Introducing 2010.

Dear Imaginary Readers,

I start this year with a refreshed heart, renewed mind, and a clarity I hope will stay (although it is slightly foggy as I type here now).

I must leave soon, so here it is in short.

Goals for 2010:
~Agent (next 6 months).
~3 Stage productions either performed or created.
~1 film.

Wish me luck - and Godspeed to you,
~th3o.

GRADUATED!

On FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2009, I lied. I said I was graduated. In actual fact - I had merely finished all classes.

It wasn't till the 8th that I officially graduated - with a ceremony, a cloak, and everthing! It was exciting, memorable... but also such an anti-climax. Being finished for 2 weeks before the graduation does that. None-the-less, It's nice for that part of life to be over. It's a chapter closed, a sub-plot ended, a mini-quest complete.
... and now I look to the future; hoping, praying about where to go next. Further study? Agent? Some hard time in the studio?

I'm currently submitting applications for two festivals. Unfortunately niether are paid. Fortunately, both have an opportunity to boost my carreer. So here's praying for a God-given opportunity, eh?

---

In other news, I had some inspiration tonight: Song of Songs (or, Song of Solomon) as a "Dramatic Reading", while a semi-animated set of illustrations are projected in the background. I think I would have 3 weeks to prepare my church's Drama Team (and whomever is willing to illustrate).

Anybody think I have a fighting chance? (although all is possible through Christ Jesus)

Anybody actually reading this?

Godspeed,

-th3o.

"Does it not stand to reason, therefore, that having discovered the intermedia, the central problem is now not only the new formal one of learning to use them, but the new and more social one of what to use them for? Having discovered tools with an immediate impact, for what are we going to use them?"

-Dick Higgins, 1966

--

I want to delve deeper into this "intermedia". However - could one not argue that theatre is Intermedia?

... I suppose it depends on which Dramatist one asks...

Godspeed,

-th3o.

MUSEings

“They are all of one mind, their hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care. He is happy whom the Muses love. For though a man has sorrow and grief in his soul, yet when the servant of the Muses sings, at once he forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles. Such is the holy gift of the Muses to men.” - Hesiod

My muse and I reached reason.
I gladly ate her fruit,
with amative glutt and nill return.
She softly made known:
affections aren't freely laid.
one must watch, listen, read, examine.
Only then will she sweetly whisper,
Aye; then will we love once more.

---

In other news, I am no longer a "Student Actor". I have now graduated to: "Student of Acting". Methinks, at times, the previous title is simply my cover for "Unemployed bum who likes to pretend to be things he's not".

Here's to the future!

Godspeed,

-th3o.

Rainbow Connection

Why are there so many songs about rainbows,
and what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
and rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it,
I know they're wrong, wait and see
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection
the lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that and someone believed it
Look what it's done so far.

What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing,
and what do you think we might see?
Someday, we'll find it, the rainbow connection
the lovers, the dreamers and me.

All of us under its' spell, we know that it's probably magic.

Have you been half asleep,
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.

I've heard it too many times to ignore it,
it's something that I'm 'sposed to be.
Someday we'll find it the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
-Paul Williams

I love this song. I have loved it since I was a kid. However, I never knew it was so popular until recently. And it made me wonder why so many musical artists covered it.

Now, I can't speak for them... but when reading it, and listening to it over and over (in it's various incarnations), I have come to realise it's importance.

It could very well be about art, artists, and the world.

I urge you to listen to the song through this bias - I don't have the ability to pick apart my thoughts right now.

Godspeed,
-th3o

Happy Belated World Theatre Day

I know I'm a bit late... but it's the thought that counts, right?

--

Augusto Boal - Message 2009



All human societies are “spectacular*” in their daily life and produce “spectacles” at special moments. They are “spectacular” as a form of social organization and produce “spectacles” like the one you have come to see.

Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theatre!

Weddings and funerals are “spectacles”, but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp and circumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting - all is theatre.

One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the “spectacles” of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theatre, we learn to see what is obvious but what we usually can’t see because we are only used to looking at it. What is familiar to us becomes unseen: doing theatre throws light on the stage of daily life.

Last September, we were surprised by a theatrical revelation: we, who thought that we were living in a safe world, despite wars, genocide, slaughter and torture which certainly exist, but far from us in remote and wild places. We, who were living in security with our money invested in some respectable bank or in some honest trader’s hands in the stock exchange were told that this money did not exist, that it was virtual, a fictitious invention by some economists who were not fictitious at all and neither reliable nor respectable. Everything was just bad theatre, a dark plot in which a few people won a lot and many people lost all. Some politicians from rich countries held secret meetings in which they found some magic solutions. And we, the victims of their decisions, have remained spectators in the last row of the balcony.

Twenty years ago, I staged Racine’s Phèdre in Rio de Janeiro. The stage setting was poor: cow skins on the ground, bamboos around. Before each presentation, I used to say to my actors: “The fiction we created day by day is over. When you cross those bamboos, none of you will have the right to lie. Theatre is the Hidden Truth”.

