Long Blog because its been a long time.

So I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog. I go through periods where I am entering something once a day sometimes twice a day. Then there are times when I just don't feel in the creative writing mood and just don't write anything. This happens often, like phases or something. I think it is great that some people can blog every single day. Take Danny Rouhier for instance. He is a blog machine. He writes novels on every single entry and they are always stories that make you a better person. Just the other day I realized I didn't know anything about the NFL draft. Then I read Danny's blog and today I realized I don't know anything about sports in general. I don't really watch tv so I can't talk about a favorite show of mine. I just come across things on tv when I am sitting on the couch. I am rarely there though. I am getting ready for the World Cup though, and by getting ready I mean not really doing any preparation except waiting for the games to start so I can sit and watch them. There really is nothing to get ready for. The new TOOL album is awesome. Every single song has grown on me. My favorites that grew on me, grew on me in this order. Vicarious Right In Two Wings for Marie (part 1) 10,000 Days (Wings part 2) Jambi Intension and now Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned (I am still getting into The Pot, Lipan Conjuring and Vigniti Tres) The depth of this album and the callbacks to past work in each song is what makes this band truly great. They have so much mystery surrounding them and it just grows and grows with every album and every live performance. There is no other band out there that is this intelligent. The things they sing about inspire people to look deeper and further into topics they may have never explored. I for one have been inspired to research and learn about things I might have never known existed. Enough on this. I used to listen to this one band called Frou Frou about 3 years ago. I thought the entire cd was awesome. Then I saw Imogen Heap on the tonight show with Jay Leno and discovered that this is the female singer from Frou Frou. I decided to buy the Imogen Heap album today. I have only heard one song on this album so far but I really like bands and performers with good peotry. I enjoy it when you can tell that the person really means what they are saying and has some personal connection with their own music and message. I enjoy this in stand-up as well. Granted what you are doing in standup is comical and humorous so there isn't such an element of seriousness. However you can still see a difference in a lot of comics in relation to this. There are those that whole heartedly believe in what they are saying and giving, there are some that just go through the motions. there are some that have horrible or just okay jokes but are passionate about their approach and there are some that have amazing jokes but have zero personality on stage. I see this as an audience member. I have seen some comics with amazing jokes but they are so stale on the stage that anyone could actually perform their joke. That is one particular goal of mine as a comic. In reality anyone could perform other comics jokes verbatim. Steal an idea or a punchline or a phrase. I know this is possible with my jokes also. I don't think I write jokes that are the absolute smartest thing anyone has ever heard. I don't think I'm at a point where what I am writing is some eye opening thoughts for anyone. I do know that I am not writing things I consider simple and def. not ripping off any other comics. I'm trying to write things that are personal and funny to me. The goal for me is to be able to match what I'm writing with my stage persona. Over two years I have relaxed more and more on stage and started to discover my most comfortable self on stage. I'm not fully there but it comes and goes and I feel it more and more. I want to be 100 percent that my stage persona matches the content. I have thrown out almost everything I started with in my first year. I think that is crucial for me personally. Not becoming married to this stuff because if I am it keeps my persona from evolving. I (yes in my own personal opinion) would rather watch someone I find interesting on stage than someone that has incredible jokes with no personality or delivery or flexibility. I can sense someones awkwardness or lack of confidence. We all know what lack of confidence feels like and looks like because we have all experienced it. Any audience can see it. There are comics that never explore their own persona on stage because of this fear. Some of these comics take the path of "easy" jokes in order to get a laugh and convince themselves that they are comfortable. You can see it, we have all had these easy jokes. They are a great stepping stone in starting comedy. People will laugh at them but they aren't laughing at you. For me that is the point. To give people laughter, true laughter from yourself that you thought of that you created. In whatever way you want to do it. I choose to make it personal and avoid ripping jokes or stealing ideas. Because then when people laugh at what I'm doing I know they are truly laughing at my performance as a whole. Seems as though I'm slipping back into giving my opinion on standup. Uh oh. blah blah blah blah says that one comic that hates people with opinions. We all know him.