8/31/2006 08:44:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|I came home today carrying a 25 lb. bag of litter, a small bag of hay, a Martini accessory kit (on clearance; I got it for the jigger and the nifty olive spears). Also a half gallon of vanilla soy. I lugged this all onto the bus, then down the block to the apartment. Like an idiot I decided to get the mail before I went up the stairs, looking to all the world like a comedy routine. The only thing missing was Dagwood rushing out the door to clobber me. So, naturally, there was an envelope waiting outside my door. It's going to be my five year anniversary at work, which I knew. The envelope contained a nice note from the president, and a catalog of some really weird items. Like, for example:

Nose and ear hair trimmer
Stud sensor (I'm right here! Whoooo!)
Ramekin cups
Premium smoke and fire alarm
Checkbook cover

Confused? I was. Until I found the letter which explained that I'm supposed to pick an item as my five year service award. The best part is that after I decide what I want, they send it to work so that it can, of course, be presented to me. How weird. How very, very weird. "Congratulations on five years of faithful service. Please trim your nose hairs." I'm anxious to see if they put the university logo on whatever I choose. If they do, I'm definitely going to get the "Massaging Roll Pillow" with two speeds.|W|P|115707627400798086|W|P|The girl, the gold watch, and everything|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com9/01/2006 06:32:00 PM|W|P|

birdchick|W|P|I think that really says, "Yes, we appreciate your five years of work, but we'd really like you to trim your body hair...and brush your teeth...and work out...and start using tools...

You don't need a stud sensor, baby, I can sense you loud and clear.9/02/2006 01:21:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|Jeez, you sound like my wife.

Thank you! I'm here all week, enjoy the veal!8/30/2006 05:44:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|They've finally made a perfect movie, Dead or Alive:

Some bars are charging extra for drinks without ice. Another reason we should have never rebelled against England. Stewart and Colbert talk some smack at the Emmys:

I should probably stop now.|W|P|115697946141246224|W|P|You cannot defeat my Drunken Linkage stance!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/30/2006 09:19:00 PM|W|P|

Scrappy|W|P|I enjoyed the Stewart / Colbert clip a lot more the second time around, because the first I was on the edge of my chair with white knuckles praying for a "The Amazing Race" victory.
--Allegra8/30/2006 09:22:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|The funny part is, I was trying to work in an Allegra/Amazing Race reference, but I gave up because I thought it would be too obvious and drive you away from reading my blog8/31/2006 12:49:00 PM|W|P|

Scrappy|W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.8/31/2006 12:52:00 PM|W|P|

Scrappy|W|P|Aw come on, Bill, haven't you realized that any mention of me in a blog will only drive me to read it more and also forward the link to everyone I know? :)

sorry, had a grammar error the first time I posted so I removed it8/31/2006 06:03:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|I want to marry Jon Stewart. I love him so very, very much.8/29/2006 05:59:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Today I paid my actors, which means that Watching Porn is finally, officially over. I'm going to noodle around with the script, tighten a few things, and look into remounting it later this year. But still, now I have to work on The Next Show, whatever the hell that is. Sharon wants to do another show together, just the two of us (building castles in the... er...). I'm sketching out ideas for a play now titled Imaginary Conversations from a Real Marriage. If that doesn't get us a development deal with OxyGen, I dunno what will! Idea two is for a one-man show that sort of the antithesis of the "my wacky family" genre. It's about how my family, and myself specifically, have been deleting our history as we go along. Something else I'm trying to put together is a monthly get together for Twin Cities artists; like the Fringe Night Cap only without Allegra Lingo standing on a table with a broken bottle, screaming about how she's going to "skin you alive, Stiteler, wear your flesh like a cloak, and get a McKnight grant for doing it!" Since it involves a lot of drinking and MN theatre artists, I naturally thought of Matthew Foster. I loved the artistic cross-polination that occured at the Night Caps. Also, I love drinking. Two great tastes that go great together! So, hopefully we'll have an announcement on that soon. Speaking of drinking, time for a Gimlet. Went to the dentist and my jaw is killing me.|W|P|115689344881369515|W|P|That's me trying|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/29/2006 09:38:00 PM|W|P|

Scrappy|W|P|Oh my god, I haven't laughed that hard since seeing "Little Miss Sunshine". If you come to the Bulldog on Monday, we'll see if we can re-enact your until now imaginary scenario. :)

--Allegra8/30/2006 02:46:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|Everyone, take note; if I get bumped off during the celebration "accidentally..."8/30/2006 06:24:00 PM|W|P|

birdchick|W|P|I like how you said remount in terms of your porn play.

huh huh huh huh8/28/2006 03:48:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Much like when He-Man teamed up with Skeletor to save Christmas, the Fringe is partnering with the Guthrie to produce a passel of shows in February. And there's going to be another lottery to determine which shows get in. Relevant info: Sunday, September 10 at 4:00 p.m. Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 Lake St W Watching Porn isn't in consideration. Whoa, now, put down those torches and pitchforks! Only the 24 top shows got consideration, and they're based on audience attendance, so I can't complain. Unless I try really, really hard. The shows selected were picked by total attendance, by percentage of filling their venue capacity, and by "buzz" (Buzz meaning an increase in attendance as your show went on). Congrats to the shows selected. Can I still use my artist pass to get in?|W|P|115679888405811731|W|P|Anyhow, those grapes look pretty sour|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/28/2006 10:45:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|Hi, Bill. Congrats on the show. Maybe I'll get to see it now; heard great things (at least i think i did - there was some confusion with the large # of "porn" shows. And thanks for telling me that was Trevor in that pic on my blog.
I'm Zoe.8/29/2006 12:35:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|Yo, Zoe.8/29/2006 06:18:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|Maybe ULoBA will get selected, and then you'll actually come and see it.

