Building a Character

Y'know, when I think about LAN'ded nowadays it is MUCH different than how I thought about it a year ago. What began as a cabaret idea is now blown out of preportion into a huge conglomerate of ideas that can't be encapsulated within a single show. Kyle and I have taken this notion and divided up LAN'ded main properties into several different facets of Imaginary Trends and I think it's all for the better.

The most useful thing we've been able to do the last few months were the viral vlogs that "Christian" would upload to YouTube. It's been a "secret" of sorts for a while but we're ready to really move forward with it and increase the cone of vision for this campaign. We've started uploading content twice a week to a YouTube channel dedicated to Imaginary Trends content. (www.youtube.com/ThisIsWhatWeDid) You can see the video blogs Christian does there. GO!

As I and Kyle have stated before, we're big fans of mimes. Why? I'm really not sure but I'll run with it. We've set up a separate channel exclusively for our Mime related shenanigans and you can bet that those shenanigans will intrude on Christian's activities. It's funny what a little make-up can do...

The shape of LAN'ded was once a square, taking place in a very regular space but it has since changed shape and it like an amorphous blob that can be viewed by any fan of any number of subjects. In doing the video blogs, I've gotten a much better sense of who Christian is, who he knows, what he likes, and what he is/isn't capable of. It's funny to think of this because I was always writing LAN'ded with me in mind for Christian, but having to actually go out and perform a him is another beast altogether. Though Christian and I are very similiar, we've many differences which mainly are attributed to social status and awareness. Many friends have suggested things for Christian to do, and most all of these things are fantastic! However, I need to carefully look at these things are determine not if I would do them, but if Christian would. I am not ashamed to say that there's been more than a few great ideas thrown away just because Christian wouldn't be capable of some of the things suggested.

In the coming months we're going to explore Christian's social fears and what exactly makes him want to stay indoors 24/7. Some of those reasons may surprise you, others will make you laugh, but most importantly it'll help you view him as a real person.

Hope you're watching, we're just getting revved up.

~ Aaron J.

We're Not Dead!!!

I swear to you that the development of LANded as a series and living entity is thriving!

For the first time since the reading, Aaron and I are going to sit down and discuss further revisions to the scripted material... via video chat (isn't technology wonderful?!).  As you've read in previous blogs, we have begun approaching the material from different angles to gain new perspective and solidify characters and their relationships.  Even taking into account that the presented script was a drastic abbreviation of the full story, there were glaring holes in our conveyance of the story.  This new view has led us to adopt new strategies in structure and style which may sound drastic (and it is) but we wholeheartedly feel that it is for the better.  

Each new step that we take in the development process has made it easier for us to explore this parallel world.  As much as the characters have developed from our own minds, they are becoming more real and seem to write the stories for themselves... and for a show about imaginary friends existing in the real world, we have begun to question ourselves accordingly.  By the time filming takes place we may be institutionalized!

The current viral campaign has kept me sidelined in a sense, but the creative process hasn't stopped in the least.  I can't wait to dive back into revisions, development, critiques, and this huge game of "Yes, and..." that seems to be our writing process.

Furthermore, I have been promised some sort of musical preview of a new song stemming from one of Aaron's TADs (a writing exercise he's been doing for several months now) and we are awaiting a rough cut of Christian's rapping debut... Yes, you read correctly.

Intrigued?  So are we - and also a bit nervous... For a social delinquent, he sure does have a sense of ambition!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

If you've been following the adventures of Kyle and I via our YouTube video and blog posts, you've come to expect that we've been going on some interesting adventures here in New Hampshire. Well, I present to you our next target.

You can read up on the place here. It's the Mount Washington Hotel in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Since we're trying to think of a good ghost storyline for LAN'ded, we figure why not investigate a real live haunted hotel right? Check back later on this week for updates and hopefully a video coming soon.

A big shout-out to our LAN'ders out there who've e-mailed us suggestions and ideas for episodes for the latest draft. Keep 'em coming guys!

And now, the formal embed of our first Developer Diary!

Kyle showed me how to successfully embed these things. Silly me, I thought it was much more difficult.

Our first YouTube video!

Hey all! After making my eyes bleed by taking crash online courses in GarageBand and iMovie, I have finished editing our first Imaginary Trends Developer Diary!

We plan to release these every couple of weeks on YouTube and other outlets. Since Blogger won't let me upload the video to here, I can only link to it.

Click Here To Watch Our First Developer Diary!

"My Life Everyday" - First Draft Lyrics & Other News

I decided to post some lyrics that were written for a possible song in the first episode. These lyrics are a work in progress and subject to change. Right now we're tossing around different musical routes to take with these lyrics if we decide to use them. We're thinking about a rock n' roll vibe, possibly a Jason Mraz-type musicality, or even a David Yazbek like folky feel. We've got plenty of time though, we'll see how things pan out.

"MY LIFE EVERYDAY" (Lyrics by Aaron J. Amendola, first draft finished 6/13/09)

Christian
A SECTION
Any distance can be a journey
if you're not accustomed to the trail,
and I'd waltz right down that hallway
if I was sure I wouldn't fail.

So I'll stay inside and press continue
Just the same as yesterday.
Don't look at me with your pity
This is my life everyday.

I wake up and check my mail here
Look, everyone's my friend
And with all the work I've piled up
I'm afraid there's no room for pretend

And while I'd love to get fired up in a musical soiree
I'm more content with my comics
This is my life everyday.

B SECTION
Don't think that I'm sullen,
don't think that I'm sad.
This way of life isn't just passing through
and I don't see it as a fad.

C SECTION
The outside world is scary if you're socially unaware.
I'd rather sit at home & watch cartoons while enjoying Solitaire.
I'm a stoic member of my own army with a dorky croix de guerre.
I'd reject the physical challenge while playing Double Dare.

A SECTION
50 feet can seem like miles
if inside is all you know.
It doesn't bother me cause
I don't think that I have to grow.

