Dear reader,
with the olympic games, just like with the world series, a corporate feeling comes up again, even if it's only the corporate wish for the team your own country to win. Not "a team" needs to win, but "we" need to win. I didn't even watch the opening ceremony of the olympic games and didn't see any of the games at all. Simply because I'm not interested. But I couldn't help but notice that the german's weren't doing that good so far. (I wonder how the bad games so far will have a negative effect on those, who still have to go for it.)
The other day on the news the reporter commented on the men fencing. He said something along the lines of, "We need to get better for the women fencing." I looked at my dad, who was watching the news with me and said, "We need to be better at fencing? I cannot do fencing at all. Can you?" He said nothing to that. It wasn't necessary anyway.
Who are they speaking of, especially politicians and other people in power, when they say "the germans" or "the americans", "the..."?
When my dad is ranting about the americans, I keep telling him, "One of your best friends is an american!" But that's something else entirely. Or is it?
Until next blog,
sarah
Tuesday 31 July 2012
Monday 16 July 2012
My motivation room
Dear reader,
I'm currently still living with my parents. So I can't make the whole flat the way I would, if it was my own. I'm not sure what I would change if it was my own. Anyway, today I want to write about my room.
You know, I was quite happy when in 2008 "The Dark Knight" came out. I didn't rush into the cinema, like probably many others did, to see one of the last movies with Heath Ledger. I had seen the first Christopher Nolan Batman movie, "Batman Begins" already and liked that. So it was quite natural for me to go and see the second and yes, I'm going to see the third and last one, too! What made me so happy about "The Dark Knight"? The Joker posters. Not because of Heath Ledger, but because of what it read on them: "Why So Serious?" I got a poster where the Joker is on it and wrote that line in blood. I had the poster on my door for a while. Now the poster is replaced by some other lines, I'm going to describe to you in a bit. "Why so serious?" helped me a lot for some time. It served as a reminder to smile. Even if it was a forced smile for the moment. The question seemed appropriate. Why walk around looking miserable so much? I forgot who it was and actually forgot the exact words of the quote, but it's something to the extend of: "Whether you smile or look sad, time keeps ticking anyway. So you may as well smile." The Joker's line was shorter though.
Now the only thing that reminds me or anybody of TDK are the three mini-posters on my wardrobe walls. I have three doors and it seemed fitting to put one poster up on each. The one furthest on the left has Harvey Dent's face with his right hand up holding one of his "I believe in Harvey Dent" badges hiding the right side of his face. The door in the middle has Batman's face with his right hand up holding one of his bat-boomerangs, whatever you call them, those bat things he throws sometimes. That, too, covers the right side of his face. On the right side has the Joker's face with his right hand up holding a Joker playing card hiding his right side of the face. I like those posters. Harvey is my favourite, because he's the character I like best in the movie. I have one of those badges now, by the way.
So then there's my desk. It stays in such a way that I sit right across from a wall. And I have one small bookshelf right on my desk and another on the wall a bit further up. The one on the wall has several postit's notes stuck to it. One reads "It's not over until it's over. Yogi Berra", another reads: "Like my mother used to tell me - if you're good at something, never do it for free. The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos: it's fair." Those three sentences are said by the Joker in the movie. I think the Joker's mom had a good advice. The other two lines are... debatable, I guess. Here's another sticker: "Who knows Master Wayne? You start pretending to have fun, you might even have a little by accident." That's a great line from "Batman Begins". Bruce Wayne's butler says it to him. Wayne is covered with bruises, because of his fights as Batman and the butler, rightly, says that Wayne would need some cover, some excuse for them. The butler suggests polo. Wayne doesn't like the idea at all. So that's when the butler says that line. He's so right. Sometimes we just need to do things, get started and it's not so bad after all.
That quote ties neatly into the movie "Love Happens". I know, it's a cheesy title, but it's really a nice movie. Not one of those stupid love-romance-flics you'd imagine it to be. And it has Aaron Eckhart in it, who played Harvey Dent in TDK. Anyway, the movie is about Burke Ryan, who lost his wife in a car accident a couple of years back. He got over his loss, or so he makes everyone believe anyway. He wrote a book about it and now does seminars to help others overcome their loss. Sometimes we hear Aaron Eckhart from the off citing lines from his book. One is this: "Devote five minutes a day to smiling, just smiling, and after a while it'll come naturally." (Funny enough at that moment we see him alone in his hotel room, sitting on the bed, staring blankly, looking very miserable.) I won't tell you what's up with him. You've got to see for yourself. There's no line from "Love Happens" at the shelf, but I love his advice and it just fits with the butler's quote. There are a couple of other quotes on those stickers, but they keep falling off on to the table. Also I'd advice you not to take my choices like that, but look for what fits for you. I picked those and some other lines, because they're special and mean something to me. I only write those for you to give you ideas of what may be working.
