Secret Santas and Dark Knights.

This weekend begins a Peninsula Players tradition, Christmas in July. A three day, gift giving, practical joke making extravaganza up to $25, or more if you feel generous. In order to receive your gift, you must do whatever your Secret Santa decides you should do. There should be one gift per day. Ideally, Friday and Saturday are gifts and pranks and songs that people have to sing and outfits that people are forced to wear, and Sunday involves a show of sorts, along with partying every night. The place will be adorned with Christmas decorations and people will be wearing and doing ridiculous things throughout the weekend. Multiple people can get in on one person's idea, and people are often recruited to do small tasks, like ten people giving one person two cans of Dr. Pepper after they sing a song, thus resulting in said person having to hold a boatload of soda. It's fun and lighthearted and often hilarious. Today, for instance, we were all given little pieces of flair to pin on Mallory, so when she walked into the Lounge she was barricaded with people pinning things to her shirt, which she will wear around for the rest of the day:

<---We were greeted by this at Lunch today as well, Eric in a pleather girdle ringing the Lunch Bell and welcoming us to lunch. Needless to say, I'm curious to see what else will be going down this weekend. My victim will be forced to dress up in Chippendale's outfit and paint peoples' toenails in bright red and white. I had Joe Foust help me out with this one, as he pretty much knows everyone here and was the go to person for this. I am assuming because I am the new guy of the group that I will not be in for some of the more crazy stuff, but you never know. Today was pretty light as I just had to find anyone who lived on E Deck housing and ask them if they had "Anything Special in Your Pants" and was given a small notebook when I found the right person. Michael said he might be coming down for the weekend but possibly won't be able to make it, which would be fine because he would be right in the middle of all this.

Strangely enough, I was already pranked this week by my best friend/former roommate Bill. Our other best friend from High School, Tom, is currently in Las Vegas learning how to hypnotize people. Bill's sister, Jenny, also happens to be in Vegas Associate Producing for a reality show they are filming there. I figured they would meet up, but through a series of text messages and some very convincing arguing, Bill convinced me that Tom and Jenny had either gotten wasted or that Tom had somehow hypnotized her into getting married in one of those cheap Vegas places. He must have had me going for like twenty minutes, complete with, "she called me balling her eyes out, I don't know what to do" to "My dad is so pissed about it, he's blaming me for it", meanwhile I am repeatedly saying, "You are shitting me. No freaking way", until I believed him, only realizing what an idiot I was when he finally said "so you think I have a shot at getting married to Tom's sister?" I will get you back for that Bill. Mark my words.

So finally, I must discuss the Dark Knight. Although I won't go into too much detail for those who haven't seen it, it was incredible. I was blown away, and I repeatedly found myself with my jaw hanging loose. Heath Ledger's performance was electrifying. The tension kept building and building, and that movie must have been almost three hours but I was there every second of the way and didn't want to leave. The hilarious part being that it was raining sideways before the movie and everyone in line got soaked, including a surprising number of Wisconsinites that didn't think somehow that the Dark Knight would sell out. I must have seen 20 people run through this intense rain coming down in sheets only to get up to the doors and be like "SOLD OUT?! WHAT?!" What the hell did these people expect?? It's the Dark Knight for Christ's sake. It's been sold out in Chicago for weeks ahead of time. I got my ticket early last week and was surprised I was able to do that. I guess people don't expect that many people in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin to be that into Batman. Well, they were sadly mistaken, and soaked. (I avoided this by letting some other people stand in the rain while me, Joe and Eric stood underneath the cover provided by the lip of the roof close to the building. We felt sort of bad but then everyone else realized they could still form a line up against the building and followed our example, but only after being drenched and frozen for half an hour. Whoops.) I will see the Dark Knight at least once if not twice more in theatres, especially at the Drive in theatre mere miles away.

I am currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, also author of No Country For Old Men. I found out recently that there will be a movie version of the book released in November starring Viggo Mortensen, which will probably be badass, as the book is haunting and yet endearing. It's a quick read, and I should be done with it soon. It is now time for dinner, so I will go see what crazy shit people are being made to wear and do.

