Theater Review: The Arsonists/Strawdog Theatre

(Another!) review for Newcity Stage:    

Mike Ooi, Jared Fernley, Robert Kauzlaric, Blair Robertson/Photo: Chris Ocken

                    RECOMMENDED

I once lived next door to an aspiring young arsonist. On either side of the house I shared with a different kind of flame, two homes were gutted with fire before the kid was caught. Fortunately, no one was killed or injured. If my neighborhood had been full of the kind of folks in “The Arsonists” I wouldn’t be so grateful for everybody’s survival…

(read full review here)

That Incomparable Inhuman, Jack Kirby

Today's the 97th anniversary of the birth of artistic!! genius!!! Jack Kirby, who worked in and largely defined the field of comic books. His talent was incomparable! His imagination nearly inhuman! Of course, by "inhuman" I mean the less common definition - as in "superhuman, unearthly, extraordinary, phenomenal, exceptional, incredible, unbelievable" - not the more common meaning "lacking human qualities of compassion and mercy; cruel and barbaric." Indeed, that Kirby spent so much of his artistic efforts on superhumans is wholly appropriate, considering his wholly uncommon creativity was so unearthly and boundless. Conversely, his work is full of humanity and compassion. And so I provide this little gallery of the incomparable Inhumans. With perhaps a couple of exceptions, these aren't actually examples of his very greatest drawings - there's an endless supply of those. But there is something about the Inhumans that I find quintessentially Kirby, some sort of perfect representation of his aesthetic in his prime (his prime lasted a couple of decades at least). And while I think it's a shame there's a relatively low number of Kirby Inhumans stories, I'm kinda glad the characters have until recently at least not been too frequently assaulted by the hands of hacks who followed in Kirby's wake, unlike many of his more famous creations. And lastly, there's something in the purity of Kirby's design work for the Inhumans that I think shines through whether drawn by the most or least capable comics artists. And yeah if Marvel/Disney called me tomorrow and said we want you to write a movie or comic or perhaps best of all an animated feature from one of our properties, I'd say "gimme the Inhumans" and my story, and everything, would end with Black Bolt opening his mouth.

Theater Feature: What? The Fringe! Fifth Annual Fest Presents Fifty Shows At Five Venues

  A feature for Newcity Stage:

Rob Lloyd: Who, Me.
Photo: James Penlidis. Design: Lliam Amor

Look, up on the Northwest Side, it’s the Fifth Annual ChicagoFringe Festival. What was once the very outskirt of the Blue Line is now an emergent theater hood per festival executive director Vinnie Lacey:  “Theater happens everywhere in Chicago.To call any place a theater district is laughable to me. We found a home in Jefferson Park that has really revitalized the festival.” What follows is frayed and I ain’t about to weave it together seamlessly. Frankly that wouldn’t be very fringy. Forward, then, with a few featured fringe funambulists…

( read full feature here )

Po’ Chop: Black as Eye Wanna Be.
Photo: VAM

I'm Almost Sorry

I'm almost sorry I would have
Killed angels for you
And what did you get
In exchange?
Power to the people
We could have
Been perfect
I cry in your stead
My teeth falling, see?
You agree to nothing instead
Why I weep I can't say

Shefining

Failing to think of an existing word that is both sexist and reductive in the same particular way as "mansplaining" I unexpectedly coined one that could be used thusly, or could be used more openly. It may well explode all over reactionary blogosphere, comments sections, academia, etc. The Right Wing could adopt it, pejoratively, as umbrella for what they might call the Vocabulary of Victimhood (Victimhood Vocabulary; VV; V²) And/or THE LEFT could hail it as a liberating example of an Expression of Erudite Empowerment, or simply an Expression of Empowerment (Empowerment Expression!; EE! &/or EEE; E² &/or E³). Anyway, today's new word (which I thought up yesterday) is…

"Shefining" - a portmanteau of the words "she" & "defining"– the practice by which an oppressed, offended, or otherwise slighted group (or individual{s} acting or purporting to act on behalf of such group) devises new word or term or assigns new meaning to existing word or term in the service of describing their plight and/or the mechanism{s} of their oppression.

(In present tense verb form, this has added bonus of being creepily &/or ironically homophonic with "she fine!")

On occasion any new words/terms, or new meanings of existing words/terms are agreed upon and accepted by majority of general populace, the words/terms in question have undergone:
"Wefining" ( - a portmanteau of the words "we" & "defining" - )

Punctuation Alteration

hocus-pocus; habeas corpus. happy birthday, and hallelujah

Not A Poem (Pop Chat Won) – When Scanned Printing is Better Onscreen Than Reprints are on Paper

Years ago Marvel licensed a company named Graphic Imaging Technology (GIT) to produce Marvel's first "digital" comics. They were scans of actual, original printed Marvel comics available on CD-ROM and then DVD. Unfortunately, they were "secured" PDFs so you can't read them in your favorite comics reading application without seeing a huge MARVEL watermark.

