Been a while...

Hey kids.

Sorry for the long wait in blogs, I needed a break from a lot of things for the sake of my role in the play. I decided that the Actors countdown will have to wait for a couple weeks, as I have a much-promised "Mr. H's Favorite 20 Things Ever" hopefully coming this weekend or soon after, since Saturday's my official welcoming into adulthood.

I enjoyed being a child...so much

Whatever, my past 2 weeks have been littered by highly enjoyable repetitiveness. It's basically been school and theater, with a few hang-outs thrown in there. The play's going great, I'm slowly but surely molding my part into a part where both me and my director are satisfied with. I had to learn how to blow a cornet and everything.

Today in particular was probably the best school-related day I've ever had. We had a shorter rehearsal (for a reason I'll come to in a minute), but probably the funnest rehearsal overall. My director, being the ridiculously humorous but sadistic man that he is, had us do whatever the HELL he wanted on stage today. First, I was always doing aerobics, then I believed aliens were coming to get me and my skin was turning green, and then I was constantly slipping and saving myself from falling. It was fun for me, and everyone else in the play, nearly died laughing.

Anyway, so the reason we had a short rehearsal was because there was a district-wide dodgeball tournament for any theater program.

Pictured: Theater kids with a dodgeball

We dressed as Hugh Hefner mixed with Producers, and were the only ones in the games to have matching outfits, so it was cool. We lost, however, to a team that had one gunslinger and 60 or 70 Jenga pieces, ready to tip over at the knock of their support.

Afterward, McDonalds, making fun of Freshman with my theater teacher, and then I came home. I decided to write this blog because today was such a good day that I had to end it by telling it to somebody through a way other than Facebook.

And, now begins the day before my 18th birthday. And as for my actual birthday, not sure, except for dinner with my grandma that night. It should all be fun. I'll be blogging more too, sorry for the wait, if anyone still reads this, at least.

From a man with increasingly slow internet, Bon Voyage. (Which means good travel?)

Badassery

Hey kids.

If you read my blog last week, you know that my next list is the "Top 20 Most Badass Actors/Actresses in Hollywood". This puts a few restrictions on the list. For one, they have to be movie stars, not television stars, that means Chuck Norris and Hugh Laurie don't fit in. Also, I'm splitting it up, so instead of starting at #20, it'll start at #10 (actor) and then go to #10 (actress). That way, I can get an even score on them, so expect 10 males and 10 females.

Nothing creative to say, but whatever.

Anyway...what makes a badass actor? Is it the characters he plays? Or is it his real life persona? To me, it doesn't matter, if they express some sort of badassery at some point in their lives, frequently, they can be on this list. A lot of actors are actually very good at being badass without actually acting. And there are some actors who aren't at all badass but they're so good of actors that they could BECOME badass and scare your shit.

I used to make fun of nuns before this movie...

Some actors are damn-near obvious to be on the list. Clint Eastwood, for sure, I mean, seriously, his name's Clint. Nobody can pull off Clint without being a badass. Also, expect to see some of my personal favorites on there, like David Carridine and Uma Thurman (lol).

Anyway, badass actors are very hard to come by nowadays. Nowadays, you can't be "badass" without being "pretty" which is why they make Twilight the way it is, they try to be "hardcore" but they just miss what it takes. Making it rare to see any new-age actor become badass. Meryl Streep, Clint Eastwood, Gerard Depardieu, they're badass, but they're old-age. We'll never find badass actors anymore

Anyway, as far as my life goes, same old thing, lack of blogs is because of lack of events. My theater director called me a "Living Cartoon Character" today, that's a real new label for me, I think I like it. Other than that, rehearsals, school, all the same.

Other than that, I have nothing more to say, expect the new list this weekend, later!

Mr. H's Song of the Week 9/12-9/19

Hiya.

I've drowned myself in so much Postal Service that it's hard for me to come out with a really stand-outish song for this week, however, I made a decision!

I've been listening to this song a lot more lately, really soothing, too.

Credit goes to my friend Melody for showing me this song.

Mr. H's Song of the Week 9/12-9/19:
Sky Sailing - Tennis Elbow

Maw-Chet-Tay

Hey kids.

So, I was out pretty much the whole weekend. I went to my first ever high school football game (I'm a loser, I know). But regardless, it was really fun. We lost to our rivals, but oh well, bound to happen sometime. It was incredibly fun, I sat with all my friends from Theater, and I had to CHAAAAAAAARGE every time we got a touchdown (once). We were loud, and in the end, my voice didn't hurt, so I'm making progress on this talking thing.

Mr. H loves progress

Anyway, afterward, I went to my friend's house and stayed there till today. Note that a fight began after the game right in front of me after I remarked that a fight should be happening right now, so right now I'm trying to think of something apocalyptic, and I'm hoping that apocalypse happens to some country that doesn't matter, just to test my theory.

