Home of filmmaker, improviser, and decent dude Geoff Ross.

My NYC improv team, Casual Sex Offenders is up in Boston for the weekend. We are doing three (THREE!) shows at ImprovBoston. Yesterday was with the IB group Bastards, Inc.. Here’s the video evidence.

Way back in February (about two weeks ago) my improv group Casual Sex Offenders traveled to Carrboro, North Carolina for the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival to do a little bit of that old tyme comedy.

My improv group, Casual Sex Offenders, came to Boston on December 12th.  We did one of those shows we do.  You know, the ones with the laughs?  Allegedly.  Well, here’s the video evidence.

My New York improv group Casual Sex Offenders do shows all the time.  Often multiple shows a week.  I’m rarely there due to the fact that I live in Boston.  Makes it tough to participate, you know?  However, every now and then I make the trip south to New York get onstage and do the funny.  This past Sunday was one of those times.

On September 19th I was back in New York and did another Casual Sex Offenders show this time at Gotham City Improv.  The video evidence is below.  Please note that there is a glitch in the clip towards the end.

I was a bit disappointed with my performance and felt we all did better in an earlier show.  There is a lot to be learned from this clip like how I need to be more aggressive with my backline support and commit to my characters more fully.  But I won’t bore you with that.  Instead I’ll bore you with this.

On September 6th I was briefly back in New York City.  Why?  Well, to see my girlfriend, but also to do a show.  My new improv group, Casual Sex Offenders, had it’s first show that day at The Creek and The Cave in Long Island City, Queens.  This video is the unedited ~20 minutes set.  Yours truly first shows up about three and a half minutes in.  Enjoy.

On August 8th (aka yesterday) I had my last improv comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.  The current hope is that I can come back next summer.

Oh, don’t you worry, there will be stories about this Chicago adventure.  The flight there took about six hours and a couple planes.  Awesome.  I’ll have more for you when I get back, but here are some of the photos.

So crass.

A group of my fellow improv 201 students (Cecile, Dara, Jason, Austin, Shalyah, Brad, Esther, and Eric) got together to practice today.  This is only the second time we’ve had practice sessions outside of class (class itself ended nearly a month ago), but I already have a good feeling about these folks.  We’re going to get some interesting things done.

In other news: the infamous sketch video churns along slowly.  I hit a technical snag that has taken me a few days (on-going) to get sorted.  I really want to push this thing out the door, but I’m not going to do that until Greg and Anthony sign off on the whole thing.

Tomorrow is the next Society of Reasonable People™ meeting.  I decided to write my Zombies! script.  I have some of the first pages written and am quite interested in what people think.

I’m going to turn off some of the new plug-ins I installed because they just don’t fit the current look of this website.  As soon as I get around to redesigning the front page (no idea when that’ll be) I will bring some of those things back.

You may recall that earlier this month I went on and on about something. Now that February is ending (Is it just me or has this been the longest February in the history of mankind? No, I don’t know what hyperbole is.) here’s a brief update on some of that stuff.

1. I’ve adjusted to the new work schedule and have been pleased with it. Plus, no rickets! AWESOME!

2. I did see my family for the birthday dinner. Right now the next time I’ll see them in the flesh is Easter weekend. I have to make some schedule change requests at work before I can confirm that, though.

3. The Society for Reasonable People did meet. In fact we met earlier this week. I went with my Zombies! and did a better job at promoting its merits this time around. That project is a go. That being said, To the Moon is by no means dead…just delayed.

4. The Arlington video is still a W.I.P.

5. The sketch video shoot is scheduled for Monday, March 2nd. I’ve boarded it and planned it to be shot in a fast and loose style that I haven’t done for a narrative project in years. This excites me.

6. I did sign up for improv 201 (and 301 for that matter). For those of you in the New York area your opportunity to see Geoff Ross Liveâ„¢ is coming! March 8th. Noon. The UCB Theatre. The LOLs…there will be thousands.

Last night I went to the UCB Theatre with Russ, Greg, Devito, Amanda, Ariel, and a bunch of Ariel’s friends whose names and faces I refuse to remember. I was unable to sell the idea of going to an improv show late at night on a Monday to M or to Keenan for that matter. I was more surprised that I was unable to convince Keenan to go, but, in his defense, he may be in India right now. That’s sort of far away. We saw 2 Square starring John Lutz (a writer for SNL and an actor on 30 Rock where he plays…a writer) and Peter Grosz (a writer for The Colbert Report and one half of those two guys in those Sonic commercials). It was excellent. So much so I may start calling myself Randolph MaMillionaire from now on.

That’s not the point though.

The point is I had a good time, but on my way back to the Brooklyn Sexateriaâ„¢ (Today’s special? Chastity.) I thought about all the stuff I still have to do. That brought me down. But, since I have a website with my name on it, I thought I would subject you all to my ramblings. Enjoy.

1. Two of my co-workers got laid-off. What that means for me is my work schedule is changing. Drastically. The good news is I will work when the sun’s up. Finally I will get that Vitamin D all the kids are talking about. I don’t want rickets. However, the schedule change will wreak havoc on my private life. I will have to cancel on people I prefer not to cancel on. Like my parents.

2. My parents live upstate. Also they work in the city. Despite this I haven’t seen them since Christmas. I try to drop by the house once a month, but that has been difficult to do over the past three. I told them I would try to make it to the house this weekend, but that looks unlikely now. To make matters worse, my Dad’s birthday is coming up (February 12th same as Lincoln) as is my brother Chris’ birthday (February 9th same as Ziyi) so I need to see my family. No excuses. On the week of the 9th, now to be known as The Ross Birthday Weekâ„¢, there is some potential to meet up with the family for a celebratory dinner on the 12th. Not quite the same as a visit, but better than nothing.

