Star Wars Uncut FTW

Well I now have a renewed appreciation for film editors. Sheesh! I counted approximately 13 edits for our 15 second scene.

Oh, wait, let me explain:

Star Wars Uncut is a project you can see here--basically, what these insane geniuses did was divide Star Wars: A New Hope into 15-second increments. Web crawlers then could claim a scene, re-film it themselves, and upload it. What will result is a giant Internet-produced quilt version of the film.

Since I was teaching a lightsaber class this summer--well, perfect project for class members, eh? Little did we know how many freaking moves there can be in a 15 second space!

Here's our entry: (sound isn't perfect but surprisingly close!) ~Jenn

Lightsaber class

Here, lovely lurkers, is the culmination of the 8-week summer Stage Combat class in lightsaber technique. This is the conclusion of our summer efforts. We had a great time! ~Jenn

Thursday and Friday's Exciting Events

Thursday the 30th is the last day of the summer lightsaber class (sob). We'll be filming all our fights, though, so stay tuned and you can see the results of our 8-week session up here soon afterwards.

Friday the 31st is Test Night at the Boulder Quest Center. Highlights will include Jenn and Boaz's lightsaber fight, Kim & Jenn showing the groud flow, and of course much fun belt testing as usual. This will be the last test for Kim & Jenn before their Black Belt. Spiffy!

INFO:

7/30: lightsaber class finale; 12"30-2pm; PE 103 on Auraria Campus

7/31: BQC Test Night; adults & youth testing + demos begin at 6pm

Images are Jenn and Kim in April's BQC test, and Jenn and Boaz creating their lightsaber fight, in class in June.

Fight Clip Club

A rehearsal day from the lightsaber class: this is the 3-person fight: Scott J., Paul, and Nick. Mind, this is still rehearsal mode, lovely lurkers. ~Jenn

Random Picture

A posed piece for MSCD Stage Combat Club Nick's BFA portfolio. Club meeting. Good times.

The Parente Experience

Last night, the Summer Advanced Class (Lightsabers) was the subject of a liveshot on Channel 2 News. Anchor/Reporter Chris Parente came by and helped us show the world what we do. We watch Mr. Parente on his various Deuce and Channel 31 endeavors all the time in the Bonzuko home office, and so it was delightful to see how the whole thing worked on the other side of the TV screen. The class, which normally meets at 12:30, met at 5pm instead just for the occasion (special thanks to Joe Morales in Auraria's PE building for giving us lots of attention to make sure the space was ready for prime time).

Highlights of the event included:

• I always wondered whether it was odd to not be able to hear the anchors back in the studio, to only hear one end of the banter. It was.
• How exciting was it to see that big antenna outside just for us! The guys were delighted, and passersby were curious.
• Facebook is a weird thing: Chris and I felt like we had already met. Though the hair is even more fantastically shellacked in person, Chris!
• Learning about what goes into the structuring of a spot like this: how many teasers of what kind, what kind of timing and balance is necessary, and having lucid improv skills to be clear and quick!
• Noticing how much attention Chris pays to his surroundings, and how he builds the things he discovers into his bits. I'm willing to give him some honorary ninja points for this.
• It reminded me of an audition: you prepare for a long time, have a lot happening, and when it's over, you're like: um, what just happened? I think it was good. I should have...
• The three bits were so short that about half the things I wanted to plug or do or say didn't get in. But what was in was super fun. Thanks for the book plug!
• Good job, students, for keeping up the energy since 5 (some of you since 1!)pm. Good hair acting, Nate and Scott M.
• Images from the evening's fun, Jenn's phone version.

Thanks again to Chris Parente and the Deuce team for celebrating the geeky goodness that is lightsaber class. ~Jenn

Bonzuko in the News

Any lovely lurkers who are in Colorado, tune in to Channel 2 News ("the Deuce") at 7pm tomorrow. You'll see the one and only Chris Parente doing a live story on the lightsaber class! Don't miss it! In fact, record it for Jenn!

Today's Lightsaber Fun

I'll put more up soon, but here's one clip from today's lightsaber class. Don't you wish you were there? Image is the three-person fight, video is me and Boaz starting to get a bit better. Everything is still in rough draft mode, but we are so close to being ready for public consumption. Oh, wait, the Internet is the public, isn't it... ~Jenn

Random Movement Pic

Here goes the unofficial shuffle and click into the Bonzuko Movement Arts picture archive...

It's Jenn's only foray into the world of the slackline. Very very difficult. The class was called Yoga Rocks! at the Auraria Rec Center, and was a mix of yoga and rock climbing. That day, they added the slack line to the mix. A very cool combination.

