Quote of the Whenever
Quote of the Whenever:
“The day after Columbine, I was interviewed… The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. ‘Wouldn’t you say,’ she asked, ‘that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?’ No, I said, I wouldn’t say that… The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. ‘Events like this,’ I said, ‘if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song … The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous…’”
-Roger Ebert
Quote | Comment (0)The Tale of a Potato
A little while back, Christmas and I bought some sweet potatoes to make her wonderful sweet potato burritos. (Hey, Christmas, if you’re reading this, we haven’t made sweet potato burritos in a while…yum.)
As inevitably happens with potatoes, a couple of them got left sitting in the back of the pantry, and started to sprout. One of them sprouted really impressively–we’re not just talking about a couple of little shoots here, but full-on vines, putting out leaves and reaching for the sun even though they were in a dark shelf.
This potato really wanted to live, and I respected that. I couldn’t bring myself to just throw it in the trash–it had too much determination. So I did the classic elementary school “science experiment”–I cut the potato in half, put some toothpicks in it and put it in water by the window. And it continued to thrive, sending out more tendrils and growing profuse leaves.
So recently, I actually potted the potato. Neither Christmas nor I have any plants, so I had to go out and buy a pot and some soil. Since I potted it, it’s doing even better. It’s growing fast–every time I see it, it’s noticeably bigger. One of its tendrils found one of Christmas’s lamps, and is winding its way up the power cord. This potato still has an incredible desire to succeed, and how can I do anything but help? It’s a beautiful plant now.
Personal | Comment (0)Link: Comparisons
I fantasize sometimes about setting up a website called “whatstuffreallycosts.com”, which would let you find out what the true price of things like cell phone service will be, after all of the taxes and hidden fees and other assorted nonsense. Well, this isn’t exactly it, but this nice side-by side comparison of various close business competitors includes some “true cost” info.
Links | Comment (0)Fringe Roundup
The Fringe Festival ended last Sunday. My tallies for this year:
- # of shows seen: 16 (a new personal record for the NYC fringe)
- # of those that were one-performer shows: 2
- # of those that were autobiographical: 1
- # of those that were self-indulgent enough that I was tempted to walk out: 0 (also a new personal record, I think)
- # of musicals: 8 (counting the “rap opera”)
- # of those that were musical versions of Shakespeare plays that I’ve never seen in their original form: 2
- # of those that included songs making fun of material that Shakespeare clearly intended to be completely serious: 2
- # of times I got advice from a fellow Fringe participant on how to pick up women in gay bars: 1
- # of times a Fringe organizer told me I was saving their life when I showed up to volunteer: I lost count
(If you’re dying to see my tallies from last year, for some reason, they’re here. I sadly didn’t keep tallies from the first two years I did it.)
NYC, Theater | Comment (0)Feeling good at my job again
Here’s another “Feeling good at my job” moment: We did some in-home one-on-one interviews today. I only found out last night that we were going to be doing them, and that I was going to be conducting one. I was handed a discussion guide that I’d never seen before, with a sub-brand that I really didn’t know all that much about (although I’m learning).
And the interview went really well. Thanks to some transportation difficulties, we had a little less time than we expected, but the interview went smoothly and we got a lot of good information. So yeah, happy about that.
Work | Comment (0)Poem: I could compare you to a summer day
I could compare you to a summer day -
No! Summer’s beautiful, but full of doubt,
He smiles sweetly, but he’ll never stay,
And Summer’s cash is always running out.
He laughs with me, then he turns and burns,
He’s cold for weeks, then he’ll change his mind -Fair? No, unfair! Unaware of my concerns,
Gorgeous? Sure, but stupid, random, blind.
Dear, when you say you’ll stay, you always will,
And when you change, you always give a reason,
You’re too fierce for time or death to kill!
How could I compare you to a season?You will shine, as constant as a star,
When this poem is forgotten; most poems are.–Romana Machado, 6/28/95
(Via Kisrael)
Poem | Comment (0)Idea File: College Timelines
I have the sudden urge to write a story about college students meeting alternate-timeline versions of themselves, just so that I can call it “Parallel University”.
Idea File | Comment (0)