Archives: November 01, 2004

I have heard from Laura

Monday, 29 November 2004 10:50 AM

The prodigal sister is back. My little sister Laura (the one that travels, not the one that lives in Butler and does theatrical stuff) has been back in the US for a few months. She has gradually been filling in the gaps in her travel blog, Have You Heard From Laura? And it looks like she's going to continue updating it perdically with her adventures from her home base in San Francisco. Check it out for info on her and the latest on Mr. Toast.

I like cold beverage, yeah

Sunday, 28 November 2004 12:41 PM

My Brilliant Mistakes is currently mired in a home office cleanup project, which prevents our doing much beyond carrying bags of ancient receipts and ink- and tear-stained manuscripts to the curb.

For your entertainment in the meantime, I point you to the wonderous Pop vs. Soda Page.

Please know that I am a staunch "soda" supporter, due to living in Philadelphia for my early, formative years and having native EAst Coasters for parents. Also, I hate the sound of the word "pop."

I'm never going to call a ginger ale a Coke, no matter how thirsty I am.

(Link courtesy of ESPN.com's "The Hangover.")

There are only small actors

Monday, 22 November 2004 09:44 PM

A public service message for people who audition for community theater productions: If you should receive a call from the producer of a production, offering you a role different from that for which you had wished, please remember these points:

1. The producer is not enjoying this task. She (let's say it's a she) wishes very much to be delivering the news you had hoped for: i.e., that you were cast in the lead. She can't give you that message. She sympathizes with your disappointment. She feels awful.

2. The producer is not being paid for any of her work in this production. None. She's giving up a nice Monday evening to call you and many other soon-to-be-disappointed thespians. She's going to spend a whole lot of time in the next few weeks on this production not being paid, forgoing income-generating and non-income-generating-but-enjoyable adventures to create a little bit of Theatre with which to entertain the community. She will often wonder why she's doing so, no more than when she faces tasks like calling you.

3. There are other roles in the play, good and important roles, and you have been selected above all others to play one of these roles. Every role is critical to the success of the show. She really wants you to take this role, because it will make the play as good as it can be.

4. Turning down a role that you don't want is understandable. Someone else might be available, someone who will be pleased to have a chance on the stage, and sometimes it's better to let that other person shine.

5. Taking a role you didn't expect to be offered is cool. You can learn from doing such a thing. This might be your chance to shine in new ways.

6. Telling the producer that you've been living your wished-for role for months and that her show will suck is not cool.

7. Subsequently calling the theater and telling the director that he blew it by not casting you, and that your dad will not be in the show either because you were not given the role you wanted, and then hanging up on him, is extra not cool.

But let's assume for the moment that you're leaning toward the cool side.

8. If you don't know what to say, don't say anything for moment. Take a breath. If you feel you need a moment to think, say you'll call back. (Make sure you know which number to call.) Walk around outside, splash some water on your face, scream. Splash more water. Then call back and say yes, you'd be happy to take the part.

I promise you'll be glad you did.

Anyway. So, tonight we completed much of the casting of Romeo & Juliet at the Butler Little Theatre.

Given the makeup of the cast -- two strong women's roles, several strong young men's roles, many small but important roles -- and the profile of the Butler Little Theatre acting pool -- many young women, few young men, some older folk who also happen to be parents of the young people who are most likely to go out for the play, and all of whom have varying degrees of talent and professionalism and ability to perform in a full-scale theater production -- this was a difficult task.

I'm only the producer. In our theater the director holds almost all the control of a production. The producer does the footwork, chases people down, tracks expenses, etc. It's more fun than I'm making it sound, at least sometimes. But there's no power in it, and no glory.

Casting is not one of the fun times. Tonight was, in short, a bitch.

The good side is that from here out it's easy. There's lots to do, but I know the show will turn out well, that the process will be challenging but engaging, and that I'll be proud of the result.

Life gets in the way

Tuesday, 16 November 2004 10:59 PM

I have so many things to tell you about, but I've been too busy doing and then recovering that I haven't had time to write.

In brief:

1. The 412 Creative Nonfiction Festival was great fun. (Here's a little press on the event.) Both of my writing ventures -- Inkburns and Fat Plum -- shared a table at the Media Fair. I met many interesting and engaging people, spoke on a panel that, despite an early morning start, was lively and thoughtful, and generally enjoyed the hell out of the event. I am now utterly exhausted, still, after two days of recovery. And I have so many things to follow up on, people to contact and websites to update and blog entries to post.

