Update: I'm NOT Watching Jersey Shore... For Now, At Least

Yesterday I reported that someone had taken me up on my offer; donate $18 and I will watch, recap and review the first season of Jersey Shore.

Well, it turns out I'm not going to be doing that just yet. The donor sent me an e-mail yesterday with a few provisions I needed to follow, the main one being this project had to be finished and posted by 5:00 PM on Friday. There's no way I'd be able to make this happen, I have work and rehearsal most every day this week. I don't have all the free time in the world between now and Friday to sit, watch all 9 episodes and then comment on them. ...That and they wanted my reviews to be non-biased and not just full out bashings, but there's no way I could do honestly do that.

So, long story short, I won't be reviewing Jersey Shore just yet. The donation was refunded back to donor and the bounty is back on the table. Yay, I think?

The Mid-to-Late 90's Called, And They're Coming Back

Oh, 1995-1999, you memorable span of time. I don't recall everything I personally did in that span of time. But something I do remember very clearly, the music. During these years, I was aged 11 to 16 and my personal tastes in media were beginning to form. The alternative/modern rock boom was in full force and dominating the radio waves and MTV's music video rotation. Yes, I remember when MTV used to show videos. Incredible, isn't it?

Anyway, last week I heard from a very close friend of mine about a concert tour running this summer called The Summerland Tour. The tour consists of five bands very big during the mid-to-late 90's; Marcy Playground, Gin Blossoms, Lit, Sugar Ray and Everclear. Bands responsible for writing and playing some of my favorite songs from adolescence... and Sugar Ray. Sorry, but Sugar Ray never did it for me. Now had the fifth spot been filled by another band from MTV's Buzz Bin era like say Superdrag, Letters To Cleo, Fastball, Weezer or Better Than Ezra, then MY HEAD A SPLODE!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to completely write off this tour because of my ambivalence towards Sugar Ray. In fact, I really want to go see this show! This is the first summer festival tour I've heard about in years that I'm excited about seeing. All the details haven't been ironed out yet, but I'm hoping to go see the show outside of Washington D.C. this July with my friend Lynds who brought this concert to my attention. If I do go, I'll definitely discuss it either here, on the podcast or in vlog form. It'll depend.

The tour itself starts in June and runs until early August. If you're a fan of any of those five bands, or 90's alternative rock in general, check out this tour! More information can be found at the official website, http://summerlandtour.net/

The Future of Thoughts Out of Context

Well, here it is. The time has come for my announcement regarding the future of my "brand", for lack of a better term.

First, a little background. Last Monday, I made a small wager based on tonight's WrestleMania 28 event. One of the big matches on tonight's card is a Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and The Undertaker. The Undertaker, going into the event, was undefeated at WrestleMania with a record of 19-0. And honestly, I feel that the match result would be a foregone conclusion with the streak continuing on and The Undertaker being 20-0 and the end of the event. In fact, I was so sure of it, I wagered that if somehow Triple H won and caused The Undertaker's record to become 19-1, I would quit podcasting, blogging and posting videos.

Well, as I type this it is 9:30 PM EST and the Hell in a Cell match ended about half an hour ago. And I have from good authority - by that, I mean several postings on Facebook and Twitter - that The Undertaker won the match and has extended his record to 20-0 at WrestleMania. So that being said, looks like I'm sticking around for a while.

I'm going to try and post blogs more regularly, a new episode of the Thoughts Out of Context podcast will be up this Sunday on Easter, Intelligent TV on DVD Fan podcast will finally be coming very soon, new Let's Read videos are forthcoming and much, much more.

Now, on the off chance that WWE had booked Triple H to break the streak, I had a statement prepared. Basically, I would've said thank you for all the support and for reading, listening to and watching my posts. And closed it out with one last thing...

APRIL FOOLS, BITCHES!

Yeah, regardless of the outcome of the match I wasn't planning on going anywhere. As I stated before, there was only one set of circumstances that would make me stop posting everywhere all together; a one-time donation from anyone in the amount of $1000. And since I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, it's time for me to get back to it. Stick around and see what's on the horizon!

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.