RIP Mr. Salinger...

Earlier today, one of the best and strangest authors of the 20th century died. J.D. Salinger was 91 and died of natural causes.

He is best known for his book The Catcher in the Rye which is also one of my favourite books of all time. The character of Holden Caulfield is one of the best ever created and truly represents teenagers everywhere,

across generations. The raw honesty in the book is unbelievable and the story timeless. The ultimate story of teenage angst and trying to find your own way, I recommend anyone who hasn't read it checks it out. I still read it at least once every year.

His collection of short stories Nine Stories is another one of my favourites. Everyone should read that to. In fact, find something he has written and read it. Now.

His brilliant writing is too often overshadowed by the fact that he only published a few items, other than the most famous two that I mentioned, before withdrawing completely from the spotlight and living as a recluse for almost 50 years, at the very home where he died in New Hampshire. In my opinion, while he was clearly a weird guy, he should have been allowed to live in peace and not be constantly questioned as he was. 

At the same time, it is sad that a man who had the potential to be one of the best authors of all time, checked out so early.

A quote in the obituary in the New York times really caught my eye and summed up his strange but magical nature.

“Salinger had remarked that he was in this world but not of it."

 

“His body is gone but the family hopes that he is still with those he loves, whether they are religious or historical figures, personal friends or fictional characters.”

Everyone who loved his writing hopes exactly the same. 

Thanks for the words J.D. 

With love and squalor,

Keith.

Sleeping giants...

The FA Cup: The premier cup competition in British football. The oldest soccer competition in the world. A tournament that can often pit the best teams in the league against semi-amateur sides and create magical upsets.

Leeds United: For decades an arch-rival to the legendary Manchester United. One of the biggest, most famous clubs in England. Financial mismanagement brought them to their knees, relegated down two full divisions beneath their true home in the Premier League now forced to play against tiny teams who draw no fans. Even in this state, still drawing 50,000 fans to their home games. Fans dreaming of a return to the greatness they once held. 

My first love.

The last bit is true. When I first started truly following soccer, Leeds were my team. I loved them and they gave so much back challenging for titles both in England and across Europe. Then the unthinkable happened. A complicated mix of financial mismanagement and poor results saw them relegated not once but twice. Forced into obscurity in a low level league, Leeds famous slogan "Marching on Together" was unofficially changed to "Not Famous Anymore" by fans. I admit, I jumped ship, found refuge in following other teams. Despite this, I never really found anything to equal my love for Leeds. One day a couple weeks ago, my love was rekindled.

Leeds were drawn against long time rivals Manchester United in the cup. They brought an unprecedented 15,000 traveling fans into Old Trafford, Man U's stadium. The fans were dreaming of past glories but were treated to a new one. Jermaine Beckford's goal saw Leeds pull off the fairy tale upset and move to the next round. Suddenly, Leeds were "famous again." 

With their name once again being a hot topic in the soccer world, Leeds were first in their division, looking to move one step closer to getting back into the big leagues. They faced another massive obstacle in Tottenham Hotspur, currently 4th in the Premier League, today in the Cup.

Down 2-1 with less than half a minute on the clock, Leeds fans were taking solace in putting forth a good effort. I, in my 2001 Leeds jersey, was dejected. 

Then Beckford was pulled down.

Leeds were given a penalty kick.

Beckford scored.

2-2.

Magical. 

A replay will be played next week back in Leeds with their chance to "march on together" arriving once more.

Even sleeping giants can sometimes awaken...

In The Chamber 2010

On Friday night, a large group of first year Crecomms sacrificed their evenings to watch a production at the Rachel Browne Theatre. The play, entitled In The Chamber 2010 was made up of two monologues that each lasted about an hour. While the acting was very solid, the excitement level simply wasn't up to par for casual theatre fans like myself.

The play was the fifth installment of the In The Chamber series and showcased two original pieces. The first, Last Man in Krakendorf, was written and performed by Gordon Tanner. This was my favorite of the two parts and featured really impressive and energetic acting from Tanner who has established himself as a true Manitoba talent. 

It deals with a man who has reached the end of his rope and, enlightened by a fire in a hog barn, realized that he has little to live for in his dull life. He wants to escape from the "middle of the herd" and is sending a video message to Warren Buffet in an attempt to show just how rotten the system in which he works has become. The scene works because of solid acting and almost permanent doom mongering but misses the mark at the end of the day because of a complete lack of interaction between characters. In addition, the subject matter is alarming dry and difficult to follow. Essentially, despite his best efforts, Tanner fails to hold the audience's attention for the entire length of his work and in my opinion this equals a failed attempt.

