Grab Bag Comics - "Keeping the FUNK in functional!"

May 24, 2008: "Birthday Business Lessons"

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Still really busy with rehearsals, which is why you haven't heard from me. But I do have new for you!

Frank & Erin and I saw an advanced screening of Hancock last night. Will Smith turned in another great performance. The rest of the movie was terrible. The tone was wildly uneven, the plot was jumbled and full of gaping holes, and nobody seems to have ever told the director about the SteadiCam. I realize that Paul Greengrass made Shaky-Cam the new big thing in cinematography, but even the most serene scenes of this film looked like were shot hand-held by a guy with Parkinsons. It gave me a headache and made me sick. Thus concludes my review.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

May 14, 2008: "Dating Myself"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck, voice-over

May 9, 2008: "Hindsight"

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If you have the chance, you should definitely see this show. Check out the show's website and this article all about it.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends, war

April 17, 2008: "Frank Advice"

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A little off-color perhaps, but it was too funny a premise for a comic to pass up!

Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends

April 9, 2008: "The Name Game"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck, voice-over

April 4, 2008: "You Betta!"

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I'm officially one month behind on these strips. Woohoo! But this is the very last "Girls Will Be Girls" strip, so no more adventures in drag for y'all. Sorry, I know how much you loved it. :)

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

April 8, 2008: "Souvenir"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

March 24, 2008: "Easter Date"

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Labels: acting, dating, dumbstruck

Sorry folks. I know that the updates have been sporadic this week. I've just not been feeling the same way about comics that I used to, as a medium I mean. They offer me no inspiration anymore. This is what truly inspires me:
Scary Time!

Scary Time!

I think it's time I make the change.

Labels: acting, crazy

March 10, 2008: "Coco Adlibs"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

March 8, 2008: "Girl Troubles"

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This past week has been pretty crazy for me- heck, these last FEW weeks have been crammed full of doin' stuff. And the comics have been at the bottom of the to-do list. But hopefully I'll be churning out more over the next few days...

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

March 3, 2008: "Breaking Things For Luck"

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Happy St. Pats, people. I suspect everyone is all hungover from the St. Pats weekend celebrations which, in Chicago, start on March 1st.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

February 27, 2008: "The Classics"

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Coming to see the show this weekend? You should. You should also get a drink or two ahead of time. It makes everything funnier. :)

Labels: acting, dumbstruck, ups

February 19, 2008: "Ladies Night"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

February 8, 2008: "Piling On The Ladies"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

January 30, 2008: "Making Inroads"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

January 21, 2008: "The Fragrance of Italy"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

January 18, 2008: "Experimental Theatre"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

January 8, 2008: "Blood and Guts"

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Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, when a whole bunch of states vote in their primaries, not just for presidential candidates but for a whole slew of local candidates as well. I hope you plan to vote. Kazu Kibuishi made a great observation about Clinton & Obama's recent speeches (with video links). Hillary seems to me to be a great politician, but Barack seems more like a leader. As for you Republicans out there so eager to elect McCain, did you hear what he did to Romney just before the Florida primary election? He told everyone that Romney was eager for pullout timetable for Iraq like the Democrats are, which was blatantly not true (I read Romney's comments and I agree with them: timetables and milestones contingent upon benchmarks and success are a part of war planning, but they should be a military secret with the Iraqi government). Such underhanded behavior seems a lot like our current president and his "architect," and is that really what we need more of?

Whoever you support, make your voice heard tomorrow!

Labels: acting, dumbstruck, news

Here is a poster for the performance piece I'm currently in at the Musuem of Contemporary Art. (This is an old poster; I couldn't find one for this current performance at the MCA.) The overall concensus is that it's full of powerful theatrical imagery and sound and is a fantastic success. It's completely sold out. I, unfortunately, haven't gotten to see two-thirds of it because I'm backstage, but the parts I have seen are spectacular. As a whole, it lacks structure and I don't understand it. But the individual pieces of it are brilliant. Click on the poster to see photos from a past performance and you'll see what I mean.

Labels: acting, news

December 8, 2007: "Hubris"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

December 5, 2007: "In Over My Head"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

Who Hates Performance Art? I Do!

In fact, my hatred of performance art is legendary among my friends. Especially Chris "Hey, I'll get one of my friends to shoot me in the arm and call it art!" Burden. That guy's a flaming idiot. And he pulled that stunt back in the 70s. Nowadays he does visual art that is just as inane and ill-conceived.

