Stress Is Fading

The final performance was this afternoon, and i feel kinda weird about it. It went great, there were definitely less line mixups and awkward pauses, and generally went really well. I'm just feeling sad that it's over. It just seemed very anti-climatic, i suppose. i think that's what this whole week might feel like in general, just because the semester's over and all, even though it seemed like it started a week or so ago. honestly, november went by far too quickly. incredible amounts of stress will do that, i suppose. but the play itself was a lot of insane amounts of pressure and stress, yet a lot of fun too. and to have it over and done with just like that is just a very odd feeling. it was all very time consumiung and busy, but busy is good. i want to do it again. maybe next semester..

i'm getting more and more tired...and i just found out "The Critic" tv series, woefully cancelled before its time, is coming out on dvd soon...and i'm tired...i'll try to write more tomorrow (SIMON & GARFUNKLE concert!!! plus a query i don't want to think about)..

One Down, One To Go

Tonight was incredibly fun, and i think i still have a bit of that residual delirious-ness from performing still going on; the whole thing seems like this wonderfully insane, comic blur...but i still want to thank everyone for coming out, it definitely wouldn't have been the same!! (Plus, special shout-out, that's right i used the words "shout out", i think i'm so "old school", as the kids say, or as i'm informed by popular culture...there's still a lot of residual deliriousness here..to Jacq + Ellie for the yummy cookie bouqet, which is quickly disappearing as i type this post..) I'm so glad everyone came out, though, it really made the night special!!

And i'm incredibly tired now...and strangely awake all the same...with weezer and ozma floating in my head..and a tiny little bottle of jack daniel's sitting next to me (thanks jordan!)...but it looks too cool to drink..but i'm tired...and tomorrow is another play in less than 11 hours, and i've been up for too long...and it's suddenly a winter wonderland outside, weather wise...and i'm using far too many of "..."

g'night everyone...

My Wish List (I Need To Indulge For A Moment)

- Sorry all, i know this is totally self-indulgent and etc, but i just want to make one...not because i really need it (though there's some stuff on here that i absolutely positively must have, in a sense), but because i really just don't want to think about anything other than these items...and it's a great way to procrastinate from line memorizations and generally freaking out...here goes:

Books:
"Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rockers, Teenages, and Emo" - Andy Greenwald
"The Complete Far Side Collection" - Gary Larson

CDs:
Dave Matthews Band - Live in Central Park
Thursday - War All The Time
Rage Against the Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
Coldplay - Live 2003 CD & DVD
Outkast - Speakerboxx/The Love Below
The Distillers - Coral Fang
Offspring - Splinter (aka what was formerly known as the much cooler "Chinese Democracy" from the unused as yet GnR album)

DVDs: / (by this time i got too lazy to put in the links...)
- The Alien Quadrilogy (9 discs!!!!)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 1
- The Complete Ben Stiller Show Set
- Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks
- Family Guy Season 3
- The Works of Director Chris Cunningham
- The Works of Director Michele Gondry
- Simpsons Season 3
- South Park Season 3 (hmm, lots of season 3 sets here)

Alrighty, i think i got that out of my system...and now sleep...

Running On Empty...

Today:
- Waking up at 6:20 to catch a ride downtown to meet w/online hub group before our presentation (arrived 8:30ish...presentation went over actually pretty good...adrenaline still kept me going by time it was over around 11:30)
- Lunch from then till 12:30 was approximately only break i got from then until just an hour ago
- TV...oh my...TV class....all i can say is i'm utterly relieved no more...no more...(four hours in editing suite...ugh)
- Rushed straight from tv class to work, just making it...standing standing and more standing and seeing Nightcrawler from X-Men..but somehow went by quickly..(though i almost ripped somone off for $20...then consequently got ripped for $20..then realized it was only a dollar)
- Subway home, near 14 hours later...lines lines lines...headphones finally broke for good yesterday during tv shoot (perfect)..been going without tape recorder..
- Exhausted...listening to ozma on repeat...trying to finish story pitch/lines/sanity...