So I'll chill inside with a red bull and all my superfriends.
Even if I have thoughts of breaking away,
this is my life everyday.
This is my life everyday.
This is my life everyday.
--------------

So the entire LAN'ded dev team is now hangin' out in sunny New Hampshire! We'll be here for the whole summer and maybe even longer depending on how things go. We're planning on getting a ton of work done, as long as nobody in our dev team gets swine flu...so we'll see. I'm currently listening to the broadway show "Next To Normal" and I have to hand it to Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. They've just got a fantastic show on their hands. I've been amazed by Mr. Kitt repeatedly and this show is no fluke, he really writes music that amazing all the time. Do yourself a favor and check him out here.

And because a post here can't exclusively be about Musical Theatre and LAN'ded, I must mention that the Ghostbusters video game was released this week. I received the Ps3 version and Kyle opted to get the Wii version. I'm happy to say that we're enthralled with both copies and I can only imagine what impact our fanboyism will have on future scripts concerning ghost jokes.

Also, a special word has to be said about LAN'ded dev team alum Ashley Laverty, who's children's show "Dotty Dot" is going to be produced in NYC in the future! Ashley is, as I've said up and down before, a phenomenal writer and performer and this is just a testament to her gifts.

Hope all is well in the rest of the 49 states! And I hope you all have your dork clocks set to go off next week when Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen tears up theatres! Sayonara!

Never slime a guy with a Positron Collider.

Hey there everyone!

News is trickling out of the LAN'ded front more and more as the summer goes on it seems. A constant re-working of the 3rd draft gets more and more of my attention every day and the past week was no exception. After reading (several times) the way that the first episode sounds, I find myself constantly unhappy with the lyrics to the first major song of the show. After writing 8 different sets of lyrics (yes, 8) I think we may have found something that works or at least we're one step closer to what will become the final text.

I've been working on putting together a video-blog to keep track of our pre-production adventures and you guys can expect that sometime before the end of the month (hopefully, we'll see). As you probably know, the Ghostbusters video game comes out in 4 days and who knows how much work I'll get done after I get my hands on that. I've waited over 20 years to become a Ghostbuster, and I'm determined to relive every memory I have from Venkman, Stantz, and Egon.

Check back for more news next week!

We're gonna take it Step By Step...

...and Day by Day.

I have an exciting announcement for you all. You may have known that the three principle members of the LAN'ded dev team can be followed on twitter. You can follow me at this address, here is Kyle's twitter, and David was the last to succumb yesterday. Twitter has been a pretty valuable way for us to keep in touch with other companies and projects. People have been able to follow our recent developments on this blog as well as twitter and it has opened many doors to us.

Today, from the shores of Port Washington, Wisconsin, we added a twitter to follow out of sheer respect for our childhood prime time TV viewing. That man was TV's Patrick Duffy. You may know him as Frank, father of the Lambert family on the hit TGIF regular "Step by Step." It was a no-brainer to follow Mr. Duffy. As a matter of fact, Kyle and I put together a choral soulful version of the show's theme song our senior year. We thought it would be a fitting tribute.

Not even a day after I added Mr. Duffy's twitter to my follow list did I receive an e-mail saying that he was following my twitter as well. David, who was not 5 feet away from me felt my enthusiasm first. Almost immediately we rejoiced and soon Kyle was called with the good news.

Mr. Duffy, if you are reading this: thank you for your support.

If you wish to view some of Mr. Duffy's content on YouTube, I've linked to it right here. You can also follow his twitter here. I hope that you find it as amusing as we have.

And now, without further ado, the LAN'ded team is preparing for more readings of the script. We'll be sure to let you know how it goes! KEEP LAN'DING!

A Hearty Hello from the Hampshire!

Gosh, 3 weeks just sort of flies by doesn't it?

Well LAN'ders, let me just start by saying that this week is a HUGE week for everyone. There's a new Pixar movie, E3 is happening, and the Imaginary Trends team is getting together for read-thrus once more. After all, we're all up here in the beautiful roads of New Hampshire now, so we've got plenty of time to work! Personally, it's a bit of a departure in writing up here. Whereas I was surrounded by media outlets of all sorts in Pittsburgh, up here I have to drive at least 15 minutes to get anywhere. Just puts everything in a different mindset.

Truth be told, many different iterations of the episodes we used in the reading have been written and re-written and time and time again it keeps coming back to the basics: How can we get our point across, and how can be innovate it? The ideas, we think, are innovative enough with our concepts, but how do we have these themes and ideas identifiable? Rather than mining pop culture through and through using any and everything to get a laugh (Like Family Guy), we're relying mainly on things that make you think of childhood, like comics, Muppets, video games, and cartoons. It's expanded from just a dorky coming-of-age tale and has evolved into a celebration of childhood in a way.

Part of the difficulty in writing the content is merging those aspects with the adult themes of the characters. Christian is an adult, living as a scared child. Izzy and Natalie are manifestations of the sandbox best friends he's never met or had before. How do you relate the child and the adult? Well, luckily for us, we never really grew up. That's not to say we're men who behave like boys, but we're mature kids at heart. We still have our action figures, we still love our Looney Tunes, and we still would jump at the chance to play some good old fashioned Mario Kart. Merge that with a big desire to create and you've got something great and new on your hands. Hopefully when LAN'ded becomes fully realized later on in its development cycle, you'll be able to see that as well.

I'm editing the scripts one last time, fixing typos and such before we start doing read-thrus again tomorrow. Can you believe I mixed up Robin Hood and Peter Pan? Yikes...people have been killed for less.

One last thing - Go see UP! You'll love it.

The World Begins With You

HEY EVERYONE! Just as promised, here is the first draft of out new pilot for LAN'ded. It's been made for convenient download HERE as a PDF. I'll also re-link to our "trailer" script HERE!

Tomorrow night is the big trek to New Hampshire, where the LAN'ded creative team will be setting up shop for the summer. What's even more fun is that it'll be the first time that I meet David face to face rather than video chat over the internet! Crazy how we get things done so far away from each other. Just imagine what'll get done when we're all living in the same house!

The rest period in-between graduation and the NH job has been fantastic. First off, Star Trek was probably the best movie I've seen all year. After the disappointing Wolverine, Star Trek was a breath of fresh air that I'm probably going to see again and again if my wallet allows it. On top of that, I finally found the time to complete the game "The World Ends With You" for the DS. I'd be lying if I said the game wasn't superb from top to bottom. From presentation to the themes/messages the game was trying to get across, it was just fantastic. Bravo Square-Enix, bravo. I can't help but compare Neku (from TWEWY) and Christian, funny how inspiration and parallels comes from the most unlikely of places.

