A great game for nerds!

Thanks to the SciFiChick blog, I came across this nerdy little game!

If you haven't played the electronic 20 Questions game, you're probably in the minority. A bundle of the little buggers made an appearance at a recent family gathering, and everyone from the 8 year old to my 85 year old father wanted a crack at beating the thing. Not many did.

Game manufactureres are never content with a simple toy and of course they keep making variations, and now there's a 20 Questions variation for the nerd in me! 20Q -- Star Trek-based questions!

One of the nicest things about the 20 Questions series is that there is an on-line version of most of the games, including this one. My understanding is that the game manufacturer WANTS you to play the on-line game because they can add information to their database based on your play.

I've played this Star Trek game three times (so far). It correctly guessed "quatloo" on the 20th guess. It guessed "fizzbin" correctly after only 17 guesses (and I could see it considering "fizzbin" as early as guess 13). I did finally beat it with a word that's pushing the boundaries of being a word..."kronk." For those of you who don't know what a 'kronk" is, it's the last card dealt in a game of fizzbin.

Ah...Star Trek obscurity.

Anyway, go have a play: http://www.20q.net/startrek/

Barack.

I attended a rally today, in which Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama, spoke.

It was good. I heard him say some things that I had not heard before.

I also brought my 12 year old daughter. She's not old enough to vote now, or even in the next presidential election, but I thought this would be a great experience for her.

Athletes and sex.

I really dislike all the commercials on television for sexually-related products. Viagra. Cialis. All those ads drive me crazy (although I admit to a chuckle over the 'big Bob' ads).

This evening I was reading the fine print on the bottom of the screen during a Cialis commercial. I laughed when I read, "See our ad in Golf magazine."

Golf?!

Who's done the study? What does this say about golfers? Is there a reason they hang out on the golf course all day long...?! They can't get it up at home? Golfers can't get it in the hole? They only putter around?

Very amusing.

Perhaps they should learn a little something from those other athletes, the football players. Just take a look at this old Star-Tribune page...

Say It Isn't So...

I have my own problems when I write. Most of us do, or we'd have published bestsellers galore. But an email I read recently from a literary manager at a theatre, makes me thank the heavens that I've never been this low on the totem pole.

I thought you guys would get a kick out of a few descriptions of what the latest batch (of play submissions) contained:


--A script where the "technical directions" informed me that we'd need lighting, costume and sound designers (Duh), as WELL as a stage manager to, and I'm quoting here, "wrangle the running crew, which is the person who will help the actors with set changes." Oh for Christ's sake.

--A playwright who sent me copies of his Dramatists Guild ID cards. (Just send me a copy of a decent script and I'll be thrilled.)

--A playwright who included his Social Security Number with his contact info. (Is he nuts??)

--Another script about how all soldiers are corrupt thugs.

--An autobiographical script about the wonders of pot.


--Last, but certainly not least, a short one-act from a woman who wants us to stage it, or at least put up a reading of it, so she can, and AGAIN this is a direct quote here, "get on talk radio". Huh???

Six-Word Memoirs

I saw an ad for a book today -- Six-Word Memoirs: What'd yours be?

Although I can't imagine paying $10 for a book of a thousand six-word sentences, it did make me wonder what mine would be. I came up with:

How can I make it art?

What about yours?

et tu, Abe?

The most disturbing email subject line I've read recently came from Publisher's Weekly, which read: Amazon to Buy AbeBooks.

According to the very brief article, AbeBooks will "continue to act as a standalone operation" and the talk is all very positive about what being part of Amazon will bring to the Abe customers and vice-versa. Of course.

Now don't get me wrong... I really like Amazon. Like many, I've been buying from them for years. But I also really like Abe. When looking for something older, out-of-print, rare or even something new that I don't want to pay full rpice for, I first check Abe. The Amazon used books have all seemed grossly over-priced, whereas the Abe books ususally have something in the affordable range.

Let's face it -- monopolies just aren't good for the buying public. Choices stimulate challenge among retailers. By buying up AbeBooks, Amazon had pretty much put the lock on owning the used book market. They already cracked the whip and own the self-publishing market (you can self-publish anywhere, but Amazon, the largest book retailer, won't sell your book unless you self-publish with them!).

I've liked Amazon, but is this really a good thing?

Giant Dog Turd in the News!

How often do you read a headline in a paper about a Giant Dog Turd Wreaking Havok? I think this is hilarious!

Read the article.

Dog Days

Yup. We've got a dog in the house. A puppy. About 7 weeks old as I write this.

It's a Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix. People who like dogs say that this is a really good combination. They also say he'll get pretty big.

I'm not a dog person myself, but I'm not anti-dog. I like animals and am actually fine with "Buddy" being in the house. However, I did let it be well-known to the family that I would NOT be taking care of the dog. I've had cats for most of my life and we still have a cat in the house that I'd had even before I got married. Other than the very occassional cleaning of the litter box or feeding, no one has lifted a finger to help care for the cat or clean up after it. I figure I should be allowed to do the same with a dog in the house.

The dog is actually an early birthday present for my soon-to-be 11 year old. Some boys should have a dog for a pet, a friendly companion, and I think my son is one of those boys.

The Tony's. Well...not *those* Tony's....

I am amused.


High School Tony Awards Honor Nation's Biggest Drama Club Nerds

The end of May.

Hard to believe that it's already the end of May. Where has this month gone? Where has the year gone? I feel rushed, constantly, yet accomplishing nothing.

Promature; Amfessional

Who knows how one thought flows into the next and what ultimately got me to thinking about this, but it occurred to me tonight just what a dying breed the professional photographer has become.

Take a peek at Flickr at all the amature photographs. It wouldn't be unusual to find a gem or two among the pedestrian pictures of persons.

Everyone seems to have access to a camera now, even our cell phones often have cameras, so going away are the days when someone would say, "If only I had a camera right now." And of course the cameras themselves have gotten so much sparter -- no need for the professional's eye and knowledge of f-stops and shutter speeds. Nanotechnology does it for us.

The result is that so many ordinary people are finding those extraordinary photos. We don't need the top-dollar professional to either set-up that great looking shot or shoot the gazillion photos for that one good image. Those good images are at our finger-tips on the web and can usually be downloaded (dragged and dropped or right-clicked and saved-as) to our own computers and printed out fresh.

So what do we have? A new breed of amatures? A dying breed of professionals? Something in between? The Amfessionals? The Promatures?

#####

Why the picture of Wonder Woman and the Big Banana? Why not? Somebody took the picture and I downloaded, proving that you can find and borrow just about any picture you can possibly imagine ... and then some.

Ohhhhh...boy.

My daughter had her first phone call from a boy, asking her out on a date, the other day.

...and so it begins...

(She wisely said, "No.")

Album art.

Sometimes I like record album art more than other times...

Running a mile.

My daughter ran in her first-ever track meet yesterday. She's in seventh grade and she ran the mile. She was incredibly nervous the day before, and all through the meet until her event started. She was the only middle school student in the pack of eleven and the only girl representing her school running that distance.

She came in 10th. She was in last place the entire distance and put on a burst of speed that I was very surprised at, with only about 1/3 track left to run, to pass the girl in front of her by only a couple of feet.

