New Era has a license with the MLB. Maybe we're classicists, but it's sort of weird seeing caps in different colors with the Yankees logos - why not stick to the tried and true team colors?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Just another Saturday
I awoke to a horrible hangover. I was out at the Boulevard Tavern Friday night and into the morning. It was nice connecting with Harold and Ria as well as their bartender but I think I had too much to drink.
Tonight I got to see Vicki's show at the Time Out Lounge at New World Stages. It was cool seeing some new material from my friends and other comics. Margot had an awesome set.
I got some new porn in the mail and I was wondering if it is a conscience choice to leave out music out of some porn. I think it is often lacking in some movies. Does it really affect the artistic vision of the director concept? Is it too costly? *shrug*
Tomorrow is my improv workshop so I chose not to drink. It sucks to be hungover, but it sucks more to be hungover in an improv workshop. After improv I will head over the the Boulevard to meet my friend Joan.
Friday, August 24, 2007
I got me a new haircut
It turned to be an
ok night last night. The highlight was the
improv and wrestling. As usual, I filmed the
UCBW action at last night's Cage Match. It was good times and both
improv groups were so good. When the final vote came, there were only four votes separating Happy Kid and Brothers Hines. Brothers Hines won.
After Cage Match I went home to drop off my camera stuff I sat around for a bit, debating whether to go to McManus or not. I thought, why not. When I got to the bar I saw a bunch of improv pals. I spent the most time with Chuck because he is great to exchange stories with. I saw a bunch of others but I am not going to list them all. I was disappointed that most of the people I talked with or said hello to, didn't have the courtesy to say goodbye to me when they left. It put me in a bad mood but I did appreciate the people I said goodbye to, they probably know who they are.
I was getting tired of my mullet haircut. It was curly so it started to look like Liz's hair. Yep, something had to be done. I was all hungover so it was a little challenge to get out of the house. I walked to Astor Place from my place and after the walk I could feel my blood sugar low but didn't have an appetite to eat. I got my hair trimmed by Einstein, he does a pretty good job. After the cut, I went into Kmart and looked to see if they had a cheap tripod or monopod. They didn't. I miss my California experience, Target always had crap like I needed. I saw they had a Lexmark printer for $25 and I need one. I will try to go back tomorrow if the hangover doesn't kill me.
I am heading to Boulevard Tavern. Food and Booze, yay.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Fuck this laundry is piling up
I actually don't think that is a good title but I do actually have, no... must, do laundry today.
Last night I met Vicki at Emmett's in Time Square. She bought me dinner for helping her out with her video project. I brought one of my large cameras with a shotgun mic and video lamp. The thing that is really sucky to carry is the battery for the light. It weighs around 10 pounds.
We scouted around Times Square for some good backgrounds and places that we wouldn't get stopped by police. We found a great spot right next to the police precinct facing uptown. It gave a good background for Vicki's segment. She then shot me answering questions a little further south of The original spot to give it more spontaneous feel to it.
After we finished with the shoot Vicki and I went to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater to catch School Night outside we caught up with Jawnee Conroy and they figured out some stuff with Vicki's Saturday show.
School Night was good. Chelsea and Marcy were awesome. Chubby Chase was awesome also. Zack Woods had a great mono scene. Bobby Moynahan delivered some great characters. There were a lot of great acts.
After the show I headed to Boulevard Tavern. When I got there, there were three people in the bar. A very quiet night for the establishment. I played their new Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine. Harold showed up later and it was good catching up. He introduced me to a girl Zarren. She is dating Canadian Frank but it didn't seem like it is a serious relationship. She ended up dancing with a 60-something year old man and then getting a ride home from him. I felt bad for the man because it was a big tease for him but who knows, maybe he got some.
I shared a cab with Stevie the bartender. When I got home my Tivo had recorded Last Comic Standing. I observed two things, I still don't like Bill Belamy as the host, and I really want to meet Amy Schumer. She is very pretty to me.
I rendered the video of the Rochelle Show and I think I will work up some titles. I after the debating food and I need to write some material for my standup stuff. I charged my camera batteries and I am exciting for a another Cage Match.
The video has been posted of Improv Everywhere MP3 Experiment IV at http://improveverywhere.com. It is pretty cool with a count of 826 people.
Lastly I don't know if she is out there somewhere, but I have been thinking of my first girlfriend thing. It was very young and like me now I was into a younger woman. She was in grade behind me. Her name was Zonna Wisby (or Whisby?). I saw her like 10 year later at a Parents Without Partners camping event. I guess her parents were divorced too. We didn't hookup then, I think there isn't enough stuff you accomplish between grade school to high school to talk about. Especially if you are using it to get laid. I tried searching for her through google but I am turning up blank. Its ok, I will have another ex-girlfriend I can reminisce some day soon.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Damn this weather
I am sitting here, playing some online poker. I was supposed to be in Coney Island, shooting a video with Vicki, but when I got up the weather was pretty crappy outside. It was crappy last night also. We are not even out of the month of August but last night I had to wear a sweatshirt and I was still cold. I was cursing this town thinking about a move yet again.