Now, now, a girl can dream, can't she?8/29/2006 07:09:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|If you're talking to me, I did see your show, toots. The Edina art collector killed, but not as much as the opening bit.8/28/2006 10:40:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|For about 15 minutes there, all the login pages of all my services went crazy. Granted, they're all controlled by one giant company (ComHugeCo), but still, I felt secure in blaming our IT department for trying to prevent me from logging into one of the 17 mail accounts I have. I don't know why I have so many email addresses. Wait, yes I do; I'm half convinced that the more email addresses I have, the more email I'll get from people. I'm also half convinced that I need to "protect my online identity" on the off chance some jackassed remark I made will be traced back to me. Translated this means I'm afraid of owning my words. Nuts to that, I mean, it's not like I have a reputation to protect. This has always been a problem with me. I have a self-image problem, and by that I mean I think I'm a lot cooler than I actually am. When I was thinking about marriage, my biggest hang up was all the things I'd be giving up: one-night stands, just taking off whenever I wanted to, going out with the boys. And it took me—I shit you not&mdashdays to realize that I never did any of those things. Please understand that I'm not joking when I say that this came as a shock to me. The things I enjoyed watching people do on TV and reading about in books where not things I had actually done. It's been my experience that, generally speaking, people are the exact opposite of what they think they are. Arrogant people think they're humble. Talented people think they're hacks. Hacks think they're geniuses. The fact that I thought I was incredibly observant and was completely deluded about myself didn't occur to me. I like to distract myself from the work that gives me a sense of fulfillment. My primary way of doing this is by wasting times gather "tools" I've convinced myself I need to do a job "properly." What do I need to write a play? Well, a computer (not the one I have, mind you, but the latest laptop with an Airport Extreme wireless modem), a printer (not the inkjet I have, but a new personal laser printer), and definitely some screenwriting software (because a word processor won't do). Great! I can put off working on my play until I get all those things! I can (and did) kill a good two years putting all that together, until I had it all and realized that it still meant I had to sit down and do all the work. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. The writing isn't the hard part. I know how to write. I know how to tell a joke, and how to put a sentence together to evoke an emotion. I've seen these things done, I know how they're done, and I have done them myself. The problem is sitting there, staring at myself and putting my name to something that only I am responsible for. By Bill Stiteler. The three most frightening words in the English language. So anyway, I have a lot of email addresses.|W|P|115678152301548868|W|P|Whew!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/28/2006 08:49:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Sheep in assless spandex chaps.

|W|P|115677327877108226|W|P|The most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/26/2006 08:40:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|State Fair! You outlanders probably don't realize how totally awesome the MN State Fair is. To give you a sample, this year, both the Flaming Lips and Steve Miller did stage shows. There's something for everyone at the State Fair, but my favorite is always the Bunny Barn

Get that camera out of my face, hippie!

Followed by the seed art. Seed art is, as you might induce, is art created entirely out of seeds. They do some incredible, weird stuff. Like, say, Fred Basset:

Here's the detail:

Okay, granted, Fred Basset may not be everyone's cup of tea. A cup of really, really bland tea that nevertheless keeps you up all night long because it doesn't make any sense! Ahem. But what's great about the crop art is that there will always be one or two that slips subversive leftism into agrarian art. Vide:

This one's called "Addicted to Oyl," and make sure you click for the bigger version. Another one had El Prez along with a quote from Job. Wild. Minnesota is a state where you can be religious and conservative and still be a Dem. I love it here. Ku Klux Lambs notwithstanding:

But the big draw of the State Fair is always the food. Here Sharon attacks a Scotch Egg, which is a hard-boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, battered and deep fried. It's best to do the Scotch Egg last, as you're heading towards the car. Or the medical tent.

But as always, there's something there for everyone:

|W|P|115664389527606433|W|P|Binge. Purge. Win a mirror with a unicorn on it.|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/25/2006 05:16:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Toenail, gum.

|W|P|115654448316796042|W|P|City life.|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/24/2006 03:53:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|TV in 6x8 pixels. Via Qwantz|W|P|115645284115343459|W|P|LDTV|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/24/2006 11:27:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Did you hear one of the DJs from The Current got fired? Apparently he accidentally played a band someone had heard of before.|W|P|115643695050425252|W|P|This is my joke what I came up with|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/24/2006 08:38:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|So I have been seriously digging on Shatner's Has Been album. No, wait! Come back! I'm not being ironic; it's actually good! To give you an example, much indie teeth grinding occurred when it was announced that the first track (and single) was a cover of "Common People" by Pulp. Compare for yourself: the emo/Breshon version by Pulp:

Versus Shatner, Ben Folds, and Joe Jackson:

Boom, baby. Not only is the Folds/Shatner version better it comes off as—and how the hell did this happen?—more sincere!|W|P|115642706908752977|W|P|Nobody fucks with the Shatner|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/23/2006 08:39:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Sharon's off writing and will be back tomorrow, which means I get to kick it wild, bachelor style! Yes! I am back to living like I did before I got married! This means: Banquet Chicken Nuggets Gin Gimlet (double) Cleaning the apartment MST3k The Nuggets are doused with Cognac Vinegar from Williams-Sonoma (nothing but the best for me!), and the Gimlet is 1 1/2 oz Beefeater to 1 oz. Rose's Lime Juice. And come to think of it, I never cleaned my apartment before I got married. Whilst enjoying all of this, I checked out CoD's MySpace Page (why? Because everyone has one), and notice I had a new Friend Request. My response was, as always, "Great, another amateur porn star wants me to add her." Turns out, I was wrong! It was the lovely Leigha Horton! Someone I actually know wants to be a MySpace friend. Weird! Check it out, though; Leigha's inner tube is named the Bleech!

I should have realized instantly that it was from someone I actually knew because the photo wasn't of an anorexic blonde in a thong spread-eagled on a Lambourgini. I get about five of those a day. And you know what's really weird? They've all just started pay sites that I should totally check out! On my way home from work, this was outside on the street:

Ghostbusters? Time Machine? Porn? No, apparently it's just part of a project to scan environments in 3D.