Image from GIT edition of FF#1: note the blue jumpsuits. Subsequent reprints color the
jumpsuits purple which make them look even more like Kirby's Challengers Of The Unknown.

But you can read them in Adobe Reader, sans watermark. Also, unfortunately, they stuck a little rectangle with ™ info at bottom - negligible on interior pages but quite annoying on covers. Most unfortunately, these are no longer available. This is not surprising, since digital comics have taken off. But, I've looked at/read a lot of reprint collections over the years. The very first one I gave as a gift in maybe 1991 - it was hardcover of earliest Hulk stories and it was very disappointing when we all got a look inside: it looked like someone had recolored it with CorelDraw or some such tool. Even more than the recoloring (which has become less egregious over the years but still is often wildly different than original color decisions), what's most damaging about many of the color reprints I've seen (Masterworks, Omnibus, etc) is that as part of the recoloring/reprinting process a lot of line work is lost, altered, or thickened to point of being ruined. So what these PDFs provide is an actual archive of what the comics really looked like, and in many cases are the best preserved editions of the original art. They also include ads, letters pages, etc. This would all be lost if Marvel just started doing digital comics - their current editions via their subscription service, at least the ones I've seen, look to be sourced from the heavily reworked versions. Perhaps the line work in the BW "Essentials" editions is better representative of original work, but I have not compared those as extensively and my guess would be that at least going forward, if not already, they would be sourced from same files that are recolored for the pricier color editions. Some of the early issues from GIT are scanned from pretty rough copies, but I still find them priceless in that they preserve the real deal better than what you can buy, in print or digitally, from Marvel now. As you can see from a web search though, copies of these can now command a hefty sum.

I Can't Anymore What Is It

- I can't anymore.
-- what, is it the hat?
- no, it's not the hasty hay hat, I just can't.
-- who said anything about hay? Don't be hasty, you can't just go back.
- back to before, can I?
-- no you can't.
- that's what I'm saying! I just can't.

This was upon the presidio.

Unfortunaely Goal

Unfortunaely goal
unconscionably Gnome
You forge ahead.
Forge on, Gnome.

New Overcoat

new story in ongoing series for you longtime readers and new: overcoat thrust again, this time.
Overcoat Thrust Again, This Time

opens in a page nearer you
this time up close
right, close
Overcoat Thrust, Again

{chek, oh shit the lggts, ligHts, on the set that is. Someone get the lights of the set which was his office. But there was no one. Only him. Such Is Noir, until she walks in.


"Thrust, ya gotta change yer name. It's outgrown ya for readers and licensees ."

It's no way, doll. He's overcOat ThrUst. Just a dull moniker. But it was born his;

fine, she said, and got on with the planning.


he now knew in addition to dying as always this time another may be spent. such a hassle, taking one through. but she was smarter here. maybe like usually only Thrust dies.


{scene in cafeteria, during break from action}

She: Thrust, can you get me a soda? {aside}: Always in overcoat, that's it rain or shine.


Overcoat Thrust takes off the overcoat,
disappears.

nexttime  – As Aware As Can Be

Victory! They All Knew

Victory! They all knew about it
they heard of it
now here it was
.


and on the next car there was mourning.

Dining awaits.

Oh from your strictures

Have a cab in citrus
The usual
I'll took it.

Benignities forgiven,
save one:
Your radical thigh.

Peaches For Piastres
then, a
charity fundraiser through time.

Peaches in all their most intimate recipes. All raw, living cuisine. Such is innuendo, and such is the succulent versatile peach.

While just 19 stories down in the yard
The grass and the legs and the necks
and the slurs are gray.

'You pedestrian."

"And yours.'

Weary even below a quip, let alone in exclamation.

"Wait" sez Lilac Grey, "Wha'ssssssssss thisssssssss, Sis?"

"I dunno" says wistful Sis, "Le'ssssss give it a try."

And so bold, the ladies, from then on, were.

(opposite page illustration:©2014)

I've actually been thinking about Robin Williams

 What had been, just earlier today, my next-in-line social media cover photo
I pulled off web right after watching Altman's "Popeye" ten days ago.

I've actually been thinking about Robin Williams the past few days (after focusing more on Shelley Duvall for a week), having been pretty impressed about ten days ago by "Popeye" which I hadn't seen since it was in theaters. And then I was thinking about how much I liked him when I was a kid and then I walked by a "Mrs. Doubtfire" one sheet at movie theater on Friday and it was a reminder that for very long - like ages - I just knew I wouldn't want to see something he was in. I was so pleased when I saw "World's Greatest Dad." Because it was so great, and because he was great in it, and because I could fully enjoy a performance of his again.

