EXTRA CRITICUM

Time, Nature, Mortality... A Life's Work.

Recently I caught a few minutes of a nature documentary on TV. I’m not sure what the whole thing was about, but what I remember was the fish. Lying in a rapidly evaporating stream, it was just barely covered in water. The day was blazingly hot. It flopped around madly, but there was nothing to be done. It had only minutes to live.

I was riveted by this spectacle, horrified actually (I’ve dreamt of it several times). Thinking of it later, I wondered why this image so burned itself into my mind. Then it occurred to me – that fish is me. And not only me. That fish is EVERYONE.

Outward, Inward and Northward Bound

Heading north tomorrow for 4 weeks at The MacDowell Colony. This is only my second time at a colony. Last time (at Byrdcliffe in Woodstock) was terrific.. but it was twelve years ago! I met my Batvian collaborator extraordinaire, Katherine Burger there.

Fellow E.C. contributors David Licata and John Yearley, both MacDowell alums, have given me some interesting advice, which I think I'll take.

Artists: Above all else, be grateful for your courage.

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to share this wonderful piece by Kerry O'Quinn, Publisher of Starlog Magazine. This piece first appeared in 1983 when Andrew Altenburg was a young tike. Thanks to Andrew for saving it and bringing it back from the files. (just click on the image to enlarge and read)

The Art of Letting Go, courtesy of Tante Marie

This video reminds me of everything I love about San Francisco. It always has been (and hopefully always will be) a let-your-hair-down-tell-it-like-it-is sort of town. And Tante Marie's Youtube video on how to prepare a turkey for Thanksgiving certainly qualifies as Performance Art. (the funny kind, not the boring variety.) Take a look.

Bostonians: Brickbottom Open Studios this weekend!

Extra Criticum pal and all-around talented gal, Pauline Lim will open her studio to the riff raff this weekend -- Sat and Sun -- at Brickbottom open studios in Sommerville.

Count yourself as riff raff. Show Pauline some love. Buy a painting.

For Info on Open Studios.

Guest Post: Guy Kettelhack

My New Daniel Salini Violin

Violins are like cat people - they have traits of both species. Like a cat, a violin must come to you; like a person -- more particularly a prospective lover (which a violin must be to anyone who'd dare to play it) -- it requires a delicate powerful balance of dispassionate curiosity and ardent erotic attention.

But that just hints at how to approach them. Working out a relationship with one (violin, cat, person) is  mystifying, sometimes mystical -- though also bluntly pragmatic (keep it warm if it's cold, cool if it's warm - re: temperature and temperament) -- feed it regularly (this means play it if it's a violin, though that's a live feline & human metaphor, too: so many ways to "feed") -- but mainly it's a matter of cultivating that initial passion & dispassion -- that ardor and clarity -- and hoping to Hera and Zeus that the imponderables (tone, purpose, feeling) will somehow bestow themselves through craft, luck and a state of grace for which you can only ever sort of create the basic conditions.

Merle Perkins - "I'll Be Waiting" music video is ready!

Merle Perkins - "I'll Be Waiting" from Pinkplot Productions on Vimeo.

My Favorite Movie of the Year Is (Or Will Be)....

..."Les Miserables."  Hands down!  Four thumbs up! Seventeen stars!

Okay, okay, I haven't seen it yet.  But of course it's gonna be my favorite - how could it not be?  Those trailers really do look amaaaaaaazing.  (And arty!)  From what I've seen so far, it looks like they've succeeded in turning a stage extravaganza into a film.   (I know, I know, it's just the trailer. But I am cautiously optimistic.)

Please click HERE to read my recent post about why I think "Les Mis" is a natural fit for film - and about how the show's creators employed cinematic techniques in the writing and the staging of the musical, in the first place. To the barricades!

Back in Cincinnati

It was a skinny envelope. We all know what skinny envelopes mean (all of us in the arts do, anyway). A skinny envelope means “no”. I didn’t feel like hearing “no” that day, so I placed the envelope, unopened, on my printer.

I got a lot of no’s back then, but they didn’t bother me much. These days, when I sit on a panel like “Making Your Career as a Playwright”, one of my fellow panelists is always talking about how you should research all the places you submit to ensure your piece is right for them. It sounds like very good advice. I did the exact opposite. I sent everything I had to every place that would read it. I accepted a lot of rejections as the price to be paid for playing.

New York Theatre Workshop revises its Fellowship Program

Preliminary applications are now open for NYTW's Fellowship program, which has been re-imagined as: The 2050 Fellowships.

Here's the official announcement from our friends on E. 4th Street:

Musical literacy... on the rise?

We do alot with our local schools. We bring students in for concerts and workshops and special mattinees. Every opera company worth its salt in this country does. Why? Because we understand that if our audiences continue to grey, we will eventually be forced to shut our doors. We invest. In a future. A future we may not live to enjoy. But we care deeply about the art form, so we invest nonetheless.

J Milligan’s novel “EGGMAN” to benefit Hurricane Relief!

Dear All - My friend and "Sesame Street" colleague J Milligan is a terrific writer and all-around good guy. Today I got this email from him:

"Hi Ed: I decided to give all royalties from EGGMAN to local hurricane relief this week. Could you help me spread the word?" Happy to, J!!!

Read about where he's sending the royalties HERE. Or read more about and order this amazing book HERE.

So not only do you get to read a great book by a great writer, but you also get to do some good. What are you waiting for?

“Mockingbird Lane” Review (possible spoilers)…

As per my last post: despite my misgivings, “Mockingbird Lane” (the Munsters reboot by Bryan Fuller) really wasn’t too bad.  Maybe not entirely coherent, and maybe not “The Munsters,” really – but it was clever and it looked pretty ghoulishly great. I would watch it again, for sure – though I’m pretty sure it’s a goner as a longer run.

There was some terrifically snappy Bryan Fuller dialogue, and Jerry O’Connell had some nicely befuddled moments that called to mind Fred Gwynne, however briefly.  Portia DiRossi had some nice heartfelt moments with the kid playing Eddie Muster, though I think Portia could’ve had more to work with if it went to series.  And though nobody loves Marilyn (even her mother tried to eat her, apparently!), Charity Wakefield played the part with some of the most intriguing, twisty line readings I’d ever heard on TV. Really really nice work in a brief and potentially thankless role.