Pleasure for the Empire

Notions

2012-01-29T15:33:00.000-05:00

Today is thinking about spaceships and spacesuits day here in the Pandora Machine.
It's also robot rendering day. But let's just face facts, every day is robot rendering day. I'm doing a closeup of the dang 'bot right now and he's taking 2:44 a frame. And that's just for the Blender render. Afterwards we get to do the AfterEffects render.

By Philip Drawbridge.

So this new Alien movie. Spacesuits. Actually, the spacesuits look to me to essentially be bodysuits with motorcycle armor.

Online Backups

2012-01-27T20:37:00.000-05:00

So. iDrive is $15/month for 500GB. You can backup multiple computers (but not both PC's and Mac's on the same account). And it doesn't automatically delete data after a set period of time. Right now I have two iDrive accounts (one for PC and one for Mac).

The only thing I don't like so much about iDrive is how the interface sometimes "forgets" which folders you want to back up. It seems that the server holds onto the files online, but that you just have to re-click the checkbox next to the folders you want backed up every so often. At least on the Mac interface.
Sugarsync is $15/month for 100GB. But the interface is a tad more clear. Its purpose is different too -- it's great at syncing files and folders across multiple computers (and platforms.) So I use the free version to essentially backup my documents.
And that's how it is.

Moar Notes

2012-01-26T20:00:00.000-05:00

For our new Prometheus movie I have the following locations/sets:

This is the monster. Scary, right?

Space
Vulture -- bridge
Vulture -- corridor
Vulture -- cyro compartment
Vulture -- airlock
Caucasus -- corridor
Caucasus -- observation deck
Caucasus -- cyro compartment
Caucasus -- bridge
Caucasus -- engineering
Caucasus -- cargo room anteroom
Caucasus -- cargo bay

That's 12 sets and six characters. Our sales rep was questioning whether we could actually finish this movie in time. I think we can.

Mah Notes

2012-01-24T20:41:00.000-05:00

Kevin Kangas grooves you to the new good cheap LED light.

Haskin - F Captain scout ship
Rhodes - M Lt scout ship
(Are they both officers? Does that make a difference?)

My older brother's new dog, Maggie. She has an ear.

Inverse Kinematics in Blender. Because you completely understand Forward Kinematics and Inverse Kinematics. Completely and fully.

I'm looking at coveralls as spacesuits.

How to write 10K words a day.

Dope zebra dance is dope.

Miranda

2012-01-23T12:36:00.000-05:00

You know, I really liked the "steampunk opera" Miranda. It's an opera which was being performed at HERE. But it was very flawed. The biggest flaw was in the sound. All of the vocals were mixed just under where they needed to be. And that's the fault of the music being too loud, not the voices being loud enough. The mix was loud enough that the room itself could just barely handle it without becoming just a harsh icepick aimed at the audience's head. Or about 85 - 90 dB SPL.
But that meant that, even without worrying about gain-before-feedback, there was no way to make the voices louder than that because they'd just become strident and irksome.
Although the show was produced by HERE, a Kickstarter campaign was used to pay the musicians. To me that sounds like a pretty smart way to use Kickstarter.

(Note this video is not from the recent performances -- the performance I saw ironically didn't sound this good although this may have been a special mix from the board rather than a mic sitting on the camera.)
Continuing the problems with the sound, the romantic lead was singing way below his range. And the only way to deal with that is to turn up the volume (see problem number one, above). And although she's a pretty good singer, Kamala Sankaram doesn't do that necessary thing where you sing quieter as you go higher. Instead she uses her support for volume rather than, you know, support.

You Like Random Information

2012-01-19T13:03:00.000-05:00

Verizon's high-speed DSL is $40/month. Their low-speed DSL is $25/month. They charge you $20 to install the thing. (We're having so much trouble with our Internet at the new office that I'm considering just bailing out and getting our own DSL line.)

+++++

Chance Shirley is a world of information about spacesuit helmets. The sphere's he used for his spacesuits came from Complex Plastics. I've written to get a price from them (I actually called but they said to email them -- go figure.)
Here is Chance on the helmet itself:

I believe we used 14" diameter spheres, and we had them cut a 10" holeat the base.

And I think that's a good size for space helmets. The trick, which Inever quite figured out, is how to make a collar to keep the helmetcomfortably/consistently attached to the actor's shoulders. Ourhelmets tended to lean forward, resting against the back of the actorshead. So we put a little strip of foam in the back to at least make it more comfy.

Because Things Chance Says should be on permanent record on the Internet, I include some of his advice (without his permission) right here. This is what he has to say about how the gasket was attached to the helmet:

We glued a wooden hoop (painted metallic) to the gasket, then gluedthe helmet to the wooden hoop. I'm surprised they stayed together aswell as they did. Probably would have been better to build some kindof working mount and attach to the helmet with screws.

I considered a back piece, a la "Alien," but couldn't figure out agood way to do it. If you let gravity keep the helmet in place, watchout for light leaks (which the back piece would help with, too) thatwould give away the fact the helmet isn't really airtight.

And definitely get some lights in there. I figured you could get somekind of cheap LEDs these days...

++++
All this time I've been whining about how expensive Cedar noise reduction systems are. But rather than buying one for five grand you can just rent one for eighty bucks a day. Considering the fact that we'd only need it about six or maybe eight days a year, that's just $640.

If you don't believe me here is a duck.

Dreamhire also rents Cedar but their ratecard is substantially higher than Audio Rents in CA.

Palm Flower Blinking

2012-01-19T07:38:00.000-05:00

You make a cartoon referencing Logan's Run, I am amused.

I'm not allowed to watch TV anymore

2012-01-17T22:50:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't even say I have a particularly good eye for this kind of thing.

But I do tend to see this kind of thing right away.

That character had a line. But his action was to raise his hands -- which is undoubtedly why his jersey rode up and hooked around his transmitter.

Randominity

2012-01-17T13:01:00.000-05:00

That thing that Pete Townsend wore with The Who, the shirt with the RAF target? That symbol is called the RAF Roundel. Even moreso: the French Air Force were the first to have one (different colors).
Here's a huge one (that's what she said.)

Stu Maschwitz linked to this DSLR mount on the Twitters. But so far there's only one review of it. It is, however, only three hundred bucks.

I'm kinda interested in seeing this opera, Miranda.

I'm That Guy

2012-01-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

I'm that guy who thinks Community is the best thing since sliced bread.
I only started watching in Season 2. So last week I went back to Season 1 only to find that at one time it was the good-looking white guy's show. I would say the show is actually Abed's show.
The entire show is a parody of television. Which, of course, desperately needs to be parodied.
There are a lot of things established at the beginning of the series which aren't part of the characters later on. Like the fact that Troy is a jock. He's totally a nerd by the middle of the second season.
This is, of course, another indicator that it's Abed's show. In fact, there are a whole bunch of indicators that Abed actually created all the characters and all the events are playing out in his mind. But we don't have to go there.
What I really don't understand is how they manage to take the serious moments without being embarrassing. That's usually a huge failure in sit-coms but somehow they always avoid the trap.
The pilot had some boomed sound which was actually on the edge of being unacceptable for broadcast quality. But other than that one episode the show is one of the best - sounding shows on television. The musical numbers do all the things right that Glee does wrong. The vocal sound doesn't "stick out" the way it does on Glee, instead the vocals match the dialog naturally. Of course I'm the dorkus who would notice such things but it really does make a difference.

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Today

2012-01-15T10:02:00.002-05:00

Connect. Cream.
Yeah, I don't have any idea either.

Go!

2012-01-13T17:02:00.000-05:00

Here's a list of best restaurants in Jersey City. How Soul Flavors is only #8 I don't understand as it is the best soul food restaurant in the world.
The Fat Trap. It's the article I'm using as an excuse for why I'm not thin. Well, that and the fact that I really like chocolate chip cookies... and... er... see item number one.

Hey, Penny says we should rent this yacht. It's only $75,000 a week. It holds 8 people so that's less than ten thousand a week per person. That's a good deal, right? Let's go!

Sometimes Spam is the Best

2012-01-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

From

Rubye Donnette

Subject:

gej

The entire body of the email:

qak

Internal

2012-01-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

John August says something interesting regarding the difference between soap operas and... not soap operas.

I wish they’d gone a little more HBO, with internal rather than external forces pushing characters into choices and consequences.

It's interesting to think that's an HBO-ish thing. And, in a way, ironic because HBO has all of these genre larger-than-life (or in the case of the Imp, smaller-than-life) elements. Gangsters, dragons, what-have-you.
But the conflicts are internal. Right?
That's a very interesting way to think about it.
I mean, that's ironic -- the conflicts are internal when the characters are so freaking huge.
From.

Boop

2012-01-09T20:56:00.000-05:00

Mitch Gross gives a very good overview on the state of things camera and lens-wise right now.
I just used PDFescape -- a free online program for editing .pdf files -- in order to make contract renewals for 6 (!) movies. PDFescape worked great.
I'm still a bit shocked at having to make renewals for six pictures.

Spacetoys has a $250 spherical helmet replica of an Apollo-style helmet. But that's a dark shield it comes with for two hundred and fifty bucks. So you're going to either have to blow more money on a clear face shield or party with a LOT of light inside.

Watch Out

2012-01-08T12:24:00.002-05:00

Under "absurd questions": I've been wondering about what kinds of watches members of special forces wear. It turns out that "cheap and reliable" are really the only criteria for a watch. That means Casio and Timex LCD watches. Like this Casio sport watch:

Although from what I can tell the Casio G-Shock watches are the most popular:
G-shock watches
If you want something very complicated on your arm, Marines seem to like this Garmin Foretrex GPS:

As always, you have to click through to see the Amazon links above.
+++++
You know what I want? A miniature opera house. In or around New York City. You know what I don't think exists? Miniature opera houses.
My good friend Ed pointed out that Signature is going to have a neat little jewelbox space, designed by Gehry. But it will look very Gehry-modern. I'm looking for something more old-fashioned-y. A puppet theater. With footlights.

+++++
I also want a dryer which actually dries a whole load of laundry.

Purglaaaah!

2012-01-04T23:24:00.000-05:00

Antibiotics make me... spacey. And I take 'em twice a day and for at least an hour, maybe two, after taking them I am very spaced out. I try to not schedule any meetings during that time.
But they eradicated me being sick. Man, I so shoulda demanded antibiotics when I first saw a doctor about this "cold". I could tell I was well again within 6 hours of taking my first dose. And except for the spaced-out-ness I'm finally over that thing. I mean, as long as I keep taking them for another, what, six days?

Self-portrait.

Back in the olden days -- I musta been 18 -- I got mono. And whatever the doctor prescribed put me out, man. A friend called me on the phone. "Is Drew there?"
Me: "Uh... wait. Uh..."
Friend: Is this Drew?
Me: "I... Wait. There was... uh... something... I don't remember. Wait... uh... wait."
This exchange, as you can imagine, kinda freaked her out. But now I'm able to recognize it as the effect of trying to talk to me when I am sound asleep.

