Okay, so here goes another try, again on the bus. If the battery dies on me or I forget to save or Word crashes again without Auto Recovery I’m officially giving up on writing this report.
Monday evening was my first ever instance teaching an improv class. Well, that’s a semi-lie: Back at AC-Cubed ’06 in Ottawa, I helped Mark (leader of The 404s) run a workshop. But since I only had an ancillary role I think this qualifies as my first foray into teaching an improv class myself. …Okay, so I didn’t do it completely by myself, as I recruited Michael C., fellow 404 improvver and good friend, to help me out with showing examples and playing some games.
I want to start with a big thanks to Mike for commuting down to Toronto and helping me out. I don’t think the session would have been nearly as effective without him helping me show examples of good improv vs. bad improv, and wouldn’t have been nearly as fun without some of his side quips to complement some of my serious points. On that note, it was kind of weird seeing Mike in the Rotman building. Noone from my outside-Rotman life had ever stepped in, so it felt a tiny bit jarring for a moment – like someone invading my bedroom back when I was a teenager – but of course, no big deal and I snapped out of that quick.
We had a bit of a low turnout: of the 9 people registered, only 4 showed up. This is understandable since MBA students tend to get busy with last-minute assignment submissions and other stuff coming up. Still, a bit disappointing, but it allowed those who did show up to get a lot of value out of the class by being able to participate a whole lot more.
I based the structure of my workshop on Mark’s AC-Cubed one, which as I understand was inspired by Wayne Brady’s own improv class (link to video below). For the first 20 minutes or so, I lectured about what improv is and the benefits of practicing improv to an MBA student (of which there are several!). Several attendees had no clue what improv was, for which I prepared a Youtube video link of the masters of short-form comedy improv: the case of Whose Line Is It Anyway.
Once we got over introductions and demonstrations of several improv concepts (offers, listening, yes-and, blocking, gagging, wimping, and steamrolling), I had the group pair up and practice “Yes-And”ing, which really got them going. After playing a warmup game of “Da-Da-Da” (which I now agree with Mike is a great warmup game), we got into the meat of things: playing a bunch of improv games.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that all 4 students picked up the concepts quickly. More importantly, there was plenty of laughter and smiles and positive feedback. My most pleasant surprise was that even the participants whose English wasn’t as strong as others’ were able to effectively participate and create good scenes (with the exception of “One-Word-at-a-Time”, which I realized all too late requires a strong knowledge and familiarity with grammatical sentence structure).
Some highlights from the workshop:
- In Moving People (which took place at The Grand Canyon), Robin kept moving Justing in ways that got him to flip-flop between contemplating suicide or running away from the tide.
- “That’s Integrative Thinking!” and “Can You Diversify This?” were two of the highlight Rotman-related phrases given to our improvvers for a game of Two-Line vocabulary. It’s amazing how incorporating them into a scene resulted in the innovation of brushing teeth with Coke.
- Every Other Line with business textbooks resulted in what Mike called “the funniest Every Other Line he’d ever played”. Kudos to Mike for being able, as the straight actor, to cope with the lines thrown at him.
- I only played one game, but it ended with our hiring of Mexicans to carry my gold, which I consider a proper, successful ending to any story.
- Lots of other moments I can’t recall: the hour and a half passed by far too quickly.
And that’s the report! Due to the positive feedback and interest from people to do it again, I will be holding the session again next Tuesday, this time during lunch. Hopefully more people show up this time, but I’d be happy with 4 again, so long as we can play more games.
I wish I had remembered to take pictures but I was too caught up with running the workshop. So instead I leave you with a link to the first part of Wayne Brady’s improv workshop, which covers a lot more than mine did. Follow the related links to watch the entire thing.
Week 4 of Everyday Better Guy – success!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Frustration!
Whoever said that Macs don't crash has clearly never tried to using a Microsoft product on one, in this case MS Word for Mac. I had a nice long workshop report typed up on the bus home today and now it's all gone. The system didn't even do the usual 'recovery' so I didn't even salvage part of the write-up. Microsoft, you will be the end of me.