As I did last time I was home, I'm leeching internet from a local Panera. I've become one of 'those' people who get food at Panera and leech their Wi-Fi signal for hours. Only today I am not getting food from Panera, I'm instead going to trek (no pun intended) over to BK and get a special commemorative glass with Captain Kirk on it because I'm still reeling from the movie. At this point, I have four LOTR goblets and 2 Star Trek glasses to furnish my Chicago home when I move there and set up shop. I wouldn't have it any other way.

See you guys in 700+ miles!

~ Aaron J.

EXCITING NEW STUFF IS ON THE WAY!

Hey LAN'ders! Aaron here!

Just wanted to drop a line and say that if you want to catch a glimpse of some more writing that's been done for LAN'ded, check back on Monday the 11th! I'll be uploading some pages for everyone to see! Until then, why not check out Star Trek? Early reviews say that beaming up has never been so good.

Live Long & Prosper!

~ Aaron J.

For the record, the Wolverine movie was crap. Jus' sayin'...

Hey everyone!

Wow, I didn't realize so many people were really keeping up with the blog but I must have had 10 people ask me why there weren't any updates in the past week or so.

Well...long story short, I graduated college today and I've had to pack and say goodbyes and this and that. It's been..hectic. But sadly, it's over now and I'm officially a big boy. So hurray for adulthood!

Rest assured, LAN'ded is coming along. I know I keep saying that and we don't have anything to post but the writing process is a very interesting process. One day I'll write for hours and maybe it'll just be the same 5-10 pages over and over, and other days I will just jot down ideas and flesh things out, other days I just watch Ghostbusters. *shrug*

There have been a few new ideas thrown around for LAN'ded's first season though. Some involving religious themes, others involving character changes, and others involving including a wider range of style in terms of humor. One thing we're working on is accessibility. Just because it is made by dorks doesn't mean only dorks should 'get' it.

With alot of the LAN'ded crew making the move to NH for the summer I'm sure the creative juices will replenish and surge again soon. I PROMISE something will surface next week...

Keep LAN'ding

The Next Step...

Wow!  I graduated a year ago... and today another round of graduates will enter the "real world."  In addition to Aaron, there were several other Seniors involved in the creation and production of the LAN'ded reading.  For fear of forgetting someone, I'll just group them all together into one word... Noobs

Congratulations Aaron (and all you other Noobs)!

Welcome to the big leagues...

[insert mandatory evil laugh here]

Baby Update

Hey all! Just thought I would drop by and let you know how OPERATION: THIRD DRAFT is going.

In one word: slow.

That's not a bad thing though. Like I said, after the reading we evaluated what people liked and didn't like and we're trying to expand the humor of the show. This means we're re-thinking alot of the arcs and angles of the show and characters. So the first episode which really needs to explain the style and tone of the show is being carefully and meticulously created so as to make it as good as it can be.

After it's done I think I'll upload it so you guys can tell me what you think. Sound good?

Other than that there's not a ton of news to go off about. Most of the Imaginary Trends crew are either on tour or getting ready to embark to NH for some work so updates may be a little more scarce than usual, but keep checking back because we're about to get to work on some big schtuff!

FOTO FRIDAY! - Looking Back... Edition! - 4/17

Another week goes by and another FOTO FRIDAY goes up! The start of the third draft was a little rocky at first, but after a while it really picked up speed. I've found that in starting a new draft, I get a little anxious to get to ideas that I know worked previously. The challenge I made for myself was to find new, interesting ways to get to the major plot points of the episodes. I'm sure I'll blabber on more about it later, but for now look at these new pictures!Izzy looks on as Natalie recaps the first dream she's ever had. Damn I love that Mummy shirt...This is the only shot we got of Christian's sister, Penny (played by Lauren Morrison). Lauren was really great as Penny, but this is the best shot we got of her performance. Sorry LaMo!

Izzy, Christian, and Natalie rocking out to "Here & Now," one of the original songs composed for LAN'ded by Ryan Cavanaugh.

Just some DLC...

I stumbled across this thread over at the NeoGaf forums and just got thoroughly inspired.

The reason? It seems like more and more each year interactive media takes bigger strides towards becoming a veritable artform. Mass Effect seemed to really give gamers a run for their money as far as providing an entirely open-ended narrative and Bethesda does some incredible stuff as far as creating a illustrious landscape for which a person to use paint on.

As I looked on and saw some of my favorites (like the Mirror's Edge, Tetris, and Persona 4 ones) really evoke alot of creative attention. It just seemed to be like Christian would devour this stuff. Frankly, I do, so Christian would. ;) Not to make his character indulgent, but nobody can deny that some TLC went into creative some of those knock-off Criterion Collection covers.

This just adds to the argument that interactive media is making a stand in becoming art. Look at The Guild. Besides opening the door for alot of webseries out there, Felicia Day has also created a show that centers around interactive media. Two birds with one stone. Nice job. She's cute too, can't fault her at all for that.

In other news, a few members of Imaginary Trends are making the move to New Hampshire for the summer to do some work. While we will be in the middle of nowhere, I think we'll be publishing some...interesting works online. I'm personally packing up my comics and games so that I'll still retain a good amount of dorkness even a few states away from home.

Also...we've been getting good responses to the trailer script that went up last week. I'm going to begin formally writing our third draft in the coming week. Got any suggestions? Send them in...

FOTO FRIDAY! - Staged Reading Edition! - 4/10

Hey LAN'ders, Aaron J. here!

I finally got off my lazy butt (too much Pokemon Platinum...) and am posting these pictures from the staged reading in March. Some great stuff here. I especially love Lenneth's costume and the way the mime fight turned out. Check out the pics below and 5 points to whoever can catch the Shaun Of The Dead reference!

Lenneth complains about another noise violation while the Mime Boss slinks into the background.

Watchtower Tom and his Rockers record their commercial.Christian, Izzy, and Natalie prepare to enter a MimefieldIzzy has a laugh with his Zombie friends

Download "NEW GAME", the first piece of the third draft of LAN'ded!

I figured it's almost Easter...so what would the Last Supper look like in Christian's world?

