2.27.2008
2.26.2008
Lil' Wayne pre-court
Lil' Wayne is an interesting dude. Learning a lot from him as an artist. Click the pic to travel to a nytimes article.
Doris Day
Doris Day is great. Really wonderful voice. That's her and actor Rock Hudson. You can catch her in her hay-day here and here. Both clips are from the film
And of course Roly Poly from the movie Pillow Talk (1959):
And clips of Doris being a mad lady:
She's 83 quietly chilling out of the spotlight. Awesome stuff, folks.
2.25.2008
Dough
Film Budgets
Juno: 6.5 million
Once: $100,000
There Will Be Blood: 25 million
Sweeney Todd: 50 million
West Bank Story: $74,000 (21 minutes; won 2006 Oscar for best short live action film)
2.22.2008
woulda, coulda, shoulda...
It's hard to write a coherent riff about my artistic intentions these days. I think I'm processing stuff, defining, shaping, clipping my thoughts. I can share with you three major things that shaped a few recent revelations: the workshop production of "inked baby", a puppet workshop with Basil Twist, and a documentary about Bunraku puppeteer Tamao Yoshida and chanter Sumitayu Takemoto.
I'm sure I'll piece it all together...one day.
I'm sure I'll piece it all together...one day.
2.21.2008
The grind don't stop
Playwright Brooke Berman discusses her domestic lifestyle in the NYTimes garden & home section. She's lived in 30 apartments in the past 20 years.
It's an interesting article that points out a nut and bolt of a new york playwright's day to day.
It's an interesting article that points out a nut and bolt of a new york playwright's day to day.
2.17.2008
Erykah Badu graphics
I'm hanging out at her myspace page, and I must say her graphics are HOTTTTT.
Who's her graphic designer?
Anybody know?
Who designed this:
And this:
Fire.
Who's her graphic designer?
Anybody know?
Who designed this:
And this:
Fire.
Muhsinah...
...is damn good.
I'm tracking down her debut cd day.break soon after I publish this post.
A great video for her single "Construction" made by Low Budget. It's bare bones which, for me, makes it all the more interesting and beautiful. The glitz and glam music video is PLAYED OUT.
A blip of an interview here.
Myspace page here.
KNOW ABOUT IT.
2.16.2008
Rachel Bradley's Hellboxes
Great flickr set can be found here.
Object based art, theater, and film has come up a lot this week.
I think I may be acquiring a new obsession.
Object based art, theater, and film has come up a lot this week.
I think I may be acquiring a new obsession.
2.15.2008
David Lee Roth accapella
This is the silliest stuff ever, but it's great.
David Lee Roth vocal track for "Running with the Devil":
Here's how it sounds with the music.
David Lee Roth vocal track for "Running with the Devil":
Here's how it sounds with the music.
Writer strike comes to an end!
Playwright and tv writer Diana Son is featured in nytimes video heading back to the j-o-b on Law&Order: CI.
Yay.
Yay.
2.13.2008
2.11.2008
meanwhile back in the lab...
peeps!
I had a spectacular weekend: blessed enough to have a gaggle of close friends travel to see a workshop production of Inked Baby. My krew is tight. Just a fabulous bunch of folks. I got all mushy and sentimental Friday night and it didn't stop until this afternoon. Lots of hugs, thank yous, high 5s, and butt slaps. Great times.
Now it's time to move on to other things. Back to the lab. Super excited to dive into a few new projects and rekindle an old one.
First up: detox. I've eaten lots of junk food and gotten little sleep these past few weeks. I woke up this afternoon feeling blah, weighed down by all the crap I eat. Time to push out of that.
Second: The Africa Trilogy project. Third: Some new fiction. Fourth: TBA
Oh!
Know about Workhorse Theater and its artistic director Stephen Buescher. He is a genius, recently directed a production of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca. I saw it twice.
After the show, I realized the wonderful (and tragic) thing about live performance. I really can't accurately describe how I felt while watching it. I can tell you I had to remind myself to breathe a few times. I can tell you about the gorgeous costumes; the music; the use of the body, movement, perception, scale; the wonderful contagious ball of energy tossed back and forth from audience to performers. I can tell you these things and still feel like I haven't captured the tip of what this production did to me. Ugh, it's kinda frustrating.
I had a spectacular weekend: blessed enough to have a gaggle of close friends travel to see a workshop production of Inked Baby. My krew is tight. Just a fabulous bunch of folks. I got all mushy and sentimental Friday night and it didn't stop until this afternoon. Lots of hugs, thank yous, high 5s, and butt slaps. Great times.
