that one time God finally said yes

So I've been on the nicotine patch for quite some time. It's a well known fact that when you sleep with it on, you get these crazy vivid dreams. I'm pretty in tune with my dreams as is, so you throw the patch in the equation they get borderline prophetic. I've had dreams about people and interactions and usually within 72 hours somehow it comes true. I dreamt that my father died on a Monday and I got the call that he did on a Friday.

Last night, I dreamt I was with my dad. We were in the cafeteria of the hospital he was at when I last some him alive. We were eating cake. We were talking about everything and nothing. And of all the dreams I've randomly had that randomly came true (friends, family, boyfriends, exes) I wish this one did. I don't remember what my dad and I talked about in this dream. Mostly that he was healthy and at peace.

I was cleaning out through some scrap book stuff and I found this poem. My father had sent it out with the christmas cards when I was a kid (it was my job to color in the holly and ivy). Its about a man asking God to wipe away his bad traits or do things for him and god says no. When he finally asks the right question, god finally says yes.

The poem was titled by the author "and god said no". What struck me as a kid was that my dad had photocopied this poem to send out, then on each page, replaced  (by hand) the word "no" with "yes" and inserted the word "finally" before "said" on every copy.

The message of the poem didn't change. But the frame of mind you go into reading it does: god will say yes.

For the last few months, I've asked god to take away the pain, to dry my tears, to make me forget and move on.

Last night, in my dream, I asked god if my dad was at peace and happy. And he finally said yes.

that one random adventure (+3 for hump day) episode 4

Random Adventure for the Week
(cuz anything can be an adventure)

To say this past weekend was epic would be an understatement. It was epicly epic. Amidst the rowdy and the daydrinking and randomness, God likes to throw in a little message your way. Remember to conncet to people. While we were caught in the rain getting refills of Summer-Double Gulp, the Bertucellis met Gwendolyn and Joseph.




Fifteen damn years. Damn. We should all be so lucky. They've seen some times, you can just see it in their eyes. But burning brighter than that, is their love and devotion to each other. Bless you guys. It was fun and a treat and an honor to meet you.

And I officially retract the interaction slips from episode 2.




Three things I'm looking forward to for the rest of the week


New Book Wednesday

AVENGERS #16

Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS

Penciled by JOHN ROMITA JR.

Amidst the ashes of what is left of the Marvel Universe and, during the bombastic battles throughout New York, a new Avengers romance blossoms. Thanks for the spoiler in the cover LOL

X-SCHISM #3

Written by JASON AARON

Penciled by DANIEL ACUNA

The event that divides the X-Men in half continues. The teaser pages (and the cover) features my own favorite Bobby Drake (Iceman) and the art looks SICK! Bobby's been getting more page time as of late, which is awesome, but if you can put two and two together, it's pretty obvious who's team he'll end up on by #5, and knowing X-History, it's kinda bittersweet.

Family

Not only is Molly Meacham one of the smartest, most wonderful and talented women I know, I'm also very lucky to call her one of my best friends. We both get insanely busy as she is a dedicated English teacher during the fall and spring and a ingenious touring poet during the summer, so we only get to see each other sporadically. Having lunch with her this Saturday will definitely be the highlight of my week!

Class

Thank God my gym offers (one) bikram yoga class. I definitely need to sweat out some toxins from last weekend.

Til next time...

that one time classic American theatre got rebooted

Like a lot of people following American theatre, I was very excited when Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis were announced to play the title roles in a Broadway-bound revival of Porgy and Bess at American Repertory Theatre. Chicagoans enjoyed a beautifully simple staging at Court this season, which put the music (as gorgeously directed by Doug Peck and sung by an amazing cast, including the imcomparable Bethany Thomas) at the forefront.


great interview with director Charles Newell; BT & Doug performance at 6:08 mark

"What an exciting time for this show," I thought. It looked I might be in NYC when ART production would be running and was very excited. Then the reports of the changes started coming in. Director Diane Paulus brings in playwright Suzan-Lori Parks to collaborate with. Now, this isn't the first time anyone has "tweaked" this piece. In 2006, Tony Award-winning director Trevor Nunn updated his London production a bit by turning a lot of the recitative into naturalistic book scenes (maybe he was inspired by the movie version of RENT). And it flopped. Mind you, Nunn's production still stuck with the original plot and (most controversial to the ART revival) ending. For ART, Ms. Paulus and Ms. Parks have expanded character bios, omitted key scenes and songs to accomodate said additions and changed the ending (no spoiler alert here) to be more upbeat and "happy".

