Monday, December 3, 2012

Three Beautiful Things 12/01/12: Making Do, Hating War, Talking Witty

1.  EVERY time, not just once in a while, when mounting a show like the Shakespeare Showcase, stuff goes wrong.  Today, one of the things that went wrong was that after working just fine at rehearsal, the light on my stand wouldn't work.  No light on my stand would work.  I read the narration when the theater is blacked out.  I need a light to read by!  But, ingenuity prevailed.  One student pointed out that Sparky's IPhone has a flashlight application and Olive, the sound effects wizard, was carrying a strong bike light.  So, it all worked out.  It's what I love as much as anything about doing live theater.  Sometimes you've got to make stuff work.

2.  Between shows I watched the first forty-five minutes or so of The Hurt Locker.  When I was younger, I used think I'd want, some day, to teach a course in literature and movies about war.  I had quite a list of works in mind that I thought would make a compelling course, a compelling study of human character.  While I was watching the early part of The Hurt Locker, I realized I can hardly bear the sight of war in movies (or broadcast by any means) any longer.  I'll finish watching this movie.  I see much to respect and admire in it:  writing, story, acting, the recreation of disabling IEDs.  I can't distance myself, though, like I once could.   I hate the sight/reality of war more and more the older I get.  It's not a political response.  It's more raw than that.  I hate what war does to all and everything involved, to those who fight, to the cities wars are fought in, to landscapes, animals, buildings, everything.  War occupies, it takes over.  I hate it. 

3.  The Deke picked me up after the second Showcase performance and we dropped in for a drink at the Cornucopia and as we departed had a fun time talking witty with Chad and Star. 

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