Method to the Madness

A close up of the elusive Tybalt! Finally a half decent picture! He is gorgeous isn't he... but I'm prejudiced. He is a bit funny looking and his eyes are really far apart, which you can't really see in this picture. What you can see, however, is his little snout pressing into the tablecloth, trying to dig a little burrow for himself. Talulah also does this, and they both have rougher scales on their tails and on their noses to help them push "sand", or in their case, paper towels.
Here is a dramatic look at Talulah

Today I went to the public library with my sister. I went to the main branch, and I headed off to the science department to see their selection of snake books. They have quite a lot and I took the majority of them. One is mainly an encyclopedia with gorgeous pictures of pretty much any snake you can think of. I've read a ton like this one, but I never tire of looking at the pictures. Another book seems to be really interesting: it's about a man who had a snake phobia and went looking for a "cure". He travelled to many countries to meet herpetologists and snake lovers, and the book is all about those experiences. I'm excited to read it. I can't remember what the others are like and they are all the way upstairs, so yeah, they are about snakes.
As soon as my sister and I put the pile of books on the counter at the checkout, the eyes of the man behind the desk went a little wider. What is it about snakes that freak people out?! I just don't get it, but again I might be prejudiced.

Today in acting class we started talking about the "method". We've all heard about this technique, mainly because of the great movie actors and actresses who have spoken about it. Our teacher explained the basics to us, and he showed us how important the method is for stage actors, even more than screen ones. It mainly revolves around affective memory. This means, and I am seriously paraphrasing, being able to recall your own true emotions and calling those memories up at the right moments when you need help on stage. This makes the character come to life, because you are not acting, you are actually feeling what the character feels. Of course it is not half as easy as it sounds (but what is?). To bring those emotions to the surface in the split second when you need them it is necessary to toy with the personal experiences that bring them up. A lot. They are not always pleasant memories and to bring them up time and time again must not be fun. We are starting our first exercise using the "method" next week. We'll see how we all fare.