OPUS is Back!!! And Then My Head Exploded

- All fans of the incredibly brilliant Berkeley Breathed (the third best cartoonist next to Gary Larson and Bill Watterson) can rejoice: Opus has once again graced the sunday comic pages after too long of a hiatus
- This week is being planned by the hour. literally. my head will explode sooner of later. it'll be like that scene in david cronnenberg's "scanners", except i imagine much less cooler for me.

"Hey Ya", Or The Song People Most Want Me To Sing, For Some Reason, Or Further Still My Rambling Weekend

I'll get to the title in a little bit, i think. Or i might just forget about its meaning entirely and wonder exactly why i put it up there. oh well, i can tell this post is going to be extremely rambling and long and etc. I apologize beforehand, i just knew when i got home i would write something that has no exact flow to it and goes pretty much like this, i was actually thinking about it on the bus home. I was thinking about writing the blog and then thinking about thoughts that i knew would eventually go in the blog at the same time. i don't think that last sentence made any sense whatsoever. dang.

any ways, on with the post. this weekend was very fun. good time had by all i must say. the bus station, though, is an incredibly emotional place. it's very depressing and uplifting and exciting and overwhelming at the same time. the toronto station is the worst, though. it's dreary and dank and filled with the air of loss. something to that extent. there was this one guy just circling the place. eyes hanging to the floor. i dunno. but otherwise it was filled with boyfriends and girlfriends kissing each other goodbye, children (well, university-aged adults, really) saying goodbye to parents and friends and such, and that all got me rather down too. but then there were the people like me, going off to have fun and visit friends and have a good time. it was an interesting contrast. the bus on the way there was surprisingly packed (though i say this having no idea what the normal amount of people travelling to kitchener on a saturday afternoon is supposed to be), and there were some people that even didn't get on because there wasn't enough room. at that point i was glad my paranoia coaxed me into getting there an hour early to ensure i had a good seat. the ride was interesting, i spent some time listening to the unsubtle emo mix cd i made for myself earlier this week (complete with story of the year, taking back sunday, thursday and some dashboard), and the rest of the time going over my lines.
i sometimes drifted and started making up little short stories about the people on the bus. the older professor going back to teach a class, who couldn't afford a train ticket or car because he lost all his money gambling. the sketchy punk rocker with the green mohawk who's band Flag Under Fire just broke up and he's off on his way to escape/find himself. the girl who's off to meet her best friend who she hasn't seen in two years since she went off to university and they had a huge fight over some guy but patched things up since. the sunglasses guy trying to keep his mind concentrated on his textbook, trying to climb to the top of his class and impress his parents. they weren't all terribly interesting stories, some were better than others, but i just for a moment or two got really caught up in these lives i was making up. or slightly fictionalizing, i'll never really know.

the ride back was much less crowded, though longer because of a stop-over in Guelph. On an interesting sidenote, the Guelph newspaper, i forget the exact name and don't feel like looking it up, has a great slogan: "The only paper on earth devoted to covering the Guelph area". Grandiose, but dang if it ain't true, i suppose. I think i should call this blog "the only blog on EARTH that covers the life of barry"...unless there's this weird pseudo-stalker site out there of all my movements. hmm, now my paranoia is taking over..is there? i'd be actually kinda flattered to hear. incredibly frightened, but flattered too.

but back to the bus station thing...yes, so the one at kitchener was much better, though weird all the same. there were again the departing lovers, the off-to-school kids, but there were also more people heading back from a fun weekend. there was an interesting energy in the crowd. i thought a sing-a-long might've broken out if everyone wasn't careful. well, maybe that was stretching it. there was something very weird about stepping back out onto the streets of Toronto afterwards, though. such a radically different environment to the small-town feel of kitchener/waterloo. i'm not sure what it was, but it just seemed "colder". i dreaded taking the subway back home afterwards. can't quite place my finger on the reason why. i was just probably fed up with communal transportation. i think i need to drive next time.

