February 23, 2005
Putting my toe back in
OK, for anyone who is interested, "The Crucible" at New London rocked the freakin' house, if I do say so myself. But I don't need to say it myself - everybody in the cast felt it, and many many people in the audience said it was the best thing New London has done.
Playing Parris was quite an experience - I've never played a character with so little (zero!) audience appeal. Mr. Bumble is quite a piece of work, of course - come on, he sells a kid! - but he sings nice and has his comic bumbliness going for him. And Mayor Shinn (that's me as Shinn in the photo on the front of the blog) is basically harmless. No, Parris is the villain's villain, a man who used his power and his (minimal) smarts to get people killed. No matter that he tried to save a life in the final act - that was pure self-interest on his part. I have more to say about Parris than I have time to type right now, but for now just keep an eye on the New London website for pics from the show.
February 20, 2005
Observation
Even when it's possible that they're right, some people still come across as somebody that even Comic Book Guy would snicker at.
February 18, 2005
A little fun this weekend
If you get a chance, why not print this out and mail it to:
Sen. John Kerry
#304 Russell Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
He is apparently having a hard time finding a copy.
Prayers needed
Wow, the Instapundit's wife is getting her ticker worked on. Let's keep her in our prayers, OK, cause she's like smokin' hot.
OK, I just wanted to say something shocking. Let's keep her in our prayers. I'd say the same thing if she wasn't. Smokin' hot.
For the record
For the record, I did not contribute this offensive, and aggressively un-funny piece in the Daily Probe from Wednesday:
Sex Tourism Industry "Totally Fucked" by TsunamiBANDA ACEH (DPI) - The Southeast Asian sex tourism industry has been utterly devastated by the recent tsunami there, according to the group Sex Tours International.
(By the way: anybody want to start an over/under on how long the "daily" Daily Probe will last?) (Now that's what I call a potshot, bay-bee!)
I wrote a piece intended to comment on the media-driven need for visitors and aid workers in the area to one-up each other in their horror at the devastation, and playing a little bit with being "devastated" over devastation, etc. to wit:
Tsunami: Officials, Rescue Workers, Visitors "Devastated, " "Shattered," "Fucked" BANDA ACEH (DPI) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reports being "devastated" at the devastation in this tiny Sumatran island today. Standing next to a shattered home, one of thousands on the island, he added, "I am absolutely shattered over this." Meanwhile, World Bank President James Wolfensohn, travelling with the Secretary-General, described himself as "shit-besmirched" after accidentally stepping too close to a hastily-dug emergency lavatory trench. Further afield, in Ampu Muang's PP Princess Resort, Fred Mortensen, an American sex tourist, said via telephone that he was "thoroughly fucked" after visiting the whores in the famed red-light districts ringing the resort. And finally, a rescue worker who smothered after he accidentally fell into a burial pit with hundreds of bodies in the tiny coastal town of Meulaboh described himself as "Dead."
I have requested and feel certain that the site owner will remove my name from the piece, which basically lifts an unrelated gag from mine and inserts it into another which has little or nothing to do with it, in style, tone, or intent. The pseudonymous co-author is welcome to full credit for that steaming pile.
First Reviews Are In!
Final dress rehearsal last night rocked the house. We were all a lot more confident and blazed through the show in under 3 hours. That's still too long by about 30 minutes but with no cuts it's going to be a long show.
A young lady in the (paying!) audience told me, "You certainly earned a lot of despisement!" I'm going to work that into a tagline somehow.
Goodbye to all that
I resigned my highly unpaid contributor position at Topfive.com and the Daily Probe today. I've been a contributor since the end of '98, those heady days when a President was being excommunicated, and the internet was still (just) small enough for a lame-o distributed "Top 10"-style humor list to get a little attention.
No more.
The internet has grown at an amazing pace; Top5 is now a backwater that recycles the same attitude (and, to a certain extent, gags) that it was running 6 years ago, when my daughter was born. Somehow, seeing my name on those lists just doesn't carry the same frisson that it used to. It's not you that changed, it's me. Let's move on.
It must also be said that Topfive's news organ, The Daily Probe, has gotten more, not less, embarrassing over the years. And, yes, I probably contributed mightily to that. But considering that there are at least a dozen humor blogs that eat their lunch on a daily basis (hell, Jim Treacher's comments section is a better daily read), I can only consider it a huge waste of time.