When NY Times  writer Patrick Healy broke the story for the Arts & Leisure section, many readers expressed their concern in the comments section. Michael Musto had a hilarious response on his blog. But the most vocally outraged was prolific composer Stephen Sondheim, who wrote an eloquent and poignant response to the Times. Here are some excerpts:



-Ms. Paulus says that in the opera you don’t get to know the characters as people. Putting it kindly, that’s willful ignorance. These characters are as vivid as any ever created for the musical theater, as has been proved over and over in productions that may have cut some dialogue and musical passages but didn’t rewrite and distort them.

-What Ms. Paulus...fails to recognize that Porgy, Bess, Crown, Sportin’ Life and the rest are archetypes and intended to be larger than life and that filling in “realistic” details is likely to reduce them to line drawings.

-Among the ways in which Ms. Parks defends the excavation work is this: “I wanted to flesh out the two main characters so that they are not cardboard cutout characters” and goes on to say, “I think that’s what George Gershwin wanted, and if he had lived longer he would have gone back to the story of ‘Porgy and Bess’ and made changes, including the ending.” It’s reassuring that Ms. Parks has a direct pipeline to Gershwin and is just carrying out his work for him...

-I can hear the outraged cries now about stifling creativity and discouraging directors who want to reinterpret plays and musicals in order to bring “fresh perspectives,” as they are wont to say, but there is a difference between reinterpretation and wholesale rewriting. Nor am I judging this production in advance, only the attitude of its creators toward the piece and the audience.

Which brings me back to my opening point. In the interest of truth in advertising, let it not be called “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” nor even “The Gershwin-Heyward Porgy and Bess.” Advertise it honestly as “Diane Paulus’s Porgy and Bess.” And the hell with the real one.



Mr. Sondheim brings up some excellent points. You learn very early on in studying directing that your job first and foremost is to present the play as the playwright intended (thanks Sheldon!) It is the basis of many awesome collaboractions between director-playwright-director I've seen in my career. So when does one ask the ethical question "am I changing this because I prefer it this way or because it's what better serves the play?" And who polices these ethics?

In the same breath, should creativity and innovation lose out to tradition? David Henry Hwang approached the Rodgers & Hammersein estate about revamping Flower Drum Song in 1997. Like P&B, FDS was believed by many to be outdated in its portrayal of its subject ethnic group and to have perpetuated stereotypes. Hwang gained approval for his rewrite from both the Rodgares & Hammerstein estate and from the author of the original novel, C.Y. Lee. Hwang's book (with the collaboration of director Robert Longellow) streamlined the story, matched the seriousness in tone of the original novel and bringing old-world immigrants struggling with the assmilation of the American-born generation. I am very biased as I saw this revival on Broadway in 2002 and can say as an Asian-American, I was thankful for the revisions: I connected to it more than I ever did with the film version of the original.

In both cases of Porgy and Bess and Flower Drum Song, the respective estates that own the rights to the works have approved the changes. The artistic and production staffs of the ART revival of P&B are standing behind their process and as artists, they should. But the questions remain: should tradition win out over innovation? At what point is the ethical line crossed when a playwright's work is rebooted posthumously? And if the core intention of the playwright is to connect with an audience and their work is revamped to "better" connect to an audience of a different era, is their intention still being honored?

And the ultimate question: what is more important, the artist's intention or audience's reaction?

that one random adventure (+3 for hump day) episode 3

Random Adventure for the Week
(cuz anything can be an adventure)


The crispness in the air and the slight drops in temperature always brings that slight punch to the gut every year, no matter how old I get: it's back to school weather. The dog days of summer are starting to die down. As previously blogged, it's been quite a journey for me since March, but I am very lucky to have a great family of friends to lend a shoulder or just have stupid (drunk) fun with. I don't know what my adult life would be without the Bertucellis and maybe one day I'll blog about how we got the name, but for your enjoyment, here's one of my favorite adventures we had this summer:

Prologue:
What happens when you daydrink, steal scones off of a brunch buffet that you didn't pay for and break a metal bench, just by sitting on it? Your best friend documents the fallout...

