Atheist resurgence
I find the coverage of religion and atheism is on the rise with CNN because of their comment pages becoming so popular. But the funny part is the same old, tired, arguments being used over and over again.
1. Atheists are immoral
Why do people believe that? What is it about me that is so immoral? I have never killed anyone. I have never been arrested. I don't cheat on my taxes. I care about my family (sans my sister who has yet to learn how to respect me). I don't abuse animals. I care about the environment.
2. Atheists worship Satan
How can we believe in Satan when we don't believe in God? We don't believe in the Bible as a literal history.
3. Atheists are incapable of committing an altruistic act
There's no such thing. Any time we do something good for someone or a cause, we get this funny little feeling called happiness. The only possible altruistic act would be to die to save another person. But even then, Christians look forward to going to heaven for this act. Therefore, they expect reward for doing good. Atheist's see no reward in death because there is no afterlife in which to revel for our achievements. Would I die to save another person's life? Yes. Do I hope that I ever have to? No.
4. Atheists are only pretending not to believe in god because it's a rebellious act.
Negative. I don't believe in god (or any other supernatural events/figures/gods/goddesses/etc.) because there is no proof. People love to cite the Bible (or other religious texts) as proof of god, but since all of them were written by humans it seems logical to conclude that god doesn't exist.
A Christian friend of mine, who was trying to convince me that the Bible has done miraculous works by converting pagans who sacrificed women and newborns to their pagan gods, argued that God intervenes by inspiring Christians to write these stories. This "reasoning" still doesn't count as proof. But it's a nice way of saying that Christianity was trying to do good and maybe we should learn that killing babies and women as sacrifice to pagan gods is bad. But all kids have to grow up and learn that Santa doesn't exist. They're stories made up by our parents to teach us right from wrong. Which goes back to argument number one. We don't gain our morals from god, we learn them from our culture and parents.
(Click the culture link to see how Japan has become the target of outrage because of simulate rape games)
So my point is, apologetics are tired and old. The world isn't flat , atheists are not the largest number of criminals, and I look forward to reading anyone's truly well thought out arguments that can make me think.
Until then, I am an atheist. I am an American. I am a law-abiding citizen.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I fought authority and authority always wins
Well they win sometimes. If you ever have the pleasure of working with Russ Ketteringham, here's a fun list of ways to annoy and pester him at work.
10. Turn his cap sideways
9. Take lots of pictures of him, especially when he fumbling with his iTouch
8. Constantly point out the fact that he "should have taken that cruise ship vacation when it was cheaper."
7. Hide his life vest.
6. Sing songs his 4 year old son loves, knowing fully well that he'll get them stuck in his head.
5. Wait until you know he's just about to tell you to get back to work, then start saying "No" over and over again until he sighs or tries to throw you down a flight of stairs. (True story)
4. Wait until you see Chuck coming your way, then leave him to deal with the boss all alone.
3. Start and end the day by saying "No me gusta" then refuse to accept his battered spanglish.
2. Laugh at his old pics and call him a hippy.
1. And the number one way to bug him.... post a blog and share with everyone!
Enjoy!
10. Turn his cap sideways
9. Take lots of pictures of him, especially when he fumbling with his iTouch
8. Constantly point out the fact that he "should have taken that cruise ship vacation when it was cheaper."
7. Hide his life vest.
6. Sing songs his 4 year old son loves, knowing fully well that he'll get them stuck in his head.
5. Wait until you know he's just about to tell you to get back to work, then start saying "No" over and over again until he sighs or tries to throw you down a flight of stairs. (True story)
4. Wait until you see Chuck coming your way, then leave him to deal with the boss all alone.
3. Start and end the day by saying "No me gusta" then refuse to accept his battered spanglish.
2. Laugh at his old pics and call him a hippy.
1. And the number one way to bug him.... post a blog and share with everyone!
Enjoy!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Grandpa's Bday 095
This is my grandfather, Ramon Rosas. He is 95 years old, and suffered from a stroke last night. One of the most stubborn people in our family, especially when it comes to relaxing. He still works for Boeing, and even learned how to use computers just so he wouldn't have to retire.
Needless to say, sitting in a hospital room right now and being forced to rest is what's killing him. He was changing the engine on his beloved 1970's era ford pick-up when my aunt saw him, put his tools down, then kneel and lay down. She ran to him and his slurred speech prompted her to call 911.
My father visited him this morning and as expected my grandpa was furious. He hates being so dependent on other people and he absolutely hated having people see him in this condition. I decided not to go and instead fix my halloween lights that burned out.
I think I won't visit him for a few days, I know that if this happened to me, I wouldn't want people to see me like that either. And considering he has come so far, and they expect him to recover, I don't think I'll be losing him soon. And if I do, I'd rather not have my last memory of him be in such a bad condition. My last memory of my grandmother struggling to breathe was enough to make me never smoke again.
