Muppet T-Shirt I Designed

This summer I came across a link that was having a Muppet T-shirt design contest. The winner would receive not only some free T-shirts with his or her design on it, but a Muppet prize pack that included some cds and free passes to THE MUPPETS (which opens next week). Here's a look at process I went about creating the design for my shirt.

 

I began by free sketching this from some pictures of Fozzy, Kermit, and Gonzo that I found on the Internet.

 It took awhile, but using the scanner on my inexpensive printer and Paint, this was the design I came up with. It's very simple, cartoony, and childlike and that's the vibe I was wanting. The Muppets have never been about class and looking good.

The t-shirt people wanted a second background for each shirt, so this was the background color I chose for that option.

 The final product would have looked something like this.


Unfortunately, my T-shirt didn't even get the opportunity to be voted on. There was a deadline for the contest and I did get my entry in about three days before that deadline. However, a day after submitting my entry, I received an email informing me that my design wasn't even going to be put up for a vote because it didn't look "professional" enough and was too amateur.

I didn't have the tools, time, or capability of submitting something that was more professional and refined, so I didn't get to submit an entry.

Testing Your Lungs

Another strange device from those crazy DeMoulin Brothers. 

Movie lover rejoice! This just out, for the first time ever, Paramount Studios is going to be releasing the movie Wings on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time ever on January 24, 2012. WINGS was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929. It's a film I've always wanted to see, but have never been able to find. Now, I will.

A New DeMoulin Book and the Human Centipede

There's a new book out loosely based around the inventions and goods manufactured by the DeMoulin brothers in the late 1890s-1930s. In promotion of that book, The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions by Julia Suits, there's a series of short videos that have been released by the book's publisher, Perigree. Here's the first video. It's about the Human Centipede (no, not the horrific, disgusting movie).

A Few Laughs From Ziggy

The comic strip "Ziggy" is 40-years-old this year. As part of the anniversary, Tom Wilson (II) has released a book called Ziggy that collects some of his favorite strips over the run of the comic. Here are a few of my favorites that can be found in the book.

Oct. 23. 2001

Ziggy isn't my favorite comic strip, but the strip above is one of the reasons I do enjoy the little guy. I can really relate to his sentiments here.

Aug. 1, 2009

I love penguins, but I hate Winter. That's why I fond this strip so enjoyable.

April 10, 2010

I love Chaucer. I've read many of the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. Most of my senior high school students hated me when I had them recited the prologue the way it was written. I'm afraid the sentiments in this comic would have been the most positive things they would have said about the experience.

Proof That the Story of Jonah Could Be True?

Here's a video clip that illustrates that the story of Jonah and the Whale could possibly be true:

The Gospel and the World Series

Jonathan Parnell has an interesting article about World Series 2011 and the Gospel. You can read it here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-cross-and-the-st-louis-cardinals

What Fans of STAR WARS Think of George Lucas's Revisionism

--"HijiNKS ENSUE" Monday, October 31, 2011

Book Review: A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS

During the summer of 2000, I was browsing through a bookstore and came across a book entitled PRAYER AND THE ART OF VOLKSWAGEN MAINTENANCE. The title really piqued my curiosity and I bought the book. I really enjoyed reading it and I was eager to read more from the author, Donald Miller. It would be several years later before another of his books was published, BLUE LIKE JAZZ. That book went on to become a huge international best-seller (though I’m glad to say I read it and knew about Miller long before that book went mega). I’ve read most of Miller’s other works and was eagerly looking forward to reading his latest book, A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS.

The book revolves around Miller’s attempt to adapt BLUE LIKE JAZZ into a movie screenplay with the help of a couple of filmmaking friends. In the process of editing and fictionalizing his memoir into a screenplay, Miller begins looking at his own life and realizes that he can take some of the elements of writing a great screenplay and adapt them into real life. He makes a decision that he wants to not just tell good stories, but wants his life to actually be a great story. He takes a writing course, begins working out, travels overseas, rides his bike across the country, and eventually meets his father, a man who abandoned his family to fend for themselves when they needed him most.

Miller is a great writer. He has a way with words; he is able to paint extremely vivid pictures with his writing. He has a very personal, almost folksy approach to the way he writes. His style is very conversational and when he writes about “big picture” ideas, he doesn’t speak down. Instead, when reading Miller you feel like you are having a long conversation with an old teacher that you’ve always admired.

The central struggle in the book is an existential conflict that all those who wish to live a worthwhile life have to face at some point in their life. Life is difficult. Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes the good guy loses. These things are true. Knowing this, how do you choose to live? Do you simply exist, choosing to go through life as a series of motions because humans are just animals anyway? Or, do you choose to actually live, pressing the best out of each moment? Existing is easy living, truly living is difficult. No one will fault you if you choose to exist. However, if you choose to live, your life will be so much more rewarding.

