Speaking of counts, we were also doing some formations, walking in circle, flower, and figure 8 patterns. I wonder if someone with marching band experience would have an natural edge for this. An additional thing (and important thing) to pay attention to was that there were puppets walking along with the humans. You would want your legs to block the puppet as little as possible while walking in various patterns. Those were things to watch out for as well.

In Week 4, we worked on another group scene. Instead of the singing and dancing stuff, which was heavy on movement, we got to work on a dialogue piece. Here we practiced making the puppets look like they were talking. At the same time, you don’t want to overdo it, either. The bigger movements should be reserved for stressing the important words of the dialogue.

At the end of each class, we filmed the scenes we were working on, so we could actually watch it from an audience member’s perspective. You can certainly see the improvements from one week to another. Now, I am not at liberty to post these rehearsal videos, so you’ll just have to take my words for it.

Also, let me just briefly mention this: yesterday was this blog’s sixth year anniversary. The first post I’ve written for the blog was written back in 2007. At early stages of the blog, I actually tried to stick to a schedule and was trying to get more readers. Now I just don’t bother. That said, I’ll keep happily blogging even if not that many people are reading. To the few people reading (Sara? Raul? Michelle? Anyone else that don’t like to comment?), thank you for your continual support.

1) The group work aspect:
When you are not the only performer on stage / screen, you get to play off of one another in a scene. Many interesting things happen when multiple people work together, each bringing his or her unique style and input.

2) Smaller class size:
Since not everyone that signed up for beginning class will sign up for the intermediate class, the intermediate class tend to be smaller. More individual attention!

3) You are always up:
This is the result of both 1 and 2. Since you are always doing group work instead of taking turns doing solo performances, and also because the class is smaller, it’s likely you are always doing a scene, whether you are the main character or a supporting character. Either way, you are constantly doing something instead of seated down watching the others.

4) You already have the beginning class materials down / out of the way (to some degree):
And you get to polish things some more and introduce more nuances.

5) You’ve had the same classmates for weeks already:
Most likely, you are a lot more comfortable with your classmates by this point. I think performances tend to be better when the performers are comfortable playing against one another.

In Week 1, we did a little review of the homework (yes, we have homework) from the beginning class. Basically, we were doing the short choreography together as a group instead of taking turns doing it individually. Then we went over some space work. The tricky part is that you need to be aware of the other puppeteers around you and not bump into them, and that sometimes how fast the puppet travels is based on how fast the puppeteers travel (even though technically the puppet’s legs aren’t as long and steps not as big, this works in group choreography).

In Week 2, we started on the group choreography for a song. The song has several characters in it and they are randomly assigned to us by drawing names out of a hat. So we all did the song together. Each character will have his/her turn as the star and do that one section while the other characters react to it, and finally they join together and dance synchronized steps. We were coming up with some of the choreography as we went. I was pretty impressed with what we ended up with in just three hours. Sure, we could use more polish, but I thought it was quite good for three hours. And you are just going to have to take my words for it.

We will continue to work on this in Week 3. Looking forward to it!

Today, I read in this article that emacs, a text editor (available via Terminal on the Mac), contains such an Easter egg. So I gave the game a try.

It was amusing. See this transcript: (The lines that start with ‘>’ is what I typed in. The rest was provided by the game.)

