Let's be Friends!

Are you on MySpace? Are you my friend? Well, what are you waiting for? Add me silly!

Also, isn't it time for you to be friends with SpielPalast Cabaret and Seven Days Newspaper? Don't you think? Huh!?

These are the sort of friends that bring you chicken soup when you are sick, entertain and titillate you when you are sad and stimulate your brain with all sorts of sassy bits. Come on, add us! Kisses!

Lev's Lovely Loneliness

Years ago, I worked with this peculiar guy Lev at a dot com animation company in San Francisco called Protozoa that went out of business not too long after I left it. I was getting paid $15/hr to do not much of anything. It was the dot com boom and I was loving it.

I spent my days talking to the writers who were quirky and talented. I twiddled my thumbs and sometimes I surfed the internet. There was a lot of money flowing into the company at that time and they kept hiring more people. More people to twiddle their thumbs with me.

Their talent pool was pretty impressive. Artists like Lev and his brother Emre Yilmaz (gotta love a brother team), spoken word rockstar Bucky Sinister, filmmaker Molly Lynch (who got me the gig, thanks Molly!), Renaissance man Buzz Hays (he produced Swimming with Sharks!) and musician and writer Beth Lisick. The place was hopping with talent but the funny thing was, during the period of time that I worked there, we rarely turned out much product.

Located in an old mayonnaise factory, DotComix has three motion-capture stages, a blue screen set-up, plus a portable performance animation stage for producing certain live events out-of-house. They are in the process now of retrofitting their space to accommodate the brisk expansion of programming and requisite creative personnel. Hayes is keen on ramping up to an even greater series output, confident in relying on the fast turnaround of DotComix’ production style. - Lee Dannacher

Dotcomix did have a super cool motion capture suit and they pioneered Alive!, motion capture software that could bring animation to life fast and cheap. This silly looking suit was the company's main draw and what they used to animate hundreds of cartoons such as Sister Randy and Duke 2000. One afternoon, actor Michael Keaton, AKA Superman and Mr.Mom, came in to the shop to try on the suit. I recall his lips being even puffier in person than on the screen.

In those halcyon days, there were lots of parties on the Dotcomix rooftop with free flowing booze and barbequed meat. We car pooled to the city from the East Bay and sometimes Beth's roomate, the uber hip rock star Miles of Beulah would join us. Oh how I hated being stuck in a car with so much coolness oozing out.

I only worked at Protozoa for a couple of months but I enjoyed every damn lazy minute of it. I wish the salad days could have lasted longer but I agreed to work a gig at a non-profit down the street in So Mo. Sorry to hear the company went out of business but all its talents are doing fine elsewhere.

Wait a minute, where was I? Traipsing down some dusty corridor of water-colored memories yet again? Oh that's right, I started remembering this job and these artists 'cause I recently rediscovered Lev's work on MySpace (also known as, My New Addiction).

Lev's comics are sharp, witty, painful, and honest. Quite refreshing. And Lev can sing some bad ass karaoke so watch the hell out. He also makes brilliant movies that have played all over the world. And let's not forget his Eraserhead-hair, his crafty t-shirt advertising schemes and his supreme self-love mixed with excruciating self-loathing (lovely combo).

Man, I forgot how much I love this guy. I am gonna have to indulge in a mini-Lev film marathon this weekend. To see more of Lev's work, check out his website and do not miss the best piece of fan mail ever received. Below is the reason why girls all over the world love Lev:

And for the fellows, some HOT HOT cartoon SEX:

Will You Be My Friend?

“Popularity is the one insult I have never suffered.”
Oscar Wilde

Jesus, talk about a flashback to kindergarten. I finally set up a MySpace page. Yes I know, true to form I am late to the party. Blame it on my old fuddy duddy roots.

And as with many ordinary social interactions, I don't really get the gist of MySpace (did I mention that I am an anti-social fuddy duddy?). It is like going to a foreign country and not knowing how to find the bathroom. I don't get the subtle language shifts or nods of the head. Did you just order me a crossant or tell me to go to hell?

From what I can tell, people leave these weird little messages for each other attached to huge tacky pictures without really saying anything. I guess it's like a text message, it is enough room to skim the surface but not much else. A handy tool for the gal on the go. I suppose it is a nice way to check in quickly with a lot of people, some of whom you know and some of whom you want to know. I dunno. Beats me.

When I was a girl, we had to memorize each others phone numbers, all 7 digits of them, if we wanted to talk to each other. Damn, life was different back then in the dark ages. The touch tone phone was a big deal, I even got one for Christmas.

During my brief moment of 8th grade popularity, I spent every evening talking to my friends in a strictly regimented order. I began with an hour on the phone with my best girlfriend Jen, then a toss up between less desirable friends such as Bernardo and Dan, then some brief calls with an assortment of people, then 2 hours with my boyfriend Colin and then a hunk of chat time with my bestest pal Zachary.

My ear ached by the end of the night. We were too young to drive to each other's houses and living in rural VT, we had no way to hang out with each other unless our parent's obliged us (rare). There was no internet, no cell phones, no nothing. The touch tone phone was my life line.

Now that I have exposed what a sorry old sack I am, wanna be my pal? Come on, please? With sugar on top? Jesus, aren't I too old for another popularity contest? Nope, turns out that life is chock full o'them! 'Till the day you die sucker!

“Popularity comes from allowing yourself to be bored by people while pretending to enjoy it.”

Karol Newlin

At rehearsal Sunday, we did an improv game involving status and hierarchy (which plays a big part in The Trojan Women). We were each secretly assigned a number and then we had to greet each other at a cocktail party and guess each other's numbers. We weren't allowed to say anything beyond our names but with body language alone, we were able to easily suss out who was who.

As a 7 (9 being the highest), I turned my nose up at people, shook their hands briefly and with authority, and then quickly moved on. The 1s and the 2s wouldn't even look you in the eye, so down and out were they.

In the play, I am a 3. My city is burnt to the ground, my husband and baby are dead and I am waiting for the Greeks to take me away to a new land to be a concubine. It is humbling to say the least.

“Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.” Immanuel Kant

Anyway, please be my friend on MySpace. It is a scary new world but I already found some old friends I haven't talked to in forever. It is a cool way to catch up and network and blah blah blah.

"Oh my, I'm sorry #2, I wasn't listening to you, I was too busy checking my MySpace, YouTube and Blogspot messages..."