Sorry about the aspect ratio. Apparently there's a wrong way to hold a camera phone.

Don't worry, August is still young. And with the upcoming weekend (see the last of my +3) we still have a lot of Bertucelli adventures left for the Summer of 2011



Three things I'm looking forward to this week


Theatre

Family Devotions by David Henry Hwang
presented by Halcyon Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center, through September 4th

Chicago theatre's "Summer of David Henry Hwang" has seen the Chicago premiere of Yellow Face at Silk Road, the world premiere of Chinglish at the Goodman and the opening weekend of Family Devotions at Halcyon is the first sign that the summer is coming to a close. One of his earliest plays, Family Devotions examines the foibles of a Chinese-American family living as close to a WASPy life as they can in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles in the early 80's. The extreme religious views of the matriarchs (one of which is played by the imcomparable Mia Park) and the capitalistic fast-talking of the sons-in-law (played by my buddies Gordon Chow and Dwight Egan Sora) clash with the simplistic world views of a long-lost relative visitng from China and makes for some very exciting theatre, including a scene in the second half dealing with an exorcism that I just can't wait to see how ingenious Jenn Adams has staged. On a personal note, it is one of the first Hwang plays I read as a teenage theatre student and really shaped how I view Asian American families in theatre (as well how to orchestrate a large group scene).

More info: http://halcyontheatre.org/familydevotions

New Book Wednesday

Morning Glories #11
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Joe Eisma

The only non-Marvel book I'm reading. Morning Glories Academy is an institution where "Learning to be an Assassin" is an extra-curricular and "How Not to be Killed by your Homeroom Teacher" is a prerequisite. Can't get enough of the intrigue and mystery of these six teens all coincidentally born at the exact same day and time. This month, we learn more about Ike, the back-stabbing socialite bad boy that everyone loves to hate.

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Glories

Amazing Spider-Man #667
Writen by Dan Slott
Art by Humberto Ramos

Spidey Island continues. Humberto Ramos (FINALLY) returns to ASM. Shang-Chi looks awesome on the cover. 'Nuff Said.

Street Festival

The best thing about Chicago summer is being able to experience every neighborhood through their street festival. Main street is shut down for booths, booze, bands and awesomeness. You get to really know the character of the neighborhood based on its inhabitants. So what happens for at the street fest for Lakeview (aka Boys Town, the Gayborhood)

Pride part two. And it's eight shades of awesome. Here are some pix from Market Days past

 

And, of course, it's the anniversary for the annual Bertucelli Elephant Ear Eat-Off

Hope to see ya there!

Til next time...

that one time diversity took a HUGE step forward in comic books

ULTIMATE SPIDEY SPOILER ALERT

(that is, if you don’t  read things on the interwebs)

There’s a lot of noise about the reveal of the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe. My initial shock was “Ok, seriously, who the fuck is this kid?” because I was sure it was going to be someone already established in the universe that takes on the mantle. I was hoping (like my good buddy Archie) that it’d be Flash Thompson. But then it was…some kid. Could’ve been anybody. And I was like, whatever. I’m not gonna read it anyway. But then all the ignorance started. People were just not having this new Spider-Man. It’s not that they were mourning their beloved Peter Parker (as I would if it were the regular universe) Oh no, they had another reason to hate  on Miles Morales…

He’s half-black and half-Latino. See, to me his race was a non-issue: it was just some kid who wasn’t Peter Parker. But judging from the comments from USA Today’s August 1 reveal (as reported by bleedingcool.com) others in the fanboy community weren’t as blasé. Some of my “favorite” comments were…

Minorities are typically less than 18% of the population, but they seem to get nearly 100% of the history. Why should white children not have a comic book hero that they can identify with?

Since when did minorities get 100% of the (comic book) history when the vast majority of history goes to such iconic (white) super heroes as Captain America, Superman, Batman, Wolverine and countless others? We minorities have hardly had any one to identify with (racially) when reading comic books. I apologize that (in the commenter’s opinion) the 25 to 1 white to ethnic super hero ratio is making it difficult for white children to identify with someone. I completely sympathize.

                               

What’s next,a muslim spiderman who enforces sharia law or perhaps a jewish one with webs that look like the star of david or the ultimate PC spiderman there could be.A homosexual spiderman that shoots rainbow webs and is basically an easy going spider unless you ruffle his feathers and then oh no girl,you didn’t go there.