I will write this up again later :(.
I will write this up again later :(.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Week 4, Day 1: Run an improv workshop
Today I will be teaching 8 MBA students about the art of improv. I've been doing improv with The 404s for about 4 years now, and with the entire cast had the chance to help our leader Mark run a workshop at a con (I think it was at ACCubed '07 but I could be wrong).
This time however, I will be the instructor, and I've invited Mike C. to come along and help me out. The workshop's happening in 4 short hours and while I'm not really nervous right now, I'm sure I will be all shaky during the 5 minutes before it officially starts. No matter how often I perform, how confident I become on stage, the moment just before I give a presentation all the same 'butterflies' return. I hear this is not uncommon. Ah well.
Here's a screen of my presentation deck intro - I think my title is particularly clever. Excited!
This time however, I will be the instructor, and I've invited Mike C. to come along and help me out. The workshop's happening in 4 short hours and while I'm not really nervous right now, I'm sure I will be all shaky during the 5 minutes before it officially starts. No matter how often I perform, how confident I become on stage, the moment just before I give a presentation all the same 'butterflies' return. I hear this is not uncommon. Ah well.
Here's a screen of my presentation deck intro - I think my title is particularly clever. Excited!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Week 3: Papercraft (FAIL)
Due to schoolwork I kept putting my papercraft project off to the weekend, since I had time on Friday and Sunday to do stuff. Turned out I had limited access to the family car, so after finding out that Staples didn't have the right type of paper to print on, and after experimenting at home with our own printer and not being happy with the results, I was stuck. I went to Kinko's on Sunday and thankfully, it worked out well there with the printing. So I officially started my project on Sunday, which is cutting it close.
THIS is the papercraft I decided to try: http://ninjatoes.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/the-legend-of-zelda-hero-of-twilight/
Daunting, yes? I may have been slightly overconfident, considering I've never papercrafted before.
Here are some photos of my project:
Notice how much better Kinko printing looks.
Some of the tools I used. I protected the table with newspapers!
Took me about 20 minutes to get here, and another 5 to finish this boot. Jesus Christ this is boring.
Then at around 2PM, I get an e-mail from Robin, head of the Rotman Public Speaking club. He reminds me that I'm holding an improv workshop tomorrow for our membership, something I'm doing for the first time ever (Hint: it's Week 4!). Then I realized I had forgotten to prepare for it, so I tidied up and began readying that. I WILL finish the papercraft, though it seems like I underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take to do so, and how mind-numbingly boring it is. I'm almost willing to go for a run every day of the week instead to make up for not finishing it. If anyone can think of a better punishment, I'd love to hear it.
THIS is the papercraft I decided to try: http://ninjatoes.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/the-legend-of-zelda-hero-of-twilight/
Daunting, yes? I may have been slightly overconfident, considering I've never papercrafted before.
Here are some photos of my project:
Notice how much better Kinko printing looks.
Some of the tools I used. I protected the table with newspapers!
Took me about 20 minutes to get here, and another 5 to finish this boot. Jesus Christ this is boring.
Then at around 2PM, I get an e-mail from Robin, head of the Rotman Public Speaking club. He reminds me that I'm holding an improv workshop tomorrow for our membership, something I'm doing for the first time ever (Hint: it's Week 4!). Then I realized I had forgotten to prepare for it, so I tidied up and began readying that. I WILL finish the papercraft, though it seems like I underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take to do so, and how mind-numbingly boring it is. I'm almost willing to go for a run every day of the week instead to make up for not finishing it. If anyone can think of a better punishment, I'd love to hear it.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Week 3 - Papercraft
A friend of mine pointed me to this site: www.nintendopapercraft.com and I'm going to try some papercraft this week. I haven't picked a particular figure yet but if you have any suggestions I will definitely consider them.
