THEYAREFILMINGAMOVIEOUTSIDE and OHITISMAGIC! and MOVIESAREAMAZING and CANYOUBELIEVEIT?

Wanted is being filmed, quite literally, on my doorstep. it RULES! gunshots and lights! stars (we haven't seen) and (lots of) cables (we have seen)!

for a realer account, go here.
to tell me how i'm sort of famous, comment.

sidebar: morgan freeman looks like my racist southern grandpa. a real thinker, that.

anything in mass quantities...

...scares the bejesus out of me.

it could be puppies, for pete's. but if there's a hoard? terrified.

still, though, look at this wall, found by me at cozy noodles.

amazing.

and scaaa-rryyy.

klepto's last night

this past monday was jordan klepper's last night with SC's mighty mighty BlueCo. we did our normal homeshow, and then a lot of his dear pals joined us for the improv set as his fam and other non-improv pals watched and cheered him on.

jordan for me has been nothing but a sheer joy. i had been on the road with him here and there as an understudy for the past year, and done a few things with him for BizCo (the corporate wing of SC), but only for the past month had we truly been in the same actual touring company. i'm really sad to see him go; he's so fun, so goofy, so good at what he does. so good.

love you, klep.

...we saw Art!

gentlemen attempting to woo me (like anonymous, in post below), take heed:

i think the best date in chicago would be to retrace the steps of ferris bueller.

cubs game, lsd day drive, art museum, chez louis, sears tower? ...this should be a tour. or, the best date i've ever had.

whoever does this for me, all in one day?
i'll marry you.

see you on kasmir pulaski day.

gallens of love

last week, dear pal pat gallen (improviser, engineer) got married to the love of his life, nicole blanco (english teacher, sweetheart).

i've known gallen through a lot of things over the past few years - io's team Merman, and CSz to name a few. i've also known gallen through a lot of general tom-foolery (pranks, bits, and random ball-holdings at bars when he is wasted).

gallen (in spite of the ball holding) is a gentleman in the world left with very few gentlemen. he is chivalry shrouded in boyish charm, kindness wrapped in overzealous machismo.

to see him marry and be on the exclusive invite list was such a happy endeavor. the wedding was beautiful, held at old st. vincent depaul in lincoln park, and reception at the beautiful cafe brauer right by the zoo. everything felt like the great gatsby and oozed charm and beauty, especially my date laura personick (breakups lead to friend dates).

the guest book of said reception was an unusual fun treat - you snapped a photo with a polaroid, and filled out a sheet of advice and well-wishes to the newly betrothed. shad and kate ran before we got a chance to do a page of bits together, but we ended up feeling pretty proud of the page we finished - an improv team wishing the couple the best of luck, with an arsenal of bits to accompany the photo.

all of the arsenal aside - these guys don't need a lick of advice.

they're acing it.

happy wedding.

reunion of sorts

i was recently directed to this photo.

for those of you who know what it means? you're welcome.

art + life

one of abby's art projects for the kids at camp was to do a self portrait (several different kinds). one, when done well, had a sorta stained glass effect color-wise; it also contained a self-actualization sorta thing for the kids where they wrote a bit about themselves in metaphors.

for instance, a good one (on a kid level) might be "i am a beach, because i am sunny and i love water" or "i am a tree, because i grow and i like to reach high" (oh, that is good).

here's my personal favorite.

I AM A HORSE
BEACAUSE I AM
PRETTY AND
LOVE PEOPLE
RIDEING ME!


...seems about right.

65th and cottage grove

one night after camp, the college administrator had us over for dinner at her beautiful cottage, a county or so away. we took spinny roads and dirt paths to get there, and arrived to a wood cabin, pristine and homey, and everything you could want.

mary is a kind woman who helps heather's mom organize the camp each year. it was really nice to see her house, which was somehow almost urban-chic. it had little gems all over - like this sink planter full of flowers - which dressed up every corner. this, and the counter of nicknacks pictured, lent itself to hours of i-spy while we ate homemade dinner and picnicked on the back lawn (a mountain).

why do i live in a city again?

on appalachia

i know we didn't cover this a ton, and it's hard for me to recap at this point, but teaching camp with joey and abby (sis) and being with heather and her fam was so fun again this year. each year i'm surprised at just how little you need a phone and internet, and how much fun it is to see something through new eyes again.

these kids we had this year were about 50% return campers and the other half newbies. some expected to learn improv and were so psyched about it, and the others who just learned the word couldn't stand how excited they were about it. that's the most fun. it's so much fun and good for me once a year to see kids like that get so excited and tell us they want to do what we do... it reminds me that i'm doing what iiii wanted to do.

joey also took on the laborious task of teaching the kids about shakespeare, which also was a real highlight of camp for me. the kids were excited about it, and though their reading level wasn't at it's highest, they took context and really ran with it. we made them write plays loosely based on overviews and those provided a lot of late night entertainment once we got home from camp.

we also saw a lot of camp maturity (and immaturity) this year. i played mama bear a lot to some seriously troubled kids, and some who just had a decent bout of stage fright. we also saw some of our first camp romances. it's safe to say that i lost my shit breaking a couple times watching kids fall in fake lii all week. the most important? kimberly and this kid, andrew. andrew, a cute toe-headed kid, short and freckled, ran up to me tuesday morning. miss tara? wanna see something crazy?, he said, to which i replied a resounding yes. andrew snatched a note from a girls pocket and brought it to me. joey and i read it together, silently:

dear andrew,

i love you. i want to marry you when you grow up. you are cute and cute and cute. you are my mane (sic) man. love, kimberly

kimberly, about three feet away, proudly waved.

iiiiii wrote that!, she screamed.

sidebar: when did we lose this fear of shame?

bring it back! sissssters are dooooing it for themselllllves!

as joey slinked away, i asked andrew what he thought of the whole thing. he didn't know, so i told him to think on it overnight. kimberly was in his car pool, after all (and just think of how awkward that gets)!

the next day, the couplehood was affirmed, and these two somehow ran the gauntlet of a LTR in the course of 3 days. it was my favorite entertainment of the week.

we did some standard activities this year - visited larry's (heather's dad's) land and saw how much had built out...ate a lot of casseroles and rhubarb cobbler...played pass the pig...ran to walmart for entertainment...made t-shirts as camp counselors...went down to get sno-cones at the Pioneer, the knock off DQ...watched abby and joey toss apples back and forth to sheer giddyness in the basement a few nights...the like. realized how much i love my friends.

and friends, isn't that what camp is all about?