Just for mom

This post is purely for my mom.

Mom! I went and saw the movie Tropic Thunder and bought the soundtrack simply because of one song.

As the song started playing in the movie (a scene where they're all actors playing soldiers in the Viet Nam war, and they're flying in helicopters) it was as if I recognized it but I couldn't tell why...until they hit the chorus. Ball of Confusion.

As I listened to it on my iPod I realized pretty much all of it except the line about the Beatles is pretty current with the 2008 situation.

I've listened to the song about 10 times now and I'm about to listen again as I walk to the bank and get coffee.

Bye mom!

Change #1

Last night was the last show for Johnny Roast Beef, my iO team. iO Chicago has a training center that leads to being on a team that performs, if you're good or lucky.

I moved here in March of 2003 and started taking classes. In May I was put on The Lottery...a show that randomly chose one student out of each of the five class levels. They would perform every Tuesday for 8 weeks and each time there would be different veteran guests. I had no idea what The Lottery was when I got the call that I was on it. It was fun. Andy, one of our coaches, liked me and put me on a team he was coaching called Miss Texas. I never really got to know the team very well as we were cut at the end of the schedule. Around September of 2003, as Miss Texas was having our last show and I was entering level 5 of iO, Andy became the coach of a team called Johnny Roast Beef and wanted me to be on it. And on it I have been for just under 5 years.

This is a rarity in iO. Teams are built. Teams are destroyed. It is just how it is. I guess it was always easy for me to accept the process even though we never got cut. There were a few times when we were on the chopping block and made a stand. This time just felt like it was more right than the others.

I'll miss having an easy opportunity to perform with all of them, and have missed playing with those who had moved on to other parts of their lives before we got cut. It's been great.

Since we leave for the ship in less than 2 months I will probably take a break from getting on another team. We'll see.

So It Begins

We leave on October 25th to head back out on a ship for Second City. We've learned a few lessons from last time and are kicking into gear with our preparations.

Part of this meant telling our landlords we were going to sublet. I remembered conversations with them pre-renting and they said they needed to be included in finding a tenant. So, I let them know the news. Apparantly he remembered thinking we were done with ships. I don't remember that part. Regardless, they've offered to let us out of our lease instead of subletting...which is great by us. But we have to be out by 9/15 if we want any of our security deposit back.

See, it is hard to rent the closer you get to winter. I'm comfortable with this idea only because we dealt with the exact same thing last time we left.

So, do you need a couch or bed? We're selling.

Liquidation!

Headshots have been picking up...just in time for us to leave. If you need headshots you have just under 2 months to get in here. Don't wait until the very end!

Home Run

So, I'm in Portland! This weekend will be the ComedySportz National (World?) Tournament. It happens every year and each year in a different city. Last time it was in Portland was 1999...about a month or two before I started playing for Portland. Now we're back and I will be reffing the first Friday show and playing for Chicago in the second friday show (see www.portlandcomedy.com for more info).

This week is going to be super busy with ComedySportz stuff, headshots, and sadly...a funeral. I'm just glad that it worked out that I was in town for the funeral because I wouldn't have been able to make it otherwise.

If you live in Portland and you know me, come see the Friday night show!

Event-full

Little things going on.

Most recently, we've been having some mom-worthy storms come through (my mom likes storms) and tonight and last night were no different. We woke up around 5am to what seemed to be lightning striking right outside (probably within 500 feet for sure). We also woke up at 8am to a car that will pull up to a house across the street and honk their horn until the person who they are giving a ride comes out. The person getting the ride is never ready and waiting. This will end soon hopefully either passive aggressively or I will actually buy them something at RadioShack like a radio-controlled rape whistle or something. Something that will make loud noise happen just inside that house.

Back to storms. Deanna and I had the 10pm CSz show tonight and then I had a Beatbox show. We rode our bikes. When we left there were probably 10 drops of water on my bike. I had to adjust my seat and that meant getting pliers from inside. By the time we were just about ready to go we saw a flash of lightning in the distance. We start peddling. It starts to lightly rain. We peddle harder. The rain stops. FLASH! 8 seconds until thunder. Heavy rain starts. We got soaked. The thunder and rain just stopped, but will probably be back.

Earlier in the day I had two photo shoots and the weather cooperated nicely for them.

Wednesday Deanna and I did our Silent Treatment form for iO's Better Half series. It went ok as far as our STs go. We used the soundtrack to the JARs Cirque Bijoux show. We realized there wasn't enough slower stuff. We have a new idea for music though. Keep up-to-date for details!

