Quite the weekend so far. I’m writing this from the Dean Organizing Convention (DOC), which is this *huge* gathering of Dean community leaders (not just regular volunteers). We’ve taken over a big chunk of the Manchester Holiday Inn–The Grand Ballroom and about eight of the smaller conference rooms. Over 400 delegates are in attendance. The press is videotaping the introductory remarks, but is not allowed in the smaller break-out, strategy sections.
On Friday I left work at 2pm, rented a car (I’m still waiting for the 2004 Priuses to come out) and went to Camp Wigwam (Waterford, ME). They were in the first of the annual four-day Color War (Red vs Grey). The head coaches this year are both natives of Needham, Mass: Matt Furman leads the “Red Bulls”, while Josh Posner captains “Greyhem” (rhymes with mayhem, get it? yeah, sucky name). On paper I would favor Furman in that matchup, just becuase of his deeper sports knowledge (I only recall Posner playing street hockey; maybe football too). But after five hours of observing the battle (and reffing a group 2 football game), I think it’s pretty clear that Grey will come out on top. Now, *anything* can happen in these four days (and Grey already has lost a key player to injury), but there are some signs of Grey’s dominance.
One, Grey has a deeper coaching staff. No offense to those who worked under me, but I feel a non-sports oriented staff is a big weakness, and was a major reason for my Grey Army’s 2-point (out of about 500) defeat in 1999. (And, yes, I’m still bitter). Grey just has a bigger knowledge base. More importantly, however, is attitude. I always say that 90% of Color War is mental, and Grey is much more disciplined. Posner and his de facto deputy Stu command respect and they receive it form their team. Furman is *way* too non-chalant, and his team responds in kind. You can see it on the Red team’s faces–they don’t understand why they should put in effort to win. Furman also doesn’t have control of his own coaching staff: they spent 20 minutes arguing over 1/2 a point event, while their lineup for a 7-point has a lot in common with Swiss cheese. As the cheer goes, “Grey, Grey, Greyhem to victory.”
Left camp early Saturday to get to New York to check out the dress rehearsal of Seth’s musical. My other experience with Seth’s musicals was “Trivial Pursuits,” a comedy about the last day of high school hanging out. In “Meaningless Sex,” Seth didn’t write the script (he only wrote the lyrics and music), so there was a severe lack of the humorous dialogue that made Pursuits great. However, unlike the MIT performance of Pursuits, Seth has actual actors now. Of course, with actors come egos; and wow there were plenty in that tiny rehearsal room. Personalities aside, here’s a synopsis of Meaningless Sex:
It’s a concept musical, which, in show business, is just an excuse to not have a plot and not have character development. The “concept” of the musical is that relationships have two dimensions: sex and love. The setting is that four actors have just finished a corny musical entitled “Love Story.” They get together for an after-show party and reflect on all how they tried to find sex and love (often with each other) while they worked the show. Character bios:
Joey (?) — the gay guy — one-dimensional — just wants sex, wouldn’t mind love if it came to him.
Carla — the disillusioned girl — one-dimensional — all bitterness, all the time; just wants sex after love failed her.
Beth — the virgin, idealistic girl — 0.5 dimensions — actually, i think that four word description covered it.
Matt — the protagonist — 1.5 dimensions (!) — at first wants sex, then love. Does he get it? you’ll have to go see it.
Featured songs: F*** friends, Sex is simple, If only I were gay, Meaningless sex.
The NY Times is coming to one of his shows–hopefully they are kinder than I am, and hopefully it gets in print. On the way back from NY, I visited Reina, my ex roommate, and picked up some odds and ends from the old flat.
By now I’m back in the office–the DOC went fabulously!