Watching for this to be adapted for Grand Theft Auto and/or porn, shortly. Though with the camera on top of the car like that, they're going to have a hell of a time getting upskirt shots.|W|P|115638550373382797|W|P|Chix Nuggets + Gin = Crazy Delicious|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/25/2006 06:43:00 AM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|Fortunately for me, one of my fetishes is women who will take my money but won't have sex with me.8/23/2006 02:29:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|I swear I will not stop looking until I find Herb!

|W|P|115636137812894851|W|P|Herb!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/23/2006 02:07:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Last night instead of cleaning up my apartment and getting some much needed sleep, I made the more sensible decision and decided to do some roleplaying. My buddy Aaron had finished his first game ever. Assembler is a storytelling game of technological horror ("my VCR won't stop flashing 12:00!"). Each player is a human trapped in a giant machine: the player on your left plays the Machine, which assigns you horrible, horrible maintenance tasks to perform. These tasks will eventually kill you ("disassembly"). The player on your right represents your "Ghost," which I took to mean the vestiges of your soul. Your Ghost is also trying to kill you ("death"). The fun of the game comes from improvising the story: there's no GM; the Machine player tells you what your task is, and you improvise your response. Then the Machine tells you what goes wrong, putting you in peril, you come up with a way out, and you roll a few dice to see what happens. Alternately, your Ghost shows up and makes you hallucinate, trying to get you to kill yourself and escape the machineworld. As I say, it was a lot of fun playtesting this for Aaron, and I think we came up with some good suggestions. I'm not quite sure how effective I was as the Machine; everyone else was depicting hellish gears and giant diodes, so I went in completely the other direction and sent my Assembler into an ultra-clean freakish zoo. Anyway, good times.|W|P|115636061513602281|W|P|I fight for the User|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/22/2006 06:03:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|John Heimbuch from Walking Shadow posted his thoughts on my rush pass rant. Okay, ob-viously 1926 Pleasant was in a different category than most Fringe shows: they had an audience cap of 15 (later 18), and the unique nature of their show presents a profitability problem that most other shows won't encounter. Years ago, back when I was with the Fringe, there was a BYOV called The Car, I believe: and it took place, as you might expect, in a car. The audience (of 2, maybe 3) sat in the back. I don't recall how they handled the artist pass for that one. The other example I heard was that David Mann lost money on Corleone last year, because so many artists kept out paying ticket holders. But, David remounted the show, is taking it to the New York International (ahem) "Fringe" Festival, another company is doing it in Houston, still another company is doing it at the Edinburgh Fringe, and David was recently picked to be a Bush Fellow. I can't think of a way to put this that doesn't make me sound like a bitch, so here we go; I don't think having too many artists see his show for free caused David any real hardship. So. In fairness, Pleasant was the only show I saw that I would have been shut out of with the Rush Pass. Buying one ticket didn't kill me, especially for a show I thoroughly enjoyed. My main annoyances were the fear of being shut out of a show, and having no time to get to another, and standing there like a jackass, waiting for 20 minutes until I could use the damn thing. Am I alone in this? Did anyone get shut out of any other show because of the pass demotion? Can I talk the Walking Shadow gang into doing an ARG next year?|W|P|115628891407509947|W|P|Rush Pass Blues, redux|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/22/2006 01:48:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|And now, having seen that, you should understand why this:

made me laugh so hard—20 years later, mind you—I, quite literally, had to stop the DVD player.|W|P|115627280873058570|W|P||W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/22/2006 01:44:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Looking back, this is really kind of disturbing.|W|P|115627231718339445|W|P|We coulda been anything...|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/22/2006 01:24:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|It's been a very long weekend, followed by a long work week. Two of the things keeping me afloat: I now have access to the soundtrack from Bugsy Malone and Shatner's Has Been album. Both are kicking much ass inside my head. I'd forgotten how much I love Paul Williams music (his version of "Old Fashioned Love Song" he did on The Muppet Show remains a favorite), and Shatner? Shatner is fucking awesome. Back to work.|W|P|115627125626427409|W|P||W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/20/2006 02:29:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Still at Game Fair. Here a man shoots a cabbage with a shotgun. It's okay though, the cabbage was in favor of gay marriage.

|W|P|115610249668119855|W|P|The most violent salad ever|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/19/2006 03:07:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Through the miracle of cellular and Bluetooth technologies, I come to you live from the Minnesota Game Fair, where I am keeping Sharon company while she hawks binoculars. I don't hunt, I don't fish, and I don't birdwatch, so it's kind of boring for me. We're right in front of the rifle range, so getting anything creative done is somewhat difficult. I didn't bring a book (stupid me), and the nearby quote-town-unquote has a supermarket rack full of Men's Health and Modern Bride, both of which would be fine reading if I were gay, but alas, I am one bored heterosexual nerd. Someone asked if I wanted a Michelle Bachmann sticker. I managed to avoid braying like a jackass as I said, "no," though the guy in front of me said, "Naw, I'm for the other guy." What else? Right behind us, on the rifle range, they have shotguns with extra long barrels, like six feet long (and that's just the extended part of the barrel), which acts as a silencer. It's for culling deer in suburban areas so that people don't complain about the noise while people are bumping off Bambi. There's a long line of people waiting to try it out—kids shoot free! Probably the most disturbing thing (other than seeing that Wetterling's booth has leg traps on display) was a Game Farm (where you go to shoot tame animals) had a fawn on a harness, walking it around. Jesus. On the way in we passed a garden store that had a giant roadside display, perhaps intended to entice Game Fair goers in. The fantastic part is that you could get statuary for your lawn, including dinosaurs!

Me: Sharon! I want a triceratops for our lawn! Sharon: We don't have a lawn. And if we did, we'd get the T-Rex. Me: They have fake cows! We could pose the T-Rex stalking the cow! No, wait! I want to post him stalking St. Francis!