Well, since German born Nightcrawler teleports in a cloud of beer foam and anti-Semitism, Captain America throws a shield made of apple pie while standing for the ideals of capitalism, and Thor throws a hammer made of ludefisk while raping and pillaging, all of those proposed super powers for minority heroes makes sense. But otherwise, I say bring them on!

Peter Parker could not be whiter. A black boy under the mask just don`t look right. This opens up a whole new story line with a whole new set of problems. Who is going to believe a black man in a mask is out for the good of man kind?

Sigh. The sheer ignorance in these (and many more) comments are maddening. People have blown this whole thing out of proportion:

What?! They never mentioned that he’d be gay! And so what if he is? Awesome! Thank god for Stephen Colbert

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Why is it so hard to accept an ethnic minority as the lead of his own book? I applaud Marvel comics in their efforts to diversify. The fact that they do so with one of their (albeit alternative universe version) flagship character makes much more of an impact.  A positive one in my opinion. Because the world isn’t just black and white. There are many shades in between. There will be a bi-racial kid who reads this book and finally be able to identify with a hero that’s just trying to make the right choices with his power and he himself will make the right choices. The same will probably be true for a white kid reading this book. Or an Asian American kid. I wasn’t particularly interested in reading a non-Peter Parker Spider-Man myself. But now, I am compelled to support this book. As long as it’s written and drawn well, I will read it. There is good to come from this, as evidenced in one of the positive comments to the USA Today post hidden amongst the ignorance:

Gotta admit, I love this. I’m not one of those race baiting liberals, but as a kid growing up with 0 major super heroes who looked anything like me, I’m glad that my kids will get to see this.

Also glad that there’s finally a black Disney princess…this is one of those things a non-minority just couldn’t understand. It doesn’t take kids long to realize that all the main characters look like someone else and all the sidekicks and extras look like you.

This is a good thing…not saying it’s going to change the world, but it will change some kid’s outlook on the world.

Til next time, true believers…

that one random adventure (+3 for hump day) episode 2

Random Adventure of the Week
(cuz anything can be an adventure)

Like most city living folk, I've got a great set of blockers that keep me separated from the rest of the world when walking around. With my ear-buds in while I wear a pair of wayfarers, I'm unstoppable. I'm impervious to the noise and disruptions of this bustling metropolis. And in it's way it's dehumanizing. You cut off any real connection.

The people I try to avoid are the people on the street asking for stuff. Whether they're begging for cash or street canvassing. Street canvassers I feel bad for because they know no one wants to talk to them. Beggars...well I feel bad for the ones who are really in need. But it's so hard to tell nowadays. Ever since I've moved to Chicago, I've had to learn the hard way not to engage them, thus blinders on the moment I step off of CTA. But I've honestly felt bad about just ignoring a human being who is trying to connect with me, whatever their motives. At the same time, I don't have any money to give them.

A month ago, some street kid tried to slip me a piece of paper on the train that I'm sure was asking for money. It's not the first time I'd seen this bit and it won't be the last. But it served as inspiration for a solution to my problem. I tore out a couple of pages from my comp book and scribbled the following:

I kept them folded up in my bag and just waited for the opportunity to give one out. And, as it is with the Bernardo luck, one never really presented itself. Until a couple of days ago. It was a pretty standard day. After my afternoon work out, I thought I'd take a walk through Lakeview because it was a very pretty evening and I hate getting on the train at rush hour. A group of street kids came up to me and muttered something about their basketball team. AH HAH! Opportunity, she's a-knockin'! I quickly held one finger up, interrupting the delegated speaker mid-sentence, dug through my murse and pulled out one of the slips of paper and handed it to him. Judging from how loud they got and how far I had to run, I don't think they liked the message very much.

Maybe it wasn't interactive enough? It was a statement that didn't engage conversation. Maybe it would've gone over gangbusters if it was QR code? In any case, I've restrategized my interaction slips and made them more customizable and interactive for this modern day and age. I feel rather than checking the boxes myself, I'll let them decide for themselves my intent based on my body language and demeanor when giving it over. See, fun, interactive and customizable human interaction. Feel free to use them if you want:

Three things I'm looking forward to for the rest of the week


Event

The lovely and talented Shannon Strodel will be hosting live band karaoke at Mary's Attic! Not only do we get to hear Shannon belt a few songs out of the park, not only does live band karaoke always rock, but there will be some show tunes in the rotation. How rockin is that?

official info:
Mary's Attic (Andersonville)
Sunday August 7th
 LIVE BAND KARAOKE with Shannon and THE JAM starts at 10pm!(after regular MaryOke 9pm)

From hard rock, to 80's to current and even some musical theater- this band's list is ecclectic and just waiting for you to come Jam with them!! Come early and sign up to rock out!!!


