Sketchy Details

State of the Blog Address: 20 February 2010

Thank you for joining me today. There are a few issues that need to be addressed as to the state of Sketchy Details.

First and foremost, I would like to extend a sincere apology for my inconsistent posting these past few weeks. I am being pulled in many directions right now in the real world and have struggled to find the time to consistently produce new content.

You see, there are many things falling together all at once. For starters, I've been tasked with producing a website for my family's charity fund that has been a great struggle. I have asked for months for a list of necessities--such as a mission statement, or proper title--to be provided so I can begin preliminary designs; I received them last night. This is a matter of immediate family communication as my parents have insisted for months I never gave them a document (dated November on the computer) before the last time we discuss it. The organization is on edge about gaining a web presence. I'm honored to be able to use my skills to honor my cousin's memory, but it's frustrating to work with less-than-web-savvy people on this kind of project. Someone suggested just setting up a Google Site and being done with it; the group deserves better and I can easily provide it.

Second is the apex of a three year battle with my current employing school over my salary. The first year, I was hired and promised almost three times as much as I wound up being paid; the director of the drama department supplemented my income in a great way that helped pay off the debts I accumulated bringing their equipment up to date for modern educational theater. The second year, I was promised a substantial pay increase from the Board of Education, only to have most of the paycheck stolen in the chaos surrounding the director's untimely passing right before the show. Pay I was promised for working on their musical, theater festival, Thespian Society induction ceremony, and cabaret fund-raiser was slashed or completely denied. This year, I was promised the position of music director by the principal, vice principal, and numerous Board of Education officials. However, the principal worked behind my back over the summer to hire new people to fill my position and attempted to string me along to assist in transitioning to a new director without pay. Instead, the new director, who wanted me as the music director, has been forced to hire me as a rehearsal accompanist. I was promised the same pay I received last year, but the Board of Education just approved a motion to pay me less than $4/hour for showing up every day and basically acting as the music director. I'm still teaching all the leads their songs, working out new arrangements for the chorus and orchestra, figuring out all the cuts, and collaborating with the director on what music she wants where. I am currently working on finding out how the communication fell out to see an 60% pay cut from last year. Everyone, from the director to the Board of Education officials who will speak to me, insist that I will be paid what I was promised; they just all have a different idea as to what that amount is. I have turned down other work because I feel an obligation to my students who are still struggling with the tragedy of losing their beloved director last year. If it was not for that, I would have been working a much better job. It's a total mess, a constant stress, and it has made me ill.

Third, a corollary: that production is still happening in less than a month and I have to go to rehearsal. If nothing else, the show will be a key part of my resume as I pursue music direction work elsewhere as it's the first time in five years I've been able to get my fingers into a standard, rather than rock/pop/jukebox, show.

Fourth, I'm being given the runaround by a lot of different people and organizations as I attempt to find my next job. If you follow my Twitter, you're well-versed in the Rent non-communication drama. What you don't know are the five summer camps, three educational theater groups, four music schools, and nine local theater/music groups that are promising to get back to me or calling me in for second, third, or fourth interviews about upcoming work. I swear it would be easier to hook on the streets for a few weeks and start my own theater company.

That's not even accounting for school, major family drama, my usual vocal coaching/arranging/transposing work, last minute fill-in gigs, and my non-blog web/writing obligations.

What it comes down to is this: by March, I should be able to return to a six day a week blog posting schedule. Until then, please keep in mind that I have not abandoned this blog and am sincerely sorry for being so inconsistent with maintenance.

Thank you for your understanding.

Full Post Later, Stupidity Rampant Now

I always forget that professors rarely keep students the full session on the first day back unless they really hate themselves. As such, I left my notes on a handful of recent film viewings at home. For at least one of them, Shrooms, twenty five minutes would be ample time to long hand, edit, type, edit, and post the review. Even if it wasn't, I would have had at least another twenty minutes to type and edit after the next class.

As it stands, I'll get a full post up later today. Much later. As in, class till 1, review material for rehearsal till 2, rehearsal till 5:30. So, 7ish?

New Year, New Blog Feature: The Chopping Block

I'm in day 4 of my effort to clean out my bedroom. It's a rather small bedroom, so it's not a matter of climbing on ladders to dust of chandeliers and replace burned out light bulbs. No, it's a matter of unhealthy obsessions.

