Cool stuff on the stage acting technique. JZ's very well schooled in all kinds of stagework and improv, but is the first to admit that she doesn't have the right tools for filmwork.

Verbal instructions simply don't translate to body stuff -- actually, for me, verbal instructions don't translate to anything.

This is the thing that got me all het up about the coach's clinic. It was exciting to see that baseball had a whole deep well of instructional drills designed to move the body and create fundamental muscle memory. There wasn't that much explaining. It was about breaking the complex motions down into simpler components which only got worked individually.

I'm having a little trouble with Emmett because he fields the ball well because of his natural eye-hand coordination, but his technique is actually kind of poor. Without having that fundamental structure in place (footwork, positioning) he's going to make errors on difficult plays that the fundamentals would be able to accomodate. He can't just stab at a hard hit grounder that's coming up on a bad hop. He's got to be positioned properly and able to adjust to the hop. Stuff like that.

But carrying them? Always a mistake, at least half-way through season 2. Rygel ALWAYS looks like a ragdoll when somebody carries him from place to place.

Everything seems bright enough when they're not in the light, and they only process changes, NSM absolutes (that's me and music, for instance)?

This is probably true, and I do sympathize with peeps who have a hard time with the light. But it is often a running joke during tech.

I have nothing but respect for soap actors. They work their asses off.

only got worked individually

Only? Doesn't that risk jerkiness when everything's stitched together?

That's something we have to work against -- people keeping the pauses in what they've been taught in sections.

I liked the one with Rygel in a burlap bag. Okay, you're right, when he poked his head out near the end, he looked like he was saying, "Hi! My puppeteer is crouching next to this actor's knee!"

he fields the ball well because of his natural eye-hand coordination, but his technique is actually kind of poor. Without having that fundamental structure in place (footwork, positioning) he's going to make errors on difficult plays that the fundamentals would be able to accomodate.

Or else, he will turn out to be Nomar. His motions are always a little bit death-defying.

But it is kind of funny to see ads on TV for baseball schools and videos where the whole "appeal" is watching a kid move from position A to B to C, over and over, before he's even allowed to hold the glove/bat. It looks as arbitrary and unnatural as ballet.

He can't just stab at a hard hit grounder that's coming up on a bad hop. He's got to be positioned properly and able to adjust to the hop. Stuff like that.

I took more than one ball in the face as a result of that very scenario. Because I never learned those fundamentals and just capitalized on an oddly natural-born ability.

Though taking a hard grounder in the face will teach you how to adjust, you betcha.

In completely unrelated news, Camilla can be Queen:

Replying to a question from a lawmaker, Constitutional Affairs Minister Christopher Leslie said in a written statement Monday that the marriage of Charles and Parker Bowles would not be "morganatic" -- in which the spouse of inferior status has no claim to the standing of the other.

"This is absolutely unequivocal that she automatically becomes queen when he becomes king," said Andrew Mackinlay, the lawmaker who raised the question.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs confirmed that interpretation, saying that legislation would be required to deny Parker Bowles the title of queen. Similar legislation apparently would be required in more than a dozen countries -- such as Australia, Jamaica and Canada -- in which the British sovereign is the head of state.

In completely unrelated news, Camilla can be Queen:

Has she found the Yellow Sign?

t awards Matt three points

It looks as arbitrary and unnatural as ballet.

Baseball is as arbitrary and unnatural as ballet.