I’ve talked before about my issues with cell phones, at least as it relates to the use of the cameras on them, but I thought it was worth talking about issues of connectivity as well. This could be thought of as an extension of that earlier entry, and will repeat some of the same points…
There is a broad debate about Shakespeare that I find endlessly frustrating: whether Shakespeare belongs on your bookshelf or in the theatre. There is intense partisanship on both sides, but my anecdotal experience leads me to believe that the theatre crowd is the more numerous and influential one. I can’t count how many times I’ve…
What changes faster, culture or technology? What makes you feel older faster, a new custom or a new artifact? I think a lot about the ways that cellphones have changed our lives, and perhaps that’s because my peers and I straddle the advent of cellphone ubiquity. I got my first cell phone right before my…
What I love about sunflowers is their lack of guile. Of course there is a measure of egotism and narcissism in that, because I also see myself as a creature that lacks guile. A cautious and distrustful mystery of a person may fall in love with a rose, and a diva may love a gardenia….
A few weeks ago, at the end of January, I took a week off from my day job to attend the Shakespeare Theatre Association conference in Baltimore. STA — pronounced acronymically as “stah” by everyone — is a large, international meeting of directors and theatre company managers who get together annually to discuss the future…
After my last serious, monogamous relationship ended in 2008, I became really disillusioned with the entire concept of romance, love, marriage, monogamy, &c. I spent years avoiding any romantic commitments like the plague and hurting a few feelings along the way. In 2012 I met my wife, and in 2014 we got married. It’s been…
I truly think that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. I hate the winter, and I hate being cold, but I love Christmas. It might be unexpected that such a strident atheist would be so in love with Christmas, but in spite of my disbelief in the metaphysical claims of religion, I…
Like everyone else in the western world, I’ve been thinking a lot about the US presidential election and about Donald Trump specifically. I didn’t want to sit down and write the same kind of political analysis that has been everywhere else. I’m not a pundit. I’m more interested in trying to conceptualize the election in…
I had the pleasure of seeing Richmond Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet twice this weekend. Once last night and once tonight. I’ve never seen a ballet of Romeo and Juliet, so I went into it without any expectations, aside from having heard the Prokofiev score once or twice. The version performed by the Richmond Ballet was…
Back in the spring, I followed Eisley on tour for a few dates. Eisley is my favourite band and whenever they go on tour I take a few days off work and follow them for a few days. It’s been a ritual of mine for a few years now. Their spring tour this year was…