Friday, October 14, 2005

Public Editor's Web Journal (Forum/Message Board) - The New York Times

Public Editor's Web Journal (Forum/Message Board) - The New York Times:
"The lifting of the contempt order against Judith Miller of The New York Times in connection with the Valerie Wilson leak investigation leaves no reason for the paper to avoid providing a full explanation of the situation. Now."

right on.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Literature 2005 - Pinter wins Nobel - File Under: I'll drink to that!

Literature 2005

Pinter restored theatre to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretence crumbles. With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution. Pinter's drama was first perceived as a variation of absurd theatre, but has later more aptly been characterised as "comedy of menace", a genre where the writer allows us to eavesdrop on the play of domination and submission hidden in the most mundane of conversations. In a typical Pinter play, we meet people defending themselves against intrusion or their own impulses by entrenching themselves in a reduced and controlled existence. Another principal theme is the volatility and elusiveness of the past.


You'll find more HERE.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

We made a movie! and I didn't even have to take my clothes off this time!

C'mon down to the axiom saturday night and see BLP's big screen medium length debut!!!
or something like that...
 
I'll be at the 11:00 show.
Hope to seeya there...
 
M
 
 
 
 
 
BRAZOSPORT LI'L PLAYERS PRESENT
WORLD PREMIERE OF MACBETH


-- Houston area theatre troupe pushes red button on camera and makes movie --

(HOUSTON) September 28, 2005 . . . Experimental theatre troupe The Brazosport L'il Players (BLP) will present its movie version of Shakespeare's classic play Macbeth at the Axiom, located at 2524 McKinney, on Saturday, October 15, with showings at 9 and 11 p.m. The price of admission is $5.

"Sure, we made a few changes," says Paul Locklear, who wrote the script and directed the approximately 50-minute-long movie. "We had to, cause we didn't want to bore the audience to death with all that Shakespeare business."

Locklear admits that the script follows the basic plotline of Shakespeare's classic tale of greed and tragedy, but with a few changes. "We wanted to place it in a setting that our limited fan base could relate to, so Macbeth works at the Wal-Mart in Brazosport."

Walt Zipprian, a Houston area theatre veteran who grew up in Brazosport, plays the title role. "This role is perfect for me. If I hadn't left town when I did I'd probably really be working at the Wal-Mart in Brazosport and plotting my pathway to the top."

Those in search of production values won't find any here; BLP made Macbeth for a little over $200. "Everyone worked for free and the only expenses were for digital videotapes, food and beer for a couple of scenes," says Locklear. "It took us a year to finish it though. I have the good fortune to know a lot of performers, but the down side of that is that because they are performers, they would go off into rehearsals for a show and sometimes we had to wait long periods before they were free to finish. Later when you're trying to sort through everything and remember how things are supposed to go together, it helps to have a boy genius in your camp."
 
Locklear is referring to Joe Folladori who served as director of photography and editor for the movie.

"Joe saved our butts," says Locklear. "I'm technologically challenged, and Joe just swooped in and took care of all at, which was a great weight off my shoulders."

Zipprian heads a cast that includes BLP regulars Kelly Manison as Lady Macbeth, Mike Switzer as Banquo, and Noel Bowers as Macduff, with cameo appearances by the Leopard Boy and Batman and fast-rising Houston-based classical music combo Two Star Symphony, who appear as the witches.

BLP was launched in 2002 when the troupe formed to present a 10-minute scene from the Glass Menagerie for the Slump Theatre fundraiser. They have gone on to perform at fundraisers for Mildred's Umbrella Theatre, dos chicas theatre commune and Theatre Illuminata, and appeared as featured performers in Jack Babylon's Cabaret. They performed the original piece Voices of America as part of Diverseworks Footfalls series and presented their first full-length play 32 Short Stories About Brazosport at the Axiom in January of 2005. The troupe's series of short customized movies include; Day in the Life of Two-Star; Actorman: Day in the Life of Jmiller; Thomas Goes to Brazil and Tamalalia 11.

For reservations or further information call the BLP Hotline at (713) 869-2294.

 
 

gang of four last night

it was great...
was gonna write more about it,
but I think it's naptime.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Warrenellis.com � John Peel Day

Warrenellis.com � John Peel Day:

"October 13 is John Peel Day."

