Somewhere in my youth or childhood ...

So, as physical maturity begins to settle in (the only form a maturity one can not resist), I find myself playing RPG games again!

Why such a regression. Well first of all, why not? Second, my good friend the Queen of the Dweebs has become an ultimate Star Wars fan and wanted to take a foray into the RPG world. I don't know how long it will last, but being that all of us playing are experienced theatre people, it should be a blast.

I have created a new blog, Daxter's Datalog to create a chronicle of this experiment. We created characters at our last meeting and this weekend we begin our adventure. Woo-hoo!

RPG holds a special place in my memory. The Queen Mother (no direct relation to dweeb royalty) is my closest and most trusted friend. There was a time in history, not quite 30 years ago, when we were bitter enemies, arch-nemeses, not worth the grubby snow on the bottom of each others goulashes. But theatre and Dungeons and Dragons changed all that. And because of that I have a special relationship with the Queen of Florida. (Who I still owe a fantastic belated birthday present. Where does the time go!)

When you read this, you may think, "Gee, he sure has a lot of Queens in his life!" When I think about it, you have NO idea!

Oh the places you'll go!

Go this from Hugh's Blog. Looked like fun!

States in which I have lived:

1. Texas (birth to 9, 9 years)
2. Massachusetts (9 to 18, 9 years)
3. Texas (18 - present, 19 years (you do the math!)).

Countries in which I have lived (save the US):

Zip!

States in which I have spent significant time:

1. North Carolina (many a summer)
2. New York (many a visit to that great CITY)

States that I have visited:

1. Louisiana
2. Mississippi
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Alabama
6. Tennessee
7. South Carolina
8. Virginia
9. Maryland
10. Vermont
11. Hew Hampshire
12. Maine
13. Connecticut
14. Ohio
15. Illinois
16. Arkansas
17. California
18. Missouri
19. New Jersey
20. Pennsylvania
21. Indiana

Districts and Territories
22. Puerto Rico
23. Washington D.C.

Everything Old is New Again

One of the newsy bits (and I use the term "newsy" loosely) on the Today Show this morning was a commentary piece about how the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes affair could have helped the opening of Batman Begins. They then went back to last weekend and threw Brad and Angelina and their film into the pattern.

They do know this isn't new right? They do know this kind of hoopla, real or imagined, is old school publicity, right?

Um ... does anyone remember the studio system? Long before actors were working for themselves and 10% for their agents, they worked for the movie studio. And the studio made you work for it.

It was not uncommon for the studio to set its stars up on dates to go out and "be seen" to promote an upcoming film. You belonged to the studio. You did the movies they told you too and you were constantly made to be seen out and about in an attempt to bolster ticket sales.

This control was infamous. Studios would trade and lend actors like professional sports players. One famous power play was MGM's "Wizard of Oz". MGM wanted Shirley Temple, who, at the time was most appropriate in age for the character of Dorothy. 20th Centruy Fox wouldn't give her up. So MGM went with one of their stars even though she was too old for the character. In the end, MGM won out with Garland, but she was the understudy who wins hearts on opening night thanks to the studio system.

What you believe or don't believe about Tom and Katie isn't important. Are they really in love? Is he really gay and it's all fake? Don't matter. The use of this kind of relationship, real or manufactured, is nothing new. Its just now you have actors who are independant players. They don't have the studio bankrolling their movie star assent. They have to make themselves and maintain themselves as stars. It seems this May/September romance (he is not quite December yet Ms. Today show reporter) certainly keeps them in the news.