Ok, OK, OK!!!! Some people may get sick of me talking about this (hopefully not many) but for the past month the Bryan Times (a newspaper in rural Northwest Ohio) has had a feature entitled “The Love of My Life.” Various people have commented on their spouses, families, other people, and a few have described activities they enjoy. While I have yet to find that special female, I would find it very difficult to distance myself from the theatrical world. There is just something so magical about stepping onto a stage and transporting an audience into another place and time and allowing them to see into that world for a brief moment. I believe that the goal of any performer should be to entertain. However, there are times when the people on stage have the power to move and to educate an audience.

The magic of theatre is not limited to the performance. The sense of camraderie people feel who have been in multiple shows together creates a sense of family. There is set building, set unbuilding, rehearsals, show planning committies, and countless other aspects of preparation to undertake. Most important of all (well…. maybe not) come the parties!!!!! There does not even need to be a reason to have a party just a chance to get together and play games (Balderdash is a good game, “spizzerinctum” anyone?). The spizzerinctum at the party emitted a very strange odor. I dunno… can spizzerinctum have an odor? Yes, but of course.

But no matter if you are willing to stand upon a stage in front of 10 or 10,000 audience members, work behind the scenes, or just sit in the audience there is always a place for everyone in the theatrical family. Not all of us can paint a wall and make it look pretty.

And now we present…. Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy. I remember these bits from Saturday Night Live back a few years ago when it was worth watching… haven’t caught it for prolly 5 years.

An interesting question was posed to me about Star Trek. Where does one go when he/she has to go to the bathroom? I asked myself this question when it was brought to my attention that in Star Trek II, there was no way that Khan could have known Chekov when they were in the same scene for the first time during the movie. Khan’s first words to the Enterprise crewman are : “I never forget a face. Mr….. Chekov, isn’t it. I thought never to have seen your face again.” The original television episode “Space Seed” was shown at least one season prior to Chekov coming on board. I came up with the wild supposition that Khan and Chekov had to have met somehow. Why not while in the little spaceman’s room? A five-year mission is an awful long time to have to hold it in. Laugh if you must and I know that it is just a movie/tv show. What would you do if you were on a 5 year trip and didn’t know where to go? So…. where does one find relief aboard a starship? The universe may never know. Maybe they used the transporter to “beam it up” into deep space. That would give new meaning to the term…. space garbage.

Good heavens this music is HARD!!! It isn’t even the fact that it is written in Latin!! I have had enough vocal training to at least fumble through that. But the parts are just all over the place and some of the parts have notes that do not even make any kind of sense. Oh! Excuse me. I have been trying to practice this piece (Fauvre’s Requiem) which I just had to say I would be part of during the sanctuary dedication at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church . It is not to say that I do not enjoy it; it is sooo FRUSTRATING!!!! It is nearly impossible to practice on your own because listening to the CD is so hard finding when to come in and finding the right notes. I find myself at the piano just plucking the keys. At least last Sunday there were five tenors at rehearsal. I think it was actually easier to be around other singers who tried to sing the same part. While I was a student at Bowling Green State University, I performed in a presentation of Verdi’s Requiem and that actually seemed easier. Perhaps the fact that the choir at B.G. was actually composed of men and women who more or less had a clue about how to perform it instead of throwing a bunch of people together made a difference. But I am sure that it will all come together in the next month. Especially after we get some bodies to fill the risers. Fifteen voices are not going to be heard over an orchestra. But, I have every confidence that it will be a great success.

Since my last post (Jamy’s last post, not Morat’s) concerned one of my all time favorite actors. I would like to expand a bit on the career of David Hasselhoff. Why you ask? He is just so great and even performed on Broadway in the last few performances of Jekyll & Hyde. “This is the Moment” is one of the greatest songs ever put into a musical. The melody is just breathtaking and the lyric is phenomenal. I recently received a link to the Hoff’s performance of the song on America’s Got Talent. I just hope that the person who won the competition was better than he was. I’m thinking this must have been just after the “hamburger incident” because no one could sound that good and not be in some impaired state. He sounded like a dying elephant. One has to wonder why he is such a big star in Europe. Sharon Osbourne even said it was “absolutely fabulous.” I suppose she would since her husband’s brain has been fried for years. There are so many other great performers who have sung the song either in the show or apart from it. My favorites: Anthony Warlow (from Jekyll & Hyde the gothic musical thriller recording), Michael Ball, & Chris Avell. Honorable mention goes to Sebastian Bach (KIDDING) who also performed on Broadway as Jekyll and Hyde .To see the Hoff butcher a fantastic song please Click Here. Even Morat he say the Hoff was not good.

HELLO EVERY PEOPLE!!!! My name a Morat Notboratnichkov. Jamy a taking a break so I will a like to type a good story to every people. I will a tell you about two stories which I a tell my little people in Liswathistan. Maybe America country have similar story. You will like very much. The first is a called “The Three Wooly Sheep.” It is about three wooly sheep who a go and build their own houses. OK? The first wooly sheep he a build a house of sticks. He not a so smart because the sticks not strong. A big, bad wolf come and blow it down. “Wooly Sheep, Wooly Sheep let me in!!” The wooly sheep number two a not so bright also. She a build house of straw. Straw not very strong. And big bad wolf come and say “Wooly Sheep let me in.” But wooly sheep not let him in so he blew wooly sheep number two house down. Wooly sheep number one and wooly sheep number two both run to find wooly sheep number three. Wooly sheep number three very smart. He build house of brick. Brick is a very hard to blow down. Big bad wolf he try to blow down but run out of gas or hot air or something. He try to climb down chimney. But, at bottom of chimney inside house was fire in fireplace. He got to bottom and yelled “WOOLY SHEEP” and run all the way home and never bother the three wooly sheep no more. I sorry but Morat has time only for one story. Maybe later he tell you more story. EVERYONE WINS!!!!