With that said, the only criticism I have with A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS is that even though it is a story about Miller editing his own life to write and live a better story, there is a slight lack of relatability in the story. It’s great that Miller was able to do some of the amazing things he did in the book, such as taking a trip to South America and hiking in the Andes and riding his bicycle across America. When reading these things and how Miller approached them, you’ll be challenged to examine your own life and want to start making choices that will make your own life story better. However, not everyone is capable or can do the grand things Miller writes about that he or the people he meets do. It makes for great reading, but some of the ideas raised seem out of reach and unattainable by normal, regular people.

Overall, I enjoyed A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS. It’s a good follow-up to BLUE LIKE JAZZ, SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT, and TO OWN A DRAGON. Live a better life and write your own great story.

Before "Good Grief."

Here's another "Peanuts"-themed strip from the middle of the summer. Snoopy reading The Five Stages of Grief is a nice touch.

--"Rhymes With Orange" Saturday, July 30, 2011

What Happened to the Peanuts

I know this comic is slightly morbid, but it really made me laugh.

--"The Argyle Sweater" Thursday, July 5, 2011

Happy Halloween from The Muppets!

Less than a month before THE MUPPETS is in theatres! It's the movie I've been looking forward to seeing the most all year.

Cardinals Win!

Last night the St. Louis Cardinals became the 2011 World Series Champions. At the start of September, they were 10 1/2 games out and just about everyone had written them off by that point. I was at what turned out to be pivotal game for the Cards on September 9, 2011. It was the start of a three game match-up with the Braves. The Braves had a very comfortable lead against the Cards for the NL Wild Card spot. However, the Braves ended up losing that game 4-3 in the bottom of the 10th. That was the game that things went downhill for the Braves and uphill for the Cards. Over the next 7 weeks, the Cardinals went on to have one of the biggest comebacks and turnarounds in baseball history.

Even if you're not a Cardinals fan, you have to admit that this World Series was a great series. There was some bad baseball, but there was also a lot of great baseball. Games 3 (all of those runs) and 6 (extra innings and there were two times the Cardinals were one strike away from loosing) were particularly memorable.

In post-season, all the talk is going to be about Pujols. He's a great player and if he sticks in St. Louis, he'll have a career even after he retires. They'll put him in the office, maybe even hire him as manager if he wants. He'll get a statue in front of Busch Stadium and will probably be even more adored in St. Louis than Stan Musial. His agent want a 10-year $300 million contract. Had the Cardinals not be idiots and signed Matt Holliday for such an extensive and expensive contract (7 years for $120 million) in 2009, they would have the money they needed to keep Pujols around. Holliday isn't a consistent player. He has moments of greatness, but they aren't reliable. Pujols is and has been. In the next 10 years, Pujols probably will be reliable for that time, but it's difficult to say. Ten years is a long time, particularly when a baseball player is reaching the twilight of his career. I'm not sure what I would do if I was in Pujols place. He'll make a great deal of money either way and his family should never have to worry about finances ever for at least three generations. He'll make a lot more money in the short term if he goes to New York (about the only team in baseball with a bottomless bank account). However, if I was in Pujols's shoes, I think I would stay. St. Louis has been his home his whole career and no matter where he goes, he'll never have "fans" who like him as much as they do in St. Louis. If he stays in St. Louis and he gets injured or his career ends abruptly, he'll still be adored. If he leaves, he'll be seen as a traitor who betrayed his hometown for more money; in the St. Louis area he'll be the Benedict Arnold of baseball. The true Cardinal fans'll resent him for awhile, but then welcome him back with open arms whenever he does come back to visit, but most of Cardinal Nation isn't composed of true baseball and Cardinal fans. There are only about 15% of "Cardinal Nation" that are true baseball and Cardinal fans. The rest of "Cardinal Nation" is composed of fairweather fans who care more about the spectacle than they do the game. In fact, most Cardinal fans don't even consider themselves to be a part of "Cardinal Nation" (I don't, for instance). That's a neat little marketing tool creating by the Cardinal advertisers to get people to come to the games and sell merchandise to people who normally couldn't care less about baseball.

