Quarter-Year Review

My mom started chemo last week. As per usual, she is the most upbeat about it out of everyone in my family. I'm told that the prognosis is actually quite good, and that the chemo is sort of a covering-all-the-bases way of making sure that in the unlikely event that her cancer spread anywhere, it ain't gonna get far. My mom says that at least it might inspire my little brother to finally get a haircut.

My sister Jessica had her appendix removed on New Year's. Until a few weeks ago I was under the impression that it had been a simple in-and-out arthroscopic job, and she was back on her feet in a few days. Apparently not. She was home from work (she is a grade-school teacher) for six weeks and developed a blood clot in her arm. I'm told that she is on the mend, and her and her boyfriend's plan to move to Seattle this summer is on track. So that's something.

I attempted to cut caffeine out of my diet yesterday. (pause as I take a long sip from the large Diet Coke I got at Subway...) That lasted just long enough for the headache and nausea to kick in. I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

The second draft of the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo is progressing at a snail's pace. I have no idea what I'm doing, really. At this rate I will be lucky to have made any kind of progress by next November.

The good news is that on Saturday we leave for Puerto Rico. Mandy's mom is taking us on a Caribbean cruise. It is, in fact, the same cruise we went on for our honeymoon, which is weird, but we picked a whole bunch of different excursions so it won't be the exact same trip.

Also good this year? Battlestar Galactica. A few mid-season stand-alone episodes aside, it was a hell of a thing to watch, and last Sunday's season finale left my mind a little blown. In a good way. I can't believe I have to wait nine whole months for the next new episode.

Rogue 8 Issue #3 had a successful run, and even extended a week, and I got a lot of positive feedback from the cast. Unfortunately it's probably going to be the last issue - or at least the last one that Dan writes - so I doubt I'll get to do it again. But that's not to say I won't direct at all again. I feel pretty confident that I'll get more opportunities in the future.

I also have another fight choreographer gig which opens next month. It's a disturbing little post-apocalyptic play called Mercury Fur, which has a nice bloody melee in the finale. Brass knuckles, knives, crotch kicks and pistol whipping. All in a day's work.

So far, it's been a hell of a year. How's yours going?

New Website

Hey, guys! Come check out my brand-spankin'-new website, Christopher M. Walsh.com! I made it all by myself on Dreamweaver. It took me about two months to figure out how to do what I wanted, but once I figured it out it wasn't that hard. I'm rather proud of the finished product.

Let me know what you think!

Extremely Important Nerd News

*pant pant pant*

Whew! I'm having a hard time catching my breath after reading this tidbit. Although I have never met the man, it seems that Christopher Nolan, director of Batman Begins and its upcoming sequel, The Dark Knight, is a close personal friend of yours truly. He must be, because he was kind enough to cast my girlfriend, Maggie Gyllenhaal, in the role of Rachel Dawes. At least, that's the rumor that Maggie's reps would neither confirm nor deny.

You will recall that the role of ADA Rachel Dawes was, in Batman Begins, played by Katie Holmes' fripples. While I personally had no real issue with Katie Holmes in that movie, I would say that if Begins had a weak link, there it was.

I learned this all this morning at Batman On Film, the premier site on the Internets for everything related to, um, well, Batman. On film.

Now, I know what you all must be thinking. "Dude," you are all saying, "aren't you, like, married?" And indeed I am, and happily so. But it's okay, see, because Maggie's brother Jake is totally my wife's boyfriend. I know it sounds weird, but we find ways to make it all work out.

PS - For anyone trolling the blogosphere on behalf of Maggie or Jake, please know that the above statement was intended entirely for humorous purposes, and neither I nor my wife have any actual attachment to either Gyllenhaal. Hell, I had to look up how to spell their last name just now.

But you should hear the stuff my buddy says about Zooey Deschanel. Yikes, dudes.

UPDATED February 16, 2007:

It was also just made official this morning that Aaron Eckhart of Thank You For Smoking fame has been cast as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Do you have any idea what this means?

That's right. Boners for everybody.

"Come Here, You Wacky Little Bitch!"

"The 11 p.m. sold out house was a lively one and the 11-person ensemble moved fluidly in action and dialogue. Nary a beat was dropped in the 45 minute performance, and several hearty laughs were shared."

So says The Bastion, a website devoted to the comedy scene here in Chicago. I must confess, I had never heard of them before now, but they came to see my show, and they said nice things about it, so they obviously know their stuff. If you follow the link to the complete write-up, you will find some amusing quotes from our illustrious playwright, Dan.

