Play Season's End and Other Monday Musings

The young Prince (Rapunzel) has his sight restored, and Rapunzel and her Prince look lovingly at each other - okay, not so much.  But at least he can see again.

A long and active play season for both Benjamin and I drew to a close this weekend, as Pierce County Middle School put on a rousing performance of Into The Woods, Jr.  Many attended and all enjoyed this fine show.  It gave many students experience, both performing onstage and working backstage.  The sets and stage direction was fantastic, and I really appreciated the fact that play had a lot of movement, both in musical numbers but also in regular scenes.  Sometimes plays lose a lot if there is little movement, or the characters react woodenly.  

My own play, The Graduate, finished the week earlier.  It was a great experience with one of the best all-around casts that I have been onstage with.  Because it was an "adult" show, the crowds were light, but with only one or two exceptions, the small crowds were enthusiastic and receptive.  It was a joy for me just to get into a play and have as my only responsibility my own acting.

I don't normally eat supper until after a rehearsal or performance, so now that it is over, I'm having trouble getting my appetite to respond at better times.  I'm still getting hungry at 10 or 11 each night, and that is not a good thing.  Hopefully, I can get back to normality in week or so.

My middle son Doug was down here this weekend, and we had a blast.  He saw Benjamin perform Into The Woods, Jr, and we also saw two movies, as Strait boys are wont to do when they get together.  One was Star Trek: Into the Darkness and the other was Iron Man 3.  Both were very good, but Star Trek was very, very good!

I was a little bit perturbed when I realized that Star Trek was going to have good box office, but not in the same class as Iron Man 3.  Since it was a superior movie, it kind of threw me off.  Then I realized that Alison chose Iran Man 3 to see over Star Trek, and even stated she had little interest in seeing it.  I have a friend who is a huge Star Trek fan, whose spouse said he would take her to it if she wanted to, but emitted little of his own enthusiasm for it.   And these are people who do not automatically dislike anything fantasy and science fiction.  Alison has a great deal of enthusiasm for these genres. I think the whole weight of the Trek mythology may sometimes weigh against it when people who are not immersed in it consider seeing a Star Trek movie.  Well, you're making a mistake.  You do not need to be "immersed" in Trekkie stuff to enjoy this movie.  If you are on the bubble on Star Trek: Into the Darkness, pop it and give it a try.  You won't regret it.

There is little over the summer to participate in drama-wise, which is good, because our family needs to take a break for it from awhile.  But next season, WACT is doing Dracula and A Christmas Carol, and it's going to be hard to stay out of those shows.  And I'm sure there will be opportunities to perform and write for Flying Dragon, and another middle school play in 2014.  

And that's how it is in Strait World.  As the curtain goes down on one season, we are already anticipating the curtain rising on next season!

Until next time,

T.M. Strait

Scandalicious Saturday Political Soap Box 64

It seems to be the inevitable rhythm of modern American politics.

The second term of our American  Presidencies get mired in scandal and inertia.

Nixon had Watergate, Reagan Iran-Contra, Clinton Monica-gate, Bushy Jr. started early and most insidiously by lying us into a war.

So now it's Obama's turn to live up to America's glorious political past.

And what do we have so far?

The IRS targeted conservative groups for investigation of 501(c)4 status? Well, that's wrong.  Of course, the 501(c)4 status is being abused by groups of all kinds.  Claiming to be organized to benefit and promote and social welfare, and instead pursuing a completely political agenda, including running vicious attack ads aimed directly at individuals.  The IRS should be investigating EVERY organization filing for this status.  Of course, that would take a lot of money and resources.  And it's awful that the IRS disproportionally turned down the status to Conservative groups. Wait a minute!  They actually didn't turn anybody down.  And they actually gave the same set of inquiries and questions to progressive groups applying.  Somebody just shot their mouth off because they noticed that a large number of the groups looking to take advantage of this status were right wing.  And President Obama seems more pissed off about it than you or I are.  He has no connection to it and heads in the IRS are rolling.  Ne connection, no defense of the behavior, no cover up.