I'm relatively young, but I'm pretty much and old foagie, fuddy-duddy in the way I view the world and see things. Pujols is a great player, but he's only a part of the Cardinals. For me, the players I've enjoyed watching the most this season have been guys like this:Lance Berkman

David Freese

Berkman is a classic old-school ball player. He's not really skinning or overtly muscular. He's built they way Babe Ruth and Joe Jackson and Ty Cobb were. He looks the way a baseball player (except for pitchers) is supposed to look in my mind. Not only that, but he plays with a pure love for the game. You can see it in his eyes every time he's up to bat and with every play that he makes (see picture above). He loves the game of baseball. This season he's had a comeback, too. The Braves and Yankees all wrote the guy off before the Cardinals signed him this year. Even though he wants to coach college baseball in Texas after he retires from the majors, I think he'd like to stick around St. Louis until then. I know I'd love watching him.

Then there's David Freese. David Freese is a St. Louis native. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that a local boy goes into the majors and eventually becomes the hero and MVP of a World Series playing for his hometown team in the ballpark not far from where he grew up. Freese has had a good season, but it's one that got better in the post season. Freese saved the Cardinals several times not with just hits and homeruns, but with stellar plays. Other players did, too, but the other players aren't local boys like Freese. That's what makes his story that much more special.

Congratulations, St. Louis Cardinals on a job well done. 11 in 2011. I didn't think it was possible, but it's happened. My Dad and Grandpa always said the "Cardinals can never do things the easy way." I guess this season has shown that. But, even though they didn't do it the easy way, they ended up doing it the right way.

Book Review: YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS

YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS is a graphic novel that tells a variation of the story of Emily Morgan (aka Emily West). Not much is known about Emily Morgan, except that she was born in the East, was either a slave or indentured servant to a family that moved to Texas, and that she spent some time as a prostitute. Legend has it that Gen. Santa Anna was sleeping with Morgan when Gen. Sam Houston and the Texas army swept into the Mexican camp at the Battle of San Jacinto, catching Santa Anna and his army with their pants down. Emily Morgan is supposedly the woman whom the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas” was written about. This graphic novel weaves together some of the legends and facts about Morgan into a coherent whole that is a joy to read.

In YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS, Emily Morgan is a slave to Ranse Morgan and his daughters Rosalie and Clementine. The book begins with the family being chased by outlaws as they attempt to cross the Guadalupe River. The Morgan’s are rescued by Erastus “Deaf” Smith. Smith and his friends escort the family to Gonzales, but before they arrive they are met by Santa Anna’s army and brought to his camp. What enfolds is part of the story of the Texas revolution interlaced and tied together by a love story between “Deaf” Smith and Emily Morgan.

Orsak’s artwork is well done. It’s not the computer-perfect imagery typical of comics today. Instead, it is reminiscent of old school comics. Some people like flashy computer generated art in their comics, but I prefer a more classical approach.

Overall, YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS is a great graphic novel that tells a good story while teaching some Texas history. The story has appeal to both men and women. I also think it would make a solid basis for a movie. It was a wonderful read. It's another great book from McFarland Publishing (www.mcfarlandpub.com 800-253-2187).

Why Books Aren't Dead.

There's a lot of talk about the death of books. Though the popularity of ebooks rises, that doesn't mean that traditional books are dead. Here's an interesting post from a couple weeks ago that examines the subject in more detail.

Tony theTiger, the Jolly Green Giant, Cap'n Crunch Could Be Criminals?!

Earlier this year there was a rumor floating around that Captain Crunch was being retired by the Quaker Oats Company. It was suggested that the Obama's administration campaign against childhood obesity was the cause (Quaker Oats is owned by Pepsi and the execs at Pepsi were major contributors to Obama and his cronies). A few days later, after cyberspace was being swamped by commentary and complaints about the matter, Quaker Oats issued a statement that in short said they weren't retiring the good ol' Cap'n.

However, that rumor might not have been just a rumor after all. It turns out that a couple of years ago the federal government (a few months after the 2008 election) set up a new agency (do we really need any more federal agencies?) to look into "Food Marketed To Children". Part of the mandate of the new agency was to write standards for the food industry in marketing towards children. A year behind schedule, the group has released a preview of their "voluntary" recommendations. Basically, any food advertisements with cartoons or drawings are recommended to be banned. That means not only no more Tony the Tiger or Snap, Crackle, or Pop or Cap'n Crunch; but it also means no more Jolly Green Giant and Charlie Tuna. Illustrations of cows on milk cartoons (Prairie Farms, this means you) and drawings of personified carrots would be banned, too. The recommendation don't stop with fictional creations either. Celebrity endorsements and likenesses would be banned, too, which would mean good bye to famous sports stars on the front of Wheaties.

You can read a short article about this whole thing here.

Personally, I know there is a place for government involvement in society. However, the government is too involved in our lives right now. This is just another example of that. We the people don't need nannies. We need people who will actually lead. Things like this aren't an example of leadership. They are an example of government gone amuck.