I Need a Theater

2012-01-04T08:39:00.000-05:00

New York City simply doesn't have any jewelbox theaters. I guess I'm basically looking for the theater in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

You'll never find a theater with a stage that small but with fly space above.
I think I'm basically looking for a puppet theater. Which would be perfect for Tyrannosaurus Mouse and for the upcoming Blade Runner the Musical.
Plus, of course, we need puppets.

Now, of course, I am talking about an indoors-version of the Doctor Parnassus theater.
When we made Manhattan Theatre Source I needed a place for Prague Spring. That show was basically a scrim with front and rear projections. But now we need something else.

You got me

2012-01-03T16:23:00.000-05:00

I... I have no idea.

In the meantime I'm going to dedicate my life to learning this dance:

That is, when I'm not staring mindlessly at the animal with the long nose above. This is what I look like when I'm looking at him:

Scary, ain't it?
As always, to see any of these links you may have to click through (if you're reading via email or an RSS feed.)

You Know, for "Dating"

2012-01-02T17:47:00.000-05:00

So I put a profile on OKCupid. I use this picture.

I'm looking for women 16-23. Not for anything long-term. I have no job.
Plus, I point out they have to come to New Jersey and be out of the house by 9:30 because my mom comes home from work by 10.

New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T18:24:00.000-05:00

My parents -- out gallivanting in the night while I'm at home watching TV.

Exploring Options

2011-12-31T18:40:00.000-05:00

So I broke into an abandoned house on Douglass Street and stole a Glock from a drug dealer. I took the gun to midtown where I kidnapped a doctor and forced him at gunpoint to write me a prescription for an antibiotic. Then I wrote this post on Reddit.

I'm trying to design a partnership for three pictures which makes sense for four people. Ha! Like making movies makes any sense... Robbing drug dealers in Gowanus is more remunerative, and less dangerous.

How much does it cost to be me?

2011-12-30T23:52:00.001-05:00

My rent is 983 a month ($11676)
My utilities are a variety of things -- lets say $50/month including Internet ($600)
My office is 275 a month ($3300)
Can I get a daily stipend? How about per diem? Ha! Seriously, how about $20/day? ($7300)
That's a total of $22,876 a year. Plus taxes. I have plenty o'plans for the use of more money mind you. But that's what I figure my minimum is.

+++++

I'm just writing down random words and number here you realize. Nothing to see here. Nothing to understand.

A movie, I've just calculated, thuslike, brings in seemingly on average about 20,000. Just a few years ago I was sayin' that it brought in 24K (and saying it with an honest face). But let's hope these numbers hold and only get better.

Withstanding Ambien Walrus Attack

2011-12-30T18:11:00.001-05:00

If you like "storm at sea" porn you'll love this video.
Mr. Kangas has scores to listen to while screenwriting.

Another advantage of our new location is that the building across the street is clearly the most zombie-proof of all New York buildings.
Actually, no kidding:

As a vital communications link, the building was designed to resist nuclear blast and fallout and be self-sufficient for two weeks in wartime conditions.

Easier to Destroy It

2011-12-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

It sure was easier to destroy Theatresource than it was to build it in the first place. All it took was the Board of Directors deciding they didn't want to have a theater anymore.

What used to be "DigitalSource" -- our studio and office for about eight years.

The irony is that personally this has worked out pretty well. I have a new set of partners and we have a great new space. But no more theater.

Most of the lights are down but the grid is still in the air. Of course, a theater being dismantled doesn't look substantially different than a theater being striked between shows.

I stopped by today -- probably for the last time.

The irony here is that the theater from the outside actually looks warmer and more inviting now than it has in the past few years just because there's less stuff actually in the window.

If only the landlord had been willing to rent to someone else, a new organization would have picked up the rent and moved right in. It's too bad. This Board is just made of spectacularly destructive people. They took out Theatresource at 177 MacDougal Street in what, three months?

Goodbye theater!

Complaining Day

2011-12-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

This dang cold is really irritating. I've had it since the 11th. I've gone to the doctor (said he couldn't do anything.) And now I'm just irked. So here is me, complaining to the world, that I have a cold.

+++++
Here's the funniest conversation from yesterday:
Blair: I don't want to do any more work.
Drew: Neither do I. But unfortunately I promised a movie to be delivered in the middle of next month.
Blair: Did you shoot it yet?

LED

2011-12-26T17:43:00.000-05:00

Cats for Gold. That's right, turn your boring old gold into nice shiny new cats.
+++++
I finally figured out what I want for Christmas. An Arri L7-C. Gimme. C'mon -- it's like a fully color-timable 1K fresnel. Fully dimmable. Under three thousand bucks. Gimme six of 'em and I'll have a non-stop rock-out party. I could light any feature with that. Even exteriors in the woods at night.
Think of how much money you'll save on not having to replace lamps. Or those trips to the infirmary when you burn your hand from touching the barn doors. You can run four of 'em on a 10-amp circuit. You could put four of them on a cheap power strip!
Tell me I can shoot 2.8 at 1600 ISO and I can shoot anything with those.
Of course the joke will be we'll still have some of those 40-watt chicklet lights too.
Man, I can't wait 'till the price of LED systems plummet.
+++++
Is it just me, or did you use to be able to get onto Disapora with your Facebook account? Uh. I don't see that option anymore.

Yup

2011-12-25T01:44:00.000-05:00

The cats actually cuddle.

Anarchy and Mayhem

2011-12-24T23:54:00.000-05:00

Do they even know it's Christmas? Do they know there is an explicit rule about "no paws on the table"? Where is the force of the State?

I was actually hoping to get a picture of him lying like a bear (cat) rug. But Winston lifted his head oh-so-slightly just as I clicked the shutter.

Shenanigans! I say! His eyes always glow in photographs. They're usually shut in real life.

Hunt for Red October

2011-12-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

I do love doodling in math class.

Man I love the movie Hunt for Red October.
When I was maybe 23 years old I worked as a sound operator at the New York Shakespeare Festival and the director of this Macbeth (starring Raul Julia) was Richard Jordan. The sound designer on the show took off before the show opened and more work needed to be done so Richard Jordan called me in and worked with me directly for an afternoon to finish designing the show.
You have to realize that I was absolutely the lowest of the bottom-feeding proles on the show. Absolutely the lowest dog on the crew. There was nobody less experienced (by like 10 years) than me. And he treated me like a equal and a professional. I mean, I remember that at the time. I thought to my self "wow, he so doesn't have to be this much a gentleman to me". And, you know, I'm a communist. I think that everyone should be treated equally yet I was still impressed. He asked me about my background and I told him about my composing and such. I brought every bit of my top game to that show (you know, as much as a 24-year-old has).
I had no idea who he was until after the show opened. I can't tell you how many times I saw Logan's Run when I was young.
At the opening night party for the show I ran into him and he said hello and introduced me to some movie producer who was his guest -- introducing me as a "composer", which was waaaaay out of my pay grade and really impressed me even at the time because, I mean, he knew I was the lowest-level guy in the entire freakin' room. And he treated and introduced me as an artist not just a bottom-feeding prole. So, that really touched me.
Plus, he told me a great story about the cool guns they used...

Variosity

2011-12-24T17:30:00.000-05:00

This bunny has a bad attitude.

But these are some very sketchy bunnies (via Harry Connolly).
Do you need a groovy BNB when you're in New York? Stay with our own Alana in fabulous Jersey City!
Ergonomics guide from Cornell. We need a couple new computer desks.
Phillip Bloom reviews the Canon C300.

More of What I Must Put Up With

2011-12-24T13:35:00.000-05:00

The cats have taken turns conquering my coat on the sofa. "I shall dwell in the flesh of my enemies!" says Winston, not realizing that the fabric is all man-made. Or, maybe he did realize that...

Meydl absolutely loves the little wrist-strap on the camera. Unfortunately she loves it too close for focus. Her butt is in focus at least.

Meydl hath also conquered the wilde-coat. She didn't do it without me shaking the camera though. It was fear. Fear of the great beast which made me shake so.

A wealthy scoundrel seduced and betrayed me.

2011-12-23T23:36:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I watch the movie Ronin just to remember how awesome it is. I love the way it's shot and I love the performances in it. And that's despite some kinda big flaws in the picture. I mean, wait, what's that about Russians and ice skating? That's really just to lead up to the literal and figurative (ahem) denouement -- I mean snipers and ballet dancers, what's there not to like?
The voiceover at the end -- the news reports -- they're pretty dumb. But you know you can't have everything.

Man, every moment is played so well. And listening to the director's commentary I learned all about four-wheel-drift.
My big question is Jean Reno's character. If he's the last one standing, then he's the Ronin. I mean the whole point is that [look, if you're going to get "spoiled" by my talking about the ending then you've stumbled on this blog by accident] DeNiro is not a Ronin. Right? And what was his motivation for all of the last act? Why was he sticking with DeNiro in order to get that case?
It certainly seems like there's a story there. Jean Reno is clearly not ex-military. One would presume that a native French speaker hearing "rendezvous point" would know that's a military term in English.
It's terrifically well written. But it's the shots and the performances that blow me away the most.

This is what I have to put up with.

2011-12-23T13:23:00.000-05:00

Meydl will typically sleep on her back. Winston on his belly. Lookit Medyl's sproingy feet.

Look, I can't help myself. Waking up cats is hilarious. I know history will judge me badly. But I can't stop myself.

Harassing cats. It's what I do. I figure that my punishment in the eternal hereafter will be that cats will walk on my head when I try to sleep. Hey, wait a minute...

You shoulda seen the OTHER guy

2011-12-23T08:37:00.000-05:00

The only reason this is funny is because nobody actually got hurt or even, for that matter, felt any pain.

Adieu

2011-12-18T00:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official. Those morons on the Board of Directors of Theatresource killed the place. They didn't lift a finger to keep it going, nor would they get out of the way to let people in who would work to keep it going.

My piece of business advice? Don't hire any of these people unless you want your organization destroyed.

Courtney Birnbaum - Andrew Frank - Eric Laufer - Matt Quint - Melissa Riker - Doug Silver

Aragnaronk

2011-12-17T05:10:00.001-05:00

Over on the T-Mouse Blog are pictures of me playing with the City Samanas at their last gig at Theatresource.
That window-box is probably the best acoustically-sounding part of the entire venue. There ain't a parallel surface in the whole joint, that's for sure!
_____...
Hey, if an employee works overtime, and you don't know it, do you still have to pay overtime?
Sometimes.

I'm getting to a really low place if I have no pictures to post with this.

Diaspora

2011-12-16T12:17:00.000-05:00

So why isn't everyone jumping on the Diaspora bandwagon? It's the only Facebook/Google+ that is open source for cryin' out loud.
I suppose part of it is that Facebook has, in fact, gotten easier to use with the last couple small changes it made. Especially easier is the "use Facebook as" to change to being, say, a band's administrator and such.

