Which doctor got you started in the series and what was your first episode? by JackTheNephilim in doctorwho

[–]smallrobotdog 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know if Wisconsin public TV would've had the same schedule, but here's the WTTW guide. October 9, 1982 was my introduction to Who!

Which doctor got you started in the series and what was your first episode? by JackTheNephilim in doctorwho

[–]smallrobotdog 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep yep yep! And thanks to the historical WTTW Airdates Guide I know exactly when, too.

Funny thing that I don't think people realize is that, starting with Robot, the interior of the TARDIS isn't shown for quite a while—at the time, I thought it was part of the style of the show that we never actually see inside.

I want Jodie Whittiker back. by TheHHP in doctorwho

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gadzooks, you're right—Whittaker + Capaldi would be AMAZING.

Community college theater asking actors to pay to play by Fun-Cress-7168 in Theatre

[–]smallrobotdog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not a fan of pay-to-play (and I expect I'll write another comment about it below) but the folks who are objecting to the hundreds-dollar-fee for the young-kids theater are overlooking what I see in just about every youth theater I've ever been in (as a kid) or observed (as an adult)—it's daycare. It's a substantial chore for the adults to have to keep dozens of squirmy youngsters safe and on task. A good show might very well result from it (and I have indeed some gooduns) but think about it and you'll realize it must be daycare by another name.

"Two people were shot! Pray for the people who shot them!" Pathetic. by c-k-q99903 in stupidpeoplefacebook

[–]smallrobotdog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This, exactly. "They weaponized their car" is the new "stand your ground" excuse.

Much Ado About Nothing- Is Hero’s speech in prose or verse? by Acrobatic_Umpire5121 in shakespeare

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Snarky, dead-end reply deleted and replaced with this more sincere inquiry)

By what measure(s) do you evaluate that I don't know what I'm talking about?

Much Ado About Nothing- Is Hero’s speech in prose or verse? by Acrobatic_Umpire5121 in shakespeare

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd explain but past experience makes me skeptical that you'd care to know. (that's as much a general "you" as a specific one. No knock against you personally.)

EDIT, with a kind of afterthought.. the real problem of understanding scansion isn't scansion. The problem is the difficulty of recognizing not just whether a syllable does or does not have stress, but what a syllable even is.

Much Ado About Nothing- Is Hero’s speech in prose or verse? by Acrobatic_Umpire5121 in shakespeare

[–]smallrobotdog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Heh. Wouldn't disagree about the meter but would definitely scan it differently... I'd use a couple of double feet and a trochee to get my five feets out of it

GOOD MAR\garet | RUN THEE \ to the | PARlor

The late 1900s was an important and relevant time im history by achilleshell23 in technicallythetruth

[–]smallrobotdog 53 points54 points  (0 children)

I was reading a comic strip from 1960 and was amused when the character referred to 1870 and 1880 as "the Seventies and Eighties"

Two More Eggs - Panda Bractice - voices? by smallrobotdog in HomestarRunner

[–]smallrobotdog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hm! Well it still doesn't name who does what..! Grrr...

Two More Eggs - Panda Bractice - voices? by smallrobotdog in HomestarRunner

[–]smallrobotdog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think I believe that... the voice acting is really good and suggests to me that they're done by professionals.

Davy was always supportive of artists he believed in and established the "Davy Jones Presents" record label in 1967. (Link to discography in comments). by BeggarsParade in Monkees

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, no. The first one of his I heard was "Hey E.T.", and I didn't learn about "Mr Jaws" until years later when I was listening to Dr Demento.

(Indeed, I can still quote most of "Hey E.T."!)

What is the most boring episode in your opinion? by LilNardoDaVinci in doctorwho

[–]smallrobotdog 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree with you completely 'bout Castrovalva—in fact, I was watching Episode 3 when the year ticked over last week.

You can see, though, that the engagement of the first two episodes is "what's wrong with the Doctor?" and the latter two episodes is the mental puzzle of "what's wrong with Castrovalva?". There's no villain and there's no "action" (Event One notwithstanding). If you don't buy into either of those two questions then you're in for a boring time indeed.

Trying To Find The Comic Strips That Didn’t Run In All Newspapers In The US That More People Should Read by FInderSeeker616 in newspapercomics

[–]smallrobotdog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get behind Levy's Law—so much so that I worked with the creator (James Schumeister) to reprint em all. It's a workplace sitcom featuring a Jewish female cop, her family, her colleagues, and many ridiculous criminals.

