LONELYPOND PRESENTS

Yes, I started a #hashtag on Twitter for Taming of The Shrew news, notes and concerns. Because, yes, I just finished The Miser and I am absolutely no good at taking time off…I am slightly better when there’s not another project with auditions coming up in a week, but still, generally not much good.

The Miser went very well. I sat in the audience on Saturday afternoon and laughed and marvelled at how the storm during Harpagon’s monologue at the end of Act 4 went perfectly for once (the next show the light board froze and yes, I was subbing for the PSM who had an asthma attack and no, I didn’t break anything. These things happen. Actors continued without a break; no one knew what they were missing.)

So, now I’m thinking about Taming and wondering if I actually like punk rock. I don’t want it to be a one off this is how Kate is different kind of flourish; I did suggest yesterday making Bianca and her suitors a band, which got me a look from Gayle (a non encouraging look). Then Miley Cyrus’s The Climb (starting to take odds for Miley singing that at next year’s Oscar ceremony) came on the radio and I suddenly had an image of stripped down white t-shirt and jeans, and then Petruchio started to graphitti it and then…

But before that, there we were at the alternate office and I was, as previously mentioned, not terribly sure that if I started listening to punk music I would like it — the punk book Gayle found in the sale bin is heavy on the Sex Pistols. My inclination would be to start with Adam Ant, who isn’t actually punk; apparently I’m more New Wave…fun fact I learned yesterday, Joan Jett is considered punk by some…Gayle pulled a Clash Live DVD and I recognized a couple of the songs…I’m more of a Combat Rock Clash than the late 70’s Clash, but it’s a start.

Of course, the first problem is really actors…and once I have them, the show goes from there. Just got an e-mail about how much trouble they were having getting volunteers to staff auditions, so I’m worried. This is a make or break year for the program (10 years of touring Shakespeare during the summer, offering free, family friendly, high quality performances in local parks) and I need actors.

So the pre audition plan is: load the complete works of Shakespeare into my iPod (YES! and yes, I am that kind of a geek), actually get some R & R, maybe do some FlipBooming, listen to the Radio Gayle makes me a Punk station on last.fm — check back here for the link, and try not to have audition nightmares by some strategy other than not sleeping.

N.B. Must be careful…listening to Rock The Casbah, yelled and clapped, startling a sleeping Flash. Not a good idea. New plan: Find place with free WiFi, take iPod, stream last.fm, let sleeping cats snore.

Free afternoon but crazy Miser time before + after; stop by if you’re in

My coffee table: Thus Was Adonis Murdered…it’s a rainy afternoon and if it weren’t for this afternoon’s rehearsal I’d be curled up with my tea, reading this glorious first of four books. Sarah Caudwell wrote them, they are exquisite and funny and clever (in all the good ways)…trying to think of similar authors but all I could come up with was putting P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie in her whimsical moods (yes, I mean Tommy and Tuppence), and Oscar Wilde in a blender. Why do that when you can read Caudwell’s four, follow it with multiple visits to Aunt Dahlia, jaunt around London and environs with several always bright young things(yes, Tuppence always is) and then have muffins in the garden with Jack and Algernon…there’s a plan for the week.

my computer: Sita Sings the Blues…I ran across it in another animation blogspot blog that brings up a 404 page whenever I try to link to it and the more I find out about it, the more I think I might want to see it…It could be playing at a theatre near you so give it a look if you can and let me know how the big screen experience is.

my boombox: Chopin…spent yesterday trying to figure out mid 19th century mood music for The Miser (opening a week from Wednesday); Chopin won and also cost me nothing(1/2 price sale and $5 Borders rewards for May — I still have $1.01 left — half a teapot).

my TV: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time dvd…now overdue but I’m watching it this week, darn it.

my couch: The FT Weekend, my post rehearsal, pre Caudwell reading material…I’m starting with the fun parts.

my backyard: rosebuds, waiting for the rain to finish when I might see if this year’s first batch is red, yellow or a glorious blend.

