Quiet Progress?

Is it just me or has a rare thing just happened? It seems as though the United States congress has gotten off their butts and...get this...done something about the war in Iraq. As difficult as it is to believe, and as ineffectual as it may seem, I think this may have happened.

The House approved a time line for withdrawal (I believe) 218 to 214 and the Senate has followed suit 50 to 48. Which means this is going to the Chimp in the Alabaster Cage.

Now, I am not suggesting that everyone run out and start planning "Welcome Home" ticker tape parades, there is really no chance that the Chimp in charge won't pepper this legislation with his own veto feces. However; it puts the responsibility for never ending war squarely on the shoulders of our simian president and his party of fecal tossers.

In short it's the kind of move that offensive progressives should be excited about. Not because it will be the answer, but that it is progress. When was the last time you can remember our "dear leader" being faced with a difficult decision? This could be the first time. He can veto and "stay the course," or he can undermine his own presidency and sign the bill. Don't forget that in vetoing the bill, he will veto funding for the troops - isn't that delicious? But since this president has no problem wiping his arse with the flag I'm sure he and his colon deprived press secretary will try and spin it some other way. Speaking of Tony Snow, best wished for a speedy recovery and I really do hope you can beat the cancer - who knows it might make you believe in science.

So give your favorite Democrat a email or call of encouragement. Most of us tend only to get vocal when something is wrong and over look the positive reinforcement for our representatives that so many of us in the theater business desire for absolutely everything that we do. Don't leave those trying to work for you out in the cold. Congrats on doing the work of the people Democrats in Congress. Now will some Jim Webb staffer hurry up and shoot the Chimp with a tranquilizer dart so this bill can pass.

Solution BSG

This was all planned. Thats all I can think of, can you imagine 10 years ago the public accepting an argument that anyone going to capitol hill to talk to congress shouldn't be under oath? I really am flabbergasted that Republicans think it is perfectly acceptable, and indeed the same thing, to have informal meetings with committee members and that those meeting will equal testimony.

This should be the last straw with these people. Really. The arrogance is astounding. They do not respect the American Government, and therefore, the American People. It is now clear to me that the only acceptable solution to the Bush Administration is dishonorable removal. They lied about the threat that Iraq posed, and the American people bought it; so now when faced with there own criminality in this US Attorney mess, what do they do - lie. Not only that, they want us to believe that they should be allowed to tell us lies. That is what this no swearing in business is about. There is no reason for an administration that has done nothing wrong (which is their stance) to be frightened by sworn testimony before congress. But the Bushies are shaking in their brush-clearer's.

Arlen Specters's "compromise" is horse shit. I mean in the 80's congress had hours and hours of sworn testimony from the Reagan Administration, and they had a whole lot of bad business to hide, are the Bushwits telling us that what they have been doing is worse than Iran-Contra? If so, they need to be eliminated, and if our representative are to timid - I guess we need a state convention or something - I believe I would nominate the Mayor of Salt Lake City to chair.

Really folks, it's getting worse out there, not better. People will say,"well there are only 22 months left, how bad can that be?" Are you really okay with finding out, given the last 6 years? As far as I am concerned (and this should go for everyone) this latest attempt to undermine the American Government should be view at best as an attempt to undermine the legal process, and at worse high treason. My solution? Put them all on a Space Shuttle and put them out the air lock - cause that s what we do with things that look human, but are far from it.

Conflicted

So I had been hearing rumblings of this happening, but I've kind of been denying it. I would seem the nice people over at Roundhouse have decided to do Nigel William's adaptation of Lord of the Flies.

Some of you may remember my directorial debut in Washington with 2002's Lord of the Flies. Not only was this a great opportunity for me, but it brought together with many of my friends, even introduced a few popular actors to Washington.

To be blunt, I loved that show - and still do - and it saddens me that it's memory may be eclipsed by a new production at a larger theater. This is petty of course, theater must continue to be re-envisioned in order for it to grow and continue to be relevant. But I feel such an ownership of the piece that it is difficult for me to let it go - but I have to keep telling myself that Michael Kahn doesn't get this way every time someone does Hamlet or Richard III.

The pictures are from the 2002 production, you may recognize actors like Jason Stiles, Hugh Owen, Karl Miller, Maggie Glauber, and Evan Casey. More detail on the production can be found here. I do take the solace that most of these actors and the design team will never forget the experience.

Karl Miller was catapulted into Roundhouse's Cherry Orchard because of this show, Matt Soule(set) and Adam Magazine(lights) both received Mary Goldwater Awards for their work on the show, the show itself was the very first Rorschach show to extend it's run as well as being the first show in Casa del Pueblo.