Last night I was at Harold night and I am glad I went. Not only did I get to see Curtis, Ben, Amy, Dave and Mary as well as Alex but I also got to see the group Raynard perform for their first time. They were awesome. They opened up with a pattern game and then the scenes they played were great. They were really tight for their first time.
After the show I went home and caught Futurama and Family Guy. I was debating whether to go out or not because the weather was crap. I finally decided, what the hell, and I headed to Peter McManus. I expected to see a lot of people there but I ended up staying in the front of the bar watching the Yankee game. The game was a disaster. In the fifth inning the score was 13 to 5 with the Angels in the lead and then Anderson hit a grand slam. It was sad. The Yankees were coming back with a two run homer but they still were dominated.
I headed home about an hour after the game and was out pretty fast. I talked with Vicki today about the shoot and we decided to shoot later tonight in Times Square, later I might hit up School Night. If I don't hit up school night I will roll down to Revival for a beer and then maybe out to Boulevard Tavern. Tomorrow is Cage Match and that floats my pickle and then this weekend is open for hijinks.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
More money for my poker playing
I didn't expect to have had such a busy night last night. I was planning on showing up for Jawnee's Bro 'n Out. I looked at the UCB website and saw that reservations were sold out. When I looked at gothamist.com I saw that they had the show listed there, probably helping with the limited availability of reservations. I called Jawnee and left a message to see if he was putting me on the list. When he called back, I told him that I would meet him outside the theater. When we got inside, there was a plan by some of the other staff to film the show. I asked Jawnee if I should run home and grab my camera. He said yes and I left.
I returned quickly and filmed the show from stage left. I think I got some good footage and it was helpful since the other camera died soon into the first act.
After the show I went home for a nap. I got up about 11pm to head to Revival. When I got to the bar I ran into Devin and Kevin. We caught up since I had not seen them in several weeks. We ended up playing nickle poker and I called it a night around 3:00am.
Today I had an interview in the afternoon so when I woke I got my Sunday best on. I thought I would enjoy this company since I think they are in some what of an emerging technology. When I was interviewed, it didn't seem that they were too impressed with my skills. It didn't make the $14 is cab fare validated.
I am a little excited today because the funds I deposited into my online poker account have cleared. It normally takes 10 days for the online transaction to go through. I know it sounds silly for a transaction to take that long but when it comes to the world of online gambling, they can get away with holding your money for their interest bearing account. This is where I will get even by winning a million dollars. Don't hold your breath, I do not want to be responsible.
Tonight I am at Harold night and I am debating seeing the Blender.
Lastly I was listening to Cherry Pie by Warrant. I can't help thinking of watching a stripper dance to that song. Its been at least six months since I have been to a strip bar, got to go soon I guess.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Its Monday, not too exciting
I thought since I didn't go out last night I would have had a better day today. I went to my improv workshop last night and it went ok. I had fun for the most part. I was going to go to Boulevard Tavern after but when I got downtown I was feeling chilly and it was wet. I decided to grab some McDonalds and stay in.
Today I hunted around for my dress belt and shoes for my interview, I dressed my best. The HR woman was great and made me feel comfortable but the Director of IT wasn't totally into me. I think we had different views on server management and security. I have another interview tomorrow and calls keep on filtering in for more.
Tonight I am going to go to see Jawnee in his show and then later I am going to run down to Revival. I haven seen Devin and Kevin since I left for Vegas.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
I think I am coming down with something.
I woke up early today. I think I only got six hours of sleep but it might be that I am not fully adjusted to my sleep schedule yet. I tried napping a little but as I fell asleep I got a call from Jawnee. We are working on a project so he was just updating me about the equipment stuff. I decided to stay awake and now I am feeling a little under the weather. I took some Airbourne.
Yesterday was great. I participated in the Improv Everywhere MP3 Experiment #4. We all were to gather at World Financial Center and try not sitting with people with the same color t-shirt. I saw Crystal and Tao so I stodd with them to pass the time. At 4pm we all pressed play on our MP3 players. It led us on a walking exhibition to find the German tourist to lead us and then hundreds of people moved to a part where the concrete was colored. We played a huge game of twister.
Later we ended up walking to a park where we pretended to walk dogs, rollerblade and then the best activities came. We made a human dart board and then played a huge game of freeze tag. It was funny because there were people trying to relax all over the park while we were running around. We then chilled out and said good bye to each other.
