Lots of Strutting and Fretting

I just read on Playbill.com that Slings & Arrows: The Complete Collection has been released (or will be 2/5).

Slings & Arrows is a Canadian comedy series that takes you behind the scenes of a big, non-profit, Shakespearean Festival. It is some of the funniest television I have ever seen. I already have the three seasons on DVD in separate offerings, but to hear that there is new material taking you behind the scenes of the show is enough to put this collection on the top of my wish list.

In each season, the New Burbage Festival produces a different Shakespearean work. Season 1 is Hamlet with a Keanau Reeves type American star being flown in for tickets sales. Season 2 is the Scottish Play with a lead who thinks he knows better than the director and Season 3 is King Lear with an aging actor taking his last chance at the role.

The show has all the great archetypes. The loony director, the diva leading lady, the air head ingenue, the actor hating stage manager and the managing director who desperate tries to balance Art with the cost of producing Art.

Season 1 is the best, but each season has great moments, not only in the theater, but in life as well. I mean, who can't relate to an IRS audit, the draw of the "bigger and better" and the daily struggles of love, life and loss.

Total Debt: $15,096
2008 goal Attained: $404 (of $5,500)

... And I Thank You

When people start their Amazon.com shopping here, I do not receive any personal information. I don't know who is shopping, but I do know what you bought! So I will thank you by item. These items were shipped in the last 7 days (including previous thank yous this week)

I would like to thank the Amazon shopper(s) who bought the following items:
-- Art & Fear
-- Portraits from Life in 29 Steps
-- The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition
-- Charmed - The Complete First Season
-- Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Total Debt: $15,096
2008 goal Attained: $404 (of $5,500)

The Big Bad Ugly

J.J. Abrams is a great story teller. I saw Cloverfield today and it was a really fun movie. Something big, bad and ugly attacks Manhattan. They don't know where it came from. Some hole in the earth, some crevice in the ocean, or outer space, but it is rampaging through the city, and it is tough.

The gimmick of the film if very Blair Witch. Young man happens to be shooting on a hand held camera when the thing attacks, and documents the events as they unfold about him and his friends. So, if "amateur, hand held" camera work makes you nauseous, you should avoid this film.

But, if you like J.J. Abrams and monster flicks, this one is pretty good. One nice thing about this film is it doesn't load you down with the science. Granted, I like hearing about the origin of things, but that was only a small part of me during this roller coaster of a film. Being regular folk at a going away party, you don't see the inside of the lab where the government accidentally creates the beast, or the supernatural ritual that brings meanies from other dimensions, or see some horrible leviathan rise from the chemically poisoned deep. Very much in the tradition of Godzilla, monster arrives from out of nowhere and is a bitch to kill. And as the movie progressed, it was committed to the crescendo in tempo, which meant not stopping to explain all things along the way. Again, that small part of me wanted to know why as much as the characters in the film when questions went unanswered, but like them, I will have to come up with my own theories.

I initially got a bad report of this film, and the older gentleman three seats down from me said it was the worst thing he ever saw, but I had a good time. It had some natural humor (considering its naturalistic film technique) and was scary due to good old fashioned story telling and mystery. Not to say some things didn't occasionally jump out at you, but it wasn't all about those tactics.

I won't give the ending away, but I have to say that the ending does seem to follow a trend I have noticed in the genre that it shares with The Mist. When I thought about it, I realized it wasn't so new. Fright films of the 1960s took a similar approach. Speaking of The Mist, that was a film where the government was experimenting with access to other dimensions. Why do they never discover warm and fuzzy dimensions? Access another dimension and it is always something horrific on the other side. Where is the Care Bear dimension? Or the Beatrix Potter dimension? That's what I want to know!

I have long been a fan of J.J. Abrams. I saw all four seasons of Felicity. I loved the show and cast and was impressed that a show about 4 years in college ended with graduation instead of trying to stretch it out with "Felicity in Med School" or "Felicity in the City". And of course there is Alias and Lost.
Lost returns next week! I wonder how many episodes were in the can before the writers' strike...

Total Debt: $15,096
2008 goal Attained: $404 (of $5,500)

Time To Pay the Piper

Well, by the looks of it, I made some great progress this month. But even still, payments still come with due dates and it is time to send money to Bank of America.

Minimum Payment = $49
Payment Sent (1/25) = $60.65
Attributed to interest = $10.65
Attributed to Credit Card Debt = $50

Total Debt: $15,096
2008 goal Attained: $404 (of $5,500)

Happy MLK Day

Today we recognized Martin Luther King, Jr. by honoring his birthday. Many institutions were closed, including the University building where I have my voice lesson.

Because I had no voice lesson today, I didn't need to pay for it. This is a little bit of found money I will send to MasterCard!

Attributed to Credit Card Debt = $35

Total Debt: $15,146
2008 goal Attained: $354 (of $5,500)



I would also like to thank the Amazon shopper(s) who bought the following items:
-- Art & Fear
-- Portraits from Life in 29 Steps
-- The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition

Winter Came to Visit

Winter made a stop in Houston this weekend. It was really cold. Sure, not Massachusetts cold, but chilly none the less. What I really needed was a hat!