You see, I kind of became addicted to acquiring books, DVDs, and CDs when I was at NYU. I would have professors tell me to include "X" book/DVD/CD in a paper or suffer a bad grade. At first, I would argue that said book/DVD/CD was not available through the school library, but they wouldn't budge. So, I had to start buying what I couldn't borrow or steal. A lot of professors just assumed that all NYU students were rich. I was not, I'm still not, and I doubt I ever will be. Aside from the near-cripping debt, I find myself neck deep in stacks of books, DVDs, and CDs I've never read/watched/heard, let alone opened in some cases.

That's where The Chopping Block comes in.

The Chopping Block is an exciting new feature on the blog. Right now, I've pared the collection I have in my room by more than half. The portion I'm keeping is currently being organized and crammed into every bookshelf, wall shelf, desk shelf, nook, and cranny I have in the room. The other half is up for grabs very soon.

I will try to make this a weekly feature. It will work like this: I will force myself to watch a DVD, listen to a CD, or read a book I never watched, heard, or read before that is just taking up precious space in my room. I will review it for the site. If I don't like it, it's Up For Grabs. That means someone reading this blog has the opportunity to claim the DVD/CD/book for their own before I have to dispose of it by other means. All you'll need to do to get it is e-mail me what item you want and your shipping info; I'll take care of the rest.

I would like a little more interactivity with this feature, so I would ask whoever gets the condemned DVD/CD/book try to write a short review of it that I can post on the site. It's not required and if you don't want to, that's fine. I just think it would be fun to have another perspective on the media object I chose not to keep.

There are more conditions: if I find the DVD/CD/book interesting and would consider using it for a future article, it goes on The Waiting List. The Waiting List gives me six months to get what I need from the DVD/CD/Book before I'm forced to put it Up For Grabs.

If I like the DVD/CD/book, it's Reprieved. That means I keep it. I don't think it will happen that often as I assume there's a reason I haven't opened many of these items.

So that's the new feature for the New Year. I'll be setting up a page within the blog for The Chopping Block that hopefully explains this in a clearer way.

No Guarantee of New Posts this Week, but Maybe Something Else

It's a very hectic time for me right now.

1) It's Thanksgiving this week. That may not seem like much, but I have to prepare desserts for a Thanksgiving tomorrow and a Thanksgiving Thursday. My brother is most likely getting stuck in NYC on Thanksgiving Day, so we're having an early Thanksgiving for the family tomorrow. Then Thursday is the actual Thanksgiving with other family. Maybe I wouldn't be in such a mood over it if my pumpking pie actually set properly or the lemon merengue pie didn't turn into an oil slick. At least the pumpkin muffins turned out perfect: nicely domed, moist, and delicious.

2) I'm finally getting the sheet music for my next job. Sure, I would have greatly appreciated having the music more than 6 days before I have to show up to play for meetings, auditions, and rehearsals, but this is a school that faced massive changes by way of death, retirements, firings, and quittings in a very short period, so I can't hold a grudge. I can be mad that I was bumped from music director so a physics teacher could have that title, but I can't be mad over the music. They just finished their fall production yesterday and were stopped every step of the way by admins. Copying things for the musical was the least of their worries. Technically, I can't even enter the building during school hours until I'm fingerprinted on 3 December. Now that there's a new drama teacher, no one is trusted. That's why sets were still being painted Friday afternoon.

However, there are some interesting developments happening right now that are also eating into my time. Something good might come out of the Piranhas screening tomorrow night. We'll see. Knowing my luck, this will be the film (not The Road or Nine) that requires a signed NDA to get in, like box office dynamite Take the Lead and Reno 911!: Miami did in the past. Something better might come of a lead a parent gave me at the show Friday night. I'm not holding my breath on that one, but again, we'll see.

So, maybe that Precious review will overcome the obstacle of a weekend migraine and actually appear on this site this week somehow. I hope. Then again, it might slip away like Inglourious Basterds or Where the Wild Things Are.

Art, Sketch, Craft, or Robert's Got A Brand New Blog

There's obviously a a writerly side to me. I wouldn't be blogging and freelancing and running short story contests and all that other stuff if there wasn't.

There's also a visual arts side to me. If the Halloween decorations don't give it away, the Etsy (very lonely, not for long) should.