The second half of the play was considerably worse in my opinion. It was called Last Man in Puntarenas and was written and performed by Steven Ratzlaff. 

This one dealt with a beaten down older man giving a speech to his former co-workers as he leaves his job. The speech is an intentionally sputtering and long winded diatribe about his frustration with society over losing his child. He blames failed medical procedures for the loss but ends up going off track and attacking his co-workers throughout the speech. As he speaks, more and more of his "audience" leave and he ends up speaking only to the bartender as he finishes his tirade. 

This half of the play left me confused and bored. I was already fairly worn out from the difficult to follow first production and this one was even harder to follow. Ratzlaff was far less energetic in his acting and his speech was just kind of creepy. Some of his comments were strange and inappropriate. The entire thing seemed a little too true for me and while this should make it more sad, it just made it more disturbing in my view.

If this wasn't enough, the speech was simply impossible to follow. For starters, it included too much medical vernacular for the average person to understand. While that was difficult, a more pressing problem was the fact that the dialogue was all over the place. It touched on cancer, sex, broken marriages etc. There was too much there for me to be able to continue paying attention.

The two halves of the play were tied together by their general subject matter dealing with two men who have become totally disillusioned with society and checked out mentally. Both feel that others are to blame not necessarily for their mistakes, but for constantly failing to learn from them.  They have looked closely at their world, and seen nothing they liked. In short, they have surrendered, given up. 

In this way, they work as a fairly poignant and interesting look into our society but, again simply don't stimulate the audience enough to make them carry much weight. Some sort of actual movement or interaction on stage was needed to help bring the spectators, many of whom do not attend many plays, into the action.

As a side note, I was very confused as to why the audience laughed so constantly at "jokes" made during the play. Perhaps I am just not a seasoned enough theatre attendee but I found is very odd to hear so much laughter for lines that were so embarrassingly not funny. If these same people had gone to an actual comedy show, the roof probably would have come off with laughter if this is how impressed they were by such mediocre wise-cracks.

Overall, while the acting was very good and the memorization stunningly impressive, the writing and the excitement level were just not good enough for me. If I am going to go to a play, I want to be entertained and I just wasn't. Indeed, it felt more like I was the one being locked "in a chamber." 

Bloggers block...

Hey Guys,

Here's the deal, I am thinking about changing my blog topic. I love talking about soccer but I want to branch out a bit and write about more general things.

I might just change things up a bit and mix it up. I hope that works. Be on the lookout for some coolio new shiz.

Cheers,

Keith.

Sacha Baron Cohen: King of the Publicity Stunt

For our PR class, we were asked to look up and do some research on a successful publicity stunt. I immediately thought of Sacha Baron Cohen.

Better known, as his most popular characters Ali G, Borat and Bruno, Baron Cohen is essentially a master at generating publicity for his characters by doing ridiculous things and staging outrageous interviews. While promoting his most recent major movie, Bruno, Baron Cohen staged a number of hilarious publicity stunts.

The premise of the character is simple, Bruno is a fashion designer from Austria who plays up every stereotype of a gay male fashion designer possibly. The character is intentionally way over the top, just as all of his characters are. In this way, what better publicity stunt could there be than to crash an actual fashion show? Thankfully, Baron Cohen felt the same way and did exactly that.

Baron Cohen managed to get onto the runway at a high class fashion show in Milan and walk down the runway wearing a black cloak that had velcro on it which he stuck a bunch of handbags and boots to. He was of course pulled down by security and arrested but not before he had made his point and generated tons of publicity for his movie.

It worked for a bunch of reasons. First off, it was hilarious. Secondly, it poked fun at the industry that he was parodying in his movie and did it in a way that made the public almost take his side against the fashion industry which is percieved as elitist by many.

Interestingly, the event may not have had that major an effect because it fit perfectly with Baron Cohen's reputation. People almost expect him to do these things now and were surely waiting for this to happen. In this way, the event may not have been as shocking as it could have been as people were saying "oh he's doing it again" and all that good stuff.

The point is, Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious and perfect for this assignment because he's made his living as a walking publicity stunt basically. Keep up the good work Sacha. VERY NICE!