Improv hours (performing, coaching, studying, watching): 486

Movies: 47 (Avatar, Taken, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Twilight, The Book of Eli, Role Models, The Tailor of Panama, Why We Laugh, Temple Grandin, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, An Education, Outrage, The Crazies, Pierrot le fou, Afghan Star, Transsiberian, Blue Steel, Alice in Wonderland, Greenberg, Hot Tub Time Machine, Shutter Island, The Ghost Writer, Kick-Ass, Fighter, The Blind Side, Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, You’re Gonna Miss Me, Gogol Bordello: Non-Stop, Exit Through the Gift Shop, F for Fake, The Secret in Their Eyes, Law Abiding Citizen, Metropolis, The Girlfriend Experience, Iron Man II, Splice, Micmacs, Toy Story 3, Visioneers, Cyrus, 49 Up, Solitary Man, Zombieland, Inception, The Invention of Lying, Despicable Me)

Books: 11 (Gulliver’s Travels, Appointment in Samarra, Laughter in the Dark, Ada or Ardor, Tales of the City, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories, The Time of Our Singing, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Wild Things, The Bedwetter)

Long walks (1 hour +): 31

Web presence (active): Facebook, Tumblr, IRC Improv Wiki

Web presence (neglected): Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Youtube, FriendFeed

Semi-recent self-portrait:

Older self-portraits:

1. Two guys from the Bay Area just opened up a burrito shop called Dos Toros on 4th Avenue between 13th and 14th.

2. It appears to be a loving homage to Gordo Taqueria.

3. The carne asada burrito I had there last night was better than the ones at Gordo’s.

4. Read number three again. Seriously.

No more jasmine rice, unmelted shredded cheese, forgettable meat and questionable beans, poorly wrapped in a stale tortilla. No more Qdoba, and certainly no more Chipotle. Ever, ever again.

I’ll be going back again tonight to try the pork and/or chicken. While quietly weeping.

Viva Los Toros.

World: It’s increasingly looking like I’m going to be around for a while. As a result, I’m going to have to take you by storm, and/or flip you on your ear.

Fair warning.

]]> http://www.morganphillips.com/archives/889/feed 11 http://www.morganphillips.com/archives/860 http://www.morganphillips.com/archives/860#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:51:36 +0000 Morgan http://www.morganphillips.com/?p=860 I’ve been doing improv comedy for 15 years now, and I’m still deeply in love with it. Been meaning to write a heartfelt essay about that. Maybe I’ll get around to it soon. In the meantime here is my battle plan for this weekend, the 11th annual Del Close Marathon of improv. Published for the semi-edification of future generations (and current stalkers).

(For those keeping score: six hours of improv class and twenty improv shows, bookended by a movie and a concert.)

ANGELIKA
Fri 3:10pm Paper Heart

HUDSON GUILD
Fri 6:30pm Monkeydick
Fri 7:00pm Mantziggle(?)

URBAN STAGES (Alternate)
Fri 6:45pm Bastian

TRIPLE CROWN BASEMENT
Fri 8:00pm The Belmonts

MAGNET
Fri 10:00pm Made-Up Musical

[Get "one" drink, go home and sleep.]

SIMPLE STUDIOS
Sat 11:00am “Power Improv Scenes” w/ Mark Sutton
Sat 2:00pm “Power Improv Characters” w/Joe Bill

[Go home, sleep.]

HUDSON GUILD
Sun 12:30am Super CageMatch

URBAN STAGES
Sun 1:45am Panama
Sun 2:15am West Village Brunch
Sun 2:45am WUCB – Live Radio in the dark
Sun 3:00am Uncle Moe’s
Sun 3:15am Convoy
Sun 3:30am Leslie, Lennon and Molly: Redux
Sun 3:45am C,C&C Improv Factory
Sun 4:00am Outlook Of The Poet
Sun 4:15am Hot Sauce
Sun 4:30am Five Dudes
Sun 4:45am Improvisosos Peligrosos
Sun 5:00am Blind Harold
Sun 5:15 Stir the Sauce
Sun 5:30am Can I Talk To You For A Second?

[Go home, sleep.]

HAFT AUDITORIUM
Sun 8pm ASSSSCAT 3000

SPIKE HILL
Sun 10pm Thin Skin Jonny

And was inspired to create this video:

Hey, me: Do that kind of thing some more.

I will blog again soon, probably.

Meanwhile, I’ve been Tweeting.

So, there’s that.

Come see a show, why don’t you? For the first time in a long while, all four of my extant improv groups have upcoming gigs.

That may be the first time I’ve ever written the word extant.

Proof of life.

]]> http://www.morganphillips.com/archives/822/feed 4 http://www.morganphillips.com/archives/733 http://www.morganphillips.com/archives/733#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:11:02 +0000 Morgan http://www.morganphillips.com/?p=733 Paris was great. Of course. The best part was my little sister’s dance piece (saw the dress rehearsal and a regular performance). The runner-up was everything else, in a 178-way tie.

I took a few pictures, such as this one at Sainte-Chapelle…

And this one at the Pere Lachaise cemetery…

I also made a little youtube video out of the flip cam footage I shot of my post-sunset cruise of the Seine, on the last night of my trip…

I would like to return to Paris as soon as possible. Preferably as a rich person, and/or with a lady friend. If you are a lonely rich lady who would like a Paris companion, shoot me an e-mail or something. Let’s make it happen.

Here’s a list of what I’m most excited about:

A confession: I’m slightly frightened. This is the first time I’ll be truly on my own in a foreign country. My (semi-fluent) sister will be meeting up with me eventually, but for the first few days I will be entirely by myself, with no phone and limited internet access, and a vocabulary of approximately 100 random French words.

I’m generally super-brave (ask anybody), so it’s kind of fun to feel intimidated by something; to plunge into the somewhat-unknown.

Bring it, France.

It all sprang from a conversation I had with Beverly, my girlfriend. At dinner one night she suddenly blurted out, “You know, I don’t actually exist. I’m something you made up for a blog post.” I was confused for a moment, but then it occurred to me what she probably meant.

“Are you saying that it seems like I’m more interested in experience for the sake of narrative subject matter, rather than experience for the sake of experience? That I should start living life, instead of just… taking notes on it?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m saying that I literally don’t exist. I’m not a real person. You’re alone, sitting in front of your computer, in a pit-stained tee shirt and ill-fitting underwear, eating a Dominos Chicken Bacon Ranch Oven Baked Sandwich and quietly weeping.”

He was in the 7th or 8th grade, and significantly larger than me. The routine went like this: The school day would end, I’d go to the bike rack to retrieve my Schwinn Stingray, the bully would push me to the ground, I’d completely ignore him, and then I’d ride home.

I’m proud of my eleven year-old self for intuiting that a lack of reaction would frustrate the bully. I was too intimidated to fight back, and I didn’t want to go the “look at the little baby go running to the teachers” route.

Unfortunately, my strategy was flawed. All the bully wanted was to see me cry, and he was willing to continue the attacks for as long as it took. I can say this with confidence, because after several months (two weeks), I finally broke down and started sobbing. He never bothered me again.

If I could do it all over again, I’d politely ask him to stop. Then, when he refused, I’d hit him in the side of the head with my Kryptonite bike lock over and over again until he died.

Not that I’m still carrying around any negative feelings about it, or anything.

Thanks for reminding me, Facebook!