In the Arena

Like gladiators waiting their turn in battle, the actors wait anxiously to perform.The Actor's Table of Eugene was started by Judy MacKenzie as a homage to her late sister. A year later I finally get to join in the fun. The crowd at Tsunami Books is large and enthusiatic. 

We sit in the "green room" a quaint term for any place where actors sit, stash their stuff or rehearse. This one is a large store room in the back of the store with a book shelf on one side, extra chairs stacked neatly in a corner and a very large window letting in the afternoon light. No matter how well prepared an actor is there is always an air of nervousness before a performance. Everyone has their rituals: some sit quietly, some engage in minor chit-chat or checks their costumes. If someone needs to be left alone we leave them alone. Some pace, some go over their lines, some pass the time checking their ubiquitous cell phones.

I glance at my script to remind myself of cues, do this do that but other wise give it a cursory scan, assured that I have my lines down. I'm dressed for the part, dark blue pants and short sleeve work shirt . A prop ID badge that I made up hangs around my neck. It's a nice touch. The mop and bucket I'll use as a prop is tucked in the corner of the stage.

Jen, our emcee strides before the crowd and give her clever introduction to the show and reminds folks to turn off their cell phones. Her dire threats work because I didn't hear a single one during the show. I'm the third act out of fifteen which suit me fine, the earlier I end the stress of  waiting, the better. I step up on stage and aside from a momentary blank I stay in the moment, the script tucked in my pocket.

"That's where he sat. . .this guy. . ." I begin Penn Station by William Monstrisimone. It''s a poignant glimpse of a lonely janitor and the almost forgotten longing for love and companionship that haunts her. I've wanted to do this piece ever since I read it years ago. I missed the chance once before and I'm thrilled to finally do it here. Uncut it runs about seven minutes but me and the director Laura, edit it down to under five. Even then I'm daunted at the task or memorizing it.

"He looks me straight in the eye with this smile and goes 'how ya doin' ". . . .

I used to be a janitor long ago so I know how it feels to be invisible. I too have never been in love and her pathos speaks volumes to me. I'm a bit nervous but it works for the character , who is almost a bit nervous at the possibilities she encounters.  But the opportunity doesn't turn out the way she dreamed and she returns to her sad little life.

"How ridiculous would that be- a janitor with lipstick." she ends sardonically. I leave the stage amid applause and the relief of getting it right. Afterwards I'm touched by compliments from the audience and fellow thespians. It feels good. Pavarotti was right, applause is like oxygen.

Everyone does well and afterwards everyone celebrates at a local restaurant with good food, drink and each others company.

No News on the News

There are four local channels in Eugene but like so many other towns the stations are owned by corporations far away. Recently Fisher Communications  bought a second station and promptly fired over 30 people in a swift act of downsizing. The fall out has been pretty intense but not surprisingly it’s been virtually ignored by the now enalrged media presence. Funny how they like to poke their nose in other people’s business but like the town gossip, reveals little of it’s own warts for public consumption.

News, like everything else these days, is just another commercial venture out to profit to the max. It’s genertic, bland and almost totally lacking in real substance. Soft stories about local poltics crafted not to offend the current powers, a few mug shots of petty criminals to install a sense of fear and another inane story about a cute pet. With this aquistion locals can look forward to identical stories on two news broadcast. It leaves me so annoyed and frustrated I only tune in for the weather report. No wonder I cruise the net in search of more substantial news.

It reminds me of the old Soviet era joke. The newspaper was Pravda which means truth and the news show was Vremya which means news. So there was no thruth in the “news” and no news in the “truth”. 

Ironic isn’t it.

Beware Citizen, Terror is Everywhere.

Thanks to the endless war on terror and mission creep, our governemtn can now label anything and everyone a terrorist. When hysteria runs amok the term loses all meaning.For example ,If you complain about your local government about something as common as water quality - you’re a terrorist. Protesting corporations has long been viewed as communistic  but now you are also a terrorist. Even questioning the cost of the very security system erected to keep us safe from terrorists is viewed as heresay. Where does it end? It never does citizen.

How Can We Sleep While Our Beds Are Burning

Is it just me or does it feel like people around the world are sick and tired of the status quo? It’s about time I say for the tipping point of the cultural shift that has been going on for 25 years or so.The whole Y2K thing was not about the computers going haywire, it was about humanity going from naive childhood to mad adolesence. It started with 9/11 followed by natural disasters of  volcanoes and earthquakes and now the change of regimes in Libya, Eygpt, Turkey, Brazil and even North Carolina. The good news is that Iceland can teach us a thing or two about how to effectively change the system and the main stream media isn't entirely ignoring what's happening here.

