Alphabetical Movie – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
I’ll be doing some spoilers about major plot points so if that bothers you, don’t read on.
I’m not sure what The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has to say about guns solving problems.
Jimmy Stewart is a hero because he killed a man who, based on all evidence, would have killed him first. It was never his goal to kill Liberty Valance but he was pushed to do so because he knew he couldn’t run away.
It complicates things when we learn that Stewart did not, in fact, kill Valance. Given that fact, is the killing of Valance self-defense, murder, or something else?
Valance was shot to save someone’s life. Unlike other Westerns where everyone is a crack shot, the reason Valance is dead is because his killer aimed at the easiest part of the body to hit. Makes sense. He only had one shot.
So where does that leave us? How do we feel about the whole situation? We know that Stewart is conflicted about it. He doesn’t want to be a hero for killing a man. Yet, it is also true that he may be able to do more good for others if he accepts that he is a hero.
To me, Stewart is far more heroic than he believes because he went to face Valance with the knowledge that he was going to be shot to death. Had John Wayne failed to act, the outcome of the duel was unquestionable. Everyone knew that.
The old west that we see in classic films doesn’t exist with the same standards of morality as our world does. Stand your ground laws notwithstanding.
Friend a Day – Karl Anderson
Karl is my oldest friend. We’ve known each other since we were in grade school and while we have drifted in an out of each other’s lives, we have never drifted too far.
When I moved out on my own, he was my first roommate. He was the first person I called when I learned my dad had died. He was the best man at my wedding. I introduced him to his wife. At least I think I did. I’m going to take credit for it.
There is something about Karl that is comforting. As everything around us changes, he always feels at least a little bit the same. He gets older, sure. So do we all. But his personality has remained just about the same.
He’s quiet and mostly private. He would prefer to spend the majority of his time in front of the computer or with his family. In front of the computer. Yet every now and again there is an unmistakable twinkle that betrays a dry, sharp, and (to some) surprising sense of humor.
When we were growing up, I was always impressed by his artistic skill. I’d always hoped that he would become a cartoonist because he has a real knack for it. Webcomics are out there so maybe someday soon he’ll give it a try.
These days, Karl and I see each other mostly at Omegacon and CONvergence. At Omegacon, he’s one of the folks I try to make time to game with. He’s sharp, quick to pick up rules to new games, and he is always up for something he hasn’t played before.
We’ve shared a lot over the years and while we haven’t always lived in the same home or had a lot of time to spend with one another, he’s one of those people whom I’ve always been grateful to know.
Friend a Day – Sharon Stiteler
Photo by Bill Stiteler
I’ve known Sharon for about five years now. We aren’t super close friends but I enjoy what time I spend with her because she is ceaselessly interesting.
Sharon is well known as a birder. Heck, she’s written books and stuff. However, most of my experience with her is in comedy shows and I find her about as intimidating as they come. She is one of those folks who is effortlessly funny. When I’m on stage with her, all I think about is how much funnier she will be than me (and everyone else on stage). She makes it look easy. It never feels like she’s trying at all.
Confidence is one of her best qualities. It really feels like she knows what she is doing all the time. She believes in her own capability to do it right.
When it comes to birding, I think that she enjoys the process of sharing that passion with others. She writes, she blogs, she podcasts, and she gets together with other birders. Yes, it is her career so she needs to do those things. But I have to think that she gains a lot of pleasure from sharing her knowledge and experience.
She can talk for a long time on just about any topic because she knows a lot about them all. I admire smart people and she is one of the smartest. I don’t think that I would ever want to get into an argument with her because I’d probably be wrong and she would sound far more interesting than me even if I was right.
Sharon is a great communicator, as evidenced by all of her writing to be sure. She organizes her thoughts well and she organizes them rapidly. She doesn’t try to be interesting, she simply is interesting.
While being around Sharon may intimidate me a little, it’s well worth the effort to get over it. I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to know her a bit better.
You can read her blog over at birdchick.com.
Friend a Day – Nick Glover
I’ve known Nick for a long time but really only got to know him after he joined the vilification tennis cast and became my podcasting co-host on Geeks Without God.
Nick is a huge comic fan and over the last few years, he has introduced me to a ton of new comics. As a fan, he finds titles for me that go beyond the standard stuff that everyone has read. I appreciate the depth of his knowledge and his willingness to find me interesting new reading experiences.
