Techie sayings

[jonslilbro]

In that case you may want to invest in tunnel tape(or to some, cable path tape) to go along with normal gaff tape. Tunnel tape is basically a wider strip of gaff tape(usually about 4"-6") that is non-sticky in the middle(basically the middle "half") and then is sticky on a "quarter" of each side so that it sticks down on the outsides, but the middle can run cables without having to worry about an sticky messes. Then use normal gaff tape for anywhere else you'd normally use gorilla tape.


Gary

 

[tabonerb285]

Some of the sayings I use before a show,

Already mentioned, "you're fired" is always a good one...


Normally I start to have a pep talk, but before I start I say " Fetch my coffee,.. " techie looks blank,.. "hurry up. spill my coffee I break your legs".. then my techies know it's time for pre-show pep... it usually goes something like..

"Good job so far, but you haven't done your best yet.. Remember 7 P's .. (all look blank at this point) Prior, Planning and Preparation Prevents a P*ss Poor Performance.." then we garble on for a few minutes making sure all techies are aware of their duties and I normally end the pep talk with something like..
"you hesitate, we're done..
you panic, your done.. remember be calm and not dead!"

 

[shiben]

We usually make a pep talk to the effect of "who put the coffee on?" "ok its good, lets go" and then we start working. Unfortunately, there are only like 2 of us who are actually "techs" not just spare actors who dont have roles in the show, so sometimes we need to speak slowly and explain duties.

 

[sstolnack]

we have a tradition of having tech meetings when house opens, we go out on the loading dock and pretty much say "have a good show" then do a tech cheer. Opening night cheer is "f*** this sh**", second night cheer is "dont f*** sh** up" and after that, we just find something funny to say.

recently, I worked on Carl Sagan's Contact, the musical, and we had a joke about the fact that the aliens that lived across the street were going to kidnapp us, and it would be ok because we would be doing research for the show. Everyone on tech hated that show... so every night, we would tell eachother that the aliens were coming, then we don't have to do the show...

 

[GeorgeSellner]

...and no 'wardrobe malfunctions' !

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

"You may be in the lime light, But who gives you it?"

 

[edmedmoped]

"You may be in the lime light, But who gives you it?"

I like this.

 

[brozeph20]

Whenever someone does something stupid (apart from putting a tally mark on the "Wall of Incompetence"), I always say, "yep, That's the way we do it..."
It always gets a laugh
ps. you don't want to be on the "Wall of Incompetence"

 

[bull]

well, we have yet to find a problem that our TD can't solve... and his name just happens to be Jim... therefore WWJD, What Would Jim Do? has become one of our biggest sayings...


We also have this thing about Ninjas... we are Ninas... be a Ninja... and that's just cause we're awesome, and amazing at solving on stage problems... without ever being seen.

 

[Bobby]

"standby...standby...go, go,go."

"The pyro is armed....giggy"

 

[Jinkley]

No way I'm reading through 38 pages to see if this has been used before (oh well if it has), but we say:

"Actors, break a leg. Crew, break an actor's leg."

 

[cobybeckdesign]

"Theater works like this: cheep, fast, good: pick 2"

 

[Nikgwolf]

I've worked with a union crew once for my high school's dance concert at the end of each year. We have 3 hours to hang, refocus, or recolor anything before cueing and every year I hear them say: "Remember the out"

 

[mstaylor]

The two things my crew keeps saying is,"It's all about the out" and " We're not happy until you're not happy." The second is a running joke. I also have a banner on my computor that says,"You can do it my way or you can do it my way mad!" One of my favorite shirts was one a guy from Mountains Productions wore that said," I'll try to be nicer if you try to be smarter!"

 

[NashvilleTechie]

I work at a university, so in addition to concert and theatre, we have a lot of corporate stuff come in. We usually get all of our requests WAY after we needed to know about them. So we BS our way through it and make it work just well enough that the client thinks everything is perfect. Sort of like our "truss" that we hang lights off of in our arena, which is really just one metal pipe flown on two motorized steel cable winches. It gets really fun when they try to put movers on it.

The boss man always follows up with what has become his signature phrase.

"It's all you can do."

 

[shiben]

Is that safe?

 

[ReiRei]

"Go mop the floor" at my old high school.

As an inside joke after a ballet incident at OSF, "Do you need some ice for your bottom?"

 

[Tex]

"It's easy. All it takes is money."

"We open tonight?"

And my personal favorite (more of a teacher thing really):
"Sometimes you've got to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys."

 

[NashvilleTechie]

Is that safe?

If you're asking about the "truss", no, probably not. But we haven't had any problems with it yet. We're hoping that it's only temporary until we can convince the administration that yes, it looks cool, but it's terribly unsafe and we need something permanent.

Which is tough. Because it's a Christian school, and the ones that make that decision are really just preachers that tend to be set in their ways. And I'm pretty sure they've already asked if we can hang another one.

 

[mstaylor]

As long as you keep using it and making it work then there is no reason to change it. Make a decision as to what is a safe limit to hang on the pipe and then start turning shows down on anything over that limit. When you do an advance with a show, tell them what you have and it's limit, that way they know going in. Don't wait for an accident to make a change. The preachers don't know, you guys do.