kelvinkao$ emacs -batch -l dunnet

Dead end
You are at a dead end of a dirt road. The road goes to the east.
In the distance you can see that it will eventually fork off. The
trees here are very tall royal palms, and they are spaced equidistant
from each other.
There is a shovel here.
>pick up shovel
I don’t understand that.
>take shovel
Taken.
>walk
I don’t understand that.
>walk around
I don’t understand that.
>walk forward
I don’t understand that.
>dig with shovel
Digging here reveals nothing.
>go on dirt road
You can’t go that way.
>go east
E/W Dirt road
You are on the continuation of a dirt road. There are more trees on
both sides of you. The road continues to the east and west.
There is a large boulder here.
>climb tree
You manage to get about two feet up the tree and fall back down. You
notice that the tree is very unsteady.
>climb tree again
You manage to get about two feet up the tree and fall back down. You
notice that the tree is very unsteady.
>climb boulder
You can’t climb that.
>push boulder
You can’t push that.
>kick boulder
I don’t understand that.
>bomb boulder
I don’t understand that.
>go west
Dead end
>go east
E/W Dirt road
There is a large boulder here.
>use shovel
I don’t understand that.
>dig
Digging here reveals nothing.
>play piano
I don’t understand that.
>play flute
I don’t understand that.
>walk north
I don’t understand that.
>go north
You can’t go that way.
>go east
Fork
You are at a fork of two passages, one to the northeast, and one to the
southeast. The ground here seems very soft. You can also go back west.
>dig
I think you found something.
>pick up
I don’t understand that.
>take
You must supply an object.
>take thing
I don’t know what that is.
>dig
Digging here reveals nothing.
>take what i found
I don’t know what that is.
>take thing
I don’t know what that is.
>inventory
You currently have:
A lamp
A shovel
>use lamp
I don’t understand that.
>go northeast
NE/SW road
You are on a northeast/southwest road.
>walk
I don’t understand that.
>run
I don’t understand that.
>go northeast
Building front
You are at the end of the road. There is a building in front of you
to the northeast, and the road leads back to the southwest.
>enter building
You don’t have a key that can open this door.
>find key
I don’t understand that.
>dig
Digging here reveals nothing.
>knock
I don’t understand that.
>knock on door
I don’t understand that.
>find key
I don’t understand that.
>climb
There is nothing here to climb.
>climb building
I don’t know what that object is.
>ring doorbell
I don’t understand that.
>open door
I don’t understand that.
>open window
I don’t understand that.
>go back
I don’t understand where you want me to go.
>go southwest
NE/SW road
>go southwest
Fork
There is a CPU card here.
>take cpu card
Taken.
>use cpu card
I don’t understand that.
>go southwest
You can’t go that way.
>go northeast
NE/SW road
>go north
You can’t go that way.
>go northeast
Building front
>enter building
You don’t have a key that can open this door.
>use lamp
I don’t understand that.
>go southwest
NE/SW road
>go west
You can’t go that way.
>go north
You can’t go that way.
>where can i go?
I don’t understand that.
>go east
You can’t go that way.
>go south
You can’t go that way.
>go north
You can’t go that way.
>go west
You can’t go that way.
>go northwest
You can’t go that way.
>go northeast
Building front
>go southwest
NE/SW road
>go southwest
Fork
>take fork
I don’t know what that is.
>go fork
I don’t understand where you want me to go.
>go southeast
SE/NW road
You are on a southeast/northwest road.
There is some food here.
>take food
Taken.
>inventory
You currently have:
A lamp
A shovel
A computer board
Some food
>eat some food
I don’t know what that is.
>eat food
That tasted horrible.
>puke
I don’t understand that.
>throw up
I don’t know what that is.
>go southwest
You can’t go that way.
>go northeast
You can’t go that way.
>go southeast
Bear hangout
You are standing at the end of a road. A passage leads back to the
northwest.
There is a ferocious bear here!
>fight bear
I don’t understand that.
>punch bear
I don’t understand that.
>dig
Digging here reveals nothing.
>use shovel
I don’t understand that.
>hit bear
I don’t understand that.
>shoot bear
I don’t understand that.
>touch bear
I don’t understand that.
>look at bear
It looks like a grizzly to me.
>say hi
I don’t understand that.
>say hello
I don’t understand that.
>fight bear
I don’t understand that.
>punch bear
I don’t understand that.
>run away
I don’t understand that.
>inventory
You currently have:
A lamp
A shovel
A computer board
>use shovel
I don’t understand that.
>use lamp
I don’t understand that.
>start fire
I don’t understand that.
>look at bear
It looks like a grizzly to me.
>eat bear
You don’t have that.
>fight bear
I don’t understand that.
>take bear
You cannot take that.
>kick bear
I don’t understand that.
>hit bear
I don’t understand that.
>hunt bear
I don’t understand that.
>go southeast
The bear is very annoyed that you would be so presumptuous as to try
and walk right by it. He tells you so by tearing your head off.

You are dead.
You have scored 0 out of a possible 90 points.

http://youtu.be/4EiKRJG4D28

The music is by Replaced With Robots. I played the orange guy in most of the shots, with the great Heiko Obermöller performing the blue puppet. (And we were still using the lyrics as inside jokes this past weekend.) Kevin Burnstein and Diana King directed the video.

More behind the scenes stuff to come!

I was reading an article by Dr. Conroy Gibson, a professor of American Studies at Cambridge, and he had this fascinating find:

By going through census data from that period, we found a remarkable number of puppeteers selling typewriters door-to-door. They would show typewriters to housewives interested in getting a job doing secretarial work. And then they would encourage the potential clients not familiar with keyboard layout to first try typing words that can be spelled out using just the first row of keys of the typewriter with QWERTY layouts. A well-known one is TYPEWRITER, but there are also words like PUPPET and PUPPETEER that can be typed using only the first row. While the women tried out the new product, the salesman would keep the children occupied with puppets.

Try typing those words! Interesting, isn’t it?

I guess we are past the period of time where we sell typewriters door-to-door, and it’s quite a different world now. Imagine allowing someone into your home to sell you on something AND have them play with their kids today!

Interesting research nevertheless. To read the full text, go to their website by clicking here.

The day before the week 7 (and final Beginning level) class, one of the knee joints fell apart so I had to give it a knee surgery (with duct tape!) The shoulder strings went out of alignment during the process, somehow, so I cut the strings and redid them. Not sure if I did the repair correctly, probably not since the way the new strings were felt different. I wasn’t using the right strings either so it would be a temporary fix that just need to last one day.