I wrote that my door doesn't have the Joker poster any longer. It has a couple of self-made papers. One has the first line Dracula said to Jonathan Harker as he enters the castle, although I took the liberty and changed one word for obvious reasons, here's the original line: "Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will and leave some of the happiness you bring." Essentially it says that the person, who comes into my room, should bring and leave happiness. I like that idea. Sadness out, happiness in. Another paper has Charlie Chaplin sitting in front of a house on the steps, looking sad with only a dog next to him, like he's the only friend left for Charlie. I added a speech bubble with a quote from Charlie Chaplin, namely: "Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles." I think that's very important to keep in mind. We sometimes think that our troubles and problems have no end, but they do. Very important reminder. I wanted Charlie Chaplin to look sad on the picture though. Add a little bit of humor to the quote like that. (Much like Burk Ryan telling us to smile and sitting alone and sad in his hotel room.)
I have another late addition on the door. It's a german line, supposedly what a person suffering from dementia may ask. It reads: "Is it Monday or May today?" It's written in one of those old fonts, too. I just love it.
I also made a compilation of five of my favourite magicians one in each corner (among them Derren Brown and Harry Houdini, if you care to know) and the duo Penn & Teller in the middle. The line above them reads: "Hour youth income ache sad if stow watch oath ink." I think Milton Erickson would have liked that one. Hint: Read it aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If you catch me in a good mood, I may answer your message about that quote and tell you what it really means. That one's on my wall next to the bookshelves actually framed, too.
If you want some of my self-made posters, like the Charlie Chaplin one, drop me a message and I'll send it to you. I also made a compilation of lines of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight". I just don't know where to put it. It's several lines, among them those mentioned above, in different colours.
Go ahead, play with lines, stick some up at your place! I'd be happy to read your ideas and what you came up with, too! Drop me a message.
Until next blog,
sarah
I'm currently still living with my parents. So I can't make the whole flat the way I would, if it was my own. I'm not sure what I would change if it was my own. Anyway, today I want to write about my room.
You know, I was quite happy when in 2008 "The Dark Knight" came out. I didn't rush into the cinema, like probably many others did, to see one of the last movies with Heath Ledger. I had seen the first Christopher Nolan Batman movie, "Batman Begins" already and liked that. So it was quite natural for me to go and see the second and yes, I'm going to see the third and last one, too! What made me so happy about "The Dark Knight"? The Joker posters. Not because of Heath Ledger, but because of what it read on them: "Why So Serious?" I got a poster where the Joker is on it and wrote that line in blood. I had the poster on my door for a while. Now the poster is replaced by some other lines, I'm going to describe to you in a bit. "Why so serious?" helped me a lot for some time. It served as a reminder to smile. Even if it was a forced smile for the moment. The question seemed appropriate. Why walk around looking miserable so much? I forgot who it was and actually forgot the exact words of the quote, but it's something to the extend of: "Whether you smile or look sad, time keeps ticking anyway. So you may as well smile." The Joker's line was shorter though.
Now the only thing that reminds me or anybody of TDK are the three mini-posters on my wardrobe walls. I have three doors and it seemed fitting to put one poster up on each. The one furthest on the left has Harvey Dent's face with his right hand up holding one of his "I believe in Harvey Dent" badges hiding the right side of his face. The door in the middle has Batman's face with his right hand up holding one of his bat-boomerangs, whatever you call them, those bat things he throws sometimes. That, too, covers the right side of his face. On the right side has the Joker's face with his right hand up holding a Joker playing card hiding his right side of the face. I like those posters. Harvey is my favourite, because he's the character I like best in the movie. I have one of those badges now, by the way.