And yes, it’s that kind of night…I’m listening to last.fm’s roll of Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana singing “One in A Millon” (yes on the lonelypond last.fm station we roll from Vanessa Hudgens to Soft Cell to Ahmad Jamal to Gomez to Aly + AJ, to Blossom Dearie to Depeche Mode to…well, it really depends on the night and the mood), learning what boosh means, fascinated/horrified by the fact that Wolverine made 87 million this weekend –Star Trek may hit Harry Potter plus levels…

Plus, I’ve been thinking about how I seem to be drifting into writing not drawing and doodling mood and I miss drawing and doodling mood. I doodle at rehearsals — dogs and trees and bags of money…

And I was also thinking that after finishing Ammonite — Nicola Griffith’s groundbreaking lesbian science fiction novel that I had to get interlibrary loan to track down at the Penn State Library in State College — that it might be time to list a few of the things that I like to read/watch/listen to when I’m in that mood (not this mood, but a different, rarer (?) mood.)

Ammonite — a not as short as usual lonelypond review: I was a bit nervous that it contained 1. germs and 2. all girls, but decided maybe someone with all sisters could create a convincing non militantly anti male world lacking Y chromosomes (I like my brothers and nephews and people like my sister who like men too much for that sort of thing). And it was just a world, not a blah boring impractical rose colored glasses and blinders Utopia. After awhile I stopped thinking this is making me want to drag out my Marion Zimmer Bradleys and just started wondering, gee, I wonder what happens, does Danner make it to the end and maybe, just maybe if I skim through the sick enough to die parts, it’ll be all right…and it was. And in parts, it was meaningful/moving. So, track it down, it’s worth a read.

What else is worth a read if you want the gay + girl theme…well (potentially tiring self plug here (but it is true), In The Bleak December, which I still haven’t cleared of the glitches that come from transferring to a new and different computer and Apple canceling Appleworks support — boo. Sorry, but read it anyway; all the cool people do — yes, I said that and I’m leaving it in just to show myself how much sleep matters)

Oh right, the insomniac encourages the egomaniac, back to other things I read and you might like: well, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Free Amazons and the books they appear in, Jeanine Allarde’s Legende, Emma Donogue’s StirFry and in the comic book department — Camelot 3000 and the Legion of Superheroes 5 Year later reboot – yes, Shrinking Violet and Lightning Lass…and yes, Keith Giffen is brilliant and crazy and amazing and I love half his stuff and hate the other…here’s an interesting Comic Book Resources discussion about the gay characters in Gotham oh, and I do have a few books with Maggie Sawyer (Metropolis police, friend of Superman, person he trusts to look after Lois) stashed somewhere…Smallville could use her more — not that I’m watching it…still a sigh of sadness there.

I guess I’ll do movies some other early a.m., as I have a Miser rehearsal too early on the morrow and we open in ten days and people insist sleep really does help…good night; get some.

I have been reading Nicola Griffith’s blog with some frequency recently, partly in gratitude for her getting me back to reading and the library and partly because we seem to dislike the same books. A recent answer about where she gets her characters’ names reminded me of interviewing Tamora Pierce. How to come up with names and characters is one of the things Pierce gets asked most often in Q + A sessions.

So this got me thinking about creativity and characters and how they take over whatever you’re working on and everything you’re thinking about…even when I’m directing a play as it seems exposure to weeks of The Miser aka L’Avare (and the impending interruption of my Financial Times subscription — newspaper vs. car payment, car wins) is making me grumpy about money and cynical about marriage (and I’m almost sentimental usually) — nearly every character is suggesting writing widowhood/widower status after three months or so into the wedding contract. So there’s the draft of a post titled “WHY THE ECONOMY HAS ALWAYS SUCKED FOR ARTISTS” sitting in a folder, but I really do prefer not to dwell on that sort of thing as I am happy with the active choices I’ve made to direct the plays I choose, film the movies I want and follow the characters that come to me (as well as have time for tea with Gayle when her insane work and sleep schedule allows). So instead of that rant, I’m channelling my energy into other posts (this and the previous and the haiku).

