Wildlife World Zoo
This weekend I went on a delightful trip to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium. Here are some funny videos I captured:
The Silly (or Angry) Ostrich
Baby Monkey and Mom
Joey Inside
A Very Merry Unauthorized Scientology Pageant
Tonight alongside Tnarg and Smaldo I attended Stray Cat Theatre’s presentation of A Very Merry Unauthorized Scientology Pageant.
It has been quite a while unfortunately since I have gone to a theatre performance, and I can’t even remember the last time I went to a show performed by children. As Tnarg put it, it was just the perfect amount of cheesiness and well- the name pretty much says it all.
Scattered with an amazing collection of facts regarding L. Ron Hubbard and how the Church of Scientology was formed- I felt as though my moments of laughter (which were abundant) were so wrong but so RIGHT. Plus, I don’t think I’ve ever been so educated about all of the various science fiction books that L. Ron had written. Typewriter in the Sky I would have to say was my favorite.
The alien scene as I will refer to it featured a great robot costume- although, I think they could have made use of the one that Smaldo sported for Halloween.
Lastly, tonight made me think about how when watching children’s theatre there is little judgement and more enjoyment. Missed lines, dance mistakes, bad musical timing and broken characters just bring that extra smile to your face.
If you have time- I definitely suggest checking this play out before it closes on Saturday December 20th. http://www.straycattheatre.org/scientologypageant
Costa Costa Rica!
That’s right folks… I actually took a vacation for once. It was a great experience all around. From jumping off of a rusty bridge, to being told to get off of a bus in a foreign language in the middle of BFE, hearing the rumbles of a volcano and watching lava flow down in the dark of the night, and even seeing the most ridiculous display of corporate America placing its grabs on a developing country (I could see the WalMart reeking out of Mas X Menos… no one needed to tell me). I’ll break down the deatils soon- but wanted to show everyone my bungee jumping video which Tnarg promptly posted on You Tube first!
Rock Band Chick
That’s right folks. I am officially a Rock Band Chick. You can find me throughout the Phoenix-metro area hosting evenings of fun at various venues with Gamers Combat Zone. If you aren’t familiar with Rock Band, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Band_(video_game)
Right now I am hosting the M-Th nights:
- Mondays at 8:00 pm The Library Bar and Grill 501 South Mill Ave Tempe AZ 85281 480-929-9002
- Tuesdays at 7:00 pm Hail Mary’s Food, Spirits and Sports 1402 S Priest Dr Tempe AZ 85281 480-377-8971
- Wednesdays at 9:00pm Famous Sam’s Sports Restaurant 720 West Ray Rd. Gilbert, AZ 85233 480-899-9804
- Thursdays at 8:00pm Dark Horse Sports Bar and Grill 4929 W. Ray Rd. Chandler, AZ 85266 480-753-4772
They also do Friday and Sat nights and you can see the full schedule here: http://www.gamerscombatzone.com/events.html
It is extremely fun and best of all- you don’t need any fancy skills to come out and play. And if you do have those fancy skills- you can show them off in all your glory to prove what a true “keeg” you are. Go Fire Hamsters!
Skydiving in Eloy
A couple of weeks ago I went skydiving for the first time with Tnarg. I know I know- how could I wait weeks to blog about something so amazing? I guess I’ve been a tad distracted. We went to Skydive Arizona located in Eloy (about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson).
We each did a tandem jump with an instructor. He was with Jay, and I was with Dusty. Tnarg went out of the plan doing a backflip- and I went face first. I have to tell you- I am glad I did- there is nothing like instantly seeing the ground coming closer and closer toward you at the rate of hundreds of feet per second.  You jump out of the plane at about 13,000 feet and a mere 50-60 seconds later you have dropped to about 5,000 in free fall.
Once the parachute is pulled- everything becomes instantly quiet. I felt like a baby being born into the world eyes wide- and looking in absolutely every direction around me. At one point there was actually a plane I could see flying underneath us- it was a total trip.
It was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my whole life. Enough said.
Christopher Titus at the Tempe Improv
Sometimes when you are disappointed or down on something, such as my sentiment after driving away from the Marquee Theatre after the Cat Power show was cancelled, you just need to do something fun to get your mind off of it.
Tnarg coerced me to drive to the Tempe Improv despite my hesitations to have a good laugh. Christopher Titus was perfoming and although I never did watch his sitcom Titus, which was part of the Fox Network from 200-2002, I was pleased to be able to see him live.
