Crazytown

BROADWAY BABY SCHADENFREUDE

One part of graduating that I'm looking forward to is no more studying. Although I get to study Golden Age musical theatre, it's more fun when I peruse Youtube clips of Carol Channing, Mary Martin and Bob Fosse of my own accord. Here are a few stories of Broadway legends faceplanting to make us feel better.
by Joshua Page (Guest for Jenny Donoghue) 

I don't know how much of this is common knowledge, but the amount of celebrity failures that you hear about when you take a theatre history class saturated with information takes you by surprise. It makes every little frustration seem a little more manageable, so take a look at the list Broadway Legend Did-You-Knows:

MARY MARTIN: Known for her starring roles in Peter Pan, South Pacific, and Sound of Music. However, she also did some less stellar works, like Jennie and Lute Song since she turned down leading roles in Oklahoma, Mame, and My Fair Lady. Not that being in a bad show is particular to her; in fact they say Gwen Verdon and Ethel Merman were the only two stars who were never in a flop! 

More after the jump...

MOVE ASIDE MARIAN

...there's a NEW librarian in town! It's been a rough go giving up my beloved job at Starbucks: caffeine withdrawal, no more free pound of coffee a week, no more befriending angry old men over lattes... but after the initial shock, the humor of being a teenage librarian is settling in.
by Joshua Page (Guest for Kevin Michael Murphy) 

While giving up my post at Starbucks was like giving up a portion of my identity, my newfound on-campus position at the library has brought new and different things into my life. Kind of if one were to lose a foot and grow a third arm: not the same, but not completely bad either. I don't believe the urge to throw on a green apron and mix together heart-stoppingly sweet drinks will ever leave me, and yet my newfound obsession at the library is easing the pain.

First off: I may have glorified my position a bit by calling myself a librarian. Really, all I do is put away returned books. In a program where I can bring a monologue to three different teachers, telling me to do three opposing things, and that the other teachers are wrong, it's very therapeutic to spend a few hours putting away books. Here I know that the book labeled LC345.A6 must go between LC345.A5 and LC345.A7. No wrong answers, just inner and outer peace. Then one day I discover this spine peeking out from amongst the childrens songbooks:

Seems in 1979 they could get away with that. Is it technically still called a double-take when you're on your third and fourth?

Thus, with Music Activities for Retarded Children, my new hobby was born: collecting books whose existence is a surprise and a commentary towards mankind. My favourites are after the jump.

THE PORTABLE ROOM

For when you're living out of a box for a few years.
by Joshua Page (Music Theatre Student)

Crafts have always been a big part of my family. As I write this my mother is filling twenty-one little balloons with sand so she can put them in the hackeysacks she made for her grade three students as a goodbye present. We would fill scrapbooks together using the latest techniques from the featured magazine at Michaels. Growing up I would even fill coloring book after coloring book with my Crayolas. Normal kids would color the clown's nose red, but that wouldn't suffice for me. I would color it red, shade it with pink and then add a burgrundy shadow.

This would probably have been what I would have looked like if I had any African American heritage.

So now that I'm half-living out of the house and not staying in one place for more than a year I'm applying my crafting skills to a few key items for any bedroom I find myself in. What I've done is I've taken a few key colors and fabrics, and formed a theme out of them. Having several portable pieces with the same theme easily makes it seem like you've been in a room for ages. Here are some of my favourite pieces that can go with your pretty much anywhere!

1. The Decorative Corkboard
   
   Super easy - you take a piece of fabric and cover your corkboard. I didn't take the ribbon trick in the website above, but I used a wood frame (paintable any color!) and placed it over the fabric. It's super easy to replace should I want to change themes or if I puncture too many holes in the fabric.
   
   
2. The Twenty-Minute Duvet Cover
   
   Not only does it inexpensively lighten up an old blanket, it's super easy to make. I didn't use a tutorial for this guy, but I found one that is similar. Instead of buying snaps or zippers you can have one end fold over the other and have it at the foot end of the bed. Make sure you use thick sheets that won't become threadbare too soon!
   
   
3. Closet / Door / Window Hanging Beads
   
   My theme for my room is 'Zen' centered around a paper lamp my Aunt brought me from Germany. I'm sure there are tutorials for them everywhere, but they're super easy to make. Buy a bunch of beads at Dollarama - mine were irregular wooden shapes - and string them onto some fishing line or a piece of string. The trick is to make sure that you tie the bottom into a solid knot so that it doesn't come undone in the middle of the night and spill all over you. It's not cool. Believe me.
   
   
4. Wall Hanging
   
   Using random items (like fabric swatches or crayons), some thread or some glue you can make some pretty cool wall hangings for minimal moolah. This is my next project - I'm just hoping I don't get dirt all over the floor...

If plants could be sexy...

5. Paperweights, Lampshades, Random Pieces

Lastly, collect a few random articles that fit within your theme. Nic-nacs, paint a rock or a lampshade. If you're like me and can't paint or draw to save yourself from being force-fed a latte that's been left in the garage for a week, take some dollar store stickers and either paint over them, or use the sticky paper surrounding your stickers as a stencil.

These items are characteristic enough to liven up a room, but portable enough that they can be brought to other rooms and altered to match the space needs in the new location. It makes moving so much a lot easier!!

WARM, FUZZY FEELINGS!

My best friend and I were having a conversation the other day, and she mentioned something about the best compliment she ever received. "I'd like you even if you had no face," was what she had said. Being competitive like I am I tried thinking up my own... and couldn't. Shit.

This makes donning my pretentious I'm-an-actor hat difficult, because I expect to know things about myself that so-called 'normal people' wouldn't bother to think about. So I thought about it and ended up coming up with a lot more questions I wanted to know about myself, before the characters I want to work with.

