Saturday, March 07, 2009

Random Culture Vulture (Sepulcher) Observations

My favorite few paragraphs in all of literature must be Tom Sawyer getting Ben Rogers and a bunch of others to whitewash his fence.
I saw this play "Strange Interlude" by Eugene O'Neill. It must be the strangest play I have ever seen. It has 9 acts and goes on for 5 and a half hours. We started at 2pm, had a dinner break at 5pm and the play finally finished at 9pm. The basic premise is that life is lived in the past and the future, and the present is but a strange interlude. Also, what is the "right" thing to do may not be the "moral" thing to do. Very dark with characters that launch into inner monologue soliloquys every once in a while. Leave the play with the feeling of having been privy to a crazy neurotics mind. Its like Freud + Jung with a background of hideous screams.
What did the comic say about his life?
Life is a stage, but mine is a joke.
By the way, if you are ever looking to write good comedy use 30 Rock, Arrested Development and The Office as templates. Its all about developing wacky interesting characters, letting them interact with each other and allowing the magic to be made! The Ha ha one liners are for the escapists who don't want to do the real thing. Its a gourmet meal compared to a McDonalds hamburger.

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