progress report - "the AP project"

I'll give in a little to what I've been so distracted with lately. I can't give too many details because I keep hearing similar ideas on TV that have come and gone. Long story short, it's a sitcom about my experiences and adventures at SUNY Purchase. I'm pretty sure I can mine 2 seasons out of the 2 semesters I spent there if I had the chance. I wrote plot lines for 24 episodes, and I just finished mapping out the characters. Sunday I started outlining the pilot episode, but after all the blog reading I've been doing, I think I might freestyle it. It's not like I don't have an idea already of what I want to happen in the first episode. It's mostly an introductory. It's a pilot episode. So I'm not necessarily limited to 22 minutes. But that's my goal. Besides, I only need a rough draft to get me going. I can devote January to editing or something.

I won't reveal the title for my college sitcom. I'm not even going to discuss how I want it to be shot. But I will say that if you know a few of my favorite shows, you may have an idea. One of them is actually the first show that discouraged me from even continuing the project by the name of Undeclared. Awesome show and it's too bad it was cancelled. I could seriously relate to it and so could my sitcom, BUT I don't want mine to feel like a carbon copy. I don't think it will, except for one storyline involving locked doors and "Do Not Enter" signals between roommates, but that's fine. Arrested Development is another one that I have a serious love for. I enjoy writing while having that play in the background. I'm also going to cite Seinfeld for the mere fact that when Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld started the show, they didn't really know how to write a sitcom. I don't either, but that's not going to stop me from putting the story on paper in script form.

Also, I haven't had coffee for the past 2 weeks. My friend was sick and all she wanted was tea, and I hadn't had tea in a while so I felt like drinking tea too. I told her no coffee until she felt better. Guess what happened. Go on guess! Too late, I'll tell you, I got sick, so all I've been drinking is lemon tea or honey tea (when I'm home). What the stank is wrong with Dunkin Donuts that they can't make honey tea??? It's delicious and soothing for wounded throats. Sorry, but that upsets me. That should probably be my next poll question. Which tea do you better, honey or lemon? Or honey and lemon? (Don't knock it 'til you try it.) I'll pass on the green tea, thanks. (Tried it, didn't like it.) And Tree will pass on all kinds of tea, it just wants water from now on. I know that was my fault, but hey, it sounded like a good idea at the time.


Hang in there Tree.

i am not a halloweenie

We had a nice long 3 hour meeting today. I didn't wanna go. I really didn't. But I did anyway, and I'm glad for it. I ate food. Some food I've never had before. A special kind of chicken. Well, the chicken wasn't special, it was how it was made. I don't care enough to go look up the spelling (sorry, I'm being lazy) but it was okay. It had mushrooms in it. I'm picky. I dislike mushrooms. It's fungus. No thanks. There was also what felt like pine needles, or some kind of skinny leafy thing you find on a bush and can poke people with. Not painfully, but you'd feel it nonetheless... but this was on the chicken. I don't know what it was, but it was poking the inside of my mouth and I was not having it one bit! So I took those off too. Other than that, it was tasty. There were roasted potatoes and ziti that tasted as though it was smothered in some kind of alcoholic beverage. Weird. But edible.

There were also Halloween celebrations going about. Some dressed in their costumes. Some passed out candy. There was also a farewell party, non-Halloween related (see ya later Todd, you taught me well).

I do not celebrate Halloween. You can call it religion if you want to. Knowing where the holiday came from kinda made me not want to give in to the idea of it. Sure it's not as demonic as it once was back in the day. Well, not in the mainstream. Perhaps in dark alleyways or in the woods... but in the office and on prime time TV, it's pretty safe and kid friendly. But knowing it started with occults and stuff makes me not so interested.

Don't get me wrong, I'll take any excuse/reason to party and have a good time. I like candy. I like the sweets. I, on occasion, enjoy terrifying small children. I'm just not going out of my way to do anything special on the 31st. I'll hang a sign on my door that says "tricks only". But then I'd get whores looking for money (*Arrested Development reference... calm down). Whether I give out tricks or illusions, the kiddies won't get candy from me. Maybe I'd tie candy on strings, drop them in their bags, and as they walk out, pull the candies back out of their bags again and laugh. Ah... good times.

Since I'm not promoting Halloween, I changed my mind on tomorrows friPod iPick... which was going to be the soundtrack to Little Shop of Horrors. Hilarious movie. Good music. Totally not my pick for tomorrow to coincide with Halloween.