Benghazi looms like a shadowy promised land for Republicans.  The same party that 9/11 happened to, and lied us into war, and had countless terror incidents happen on their watch (Reagan/Bush/Bush) is excited that something happened under Obama's watch.  Wow.  The world's largest actor on the international stage sometimes has things go SNAFU.  Should we investigate and fix what wrong?  Sure!  Let's see what we can do!  Why don't we start by restoring the many millions that the Republican Congress cut from embassy security?  This whole thing is now more of an attempt to smear Hilary Clinton than it is anything else.  Good luck with that.

The over monitoring of AP phone calls and such stinks, but it was mostly done in an over-zealous attempt to trace leaks that had done damage to our intelligence community.  The Republicans can't say much because they would have done this times ten.  The safety of the United States versus certain privacy issues of the news organization that participated in the leak of classified information?  Yeah, I can just see hordes of Republicans lining up to support the news organization.

So it's an interesting diversion, RepubliCorp.  Thanks for playing.  But when you get a chance, maybe you want to think of a few ways to help us with unemployment, immigration, sensible gun legislation, climate change, a crumbling infrastructure and a myriad of other pressing real problems.

Ripping Good Yarns: The Rest of the Saturn Television Awards

Continuing to show the award nominees for awards that seem made especially for Rippers!  The Saturn Awards, to be presented in June, are awards designed around great genre action and adventure programs.  Nothing frou-frou or sitting around at tea about these nominees.

I have earlier shown all the movie awards and the top two television categories.  My favorite in the Best Network Series category was Fringe, and my favorite of the cable series was The Walking Dead.

So let me proceed apace with a minimum of interruption:

Best Television Presentation
Breaking Bad - AMC
Continuum - Syfy
Falling Skies - TNT
Game of Thrones - HBO
Ken Follett’s World Without End - Reelz
Mockingbird Lane - NBC

Spartacus: War of the Damned - Starz

Best Youth Oriented Series on Television

Arrow - CW
Beauty and the Beast - CW
Doctor Who - BBC America
Merlin - Syfy
Teen Wolf - MTV
The Vampire Diaries - CW

Best Actor
Kevin Bacon, The Following
Billy Burke, Revolution
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Joshua Jackson, Fringe
Timothy Hutton, Leverage
Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead

Best Actress

Moon Bloodgood, Falling Skies
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Asylum
Charlotte Riley, Ken Follett’s World Without End
Tracy Spiridakos, Revolution
Anna Torv, Fringe

Best Supporting Actor
Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad
Giancarlo Esposito, Revolution
Todd Lasance, Spartacus: War of the Damned
Colm Meaney, Hell on Wheels
David Morrissey, The Walking Dead
John Noble, Fringe

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter
Sarah Carter, Falling Skies
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Laurie Holden, The Walking Dead
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Beth Riesgraf, Leverage

Best Guest Starring Role in a Series
Blair Brown, Fringe
Terry O’Quinn, Falling Skies
Lance Reddick, Fringe
Mark Sheppard, Leverage
Ray Stevenson, Dexter
Yvonne Strahovski, Dexter

My choices:

Best Television Presentation:  Game of Thrones by a country mile!

Best Yout Orienrted Series:  Doctor Who

Best Actor:  Andrew Lincoln of The Walking Dead

Best Actress: Mirelle Enos, The Killing

Best Supporting Actor: John Noble, Fringe

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Lange, American Horr Story: Asylum

No opinion on that last one.

Love to hear your choices or thoughts!

