Hypocrisy of the Day

What's good for the Oil Industry is good for . . .um, wait a minute.

“What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?” – Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting  May 29th.

The BSA Inspires a Round of Ironic Hypocrisy

The Boy Scouts of America has decided to allow gays scouts until they are eighteen. But some members are unhappy with this attempt at inclusion. They feel it infringes on their beliefs so their kids must suffer.

". . .Aaron Butler, the leader of his 8-year-old son Evan’s Cub Scout Wolf den in Roseau, Minn., said he didn't explain to his eldest son exactly why they were walking away from an organization they loved so much, but he told NBC News that it was because of last week's controversial decision by the Boy Scouts of America to allow gay youth to participate.. ."

So the message of the deeply concerned father is: "ooh it's those awful homosexuals fault my son is unhappy. If they weren't so pushy about being, you know accepted, my son would properly learn the BSA value of equality for all. But I mean, if I can't understand it, how can a nine year old."

To which I reply: Contrary to the hysterical fear imagined here, homosexuals are not out to ruin everything. The members of the BSA who voted on this issue decided they didn't get a shit if a scout is gay or not. They have always been in the scouts, will continue to be in the scouts with zero reprecussions. Grow up.

Orwellian Democracy

Our government has a deep fear of it’s own citizens. It wants to control everyone on the pretext of the War on Terror or the War on Drugs. Despite their pledge to protect and enrich our lives they don’t. Our President can have anyone arrested for any or no reason and hold them indefinitely . The feds can snoop into your mail, phone conversations and business with impunity. They go after non violent protesters engaged in lawful civil disobedience. Government officials who let power go to their heads routinely make pronouncemnets on your sex life and allow police depatments and private companies to use drones to spy on you and kill you.

And yet we claim to still live in a democracy. At this point that means “you can vote but it doesn’t rreally count for much and every else is decided by authroity now go out and shop. citizen.”

“Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.”- Ben Frnaklin.

Dome Home on the Prarie

After looking at the utter destruction of Moore Oklahoma, I wondered why more people  don't have storm shelters in tornado alley. Apparently they cost a lot and because of the poor soil are prone to flooding. It occurred to me that there is a shape aboveground that can protect one from strong winds and by golly that other shoe has fallen.  It's called a monolithic dome structure. Let's build home that are suited to the local environment and climate. What a concept!

The Sins of the Child Are Not the Same as the Sins of the Father

A child picks up a gun and shoots another kid, everyone is horrified that a child could be so callous. A teenager joins in with his buddy and helps him kill. A bunch of high schoolers gang rape a girl and everyone is shocked at the sociopath glee of those in volved. The courts declare they are monsters who should be tried as adults because they did adult crimes. They are seriously screwed up.

It's the adults who are screwed up. When will we learn that children and adolescents don't process social behavior like mature adults. That's why they are called immature. A child points a gun at another and kills them and we all cry in shock. But to the kid it's just a toy, they don't understand how they did something wrong.

Some kid wants to impress another at how cool he is but he doesn't see the moral consequences of doing so. Children are used as soldiers for the same reason. They lack the subtle understanding that comes with maturity as an adult.

Putting kids in juvenile detention until they turn eighteen isn’t the solution but locking them up in an adult penitentiary for most of their life isn’t the solution either. What is needed is new kind of place where young offenders transition  from child to adult while gaining a moral compass to guide them.

The Way is the Way to Experience the Way.

(Written, produced and directed by Emilio Estevez. Starring Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick Van Wageningen, James Nesbitt. Filmax Entertainment, 2011. 123 mins.Rated PG).

Martin Sheen plays Tom Avery, an American doctor who comes to Spain to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenee while walking the Camino de Santiago, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son and deal with his grief. Along the way he meets other pilgrims with their own issues; a hefty Dutchman ( Yorick van Wageningen), a chain smoking Canadian ( Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irishman with serious writer’s block (James Nesbitt). 

This small film came out in 2011 and was missed by most, which is a shame. It’s a thoughtful, patient story that nevers rushes the story or its characters.The elder Sheen plays the grieving father with restraint but you can see there is a lot of pain underneath as he relentlessly hikes the Camino.You can’t but feel for the sorrow as Avery scatters bits of his son’s ashes along the route.

The others join in with him reluctantly but form a quiet bond as they deal with their own issues. Filmed along the real Camion De Compostola it shows the beautiful scnery and the multi cultures along the way naturally This film demostrates simple effective storytelling without flash or bombast. A great movie to watch on a friday night.

Picture of the Day

 I don’t think this will  be on a Hallmark card but it’s handy the next time you need to apologize.