I don't know anything about track or running, but I was impressed with her ability to hold/maintain her own pace and not to try to keep up with the leading pack (as I surely would have done). She stayed steady on her pace the entire run, never dropping to a walk as I half expected (and also surely would have done). She found the energy to run full out at the end (as I surely would NOT have found). She beat the time her coaches had set for her as a goal -- just slightly, but a fantastic effort.

She tells me that she's running the 800 at the next event to see which she likes better.

Way to go!

The Late Late Show

I haven't watched a lot of television in the last few years (surfing the 'net takes a lot of time, don't you know), but recently I've been climbing in to bed just as "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" comes on.

Now ... I used to enjoy David Letterman but his one note went sour long ago, Jay Leno is just plain boring to me, Conan O'Brien tries a little too hard, and Jimmy Kimmel is, well, all about Jimmy Kimmel.

But Craig Ferguson makes me laugh. Out loud. Regularly.

Seriously, I have been enjoying Ferguson's humor SOoo much more than I thought I would. He's off the wall, full of non-sequitors, and he truly doesn't seem to care what the audience thinks, he just appears to be out there doing what he enjoys and what he thinks is funny. And so far, I've kind of been with him on that.

If you're up late enough, give him a shot. And then give him another chance the next night. He grows on you. You may appreciate his humor just a little more when he realize just how often he's being funny, and not just making random comments.

Another author finishes.

Jon Hassler passed away today.

I've only just discovered the joys of Hassler's books and recently attended the Jon Hassler Theatre in Plainview, MN were I saw some of the best theatre I've seen in recent years.

Hassler, just shy of 75.

The end.

Another ghost writer.

It seems that legend Arthur C. Clarke has given up the ghost. He lived an impressive ninety years.

I believe that the very first, real science fiction book that I ever read was Clarke's Islands in the Sky.

Peace.

Take the art and run.

What is up with art theft?! Just read this article in Bloomsberg on-line about yet another art theft, this one at a dealer's home. It's the second time the dealer was robbed at home. It must be a high-paying turn-around ... according to the article, the thieves left the scene in an SUV and then burned the SUV in the woods later. Burn the get-away-vehicle? Much?

There seem to have been plenty of art thefts in Norway recently, and now these in France. Who buys stolen art? It's not like cash, which can be used just about anywhere. I don't get it. I don't understand why or how anyone would find profit in stealing art.

Farewell to the Dungeon Master.

Gone the way of stickling? D&D creator, Gary Gygax, passed away March 4, 2008.

Thanks for the games, Gary.

Sex and the circus.

Okay, this isn't mine...but I chuckle every time I even look at that ... "Dating advice from Circus Performers."

Here are a few of the Q&As:

How can I pick up a circus performer?
You have to understand the personality of a circus performer. They are one part artist, one part jock, one part technician. There's a salt-of-the-earth quality to them. Just talk to them. Buy them food and booze. They like that. I like that.

How can I pick up a circus performer?
Use your knees, not your back.

How can becoming a circus performer make me better in bed?
Just say "TA DA!" after whatever you do!

How can I pick up a circus performer?
In a really tiny car.

You can read all the questions and answers yourself at Nerve.com.

David Groh.

I just read on MSN.com that actor David Groh died.

David was best known as Rhoda's husband, Joe Gerard, on the 1974-1979 television sitcom, Rhoda.

I spent nearly a year working with David on a play that landed on Broadway in 1993 (Twilight of the Golds). David was always the professional. He arrived on time, worked hard, always stayed in character, and was a pleasure to be with. As we toured and found ourselves in new cities, I got to see a little of the personal side of David. He was a wonderful, loving father of his very young son. He took such pleasure in playing with his child, and seeing things through his sons' eyes.

I will always carry with me one particular memory...

We were in Washington, D.C. -- the show was running at the Kennedy Center, our 'star' Jennifer Grey was dating George Stephanopolis, and so we had an invitation to tour the White House. Sadly, our tour took place the same day as a suicide of one of the Clinton staffers, so although we were given the tour, it was quite somber.

We were shown to the Press Room. The room in which the press sit and wait for the President to come to make special announcements. We encouraged David to walk down the long hall and to approach the press room as though he were the president. It didn't take much coaxing, and David came out of a room and walked the hall, nodding to staffers and security personnel as though he was, indeed, the President of the United States. He approached the podium and we bombarded him with questions. He looked the part, and he acted the part. But his eyes gave him away. I could see in his eyes the absolute delight he felt at playing the part of the president, IN the White House. Ah...a wonderful memory.

Thanks, David.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

#29

I was amused today to log into my Goodreads account and see that I'm "#29 top reviewer."

Cool.

Those fans at it again.

A few years ago I blogged here about fan-made films. I believe that I was referring to a Star Wars film which was a huge hit on the web and even reported on some major news services.

Now I'm writing about a Star Trek fan series.

Star Trek: New Voyages has become a sensation, apparently, even spawning their own fan clubs. This series is set in the Original Series' universe and time, with amateur actors playing the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, etc. It's amusing to watch as some of the acting is even worse than Shatner's '60's performances. The attention to detail and the special effects have proven to be pretty incredible.

What has made this group of fans a bit more prominent, however, is their ability to draw interest from seasoned professionals! Bear in mind that to be a true fan film you can't be paying anyone for their work.

In their most recently released episode, George Takei (the actor who played Sulu in the original series) recreates his role of Sulu who has gone through a dimensional time warp and suddenly aged 30 years. And making a cameo is Grace lee Whitney, the woman who played Yeoman Janice Rand on the orginal series. The episode was written my Marc Scott Zicree, a professional author (I'm not sure he ever wrote for any Star Trek episodes, but I believe he was the lead writer for the new Twilight Zone series).

In the previously released episode, Walter Koenig (the original Chekov) recreated his role. Various original series guest stars have appeared, and an up-coming, two-part film was written by David Gerrold, who wrote the original series episodes with the "tribbles."

How do they do it? Talk about geeks with no life!

Still, it's been fun to watch. And based on their popularity, it shows that the fans out there really are more interested in the characters ... that they don't have to be played by Shatner, Nimoy, etc.

You can watch these on-line by clicking here.

Brilliant!

I was reading an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (what an odd name for a paper) and saw an ad for the Seattle Symphony which is having two performances of symphonic recreation of video game music. I think this is absolutely brilliant! What a great way to get youth interested in attending an arts event. I wish someone in this area would do something similar.

YouTube and me.

Occassionally I do a Google search on my name and on the titles of my plays to see what might be being performed (with or without permissions). Today I decided to check YouTube to see if anyone might be posting a video of any of my plays and sure enough, I found my comedy "Burglars, Bunglers, and Neighborhood Thieves" filmed by high school students, as a movie (not staged as a play). It's about what you would expect from high schoolers ... clumsy, uneven, but it was still a bit of fun to see it. It's posted on YouTube in four parts. I'm imbedding them here. My only real complaint ... why don't I get better billing?!

PART ONE:


PART TWO:


PART THREE:


PART FOUR:

Good job, boys.

We finally finished opening our Christmas presents last night. It was the only time we were all together since returning from Christmas and it not being too late at night.

My wife and I gave the family a Wii -- an interactive video game. Very popular, hard to find this Christmas. It is the first video game we've purchased for the kids. Of course they've been complaining that they are the ONLY kids in town without a video game.

