sofa king

long time

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 16:55:40 GMT

So yeah, I haven't written in a while. Mostly because I'm actually busy at my day job these days and because I have NO privacy (not that it matters here), but also because I've been directing this show, Paradise Lost, which is just freakin awesome (despite my best efforts).

But New York is getting to me. It's a hard city. Everything about it is hard. The weather is extreme (not Sahara extreme, but who'd build a big city there), finding an apartment is a nightmare (not so much the finding as the having to pay double up front because of Broker's fees), auditions are fierce...everything. There aren't many days when the city doesn't kick you down. But those days when you rise above are glorious. The adversity does pay off in spades on those rare occasions that hopefully become more frequent as time passes.

Sometimes, though, I just want a small house in the woods and a cushy teaching gig.

Not now, though. Now it's just a "grass is greener" dream.

In many ways, the formation of memory seems simultaneous with the event itself. There is almost a conscious choice to commit a moment to memory. My time in New York is both memory and moment at the same time. It's weird.

Does it snow in New York

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 19:50:57 GMT

I keep hoping for those days I remember from my limited time on the East Coast as a child when school would close if snow even thought about sticking to the ground, but that was suburbia. New York operates on the opposite principal, which is: work will only be cancelled if all of the forces of nature are combined against you getting to your place of business. In fact, it doesn't even snow in NYC. Sure, white stuff falls from the sky, but it turns into messy brown sludge on the ground which gets plowed every 10 minutes, preventing even the hope of a reprieve from work. Sigh.

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:39:34 GMT

I shouldn't be amazed any more at what gets sent my way at work by one of my co-workers, however there is one news item that has kind of stuck in my craw:

Prussian Blue

For those not in the know, they are a singing duo out of Bakersfield who spread a white supremacist message through their songs. Their name refers, in some small part, to the favorite Holocaust Denial group's assertion that because the Zyklon B's "Prussian Blue" coloring wasn't pervasive at Auschwitz, the Holocaust is a myth. Are my ancestors just on vacation, then? Fuck you.

But...ok, here's where it gets weird. They love Green Day...their favorite show is Seinfeld (they say the Soup Nazi is their favorite character, har har). So...wait, they love a band who rails against their fundamental beliefs and their favorite sitcom was created by two of the Jewiest of Jews, their favorite character in that sitcom is assuredly non-white. I'm so confused.

The reason this has pissed me off so much is because of their age, I think. They're lik 12 years old, twins, and it's just sad to imagine them singing and actually believing lyrics like "Rudolph Hess, man of peace." Are you shitting me?

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 16:59:09 GMT

"At the end of the day, I don't have to worry about what people think of me, whether they hate me or not. People hated on Jesus. They threw stones at him and tried to kill him, so how can I complain or worry about what people think?"
-- Owens to Miami Herald, July, 2005

If you get a chance

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 15:43:26 GMT

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312284535/102-5728678-0476900?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

Take a look at some of the passages from this book, Scooter Libby's "haunting" epic. And by haunting, I mean disturbing, and by disturbing I mean disgusting. Interesting that the politicians wage wars on musicians and performers for their crude language, and Scooter can write billowing prose about girls being raped by animals to toughen them up for a life of prostitution. I don't actually think that Snoop Dogg would ever write about that.

In My Life

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:16:42 GMT

In My Life is not a lukewarm experience. I absolutely loved certain parts of it and absolutely loathed others. Like the young Vera's voice, it soars, and like her acting, it can't find its way out of a paper bag.

In fact, the only thing to be lukewarm about were the music, lyrics, and books. Major elements to be sure, but so forgettable that I couldn't remember them 20 minutes after the show.

The leading couple were a joy to watch. Their supporting cast was lost in a miasma of half-finished plot disguised in contrivances beyond reason. The penultimate scene of the show especially feels like an afterthought.

And yet...I have this feeling about the show, about some of its performances, it did speak to me and was moving, touching, and fun. It just needs some work, it is a messy work in progress, and I'm left wondering if it was simply born too soon, a premature entrance onto the Broadway scene.

I wish that it had workshopped more, maybe had a few different collaborative voices besides Mr. Brooks, some people to work things out with creatively, and maybe an off-Broadway run, because I can see this as a cult hit. But Broadway deserves better, and has seen much worse.

IMDB

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 20:37:37 GMT

It's a great place to get information and waste time, but if you want to see the real action, just glance at those message boards. Holy hell, dude, I have never seen so much crap flung in my life. My theory is that someone goes into a movie board for like, say, Schindler's List and makes the most anti-semitic comment you've ever read and just watches the lemmings duke it out. It's quite entertaining.

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:28:18 GMT

The National Guard is offering 3, count 'em, 3 free downloads from iTunes for enlisting.

the R to the N to the 456

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:49:56 GMT

I'm amazed at the rudeness exhibited daily on the NYC Subway. I guess I should be immune to it at this point, but there's so little considerate behavior.