Superman Man of Steel

(Director: Zack Snyder. Screenplay: David S Goyer. Producer: Deborah snyder, Charles Roven, Chritopher Nolan. Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Russel Crowe, Micheal Shannon, Laurance Fishburne. Warner Bros. 143 mins rated PG-13)

Superman The Man of Steel has arrived after a long build up and the results are in: too dark, too serious, too much. The film makers think their work has merit if it's brooding. They think 3D enhances a films visual appeal. They think action sequences are appealing if they hit us over the head with them endlessly. Bigger is better. They're wrong.

Over at Aint-it-cool.com the ultimate comic book film geek site, the reviewers gush "It's the Superman movie we have been dreaming of!"  Ka-ching is what the studio hears because the fan boys are satisfied. The very concept was geared toward them anyway. The studios could care less about the rest of us or the film's artistic value. It's all about the money baby.

Thought the fan boys will undoubtedly enjoy it the action was so over the top, it lost it's visceral appeal quickly. It's an action movie on steriods. We have grown so numb to their size we forget there is a cost to all the carnage. Metropolis is hit with what amounts to an atomic bomb and yet when Clark Kent arrives at the Daily Planet, it's as if nothing happened.

Surprisingly film delivers with the performances, especially Henry Cavill, who captures the right balance of power and vulnerability as Superman. Amy Adams gives a depth to Lois Lane rarely seen before. All the performances are superlative. Zack Snyder does know how to direct actors, thank God. A lot of effort went into the look and tone of the world inhabited by these characters and it shows beautifully. The suit, Smallville, even the colorless Krypton are just right. Snyder's decision to shoot with a hand held camera- an idea I usually react to with groans at the unnecessary shaking- works most of the time but the film ends up being oddly remote.

The main problem is the writing. The overly developed Krypton prologue had me glancing at my watch and wondering when Kal-el would come to earth. Once he did the story jumped right into his alienation and confusion effectively. David Goyer's writing style has strayed little from The Dark Knight series in it's gloom however and there was no subtly; the plot is painted in strokes so broad you can't miss the point and it becomes convoluted at times. Kal-el is a loner and different, yeah we get it.

The graphic novel "The Watchmen" can be blamed for much of the current superhero gravity. It's deconstruction of the hero mythology has drained even the lighthearted Superman of his charm and wit. The appeal of Superman has always been his ability to be humble while exhibiting great strength of action. His story has always been uplifting and irony free, which Man of Steel doesn't quite capture because the producers can't help thrusting a lot of angst upon us along the way.

This film almost gets it right but the next film needs to dial back the excessive action and apply a lighter touch if we are to see the real Man with the S on his chest.

Bizarro World

We live in a worlds where people spout utter nonesense because truth and logic goes against their mondo bizzaro reality. These are not people with serious mental illness engaging in a psychogenic fugue  but supposedly normal, rational folk. 

This week we bring you the worst travel destination: Vacationing in Somalia

The continuing staggering ignorance of human sexuality never ceases to amaze me. I have no idea how these people came to the conclusion that gays are the cause of something that nothing to do with them but we are talking about illogic here.

How Equality for Women Will Save the World

Humanity is evolving -with women. The men are not. The men I speak of cling desperately to an outdated patriarchy where they rule and women are submissive.  They hate women, they fear them out of the fear of being left behind as the next step in evolution happens. Women have been greatly enpowered in the last 30 years -particularly in this country- but some men are afraid of the advancement.

Pussy Riot, Malala Yousafzai, Mona Eltahawhy have expressed themselves in ways  women never have before. Women are tired of being treated like dirt.Tired of being treated as incubators for procreation or sex slaves for men’s primitive desires.Women are rising up in greater numbers- and in many countries- where women have traditionally been oppressed in a state of slavery. It’s about time.

In response medievel thinking drives men to violence to preserve their distorted sense of superiority. But by oppressing women they keep themselves and humanity from advancing.

When I was a teenager I was in the midst of the “women’s liberattion “ movement. I thought that men can’t be far behind in finding their new voice in the modern world. Instead the dread and anger towards women and homosexuals demonstrates how the conservative notions of masculinity are further entrenched in fear. Men wield power with brute strength rather than the intellect they so admire but use less and less.

Women got the right to vote in this country because they convinced men we had the right. Men agreed with the change. We made the change together. Men and women need each other, we are twins in nature. We are equal but different, yin and yang that dance together. We can not exist in separate states. It’s time the evolved men of the world show their brothers they can have their masculine identity without having to promote it with fear and oppression.

Pic of the Day

This is the newly restored Union Station in Seattle. Which doesn't seem to be used for much of anything. It would be a great location for a movie except there is ABSOLUTELY no parking anywhere nearby. too bad. Still it looks pretty .

