Katie is blogging

Organization. I’m trying.

Katie — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:29:55 +0000

I’ve been keeping my gmail inbox clean recently, and it’s been really successful. It definitely helps me keep tabs on the things I need to take care of- instead of remembering stuff at random, I can just skim down the 10 or 15 e-mails that I keep there and figure out what still needs to be done. The feeling is so much more peaceful than my old system, which was mostly just forgetting things I needed to remember until I was (maybe) reminded of them at some point.

Of course what this whole operation hinges on is having the correct organizational system. In the past, I had selected every e-mail and just archived them all, which of course doesn’t solve any problems. I still had tons of garbage flowing into my inbox and nowhere to put it. It took a while, but setting up a system of labels and filters that I need was crucial to making this a system I could maintain. I wonder if this lesson is applicable to my real life… After all, though clicking a label (or dragging and dropping now, thanks google) is almost effortless, moving one t-shirt or bank statement takes no more than a few seconds.

When I first moved in, I think I had a pretty good system for everything- it was summer, so all of my cold clothes were tucked away in the top of my closet and I had only a small amount of mail and paperwork to deal with. Fast forward several months (to summer again), all of my warm clothes are hanging on the back of my door, there are clothes that I need to return to the store in a box on my floor and little piles of mail are tucked into random places haphazardly. For this is the one way in which my gmail system is totally inapplicable to my apartment- the space problem.

I know I am underutilizing a lot of space in my room and my closet, but nonetheless, it certainly is handy that in gmail I can add an extra label for whatever I want, and for all intents and purposes, put as much or as little as I please in there. In my apartment, space has to be shared. My socks and underwear need to cohabitate. But I think this problem is more solveable than I realize. I need to create a practical, sustainable system. This means my shoes can’t belong in a drawer somewhere, sweatshirts can’t require being folded or hung, shirts can’t be so tightly packed that there’s no room for a few that are sloppily returned to the drawer when I decide not to wear them. I need a place for jewelry and makeup- although I don’t have much of it, it can’t just sit on my desk. And above all, as always, I need to throw things out. I need to get rid of boxes and packaging. I need to dispose of my bank statements, or better yet, stop receiving them at all. (Follow up: DONE)

Let’s do this thing.

Long PowerPoints

Katie — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:23:56 +0000

Looking at Google transit today, I was reminded of a class from my senior year at Columbia where we had to give a power point presentation on something related to the class. We did these pretty much back to back for the last 4 classes I think. The reason I bring this up is that this professor was very particular about everything- I missed a deadline because I had food poisoning and there was no recourse on that one- and she specifically instructed that these presentations be UNDER ten minutes. And even after seeing other people blow through this time and seeing her get annoyed with them, people would come to class with 15 full slides and continue to take up tons of class time.

It was just one of those ridiculous things- You know she hates what you are doing. You know the class hates what you are doing. Why are you doing it?

I got so much pleasure from watching these people speed through 5 slides and looking crestfallen to see her keep telling them to wrap it up. They fought to cram in as much information as possible, but it was so obvious that none of that was helping their grade at all.

Peaks and Valleys

Katie — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:45:34 +0000

Why can’t I just feel good about improv for any sustained period of time? Honestly, as soon as I feel good for a few sessions, inevitably I try too hard and it all comes crashing down. Oh well. At least once I feel down about it, the only thing I want to do is get back up on the horse and ride. So, that’s good. I have a show coming up on Saturday, so hopefully that will be fun.

Live blogging SNL with Will Ferrell

Katie — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:01:07 +0000

11:48 Ad for MTV Movie Awards with Jack Black, Michael Cera and Andy Samberg. Sort of really want to watch now.

11:55 Tom Hanks (the real one) is killing this celebrity jeopardy. It is awesome seeing celebs make fun of themselves.

11:56 Burt Reynolds out of nowhere! Amazing!

12:04 Is it going to be a rehash of “Sports Show“, I can only hope! But no, it’s a new sketch. Seriously though, sports show is one of the best sketches of this year. I dare you to not laugh.

12:15 Conan ad! I love Jimmy, and I’ve never been a big late night fan, but I’m stoked for Conan to return to the air. I checked out Fallon and honestly, honestly, honestly, I love him.

12:16 I love Seth Meyers a LOT, but I wish he had a partner. YES AMY POEHLER IS BACK!!

12:19 I love “Really?!?! with Seth & Amy” It is great to have Amy back. Also, why isn’t Obama speaking at Columbia? Sucks.