The Game Fair people are all really nice, and I must admit, it is cool watching the skeet disintegrate. The furriers are a bit disturbing, and it's hilarious listening to the guys try to out duck-call each other without looking like they're trying to out duck-call each other. But all in all, being here feels like being on vacation with my family when I was a kid. There's no library, no video games, and I'm already wondering when we get to go home.|W|P|115601917034780028|W|P|Dogs, Guns, and Dogs|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/19/2006 02:59:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Trapped like a rat at the Game Fair, which, if you don't hunt, is a really, really boring place to be. Almost ran over the old shit they have guarding the gate.

|W|P|115601785874857728|W|P|Binos|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/18/2006 08:34:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|I got a call from Sharon this afternoon... I'm downstairs... uhm... can you come out here? I figured she needed help carrying stuff up. Wrong. Wrong. She'd spotted this in the bush in front of our building:

Everybody calm down; it's a toy gun, though we didn't know that till we'd flagged down the cop, and even he wasn't sure until he'd picked it up.

It's been a looooooong time since I saw a toy gun that was black. When I was a little kid they were realistic enough, and then they started making them up like Zubaz: orange with green tiger stripes. Anyway, some kid lost a toy, or someone broke their fake hold-up gone, or we have an extremely violent Easter bunny. The other weird thing is that the officer took some pictures of it, which makes sense, but he used a disposable camera. A little green funsaver could have been used to preserve evidence. Cost-effective, I'm sure, but weird nonetheless. So, everyone can go about their business. It's a great relief knowing that a handgun wasn't discarded in front of our place. Still, I bet this post won't make it on MNSpeak.|W|P|115595195394406639|W|P|Kids with Guns|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/15/2006 09:19:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Prepare to de-rez, Program!

|W|P|115569505867697428|W|P|I am the MCP|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/15/2006 12:43:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|So Papatola has given this year's Fringe a resounding eh, that was okay and I'm forced to agree with him. Maybe I just had bad luck picking shows, and didn't get to a bunch that I was really looking forward to, but it struck me that not only didn't I see a lot of really great stuff this year, I didn't see anything truly terrible, either. Just a lot in the middle. I was trying to figure this out, and again and again I kept stumbling over the paradox that is the Fringe: on one hand it's a place for experimentation, and risk taking. On the other, Fringe is a boot camp for learning how to produce your own show and build an audience. It's a place where theatre companies are competing for audiences, but at the same time generating a bigger audience of people willing to take a chance on a new show. I guess what it comes down to is that this year I didn't see a lot of "dream" shows: shows that artists have been burning to do, and the Fringe has finally made it possible for them to do. A lot of what I saw this year were "resumé" shows: things that they thought would make them look good, generate buzz without taking any real artistic risks. Not to say I didn't see great stuff: 1926 Pleasant was like geek heroin, shot right into my brain. Deviled Eggs was fun, sexy, and unexpected. But mostly it was a lot of "meh." The Fringe is supposed to be a home for works that couldn't get staged anywhere else. The fact that by design it's unjuried, that there's no one setting themselves up to say "this work is good enough" is a huge impetus for risk-taking. Or maybe I just had really bad luck choosing shows this year.|W|P|115566483626170949|W|P|The Fringe that was|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/14/2006 11:50:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Link courtesy of Mighty Mike Gaiman.|W|P|115561753053378547|W|P||W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/14/2006 02:09:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

On the Greenway bicycle path in Minneapolis. If you can't make it out, someone's grafitto'd a heart over the head of the bicyclist.

|W|P|115558286204384147|W|P|I ♥ Minneapolis|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/14/2006 08:02:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Clint, one of the Fringe photographers, has posted a passel of closing nights photos See if you can identify some of these people. Thoughts on the party: Joe's Garage blew it for the first time in their history. One waitress (poor thing), one bartender on the patio, and no food after 10 (and no buffet, which they've had before), which was when everbody arrived. Kate Hoff ordering pizza delivered (ha!). A lot of cheezed artists. And then the important stuff happened. Leah saying goodbye, meeting the new Exec (she saw my show!), milling, milling, milling. Anyway, check out the photos.|W|P|115556077157062984|W|P|Closing night pics|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/14/2006 07:19:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|The end of the 2006 Fringe. This one was a tough ride, for a number of reasons; mostly because in the real world, just a whole hell of a lot of things broke, went wrong. My friends had a relationships end, my neighbors cut off a burglar's fingers with a katana, computers broke, iPods crashed and crashed and crashed again. Somebody said something astrological about Mercury, and I couldn't laugh. I never believed in astrology until I had a Saturn Return. Watching Porn went great. We had good houses, they laughed their asses off, and we sold almost all of the T-shirts. A common criticism was that it didn't feel "finished," which I think I understand—part of putting this show up was trying it out, seeing what worked, figuring out what I need to spell out and what audiences will understand intuitively. Plus, it was also a really personal show. I don't think anybody didn't realize that it was semiautobiographical. As I was telling Rik, I'd write down what really happened and think, "Can I make this worse? Yes, I can!" Then I'd alter them to make them funnier. Then Rik, being the insightful sonoffabitch that he is retorted, "Yeah, but I'm sure there were situations where you said, 'Can I make this worse?' and the answer was 'No, no I can't.'" And he was right. Odd writing a show that was really about me. I cringe at the thought of theatre being therapy, but I purged a few demons with this one. And it worked, I think. Lots of people liked the show. One woman asked me if she could produce it at her college. Another gave me a card for her upcoming show so I'd go see her perform as a pre-audition for my next show. Joe Scrimshaw came up to tell me how much he enjoyed it. And I think about those two years when I didn't do any shows, nothing of mine, no auditioning for anyone else, because I was afraid of failing. What a moron. Okay, now for a day to recover, and then to figure out what I'm doing next. "Write What You Know," they always say, but I've done a show about Dungeons and Dragons and one about a guy who watches porn. I think I might be out of ideas.|W|P|115555877238587373|W|P|On the Fringe, part 1: Me, me, me!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/14/2006 02:47:00 PM|W|P|