2. Also, I mentioned previously in this space that I was open to new career options. "Ask and you shall receive," they say, and so it has been for me. Except that I asked for a high-paying gig, and the emphasis for my new job is certainly not on "high-paying." Then again, it does pay something, which is more than nothing, and it turns out that something is exactly fine for me. Details to come -- stay tuned.

And now to bed. More soon.

The Faders -- and you! -- on the BBC

Wednesday, 10 November 2004 10:39 PM

Want to be on British television? You can be -- we got the hookup for you. The Faders, our favorite local alt-country-and-more hipsters, are about to have a close encounter with the BBC, and they want you to be there. Here's the scoop from Jon in the band:

It's no joke ... we got a call from a BBC crew who are filming in Pittsburgh next Sunday. They need to shoot a scene with a band playing at a small club, and they saw on the web that we're booked at the Quiet Storm that afternoon. I don't know any details, except that whatever it is they're filming stars the woman who played the wife in "Babe," and our set has to include the folk song "Home Sweet Home." (seriously)

So if you'd like to join us for what should be a fun and vaguely surreal show, here are the details:

The Faders
The Quiet Storm, Friendship
Sun Nov 21, 3 - 5pm
Cover charge $6

Due to prior commitments I have to miss this one, much to my sorrow. But that just leaves more camera time for you.

A bowl of barnuts, a pint of ale, and thou

Wednesday, 10 November 2004 05:49 PM

I will start Sunday sitting on a panel, speaking as knowledgeably and entertainingly as possible. By the afternoon, however, I hope to be sitting in a bar somewhere in Pittsburgh, watching TV and cheering loudly. The question is, which bar should it be?

Recommendations for great places in town to watch the Steelers are requested. Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

And if you'd like to cheer with me, please say so -- the more, the merrier.

Our top story

Tuesday, 09 November 2004 10:40 AM

The folks at the Guardian Unlimited are experimenting with a new use of blogs:

From today, we're experimenting with the idea of a "newsdesk update" Newsblog entry. Every weekday morning, one of our editors will tell you some of the main stories we're planning to cover during the day, let you in on the editorial discussions that go on behind the scenes in our newsroom, and give you an opportunity to offer your comments and suggestions. And today it falls to me to get the ball rolling …

It's like the TV news "what we're working on for tonight's report," but with the addition of asking for and potentially using reader feedback. This is great for news junkies, but it also gives the Guardian a chance to better gauge which stories pique reader interest most, before they go to print.

The Guardian seems always to be looking for ways to incorporate new technologies into their operations and business model. Combined with their fine writing and editorial work, it makes them a great one to watch.

Winning's a habit, not only a dream

Tuesday, 09 November 2004 12:26 AM

Recently, Dan Marino interviewed Ben Roethlisberger and gave the rookie a hard time for not knowing the "Steelers Fight Song," from back in the 70s. Which I thought was funny -- until I realized I didn't remember it myself.

Oh, I remembered there was one, to the tune of the "Pennsylvania Polka." It was inescapable in the Super Bowl years. But over time the lyrics and melody had fallen right out of my memory.

Thank goodness for this Interweb of ours: Here are two versions of the lyrics to the "Steeler Fight Song" (from the 1970s and 1995, with appropriate player names for the times). And here's a site with a piano version of the tune and a bonus alternative "Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song" from 1960.

Just keep that Steelers machinery humming.

UPDATE: So as soon as I posted this, I started thinking, "Hey, we need an updated version of this for the current team. Like, 'Cowher and all his men are all on the team... Plaxico and Hines Ward are here for the show, and so is Randle El (El-Yeah!)...'" But then I came to my senses, because the minute we start singing Super Bowl songs and making up dances and looking at flights for Jacksonville in February, that's the minute we bring down every kind of jinx on ourselves. So, my fellow Steelers fans, no new lyrics! Resist! (At least until the postseason.)

Slightly related: If you were looking for a way to give me a thoughtful gift and benefit charity at the same time, Hines Ward's used cleats are up for auction this week.

Drink of the week: Caipiroska

Monday, 08 November 2004 11:03 PM

Early this week, for no particular reason:

Caipiroska

Ingredients: 3.0 slices Lime
3.0 tsp Sugar
2.0 oz. Vodka

Directions: Crush the slice of lime in a glass.
Add sugar and Finlandia Vodka and fill the glass with crushed ice. (From the Finlandia Web Site.)

What am I bid?

Monday, 08 November 2004 06:34 PM

The Paris Review Foundation is holding an auction to raise money for itself. The auction runs from November 9 at 10:00 A.M., EST, through November 17.

Among the offerings are a bunch of unique, mostly writerly or readerly goodies -- signed books and such. There are also events, some more literary (a wine-tasting with Jay McInerney) than others (lunch for four at the Playboy Mansion).