12:25 Two people doing update is so much better than any other alternative. Seth, get someone else in there with you. If you need somebody… I’m down.

12:29 Haven’t seen a lot of Jason Sudeikis this episode.

12:34 Bobby Moynihan is the bomb. Dot com.

12:35 Maya Rudolph! Not my favorite, but good cameo on SNL. Starting to think JT should have had the finale. Last week’s episode has SO good. Check out pretty much the whole thing at Hulu: Justin Timberlake on SNL. Specifically Immigrant Tale, Motherlover and Plastic Surgery (link at top).

12:39 I hate the musical acts on SNL. Sorry. I just think it really ruins the cadence. The ads are bad anyway. I mean, Green Day is cool, but it still sort of kills the vibe.

12:48 Thought ad for “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!” might be part of SNL. It wasn’t. That show is absurd.

12:50 Billy Joel song all up in the sketch. Ah, yes, a good sketch about going to ‘nam, but not in the war. Much as I did. Straight intense, yo, ask me about it sometime.

12:53 Paul Rudd! Damn Princess Bride, made me miss the cold open! Was he in it? Hope it’s on hulu. I don’t want this episode to be over. Also, Anne Hathaway?

12:59 SNL, I am going to work for you, whether you like it or not. I love this show, so much.

Goodnight!

Jake & Amir

Katie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:54:43 +0000

So, today I answered a twitter plea from Jake and Amir to go help them out with a video shoot in Central Park. I showed up to the Sheep Meadow to find that there were about a million or so people there, and wandered around for a while before calling my friend Omri and having his check for any updates to their twitter because I could neither find them nor get ahold of my friend Mark, who was meeting me there. I finally located them and fortunately they had not shot yet.

First, I guess it makes sense, but I was not aware how young the fans of J&A are. I felt very old among a crowd of obviously high school aged kids, plus maybe some younger-ish college kids. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few people my own age, but not as many. Anyway, we finally shot it, I took a picture with them and it was really fun. This sounds weird to say, since I don’t really do anything, but they are a big influence on me as a comedian and I think they produce amazing content.

Me with Jake & Amir. Whatever, they're awesome. Jake's eyes actually are open, a bit. He was having some trouble with that.

I’m so cool.

Breakfast of Champions

Katie — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:31:17 +0000

Recently I’ve been “appearing” on a radio show hosted by my friend Dave Albert and his friend Gab Peschiera (Probably doesn’t know what the internet is). I started out as a listener who wanted to call in and/or wanted my name to be mentioned on air. Dave spoke of me very flatteringly one show and Gab a) did not remember who I was and b) dismissed some of the nice things Dave was saying. Also, as I was listening to show in front of my computer at work, when they would discuss things on air, I would look them up online, because that’s just how I am. So I was ready to call in and hate on Gab and be the research department. The first call went well. Pretty much all I did was demolish Gab.

I called in again this morning and talked about a variety of things- getting movies from the library, I Love You Man, Mad Men, X-Men Origins and, of course, how much I hate Gab. I think it was pretty successful, and man it is a blast. Obviously this is a little bit of a stretch, but I can’t believe I shied away from entertainment stuff for so long, even though comedy has sort of always been my dream. I’ve just been having so much fun making short videos for my friends, being on this radio show, being on stage, obviously, I can’t believe I stayed away for so long. Guess it’s good that I’m finding it now, though.

Anyway, check out Breakfast of Champions (the show is amazing, even without me) every Friday from 10am-12pm at wbar.org.

I’m hilarious

Katie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:31:40 +0000

Improv has made me so self conscious of how I act around other people. On the one hand, I of course put some weird pressure on myself to be funny, because I think people will expect me to be. Not that I didn’t always put pressure on myself to be funny, but now it can be stifling, because it’s an active feeling that I embrace or sometimes resist. Furthermore, comedy people are annoying. Sometimes there is nothing more painful than standing in line waiting for a show and everybody is talking loudly and being dramatic, doing their “bit” because… I don’t know, we all just want attention? We want other people to look at us and think we are funny. The only problem is that other comedians see right through it. But it’s hard to stop. I was at a party at a theater the other day and I catch myself doing sort of over-the-top impressions or actions of some person or something and I was like ah, come on, who are you trying to impress? But I kept doing it. I guess it’s just what we do.

I’ve also learned that, for now, there are sort of a few standby lines/bits that I can go for if I’m “tanking” in a conversation. And I become very aware of patterns and repetition. I hope that focusing on these kinds of things all the time is sharpening my improv skills, but who knows. I also hope it doesn’t make me extremely obnoxious, but who knows.

