that one time i made up for lost time...

So...I've been MIA for a bit. Sorry about that. I planned to blog all throughout Social Media Week, but funny thing, real life got in the way.  How bout that?So, what have I been up to the last couple of weeks? Here are some highlights:


Social Media Week

The global event Social Media Week hit Chicago for the first time this year and I had the great pleasure of producing and moderating a panel discussion at Catalyst Ranch. Titled Social Media & The Next Generation, the topic of improving communication between the generations has been a particular passion of mine ever since I began teaching. Blessed with an awesome panel of social media pros and twenty-somethings, it was a pretty awesome night.









And of course, I had to attend other events and network. Tons of fun. Social Media people like to drink: there was an open bar almost everywhere I went. If you're interested in my new friends, hijinks and shenanigans, just follow my Twitter feed, looking for hashtag #SMWChicago.



Family

Jessa is having a baby. We had a great celebration to welcome Baby McHoffman. It was wonderful to see so many great friends from college. Perry remarked how amazing it is that we're still alive after all the crazy shit we did ten years ago. Seriously. Amazing. It was a great quasi-almost <gulp> ten year college reunion.






















Most importantly, DJ is in town. Nuff said.

Theatre

Besides palling around with my families at Porchlight Music Theatre and Silk Road Rising, I have been rehearsing a very interesting piece with the fine folks at Interrobang Theatre Project. The Argument by Gregory S. Moss is a surreal, post-Apocalyptic piece written in response to Hurricane Katrina. Towards the end there is a fantasy production number that I provide choreography for. The show runs from 10/6-11/6. Check it out: support new theatre and a new company!





















Besides that, I've been doing quite a bit of this



and





and not enough of this

Anyhow...it's fall. Less outside play time, more...well inside writing time. So get ready for more blogging and a different blog look for October.


Have a great weekend!

that one random adventure (+3 for hump day) episode 5

So August 28, 2011 marks the return of "International Read Comics in Public Day", a day for us geeks to hit public transportation, coffee shops, parks and anywhere one can sit and proudly pull out our old trade paperbacks or new weeklies and spread awareness and appreciation for comics. I'm a big fan of a good "(insert cause) day". I cannot even begin to express how geeked out I am by September's Social Media Week, where your's truly will be moderating an event at my awesome day job Catalyst Ranch. The trouble with this particular day I find is...well...I already read comic books in public. Every day. On both ends of my commute.

But the notion reminds me of this one time this past spring. Free comic book day to be exact, reading the awesome  FCMBD edition of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Spidey sacrificed his iconic spider sense saving the city (again) in ASM#654 and was training with Shang-Chi (fresh off the pages of SECRET AVENGERS) to better tune his awareness through martial arts.

Lost in my book, I get a tap on my knee. A mini-me (7 if a day) looked up at me with gleaming almond shaped eyes and asked "awr you weading Spidew-Man?" (Swear to God he said his R's like that). His mother was napping next to him.

"Sure am pal" I replied.

"He's my favowite!" His torn up, third hand velcro Spidey sneaks proved as much.

"Mine too!" I replied.

"He's really funny."

"That he is." And so I nudged my book over so he can read with me, letting him turn pages when he'd caught up.

Spidey was off on Avengers mission. No spider sense, P.Parker is off his game.The turn of the page revealed a training scene between Spidey and Shang-Chi. Mini-Me's eyes lit up.

"Who's that?!" He demanded, setting his little finger on Shang-Chi. He could've cared less as I went over Chinese born Shang-Chi's master of kung fu street cred. His eyes remained fixated and he said in the most awestruck voice "He looks like me."

My stop came shortly after, the book remained unfinished between us. "Keep it" I said. "And make sure you ask your mom if you can read more. There's more Shang-Chi coming up in Spider Island." Standing on the platform, looking through the window, I saw Mini-Me flipping to the front of the book and reading it over again.

So yeah, when I read about NRACIPD, I thought "I don't need a day to celebrate this any more than I need the gay pride parade or Asian American Heritage Month. I celebrate these aspects of myself prudly every day." But like meeting an old drag queen who was there at the Stonewall riots, a closeted kid who suffers bullying in silence or meeting Mini-Me seeing himself represented in his favorite comic, its nice to get a reminder sometimes.

