travel – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Touring in Tongues

Still enjoying touring London. Still marveling at how weird it is seeing the reaction to this week’s news and the sadly predictable reactions to it back home.

Chatting with drivers and other folks met along the way, the news back home may seem foreign to my view on the world as I thought it might one day become, but I’m reminded how, though separated as we are by a common language, we are inextricably tied into a gordian knot, by those who thrive on stirring up division for gain.

I say that as London prepares for supposed “free speech” protests today, with what’s in those quotes more easily defined as a way to drive the wedge of division deeper into our collective souls at whatever cost for whatever profit.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Adding An Item To The Bucket List

Seeing things with a different lens

We’ve been doing a lot of travel this Summer, mostly driving. Wandering down familiar roads and those not so familiar I’ve found my eye landing on old houses, old barns, and other old structures.

Some of these I’ve driven past many times before (like one pictured above). I’ve driven past it easily hundreds of times. Perhaps I’m just paying attention in a different way. Others are new to me.

Regardless, it makes me wonder what stories these structures contain. It’s also making me think that I might need to purchase a non-smartphone camera again and schedule some time to just travel and take some photos of these buildings and their stories.

So, I’m adding that to ye olde bucket list.

Chicago’s Uptown Theatre Hits 100 and is Still On The Skids

Decaying majesty

They certainly don’t make movie theatres like they used to. That’s not surprising or new, and long ago signaled a passing of a time when building special places for people to gather became less of a priority than so many other concerns. Chicago’s Uptown Theatre was one of those special places back in the day. It’s been decaying and shuttered since 1981 and every now and then efforts surface to try and bring it back to life.

Ctc 29062521 e1754425570173.

The Uptown celebrates its 100th birthday on August 18. Built as a grand show palace by Balaban & Katz and the architectural firm Rapp & Rapp, it was hailed as spectacular, and a “splendiferous palace of a place.” The Uptown sat 4,320 in what was called “an acre of seats.”

Offering movies and live entertainment it was billed as a “shrine to democracy where there are no privileged patrons. The wealthy rub elbows with the poor — and are better for this contact.” It also had air conditioning.

Obviously a lot changed throughout the years, talkies took over from silent films, the Great Depression, and the advent of TV changed the dynamic. The Uptown part of town itself fell on hard times and saw big changes, and during much of my time in Chicago was the last section of the lakefront resisting redevelopment. The final act on the Uptown stage was a concert by the J. Geils Band in 1981.

Robert Loerzel has a terrific piece looking back at the Uptown Theatre in the Chicago Tribune that’s more than worth a read as we approach the show palace’s centennial. There’s also an excellent gallery of photos, which the photo above is from. The link should be a gift link, although I don’t know how long that lasts. Loerzel has also authored a new book, The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace

When I first moved to Chicago in 1999 there were still a few of these show palaces in operation around the city, but the Uptown had long since shuttered. I got to take a tour of the place in the early 1990’s and the scale of what it once offered was impressive to see, only dwarfed by the decay and disrepair.

There are still efforts to try and find funding to restore the Uptown, but I’m sad to say I think priorities have shifted in such a way that we won’t see that happen.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Roads traveled too well

Some things defy understanding. Others appear less murky. Occasionally some hit the target. That’s why I read. That’s why I share. I’m still traveling and on the road for a bit, but there’s plenty to share in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading. Tomatoes and potatoes may be involved.

Phillip Bump recently accepted a buyout from The Washington Post and hasn’t announced new plans yet. But he’s still writing. Glad he is. He has always been one of my favorite writers and chroniclers. Check out his latest piece Humans Didn’t Evolve To Understand Our World.

When you reach a certain age (certain is alwasy self-defined) you start looking back to the beginning and wonder what will mark the ending. Cris Andrei calls them Bookends. This piece hit the target given that I’m visiting some old haunts on this trip. Oh, and approaching a certain age (self-defined.)

Tuning out news, noise and distractions is never easy. NatashMH takes a look through the marking of Ozzy Osbourne’s passing and other recent cultural touchpoints in Fractals of Modern Life. If you don’t look too hard, all the news, noise and distractions don’t really touch or point towards much in the grand scheme of things. But are we entertained or just dulled into carrying on?

Sometimes writers write just for the fun of it. David Todd McCarty says that’s where this piece, Killing Time Waiting for Friend, came from. I need to find more of the fun of it. Anyway his piece, gave me a chuckle. I did not read it at Denny’s, although I visited one of my favorite locations of the past during my travels.

I’ve linked to and written about Cory Doctorow’s theory of enshittification quite a bit. I’m doing so again with this piece You Can’t Fight Enshittification. I don’t think it’s a question of not fighting, I think it’s a question of not knowing there was a fight to begin with.