Anyway, come Saturday, I was invited to go to the movies with his family, and I did. What movie did we see? Machete. Or rather, Maw-Chet-Tay, apparently we've been pronouncing it wrong for the bulk of history. Regardless, the movie was pretty entertaining. I went to see it having no idea what the plot was even about or what the movie even represented, turns out it was about ridiculousness, and it represented ridiculousness.

Are those altocumulus clouds?

It was a good movie, but only if you appreciate that level of actiony ridiculousness, my friend's mom sure didn't. It's got some gore too, I'd certainly never use a small intestine to escape from a hospital, I'd get my hands dirty.

So, because of this movie, a Eureka moment happened, and my next list has been decided: "Top 20 Most Badass Actors and Actresses in Hollywood History", that'll be a hard list, and it's my first movie-related list. However, it seems exciting to do.

But, until then, I have to start memorizing lines and practice more diaphragmatic breathing. How fun.

I forgot this book existed.

Decided to wait a couple days.

So I thought, "why not blog this week to accumulate a mass amount of things to talk about"? So I did, and the result was pretty disappointing. I think the repetition in how my days nowadays are spent will continue for at least 2 more months, but that's okay because I'm repetitiously having fun doing it all.

Anyway, the "blocking" has reached a bit past the halfway mark, and now I need to start memorizing lines, this is a strong point of mine because I have damn near super memory, so I'm not worried about that. What I AM worried about is the whole diaphragmatic breathing and speaking, now, I've started to get the hang of the edge on what I need to do, but it's hard for someone who just started doing it. My throat stops hurting very quickly after CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGing, which is a good thing!

But with Teddy Roosevelt

But yeah, my life right now is basically all about the school play, because I'm that excited for it, I could write three different blogs about three different aspects of the play right now, very easily, but I'll spare you all that much. Just know that it's the main reason you'll be seeing less blogs as time comes, because it's taking up the time that I used to use to think of something to talk about or for something to happen to me. And I don't like daily blogging anyway, MY BLOG, MY SCHEDULE.

Anyway, today's a special day, our football game against our rival school, so I'm going to the game in a little while, and I'll be screaming....but with my diaphragm. That's basically where my Friday's headed. Until then, I'll be playing Pokemon SoulSilver, trading random people for Shiny Pokemon.

Interested?

Anyway, the shortage of things to talk about comes to no surprise for me, and I'll probably be like this for a while longer. One last thing, my Senior paper's officially about my view on religion and how I think society could flourish even better without it. Remember my Mr. H vs God blog? Well, it's that, but for a grade.

As Dr. Einstein says in the play: "Vell, Bon Voyage..."

Mr. H's Song of the Week 9/5-9/12

I found A LOT of music in the past few weeks, this week was hard. Unlike last week were The Postal Service's entire album pretty much dominated my week, I was able to single one song out this week.

Credit goes to a friend of mine who's really into the Indie scene, this song has to be one of the best music videos I've ever seen.

Mr. H's Song of the Week:
Hold Your Horses! - 70 Million

Mr. H's Top 50

Hey kids, some of my friends know that in addition to the lists I do periodically, I make an occasional Top 50 List of my current favorite 50 songs. I do this so people can get a feel for the kind of music I listen to on a daily basis. I usually post them at the beginning of a certain period of time, such as the end of Summer or Winter. For this one, the occasion is the beginning of my Senior year. It's interesting for me to compare my tastes in music from last lists and then make new ones. Unlike my other lists, this is 100% opinion.

Main thing you need to know is that on my Top 50 lists, only one song per artist is allowed, not counting featurings and if they were in a band prior (Like if I had both a Beatles song and Wings song)

Links are provided on each entry to listen to the song somewhere (probably Youtube unless I cannot find the song on Youtube).

So, here we are, Mr. H's current Top 50 (it's a countdown, so #1 is best):

50. The Police - Every Breath You Take
49. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
48. Three Days Grace - Break
47. Korn - Freak on a Leash
46. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
45. Blue October - Congratulations
44. Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
43. Weezer - Perfect Situation
42. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
41. Imagine - A Perfect Circle
40. Shinedown - If You Only Knew
39. Evanescence - My Immortal
38. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve in Sarajevo
37. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
36. The Ting Tings - We Walk
35. Michael Jackson - Who Is It
34. La Roux - Bulletproof
33. Queen ft. David Bowie - Under Pressure
32. Collective Soul - The World I Know
31. Styx - Mr. Roboto
30. Madonna - Ray of Light
29. Train - Drops of Jupiter
28. Hold Your Horses! - 70 Million
27. Kid2Will - Fire Aura
26. Alanis Morissette - Forgiven
25. John Lennon - Watching the Wheels
24. Flobots - Handlebars
23. Paper Route - Are We All Forgotten
22. Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
21. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
20. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
19. Nancy Sinatra ft. Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning
18. Pink - Just Like a Pill
17. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
16. Rob Dougan - Clubbed to Death
15. Sky Sailing - Tennis Elbow
14. I Fight Dragons - Money
13. The All-American Rejects ft. The Pierces - Another Heart Calls
12. Coldplay - Viva la Vida
11. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
10. Dido - White Flag
9. Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
8. Chicane ft. Adam Young - MiddleDistanceRunner
7. The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money
6. 30 Seconds to Mars ft. Kanye West - Hurricane
5. Daft Punk - Digital Love
4. LIGHTS - February Air
3. Owl City - Rainbow Veins
2. Justice - D.A.N.C.E
1. The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

This list was exceedingly hard to make

There you guys have it, please give me opinions, etc, and be sure to listen to a few of the songs.

