Author: Tracey

Today I met a member of the They Might Be Giants named Dan Weinkauf. That gives me a brothers Chaps number of 2 since presumably Dan has met the brothers, a Dan Weinkauf number of 1, and a the-rest-of-the-Giants number of also 2. Hurray a for me! Also the concert they put on was very nice. I may write about it later.

They Might Be Giants concert
It FREE! No Pay! What a deal!
So yeah it happened at tulip festival and no money required. How nice. I stood there with all the other peoples just hangin round and waiting for music. Then they begin. I am barely impressed by their first song. I cannot even remember the title. I think, “Oh man this is one of those ones that don’t sound nice without overproduction in a studio.” But I admit I was wrong. They sound nice, you just have to forgive certain songs. Every other song had something to recommend it. Most had either funny lyrics, a driving beat, catchy riffs, or all of the above. My favorite live song was the Nations Alphabet wherein they recite musically a list alphabetized nations- one for each letter. The last word ‘Zimbabwe!’ Was all drawn out and harmonized. The CD version clip I found on the web pales by comparison to this live version. They also did the song ‘Experimental Film’ which is a personal favorite of mine for the simple fact that it is a Brothers Chaps collaboration and there is a video to it including Strong Sad and the cheat produced toonage. The commentary for this video is hysterical (my best word for extreme funny types) and both are available on the brothers chaps website:
homestarrunner.com
This is the end of TBC plug. Now we return you to TMBG news.
So after the concert wandering around with Dan (my husband) I say, “I want to meet them. No I really do. I will feel so bad later if I don’t try to meet them.” So I go back and forth behind the stage three times and finally ask a nice looking lady if I can say something to the band or a member. There are big gaps in the fence and I *could* just walk or run right in but that might be rude. She says I should just call at them and get them to come over. I do but my voice is quiet so she taps one on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me this lady would like to meet you.” and he walks on over. He says his name is Dan but not the one from Rochester. He says they are all named Dan and not to worry about being confused. I say I’m Tracey and we shake right hands. I say I am a fan thru homestar runner and he muses how nice that crossover works. He mentions they just did an Atlanta concert where TBC appeared. I say how sorry I am to have missed that. He says something indicating he’s walking away and goodbye and I say I liked the songs and tell the others the same. Then I leave all smiley. The end and that was my good meeting-someone-famous time.

Saw the first Charlie Chaplin film I have liked yesterday. It was called Modern Times. Not sure why I liked it so much and not either of the others. Maybe it’s time to see more Chaplin. And Lloyd too. His movie Safety Last was really exciting- and that’s not something you expect to say about a silent film.
I can say for sure that the film quality of Modern Times was excellent and that probably didn’t hurt. It was well into the talkie era and seems a strange anachronism that it was still mostly silent. But it did a good job and I laughed. Chaplin seems to be one of the ones who held out for as long as he could on silent-mode before talking encompassed the film world. Most noise and talking is done thru machines in Modern Times. There is one exception at the end however when Chaplin sings. The words are made up and sound like a cross between French and Italian, but he does pantomime a funny story about a boy trying to woo a girl and not having money for a ring or something. He gets too close and cozy and she gives him a slap, so on and so forth- trala lala lala la! It was nice to hear Chaplin’s voice. I heard Buster’s a while back and they tease you on the way. He opens his mouth several times and is cut off. Meanwhile I’m dying in the middle of my living room crying, “Oh give us a break! What’s his voice sound like?!”
Sigh. Buster has a nice voice.

Some things Dan has said that made me laugh:

jello dramatic

that’s just a pigment of your pagination

On a form he was filling out and reading aloud:
Language of choice- gibberish

heehee

A funny bit from the Muppet Show Pilot- also called The Muppet Show Sex and Violence

Presenting the theatre of things:
(pencils jump up and down in a large group, one pencil announces)
Pencil- Citizens, I give you, your new ruler!
(a ruler steps forward and speaks)
Ruler- Now we all know the last ruler was CROOKED!
All pencils- Yeah, yeah!
Ruler- He couldn’t measure up!
All pencils- Yeah!
Ruler- But I’m straight! And I’m here to tell you where to DRAW THE LINE!
All pencils- yeah. Yeah!
Ruler- Now GET THE LEAD OUT!
All pencils- YEAH!!!
(all the pencils charge offscreen)

Winnie the Pooh

My favorite exchange from the old Winnie the Pooh series shows is as follows:
Piglet- Pooh, haven’t you been listening?
Pooh- Uh…I’m sorry, I had a small piece of fluff in my ear.
Rabbit- Well where should I start from?
Pooh- From the moment the fluff got in my ear.
Rabbit- Ah, when was that?
Pooh- I don’t know, I couldn’t hear properly.

