A Child Of Atom

Working the opera in Connecticut for the third year also marks a more important milestone: 2 years with Kid Flash. We had our first date two years ago this week, a breakfast date the morning before I hopped the train to CT to work. What followed was a beautiful two weeks of emails getting to know my man, and then wonderful dates when I got back home. I don't think he is particularly attached to dates or anniversaries, but this time of year still gives me tingles.

I've spent the past few days in idyllic Eastern Connecticut working on the opera that I've done there for the last few years... the downshot? I neglected to pack the charger for my computer. Right now I just crawled off a commuter train (I seem to be riding a lot of those lately) and I need the bed... better updates tomorrow.

So... the ad that I posted last week. It is actually an ad for a comic book event. Marvel comics is currently running an alien invasion storyline through almost all of their books. The aliens are claiming that they are coming in to save us from ourselves, to help us fix the environment, and to end war, etc. etc. There is a small contingent of humans who are willing to "Embrace Change" and allow the aliens to take over. Now... of course there is no explanation of that in the ad. Barely even any mention of what company is responsible for the ad (you have to look quickly) and to me it just leaves the viewer wondering what the hell the ad was for! I think Marve wants this to work like a viral campaign on the web, but the problem with that is that they are running these ads mainly on ESPN and while I can see a viral ad on the web getting clicks and attention, I don't seem many people running from the game to look up the website from this ad, you know?

This ad has been running on several cable stations. I know what it's about, because I'm a huge geek, but I wonder what do the rest of you make of it?

For the past several days I have had more than my usual exposure to the commuter rail system between Connecticut and New York City. It really is amazing to me that people are willing to make an up to 3 hour a day trip from the other end of a completely different state just to work here. It has left me with a few questions though... like the large contingent of teenagers. This morning I was on the 6:30 Shoreline East and there was a rather large number of what appeared to be 16 year olds. I couldn't quite figure out where they were going. They weren't together. They didn't all get off or on at the same time, but mixed in with the standard suits and skirts was this young crowd. Who are they? Another interesting phenomenon was the "Sleeper." Every train ride I see one or two people who, no matter how crowded the train, insist on stretching out and taking 2 or 3 seats, yet even this morning when the train reached standing room capacity no one was willing to nudge the rude buggers to get a seat. These aren't the homeless people I see on the subway, who are understandably scary and best left alone, these were suit wearing grown men. Are we that afraid of telling people they are being rude? Also, and this is purley a personal gripe, why is it possible for me to buy a Shoreline East ticket at an MTA machine in Grand Central, but the same machine in New Haven won't sell me one? What glitch in the system causes that?

I'm back in Connecticut to finish up Steel Magnolias. After rehearsal tonight they dropped me off at the hotel and I walked down the street to have dinner. The closest place was a little Mexican place so I went in. The food was only so-so but on the wall was a collection of sketches and signatures from various cartoonists that have been there over the years there was Hi from Hi and Lois sketches by Mort Walker himself, as well as a Beetle Bailey. The little girl to the right of Hi looks familiar too, but I can't place her. But most importantly... that is an original Curt Swan Superman sketch! Curt was THE superman artist from the Fifties right up until the Eighties and is enormously important to comic book history, and there... amazingly, and unexpectedly was a piece of original art by home, just scribbled on a wall. It made my night.

Time for a new 12 of 12, and exciting one today full of travel, and theatre! (To view the other participants go here.)

I woke up in a strange place this morning... a hotel on the coast of Connecticut. I was in town for the last few days shopping for set dressing and getting things ready for the production of Steel Magnolias that I designed for them.

First things first... a short walk down the street to get some coffee and breakfast. This is the exterior of the theatre. Cute, huh?

This is what the scenic painter did with the paint elevation that I sent last week, so my first task this morning is to see what I can do to soften this up a bit and fix it. It will be seen through a screen door center stage for the whole show, so it needs... help.

My next task, create a "tree" outside one of the windows of the salon/set. Later this got draped in Spanish Moss.

The crew loads in the ceiling tiles for the drop ceiling on the set.

At the props storage space for the theatre rummaging for set dressing, tchatchkes and whatnot. Pretty organized for a props room I must say.

