Last Chance, Kiddies

Well, this Friday morning airs the final episode (for now?) of Pendemonium. TLC, Six to Six Thirty. That's all twelve. And right before the end of the year, too.

I want to see it. I mean, I performed it, and I have all the episodes on DVDs generously provided by the studio; but I want to see it on the TV screen. Complete with commercial interruptions. Dark Marker on The Learning Channel. Outstanding.

I can't shake how huge this year has been in regards to change. Friends have gotten married. Others have gotten engaged. Friends have had their first children. Heather got her Master's Degree. And me? A new look, new address, new job; and for the first time, my voice has been on cable. Hopefully not the last time...

I don't know which is stranger; the fact that all this has happened in the last 365 days, or that I had a sense that it was coming. Or is that just BS, and I made the changes happen because I felt they were due?

Your guess is as good as mine.

This year has seen its share of joys, challenges and pain. Successful ventures and flat-on-my-face failures. Certainly a full year to be sure. I don't know why I'm yammering on like this. Could be because it's two o'clock, and thanks to the nap earlier I'm not tired. Could be the pain killers (which have subsided).

Well. What the hell. I'm calling it a night anyway. Cheers, folks. Sweet dreams.

Have You Met Dark Marker?

Folks, I'm tickled to report that the people behind Pendemonium have developed a delightful educational tool for online use; namely a grammar game. Starring us.

Six games (based on the first six episodes of the show) are on www.cosmeo.com. To find them, simply go to the site and do a search for Dark Marker.

But wait! What if you want to actually play the game, you ask? I thought of this too. I created a log-in for anyone to use if they like to give the games a try. Log in as Darkmarker (one word), with the password being: evil. (Bwu ha ha ha ha ma ha)

The log-in is only gonna be valid for a few weeks, so now's the time if'n you wanna try it out.

As Rick pointed out, he 'kicked my ass' all over the place; and I'll tell you the same thing I told him: Try losing on purpose. The ending's different if ya do. *grins*

Good luck, kiddies.

In Other News

Oh. Yesterday? Phenomenal.

Hopped on the Metro to Chinatown, met Amanda in plenty of time to get to the Studio. We were like a pair of kids in a candy store. She put it best-- it was entirely out of her scope of experience. Yes, she’s been on stage before, and knows the acting world… but this was a completely different arena.

Getting in the studio, seeing the process behind the scenes… having Karen and I banter back and forth in character (with Karen scoring the majority of palpable hits)… just great.

It gets very warm in the recording booth: No fan or AC (either of which would make unwelcome noise). I ended up takin’ off my shirt, it was so freaking warm in there. Still had an undershirt on, of course, but I didn’t wanna get any hotter than I already was.

The recording went great. In addition to the episodes, Dark Marker had some lines of discouragement for the end of an interactive game, if the player loses too many points. It should come as little surprise that I got a bit carried away:

“Sorry, kiddies! Tell mom and dad not to splurge the college fund just yet! That Academic Scholarship isn’t looking quite so likely.” Followed by derisive laughter, or course.

After hours of this, we made our way to Sonoma. For the third consecutive visit, we were seated at the exact same table. We may have to install a tiny plaque or something: Official site of the Aught Six Round Table. HAH.

All in all, it was a spectacular day. Start to finish.

Have a good one, folks. I know I plan to.

Be Where, The Ides Of March?

Where indeed! I'm headed into DC in less than an hour, folks. Off for one of my *favorite* pastimes... hearing myself talk. HAH.

Headed for the studio, actually, to record the final 3 episodes of Pendemonium. Will there be more to come?? Who can say.

I can say this: It'll be a blast. Amanda's coming with me to see the studio. My brother managed to stop in for a spell, last time; and had nothing but good things to say of the experience. This is fun.

There will hopefully be stories to regale you with later on, but for now, I'll content myself to say that Dark Marker shall rise again!

*Cue Evil Laughter*

All The News That's Barely Fit To Print

Last night at rehearsal… was last night at rehearsal. Some parts went great, others not so much.

Byck evidently hates his damn sandwich, in his first speech. Jenna brings me the ingredients I need to make it since she’s not feeling well, and I put the bloody sandwich in the bag and off we go.

To date, various incarnations of the sandwich have nearly flown off stage, gotten crumbs on the tape recorder, or just generally presented a choking hazard as I try to tirade around half a mouthful of sandwich. Demosthenes would be so proud.

Last night, the sandwich finally got its wings. Whoosh it went, down it fell on the stage, completely free of its wrapping. Oy. I made sure I picked it up before I skedaddled, but that is the *last* time I’m touching the damn thing during the scene. Just wasn’t in the cards.

So get this: We’re getting ready for vocal warm-ups, and Jeff (our Charles “I Am Gonna Lose My Beardy” Guiteau) walks up to me and says, “I want in.” Huh? What?

Jeff wants the fame and glory that go hand in hand with being mentioned in my blog. Of course, no-one else has collected their allotted fame and glory, so it’s just sitting here. I’m delighted to have been asked, though. More power to me. Mwa ha ha ha.

OOH: Speaking of Mwa ha ha ha, I’m headed back into the booth this afternoon, where I will be using a number of accents. Including my French. Haven’t had cause to use that one in a while, so it’ll be fun to blow the dust off and see what happens.

And in one week… I return to the studio in DC to wrap up Season 2 of Pendemonium. Dark Marker will strike again. Yes indeed! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Weekend Update

Long weekend. Full weekend, dear readers, but a long weekend. I saw Ten Little Indians, and finished work on the sock puppet show that will very likely ensure the writer’s place in Hell (I just performed it, therefore keeping me morally in the clear).

Ten was good. I’ve got a soft spot for murder mysteries. Sara Joy did a bang-up job as essentially the only non-morally-reprehensible character in the show: In the book and film, all the characters deserve to meet a grisly, stabby, death-trappy end. But if you’re gonna see a play, you feel the need to root for somebody, so they cleaned up the character a bit to make her more sympathetic. That’s showbiz for ya. Good show. Pip pip pip.

Also this weekend was the 12,000th day of marriage for some very close friends of the family. 12,000 days. Do the math if ya like, that’s 32 years and change. They’re still together, they’re still happy. Got a little choked up. Seriously, they’re one terrific example of how to do it right.

After the anniversary party I headed to Frederick for a really good night of Improv. Great audience, very receptive, and we were on. Shazam. Exhausting stuff, but darn fun all the same.

Auditioned for one show this morning, and got another one tomorrow night. Neither are what I’d call geographically close, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve trekked for a show. And it’s worth it.

Course, I came back home and slept for four hours, because dammit, I was sleepy.

After the show this morning, some cast members and I went to the IHOP. We discussed ways for one diner to break up with her boyfriend for some fairly jerk-worthy behavior. We ran the gamut and heard from Sean Connery (two impressions, Jays and mine), Nicodemus, Lady Enid, just me, and Dark Marker. She’s looking forward to telling the guy off. And now she’s got plenty of ammo.

I have no idea what’s gonna happen this week. It’ll be busy, but I’m not quite sure yet just how busy.

More to follow, people. More to follow.