Brian Kameoka's blog

Is "Lock down your Facebook" the new "Wear a clean pair of underwear"?

According to news reports, this morning a twenty-something man entered the Roseville Galleria (an upscale mall just outside Sacramento), walked into a store and told the employees to leave.  He then locked himself in and allegedly set the place on fire.  He's now in custody. Luckily no one was hurt, though there's a tremendous amount of damage to the now closed mall.

A few minutes online revealed that I was more connected to the suspect than I thought. Turns out, he was a friend of a friend.

Well, not really.  He was a friend of a friend in Facebook terms. After hearing his Facebook profile mentioned on the news, I did what I think a lot of people did - I looked him up.  I was surprised when Facebook informed me I had "1 friend in common.” Turns out that our shared “friend” (a former classmate, we'll call him/her "Chris") went to the same school as the suspect and based on that had long ago accepted a friend request. The important thing to remember is that Chris didn't actually know the suspect in real life despite the shared school.  

I went to Chris's wall (Facebook terminology for the space on your profile where your friends can post messages) and saw a few people inquiring about the connection, “Chris? You knew the suspect?”  I emailed Chris privately and said, "You should unfriend him, tons of people are going to be looking at that profile and will be asking you if you know the dude."  The suspect has a public profile - so anyone with a Facebook account can see everything he has ever posted.  This has lead to news outlets reading his status updates as part of the breaking news.

Lets take this moment as a good reminder not to friend random strangers.  Surely its not worth risking being guilty by association or having to answer embarrassing questions that might arise in the future. If you haven’t already, as soon as you’re finished reading this, you should check to see if you're Facebook profile is set to private.  

As my mom, and every mom, used to remind us, it’s important to wear a clean pair of underwear in case of accident. A clean and private online presence is the “clean underwear” of the social networking world.

It’s too late for the suspect. He’s sitting in jail right now and can't turn his Facebook page off. His dirty underwear was exposed to the entire world. Surprisingly, Facebook appears to have intervened and cut off access to it. Most likely it’s some kind of automated shutoff due to the number of people posting to the profile. By now, most of us have seen The Social Network and we know Facebook doesn’t care about our privacy.

While TV has broadcast the information in his profile, we didn't need TV to tell us what's on his Facebook page, we can go see ourselves. I wonder if all the people with public profiles who are talking about him know that anyone can see their posts?  (I have purposely not mentioned the suspect’s name, it just didn’t seem right when I was telling people to protect their privacy. However, you can click here to see it, via YourOpenBook.org - and yes, this will give away his name.)

Now, go put on a clean pair of internet underpants! Clean up your Facebook friends and make your profile private. That way, you’ll never have to live with the humiliation of Katie Couric reading your status updates on the evening news.

Photo: Uh Oh... Emergency Underpants by Archie McPhee (it's a real product)

The Crocker Art Museum

Since May of last year I've been working at the Crocker Art Museum as marketing specialist, but yesterday was my last day as I've had a few great opportunities come my way and have decided to pursue them.  But more on that later.  I wanted to write a blog entry about the Museum and how it was a great place to work, staffed with wonderful people.  Now is an incredibly exiting time for the Crocker as the 125 year old museum is set to open it's expanded "New Crocker" on October 10th of this year (yes, 10/10/10).  So, I'm sad that I will not be a staff member on opening day, and I will miss the marketing team which I was honored to be a part of.  Lead by Marketing Communications Director LeAnne Ruzzamenti, the team of Mark, Michele, Kathleen, Gregg and Anna was a fun group to work with, and I'll miss working with them.  The department was one I always admired and respected since I first moved to Sacramento.  Great marketing ideas and implementation.

I'm proud of my accomplishments at the Crocker, where I was focused primarily on social networking in addition to helping maintain the website and serve as one of the editors of the quarterly member magazine ArtLetter. I'm particularly pleased with the establishment of the Crocker's Facebook Fan page which in less than nine months has grown to over 4,200 fans and is one of the largest and most active pages in Sacramento.  I also established the Crocker on Twitter and YouTube and worked on its Flickr page.  It's funny, I had intended to post a blog entry when I got hired using the black "I am the New Crocker" button but never got around to it, and now it's been supplanted by the new New Crocker button.

Shows to See in Sacramento, Jerry Montoya Edition

January is like theatre's "in like a lamb, out like a lion" month, as everyone recovers from they heyday of December holiday shows and many theatres go dark.  By then end of the month, all the stages are full again with new productions. 

