28 July 2009

Red Snapper and Mr. Snapper channel Uma and John at the Monday Night Tease.
Some Random Thoughts on the Past Week

The marathon week that started with Monday Night Tease's 2nd Annual Quentin Tarantino Burlesque Film Festival on the 20th, ran through Comic-Con and Victory Variety Hour's Super Nova A-Go-Go in San Diego on Thursday, and up to Universal CityWalk for some hot marionette action on Saturday culminated in the bloody, sticky, loud and rollicking reprise of the Tarantino fest last night. [Note: As usual, I'm omitting the name of the marionette gig because it's for kids, and this blog certainly isn't!]

Mr. Snapper as Han Solo at Super Nova A-Go-Go, Comic Con weekend in San Diego.

Those pants are about to be torn off.

Some thoughts:
  • Burlesque is a perfect theatrical artform. A burlesque act is a distilled microcosm of everything live theatre has to offer. I could go on and on about this (and probably will at a future date) but performing rough and tumble popular (populist?) theatre is good for the soul.

  • There are enough photos and videos in circulation of me taking my clothes off to effectively bar my entry into politics. That is, unless I run as an LP candidate. In that case, the most I could hope for is local office. ("Councilman Moore" has a nice ring to it.)

  • Comic Con was equal parts intimidating and inspiring. The light post banners characterized the event as "a celebration of the popular arts," or something like that. Carve me off a piece of that!

  • I really enjoy puppetry, but I'm not sure what more I want to do as a professional. There was a time when I pursued an active interest in breaking through to the "next level" career-wise; working towards major TV, film, and commercial shoots. Now I'm afraid that might suck all the fun out of it. I like that it's not my main "job," rather it's something I'm good at that I get paid to do on occasion. I think that's good enough for me.

  • I've had the opportunity to chat with people about that new play I'm working on. It may seem strange -- particularly in Hollywood where every writer seems afraid to so much as breath the title of their work-in-progress, lest some unscrupulous so-and-so steal it -- but I get a lot out of hashing the story out to friends whose opinions I respect. Had a chat with Teo (a fellow burlesque dancer's husband) last night, and his reactions gave me a good sense of what story elements are the strongest.

That's all pretty random, but I'm in a random mood after the last week! Here are some photos from that marionette thing:

Photographer: Alright ... everyone do something wacky!

Me: How about you just take the damn picture?


Backstage. Nothing says "Summer" like long-sleeve, black t-shirts.

That's me on the far right.


Our audience. Huge! This concert was at Universal CityWalk, a noisy outdoor mall on the front doorstep of Universal Studios Theme Park. Out of frame, and to the right is a jumbotron monitor on which our spaceship is seen landing. A hot day, but a great day!