September 14, 2008

Friday: Cassie Smith took me to her Philomath before the play (Farley's for tea). Then Kevin's play, which was a giant cast romp. Still processing what it says about our current celebrity culture. Also the use of un-Mametan repetition in dialogue.

Saturday: Saw Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n Roll at ACT. Was really unsure of it, given every preview I've read mentions banalities like nostalgia. This play did 3 things for me:

1. It delineated in one of the clearest and most coherent explanations I've seen why the different schools of Marxism failed in Europe in the 70s.
2. It gave a good lesson of Czechoslovakian history from 1968 to roughly 1990.
3. It demonstrated how art, here represented by the Plastic People of the Universe, can be an agent of change/revolt whether or not the artist/s want it [heads up, PPU plays Slim's on Oct. 9th].

Bought Hesse's Magister Ludi at Goodwill for $1.29 even though I have 10 books in front of it, not including the 5 I'm currently reading & I like Tina Fey as Sarah Palin; although, I hope she can retire this character soon.

Sunday so far: Lunch with Chad and JD in the neighborhood. I've been in this neighborhood for a year and don't know the neighborhood restaurants: I usually just eat at the taco truck or walk into Chinatown. I spent mid-afternoon looking for examples of how the advent of photography made it easier for the elite to frame and rewrite history for my Chomsky/Berger unit. Some football (mainly as background noise) & grading stuff. Shatner as Robert Wilson in The Twilight Zone's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (the one with the monkey/gremlin on the airplane wing). I spent what I saw of the episode thinking about his later over-acting method of stressing damnear every syllable. I am beginning to think about this for performance: his later (Star Trek era) delivery emphasizes the fact that each word is important, even the prepositions. There is something to that.