Needless to say, sitting in a hospital room right now and being forced to rest is what's killing him. He was changing the engine on his beloved 1970's era ford pick-up when my aunt saw him, put his tools down, then kneel and lay down. She ran to him and his slurred speech prompted her to call 911.
My father visited him this morning and as expected my grandpa was furious. He hates being so dependent on other people and he absolutely hated having people see him in this condition. I decided not to go and instead fix my halloween lights that burned out.
I think I won't visit him for a few days, I know that if this happened to me, I wouldn't want people to see me like that either. And considering he has come so far, and they expect him to recover, I don't think I'll be losing him soon. And if I do, I'd rather not have my last memory of him be in such a bad condition. My last memory of my grandmother struggling to breathe was enough to make me never smoke again.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Las Vegas Bachelorette Weekend
Las Vegas was awesome! Despite the blisters from wearing unfriendly, but very cute, high heels, we had a great time. I learned going to Vegas with nothing but girls is great for getting into clubs for free. In fact, several of us girls on WOC (world of color) are planning a celebratory Vegas trip after the show opens.
As for the picture, we at Stack the first night. I snapped a pic right before I ate this little spicy crab appetizer. It was so amazing! I wanted to just order a large one as a meal, but it wasn't the only thing we had on the table so...
Anyways, the food was great. We wound up at Revolutions and then Jet afterwards for more drinks and dancing. Bottle service at Jet was wonderful. Like my friend Corrine said, once you do bottle service, you'll never want anything else at a club again. It's so nice having a reserved table and couch in the club for taking a break.
Anyhoos, that's it for now. I saw the Nightman Cometh at the Paladium last night, maybe if I'm not too lazy I'll blog that too.
As for the picture, we at Stack the first night. I snapped a pic right before I ate this little spicy crab appetizer. It was so amazing! I wanted to just order a large one as a meal, but it wasn't the only thing we had on the table so...
Anyways, the food was great. We wound up at Revolutions and then Jet afterwards for more drinks and dancing. Bottle service at Jet was wonderful. Like my friend Corrine said, once you do bottle service, you'll never want anything else at a club again. It's so nice having a reserved table and couch in the club for taking a break.
Anyhoos, that's it for now. I saw the Nightman Cometh at the Paladium last night, maybe if I'm not too lazy I'll blog that too.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
OC Fair 2009 605
This was my recent trip to the OC Fair with friends. We had such a blast and I had to post this pic. I loved the colors and was having a lot of fun playing with the manual mode of my Canon Xti.
We got to see a lot of fun stuff. The hypnotist show was packed so we watched from afar, there were tap dancers and guys juggling flaming pins.
I started up a flickr. pro account so any public pics will be available on...
www.flickr.com/photos/teksalot
My photoblog finally hit its cancellation because I would always forget to update it (kind of like this blog). But it's not like I have a subscription base of readers so ... :-P
We got to see a lot of fun stuff. The hypnotist show was packed so we watched from afar, there were tap dancers and guys juggling flaming pins.
I started up a flickr. pro account so any public pics will be available on...
www.flickr.com/photos/teksalot
My photoblog finally hit its cancellation because I would always forget to update it (kind of like this blog). But it's not like I have a subscription base of readers so ... :-P
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Keeping Busy
So with this faltering economy, I've been trying to find ways to keep myself busy. Lately I'm getting about 3 days a week at work. And that's not the number of days I'm scheduled. On average, I am scheduled 1 day a week and the only thing saving me right now is the number of call-in's to work. A lot of full timers are being scheduled in shifts they wouldn't normally be on and rather than do the work, they are nice enough to call in and let part timers take the shifts.
But in the mean time, I'm trying to keep busy. USITT is just around the corner and I've already booked my hotel and tickets for Cincinnati, OH. I'm also getting certified in CPR and looking forward to hitting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland before we leave.
We (as in the FCCT crew) are also gearing up to help out at the Theater Festival at Fullerton College for local High School students. My friends and I will host a mini session for techs in the afternoon. Something we are modeling after attending USITT last year. Zach and Steve attended a mini-session on light focusing and found it to be lacking true organization.
Our hope is just to get this started, it may turn out to be an Question and Answer session this time to find out what we can offer the students in the future. Maybe we can start the first high school version of a USITT session weekend?
It's amazing what we can come up with when we just have a lot of free time on our hands. And the funny part is, the only thing that has left me feeling really accomplished in the last few days was fixing the TV reception in the follow spot break room at work.
But in the mean time, I'm trying to keep busy. USITT is just around the corner and I've already booked my hotel and tickets for Cincinnati, OH. I'm also getting certified in CPR and looking forward to hitting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland before we leave.
We (as in the FCCT crew) are also gearing up to help out at the Theater Festival at Fullerton College for local High School students. My friends and I will host a mini session for techs in the afternoon. Something we are modeling after attending USITT last year. Zach and Steve attended a mini-session on light focusing and found it to be lacking true organization.
