This is a must read from fellow blogger Tony over at Tuesdaysblog.com if you're an artist, work in the arts, enjoy the arts, or have any interaction on any level with people who might be identified as "employees."
Be sure to check the comments as well.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
In Other News...
Michael Jackson is still dead.
But just in case you weren't sure, feel free to click on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and your local news network. They're keeping tabs on him. Don't you worry.
I know this isn't going to be a popular post (2 out of the 6 people that read this may even comment in outrage), but I thought the memorial service at the Staples Center was bizarre, indulgent, and more than anything...incredibly disingenuous.
There I said it.
I can see a concert. I understand the fans (even the 15 year old boys who post vlogs of them crying their eyes out over the loss of whom I can only imagine was their close, personal friend, Michael) need to mourn. Collectively. And publically. On international television. Honestly, that makes tooooootal sense to me...
But the casket? The Family? The children?? It just felt wrong. Why couldn't it have been a completely private affair? Why couldn't they mourn him on their own? Why did it need to be a televised, money-maker? I mean, the DVD sales alone are going to be outrageous. And who gets that money? The kids? The estate? Or, more likely, the producers of the event? Overnight the media will turn Paris, Prince, and Blanket into Kennedys. Should we expect Brooke Shield's career to make a sudden rise? As it is with most funerals, this was not about Michael, this was about US. And that's where, for me, it gets overindulgent and disingenuous.
And Campbell Brown...tsk tsk tsk. Campbell, Campbell, Campbell... With stars (or were they dollar signs?) in her eyes, smiles and asks Larry King (who, himself, had just recently landed after circling the remains), in regards to the ensuing child custody and financial custody trials, "Does this mean...a whole YEAR of Michael Jackson!!??"
I think MJ was an incredible performing artist and singer and dancer and all the stuff that we saw him do. Personally? No clue. Other than to say that I don't believe you can dispute that he lead a bizarre life. And a tragic one. So let's let him rest in peace.
On the otherhand, after such a bizarre life, perhaps this was the most appropriate way to say goodbye.
I'm gonna go watch CNN to find out which it is...
The Getty, The Getty, The Getty's on Fire!
Early reports had this fire, which slowed down traffic in the crucial-to-most-rush-hour-drivers Sepulveda pass, and subsequently every canyon route, and most surrounding surface streets thereafter, starting after 1pm.
But as the LA Times reports, it was sparked at 12:44pm, which was the exact time I was getting on the 405-North, and commented to my father on the phone, "Oh my god, the Getty's on fire!"
But as the LA Times reports, it was sparked at 12:44pm, which was the exact time I was getting on the 405-North, and commented to my father on the phone, "Oh my god, the Getty's on fire!"
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Trouble on the Homefront
I've been following this for a while, but since I'm not in Milwaukee I feel a bit out of the swim blogging about it.
The Skylight Opera Theatre appears to be in a bad way.
Managing director, Eric Dillner, along with board president Suzanne Hefty, have apparently commandeered the skylight's board of directors, and used it's name to fire Artistic Director Bill Theisen, among others. This sudden restructuring of the Skylight was done without consent of the board, and, in some cases, without it's knowledge.
Needless to say, the arts community in Milwaukee is up in arms. The best places to follow the events so far (which are moving quite rapidly, including the firing of resident musical director Jamie Johns, daily protests outside the Skylight's space, and a demand by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writer Tom Strini for the resignation of Dillner) are on Tuesdays, Artsy Schmartsy, and Jamie John's new blog Delight and Amaze, including Strini's own blog.
I have worked at the Skylight twice in my career, first when I was eight years old, and then again just before I graduated high school. But more than just a means of employment, the skylight is a musical theatre center for Milwaukee, and has created inumerable means of creative outlet for me and so many fellow actors, many of whom are life-long friends. The outcry of support for Theisen, and the Skylight itself, is proof of the Milwaukee institution the Skylight is.