Striking the Set: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 10

It'll be two weeks ago this Sunday that we struck the set of Ten Little Indians. It takes so long to build and paint a set; the number of manhours involved is enough time to be working a full-time 40+ hours job for a couple of weeks. Then, when the show is all over in a matter of a few hours everything is gone and the stage is left bare.

I like set strikes more than set builds. However, it's because I feel more helpful at tearing a set down than I do building it. At the same time, set strikes are usually bittersweet moments. For several weeks, sometimes a few months you have been working with a group of people on a production. You've all been working toward the same goal of putting on a great show (outside of the plot for The Producers, I've never heard of anyone trying to put on a bad show; even those places that do really bad theatre consistently try to put on the best possible performances they can give). When strike arrives, you know that the little company you've been a part of, that has been a family away from your family, is breaking up for good. You know things are over when the final curtain falls, but it's not until when the set is struck that things can really sink in. The fellowship is broken forever by that point and even if you were all to meet again and do the same production at the same place, it wouldn't be the same.

The sweetness part of a set strike is the realization that you're actually going to have a little free time now, that you can spend some time with your family and friends, and catching up on the things you've been neglecting the past couple weeks (or in the director's case months). It's nice to not have to be in an anxious and frenetic state of apprehension and excitement. But, sooner or later you hear the siren's lull again and the process starts anew. It's a different cast and crew; faces old and new; new memories to be made and old skills to use and strengthen.

Ten Little Indians was a fine little show. I was privileged to have a great cast. Some of my cast were theatre veterans and a couple had never acted in a production before. Each of them had to stretch and grow and reach new boundaries. They did a wonderful job and I'm proud of all of them. I know that some of them I will probably work with again while there are others I might never see again except perhaps in passing. That saddens me a little because though I'm an introverted extrovert, I really do enjoy people and it saddens me when I meet someone and get to know them and become friends with them, but then have to say farewell. No matter how big I try to make my tent, I can't keep up with everyone (not even with Facebook).

The stage is dark now, the seats are empty, and the theatre is cold. The experience was a good one for me. I was incredibly stressed at times (partially because of the show, but mainly because of things happening outside the production) and I had to not be as sociable after rehearsals as I would have liked (when you have to get up at 6:00am every morning and drive at least 45 minutes to work by yourself, staying up to 1,2, or sometimes 3 in the morning is just not an option). I probably made everyone mad at some point. However, I think overall everyone had a good time and the final product turned out great. I don't know when or where, but someday I'll direct again.

There Are No Ordinary People; You Have Never Talked to a Mere Mortal

Check out this passage from my favorite author, C.S. Lewis posted by Justin Taylor:
There Are No Ordinary People; You Have Never Talked to a Mere Mortal

Book Review: TOMATOLAND

When I was growing up, one of my favorite edible treats in the summer was a tomato grown from my Grandpa’s garden. His tomatoes were always huge, juicy, and bursting with flavor. There were many times when I would just eat a couple of them for lunch. I think it’s because of my Grandpa’s tomatoes that I came to love the fruit. However, despite the mass production of this tasty little delicacy not all tomatoes are alike. From my fondness for the fruit, I read Barry Estabrook’s book, TOMATOLAND.

Before I began reading, I had assumed that TOMATOLAND was going to be the definitive history of tomatoes interlaced with an expose of the evil practices of the large corporations responsible for growing many of the tomatoes consumed in America. I was only slightly correct in my assumption because though there are a few historical tomato anecdotes, the book is mostly an expose of the how large agribusinesses are destroying this flavorful fruit.

The majority of the book examines how tomatoes are grown by large agribusinesses and how those businesses mistreat the mostly migrant workers that work in the tomato fields. The factual piece of information that I found most fascinating while reading TOMATOLAND is that most of the tomatoes in the United States are grown in Florida. Having been raised in the Midwest, I was shocked by that fact. Though the climate in Florida is prime for tomato growth, the soil is terrible for the plants. I would have thought that maybe Texas or California were the largest tomato growing states, but I was wrong. Since most tomatoes are grown in Florida, the companies that grow them have to go to extreme measures to keep growing the crops year round. So, besides using illegal migrant workers, these companies further their unethical practices by exposing those workers to dangerous, carcinogenic, and sometimes lethal working conditions. TOMATOLAND examines these practices.

However, the book isn’t completely negative. It also examines an alternative look at tomato-growing by telling the stories of some tomato growers besides the big agribusinesses that practice ethical business operations and humane working conditions.

