Of Frontiers, Final

I made this image about 10 months ago when I first started writing for The Oklahoma Gazette. I had planned to commemorate the occassion in a blog post (for a blog that did not yet exist). Time passed and I felt silly about making a big fuss even though I was and still am excited to be writing for one of the best papers in the state. More time passed and I decided that when my 50th piece went to print I'd celebrate. With a LOL cat. I lubs u intarwebs!

I had hoped to make my big piece on the local comedy scene my 50th, but it ended up being my rave review for OU's sexy modern adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" instead.

That's Puck surrounded by some fairies.

Works for me! I don't link to my work online very often because frankly it's embarrassing. Whoever designed the OK Gazette site apparently never bothered to test it in Firefox, so the text always loses its formatting, and I'll be damned if I'm going to ask someone to open IE just to read my stuff. Frak Microsoft. However, given the occasion, I thought an exception was in order. You can read my (heavily edited and awfully formatted) review here. If you're in the Norman/OKC area this is last weekend, so go see it!

Details: 8 p.m. Thursday - Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday matinee at OU's Rupel Jones Theatre. Adults are $20, Students are $12. Order tickets at (405) 325-4101.


In other news, my life has been nearly consumed by The Beast that is Twinprov. It's now been 8 weeks since I first pitched the idea to Clint and Buck and this wave we're riding seems to only grow in size. I don't want to sound cocky, but there's a feeling of inevitability that I have about this whole thing. For a variety of reasons, it was the right time to do it and now it only seems like a matter of time before we get the right people's attention. Granted, that could be months or years even, but we're working hard to make it happen. We hear back about the Austin Out of Bounds Comedy Festival next week and the next festival entry deadline is June 1st. We're also doing a guest spot at Mondays Don't Suck at The 51st Street Speakeasy next week and we'll be headlining again on June 8th.

What amazes me the most about this experience is how when focused and freed of certain limitations there doesn't really seem to be a ceiling on the quality of material that Buck and Clint are capable of producing. Even though I'm putting in 20-30 hours a week on this, they really do make my job easy. I just have to get people to give them a chance and they provide the face-melting awesomeness. When I heard the Twinprov Dopplegansta Rap (coming soon to YouTube!) I was blown away. It was one of the best things they'd ever produced. But that was so two weeks ago.

Now we have The Twinprov "Star Trek" Rap. The last five days has taken us on quite an adventure. It all started with a screening of the new "Star Trek" film last Saturday morning. The whole experience has been chronicled on both Twinprov's and Daily Oklahoman reporter Brandy McDonnell's respective blogs. Here are the posts in order:

Pt. 1 - Twinprov: Raps From The Final Frontier
Pt. 2 - BAM: Twinprov rappers take on “Star Trek”
Pt. 3 - Twinprov: The Twinprov Star Trek Rap
Pt. 4 - BAM: Video: The promised Twinprov “Star Trek” rap
Pt. 5 - BAM: “Star Trek” Week launches at BAM’s Blog
Pt. 6 - BAM: Twinprov gives extended “Star Trek” rap first public performance
Pt. 7 - BAM: Photos: Twinprov performs their new rap at Oklahoma City “Star Trek” preview screening
Pt. 8 - BAM: Video: BAM and Twinprov talk “Star Trek,” spies and other funny stuff

As soon as we get pictures that were taken last night we'll be posting our take on the performance of the rap at the OKC premiere. Thanks again to Brandy and Matt at The Oklahoman, Jeremy at Paramount, and everyone else that has been encouraging and supporting us.

In case you skipped all the links above, here's the rap in all its glory.

Somehow, amidst the rest of this madness I've managed to find the time to do some things for myself as well, like start doing art again - photography specifically. So, if you come out to The Carnality Ball, OKC's circus/fetish themed erotic art show this Friday night, you can see some of my work on display.


Here's one of the images I submitted.


While it's been a fantastic experience, I had forgotten one important part of art-making - it's frakking expensive. Being poor as I am, I can't say that it was the smartest way to spend $76, unless of course something sells. (Yeah, right!) However, after so many years of not doing work regularly and 10 years since I displayed any non-video art publicly, I think it's worth it. Of course, I may change my mind after Friday. We'll see.

A special thanks to my friend Michael, one of the most beautiful and complex people I know, for playing along, putting aside his fears, and for trusting me. It wouldn't have been possible without you. Thanks also to Jeremy for lending his gear and his indispensable expertise. Lastly, I have to thank Stefan for all the support and for being understanding when I'm gone all the time.

It's been very gratifying and fulfilling to be balancing all these separate parts of my life and I look forward to what the future holds.

Full speed ahead, Mr. Sulu!