Oh! I also saw the movies Hancock and The Incredible Hulk. Both were fun movies...especially if you're not expecting much. Actually, I was kind of hoping Hancock would be good and I still liked it so expect away.

CSz Banquet

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Originally uploaded by Rance Rizzutto Photography

Tonight was the ComedySportz Banquet. This happens every year...except when we're trying to find and build a new space. So, it didn't happen in '07.

In 2006 I won trophies for Best Ref and Things (5 Things...but the trophy said "Things"...I won for Things!).

I think I'm a pretty good ref. If you read Eric's blog he thinks he is too. I'm sure everyone up for everything thought they were good at what they were nominated for. For whatever reason, ref was more important to me than any of the others. I feel like I've come a long way with reffing and like doing it.

Today Matt (the artistic director) txts me and asks if I'll present the awards for these since I won them at the previous banquet. I txt back "Sure. So I guess I didn't win them, huh?" or something along those lines. He says "Yeah. Better luck next year." It bummed me out just a little...but there was still a part of me that suspected a prank.

Well, turns out it was a prank. I didn't pick up 5 Things, but I did walk away with Best Ref, Best Object Work, and Best Captain. Sam Super got 5 Things, Most Supportive, and MVP. By my count that is 6 trophies for the Oregon boys. Way to go, northwest!

The categories were (and I'll probably forget some) the ones named above plus Best Genre Work, Best Attitude, Best Gibberish, Best Sound (Mr. Voice), Best Customization Use, and Best Music. Maybe I missed one or two.

If you win a trophy three years in a row it is named after you until someone else does the same. I was pushing for ref to get named after me since I held the last trophy for two years (since there wasn't a banquet in '07). It is currently the Kyle Kissier Best Ref Award. I have no idea who that is.

Click on the link by the photo to see more banquet photos...and if they aren't there currently, they'll be up in a few days.

I Have a Bag...

...and there used to be a cat in it.

Deanna and I have been selected to go back on a ship for Second City again.

WE DON'T LEAVE UNTIL THE END OF OCTOBER...so...settle down, y'all.

For those of you who remember the last ship, we'll be with almost entirely the same cast. But one person will not be there and another will be in their place. I won't say who yet because maybe their cat is still in their bag.

We'll be heading out on the NCL Gem this time. Our Jewel contract consisted of 4 months of the same two itineraries all porting out of Miami. THIS time we start of in Europe for a month, then to New York where we'll do a month of Florida cruises, then two months of the caribbean. Fresh and new!

If you're reading this and you need headshots, plan ahead and get ahold of me.

Other than that, tomorrow is the CSz banquet. We used to have one every year. It has been a couple years now what with all the moving around while we were building our current theater. There are some fun things planned. Joey, Rich and Tara usually plan the event. I help out with graphic stuff and this year is no exception. Each year they get more fun to do.

Fun Times in Days Gone By

So...long story short...there is a group on Facebook.com called the "I Hate Rance Rizzutto Fan Club." It started as a joke and then I threatened to actually start the group myself so I could be the president, but the CSz stage manager, Jen, beat me to the punch.

It has 23 members so far. There have been fun posts about how mean I am...mostly in jest. And then Tamara posted one about how I stole her hat (she left it in the theater) when she went to Europe, sent it to L.A., and wrote a blog as her hat, and secretly returned the hat in a White Elephant xmas party without letting her know who had it.

She knows now...and has for awhile. But it reminded me of the fun I had arranging that. She even had the address to the blog. Enjoy.

http://discardedhat.blogspot.com/

If You Haven't Already Figured It Out

Life is more constant and less noteworthy now. I spend most of my weeks catching up on projects for photography, scheduling headshots, going to rehearsals, coaching rehearsals, performing, or buying coffee. Rinse and repeat.

I recently updated my headshot website (www.rancerizzutto.com). The headshot gallery now has been split into male and female.

Big news, eh?

Deanna and I will be doing our two person show...89% chance it will be Silent Treatment...on 7/9 at iO...11pm. It's part of the Better Half series that they are doing while TJ and Dave are on summer break.

If you don't know what Silent Treatment is, we don't talk. We have music that inspires silent scenes. There was a two person show contest called the Dual Duel last year, and we won. It is a really fun form. We try to listen to the music as little as possible if at all before the show so it is a surprise to us. Usually Deanna gives me 15 minutes of songs and I pick 15 minutes of songs and mix them together. From there I only listen to the beginnings and ends to get rid of excess dead air.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ANY PERFORMERS WHO HAVE WORKED ON THE NCL JEWEL. Looking for nostalgia? If we end up doing Silent Treatment (89% chance) it will be to the Cirque Bijoux soundtrack. Excited? You should be. I just have to make sure it will be loud enough on the iO sound system.

