Tag: fun

And after we watched Don’t Think Twice, we got to hear the writer/director chat!

Tickets! (Or: a piece of paper that is standing in for tickets.)

The conversation with Mike Birbiglia was facilitated by a woman who is a local in the Improv scene.  In other news, I’m quite happy with this photo, because it accidentally captures a moment in the credits that is a callback to a funny bit in the movie.  (Thank youuuuuuu).

Mike Birbiglia does not stay still for long.  I have about ten photos with some part of him blurry.  This was my best shot.

The theater guy (if memory serves, his name is Tom) was quite still, and it was easier to get a photo.

And here is where Mr. Birbiglia became distracted by an audience member’s shirt with Laser Cats on it and had to take a photo.

Things I learned from the chat/Q&A:

• If we liked the movie, we should tell our friends because, “You’re the advertising budget.”  (I did like it.  You should see it.)
• Mike Birbiglia’s favorite thing about Improv is that it has the potential to be the best thing you’ve ever seen, or the potential to not be so good.  But either way, you’ve only spent five bucks.
• “You don’t get a body like this [points at his average, american-style body] without a some work!”  Apparently said work takes place on the treadmill, sometimes while Facetiming with your child.
• The Improv scenes in the movie were scripted, but inspired by real-life Improv.
• The “stage” at Cinema 21–which caused Birbiglia to question how little you need to be a stage–is referred to by staff as a “riser”
• There was an Improv festival happening in Portland that very weekend.
• Worst advice about Improv Mike Birbiglia has ever received:  Don’t ever try to link Improv with fame or fortune.  Because it’s not about how many likes you get, it’s about connection.
• Suicide Squad also opened the same weekend and was rated PG-13, despite much killing.  Don’t Think Twice was rated R for pot smoking.  Values and beliefs?
• There was a guy recording the talk.  Mild heckling by Mr. Birbiglia did not bring an end to recording.  Officially calling it out finally did.  “You know, you really can’t do that.  And also.  Be here now.”
• Comedy and Improv are two art forms are different: comedy is a solitary venture, driving across the country on your own and doing shows.  Improv is about working collaboratively.

Work took us to space!  Or, more accurately, the Space Exhibit at OMSI.  But first, we got a backstage tour of OMSI, which was awesome.

The iconic letters

See that staff only sign?  We’re going behind that door!

It was really interesting to learn how the exhibits are built and stored.  Here, our guide stands in front of a poster with principals such as font size and how to make sure people using wheelchairs can have full access.

Details from the offices of the design area.  I loved the house-made cubicle dividers.

Here are some exhibits that have been recovered from storage.  The team has plans to update the graphics to make them more accessible for girls and for native Spanish speakers. (Also to make them not quite so 80s.)

One principle of design for a museum catering to children is “never underestimate the power of an eight-year-old girl.”  Apparently children en mass can really tear apart structures, so things must be over-designed for heavy use.  The design team attributes this destruction to kids not knowing their own power.  “Adults could never break something, because they know they can’t.  Kids don’t know that and so they can.”

Scrap wood detail.

I loved the bins for various things.

OMSI sends exhibits around the country and also has traveling presentations.  Thus, things can be neatly packaged.

So many fun things were hanging, and hanging out.

Apparently no one knows where this pterodactyl came from.  It’s just always been there.

They had some really great old machines, too.

Bigger exhibits are shipped in boxes on these carts.

Another really awesome house-made item.

Getting our picture taken in front of the OMSI sign.

This shake house has been part of OMSI for a very long time.  I went in it as a child, back when OMSI was located by the zoo.  It repeatedly played a snippet of Carol King’s “I feel the earth move”.  Apparently, it did this until just a few years ago.

Puzzling through some puzzles.

You can see some of the female friendlier colors that were incorporated into this exhibit.  The informational panels are also printed in both Spanish and English.

Really fun pipes.

And then we went to space.  My co-worker with her head in an astronaut suit.

And me too.  That’s as close to a space suit as I will ever get.

Real-time cloud cover!

Part of space was a simulation of what it’s like to be in a gravity-free environment in the international space station.  You stand, the space station spins around you.  A guy watches you closely to make sure you don’t pass out.

It took me about fifteen minutes to recover my equilibrium.  Space is not for me.

Kind of amazing, eh?

I came home and the shoes came off, the sticker came off , the wristband came off.  I drank three glasses of water, as everyone who drinks should.  Then I moved very slowly the next morning.