Also, cooking week (week 2) I've extended to more than just flavour of the week - I will try a new recipe whenever I am home on a Wednesday morning, as that is the best time for my family to teach me.
Also, cooking week (week 2) I've extended to more than just flavour of the week - I will try a new recipe whenever I am home on a Wednesday morning, as that is the best time for my family to teach me.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Week 2 Day 1: Pörkölt beef even better than mama!
This week I decided I needed to improve my cooking skills, with a focus on family recipes that I've loved for years.
Here I am, getting sexy in my chef’s apron.
Tl;dr version: Pörkölt(roasted) beef & mashed potatoes turned out awesome, I learnt quite a bit, and the two women I live with drove me crazy.
Even though I only asked for one of them to help, it turned out both my mom and grandma had nothing better to do on Wednesday morning than harass me as I learnt how to cook a chunk of beef "Pörkölt" Hungarian-style, which is a kind of roasted beef using paprika for flavor.
Ingredients used for the braised beef:
- ½ kg of beef (the tastier part of the cow, the better, I can’t remember what kind I had bought)
- 2 small onions, chopped up just fine (this is the part I hate the most, onions always make me cry)
- 1 tsp. each of your preferred spices (for Hungarian-style, I used red paprika, ground black pepper, and salt in equal amounts, then tasted near the end and added more as appropriate. But 1 tsp of each is a good base to go off of).
- 3 tbsp. Corn oil (there was a big argument between the ladies over whether this is enough, my grandma prefers to speed up heart disease in the family)
- A couple of pinches of flour
- Water
That’s all you need! Here are the directions I followed:
Step the first: Chop up the onions and toss them into the pot to sizzle slowly on low heat
Step the second: Wash then cut up the beef. I sliced fairly thinly which reduces cooking time. Look:
Step the…3: Add your spices to the pot, stir a little, then dump the beef in. Stir some more, add a bit of water (like ¼ of a glass) and cover. Leave it on medium heat for a minute or two so the water is nice and boily, then reduce to low heat so the food doesn’t get burned.
4. Cook for around 2 hours (this would be a good time to work on the mashed potatoes, salad, or whatever side you’re into…in my case I worked on a school assignment), checking every 30 mins or so for tenderness and adding water if needed (and it will most likely be needed). Toward the end, taste to check tenderness and add spices if needed.
5. (Optional) Make the meat saucier: Now that it’s pretty much done, sprinkle a few pinches of flour, add a little more water, and stir. The sauciness is especially good with the starchy side you’re serving the beef with (potatoes, rice, bread, etc.).
I’m not going to go over the making of the mashed potatoes in too much detail, since it’s pretty simple: peel the potatoes, boil ‘em, drain ‘em, mash ‘em, then mix in my secret ingredients: milk, butter OR sour cream, and a tiny bit of paprika. I didn’t use paprika this time since it had gone to the main dish.
Served! Sup Ramy. He liked it and so would you.
Note that this is a pretty easy dish to make, and really it tastes awesome. You can make it your own by using different spices, and different meats, although cooking times will vary depending on what meat you use and how chunky it is. As a general rule, cooking time for beef > pork > lamb > chicken. Might I recommend chicken mixed with Montreal steak spice? One of my favorite combinations.
This weekend I will likely get my grandmother to guide me through preparing some kind of awesome home-made cake recipe.
Here I am, getting sexy in my chef’s apron.
Tl;dr version: Pörkölt(roasted) beef & mashed potatoes turned out awesome, I learnt quite a bit, and the two women I live with drove me crazy.
Even though I only asked for one of them to help, it turned out both my mom and grandma had nothing better to do on Wednesday morning than harass me as I learnt how to cook a chunk of beef "Pörkölt" Hungarian-style, which is a kind of roasted beef using paprika for flavor.
Ingredients used for the braised beef:
- ½ kg of beef (the tastier part of the cow, the better, I can’t remember what kind I had bought)
- 2 small onions, chopped up just fine (this is the part I hate the most, onions always make me cry)
- 1 tsp. each of your preferred spices (for Hungarian-style, I used red paprika, ground black pepper, and salt in equal amounts, then tasted near the end and added more as appropriate. But 1 tsp of each is a good base to go off of).