Titus’ material concentrated a lot on family and relationships in his life such as going through a divorce, being raised by an alcoholic father, and even divulging his thought of committing suicide- which is how his mother and sister’s lives ended. And somehow out of these tragic, difficult subjects, Titus had a keen way to expose the lightness around the situations.
Convincing the audience that you need to be happy in life and nothing else matters… he even prompted men in the audience who were their with their significant others to excuse themselves to the bathroom- and if it wasn’t meant to be… RUN! He also informed the females in the audience that if they weren’t back within 10 minutes that they should know why.
Overall, it turned out to be a wonderful evening.
Cat Power Cancelled…WTF?
Thursday of last week was devastating. I had been anticipating going to the Cat Power show for months, and was super stoked to see my first “real” concert if you will. You know, one that didn’t take place in Tucson at a baseball stadium that one of the local radio stations put on, one that wasn’t part of a political rally, and one that wasn’t simply outside. One that was in a real theatre, with fine-tuned acoustics, and an actual lighting plot for the stage.
So as I pulled into the parking lot at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe and the parking attendant stopped me and asked me if I was there to see the Cat Power show- I gleefully stated yes. The next statement was one I was not prepared for- the show has been cancelled. What! Why? The attendant slyly avoided my questions by the canned statement of “They wont let us know”. Whatever- who is this “they” and how much are they really paying you to keep your lips sealed? Not enough I say.
My next question pertained to how I should get my money back and I was prompted to just call in the box office or stand in this long line… and wait- something I was also not prepared to do. Instead, I drove off in a quite pissy mood with Tnarg next to me, and attempted to google the box office number via cell. After retrieving it, I called to get my questions fully answered. And apparently- the reason behind the show being canceled was that her “voice went out”. My response to that : Bull! Whose voice goes out that short of notice before the show? They were obviously ready to receive patrons that evening as the parking staff was fully prepared, and the only notice that went out was via email 12 min. prior to the show time.
Conspiracy!
My thoughts… A sudden dispute with the Marquee and Cat Power’s Management? Couldn’t they at least put on a partial show with Appaloosa who was supposed to be opening for her- and also refund patrons? Or perhaps Appaloosa and Cat Power got into it.
Or perhaps a relapse into her old self being too drunken and drugged up to make it on the stage. Hmnn…..
What is it luckymanconcerts?
A Sedona Visit
This past Saturday, Tnarg and I also went on a day trip to Sedona. First, we had a lovely picnic at Oak Creek Canyon. We were tré cool sipping our Gatorade out of wine glasses. Tnarg enjoyed his blush while I had a merlot. After walking back to the car, we drove into town and stopped at the visitors center.
I was intrigued to hear about the infamous Vortex- which it actually turns out there are multiple vortexes. We were provided with a Vortex Map and chose to visit the Bell Canyon one- which is supposed to bring balance to both the female and male side of yourself. It took a small hike to get there, but I was able to locate two Vortex spots which seemed to be calling me. Tnarg found an extremely twisted Juniper tree and felt the Vortex himself. That night, we went to the Red Space Dinner- and despite its amazingly corny and cheesy decor, the food was rather scrumptious. The diet chocolate Pepsi hit the flavoids of my femailian palate to the t.
Infiniti Track Day | Follow Up
The day at the track was awesome. We took a ride with Amy- a professional racer, and Tnarg even let me drive his G35 around the track. If I do say so myself, I thought I did rather well.  There was almost a close call with someone that tried to pass me on the straightaway- scared the crap out of me really- but we both survived the day with no scars other than maybe a bit too much sun. Tnarg also got to fishtail his car during a demonstration of the Infiniti VDC traction control- I caught some of this on video, but it was hard to get with the crowd that was standing around. I hope that we get to do it again soon- and that I can stay the whole day next time rather than having to rush off to a rehearsal.
Infiniti Track Day
It is way to early on a Sunday morning but right now I am at the Firebird Raceway anticipating a ride around the track with Tnarg. He is sure to put his Infiniti G35 to the test today- and I am thankful that we will both have protective head gear on. AKA helmets. The cooler thing than the helmets themselves are the “helmet liners” that actually go under the helmets. They remind me of a KKK hood… and I will surely have to take a pic of us together with just these on. That is it for now as I wait for Tnarg to get out of “driving school”. Oh how I wish this was the driving school that I had to go through instead of the four hour hell hole I am sure to face next weekend.
