Rhythm Discovery Center Spark! Promo Video

This is the video I made for the Rhythm Discovery Center during PASIC '16 to promote the new Spark! electronic drum and percussion exhibit.

Video: Djembe Heet Toe Technique

This is a video I made for my portfolio in videography and music education. It highlights using the heel toe technique to embellish your beats and solos with rolls and ruffs.

Slow Down

Everyone should be forced to walk for one whole day. Maybe not even for a whole day, just to the store or to some other destination. I realize the majority of American cities can not be travelled without a car, and actually walking can be a dangerous without proper sidewalks, cross walks and lights.

But that danger could work to prove my point that everyone is driving too fast. Not everyone is driving recklessly, but there's no question everyone is driving too fast. We are in a hurry, there's no time, I'm late, I want to be there now.

A day of walking could put in perspective how fast you are really going. A normal person walks between 2 or 3 miles per hour and drives at 40 mph in a residential zone where kids are playing, people are walking their dogs or going for a jog. By taking the time to walk from one place to another other than your front door to your car, you will realize how 20, 30 and 40 mph are really fast at getting you places.

Our need for speed has gotten out of control. Too many people are getting hurt, physically and financially. Driving is causing lots of stress for people who do drive the speed limits, causing tension between drivers and harmful road rage resulting in horrific tragedies that are unnecessary.

Just slow down, be mindful and take your time. Reaching your destination is the goal and not reaching it, probably means you're dead.

What We Can Learn From Sports

Always look forward, never back. When you make a mistake, its a mistake, reset and get ready for the next one.

Javier Baez made two errors on the defensive side in Game 7 of the World Series. He pulled himself together and walked up to the plate and hit a home run.

David Ross did the same thing. After a bad throw that advanced the runners and falling over on a wild pitch that led to two scored runs, he shook it off and went to bat that resulted in a home run.

The Chicago Cubs won the World Series after being behind three games to one when you need four to win a best of seven series. They ended up winning three games in a row, one at home and two on the road, to win their first World Series in one hundred and eight years.

It would of been easy to give up on the Cubs. Sell the team to a new city, fans turn their backs and root for someone else. But none of those things happened. And all the faith and all the cheering and all the gear supporting the team paid off in the end. They learned from their mistakes, they didn't ruminate on them, they had slumps, but bounced back to have the greatest victory of all.

When you feel you can't write, have nothing to shoot, no inspiration to do your art. Think about the Cubs and how they never gave up. Think about pro athletes because they all fail at the drop of a hat, have to pick themselves up and go at it again, succeed or fail, again and again and again.

And we love them when they win and hate them when they fail, if your a fan, a reporter or critic. That might be why we hate ourselves so much when we fail, because we thing everyone feels about us the way we feel about our team. But just remember, deep down we always love our team. And the players, although they may have failed, have to look forward to the next play, next game, next season.

Their are winners and losers, but no one is a real loser. It's just a game, it's just a job, it's just an election, it's just [fill in the blank].

Keep creating, keep moving, don't look back and feel sorry for yourself when things don't work out. Pick yourself up and keep moving forward.

My Halloween as a Haunter

In the haunted house your job is to scare. The customer wants to be scared. In October 2016, I worked twenty nights in a popular haunted house, listed here are some of the best possible ways to get people scared and observations from my experience.

Things that help:

1. Scary make-up or a mask
2. Good hiding places
3. Good timing
4. Noise makers or a good scream

Let's take a closer look at these,

1. Scary Make-Up or a Mask
Although people are scary in their own right, in a haunted house you want to create an atmosphere or in the movie business, 'suspension of disbelief'. So having a zombie face, a bloody face or terrifying goblin or skeleton mask can startle the bravest patron.

2. Good Hiding Places
In scare school the first thing he says is, "Be a predator." A predator as in a lion or a wolf. Work together like a wolf pack to shake, rattle and scare the customer. Stalk your prey like a lion would in the wild. To do that you need a good hiding spot. A good attraction will have all that builds into it. Drop windows, curtains, pop holes, camouflage doors, etc. And space for your haunters to move behind the scenes to hit each one with the least amount of effort.

3. Good Timing
Good hiding places will create a scary surprise, but having the timing to pop when the customer is right in front of you is also good to have. Having peep holes to see where the customers are and to know when they will be in front of you to maximize your scare. Listen to the other haunters also to know the cues that they are getting close. Knowing the attraction will also help you keep track of where people are on things they say or from the cues again which room they are in and how long it will take to get to your position.

4. Noise Makers or a Good Scream
Screams and diabolical laughs are good ways to get a scare. The problem is when you scream for three hours you lose your voice. Having an alternative sound source is a great idea. Items like shaker cans that rattle, wooden poles to knock against the walls (hands work too), metal poles to drag against the floor or slam against the wall (more on that later). Built in window shutters or doors to slam can also cause a song jolt in the customers.

Getting to know your surroundings to understand when and where to pop to get the best scare can lead to a positive experience. Also having some handy backups in case your voice gives out or to bring some variety to your game can also keep you healthy and having fun.

Routine and the Importance of Being Flexible

When you're in your space and have found your best spots to jump out and scare, it's easy to get down a routine. Routines can be helpful to get you warmed up and have a 'go to' scares. When you run a routine over and over again it starts to become second nature, and this is good when the house starts to become busy and you don't have to run all over the place.

But with routine, comes the dreaded boredom. Doing anything over and over again becomes mind numbing and boring, even something as fun as scaring people in a haunted house. So you need to find new ways to scare people using sounds, movement or scary sayings.

In my spot, I have eight pops to choose from when the customers come through. During my first two weeks, I worked five of them the best that I could. The first in the curtain hall, because there are two people on the other side, I hit one out of three curtains. Then when they turn the corner, I get them at the large window by pulling in the shutters to create a THUD and rattle my shaker can, then if the group is large enough, I can turn the corner and get them at the second window. When they come down the hall, I can get through the hole with some wall banging. I only did this if I used a phrase and then repeated it louder and more aggressive. I also had to be flexible with this if the other haunter, the roamer, was in the room. I didn't want to step on his scare. When he is there, I would run to the other side and get them from behind the sofa, spot that wasn't originally mine, but have adopted as the only person in the spot.

Then came the pipe.

A haunter appeared one night carrying a long metal pipe. He stood on the other side of the wall opposite the large window. Once the customer turns the corner, he SMACKS the plywood wall with a baseball swing creating a high pitched crack that is actually breaking the wall itself. Once confronted with this sound, the customers are temporarily deaf which made the large window scare redundant as a sound scare. When I confronted him about it, at a time when I should of waited because the continuous SMACK every three minutes was also getting on my nerves that cause me to be somewhat hostile with him, he claimed it was a distraction.

A distraction in a haunted house is a technique to pull the customers attention away from where the other haunter is hiding to maximize the scare when that haunter pops out.

A loud SMACK on the wall is not a distraction, it's a scare or I believe it to be a disruption (an act that doesn't build or support on the scares of the other haunters, but actually takes the customers out of the moment of their suspension of disbelief). And it's a scare that he insists on doing and even though the customers complain, most comments compare the sound to the sound of a gunshot, about it every time and the wall is breaking the haunters and supervisors encourage him to do.

The Boy Scout is Always Prepared

The next night, knowing he will be cracking the wall, I pocketed my earplugs and am now free from becoming deaf myself. But still in need a new scare strategy.

After several attempts at asking for another haunter to share the space with me, I have come to terms that I will be working the spot alone until the end of the season. The guy on the other side of the wall is the best relief I have as the roamer has to fill in other parts of the attraction because of people not showing up for their own personal reasons.

I let him have the wall. Once he SMACKS it, I go for a scare in the fridge. The fridge is one of the eight pops at my disposal, a hole up and behind so the customer can't see me, but also not big enough for me to climb through. The front has little ripples that I run finger across to make a sound that resembles playing a guiro, this causes a distraction, if they can hear it that while they are focused on the fridge, I can pop out through one of the windows. I also have a styrofoam hand I can drop down to get a minor scare.

