Month: November 2005

"so everybody put your best suit or dress on

let’s make believe that we are wealthy for just this once

lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn

as thirty dialogues bleed into one"
    -The New Year, Death Cab for Cutie

Cast parties at the end of movies or plays are always filled with sadness for me, because while we’re together to celebrate the show, we’re also saying goodbye to each other as we return to our real lives. Sometimes, if I’ve really bonded with the cast and crew, I won’t even go to the party, because it hurts too much to say goodbye.

Cast parties at ACME, though, are always insanely fun celebrations, without any sense of sadness. Because we’re such a small company, when one show ends, it’s likely that many of us will be performing together again in another show within a few weeks. But Travis recently changed our writing and performing schedule, and because many of us are working writers and actors who can’t make the commitment to a show that will start six months or a year later, last night’s show could very well be our last, or at least our last together.

I could not have asked for a better way to end the run, though. Because it was a best of . . . show, I got to take a bit of a nostalgic tour through my last year at ACME: when we did Tribute, and Living and Dying in DWP, I realized how sad I was that I got sick and missed most of the run of A Day in the Life. While Kevin and I set props in the blackout between Breaking Up is Hard to Do and William’s Tell, I flashed back to the epsrit de corps we had during Love Machine, and remembered how I truly found my comedic voice as an actor and a performer during that show. NOW That’s What I Call ACME Volume One wasn’t an easy show to do, and a couple of the performances were frustrating and demoralizing, but I love and respect these actors so much. We’ve grown a lot together, and I’m really going to miss them.

After we did our curtain call, and after we thanked our friends and family for coming to the show, we all gathered in the bar next door for beers and shots and pizzas and gnocchi. Shane and I talked about poker, while Annie teased us about being poker blogging nerds. Kevin and I lamented that we discovered a hilarious beat in William’s Tell during its final performance, but we all agreed that each of our sketches went out on top, performed for a house of thirty that laughed and applauded like a sold-out house of one hundred.

The conversation eventually turned to the show, as we were forced to acknowledge that it was over.

"This is like the last night of high school," Annie said.

I looked at Shane, then to Kevin, and Jodi. Chris, who has always been the fundamental grounding force in any show I’ve done with him, sat at a table behind Annie and Shane with some friends who came to the show to celebrate a birthday. I was sad that he wasn’t with us, and indulged in a bit of middle school jealousy as I looked past Anne at him. She was right, and I hated it. Though we’d all try to stay in touch, and though we all hope to be BFF, we all knew that the show was over, and without a reason to get together every Saturday night, we would slowly begin to drift apart, back into our real lives.

We joked with each other, we hugged each other, we took embarrassing camphone pictures of each other, and we teased each other. A lot. (Annie lost a bet to me, and has to start her own blog as a result. "Look, I play Roshambo with Phil Gordon," I told her, "are you sure you want to take me on?" I successfully psyched her out, pegged her as a "scissors," and busted her with my rock. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shane laugh so hard at anything. My middle name is William, Annie, and you’re so busted. Nailed it. Elbow and Send.)

Like teenagers who don’t want to go home to the watchful eyes of their parents, we looked for any excuse to stay out, to stay together, to make the night last forever, just like in a movie. But we’re old and tired, and we have families and responsibilities, and just after one in the morning, I surrendered to them.

"You guys, I have to drive all the way to Pasadena, and I’ve got a mountain of work to do around my house tomorrow," I said, "so I have to go."

Hugs were passed around, goats were thrown, and the final curtain fell.

I walked back into the theater, and down the hallway toward the dressing room to clean out my locker. The din of the bar faded until I was alone with the lonely echo of my footsteps.

And now, some music I’ve been listening to, which I think WWdN:iX readers may like as well. Ratings are out of five.

Consonant – Love and Affliction (aka Consonant, apparently)
(4) Good indie rock that you won’t hear on the radio. John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things is awesome.

Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
(5) I skipped this and wrote thoughts on every other band on the rest of this list, then came back here and stared at a blinking cursor for close to five minutes. I can’t tell you why I like this album so much, or why I like it more than many of YLT’s other releases, but I just do. I guess that pretty much explains Yo La Tengo, and that’s as good as it’s going to get.

Mike Doughty – Haughty Melodic
(4.5) Mike Doughty’s introduction to the mainstream as a solo artist is long overdue, and this album is a great way to do it. Mike clearly loves his music, and is an incredibly talented writer. I don’t like this as much as Skittish and Rockity Roll, but that’s sort of like saying the second Grey Goose martini wasn’t as good as the first.

Air – Moon Safari
(3.9) Kelly Watch the Stars. ‘Nuff said.

Nada Surf – The Weight is the Gift
(3.75, but growing) The first time I hear an album, I have one of three reactions:

1. Yes!
2. Meh.
3. Hate it. Hate it. HATE IT!

Though you wouldn’t expect it, the albums that I end up liking the most, and listening to most often, are the ones that elicit a solid Meh. For example, I flipped over Kid A, but OK Computer got a solid Meh. Guess which one grew on me, challenged me, and is still in heavy rotation? Nada Surf’s Let Go is one of my favorite albums of all time (and will forever remind me of working on CSI) so I couldn’t wait to buy The Weight is the Gift when it was released. So far, it’s getting a solid Meh, but I like it a little bit more each time I listen to it. Look in the Mirror is my favorite song on the album, so far. I wouldn’t recommend this as an introduction to this band, but it’s worth listening to if you’re already a fan. I’m very interested to hear what others think about this album.

