First: if I haven't mentioned it to you, I'm currently in rehearsals for The Rude Mechanicals' latest staging of Much Ado About Nothing! It runs weekends from May 9-17 (with a min $5 pay-what-you-will preview night on May 7) at the Greenbelt Arts Center. Tickets available here!

So last night I came in from rehearsal with an inclination to play with tie knots, since I was casually pondering knots different characters might wear. (Our version of Much Ado is set in a law firm; many of the characters are lawyers or lawyer-adjacent and therefore wear ties.) It's a thing I feel like many productions and media in general overlook -- understandably so; most men really don't put much thought into the knots they tie (if they even know more than one or two knots), so I imagine that knowledge isn't a high priority for costumers -- but I always appreciate when media does take it into account. (Arrow remains the gold standard for this; I also recall the first Ant-Man being noteworthy for the quality if not the diversity of the knots depicted.) (more...)

This is mostly a test post -- but some very talented folks I know have a play opening today! Here's a trailer:

And here's a link to a 5-star review of the show over at TheatreBloom. (I don't think any show *I've* been in has ever gotten 5 stars! Pout.) Check 'em out, and join us at the Greenbelt Arts Center if you're local!

A thing I've been pondering today: the extent to which we associate cleanliness with emptiness (and also the extent to which we apply that idea not just to how we organize our spaces but how we approach topics like mental health, relationships of various kinds, and even the types of personalities we seek out and try to cultivate). I'm not sure that we necessarily perceive clutter as "dirty" in *precisely* the same way, but we definitely have a similar view of it that makes it relevant in this discussion as well.

And then the clutter got me thinking about libraries. Somehow old-school libraries (and, it occurs to me, old-style museums) come off as cluttered even in their natural states, which could partly explain the zeal across the country to renovate and modernize them by *REMOVING MANY OF THE BOOKS* and prioritizing the addition of more open community spaces. (Having recently *finally* visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, I'm also inclined to think of more modern museum exhibits here -- I definitely dislike said exhibits, and somehow they come off as less *organized* to me than the more classic designs even though they may boast greater economy of space and cutting-edge technological effects and whatnot.) (more...)

While I understand why some folks appreciate the service, I don't usually have a subscription to Amazon Prime: I don't make enough Amazon purchases to warrant having one at the current pricing, and I've found that when I do have Prime I order *way* more things than I want or need simply to justify paying for the service. And when I do need to order things from Amazon (especially with what action figures cost these days), it's not hard for me to get my total over $25 to qualify for the free shipping. It's not 2-day shipping, but I'm rarely in that much of a hurry to get my stuff.

Yet every year, as December 20 approaches, I remember that I've not yet ordered certain Christmas gifts -- which means I end up getting a 30-day Amazon Prime trial so that those arrive on time. And then, for the next 30 days, I order more things than I want or need in order to take advantage of the service while I have it -- though I was super good this year (by which I mean I was too distracted to pay attention) and mostly failed to do that.

As a final Amazon Prime purchase, however, I ordered a pair of UV black light flashlights. I've wanted some for a little while now, a desire that was intensified a little over a month ago when I bought a glow-in-the-dark figure that apparently *only* absorbs UV light, which at time of purchase made it a kinda lame and not at all a glow-in-the-dark figure. I kinda doubted the UV light would make much difference, but for $9 and a thing I could use in other contexts (I've got some 3D glasses that respond to blacklit objects, so that's also a thing I could play around with), I figured I'd give it a shot. (more...)

So last week I had jury duty. Perhaps more on that later, but for now let me just say: the judge looked a LOT like a famous actor, and figuring out who it was bugged the heck out of me after the first time I approached the bench. Was it John Candy (albeit much slimmer)? John Ritter? A John Candy/John Ritter hybrid? What actor had I seen sporting such kind features and exuding such warmth and congeniality?

Then I had to approach the bench a second time, and he leaned in and looked more serious, and I was sure it was some other actor. And when I apologized for asking so many questions, and he dismissed it with a chuckle and a wave, I was sure I was close. The answer was on the tip of my tongue -- but I didn't have it yet.

I sat down and leaned to the side to look past the other jurors and take in the judge's face, and suddenly I had it. The courtroom filled with bees; the judge's robe became a leather jacket with three metal spikes adorning each shoulder. Several notably devout jurors vanished, leaving behind only their clothes and the faintest scent of vanilla. Atop the witness stand, the Cheddar Goblin vomited macaroni and cheese onto a pair of children shrieking with delight.

This was the courtroom of Nicolas Cage.