A Little More About the Hand

Knowing I could fit through the fridge hole, I searched the kitchen for something I could drop down and land on the fridge shelf. At first I had an old Pepsi can. The aluminum made a enough noise to get the customer's attention. But, the can kept falling onto the floor and I would have to go and retrieve it. I then found the hand and began using it to grab the can, it wasn't a perfect fit, yet still made a sound that got attention and even got a few scares. Then I asked my dad if he had any fishing string, because he owns a boat all his fishing gear is there. What he did have was some translucent sewing thread. I tied that to the hand and to the light inside the fridge and now can drop the hand inside without it falling on the floor. It still doesn't make a loud enough sound to get their attention on its own, but combined with the ripple is getting a lot of scares.

Embracing the SMACK!

Now that the pipe is a definite part of the house, I have to find new ways to maximize my scares. Why? Because I am a professional at everything I do. It would be easy to take the lazy way and just hit my main three spots; curtain, small window, and attic sofa. Yet, I am not a defeatist and strive to be creative in my work, even a minimum wage job performing in a haunted house.

I stand on the attic side to wait for the customers to come around the corner. While I'm waiting, I practice my heel-toe hand drumming technique on the wall. Then when one group comes by I use that to create a, what I imagine to be, six-legged Lovecraftian creature. I hear a scream and a 'what was that?', this becomes a go to scare. I also revel in the fact that I got a scare with something subtle and not overly loud.

My noise maker, the shaker can, is loud and sounds like a snake. I move it over to the attic side for the pop behind the sofa. A prop golf bag also sits next to the pop for easy storage and access. A win-win and a good scare spot. Some of the best things I heard, 'That's creepy.', 'That was good.'

Just like any good actor, constantly evolve your character and build your repertoire. Observe how other people work in their space and learn from their success and failures and always learn from your failures to keep improving. Coming back from my break I observed the supervisor playing the piano from the behind the wall. Something I didn't know was there and now that I did used it to my advantage.

Forget Everything You Know

Don't forget everything, but now that you have a good knowledge of your surroundings and everything you're capable of doing from your routine start to build a rhythm. If you continue to just hit the same spots over and over using the same screams or tagline then you'll get bored pretty fast. Your rhythm will put you in positions to scare when things get busy. When customers come through one after the other, relying on the routine will begin to frustrate you. You need to hit them wherever you can, whenever you can.

Your rhythm will also be useful when you're thrown a curve ball. Remember what I said about timing, in the house certain cues happen; lights, animations, sounds, etc. You time certain pops to those cues and certain haunters hit these cues at different times. So after getting use to one haunters timing then they don't show up anymore, you have to get use to another haunters timing all over again. Falling back on your routine is a good way to ease back into rebuilding your rhythm.

On Your Toes

Seth Godin mentioned 'on your toes' on his blog. It refers to the idea of doing your best every time. You may do something a hundred times, but each time should be as fresh as the first. I know that is almost impossible, yet you should do your best to be 'on your toes'. Even when your wage is low, moral is fleeting, or at times you feel your a member of the Stanford experiment. Hard work and being apart of an experience is a worthwhile endeavor. Something to feel good about when you hear the words, 'You scared me.' Because that's the job.

On Rule Breaking in the Workplace

The old saying goes, "Rules are made for breaking." Yes, for the rules of invention and creativity, but people these days believe it applies to rules in games and rules in the workplace.

Professional athletes continue to break the rules by using performance enhancing drugs or using illegal maneuvers on the field. In defense of the NFL, players are still getting use the new rules of the game to keep players safe, but sometimes hits are so unnecessary players should know better.

An employer has a rule that no cell phones should be used and everyone continues to use their cell phones when no one is looking because 'I'm above the rules.'

The above the 'rules mentality' is plaguing the workplace. In this age with the cost of living going up and wages low and stagnant with those getting paid high wages losing their jobs to outsourcing while the CEO's and executives earn a million dollar bonus for destroying homes and the American dream. It's not that hard to side with employees, that have no job security, minimum wage salary, that breaking the rules is no big deal.

Except when they work for a company that isn't going anywhere and they make a big fuss about wanting more money, more benefits and more respect. The owners and managers can look to their 'rule breaking' for reasons why they don't deserve raises, benefits or respect. Then the employee falls back into their pattern of rule breaking and laziness to start the cycle all over again.

Integrity is said to be, "doing the right thing, when no one is looking." Leadership is said to be, "actions that influence others to act." Leadership and integrity are not just for management and supervisors, they are for everyone. When everyone shows tendencies towards integrity and leadership,  everyone wins. Plus it's something they can never take away from you and something you can take with you everywhere you go.

I know rules are arbitrary and sometimes unfair and if they other you that much then I would suggest looking for somewhere else to work. But not matter where you go there will always and forever be rules. Dress codes, break times, smoke breaks, no cell phones, don't be late, don't leave early,

Mangers have a responsibility too. To be respectful of those they are managing and be empathetic to their feelings. Being in charge of others is not open season for the manager to scream and yell, be cruel and emotionless or bring down the hammer of discipline. It is their job to let people go if they aren't working to the standards of the job. But you should first confront the infraction with a smile and have a calm conversation resolving the problem. If it continues, then you should repeat and never scream or yell even if you need to let them go and even if they get angry.

We are all human, we are all here for a short period time and we are all doing our best to live out the hopes and dreams set out in front of us. So we should work together to create environments that we can strive and be happy.

All About Lists

Everything now is a list. It's one of the strategies for social media marketers and you see it everywhere. The top 5 this, the top 10 that, and every so often a top 8. It doesn't matter how many you have in your list just as long as you have one. 

There is even a TV show called The List, a show about all the other lists out there. Not quite, but that would save a lot of people a lot of time. One of the best Twitter accounts you can follow is @SavedYouAClick. They read the stories with click bait titles, the ones that usually headline with a leading question, and tell you the answer without having to risk downloading a virus to your computer. Thank you @SavedYouAClick.

The television show The List makes their own lists and produce short segments about the things on their lists. Usually about tech, health fitness or upcoming events. Stuff that is popular on the web and things that are trending. It wasn't such a bad show. The information was useful, but (and there's always a but) the fast paced story cuts and motion graphics with the continuous high energy enthusiasm of the hosts got a little tiresome. It's a show for people with ADD. Despite that, I would watch it again if it was on. 

The real trouble with lists facing us today is not that there are lists, but how the lists are presented. A typical list used to be a simple one page countdown or count up of the top something within its focus area. Movie lists come to mind, the top 100 AFI movies list has been a standard in lists for a long time. A one page list of what they deem to be the best movies of all time. It's simple, easy to read, no fuss, no muss, no gimmicks, no pop ups, nothing. The best lists are that simple. Although, I'm not sure why Amazon hasn't paid them to add links to their site to buy the movies. 

All webpages aren't so simple. A list embedded in a web page and for whatever reason each time you click on the next button the whole page reloads all the static graphics and ads, sometimes the same sometimes new, again. Now with high speed internet maybe it's not much of a problem, but it's annoying. At one time it might of been the only way, but more and more sites now are getting away from this with the help of HTML5.

Most  good sites build a container where they put the photograph and text into it, they then embed that container in a webpage. Each time you click the next button the container changes, but the rest of the site doesn't. Genius. One site that does this really well is the purpleclover.com. Their site is a pop culture site for Gen X'ers. Kind of a niche I guess. What they do is make a story gallery, one in particular is a Marylin Monroe through the years (something Gen X'ers are into) and each time you click the next button the image and text changes, but the site remans the same. Little things in this world can make a person so happy.

I like lists. I have been known to make lists myself. I try to use lists more as a sequence; three things Dan Harmon said about telling better stories, number 1, number 2, etc., things like that.

Most lists are subjective and shouldn't be taken so seriously. Top 10 love songs or top 8 muscle building exercises. My favorite love songs aren't necessarily anyone else's and all exercises utilizing body weight or barbells are going to help lose weight and build muscles. I did watch a youtube video about the top 5 foods to help build muscle, that's why I eat more avocado.

Lists that are educational or fun are my favorite kinds of lists. Lists that promote low culture or propaganda are my least favorite lists. Lists that exploit celebrity gossip, lies and just plain dangerous ideas. And most times lists are dangerous and may be just click bait so spyware and spammers can get your information. These are the types of lists that prey on the low culture. Top 10 ways to enhance the size of your wiener. If there was a way, we would know.

So be careful out there when looking at lists. Go out and create your own lists of things you're interested in and if you make a list of articles about lists then put this one on your list. That would be nice.

