some assembly required

We made a video!

2010-06-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

We've entered into a contest and created a 60 second video for a Bluetooth company. All we need is people to watch our video - no signing up, logging in or voting - just take 60 seconds and laugh! We hope you enjoy it! To view the video click here.

Or copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.jawbonecontest.com/watch/steal/74194_148112

Written by: Misa Doi
Directed & Edited by: Cullen Wright
Produced by: Misa Doi, Mikey Garratt, Greg Hadwick, Cullen Wright
DP: Greg Hadwick
Assistant DP/Boom Op: Mikey Garratt
Featuring: Justin Baker, Jaimie Paulson, Jordan St. Jean, Paul Baumgaertner and Paul Leo Dietz.

Check out some photos from our shoot!

the awesome workout talent

paully b

jordan

jaimie

paully d

baker wasn't happy to be awake so early on a saturday

our awesome DP, greg

our kick ass director & editor, cullen

mikey mic's up jbot

breakfast friends

stretching it out

paul gets into character

setting the scene

jordan preps for yoga

paully d shows us how it's done

and action!

spritzing the sweat

wide shot to begin the story

and that's a wrap!

Road Trippin'

2010-05-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

by Misa Doi

This past weekend we were invited up to perform at Off-Market Theater in San Francisco so a bunch of us took time off work, hoped into cars and made the trek up the 5 to Oakland/San Fran. This road trip experience was long, exhausting and not without hiccups but it was also possibly one of the best experiences that I will treasure in my memories for years to come.

We left on Friday morning just before noon. We deliberated over taking one car or two and finally decided on taking two cars - which quickly proved to be a blessing as one of our cars blew a tire 45 minutes into the drive.

Thankfully we weren't too far from an exit that happened to have a tire place, so once AAA changed the flat, we were able to purchase a new tire, grab some lunch and hit the road for try #2. It was smooth riding until about an hour later, I decided to check Google Latitude and see whereabouts the other car was and realized that we had unknowingly continued onto the 99 instead of the 5. We had been playing a name game to pass the time and hadn't realized that the 5 sneakily veered to the left as we continued straight ahead. We ended up taking the 198 back to the 5, only to realize that it joined it at the most awful smelling part of the 5. Anyone who has ever driven the 5 north, knows what I'm taking about. The smell was powerfully pungent as it hit us full on without any warning. One minute we were celebrating our success at being back on the 5 and the next we were gasping for air, wondering what could possibly produce such an overwhelming stench. Then we had our answer. Cows. Lots and lots of cows.

1.5 million cows

Once we were back into clean air again, the rest of the trip was pretty much smooth sailing - except for the part where we almost got in an accident. But we didn't so all was good. We went straight to the theater and finally got to see where our SF friends had been performing on the other side of the projection screen.

After the show (we had been invited to catch ShortLived 3.0 - a competition of one-acts that PianoFight produced) we all went back to Max's (one of the members of Tilted Frame) in Oakland and tried to figure out how to comfortably fit 7 people in a studio apartment. We ordered pizzas, watched a horribly awesome movie (Hard Ticket to Hawaii - a must see if you love to make fun of bad movies) and surprisingly found sleeping room for
everyone.

Leaving Off-Market Theater to head back to Max's.

Jbot relaxes after an exhausting day.

Nat was too sleepy to stay awake for the sweet movie.

John's got some awesome PJs.

I was so excited that Paul brought "Hard Ticket to Hawaii."

Our kick ass host, Max, preps himself for living with 6 people in his studio apartment for the weekend.

Jordan is excited for the adventures to come.

It was a long day. We were tired and hungry.

Jbot ordering Pizza while Nat tries to stay awake.

The next morning, after a yummy homemade pancake and mimosa breakfast provided by our awesome host, we decided to run some errands and walk around Oakland.

Paul found it hard to get out of bed the next morning.

We walked towards the Bank of America across the street from the lake. On the way there, Jbot kept her eyes open for a mailbox so she could mail a bill. As luck would have it, we came across one and this happened:

Anyone who's anyone knows that the most happenin' place to be is CVS, so of course we went there.

