Yes, I am in Community Theater

I have recently had the pleasure of being inducted onto the board of the Valley City Community Theater. I am very happy to be a part of it and I think it is a great opportunity for me considering I am not a part of a lot of extracurricular activities besides theater here at the college. However, I was incredibly disappointed at the lack of structure amongst the board. One meeting took almost two and a half hours. Mainly because too much time was spent on unimportant topics, nobody was willing to make a concrete decision or obstained from voting on an important topic when a decision desperately needed to be made. I also noticed that I was the youngest member of the board and only one amongst two others who noticed that this board lacked structure. Strangely both of these members are the second and third youngest. I felt that in order to get things done I had to be almost rude, well, scratch that, I had to be downright rude in order to go to the next topic. I felt bad because they just put me on the board tonight and I am also doing my internship with them, so, I felt I should have shown more gratitude but at the same time I wasn’t willing to put a hold on my opinion just to save feelings, especially when it stalled in the face of progress. So, my point is this, am I overreacting to this position? Am I right in my conception that it is better to be a bit of a wench and say what’s on my mind or should I just keep my mouth shut and let everyone do what they want?

Cabin Fever equals Writer's Block

Who would have thought spending time in a room by yourself could be the least influential in the creative writing process. Before this flood business began I had several plays in constructive process. All of them original, wonderful ideas that I was excited to work on, of course with school, however, it is difficult to find time to just sit and write. So, when we were told to get out and had time to sit and do absolutely nothing for a week I realized I could just write until my heart’s content with all four of my plays. After taking a few days of resting my mind and watching mind numbing television I decided it was time to take advantage of this great opportunity, so, I sat and looked over what I had written so far and… nothing. I had nothing. No jokes, no dialogue, no action whatsoever. I was so disappointed. Not worrying about it I went back to watching television, getting caught up on my shows, so to speak. Then school began again, it felt good to get back to work again. But the writer’s block was still there, I had absolutely nothing to write about. I sat staring at my computer with absolutely nothing. I tried brainstorming, random writing but I had nothing of substance that would go anywhere. “What is happening to me?” I asked. Then I realized I had been stuck in my apartment doing nothing but working out, sleeping late and watching television. I had nothing to inspire me. All of my friends are out of town and I had no one to banter with, I had no one to talk to and only my television and computer for company. I realized this was a lonely state to be in and obviously not very productive for my brain. So, I tried talking with friends on the phone, unfortunately, I have never been much of a phone person either. I call for something specific, hi and byes then hang up, so that really didn’t help either. I am determined to go out and do something to get over this idle state of mind. It is a cliché but I think the whole idol mind is the devil’s playground is something to put stock into.

Working Out Might Do You In

When I saw the article “Is Working Out the Newest Health Threat?” I was immediately intrigued. The article was about a woman who went to a gym and the personal trainer pushed her so hard that she was in bed for two days and found herself in the hospital suffering from exertional rhabdomyolysis, which can be potentially fatal. Exertional rhabdomyolysis is a condition caused when the muscle fibers break down into the blood stream so severely that they clog the kidneys, making them unable to process urine properly. This disturbed me because the article pointed out that there are no criteria or standards for personal trainers at gyms. The requirements are set by the employers not by laws. I have a tendency to stay away from the opinion that there should be more laws but I think in this case I will make an exception, when it comes to the health of the body and working out I do not think ignorant, uncertified people should be at the helm of telling people what to do. The article went on to give the statistics of what kind of scores by trainers with different and no kinds of certifications. The article basically states that there are no national requirements or standards for someone to be a trainer. Some gyms only have the requirement of being at least 18 and having a high school diploma. Some trainers are just college students who work for free membership and aren’t even majoring in physical training or therapy. Like I said I try to avoid there being more laws and giving the government more power but I do think I am right there should definitely be some sort of standard or standardized testing or certification for someone to be a personal trainer. What do you think?
Here is the URL
http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100234946&page=2

How cool is this?

