Theory of Improv

According to my teacher, the theory of improv (a.k.a. improvisational theater) can be reduced to two words: "Yes, and..." Always begin by affirming (somehow) what your fellow actor has said or done; next try to add onto it in a way that expands the scene and changes the dynamic. Nay-saying is a definite no-no. When an actor discounts or rejects an idea that someone else throws out there, this is known as blocking. Blocking is like a conversation-ender. It effectively brings the scene back to square one. Improv is sort of like quilt-building. It requires a duo or an ensemble to create something as a spontaneous patch-work. It's all good.

Metroland by Julian Barnes

I started this novel yesterday. It's about these two British youths who love to make fun of people - especially bourgeois types. The goal is to scope out an "authority figure" or  some "uptight bloke" and then figure out a way to "pulls their chain." Sort of reminds you of Holden Caulfield - only more self-consciously European. Everyone's a phony, blimey.  But it looks like one of these characters is going to break ranks and actually grow-up. Hurray for that!

Japanese Alphabet

Color as a Source of Revelation

The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald

Visions of Summer in Provence

Summer conjures up dreamscapes like no other season. People often speak of that timeless sensation that you can get on a sunny day in July (if you're not in the middle of a heatwave). And if you're wondering where on earth such  colorful vistas actually exist, the answer is: Provence - in the south of France. 

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

I'm reading this book currently. It's about three aimless Americans exploring North Africa in the 1940s - after the war, who end up feeling alienated from the indigenous French/Muslim culture that surrounds them and confused by the unforgiving desert terrain. Sort of reminds me of a combination of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and Camus' The Stranger.  Was there a "lost generation" following on the heels of WWII? Apparently so...