Part 1 of 2 of 2 HNT

Yes, we premier Tale End at 8 :30 this Saturday... as the lovely Solitaire beckons you from over her shoulder. For part 2 of this series... go HERE!

Cheers & Happy HNT!

Well, here I am.

Just took myself out for a drink and thought I'd post early. (Yeah, I rather enjoy my company and perhaps I'll allow myself to get lucky with me later. lol.)

Oh, sense of foreboding is gone. A good nights rest took care of that. Today was sort of a day off... kinda. Tomorrow it's full bore again with graphics and 2 rehearsals... plus getting things in order around here... OK, at least neater.

I did some laundry today... there's more to do tomorrow. Though while I was waiting for the laundry several thoughts crossed through my mind. However, I'm going to wait to process them before I offer them up here.

The fest is a day away. More madness is up ahead. More headaches and hiccups... but they are (mostly) not mine to worry about. I enjoyed the run I had. This is their run. Hiccups and all... once it is over and the dust is cleared... they should take pride in their handiwork. I know that I will be proud of them.

Yeah... and part 2 of the TJ HNT will also be posted.

EDIT: 1:20 PM
Damn, I'm slammed with even more web/graphic work than I want.

On another note. THIS SITE is so cool with Lost Cities!

You ever get one of those days...

... when there is this low rumble of a threat that something could go wrong at anytime? I had one of those today. Just an uneasy feeling. I hate those... especially when that foreboding lingers all day. Though I am thankful (so far) that this inkling hasn't played out... whatever it is.

Just another short one today. Oh yeah, we caught some ink in the local paper yesterday. HERE is the link to that. Also there was something in a local e-zine HERE!

Hope you have a good Tuesday.

(image "borrowed" from HERE.)

EDIT: 8:25 AM

MORE INK! Today's edition features our boy, Kien. You can read all about it HERE! Plus in the same paper some more on the Rogue Fest HERE!

.

It's been a whirlwind of activity...

... this weekend. Lugging equipment and setting up venues for the Festival. A flurry of activity as the Rogue begins to take over the Tower District for the next 2 weeks.

I have to admit that I am getting excited with the upcoming openings of my shows in it. I have a pretty tight schedule on Saturday as 2 of my shows are playing back to back. At 7:30 Suicide Lounge plays and then I have 15 minutes to book to another venue for the premier of Tale End. It's gonna be both a rush and exhausting. But I am looking forward to it.

You should be able to catch updates and pics of the fest right here... with with more of the Rogue Experience found HERE and HERE. Blogging from me is probably going to be a little spotty but I will attempt report my reactions and observations as best I can.

Da Count - my muse

What I do and how I do it depends on the muse that tickles me fancy at the time of creating. I have been fortunate to have muses over the years when I have been creating... but not like this one. (BTW... I have created without a muse as well.... but that is for a different discussion.) This one has kept me in a happy state of utter insanity that I could not pay for - really, for all the money in the world. This is a stellar muse that anyone in the creative field could only dream about.

Sometimes a muse can be an idea, a notion, an inkling, an object, a presence ... but this muse is real. Real as in flesh and blood real! It is strange how this happens (I've quit trying to figure it out.)... I really can't explain it... but it does. Something or someone clicks within and it's all about getting the shit out. (And boy, do I have a lot of shit. lol.)

So, my count is my muse. The wonderful presence who has brought me the inspiration to go on even after I had exhausted all avenues. This muse opens up a spectrum of possibilities. I originally felt the project was going nowhere... but it didn't in this case.

Raise a glass (with me) to my muse... I really couldn't have done it without my muse. This muse is something else... (trust me on this one.I would venture to suggest a "Guess the muse meme")... but I'm not in this case. (Really.... this one is a keeper.) TO MY MUSE!

To find out what Da Count is all about... click the flashing sign above.

BTW... some of you want to know about Suicide Lounge... the video is below. Yeah... if you are in the area.... come see the show.

Suicide Lounge
Uploaded by dathang

Part 1 of 2 HNT!

Because the second part of this series is HERE. Then next week you will get the first of the second part here and yada, yada.

Anyway, be warned that this is also a great excuse to promo my new show Tale End. When you go THERE you can find out all about it!

Oh, yeah.... that's Solitaire in the pic! See more of her by going there!