At 7:30pm I was waiting at the UCB Theater for Jawnee. He was supposed to film Rob Latham's show. I had my camera ready to go and then Jawnee showed up so we did a two camera shoot. After the shoot, Jawnee and I went over some scenes from a script and had a beer. I stayed for some of Mother but I had to leave because I had to get up to Vicki's show. She wanted me to do a set but during the show she had the slot filled by someone else. It would have been hard to follow Katina's act, she made me laugh so hard.
I have been transfering tapes to disks today. I need something to play with. I was going to head to Adorama or B and H but the weather is overcast and I don't feel like dodging rain yet. I have improv workshop to run to later and depending how I feel I might head to Boulevard Tavern. I don't plan on staying out late because I have an interview tomorrow. Plus I am under the weather. If I go to Boulevard, it might help me with my sketches I have to write.
ps. I put the pictures from Improv Everywhere MP3 Experiment up at http://tommee.net/August_2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Movies movies movies
I am waiting for the good TV shows to start to fill up my downtime. Since there is nothing to watch, I have been addictive to movie watching.
I watched Hostel yesterday afternoon. I didn't like it. It looked like it was going to be gory but it fell short. The action took too long to get to and it doesn't lead into a sequel. I doont know how they wrote Hostel 2 but I will now have to watch it to see how they upped the ante.
I went to see Superbad with Jawnee Conroy last night. It was cool because where we saw it was a nice large screen and the theater was only half full. The movie was awesome and worth the $11. I will definitely get the DVD when it comes out.
Jawnee and I headed to UCB Theater after the movie. We talked about a project we are working on. I saw some friends at the theater and decided to catch The Stepfathers while I was there. After I felt tired since I am adjusting my sleep times and I decided to venture home.
I am watching Aeon Flux right now and I can't say I am enjoying it that much. I enjoyed the animation that was on MTV but I don't think it translates well to film. If I had to pick Hostel or Aeon Flux, I would pick Hostel. It was more fun of a ride.
I am leaving for World Financial Center in a half hour to participate in the Improveverywhere Mp3 experiment (http://improveverywhere.com). I could find my watch with a second hand on it. I went to CVS and finally found where they keep their watches. Not bad, all $10 to $20. Now I am prepared for the fun today. I know I will see some people I know but I wonder if I will see Alaina or Vicki.
Later on today I am meeting Jawnee about video stuff. Maybe I will stick around for Get Psyched and Half Baked. Then at 11pm I am going to see Vicki's Let The Laughs Out at Time Out Lounge in the New World Stages. It should be big fun.
Friday, August 17, 2007
On the road to SummerSlamMania
Last night I went over to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater to watch and film Cage Match. It was a good match between Kevin and Will Hines versus C, C, + C Improv Factory. The Hines brothers had a great set but I thought CC+C did also. I was surprised to see such a gap in the score. 61 - 18. Brothers Hines goes on to play next week.
I went to McManus after the show but nothing interesting happened.
At home SLC Punk was playing on the TV. It reminded me of my youth. I thought about some childhood friends like Dennis Sullivan, Chip McMahon and Kevin Meehan. There is a picture of the bunch of us at http://tommee.net/tommeepics/imagepages/image166.htm. Years later I actually hung out with Dennis and we went to a rave together on Randalls Island with a couple of girls. I didn't hear from him again. My foster sister Felicia woould see him once in a while but unfortunately we didn't talk after that. It might have been that we both were in A.A. Together but at the rave I offered him some ephedrine or something.
Today should be somewhat mellow. I think I am meeting Jawnee for lunch and we possibly might catch Superbad. I am thinking that its a good day for a haircut too.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Doug Benson, it was fixed.
I had the one beer at Revival that the bartender bought for me and I tried to pay for it because I ended up not wanting another. I jumped on to the bus and rode it crosstown. When I walked up 8th Avenue, I bumped into Tim from D.C.. We bullshited for a bunch. I told him that I would be at UCB for Cage Match and the Saturday is Improv Everywhere MP3 experiment IV. When I got home Last Comic Standing was TiVo'ed.
I got to say I really dislike Last Comic Standing. In past seasons it showed the comics living in a mansion, then the Queen Mary. This year, they don't really show the comics how they interact with each other. The challenges are pretty lame and boring to watch (e.g. The Deal or No Deal ladies). Lastly, what the heck was with the voting on the last episode. I know its only my opinion but not only did I think Doug Benson had the best set as well the audience seemed to respond to him better from what I heard.
So the highlight tonight seems like it will be Cage Match. I am dying without the new fall season TV. Some new Office or 30 Rock would be good. I am depending on DVDs more lately and Netflix cannot send them fast enough. I am starting to feel like a junkie.
I did encode Andy Rocco's show today and watched it. Great ideas from those kids. I need to get my ass to a notebook and start writing some stuffs. I am fliming with Vicki on Sunday before my workshop. Then Monday I have an interview with people who could pay me money. Tuesday could be a day when I have a little bit of free time to write a sketch that is stuck in this head. I still have to master a DVD for Sue Ball's Rochelle Show.