- 3 tbsp. Corn oil (there was a big argument between the ladies over whether this is enough, my grandma prefers to speed up heart disease in the family)
- A couple of pinches of flour
- Water
That’s all you need! Here are the directions I followed:
Step the first: Chop up the onions and toss them into the pot to sizzle slowly on low heat
Step the second: Wash then cut up the beef. I sliced fairly thinly which reduces cooking time. Look:
Step the…3: Add your spices to the pot, stir a little, then dump the beef in. Stir some more, add a bit of water (like ¼ of a glass) and cover. Leave it on medium heat for a minute or two so the water is nice and boily, then reduce to low heat so the food doesn’t get burned.
4. Cook for around 2 hours (this would be a good time to work on the mashed potatoes, salad, or whatever side you’re into…in my case I worked on a school assignment), checking every 30 mins or so for tenderness and adding water if needed (and it will most likely be needed). Toward the end, taste to check tenderness and add spices if needed.
5. (Optional) Make the meat saucier: Now that it’s pretty much done, sprinkle a few pinches of flour, add a little more water, and stir. The sauciness is especially good with the starchy side you’re serving the beef with (potatoes, rice, bread, etc.).
I’m not going to go over the making of the mashed potatoes in too much detail, since it’s pretty simple: peel the potatoes, boil ‘em, drain ‘em, mash ‘em, then mix in my secret ingredients: milk, butter OR sour cream, and a tiny bit of paprika. I didn’t use paprika this time since it had gone to the main dish.
Served! Sup Ramy. He liked it and so would you.
Note that this is a pretty easy dish to make, and really it tastes awesome. You can make it your own by using different spices, and different meats, although cooking times will vary depending on what meat you use and how chunky it is. As a general rule, cooking time for beef > pork > lamb > chicken. Might I recommend chicken mixed with Montreal steak spice? One of my favorite combinations.
This weekend I will likely get my grandmother to guide me through preparing some kind of awesome home-made cake recipe.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Week 2: Ch-ch-changes.
As I mentioned in the last post, this week has been crazy busy for me school-wise. Also, 5 things a week is both limiting and excessive. Limiting because I don't get to explore any of the improvements in depth, dedicating only an hour or two to each, and because it means more planning time is required leaving leaving less for execution. Excessive because while it was relatively doable during my spring break week, I can't see myself doing 5 new things a week during this busy course schedule.
So rather than blow my proverbial load of improvements in two months,
I have decided to modify my mandate. Chris V of Nintendorks suggested the following:
Anyways, this week will be cooking! The ladies love a guy who can cook. I will be getting my mom & grandma (but hopefully not both at the same time) to guide me through the cooking process, preparing some awesome home recipes.
So rather than blow my proverbial load of improvements in two months,
I have decided to modify my mandate. Chris V of Nintendorks suggested the following:
You should reconsider and pick 52 things to try, and do one per week, with 1-3 posts per week updating on the process, or just one really good post.and many agreed. This also lessens the load for me. So I will be going with this from here on out. It feels a little bit like giving up early on but this is my blog and noone reads it anyways, so I don't care. Maybe I should rename this to Every Week Better Guy instead. Hmm.
Anyways, this week will be cooking! The ladies love a guy who can cook. I will be getting my mom & grandma (but hopefully not both at the same time) to guide me through the cooking process, preparing some awesome home recipes.
Week 1 Days 4-5: Road Trippin'
Sorry for the late post, first week back to school has been crazy busy.
