And they dont even get to vote

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1070975/Man-shot-times-street-racist-gunman--wearing-Barack-Obama-T-shirt.html

Debate 2

On nydailynews.com they're running a story about how McCain referred to Obama as "that one" in last night's presidential debate. "Was it rude or not," reads the second half of the article's title. The Obama camp has suggested that it might have been rude, but Biden chalked it up to McCain's "style." Either way, here's one reader's comment in response to the article:

onlycriminalshaverights Oct 8, 2008 1:21:17 PM Report Offensive Post
obama is a terrorist and a HORRIBLE father. You never see him with his kids. Michelle is also one of the UGLIEST women I have ever seen. Those are the truths people dont want to say. You can almost feel the tension between him and her. Its so obvious

What? Really? . . . Really?
This person is encouraging me to learn how to throw ninja stars.

On another note, here's a tally I kept last night while listening to the debate. It's called,

The Number of Times John McCain Said . . .
"cronyism" / "cronies": 3
"steady hand at the tiller": 2
"greed and excess": 3
"overhead projector": 3
"my friend" / "my friends": 19

(that means that if we take the total # of mintues for the debate (90), subtract roughly 10 minutes for the moderator and the audience, and estimate that each candidate talked for about half of the remaining time, John McCain used the phrase "my friend(s)" an average of once every 48 seconds that he was talking.)

{and the kicker . . . the number of times he misquoted his "hero" Teddy Roosevelt's most famous saying: 2. "WALK softly and carry a big stick," not "SPEAK softly and carry a big stick."}

Hypotheticals

Here are two hypotheticals posed by friends in recent days.

1. What would happen if a presidential candidate said, "Hey, I'm not going to buy any television ads. Instead I'm going to use that money to do some good in the world"? Would they even have a chance at winning? Is television advertising more important than the media machine?

2. Can anyone think of one damn reason why voting should NOT be mandatory for citizens of a democracy?

It's 4am...or... Here's hoping this post's coherent

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to sign in and contribute to the blog. Having stared at the 'dashboard' page for the last couple hours clicking on any and everything clickable, rage and frustration building, it occured to me to check my email and search for the invite Catron sent out a couple months ago. I assume you can decipher the result my revelation. 

Here's what I wanted to share. I think it was Wed night mid rehearsal when my internal monologue sounded a bit like this 

Oh what I wouldn't do for a straightforward and complete script....I like this physical stuff but I don't really do this like everyone else...we open when?!?

Only week 1, I know, but I wanted to let anyone else who may have also already experienced these feelings know that they're not alone. Soon after my mini mind meltdown I remembered(like Catron's post prior)that the challenge is the reason I'm here. I get the chance to work w/artists I admire from whom I have much to learn. This story especially at this time of life will start conversations-it already has w/us; and this show wouldn't be worth doing if we made it easy for us. Oh yeah, and it is fun.Like Jon said, this show will be great if we do the work necessary to flesh out and bring life(joy, hunger, hope, fear, loss...) to these characters. I agree, moreover I trust all of us are willing to do that. 

Hard Work If You Can Get It

There are many actors who join in the refrain of "I love ensemble work." The reality, though, is that true ensemble work is frickin difficult and rare. Few actors ever have the opportunity to work collaboratively. It's a dangerous process that seems to perpetually toe the line between inspired success and egotistical disaster. It's unsettling. It can be rejuvenating and it can be demoralizing. Oftentimes it's both in the same five minutes.

I'm nervous, yes. I'm petrified. This whole ship might sink in flames. But if we don't do work that scares us we're not artists. If we continually live comfortably in our work we are no more than sedintary shmucks.

We're attempting something big. I think that's important. I think that's healthy. I think that's necessary.

"Instead of art aspiring towards lifelikeness what if life aspires towards art, towards a creative, controlled focus of freedom, outside of the tyranny of matter? What if the joke about life imitating art were a better joke than we think?"

-Jeanette Winterson, Art Objects

Old Major

He represents Marx/Engels. He's all the philosophy behind the revolution. Pure ideal, the precursor to action.

We started staging in tonight's rehearsal and I had a mini moment of clarity/epiphany during the staging of Old Major's speech. The direction we're headed in is anti-deification. That's amazing, I think. Instead of elevating Old Major with some glowing halo, instead of imitating the bread and butter Communist propaganda images, bring Old Major down to the ground. Watch the prophet communicate and inspire the animals from the dirt and the dust. That's truth, and as a result, it's surprising. Our heroes, our prophets, they are regular folks. Joe Six Pack, I guess (as much as I hate to lend credibility to that character). Ghandi, MLK, etc: these are exceptional individuals. They are not the stuff of which most heroes are made. Get down in the dirt and tell it like it is, Old Major. Yes. Revolution begins in the dust, not on the pedastal.

5-3-8

The most comprehensive polling (leftist) compilation site you could ask for:
www.fivethirtyeight.com