Greetings from A White North

The time here in Portland, ME passes productively. I don't know what it is -- the increased space, the lack of distracting cats, a generally more relaxed mood -- but I get more work done here in less time than I do at home. Even with TV, which we don't have at home.

The production draft for George Bataille's Bathrobe is nearly finished; I'm hoping to be able to send it to the proposed cast tonight (I have to ask two new people if they'll be in that show, too; my original choices couldn't do it).

Some good constructive work on Spacemen from Space has happened. I won't be doing much more than outlining and structuring Spacemen here, maybe making up some dialogue fragments. I have a bunch of research material for that (I found a cheap DVD set containing 5 full serials) which is on the way to Brooklyn, and I want to go through all of that material before writing the show proper. Berit and I have been spitballing ideas and improvising dialogue together, and I have a better handle on the tone of the show.

I've set up a first reading for A Little Piece of the Sun for later this month (still need to cast one part, the young Andrei Chikatilo, for that one).

I have to get ahold of the three people I asked about being in Blood on the Cat's Neck who haven't responded to see if they're in or not, and if not, move on and finish casting it and set up a first reading.

And I've been able to have time to enjoy a little TV and some rented movies -- the Batman & Robin serial, Tom Schiller's Nothing Lasts Forever, the "Mystery Disk" from the David Lynch Lime Green Box Set (lots of interesting bits and pieces there), Von Trier's Europa (aka Zentropa) and Guy Madden's My Winnepeg (the last two are a GREAT double bill with lots of echoes). I've now got Samuel Fuller's White Dog and Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul to get through (I've seen almost no Fassbinder - only Veronica Voss - and have had little interest in doing so, but now that I'm directing a play of his I feel I have to get a couple of his movies in).

And meanwhile, back in the iPod, there are 26,107 tracks, and these ten came up this morning:

1. "Big Jack TV Show Promo – Buckinghams/Selective Seven/Critters" - TV Promo - Psychedelic Promos & Radio Spots, vol. 7
2. "Vanishing Girl - The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Chips From The Chocolate Fireball
3. "Slip, Slip, Slippin'" - Lou Millet - Sin Alley, Vol. 2: Red Hot Rockabilly 1955 - 1962
4. "Pirate Girls" - The Pinkos - The Pinkos
5. "Way Down In The Hole (live)" - Tom Waits - Big Time
6. "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" - Jelly Beans - Beat of the Pops 16
7. "Regime Of Coincidence, State Of Gravity" - Laibach - Kapital
8. "The Grass Is Greener" - Wall Of Voodoo - Happy Planet
9. "Rich Kids" - Rich Kids - Ghosts of Princes in Towers
10. "Prescription Blues" - Pajo - 1968

Of course, while I brought the camera up, I forgot the cable to connect it to the computer, so no photos from up here. Here's a leftover of Berit and Moni (two fuzzy heads) back home . . .

So here's a cute cat video to fill out the "Friday Cat Blogging" part of the post -- kittens on a Roomba:

And for additional video fun, if you haven't yet seen this video of little David returning from the dentist after a tooth extraction, feeling and showing the effects of the medication he was given, here it is:

And a lot of people are making fun of the omnipresent commercials for the "Snuggie," billed as a "blanket with sleeves, and looking pretty much like a robe put on backwards. Honestly, I'm with Berit -- when we first saw the commercials, she said, "I can't decide if that's the smartest thing I've ever seen, or the stupidest." As we're people who like to snuggle under a blanket on a couch while reading books, we actually understand the attraction of building sleeves into a blanket.

But we also understand those who fall down on the "stupidest thing ever" side, like the people who made this:

And if you'd like to hear a President of the United States (not Richard Nixon) cuss like a sonovabitch, go on over to the Boston Phoenix's site, where you can download - HERE - some brief excerpts from Obama's audiobook of Dreams from My Father, where the then-future President quotes and imitates a foul-mouthed friend, "Ray," and doesn't spare the listener any of Ray's colorful vernacular.

Do as I've done - download the soundbites and drop them into your iPod to pull out and play in party mixes!