Cats

Why do cats sit on and in boxes?  What is it about the feline psyche that says “ooo…box…must jump in and paw around”?  Most things a housecat does can be traced to instinctual things from the wild.  Most of their toys and play are training for hunting (because, as we all know, crunchy or gooshy food is rather hard to catch while it sits inertly in a bowl).  They sleep like they need to conserve their energy for the hunt.  Many prefer their water to be in motion.  But why, oh, why do they play in boxes?  What instinct does that serve?  I have never seen a lion, tiger, leopard or any other large wild cat attacked by a wild box.  I’ve never even seen a wild box before come to think of it.  Maybe I should stop thinking about this so hard…

 

~Andi

Potty humor?

So, the other day, I noticed something about all of the bathrooms I frequent–at home and at work–if the toilet paper holder is mounted to the wall, it is on the left hand side.  Why?  Is this always the case?

I’ve been taking an informal facebook survey and so far, left is in the majority. 

Thoughts?  What’s your TP holder situation?

 

A funny happening…maybe

So I’m getting my hair cut today…it didn’t go well…that’s not the funny bit.

Anyway, the “stylist” is making small talk and asking why I don’t have children. I respond that I have hobbies and that’s enough of my time. I mention that I’m usually away on weekends performing in a comedy troupe. The conversation went like this:

“You do comedy? Tell jokes?”
“Well, kinda.”
“Go on, tell a joke.”
“I’m actually in a troupe, we actually do Shakespeare parodies.”

“And that’s funny?”

It was obvious Shakespeare was way out of her league.

::sigh::

-Adam

The End of the Run

So it’s the bitter sweet end of a faire run this weekend.  I’ll enjoy not having to drive a long distance twice each weekend.  However, I’ll miss all of our new friends.  I’ll miss performing for everyone.  I’ll miss just being there.  As always, we have many things on the horizon and are always working on new projects, both within the group and on our own.  Adam and I will be concentrating on writing a few LARP script ideas we’ve been bouncing around.  My dance classes have started back up, so I’ll be busy learning more steps and techniques.  And of course, there’s always juggling skills on which to work, both contact and standard.  Then there’s the sewing that I want to accomplish.  All of Thomas’s costume and parts of Robins were made by me, and after several years of wear some are getting close to needing replacing.  And all of this needs to be accomplished while looking forward to our next performance.  Keep an eye on the website and on Facebook for announcements.  Until then…watch out for the rubber chicken crossing the road!

Intern wanted

Job requirement:

Must laugh at all of our puns.

Must be able to carry props for 6 different shows.

Must be able to drive 6 hours to either Virginia or Pittsburgh after an eight hour shift.

Must sing the praises of the Mechanicals without amplification for 8 hours a day without losing the ability to speak.

Must get me a latte.

Must get Francis a decaf coffee with two of those Irish creme thingies in it.  Preferably from Sheetz, but he’s willing to bend.

Must tune Nick’s claves every morning.

Must keep Robin’s squirell collection clean and fed.

Must do whatever Snug asks, no matter how inappropriate.

Must not be funnier than us.

Apply in person to your nearest local Mad Mechanical between 10:30 and 6:30 on Saturday and Sunday at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival.  Applicant must arrive in comfortable shoes with previously mentioned coffees.

We look forward to working with you.

-Management

A little souvenir.

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area (Butler, if you’re curious) and there are many things I miss about it.

Like your strains of the common cold.  They’re swell.  So I decided to take one home with me.

Achoo!

Just a warning to all those I may meet this weekend (during the Wine celebration at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival, if you were curious): beware the sniffly Mechanical.

-Adam

Mid Week Thoughts

The laundry is mostly done.  The bags have been semi unpacked.  Life has settled back into it’s regular Monday through Friday routine.  Except now it’s time to take all of that cleaned laundry and semi unpacked bags, repack them and return to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival.  Opening weekend was grand, though I’m sure everyone could have done without the rain Saturday morning.  But, even that passed quickly and we had a gorgeous day all afternoon and all day Sunday.  Thisby made an appearance and even met the King!   Believe it or not, Francis still has his head…for now… This weekend is Labor Day weekend and the faire is open for three days straight, so it’s a good chance to come see us if your traveling from a distance.  It’s children’s weekend, so check out the website for special events for the nippers http://www.pgh-renfest.com/Themed%20Weekends.html

Good luck to those returning to school, and remember, if you need to study Shakespeare, look no futher than The Mad Mechanicals

~Andi

What’s your story?

