The Sneak

Every Tuesday night at the City Theater near Boom, there is a sneak preview called the Sneak that a lot of Boom people attend. I've always wanted to go, but never have, mainly because I was usually in the Tuesday night show. Finally, I made it.

You have no idea what the film is going to be until it plays, which I admit made me as giddy as a kid at Christmas. The film were blessed to watch was Tokyo Drift: Fast and the Furious 3, and it was such a fun night. What a wonderful piece of shit. I love terrible movies-done right-and this one was perfect. Best of all, the Sneak crowdy is a little rowdy, so they laughed at all the right places and cheered for all the lame "heroics" the main character attempts.

It was a great night at the Cinema.

Granny Franny

Greg's grandmother passed away abruptly a couple days ago, so he decided to have an Irish wake on her behalf in the theater tonight after the show was done. Brendan sang an old Irish song and we drank Jamison as we told stories about our grandmothers. At first I was a little weirded out to attend such a public mourning, but it turned out to be a really cathartic evening for all of us. The stories were funny, touching, sad and wonderful.

I've now lost all of my grandparents, with Grandpa Jack passing away this year. They're all gone. I really miss my grandmothers and it's a real bummer to me that Erica will never get to meet them. It was fun to talk about to them, to remember them, and how much I was lucky enough to have them touch my life in so many ways. From my Grandma Grace always making you be the one to say goodbye on the phone to my Grandma Gowland always feeding you mostly gross food that you had to eat or you'r insult her, it was great to live with them again for a little while in my mind. It even reminded me of a conversation I had with my Grandma Grace right before she died that I did not share with everyone.

The weekend she died, she called me. It was a Friday or Saturday night, and it wasn't a long conversation. At that point, she was in the hispital after her lung had collapsed on her and the emphysema was really taking hold. It was the only time she ever initiated the end of a phone call. Usually, and I think this is a Midwestern thing, if you call someone, they always let you end it. So, while I always had great conversations with my Grandma, at some point, you run out of shit to talk about. Then there would be a small awkward pause as I realized there was no way she would ever initiate the end of the call. This time, she did.

"Well, you're the last one. I guess I've talked to everyone." (she'd already called my brother and my sister.)

"Ok, goodbye Grandma."

"Goodbye."

I never forgot her saying that:

"I guess I've talked to everyone."

She sort of sighed as she said it. She was done. We were never to speak again. She died two days later.

Groc!

Last night during Heineken Late Nite, we all wore soccer jerseys to celebrate the World Cup. The show was a really good time, one of those nights where everyone is having a legitimate fun time and everyone seems "on", and then we went to the SugarFactory where a Batman and Robin themed club was taking place. The Dj's were in Batman and Robin costumes, episodes of the 60's TV show were shown on the screens, and right on the lip of the stage was a shirtless Greg wearing a Batman cowl and dancing in his usual horse-on-roller-skates fashion. At one point he was dry-humping a ampstack on the side of the satage, just slowly grinding, his face driven into the amplifier mesh as he quietly and deliberately went to town.

As Brendan and I watched this from the balcony, he said "This is your life right now."

Sidenote: decorating the walls of the club were these homemade foam exclamation bubbles depicting what you would see when Batman would hit his adversary on the TV show. One said, "Pow!" Another read "Blamo!" Bla-mo? "Zapo!" My favorite was "Groc!" Not sure what that means really. Is that the Dutch equivalent of "thwack"?

Best of Boom Photos

Greg was asked by a photographer if he could take some pictures of a Boom show, so I thought I'd share the results.


Warming up with "Musicals are Gay", our opening sketch that Laurel wrote.


My character in "Musicals Are Gay", DJ Hardcore Mutherfuckin' Biotch Asshole.


This game is called "Hollywood Pitch", where an audience member is interviewed and asked to pitch a movie, and we improvise their suggestions.


Dub: this old standard involves me interviewing a couple in the audience, and then a previously recorded video is played while two cast members improvise their conversation backstage.


Me, hosting the news.


Setting up 3 Things, a big guessing game that sets up our rotating closing number.


Our closer. It works. Most of the time.

Engaged

Erica and I got engaged! On our recent trip to Paris, I finally got to ask her after months of planning. It wasa real surprise, and happily, she said yes. We're both extremely happy, and I'm so glad it went well. In fact, it went as well as you could think it would.