Pandora's Box

The 3D printer has great potential but as with any new technology it begs the question: what is the worse and best thing that can happen with this? So we have a chance to save a life or the chance to create chaos.

Basically it's the replicator seen on Star Trek, in it's infant stage that has the potenial to revolutionize manufacturing but it's still a long way from making a cup of Earl Grey Tea-hot.

Movies: Or How to Dream in a Darkened Room Full of Strangers

I've loved movies all my life. I love everything about them. They comforted me against the harshness of reality- which is why I don't watch the ones that are too realistic. They keep me company when I am lonely. They inspired me to pursue acting.

The last Roger Ebert made a career out his love of films. I often disagreed with his reviews but respected his appreciation of the genre. I love them as much as he did. There is an alchemy to making a good film. A formula no one has perfectly distilled but many have come   are so many elements to the recipe, if one ingredient is off it can spoil the whole dish.

When I was a kid living in Redmond Wa. a whole bunch of neighbor kids would go every Friday night to the only theater in town and watch whatever they had playing. It was always a wild event- a dark theater full of bored and vocal teenagers. "Magian" with Richard Widmark, "Bullitt" with the most intense car chase ever filmed and the big favorite "Planet of the Apes".
Weekly doses of Horror, sci-fi and B movies in the days before cable were richly entertaining.

That's why the movie theater will never go away, it's the communal experience that makes a film thrilling. When I think of "Star Wars" I remember the theater full of enthusiastic fans cheering when the good guys won. I sobbed along with a friend at "The Shadowlands" and the felt the adrenaline rush of 'Top Gun" along with my family.

I have rarely walked out of one, always willing to get the movie a chance. The exceptions were Altman's "Outtakes" and the hideous "Dracula" with Frank Langella. Not even the presence of  Lawrence Olivier could save that mess.

People tend to blame actors when a film bombs but it's really the producer or director's fault for it's failure of success. Having acted myself I know how exposed a performer can be. I am endlessly intrigued at how they perform this magic.

The next time you go to the movies remember the army of professionals it takes to make it. From the writers, actors, editors to the score's composer; they all have to work seamlessly or it ends up a big mess.

Video of the Day

Someone put a camera on a sushi go round in Japan. The results are surprisingly  interesting.

Life in the Theater

Randy Lord and Chris Leebrick c. 1991.( Photo : OCT)

The Lord Leebrick  Theater in Eugene Oregon - Now christened The Oregon Contemporary Theater- moved to a new location recently. As I watched the seats  being stripped from the old place, it brought back a lot of memories for me. The first play I saw there was "A Winter's Tale" and it inspired me enough to get back into the theater game.

Chris Leebrick and Randy Lord were an odd couple with big plans. Chris was tall, laid back and slightly rumpled. Randy was short and nervous with a constant look of panic. At first the duo lived at the theater and I would arrive for work to see an unmade cot or dirty dishes in the utility sink backstage.

They didn't just run the business together, they performed in many of the shows. They went after each other in "True West". Chris and brother Richard dueled with broad swords in the electric "MacBeth" and Randy was hilarious as "The Nerd". That production had it's own drama when an audience member had a seizure. The performance was stopped and paramedics called. The performance continued only to be stopped again by another audience member having some kind of attack. Very strange.

I came on board while the old auto shop was still being converted into a workable theater. The garage door hung above the entrance. The office shared it's space with the dressing room, separated by a curtain. Oh yeah and there was one toilet in the building. Intermission resulted in a long line and frequently clogged plumbing. The audience got wise and would flee to the coffee shop across the street for a break and refreshments as they were in short supply too.

The first play I worked on was "Keely and Du" running props and making my stage debut as a prison guard. I went on to be stage manager for several Holiday Vaudeville shows. Although it was strictly G rated out front for the kids, backstage it was R rated among the rowdy, close knit cast. I finally got to act in "Beyond Therapy"  as an eccentric therapist. I often joked that I did everything at the theater except run it. I couldn't handle doing that job seeing how Randy and Chris had their hands full.

The early productions had a high school quality to them due to small budgets but they never lacked of talent. The equipment was often haphazard and pulled together from this and that- the light rigging gave me nightmares along with the first light board. Unlike the new computer controlled one where all the cues are done with a push of a button, the old one required setting all the cues manually ( imagine a giant light switch with 40 dimmers constantly being set to different levels). Sound carried everywhere because of the acoustics so during a performance everyone in the lobby and backstage had to be as deathly silent as the family in "Ann Franks' Diary".

I watched the the theater grow from an ambitious dream by two old college pals into a professional organization with a brand new facility. It has become the best theater company I've seen and I can't wait to see what magic they create in their new space.