One item caught my eye: "[a] copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas shot with a bullet by Hunter S. Thompson." This delightful specimen is not featured in the online preview, but it's listed first in the Paris Review email newsletter. Once the auction opens tomorrow we will, one assumes, get to see a photo and more detailed description of the thing.

Oh, how I'd like to own it. But I predict the bidding will be well beyond my discretionary spending allowance (approx. $13) within seconds.

Disappointed though I am, this gets me thinking. Signed books are so commonplace; a distinctively modified book is much more exciting. I don't know why I didn't realize this before. Among the treasures in my library are a copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius with a custom, crayoned doodle by Dave Eggers. I'm also fond of the bird-like doodle on the dust cover of Lawrence Krauser's Lemon.

Of course, signatures and doodles are easier to apply at book stores. And it's hard to imagine anyone orchestrating a public event that combined Mr. Thompson with a loaded firearm. (Please insert your best "loaded" joke here.)

Still and all, a bullet hole in a book is pretty damned distinctive. And quick.

When I have a book published and do signings, I'll need a creative means of personalizing them. And I do know how to shoot a gun, you know.

UPDATE: As of 9:45pm 11/14, the leading bid on the Hunter S. Thompson bullet-pierced first edition is $1000. Makes a great gift.

Not-so-lost weekend

Saturday, 06 November 2004 11:12 PM

Hang on a minute: It's National Drunken Writing Night (NaDruWriNi) tonight and no-one told me. Hrmph.

I had planned to keep to an easy night tonight, due to having had one or perhaps three too many intemperance beverages last night. But I'm already skipping National Novel Writing Month, due to already having a novel in progress that I'm committed to finishing by December 31. And I drink and write, sometimes at the same time. So this event seems perfect for me this year.

My Plan: Finally, at last, revise the plot sheets for The Novel. I started them in the summer, then ran into a roadblock that required rethinking (or more fully thinking out) the characters. Then I couldn't face the plot sheets, because ... well, I don't know the because. So here I think the inhibition-reduction of NaDruWriNi could help. I'll post notes through the next few hours in the extended part of this post.

And I'm off!

(Entries read from newest to oldest.)

1:11 am

Beverage: Hot Toddy (These are great! I should have been drinking these all along.)

Writing: The essay notes are going like crap, but the topic is good and I feel sure it can eventually come out OK. Am trying to channel all my beloved, besotted writers and simply get the words down so I can fix them. I think of myself as a better editor than writer -- if I could separate the two skill sets and use them each at far different times, I know I'd create the writing I want. Instead the editor and writer keep tripping over each other in their haste to make good writing more quickly. We/I want it now.

I'm going to have to bring this party to a close soon, and before I forget I want to thank B for creating this inspiring event. And I want to cheer on the many who are participating or who have passed out from participating so well. And I especially want to cheer on those who are participating without drinking, who are unbelievably stronger than I can imagine being.

On an unrelated topic, did I mention how good The Incredibles is? It's very good. Also, I want to live in the Incredibles' house. The furniture is exactly the furniture I want, the house has such cool roof angles, and the whole thing embodies chic. I suppose I don't actually like their subdivision, or any subdivision, but if I could plop their house down where mine is now, I'd be Living the Dream. I bet they have turquoise mosaic tile in their bathrooms.

Feeling: Somewhat drunker. Maybe you already noticed.

12:40 am

Beverage: Still on the second beer, but nearly finished.

Writing: Here are things I have done, instead of writing, in the two hours since I started this:
Made and ate a bowl of pasta
Cleaned dust and cat hair out of my keyboard (ick)
Read some comic strips online
Checked for new email about a dozen times
Read blogs of other people who are writing more than I am

Feeling: A goodly bit more drunk than 20 minutes ago. Some troulbe typing, made worse by injuries to the fingers that I suffered while helping build the set at the theater today. Not quite so tired now though.

12:20 am

Writing: Bukowski I am not. Last night's revelries, which were relatively in-control, have put a damper on my desire to drink anything tonight. Also, I have to get up early.... Excuses, excuses.

But I have made it through the plot. I continue to worry it's not strong enough. But parts of it still make me laugh, which has to be a good thing. This evening I came up with a good twist, so that's another positive result of the evening. I'm going to leave off the novel for the night, start fresh on it tomorrow. For the rest of the night, I'm switching to capturing notes for a new personal essay thingie.

Mood: Still not drunk. (Is that a mood?)

