Friday, I'm at work
- I added a new page to the site called "web spots" that are, indeed, web spots. Work is getting me to do a lot more video and then they post them on a few Symantec sites as well as YouTube. I think they are pretty good and at least a few people have told me they are funny, so hey, why not post them here? Click on web spots on the tool bar above.
- I auditioned for a role in Cabaret--actually, I was called into read for a major role, the Emcee (MC)--and did not get it. It would be in poor taste to complain too much about not getting the role, but what was good was that I knew I had a really solid audition and assume that it was my complete lack of dancing skills and the fact that I hadn't auditioned for an actual musical in a very, very, very, very, very long time. Still, it was awesome and it was really nice to be back in a theater again. I realize now just how much I miss that stuff! So, I will just have to look for some other shows to audition for. On the flipside, it was really gratifying to get so much positive feedback and encouragement from the people I mentioned it to. It's not that I necessarily need that kind of validation and encouragement, but it's nice to know that people were excited about the chance to see me do a show again. So, good stuff all the way around.
- Things are quite good, I have to tell you. We're gonna see Iron Man tonight and I can't wait! And yes, we're staying until after the credits.
Okay, check out the videos, let me see what you think! (Update:I turned on the comments section.)
Have a good weekend...
mexifabulous
From Rachel's flickr photostream
So, two weeks ago I got
home from Vegas and then, the next morning, Whit and I
flew down to Zihuatanejo, Mexico for Annie and
Andrew's wedding. This wedding was a long
time coming, I gotta tell you. While relatively
"new" friends, Andrew and Annie (and associated
crew) have been a really fun part of my living in
Los Angeles. From pool parties at Andrew's place to
the Halloween bus parties to seeing Daft Punk, this
group is particularly good at raging, I gotta say.
Annie had a crazy battle with cancer for most of
last year and I am happy to report that it's now
pretty much gone--so this wedding was obviously sort
of the culmination of a very long, emotional battle.
I was able to do a toast at the wedding and remarked
that usually when people throw a destination
wedding, they can count on about 70% of the invite
list not showing up. Pretty much EVERYONE showed up
to their wedding; we'd all been looking forward to
it like crazy.
Whit hanging out on our balcony
Oddly enough, I had
actually been down here before--to DJ our friend Liz
and Craig's wedding. I honestly have no idea how this
whole wedding DJ thing got started, I gotta admit. I
mean, I really like it--nothing is worse than watching
a party flail because the music is terrible. I figure
if I wasn't playing music I would be judging it, so if
I have a chance to contribute and rock the party, well,
hey! I'm happy to do it. This summer is really odd,
though--I think I have at least 2, possibly 3 more
weddings to play at.
Technical interlude:
While I love playing records and all that, I don't do
it anymore in wedding situations. I am still using
Abelton Live 6 (LE, which is
annoying but I'll skip that diatribe) and basically
it allows me play songs and samples all at once
through a software mixer (it's more complicated,
actually way more complicated than that but
whatever), all at whatever tempo I choose. This is
obviously useful for dancing, so I can seamlessly
blend different songs together and not disrupt the
dancing with hectic mixing. I only use that for the
dancing portion--I use an ever changing series of
playlists in iTunes for the reception and dinner
parts of the night--which usually lasts anywhere
from 2-5 hours, depending on how crazy the crowd is.
When done properly, I have two channels of audio
going out of the computer (using an iMic USB audio
thing) so I can cue up one song in my headphones
while another song is playing out to the crowd. This
did not work in Mexico but it didn't really matter.
In my main display, I have all the songs in various
bins, or categories--pop, disco, hip hop, opening,
closing, beats, samples, etc and then I just move
sort of make a mix of the fly based on what people
are grooving to. The initial setup (getting Live to
"know" the music, setting up the bins, and other
busy work) can take anywhere from 3-40 hours. Now
that I have it all setup, I could easily play a full
wedding plus at least 6 hours of dancing in about 30
minutes.
Dance people, dance! (thanks, Rachel)
Back to the wedding. First
off, Annie and Andrew rocked it. They made it really
easy for everyone to get rooms where the wedding was
going to be, and since the hotels are all next to each
other on the beach, it was really easy for everyone to
hang out during the days leading up to and following
the wedding. (Most of us got there Friday, the wedding
was on Saturday, then most of stayed through Wednesday,
so it was really quite amazingly awesome.) We ended up
hanging out by the beach or the pool most of the days.
work it!
this is the view from the pool area--that's Andrew in
the hat on the left.
