LONELYPOND PRESENTS

Robot avatars on swirling blue backgrounds rock; check out @poetryc

DC Wednesday Comics is a must, according to sources.

World of Warcraft gets a Twitter app (unofficially): Tweetcraft. But there are concerns that it violates Terms of Use + could lead to banning.

@lilipip found this beautiful blue haiku based animation.

And why aren’t you following me on Twitter?

Oh, and this is something I found on Facebook, just for a change of pace…new Economist advertising campaign: clever, intricate and gorgeously done exploration of thinking spaces. You can submit yours.

And, oh yes, I have broken down and gotten Flash a last.fm subscription so I don’t get the darn bear during WoW sessions with the little brother. As an enchanting tailoring blood elf ret paladin, I find myself sewing and disenchanting pants for strange dust, which harkens back to my quest for pants beginnings in a strange and dusty kind of way.

And to leave you laughing, @cooljerk takes on vampires and musicals. Or as he says it.

Since we started with robots, we’ll end with @shellsuitzombie recommendation of The Princess and The Robot. Very cool art; nice version of the traditional tale.

And I almost forgot the lovely @Bardcore who started off my Twitterday with their crazy rocking music video version of Hamlet, Act III, scene i.

Ok, Shakespeare (#tamingshakespeare) takes up a lot of time + mental energy. Traffic control with 7, 8 and 9 year olds takes up even more, so blog posting may be a bit erratic for awhile. But tonight at rehearsal, I was so IN THE ZONE…it was a great feeling, solving problems, dodging poetry + meter jams, hearing things right for the first time, moving actors and words and motion like everything was a painting, a symphony, a play, a whole entity that was clicking into its moment.

Personal notes: instrumental jazz drives me crazy after a bit, I prefer lyrics mixed in with my melodies; the little brother acquired a Hewlett Packard tower of some sort so we’re back to low level World of Warcrafting again while we work off the rust, and I really want to go on vacation. But first, I want to turn a kick ass Taming of The Shrew out into the world. We’ll see if the buzz/zone/focus survives Thursday and the return of the 12 and under crowd.

Twitter’s been fun(and yes, there is some irony underlying there); there’s all the #iranelection stuff and that somehow led to the gay activism #lgbt stuff and sparks occasionally fly off my twitterfeed these days, but they are directed at the political workings of the universe and not causing glitches in my internal mental circuits (NOTE: I need to subscribe to last.fm so I don’t get the have you been eaten by a bear graphic so often as I listen to Radio FlashCatFlash in the background. Flash is an ardent consumer of media — listener of last.fm, chewer of Entertainment Weekly.) Although, I did try follow an agent for awhile — I occasionally try to find new + interesting Twitter peeps, but it seems like the people on the inside of the “I’ve been published/I know the system/I’m not a Visigoth” wall shrink away from and patronize the strivers/hopers/schemers who think writing leads to JK Rowlings levels of success and billions and who believe that there’s an easy solution and that someone would actually tell them if there was. And that’s just tiring — the patronization: there is no easy solution; there’s only your own tolerance level for continuing to try. I suppose, to sympathize with the gatekeepers, smug or otherwise, that it’s also tiring getting harassed by people who want to be published. But I just don’t like the industries built up to take money/hope/energy from people with writing/moviemaking/painting/crafting/creating dreams. And who make little hoops for people to jump through rather than respecting honest effort. And the people who control access to the gates with assured superiority really tick me off - and no, I’m not sure that this agent was one of that breed, but it did trigger some memories. And yes, somewhere back in the day, my ancestors painted themselves blue and did things like tear down the towers of Rome. But then we learned to read the books and saved the civilization we once helped burn. And now we’re writing the blogs and drawing the webcomics and digitizing the viral videos.

Oh well, apparently, Twitter related mental glitches/rants still occur. But on a personal note, two of my WORST auditionees ever, who had the most trouble with the language, had turned into two of the MOST amazing and dedicated Shakespeareans by the time they stopped having time to spend their summers touring Shakespeare. Because they worked their asses off, they learned, they tried and I gave them opportunities and challenges. I am so thankful I took them up on their enthusiasm and bravery instead of dismissing their stumbling over the language. And I am so grateful it is a lesson I learned the FIRST time I directed Shakespeare. I remind myself of it before every audition.