Ok…. so it really seems that everything old is quickly becoming new again. Last fall we saw the “return” of The Bionic Woman to television. Morat a not like this show. How a woman get to be so powerful and strong is not right. Thank you Morat. Very opinionated. But, I did not really care for the updated version of the campy 1970s television series. The new show had little character development, you did not care for any of them. Aside from the name Jaime Sommers, you would never know that you were watching a show called The Bionic Woman. Sunday night saw a movie of the week redo of an 80s cult classic: Knight Rider. In the update, a young man named Michael Tracer inherits driving the supercar named K.I.T.T. In the old series, Michael’s father (Michael Knight… hence the title… hahaha) drove the car while working with the government to bring down the villain of the week. Michael Knight is played by everyone’s favorite actor (oooookkkk) and America’s Got Talent(?) judge, David Hasselhoff. Thank goodness the Hoff was only on screen briefly at the end of the show. But what makes Knight Rider fun was that it never takes itself for anything less than it is: pure camp. It never takes itself seriously. Of course, who would ever consider David Hasselhoff a “serious” actor? The new Bionic Woman failed for just that reason: it was too serious and at times, complicated Plus, the recent writers strike also contributed to its demise. Old KITT New KITT The new Knight Rider is classified as a “backdoor pilot.” If the movie did well enough in the ratings, then it could potentially become a series. If not, then it will disappear as quickly as it appeared

As I said this blog is about things I really enjoy doing. If there were one thing I would choose to do for the rest of my life, it would be to act, sing, perform, or just be on a stage. I do not care if it is making millions of dollars in front of tens of thousands of people or on a small, intimate stage in front of 10 people. From September 2006-September 2007, I was in 6 community theatre productions. I played everything from a walk-on cameo, to scene stealing supporting actor, to lead actor. I also was the backstage manager for Grease which was very rewarding because it gave me the opportunity to work behind the scenes for the first time and still be on stage in a limited role. However, my greatest accomplishment thus far on stage was bringing to life the character Morat Notboratnichkov in the musical Idol Night at the Karaoke Place. Morat was initially a clone of “Borat”. However, I feel that he grew apart from that stereotype. Sure, I have heard of Borat but I still have never seen any of his shows nor the movie. I do not know how to explain but I think I took a bit of Yul Brynner from The King and I, added a dash of Ricky Ricardo, and something of myself and came up with something unique. Of course, the writer responsible for the show was there on stage and off to guide the entire cast.The fun and excitement was not limited to the stage. On May 11, Chris and I were interviewed on Toledo 24 News in order to promote the show. The lady doing the interview was totally caught off guard. The weatherman could be heard in the background laughing. I think I even amazed myself because this was at 6:45AM. Never before have I ever been involved in a show which brought with it so many memories. EVERYONE WINS!!!

Well, I’m kinda thinking my blog will be a hodgepodge (?) of just about everything I enjoy. I enjoy a good movie (or even some bad movies). Speaking of bad movies, the guy who created Howard the Duck, Steve Gerber, just passed away. Apparently, the comic book from the 70s was a cult hit. Somehow, Mr. George Lucas came up with the brilliant idea that it would make a box-office hit. The movie came out in 1986. The only relatively recognizable actor in it is Lea Thompson (of Back to the Future fame). I believe ol’ George was once again attempting to create a new money making franchise along with the then in-limbo Star Wars saga and the popular Indiana Jones series. Needless to say, Howard the Duck was a miserable flop. It is one of those movies which may be enjoyable with a group of friends who just want to sit around, waste a hour and a half, and laugh at the absurdity. It would also be a great way to relive the culture of the mid-1980s. Big hair, bubble gum pop music, and forgotten actors of the day (whatever became of Lea Thompson?). But, if you want to have a good laugh check out Howard the Duck just to see the duck from outer space rock and roll with Lea Thompson. I think the best part of the movie is the theme song and that is not that great. It sounds like a great movie to watch with your band of theatre chums. Thank you Bryan Times for publishing an article about an otherwise forgettable comic book writer who probably will go down in history for the creation of one of the biggest “Turkeys” or should I say “Ducks” in movie history. I also found out via IMDB.com that Tim Robbins (For comic relief?) also was in it and that no less than 8 actors are credited with playing the title role. Also, may be a good movie for children of all ages to enjoy.

I am learning to add a photo to my posts which should be quite interesting.  I hope I can find an interesting photo to post like some shot of my home land of Liswathistan or a good picture of some attractive looking womans or maybe a picture of Superman. 

Hello Every People.  My name a Morat Notboratnichnov>  I will a tell you many things about the life of the typical people from Liswathistan.  About the culture, people, past times, etc, etc, etc.  I a hope you all enjoy it.My friend also has a blog on this site.  Click here to see it.