Stranger Things (2016) and the Future of Stories

Anyone who grew up in the 1980's can probably name every movie, TV or book that fuels that itch in your brain that says, 'Wait, I've seen this, no maybe not.', in the Duffer brothers series for Netflix Stranger Things. Teens or young adults too may recognize some of the influences due to the remakes of many of the influential media in this reboot culture, or because it feels like it was produced by J.J. Abrahams. The thing to remember when we watch Stranger Things is that it is neither a reboot, a remake or even a wannabe, it's influenced.

Everything in the show feels like something we've seen before, the telekinetic girl, the Dungeons and Dragons playing boys, the parallel universe, the sadistic scientist and his government funded fringe science laboratory. It squishes all these familiar elements into a fresh new package, even though the comparison pitch for this show would be: it's like Super 8 meets Twin Peaks, a Stephen King novel meets Goonies, Freaks and Geeks meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Breakfast Club meets Lovecraft. Even the opening credits was like an NWR film, that's Nicolas Winding Refn for anyone who hasn't seen The Neon Demon, with the bright neon colors and low thumping electronic theme song. Is smashing all these influences together a bad thing? No, I don't think so.

They don't hide this fact. They come out and say it upfront that it is an homage to 80's pop thrillers and is inspired by the plethora of media formally mentioned. Is our willingness to call foul on everything that comes out make it necessary for them to say this or is it necessary to inform viewers who weren't born in the 80's that they aren't plagiarizing the works of others because they didn't put that remake branding stamp on it? Will everything that we create from now on that feels familiar in any way need a footnote to the media or ideas that influenced it? Anyone reading a philosophy book written in the last twenty years might say 'yes' because Plato's thoughts on death have to be referenced along side every other philosopher's idea on death before the modern day philosopher can give his philosophy on the subject that includes centuries of scientific data supporting a new more up to date version of the idea. So how does anyone ever have a truly original idea anymore?

At the GenCon convention's 2016 Writers Symposium, they held a panel asking that same question on Creating Truly New Ideas. What did we discover from our inquiry, are there truly new ideas? No, not really. Why?  The fact is there are only six basic emotional arcs of storytelling. You can read about those here. In short a group of computer scientists fed a computer 1,700 stories then data mined the most common emotional arcs and found six. One day, in the hopefully not so far future, we will be able to link our brains to computers to stimulate our emotional senses using one of the six basic arcs instead of having to read or watch the story itself to experience it. 

Of course there are more emotional story arcs than that, but there is a consensus that a lot of ideas have been done before and a lot of plots are being reused over and over. John August and Craig Mazin, two hollywood screenwriters who talk about the business of writing scripts on their podcast Scriptnotes, discussed this very question on their show. In response to the low number of six emotional arcs Mr. Mazin remarked, "the story may be known, but how the characters react in their surroundings can be new."

The character's are never the same. They live in different communities. They grow up or have grown up in different circumstances. They make different decisions just like I do and you do. That's why you yell at the girl in the horror movie to 'run' and scream curse words when she doesn't or does run, but in the wrong direction. That's why when a movie like You're Next comes along it's so refreshing, a girl in a typical horror movie situation doesn't lay down and take it or cries about it, she fights back. Hell yeah!

The communities themselves can be different enough to put a new coat of paint on something we've seen before. Hawkins, Indiana is not so different from Chippewa, Michigan, but contain details that are specific to the community of the characters that determines their culture and influence their choices. Most religions or cultures have a flood story, but not all stories are the same. They are different between cultures and communities because of the power of myth, hero worship and ancient aliens. We look for those differences to explore how something already told can be told again and influence a new generation of people.

That's why I like Stranger Things. Instead of just making something we've seen before or making something we haven't seen but slap a brand name on it, Ghostbusters, they take everything we love and breath new life into it. You could call it derivative, but I think Stranger Things does something we should start doing more of and that is to make more things created on influences. Then it will be awesome to watch the next generation of shows and movies that have been influenced by this generations shows and movies. Everything continuing to build on top of each other, until it all comes crashing down and we have to start building all over again, those lucky bastards. 

The Plus Tax Headache

I miss Japan, but I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. I miss the night life, the safety and the ease of transportation (I already talked about driving in Back Home Again in Indiana), but now that I've been back for awhile, the thing I miss the most is the transparent prices in supermarkets and convenient stores.

I went in to the CVS to pick up something to drink, as one would, and the prices ended in a 7 or an 8. I thought, 'Wow that might be the price at the counter.' Well, no it wasn't, it was the price before tax. It used to always be 9. A 1.99 or .99 cents, but now it's 1.77 on the tag and at the register add 7 percent sales tax to make it a 1.89.

Why can't the tag just say '1.89' and I go to the register and it's a 1.89. Why all the cloak and dagger on tax? In Japan if it read 179 (they don't use decimal points), I would pay a 179 yen for the drink. No smoke and mirrors.

Why is this important to me and you? Because if I see 1.77, I can look in my wallet and find a 1.77 and know I have enough to buy this product. When I go to the counter and now it's 1.89, I have a dollar and eighty-six cents in change, I now have to use my credit card to buy a Snapple peach ice tea.

You know sales tax is 7% so just do the math dummy! Sure that sounds swell, thanks for the advice, but they're a large corporate organization who prints the tags and sends them out to the stores to label the products, why don't they just do it? They put the burden on the consumer to know how much tax will be added at the register. And yes it is easier now with cell phones and smart phones that have calculators, but how many people do you think know how to calculate tax? Probably more than you think. Just for instructional purposes, 1.77 x .07 = .12

Now lets say you need to buy 3 items. One is 6.98, another at 2.97 and the last is the 1.77 Snapple peach ice tea. How is your total including tax?

The break down: 6.98 + 2.97 + 1.77 = 11.72, now times the total by .07, 11.72 x .07 = .82, add that to 11.72 and you get 12.54.

6.98 x .07 = .49 which is 7.47
2.97 x .07 = .21 which is 3.18
1.77 x .07 = .12 which we know is 1.89

And all together it is 12.54. I'll be honest a little part of me thought it might be different and my whole reasoning for wanting transparent tax prices would go out the window. But it's the SAME! So then why not just price it with the taxed amount? What is this game the American retail market is playing with us?

To add all that up to know how much I would be paying before I went to the register was about a five minute process. I even used Siri to help calculate without punching in the all the numbers myself, and even with her I had to jump through some hoops. Here's how it went:

Joshua: What is two dollars and ninety-seven cents times .07?
Siri: Hmm...let me think. The answer is about 0.21 US dollars.
Joshua: What is two dollars and ninety-seven cents plus twenty-one cents?
Siri: Let's see... The answer is 3.18 US dollars.
Joshua: What is three dollars and eighteen cents plus a dollar eighty-nine?
Siri: Checking... The answer is 5.07 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents times .07?
Siri: Let me think about that. The answer is about .49 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents plus forty-nine cents?
Siri: OK let me check that for you. The is answer is 7.47 US dollars.
Joshua: What is the previous total plus that total?
Siri: OK here web results for previous total.
Joshua: No, go back.
Siri: Sorry, I can't help you with that.
Joshua: What is three dollars and eighteen cents plus a dollar eighty-nine?
Siri: Checking... The answer is 5.07 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents times .07?
Siri: Let me think about that. The answer is about .49 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents plus forty-nine cents?
Siri: Checking on that. The is answer is 7.47 US dollars.
Joshua: What is 7.47 US dollars plus the previous total?
Siri: Checking my sources. OK, I found this on the web for 'What is US$7.47 plus the previous total.
Joshua: Damn it!
Siri: Now, now.
Joshua: What is five dollars and seven cents plus seven dollars and forty-seven cents?
Siri: Checking... The answer is about 12.54 US dollars.

So the problem there was she couldn't add it all together. For some reason she kept getting stuck on the US dollars part. When I tried it again using the language, 'What is six point nine eight times point zero seven?' She calculated it, then I said, 'Plus six point nine eight?' She added it to the answer .49. So if you use Siri use numbers and decimals instead of dollars cents.

I mentioned before, Japan doesn't use decimals and 99% of all the stores include tax on their labels. There are a 1% of stores, mostly electronic stores and this one little bakery in Tanimachi yon-choume that add tax after, so if I buy three items at 189, 747 and 318, and don't feel like adding in my head, I can ask Siri, 'What's 189 plus 747 plus 318?' She would reply, '1,254.' Easy. But to be clear, my beef isn't with decimals it is with the label price on the shelf then the plus tax at the register, just add the tax to the label and make everyone's life a little easier. I'm still going to buy it at 1.89, I just want to know t's going to be 1.89 before I go to the register without calculating the price before hand. Yes, technically your store is selling Snapple peach ice tea for 1.77 and the government is making you add a 7% tax on it, but hey man, be cool and just add the tax for us before we have to pay.

