Why Lil Abner Ran So Fast

Bit of Leap Year history for Cynopsis:

This day in History: 1288 - Scotland established this day as one when a woman could propose marriage to a man. In the event that he refused the proposal he was required to pay a fine.

Interesting...

Originality

Courtesy of Creative Screenwriting Weekly:

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

– C.S. Lewis

Ulysses Odyssey, Part Two: Nestor's a Pester

Later: I’m working my way into the book now. Slow going.

The book is made up of random thoughts as this guy, Stephen, wanders around Dublin. The idea is that Homer’s ODYSSEY, the story of Ulysses trying to get home after the Trojan War, provides the thematic skeleton for Joyce’s book.

Wandering thoughts as a wandering character emulates a wandering hero.

Homer’s version had his hero fighting monsters. Joyce’s book has me fighting the urge to hit myself on the head with my hard cover copy.

But I persevere: Jack, the smart cookie that leads our book club, says the goal is to just get through this one. I muster on.

Later: My version of the book doesn’t have chapters. No mini-markers – just three parts for the whole novel.

I can’t tell where on a page I left off reading; unsure even while re-reading if I ever read that section before.

I briefly wonder if there is an Illustrated Classics comic book version. That sure helped me get through Conrad when I was six. To this day I talk to people about LORD JIM as if I read the book.

Later: Breakthrough! I take Jack’s advice to heart, and give myself a break. I am no longer trying to understand the book, but rather give myself points if I know what the characters are doing while they are thinking their profoundly unfathomable thoughts.

Hey, he’s swimming! Give myself a point.

He’s teaching a class! Goooooal!!!!!!!

He’s uh, he’s uh, crap, I don’t know what he’s doing… Aw, blocked shot.

Later: I find that in not trying so hard, I’m actually getting more out of the book.

I stumble across this quote: “History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”

I like it.

Later: Reading at my sister’s house. I try a passage on my niece.

“Glorious, pious and immortal memory. The lodge of Diamond in Armagh the splendid behung with corpses of papishes. Hoarse, masked and armed, the planters’ covenant. The black north and true blue bible. Croppies lie down.”

She just looks at me with that face of exasperation reserved for when I try jokes that she has clearly out grown. She tells me to quit making stuff up and come play Apples to Apples.

I comply.

Later: Victory! I finish part one.

Sure, part one is eighty pages into a millennial of sheets; but I don’t pull out the calculator for this one.

There are three parts to this book; I am done with part one; therefore I am a third of the way through the book.

No amount of math is going to take that victory from me!

Now for part two…

To be continued.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

"The Shiny Guy Always Worries"

Thanks to Kitty for pointing out this concise summary and critique of STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE.

Enjoy.

-Sean

Odyssey in Ulysses, Part One: Telemachus Schmalamachus

E.B. White once said, “I don’t know what is more discouraging, chickens or literature.”

I don’t know what he meant, but I bet he was talking about James Joyce’s ULYSSES.

My book club decided to tackle the Joyce epic, spreading it over two meetings and two months. Here is my journey in attempting to read the classic.

The start: I go to the library to get my copy of ULYSSES. I am very proud; we’re not even going to discuss the book until two meetings from now, giving me seven weeks to read what all the other poor saps will be cramming into only four weeks. I am so on top of this puppy.

I look through the various versions, trying to gauge which has the better scholarly material in the foreword. I then include scholarship, opting instead to take the volume that has the pretty ribbon attached to mark the pages. I know the signs of a classy book, I tell you.

I fully expect the check out person to stop and remark at my apparent genius. “Why, yes, I am reading Joyce. Harumpf.”

She doesn’t even make eye contact with me. Maybe it’s because I also picked up a copy of the Plastic Man graphic novel – the one where he arm wrestles with himself while steam pours out of his ears.

Later: I keep the book by my bed. It looks awfully thick. I will start reading soon.

Later: The meeting before the meeting where we discuss Joyce has come and gone. I realize that my book is overdue. I should start reading it soon.

Later: I fan through the book. 1,003 pages. Yowza. Okay, start to read. I notice that with the title page and other frou-frou, the book actually starts on page five. I go to the office to get a calculator. I’m already point zero zero five percent done with the book, and I haven’t started reading yet!

