Robot Roll Call

Chicago based theater company Dog and Pony have opened a new play titled “God’s Ear”, at the Viaduct Theater on 3111 Western Ave. This play written by Jenny Schwartz is a unique combination of traditional storytelling, avant-guard language with a musical twist. The piece centers around a family who has lost their young son to an unfortunate accident. Information does not flow freely from this production, the fragmented and circular conversations had me at a loss initially. However, once I got comfortable and realized that this is how the characters speak in their world, I began to unravel this dark yet comical tale. The family’s remaining child a young girl has some of the best lines in the play while the mother is simultaneously a rock and a mess and the father is absent at best. This is a exceptionally sad topic, the lost of a young child must be heart wrenching and yet the play does not over reach to express these poignant details while at the same time it is full of hardy laughs, which seem to fall out of the characters so unexpectedly. The set is a minimal white rectangle where the audience sits on either side of this block, the actors must turn to their back to one side to address the other. This give the audience a sense of disconnect which the characters have emotionally and spatially as they tend to spend much of their stage time at opposite ends of this blank rectangle while speaking to one another. The musical numbers are a site, not to mentions a aura treat, the actors pull off some amazing feats making these songs seem meaningful and necessary while on paper they would seem pasted in. Perhaps with such a dark topic one needs a singing transvestite to ease the mood. While the play does have these “off the wall” attributes they are not what defines the piece, these events are an ornament to the deeper issues these characters have developed as a result of their loss. This play is not for everyone but I believe everyone could take something from the exceptionally strong piece of theater. One must have patience to allow this bizarre and sad tale of a family falling apart at the loss of it youngest member however if you give it a chance your patience will be rewarded.

God’s Ear

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays 8pm

Sunday 5pm

$15 -$20

Pay what you can on Thursdays & Sundays

Ends April 26^th

For more information

http://www.viaducttheater.com

Photo by PRI’s the World

Today the New York Times has an Op-Ed Article by Enrique Krauze titled “The Mexican Evolution”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/opinion/24krauze.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

The opinion piece is about how the U.S and Mexican media has been focusing on the violence and drug trafficking occurring in small regions of the country. And how this has caused the U.S. state department to issue a statement that Mexico along with Pakistan are on the verge of becoming a failed state. Krauze’s argument is that Pakistan is much more likely to fail than Mexico, he even goes so far as to make a laundry list of the differences between the two countries. Comparing religious issues, foreign policies, Guerrilla groups and how the country has changed from the one party political system which had a strangle hold on the country for more than 70 years.
These are all very valid points and I understand the point of the opinion piece is to show Americans that Mexico is not a “failed” state as so many others are quick to point out.
Perhaps Mexico is not a failed state however, it is dealing with an enormous plague of crime. The almost overwhelming number of murders, kidnapping and random violence is so large that it eclipses almost everything else. Mr. Krauze’s article barely hints at these issues. While his opinion piece may be focused on the positive aspects of Mexico, to glide over the violence and to blame the media for only covering the brutal aspects of Mexican news makes his article seem very misguided. Of course we all tire of yellow journalism but to ignore the countries problems and then to seemingly push the blame on to the news gathers is achingly naive and ignorant. Of course like all opinion pieces this article has a goal, and that goal is to give Mexico a much needed positive P.R. push. I am sure it is no accident that the vacation season is just around the corner. Of course I doubt anyone will be visiting Juarez Mexico this summer as last year this city of 1.5 million which occupies 72.6 sq miles had 1,600 murders in 2008, this year the city has already had 200 murders as of late February. This is not something one sugar coats with finger pointing and smoke screens in the guise of nationalism. Mexico may not be in the same realm as Pakistan when it comes to failed states, but when one is comparing predicaments on these levels the point almost seems moot.

For some more information about the situation across the border I recommend these two videos. The first is merely a recent news story about Juarez Mexico and the second is a troubling piece by Current TV for their Current Vanguard Series. The Current video titled “Narco War Next Door” is one of the best pieces I have seen on Current.

Videos
http://www.ktsm.com/local/murder-numbers-quickly-approaching-300-juarez

http://current.com/items/89845362/narco_war_next_door.htm#comments

Fidelity Investments rolled out a new ad campaign this week with the slogan “Turn Here”. I saw the ad yesterday and was initially impressed by the creativity of the ad and slogan. That sentiment lasted about 45 seconds, then I became deeply troubled by this. What seemed clever and unique quickly turned to silly and pretentious. I’m sure when the ad concept was pitched the people responsible were beaming. But “Turn Here” is so subjective, almost to a fault.
Perhaps “Leading the Pack” would have expressed the same sentiment without the confusion. Turn Here?, to where, why and I’m almost certain the person who came up with the slogan has a TOM TOM or some other voice navigation system. They may as well say ‘Turn here to savings” which is something you would see in a cursive font below a giant sun-burnt supermarket sign.
In the end the slogan fails to impress, mostly it annoys and confuses, check the link below to see the micro-site and make your own judgment.
Is “Turn Here” a solid concept of a half baked idea rushed out to save an investment company?
I vote for the latter.

http://personal.fidelity.com/misc/gettingstarted/flash/turnhere/index.shtml

Review by: TV!

The Watchmen have been a topic of many a fan-boys conversation for a long time. Long before Zack Snyder decided he would take a stab at producing the un-producible film for “Watchmen”. He is not the first to attempt the mountain of expectation which is the Watchmen movie, but he is the first to complete a product for the general populous to experience. Of course it has not lived up to expectations, surprisingly it was not the legions of comic fans but rather the average viewer. I find it surprising for Warner Bros. to release a film so clearly directed to a closed audience, particularly an audience it has shunned again and again. Do I need to mention the travesty that was Catwoman or the half-assed update of Superman. But here we are in 2009 with a Watchmen film aimed with laser sights directly on the fanboys, don’t get me wrong I am happy the film is so true to the source material. I am just very confused why Warner Bros choose now to allow a filmmaker to do so and more importantly why this piece of work. Perhaps it is Mr. Snyder’s cannon which has demonstrated his ability to adapt the sequential frames of others into his own. Perhaps it was Warner Bros. themselves, fresh off “The Dark Knight” enormity thought they could just follow the template of adapting graphic novels. After the number of people I saw leaving the theater during my viewing of Watchmen I already knew Warner Bros. made a mistake by attempting to convert such a dense piece of work into a two and a half hour film.

“Watchmen” is an amazing interpretation of the graphic novel titled “Watchmen”, It is not a film you can lazily walk into and expect to be handed all the mythology and answers of the world. It is a mystery first and foremost and not just an action film with Superhumans. Perhaps the marketing campaign should have been directed toward the mystery aspect of the film rather than the hype of a Watchmen film. At any rate it is too late now, the word has spread and people are avoiding the film, it lost 50% of the sales it made opening weekend. The new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vehicle made quick work of Watchmen this past weekend and by next weekend it will be forgotten, which is a travesty to the Watchmen. The film succeeds on every level if you have the fore knowledge and patience to experience the story, of course expecting every viewer to read the graphic novel before viewing the feature is a ridiculous expectation however in my opinion it is a necessary to fully appreciate the intricate detail embedded into every frame and to fully understand what has always been a deep and literary story. Do yourself a favor and watch the video below, pick up a copy of the graphic novel watchmen, then wait for the DVD deluxe release with the omitted 20 minutes and then you can understand why “Watchmen” may very well be the greatest superhero film ever made and simultaneously a perfect failure.