I spent the day wondering when I should ask her, even thinking I should in the morning as we ate a breakfast of bread, cheese and strawberries in the Champs de Mars, right in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was so peaceful and there weren't many people, but it didn't feel right, so I didn't.

We took a boat ride down the Seine, and walked to Notre Dame, ate lunch sitting along the Seine, but still it didn't feel right. We ate at a Thai place not far from where we were staying and had purchased tickets to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I figured I would ask her at the top, with the whole city in front of us.

However, at the top, Erica's face read nothing but palpable fear. She was too scared to even walk to the edge, without my prodding and guidance. So, again, no. The ring, in its box, had been sitting in my pocket the whole day, with me fidgetting with me constantly, worried that Erica might notice the box-like bulge in my pocket. I was starting to get antsy. We got in line for the elevator to take us down, which was quite long, and I kept checking my watch. As we were staying near the Eiffel Tower we had noticed that around the top of each hour, the lights on the Tower would twinkle in rotation for around 15 minutes, which Erica thought was beautiful. I decided to ask her on the grounds in front of the twinkling lights of the Eiffel, but the line was so long, and on the elevator ride down the grounds, the twinkling began. I thought I was screwed. To top it off, Erica wanted me to record the lights with my camera as soon as we reached the grounsd, yet another obstacle. After meeting her wishes, I hurried her to the grounds and asked her, the lights still dancing onto the Champs de Mars.

We celebrated with a nice stroll home, feeling excited and alive and filled with love. We stopped by a caf, took a sidewalk table, and celebrated with a drink. The breeze was light and refreshing, and the streets were quiet and deserted. Just the two of us and a quiet Friday night in Paris. The night, the day, my life, felt perfect.

It's midnight somewhere...

Rob sent this to me, and I love it. I sent it to my brother who used to live in Minnetonka, and he said it was a pretty big deal to those in the music scene in Minnesota.

Oh, Holland.

We found out today that our Dutch internet provider denied our request to transfer the account from Laurel's name to mine. So our service is going to be canceled and it'll be a matter of days until our cable and internet disappear. I never had this happen, a company turning me down when I just wanted to keep paying them for a service they are already providing. You win this round, Amsterdam!

Really good question.

After the show tonight, a Dutch girl was talking to me and asked me if I felt like I really know what Holland is like after living in Amsterdam.

It made me think: I don't feel like if I know what it's like to live in Amsterdam. This job is all I really do. I have 4 months until the end of my contract, and I'm beginning to understand why people stay for more than one year. I'm just realizing that I won't be living in Europe soon, or ever again.

Bye Laurel.

Laurel left right as we opened "Best of Boom 2006", as it will be dubbed. Laurel is the 7th cast member to leave Boom since I got here.

We both got here on the same day and have gone through a lot here, some good, some bad. It'll be weird to not have her here, and shitty not performing with her.

Shelly, from my improv team Otis back in Chicago, wrote me this:

"life is a wild exciting ride. whatever you are gonna do next will be right. i am always reminding my self this: ENJOY THE RIDE. ENJOY what you aredoing RIGHT NOW, cause its ultimately all we have. too much worry aboutwhat's next can ruin today. anyhow, i had cancer so i can say stuff like that. in case you forgot."

At first, I was like: of course I'm enjoying what I'm doing, don't be crazy! Then I thought, wait, am I? Do I? Ever?

I don't know if I'm much of a "live-in-the-now" kind of guy.

I'd like to be though. Does that count?

No more grey.

To amuse my ex-pat colleagues I decided to dye the 'do. When I got back from the States, I told everyone that my hair proves what two weeks of the sun will do for you. I'm hilarious.

Before:



After:



I look positively 29!

Oudejaarsavond

I spent New Years doing one of the worst improv shows ever, and then we went up to the roof of a building right behind Boom to watch a half hour of fireworks exploding all around the city, right above the rooftops. Fireworks are legal here for only a week, and everyone goes nuts exploding them all over the place. Walking home, I saw two guys run around the corner and a trashcan was smoking with it's door hanging open, a firework having exploded inside.


Erica and I heading to the roof.


The cast on the roof.


The city streets.

Happy Christmas

One effcient Christmas Eve

We went to Aachen because we heard they have some amazing Christmas market. The train got us there around 1 or 1:30, so we walked to our hotel, just steps to the Church where Charlemagne is buried, and we dropped our stuff off to go enjoy the holiday magic.