Our hope is just to get this started, it may turn out to be an Question and Answer session this time to find out what we can offer the students in the future. Maybe we can start the first high school version of a USITT session weekend?
It's amazing what we can come up with when we just have a lot of free time on our hands. And the funny part is, the only thing that has left me feeling really accomplished in the last few days was fixing the TV reception in the follow spot break room at work.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A new way of thinking
I am currently being trained on a hog 1000. It's a fun step backwards after learning the ETC EOS. I've previously run a hog 500 for a dinner show, but using the hog for the night bands at TLT Disneyland is amazing.
I've never run a complicated show on the fly. Now I'm being forced to think in a whole new way. It's really exciting and really hard at the same time. I'm not musically trained in instruments, and now I have to anticipate how I'm going to light the verses, the choruses, and the key changes.
My trainer, asked me how I design. I told her it all depends on the script (thanks Bill). I determine the mood, the location, the time, the season. Factor in the costumes, sets and skin tones of the actors.
She said, not to think about that, because here, there is no script. Instead I have to find what texture the music makes me think of. She said that when she lights Teddy Bear by Elvis Presley, she thinks of flowers. Therefore, she chose magenta as a backlight.
Now I find myself listening to music and trying to think of a texture. I was listening to every random song on my ipod and trying to think of new looks for each one. I thought of velvet while listening to a Celine Dion song and choose purple. Then I listened to a Sweet Child of Mine by Guns 'N' Roses and thought of rain and chose layers of blue and white.
I kept doing this until I finally fell asleep and found it helped relax me from the anxiety I felt at having to process so much from my training. Hope this helps someone else out there.
I've never run a complicated show on the fly. Now I'm being forced to think in a whole new way. It's really exciting and really hard at the same time. I'm not musically trained in instruments, and now I have to anticipate how I'm going to light the verses, the choruses, and the key changes.
My trainer, asked me how I design. I told her it all depends on the script (thanks Bill). I determine the mood, the location, the time, the season. Factor in the costumes, sets and skin tones of the actors.
She said, not to think about that, because here, there is no script. Instead I have to find what texture the music makes me think of. She said that when she lights Teddy Bear by Elvis Presley, she thinks of flowers. Therefore, she chose magenta as a backlight.
Now I find myself listening to music and trying to think of a texture. I was listening to every random song on my ipod and trying to think of new looks for each one. I thought of velvet while listening to a Celine Dion song and choose purple. Then I listened to a Sweet Child of Mine by Guns 'N' Roses and thought of rain and chose layers of blue and white.
I kept doing this until I finally fell asleep and found it helped relax me from the anxiety I felt at having to process so much from my training. Hope this helps someone else out there.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
LDI Las Vegas
So LDI was awesome. My first time attending, much like USITT but there was booze everywhere! Gotta love Vegas.
I had a great time attending the Ohm's Law class. Learned a lot but I need to practice my math skills quite a bit. Brain Age on my DS doesn't quite cover resistance and voltage in their math lessons. Too bad! (Hey million dollar idea, Brain Age: The tech's version)
I got a close up tour of the GrandMA 2. Beautiful board in black, squarish. Not as futuristic looking as I thought it'd be, but it still has the "Erect" button.
Also took a session on PRG's Series 400 power and data distro. Great idea running networking down the same trunk line as the breakout boxes. Plus the built-in safety features of power are great. (i.e. If you plug a 120 breakout into the 208v output, the distro will not send power down the line, and if there is a addressing conflict, the network will not broadcast until the problem is fixed)
I also attending a paperwork class on festival and rep theater. Not as exciting, basically emphasized using the class feature in Vectorworks and synching multiple worksheets in Excel or LightWright to keep track of what lights can work with multiple shows.
Can't wait for USITT in March 2009! Hope to see ya'all there!
I had a great time attending the Ohm's Law class. Learned a lot but I need to practice my math skills quite a bit. Brain Age on my DS doesn't quite cover resistance and voltage in their math lessons. Too bad! (Hey million dollar idea, Brain Age: The tech's version)
I got a close up tour of the GrandMA 2. Beautiful board in black, squarish. Not as futuristic looking as I thought it'd be, but it still has the "Erect" button.
Also took a session on PRG's Series 400 power and data distro. Great idea running networking down the same trunk line as the breakout boxes. Plus the built-in safety features of power are great. (i.e. If you plug a 120 breakout into the 208v output, the distro will not send power down the line, and if there is a addressing conflict, the network will not broadcast until the problem is fixed)
I also attending a paperwork class on festival and rep theater. Not as exciting, basically emphasized using the class feature in Vectorworks and synching multiple worksheets in Excel or LightWright to keep track of what lights can work with multiple shows.
Can't wait for USITT in March 2009! Hope to see ya'all there!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Learning the Boards
I've spent the last two days with Disney Cast Conservatory learning how to run light boards. The first one being the Hog iPC (Hog 2) and the second being the Grand MA.
