"Oh, dear God," you're thinking. "More year-in-review, 'what a great/terrible year we had,' social media narcissism? Is that what we come to your blog for? Are we not even safe from that here, in the secluded, warm, fortress-like confines of your blog?"
You may determine that for yourself when you finish reading this.
2010 was, by all accounts, a year on the Roman calendar by which most peoples on Earth in the 21st century (again, by the Roman calendar) observe the movement of their planet around the sun. It was a bit different than 2009, and even more different from 1999. Still more different was 1739, but I digress. Professionally.
In 2010 there were a lot of wonderful moments which will overshadow, in time, any momentary frustrations or small sadnesses. I hope that's true for everyone.
In 2025, children born from 2005 until 2010 will begin to look back with faux nostaglia at terrible music and popular culture that exists now, things they were too young to actually remember and did not take any part in at the time.
In 2030, you will see "period" entertainments set in 2010, or in the "naughts." I say entertainments instead of films because that word may be archaic by then.
In 2010, I had a good year. I look to do my very best with whatever 2011 throws me.
Happy New Year.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
A kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time
Tonight, as I enjoy delicious Australian coffee from the new stovetop percolator Marina's parents sent me for Christmas, I find myself reliving a personal tradition. Every year, at Christmas, I find myself stepping backward in time with year-sized boots, stepping backward from Christmastime to Christmastime, finding what it is that I remember specifically about each year.
Only now, it isn't just that; I find myself thinking of my favorite story and how many different versions of it I've been part of in my professional life. Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL has been adapted in so many ways, but the only versions that I can really lend credence to are those that don't diminish the absolutely pitch-perfect, nuanced language of the original novella. That all sounds very lofty, and I don't mean it to. What I mean to do here is to pay tribute to some of the best (or at least my favorite) people I ever did some version of this show with.
In one production or another of A CHRISTMAS CAROL I have played Joe the junk dealer, Young Scrooge, The Ghost of Christmas Present, Bob Cratchit, and had a couple of runs at Scrooge himself. Add in a few smaller roles without much import and a version done by two actors and I know that text almost by heart, even today. I have loved every single production of this story I've done, if not every adaptation. I've been working for some years on my own adaptation, and one day I hope I'll get the chance to put it up... maybe with some of the following people helping me out.
John Clemo comes to mind first; an excellent Scrooge, excellent actor and a fine gentleman whom I still consider a close friend despite years and distance.
Matt Jones, who did the NTC tour of the show for many years and probably knows their version better than anyone else in the world... I never saw you do it, Matt, but I would love to see your Bob Cratchit or your Fred.
Travis Ploeger, from my very first Christmas Carol, who played Fred but I primarily remember as playing a completely dimwitted and deficient version of Dick Wilkins as I tried to maintain as Young Scrooge. His Dick Wilkins was the kind of lumbering oaf who might pet a bunny rabbit to death, and I completely stole his idea in a later production when I played a party guest I invented called "Special Tim."
And finally I'd like to pay tribute to a man who really did, in my experience with him, exemplify all the best qualities of a Scrooge transformed. Matt Kamprath, who passed away in 2009 at only 49, was (both on- and offstage) the life of the NTC tour I did in 2002. He was such a beloved Scrooge on the East Coast leg of that tour that many venues would simply not book the show unless Matty was playing the role.
I have been so lucky and so blessed in my life to have met and worked with so many very talented actors and professionals. It's a time to think about blessings, and a time for people to "open their shut up hearts open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."
I have an immense feeling of gratitude tonight, for no specific reason but for all those blessings I've had that I haven't deserved and all those people whom I have been able to learn from over the years. If I've ever spent a Christmas with you, please know that tonight I am thinking of you and raising a glass in your honor.
"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!"
Only now, it isn't just that; I find myself thinking of my favorite story and how many different versions of it I've been part of in my professional life. Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL has been adapted in so many ways, but the only versions that I can really lend credence to are those that don't diminish the absolutely pitch-perfect, nuanced language of the original novella. That all sounds very lofty, and I don't mean it to. What I mean to do here is to pay tribute to some of the best (or at least my favorite) people I ever did some version of this show with.
In one production or another of A CHRISTMAS CAROL I have played Joe the junk dealer, Young Scrooge, The Ghost of Christmas Present, Bob Cratchit, and had a couple of runs at Scrooge himself. Add in a few smaller roles without much import and a version done by two actors and I know that text almost by heart, even today. I have loved every single production of this story I've done, if not every adaptation. I've been working for some years on my own adaptation, and one day I hope I'll get the chance to put it up... maybe with some of the following people helping me out.
John Clemo comes to mind first; an excellent Scrooge, excellent actor and a fine gentleman whom I still consider a close friend despite years and distance.
Matt Jones, who did the NTC tour of the show for many years and probably knows their version better than anyone else in the world... I never saw you do it, Matt, but I would love to see your Bob Cratchit or your Fred.
Travis Ploeger, from my very first Christmas Carol, who played Fred but I primarily remember as playing a completely dimwitted and deficient version of Dick Wilkins as I tried to maintain as Young Scrooge. His Dick Wilkins was the kind of lumbering oaf who might pet a bunny rabbit to death, and I completely stole his idea in a later production when I played a party guest I invented called "Special Tim."
And finally I'd like to pay tribute to a man who really did, in my experience with him, exemplify all the best qualities of a Scrooge transformed. Matt Kamprath, who passed away in 2009 at only 49, was (both on- and offstage) the life of the NTC tour I did in 2002. He was such a beloved Scrooge on the East Coast leg of that tour that many venues would simply not book the show unless Matty was playing the role.