There are a lot of statistics in TOMATOLAND and there are points where the first half of the book drowns in the names of chemicals and the statistics of particular court cases. The book is saved in the personal stories it tells, particularly in the last half. It was these stories (and the occasional tomato fact) that kept me reading until the end.

TOMATOLAND is not the definite book about tomatoes. It is, however, an informative, albeit often dry, examination of the large agribusiness practices that are destroying tomatoes and eradicating tomato taste. It also contains some wonderful stories about people around the country who are trying, sometimes inadvertently, to bring about a better tomato growing business. The book has appeal to those who like tomatoes and those who are interested in how large agribusinesses operate.

This Would Have Been a Better Movie

Here's another comic I found amusing. I saw this movie and read the book just prior to when this strip was published. The movie is ok, but the book is superior.

"Pop Culture Shock Therapy" Sept. 1, 2011

Parody of THE GIVING TREE

Here's a comic from awhile back that I found particularly amusing. I love the book The Giving Tree.
--"Pop Culture Shock Therapy" August 15, 2011.

Final THE MUPPETS trailer

Here's the final THE MUPPETS trailer. This is a movie I've been waiting over a decade to see. Anyone want to see it with me on my birthday?

Director's Notes: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 9

For those of you who weren't able to see the show, below are my director's notes that appeared in the program.
**********
“Good evening.” That’s such a pleasant greeting. Yet, that greeting is forever attached in my mind to a rather large and rotund British man: Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock used that phrase regularly at the beginning of his tv series to greet the audience. It’s such a pleasant phrase, yet when spoken by Hitchcock that greeting took on an eerie and almost supernatural aura of suspense. That’s why it’s the perfect phrase to welcome you to Hard Road Theatre’s production of Ten Little Indians.

Though we’ve updated the setting, Ten Little Indians is a play written by another Brit: Agatha Christie. Christie adapted the play from her novel of the same name. Originally published under a very un-politically correct title, the novel is one of Christie’s best known novels and the play is one her most performed plays. Both works are now usually published under the title of And Then There Were None.

Though murder mysteries have become fairly common, as far as I know Christie’s novel is the first of its kind. It’s the first story where a group of unrelated people who have never met are invited to spend a weekend together in a somewhat exotic locale by a mysterious host none of them have met, but the host turns out to be a killer who murders each of them off one by one and in a twist, the host…well, I don’t want to give too much away now, do I.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy tonight’s performance. The cast is a great mix. Some have never acted on stage before while others are hardcore theatre veterans. They’ve been lots of fun to work with and almost every night I reveled in seeing them discover and reveal different nuances of their characters. I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of them and thank them for all their work and for making this experience such a positive one. I would enjoy working with all of them again.

It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to put together a show. It takes more than just actors and directors to make a show work. A theatre production needs people to design and help build sets, gather props, find and create costumes, set-up and run the sound and lights, stage help to set and remove props, businesses and individuals to donate money, etc. If you have any interest at all in being involved in a future Hard Road production in any way, please let us know. We would love to meet you and help get you involved! Talk to one of us after the show, sign the registration book, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

So, sit back, but don’t get too comfy. This is a murder mystery, after all. But, do have a “good evening."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Culls the Comics

On Monday morning I was reading The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had dropped six comics from its pages and replaced them with six other comics. The comics dropped were:

"Get Fuzzy", "Frazz", "Lola", "Rose is Rose", "Mallard Fillmore", and "9 Chickweed Lane." I'm not sure why these comics were chosen to "die" because in the small blurb in the paper (on the back of the front page completely away from the comics) it doesn't really say. There was no poll or survey; just an editorial decision. I know "Mallard Fillmore" got a lot of complaints, but so does "Doonesbury" and The Post-Dispatch would never drop that "comic". The paper tried dropping "9 Chickweed Lane" a couple years ago, but there was such an outrage they kept it. I like "9 Chickweed Lane", but it's the only one of the six dropped that doesn't have a large fan base.

Of the new comics chosen to replace the "dead" ones, one is a hugely unpopular one that The Post-Dispatch dropped years ago: "Bizarro". "Bizarro" was a comic that always polled at the bottom of every reader survey and poll the paper had. Yet, the editors kept it for many years before finally dropping it. Now, they've brought it back. Unbelievable.

For a newspaper that is struggling in an industry that is on the verge of collapse, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch sure enjoys edging itself further into decline.