Mimi|W|P|I *did* laugh my ass off. Favourite part is Entrance of Pizza Boy. BWAA~!! :P :P :P8/13/2006 09:19:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Glenfiddich

|W|P|115552230034532122|W|P|Me and Glen at Fringe wrap|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/13/2006 07:33:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|The final performance of Watching Porn. Sunday at 1 pm, basically a matinee. Small crowd, responsive. Taped the performance again. After that, getting the set out of the space. Props are everywhere in the apartment, we had to move a couch in the rain, so not only was I cold and wet, I was hot and sweaty. Nuts. Still processing anything. Moblogging seemed to go well. Anyone out there? Tired. Back hurts. Will try to go to the Fringe wrap up.|W|P|115551572871165612|W|P|It is done.|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/13/2006 05:29:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

|W|P|115550848676952262|W|P|Happiness|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/13/2006 11:44:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Blending in at the Game Fair. Believe it or not, the top of my head is not missing!

|W|P|115548778946001962|W|P|Invisi-Bill|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/13/2006 11:43:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Why, it's the National Wild Turkey Federation!

|W|P|115548769147853920|W|P|NWTF?|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/12/2006 05:55:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

|W|P|115542364529501113|W|P|Galactic pizza break.|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/12/2006 03:31:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Everett is on show 40!

|W|P|115541497373534820|W|P|It's like an ice cream headache, but with theatre|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/12/2006 02:43:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Yes, I snuck a photo during a performance. No, I didn't use a flash. Yes, I know I still suck.

|W|P|115541210381878870|W|P|Mittens for Fat Kids|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/12/2006 02:21:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Dawn and me at the beginning of our Saturday Fringe Binge. Dawn was in Alex the Boyscout (and other stories) and was basically the best thing in it. We became friends while working on King Lear for Cromulent Shakespeare; I played Oswald, the loyal steward to her tragically misunderstood Goneril. Some people saw things differently; one friend roared about how "slimy" my character was, and Shazz refers to Dawn as "that woman you sniffed" (it was a character choice!).

We saw a bunch of shows before I had to run off to Gamefair; the best of which was A Heap of Broken Images by the lovely Allegra Lingo. Not only was it great storytelling, she name-checked THACO. Woot!|W|P|115541075954320733|W|P|Fringe Pals!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/12/2006 12:54:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Allegra and Liz control the Claudia crowd.

|W|P|115540556067466168|W|P|Got in to Claudia!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/12/2006 10:48:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Today I'm going to try Moblogging my Fringe Festival adventures, uploading pictures directly from my cell phone to my blog. Keep three things in mind: 1) I've never done this before. 2) My camera phone sucks. Seriously, it's like a Kwik-E-Mart security camera. We have a performance of Watching Porn tonight at 7. Hope we get a good house because we'll be taping it for posterity (and posterior! Whoo!). Fringeward ho!|W|P|115539788947696731|W|P|Mobloggin' makes it mo'better|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/11/2006 06:50:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Article in the NYT about first-time Fringe Festival producers. The NY International Fringe Festival juries who gets in (a dirty word in Fringe land). So there's that. Now peep this: Some good news came: the Fringe had assigned the production pretty good show times and a decent location, the Players Theater, at a busy intersection in Greenwich Village. Performances would not start until the second week of the Fringe, on Aug. 18. The bad news: the whole process was starting to cost serious money. The production had passed the $10,000 mark and was on track to pass $16,000 before it was over. After a rehearsal Mr. Unterberg fondly recalled the moment when $575, for an advertisement in the Fringe program, seemed outrageous.
Sixteen thousand dollars! It's a goddamn Fringe show! Okay, okay, okay, things cost more in New York. Fine. And if we assume that the actors are Union, that's a chunk of change. And there's advertising ($575 in the program? Jesus.). But at the point where you're typing out your budget in Excel and you see one-six-comma-zero-zero-zero, you must admit to yourself that you are no longer doing "fringe theatre." Sigh... Okay, it's their money, I'm glad they're doing their show, and I wish them the best. I'll close on this with a few quotes. The NYT asked how they managed to keep going:

“I mean, there are possibilities,” Mr. McManus said. “That’s why we’re coughing up the money that we are.” “Yeah,” Mr. Unterberg said. “Also this very possibly could be the only time we ever do this.”

And one from our own outgoing Executive Director, Leah Cooper: "Juried theatre sucks."
|W|P|115529780217840402|W|P|WTF NYIFF?|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/13/2006 05:25:00 PM|W|P|

Naomi|W|P|Yeah, I'll echo your What the Effing Eff. This really sounds like a lot of people are missing the entire point of a Fringe festival. If I were going to define a fringe festival, "unjuried" and "low budget" would be two of the defining characteristics.

(I'm a friend of Lyda's, I linked to you from our group blog recently because of your personal story about the aftermath of the sword-fighting burglary victim, and I wandered back here to see your comments on Fringe stuff. I did not make it to your show -- we go to Kid Fringe shows with our kids. I saw no grownup shows this year at all, sigh, though I saw "Baghdad Burning" at UST when it was first performed. My mother was the director.)8/14/2006 09:31:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|I think it's the tragic effect of having Urinetown move on to Broadway and win the Tonys. Everybody's betting the farm that they can be next.8/10/2006 08:00:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|You should head over to Matt Peiken's website and read his open letter to the Fringe. It's a pretty funny piece, a self-effacing refusal to accept the Fringe's "forthcoming invitation" to do The Dr.* Matt Show at the Fringe encore (which is an extra performance for the most popular show at each venue). Peikan writes: I'm still flummoxed as to how David Mann, who isn't even participating in this festival, managed to draw more people over to his house this week than I coaxed into the Rarig Center Arena theater. No matter. You, fine Fringe overlords, will have seen past what others might regard artistic failings to invite me into what is destined to be a magical Sunday evening.
To give you some background, Peikan was in an odd position to begin with: not only was this his first Fringe show, last year he was one of the Fringe critics when the Pioneer Press rolled out its new Fringe blog, with its (unnecessarily mean) "Avoid Like the Plague" rating. There was some unpleasantness in a couple of Peikan's reviews last year, for which he apologized. So, to come into the Fringe as a producer and performer struck me—and I mean this with all sincerity—as a really ballsy thing to do. I respected him for apologizing, and I respected him for putting on a Fringe show (as I respect everyone who puts one together). And I respect him for having a sense of humor about how his show—how do we put it?—"didn't find its audience." The whole piece is funny, a mea culpa whose only misstep is a jab at "incestuous, self-important bloggers" (if he means the Fringe bloggers, I have to say that this year I've been particularly impressed with the breadth of shows they've been covering. And by "breadth," I mean "the number of times my show has been mentioned."). But otherwise, it's a good mix of frustration and comedy; in other words, good Fringe material. Matt—and I feel comfortable in calling you "Matt," since we've shaken hands twice, which in Fringe artist terms means we're Blood Brothers—I'm sorry your show didn't do as well as you hoped. I hope you came away from this with something that you can feel good about. I'm certain you came away from it with a unique perspective, having been on both sides of the review column. And I hope that, if you enjoyed doing a show, you'll continue to do so. It gets better. Take it from a guy who paid to get people to come see his first show.|W|P|115525930765382967|W|P|It's hard out here for a Fringe producer|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/10/2006 07:58:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