Maybe I will go to Pearl Paint this week to get a backdrop and do some video of myself. Nothing like self gratification.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
I can't believe it
I am sitting right now in Revival having a beer. I forget the bartenders name. I was introduced to her once or twice. I came here after filming the Rochelle Show at Mo Pitkins. I would have had a better time staying there and not talking to anyone instead of coming here. The problem right now is that I am bored, hence the blogging. The barback is talking about smashing Pumpkins like they are responsible for flying cars while playing their entire discography. The bar is only filled with five or so patrons. I am bored and the bartender bought my first beer. I want to go but I have a guilt right now. I don't have much in common with the bartender except I know she has an old boyfriend.
The barback has now skipped tracks on the ipod. He is one of those kids that can't just something play. He's right in front of me and I feel like launching over the counter and strangling him.
Rochelle Show was ok. I saw Pete Holms which was great. He has a great personality and is fun to talk to. His bit tonight was reminiscent of Punchline but I don't think the audience caught it. Sue Ball did a good job and gave me $25 for filming the event. She ran a little long again making me break more than one tape but I am sure everything will come out in the wash.
I did get an email today from an ex-girlfriend, Rebecca. She said thet she has been happy lately and she has met a man that she has been living with for five months. She also told me she found out she is pregnant. I wasn't all cool with the news because I haven't ever totally closed out the relationship with her. I imagined that we would figure it out someday. Either way I felt the news was like telling someone through email that I was happy because I was a millionare and I am not going to share it.
I feel I should move but my pros/cons list is kind of even right now. I love my show business friends and aquaintences but I hate that my regular bars suck in the city that never sleeps. I love delivery service for food and laundry but I hate that there is no Del Taco or Weinersnitel. The list can go on but maybe that will be a different blog entry.
I am not sure if its this Tuesday or next one that my money gets deposited into my online poker account. It normally takes 7 to 10 days for it to be deposited but I am sure its to ensure they earn interest off of my money. I have been playing a bunch of freerolls for a $50 pot or Aruba qualifer. I haven't been doing as well as I have in the past. I would like to win some big money since I am on summer vacation. Its not easy partying like a rock star and not making money.
Lastly I am pretty excited to get back on the computer and playing a poker tournament. I even have some raviollii that I can heat up.
Thank you... Now take a bow
I have my phone ringer set to a car alarm sound. It is useful to hear the phone rining but very annoying when it comes to afternoon naps. I needed a good nap today because I went out last night till they called it a morning.
Yesterday afternoon I ventured off to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater to meet up with my group and warm up for our performance. We were joking at the top about the word keener being a noun. That being said the first group performing called themselves the Keeners. Our group, the second group, called ourselves the Mulronys. It was because Cathrine Keener is in a relationship with Durmot Mulrony.
I felt good about the performance but after receiving notes I could see where we could have done better. Alaina and Max came to the show and I asked their opinions. Their response was "It was better that you last show". Seeing that my last show they saw was a car wreck, I guess I can wait a while for that spot on Conan.
After the show the three of us ended up going to Peter McManus. We ate and drank for a bit and then Alaina left me and Max alone to hang out. It ended up being "After this last one, we'll go..." king of night. We closed the bar, props to Brian Berrebbi for putting up with my drunk monologues.
I work up with a hangover and atte a calzone. I am filming at Mo Pitkins tonight and then maybe more sleep. Cage Match tomorrow!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Damn you Rock.
I wanted to go out but the Fox Network got the best of me. I wanted to see who won in the Hell's Kitchen finale. I was disappointed in Rock winning but it looked like Bonnie was not a sore loser. I am sure this has opened huge doors for her and who knows if she will be back some day. Fox has been teasing their new show, Kitchen Nightmares, and it looks like it will not only turn
stomachs but also make people not want to eat in restaurants again.
I know I shouldn't go out tonight because I perform at the Upright Citizens Brigade tomorrow and I don't want a cloudy head. I also have a phone interview tomorrow afternoon. I am sure I will go out tomorrow night and the other nights following that.
I did have my workshop yesterday and I did enjoy the openings we did but I did really screw up in the first beat of the
Harold we did. I felt embarrassed but I am sure it will correct my performance tomorrow if I take my time and listen.
I did end up at Boulevard Tavern last night and I had the
privilege of meeting some new people. I met a couple, Tom and Joan. Great people. I hit it off with Joan because we had a bunch of things in common, especially our comedy. We talked about sketches we are aiming to create in the future and funny stories. She said that I made her laugh like a fucking little bitch. I am sure we are going to
create some beautiful comedy soon.