I'm not going to hold my breath on this one, and you shouldn't either.

Happy shopping America.

Attentiveness and the Improv4Humans Podcast

I've been reading Michael Foley's book The Age of Absurdity a philosophy book about 'why modern life makes it hard to be happy', the subtitle of the book. In the chapters The Atrophy of Experience and Loss of Transcendence, he touches on the importance of 'attentiveness'. He believes, as do I, that the constant engagement in entertainment is destroying our ability to sit still with our own thoughts for longer period than ten seconds. 'Constant exposure to entertainment has left many incapable of sustained interest, never mind transcendence' (Loss of Transcendence, pg. 144-145).

In The Atrophy of Experience, he argued that the lack of reading was responsible for a lot of the displeasure that we feel in our day to day habits. As that displeasure leads us to find meaning through fantasy lives on the internet, in video games or through movies and TV.  Each with it's own unique withdrawal symptoms when returning back to real life. Each one chipping away at our ability to pay attention, to observe, to be as mindful as the Buddhists.

But have to fear friends, Foley has the solution, 'deep reading creates attentiveness, [sic] heavy viewing destroys it' (The Atrophy of Experience, pg. 143). I would say that any reading is good reading, but Foley has a soft spot for literature. 'Literary reading revitalizes personal experience by revealing what appeared so drab and dreary was in fact  mysterious and extraordinary' (The Atrophy of Experience, pg. 137).

I relate this to the haunted house affect. After watching a scary movie or a TV program about a family fighting a demonic presence as in A Haunting or When Ghosts Attack, you creep slower than usual around the house, turning on all the lights, listening to every creak and squeak wondering, 'what's that?'. Reading can give me that feeling too. The stories of Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft in particular.

But what why do I need to be attentive? Why don't we just give into technology and become complacent in hating the daily routine, throwing on my favorite video game and losing myself in a world of fantasy? Go to an expensive concert and spend the whole time on my phone taking pictures of myself to show everyone I was there rather than experience it and lift myself into a higher emotional state?

Well for one, I don't play video games. Nothing against them just don't have the time. Although, I do like to play Wii golf and some DS games or Chess. The new Legend of Zelda game also looks pretty amazing. Otherwise I don't know how to find the time. I do watch a lot of movies, TV and podcasts.

One podcast I listen to a lot is Improv4Humans. Matt Besser gets the best comedic improvisers from the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) and do scenes based on Twitter suggestions, YouTube videos or listener questions. Each one launching into a hilarious improvised scene.

On a recent episode, number 241 with Matt, Alex Fernie, Stephanie Allynne and Will Hines, one scene wasn't going so well, how do I know, oh I pay attention. All those attentiveness problems I mentioned before, I don't have those, OK sometimes I do. But when you're learning improvisation, listening is key to finding agreement of the game. I've also been reading the UCB Comedy Improvisation Manual by Besser, Walsh and Roberts.

So what happened in the scene? Hines went somewhere off a suggestion and him and Allynne started to Yes, And each other creating the base reality of the who, what and where, but weren't finding the unusual thing, the one thing that breaks the Yes, And into the If, Then. After a ping pong match of back and forth, Besser stepped in and turned the scene on its head. How did he do that? Hine's character was the odd ball and Allynne's character was the straight man, but when Besser stepped in he turned Allynne's straight man into the odd ball and made the unusual thing her conformity to time structure.

A little more detail (Some of these may be wrong, I'm writing from memory, but it's close enough). Hines called Allynne to come drinking with her, but it was 9 AM. Allynne wanted to go play tennis instead of going to the bar. They decided to go to the bar then go play tennis after. Then Hines called again and wanted to play tennis at 3 AM before going to the bar at 9 AM. Allynne kept fighting him on the time and that normal people don't do those things at the time he wanted to do them. Then Besser came in and said, Stephanie we need to talk. You need to stop being so hung up on what time people are suppose to do things. That took the scene onto a whole new path by making her the unusual thing. The scene ended when Allynne was on a date with a new Besser character who was even more of a time snob who at 6:30 PM was wine time, 'it's 6:30, time for wine. 6:30 time for wine.'

It doesn't seem funny, but it is. And smart. Because we, most of us, are like Allynne's character. Wake up at 6, eat breakfast, 12 o'clock lunch time, 4 o'clock gym time, etc. So for me it hits on that level, because I know a lot of people who need that rigorous schedule to keep them going and give them the ability to judge the hell out anyone who doesn't follow the same routine. Now it's getting personal.

Attentiveness is important when connecting with the experience you're experiencing. At a concert, the movies, TV, in nature or wherever. In nature especially. Recently in India they have been having problems with people taking selfies on the Ganges. They slip in the water and the current drowns them. Nature doesn't care about the perfect shot or your profile picture. If you're not paying attention to your surroundings then it could be fatal. On a more relatable note, how many times have you been watching a movie or a TV show and the person you're with is always asking dumb questions; who's that guy? Where are they going? What did he say? etc., and you're thinking, 'pay attention and you would know'. Swearing omitted.

Without attentiveness I would be asking the same questions listening to Improv4humans. But I listened thus I learned, I laughed and experienced. Attentiveness is good for you. Knowing what's going on around you and for staying alive. Especially for staying alive. Not just selfies, but people are dying from distracting themselves with texting, web surfing, watching TV and all the other cool things you can do with your mobile these days. People in Asia fall off train platforms from staring at their phone. People in Europe fall down manholes from staring at their phone. People in America suffer all of these things and worse from staring at their phones.

Don't be like those people. Stay attentive and stay alive. Experience the world as it was meant to be experienced. Take photos and videos and make a record of your life, sure. I'm not saying that the internet isn't cool and that we should stop using it. I'm saying use it responsibly. Be attentive of the way you use the internet and where you use it. When walking down a crowded street, keep your head up and look at the people. That Gawker article isn't going to disappear. That YouTube video isn't going to disappear. Do what I do and plug in your headphones and listen to Improv4humans and listen for the magic. Otherwise you will find yourself stuck in a manhole shouting for help to people who can't help because their phones are more important than your life. Or worse they will stop, shoot a selfie and leave.

 

Be careful at what you get good at.

I was listening to the Unmistakable Creative podcast with Jessica Abel. She brought up this line from season one of True Detective, 'Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful at what you get good at.'

If your lucky you are good at many things, but there's that one thing your really good at doing. Why? Because you spent all of your time doing it. It's like the Gladwell theory of 10,000 hours. If you put enough time and energy into anything you can master it after 10,000 hours.

The energy part is important here. If your doing something for long periods of time mindlessly then you're not getting the most out of your time. You have to pay attention, hold focus and be mindful of the moment to keep improving at what you're doing.

In a 2014 article for Esquire Luke O'Neail wrote about this quote compared to Kurt Vonegut who wrote in his book Mother Night, 'We are what we pretend to be, so be careful what you pretend to be.'

As Marty says, 'Or you end up becoming something you never intended.'

What are you pretending to be? I've pretended to be a lot of things, that seems to be the only thing I ever do is pretend and never end up being anything.

I spend a lot of time getting good at playing the drums, but never became a drummer. Lots of time learning multimedia production, but never become a multimediaist (correct term? Not sure because I'm not one). Spent seven years as an English teacher and got pretty good at it, but never appreciated by my employers so I got fed up with the work, quit and left Japan.

 Now what? What's next? I'm 34 going on 35, my next step has to be a wise one. I should just throw it all out there and see if it lands, otherwise I'll move to Thailand and live out the rest of my days in wild wild west of Asian. Living the lazy life writing dime novels and self-publishing them on Amazon. Honestly, that doesn't sound too bad. I just don't want to hate myself for never trying to pursue something important, if anything we do in this world can be considered important.

But maybe that's a philosophical question for another day.

*This post started as an upbeat motivational piece, but ended up being a self-deprecating slap in the face as I am not feeling that upbeat at the moment, but working hard to lift myself up. I apologize for the sour tone, yet also don't apologize  for being transparent. Thanks for your understanding. At a later time I may take the beginning and rework it into something more beneficial to the human experience. Until then.