A few people in the reading cast have requested that they see this "new script" I just drew up over the last week and so I figured why not just post it? After reading through this short 11-12 page script with Kyle, we've decided that this works really well as a "trailer" of sorts. A precursor to the first episode. Something that sets up the characters and universe better than trying to cram it into the first episode.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD "NEW GAME" AS A PDF FILE!

On a side note: I was lucky enough to receive a Sony PSP (I named her Peach, my DSi is named Daisy) over the weekend, and I decided that it would only be fitting that I get the game that inspired the character Lenneth in LAN'ded: "Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth." You may wonder why I decided to name the creepy landlord after a Norse Goddess in a video game, well, to be honest it just felt like it fit. Also, I'm a big fan of VERY cryptic/far-fetched references. Speaking of references, the entire third draft will concentrate on a larger variety of references. Emulating Spaced, I was aiming to insert references to things associated with Christian's world throughout the first season and while I was successful with that, most of the references were video game based. In this third draft a bigger concentration will be placed on referencing every facet of his dork culture. Working at a GameStop, I'm prone to have gaming on the brain, but I have to remember to spread that out. :)

Some ideas that I expect to explore in the third draft of LAN'ded include, but aren't limited to:

1. Christian holds a funeral for his broken Xbox 360, candles, priests, and all.
2. Izzy brings an (imaginary) pet home.
3. Natalie forms a coalition for imaginary friends. Sort of like a union for imaginary friends.
4. Dr. Cortex and Wally take over the kitchen. (Cut from initial reading script, will be more developed.)
5. More songs. We had 5-6 songs for the entire first season. We received some feedback asking us to have a theme song and some fill-in music and tunes elsewhere. Let's see what happens...

There's been talk of storyboarding "NEW GAME" so people can get a better idea of how everything will look. Think you guys would want to see those?

I'll leave you with two things:

1. If Carmen Sandiego and Where's Waldo had a child, would we ever find him?

2. Here's a picture of our Dr. Cortex, Wally, and Natalie taken from the reading staged last week at the Rauh Theatre. There's more to come later...

~ Aaron J.

The Workload Ahead...

Would you believe that it has not even been a week since the reading and we're already hard at work on the 3rd draft? Believe it folks!

One of the main concerns that rose from the reading was the backstory of many characters. We had written complete backstories for characters and even incorporated all of these backstories into the script. However, as time drew nearer and nearer to the reading we ended up having to cut many pages from the final reading script. Roughly 30-40 pages were cut and a good amount of those pages were dedicated to backstory. Having thought that a quick pre-show explaining the state of events would totally inform the audience, we weren't too worried about not having the history of the universe and characters included in the reading but it seems as if that was a poor assumption.

A few nights ago Kyle and I were discussing ideas for how to begin the series differently, possibly incorporating people's notes, and that's when it happened.

It's funny how one small suggestion can spark an entirely new approach to material. Needless to say, I ran with the idea and (incorporating the feedback we received Sunday) wrote up a short 10-page prologue of sorts. The prologue shows Christian's normal day routine, how introverted he is, and the interruption of that routine. I'm actually pretty happy with it for the most part. It's merely a first draft and doesn't have anyone's eyes looking at it besides mine, Kyle's, and a few select others but the response has been largely positive. What I really like about it is that it shows off Dr. Cortex and Wally much earlier, and also incorporates TheTallestGnome into Christian's daily rituals much sooner with a bigger emphasis on what the relationship actually is.

We had talked earlier in the year about filming a "trailer" of sorts that would show off the basic premise of LAN'ded and I think this may be one direction we can take that trailer in. Maybe once I touch it up a bit more and digi-stamp it I'll post it on here for everyone to peruse through? :-D

One bit of sad news: Now that the reading is over, I have to say goodbye to Dr. Cortex and Wally and ship them back to their owners. And I was having so much fun with them.

Catch you guys next week! Expect a slew of pictures...

Success!

It's hard to believe that it is over already. Starting promptly at 5:05 yesterday and running until roughly 6:30, the reading of LAN'ded is now a thing of the past. With an audience of about 60 people, the adventures of Christian, Izzy, Natalie, and a legion of zombies, maniacal landlords, angry protesters and livid mimes were played out.

Though we are still having feedback forms handed back to us throughout the week, the response was overall pretty good. People seem to be more open to the idea of the show than I thought they would be, and most of their comments weren't directed at what they didn't like, but what they wanted more of. Mainly, the audience wanted to see more of Christian's reasons for staying inside, his history, addiction to red bull, etc. Also, the audience really took to the puppets, but we had a lot of comments saying they'd want to see them strung into the plot a bit more. The third comment we received the most was that people wanted much more music in the show.

I'm not disappointed in this second reading at all, but I do regret cutting down the script a little in some places because I know that we cut some important plot points in order to condense it to 80 pages. Dr. Cortex, Wally, and most of the 1st episode got slashed the most, so I know that we have the content that the audience wanted more of. Now we just have to work and develop that as well. The reading was very refreshing for me, it was the first time in the entire process where I could fully sit back and just take everything in. I took nearly 3 full pages of notes and have already starting brainstorming ways to implement them. It was so much fun to see everyone playing parts that we've had just imagined in our heads for so long.

So there's all these feedback forms to sift through, but I thought that you should all know that we came out with a few contacts from the reading. I won't name names but a few people inquired about how they could go about attaching themselves to the project as associate producers or consultants. Exciting :).

Expect some announcements by next week about some of the changes we may try and implement.

Keep LAN'ding!

Ashley here!

We did it! We survived! Things were raucous, things happened that were unrehearsed, laughs were had and jokes LAN'ded, and hey that's theater!

There was a pretty good crowd, considering it was a Sunday evening, and Aaron and Jon Rooney started us off on a great foot with their funny pre-show. The puppets look AMAZING, by the way, I'm continually impressed with Fisticuff Puppets' skills...David and Kyle know their schtuff.

Jackie told us we all looked like we were having so much fun onstage, and I was! I had a really good time yesterday, as i have had with the entire process, and I'm excited to see what happens to LAN'ded next. (And to see what everyone had to say on their feedback forms)

Today we LANd

Today is the day!

