A Call To Action

As the blog title says, this is a call to action. But it has nothing to do with me. Instead, I am reaching out on behalf of a friend of mine.

My friend Stef is heading up a team for the MDA Muscle Walk taking place February 25 in Atlanta, GA.She is seeking team members to help raise money or come up with ideas on how to raise money. I'll now quote her; 

"MDA has clinics that provide medical care to people like my Dad, Aunt and two cousins who have Muscular diseases. They provide all kinds of services that they might not be able to get any other way. Any help would be greatly appreciated"

MDA is setting up a team website for her this coming week and a team name will soon follow.

If you're interested, please get in touch with her. E-mail her at Shybizkitgirl89@aol.com or contact her on Facebook, the name is Stefany Filyaw.

I hope you'll consider helping her out and feel free to spread this blog post around to any interested parties. Hope everyone has a great remainder of the weekend! Thanks for reading.

Thoughts Out of Context - Update for 11-18-11

I know that, once again, it's been a while since I posted something here. I've been really busy these past couple of months. And I legitimately mean that this time. Being involved in York Little Theatre's production of "The Music Man" has taken up a lot of my free time. And to be honest, I wouldn't have had it any other way. So I just wanted to take a moment to make this quick update before heading to the theatre for tonight's performance to let you know what's coming up after the show closes.

My iRiff of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is still in the works. I am planning to try and have it uploaded and ready for purchase shortly after the new year at the latest. It's been a while since I started working on this project - I know that's probably an understatement at this point - so I may re-write some of the riffs in order to keep things more timely. Not sure what all I will change, but I don't want to use jokes that aren't overly relevant any longer. More updates will follow as I progress.

More "Let's Read..." videos are coming. I recorded one a while back for a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan-fic called "Rocket To Insanity" that I meant to post a while ago but just haven't gotten around to yet. I'm planning on putting it up this weekend. And as always, I welcome suggestions for fan-fics to read for this series. The more "infamous" they are, the better... I think.

The Thoughts Out of Context podcast will return in December after "The Music Man" closes. All the familiar recurring segments will return, perhaps a few new segments will be added as well. Plus, I have a multitude of interviews planned for after the first of the year, including one that has been well over a year in the making. Stay tuned for that.

A second podcast, Intelligent TV on DVD Fan, will also premiere in December. The title and format are a take-off/tribute/homage to Smart Wrestling Fan, the podcast which got me turned on to podcasting and also served as my starting point in the medium. The basic idea is I will watch and recap TV shows I have on DVD, or watch on Netflix, or some other way. The recaps will be "intelligent", as will the shows recapped. Meaning some possible candidates include The Simpsons, Futurama, Scrubs, The Office, Daria, and The Critic just to name a few. This also means that televised tripe such as Jersey Shore do not fall under the label of intelligent and as such, will not be included as a possible candidate.

"Oh my God, there he goes again! Bad mouthing Jersey Shore for no reason! You've never watched it, how can you make any judgments about it? You might actually like it if you gave it a chance! Blah blah blah!"

Back to this argument again, huh? Well, yes, it's true, I've never watched an episode of Jersey Show. But I have seen some clips courtesy of Beavis and Butthead. And from what little I've seen, it's clear to me that my negative opinion of this show is not unreasonable. I pray that none of the characters ever procreate because that would only serve to lower the average global IQ by several points. But, I am not going to be entirely unreasonable here.

Since people seem to enjoy watching me torture myself for their entertainment, as can be witnessed by my Let's Reads of "My Immortal" and "Cupcakes", I will consider watching and recapping Jersey Shore. But I'm not going to do it for free, not by a long shot. If someone donates $18, I will watch and recap the first season of Jersey Shore in a special podcast episode.

"$18? That's kind of a strange amount. I don't think that's even enough to buy the first season on DVD."

First of all, there's no way I would buy the DVD set. No way would I want to be seen buying that crap. If I watch this show, I will do so using Netflix instant since I believe the show is available that way. Should I be unable to watch it via Netflix, I'll just find a torrent somewhere and download it. Yes, I am encouraging piracy in this instance. I have no intention of these wastes of space and oxygen make money off of me!

