how it is

I had a nice but short vacation. We went camping in the Catskills and came back with smoke in our hair and a cooler full of water. Tomorrow I go back to work for two weeks. Then I'm off for two weeks. During that time I have a quick retreat at Bennington College with my play Incendiary which I'm working on with the LAByrinth folks. I also have to I have to pack up whatever in the house Kristen hasn't already packed for our big move to Minneapolis. (for a year. She got the Jerome, you see.) I plan to be back as much as possible and if things go well I'll be jetting off to a bunch of other places during the year as well. Also on monday I have to pitch my TV idea to my agent. wish me luck. I'm kind of terrified of the whole pitching thing. I like to just write things. So I'm back at work for two weeks, off for two weeks, must vacate my apt, go back to work for two days and then fly to MN. Anyone recommend good theaters in MN?

yesterday and today

Here is the first of our photos--this one taken by Stephanie Fisher. I'm off to go camping with my wife. See you when I return.

these folks have a blog

http://packawallop.wordpress.com/

Look for the short film I did with them soon.

I'm getting married today!

Hilarious

I Am Totally Crushin' on Young McCain

http://www.236.com/blog/w/drew_grant/i_am_totally_crushin_on_young_1_7249.php

good ways to start emails

--hello beneficiary --ATTENTION:HONORABLE BENEFICIARY. --Dear Friend, --Greeting's to you and your entire family! (note the apostrophe) --I know you must be surprised to hear from me. --CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON --From the Desk of________ I mean any email coming from an African Banker is one I am sure to respond to. Also, any email that starts talking about my penis immediately. I mean what better way to get someone's attention? Bill Gates emails me a lot. So does Al Gore, though those might actually be from Al Gore. On the internet there are a lot of people who have money who want to share it with me. I have not found this to be true in my day to day life thus far. Why is the internet so different from real life? It's a mystery.

should critics read plays before seeing them?

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/06/to_wiesbaden_for_the_neue.html thanks to Meeegan for this link.

want to write copy or be a security guard? Can't decide? do both

http://gawker.com/tag/jobs/?i=5017903&t=this-is-maybe-the-best-journalism-job-available

your daily clown dose

from overheard in NYC

Girl #1: Yeah, so she was telling me all about the cleanser, right? And she said it was professional clown approved. What's up with that? Who buys stuff because it's been approved by some dumb clown?

Girl #2: I don't know about buying anything clown approved, but for damn sure I'm not going to buy something that's not professional clown approved

--Sephora, 5th Ave

THTGTSOTA

I saw Isaac and Dan's show on Thurs. It's innovative, a bit meta, a lot of fun (My favorite part is the mole people who sing to us with haunting green lights on their heads.) There are a surprising amount of songs in the play although I wouldn't necessarily call it a musical. I like Dan's description: "an unfair vaudeville" We're constantly being reminded that we're being told a story. Despite this, I was engaged by the story being told. I'm not sure what that says about my own religious beliefs. Something perhaps. Or perhaps it's a credit to Dan's storytelling and the talent of the actors and their director. It's a 90 min play that feels like a 60 minute play which is quite a compliment, in my opinion. I was hooked the whole time. Go if you can.

NE

Today I watched this. I recently went back to rewatch the old Northern Exposure episodes because I remember how much I enjoyed them but wasn't sure whether they would stand up still. Now that I'm on the second season the exciting things about the show are starting to kick in--that inexplicable stuff. In the episode I just saw, Chris, the radio dj loses his voice when a beautiful woman stops by the station to ask for directions. His voice was taken by beauty. Sounds like a Sarah Ruhl play, no? He eventually gets his voice back after Maggie, the most beautiful woman in town kisses him. The B story is that Ed is trying to find out who his parents are and a spirit guide arrives and tries to help him. Th fun thing about it is the clash of cultures--the New York Jewish doctor who is rational and scientific and the small town and american indian cultures who have different belief systems. Joel thinks both Ed is delusional and Chris can't have lost his voice for the reason he thinks he did. This is the episode for me when the characters finally became clear. Earlier, it felt like we (and the writers) were still figuring out who these people are but now, we have strong and clearly drawn characters. One of my favorite parts is Joel's increasing jealousy about Maggie who the town thinks is having sex with Chris to give him his voice back. The entire town waits outside her cabin to see if he will emerge with his voice.

petition to close guantanamo

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=close_guantanamo&s_s=taf

post in response to How Theater Failed America at TCG

http://actorsguildoflexington.blogspot.com/2008/06/has-theatre-failed-america.html

F4F

I became aware yesterday of two upcoming productions of Food For Fish, the sixth and seventh productions. That is by far more productions than any of my other plays and it's a play that never really went through a development process. I brought it into class a couple times, got advice from friends, but as for Development with a capital D, it had none. And if you read it or see it, you can see it's a play that still contains ambiguities. It's messy in a lot of ways but at the same time it hasn't lost that spark. And it's a play I'm very proud of at times and also at the same time, it seems to have been written by a crazy person. Anyway, I'm glad it is having a life and I hope the same thing happens to the rest of my plays, or at least more of them. The ones I don't show people can die I suppose, at the bottom of the hard drive.

tonight

I'm going to this tonight. Will I see you there?

Kucinich tries to get Bush Impeached

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/06/kucinich_introd.php

Now why won't this happen?

Great post by Isaac on uncertainty, theater and the recent Brooklyn blackout

http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2008/06/we-interrupt-the-way-your-world-works-to-bring-you-this-very-important-experience.html

moving slowly. down the track. chugging along, blowing steam.

working on a pilot.

headed towards our wedding at the end of the month.

after the wedding, a short honeymoonlet.

after that, back to work, then a theater retreat in Vermont.

then

packing up my belongings for a move end of July.

so much to do. every day a little closer to running out of time.

out of date processes

Thoughts about Electoral College:

http://earlpomerantz.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-dont-understand.html