The Worm
On Friday night- Your Mom had a very successful evening. We won both of our games against Drinkin’ Team with a Kickball Problem and the Ball Crushers. In the second game against the Ball Crushers, one of their players seemingly dislocated his shoulder while diving for a ball and was escorted painfully off of the field. This made me feel slightly sorry about kicking their butts so badly- I believe the score was something like 11-0…not really sure- I stopped counting. Between our two games, I decided to do a celebratory worm. Ron from the Ball Maulers captured this moment gracefully on his mobile and was so kind to text it to me that evening.
On another note- what’s up with the mysterious members of the Big Red Chuggers who never seem to join in any kickball fun after the games?…
Just another punk Saturday in Tempe
Prepared from the start with new doos, Tnarg and I hit the streets of Tempe to rock out properly. The music festival held at Tempe Town Lake kept us entertained for most of the day.
We bought new shades and I got an awesome brass knuckles bracelet from The Bag Basement Store which had a booth set up there. We also met a cool dude Brandon who was doing some promo stuff and joined us in two rounds of Wii bowling. Apparently, I have a real knack for trying to kill people with the bowling ball.
Other things to mention: port-a-potties, an amazing Circle K tent/store with $2 dogs, the Captain, and a ton of free stuff. We ran into my friends Chris and Martin who write for Get Out, and they even blogged about our adventures with the Captain which you can read here: Tempe Music Fest Blog. Oh- and the music- Eve 6, Meat Puppets, Gin Blossoms- it was a great time.
To wrap up the evening we attended Kevin’s 33rd at the Laird House (the whole reason for the punk weekend to begin with). Lunacy commenced as usual and all I can say is that I am glad that Chris was able to capture some of the punkness before it fizzled into Sunday too far.
One Click Choreography | Graffiti Style
Last year, I started a concept which I like to refer to as “One Click Choreography”. One Click Choreography (OCC) is my new approach to choreography via online mediums such as websites, email, social networking, etc. The first OCC piece that I created was called Hardware which was presented at the Mesa Arts Center as well as one of 32 Flavors’ Black Box Shows. Hardware was compiled using data received from an email form where participants were to choose a human bone part from a list and submit the email. From the email I had a data set that I could work off of to influence the piece (Name, subject of email, chosen bone part, time email was transmitted, etc.) I took these elements and utilized two dancers to translate movement into their bodies. The first project was very fulfilling with around 30 people participating, and ever since I have been pondering my next fun project in the OCC series.
What is the next project…? Well, utilizing Facebook’s Graffiti Application, I invite anyone and everyone to continue the dance under my Graffiti Box in my Facebook Profile. Feel free to add dancers, take away dancers, draw them doing impossible things, very pedestrian things. Make the dancers appear close to the audience or far far away- the sequence of events is up to you! Once I have received a sufficient amount of data, I will actually mold this into a fully produced piece that 32 Flavors will be performing next season. Enough talk- put your mice to use! 
Call for submissions | uglyisnotgood.com
So, if you haven’t already checked out the link to my “educational” website created by myself with the help of Hypergeneric, I am inviting you to do so. UGLYisNOTgood was produced on a whim. One day I thought it would be funny to create a website that redirected to “ugly” websites at random. With the domain name of uglyisnotgood.com, it would re-enforce the fact that ugly websites are not good- seriously. The site has gone through some recent changes which are huge improvements- there is now a navigation bar @ the top of the site which allows you to visit sites randomly or toggle forward and back through. You can also adjust the frame to expand over the top of the navigation bar in case you want to explore the site in all its glory and maximum space. I am also looking for more ugly websites to add to my library of goodies. If you happen to know of a hideously ugly site that you think would match our out-do the ugliness that now exists, please comment on this post. Submissions will be judged by the UGLYisNOTgood committee (me) before being placed on the site- so make sure to do your research and bring the best!
MADE: Can Martin Cizmar become a Kickball All-star?
As I embark on a new day, I cannot be more thrilled to know that tonight marks the first production meeting for MADE: Can Martin Cizmar become a Kickball All-star?. Only the dorkiest group of cool people could ever pull off the creation of an amazing parody on this familiar MTV reality show. And now, I have a worthy cause to fill my what I was afraid to be empty Thursday evenings. Tonight I anticipate much discussion and perhaps several arguments due to the lack of clarity in the creative direction of the episode. Never to fear though- as we sip on our drinks of choice at Casey Moore’s Oyster House, I have no doubt that we will all come together in a moment of glory and astonishment as we realize the potential of the power that lies in our hands. Who knows if Martin Cizmar will be able to be MADE into a kickball All-star, the script is not written yet. However, with the end product that we can produce, I know one thing for sure. We WILL become kickball legends.