In Other News:
ABC...home of America's Funniest Home Videos (my favorite show)...is now more awesome. Last night they debuted two shows that are great.

1) Wipeout. Basically a huge obstacle course with mud and water and people getting hurt. There is a show on Spike called something like Maximum Extreme Challenge...it is a Japanese show where people are doing these same things, but dubbed in english (which makes it more funny). Wipeout is that show without the dubbing. Still good. I hope that it later airs in Japan with Japanese dubbing over the English.

2) I Survived a Japanese Game Show. 10 people arrive at LAX get on a bus that takes them from the national terminal to the international terminal. They then find out they're going to Japan...and that is all they know. Their first full day they get a "tour of Tokyo" and go to a famous TV studio. They all walk in to find out they're part of a Japanese Game Show called Majide. Hilarity ensues.

Both shows look great and the first episodes were hilarious. One of my favorite parts of AFV is when you see a lady getting ready to go on a rope swing. Especially if that lady is overweight. See, in that lady's head she may remember being on a rope swing 20-30 years ago...so her head says "yeah, I remember this. All I gotta do is pull myself up and hold on. This is EASY!" But the shy quiet part of her head that gets ignored is saying "umm, you weigh 170 and don't have any upper body strength. You weighed 65 pounds and you were 10 last time you did this."

So, at the end of the first elimination challenge they had to swing on a rope swing...this is after doing three things that pretty much were impossible and meant you would fall in mud and have to lug your way out. This one lady. Older...overweight...tired...pretty much held onto the rope and fell immediately, but she still was holding the rope. A slow slide down the take off ramp and into the water she went.

Good work ABC.

I have some old photos I'll probably have put up that should show up below in older slots.

Nielsen Ratings and Why They Suck

Everyone knows about the Nielsen boxes, right? I know enough to know that there are certain homes that have boxes that keep track of what is watched in that home and thus the Nielsen ratings happen.

My favorite shows seem to get killed by low ratings. Arrested Development and Firefly were two big ones. And now Mystery Cove, in it's third season, is on the chopping block. The producers are apparently trying to save it and push it a little more online.

http://mysterycove.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=350645

Here is their podcast.

I Was Right About Myself

I've always said I like the cold better than the heat. Coming back from the ships into the long tail end of a Chicago winter was tough. Having spring weather followed by a day of snow was tough. But it wasn't sweaty.

We've had humid, hot weather the last couple of days. I think I can deal with the heat part, but I'm not a fan at all of the humidity.

It's gross.

Antsassination

Anyone who really knows me knows I hate ants...HATE them. I think it all started when I would work at Outdoor School and we would have those big black carpenter ants (I've never seen them do carpentry) that would sometimes end up in my sleeping bag.

I hate them.

I'm not scared of them. I don't even have a problem with them outside. When they're in my house I get enraged.

A few weeks back the little ants showed up in our kitchen. Not too many, but enough to have started a sparse line back and forth. I bought some traps and some Raid. I let the traps sit overnight and the next morning they were still pretty much walking around the traps.

So, lemon-scented raid to the rescue. Fin.

Yesterday I left the house around 6:15 pm. When I came home the neighbors had cooked fish. I could tell because the back stairway smelled heavily of cooked fish. Apparently this smell attracts ants. Apparently the ants thought it was coming from our kitchen. They were ALL OVER the counter, sink, and stove. No time for traps.

Raid to the rescue. Today, no sign of them. I laid waste to them and Deanna was kind enough to clean up the battlefield this morning before I had a chance.

I understand their "job" in the world and the good they do for airating (sp?) the soil...but there is no soil in my second floor apartment...only death.

If you're reading this and you're an ant, spread the word.

Hillary Clinton = Darren Tyacke

Ok. So, you may not know who Darren Tyacke is but this may make sense in the end.

I was just checking the math on the delegates needed and such. As it stands...according to the CNN delegate calculator...Obama needs 42 super delegates. Or at least 42 total. There were something like 197 superdelegates left.

42!

And Hillary is STILL running. She could win both states today, get 150 super delegates, and NOT win. Why is she still in this? This has gone from an "I won't give up" attitude to "I'm blind to reason and what I say goes no matter what" attitude. Is that what we want in a President? Let me take this one...no.

"But Rance, why is she like Darren Tyacke?"

Because, even though the facts are right in front of her, she is denying them. There was even a breaking story today:

"Officials of Hillary Clinton's campaign say she will concede tonight that Barack Obama has the delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination."

