20 WATTS RADIO: THURSDAY Feb 4th ON AUDIOCANDY

Hear the show recording here

Preview: Make sure you check out Audiocandyradio.com

It is Thursday night and 20 Watts Radio is on Audiocandy. Make sure you tune in and don’t miss out on our great selection of awesome tunes. We’ll be bringing you some very important updates about the Syracuse music scene you really must hear. So if you are thinking of what to do this semester we have we the inside scoop. Show starts at 10pm sharp: OUR BRAND NEW AND AWESOME TIME SLOT ON AUDIOCANDY. To tune in Click Here.

Show Playlist Below:

Last night the PHILLY IMPROV THEATER launched their monthly run at the Shubin with a staged reading of When I Was, a new one-act play penned by house team member Michael Schwartz. The theater goes dark again tonight, right before PHIT starts ramping up into it’s largest run at the Shubin to date!

They’ll be tackling nearly thirty shows over the next two weeks, including performances by guests from NYC and Chicago, a workshop from former Philadelphian and PHIF founder Mike McFarland, as well as a special screening of the new TJ & Dave documentary. And it all resumes tomorrow night…

Wednesday, January 27th
8:00pm: The Bully Pulpit (w/ guest host Greg Maughan) – $5

Thursday, January 28th
8:00pm: Drexel Football Team + Rookie Card – $5
9:30pm: CAGEMATCH: The Ones Your Mothers Warned You About vs The Kristen & Amie Show – $5

Friday, January 29th
8:00pm: Activity Book + Everything Must Go – $10

Fletcher

9:30pm: Fletcher + The Imposters (NYC) – $10
11:00pm: Flying Leap! (An Improv Open Jam) – FREE

Saturday, January 30th
8:00pm: Activity Book + Dynasty (NYC) – $10
9:30pm: Fletcher + Everything Must Go – $10
11:00pm: Sketch Up or Shut Up (The Sketch Comedy Open Mic) – FREE

Sunday, January 31st

Mike McFarland

2:00pm: WORKSHOP – The Passion of the Mike taught by Mike McFarland (NYC) – $50
8:00pm: Screening: Trust Us This Is All Made Up (The TJ & Dave Documentary) – $5

Monday, February 1st
8:00pm: Hey Everybody! hosted by Aaron Hertzog – $5

Wednesday, February 3rd
8:00pm: Guilty Pleasures; One Year Anniversary Show – $5

Thursday, February 4th
8:00pm: High Dramma + Mr. Lizard – $10
9:30pm: We’re Nice People; A Night of Doucheless Comedy (NYC) – $10

Friday, February 5th
8:00pm: Tin Sandwich (Chicago) + B.W.P. – $10
9:30pm: King Friday – $10

Saturday, February 6th
8:00pm: King Friday – $10
9:30pm: Tin Sandwich (Chicago) + The Carousel of Progress – $10

Tickets and additional information

In the week since Jan 12th’s horrific earthquake, citizens of the world have turned toward Haiti… offering their thoughts, prayers and most tangibly, their donations. Here in Philadelphia, everywhere you look there are organizations taking up relief causes, and our comedians are no different. There are a number of shows coming up that are donating ticket proceeds to relief efforts. As a matter of fact, the next four nights all have comedy events benefiting Haiti.

Here’s the (hopefully growing) list:

WEDNESDAY @ 9PM
BEDTIME STORIES | CONNIE’S RIC RAC, 1132 S NINTH ST
Proceeds to benefit the Samuel Dalembert Foundation

THURSDAY @ 10PM
KING FRIDAY | STUDIO 34, 4522 BALTIMORE AVE
Proceeds to benefit UNICEF

FRIDAY @ 8PM
THE N CROWD | THE ACTORS CENTER, 257 N THIRD ST
Proceeds to benefit the Red Cross

SATURDAY @ 7:30 & 10PM
COMEDYSPORTZ | PLAYGROUND @ ADRIENNE, 2030 SANSOM ST
Proceeds to benefit MercyCorps

Local rising improv group LEO CALLAHAN is all set to storm the Arts Parlor for their first show of 2010. The night will feature the debut of their newest member, JACK MEANEY, as well as a guest performance from the much exalted RARE BIRD SHOW.

For those of you not yet familiar with Leo Callahan, the group is a fairly recent addition to the scene that is rapidly growing in popularity… Featuring all Haverford Alums, three of whom were former members of Illegal Refill (RIP), these comedians are fast, smart and obviously a tight bunch. I’m excited to see what newcomer Jack brings to the stage and group dynamic.

L to R: Nick Kerr, Nicholas Mirra, Ali King, Scott Sheppard, and Jesse Paulsen. Not pictured: Jack Meaney

IMPROV W/ LEO CALLAHAN
FEAT. RARE BIRD SHOW
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15TH @ 9PM
THE ARTS PARLOR | 1170 S BROAD ST

Over the past few months, the PHILADELPHIA JOKE INITIATIVE has presented a number of single night showcases, including the Mike Connor Travelogues and a fundraiser featuring music from the Hopper Brothers. Beginning tonight, this small production company launches its largest endeavor to date, and plans to do so with a little Victorian class.

CECILY & GWENDOLYN’S FANTASTICAL BALLOON RIDE opens tonight and runs through January 31st at the Latvian Society in Northern Liberties.

