John A. (Jay) Cross

I'd like a holiday celebrating Boccaccio.

Your name came up.

#CdAHistory The UK Group did our first look at an historic play with slave-girls. We had some good discussion about what it meant in terms of the dramas that we present. It was a good play.

#CdAHistory Monday we worked on a play that is unusually complicated by people being confused for each other. So confusing, in fact, that the manuscript clearly made mistakes about the names and relationships. It has some great bits, so it's worth fixing.

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!

Yes, that's what the health check app just said. I guess I'll have to build a few thousand into my budget to get a new machine in a year or two. Support for Win10 ends next week.

I failed on the first step, but it didn't tell me which system component is incompatible, only that one or more were not up to Win11's needs.

This afternoon, I plan to try installing Windows 11 on my 5+ year old desktop machine. Hopefully it goes smoothly.

APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) is run by NASA, and is a victim of the current government shutdown.

Lately, there has been a type of Science clue in Jeopardy that I should get, but have not been getting. That is: clues about the names of chemical elements with more protons than Lawrencium (103). Should I learn these fifteen (soon to be seventeen) names? Jeopardy is the only place they come up.

I did get logged out once a few days ago. I am unaware of changes.

Helpful cat brought the wood?

#CdAHistory We had a great session this afternoon taking a second look at a play, and wow! There are several scenes in the play involving a burial chamber and matters of life, death, love, family, and magic. Later there is a scene of sacrilege. I see now how the former HAVE to be be foreshadowing.

Maybe. As the play now reads, it is a quick bit, but the actors could choose to first think it was her mother, and then, from clues, realize it was her grandmother. The romantic interlude happens off stage.

Either could be good. In one, he's made a cuckold of his friend, in the other he's tested the humorous qualities of gerontophilia.

#CdATroupes After five years of not having regular in-person practices and rehearsals (aside from four or five leading up to each of about 7 shows) we are now a few weeks in to having them every Tuesday. We need to reach out and get more of us to show up again.

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#CdAHistory Our EET Timezone group just had our best session yet. We did a pastoral play, and it was a lot of fun!

#CdAHistory 2nd translation pass on a play. There are three pairs of people who look like each other. In one situation, Pantalone (the old miser) thinks he's had fun with a young woman, but the wording is ambiguous as to whether the fun was with her mother, or her grandmother (neither appear).

... and we had a good session completing acts 2&3 of the play we started last week.

#CdAHistory the UK group has increased in size, thanks mostly to the recruiting efforts Cheryl Stapleton! Thanks Cheryl! Most of the new people can't make it this week, but we'll see them soon. - The group acts through the play outlines looking for dramatic insights.

Decades ago Mike and I made leather Commedia dell'Arte masks, and had some success. We had used methods given in a mask-making book by Thurston James. Last night it occurred to me that in the most Commedia dell'Arte-like show ever, the Pantalone character was Thurston Howell played by James Backus.

#CdAHistory The US East group just went through an odd comic scenario that is high on slapstick and low on romantic drama. The play requires five actors, making it a good one for small casts.

#CdAHistory The folks from Finland (etc.) and I finished going through a Commedia version of Plautus' "The Twins", and it was a lot of fun. Next week, we do a pastoral.

Large insect on the sidewalk

In the Beatles song "Lovely Rita" what instrument plays the four note 'laugh' after the lyrics '... and the bag across her shoulder made her look a little like a military man.' ?

Thursday, I'll be at a gathering in Carlisle MA where I will make a presentation inviting people to be taught and directed by me to create and perform a play from an old outline. The first session will probably be October 17th. The performances will be in March 2026.

A friend on some other social network said that the most effective thing is to find the local Sinclair Network stations, watch their news, and jot down the local advertisers. Call or message those advertisers.

... I will miss a few shows ... (apparently I typed "missa" which got reworked as "message" by some automaton.