Staying in the tech vein, I’ve been linking to Mathew Ingram and others who are talking about the demise of Google Search. Take a look at Pete Pachal’s piece, What Content Strategy Looks Like In The Age of AI. Look beyond the headline on this one.

Speaking of Mathew Ingram, you should read Social Media Didn’t Start The Fire, It Just Fanned The Flames. I agree. That said, if you drink acclerants through a firehose you’re bound to bust.

On the political beat, Jon Pavlovitz offers up Everyone Believes They’re Esssentially A Good Human Being. Actors who play villains will always say that they look for what’s good in their evil character. It’s a form of coping. I happen to think this bunch of performance artists trying to burn down the country never bothered looking beyond the glee they take from their villainy. Apologies to real performance artists.

And to close things out on a competely different note, check out Will Dunham’s piece on the Evolutionary Origins of the Potato Revealed — and a Tomato Was Involved. Some things do defy understanding.

(Image from Mr. Abstract on Shutterstock.)

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Crazy Economic Days

One heckuva one day price jump

So, we’re traveling. Currently in Virginia. On Thursday I filled up the car at a price of $2.72 a gallon. When I drove past the station on Friday morning the price was $3.19.

The same all over town. This price jump hit on the day with all of the insane economic news, but most of that news was just breaking, so who knows what’s really behind it.

I think that might be the largest one day price jump in gas prices I can remember. I’m sure isn’t the end of this kind of volatilty in a volatile world.

Man Made Tornado

Roadside debris fires creating a man-made tornado.

On our recent trip to Memphis for this year’s Ostrander Awards (we won a few) we took our usual path through Illinois then following along the Mississippi River through Missouri and Arkansas.

I don’t think I’ve taken this trip that I haven’t seen large debris burns happening on the wide expanses of farmland that sit astride the highway in Arkansas. On a day like our drive with clear blue skies, you certainly can see it from a distance and as you get closer you can certainly smell it. You can taste it too, if you don’t adjust the air intake in your vehicle.

This is the first time though, that I think we caught a glimpse of what looks like a man-made tornado from the heat of the fire inside the middle of the burn.

Quite a sight.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s a Sunday morning of a somewhat lost, yet restorative weekend. Simultaneous with spring daffodils starting to bloom, the cast from my recent gig, The Lehman Trilogy, made a suprise trip from Memphis to Chicago to visit for the weekend. Made we think and feel deeply. Made me laugh. It was glorious. Bonds don’t get any deeper. I needed that. That said, and still recovering, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

First up David Todd McCarty is searching for the answers on why we do the things we do in Frittering Away What’s Left of Eternity. Terrific piece with no frittering. Resonated with me when it was published earlier this week. After this weekend it resonates with stronger vibrations.

Radley Balko delves into The War On the Woke in an excellent piece The War on the Woke Trumps the Truth for Heterodox Thinkers.

Sarah Jones takes a look at The Exvangelicals Searching for Political Change. I think she coined “Exvangelical.” Regardless of the label credit, its meaning sticks.

Jim Sciutto sees current global tensions as a 1939 Moment in his new book The Return of The Great Powers. Russia, China and the Next World War. I’m looking forward to reading it. You should too. In the meantime, David Smith talks about Sciutto’s book in ‘A 1939 Moment’: Jim Sciutto On Russia, China and the Threat of War.

Once a teacher always a teacher. I grew up in a family of teachers. NatahsMH in The Blind Leading the Blind recounts her experiences of teaching young ones what it’s like to experience being disabled for only an hour. I’m not talking comedy, but here’s the punch line: “And you experienced being disabled for one hour. Imagine a lifetime. Now go design the world a better, smarter place.”

It’s been 10 years? On the anniversary David Pierce wonders Who Killed Google Reader? I remember that death. The internet remains, but there’s a hole left by it.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Charged Up Cubism: The Anker 3-in-1 Cube with Magsafe

Cubism is an art form popularized by Pablo Picasso, George Braque, Jen Metzinger and a bevy of other artists. Cubism can be fun and funky. It can also be confusing. Either way it can generate some highly charged opinions. The Anker 3-1-Cube with Magsafe is certainly not what I’d call a work of art, but it is a nifty piece of Magsafe charging tech packaged in a funky little cube.

I received an Anker 3-in-1 Magsafe charging cube as a Christmas gift and am using it on my current month-and-a-half long gig away from home to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. Straight up I like the device quite a bit and am very grateful it was gifted to me.

Right out the box you get a small gray cube. It’s heavier than its roughly 2.5 inch footprint suggests, weighing in at 14.46 ounces. It deceptively makes you think the cube contains a battery, but it does not. It’s solidly built for the most part. Flip open the top and you can attach an iPhone via MagSafe for charging or to use in StandBy mode. You can also just plop your iPhone on top of the cube without flipping up the top. Press in on the small side shelf and out pops a small charging adapter for the Apple Watch. That watch charging shelf does feel a little finicky at times and I’m not sure if pressing it in and out constantly won’t eventually yield to failure. The lid angle is adjustable so using it for viewing something on your iPhone works well. With the lid flipped all the way to its maximum angle you can place your AirPods under that angled lid to charge them up.