I have exactly two Diaspora friends. Of all my friends on Facebook only two of 'em are also on Diaspora.

Wanna Piss Off a Bunch of Chinese People

2011-12-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

Try to tell them they speak a bunch of different languages. China is funny -- as a state it's been around for a thousand years. And frequently "Chinese" is the word used for what we might laughingly call an "ethnic group" which presumably spans all of mainland China as well as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and other sovereign and not-so-sovereign states.
In many ways this is like all Europeans calling themselves "French". "Sure, I live in Norway, but that's just a dialect of French. And although my family is opposed to the present French government, which is why we formed the Norwegian government, we look forward to the day when we can all be one country again."

OK, so it's not quite that bad but it's in the ballpark.
And no, this ecard has nothing to do with the rest of the post. I have a cold, that's all.

Everything I Saw Told Me That Kurtz Had Gone Insane

2011-12-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

So, I actually have one complaint about Apocalypse Now. We don't really see what Chef and Willard see when they get to Kurtz' compound which convinces them he's evil and gone insane (respectively). I wonder if that's because I'm looking at it on a TV. Maybe in the movies the heads and bodies were bigger?
Yeah, there are some heads in the background -- but you don't really notice them 'till Dennis Hopper mentions them.
The man is clear in his mind but his soul is mad.
You know, some of the dialog is way way stilted. But the actors use those otherwise-clumsy turns to act in -- and they use the changes of subject to act like they're thinking about what to say next. It's kind of neat how every single performance in it is as stunning as they are.

From Phillip Drawbridge.

So the Google Voice thing isn't working for me. And I have Vonage at home but I never ever use it. I'm thinking about just buying a number from Skype and leaving it at that. I mean as long as I don't get any more deranged voicemails from David Ian Lee it might work.
"And with a whimper, I'm fucking splitting, Jack!"

I AM NOT A WEASEL!

2011-12-14T13:46:00.000-05:00

NOT! I am NOT a weasel!
You sure look like a weasel.
I am an ERMINE! Sexy and svelt.
You look like a weasel. A 13-year-old girl's pet.
I'm a freakin' PREDATOR, baby! Top o' the food chain.
I so bet that's not true. I be owls take you and your weasel friends out all the time.
Oh MAN, you make me so angry. I'm a-gonna come down there and open up a can of...
What? A can of weasels?
I AM NOT A WEASEL!

Man Cold Manifesto

2011-12-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

I have a Man Cold. And these are my demands:

1. A cute pet-name. If you can't think of one on your own I'll accept "snuggle bear".
2. Mango bubble tea. I deserve some.

3. A cat. Sleepy. Gimme one.

The Absurdity

2011-12-13T19:56:00.000-05:00

Wow, we actually had bookings on the calendar at Theatresource all the way 'till May. Aren't you excited about Pandora Machine moving to TriBeCa next week so you don't have to hear me talk about this? I mean, this is worse than my endless guitar case discussions.

Here's my favorite new absurdity: an email was circulated today looking for volunteers to help clean out the theater on Sunday the 18th and to take down the grid. I have no idea where they're planning to put all the pipe or how they intend to transport it, but it gave us all a good laugh.
+++++
Google Voice isn't quite doing what I want. But hopefully soon it will. Soon. It will.
+++++
Vinnie Marano found the 12-year-old Scotch that Mitchell had left in our office. I was going to drink it when we moved in to the new place, but I hadn't realized that it had been opened -- four years ago. So Vinnie blew the dust off the box (dust -- everywhere -- all over my computer, ahem) and we imbibed. Me, I'm feeling a cold coming on so I drank strictly for medicinal reasons.

Are You Busy?

2011-12-12T14:21:00.000-05:00

Are you busy? I didn't think so. Here's the Definitive Collection of Cat GIF's. You're welcome. See you in a couple months then.

Sarcasm Font

2011-12-11T17:08:00.000-05:00

There's finally a sarcasm font. Reverse italics! Yeah, that's an awesome idea.
;-)

Where the Rats Go

2011-12-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

It seems that many of the writers, directors, and performers who've lost a home at Theatresource are moving over to the Workshop Theater. Workshop seems like a groovy joint. I've never been there myself. I should stop by and see a show.

The biggest thing I think I'm going to miss about having our studio in the theater is how people would and could just stop by. I don't know if there's another theater in New York which is as situated toward people just coming and hanging out. At the new place the Pandora Machine is going to you have to get buzzed in, and you'll probably need to call first as you really can't just stop by and see if we're there.
So that's too bad.

Greg Bodine in Poe Times 2.

Crowdfun

2011-12-10T11:58:00.000-05:00

Nominally I'm not such a fan of cloudfunding things. But when it comes to, say, somebody making a watch or something which takes a bunch of pre-order for them to make, it does make sense.
The main cloudfunder, Kickstarter, is an "all or nothing" model. "All or nothing" is the traditional way to fun feature films too -- you start "getting" money from investors in the way of promises that if you get enough promises for the entire budget, they'll go ahead and put the money in.
This is also how movies lose their financing at the last minute -- investors pulling out.
But the advantage to the investors is that you don't start spending their money on foolishness without all the funding in place, potentially losing all their money and never raising any more.
Here's a chart from here.

Rockethub is the seeming newcomer in this area. But IndieGoGo has slightly lower fees (if you make your "goal").
But you see, Pandora Machine doesn't have a built-in fan base. Everybody in my office insists there is one, but half of them will also insist that unicorns exist (the other half say the werewolves chased them all away). So I'm not so sure that putting up some animations of dragons will really get a bunch of people to donate twenty bucks each to us.
Maybe naked people will do the trick...

Why I'm Annoyed

2011-12-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

The Board of Directors at Theatresource are stunningly blase about shutting down the theater.
The President, Courtney Birnbaum, just came into my studio.

Me: "Why are you destroying my theater?"
She throws up her hands.
CB: "We don't have any money."
Me: "We never have any money."
Conceding:
CB: "Well you know that better than most people."
Annoyed:
Me: "So why didn't you step aside to let someone else run it?"
Defensive:
CB: "Nobody stepped up to do that."
Irked:
Me: "You never gave anyone a chance to step up before you scuttled it."
CB: "Well we'll just have to disagree on that."
Me: "No we don't. Get out of my office."

And these people are wondering why I'm annoyed. They destroyed my theater and I'm supposed to be friends with them? No, I'm going to move on to work with people who aren't destroying things but instead are creating things.

It's Not Easy Being Me

2011-12-08T22:08:00.000-05:00

After

The exposure from the webcam is actually pretty good for the chat noir Winston. And although he's very affectionate I don't think he likes being picked up so much. He pretty much weighs like a bowling ball.

Before

Snortling

2011-12-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

So I go to Princeton to have dinner with my parents. After getting the Chinese food I walk into the kitchen and there on the kitchen table is a brand new Magellan GPS in its box. Tactfully, I pretend I don't see it and pick up the bottle of seltzer next to it.
So of course Iona sees all this.
At dinner she announces that I've seen my Christmas present.
Dad: Oh, well that's good because we were thinking about giving it to you early.
Iona: And borrowing it for our trip to Georgia over Christmas.

Yep. That made me almost snortle General Tso's chicken.
Here's an early Christmas weasel for you.

Apologizing

2011-12-06T22:38:00.002-05:00

You know, and I realize that I'm cranky at this, but the incredible level of arrogance it took for this Board to stomp out all the hard work and energy that so many hundreds (thousands really) of people put in over the last 12 years is simply vile and atrocious.
Sure, I'm the last survivor of the founding members who never left to take a "sabbatical" and who has been inside, and remained inside, from the very beginning. But I'm going to be perfectly fine.
But all of those people -- even those who have been away for a while -- those people put a tremendous amount of work and heart into this place, making it what it is.
And they did it with a faith, with a trust, that the rug wouldn't be pulled out from under them by people who are either too lazy to do the work to keep the theater going, or to arrogant to admit that anyone, anyone could do a better job then them.
This Board, these dunderheads, few of whom ever even enter the building more than once every few months, are scuttling it. Selling it off for spare parts and walking away, as though they have no responsibility to any of the people who have put so much blood and sweat into the place.
Some of the people on the Board I'd considered friends. So I'm a little stunned at the spectacular level of destruction they're in the process of wreaking. It's destructive, arrogant, and deceitful. They're tearing down what has become an institution in New York Theater. They're doing it because they won't simply resign and let better people take over. And all this time they smiled and told everyone that they were working in the best interest of the theater, they were lying.
That's Courtney Birnbaum, Andrew Frank, Eric Laufer, Matt Quint, Melissa Riker, Doug Silver. I would also include former Board member Fiona Jones and Executive Director Jennifer Thatcher as they have done much to ensure the closing of the theater.
How much contempt do they have for the volunteers? Obviously so much that they don't care enough about the volunteers to even try to keep the theater open. The patronizing attitude toward the real people who have worked here so long is just sickening.
I think that each one of these people should apologize to every volunteer at Theatresource. They should apologize for abrogating their responsibilities to the public trust that is this fine and wonderful theater.

Take What You Need

2011-12-06T18:28:00.002-05:00

So the "fire sale" of everything at Theatresource has made the entire place a huge mess. It's too bad, because we were making the place look so much nicer before the Board decided to dump it. And dump they did. The level of destruction of a place that so many hundreds of people have put 12 years into is sort of appalling.
It looks like we've got a new place to move to though. By "we" I mean we guys in the back office which used to be known as "DigitalSource". We're looking at a nice little film office and post-production suite in TriBeCa. I'll take some pictures soon, but this is the joint. We're going for the biggest of the three offices, which is a couple hundred bucks (in total) more than I though we'd want to spend, but it's only costing me $50/month more than what I've been paying up 'till now.

Hey, here's a thing you should note -- if you've been getting mail/packages delivered to Theatresource, you should change your address with the USPS.
This picture via my friend Jennifer Fay.

Dream Opera

2011-12-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

Plagiarism. I don't get it. I can't even spell it. There are passages of this book cribbed from other books.
Maybe I don't care about what's called "plagiarism" because we steal the structure of other things outright. In fact, we say, "Oh look, this has the same structure as Man of La Mancha" or whatever. To me the "blah-di-blah" in-between is the relatively easy part. I mean, I just wrote the book to a musical where I stole from Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, and Escape From New York.
And even if I hadn't overtly stolen from them, I would have stolen the structure from one of those things and still threw in some lines from my favorite movies.

And speaking of which, Blade Runner the Dream Opera or whatever it is now has been altered to accept the notes I've gotten on it. It's pretty much entirely cribbed from (obviously) Blade Runner, Escape from New York, and Apocalypse Now. There are lots of helicopters.
Also, I have a version of Alien Treasure which I'm not 100% sure how to shoot yet.

