Awkward Family Pet Photos: The Book

I was whiling away the time looking through the wonders of the Awkward Family Photos website - a marvelous time waster if ever there was one. This had to be my favorite, though. The delicious blasphemy of it must be savored.

It's a funny site. Check it out.

Awkward Family Pet Photos: The Book

Big Love

Kelli and I watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape last night. Kelli had to watch it for Class Day at Milton - I guess they were talking about it at some Class Thing. Anyhow, I'd never seen it before. It was pretty good. I've always liked Johnny Depp (someday I must tell you the story of how we met him and his wife in the Park in Rome), and Mary Steenbergen. And Leonardo Di Caprio does pull off a very convincing kid with mental deficiencies. When it came out, I remember I as at the age (29) where I was starting to feel that young people were trying to be cooler than me, and so I pooh-poohed their pretense of deep experience and wouldn't go near the movie. Now that I am old, old old I have more respect for the work of people younger than me - since so many people are younger, now.

Now I really was surprised and impressed by Darlene Cates as Mamma. Like so many people, I'm sure, we wondered what had happened to her, and how and whether she was making out, given her extraordinary girth.

Happily, she still seems to be with us. I was really struck by a quote of hers on IMBD:

"I wish everyone that's kind of hiding away at home still could understand or could have the same experience that I did. Once I did the Sally show, all of a sudden I realized that if I went out and people stared at me, I wouldn't know if they were staring at me because I was fat or because they recognized me from being on TV. That empowered me.

I had to make a choice, I could stay where I was and be miserable, or I could take a risk and do something exciting. I talked with the author, Peter Hedges. There were some things in the book that I didn't like. We talked about those extensively and I trusted him because the character was based on somebody that meant something to him in his life. So I knew that it wouldn't be anything horrible. As we went along I was so proud of the way that the character was portrayed and so proud of the way that the children came around to see that this woman had these good qualities, and how much she really did care about her family."

With America's horrible problem with obesity - which we see all over, especially when we travel out to Missouri to visit Kelli's relatives - it's important to remember the human being that is stuck in there...

Groove for the Ages

Last night we drove out to see my brother perform at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, MA - ahead of such celebs as Betty Buckley and John Oliver - with his one of a kind a capella group the GrooveBarbers. For those of you who don't know, Charlie was one of the founding members of the modern a capella sensation, Rockapella. Sadly, having to decide between going full time with group or earning a living for his children, he had to choose the latter, and left the group before their breakout hit Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? Luckily, the other founders eventually left the group as well, and re-formed in a more relaxed, goofy and hip form as the GrooveBarbers.

They sing several time a year, around the country, and they are tight, tight tight!

Here is there typically tongue-in-cheek promo video - which they put together after they landed a national spot for an allergy medicine called Astelin:

The thing that made this event in Pittsfield really special was this. They do a version of "Concrete and Clay" by Unit 4 + 2, and they traditionally bring up some sweet young thing and make her play the triangle while Kevin, the baritone, sings mock-romantically to her. This time, thanks to my brother, they brought my Mom and Dad up on stage in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary, which is coming up next month. The whole place was cheering and laughing, and utterly transported, and I was a happy wreck. My folks were funny and sweet and great and the big hit of the evening. And my brother, he's got a heart the size of Alaska, and he sings about it, too.

Ovo O boy

So somehow I got on this nice woman named Kathy's list. She works at Rochefort Associates, a publicity firm, and they handle Cirque du Soleil here in Boston. So suddenly, out of the blue, she sends me two fifth row center seats to the new show, Ovo. She'd done the same about three years ago, with Kooza, and I'd taken Spencer. He was seven at the time, and kinda liked it, but ran out of gas in the second half so we went home early.

I asked Dash if he wanted to go, and he didn't, so I brought Spencer again. This time, we were both totally blown away. It's a fantastic show.

Every time I see a great circus I wonder what the hell we think we are doing in the theatre. The circus is so much more amazing, breathtaking, moving, exciting, involving, immediate, visceral, and, in spite of the superhuman abilities of the people performing, human.

These performers have spent their lives perfecting boundary-defying abilities - really putting us lazy-ass actors to shame. And they are so in the moment, so real, pushing up against the limits of human possibility - it's just incredibly powerful.

Some of my favorite things (click on the link to see the performers):

Little chinese girls whirling drums on their feet so fast it looked like they were running in to some new dimension.

Chinese yoyo guy spinning three of those yoyos on his string in a tiny circle an inch from the floor.

Slack wire guy standing on his hands on a unicycle on a loosely swinging wire that was being pulled up into the air while he balanced.

Spider woman crawling head first down the vertical climbing wall at the back of the stage.

The whole thing is a play on the world of insects, and the strange abilities of these performers fit so well into the crazy world of superstrong, superflexible, wild and mysterious bugs. It was lively, entertaining, full of joy, and utter captivating.

Check it out.

Moan

For the last 15 years I have pretty refused to accept that was getting further and further from the age of 30. It is still pretty much impossible for me to comprehend how the words "46 years old" and myself could both be descriptors of my personhood. So this summer I've been really irritated with the way my body is refusing to go along with my determination not to get actually older.

First, after a fall during Opus, I developed an impingement of a nerve in my neck which is causing numbness in my left thumb, and when I over-exert myself it sends shockwaves up my arm. It's not really getting any better, and every time I do anything really physical it seems to get bad again. So basically, it seems like I'm just no supposed to anything physical.

Of course, I do anyway, because I am staunchly refusing to accept that I can't do everything I want to do. So I was playing tennis with Spencer yesterday - he's really into it, and since I am, too, I'm incredibly excited about the possibility of playing real games with him - and pull a groin muscle running for a shot. I've never had a pull like this before - it really hurt, and now I can barely walk. It just gave out - spectacularly, in the middle of doing something I've done a million times.

My big concern is that I'm starting to slide down the slippery slope. My neck injury means I can't exercise as much as I should, which makes my body weaker and more susceptible to injury, which means I get hurt more, which means I can't exercise as much as I should, which means... pretty soon I'll be driving around the mall on a little red SpinLife Scooter.

I'm not ready!

Holy Outrage

I had a very interesting meeting with a student I've been working with. Her name is Colleen Hughes. She's a graduate student in the BU playwriting program. I directed a stage reading of her play "The Prayer Bargain" which is a really fine piece of work, if I do say so myself. It's a semi-autobiographical piece about a deeply human and messed but Boston Irish family in Somerville. It's funny, awkward and difficult. She's preparing it to send around and I'm helping her with the final revision before it goes out.

While we were talking, I asked her if she was thinking about any new subjects for plays. She mentioned this story. It's really unbelievable, the appalling double standards that the Church seems to have no trouble living with - priestly pederasty must be managed and covered up, but a nun who chooses to save the life of the mother rather than let both mother and fetus die - BOOM! - excommunicated. And my understanding is that excommunication means not only that she can't be a nun anymore, but that, in her world view, she's damned for eternity. How the Church decides what is black and white and what is a grey area is really stunning. And I think it will make a terrific play.

Here is the Story

OW!

Well, I was all set to post something fabulous today because my dear friend Bridget complained that I never did - when I burned the shit out of my hand cooking dinner. I was grilling little beef satay - I grabbed the charcoal chimney with my new hot pad from Target - and it burned right through the damn thing and melted the webbing between my thumb and forefinger.

OWWWWWWWWW!

But here I am, pecking out this post, because I AM THAT SORT OF GUY!

For those interested in how to care for minor (you call this MINOR!?!) read this...