A Binding Song

Talk to me
From a distant shore
Walk to me
Across a shattered floor

Dance with me
To a fancy ballroom score
Kiss with me
By a moonlit moor

Pray unto thee
In a genuflected mode
Cry unto thee
Along a less traveled road

Caress my soul
With the kindness of your touch
Melt my soul
With a fierceness that is so much

So much more than I can bear
So much more than I can share
The brightness of your spirit
A lantern by which I steer it

Come to me
Share the joy of our binding
Open to me
And the world will flash like lightning

Head Into the Woods This Weekend!

The cast of Into The Woods.  Lots of great young thespians!

Benjamin looking a little concerned with his love interest, Rapunzel.

Amazingly, I couldn't find any pictures of this to post.  UPDATE:  Now with pictures!

But it is too important to let pass.

The Pierce County Middle School is going to be performing Into the Woods, Jr this weekend at the times mentioned below.  My son Benjamin plays Rapunzel's Prince.  He has a few lines and one song.  My good fiend's daughter, Elizabeth Beck, is also in the show.

Both Benjamin and Elizabeth have a lot of experience, but with other groups.  They both got very small roles for this production.  Benjamin was disappointed, but I told him. "Show the Director how dedicated you are.  Always be there to help.  Always show up for practice.  Do whatever you're given with enthusiasm and without complaint.  They will understand that you can be relied upon and over time, good things will happen."

Both Benjamin and Elizabeth did this, and over time, good things did happen.  Now they both have promoted to bigger parts than they started out with.

I really hope all of you who are in the area can come to this show.  The Director, Yvonne Hazen Russell has done extraordinary job in the past with children's productions (including Annie), and this should be top flight.  Please check out the times below and give serious consideration to seeing this show.

It will be performed at Eagle Station in Patterson, Georgia.


Friday, May 17 at 7pm and Saturday, May 18 at 2pm & 7pm.

The Brothers Grimm has “gone Broadway” with a cockeyed fairy tale where all of your favorite characters – Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (his beanstalk), Granny, Step-sisters, Princes, The Witch and many more – meet and interact on their journeys.

Ticket Prices: $5 for general admission
LINK TO PURCHASE TICKETS: http://pcms.pierce.k12.ga.us/

Ripping Good Yarns: The Great Gapsby

I saw a movie, old sport!

It was the bee's knees!  It was the cat's meow!

It was a pretty good movie  all in all.  It was very faithful to the story, even if some of the music numbers were a little imaginative and anachronistic.  But if you wander into a Baz Lurhmann directed film and don't think you're going to get anachronitic, you've wandered into the wrong theater.  Did the music bother me?  Not at all!  I thought it was very entertaining - some of it was hip hop but with a jazzy tilt.

Leonardo DiCaprio was very good as Jay Gatsby.  The boyish hopefulness really shined through.  Like all truly great movie actors, he conveyed many of his mood changes just through his eyes, and subtle changes in his facial expression.  Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan was incredibly insipid and vapid, but that is what the character called for.  Love is a strange and uncaring beast, because practically there is no way someone as dynamic as Gatsby should be obsessed with her.  She is pretty but empty.  To me, the very best performance was by Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, Daisy's mega-wealthy husband, played with malicious fervor.  He made you understand the truly corrupt power of these people who can do whatever they want and so casually play with other people's lives.

Any great work of literature will have multiple themes, like a kaleidoscope in what you pick up and see. But clearly the dominant theme of The Great Gatsby is disillusionment, the corrosive effects of greed and money, and the growing income inequality of that time. An income inequality and greed that eventually led to the Great Depression.

But this is not some distant artifact of a time long ago.  We are living it again today.  Income inequality is as severe if not more severe now than it was then.  And the gap has been growing.  And many of us seem completely unfocused on it.  We would still rather rail at someone getting filet mignon on food stamps than a corporation exploiting workers here in the country and overseas, where factories collapse and human beings work endless hours for pennies.

Statistics from Business Insider, from a study done by professors Dan Ariely and Michael Norton:

The Top 1% of Americans own a staggering 40% of the entire country's wealth!

The top 1%, in fact, own more than the average Americans (Republicans and Democrats alike) think that the whole top 20% should own.