I woke up fully rested (which seldom happens) and incredibly anxious for the event today. I began my normal routine of checking my mail, blogs, Facebook, etc, and I put on some musicals. One song really spoke to me. You may know it? It's a song called "Nine Percent Chance" from High Fidelity. Based on the movie...which was based on the book by Nick Hornby.

"Sometimes all you need is a sliver of hope and you may just succeed, or at least the door is open."

This project began with nothing more than a passion to create something new and innovative. The first draft opened the door to possibilities, and hopefully we are kicking that same door open with this draft. I guess we'll just have to wait and see? We are expecting a decent-sized crowd in the Rauh and everything is fit as a fiddle and ready to fly.

We will be filming the reading for the Playhouse's archives and we will also have some photographers and video artists taking footage as well. It's less than 3 hours til the reading folks, and I have to get out there and start prepping the pre-show. I hope to see you there. Today is the day that we LANd.

Cortex & Wally Are Here! THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES! 1 DAY TIL THE READING!

Puppets are fun.

That's the general consensus.

Dr. Cortex and his Wallaby Assistant Wally are in the house, er playhouse! Thanks to this special thing called "overnight shipping" Dr. Cortex and Wally arrived this morning in the mail! I don't think they liked being stuffed inside of boxes though, because as soon as they arrived they just wanted to play! Dr. Cortex keeps telling me funny jokes!
We're only a day away, and after a good long tech rehearsal today we are ready and primed for the staged reading tomorrow! The programs are printed, the puppets are here, and the lights work! Crazy eh?

REMEMBER! TOMORROW AT 5:00 PM IN THE RAUH THEATRE!

PITTSBURGH PLAYHOUSE RAUH THEATRE
222 CRAFT AVENUE
PITTSBURGH, PA 15213

DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT - JACKIE BAKER

YOU ARE A DIRECTOR, BUT ALSO AN ACTRESS. WHAT IS YOUR PASSION FOR THEM? DO
YOU PREFER ONE?

My passion for both stems from the same desire, which is to bring a playwright's words to life with the hope of instilling morality and encouraging communication among people. As an actress, I get to escape into a character and discover and explore a new side of myself. As a director, I get to immerse myself into the world of a play and have a much more general focus. I absolutely love acting, but I must admit that as I get more experience directing, I get more and more drawn to it. It's the only thing I've found in life that pulls from every well of knowledge, no matter how trivial. It's a fantastic way to incorporate my love of art and music and to also utilize my talents in play analysis and leadership.

LAN'DED IS INTENDED FOR FILM, BUT THIS IS A STAGED READING OF THE SCRIPT. AS A DIRECTOR, HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THIS?

To be perfectly honest, this has been my greatest challenge with this project. A lot of the comedy in LAN'ded comes from the fact that it is written for film, and the laughs can be mined from the juxtaposition of scenes, panning, and other film techniques. Though I can't fully capture that essence on stage, I can create quick scene changes and work with sharp blackouts after buttons on scenes and I can create humorous pictures for the beginning of the next.

IF IT COULD RAIN ANYTHING BUT WATER FROM THE SKY, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT IT TO RAIN?

I'm in theatre. So...money. Bills only, of course. Unless I'm having a bad day and I have the gift of prophesy. In which case I'd prefer coins and I'd stay indoors with the curtains open.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FINAL FANTASY?

I absolutely loved Final Fantasy III, which was kinda skipped in the US and then released later on the DS. My eyes were glued to the screen until I beat it. I hated that if I didn't have "friends" I couldn't get all the secrets since I'm an uber nerd like that, but that's the only complaint I had. Final Fantasy XII was absolutely fantastic, but I was also house-sitting at the time of my FFIII
infatuation, which meant I was lonely and it was my replacement for social interaction entirely. Which is a void that was later filled by World of Warcraft.

HOW IS LAN'DED DIFFERENT THAN OTHER DIRECTING PROJECTS YOU'VE HAD?

Aside from the fact that there are zombies, vampires, and mimes (and that it's filmed), there's the fact that I'm bringing someone else's vision to life instead of my own. Instead of researching a play and its playwright, I'm constantly just talking to the writer about how he envisions these people and this world so that I can do his concept justice.

PIRATES AND NINJAS AGREE THAT COWBOYS SUCK, DO YOU CONCUR?

I'm from Central Pennsylvania. So I have to appreciate anyone who can lasso cattle. And ride a horse. And shovel manure. And whatever else cowboys do.

DO YOU CONNECT WITH ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN LAN'DED, IF SO, WHY?

Christian, definitely. There was a time in my life where I ordered out constantly, drank energy drinks to stay awake, and stayed inside playing World of Warcraft all day and night. At one point, my friends actually broke into my place and pulled me away from the computer,
forcing me to have human interaction. I can't say that I much care for human interaction compared to that of the fantasy world, but alas, I must make appearances from time to time

Greetings from Natalie...er, Alyx...umm Ashley.

Helllllllllllloooooooo!

We are in the final days of rehearsal and getting geared up for Sunday's reading! This has been a really fun experience...we ran the whole show for the first time Sunday night, and although parts were a little chaotic, overall it's fun and smooth.

Personally, I'm glad to have made such good friends; namely with Ben and Alex. We didn't really know each other before LAN'ded and I'm really happy we got to spend so much time together, in and out of rehearsal. It really does make a difference if you like who you're acting with, ya know?

This keyboard really sucks...I'm at school...

Anyways, this experience has given me a better appreciation of video games, physical comedy and lots of other things that are referred to in LAN'ded that still go over my head.

How Aaron Makes Props *Proceed With Caution*

I think the video explains it all. The only thing I say in the video that is false is the amount of time elapsed. In reality, this only took me 20 minutes. That doesn't make it any better at all.

The Countdown Begins - 4 Days...

It's almost here! March 29th at 5 PM will be the cultivation of hard work accumulated from nearly 20 people's input to this project. The reading is upon us...

That kind of blows my mind really. If you were to ask me over a year ago that LAN'ded would have evolved into a musical web-series, I probably would have laughed and said "Sure, that would be nice" and walked away. I never would have thought it'd turn from a cabaret act, into a two-act play, into a web-musical. At this stage in the game I look back on the past iterations and wonder if I sacrificed anything real juicy early on in the development cycle in favor of the new directions we've taken and nothing really comes to mind.

