Will Hines Dot Net

1. Read the trivia section of its entry on imdb.com
2. Read its entire entry on wikipedia.org.
3. Read Roger Ebert’s review.
4. (optional) Read the AV Club review.

Saw Carrie and Miller’s Crossing tonight on Netflix streaming. News flash to no one: they’re good!

May I improv nerd out a bit here? Big improv night tonight at UCBT-NY.

First of all, I get to sit in on the Reuben Williams show at 10:30pm, a huge thrill in itself — but even more fun is I’m playing with my brother, Erik Tanouye, Gavin Speiller and Jon Gabrus. Put in terms of Harold Night-ness: that’s three 1985ers and two fwandies. All you people who used to love watching 1985 and fwand on Harold Night check it out. Whoever is funnier between Gavin and Gabrus wins. Also, there’s a high chance for a scene about two vampires playing rugby versus Albert Pujols. Yes, that is an endorsement.

Secondly, Omelette Vision at 7:30pm: Secunda, Delaney and Conroy. Three Godfathers of NYC improv. Old timers rave about the Swarm for a reason: they’re still the only team I’ve ever seen to be hilarious, patient, smart and absurd in every single show they ever did. Just as likely to be three Frenchman arguing over what is appropriate way to tailor a suit as they are to have a slow-motion dart fight. Improv students, get your asses to this show.

And finally: it’s Curtis Gwinn’s last regular Roo Roo show at 9pm. Roo Roo will continue to be great, but it’s definitely the end of an era with Curtis going to L.A. I got to be on a team with this guy, and I will attest to his hilariousness and his craziness — both essential parts of a great comedy operation. Roo Roo breaks the rules and then made them work again – they call each other out but somehow avoid straight-up denying. They make the most fantastical and absurd characters, but play them like real and smart people. They use their own real reactions to each other as people just as often as they yes-and the improv choices. They’re smart and fun and daring and joyful and crazy and one of the best teams in UCBT-NY history, and a lot of all that is because of their papa bird Curtis Gwinn. That guy is always funny, always listening, always reacting with a big honest bold choice. A dude who has gone through some crazy times while also being the biggest comedy nerd in a sea of them. Just as likely to be the perfect straight man as is he likely to look at you and make you Robocop just because he’s bored. A great improviser! A great team! They’ll be great next week, but it will be different. So come out tonight improv nerds and burn the show into your retinas so we can transcribe into stone and prove to the future that it mattered. BOOM!

For those of you discouraged by criticisms of Obama’s first year, I point you to this — it was item number one in The Economist’s “The World This Year” round-up:

Barack Obama was inaugurated as America’s 44th president. In a whirlwind first year in office, Mr. Obama overturned a prohibition on federal funding for stem-cell research, eased some restrictions on dealing with Cuba, lifted a ban on people with HIV traveling to the United States, pushed Congress to pass health-care reform, promised to close the detention camp at Guantanamo, pledged a cut in American’s emissions and promoted the first Hispanic person to the Supreme Court.

I’ll remind you that The Economist is a conservative British magazine, which has a skeptical attitude at best towards America in general and Obama in particular. Still, when tallying what’s important about the year, there’s no doubt of the positive overall change that’s happened. It’s fair game to criticize the president as harshly as you want — it’s part of the job — but step back and see the trends: we’re in a good place, getting better. Full disclosure: disagree with me and I’m probably going to totally ignore you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Joe Lieberman Blocks More Things New video from LandlineTV!

I’ll say it: Michael Delaney is funny.

Also, I’m in this at the end.

HP Web Cams Are Racist. This is a simple and hilarious and sad demonstration of the camera will not recognize him, but easily recognizes his white co-worker. “The worst part is I bought one for Christmas.”

I think “You Won’t See Me” might be my favorite song on Rubber Soul. For the Oooh La Las, of course.

Last Christmas Karaoke by Kevin Scott and starring Matt Oberg. A warm and pleasant and funny thing. Oberg is so hilarious that even in this where he is mostly very low key I find myself laughing out loud. I also enjoy that Ashley Ward’s character always wears reindeer ears to Xmas parties.

I removed the longer version of “Pecs” and put up a shorter cut. I updated my earlier post but people with RSS readers won’t get that updated version. Must stop fussing, I know.

A shorter cut of “A Man Wants Someone To Feel His Pecs.”

A Man Wants Someone To Feel His Pecs. Starring Dom Manozlillo and Molly Lloyd. Written/directed by me. Camera / special effects by Matt Mayer. Boom and equipment by Kevin Hines.

Pardon me while I talk far too much about this: I promised myself to do 12 videos before June 1 that are “in my voice.” Implied in that are videos that are a bit weird. This is one of them. I wrote the script for National Sketch Writing Month and even though there’s no real premise or hard game, it always made me laugh. I’d go back and re-read it and just wanted it to exist. The stilted phrasing, the default hostility of Molly’s character, and the deliberate obliviousness of Dom’s, and the out-of-nowhere weird ending — they’re all things I like to do in improv scenes when I’m feeling silly. So I guess it’s an attempt to capture a series of silly moments in spite of them not really having a point. Weird how a trifle like this can feel so exciting to do.

And how good are the actors? Think about the script: it doesn’t mean anything — but they look like they mean it, don’t they? We shot this in 2 hours, counting a quick rehearsal inside first. Molly especially has huge mouthfuls of weird phrases which I love but have little justification, but I’ll be damned to the deepest pit of hell if she doesn’t make them sound natural. And Dom is perfect — a great mix of naturalness and niceness. It’s criminal the access I have to great actors in the UCBT world.

It was very hard to get good sound. Manhattan streets = lots of traffic and background noise. We had a shotgun mike pointed right at their mouths from just out of frame, but I didn’t have a good windscreen AND I think we might have been mixing in camera mike sound. Maybe. Still, it works — without the shotgun mike it would have been impossible. Dom’s first two lines (in the wide shot) are dubbed. I mixed it the best I could, watching the levels. I also color corrected the best I could — Dom’s shots were all more red, but the final cut is better than the footage.

Matt Mayer’s effects at the end are so beautiful and silly, right? I’ve only just recently gotten the nerve to ask my talented friends to do things for my videos, and I’m certainly glad Matt lent his talents to this. He also DPed and helped me keep track of some coverage things.

This is Kevin’s camera which he bought from Rob Stern. A small HD Sony camera — so great! Light and good and easy to lug around. Very last-minute Kevin agreed to stick around and boom the shoot so I could focus on listening and watching. Thank you Kevin Hines.

Edited to add: Nate Smith gave me invaluable notes on my first 2.5 minute cut that helped me speed it up without losing its insanity that I loved. He is good. Isn’t it weird how many people end up getting involved in a video, even a short silly one like this?

Fun!

Getting ready to go to the airport to go back to NYC.