Improv Fight!

Katie — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:30:02 +0000

I am so excited about this recent battle that is being waged on an improv message board. The improv community, from the outside, is very tight lipped and cautious about offending. It is “unwise” to criticize anyone as a performer or teacher, as they are certainly good friends with your teacher or maybe even perform together. One of my acquaintances from the improv community used to criticize a teacher, but stopped after realizing just how quickly word spreads and can potentially hurt you later. I’m sure there’s a fair share of pettiness, criticism and jealousy that is kept sort of under wraps, but on the outside, it is not overtly spoken of at all.

So a couple of days ago, some new person asked who/where the best NYC teacher was on this message board. The thread quickly turned into a string of bits and jokes, because even as a newbie myself, I can understand that that is a near impossible question. Sure, maybe there is sort of one answer, but there’s so much other stuff- and that’s why there are several improv schools and tons of teachers, because every student, teacher and performer thinks and behaves a little differently. Anyhow, one guy stepped up and answered honestly, listing his very favorites, the ones he recommended and finally, a tirade about the Artistic Director at the UCB, the largest improv theater in town, whose class he hated.

When I first read this post, it took the wind out of my sails. Honestly, it still does. On an afternoon where I was excited about improv happenings, I was so sad to see something so mean. I’m familiar with Anthony’s work (the Artistic Director/teacher in question) and I think he’s really funny, but possibly due to a lack of exposure, he’s not one of my idols, and I’ve not yet had him as a teacher. On the one hand, I thought it was pretty cool that somebody said something about teachers. I like the idea that people aren’t negative, but I fear that this not-ever-being-critical-ever thing might be hurtful to the community as an introduction to newcomers, you should be able to honestly say “I didn’t like that teacher” without feeling like you are breaking some rule. But this review was scathing, and I just think he still doesn’t realize how harsh it was. I wouldn’t have thought that I could take a negative review of Anthony so personally, but I totally did. Even if that seems weird, given that I am only one in a sea of hundreds of newcomers to the UCB, I don’t care.

However, the “conversation” that has ensued is really interesting. For one thing, I think people have not been as dismissive as I expected. Plus, it’s NICE to see a genuine conversation in the comedy realm. I love jokes and bits, but the heart and soul of improv is honesty and truthfulness, so it’s cool to see people dig a bit deeper. As a newcomer who is obsessed and constantly star-struck, it’s great to see a little bit of this insider world exposed.

Writing

Katie — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:27:35 +0000

I spend so much of my time these days thinking about things. I’ve always had a wandering mind, which I think is a good asset in general (I don’t bore easily), but having recently taken up the study of comedy, I’m now much more conscious of the things I’m thinking. It’s pretty cool, because now instead of letting these thoughts slip away into the ether, I think man, I should write about that. And then they slip away into the ether, because I don’t. Most of it has to do with how infrequently I am in front of the computer outside of work hours. Ashamed as I am to admit it, the other part is that I can’t access my blog/twitter/personal e-mail at work, and it’s much easier to say, I’ll write that later. But I get home knowing that I had a few things that stuck out to me during the day, and I won’t remember any of them.

I think I’ve always had a gift as a writer. This isn’t to say it comes easily to me, but when I work hard on something, an e-mail, article or essay, I often end up proud of my work, and receive many compliments to that effect. Blog posts for me are always a mixed bag. Reading over some of my past entries, I am either impressed with myself or disgusted. Often times I know while I’m writing it which it’s going to be, (this one is not going to be great) but I’m rarely able to turn it around if it’s not going well. I think that regularly writing down more things can help me improve upon this. Plus, I hope that if my ability to jot out a brief, eloquent post improves, I’ll be more inclined to write more things down. After all, why not? I enjoy reading other people’s thoughts, and so I hope people will enjoy reading mine, but if they don’t, who cares? It will still be beneficial to me to try to simultaneously sort out my thoughts and improve upon my writing. Hopefully.

Mystery Team Movie

Katie — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:26:02 +0000

I hate Derrick. I can’t believe how ridiculously funny and talented they are. I hate that they wrote and starred in an amazing movie that had me in stitches. The point is that I saw Mystery Team Movie and it was great. The only real complaints I could have with it would be sound and lighting, I can’t even imagine how good it could have been with a real budget. I really hope that this movie gets bought and distributed, if no other reason than because I selfishly would like to be able to see it again and have my friends see it. I don’t really know how movie stuff works, but all I do know is that Derrick rocks.