Oh Look

2011-12-03T20:12:00.000-05:00

A video editor "mixed" this promo for Saturday Night Live. How can you tell? Because the mic for the guy on the left is in the left channel. The mic for the guy on the right is in the right channel. Just like the way it was recorded into the camera.

The production mixer (they're not really called that in TV -- I don't know how SNL does it but the position is likely called the "A1") is the person who was responsible for recording the dialog. And if you have two people, like this, you slap a lavaliere mic on each of 'em and send the mics to separate channels.
Very pro. That is, in fact, the pro way to do it.
But that's assuming that the person who will be touching the audio last (meaning, before it goes out to air) knows what they're doing with audio. And if you have a picture editor working on it, then it's likely they don't. Have pity on them. They're just simple picture editors. They don't know any better.
In Final Cut Pro the tracks that the two channels of camera audio would be dragged onto are, by default, panned hard left and right. But do you really want Bill panned hard left and Steve panned hard right? No, of course not. you want them both in the middle.
You can even hear Bill switch channels as he turns toward Steve. That's because as he turns toward Steve he's talking into Steve's mic. And he ends up (momentarily) being louder in Steve's mic than his own.
As the job of assembling all these takes and then putting them up on Hulu is probably one of the lowest-priority edit jobs on the show, it's probably thrown at the lowest-level editor they've got. Heck, the producers may have even lied to the editor and told 'em that someone was going to actually do the audio mix so they "don't have to worry about it". But the fact is, that as long as the audio seemed minimally acceptable to whomever uploaded it, that was the end of caring about it.
The trouble you get into when you do something like this is when somebody watches the dang video with (say) a speaker unplugged. If that happens then you lose one of the hosts. Either Bill or Steve will sound distant (because you'll only hear their feed from the other guy's mic.)
And mixing in FCP is no picnic. But it can be done. You just need to pay attention to what audio is bussed where.

Notes on the Musical

2011-12-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

We're coy about the incept date for Plissken being changed back when he kills Batty. Somebody should go ahead and say that.

It is more of a dream ballet. It's a remix and interpretive-y. But the word "musical" sets the wrong expectation. "Musical" just brings to mind "Momma Mia" and I don't think you want that. You can call it an "Imaginary Opera".

Now I think we need puppets.

(We're looking at the latest version here.)

Because

2011-12-02T15:57:00.000-05:00

Because I want my intermediate and delivery formats to be the same, that's why.

And I want my delivery formats to carry an alpha channel.
The best deals I've found for dual hex-core computers seems to be from Titanus. Those are PC's of course.
I've actually gotten a request for delivery of ProRes versions (in PAL) for a couple pictures. We can deliver that, of course, but I'm wondering how long ProRes will remain as the standard file-delivery format. Maybe Apple will turn around and continue to support FCP, like a version 8 which would be split off from their dumbed-down "X" version? Who knows?
I only need three things for a blog post, right? Exactly.

Blade Running

2011-11-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

Here we are, the first draft of Blade Runner the musical. The formatting of the document is majorly messed up and I can't upload anything to my server via FTP.
And, apparently, I've been working on this because I don't have better things to do. Right.
Actually, this FTP thing is frustrating.
I need to understand MySQL and PHP, CGI scripts and whatever the heck Perl is. Because I have no idea what any of those things are.

Updating my version of Firefox and FireFTP seems to have done the trick. Here's the .pdf of the first draft of the Blade Runner Musical.
I'm kind of thinking about switching my hosting provider to Gator Hosting. Everyone seems to like them.

No, C'mon, Tell Me How You Really Feel

2011-11-29T20:14:00.000-05:00

It says a lot for the quality of the structure of Theatresource that it took so long to destroy.
Yeah, it does. But this Board is motivated to destroy it.
Explain to me why the Board of Theatresource is closing the theater?
Well in their own words it just became too hard for them to book the theater.
Really? Is it actually that hard?
They went and spoke to as many as (and I'm being generous here) three theater companies who Theatresource used to work with. And those companies either said "We only want to work in 99-seat spaces" or "we'll only do it if we can use the Development Series Contract" or "no."
Uh. So three companies...
And that was it. Work is hard.
Well who coulda guessed that after years of being hostile to volunteers the whole place didn't turn around in two months and we'd be booked solid through the new year?
We actually did have bookings -- up through April. Which was better than two years ago.
So. This Board has been actively not paying attention for a while.
This Board and Jennifer Thatcher, the Managing Director.
Surely there was more due diligence by the Board did before deciding to close the doors.
Well, I guess that we can count the Board's whining that people didn't give enough the last time the Board cried for help, and that people didn't just, you know, intuit that Theatresource needed a lot more money.
What a load of bad energy they are.
It's quite sad. And completely avoidable. If, for instance, this Board had decided to resign rather than destroy the place, the theater would still be going.
Who is on this Board?
Courtney Birnbaum - Andrew Frank - Eric Laufer - Matt Quint - Melissa Riker - Doug Silver
And they destroyed Theatresource.
Yup. It took them to destroy it.
But there was a two-year warning that the theater's funding model was going to cause this problem?
You're talking about my February 2010 post about the cash flow at Theatresource.
Yeah. So, er, how does that all work out?
Well, we were cash - flow poor at the time and then as far as I can tell they used Board member Eric Laufer to pour money into the organization rather than grooming new theater companies and writing grants. This is something of the way of conjecture on my part. But... probably what and how it all went down.
So when Eric stopped pouring money into the long run of Greenwich Village Follies...?
Jennifer Thatcher suddenly realized they were out of cash.
And in the meantime the organization hadn't been bringing in new companies or focusing on writing grants or anything.
We were overtly hostile to other theater companies and nobody was working on grants.
And we weren't going to milk Eric Laufer for cash anymore?
That's the way it reads to me at least. But he's not interested in filling the money - hole, and we can't get anybody else to donate because they (shockingly) don't believe in this Board of Directors.
Can't we overthrow the Board and then correct all the mistakes?
Theoretically possible but unlikely. You'd have to get enough Board members to constitute a quorum, and have a majority of them vote to create members which could then vote in a new Board.
But with 100% of this Board voting to close the theater that's not likely to happen.
Not likely.
Is there a plan B?
Plan B was to get a hold of the landlord, get together a dormant 501(c)3, and rent the space.
How'd that go?

At first the landlord said he was "definitely" willing to rent and then a few days later he told me that he wasn't renting it now but would contact me when he was willing to rent. Landlords, counter-intuitively, don't always want to make money. He does seem to want to be able to sell and deliver the building with the Theatresource space empty to buyers, but there are several issues for buyers. It's a long story, do you really want to hear it?
No. Not really. So, what's plan C?
C1 is: find a brand-new space somewhere. C2 is wait for the landlord to get bored with having his space unrented and start to rent it. C3 is work with other theaters instead.
But that whole thing where we had that groovy space and all that great energy...
Yup, they destroyed that all back at the coup.

Test

2011-11-28T21:35:00.003-05:00

I tried Blogpoll and the code made this page really freaking ugly.
Now I'm using Blogpolls and it seems better.

Musical or Opera?

2011-11-28T21:33:00.001-05:00

So, for whatever unknown reason, I'm working on this "Blade Runner, the Musical" idea. Which is absurd and insane.
I'm sort of wondering if it's more of an "opera" than a "musical". What's the difference between operettas and musicals? How about the difference between a completely-sung musical and opera?
I bet that between "opera" and "musical", you're talking a difference in millions of dollars in royalties. Certainly hundreds of thousands.

And unless you somehow got Mozart's licensing the differential is entirely on the side of "musicals".
Maybe we can vote on this. You likely need to click through to this blog in order to vote if you're getting this via email or on an RSS feed.
++++

If you're making that part of the movie where it has to look like you're some sort of super-hacker typing faster than humanly possible, HackerTyper is for you.
++
Here's your transcript for Apocalypse Now. And Escape from New York. Neither are quite as spectacular as Blade Runner but that's just how it is.

Fun Facts

2011-11-28T15:50:00.000-05:00

Our voiceover booth will fit in a 4' by 4' space (that includes the air vents.)
Our desks are 31 1/2" deep and 63" wide.

You know, if we're in a new office, we'll probably need a handset telephone.

You know what also sucks?

2011-11-27T22:50:00.000-05:00

Photo call.

It takes up a tremendous amount of time, just when you don't have time (right before a performance of your show). You're not lit for photography, you're lit for theater. And nobody has spent a moment thinking how each scene would be framed in camera.

Photo call. It just sucks.

You know why/how that Tyrannosaurus Mouse show photographed so well? I mean besides having David Frey do it?
1. We actually lit for photographs (which, incidentally, washed out our video projections, making the live show less but the photographs more). Before the show Maduka made sure our exposure levels were appropriate.

2. We could take pictures around the room and didn't have to worry about the noise of the camera (c'mon, the noise of the camera? Over how loud we play? Not a chance.)

Today's Conversation

2011-11-27T22:41:00.000-05:00

Because the whole thing is a dream ballet.
Uh. Yeah.
Cyd Charisse will have to play Rachel.
You... might be a little late for that.

You Know What the Message is Here, Right?

2011-11-27T09:26:00.002-05:00

Couples wouldn't argue as much if they drove on the right side of the road.

Dance Sucks

2011-11-26T19:42:00.001-05:00

You know Bellwares. They'll just straight up murder you.

+++++
Every single thing about the dance world just sucks.
The performance facilities all universally cost more than their theater equivalents.
The spaces are usually jerks about making you strike and set - up with almost Fringe-like speed. They'll make you strike your lights on "trees" even. It's a royal PITA.
Dance floors are expensive. Marley is bad enough. But really you want a sprung floor. They're expensive and easily damaged.
There's a huge prejudice against working on a piece, performing it, then working on it more, performing it, and doing all that again -- the critics want to see a choreographer's "new" work and are less interested in seeing it perfected. Theater isn't so obsessed with "new" which helps make for better theater.
And, of course, if you're not permanently injured by the time you're 30, you're doing it wrong.
+++++
Lessee, what else am I grumpy about today? Microphones in musicals. Thing is, unless you're spending more than a million dollars on the musical, don't try to hide body mics on the performers.
Now, I fully realize that these damn kids (who won't get offa my lawn) are using wireless mics in elementary school plays nowadays. Their drama teachers will actually make them rehearse putting their own (clearly numbered) wireless packs on (using little blocks of wood to simulate the size of the wireless.)
And I've seen off-off-Wherever shows where they try desperately to keep microphones on sweaty performers who have obviously not gone through dozens of hours of tech with microphones and packs on. So the mics fall off -- the glue and/or the medical tape gets unstuck and you end up with a mess. You get the wonderful sound [that's sarcasm, son] of a body microphone slowly coming off someone's face or hitting their ear, or just falling down their shirt so the audience gets the sound of a microphone over someone's belly-button and...
And yeah, I quit. Musical actors need to know how to project instead of being miked*. And if they are miked, they need to learn to hear less of the band than if they were in a cabaret singing into a handheld microphone.
If you are going to throw wireless on your actor/singers then you better be planning it from the very first moment you put together your musical (see: elementary schools).
In the fantasy world I live in, singers would step up to a microphone or at least sing into a flower.
Right now for Blade Runner the Musical I only have one microphone on stage and it's for the geisha-dressed soprano who serves as the Chorus. Of course.
*And yes, I'm using "miked" rather than "mic'ed" because "mic'ed" looks stupid.