Cheers and Happy HNT!

Finished editing our promo video...

... HERE IT IS! (Just click Talepromovideo under the player to steal it for your own blog.

Oh yeah, go check the TJ Blog and meet one of our Rogue Buddies there!

Oh yeah (number two), there may be an HNT this week.

Talepromovideo
Uploaded by dathang

A Monday at that!

Just to get it out of the way... there is a NEW POST on the TJ site. We had a pickup rehearsal tonight that went pretty darn well.

Been quite a day. More web work... then I began toying with a promotional video for Tale End. Hopefully it will be completed by tomorrow. I think it'll run about a minute or so long.

2 weeks more till the Rogue begins. There is still loads to do... but this year that is not my job. I have a few more bits and pieces on the graphics department. Then, I'm just a shmoe like everybody else. I'm sure I'll hear about this, that and the other but I aim to make the effort to support and help where I can... then mind my own business. But mostly to get my own shows up and bouncing.

BTW... how do you like the new "recent comments" widget in the sidebar. Pretty nifty, eh?

Not much more to say today... probably because I spilt most of it on the TJ post. Perhaps more later in the day. Hope your Tuesday goes well.

Chinese New Year & Firecrackers

Bouncing off the lovely Cosima's recent post and one by my friend, Patrick... (plus he sent an IM greeting to me this morning)... I thought I'd post a little about Chinese New Year. At least my own memories of the holiday as I was growing up in Malaysia.

Somewhat related to the post before this one... it always impressed me that one of the customs was a New Year's Eve dinner with the family. The idea was that all accusations, quarrels and debts be settled on that night so the new year starts fresh... on a clean slate. Over time I had been privileged to have been invited as a "special guest" to a few of these dinners. (Usually a private family affair.)

At one especially... the dinner was ordered not to start until the quarreling siblings settled their issues outside the house. (They had both sat at the table with scowls on their faces earlier.) I remember hearing raised voices as a light and party atmosphere ensued inside. After 20 minutes or so... the siblings entered, apologised to the parents for holding up dinner, poured tea for each other and all was well with the world again... and dinner could start. Not saying that this is how it is conducted at every home but I was impressed with how it was conducted at this one.

Growing up when a ban on Firecrackers had not yet been imposed was a lot of fun. Long strings of firecrackers would hang from the second floor of shophouses in certain sectors of town and there seemed to be a never ending din of explosions. Usually a lion or dragon dance would also be performed in front of the businesses to ensure prosperity for the coming year as the crackers went off. At the end of the dance... the lion or dragon would stretch up and collect it's packet of money that was perched high. Businesses across the street from each other would try to out do each other and soon the street would be carpeted with red paper as a result of all the firecrackers exploding. (The most impressive I remember seeing was a string so long it had to be "looped" to hang up at least 5 times.) The one lasting impression that is burned into my memory of this is riding in a bus through a red covered street with firecrackers going off on both sides of the window. I'm pretty sure that year the "kwai" (devils) of bad luck stayed far away.

Then there was the joy of buying firecrackers and playing with them as a kid. All the reports of people blowing their digits off never stopped us. (I never blew my digits off but did suffer flash burns on several occasions.) One of the favorite things to do was to light one under a can to see how high it would fly. (yeah, there was an element of gambling involved in this.) The other was throwing firecrackers in a monsoon drain just to get that great loud echo sound. The other (and this involved real skill) was tossing lit ones into a pond to make the water explode. It was all in the timing because if you threw it too early... it would just fizzle out. The other was to cut open the firecrackers with a razorblade and light the powder just for the flash! Thinking back... boy, it was a dangerous childhood I lived through! LOL! Though I wouldn't change a thing about it.

This is the year of the Pig... may it be a year of prosperity for one and all! Click here to find out how your animal sign will do this year.

YAAAAAAAM SEEENG!

the accuser is the accused...

... most of the time. The topic came up recently during a conversation about cheating spouses. A friend was sharing how the "ex" would make accusations of cheating when it was really the ex who was cheating all along. This sparked a lively discussion with the collective agreement that the accuser is more often than not the accused.