Mini-Essay Contest Winner

This summer I am teaching Freshman Comp (Research Writing) at MSCD. Earlier in the semester, I gave my students extra incentive on one of their assignments: the best "mini-essay" would be published here on the Bonzuko blog. Congratulations to Katherine Pivoda, this summer's mini-essay contest winner! Her mini-essay (edited for blogging purposes) is below. Good job, Katherine! Image is from this site.~Jenn


The Twilight of Teenage Literature --Katherine Pivoda
Twilight, a young adult novel rife with vampires and fog, has recently been converted into a shockingly popular movie, and a sequel to the book just announced a first printing of one million: not bad, when one considers the sheer banality of the books and their subject matter. Twilight is a formidable foray into the world of bad literature, and its popularity is only a reflection of the lowered aesthetic standards American teenagers have today.

Conceptually, Twilight just plain fails. Although the plot is fairly straightforward, Stephanie Meyer’s vampires are designed to be fun, fairly innocent creatures. While they do crave blood, they drink animal blood as opposed to human blood. They glitter in the sunlight. Their skin is always cold. They run incredibly quickly and have super-human abilities, such as ESP. Perhaps only an old fashioned fuddy-duddy could let this clash with more traditional, romantic, Anne Rice-esque vampires, but this new conception of sparkly, friendly vampires is disconcerting, to say the least. As Lisa Schillinger asks in the New York Times, “What subversive creature could dream up a universe in which vampires…put marriage ahead of carnage on their to-do list?” Only those in Stephanie Meyer’s world: a world that cruelly robs traditionally seductive creatures of everything that makes them the ultimate monster. In Twilight, there is no overt sexuality, or any of the trademark vampiric traits that make vampire novels worth reading in the first place.

Character development is another crucial thing Twilight lacks. The premise of the story is simple: an adolescent girl (Bella), feeling emotionally abandoned by her mother, moves to a small town in Washington to live with her father. It is there she meets and falls in love with a teenage vampire (Edward). Throughout the novel it is inexplicably difficult to like either Bella or Edward. As the narrator of the novel, Bella is a depressed teenager with a major martyr complex, which is as far as her emotional depth goes. Edward makes no sense as a character: his train of thought is choppy and illogical, and no matter how much love he professes to he is still cold and aloof. While Meyer tries to play off his emotional distance as a vampiric symptom, as the book progresses it is obvious this is just a bad author trying to hide her sub-par writing skills by making excuses for her poorly-thought-out characters.

Twilight’s final flaw is one many young adult novels fall into: a shocking lack of realism. Most book lovers are more than willing to suspend their disbelief for young adult lit. Harry Potter, after all, is loved the world over. However, each character in Twilight is a caricature: over-exaggerated and under-developed. Even the weather in the novel is too typical and telling, an obvious foreshadow that only makes the reader wince. Twilight’s lack of subtlety is astounding, given that so much of the book rests on the simple idea of a girl falling in love and discovering love is flawed. The heavy hand, lack of depth, and sheer banality of much of the book detracts from this valid and archetypal story arch.

Ultimately, Twilight is an exploration of what a good young adult novel shouldn’t be: unsatisfying, poorly thought out, and not at all deserving of the hype. Unfortunately, Twilight (and with it the tacky teenage fans in black T-shirts) seems to be here to stay. And the unfortunate reflection on American youth that inevitably accompanies it? One can only wince.

WORK CITED:
Schillinger, Lisa. “Children’s Books/Young Adult.” The New York Times 12 August 2007. 7 June 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/books/review/Schillinger7-t.html?_r=1.

More Lightsabers

Here's a partial rough draft lightsaber fight from class today. A sneak peek, if you will. Please to enjoy. ~Jenn

Fight Clip Club

More from the Advanced Stage Combat Class: Lightsabers. Look what a good video Jenn's phone takes! Video is Nate and Scott M. beginning choreography outside on the quad.

Saturday's Exciting Event

The Stage Movement students (THE 3220) at MSCD have been working hard all semester on various forms of movement for stage and how to create characters using physicality. Their class will culminate in a final exam performance of Dr. Seuss stories this Saturday the 16th on campus. Bonzuko's own Jenn was the professor this semester, and had a great time! Hard to believe the semester is over already.

What: Stage Movement Final Exam (Dr. Seuss Emsemble performance)

When: 10 am Saturday May 16th

Where: ARTS building room 271, Auraria campus, downtown Denver

The students will be graded on what you see. This is one of the funnest finals you're likely to experience.

MSCD Stage Combat Club Spring is done!

Good semester, all! We in the Stage Combat Club had a great semester, how about you?
We made some great podcasts and began some other fun projects this semester.

The next two big movement arts events that I'd encourage all Stage Combat Club members (and everyone else) to attend the following:

THE 3220 final exam performance: May 16, 10am in ARTS 271 on campus.
Lightsabers Class: June 4 - July 30 on campus. Thursdays 12:30-2pm.

To conclude, here's the latest instructional podcast made by the MSCD Stage Combat Club of Auraria. Titled: flying and falling.