Twenty Palaces

2011-11-25T17:46:00.001-05:00

The monster that is the 20 Palaces series got cancelled.
Now, and spoilers apply, but the book series is brilliant. And one of the spectacularly brilliant things it does is not bore you with the back-story and instead allude to it through the course of the stories themselves.

Now, to me, this is not an irritant. The author himself points out the problems with the series are that 1. you don't learn enough about the 20 Palaces Society and 2. we don't learn enough about the protagonist's back-story. I don't think he feels that way about his own work. But he feels that for the market that's true.
It's certainly not true for me. That's why with trepidation I'm ordering the prequel.
But I'm gonna do it.
Harry Connolly is the author. And although I was digging the very organic way that the back-story was revealed, I'll bet the prequel works. And besides, I think the books should become a TV series. But, you know, I think a lot of things.

I Figured It Out

2011-11-24T19:39:00.000-05:00

Blade Runner the Musical but with Snake Plissken is modeled on Apocalypse Now. It all makes sense. Now.
Escape from the Blade Apocalypse.

We have to finish post on Android Insurrection. We have to shoot Dragon Girl. Then we have to finish that movie. Plus we have to write another disaster picture. But I need to finish writing the book to this musical this weekend.
We're going to need a bigger boat.

Aliens on Ice

2011-11-24T16:34:00.000-05:00

Stacy Shirley. I... I love you.

Put the Bunny out the Door

2011-11-23T22:20:00.000-05:00

This is somehow the most deeply weird, and deeply entrancing, commercial I've ever seen.

Amano Music is a music "atalier" in New York that supervised the score.
Have you applied for your HERE resident artist program?
So, when I think of the Blade Runner musical, but you know, with Snake Plissken as the lead character, I realized that the one style of music that I can do is this sort of morphine - pop style.
<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://tyrannosaurusmouse.bandcamp.com/track/beautiful-as-sin"&amp;gt;Beautiful As Sin by Prague Spring&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>
Can you stand an entire evening chasing replicants and listening to this? What if Plissken's morphology has his incept date accelerated so that he only has 22 hours to find, and kill, the replicants? Is Plissken a bass or a tenor? If Rachel is a soprano, then Batty is clearly the bass -- right?
We're gonna need an owl.

Theatresource Town Hall Notes

2011-11-23T19:42:00.001-05:00

For those of you who, you know, actually do theater and couldn't make it to the "Town Hall" called by the Board of Directors of Theatresource, here's the official notes from the meeting.
The logic of closing Theatresource seems to be a petulant "Well, nobody would give money to our last call for donations so we decided not to call for donations again."

JEN: In regards to fundraising, in August, when we almost got evicted, we put out an urgent plea and from that we only raised $2000.

Again and again the lack of communication came up. The Board of Theatresource has always been secretive. I have no idea why. But this Board is more secretive than any of the others I can remember. In the case of the previous "urgent plea" the Board was obtuse about the reasoning for the "urgent plea". It was because the State was coming after the organization for not having paid State Unemployment Insurance. Now, I will not say for sure this is the case in New York State, but I believe that in New Jersey the Department of Labor can send the Sheriff to the banks of the Board of Directors, the Officers, and anyone with check-signing powers and drain their accounts without even going to the trouble of an administrative law hearing. So the Board was personally liable for that debt.

Sourcie: I’ve talked to Jen about grants and corporate sponsorships. There were other options not explored. There are other members in the tribe who could do this work.

This Board, unable to raise money, arrogantly didn't assume that they were just bad at it, but rather that it simply couldn't be done.

Perhaps it's best to realize that at this point the Board was talking about not being able to bring in any money and they have had only $100 in Corporate income and $500 in Foundation income. Year to date, that is.
So yeah, there was no serious effort put in over the last few years to bring in money. Heck, after we announced we were closing the Mayor's Office called to talk about funding and pointed out that we hadn't even bother to apply for City funding since 2008.

Nobody could have done a worse job of running Theatresource than this spectacularly incompetent Board. And nobody did. It took this Board to close down the operation.

So it's ironic to me that there was so much stress on "saving" the 501(c)3. As far as I know, this Corporation has an incredibly deadly liability tail on it. At least as far as I know, and in my understanding, makes it less than worthless because the liability for the other unpaid employment taxes actually penetrates the corporate shield and can touch (and strip) the bank accounts of the present members of the Board, the former members of the Board*, and anyone who has signatory rights on the bank accounts.

*I presume this to mean only the former members of the Board who were active when the tax was being unpaid. Also, it may be that the Board's insurance inures them from direct financial liability. Also, I don't know about people who used to have signatory rights on bank accounts.

Today's News

2011-11-22T16:02:00.000-05:00

The landlord to 177 MacDougal Street says he's not prepared to rent the space but that when he decides to, he'll contact me.
This sort of thing is like a roller-coaster. Every few days you get the opposite information from what you've gotten before and you go from "everything's fine, it's all working" to "it's a complete no-go and dead in the water" and then back again to "it's all good, even better than before."
So that's today's news.

So, Apparently

2011-11-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

It's Blade Runner, the Musical. But with Snake Plissken instead of Deckard. And instead of the threat about "little people" Snake has to take out all the Nexus 6 or be imprisoned in New York City. If he succeeds he'll be pardoned for all crimes committed inside the United States.
Also, Priss and Rachel are exactly the same model of android.
And it's going to be a big dream electronica score. I've always wanted to write a musical in the style of Bel Canto. No, I mean "Bel Canto."

Rehearsal Rooms vs Offices

2011-11-22T11:07:00.003-05:00

Or: "Why was that lady yelling at me all through the town hall meeting on Saturday night?"

Actually, I'm not going to answer that above question.

Will someone make the bad lady stop yelling at me?

Yeah, once we start a new organization we'll get a new website and you won't be reading all this stuff on this blog anymore.

So wait, you're holding on me? There's a plan of some kind?

Of some kind. I only actually spoke to the landlord on Friday. I haven't heard back anything of substance yet.

Will you tell us when you've found out anything?

No. I'm going to keep it under wraps. Just the same as I do with everything I think.

I'd rather have the lady yell at me.

Would you? That can be arranged.

Dear Heavens no. I'd rather listen to you go on and on about square footage and... and oh no...

Do you like running numbers? Yes. Yes you do. Get out the spreadsheeps and open your mind to wild speculation.

Baaaah.

The question on today's menu is: do you make more income per square foot with rehearsal space or office space?

No, the question on today's menu is why was that lady so aggressive and yelling at everyone at the town hall meeting?

But I'm not answering that question.

In fact YOU didn't say anything at all at the town hall meeting.

Stipulation: at the 177 MacDougal Street space (hereafter known as "177") offices and rehearsal are not mutually exclusive.
Stipulation: we need rehearsal space in and of itself. We make plays. Plays need to be rehearsed.

Why didn't you say anything at the town hall? Why let them go on and on with their BS unchallenged?

Plenty of people were challenging it.

Yeah, but not you.

I was there to support others.

Do you think that supporting them was better by being quiet and supportive or telling the yelly lady to shut up?

Rather than trying to use a conservative vs a liberal estimate in order to test the numbers I'm using, I'm kinda going for whatever makes the most sense. Ripley Grier has a space just a foot smaller in either direction than the office now called "DigitalSource". They call the room "1R2". Their book rate on that room is $14/hour.
So I'm going to say we can charge $15/hour for the DigitalSource space. (Note that we absolutely must find a way to air-condition that space once April rolls around so some capital expenditure will be involved in making that a usable space. It was 83 degrees in there last night. And it's the middle of November.)
If we open at 2pm and can run the rehearsal room until 8pm and can seriously keep it booked six hours a day for five days a week (booking that rehearsal room during a show will be very annoying to those in the show at 8pm because they'll hear the rehearsal in their own dressing room), that's 30 hours at $15/hour or $450/week. Can we really book that room 30 hours a week? Heck, we haven't been able to book the theater for rehearsals for 30 hours a week. But 30 hours a week is a reasonable goal.
At 50 weeks a year, that's $22,500 a year in rehearsal room bookings. Remember that right now we only make about $1500 a year in audition room bookings.

Any why wasn't anyone given an agenda for the town hall meeting before the town hall? Was that just a way to help them sandbag everyone else at the meeting so they couldn't come prepared with real questions and solutions?

The expenses involved in operating a rehearsal room include having a babysitter for the rehearsal (volunteer or otherwise). We need to calculate the cost of the volunteer vs the benefit (financial and otherwise) of having a rehearsal room. And yes, volunteers do "cost" something. Indeed, I have this whole notion that we shouldn't waste volunteers' time on things which bring in less than "x" dollars an hour but that's a whole nuther post.

Only baby owls will be allowed to run meetings from now on.

Now, if we were to put A/C into that "DigitalSource" room, add some Aeron chairs you'd have a windowless office in a back-office space (but conveniently located in Greenwich Village.) It's still "back office". There's no receptionist or free coffee all day long. But we could likely put four "cubicles" in there for $300 each per month. And probably keep them rented for 10 months a year (on average).
Four cubicles times $300 each is $1200 a month. That's $12,000 a year.
So offices are worth about half of what a rehearsal room is worth. Maybe a bit more. Advantage office: no need to have a babysitter on staff. Disadvantage office: you sure as heck better trust your office-mates as they'll have keys to come and go as they please. Advantage office: booking is a lot easier. You just need to do it once every so many months (or in some cases, so many years.)

Will any of this keep the bad lady from yelling at me?

Wow. That's so interesting I so thought offices would win out. Even with average of 10-month rental at $450/cube you're only at $18,000 a year, which is substantially below the potential revenue from rehearsal room revenue.

So this means I don't have to go to any more town hall meetings where some lady yells at everybody that everything is going great and everybody's doing a great job?

It means you put offices where offices can go and put rehearsal space where rehearsal space can go. Those two kinds of spaces are not mutually exclusive at the 177 space. And you fight dog-and-claw to get those rehearsal spaces booked. Or you just say "full-time booking two rehearsal spaces and the theater is just one too many things for us to do" and you find other revenue.

Put some pants on, will ya?

Baby owls don't wear pants.

All this time you were channeling a baby owl?

That's why the post is so coherent.

