Tag! You're it!

My friend Michelle sent me this today and I decided to participate. By the way, if you enjoy movies Michelle's blog is an excellent place to visit. http://www.criticalmusings.com/

Add your blog and location to the bottom of this list, and send it on
A Secular Franciscan Life - Billings, Montana, USA Erica’s Blog - Brooklyn, New York, USA Groanin’ Jock - Montrose, Scotland, Great Britain The Kat House - Knoxville, Tennessee, USA blogitude.com (Mark Steel) - Knoxville, Tennessee, USA Rantz (Rantz) - Darwin, Northern Territory, Oz Oceanhideaway (Tig) -Atlanta, Georgia, USA Critical Musings - Buffalo, New York, Hailstones and Halibut Bones, Newark, Delaware

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No. My parents debated the names Valerie and Eileen for me only because they liked those names. They settled on Nancy.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A few months ago when one of my chief mentors committed suicide.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? roast beef

DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Nope.

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes.

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Yes, too much in fact.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No.

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Captain Crunch

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically or mentally? Physically I am very strong. Mentally - I do okay.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Butter almond or butter brickle

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Eyes.

RED OR PINK? NEITHER!!!! Depends.

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Too sarcastic.

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dad and grandparents

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black pants and brown shoes

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Peanut Butter Tandycakes

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing.

IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Orange.

FAVORITE SMELLS? Certain incense like Frankensense and Myrr

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Someone from the mail room.

FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I like to watch most sports.

FAVORITE HAIR COLOR[S]? Red

FAVORITE EYE COLOR? Blue

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Not currently but I am planning to get some soon.

FAVORITE FOOD? Steamed blue crabs

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? both

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Ghostrider

WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Blue with vertical dark and white stripes

SUMMER OR WINTER? Both

HUGS OR KISSES?Depends on who is doing both

FAVORITE DESSERT? Creame brulee

MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not sure

LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not sure

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Boss of Bosses

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Dali painting

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Nothing

FAVORITE SOUND[S]? Thunder and Rain

ROLLING STONES OR THE BEATLES? Like both

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? British Isles and Ireland

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? A couple

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? East coast - the state of Delaware

WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Whoever chooses to respond and Will, you've been tagged!

The Day I told off Al Pacino (sort of)

Over the weekend I was talking to a friend of mine about The Sopranos controversial end; I now believe Tony was whacked at the end of the episode. The guy sidling up to the counter killed him. Tony's moment just before his death experience and the moment of was what we witnessed, very like what Bobby Bacala predicted death would be like some weeks before when Tony and Bobby were on the little boat in the river.

This conversation transformed into an analysis of the gangster genre on film, which brought us to my all time favorite movie The Godfather and the subject of Al Pacino.

"I told off Al Pacino once," I said to my friend.

"What?!"

I had to clarify this, of course. "Well, not to his face."

The story goes like this: one late morning in the early 1990s I was whizzing back and forth all over the place at the theater where I worked. I was an adminstrator/casting agent/script reader and sometimes I even fixed the copier. I was also in charge of the internship program at this Off-Broadway house renowned for its work in presenting full staged productions interesting plays and doing workshops and staged readings of hundreds more throughout the year. The workshops and staged readings is something that I did casting for in addition to push through incoming scripts I thought had potential for being staged.

The members of the theater consisted of performers and writers who are known by name and/or known by their face by the public; others have been quietly and productively working in the business for forty or fifty years. Our members could develop plays for production and rehearse in the mainstage theater area. It was in that environment an unknown person came into the main office late one morning to announce that he would be rehearsing with blah blah on blah blah along with Al Pacino, a friend of one of those involved in the rehearsal/production. That was fine; the rehearsal was scheduled.

But then I was told that "Mr. Pacino requested that NO ONE came into the main stage theater while he was rehearsing because he didn't like being watched."

I did Jackie Gleason bug eyes. "You've got to be kidding me!" I said incredously. The young man insisted he was not.

"Look, this is a professional theater and we have rehearsals or plays going on almost every day of the week, 7 days a week. We have more work to do than there are hours in the day. If I have business in the production office (which was located through the main stage door further down the corridor) I'm going to attend to it. I have no interest in what Mr. Pacino is doing. Besides, if he doesn't like being watched he needs to find a new day job."

The young man was now doing the Jackie Gleason eyes but said nothing and turned away. Nothing more was said about it. However, I learned a few years later from a camera crew working on Law and Order (where I was working as an extra) they had done a "The Making of" type of film for Godfather III and had been told that when not filming, they were not to stare or watch Mr. Pacino do anything.

Ugh. So much for my having been a fan of this man. Sheesh. I'm sure back in the day when Mr. Pacino was struggling to get work he never told the director or stage manager to ensure that no one watch him while he worked.

