No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on December 22, 2010

Last Monday there was an accident involving the main stuntman and aerialist for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. Christopher Tierney was performing one of the less aggressive stunts in the show when some thing happened to the harness that was holding him and he fell 30 feet into the pit below. He managed to land without any injury to his spine or his neck; however he does have a series of broken ribs and some internal bleeding from the fall. The show stopped and the audience was asked to leave as the paramedics arrived. We have video of the accident from an audience member who was illegally shooting the show with some sort of camera. It is pretty horrific to watch.

Having seen the show, I know at what point this happened and that Mr. Tierney was not suppose to go over the edge but, with the wire attached to him, hang further out than is humanly possible. I know this trick well since I have stage-managed a couple of shows that we used this same gag. I am sure over time we will find out what happened and what went wrong. As it is, new redundancies have been added to the show’s wire-work to all the safety measures that had seemed to take care of the potential danger up until this accident. And it was an accident. I do wish Mr. Tierney a swift and painless recovery but I also know that is doggone hard to do with cracked ribs.

This show seems plagued by accidents to the performers. During the rehearsal period when they were just starting with the flying, one actor broke both wrists on a bad landing. There have been other bumps and bruises and one broken ankle. Since it went into previews there have been two incidents that have injured actors. One actress received a concussion after something (rope) fell from a catwalk and hit her in the head backstage and now Mr. Tierney’s fall is added to the mix.

This show is breaking new ground as to what can be done in theater. I have seen Cirque do things like it in the Grand Chapiteau(Big Top)but not to the scale that this is being done. In fact I am betting that Cirque is taking a hard look at what they are doing at Spider-man to see if they can use it in one of their shows. In breaking new ground, you learn of new hazards and pit falls where they didn’t exist before.

I can remember when we did some of the gags for the first time for The Invisible Man. No one got seriously injured but we did have some bumps and bruises along the way. And we reworked how things were done to keep both the cast and crew and, most important, the audience safe during these stunts.

If they can bring the show up to both OSHA and Equity standards, then the show should go on. And, between all unions and the feds, it has been inspected and given the go ahead to continue previews, which it did last night. This show is under a microscope and everything is being given a check and a double check. The actors are willing to continue to play their parts. The director and the designers want to make this show work. The union shop has signed off for the safety of their members. These are trained professionals who have said that this show meets their safety requirements. They want to make this a success for everyone.

I say let them do it. Let others see what I have seen and been thrilled by. Let others know the images so memorable for their strange and haunting beauty. This show could set the bar for what we will see in the future in theater and of what is possible to do in front of a live audience.

I give my sympathies and best wishes for those who have been injured during the span of this production. My sympathies and best wishes are also with the stage managers on the production and the Equity Deputy as well. Y’all are doing a great job with some really big obstacles to getting to Opening Night. And I hope that you make it to that glorious day when the show is set and the book is finished and that the naysayers will have to eat their words without any ketchup.

I am grateful that problems are being fixed rather than ignored as the show goes forward.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 21, 2010

The New York Times has an article today about the new regulations that the F.C.C. will be enforcing. There will be two sets of rules. One for fixed-line providers and one for wireless. They say that they are trying to preserve Net Neutrality.

However they are going to allow wireless providers to have a greater latitude about what they can and cannot block. According to the article (wireless providers) would be prohibited from blocking Web sites, but not from blocking applications or services unless those applications directly compete with providers’ voice and video products, like Skype. The FCC claims that there are currently technological reasons for the double standard and they would keep examining the issue.

What does this mean to you and me? Well if you like Google Maps and you are on Verizon, Verizon is not allowed to block your access to Google Maps or slow it down by making it a second tier program over their own Verizon maps (which is not as good as Google Maps). If you like Firefox over Safari, ATT can’t block you from using Firefox App on its network or on your iPhone.

But Net Neutrality is a myth. All Apps aren’t created equal nor are all programs. We already know about different broadband networks choking or slowing Netflix from streaming freely especially if they have an on demand component to their service. Once they were caught, they opened the faucet a little more to give the illusion of equal access but they only do that if they are caught. Honestly there is very little consequence to them if they are caught and that is not going to change.

Businesses can decide what can and cannot be viewed within their own systems. Many businesses have the website Facebook blocked because it is a time sink. It uses to be AOL was blocked because again productivity was way down. They can do that and the employees have no say in it or rather didn’t. With all the smart phones, employees can still take the time to check facebook or their personal e-mail without leaving a cyber fingerprint on their employer’s system as long as they don’t use the wifi within the system.

Service providers have argued that since they have paid a large amount of money for the bandwidth they are using, they should have some say over what is taking up that bandwidth and they have been informed that that argument won’t fly because of so called Net Neutrality. We are moving to a two tier system anyway with the “Super Internet” and the regular internet in the future. Also wireless is getting more powerful and more streamlined to allow for more data to be sent around in the air. We now have what they are calling 4G which is faster than 3G if you have a good signal but you have to use their services to get “true” 4G speed.

I don’t think that the rules that will be put in place will change anything as it is and it might stop some underhanded practices down the road. I still don’t believe there is anything like true Net Neutrality.

I am grateful for what I can do on the Internet.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 19, 2010

Peter and I went to see the Spiderman musical last night having scored tickets through the Marvel House seats lottery. I am a big fan of Julie Taymor going further back than most people. I found her work during my time at the Center for Puppetry Arts and was amazed and impressed by it. I am a fan of U2 since my brother Sean introduced me to them right before they hit it big in the USA. I am a Spiderman fan as well. So we have three things that I really like combined into one show.

