Friday, February 20, 2009

Baba Wawa--Warning--Can't Stand Her

Is it just me, or is Barbara Walters getting creepier as she gets older?

I have never been an enormous fan--merely indifferent--but lately when I see her in an interview with somebody, she just sort of makes me feel uncomfortable. She makes my skin crawl.

It seems that she is just out to mine the most lurid, sensational, shameful, embarrassing bits of her subjects, then she brings them to light under the thin guise of actually caring, with the grand prize of bringing the subject to tears on camera. I get the strong impression that she feels it is more valuable to pander to the lowest common denominator than it is to educate as a journalist. Why teach us something we didn't know when you can force-feed us a second helping of trash? Yessiree, this is real journalism. I just think she is generally out of touch with what is interesting to us these days. She insults my intelligence.

I know, I know..trailblazer, feminist icon, etc. I'm sure she had her day, and I give her props for being great when she was great, but those days are gone and she has now evolved into somebody who, in my opinion, is cheap and shallow.

I laughed like crazy when Bette Midler recently commented on Barbara's tell-all biography. She said something like, "Well Barbara has a new book out and apparently she slept with everybody--I never knew she had it in her--so to speak."

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

OK Facebook, I Give.

It seems that if I want to be able to find people, it is necessary for me to be on Facebook. It is the year 2009. Do I do this grumpily? Hell yes, but I am in the theatre world and I have all sorts of occasions to hunt people down. Facebook is just plain useful for that. I don't have to love it, I just have to be polite.

But check out this very very funny Facebook send-up I got today from a kindred spirit (where Facebook is concerned, at least):

http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

My Dream Wedding (as discussed with Jan Guarino)

I have already been married and had the nice church wedding with the gown, the man--what was he called--oh yeah, the groom, the flowers and the gifts. I ran out of steam halfway through the thank you notes and I'm pretty sure I never finished them. I just hope that time has erased this from people's memories. Or that a lot of those people who gave me gifts are now deceased.

Anyway, if I ever get married again, I'm going to do something totally different. I'm going to have the wedding in my front yard, like a yard sale. I am going to post signs on the telephone pole at the big road at the end of my street labeled WEDDIN' with a big arrow. Furthermore, I am going to have a whole bunch of our old stuff sitting out on tables. Instead of bringing us presents, I will ask the guests to pretty please and for the love-o-gawd, take something with you when you leave. I mean, what a festive way to get all your friends to help you clean out your attic!

I give thanks to Jan Guarino, who helped me formulate this idea.

Bye, Steve P.

We had a little farewell party after work tonight for Steve Perigard, who has been our Associate Artistic Director since longer than I have been at our company. He has always been so busy and pulled in so many directions, that I can't really say we ever spent loads of time together at the office, and yet I will miss his presence and I have a hard time imagining the place without him.

I'm glad he has agreed to still direct and act in some of our shows. It's a real honor to be in a show with Steve or directed by him. He's just one of the most gifted people I have ever had the good fortune to come in contact with. I have always been in awe of how he can find the very center, the sweet spot, the essence of a play and really nurture the actors to make it shine through in the performance. Damn, I wish I had that skill.

My boss gave a great farewell speech that was just perfect. He talked about how Steve has been his artistic compass all these years, always reminding him that the most important thing to our company was artistic excellence, even when it was tempting to succumb to just looking at the bottom line financially. It wasn't sappy and long, and I wasn't secretly longing for him to shut up. My boss is a very engaging man to listen to. I actually enjoyed the speech, and at the end of a workday I probably have the attention span of a toddler.

Anyway, I'm sure I speak for the whole theatre community in wishing Steve the very best. We all see nothing but promise for him!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Washington D.C.

I am in our nation's capital, right near the Capitol. I'm holed up at the Hyatt Regency at the Kennedy Center Educational Partners Annual Meeting. I have been going to lots of really long meetings--like 4 hour long meetings. And then a meeting afterwards to discuss the meeting, then another meeting to discuss the discussion of the 4 hour long meeting. I am schmoozing around with lots of really sharp people, and I am trying to act like a grownup to the best of my ability.

Now I have to primp because I'm going to the Kennedy Center to see the Alvin Ailey dancers and have dinner. Whee!