Thursday morning I went on an impromptu road trip to Montreal. First, a photo of some Llamas we met on the way:
Things I learnt about Montreal:
- Road tripping is hella fun, even without The 404s as company. MBA classmates Mainak, Khaled, Alejandro, and Ricardo provided some interesting conversation topics such as: "If you had to stick a bottle up your ass, would you prefer Coke or Pepsi?". We mostly had very different tastes in music so we would alternate between classic and not-yet-too-classic rock (from Alejandro & I), Egyptian pop (from Khaled), club anthems (thanks a bunch, Mainak), and Spanish versions of western songs (yep, that's Ricardo). Unfortunately the Ipod FM adapter had broken on the way back, so we settles to flipping through the various radio channels which was an adventure in itself.
- I will never be too old to shoot kids in the face with a laser. "What does one do on a road trip to Montreal?" I asked the Twitter-verse. @MzScarlett was the only one who responded, and of all things to do in such a culturally rich town she suggested: "Laser Tag on St. Catherine & Peel Ave." Well, we just happened to be there and the guys were gung-ho about it, and it seemed like fun. We were the only ones over 12, and screaming at little 5 year old French girls as we shot them was even more fun than it sounds. I got 5th place, my personal best Laser Tag record. Alejandro shot me 13 times, mostly since he kept betraying our unholy alliance.
- There are way too many Montreal facts, and I can barely remember even one. Clara, a friend of mine whom I met while doing improv a few years ago in Montreal, was my personal tour guide on Friday. I really wish I had taken a photo of her (I'm still getting used to this taking photos of everything thing). She took me to the lookout point on Mont Royale and drizzled me with random facts about the city (did you know the 1976 Olympic stadium structure was unfinished during the Olympics themselves?), and came laser tagging with us too. Of all the things, the only one I snapped a photo of was the Ubisoft campus building, which I didn't even get to enter.
- The food is awesoooooome: the Montreal Smoked Meat heaven called Schwartz's, Ben & Jerry's ice cream (which we don't have stores of in Toronto, and was particularly significant since we had done a case about them in Strategy class), even La Belle Province which I'm told is crap by Montreal standards, was awesome. And the apple crumble we had at THE BIG APPLE on the trip was delicious.
Night life was a bit lame since Peer pressure dictated we go to a strip club, and I didn't really want to wander off alone. Although the ladies were beautiful and the place pretty swanky, it was a pretty meh time. We did check out Casino Montreal at 2AM and holy shit that is a fantastic building, originally built for the World Expo in the 60s (or 70s?).
And that's the report!
Thursday morning I went on an impromptu road trip to Montreal. First, a photo of some Llamas we met on the way:
Things I learnt about Montreal:
- Road tripping is hella fun, even without The 404s as company. MBA classmates Mainak, Khaled, Alejandro, and Ricardo provided some interesting conversation topics such as: "If you had to stick a bottle up your ass, would you prefer Coke or Pepsi?". We mostly had very different tastes in music so we would alternate between classic and not-yet-too-classic rock (from Alejandro & I), Egyptian pop (from Khaled), club anthems (thanks a bunch, Mainak), and Spanish versions of western songs (yep, that's Ricardo). Unfortunately the Ipod FM adapter had broken on the way back, so we settles to flipping through the various radio channels which was an adventure in itself.
- I will never be too old to shoot kids in the face with a laser. "What does one do on a road trip to Montreal?" I asked the Twitter-verse. @MzScarlett was the only one who responded, and of all things to do in such a culturally rich town she suggested: "Laser Tag on St. Catherine & Peel Ave." Well, we just happened to be there and the guys were gung-ho about it, and it seemed like fun. We were the only ones over 12, and screaming at little 5 year old French girls as we shot them was even more fun than it sounds. I got 5th place, my personal best Laser Tag record. Alejandro shot me 13 times, mostly since he kept betraying our unholy alliance.
- There are way too many Montreal facts, and I can barely remember even one. Clara, a friend of mine whom I met while doing improv a few years ago in Montreal, was my personal tour guide on Friday. I really wish I had taken a photo of her (I'm still getting used to this taking photos of everything thing). She took me to the lookout point on Mont Royale and drizzled me with random facts about the city (did you know the 1976 Olympic stadium structure was unfinished during the Olympics themselves?), and came laser tagging with us too. Of all the things, the only one I snapped a photo of was the Ubisoft campus building, which I didn't even get to enter.
