Dangerous Common Sense

Anthony and Cleopatra

By Galen|2015-08-23T16:00:53-07:00August 23, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Derrick Lee Weeden and Miriam Laube. Photo by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival By far the best aspect of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2015 production of Anthony and Cleopatra is the set. Scenic designer Richard Hay creates a clean, beautiful, symbol-filled space for the Shakespeare tragedy. The golden-royal triangles reprised in various forms work as ships, pyramids, and boundaries. The triangles are bold and colorful, and vivid Egyptian-themed props enhance the feel of empire and luxury. Hay does a great job. He skillfully keeps the physical on-stage material to a [...]

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The Count of Monte Cristo

By Galen|2015-08-23T12:15:12-07:00August 22, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Raffi Barsoumian (Danglars) and Al Espinosa (Dantes). Photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival Who knew that a revenge melodrama could be so much fun? Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents a sharp, finely timed, excellently acted, satisfying evening of a classic payback story written as a book by Alexandre Dumas in 1844 and adapted for the stage as early as 1848. The version of the play OSF picked to perform is meaningful. This Count stems from an adaption by Charles Fletcher in 1868. The play was further adapted by James O'Neill who bought the rights to [...]

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Sweat
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Sweat

osf, plays

Sweat

By Galen|2015-08-27T07:57:54-07:00August 19, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Sweat by Lynn Nottage | World Premiere Jack Willis, Carlo Alban, and K.T. Vogt in "Sweat".photo by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Sweat is Lynn Nottage's brilliant story of people and community in collapse. Before writing this commissioned American Revolutions series play, Nottage talked to residents of America's poorest city of 2001, Reading, Pennsylvania. Her work shares the residents' pain, losses, and self-immolation as their good jobs are eliminated in relentless, financially logical, corporate-mandated factory closings and union busting. I knew the story's outline coming into the theater. I expected satisfying liberal ranting and raving at the [...]

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If You Like Donald Trump, You’ll Love Bernie Sanders

By Galen|2015-08-09T10:54:28-07:00August 9, 2015|Politics|

from US Uncut If you want a President who speaks straight-forwardly and without a focus-group filter you can vote for Donald Trump. But, I like Bernie Sanders' soul better. And, I think most Americans will like Bernie more, too. In today's 1%-take-all world, there is room for righteous anger like that displayed by Sanders. But, Trump-style self-righteous anger against people weaker (or simply more polite) than you is the behavior of a bully, not of a President. Trump is fun to watch when his scorn is directed at a pompous politician, but watching it feels like guilty pleasure. It's like [...]

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How to Increase the Power of Special Interests

By Galen|2015-03-23T13:57:10-07:00March 23, 2015|philippic|

Simplistic, Feel-Good Stupidity as Posted on Facebook This Facebook sets me off. It's pathetically simplistic. And supremely stupid. How has the panacea of term limits worked for, say..., California? The state legislature is at least as partisan and divided as Congress. Special interest-written bills pass routinely, and long-term needs of the state would not even be mentioned if it wasn't for the long-lived, political hack and four-term governor, Jerry Brown. Term limits have destroyed the ability for legislators of both parties to get to know each other, to learn what really matters to people on the other side [...]

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The Best Season Opening

By Galen|2015-03-06T13:53:26-08:00March 4, 2015|osf, plays|

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's season opening this past weekend showcased four excellent productions. It was the strongest festival start that I -- and my more experienced Ashland friends -- have experienced. Bravo! I hope to write full reviews of each performance. But, here are my snap judgements, listing the four plays in my overall order of enjoyment. Fingersmith by Alexa Junge based on the novel by Sarah Waters Syntax says: photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival This world premiere commissioned by the festival is full of "Wow" plot twists delivered with exquisite attention to language and the style of the times (1861). [...]

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Don’t Make Me Go to the Mall

By Galen|2015-02-22T15:38:01-08:00February 22, 2015|philippic|

Damn it! The latest PR stunt by self-righteous terrorists is annoying. The threat by al-Shabaab to attack the Mall of America and the piling on by other groups suggesting that there could be attacks at other American malls makes me feel like I need to go shopping. Understand, I severely dislike going to Stonestown Mall and other local similarly crazed venues. I feel dirty wandering into the crammed-together stores that hawk mediocre-quality goods slicked up to mimic the high-end luxury items I am supposed to want. It's really not that I don't like clothes, electronic toys, and designer chocolates. Rather it's the mall [...]

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Climate Change Denial, Vaccine Scares, and Support of Israel

By Galen|2015-02-04T16:45:35-08:00February 4, 2015|Politics|

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to make the support of Israel (really the policies of his current government of Israel) a partisan issue in the US is beyond unwise. By accepting Speaker John Boehner's invitation to address Congress without even notifying the President of the United States, Netanyahu has ended decades of bipartisan support for Israel. It's a terrible decision for Israel. His appearance violates diplomatic protocol, if you care about those things (I do). But, even if you're a scorched-earth, no-manners political Luddite, accepting an invitation that slaps that face of the President, of the Democratic party, and of Americans [...]

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Do You Want to Be Self-Righteous or Effective?

By Galen|2014-12-26T19:13:35-08:00December 26, 2014|philippic|

Honoring the humanity of police officers as well as the civilians who have been killed by police are not mutually exclusive actions. Cue the media! Or, rather, clue in the media. While the vast majority of protesters have been creative and non-violent, some have been chanting for police to be killed. And, a lunatic used the protests as an excuse to kill two cops. While the vast majority of police officers have treated the protesters with professionalism and respect, some police union officials are employing language which is hysterical and supremely unhelpful. Politicians are using sincere fear and frustration on [...]

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Prop A Proponents Send Out Untrue Mailer

By Galen|2014-11-01T11:34:02-07:00November 1, 2014|Politics|

Gawd I am tired of the pile of slick sheets in my mailbox! These mailers are touchable evidence about how much money is being spent on elections. The local assembly candidates are spending enough money to fund a research initiative to end cancer. The real estate industry is pumping money into the No on G (25% transfer tax) campaign, and the soft drink manufacturers are sweetening printers income with a blizzard of No on E (the soda tax) four-color cards. The flier that caught my eye yesterday was the one that validates my opposition to Prop A, the "fix MUNI" bond issue. [...]

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