About the sword attack. Remember when I told you they cleaned up all the blood? Well, they did, even on the sidewalk... up to the end of the property line.

Our neighbors still have a trail leading down in front of their house and out into the street. Guess blood trails are like snow: you're responsible for the stuff on your part of the sidewalk.|W|P|115521497605804119|W|P|One last thing...|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/10/2006 02:18:00 PM|W|P|

Mimi|W|P|This is all too crazy and weird and freaky and... *funny*. (Even though I feel a bit guilty thinking of this as funny.)8/10/2006 08:29:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|It's absurd, isn't it? Grotesque may be the better word.8/09/2006 05:26:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|

Blood's gone. There are two—count 'em two—news vans outside our place, Fox and KSTP. Not sure why they're there. They didn't want to talk to either Sharon or I as we walked up to the door. Here they are watching their own news cast, and perhaps preparing to tell the Cities how "tense and wary" the mood is here "on the streets that early this morning... ran with blood."

|W|P|115516265737480100|W|P|Newz Crewz|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/09/2006 12:06:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Check out some great images from Watching Porn in this Fringe Slideshow.|W|P|115514325901968601|W|P|Fringe Slideshow!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/09/2006 11:45:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Another good notice, this time from Fringe Blogger Rachel Sachs: This show is about Dave (Kelvin), who never learned about the "birds and the bees" except for a brief video at school. It shows his life throughout the next few years, and his crazy adventure of finding out what exactly sex is. The character is played very well and believably, and you sympathize with him. His naivety is highly amusing and entertaining! Go see this one before it sells out!|W|P|115514219236432616|W|P|Rachel Sachs Loves Watching Porn!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/09/2006 07:59:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Good morning! Did you sleep well? Get to work on time? Ah, good. This was my front stairwell this morning:

And how was your breakfast? Sharon and I are used to our noisy neighbors. The house next door to us is only rented to bands, so during the comfortable summer nights they're usually out in the back yard, talking and making noise. We ask them to quiet down, they do, it's all good.

Last night, though, we had a group of guys in our alley. I was pretty bleary, so what they were saying didn't make sense. A sword fight? EMTs and CSI were there? Sharon yelled at them, and went back to sleep. This morning she told me she heard sirens.

So, this morning, I check the news sites, and there's nothing. Huh. Must have been a minor fracas up the street.

Nope. From the sketchy reports we've been able to put together, someone attacked someone else with a sword in one of the apartments upstairs. The police have one person, but four more people showed up at the hospital with the same injuries.

The purple stuff, I'm informed, is fingerprint powder. I ran into one our neighbors, who lives in the apartment right under the one where this all started. He was the one who called the cops, and has been up all night talking to them. Said he saw someone's fingers being carried out in a baggie. Had a beer in his hand. Can't say as I blame him.

So, I headed off to work. Another of my neighbors was coming out the door. We said "hello," and then he stopped dead still as he saw what I was taking pictures of. Told him what happened, and he went back inside in order to "inform someone of what's out here." Eight years we've lived here. This is a first.

And the bitch of it is that I know my friends are going to hear that someone in my building went on a rampage with a sword, and think that it was me. Critical hit!

Here's more on the story |W|P|115512969869584539|W|P|Real Horror-Show|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/09/2006 09:19:00 AM|W|P|

lydamorehouse|W|P|Holy s**t!

Normally, I would take this moment to explain that THIS is the reason I live in Saint Paul, but instead, I'm just going to say I'm glad you're okay.8/09/2006 09:48:00 AM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|Lyda: We slept through the entire thing!

Lorraine: Would a sword make a good housewarming present? I just cleaned it!8/09/2006 10:29:00 AM|W|P|

Kitty Cat|W|P|man!
i am moving to MINNEAPOLIS.
we can start filming right away on the series
CSI:TwinCities.
Lorraine, now, i would have thought it was Bill if it was
bloodshed by AXE...swords are too subtle for our boy.
thanks for waking me up way better than my coffee....8/09/2006 10:51:00 AM|W|P|

kesher|W|P|THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!8/09/2006 11:48:00 AM|W|P|

Jay Stark|W|P|Consider this: "Three more people showed up at HCMC. Two of those people were injured. All three of those people were arrested in connection with a burglary at the apartment building."

I wonder if your neighborhood ronin was defending his property against thieves???

Also, I know it wouldn't be you Bill. Apartments are too confined. You know swords are no good for close fighting. Unless it was a gladius. A gladius would rule

Honest to God, that was my first thought: I wonder what kind of sword it was. Not "gee I hope Bill and Sharon are not traumatized." What. Kind. Of sword.8/09/2006 12:20:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|Considering my first thought was "boy, this'll make a great blog post," I can't blame you Jon.

Fun fact: I was explaining to my co-worker the difference between a ninja-to (a "ninja sword" described by a witness) and a katana (a "samuri (sic) sword" described by KSTP).8/09/2006 01:21:00 PM|W|P|

Stardustgirl|W|P|Holy crap! You've trumped me for crackhead neighbors of the week!