So then there's my desk. It stays in such a way that I sit right across from a wall. And I have one small bookshelf right on my desk and another on the wall a bit further up. The one on the wall has several postit's notes stuck to it. One reads "It's not over until it's over. Yogi Berra", another reads: "Like my mother used to tell me - if you're good at something, never do it for free. The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos: it's fair." Those three sentences are said by the Joker in the movie. I think the Joker's mom had a good advice. The other two lines are... debatable, I guess. Here's another sticker: "Who knows Master Wayne? You start pretending to have fun, you might even have a little by accident." That's a great line from "Batman Begins". Bruce Wayne's butler says it to him. Wayne is covered with bruises, because of his fights as Batman and the butler, rightly, says that Wayne would need some cover, some excuse for them. The butler suggests polo. Wayne doesn't like the idea at all. So that's when the butler says that line. He's so right. Sometimes we just need to do things, get started and it's not so bad after all.
That quote ties neatly into the movie "Love Happens". I know, it's a cheesy title, but it's really a nice movie. Not one of those stupid love-romance-flics you'd imagine it to be. And it has Aaron Eckhart in it, who played Harvey Dent in TDK. Anyway, the movie is about Burke Ryan, who lost his wife in a car accident a couple of years back. He got over his loss, or so he makes everyone believe anyway. He wrote a book about it and now does seminars to help others overcome their loss. Sometimes we hear Aaron Eckhart from the off citing lines from his book. One is this: "Devote five minutes a day to smiling, just smiling, and after a while it'll come naturally." (Funny enough at that moment we see him alone in his hotel room, sitting on the bed, staring blankly, looking very miserable.) I won't tell you what's up with him. You've got to see for yourself. There's no line from "Love Happens" at the shelf, but I love his advice and it just fits with the butler's quote. There are a couple of other quotes on those stickers, but they keep falling off on to the table. Also I'd advice you not to take my choices like that, but look for what fits for you. I picked those and some other lines, because they're special and mean something to me. I only write those for you to give you ideas of what may be working.
I wrote that my door doesn't have the Joker poster any longer. It has a couple of self-made papers. One has the first line Dracula said to Jonathan Harker as he enters the castle, although I took the liberty and changed one word for obvious reasons, here's the original line: "Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will and leave some of the happiness you bring." Essentially it says that the person, who comes into my room, should bring and leave happiness. I like that idea. Sadness out, happiness in. Another paper has Charlie Chaplin sitting in front of a house on the steps, looking sad with only a dog next to him, like he's the only friend left for Charlie. I added a speech bubble with a quote from Charlie Chaplin, namely: "Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles." I think that's very important to keep in mind. We sometimes think that our troubles and problems have no end, but they do. Very important reminder. I wanted Charlie Chaplin to look sad on the picture though. Add a little bit of humor to the quote like that. (Much like Burk Ryan telling us to smile and sitting alone and sad in his hotel room.)
I have another late addition on the door. It's a german line, supposedly what a person suffering from dementia may ask. It reads: "Is it Monday or May today?" It's written in one of those old fonts, too. I just love it.
I also made a compilation of five of my favourite magicians one in each corner (among them Derren Brown and Harry Houdini, if you care to know) and the duo Penn & Teller in the middle. The line above them reads: "Hour youth income ache sad if stow watch oath ink." I think Milton Erickson would have liked that one. Hint: Read it aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If you catch me in a good mood, I may answer your message about that quote and tell you what it really means. That one's on my wall next to the bookshelves actually framed, too.
If you want some of my self-made posters, like the Charlie Chaplin one, drop me a message and I'll send it to you. I also made a compilation of lines of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight". I just don't know where to put it. It's several lines, among them those mentioned above, in different colours.
Go ahead, play with lines, stick some up at your place! I'd be happy to read your ideas and what you came up with, too! Drop me a message.
Until next blog,
sarah
Saturday 7 July 2012
Ventriloquism helps
Dear reader,
I knew for a while that the ventriloquist Paul Winchell is dead. I didn't knew it just when I wrote that post where I wrote about some known ventriloquists. But at the beginning of this week I got an idea of what those things he had written in the last chapter of his book "Ventriloquism For Fun & Profit" could mean. This entry today couldn't come close to a letter or e-mail to him. But I fear it's the only thing left to do for me now. Because as much as I would have liked to write to him, I cannot do that anymore. So all that's left for me is this blog entry here.