My head is absolutely reeling from all the information that was poured into my head at such a fast pace. Learning the two syntaxes (syntaxi?) is like learning a new way of speaking. Plus I trained on the ETC Eos at USITT...
I'm currently working on making cheat sheets for the basic functions, and when I compile them, I'll scan them and post them. Peace out!
My head is absolutely reeling from all the information that was poured into my head at such a fast pace. Learning the two syntaxes (syntaxi?) is like learning a new way of speaking. Plus I trained on the ETC Eos at USITT...
I'm currently working on making cheat sheets for the basic functions, and when I compile them, I'll scan them and post them. Peace out!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
USITT 2008 Houston, TX
USITT Itinerary
Tues:
8:30am to 5:30pm EOS Board Training
Presenter: Anne Valentino
Anne Valentino helped design the EOS board.
This class was amazing. We spent 8 hours, 3 people on a console, learning the new features on the board. We patched, learned setup, created cues, presets, & palettes, and used Capture software to see our results.
Wednesday:
12:00pm to 1:30pm Dance Lighting from the Crazy Horse Paris
Don Childs showed us how projecting images can enhance dancer movements. The panel was a bit lacking in other visuals. The speakers didn't show any images from the actual show and were afraid to show video for fear of being sued. It would have been a lot better if the dancer had been featured on a stage as well instead of being on the same level as the audience. We had to stand at the back and sides to see anything, but the concept is definitely something I'd love to play with in the theater.
2:00pm to 3:30pm Programming Moving Lights in Book Shows
Tom Littrel basically covered everything I learned in Brad Schiller's book Automated Programmer's Handbook. I feel I actually learned more about programming moving lights in the EOS class.
4:00pm to 5:30pm Wireless Dimming and DMX in Practice
Ian Phillips, creator of the RC4 magic dimming system hosted more than presented this class. Ryan Davies, Kathleen Devault, Dennis Long, and Nick Van Houten all gave examples with real production problems and solutions, showing how wireless dmx and radio dmx saved their shows. Amazing images, great ideas.
6:00pm to 7:20pm Transformers, Generators and Voltage
Roger L. Lattin and Steve Holliday were the moderators for this very informal seminar. Unfortunately, Mr. Lattin's luggage was lost and he was without paper handouts for his presentation. They actually corrected the title of this lecture to read "Transformers, Generators, and Non-Standard Voltages." Both had wonderful stories on gigs they've worked and tips for certain regions of the US and even some international problems they've encountered.
References:
http://www.powersmiths.com
http://www.egsa.org
http://mikeholt.com
www.Aggreko.com
7:30pm to 8:50pm Pigment, Fabric and Light -- Interplay of Costumes & Painted Scenery Under Colored Lights
Presenters: Don Childs, Kristina S. Hanssen, Peter Monahan, Robert O. Moody
Basically, we watched ETC Revolutions and Varilite Washes scroll through several colors while the designers placed a painted backdrop, various black maskings and cyc materials, painted swatches and costumes on a small stage. This really didn't teach anything, but gave everyone an idea of what different colors do to different colors on paint and fabric. It would have been better in a true black box setting where there wasn't a large amount of light bouncing off the floors of the convention room.
Thursday
12:15pm to 1:35pm Convention Fixture Projections
Presenters: KC Hooper, Shawn Irish, Bryan Stevenson
This was a big let down. Apollo spent most of it's time trying to sell their "make your own gobo" kit rather than show new and creative ideas for using old equipment and gobos.
2:30pm to 3:50pm Physics of Theatre: Rigging
Presenters: Dr. Eric and Beth Martell
Too much math and not enough demo. The couple have a book coming out on this subject and I do look forward to reading it, but my lack of math skills makes me doubt it would help someone who's looking to understand enough rigging to keep myself safe and not actually become a rigger myself.
References:
http://www2.kcpa.uiuc.edu/kcpatd/physics/index.htm
4:45pm to 6:05pm Tuning your palette -- Lighting, That is
Presenters: KC Hooper, Holly Blomquist, Rich Dale, John Horan
This panel was quite fun. Questions were prepared in advance and each designer took a turn answering with fun stories and great ideas. Attendees took turns asking questions on how to deal with directors and color choices and the answers from the different types of design backgrounds were great!
Friday
4:45pm to 6:05pm Designing with LED's
Presented by Derek Barnwell, Buddy Combs, Anthony R. Phelps
This was a great presentation on the limitations and features of LED's. An actual LED engineer presented what an LED actually is and why it's structure creates light. The future of the LED was discussed leading to the idea that LEDs will eventually be able to replace conventional fixtures, but are not quite ready for that task as of now.
Saturday
10:00am to 11:20am Stump the Rigger
Presented by Bill Sapsis, Gwen Sees, Don Dimitroff, Tray Allen, and Eric McAfee
Great panel question and answer session. The winning question was "What is the load rating of a paper clip?" A woman had a set piece go on the road with a show, when it returned, it showed signs of being rigged overhead with a paper clip as a connection point.
