Quote of the Day

"Just go and do it."

-Yvonne Sabato

Orientation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I signed up for iO's Level 1, eight week course in improvisation, which teaches the basics of iO's style of improvisation. The first day of class doesn't start until two weeks from now, but tonight was orientation for all new Level 1 students at iO.

Orientation was held at the Del Close Theater from 7-8pm (same stage that M and I saw Improvised Shakespeare), and the evening session provided students with the opportunity to:

1. Meet their fellow classmates
2. Meet the owner of iO, Charna Halpern
   
3. Pick up a copy of Charna's book Truth In Comedy
4. Learn about the overall program
5. See a free show after orientation, starring The Armando Experience, and participate in a Q&A with the cast afterwards
   

If you have a sneaking suspicion that my above description of orientation was distant and emotionally unavailable, well congratulations Einstein because I didn't go. Instead, I stayed at home and exercised for a lameass 20 minutes and then ate frozen pizza. Unbaked.

Le Dessert

When M was staying in my apartment during her visit to Chicago, one night I gave her some Yan Yan treats to snack on. Yan Yan is an Asian candy treat that consists of cookie sticks and a frost dip.

Initially, M was mindlessly eating these sticks without noticing that there was text on it. She was more concerned with making sure that she was dipping just the right amount so that there would be enough frost left for the last stick.

After a few bites, she noticed the text and after showing it to me, we died.

Once Upon a Time there was Plagiarism

Hey ants,

M here. The idea for this blog technically started on July 17, 2009 at 8:00pm. Actually, it started at 7:30pm when M and I arrived at iO to see Improvised Shakespeare. Despite iO's seating policy of scooting all the way down the row when picking a seat, we were able to get perfect seats in the middle of the front row, thanks to the conveniently-numbered family next to us and predestination. A few minutes after 8:00pm, the show started...

Per a suggestion from an audience member, the show was called Pantyhose. I am not going to summarize what happened, but M and I can assure you that it was hilarious, life-changing, it will never happen again, and there was a character who lived in a bucket.

Friday, July 17th was the first time that M ever saw an improv show (because what happened after the July 15th show of Second City's America: All Better! was hella awkward). It stirred something inside her, which in turn revived something inside of me.

Well after M and I finished puking our guts out, we started thinking quietly to ourselves how much seeing improv affected us in a meaningful way. The day after seeing Improvised Shakespeare, M left Chicago to visit our parents' home in Michigan for a week before returning to her home/school in California. I was left behind in Evanston, my current location.

A few days later, we reconvened on Gmail/Gchat and it dawned on us that improv is frickin amazing and something that we want to incorporate into our lives. I told M that while in Michigan, she should go to my bedroom and find on my bookshelf a copy of Patricia Ryan Madson's book Improv Wisdom. When I was a senior at Stanford, I took Drama 103: Beginning Improvising with Dan Klein. Improv Wisdom was required reading and probably the best thing that I had ever read since The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales or The Stranger.

Excerpt from email that M sent me on August 2:

I ended up bringing the Improv Wisdom book with me [to California], and i actually finished it on the flight! This is amazing, b/c i NEVER finish books. like, ever. even though it was a really easy read, be proud of me, lol. after reading that book, i realized that good improvisers have the exact qualities that i really want in myself. I think that's why after I saw the Improvised Shakespeare, i was so happy and i felt like it ignited a spark in me, and i still think about it a lot even now. i think all my life i have always been afraid of what i say, and how people will judge my words. i remember when i was working at Student Affairs and Annual Fund, I was always a little stressed thinking about what are the exact words that I will say when someone picks up the phone, or someone calls my line. It totally freaked me out. And now I realize that you just have to DO IT, and it seems that those conversations are the ones that are most successful.

Fast forward a few days of self-reflection and Googlestalking, M uncovered a blog that our three favorite improvisers from the July 17th show write. Titled The Culturephiles, Martin Wilson, Greg Hess, and Brendan Dowling write book and music reviews, post youtube links, and other culture-related stuff. The three guys do have some funny commentary, but The Culturephiles doesn't resonant with M as much as Perez Hilton does (because she's sooo going to hell).

Well the idea for this blog that you are reading right now came from a Gchat discussion about The Culturephiles, pasted in its entirety below:

M: and yes i actually love their blog
they are really funny
i feel like it is us writing
but in a more coherent way

me: i know
they are super funny
they are definitely us
i seriously think we should start a blog about books
or tv
just things
a joint blog about thoughts

M: can we?
cuz my blog is going nowhere
and who cares if anyone reads it

me: your blog needs to file for unemployment

M: haha oh i kno
welfare

me: our blog should be called la culturephiles
or les culturefilles

M: OMG
lol!!!!!
yes
omg pleez make it

me: YES!!
les culturefilles
deal?
i think that starting a blog together would be taking steps towards finding out who M is

M: yes DEAL
i kno
who is m?
i dont even know
she is like the chupacabra

And here we are now. Although our blog name was ripped off a blog about culture and then put into Babelfish (English to Francais), Les Culturefilles will not mainly be about culture. Our blog is going to be about M and M's journey to discovering who the hell they are through the concepts of improv.

And why do we both go by M? Because both our real names start with M, and we also are united as one in this mission to discover what improv can do for us. We are also both murderers, messy, moody, modern, misunderstood, mysterious, mischievous, murderers.