but back to the actual weekend, which i kind of did a narrative leap-frog over...very very fun. and i'm now extremely jealous of people living in a unviersity town. cool beyond words. and mel's is one of the best restaurants for breakfast anytime of the day...though the service could be sped up just a bit. and the waitress took away my pancake before i was finished it. but i didn't want to start trouble. though that was one mighty good pancake.

and in between there was all sorts of goodness: getting probably the most positive comments about my john mayer shirt than i've ever gotten about my clothes before (with my style slowly fading from plaid to stricly concert shirts), some beverly hills cop watching, ozma listening, touring the campus (laurier's a close candidate for smallest, most interconnected campus in ontario with rye...though damned if their actual buildings and architecture are still light years ahead asthetically of ryerson...damn clean waterloo atmosphere), pizza pop eating (and eating pizza at mcmullens, aka the best pepperoni pizza ever...and home to the best deal ever: said amazing pizza and a pitcher of beer for only $20!!), bar hopping, and sweaty, humid club going. and apparently singing. lots of singing.

and finally getting to that title, yes, i am apparently the world's most hilarious singer when i'm, uhm, tipsy. i can, according to not-really-to-be-heavily-trusted-sources, do a great rendition of "You Spin Me Right Round" and go absolutely insane when Outkast's "Hey Ya" comes on. When it came on in louie's, i supposedly went krazy with a k. what can i say, it's an addictive song. and i think there was some 2 am pizza pizza eating in there too. wow, i ate a lot of pizza yesterday now that i think about it. sometime today there was also the trip to sugar mountain, an apparent landmine for student money, where i was introduced to something incredibly delicious called a "curly wurly". they are, in my humble and subtle opinion, the GREATEST CANDY EVER. and now i've doomed it to over-hype. ah well.

all in all, a truly fun weekend. and now, begins phase 3 (or is it 4?) of the continuing week of hell, which was supposed to end two weeks ago, but has somehow managed to snake its way all the way through the month of november. and then exams. well, it's almost done. and for some reason, my desire to teach english in japan has increased ten fold within the past week or so.

Are You Ready For Hilarity??

I'm serious...get ready...Are you ready? I'm not sure i believe you. Alright, you're ready. I think. Watch at your own risk. You may suffer from side-splitting laughter. (Warning: Author of blog is not responsible for injury resulting from said side-splitting laughter...but will happily take credit for finding Will Ferrel at his most hilarious)

CLICK HERE TO LAUGH!!!

I Succumbed: 5 Things 5 Minutes

5 things on your desk:
sheets and sheets of papers i need to look at, digital camera from eli that i've borrowed for too long, lots of change, stacks of old ticket stubs from concerts and movies, Sheldon the frog

5 books on your shelf:
Shakey - Jimmy McDonough, Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk, The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen, The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right - Al Franken

5 food items in your fridge:
salsa, leftover salmon, cans of diet coke, apples, mayonaise

5 things in your closet:
lots and lots of plaid shirts, jeans, khakis, old sweaters i need to crack out sooner or later, an empty suitcase

5 things under your bed:
shoebox, old rolling stone magazines, abandoned duffel bag, lots of wires and cords, monsters

5 things on your fridge:
nothing except an odd magnet...

5 things on your wall:
giant 'fight club' poster, 'adaptation' poster, insanely big 'reservoir dogs' poster, 'being john malkovich' poster, 'punch-drunk love' poster

5 things in your sock drawer:
socks, of course...lot's of them

5 things in your wallet:
money, movie stubs, hundreds upon hundred of debit reciepts, organ donor card, indigo coupon

5 things in your medicine cabinet:
don't have one, unfortunately...