Cinco de Swords

Today I and a couple privileged members of the MSCD Stage Combat Club got to see the 20 new swords Denny Graves made for us! They're obviously very well-made (it's Denny after all) and they are quite varied as far as style. This fall's MSCD Stage Combat class (THE 421C for those registering) will be the first group to put them into practice!

In earlier versions of the Stage Combat Beginning class at MSCD, we worked on three different weapons: unarmed, staff, and sword. Now that the class will soon become a "real" course (not a Variable Topics), I have changed the curriculum to just unarmed and sword, the two most likely ways of fighting an actor will run into. Stay tuned for advanced classes that will incorporate the staff. Enjoy these pictures of MSCD's lovely new set of swords. Thanks Denny, and thanks Megan and Cookie for making them happen! ~Jenn

May the 4th be With You!

Today is Star Wars Day. Yep. Too bad the Stage Combat Club isn't meeting, eh?

Why?

Well, if you speak the title of this post aloud, it sounds just like one of the most famous lines from Star Wars. Try it.

Today, don your Storm Trooper or Boba Fett hoodie, put on your Darth Vader or IG-88 mask, take out your lightsaber, and take a picture. Email your picture to Bonzuko. We'll compile the pictures and see which one wins the people's ovation and fame forever.

For more on Star Wars day, here:
TheStar.com entertainment Today's your day, Star Wars fans

UPCOMING EVENT:
Advanced Stage Combat: lightsaber technique
June 4th - July 30th 2009
Auraria Campus (though this is NOT a college credit course--anyone who has had a stage combat, stage movement, or martial arts class may take it)
Price: $200 (discount for MSCD Stage Combat Club and BQC members)
Be there, young padawans!

Image is of Jenn and John with lightsabers. I have a bad feeling about this...

Theatre Review

Back by popular demand, the ensemble performance class revisited Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a play combining Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. I have reviewed this lovely performance before, but here are the highlights from the redux:

• The pace, while tight and seamless, was borderline breathless this time around.
• The repeated scenes bothered me in the last production--in this one they seemed to fit. And the banquet scene as recap also worked well.
• Bonzuko's own Jas nailed the last very gentle "scented rushes" speeches with enjoyment of the poetry and rhythm of the "boat."
• Kudos to Jessica E. who was in class rehearsing Seuss all morning then went straight to this (very similar) show directly after.
• Many of the actors used too much volume, rendering the complex language incomprehensible.
• Big Scott was on today! His Old Oyster and his Mock Turtle were highlights of today's show!
• Humpty Dumpty and the Jabberwocky were both still some of the coolest physical images I've seen.
• The White and Red Knights' fight and falling were also highlights once again. Jas as the White Knight mimed his awkward armor very well. Martial artists and stage combatants take note of Justin's giant dive roll and Jas' beautiful break falls.
• Tea Party scene once again stellar. Brian is a gifted physical comedian, though I missed the use of his rabbit ears illustrating the clock.
• Nice work on adding the Croquet Scene last-minute! It was seamless and well done. I noticed some of the lines were a bit off, but maybe that was just because I knew how last-minute it was. So much fun to hear Linda's red-faced scream, "Off with his head!"
• Brian's flamingo was one of the funniest moments of the afternoon, especially seeing Kris as a tree attempting to fend him off.

Nice work, everyone--it was as delightful this time as it was last! ~Jenn

Podcasts

Look what happens when you do a Google Video search for "Stage Combat Colorado." Who do you think shows up top of the list? Yup, that's right, the MSCD Stage Combat Club podcast. And you only have to scroll down a little way to see the D&D Day one. Nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxLL_Dv1rlM

Random Movement pic

It's time to dig into the movement image archives...hmmmm what do we have here? Ah!

I know a sledgehammer isn't the first weapon one thinks of when one thinks of a ninja, but a sometime-member of the Stage Combat Club (Aaron) had this realistic-looking-yet-light-plastic version that was as delightful as a rubber chicken. So a ninja will use any weapon at hand. Image: Aaron begging for mercy, Jenn as ninja bringing the hammer down. From MSCD Stage Combat Club 2009. Doesn't it make you want to join?

Alice in Wonderland

This YouTube clip surfaced once in Children's Lit---during the Student Presentation, one student was taken by this and shared it with the class. This week was Alice in Wonderland week again in Children's Lit, as well as rehearsal week for the cast of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast. I guess this amazing piece of literature is weighing on my mind, this creative music video in particular. Enjoy, lovely lurkers. ~Jenn

Event info: Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast
What: a theatrical piece based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by last semester's Theatre Ensemble class
When: Sat., May 2, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Where: ARTS 271 on the Auraria Campus
$: none. Canned food donation requested.

Image is Arthur Rackham's interpretation of the Caucus Race. Jenn pirated it from somewhere or other.