In any case, they've been very please and excited and have ejoyed a good many tennis matches, bowling games, and even boxing with this new game.

Last night the boys got their final presents from us. For my ten year old, there was a large set of "Mars Mission" LEGOS ® and for my eight year old there was a creepy crawly maker (you know, you pour goop into a metal mold and cook it until it's rubbery).

Despite the desire for the Wii, I think the boys were MUCH more excited about getting these last gifts. They spent the rest of the night making goopy spiders and bugs and building with Legos.

I'm glad to see them playing with these, hands-on activities!

2008

Another new year. How is it that this one seems to have caught me off guard? No prepared resolutions; no "best of" lists for 2007. I just go with the flow.

I think part of this was the fact that the holidays were spent with the wife's family and our own traditions that we've built up were foregone. Without the traditions, one seems somewhat adrift. I'm still looking for land, and a chance to get back into circulation.

Reinventing the wheel.

I read an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this morning that has me reeling with disbelief. Some dude who works at Microsoft had a brilliant idea. With Netflix, he can get just about any movie he wants within a day or two of requesting it. Why shouldn't, he wondered, he be able to do that with books! Any book you want to read should be available within a day or two of requesting it, and then, once read, you should be able to return and get another. Brilliant!

And so, being smart Microsoft guy that he is, Dustin Hubbard went and created such a place. he calls it Paperspine. Don't take my word for it... read about it here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/342386_paperspine06.html?source=rss

I'm thinking that this is indicative of Microsoft thinking. (No, this isn't a Microsoft operation, but he is a Microsoft employee.) 'Let's take something that already exists, for free, and do the same thing, but make people pay for it.'

It doesn't matter that more than 200 years ago Benjamin Franklin had the same idea except that Franklin wasn't looking at it as a profit-making scheme. And of course Franklin's idea was a rehash of ideas from other cultures.

What burns me most, though, is that people will pay for this. Pay money to borrow books! Yet most library systems could make vast improvements and offer the additional services people are looking for with just a fraction of the money Mr. Hubbard is likely to make.

Visit your local library, please.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Theresa!

Broadway in the dark.

The strike affecting some Broadway theatres is still going on.

It's been some time now, though not long enough for either side to panic, I suspect, but negotiations continue.

Although a union man myself, I am firmly on the side of the producers for this one. My feeling is that the union has it "cushy" with this contract, and there are plenty of people who are making a very comfortable living without doing squat!

Anyone who's listened to me tell my experience working a Broadway shows knows that it drove me crazy that our production had to hire two union men to open the curtain for the show. Two men! My 12 year old daughter could do it by herself! But in union tradition, you can't eliminate a job once it's been established, and at one time, MANY years ago, it did take two men to pull the curtain open. The fact that the system was upgraded means nothing. You used to hire two men, you STILL hire two men.

And that's just the tip of the iceburg.

I hope the producers hold out on this one.

#####

update: 11/29/07

I heard today that they reached an agreement and that shows will be back up and running tonight. I hope the producers held tough.

Encounter of the First Kind.

I had a bizarre experience last night, involving lights in the sky on an over-cast, windy night.

Quite frankly, it left me a bit unnerved, but I'm quite certain that there's a logical explanation for what I saw and that the wind and overcast sky made it appear as something out of the ordinary.

Still, a weird feeling.

Justice.

I am amused.

This morning I read an article in the New York Times about some conservative authors who are suing the conservative book publishing company claiming that their company is practicing some illegal sales manipulation. (You can read the article here.)

The authors are people who clearly are supportive of the Republican and/or Bush presidency. They include the authors of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (Jerome Corsi) and Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security (Lt. Col. Robert Patterson) and Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror (Richard Miniter).

Basically, their claim is that their conservative books publisher is offering their books to company-owned book clubs at such deeply discounted prices that the result is no royalties are paid to the authors, or that the books are being given away in large numbers as promotional items and rewards, also resulting in no royalties.

Mr. Miniter is quoted as saying, “We’re not looking for a payoff; we’re looking for justice.”

To me, these authors, who have profitted by their endorsement of the cronyism-filled Republican government and who now face a similarly cronyistic publishing practice ... justice has been served.

NCC 1701

I just finished watching the Heroes episode, titled "Distractions" (from the first season), on Netflix, and I was amused at the little inside joke that was included.

One of the main 'heroes' is a Japanese man (named Hiro), and in this particular episode he is surprised by his father, played by George Takei, whom many will recognize as 'Sulu' from the original Star Trek series. As Takei is leaving the scene, he gets into a limousine with a New York license plate which reads "NCC 1701".

"NCC 1701" also happens to be the call letters on the Star Ship Enterprise, from the original Star Trek series.

Sometimes I enjoy these little inside jokes, but this one did seem overtly obvious.

Aha!

I love it when, writing, things begin to fall into place. When you stumble for a bit, trying to figure out how to get over a hurdle and the answer finally dawns on you.

That moment happened this morning for me.

I've been working on a new one act play. I know the story, the plot, the characters, but I kept hitting a brick wall with one particular transition. I knew what was supposed to happen, but I couldn't get the characters there. As usual, the characters had taken on their own life and now it wasn't natural for them to get where they needed to be. And for a week or more I would look at my screen and read through the script and come to the same wall.

And today I broke through the wall. I realized that these characters couldn't do what I needed and the obvious answer was to bring in a new character. A small part of someone who unwittingly brings the conclusion about. It's brilliant and will work incredibly well within the structure of the play as I've written it.

I love the "AHA!" moment.

Quotes much?

Once in awhile I run across a blog that is interesting. For all my writer and teacher friends out there (yeah, both of you), you might find this blog of interest:

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

The trouble with theatre.

I tend to look at theatre from a variety of viewpoints. I tend to see it as an insider, someone who works in the industry and plans for productions. Here my thinking is: "How much will that cost?" "Does it work for what we intend?" "How will that play?" "Are we over-producing--have we lost focus?" etc etc etc. In many cases there is no joy in the actual production other than seeing a final product on the stage and sensing that the audience enjoys what they see.

As a writer myself, I watch the structure of how a play builds. I listen to dialog for a ring of truth and unnecessary lines. Does the play have "forwards" -- something that keeps you wanting to know what comes next? Does the action build properly?

As a board member for a community theatre, I look at plays as possible productions. Would it be appropriate for our audiences? Does it entertain? Does it hold interest? Do we have the actors to play these parts?

And as a theatre-goer I want to be able to put my other identities away and just have a good time.

But as I look at theatre today, and look at the new plays that are out there, hopeful of being produced, I see what I think is a problem. There is a great deal of emphasis on writing about "issues."

Okay, I understand that all of our great plays throughout history tackle issues. Strong, dramatic theatre SHOULD challenge us with the way we look at modern problems. But there's a real abundance of that kind of material out there.

What about...gods forgive me for even asking...but what about laughter?

When was the last time you managed to go to a really good comedy? ...that wasn't a musical? ...that was written in the last ten years?

Is anyone writing comedy anymore? Can we find a new play that actually makes us laugh and enjoy ourselves?

Is the problem with the writers today? I read scripts for a competition for a theatre in Texas. I must have read 30-40 scripts this year and only one of them might be considered a comedy, and that one a dark comedy, along the lines of a Pinter or Beckett play. Are the hopeful writers of today only writing when they get the urge to tackle an issue?