Back Home Again in Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana. This is where I was born and raised for eighteen years of my life and returned when I was twenty five and now I'm here again at thirty four. This time I won't be here for very long as I am planning on moving to one of the big cities. Hopefully Denver or Los Angeles, but Chicago, Portland or Austin would be fun too. Indianapolis is just not for me, I've been trying to put it into words but for the most part everything is just too damn far apart.

At the moment I don't own a car, maybe that is why I'm feeling this distance between me and the rest of the world. Not to mention I just moved back from Osaka, one of the largest cities in the world. But I have been driving my mom's car and it still just feels like everything is far away. If I lived downtown I might not feel the same way, but the suburbs are a lonely and distant place. They use to make good movies about living in the suburbs in the '90s but not so much anymore.

Indiana is a very low city. Almost like Nagoya. Today was clear and sunny with blue skies so far, but not that far you could see the tallest building in Indianapolis, the Chase building. You could see it in two directions while going West and South. Indiana has a lot of trees though something the city doesn't have a lot of. Has, but not a lot of.

So I use to get loaded up and drive. Yes, drinking and driving. It was irresponsible and dumb. I crashed my car into a curve busting the wheel. The police showed up and took me to the drunk tank. Even then I didn't learn my lesson, the next week I got loaded and started a dumpster fire (I served my time for the drunk driving, but never got charged for the dumpster. That was ten years ago so I hope I beat the statue of limitation). I walked home over a mile, sobered up and drove home. I was really depressed I assume. After I lost my license I had my mom drive me downtown so I could attend my Master's program classes.

The point is now I'm driving again after seven years and it's freaky. I can drive, but I'm just not use to the speed anymore. People whipping by at speeds of 70 miles per hour. What a deadly mode of transportation. And traffic isn't any better. Waka Waka. (Reminds me of bad 90's stand up airplane jokes).

Meeting woman in Indiana is really tough. How does anyone meet anyone in this city? You have to go to the bar to meet and greet, but then drive home? If you can get yourself there without driving you can make it back home with an Uber.

But what's the point? Oh to have sex, that's right. Well good luck out there.

Time heals all wounds or Time gave corporations a way to learn how to take advantage of us in the fine print

I am working on moving back to America in a few weeks and have to cancel all of my subscriptions. Luckily, I only have two; my cell phone and my gym membership. After spending about an hour trying on my cell phone, I learned that I can only cancel on the day I want my service to stop. Yes, I can't quit on the 26th to stop my service on the 1st of May. I have to go back on the 30th to stop service on the 1st of the next month. OK, not a big deal, but a real waste of time for everyone.

Here's where they got me. I signed a two year contract to get an iPhone 4S for 10,000 Yen ($100) three years and a half years ago. I never heard from them after my contract ended, but my service continued at a month by month basis, I thought, but they told me today, after my contract ended they automatically renewed my two year contract. Now I want to end my service and I have to pay 10,000 Yen cancellation fee.

They explained to me that unless I came in to change my original contract when it ended it was in the contract that it would automatically renew. I asked them how they informed me that my contract was over and they told me by email. Hooray and email to determine my cell phone future for two years.

Yes, I didn't have interrupted service, but it seems a little shady to not have me come in and sign something. And the part that makes me the most upset is not that they gave me a new contract without my renewed permission and now I have to pay for the privilege to end that contract, but I never got the chance to upgrade my 4S to something newer. I've been working with this piece of junk phone for the last year when I could of signed a new contract and got a 5S, probably I'm not sure what the latest model was a year and a half ago, maybe a 6, but a 5S would of been cheaper at the time, especially with more memory. 

This is the same thing that all corporations do. They put fine print in their contracts that can work for those who follow the rules, but for those who need to escape because of special circumstances get screwed out of their hard earned money. Money that could be used to feed their children, feed themselves, get help with depression, get a teeth cleaning, pay their health insurance. Something good, instead of corporate greed. Although, you could argue that those fees go to pay for their companies employees' benefits and expenses.

But those fees are sneaky and back stabbing, and that is why it's wrong. And it is also very legal. Corporations have been able to lobby the legislation for years and years to manipulate the law to be able to hide extra fees, terms and limitations in their contracts to take advantage of people who choose to be your customer.

Is that fair? I don't know. Ethical? No (that's my opinion). Will that $100 matter five years from now? No (or I hope not). Time will heal my financial wounds. I'll make more money, I'll spend more money, get scammed out of money and maybe scam someone out of their hard earned cash (but probably not because I'm not a scumbag and I might not be smart enough to do something like that). Time will also give corporations a way to fortify and keep a stronghold on the fine print to continue taking advantage of our consumer needs.

Creative Exercises

I know that everyone is familiar with the 10,000 hour rule. If you're not then here's the gist of it; to be good at anything in this life you have to practice to the point that you have completed 10,000 hours of doing it so that it comes easy to you whenever you're called upon to do it.

• You want to be funny at the drop of a pin? Practice telling jokes for 4 hours a day. 
• You want to be a master programmer to develop a million dollar app? Write code for 4 hours a day.
• You want to direct a movie? Go shoot video for 2 hours, edit it for 2 hours. 
• You want to be an ace pitcher? Throw a ball for 4 hours a day. Just remember with any physical activity, you have to train responsibly, otherwise you could overwork your muscles to the point that you're actually damaging your body. 

So writing is no different. Everyone is always looking for that one idea to get started, that moment of inspiration to sit down and start writing. But then that moment comes and you sit down to write and it's not coming through your fingers onto the page or everything you write just doesn't feel right. Why? Because the time between waiting and the light bulb going off, you were sitting on your hands.

Everything I write I would love to see in print or on screen. I would love to make money doing what I love to do, telling stories. But writing gold every single time is not the reality of our situation. You just have to write it all out, develop sentences, work out the dialogue, create characters, practice your style, understand your tone, work with scenes and description.

Doing flash fiction stories (600 words) is a great start to get yourself typing. Go on the internet, look at a picture, then create a story around it. That's one great way to find an idea to practice.

Keep your ears open. Everything you watch, read or listen to, take notes. Kafka's Metamorphosis came from a sentence in Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground. Listening to Harmontown, Bobcat Goldthwait mentioned the mental strain it took to make the documentary Call Me Lucky and how now it was time to make a 'talking duck' movie. I took that idea and made a my own 'talking animal' script Parrot Detective, something that will never get made, but was an exercise in creating characters, situations, conflicts, relationships, dialogue and description to help me moving forward in my writing career.

'But Josh, why should I waste my time?' That's a good question. Go back and look at the first paragraph. It's easy to see how the 10,000 hour rule works for athletes and performers, but not for writers. Anything you want to be good at, you need to practice. That's why.

My script writing exercises also have a second rule to better prepare for future employment in writing. That is time restriction or deadline. Staff writers have two weeks to write a script, so that's how much time I give myself to complete a TV project I'm working on. I don't always hit that deadline, because of work and social engagements, but I don't give up.

Don't give up! is your mantra to completion. And then the best part about writing thousands of pages is that you can now steal from yourself. You can take all your best work and put it into one piece of work that will rise you up to completing something you can be proud to show to the world.

Go out there and create something.

Flashbacks in TV

I come down pretty hard on flashbacks, not the fun and sometimes scary flashbacks from doing too many psychedelics in college, the flashbacks we see in TV shows and movies. I don't feel they are necessary to tell a good story. Start the story at the beginning and finish at the end. When your story is finished, if the narrative allows, it's possible to move suspenseful moments forward to catch viewer's attention or foreshadow upcoming events.

I've already finished Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season 2, it's funny, cute and easy to watch so it flows like water, and the first image is a flash forward cold open that goes into a flashback of three months earlier. This sets up the first story arc for the first seven episodes. This is an example of good flashback, it frames the series in such a way that creates mystery and intrigue. Much like the first episode of Breaking Bad and many of the episodes throughout the series.

The main trouble with new screen writers and flashbacks is that they start their story at one point, then when conversation comes up about a certain topic or event, they flashback to that event, then when it's over flash forward back to the present. What did that do for our story? What information did it give us about the characters? Maybe this works for a highlights show in season six to frame funny moments that happened in the past, Friends did this a lot, but should never happen in your pilot. For Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt it's the first episode of season 2, we have already been introduced to the characters and are familiar with the main plot. It also occurs in the cold open or teaser, which ever you prefer to call it. If you bring a flashback in Act 2, you have already failed. (Remember, this is my opinion and the opinion of some successful writers and producers I've heard on Podcasts such as Harmontown, Scriptnotes and The Nerdist Writers Panel.)