...followed immediately by:

"Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman denies an AP report Clinton is ready to concede the Democratic nomination tonight."

"But Rance...Darren?"

Oh yeah. So, in 8th grade I was hangin' out with this guy named Darren Tyacke. I think on this particular day it was myself, Scott Minor, Mike Ruff, Darren, and Darren's sister Stacey all getting ready to play some good ole fashioned D&D at Darren's house. We were listening to the radio and this song "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" came on. You may know it. "I wanna be a cowboy. And you can be my cowgirl." Do you?

The final or near final line of the song is "My name is Ted, and one day I'll be dead. Yo yo yo." Very clearly that is what the line is. It is easy for everyone to hear and know...except Darren thought it was Tex instead of Ted. I told him it was Ted. He said no. I couldn't believe it! So I did the only thing an 8th grader can do in that situation...I called the radio station.

After a while we got through and he was on the other phone while I talked. "You know that cowboy song you just played? Does he say 'Ted' or 'Tex' in the end?" The nice lady DJ said "Ted" to which Darren hung up the phone and said "NOPE! It's Tex."

See?

Even though the answer is right in front of her, it's not the answer she wants.

At this point, for me at least, the worst thing Obama could do is make Hillary is running mate. It could probably seal the deal, but I can only imagine what crafty things she'd be doing as a VP to try to control things.

Give up! Honor, anyone?

All Together Now (All Together Now)

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Originally uploaded by Rance Rizzutto Photography

On Thursday my parents arrived. That day consisted of meeting up with all of us at Giordano's before they came to check out a ComedySportz show. Giordano's promptly brought out all of their food and as they did the waiter said "and you had the chicken parm sandwich" in a way that told me "I'm just now remembering that you ordered food too."

Our call was at 7:00. My sandwich wasn't there by 6:30 so I told him to take it off the check and not bring it. It would have been too much food to have that close to a show.

We did a fun show with fun people. I invited a ton of people to come so the house would be full. Two people showed up, but two people who are important to me...so it was all good. One of the hardest things about being friends with nothing but performers is that we all perform...so it's hard to go to someone else's show if you're also doing a show.

Friday was "photo day". We had planned to go to Millenium park and take photos, but it was rainy and windy. I took a few pictures inside a hallway in the Cultural Center (no photos allowed in the exhibits). At least we got a pic or two.

Seana and Jason took off that night. We got them to the train to go to the airport since they were leaving at the start of rush hour.

The rest of the weekend was walking around or just hanging out.

It was good to see all the family again. Rare. And it wasn't even Christmas or anything!

Let's See the Sites!

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Originally uploaded by Rance Rizzutto Photography

...Later. Man, we walked a lot.

Feh, Mai Ly.

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Originally uploaded by Rance Rizzutto Photography

Word pun..."Family", get it?!

So my sister and brother in law came out on Sunday and stayed through Friday. We hung out with them mostly on Sunday and Monday and didn't see them again until Thursday.

They ate expensive food mostly because Jason loves food and now Seana does too.

We went to the zoo, butterfly museum, RJ Grunts where we got a caraf of water with a straw in it, and saw "That's Weird, Grandma" by Barrel of Monkeys.

We met up with them again on Thursday and then Friday. Friday was supposed to be a day for family photos...more on that later.

Family Guy

My family is finally all coming to Chicago! My sister and brother-in-law have been here since Sunday (I have some pics that I'll put up). We hung out a little on Sunday and then for a good portion of the day on Monday. I have had rehearsals or shows on Tuesday and Wednesday so I haven't heard from them.

They've hopefully been off enjoying the city and food.

Tomorrow my parents get here and we'll all go to eat dinner and they'll take in a CSz show. Friday will supposedly be hanging out in Millenium Park...but it is supposed to be a mess o' thunder on that day. We'll see what happens.

In other news, I love my iO team. If you seem them together or individually make sure you say "Rance thinks you're aces!"

Spielberg and Lucas: More Bad Movies, Disected

Movies directed by Spielberg that I liked:
Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Hook, Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal

(there were others on the list that I either didn't care for or didn't see...I didn't see Munich or Amistad(maybe I saw Amistad))

Movies written by Lucas that I liked:
Willow, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars IV-VI, American Graffiti

When you look at Spielberg's work it is pretty diverse and there is a lot of great stuff.

When you look at Lucas' work from the 80s on it is pretty much all Star Wars. He BLEW IT with Star Wars I-III...why are we still letting him try to write sequels to stuff? He gets an idea and milks it too much and with too much space in between.