The show, featuring KELLY JENNINGS and KAREN GETZ in the eponymous roles of Cecily and Gwendolyn, is a fully improvised imagining of two slightly mad Victorian ladies who fancy themselves anthropologists. When all is said and done and chronometers have been synced, each evening explores the notion that these time traveling ladies find themselves 175 years through space and time via their hot air balloon in present day Philadelphia – where each night’s audience will serve as lab rats of sorts… from whom they’ll extract their conclusions about the “modern” society in which we live.

I was fortunate enough to attend a private performance this past weekend, and can honestly say that I’ve never been quite so excited to see how audiences will react to a show. Karen and Kelly (as pictured L to R above) have taken the idea of audience participation, and replaced it with complete audience immersion. The entire show is an evening that we’re all invited to take part in. Everything from the set to the seating, the costumes to the conversation, all welcome the audience member in, begging to be engaged, hoping to engross. Sitting there with only a handful of people, I’ve never felt so unconscious of my contribution. Getz and Jennings do a remarkable job of captivating with ease. Something that while I know from talking to them has taken years to develop, comes across as simple and organic.

As you can tell, I’m really excited about how it all drew me in and am excited to hear how audiences respond to this level of participatory immersion.

If you’re interested in reading  more about the show, more can be found in this recent writeup in the CityPaper. You can also get to know these ladies by watching their YouTube videos or by joining them on Facebook.

During its three week run (Thursdays through Sundays, excepting tonight’s opening) the show will play host to a myriad of comedy guests, including local talent the likes of Chip Chantry, Cubed, Rare Bird Show, BWP, Leo Callahan, the N Crowd, Real Housewives of Philadelphia and ComedySportz Improvised Shakespeare as well as Hello Laser from the Magnet Theater in NYC.

CECILY & GWENDOLYN’S FANTASTICAL BALLOON RIDE
THE LATVIAN SOCIETY | 531 N 7TH ST
JANUARY 13-31, 2010 | 7PM
PRESENTED BY PJI WITH SUPPORT FROM FREEFALL PRODUCTIONS

The N CROWD will be putting on a double header of shows at 8 & 10PM this week for First Friday. The early show is the full regular weekly shortform program. If you’re in the mood for backstabbing, gold-digging and random charity fundraisers, then stick around for the 10PM show, which will also feature local ladies of satire, THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF PHILADELPHIA.

THE N CROWD DOUBLE HEADER
FRIDAY, JAN 8TH
8PM – REGULAR SHOW
10PM – W/ GUEST REAL HOUSEWIVES

ACTORS CENTER | 257 N THIRD ST

$10 ONLINE / $15 AT DOOR

PHIT houseteam FLETCHER recently launched their new website, fletcherimprov.com

Head on over when you get a chance to find out about upcoming shows, check out tons of photos and meet their newest cast members… Zac, Andy, Joe & Andrew.

The new video from San Francisco band ‘The Dodo’s’ for their track ‘Longform’. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many quick cuts of landscape in a music video before, but it definitely seems to work for this video.

Read more about the band here.

Many of you are probably quite familiar with the IMPROV RESOURCE CENTER message boards.  For those of you that aren’t, get over there right now and join up. The IRC is a site developed by NYC’s Kevin Mullaney that boast numerable features, the most popular of which is the message boards.

Several years ago, the Philly chatter was through the roof and we got Mullaney to add a Philly based regional board. And more recently, a sub-forum was added called Philly Cafe to discuss non-improv related miscellany.

Posts on the board have dwindled in the past six months or so, but as of late they’re back with a small fervor… Local comedians are bringing up some pretty interesting topics and folks are chiming in. Here are a couple of trending topics to keep an eye on:

• The thread entitled Name Two Things asks local improvisers to tout two things they think our local scene does well and two things that are wanton for improvement. There are some nice kudos that make people feel great and appreciated, but even more valuable is some of the insight and recommendations on what can stand some revamping.
• A very recent thread asks improvisers to share their Improv Mantra. It’s a simple question with a hundred complicated answers. When you spend years pulling nuggets of wisdom from a myriad of sources, how do you boil it down to the marrow of what makes your improv tick?
• It’s been said that there about three dozen improv games and 300 names for them. Certainly you can base most games and exercises on a handful of key objectives… things like character work, platform, energy, physicality, object work, initiations and emotional honesty. How you get there can take many more paths. Share some of your Favorite Exercises and Games with local improvisers, or find a new twist on an old favorite to keep practice fresh.

We may all get different things out of our improv, but in the end, hopefully it’s fun and rewarding. The IRC is a fantastic place to commune with those of like minds and talk shop.

The PHILLY IMPROV THEATER is hitting the final stretch of December shows at the Shubin, and tonight features their shows Improv PhD and CAGEMATCH.

IMPROV PHD is where PHIT welcomes a local college group and pairs them with a PHIT house team or PHIT affiliate. This evening PHIT pairs premise-based office dwellers CUBED with U Penn’s WITHOUT A NET.

CAGEMATCH features an upstart challenger squaring off against the returning champ from the previous show. The audiences watches both improv sets and votes on which is their favorite. In the arena tonight – multi-time champs ROOKIE CARD take on THE ONES YOUR MOMS WARNED YOU ABOUT, a group risen from the ashes of Troika.

PHILLY IMPROV THEATER @ THE SHUBIN
THURSDAY, DEC. 10TH | 407 BAINBRIDGE ST
8PM: IMPROV PHD – $5
9:30PM: CAGEMATCH – $5

A few months back, MIKE CONNOR spent a month flying around the country, taking in places like the beaches of Florida, the music haunts of Austin and the hostels of San Francisco. Last month PJI produced The Mike Connor Travelogues, a show where Connor recounts his journey across our country while a who’s who of Philly improvisers play out scenes inspired by his tales. Well Connor had so many (mis)adventures, that the show is back for another installment.