When I was younger I was told that "pointing the finger gets 3 pointed back at you". Quaint, I thought to myself until about 20 years ago when I caught myself committing this very sin. What was once a quaint proverb became a very real truth and those 3 fingers of my own hand pointing back at me loomed large. I have since (mended my ways and) learned that accusations only come from expressing our own fears - the very (dark and unsavory) acts we would commit are the same ones we would accuse others of.

If the action never existed within our own realm of possibility we would usually not make the accusation. For instance, another friend a few years ago was sharing marriage woes with me. After several of these chats I suggested that perhaps there was a third party involved and it was vehemently dismissed by my friend. Unfortunately, it turned out to be true. I wasn't really surprised that my friend didn't even consider this a possibility since it was not part of my friend's nature in the first place.

I do however have to qualify all of this by saying that it almost always applies to unfounded accusations. Now if one sees the hand with crumbs... chances are the cookie jar is being pilfered. That's a different discussion entirely.

Unfounded suspicions emerge from the very same place. Not just in matters of the heart but even in the workplace and at play. The one who accuses of slacking is usually always the biggest slacker of the bunch. In gambling... the one accusing of cheating would probably be the biggest cheater at the table. Blurting the accusation is only the eruption fueled usually by mounting guilt and misperceptions. Unfounded accusations and suspicions really only betray one's own possible failings and fears and only illuminates our own dark intent.

On an entirely different note... to all my Chinese friends out there... Kung Hee Fatt Choy! (that's one of the dozen or so spellings I've seen it done in.)

Come on...

... you wanna buy a TAME MOOSE, doncha?

... or buy furniture from THIS MAN?

... or STEAL THE CODE for the Rogue TV spot and embed it on your blog?

... or check out STAR TREK 2.0?

Da Count - warts and all

Rogue Performance Festival 2007 is 2 weeks away. Sure, there'll be hiccups... but still it is happening. It counts simply because once a year it celebrates the wonders of the possible. Yes, I'm proud of it. I'll let the video I finished cutting just tonight for a TV spot do the rest of the talking.

Roguefest07tv
Uploaded by dathang

If you want to fing out what Da Count is all about... click the flashing sign above.

I suddenly find myself with an hour...

... to kill so I thought I'd take the time to post something. At least something a little longer that the past two days.

One of my rehearsals fizzled out tonight. Though I'm not fretting it (perhaps I should) but it was for Suicide Lounge and I'm not in the greatest of voice tonight. Also this gives me time to really work one of the numbers that I want to do. Lush Life is a mofo of a song to try to do. OK... it can be done but takes quite a bit to pull off so the extra alone time to work it will help at least solidify the tune in my head. We'll get together on Saturday and work the whole thing out.

I have a bit more with graphics and web work to go but I'm confident that after this week I will be free of that.

I went for a short bike ride today... and boy, am I out of shape. LOL! Really pretty sad at how badly I was winded by the short ride. So, I'm making an effort to get out and about either walking or biking for a bit every day. At least this way if and when I do keel over I will have a healthy flush in my cheeks and not look so much like the cave dewller I do now.

Oh, I just checked my Jungle Webs business and see that a few of you who come by here have made purchases. Thank You so much for the business. Every little bit goes a long way and ... do pass the word along. Really, we have some of the most competitive deals around and the support is top notch.

Hmm... perhaps more in the AM. My cast is due to arrive pretty soon... our first pickup rehearsal after the preview. Sure it'll be rough... but they'll do fine once the festival comes by.

another short one...

... but at least the listings are completed. Click and take a look at the right sidebar and see how big this sucker has gotten. You sure you don't want to come?

Oh yeah... a Big Happy Sloppy Smoochy V-Day to one and all!

still at it...

... and not quite done... but HERE is something to look at.

new post later in...

... the AM... promise.

EDIT: 9:03 AM Monday

Loads to do today... when is there not? But things are clipping along at a pretty good pace so, one has to be thankful for that.

Last night I thought about where I am and how I got here. About all the shifts our lives take. How we decide to act or react to those shifts. The ebb and flow of life that causes us to ponder and take in what is in the present.

I know so many who hark back to a past time and almost seem to spend the rest of the present trying to get back to what once was. Then there are those who look to whats ahead with a fervency that almost disregards the present. Yes, I have indulged in both on occasion but never once losing appreciation for the present.

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every age I have been. Sure, on reflection... some more than others but I never hated any age I have been. The aches and creaks are a little more prevalent now but so is patience and the understanding that one has to allow for the process to play out.

