5/31/2006 02:23:00 PM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Okay, brace youself. Are you sitting down? Ian Llanas, who is like the Juggernaut of creative arts, meaning that once he puts on his magical helmet and gets some momentum going nothing can stop him, you know, like the Juggernaut, Ian Llanas has had to abandon the Animecbeth project for the time being. It's like he came across some magical boy mutant whose mere presence causes him to lose his powers. What does this mean? It means on Saturday night at the fundraiser there will be no Animecbeth. It will not be shown, it will not be ready. It also means that both Ian and I will still be alive on Saturday night instead of dead from exhaustion. It also means Animecbeth will be completed and at some point in the not-too-distant future posted on this website for all to feast their eyes upon. I just realized that in the previous analogy, comparing Ian to the Juggernaut makes me Professor X.|W|P|114910378284079455|W|P|Saddest Blogpost Ever|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/31/2006 02:57:29 PM|W|P|P|W|P|I knew you liked that movie...5/30/2006 04:20:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Just to show how manly we are here at No Refunds, I conducted a brief interview with the most manly member of the cast: Chad Gallgher. Listen as he give a brief preview of the upcoming show. And watch as Matt Dawson tries to beat up Chesa, who is a young girl, and fails. And now to answer a few of your questions: Yes, the fundraiser is this Saturday night. Yes, you will be mocked by your peers if you fail to attend. Yes, that is Chad's real facial hair. word.|W|P|114898137812658296|W|P|Chad Gallagher: A Man's Man|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/28/2006 12:11:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Hey, those of you who missed today's outdoor rehearsal of A Streetfighter Named Desire still have the opportunity to learn the answer to the age old question: what is under Chad's practikilt anyway? And if you have the time, come on down to check out our Oedipus the Kung Fu rehearsal on Sunday in the same spot on Lake Calhoun between the volleyball courts and the south beach from 12 to 3pm. ONE WEEK UNTIL THE GREATEST NIGHT OF THEATRE...EVER By the way, if you are watching this video, it is a definite symptom of coolness. |W|P|114879458960423418|W|P|Streetfighter Outdoors|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/27/2006 12:46:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|First off, tomorrow, Saturday afternoon, from 1:30 to 4 we will be rehearsing outside by lake calhoun, so stop by and get a little sneak preview of some of the scenes from the show. Should be a good time. Okay, so as a big geek, I always watch through the special features on DVDs I buy, and no one does special features like Peter Jackson. I really enjoyed the production and post-production diaries for King Kong, and I thought, oh, wouldn't it be cool to do a little production diary on AniMecbeth? Of course it would. So, I talked to Ian about what he's been working on and as you can watch the little piece I put together below. hopefully the sound quality comes through, I apologize in advance for the difficulty in seeing the screens, obviously there was no way to avoid it, and I will post a scene or two of animation when ian sends it my way. But anyway, here's the stuff, this will give you a little chance to get to know my brother who is sort of the unsung hero of many of our productions. |W|P|114870910639358542|W|P|AniMecbeth preview!!! and outside Rehearsal|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/27/2006 08:11:09 PM|W|P|MD|W|P|We love you Ian.
We should set up an I love Ian Llanas fanclub.
:)5/26/2006 03:22:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|do not go see xmen 3. it was wretched. better post coming later today.|W|P|114863186437429046|W|P|pff... more like suXmen|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/26/2006 08:13:50 AM|W|P|P|W|P|That brings me sorrow...At least I won't have to skip work to see it.

Boo.5/25/2006 01:58:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|we rehearsed kung frucible (written by Jerome Yorke) tonight with chad, michelle, mikey p, haley, brian and mary ellen! hooray! it went well, but I'm short on time with the blog tonight, luckily haley was friendly enough to shoot a little phone video and get it all set, so please enjoy some previews of the frucible fights. I've been painting some of the backgrounds for Animecbeth, tomorrow I'm going to get over and try to get a video sneak peak into what Ian's been working on as far as the animation goes, so please anticipate a slightly more educational blog posting tomorrow, in which I might also have some comments about a certain Xmen movie. by the by, I highly recommend the new Coupland novel: JPod. check out my book report on it at my other blog: 22-black. oh, and what's up with the Lost finale? The bigger the conspiracy gets, the less i seem to care. i liked it better when they were just dealing with the mysterious smoke monster. Hanso can eat it. I keep trying to fit pieces together for a Watership Down allegory, but somehow I can't seem to make it fit. oh well, it's not like I'm gonna stop watching at this point...|W|P|114854072818466291|W|P|frucible fights|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/25/2006 07:26:28 PM|W|P|Shinobi-wan|W|P|ha ha...kung fu fights are good.5/24/2006 03:35:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Yes! We did some blocking tonight for Oedipus the Kung Fu, and just since I've been enjoying posting the video so much, I thought I would take a couple of little scenes from the footage and post them here. I didn't shoot a whole lot because I was reading some of the parts, so the footage isn't stellar or anything. Also for the first time in my life I used some of premiere's ridiculous wipes for video transitions. blargh. but anyway. Enjoy Cara, Roman, Rob and Mike and I think you can spot Chowie and Jenny in the background. Nice Toga, Roman. |W|P|114845999012054603|W|P|another oedipus rehearsal?|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/22/2006 11:41:00 PM|W|P|Gabe|W|P| So, My friend Chris Mitchell is a Photographer and a big Kung Fu Hamlet fan. As such, he volunteered to come into rehearsal one day and take some shots of the rehearsal we were able to get him in to shoot the first rehearsal for Bryce and Rob doing the Streetfighter finale fight, and Haley and Rob doing the Blanche and Stanley streetfighter fight. He got some pretty nice shots and I recommend checking out his website: shadoweyes he's put up a bunch of the shots he took, and it's a lot more comprehensive than the couple of them I'm putting up here. Thanks, Mitchell, you're a prince. I hope you've all had a chance to check out the trailer I posted in yesterday's blog. I'm hoping to put up some more video later this week, and if possible even some snippets of animation from the AniMecbeth that my brother is working on. That guy is drawing like crazy, maybe when I get a chance to post some of his work in progress I'll tell you a little more about Ian Llanas. He's the original Evil Artist. Word.|W|P|114836003785752724|W|P|Shadoweyes|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/22/2006 03:20:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Okay, so I missed a couple days there, we were rehearsing the Kung Frucible and Lucha Libre La Vida Es Sueno. I will make up for my absence with this post, I have cut together some of the footage from our rehearsals and made a preview for the Great Moments in Kung Fu Show. The music is from the Hamlet vs. Laertes fight composed by Ian Llanas. Please enjoy this makeshift trailer: There is one shot in there which is not from this rehearsal process, but archival footage from one of our KFH rehearsals. First person to identify which shot it is wins a pack of unopened, mint condition, Elvis playing cards! They're wrapped in plastic and everything! See ya!|W|P|114828652143040226|W|P|Fundraiser SNEAK PREVIEW|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/22/2006 08:46:06 AM|W|P|MD|W|P|Freaking awesome!!!!5/22/2006 09:50:36 AM|W|P|P|W|P|It was frassin' J-Ro in his Pinky McPinkerson hat, and his hula dancin' pig socks.


I know. I was there...5/22/2006 02:05:13 PM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|well, mikey, looks like you're the big winner...
for once in your pathetic life.5/22/2006 06:50:18 PM|W|P|RSvP|W|P|Coolest thing...

EVER.6/02/2006 08:47:30 AM|W|P|J-Ro|W|P|you all should try and have more fun....snoozers.6/02/2006 09:54:55 AM|W|P|brettish|W|P|Hells yeah.6/02/2006 10:25:29 PM|W|P|shadoweyes|W|P|frick. I so want to see this show.5/19/2006 12:18:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|okay, so this is an experiment, but if all goes well, you might be getting a first video sneak peak of some of our crazy new fight choreography, this is Rob and Bryce who appear in Streetfighter Named Desire. Millions of thanks to Haley for unlocking the secrets of you tube with her cell phone video camera. Check it out.