What affect this will have on it's upcoming 50th season remains to be seen. As Strini says, "the company will go into its 50th season with no artistic director and no resident music director. It will face the seething anger of almost everyone who's performed at the Skylight for the last five years. It will operate in the shadow of a familiar and popular [artistic director] who was rudely pushed out the door. Dillner, a relative newcomer and mystery man thrust into the role of Skylight figurehead, will stand directly in that shadow. What should be a big anniversary celebration is starting to look like a pit of poison."
And he concludes with, "Dillner, whatever talent and skills he might possess, is damaged goods and has to go, and soon."
The Skylight Opera Theatre appears to be in a bad way.
Managing director, Eric Dillner, along with board president Suzanne Hefty, have apparently commandeered the skylight's board of directors, and used it's name to fire Artistic Director Bill Theisen, among others. This sudden restructuring of the Skylight was done without consent of the board, and, in some cases, without it's knowledge.
Needless to say, the arts community in Milwaukee is up in arms. The best places to follow the events so far (which are moving quite rapidly, including the firing of resident musical director Jamie Johns, daily protests outside the Skylight's space, and a demand by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writer Tom Strini for the resignation of Dillner) are on Tuesdays, Artsy Schmartsy, and Jamie John's new blog Delight and Amaze, including Strini's own blog.
I have worked at the Skylight twice in my career, first when I was eight years old, and then again just before I graduated high school. But more than just a means of employment, the skylight is a musical theatre center for Milwaukee, and has created inumerable means of creative outlet for me and so many fellow actors, many of whom are life-long friends. The outcry of support for Theisen, and the Skylight itself, is proof of the Milwaukee institution the Skylight is.
What affect this will have on it's upcoming 50th season remains to be seen. As Strini says, "the company will go into its 50th season with no artistic director and no resident music director. It will face the seething anger of almost everyone who's performed at the Skylight for the last five years. It will operate in the shadow of a familiar and popular [artistic director] who was rudely pushed out the door. Dillner, a relative newcomer and mystery man thrust into the role of Skylight figurehead, will stand directly in that shadow. What should be a big anniversary celebration is starting to look like a pit of poison."
And he concludes with, "Dillner, whatever talent and skills he might possess, is damaged goods and has to go, and soon."
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Texts from Last Night
From my new favorite website for wasting time...
(858): i mean you're really good at taking the morning after pill...so you could put that on your resume..
(720): yeah, i think fast in a bad sitatuion and am able to react with appropriate measures
(858): i mean you're really good at taking the morning after pill...so you could put that on your resume..
(720): yeah, i think fast in a bad sitatuion and am able to react with appropriate measures
Proud to be Young
I can't help but feel proud that the voices of the Iranian reform party that continue to reach the international community are those of Iranian youth.
Twitter, youtube, and facebook - social networking groups that were created by my generation, and refined by the one after mine - are flooded with tweets, vids, and posts about what's really going on in Iran. They've become so important, that the U.S. State Department has requested that Twitter delay a scheduled update (which would temporarily shut down the site) to protect the interests of Iranian's using the site.
Andrew Sullivan, at the daily dish, is one of many bloggers doing his best to keep up with the influx of information coming from these sites (good luck finding anything nearly as extensive on the major news networks.)
From, The Daily Dish: a report from an Iranian born in 1984...
"My generation is tired of being disillusioned. We refuse to accept the status quo and we have risen up in defiance."
Rock on.
Twitter, youtube, and facebook - social networking groups that were created by my generation, and refined by the one after mine - are flooded with tweets, vids, and posts about what's really going on in Iran. They've become so important, that the U.S. State Department has requested that Twitter delay a scheduled update (which would temporarily shut down the site) to protect the interests of Iranian's using the site.
Andrew Sullivan, at the daily dish, is one of many bloggers doing his best to keep up with the influx of information coming from these sites (good luck finding anything nearly as extensive on the major news networks.)
From, The Daily Dish: a report from an Iranian born in 1984...
"My generation is tired of being disillusioned. We refuse to accept the status quo and we have risen up in defiance."
Rock on.
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