Quote of the Day

"Be yourself, everyone else is taken."

Oscar Wilde

(photo credit: historicalwallpapers.blogspot.com)

Hypocrisy of the Day

Remember the Pro lifer's slogan: "We are a friend of the fetus- until it's born."

We Deny We are in Denial.

I read the news every day and lately find myself incredulous at the shear audacity of denial going on in the world. We live in a age where folks are simply dismissing  reality. As Adam Savage of Mythbusters famously put it " I reject your reality and substitute my own." . It seems to be the motto of everyone from politicians, fundamentalists, educators and those claiming to know better than scientists.

This is nothing new. It's always been around- revisionist historians, paranoids who see conspiracies under every rock instead of the obvious, propagandists skewing events to suit their purposes. I think a lot of it is based on fear of change and a desire to frame events into something controllable or understandable rather than the subtle and confusing nature of the mystery of why things really happen. The greater the denial the greater the fear. We are very afraid these days.

Instead of looking at someone else being at fault, the way to release this fear is an acceptance of the forces at work. We are in a vast ocean; we can't command the currents but we can go with the flow. We can overcome powerlessness by choosing to change one thing in the world and by doing so change everything.

The point of a Gun

We know there is a problem with guns. We know something has to be done to prevent further massacres, accidental deaths of children, suicides and revenge killings.

What's stopping us from solving this problem? Our inability to to face up to responsibility. No one wants to be the adult. Selfishness, politics and ignorance contribute to the inertia.

There is fierce debate from some gun owners who view limiting access to military style assault rifles as a personal attack on their rights. There's a great deal of power jockeying by politicians lining up to use the issue to their political advantage. Then there is a media blitz to stir up public hysteria with the fear of mentally ill people stalking the streets ready to kill.

What's missing is sound education. John Wheeler who whose son was killed at Sandy Hook said, "They say guns don't kill people, people kill people. So let's deal with the people" and he's right. The people in this case is everyone.

Responsible gun owners, and they are the majority, understand the dangers of guns and respect their use. That's why the guns are locked up out of the reach of children or thieves. They know how to use them safely. Everyone who owns a gun should be required to be so educated. You want to own a gun, you are required to take a NRA approved gun safety course and show certification when purchasing a gun. We don't let untrained people drive heavy cars around the streets for the same reason. The certification can renewed like a driver's license.

We need to know the realities of gun use and violence. No more blocking studies on gun safety where we all pretend that owning a gun is not different than owning a car. Except it is. It's like having a poisonous snake loose in the house and one needs to be aware of the precautions.

Politicians need to learn this isn't a game of collecting votes or courting favor with special interest groups. It requires less finger pointing with the argument that is it someone else's job to deal with it.

We have to recognize and deal with mental illness. Mental illness is not sign of a failed human being to be swept under the rug and ignored.  We don't stigmatize someone who has a physical disability, we don't put people in leper colonies or lock them up in mental institutes anymore for good reason. The mentally disabled need to be treated with the same respect and kindness as those with a physical one.

I believe gun ownership is an important right but it is not an absolute right  that disregards the safety and well being of those who chose not to be armed.  We have the right to be protected from those who are irresponsible, uneducated and lacking in moral judgement from using arms against society. This issue is about saving lives while protecting the people's right to bear arms. Finding that balance is everyones benefit.

Three Simple Truths

I woke from a dream and realized three simple truths.

1 We are all the same. Genetically, biologically, the difference between you, me and the rest of humanity is nil. The golden rule applies so respect others.

2 What goes around comes around; You receive as you give so respect karma.

3. Life, death, life is an endless loop.so respect the first two rules.

That is all.

Quote of the Day

I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don’t respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

-Brendan Behan

Quote for the Day

"Be yourself, everyone  else is taken."
 -Oscar Wilde

Human Diversity

I recently commented to a friend the extraordinary fact that all dogs are descended from a single breed. That's right, from the smallest chihauhua to the great Dane. This speaks of an incredible genetic diversity. My friend wondered what would humans be like if we had the same kind of diversity.

We do. Not so much in physical appearance- although there is lots of that, but in our psychological make up. We range from the spirituality of the Hugging Saint to The Westboro Church ( I won't even call them Baptists) and everything in between.

It is this vast range of diversity that is our great strength and weakness. It keeps us from falling victim to universal hive mind mentality yet it also keeps us from forming a unifying ideology that would put an end to so much strife like war, indifference and religious/ tribal/ political disagreements.

Perhaps our evolution lies in finding a point somewhere in the middle. A harmonious balance between the extremes.

Just a thought.