Back to characters, the flow of creativity and naming after that much briefer rant:

Jane and Sally at one point just took over In The Bleak December…I remember a couple of frustrating nights where Sally just insisted on behaving like herself and it was nothing at all like I had planned. That was extremely educational. Sally was inspired by an actual person so I kept her first name; Jane just seemed to go along with it. And Jane’s last name is lifted from a cool science fiction adventurer type I used to try to fit into something — Mycroft Holloway (first name after Sherlock Holmes smarter brother but the character was a girl). I find the naming process very exciting as I take time with the names and discovering the personalities that they connect to…

In the mystery I was recently working on — before the Muse that is comedy took over again — I have a completed first draft with a cool collection of four different narrators. Rereading it led me to the conclusion that the narrator I started with had to be excised and a character who only popped in a couple of times but brought so much energy with him needed to take over a third of the book and drive the sequel. Before the draft really took off, I had to sit down and connect a bunch of family and sibling dots.

I do family trees as a tool…I remember one of the grand fantasy narratives I wrote as a teenager involved complicated and intense family trees for both the human and horse characters.

For LONELY POND MONSTER (looking for love)…the process started with me being a preparation fiend and wanting to shoot a short before the big Shakespeare tangented project we were all excited about…so one friend said, “well, the place I’m staying at has a pond and we can film there” which turned into me ripping out a story about a Lonely Pond Monster who wanted to make friends by joining in activities and a Spinning Girl who was trying to fit in by changing her wardrobe…and there would be no dialogue because as it was my first movie and much as I love our sound and sound effects guru, he often has the same effect on me that tequila used to (there’s the book Jill Shaffer and I were going to write where each chapter started with “and then I took another shot of tequila” complete with the real time authors’ experience of the same — my poetry phases are always interesting) so I decided silent film with music, let’s emphasize my skill with directing physical comedy. And then LONELY POND MONSTER (looking for love) turned into two of my favorite weekends, a really cool story and a love for the process of movie making. And the Shakespeare tangent movie– well, that’s a story for daylight hours.

So basically, imagining characters, naming them and following them where they lead is one the best and craziest adventures there can be so enjoy it. They’ll thank you for it.

And now, I’m going to read part of a novel for at least six minutes. Good night all; dream well.

Well, let’s just say I’m grumpy…and be glad you don’t have to put up with me in the morning…or the afternoon or…

If by chance, you don’t want to read a rant theatrical, here is a cartoon about the perils of translation.

See, what I always say about theatre is that one of the things I like about it is that it happens in the evening, at the earliest a once a week afternoon matinee. But now, thanks to the homeschooling schedules (and the theatre sharing schedules) and massive cast conflicts with my original schedule, I have four hour Monday afternoon rehearsals of The Miser, starting at 1 p.m., which is usually when I’m having my green tea after sun and chi gung. But no, I have to go inside the theatre, away from the sun and fresh air; be personable, upbeat and entertaining; rehearse; do my own darn breathing exercises (Gayle leads them with the Theatre Under The Trees Cast in the summer where one of our goals is to rehearse outdoors whenever the weather permits; Gayle leads them because I speed through them and am occasionally — you may be surprised here — not a calm, soothing vibration); and figure out a way to use four hours effectively to rehearse half of a play that’s clocking five acts in ninety minutes. Tomorrow, at least we’re rehearsing the whole thing so if I throw in improv games, breathing exercises, a brief history of French theatre and a comedy matters pep talk, we should be done at 3. That leaves two hours. And I don’t want to run the entire play twice — I’m worried my Miser is going to blow out her voice…although there are performance dates where we do two shows: one at 9:30 AM and one at 12:30 p.m. So we need to build stamina for them. And yes, I knew about the morning shows when I took the job(they said I didn’t have to be on the premises, but as a director, you can’t let yourself off that easy). But it was a very funny script and I’m a sucker for comedy.

So I don’t plan on sleeping the week we have performances…make sure you check back then, if you find this sort of thing entertaining (or know a good joke that will cheer me up). And to start this whole Miser process off, I got one mother who didn’t want her daughter to play a guy and was willing to do costumes instead until some point at the readthrough when they both slunk off quietly and an 18 year old who lectured me for 15 minutes on the language and inappropriateness of the translation before quitting. There is a licking below the earlobe reference — I checked; it’s not in the French. As far as I can tell from my limited high school/college French, all the English translations put in racier things than the original French contains. Footnotes to French English bilingual edition say things like (and I’m paraphrasing because all my theatre paraphernalia is in the car) “spectacles and telescopes both contain lunette and that’s why he refers to her as the brightest thing in the firmament” and “in French, daughter and cashbox are both feminine nouns so they would be referred to as she so that this part would actually make sense to the audience” and “there was a tapestry series of Macom and ?????? popular at the time. The English translation of that last bit in this version? (and here, I am not paraphrasing nearly enough):” “Anthony and Cleopatra, he with spear, she naked, surrounded by various serpents; Napoleon and Josephine, he with hat, she naked, surrounded by various pastries; Venus and Adonis, he with tree, she naked, surrounded by clam and other molluscs”…and no, the lines I’m making up do not contain the words “surrounded by clams and other molluscs.” That one’s in the play. Trust me, it’s memorable.