Tomorrow is UCB, Wednesday is the Rochelle Show where Pete Holmes is performing. I want to ask what happened Friday because I didn't see him at
Gutbucket. Thursday I will be filming Cage Match. I have no plans Friday and Saturday I might hit up Joan's
Storyhole in
Greenpoint. Don't forget, Saturday is also ImprovEverywhere's MP3 Experiment.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Crud, what the heck.
I am a little bit of a funk. The weather is yuck. I have had a bunch of bad beats in the online poker games. A scene I was in today, I screwed up because I wasn't listening enough. I hope I can heal soon because I perform Tuesday and I know I have done better.
I am heading to Boulevard Tavern. Tomorrow they are lacquering the hallways again so I won't be able to leave the house until 5:30pm or so. I still have to get a haircut and get some more clothes. Although maybe staying inside will force me to clean the apartment.
In need of some excitement
Being that I just went through two unbelievable weekends, Del Close Marathon and
Defcon in
Las Vegas, things are a little less than exciting. Friday evening was fun and I got to see Billy Merritt in possibly his last performance with the Stepfathers. I also went back for
Gutbucket because I thought I would see Pete Holmes and
TJ Miller. I didn't see them but I saw Andy Rocco, who gave me a
DV tape to encode for him. I also saw
Jawnee Conroy inside doing a saw dedicated to finger
smellers.
Last night I had a couple of things I wanted to do. I wanted to head to the Dirtiest Sketch Contest but I knew that Vicki had her Let the Laughs Out show at the Time Out Lounge right before. Vicki's show sometimes runs late so I knew that it would be hard to make both. If I did go to UCB to the Dirtiest Sketch Contest, I would bring my camera since two people I know were going to be it. I decided to go to Vicki's show and skip the sketch show because I was going to see more friends at the first show.
I was right about seeing so many friends but they were all performing. I did talk to Nate for a while and
Phlip was there and we talked for a bit but after the show everyone split. I thought maybe someone would have stuck around for a drink or something. It was Saturday night, I didn't see Danny and Jeremy nor did I see Max and
Alaina. I guess I could have hunted them down but I didn't want to guilt people about not seeing Vicki's show. I even felt bad that I thought about going to a different show because the show didn't have a large audience. Everyone seemed to know everyone in the audience, most of us were performers.
Being in a funk, I took the train to midtown and I went to White Castle. I got me some cheese burgers and then took a cab home. I watched a movie, Man or the Year, and went to sleep. I have been editing the footage from the last
UCBW Cage Match bout and I am trying to get it up on
YouTube. It is longer than the constraints but I am hoping by doing it in
VBR it will be accepted because the size is smaller. I haven't tried uploading a flash (
FLV) file, and I wonder if that would work also or if it would
re compress it and it would look like
doodie.
I have my
improv workshop today and I am not totally psyched for it since I haven't been in it for a couple weeks now but we perform together on Tuesday so it is pretty important I practice with my group.
I am not sure if I posted it or how many people I told but, I didn't get the gig I wanted in Los Angeles. I was passed over for it and the agent helping me knew a week ago without notifying me. I was kind of ticked because I told people about the
possibility of me moving back west last weekend. I will consider other
opportunities there but I do have to keep things moving here. I did commit plans for
Thanksgiving in
Las Vegas this year but it makes harder to plan travel not making a commitment where I will live then.
Lastly, I am
disappointed seeing around the net that LOST will not be airing in the Fall season of ABC. It is aiming for February 2008. Ouch, that hurts.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
People wonder why I consider moving sometimes
Jack Bower talks about Los Angeles too much, what about NYC?
Warning NYC! But Don't Panic 
Local news stations are reporting late this evening that an unverified radiological threat was made against New York City sometime Friday. The city's alert level remains at the long-standing orange level though. WNBC passes along a statement from the NYPD: "While the threat remains unverified, our counterterrorism posture, which is reconfigured daily based on intelligence from around the world, has been modified to include increased deployment of radiological sensors, including vehicle, marine and helicopter-mounted, as well as those carried by NYPD personnel."
Vehicle checkpoints have been established around the city, concentrating on downtown and from certain jurisdictions. Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne reportedly stressed that the moves were strictly precautionary and that no threat had been verified. So if you notice an increased level of police, military, and air or marine activity around the city tonight, don't become too concerned. It's just standard precautions.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Wow, polyurethane screws with your head
They are lacquering my hallways in the building and I couldn't leave from 9:30am till 5:30pm. I found this out last night when I got back from Cage Match. I decided since I had nowhere to spend a rainy day for eight hours, I would go out last night and tie one on so I would be sleeping most of the day. Well, the gods of cheap mind altering chemicals affected me with the lacquer. I was returning a call to my friend Deanna this afternoon, she had called me earlier today. After the 10 minutes I was running on, I received a "Do you know who you are talking to?". I said "Yeah, of course". It ended up being my ex-girlfriend Liz that I had not talked with for quite some time. I attribute the miss-dial and voice confusion to the hallway lacquering. We did have a good conversation for a bit but she was at work and we will probably take up the conversation later.