I type 7734 into my calculator, and turn it upside down. I giggle at my naughtiness, and decide I’ve done enough work for one day.

Later: Started reading. Have no clue what is going on. Some guy is shaving while saying things that must be awfully clever. Lots of religious stuff. I come across the line, “I only remember ideas and sensations.”

Apparently true of Joyce, and incomplete sensations at that. Lovely. I may need help.

Later: At the used bookstore. Bob was singing the praises of THE NEW BLOOMSDAY BOOK: A GUIDE THROUGH ULYSSES. It explains everything, he says. I initially scoffed – I don’t need someone holding my hand through a book. Now I am hoping the bookstore has a copy, as the library didn’t.

The bookstore owner – who has always looked down on me with the disdain of someone’s whose reading of McSweeney’s shouldn’t be interrupted by someone wondering where the ZITS cartoon collections are kept – nearly leaps over his desk when I ask about the book. He pushes me down an aisle, cackling on about his hope that he still has a copy on the shelf.

As he pours through the books, digging into the second row, scouring, I learn why he is excited. The last copy he had sold for nearly $200.

I try to muster the courage to tell him to stop looking, as I came in hoping that one might be in the buck fifty bin.

But I like the feeling of being in the club that traffics in intelligentsia, so instead I pray that he doesn’t find a copy.

He doesn’t; I promise to check back daily to see if one came in. And mourn the fact that I won’t be coming back to this store any time soon.

Back to the book; I’m on my own again.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Shoulda Waited Until Monday

Omar Poppenlander points out:

“What?! You mean I did better in my Oscar predictions this year than the Gaff-man? I had Bardem, Cotillard and Tilda Swinton in the acting categories and I picked No Country as Best Picture.Oh, but wait, I saw most of the films. Which ones have you missed?”

Hey, Omar, it’s not like I didn’t warn y’all. Of the films in the major categories, I have seen: Juno, No Country, Sweeney Todd, Into the Wild and Away from Her.

Pretty pitiful for a guy that works in the movie business.

And pretty pitiful guessing this year. My predictions and results:

Best animated feature: RATAOUILLE. Got it.

Supporting actor: Hal Holbrook. Wrong, oh well. I’m still voting for him.

Lead actress: Julie Christie. Wrong. After I made my predictions, someone who saw LA VIE EN ROSE pointed out that anyone who saw it knew to vote for Marion Cotillard. I haven’t seen it yet, so I didn’t know.

Supporting actress: Cate Blanchett. Wrong. (In my office betting pool, I put money on Tilda Swinton, which goes to show you how wishy-washy I am.)

Best leading actor: Daniel Day Lewis. Got it.

Song: ONCE. Got it. And a special class-act award goes to John Stewart for giving up his stage time to allow Marketa Irglova to come back on stage and give her heartfelt thanks.

Cinematography: ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES. Wrong.

Art and Costumes: SWEENEY TODD. Half got it, half wrong. Costumes went to Elizabeth.

Makeup: LA VIE EN ROSE. Got it.

Adapted screenplay: NO COUNTRY. Got it.

Original screenplay: JUNO. Got it. (For those out there that forget that I am still a writer despite working a day job for the man, I did get both writing categories correct. So there.)

Director: NO COUNTRY. Got it.

Best picture: MICHAEL CLAYTON. Wrong. I even pointed out that best director usually means best picture. And No Country had screenplay as well. But I couldn’t get past the ending to make the smart prediction.

Which is a real bummer because I missed the office pool by one category.

Overall, I didn’t do as poorly as I thought I would. 8 out of 14 on the blog; 12 out of 24 for the office pool.

(I missed sound editing on the office pool, which means I also missed sound mixing. Hint for y’all for next year: sound editing and sound mixing ALWAYS goes to the same film, because no one –in the industry or out – can tell the difference.)

Now to go out and see the movies, to find out if I’m angry about who won…

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Oscar Grouch

I suppose I should make my Oscar predictions before Sunday night; although the temptation is to wait until Monday morning. I’m usually pretty good at predicting them on Monday…

Truth be told, I haven’t seen that many of the contenders – not enough to have an accurate prediction. So I anticipate going from a near perfect score last year to a perfectly disastrous score this year.