THIS IS WHAT ADVENTURE LOOKS LIKE

Starring JP BOUDWIN, SEAN CURRAN, NATHAN EDMONDSON, KRISTIN FINGER, KRISTEN SCHIER and JASON STOCKDALE.

The evening will also feature an opening performance by KAREN GETZ and KELLY JENNINGS in their production of Cecily & Gwendolyn’s Fantastical Balloon Ride.

THE MIKE CONNOR TRAVELOGUES
W/ CECILY & GWENDOLYN
PRESENTED BY THE PHILADELPHIA JOKE INITIATIVE

WEDNESDAY, DEC 9TH – 8PM
CONNIE’S RIC RAC | 1132 S NINTH ST
$10 AT THE DOOR (CASH ONLY) | BYOB W/ ID

There’s a lot going on this weekend for comedy fans… check it out:

- The 2009 PHILLY SKETCHFEST continues through the weekend at Plays & Players Theater

- RARE BIRD SHOW,  FLETCHER and LEO CALLAHAN anchor PHIT’s Shubin shows, with appearances by EVERYTHING MUST GO tonight and ANGRY PEOPLE BUILDING THINGS Saturday

- Celebrate the Bachelor Party Edition of the MINISTRY OF SECRET JOKES as host DOOGIE HORNER celebrates his final nights of singledom 8PM tonight at Fergies Pub.

- Bucks County Community College features EXPONENTIAL JOURNEY – improv directed by Bill McLaughlin this Friday and Saturday at 7PM in the BCCC Library

- Shortform improv by THE N CROWD rolls out 8PM tonight at the Actor’s Center

- Get your game on with a COMEDYSPORTZ double header Saturday 7:30 & 10PM at the Playground @ the Adrienne

- Scratch your standup itch with LOUIS RAMEY of NBC’s Last Comic Standing headling at Helium through Saturday.

The PHILLY IMPROV THEATER’s Shubin Shows continue on tonight with a rocking lineup.

First at 8PM, start the night out right with PHIT houseteam EVERYTHING MUST GO and a performance by LEO CALLAHAN, a group born out of members of the recently departed local fave ILLEGAL REFILL.

Then hunker down for the 9:30PM show, because you’re in for a treat. Acclaimed houseteam FLETCHER takes the stage, followed by a set from supergroup RARE BIRD SHOW.

Yeah, it’s kinda like that.

PHIT @ THE SHUBIN
8PM – EVERYTHING MUST GO & LEO CALLAHAN
9:30PM – FLETCHER & RARE BIRD SHOW
407 BAINBRIDGE ST | $10/SHOW

The PHILLY IMPROV THEATER continues its December run of show at the Shubin Theater tonight with a double helping of 3 MAD RITUALS. The show, directed by AMIE ROE, features players performing three different improv formats consecutively. And although the project temporarily took on the name of 3 Mad Rituals for the Fringe Festival, they plan to announce their official name tonight.

3 MAD RITUALS
PHIT @ THE SHUBIN | 407 BAINBRIDGE ST
THURSDAY, DEC 3 @ 8PM & 10PM | $10

]]> http://phillyimprov.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/listen-up-rare-bird-show-on-rep-radio-podcast/ Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:55:14 +0000 Matt Nelson http://phillyimprov.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/listen-up-rare-bird-show-on-rep-radio-podcast/

Local improv group RARE BIRD SHOW recently appeared on the Rep Radio podcast to discuss their work and improv in general.

Listen in as they discuss their approach to playing, themes that arise in their shows, how they handle suggestions, their philosophies on format (Alexis is ready to meet you on a street corner to discuss this topic with her fists) as well as other projects they are involved in.

Listen In (Runtime: 30 min)

And while you’re at it, be sure to check out their shows this Friday and Saturday as they share a bill with FLETCHER as part of the PHILLY IMPROV THEATER’s shows at the Shubin.

road trip country side and endeless fields of wheat serve a fitting background for the winding melodies of dodos’ time to die track, “longform”. mundane material always looks nostalgic and neater on super 8 don’t it?

dodos on myspace

- sunbear

Pitchfork just posted the newest video from San Francisco trio The Dodos. “Longform” is the second track on their Frenchkiss release Time To Die. How badly do you wish you were living inside this music video? Seems nice.

If you’ve been missing their acoustic styles after the October release of Tegan and Sara’s electrical Sainthood, consider this a treat. Here they are performing single “Hell” in some hallway for Fly TV…acoustic.

I’m on vacation this week, but I’m posting from the remote recesses of upstate NY to tell you about the incredible weekend of comedy kicking off tomorrow night (hey, it’s summer – weekends can start on Thursday in the summer).

THURSDAY

10PM – ILLEGAL REFILL w/ ROOKIE CARD
Studio 34 | 4522 Baltimore Ave (BYO/pay what you can)

FRIDAY

8PM – N CROWD w/ BWP
Actors Center | 257 N Third St ($10 adv/$15 door)

10PM – REAL HOUSEWIVES OF PHILADELPHIA w/ N CROWD
Actors Center | 257 N Third St ($15)

SATURDAY

7:30PM – WOMEN WITH CLASS (Directed by Bill McLaughlin & Andrew Stanton of APBT)
Morrisville Borough Annex | 31 East Cleveland Ave ($8)

7:30PM & 10PM – COMEDYSPORTZ DOUBLE HEADER
Playground at the Adrienne | 2030 Sansom St ($15)

Saw District 9 tonight, the alien movie by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson. I thought it was appallingly racist; here’s why. (Spoilers ahead.)