Class

I haven't taken dance class in a hot minute. Gonna don the tights and head into ballet tomorrow night. Cravin' some petite allegro.


New Book Wednesday

X-FACTOR #223
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Emanuela Lupacchino

Rahne's baby mama drama is finally coming to close today folks. And thank god for it. Look, I think she's a neat character. She's been through a lot since NEW X-MEN volume 2. When she left X-Factor to join X-Force, it left Rictor all emo and ready to explore um...new possibilities with his long-lost bromance Shatterstar.

Not that their relationship has been a walk in the park...

But they're working things out. Mostly. Then Rahne comes waltzing back in after leaving X-Force..

Things have gotten hella complicated...

And I am just ready for Rahne's baby mama drama to be over. With her baby being birthed in today's issue (and its mystical significance explained) maybe Rictor and Shatterstar can get on with their relationship. Hopefully?

UPDATE/SPOILER ALERT

She didn't have the baby. Goddammit. Hurry up already Rahne!

Til next time...

that one time I stood up for my target demographic

So I had a pretty brotastic weekend. Beers and buddy time. Friday night hung out with my buddy Bryson and knocked out COWBOYS AND ALIENS. I gotta tell ya, it was better than I expected, though B disagrees with me. I liked the fact that there was a lot more story and heart to it; B would've preferred more things blowing up and over-the-top cowboyness. While it would've been cool to see Harrison Ford "John Wayne" it up a bit more, I thought it was a great balance of shoot the aliens, father/son issues and everyman looking for redemption.

To me, one of the best parts of the movie going experience is the half hour of trailers, I mean how else are you going to find out what the next kick ass movie is gonna be? And I actually like being marketed to. Maybe it's because I see the man behind the curtain, but I usually want to see how clever a pitch is. I have often bought things, not because of product quality, but because of a kick ass marketing campaign. Trailers before a movie is like Amazon recommendations: yes, if I'm seeing this movie I'm in the demographic that likes this genre, tell me what I'd like to see next. So why was I so worried for my target demographic with the trailers before COWBOYS AND ALIENS?

The first trailer they showed was for SHARK NIGHT 3D (which they were quick to remind us was also available in 2D)

So sharks as an excuse to see pretty people run around in the water with their boobs bouncing? Jesus! Just get out of the fucking water! Sigh. Next....came...well I'll let it speak for itself...

Ok seriously, how the fuck did they get Liam Neeson to sign on the dotted? Liam Neeson?! What’s next, the epicness of CONNECT FOUR? The nailbiting suspense of CHUTES AND LADDERS?

Maybe I'm in the minority. Maybe this is what the 18-34 year old man-child who didn’t care that Voltron was an awful lot like Power Rangers and who enjoys a passing knowledge of comic book trivia really wants to see. Maybe I've grown from man-child to man-teen. The sheer excitement of things blowing up, seven minute ass-kicking montages and good guys winning simply because they’re the good guys…just not doing it for me anymore. Please don’t blow that up, let’s talk things out with a mediator. If you’re kicking ass, have a purpose, have a cause for god sake. And good guys don’t always win. And are never always good all the time.

So I say, enough is enough. Instead of Cobra rising, Man-Children (aged 18-34), let us rise up together and say NO MORE SHIT MOVIES! TOWER HEIST will no longer precede the classic SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD. No longer will we have to pass the D-List celebrities of SHARK NIGHT 3(or 2)D at a Comic-Con and pretend that they have the same social relevance as Emma Caulfield (Anya from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER). We vote with our dollars, Brothers, and when we go to a shit movie out of sheer boredom, those votes add up and they will keep making shit movies. We will not watch just anything. We demand some substance with our ass kicking and bouncy boobs!

NO MORE SHIT MOVIES!
 
Although CONNECT FOUR would be pretty epic…