When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we see an unfair and cruel world. We have to create another world because we know it is possible. But it is up to us to build this other world with our hands and by acting on the stage and in our own life.

Participate in the “spectacle” which is about to begin and once you are back home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you were never able to see: that which is obvious. Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life!

We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it.

Augusto Boal

My all-too-regular prayer

Psalm 143 (New International Version)

A psalm of David.

 1 O LORD, hear my prayer, 
       listen to my cry for mercy; 
       in your faithfulness and righteousness 
       come to my relief.

 2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, 
       for no one living is righteous before you.

 3 The enemy pursues me, 
       he crushes me to the ground; 
       he makes me dwell in darkness 
       like those long dead.

 4 So my spirit grows faint within me; 
       my heart within me is dismayed.

 5 I remember the days of long ago; 
       I meditate on all your works 
       and consider what your hands have done.

 6 I spread out my hands to you; 
       my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. 
       Selah

 7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; 
       my spirit fails. 
       Do not hide your face from me 
       or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

 8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, 
       for I have put my trust in you. 
       Show me the way I should go, 
       for to you I lift up my soul.

 9 Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD, 
       for I hide myself in you.

 10 Teach me to do your will, 
       for you are my God; 
       may your good Spirit 
       lead me on level ground.

 11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life; 
       in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.

 12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; 
       destroy all my foes, 
       for I am your servant.

--

10 points if you figure out who my enemy is.

9th of December, 2008

Originally written on: 9^th of December, 2008:

I was reading one of Hush and Such's posts, titled Inspirational Sufferage. I could have let this "moment of creative expression" pass me by, but getting ready for work is such a lame excuse - why work when I can blog - right?

I love how somebody can write about the need to fill a blank piece of paper, or fill the silence with nervous humming.

I've never thought of this before - but give me a blank piece of paper - even an exercise book with which I'm supposed to be taking notes - and it will eventually become a mess of doodles - some average, some horribly bad, some the best art I've ever created. Here is the thought: Could this be that my sub-consciously I too am "intolerant... of empty space and silence"?

As I've posted earlier, every moment, every second, every nano-second in this world is a new piece of art. I want to elaborate on this.

When I first thought this - I was thinking on one plain. If one could take a picture every nano second - one would find that microscopicly - everything has shifted place, somehow. Therefore, every nano second there is a new piece of art, and I believe God can see that - and a lot of what he could see he would enjoy.

However, as I sit down and write this; I realise that there are more than one form of art utilised in Creation. It is the ultimate piece of art - for in it lies: Landscape, Portraiture, Sculpture, Dance, Mime, Poetry, Prose, Song. If one were to look deeper - one can find different Genres: Abstract, minimalist, Naturalism, and arguably both Surrealism and Absurdism.

Within these Genre's, we can arguably find different techniques: Abstraction, Call and Response, perhaps even Metaphore and Similie.

I was going to go through each of these in detail - but this blog is already an essay. For now I'll leave it for you to draw your own conclusions (and perhaps leave comments?)

But I do want to put this thought out there:

What if everything you do is art? Be it dance, poetry, prose, or whatever else; what if every nano-second of your life you are unwillingly (or willingly) creating a piece of art?

Godspeed,

-th3o.

Interesting words from Rob Bell

The following extract is from The Wittenburg Door. It is between them and Rob Bell. Enjoy.

DOOR: The Church hasn't always been kind to artists. Especially ones bringing electricity.

BELL: Our assumption is that Church is where you say the things that have to be said. So people will speak but say, "Oh, I wouldn't say that in church." Well then, where would you say it? To me, it's the place where you would push it the furthest. A faith community should be the place with the most honesty and vulnerability and prophetic culture—calling things what they are. So when I hear people say, "That's nice but you really couldn't do that in church," I can't even fathom that. My understanding is it would lead the culture in reality.
I talk about having the first word. This idea that Church waits to see what the culture is doing then produces a D grade version with some sort of clever Jesus twist to me is utter blasphemy. The DaVinci Code, for example. You wait for a C grade movie with stars with bad haircuts and then gear your church teachings around a movie that many people aren't even going to see? That seems absolutely anemic.

DOOR: Welcome to our world.

BELL: I don't believe in Christian art or music. The word Christian was originally a noun. A person, not an adjective. I believe in great art. If you are an artist, your job is to do great art and you don't need to tack on the word Christian. It's already great. God is the God of Creativity. Categories desecrate the art form. It's either great art or it isn't. Followers of Jesus should have the first word instead of coming late to the game with some poor quality spin-off. Let's talk about things before everyone else.

[http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/interview/rob-bell]

Enough said.

Godspeed,
-th3o

This Thing... Called Love? (5th, Dec, 2008)

Originally written: 12/5/08

Dear reader(s),

I am not making reference to the post-script of my last entry. Rather, I refer to the source of (rightfully) righteous anger against Christianity's prolific enemies. Characters like Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion"), Osama Bin Laden (Al Qaeda), and the like.