Have been having a tweetversation about Henry James — someone’s reading “Turn of The Screw” and I suggested “Beast in The Jungle.” So I went looking for it to make sure that was the story I was talking about and found excerpts and suddenly thought, OMG, that’s what influenced Jane and Sally’s relationship in In The Bleak December. Wow. Amazing how what you’ve read and only remember the experience of gets threaded into what you write. And here I thought it was mainly Persuasion and Bellwether and Topsy Turvy mixed. Maybe the sequel could stand to be influenced by Taming of The Shrew. I can just see Jane grumbling “To me she’s married, not unto my clothes.” Now, there’s a place to start.

Speaking of married, we went to see The Proposal and were not impressed. No one seems to do dialogue anymore — or even put the stars in the same shot. you have faces, you have names, why worry about chemistry, communication, plot, script, the fast pace of banter…why not just linger on movie star faces. Oy. I watched Kissing Jessica Stein to recover my love of movies — now there’s a movie with some great conversations.

Now, so as not to be responsible for a total rant fest, I have hopes of (500) Days of Summer, which is apparently non linear. And I am still enjoying piecing together the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movies from Edgar Wright’s daily photos. And there’s the hope that Bandslam will actually rock. Must see Hot Fuzz sometime; NetFlix is becoming a must fit into the budget.

Anyway, thanks for listening; keep cool, get some sleep and some sun. And brush up your Shakespeare; it’s fun, darn it.

Warning this post will contain comments on World of Warcraft and the Jonas Brothers and The Watchmen (should I call it meditations on popularity and the attacking hordes?) If any of these disturb you, please enjoy this Shakespeare themed cartoon.

Jonas Brothers 3-D movie opened up but not as big as anyone hoped. I won’t be seeing it but not for a lack of liking the Jonas Brothers, just a lack of liking screaming. Here’s a fun, funny article from a journalist who flew with them to an Atlanta visit. I prefer fictional band movies — A Hard Day’s Night, for example. At least one reviewer found Beatles infuence in the Burning Up movie. The brothers in rock seem to bring out good moods in some of the journalists covering and reviewing them; that can’t be a bad thing. Especially with an upcoming TV series to promote. My favorite Jonas Brothers song — well, I like the Hold On video where the whole house blows away around them — but if you read this blog at all, you’ll know that sort of thing appeals to me. And I do occasionally worry about that. And Gayle frequently reminds me of the list of things I’m not supposed to do to the house while shooting any of the movies or animations.

Can’t figure out if any of the Blink Kitty Love members would listen to the JoBros…they’re arm wrestling/lawn darting over the issue right now. Stayed tuned.

(and yes, we are currently listening to Radio FlashCatFlash on last.fm, which is tuned to Radio Jonas.)

The Burning Crusade…yes, I hit level 60 and yes, I decided to try the free trial and spent two of my most frustrating nights so far of WoW. Took me 10 tries to figure out the Shatter Point bombing runs — try the aerial view and ignore the REALLY BIG guys. There are NO trees; I like trees. And now I’m 1 point away from level 61 (and the level 61 quest Beau wants to do) and although I keep wracking up the experience, it won’t actually breach the next level. So when I tried the pay for your upgrade online option, I got error message 202, call customer service. Customer service was quite willing to take my money over the phone and I’m hoping the leveling glitch sorts itself out. I’ve switched from a holy paladin to a retribution paladin because first level 60 plus group, well, we kept getting jumped by three groups at once and our tank didn’t tank. But my hit points always did because I was healing other people and not paying attention to me. And also, there were the horde players who would appear behind me and hacking/blasting away. So much fun. So I’m switching to a ret paladin (see, I almost sound like I know what I’m doing), read a couple of guides — one to legal hacks so I’m thinking of trying MazzleUI to see if I can find a better interface. Right now, I’m logged out in Exodar — pretty cool, very empty auction house — where my newly respecced paladin is waiting for the next session when my brother shows up with some good gear for me (I’m saving for a charger). The Burning Crusade so far only makes me long for a colder ale at the end of the night.

The Watchmen –see previous post — for why I’m not watching it and why you should watch The Shadow. Here’s the New Yorker’s Anthony Lane reviewing it, which alters my opinion not a whit but goes into detail (graphic, be warned) about the movie, since he’s seen it– and more importantly, reviews “Leave Her To Heaven,” comparing it tangentially to The Watchmen and leaving Gayle with a watch Gene Tierney do ruthless urge. The Netflix account is becoming inevitable.

Oh, and for those waiting for my “Girl Who Leapt Through Time” review, I haven’t been able to track down a copy yet; apparently, I didn’t nag little brother #2 enough when he came out to see Henry V, which I still need to write a review of (short version: stirring, company more suited to comedy than command.)

Enjoy your weekend.