Or does the fault lie with the theatres and producers? Are they producing plays that will make an audience laugh? Or are they looking for new plays that will challenge the audience with its thoughtful insight?

A comedy can do both. A good comedy, anyway.

Neil Simon, in his heyday, could do both. Bernard Slade managed to do it. Larry Shue was able to do both in an extremely short career.

The only funny scripts that I've seen in the last few years have come from David Ives, but I'm not sure that his work fits the "challenging the audience with thoughtful insight" category, and I don't know off-hand if he's done a full-length play.

I don't mind going to a play and having some heady stuff to think about, but I'd really like to go to a play and just relax and have some good chuckles!

I read about the challenges that theatres face, trying to get their audiences away from the television, get the kids off of the X-boxes and Playstations, and into the live theatre, but maybe we need to offer them something they'll enjoy. Maybe the younger crowd is hanging onto those video games because they want to escape the heady stuff. Maybe they'd like to kick back and laugh? They seem to be going out to the comedy clubs! By my observations, stand-up comedy is seeing an increase in business. So why isn't theatre offering a challenge to that.

The trouble with theatre is that it's gotten too dramatic. Yeah, yeah, laugh at the conflict in that sentence, but it's true. It's taken itself too seriously and seems to feel that it has to be socially relevent to be on the stage. I think it's forgotten how to entertain.

Why I love Netflix.

Okay...I really love Netflix. What a great program...pay a monthly fee, have up to three DVDs (or only two, or maybe as many as four) at any one time, and exchange them as often as you want by dropping them in the mail (and you don't pay anything extra for the postage).

Could it be any better?

Well, yes, what if you could watch some of their movies right NOW, while sitting at the computer?

Hey...guess what...?! You can! They have a "Watch Instantly" button and they send the movie right to your computer. The best part of this is that you don't have to watch the whole thing at once...it remembers where you stopped it I've been watching the television series "Heroes" (season one) in this way, and have watched the odd movie over the course of a few days by this method as well. It doesn't cost anything extra and I still have the three movies in rotation as well.

If you like movies, I really encourage checking out Netflix.

Thoughts on Saturday's (9-22-07) death of Marcel Marceau.

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Showers.

As of five o'clock last night, we are able to use our city water for showers and washing clothes again. Hurrah! It has been just over two weeks since the tremendous flooding that has wreaked destruction in our town. For those of use who were not directly affected by flood waters, we still feel the damage as we do with public showers (mobil decontamination units brought in from other cities) or drinking water (bottled water donated by various companies). We also feel the pain of those who've lost so much as we work in filthy basements trying to help clean up. And we suffer with our local businesses as we have no where near to shop for any of our supplies.

A great improvement was when the toilets were flushable again. Being able to take a shower is a tremendous next step.

Alive and Dry.

Thanks to all who have inquired about my well-being after hearing that the town of Rushford, MN (my home town) was flooded just over a week ago.

I was away on vacation to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota and returned to a town that isn't, and never will be, the same. So many friends have lost their homes or businesses. Some, both.

The town has looked like a war zone these last few days. Debris in the streets everywhere. Homes gutted. People walking around absolutely filthy and with a slight glaze to their eyes.

Still, this community is just that ... a community. I've never seen people rally behind others to this extent. It's really impressive, but then I knew that about this town before. It's part of the reason I moved here.

As I write this, we've just gotten sewage working for most of the town. We can stop using the port-a-potty in the neighbor's yard (sadly, humorously, I cannot say that it's the first time my kids have pee'd in their yard). We won't be able to use the running water for anything but flushing toilets for a couple of weeks while they load the town water supply with chlorine in order to kill the e-coli bacteria that's been found in two of the city wells.

The photo above is from one of the local newspapers. You can see more of their photos on their web page: Fillmore County Journal.

Wait.... Did you hear that?

Out with some friends last night and the discussion turned briefly to ipods and iphones and the amount of music stored on the devices. Then this morning I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the loss of music through compression in making MP3s. It is compared as the fast food of music and "like hearing through a screen door."

(You can read the article yourself HERE.)

I imagine that most people don't realize quite how MP3s are made, but it only makes sense that certain sounds and aspects are "tossed out" to make room for the compression. Most of the time I can't tell the difference, but as I enjoy some of the intricacies of jazz and classical music, there are times that I've felt that I wasn't enjoying something quite as much when listening to it in MP3 format. Perhaps some of the subtleties are things which can be "felt" but not necessarily identified in any hard and fast way.

The medium is changing rapidly and I doubt that MP3s are going to be the standard for very long. Something new, and hopefully better, will come out.

One thing that the SFChronicle does not point out is the dispose-ability of music these days. I know I've written about it before, so I won't spend much time on it, but gone are the days when friends would sit around in someone's living room, listening to an album (or even a CD) and pass around the dust jacket or jewel case and admire the cover art and read who played on the album and maybe even check out the lyrics. Today it's about how many gigs or storage your device holds and how much you've got on there already.

*sigh*

Blue Lightsabers

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Comic books and blogs.

There was a time that I considered myself to be fairly up on computer lingo and places to go on the web, but I have to admit that before today I've never been to Myspace, although I understand that it is the place to be for everyone who is hip. It seems to be the common man's way to have their own web page, without actually paying for a private url.

That said, I just read that Dark Horse Comics and Myspace "inked a deal." I had no idea that something like Myspace was big enough or important enough that there could be a deal that needed to be inked.

Check out this inked deal at: http://myspace.com/darkhorsepresents

Comic books and cell phones

Don't have time to sit and read a comic book these days? Just flip open that cell phone...

Read this newspaper article

Stars in my eyes.

Lots of late nights lately have me enjoying my half hour drive home from work taking in the glorious night sky.

One night recently, the family and I took our telescope out to the back yard and had a close-up look at Jupiter. It was fun to look at that little white dot and see four of it's moons in a line (three on one side of the planet, and one on the other). My son (with the sharp eyes) could also make out a few lines on the panet. When he mentioned it to me, I could make out one.

Perhaps we'll invest in a stronger lens for our telescope some day soon.

Do you feel safer now?

I was driving to my office in Winona, MN the other day and passed by what seemed to be an unusual looking police vehicle.

What was odd about it was the additional lettering on the door ... twice the size of the word "Police" which was located up near the mirrors.

In bold letters across the doors of the vehicle it read: HOMELAND SECURITY

Much?

Charles Nelson Reilly.

I just read that Charles Nelson Reilly passed away the other day.

Like many people of my era, I remember Charles mostly from his appearances on game shows such as Match Game or Hollywood Squares, but also from various guest spots on sitcoms.

My personal account of Charles Nelson Reilly was meeting him at a fund-raiser for a failing theatre. Mr. Reilly was the M.C. for a night full of stars, and I was his stage manager. As each star took to the stage, Mr. Reilly would head off stage to where I was and in typical fashion, crack wise about what was happening on stage. After the show, he walked off, took off his tie and tossed it to me. I asked if he wanted me to put it in his dressing room. What I recall is that he said, "I never wear the same tie twice."

I still have that tie.

Making time.

How does one make time for oneself?

It's hard to believe I haven't spent the time writing here on the ol' blog, but life has kept me a little more than busy. Work has been exeptionally challenging lately, though, for the most part, it's been a good feeling. Always that feeling of accomplishment.

