Deranged Ramblings

Once upon a time there lived a little princess who was very beautiful. She was so gentle and kind and gracious that she almost glowed. Everyone who saw her smiled and felt happier, and almost everybody loved her. The people of the kingdom loved her. The men and women who worked in the castle loved her. The knights and the soldiers and even the visitors from far away lands loved her. The king, her father, loved her most of all. Every day she was told how beautiful she was. “You are the prettiest little girl in the world,” the people of the kingdom said. “The sweetest angel, and so very kind,” said the men and women who worked in the castle. “A treasure above all others,” remarked the visitors from far away lands. “My pride and joy, the most beautiful creature in the world,” said the king, her father, who loved her most of all, and the little girl would hug him and kiss him. But the queen, her mother, said nothing. Nobody told the queen that she was pretty. Nobody called her an angel, or...

Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved to wander. He would wander over the hills beyond the edge of the town, past the fields where the farmers were sweating under the sun, right to the edge of the mysterious forest. The little boy loved the sight of the forest, so green and dark. There were many adventures in there, the boy thought. There was magic and love and glory. He would walk along its edges, enjoying the forest smells, but he never would enter. That was forbidden. Oh, once or twice he took a few steps beyond the line of trees, into the outer edges of the dark wood, before running breathlessly back into the open air, giddy with excitement. But he could never go in properly and explore. “That is not where you belong,” his mother said one day. “The wood is dangerous. No more wandering. One day soon you’ll be a man, and then you will work in the fields where you will sweat under the sun, like your father and his father before him. And then you will marry, and have a litt...

The other day somebody suggested that the role of art during difficult times such as these is simply to be entertaining. During a recession, people don't want to consider weighty or grave matters, or to be confronted with intellectually or ethically challenging questions. They just want see a happy story with singing and dancing and forget about their troubles for a while. I understand where this line of thinking comes from. But I don't see any reason why artistic work can't provide both entertaining escapism and still stimulate critical and analytical thought and energize deep human emotion. To prove this, I am going to give my best sales pitch for a TV show which I have, on occasion, found myself reluctant to talk about with my friends for fear of inviting their scorn. Listen up, people. Battlestar Galactica might just be one of the best shows on TV right now. Yes, its on the Sci-Fi Channel. Yes, that means that is technically considered a science fiction program. And ye...

"An aesthetic education, which humanizes people, is far more important even for politicians than an economic education, which does the opposite." --From "The English Renaissance of Art"

I always knew I'd be back one day, blog. I know I've been unfaithful to you, spending my time and energy on whatever mindless pursuits came my way, but deep down I knew that you were the only love for me. And so here I am. Begging you to take me back. I promise to post on you more often. I promise to make those posts interesting, passionate, relevant. I promise to make you readable again. Can you forgive me? I can't live without you, blog. Take me back, baby. Please?

A short but violent storm hit here yesterday, and while I was largely unaware of it in my dark little cubicle, it wreaked a bit of carnage outside. On the way home from work, I came to a very busy intersection of two major roads where the traffic lights had very recently gone out and there was not yet an officer on the scene to impose order. Behind my anxiety and eager desire to get home, I found the situation interesting on a conceptual level. What would happen, I was curious to know, in the absence of some kind of arbitration of order, without the presence of law? Last year an acquaintance of mine tried at great lengths to convince me that any kind of prescriptive law or governing body was by its very nature repressive and restrictive and that the only truly free and happy society would be found through anarchy. In the absence of these repressive orders, he argued, there would not be violent chaos but some kind of spontaneous and natural order that needed no enforcement by some kind ...

One grows accustomed to all surroundings, of course, but on the first day my fresh eye was drawn to the foreign, the strange, the slightly off – so that by lunchtime on Monday I felt unsettled by the nagging feeling that something was decidedly odd about my new place of temporary employment. It looked nice at first - high ceilings, marble floor in the lobby, ultramodern flourescent lighting, but upon closer inspection there were cracks in the façade. Many of the lights were broken or barely working, and a crack in one wall let in a stream of curious local bugs. Immediately on entry I noticed a sign: “No Smoking – No Weapons.” I was delighted by the implicit assumption behind the sign that these two rules were of equal importance and severity, and then immediately horrified by mental images of a cigarette-smoking gunman running rampant through the building. Then there were the doors, which are somewhat narrower than average yet very tall, reaching right up to the ceiling. Each one is id...