But I digress! I don't hate all performance art. I have just found that 90% of performance artists do not adequately communicate their intentions to their audience. And without any prior understanding of what's going on, most performance art is just weird and unintelligable. Can you tell I wrote a research paper on this for grad school?

Anyways, James convinced me to answer an open call for performers for a performance piece at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's called Hey Girl! and it's staged by an Italian experimental theatre group called Societas Raffaello Sanzio. Judging by the script, it's going to be pretty weird. Will I give it my stamp of approval? Come see me in it this weekend! Go to the MCA website for more info.

Labels: acting, news

November 23, 2007: "Thanksgiving Exposition"

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I'm actually not very fond of this strip in that I'm not thrilled with the drawing and it's not funny. But it's a necessary set up for future strips, so there you go. I'll have something more amusing tomorrow.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends, news

November 21, 2007: "Engaged!"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends

November 20, 2007: "Anticlimax"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

November 13, 2007: "Killing Time"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

October 31, 2007: "The Long Kiss"

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Ah, acting!

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

October 29, 2007: "More About 'Five Women'"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

October 26, 2007: "Davy Jones, Part 3"

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Happy Thanksgiving, folks! And here's the end of the Davy Jones saga, as well! And one last bit of business that I've been forgetting: you can now check out all the short films that Frank has been making by going to his website (www.FrankMerle.com) and clicking on "Frank Merle films." You'll see some familiar faces, including a film based on my "Homeland Security" strips this summer that he's entered in a contest on YouTube.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends, news

October 22, 2007: "Boys vs Girls"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

It's that time again folks: time to open another show! This one is at giant new Center on Halsted, which is reportedly the largest gay & lesbian community center in the country. Click on the image for more info.

Labels: acting

October 12, 2007: "A Hot Ending"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

October 8, 2007: "Workin' Blue"

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I'm having some issues with Blogger, so posting may be sporadic for a while. I'm think of changing to WordPress soon. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

October 1, 2007: "Biloxi Fart Symphony"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends

September 24, 2007: "Paying To Work"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends

September 20, 2007: "Time, Precious Time..."

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It occurs to me that my last couple comics haven't been all that funny. I promise to correct this oversight in the future.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

September 19, 2007: "My Own Worst Critic"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck, friends

September 18, 2007: "Raising Your Game"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

September 14, 2007: "An Actor's Life"

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As a side note, Biloxi Blues is open and has been Recommended by the Chicago Reader, Chicago's most popular free weekly paper: "...the ensemble... perform with such verve and intelligence they make even the more manipulative moments in Simon's carefully polished tale seem fresh and real." Woohoo!

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

September 12, 2007: "Dramatic Effect"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

September 11, 2007: "Accent-mania!"

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I have nothing political or war-related today.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

August 30, 2007: "Making A Difference"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

August 29, 2007: "Biloxi Blues"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

August 14, 2007: "Ensemble Spirit"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

August 13, 2007: "Beardo"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

August 8, 2007: "The Audition Circuit"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

This here's the play I'm in now. It opens Friday and runs for about a month.

Labels: acting

July 18, 2007: "Perfect Fit"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

June 8, 2007: "Back to the Real World"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

June 7, 2007: "Making The Big Bucks"

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Incidentally, I've also met this gentleman- he comes into my store now and again- and he really is a fantastically nice guy.

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

June 6, 2007: "Weight Management"

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This is year-old news, but the falafel reminded me of it: Islamic Extremists Ban Falafels. Oh, the irony of it all!

Labels: acting, dumbstruck

June 5, 2007: "The Art of Compromise"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

June 1, 2007: "Movie Time"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

May 31, 2007: "Inspiration"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

The comics have been on hold because of other projects, specifically a movie I'm working on. I'm in it and I spent all last week doing the storyboards for it. (I'll post those up here someday.) In the meantime, here are two logos I designed for use in the film. Serious props go out to Mandy for helping me with the super-stylizing of the Cheating one.

I'll have more comics for you next week, once the filming is done.

Labels: acting, news

April 10, 2007: "The Audition Cycle"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

April 5, 2007: "Right To Work"

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Labels: acting, dumbstruck

All artwork contained on this site is property of it's respective author(s). Respect that. Check out my other sites:
Actor Site

Lord Of The Flies thesis

Keyhole Theatre Co.

ComicSpace