This is why I'm proud to announce to opening of a brand new blog through my Typepad account: Art, Sketch, Craft. It will be the epicenter of my artistic output: ceramics, glass work, painting, clay, fabric arts, digital art, decorative work - any and all projects I do will be accounted for. There will be how-to's, concept sketches, step-by-step builds, finished projects, and more.

I'm excited to see where this takes me. The first post is already up, showing what might be the cutest piece I've ever done. This concerns me since I tend not to do cute. Exorcising Halloween demons, perhaps? I'm not sure. Tis the season to play nice, put out the cute stuff, and see what sells. It can't all be giant sea monsters lovingly detailed with dry brushing.

So feel free to swing on by and tell me what you think of the new digs. Comments are always welcome at my sketchy blogs.

Horror Board Short Story Contest: Voting Open

I would like to invite you all to visit the homepage of the Horror Board Short Story Contest. Voting opened yesterday, which means a new crop of stories is available to read, ponder, and critique.

I would really appreciate it if you guys could try to post some feedback to these writers. It feels like the contest is near mutiny because apparently, when I asked for feedback from the participants every step of the way in the contest, no one realized I asked them to point out any potential problems. Now I have people complaining that they don't like the site design, and they think I must be stupid to list the screen name of the writer, and why only 10 days to vote (already upped from a week, mind you, from some earlier feedback from people willing to put some effort into this), and why those prizes when DVDs would be more desirable, etc., etc., etc.

It comes down to this: I'm trying to fulfill my promise to these people that the contest will be as fair as possible. I'm inviting basically everyone I know to go submit feedback and vote on these stories. Even that's never going to be enough for some of these users.

Now I understand why the last organizer left IMDB for greener pastures...

Fair and Balanced, or An Important Series of Sketchy Announcements

With all due respect to my readership, I must warn you of what is to come in the month of October.

For one thing, the IMDB Horror Board is hosting its annual challenge to see 31 horror films in October. As such, there may be a few more horror film posts than usual on the site.

Another thing, I will be launching the new version of the Horror Board Short Story Contest tomorrow. Obviously, this is because I never ever have enough to do with running an online business, freelance writing, school, working for a school, building three yard's worth of Halloween decorations, writing music, teaching private lessons, and preparing for the zombie apocalypse.

Speaking of Halloween, did you know that's in a month?

Which means NaNoWriMo is in a month and a day?

What I'm getting at is this: There will be lots of horror and horror-connected posts in October. I will do my best to cover a broad spectrum of topics not related to horror, though that's where my head will be.

You've been warned.

I'm Back: The Exorcist, Bruno, Harry Potter, and Camp

If ever the blog should fall again to people stealing my money, please to advise that I do have a twitter that would give you a pretty good idea what the topic would have been that day. I don't bite over that, and I do reciprocate following with non-spammers/non-pornstars/non-prostitutes.

1) I can't believe The Exorcist, the novel by William Peter Blatty, has sat unread on my shelf for at least 13 years, probably longer. I loved it. The only reason I put it down was because of work, as I was strongly cautioned not to bring the book back to work to read on my lunch break. Stupid spoiled kids. The novel is beautifully written, with slight shifts in style depending on whether the subject was Chris MacNiel, Damien Karras, or the police lieutenant. Very, very subtle technique to explore faith versus doubt, and terrifying, to boot. Far greater than the film, though there was no way to really capture that book as a film and really stay true to the material.

2) I also saw Bruno with my brother. I enjoyed it for what it was. Honestly, I went to see Cohen's acting and was not disappointed. Unlike Borat, the man did not break once, even when everything was consistently exploding in his face thanks to certain groups of people making it their mission to call out his stunts whenever they could find him and wreck his film. If these big events weren't almost all ruined and cut short, the film would have easily been better. What's left is a frenetic mix of gags more like Da Ali G show than a workable narrative film.

3) Harry Potter and the Curious Case of the Awful Romantic Comedy. Too much lovey-dovey, not enough batshit crazy Bellatrix. And I got my hopes up way too high after HBC was allowed to act in her first scene.