The Bald Soprano

I did sound for a play by Eugene Ionesco. It was titled The Bald Soprano. It was sort of like an abstract painting. It wasn’t supposed to be like anything, it was ridiculous, and I guess each person could place their own meaning on it. It starts off fairly cohesive and kind of degenerates into utter nonsense then ends. Here are some of my favorite bits:

Mrs. Smith- This morning when you looked in the mirror you didn’t see yourself.
Mr. Smith- That’s because I wasn’t there yet.

The maid enters and offers to recite a poem. No one wants to hear it because she’s only a maid but she insists. What you have to know about the poem is that the actors were directed to act as if the word ‘fire’ was the word ‘sex’ and as the poem progresses the listeners get more uncomfortable and more turned on as the word ‘fire’ is repeated, while the maid gets more and more enthusiastic in her recitation. They actually haul her offstage at the end to make her quit. Here is the poem-
The polypoids were burning in the wood
A stone caught fire
The castle caught fire
The forest caught fire
Then men caught fire
The women caught fire
The birds caught fire
The fish caught fire
The WATER caught FIRE
The SKY caught FIRE
The ASHES caught FIRE
The SMOKE caught FIRE
The FIRE CAUGHT FIRE!
EVERYTHING CAUGHT FIRE, CAUGHT FIRE, CAUGHT FIRE!!

(more towards the end)
Mrs. Smith- Take a circle, caress it, and it will turn vicious.

Mr. Smith- Dogs have fleas! Dogs have fleas!
Mrs. Martin- Cactus! coccyx! crocus! cockaded! cockroach!
Mrs. Smith- Incasker you incask us!

I had a wierd dream two nights ago. It was in several parts. I don’t know if I’ll remeber all of it. Lita was a tiny girl and going to kindergarten for the first time. She tried to get on the bus but they told her to go back and fix her paperwork. It was a problem that her name was written on the wrong line. Lots of other moms had trouble with their paperwork too so Lita’s mom was running a consulting service to do their paperwork for them. I remember on the paperwork for Lita had her full name which was Ikeote (pronounced Eekay ota) and Lita was merely a nickname. And that’s not true in real life. Lita is the whole thing.
There was something about Dan and going to high school classes but I forget beyond that. Yesterday I remembered more. Oh well.

Me: There’s nothing that a symphony orchestra can’t fix…
Except for maybe.. humpty dumpty.

Woody: I just forgot your name.

Me reciting a TV quote: Absolute last, final, full shtop, cross my heart and hope to be shpanked until my bottom goes purple.

Woody: As long as I hear your pretty little voice.
in response to telling him about a test he doesn’t really want to set up but has to

Me: What comes next, ‘I’m a little-‘
Woody: Shamrock?

Thanks to my friend Woody I have a Ben Folds number of 3! He’s got me listening to the music of Ben Lee, who he met. Ben Lee worked with Ben Folds on an album called The Bens. Ben Lee is 1, Woody is 2, and I’m three. Yaha!

My sisters and I made this one up one day for no reason. Take any word and make it into a movie title that is a parody of a real movie title. We usually use the word ‘Shiloh’ because of some books one of my sisters used to read about a dog called Shiloh. Here’s a bunch made around my name:

A Streetcar named Tracey
When Harry met Tracey
The Color Tracey
Planet of the Tracey
Gentlemen Prefer Tracey
The Sound of Tracey
Tracey always rings twice
The Swiss Family Tracey
The Tracey and I
Casatracey
The African Tracey
Two Mules for Sister Tracey
Bridge over the river Tracey
Tracey: A new Hope
The Return of Tracey
Attack of the Traceys
Revenge of the Tracey
Lord of the Tracey
The Fellowship of the Tracey
Tracey, the Two Towers

The list of course goes on and on…

My current favorite show is Blackadder II, followed by Blackadder III. Series one and four are just ok. It is a show starring Rowan Atkinson of Mr Bean as well as some very funny sidekicks including Hugh Laurie, who stars in the new show House. British 80’s comedies these are, in six half hour episodes per series. Each one takes place in a different era in history under the pretence that a fellow named Edmund Blackadder lived once upon a time and schemed about greatness, though it always eludes him. Each series is a different Edmund whose predecessor was the previous Edmund, all are played by Rowan. Here are some quotes from series II which I have rented recently:

Poor old father telling his daughter Kate she needs to support him-
father: Our poverty has reached such extremes that I now have to look to my poor darling to sustain me in my frail dotage.
Kate: You mean?
father: Yes my dear. I want you to become a prostitute.
Kate: Father! I am young and clever. My nose is pretty! I shall think of a way to support us.
father: Oh please go on the game!
Kate: Never! I will go to London, disguise myself as a boy, and seek my fortune! (leaves)
father: (calling after her) Why walk all the way to London when you can make a fortune lying on your back?

Nursie telling a stupid story to Queen Elizabeth-
You almost were a boy my little cherry pit. Yeah, out you popped, out of your mummy’s tumkin. And everyone shouted- It’s a boy! It’s a boy! And then someone said- But it hasn’t got a winkle. And I said- A boy without a winkle? God be praised it’s a miracle! A boy without a winkle! And then Sir Thomas Moore pointed out that a boy without a winkle is a girl. Everyone was really disappointed.