And, my next-next-in-line, from same internet image search

Theater Feature: Three Days of Pieces &/or Music &/or Love: Questions, Answers, and the Twenty-Sixth Annual Abbie Fest

Mary-Arrchie artistic director Richard Cotovsky as Abbie Hoffman

A feature for Newcity Stage:

Nope, Mary-Arrchie artistic director Richard Cotovsky doesn’t spend three days non-stop in character as the late political prankster for whom his long-running theater festival is named. “I do the Abbie Hoffman for the opening and closing. That’s really it.” Following a 2pm Friday gathering at Daley Plaza (“It’s just a lot of yelling and screaming,” says the founder) festival participants—and anyone else who’d care to join—march down to Mary-Arrchie for the opening. Two and a half days later, the closing ceremonies commence. In between, a seemingly countless number of performers present “anything they want. The only criteria is that it’s an hour or less…”

( read full feature here )

Theater Feature: Acting With and For Hope– Collaboraction and Park District Invite Chicagoans to a Different Kind of Crime Scene

A feature for Newcity Stage:

“We’re telling the real story… we see this stuff. We’re telling the grown-ups what’s really happening, the adults don’t really know. That’s because most of the violence that’s going on is with the youth.” So says Monique, a young performer explaining how she and the other nearly two dozen ethnically diverse local teen girls (and one white teen boy, see below) contribute to the upcoming Collaboraction/Chicago Park District theatrical event “Crime Scene Chicago: Let Hope Rise 2014.” The teens comprise the Crime Scene Youth Ensemble, key participants in the multifaceted “touring theatrical reaction to violent crime in Chicago” which unfolds over a month, starting at Collaboraction’s Wicker Park space and touring to a quartet of Park District venues over four subsequent weekends…

( read full feature here )

 

Theater Review: Hellish Half-Light: Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett/Mary-Arrchie

(Another!) review for Newcity Stage:

RECOMMENDED

Stephen Walker and Adam Soule/Photo: Emily Schwartz

Samuel Beckett was a genius, one of the great talents of the twentieth century, like Ernie Kovacs or Thelonious Monk. So when a theater company does a fine job staging some Beckett, where do I get off saying much more than thanks? Beyond offering Mary-Arrchie Theatre my gratitude for mounting six fairly short, very Beckett pieces in one quick evening, I offer you—the reader and perhaps a genius in your own right—the following details…
   (read full review here)

We Disease

Your diseased c*nt
my frail h*#rt
my weeping c*ck in the moonlight
for
 adult audience.

what do I care
who you fress
through your
 mystical
 spittle?
So distant to me and our
abandoned duress.

Image Break: 13 Great Jack Kirby Covers

Thirteen great Jack Kirby covers, in no particular order.

Though the first one is a contender for all time favorite, and I swiped it for

 one of my early books of poetry (which, spoiler alert, I'll be posting here soon).

Oddly, despite the timing of the big blockbuster movie release, I haven't included Groot…

{All images and characters © respective © holders & ® & ™ & etc & etc, etc, etc.}

Bullseye #5
(I could pick several Bullseye covers, but I'm limiting myself to one cover per title)

Young Romance #1

X-Men #14

New Gods #9

A "King" Kirby Portfolio

Tales of Suspense #15

Daredevil #5
(a rare instance of Kirby inked by other comics great Wally Wood)

Fantastic Four #4
(I can't get over how great is that while the others are either focused on chasing Namor or
being abducted by Namor, Ben is visibly still in shock over becoming a monster, a… Thing!)

Silver Star #2
(my roommate and I put together a giant, tiled blow-up of this one about 20 years ago…)

Avengers #4

Strange World of Your Dreams #1

Captain America #107

Fighting American #2

Look i Told a Chatty stranger

Look I told a chatty stranger who was
the one who
brought my food where drinks
can be served
    ~ I sat at the bar, which is their counter ~
I told, I said, I spoke of things
as far as
travels afar and near as
travails with that very establishment \  though
with their first location \  and one thing other as
well (at least), perhaps all the noise
of others in transit,
whatever it was and maybe more - .

So since the following:
"Your involvement"
A royalty payment
of shredded aorta
awaits you at the
Romance Museum.

A future federation shall harvest the remainder
For the True Love Mutagen
or a Blessed Inoculation
depending upon: the next encounter's
disposition weighted against any
deposition from the first random witness
of our last
picnic.

Simmering something

Simmering something/ something is stealing
my sleep.
A list of all that's been stolen someone or
something would steal away with
even while yet I'm awake.