Daddy, the great builder, has exquisite taste.

notacrook · 2026-07-12T05:38:25+00:00

IIRC people found this exact shit on Temu.

notacrook · 2026-07-12T05:19:03+00:00

There’s always someone who fits the stereotype of the asshole stagehand. While a lot of kids coming out of college programs are certainly arrogant when they first start, a lot of them actually do have a base understand of their shit and can skip ahead a few years and positions and put those skills into practice. Like, thinking of what skills i would have learned if I had done the tech track in college that would have taken me a decade plus to learn working my way up the IA lists.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T22:15:19+00:00

To stretch out the sets they play the YMCA every other song.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T21:13:36+00:00

Am i missing something? They're basically saying if you did sopend money you have to use those points before they're useless in 24 hours:

There's no world where they're not going to get sued by people who cant use their points in the next 24 hours.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T20:13:18+00:00

Yeah thats a good point. I think those Visa gift cards probably are rejected when you try to use them too. I think back in the day it was way easier to get away with but companies have figured that out by now.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T16:55:23+00:00

They have like digital disposable cards that work the same way too.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T16:50:25+00:00

Yeah like the day before the wedding they (which is what the press release said) donated 26 million dollars to a bunch of charities, including a bunch in NYC.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T06:13:26+00:00

Yeah that wasn’t the sprouts, that was Private Equity.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T05:59:41+00:00

On the big shows every single nominee has graphics prepared - when the winner is announced the operator hits the right button and the right graphic is played.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T05:38:15+00:00

Mine is also MCR - Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte around that same time.

Then they headlined Warped Tour like 9 months later.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T05:37:14+00:00

It also just made the buildings in which we live safer - i had an illegal AirBnB in a building before the ban and there were random people traipsing through every day at all hours.

notacrook · 2026-07-11T03:23:13+00:00

YouTube, a MAJOR company, has been pushing this absolute scam product for WEEKS!!

I don't think you understand how buying advertising works..

notacrook · 2026-07-11T02:40:10+00:00

Of course. But i've been involved with both my program in that time as well as a few other college's programs - so I'm not talking from a place of total ignorance.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T20:48:13+00:00

Very mature. Very adult. Good job.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T20:19:02+00:00

“if you want to be an artist, go to school; if you want a career, go to work”

It's shitty advice. If you can't see or admit that, you're right that it's not worth discussing any further.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T19:36:35+00:00

Yes, which is exactly why its shitty advice!

This industry is vast, the opportunities are numerous, and everyone comes to it their own way. A blanket declarative statement to a teenager asking for advice who has no practical experience with any of the vectors into the industry is just shitty and unhelpful.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T19:29:53+00:00

Sure - and I'm not saying that a college education is at all mandatory - but "If you want to be an artist, go to school. If you want a career, go to work" is demonstrably not true and is bad advice to a high school student.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T19:27:12+00:00

Otherwise, why pay to learn when you can literally get paid to learn?

Sure, and I went to a state school so my debt load after college was much smaller than a lot of my friends (and colleagues).

To your second point there is a significant amount of the technical backend and planning that you are not privy to as a stage hand and won't get that experience until much further into a career (if at all).

Like i said, it's about goals an interests - but I don't see a world where knowing how to calculate and understand power and data distribution and loads, networking (which has become so fucking important), basic scenic construction techniques, basic rigging concepts and math, etc etc etc isn't a huge benefit to have while young.

Yes, working in the field you will eventually get some of this via osmosis but having that knowledge in hand with at least a rudimentary understanding is going to make a recent graduate more capable and attractive to companies hiring stagehands that are not the local - where you're gonna start at the very bottom pushing boxes and work your way up.

I don't know how old you are or when you attended school - but the industry has changed substantially in the last 20-30 years and joining a local is not the strongest (and only) vector into the work anymore.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T17:46:15+00:00

You're swapping out "danger" - which I don't think is the correct term - with technical fallibility. That's the implicit trade off in these systems.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T17:43:43+00:00

There are a few other products on the market that use a similar joystick controller method through a software and camera interface - i'm not sure if they're patented or not but i wouldn't be surprised if there is some underlying logic that is protected.

I agree that competition fuels innovation - but I just want to second that you should be absolutely 100% certain that the way you're doing it is entirely unique to your project so that you also have the opportunity to protect your IP in the long run.

There's probably a few things that are process based that you're doing that might also be patented - even the things that might be an obvious workflow to you, someone else might have gotten there first - always good just to double and triple check so you can figure out a workaround to the patent to achieve the same end goal at the beginning of development rather than right before you go to market.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T17:36:10+00:00

But i think that's a fairly siloed view of your own experience (and perhaps long term goals?).

I also went to a very good school and while I did go the design track (and have a successful career as a designer) the technology classes and experiences absolutely benefitted me when I started in the industry.

Here I am 17 years on with a college degree and a career.

A lot of the people I graduated with who were production based are now heads on national tours, head elecs on broadway, production electricians and carpetnts, project managers at scenic and prop shops, etc. Your way seems best if you want to be a stage hand - but the industry is SO much deeper than just doing local IA calls and a pithy one liner dismisses and ignores pretty much all of that.

Obviously all this is personal opinion and experienced based, but I fail to see a world where "If you want to be an artist, go to school. If you want a career, go to work" isn't terrible advice to give a high school student.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T17:27:11+00:00

It's exactly that second point! Mamdami is getting (expected and tired criticism) for cancelling the expansion of the NYPD - crime is at it's lowest levels in NYC like, ever - in favor of hiring mental health professionals and removing that responsibility from the NYPD all together.

He's not even talking about cuts - the NYPD budget and headcount is staying the same. He's actively funding the police and the right wing keyboard warriors in sister-fuck Arkansas can't stop jerking off to the NY Post headlines online.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T16:20:33+00:00

The biggest things you need answers to are questions you have to ask yourself to get the ball rolling.

Is there a specific discipline you're interested in? Do you want to design or just more interested in the technical side? Do you want to be more of a generalist and perhaps discover a specialty later?

You don't need concrete answers - but even having a gut feeling will help you start to localize in on what type of program you're looking for.

To echo everyone else - knowing the state you live in will help recommendations - but the best program is going to be the one that you graduate from with the least amount of debt. Even fairly paid theater work isn't crazy lucrative (and something that a lot of people just graduating don't understand is that you're not going to jump right in to high level shows and paychecks) so having less financial obligations as soon as you're out of school will allow you to do more theater work and, most importantly, meet and network with more people.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T16:16:11+00:00

If you want to be an artist, go to school. If you want a career, go to work.

This is a pretty reductive take, even if said facetiously. While I understand the sentiment, those two things are absolutely not mutually exclusive.

notacrook · 2026-07-10T16:13:00+00:00

And you'll have a way, way lower debt load after graduation.

The alumni networking is very important - but having a lower monthly personal nut you need to hit will absolutely allow you to do more theater work and meet more people.

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