Photos that make it look like I'm here by myself.

I just bought a new digital camera per recommendation of my friend Alix Klingenberg (http://www.blackmarketphotography.com), and outside of a weird scratchy area on the screen that looks like a tumbleweed and never goes away, it works great.

I used to have a sweet digital camera as a graduation gift from my Uncle Bill, but my friend Graham (who used to date Mallorie from SCAD but wound up in Chicago after planning a trip to Hawaii but getting stuck financially, small world) smashed it with his ass on one Monday Funday back when Lucky's had the $1 personal pitchers (it was in my jacket on the back of a bar chair which he sat in and proceeded to drunkenly fall over in, crushing the corner of the camera) but fortunately he was a good enough dude to pay me back for it. However, I took forever trying to figure out which camera to get, and didn't make a move until I just told Alix to pick one out for me.

This deserves a full telling: I had moved out of my apartment in Wrigleyville on June 1st with the intention of getting a place with my friend Kent. The place I found was on Montrose and Racine, and belonged to two girls I met whose lease was up on July 1st, and one of them happened to be leaving on June 12. Perfect. I would stay on couches for two weeks, then move into my new place and hang out with Kent for a week before heading for Wisconsin on July 9th. (This did mean, however, that I would have to pay for the four months I would be gone or find a subletter for that amount of time.) About a week before I was supposed to move in, Kent informed me that he didn't want to sublet or be by himself for the time I would be gone (amongst other reasons) and would be subletting with some friends from SCAD who had a room for about the amount of time that I would be gone. This was actually better for me, because this way I wouldn't have to pay rent for the time I would be gone, and Kent wouldn't lose his mind in a new city by himself. So I proceeded to stay on Michael and Kate's couch for a month, which was really awesome of them to put up with me for that long. The two girls seemed pissed that I had made such a deal about moving in and then bailing, which would not have been a huge problem for me other than the fact that I had ALREADY CHANGED MY ADDRESS TO THEIR APARTMENT AND THEY WOULD NOT CONTACT ME TO GET ANY OF MY MAIL INCLUDING THE DIGITAL CAMERA I JUST SPENT TWO HUNDRED BUCKS ON. I
was flipping out, because I had tax return stuff and information and scripts for Wisconsin on the way. Luckily, I finally got my mail and on the last day in Chicago before coming here, just randomly checked with the post office and they had my digital camera. Phew. Complicated, but now, you can see pictures from the place where I'm at.

The other reason I told this long winded story is because as I haven't taken pictures in like six months, I am a bit out of practice and a little shy about asking people I just met to take their picture, so these may look like I am here alone, but I will post pictures with things going on in them soon I'm sure.

Here is my room! I live above the costume shop. It's the largest room in the place, but the only privacy I have from downstairs is a door thing with a pulley system to close off the stairs. NICE.


This is a view of the lake:

This is the Canteen, where they sell snacks and have vintage photos up showing old shows and the originial theatre (the newer stuff was just finished about two years ago, including the theatre.)



Here are some pictures of the theatre, including a few angles and the set for the current show, Born Yesterday, (which is great), and a botanical garden thing on the opposite side. The large brown thing (or the fly space, I don't know what it's called) is apparently the highest point on the whole peninsula.























Below on the left is the riggedy cabin that the interns all share, and they have a tarp on the ceiling to keep bats out, but apparently bats, snakes, bugs and all other sorts of horrifying things still manage to plague them. It is also the picture that is used for postcards from here a lot. On the right is one of the actors' housing buildings, which I will be moving to come September.
Here is a couple of pictures of the Beer Garden where everyone sits during intermission, and also where we eat food if it's nice outside. (The weather seems to change on the hour here). It also looks way cooler at night.





















Here is the rehearsal hall, both inside and out, where I spend most of my time lately.



