{"id":310,"date":"2010-11-12T18:05:22","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T23:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/?p=310"},"modified":"2010-11-12T18:05:22","modified_gmt":"2010-11-12T23:05:22","slug":"post-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/?p=310","title":{"rendered":"Post of the Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wow.\u00a0 This is how bad I&#8217;ve become.\u00a0 I&#8217;m actually a year behind on this blog.\u00a0 UNACCEPTABLE!<\/p>\n<p>So, in the spirit of catching up, here&#8217;s October 2009 through September 2010.\u00a0 Details have been forgotten (I&#8217;ve pieced this together through emails and appointment books), names have been changed to protect the innocent, and let&#8217;s face it, even my most devoted readers will be hard-pressed to make it through an entire year&#8217;s worth of my life.\u00a0 (Albeit a reasonably quiet year.)\u00a0 Plus, as the Simpsons&#8217; parody of Reader&#8217;s Digest once pointed out, &#8220;Brevity is&#8230;wit.&#8221;\u00a0 So here it is.<\/p>\n<p><strong>October 2009:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Billy Stutter went up as part of the Bad Dog Short Play Festival.\u00a0 We had great turnout (in no small part due to my stage father), great buzz, and, in my humble opinion, a great production.\u00a0 So enthused were we that we started making plans to take this sucker on a Fringe tour, knowing full well that we would make absolutely no money.\u00a0 It was really a lot of fun, and it had been ages since I&#8217;d put up a play in Toronto, so it was very gratifying as well.<\/li>\n<li>I did my first Comics for Kids.\u00a0 (Pretty sure it was my first.\u00a0 Give me a break, it was a year ago!)\u00a0 It&#8217;s a monthly program where a bunch of improvisers go down to the Hospital for Sick Children and put on a show.\u00a0 We had a similar program in Vancouver, there called Laughter is the Best Medicine.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a great program, and of course, it&#8217;s nice to be reminded that comedy can be important.\u00a0 Particularly driven home in Toronto, because sometimes after the show in the theatre, you do a quick tour of the bed-bound kids and give them their own private shows.\u00a0 If that don&#8217;t melt your heart but also make you feel you&#8217;re doing something worthwhile, nothing will.\u00a0 (This picture is from a subsequent show, but it captures it pretty well)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/comics-for-kids.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-313 aligncenter\" title=\"comics for kids\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/comics-for-kids-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/comics-for-kids-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/comics-for-kids.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I shot a few scenes for The Palace, a web series written by Connor Thompson and Ashley Comeau and directed by Lucas Gindin.\u00a0 My part is small, but the project looks pretty awesome.\u00a0 The whole stinking thing is green-screened!\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the trailer, which I&#8217;m not in, but it gives you an idea of what it will be.\u00a0 I know I&#8217;m looking forward to it!:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/BaP1Gm92guI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/BaP1Gm92guI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For his birthday, I took Evan to see Paul F. Tompkins.\u00a0 The first time for him, and if you&#8217;ve never had the privilege, see Paul F. Tompkins live.\u00a0 If there&#8217;s a better standup comedian in the world, I&#8217;ve yet to see him.\u00a0 (And I&#8217;ve seen some pretty big names in my day.)\u00a0 We bought a CD and had him sign it.\u00a0 This is what he had to say:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00718.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-317 alignnone\" title=\"DSC00718\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00718-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"573\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00718-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00718-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So far, so good!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I did a scene from Hurlyburly by David Rabe at Power Play Theatre, with the lovely, talented and tennis-attending Marsha Mason.\u00a0 (Given the frequency with which I update this blog, I thought it was worth distinguishing from the OTHER Marsha Mason.)\u00a0 Though I may never get to live one of my dreams and play Eddie in a full production (if I could even learn the part&#8230;it&#8217;s a LOT of play!), I&#8217;ve done a scene in front of an audience, damnit, and it went just fine!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>November 2009:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I was in the Don&#8217;t You Forget About Patrick Swayze marathon, the Dirty Dancing part.\u00a0 Good times were had, I was Neil, the neurotic nephew (typecast much?), and my audience suggestion for historical figure I was modeling myself after was FDR.