Basically, 20 years ago, a million crustacean-like space aliens arrived in Johannesberg. They’re forced to live in a horrible slum called District 9, and now the human citizens want them gone, so they’re about to be evicted from their slum and relocated to a concentration camp outside the city.

If you look at the film as an apartheid allegory, it has problems right off the bat. The aliens are loathsome, trash-eating vermin who fight endlessly, destroy property for no reason, and piss on their own homes, which isn’t a truthful or flattering allegorical comparison for actual black South Africans under apartheid. Apartheid is terrible because humans were denied rights. The “apartheid” of these aliens isn’t that terrible- it’s kind of justifiable, because they’re actually dangerous, violent and destructive. I think it would be a better allegory, and a more sophisticated movie, if the aliens weren’t unpleasant. If they were peaceful and kind, but the humans still demonized them, the film would be much more chilling; the horror would be “man’s inhumanity to lobster-man”, not “eew gross they eat pig heads!”

But to my knowledge, District 9 does not explicitly present itself as an apartheid allegory UPDATE- Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize that D9 actually IS presented as an apartheid allegory.

Still, I concede that changing the nature of the aliens basically makes it a different movie, so I’m gonna give it a pass in this post (although I’m very open to hearing other people’s thoughts about the allegorical angle). I think the choice to make the aliens disgusting was mostly artistic license, designed to make the film’s tone and visuals more gritty and scary, rather than any attempt to actually be representative of black people oppressed by apartheid. So that wasn’t my problem with this film.

The basic plot was fine: essentially, the human majority herds an alien race of minorities into a ghetto. Eventually the human protagonist gets to know one of the aliens, empathizes, and tries to help him. On some level, the hero comes to realize that the aliens are unlucky individuals who simply desire home and safety, same as everyone else.

The main human, Wikus van der Merwe (newcomer Sharlto Copley, who, incidentally, is great) is a complex character who does the wrong thing (illegally evicts the aliens), then does the right thing (tries to prevent his soldiers from killing aliens for no reason) then does the wrong thing (torches alien babies and gleefully compares their exploding bodies to popcorn), and then eventually does the right thing (risks his life to help alien Christopher Johnson get back to the mothership, albeit for self-serving reasons). That’s good drama; all of the behaviour is motivated; and the alien and his cute little kid even end up being pretty likeable. That’s all cool. I have no problems with the Wikus/Christopher Johnson storyline.

But on the sidelines of all this non-racist action, there’s a subplot storyline with a bunch of Nigerian “refugee gansters” who also live in District 9, and who traffic food and weapons with the aliens. And that’s where the racism is. The portrayal of the black mobsters is disgustingly racist.

The Nigerian gangsters are bloodthirsty, dishonest thugs, which is not a big deal- they’re gangsters, I get it. They see the aliens as mere cockroaches with money, so they don’t treat them well, and that makes perfect sense. They’re just cruel, self-interested mercenaries, and in this, they’re no worse than the film’s (mostly white) government officials, who cold-bloodedly torture and murder the aliens. So far no racism, just characters with motivations.

But!

The Nigerians have a wailing “witch doctor”. Who instructs them to eat the aliens. And they do it. Bloody, wriggling, and raw, of course.

We’re told that the black prostitutes “service” the aliens sexually. ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME??!

And when Wikus’ arm grows a claw, the Nigerian gang boss starts licking his chops, eager to commit cannibalism.

Yup, that’s Hollywood’s Africa the Africa we get from the media, isn’t it. Black Africans shown as degenerate savages who’ll have sex with non-humans and are pretty damn eager to eat people.

Disgusting.

UPDATE: a few people have mentioned that there are a couple of positive portrayals of black characters in the film (ie, Wikus’ friend who doesn’t get a bullet-proof vest in the beginning and eventually ends up in prison for revealing government corruption). This is true, but those characters are South African. The Nigerians are a different ethnic group, and, as it happens, Nigerians are a much-scapegoated and stereotyped minority group in South Africa. The Nigerian gangsters are NOT the same group as the black South Africans.

Finally, the Nigerian gang’s leader is given the name Obasanjo- a name that is unusual in Nigeria, but which is well known as the name of former Nigerian President Olsesgun Obasanjo. Which further supports the notion that these Nigerians are intended to represent how “Nigerians in general” are seen in Blomkamp’s world. Not a flattering portrayal, and when a film, made by members of a majority group, shows all members of a real-life scapegoated minority group in a very negative light… well than I think it’s pretty fair to call that film’s portrayal of that group… ah shucks, what’s that word…. oh yeah: racist.

The thing that really upsets me is that most people who see this movie won’t question, or even notice, this incredibly racist portrayal. It wasn’t even necessary for the plot, and in fact the racist elements actually created some plot holes.

The gang boss could have tried to take Wikus hostage, and use him and his scaly arm as a weapon, same as the white government tried to do. By trying to eat his arm “to gain his powers” the gang boss was risking everything. If eating the arm didn’t work, Gang-Guy would lose Wikus’ arm entirely, so his hunger for human flesh actually risked the only interface he had to enable the alien weapons. Drugging Wikus unconscious then just puppeteering his lobster hand onto the triggers of various alien flamethrowers would be a much cleverer- not to mention more palatable- plan. Not only does the intended cannibalism paint the black man as bloodthirsty and disgusting, but it’s also a needless risk that could sabotage the character’s goals. (Actually, logic suggests that both the gang boss and the government probably would have taken a few aliens hostage and forced them to shoot the guns long ago anyway, but that’s another story).

