Mason's World by Mason | English, baby! Blogs

The cool new web series you should watch: Fothing

Mason — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:09:59 GMT

The cool new web series you should watch: Fothing

(NOTE: Before you start reading this post, you should know that I'm speaking on behalf of myself - and NOT English, baby! That's true for every post I write here - but particularly true for this one. Uncle Mason says: BE GOOD, KIDS!"

So, I'm not the only web-celebrity that I know. My girlfriend is also an actor. Actually... way more of an actor than I am. She mostly does stage acting, but one the company that put on a really great play she was in over the summer called "Fall of the House" decided to make a Web series about what it's like to put on the show.

The result is fothing, and it's great (though, full disclosure: there's a lot of language that you DON'T want to pick up from the show. Be warned!)

Much like the English, baby! soaps, Fothing is a lot more exaggerated than real life. It's about the 7 people who try to keep their theater company together and put on a great show. Of course, there are lots of obstacles that get in the way - including the evil rival theater company: "Love and Death Theater LTD."

What's even crazier about the series is how fast their making it. We get together once a month here at English, baby! to do all the lessons for 4 weeks. They film one 20-minute episode in a weekend, edit it in a week (which, if you've never edited video, is CRAZY fast! They probably shoot at least 8hours of footage, that needs to be cut down to 20 minutes.) The episode finally goes live about 9 days after they finished filming it.

Anyway, I'm a HUGE fan of the series - and not only because I'm dating one of the actors. If you're of the appropriate age in your country to view content with some strong language and "colorful" topics, you should check it out.

Bowling tournament

Mason — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:37:19 GMT

Bowling tournament

Everybody has been working really hard at my company lately, and we finally launched a bunch of projects at the same time. To celebrate, we organized a bowling tournament.

One of the project managers went all out - we formed teams and organized brackets. There were 8 teams, so we had three rounds of competition.

Now, let me pause a minute to tell you a little about me a bowling. I'm a decent bowler. It's not often that I don't break 100. Usually, my score is somewhere between 110 and 130. It's not something I do that often - maybe 3 times a year - but thankfully its not the kind of sport that you need to keep up to maintain your skills. Not the way I play, anyway.

But back to the game - as it turns out, people from Idaho have nothing better to do than bowl all the time. My team's first opponent was Team Idaho (all the teammates grew up in Idaho). They blew us out of the water. Sad for me.

All in all, we came in 6th place. Not a shining moment. But quite a good time.

Planning for vacation: Mexico

Mason — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:41:47 GMT

Planning for vacation: Mexico

Every year for the last 10 years, my best friend and I have done something for New Year's Eve. More and more, that involves traveling somewhere away from home. This year, we're thinking about going to southern Mexico, so I'm in the planning stages of that.

Mexico has been on the list for a while. I've certainly been before, but just to some of the more tourist-y destinations like Puerto Vallarta and Tijauana (which barely even counts).

So we've got our sites set somewhere in the Yucatan. We'll probably fly into Mexico City or Cancun, and then head somewhere else from there. We'll be able to spend 5-8 days there, so I'll have plenty of time to check things out.

Has anyone been to this part of Mexico? Have any travel suggestions?

Roll for damage

Mason — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:16:30 GMT

Roll for damage

I finally caved and played D&D with my friend who has been trying to get me to play forever... and I loved it... which makes me a HUGE nerd.

But, it turns out I'm pretty OK with being a huge nerd.

Just so there's no confusion, D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons - one of the oldest tabletop role playing games. I had friends who played RPGs back when we were in high school, but I was always snobbish about them.

There are lots of stereotypes about people who play these kinds of games. Old sweaty fat guys who still live with their moms. Shy, disconnected boys who don't have girlfriends... which is TOTALLY not me. I have a girlfriend. It says so on facebook.

Anyway.

I think the road was paved for my new D&D addiction by video games. You've got hit points, special attacks, weapon upgrades...it's all there. But the part that I was finally ready to embrace - and the part that's ultimately the most fun - is the ability to make up the actions on your own.

Every video game, at some time or another, is limited by the mechanical constraints. What if I want to swim across that river rather than run across the bridge with all the enemies on it? Nope. But in D&D - the only thing that would keep you from doing anything is the will of your Game Master and your lucky roll of a D20.