I'm calling this the "Jerry Montoya Edition" because Jerry, B Street Theatre's Associate Producer, has a new show opening this weekend for B Street's Family Series, The Conductor: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. He also wrote Nostros, La Gente which is one of eight plays by Sacramento playwrights in City Theatre's Old City Cemetary Plays, a festival of new works all set in Sacramento's Old City Cemetary.  I saw one evening of this show last week (each performance is a four-play set "A" or "B" of the eight plays in the project).  It's a really cool project, well produced by City Theatre who should be applauded for the efforts to produce new, local work in town.

Jerry must be one of the most prolific playwrights in the region, having written many scripts for B Street's Family Series (his Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorites).  He has scripts published by Playscripts including an adaptation of Secret Garden that is pretty widely produced and was the first children's show playing at B Street when I started there.  With Nostros, La Gente he now has two shorter works that he may develop into full length plays, the other being A Murder of Crowe (pictured left) which was a ten-minute play detailing some of the stories behind the Charles Manson murders.  Catch one of Jerry's shows (details below) while they're running, and you can catch Jerry online at JerryRMontoya.com and on twitter @jermontoya.

Shows to see:

• OPENING: The Conductor: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad by Jerry R. Montoya at B Street Theatre, part of the Family Series.  Opens January 29, with shows every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm and 4pm.
• CONTINUING THROUGH 2/7: Old City Cemetary Plays at City Theatre.  Marcus Crowder's write up in the Bee has play descriptions and show times.
• THROUGH 2/13: The excellent Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at B Street, I blogged about it here.
• COMING SOON: New Helvetia Theatre's tick, tick... Boom! opens February 3, coinciding with the Broadway tour of Rent coming to Sacramento.
• ONGOING: Graham Sobelman's Graham-A-Rama Cabaret is every Sunday night, and this weekend is a special one year anniversary show.  And don't miss the February 21 show featuring Peter Story.

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow

Last night I saw 'The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow' by Rolin Jones at B Street Theatre.  It's a great play - you should go see it.  This blog post is not a review, more just a plug for the show, then a collection of random musings on theatre that I was reminded of by the show.

 

BUT FIRST: Go see this show. I heartily recommend it.  A warning, it has F-bombs and discussion of sex, so it's not for kids or those with sensitive ears.  It's gotten great reviews so far - the News & Review gave it's highest rating, noting the "clever dialogue, tight direction, an imaginative set and a talented cast with an impressive breakout performance by Sylvia Kwan," and the Sacramento Bee bestowed the coveted four stars, saying the show "has an intensity as refreshing as it is bracing."  I can tell you as the former marketing director of B Street Theatre that with reviews like these, and buzz building for the show, you should get to it soon because it's likely to be a solid hit.  In fact, I went to opening night on the wait list but it was so full I didn't get in, and it was a packed house last night when I went. Plus, DEAL ALERT: If you have a student ID, you can get a $5 student rush ticket on the night of the show at B Street, if space is available.

 

Congrats to the whole cast - my friends David Pierini, Greg Alexander, and Sylvia Kwan; Carolyn Howarth who I've seen in tons of stuff but have never met, and Mayette Villanueva who's new to me.  And of course, Joe Styron, who got great reviews ("excellently understated" and "endearing") and is my good friend, housemate and collaborator on Sacramentjoe.  Joe's been at B Street for two and a half years, first as an intern then as an Artistic Associate.  He's done roles in 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' & 'Rumpelstiltskin' and performed as an understudy for half a dozen roles, more than anyone else at B Street in the last few years.  It's great to see him get a role like this and really shine in it.  Congrats, Joe... maybe I'll read that sketch you sent me a year ago...

[More ramblings about theatre after the cut]

Shows to See in Sacramento

This edition is as much "here's what's on my Sacramento theatre to-do list" as it is out-and-out recommendations:

• OPENING: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones at B Street Theatre.  Excited to see Joe Styron (of Sacramentjoe fame) tread the boards again.  Marcus Crowder, the Bee's theatre critic, has a nice preview feature article that ran in Friday's paper.

• UPCOMING: The New Helvetia Theatre is bringing back Jonathan Larson's pre-Rent musical tick, tick... Boom! and it coincides with the touring Broadway production of Rent.  I blogged about it here.
• ONGOING: Every Sunday, Graham Sobelman puts on a show, called Graham-A-Rama Caberet. He fronts a cool three piece combo and features great musical theatre performers. Often there's a theme to the evening. This weekend's edition features T. Patrick Van and Brad Bong and the title is "Do You Know Who We Are?" Me, I do know Brad and enjoyed his Bud Frump in Sac State's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying last year. If you haven't seen Graham-A-Rama before, check it out. It's a blast. I'm particularly looking forward to upcoming appearances by Maggie Hollinbeck (January 24 in "Who Would Maggie Go Gay For?") and Peter Story (February 21 in "A Story Before Bedtime"). Oh! And you can check out past performances on the Graham-A-Rama YouTube page.