How cool is this?
This story was about a guy in St. Paul who screens cult films and actually has a director come in, sit on stage and actually comment on the film. The first film to do this is Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which is one of my favorites. It is a brilliant, funny and original film. It has an awesome original score of music that accentuates the incredible script. The film is about a rock star who tries to escape East Germany by getting a sex change which is unfortunately messed up. John Cameron Mitchell discusses his feelings on the film and talking in front of people about the film. Mitchell said something about the way Hedwig is caught, between genders, between East and West Germany, between wanting to be a rebel, and also wanting security appeals to certain people. I think this is a wonderful idea. How great would it be to meet directors of cult classics and be in the room with them while they are talking about their films? It would be amazing to see what films are going to be done in the future. The list is long but I wonder if the directors are getting paid to do it? It might make a difference on what directors will do it if they are not getting paid, but I like to think they are doing it for the fans of the film. But when asked what he hopes will come out of Thursday night's running commentary, John Cameron Mitchell gives a surprising answer.
"It just makes me feel less alone," he said. "You know, that's really our goal in life, just to feel less alone, or maybe less lonely. I like being alone sometimes. There's something just beautiful about a group of people who are mostly strangers in a room feeling the same feelings."
I think this would be an amazing opportunity for any film nut.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/02/03/mitchell/

There’s no such thing as bad publicity, but what about anything for publicity?

In searching the news this week, I discovered that as long as it can promote the movie it’s worth writing about. You will not believe this, but Mickey Rourke’s, the star of the new Oscar nominated film The Wrestler, dog has died. I know, I know, hold back the tears; I was just as shocked as you are. Obviously, I’m joking, I’m just sad that this was actually a news story. I understand that people have a tendency to get a little celebrity obsessed and want to know what’s going on in their personal lives even if they don’t actually know them and it is really none of their business, but this is obviously a lame, desperate ploy to get publicity for the movie The Wrestler. I don’t know why, the film is nominated for an Oscar, and what more publicity do they need? I know Mickey Rourke is having another comeback and he has been through a lot with coming back from the drug and alcohol abuse to star in an Oscar nominated film, but I don’t care about the fact that his dog died. Don’t get me wrong I love dogs and it is sad that it is dead but I do not need to know about it. And basically, it is just not newsworthy. Of course, I am being a little hypocritical because really the only thing worse than writing a lame story about his dog dying is me blogging about his dog dying. It just goes to show that as long as it can plug a movie it is worth writing about. But I don’t know what do you think? Here is the website: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Oscars/story?id=6897261&page=1

What the @%#& is he talking about?

Even though I am of the mind that context and not words have true meaning, I still know that censorship has a purpose. For example, when it comes to these blogs I understand that we try to censor ourselves out of respect to each other and the grandmother rule, even though, I have known a couple of grandmothers with mouths like sailors. Also, to emphasize the point that context has true meaning over words, take my title for example. Even though, I did not use a swear word in the title, I’m sure almost everyone of you inserted your own swear word, whether it was @#%& or!%&@ or maybe even &#!%. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is even though I understand the purpose of censorship, I still have to ask myself, where’s that line? Where is the line where we can censor classic plays and still call ourselves artists? I don’t know if any of you know, but I am currently in the production of “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller (shameless plug, show times are next week February 18-21st, 7:30, free to students with ID in Vangstad). This play was written in 1947 and it uses language like “goddamit” and “Jesus Christ.” Now I know some people might find this language a tad offensive but I refuse to believe that the “little, old, blue haired ladies” in the audience would refuse or complain about a classic play such as this because the language was a little blue collar. But, these words have been removed from next week’s performances, except for one line. I believe the art suffers from this changing of language, in the play the swearing is even referenced as a point of hypocrisy between father and son. Not to sound pretentious, but as a writer of plays myself, I believe Arthur Miller had intention with every sentence in that play and to change it is irreverent. But maybe it is just me, maybe I am reading too much into it. What do you think?

So, where have all the cowboy’s gone!?

Has anyone else noticed it has been a long time since there was a good western? No? Is it just me? I look in the video store for westerns for my dad but I end up with poorly written and poorly acted pseudo westerns that are historically inaccurate, boring and pointless. And then to try and make them interesting they try to mix genre’s like stagecoach robbers in a haunted house, or cowboys fighting zombies. I know 3:10 to Yuma was moderately successful, but it was also a remake. Cowboy films used to be huge blockbusters. What happened? Was it that they weren’t selling anymore or did Hollywood just stop caring about the genre? Some of my favorite films have been westerns: Two Mules for Sister Sara, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Quick and the Dead. Mind you all of these films not only had great actors but great directors as well; Sergio Leone, Sam Raimi. I am surprised that with not only the financial success but the critical success of 3:10 to Yuma, westerns didn’t begin to worm their way back onto the silver screen again. But westerns are not the only genres suffering. I am noticing more and more that comedies are going down the tube, as well. Both genres seem to have one thing in common- laziness. No one wants to take the time to write something really clever, so they either go for the big action packed, special effects saturated hoopla or the cheap laugh.
I think we are due for another really good western. They need to make a comeback.

Procuring and Maintaining Sources
http://www.spj.org/rrr.asp?ref=56&t=yj