The USA is Now the USSR.

Edward Snowden has revealed that our  Democratic government is spying  on it’s own citizens and this  is how the very people being spied on react. This is exactly how our government can do this because we don’t care as long as we can play around with our smart phones, twitter and face book- all of whom are in cahoots with the government. We are doomed.

What I find especially disturbing is how the media, instead of expressing appalling  outrage, spend time nit picking over details. Well they’re not really spying on everyone and they aren't doing anything legal so what's the problem. They shouldn’t be doing any of this at all. The endless war on terror does not justify it. If our government can’t spot rank amateurs like the Boston Marathon dip shits with basic detective skills what makes us think they can can stop real terrorists.

Maybe they don’t want to. Amazing how people see conspiracy in the Sandy Hook shooting where children were massacred but let’s see a show of hands of those who think the Marathon bombing was used to justify a larger police state? 

The power being abused by the NSA and our government is frightening. We’ve seen it before in the Soviet Union, Communist China, North Korea. George Orwell predicted it in the forties for God sake. Somewhere along the line the powers that be decided to emulate the Soviet Union  and abandon real democracy. With this revelation we have learned that American citizens are being given a false sense of freedom.

(NSA photo credit  George frey/EPA/LANDOV)

The Art of Acting

I'm in the process of learning a part for an actors showcase. Me and a fellow thespian were helping each other by "running lines". One person reads the part "off book" and other prompts them from the script.

People often ask, how do we remember your lines. Simple : repetition, practice, practice, practice. This day we were tangling with the business of how to remember lines by connecting words or phases together using any mnemonic trick we had. Using a word or phrase from the other actor to cue you to a response, this is especially helpful when your character is going off topic or in another direction. It might be a prop or a gesture that cues you to your next line. This is the nuts and bolts of acting.

The tenor Caruso once said that a singer required  "A big chest, a big mouth, ninety percent memory, ten percent intelligence, lots of hard work and something in the heart." He was right. An actor also learns the art of observation. We are very keen on understanding why people behave the way they do, so we learn to watch them.

In a film about a robot the actor playing the robot decided to turn to the other fellow whenever a certain word was spoken so it looked like he was paying attention in a natural way. A way I use is to reverse engineer a scene. I will literally read a scene backward to figure out how the character goes from one point to another. This helps me see the logic and flow of their thinking.

But sometimes a single word or phrase can trip you up. I was practicing Hamlet's "To be or not to be"  and kept getting stuck on one line every time. Like a singer who's struggles with a note or passage, you just keep practicing until you get it right.

People wonder if I ever get nervous or self conscious on stage, a natural fear most have. No, not really. Some performers never get over being nervous . Roger Daltry supposedly threw up before every performance with the "The Who'" but he channeled that energy into his performance.

Once on stage there's no turning back so focus on doing the work. My inner director takes over, reminding me of cues, to speak clearly, pay attention to the other actor, etc., all the while staying in character.

You can't perform, sing or give a speech if you are self conscious. Your doubts or ego will get in the way. You hand yourself over to the demands of the performance. In the play "Beyond Therapy" I had a dreadful outfit I would never wear but it was perfect for the character. I wasn't t bothered because it was her not me. Whatever you're doing on stage is the actions of the character not you- especially when you are playing a villain.

How do you play an evil person? An actor never thinks his /her character is the bad guy .Every actor must believe their character is right. Watch how an actor responds in an interview about playing a bad guy. They will always defend the characters actions as acceptable. We justify our actions in real life why should it be any different to a grieving Prince, a mad king or a suicidal salesman.

We have all kinds of tricks to relate to our roles, memorize lines and bring characters to life. It's called acting.

Hypocrisy of the Day

 I was in a discusion with a group of people the other day when the topic of panhandlers came up. They debated whether these people were really poor or scammers. This one looked healthy, this one had a cell phone, this one had a nice car.

I couldn’t believe they had the gall to demonize others so quickly. How easy it is to judge based on superfical apperances. Yes they have a cell phone, they’re cheap, how could one look for a job, network or stay safe without one? Yes they have a car but it’s all they have. 

I never make assumptions about the economic status of someone hanging around a corner with a sign. How much of your pride would you have to give up to do that? How many of you would give up your car if it was the only possession of value you had? 

Poverty does not strip one of all their worldly goods, it strips one of dignity. We all hang onto the ones that are important to us. Many people are assest rich but cash poor. Many own houses but are bankrupt.

Judge not or you will be judged. Remember that the next time you see someone asking not for a hand out but a hand up.

The Clueless Among Us

I'm taking a break this week but in the meantime enjoy the latest example of an idiot from another planet.