Change is inevitable weather we choose to accept it or not. With the view of the observer it is easier to recognize its occurrence without than it is within. And sometimes we just have to step out and look within to recognize the evolution that is happening and celebrate our own growth.

i was invited out to dinner tonight...

... and I went. It was a really nice change from being the hermit in the cave working on web work. Thank you G & L for a lovely evening and a wonderful meal. Sol and Kien for being there. Chilling out with stirring conversation with great company... a welcome change and it's been a while.

Da Count - the details

Yes, I'll cop to it... I can be a detail demon. In certain areas of my life I will sweat the details like a crazed scientist. O.K.... yeah, I can be anal retentive. Let's thank the heavens some people are (not that what I'm anal retentive about really shakes up the world.)

I'm talking about those whose obsession and compulsion has made all the difference. The inventors, the people who have discovered cures, - the creators! Everything from the wheel to astounding medical cures had to have come into realization through working out the details.

Even on the mundane level there are things all around us that we take for granted which wouldn't be there if someone did not obsess over it's realization of. Flush toilets to name just one. Sure, it was something that was developed over centuries before what we got today... but thank your lucky stars someone thought about and put in the effort to work on it.

Really, take a good look around. Have you ever wondered - "What were they thinking when they came up with that?"... in a good way, I mean. Our lives are so much richer and surrounded by the thoughts of so many made real.

So, this week I'm counting the geeks and freaks who obsess over the minutia just so I have some place to hang my coat up. Without the attention to detail that they put in what a sorry world this would be.

To find out what Da Count is all about... click the flashing sign above.

sorry, not post today...

... except to say that the work ( at least for print media) is done and uploaded to the printer in Montana. Yay, over that hump on hump day.

Time for sleep... and another opportunity to dream.

EDIT: 7:15 PM
I thought I was... but the printer emailed me with some needed fixes. Got it done in 2 hours. Let's hope thats it.

my brain is mush at the moment...

.. so, I thought I'd post a blog. LOL! It's not as bad as it sounds... worse actually. Thanks for asking. There is still more to go but there is light up ahead. Into the light... into the light... it's peaceful and warm and... Crap, I'm still not done with this?

Almost there... we're almost therrrreeee (Sing it, Andy!) OK, it's official... I've lost it. Where are my pretty marbles?

Perhaps another nap... hmmm... maybe this time in loony nodland the giant roaches dressed up in tuxes will actually allow me in the game. Full contact scrabble... brutal but engaging. Though dyslexia doesn't help a whit... and there are dirks involved if you are hiding a vowel.

Ah... but I got all my (old) blogs moved to the "new" blogger. When I have a sliver of free time I'm moving that to my server... where my new one resides. Then, I'll spend a weekend eating doritos and slamming cokes labeling the old posts. Important labels like, "nonsense", "crap", and let's not forget "cooking naked with splashy hot oil". Too long a label? Maybe just "sizzling oil", huh?

But now I think for the betterment of humankind... a nap is in order. OK, if the giant roaches in tuxes won't let me play I'll just wander to where the skyscraper is lying on it's side and swim in the pond of liquid gold. Perhaps then the Sargent major ballerina will serve me the hotdogs and caviar I ordered the last time I was there.

Later and Cheers!

EDIT: 8:29 AM
My nap evolved into a full night's sleep. Back to my boring self again, I guess... and back to work. At least I can now focus on the pixels again.

... prechance to dream... but instead...

... you enter into the loopy, loony, lucid land of nod. That's where I've just come from. You've been there before, haven't you? Especially from that first "nap" you dared to take after ploughing straight through on an almost non-stop marathon of doing something like... say... GRAPHICS?

It's the hard left you take 2 exits before the Twilight Zone turnoff. The nap you tell yourself is so needed at 1 AM when you've been up since 3 the morning before? Yeah, that place. Your mind is still razor sharp but you know that a power nap is needed just so the neighbors don't call on the guys with the white jackets on your behalf. The nap you enter with your very own version of swirling circus music... a whimsical buzz that hums paintings by Salvador Dali for the first half hour. Then it subsides to a peaceful stillness and you know the fun is just about to begin.