And the idea that the prostitutes had been servicing the aliens actually created a huge plot hole. All of South Africa knew that prostitutes had long been having sex with the aliens; so they would also know that Wikus couldn’t have begun an alien transformation from alien sexual contact, since the sexual transmission of alien DNA had already been in place for 20 years of interspecies prostitution. (I get it that the point was just to alarm the citizens so they would help the government in its hunt for Wikus, but still, things could at least make sense).

So why the racist parts? Why can’t the Nigerians just be people with logical motives like money and weapons? Why do they have to go out of their way to be ooga-booga savages? The film would still have held up without the narrative elements of cannibalism and interspecies sex. Why do the blacks have to be sexual degenerates who will eat filth and violate the oldest human taboo by committing cannibalism? The only reason I see is to shoehorn some cheap visceral thrills into the movie. It’s lazy, sensationalist writing, and it diminishes the potential for intelligent, nuanced allegory. And it doesn’t even make sense. Man, it pissed me off.

Tactless Logic:

The Emmy Awards Time-Shifting Fiasco

The Academy was so close to getting away with it.

Every year, the Emmys are faced with a mountain of criticism that no other award show really deals with, as the show in and of itself is part of the medium that it judges. While the Oscars or the Grammys are television presentations, the critics who analyze them as award shows are not likely film critics, and lack that personal connection with the material being dealt with. With the Emmys, however, the same television critics who (rightfully) criticize the Emmys for failing to recognize certain performers or certain shows for various reasons are the same ones who watch and criticize the show itself, making it a darn tough job to be in charge of the awards show.

This year, they are in the unenviable decision of having to make dramatic changes after two disastrous experiments: first, FOX confused just about everyone with their “Theater in the Round” setup, and last year ABC allowed the Reality Competition Program hosts to host the event and nearly caused a riot amongst angry critics questioning the lack of humour, chemistry, and just about anything worthwhile. They’re in the position where they needed to make changes, but when critics are always on the lookout for potential concerns they needed to step very carefully.

The changes they came up with, and revealed this week, were changes designed in order to streamline the show, allowing more time to let critic-approved Neil Patrick Harris do his thing, and to clear the way for the show to be more engaging for the audience at home. Their purpose alone, is quite logical: everyone wants a better show, and people acknowledge that there need to be changes for that to happen.

Where the Academy (particularly producer Don Mischer) went wrong, however, is in how they sold these changes, changes that demonstrate a logical understanding of some of the award show’s struggles and yet also a tactless understanding of how critics, the industry and other observers would react to their reasoning. If sold differently, these changes would have remained a sticking point but one that would have been over time forgiven: as it stands, it’s a scandal that isn’t going away anytime soon, and a scandal that’s standing in the way of the Emmys making a much-needed comeback.

For those who don’t know, the plan for the Emmys is to take a selection of categories and pre-tape (or “time-shift”) them, allowing the producers to edit them down to the essentials (a list of nominees, the winning speech) and cut out the parts that take up time (the walking, the preamble, the verbal listing of nominees, and in some instances parts of the speech which are considered “unnecessary”) so as to “streamline” the process. The awards that were being moved were primarily in the Longform categories, meaning all non-acting TV Movie/Miniseries categories, with one notable exception: the Academy would also be relegating the Writing for a Drama Series award to this pre-taped status.

On the surface, I will say this much: cutting the longform categories is actually borderline logical. No, it’s not entirely fair, but the Emmys presents more awards than any other award show, and the Grammys has been doing similar relegation for years, without the same type of pre-taped presence within the show itself (remember, they’re not cutting the awards, just not airing them live). The fact of the matter is that there are fewer TV Movies and Miniseries each year: there are only two nominated miniseries this time around, and HBO’s Grey Gardens is going to sweep every TV Movie category in existence. The competition just isn’t there to make these categories feel as important as they may have once been when there were more networks producing these longer formats, and efforts to streamline seem to be quite logical in their focus on these areas.

However, this wasn’t the logic that was presented by the Academy. Instead, they were honest in that these changes were being done because HBO tends to dominate these categories, and that they believe the Emmys as an awards show appeals to a broader audience than that which watches prestige projects on the cable network. It’s at this point that the wheels start to go off the rails: it’s one thing to streamline based on television trends and questions of competition, but popularity is a variable that doesn’t feel at home in what is supposed to be an objective awards show. Yes, people were probably tired of seeing John Adams walk all over the Emmys last year, but isn’t the whole point of the Emmys (at some level) to expose a broader viewership to projects of high quality they may not have seen?

I would tend to argue that, if they had simply cut the Miniseries categories, this would have remained a fairly isolated incident: HBO would have been frustrated, and I’m sure there would have been some controversy, but for the most part it would considered a somewhat tactless but ultimately logical move to streamline the show by isolating the least competitive categories. However, the decision to cut the Writing for a Drama Series award took this scenario from a logical if tactless decision to an outright war against television writers.