Xanax, Whiskey, and AfterEffects

2011-11-21T21:29:00.000-05:00

Yup. That's about it. This month's Tweet cloud. Why are you following me on Twitter. Are you insane? Do you need medication? Following me on Twitter is no substitute for the Xanax and top-shelf whiskey.
These are the tech specs for Adobe CS5.
You can get this camera stabilizer for $225 or you can get this one for $50. It's up to you, really. (Via Chance.)
Stu Maschwitz shows how he sets up AfterEffects.

QOTD

2011-11-21T16:52:00.003-05:00

Today I did an NDA project. I haven't done an NDA project in a long long time.

Yes. I put an ad on this blog through Project Wonderful. I'll tell ya how that works. You have to click through to see the blog to see the ad. I may end up setting it up for the RSS feed. I don't know. It's only to amuse me.

Silence! The Musical goes to a LOT of trouble to tell you it's a parody.

+++++

I want to make "Blade Runner the Musical".

Leon Kowalski

Leon. Leon.

Leon Kowalski.

Oh Leon Kowalski

Six days

Leon

Leon Kowalski...

The big numbers are going to be "Let Me Tell You About My Mother", "Morphology, Longevity, Incept Dates", "Wake up! Time to die." and the finale " "It's too bad she won't live. (But then again, who does?)"
+++++

The Quote of the Day:
"Good Lord, you have some good ideas, Bellware. Although I notice "wearing pants" is never one of them."

Statute of Limitations

2011-11-20T20:07:00.000-05:00

As far as I can tell there is effectively no longer a statute of limitations on paying the employer's part of income taxes. Because the statute of limitations (3 years) only begins after you've filed. Maybe I'm reading it incorrectly.

And that's the end of me talking about this for a while. Tomorrow I start doing fun stuff. Here are today's kissing rabbits.

Running the Numbers

2011-11-20T19:12:00.001-05:00

Let's make some assumptions. Because, you know, assumptions are fun. Let's pretend that the nut of the 177 MacDougal Street space is $20,000 a month.
And let's pretend there's 2000 square feet of space.
Both of these numbers are imprecise, but somewhat accurate.
If we were to have each square foot "pull its weight" in revenue per month, it would have to bring in $10 a month in revenue.
Of course this is absurd. Bathrooms, for instance, are not revenue - generating. They're at best a loss leader. But you don't want to get rid of them because they don't bring in money. Trust me on that one.

So when looking at the different parts of the space, think about what is good or bad about each part. And figure out how much the place is worth per square foot. You'll notice there's an "x" in there. I don't know what that number is.
Obviously the amount of money the theater itself makes per square foot is greater than the windowbox. But maybe the windowbox is so nice we want to keep it just because. Is the bookstore worth keeping as a bookstore? Would it make more money if we put offices for resident theater companies in the same space and charged them per month to be there? What about the Cafe? Does it make sense to make the cafe and the box office the same space and use the box office space as cubicles for resident theaters?
I don't know the answers. But it'll be interesting to run the numbers.

Project Planning -- An Interview

2011-11-20T18:23:00.001-05:00

The Vicereine of the Queen of Mars consented to an audience with Her Regent on the subject of project planning. And thus were the notes taken by Our Royal Secretary:

"Project planning is great for planning -- but it's terrible for execution. The dangerous part of project planning is when you run into a situation where you say "Now I can't stick to my project plan."

"Project planning tells us how late we are and why.

"It's nice to have target dates and know what you're doing and if something comes up, you know how to react. In other words project planning is good for figuring out things but you can't beat yourself up for not meeting your project plan's deadlines.

Our meeting with the Vicereine (artist's depiction).

"The exception to all of this is routine tasks which are done over and over where you want to optimize your process."

A Personal Realization

2011-11-20T12:58:00.002-05:00

You know, most people suffer from a cognitive bias of illusory superiority. I suffer from it's opposite. I figure I'm pretty smart, but that doesn't make me able to do analysis and make decisions better than other people in and of itself. Because that's one of the smart things I know.
So I presume most people to be smart.
And then when they do dumb things my logic flow goes like this:
1. They can clearly see the eminent and obvious facts just as I can
2. Therefore they are up to something vastly more nefarious instead.

I suspect I should just assume people are dumb and not evil. That would sure make me feel better at least. Someone does something dumb (or worse yet) a group of people do something dumb and it's probably just because they're dumb. Not because they're trying to pull a fast one.

But my experience tells me that "being dumb" and trying to pull a fast one are (or can be) hand-in-hand. That may be mostly the embarrassment of being caught being dumb -- it makes people cover stuff up so you can't see how dumb they were and that (certainly seems) evil.

Here's my dad running the numbers on his own lemonade stand.

I should probably be less harsh with people who can't read a cash flow or P&L statement. I literally grew up on those. On the train home this evening I remembered that, no kidding, my dad had me write out my expenses and projected sales for a lemonade stand I had out on Clive Street one summer. I ran the numbers and my profit projected was rather low. But I knew that essentially I was going to get a "subsidy" in the form of sugar and lemonade mix from ~~the government~~ my mother, so my business was (for an 8-year-old) fairly viable (if seasonable).

Theater Companies

2011-11-20T01:09:00.000-05:00

So this show, She Kills Monsters, got a good New York Times review.
The Flea are kind of an interesting company. They have a resident company, the Bats, who (it is my understanding) aren't really told when they audition that if they get into the company they'll be expected to volunteer some number of hours each week y'know, cleaning floors and stuff. Other than my obsession with being incredibly up-front with people about things, The Bats seem like a good model for a theater company.
+++++
Here's the thing with being a company in New York doing extended runs of shows with (to the producer) reasonable (read: $25) ticket prices. You really have to be non-Equity. What I mean by this is that the producer simply cannot sign an Equity contract.
You cannot do a long run under a Showcase code contract. Showcase code only provides for performances:

Up to 12 within four consecutive weeks. At least half of the total
number must be presented on a weekday (Monday through Friday) and in no event may
there be more than one two-performance day per week
Step Option: 4 additional performances may be added at a stipend of $10 per member
plus minimum transportation, per performance

So you can't do an extended run. Nor can you do, for instance, every Friday and Saturday night for 12 weeks.
In addition, the ticket price is limited:

(i) Up to $18, TDF voucher acceptable

Now note that the Producer is incapable of making a pile of filthy lucre on any off-off-Broadway show. The best any producer can do is to not take a bath on the show. So we're not worried here about actors being given the shaft while the producer is in a hot tub smoking a cigar and playing with those heavy gold chains producers invariably wear around their necks.
Where is my gold chain, by the way?

But in addition to that, it's my feeling that Actor's Equity is harmful to theater in New York City. This is part of why I think Chicago has more interesting and innovative theater. But that's for another time.

Saving Theatresource

2011-11-19T23:12:00.002-05:00

I'd like to save Theatresource. Not the "virtual company" I mean the place at 177 MacDougal Street. I've always liked it there. What can we do?

There are two main paths I've seen.

What are you, the Kwisatz Haderach?

Dude, there are very few people who are going to get that joke.

Yes, but all of them read this blog.

You got me there.

So what can we do again? What's the first option?

We can force a takeover of the 501(c)3 Corporation.

Wait, really? We can?

Yes. It's complicated and messy. But it's possible. Although by-and-large the Board is basically inured from challenge because there are no "Members" of the Corporation.

I... can't find the Bylaws of Manhattan Theatresource online anywhere on the website.

Shocked. Shocked I say.

Don't most organizations like this put up their financials and such on their web site?

I believe I'm having the vapors. Someone call for my manservant to bring me a mint julep.

Stop it and tell me why we should or shouldn't conduct a hostile takeover of the Board.

The advantage of having the Manhattan Theatre Source, Incorporated 501(c)3 is that as an organization that's been around for 11 or so years (as I remember in my foggy brain it took about a year to get the not-for-profit status) is that grants are easier to write for the organization.

So: money. There's the potential for money for whomever has control of the Board of Directors of the 501(c)3.

That, and the fact that the lease is in the name of the Corporation.

So that all sounds like perfectly fine reasons for a hostile takeover.

It does.

But by the look on your face, you don't think we should do it.

Nope.

Why?

Going back in time -- the financial catastrophe we just got over came about because back in the day of Lanie and Jim (at least as the story is told) we weren't paying SUI and we were putting Lanie and Jim on 1099's.

Is that... or was that... legal?

Not even slightly. I'll even take some blame for that because I never realized that was the case. I would have yelled and screamed about it at the time if I'd known about it.

But what does that mean? The Source owes what... the Social Security and the other employer side of the income taxes on the employees they put on 1099s?

Wow. I hadn't even thought of that. SSI. I... I actually don't know what the deal is with that. That's Federal. Thanks for making this seem even worse.

So wait, what were you going to say?

New York State came after Manhattan Theatresource for what was initially about $50,000 in penalties and interest and such for SUI.

That's why Theatresource was behind in rent over the Summer.

Yes.

And now you're wary of the liability tail the organization still has?

Yeah, indeed. Up until talking to you I was worried about it in the abstract. Now I'm worried about in the concrete -- meaning Social Security taxes. The Federal Government likes to collect on those, and they will penetrate the Corporate shield through to anyone who is on the Board and anyone who can write checks. I've seen it happen. It's not a pretty sight.

I'm here to help you sleep better at night.

Well, all of this indicates to me that we'd be better off negotiating with the landlord and starting a new theater at 177 MacDougal Street. With a new 501(c)3. One that's never had any employees or "liability tail."

So. A new organization. What would that be like?

I don't know. Open.

What? Are you genetically predisposed to oversharing?

Yeah. It's a bit of a defect of mine.

So what can you tell me about this new organization?

1. It doesn't exist yet, at least not in the form we need it in.
2. Whatever happens will involve a rollercoaster of "there's no way this can happen" to "oh, everything is better than was expected even a week ago" to "there's no way this can happen" over and over again for the next few months.

What should I do then?

Do you have a 501(c)3? Do you want to start a theater?

Are those things co-requisites?

Nope.

So is there going to be a theater at 177 MacDougal in 2012?

I give it a 70% chance.

Now, I don't mean anything by this but uh. Well... if it were required in order to make the theater viable, would -- I mean you guys in what they call "DigitalSource" -- would you move out? I mean, if that's what was the difference between making it work and not?

Yep. If that's what it took, we'll pull up stakes and move elsewhere.

Where?

Have you heard of the Brooklyn Artists Gym?

I just wanted to know your commitment to this thing. But now I feel all bad and nervous. The whole situation is anxiety - producing. Can I see a picture of a bunny?

Here ya go:

See? A bunny. How bad can things be?

Town Hall Meeting

2011-11-19T22:23:00.002-05:00

So the 2011 Innovative Theater Awards Stage Manager of the Year made an emotional and impassioned speech about how she felt duped by the Board and the managers of Theatresource and then left the "town hall" meeting the Board had called at 8pm on a Saturday night because she, unlike anyone on the Board, actually does theater and had to make her call.
As the Stage Manager was standing outside the theater pulling herself together, Jennifer Thatcher breezed by and dripping with sarcasm and as snotty a tone possible said "It's too bad you can't stay."