4) As I said on the Twitter, apparently some counselors that don't like me from last year have taught their kids a simple way to tell the difference between me and another specialist: he's the chubby one, I'm the fat one. Now, let's go a little deeper: the "chubby" one is a lacrosse player for a major American university - he is jacked, very tan, and three inches taller than me; there is no way you could call him chubby. I'm exceptionally pale, chubby, shorter, and stay inside a cabin all day playing keyboard, guitar, wind instruments, and percussion to programs surrounding Radio Disney. I think there were other ways to teach the kids our names and I'm this close to throwing the one who started it in the toxic lake with condoms floating in it. I don't think anyone would blame me.

There's also a horrible epidemic at the camp: counselors are being fired because parents are calling up to lie to the directors. In two weeks, at least 5 counselors have been kicked out for anything from "he was mean to me" to "she said I was a bad child." Here's the catch: there are at least 3 counselors traveling with every group of kids. Wouldn't it make sense to ask the other two counselors what happened instead of firing someone on the basis of a first grade's sense of reality? The camp is cheap; that's the real reason for the mysterious layoffs.

I've been informed by parents that I'm an awful human being running music and drama like a boot camp. How dare I ask their child to stand up and play limbo on the Luau Day, or to please stop punching my guitar because it could break? What a monster. I know. I'm a horrible, horrible person and should never work with children again. After all, it's just music and drama - one told me I'd have to be a fag to actually believe children needed arts.

And that's my life for the next four weeks. Wonderful. I'm no longer allowed to ask everyone to participate, as that's too much of an attack. I have to start the activity and work with whatever students decide to not try jumping out the windows or piss in the corner. Worst of all: my cabin is the same cabin as the office of the camp; they can clearly see I've done nothing wrong yet I keep getting dressed down because of anonymous complaints about music and drama being taught at all in a sports camp. I didn't make the position, and I'm not going to half-ass it and feel guilty that students interested won't be allowed to do anything.

Tomorrow, I'll show up again 30 minutes before they'll even pay me, be yelled at for showing up too early, then proceed to make sure all my personal equipment is set up and ready to go for the first group of spoiled children who are so special they are always right no matter what they do.

Brief Update: Camp Job

I'm teaching music and drama to 1-4 grade.

The previous drama director was booted from the job for being a jackass. He vowed to his fellow counselors to steal the job back. It ain't happening.

Thankfully, a choreographing duo is teaching dance. I don't have to if I don't want to.

The people that need to know how amazing I was (their words) last year know, and will not be putting up with BS from the counselors about me. The woman in charge of the camps is bending over backwards to make sure my facilities are adequate; she even had a giant locking cabinet ordered for me so I can lock my equipment up if I so choose (it comes home with me to prep for the next day).

I also don't have to see the same kids every single day. At most, I see a group of first graders 3 times a week. Every other group is twice or less.

Lovely, sprawling campgrounds. And my only other duties are to make sure, for 40 minutes four days a week, the kids don't drown in the sprinklers, sit with the nurse for 40 minutes once a week, and yank kids out of cars/shove parents around into parking places.

On the minus side, I believe a bird flew into my cabin today and started a nest. That, and the horribly leaking problem that poses a significant safety hazard. I requested but a folding chair and my own mop for camp-supplied equipment.

Win some, lose some.

Jason M. Hrusick Memorial Softball Tournament

First, let me thank all of you who contacted me about this event from the link on the blog. Your efforts are very much appreciated by my family.

Second, we finally have some web presence through media. WHUD, 100.7 - Westchester and The Hudson Valley's Music and News Network - finally included us on their website. Here's their write-up of the event:

Jason M. Hruscik Memorial Softball Tournament

Date : July 11, 2009

Category : Sports

Description :
The first annual Jason M. Hruscik Memorial Softball tournament will be held at the Sloatsburg Village Fields located behind Rhodes Tavern,Route 17 in Sloatsburg. 9 am

Jason was a second grade teacher in PS 85 in the Bronx. His unexpected death left his family heart broken. In Jason's honor, they formed the Jason M. Hruscik Memorial Fund that helps children at PS 85 in the Bronx, and the New York Organ Donor Network. Celebrate the life of this wonderful man

Contact Information : No admission fee. For more information please call Kathleen Hruscik @ 914-391-3321.

Email : Writer217@aol.com

If you are in the area*, I hope you'll take the time to swing by. The event should be going on all day and everything we can get is a big help to the cause.

Thank you.

*40 Orange Tpke Sloatsburg, NY 10974-2412