Saturday, May 12, 2007

HALLELUJAH!


The 3 Filemobile posts below are all test runs.


The good news is that the one immediately below is my first successful effort in recording from a mike attached to the computer and uploading the finished piece directly to the blog.


May this be the start of something grand!

May Test









May Second Try









Radio_sampler








Try this....yet another test

I Can Relate



The video posted below is incredible.


An actor named Mike Daisey is performing a monologue at the American Repertory Theatre.


A Christian group, apparently unhappy with the bawdy, racy content and language, not only get up and leave, but they pour water on the actor's notes and desecrate his work space.


I have been performing a one-man show called, "Shylock," for over 11 years now. Before that, I used to perform a one-man show called "T.E., or Telling Everything."


It is wonderful to watch this young man in the video below react honestly and spontaneously to the outrageous, bad behaviour that is thrust upon him.


All of this was contributed to the blog by my friend, Bob Turner, who knows a thing or two about performance himself.

Mike Daisey Audience Protest, Walkout and Attack

A Christian Group walks out on an actor...this is extraordianry for so many reasons...watch it all.

10,000!!! TEN THOUSAND 10,000!!!


10,000, 10,000, 10,000!


Wow!


That's 10,000 hits, visits, peeks at the blog since we started in late December. And that's wonderful.


All right, it's not a Coke or Toyota ad campaign, and it's not Al Gore or Clinton.


Bit it is great.


Thanks so much for your visits.


We'll do more and they'll soon be slightly different in form, but the content will continue to be eclectic, funny, angry, maddening, opinionated and musical.


Have a great weekend!

They Think They are Loving Parents. They are Wrong. They are Irresponsible, Selfish Fools, and They are the Modern Template.


He is a cardiologist. She is a general practitioner.


They are both doctors, health care workers. They are both professionals. No doubt, they are smart and they work hard and they are not suffering financially.


They take their 3 kids to a resort in Portugal. A daughter is almost 4, the twins are 2 years old.


The father and mother decide they'd like a little quiet romantic time. Nothing extravagant, just a dinner by themselves.


Do they get a baby-sitter? No. Can they afford one? Yes. Did they bring the nanny from England with them to the resort? No. Could they have? yes.


How do I know they have a nanny? How do I know they could have brought her?


Because he is a cardiologist and she is a G.P. They are professionals with 3 young children. Somebody must be at home while they're earning the loot to but the next Land Rover.


So. Mom and Dad leave their 3 kids at a rented apartment and go out to eat by themselves.


When the disaster strikes - as it must - they sob to the cameras that they "checked on the kids every half hour."


The disaster in this instance is called "kidnapping."


But here are some of the other swell things that can happen IN A FUCKING NANO-SECOND - when you leave 3 kids under the age of 5 alone and unattended in a rented apartment:

- choking on a pencil, a bottle cap, a candy, a lug nut

- fire

- falling out a window

and that's just for openers.


Of course, nobody deserves the horrible nightmare in which these two idiots find themselves. Of course, we all sympathize for a plight that none of us would want or know how to endure.


BUT.


I suggest that these so-called parents are the poster boy and girl for the thoroughly modern version of humankind, western, free-market, democracy style.


No doubt they text message on their blackberries while driving and shout asparagus instructions to each other over their cells while shopping.


My son and I discussed this case yesterday after breakfast. He recalled the many demonic instances of our over-diligence when he was a child and his mother and I were young parents. We laughed, and we counted our blessings that we were still here to laugh.

This Little Bear Went to Market


We have a peculiar sickness in this country.


While in truth we are often cold, reserved and inhospitable, we are at the same time obsessed with "niceness." We cannot stand to say "No" to anyone about anything and we hate to encourage police, the military or any kind of authority that might appear punitive and old-fashioned.


Thus, in our latest public fiasco, the federal government has told Park Wardens to stand down. No guns, no handcuffs, no body armour, no pepper spray, no law enforcement period. This directive comes days before the season opens at National Parks across the land.


The RCMP, who are grossly underfunded and understaffed and under-equipped, and who know NOTHING about Parks and the issues therein, are being told that they will have to police the parks.


But drunkenness, illegal hunting, smuggling and other fun summer activities are rife in our national Parks.


Parks Canada has been told by a court that they must equip park wardens with sidearms (because their failure to do so has violated safety provisions of the Canada Labor Code) or remove them from law enforcement duties.


Instead of doing the obvious right thing - arming and training the wardens for, among other things, their own safety - the idiots at Parks Canada has dis-armed and emasculated the wardens.


If you go out in the woods today, you'd better not go alone....

Lyle Lovett - Church

This should get you set for the weekend...