Yes, you can charge all three devices at one time. With all three devices charging it takes Cubism into an sort of modern realm. The device comes with a 30-watt charging plug and a decently long cable (5 feet). No this isn’t a mobile charger, it’s meant to be used plugged in, which may mitigate the hefty weight. Anker’s cube supports 15-watt charging for compatible iPhone models and suppots fast charging for Apple Watches as far back as version 7.

The cube is a bit pricey currently running in the $150 range on Amazon, Apple and other outlets. I had looked at this when it first came out and ruled it out for my gadget collection due to the price compared with other options available. One of the things I like about it is the small compact size compared to many other charging stands and mobile charging options currently on the market that tend to look like jewelry stands. Given that some of my gigs require weeks long stays, I’m glad the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe was gifted to me. I won’t mind its surprising weight when packing a suitcase, and I do indeed like this quirky, little, somewhat heavy cube quite a bit.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Good Things Come In Small Packages: The GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) Travel Router

This is quick review of my favorite gadget purchase of 2023. The GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) Travel Router proves that big and amazing things can come in small packages. They need to work on that name though. It certainly doesn’t just roll off the tongue. This small router that fits in the palm of your hand allows you to do any number of router like things in order to get connected, stay connected, and stay safe while connected.

I started looking into travel routers early this past fall as my November/December schedule started firming up. Our family was expecting a new granddaughter. (Yay! She arrived and is gorgeous.) I had a work gig that was going to take me out of town the week before Christmas and for five weeks after that to direct The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. That gig meant we had to do some of our many family holiday trips earlier in the month of December.

All of that combined meant some hotel stays and visits to relatives with large houses that don’t exactly have great WiFi coverage. Essentially I was looking for a way to piggyback on and extend WiFi reception in those destinations. Some of the travel would mean both my wife and I would be working at times from those various locations in addition to enjoying family time.

The GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) Travel Router filled that bill and more. Not only am I able to piggyback and extend WiFi when needed, but it provides built in VPN services that can help when you don’t exactly want to use hotel WiFi without some form of VPN protection.

In addition, it can combine an existing WiFi signal with a tethered connection to a smartphone to boost the signal even more. I’m not quite sure how they make that magic work, but they do. You can grab existing WiFi by plugging into a router or over the air. The connection can handle up to 70 devices. I don’t have that many, but when we’re traveling we have more than a few.

And as far as small packages go, the device is small enough to toss into your bag when you need to travel light. Once the show I’m working on moves into the theatre i’m looking forward to extending and boosting the signal of the public WiFi channel there where I work so I don’t have to log in to the networks we used for technical theatre operations.

I won’t get into all the technical ins and outs but I will say this is a bit fiddly to set up. But once you’re up and running it’s certainly a keeper for my kit. Here’s a link to a review from the Gadgeteer that goes into more detail if you’re interested.

All in all for a $100 purchase it’s already proven it’s value.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some culture, some politics, some tech, and some fun to share in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading. There’s also a bit of Picasso tossed into the mix. I’m in Memphis starting rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square so life’s rhythms are a bit fractured currently, but life’s slower on the Mississippi.

Kicking it off, David Todd McCarty in We Could Be Heroes asks what do we do when mystery no longer sustains us after we’ve moved past enlightenment? I’m thinking the answer is either drink more or drink less. Pick your poison. Also check out his weekday daily columns here.

Susan B. Glaser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos explain How The American Right Came to Love Putin. My $.02? It’s simple. It’s not about Left and Right in the traditional sense. It’s about take what you can because the good guys have proven they can’t really stop you.

Ray Naler in Time Magazine has an excellent piece on Artificial Intelligence called AI and The Rise of Mediocrity. We’ve been rising/sinking to that level for awhile now. The pace is quickening.

Speaking of quickening, what was Twitter continues to quickly plunge into past tense. The Verge has an excellent and fun piece called Elon Musk Killed Twitter from a team of writers.

More and more journalism these days seems to be telling us what we already suspected, already surmised, or already knew. Jodi Kantor and Adam Lipton fill in a few blanks on how the disaster that was the Roe v Wade decision came down in Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe v Wade.

Jason Snell makes a case for Apple to develop its own clipboard manger for macOS. He’s right.

NatashaMH in The Madness of Pablo takes a walk into the wildside with Pablo Picasso.

Continuing on the art beat to wrap things up this week, have you ever asked What’s With Those Hilarious Medieval Portrayals of Animals? Well Elaine Velie did and wrote all about it.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.