Momentum

I had thought I was going to get a bump from the LoudTwitter folks, but it seems like no. Here's some pictures:


This is installation of "The Alice Project." A developmental piece currently in the middle of week one of three of technical rehearsals. It is very tall. I'm not sure what I think about the aesthetic, but it appears to be doing it's job. Interesting note: it is cheaper to build three level towers from scratch than it is to rent scaffolding for 8 weeks (if you don't count all of the labor).


This is a terminal to terminal tunnel in Detroit. I saw it because now to fly from Pittsburgh to NYC you have to go through Detroit (or Cleveland, or Washington, or Philly, or even Chicago). I used to love that Pittsburgh was a US Air hub. That airline sure done this city wrong. Anyway the Delta terminal in Detroit is kinda nice.


My desk. Top of spring break. I do let the work pile up. Sometimes prospective students come to visit and I really hope they are getting "absentminded professor" rather than "lazy slob."


Moving day in Chicago. More like "home abandonment day." I have a whole series of photos I took as we were leaving just in case there was a problem with the closing and then I had Mrs. TANBI take a bunch for memory. They are WAY depressing.


The other day someone set Pittsburgh on "rinse." There was so much fog the top of the Cathedral of Learning was obscured from campus. Although wet, it was also kind of neat.

Another Reminder I am Getting Older

I'm not 100% certain, but I think this Kresge model box was built while I was a CMU Student.

Now it's hanging on for dear life trying not to wind up in the compactor.  I guess now that Music has the Kresge we don't have much of a need for it anymore, but it is a shame.  I can remember thinking how cool it was the first time I saw it.

Bummer to see it in this shape.  I hope I look better.

Today's New Photos

I had to replace what I guess would be his collarbone.



Can you guess where? If I were a sterile carpenter (Orthopedist) instead of a theatre carpenter (technical director) I would have made it out of titanium.

Here's the latest "sweep panorama" trial...


I think it made the pole a little bendy.

Why Aren't You Listening to Me?

The other day I needed one of the students to do something for me, so I poked my head in the door and started talking to the back of her head.


Sort of disrespectfully the student ignored me, so I repeated myself. Still nothing. Finally, incensed I come into the office to do something overt to get her attention - and see this:


Oops.

So So Far Behind

This was ages ago.


My laser etched show badge for Playground 2010. Peter's introduction before the first piece. It is amazing how much energy goes into the thing. I get the feeling had we done it in my day, and had it taken place without snow on the ground I would have spent the week playing something North of 90 hours of ultimate.

Random Photos

Finishing out the last set. Gonna be time for the next one soon.

The single biggest project I did while at CMU was the TV Project. It isn't really the same sort of thing now.


Nice to be back in the big studio at QED though. Here's some of the kids striking the last of it.

I went back into the hallway of course...


Someplace I have a photo to match this from maybe 1989.

It was my boss' birthday last week.


There was cake at the option coordinator meeting.

The frosh had several personality balloons for their Rube-Goldberg machine. This is the David balloon:


Unfortunately none of the celebrity balloons produced successful trials.

Random Photos

Like I said, it's been a while.

We had rube Goldberg day the other day. PostIt David made another appearance.


I wonder, when human beings are gone and aliens find the Earth if that packing tape will still be intact.

The other night in the shop we were apparently building a boat.


Actually its the front of an oversized drawer. Its good to have clamps.

This is what you don't want to see on the drive box for your brand spanking new deck winch.


All better now though. The FTSI people handled the whole thing great - even FedEx'd me some Locktite.

We've worked our way down to CAD Mastery exams.


The first two I graded were place-outs. I was enthused. It went downhill from there. Confidence is high though.

There's a guy at work Dave Randolph who is called "D.R."


I don't think that's who they meant, but it caught my eye anyway.

Random Photos

So it's been quite some time since I did one of these. I guess I'll split it into a few posts.

Here we are in the basement of Margaret Morrison for a lecture from Len Auerbach on Theatre Architecture.


I have to admit for me it was a real flashback to my second freshman year and "Drama & Ideas" with Scott Cummings. The content was very different though.

Little over two weeks ago this is what the view out my garage door was.


Needless to say we weren't using it as an exit at the time. All melted now.

Every now and then I wonder about what seems the inevitable drive toward more video in theatre productions. Then I see something like this and think everything is going to be just fine.


That's a shot from the opening of our last mainstage production: The Government Inspector.

Here we are all gathered for our season announcement for next year.


I tweeted the event live. I'm not sure my followers cared.

This is what we saw the very first time we tried to use our brand spanking new automation system on an actual production. If you've ever gotten the BSD at home or in your office you don't really know what it feels like until you get one in a time critical environment.


It cleared with a reboot thankfully. I still think the stuff is the bee's knees.

Random Photos

This installment of Random Photos begins with a picture of my friend Peg. She's very photogenic, don't you think?


For our next show we are building a staircase that runs from the stage off into the wings and up to the midrail. I was trying to get something that showed what the actors would be looking at when they were at the top about to enter.


Really the picture is not the same as standing there looking down. It's WAY up there.

Here's an install photo from our current show. The tagline should be something about a level.


In class last week we made cove moulding by running the stock askew to the blade on the table saw.


It turns out that this was even for me something I had only heard about, so I thought it would be fun to do. A good time was had by all.

Another shot of the leaning scenery of the Chosky. The important bit here is the inaugural deployment of our new FTSI automation gear.


More photos and video to follow.

This was my truck Friday night after work:


If you've been watching the news you know its pretty much been downhill from there. But apparently we're back to work tomorrow.

Random Photos

Or maybe it should be "Photo Ellipses..."

Whatever. Maybe "At Least its not Shorties"

So after New Year's me and the missus went to Fabulous Las Vegas:


We went for a walk to the new City Center. They have a Chihuly gallery there:


Seems like its getting to the point where you can't swing a dead cat in Vegas without hitting a Chihuly piece.

During our walk we stumbled across a theatre we didn't expect to be open, but it was, so we saw a show:


Leaving only "Believe" on the list of Cirque shows in Vegas I haven't seen.

On our last night we went to Fleur de lys at Mandalay Bay, Hubert Keller's restaurant. They had very nice dishes:


Chef Keller was there and even agreed to a photo with Mrs. TANBI:


We did the middle of three Chef's tasting menus. Very nice. Probably cracks our top ten, which somewhat surprisingly is really saying something.

Waiting to leave:


Always miss that sky.

Casey from FTSI basically chased me back to Pittsburgh for automation training with our kids and brand new gear.


That's day one, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Here's day four, or "my brain hurts":


I swear, if we even remember how to turn this gear on next week I will be impressed.

Thursday night we took our visitor to Rock Bottom Trivia Night - also meant we had Kevin, which was a difference maker:


That'd be @euromandy with our prize for 1st Place!

The next day it was warm, which meant the end of the icicles on our roof and also, disturbingly, the end of our picnic table:


Smash.