We agree on a lot of topics but what always amazes me about Nick is his ability to boil his argument down to one or two insightful and cogent sentences. I’ll spend fifteen sentences to say what he says better in only one.
He has a relaxed attitude about working on stage that makes it easy to ask him to do just about anything. You never feel like something makes him uncomfortable. His response is always yes, and I can add this extra thing that will make it an even funnier idea.
When I have a complicated scenery item that I need, Nick is regularly the person who conceives of how to solve the problem. He made the elevator prop for an adaptation of The Shining I did this month and, as usual, he made it look better than I had expected and he did it for no cost. He loves solving those sorts of problems, I think, and he solves them well.
Nick has a very impish sense of humor. Usually, he keeps a straight face but every now and again, you can catch him being pleased with a joke he made. You catch him having fun with himself and it is charming.
I really look forward to recording new episodes of Geeks Without God and a big reason is the fact I get to hang out with my co-hosts before we record. Nick is a great guy and I’m very happy to have had the chance to work with him so often.
Putting it Together – The Friend a Day Project is Half Done
I decided to steal the Friend a Day project from Levi Weinhagen fifty days ago. My commitment was to write about 100 friends over 100 days. I’ve reached the halfway mark and it has been such a positive experience so I thought this week I’d talk about the impact it has had on me as a writer.
I have some definite rules about the project. I need to write about 300 – 350 words about each friend. The post must be 100% positive. No backhanded complements allowed. Not even about Mark Lazarchic. If people comment on the post with a backhanded compliment, that’s fine but I will remain positive. This is about doing something nice for someone, not about looking for the opportunity to make fun of them.
If the person is part of a couple, I try to avoid writing about them as a couple. Everyone has their own identity and I’m trying to recognize that identity. Their appearance is irrelevant so I don’t mention it.
While the posts are all about who those people are to me, I try very hard to remain focused on them. If I’m telling a story about our time together, I want to make sure that the story is about something they did that impressed me.
The number of people I write about is arbitrary. I have hundreds of friends and I’m only writing about 100. Part of that is because the commitment of writing that 300 word post is a lot of work and I don’t want it to go on forever.
Additionally, however, is the fact that we all have only so many close friends. At some point, I find myself writing about someone I like but I don’t always know that well. I don’t want to make things up. That means I really have to look at that person to figure out why I like them. I need to remember stories about them.
That angle takes a lot of work. It is tremendously rewarding because when you take the time to figure out why you like someone, you tend to like them more than you did before.
Friend a Day – Amy Stomberg
Photo by Bill Nault
I’ve known Amy since she started dating Jeremy back a number of years ago that I can’t remember. She also started working on CONverence around the same time.
Amy is another friend who always seems to be smiling. She always seems to be in a good mood. Since I typically only see her in social situations, I would like to think it is because she enjoys being around other people.
Amy skates with the Minnesota Roller Girls. That is a big part of who she is right now. What I respect is how much perseverance it took to get her there.
She tried out for the Roller Girls several years in a row and didn’t make it because she wasn’t picked by a team. So she became a referee and she kept working at it. It was important to her and she wasn’t going to give it up because of what amounted to bad luck and not a lack of ability.
A lot of people would have given up but she didn’t. That takes a lot of conviction and confidence in yourself.
I’ve found Amy to be very thoughtful about a lot of issues. She’s been vocal about vaccinations, which is something that is very important to me.
When she came to work for CONvergence, the advertising department was in pretty bad shape. She did a great job getting it organized and functioning properly. It was never something anyone really focused any time on fixing so she was someone who made a big difference in the getting the convention organized in the early years.
People come into our lives in different ways. That’s part of what this friend a day project is all about. I’m glad that Amy found her way into my life. She’s a great person to know.
Friend a Day – Derek Phillips
Derek just turned 60, which freaks me out a little bit because he looks younger than me. I guess dancing can keep a guy in good shape.
I’ve known Derek as a member of the Morris Dancers for years. He is typically the person who talks to me to let me know when they are doing their final dance before Vilification Tennis. I love Derek (and all the Morris dancers) because they know that huge crowd isn’t there to watch them dance but they are grateful for the crowd anyway. It’s one of the reasons I don’t tolerate the Vil audience bad mouthing the Morris dancers.
I’m going to tell a story about Derek that will, I hope, illuminate part of why I respect him so much.
