Playwright | Joshua James

It’s our second one together, and it just keeps getting better and better …

Now back to our regularly scheduled Blogging Break …

First things frickin’ last … I’m taking a blogging break of unknown length … warning, this post will ramble a bit while I try and get a goodly portion of my stream of consciousness meta-blogging out of the way so I can do some REAL heavy lifting.

But yeah, taking a blogging break.

It’s not because I’m tired or sick of blogging, no no no, me love the blogs … it’s really that I’m writing something, I’m working on a thing, and writing hours upon hours a day … no lie, a lot of writers SAY that when in reality they’re playing video games … not me, I gave my Xbox away to the kids on the first floor last year, gave it away because I knew that if it was there, calling to me, I wouldn’t want to use my available off-duty daddy hours to write, I’d use them to play … so I gave it away. And now I write.

Sniff. I’ll get another one someday. And play video games with my son.

But right now I’m writing like a mad bastard … more info below the jump …

Read the rest of this entry »

… He’s more of a little man.

Baby-blogging will eventually have to morph into something other than baby-blogging (Toddler Tales, perhaps) simply because my son, who turns 21 months this weekend, is obviously not a baby any longer, but a thoughtful, engaging little man.

My Little Man. He has a bunch of specific looks he brings to activities he enjoys and also looks that he employs upon us to great effect, as if he knows how to work us. Yeah, he does.

Here is his Mr. Thoughtful look.

This one is at times surprising for the parent, he whips it out as if to remind us, “I ain’t a baby, I’m a grown ass kid, yo”, or something like that. Here I am, doing some serious contemplatin’.

Eating a treat look. (raisins are a favorite) …

He loves most all fruit, apples, bananas, oranges … but raisins are fun because he can also throw them at Dad. And he has this look when eating food he loves.

Making a funny sour face look, to entertain Mom …

She really likes it when he does that. He likes it when she giggles. He does.

Here’s his “I’m in on the joke, Dad, but what you don’t get is that, in a few year’s, the joke’s gonna on you, bubba” look.

Yeah, I get that look a lot. Heh-heh.

This look is a pose for all the grandparents in da house, he does this a lot, when skyping with them, and it’s catnip for grandfolks, this look.

Sends family into a tizzy. And he knows it, I swear. And yeah, he’s still working the raisins.

And finally his cover shot look, which is a simply grin and “this is me, this is what you get, live with it, bucko” look. He pulls this on the street and in restaurants, working the waitresses and the like …

I love this one. His Joey Tribbiani “How YOU doin’?” look.

There are more, but this is not a bad starter set.

Have a good weekend, people.

I should blog more, I know.

There’s a LOT happening in the world, news sites are buzzing with real world dramas, writer blogs be sharing some massively entertaining and helpful posts on the crafting of stories, I know.

And I’m basically linking when I blog, if that at all. Blogging has slowed, I know.

But I am BUSY as hell, writing like a mad bastard, and so you’ll have to take a rain check for a bit, but I won’t forget you, I promise. I may focus on other writings for awhile, but I won’t abandon the Dojo.

More to come soon.

Today is our wedding anniversary, today is the day, eight years ago, that The Samurai Lady agreed to join me in partnership:

Happy anniversary, baby!

Another very good friend of mine, Naomi Wallace, has a play opening tonight at the New York Theatre Workshop … hte play is called Things of Dry Hours and it is directed by Rueben Santiago Hudson.

What else? Oh yeah, it stars DELROY LINDO, his first return to the stage in, I think, 14 years. Yeah. It’s big.

I saw it last week at a preview, quite enjoyed it but I’ll post a longer review after the opening. Just know that I recommend it, the writing is tight, the acting (from all three actors) superb and Rueben is aces in my book.

BTW, for those not keeping up, Naomi got the genius grant some time ago, among other awards. She’s the real deal, folks. And cool, too. I’ve known her since grad school and she’s always been goo.

So if you want to see a play, check out Things of Dry Hours.

I have been remiss, which is a fancy word for saying a bad lazy friend … but a buddy of mine, Adam Rothenberg, has a movie out, it opened last Friday, it’s an independent film called Tennessee which I saw last year at the Tribeca Film Festival and quite enjoyed.

It’s a drama about a couple brothers making a cross country trip, the acting is top notch (I mean it, the acting is good and I wouldn’t lie about that, Adam’s the lead and he got game, yo …) and it’s a quiet, effecting film.

What else? Oh yeah, heh-heh. It also stars a certain pop star named Mariah Carey. Yeah, I know. But you know what? She’s good, too. For real.

So if you get a chance, check out Tennessee.

… at the moment, so feel free to talk amongst yourselves for awhile, okay?

And it seems Friedman is back to blogging and if I was a self-involved poot like many of the pundits on TeeVee, I’d probably think it was becuz I complained about him not blogging … but since I’m not a self-involved poot, I know it’s because his show got canceled after two seasons by the zoo-keepers, and he’s now with more time on his hands.

I’m sorry man, truly.

And not only because I have a documented crush on Summer Glau and want to see her on television at least once a week … because I also dig your writing, bro. But until your next show, the blog will have to do.

Carry on, everyone else, have fun.

David Carradine found dead at age 72.

Caine from Kung Fu.

Much more can be said, but even just that is enough.

Another favorite piece of mine … THE RACE, a short play that takes place COMPLETELY in the dark. Yes, totally in the dark. My good friend The Man Who Would Be King wrote a short play in the dark called A Shot In The Dark that was incredibly funny, and being competitive, I wrote this in response. Both are funny.

Ato later wrote a bedroom scene that takes place in total darkness in his play A BLACK THANG that tops both, the talented bastard.

The Race has been done many times, but the very first production starred Luisa Battista and the great Chuck Bunting. Text after the jump.

THE RACE

A ten-minute play
Read the rest of this entry »