Right so where was I? Cutting Monday rehearsals down to three hours, short a costumer and a lighting designer, going up in mid May and then auditioning for The Taming of The Shrew ten days after. I think that’s “Here there be Dragons” on the map.

And did I mention how much I miss Shakespeare? I always tell my TUTT casts everything they need is in the script and it’s one of the truer things I ever say. Shakespeare’s language leads you everywhere you need to be. It’s amazing. It’s even more amazing when you’re trying to direct a play by someone else and there are no rhetorical devices to help you and the translator/author decided to make every other word start with a p in the Miser’s last couple of speeches after she’s already talked through 85% of the play…that’s good planning.

Oh yes, and I’ve been so insanely overscheduled, I had to cancel a Gullible and Twitchy session, haven’t pulled out my Wacom tablet to FlipBoom and haven’t even been to the alternate office to just have some tea and look at magazines with shiny Apple technology. Maybe Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or…

And that leaves us with, “Mellow Greetings, Ukey Dukey”…have you ever watched The Bachelor and The Bobby Soxer? It’s fun. How about Tuesday around 8ish; I might actually be free. Good night, folks.

Last Chance Harvey — rent it, see it…Dustin Hoffman amazes — he finds new emotions somewhere; Emma Thompson charming; good good show.

Cars — finally watched it…some nice moments, racing very cool; scenery pale compared to the real stuff (animation can’t do sunlight+scenery). Still mired in the Pixar mawkishness.

Sonny With A Chance — funnier the second time and continuing. Disney shows hit 6-8 on the consistency scale while with Nick you’re more likely to get either 3 or a 9.

If you haven’t watched my BOOKS + INSPIRATION clip, you should. I had a lot of fun doing it and may think up some more short form topics (considering voice).

iCarly — iLook Alike a fun concept, but too out of character with Spencer getting trashed against a wall…

Hannah Montana — but we like Joannie, but Oliver would never keep a girlfriend so well, bring her back occasionally. Looking forward to the movie; The Climb still great.

Been watching What I Like About You (Beau’s fault)…early seasons better; jennie Garth actually pretty good with the physical stuff but her character gets annoying later.

Speaking of Nick and The N — yes, I do miss Radio Free Roscoe.

Still reading the Financial Times, although dropping The Economist because of time + money constraints, craving Indian food and planning for the start of The Miser.

Finished a Jonas Brothers themed Blink Kitty Love(yes, and you’ll laugh), listening to Radio Jonas on Radio Lonelypond on last.fm (Demi Lovato — Party currently up).

Have been trying to build up Radio Blink Kitty Love (thank you last.fm for your excellent widgets), but it gets a bit grim at times and I miss Radio Lonelypond.

Twitter still rocks. Trying out a Dwarven hunter and a Tauren druid in World of Warcraft — like the hunter better…always wanted to be Robin Hood.

Not reading enough…or writing…rented the new Wonder Woman movie, need to watch it tomorrow or I’ll own it. Still haven’t watched Steamboy…really need to budget NetFlix in…

Going to watch 2nd The Parent Trap soon…sad for Natasha Richardson’s family; like the first version better, but thought she + Dennis Quaid did an excellent job w/ imperfect script.

Good night, my friends. Take care of yourselves.

Jan Dalley, whatever she wants, up to the limit of the $20 currently in my wallet. Peter Aspden’s back on the culture beat and I will enjoy his insights, but I must admit to having had a pleasant month without him. Ms. Dalley, pick your topic and your drink, if you’re ever in the lonelypond environs. Thoughtful insights on e-altruism, opportunity and the internet business model. Loved her Kate Winslet wit and taking her Darwin/Picasso tangent transit. Thanks for the ride.