It's tempting to call you up and ask for your opinions, Uta...

Turns out, I don't pay attention to a lot of the compliments people pay me, if I can't be bothered to remember the ones that meant the most to me at the tip of my fingers. I'm just learning to get to know the amount of work it takes to get to know oneself - it's not all like Harry Potter where you have your Patronus and your Boggart handed to you. I'm so used to writing profiles for all my characters, but I've never written one for myself since grade school.

CRAZYTOWN COMMUNITY CHALLENGE this week is to post the best compliments you've ever received. Go through old cards, notes and letters. You remind yourself how many people out there appreciate you.

PS. I think mine is from Starbucks when I got a Green Apron Card saying "You are made of all the joy and happiness that created the world." 

 

LET'S RE-THINK YOUR PLANS

Those two weeks there? Let me re-schedule them for you.
by Joshua Page (Music Theatre Student)

Josh the Barista: Hey! How are you? What are you up to tonight?
Customer: Oh nothing much, just going to catch a movie with my girlfriend / my mom / my dog.

Normally my response would be as such:

Josh the Barista: Great! That's so amazing, which one? Wow! Never heard of that one, great, have fun smuggling in your Starbucks!

But for two weeks every year it's more like this:

Let me tell you why...

PRETTY UGLY

By Joshua Page (Music Theatre Student)

When I think landscape photography the first thing that pops into my head is that old Windows desktop that shows up by default. Edward Burstynsky is a Canadian photographer who is re-defining that field by taking some gorgeous and inspirational photos of some very ugly things.

To see more, take a look at his website. His documentary is also fascinating and thought-provoking.

10 THINGS I'D RATHER BE DOING

For when there's just no way you're going to focus on what's important right now.
by Joshua Page (Music Theatre Student)

All right, so I'm out of school, and I thought, "What's a little gen ed course over the summer to lighten the load in the fall?" Right. Except that motivation is severely lacking. Here's a top ten list for all us procrastinators.

1. Peruse new musical theatre youtube channels and personal websites. That way you can impress your friends by being the musical theatre hipster that knows all these songs before they're cool! Here are a few good places to start.

2. Go crazy with the Internet games. Cartoon Network... or Pop Tart Cat... maybe feed your dying Neopets. We all have them. The new Yooyuball tournament is also just around the corner...

You didn't hear this from me, but I may or may not have been a huge nerd and worked at one of those Neopet fansites when I was nine.

Remember when you used to love me?

3. Youtube some stars. Like Christine Ebersole. Or Natalie Weiss.

4. Inbflat.net. Probably one of the most inspiring things I've ever found on the Internet. It makes you feel creative by pressing a few buttons.

5. Call Mom. Cause seriously, who does that often enough?

6. Take a long shower. I've been known to take three showers in a day when I'm avoiding something. Spend some extra time after doing some personal maintenance - everybody loves to feel good about themselves.

7. Go through the Crazytown archives. I like saving Sophie Modlin's Saturday Morning Cartoons for times when I particularly need to put something off.

8. Read something! A few more recommendations I could toss in with last week's post would be Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim, and Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Here's a taste of Marion's writing.

9. Pop in some old Disney VHSs, if you're hungry toss a bag of popcorn in the microwave and try to find all the sexual innuendoes they tossed in there. My personal favourites are The Lion King and The Little Mermaid.

10. Watch this video on repeat:

 
Don't laugh. I dare you.

Crazytown Community Challenge: How long can we make this list? Contribute in the comments below!

WITH ALL YOUR FREE TIME

Pages that should really be on your shelves this summer.
By Joshua Page (Music Theatre Student)

Now that the spring has turned to Canadian summer and the students have been released from the classrooms, we get to look forward to stomach-sized refreshments, tanning by the beach and (most importantly) time to read books of your choice!

I DO realize that for all the grown-ups out there this time may not be built into your summer, but we can hope that you will still find yourselves in these situations where the following books will be appropriate:

WHO'S THE 'SPECIAL' ONE HERE?

You know what really makes my blood boil...
By Joshua Page (Music Theatre Student)

Let me introduce Rob ^[1]. Rob goes into my old Starbucks every day. He is one of those people who will talk to anyone when it's least convenient for them, and has a talent for choosing and expanding upon the topic you care least about for a very long time. He graduated from my college a very long time ago but his career never took off. He's friendless, sightless, and wandering the neighborhood where he was first welcomed thirty years ago living as a professional student. So I kind of feel bad for him. Do I feel less annoyed when he's talking about the Bosnian church reform as I'm trying to close up shop? No; but I'm a little more understanding.

Now, here's the scenario that gets me:

Rob is sitting at his table and Tammy^[1] and her three kids come in before dance. I've had a few good conversations with Tammy, so I've come to like her. Rob starts asking her fourteen year old daughter about her dance class and Tammy looks at me with an expression of fear and asks: "Is he special?" Emphasis on the word special. All of a sudden I'm thrown into this episode of 'What Would You Do?'

A handicapped actor posing as a grocery store clerk suffers some abuse.

Yes, he's special. Rob is not going to kidnap your child. Rob is not going to follow you home. Rob is a lonely man who needs some company now and then. I should have said something that night, and I didn't see Tammy before I left that store. So I hope this falls into your hands, Tammy, and I hope you feel ashamed.

[1] All names have been changed for privacy purposes.

LIKE THE WARBLERS, ONLY WAY BETTER.

With all due respect to the Youtube Threesome, I think we can safely call Rajaton the forefathers to the GLEE choir craze. The hipsters of a capella, if you will.

Instructions: 1) Place sham-wow below mouth. 2) Press play. 3) Drool.