“We are the facillitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks
It’s true…and not in some sort of existential “we’re all dying a little more each day” kind of way. As I type this out my mother is in hospice. You see, a couple of weeks ago my mother suffered a heart attack and a “series of strokes” (no less than six according to the neurologist)…
Outside of certain environments neoliberalism is a word you don’t hear very often, but I suspect that is going to change in the very near future. With that in mind, I thought I would take a moment to shed a little light on what the word means. Oh, I know right out of the gate you are…
The animus that exists between traditional media and new media (linear media and digital media) befuddles me. I understand it as much as I do the longstanding battle between the Hatfield and McCoy’s…let’s hope this media battle isn’t as long. But why the hate? Is it ego? Hubris? Lunacy? All three? I find it hard…
Even though I’ve called the east coast my home for well over half my life, I am a Midwestern boy through and through. One of the many traits we Midwesterners carry with us is a solid work ethic. It’s certainly something I’ve carried with me through the years and it’s definitely something I look for…
Comcast still doesn’t give a f*ck. They’re still the largest Telecommunications lobbying force in D.C. to the tune of almost $17 million dollars in 2014 lobbying for Telecommunications…by way of comparison, they spent $100,000 lobbying for television. Guess which category the Internet falls under? Control the media, control the message. This is happening now and you…
I just flew in from Detroit…and boy is my heart tired. Detroit is in rough, rough shape and yet to me it still is the quintessential American city. The whole package, the good, the bad and the ugly. The good: it was built on the backs of the melting pot of Americans. At one time,…
I am noticing a trend among people today. And not a good one. Of course I am alarmed by so many things taking place across the globe and, in the ultimate scheme of things, this concern barely registers…but it is annoying as f*ck. People can’t seem to answer a God damn question. For example, these…
Last week I was on site for work and woke up to find a note scribbled “the heart collapses” beside my bed. I don’t know what I could have been dreaming about that made me make this note. I am not a lucid dreamer. I recall looking at that and scratching my head, quite curious…
Black Box Radio Podcast On Soundcloud
Sammy Hagar’s first album for Geffen Records, Standing Hampton, initially put the self-proclaimed “Red Rocker” on my musical radar. While not a huge fan, he was always on my radar. Frankly, if I am being honest, that’s really the only Sammy Hagar solo album I like. Sure, I like the Van Halen stuff a lot,…
So about one year ago (January 13, 2014) I wrote about Charlie Brooker’s television show, Black Mirror. I said you should really be watching it. Last week, Brooker was interviewed for WNYC’s On The Media and talked about it, A Paranoid Reflection of our Digital Age. Because all too often people have come up to…
I do these writing prompt deals from time to time. They help stimulate a little creativity and get the tappers on the keyboard. This one came from Medium. The prompt was “What Prepares You for the Day“. For the uninitiated, Medium is a writing platform created by Ev Williams, one of the creators of Twitter….
This past weekend I watched the 2005 film Everything is Illuminated, written and directed by Liev Screiber and based on the Jonathan Safron novel of the same name. A good movie about a young Jewish American man who goes to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II. The…
So I tried. I did. I tried to stay out of this whole Bill Cosby kerfuffle but after reading David Carr’s excellent piece I figured that as both a student & critic of media, it was time to contribute to the fray. Not because my opinion matters all that much, you know what they say…opinions…
We’re media whores. Comcast, News Corp,. Viacom, Disney, Time Warner (NOT the cable company) and CBS are our pimps. According to a report by Nielsen (hardly a reliable source, but seemingly the only one we have) we spend about five hours a day watching television. Not your laptop, desktop or tablet, the good old-fashioned talking…
Ok, so I am a little late on this one. And maybe I take my comedy too seriously (ironic, huh). You see, I avoid Saturday Night Live. I don’t find it funny and personally think it has become an exercise in unfunny. I think people only watch it in the hope that it will be funny and…
This past Saturday, October 25 I participated in Rising Sun Theaters 24-hour Mash Up. It works like this: A theme is chosen, in this case “Children are Terrifying“. Then at 6pm on Friday, October 24, all the Playwrights, Directors and Actors gather to meet and choose a prompt, director and cast. The Playwright picks the…
