*geek alert*

"…and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend!"

This is so fun! Gallery 1988, in Los Angeles, has a whole show dedicated to He-Man: "Under the Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"!

He-Man was big when I was a kid, and oh boy do some of these pieces bring back memories! Awesome!

So for those of you who, like me, spent many hours defending your sofa-cushion-fort from Skeletor, check it out here:
"Under the Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" 

Ruel Pascual
"Vanquish"

Kiersten Essenpreis
"Skeletor Gets A Root Canal"

I start rehearsals tonight for It Came From Mars by Joseph Zettelmaier.  Can’t wait!  This show is a co-production between The Williamston Theatre and The Performance Network Theatre, and I think it’s going to be a ton of fun.  Really excited to work with this fantastic cast and production team – the pre-production work has been great so far, and now comes the part where we get to start putting the thing up on it’s feet! 

A sketch of the set;

(You can click the pic to embiggen it!)

When you look back on your life, you come to the realization
that a life is really only a few days long. Those few days dictate direction, the rest
is just recovery.
– Lydia, from While We Were Bowling by Carter Lewis

“I think that I am a populist, which I believe is the right thing to be if you’re a theater artist. That thing about accessibility being a dirty word in New York—I think it is a tragic, tragic mistake for people to embrace that idea in theater. Because too much theater, I believe, sets the audience out and says basically, you’re not welcome here. I don’t think that’s ever been an appropriate thing to say when you’re inviting people in to pay a lot of money and share in your world and make a community for two hours. I think theater is such a delight, even when it’s tragic, there’s something so beautiful and energizing about that experience. And it’s intellectually provoking and emotionally and spiritually provoking. Why would you create a world where the audience that’s been invited in can’t participate? That actually seems like poor sense to me.”
Theresa Rebeck

“Art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy

“I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were. It is time, I think, that we who are without kings took up this
bright thread of our history and followed it to the only place it can possibly lead in our time–the heart and spirit of the average man.”
Arthur Miller

“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
G. K. Chesterton

Elitism is the belief or attitude that those individuals who are considered members of the elite — a select group of people with outstanding personal abilities, intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most weight.

Spent the day laying out calendars for the next couple of months… and my dad is in the hospital in Florida right now.  He’s fine, and will be out in a day or two, but we had a little scare. 

A wonderful holiday season, filled with lots of family time and a little work time, has given way once again to the mountain of to-do lists and emails and daily fires.  Best job in the world, but it pulls at your time, and when your kids say "Oh, you’re starting another show soon?  Do you have to?" you stop for a minute and wonder the same thing.  The answer is yes, but you sit down with the calendar and block out each day…

And so the struggle for balance begins again – Dad time, Artistic Director time, husband time, son time, friend time, time time time…

My son starts basketball this week.  I’m really excited that I’ll be able to take him to his first practice.  He’s excited to play, and I’m just hoping he has fun and learns about being on a team.  My daughter may play, too – she’s still undecided.  I hope she does, but won’t push her.

Side note – my favorite memory from playing youth basketball at age 9 or 10 is my mother saying to me, one evening in the gymnasium as we were all leaving after a game, "Anthony.  You’re playing well.  But – you are not allowed to stop and yell "DANG IT!!" every time you miss a basket."  🙂  Just thinking about that makes me giggle!  I remember asking "Did I do that?!" and my father just laughing!  Aaaah, good times.  We had a basketball net on our garage, and it was always fun to play HORSE with my brother and our friends.  Sometimes dad would join in, and that was always a treat. 

I think I’ll have to buy another basketball tomorrow.  We have one, but if they’re both going to be practicing their bounce-passes and dribbling in the basement, we may as well have two.  And maybe we’ll make some dixie-cup paths, so we can run some footwork drills.

Yeah… that definitely sounds like a good way to spend some time.

Good evening internet world.

Like board games? Card games? Video games? Oh, forget what you like and just say yes, and Click Here! These are some of the coolest things you’ll see all week… and yummiest!

The Doctor Who finale from this weekend, where David Tennant departed the show, was really wonderful. I’ll miss him on the show, and hope the new Doctor does well.

Related to that, these have been linked to by a lot of folks, and they are hilarious: They’re the Doctor’s Facebook Page and The Master’s Facebook Page. (WARNING: SPOILERS FROM THE FINALE!)

It’s pretty widely known that I’m a comic book geek from way back, and that I quit cold-turkey a while ago because of money and time (and because that was a habit that was getting out of control… Just one more book, man, just one more book!!!). Thanks to an awesome Christmas gift from a good friend, though, I’ve been able to read and fall in love (again) with the DC Comics Universe via the fantastic Blackest Night saga currently happening. It’s really, really wonderful and if you’re a comics fan then you should check it out! Geoff Johns & company are doing some amazing work on this series, and the fans and critics are raving!

Next-to-lastly, if you’re a fan of gaming, or fun web shows, or both, or neither, you should check out The Guild. Start with Season 1, they’re short and funny!

Lastly: Best Christmas Song Ever:

And now, time for some reading before bed!