In the last chapter Paul Winchell argues especially for 2 things: one is bringing ventriloquism into schools to teach in classes, the other thing is using ventriloquism as a sort of speech therapy for people who stutter or lisp. His points are sharp as they are simple and logical:
We probably all were mad a lot about the seemingly meaningless topics in higher classes in school. Above all in mathematics in higher classes, which has things that are so far beyond anything we need in our daily life like nothing else. They are not totally meaningless as such, but the percentage of students who take on a job in a field that needs these kinds of math is very very low. Most people feel more like this is torture.
Paul Winchell says that it makes much more sense to teach and learn ventriloquism instead. This is because you have to use both hands at any time: one hand to bring the figure to life and the other hand for yourself at least to gesture a bit. Because you use both hands, both brain hemispheres are active, get connected and are used at the same time. It's one thing to argue that to write essays teaches you to structure and make good points. It's a totally different thing, I think, not only to entertain, but also to be creative and bring together both brain hemispheres at the same time. What really makes sense in the long run and is a true argument here?
Stuttering, according to Paul Winchell, happens with a kid, who thinks faster than he or she is able to speak their thoughts. Their thoughts come faster than the words can come out. Thus they stutter. As a ventriloquist you need to bring the figure to life for starters and also you have to think for two people at the same time: talk for yourself and at the same time think about what the figure can say in reply and when the figure is talking you need to think about what you can say to that in reply yourself. The kid has to think about many things. That slows down the many thoughts, thus the stuttering stops.
Lisping, Paul Winchell says, is a certain way of saying s-sounds in a different way than people, who don't lisp. For lisping s-sounds are substituted for th. Ventriloquism is similar. About a hand full of sounds are made with the lips. F for example is such a letter. But when you say f-sounds with a th instead, you get a pretty decent substitution. You get rid of the lisping the similar way. If a lisping child understands the sound substitution for ventriloquism and is able to do that, the child should have no problem at all using the same principle for the s-sounds and the lisping is history, as they say.
At the beginning of this week now I thought about my own handicap. When I was born my upper jaw, my upper palate and my upper lip where split in two. (Hence this handicap is called double cleft-palate.) Well, that's not the case anymore. I had surgery of course. Before the surgeries the upper palate was open and the upper lip couldn't close properly. Which means, that kids with this handicap, at least until they had surgery, couldn't use their upper lip the right way. With ventriloquism you don't need your lips at all.
I wish I had known about ventriloquism, sound substitution and sound making earlier. I think ventriloquism is also a chance for people with the handicap like mine. We make some sounds different from other people and hear ourselves making the sounds a different way than they actually sound for other people. That's why people with a handicap like mine often need to go to a speech therapist. With the sound substitution used for ventriloquism people without a handicap at least speak inarticulate or worse than usual. Unless they all learn to make perfect sound substitutions.
Paul Winchell also was the person, who wrote in his book that the tip of the tongue is at the same place on the roof of the mouth for the sounds D, N and T. I didn't read that in any other book so far and my sound making can't be taken as criteria with my handicap. So T is one of the letters that may be difficult for someone with my handicap. Paul Winchell's note was a really good one for me to know where to be with the tip of my tongue for the T.
A couple of weeks ago I recorded my voice. Just to hear what I sound like now. I had only the memory of recordings of my voice from when I was a child. I wanted to know how I sound. I needed several attempts to press the record button. I forced myself to record my voice on my computer. The first time was a failure. I had connected the plugs for the mic and the headphones the wrong way. The second time the display showed me green for sound recording. After I had spoken the 2 lines to set up the mic and recorded it, I was curious to listen to my voice right away. I deleted the recording right after I heard myself. I know many people hate their own voice. But I think I should record myself speaking a couple of lines with sound substitution. At least all people sound equally terrible that way. Ventriloquism gives the same rights for all.
As I write this post here the sadness from the beginning of this week comes back. This entry seems so meaningless to me. But what I really want, to write to Paul Winchell, is not possible anymore. I'm about 7 years too late. Paul Winchell was 82 years old when he died of natural causes in 2005 (according to wikipedia). What's left is this blog entry.
Until next blog,
sarah
I knew for a while that the ventriloquist Paul Winchell is dead. I didn't knew it just when I wrote that post where I wrote about some known ventriloquists. But at the beginning of this week I got an idea of what those things he had written in the last chapter of his book "Ventriloquism For Fun & Profit" could mean. This entry today couldn't come close to a letter or e-mail to him. But I fear it's the only thing left to do for me now. Because as much as I would have liked to write to him, I cannot do that anymore. So all that's left for me is this blog entry here.