Opening Night: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 8

Tomorrow night, the show opens. I'm excited and a little nervous. I'm not on stage, but my cast will be. I know they'll do fine, but for whatever reason, I've got those pre-opening night jitters. There's still some stuff to do. It'll get done, but nevertheless I still find myself thinking of several things at once. I've grown more absent minded in the past few weeks. A play production in and of itself is more than enough stress for a person to have at a particular time. However, there's a lot of other things going on that have increased my stress several times over: lack of money, vehicle problems, troubles at work, and the approaching anniversary of my Dad's sudden death two years ago. All of this compounded with the problems associated with directing a local theatre production in the final weeks has aged my old soul even more. Yet, I'm excited. A theatre production is a strange cocktail composed about half nervous apprehension and half pure exhilaration. I've had enough of the nervous apprehension and am looking forward to the pure exhilaration. So, if you're in or around Highland, IL this or next weekend, come on out and stop by and see TEN LITTLE INDIANS. You won't regret it.

Fading Away: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 7

I mentioned in a previous post that I've been telling my cast for a little over a week that, "I must decrease and you must increase." That's really my function and role now.

Ten Little Indians opens this Friday. Hopefully, it'll be a big crowd. I began working on this show back in February. I read the script over and over and over. I talked to people about helping out with the show. I talked-up and promoted auditions. This summer I was busy gathering together the pre-show music. Up to this point, I've done all I can to make this a great show. However, things are just about out of my hands now.

When the curtain opens for the first time on Friday, it won't be me on stage. It'll be the actors I've been working with for the past 7 weeks. The show is their show at this point; I'm just some guy's name in the program. In the final days leading up to opening night, there's only so much I can do. The set is built. The crew is gathered. At this point, I'm more of a custodian than anything else. That's not to say my job is done, because it isn't. Yet, most of the job is and after Wednesday it will be completely out of my hands. I must decrease and they must increase and as a director of a theatre production, you must be comfortable with that. Some directors can't handle that; they micromanage things even after a show has opened. That's no good because all it does it create unnecessary tension. As a director, you have to have faith in your cast and trust your crew. By the time the show opens, you have to fade away-though you still might be needed, your job is done.

The Joy of Directing: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 6

For me, as a director, one of the greatest joys is watching someone who has never acted before and see them evolve before your eyes over the course of a few weeks from a complete novice into the character in the play. Someone who has never acted before often begins with a characterization of what they think they should be doing; it's as though "acting" in their mind is completely removed from reality. It's true that the "acting" we see on tv, movies, and often on stage is lifeless and nothing more than cardboard characterization. However, real acting and theatre aren't like that. This can be a difficult concept for someone who has never acted before to understand. Yet, as a director, if you are patient, even the most untrained person can appear as a seasoned veteran. It doesn't always happen, but when it does it's an amazing thing to behold.

I've seen it happen in Ten Little Indians. There are two people in the show who have never been on stage before. They have grown leaps and bounds since I first saw them on stage 6 1/2 weeks ago during auditions. I'm very proud of them.

I'm proud of the whole cast, actually. The cast is an eclectic group with a huge variety of personalities. There have been some struggles, but they are starting to find their groove. I've been telling them for over a week that "I must decrease and you must increase." They are. When showtime comes, I'll be there, but it's not really my show. It's their show.

Set Builds: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 5

Two Saturdays ago was the main day of set building for the show. I hate set builds. I'm not a very mechanically inclined person. I can use tools, but I can't build anything; I need someone to tell me where and what they want me to cut or drill. I was lucky enough to have a set designer/technical adviser for the show. Unfortunately, that person had to leave before noon which ultimately left me in charge. When your the director of the show, there are thousands of questions people ask of you during the process. At set build, the number of questions intensifies. You try to keep people busy and involved while they are there, but the work never seems to get done and before you know it the day is done and most everyone has left.

I've been lucky in the shows I've been in charge of so far, because the sets have been kept fairly simple. Yet, on the set build day that doesn't seem to matter. Things always become more complicated than they need to be and the straight-forward plan you started with gets bogged down in the slime of reality. It's even more frustrated when your set designer isn't there and even though you're an incompetent Doozer (that's a Fraggle Rock reference), everyone still looks to you for answers. I hate set builds.

Week #1: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 4

Well, the first week of rehearsals went alright. For the first few weeks, we are only having three rehearsals a night. It's difficult to start out having more rehearsals than that unless you are working with a cast of seasoned actors; they understand the sacrifices involved and often embrace them. However, when you have a cast that includes people who have never done a show before, it seems to me it works best to start slowly and build from there.

The read-through this week went really well. It took longer for me to read through the script than I had anticipated, but beyond that it was good. The first actually rehearsal went well, too. We went through Act I twice and the second time went much better than the first. The second rehearsal of the week wasn't quite as good. We went through Act II twice, but about halfway through Act II all energy evaporated from the actors and things just started falling apart all over the place. I'm not worried, yet. The next time we run through Act II, if things haven't improved, then I'll start to worry.

