Today is Day One of the Gratitude Challenge. I will post an audio clip here every day until Thanksgiving (the day I will actually write out something for you!). 

It is 10:48p and I still want to watch Halloween (I've never seen it, can you believe it?) with my husband. So that means I'll give you more expansive details tomorrow.

But, YES! Today is the official start. I promised myself I wouldn't edit these things (or even record with a real device; just an iPhone!) and I don't even want to listen to them. This is just about gratitude! Not art! (I have to tell myself that or I will spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME on these things. 

Okay. Welcome to Day One. And welcome to the Gratitude Challenge. Brian is joining me for this challenge, and I invite you to join us, too! Tell me what you're grateful for every day, or just when the mood strikes. It will be super fun, guys. I swear! (I think.)

See you tomorrow.

THE GRATITUDE CHALLENGE: November 1, Grateful for Gratitude.
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As Brian and I crossed the border into Maine, the welcome sign informed us that Maine holds the key to "the way life should be." To which my lovely husband replied, "F*** you, Maine! You can't tell me how to live!"

I'm sure you can see why we got married.

We decided to spend our Saturday in Ogunquit, Maine, a "Beautiful Place by the Sea." Brian was a bit leery of being surrounded on all sides by geriatric white people (with the exception of a geriatric version of Arsenio Hall), but on the whole, it was an absolutely stunning town. We walked up and down Marginal Way, a footpath which connects Perkins Cove to Ogunquit Beach and spans a little more than a mile of rocky Atlantic coastline. (Though the video quality is rough [iPhone couldn't keep up!], I captured a few seconds of the kind of stuff we were looking at. Check it out.)

Somewhere along the way, I decided to record some ocean sounds (because what is at all stereotypical about that?!). Soon after I pressed RECORD, the stormy New England weather reminded Brian of the tsunamis in Southeast Asia. I had never before seen the horrifying footage of these natural disasters, but we later found this video: 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. I suppose it's a bit discordant to include something so tragic in my post about our quaint little day trip, but isn't it amazing that something so gorgeously tranquil can simultaneously be so ragingly destructive?

THE SUNDAY SOUND: September 9, Tsunami Talk in Ogunquit.
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It is finally the first Sunday in September and I am thrilled to announce that The Sunday Sound has officially returned to its standard weekly activity. My very necessary "I need to take a break so I can go get married right quick" hiatus is over and I am filled with new ideas and new material (not to mention renewed enthusiasm!). I have missed producing and posting new pieces each week... I hope some of you are still with me after a summer of silence!

Today is a special day, friends (and not only because of The Sunday Sound's triumphant return). Today also marks Brian and I's three-month anniversary. I guess I should say monthiversary. We got married on June 2nd and have now officially made it through the new-hire 90-day performance review. The first fiscal quarter. And wow... I'm not sure where to start. It has simultaneously been sublimely rewarding and sublimely difficult. Brian and I were together for less than six months before getting married, and we had never lived in the same city until we arrived at our apartment a week after tying the knot. Again, simultaneous reactions (elated and terrified). But every time we come together on something, I feel a renewed hope that we'll make it through that whole "as long as you both shall live" thing. And to that end, enter today's Sunday Sound. Join with us in our little backyard ceremony.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: September 2, Our Wedding Vows.
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It looks like The Wiseawesome Series will only be five parts. I'm sure you're as brokenhearted about this as I am.

I have no excuse for last week's absence other than a feeble "planning a wedding in a mere six weeks is hard, you guys!" Yeahhh, I'm getting married on Saturday, June 2nd. The Wiseawesome Series was originally conceived as a countdown to my wedded bliss (Tommy Wiseau is my personal Dick Clark).

There is only ONE Sunday between me and wifehood. Aaaaaahhhhh!!!

Today's bit of Tommy: The beginning of the interview. He gives some interesting insight into how The Room stumbled into being a midnight screening staple, but my favorite part is the interview opener...

Peter Flynn: Could you tell us maybe, just in brief, of the history of The Room as a midnight screening?

Tommy Wiseau: Yeah, hey, this is Tommy Wiseau, uh, uh... what's your question?

Classic.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: May 20, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 4.
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And here is where reality breaks down. One question from a "cute" but disrespectful young lady inspired Tommy to offer a sermon on turning the other cheek, what love really means (teaser: "it is more than S-E-X"), and ends in a powerful show of crowd patriotism, with the chant...

"U. S. A.! U. S. A.! U. S. A.!"

You get two minutes this week. I promise it truly was necessary to share this shining highlight of the Q&A session with Tommy Wiseau from start to finish.

It taught me to NEVER ask where he is from and that Tommy Wiseau is really proud to be an American.

Can someone tell me which part of America this accent hails from?

THE SUNDAY SOUND: May 6, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 3.
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Part 2 of The Wiseawesome Series is entirely self-indulgent. I recorded every moment of direct contact I had with Tommy Wiseau, which comes to just over two minutes.