However, I will be DJing tomorrow night at the soup kitchen in Middletown tomorrow night with my church. It's my only annual gig for our annual Harvest Festival. I sometimes forget being a DJ is on my list of "things to be when I grow up." Bring the kiddies! I wish I could be wearing either of these shirts:



Anyone wanna donate to my "Buy DJ Sterling Silver an Awesome T-Shirt Fund"? There are many items that need a home.*

Totally unrelated notes: this, and many other posts, totally make me a hypocrit--I like reading shorter blog entries so why do I write such long ones? And I totally found a catalogue for geeky guys like myself: TigerDirect.com. They send me a nice magazine every so often, and I drool in it, thus makes me a true geek. But I want it nonetheless. *Yes yes y'all!

the rocky horror sudoku show

I was going to wait to post tomorrow... or later in the week... but my memory isn't being my friend lately. Besides, 'tis the season to chat about festive events such as the one I was at this past weekend.

And where did I go (someone from the crowd in front of the screen asks)? I went to see The Rocky Horror Show brought to us by the talented Phoenix Theater. Interesting way I found out it was happening, I was sitting outside the theater it would be shown and saw this sign hanging above the door. I thought of my friend who liked the movie, and thought maybe she might wanna go. Turns out she did (yay!) and it became an early birthday present for her, which we both enjoyed (double yay!). I bought general admission tickets ($22), but we ended up sitting in the VIP area ($26). And we were so VIP that we were in the front row (VIP was the first 5 rows, tough for those who paid for VIP seats). This was bittersweet for me because where I was, I couldn't see some action going on the far stage left area... Or is it the audience's right? I've been out of theatre for a year and I already forgot my directions. Anyway, where I was sitting, the band was set up, and they had these walls blocking my view of a bed that had some girl-girl action and singing. It wasn't severely important to the main action on stage... but still, I need to take it ALL in, ya know? The FULL effect! Regardless, I highly enjoyed myself and it was a fun experience. I loved the audience participation even though at times it was slightly annoying, mostly because I wasn't used to it. But fortunately I was aware of it and warned my friend that being in the front row might make us unintended targets of some things being thrown. We were safe though. It could've been a lot worse. We might've been attacked with water pistols, hot dogs and buttered toast. Seriously.

As I'm accustomed to doing, I'll write a full review on MySpace like I did for Bill Cosby and other events that entertained me. We went to the first showing on Friday, they did it two more times Saturday night, and they will do it again this coming weekend. So if you're going to be in Middletown this weekend, see if you can get a seat and a prop bag. I wasn't sure what was to be expected... production-wise. But hey, they did great with what they had and it was professional and fun. I say that because I thought I was going to an actual theatre-theatre... But like I said, it was cool the way it was. I wish I brought my camera to show pictures... but at least I included the poster (and it's a link to their site). I love to support the arts anytime I can and I'm aware of it. I had proper notification, so I was able to go. I was asked what part would I take if I got to be in this production... I'll take the narrator's job, thank you very much. I don't think I could rock a pair of pumps and fishnet stockings. I'll pass on all of that. I'd put a link to my review of the show... but I haven't written it yet.

In other news, I have a new obsession and it's not writing/words/art related. (GASP!!) As a matter a fact, it's a craze that hit sometime last year I think, and I never caught on to it because I didn't know what it was. Then when I did, I was like... uh... no thanks. What on earth am I talking about? Sudoku. (For those who still aren't sure how it's pronounced, I've heard it said "suh-DOUGH-coo" but it's Japanese I guess.) Anyway, I forget how I stumbled across it, but I haven't been able to stop playing it for the past few weeks. I addicted to it like college dudes are to porn. I downloaded it to my phone last night after getting tired of running up to my laptop (or creeping out of bed when I have trouble sleeping) just to play one more game. (C'mon, just one more game!) I'm still on easy, but I'm determined to get a faster and faster time. And I'll start out great, but then my brain will fry itself out thinking too hard, and next thing I know I'm crossing the 12 minute mark. My goal is 5 minutes. Not even close. And that's on easy! or "grasshopper" as my phone says. Sigh.

Anyway, back to Rocky Horror, I've since re-rented the movie to relive the... um... magic. I let my friend borrow it, even though she may buy it for herself and ruin what was going to be her birthday present since no one bought it for her yet. Oh well, that's why I have plans B thru E. It's on my list too. I'm not into transvestites or anything like that... but it's highly entertaining in a strange way. I can clearly see why that has a cult following. Hey, I follow Arrested Development on a cult level. That has nothing to do with Rocky Horror, I just wanted to get it in there.

What's that? I hear something... ...Sudoku is calling me. I must go crunch some numbers. Woot!