Nor can I fail to acknowledge my great friends Kate Norris and Scot McKenzie who served as dramaturg and fight partner respectively. Not that the actors would know them, Kate and Scot were in She Stoops to Conquer (which I would join them in for for the last week of their run) at the Folger at the time and I would pick them up after rehearsal, go back to my house where Scot and I would fight in the living room while Kate kept feeding me research (historical and psychological.) I would stop when something needed more thought or was particularly interesting, then Scot would use this opportunity to take me off guard - resulting in a very savage fighting style and a well thought out psychological/social structure for the lads on the island.

I still have the pig head in a closet at my house. It only stopped bleeding a year or so ago - that's true, and gross.

And just a piece of advice to Blake: "Sucks to your Asmar'" is not in Nigel's adaptation - look for a place to put it in, your audience will thank you.

Damn You Canada, Damn You!

Last Night I attended the reception for Helen Hayes Nominees at the Canadian Embassy. Let me just say right up front that I love going to these things at the Canadian Embassy. There is really only one reason: Oysters on the half shell. I love raw oysters. My dad(as I have mentioned) is a scuba diver and for most of my youth our family vacations were planned around "dive opportunities." Quickly I became a fan of all sea food, but the oyster has always been the most intriguing.

It begins with the pulling of oysters from the bay and steaming them in camp fires, but as I got older I was enlisted as unpaid labor for the Undersea Explorers Club's oyster roast, an annual event in which the members of the club cooked sea food in a flat fee all you can eat format. These days would begin at 3 am with a trip to the North Side of Richmond to pick up the deep fryer. The fryer was made by a couple of guys in the club and was about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. I would then ride in the beer truck to the sight (a park on the South Side) and assist with hooking up the taps. So about 8am I would set about the task of breading oysters for my dad. I would open the jars of raw oysters and dump them into what seemed like sandboxes filled with cornmeal. I'd do this for the rest of the day, occasionally stopping to make Hush Puppies or eat (ok, or sneak beer - fine my secret is out.)

My father would alternate between manning the gianormous fryer and shucking oysters. He was quite the shucker. But it went further than just this event. My dad makes a mean oyster stew as well. Now oyster stew is not something I would eat now a days as it was mostly butter and salt with some steamed oysters thrown in - but man did it taste good in the 80's. Really there was nothing better for me than when my dad would get a new supply of raw oysters in a jar and allowed me to consume them with him, make my own cocktail sauce, and shun the oyster crackers as a tool of those who wished to mask the oysters taste or texture.

My mother and brother do not share my love of the raw oyster, so it's not like a crazy family thing. It's just me and my dad, though Bob Allen is with me on the greatness of the oyster on the half shell.

Back to my point, the Canadian embassy had an oyster bar, and not one but two different kinds. I think I almost knock Leslie Nielson over getting to them (though in fairness, I though Andrew was lying to me when he told me that it was Leslie Nielson.) But once I got home I fell asleep within thirty minutes and woke up on my couch at like 4 am. I also fine this morning that a co-worker of mine who also attended the reception passed out shortly after returning home. Keep in mind that the shin-dig was over at 8pm. Damn you Canada, Damn you.

...and Featherd

There is a new number one on the list of phrases that need to be removed from our vernacular, or once again given the strength which they once held. "I accept responsibility..." when was the last time you heard a public official say this and actually suffer any consequences?

Okay, Brownie lost his job, but he got a better one - contracting for FEMA. Bush took "responsibility" for how things have gone in Iraq - and jet we just keep letting him play in the big boy sandbox. Alberto "Speedy" Gonzales seems to be on the road to "taking responsibility" by blaming Harriot Meyers. Guess what Burt, if you are responsible, then you have to resign. No "but, the president can do what he wants," no"I trust the Senate to talk and talk and talk about this until I get to retire," and no "hey look, Hilary Clinton is beating small children! Quick shred the evidence that we hired competent, ethical people - of coarse no one will believe we hired that kind of people - shred non the less!"

That is it. You barley got confirmed by a republican Senate, what makes you think that you will survive a DEM Senate? Quit now Burt, before we drag your bad name through the mud and even the disgusting people in your own party won't have anything to do with you. Do you honestly think the people of this country will stand for an Attorney General that breaks the law? Presidents, sure...but not our top lawyer. Americans hate lawyers anyway, but a lawyer that breaks the law could be the last rung of scum that even the 18% that thinks Bush is doing the right thing in Iraq can't stomach.

I am warning you right now Burt - get out of my Department of Justice, cause I am getting a cauldron and some roof tar at Home Depot tonight, and I got my eyes on a nice rail in the parking lot of the post office behind my place of business.

Guns and A-Holes

Today on the progressive talk radio, my man Ed Schultz is trying to defend gun owners and the federal decision to repeal the DC handgun ban. I am going to take this time to express how tired I am of stupid fly over Americans insisting on comparing Cars to Guns. This is a ignorant comparison.

Cars are built for transporting people, goods, even information - and sometimes are a replacement for self esteem, in the case of men. Guns are made for one reason - to kill. There is no other purpose for a gun.

One does not use a gun to stir pasta, ride the metro, pacify a crying child...blog. Cars are not meant to kill, you can kill someone with a car -but it talks some effort to do so, or extreme negligence.

If the gun lobby, or the "sportsmen" of the country can come up with a non-violent use for guns then I would rethink my position, but I know that they can't. And while I am at it, this "sportsmen" name they give hunters is total BS. What is sportsman-like about sneaking up on a defenseless animal and shooting it? If you're hungry, I can understand it. So why don't we give hunting licenses only to homeless people? Most of them are Vietnam Vets anyway, at least they will know how to use the guns.

My opinion of hunting is like that of NASCAR or Golf. These are indulgences that a male dominated society has insisted on calling sports. But in reality they endanger our environment, our national security, and our lives. I don't expect them to go away, but I do expect that the people who engage in these indulgences take responsibility for the damage they are doing to our country.

Traitors.

Read it and Weep: The Woodpecker moves up the list!

Just got a cable from the most depraved writer in New Jersey (ain't that saying something...) and you guessed it: The Woodpecker has moved on to be a FINALIST for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Other accolades include:

semi-finalist or finalist for the Global Age Project (Aurora
Theatre), 2007 PlayPENN New Play Development Conference, and the 2007 Seven
Devils Playwrights' Conference.

So Be on the lookout for Samuel Brett Williams. He's on the rise, and I will be glad to say that I knew him when.

You don't impress me Grey's Anatomy...

Someone over at Grey's Anatomy is a Mez Head. In case you hadn't put that together - lover of the Gomez. Apparently the medical drama hooked up with the Go network is heavy into Gomez and responsible for the boy resent appearance on The Tonight Show. By my count they've used three track from the "How We Operate" album this year.

This, however, will not lure me into your medical drama. I have no interest, and since I already know and love Gomez more than you will ever be able to pay them I refuse to set my TIVO to record your drivel, mostly because the Medical Drama is so 90's. The other reason is Patrick Dempsey. Watch Mobsters, and you will understand.

I may, once again, have to watch my favorite musicians tumble into mediocrity by way of notoriety(see: Pearl Jam.) Moreover; if this Grey's Anatomy thing keeps me from being able to get tickets to shows (like my friends who have to act far too fast in order to get tickets to Arcade Fire) I'm gonna start hitting teenagers with logs. I believe that my first test will be in Atlanta this July. Why Atlanta? Well they are playing in Baltimore on March 10, but I have a show - It's the second half of a double bill with Ben Kweller - and wouldn't you know it I just check and the bitch is sold out...thanks a lot, Life In The Theater. Anyway - I didn't want it to be like the Philly show, when I got there in time to see only 30 minutes of the show.

Cheers Mates - don't let this thing go to your heads too much please. And I'm still not watching Grey's Anatomy. Ick, Dempsey, gives me the willys.

Gingrich Reveals Plan to get GOP Nomination, and lose the General!

WOW! Here is this from Crooks and Liars. Now I know a conservative who already has the answer to the question Newt is asking. My Dad. Since Dad's retirement he has participated in volunteering during the two biggest natural disasters of the new millennium. The Tsunami in Asia and Hurricane Katrina. My father being a master scuba instructor (and I say master because it his title, not because he taught me to dive - though he did,) was quick to go to Asia and help with savage - and since water was involved with Katrina he went down there to see if he could be put to use.

He did not speak of diving in New Orleans, but rather that he too could not understand why all those people just sat on their duffs and let the hurricane slam into them. Then he got the answer. Most of the 9th ward is on welfare, and the hurricane hit before they got their checks - hence none of them had any money to get them passage out of the city. They couldn't buy bus tickets, train tickets, gas, none of that stuff. So this is not a failure of citizenship as the un-esteemed former speaker suggests (by the way did you know he is on his 3rd wife?) but rather, as we in the reality based community have know all along, a failure of a government to give it's citizens the tools required to be good citizens.

Just another bull shit excuse from the right. Where is your plan, Mr. Gingrich? Another tax cut? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Because DCeiver won't

Big congratulations to my Maryland Terrapins! 5 in a row and a lock for the NCAA tournament with a 8 point victory over the hated Blue Devils. That would be a sweep, DCeiver. By the way your Cav's can thank us later for the bump in their strength of schedule.

This was a quintessential Terps win. After being insulted by the Coaches of America with a top 25 snub after breaking the hearts of the Tarheels, Gary's Guys go out a face a team with identical record, RPI, and strength of schedule - yet ranked 14th in nation - and embarrass them on there home floor. Dicky V must have had an aneurysm. More importantly for the future, Greivis Vasquez ends up one rebound shy of a TRIPLE DOUBLE! Yet no one mentions it. Thats fine. I'm happy with DJ Strawberry and Mike Jones being recognized, but come on! A Frosh that goes 12, 13, and 9? That is flat out amazing.

So all you VA Tech and UVA'ers we'll see you in the ACC tourney - unless you get scarred and loss to NC State or GA Tech on purpose.