Despite having no idea what I am talking about, I am going to make my predictions with the bold confidence of a time traveler.

Best animated feature goes to RATAOUILLE, no question. (Only category I feel truly confident in.)

Supporting actor should probably go to Tom Wilkinson, from all accounts (haven’t seen his movie, shame on me...). Javier Bardem is a favorite as well, but maybe too understated for an award.

But the award will go to Hal Holbrook – his performance was truly wonderful, worthy of an award, and he is in the sunset of his career – time to take home a statue.

Julie Christie made me ache in AWAY FROM HER, so I am going to say she is taking home best leading actress. I’m probably wrong though, since the performance wasn’t big, and Oscar likes big.

Blanchett is not going to get her statue for ELIZABETH, so instead she will get best supporting for I’M NOT THERE. Caveat: most people didn’t get NOT THERE; and even more didn’t see it, so the back up is Tilda Swinton in MICHAEL CLAYTON.

Best leading actor: Tommy Lee Jones had a nice year, but he is so consistent, not enough folks realize how hard he works. It would be nice for Clooney, but people still have trouble taking him seriously (they should). So Daniel Day Lewis takes home the statue this year.

Song: ENCHANTED splits itself, allowing ONCE to win for all the numbers that didn’t get nominated.

Cinematography: ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES

Art and Costumes: SWEENEY TODD

Makeup: LA VIE EN ROSE

Adapted screenplay: NO COUNTRY was a hard adaptation to try and pull off. It wasn’t completely pulled off, which is why the flick is going to just miss getting best picture. But it will get best adapted screenplay.

Original screenplay: Hard to call. If RAT wasn’t animated, it would be in the running. I think this is JUNO’s award – way too popular to not get anything, and its going to miss directing and best pic.

I already said that NO COUNTRY is going to miss the big ring, despite the oddity of winning best director. Usually that is a sign of the big prize.

Best picture? 3:10 TO YUMA wasn’t even nominated, which is too bad.

Folks will want it to be NO COUNTRY, but they really didn’t succeed in pulling off that last act, so that will sway the vote. (Yeah, sure, it’s beautiful in all its unresolvedness, but since the show could end at any point in act three without anyone noticing a difference… there is a fine line between beautiful and giving up).

JUNO is the popular favorite, but perhaps a little too SUNSHINEy.

So the number three choice is going to slip in and win the big one: MICHAEL CLAYTON.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Heads Travelling Through Time

Here’s a few insights to the world of writing:

1. Friend Scott sent this link to Sci Fi Weekly – with an article addressing the Spec script.

And more specifically the Spec script for television.

And more specifically the Sci Fi Spec script for television.

2. Speaking of Sci Fi, here’s a thought on SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES.

For those watching the show, we’ve been faced with inconsistency in rules (excuse me, but the metal head can NOT travel alone through time, duh). But the biggest inconsistency is character.

River… oh, uh, I mean Cameron (the machine played by Summer Glau) first appears in Ep 1 masquerading as a hot high-schooler, and fools everyone.

By episode 2, the robot seems to have lost all her blending programming; and now much of the show and character development is her acting all roboticky and trying hard (unsuccessfully) to fit into the same situations she so easily mastered in episode one.

So, what’s going on here?

Did the writers’ brains got messed up when their own heads traveled through time?

Is Cameron faking not being able to fake in order to fake out John so she can foist leadership skills by forcing him to teach the faking Cameron to fake?

My theory (no insider knowledge, just a theory): the business of Hollywood got in the way.

Here’s the deal: the first episode was the pilot – written and produced before knowing whether there would ever be an episode two.

Often the studios will want changes between the pilot and the rest of the series. Plot clarifications, actor adjustments, character tweaks – or complete character changes.

Nurse Hathaway famously died in the ER pilot – until her character pre-tested well enough to require a rewrite.

The Bionic Woman had a deaf sister in the pilot, until the big brass decided that such a sibling would make the show interesting, and they were intent on the show being incredibly dull.

In my two examples, rewrites (and reshoots) happened before the airing. Most times, if the changes aren’t considered significant, the pilot airs as is, and the changes are implemented in episode two.

Not a big stretch to imagine a producer thinking, “What I loved about Arnold was how he had to learn to be human. Let’s put that back in there!”