Anthropologie Project

That's Anthropologie (-ie) project, not Anthropology.  For a class I just finished as part of my MBA program at Sac State, my team conducted a brand audit on Anthropologie stores.  I thought I'd post a blog entry about it, especially since quite a few of my friends on Facebook took the quick survey we created.  We ended up with 123 responses.  The survey was just a quick one set up on Google Docs to assess brand awareness, and is not statistically significant (just interesting). 

[UPDATE: if you're looking for the official Anthropologie Blog or blogs about Anthropologie, see here]

Results and my commentary after the cut...

Theatre in Sacramento: Tick Tick Boom returns

Sacramento's New Helvetia Theatre turns one this month, having launched this time last year with a fundraising, concert-style performance of Celebration by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.  Since then, Connor Mickiewicz's new company has taken up residence at the Artisan Theatre on Del Paso and produced two critically acclaimed, well attended shows.  The second of these shows, Jonathan Larson's tick, tick... BOOM returns for two weekends beginning February 3rd.  The timing of the return engagement coincides with the current Broadway tour of Rent starring Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp (two of the original cast members), which plays Sacramento February 3 through 7 as part of the Broadway Sacramento series.  This means you can see a double feature of Jonathan Larson, seeing his only two musicals on back to back nights, or even together on the same day.

New Helvetia's tick, tick... BOOM earned rave reviews in the fall, with Patti Roberts in the News & Review calling it "a fantastic production, all the more bittersweet because we know that Jonathan Larson didn’t get much older" and the Bee's Jim Carnes called it "a solid, almost traditional book musical that profits from its intimate, autobiographical nature. It's a sweet show, simple and hopeful."

Tickets to the show's limited return engagement will likely go fast, so get them quickly.  It's really a marvelous show with a fantastic three person cast.

LINKS:
Tickets to New Helvetia's tick, tick... BOOM via Brownpapertickets.com
Tickets to Rent, presented by Broadway sacramento via Tickets.com
Patti Roberts review of tick, tick... BOOM in the News & Review
Jim Carnes review of tick, tick... BOOM in the Sacramento Bee

[Disclosure: I helped with publicity by taking press photos for last fall's production but do not work for New Helvetia]

Shows to See in Sacramento

Here are some shows in Sacramento I recommend seeing:

• FINAL WEEKEND: Bat Boy: The Musical at Sacramento State.  I wrote a review on my blog here. Amanda Morish and Peter J. Carroll are great, and you can get tickets for as cheap as $5 this weekend.

• I Am My Own Wife at B Street Theatre (closes 11/7). Bee critic Marcus Crowder calls it a "riveting production" with an "astonishing performance by Greg Alexander" and I totally agree.

• tick, tick... BOOM! at New Helvetia Theatre (through 11/14).  A great production of Jonathan Larson's pre-Rent musical. Patti Roberts in the News & Review says it has a "winning combination of a superbly talented cast, a strong and inventive directing team, and a first-rate live cabaret band. [full disclosure: I helped with publicity for this show and took their press photos]

Upcoming (shows I'm planning on seeing):

• Capital Stage's Speech & Debate (through 11/8)

• New interns have arrived at the B Street Theatre, so I plan on checking out their weekly Wednesday post-show performances, which I blogged about previously here because I believe it's Sacramento's best theatre bargain.  These performances should resume 11/11, but call the B Street box office at (916) 443-5300 to confirm.

• Broadway Sacramento presents Spring Awakening (11/4 through 11/15).  I mentioned this on Facebook and Twitter, since I know almost nothing about the show.  Consensus was, "go see it!" so I am.... here's a promo video for the show:
  
   
  

Also, for one of the best online guides to what's playing in town, check out Sacramento365.com.

Theatre Review: Bat Boy at Sac State

At what point in musical theatre history did the audience start to realize that producers would make a musical from just about any source no matter how trite and meaningless?"

