I DO love it...

I've spent the last two days trying to decide if I should make fun of this video or be jealous of children today. I came to the conclusion that I love it.




Some of the reasons I love it:

First, Jim Henson is in my top 10 list of artists. That would be a whole post unto itself, but if you don't know much about Henson, you should check him out... not just his muppet work, but all of it. And I think that many of the things that Henson created or worked on in his life have continued to be top quality artistic productions. That would include Sesame Street.

Next, it's really fun and clever. "Chickens back from the shore"... tell me that's not ingenious. you can't.

And the last thing I'll touch on... Feist took the ability to make fun of this video away from me. She's taken her original decent song and saved it from the pop culture disaster it had become by, in a sense, making fun of it herself. She's taking a song about teenage love (perhaps the song itself was already speaking to the silliness that teenage love is) and making it about counting... a grown woman saying she loves counting to 4. She's repurposed this song that was in everyones head, including the 3 year olds that watch Sesame Street, and made it educational fun for the whole family.

Yes. This is what I do on my lunch break.

My head hurts. I feel like throwing up. This isn't good. I went to the doctor today because I've had a cold for over a week... but indeed, it's just a cold and there's nothing they could do. However, my usual doctor wasn't there, so I saw someone different. I liked her... perhaps more than my usual doc. Super friendly and nice... maybe overly friendly. I think the wife would say she flirted. She'd probably say I flirted back. But she says I flirt a lot and I don't think I've flirted a day in my life. I think this is the sort of thing that leads to lots of the problems between guys and girls... when us guys are just being our suave selves with no intent, but it's seen as flirting.

I've been watching old episodes of ZeFrank and I watch the Vlogbrothers regularly. I wish I could be internet famous, but anonymous at the same time... I used to have a blog on another site... I wasn't anonymous on there just because I wasn't thinking... then some girl that liked me googled me and found the blog and read why i didn't want to date her... there was also trouble with family on there once... random stuff. Also, after stopping that blog, a new friend found out about it and read the whole 4 years worth of entries... I felt half naked, but also appreciated... odd stuff. It's hard to look back at your old self and not think how dumb you were or something like that. My college self was so much smarter and harder working than my teenaged self. My mid-twenties self was so much smarter and harder worker than my early twenties self. Tomorrow I'll officially be in my late twenties. I'm expecting some intelligence and perseverance to be awarded me over night.

The wife got me a book of short Sherlock Holmes stories for my b-day. What fun! They're quick reads, so it's like little snacks of literary goodness. Maybe I'll be ready for a full meal soon and return to my Chabon book I stopped reading. If someone wanted, they could get me a meerschaum pipe to hold while I'm reading my Holmes stories. (though he never actually uses one in Conan Doyle's text!)

And oh yeah... go see Wall-E. One of the best films of all time. (we're not talking just in the animation genre).

blow up dolls

Here's more about that inflatable street art I mentioned on here before. (kid goes to the school i work at and puts this stuff up on the block our building is on... fun thing to walk past on the way to the office)

Cut and paste the link below

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/07/video_street_artist_joshua_all.html

INDEPENDENCE!!!!

Happy 4th of July from all the flags within 100 yards of our front door.

Tight faced

I just saw the preview for the new Baz Lurhmann film, "Australia." Nicole Kidman has had so much work done on her face it's terrible! Yikes! Please stop getting adjusted Nic. The movie looks good, can't wait for it to come out. 

Homies

We are now both home for at least 5 weeks! In August the pbf goes to LA for work for a week, tough life huh. Simultaneous to that I will be going to Ohio to help wedding wrangle for my dearest friend Chloe. I start back to work on the 7th for a five week intensive that should be really fun. Then NYU and Conservatories start back after Labor Day. Can't wait!! It should be an awesome year, I'm looking forward to it. 

Dibs?

Jen,

You can't call dibs on naming our babies... You just... you just can't.  

I really wasn't expecting that blog to turn into baby comment central.  

Back to work.  Vacation was fun as you can see from some of the pics the wife posted.  

Home At Last!

We had an amazing time on our 2218 mile road trip!! Thank you for everyone who let us stay with them, took us out to eat, and spent quality time with us! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. Go to this link. Here's a teaser.

On the Road

We're still on the road.  We're enjoying the time and our 98 honda hasn't died yet.  We've enjoyed southern city hopping (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Atlanta) and look forward to more (Birmingham, Charlotte, Richmond).  

One interesting thing is relatives hint for us to have babies and ones that hint for us not to.  I mean, there's no surprises who's who, but it's surprising how blunt it can be!

Andrew Johnston

This clip from the current season of Britain's Got Talent made me weep like a little girl.

Trippin'

We are getting so excited for our roadtrip! It's going to be fun to see all of our wonderful family. The directions I just triptiked on AAA say that we will be driving 2223.1 miles. Wow! We'll hit the odometer at the beginning of the trip and see how close we get. Can't wait!