Our hotel view.

We got sidetracked in a bakery, and, once inside, I could tell that something was wrong. Erica walked right in and the woman behind the counter began yelling at Erica in German. Erica didn't notice, so I grabbed her and we left the bakery as they closed the door and locked it.

Weirded out by that experience, we walked to the town square to dive right into the Christmas markets, only to find them all boarded up. It was closed. Over. No one was about. Hungry, we went to a nearby Subway, only to be told that they were closing. Everyone was! The only place open was Starbucks, who were total rebels and stayed open until 4.



Apparently, Christmas Eve doesn't stay open like it does i n the States, and once again, we were subject to learning about Europe the hard way. We walked around Aachen as if we were the only humans left. We walked through a shopping area, and looked at their bright displays.



Christmas was happening somewhere, just not here.

We ended up getting sushi at some hotel restaurant, and then walked back to the hotel. We decided to go to the bar across the street from the hotel for a drink. We stepped in and found life. That's where everyone was! We drank beers and talked with our bartender as much as he could deal with the English.

Overall, it was a pretty great Christmas Eve.

is this what food likes like?

In Dover, England, on a corporate gig, and taking advantage of our respite from Dutch cuisine. Amber, Dan, Paddy and I flew into Dover, and went right to the location even though we had plenty of time before the show. We headed to a nearby pub for lunch and chowed down, taking advantage of our unusual per diem.

After the show, we returned to our hotel pretty and, after Paddy worked with the desk to get our hotel rooms straightened out when they weren't in their records, we managed to get into their restaurant before they closed. We all ordered the three course meal special (mine was a Thanksgiving dinner), and chowed down, taking breaks only to mention how delicious everything tasted.

Dan and I shared a beer before we went to sleep and awoke early the next day to take part in their breakfast buffet. At the airport, Dan and I stuffed ourselves at a sushi bar, piling up our plates next to us like badges of honor.

Only when you live in Holland can you appreciate English food.

Dam holidays...

dam square 12/14/05
Originally uploaded by talfulano

Erica and I walked around Dam Square, enjoying the holiday cheer. They had a carousel and rides for kids, plus sugared waffles and oliebollen (basically a big round donut). It's hard not to miss home, especially around the holidays, so we loved walking around and seeing all the holiday decorations.

Another departure from this mortal coil.

It is a grievous occasion that forces me to post the following email:

My Dearest Ryan,

It is with a heavy heart that i report to you that your little darling, Shaqapulco, has passed. She entered the world of eternal bliss early Friday morning.

I woke up around 8am and saw her in the halfway in the tube leading up to her little nest. I thought it an odd place to rest, but she did like her sleep and I thought maybe her tired little body couldn't make it up to the nest. Never the less, it didn't seem quite right. At about 12pm, I asked Noah to take a look at her with me. I examined her fur to see if she was breathing. Noah said, "Don't worry, she's just sleeping", but my women's intuition was telling me different.

At about 6pm, I went over to her cage again. Still halfway her tube, halfway in her nest, and having not moving once during the day to get her food, I feared the worst. I pulled apart the nest and tube, carefully taking her limp body out and promptly went to the internet to see if maybe hamsters hibernate.

The internet said that, in fact they do.

I quickly ran to my hairdryer to try to snap her out of it. I thought the heat, noise, and wind, might bring her back to the world of the awake. After about 2 minutes, i remembered I had a heating pad. i quickly ran for it. I placed Shaq inside, keeping her warm and massaging her for about a half hour. Still nothing.

I placed a call to the emergency vet line.

The vet said she was fairly certain that Shaq had passed, as domesticated hamsters do not hibernate.

It was finally starting to sink in.

I put Shaq back in her cage and covered her with some of the blue bits that I had bought at the pet stop for her to snuggle in.

Yesterday, I went to my sister's house and buried Shaq next to a tree in her backyard. It was a gorgeous day; about 60 degrees. I buried her right before dusk, so the sky was a deep blue and the yellow leaves rustled every so often, from the slight wind blowing in from the south. I said, "good bye girl" as I placed her in and then, buried her underneath the brown earth.

I think she was happy with me for a slight time. I did earn her trust, to a point, where she did let me rub my finger up and down her back, but in the end, she may have always had a broken heart.