Lucky for me the Queen of Florida sent me a really cool hat for Christmas, so I kept my noggin warm with that for the day.

Thank you, your majesty!

Total Debt: $15,181
2008 goal Attained: $319 (of $5,500)

With a Little Bit of Luck

Back in December, I had a loverly little gig singing cockney Christmas Carols for the holiday party being hosted by the landlord of a big downtown building for its tenants.

Somebody had the brilliant idea to make the theme "My Fair Lady". Not Dickens or "A Christmas Carol", not even "White Christmas" or "Love Actually", but Shaw's ever perennial holiday favorite, "My Fair Lady".

The lobby of the building was sparsely decorated into two opposing vignettes. The Ascot race and Kensington Garden. Various characters were hired to entertain the troops. Wandering the party were Henry Higgins and Col. Pickering. At the Ascot were "Ascot" Eliza, Mrs. Higgins and Freddy Ensford Hill. In the Garden were "Cockney" Eliza, Alfred Dolittle, and his friend Jamey (me).

I spent two hours singing raucous versions of carols in a ridiculous cockney accent and working the crowd. ("Penny for a pint!" "Happy Christmas, Gov'na!") We had a little fun with some people who elected to dress up themselves. One group of young ladies were all dressed up as Eliza. There was an "Ascot" Eliza, a "leaving Higgins" Eliza, and a "Ball" Eliza. I shamelessly pointed them out repeatedly as the "Three Elizas". Kind of like the three Marys, but not.

I made $300 for that gig. The rest of December was crazy busy. I had my regular job which included performing in the children's show The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), performing in the MainStage show Mr. Pim Passes By 4 days a week and assistant directing Caroline, or Change (a sort of free internship, prove yourself kind of gig) just about every other day left.

With all this craziness, that meant a lot of eating on the run. Add the holidays to that, and December can get expensive and quickly. So, I have held that $300 in abeyance to make sure I can survive through January. AS it turns out, my earnings for Pim managed to get me through, so now the Cockney Carol money can be attributed to my debt reduction plan. Woo hoo!

Attributed to Credit Card Debt = $300

Total Debt: $15,181
2008 goal Attained: $319 (of $5,500)

Paying for Myself

Because I am not sure if people go back to read the comments responding to there comments, I wanted to post this little exchange. Plus, I made so many typos, it was kind of embarrassing.

In UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, Chris said...
Drew:
Your crediting yourself $19 toward paying off your credit card debt because you saw two movies for free seems disingenuous at best. The way to pay off your cards is to send checks to the credit card company. Then, when they send you a new statement, you can consider the difference between the old balance and the new to be true debt reduction.

I said...
Chris,
I think you misunderstand. I SENT $19 (added to this month's payment which is already included in the initial goal, fyi).

Since I saw the film for free, I sent the money I would have paid to see it to the CC company. Because it is going to be up for a lot of Oscars, I would have most likely spent the money anyway. Since I saw it for free, I "paid myself" for the film. Likewise, UTTS was a DVD I would have eventually bought for myself. I simply paid for it twice. Once to Amazon for a gift and once again to "myself" as the gift was no longer needed.

My monthly budget for paying these bills will never be enough. I will have to chip away at it whenever I can. Fortunately, with on-line bill pay, I can do this weekly!

Total Debt: $15,481
2008 goal Attained: $19 (of $5,500)

Under The Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun (Widescreen Edition) was released a few years back, and I re-watched it just this weekend. It is one of the most charming movies released in recent times.

Diane Lane is just perfect in this film, and the Tuscan country side is nothing to sneeze at. It is breathtaking. Italy is the true star of this film.

UTTS is a wonderful feel good movie. Something that is bound to cheer you up when you are feeling down, and long for a European vacation. One may not be able to *69 Italy, but when can we go?

The copy I have is a recent purchase. I originally bought it as a Secret Santa gift for a friend, but since she already had it, I kept it for myself. Since the gift was already bought and paid for, I will buy it from myself and attribute the $10 towards my goal for the year. For lack of a better term, I am going to call this "found money." Money I will send to my credit cards that isn't budgeted or earned through work.

I also saw There Will Be Blood for free this week. That would normally cost $9.00. I will pay myself for that as well.

Total Debt: $15,481
Goal Attained: $19

Credit Cards Are Bad!

Karyn said it best when she created her web site, CREDIT CARDS ARE BAD.

2008 will be my 40th year in this world. I want to make it the best year ever. I want to be in the best shape of my life, both physically and financially. One way I hope to achieve this is share my work against my credit card debt to everyone.

I have $15,500.00 in credit card debt. I know, I know, how the hell did that happen!? Well, more than half of it was due to Tropical Strom Allison in 2001. The rest grad school and even mispending when I had a higher paying job.

As a working artist whose "day job" is also in non-profit arts, most headway I make on this total gets eaten up by something or other. Today, I am setting a goal for 2008. Pay $5,500.00 off by 12/31/08. And I will share my progress here.

YOU CAN HELP
Do you shop Amazon.com? If so, you can help me by starting your shopping here. Just come to my blog and click on the Amazon.com link of your choice to start your shopping. Every cent I make in commissions will go towards the bottom line, and I will report all my earingings here. Just click below...



Total Debt: $15,500
Goal Attained: $0.00