11:59 pm

Beverage: Dogpile India Brown Ale #2

Writing: OK, so the beginning of the plot still mostly works even with the character revisions. Meaning, all the times I put off reading through this stuff I was being silly, because it still works and I was scared of nothing. Also, already I've gotten some value from this evening's adventure. However, this would be a poor time to stop -- I need at least to get through all of the plot as written so far, so I can start tomorrow with a simple, blank piece of paper. It's nice to have a reachable goal.

Also, I find others' posts on this drunken writing evening to be interesting. Everyone has interpreted the challenge of the event in a unique way. I wish I'd started earlier and had committed to simple, random writing for the night, rather than continuing a focused project I'd started already. Ah well. THere's always next year.

Mood: Cautiously optimistic. Tired, sadly not drunk.

10:52 pm

Beverage: Dogpile India Brown Ale

Writing: I first have to get the writing gear out of the car, where it was quietly waiting for tomorrow morning's drive to the coffeeshop -- I've written this same novel twice already and been unhappy with the plot both times, so this time I'm focusing first on plot, planning the whole story before creating the text. It feels weird to write this way. Inelegant. But I've decided to trust the process and not stray until the bloody thing is written.

Mood: Anxious, but determined. Also ever so slightly pleased that the universe has conspired to force me into writing on a weekend I'd almost let it slide (again).

Incredible

Saturday, 06 November 2004 10:44 PM

The Incredibles has been in national release for two days now. Have you seen it yet? If not, why not? My Brilliant Mistakes recommends it highly. We'll be going again as soon as we can. You may join us if you like, and can get to Butler, PA -- we'll spring for popcorn.

In the event that you can't get to a movie theater just now and instead wil be sitting at your computer, we suggest you check out the following items, which struck us as worthy of attention:

A frog is lost, and people everywhere are spreading the word.

We all can at last visit Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, assuming we are in the vicinity of Pittsburgh's North Side.

It is possible to prepare food without using electricity.

Need a witty proverb concerning an unusual subject? You're in luck.

Our pick for the Gratuitous Drink Name of the Month: Tie Me to the Bedpost

The wildest, most luxurious madness in the world

Friday, 05 November 2004 02:56 PM

I think I shall have to plan a trip to visit my friends in Zurich next year. I would very much like to go shopping.

In my living room, I have a print of the poster shown above. It's huge -- 40 by 55 inches -- and dominates the wall, which is exactly the effect I intended.

When I was a grad student living in Boston, a nearby vintage print dealer had an original hanging in his front window. I never went in to look at it close up, because I knew I'd buy it, even though I couldn't afford it. (I was busily spending my stipend and additional school loans on ski trips, blackjack, and beer.)

I've since learned that, as vintage posters go, this is a classic. It was created in 1920 by Leonetto Cappiello, an Italian designer who worked in France and whose style changed advertising fundamentally. And I've since figured out that it's an ad for a brand of absinthe, which carries its own history and mystique, and about which I've long been curious. So it embodies many of my passions in a single item, and is amazingly cool to look at.

I plan someday to buy an original of the Maurin Quina poster -- they're not too hard to find, and as vintage posters go not completely unaffordable, but properly framed are beyond my means just now (see previous post for details). Once I do, I look forward to gazing upon it while sipping a glass of true Swiss absinthe. Who knows what I'll see.

Working for the weekend

Friday, 05 November 2004 02:10 PM

I overslept this morning. That's never good on a workday, and it's particularly problematic on the day that starts one of my marathon weekends.

Tonight I have three events to attend/enjoy between 6:30 and 10 in Pittsburgh, representing art, literature, and dance. Then I hightail it back to Butler for a little night music.

I can't stay out too late, and I must watch (not just watch, but remember to limit) my alcohol consumption, as the rest of the weekend is allotted to volunteer work, work work, other work, and a long neglected project. And preparations for next weekend.

Plus there's a big game and long-awaited movie to fit in. And somewhere in there I need to spend a few hours on this novel I am committed to finish by December 31. Also, probably I'll need to sleep at some point.

It's all good stuff -- I'm not complaining. My chosen schedule does make me feel rushed though, and sometimes I forget to enjoy the things I'm doing and rushing between. More troublesome, when I overbook and have to let things slip, the tasks that seem to suffer most are those that generate income. Very soon I'm not going to be able to afford myself.

I suppose one solution would be to find ways to derive income from the things I love doing most. Anyone know of a high-paying job that involves sitting in cafes and bars, talking with people while intending to work on a novel?