It’s no secret life is complicated, but fundamentally, it can be boiled down to two things. Fear and love. You can choose to live a life of fear or you can choose to live a life of love. I know what you are thinking, “Aren’t you really oversimplifying it?” Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve spent the…
Before I had Rufus the Pitbull (mix), I had Duke the Rottwieler (pure). They’re both dogs from notoriously aggressive breeds. Rufus and Duke, not so aggro. Rufus is hyper and anxious. Duke was chill and peaceful. Extremely intelligent dogs prone to grave acts of stupidity. Rufus is mostly on edge, but sweet. Duke was never…
This Friday thru Saturday (10.24-10.25) I am participating in the Rising Sun Theater Company’s Theater Mash Up. So what is a “Theater Mash Up”? Well, up until Monday it was called a 24 Hour Play Festival…until Rising Sun learned someone held a copyright on the phrase “24 Hour Play Festival”. Basically it is this…playwrights, directors…
Yea, that’s right, that Zucker doesn’t need anything from us to convince himself and the corporate war lords, past and present, that he is the go to television executive. I just finished reading this profile by Gabriel Sherman on the Zuckster, the guy with the brown fingered touch, from the 10.5 New York Magazine. It’s a…
So much for that whole “innocent until proven guilty”, huh? So much for the sanctity of marriage and therapy, huh? Look, whatever Stephen Collins did (and it’s allegedly horrible behavior) his career is over. There is no erasing the stink of child molestation, regardless of guilt or innocence. However inappropriate his alleged behavior may have…
I’m in San Francisco for three weeks (part of an eight week white-collar training boot camp) and when I lived here all those years ago one of the highlights for me was seeing a show at The Fillmore, easily one of the best concert venues in the country. When I discovered Bob Mould was playing…
And so it begins. Another change. I’ve decided to forgo the whole “I’m gonna be a dancer” deal (Liberia just doesn’t seem safe) and stay in the white-collar world. I had received so many “Good lucks” when I mentioned my new endeavour that I’m grateful so many people gave a shit. Of course, I would…
Is this officially a full-fledged reunion? Maybe. Will anyone give a shit this time around? I doubt it. After an alleged ban from the building The Replacements returned to 30 Rock on Tuesday to show how rock and roll is done proper. Whether it sticks or whether you give a shit, the world seems marginally…
The unedited version of my good-bye email to NBC. Colleagues, Ralph Waldo Emerson famously wrote “Life is a journey, not a destination.” And so it is. Today is my last day here at NBC. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking one of three things, “Oh no!” or “Who the hell is this guy?” or…
Wherever you sit politically, I think it is a safe bet that you are not paying attention to the Internet “net neutrality” issue or the looming media merger and acquisition blitzkrieg (Comcast buying Time Warner Cable and Fox buying Time Warner Entertainment…with smaller mergers to follow). Not that I would blame you because net neutrality…
Seen Walking Rufus
Last night was the season two premiere of FX’s The Bridge. And the show came flying out of the gate, introducing a cacophony of story lines. Which I am sensing is becoming a pattern with FX shows. Kurt Sutter did it last year in the premiere of his Sons of Anarchy and Sutter was able…
A little over three years ago, a girl I was dating ended our relationship…for the second time. She had determined that “maybe there was someone better out there.” I assured her that indeed there was…and always would be. I tried telling her that was an endless and futile search because it didn’t matter who she…
I recently re-launched wait(er) Magazine as a free iOS app (download here) and re-read this on my way in to work this morning and was rather pleased with myself…so I am re-posting it. _________________________________________ I was a bartender. I was never a mixologist. You may be asking yourself “what’s the difference”. They both make drinks…
Last Tuesday my one-act play, Results, was included as part of the ongoing reading series Under Rehearsed, sponsored by the Rising Sun Performance Company in Brooklyn, New York. Cast: Andrea Cordaro – Mrs. Ferguson Trey K. Blackburn – Mr. Ferguson Larry Gutman – Dr. Gladstone Directed by Kathleen Schlemmer Casting & RSP Intern – Michael Witkes…
“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” -Charles Mingus Far be it from me to crush anyone’s dreams, but not everyone needs to write a book, paint a picture or make a movie….
Bobby Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968. For some reason he, more than any other politician (and certainly more than any other Kennedy), strikes a chord with me. Maybe it’s because he was killed a few days before I was born? I honestly can’t say for certain but over the past few years I’ve…