Harry Eyres also has an open invitation. Here’s his column listing Crow Chief Plenty Coups third way between despair and glory. I think this is the sort of thing that would make me a better Taoist (I’m bad at the invisible part — yes, yes, I know, major paraphrase; I’m good at the distracted by 10,000 things part).

There’s been a lot of fashion coverage in the FT recently, good tight writing, mostly tight pants, lots of Vanessa Friedman, tons of pictures, but nothing that will help me come up with a clothing theme/direction for directing Moliere. It always helps to have a style in mind (well, minor riffing on the classic me, but rehearsal indoors instead of out, with parents who aren’t used to me so slightly more formal (no shorts)). I think this situation requires a new hat.

Interesting interview with French artist Annette Messager concerning her puppet/Pinocchio pieces.

Book reviews and profile of maverick scientist and Gaia theory originator James Lovelock. Fascinating stuff.

And that’s probably enough for now, although I was glad several weeks ago when Luke Johnson admitted that perhaps he had erred in ignoring age and guile.

And I would, of course, buy Mr. Altucher or Ms. Hemming the drink of their choice any time they choose to call in my marker.

And now to sleep and dream of robots and bands and kittens and misers and jazz and if any of it is in French, I may be back. Bon nuit.

curing mal de Baudelaire (note to self, be wary of half remembered Beau — actual name of brother, though it is technically a French adj.– books) with Edna St. Vincent Millay–and voila, French: Fontaine, Je Ne Boirai Pas De Ton Eau!

N.B. Just realized part of the reason French is leaking out is probably because I’m mulling over Moliere — if anyone has a good book on French Farces of the theatrical sort, please suggest it.

Well, when I have something to tell everyone — real or imagined– in my internet universe, it involves pinging it across four services, then adding it manually to the original movie blog and linkedin, although I should be able to ping to linkedin, but I don’t want to spend that much time at either site figuring it out. That’s a lot of pinging plus –not to mention the original upload to myToons and the I should do it soon upload to YouTube…it’s an internet broadband slogfest. I’ve given up the group e-mail at least, so that’s a little less typing.

And did I have anything else to say? Thanks to one of my Twitter follows, spent the evening listening to Blondfire/Astaire and the like on last.fm. One of my favorite songs was in French; must look into a film festival in Quebec (or perhaps Cannes — they have shorts); so much of what I turn out involves no dialogue, just music and comedy, so an international film festival might be the ticket.

Had too much to do this weekend, but finished SPCA holiday auction article and posted new animation so feeling of accomplishment and money eventually due in my bank account for the article. I also sent an e-mail of resignation to my editor. I’m giving up freelancing as of the beginning of the year(yes, breaking news, you heard it here after twitter).

Not only did
1. I get an offer to direct a what I hope will be hysterical version of Moliere’s The Miser in the spring, which will push my Taming of The Shrew preparation up to February or so as now May will be presenting the Miser month, not find and dust off my small but necessary pile of Shakespeare essentials month, but

2. there’s also the completed first draft of a really cool mystery I wrote this summer while under the influence of the Hardy Boys, Chet Gecko (who is Chet Gecko? read Give My Regrets to Broadway and laugh, laugh, laugh) and the nieces and nephews. I’m disappointed that I haven’t found the time to type it into the computer — an essential part of the transformation process. I don’t feel guilty or that I’ve been procrastinating as I have had legitimate distractions, I’m just disappointed. I’d like to see how the next draft turns out, especially as I might be dumping a character — still undecided. Hence need for a newer, better version of the story…and updating my laptop so I can work without the distraction of internet access(yes, you.) And then,

3. well, I tend to obsess and put everything else on hold while doing something and freelancing is neither an effective nor lucrative use of my time — not that lucrative is a make or break point(if I had an accountant he or she would have been sobbing for years; if I had an agent, well, he or she’d probably be making a decent living — creating I can do, selling not so much).

Right, plus there’s my fiendish plan for PROJECT PYE, which I think met with Calvin approval and finishing Jabberwocky (anyone know how you say that en francais?) and the myToons and website redesign.

At the moment, I need a good book and a week off…this may just be possible; keep your fingers crossed. Immediately, I am going to dash off some quick TV reviews and then curl up with LAST Saturday’s FT weekend…or a Chet Gecko (good late night reading).