Mad Hungry Mind

Samuel Beckett: Advice to Creative Minds

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
--Worstward Ho

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2008: Updated

A new report on The Clay Cart is now online. Enjoy!

Church at Lower Slaughter, Cotswolds, UK

Just for the heck of it, a photograph I took of a gnarled tree in front of the steepled church at Lower Slaughter, Cotswolds, UK.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2008: Updated

A report on August Wilson's Fences is now available here. Read about the OSF 2008 season here.

Out of the (Pens) of Babes

At the hospital where I work, the art display area is featuring the work of young local talent, around a shared theme of Earth Day.

Terrific, aren't they?

Glad to see that today's artists are concerned with the social good.

What's on YOUR Kindle?

This is silly, but it's a dream come true:

And that's only one screenful of titles...

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Updated

A review for Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, by Julie Marie Myatt, is now online here.

Mad Hungry Love Affair: Amazon Kindle

My Kindle arrived yesterday, and because I had the day off I spent the latter half of it reading blissfully on my new toy. I haven't fully explored all of its features yet, but those I have I ADORE. This might be a mere infatuation, but I think it's love.

More steamy details to follow.

More Shakespeare? You Betcha!

I know some of you were wiping your brows with relief at the conclusion of my posts on the Royal Shakespeare Company's Histories Cycle--but don't pack your bandanas away yet. I just got back from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where I saw six of the eleven plays being performed this season. I plan to write about each play over the next few weeks, and will update this page as I do so. A report on the first play I saw is already up--enjoy!

The Shakespearean Moleskine

I keep written and visual journals of playgoing and other noteworthy events. My notebook of choice is the Moleskine, either plain, grid or sketchbook style. I like to include ephemera into collages, as I have done above, or sketches of interesting stage moments, such as the battle of Agincourt in Henry the Fifth:

I'm also keeping a Moleskine for each individual play, for notes, sketches and excerpts. Here's the front cover of the notebook for Henry IV, Part Two:

And here's the back:

Both covers are collaged from pages from the play, magazine photos, and rubber stamps. I like to develop a theme around a quote from the play. When the collage is finished, I apply a layer of matte Modpodge over the cover as a seal.

Anybody else obsessive about their notebook system?