The most blatantly stupid is that if you are on an express train, for example the 4 or 5 from Union Square to Grand Central, and a bunch of people are trying to jam on, chances are most of them are going to get off at Grand Central. So explain why it would kill you to move into the car instead of forcing people to push in past you.

Another is to realize, as one of the people pushing on, that this particular train is not the last one running in your direction, so pushing into a subway car and rubbing your ass/groin into me even though I cannot make room will not get you anywhere, except maybe dinner and drinks.

If you are a woman and you wear a provocative outfit on the subway, expect people to look at you. Hell, same goes for men too, but most of them don't scowl in a disgusted manner.

And finally, my favorite, if a bunc of people are trying to get off a crowded train and you want to get on, stand to the sides of the door, don't stand right in front of it and push in. The doors will remain open for a little while and all you're doing is exacerbating the issue. But, by all means if you do this, and you happen to be a HUGE person, feel free to kick them as they come off for inconveniencing you.

lemmings

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:42:47 GMT

"I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters don't be a group of unthinking lemmings. It's not pretty," said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, West Virginia, whose husband died in Iraq last year. The anti-war demonstrations "can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope."

This is an interesting argument, and I'm not dismissing it out of hand, but it's remarkable that Mitzy is admonishing Cindy Sheehan on two fronts, one for being unthinking lemmings, and two for participating in anti-war demonstrations.

Following the lemming argument for a sec, whose lemmings are worse, those who are following the anti-war crowd or those who follow the government?

If someone is thinking for themselves, i.e. not a lemming, is it o.k. for them to participate in anti-war demonstrations? Or should they resort to being pro-war lemmings?

Silver Ring

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:05:28 GMT

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/20/60minutes/main696975.shtml#september18

This is absurd. The U.S. government is spending 1 billion dollars on abstinence-only education including 1 million in funding for the silver ring organization which gives out the rings to those who pledge to remain virgins until marriage.

In the story above, two people are interviewed "high school sweethearts," they're called. One of whom isn't a virgin. "it's like a second chance" he says. Bullshit. Virginity isn't that precious to begin with, but o.k., you wanna save it, save it, but government shouldn't be getting involved in what is essentially a private issue.

I want to know how many of those "virgins" are taking it up the ass and going down on each other. Is it the risky behavior everyone's worried about or the teenage pregnancy? Is it o.k., as in the purported case of one swanky L.A. suburb which had the highest "virginity" rate amongst high-school aged kids, but had a mysterious outbreak of e coli from all of the anal sex?

Kids are going to fuck. You can educate them to the consequences so they can make educated decisions about what kinds of fucking they want to do, how many people the want to do it with, etc. or you can deny the truth and find yourself faced with a bunch of ignorant assholes...literally.

Bush's speech from New Orleans

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 14:42:32 GMT

Where to begin? Bush found the prettiest, driest patch of the Big Easy from which to speak to the American Public. His walk across Jackson Square was odd; I still don't understand its purpose, but the rest of the speech laid out his motives in startling clarity.

With vague promises and heroic language, Bush promised to rebuild New Orleans. He almost totally avoided the questions of the delayed response, the poverty/race issue, and even funding. Most startling to me, though, was the stilted language Bush used to convey his sympathies. Not one glance away from the teleprompter to say "I'm really sorry, help is on the way, we wish you the best."

Bush's language was cut and paste from speeches used about the Iraq war, and his language maintained a similar distance. I wonder, if Texas had been hit, would he speak so callously?

Breaking news

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:46:48 GMT

This just in from George W. Bush:
"It is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there wasn't enough troops here, just pure and simple."

In other news, the president used the "preposterous" in a complete sentence. It is the largest word, by syllable count, that the president has ever used correctly.

amazing

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 13:39:42 GMT

Bush has taken 320 days of vacation since he has been in office. Now, I'm not one of those who believes that he's sitting by the pool, sipping pina coladas while he's at his ranch, but still...come on! That's almost 2 months a year.

Think about it this way, if you had a job where your bosses gave you a 44% approval rating, and had serious doubts about some of your decision making, would they put up with a two month vacation?

I understand it's a stressful job, but it's a limited gig...nobody would fault you for taking a year off immediately following your tenure.

What is most amazing about this administration is its bold-faced audacity when confronted with the facts of its shortcomings.

some words from the man himself

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:47:32 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/27/roberts.documents/index.html

yeah, they may be out of context, but so is our country in general.

Lex and 42nd

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 13:47:39 GMT

At the Southeast corner of Lex and 42nd, a pot-hole has opened. It really isn't a pothole any more, the ground beneath it has collapsed. There are cones up around it, but every time I pass by, it looks bigger. The cones laid out the previous day have fallen in.