References:
http://sapsis-rigging.com/
1994/5 Garth Brooks Truss collapse
Emery Atlanta GA Truss collapse
12:15pm to 1:35pm Distinguished Scenic Designer: John Lee Beatty
Mr. Beatty chose to present informally. He showed us photos and sketches of all his work over the years, answered questions and basically offered insight to his design process. He was awarded with a lifetime achievement award from USITT and received a standing ovation at the end of his presentation.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Patrick's Wedding
Well I have once again neglected my duties to update this blog. Seems my myspace gets all my attention these days. But here they are at last, my photos from Patrick's Wedding. Simple design to say the least.
The room before anything has been done.
A swatch of Patrick's tartan for my color choices
The Set Designers concept of what it will look like
Well it turned out as well as it could for an afternoon wedding. But the groom wished for a theatrical wedding and this was the best I could do competing against the sunlight. I think I did quite well, and it only cost him a bottle of Cazadores Tequila. Now that's a great designers fee. But I promise not to make that the standard.
The room before anything has been done.
A swatch of Patrick's tartan for my color choices
The Set Designers concept of what it will look like
Well it turned out as well as it could for an afternoon wedding. But the groom wished for a theatrical wedding and this was the best I could do competing against the sunlight. I think I did quite well, and it only cost him a bottle of Cazadores Tequila. Now that's a great designers fee. But I promise not to make that the standard.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Fantasmic & Friends
I have officially been signed off now as a followspot op for Fantasmic at Disneyland. I have to say it is one of the hardest shows I've ever spotted. I sit in a tower about 50 feet up in the air and when the wind kicks up the tower sways. I'm not afraid of falling, I use a fall arrest harness and lanyard for safety purposes, but the hard part is keeping the spot steady enough to make the pick-ups and follow the actors smoothly.
My hardest shot is Peter Pan at the top of the Columbia but since I'm new, they are letting me get away with picking him up in a wider iris and narrowing down after I come on. Eventually I'll be able to get him in a tight shot at the start and follow him when he flies down to fight Captain Hook.
I left my job at Pirates and said farewell to a lot of new friends. I know it's a risk because Disney isn't going to give a newbie a lot of work, but if I want to succeed, I need to have a clear schedule whenever they do call me for work. Financially I saved a lot of money so that if a rainy day comes along I will be ok, and I am ready for that. Plus, I am using the "free time" for my neglected friend and family duties. This weekend I'm hosting a baby shower for my niece, who is doing quite well and should be home in August after being born three months premature (Thank goodness for life-saving technology) and next weekend I am designing lights for my friends wedding up at Mt. Sac. (Gotta hate that no alcohol on school district campuses policy!) But pictures will follow if all goes to plan and it's worth putting on a portfolio. Hopefully the schools inventory is as available as they have promised and the short load in time is plenty enough.
My hardest shot is Peter Pan at the top of the Columbia but since I'm new, they are letting me get away with picking him up in a wider iris and narrowing down after I come on. Eventually I'll be able to get him in a tight shot at the start and follow him when he flies down to fight Captain Hook.
I left my job at Pirates and said farewell to a lot of new friends. I know it's a risk because Disney isn't going to give a newbie a lot of work, but if I want to succeed, I need to have a clear schedule whenever they do call me for work. Financially I saved a lot of money so that if a rainy day comes along I will be ok, and I am ready for that. Plus, I am using the "free time" for my neglected friend and family duties. This weekend I'm hosting a baby shower for my niece, who is doing quite well and should be home in August after being born three months premature (Thank goodness for life-saving technology) and next weekend I am designing lights for my friends wedding up at Mt. Sac. (Gotta hate that no alcohol on school district campuses policy!) But pictures will follow if all goes to plan and it's worth putting on a portfolio. Hopefully the schools inventory is as available as they have promised and the short load in time is plenty enough.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
New Job
Well today was my first official day working for The Mouse. I'm loving it so far. Great people, learning a lot, working with great technology. My first day was 12 hours long (6am to 6:30pm) with a 30 minute lunch. Built truss, hung some light Mac 700 washes, profiles and Mac 2k's. Fun times.
I'm hoping this job works out. So far, the hours aren't great, not enough that is... But if it doesn't work out... There's always the cruise ships.
Tiffany and I went to Fish in a Bottle for some great sushi afterward to celebrate. She's got a lot more hours than me though because she's been placed on the training crews for Fantasmic. Grrrr....
I'm hoping this job works out. So far, the hours aren't great, not enough that is... But if it doesn't work out... There's always the cruise ships.
Tiffany and I went to Fish in a Bottle for some great sushi afterward to celebrate. She's got a lot more hours than me though because she's been placed on the training crews for Fantasmic. Grrrr....