There is nothing about the elimination of the Drama Series writing category that can be spun in any other way: it is an outright attack on the low-rated Mad Men, which has four of the nominations in the category and is likely to win. Forget the fact that the show is up for three acting awards and Outstanding Drama Series, and won the trophy last year: this is a category most likely won by a “niche cable show,” and as a result it was lumped in with the longform categories. It was at this point that controversy erupted: what was once an attempt to streamline an awards show was now unquestionably an attack on the apparent lack of “popularity” of certain show, shows that the Academy’s voting body has clearly deemed worthy of the honour and that both the industry and critics are quite fond of.

What I find fascinating about this whole scenario is that this has become an issue of equality the likes of which seems kind of surreal when you consider that it is a question of when the awards are TAPED rather than if they’ll air at all. I honestly don’t think that the actual format changes are even the issue anymore, replaced by a sense that the Academy is making those format changes with “Is the show popular with mass audiences?” as their most important consideration. I believe they would have faced similar concerns had they only downgraded the longform categories, as the writers and directors and producers of those programs would still be deemed “less worthy” than the actors in the same movies and miniseries, who help bring in ratings with their “celebrity” and the like. However, I believe those concerns could have been smoothed over with an understanding of how the streamlining would maintain their presence in the show itself, whereas this brouhaha has gone beyond the point of clarification smoothing things over.

I had the pleasure of communicating with Felicia Day, writer/creator/star of The Guild and most famous recently for her parts in the projects of Joss Whedon (Dr. Horrible, Dollhouse) over Twitter about her efforts earlier today at getting an “EmmysFail” hashtag into the social network’s trending topics. She cited, most directly, the recent letter from the Writers’ Guild of America, where numerous showrunners (from not only affected shows, but pretty much every show you could imagine) speaking out against the changes, in her effort to launch the campaign. It was ultimately successful: the hashtag was picked up by many, including fellow actors, and hit the trending topics this afternoon.

I asked her a question, though, about whether or not she sees this as an issue with the writing awards (the group most commonly listed as the most slighted of the groups, based on the Drama category) or in general, and she responded with the following:

All of them should be broadcast live. I wish that my OWN union, SAG. had a protest letter I could link to like WGA & DGA.

And here we have the ultimate evidence that this issue has spiraled out of the Academy’s control: this has become a question of solidarity, wherein the industry is banding together against this practice. Forget that the Grammys do the same thing even more harshly (for types of music just as valid as others, just far less popular, and without seeing the speeches or the nominees), the selection process is so frought with tactless references to skewed perceptions of television quality and craftsmanship that it has become an issue that goes beyond the actual changes to the very essence of the Academy itself. The reason SAG doesn’t have a protest letter is unclear, since the Supporting Acting Movie/Miniseries categories were amongst those time-shifted, but Day’s involvement indicates that actors are willing to fight for their writers and directors who are the “victims” of not streamlining for change, but a calculated attack on programming (and individual contributors to that programming) not considered popular enough to walk all the way to the stage during the three-hour telecast.

I don’t blame Day and others for being upset about the changes, which have been couched in terms that the Academy is, I promise you, regretting at this very minute. There’s speculation that the changes are about appealing to the networks, whose contract to air the awards show is up and who are “tired” of HBO, AMC, and other niche cable networks dominating the show and robbing their own shows of the added exposure. However, I think the changes being made (to longform categories) are actually quite logical when viewed in terms of television trends and award show precedent, and if they had only left off the Drama Writing award, and better explained their reasoning beyond the point of “popularity,” this wouldn’t have been the controversy it’s become.

However, in their tactless logic, the Academy has turned a “change for the better” for their beleaguered telecast into a controversy that crosses guilds, genres, networks and social networks. They needed a change, that’s for sure, but I think they got more than they bargained for with this one.

Cultural Observations

• I know some have been critical of Neil Patrick Harris for defending these changes during his TCA Emmys press conference, but you can’t blame him: he’s an employee like anyone else, and the changes would actually help him to get more time to do his thing and entertain viewers. It’s a tough position to put an actor in, and I don’t think he should be deemed unsympathetic to the cause as a result of his efforts to clear the air – plus, as James Hibberd notes above, he was far more diplomatic about the whole thing.
• Full disclosure: my only real anger over the elimination of the “walking to the podium” section will be if David Simon and Ed Burns win an award. If I don’t get to see them strut to the podium and shove their Emmy(s) in the Academy’s face for shunning The Wire, I’ll be enormously angry.
• For more on this subject, you can find articles by Diane Kristine Wild and Mo Ryan.

Tonight begins the PHILLY IMPROV THEATER’s August run at the Shubin. Here’s a look at what PHIT has in store for comedy fans this week…

Monday, August 3

8PM: Comic vs. Audience Comedy Show – LAST SHOW – $5

It is with great sadness we report that the Comic vs. Audience Comedy Show will be having its last show on August 3. Join your host Dave Walk of Comic vs. Audience.com and the fantastic comedians Joey Dougherty, Pat Barker, Chip Chantry, and New York City’s Matt Ruby, who also runs the comedy blog Sandpaper Suit, for this send-off.

Wednesday, August 5

8PM: Guilty Pleasures – $5

Comedian Brendan Kennedy has his finger firmly on the pulse of terrible written work (including found scripts, embarrassing emails, and more), and he is ready to present it all to you in all of its hilarious awkwardness.

10PM: The Bully Pulpit – $5

Host Luke Giordano wrangles a panel of four comedians in a round-table discussion, complete with arguments and personal attacks. Moving from topic to topic, the show can center on pop culture, current events, or whatever the panelists have on their minds for a show full of fresh, off-the-cuff comedy in the heat of the moment.