I had a migrane at work today, so I had to take out my earbuds and actually listen to my workspace as each click of a mouse and each tap of the keys sent pain radiating throughout my cranium.

But then I started listening to my coworkers, which is usually not something I do.

I began wondering, “what do normal people talk about?”

See, I’m in the business of making up stories.  And I don’t mean work, I mean everything else I do.  I’m either creating stories through games or stories through fractured Shakespeare.  Either way, I am left with a shared experience that I will relive again and again each time I tell it.  My wife and I are constantly reliving experiences we had at conventions (both real and fictional), while visting old friends let me relive my old college days (and the stupid/embarrassing things I’ve done).

I heard very little of this.  All I pretty much heard was reactions to television.  While this is a shared experience, there seemed to be something about it that rubbed me the wrong way.  Is this all there is to storytelling now?  Speaking about what some reality star did last Thursday?  Is the shared experience less “worthy” because they shared it miles away?

Or is that simply a common language that is easy to relate to in an office setting.  Half my stories about my games or even my comic career seem to baffle and sometimes embarrass those that hear them.  Is that what others know to avoid?  They only speak of television (or he said/she said gossip…there’ s plenty of that, too) to avoid any awkwardness about misunderstandings, or “you had to be there” moments?

So I float this question out to the handful of people who read this blog:  What’s your story?  How do you entertain those around you when it’s just you and your voice available to entertain?  Do you speak of your past?  Do you embellish stories to make the world a more fantastical place?  Do you reference your listeners and interact with them, or simply relate your narration?  Or do you avoid that, merely passing along messages, receiving news and then movin on, entertainment no being a priority?

Call me philosophical, but that’s on my mind today.

-Adam

The business of funny

In the interim between various faire seasons, we mechanicals have been having a lot of meetings.

No, we’re not rehearsing…we’d lose our seat of our pants style if we did that!  (ahem, kidding)

But what we have been doing is discussing the future of our little group.  Now that more and more people have been requesting us in more and more different places (directions, driving times, centuries), we’ve had to formalize our group so that we wouldn’t merely be a bunch of friends who get together to do this stuff for fun.

Even though we are.

Sure, we’ve been an “independent act” floating around for a while now, but there was a bunch of things that we simply ignored: like ownership of the shows, firings of members, outside gigs, competing gigs, or even what would happen if I spontaneously combusted.

Hey, any of these things could happen.

So we’ve been doing the not quite fun work of trying to iron out how we as mechanicals stand…not the individual members, but how the whole group should handle these things.

It’s not fun work.  In fact, I would have rather drank battery acid than do it; but if we didn’t, then we couldn’t continue to keep bringing our funny out to you.  I never thought we’d get “big enough” to justify puting that kind of work into the non-performance aspect of, well, performing.  That’s what the “big guys” do, not five friends who like making fun of Shakespeare.

Yet, we still get offers, we still get fan mail (please, keep sending it; it makes me all giggly and such!), we still get the respect those “big guys” get.  I guess we’re getting closer to being a big guy!

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still giggle everytime someone takes time to write us to tell us we’re appreciated.  I’ll still stand in awe when someone like Fool Hearty engages me in conversation about “life on the road” or the art of funny.  I’ll still be me….and all the work we’ve done recently to move up has shown that we still desire to be us, but we want every opportunity to bring the Mechanicals to as many people as possible.  That’s the fun stuff.  That’s what makes it all worth it.

Now where’s that jerk with my latte?

-Adam

Wishing I still taught literature….

At the moment, I’m almost wishing I didn’t teach just math and science.  You see, I’m taking this class about taking math and integrating it into other subjects.  By Friday, my group and I have to have a project completed.  There are all these ideas in my head about how to integrate math into Shakespearean plays.  The students could measure distances between Mantua and Padua or how far away Romeo went after his banishment.  Heck, we could do iambic pentameter and write word problems in it, or in sonnet form. 

Sadly, this is not to be.  I have to come up with a way to make my class wiki or blog to be less of a repository for notes and more of a place for conversation and asking of “unanswerable” questions, where the students can answer them and rewrite them to make them their own, and finally to take action on the math concepts and change the world.

Shakespeare is so much easier.

Jill