Improv(is)ing an iPhone
Jun. 13th, 2009 06:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prusikMy Harold 3 grad show was last night. Honestly, it might have been the first time every has come to class. In any case, we performed a Deconstruction. Based on an opening suggestion, two players sustain a lengthy scene that the group uses as inspiration for about half an hour's worth of improvisation. (i.e., we deconstruct the opening scene. Hey, at least it makes more sense than "Harold" as the name of a long form improv structure.)
I think it worked out pretty well, on the whole. (We'll get notes soon.) As near as I can tell, we generated so much material, we blew past our half hour target with stuff left unexplored. Also, there were so many of us that the whole thing was a decidedly low pressure affair. No matter how serious a mess you got yourself into, someone would know how to rescue you. (Also, most of the class perform Harolds regularly as part of Harold Night anyway.)
Right now, I'm kind of at a weird place with respect to improv. I'd like to keep doing long-form improvisation. I'm always a little disappointed after a show because I didn't want it to end. The only way I can see to continue though is to get onto one of the Harold teams at the theatre I've been taking classes at. On one hand, this is kind of a high bar. On the other hand, I may actually be one of the better qualified people in town who isn't already doing long form regularly. (This is not a long form town, at least not yet.)
The theater's annual auditions are coming up. (I think they may conflict with ReaderCon, actually. Thanks to Gmail, I know that last year's auditions were around now.) The next step then is to audition again. I actually auditioned last year, but mostly for the experience of auditioning. That audition was actually the first time I'd done any improv in front of an audience. I'm mostly over the deer in headlights thing now, I hope. This time, I'd be thrilled if they call me back, but I'd like to get cast in something. Ideally, I'd get cast into a Harold team, but I don't know if they're even looking right now. If I get cast in something, then I'm at least I'm around the theater and I'll know if an opportunity comes up. Oh well, I'll see how it goes...
On other fronts, I have the purely first world problem of wanting an electronic version of my Moleskine notebook. Once again, I'm thinking about iPhone. I've been off my cellphone contract for years now. With this latest rev, Apple has added the remaining functionality I care about and has started to add functionality that I don't care about. (Sadly, all I was looking for was cut/copy/paste so that I can edit text. They added 802.1x, VPN and Chinese handwriting recognition last time around.)
Future models will undoubted be more computationally powerful, have a larger set of radios, have longer battery life and have more storage capacity. For the next few years, certainly while I'd be on contract, I don't think I'd care. e.g., even if Apple comes out with an iPhone 4G in 2010, given that AT&T won't have finished upgrading their 3G infrastructure until 2011, whatever cellphone I buy today is likely to be useful for a long time. I mean, analog service finally shut down last year.
Of course, this is just begging Apple to do what they do: introduce a feature that I didn't know I'd wanted until after they'd introduced it. It'll undoubtedly happen, but I think the current set of features will last me certainly for the length of the contract, if not longer. My Mac was the fastest desktop Apple made when I bought it. It'll be 5 years old in November though and the only reason I'm thinking about replacing it within the next year or two is because Snow Leopard won't run on it.
(For a person easily distracted by the shiny, I'm oddly puzzled by the people who absolutely have to have the newest model of anything. Right now, I'm not understanding the people who simultaneously claim that they're not getting an iPhone 3GS because they think it's more or less an iPhone 3G and get all pissed off because AT&T won't give them the subsidized price for iPhone 3GS. If they're not going to buy it anyway, why do they care?)
Of course, the problem is that I'm buying something on the promise that it will be able to do something. That makes me uneasy. (Also, I'm stuck on the image of pulling something out of my pocket, scribbling on it, then putting it away. I really do like handwriting recognition. However, there are pretty much no options for that on the market. The handheld PCs that run Windows are probably the closest things. I may end up with one of them too...)
On the other hand, if it doesn't work out, it's still a good cellphone and I'd still use it for other stuff. (Of course, I'll also have increased my cellphone bill in the process.) Right now, I'm trying to catalog what some of that other stuff might be. Chances are, I'd think of more with iPhone in hand, but I want to make sure that it doesn't just turn into a glorified ebook reader.
(I'm not actually in a rush. However, the next opportunity to figure out whether a handheld, pocketable device will serve is about a month away: ReaderCon. It was there two years ago that I discovered that the Newton does exactly what I want it to do. Yes, it's ancient technology, only unencrypted 802.11b for example. You don't really want to get on the internet with it anyway. Its software obviously doesn't support any modern standards. This makes web and email challenging to say the least. However, the Newton has a superb text entry and text editing experience. I can totally write and edit vast amounts of text with the thing. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in my pocket and is a pain to carry out so I never do. I've been searching for a pocketable Newton ever since. Unfortunately, this is not something that anyone else wants.)
Part of me is seriously tempted to buy an iPhone, use it through ReaderCon then return it. (From the time I get the phone to the end of ReaderCon is less than 30 days.) If it works out for me, I'd buy it again but also transfer my phone number. The net difference in cost is I pay start up fees twice and I go through the hassle twice. and buying an iPhone when it first comes out is just asking for hassle. (I do note that this time around, Apple is selling it from their website and they will ship it to you. I assume it comes activated or becomes activated when iTunes detects it. I don't know how that plays with phone number portability.)
Of course, the right perspective on this is that none of this is a huge deal. Nothing rides on me getting into an improv group or not. If the iPhone text entry and text editing experience isn't what I'd like, chances are, I can deal with it. Even if I subsequently save up and get something that's pocketable but deals better with large amounts of text, it's still a cellphone, and a pocket computing platform. I'll find uses for it. (The hypothetical other pocketable device might supplant some of what I'd use it for though.)