Thursday, August 6

8PM: Improv Comedy, PhD – $5

College group Mini-Prometheus performing with powerhouse duo Chris and Tami, who are here all the way from Austin, TX on their “Dream of Meal” tour.

10PM: CAGEMATCH – $5

Competitive longform improv! See two teams throw down and vote for your favorite. This month, reigning champions Rookie Card take on challengers Activity Book.

Friday, August 7

8PM: Amnesia and Attempted Murder – ONE NIGHT ONLY – $10

After being pushed down the stairs and spending a year in a coma, Jane Higgins wakes a to find that she doesn’t recognize anyone. So, in an attempt to refresh Jane’s memory and plead their own innocence, her family members make her a video. In this comedy, we meet ten of Jane’s closest loved ones. Who tried to kill her? You’ll have to see it to find out. Originally performed at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in NYC. Starring Jill Donnelly and co-written directed by Amy Flanagan.

“With unexpected laughs and macabre surprises, Amnesia and Attempted Murder serves as smelling salts to even the most unresponsive brain.”

-Abbi Crutchfield, The Apiary

10PM: Longform Improv – Rare Bird Show and Fletcher – $10

Fearless festival-hopping powerhouses Rare Bird Show perform with PHIT resident team Fletcher for a full hour of completely made-up comedy.

Saturday, August 8

6PM: PHIT Level 4 Class Show – FREE

Under the guidance of instructor Matt Holmes, students from PHIT’s first 400 level class show off their skills as they tackle the Deconstruction.

8PM: Sketch – High Dramma and The Action Section – $10

The boys of the Action Section and pop-culture-skewing High Dramma are going to attack your laughing muscles with awesome comedy.

10PM: Sex Time with Dr. Neil – $10

Dr. Neil takes his knowledge on the road with his first-ever live taping! Join Dr. Neil as he fields calls, takes audience questions, and proves to us all how little we truly know about the opposite sex. There will be live versions of your favorite Dr. Neil segments – The Givin’ Brain Quiz and Historsextomy: Fact or Friction! Sex Time with Dr. Neil is brought to Philadelphia by his biggest fan, Rob Baniewicz, of the sketch comedy duo, Meg & Rob.

11:30PM Sketch Up or Shut Up! – FREE

Sketch comedy open mic! Sign up by dropping a script or improv-to-sketch premise off at the theater by 9:30 p.m. 10 will be chosen at random, with the line-up posted at 11:15 p.m. Come to perform or watch!

This album definitely sounds more full, like a “band”. I loved the more stripped-down sound of the previous two albums as well as the chaotic distorted freak-outs (which need to be heard and seen live to be fully appreciated), but Time To Die finds a more produced, less noisy but also less bare aesthetic. Things that make The Dodos The Dodos are absolutely still here; the sparse yet satisfying horn arrangements, echo-laden shouts prominent in Beware of the Maniacs (see the “Go!” in “Longform”). One major difference is that Logan’s percussion stands out much less, which I think takes too much attention away from his rhythmic complexities.

Some of my favorite moments of the album include the chorus of “Fables,” the chime hits starting at the 51 second mark of “This is a Business”, the following lyric from “A Time to Die”: “I hear a voice- am I following in your footsteps? I clear the noise with the following of your footsteps” and the subsequent delivery of “Oh I recall all the promises that you emptied” which more than deserves its four repetitions.

Give this one a few listens before you take your stance on it. While quite different, it’s still the Dodos we love.

Listen to the whole album here.

Soon I will have an embedded media player so I don’t have to link to other sites, but it turns out setting up plugins in WordPress using Filezilla is the most difficult and frustrating thing ever.

Edit: Apparently I will never be able to have embedded audio because WordPress doesn’t let you import plugins at all. Maybe I will try youtube videos whenever available.

I’m pretty sure I just saw a ghost.

Saturday night, 10:30 pm. I’m walking down a dark street in the middle of the city, in search of an evening coffee to fuel some writing work. It’s a busy street, but a stretch of it that’s kind of pedestrian unfriendly, all big hulking buildings with no storefronts or people, and it feels weirdly dark even though there are streetlights. But I’m a city girl and that kind of stuff never bugs me, this is Toronto and I’m a fast runner, so I don’t sweat it.

I’m walking fast, in a good mood, enjoying the warm humidity since the rain stopped a few hours ago. Ahead of me is what I take to be a goth/raver girl- maybe 5′3″, slumped shoulders and wide hips with very wide-leg shoe-eater crimson pants, black hoodie tied around her waist, and a rickety black umbrella.

I’m not paying her any attention, gaining on her fairly fast, and am about a yard behind her when she takes a sharp, screamy, gasping breath and suddenly spins on me in an unbelievably creepy, uncannily smooth and graceful move that makes her clothes kind of flare out around her like a spectre. The move is so weirdly fluid, so intense, and so totally unexpected that I actually yelp. And then she’s standing stock still, close enough to touch, staring me dead in the face with piercing, totally blank, glittering blue eyes. Not breathing. Barring my path. Not moving at all.

She’s in her mid 40s. Her face is kind of shiny and her eyes are very clear and pale. She has a bright red bindi dot drawn between her brows. She’s not moving, but her stare is unbelievably intense, and I’m caught in it like a rabbit hypnotized by a snake. She is definitely close enough to lunge for my neck, which I’m utterly certain she’s about to do. Her mouth is closed but I’m pretty sure it’s full of needle-sharp teeth and maybe a jaw that can unhinge when she pounces.