And away we go.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

ps Not sure that I disagree – a robot learning humanity adds an element to the show that has some advantages. What do you think?

Aw, Grow Down!

A little while back, novelist Daniel Quinn tried his hand at writing a graphic novel. He teamed up with artist Tim Eldred, and produced the fascinating book, THE MAN WHO GREW YOUNG.

You know the theory that since the Big Bang the world has been expanding – and someday will stop expanding and start contracting back to the Large Boom?

The graphic novel takes the idea that not only will space contract back, but time itself will go backwards, with history repeating itself in reverse.

The story starts at a graveyard, as a father and son excitedly go to the cemetary – they have visited many times, but now they will finally meet the wife/mother as she is brought out of the ground.

That’s the norm – everyone starts life as an adult, coming out of the ground; they then grow young until finally they are reunited with their mother.

Factories suck pollutants out of the air; construction workers take down buildings; miners return ore to the earth – all of which seems natural and normal to the people.

The protagonist is Adam Taylor, a man who doesn’t seem to be aging in any direction; ultimately, he will live across the eons to see the end/beginning of time.

Lots of interesting and cool stuff in this trippy story. But one in particular that I want to highlight:

Towards the end of the book, a woman retells the story of the creation of man. Much like we know the tale, Adam is in the garden and has access to all trees save one. The gods explain that all the trees are good for him; but this tree is the one that they eat from – the one the gives knowledge of good and evil.

Here’s a paraphrase of how they explain it: Whenever good is done to one creature, evil is done to another. So when they give Adam the deer for food, that is good for Adam, but evil for the deer.
Or when they allow the deer to escape, that is good for the deer, but evil for Adam.

The “knowledge” is what allows the gods to decide what is to be done, so they never make a mistake.

Adam craves this knowledge, because then he can make sure that only good is done to himself, and evil is done to all others.

After eating of the fruit, Adam creates society based on the knowledge, a society of “good” for Adam. All the while questioning whether this is truly good, or if the fruit made him sick (the gods liken it to eating grass – you can eat it, but it won’t nourish).

Interesting, thinks I.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Best Department Store Website Ever!

Friend Ram put us onto this one. Made me giggle like a fiend at work.

When you go to the website, don't do anything, just wait for it... (have your sound on)


http://producten.hema.nl/
Hema is apparently a Dutch department store with some 150 outlets in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany...and one truly inspired Web deity!

Just my jollies,

Sean

How to Avoid Books...

Now that the strike is over, time to be thinking in terms of what to Tivo.

Here’s the skinny, as far as I have heard:

CSI: MIAMI, SUPERNATURAL and NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE are all coming back with episodes starting in the next few months. I mention these first because I have friends working on them who need to be re-employed. Wahoo!

Also back with spring shows (that I’m looking forward to seeing again): CRIMINAL MINDS, 30 ROCK, THE OFFICE, HOUSE and BIG BANG THEORY.

LIFE and CHUCK, two of my favorite freshmen, have been renewed, but they are going to make us wait until the Fall for new episodes. HEROES also lands in the “wait to see” category.

No word yet from ABC, so we have our fingers crossed still for PUSHING DAISIES to make an early return.

Cath and I are both rooting for an ELI STONE / PUSHING DAISIES crossover, so we can have Victor Garber and Kristin Chenowith duet together.

Wouldn’t that be lovely?

(If you haven’t seen STONE yet, check it out.)

Oh, and while waiting for new television, check out this movie trailer. Now I want to see the full movie done in Legos.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

The Cat in the Hat

Close the office door.

Crank the volume.

Sit back... and enjoy.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/indianajones.html?showVideo=1

"You're a teacher?"

Wait for it, wait for it...

"Part time."

Ah, he's back.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Just My... Hey, Get Out of My Thoughts!

On Facebook, there is this application where you can find out your superpower, and then use it to attack other people.

My nephew Grant is attacking me all the time; he has mind reading ability. So I keep getting e-mails saying that he has read my mind and learned all my secrets. Of course, I attack back.

My power is also mind reading, so when he reads my mind, I just turn right around and read his.

Which got me to thinking, if I’m reading his mind after he’s read my mind, pretty much all I should be getting is him thinking my thoughts, right?