I recently watched Spy Game (2001) written by Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata, directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. A nice little CIA thriller that uses flashbacks in a very awesome way that breaks the Act 2 rule, yet this is a movie which has somewhat different rules than television. (Again, my opinion shared with professionals in the business. I am not in the business as of writing this.) The story starts at the beginning and weaved throughout the main plot is the story of two men who worked together, the master and his student, on covert missions and how eventually mistakes and ruthlessness broke the student and the master apart. But forged a friendship that in the student's time of need the master honored by helping in the only way he knows how, covert CIA operations. Watch it if you have time, it's good.

In television, you need to catch their attention. An exciting, mysterious teaser/cold open is what you want. In most crime shows, that's seeing the murder and then watching the rest of the show to see 'who done it.' In a drama, they show you a piece of the rising action then take you back to the start to show you how all the character arrived at that point. Comedy uses that technique also. You could Memento the whole thing by starting at the end then showing piece by piece getting all the way to the beginning which now is the end.

Some people get confused with how to use flashbacks because of Pulp Fiction. Tarantino made a film that does something similar to Memento. He has a story that has a beginning, middle and end, except he shows it out of order. They aren't flashbacks! The movie is just out of order, it's experimental, and at the time made lots of people very excited (myself included) and still does. No one else has, to my knowledge, attempted to make a movie like that except Tarantino himself with Kill Bill!.

Going back to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, did something that maybe you can only do when sending an series to air on a network like Netflix that gives you all 13 episodes on one day. It's possible that they didn't write it that way, I would actually bet money that they didn't. But, after or during filming they saw the opportunity to frame the story arc in that way. And, it only foreshadows the first half of the series, I said that at the beginning, but it bears repeating because that's the genius part. After the resolution of that story it begins a new story arc that takes us to the end of the season. Awesome.

Now to wait another year until season 3.

Goodnight.

Television Show Idea

With the success of Fuller House, the sequel to Full House that I haven't watched yet, on Netflix and the success of the television sitcom Friends, all ten seasons on the same streaming network and in syndication around the world. I once watched an episode in Japanese dub here in Japan. Not a big deal, kind of a waste of time. Anyway, my pitch to Netflix would be Friends Again.

Bringing the original cast back together to do ten 30 minute episodes of the friends lives in 2016. The last episode of Full House was in 1995 so twenty-one years after the original show audience's welcomed, with open arms, the come back of all the original characters in the same roles taking over where they are now in their lives.Why did this work? Because of the nostalgia sickness* that we all have.

So why would Friends Again work? Because of nostalgia sickness. The same reason why a new series of ALF would work on TV or especially on Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu would work.

"Yeah, but the last episode of Friends was in 2004, that would only be twelve years."
"Yes, the difference between twelve and twenty-one is pretty large. Yet, the difference in the culture has changed tremendously over that stretch of time. The iPhone and the internet, Obama, hipsters, podcasts, spree killings and gun control debates, legalized marijuana and gay marriage, diversity in media, twenty-four news! There's a lot to work with. In one episode somewhere in season three or four, Chandler gets a laptop and boasts about it five hundred mega byte hard drive. Five hundred mega bytes! Hard drives are now two hundred and fifty gigs and that's low. That's the difference."

As long as there are not a lot of hack and hammy jokes about the iPhone and being old and using technology and blah blah blah like we see in many shows right now then it will be all right. The show was written smartly in the past and will be written smartly again. I looked up smartly in the dictionary and yes, it is a word.

"What would the plot and story arc of the first season be in the show?"
"I haven't thought a lot about it, but it would revolve around the marriage of Joey. The show has a checkered past of revolving arcs around marriage so this would be familiar territory for the show and the fans. Joey is now a popular movie actor and is marrying a popular actress in New York. Depending on if Paul Rudd would like to return or not, we could have a second plot line around Phoebe's divorce with Mike and reconnecting with David, Hank Azaria's character. They will also have the children and parenting issues to deal with as well. Yet, the main theme would be the re-bonding of all the characters, hence the Again in the title."

I would be surprised if the cast of Friends haven't been approached with this idea or have even pitched the idea themselves. I stand by this idea and just because I publish this post it does not become my intellectual property, but if your Martha Kauffman or David Crane and you're reading this; Yes, I would will accept a staff writer or assistant producer position on this series. Thank you. And if not, I'll still watch Friends Again.

*Nostalgia Sickness is not a recognized disease in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), but should be considered in the future and definitely exists in our culture today and deserves to be profited from.

*The new series of ALF would evolve around the same culture advancements except Alf would be living with the grown up version of Brian Tanner and could revolve around his dating life. Sounds kind of like the plot to Ted.

Blogging as stream of consciousness

I was listening to The Moment podcast, again. This time with Gabrielle Hamilton, writer and chef. She mentioned this idea about writing as a digestive process. When you write something you should sit on it a while so that you have time to reflect and decide what to keep and what to delete.

She said this in spite of our blogging culture where people write something then publish right away. Usually that's what I do here. A lot of of things I take care to craft a good narrative and sit on it a while before sending it out into the world, but usually if I do that then it never gets finished. That's my problem and has nothing to do with the point Gabrielle was making, because for the most part I agree.

Certain writing needs time to simmer and boil just like cooking. When you eat something right out of the oven you burn your mouth, but when you let it cool you can enjoy it much more without having to spit it out because it's too hot. In the moment maybe something you write seems fresh and inspired, smart and funny, beautiful and sexy, yet if you let it cool you can see it for what it really is: crap.

I'm sort of kidding. My main rebuttal to Gabrielle is that blogging as stream of consciousness can be liberating. It sets you free the limitations of strict rules and becomes an exercise in writing well the first time. Everything these days can be corrected. Photos with photoshop, music with autotune, movies with editing; nothing is never perfect the first time. It never was before the digital age and it never will in it. Although some people try real hard.

Blogging is sort of like that. Imperfection, free association, journal, stream of consciousness, garbage that we try to get right the first time as an exercise in getting it done. To write something for the fun of writing it, to share your life with others. No matter if it's trite, derivative, uninspired dribble from the mind of a lunatic. Set it free and someday you might be able to turn it into gold. And you'll never going to reach those 10,000 hours by sitting on your hands. So get moving.

Karaoke and the song that hit close to home

We went to the karaoke bar, The Drunken Clam, a derivative bar named after the cartoon show Family Guy. An alright place that's very over priced.

While we were there we met a couple from Oregon, the guy does video editing for Coast to Coast the paranormal late night radio show hosted by George Noory. And she works somewhere for Japanese company which is why they travel to Japan every so often.

The guy sang this song from the 90's:



 In the song he talks about a girl who wouldn't change in the dressing room because she had birth marks all over her body. The lyrics go like this:

Once there was this girl who
Wouldn't go and change with the girls in the change room
But when they finally made her
They saw birthmarks all over her body
She couldn't quite explain it
They'd always just been there


I have the same thing. The reason why this blog is called A Thousand Little Galaxies is a metaphor for my nevi skin condition also known as moles. I have over a hundred different moles in various shapes and sizes all over my skin. They remind me of looking at the stars at night and the idea from the movie Animal House when they smoke pot and he philosophizes about whole galaxies living in his fingertips. It could be possible that civilizations could live on your skin, civilizations of bacteria are living on your skin at all times.

My moles actually have cause a lot of stress and depression in my life. They make me feel ugly and like a freak. Taking off my clothes in front of other people is difficult and I wear long sleeves all year round to cover them up. I envy people with beautiful clear skin who can walk on the beach without a care in the world. Because not only are they an eyesore they may one day kill me if any of them develop melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

It's a bit neurotic, I know. And it can't be helped. They have always just been there. And they will never go away. I have to live with them everyday and every night for the rest of my life. 

Happy Easter.

When I was a kid I loved Easter. Just like any commercial holiday I loved Easter for all the wrong reasons. I loved it because of the Easter Bunny.

Every year my parents would hide an Easter basket full of candy somewhere around the house. My brother and myself would search behind the couch, under the bed, behind the computer desk, practically everywhere until we found it. Then we would gorge ourselves on chocolate bunnies, juicy jelly beans and pastel m&ms.