Now it's time to move on to other things. Back to the lab. Super excited to dive into a few new projects and rekindle an old one.
First up: detox. I've eaten lots of junk food and gotten little sleep these past few weeks. I woke up this afternoon feeling blah, weighed down by all the crap I eat. Time to push out of that.
Second: The Africa Trilogy project. Third: Some new fiction. Fourth: TBA
Oh!
Know about Workhorse Theater and its artistic director Stephen Buescher. He is a genius, recently directed a production of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca. I saw it twice.
After the show, I realized the wonderful (and tragic) thing about live performance. I really can't accurately describe how I felt while watching it. I can tell you I had to remind myself to breathe a few times. I can tell you about the gorgeous costumes; the music; the use of the body, movement, perception, scale; the wonderful contagious ball of energy tossed back and forth from audience to performers. I can tell you these things and still feel like I haven't captured the tip of what this production did to me. Ugh, it's kinda frustrating.
2.08.2008
2.05.2008
Black folks onstage
I just got home from a tech rehearsal of Inked Baby. Tech is always frustrating because it just takes so long. I have to watch the show slowly (and sometimes painfully) stand on its feet, but it's just so thrilling and exciting when I see a finished scene. I cannot describe that feeling. I'll probably never be able to articulate how I feel when I see on stage, before my eyes, live and in the flesh, what I saw in my head while pecking away at my laptop. It's really great. Who needs crack when you can do theater?? Huh?
But it also reminded me that this feeling is so rare; not only in my own career, but in the career of lots of young playwrights hustling in American theater. It's no joke, ladies and gents. All of these elements I use to tell a story (sound, lights, props) don't usually happen at public readings. And my current tech rehearsal proves that those elements don't land with the same weight when a stage manager reads the stage directions in the neutral voice. Doesn't happen.
Staged readings, workshops can be useful but productions are just as valuable. For the playwright its an additional tool that helps us learn and flesh out our voices. For some producers/artistic directors it's money, money, money. The risk is too great for some theaters. I understand that. Workshops and readings are considered middle ground between the playwrights learning, cementing the play and the theaters dodging debt. I totally get that. But it's just so fricking sad that I rarely ever get to see my plays in full effect. And I'm sad that I don't get to see plays by awesome playwrights in full effect. That's a bit of a bummer.
But I digress....
The title of this post comes from the fact that Black folks are just so beautiful onstage. We are beautiful people. I always get that feeling when I sit in the back of the house and watch a group of actors read and/or perform my play. I'm so fortunate that there are so many wonderful, talented performers who are willing to dive into the work and make some theater.
Super mushy post, but it's worth it.
So, shout out to the past, present, and future actors who will be in my plays. I ask the universe to continue to offer opportunities for the work to be heard and presented. No opportunities means no readings/productions means no good actors. So, knock on wood, I hope those kinds of blessings continue to come.
But it also reminded me that this feeling is so rare; not only in my own career, but in the career of lots of young playwrights hustling in American theater. It's no joke, ladies and gents. All of these elements I use to tell a story (sound, lights, props) don't usually happen at public readings. And my current tech rehearsal proves that those elements don't land with the same weight when a stage manager reads the stage directions in the neutral voice. Doesn't happen.
Staged readings, workshops can be useful but productions are just as valuable. For the playwright its an additional tool that helps us learn and flesh out our voices. For some producers/artistic directors it's money, money, money. The risk is too great for some theaters. I understand that. Workshops and readings are considered middle ground between the playwrights learning, cementing the play and the theaters dodging debt. I totally get that. But it's just so fricking sad that I rarely ever get to see my plays in full effect. And I'm sad that I don't get to see plays by awesome playwrights in full effect. That's a bit of a bummer.
But I digress....
The title of this post comes from the fact that Black folks are just so beautiful onstage. We are beautiful people. I always get that feeling when I sit in the back of the house and watch a group of actors read and/or perform my play. I'm so fortunate that there are so many wonderful, talented performers who are willing to dive into the work and make some theater.
Super mushy post, but it's worth it.
So, shout out to the past, present, and future actors who will be in my plays. I ask the universe to continue to offer opportunities for the work to be heard and presented. No opportunities means no readings/productions means no good actors. So, knock on wood, I hope those kinds of blessings continue to come.
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