Celebrate yourself every day.

Three things I'm looking forward to for the rest of the week

Theatre (& Social Media)

Filament Theatre Ensemble presents a brand new theatrical experiment in partnership with Zaarly, the marketplace that helps you buy and sell with people nearby, Filament will attempt to create a brand new, locally-sourced, world premiere theatrical production in 36 hours. Community members can then share their stuff or their time in exchange for a ticket to the SUSTAIN36 Theatre Project performance which will be performed Thursday, August 25 at 8:00pm, a mere 36 hours after the playwriting process began.

This such an innovative and collaborative event. Following Filament's Twitter feed in every part of the process is pretty fuckin' rad. In the true spirit of Social Media, I read a retweet of the event on the SM side and was pleased as punch that it was a theatre event. A few tweets back and forth between Filament and lo and behold, I'm involved! Your's truly will be there video taping the process and the event as well as live tweeting tomorrow from 5PM on. For other convos happening about the event, search Twitter for #sustain36 and check for my blog/vlog footage on Friday!

For more info click here. If we had you at hello, get your tickets here. Will I see you there?

New Book Wednesday

X-Men Legacy #254
Written by MIKE CAREY
Penciled by STEVE KURTH
Cover by MICO SUAYAN

FINALLY! Someone's going into deep space to save Marvel Girl, Havok and Polaris. About goddamn time!

Family

I've been an uncle since I was one and a half. All of my nephews and nieces have been more like little brothers and sisters. None more so than DJ. In a blog where I open with a story of a mini-me, I am happy beyond belief to close out this entry to say the ultimate mini-me, not only blood family but best friend family, the fourth bertucelli, my little brother Mikey DJ is now in town and here for at least a month. Let the adventures commence!

Til next time!

that one time God finally said yes

So I've been on the nicotine patch for quite some time. It's a well known fact that when you sleep with it on, you get these crazy vivid dreams. I'm pretty in tune with my dreams as is, so you throw the patch in the equation they get borderline prophetic. I've had dreams about people and interactions and usually within 72 hours somehow it comes true. I dreamt that my father died on a Monday and I got the call that he did on a Friday.

Last night, I dreamt I was with my dad. We were in the cafeteria of the hospital he was at when I last some him alive. We were eating cake. We were talking about everything and nothing. And of all the dreams I've randomly had that randomly came true (friends, family, boyfriends, exes) I wish this one did. I don't remember what my dad and I talked about in this dream. Mostly that he was healthy and at peace.

I was cleaning out through some scrap book stuff and I found this poem. My father had sent it out with the christmas cards when I was a kid (it was my job to color in the holly and ivy). Its about a man asking God to wipe away his bad traits or do things for him and god says no. When he finally asks the right question, god finally says yes.

The poem was titled by the author "and god said no". What struck me as a kid was that my dad had photocopied this poem to send out, then on each page, replaced  (by hand) the word "no" with "yes" and inserted the word "finally" before "said" on every copy.

The message of the poem didn't change. But the frame of mind you go into reading it does: god will say yes.

For the last few months, I've asked god to take away the pain, to dry my tears, to make me forget and move on.

Last night, in my dream, I asked god if my dad was at peace and happy. And he finally said yes.

that one random adventure (+3 for hump day) episode 4

Random Adventure for the Week
(cuz anything can be an adventure)

To say this past weekend was epic would be an understatement. It was epicly epic. Amidst the rowdy and the daydrinking and randomness, God likes to throw in a little message your way. Remember to conncet to people. While we were caught in the rain getting refills of Summer-Double Gulp, the Bertucellis met Gwendolyn and Joseph.




Fifteen damn years. Damn. We should all be so lucky. They've seen some times, you can just see it in their eyes. But burning brighter than that, is their love and devotion to each other. Bless you guys. It was fun and a treat and an honor to meet you.

And I officially retract the interaction slips from episode 2.




Three things I'm looking forward to for the rest of the week


New Book Wednesday

AVENGERS #16

Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS

Penciled by JOHN ROMITA JR.