Jbot finds what she wants for her upcoming birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, Nat found the best birthday card.

Inside: "You were born." Complete with Star Wars theme music.

I found a book that combined two of my favorite things: Cats and an inside joke about soup.

After our awesome adventure discovering Oakland on foot, we decided to go back to Max's place and figure out where we wanted to eat.We also took more pictures, because it's what we do.

Paul likes things that look like they should be space guns.

John captures the moment of me capturing the moment.

We were all hungry and decided to grab some lunch at Cota's Ale House. Nom nom nom.

Nat, E.D. and Max wait for food to arrive.

Paul and Jordan pose for a 3D picture effect.

John's burger. Yummmm!

Jbot and I like to share food in order to get more than one option.

Stuffed with delicious food, we decided to fail at being tourists and go back to Max's pad to take naps. It was mentioned that his place looked like a mini version of Jonestown with all our sleeping bodies strewn about. We woke up refreshed and made our way to Off Market Theater in San Francisco for our show. The show was a lot of fun and we were excited to finally get to meet some more Tilted Frame members. We decided to take a group LA/SF picture.

John was in the bathroom, so we did what any improv troupe would do while we waited for him... we took pictures without him.

Strike a pose!

Tilted Frame and Some Assembly Required

After the show, we walked down to Mel's and partook in some late night grub with Rob & Dan from PianoFight Productions (our lovely hosts at Off-Market Theater).

The next morning we packed up our belongings and walked to a nearby Mexican restaurant where I met up with my cousin, Lynn and her son. I hadn't seen her in years so it was great to be able to catch up and finally meet her son.

Lynn and I

E.D.

Nom nom nom...

Paul and Jordan

And thus concluded our fun filled SF/Oakland weekend. Sadly, we said our goodbyes and thanks, jumped into our cars and headed back to LA with the promise to return again soon.

Our San Francisco Treat

2010-02-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

Today concludes possibly one of the most fun weekends to ever exist in the history of human kind. Yes, it was just that good. But before we get to that here's a little background on what we've been up to the past couple of months...

Back in January we started doing a multi-city tech-filled improv show called Tilted Frame Network. Our group in LA hosted a show at Theatre Asylum in Hollywood, CA while an awesome group called Tilted Frame hosted a show in San Francisco. Using the internet we were able to interact and play some short form games with the help of video cameras and projection screens. Two cities. One show. Awesometown. Our three week run was a great success - complete with a review from LA Weekly, which called the show "really funny" with "pockets of brilliance" and "loads of potential."

Although we had performed 6 shows together, both casts only knew each other as grainy forms staring back at each other on a projection screen. We expressed our interest to get to know the other cast better and this past weekend, we got our chance to meet some of our SF counterparts. Four of the men (Daniel Berson, Daniel Sullivan, Greg Shilling, and Max McCal) made the trek down to visit with us for the weekend.

On Friday night, most of us met up to watch another improv troupe, Impro Theatre, perform their "Shakespeare Unscripted" show - an entirely improvised Shakespearian-like piece. They were amazing. Seriously brilliant.

The next night we had our own show, complete with an improv jam with our audience. Not only was it fantastic to finally perform improv face to face with our SF friends but it was a lot of fun. We had the good fortune of having the talented Gil Riego of Gil Riego Photography in our audience to document the evening - check out the photos on our Facebook page! After the jam we went to iHop and partook in delicious food and endless conversation that consisted of chess boxing, vague booking and singing show tunes. So much fun!

Following the rule of threes, we finished off our trifecta of good times on Sunday. Matthew Quinn (the creator/director/producer of Tilted Frame Network) hosted a fun BBQ at his house and we gathered once again for tasty food, conversation and an entertaining round of Cranium. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, so we said our goodbyes to our new friends as they hit the road to return back to their hilly city. We had an amazing weekend filled with laughter and new inside jokes. We hope we can put together a trip and go visit our new SF friends and their theater sometime soon.