A couple weeks ago, the college had a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Residence Hall that is being built to accommodate the ever-growing residential community. Sadly, the day of the groundbreaking, it was not very nice outside. Due to the weather, the groundbreaking took place in Cosgrave, the student center. It didn't have the same feel but I chuckle every time that I recall the Carpet-breaking, as I like to call it.

To remedy the fact that the actual ceremony didn't involve dirt or the site of the new building, I brought it upon myself to have my own groundbreaking. Unfortunately, the only tools I could get my hands on were on loan from the Little People's Place.

With the construction underway, the spring semester is coming to a close. Graduation is this Saturday and my girlfriend, Ashley, is going to be walking. She will be getting a BA in English and a BA in Sign Language Interpreting. She is very excited and will be applying her skill with the Minnesota Conservation Corps. She will serve as a counselor and an interpretor for deaf campers.

I hope that everyone has a fun and safe summer. I enjoyed blogging and I hope that you enjoyed reading it. I will be back next fall with lots to share. Between my internship and summer classes, I am confident that I will have some material to write about.

Have fun!!

Posted by Owen Standley at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's right, you read the title right. I'm naked...without my BRACES!! I got my braces off the same week that our spring semester play opened. I was three weeks shy of having my braces for one year. It feels really nice to have straight and smooth teeth. I did not tell the people that are close to me, because I wanted to surprise them. Ashley noticed in .8 seconds. It was quite comical. My parents noticed when they came to see the play.
The play, "I Take This Man," went very well. It had a wonderful cast and it was great that most people had more than one favorite actor. I was the cop, Officer Jud Keegan, and my part was very small but for some reason the audience really enjoyed my performance.
I'm glad that my braces were off for the play, I don't know too many real cops who have braces. Yay for no braces!!

Posted by Owen Standley at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two weeks ago, my friend Matt Stoyanoff and his band performed here at MAC. It was at a concert with multiple bands. The turnout was pretty good and the audience response was impressive. I was fortunate enough to video tape his band performing. His band is very talented. The guitar players are out of this world and I wonder why their fingers haven't fallen off of their hands with the intense speed and accuracy that they use to play. They play mostly metal, but don't be scared, they play the kind of music where the lyrics are understandable versus the screaming into the microphone, "a demon from my childhood is going to get me," kind of screaming metal. Their stuff is audible and has strong diction. Some of the bands that they covered were Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. The one song that they performed called "Demon Inside" is an original song and I fortunately got some close up shots of the guitar solos. I put their songs on www.youtube.com.

On my www.youtube.com page, you can also see the one short film that I made for the www.apple.com insomnia film festival, which is only for college and high school students, and my one-man performance of "Who's on First?" that I did for the talent show earlier in the semester. There is also my one Advanced Acting project with a fellow classmate, who wishes to be unidentified. Most of my videos were done on campus.

If you would like to see the videos you can check them out on my www.youtube.com page. Here is a direct link to my videos:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=OwenPStandley&search_type=

Posted by Owen Standley at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you did not know my current status here are Mount Aloysius College, I am nearing the end of my third year. Ironically enough, last week I decided to change my major. It's not a drastic change, but I will need to stay at MAC for another semester. I am now pursuing the Secondary Education Certificate in English. Mount Aloysius College has just added Secondary Education this year and I will possibly be one of the first, if not the first, to graduate from here with this specific degree. I am very excited about this decision. What do you think? Post a message about me teaching in high schools? Is this a good idea or a bad one? Would I make an interesting teacher? Post a comment.

Posted by Owen Standley at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I landed an internship for the summer. I'm very excited because I will get to work very closely with professional actors in a professional equity theatre. I will be at the West Virginia Public Theatre for the middle of the summer. Within seven weeks, there will be six shows being performed on one stage. That allows for one day to strike on set and erect the next one. The shows being performed are "Dream Girls", "Forever Plaid", "West Side Story", Streetcar Named Desire", "Urban Cowboys", and "The Producers". I will get to serve as an Intern Dresser. Not to be mistaken for a piece of bedroom furniture. I will physically be taking costumes off of actors and helping them into their next one. Often, this is a fast-paced chore. Again, I am very excited and hopefully I'll have some good stories and meet some important people.

Posted by Owen Standley at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I ran in an election on the Internet on www.indymogul.com It's a network of independent film makers and they wanted to have an election for a new president of Mogulville. I sent in my 30-second candidacy video and it was picked as a finalist. Sadly, I did not win the election. I lost to someone from the UK. But, I can run again in three months, so hopefully I will have better luck next time around. In my video, I had two of my friends, Matt Stoyanoff and Steve Widman wearing power suits with sunglasses as my secret service agents. I have a harmonica playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" as my music.

I guess next time I'll need to have Stephen Colbert or something.

Posted by Owen Standley at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two weeks ago and last week, Vox Nova performed the stations of the cross on campus and at St. Catherine's in Duncansville. It was a nice concert to perform. We had a musical response to each station. We were supposed to perform them one night after the other, but the weather wasn't very good, so it was postponed for one week. The weather wasn't nice the following week either, but surprisingly enough, there was a large crowd despite the road conditions.

Posted by Owen Standley at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week for the Valentine's Day festivities, Amanda Rose and I hosted an RA program for those who didn't have much to do for the holiday. Prior to the 14th, Amanda and I surveyed men and women on campus to ask them about dating and primarily, first dates. We then used the information that we got and then made it into a Family Feud game show. I got to be the host and I dressed the part of a 70's game show host. I wore some tight striped pants, a red-hearted tie and a blazer. I enjoyed the game. I think that the residents that came to play and watch also enjoyed themselves. Some of the answers that we got from the residents were really funny.

Posted by Owen Standley at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last weekend, Ashley and I went to Pittsburgh with her mom to have a celebratory dinner. Ashley's mom had passed some tests for work and so she wanted to take us out. While we were there, we were able to visit by BFF F.J. Hartland. F.J. is a former professor here at MAC, and I have managed to maintain close contact with him. He has recently written a new play and it was being read out loud for a small audience to provide feedback to give F.J. an idea of what he may need to change around. I personally liked the whole show. It wasn't very long for two acts and it was incredibly funny while having a broad range of emotion and character development.

It was a nice visit. I'm sure that soon enough, F.J.'s new show will be performed at a theatre near you.

Posted by Owen Standley at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Thursday night, MAC hosted a talent show that was open for all students. There were only eleven, yet talented acts in the show. With no cover charge at the door, students filled Alumni Hall and we had a full house. I started the show with my one-man performance of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" Other student performers were Richie Leahey, Angela Dodson, Maria Prosser, Tyler Moudry, Silas Smoker, Susan Waxler, Maria Anna Carcioppolo, Alana Burkett and Cory Wonderly. My friend, Katie Apostolides, wanted to dance in the talent show, so a few weeks ago, she and I began practicing a Mambo routine. Needless to say, that was not a finalist in the contest. Susan Waxler took first place with her sign language interpretation of "Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone", Silas Smoker was second with an acapella version of "It Just Comes Natural" by George Strait and Cory Wonderly was third with "More Than a Memory" by Garth Brooks.

For those of you who wish to see either of my performances, you can check it out on YouTube.com. Here is the link of "Who's on First?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NkQe7QREA0

and the link for the Mambo routine is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xdRMdAb1TE

Enjoy!

Posted by Owen Standley at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)