Blackadder addressing a creepy old lady-
Blackadder: Tell me young crone is this Putney?
Crone: That it be, that it be.
B: Yes it is not that it be. You don’t have to talk in that stupid voice with me, I’m not a tourist. I seek information about a wise woman.
C: (gasp) The wise woman, THE WISE WOMAN
B: Yes the wise woman.
C: Two things, my lord, must ye know of the wise woman. First, she is a WOMAN!
And second, SHE IS . . .
B: Wise?
C: (straightens up drops the spooky accent) You do know her then?
B: No just a wild stab in the dark. Which is incidentally what you’ll be getting if you don’t start being a bit more helpful.
(Crone proceeds to tell Blackadder where the wise woman is)
B: Thank you young crone. Here is a purse of monies- which I’m not going to give you.

Maybe you have to see them, but I think the quotes are rather funny. I’ll bring more if more get stuck in my head.

added 4/20
Blackadder: Bob, this is Percy, a dimwit I don’t seem to be able to shake off.

Queen: Hurry up Edmund, I want to get to the party so I can get scriffy and seduce someone.

Blackadder and Kate are about to marry
K: And now I want you to meet my father.
B: (to her father obviously thinking he’s a nobody) Excuse me could you move along. (no response) Look I’m waiting for my father-in-law. Last thing I want is some dirty peasant blocking up the hallway.
father: I am your father in law!
B: Alright how much do you want to shove off?
K: Edmund!
father: About twenty pounds should do the trick.
K: Father! (father leaves) Edmund you musnt!
B: Oh don’t worry I’ll get Bauldrick to beat him up. We’ll get the twenty pounds back.

Blackadder is met in a corridor by two strangers-
#1: Excuse me meister!
Blackadder: Yes what is it? (#2 stranger hits him on the head from behind)
Blackadder: I said what is it, not hit me hard- ooh! (he collapses as the strike affects him belatedly)

Lord Melchett and Blackadder are in a dungeon, both having been hit on the head and kidnapped-
Blackadder: What on earth was I drinking last night? My head feels like there’s a Frenchman living in it. Who’s there?
Melchett: It is I, Lord Melchett.
B: You really ought to clean this place of yours up you know.

Blackadder needs to pay back a loan to the black monks on pain of death-
Blackadder: I’m up a certain creek without a certain instrument. Either I raise a thousand pounds by this evening, or I get murdered. What should I do?
Baldrick: It’s obvious.
Blackadder: What?
Baldrick: You’ll have to get murdered. You’ll never raise that sort of money.

Blackadder: I consider myself one of England’s finest liars. (looks out the door) Oh, my god, Percy! A giant hummingbird is about to eat your hat and cloak!
Percy: Oh no! (runs out then returns after a moment) It seems to have gone now.

Blackadder appears before his puritanical aunt totally drunk-
Aunt: Explain why you are wearing a cardinal’s hat, why you are grinning inanely, and why you have an ostrich feather sticking out of your britches!
Blackadder: I’m wearing a cardinal’s hat because I’m Cardinal Chunder. I have an ostrich feather up my bottom because Mr Ostrich put it there to keep in the little pixies. And I’m grinning inanely because I think I’ve just about succeeded in conning you and your daft husband out of a whopping great inheritance!
(the funniest bit about this speech is how Percy, Blackadder’s friend, begins mouthing the words from across the room as though this has happened before often enough to be a common explanation for his odd outfit.)

I dreamt I was a ship upon the sea
I am myself alone and only me
I dreamt I was a bird upon the sky
I am myself alone and only I
I saw you out alone upon the waves
In this and more I know you to be brave
I saw you out alone upon the sky
Take heart and know your wings will let you fly
You will not be alone if I am there
on wind and wave, or in the balmy air
You will not be alone if you’re with me
For you and I together, we are we.

In case you need further clarification: It’s a doozie, but don’t say you weren’t warned

Oh my god, listen, there is NO MRS “my husband’s name”! I AM ME! OK?! ME! Got it? GOOD!

I am stuck on bandaid brand cause bandaids stick on me!

Oh here’s the jingle for goldfish those baked and not fried goldfish,
the wholesome snack that smiles back until you bite their heads off.
Now you know they’re made with real cheese even though they look like fishies.
The snack that smiles back; goldfish!

I saw PeeWee Herman on an episode of Campus Ladies the other day. He was playing a slightly odd drama teacher that the ladies had he helped them sort out a fight they were having. I would say, “I always wondered what happened to that guy” but in reality I never did wonder that at all. But in case one of you did, there ya go!

Favorite sayings when someone is less than intelligent:
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer
Not the brightest crayon in the box
Dumber than a box of rocks (my dad likes that one)
Dumber than a bag of hammers