It continues...

But if only the linguistics class held up! It’s gotten immensely repetitive and uneventful, but I suppose it’s been worth it. If anything, it’s because of those moments in celebration of learning I described earlier. And we’ve been drilling roots, which is helpful, albeit mildly mind-numbing. It’s definitely one of those things that you know you know, but don’t actually know, you know? So that’s a positive. Plus, I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary during the labourious process of making the flash cards, and that’s always exciting.

While re-watching the Civil War for the eighty-trillionth time, I’ve definitely decided that my new obsession is colloquialisms coined by Johnny Reb and Billy Yank. And hey! What the heck?! Stonewall Jackson’s dying words! “Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks! … Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.” I can only hope to be as awesome one day.

But I don’t think that obsession has overshadowed my current fixation with Baroque music. I’ve been listening to Bach, like, non-stop. I’ve got so much love! Plus, it makes everything so much grander! Like the dining hall or taking care of laundry… Every activity becomes a plus six. I mean, Wagner can typically do the trick of making mundane tasks epic, but I think it’s just that I’ve been especially into Baroque culture of late... Way more than usual. Maybe it’s because of taking all this Italian, or maybe it’s reading Apollo’s Angels, I’m not sure. (And if you haven’t read or even looked at Apollo’s Angels yet, you’re missing out! It’s a new history of ballet, and is so gripping and well written. I’m SUCH a fan. It has so many hilarious anecdotes, too. I highly recommend it.) What other obsessions have you found particularly gripping recently?

A Taste of Winter Quarter

So here’s a new post! Mainly because this linguistics homework is really ridiculous and super tedious, aaannnd I just haven’t added much in a million years. I started working on another project here at school that wound up being pretty similar to this blog, and most of the pieces I produced just never wound up making here. But moving on… I suppose academic updates? Fascinating, right? Actually, totally.

I really lucked out with classes. I'm taking Elementary Italian 2, which is continuing the first class I took last quarter. I have a much better TA this quarter, though, thankfully. I'm also taking Structure of English Words, which so far has been awesome. We've got this old, Bulgarian woman as our teacher who's just so excited to be there talking about the subject matter. I've found the past few lectures to be, well, almost spiritual occurrences, if you will, as I get so in the zone that my appearance doesn't matter, where I am- who I'm around doesn't matter... All I'm concerned with is the material on this intense intellectual, academic level that it's like an out-of-body experience. Extremely refreshing. We'll see how it holds up. And I'm taking Philosophy of Language, which has been incredibly interesting. We're spending the quarter on one paragraph of one of Frege's essays, and our professor learned from one of Frege's students, so we're like Frege's grandstudents. How adorable. It's a super crazy class, though, just in that it's so in depth (It’s week eight, and we’ve gone over four paragraphs of “On Sense and Nominatum.”) and the professor is so top-notch. Not to mention, he's the oldest professor in the department, and is a total riot. (Oh! And not to mention he also used to be a magician! But more on that later.)

More Magic

Magic updates! Hey! Well, I just performed at the DVD release gala for the new documentary of deaf entertainers, See What I’m Saying, which Universal just took on. So the show was at Universal Studios, Hollywood, in the Globe Theatre (right by the Terminator 3D attraction), and it was a royal blast! I’ve worked within the deaf community previously with the GLAD Association, and it was an honour to be back. Working with the amazing and talented people who were part of this film was inspiring and a lot of fun. I hope you’re able to watch the film at some point, or at least take a peak at the trailer. And working at Universal was just surreal! We had to go through the “backstage” of the park in order to get to the theatre for tech rehearsal, and it was bizarre seeing costumed characters wandering around without their heads on, or Marilyn and Frankenstein’s monster on a coffee break together. On the day of the show, we had to enter through the loading dock, but got in the wrong elevator… Instead of going into the theatre, we went into the monster house! Super trippy. It’s four layers, which I didn’t realize, so every time we’d press a button hoping to get off, we’d just be on another layer of creepy set pieces and screaming teenage girls. Eventually, we found the right spot, but that’s just a taste of the experience.

Make Believe! Let’s talk about that! Super exciting. First of all, we have the first official public screening this Monday at the World Magic Seminar, after which there will be a director/producer/stars Q&A. (I’m flying out to Vegas on Sunday to participate, and am really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I have to fly home immediately afterward for a linguistics quiz. Blehh.) Aallso, the film has been picked up by Showtime! It’ll premiere on April 12^th. Here’s the official release about it, and here’s a piece with a bit more detail. After that, probably around Spring or Summer, there will be a theatrical release, as well, but I’ll have to let you know more about that once I know more about it. ;)

In the meantime, I’ve been working on some new pieces, especially through various local open mic nights and campus events. They’ve provided a great environment for me to practice and showcase consistently, beyond when I’m performing at formal gigs. I’ve been having a ball! Again, I’ll keep you updated with such things as they come up. I will add, though, that I’m really pumped for Future Stars this year!

Valentine's Day Tomorrow

Valentine’s Day is the main socially acceptable day every year to openly express admiration for others, romantically or otherwise. You don’t need to be “in a relationship” to share the fact that you feel someone is a significant part of your life. It’s important to relay how someone is meaningful to you. And meaningful or significant doesn’t have to mean earth shattering, just something you appreciate or respect, you know? I guess the bottom line is that Valentine’s Day provides a wonderful excuse to convey such sentiments, so do let’s!