Indiana hyoid bones

I just finished a 5 day Voice Intensive with one of the master voice teachers (in the world people). It was great! I learned a lot and had some wonderful creative experiences. It wore me out! We worked non-stop each day from 10-5:30 and last night I slept 10 hours. I guess needed it. Some notable things I got out of it, that probably won't make sense to most readers, include, manipulating my hyoid bone, just let me know and I'll manipulate yours, opening up the lower part of my rib cage, ribs-belly-belly-ribs, and doing an amazing contact improv (with text!) with my fantastic Finnish partner, who was working in Finnish, so I received only pure energy. To top it off, last night I had to go straight from the last day of the workshop to a 2 hour discussion time with one Mr. Wade (mentioned in previous posts), again, another Voice master. Good times, but the house is a mess.
In other perhaps more sensical news, I will hopefully be seeing Indy 4 tomorrow with some of my favorite people in the world. I have had the release date in my planner since I bought my planner late in 2007. Unfortunately I have been so busy that I have had to wait to see it, but that's fine. I've been rewatching the first three to get prepped for in jokes that Spielberg will doubtlessly throw in. Plus I just want to get excited for the new (please let it be the last) one.
Back to the intensive. Some areas I am interested in self educating in to be a stronger teacher: grammar, anatomy (of breath/voice), acoustics and poetry. These will be the next few focuses, perhaps even this summer. Incidentally, if you ever have questions about what I do, or questions about your own voice or anything like that, I am always more than happy to dialogue to the best of my ability about such things.

Cooper needs some brows

I saw Anderson Cooper on the street today.  My boss saw him earlier in the day.  We both noted his lack of eyebrows.  I mean, I know they look whispy on tv and photos, but in real life, they're non-existent.  

Visit Our Showroom

Because I was so swamped during the recent Fall semester, I managed to completely miss the "Speechless" campaign which was used by the WGA to support their cause. There are a lot of these, and they can all be found on the you of tube. This one, with Patricia Clarkson and Amy Ryan was one I particularly enjoyed. Another really funny one has Laura Linney in it. Check them out!

Cabin fever

It seems I am already starting to get antsy. This is one of the many activities I did today to help relieve myself of antsiness.

Adventureoscopy

So I am trying to stay productive and enjoy myself during my time off. Yesterday I made my way down to Battery Park where I explored Castle Clinton. There I got to enjoy standing with a cannon, a colonial era wall and three dioramas! Then off to the National Museum of the American Indian where I bought a postcard. It was lovely. Today I had an endoscopy which was great. I thank you Touchos for sending me in the direction of an awesome doctor. My tummy doctor's office was really close to the Roosevelt Island Tram. I had never seen it before so that was cool. Right before I went under (yeah I had to "go under") my doctor said, "Well Madame, are you ready for an adventure?" Then I woke up. As a bonus he took a picture of my vocal folds and gave them to me. Pretty sweet. Thanks pbf for being in supportive attendance and thanks everybody else for your prayers!

110 in the Lampshade

It's official. Somebebe doesn't like wearing a lampshade collar. Here are some phone pictures of her looking very depressed.

*update*

I just walked into the dark kitchen to find the dog just sitting in the middle of the room, stock still. She doesn't know what to do with her lampshade collar on.

the end is near

I have 1 week left in one class and 2 weeks left in another... so close!  Also, I helped co-curate the senior gallery this year at work and we installed the show yesterday and today... We light it tomorrow and then it's done!  Woot!  The gallery opening is next wednesday night along with the students portfolio night... Summer will be here soon! and then over before it starts... 

Stress

So, as usual I am stressed. The good news is that I am much less stressed than I was a few months ago. My dear friend and blogger posted this interesting Life Change Scale. Score your Life Change Scale for the past 6 months alone. According to psychological research, persons who total 200 points or more on the following scale within a 12-month period are more prone to physical and psychological stress-related illness than those who score less. To see where you stand, simply total the number of stress points you have accumulated in the last year. Note that both pleasant and unpleasant "life events" can cause stress. Thank you for this Nomad! As I sit here typing this I am at 210. Nice. What is your Life Change Scale number?


THE SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALE
(Life Change Scale)

LIFE EVENT MEAN VALUE

Death of spouse 100
Divorce 73
Marital separation 65
Jail term 63
Death of close family member 63
Personal injury or illness 53
Marriage 50
Fired at work 47
Marital reconciliation 45
Retirement 45
Change of health in family member 44
Pregnancy 40
Sex difficulties 39
Gain of new family member (birth, adoption, older adult moving in) 39
Business readjustment 39
Change in financial state (much worse or much better) 39
Death of close friend 37
Change to different line of work 36
Change in number of arguments with spouse (more or less) 35
Loan of over $10,000 31
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30
Change in responsibilities at work (promotion, demotion, transfer) 29
Child leaving home (marriage, attending college) 29
Trouble with in-laws 29
Outstanding personal achievement 28
Spouse begins or stops work 26
Begin or end of school 26
Change in living conditions (remodeling, deterioration of neighborhood) 25
Revision of habits (dress, manners, associations) 24
Trouble with boss 23
Change in work conditions 20
Change in residence 20
Change in schools 20
Change in church activities 19
Change in recreation 19
Change in social activities 18
Loan less than $10,000 17
Change in sleeping habits 16
Change in number of family get-togethers 15
Change in eating habits 15
Vacation 13
Christmas 12
Minor violations of the law (eg traffic ticket) 11

Public art and me

I was recently in the midst of public/performance art as it was being documented... so far I've not found myself in the background of photos online.

I rode the train with these ladies on Saturday.

Two days ago I was walking by a giraffe as it was being filmed. (not the giraffe but... a bear.)