Maybe that's why the last scene of The Sopranos ended as it did: no one wanted to watch Tony get whacked.

The 49ers or Happy Birthday to Me!

June 13th was my natal anniversary. In spite of the overcast day, I had a good time and prepared to party for the rest of the month in celebration of my birthday. I turned 49.

I share my birthday with poet William Butler Yeats, a favorite of mine.

Two fascinating observations (to me, anyway): I've actually become almost domesticated. Never in a million years did I ever believe I would be thrilled to pieces to receive a really cool blender with a fantastic food processor attachment. For years and years growing up I haunted bookshops, stationery and hardware stores and now I find myself looking for and spending too much time in "kitchen" stores. I know what cheesecloth is. I even know how to use it. I make quiches and experiment with tarts - dessert and meal types. They even taste good.

I also learned that 50 is no longer the cut-off point to adopt a child. It is for some countries and agencies in the U.S. but not all. That came as a relief to me. However, I also know that if I decide to get married, I will probably go through the adoption process, have the child and then get pregnant. That's not a terrible thing, mind you, but it would be a challenge.

If nothing else, I have found a groove that's quite comfortable. I know that I can't do one thing day in and day out no matter what it is and how much I love it. My creative writing has never been better and I am more productive now than I have been in the past ten years. I'm applying for grants and scholarships all over the place. If nothing works out, nothing works out. My work is still there waiting to be done.

I think for my 50th I will have my big party in New York. That's where most of my friends still live and having a blowout up there would be fantastic though I would probably keep the count down to a minimum. I don't want to spend the entire time catching up with people I haven't seen or talked to in awhile.

So here's to another grand year! I'm rather looking forward to turning 50.

Brilliant End to a Brilliant Series: The Sopranos

I was wrong in my prediction of the finale but not disappointed. I am very surprised by some of the "reviews" I've read this morning about the last episode of this magnificient series. "Fans Get Whacked" said one wag about the lack of "bang boom" ending.

Did these people learn nothing during the past eight years watching this show?

Creator David Chase could have even ended the series with the last episode and that had orignally be the intention. However, a few more loose ends were wrapped up with the finale (not all) but it wasn't a nice, neat package. There were no show-stopping events, not even the slaying of Phil Leotardo qualified for that. That was a typical hit with some interesting car action to add a solid period to the end of that death sentence.

What is it the supposedly disappointed fans of the series wanted? A bloodbath? Dr. Melfi changing her mind about having Tony as her patient? "Ade" showing up, never having been killed by turncoat Silvio? I did predict a death that would be a personal blow to Tony however I did not feel let down by Chase's script for the finale.

The main horror in this show is the life that has been chosen and the lack of psychological freedom. There is always something serious to worry about, usually life threatening. The whackings were a physical manifestion but not the ultimate horror except maybe to the person being whacked, of course.

Can you imagine choosing a life where you always have wonder if your closest friends are people you can really trust? You can't even sit at a traffic light without wondering who the people are pulling up beside you or even behind you. You never sit with your back to the door. I'm not feeling sorry for those who choose the life and have these consequences but it does make me wonder what kind of desperado wants to live this way. Tony Soprano seemed to be having some major breakthroughs in revelations about life and what was important. But those spiritual insights were short-lived.

The horror goes on for Tony and he continues to choose to live that horror. That was what the last episode was about: more of the same. Nothing really did change with Tony. He was continuing to live the life. There was no resolution. No conclusion. One character in his life lives and dies and another moves in to replace that character. The vicious cycle doesn't change. It will never change and neither will Tony Soprano.

That's what the last episode made so clear and evidently so many fans and reviewers missed.

Ensemble Studio Theater Marathon

The annual E.S.T. Marathon, the festival of one-act plays, was Curt Dempster's pride and joy. He freted the Marathon would not be able to launch this year due to the lack of funds. Ironically, his death and the goodwill funding following it, has enabled the Marathon to go up as planned and it has met with it's usual success. VARIETY had a wonderful write-up

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933821.html?categoryid=1265&cs=1

as did a few other theater publications about the first leg of the Marathon. It is the first without Curt's direction. The new artistic director, Billy Carden, has taken over the reigns. Even though Curt was the symbol of E.S.T. for many "backers" and other supporters, most recognize that there was no sound system in place for running the day-to-day operations at the theater. Curt was many things but not a business person. The daily operation of the theater has always been run by a wink and a prayer and I remember that well from my year and a half as an administrator. I suspected then we might get more funding if we could prove some sort of stability and knowledge of how to run daily operations and prepare for the long-term goals.

In subsequent articles about Curt's sudden death and E.S.T.'s future, the matter of the theater's lack of stability and the bewilderment of many as to how the theater ran at all has been discussed. There is a wide-spread belief that under Billy Carden, things will improve on the business end. Curt's "my way or no way" way of doing things is not Billy's way of doing things. I remember him well from the days when I worked for Curt at the theater. If you are not a good business person, it's smart to let others who are have their way otherwise you are an artistic director of a theater that can't afford to produce anything.

