Techie sayings

one of my all time favorites is "break a line set" unfortunately at a couple of the theaters I work at I'm the only one who's ever worked with fly lines before and so no one else gets it.

Could someone explain the whole chookers thing to me. it sounds cool but I don't get it right now.

Thanks!






futurecm21
 
We now have the lovely pre-show Director demanded pep talk of basic rules of tech, and a few pre-show things that come across com:

"And remember guys; don't be a Bevan!!" (Bevan was a freshman last year that got sent out by a client with a mic that nobody needed wearing a bright red shirt. He pretty much wandered aimlessly for a few minutes before walking off stage. He got sent out several more times to repeat this. We mock him endlessly.)

"STAY AWAY FROM THE BLACKOUT BUTTON OF DOOM!!" (Far too many have elbowed it or in my case dropped pens on it...)

"Break a set piece guys!" (Came from pre-show discussion of whether or not 'break a leg' applied to techies.)

"If you screw up you're painting the stage with a toothbrush!" (Don't know where this one came from...)

"OH NO A PTERODACTYL IN THE JULIETS!" (This is followed by all on com techies making "pterodactyl noises" its rather entertaining. Not sure where that came from either...)

"Jamaica...no." (Said while nodding your head yes, used when answering someone's stupid question. Came from Government class courtesy of Coach Petty.)

"Dimmer racks? Dimmer racks." (Originated in OAP last year)

and of course there's:

"This is why we can't have nice things!" (Used even when it doesn't make sense.)

As well as extremely creative threats about how we'll disembowel anyone who screws up. We've gotten pretty good actually, some of the threats are pretty terrifying.
 
willbb123 said:
Duck tape may be my biggest pet peeve.... I could continue into a rant, but its nearly 3am and time for bed. ;)
Click to expand...

I assume that your pet peeve is the confusion in the etymology during it's history. It seems that this style of cloth reinforced rubberised adhesive tape was never given an official name at its inception. So we must rely on oral history as to what to call it. In some stories it is referred to as "duck tape" because of it's waterproof quality (apparently why it was developed). Of course there are claims that it gained the same monicker because of "duck" cloth being used as the reinforcement. These claims are loosely supported in a 1945 advertisement offering military surplus which included "duck tape". There is little doubt that after WWII, the tape was used extensively in the building industry for sealing duct work and that is the title that is used on many manufacturers in their description of this type of tape.

Of course Manco, Inc. has benefited from this confusion by gaining the trademark (I believe) on the term Duck for it's line of tape. So, now we can rest easy and let the colloquial use take hold similar to the use of Kleenex or Xerox. :p
 
"...Another walking prop broke itself again. Too bad they aren't as easily repaired as the non-walking variety..." I've heard this twice now...
...
And last weekend we had a small walking prop leak centerstage... Thus causing a wardrobe emergency.
 
For most of my techies, "House opening" is also the cue to literally watch House the TV show. There's a TV in an unused dressing room that most ppl go to, and we broadcast an episode of house for them to watch to calm down and focus. Important people (sm's, spots, etc) who can't leave headset can listen to it on their headset. The booth people are watching the broadcasting computer - thank god for hulu! its alot easier than the dvd's...

We find it helps everyone calm down, especially the witty humor and rudeness... he kinda behaves like a techie in that respect ;)

P.S. We've been keeping it a secret from the actors - it's while they do circle, and the 3 years we've been doing it now, they still have no idea ;)
 
Why can't the SM or spot ops leave their respective holes once the house is open. When I'm SMing I'm barely in one spot for longer than 3 minutes during my pre-show rounds.
 
We really don't have any saying :p

As for tape,

We use Gorilla Tape xD Don't know if anyone has ever used it, its pretty much the same as gaff tape.

I guess I run around screaming "WHERES THE GORILLA TAPE!" when we run the wires and are fixing something and I can never seem to find it : P
 
There's a fast food place that does really nice grilled chicken called Pepe's. There's like 3 of them around our school, so whenever we're going on a stagecrew outing we have to go to Pepe's (and various coffee shops because of our teacher's coffee addiction).
 