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Final Dress
Light Sings - The pit rises with the scaffolding on the pit
Light Sings - Music changes with the 'sunrise'
Monologues - Each character has a short quote or thought that gives insight to who all of the characters are.
Dream Babies - Nora sings her child to sleep as other look on in enjoyment of the pretty night
Hear My Song - Not part of the original show, added by the director as a way to tie the episodic show together
Monologues - As the scaffolding revolves, a new character is revealed and they talk about their made up ties to celebrities. 'I am the long lost son of Paul McCartney..."
Hear My Song - Final pose before bows
Show opens tonight at 8pm on the dot. Door lock and entry will not be available to anyone until intermission after show starts. Tickets are free
The Me Nobody Knows
Campus Theater
Fullerton College
321 E. Chapman Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92831
Campus Theater
Fullerton College
321 E. Chapman Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92831
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
tech rehearsal
I arrived at the theater around 11:30am today and began working on notes before I finished programming. First thing I did was change the gobos in onstage gobo wash. I changed to a circular foliage gobo instead of the squared off sponge looking ones. This helped with the coverage problem I seemed to be having. A good bit of advice that I remembered: "Don't shutter if you absolutely don't have to."
Next I sat to fix a few patch problems and found my wonderful friends had already jumped in to fix some. (Where would I be without them?)
Finally it came time to start programming and rather than move on, I decided to jump backwards and fix previous cues I had pondered on over the night. I guess things didn't look so bad afterall. I decided to fore go the stop watch and just have the stage manager call as many cues as possible. No more nice Roxie. :-)
And after finishing cues (30 minutes before tech was supposed to start) I sat down to meet my crew. I placed the girls with the most spot experience on the followspots, and the sound girl who decided to run lights for this show on the light board. I'm really happy with how things are going. I got a lot of compliments with "buts" attached.
"The cue looks great, but..."
Mostly, the director had specific colors in mind (no problem with color faders) and he wanted a lot more movement and changes in two of the numbers. Well, without a hog I guess I'll be programming a hell of a lot more tomorrow. Good thing I can go to the hundreth of a decimal in programming. I have several cues like "22, 22.1, 22.11"
Thanks ETC! :-)
Next I sat to fix a few patch problems and found my wonderful friends had already jumped in to fix some. (Where would I be without them?)
Finally it came time to start programming and rather than move on, I decided to jump backwards and fix previous cues I had pondered on over the night. I guess things didn't look so bad afterall. I decided to fore go the stop watch and just have the stage manager call as many cues as possible. No more nice Roxie. :-)
And after finishing cues (30 minutes before tech was supposed to start) I sat down to meet my crew. I placed the girls with the most spot experience on the followspots, and the sound girl who decided to run lights for this show on the light board. I'm really happy with how things are going. I got a lot of compliments with "buts" attached.
"The cue looks great, but..."
Mostly, the director had specific colors in mind (no problem with color faders) and he wanted a lot more movement and changes in two of the numbers. Well, without a hog I guess I'll be programming a hell of a lot more tomorrow. Good thing I can go to the hundreth of a decimal in programming. I have several cues like "22, 22.1, 22.11"
Thanks ETC! :-)
Monday, January 15, 2007
blah
So I started programming my show today. And my first impression is that it looks awful. I'm hating my color choices and I'm having so much difficulty learning how to program with tracking. I've always programmed in cue only because I never used intelligent lights. Now I find myself working with technobeams and color faders and auto yokes.
Tomorrow I'll set up the fog machines and see the cues with the actual cast on stage and maybe I'll see it differently. I still have yet to meet my crew since the stage manager was kind enough to not give me a freakin contact sheet! Still! The show opens this weekend and I'm still in the dark as how to contact anyone but the director and her.
I will never again, ever work on a show that doesn't have a production manager. EVER!
Oh and the show music, which I finally got today (an hour before I started programming) sounds like some guy recorded himself playing a little casio keyboard. Blah!!!
Tomorrow I'll set up the fog machines and see the cues with the actual cast on stage and maybe I'll see it differently. I still have yet to meet my crew since the stage manager was kind enough to not give me a freakin contact sheet! Still! The show opens this weekend and I'm still in the dark as how to contact anyone but the director and her.
I will never again, ever work on a show that doesn't have a production manager. EVER!
Oh and the show music, which I finally got today (an hour before I started programming) sounds like some guy recorded himself playing a little casio keyboard. Blah!!!
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Meeting the director
So yesterday I spent the morning up in the booth loading old shows and finding something close to house plot and what's actually up in the air, just so I can see what's actually up in the air. The problem with designing a show off a current plot is that no one usually wants to share their paperwork. I've asked several times from a friend who's the master electrician and house plot designer for the theater, but I think even he wants to protect his design and he keeps sending me stuff that helps, but doesn't quite cut it.
I asked him to send me the house plot on vectorworks. First he sent it in version 12, I had to reask for it in version 11. When it finally came, I opened it and found it was his plot of The Crucible which had also adapted house plot. Then he sent me a word document which was a poor scan of the electrics from a hand drawn plot. No info on FOH.