The other thing I've been surprised about is how many of my friends have come out of the woodwork - either people who are willing to give it a try, or people who used to play and are eager to get back in the game. Honestly, now that I don't have to stay in the rat race of making the rounds at the bars to pick up girls, it's one of the cheapest, funnest ways to spend a night.

But let me end by saying: If any of you see me walking around in a cape and/or brandishing some sort of wand, please... stage an intervention.

Why I won't see "Wolverine"

Mason — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:39:47 GMT

Why I won't see "Wolverine"

When I originally heard that they were making a movie just for Wolverine, I was super stoked. First:Hugh Jackman is a GREAT Wolverine. He's shown himself as a versatile actor on both stage and screen since he originated the role in the first X-Men film – and I really appreciate that he seems to have a soft spot for the adamantium-infused hero.

To go a little further into why I was so hopeful, the third X-Men film was an absolute piece of crap. Right up there with the third Matrix film. So I was looking for "Wolverine" to offer some redemption.

But as soon as I saw the trailer my brain basically shut off. It just looked too big. Too many characters (that there was NO way they could do justice to them), too much ground to cover and too many explosions.

Wolverine's real strength has always been his troubled past and his difficulty in remembering/coming to terms with it. It's a nuanced story that Marvel themselves didn't even tell in its full detail until 2001-2001. So to gloss over it in a film fit for Jerry Bruckheimer was the wrong thing for them to do.

How do you like that, bub?

Roller Skating

Mason — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:46:46 GMT

Roller Skating

So, I recently went and participated in the great American tradition of roller skating. Like, for reals roller skating. At a rink with an organ and everything. And here's my big takeaway: I do not understand roller skating.

I'm curious if there's a parallel in other countries. According to the almighty Wikipedia, the "sport" has been around since the early 1800s. When I was a little kid, we'd go from time to time to the same rink I was at last weekend. In my teenage years, I got caught up in the rollerblade craze - which was awesome... at the time.

But back to my weekend adventure. My main problem with roller skating is that the actual skates are heavy and awkward. Unlike inline skates, it's really hard to turn and maneuver with all four wheels on the ground. I'm proud to say I didn't fall once, but I came close a number of times.

The thing that really surprised me, though, was that there was a rich subculture of roller skating fanatics. They closed down the floor for a few songs for just the experts to skate, and they were amazing. They moved gracefully - some dancing, some skating in synchronized pairs, other doing tricks... I was totally shocked. 1: I couldn't understand who would want to spend their time doing that (then again, I'm sure plenty of people don't know why anyone would want to spend their time doing bar trivia - which I love). And, 2: I was impressed at their skill.

So, yeah. Roller skating. Who knew?

I'm getting an iPhone...

Mason — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:24:50 GMT

I'm getting an iPhone...

So, I've resolved to finally get an iPhone.

It's a decision I've put off for a long while, as I'm the kind of guy who likes to wait until the last minute to make any decision. And so, here I am, less than a month away from going to SXSW (which is a big interactive, music and film festival in Austin, Texas) and I need to be connected at all times.

I'm really curious how mobile phone carriers work overseas. What kind of phones do you have? What does it cost? I truly hate the fact that this industry has so many rules and divides about what you can do where. Did you know that companies offer different phones and plan depending on what state you're in? There is no reason that these divides should exist - but who can afford to buy an unlocked phone?

Anyway...enlighted consumer rant aside, it's been very interesting to watch the culture evolve as the iPhone has been adopted. Hobbyist application developers are making hundreds of thousands of dollars on applications that make fart noises. People are tying their friends from social networks like Facebook and Twitter to other applications like maps and games. Truly revolutionary stuff.

So here I step into the brave new world. My only problem will be remembering to look up from my phone once in a while to notice.

Hello!

Mason — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:22:58 GMT

Hello!

Man, how long have I been with English, baby! Over 2 years now. Crazy. We've had a good, solid cast for a long time and I'm a little more bummed about Amanda leaving than I have been with any of the other switch-ups. That said, I'm stoked to have Dale and Ame on board. And behind the scenes, Alexis has been doing great work. It's really cool seeing English, baby! grow the way it has (something I suppose I have all of you to thank) and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

The thing I remain more curious about than anything is how you actually use English, baby!. It's weird to do something for so long, put it out there and have very little idea of the effect it's having.

So what's going on out there? And what do you want to see next?