3. I formed a screenwriting club. I call it the Society for Reasonable People because it is such bland-sounding name that it sounds like it is hiding something fascinating. I like it. We meet once a month. The first meeting was in January and went well. I pitched two stories that I had a decent grasp of (Zombies! and To The Moon) and one that was just a concept (Milf). Of the three Milf had the best title, of course, but I felt Zombies! was the strongest. The group disagreed. They liked To The Moon the best. I was caught off-guard by that. I think they preferred it because its main character was an eight-year-old kid with big dreams whereas Zombies! stars a bitter old man who has lived past his prime in a world that doesn’t want him anymore. The task I put before everyone was to complete one’s “next step” before the next meeting. Even though it has been almost a month I still haven’t decided which story I want to do. Either I will follow my gut and pursue Zombies! or honor the reason I got these people together in the first place, their expert opinion, and pursue To The Moon. Well, I have until the next meeting to decide. The next meeting is scheduled for the 11th…right in the middle of The Ross Birthday Weekâ„¢.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Since we all have to do more at work the 11th is no longer viable for the meeting. I’ll have to reschedule. I don’t like delaying promises I’ve made to people. I don’t like being flakey.

4. In October 2008 my late Grandfather was laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery. I attended along with my family. It was a phenomenal experience that I won’t witness again. I videotaped it. That wasn’t my original plan. In fact, it was never my plan. No, Mom asked me to do it. On the one hand I was upset that this videotaping plan was sprung on me as I was stepping out the door. I felt (and continue to feel) that videotaping is just pointing-a-camera-at-something to most people while to me videotaping ceased being pointing-a-camera-at-something at age seven and has since evolved into put-your-heart-and-soul-into-something. It takes a lot of thought, energy, and deliberate intent to do well. Plus, I don’t like phoning shit in so there is no off-button on the madness machine. On the other hand my Grandfather (My Mom’s Dad) had just died, was being laid to rest, and my Mom was asking me to do what I’m sure from her perspective was a simple task. My only argument against videotaping was that I just didn’t want to do it. I felt that was a selfish reason and, yes, I taped it. Soon after the event I offered to edit the video into something watchable. This was in October. Of 2008.

I still haven’t finished it. The project has become an open-loop gnawing at the base of my brain. Every time I try to relax or be social the voice in my head says, “Hey, what about that Arlington video? Shouldn’t you be doing that?” Yes. Yes, I should. It always gets delayed behind Grad school applications, work, writing, and God knows what else, but the simple fact of the matter is I just have to stop being a lazy, flakey douche and get it done.

5. Greg and Devito asked me to shoot some sketch comedy videos for them. Sounds good to me. I’ve made a few storyboards for the project and I’m looking forward to it. I still have to do a location scout of the restaurant, get in some rehearsal time with the actors, and, of course, do the actual shoot. I proposed to do the scout this Tuesday, but Greg wasn’t available so that plan went down the memory hole. The revised proposed scout date is Sunday, but that is looking troublesome now. Rehearsal has not been scheduled, but the shoot itself is scheduled for the 22nd. That date has problems too. It looks like I will have to work some of my scheduling magicâ„¢ on this one.

6. I met Greg, Devito, Russ, Amanda, Ariel, Keenan, and countless more crazies at the Improv 101 class I took at the UCB Theatre. I had a great time. So much so that I’ve signed up for Improv 201. This time around it is an intensive class which means it meets more times during the week, but only for two weeks. It starts on the 23rd. Despite the recent schedule changes, the Improv 201 class should survive the scheduling magic that I am giving serious consideration to patenting. When shit gets difficult I sometimes think that being funny is the only skill I have. Until I took Improv 101 I was doing nothing to hone it. I glad I did something about it.

I was a funny kid from the moment I learned how to talk and felt the simple pleasure from making someone else smile. I’ve grown into a funny adult who still gets that same pleasure from that same gesture. I like it. I acknowledge that far too often I use my own humor as a crutch in social situations when “being normal” would do. Trust me, I’m working on it. But, I enjoy being funny. I enjoy entertaining. I enjoy making things and showing them to people. I like being social. I like having events and tasks and things to do. I like, well, being Geoff. So while I was reminded of all the stuff I have to do and was brought down by the weight of it all I was at the same time reminded that while, yes, it’s a lot of stuff, the majority of it is stuff I want to do. Last night I went out with some friends, saw a show, and had a good time.

And, really, I don’t feel so down about it anymore.

Well, my fantasy football whining was a tad premature. After Monday’s Jets-Chargers game I actually squeaked out a W. Special thanks to both of my quarterbacks being in the same game at the same time. Good show Brett Favre (even if you did actually lose) and good show Philip Rivers: You’ve moved the Silversabers to 2 and 1.

From an e-mail from my friend Adam:

Adulthood looks like high school with a lot of ugly old people.

Last night was trivia night at Rope. In fact, it was the last trivia night at rope last night. Our team, Phallic Baldwin, somehow lost the best team name competition. That’s no matter. We took first place instead, which caps off a win streak measuring almost half a year long. $106. That was the prize money. No small chunk of change. But, we weren’t the only winners last night.

No.

My boy, Barack Hussein Obama Senator from the great state of Illinois, clinched the democratic party nomination for President of these United States. That may not be as awesome as a Phallic Baldwin victory, but I think he’ll get over it. Congratulations, sir. P.S. Your wife is hot. Just sayin’.