- The food is awesoooooome: the Montreal Smoked Meat heaven called Schwartz's, Ben & Jerry's ice cream (which we don't have stores of in Toronto, and was particularly significant since we had done a case about them in Strategy class), even La Belle Province which I'm told is crap by Montreal standards, was awesome. And the apple crumble we had at THE BIG APPLE on the trip was delicious.
Night life was a bit lame since Peer pressure dictated we go to a strip club, and I didn't really want to wander off alone. Although the ladies were beautiful and the place pretty swanky, it was a pretty meh time. We did check out Casino Montreal at 2AM and holy shit that is a fantastic building, originally built for the World Expo in the 60s (or 70s?).
And that's the report!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Week 1, Day 3: Edit some video!
As I mentioned yesterday, today Mike & I edited some video footage of the 404s improv troupe (that I belong to) playing a pen & paper roleplaying game. Back in mid-January, we had shot 4 hours' worth of footage of us playing an RPG and goofing off. That is getting condensed into 5-6 under 10 minute episodes. We're trying to make sure that the story comes through, and that the funniest bits are kept in while the not-so-entertaining parts are left out.
Tim does an amazing Wookie impression that we kept replaying and had us ROFL-ing all day. Once the episodes are done I'm sure we'll have a highlights reel.
This was my first big video editing project, as in the past all I did was convert straight video from my camera to a Youtube compatible format, while in this one I'm making cuts and transitions. I only had the one stationary camera angle to work with, so that kept things relatively simple. By the end of it I was pretty comfortable with iMovie, though I'm sure I'll be wanting to graduate to Final Cut sooner or later. We pretty much finished cutting and editing the first 2 episodes, now I'm just waiting for a high-res image of The 404s logo to slap on and the first episode should be out by the end of the week. I'll make sure to post the fruits of our labour then.
Also, I just found out that I'm going on an impromptu road trip tomorrow morning. A bunch of university friends will be driving down to Montreal for a 2-night stay. Not sure what shenanigans will ensue just yet, but it surely qualifies for my Day 4 improvement.
Tim does an amazing Wookie impression that we kept replaying and had us ROFL-ing all day. Once the episodes are done I'm sure we'll have a highlights reel.
This was my first big video editing project, as in the past all I did was convert straight video from my camera to a Youtube compatible format, while in this one I'm making cuts and transitions. I only had the one stationary camera angle to work with, so that kept things relatively simple. By the end of it I was pretty comfortable with iMovie, though I'm sure I'll be wanting to graduate to Final Cut sooner or later. We pretty much finished cutting and editing the first 2 episodes, now I'm just waiting for a high-res image of The 404s logo to slap on and the first episode should be out by the end of the week. I'll make sure to post the fruits of our labour then.
Also, I just found out that I'm going on an impromptu road trip tomorrow morning. A bunch of university friends will be driving down to Montreal for a 2-night stay. Not sure what shenanigans will ensue just yet, but it surely qualifies for my Day 4 improvement.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Week 1, Day 2: Get some exercise!
Okay, so this may sound like a lame 'improvement', but for me it's a big deal! I haven't gotten any dedicated exercise done since last summer! Back when I was working full-time (and not in the MBA program) I joined our work gym's running club. Even then I found it hard to stick to schedule, but I'd go for a walk/run at least twice a week, and my ability to run longer was improving. So I figured I would start again with a 30 minute run, alternating between running and walking at my comfort for the first time. Next time it'll be 1 min walk/1 min run and I'll be building up from there.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Week 1, Day 1: Declutter my drawers
Okay, so today's 'improvement' was really simple, but important and essential if I'm going to become a better person: it was time to get my bottom drawers cleaned out and organized. Okay so this is lame, but they've been in a major disarray ever since I moved in over a year ago. Here's a photo.
