“The Young Man from Atlanta” by Horton Foote

Posted on by

More LA Theater Works!

This performance reminded me of “The Dollhouse” a little bit. Lily Dale was so tremendously protected and naive. I personally cannot imagine a life where I would never need to spend any money whatsoever. Maybe in Texas they have worked out a system where the wives can go about their business and never need to see the color of money.

Will Kidder and his wife Lily Dale have lost their 37 year-old son to a drowning. They are still mourning his loss when Will loses his job.

That’s practically the whole story. Oh, except that the roomate of their son keeps hanging around.

Sounds homoerotic to me. Their son lives at the YMCA with a “roomate.” YOU connnect the dots.

Anyway, the couple has to come to terms with what they have of their life. I guess it’s supposed to be set in the 50s. I just cannot imagine a life like that. I have so much more freedom and possibility than Lily Dale.

She calls her husband “Daddy”, which is also creepy.

It did keep my interest though. I was waiting to see what happened. Shirley Knight, the actress who plays Lily Dale, was nominated for a Tony for her onstage performance of this role. She did stick to it, that’s for sure.

The world has changed a lot.

I’m a bunny, right?…All we do is hip hop!

Posted on by

Who says the bunny can’t jam? You’re buggin’
If you don’t know who I am, You’re buggin’
If Bugs ain’t the coolest in the land, you’re buggin’

EEeeehh..we only buggin’

Space Jam sound track is dead on. Most of the songs are really serious songs, and the CD is worth is for them.

I still like when Bugs does the rap at the end. Man, that’s funny. He dead on imitates so many of the hip hop affectations.

Bugs can do it…He’s the rabbit

War makes me sad…So Let’s run off to the hundred acre wood

Posted on by

There was a guy at work wearing a tigger coat.

“Oh you like Winnie the Pooh?”

“My wife loves him. She has all the movies.”

MOVIES?!

He didn’t even know it was a book. He didn’t care that it was a book.

Poor man.

Winnie is so much cleverer on paper. That’s one of the best things about it, the stories work on a very sophisticated level.

I picked it off the shelf, looking for something to read before I sleep, something that will make me have pleasant dreams.

My copy of A.A. Milne’s book was published in Russia. A student gave it to me as a gift when I was there. She thought I would like to have another book to read in english.

The funny thing about it, is that is has asterisks at the hard to translate bits. In the back, there is a definition of the phrase in Russian. Phrases you wouldn’t expect, like “he lived under the name of Sanders”, and the gender ambiguity of the name “winnie” have to be explained.

Somethings, like “Heffalump” have the explanation saying essentially, “it doesn’t translate.”

It’s nice too, to see a different illustrator’s interpretation of the characters. Disney has permanently stamped his mark on Piglet, Kanga and Rabbit. We cannot concieve of Pooh without the red shirt.

Anyway, that’s just my copy.

Go get your own. Turn off the news and sit down to remember there are pleasant places still.

A World Between

Posted on by

Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans

I love classic books, as I’ve already said in other posts. At the same time, I know that there are a ton of incredibly good works of literature that never quite make the hit list.

This book was co-edited by one of my professors in college, Persis Karim, who has become my friend as well. She’s a mover and a shaker, and I didn’t even know she had been involved in this book when we met. She was already on to other things.

Someone else bought it for me as a present.

It’s an anthology, so you can open it up to anywhere and just read for a little bit. Some of the pieces are a little hard to understand.

But some of them grab me by the throat, they are so beautiful and evocative of things I don’t understand. Some of them make me gasp and cry.

I’m really glad I have this book. I think I will eventually read everything in it. It wouldn’t be somehting I want to just sit down and read straight through. It’s too strong for that.

60 minutes talks about Civil Rights abuses

Posted on by

CBS News | Guilty Until Proven | April 6, 2003 23:45:04

I certainly agree with the authorities fulfilling their responsibilities to question anyone and everyone that might be able to shed light on terrorist activities.

But it is necessary to hold people for so long?

“The government was able to hold Omar and hundreds of other Muslim detainees by charging them not as criminals but as visa violators. The law says criminals, even murderers, must be charged with a crime quickly – usually within 48 hours – or released.

Immigration laws used to work the same way, but after 9/11, the justice department rewrote the rules so that suspected visa violators could be held in jail as long as the government wants – without any charges filed against them. ”

Generally, America has a great system in place to protect citizens from government abuses.
This Afghani-American citizen believed in the system:

“Shokriea says she wasn’t worried when her husband was picked up for questioning. At least not right away.

“I knew the US justice system. You’re innocent until proven guilty,” she says. “I just thought, you know, he would be questioned and just released.”

But her husband was held for 10 months in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. He later told his wife that “innocent until proven guilty” was not how it worked here. ”

I think vigilance is in order.

Thank you, Steve Rhodes, for pointing out this story.

What was that about habeas corpus again?

Posted on by

Friends Plea for Release of Arab-American

Looks like there are some problems with this American citizen being able to get his civil rights.

What’s going on here?

“The government won’t give any details publicly about the case, including when a grand jury will convene or when Hawash will appear. His attorneys can’t discuss the matter because of a federal gag order. His wife, Lisa, won’t talk about it because she fears repercussions.”

Some people are getting together to do something

Heavy D!

Posted on by

Now that we found love
what are we gonna do
With it?

man oh man oh man! Saw a clip of Heavy D and the Boyz doing that song last night. That is one of those songs that takes my full attention.

The beat, the hooks just get me. I think he’s very good.

And he spits out those lyrics like nothing, he just slams them out and moves on before you’ve even figured out what he did.

I have that CD somewhere, I’m gonna have to find it.

_Cruel Intentions_

Posted on by

Buffy is the evil spoiled upper-class heroine of this movie. Jaded beyond belief, she makes a deal with her step brother to seduce and humiliate people who cross their path.

She makes a bet that he can’t seduce the headmaster’s daughter, who has just come out in a magazine as the “virgin until marriage.”

If the step-brother can’t do it, she gets to keep his very expensive car.

If he can seduce the virgin, she promises to sleep with him.

Sordid enough for you yet?

It’s just terrible, evil and sexy.

The setting is ultra-rich Manhattan, which lends a beautiful background to this very unhealthy and seductive movie.

If you want to be bad, this is the movie for you.

Continue reading →

Bullets fired..On Californians

Posted on by

Yahoo! News – Rubber Bullets Used on War Protesters in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Oakland police fired rubber bullets to disperse about 750 anti-war demonstrators on Monday in what was believed to be the first use of the projectiles against U.S. protesters since the American-led war on Iraq (news – web sites) began.

I wish there were less shooting going on in the world right now.

The photo of the lady who was shot in the face looks painful