Half awake and half in dream state you bounce through several mind movies that suggest that Ingmar Berman collaborated with the Keystone Kops and that Charlie Chaplin provided Apocalypse Now with that warm fuzzy and uplifting ending. But these dreams are lucid and you have the power to change them. You don't. Why spoil the ride? You couldn't pay money for this stuff. Besides, if you did you fear the frightening turn it might warp into simply because the noodles encased in your skull have been racing forward in a swirl like Speedy Gonzales operating a merry-go-round on coke.

So, I'm up again and whacking this work out just so it's off my hands. Another pot of coffee on the brew. Considering the work load I'm actually feeling rather chipper. Or could it be that I have finally jumped that barby fence that holds us just this side of reality? But the work needs to get done. Come by in a few days and you can get a PDF of it... unless of course they've already taken me away. The difference between this year and that? 12 more pages.

Later... Cheers!

Oh, and here are 7 Reasons not to go to Vista... yet.

Yep, thar she blows!

The sewer backed up at the house today. Well not actually the house but the toilet in my back office... but that is the last stop before entering the main line. So, any drainage from the house was coming out my toilet. Not a pretty thing.

So, I call the roto-rooter folks who say that a "technician" would be over within an hour... which he was. Cool. He asked where the "vent" was and I said that it was probably in my neighbor's garden. I explained to him that an old back alley road use to run between the the properties and at some time the residents (way back when) were offered the option of extending their lots, etc... and that whoever lived here bought half the alley. However, this I happen to know left our water shut-off in my neighbor's yard and probably the sewer vent as well.

He dismissed this stating there was no such thing. Almost insisted the vent was under my shed... and for an extra $250 they could run a video camera down my toilet to locate the exact location of my vent. What do I know about crap... I said OK... but if I found it before the "crappy video crew" got here... we save $250. Poor Kien and I ripped and dug under the shed for about an hour and a half. Finally, the logic of the vent actually being in the neighbor's yard started to become more apparent to both of us.

I decided to call a different service... explained the situation and they seemed open to my notion that the vent could actually be in my neighbor's yard. I called roto-rooter back and canceled my original work order. The new local guy comes by and presto... yes, the sewer vent IS actually in the neighbor's yard.

Clog unplugged... I save a bunch of money and roto-rooter loses business due to the absolute thinking of one of it's employees. I've always maintained that any kind of "absolute thinking" will always do you in.

Later, as Kien and I were driving to pick up a pizza I shared that an incident like this in times past would have just pissed me off to no end and just ruined my day. The difference now is that "the job just needs to get done." He agreed that he too felt the same way... both of us smiled at the common life change in attitude. (We also compared receding hairlines.) We got our pizza, got home and shared some time together stuffing our faces in the afternoon sun.

So, that's what sucked more than half my day. Special props to Kien who had to put up with crap on his first full day here! BTW... if you are a local... he is gigging at Tokyo Gardens tomorrow (Saturday) night. Worth catching his show... really.

Da Count - fellow counters

Last night I was looking back to when Da Count began... checking out those who did and those who continue... reading my own counts... smiling that I can still count. It started off as a personal challenge... to count something every week... and it continues to be a challenge. The question still is... "Will I run out of things to count?" So far, not yet.

Funny how it is accepted human nature to moan, groan, bitch, gripe, complain and fall so easily into the "woe is me" mindset. Yet appreciating what we have never seems to get quite the same amount of "air-play" or energy. I was thinking today if there was some sort of invention that could count our daily gripes and compare it to our appreciation... it would be fascinating to compare the percentages. Da Count is neither competitive nor particularly sexy. I enjoy the idea that it is simple... almost mundane. Yet at times a daunting task to find something to count each week. (Really, it's so much easier to complain.)

Over the months I have truly enjoyed reading your counts. I thank you for sharing... and I hope to continue reading more. So this count is for those of YOU who count... past, present, sometimers, regulars... even those who count privately. Your counts make the end of my week a much more pleasant and rich experience... and yes, interesting too! Thank You!

To find out what Da Count is all about... click the flashing sign.

EDIT: 11:15 AM
Yikes! Sewer is backed up!

wanna poster banner for this year's fest?

CLICK HERE!

BTW... if you want to see what happened at the wrap party 2 years ago... CLICK HERE! Warning!!! Mutant frog warbling ahead!