Went to see (and mostly hear) Salvage Vanguard's Intergalactic Nemesis last night.

This is how much I wanted to see it: I went by myself. I never do that. Unless it's a middle-of-the-day press screening for a movie, I never go to events alone if I can help it. I always drag my wife or a friend to a show and if people flake out on me, I tend to slink home, missing whatever it was I wanted to see.

But not this time, Jack! I went, and loved it. It's a 1930s radio-style presentation of a sci-fi serial with live sound effects (go Foleyvision!) and improvised commercials in between segments.

Great fun, awesome crowd pleaser. Glad I got to go. This show features People I Know And Love and I was so proud to see them having so much fun up there.

It runs tonight and tomorrow (Parts 2 and 3), but lucky for you non-Austinites -- the show is about to tour and you can see it, too.

My friend Mical Trejo has a solo show coming up which I saw an earlier incarnation of and loved. It's called Radio: 30.

Check it out: Cool flash card. Austin Chronicle article.

Now you know what to do next weekend.

Rock!

People, what the fuck is happening HERE?!

I've read the story four times and I still have no idea what is going on. That kid taught he taw a Putintat, I guess.

You know if Bush did that Ann Coulter would be next in line, showing her belly button and wanting the kitten treatment. And probably Rush.

This article made me laugh and want to cry at the same time. Jesus, Dave, what did you do to us?

I now know more about Mexican elections, World Cup, accent marks on words that end "ción," the titles of all the telenovelas on Univisión and names of countries in Spanish (Irak, Norcorea) than I ever thought possible.

How great would it be if this show got picked up by a network, became a huge hit, and NBC had to eat a huge dick?


Part one of three

Answer: VERY great.

Here's the New York Times story that explains why the guy who made Scrubs couldn't get this show on the air despite it being The Funny.

It's raining really, REALLY hard in New Braunfels right now. We never get rain. We're always watering the lawn because the big storms always hit Austin, skip up, then roll right down to San Antonio. It was like that all day as storm clouds just passed us by overhead, then deigned to drop a few wussy drops on us before moving on.

We were hanging out in the front yard with the cats, watching Rico and Diego chase bees and stare down birds when we felt the first droplets. That went on for a whole hour.

Then, finally, the rain came.

And never stopped. The back yard flooded pretty bad and it came an inch from coming up over the porch and toward the French doors. We were about to put down towels when the rain eased up a big from its massive dousing. But it's still raining now. I can see lightning through the big arched window above the front door and from the guest bedroom where Rebecca sits and watches it. She's always working in the evenings and never gets to just sit at home for a night and hang out. She quite likes it.

Wow, that's a lot of rain talk, huh? Here I was about to tell you what I did last week on vacation. So I'll summarize:

Performed in McAllen with LCP: It's probalby not a good idea for me to talk out of school, but I was not happy with the shows we did. All I know is that I did what I was supposed to be doing in the sketches I was in and I did my best on stage even though I'd woken up at 6:30 a.m. that morning, drove to McAllen then did two shows that stretched past midnight. By 11:30 p.m., my head was hurting badly and since we did tech and sketch run-throughs instead of going to get food, I was lightheaded and felt like I'd pass out by the second act of Show #2. But we got through it and, like I said, I don't feel personally responsible for the lack of energy in some sketches and the kind of dragginess the second show seemed to have.

It's very frustrating to be in a group for eight years+ and feel like instead of being at the top of the game, you've somehow regressed. Like I said, this is more than I should probably be mentioning, but I feel like it's do-or-die time with LCP and there are a lot of things unresolved as to what the gameplan is these days. I'm sure we'll be having lots of discussion at our next group meeting about that very thing.

So, it wasn't the best show we've done and with some of the technical problems we had at our last show (audio problems continue to plague the El Rey theater), it feels like we've never done a 100% show down there, which is disheartening. It was an awful way to start a vacation and my back hurt for a few days afterward from all the dancing and throwing myself around stage. I had bruised knees and my voice suffered. But once it was over, the burden of rehearsals were lifted and I was able to just concentrate on doing nothing for a while.

Hung out with the in-laws which was fun and relaxing: having someone cook for you all the time can't really be beat. We went to S. Padre Island (a very few number of photos are here). We stayed in a room that had a big jacuzzi in the room. It was weird and grody, and we gave it a go, but it was probably the least sexy thing we've ever done apart from getting married.

The beach itself is so thereapeutic. We barely even went in the water. We just laid under an umbrella, listened to the waves, watched kids run around, looked at the sky. I'm so used to doing, doing, doing that an hour of inactivity is like a narcotic to me.

We got back and did a little bit of shopping, went to Schlitterbahn, had a family member come visit. She brought our favorite cupcakes from Washington, which in my book makes her the most welcome houseguest.

Rebecca celebrated a birthday (with said cupcakes). We saw some movies. Slept a lot. I went back to work yesterday, then had another day off today, so it still feels like I'm on the vacay.

I never rest. I never sleep. And to do that for a whole week just does wonders for me. It clears my head, gives me all my energy back, focuses me in a way that nothing else does. So, yay for vacation. I didn't realize how much I'd needed to take some.

Rebecca: So, Superman had unprotected sex and got a girl pregnant?

Omar: They don't really make superhero condoms. What's he going to use? Super-Trojans? Magnum-Magnums?

Rebecca: Superman needs to be more careful next time.