Feightner

Norm Macdonald is my hero.

I auditioned for the Pittsburgh New Works Festival this weekend. I was not cast in the play I assumed I would be cast in, but no real biggie because I was cast in TWO unexpected shows.

The first one's really only a staged reading, but I get to play:


DAVY CROCKETT Y'ALL!

The play is called Davy Crockett Hates America, so I assume its a big part.

In the other production I'll be playing:


TALTHYBIUS BITCHES!!

This is apparently a "sequel" to Trojan Women (cause you know that's what you've been waiting for).

Anyway, that's what I'll be up to in September.

As you may know, I love movies. Oh its true. I couldn't really say when the bug really bit me, but my love started young. While it took awhile for me to appreciate the art in film, I was always fascinated in the production. When I was a youngin' I used to watch every single behind-the-scenes show that came on TV. Especially any creature feature, and by that I mean tours of animatronic workhouses where special effects crews were churning out aliens and dinosaurs with latex and metal exoskeletons. I used to eat that shit up. I'm a boy. We love monsters.

I bring this up because Stan Winston, one of the big names, passed away on Sunday. He's responsible for designing the Terminator, building dinosaurs for Jurassic Park, and most recently making Iron Man look good in the "flesh". He came into the biz while stop motion animation was still the standard and was still making movies in the age of CGI laziness. Not that he didn't work with CGI, but that's the point. Stan Winston still built as much as he he could out of steal and foam before letting the computers have all the fun. He built a life-sized T-Rex he could move around with a remote like a friggin' RC car.

For me, my eyes will always notice the slight difference between something hard and real as opposed to pixelated. Not that I can't adjust my imagination, it was just always cool to think somewhere, in some warehouse, I could actually touch it. Despite how faked, it was still real. Stan Winston said "You want a giant alien queen? I'll build you one."

I simply take this moment to thank at least one of the people responsible for fertilizing young John Feightner's overreactive imagination. And I leave you with a picture of Stan Winston petting a raptor.

This is what I'm going to spend my Gov'ment check on. So I can be a Space Captain!



More info: http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/astrodea_celest.php#more

Amends and enemies.

Podcast #6. Tensions in the ring of "In the Ring."

Wild Bill and Mark finally release their fifth podcast.

Hustlebot: The Show. Now coming to you every Thursday.

This is what I'm up to next weekend. February 13th-16th, that's Wed.-Sat., at the Boyd Community Center in Fox Chapel (1220 Powers Run Road). The show starts at 8:00pm, doors opening at 7:00pm for an art show and dessert table. Also, you can bring your own beer and wine (no liquor).

Tickets can be reserved at 412-828-8566. Tables of six or more should be reserved ahead of time.

I forwarded an e-mail, but put this up as a just in case.

Prepare to see me with nothing but the 'stache, folks. I'll be playing Albert Einstein this February in "Pablo Picasso at the Lapine Agile" for Right Stage Theater.

Perhaps too long ago, some of my friends were curious about the name of a phenomenon which seems to occur when one learns a new word or phrase and it seems to pop up everywhere shortly after.

Well, if anyone still cares, it's called Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.

The news that's fit to print: Regina and I have found a new place. 519 Edmond St. in Bloomfield for the curious.

Q&A: Can anyone spare an hour this Sunday and help me a move a couch and a recliner? They are the only two things I can't move under my own power. Everything else is already moved or easily handled by yours truly.

This is of course assuming there are still rental trucks available this weekend, as my original reservation was for the 31st.

Please let me know who's available. I just want to make sure this isn't the weekend everyone decided to leave town.



P.S. You will be rewarded.