So, goodbye, topfive. Thanks, it was an...okay run. I think my greatest moment was from the very start, my #1 entry in the "TopFive Changes in the Redesigned Twenty Dollar Bill." I still larf at that sometimes.
February 17, 2005
Is this more of Taranto's famous disingenuity?
From today's Best Of The Web:
The latest twist in the Larry Summers kerfuffle has a journalist, Richard Bradley né Blow (he changed names, the Times suggests, to escape notoriety that arose from an earlier book) speculating that Harvard's president may be disabled.
I can think of other reasons to have changed his name. Watch for Taranto to admit that he thought the same thing within the next couple days.
February 11, 2005
Bad cupid! Bad! Bad!
My good friends over at Topfive.com are running a new site, Badcupid.com, for those with - Valentine issues. Give them a look! Let me know if you see any of my stuff over there.
Instantaneous UPDATE: Cool, one of the brother's is up there!
Arthur Miller
I've done a variety of plays in the last few years. And right now, I'm rehearsing Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," which I believe suffers from its being routinely declared "more timely now than ever" throughout its history, or, worse (I think) "once again timely," depending solely on who's speaking and who's in charge. It's evident to me that a play that is "more timely now than ever" is, quite simply, universally timeless.
Arthur Miller died today and I just want to say that it's unfortunate his amazing play is given this kind of treatment. It's nothing less than a masterpiece study of the human condition, no matter what the nation or time. I'm playing the Rev. Parris, a major villain in the piece, and the freedom I have found in this role is amazing. The depths and options available to me as an actor bewildered me at first, and now are quite simply thrilling.
If you're in the Atlanta area, please come see the play! And thank you and RIP, Mr. Miller.
February 10, 2005
My Theory, That It Is, and It Is Mine
Anybody besides me notice how much John Kerry sounded like Anne Elk on Meet The Press the other day?
Your job, should you choose to accept it--separate the Anne Elk quotes from the John Kerry quotes in the following:
"We went up on a mission with CIA agents--I believe they were CIA agents--CIA Special Ops guys. I even have some photographs of it, and I can document it. And it has been documented.”
"Good for you. My word yes. Well Chris, what is it that it is - this theory of mine. Well, this is what it is - my theory that I have, that is to say, which is mine, is mine."
“We delivered weapons to the Khmer Rouge on the coastline of Cambodia. We went out of Ha Tien, which is right in Vietnam. We went north up into the border. And I have some photographs of that, and that's what we did.”
“Shortly… . As soon as I get, as required by the military, precisely … . Because I have a stack of different material they sent me. Every time they send me something I want to know what they sent me.”
"That is my theory, it is mine, and belongs to me and I own it, and what it is too."
Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen them in the same room together?
February 09, 2005
Above the Fold, Bay-bee!
Or, as Tim Blair might say, Online Humor Publication Lead Story Written.
The editor deleted my reference to "bastions of liberal entertainment The Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and World News Tonight" in favor of the final "West Wing" reference.
February 08, 2005
*Sigh*
Jonah Goldberg finds himself mired in an "argument" with a leftist intellectual.
I can't say how many times I've found myself writing just this kind of thing, usually to online e-mail or usenet forums. It usually boils down to, "No, that's not what I said. And just because you've chosen to put those words in my mouth doesn't mean I'm required to defend them."
I've never encountered a greater waste of my own time. And Jonah is wasting his.
February 07, 2005
Waiter Rant
I've been enjoying Waiter Rant blog, and maybe you will too.
One thing I like about it is, the kinds of diners who drive this guy crazy are frequently the exact opposite of the kinds who would (probably) drive me crazy (I've never waited tables.) His instantaneous judgements of the eating public are hilarious and encyclopedic and remind me a lot of myself when I was in my twenties and thought it a good idea to put people into boxes as soon as possible.
Thank you, Sir Paul
I think yesterday's Super Bowl Halftime performance by Sir Paul McCartney provided at least one valuable service - millions of tivo owners will now know, thanks to his crystal-clear enunciation, that all the lyric sheets in the world (not to mention, if memory serves, Penn & Teller) are wrong, and that the line is actually, "But if this ever changing world in which we're livin'..."
Makes sense, always has, but everybody wanted to just be all smart and intelligent and point fingers at Sir Paul.
Moral: Don't point fingers at Sir Paul.