Yeah, "too bad".
So that's basically where we're at.
+++++
In addition to being a nasty piece of work, we also discovered that Jennifer Thatcher is spectacularly incompetent. Apparently the reason Theatresource is closing is because she ran cash flow projections for the very first time.
The irony is that she still doesn't understand what the "nut" is for running Theatresource. And she's the Managing Director(!).
A couple years ago when there was ~~the first and only~~ a meeting of the Advisory Board she was asked what the nut was because each year Theatresource was "surprised" by the tax bill that came in at the end of the year.
So she gave them a number. "And does that include the taxes?" asked a member of the Advisory Board who can, you know, read a balance sheet. Jen Thatcher: "Uh, no."
And still she thinks the nut to be (ironically) lower than it actually is. All you have to do is look at the YTD and see that contrary to what Thatcher said in the meeting, the nut is about $20,000 a month, not $15,000 a month.
And we can't make that nut with rentals and ticket sales. Never could. It's unlikely we ever will. Nobody has a model which shows you can make the nut with rentals and ticket sales. Nobody ever has.
We have to make the nut by grants and donations and fundraising and all the other things the Board has simply not done.
+++++
The other issue which is frequently cited as the reason Theatresouce is closing is that the rent is going up. Paraphrasing Thatcher at the town hall "When we first moved in here the rent was $6000 a month, now it's $9700 a month".
Yes -- after 12 years the rent has been going up. This board signed the lease. They know this. Everybody knows this. Rent goes up. So, incidentally, does what we charge people to rent the theater.
I used to have respect for the people on this Board. And at least they all decided to show up, with the exception of the President of the Board, Courtney Birnbaum, who couldn't be bothered to attend. But they seriously, at a fundamental level, cannot read their own balance sheets.
Why on earth this isn't published on the Web is anyone's guess. But here's the YTD of the 501(c)3 for your dining and dancing pleasure.

Ben on the Tubes

2011-11-19T17:55:00.000-05:00

Our own sexy Ben Thomas did this spec ad for Doritos. I would totally embed the video if I were technologically capable of such a feat.
Instead, here's a picture of Ben riding his copier into the sunset.

Can't Stop The Excitement!

2011-11-18T22:57:00.000-05:00

I visited the Brooklyn Artists Gym yesterday. It's a very awesome space with a groovy mission and a positive vibe. And boy, the membership rates are very nice. The semi-private space is super-sweet too. The one that's coming available is next to the space's office, with a window. It's (I'd guess) about ten foot by five foot for $319/month.
It's also very close to the pie shop Four & Twenty Blackbirds.
The thing is that the way the BAG is structured is that they price per member. So it would become unwieldy for us to move there because we always have other people around. I mean, not always, but... you know what I mean. So would each person get a membership? I don't know if there's an elegant solution to that problem for us, whilst looking for new space.
But if you're a painter or sculptor, the Brooklyn Artist's Gym seems like heaven.

Bunny butt.

No matter what happens I suspect that we will have to move our office by the beginning of the year -- even if that only means moving it upstairs in the space we're in now.

In other news, one of the territories we sold to is having trouble with the deliverables on Day 2. It may be the HD to PAL conversion. Sigh. We don't know. We'll have to look and see. It could be motion artifacts which were an "artistic decision". We won't know 'till we hear some timecode numbers of the scenes. I have, of course, offered to deliver the picture on a hard drive.
Showbiz. The excitement never stops.

Ways Theatresource Can Make Money Without Spending a Dime

2011-11-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

One issue that Theatresource has always had was the non-efficient use of space. Relatively little of our space is revenue-generating.
On the other hand, the space when you first walk in the door it seems very... inviting? People take a deep breath and say "Oh, I love this place" when they walk in. And it seems to me that's mostly the space in the front of the theater and leading up to the landing.
But let's take a look of the non-revenue-generating parts of the space and what can be done.

First a couple assumptions about the finances of a theater operating at 177 MacDougal Street. I'd estimate that the absolute minimum "nut" of the space is $20,000 a month. That's $240,000 a year. Note that I'm talking about "absolute minimum" here. I think that we need to get the total revenue up to about $500,000 a year. But under $240,000 a year and the City Marshal arrives and serves you papers.

Right now the little office I'm in called "DigitalSource" (blame Mitchell for the name) is downstairs in the back-most office. What you need to do is to entice us to move elsewhere. Because the space we're in could be used as a rehearsal room right away. As soon as we're out of there it becomes a rehearsal space -- no construction is needed. It's a little on the small side for a rehearsal room, but hey, it's usable. And there's no issues with noise. Believe me, I've played guitar in there at impressive levels with no complaints.
Let's make up some conservative numbers. Let's make the room $15/hour and rent it for 20 hours a week for 50 weeks.
That's $15,000 a year.* Or, er, 1/16th of your budget? Approximately?

We're trying to keep our numbers very conservative here.

Now what if we had dedicated desks for resident theater companies? I've seen every price under the sun for open workstation space in New York. So again, let's be conservative. Let's say we can rent 5 different workstation spaces to what we might call "resident theater companies" at $300 a month. That's another $18,000 a year with no cost outlay.

The City Samanas playing in the windowbox.

Start a theater company. Non-equity company, get 30 members at $300 a year. That's another $9000 a year in revenue.

Have people pay to be a member of the theater. Those people would have (say) voting rights and such. They pay $150/year. A hundred members is $15,000 a year.

So that's another $57K a year we can add to the revenue of this space without doing any capital outlay.

Other, less concrete things we can do would include focusing on grant money, bringing in new theater companies to produce, and raising donations by individuals and corporations. I know, these are all radical ideas, but with people focused on them, they can be done. (Yes, calling them radical ideas is sarcasm son.)

But we need (as an organization) e'en more money than that. How can we do that? Well, some of those things will require a capital outlay. And another blog post.

*There's no way that the space DigitalSource is in is rentable for the summer months without installing air conditioning. So while this idea works right now because it's the middle of November, it won't work starting in April or May without getting some HVAC in there.

That's funny

2011-11-17T14:30:00.001-05:00

Hey, what 501(c)3 didn't bother to apply for grant money from the Mayor's Office for the last three years? Why that would be Manhattan Theatresource.
Funny that now there "isn't enough money to keep the place going".
Weirdly, I'm not even the one whose the most pissed off around here. Not by a long shot.
But clearly, something very fishy is going on with the Board of Directors and closing Theatresource.
Why don't you come on by:
Saturday November 19th, 2011 8pm,

177 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10011

to the "meeting" the Board has called.
I know, you didn't get your invitation, right? Well the Board has been very selective about who was sent information about this meeting of the "tribe".
Plus, of course, they scheduled it exactly when anybody working in theater couldn't make it.

UPDATE:
My favorite comment:

"It's not as if they failed. They didn't even try. And worse, they didn't let anyone else try."

Illegal Books

2011-11-16T18:10:00.000-05:00

OK, I'll admit it. I am utterly fascinated by the idea of a book ~~banned~~ recalled for "plagiarism".
Personally, I don't believe in plagiarism. Sort of like the way I don't believe in capitalism. It's not that I'm for or against it, I just don't believe it exists.
This comparison of Markham's book to lines from other works reads like a TA's wet dream.
And... I just don't care who he "stole" from.

Maybe it's my music background. But it's standard operating procedure to steal stuff from music. In fact, it's commonly considered that there's a relatively limited amount of music (in any sort of equal-tempered tonal scale at least) that can be written.
And of course there's an entire genre of popular music which actually takes recordings of other artists and creates new works from them. That music is primarily illegal -- and as such it's pretty fascinating by me.
Now that this book is unavailable, I (of course) really want to read it. I mean, if it got good reviews before people discovered that whole sections came from other books, doesn't that still make it a good book?
As it turns out, whole sections of the Manchurian Candidate were lifted from I, Claudius. What if we were to find out that Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice were stolen from earlier sources?
Who? Cares?
If it's good, it's good.
So say I. And as the Lord Regent of the God Emperor of Mars, so say We all.

Wait, What?

2011-11-15T21:51:00.002-05:00

So wait, I worked on those huge load-outs of deep storage at Theatresource. We were told at the time that the landlord was insisting that he get back deep storage in order for us to continue.

Yup. You were told that.

Did the Board of Directors already know that they were going to shut down the theater by then?

It sure looks that way on the face of it.

So they fooled me into working for two days in order to save Theatresource, when really we were just being duped into doing the hardest part of the move out before we were told it was going to happen?

Well, I'm having trouble imagining how it could be otherwise.

So who do they think will help them move out of the theater altogether? I mean, I'm not going to do it. I was helping to save Theatresource, not help them to trash it.

Faeries? I don't know. Perhaps there's a band of magical elves living under the stairs.

Well, I suppose the only important thing was to really clean out was deep storage. The landlord doesn't care about what else gets cleaned out.

Hmm... Yes. That may have been the thinking. Nobody would have helped clean out deep storage if we knew we were going to close. And no other part of the theater is really a mess, and it might help the landlord if he wants to rent to another theater company.

Who is coming to this "Tribe Meeting" they scheduled on Saturday the 19th of November at 8pm?

Well, nobody who actually, you know, works in theater.

Why wasn't it scheduled at like 3pm?

Because then the people who work in theater would be able to show up.

Will the Board of Directors actually be at this meeting they've called?

I've been surprised before. So... maybe. I doubt any more than half of them will show though.

What is the actual financial position of Theatresource 501(c)3?

Right now there's about $20,000 of debt on the books.

Oh well that's... wait. What?!

Yeah. For a theater that's not really a lot of money.

Of course, we've trashed all the future income by cancelling all the shows that we did as soon as they announced they were closing.

Yup. Sure did. Of course, at $4000 a piece we could make up the gap by adding five new members to the Board.

That would make the Board fairly unwieldy wouldn't it?

Do you think it could be worse than the Board that actually closed the theater?

You've got a point there. So how do we take over the Board?

I really don't know if it can be done. And I certainly don't know if it can be done before the end of the year.

WordWiki

2011-11-14T21:57:00.000-05:00

Earthkiller gang.

Now I'm exploring the world of WordPress to solve my Interweb Woes (via Allan Mackey -- see comment on post below).

Wordpress Wiki -- a Wiki for Wordpress. What I mean is a Wiki which works on Wordpress.
Ndizi project management. So far I haven't found a Wordpress plugin which supports Gantt charts and dependencies though. Still looking.

Posting Bunnies

2011-11-14T15:54:00.000-05:00

Well, ~~right now~~ pandoramachine.com is was down. Smeh. It apparently has something to do with hsaccess files. I tried to get PHProjekt to work by installing it through Fantastico. But there are issues with PHProjekt and "magic quotes".