5 songs on your playlist:
thursday - standing on the edge of summer
ozma - shooting stars
elton john - mona lisas and mad hatters
dashboard confessional - the good fight
story of the year - in her bedroom

"Let It Be...Naked"

I've said it before and i'll say it again, sunday night is the best evening for radio programming in the city. On my way home from the first HMV training shift tonight, which i'll get to in a sec, i got to hear the world album premiere of the new, Phil Spector-less "Let it Be" on Q107, which was most pleasant. And i even got to hear the first couple minutes of "Little Steven's Underground Garage" program on Q right after. If you've never heard this program, headed by the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and the actor who plays Silvio Dante on "The Sopranos", it must be heard. Immediately. Anyone who loves rock and roll definitely owes it to themselves. I think the theme of this week's program was surfing. Can't miss that, especially when it kicks off with the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" and then segues almost perfectly into Dick Dale and the Deltone's "Misirlou". Made me quite happy.

Now for the job. The good: it looks like a pretty cool job with some pretty cool people (the guy that was training me tonight looked the spitting image of Stifler), and it doesn't look too hard, and there's flexible hours. The bad (and this is really quite bad): NO STAFF DISCOUNT for temporary chirstmas help like moi. They said if i choose to stick around after the temp position is over, then it kicks in, as does a nice wage increase (which is also good because the money right now ain't too great), but as of now, and during the crucial present-buying and incredibly cool dvd season, no discount. Nada. Zip. Which brought a collective groan among everyone there. But still. Not cool, HMV, not cool.

And, i kept on meaning to post this for the past couple days, or maybe it's even been a week, but on Tuesday Dec. 15th, there will be select theatres showing ALL 3 OF THE LORD OF THE RING MOVIES IN A ROW INCLUDING THE TWO EXTENDED EDITIONS OF FELLOWSHIP AND TWO TOWERS FOLLOWED BY RETURN OF THE KING AT MIDNITE!!!!! Only downside...well, it's, uhm, 692 minutes in one day...yeahhh,of course there are intermissions (i hope...), but it still sounds incredibly insert own hyperbole excitingly (word?) cool!! Sooo...it's a daunting task, i know, but damned if it doesn't sound bloody fun.

This and That

- "Elf" is one funny movie ("Oh my god, Santa's coming!! I know him!"...plus, i'll never look at jack-in-the-boxes the same way again)
- Time passes quickly while hanging out at a Tim Horton's at 1 am, and suddenly you realize it's close to 4...there's some sort of time warp at work in that place
- I'm tired...
- I need to watch every single episode of "Six Feet Under" right...now...such an amazingly powerful and addictive show
- I should really stop writing all this and go to sleep...i'm tired...
- "Volcano High" is one of the more insane movies i've ever seen...next to "Battle Royale", of course...
- I'm slightly nervous about my first training shift this sunday..
- I'm contemplating whether or not i should start watching "Carnivale"
- My long-lost "Terminator 2" dvd may be found after all
- I really need to have my lines memorized by the end of this weekend
- I can't get enough of the distillers...or thursday...or story of the year...
- I should go to bed...

Hell Week = Over And Done With

Hmm, i haven't posted in a couple days...i really wanted to post the other night, but blogger ate it, which it hasn't done in a while, and which i hope is a one-time lapse. hopefully. (please?) but finally, the infamous hell week is winding down. All that's left before exams is the online hub, and that damn query letter/story pitches for magazine. Ugh, we'll see how those go. For now, though, it's time to kick up my feet and sleep. or watch weird japanese horror movies. whichever. on another note, finally finished my online feature, which when i look at others' in my class just sorta depresses me. and i got that bloody broken picture link which i thought i fixed and took forever, but when i got to class in the morning it still wasn't working. ah well..

in other news, tonight was the first rehearsal for the play (and of course at this point everyone must be wondering, but barry, doesn't it go on in something like 15 days? and to this i reply with merely cries of agony...yeah, i should really start memorizing those lines...) but it's looking good so far. really really funny play, and i'm not trying to sell it or anything (*cough* november 28 during the night and, *cough* november 29 afternoon show...hmm, must've had something stuck in my throat), but yes, should be good. plus, finally got to go in those loft buildings above dominion for rehearsal. it's very odd in there, lot's of space, and weirdly modernist. i'd really like to live there. plus, it being across from the rogers center isn't so bad either.

and very briefly, freindster is truly more addictive than crack. though i can't upload my pic on to it, since it says its too big. does anyone know how to maybe reduce the size of a jpg file? i'm not sure i have the right program to do it...and, of course, i must mention before i go, that '24' is the best...show...ever.

