Today there's a "ticker tape parade" in downtown Manhattan, celebrating the Giants win over the Patriots in the latest Superbowl.
This morning, back from an extended vacation, and I was dressed in my "I am my father" outfit - suit, tie, jacket. iPhone earbuds were in, listening the The New Yorker Comment podcast. I was on the R train, which goes directly to South Ferry, a few blocks from the parade. Giants fans, young guys, poured into the car at Atlantic Center. They were shouting, they moved people from their seats, one even began to roll a joint. Their coffee cups smelled like Bud Light.
Of course, I had that odd male moment where I thought, "Well, I'll just ignore these guys. I'm not going to get pushed around." I sort of stood there, increasingly idiotically, as if they weren't shouting at each other just past my head. Pretended all I could hear was a narrator reading Henrik Hertzberg's latest. Felt some combination of superior and intimidated, an all-too-familiar feeling from growing up in a baseball town.
I wasn't the only one rolling my eyes. We all were, of course. This is the sacred commute, a quiet 30-60 minutes of thoughtful dread. No one on that car thought these guys had any right to be loud.
One of the fans shouted, "We're such dicks! We're bothering everyone going to work!" They all laughed. Then one said, "I wish I was going to work!" They all laughed. Less.
A reminder.
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Monday, February 06, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Pam on Esty
Pam (whose blog is awesome and is called Phantasmaphile) contributes a blog post over at Etsy, describing some unique romantic gifts.
Take a look, you lovers.
Take a look, you lovers.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A few days away
I'm off for my day job on a week-long work trip, so blogging will be scarce this week. I mean, it sort of is every week, but it's probably especially true this week.
That doesn't mean I don't love you. I do. Love. You.
That doesn't mean I don't love you. I do. Love. You.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Star Wars: Uncut - Director's Cut
Hoo boy. Is there anything more geek joyful than this love-letter? This is the entire original Star Wars, edited together from a billion fan-films. The reason God made the Internet.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Media Narrative Fail
So if Santorum actually won Iowa, and Gingrich is in the lead in most new polls in South Carolina (and Rick Perry gives Gingrich both of his voters); how exactly is Mitt Romney marching to the nomination?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sean Williams on where the money comes from
Over on the NYIT blog, Sean Williams talks about where the funding comes from for many small theaters in NYC, and I'm sure elsewhere. Read all about it here.
Sean's done a lot of very successful producing on the Off-Off scale, and it's definitely worth a read. If I could be so bold as to sum things up a bit, he notes where most of the funding comes from (not grants or donors!) and then he says that a comparatively light and cheap style means that we're more flexible than larger theaters. That Off-Off should embrace a $10,000 as a whole lot less than it costs to make a movie, and that, in a way, is a good thing.
While that's true in some cases (not all, of course) I think there's a big missing piece.
In my view, small theaters do not ask for money well. (To be fair, it's not unique to small theaters.) We're partial to fundraisers and IndieGoGo and tossing in our own cash from day jobs. In the development world, one of the best ways to actually get someone to give you real support is to sit down with them, over lunch, at their home, and ask them for money in person. I have a job where I do this, in fact.
I'm open to be challenged on that point, but I'm curious if many small theater operations out there spend much of their time in meetings where they actually make the case for support to a single donor, and frame the highest possible gift for that individual?
Sean's done a lot of very successful producing on the Off-Off scale, and it's definitely worth a read. If I could be so bold as to sum things up a bit, he notes where most of the funding comes from (not grants or donors!) and then he says that a comparatively light and cheap style means that we're more flexible than larger theaters. That Off-Off should embrace a $10,000 as a whole lot less than it costs to make a movie, and that, in a way, is a good thing.
While that's true in some cases (not all, of course) I think there's a big missing piece.
In my view, small theaters do not ask for money well. (To be fair, it's not unique to small theaters.) We're partial to fundraisers and IndieGoGo and tossing in our own cash from day jobs. In the development world, one of the best ways to actually get someone to give you real support is to sit down with them, over lunch, at their home, and ask them for money in person. I have a job where I do this, in fact.
I'm open to be challenged on that point, but I'm curious if many small theater operations out there spend much of their time in meetings where they actually make the case for support to a single donor, and frame the highest possible gift for that individual?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)