So, opening weekend went quite well. I was very happy with the show on opening night. The cast brought their A game, the tech went flawlessly, and even the pre-show music got a response from the audience. I came back on Saturday because some of the cast were going out after the show, and I actually could not get a seat. It was cool; I just chilled in the lobby and listened to the crowd laughing. It's a bit of a rush, I must say. I did get up and put an ear to the door so I could hear which way the audience voted for the three "optional" scenes.

(What? "Optional" scenes? What does that mean? I hear you asking. Well, you're just gonna have to come to the show and find out.)

Four more weekends left! I know, it sounds like a long time, but when you break it down it's only eight more performances. Kinda sad, really. But there's still time to check it out! You can get ticket info at the Rogue Theater website.

Now go forth, and Be Awesome... for VIGILANCE!

Rogue 8, Issue #3

I directed a play. It opens Friday. Come see it!

You can get information on times and whatnot by clicking here.

Written by my good friend Dan, Rogue 8 - Issue #3 is a late-night one-act about a group of misfit superheroes with hilarious powers like making people puke on contact, or knowing the most awkward thing to say in any given situation. They encounter foes like the Unfairy - a closeted homosexual politician who publicly advocates anti-gay laws - and his ninja henchman. Meanwhile, one of the team leaders is stalked by a malevolent force that seeks retribution.

This is the third part of an ongoing serialized story, but don't worry if you haven't seen the earlier parts. There'll be a handout that explains the story so far.

See y'all there!

Excelsior!

This Too Shall Pass

*Sigh*

Well, there it went. A city's hopes for a Super Bowl championship washed away in the Miami rain. Alas.

But that's all the whining I'm gonna do about it. Dudes, we went to the freakin' Super Bowl this year. Do you know how rare that is? Do you know how many teams have never even made it this far? Yeah, we lost, blah blah who cares. It was an awesome season, and I am sad to see it end. I cannot wait until next year.

And for all you douchecakes who are bitching about Rex Grossman: Shut the hell up, bitches. You display a vast ignorance of the game of American football. You do not get rid of a quarterback who, in only his first complete season as a starter, leads his team to a 13-3 regular season record, a division and a conference championship. Yes, he had a few awful games. But perhaps you are forgetting that he tied the league for the most games with a passer rating above 100. Or that he was the NFL offensive player of the month in September. Or that the Bears scored the second highest number of points in the league this year.

Now, my boy Sexy Rexy has the off-season to relax and give a good long think on where he went right, and where he went wrong. And he can brush up on his mechanics - specifically the center-QB exchange, because really, I could forgive a lot of the interceptions if that fundamental bit of football had not gone wrong quite as often as it did. Yikes. But still, Grossman has, as a certain Super Bowl-winning QB put it in one of his many endorsements, a "laser rocket arm." More importantly, the rest of the team plays better with him in the game. They rally around him. It's inspiring to watch.

So, the Super Bowl. What went wrong? The Colts, mostly. They're a damn good team. We underestimated their defense, and their offense was so intimidating before the game even began that our defense played conservative the whole night. Had we aggressively pursued either the run or the pass - one or the other - from the beginning, we could have controlled them better. But we did not play against the run at all, and we worked so hard to protect against big pass plays that they killed us with small ones instead. And Peyton Manning, genius that he is, knew that on those few plays we did try to stop the short pass, he could burn us long instead.

On offense, yeah, Grossman could have played better. But so could our O-line. They kept letting the pocket collapse, forcing Grossman to either scramble or throw in a hurry, which is no good unless you are Peyton Manning. And once Cedric Benson went down our running attack became one-dimensional, and the line just couldn't open up any holes.

My point is, there is plenty of blame to go around. It was not a good game. But then, it's hard to watch a team lose a Super Bowl, because the fact that they are playing in it means they haven't lost much all year.

Between the Bears and the Florida Gators this has been my favorite year of football since 1985, if not ever. Congratulations to Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts. You guys earned it. I can't wait until pre-season starts, and we can do it all over again.

Bear Down!

What Else Am I Gonna Write About?

Bears. Super Bowl. The Bears. Are in. The Super Bowl.

Can't breathe. Can't. Can't breathe. Holy crap.

Super Bowl.

Bears.

Thud.

(That was me, hitting the floor after passing out.)