Much of directing is just finding the right people and then slowly pushing them along in the direction they should go. The really exciting part is when people respond to that direction and then start developing their characters on their own and doing things completely unexpected, yet in character.

Rehearsals begin again tonight; it's week 2. I'm hoping it'll go even better than week 1.

Casting: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 3

Well, last Monday and Tuesday were auditions. They went extremely well. There are only 11 roles in the play and 21 people came out. Everyone that came out and auditioned gave a great audition. There were a few roles that cast themselves and there were a few others that took me a lot of thought about: different variations, weighing the different possibilities, chemistry between actors, physical/age similarity, etc. Overall, it was a great audition.

I'm very pleased with the cast. It's a mixed group of people completely new to the stage and stage veterans as well as new people to the group and people who have worked and acted with us before. I think it's a fine balance. I'm looking forward to working with each of these people and seeing how things will come together.

Our read-through is tomorrow evening and the first rehearsal is the night after that. Things will begin somewhat slow, but the pace will quicken soon: only 6 weeks to showtime!

Casting: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 2

Tomorrow night is the first night of auditions for the play I'm directing, Ten Little Indians. I'm very excited and a little nervous. Directing takes a huge amount of time and effort. However, no matter what anyone else might say, the most difficult part of directing and one of the most important parts is casting. Once you've cast your show, you've done about 60% of your job. If you cast the right people, nothing else will matter because with the right cast they will work together as a cohesive unit and be able to deliver a fine production no matter what the circumstances. It would be great if everyone likes each other and gets along, but I've been involved in shows where the leads hated each other in real life, but on stage they were magnificent together. However, if you cast the wrong people, you've got tons of problems you never expected. A person who just isn't right in a role is something that even a person who has never seen a play before can recognize. Then again the best actors can fit in almost any role no matter how large or small. Casting is huge.

Two years ago when I first directed I was worried that not enough people would even show up to auditions to be able to cast the show. For that show, 12 Angry Men, there were almost triple the number of people I needed who showed up. I'm not quite as concerned this time around because I think the people will come. Yet, there's still this little doubt I have that maybe there won't be enough people. You just can't be too sure. Here's hoping plenty of auditionees show up.

Graphic Novel Review: HEAVY WATER

The possibility of Hitler and the Nazis winning World War II is a popular topic for fiction writers. The interest of such stories is just how possible such an outcome could have been. For instance, if Germany had succeeded in developing a nuclear weapon before their resources were drained, the history could have a completely different outcome. The story of HEAVY WATER is based upon one such possibility.

The story is set in a present day-future. In the setting of the story, the Nazis were able to successfully build an atomic weapon and used it to destroy Britain and the United States. They won the war and now the world lives under a totalitarian regime similar to that of Big Brother in the novel 1984: everyone’s actions are watched, people are kept alive only as long as they are useful, and the government is the benefactor (and ruler) of all. In the city of New London, a small resistance has risen up. They believe defeating the Regime in the present is next to impossible, but if they could defeat them in the past, things would be different. So, they build a time machine. A new recruit is brought forth who has a journal from his ancestor, Knut Haukelid. The journal contains evidence for a real historical location and time. Ben eventually travels through the machine to the past to help his ancestor succeed in destroying the heavy water the Germans need to build their nuclear weapon.

The story has an interesting mix of sci-fi and real history. The graphics aren’t bad, but they are a little too dark in many places, making it difficult to discern who is who and exactly what is happening. Also, the story tends to skip around a bit. No crucial information is ever lost, but it makes the reading a little jolted. It’s like reading an essay without any transitions, all the information is there but it’s not told very smoothly.

I enjoyed HEAVY WATER. Besides just being a good story, it personally led me to hear about the real-life Norwegian freedom fighter Knut Haukelid for the first time and investigate his life further. Young adults will probably enjoy this book and hopefully it will inspire them to look into the history behind the tale as it did for me.

Charlie Brown on Pearls Before Swine

Here's another reason why I love Stephan Pastis' "Pearls Before Swine": an appearance by Charlie Brown!


This is the Friday, August 12, 2011 comic.

Book Review: SWAMPLANDIA!

It is fitting that even before the story unfolds in SWAMPLANDIA! the author sets the stage with a quote from THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS because the journey that Ava Bigtree takes in the swamps of Florida is just as strange and bizarre as anything Alice sees in Wonderland.