The only reason I was in the room (The Room!) was to monitor sound for an interview with the visionary. But as things were wrapping up, I had to jump in. I could not stomach failing to get a photo with the dude. So today's audio begins with the goodbyes between the interviewer and the interviewee, and then you hear me jump in... reeking of desperation...

"Can we snap a couple pics with you?!"

From there, we hear more of Tommy's shameless self-promotion, the kind he is famous for, and more of my shameless fandom. I even say that this is the "opportunity of a lifetime." That's right. I said that.

And since Tommy mentions his trailer, that is today's bonus material. Listen to our interactions and watch the trailer. It will be the best five minutes of your life.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 29, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 2.
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To truly grasp the significance of this series, you need to revisit a post from February: The Brilliance of Tommy Wiseau. At that screening of The Room, it was announced that Tommy Wiseau would be IN PERSON at another screening in April.

Naturally, I bought tickets immediately.

Now that we're all up to speed, this long-anticipated event occurred Friday. I knew I would be the lucky attendee of a sold-out Q&A session with Mr. Wiseau, but I had no idea that I would spend over half an hour roughly four feet away from the genius himself! Peter Flynn, a dude I know from work (the perks of working in Visual and Media Arts!), was shooting at the screening for a documentary he is doing on art house cinema. He had an interview scheduled with Mr. Wiseau and needed someone to monitor the audio (!!!!!!!). I recorded the entire Q&A session and the entire interview, so I've got some seriously good stuff to share with you all.

The whole thing was so amazing (and so many amazing things are happening in my life!), that I decided to create a whole series around it (titular credit goes to my pal Dean Egan for the apt "Wiseawesome!"). From now until the Sunday before my wedding day (talk about burying the lead!), I will share 60 titillating seconds of sound from the exceptionally (charmingly!) crazy mind of Tommy Wiseau. Let's think of it as my extended bachelorette party.

Today's minute? The audio from the infamous (!) coffee shop scene, featuring all the glory of Coolidge crowd participation.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 22, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 1.
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If you know sound art, you know John Cage. For those who don't, Cage was an avant-garde composer who practiced a lot of what I focus on... sound for sound's sake, sounds from the non-standard use of musical instruments, noise as art, etc. He is probably most known for his piece 4'33''. To play this piece, performers sit in silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. The piece is whatever ambient sound the audience perceives as the performers sit still. Enjoy this performance of 4'33'' by Hollywood darling, Nicolas Cage.

Also, I spent today's lunch break on a few site improvements:

• Deleted "Welcome" homepage (navigating to www.theinfamousdance.com now lands directly on blog)
• Updated blog sidebar with social media buttons (find me EVERYWHERE!)
• Changed "Contact" page to "About" page, added "About" text and social media buttons
• Changed some text that no one will notice but me

And I am thrilled to report that I am once again entirely enthusiastic about this site and my weekly Sunday Sound posts. My creative fire had dwindled to a few pathetic embers, but I have since returned to the full roar. Finally.

Before last weekend, Brian had never stepped foot in New York City.

THIS. HAD. TO. CHANGE.

So, as I mentioned last week, we took a mini road trip down to NYC. I am happy to report we made it through our first road trip as a couple! Granted, it was only 3.5 hours. But I'll take milestones where I can get 'em. (Let's hope we survive our next road trip... roughly 2,400 miles [39 hours of driving!] across the U.S. so we can actually live in the same town.)

We did all sorts of stuff... from the typical (pizza/cheesecake in Times Square and exploring the Top of the Rock) to the not-so-typical (a trek to see the Ghostbusters firehouse and a stop at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop with my good pal Luis).

Amidst all our adventure, we took a siesta on Umpire Rock, a big chunk of bedrock in the south end of Central Park. We lounged about in the sun and listened to birds chirping and kids playing. Brian suggested I record a bit for the Sunday Sound. I appreciated his suggestion. 

THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 15, The Sound of Central Park.
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Brian came to visit me this weekend. We had all sorts of adventures, including one that I'll expound upon below! Another adventure, a 36-hour trip to New York City, was delayed roughly two hours because I was determined to give you all my weekly post. BUT ALAS! I wrote the post all up, edited the sound, spruced it all up, etc. and when I went to publish, my stupid blogging client deleted the draft/post. I was so irritated; poor Brian had to hear me complaining for at least 20 minutes. I'm well-adjusted, I swear.

But anyway. We went to the Mapparium on Saturday! The Mapparium is a three-story globe that you can walk through. It reflects the world as it was in 1935. I have wanted to check this out (along with the rest of the Christian Science plaza) since I moved to Boston in 2006. I finally had an excuse!

Today's Sunday Sound is a 2-minute segment from the tour audio featuring the words of various peace activists. Recording and photography were prohibited, but I like living on the edge! I embarked upon a covert ops mission to take the photo below and sneak some audio. Enjoy! And I'll see you here next week, no matter what trip I have to delay.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 8, The Mapparium!
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