Again, the top 1% of Americans own a staggering 40% of the country's net worth.

The bottom 80%, meanwhile — 8 out of 10 Americans — own only 7% of America's net worth.

The richest 1% of wage earners now take home 24% of the country's total earnings. This compares to only 9% four decades ago.

The top 1% own 50% of the country's financial assets.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wealth-and-income-inequality-in-america-2013-4?op=1#ixzz2TMAqpoRe


Is this the way it always is?  NO!  Is this the way it has to be? NO!

We all want some kind of curve upwards, for hard work and effort to mean something.  But this?  This is ridiculous, and devastating to our ability to be a free, mobile and democratic society!

We can enjoy the drama and music and characters of The Great Gatsby.  But listen to the story carefully.  We don't have to live with The Great Gapsby.  We can do something about it if we have the will.

Through Time and Space With T. M. Strait

Tonight is a special night.

The Writer's Guild meeting is going to be held at Plant Cafe, where will meet the very prominent and successful science fiction writer, Jack McDevitt.  Mr. McDevitt writes in the field of science fiction and has many distinguished awards and nominations, including a Nebula Award for Best Novel (2007 for Seeker). I have met him once before, at a book signing he did at Read Me again Books.  He was very friendly and open, and I very much look forward to meeting him again.

My love affair with science fiction began very early.  We would visit my grandparent's lake front cottage in Southern Michigan, and my Grandma Martin would give me a handful of change and with that change I would go down to a grocery/pharmacy/hardware store that was close by, a store to service all the most immediate needs of the lake community.  That clutch of change could buy me a couple of comic books and a clutch of candy.  But I also saw something else that I was compelled to try.  Splurging the incredible sum of 35 cents, I bought a Worlds of If Science Fiction Magazine. The issue was December 1963, and it featured what it promoted as Larry Niven's first short story.  I was eight years old.

Larry Niven became one of the brightest lights in the science fiction genre, including the Ringworld series, and a number of popular collaborations with Jerry Pournelle (Footfall and The Mote In God's Eye being among my very favorite science fiction books.

I followed Worlds of If closely, even to the point of subscribing by 1965.  I also got a Worlds of Tomorrow magazine that featured Phillip Jose Farmer's introductory River World story, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. There were many compelling and wonderful stories in Worlds of If. I loved Keith Laumer's Retief stories.  I read Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress in serial form, I read a fabulous story about a treehouse that goes to Mars.

Television also inspired me into science fiction.  I loved The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, although sometimes I had to watch through partially covered eyes.  Local channels would show old movies in the afternoon, movies with giant monsters, or space ships and aliens.  Star Trek was amazing, and I remember begging and pleading to stay up for it.

I discovered H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.  I particularly loved H. G> Wells, with classics like The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds.  In 7th grade, I decided that I would write under the pen name of T.M. Strait.

Movies at the theater were a little slower coming.  I enjoyed Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and other gems when I could find them.  But science fiction movies, to me, did not reach their full potential until years later with Star Wars.  Much of that movie I watched with jaw open and tears of joy.  That was one I had been waiting a long time for.

Since the age of eight, I have always dreamed of being published in one of those pulpy science fiction magazines.  I have tried off and on throughout the years, with no success.  Will Jacques being kind enough to publish my short story Waiting for the Last Train, even illustrating it, in his online magazine Ghastly Door, is a partial fulfillment of that dream, and I am very grateful for that.

The pulps still exist, at least a small handful of them.  Maybe I should brush off some of my stories, maybe even put together something new, and give it one more go.  Hey, you never know.  Maybe the 57th time will be the charm!

UPDATE:

A great picture from a fabulous meeting.  Here is a picture of our budding novelist Leslie Crane  in the middle, with Jack McDevitt and his wife, Maureen.  He was a great speaker and very friendly!  He has inspired me to once more hit the breaches of the science fiction magazine market and try once again!