Brain workouts

A friend pointed me at the "brain fitness" web site, Lumosity. Their main thing is a set of games that purport to exercise various mental capabilities, such as memory, processing speed, alertness and awareness, and so on. I've started working my way through the training program, and while I can't say that I've noticed improvement in my daily life, I am getting better at the games. :-)

There's some way to hook up with friends on the web site. I haven't figured it out yet, but it might work to help keep us at it, and to provide some friendly competition.

Accents

I grew up near Rochester, New York. My parents grew up in Washington, DC. There were some words that we (mutually) noticed that we said differently. One word that I remember distinctly was the word "on". I said "AHN" while my mother said "AWN" (more or less.) My parents used to joke about living in RAHchester. So, when I saw a link to this quiz, I couldn't resist.

Here's my result:

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Northern You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Coming of Age

The Boys Coming-of-Age initiation weekend (May 4-5) was fun, tiring, moving, and inspirational.

The first order of business was for the boys to set up their tents. Then we collected rocks for the sweat lodge.

Lunch was pizza eaten around the campfire. Everything tastes better around a campfire, even if it's Little Caesar's pizza.

After lunch, we planted a huge number of red oak and serviceberry bare-root seedlings. The idea was that this was something that could have a real impact on the future. How many of them will live, we don't know, but we actually had fun doing it. At least, I did. We bushwhacked our ways through the scrub -- mostly hawthorne. Matt and Josh had a great time knocking down dead branches with their digging tools. At one point, we were being scolded by a pair of robins, so I looked around carefully and found their nest in the crotch of a pine tree.

While the boys were collecting firewood for the sweat lodge and evening bonfire, some of us went back to the campfire to "get ready" too cook dinner.

Some pyro decided to see if teasel burns well. Yes, it does! We decided not to mention it to the boys. :-)

After dinner the boys had some free time. Matt and Josh staged a sword fight on top of "Mount UU", while some of the others played a disk game.

Later, after darkness had set in, we had our "super secret" ceremony at the bonfire, and sent the boys off to bed in their individual tents.

In the morning we sat the sweat lodge. The dark, the steam, the fragrant herbs, the chanting, and the glowing rocks make it a special place. I had to get out after two rounds because my neck was just totally not happy with sitting scrunched over.

I had started the weekend grumpy and not really wanting to do it. I ended tired but fulfilled and happy to have been part of it.

It's over

“Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to your rest.”

As usual, once the work of the run-up is over, I lapse from blogging.

The play was good. Some of the actors were excellent, some merely good. I saw (and photographed) the Friday and Saturday performances. Esty's big role (Horatio) was on Saturday. She did excellently, I think (and yes, I am biased). It's been fun to watch her ability and skills as an actor develop over the last few years.

I took lots of photos. Even after pruning out the bad ones (blurry, too dark, bad composition, bad facial expressions) I made a CD for the cast with over 600 photos! I know that on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I took at least 200 photos each day. Learning how to process RAW images was fun, although it certainly added to the amount of work getting the photos ready for distribution.

Next year, I want a longer, "wider" lens. During the show, I really need to sit in the back, or maybe (hopefully) in the balcony. That Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens would do nicely, used with a monopod to keep it steady.

I'll be getting some of the performance pix up on Flickr really soon now.

Times

"There's Rosemary, that's for remembrance..."

I was reminded that I should let y'all know when and where. So, here 'tis:

All performances are at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater in the Michigan League. (directions and map or gmap) Times are

Friday May 11, 7:30PM
Saturday, May 12, 7:30PM
Sunday, May 13, 2:00PM

I'm not sure on ticket pricing, but it's definitely reasonable, usually between $10 and $20.

The play's the thing...

As I write this, the first performance, for school groups, is underway. Last night's dress rehearsal went well, although not perfectly. I think this is supposed to be a good thing. A perfect dress is supposed to herald a disastrous opening night, or something like that.

I'm still "processing" the hundreds of photos that I took the last couple of nights. The RAW image format gives me better control over exposure and color balance, but requires a longer work-flow. I think I've gotten it figured out, how to do it efficiently, and hope to be caught up by some time today. For now, I'll whet your interest with this "ghost" shot.

Wednesday rehearsal

Great progress today! Yes, there were still glitches, but I can see the play really coming together. The "Drowned!" scene and some others were very effective, and I found tears in my eyes at the end of the play. Sue did still have some 6 pages of notes at the end.

About 1/3 of the way through, we got real lighting, and that also makes a big difference. I'll be posting pictures, but I took over 200, so it'll take a while just to load them all into the computer, not to mention selecting, light balancing, and cropping them for upload.

Rehearsals

Well, it's Wednesday and the first full run-through rehearsal is starting. Hopefully everybody has their lines cold by now. The staging is coming together nicely, and the characters' personalities are starting to emerge.

On a personal note, Esty's sprained ankle, which she "acquired" Monday last week, has graduated to a "boot". She's still using crutches some, but it looks like she'll be able to act without them. That's a relief.

Pictures of Monday's rehearsal start here, and Tuesday's here.

Set constructing

Sue likes the set. That's a relief.

With the help of John, John, Art, and Wally, we got most of the platforms legged last night. A few more to do tonight, and then we can face them. The big task tonight may be dealing with the drape, the fabric for which is supposed to arrive today.

Cranking up the set for Hamlet

Set building starts today. I took Sue's sketches and combined them with inspiration from a talk at Penguicon about Blender, an open-source 3-D modeling program, to make some models and mockups.

I ended up with 3 possible designs. One (design #2) is a straightforward translation of the sketch, but is really too deep for the stage. It leaves no room for action in front of the platform. In fact, it sticks out through the curtain line. Even at that, it uses only 20 of the potential 30 feet of stage width.

Another (design #3) takes the sketch and compresses it front-to-back, so that the central diamond is shaped like two equilateral triangles stuck together. This one is elegant, but would require a lot of custom platform building (thus being more expensive), and may not have enough space on the platforms for the play action.

My favorite (design #1) from both a construction and acting space perspective, shrinks the central platform by about 15%, and adds "wings" to the upper platforms at the back sides. It's got all right and 45-degree angles, which can be built from stock platforms already available in the shop, and it has what should be plenty of room for acting at all levels. The wings also let us widen the stage without taking up more depth.

I've still got to "sell" this design to Elena and Sue, of course.