So now I know all of my secrets! (Apparently my secrets are pretty boring.)

Hold on, if he’s reading my thoughts, and I put my thoughts into my blog, isn’t he really just reading my blog?

Is “blog reading ability” really a superpower?

You ever read that comic with Superman, where he’s trapped by Luthor, and Luthor says:

Luthor: You can’t ever escape my super kryptonite killing machine! All your super-strength is gone!

Superman smirks.

Luthor: Why are you smiling?

Superman: You seem to have forgotten my other power. I can read blogs!

Luthor: Drat! Foiled again!

Okay, maybe not.

I think I need a more offensive defense against my mind being read.

Here’s my plan: when Grant is in the middle of a Bible History class, and the professor calls on him to explain why the list of Nehemiah’s buddies that worked on the wall included some chick named Bunni twice, and then…

…I’ll think the dirtiest thoughts I can come up with. And Grant, being telepathically linked to me, will blush, and blush, and blush…

Now I just need a dirty thought. Anyone know the one about the Rabbi and the Farmer’s daughter?

Just my very readable thoughts,

Sean

That's Badd

Bel Air Drama Department (Or BADD as we like to call ourselves) now has some of its videos available for perusal on You Tube.

Opening page features the Well Intentioned Singers from their live performance of "Rejected Christmas Carols" at the Christmas concert a year back. Worth it for Karen doing Streisand alone.

Makes me giggle, anyway.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

It's the Hair, Man

I reckon that one reason I was always attracted to the theatre was it gave me a chance to see my friends dressed up in funny clothes.



Here are some of my friends in Taproot Theatre's take on AS YOU LIKE IT.



Hee hee hee...


The show is getting great reviews, stars a slew of good actors, and is directed by Karen Lund, who has yet to learn how to direct a flop. If you find yourself Seattle way, "tune in, turn on and drop in."

Hey, I was a baby in the sixties, don't expect me to get their slogans right.


Just my thoughts,


Sean

Art = Math

My studio is very involved with a community foundation whose goal is "to ensure permanent and equal access to a quality arts education" for all of Burbank's students. The foundation supports school programs in music, visual arts, dance and drama.

Which, of course, I think is pretty cool.

Some of the stats they list in their material:

Young people who participate in the arts for at least a year (nine hours each week) are:

-4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.
-3 times more likely to be elected to class office
-4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair
-3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance
-5 times more likely to be stuffed into their locker by the football team

Okay, the last one isn't true -- I just threw that in to see if y'all were still reading.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

People Talking Without Speaking

There was a local shoot-out last night.

A news radio station had an exclusive this morning: a neighbor willing to speak on air about the incident. The neighbor didn’t give his name, so I’m going to call him Billy Bob.

Billy Bob came forward to be interviewed, but wished to remain anonymous.

I kinda get that – shoot-out in the hood where you live, not wanting to get involved. Except Billy Bob has such a distinctive voice and vocal rhythm, I’m guessing the only people who can’t guess his identity are those that don’t live in his neighborhood.

What Billy Bob had to say caught my attention.

Now remember that BB came forward, contacting the studio saying he was ready to talk about the event from the unique pov of a neighbor.

And here’s what he contributed:

He wasn’t there for the event; police warned people to stay away, so he did.

He didn’t know the people living there. He didn’t know what they looked like. He didn’t know how many were there, or if the shooter was one of them.

He didn’t know if kids lived there, or adults for that matter.

His only contact – only contact ever – was he skateboarded by the house once or twice in the past.

He knew nothing at all about the situation.

Nothing.

And yet he contacted the studio to give his account (or lack thereof) of the incident.

I listened with two thoughts battling in my brain:

First, pity for the reporter talking live, trying to make this guy sound interesting.

Second, curiosity and concern: what kind of person, knowing that they don’t know anything, volunteers themselves as an expert on live radio?

Is it an attempt at fifteen minutes of anonymous fame?

Is it just a desire to talk about a horrible incident – filling the void – even when there is nothing to say?

Or is there something even more shallow going on?

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Wilder Wisdom

Friend Keith forwarded quotes from film genius Billy Wilder.

Here are my favorite bon mots.

