Thursday, February 25, 2010

No fun in Kankakee? Pish-posh!


I'm taking this class right now at Governors State University called Television Production. Sounds interesting, right? Well, it's not. It's awful. The teacher is unorganized, has a weird lisp and talks for a really long time. The upside is that it gives me a chance for my mind to completely wander. So today, I was thinking about how I was at the bar last night and this guy I was chatting with said he had to skate this weekend. I assumed he meant skateboard, but then realized it was too cold for that and he said ice skate. I didn't really go into the conversation anymore than that due to the fact that I had knocked back a few too many PAAABBBBBSSSSSST. (side note: One time, my friends, Christine and Betsy, wondered if they called it Pabst because PAAABBBBBSSSSSTTTT was the noise it made when you cracked open a can.)
As I was slowly putting the night back together in my brain, I remembered this conversation. It was almost like an electric shock went through me. I thought, "Wait a second, there's an ice skating rink in Kankakee?" When I got home, I got on them interwebs and checked it out. And sure enough, there is one! It got me thinking... "Is there actually fun stuff to do in this town besides drink and be merry?" This inspired me to do some research and find out some more things that are fun to do IN Kankakee for cheap. One-and-a-half of them is FREE. (The one-and-a-half will make sense later.)
First things first, ice skating rink. This li'l fun spot is located in Oak Orthopedics, 1601 River Road. They have a public 'regular' skate on Saturdays and Sundays from 1pm-4pm. It costs adults $6 plus a $3 skate rental fee. Now, I don't know what they mean by 'regular' skate, but I'm hoping it means that after 4pm they put on that sweet single by Whodini, The Freaks Come Out At Night and people skate-dance like fools. If you want to know more info about this awesomeness go to www.oakorthoarena.com.
The next cool thing in Kankakee you might not know about is the Feed Art Center/Gallery. Feed is the art baby of Christopher Clark and Michael Costanza, both residents of Kankakee. It's located in the Majestic Center Towne Mall, 150 N. Schuyler Ave. Michael and Christopher hold workshops that anyone can attend. It does cost some money, but the awesome thing is that they have a showing for the artists. So, you pay some money to attend the workshop, but then you can sell it and make your money back. How cool is that? This is considered the 'half' in 'one-and-a-half'. For more info on when the next workshop is coming up or the center hours, you can check out their blog at feedartcenter.blogspot.com and/or become a fan of Feed Art Center on facebook.
Now here is something that is totally free. The Kankakee Public Library. Duh, right? BUT, Nicholas Garcia, a cool guy that works at the library, holds a book discussion there once a month. This past month, he held a book discussion on Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. If you like books, and like to discuss books with intelligent people, I recommend talking to Nicholas. He also does special viewings of thought provoking films. Recently, he had a showing of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. To keep up with the happenings at the KPL go to www.lions-online.org.
And finally, drinking and being merry isn't all that bad, right? (What would this post be if I couldn't do a little shameless plugging??) Do you like reminiscing about old movies from your childhood? Do you like doing a sort of MST3K-esque thing when watching these old movies? Do you like beer and pizza? If so, the first Tuesday of every month, yours truly and Hayley Anderson host an Interactive Brew & View at MacAmhlaoibh's Irish Pub, 12 Heritage Plaza. This month, March, 2nd we will be showing Ghostbusters. It's going to be un très bon moment. (I've been obsessed with the French language lately, I blame you, Kelly.) Next month, we will be showing Back To The Future. Just imagine all the things you can yell at the screen!! "Flux Capacitor ... fluxxing." FLUXXING!!?? To know when things are going on here, become a fan of Interactive Brew & View on facebook.
So there you have it. Just a few fun things to do, right here in your very own neighborhood. If you have any other suggestions of some fun things to do, please feel free to post them. If you don't have any suggestions, still feel free to post. Like you could tell me if I suck or not. You know, whatever.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Let's Talk Some Comedy


Well, here I am. Writing a blog about some stuff that I like. I thought it would be fitting to write about comedy, since that's what I enjoy the most. Is that how you do this? I write about things that I like... right? Whatever, let the narcissism begin!

So, anyway, about me: I really like comedy. I think I'm pretty funny, I can make some people laugh. However, I can usually only make some peeps laugh when I am making fun of myself. My friend, Michael said one time, "You save people the trouble. When you do something dumb, you immediately make fun of yourself." At first I thought that was cool, then I was like, "Wait, people really think I do dumb things as much as I think I do dumb things... This is not good."

But then I realized I could turn this into something. Maybe self-deprecation is my thing. I can put together a whole routine making fun of myself! It's perfect. I can tell stories and just make fun of myself the whole time. I've been greatly influenced by some podcasts I've been listening to lately. The Moth and RISK! podcasts are all about people getting up and telling stories. The Moth Podcast usually has some humorous stories and some serious stories. But the funny ones really make you LOL (as the kids are saying).

The Moth does these things in different cities called StorySLAMS. And guess what, there is one in Chicago! It's the last Tuesday of every month. And anyone can participate! The last Tuesday of February has passed, but the end of March will be here before you know it. Just go to http://www.themoth.org/storyslams_chicago to get all the information you need, if you're interested. This tells you about the storySLAMS in Chicago, but also gives you a link to the sweet podcast that comes out once a week.

RISK! is all about the funnies, ya'll. For real. It's hosted by Kevin Allison, a member of the now-disbanded then-hot 90's comedy group, The State. I am not joking when I say that this stuff is hilarious. People do not hold back when telling stories on this podcast. Hence the name. Most of the stories come from their live shows in New York and are told by comedian friends of Kevin's. So, you occasionally hear old State members like Ben Garant (Deputy Junior on Reno! 911) Kerry Kinney-Silver (Trudy on Reno! 911) Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black (Michael and Michael Have Issues). I cannot get enough of this podcast, it's a shame it comes out every other Tuesday. If you want to know more info about the live shows or you want to download the podcast or whatever, here is the website for that: http://risk-show.com.

So, if I ever have a one woman show about me making fun of myself, it will definitely be in the style of The Moth storySLAM and/or RISK!. I strongly recommend that you check out both of these podcasts. Now that I've talked about comedy, and built myself up to be a 'funny gal', I feel like I need to end this on a real funny note. But I got nothing...