I began making up all the information for the program on Monday and I was told that it may be a good idea to include a "Writer's Note" inside with a message to the audience. So...I began writing one! It's such an interesting experience doing that! I felt like I kept sounding like "Hey, I wrote this, go on" so I re-wrote it several times and I'm pretty happy with it now. Yikes. How do directors and writers do this for every show? Crazytown.

BeeTeeDubs, have you guys been checking out PuppetFix to see the evolution of Cortex and Wally?
LAN'ded has been incredibly fulfilling, particularly in the last week or so. I've written scenes, one-acts, and other various theatrical material before but the thought of writing music always eluded me. I just never fully grasped it, it seemed like something I never had the skills for. In teaming up with Ryan Cavanaugh, I've discovered it isn't anything too scary. First off, having worked with Ryan on several projects before, I really enjoy him onstage and respect him as a performer and musician. Secondly, the whole process of writing the music was totally "process-based" and not "product-based." Ryan would bring in some compositions that he liked and I'd see how my lyrics lined up with the music. After some tinkering and twiddling, we'd determine if something fit the tone and character of the show. It was never "Well, this song needs to sound exactly like this" or "The opening song needs to have 3-part harmony and end with a huge solo." We always worked towards what worked best and never focused on achieving a certain sound because truthfully, there was never a pre-determined sound to work towards.

For instance, we were aiming to have 3 songs in the final script of the reading. The opening song "Here and Now" had its lyrics changed around three separate times. The song I was most excited for, "What It Takes To Be A Zombie" turned out to be best suited for a movement piece. We ended up taking the music that Ryan proposed for "WITTBAZ" and using it's for "Lenneth's Song." In the end, I think the musical decisions we've made really worked in our favor and hopefully that will be reflected Sunday onstage.

I think the trickiest part, on the director's/writer's/audiences' part will be Alyx. Alyx literally enters the show on the last page of the script. I guess we'll see how it works out when I see the feedback forms. Admittedly, Alyx was a planned part of the show from the start, but my implementation of her probably should have been looked at a bit closer. Then again, we've condensed the script to accommodate a shorter run-time so the exclusion of details on her may benefit us. I wish the reading were tonight so I could get everyone's feedback and start re-tooling it and see what the show looks like with a Third Eye right now!

Ah well...I'm off to accumulate the rest of the props for the show. Look for updates every day from here on out as part of the countdown to the reading!

FOTO FRIDAY 3/20 - it's all in the hands edition

Blogger won't eat THIS entry! No way, no how!

Aaron here! With some exciting news for those of you wondering when we were ever going to actually SEE the puppets in the show. Well wait no longer! Over a video conference last night, Dr. Cortex and his Wallaby assistant Wally were unveiled to me! While they're not finished

 products, you can clearly get an idea of who they are!

As I've said before, David and Kyle over at Fisticuff Puppets are no pushovers. They're very

 good at what they do. I personally love the ears on Wally (left) and the details of hair on Cortex (right). These puppets are going to go a long way in developing Christian's imaginative world in LAN'ded. 

So as you can see, most of our meetings go like this. We usually spend the first 45 minutes talking business and then the rest of our meetings are comprised of us imitating David Bowie and The Beatles. No doubt it's all in the name of comedy and good times though. The reading is in 9 days! Keep checking back to LAN'ded: The Blog for updates!

*Burp*

Well, blogger.com seems to have a bit of an appetite because as far as I know, it ate my last two posts!

The scheduled FOTO FRIDAY for last week disappeared from the post queue and the one I was writing earlier today had its draft deleted, so I am writing this all at once in hopes that I can post it and not have any complications!

So, what's happening in the crazy world of LAN'ded you ask? Well, the last update was March 6th, a whole ten days ago. Loads of work has been done and I'm proud to say that we've cleared Friday the 13th. No bad luck or slashers got to any of our cast and crew!

Having a solidified script to work with, things have been going very smoothly. With the inclusion of a new character in the finale, we've had to move around some people and I'm happy to say that things are coming together very nicely. During the process we have experimented with several different Mime Bosses, Cockney Zombies, Natalies, and chorus vampires alike, but now we are locked! With a dedicated person on make-up and Jackie continuing to make headway in directing, the staged reading is all lined up to be a good time!

I had a handful of people approach me today and ask about the show. It's pretty exciting to have people actually come up and ask about this show which wasn't a reality until December. I've even had some people e-mail me about what's happening after the reading is over...and we will discuss that when the time comes, for now the reading is where it's at ("I got two turntables and a microphone"). 

Also, I should have some pictures to post of the puppets this week. David and Kyle have been doing some real lovely work on Cortex and Wally. With so many different interpretations on the character, it's difficult to pick just one! We plan on having some of the puppets on display during the pre-show so people can take a gander at them. If you wanna catch up with Kyle and David and whatnot, check out their blog!

Remember people! The reading is MARCH 29TH! RAUH THEATRE! 5:00 PM! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

I should have the director spotlight up this week, along with some video and other shenanigans. 

Stay real ;)

FOTO FRIDAY 3/6 - Unsung Heroes Edition

For today's FOTO FRIDAY I decided that I should highlight some of the people who've been instrumental in getting LAN'ded to where it is today. Specifically, Ashley and Jackie.

Though it may seem as if LAN'ded exists entirely within my brain, that couldn't be further from the truth. Like I've said before, it began as a two-act stage play and eventually morphed into being shot a la Dr. Horrible. The biggest changes after that came in the form of the ending and specifically, the character of Natalie and her overall arc. That's where Ashley came in.

I brought Ashley (on the left) onto the project around October or November. I had asked her to help me out with the reading initially but as I thought about it more and more, I knew that I wanted her to actually be IN the reading as Natalie. As I developed Natalie I tried to take in Ashley's input and her ideas and incorporate them into the story. The biggest idea that Ash had was for the ending, where Natalie is essentially replaced by Alyx, her real-world dopple-ganger. This changed the story immensely. Suddenly, the idea of Christian's imaginary friends having real world counterparts became a big idea. Were they somehow linked? Maybe it was a big coincidence? It all started with an idea, and we've run with it.

Ashley has always been a great person to work with, and I'm blessed to have her input in the project. Frankly, in rehearsals I really don't know how Natalie would have become who she is today with Ash's exuberance. 