\u00a0 That&#8217;s why the following picture isn&#8217;t offensive:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Dont-You-Forget-About-Patrick-Swayze.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-324 aligncenter\" title=\"Don't You Forget About Patrick Swayze\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Dont-You-Forget-About-Patrick-Swayze-300x254.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Dont-You-Forget-About-Patrick-Swayze-300x254.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Dont-You-Forget-About-Patrick-Swayze.jpg 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Frankenmatt came to town!\u00a0 That&#8217;s Frank Caeti and Matt Craig!\u00a0 Yep, Matt Craig, my director for the ship and the inventor of Toast Your Vacation!\u00a0 I saw their show and then hung around with them for the rest of the evening into the fairly wee hours.\u00a0 Suffice it to say, my impression of Matt as best person on the planet remains intact.\u00a0 Frank was also very awesome.\u00a0 And their stage show was awesome, but of course.<\/li>\n<li>Another trip to Montreal, another hockey game played at the&#8230;umm, what is it now&#8230;the Bell Centre?\u00a0 You know, where the Habs play!\u00a0 So that was pretty cool, though the coolest part was the Rez Dogs reunion, of course.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a good pic to prove it.\u00a0 (And, for whatever reason, my on-ice pics aren&#8217;t cooperating.\u00a0 But I should also note that Jon Dewolfe was also there for the weekend, a bonus not only for me because he&#8217;s so awesome, but also for the world, because it allowed us a full Original Rez Dog Five!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00728.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-325 aligncenter\" title=\"DSC00728\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00728-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00728-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC00728-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When I returned from Montreal, Uncle Bobo was in town, so the family picked me up at the bus station and we went directly for pho.\u00a0 It&#8217;s what our family does.\u00a0 Oh, what a month of reunions!\u00a0 And it wasn&#8217;t over yet!<\/li>\n<li>Okay, so the Bad Dog Holiday Party can only be called a reunion in the sense that you can go awhile without seeing people, even when you live in the same city.\u00a0 But always nice to party with your peers (especially when they&#8217;re such swinging folks), and it yielded this, an awesome picture of the Hershfield brothers if ever I saw one.\u00a0 (Turns out all we needed to be photogenic was a pretty girl!\u00a0 Good rule of thumb, folks!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Hershfield-vs.-Hershfield-publicity.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-327 aligncenter\" title=\"Hershfields plus Nicole Wilson\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Hershfield-vs.-Hershfield-publicity-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"573\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Hershfield-vs.-Hershfield-publicity-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Hershfield-vs.-Hershfield-publicity-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And towards the end of the month, Darcy and Courtney came to town! Semi-re-reunion!\u00a0 We just had a breakfast but still, good times.\u00a0 Which is good, because&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>December 2009:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Seems to have been fairly uneventful.\u00a0 I did do a part in a webseries by Lindsay Grant and Erin Rodgers, which, as far as I know, hasn&#8217;t yet materialized.\u00a0 Suffice it to say, I play a regrettable one-night stand, complete with sparkly underwear, so if it gets lost to the ravages of filmdom, we&#8217;ll call my feelings &#8220;mixed.&#8221;\u00a0 Could be pretty funny, though&#8230;such is the burden of the human sight gag&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Without checking my calendar, pretty sure Hanukkah and Christmas fall in December.\u00a0 I&#8217;m sure there was much revelry and even more food, but the details escape me.\u00a0 I also can&#8217;t really remember New Years&#8217;, but I think it was spent at Rob and Fiona&#8217;s; I vaguely recall taking public transit home later at night then public transit would normally allow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>January 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I went to the public screening of Death Comes to Town at the CBC Building.\u00a0 The Kids in the Hall were all on stage, just being funny.\u00a0 I opted not to take pictures, but they were all there, and so was I.\u00a0 Fun.<\/li>\n<li>Globehead happened.\u00a0 I posted a little something about it at the time, because there was an article.\u00a0 Suffice it to say, it was a very fun night of improv, as it tends to be when Dave Pearce and I take the stage together.\u00a0 In the spirit of bringing some continuity back (Justin Timberlake can have &#8220;sexy&#8221;, I&#8217;ve got my own priorities!), here&#8217;s the link to the article again: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyeweekly.com\/comedy\/article\/81489\">http:\/\/www.eyeweekly.com\/comedy\/article\/81489<\/a><\/li>\n<li>I was in a benefit show for Haiti called Seriously Funny.