PLEASE NOTE that I am not, say again: I am not saying the two men are similar. Bin Laden wages a bloody war, whereas Dawkins' fight is intellectual^a. Bin Laden brainwashes his followers to sacrifice themselves in an act of terror, Dawkins convinces his followers^b that belief in any 'religion' (organised or not) is a sign of intellectual retardation (okay - maybe not retardation - but you get the point). Bin Laden is Sophisticated in a Brutal sense (running Al Qaeda can't be a mere feat - he's yet to be found), yet Dawkins is Brutal in a Sophisticated sense.
But this isn't a critique of these two crusaders. It is a critic of the crusaders against the two crusaders (I.e. The Christians opposed to their (vastly different) teachings). So here goes: I was cleaning the kitchen cupboards yesterday^c, when this question dawned upon me:

"Why do we hate these men, if we are called to love our enemies?"

Or, that is the paraphrase anyhow.
Now, many would at this point argue:

"I don't hate them - I just dislike them greatly - you don't need to like somebody to love them".

This is true... to a degree. I'm sure I wouldn't be best buddies with Bin Laden^d, nor share many common interests with Dawkins^e.
HOWEVER, I am sure there are many who'd like to punch Dawkins in the face a few times (I know this was true for me, thinking back to what I witnessed in his 'God Delusion' mini-series) – and many more who'd like to see Bin Laden found and executed.

"What about it?"

Some may say.

"Dawkins deserves some sense knocked into him"

Maybe so – but I ask:

"Should this not be the job of The Spirit?"

Some may say:

"Bin Laden is a monster who deserves justice! He has the blood of many on his head – brainwashed Muslims, and the victims of terror."

To which I would reply:

"Have you not read the sermon on the mount? Have you read what Jesus spake concerning 'An Eye For An Eye'?"

Now I wish not to bring about the topic of Capital Punishment (Which, for the record I stand against), nor any argument of 'God's Will' concerning it.
Rather, what I have been waiting eagerly to ask is this:

"What would happen if we prayed for such men?"

Is this not what Jesus suggested?

"What would happen if Richard Dawkins was saved? If he released a book titled 'My Own Delusion'?"

Please, take a moment to meditate on this…
…
Now consider this:

"What would happen if Osama Bin Laden was saved? What if he released a video concerning his salvation?"

Admittedly, it wasn't Osama Bin Laden who popped into my head when cleaning the kitchen cupboards – but the late Saddam Hussein.
Around the time of his execution, I was surprised at the amount of Christians in favour of his execution. I still stand opposed to it. On three grounds:

• Death does not justify death.
• It would be a more effective punishment to place him with regular prisoners.
• We have no right, as humans, to condemn Saddam Hussein to Hell.

I realise by that statement that only God has that power. But as Christians, we should know the reality of Hell, and that it was his probable destination. And so many followers of Christ – who died so none could perish – were determined, and excited to see him end up there.

Please note that I am not condemning anybody, nor questioning anyone's faith or salvation.

I wonder – how many priests, pastors, chaplains, laymen, attempted – or even thought of visiting Hussein in prison?
How many of us prayed for his salvation?
How many of us wanted him saved?

A monster with a heart of stone – brought to his knees by the almighty, humbling power of Christ our King.

Speaking with a very good mate last night^f, I realised another of such men:
Paul, formerly known as Saul.
He was known to the early Christians as a main player in the field of persecution.
He was thrown off his horse while on the road to Damascus, by the almighty, humbling power of Christ our King.
He wrote approximately half the New Testament^g.

In summary:
"Why do we hate these men, if we are called to love our enemies? If "Dawkins deserves some sense knocked into him", should this not be the job of The Spirit?
"So what if Bin Laden is a monster who deserves justice? Have you not read the Sermon on the Mount? Have you read what Jesus spake concerning 'An Eye For An Eye'? What would happen if we prayed for such men? What would happen if Richard Dawkins was saved? If he released a book titled 'My Own Delusion'?
"What would happen if Osama Bin Laden was saved? If he released a video concerning his salvation?"

How would this shake the world?

Thanks for reading and Godspeed,
-th3o.

*****

^a Or rather, what is wrongly considered intellectual. He may know a lot about biology - but clearly has never studied the Bible academically. Maybe he feels it's not needed – considering we're all intellectually impaired.

^b He does this mainly by twisting bible verses to suit his own means. That is, taking them completely out of context so they support how stupid, or a-moral we are to believe they are truth.

^c I don't know why this is important for you to know…

^d "Hey, Lazza! What's goin' down? The whole of western civilisation, eh? That's cool… I guess… wanna play cards? You don't play with dirty infidel pigs? I understand… see you round? No? I'll call you then!"

^e "Dawksey! What've you been up to mate? Making the religious masses feel like the idiots they are? I guess that sounds like fun…"

^f Or was that early this morning?

^g Or rather, God wrote approximately half the New Testament through him…