I believe that now E.S.T. will be able to find the stability and future planning it never really had.

So why is this so important for this theater as opposed to any other theater in New York or America? E.S.T. is one of the very few theaters who champion only new voices and will read unsolicited manuscripts. We can't have a theater of constant revivals of old favorites and hits. The commercial theater simply prohibits taking the kind of chance on a new play E.S.T. is willing to do. Those who get their work read and produced at E.S.T. furtehr develop their work and go on to the commercial theater all over the country.

Ironically, E.S.T. stands to do much better now financially with new management in place and one with a keen understanding of what needs to be done to stablize it. This will be a wonderful journey for the theater which has struggled so long to make ends meet.

Women, Guns and my cousin Diane

http://www.womenandguns.com/TOC.html

If you do not see an image above but do see a red X in the upper left hand corner, click on that X to see the photo.

The above is my married-in-the-family-cousin Diane, my blood cousin Tom's wife. (You followed all that, didn't you?) Tom and Diane have extensively studied the martial arts and also tactical weapon training. They are passionate about these pursuits and it has brought them much joy and friendship over the years. Diane made the "cover" of the most recent issue of the magazine Women And Guns. Isn't she purty?

Diane was with her mother-in-law Joan and my mother in the White House on the morning of 9/11 taking the grand tour. They were hustled out immediately upon the completion of the tour and once outside, saw the smoke coming from the Pentagon and what they later learned were members of a swat team fanning out on the roof of the White House. As they approached the street, cars had pulled over to the side, opened their doors so the radio could be heard. It was there they learned of the attacks in New York and Washington.

Needless to say, there was some concern about how to get out of Washington the quickest. Joan and Diane were visiting from the west coast (Washington state) and Mom had driven them down from Delaware the day before to visit D.C. Mom had parked in a parking lot earlier in the day and they had shuttled in to a train and then made the journey to the White House. While on the train heading towards the shuttle area, a woman who had just gotten off her cell phone, told them her ex-husband was coming to get her and that they would see Mom, Joan and Diane got to their car and would lead them out of D.C. the fastest way possible. This was a big help, of course. Mom was worried about me in New York though she knew I was well away from the collapsed Twin Towers. Nobody knew where these screwballs were going to strike again.

My Favorite Murderers

The June 3rd episode of The Sopranos was a blood bath. It is the second to last show of this fabulous, ground-breaking series which is destined to be a TV classic and a model for those who wish to write and produce in television.

Aside from Tony Soprano, my other favorite murderer on the series was Bobby, Tony's agonized brother-in-law. He was killed last night by Phil Leotardo's boys while looking over toy model trains, his much loved hobby. It's funny how you can feel that his murder is so unfair; out of all the sociopaths he associated with, Bobby seemed to have the most to give when not carrying out his mob duties. I felt the same way about Christopher's death/murder only two weeks ago though Christopher was a heartless bastard in so many ways.

Then there is Tony Soprano. It seemed that throughout the series Tony strived to better himself on a human level and gain more insight into his own personality and failings. However, the opposite has happened. Tony is far worse than when he started therapy with Dr. Melfi seven years ago. That's not necessarily because Dr. Melfi is a bad therapist: therapy only works if you put work into it. I sometimes wonder if Tony didn't use therapy to sort out his weaknesses and identify his strengths in order to be a more efficient mob boss. Tony's increasing viciousness comes at a bad time for his son, A.J., in the process of a major mental meltdown. The story with A.J. comes at an odd time: towards the series end. It's because this story has been developing over the past several episodes I'm convinced that in the final show, A.J. will wind up being shot and killed only because the original target - Tony - was missed. One source said that there is a scene in the final episode with Carmella, Tony and A.J. in an ice cream parlor. Will Carmela and A.J. get whacked by "accident"?

It's a fair assumption. Creator David Chase is a longtime fan of mob movies (like myself). The worst thing that happened to Michael Corleone was that his daughter was murdered only because she got in the way of the assasin's bullet and his intended target at the last minute. We are left to assume from the end of that movie (Godfather III) that the death of his daughter because of family "business" utterly broke him and he died a lonely, old man.

Tony talked about the importance of family throughout the series. What is the worst thing that could happen to him?

Being killed by Phil's mob? Or living to see members of his family killed because they got in the way of the intended target: Tony?

Killing Tony off is too easy. In the end, it doesn't punish him much unless you believe in the blazing Hellfire stories. The worst thing that could happen to Tony Soprano is seeing and surviving a shooting that leaves his son or wife (or both) dead or terribly maimed.

We have six days to wait and find out.