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Happy Monday!
This past Saturday night, I saw the Second City touring company with my improv group: A Group of Strangers. The 2-hour show (a mixture of sketch comedy and improvisation) was incredible. The scenes were clever and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Plus, the writing was superb. There was never any doubt that professionals were on stage. And they did impressive research on Columbus. There was no better evidence of this than a dinner meeting between a husband and wife who were die hard Ohio State fans (so, normal OSU fans) and their daughter’s new boyfriend: a fan of that Team Up North.
Quite frankly, it was all too real!
The improv was remarkably quick, smooth and funny when reacting to random suggestions from the audience and themselves. Doing improvisational comedy is immensely difficult. It requires extensive training and practice and takes a lot of hard work to make it look easy. There is no time for silence, breaking character or the word “no,” so it was a special sight to see masters of this craft at work.
Speaking of which, here a couple Second City alums (if only the public knew their comedic talents) who got together at their old training grounds a few years back…
Have a Happy Monday…Yes, And a Great Week!
We’re All Thinking It…
Posting an alternate opening credits video for The Office in the style of a classic ’90s sitcom yesterday has inspired me to post another clip from this show that seems appropriate for today: Friday. At any point this morning or afternoon when our boss begins to speak, we’re all hoping he or she will say that magical phrase.
Stanley, we’re with you.
Hey, it’s Friday, make it count!
Happy Throwback Thursday!
Throwback Thursday is a great weekly tradition because it puts people in a good mood right before Friday and the weekend with a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
And on that note, have you ever wondered what some shows that aired in the 2000s would have looked and sounded like if they had debuted during the 1990s?
“You are in luck! There’s a town about 3 miles that way, I’m sure you’ll find a couple of guys there” (bonus points if you can guess that ’90s reference!).
Actually, it’s more like visiting Dwight at his beet farm lucky.
‘That’s what the ’90s said!’
Rage with the Machine
I was in a Japanese restaurant several months ago and they offered my guest and me standard laminated menus. Then, almost instantaneously, the waiter placed an iPad with a stand on the table that turned out to be a digital menu. We were scrolling, tapping and searching through all the pictures of the sushi they made. With sushi, in particular, this was a great tool to use when choosing the right platter. While the iPad was only at our table for a short period, it was a nice alternative to a purely text-based menu. The use of an iPad as a menu is a growing trend in restaurants these days. There is definitely a coolness factor to it.
While on vacation in California, my family and I stopped in the hot, yet luxurious, Palm Desert. After walking inside one of the many stores, I asked the salesperson if they carried a particular polo. Instead of turning around and searching the store, looking at a paper with its inventory or rushing to the backroom, she turned and grabbed an iPad and tapped-scrolled and typed her way to discovering they did not have it in-stock. It took all of ten seconds. Even without having the shirt available in the store, she was able to have a picture with an option to order the exact polo I was asking about. She was ready to place the order for me on the spot, if I was so inclined.
Wow. Now that’s customer service.
Like restaurants, there seem to be more and more iPads/tablets used for businesses, from retail to the local cupcake shop Tin in suburban Columbus, Ohio. The convenience works both ways, for customers as well as employees.
U.S. citizens have been increasingly encouraged to file their taxes online (ie-paperless). While doing work online is certainly faster and more efficient in some ways (I’ve participated in this practice as an fyi), we can all recall the story of when hackers got their digital hands on thousands of sensitive materials from The Pentagon. If hackers can find their way into The Pentagon…
However tempting this convenience appears (and it is), we do need to remain cognizant of the risks.
The point is that we tend to be trending towards, however slowly, a paperless society. There are positives, without question, but also definite negatives to this digital evolution. It reminded me of a short clip from a show about this very reality occurring with the Millennials, my generation.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 