Sub-sistence

Just the flyer I said I would put up yesterday, a day late…

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Click to see flyer for musical

That’s right, not General Glossop, not Lord Glossop, and certainly not Mr. Glossop.  General Lord Glossop, thank you very much.  No, I am not on some sort of medication.  I am in a show, believe it or not.  What? I never mentioned auditioning for one?  Well, I didn’t.  I had actually noted this theater group’s auditions awhile back, but got caught up in work so I forgot about them.  Then less than a week ago I took another look at the green room and came back to that site only to see a cast list.  Nuts- I had wanted to try out for this show.  Then I noticed a blurb mentioning that they were looking for a few more men.  I couldn’t hit the contact us form fast enough.  A short time later I received not one, but two emails informing me that my interest was being passed on to the director.  Next morning, a call, and a request for my presence Sunday night.  Resume in hand I arrived at St. Joe’s (as they call it) nursing home where they do most of their rehearsals.  As I arrived, another theatre group, Tesseract,  was just leaving- a popular rehearsal place apparently.  The directors arrived shortly after, talked to me, then I sang a bit from the show for Ann Stewart (I thought I’d mention this name to see if C recognizes it- it’s a bit unbelievable that she is still doing this!) and read a line for the director, Kevin, who said I read it perfect the first time.  Yes!  I was in.  Two other new ones joined me that night, and we rehearsed the first dance number.  Of course my first rehearsal would have to be a dance rehearsal.  For those who know me, I could never be considered a triple threat- far from it.  Of course I’m not much of a single or double threat either, but that’s beside the point.

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What?  I didn’t name the show?  Do you really need to know?  Are you sure this is the moment to say?  By the way, you can wish for me to break a leg, but I do break a neck in the show, or rather it will be broken for me…

Sorry for the lateness of this followup.  Here is the short of it: GO SEE WHAT IF… Well, if it is playing in your area- it opens this Friday.  It truly is a heartwarming movie about breaking down one person to show him what his life should have been like had he not made one bad decision that ended up changing him for the worse.  But you watched the trailer I linked to last time.  As for my experience, I arrived there Monday night at about 5:40 and there were already a lot of people waiting.  By the time the doors to the worship center opened, the lines practically went out the door.  But I did manage to get a seat, even if I never did meet up with any of my small group (or my mother, who someone from my group- Matt-  brought since I didn’t have time to go home then back to Elgin) until afterward.  My mother got a seat too- she and Matt made it inside just as they were adding an extra row.  Everyone else had to go to an overflow area where I presume they had a feed from the worship center.  Around starting time, everyone got a laugh when John Ratzenberger came out with a camera in his hand recording us- his way of returning the favor.

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Once the guests were seated, my pastor came out and introduced everyone and talked particularly about the director, Dallas Jenkins, since he is now on staff at the church.  Introductions aside, the movie started.  As I said already- go see it- if you are a follower of Jesus you won’t regret it, and even if you aren’t it is still a very enjoyable drama.  Anyway, once the movie was over, the campus pastor, Jeff called up the three actors present and Dallas to the comfy chairs set up on stage and there was a discussion with them about the movies.  The three actors present were Ratzenberger, Kevin Sorbo, and Debby Ryan.  If you or your child watches Suite Life On Deck on the Disney Channel, she plays Bailey.  Sorbo is best known for his role as Hercules and Ratzenberger from Cheers or more recently as a voice on many Disney/Pixar movies.  I took some pictures with my iphone, but they were pretty bad.  I’ll just say I was in the 5th (I think) row, toward the side of the center.  I was able to see three of the four without a problem, but for the last, and for Jeff, I could only see them on the screen.  Afterward, I went to my car to get my work camera (why I didn’t think of this ahead of time I don’t know).  By the time I met up with my mother and got my camera, we were at the end of the line.  How long was the line?  Well check it out:

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AVI of looooong line

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Sorry, I don’t have any sort of youtube or other account so you will have to bear with a link to the avi on my webspace.  Anyway, here are some photos of the guests signing What If posters.  Needless to say, I did not get up there before I left, but one of my 5th graders recognized me and offered me one since his family had a few already- God bless him.  So since I didn’t meet the actors myself, I just took these photos from the balcony above which was not blocked off by security.  As always, click on a picture for a larger version:

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Tomorrow night my church gets to host the world premiere of a movie titled “What If…”  at our Elgin campus.  Since my small group normally meets Monday nights, we agreed to go to the movie instead.  Since our church is at four campuses (five including a small one in the city) with 2-3 services at each, this single event at a single campus promises to be a crowded one, especially at the price they are charging- free.  Just today I learned this world premiere comes probably thanks to the director, Dallas Jenkins, joining the staff at the church as Director of Visual Media.  He is the son of author Jerry B. Jenkins (best known for coauthoring the Left Behind series).  Hmm… a partnership with a well-known actor, and now a movie director, son of a famous author on staff, not to mention my pastor whose name is out there- have you heard of  the radio program Walk in the Word?-  should I worry about my church becoming too public?  In any event, I am looking forward to the movie and meeting the three stars afterward.  I wonder if this appearance was part of their contract?  So- all I have to do is make sure I finish work no later than 5PM so I can get there- a half-hour drive from the store I end at in St. Charles (and a mere 5 min. from the store I start at- aargh!).  In any event, here is a link to the trailer.  Sorry, I couldn’t find it on youtube so I couldn’t embed it: FOUND IT!