A relatively easy improvement, but one that I have been putting off long enough and now it's all tidy and organized. I'm sure the tops of my drawers will become cluttered with mess again in no time, but hopefully it'll take longer for that to happen with the drawers themselves.
I will try to make tomorrow more exciting, I promise.
A relatively easy improvement, but one that I have been putting off long enough and now it's all tidy and organized. I'm sure the tops of my drawers will become cluttered with mess again in no time, but hopefully it'll take longer for that to happen with the drawers themselves.
I will try to make tomorrow more exciting, I promise.
Jon & Jon - Some of my inspirations
While I'm a fan of many things, a pair of Jons (no, not Johns Linnell & Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants) inspired my idea for this blog.
First is Jon Lajoie, who raps about being an Everyday Normal Guy and is the inspiration for the name of the blog. He's arguably a comedy genius - while his videos are on the surface pretty low-brow in their delivery, his deadpan intelligent satire appeals to me very much. Also dick jokes. He's pretty much a self-made success who became popular over the internet. Check out the rest of his stuff on his Youtube channel.
And then there's Jonathan Coulton, another self-made successful musician, whose geeky songs also gained popularity over the internet through his embrace of a Creative Commons copyright license, allowing people to use his songs in their own projects without requiring permission or charging royalties. He ran his project Thing-a-Week for a year straight, recording a song every week. This model sort of serves as the basis for the structure of Everyday Better Guy, doing something specific every day. I love his music, and if you like awesome geeky things you will too. Some of his more well-known hits are Still Alive, Code Monkey, and Skullcrusher Mountain. You can listen to all of his music (and download some of it) for free in the music section of his website. Here's one of my favorite fan-made videos:
First is Jon Lajoie, who raps about being an Everyday Normal Guy and is the inspiration for the name of the blog. He's arguably a comedy genius - while his videos are on the surface pretty low-brow in their delivery, his deadpan intelligent satire appeals to me very much. Also dick jokes. He's pretty much a self-made success who became popular over the internet. Check out the rest of his stuff on his Youtube channel.
And then there's Jonathan Coulton, another self-made successful musician, whose geeky songs also gained popularity over the internet through his embrace of a Creative Commons copyright license, allowing people to use his songs in their own projects without requiring permission or charging royalties. He ran his project Thing-a-Week for a year straight, recording a song every week. This model sort of serves as the basis for the structure of Everyday Better Guy, doing something specific every day. I love his music, and if you like awesome geeky things you will too. Some of his more well-known hits are Still Alive, Code Monkey, and Skullcrusher Mountain. You can listen to all of his music (and download some of it) for free in the music section of his website. Here's one of my favorite fan-made videos:
The beginning of the Everyday Better Guy movement
I am LAZY. I have many interests, most of which I pursue half-assedly. I'm part of an improv troupe but never practice. I love music and to sing but all I ever do is go to karaoke. There are so many things I could be doing, but instead I'm addicted to playing Settlers of Catan online at games.asobrain.com.
So I've set myself a mandate: Starting today, I will use at least an hour of free time every weekday to achieve one thing that makes me a better, more well-rounded person. It could be something small like improving my cooking skills or actually doing all of my school readings, or bigger like taking guitar or improv or vocal lessons or something else that I normally don't do. Then I will post about it here, with photo/video evidence if possible.
Why now? I don't think the reasons for wanting to be a better person matter as much as actually following through with it. And I will do so through small steps, one day at a time.
Wish me luck!
So I've set myself a mandate: Starting today, I will use at least an hour of free time every weekday to achieve one thing that makes me a better, more well-rounded person. It could be something small like improving my cooking skills or actually doing all of my school readings, or bigger like taking guitar or improv or vocal lessons or something else that I normally don't do. Then I will post about it here, with photo/video evidence if possible.
Why now? I don't think the reasons for wanting to be a better person matter as much as actually following through with it. And I will do so through small steps, one day at a time.
Wish me luck!
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