I remember the first time I tasted jalapeno peppers. My father and I were making tacos and I had bought some canned jalapenos. The hottest thing I had eaten before this was banana peppers. I opened the can and stared at the murky brine dotted with circles of orange oil. I picked out a pepper…
The currency of a Fringe Festival is word of mouth. And reviews of shows are what get carried by word of mouth. Tom Mackan is a familiar presence in the Hamilton area theatre scene being a well known director, actor, reviewer and general encourager of Theatre. He won the Theatre Ontario Maggie Basset Award in…
When you rehearse a play, you spend weeks with the same people going over the script, learning lines and testing out blocking. It is an insular experience and after a while, it is easy to feel that you don’t have an objective view about the piece that you are working on. Something is missing… You…
The 2014 Hamilton Fringe Festival is almost upon us! It opens a week from today on July 17, 2014. There will be some great theatre to be seen and some not-so-great theatre to be seen… or not-seen. But the Fringe is an important part of the theatrical environment in any city and Hamilton is lucky…
I’ve been meaning to read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield for a few years. It has been recommended on a few Recommended Reading lists that I’ve come across. But I wasn’t sure that I wanted to buy it, so looked for it at the library. My library didn’t carry it, so I’d forget…
2014 is going to be an interesting year. I will officially start my own business and be expected to make some money at it. The idea of being my own boss is scary and exciting. It will be a year full of hard work and long hours. I will be learning new things and trying…
January 31, 2013. What did I do this year? What will I do next year? Is it worth making any resolutions when the odds are stacked against me from accomplishing any of them? A study by the University of Hertfordshire found that 88% of people break their New Year’s resolutions. Or to put it another…
This past summer I was in Montreal for a day. My daughter was writing her LSAT. She had to write it in Montreal because of timing and availability – she only had a small window that she could study and write it without interfering with her other courses. Anyway… I found myself in Montreal with…
A couple of days ago, I got an email from a friend. He is involved with a web series in development and included a link to a Kickstarter campaign. (Kickstarter is one of those crowdfunding sites where you get family and friends and hopefully rich strangers to contribute money to finance your projects.) I clicked…
When Felice Gorica spoke to our group about The Business of TV and Financing, I think a lot of us felt shell shocked. She gave us some great information and left out the sugar coating. It was good, but I know that a few of us started to question the viability of the projects that…
peter gruner 