As I said earlier, I was out last night with Max and Alaina. We went out to dinner and then we went to Cage Match at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. C,C + C Improv Factory was up against Death League Tea Party. Both teams were really good last night and I had acquaintances in both but C,C + C did it again and won for the Fourth week in a row, putting them in 2007 Tournament Challenge. I filmed the UCBW wrestling portion and I hope to have it up tonight.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Defcon Recap (from memory)
I got back from Vegas Tuesday night at 10:00pm and went straight to sleep. I awoke around 8:00pm Wednesday night. The consensus between El_Jefe and myself is, we are getting old.
I flew into Las Vegas Wednesday night and was picked up by Bink and Jamiegrrrl. I wanted to go to my hotel and check in but they had other plans. They drove me to the Dive Bar and up on the Dive Bar sign was a greeting, "WELCOME TOMMEE PICKLES". We went inside and Trika was bartending. She poured a bunch of drinks for me and about three shots of pirates blood. I had a good lead in to the evening. I went get my room and check in at the Riviera. I got to the desk with Jamiegrrrl and tried to get my reservation taken care of. The woman said that she had a one bed room waiting for me. I reserved a two bed smoking room. She said that they had none. I asked "isn't that what my reservation should hold". She said that a reservation only reserves a room, not the type. I asked to speak to the manager and she said that she realized it was a mistake. She said stay in the room for a night, a mini suite, and go into the two bed room in the morning. I said it is late already, I would like a late move out of the room. She said fine and I was on my way.
The mini suite was laugh-able. It was a Murphy bed two room tiny suite with nothing that I would consider suite-ish. Jamiegrrrl and I agreed that it was comical and then headed to the Splash bar to meet up with the Defcon kids. El_Jefe said he was at Ballys, so Bink, Jamiegrrrl and I ended running over there. I black out here. I remember El_Jefe meeting us there. I remember seeing James' wife and then I remember Evil Matt showing up. El Jefe rode with Jamiegrrrl and Bink. I rode with Evil Matt. We ended up back at the Riviera and El_Jefe, Evil Matt and I sat for a drink. It was later Matt and I left for Silverton.
At Silverton, Matt wanted to play craps with me. I wasn't really into it but he convinced me. I went in $100 at a time and it would disappear quickly. Finally with the last $100, making it $400, I started making back money. I felt like it was time to call it quits and I colored in. I came out $535. It was good. I had a drink at the bar and waited for Matt. He made some money too. He drove me back to Riviera and I found El Jefe at the bar. We drank for a while. I remember DB Cooper telling me we looked really bad. When I went to the bathroom I looked at myself and he was right. Around 3pm Thursday I lost El Jefe. I thought since I was up I would get my Defcon badge. I saw some people that I knew and I bought two badges and I decided to change my room that I haven't slept in.
In the switching of my room I misplaced the two badges that I just purchased. On top of that I was given the wrong room again, it was another single bed. I went down to get another room. Because of their mistake, they switched my room again and gave me a $30 dinner comp. I don't know how I swindled it because I must have been slurring so much. I went to the Defcon Registration and bought two more badges because I couldn't find the ones I just bought. I then went back to my room since I had to get to bed because Tina was due to arrive sometime Thursday.
I awoke around 8:00pm Thursday and saw that I got a text message that Tina was on her way from the airport. I jumped in the shower and headed to the lobby to greet her. I must have just missed her because she texted me saying she way in the room. I met her in the room and gave her a badge and other stuff. She did give me $100 for the badge e. We headed down to the Splash bar to meet and greet. I introduced Tina to many of my friends. I got to see Crazysage which made me emotional. I had not seen her in years. When I saw TW, he ended up giving me a invited to the Ninja party and Ceasars challenge. Tina was curious what is was, I explained and told her I would get her in. She asked for the invite and if she could keep it. I said no. We drank a bunch and then we headed back up to the room about 11pm. I know, early huh. We laid on the bed and reviewed the Defcon schedule. During this time we we cuddling but nothing happened. We ended up just ordering room service and passing out.
The next morning, Friday, we were up early, mainly because she awoke me with noise and that we went to bed so early. I walked with her down to the convention area and showed her the massive amount of people. We walked all the way to the CTF area, chill out area and Vendor stuff. She looked unimpressed. I started walking back with her and she got a phone call. She said previously that a customer of her employer was in town at the convention also. She was to meet up with him and could I direct her in the right direction. I told her that I would walk her there but she acted like she didn't want me to. I got her close to the area and then I headed to the room to get some sleep.