\u00a0 Far be it from me to pass up a chance to mention something positive I&#8217;ve done!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>February 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I become a head-writer\/director for Vanguard Theatre&#8217;s new sketch division team, Emergency Bingo.\u00a0 It was a pretty good experience, all things told.\u00a0 I struggled a little with the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pantedness of a nascent company (I found it hard to keep people motivated to produce as the show date was pushed back, and then, I personally like to know my performance dates at least a week in advance), and I gave it up when I had to bear down for the Fringe (and, in all honesty, it ended up feeling like a big time commitment to other people&#8217;s writing when I should have been working more on my own), but it was a fun group, I feel we did some good work, and there&#8217;s a few of them I definitely expect to see more of around the city in years to come.\u00a0 I hope I was useful to them.<\/li>\n<li>The Basketballers of Basketball kicks off.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a basketball game I organize, we play at Central Tech, and we lack in skill and the gym lacks in polish, we make up for in moxie.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t know if it will pay dividends in the future, but it&#8217;s been interesting seeing my worlds collide on the court.\u00a0 And, just so you know, Vancouver (if you&#8217;re listening), I have mad skills now.\u00a0 And some day, I shall return.\u00a0 (Mind you, those little high-school shits I beat in my greatest sporting triumph are probably my size now, so maybe I shouldn&#8217;t&#8230;)<\/li>\n<li>I perform at Dual Duel with Ted Hallett under the name Mongo.\u00a0 Twenty-five minutes, one scene, one location, no rehearsal, several compliments.\u00a0 We&#8217;ve still got the magic, we do!\u00a0 (Reminder to self: improvise more with Ted.)<\/li>\n<li>Another Drinks for No Reason, another picture people like.\u00a0 Ta da!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Drinks-for-No-Reason-shot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-336\" title=\"Drinks for No Reason shot\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Drinks-for-No-Reason-shot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Drinks-for-No-Reason-shot.jpg 720w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Drinks-for-No-Reason-shot-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I do my first show at Timothy&#8217;s with the great Gord Oxley!\u00a0 (Also the great Rob Hawke and the great Sam Agro.)\u00a0 This will become relevant later in the post.<\/li>\n<li>Through Vanguard, I meet Christine Nangle.\u00a0 She does a Q &amp; A, and I chat her for a few minutes after.\u00a0 Her name is in the closing credits of Saturday Night Live as a writer.\u00a0 I think that&#8217;s nifty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>March 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I go to the Toronto Sketchfest&#8217;s Best of the Fest show, featuring Haircut, Accidental Company, and Last Call Cleveland.\u00a0 Funny.<\/li>\n<li>I go (with Brad) to My Mother&#8217;s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding.\u00a0 Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant.<\/li>\n<li>I go (with Jenny) to my first Toronto Rock lacrosse game.\u00a0 Poignant.<\/li>\n<li>My birthday.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t remember the details, really.\u00a0 I mostly remember my mother giving away my cake.\u00a0 Not that I&#8217;m bitter.\u00a0 Or, you know, five&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>April 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I played in the Pylon Cup, a hockey game for Peter Moscone&#8217;s birthday.\u00a0 I mention it because I scored my prettiest goal ever.\u00a0 Well, sort of.\u00a0 Normally, my goals are scored as one-timers, either from being parked in front of the net or skating to the net, but it&#8217;s very rare for me to carry the puck in.\u00a0 This is the only goal I can remember where I skated the puck in from outside the blue line.\u00a0 Not only that, but rather than going straight to the net, I went hard down the boards, circled out of the corner wide of the defenceman (who was, in fairness, far and away the best player on the ice, and consequently taking it REALLY easy on us), and tucked it in on the short side.\u00a0 It also gave Evan and I a chance to do our obnoxious &#8220;Hershfields!\u00a0 Hershfields!&#8221; chant (a la &#8220;Mandelbaum!&#8221; from Seinfeld), much practiced at volleyball games but rarely seen in hockey.<\/li>\n<li>We shoot Femme Fetal.\u00a0 Those of you who read this blog have already seen it (I couldn&#8217;t wait!), but there&#8217;s more news on this front.\u00a0 As you may recall, we made it for 7 Day Shorts.\u00a0 Well, someone must have liked it (or, just as likely, they were looking for more Toronto content, but still&#8230;) because it got &#8220;called up&#8221; to the main Second City Network page.