Was it with Cats?  Not that all these adaptations are poor, some of these seemingly bad ideas turn into commercial and artistic successes.  Take The Lion King for example.  I go back and forth on the Disney property - is it brilliant realization of Julie Taymor's auteurship, or simply an overpriced and overblown puppet show?  I think the theatre world will continue for a long time to wonder what source material has yet to be plundered . . .  after all, Broadway is supposed to welcome Spiderman in a few months.

Bat Boy is a relatively new musical, first playing off-Broadway in 2001. Drawing from the sketchy details of the original fake tabloid article from the Weekly World News, the plot of Bat Boy starts as an origin story, but begins to drift as it progresses, seemingly lifting plotlines from Frankenstein, Our Town, Romeo and Juliet and more.  It's as if writers Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming felt their title character was original enough that their story didn't have to be.  The music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe are enjoyable and clever, though nothing seems catchy enough to hum on the way out of the theatre.

This CSUS production boasts beautiful sets and some clever bits of staging, though it doesn't quite overcome all the shortcomings of the script and seemed to drag a little.  Ed Brazo directs a large cast and elicits some nice performances.  But it seems as if the Bat Boy script presents a schizophrenic challenge worthly of Bat Boy's own half-bat, half-human lineage - is this a larger-than-life parable on society's aversion to outsiders, or is this meant to be pure camp in the tradition of the ridiculous tabloid that actually gave birth to Bat Boy?  This production seems to split the difference, succeeding on some fronts (Bat Boy's struggles for acceptance provoke empathy throughout) while failing on others (why is one death funny and another one tragic?).  There's a sequence in Act 2 that inexplicably brings the Greek god Pan on stage to sing and encourage the creatures of the forest to mate that, while funny and performed well, pushed the limits of my suspension of disbelief.  I had to chuckle to myself as I thought, "I'm with you on the mad-scientist-cattle-conspiracy-paranormal-interspecies-mutant musical so far, but now THIS is too much!"  So, bravo to the production for the most part - you had me til the forest creature sex number.

The acting and singing are a bit of a mixed bag, though every time I see a show at CSUS, there are a few delightful standout performances.  This time it was Amanda Morish as Meredith Parker, as Bat Boy's adoptive mother, and Peter J. Carroll as Bat Boy that impressed me most.  Morish handles a difficult part with skill, conveying a range of emotions from the angst of difficult circumstances to the joy of motherly love.   She sweetly expresses comfort to the newly displaced Bat Boy in "Home for You," one of several moments when Morish owns the stage with her voice and presence.  Carroll has the daunting task of transforming from feral cave creature to refined, BBC-accented average teenage boy in front of our eyes.  The role's like Eliza Doolittle guest starring on "Fringe," and Carroll performs it well, especially considering he's practically naked at one point, and throughout the show he wears prosthetic ears, fangs and a headset-style body mic.

In the end, I can recommend this as a fun evening out.  Bat Boy runs for one more weekend, and there are some great discounts on October 31st for Halloween, including $5 tickets for high school students for the 5pm performance and $5 tickets for the 9pm performance if you attend in costume.

NOTE: This show has plenty of adult themes and some on stage violence, so it's not appropriate for children.

REMAINING PERFORMANCES:

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 @ 6:30 PM
Thursday, October 29, 2009 @ 6:30 PM
Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 31, 2009 @ 5:00 PM and 9:00 PM
Sunday, November 1, 2009 @ 2:00 PM

Tickets $10-$15

LINKS:

CSUS Department of Theatre and Dance page for Bat Boy
Jeffrey Callison interview with Ed Brazo, Peter J. Carrol and Amanda Morish
Buy your tickets for Bat Boy on tickets.com
Buy Bat Boy (2001 Original Off-Broadway Cast) from Amazon.com

Sacramentjoe Episode 2: California State Fair

Just posted Episode 2 of 'Sacramentjoe' - Joe and I trekked out to the California State Fair for this one. What resulted includes cinnamon roles, livestock, bellydancing, and a terrible Schwarzenegger impression. Oh, and Joe hits on a Pea (you gotta see it to understand).

Here's the episode:

Come check out 'Sacramentjoe' - 2 episodes so far plus a few "vlogs" (video blogs), all of which are available on our YouTube Channel.  Hope you'll subscribe on YouTube, and we'd also love it if you would connect with us on the various social networking sites:

http://myspace.com/sacramentjoe
http://facebook.com/sacramentjoe
http://twitter.com/sacramentjoe

There was a delay between episodes 1 and 2, but episode 3 is actually ready to go.  We'll leave it up to our viewers - once we get 500 hits for episode 2 we'll post 3.  Enjoy!  Thanks for watching...