I went down later to enjoy some talks and meet up with Kris Klink and others in the convention lobby. I played some video poker at the bar and then I went up to the room with a Diet Dr. Pepper and Chunky Bar. Tina came back from visiting with her friend and was all tired with her hair a mess. She said she went to Hoover Dam with her friend in a Lotus with the top down. She did have a sunburn but I was still annoyed that I was staying with her and she would exclude me out of her plans but I included her in mine. I told her I was hitting up the bar and then hitting Johnny Long's No Tech Hacking Talk. Johnny's talk was a highlight. I wish I took serious notes but I figured his presentation would be on the CD but they weren't.
Friday night was the start of the Black Ball. I wanted to go up to the room for a minute and I saw that there was evidence that people were in my room. There was trash on my bed and there was an empty bottle of Vodka. I was ticked that someone other than I trusted was near my laptop or other data. The trust with Tina was really thin at this point. I headed to the Black ball and saw Angry Dave, DB Cooper, Bink and Jamiegrrrl. I stayed for a bit and saw Tina with her friends but didn't stick around. When I got back, she was gone and I grabbed Jamiegrrrl and we headed to the bar. Later we went to the Penthouse to a small party. When we got there there was people I knew but only Jim Beam and Dr Pepper. Not a great combo but hey, you know me. I was up with El_Jefe at the bar till 9am. We got to see Kenny, Katie, Little Mike, Serpent and others. I went to bed after.
Saturday came and went pretty fast. I went to get food with Tina. She paid which was nice but I got her food the day before as well as the room service. I was kinda tired of this too because we were sleeping in different beds. We didn't get intimate at all. She was started ting to bug me about parties and events. I told her about the ninja party and I was going to hit that. Later she ended up meeting her friends for the White ball so I sat and edited footage of the outed Dateline reporter for Rob. I headed to the Ninja Party about 10pm. When the ball was light on people I started getting texts from Tina asking where I was. I told her I was up in the Ninja party and she could get in if I let her in with me. She showed up and I introduced her to Ceasar and others. I saw Pinguino and took pictures with her and I did the same with Octalpus. The Min Bosses played and me and MMCA watched as we caught up on the past. I went to leave the party and told Tina I was going elsewhere. She told me to give my Ninja Pass to her. I was like, Are You Kidding. She made a fuss and I was not going to put up with her nonsense. I gave her the badge and chose not to hang with her the rest of the night. I hit up the 303 party. I hung with Mar and she pressed her ass against the skybox window at the ninjas. We ended up going to the Penthouse and crashed that party for a while but it was quiet. I went down and I caught up with Sage and others and we ended up going to Faustus' room to drink Champagne and wine. Faustus passed out so I went to the bar and saw Ciritas and Deadoll and Jen. After drinks and pictures with them, I saw Lizzie was playing poker. I sat down and we ended up playing for six hours. I took a couple players out but they re-buyed. I got to bed around noon.
Sunday I spent in bed most of the day I missed closing ceremonies but I did get a call from Bink that he wanted to take me out to dinner with Jamiegrrrl at 6pm. I said ok and that I would have to leave Tina behind. I got ready and when I was heading out the door, Tina showed up. I explained I couldn't get her a ride to the airport because Bink was picking me up for dinner and we were heading out after that. I felt kind of a dick for doing that but I was insulted by how I was led on this weekend. I told her to have a nice safe flight and I left.
Bink, Jamiegrrrl and I went to this Italian restaurant we have eaten before and it was good. After that we were heading to Nate and Rob's house, the guys from the Dive Bar. Their house was awesome. I wasn't feeling too much up for the partying but they had some really nice home theater chairs that I was falling asleep in. We left the house after a couple of house and I headed back to my room. I saw that Tina didn't leave me a note to thank me for staying there. I also saw she didn't chip in for the three nights she spent. When someone says don't bring a girl to Defcon, believe them.
I only rested for a couple hours and headed to the floor to see some people before they left. I saw Rob and MMCA and they both said they were heading to Germany in the morning. I saw Blue Knight and he was heading back to Denver in the morning. I called Sage asking where she was and she said she was with the 303 peeps at NY, NY. I was going to go but didn't want to exhaust myself. I told her to get a hold of me when she got back to the Riv. When she did, it was Jefe, Faustus, Mar and Me at the bar.Sage asked for a room key to store her stuff in my room in the morning when she checked out. I got her one and said good night to her and good bye to Jefe and Mar.
I slept for a while and Sage came in my room about noon and had Lunaslide with her. She kissed me and said thankyou while she unloaded her stuff. She returned at 2pm to take her stuff because she was going to put it in Shaedow's room. She said that his flight was cancelled and she was going to go to the airport with him. We said goodbye to each other and I got some more rest. I was supposed to get a call from Jamiegrrrl to go to Double Down but it was getting late and I thought I had a flight in the morning. I aid a taxi driver $20 to take me from the Wynn to a Del Taco and played some video poker. I didn't get any sleep like I planned and I was tired when I was checking out. When I checked out I had a disagreement with the hotel management because their computers were down from 2am - 8am. They had to figure out my bill by hand and they gave me two different bill amounts. I am not done with them.