MillburyAuditorium said:
We really don't have any saying :p

As for tape,

We use Gorilla Tape xD Don't know if anyone has ever used it, its pretty much the same as gaff tape.

I guess I run around screaming "WHERES THE GORILLA TAPE!" when we run the wires and are fixing something and I can never seem to find it : P
Click to expand...

Is this Gorilla brand Gorilla Tape? Because the Gorilla Tape I'm thinking of is nothing like gaff tape. It's much thicker, It's shiny black, the adhesive is very sticky, but is only good for one use (you can't really peel it off and re-stick it. It's more expensive than gaff tape too, depending on where you get it. I'm not really a fan of it...
 
/ In Budget / Safe / Meet Deadline /

Pick two and only two

and something i have on a T-shirt
approx "Technical Theatre, Because nude mime in the dark doesn't sell"
 
Last edited:
NickVon said:
/ In Budget / Safe / Meet Deadline /

Pick two and only two

and something i have on a T-shirt
approx "Technical Theatre, Because nude mime in the dark doesn't sell"
Click to expand...

I've heard "Fast, Cheap, Good, pick 2" That's a new one though.
 
I always enjoyed running panicked into a dressing room moments before we started a show and yelling, "Has anybody seen the light board!?" Most of the actors are like "Uh, I think it's in the booth man" but I'll get the occasional few who genuinely freak out or it goes right over their heads. :D
 
zuixro said:
Is this Gorilla brand Gorilla Tape? Because the Gorilla Tape I'm thinking of is nothing like gaff tape. It's much thicker, It's shiny black, the adhesive is very sticky, but is only good for one use (you can't really peel it off and re-stick it. It's more expensive than gaff tape too, depending on where you get it. I'm not really a fan of it...
Click to expand...

This is what we use-

Gorilla Tape

I might be getting something wrong here or theirs some special kind we get, its at most hardware stores here, it leaves some residue, but not nearly as much as some. It is pretty wide, and I haven't really tried re-sticking it.

I think I get a roll of gaffing tape and see how much better it is, I am assuming its way better.

Is gaffing tape really strong? Because the main reason I think we started using it was to run our snake from the amp rack behind the stage to the board at the rear of the house, it runs along the edge of the wall then down the stairs, then along the edge of the stairs to the wall, straight up the wall, straight across the wall to the rear of the theatre, turns left to the middle where the board is then straight down then accross the floor then it stops and then we hookup the wires.

We may of had problems with it falling a while back, I jsut remember always using the tape, its really strong.

Is gaff tape the same?
 
MillburyAuditorium said:
This is what we use-

Gorilla Tape

I might be getting something wrong here or theirs some special kind we get, its at most hardware stores here, it leaves some residue, but not nearly as much as some. It is pretty wide, and I haven't really tried re-sticking it.

I think I get a roll of gaffing tape and see how much better it is, I am assuming its way better.

Is gaffing tape really strong? Because the main reason I think we started using it was to run our snake from the amp rack behind the stage to the board at the rear of the house, it runs along the edge of the wall then down the stairs, then along the edge of the stairs to the wall, straight up the wall, straight across the wall to the rear of the theatre, turns left to the middle where the board is then straight down then accross the floor then it stops and then we hookup the wires.

We may of had problems with it falling a while back, I jsut remember always using the tape, its really strong.

Is gaff tape the same?
Click to expand...

Gaff tape is the only thing you should use to tape cables down. As long as the floor is clean, you should have no problem gaffing the snake to the floor (It's what we do at our theatre). Just make sure that it's a good quality tape. The low-quality dollar-store tapes really suck. It's expensive (about $10 a roll), but it's well worth it.
 
Sorry to be dragging on an off topic discussion byt he way,

Does gaff tape hold strong to walls like I describe the gorilla doing so?

Just had a little idea, maybe this year when we set up I will tape the wires down with gaff tape, and then tape over it (Gorilla tape is really wide) with the gorilla to keep it from following off the wall, if indeed, gaff tape isnt that strong.


Or maybe just spend the money and get some rolls of gaffer tape and wrap the snack completely with it? (Just a though).
 
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