I have been so lucky and so blessed in my life to have met and worked with so many very talented actors and professionals. It's a time to think about blessings, and a time for people to "open their shut up hearts open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."
I have an immense feeling of gratitude tonight, for no specific reason but for all those blessings I've had that I haven't deserved and all those people whom I have been able to learn from over the years. If I've ever spent a Christmas with you, please know that tonight I am thinking of you and raising a glass in your honor.
"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!"
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Cookie Monster and Jeff Bridges
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/c-is-for-christmas-wish-cookie-monster-gets-on-saturday-night-live/
Monday, December 20, 2010
Solitary as an oyster
It's that time of year again, when I begin sharing all my favorite Christmas videos for your enjoymafication. Usually I try to deal in the semi- to VERY obscure, but some of the better stuff I just can't ignore. So I'll begin the marathon with the opening number to what I seriously defend as being in many ways the most accurate film adaptation of Charles Dickens' novella A CHRISTMAS CAROL, done by the Muppets. Here is "Mr. Scrooge" from "A Muppet Christmas Carol."
Man's Artistic Destiny, Fulfilled
http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/executive-koala
This is a trailer for a Japanese film about a koala who is a businessman. #thisisreal (via AICN)
This is a trailer for a Japanese film about a koala who is a businessman. #thisisreal (via AICN)
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Merry Christmas, Gaiman Fans.
39 Degrees North: Christmas Card 2010 on Vimeo
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Spins a web, any size.
I just read this article.
I'm sure we've all seen the coverage of this attempt at... who knows what. I am now moving squarely toward disgust here. I will admit curiosity at what can be accomplished onstage for $65 million, and to see Spider-Man web-slinging and flying around onstage. I'd like to say it really interests me, but I can't be interested when reading how Julie Taymor justifies the expense.
"If it were a movie, people would think it was cheap."
...and if it were a battleship, it would be a real bargain. It's not a movie, it's a musical whose budget has ballooned to $40 million more than any other musical in history. We are in a dying industry which is scrambling to reinvent itself to find relevancy in a dumbed-down culture of populist mediocrity, and frankly there are aspects of this that sicken me.
I also bristle at her pride at the originality of the piece. IT'S SPIDER-MAN! I don't know how original it really was when Stan Lee cooked it up almost fifty years ago, but it's certainly not breaking extraordinary new ground now. Sure, there are some new ditties and Ms. Taymor has found people to develop new ways to throw people around the stage. I'm sure it's quite a spectacle, but for $65 million it had better be.
Don't say it's original, just because it isn't specifically based on an existing movie. It's Spider-Man. Don't say it's justifiably expensive. That's an insult to a lot of people who produce great theatre everywhere and manage their budgets responsibly.
I hope it runs, but only for the sake of all the actors and crew who have work thanks to the show. I don't think it bodes well for the future of an industry already struggling to find a foothold as something more than an novelty in a digital world.
I'm sure we've all seen the coverage of this attempt at... who knows what. I am now moving squarely toward disgust here. I will admit curiosity at what can be accomplished onstage for $65 million, and to see Spider-Man web-slinging and flying around onstage. I'd like to say it really interests me, but I can't be interested when reading how Julie Taymor justifies the expense.
"If it were a movie, people would think it was cheap."
...and if it were a battleship, it would be a real bargain. It's not a movie, it's a musical whose budget has ballooned to $40 million more than any other musical in history. We are in a dying industry which is scrambling to reinvent itself to find relevancy in a dumbed-down culture of populist mediocrity, and frankly there are aspects of this that sicken me.
I also bristle at her pride at the originality of the piece. IT'S SPIDER-MAN! I don't know how original it really was when Stan Lee cooked it up almost fifty years ago, but it's certainly not breaking extraordinary new ground now. Sure, there are some new ditties and Ms. Taymor has found people to develop new ways to throw people around the stage. I'm sure it's quite a spectacle, but for $65 million it had better be.
Don't say it's original, just because it isn't specifically based on an existing movie. It's Spider-Man. Don't say it's justifiably expensive. That's an insult to a lot of people who produce great theatre everywhere and manage their budgets responsibly.
I hope it runs, but only for the sake of all the actors and crew who have work thanks to the show. I don't think it bodes well for the future of an industry already struggling to find a foothold as something more than an novelty in a digital world.
Friday, December 17, 2010
For anyone who has performed on a ship.
I couldn't sleep last night, so I stayed up til 4:30 making this. It says "singer," but it's meant to apply to anyone who has worked as a performer on a cruise ship. Enjoy.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Lesson learned?
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/actress-thora-birch-fired-from-dracula/
I will now be sure not to allow my father to sit in on rehearsals.
I will now be sure not to allow my father to sit in on rehearsals.
New design, New format, New purpose
I am rolling up my sleeves and hoping to make my blog something more than it has been recently. It will become the default place to go for my photos, videos, and posts... all of which I hope to be more prolific with.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Christmasiness
What with all the social presence on the web, I have allowed the blog to fall to the sidelines while constantly pumping videos and photos and whatever else onto facebook. Can someone help me with a way to aggregate my postings so that I can easily put stuff on the blog and facebook at the same time? Or at least easily blog the stuff?
From my android phone, if possible.
I want to be a better blogger. I used to be so diligent.
From my android phone, if possible.
I want to be a better blogger. I used to be so diligent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)