Now my reasoning on the donation amount. According to Wikipedia, the first season of Jersey Shore is 9 episodes long. The "breakout character" of the show Snookie, also known as The Great Pumpkin, is a two-dollar whore. Nine encounters with her = $18. Simple enough, right?

"What? Why'd you call her 'The Great Pumpkin'? That doesn't make any..."

The bitch is orange! Open your eyes!

...OK, I'm better now. So, that's my proposal. Donate $18 and I'll watch, recap and discuss the first season of Jersey Shore. You can either click on the "Donate" button on the blog page, or send it directly via PayPal to dramaguycjm@verizon.net

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope all is well with everyone as we begin to enter the marathon time span known as the holidays. Take care and keep reading, watching and listening.

Random Writing Prompt for 10/23/11

Writing prompt courtesy of http://creativewritingprompts.com


Weave a poem that contains all these lines (in no particular order): "I tie the ribbon in a foolish way," "the delicious fragility of this travesty," and "where we still laugh and wish."


I tie the ribbon in a foolish way
hoping the gift will convey the words I can't bring myself to say.
Confidence is something I sorely lack,
but I've come this far, I can't afford to go back.

How I long to be young again
where the brashness of kids trumps the uncertainty of men.
Where we still laugh and wish and dream
and everything isn't as clear cut as it may seem.

But we never can regress,
we must only progress.
And I can not digest the delicious fragility
of this travesty.

So I have to summon up all my strength,
and prove I've gone to a great length.
Show her that she's the one I adore
and hope my affection she won't ignore.

"The Music Man" And I - A History

"The Music Man" is a well-known, iconic Broadway musical. And it's a show that seems to follow me in some form or another no matter where I go. And frankly, I don't mind that at all. Let me tell you what I mean.

My first exposure to "The Music Man" was in grade school. I don't remember exactly what year it was, but I'll say as a rough estimate it was somewhere between grades 5-8 which would put me between ages 11-14. We had a class in music appreciation and one week the teacher showed us the movie version of "The Music Man". We didn't watch the whole movie, I think we only watched up until "Trouble", but it was enough to stick in my mind. I was still in the mind frame that musicals were stupid at this time, but for whatever reason I didn't mind this one.

My next encounter with the show was sophomore year of high school. I was attending St. Joe's Prep in Philadelphia at the time and it was announced we'd be doing "The Music Man" for the Spring show that year. Since I was familiar with the show, I decided to apply for the position of Assistant Stage Manager much like I had done with previous shows that same year and the year before. I was chosen for the position and really enjoyed the run of the show. It turned out this would the be last show I would do at St Joe's since my family was moving from South Jersey to York, PA that summer. And honestly, I couldn't have thought of a better way to end my time at St Joe's.

In the Summer of 2000, my family and I moved to York, PA. A couple of months later, we went to a local high school production of "The Music Man". I don't remember which school it was but I know we went because one of my dad's colleagues had children who were in the show. A tenuous connection, I admit. But we were familiar with the show so we figured why not go and see it?

The following Summer, my family went to New York for a few days. We saw a few shows that summer and the revival of "The Music Man" was one of those shows. It was one of the first shows we saw together on Broadway and this trip served to be the start of what came to be a family tradition for the next couple of years.

In 2009, York Catholic High School mounted a production of "The Music Man" and Michael, my youngest brother, was in the cast as Oliver Hix, a member of the school board that is transformed into a Barbershop Quarter by the slick talking Harold Hill. It was the first musical he had been involved in as a member of the cast so it was definitely a landmark moment.