|W|P|114801601584284292|W|P|breakin|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/19/2006 07:15:54 AM|W|P|Hbomb|W|P|More amazing than anything is Bryce's ability to shoot lightening from his foot at times. Fantastic.5/19/2006 08:48:07 AM|W|P|MD|W|P|Sweet :)5/18/2006 01:04:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Since I didn't post yesterday I'll first mention rehearsal yesterday, which involved the unveiling of the Oedipus vs. The Plague fight, with Matt as the plague, during which an absolute truth was discovered: ninjas roll. Chowie also got to do a bit of fighting, or flailing, well, whatever he does, he's good at it. Then tonight we blocked out the entire Lucha Libre La Vida Es Sueno scene. Some of you might not be familiar with La Vida Es Sueno, which is a Spanish play by Calderon de la Barca, which means Calderon of the Barca. It's a very famous play, but not everyone is familiar with it, which is why you should come see our fifteen-minute, Lucha Libre, Mexploitation version of it. I, fortunately am able to write and direct a Mexploitation play because I am Mexican, not Pakistani or Saudi Arabian as some people would have you believe. This scene is going to have live subtitles performed by Brian Poulton, also known as the Storyman. Seriously, he's a storytelling master, I studied under his tutelage for many years at the Children's Museum, it was totally awesome. His daughter, Chesa, of 8/7 Central fame is even going to have a fight scene where she battles our own resident expert in the ninja arts: Matthew Dawson. LLLVES is a very multi-layered and philisophically complex scene in which reality and perception are questioned and the meaning of existence is pondered just before Cara goes wacko and Roman gives her a wedgie. On a side note, if you haven't purchased a copy of the new Douglas Coupland novel, Jpod, then please do and begin reading it immediately.|W|P|114793348097609627|W|P|Ninjas Roll|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/18/2006 11:16:52 AM|W|P|chowie|W|P|That's right, every child learns at a very young age to beware the FLAILING GANGLY ARMS OF DEATH!!!

Skinny elbows can be dangerous as well. And I'm not afraid to use them, either.5/21/2006 11:05:35 AM|W|P|RSvP|W|P|I'm not seeing the pics. Have I gone pic-blind?5/16/2006 01:47:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|WHOA! So Guess who met Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snicket) last night? You're right, it was me...Gabe! He was reading from and then signing his new book: Adverbs. I actually slipped him a copy of the Kung Fu Hamlet promo disc and one of our rock buttons and then asked him if he would like to be my arch-nemesis. I gotta say, he's a pretty funny guy, and it was nice to meet him, although I really wish I would have brought in my copy of the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs and had him sign that too. And also to let you know, there are already people emailing us for reservations for the fundraiser, Capacity is somewhere around 200, so it might not be a bad idea to email your own reservations in to info@norefundstheatre.com Please enjoy this picture, that is not of Lemony Snicket at all, but rather of Ryan Kathman, member of the Axis of Evil Artists. Look at how evil he is. Check out that shirt too, you know how much he paid for that? a Dollar. DAV like a mug...|W|P|114776265756332867|W|P|Lemony Snicket|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/16/2006 03:15:15 PM|W|P|Anonymous|W|P|A dollar? C'mon, no one's gonna believe that. It was $2.50 at least. And the irony is, I was actually in Boy Scouts for a spell, but it took some Goodwill hunting for me to find a Boy Scouts shirt to wear.

Check out how my elbow continues to direct even as I have lost interest.5/17/2006 09:02:35 PM|W|P|arnoldtheo36097355|W|P|Get any Desired College Degree, In less then 2 weeks.