A few days ago I went exploring and discovered these badass houses on the Lake:


























And here's a couple from Bar Night, which is every Saturday when they leave the bar open til midnight after the show so we can get super cheap company price drinks. I've only been to one, and it was a blast, which is probably why I don't have more pictures from it. On the left is Bob the Bartender who is there every show night serving drinks and making a huge bonfire at intermission. On the right is a couple of my friends, Heather, Kat, and Mallory.










So, there's some pictures. Huzzah! I plan on taking many more in the months to come, but I may try to find another way to post them since putting them on this blog was a pain in the ass. This week we are having Christmas in July parties towards the end of the week, and I have to find three gifts to give to my Secret Santa and then make them do something in order to receive a gift. Popular tasks in the past have involved sending your secret santa recipient on a scavenger hunt; making them dress in drag and say "I am a pretty pretty princess Please don't spank me" (I'm sure I'm screwing that up) and only getting their gift when three people spank them regardless; Making people do Cher impressions, etc. So I'm going to have to work on that one. Michael may be coming to visit this weekend, which would be cool. After seeing someone everyday for a month and then not seeing them for a week, it feels like it's been awhile.

I am a Victory Gardens Poster.

My friend Will contacted me about three months ago to pose for a series of Victory Gardens posters as a new marketing campaign, so I got paid to dress up like a stoner complete with a headband, aviators, makeup to make me look stoned, and a an actual hippie vintage shirt that actually smelled like old hippie B.O. I did a bunch of poses where I looked stoned out of my mind (the makeup helped because I could barely open my eyes) but apparently they went with the one where I look incredibly gay. See photo.
So, for the upcoming season, you will see my face for this particular show, which is pretty ridiculous.

Today was the first day we have off, which is cool except that the only day we have off being a Monday, it won't exactly be great to go travel somewhere for a day trip or back to Chicago. Monday has never been a cool travel day.

So, I just got a few things done, including getting my ticket for the Dark Knight midnight showing this Thursday. Boom! Michael showed me a particularly badass looking trailer for it including a glimpse of Two Face near the end. So hot.



So, one lazy laundry day, and back to rehearsal. I've only been here a week, but it feels like much longer. But I've been making some connections with people and really getting to talk to people about how they started out acting in Chicago, and it's just great to hear that everyone goes through rough times even when they are currently established and successful. I will post some pictures of the place soon, I've just been lazy about it.

I swear I'm 23.

I recently got rid of a particularly awful Amish looking beard I grew because I wanted to see what I could do in the realm of facial hair. It was reddish (apparently I am pretty Irish), scraggly, and pretty gross looking. See right, a picture of me in full makeup for my ensemble part in Sweeney Todd that I just finished with the Actors Theatre Company right before coming to Wisconsin.

When I grew the damn thing, I knew I had to ignore any insults thrown my way, which were inevitable. Some particularly good ones came from my friend Tom. Such as "Does Matthew McConaughey know you're growing his knuckle hair for him?" or "David Spade wants his pubes back". But I knew that I had to push onwards to beard perdition. By the end of two months, after getting rid of a really pathetic looking mustache and cheek area, I had what several recognized as a full Amish/Ezekial/Chin Strap/Jebediah beard. I had joined the great ranks of men with beards, something I had never thought possible. Even when I left it around just to gross out/surprise my friends and family back home, it was met with indifference. Could it be possible that I should keep this beard? The opinions were divided, and in the end I thought it best to get rid of it. Not to say it won't come back, but it didn't seem to really help me one way or another, although I did get the bedroom eyes from two Amish girls sitting in the waiting area of a plane I was waiting for, which was probably a catalyst for getting rid of it. Either way, I still tend to get ID'd at places for buying beer, beard or no.

When I showed up in Wisconsin, I noticed I had a mini fridge, so went to a gas station to stock it up with some PBR. When I walked up to the counter, the woman behind it actually looked angered that I had approached. She then proceeded to glance back and forth from my ID for about a minute, when she scoffed and handed it back to me, to which I replied, "I am 23 you know." I don't know if it is just the amount of kids she gets coming in with fake ID's or if I still look like I'm 16, but if she does it again, I will so give it two months and I will grow that disgusting beard back. I am so not even kidding.