Ho! Hey!

This song is on repeat!

Esquire's 79th Anniversary Short-Story Contest Entry (79 Word Story)

Danny looked to the mountain slopes in the distance.

“We’d better hurry if we’re going to catch up to the others. Especially with this storm coming.”

The pair doubled their pace, crunching through the snow in a steady rhythm.

To lighten the mood, Steve said “I'm reading Alive. I’m only in the first chapter, but I can tell it’s going to be good. They’re like brothers!”

Tendrils of icy air coiled around them. Danny's stomach rumbled. They padded on. 

____

This story is inspired by a scene Danny, Steve and I did in a recent Deep Schwa show. Look out for more short stories inspired by improv scenes in the coming weeks! It's my new writing project!

Blood, Iago! Blood!

My most hated internet activity is taking pictures of yourself in your bedroom (double bad bonus if you're making a kissy face or your tongue is out), but today I'm breaking my own rule. Here's a photo of me in my bedroom BUT it's because I'm posing with my latest craft project. I made these bloody headbands for the ladies to wear in the the upcoming RvD show, Wait Wait...Don't Kill Me! They're made of red felt and are intended to drip onto the shoulders. 

Where to?

In the next few days, some of the Getaways write-ups will feature "Staff Picks" for certain cities. Basically, it's an interview with a Groupon employee who has been to the location. I signed up for Riviera Maya, Mexico. I visited there in 2008 (?) when my sister got married at the Grand Palladium Riviera Maya. 


One of the questions was something like, "What was your favorite moment from the trip?" and it reminded me of one night where we got drunk at the resort. The Palladium offers a golf-cart shuttle service because the resort is so big. We hailed one down and the driver asked "Where do you ladies want to go?" From the back of the golf cart, where they normally strap in the bags, I yelled "A Infinidad...Y Mas Alla!" into the starry night. For those of you who didn't watch Toy Story in high school Spanish class with Senora LaCoco, this is Buzz Lightyear's catchphrase "To Infinity...and Beyond!" Our driver laughed but in the end, he only took us to our hotel room.


 That was a great night.

Happy Independence Day!

Jen and I saw Independence Day at the Landmark on Friday night. It was wonderful. Action movies are often described as "good for their genre," but this movie is legit good. Despite being made in 1996, the special effects are awesome and none of the "technology" was super out-of-date. (To be fair, there was a shot of a pager on the table at one point and the "upload virus" computer screen was janky as hell, but that's not bad for a two-hour movie.) 


I was happy to find some of my favorite Sci-Fi actors in the film, including Mary McDonald (First Lady Marilyn Whitmore) who is the gem of Battlestar Galactica (where she also fucked a President - but also became a President). And Adam Baldwin, who played mercenary Jayne Cobb in Joss Whedon's Firefly, had a surprisingly large part as Major Mitchell.


While watching the movie, I was reminded that I had an Independence Day action figure. (I was in the 6th grade when the movie came out so lay off). But did I buy the action figure of Will Smith, the charismatic fighter pilot? Or Bill Pullman, President and decorated war hero? Or even the alien? No. I bought the action figure of the be-spectacled scientist (Jeff Goldblum) who found a pattern in the alien transmission and uploaded a computer virus. I was a nerd from the very beginning.

Why does a scientist have a grappling hook and body armor? His skills were Microsoft Office.

New RvD show poster!

Rammel Chan, my assistant director for Wait Wait..Don't Kill Me! finished our show poster last week. He did a phenomenal job. It's got a dime-store comic book feel, a lot like the covers of the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt comics. Except it's got a touch of class with this black-tie affair. Or should I say... black-DIE affair?


(This show is filled with puns.)

Blame It On the Rain

I listen to Spotify all day at work so I am constantly putting new (and old) music into my head. With the sheer volume of music, it's hard for a particular song to catch my ear and make me want to play it on repeat for 30-minutes. Or blog about it.


This song, "Blame It On the Rain" by He is We caught me in its musical web this week. 


It appeals to a lot of my tastes - it's driven by acoustic guitar, piano, and some light bells. The vocals are really heartfelt, too. But what hooked me is the lyrics "Does she get the same big rush/ when you go in for a hug and your cheeks brush?" 


Sometimes songs start with a relatable theme but the details make it specific to the singer.  Although you may identify with parts, it feels like someone else's song. This song takes a lot of the singer's agency out and make it the listener's song. It's doesn't make claims like "I could love you better." It acts a simple question: Am I crazy or is there something here? Are you feeling what I'm feeling?


I haven't felt this in a while, but the song took my back to the moments in my life where I too felt a thrill and asked those questions to myself. For a song to make you feel something you're not feeling is definitely a mark of something worth sharing.


Enjoy!