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.