But now, eternally happy, she must be sitting in Amsterdam, floating above your bed, watching you rest, as she runs around in that big old wheel in the sky.

Linda

Shaqapulco 2004 - 2005

halloween

halloween
Originally uploaded by talfulano

People have been talking about what an amazing party Boom has for Halloween. So I was pretty excited. The theme was "Sin CIty" and Dan made a great costume for Elijah Wood's character that was dead-on.

Dan, Tarik, and I were talked into staging occasional "gun fights", in the Sin City vein with squibs and fake blood (I am to play Bruce Willis' character) which we were game to do as it meant we could come to the party for free, because despite being Boom actors, we have to buy a ticket. The only thing we didn't want to do was figure out those fights for the Boom's promotional staff. We left the logistics up to them, and we never rehearsed.

The night of the party, we were affixed with our squirting flower squibs (the flower part removed, and the tube pinned to the inside of our shirts) and eventually, and the guys and I figured out something to do for a gunfight. The party got off to a slow start, which shocked the party planner's, so we kept waiting for our big moment to arrive once a real crowd had formed.

Eventually, closer to midnight instead of the 10:30 show time that was originally planned, we went on to do our first of 3 performances. Dan took the stage, creeping around the stage, and then Tarik comes one, I enter, and we shoot each other, squeezing the plastic pump at the end of the tube and watching a small amount of fake blood finally squirt onto our shirts. Once Tarik and I slowly died, every one went back to whatever they were doing. We didn't perform again.

I put on my real costume, that of Kobe Bryant, with Erica as the woman he was accused of raping, and went down to enjoy the party for real. But there were few people we actually knew, girls doing pole dances, it was a weird vibe.

Matt was pretty wasted but had still managed to find a pretty girl from the crowd and decided to sit with her on top of the huge speakers on stage. They both sat on the edge of the speakers, tempting fate, which eventually took hold of Matt as he fell off the speaker and onto the floor, a good couple feet down. He turned out fine, his ego bruised more than himself.

The rest of us (Tarik, Lauren, Dan, Laurel, Erica and I) went up to the shiny and hung out there, eating noodles and hanging out. With the sound of the party below us, we had a great time trading bits, laughing and being together. This is a great cast.

Te Koop

Suzi has left Boom and moved back to America, so Erica and I have moved into the same apartment as Laurel. Below is a photo of Dan and I saying goodbye to her after her roast, delighting in my poor sweater choice.



But it is time to meet a Dutch apartment! Welcome! Here's our kitchen, sponsored by Spin!

From the Kitchen window, we get to see many wondrous things, like our neighbors watching television at night, or during the day, searching through their over-flowing garages for paint cans or ladders.

That's our landlord in the garage!

Next is the toilet. It's small! You can't see into the bowl, but thats fine, because the trick is, there is no bowl! Hahahaha! Tricked you! Yes, instead of a welcoming pool of water, we get to place our shits onto a porcelain shelf, almost like we're placing them on a platter to serve at a fancy ball! Then a forceful flow of water creates a delightful slip-n-slide effect, brushing the shit off the shelf and into the tiny hole that is probably directly connected to the nearest canal.

If you're looking for the shower, it's located conveniently down the hall in a tiny corner of an otherwise large bathroom area. The hot water works well, when you get the water heater to work, but once you turn on the cold water, it dominates the hot water and you get blasted with watery ice. It takes finesse, but you can do it.

Here's the living room, as Suzi left it.

Suzi and Justine obviously loved camping, I don't. Anyone not sure of that can check my sweet camping equipment I used at Lowlands.

Also, mice are everywhere, but that's every place in Holland. When I asked people what to do if we get mice, I always get the same answer: "get a cat."

I am allergic to cats.

Tip up to Tim

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Originally uploaded by talfulano

One of my favorite traditions we do at Boom is singing the Tip Up song before Late Nites. We gather before the show and sign up for games, and when we're done, we put money together for the server handling our tables. We get to drink during the show for free, so we just tip whatever we feel is good.

Somehow, before a Late Nite we started singing the Tip Up song, to the tune of The Price is Right and it's always to Tim. It has no lyrics other than "Tip up to Tim." It goes: "Tip up to Tim, Tip up to Tim, Tip up, Tip up, Tip up, Tip up to Tim..."

I love it.

Tim hates it.