In the last chapter Paul Winchell argues especially for 2 things: one is bringing ventriloquism into schools to teach in classes, the other thing is using ventriloquism as a sort of speech therapy for people who stutter or lisp. His points are sharp as they are simple and logical:
We probably all were mad a lot about the seemingly meaningless topics in higher classes in school. Above all in mathematics in higher classes, which has things that are so far beyond anything we need in our daily life like nothing else. They are not totally meaningless as such, but the percentage of students who take on a job in a field that needs these kinds of math is very very low. Most people feel more like this is torture.
Paul Winchell says that it makes much more sense to teach and learn ventriloquism instead. This is because you have to use both hands at any time: one hand to bring the figure to life and the other hand for yourself at least to gesture a bit. Because you use both hands, both brain hemispheres are active, get connected and are used at the same time. It's one thing to argue that to write essays teaches you to structure and make good points. It's a totally different thing, I think, not only to entertain, but also to be creative and bring together both brain hemispheres at the same time. What really makes sense in the long run and is a true argument here?
Stuttering, according to Paul Winchell, happens with a kid, who thinks faster than he or she is able to speak their thoughts. Their thoughts come faster than the words can come out. Thus they stutter. As a ventriloquist you need to bring the figure to life for starters and also you have to think for two people at the same time: talk for yourself and at the same time think about what the figure can say in reply and when the figure is talking you need to think about what you can say to that in reply yourself. The kid has to think about many things. That slows down the many thoughts, thus the stuttering stops.
Lisping, Paul Winchell says, is a certain way of saying s-sounds in a different way than people, who don't lisp. For lisping s-sounds are substituted for th. Ventriloquism is similar. About a hand full of sounds are made with the lips. F for example is such a letter. But when you say f-sounds with a th instead, you get a pretty decent substitution. You get rid of the lisping the similar way. If a lisping child understands the sound substitution for ventriloquism and is able to do that, the child should have no problem at all using the same principle for the s-sounds and the lisping is history, as they say.
At the beginning of this week now I thought about my own handicap. When I was born my upper jaw, my upper palate and my upper lip where split in two. (Hence this handicap is called double cleft-palate.) Well, that's not the case anymore. I had surgery of course. Before the surgeries the upper palate was open and the upper lip couldn't close properly. Which means, that kids with this handicap, at least until they had surgery, couldn't use their upper lip the right way. With ventriloquism you don't need your lips at all.
I wish I had known about ventriloquism, sound substitution and sound making earlier. I think ventriloquism is also a chance for people with the handicap like mine. We make some sounds different from other people and hear ourselves making the sounds a different way than they actually sound for other people. That's why people with a handicap like mine often need to go to a speech therapist. With the sound substitution used for ventriloquism people without a handicap at least speak inarticulate or worse than usual. Unless they all learn to make perfect sound substitutions.
Paul Winchell also was the person, who wrote in his book that the tip of the tongue is at the same place on the roof of the mouth for the sounds D, N and T. I didn't read that in any other book so far and my sound making can't be taken as criteria with my handicap. So T is one of the letters that may be difficult for someone with my handicap. Paul Winchell's note was a really good one for me to know where to be with the tip of my tongue for the T.
A couple of weeks ago I recorded my voice. Just to hear what I sound like now. I had only the memory of recordings of my voice from when I was a child. I wanted to know how I sound. I needed several attempts to press the record button. I forced myself to record my voice on my computer. The first time was a failure. I had connected the plugs for the mic and the headphones the wrong way. The second time the display showed me green for sound recording. After I had spoken the 2 lines to set up the mic and recorded it, I was curious to listen to my voice right away. I deleted the recording right after I heard myself. I know many people hate their own voice. But I think I should record myself speaking a couple of lines with sound substitution. At least all people sound equally terrible that way. Ventriloquism gives the same rights for all.
As I write this post here the sadness from the beginning of this week comes back. This entry seems so meaningless to me. But what I really want, to write to Paul Winchell, is not possible anymore. I'm about 7 years too late. Paul Winchell was 82 years old when he died of natural causes in 2005 (according to wikipedia). What's left is this blog entry.
Until next blog,
sarah
Sunday 1 July 2012
Dehumanise your pets
Dear reader,
I never said this blog will be about ventriloquism only. More "on a gut level". So today I want to write something "non-ventriloquial". Although it's not that far away from ventriloquism. But more on that connection to ventriloquism later.
