Mack is my husband and he is also a man of many talents, but I don't know if anything gets him as fired up as the fine art of keeping and analyzing statistics. A few years ago he started keeping track of everything in his life (friends he hangs out with, what he eats, what plays he sees etc.) and then at the year's end he writes elaborate blog posts rounding up all this info and data, commenting on it and analyzing it. It is a unique, and somewhat strange, creative hobby for this very talented theatre artist. Read on below to find out more about this particular passion of his:
THE FACTS:
NAME: Mack Gordon
THEATRE SPECIALIZATION: Acting, Directing, Writing
TRAINING: University of Victoria, BFA
YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: Mr. Tumnus (and all the other boys except Father Christmas) in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (PT), The Boy in The Cat in the Hat (Carousel), writer and Director of Itsazoo Productions Debts.
VANCOUVER HOOD: Main Street/ Mount Pleasant
WEBSITE: www.mackgordontheatre.com
OFF STAGE PLAY: stats keeper, hockey pool king
THEATRE SPECIALIZATION: Acting, Directing, Writing
TRAINING: University of Victoria, BFA
YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: Mr. Tumnus (and all the other boys except Father Christmas) in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (PT), The Boy in The Cat in the Hat (Carousel), writer and Director of Itsazoo Productions Debts.
VANCOUVER HOOD: Main Street/ Mount Pleasant
WEBSITE: www.mackgordontheatre.com
OFF STAGE PLAY: stats keeper, hockey pool king
THE GOODS:
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED KEEPING STATS?
I'd done a few lists previously, favourite movies of the year, favourite albums of another year, that sort of thing. I liked the idea of being able to look back at the end of the year and account for the things I'd consumed. One year I heard about this ap called Daytum that kept track of things for you (that was too good to be true, you were really still keeping track of the things yourself) and so I started to use it to record anything I could think of. Next thing I knew, I had a whole pile of data to sort through at the end of the year, who I'd hung out with, the exercise I'd done, everything I ate.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO KEEP TRACK OF?
I think the hang stats end up being the most interesting data to sort. Hang stats are how many units of quality time I spend with each friend. The end of the year tally doesn't determine how good of friends I am with each person but time spent certainly contributes to the bond between friends. It's also interesting to track spikes in hang out stats. Sometimes there'll be a friend that logs 20 hang stats on a year and 18 of those will come from one month. I can usually go through my calendar and determine the reasons for this spike (fringe festivals, unemployment, etc) and analyze it, which is definitely one of my favourite things to do.
DO YOU EVER GET TIRED OF KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THESE STATS?
This is the third year I've done it and I've really refined what I keep track of, every item of food got to be way too encompassing and time consuming. It can be annoying to sit down at the end of a night and figure out every person I had a short conversation with at a party but it's sort of an exercise in memory as well, which I think is probably good for the brain. I read about a guy who kept track of every single conversation he had in a year, like every individual word! I think I'd have a mental breakdown.
HOW DOES THIS WORK INFORM/ ENHANCE/ SUPPLEMENT YOUR LIFE IN THE THEATRE, IF AT ALL?
I also keep track of projects completed, writing completed, plays scene etc. So it definitely helps to keep me accountable to my craft and moving forward with work. If I get to six months through the year and I've only gone to see 10 plays, I definitely make a concerted effort to get out and see shows. It's also a nice way to keep up to date on my career with auditions. this year has been really down for auditions compared to last year and the year before. The analysis shows that there's a correlation between my joining Equity (the acting union) and the trend down in the number of auditions I've been able to go to which is... interesting. Correlation is not necessarily causation but I'm glad I can pin it on the union instead of beating myself up over it. But the question really is, what do I do about it once I recognize it?
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS OF WRITING YOUR STATS BLOG?
Ugh, it's long and arduous to be honest. I've stopped using Daytum this year because it got full and wasn't every really that helpful. This year I'm just using a word document. It's currently (in late October) around 51 pages long. And that's just raw data, no analysis. In years past, I would write what I thought about the plays and movies based purely on my memories, so it would often take some coaxing to remember how some of the thigns made me feel (and very little coaxing for a few standouts). This year I've been more dedicated to recording my thoughts as I go but they're really in rough form. The process of making sentences is one of my great loves but for stats blogs it's more of an act of interpretation than artistic expression. The stats that people seem to liek to read the most or when I really get rolling with a little sass and stop worrying so much about what the content says (see the food stats blog from 2013).
WHAT DOES THE CREATIVE ART OF KEEPING STATS DO FOR YOU?
Hmmm. This is an interesting question. I have a weird joy around statistics and toying with them and analyzing them. I'm really into hockey pools and I can literally spend 12 hours in a day just pouring over the stats, of my players, other teams' players, guys who are on the waiver wire and whether they're worth picking up or not. It's stimulating to brain I guess, the same way reading a good book is.
WHERE CAN PEOPLE SEE YOUR STATS AND BLOG POSTS?
I've got a few different sites now that I post things at, I've moved over to Medium for most of my text entries (read: blogs) so my 2014 stats will probably go up here: medium.com/@mackgord. In the past I've posted my blogs on Tumblr which I like a lot but is really more a medium for pictures and sharing culture: mackgordon.tumblr.com. I also have a website www.mackgordontheatre.com where I post what I'm up to, my resume and more business-y things but I'm always trying to make sure that all three of the sites are communicating with each other and up to date.