The tech person at IVHosting wrote back that

you can adjust php settings through your own php.ini file, you need to create the file in public_html directory or subfolder of public_html - where you want the settings adjusted.
Example: to change register_globals value you need to create php.ini file with the following line: register_globals = on

But before I could even deal with that I managed to plop and skunk the whole site.

Tech support said that I have an htaccess file in my root directory that says

php_flag magic_quotes_gpc Off
php_value magic_quotes_gpc Off
which is BAD and giving 500 errors.

So I fixed that. But when I logged onto Fantastico in order to put dotProject onto my server, Fantastico told me I should update Tiki Wiki. So I, er, did. And that, of course, broke our Wiki.

In the meantime we should start to have dotProject on our server.

Oh, and look. The wiki fixed itself.

I don't want to do any more of this kind of work ever again. See? This is why I post bunnies.

Parental Blogeration

2011-11-13T18:41:00.000-05:00

Right this minute my parents have a blog, ~~although nobody has posted to it yet~~. I'm kind of expecting the blog to be mostly restaurant reviews, although it may get filled up with cats.
Because there is infinite demand for cats on the Internet.

177 MacDougal Street

2011-11-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

Vanishing New York on the closing of Theatresource notes that the agency representing the property says that the theater could be converted into residential.
I'm not entirely familiar with New York City zoning laws. Although I'm kinda under the impression that the theater's two floors cannot be converted into residential. There is an odd piece of the third floor (which we've already been kicked out of) which is residential but I believe it cannot be subdivided and therefore can only be rented to whomever is using the 3rd floor as his residence.
The Washington Square Park Blog has more on the sale of the property.

There's a walkthrough video of the properties which include Monk's and (what I presume to be) what was Love and even that place that was many pizzarias until it because a back-office kitchen.

The realtor has posted a bunch of information which includes the C of O for the property.

They've also published the revenues and expenses. The highlighted portion implies that the Theatresource part of the property will be converted to residential as the "best and highest use". At least that's what I infer from it, not being expert at these things.

If this is true, then the Board of Theatresource has essentially locked any future theater company from taking over the space by making a deal with the landlord to hand the building over empty.

Netbook

2011-11-10T17:32:00.001-05:00

People. Asking about netbook computers. I am answering their questions.

$250 is a pretty good price for a lil' computer to surf the Web and check email on. You can even write scripts on it.
But what if you, for whatever deranged reason, need to run OSX? There's a compatibility chart for that. In my experience it's a big ol' pain in the tuchus to get OSX to run on a Windows netbook, but I have been able to do it. And if you're running (say) Qlab, then you gotta do what you gotta do.
Anyway, here are some computers highly rated for running OSX:
A used HP Mini 1000 will set you back less than $200.

Same thing with a used Dell Mini 10.

And that's my report on computers you can throw in your backpack.
Here's a 1TB USB portable hard drive.

Note to people like my parents: you'll have to click through to the blog to actually see what I'm talking about.
Note to people who aren't my parents: we don't actually talk you see, we just blog at one another.

Charred Pancakes and No Pants

2011-11-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

Country Pancake House. There's one in Florida. There's one in Ridgewood NJ. I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'.
+++++
Our own Michael Chmiel is raising money for his short, "Charred".
+++++

On Facebook they all ask "When isn't it 'no pants day' in the Pandora Machine?"

Is there any good reason that it's almost 90 degrees in my studio? Well, if by "good reason" you mean "excuse to not wear pants" then I guess the answer is yes.

Cats, Frogs, Mitch Gross

2011-11-09T23:31:00.000-05:00

I find this cat way too amusing.
Somebody remind me that I have to get to the theater by noon tomorrow because the caterer from the art opening left her bag and she needs to pick it up.
The Frogman cracks me up.
Mitch Gross doesn't get nearly as much Internet "wow" as he deserves for his Abel Cine videos. He cuts right through the malarkey and offers technical details in his off-handed way that are frequently pretty unique. After all the Internet yelling this week about Red/Canon cameras it's nice to see somebody actually operate a light.
One thing Mitch didn't go into any detail about but that Remote Phosphor light seems to have a very even spread, not so much of a hot spot in the middle of it. Sure, you can say that for twelve hundred bucks it better be nice but hey -- at least it is.

Things You Need

2011-11-09T15:06:00.000-05:00

Do you need an extended, spoiler-filled analysis of the ending of Battlestar Galactica? Yes. Yes you do.

You know, my parents have been blogging for over two years before I started my own blog. Just today I realized this. They had a blog back in '03. They haven't been updating because it's a bit of a pain in the tuchus because they weren't using any sort of blogging back end, they were just getting my sister to publish their reviews that they'd write on Word. Or rather, my dad would type into Word whatever Iona would say and then edit it.
It occurs to me that my parents would be better served (as it were) by doing either Wordpress or Blogger and having the site automatically update.
Secretly the past two paragraphs are just a passive-aggressive message to my sister to get our parents set up with Blogger for their site. I'm going to end up having to do it (with her help) but trying to trick my sister into doing stuff is my job. Right? That's my job. I'm pretty sure about that. I have to check my contract.
+++++

Maduka has this very nice watch. I especially like the band on it. I don't like those rubbery bands and I don't like metal bands. He likes it because he prefers to forget he's wearing a watch.
Another nice thing is that the dial is nice and big so you don't need your glasses to read it.

Speaking of Numbers

2011-11-08T17:23:00.013-05:00

I once worked on this show/meeting for a big Fortune 500 company where a fancy consultant appeared via satellite from Zurich and talked about how companies, when under stress, tend to look at their costs/revenue and only focus on the numerator part of the equation. They never look at the denominator.
Don't worry about your costs, he suggested, instead increase revenue.
But after he spoke the only thing the executives at the meeting wanted to talk about was reducing costs and laying people off.
I feel I learned a big lesson from this. Work on the denominator in the cost/revenue equation.

Wait. I don't get it. What do you mean?

So for the Pandora Machine it's all about increasing revenue.
How are we going to do that?
Well, by making more movies.
Haven't you been saying that for years?
Yes but this time... I mean it.
What are the bottlenecks to making more movies?
The number 1 bottleneck is post-production time.
And what are you going to do about that?
Increase the number of editors. Get a faster computer.
So how many movies a year do we need to make again?
That is at least 3 a year.
How you doing with that?
Not as well as I wish. Earthkiller took much too long to complete. But we have it, Battle: New York Day 2, and the upcoming Android Insurrection. Then we're going to shoot and post the Dragon Girl picture.
How much do you expect to make with each picture?
I have a deal where I split revenue between my company and my producer's company. We have been calculating revenues from each picture at $24,000. So that's $12K/picture to the Pandora Machine.
That, uh, wait -- what are your expenses?
Studio rent, and my personal expenses (like groceries and my apartment) -- whatever I can skim off the top in order to eat and pay luxuries like insurance.
Three pictures a year only brings you in $36K -- and you still need to rent your studio out of that.
Yes. This is why four pictures/year would be better.
Which is impossible.
Almost. We know The Asylum goes 4 months from distributor saying "we'd buy something like a shark movie with tentacles" to delivering picture.
But if you had The Asylum's sales you'd be the cat's pajamas.
I don't even know that's a saying. "Cat's pajamas." It doesn't even make sense.
Let's talk about your debt load.
Sigh. Let's not.
C'mon. For old times' sake.
Let's say it's about $50K.
I'm gonna say that's not a lot of money. But, er, what sort of interest are you paying on it?
Well, there I'm lucky. I owe my dad half of that but at very favorable interest terms and payment.
How much interest are you paying?
Above what he'd get at a savings bank.
But below a loan shark or a credit card?
Loan shark wouldn't remind me that it's his retirement fund.
So rather than a high interest rate you just have emotional interest?
I pay more in guilt than gelt.
What about the remaining $25K?
There's about $10K I owe to my producer's company.
That's quite a trick. I bet there's no interest on that.
Just wait 'till we finance the next picture.
And the remaining $15K?
That's just an estimate. I'll be getting together real numbers together this month.
What about your costs in rent now that they're scuttling Theatresource?
Oddly, my rent may go down as much as $100/month. But I don't know exactly yet. It depends on how fancy we want to go with a new space.
How much was the studio at Theatresource?
$500/month. I was paying $300 of that.
So you're paying 3/5ths of the rent but using up 3/4 of the space?
Uh. Who are you exactly?
Oh, so your studio partners were patronizing you.
You are so mean. I prefer the term "subsidizing."

"The Source Is Not The Space"

2011-11-08T16:42:00.001-05:00

Conveniently, the Board of Directors of Theatresource will have their open "tribe meeting" on Saturday evening, at 8pm. You know, when everyone who is actually doing theater will be working.

The mass email reads thusly:

"We invite you to take part in a meeting on Saturday, November 19 at Manhattan Theatre Source at 8pm. It will be a time to discuss the Board's decision to leave 177 MacDougal Street, answer your questions about it, and talk about the future of the Source and this wonderful community as we continue on as the artistic production company that represents the values and core energy that founded the organization. The Source is not "the space," the Source is the community, its ethos and its joy (amidst struggles) in producing theater and art.
"We realize this decision has stirred up lots of emotions and memories of your time at the Source. We'd love to hear your stories--favorite productions, best party, most memorable moment, why you love the Source. Please send them to macdougalmemories@theatresource.org. We are open to requests for memorabilia from the space that you may want to take as a reminder of the time you have spent working or performing at 177 MacDougal.
"We are already planning to run the InGenius Festival in 2012 and, of course, Estrogenius in 2012. While there will not be an immediate new physical location for the Source at the start of January 2012, we are already dreaming and planning of ways to conduct monthly meet-ups, rent a small office space, and craft a model by which we could run a combined office/rehearsal studio. More immediately, we hope to have your support and ideas on how to best move smoothly out of 177 MacDougal as we head towards the future.
"If you have any immediate questions or ideas that you believe would help in our transition out of 177 MacDougal, please e-mail them to manager@theatresource.org.
"We look forward to toasting our 12-year run at 177 MacDougal with you on November 19!
With gratitude,
Andrew, Courtney, Doug, Eric, Matt, Melissa & Jen"

Remember, the Source is not the space. Just keep repeating that until you believe it.

Alba Bitmap

2011-11-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

Ariztical is picking up Betty Ouyang's feature "Popularity".
Sarah Doudna is in this new production of Alba.

Bitmap has a single desk in a 4-person office for $595/month, which is too steep for us but their space looks very very nice. You can also rent an open desk for only $35/day but I never work on any kind of portable computer -- I mean except for writing scripts.

CNNA

2011-11-08T11:25:00.000-05:00

Eastern Effects in Gowanus has open-floor desks at $200/month.
Via my cousin Jaime-Jin Louis vs. Rick -- a cat who has learned to text.
Theatresource shuttering in January.
The Digital Gypsy asks: "What's the divorce rate in VFX?"

Let me tell ya, doubling the RAM on your computer has a HUGE effect on how fast you can render.