When I lived in Utah, I thought that I couldn’t wait to leave. I wanted to quit the state like a bad job, and leave the entire place behind me. Sure, I had many friends and loved ones who I would leave behind, but I was unsatisfied and restless and found myself growing more irritated with the land where I finally discovered what it was like to call one place home. I think, in retrospect, that it was merely the desire to move on to the next phase of life, the next step in my progression through life, that drove me away, and Utah itself was actually rather blameless. In fact, since my self-imposed exile began, I’ve only grown more fiercely attached to the state I still think of as home. After all, nothing increases your fondness for home like living someplace much, much worse. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been quite happy here in South Carolina, and have surrounded myself with good and inspiring people (many of whom actually were born and raised here). But it doesn’t compare. Seriously...

As I mentioned briefly in my last post, I had the distinct opportunity to create a solo performance and bring it to life. Here are some pictures from my show, "David & Jonathan":

My, this blog is certainly dusty. Anybody here? Hello? I really need to clean this place up. Maybe a change of curtains and a loveseat in the corner would make me want to be around the blog more often. We are nearing the end of my second year of graduate school, and hasn't the time just flown by. I played Romeo, wrote and performed a one-man show, and now I'm in a play set in 17th century France in which I hide for an entire act in a very small harpsichord. Fun stuff. It's looking like I'll stay here in Columbia for the summer and most of the fall. At some point around December I'll head up to Virginia to work for a regional theater as an intern. I'll play Romeo again in a touring, up-to-date, totally hip production that tours to high schools. And then I'll be graduated! Time really has gone by quickly. Not sure when I'll be back in Utah, but I miss all my friends and relations terribly. Oh, and one other thought: that thing you've always wanted to d...

So I actually found myself with a little free time today, and thought I would put something up here for anybody curious about what I am up to lately. It's a very busy semester! I'm in the process of rehearsing Romeo and Juliet, which has been taking up the bulk of my time. We open on February 22nd or something, and are running alternately with a production of the Tempest in the same space. Playing Romeo is nuts. I have notes in my journal from my time in London about the various actors I saw play the part over there, and I was very critical. Now that I'm in their shoes, I'm much more sympathetic. Of course, once there are some pictures I'll put them up here. The second show of the semester was supposed to be "The Inspector General" but it got canceled for reasons passing human understanding. Still no official word on what will take its place, so for now we are just not thinking about it. This semester we also have to prepare a showcase for theaters conside...

If you're in Utah, and it feels a little colder this evening than usual, there's a reason. I'm coming back. I'm home from tomorrow until the 7th of January. If anybody reading this is in the Provo/Orem area this Christmas, give me a ring!

Hello. Still alive here. Been really busy. I offer these pictures as proof. They show you a glimpse of the insanity that was "Oh, What a Lovely War." Here are some more pictures of stuff I did in class, first from our clown workshop, then from our rockstar imitations in which I performed as Axl Rose from Guns 'N Roses. Enjoy. (I promise most of what I do in grad school doesn't seem quite as trivial as these assignments. They were just the most photogenic).

Not for the faint of heart, the trailer for my new show: I've never been so proud of my work.

Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead

Yeah I know I'm a lazy bum. My blog has received no love in the last couple of months, and I think I can now safely say that the only time I'll be able to post anything on here is when I have pictures to show you of the various plays I'm involved in. I just finished up an independent summer project with some other grad students called "Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play." I played an imaginary clown. Take a look at these photos:

Matt Dyes His Hair to Drop Dead Sexy Blonde: Matt Rocks Out In Early Rehearsals of "Hedwig" - The audio is a bit lacking on these videos. Sounds much better in real life!

"The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost." -- the fortune cookie that changed my life

Are here . Enjoy!