sing for your life.
—-
fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small. ~ ruth gendler
yes, this is a mariachi band playing “my girl”
at a senior living facility in hamtramck (polish/arabic community)
must be national nursing home week!
—
credit: e.t., my friend and ticket broker, who works hard on behalf of the seniors and is always up to something with them.
it was a day of contrasts
first
a surprise pickup
at baby b and baby j’s school
and off to
the mega-plex
for a classic show
about
relationships
and love
called
‘cinderella’
and
junk food
and
blankets
and
cozy seating
with
lots of cup holders
and then
i was
off to
the intimate
ringwald theater
for a new show
about
relationships
and love
called
‘about sex’
and because
i was late arriving
fresh from
my cinderella experience
i parked illegally
ran in
and
met an actor
in the lobby
wearing only
boxer shorts
ready to take the stage
and
was introduced
by the
stage manager
my friend
right
in the middle
of his opening
and waved
to the audience
as i walked to
my tiny seat
in the front row
and
enjoyed
party punch
and
bags of
adult party favors
and
much laughter
and
great acting
it was quite a day.
—
variety is more than a means of avoiding boredom,
since art is more than an entertainment of the senses.
– rudolf arnheim
—
credits: walt disney pictures, amc theaters, ringwald theater, papa weeze productions
what do you get when you combine the 1980s, video arcades, the guinness book of world records, human drama, sabotage, corruption, power, cheating, trash-talking, genius, ego, and insanity?
why, you get ‘the king of kong: a fistful of quarters’ of course. one of my all-time favorite documentaries. this eccentric film, released in 2007, features ‘self-proclaimed legend’ in the world of video arcade games, billy mitchell, florida hot sauce magnate and the holder of the ‘donkey kong champion of the world high scoring’ record for 25 years, and the first perfect game scorer in the history of pac-man, as he is challenged by quiet and brilliant unemployed aerospace engineer/now science teacher from washington, steve wiebe, who has never won a thing in his life.
in this film, their long distance rivalry and ultimate challenge is played out right before our eyes and under the careful watch of walter day, creator of twin galaxies, and online gaming website gatekeeper. what follows is a classic tale of good vs. evil, davy and goliath, sheer will and karma, and the suspense never stops right up until the very last second.
watching this, i spent 79 fascinating minutes glued to the screen, laughing, crying, cheering and yelling, right along with it. and most of all, i love that it was categorized under ‘sports’ in the documentary world.
film quotes:
Walter Day: This rivalry is among the greatest: the Yankees and Red Sox… Hekyll and Jekyll.
“I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be the center of attention. I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame. I wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, “Hi, I see that you’re good at Centipede.”
Jillian Wiebe (Steve’s wife) : Work is for people who can’t play video games.
image credit: picturehouse/dendy cinema
i went to this show last night, at our beautifully restored fisher theater, expecting to see a bit of fast-tapping irish dancing. it was created by the producers of riverdance, so i had a certain mind set going in, and was very happy to find it was so much more. the director/creator spoke at the beginning, and talked about how he had worked for three years to assemble this amazing ensemble of dancers and musicians from all around the world, (australia, spain, ireland, england, u.s.a, canada, mexico, and italy), to create this work of performance art.
while there was incredible irish dancing, there was also so much more.
each musician played at least 2 instruments and at times got out on the floor to interact with the dancers.
it was a fascinating blend of afro-cuban, spanish, irish, flamenco, latin, modern and street and classical dance,
all bathed in color and images and music.
at times it was strong and high energy, and then slow and powerfully beautiful.
it was a lovely performance in every way. and i was newly inspired with each dance.
I love tango, and I used to dance when I was young. Pope Francis
—
image credits: broadway in detroit
I didn't have my glasses on.... 