But on top of the demanding work schedule is my duty(ies) as a school board member. We recently voted not to renew our superintendant's contract and now we're in a mad rush to find, interview, and hire a new superintendant. This past Friday I spent three hours reviewing and making notes on the 19 applications that have come in. Each of us on the board has to do this. Then we get to sit around in public forum discussing the applications, without identifying any of the applicants, or saying anything that would violate personnel privacies laws. Our goal is to make an offer for a superintendant on or about July 1. And of course June is the busiest month for m at work as the shows open June 29th and 30th.

Beyond that is my work on the board for the local public library. We're trying to lok to getting a new building. Fortunately that's off just enough that we haven't had to have a lot of meetings to keep it moving forward, but it is an additional meeting or two per month that keeps me out of trouble.

I'm also on a committee for the city trying to raise money for broadband awareness and use. All I have to do is put together a couple of videos now and then. All I have to do. Yeah. The last one I did for this actually won third place in some kind of award program. I really have no idea what that was about ... they told me I had a week to get a five minute video done, gave me some really broad guidelines, and away I went.

So why am I writing about this? Really it's just a means for me to focus on what I'm doing and when. Sometimes I just need to make a little time for myself and figure out where I'm going next.

I hope all is well with those of you who are reading this. Sorry I haven't been in touch with more of you!

Summer fun.

The Great River Shakespeare Festival is under way with the arrival of staff and actors during the next week +. What it means for me is that the fun has begun and I finally know just how far behind I am in all things.

The season looks good ... As You Like It and Macbeth. Two plays that I am actually fairly familiar with and like a great deal. (I'd like to think that because I managed to have a voice in the choice of season and there were two others given serious consideration, that I managed to tip the scale this way.)

I hope that if anyone reading this blog (both of you) happens to be in S.E. Minnesota this summer that they will please come see a couple of shows. Should be fun.

The Dickens you say!

I enjoy the works of Charles Dickens. Many people do. But when you get right down to it, his novels have some pretty dark themes, settings, and characters.

When you look at his collection of thieves and murderers, and spend some time in his depressing, bleak, poverty-stricken neighborhoods, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

A theme park! Of course!

Leave it to those proper, reserved, Brits to create a theme-park based on the works of their number one literary son, Charles Dickens!

You can read about it in The Guardian by clicking here.

I can't wait to have my pockets picked by a "Dodger" look-alike, or watch Little Nell die after being chased through the park!

Paint Lisa.

Because I've been too danged busy to even think about posting stuff here on the ol' blog, I will, instead, share with you yet another video from YouTube. As someone who enjoys the fine arts, I was moderately impressed with this. Moderately. Another part of me thinks it's a massive waste of time.

Watching it will waste about five minutes of your time.
====================================

Using a computer paint program to create a copy of the Mona Lisa:

Fowl!

I've written in the past about some of the birds I've been delighted to see in my backyard. Today was a first for another species of bird.

Standing in my dining room and looking out to the backyard I saw a very large bird slowly walking through. It was a wild turkey!

I've seen flocks of them along some of the country roads around here, but this is the first I've seen in town. It was quite large, even for a turkey.

As I called downstairs for my 9 year old to come up and see it, the bird took six or seven running steps and flew toward the front of the house, across the street, and into the woods. My youngest son was in the front yard and was quite surprised by the giant bird, flying about chest height as it flew past. His reaction was almost as much fun as seeing the bird itself.

Farewell.

Peace, Bro.

A chance to read.

Nearly a month has passed, and I'm only just getting around to posting on this blog once again.

I think that since the one act play business has come and gone, I've been freed up to work on the other dozen projects that I'd put off.

The Shakespeare festival has me running full steam already, and the kids are looking for my attention. Illness has continued to make its rounds through the family, only delaying all the other projects once again.

My birthday has come and gone. My daughter tells me that in four more years I can order from the Senior's menu at Perkins. Not to worry, I'll get back at her... I'm chaperoning at her next dance!

School board and library board keep moving along, looking for more of my attention.

But what do I look forward to the most? Just sitting down and getting the chance to read.

A music video that even I enjoyed.

As those who know me are aware, I am not a fan of music videos -- and never have been, even though I can remember when MTV first went on the air (egads, am I really that old?).

Once in a very great while I am pointed to a video that I "should" watch for whatever reason, and even rarer I have enjoyed that particular video. Below is one such video.

I laughed and laughed, and was impressed with the choreography. Further more, despite that static position of the camera, i never got bored with what they were doing.

Enjoy.

Where to start.

So much to post, where do I start?

First, I had my first School Board meeting, in which I was sworn in, signed on to two committees, and made a bunch of motions and/or seconds to motions.

Got my first call from a community member complaining about something in the schools.

There are some things going on with my summer job which I can't discuss at the moment, but it has me reading and responding to emails a lot lately. In about ten days I fly to Connecticut for meetings.

I direct the local high school's one act play for the Minnesota State high School League's One Act Play Contest. We've been rehearsing since October, and were planning to do the challenging show, No Exit, by Jean-Paul Sartre. My cast was phenomenal and I really think that they were college-quality. Then, on January 5, I had to let my lead actress know that she could not perform in the show, due to her violating the law. It was a crushing blow for the rest of my cast who decided that they really couldn't perform that show with the understudy. The relationships are key to the show, and to put someone new in, someone that they didn't trust, quite frankly, would be likely reheasing a completely new show, and it's such a difficult show, that we wouldn't have the ability to do it "right."

So I gave the cast three choices: 1)Do No Exit with the understudy going on; 2) do no show at all; 3) do a completely new show in two weeks.

Well, they didn't want to give up, and wanted to do a new show. I went home, did not sleep that night, as I read through every book of plays that I own (and it's a few), trying to find plays that I thought we could do. I brought five plays to my cast, I gave them what I considered to be the positives and negatives to each of them, and then they shared them and read them over the course of a weekend. On Monday, January 8, we met after school and decided on a play... Cannibals, by Heather Dundas. We read it aloud about four times, with different people reading different roles, and at the end of the "rehearsal" period, I announced what the cast would be. We had our first rehearsal January 9. There was no rehearsal on the weekend of the 13th-14th, for various reasons, and the 15th turned out to be a snow day and though some kids showed up at school at 3:30, most did not , so we could not rehearse.

And so, after only eight rehearsals (and much stress on my part, trying to piece together something that resembled a set, some costumes, props, sound effects, and lead in and exit music), we had our sub-region competition on Saturday, January 20.

Although I firmly believe in the talent of my cast, and I had seen each moment of the play done exceedingly well, I had not seen it all together well. And I actually feel that our performance on Saturday the 20th was not our finest.

And yet...



...we took home the sub-section champion trophy (by winning it).

IE7...? NO! DON'T!

Like the fool that I often can be, I clicked the little pop-up from Microsoft asking if I wanted to upgrade my Internet Exlporer to IE7. Sure. Why not.

After two days of a new look, which took a little getting used to, I had other programs that stopped working. I went to reload the other programs, and then I couldn't use Internet Explorer at all. I still had internet access, but I didn't have a program that allowed me to see anything on the internet.

The problem, I read, using my kids' computer, was a little file called "ieframe.dll". I tried downloading a different version of that to a flashdrive and installing it on my computer, but that didn't work at all.