In week 7, we had the final exam (of sorts). Basically we did a random drawing of who would be doing which homework assignment (each a short choreography) in front of everyone. It is hard to wade through Hollywood traffic during those hours and make it to class on time so I am often late. When I walked in, everyone else had just finished theirs so I was told which one was left as soon as I walked in. And then I just did it. It was the one that was just assigned last week so it was the one I had the least practice in. I did pretty well, I thought. Maybe it helped that I did not have time to over-think the performance.

Afterwards, it was more of a Q & A, where we got to ask whatever we wanted. We got the opportunity to learn more about the way it was behind the scenes since our classes had been more focused on techniques and drills. I was also able to ask about how to string the puppet. For this kind of puppet, the shoulder strings should be the primary ones supporting the weight. The head strings should not be totally tight, like mine are right now. However, they cannot be too loose either since that would make the neck twist incorrectly. So it will be a tricky thing to do. I am basically doing the shoulder strings last while they should be done first. With that in mind, I shall think about how to do the strings again.

A few more weeks until the intermediate class starts!

It’s a good day to see another IMDB credit under my name! This time it’s for Being Doug, a Chapman film school thesis project that I helped out with last year. Looking forward to seeing the finished product sometime this year!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3930132/

So, I guess it’s time for us to do one:

http://youtu.be/0agt_-cOzOs

Starring Derek Lux, Christian Anderson, Ray Busmann, Ethan Cushing, Rachel Herrick, Kelvin Kao, Todd. G. Levin, Todd McClain, Keith Reay, and Tilt Tyree. It was nice to go play with puppets with friends before heading over to work.

Oh, I am the blue one and the orange one in the middle.

Of course, there are plenty of puppets doing the Harlem Shake on the internet. Here’s one from the Bob and Angus show:

And here’s one from Puppet School:

Until the next internet fad…

In week 3, we went over some theater basics. The upstage, downstage, stage left, stage right, opening stance, cheating out, entering, exiting stuff is nothing new to me, since I’ve done my share of theater. This is with a twist, though. Since it’s with puppets, you want to take both the puppet and the puppeteer into consideration. Of course, the puppet is the main star. It should enter first and exit last. The puppeteers should do their best to get out of the way. We also went over some exercises with eye focus and breath, two very important things to bring puppets to life no matter which kind of puppets you are working with.

In week 4, we did more exercises combining walking (one of the most difficult thing to get right with marionettes, apparently) and looking at each other (eye focus). It’s one thing when we are looking at the puppet; it’s another when two puppets are actually looking at (and interacting with) each other. That’s when I felt like the puppets have come to life!

Each week, we also have homework, which is a short choreography. This time, in addition to taking turns doing it in front of the class, we were also divided into two groups of three to perform the choreography in sync. Our group went first. It was fun to figure out how to do things in sync with others. It was actually even more fun to watch the other group. At first, they were rehearsing it facing the mirror and away from the audience. When they turned around to give the “performance”, I actually felt quite giddy. For some reason, though our group had just done the same choreography and I have just watched the other group rehearse in the mirror, I was so excited when they turned around to present the choreography. I was thinking “Yay! We are going to watch a puppet show!” And somehow seeing three puppets do the same choreography made me feel like they are so alive. I think it’s because one, it’s as if the puppets decided to join one another and do this dance together, and two, they were doing the same dance, but each with their own quirk, unlike robots. The performance, though far from perfect, reminded me of how magical puppetry can be.

In week 5, we did the good old puppet walks across the stage, puppet takes a look at the bench, and puppet sits down exercise. I’ve taken a one-day workshop before, where we pretty much took turns doing exactly that. It’s tricky. Walking is always tricky, more so if you want to make turns and hit exact marks. Turning to look at something and sitting can be tricky too, if you are trying to do the motions in precise manners. Nevertheless, it was a lot of do-overs but also a lot of fun.

Got to find more time to practice. And, yes, I will definitely show you guys some videos when I find time to shoot them.

Here’s lyrics to a song that I performed at UCLA’s engineering school talent show back in 2005. I was the host, not a contestant, but I wanted to provide some entertainment in between. So I wrote this song, because what’s the problems with love songs nowadays? “Not enough science in those songs!”

I can’t find a recording, but here’s the lyrics for you:

Chemistry
by Kelvin Kao

You are a proton,
I am an electron.
Ever since I first met you,
I was so attracted to you.

You are always so positive,
compensating for my being negative.
We have such a strong bond,
you know I will always be around.

Oh, how I fell for you,
and it’s not just due to the gravity.
I want to be your one and only,
so a hydrogen atom we shall be.
(That’s one proton and one electron, get it?)

So please be my proton.
I will be your electron.
If someone asks, what’s between you and me,
I’ll tell them, it’s purely chemistry.