\u00a0 As far as I&#8217;ve seen, it was the second to come out of Canada (and only one more since), and it&#8217;s the only one (again, as far as I know) that was written originally for the web.\u00a0 And while it apparently needed to be more sassy, more gay and more friendly, 30,000+ hits (and climbing, I believe) ain&#8217;t too bad for a first-timer, I say!\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the shortened version they used:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/9wnXSlBPz8Y?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/9wnXSlBPz8Y?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The family and I see the Raptors play the Celtics (my birthday present).\u00a0 The Celtics go through the motions, knowing that victory is practically guaranteed.\u00a0 Still pretty entertaining, and Rondo made one play that actually made everyone there gasp.<\/li>\n<li>Morgan and Michele visit.\u00a0 We have a lovely breakfast together, and then a fairly lovely walk along the waterfront that would have been lovelier had breakfast not ended up violently disagreeing with me.\u00a0 (Think Tony Soprano and Ralphie, after Ralphie killed that horse.)\u00a0 Still, lovely all the same.\u00a0 I like visitors.<\/li>\n<li>Second City Generals again.\u00a0 As per my usual, good first round, not so good callback.\u00a0 But no one really rocked it, at least not in the improv.\u00a0 Some very good sketch performances, including Ashley Comeau&#8217;s.\u00a0 Not only was it impressive at the time, I know it was good because&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Ashley drops out of our Fringe tour to do a cruise ship.\u00a0 Why, oh why, did I make it sound so appealing?!?\u00a0 Curse this infernal blog!!!\u00a0 After a brief interlude of self-pity and panic, I move into crisis-mode and start thinking of people I know who might do it and that I would be happy with.\u00a0 I come up with a list of about four, and one of them says &#8220;Yes&#8221;: the lovely and talented Dana Fradkin.\u00a0 This makes me very happy, because not only do I know she&#8217;ll be great, it&#8217;s good Fringe and theatre karma for me, because Dana was in my very first Fringe play, and while I look back on it with fondness and acceptance that every playwright has to have a first play, I also somewhat cringe knowing what I&#8217;ve learned over the years.\u00a0 So the chance to put her in a better play of mine (I think) is lovely.\u00a0 Mind you, the task of mounting the show becomes a lot more time-consuming (as it&#8217;s no longer so much\u00a0 a remount), but all things considered, if we had to go it without Ashley, it really couldn&#8217;t have worked out any better.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>May 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I act in a video for Pat Smith.\u00a0 Blink and you&#8217;ll miss me, but I&#8217;m in it.\u00a0 Well, not so much blink&#8230;you&#8217;d probably have to rub your eyes to miss me.\u00a0 Oh, see for yourself!:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/YTUuarJ1Svs?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/YTUuarJ1Svs?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>May 12th, I have one of those crazy days people in demand probably have all the time.\u00a0 I have a Billy Stutter rehearsal in the afternoon, a Mr. Clean (my Harold team) rehearsal in the late afternoon\/early evening, the first (and for me, only) Emergency Bingo show at night, and then shot Friendly Friday at 10 p.m.\u00a0 (We were rained out the day before.)\u00a0 Friendly Friday was the second collaboration for Brad and I on a 7 Day Short, and I was very grateful that the talented Alice Moran was able to join us (and carry me, acting-wise.)\u00a0 Personally still figuring out the whole acting-for-camera thing, and, as mentioned, end of a long day, and I know Brad was a little disappointed with the look (an experiment to see in how low light this camera could shoot, the answer to which was not quite this low) but I&#8217;m generally\u00a0 happy with it, I think my writing&#8217;s okay and the editing was good, Alice is great, and besides, I heard Jim Annan thought it was funny, so what else do I need?\u00a0 Though it probably deserves its own post, for now&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mNEQKYg52t0?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mNEQKYg52t0?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Billy Stutter has a benefit.\u00a0 Fairly sparsely attended, but those who showed up got an awesome show.\u00a0 See Spot Run rock, Chris Gibbs is awesome, and people got very good returns on their lottery ticket purchases!<\/li>\n<li>I do CageMatch with Marcel St. Pierre and Kerry Griffin.\u00a0 A very fun if wanky night.\u00a0 Most importantly, we can now lay claim to the name Male Pattern Boldness!\u00a0 Too good to only use once, I say&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Chris Dingwall comes to town.\u00a0 It&#8217;s awesome.\u00a0 As per usual.\u00a0 Next year in Chicago!<\/li>\n<li>The Combustion Festival returns to town, and though I don&#8217;t see much, I do see the Sunday Service guys.\u00a0 Have a nice chit-chat with my &#8220;boychik&#8221; Ryan Beil.