I'm back, and the fix was too easy. So easy I couldn't figure it out (use the "uninstall programs" utility to uninstall "Windows Internet Explorer" and it automatically rolls it back to the previous version).

After chatting with a few people, they all said, "Oh, I heard you shouldn't upload that new version yet."

Well obviously I hadn't heard that!

But now you have.

Theatre and high school.

My friend Kootch directs theatre at the high school where he teaches. He's been doing it for a very long time and he really seems to enjoy it. Bravo.

I'm only in my 3rd year directing the one act play for competition at our local high school, and I am totally frustrated.

In my first two years I have had to replaced a main character each year, shortly before performance time, for different reasons. This year I swore that I'd go with a small cast so that I wouldn't have to deal with such problems. I only have three main speaking roles, and the cast was well assembled, if I do say so myself. The three work very well together and I've been very excited by the acting work they've put together.

There was some initial concern about one of the actors maintaining passing grades in all her classes, but she's sworn that she'll keep the grades up.

Then, last night, I got hit with other news.... One of the performers was arrested on a felony charge ... hit and run with a school bus, driving without a license, driving through a school bus stop signal.

So far it's all heresay, but I have a meeting this afternoon to discuss the consequences.

This, Kootch, is why I'm thinking of not doing high school one act any more. I'll stick to writing 'em. Dealing with this kind of crap every year really sucks.

Head cold.

Just what, exactly, is a head cold? How is different from any other kind of cold?

Whatever it is, I think I've got one. Dripping nose, achiness in the upper back, and sinus headache that is driving me batty. And of course, sleep does not come easily under these circumstances.

I did, however, have a really good rehearsal this afternoon. Ran through the show twice. The first time sucked, but after the notes, the second time was really good. I'm worried about the actor's reaching their peak before tournament time. Fortunately I'll be losing one lead for about three days the weekend before competition. I think this will be a very good thing.

New Year.

Best wishes, everyone, for a wonderful 2007.

A good rehearsal helps.

I've not been greatly thrilled with the One Act Play that I'm directing this year. In part because I'm not crazy about the script, in part because it's a bit depressing, and in part because rehearsals haven't been going real well.

But finally, we had a good rehearsal.

The kids managed to run through the entire show in 31 minutes (the first time they've ever done it in less than 45 minutes!) and completely off book. Energy was high and we even managed to work through some notes.

All of this goes a long way in improving my attitude toward rehearsals.

Say, hey.

I got together with a few friends from the high school days last night. It was good to see some old, but still familiar faces. At least one I hadn't seen in about 29 years.

While some of us stood around in the lobby of Perkins restaurant at 2:00am, I thought "how familiar this is ... a bunch of us hanging out, late." But at the same time, I wondered, "When did we get old?"

When DID we get old?

A page to insult you.

If you've ever had a ken to be insulted by the best, try the link below. this will take you to a page which will insult you with a Shakespearen insult. Click the link there and be insulted again.

http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html

There's a Theatre Museum?

I read this morning a web artictle from the U.K.'s paper The Stage about a fight to keep a Theatre Museum open. My first reaction was, "There's a Theatre Museum?"

Well of course there is. There's a museum for just about everything. But the fact that I couldn't immediately think of what or where it is, suggests why it is no surprise that they are planning to close in 2007. You would think that a museum to something fairly specific such as theatre would do some kind of advertising in theatre periodicals.

Now, I subscribe to at least four theatre magazines and I've never seen anything about this museum. Being in the U.K. I wouldn't have been able to pay it a visit, but I'd at least be aware of it and have it in the back of my mind for any hoped-for trips.

The fight to save the museum has got some pretty big name support. If you're interested in reading the article and/or signing the petition to save the museum, you can read The Stage article by clicking the link here: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/15052/industry-heavyweights-unite-to-save-theatre

There is a link on that page to the petition.

JT at Christmas.

I've been hearing many of the songs on James Taylor's new Christmas album getting lots of radio play lately. I've really liked what I've been hearing and can't wait to pick up a copy of the disc.

You can listen and watch a video of one song on Amazon.com by clicking the link here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/655:654/002-2842960-6893669

Pimp my Nutcracker.

Sometimes I think it's kind of fun that the internet is so chock-full of crap simply because "it's there" and because there are so many people who have nothing better to do.

I'm not sure where I saw this or how I came across it, but for some very odd reason I find a small bit of pleasure playing "pimp my Nutcracker" at: pimpmynutcracker.com

Blogger beta.

I'm logging in to the blog by way of their new "Blogger beta." I have to sign in using their link with gmail.

I don't have a problem with this, but I'm not sure I like the look of this yet ... the dashboard and other back-end features. Is anyone else using the new log-in format?

Star Trek.

TV Land is having a Star Trek marathon.

It's funny... I own every Star Trek episode (from the original series) in some fashion (DVD, Video Tape, Laser Disc, etc) and I don't watch them too often. But if it's on television, I'll likely watch it over just about anything else. Why?

International Shakespeare...finally.

For those of you who may be interested, I finally posted my thoughts on the Shakespeare performances I attened at the Lit Moon World Shakespeare Festival in Santa Barbara, CA last month. You can find it by clicking on "my complete profile" and then clicking "My Theatre Journal."

It was a lot of fun, with some great work being done in Eastern Europe.

A classy kind of thievery.

The idea of art theft seems like something of movie fiction, and a high class sort of crime. But I can't halp but wonder what sort of persons buys stolen art? It's not as though you could display it publicly, and if you can't show off what you own, what joy do you get from it?

The recent theft(s) of Munsch's The Scream, have been noteworthy, and in today's New York Sun comes notice of a Goya painting stolen while enroute from one museum to another.

As an art lover, and someone who has spent more money than I should (or even could) for original works of art, I don't understand art theft.

But don't believe everything you see on TV...

I received a note from the local high school principal congratulating me on my win for the school board seat. After seeing the news on television last night, with me listed as the loser, I settled in to the idea that I had not won.

But... according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's web site, I won by 10 votes.

Election update.

According to one of the local television stations, I did not win my bid for school board member. I lost by seven votes to the candidate nearest to me.

Election Day.

I voted today. Did you?

Actually, not only did I vote, but I brought my 11 year old daughter with me. I figured that she's at the right age to bring along. Training a future voter, is how I think of it. She gets to see that there's nothing difficult to it. She sees me participating.

Hopefully, then, not only did I vote todaty, but I've helped to keep the voting process alive for at least another generation.

Appreciating Disney. ...Really?

Alright, I have to admit it, I'm appreciative of the good folks at Disney Studios.

"Why?" you might ask, and rightly so. But if you've got any pre-teen children, chances are that they have tuned in to the Disney Channel after school.

First, let me say that the television watching in our household is fairly restricted. No television zombies here (and we do not own any Xbox or Playstation type devices). But for my daughter, who just turned eleven, there are very few opportunities for extra-curricular enjoyment.

Although she's in middle school, she's too young still to take part in any of the competetive sports, other than as the occassional "practice" (the one exception is basketball, which she played last year and plans to play again this year). She is in Girl Scouts, which she enjoys but isn't all consumed with.

At home, her brothers might watch the Cartoon Network or something on Nickelodeon, but those shows are mostly beneath her. As she was growing up, the Olsen Twins made a number of movies that were aimed at the pre-teens (or "Tweens" as they are referred to these days), but but now that the Olsen girls are older and in to some health problems, they've become inappropriate viewing.