The other day I watched a live program "Dog - German, German - Dog" with the german "dog whisperer" Martin Rütter. He's quite well known over here. This week a magazine had him on the title page even. He's the guy you call, if you need help with your dogs.
In his live program he mentions a phenomena: we talk to our dogs as we would with other humans: in full sentences. I don't know how you talk to your pets in english, because I'm used to hear it in german all the time. So I can't exactly give you examples here. Also the english way of talking to pets may be different than german as a whole just from the language itself. But what Rütter says certainly is true for german speaking people talking with pets.
I never had dogs myself. But just the other day I realised I sat with my guinea pigs and realised I said something to them - yes, in full sentences - as if they were able to understand me. Then I thought of the humanisation and said nothing.
One of the guinea pigs has cysts on her ovaries. It means hormonal fluctuation and especial: jumping on the other female guinea pig! Of course the best time to do it is in the middle of the night... At first Nelly was quite shy. By now she became braver. Sadly so, I almost dare writing. Because the first couple of times she was quiet after I banged my hand on the frame of the bed. Shoutings like "Be quiet now!" or something like that I don't say anymore. I noticed the other day that this again would be humanisation... and it wouldn't help with her anyway. First off it's not her fault she has those hormonal fluctuations, secondly she's brave enough now that my shoutings, no matter what I'd shout, wouldn't keep her away from the other one. Parts of this wrongdoing we all do with dogs, we also do with other animals. And maybe even with animals, which couldn't react to what we say the way a dog could act to what we tell him to do. What worked quite effectively for me lately was to go to the cage and maybe nudge Nelly with one finger or at least get my hand near her. Not in a threatening way, just sticking my hand in the cage. She's not that brave to be close to Bibi then. This helps at least for a moment. (The hormone injections help, too.)
What's all of this got to do with ventriloquism now? Sometimes I have Gaston, my bat, with me in our groups at work. Just the other day I had Gaston on my hand when I opened the door for a daughter, who came to take her mother back home. As she saw Gaston she reacted with, "Oh what a cutie he is!" Others went further asking, as if it really was an animal, "What's his name?" Maybe even followed by a quick, "It's a 'he', isn't it?" No! It's an "it" and a hand puppet! Of course I never said that to any of those, who asked me. The questions about his name are more difficult. The catalogue sold him as "Gaston", my colleague at work called him "Gomes" from the start and most of the time he's not addressed by name at all. So basically he's a kind of half nameless Gaston.
This humanisation and personification also with (hand) puppets is what vents use. It's this fact that helps creating the illusion... and the misdirection of the vent, should his or her lips move a bit although the figure is "speaking". I don't quite remember where I read it, I think it was in Edgar Bergen's book, but others certainly point it out as well: if a vent is not very good at saying a certain letter or a word without moving his or her lips, you can let the figure make a distinct movement of some sorts. If the audience isn't looking at the figure already, the distinct movement of the figure will bring the whole attention away from you and to the figure.
There's an interview with Rasheda Ali and Ronn Lucas on youtube. At first he's alone, but when he has brought Buffalo Billy out of the trunk, asking questions is suddenly more difficult. Should she ask Billy directly or talk with Ronn Lucas about Billy? "Who am I talking to?", she asks at one moment. Ronn Lucas, who is used to that, takes it with humour, "That's the problem with ventriloquists."
Jay Johnson as well as Paul Winchell can tell stories about being part of a tv production acting as a ventriloquist and the sound of the puppet talking didn't record well, although the sound of the other actors recorded well. For both of them it was pure luck that they eventually found out the guy holding the mic to record the sound of the dialogue turned the mic to the puppet any time it had a line to say, instead of pointing the mic to Jay Johnson respectively Paul Winchell. This is how real an illusion can get and a vent can not hope for more, after all this illusion of bringing a inanimate figure to life is what makes a good vent. Maybe the vent should talk to the "mic guy" before filming, where he should keep his mic when the figure is "speaking". but that's what the anecdotes of Paul Winchell and Jay Johnson are for, to warn budding film and tv ventriloquist stars about possible "sound problems"... ;-)
Our pets however may be better off if we dehumanised them more. Aren't you, Nelly? Bibi?
