10.20.2009
Questions of Usage....
10.01.2009
9.24.2009
Because I am Grading...

...and therefore have no time to do ridiculous things like this. And because grading makes me want to leave it all behind and become the very famous artist whose work hangs in every upscale suburban development in the developed world. And because I've always thought that sneezing really was more like leisure and entertainment than a necessary bodily function. I unveil my new masterpiece...
9.20.2009
Premise for A Short Film
The professor is about to open the attachment, but thanfully realizes just in time the magnitude of the decision he's about to make.
On the one hand, finally and completely achieve not only everything he'd hoped for, but also more.
On the other hand, what's life worth after that. I mean c'mon. The man's only forty. What will keep him hoping? wondering?
Maybe he just shouldn't read the script.
(and in the hands of Charlie Kauffman? This is a sprawling epic script. Not a short film.
9.19.2009
Waving Like That Guy.
I wish my life was like that guy's. So lucky to be out on his friend's (parents) boat on a beautiful day. So lucky to have friends (like Connie) who, to celebrate her birthday, gives a beautiful, amazing day in a glorious place to her friends. That guy is watching his daughter giggle with delight as she skims along the waves behind the boat. That guy has just seen a pontoon boat full of many of his friends putzing around the lake and feels so happy to sharing all the worlds beauty with people he enjoys so much.
You know how you feel that little bit of envy when you see pictures in magazines of the things that would really and truly make you happy. No really truly. Like mid century modern homes that have been updated and cleaned, all spare and pristine? Or an unexpected Inn in a small but *so charming* European town where you're just lucky enough to be vacationing? Or that rugged kayaker who has the whole northern lake to himself as he moves through the silence and splendour of solitude? You know that feeling? Those pictures?
Well when my friend Bob sent me this picture of my boat ride today with my friend Tom at my friend Connie's party, I has a twinge of that feeling.
That Guy. (I said to myself) Is So Lucky.
This guy? Just keeps grading papers....
9.14.2009
Light in the Darkness

This sign, however hilarious and great it is, revealed to me that the world of bumper stickers may well bear significant responsibility for the snarky, aggressive, soundbyte talk that shapes too much of our public discourse. I may make my own polite paper command for the back of my car tonight.
Huzzah for ink jet printers and scotch tape! The world is saved!
9.06.2009
Friends Making Film...
Calvin Marshall Teaser from Broken Sky Films on Vimeo.
9.02.2009
I Believe in the Blue Tub.
I love so many things about polite paper commands. I love how they reflect the nature of institutional life -- small amounts of distributed power, some measure of disagreement regarding norms, attempts to temper demands with human kindness. Desperation. Hope.
I love thinking about what would happen to this sign if someone *really* moved the blue tub? Like to a different room? Or stole it?
I love wondering how long the sign would remain.
I love imagining the younger readers who would encounter it in such a situation. Blue tub? They'd read. And I love imagining them peering up and down the hall curiously and then wondering whether to attribute this "blue tub" to the category of metaphor, theory, folk tale or religion. *Grown-ups* they'd mutter to themselves, and shake their heads.
9.01.2009
Showing Multilevel Relationship HERE!
Multilevel Relationship will be screening tomorrow night (Wednesday, September 2nd) at the Sandy Valley Public Library just south of Canton, Ohio. I've been a big fan of the Sandy Valley Independent Short Film Series (hosted by Kim Ann) for years -- there's always great food, great conversations and great films.

The show starts at 6:30 and it's guaranteed to be a good time! You should join us!
8.31.2009
What's Now; What's Next
The kids & Lynn returned to school this past week. Mostly rave reviews; a few minor bumps.
I start classes this morning and Lynn begins grad school again at full speed ahead.
While I have a little bit of trepidation about the chaos that is coming -- it is a carefully organized and deliberate chaos.

The white spaces in my calendar during the summer and the school year mean roughly the same thing: get everything else done in this space. But white spaces in the summer are so wide and floaty and interpenetrated by the loose delightful white spaces of those I love, that eventually the indeterminacy (in tension with the nagging sense that there is so much to do!) becomes overwhelming.
The difficult thing is -- treasuring what is now -- and not allowing yourself to look too longingly toward the next.
Hope you find some peace with your now, too.
8.30.2009
Who's Excited About A New Blog Post!?
8.29.2009
David Bazan has a New Album

I'm a mostly rhetorical creature, so I can usually restrain my blog speech to audience-relevant discourse. When it comes to my favorite singer, David Bazan, I am not so restrained. I love this dude's music.

8.08.2009
Dear Future Generations,
7.15.2009
A Family of Geniuses
7.12.2009
We're Kind of a Big Deal.
Most of my readers already know that Daniel and I have just finished the little film we shot a few years ago -- Multilevel Relationship - and been going to some film festivals.
Probably the most fun was our road trip to Baltimore for the Maryland Film Fest. Pretty much the whole experience was great. Watching some great films, eating at some great restaurants, long walks, wild schemes and hanging out in the filmmakers tent. The filmmakers tent was a lavishly maintained reminder that filmmakers rock. Wine, cheese and hors d'oeuvres at all hours. Non-stop press interviews of the really big deal filmmakers (just to remind those of us just entering this level of the stratosphere of how far we yet had to go
A whole unexpected chapter included connecting to long lost cousins who drove across state lines to see Multilevel. We had some great fun, and ended up enjoying their fantastic hospitality in DC at the end of our trip.
I'm gradually blogging many of the films we saw at the fest - check out my film blog if you're interested. And Multilevel Relationship is still in submission to a few more festivals, but once we're satisfied that it's coming to the end of it's festival life-cycle, it will find a life here on the internet.