Another person that I knew I wanted since day one was Jackie. You may have heard me gloat about Jackie before, and that is because she's just that good of a director. Also, Jackie is a recovering WoW player so I knew she'd have some sort of connection with the material. In the beginning I was balancing directing, writing, PR, and everything else for the project be

cause I was the only one in Pittsburgh close to the actual rehearsals. Jackie wasn't able to join the project until sometime after the 1st of February due to a show she was in at Point Park, but has since been at every rehearsal and things have been 100% more organized. Now instead of trying to put stuff up on its feet and also write/edit at the same time, I can sit back and see what works, what doesn't, and make edits on the fly more effectively. 

Jackie has one of the most difficult tasks on the production though, as director. Since LAN'ded is intended to be filmed, adapting it for stage can be a grueling task. Jackie has come up with some great ideas for incorporating the more "film-ie" aspects of the show for the stage. Given the fact that we'll be working with limited lighting and staging, her talents are a godsend and it's always a pleasure to work with someone you respect and are friends with.

These are just two of the many people who have contributed in big ways to our production. Everyone involved has played a crucial part in shaping LAN'ded to where it is today. Maybe I'll spotlight some others in FOTO FRIDAYs to come? Only time will tell...

Rehearsals start up again soon, expect some Spotlights and updates! Keep LAN'ding!

Fear and Loathing with no internet access! (SEASON ONE IS DONE!)

Well, this is it! The first season has been written. Episodes 4 through 9 (we go by Star Wars numbering) have been completed and assembled into one big script for our cast to digest for the reading. After carefully compiling it and editing it extensively, we're able to condense it into 80 pages. This is just the script for the reading though, the actual episodes range anywhere from 15-25 pages on their own. I had to edit down each episode to the core facts so that we could have the entire first season onstage for the event at the end of March. I'm happy to say that we didn't have to sacrifice anything. The episodes we end up filming will have scripts with more filler though.

What a feeling this is! I've just sent out the first season! Nothing more will be written! Sure, some edits are sure to be made, but no more episodes, no more drafts, and no more adding material. It is sad in a way to be sure, but the bright side is that I can formally start to compile ideas for Season 2 (and trust me, Ky, Dave, and I have been thinking about that for a while...).

The one thing I'll always remember about sending out the first season to the cast is that I actually had to search for an internet connection to do so! Since I'm home in Erie for Spring Break, I don't have access to internet at my house. My sister's internet didn't work for me, so all day today I rode around trying to find a hot-spot that didn't require me to have a password. I went to two McDonald's, a few coffee shops, and when I finally thought about giving up a friend told me that Panera of all places offered free internet access! Huzzah! Of course my first thought was to speed up to my nearest Panera locale, but it is Spring Break and I had family things to take care of. So after a very heated game of checkers with my 5 year-old nephew, I sped up to Panera.

And it was closed. Bummer.

However, I figured that if I parked right outside, the internet signal was sure to be picked up from my car! So here I am, parked outside the Panera on Peach Street in Erie, PA, blogging and sending out the full first season of LAN'ded to my intrepid cast. Nothing has been plain about this production and tonight is no exception. I love being an artist. 

Look for a director spotlight later this week and some cool new FOTO FRIDAY pics!

FOTO FRIDAY 2/27 - Workload Edition

FOTO FRIDAY is here ladies and gentlebeans! Things here at LAN'ded: The Blog have been hectic and fun! First off, I, your trusty writer Aaron came down with a horrible illness this week effectively halting most of the happiness in my life. But fear not! The script shan't be neglected! As you can see from the above FOTO, I'm assembling the episodes together into a final reading script for our cast to use. They'll be taking a much needed break this week with Spring Break starting on Monday. 

When we return from break, we'll have a number of little surprises for both you (our faithful readers and "viewers like you") and the cast. Kyle and I have been working on a pre-show for the reading and we may have some special guest stars...

Off I go!

An Exciting New Announcement!

On behalf of the cast and crew of LAN'ded, I'm very excited to announce our affiliation with one of the most promising new puppet companies in the U. S. of A.: Fisticuff Puppets! 

Fisticuff Puppets you say?

Sound familiar? I've known the guys from Fisticuff for a while now, Kyle as one of my best friends and David a newly founded one. You may have heard me mention them all under-the-radar-like some previous posts, but now we're ready to fully unveil the extent of our affiliation. "LAN'ded" is a show all about interacting with your imagination, and what could be more imaginative than a puppet? We plan on utilizing puppets are a key resource in giving the show a distinctive look and feel, and with the guys over at Fisticuff, things couldn't be more fun or creative.

Check out the guys over at Fisticuff, and stay tuned to LAN'ded: The Blog for more info!

FOTO FRIDAY 2/20 - Zombirific Mime Edition

JON ROONEY SHOWS US 'WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A ZOMBIE'

One thing I've been continually impressed with from the cast is just how eager they've been to totally throw themselves into the material. I think the above picture says more than I could ever articulate. 

BEN PALMER AS 'CHRISTIAN' STARES IN WONDER AT MIME.TV

Mime.TV is the device we've created as the portal for how the Mimes actually are manifested in Christian's world. It's the guilty-pleasure website that Christian watches (like Hulu) in his spare time. Little did he know engaging in such entertainment would spell certain doom for he and his friends...

THE ENSEMBLE PERFORMS SOME MIME-IE ACROBATICS AS THEY BATTLE WITH CHRISTIAN AND FRIENDS

It goes without saying: where there are mimes, mime fights are sure to follow. As evidenced from the photo above, you can see the stakes are raised. I can't go into detail concerning the weaponry we're supplying our mimes with, but if you're familiar with Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat then you've probably got a good idea...

IZZY AND CHRISTIAN FACE OFF IN PSYCHIC ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS WHILE NATALIE PLAYS REFEREE

Rock-Paper-Scissors is a pretty friendly game to play with your friends to settle small grievances, but when the game goes to the psychic level you know the gloves are off. Being Christian's imaginary friend, Izzy knows his every move. Who will prevail? You'll just have to wait and see.

TO BE HONEST...I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS PICTURE, BUT HOW ABOUT THAT ENSEMBLE, EH?