And it is both amazing and spectacular. The casting is solid. The costumes and sets are great fun and harkens back to comics with all the weird angles that Ditko so seemed to love. The flying will take your breath away. The two things that bothered me were the book and the libretto, which are kind of big things when you go see a musical.

Julie Taymor out did herself with the visuals to the piece. Yeah, I know that there has been a lot of grousing about the look of the Green Goblin and what is up with Swiss Miss but that is seeing static pictures of costumes that when they move bring a whole new dimension to the piece. The set was another player in the drama. I loved the angles and creating spaces that have been seen in comics for years but never realized in 3 dimensions. I especially like what I am currently called the Chrysler Building effect.

The Goblin looks great and is played to the hilt by Patrick Page. I have no idea why Osborne is talking with a Texas twang but it worked for me. I think he was my favorite of the cast although Michael Mulheren did a kicking job as J. Johan Jameson. Jennifer Damiano did very well as Mary Jane and Reeve Carney did fine as Parker/Spiderman. They had some good dynamics going and looked the part. At times they were a little flat but then we are talking comic book characters.

And puppets. There were lots and lots of puppets, some blatant and others rather subtle. As a puppeteer, I was mightily impressed by both the puppets and the operators. I had never though of using a wall as a puppet but it works.

The first act has it together. The piece flows and the visuals serve the narration. The problem is in the 2nd act where they can’t decide which way they want this to go. It is neither fish nor fowl and suffers from it. The end is a bit of a morass and had Peter and I discussing what we thought the ending was on our trip home. It is the second act that they are still working on including the ending which has pushed back the opening again to almost a year after it was suppose to open. But there are flashes of brilliance in the mishmash. Arachne and Peter have a dream sequence that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. The image is so strong.

And then there is the music. I really like U2 and there were a number of songs in there I liked but there were even more that I had slight problems with including (and this is not the song writers fault) hearing the vocals over the band. There seem to be some real trouble hitting that magical balance between the level of the music and the vocals so you can hear what is being sung. And they do test the singers by putting them in positions that I don’t think have ever been sung from. The two songs that I really liked were “Bouncing off the Walls” and the signature song of the show “The Boy Falls from the Sky”. “DIY Word” was fun and silly in a sinister way. And ‘Behold and Wonder’ was pretty amazing visually but I lost parts of the song to the music being louder than the singers. Mary Jane has some good songs but in the end they seem pretty much the same and don’t quite fit in, for me, to some of the other songs. They need to decide what the musical theme is going to be. They are trying for too many styles in too little time. Once I think I have a grasp on it, they shove a song in that is rather discordant with what I had heard before.

Overall I am glad that I saw it even in previews. You can see the money on the stage and in the effects. I am hoping they can sort out the 2nd act to bring it up to the level of the first act. It is worth it? Depends. For me it was.

I am grateful that I did see Spiderman: Turn off the Dark.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 18, 2010

Two weeks to the beginning of 2011.

Where does the time go?

When I was a child, this was the hardest part of the year. The week before Christmas seemed to be twice as long as just about any other week of the year. It took forever for school to finish and the holiday to start. Now December moves with the blink of an eye.

Ariel came home last night much to Caroline’s glee. Caroline has wanted big sister back since her birthday but knew that Ariel had to finish with school before she came home. So there was a lot of sister time going on.

I had a migraine that was one of the worst I have had in quite a while. I felt like my skull being split in two would be preferable to the pain I was feeling behind my eyeballs. So I went to bed rather early were it was quiet and dark. This morning I have the dull ache and still a bit of pain but at least I can see clearly again.

No snow for us this weekend. Apparently the storm front decided to give this end of Long Island a miss. Fine by me.

I do plan to go to the grocery store today to pick up things we need and stock up on some things I only get when Ariel is around. Later today I will go to our local meat market and get some nice cuts of meat to cook for everyone.

Then this afternoon, Peter and I are going into the city to see Spiderman: Turn off the dark. It should be interesting to see. It is in previews so I know this is not the final product but I really don’t care. I have been a Julie Taymor fan for a very long time. And I have no idea what the soundtrack is going to sound like but I have liked U2 since Sean brought some CDs back from England right before they hit it big in the US. (I think they were CDs but they could have been records considering the time).

Tomorrow I’ll probably do something with the girls while Peter finished the Transformers 3 novelization. He is done writing it but he always likes to proof his work before handing it over to an editor. He wants to hand it in before the holiday break so they can start working on it.

Then Monday through Wednesday I need to finish up a sooper sekrit project I can say more about after Christmas and get the rest of the house in order.

Caroline finishes school for this calendar year on Wednesday.

I am grateful for having Ariel back home.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 17, 2010

For weird weather. It is still awfully cold and there may be snow this weekend. Just so everything clears out by Wednesday so we can travel. Our house/cat sitter is coming home from college this weekend so we have that base covered.

Caroline is going back to school today. At the doctor’s strong suggestion, we kept her home yesterday to work on rehydrating her. By the afternoon she was pretty much back to her old Caroline self. I am glad we did give her another day to recover.

Today Peter has to run into the city for a function he is attending. Tomorrow we are back into the city to see Spiderman: Turn off the dark (bring out the glow sticks). I really have enjoyed Julie Taymore’s work over the years but I wonder if she took on a little more than she could handle. I expect spectacle but nothing past that.

We are a week out from Christmas Eve and two weeks out from New Years Eve. Wow, that was a fast year. I’ll sum up my year after Christmas.

I have a bunch of things I need to do today. I hope I can get to half the list before I need to get onto other things.

Tomorrow Ariel comes home for the holidays/semester break. So we add another energy to the house.

Right now I have to get Caroline to the bus and then run the first of many errands that will be run today.

Have a good weekend Y’all.

I am so very grateful for Gatorade and Pedialyte.

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