I'll go ahead and celebrate ahead of time...
tonight at the Gang of Four show.

The Globe and Mail: The world according to Kurt

The Globe and Mail: The world according to Kurt:
"But life is a series of cosmic disappointments and absurdities, which Vonnegut knows from first-hand experience. He saw his father's dreams of becoming a great architect foiled by fate and the Depression. His mother, who suffered from her own depression, killed herself on Mother's Day in 1944, when he was only 21. Nine months later, as a prisoner of war in Germany, he witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, which he later immortalized in Slaughterhouse-Five. His older sister Alice died of cancer at age 41, within 24 hours of her husband being killed in a train crash, leaving Vonnegut and his wife to adopt three of their children. After his son went off to British Columbia during the Vietnam War to start a commune, Mark went crazy and Vonnegut had to retrieve him and place him in an institution (which thankfully cured him). One of his daughters was briefly married to Geraldo Rivera. In the mid-1980s, Vonnegut himself attempted suicide, but failed. Who wouldn't see the world as a cosmic joke?"

I've loved Vonnegut longer than any other writer.
I can still go back and read the first things I ever read of his and be filled with that same wonderful combination of joy and despair.

Gallup: Americans Now Support Interracial Dating

Gallup: Americans Now Support Interracial Dating:

"Gallup: Americans Now Support Interracial Dating"

I go further and support the Bullworth position:

All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody 'til they're all the same color.

alicublog - File Under : I'll drink to that!

alicublog: "Fuck Columbus. If it weren't for him I'd have government healthcare and seven weeks' vacation a year now."

Monday, October 10, 2005

Government Keystroke Loggers Hard-Wired Into All New Laptop Computers!

Any of you smart folks wanna debunk this one?

Government Keystroke Loggers Hard-Wired Into All New Laptop Computers!:
"I called the police, as having a keylogger unknown to me in my laptop is a serious offense. They told me to call the Department of Homeland Security. At this point, I am in disbelief. Why would the DHS have a keylogger in my laptop? It was surreal."

TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS - Turn me on, dead man.

TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS:
"
'The critics were asking questions like, 'Why is there so much red in the garden... and on the beach? It's macabre.' Call it art psychoanalysis, but the 'Paul is dead' rumour has started to spread."

If they were capable of replacing a Beatle,
don't you think they would have replaced John?

my weekend

Friday
4-6 : Mathletes practice - Joe, Jeff, Gie Gie and me.
6-7 : Dinner and getting ready for Bog o' Cats.
7-10:30 : Bog O' Cats
10:30-3:00 or so : Playing trombone with Pearl Laughlin and the Gutbucket Serenaders
3:00 or so - resist temptation to go to Andy's for enchiladas - go home and to bed.

Saturday

2-6 : Mathletes practice - Joe, Chris, Cathy, Me till 4, then replace C&C with Gie Gie and continue
6-7 : Dinner and getting ready for Bog o' Cats.
7-10:30 : Bog O' Cats
10:30-12 : House Warming Party (drinking Jameson's)
12-2 : The Dicks at Rudyards
2-4 : Octoberfest Party (missed the hostess in her bavarian beer wench outfit)

Sunday
10-11:30 or so - load up for Mathletes gig
11:30 - 11:45 or so, figure out what we're doing for a p.a. and have chris load his mixing board...
11:45 - on the road to Trader's Village
12:30 - Arrive for "noon" mathletes show and set up
1-3 : Mathletes rock the Village.
3-4 : eat corndog and fries and begin the drive back
4-5 or so : drive back
5-6: watch and episode of "smallville" - get back to Brainiac!!!
6-8: supposed to be TDU practice, ends up being more like a meeting...Charlie shows up after Ryan gave up and left, so me, Jim and Charlie sit around and talk about TDU, finding a new bass player (Joe has left to concentrate on The Mathletes and finding a job), and maybe a full time keyboardist, etc...

then it was just the usual insomnia gig...
whoohoo!

Sunday, October 09, 2005

morning comes too early

yes it does.

The Dicks were fanfuckingtastic last night...
really unbelievably rockin'


and now I'm up and preparing for a mathletes gig...
we just discovered yesterday that we're supposed to provide
our own P.A....
this is going to be interesting.