Like any good Christian holiday it has been taken over by the candy companies to sell commercial items in the form of bunnies and baby chicks. Peeps were always my least favorite Easter candy and it still really freaks me out when I meet someone who really loved peeps as a kid. What I did love about peeps was putting them in the microwave and watching them explode. Very messy, but very cool. My mom stopped buying peeps after that.

Not that I mind. I'm not a Christian person, but Jesus is a fascinating character from history. But just like during Christmas when Santa Clause gets more love, during Easter the Easter Bunny reigns supreme. He hops around hiding his eggs or baskets for all the children to hunt and find then devour with delicious fury.

There were times when we cooked hard boiled eggs then colored them with egg coloring kits bought from the drug store. Egg coloring was simple at first, but later turned into an art form. Dipping just the top to turn it one color, then the bottom another color, then the sides so that you have a multi-colored amazing egg that looked to good to eat.

Of course growing up we also participated in Easter dinner with the family. I'm sure there were times that we went to church then met up with everyone to eat, yet there were also times that we didn't go to church and just went to eat.

I remember some Easter's going to my grandparents house, and some Easter's going to my Aunt and Uncle's house. The thing I remember most is eating Easter ham. Ham and eggs. If yo would dye those eggs green you would have a Dr. Seuss Easter.

Later, when I was in college and couldn't make it home for the Easter holiday, we would get together with some people and go out to Outback Steak House for a big cut of prime rib to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. A good way to celebrate any holiday really, except Thanksgiving of course.

But the thing I remember most and makes me feel sad about being old are those Easter mornings with Jeremy searching for our Easter baskets. Thinking about it now I can clearly see why I was such a fat child. Candy for Easter, cake for my birthday, candy for Halloween, pie for Thanksgiving, candy, cookies and pie for Christmas, milkshakes for New Years, more candy for Valentine's day, beer on St. Patrick's day and all over again year after year.

Well, at least it was fun until I started wanting to have sex. Then I realized how unattractive I was. But if I had a time machine, I would go back and tell my younger self that it doesn't matter. Just eat all you want. Fat or thin you'll never be attractive and the whole thing is just one big joke, so just enjoy your obesity, heart disease, clogged arteries and not being able to fit through doors or in a chair at the movies or on a plane.

Just do us one favor in return. Don't smoke. And invest in a really nice plastic woman, because those sex robots you thought were right around the corner or in fact not around the corner.

Happy Easter!

Baseball!

Today is the first game for the Hanshin Tigers. This year they have a new coach and coaching staff, some new players and some veterans. I'm excited to see how this year plays out. You can never tell from the preseason, but from the first game, you can't tell either.

All I really know is getting that first win is important and fun. The rest of the year will have its ups and downs, but today baseball is back and I'm happy to say, 'Play ball!'

Hello.

I had a dream with a man in the dream and he was very depressed.  In the dream everyone was giving him advice about how to meet a woman.

The guy in the dream kind of look liked David Hype Pierce from when he was on Frasier. Was he my dream avatar?

I listened to the last Real Life Sci-Fi episode 52, they talk to Devin who claims to be able to astral project himself and he meets these people he called his spirit guides. They help him navigate the dream world or the astral plane. A part of me thinks this may of happened to me.

My spirit guide is worried about me. It entered my dreams to help me push past this barrier I've seemed to have created for myself. This wall, only ten feet tall. I jump and grab, claw and scratch as far as I can get then fall flat on my face.

In that dream that advice was, 'Say hello, my name is (enter your name).'

Pretty simple.

The strange thing I was sitting in that bar, sitting on that chair, listening to the conversations of the people around when this man came up to me and said, 'Why so quiet?' I told him I tried but the clicks were too strong. He said, 'No, they're not. Just walk up and say hello and tell them your name.'

The same advice from my dream. I guess it's pretty common advice, but the same. Coincidence?

Real Estate

In Japan bars and restaurants are small and depending on where you sit can have a huge impact on your social evening. That's the type of real estate I'm talking about here. Not the illegal Air B&B kind that everyone keeps jumping on and suddenly acts like they're a real estate mogul. I'm talking about an even more important kind, a real estate that can make or break your whole night or even your whole life, the place where you sit.

Let's take a look at the scenario:

You enter a a crowded bar. There are no seats. Standing room only. You push through the crowed to get yourself a drink. You're there standing and you take a look around . Two girls sit by the door, no other seats around. Three girls sit at the back table and two girls at the bar. Five on your left and two to your right, dudes all around. Which way do you go? A seat opens up, closer to the left side. You take it.

Now your sitting next to a guy who has already put his claws in the two at the bar, and you can't position yourself to strike up a conversation with the girl's at the table. Now the girls by the door are too far and the guy next to you is acting like you doesn't understand the rules to Uno and when you try to help out everyone ignores you.


It's sounds a little like high school, but it's not a popularity contest, or is it? The more handsome people do win first, then the most drunk until five o'clock in the morning when everyone has gone home. The last man standing strikes again. 

Then some new girls show up and you do the gentlemanly thing and give up your seat. Now most people are so drunk that it's easier to jump into or start conversations. It also makes it easier to bump into each other and rub shoulders with strangers which also makes it easier to move around. So why aren't we drunk all the time? Health, that's right.

It's like this in most places around the city. The people in your closest vicinity are the people your going to be talking to for awhile. So you have to make split second decisions or get very lucky. You don't want to be stuck next to someone with nothing to say, like me.

What happens when the bar isn't crowded? Well then you have to summon the strength of a thousand men and forget your fear of rejection and go for it. Because your going to need that strength to fight off the thousand guys who also want to strike gold.

What a wicked game we all play.

Note that fell on the floor or the value of writing things down

I was cleaning up and found this note on the floor.

Dream Machine  doctor tries to put commercial in his dream but his guitar playing  is too strong

What was I thinking here?

1. There's a doctor
2. He has some type of machine that puts commercials in people's dreams
3. The hero plays guitar
4. The hero's guitar playing is strong
5. So strong that it bust through the dream machine and stop the evil doctor from putting commercials into people's dreams

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it's a comedy with a little bit of sci-fi. It seems kind of crazy, but I can imagine what I was thinking. I can picture it in my head now. If I hadn't wrote it down, I would of totally forgotten about it completely.

You should write all your ideas if your already not. No matter how dumb they might seem at the moment of conception. This idea may not have any monetary value or it might in the future, but the value of remembering and having my ideas somewhere so I can remember them later is valuable.

So keep a pen, pencil and piece of paper handy for when inspiration hits you. Or another valuable tool in your neo-modern life is the voice recorder. The iPhone has voice memos or I have an app called iTalk. Android phones have something or in the Play store you can probably download something. When something pops in your head just turn it on and speak. The free form dictation helps get ideas down faster when typing, especially on my 4S, goes a little slow.

Good luck with keeping all your ideas in one place.

Old friends come back again.

I'm going to meet my friend that I haven't seen in almost a decade. Maybe 8 or 9 years to be exact. The last time I saw him I stayed at his house in Akron while I prepared my audition for the Masters program at Ferdonia University. I got accepted, but didn't get a scholarship so I couldn't afford another loan to go back to school, so I didn't go.

I have known him since the first day I visited Akron in the spring 2000 before I graduated high school. I started going to Akron that fall. I stayed in Akron until I graduated in the summer of 2005. We played music together in the Akron percussion department in various bands and ensembles.

He is now overseas playing on a cruise ship out of Shanghai. His ship is now in the Kobe port. He wants to meet and go out for Kobe beef.  I'm thrilled to see him again, but Kobe beef? Kobe beef is a mystical meat that has a better reputation around than world than in Japan. I'm not saying it's not good. It's great really. But everyone, here anyway, knows there's just as good and more affordable beef.

Well he's my friend and I want to do right by him. And by that I have to either abide and get Kobe beef or try to convince him to go a different route.

Honestly I'm inclined to just go along with whatever he wants and just remember it may be another 10 years before we see each other again. And when I do, I want to be able to have a laugh about the time we were in Kobe eating overpriced beef than remembering how I was a know it all who took away his only chance to have a once in a life time experience.

Sometimes you have to think ahead and not just in the moment. Sometimes you have to compromise to get what you want later rather than today.