I begin to think that this might actually be the gateway to hell signaling the beginning of the apocalypse. I had always imagined that if there were an apocalypse, it would have a really obvious, loud beginning, but this makes more sense, doesn't it? A pothole in New York brings about the end of civilization. Signs of this are rampant in the city. Besides the inferno-like heat, I regularly see elderly Chinese women wearing shirts that say "Hot Bitch" on them.

Durbin

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:54:07 GMT

This whole Durbin thing has gotten way out of hand, turning our Congress into little more than thought police of the Orwellian kind. I don't dispute that his remarks might be difficult to swallow, but their validity is something that we need to examine, not recoil from in linguistic horror.

It's true, you could imagine some of the reports from Gitmo coming out of a fascist regime and that's a good reason for self-reflection as a people and a country. If we don't like it, don't criticize the remarks on their surface, look into the situation and disprove them factually.

Instead, the Republicans just scream about the language and refuse to accept the difference between the soldiers and the war. Policy can be bad even when enforced by good people. I don't assume all of the fighting forces in totalitarian regimes are populated by evil-hearted people. I think that most of them really are trying to defend their country in the best way possible. It's the policy-makers who are responsible for the ways in which that defense is carried out.

So, Durbin, don't apologize too much.

I could rant

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 16:21:14 GMT

Forever about this awful awful play I saw last night, Orgasms. Every aspect of the show sucked. The acting was ATTROCIOUS, you could hear techies whispering backstage, the direction was non-existant. I could go on...

The worst part, though? They are chargin $65 for full priced tickets!!! I saw it for free, but still. The theater itself was run-down, broken seats...yuck!

Fri, 27 May 2005 16:33:07 GMT

Use Viagra and you may go blind says CNN.
Oh, you use it before sex with someone else? Says Onan.

Wed, 25 May 2005 14:47:13 GMT

"With the right policies and the right techniques, we can pursue scientific progress while still fulfilling our moral duties," Bush said. "The children here today remind us that there is no such thing as a spare embryo."

President Bush, you remind me every day that there is no such thing as a spare embryo.

Thu, 19 May 2005 19:29:31 GMT

NY Times reports that Stoppard helped pen some of the script to episode 3...if so, why didn't he help with the dialogue?

Tue, 17 May 2005 14:52:29 GMT

Take a look at the base closure map on CNN...note that while the closures are spread pretty evenly across blue and red states, the net job gain/loss is much more favorable to red states than blue.

Republican Hubris

Thu, 12 May 2005 19:12:21 GMT

It's interesting to me to watch the Republicans in-fighting. Much of what I've witnessed in the past 5 years has been the stuff of Greek Tragedy. Bush's statement about Saddam seems to indicate he was out to avenge his father's failings ("this is the guy who killed my dad"). The 2000 election, of course. And now, the ultimate in hubris, this "mandate" in the 2004 elections, which, while impressive, (disregarding the alleged inproprieties) was hardly a mandate by the entire country.

Now Bush is trying to force his agenda up the country's ass by nook or crook because of the mandate in his own mind, and he's finding out it's not there. Republicans are starting to splinter under the pressure. It's amazing because, if they waited a little while, like another election cycle, they would have had the mandate they wanted. I am willing to bet that if the Repubs had stayed united, if Bush's appointments and policies weren't so inflammatory to anyone left of Mussolini, the Republicans would landslide in the mid-term elections.

Instead, Bush is slipping minute by minute, his appointees would only be nominated at the cost of a protection which guarantees minority voice (which I am sure they will try to reinstate when they are the minority again), and the only popular person in the administration is Laura Bush because she gave us visions of her husband giving a horse a handjob.

I think Bush will get much of what he wants passed through. These judges, good or bad (I haven't seen their records), maybe Bolton, and possibly the supreme court vacancy will all be his to fill, but at the cost of the Republican party's solvency for 2006 and 08.

Conventional wisdom was that Bush was a simpering idiot being puppeted by Rove. I think he must have stopped listening at some point because now he's simply acting like a spoiled child on the playground demanding to get whatever he wants. He's powerful enough to get it, but it will be at the price of the people who put him in power.

Idol

Thu, 12 May 2005 14:20:23 GMT

There was a snafu on American Idol last night. CNN reports that the phone numbers to vote for candidates was displayed incorrectly...on the CLOSED CAPTIONING.

Ok, I'm not saying that hearing impaired people shouldn't watch the show or that they shouldn't vote...but...WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WATCH THAT SHOW IF YOU CAN'T HEAR THE SONGS?

And if one can hear musical tones but not lyrics, ok...WHY RUN CLOSED CAPTIONING?

If the hearing impaired viewers hadn't been watching on closed captioning, the numbers would have come up fine at the bottom of the screen. The captioning covers those numbers and that's where the problem lies.

But it's not the viewers that boggle my mind...it's the fact that Idol has closed captioning. I can understand captioning on most shows, but isn't having it on Idol similar to trying to having it on a concert of some type?

I love my college

Tue, 10 May 2005 16:08:19 GMT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STREAKING_STUDENTS?SITE=VACHA&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT