Pic Post Wednesday… plus some bonus material!

Pic Post Wednesday!
Dead Man’s Shoes, by Joseph Zettelmaier – starting Previews at Williamston Theatre tomorrow! (click the pic to blowuptuate it into full size awesomeness!)

A lot of the MLB Players have taken to wearing these Phiten necklaces with their team logo during games – it’s part fashion, part placebo “energy booster”, and they’re neat looking. And my awesome wife got me one for my birthday, so now I look JUST LIKE A MAJOR LEAGUE BALLPLAYER! (minus, you know, 20 years, a foot of higher altitude and the paycheck.) 🙂

I mentioned that my son and I were building a trebuchet in this post. Here’s a shot of this miniature medeival seige machine “in progress”:

BONUS MATERIAL!
In other news, I have to introduce some cool blogs: My sister Gina has recently started a blog called “They Call Me Pretty Pretty Princess” which is really funny, and you should check it out. And a friend of hers, Tanya, has a very funny blog called “News From The Handbasket”. Thanks to these two, I’ve been bestowed the honor of a Liebster Award. What does that mean, you ask? (I asked, so it’s okay if you do!) Well, let me explain! Better yet, let me cut and paste:

Liebster is a German word that means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’, but can also mean ‘favorite’. The idea of the award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers. The Award comes with a few rules. You’re supposed to:

-Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them
-Reveal your top 5 picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
-Post the award on your blog
-Bask in the love from the most supportive people in the blogosphere – other bloggers
-Hope your recipients pass the award to their 5 favorite blogs to keep the love flowing

How neat is that? So, without further ado, I’d like to present this to:

In My Little Town – this is a blog from my friend Laura, who is a wonderful writer. Her pieces are always thoughtful, entertaining, eclectic and enjoyable. Check her out, and tell her I said hi.

She Was The Young American – I just discovered this blog, and it’s delightful. She’s a young American who just moved to London to get an advanced degree in theatre. It’s a treat to read along as she explores her new home AND explores the theatre.

Alida’s Art Journal – Alida Saxon is a wonderful artist, who posts all sorts of cool “work in progress” pics as she creates things. Check her out!

Howard Sherman – Howard Sherman is an arts administrator, producer, theatre pundit, and was Executive Director of the American Theatre Wing for a long time. His blog and Twitter accounts are very active with always interesting theatre discussions.

Two Good Eggs: A breakfast blog. Listen, I like breakfast. And these two women love breakfast, love talking about it, and are fun!

Charitable Atheism. Chuck O’Connor writes and thinks about things that I think I should probably think about, but that make my head hurt. I read his blog, and think “Thank God there are smart people debating these things – I hope it all works out.” Then I think “Heh – I’m thanking God for a blog about atheism.”

(At this point, I’m going to admit that I don’t know if those folks all ACTUALLY have under 200 followers. I’m betting some of them may have more. But I’m leaving them here anyway, because I’m a rule-breaking risk-taker, and you can’t stop me. Next up: Running With Scissors.)

Birthday Beer: Bitter Tony’s Rye Bitter!

I’ve talked in the past about how awesome my friend Duncan Williams is – Duncan is the Brewmaster at Grizzly Peak Brewing Company in Ann Arbor.

Well, after I teased him about it, (as reported here), Duncan started brewing a beer named after me for the Winter season! The good news is, it’s back right now, on tap at Grizzly Peak. The whole family visited last night, for my “Birthday Eve” as Max kept calling it, and we had a great time. So – if you’re near Ann Arbor, get yourself to Grizzly Peak quick and drink it!!

The sign:

The beer

Me, enjoying my son AND the beer!

One More Time Around the Sun!

It’s my birthday!

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
-William Shakespeare, “Merchant of Venice”

As I write this, it’s just after midnight, so officially it’s the 24th, and I’m now officially 43! And I couldn’t be happier. 42 was great, 43 should be, as they all have been, the best one yet! 🙂

Today was a great “Birthday Eve”, as my son kept calling it – some work at the theatre, some quality family time, A NAP!!, and just wrapped up recording a podcast with a good friend. (More on that in a day or two!)