\u00a0 Now if I could only get him to return an email&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>June 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I am in Alley of the Dolls, an improvised homage to &#8220;Valley of the Dolls.&#8221;\u00a0 McClendon, if you&#8217;re reading this, I improvised in a vest.<\/li>\n<li>This is when Femme Fetal actually got the bump to the Second City Network.\u00a0 I feel pride.\u00a0 (Though I did experience that classic Hollywood treatment of writers, where they only got in touch with Brad and initially prepared all the contracts with his name only.\u00a0 So we&#8217;ll call it pride with just a sprig of bitterness.)<\/li>\n<li>Alright, this is where keeping a daily blog would have been useful.\u00a0 The Ottawa Fringe was much fun.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t remember all of what happened or the order it happened in, but some fun things I do remember include dancing like idiots at Chats with Cat and partaking in witty banter with Brad MacNeil (time warp!), eating a gourmet meal by Chef Blackie (which I couldn&#8217;t afford, but I&#8217;m glad I had), meeting various parents (Brad&#8217;s dad, Dana&#8217;s mom), a virtual Rez Dogs&#8217; reunion (Darcy, Jon, and Ian), much hanging out with Darcy (I stayed with him), slightly crashing a wedding, a trip to a cottage&#8230;oh, yes, and the play!\u00a0 Much fun!\u00a0 Many pictures can be seen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.billystutter.com\/?page_id=204\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 And this is us crashing a wedding, and rocking out at the cottage:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Wedding-Crashers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-348 aligncenter\" title=\"Wedding Crashers\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Wedding-Crashers-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Wedding-Crashers-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Wedding-Crashers.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Danas-cottage.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-349 aligncenter\" title=\"Dana's cottage\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Danas-cottage-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Danas-cottage-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Danas-cottage.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>July 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I don&#8217;t know what the rule is about women&#8217;s birthdays.\u00a0 I know you&#8217;re not supposed to discuss their ages, but does that mean you&#8217;re not supposed to draw attention to their birthdays?\u00a0 At any rate, my mother has a birthday.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a big one.<\/li>\n<li>Ottawa Fringe is over, Toronto Fringe begins.\u00a0 I saw a lot (though I left a lot of shows for Winnipeg).\u00a0 I think my personal fave was probably &#8220;Public Speaking&#8221; by Chris Craddock, who tends to blow my mind.\u00a0 Equally mindblowing, though technically not part of the Fringe, Uncalled For presented their show &#8220;Hypnagogic Logic&#8221;, which was incredible.\u00a0 There was a lot of other good stuff, too much to revisit here (I&#8217;ve been writing this post for hours!), but I will mention, since this baby did start out as a boat blog, that Ashley&#8217;s troupe Punch in the Box had a smash hit on their hands with their appropriately named &#8220;Pick of the Fringe&#8221;, and they&#8217;ve pretty much been dominating the local scene ever since.\u00a0 Also of boatnewsworthiness, Megan came up for a visit, and we all had a lovely evening at the Fringe tent.\u00a0 (Which, moved to Honest Ed&#8217;s Alley this year, was awesome, and a great hub for the performing community, and I hope it stays that awesome.)\u00a0 And lastly, on a personal note, thank you, Dan Jeannotte, for remembering who I was.<\/li>\n<li>I have a nice little coffee-meeting with Julianne, then (sniff) of Second City.\u00a0 In addition to some catching up, I&#8217;m offered a spot on The Bench.\u00a0 This will be of more significance later.<\/li>\n<li>The Winnipeg Fringe.\u00a0 An all-around crazy time.\u00a0 So much family (including the Toronto and Vancouver family that made the trip), so many friends, old and new.\u00a0 Our venue was great (the MTC Mainstage), as were the techs who came with it.\u00a0 Our schedule was literally the shittiest I&#8217;ve ever seen.\u00a0 (I was in such disbelief about how bad it was, I actually scanned every company&#8217;s schedule when they were emailed to us, and there was only one other that even came close to being as bad as ours.)\u00a0 Maybe it was the tradeoff for putting a company they hadn&#8217;t heard of in such a primo venue, but wow!\u00a0 As for how it was received, the feedback was all very positive (and not just from family and friends), while the reviews were mixed (curiously, perhaps, mostly pans or raves, very little mediocre).\u00a0 The box office, not bad.\u00a0 The big selling point for me was definitely the community of performers; it&#8217;s definitely a magical thing how quickly that sense of kinship can spread.\u00a0 And to be able to put a play up for all the family and family friends who&#8217;ve never seen anything I&#8217;ve done before, pretty special too.