Hmm... I still have one work related question that I need to sort out. If the answer is what I think it is though, then I think I've just made up my mind about iPhone. (At the end of the day, it really is shiny, especially in comparison to my current cellphone.)
I think it worked out pretty well, on the whole. (We'll get notes soon.) As near as I can tell, we generated so much material, we blew past our half hour target with stuff left unexplored. Also, there were so many of us that the whole thing was a decidedly low pressure affair. No matter how serious a mess you got yourself into, someone would know how to rescue you. (Also, most of the class perform Harolds regularly as part of Harold Night anyway.)
Right now, I'm kind of at a weird place with respect to improv. I'd like to keep doing long-form improvisation. I'm always a little disappointed after a show because I didn't want it to end. The only way I can see to continue though is to get onto one of the Harold teams at the theatre I've been taking classes at. On one hand, this is kind of a high bar. On the other hand, I may actually be one of the better qualified people in town who isn't already doing long form regularly. (This is not a long form town, at least not yet.)
The theater's annual auditions are coming up. (I think they may conflict with ReaderCon, actually. Thanks to Gmail, I know that last year's auditions were around now.) The next step then is to audition again. I actually auditioned last year, but mostly for the experience of auditioning. That audition was actually the first time I'd done any improv in front of an audience. I'm mostly over the deer in headlights thing now, I hope. This time, I'd be thrilled if they call me back, but I'd like to get cast in something. Ideally, I'd get cast into a Harold team, but I don't know if they're even looking right now. If I get cast in something, then I'm at least I'm around the theater and I'll know if an opportunity comes up. Oh well, I'll see how it goes...
On other fronts, I have the purely first world problem of wanting an electronic version of my Moleskine notebook. Once again, I'm thinking about iPhone. I've been off my cellphone contract for years now. With this latest rev, Apple has added the remaining functionality I care about and has started to add functionality that I don't care about. (Sadly, all I was looking for was cut/copy/paste so that I can edit text. They added 802.1x, VPN and Chinese handwriting recognition last time around.)
Future models will undoubted be more computationally powerful, have a larger set of radios, have longer battery life and have more storage capacity. For the next few years, certainly while I'd be on contract, I don't think I'd care. e.g., even if Apple comes out with an iPhone 4G in 2010, given that AT&T won't have finished upgrading their 3G infrastructure until 2011, whatever cellphone I buy today is likely to be useful for a long time. I mean, analog service finally shut down last year.
Of course, this is just begging Apple to do what they do: introduce a feature that I didn't know I'd wanted until after they'd introduced it. It'll undoubtedly happen, but I think the current set of features will last me certainly for the length of the contract, if not longer. My Mac was the fastest desktop Apple made when I bought it. It'll be 5 years old in November though and the only reason I'm thinking about replacing it within the next year or two is because Snow Leopard won't run on it.
(For a person easily distracted by the shiny, I'm oddly puzzled by the people who absolutely have to have the newest model of anything. Right now, I'm not understanding the people who simultaneously claim that they're not getting an iPhone 3GS because they think it's more or less an iPhone 3G and get all pissed off because AT&T won't give them the subsidized price for iPhone 3GS. If they're not going to buy it anyway, why do they care?)
Of course, the problem is that I'm buying something on the promise that it will be able to do something. That makes me uneasy. (Also, I'm stuck on the image of pulling something out of my pocket, scribbling on it, then putting it away. I really do like handwriting recognition. However, there are pretty much no options for that on the market. The handheld PCs that run Windows are probably the closest things. I may end up with one of them too...)
On the other hand, if it doesn't work out, it's still a good cellphone and I'd still use it for other stuff. (Of course, I'll also have increased my cellphone bill in the process.) Right now, I'm trying to catalog what some of that other stuff might be. Chances are, I'd think of more with iPhone in hand, but I want to make sure that it doesn't just turn into a glorified ebook reader.
(I'm not actually in a rush. However, the next opportunity to figure out whether a handheld, pocketable device will serve is about a month away: ReaderCon. It was there two years ago that I discovered that the Newton does exactly what I want it to do. Yes, it's ancient technology, only unencrypted 802.11b for example. You don't really want to get on the internet with it anyway. Its software obviously doesn't support any modern standards. This makes web and email challenging to say the least. However, the Newton has a superb text entry and text editing experience. I can totally write and edit vast amounts of text with the thing. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in my pocket and is a pain to carry out so I never do. I've been searching for a pocketable Newton ever since. Unfortunately, this is not something that anyone else wants.)
Part of me is seriously tempted to buy an iPhone, use it through ReaderCon then return it. (From the time I get the phone to the end of ReaderCon is less than 30 days.) If it works out for me, I'd buy it again but also transfer my phone number. The net difference in cost is I pay start up fees twice and I go through the hassle twice. and buying an iPhone when it first comes out is just asking for hassle. (I do note that this time around, Apple is selling it from their website and they will ship it to you. I assume it comes activated or becomes activated when iTunes detects it. I don't know how that plays with phone number portability.)
Of course, the right perspective on this is that none of this is a huge deal. Nothing rides on me getting into an improv group or not. If the iPhone text entry and text editing experience isn't what I'd like, chances are, I can deal with it. Even if I subsequently save up and get something that's pocketable but deals better with large amounts of text, it's still a cellphone, and a pocket computing platform. I'll find uses for it. (The hypothetical other pocketable device might supplant some of what I'd use it for though.)
Hmm... I still have one work related question that I need to sort out. If the answer is what I think it is though, then I think I've just made up my mind about iPhone. (At the end of the day, it really is shiny, especially in comparison to my current cellphone.)