A few years ago, he was going to do a piece of traditional dance at the Festival talent show. He had a piece of music he needed played but we weren’t able to find a working CD player for him. He said he’d have to pull out. Because he’s such a fine dancer we pushed for him to dance anyway.
So he performed the dance without music. And it was electrifying. Because he was electrifying. The crowd was completely silent while he performed. Anyone who can manage to shut up a crowd of 400 obnoxious festies is truly gifted.
Derek has always struck me as a gentle individual who celebrates life. He is always smiling and he is always gracious to others. He treats everyone with the respect in a way that we should all try to emulate.
He gives his all in his dance. If you ever have a chance to see him do his solo dance with the Morris dancers, just watch him. Watch how much he throws into the performance. It’s a great dance by a great dancer.
I’m grateful to have known Derek and to be in a show that follows him so I’m able to watch him dance. Happy Birthday, Derek!
Shit that Pissed me Off – 5/29
The Earth Might be Struck by an Asteroid but it Won’t be This One
Thanks, CNN, for creating the most useless news source ever devised. They fired editors and other staff who might have vetted stories like this and instead they have a hoax masquerading as legitimate news on their site.
Either you are a news organization or not. Having a section of your website devoted to user-generated content is a pretty trendy thing to do but if you can’t be bothered to fact check what they post, you’d better be clear that people clicking through to this material should have their bullshit detector on high alert.
I understand you can get these things super cheap on E-Bay
Something everyone should remember, unless you can find a source for the article you linked to, there is a good chance what you are posting is either opinion or completely made up.
The only difference between this CNN article and Armageddon is I didn’t have to sit through an Aerosmith song to read this article.
Friend a Day – Jade Cook
Photo by Joel Brueske
Jade tried out for Vilification Tennis about five years ago now and she has continued to impress me with her desire to find what really drives her artistically.
For the last year or so, she has become focused on becoming a stand-up. I haven’t seen every performance but I’ve seen her working out her act at Fearless Lab almost every month. She has improved every single time I’ve seen her. It is obvious that it is something she wants to do and something she wants to do well.
One of her biggest strengths as a vilifier and as a comic is her expressiveness. The picture I chose for her is a great example. Her face conveys a great deal and it makes her writing funnier.
She has a very calm demeanor to her. Nothing really seems to get her wound up. She might be nervous before she goes on stage but she doesn’t let it show. I think it helps the performers around you when at least one member of the cast looks like they are saying “OK – let’s do this.”
Jade is open to just about anything that needs to be done. If there is something that needs to be done for a show and it doesn’t play to her strengths, she doesn’t care. She’ll do it anyway.
I’m looking forward to her continued improvement as a stand-up. She has a lot of talent and if that is the direction she wants to go with it, I have to believe she will be successful.
I’m glad that Jade tried out for Vilification tennis. It’s been a pleasure to know her.
Friend a Day – Brian Murphy
Photo by Ryan Haro
I’ve known Brian for almost the entire time I’ve been at the Renaissance Festival. In that time I’ve played three characters. I played two of them well.
I can’t even count how many characters Brian has played.
Playing a bunch of different characters isn’t an indication of talent in itself but with Brian, I’m simply trying to indicate that he is remarkably versatile. He changes things around. He tries new things. He enjoys something for a while and then decides it is time to try something else.
No matter what he tries, he does it well.
Brian has always been a poet and many of us have had the opportunity to listen to sonnets and other poems he has written. His ability to write good poetry is, I think, tied to his love of language. That also seems to be the reason he’s found so much joy in being a part of the riddle booth these last few years.
Writing a good riddle is all about creative use of language and that is something for which Brian has always had a passion.
When you meet Brian outside of festival, he is typically very quiet and thoughtful. I would wonder if it surprises people who have met him socially when they see him belting out a speech as Shakespeare on the last day of the festival. When Brian wants to be heard, he can definitely be heard.
Back when we were both on the production staff for the Festival, I remember that he and I disagreed once or twice. It was never major but what I remember is how respectful he was when he argued a point. He argued his point and he never attacked the person. He always treats others with respect, even when he disagrees with them.
A few years ago, he received the Lee Walker award, which was most deserved. When I congratulated him later, he admitted that it was an award that he really hoped he would receive. It was an honest moment that made me very happy that moment had come.
I’m very happy to have known Brian all these years. I’ve learned a great deal from him and for that I will always be grateful.
Grail Diary 