\u00a0 (We also did an improv set while we were there, so bonus points on that front.)\u00a0 And lest this seem too saccharine, we close with a picture of Brad and I shotgunning beers at Winnipeg Beach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Shotgun.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-355 aligncenter\" title=\"Shotgun\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Shotgun-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Shotgun-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Shotgun.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oh, and since I did it for Toronto Fringe, I should probably mention here that while I saw a lot of great stuff (here, A TON of great stuff), my favoritest of all was &#8220;Countries Shaped Like Stars.&#8221;\u00a0 If you get the chance&#8230;\u00a0 I should also mention that I took advantage of being in Winnipeg to see Morro and Jasp, who always sell out their shows in Toronto, and now I know why.\u00a0 Lovely people, super-talented.\u00a0 And I shouldn&#8217;t even bother, because it&#8217;s not like it&#8217;s any secret, but, as always, Chris Gibbs, wow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>August 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alice Moran&#8217;s birthday.\u00a0 I go to see her and Ian perform standup; by the time the night&#8217;s over, I have the world&#8217;s greatest nickname.<\/li>\n<li>What&#8217;s that, Lassie?\u00a0 Trouble at the old Bad Dog?\u00a0 (Alright, so these bullet points are ceasing to be useful for anyone but me&#8230;but this post is getting ridiculous&#8230;if you want more details, just ask&#8230;)<\/li>\n<li>I do six shows and a workshop in a weekend.\u00a0 Of note, two of them are for Taste of the Danforth for Second City, thus technically keeping me on the Second City payroll for a third straight year.\u00a0 Also of note, the Late Late Horror Show got reviewed.\u00a0 A bit of an odd review, and it seems to give away one of my good bits to someone else (not that I mind, of course), and most strangely, it doesn&#8217;t use any of our names, but anyway, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/arts\/a-night-at-the-improv-the-devil-made-me-do-it\/article1668307\/\">here it is<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I meet with Gord Oxley, and it&#8217;s decided that I will take over Comedy on the Danforth.\u00a0 It&#8217;s an improv show of family-friendly games, performed at a Timothy&#8217;s on the Danforth.\u00a0 I hate producing, but I really like doing the show (I head one of three teams), and it&#8217;s a great opportunity to keep up my game-playing skills and to play with people I like in a casual, fun environment.\u00a0 Solid.<\/li>\n<li>I send some sketches I wrote to Sarah Silverman.\u00a0 As of yet, haven&#8217;t heard anything, and am also presuming she never actually saw them.\u00a0 Nevertheless, points for proactiveness and unusual optimism!<\/li>\n<li>Another year of Camp Hershfield.\u00a0 Claire is crazier than she&#8217;s ever been before, and deprives me of several nights of good sleep.\u00a0 Nice to spend some time in the water, nice to see Arnold and Paula, but overall, not our best time out there.<\/li>\n<li>I am part of the Flashlight Project at the Summit.\u00a0 An awesome event, a very fun project, and a good chance to work with (and in front of) some people for the first time, so good times all around.\u00a0 And photogenic!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-364\" title=\"Flashlight 1\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-1-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-1-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-1.jpg 401w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-365\" title=\"Flashlight 2\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-2-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-2-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-2.jpg 401w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-366\" title=\"Flashlight 3\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-3-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-3-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-3.jpg 401w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-367\" title=\"Flashlight 4\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-4-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Flashlight-4.jpg 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>September 2010:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dave and Andrea visit from New York.\u00a0 It is a brief reunion, but it allows me the opportunity to get into an argument about the quote-unquote Ground Zero quote-unquote Mosque.\u00a0 (That\u2019s personally the part that gets me.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in the JCC many times; it\u2019s never occurred to me to refer to it as a synagogue.\u00a0 Too much ball hockey.)\u00a0 It worked out well, with one Torontonian and one New Yorker on both sides.\u00a0\u00a0 Kind of Real Time with Bill Maher.\u00a0 At any rate, a nice if brief visit.\u00a0 And it inspires me to finally read the book I borrowed from Dave monthes ago (more about that in my upcoming book review post.