Regular television shows offer fare such as Gilmore Girls, which isn't really appropriate, and so comes the Disney Channel, with shows such as: That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, The Suite life of Zach and Cody, and a few others.

Now I personally am not too fond of these shows (in fact, I can't stand the acting on Hannah Montana), but they are well written for their target audience, the Tweens. The shows deal with issues of friendship, trust, respect, dating, and other, basically harmless issues but issues that are affecting children of this age. And these shows are doing it in a sit-com setting, so the morals aren't being thrown in the face.

I really do appreciate that the Disney Channel is able to reach children, like my daughter, on these topics, in ways that the kids will pay attention. Of course, too much of anything is not good, and I don't want my daughter veggie-ing out in front of the television, but for that hour in the day when she's done her homework and doesn't have Scouts or basketball, or whatever, it's nice to know that she'll turn on a show that I'm comfortable allowing her to watch.

Happy candy hunting.

I've been back home for a week or so, and jumped right in to a "debate" with other school board candidates, and auditions for the high school one act play. I've been told that my 5 minute video for the city was a finalist and much-talked-about video (which makes me cringe, because it was last minute and sloppy as far as I'm concerned and done only to meet the requirements for being able to keep the video camera).

Today I get to take the kids out for candy hunting. I think I'll go as my friend Kootch....

One more show to go.

One more show to go, here at the Lit Moon World Theatre Festival in Santa Barbara. It's been a remarkable week of fascinating, wonderful, and even some "so-so" productions. I have found some of the after-show get-togethers of equal, or even more interest, than the shows themselves. Talking with performers, directors, and scenographers from Bulgaria and Poland, has been an incredible educational experience.

I will be posting reactions to specific shows on "My Theatre Journal" sometime next week.

Tomorrow it's off to Kansas City for production meetings for next year's Great River Shakespeare Festival.

Shakespeare of the world, in Santa Barbara.

It's been a busy couple of days, and I'm not done here yet, but I've been in Santa Barbara, CA for the last four days, and I've seen four Shakespeare performances, by companies from three different companies.

TIMON OF ATHENS and RICHARD II were both American company productions ... actually, both were co-produced by universities in the area.

JULIET & ROMEO was done by a Canadian troup.

And OTHELLO was performed (and spoken) by a Polish company. Without a doubt, the production of Othello was the best work I've seen here, and anywhere in quite some time. Powerful, strong, evoking emotions, and extremely well acted, this play was easy to understand, even though the words themselves weren't.

I have two more shows to see in the next couple of days, and I'm looking forward to them.

Today's birthdays.

According to The Writer's Almanac, it is the birthday today for two people who have had an influence on me. Thelonius Monk and Harold Pinter

The Pinter influence might be obvious to most who know me, but the Monk influence less so.

I have often said (more, lately, as I grow older and see opportunities slipping away) that if I were to do anything differently in my life, it would be to study and compose music. Some of the strongest musical influences in my life have been jazz music (thanks, Mo) and Monk's were some of the very first jazz albums that I ever purchased and listened to until the records nearly wore out.

It would seem to be a good duo to share a birthdate.

Where does the time go?

Can't believe how the days are getting away from me.

I put together a short video for the local city government, as part of a grant requirement. it was a real bitch to do and I wasn't helped any by a software program that refused to let me copy my edited video to ANYthing (not to disc, not to hard drive, etc) and i had to redo the whole damned thing in a short time frame on a program that I didn't like as well.

Yesterday we took the family to a "corn maze" and pumpkin patch just outside the Cities. They had a lot of fun. Me, less so. As I told my wife, I don't enjoy getting lost on purpose. I always like to know exactly where I am, so walking in to a maze is not fun for me.

The farm with the maze (Afton Apple) had LOTS of puns with the words "corn" and "maze", but not once did I see them refer to it as a "maize". How do you not capitalize on the obvious? (Then again, they did write "congradulations.")

Library gems.

I enjoy bookstores, but there's something extra special about walking through the stacks of an old library.

In a bookstore all the books have bright, shining covers all trying to attract your attention and wanting to be taken home. In a library, the books are generally those that have found an audience and manage to get taken off those cramped-together shelves. They don't need to prove themselves or attract a reader with bright, flashy covers. Often the books are jacket-less and rather drab looking. I love looking through these books for gems that might be new to me.

Yesterday I found such a book. New? Not even close. The physical book itself is 98 years old (judging by the publication date and copyright). It's a book of plays by a Norwegian playwright I'd never heard of (shame on me): Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

I'm only half way through the first play ("Love and Geography") in this book ("Plays by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson - Second Series"), and I'm absolutely loving it. Like his contemporary, Ibsen, Bjornson writes of social realism. Unlike much of Ibsen, this play is very approachable and often quite funny:

Some poet who was married said once that he carried his home on his back like a snail. And the fool meant it as a praise of marriage! -- When I meet one of my colleagues on the street -- on of the married ones, I mean -- I
always raise my hat twice: once, openly and respectfully, for the man himself;
and once, secretly and in pity, for his hump!

And, in a domestic squabble, a woman says: "May the Lord protect and preserve everybody from getting married to any one who writes books."

Of course I'm getting a good chuckle out of all this and I'm thinking to myself that this work needs to be staged. Almost certainly Bjornson's work would be remounted regularly but for the fact that he is so over-shadowed by Ibsen that people forget that there were other writers working at the same time.

Doing a real quick "Ask" search for Bjornson, I see that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903 and authored many books as well as plays (I'm looking forward to reading Sigurd the Bastard). He was very politically active and was the director of two different theatres in Norway and editor of the Norsk Folkeblad.

But what amazes me is how this play, written 100+ years ago, could easily be played as a contemporary piece; in fact, seems more modern now than it probably would have back in the late 1800's. And it is this ability to capture the heart of people, rather than a period, that makes me want to read more.

And it is this discovery of a hundred year old gem, that will keep my browsing the stacks of drab spines in libraries for as long as I can.

My rap name.

In the event that I should become a Rap star (or, more likely, a MEGA-Star) -- an event that isn't nearly as implausible as one might at first think ... just look at some of those who are stars today -- I've taken a rap name.

You may refer to me as: White Fudge Chunky.

I can just hear it... "Put your hands together for White Fudge Chunky!"

Thank you, Nabisco.

"Ladies and gentlemen...

WHITE FUDGE CHUNKY!"

Reality in Wobegon.

It was so appropriate I actually wondered if it was staged, or planned. But I've decided that this thought was more a case of my pessimism, and indeed, what I saw was very much natural. ...

This past Saturday the family and I spent some time at the Mall of America. We were just about ready to leave when I wanted to stop at the Lake Wobegon USA store, there on the third floor of the mall. I walked in to this very Minnesota, very "natural-ish" store, and the woman behind the cash register was actually sitting there and cutting coupons from the newspaper!

When was the last time you saw someone clipping coupons? Could anything be more appropriate than a woman in Lake Wobegon, USA clipping store coupons? Could you actually plan, and put into action, that kind of "reality touch"?

How to make your knees ache.

I rode my bike today. Not just rode, you understand, but power-rode it.

