Christmas Lights and Improv
A couple of nights ago I set out to find Christmas Lights. I was ready to search throughout Sacramento and Roseville. Am I kidding? No. The hunt was on.
A couple night ago I set out to find Christmas Lights. I was ready to search throughout Sacramento and Roseville. Am I kidding? No. Hunting for houses lit up with Christmas lights is, hands down, my favorite part of the holidays. I'll drive from Auburn to Davis. Getting dressed up in some warm, comfy clothes, grabbing a hot drink and seeing houses decked out in sparkly Christmas lights? What’s not to love?
We loaded into the car, and set off. We discovered... a lot of solo houses. Surrounded by dark homes these 'solos' exploded with color, LED lights blinking, Santa's laughing, and reindeer...um....reindeer-ing. These houses were standouts, because if it was the only one on the block. It was cool. But, when we went down a street where everyone in the neighborhood participated, where every family was involved… it was more than cool… it was amazing! It transformed the area into a whole magical world.
This got me thinking about improv and the power of agreement. If an improviser makes a strong choice on stage, it can be fun and entertaining. But when the other players agree and build on that choice it’s amazing. When everyone participates we have the power to transport the audience to a whole magical world.
The One Thing You Should Eat
If you're sad there's no improv comedy show tonight, grab a waffle sandwich. It's a waffle.... and a sandwich! Reviews soon to come!
If you're sad there's no improv comedy show tonight, grab a waffle sandwich. It's a waffle.... and a sandwich! Reviews soon to come! (This drive thru is so slow (to be fair, any time is to long to wait when a waffle sandwich is involved)). Where can you find this diamond in the culinary rough? Jack in the Box! Only a handful of those in Sacramento and Roseville, so start scouring!
Let's get serious for a second. I've seen some terrible in my 31 years, but whatever you do, don't click on this link. Where does it send you? What nightmare awaits? It's the nutritional information about the Waffle Breakfast Sandwich. My god! The horror! The [delicious] horror!
Guild Wars 2: We Like Being Humans
I sitting at Blacktop Comedy using Flipboard a few days ago, learning about new video games (Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3, and Black Ops 2 to be precise),
I sitting at Blacktop Comedy using Flipboard a few days ago, learning about new video games (Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3, and Black Ops 2 to be precise), and came across a very interesting article about Guild Wars 2. Please! Don't tune out! I know this sounds like some nerdy talk about dwarves, and elves, and orcs, but it's more a story about people. And, it applies to improv, and theater, and even film.
The article focused on the players overwhelming tendancy to choose to be human. A player has the option of five disctint races, but the majority opt to be humans.
In fact:
"Players of MMORPGs do have a known bias toward creating attractive human (or very human-like) characters. Researcher Nick Yee, who studies World of Warcraft player behavior in depth, found in 2005 that Human and Night Elf were far and away the most popular character races in WoW."
Why does it matter gamers enjoy being human? It's a great reminder for an improviser. I've taught dozens of classes in Roseville and Sacramento where students worry being a human and dealing with human issues would lead to a boring improv scene. However, those are the most interesting stories, because they're human. A human issue is relatable, the audience will be engaged with something they can connect with. Consider the popularity of reality programming. If humans were a dull subjects, there wouldn't be dozens of reality programs, and the Guild War 2 players? They opt for a human avatar when they could be anything else.