Hold the mayo

Thursday, 04 November 2004 03:22 PM

If the searches in our referrers log are any indication, people have taken a sudden interest in sandwiches named in honor of Pittsburgh's rookie quarterback phenomenon. We suggest these hungry folk check out today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which offers recipes for the Roethlis-burgher sandwich from Brentwood Express and the Roethlisburger from Peppi's restaurants.

The two sandwiches are about as different as can be. Which is the definitive version? As they each sound like a cardiac arrest on a kaiser roll, I'll not be the one to decide.

Does this superhero suit make me look fat?

Thursday, 04 November 2004 10:09 AM

Here's just the thing to soothe my ills: The Incredibles, Pixar's latest animated feature, opens tomorrow.

It's all over local press and the internet, including many interviews with the creator/director, Brad Bird.

The official movie site is fun, especially the "Picture Yourself as a Superhero" feature. I'm Groovy Thunder Gal! My official super power is Strength.

Want a preview? Here are the trailers. While you're at the Pixar site you can enjoy all their classic short films too.

From the outside, looking in

Tuesday, 02 November 2004 06:30 PM

From the Guardian Unlimited (yes, I'm referencing British people again), a succinct guide to interpreting hour-by-hour exit poll results. Combine this with a color-coded map of the states, preferably one that lets you play out electoral college scenarios, and you can play election pundit in the comfort of your own home!

Or, if like me you don't have cable TV and probably should not be all by your lonesome on such a tense evening, in the comfort of your local bar.

Oh, hey, this is pretty cool too. I need to find a bar with a TV and a wireless hotspot.

UPDATE: The NYT election guide has been closed (too bad, because it was fun to play with) is still online, and has been replaced with supplemented by an election results map. The new graphic doesn't allow one to set up scenarios and forecast results. It has instead real results so far. Not much to see yet (6:30pmET), but presumably it'll be more interesting in an hour.

UPDATE UPDATE: Oops...no, wait. The scenarios guide is still there -- I was too impatient to give it time to load. Sorry.

Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles

Monday, 01 November 2004 11:23 PM

It shouldn't be a surprise that most of the publications I read have come out in support of Senator John Kerry in tomorrow's election. Maybe my thinking is shaped by what I've read; maybe I gravitate to those with like minds.

But I am surprised a little, in two cases. One traditionally doesn't take a public stance although an editorial bias can be inferred.

The other is more easily recognized as conservative, and frankly I'd thought they would support Bush. Granted, the Economist's recommendation of Kerry isn't a ringing endorsement -- they seem to be among the "Kerry Haters for Kerry" camp -- but they are plugging him all the same.

I'm glad to see big, widely read and respected publications supporting the candidate I myself think is the better bet. But overall I'm discouraged, even disgusted by the way our system of government operates.

I wish I felt proud of our political system, or at least more engaged in the process. I know I'm lucky to live in a country that offers real opportunities to participate. But when I think of our political system, I think of this passage:

The major problem--one of the major problems, for there are several--one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.

(The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 1980.)

You'd think my mind could get itself stuck on a more respectable quote from literature: surely there's something from Henry V on qualities of leadership that would resonate, or maybe a bit from All the King's Men, one of my favorite American novels. Even something from Machiavelli's The Prince (which contains some quite good thinking and has received a bad rap over the years).

But no. What sticks in my brain, what neatly summarizes my views on representative government, is a glib bit of comic science fiction.

Maybe my distaste for the political is part and parcel of the kind of writer I am. At a Kerry fundraiser in NYC earlier this year, Jonathan Lethem suggested that novelists have little patience for the absolute of modern politics, although even they can be drawn into the fray:

"I am a novelist," he explained by way of introduction. "I'm not a musician, not a poet, not a comedian, not a funny person." Novelists, he said, are known for their "reflectiveness, tolerance for ambivalence ... their tendency to hesitate, reconsider, regret our choices." Noting his breed's "extreme sensitivity to sunlight and absolutism," Lethem claimed that when presented with a petition, his colleagues are generally "more likely to revise it than sign it." But, he said, he and his brethren "are emerging from their holes ... [and] putting Kerry signs in their windows," though he admitted that that may also be about blocking more sunlight.

"Like the Lorax, I am here to speak for the novelists," continued Lethem, building up a head of bespectacled steam. "This time, it's not only the poets who are filled with passionate intensity, not only the rock stars, not only the comedians. This time, even the novelists are filled with passionate intensity. And when you have roused even the novelists to the barricades against you, I am here to suggest that your days are truly numbered."

And that, much more elegantly than I can manage, summarizes why I'll be voting tomorrow, casting my tiny but real opinion into the pile and wishing for the best.

I hope you'll do the same.

Copyright © 2004 – 2007 Cynthia Closkey