More set work. The crew manufactured those Jalousie windows by hand, from real glass because the span was too far for plexi, it started to bow.

The set from the back of the house. Quite a bit to do before opening next Friday.

More props shopping, this time at Goodwill. I found a GREAT period coffee maker, two of them in fact, though I only bought one. Makes me wonder how two early 80's coffee makers, both in good repair end up in the same Goodwill.

I have to go to another load-in, for a show that I did at my regular job tomorrow, so it was the last commuter train back to the city for me. As you can tell the 8:15 to NY isn't the most popular.

Transferring to Metro North at New Haven. I love New Haven's train station, the waiting area upstairs is very Old World, turn of the century style architecture, but the tunnels underneath are 60's futuristic modern.

Back in the city, a shot you don't see a lot, a garbage train passing through the station, thankfully empty. The smell can be pretty bad when a full one goes through!

A peek at the first of three sets that I'm working on at the moment. You'll see more of it later, and one of the others tomorrow. This one is for Peter and the Wolf, which presented me with a problem... how does one build a forest on stage? I'm pretty proud of my answer.

I haven't had access to cable tv since I moved. In some ways it's been liberating, I didn't get sucked into some poor summer replacement series, I haven't been watching crappy reruns for lack of anything else to do. But I have missed TV. I started watching several new series on DVD (via Netflix) Weeds, Brothers & Sisters, a few others, but what I've really been sucked into is foreign versions of familiar US shows that I like. I've now watched both seasons of the UK version of The Mole. The Canadian, Australian, and Philipines versions of Project Runway, Survivor UK and Australia. And there's so much more... UK versions of Top Model, and Make Me A Supermodel, as well as Australian versions of both, Amazing Race Asia (not sure that one is in English), so on and so on and so on. The great joy of the internet is that all this stuff is available out there now, and ready to be watched. I've always been the sort of person who preferred TV noise in the background to radio or anything else, so I've also taken to watching them while at work. There's a whole crazy world of TV out there just waiting. Maybe I don't need cable...


(I totally do! Amazing Race is about to start...)

You know what feels good? When someone shows appreciation for my art unexpectedly. I walked into the 5th floor of Pearl paint today (the biggest art supply store in Manhattan) and under the plexi on the counter was a poster that I did for the roller derby last season. It was a complete surprise, and a pleasant sensation. All of the counters in Pearl are covered in sketches and scraps from various art publications and magazines, and a hundred sources. But on the 5th floor, in amongst the pen and the drafting supplies and the balsa wood, is me. It felt like... validation.

Should it worry me at all that my brain has recently started confusing the keys to my apartment and my subway card? I've found myself getting to the turnstile with my apartment keys in my hand rather than my Metrocard several times. It's sort of an auotpilot thing, like how I used to attempt to get into KF's apartment using the keys to my place. My brain said "apartment key" an that was what my fingers did. I've yet to try to get into my apartment with my Metrocard though... so maybe there's hope.

A small watercolor paint elevation for the backdrop of the set I posted last week.

School started for Kid Flash today.

I have three shows in three different states opening in the next 30 days. I'll basically be spending every weekend for the next month traveling for work.

I guess summer really did end yesterday.

After nearly three months we've finally managed to complete my moving in process. The lingering bags of clothing and crap that was to be sent to Goodwill, both in the new apartment and the old, have finally gone. The last item from Ikea (two butcher block counter tops) have been modified with elements to hold them in place and they now form a beautiful new counter top in the kitchen where formerly there was just the top of the washer and dryer. Kid Flash and I opened a (for rent and utilities only) joint checking account to make that a bit easier. There are no more boxes to be unpacked. No more items to be sold or eliminated. There are a few lingering wish list items, like cleaning out the hall closet, but I figure that stuff like that never goes away. So, I can officially say that the moving in period is over, and the living together period has begun. I'm finally beginning to feel like I live here, that I know where things are, and that things are "ours" instead of his. And do you know what I think got me over the hump? The dinner I cooked on Saturday. I woned the kitchen on saturday, chopping, cooking, planning, moving, deciding on serving dishes and choosing cooking times and methods and utensils. Somehow I "broke in" the apartment, and it's mine now. The change is subtle, and probably indistinct to most, but it feels good, and real to me, and I'm happy about it.