Thanks to our fearless director Jackie, we have been able to play some acting games before jumping into rehearsals. I couldn't resist posting the above photo, which is all of us participating in an acting exercise. We were tasked with lining ourselves up in order of height (tallest to shortest) while we had our eyes closed. I decided to join in on the game because it just looked like too much fun.

How do you think we did? ;-D

That's it for this week's Foto Friday guys! Check in next week for a few announcements and some other special news...

~ Aaron J.

* A very special thank you to Mal Campbell for assisting us with her uber-cool photography skillz. I used a "z" there because she's just that good.

ACTOR SPOTLIGHT - Ben Palmer as Christian

WHAT'S YOUR ROLE IN LAN'DED? ARE THEY SIMILAR TO YOU? ARE THEY DIFFERENT?

I play Christian, the Red-Bull drinking, nonstop 360 playing, and wildly imaginative and complete anti-social. Christian has a fear of what is un-known. To him, that is the outside world. When I was younger I shared a lot of similar issues to Christian. I was extremely anxious and depressed and stayed inside watching movies and playing computer games as a way of life. Only I didn't have the awesome imaginary friends. Or the mimes….those are pretty cool too.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIE?

Star Wars. It gets no better. Preferably episodes 4 and 5.

ROBOTS OR NINJAS, WHO'D WIN?

Robots!!! Are you kidding me? Those ninja stars couldn't hurt even the robot from Lost in Space!

WHAT'S THE DORKIEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE?

I waited for 3 hours in line get tickets to see Episode 1.  I was the only one not in costume, which was slightly embarrassing.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ROLE YOU'VE EVER PLAYED, AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM CHRISTIAN IN LAN'DED?

I played George Tesman in a production of Hedda Gabler my senior year of high school. He is a total dork, very much like Christian. His obsession with knowledge rivals Christian's obsession with knowledge of mimes

FOTO FRIDAY 2/13

This is the start of a segment here called FOTO FRIDAY where we'll upload a different picture taken during rehearsal every friday. Pictured are Brittany and Dan, who're currently playing our Emo Vampire and Pizza Delivery Guy respectively. One has a look of joy and glee, and the other has a look of innate confusion. Those seem to go hand-in-hand during any rehearsal process right?

Right?

We just like tearing our hair out...

Above is a snapshot from our latest vid-conference over iChat. We have these conferences at least twice a week to talk about the show, how rehearsals are going, where the characters are headed, and any ideas we have for upcoming shows.

Tonight, however, I initiated a vid-conference to gloat about how proud I was of our actors in today's rehearsal, and the excellent job Jackie (our director) was doing her first day in rehearsal. Tonight's rehearsal showed what it's like for actors to fully turn themselves over to material that is foreign to them, so great job guys!

I would hope that the picture posted above wouldn't reflect the overall tone of our meetings...I was just taking a snapshot of the meeting to show how unhappy we all were with the current length of our hair. I've heard of starving artists, but artists with long hair? It doesn't seem to fit...hair-cuts will be necessary soon.

*In the photo, from left to right - James, Dave, and Kyle. I'm below them, sporting a mop-top only the Beatles wouldn't find offensive.*

ACTOR SPOTLIGHT - Alex Etling as Izzy

WHAT'S YOUR ROLE IN LAN'DED? HOW IS HE DIFFERENT OR SIMILAR TO YOU?

My role? Izzy? Actually, he can be very similar to me. I guess he's static though, so I should say that I can be very similar to him. When I am in certain moods (over-excited, happy, etc.) I tend to go into the little "fits" of over-the-top excitement and random ping-ponging thoughts and impulses that Izzy does. In that way, we can be very similar.

ROBOTS VERSUS NINJAS, WHO'D WIN?

Wow. I would have to say Ninjas. Much like the Tall Tale of John Henry (The Steel-Driving Man) I think that the human ingenuity and creativity and the ability to think creatively would enable the ninjas to win, but they would die too in the end. Not sure how...maybe the robots self-destruct, if that isn't too cliché.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ROLE YOU'VE EVER PLAYED? HOW'S IT DIFFERENT FROM IZZY IN LAN'DED?

I really enjoyed playing "Ethan" in The Full Monty. While he has some of the same innocence and youthful energy as Izzy, he is not as consciously funny. Izzy is more focused on being funny and making jokes, while Ethan is slightly more unknowingly funny. Still, they both seem like very "simple" characters, only in the fact that they like to have fun, and are not always overly concerned with issues larger than the world immediately surrounding them.

If you had an imaginary friend, what would be your favorite activity to do with them?

I would love to physically get into fights with them and take out my aggression, maybe even kill them. It would be tremendously therapeutic. Or perhaps completely psychologically unhinging. Because they would look exactly like me. Yeah.

What's the dorkiest thing you've ever done?

I understood a couple references in LAN'ded...does that count? Wow. This is a tough one. I mean, not a tough one to come up with an answer, but to choose an answer. Let's see. I played Donkey Kong on an Apple IIc. I used to carry tiny, TINY Star Wars MicroMachines in my pocket, everywhere I went. I am obsessed with different kinds of metal. I used to collect rocks. And stamps. And things I found on the floor of the mall when I was little. In little piles. I was VERY interested in rocks and minerals when I was little, and still have the (large) collection. I used to like bugs when I was little, and had little rubber actual-size models of them. I have seen most episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I cried in fifth grade when someone deleted my almost-finished Pokémon game. I thought that Zelda: The Ocarina of Time was EPIC. Oh, yeah, and I own an Ocarina, handmade of clay, and purchased at a Renaissance Fair. I play it sometimes. I will remember where the invisible floating blocks are in the original Mario game for REGULAR Nintendo, long after have grown old and forgotten my childrens' names. I once tried to take apart an MP3 player and fit it into a different case that I made for it. For a while, I tried to become adept with a butterfly knife. I make balloon animals. And I list it on my special skills. I replaced the hard drive in my iBook myself, a major operation involving a butterknife, and took pictures. At any given point, all of my music and files are backed up in at least 3 different places, and separated. Just in case. I am aware of the benefits of cloud-computing, and think it sounds like a great idea. Right now, my new obsession is "Sprouting", which is pretty awesome, in addition to being pretty dorky. Look it up.