She’s clutching her black umbrella close on this rainless night, and a bundle of newspapers. She’s blocking the narrow sidewalk and hasn’t blinked yet, standing so still she’s like a statue. My heart is racing. And she’s still not moving. I seriously don’t think I’ve ever been so scared.

I gradually unfreeze and look at the papers- I can’t read the title but judging from the size, it’s either the Epoch Times or the Outreach, both of which are publications I tend to associate with people who are strange but usually harmless. Ok. She’s not a vampire or a werewolf, she’s just a strange lady and maybe my approaching footfalls scared her. Poor thing. I can normalize this situation.

ME: Hi.
HER: Stony, stock-still staring, silence.
ME: You startled me a little!
HER: Stony, stock-still staring, silence.
ME: You ok?
HER: Stony, stock-still staring, silence.
ME: Let’s just keep walking, ok? You first.
HER: Stony, stock-still staring, silence.
ME: We’re ok. Let’s go.
HER: Stony, stock-still staring, silence.
ME: Come on. OK. Time to move.
HER: Stony, stock-still staring, silence.
ME: (slightly authoritaitve) Hey. Let’s go. Come on, let’s walk.

She pauses so long I shake my head and look past her with the intent of passing her on the narrow sidewalk when suddenly she shrieks in another hissing breath and lunges towards me. She moves like a character in a horror movie, all sweeping grace and sharp sudden freezes. I yelp again. She opens a mouth with no teeth and slurs, “Buy a paper?”

I’m really annoyed now, partly at her for her aggressive posture and hugely at myself for actually being scared of a middle-aged woman three inches shorter than me, so I shake it off and walk briskly past her into the donut shop. My hands are actually shaking, and I’m not very easy to scare. She follows me in, of course, and makes a beeline for an empty table in the corner beside four laughing Korean teenagers. She takes another hissing breath and lunges at the table really dramatically, drops her newspaper bundle, and straightens up again to stand stock still. I marvel at the economy and grace of her creepy movements- I’ve never even seen a dancer move so precisely.

She sits and stares at the teenagers, who are about four feet away from her. None of them are facing her, but they should all be able to either see her in their periphery, or her reflection moving in the dark plate-glass window they’re facing. But they don’t seem to see her. She notices me looking at her and holds her umbrella out towards me like a shield for a sec, then points it at the teens. Again they ignore her. She puts down the umbrella and holds out a newspaper to the teens. I still can’t tell if they even see her- the rhythm of their conversation hasn’t seemed to change and they’re all laughing quite naturally.

I notice she’s wearing a Toronto Film Festival baseball cap from 2007. This kind of absurd detail makes me positive I’m not imagining the occurrence.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a tiny stuffed cat. The kind made of rabbit fur, the size of a bagel. She holds it out to the teens.

This is hard to describe, but the four teenagers kind of act the way people act in a movie, in the scene when the lead character is discovering he’s really a ghost. Like they don’t see her there but they register something slightly unpleasant in the spot where she’s standing, so they slightly avoid that spot.

She holds her ratty little hair-cat out towards one of the teens, should be in his peripheral vision, but he doesn’t move at all. She pokes him in the shoulder and he leans away from the poke slightly, but still chatting and laughing. I mean, they must be aware of her, but I’ve never seen teenagers play it so cool. Then she stands up and holds the mangy little toy beside his ear. NONE OF THE TEENAGERS REACT. I begin to think she must be invisible.

She puts the friggin cat ON THE KID’S SHOULDER and he doesn’t move, just keeps chatting. Even she’s amazed. I can see her body language change- now she and I are both wondering if she’s imaginary. This poor woman can’t get a normal reaction from anyone, even a teen with a mangy bagel fur cat (model # C97W, it appears) on his shoulder. Of course her grip on reality is loose- I can feel my own grip loosening and I’ve only known her for four minutes.

I look around the restaurant and nobody else seems to have noticed her. The cat is still perfectly balanced on the teenaged boy’s shoulder like a little dead hamster, and he takes a bite of his doughnut. She’s staring at him like, “But didn’t I just put a fur cat on this kid?” I realize that I may be the sole living person in this movie that can see the ghosts wandering around, and maybe I should leave before an army of them start following me, demanding favours and using me as a medium to make out with their wives while spinning pottery.

I order my coffee. I see a movement out of the corner of my eye: the teenager, without turning his head or pausing the conversation, casually takes the little cat off his shoulder, looking as nonchalant as though he’s just straightening his shirt, and places it in front of him on the table. Still none of them have reacted to the woman’s lurking presence directly beside them, and none of them look at the scruffy little scrap of rabbit fur on the table now. They don’t even look unnaturally stiff like they’re ignoring her, they just look like they’re having a nice night.

The woman is now in a predicament. She didn’t get any reaction from her creepy offering, but now she can’t get it back. She looks sort of confused and a little crestfallen, making small hissing noises while moving back and forth behind one of the boys with small, quick, precise steps, looking for a way to get her ragged kitty back but also not wanting to blow her Gothic mystique by speaking to the teens, who are still engaged in calm, happy chatter.

I wish wish wish I’d brought my camera, but since she’s clearly a ghost I’m pretty sure she’s not capturable in pixel format anyway. My heart hasn’t quite stopped pounding yet, but I brush out of the Tim Horton’s, licking the icing off my donut and kind of proud that I’ve just survived my first face-to-face with a poltergeist.