Amidst the ashes of what is left of the Marvel Universe and, during the bombastic battles throughout New York, a new Avengers romance blossoms. Thanks for the spoiler in the cover LOL

X-SCHISM #3

Written by JASON AARON

Penciled by DANIEL ACUNA

The event that divides the X-Men in half continues. The teaser pages (and the cover) features my own favorite Bobby Drake (Iceman) and the art looks SICK! Bobby's been getting more page time as of late, which is awesome, but if you can put two and two together, it's pretty obvious who's team he'll end up on by #5, and knowing X-History, it's kinda bittersweet.

Family

Not only is Molly Meacham one of the smartest, most wonderful and talented women I know, I'm also very lucky to call her one of my best friends. We both get insanely busy as she is a dedicated English teacher during the fall and spring and a ingenious touring poet during the summer, so we only get to see each other sporadically. Having lunch with her this Saturday will definitely be the highlight of my week!

Class

Thank God my gym offers (one) bikram yoga class. I definitely need to sweat out some toxins from last weekend.

Til next time...

that one random adventure (+3 for hump day) episode 3

Random Adventure for the Week
(cuz anything can be an adventure)


The crispness in the air and the slight drops in temperature always brings that slight punch to the gut every year, no matter how old I get: it's back to school weather. The dog days of summer are starting to die down. As previously blogged, it's been quite a journey for me since March, but I am very lucky to have a great family of friends to lend a shoulder or just have stupid (drunk) fun with. I don't know what my adult life would be without the Bertucellis and maybe one day I'll blog about how we got the name, but for your enjoyment, here's one of my favorite adventures we had this summer:

Prologue:
What happens when you daydrink, steal scones off of a brunch buffet that you didn't pay for and break a metal bench, just by sitting on it? Your best friend documents the fallout...

Sorry about the aspect ratio. Apparently there's a wrong way to hold a camera phone.

Don't worry, August is still young. And with the upcoming weekend (see the last of my +3) we still have a lot of Bertucelli adventures left for the Summer of 2011



Three things I'm looking forward to this week


Theatre

Family Devotions by David Henry Hwang
presented by Halcyon Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center, through September 4th

Chicago theatre's "Summer of David Henry Hwang" has seen the Chicago premiere of Yellow Face at Silk Road, the world premiere of Chinglish at the Goodman and the opening weekend of Family Devotions at Halcyon is the first sign that the summer is coming to a close. One of his earliest plays, Family Devotions examines the foibles of a Chinese-American family living as close to a WASPy life as they can in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles in the early 80's. The extreme religious views of the matriarchs (one of which is played by the imcomparable Mia Park) and the capitalistic fast-talking of the sons-in-law (played by my buddies Gordon Chow and Dwight Egan Sora) clash with the simplistic world views of a long-lost relative visitng from China and makes for some very exciting theatre, including a scene in the second half dealing with an exorcism that I just can't wait to see how ingenious Jenn Adams has staged. On a personal note, it is one of the first Hwang plays I read as a teenage theatre student and really shaped how I view Asian American families in theatre (as well how to orchestrate a large group scene).

More info: http://halcyontheatre.org/familydevotions

New Book Wednesday

Morning Glories #11
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Joe Eisma

The only non-Marvel book I'm reading. Morning Glories Academy is an institution where "Learning to be an Assassin" is an extra-curricular and "How Not to be Killed by your Homeroom Teacher" is a prerequisite. Can't get enough of the intrigue and mystery of these six teens all coincidentally born at the exact same day and time. This month, we learn more about Ike, the back-stabbing socialite bad boy that everyone loves to hate.

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Glories

Amazing Spider-Man #667
Writen by Dan Slott
Art by Humberto Ramos

Spidey Island continues. Humberto Ramos (FINALLY) returns to ASM. Shang-Chi looks awesome on the cover. 'Nuff Said.

Street Festival

The best thing about Chicago summer is being able to experience every neighborhood through their street festival. Main street is shut down for booths, booze, bands and awesomeness. You get to really know the character of the neighborhood based on its inhabitants. So what happens for at the street fest for Lakeview (aka Boys Town, the Gayborhood)

Pride part two. And it's eight shades of awesome. Here are some pix from Market Days past

 

And, of course, it's the anniversary for the annual Bertucelli Elephant Ear Eat-Off

Hope to see ya there!

Til next time...