I was off to find another geocache which was only accessible from a bike path and was six miles from any entrance to the path. So... of course I got on my bike at home and rode the 6+ miles to the proper site. On the way back home, I stopped and took a 1/3 mile hike up a hill to find another cache site. Of course there was the hike down the hill, back to my bike, and then the ride back home, which, unfortunately for me was into the breeze. And as I live up a hill, it also involved the ride up the hill on tired, old legs. But damn my stubborn hide, I wasn't about to get off and walk the bike up the hill!

I was definitely exhausted, and my knees were quite weak -- had trouble walking down the stairs to my desk when I got home! Rested for about an hour, and then went out to mow the lawn.

When the kids came home from school (oh yeah ... I was back from my bike ride at noon), it was nice out and my son wanted to play a little football in the back yard.

And now, no surprise, my knees are screaming out at me to take it easy. My overweight body isn't meant to be abused so. Work up to the abuse, that's how it's supposed to be done.

Twins.

I wanted to avoid mention of the anniversary of the events of 9/11/01, and was instead, going to write about taking the family to see the Minnesota Twins play some superb baseball yesterday (12-1 win over 1st place team Detroit Tigers).

But as soon as I wrote "Twins" it made me think of the Twin Towers that came crashing down. And so let me pay quick tribute to the families of those who lost their lives, as well as to the "survivors" of the disaster. Those who were there and who did not lose their lives, have not been unscathed. My pal Eddie was in the unit of firefighters that was the first on the scene. He lived, and I think of him often, when I think of 9/11, and wonder how he is doing. The last I heard, through friends, via his wife, is that he often had nightmares. Here's hoping that he and his family (his oldest, like mine, would have entered 6th grade this year) are all well.

And so... on to the Minnesota Twins.

I took the family, along with some friends, to the Minnesota Twins ball game yesterday. What a great game to see! The Twins looked unstoppable. I can't remember the last time I saw so many actual hits a single baseball game. They looked as though they could do anything that they wanted with their bats. Triples? What...were there three? (Or were there only two, I can't even remember now.) And home runs? There were ... none. That's right. A game in which the Twins scored 12 runs, and not a single home-run. That's awesome hitting. As I heard on the TV later that night, it's that kind of offensive that has the Twins as a feared post-season opponent -- they don't rely on a couple of power hitters to get the runs in.

A great game to see.

Go Twins!

From out of nowhere....

Okay, so it wasn't actually from out of nowhere, I had gotten a tip that I might get this call, but I had kind of forgotten it.

Today I got a call about doing a brief gig as an Equity stage manager again. I haven't worked a professional job in that capacity in almost ten years.

The show is called TEA AT FIVE, a one-woman show about Katherine Hapburn, starring Stephanie Zimbalist as Hepburn. The show will be playing at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, MN.

I have to talk to the wife about it, but I'm leaning toward doing it. It's only for a couple of weeks; it's not too far from home; it would be fun to get my feet wet doing this kind of work again; I've actually worked with Stephanie before and it would be fun to see her again; and, why the hell not?

Geocaching.

I took the family out geocaching today.

If you're not familiar with it (and chances are good that you're not), geocaching is a relatively new sport. Basically it's a treasure hunt.

You need to own GPS device and then where to look on the web for coordinates of a hidden cache. Plug the coordinates in to your GPS and off you go in search of the treasure.

It's great for the kids because they often (but not always) get to take a small toy as a treasure, and then leave one of their choosing behind.

My brother and his son introduced us to this sport a couple of years ago. We don't do this very often, but the kids enjoy it when we do get out.

If you're interested in learning more about this (chances are good that there's a geocache within a couple of miles of where you live), go to www.geocaching.com.

Beatles anyone?

Bug me not.

A little reminder that if I send you to a link that you can't view because you're not a "registered" member of a site, use BUG ME NOT to get a log-in name and password. There should be a link to it on the left side of my blog here, under the word "LINKS."

Wool pulling.

A really good joke takes time to develop. I'm not talking about the sort of joke that one repeats to family over dinner, or to friends at a party, but something more along the lines of a practical joke.

I love a good practical joke. I've pulled more than a few, and been the victim of some. The successful ones will make me laugh, no matter on which end I find myself.

And so I greatly appreciated the literary joke I read about this morning in the NY Times. You can read it for yourself here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/books/31poet.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin

I'm on iTunes!

Most of my adult life I've heard favorable comments about my voice. I'm often asked why I don't "go into radio" or read books on tape, etc.

Well, I have read books on tape for the blind, but I've never been interested in being a DJ, and what the hell else would one do on radio?

Because I'm a bit of a ham, and also a fan of OTR (Old Time Radio), I've gotten hooked up with other people with similar interests. Recently (within the past six months), I've connected with a group of people who put together amateur radio shows. This group, called Pendant Productions, makes radio serials based on existing properties (comic book, movie, and television), in the tradition of some of the great Old Time Radio serials.

Among their running shows are Superman, Wonder Woman, Star Trek: Defiant, and James Bond. On a whim, I decided to audition for a small but recurring role in a new show they were putting together. This one based on the Indiana Jones property. Auditions can be rather fierce, with many people wanting to show off their talents, but I managed to get the role (actually, I auditioned for three roles, but got the small, recurring part).

The first episode has finally been released and can be found as a free podcast on iTunes (just search for "Indiana Jones")! If that doesn't work for you, you can click on the nifty poster below. Oh, yeah...that's my name there on that poster.

It's been fun, and I may even audition for some other roles. (Another group is doing Iron Man!) For a bunch of amateurs, it's not too bad.

Oh, and I just received my script for episode five, where I make yet another brief "appearance." I'm not in episode four, and wondered if my part was completed, but I guess the fans must have been wanting more of me!



...No, I'm not going to tell you what role I play. Listen and try to figure it out for yourself. At the end, there are credits, however, and you can check your guess.

Camping in Michigan.

I've been off with the family, camping in Michigan, and then attending the wedding of one of my nephews. I hope to post some pictures in the next few days.

AaaOoooh, Werewolves of Bangor!

I don't know what anbody else thinks, but I find this to be pretty damned eerie. The photo is enough to give me nightmares!

Check out this link!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14383883/?GT1=8404

You can't lick these super heroes!

Growing up, I have memories of watching my dad sit at the dining table and peering through a large magnifying glass at postage stamps. It didn't mean much to me, and he never let me handle them, so I quickly grew bored and would walk away.

A few years ago, my father mentioned to me that I would be inheriting his stamp collection -- a well preserved (not handled by little kids!) collection that goes back quite a ways. This, of course, got me interested in looking to see just what was so special about stamps.

What I learned, in a nutshell, is that most people only see the common "flag," "love," or holiday stamp, but in fact the post office releases quite a few different stamps every year, and most of them are of some significance and are actually wonderful works of art, in miniature.

And when you're talking about works of art, it would seem only natural that there should be stamps commemorating comic book art. There have been a few in the past, but nothing (that I know of -- and I'm certainly no expert) to compare with what has recently been released by the U.S. Post Office.

If you haven't been to the P.O. lately, I'd encourage you to stop in and ask for the sheet of Super Heroes. Slap a Green Arrow on your electricty bill, or a Wonder Woman to pay your cell phone tab. The Flash can be used to get your check off to the DMV for your license renewal, or Aquaman for your water bill.

Heck, just get 'em 'cause they're cool!