So yesterday's morning was well worth it just playing with the board and RFU bringing up channels and taking lots of notes. I will be spending any free time I have at work today trying to figure out how to use as many of the lights that are up in the air, and where I will switch some out or just plain take them down to make room for the 6 to 8 technos (I wish I could get a clear answer on inventory) and the 5 auto yokes (the 6th is out for repair and won't be back for probably a year, seeing as how the school district's delivery is slower than my grandmother).
And I still don't have a clue which linesets the scene designer wants. I keep asking him and the director, but they can't meet until Monday to decide that and no one wants to take a guess. So until then, I'm going to try to stick to the current electrics, which I've made clear I will not move because of time.
The meeting with Gary went wonderful. Since I attended their first blocking rehearsal I was able to write out all the opening cues of the show and so far, he loved them. He had a lot of ideas of what he wanted for certain songs and certain moments which I loved. He's not one of those directors forcing his idea of what the lights should look like, he just uses key phrases and always re-iterates that it's up to me.
For example, the song This World, he asked for lots of circular motion. I said with the technos I could have lights chasing circular and he added, "sounds great" and just said to do it however I wanted and make it as busy as possible. The next section is a series of people speaking. His idea is to create "hallways" with lights. Basically isolating a horizontal plane of the stage as the person crosses from SL to SR (or vice versa). I recommended pure side light with different colors as each hallways is revealed moving upstage along with the followspots. He said great and we moved on for an hour like that.
So now I'm off to work and taking my notebook with me and my ipod which has the old version of the show music on it so I can learn it. The new music won't be ready probably until tech rehearsal begin which blows since timing is key. So until then, I just have to keep figuring out how to finish the plot and keep the hang/focus time under 2 days without changing too much and rendering the theater useless since there are events going on in there the weekend before our show.
I asked him to send me the house plot on vectorworks. First he sent it in version 12, I had to reask for it in version 11. When it finally came, I opened it and found it was his plot of The Crucible which had also adapted house plot. Then he sent me a word document which was a poor scan of the electrics from a hand drawn plot. No info on FOH.
So yesterday's morning was well worth it just playing with the board and RFU bringing up channels and taking lots of notes. I will be spending any free time I have at work today trying to figure out how to use as many of the lights that are up in the air, and where I will switch some out or just plain take them down to make room for the 6 to 8 technos (I wish I could get a clear answer on inventory) and the 5 auto yokes (the 6th is out for repair and won't be back for probably a year, seeing as how the school district's delivery is slower than my grandmother).
And I still don't have a clue which linesets the scene designer wants. I keep asking him and the director, but they can't meet until Monday to decide that and no one wants to take a guess. So until then, I'm going to try to stick to the current electrics, which I've made clear I will not move because of time.
The meeting with Gary went wonderful. Since I attended their first blocking rehearsal I was able to write out all the opening cues of the show and so far, he loved them. He had a lot of ideas of what he wanted for certain songs and certain moments which I loved. He's not one of those directors forcing his idea of what the lights should look like, he just uses key phrases and always re-iterates that it's up to me.
For example, the song This World, he asked for lots of circular motion. I said with the technos I could have lights chasing circular and he added, "sounds great" and just said to do it however I wanted and make it as busy as possible. The next section is a series of people speaking. His idea is to create "hallways" with lights. Basically isolating a horizontal plane of the stage as the person crosses from SL to SR (or vice versa). I recommended pure side light with different colors as each hallways is revealed moving upstage along with the followspots. He said great and we moved on for an hour like that.
So now I'm off to work and taking my notebook with me and my ipod which has the old version of the show music on it so I can learn it. The new music won't be ready probably until tech rehearsal begin which blows since timing is key. So until then, I just have to keep figuring out how to finish the plot and keep the hang/focus time under 2 days without changing too much and rendering the theater useless since there are events going on in there the weekend before our show.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
First rehearsal
Today was the second production meeting ever for Me Nobody Knows. I scheduled time on Friday at lunch to meet privately with the director and ask him tons of questions and listen to what he wants from lighting for the show.
The director informed us all that this show is about to open in New York as well, so I guess we'll all be keeping an eye out for how it does.
After the meeting I headed into the theater to watch the first blocking rehearsal. This helped a heap just to find out how the shows going to start. I got many of my questions answered ahead of time. Basically the show will start as follows...
main in, and hazer going
(second and third electrics are in to the deck)
Q1 preset - house lights, curtain warmers, basic worklights on stage
Q2 house to half, worklights out (overture)
Q3 fade all
first "ding ding" Main flies out in black
Q4 second set of "ding ding"
sounds in the Light Sings number cues the pit to begin rising
follow spot picks up soloist on top of center scaffold that has just
risen out of the pit filled with fog
"stars in the sky"
Q5 third electric begins to fly out and lights come up
"kids start to shout"
Q6 second electric begins to fly out and lights come up
"... and its the sun!"