So – here’s to 43! Let’s do this!

Pic Post Wednesday

Wednesday is photo day – a random assortment of things from the life of a Dad, an Artistic Director, and a guy who now has to help his son build a trebuchet. (“A WHAT?!” you ask.) Oh yes – a trebuchet:

Of course, ours will look a little more like this:

In an unrelated thought – you know what’s fun to hear from your 11-year old? “Hey, Dad. I’ve known about this project for 5 weeks, but forgot to mention it, so now you have 9 days to help me build a medieval siege machine.” Parenting = non-stop adventure.

It’s a good thing he’s cute…

We start previews next week of Dead Man’s Shoes at Williamston Theatre. These costume renderings are by the very talented Amber Marisa Cook:

Last pic of the day – just a gentle reminder…

A thought that makes me think…

“We never ask a play to find a cure for cancer or develop a sustainable energy source, but we routinely expect the theatre to change the world. Sometimes I wonder if this isn’t down to stubborn, residual puritanism: we want the theatre to change the world because that would give it a reason to exist. Beauty, pleasure, stories, metaphor – mere delights are not good enough for us.”
-Dan Rebellato

I find this quote to be interesting. I guess I agree, to a point. I mean, I’d love to say “Hey, check me out. I’m changing the world!” However – let’s face it – our footprint in today’s world is such that our plays are probably not going to be seen by enough people to cause a tidal shift in politics, or public opinion. Does that mean we shouldn’t try? Nope. And, in truth, as someone who makes theatre for a living, I have no problem with doing it for the sake of “beauty, pleasure, stories, metaphor.”

The big response that I have to this quote, though, is that I do think that theatre can change PEOPLE. Maybe not the world (not in one big sweeping move, anyway), but if we can help a couple of people per night see their world in a different way… empathize with someone else, remember that life is about the people in their lives, ask a question they never thought to ask, laugh at themselves in a way they haven’t ever done, weep and release something they should’ve released before…

If we can do that for one or two people a night… might THAT change the world?

Sunday Night Quotes

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
William James

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Jim Rohn

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.
Wayne Dyer

Either you run the day or the day runs you.
Jim Rohn

So many things on this list…

Okay, add to the list of “Things you never explained because it never even occurred to you that you would have to explain them.”

Standing on the soapdish that’s built into the wall of the shower, to see OVER the curtain because you think it will be funny, is not a good idea.

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Parents of 11-year-old boys, learn from my mistake.

Good news, no one injured. AND now we know how much weight it takes to remove one of those. AND baths are nice. AND learning to do tile repair could lead to new and interesting job opportunities…

For him, not me.

Hmmm… Maybe I should start that list?

This won’t end well…

My coffee pot has stopped working.

I have mixed emotions about this.

On one hand, OH MY GOD NONONO WHERE ARE THE COFFEES I NEED MY COFFEE!!

On the other hand…. Um…. WHERE ARE ALL THE COFFEES GONE?! GAAAAH!! MY SKIN ITCHES!

I guess I’m not conflicted about it after all.

Pic Post Wednesday!

A plethora of pics!

This makes me want to spend the night in a bookstore…

As much as I love the convenience of being able to carry around a bunch of books all at the same time on my iPad, it’s not as satisfying as carrying a real book.

The set design for Dead Man’s Shoes, which starts previews on January 26 at Williamston Theatre.

Going back to the “book” theme for a moment – This website – BookShelfPorn.com is dedicated to bookshelves, and it’s really wonderful. Tons of photos like this one:

Now I want to combine all the little bookshelves we have in our house into one big one somewhere!

A cool app that I got for the iPad, Skitch, allows you to draw on photos – this can be very productive for emailing with set designers, costume designers, property designers, etc… it’s very handy. It also, of course, can be used for having fun with pics of your wife and dog… 🙂

The Williamston Theatre box office, in a darkened lobby, during one of the final performances of This Wonderful Life.