My first thought was "gee Bill sure will go to a lot of trouble to film something and make it look real". Then I kept reading.....

If you guys do buy a house, be wise and get acreage in the boonies. Otherwise you can wind up with nutjobs like me, and I can't imagine that Sharon residing next to rabbit-killers would turn out well.8/09/2006 05:54:00 PM|W|P|

Mimi|W|P|Um... OMG!??

I'm surprised that they left all that BLOOD around. Why didn't they clean the scene up after they were done with all the fingerprinting etc.? X_X

For the longest time, I wanted to have a wakizashi/katana set, or maybe just a wakizashi... and I wondered if it would work in a burglary situation. I guess now I know??8/09/2006 07:35:00 PM|W|P|

Bill|W|P|The cleaners came later in the day. This happened at about 3 a.m., and the crime scene guys were done by the time we got up at 6. It is, apparently, not the city's job to do clean up.8/10/2006 08:53:00 AM|W|P|

Jodyth|W|P|I am very glad you're both alright and kind of icked out since I walked those hallways recently. How the hell did 4 guys get into your secured building to break into that apartment?!?!8/11/2006 12:37:00 AM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|Okay - this might be totally morbid, but how glad am I that we were all at Emma's last night? - the sheer joy of hearing the story again (only this time relatively first-hand) was totally priceless.

And your commentary above cracks me up. Well done, Bill.

I wonder if Minnesota will see a spike in decorative sword sales at the Renaissance Festival this year...8/11/2006 01:00:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|You're absolutely right that a sword is too difficult to use in close confines, that's why I have two Masai spears by my stairwell. Spearing is ok, right?8/11/2006 03:35:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|Holy shit... what unit is the guy in? I moved out of that building a year ago in July (shame about the carpet).8/12/2006 03:05:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|This is all pretty weird. And I get crap for living in north side (camden)... ha!

I wonder if the ronin in question was trained in anything in particular. (Perhaps not as he cut his hand during the struggle?)

As for me, I will continue to practice my Aikido sword-disarming techniques. ;-)8/14/2006 02:37:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|That is incredible! I live two blocks over and didn't hear jack. I couldn't have taken them with one arm cut off. . wait a minute. ..(thats what HE said).8/08/2006 04:40:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|More love for teh pR0n: Last night a new coworker and I had dinner in Saint Paul* and caught Council of Doom's Watching Porn. We laughed like hell—Bill Stiteler is completely insane. (Do you love the review that says, "This is an autobiographical work about one very analytical man's experiences..."? Mr. Stiteler, care to comment?) It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't polished, but it was a lot of fun.|W|P|115507333527165632|W|P|Caitlin Gilmet Loves Watching Porn!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/08/2006 09:26:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Fringe Blogger Chris Kidder has posted a cross section of thoughts on audience reviews from artists. My thoughts on the matter: Artists, stop being such fucking pussies. When you get a bad review (and God knows I have) this is how you deal with it: you sit there, and you take it. Then you complain to your friends, and they tell you how stupid the reviewer is because they're your friends, and you curse and rail and then you go to work on your next show. What you don't do is attempt to wish away the system that allows people to negatively criticize your show. The reviews are not for you. That they may make you feel good about yourself is a side-effect. The reason reviews exist is for audience members, to let them know whether they should spend their money on a ticket. I don't write reviews for shows I don't like. I'm not getting paid to, and I didn't pay for my ticket, so it's not my job. So, I only write reviews for shows I did like, because I want to encourage audiences to see 'em, and help out the artists who are doing good stuff. But if we only allow good reviews, if we only allow reviews from "qualified" sources (which, again, means just the good ones), then reviews don't mean anything. It's part of the job. Getting up there and taking the risk that people will tell you're terrible is the price you pay for the right to walk through the door that says "Back Stage."|W|P|115504808127416542|W|P|Shit Sandwhich|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/07/2006 10:46:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Fringe goer accuses friends, family of writing positive reviews of shows. Rest of world responds: "A-doy!"|W|P|115500883121809145|W|P|Gasp!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/07/2006 03:42:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Anyone else hating on the Fringe Rush Pass? Used to be that Artists performing in the Fringe got a pass that allowed them to see shows for free. This year we have the Rush Pass, which allows you to get into shows for free, but only 10 minutes before the performance starts. The reasoning is obvious: they want to make sure all the paying customers get a seat, which is an absolutely fine thought. However, speaking as an artist, it stinks. For one things, if the show does sell out, it doesn't really leave you enough time to get to another venue to catch a show. Plus, one of the really cool things about the Fringe is the way it allows artists to cross-pollinate, get to know other artists and see how other things work. Which is one of the reasons I loved Fringeville last year and don't care so much for the new Pub Crawl system. But I digress. The other reason I hate it is that I'm broke, as I imagine are a lot of other artists. I bought a ticket for 1926 Pleasant, because I knew there was no other way I was going to get to see that show. But it's really the only ticket I can afford to buy. And as the buzz builds, my chances of seeing really good shows decreases. Were the Artist passes really cutting into our revenue that much?|W|P|115498372121845615|W|P|Rush Pass Blues|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/22/2006 05:48:00 PM|W|P|

Anonymous|W|P|Bill,

First - thanks for your tremendous praise of 1926 Pleasant. Gaming geeks were our target audience, and after last year's THAC0 we were all really glad to see you there.

Second - On the subject of artist passes, it was really a saving grace for us that the Fringe opted to make artist passes into rush passes; at least from a financial standpoint. Or audience capacity was so small, and our buzz so tremendous, that we'd otherwise have been swamped with artists and therefore taken a tremendous financial hit for what would have still been a successful production.

Nevertheless, it was unfortunate that circumstances conspired to shut out a lot of the people we really WANTED to see the show. Too many artists didn't see it because of the ticket cost (and difficulty), and in many ways it cost us our ideal audience.

Financial success versus audience success sometimes walks a really thin line, and because of our performance conditions I was glad that the Fringe made the choice they did.