I have three things to say to lock my case against Lucas' writing and give me the win:
-Jar Jar Binks
-Count Dookoo
-Mutt Williams

Rance wins.

Spielberg? Well...I still like him. Even if he did have crappy lighting...but, c'mon man!

More Bad Movies

Someone commented lately that Knocked Up, Juno, and Walk Hard are all good movies. I liked Knocked Up, haven't seen Walk Hard, and Juno is still a piece of crap. What movie then is just slightly better than Juno? You may be asking.

Indiana Jones and the This Movie Should Have Come Out 10 Years Ago (or something about a crystal skull). A friend of mine had an extra ticket to see the midnight showing of this on opening night. What does the ghost say? The ghost says "boo." And so do I to this film. On many levels. The lighting...particularly in the beginning...was AWFUL. Although they did come back to have a cool lighting effect in the tent when Indy is hostage...you'll know it if you see it. Mutt Williams is the character name of Shia LeBouf...Mutt. Indiana Jones...Indiana is the dog's name according to his dad, so why would Shia's character be Mutt?

Lucas and Spielberg have lost it...well...Spielberg may still have it. I'll need to see something recent of his to prove it. Lucas wrote Indy 4 and Spielberg directed it. Lucas' writing for this movie is right on parr with Star Wars I-III.

You'll probably go see it, but it is advised to at least wait for video. I don't know if there was anything after the credits because at that point I didn't care.

"But wait, Rance. You said 'slightly better than Juno' right?" Yes. I could at least sit through the awfulness. Juno made me want to shut it off so many times.

If you like shots of Indy's hat and of him putting it on then you will LOVE Indy IV.

I'm going to get on IMDB.com and find out what Lucas and Spielberg movies are recent.

Birthdays and Terrible Movies

Two major developments. First, I had a Johnny Roast Beef show tonight at iO. Our team has a group email that we use to communicate to each other, but Jim's birthday was today! I had reminded everyone last week that my calendar said Jim's birthday was today and that we should do something. Brendan made cupcakes and we planned to not say anything to him at all until we got on stage. Once we got on stage the plan was for none of us to step up to get a suggestion, know that he would. As soon as he did we all sang happy birthday.

However, while we were singing he was turning to us and saying "it's not my birthday." We figured he was lying. He wasn't. After our show we had a chance to check the facts. I said "I don't know what's up! My calendar said it was today...see? Oh." My calendar ACTUALLY said 5/28. So, I had been instrumental in organizing a birthday surprise...that was two weeks away from the actual date. It was funny though and we decided it would be fun to do in the future. So, any show could end up being a "birthday."

In other news, I've been waiting to see the movie Juno. We kind of missed it while we were on the ship and all the buzz was happening. I had heard it was great. I like Michael Cera and Jason Bateman a lot. It won an oscar for original screenplay, so...I waited. It finally was released on DVD so I put it in my netflix queue.

Michael Cera is the ONLY reason I watched this all the way through. The worst thing about this movie was...oddly enough...THE SCREENPLAY. The writing was awful! It started off with teens saying stuff I've heard NO ONE IN MY LIFE every say. Not dirty, just "this is how I imagine the kids talk today" stuff. Boo. Then the adults ended up having weird dialogue as well. It tapered off a bit as the movie progressed, but every time it came back it was like a slap to the face.

And it wasn't just the language...this sixteen year old girl is an expert in music knowledge AND classic horror films AND ancient pop-culture references? No way. Deanna was wayyyyyy less forgiving than I was. I gave it a chance, but I had my breaking moment where I was only watching the movie for Michael Cera moments, or the end. There is this other girl that Michael Cera's character would never date because she and her house smells like soup. BUT, he ends up inviting her to the prom. As Juno goes off on him she reffers to his date as Soupy Sales.
.
.
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Soupy Sales. If you are a high school student who knows who Soupy Sales is AND knew who he was before Juno came out, please let me know. But I'm pretty sure that there is NO WAY IN HELL she should know that.

In comedysportz we do buyout shows for high school groups sometimes. Something I find hilarious is when someone drops a reference from before the kids were born. Usually it involves the high school audience giving the suggestion of "the 80s" and then not understanding any references to the 80s except "rubik's cube." But once in a show...I think last year...someone on stage actually said Soupy Sales (or maybe it was Nipsy Russell) and got ZERO reaction. Zero. Which is as it should be.

Like watching movies that seem pretentiously written? Watch the first 5 minutes of Juno and decide to carry on or not. You realllllllly need to like Arrested Development or Super Bad to go further than that.