(Rachel, you rock with the
photos).
We really did have a good
time. We ended up staying up late and sleeping
really late, like 11:30 and noon style. It was
the most sleep I've had in a long time without being
interrupted by construction..it was awesome. We ended
up going out in the bay really late at night (on the
beach) and hanging out with this crazy, crazy
bioluminescence -- you would stand there, wave your
hand in the water, and it would like up, like the trail
of Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. It was outtasight
amazing.
The only problematic parts were the ongoing bouts with
"The Big D" -- people were getting wiped out with
problematic stomachs and that kind of thing.
Thankfully, it would usually pass in 24 hours or so.
Whit and I got off pretty lucky, but yeah, there was a
darker side to paradise, no doubt.
Finally, the DJing went really, really well. I played a
drinks set, a dinner set, and then a dance set that
lasted probably about 2 hours on the main sound system
(complete with crazy lights!), but then we moved down
the beach a bit to the after party and I did more
mixing for another 2-3 hours, and then just did the
play list thing for another hour or so...we closed up
shop around 3:45 in the morning! Pretty raging--this
crew loves to dance and get down.
Special, mighty and massive shouts out to DJ Dru who was an invaluable help
for the music making. We did a little session at
work and he was able to work some tracks for
me---including digitizing a few records from
1993-1994 that I knew Annie would LOVE from back in
the day which indeed brought the house down--and
helped me basically get the night going. He's got a
few mixes you should check out here--he's a very, very, very
good DJ.
Nice, cool! Next stop..Florida.
Roadtripping part 1
View from my hotel room at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
View from our hotel room in Zihuatenejo, Mexico
View from the condo in Forida.
Right. Where to begin. I thought--I really did--that I
would be this roving writer, chronicling my travels
each night and during my flights, "blogging it out"
like a pro. But I am not a pro, I am guy who goes to
bed, reads a book and passes out. A guy who walks on
the plane, fastens his seat belt and passes out. A guy
who thinks about wriitng in his blog and realizes, "I
need to do my screenwriting homework!" (Yes, the class
is in full gear and yes, it's not like I need more to
do.)
It's like that.
Las Vegas:
There were apparently over 5,000 people who went to
my work conference. I knew about 20 of them.
The conference in Las Vegas was actually super fun. I
say "actually" because it was a work function
and it was in Las Vegas, and, I admit, I don't
always connect "fun" to those places. Regardless, it
went really well. Apparently the videos I did went over
quite well and, well, the live presentation that I was
a part of really, really went well. It was the first
time in a long time where I was basically responsible
for driving a live show forward (I was basically a
host/emcee with some comedic interviews sprinkled
throughout to make sure the audience was listening,
kind of an over the top Russian Jay Leno, truth be
told. Okay, here's a pic that was taken during my
pre-show, where the audience came in to blaring
nationalistic music while I glared at them and sipped
vodka.
I did the set, too:
We also saw Ka, which was a really
interesting Cirque du Soleil show. It was more of a
show than circus, and I must admit it was impressive
mostly because the set and stage were
crazy. I mean, the cast did a great job
with the acrobatics and balancing, but they had this
crazy stage on hydraulics that was really just
breathtaking--or, correction: it helped create some
amazing, breath taking scenes. Let's see..whoa, here's a
video, turn down the sound and
check it out. We had perfect scenes--rumor has it
that one of our co-workers has an American Express Black Card and
apparently one of the perks is that Cirque du Soleil
saves a block of tickets for Black Card holders just
in case. Madness!
The stay in Vegas was busier than I thought it would be
and I wasn't able to check in with my friends in Vegas.
Whit and I will have to come back and visit...we have
at least one event that we should probably check out...
Interlude:
I have been noticing something lately. I get a lot of
spam--hundreds and hundreds of emails a month--and they
mail is usually confined to some fairly unsurprising
themes: male performance pills, vitamins...and that's
about it. However, recently, I am getting flooded with
"work from home!" and "we'll help with your impending
foreclosure!" emails. I guess people are already at
home (maybe even packing it up, sadly) and the spammers
are figuring the recipients are already home
so but so depressed that even the powerful of pills
won't improve the situation..
I obviously have a lot more to write, but I figure I
won't go for the epic entry right just yet (I gotta eat
dinner anyway). However, wish me luck tomorrow, I am
actually auditioning for a musical tomorrow.
Lead role. We'll see how it goes.
Coming up:
- DJ'ing on the beach!
- Mike sings leads with the local band!
- What's up with my hip flexor?