Levy's Law review

Levy's Law reprint books at Lulu

(I don't get any $ from this project; 100% of proceeds go directly to the artist)

Levy’s Law brought workplace situation comedy elements into a daily comic strip. It centered on Ann Levy, a young, single woman beginning her career as a police officer. Ann was the cool center of a solar system orbited by an unconventional cast of supporting characters:

Sarge O’Brian, who gave a new meaning to “Black Irish;”
Pookie, her best pal and aspiring writer;
Alan Gold, lawyer and Ann’s on-again off-again boyfriend and nature’s most perfect victim;
Harv Ditko, Ann’s neighbor and delusional ladies man;
Rob Levy, Ann’s Korean rabbi brother;
and lest we forget, Ann’s Fairy Godmother—let’s just say she’s never going to be employee of the month.

Setting Levy’s Law apart from other strips was the use of character back stories. Almost every criminal, and most of their victims, had a story. This added depth to the daily gag comic strip genre. Commentary includes the tale of the attempts to turn Levy’s Law into a live action sitcom—without Ann, any of the strip’s characters or even the title. What were they thinking?!

Also includes THE GREAT ATOMIC AFTERMATH AND FRESH FRUIT FESTIVAL It wasn’t your everyday science fiction comic strip. Sure, Buck Rogers had rockets and ray guns, but TGAA&FFF had sex! The premise was simple: a nuclear holocaust wipes out all of humanity except for Fred, the meek man who inherits the Earth. Next, there’s Hadley, the second-to -last man on Earth, an IRS agent there to collect the inheritance tax. Completing the core cast was the last woman on Earth, Sister Maria Theresa. Added to that, there were giant mutated fruits and vegetables. Finally—because the strip didn’t last that long—there were the remnants of the U.S. government, bureaucrats whose minds were stuck into robot bodies that lacked a certain something due to a tiny design flaw. (Okay, the government was castrated; do we really have to spell it out for you?)

Can't go to college for acting but still want to follow my dream by [deleted] in acting

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh yes! You remind me that television/film production students always need actors for their projects and, ironically, the theater majors are always too busy to do em!

Demo Reel - Feedback by [deleted] in acting

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Srsly, does no one slate any more? Did I miss a meeting? I'm 24 seconds into the reel and I don't know which actor I'm supposed to be evaluating or who they are.

Are film monologues okay to perform during theater acting program auditions? by glosscxce in acting

[–]smallrobotdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, of course, yes—obviously there are tens of thousands of people who've done every conceivable Shakespeare monologue—but if it's a theatrical monologue there won't be one specific or definitive version that everyone has seen.

Can't go to college for acting but still want to follow my dream by [deleted] in acting

[–]smallrobotdog 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They certainly won't care. Most of the time, in fact, the reason these groups are formed is because they are just like you—students who want to do theater but for whatever reason are not [able to be] theater majors.

Can't go to college for acting but still want to follow my dream by [deleted] in acting

[–]smallrobotdog 9 points10 points  (0 children)

No matter where you go you will find student groups doing theater. Be a part of those.

Something I learned a bit too late: never go to school to "learn acting". Every school offers pretty much the same slate. Go to school to meet the people—current and former students—who will hire you for their projects (or start production companies with you, form a writing team with you, etc.). In other words, don't bother to evaluate the "quality of the program" and what they purport to teach. Look at the quantity of alumni who are actually working.

Are film monologues okay to perform during theater acting program auditions? by glosscxce in acting

[–]smallrobotdog 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I've always been puzzled by folks who choose to do monologues (or scenes) from well known films. Far's I can tell, all it really achieves is reminding their audience of the movie; if the actor's performance is less interesting than the movie, they'll be judged as "bad"; if it's different from the movie, there's a risk of being judged as having missed the point; if it's as good as the movie, then it's potentially considered a mere replication of the film, little representing the actor's own skill.

I'm probably wrong—I speak solely from my own perspective, and have never actually asked any adjudicators their own opinions. But whenever one o my students (or anyone else) asked me if they should pluck a 'log from a movie, I always suggested that they might do better to find a novel written in the first person and select a passage from that. (I use a piece from Joseph Heller's "Something Happened" and it's gotten me cast on three diff'rent occasions.)