The novel is told mostly from the perspective of Ava Bigtree, the youngest of three siblings of the Bigtree clan, a family of alligator wrestlers that run an off-kilter tourist attraction called Swamplandia! The Bigtree clan (family) are a tightknit group. Besides Ava, there’s her older sister Osceola, her older brother Kiwi, her father the Chief, her Grandpa Sawtooth, and her mother Hilola. Except that when the story begins Hilola has passed away. Hilola was the star of Swamplandia! and Ava wants to grow up to be just like her. Hilola wrestles her cancer with the same fierce determination, beauty, and grace that she wrestles alligators but all of her skill, acumen, and grit are no match by the spores of the evil disease as it saps her liveliness and eventually kills her.

The novel is mostly Ava’s way of explaining what happened after her mother’s death and how each member of the clan wrestled with Hilola’s death and how the eventually subdued their grief and sorrow. The story is mostly Ava’s, but there is a touch of Faulkner in the novel as about a third of the novel is told from the perspective of her older brother Kiwi. After Hilola’s death, Grandpa Sawtooth goes senile and is placed on what is basically a nursing home boat. Osceola begins talking with “ghosts” and then Kiwi leaves and travels to the mainland. Later the Chief leaves his girls alone to their own devices (something they are accustomed to) as he travels to the mainland to try to gather money to save their home and Swamplandia! In his absence, Osceola falls in love with the ghost of a Depression era dredgeman and sets out for the Underworld to marry him. Ave knows she must be stopped, but alone she can’t do much. That’s when she meets the mysterious Bird Man who tells her no one can get to the Underworld without a guide, but that he knows the way and promises her that he will lead her there. Ava quickly agrees because she loves her sister so. However, her love for her sister, a longing for her father, and the deep burden of missing her mother blind Ava to the possibility of what the Bird Man really is.

There’s a lot of humor in SWAMPLANDIA! There were a few times I found myself laughing aloud at a particular scene or a line that was said. Yet, the overall tone of the book is one of sadness. Not only do the Bigtrees lose their matriarch, but they are on the verge of losing their business, their home, and their way of life. Their tightknit familial fellowship begins to fracture under the strain and that is the one thing none of them can afford to lose.

One of the things I was impressed about the novel was the writing. Russell has a gift for words. For example, “Curtains of Spanish moss caught at my hair like fisherman’s nets.” (p. 266) It’s such a simple statement, but it produces such a vivid image.

I enjoyed SWAMPLANDIA! However, I was a little disappointed by the ending. Ava and her siblings each go on different, yet incredible journeys and then the story just ends. There’s very little self-reflection and the conclusion feels rushed; there’s a lack of catharsis. Yet, the story is such a good one and told in such a beautiful way that despite the lackluster conclusion, it’s a great novel and I’m glad that I was able to visit Swamplandia! and wish I could have seen it in its glory days.

Prepping to Direct a Play: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 1

I'm directing a play this fall: Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. I tried to get a filmmaker I know to film the next seven weeks to make a documentary because the process of putting together a play and seeing it through the end is fascinating. I didn't feel comfortable doing it myself because I'm too close to everything to make it an honest piece. There's all kinds of drama and comedy and lots of pathos. The possible filming didn't occur, but a friend suggest that I blog about the experience of directing the show. I thought that was a good idea.

So, here I am, less than one week away from auditions for the show. I can't put into words how excited I am. I've directed one show (12 Angry Men) and produced (Harvey) another. Both were huge critical successes, but only the one I produced was a financial success. I've been involved in theatre on a consistent basis for over twenty-years and those two shows are among my proudest accomplishments. Though done through a local non-profit amateur troupe, they were on par with any professional production I've ever seen. I hope we are able to produce another high-quality production in this latest attempt.

My directorial debut two years ago was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I've worked at a lot of different jobs in my life and I've been blessed with some very unique talents. I'm a good writer and a great actor, but I've always wanted to direct, too. Two years ago I got my shot and it was the most natural thing in the world. Yet, that whole experience is forever marred in tragedy for me by the sudden and unexpected death of my father on opening night. I am hoping that I can finally put the bulk of the tragedy behind me by directing this show. It's something I need so that I can continue to move on and eventually pursue my dreams and goals in a place where there's more opportunity.

I'm taking a little different approach to the show than usual. For starters, I'm giving it a modern setting and taking it out of England and putting it in the good old U.S. of A. Perhaps more about that in another post. I'm almost done Americanizing and updating the script. Script-wise, about all I need to do is pick the scenes for people to perform at auditions. The scripts are here, the stage is reserved, and I've sent out the audition notice press release. Yet, I keep thinking there's something I've forgotten. If I have, I hope I remember soon because Monday night will be here before I know it.

Curious George in THE PLANET OF THE APES

Here's the latest HiJinks Ensue cartoon. I found it funny. Not quite what I thought H.A. Rey had in mind.