And thus all the more meaningful to us that you enjoyed it.8/06/2006 07:28:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|One of my complaints about the Fringe website this year is that they only show the latest three posts from the Fringe bloggers, and there's no RSS feed to tell me when they've been updated. So, I missed this review of our show from opening night. The charactor Dave (Kelvin Hatle) projected such nervous self doubting energy that half the time the audience laughed, I wondered if it was really due to wanting to laugh or to sqirming from over identification. Oh the tragidy of sexuality! The show touched on some sensative subjects with sweet humor. The first time with a girl, European vs. American sexuality in films, philosophical and theoretical analysis of pornography. One of my favorite parts of the show was the personification of porn. Sandy'Ci Moua played an exciting and slightly distracting at times role as Porn. I can't even write about it. I want you to see it for yourself. But man, is she a hottie!! Another scene to look for - Kabuki sex. That is something that's going to linger.... Read on...|W|P|115486743625491583|W|P|More kudos|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/05/2006 11:18:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Let the whole world know how you feel about Watching Porn!

Click on picture for bigger version These are silkscreened (not heat transfer) cotton T-shirts! Silver printing (front) on black, with show info in small print on the back. Cost: $15 @ the Fringe ($12 for Fringe artists) We can also mail you one (domestic) for $18 (includes cost of postage). If you'd like it shipped, just email me at bill@councilofdoomtheatre.com And I'll give you my information. You can pay via PayPal (Paypal account or credit card).|W|P|115479519883308935|W|P|T-Shirts!|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/05/2006 09:18:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Watching Porn got a "Worth Considering" review from the Pioneer Press, and considering that they haven't rated anything "Must See" (and have given several "avoid like the plague"), I'll take it. Pull quotes: Watching Porn is... "hilarious," "clever," and "really quite sweet." My lead gets a shout-out: Casting Kelvin Hatle as Dave was a smart move: his endearing sincerity in the face of utter humiliation turns Dave into Everykid. We feel his pain, and then we laugh. Gettin' love from the audience members, too. Woot.|W|P|115478772915006954|W|P||W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/05/2006 09:17:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Thursday: Watching Porn opened. Good audience, good reviews. 'Nuff said. After that we went to the Fringe Night Cap--you know, I have to say that so far, I'm not enjoying the Night Cap as much as I did last year's Fringeville. The great thing about Fringeville was that there was music, but it was really about mingling with the other artists and talking. The two venues so far, the BLB and Varsity, have both had pounding music that you have to shout in order to get people right next to you to hear. I am getting very, very old. Flew over to catch Sin Cities 7, for two reasons: Rik Reppe and Lust. Wait, that's not what I... oh, hell, why deny it? There's some great storytelling going on here, sandwiched between sultry songs and comic interludes by the host. Rik pointed out on his blog that this would be his only appearance, so I wanted to make sure to catch it, even though it was waaaay past my bed time (old, old man) and I had to work the next day. He did not disappoint with a harrowing tale of the stupidity of youth, awash with drugs and of course, lust. Be sorry if you missed it. Friday Ran over to the Acadia to catch Carpe the DM, because it's a show about Dungeons and Dragons and I'll be damned if I'm going to miss that. Unfortunately, the performance got cancelled (two of the cast members had trouble getting to the venue). It was 7:02, which means I had to fly to try and catch another show. After that, I went over to the 8:30 performance of 1926 Pleasant. It's a show that only seats 15 people, so I brought cash, figuring my rush pass wouldn't do me a damn bit of good. I was right! I paid for my ticket and it was totally worth it: A spooky theatrical experience set in an unfinished condo where the audience must work together to solve puzzles. So incredibly fun, you must go see this show! But come early and bring cash; this is one of those shows that people are going to be talking about for years. Seriously. Then off to the Fringe Night Cap at the Varsity. Parking was a bitch, we bought two Coronas (in cans) before finding out there was a full bar inside the theatre, it was noisy as hell, and by the time we were leaving, Shazz and I both wanted pancakes, but couldn't think of a single Denny's location in Minneapolis. There's an idea for you: have two Fringe after locations: a bar and a Denny's.|W|P|115478748165326585|W|P|A-fringing we will go|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/04/2006 11:03:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Hip, hip and hurrah! The first show, the most stressful one, is done, and was a rousing success! The audience laughed in all the right places, got an "awwwww..." that I wasn't expecting, and everything just went generally great. Now! To get more people to come see the show. And we already got a really positive audience review. After the show we went to the BLB to show of our snazzy show shirts (on sale! $12!), and to meet 'n' greet with the other artists. Got to talk with Reid Knuttila, director of the Ministry of Cultural Warfare's The Unbearable Lightness of Being American, as well as (sadly outgoing) Fringe exec Leah Cooper who was sharing a table with an interviewer from MPR who was chronicling a day in Leah's life. Apparenty that day was really boring, nothing had exploded or caught fire, so in the spirit of artistic cooperation that embodies the Fringe, I offered to punch Leah in the face. Alas, too visual for good radio. Hopped back to the Theatre Garage to catch Sin Cities 7 (the evening's theme: Lust). All three stories were, interestingly enough, about the destructive aspect, from a loss of childhood (Colleen Kruse), being enslaved in a sadistic relationship (Rik Reppe), to an evening alone in a South Beach hotel (host Mondy). Then I took my ass to bed. The end.|W|P|115470788304823609|W|P||W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/02/2006 09:36:00 AM|W|P|Bill|W|P|We got a mention in the City Pages A-List entry for the Fringe. Ha ha! Awesome. Now, how to twist this to my own ends? City Pages A-List for the Fringe: This year... Watching Porn|W|P|115452948201533362|W|P|The importance of a title|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com8/01/2006 09:31:00 PM|W|P|Bill|W|P|Just got back from tech. It's done. It's a show. My name is on it, and I'm proud of it, and I'm proud of my actors, and after a year of carrying it around in my head, I'm done. Watching Porn opens this Thursday at 8:30 pm at the Theatre Garage. Come see it. I'm going to sleep now.|W|P|115448604457638720|W|P|It is done|W|P|dynayellow@gmail.com