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(413) 208-3069 call now 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.5/15/2006 12:52:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|so yesterday's blog entry might read a little funny at the end, because I fell asleep at the keyboard. I thought about going back and trying to fix it, but my god, i have no idea what on earth i was trying to type. in a completely unrelated note, Douglas Coupland's new novel Jpod, which isn't supposed to be released until Tuesday is sitting out at on the table at Border's at Block E, so I am now in possession of a copy before the masses. It's good to see Doug writing about technogeeks again. I'll see if I can get some still of some attractive people modeling our rock buttons for tomorrow's entry. And if you don't have one of our buttons yet, then you haven't lived.|W|P|114767272982883643|W|P|poison, still fresh, 3 days|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/14/2006 12:20:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P| Three major fight scenes were tackled today at rehearsals. There was Teirisius vs. the Monks from Kung Fu Oedipus, which you can see Ryan directing here. Roman looks on in great interest as Rob's fist covers up Cara's face. Cara is playing Teirisius, the blind master, and she does a little bit of staff work in this scene. We also started tackling two new scenes, there's a Streetfighter Named Desire, with Rob as Stanley and Haley Chamberlain, of awesome 80s prom fame, as Blanche. Rob gets to throw Haley around a bit in this scene, and everyone enjoys a good Haley tossin! Yeeha! The last new scene we choreographed was the Big Title Fight from Lucha Libre la Vida es Sueno. This scene stars Cara, as Segismundo, and Roman Postle as King Basilio. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the plot line of La Vida es Sueno... well, I guess you'd be the exact peron who foes Kung Fu Hamlet. So, you know, deal with that.|W|P|114758505385770032|W|P|Oh, SNAP|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/14/2006 08:15:07 PM|W|P|RSvP|W|P|That pic is...odd. It looks like I'm phasing through her or we're forming Voltron.5/15/2006 01:00:29 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|It would be cooler if you were forming Voltron. hmm... do you think you could support the weight of a few other actors so we could form Voltron?5/15/2006 10:39:53 AM|W|P|RSvP|W|P|We could be Voltron 2, so we'd only need 3 actors. I could hold two other people, as long as one of them wasn't Dawson. He tickles like grape.5/12/2006 11:22:00 PM|W|P|Gabe|W|P| yours truly might not be an actual "martial artist," I may not be able to throw a muy thai elbow or spinning back kick, so what if I can't do a cartwheel, I knows kung fu when I sees it, and those there longfists look like kung fu to me! I tried to get a good picture of Roman from yesterday's rehearsal footage for the blog, but as Mikey will testify, Roman is a ninja, so all I could capture on video was his back as he unleashed fury upon his younger brother and star of such films as Black Belt Holiday, Mikey "Dudikoff" Postle. Speaking of ninjas. I was at Barnes and Nobles today and i realized that the kids section is overloaded with books about pirates. Pirates are all right, but as we all know from the 2003 internet flash animation short: "Pirates vs. Ninjas," Ninjas are equally if not more entertaining than their grog-swigging compadres. Why are there not more books about Ninjas on the shelves? Huh? Don't kids need to know both sides of history? Apparently the American publishing industry doesn't seem to think so. By the way, Daniel Handler (also known as Lemony Snicket) will be appearing at the Southdale B&N on Monday night at 7:30 reading from his new book "Adverbs." Since I gots to rehearse, could someone go and get his autograph for me? thanks. your pal, gabe|W|P|114749518538581016|W|P|that looks like kung fu to me|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/15/2006 08:19:03 PM|W|P|P|W|P|Ninja's roll, Gabe.5/11/2006 09:55:00 PM|W|P|Gabe|W|P| Behold! the first rehearsal images are here! We got underway tonight with rehearsal for Oedipus the Kung...Fu!, which is written and directed by our Ryan Kathman, who some of you might know as the voice of Laertes, Polonious, Guildenstern and the Gravedigger in Kung Fu Hamlet. We did some of the fight choreography for Oedipus, played by Mikey Postle, who can be seen in the pictures staring in wonder as newcomer Rob Ford does a little flip from the ground in the Oedipus vs. the Sphinx riddle battle. Mikey played Laertes in Kung Fu Hamlet last January, and his big brother Roman was also on hand this evening to call him names and steal his cookies. No images of Roman tonight, ladies, you'll just have to check back in tomorrow. But it was a very promising start of what's going to be a very cool process. We've talked about doing other kung fu theatre adaptations for years, and it's really nice to finally tackle them. more info incoming shortly. Be good to your mother this weekend so I don't have to.|W|P|114740302975509041|W|P|underway!|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/12/2006 08:16:12 AM|W|P|P|W|P|Directed by...? I thought this was a collaboration?5/12/2006 12:00:50 PM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|ryan's directing, but we're collaborating on the fight choreography you anal retentive jerk store.
Wanna argue semantics? bring it. and then wait to see what I make you do when I direct your a** in Lucha Libre La Vida es Sueno.
Somehow I have to make it through this last paragraph without making reference to butts, specifically to your butt.5/12/2006 05:25:13 PM|W|P|P|W|P|Semantics?

I'm always up for some antics...

; )5/08/2006 01:40:00 AM|W|P|Gabe|W|P|Okay, so we had the first read-through of the scripts for the Great Moments of Kung Fu Theatre History, and it went terrifically well. It was really great to have some of the old No Refunds faces back, and we'll get bios and photos up of everyone of our evil artists up here soon. I apologize about not having any images from the rehearsal, I forgot my camera at home so you'll just have to use your imagination and picture some people sitting around a table looking at scripts. The real action starts later this week with some fight rehearsals, and gabe will not fail you again lest you employ your dark jedi skills to crush his throat for his insolence. you are so wicked. In a completely unrelated note, I went to the May Day parade and festival at Powderhorn Park today and it was pretty cool.|W|P|114707101015443856|W|P|no pictures?!|W|P|gllanas@gmail.com5/11/2006 04:41:12 PM|W|P|RSvP|W|P|That guy right there is hot. No, not that one. The one right...there.