LONELYPOND PRESENTS

Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale and Miley Cyrus all won MTV Awards. Congratulations all; excellent performances. Wow. The High School Musicals continue to be a cultural force. And I bet “The Climb” will be a serious Oscar contender for song. Yes, it’s not full of original images and we all know this stuff and every journey’s like this, but Miley’s managed to set down the song that resonates now. Hope Hannah Montana the Movie comes out on DVD soon. Flash and I would really like to see it.

My Gullible and Twitchy co-conspirator Calvin (@pseudochron) has written a Python program that will convert Shakespeare plays so he can read them on his snazzy new watch…this is excellently cool. And yes, of course, I want one. But I first I need to download the complete works of Shakespeare to my iPod (done, it’s the Shakespeare app by Readdle and it’s free) Don’t mess with the Bard; he’s classic cool.

On a #tamingshakespeare note, SHrw the punk operetta is no longer our goal (and yes, feel free to blame Green Day). Doesn’t work with the actors, didn’t really work before the actors — I find it hard to do the plays with integral servants in a modern style; it just doesn’t take. So I’ll save punk for the next Midsummer and we’re going back to the original American riot grrrls, the Flappers. Gayle’s putting a mix of “Some Like It Hot” and ragtime in my head; I’ve designed a boardwalk set and so welcome to my summer as a beach bum. I wonder how Rebecca’s going to react to the news that we need 18 Roaring 20’s style bathing costumes.

And here’s why you should “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” although I do enjoy Keenan Wynn’s performance in Kiss Me Kate the movie.

ToonBoom’s touring Animate around the country in June/July. Drinks, appetizers, networking, etc…Tuesday Shrew rehearsals will keep me from the NYC session(I really need a weekend trip there; I keep reading about exhibits I want to see + Noguchi museum, etc.) but you may find a city near you.

This is beautiful + Miles Davis + not the best lullaby, but…

MTV Splashpage just dropped its weekly roundup in my inbox + and the 5 out + proud heroes who would #rejectprop8 has drawn a lot of interest. Which clicked me through to the comments, which reminded me of my second favorite gay comic superhero couple(The Legion’s Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet being #1), Milestone Media’s Donner and Blitzen, first of the Shadow Cabinet and then The World Needs Heroes. Static Shock is zipping around animatedly on some channels but Milestone Media shut down comic production in 1997. According to wikipedia, some of the characters might be brought back into the DC universe. That would be cool; Milestone aimed for diversity. I’m going to have to dig and find the box I have those comics stowed in. I have a signed set of the “The World Needs Heroes” mini series because they liked my why does the world need heroes answer letter best. We still do. Far too often.

NB: Apparently, I need to have been reading the JLA…Milestone characters including Donner and Blitzen appeared in #27. Time to have a talk with my comic guy. I really need to pay more attention to my Previews.

And Dwayne McDuffie, one of the Milestone founders, was just fired as the Justice League’s writer.

Twittering ’til dawn
Who knows what time there or here
Dream talk draw waltz yawn

@lonelypond

Interview with Chinese animation entrepreneur Hao Janing (My Own Swordsman).

Luke Johnson on the qualities that encourage entrepreneurs to strive and thrive.

And an article on how to become a British spy (for your eyes only).

Read the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson books, darn it…I’ve zipped through four of them in two and a half days, they’re chock full o’ adventure and Greek mythology and lots of cool girls, as well as the hero, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. Want to read the fifth one, but first, must see if I can get a copy through the library(it’s hardcover and I don’t have that much of a book budget) and second, well it’s Shakespeare season.

And with Shakespeare season, comes vacations and frantically trying to fit in a Saturday rehearsal with blocking before one of the actresses leaves town for two weeks, which means I really need a set inspiration. I find myself tired of boxes and benches, but anything we’ve ever had more complicated than that has been subject to the vagaries of the wind — I could tell you stories and it would start with a play called The Tempest (yes, yes, that might have been a clue), a 15 foot ship’s mast with sails and a swimming pool.

So, the story of the Last Olympian must wait while I angle for inspiration. Theatre is an art they appreciated, after all.

And as I happily bop through the internet finding out more about the upcoming adaptation of one of my favorite mini series, I discover that they seem to have whited out one of the central characters, Lily Sharpe, and no one seems to care as long as there’s Kate Beckinsale. I care. Why I loved Whiteout, besides the art and the grit and the perfection was the partnership that developed as the two women worked together to solve the murders.

They changed the Sharpe character to a guy; I’m not seeing it. Buy the graphic novel, it’s a great story.

My social conscience is kept between Edmonton and Twitter so this morning I woke up to #rejectprop8 hashtags + responses and the news that the California Supreme Court had split one of those legal fine lines. Oy. Here’s my favorite twitter/blog commenter on the subject.

MTV Splashpage responded with a cool post about 5 out and proud gay superheroes who might weigh in against Proposition 8. Made me want to spend more time reading up on Gothamites other than the Caped Crusader (The Question II + Batwoman to be specific. Greg Rucka’s original Whiteout is one of my favorite mini series — movie actually coming out in September — and he’ll be writing Batwoman.)