Q7 Light build
Basically, you can see where I'm going. I've obviously made my description on here a lot shorter than what I actually will be doing. I took a massive amount of notes and have tons of auto-follows with color chases, bumps, etc.
The director informed us all that this show is about to open in New York as well, so I guess we'll all be keeping an eye out for how it does.
After the meeting I headed into the theater to watch the first blocking rehearsal. This helped a heap just to find out how the shows going to start. I got many of my questions answered ahead of time. Basically the show will start as follows...
main in, and hazer going
(second and third electrics are in to the deck)
Q1 preset - house lights, curtain warmers, basic worklights on stage
Q2 house to half, worklights out (overture)
Q3 fade all
first "ding ding" Main flies out in black
Q4 second set of "ding ding"
sounds in the Light Sings number cues the pit to begin rising
follow spot picks up soloist on top of center scaffold that has just
risen out of the pit filled with fog
"stars in the sky"
Q5 third electric begins to fly out and lights come up
"kids start to shout"
Q6 second electric begins to fly out and lights come up
"... and its the sun!"
Q7 Light build
Basically, you can see where I'm going. I've obviously made my description on here a lot shorter than what I actually will be doing. I took a massive amount of notes and have tons of auto-follows with color chases, bumps, etc.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Me Nobody Knows
First Production Meeting
Met the whole production team (sans prod. mgr - away for personal reasons)
The director led the discussion beginning with a brief idea and objective lesson. Our concept is episodic, no through line, modern, rock concert-esque. Our objective is to induct high school kids, who will be performing in the show, into a college production in the hopes of enticing them to come to Fullerton College, and at the same time, teach them something new about Musical Theater.
The 1960's music of the show seems very dark, and grim. The director wants us to add that spark of hope to the show. The music is being arranged to speed up the tempo of some of the songs. And costuming will consist of jeans and sneakers (provided by the cast) and shirts of different colors (most likely dark colors in the beginning) which will become a "rainbow of colors" for the finale.
The scenery will consist of scaffolding. The scaffolding will be one and two stories high and on wheels so the configurations can change. The idea is to create rail balcony, tenement like setting with the scaffolds and a series of flown in windows at different levels for the actors to sing from.
The cityscape will be created by yours truly (lighting designer) with gobos. Otherwise my job is only to draw attention to the music through movement of light. Basically, think Rock Concert!
I'll be adding zip strips to the floor on the upstage and left and right of the stage. All (or most) of the lighting will be completely exposed.
For now, I will begin reading the script, which I just received 40 minutes ago. And take a listen to the old 1960's version of the music. I will then begin researching the inventory of lighting (including 4 auto yokes, 8 technobeams, 2 fog machines, 20+ SL zooms, and tons of source 4's and PARS) along with any photos of previous dance/jazz/rock concerts that have taken place on that stage before.
I also have to keep in mind that with the time limit, I will be adapting house plot so that the next show in the theater can load-in in the amount of time they've been given as well. This is the unfortunate circumstances of doing a low budget musical in a rental house with very, very, very little time and crew.
Met the whole production team (sans prod. mgr - away for personal reasons)
The director led the discussion beginning with a brief idea and objective lesson. Our concept is episodic, no through line, modern, rock concert-esque. Our objective is to induct high school kids, who will be performing in the show, into a college production in the hopes of enticing them to come to Fullerton College, and at the same time, teach them something new about Musical Theater.
The 1960's music of the show seems very dark, and grim. The director wants us to add that spark of hope to the show. The music is being arranged to speed up the tempo of some of the songs. And costuming will consist of jeans and sneakers (provided by the cast) and shirts of different colors (most likely dark colors in the beginning) which will become a "rainbow of colors" for the finale.
The scenery will consist of scaffolding. The scaffolding will be one and two stories high and on wheels so the configurations can change. The idea is to create rail balcony, tenement like setting with the scaffolds and a series of flown in windows at different levels for the actors to sing from.
The cityscape will be created by yours truly (lighting designer) with gobos. Otherwise my job is only to draw attention to the music through movement of light. Basically, think Rock Concert!
I'll be adding zip strips to the floor on the upstage and left and right of the stage. All (or most) of the lighting will be completely exposed.
For now, I will begin reading the script, which I just received 40 minutes ago. And take a listen to the old 1960's version of the music. I will then begin researching the inventory of lighting (including 4 auto yokes, 8 technobeams, 2 fog machines, 20+ SL zooms, and tons of source 4's and PARS) along with any photos of previous dance/jazz/rock concerts that have taken place on that stage before.
I also have to keep in mind that with the time limit, I will be adapting house plot so that the next show in the theater can load-in in the amount of time they've been given as well. This is the unfortunate circumstances of doing a low budget musical in a rental house with very, very, very little time and crew.
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