Saying Sayonara

I'm going to be writing a lot about moving and change, but for the last two days I've been saying sayonara to the people I've been working with the past three years. It's not the first time I've ever said goodbye. I moved away to Akron when I was 18 and said goodbye to my high school friends. I left Akron five years later and said goodbye to all my college friends. When I left for Japan I said goodbye to the people I had been working with, who weren't my friends, but were good people. I've left jobs before, the one I had in Mie for two years, and said goodbye. The other jobs I left and sometimes see people I know, but not often enough. Three years and now I'm saying sayonara again. This time because I'm actually going far away and will never see them again.

That's a strange thought. When I say goodbye to my parents I know I will see them again. But the people I've worked with these last few years, I may never see again. I have to wish them a happy life, especially my students, I will never see again. We were in each others lives for such a short time and now it's over. I will never see them again, unless they become famous movie stars because if they're famous rock stars I'll probably never know, I mean it's Japan rock, I don't anything about that really. Unless they become the next Kyari Pamyu Pamyu then I'll see them again.

This is just the beginning. I still have a month and a half left until the real goodbyes begin.

Writing is hard.

I've mentioned The Moment podcast before, why, because it's an amazing podcast. Brain Koppleman is a great interviewer. He's smart, witty and funny. He also brings great guests who can articulate their struggles and successes in ways that make you feel, 'this will be me.'

In 2014 he interviewed Jon Lovett, speech writer for Hilary Clinton and President Obama in the White House. As well as creator of the television show 1600 Penn.

Around 56:00 minutes into the interview he says, "One of the biggest lessons I had to learn, as a writer, is that writing is really hard."

I agree with this point. As someone who wants to write for a living, I often feel this way. Writing is hard and doesn't get the respect it deserves.

Lovett goes on to say that he gets requests for help on writing toasts or letters and receives writing form "these people who are articulate and smart and the writing they produce is useless, terrible writing. And I often think the reason it's bad, no one ever told them writing was hard and, it will take you a while and it there will be a lot of frustration. And you need that and, you won't be done until it's been hard. Send somebody back with that piece of advice and they can come back with something a little bit better."

I don't feel like my writing is worth anything and I feel like he's talking about me, ever though he doesn't even know who I am, when he says that. But the hardest part is that I know writing is hard. It's a lesson I know already. And I'm working to write everyday to get better at the hard stuff.

Like he says here, he had to "learn from others how hard it was suppose to be. How much thought it was suppose to take. The care and consideration each paragraph and structure and all that stuff was suppose to take."

I feel that way all the time. But most of all I feel that writing needs to get out there. People who write spend a lot of time making it right. Making it perfect. Making it for everyone, when it just needs to be for the people who want it. 

Weekends

The weekend is weird construct. We work five days of the week and then take two days off to give ourselves the opportunity to ruin our lives or have the greatest time of your life.

The two sides of Saturday night:

1) You have a drink, then another. Shots with friends. Then another drink. More shots. More drinks. Now you're drunk.

Situations you can encounter now. Situations I've seen.

Violence - fighting with someone or yourself. I have a boxer's fracture from punching a wall bombed out of mind in college. Very sad. Loneliness + Drunkenness = Mayhem

Sickness - Drinking too much can lead to vomiting. Can also lead to hangover with symptoms including diarrhea, headache, body pain or kidney failure. And if you smoke then another day closer to lung cancer. Let's remember the emotional pain like regret, humiliation or jealousy.

Tiredness - Past out drunk is not sleep. So the next day you completely tired.

Impotence - If you're lucky enough to meet a girl then  your dick won't work.


2) You have a drink, maybe another.

No violence. No sickness. No tiredness. No impotence.

We all have decisions to make everyday and every weekend. Make the best ones that you can.

Story Lessons

I'm taking this class on Coursera about writing a TV Pilot or Web Series. It's an alright course, but moves pretty fast. I've been studying story for over a year now, mostly Campbell's Hero Journey and Dan Harmon's Story Circle.

From this course, he basically explains the same principals of story:

Beginning - An immersive start that introduces the characters and introduces the main plot.

Middle - Propels the action

End - Compelling and leaving them wanting more

You can use this format for three act structure, act structure and for the scene.

The scene has it's own beginning, middle and end. With each scene contributing to the story and having an impact.

Not a lot there, but he really boils it down to the basic elements for a wide audience. I respect that.

He also throws in a tidbit about critical thinking being essential for good writing. So you should study critical thinking if you want to write compelling stories.

Two lessons by Seth

In the Start Up School podcast, a fly on the wall conversation with Seth Godin and a number of entrepreneurs, he says, 'never give anything away for free, cause they have it for free then why would they want I pay for it.' Sound advice and reason I don't teach trail lessons for free anymore.

That was in 2012.

Then in 2015, Seth appears on The Moment with Brian Koppleman. He says in that conversation, paraphrased as 'if you make something give it away for free. Then if people want more, they will pay you for it.'

Is this a contradiction? I don't think so.

For the entrepreneur, you're taking a big risk to start a business, develop a product and market that thing. That's a lot of money to get up and running. Then to give it away for free would be insane. Discounted? Yes, please. Free? No.

Except for some web services, like blogger, the cost is lower and the opportunities to give things away for free or easier. But you get people hooked on that thing then say 'here's a better version of this thing for this much a month.'

For the artist, again the cost is low. Your emotional risk is high, but capital risk is low. If people hate it could crush your spirit and possibly send you spiraling into depression. But it didn't cost you anything to write the book or paint the picture and you probably had fun doing it. It gave you a since of accomplishment. So to give it away for free is no big deal. Then when, an you know there will be a when, someone comes back for more you can charge for the thing. Then hopefully make a profession out of it.

This might not happen. It might not happen for me, it might not happen for you, but it does happen to people so you have to try.

Godin actually says, 'lay out your book in a nice PDF and email it to 100 people. If it's good, then it will get out to 10,000. Then selling your second book will be easy.'

Do you have the guys to try it?

It's not easy teaching art.

If you're any kind of a teacher, especially a technical skill, if anyone has ever said 'those who can't do, teach' and you haven't stuck a gun in your mouth and imagined what it would be like to be dead and didn't pull the trigger then good for you. It can be excruciating to be very good at something but no be in a position of success. You interpretation of success being in a position of high status, fame or in good fortune.

In Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland, they tackle the fear of creating without fear. Creating is more rewarding than quitting because you're afraid. Even when no one wants it, cares about it or even knows it exists. Look at this blog. No one is reading it or I don't know if they are or not, but I continue writing anyway. I'm not in band or giving recitals anymore, yet I still drum on occasion.

So when you don't quote on quote "make it" and you move to teaching then you start to feel a little resentment to those who are paying you to become you in ten years. But maybe they just might make it through that small crack that some get through. You shouldn't hold them back. Some teachers are actually amazing at what they do, but sometimes that art just doesn't have enough popular attention.

Learning an art is no easy task so why would teaching it be any different. The artist has spent many hours, days, months, and years practicing, refining, dedicating themselves to their art. Then a student comes in and doesn't give the art the respect the teacher feels it deserves or says, 'This shits easy', the teacher blows a fuse. So when your teacher says, 'Just do the art', or 'keep at it', or 'practice makes perfect', you should listen. And then do it.

You may go crazy. You may punch a wall. You may drink yourself into a lost weekend or ten years. But it's worth it to me. It's a life lived with fragments left behind. That's the best we can do.

And just always remember that one sun will explode and the everything on this Earth will disappear. Grim, I know, but true.

On one last note, if your teacher is a complete asshole, a temperamental piece of shit who yells at you and puts you down every chance they get, then find a new teacher. If they're like that just part of the time and treat you like an angel the other half then they're bipolar. You have to decide if it's worth it or not on your own. Maybe something you don't want in a lover, but in a teacher it can be kind of fun. Sometimes.

You don't dislike Mondays because they are Mondays

The old adage is 'I hate Mondays' at least that's what Garfield use to say. Or the 'Gotta case of the Mondays' from Office Space. But I don't work on Mondays so I love Monday. It's my day off so why wouldn't I. Except my Monday is Tuesday and it feels the same. Doesn't matter if its Monday or not, its the first day of work. That day is always the hardest because of breaking the rhythmic cycle of being at rest to work. Some people think that they should get rid of Monday workdays, but that's not a good solution. Why? Like I said Monday is only Monday because it's Monday. If it were Tuesday then everyone would say, 'I hate Tuesdays' or worse yet, 'You gotta case of the Tuesdays.'