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Brad and I make another 7 Day Short, this one called \u201cThe Squid and the Florist.\u201d\u00a0 Can you guess what the two suggestion words were?\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 Definitely the easiest of the videos we\u2019ve made, but it still makes me giggle.\u00a0 (And only partially because I know that in order to keep the squid from flying apart into several pieces as we dropped it, it was stuffed into a condom.)\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/IYimv_PUHV0?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/IYimv_PUHV0?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rosh Hashanah happened.\u00a0 Nothing in particular to report, it just seems like something that should be mentioned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Another year, another TIFF.\u00a0 No pictures of famous people this time around (barely saw any, as it turns out).\u00a0 And while I didn\u2019t see anything that blew my mind, it was a dud-free year, which is pretty nice.\u00a0 I saw the following: Beginners, Of Gods and Men, Miral, The Solitude of Prime Numbers, The Poll Diaries, Beautiful Boy, Mother of Rock, and Tabloid.\u00a0 For me, I think The Poll Diaries was my favorite, so if you get the chance, check it out.\u00a0 Tabloid was also pretty fascinating; Errol Morris is still a god.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I go and check out the latest Second City revue.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty awesome.\u00a0 Hype deserved!\u00a0 Actually, the biggest compliment I can give is that at both the intermission and at the end of the show, I thought they must have been really short halves but I looked at my watch, and nope, time had just gone fast.\u00a0 Kudos!\u00a0 And, in what was very touching, the stage manager came out and invited me to join them for the post-show jam.\u00a0 Truth be told, I had a fairly mediocre set, but it was still very nice to get asked, and damnit, I\u2019ll be back!<\/li>\n<li>CBC Culture Days!\u00a0 Okay, maybe that exclamation point seems excessive for CBC celebs, but one of those celebs is my old roommate Tory, starring in the last season of The Tudors.\u00a0 \u00a0I had emailed with him a little, and his schedule was so full, it looked like I was going to have to stand in the autograph line with the schnooks to even see him, but when I got there, he\u2019d in fact slipped off to a bar with his co-star Tamzin, and I met up with them for drinks.\u00a0 Successful reunion!\u00a0 They then snuck me into their industry party, where all the CBC stars were enjoying their appetizers (I said something witty while standing next to Erin Karpluk of Being Erica that she convincingly acted like she didn&#8217;t hear, but she is a very good actress, so I&#8217;m pretty sure she heard it and was just being coy about how charming she found me.)\u00a0 Then down to Dundas Square to listen to the Canadian bands (more Sloan!), then Tory had to take off.\u00a0 Dan (who&#8217;d joined us) and I joined Tamzin and her mother back at the industry party for a little more, but when it appeared that our presence was interfering with Jian Ghomeshi&#8217;s, shall we say, lascivious intentions (towards Tamzin, not her mother&#8230;or Dan, for that matter&#8230;), we made ourselves scarce.\u00a0 I continued on to yet another Drinks for No Reason, making it one of my most show-bizzy nights of the year.\u00a0 Attached is a picture of Tory, Tamzin and myself; see if just by looking at it, you can figure out which of us has never been given money to &#8220;get busy&#8221; on TV!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/DSC01091.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-377 aligncenter\" title=\"DSC01091\" src=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/DSC01091-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/DSC01091-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/DSC01091-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Basketballers of Basketball starts a new season!\u00a0 The game has gotten much more intense, and with many more improvisers.\u00a0 (Didn&#8217;t think those two things would correlate, but somehow&#8230;)\u00a0 It&#8217;s been awesome!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And there it is!\u00a0 My year in a post!\u00a0 To paraphrase the great George Costanza, &#8220;You take everything I&#8217;ve done in my life and squeeze it into a few days, it looks alright!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This monster post is dedicated to my Uncle Bobo, because if he&#8217;s not the only one who made it to this point, I&#8217;m confident he&#8217;s the only one who&#8217;s still interested.\u00a0 Be well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wow.\u00a0 This is how bad I&#8217;ve become.\u00a0 I&#8217;m actually a year behind on this blog.\u00a0 UNACCEPTABLE! So, in the spirit of catching up, here&#8217;s October 2009 through September 2010.\u00a0 Details have been forgotten (I&#8217;ve pieced this together through emails and appointment books), names have been changed to protect the innocent, and let&#8217;s face it, even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scatteredflurries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}