Filed by Bil at 11:58 pm under General, Shameless Plugs, The Arts

That’s right, world – I may be blogging, and I may be using a Mac, but I am not at Starbuck’s. Not anymore. I was there earlier, with my giant hipster headphones over my ears, typing thoughtfully with one hand and tapping mindlessly in time with the Grateful Dead with my other hand. Yeah, I was working on my novel, not blogging.

That’s when I was discovered by people I know, so I scrambled to look less like some pretentious English major and more like a professional something-or-other, but I’m pretty sure I failed. I’m just glad I didn’t spill (much) coffee on my precious white MacBook.

Whatever.

At any rate, “Orestes” rehearsals have officially begun, kicked off with the worst reading Dream Theatre has ever seen. This was also the first reading Dream Theatre has ever done with a stage manager present…coincidence?!

The reading fell between two performances of “Electra,” and the entire cast of “Orestes” is also in “Electra”…so we were all a little punchy, to say the least. Halfway through the second scene, shortly after one actor had abandoned actual characterization for an over-exaggerated version of himself, our lead actress opened a bottle of wine. The question was asked, “Who wants some?” and every single person in the room raised their hand. When my (one) scene came up, our lead actress switched roles so she could mock an absent company member, our stage manager (whose voice sounds like a modest George Clooney, only deeper) temporarily took over the role of Electra (a woman), and I did my best impersonation of a young Haley Joel Osment. This was not by a long shot our finest hour, but we can all agree: quality is in the eye of the audience, so if there’s no audience, it really doesn’t matter anyway.

“Electra” performances, by the way, have been getting better and better each night. If you haven’t seen it yet, catch it now – tickets are easier to get this weekend than next (final) weekend, and by now the show has really hit a high-intensity stride. Tickets are here.

In other news: I finally got my dream camera, a digital SLR. Here’s a picture of my new camera:

And now, here’s a picture of the camera phone that took that picture of my new camera, taken with my new camera:

Note: these pictures have not been touched up or Photoshopped or anything. Don’t even pretend like you can’t see the amazing difference.

I don’t have any fancy lighting equipment right now, so if any of you out there know any wealthy people who might be interested in natural-lighting portraits (”portraits d’éclairage normal” in fashionable circles), let me know – I work cheap now that my expenses don’t include purchasing film, developing film, or scanning film.