And now, here we are in 2011. It's been five years since I'd been involved in any sort of theatrical production since having graduated from college. On a Tuesday evening in late August, I decided - on somewhat of a whim - to audition for a production of "The Music Man" at York Little Theatre. I had auditioned hoping for the part of either Mayor Shinn or Charlie Cowell, a rival salesman. Both are great comedic roles and have very little to no singing associated with them. And since I've never really considered myself much of a singer, I figured those roles would play to my strengths.Imagine my surprise when a couple of days later I received word that I had been cast as a member of the Quartet! And as it turns out, I'm playing Oliver Hix, the same role my brother had when he had done the show a few years ago.

With a little over a month to go before we open, I couldn't help but sit and reflect on how "The Music Man" has been involved with my life and put it to the page. I find it very fitting that the first time I worked on the show, it signified an end to a chapter of my life. And now that I have the chance to be involved with this show again 11 years later, and on the other side of the stage, it marks the beginning of a new chapter. Whatever comes after this, I don't know just yet. But I hope it won't be preceded by another five-year hiatus from the stage.

A Long Overdue Post

It's been a while since I've posted on here. I'll chalk it up to a combination of busyness and laziness of varying degrees. So now that I'm here, it's time for an update. Get comfortable because I've got a lot to post about.

First and foremost, "Thoughts Out of the Context" the podcast is still alive. I'm planning for a return episode next week, so keep an eye out. Coming this fall, I have a lot of interviews in mind. As always, listen to the podcast and check out posts on here for announcements dealing with these special segments.

Next: I'm also contemplating adding a second podcast to my stable You may remember two years ago I did a special "Bonus" episode called "Smart The Office Fan" where I reviewed the first season of The Office on DVD in the style of the Smart Wrestling Fan podcast. And I enjoyed the concept so much that I want to do it again and more often. But since I'm not under the "Smart (pop culture aspect) Fan" banner, I'd feel wrong using that style of name. So since the concept is an homage, my new title will fit that style. That being said, be on the lookout for "Intelligent TV on DVD Fan" coming soon!

Thirdly: In addition to this blog, I have another one that you should check out. It's a collaborative project with my friend Katrina, a weight-loss blog called "10 Pounds From Gryffindor" (yes, we're Harry Potter fans in case you couldn't tell from the name). Please check that blog out at http://10lbsgdore.wordpress.com/

Now, initially this was the part of the blog where I was going to say I was possibly or perhaps officially moving as of October. Well, that is not the case now. The company I interviewed with sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago and informed me they were going to continue their search with other applicants for the position. So that's disappointing, but I'll survive. Anyway, I was going to mention the potential move and include a link to my half.com store in hopes that people would visit and buy some of the stuff I have listed in hopes that it would help contribute to rent money and also reduce the amount of stuff I'd need to pack for the move. But since I'm not going to be moving at any time in the near future, I'm still going to include a link to my store. Lots of great quality books, DVDs and even some video games are up for sale. And new stuff is being added every day. Because even though I'm not moving, I've still got bills to pay. Please check out the link at http://shops.half.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?HalfSearch&seller=mcgpa

Finally, because I will not be moving, I will now be able to finally make my return to the world of theatre. Last Tuesday, I decided on a whim to audition for York Little Theatre's production of The Music Man. And I got cast, as a member of the quartet. You can imagine my surprise since I don't really know what my voice is, I don't know my vocal range and I don't know how to read music. But you can believe I'm going to work my hardest at the this role, no matter how much of a challenge it may be. Plus, I think I will surprise a lot of people since people know me as an actor and not necessarily as a singer. I'll keep everyone up to date with the rehearsal process with posts here. I'm really looking forward to being involved in a show again after 5 long years away. I guess this just goes to show you that good things can happen when taking a chance.

Let's Read My Immortal Part 2

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Yeah... I'm continuing with this. Why? Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that out. In this edition; Gratuitous and inaccurate Japanese, inexplicable copying and pasting, and all the spelling and grammatical errors you've come to expect from "My Immortal" *shudders* Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Shameless Self Promotion #1 - Rent at York Little Theatre

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Rent is coming to York Little Theatre in York, PA July 29-31, August 4-7 and August 12-14. For tickets and more information, go to www.ylt.org