A less funny world tonight

Robin Williams died today of an apparent suicide at the age of 63. He could be a good actor in the right part, and he chose a lot of parts on both ends of the scale. He was always working, to pay the bills, maybe to keep the sadness from taking over.

As a comedian he was a direct descendant of the great Jonathan Winters. His skills at improvisation were unmatched. Sure, he went toward the easy dick joke too many times, but he was great at riffing a good dick joke.

Years ago, I met his brother Todd, who ran a winery. He died of heart disease a couple of years ago.

His onstage energy was amazing. His comic mind brilliant. It's a sad night as his passing is mourned.

This episode of The Actor's Studio had to be cut from a five hour taping. There are some moments of comic magic there. Magic that will no longer be created by Williams, but thankfully has been left for us.

Sucky next 38 hours

After too many nights of interrupted sleep caused by my son not sleeping through the night we've decided to try something new. When he was much younger and had the same problem we tried melotonin and it had a reverse effect. This was at least eight or nine years ago. Tonight we slipped some liquid melotonin in with his pudding. Not sure what the results will be but he was not interested in drinking the milk we put it in last night - where he went to bed around 10PM and woke up about six, which for him is a good night.

So he's lying on the couch right now, which is normal for him. When he falls asleep and whether or not he sleeps through the night is now the question.

This was also one of those days I'm not sure if he understands what is happening. I drove him up to his new school and explained to him that he is going to be going here soon, that it is his new school and that it's going to be like his old one but different too. His response was to put his hands over his ears, which is a newer thing of his to do. We have a soon to be twelve year old surly teenager.

Not sure if my blood pressure is dropping the way my doctor would like. I'm on two medications for it now. Monday I'm undergoing a medical procedure which means I can't eat any solid food tomorrow and have to purge the system, as it were.

When my two older brothers hit fifty and develop cancer means I have to be vigilant, hence the procedure. Who knows when my genetic switch will activate?

In the time I took to write this, his eyes are closing, and he's out. Not sure if it's the melotonin or not.

Now if the idiots in my neighborhood would stop shooting off fireworks it can be even quieter around here.

Boyhood reaction

"I wanted there to be more," Patricia Arquette's character says near the end of Boyhood. And after nearly three hours, to be honest, I would not have minded seeing more of this family's life. Richard Linklater filmed his characters over a period of twelve years to tell a rather ordinary story in a magnificent way, leaving the explosions and high drama out but keeping in the build up and wind downs of life's tensions. For the first, and possibly only time I will say that I wanted to see more of Ethan Hawke onscreen. Very good acting all around, and Arquette has some of her best onscreen work in her final scenes. You find yourself hoping the kids end up alright and wanting the parents to get something right and not screw up themselves or their kids. For the most part they do, but you see a lot of life's failures as well. "We're just winging it here," is Hawke's advice to his high school graduate son - and that one he gets right.

May I be matched with you again, uh no

One of my favorites from All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes record made back in the day. Great band with Pete, including the rhythm section of Big Country, on the album. This Deep End Live band is also exceptional, there's a guy named Dave on guitar. Some of this song he gets right, some not, but it's not my song.

Overall it's a great record, with one or two clunkers but the album starts with the above song and ends with this one.

And this song really hits home, despite him messing up the lyrics. 

What happens when you move away from your things

In a random thought the other day, I was Facebook posting and thinking about my old pachinko machine. I received it as a gift sometime in the mid to late 1970's from either my parents or grandparents. They were inexpensive, due to the Japanese flooding the market with them at the time.

It was cool to have, trouble was it was very loud and then it broke so you had to reach around the back of the machine to advance the balls.

Looked up how much it would cost to replace a machine today and was rather shocked by how much they had increased in value. Then a friend piggybacked my post about things you owned in your childhood that was lost, and I may be able to find the book she was looking for. And I then made a comment to her about letting me know if she had a pachinko machine.

To my surprise and shock she and her husband own one. It's in their rec room, but does not work.

Then my wife found out her co-worker has a storage shed full of them, and may be willing to part with one at a reasonable price.

I am not sure how my son would react to having one of those in the house. Again, it is very loud, and the stimulation may flip him out. He's had some odd reactions to the skill crane in the grocery store so I may not be willing to put something loud and over stimulating around.

But it's a small world, you mention something you think is obscure and it pops up in the most unexpected places. I doubt my old machine is still in my step-father's attic, but I'm going to call him and find out if he knows what happened to it.

There's also a Rolling Stones concert shirt I owned which I last saw in the attic thirty odd years ago. Anyone have one of those lying around?

An old comment I made well over a decade ago

"How do we all bore through the things that happen to us? The sufferings and miseries that always occur. and sure someone else can come in here with a tale of woe far greater than mine, and be forever changed. and someone else can come in with a take of woe seemingly less painful. But dammit, it fucks you up and it fucks you up and good. and for someone else to say to get over it, or let it go. well you just want to slap them."

Bugs, beetles, bats!

For the past two years, my son has been involved in the Shakespeare and Autism Project, a collaborative effort between the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Nisonger Center, and the Ohio State University Theater Program.

Yesterday we attended The Tempest, the play that is adapted for the program. There is a lot of wordplay involved while the whole play is not covered word for word. Neil was not interested in even go into the performance space at COSI at first, but once we got inside he was able to settle down in his seat.

He would not go down in the circle with the actors and other children. There were about three dozen people in the audience, and the children represented all segments of the autism spectrum. Neil sat, hummed and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while the play was going on but when Ariel started singing he stopped to pay attention.

There was one part of the performance in which the word game is “Bugs, beetles, bats” words that are shouted by all the players. I prompted him, and he already knew and shouted out bats at the right time. I was quite astonished that he was so on it.

Kelly Hunter, the director of the program, noticed and rushed over and asked Neil if he wanted to get in the circle. He got up, Kevin, one of the actors, took him on and they played the game together. It was quite remarkable. After that game was over Neil came back to his seat. There were a couple of other times where Neil participated and it was quite moving to watch.

When the play was over, the door opened and Neil took notice of that and essentially sprinted out of the room so we could not stay and thank all of the actors who took part. Neil seemed to know his obligations were met! The other children really seemed to get something out of the play as well, some left in the middle of the performance. One girl pulled out her cell phone, one got up and left the room to a chill out area then came back.

Here’s more information on Kelly Hunter, the creator of the program. She has a book coming out on the project that will be published later this year. If you have an opportunity to experience this program, it’s quite rewarding.