Whoever created our airways was one hell of a troll.

Honestly, what the hell, why did you give us two ways to breathe, rather than just one. By default, we humans breathe through our lungs, but a good number of us manipulate our bodies and brains to breath through the diaphragm, making breathing healthier as well as enhancing our voicing and singing skills, among other things.

"BLAME THE RUSSIANS"

Anyway, the reason why I'm ranting to begin with is because I have to learn how to do this diaphragmatic breathing/talking for the play. You see, as my character is a mentally ill man who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, it's only natural that I have to scream "CHAAARGE" at the top of my lungs while running up the stairs. Maybe about 5 or 6 times, I'm not sure. That doesn't really matter though, what matters is that I do it without using my throat, because if I do, it'll rip it apart and I'll only be able to scream it once or twice.

So, when I got home yesterday, I researched the ways people convert to diaphragmatic breathing, and it all consisted of laying down and breathing with your stomach for a while. Which is what I did...religiously...yesterday. I had a spur of the moment type-thing and ended up projecting my voice really well yesterday but I haven't been able to do it as well today, I tried to do it when I was quizzing the French class, but I wasn't satisfied.

So, my plans for my 3-day weekend are to religiously practice this breathing wearing gym pants and a t-shirt. And then I'll move on to projecting and screaming with my diaphragm during rehearsals, Monday through Thursday.

Other than that, I'm having a lot of fun with my character, I love playing around with my mannerisms when I rehearse him. And we're going to add a lot of gimmicks afterward, like me having a stuffed lion and HOPEFULLY, if the director allows it, a fake sword to carry around. It'll be great fun. On a sad note, I can't go to the LIGHTS concert because a stage performance falls on that date, but that's 100% fine, because that night will be very fun anyway.

Anyway, as Einstein says in the upcoming play, Bon Voyage!

Theodore Roosevelt?

I'm torn, really, it's a hard role. 

I love the role, there's no doubting that, every single line he has is able to make anyone laugh. Since I'm playing a man who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, I had to draw inspiration from somewhere, but right now I'm thinking I drew it from the wrong place. You see, since I'm playing a man who's lost in another time, I drew inspiration from the Major from Soap, he still thinks he's in WWII, so it's the same scenario. Though, I didn't research Teddy Roosevelt himself, so my character didn't match Teddy well enough for me to be satisfied.

Acting causes energy outbursts.

This doesn't mean I was doing the character wrong, just not up to what I want to bring the character up to be. So, I've decided to switch it up a bit. I'm not going to morph my voice as I was before, I'm going to use my actual voice, but I'm going to put emphasis on consonants, and TRY to talk very slowly, as Teddy Roosevelt did. Now, I'm not trying to play Theodore Roosevelt here, because I'm going to put my own spacey, aloof twist on it. But I believe I was playing a character that was too hyperactive and rough with his voice (and I was talking way too fast, but that was a problem to begin with).

But really, this blog's here to ask for you, the reader's, suggestions. What would you do if you were playing a mentally ill middle-aged man who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt? I really, really want to know. When I came home from rehearsals today, I watched part of the Arsenic and Lace movie and then some live performances, and every single person played Teddy differently, and none of them appealed to me personally, they were funny, but I couldn't see me doing it the way they did it. I talked to my mom today about it, and she told me exactly how she envisioned ME playing the role, and it helped out a lot, that's why I'm asking for your guys' opinion here.

As Teddy himself once said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" (and I'm hoping to physically incorporate that into what will be the final character). The goal right now is to experiment, so what I've done up to now may end up being the final product, but as of right now it won't be. It'll end up being a mixture of almost everything I experiment with over the next week or two. The theater director said that was the goal of the beginning process for us, experiment, put the Mr. H twist on it. So, that's what I'll try my hardest to do.



So, in short, my plan, for tomorrow (last rehearsal of the week), is to start speaking extremely softly and fluently, just like Teddy himself does, and most importantly, put some sort of Mr. H twist on it, what is this twist? I'm not sure yet, I'll be sure to find out when I'm about to start rehearsing tomorrow.

But please, give me your opinions! I've never really felt this kind of excitement, so I need to make sure it's done just right.