"If you're going to tell people the truth, be funny or they'll kill you."

"Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award."

"It is not necessary for a director to know how to write. However, it helps if he knows how to read."

I may have to write a thesis on the “be funny” one.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Walkin' and Talkin'

There is a new class for Hollywood writers out there.

It is very informal. Simply put, experienced writers get together to chat about whatever it is that they know; while less experienced writers get to hang out and ask questions.

This week’s class features television writers of the supernatural – specifically for the show SUPERNATURAL as well as MOONLIGHT and TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (admittedly not in the horror genre, but still scary).

What makes this class of special interest:

Access: anyone can come that wants to.

Price: payment is picking up a sign.

Location: the class takes place on the picket line.

That’s right, if you want to learn about writing for horror television (just this week’s topic), show up at the WB lot, pick up a sign, and walk with the writers from 9 to noon on Wednesday.

I knew that informal networking was happening on the lines; and I even knew of several people that were using the line as a way to pick the brains of other writers.

But to formalize it into a class; a chance for early stage writers to learn from the pros?

Genius.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

'Tis Nobler to Suffer... Or at Least Funnier

(Warning: Slings & Arrows is intended for mature audiences, and depicts people acting immaturely, including potty mouthery and conjugal content.)

For those with cable: The Sundance Channel has started airing SLINGS & ARROWS again; if you act fast, you can watch the three season Canadian show from the beginning – “Oliver’s Dream.”

I have only seen the last two seasons until now, and eager to catch up from the beginning.

In part because it hearkens back to my life in the theatre: the show is about a Canadian Shakespeare company, trying to make art and make the rent at the same time.

The series quite accurately captures the life of the non-profit theatre, from the artistic temperament (in the first ep, the diva apologies to the cast for interrupting notes to make a demand about her character, an apology undercut with an acerbic, “I’m sorry… that I care”), to the managerial temperament of those in charge of paying the bills (again from the first ep, I chuckled in recognition when the managing director gleefully finds someone who agrees that show business “is a business after all”).

But what truly elevates this series is its ability to capture the ephemeral; it is the closest I’ve seen on any sized screen at capturing the unrepeatable magic of live performance.

Just witness the magic of Geoffrey’s opening speech in episode one, as he waves a toilet plunger around, while making the argument that a theatre doesn’t need phones (and the magic of theatre takes over… almost).

The show is designed for only three seasons – allowing the creators to have a specific beginning, middle and end; and giving the series a very complete arc/journey for the protagonist, Geoffrey (as well as all of the main characters).

Each season centers around one major play being presented by the company – which also represents each leg in Geoffrey’s journey as a human being.

Season one is about HAMLET, the story of a young man trying to find his place in the world that threatens to tear him apart.

Season two is MACBETH, a man in the middle of life torn between the expectations of his love and his own blinding ambition.

Season three is KING LEAR, a king having achieved success, going through madness to try and find what in life has real value.

Note what all three characters have in common: they all deal with insanity. Which plays rather heavily in SLINGS & ARROWS plot as well.

Polonius says of Hamlet: “Thou this be madness, yet there be method in it;” the same is true of the design of the television show.

But I think more appropriate than the bard is Seneca’s take: “There is no great talent without an element of madness.”

And there is plenty of madness in SLINGS & ARROWS.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Fiasco! But In a Good Way...

Today I have a butt load of archiving to do. To help with the tedium of repetition, I am listening to This American Life in the background, an episode on fiascos. (Thank you, Karen and Vicki.)

They just got past talking about a production of PETER PAN gone horribly awry. I am pausing long enough to let y’all in on it, in case you want to simul-join me.

Especially of note is a point made at the end of the PETER PAN story, as Ira wonders if the nature of theater – to transport an audience – isn’t in fact completed better by fiasco than a show that works perfectly.

The guest refuted that notion, pointing out that theatre’s intent isn’t merely to transport, but to elevate.

Interesting.

I have a slew of my own theatrical fiascos which I unfortunately witnessed from the stage. But they certainly did not elevate, so I will save them for a later time.

Gotta go back to the broadcast – they are going to finish the episode with a controversy about one of my favorite NPR shows, Car Talk. Can’t wait to hear what that is about…

Just my thoughts,

Sean