Description from youtube page: Introducing What if… a Pure Flix and Jenkins Entertainment film. Starring, Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, Debby Ryan, and John Ratzenberger.
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What If tells the story of Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo), who fifteen years ago left his college sweetheart Wendy (Kristy Swanson), and his calling to be a preacher, in order to pursue a business opportunity. Now with a high-paying executive gig, a trophy fiancé, and a new Mercedes, he hasnt considered a family nor felt the need to set foot in a church in fifteen years.
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But God has other plans. While on a thrill ride outside the city, his new car mysteriously breaks down, and hes visited by a tow truck driver named Mike (John Ratzenberger) who claims to be an angel sent to show Ben what his life would look like had he followed his true calling. Suddenly Ben wakes up in the middle of domestic chaos as his wife Wendy and daughters (including Disney Channels Debby Ryan) are getting ready for church, where Ben is the new pastor.
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Before he can get back to his old life, Ben must first embrace this reality and discover the value of faith and family, and perhaps restore his love for those who were heartbroken fifteen years ago: Wendyand God. In the tradition of Its a Wonderful Life and The Family Man, What If is a story of finding your true purpose in life.

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Hmm- well then- I just took a look at Jerry Jenkin’s home page and he provides a youtube link  to a behind the scenes video!  I also found a couple more on that account, and another youtube account containing director’s diaries.  Here are a couple to get you started.  I still have to view them myself…

*ahem* um, yes.  It has been two weeks and yes I am fine.  Back to the program if I can decide what to post…

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Sorry.

Isn’t that a common statement for fads and fashion?  Well in this case I am referring to something else.  Once upon a time, one Nolan Bushnell founded a gaming company that would become big- very big.  In 1977 they would put out not the first, but the most popular video gaming system of the time with interchangeable games.  The same company also produced popular arcade machines and computers.  Well, sort of- there was a split at one point into Atari Games and Atari Corp, but I am not sure which company did what- I believe Atari Games was strictly the arcade division while Atari Corp was everything else.  In any event, following the dreaded video game crash of 1984 (1983?), Atari was never quite the same.  The 16-bit successor to their 400/800/XL line of computers, the Atari ST, was fairly successful, but that would be pretty much be the last of the computers, aside from the short-lived 32-bit TT.  As for the consoles, they would never again achieve the success of the VCS/2600 though they would try all the way through the Jaguar in 1993.  Of course, these failing years, and many of the successful ones too, were not run by Bushnell himself as he “left” the company (read: fired) in December of 1978 according to Wikipedia.  The failing years were in fact with the infamous Jack Tramiel in the hot seat, who not only oversaw the failing of Atari but Commodore as well, but that is beside the point.  The point being Nolan Bushnell, who is now in fact on the board of directors of the current company that calls itself Atari.  Make no mistake, this is not the same company that Bushnell founded, but rather the French company formerly known as Infogrames who found itself with Atari’s assets when they purchased Hasbro Interactive in late 2000.  However, it is nevertheless interesting to find Bushnell on the board of directors for Atari for the first time in over 30 years.  Will anything come of this?  I don’t know, but here is a link to an interview with him.  It has some mistakes, like dating the 2600 to 1984 instead of 1977, but is an interesting read:

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Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell “Returns”

(added quotation marks mine)

A couple of old Atari commercials on Youtube:

But if you have noticed my countdown in the last couple of months, you know there is a movie I am waiting for.  A new trailer has just been released:

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And if you are an old school PC gamer, you may be interested to know that a fan-game based on the old Sierra adventure game series, King’s Quest, has finally seen the light of day after being hit with a cease-and-desist not once but twice by two different companies as the old Sierra assets have been passed around.  Well, the first chapter of The Silver Lining has been approved by Activision and is now available for your enjoyment.  You just have to sign up for their fan club to download it.

http://www.tsl-game.com/

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As long as I’m posting Youtube videos, I might as well add a third item to the post I just read about.  It can be seen as retro-gaming related as well, as it is an easter egg that allows you to play snake in any Youtube video that uses the newer interface.  Rather than trying to summarize the news, let me just point you to where I read it:

Neowin: Easter egg on YouTube lets you play Snake