Various

So the ECHO::SYSTEM people are gone and the workshop is finished. I've been on the sidelines of this one for the whole time and yet somehow managed to be pretty crucial as well having hooked them up with a free venue, a production manager, a free lighting console, a bunch of free materials, and a staff of free labor - plus a fair amount of consulting of my own, gratis. In the end I'm not even sure why. Just goes to show, it can't hurt to ask for something. They came to visit me in my office and I did all kinds of things for them just because it made sense, would make a better workshop for them and I could help. In the end I think it worked out real well for them, and for everyone at the School of Drama that managed to get involved. The project looks kind of neat too. Its a multi cultural, multi discipline, performance art piece matching desert ecology to urban life. Or something, it may have been out of my depth. It would be interesting to know what the people who saw it though of it. I'll have to keep an eye out.
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Today was convocation or "the show that shant be named" as it isn't really a school production, and shouldn't cause conflicts with anything else, but always does. Faculty are often fodder for barbs as part of this thing, and I have thought that a good natured barb at convocation actually is evidence that you are doing a good job. My boss has been the center of every convo since she got here, all fairly good natured. I think that is fairly impressive. Prior to this I think I only was referenced once: April declaring as me "I'm not gay, I just like lesbian music." Today I heard my name twice before I had to leave, once for hastling grads (to the tune of Girls Just Want to have Fun) "Dave Boevers asks what are you gonna do with your life" and the other as part of the opening (to the tune of The Time Warp) "I'm so sleepy... Dave Boevers reaming..." I will have to ask if there was anything else I missed. This year seemed a little more good natured than the past few which had gotten downright nasty. They also checked for cameras at the door, which is good because I had been wondering when we will see a drunken, naked CMU alum on E! and it seemed like they also toned down the drinking some. Although there was an open headset mic on stage, so in my office I did get to hear about how disgusting someone's tequila was, and about someone else drinking a whole bottle of champagne. So perhaps there's still work to be done there.
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Its been a good couple of days for web referers. The 8 Lies post got picked up by Newsweek/MSNBC and by this site Patrick Ruffini. I guess its a bummer I didn't write it what with all the attention it is getting. Makes me wish the It's Not 9/11 post could get that interest. I guess I have to learn how to use more keywords. The What is so Complicated post wound up on a student site and then got aggregated to a bunch of others. All this interconnectivity is pretty cool, but I wonder if in the end its any better than anything we've had in the past or if it is really just a big distraction.