french space man

With the switch to the card system they also increased the price of the dryer by fifty cents. Not so bad on the single scale but now I only get four loads from $10 instead of five. Well, I don't do a lot of laundry. Still I'd prefer the extra load.

A machine malfunctioned and the person who was using it just left their laundry in the broken machine. It was filled to the top with stinky water and decent enough looking clothes.

Started watching the next season of The Wire. Probably will finish it before the weekend is up. I have a lot of drawing to do so the show should provide most excellent company.

Tonight's TBA was Philippe Quesne / Vivarium Studio: L'Effet de Serge. I had to cross Burnside to get to the theatre. I don't like Burnside. Too crowded and traffic laden. There was plenty of bike parking and the tucked away venue didn't have too much of a line. It wasn't even a full audience. I wasn't in the front row but I was glad of it. I liked being able to see the full stage. The set up was a basement studio of sorts; very long and shallow. There was a sliding glass door, a ping pong table and various things set on and around it.

The play opened with Gaetan Vourc'h walking around in a astronaut suit and explaining that all of their plays begin with the ending of the last play. He walked around the stage and introduced all of the objects and the layout of the house and what Serge's neighborhood was like. He explained that Serge likes to put on sort, three minute performances for his friends on Sunday and is experimenting with voice over. He switched to voice over and left the stage to return in character. The rest of the play was centered around his Sundays and his friends coming over and seeing his quaint little performances. He milled around and it was generally quiet through most of the play but still enjoyable. Each occurrence of time passing had a voice over, "time is passing time is passing it is Sunday...". Sort of like that, but not quite. For his first friend, a lady who arrived by bike, he controlled a remote control car under a box with a sparkler attached to the top of it. His second show, to a couple who arrive by car, he controlled the lights of their Porsche in rhythm to Ride of the Valkyries. All of his performances were in tune to a song, but that is the only one I remember. The third show was to a female who came on foot. Before she arrived he was playing with a light rope and some glow stick eye glasses. It was an adorable moment of him swinging about the ropes. And then he ran into the door. When his lady friend showed up he was still wearing the glasses and was tending to his busted nose. It was one of the more awkward moments of the play (there were many, it was very awkward and quiet all together). For her, he did a laser show against the wall. All of his company tried to give a little critique of what he did before leaving.

The big finale were fireworks. He hooked up the trigger to his feet and ignited each one slowly, bringing the wires together in a paced motion. His audience was made up of the four friends who had arrived earlier in the play and another one. The third lady gave him a tee shirt. They awkwardly looked at each other. Another friend arrived late for his little show. Pizza interrupted his first attempt. I found myself identifying a great deal with Serge. I know all too well those awkward moments with company where you are unsure what to say and you are just standing there looking around. I think Lindsay would have liked this performance.

I went down 7th and crossed the Hawthorne bridge on my way back.

Tomorrow I hope to hang with Jen and do a little cafe drawing.