by Matt Mayer

Monday, April 24, 2006

Long like distance-wise on your screen, pt 1

There is so much to say that I haven't been saying recently because I had been so swamped with organizing the TICKLE. It went well and is over now, so I can focus on other things. For example, I can focus on writing in this blog, which I can FEEL excites the masses. Masses, are you excited? ...That was where you were supposed to exclaim "YES!" with the understanding that the millions who are also reading this blog with you have done the same. Glad we're all together on this.

Allow me to begin (again) with a pat on my own back, along with a slap on my comrades' butts, and a thank you to more people than I can name. The Bureau, just yesterday, received two student group awards from the University of Maryland's Student Government Association. We were the only group on campus (out of over 400) to receive multiple awards. The awards we received were for "Best Performing Group" and "Best Program of Events". Allow me to clarify. Performing groups include any group that performs, not just comedy or theater groups, so I'm quite proud of us there. And the Program of Events award goes to the one group (again out of over 400) that has the best year-long schedule of events. We have had 6 independent programs so far this year and have two more before the year's end. Add to that countless appearances at the events of other groups and tack on a couple off-campus events, and you have a good reason for us to win this award. I couldn't be more satisfied with the recognition. I like to tell myself I don't need the recognition for the work, but damn it sure is nice. So thanks to everybody who's been a part of The Bureau's success in this inaugural year. We couldn't have done it without everybody's support.

Let's move now onto improv. I'm obsessed with long-form improv. I want to jam and play and exercise whenever I can. I first saw JACKIE perform with the Washington Improv Theater (WIT) at Flashpoint in downtown DC. It blew my mind. Then I caught so many more performances at the DC Comedy Fest and I had to become a part of it. I started taking a class on Wednesday nights, which has thus far gone incredibly well. For anybody that doesn't know what long-form improv is, please check out www.washingtonimprovtheater.com and get yourself to a show. These people have changed my life. This is something I want to do all the time now, and I'm very excited about it constantly. It has opened my eyes to a new world of performance. It is the freest and purest form of creation I've seen in all my days of performance and visual art. It forces/allows you to create art and comedy out of thin air. It's quite amazing. I would like to thank all the WIT troupes for really doing great things and being extremely open to conversing about what they do. That has added to my interest, the interest of getting to know the people who do the improv themselves. I can really see learning and participating in this opening me up to so many great experiences, and I believe that anybody and everybody should look into it.

I'm going to go for now, but only because I have a project to do and then work to go to.

But, before I do that, I have to tell you all to go out and get Coheed and Cambria's fourth album, entitled "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness". I have been listening to it nonstop for almost a month with no regrets and no sign of slowing down.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

TICKLE

Thanks to everybody who came to the TICKLE event at UMD. To all 3 of you who read this, thank you.

Thanks to all the comics who performed. We really had a great time. It was especially awesome because we were able to make happen all the different things we do. Sketch, improv, standup, music, and alternative comedy were all performed on the same stage in the same show. And I thank everybody who was a part of it. It was a first annual event, and for the first year, having 20 outside performers, and Daniel Tosh, it was great. Thanks again to everybody who helped out and were a part of it. You know who you are.

I will write in this more now that I have time since TICKLE's over. Now is not that time, but ... deal with it. Nobody reads this but me anyway, so it doesn't matter. That won't always be the case, but for now, to you (me), farewell.