Until next blog,
sarah
I never said this blog will be about ventriloquism only. More "on a gut level". So today I want to write something "non-ventriloquial". Although it's not that far away from ventriloquism. But more on that connection to ventriloquism later.
The other day I watched a live program "Dog - German, German - Dog" with the german "dog whisperer" Martin Rütter. He's quite well known over here. This week a magazine had him on the title page even. He's the guy you call, if you need help with your dogs.
In his live program he mentions a phenomena: we talk to our dogs as we would with other humans: in full sentences. I don't know how you talk to your pets in english, because I'm used to hear it in german all the time. So I can't exactly give you examples here. Also the english way of talking to pets may be different than german as a whole just from the language itself. But what Rütter says certainly is true for german speaking people talking with pets.
I never had dogs myself. But just the other day I realised I sat with my guinea pigs and realised I said something to them - yes, in full sentences - as if they were able to understand me. Then I thought of the humanisation and said nothing.
One of the guinea pigs has cysts on her ovaries. It means hormonal fluctuation and especial: jumping on the other female guinea pig! Of course the best time to do it is in the middle of the night... At first Nelly was quite shy. By now she became braver. Sadly so, I almost dare writing. Because the first couple of times she was quiet after I banged my hand on the frame of the bed. Shoutings like "Be quiet now!" or something like that I don't say anymore. I noticed the other day that this again would be humanisation... and it wouldn't help with her anyway. First off it's not her fault she has those hormonal fluctuations, secondly she's brave enough now that my shoutings, no matter what I'd shout, wouldn't keep her away from the other one. Parts of this wrongdoing we all do with dogs, we also do with other animals. And maybe even with animals, which couldn't react to what we say the way a dog could act to what we tell him to do. What worked quite effectively for me lately was to go to the cage and maybe nudge Nelly with one finger or at least get my hand near her. Not in a threatening way, just sticking my hand in the cage. She's not that brave to be close to Bibi then. This helps at least for a moment. (The hormone injections help, too.)
What's all of this got to do with ventriloquism now? Sometimes I have Gaston, my bat, with me in our groups at work. Just the other day I had Gaston on my hand when I opened the door for a daughter, who came to take her mother back home. As she saw Gaston she reacted with, "Oh what a cutie he is!" Others went further asking, as if it really was an animal, "What's his name?" Maybe even followed by a quick, "It's a 'he', isn't it?" No! It's an "it" and a hand puppet! Of course I never said that to any of those, who asked me. The questions about his name are more difficult. The catalogue sold him as "Gaston", my colleague at work called him "Gomes" from the start and most of the time he's not addressed by name at all. So basically he's a kind of half nameless Gaston.
This humanisation and personification also with (hand) puppets is what vents use. It's this fact that helps creating the illusion... and the misdirection of the vent, should his or her lips move a bit although the figure is "speaking". I don't quite remember where I read it, I think it was in Edgar Bergen's book, but others certainly point it out as well: if a vent is not very good at saying a certain letter or a word without moving his or her lips, you can let the figure make a distinct movement of some sorts. If the audience isn't looking at the figure already, the distinct movement of the figure will bring the whole attention away from you and to the figure.
There's an interview with Rasheda Ali and Ronn Lucas on youtube. At first he's alone, but when he has brought Buffalo Billy out of the trunk, asking questions is suddenly more difficult. Should she ask Billy directly or talk with Ronn Lucas about Billy? "Who am I talking to?", she asks at one moment. Ronn Lucas, who is used to that, takes it with humour, "That's the problem with ventriloquists."
Jay Johnson as well as Paul Winchell can tell stories about being part of a tv production acting as a ventriloquist and the sound of the puppet talking didn't record well, although the sound of the other actors recorded well. For both of them it was pure luck that they eventually found out the guy holding the mic to record the sound of the dialogue turned the mic to the puppet any time it had a line to say, instead of pointing the mic to Jay Johnson respectively Paul Winchell. This is how real an illusion can get and a vent can not hope for more, after all this illusion of bringing a inanimate figure to life is what makes a good vent. Maybe the vent should talk to the "mic guy" before filming, where he should keep his mic when the figure is "speaking". but that's what the anecdotes of Paul Winchell and Jay Johnson are for, to warn budding film and tv ventriloquist stars about possible "sound problems"... ;-)
Our pets however may be better off if we dehumanised them more. Aren't you, Nelly? Bibi?
Until next blog,
sarah
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