Soundtrack for the (Very Busy) Day

- just right now in between stops to the bank, where we waited for almost an hour or so (ugh), and leaving for work, but i felt like firing off one quickly....annnnnnd, my new favorite band is The Distillers, it has been decided. That is, unless someone can find me more 5.6.7.8's tracks..

Thursday - Understanding In A Car Crash
Weezer - Only In Dreams
The Distillers - City of Angels
The Faint- Faintly Falling Ashes
John Mayer - 3x5
The Early November - Take Time and Find
Matchbook Romance - The Greatest Fall (Of All Time)
The Starting Line - A Good Night's Sleep

The Matrix Revolutions

There's really only two things i can say right now, i'm gonna need a bit of time to digest the whole thing:

1. Awe-inducing, breathtaking, positively brilliant set pieces and action sequences (though i wish the "Club Hell" sequence was longer...so many possibilities)
2. This movie, the whole series really, hurt my head. A lot.

John Mayer Show = Awesome Amazingness = Barry Very Happy (This Is Math I Can Actually Do)

The title pretty much says it all. (Though it would have been *extra* amazing awesomness etc if he had closed with "Neon"...the looong version)

Also, of an interesting side note, the screams of 10,000 girls can reach interesting pitches in volume that i thought were previously unpenetrable. Live and learn, i guess.

Be There, Or Risk Being Square

So much to say, so little time....but, here's something most important: November 27 and 28 @ Oakham House (hopefully) we'll be putting on the Woody Allen short play "Central Park West"!! Uhm, of course this is all assuming we're going to be able to put this together in...3 weeks (?)...eek. Yeahh...but, it should be amazing spectacular fun if we do, so come one come all, bring your friends, family, your family's friends, your friends' family and everyone else in between! I should have more ticket info soon, so when i know more i'll post, but as of that's ye ol' date. And it's awfully soon.. Should be interesting..

"Think I'm Going Crazy/Nicotine And Gravy"

I should quote Beck more often, he makes a lot of sense sometimes (even though a lot of his lyrics define nonsense at the same time). It's been a fairly busy weekend, but not really in the good sense, though there were some fun aspects (Boston Pizza, Mars bars galore, and a scary-as-hell japanese movie, which i'll get to in a sec).

But, the work's starting to pile up, my router is treating me like its own personal slave, and this week is going to be positively insane (working on monday night + first play meeting + first tv broadcast + john mayer concert [insert 'huzzah!' here] + brother's commencement + feature assignment on dreamweaver with a dreamweaver program that just won't download = barry slowly losing his mind...but then again, i've never been good at math).

I think the following example of a sentence that somehow made it into the second draft of my history essay is a good example of the loss of coherence i'm experiencing: "As tensions grew higher in the colony, Papineau watched as the tensions between the English and French-speaking people of Lower Canada reached new heights of tension." Yeah...i think i might be a little tense...

But towards the good aspects of the weekend: a little movie i like to call "Ju-Oh: The Grudge", which is positively the freakiest, scariest, make-barry-look-behind-all-corners-at-3-AM film i've ever seen. I got it friday at my new favorite store in chinatown (all dvd's and vcd's from china and japan at extremely cheap prices!! i think i could spend hours in there, easily) along with "Battle Royale" and "Dead or Alive: Final", which has also taught me a valuable lesson: before you buy foreign language dvd's, make sure they have english subtitles (a mistake i made with "Dead or Alive"...damn). But, getting back, "The Grudge" was absolutely intense, a good movie for a halloween weekend.

This is Perfect..


Fight Club!


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
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