I got to the airport and found I wasn't flying until 5pm. It wasn't even 9am. I called a couple people to say "it happened again" and then I paid $25 to move my flight earlier. The Jetblue lady was nice and got me a seat with no one next to me so I could get some sleep. It was in the back of the plane which of course is subject to more turbulence but I took a Unisom and had a neck pillow. I was in and out of sleep. We landed safely and I was happy to be back, until I was hit by the barking of gypsy cabs. I wish someone would do something about them. We hit traffic and that sucked. I started to long for my past homes in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Better weather and driving myself. I got home, ordered food and slept from 10pm on to the next evening.
I am glad I got to see all my friends at Defcon. Shouts out to Sqweak, Queeg, Teabag, DB Cooper, Shadowvex, Goapixie, Jen, Deaddoll, Ciritas, April, El_Jefe, Kenny, Katie, El Pescador, Jim, MMCA, Blu Knight, All 303 people, Crazysage, Tim, Evil Matt, Serpent, Little Mike, Jared from Ballys, Kris Klink, Zack, Ira, Noid, Evil, L0ndo, Xtacy, Mags, Dark Tangent, One Ear Rob, Pinguino, Octalpus, Bink, Jamiegrrrl, Angry Dave, Priest, Archlight, Ceren and other I know I am missing but my mind is tired. I hope to see you all for birthdaycon.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Leaving Vegas
Ok,just got on a plane. Flying to JFK airport on flight 198. Haven't slept in quite a while. I have a neck pillow with me and I even picked up some Unisom sleeping pills. I had such a great time with my Defcon friends and I will have a long blog going up tomorrow I hope. I hope to have a safe flight
Saturday, August 04, 2007
To catch an undercover reporter
DefCon security on Friday warned attendees at the annual hacker conference that Dateline NBC may have sent a mole with a hidden camera to the event to capture hackers admitting to crimes. DefCon says it was tipped off by their own mole at Dateline who sent them a pic of the undercover journalist who DefCon employees identified as producer Michelle Madigan.
DefCon, an annual underground hacking convention in Las Vegas, has a strict policy against filming conference attendees -- TV media outlets are barred from sweeping a room with their cameras and also have to get permission from any individuals before capturing them on film. All journalists covering DefCon sign an agreement upon registering for the conference that outlines the rules, but the DefCon organizers say the mole apparently registered as a regular attendee, thereby bypassing the legal agreement.
Dateline NBC is best known for its controversial To Catch A Predator series, which uses hidden cameras to tape men who are allegedly seeking to have sex with minors they met online.
Dateline spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff would not confirm or deny the allegations about Madigan and the undercover camera at DefCon, saying only that "It's not our policy to comment on our newsgathering."
Before opening the show for business Friday, the DefCon goons announced to the crowd that there was a media mole among them. DefCon has been broadcasting her picture on the screens in conference rooms before each talk.
Note: The original version of the story did not have the picture or name the journalist or outlet. The story was updated once Dateline responded to a request for comment.
UPDATE 2: NBC's mole, Michelle Madigan, became the target of predators herself this afternoon when she was outed at DefCon as an undercover reporter and bolted out of the conference hotel with about two dozen reporters with cameras and others chasing after her -- in the manner of an NBC Dateline To Catch a Predator episode.
According to DefCon staff, Madigan had told someone she wanted to out an undercover federal agent at DefCon. That person in turn warned DefCon about Madigan's plans. Federal law enforcement agents from FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service and other agencies regularly attend DefCon to gather intelligence on the latest techniques of hackers. DefCon holds an annual contest called Spot the Fed, in which attendees out people in the audience they think are undercover federal agents. The contest is good-natured, but the feds who get caught are generally ones who don't mind getting caught.
DefCon staff say that Madigan was asked four times -- two times on the phone and two times at the conference -- if she wanted to obtain press credentials, but she declined.
DefCon staff lured her to a large hall telling her that the Spot the Fed contest was in session and that she could get a picture of an undercover federal agent at the contest. When she sat down, Jeff Moss, DefCon's founder, announced that they were changing the game. Instead of Spot the Fed, they were going to play Spot the Undercover Reporter and then announced, "And there's one in here right now." Madigan, realizing she'd been had, jumped from her seat and bolted out the door with reporters carrying cameras chasing after her through the parking lot and to her car.
Photos: Dave Bullock
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Leaving...
I am on a flight right now to Las Vegas to meet my pals. I am on
little sleep and this plane is packed. I am riding on Jet Blue which
does save on battery usage because of the XM and Direct TV. I should
be in Vegas 9:40pm which probably means at a bar by 10:00pm. Wish me
luck and I will see everyone at Defcon.