The Anniversary – Your Majesty
(5) Proof that good things can come out of Kansas, this is an amazing indie rock album, with surprising depth. Of course, I had to discover this band right after they broke up, so I guess I won’t be seeing them in concert any time soon. Sweet Marie, there’s a hole where your band should be.

The Rosebuds – Makeout
(3) Music that alternately makes me want to bop around and smash things. I can live with out the "woah-woah-woah-yo-yo-yo-yeah" on Drunkard’s Worst Nightmare, but the rest of the album is quite enjoyable. I especially like Back to Boston, Big Heartbreak, and Signature Drinks. It’s not a surprise that they’re on the same label as Arcade Fire and Teenage Fanclub. As a bonus, they’re playing tonight at the Troubadour in Hollywood, so I may just drag my lazy ass out of suburbia to see the show.

Johnny Cash – The Legend of Johnny Cash
(infinity) As I prepare to see Walk The Line, I’ve put The Man in Black back into heavy, heavy iPod, iTunes, and CD rotation. While it feels trendy and lame to have what is essentially a "best of" album, especialy now, this is pretty much the CD I’d make if I were making a Johnny Fuckin’ Cash mix tape.

If you have a rating of your own, or can put these bands together, figure out what I like, and have something to suggest based upon that information, or you just think I’m out of my fucking mind, let me know in the comments.

WWdN:iX readerJB wrote:

[I]f you don't read AssignBlame.com, you really should. You're the Goat of
the Week, evidently. Check it out.

Because I’m a fan of both goats and assigning blame, and because I am a huge fan of the word evidently, I headed over and took a look:

Honestly, I’d say Wheaton has been a big influence on other celebrities
starting up their own blogs. Whether they’re ghost written or
actually penned by the celebrities themselves, there is now a glut of
Hollywood claptrap flooding the internet. Pamela Anderson, Rosie
O’Donnell, Melanie Griffith, Barbara Streisand, William Fu***ng Shatner,
Tom Green, Al Roker, Hillary Duff, and freakin MOBY for chrissakes —
all of them have blogs out there on the internet. All of them are
spewing their “I’m so fantastic” bile onto what was once a pristine
electronic frontier.

In
the hands of these “You like me, you
really really like me” publicity whores, the internet is going to
slowly become yet another cog in the Hollywood Spin Machine. Celebrity
Drunk Driving? Repentant blog post. Paparazzi
caught you topless on the beach? Outraged blog post. Didn’t
get the part you wanted in the newest M. Night Shyamalan film?
Sympathetic, downtrodden blog post. With enthusiastic publicists and
greedy agents, we already can’t tell the honest, well-meaning actors
from those who are just using it as yet another publicity mouth-piece.

And it’s all your fault, Wheaton.

You
had to go and create something good. You had to start something
that was enjoyable for people to read. You had to make something
that we could rely on to provide us with a laugh, or a sniffle, or a
cry of outrage on a regular basis. You had to go and TOUCH us, Wil.

And now all these posers think they can do it too.

When I saw the title of the entry was alt.wilwheaton.die.die.die, I wasn’t exactly hopeful . . . but this is actually pretty goddamn cool. I would like to say thank you, and I’m sorry. 🙂

Tonight, WWdN West Coast Warmup #2 is happening at PokerStars.
Yesterday, I got heads-up in a $22 SNG, and had my kings cracked by 84d
(!) when the flop came 6s-5s-9h, and he turned the 7h for a gutshot. On
the very next hand, I had AKo. He raised, I called. When the flop came
Ah Jh 9d, he checked. I made a small bet, he raised and I pushed,
confident I was ahead, and hoping he’d put me on a tilt-push and call.
He called, and showed Ac 8d, and I was about a 4:1 favorite. The turn
was the 5d, improving me to about 9:1, and the river was the 8h,
reducing me to 0:1.

So what I’m saying is, I used up all my bad luck yesterday, and I’m dangerous tonight. If you’re going to come play, I suggest reading two posts I did for CardSquad this week, Blissful Buckets parts one and two. They are about enjoying the game, and having fun at lower limits:

Is it a coincidence that I just wanted to have fun, and I finished the night way way way ahead?

Maybe.
But I know this: I had as much fun when I was losing as I did when
I was winning. I enjoyed the company of my fellow players, and I did
not take a single moment for granted while I played with people I like.

So
I am left with a few points, which will guarantee low-limit and
small-stakes SNG success, as I’ve defined it. This assumes that you
have a basic skill set, and understand things like the Gap Concept, the
Dominated Hand, and the importance of position in no limit hold’em:

 

1. Always play within your gulp limit.
2. Don’t play with the rent money.
3. Do whatever it takes to enjoy the company of your tablemates.
4. Don’t be afraid of Monsters Under The Bed.
5. Read Zen and the Art of Poker.

Hope to see you all there tonight! The game is at 7:30 Pacific, and
is in the lobby under Tourneys -> Private. Password, as always, is monkey.