HUSBAND, WILL YOU KEEP TRACK OF STATS FOREVER?
I'm sure you hope the answer to this is no. ha ha ha. I want to keep track of my hang stats for longer, for sure. Food is starting to peter off even now, it's more of a 'my favourite things I ate from restaurants' list this year. I think I'll always keep track of the books, movies, plays I consume just because it's just a great resource to go back, ten years later and see what I was into and what I thought about it all. Probably I'll feel the same about hang stats too: "I hung out with that a-hole Peter Carlone 120 times in 2012!?"
FINAL THOUGHTS?
Stats are life, at its raw cellular form. Memory is false. All there is, is data.
I'd done a few lists previously, favourite movies of the year, favourite albums of another year, that sort of thing. I liked the idea of being able to look back at the end of the year and account for the things I'd consumed. One year I heard about this ap called Daytum that kept track of things for you (that was too good to be true, you were really still keeping track of the things yourself) and so I started to use it to record anything I could think of. Next thing I knew, I had a whole pile of data to sort through at the end of the year, who I'd hung out with, the exercise I'd done, everything I ate.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO KEEP TRACK OF?
I think the hang stats end up being the most interesting data to sort. Hang stats are how many units of quality time I spend with each friend. The end of the year tally doesn't determine how good of friends I am with each person but time spent certainly contributes to the bond between friends. It's also interesting to track spikes in hang out stats. Sometimes there'll be a friend that logs 20 hang stats on a year and 18 of those will come from one month. I can usually go through my calendar and determine the reasons for this spike (fringe festivals, unemployment, etc) and analyze it, which is definitely one of my favourite things to do.
DO YOU EVER GET TIRED OF KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THESE STATS?
This is the third year I've done it and I've really refined what I keep track of, every item of food got to be way too encompassing and time consuming. It can be annoying to sit down at the end of a night and figure out every person I had a short conversation with at a party but it's sort of an exercise in memory as well, which I think is probably good for the brain. I read about a guy who kept track of every single conversation he had in a year, like every individual word! I think I'd have a mental breakdown.
HOW DOES THIS WORK INFORM/ ENHANCE/ SUPPLEMENT YOUR LIFE IN THE THEATRE, IF AT ALL?
I also keep track of projects completed, writing completed, plays scene etc. So it definitely helps to keep me accountable to my craft and moving forward with work. If I get to six months through the year and I've only gone to see 10 plays, I definitely make a concerted effort to get out and see shows. It's also a nice way to keep up to date on my career with auditions. this year has been really down for auditions compared to last year and the year before. The analysis shows that there's a correlation between my joining Equity (the acting union) and the trend down in the number of auditions I've been able to go to which is... interesting. Correlation is not necessarily causation but I'm glad I can pin it on the union instead of beating myself up over it. But the question really is, what do I do about it once I recognize it?
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS OF WRITING YOUR STATS BLOG?
Ugh, it's long and arduous to be honest. I've stopped using Daytum this year because it got full and wasn't every really that helpful. This year I'm just using a word document. It's currently (in late October) around 51 pages long. And that's just raw data, no analysis. In years past, I would write what I thought about the plays and movies based purely on my memories, so it would often take some coaxing to remember how some of the thigns made me feel (and very little coaxing for a few standouts). This year I've been more dedicated to recording my thoughts as I go but they're really in rough form. The process of making sentences is one of my great loves but for stats blogs it's more of an act of interpretation than artistic expression. The stats that people seem to liek to read the most or when I really get rolling with a little sass and stop worrying so much about what the content says (see the food stats blog from 2013).
WHAT DOES THE CREATIVE ART OF KEEPING STATS DO FOR YOU?
Hmmm. This is an interesting question. I have a weird joy around statistics and toying with them and analyzing them. I'm really into hockey pools and I can literally spend 12 hours in a day just pouring over the stats, of my players, other teams' players, guys who are on the waiver wire and whether they're worth picking up or not. It's stimulating to brain I guess, the same way reading a good book is.
WHERE CAN PEOPLE SEE YOUR STATS AND BLOG POSTS?
I've got a few different sites now that I post things at, I've moved over to Medium for most of my text entries (read: blogs) so my 2014 stats will probably go up here: medium.com/@mackgord. In the past I've posted my blogs on Tumblr which I like a lot but is really more a medium for pictures and sharing culture: mackgordon.tumblr.com. I also have a website www.mackgordontheatre.com where I post what I'm up to, my resume and more business-y things but I'm always trying to make sure that all three of the sites are communicating with each other and up to date.
HUSBAND, WILL YOU KEEP TRACK OF STATS FOREVER?
I'm sure you hope the answer to this is no. ha ha ha. I want to keep track of my hang stats for longer, for sure. Food is starting to peter off even now, it's more of a 'my favourite things I ate from restaurants' list this year. I think I'll always keep track of the books, movies, plays I consume just because it's just a great resource to go back, ten years later and see what I was into and what I thought about it all. Probably I'll feel the same about hang stats too: "I hung out with that a-hole Peter Carlone 120 times in 2012!?"
FINAL THOUGHTS?
Stats are life, at its raw cellular form. Memory is false. All there is, is data.