Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, and utterly terrible dancer. He is the singer/guitarist for the indie rock/power-pop the Roland High Life, as well as a staff writer for the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a regular contributor at BoingBoing.net. Thom enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (especially when they involve whiskey), and he firmly believes that Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is the single greatest atrocity committed against mankind. He is a graduate of Clarion Writer's Workshop at UCSD ('13) & Emerson College ('08).
I know, I know, this meme is awful, it never ends, and I can't stand it. Sure, there are a few gems in there, but ugh, make it stop. ...so really by doing this, I know that I'm just perpetuating the issue, but I see it more as my chance to EX-TER-MI-NATE the meme, if you will. Plus, c'mon — admit it — this is funny. And I'm awesome.
In the marketing copy, we've been calling BEFORE I LEAVE YOU "a love story for grownups" — but what does that even mean? Sure, it's a play about old people. Or at least, it's a play about characters, most of them happen to be transitioning from middle aged to old aged. Playwright Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro play tells a beautiful, seldom told middle-age love story with the freshness and smart sensibility of a young independent filmmaker. While the characters might be older, the humor and the heart of the story are for everyone. I spoke with the cast, director, and playwright about this idea of age that permeates the play, and how we can all relate to it. The world premiere of BEFORE I LEAVE YOU at the Huntington runs through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfHYN9ORB8k&w=500&h=284]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VrMlpoRyzY&w=560&h=345]
Read MoreI've been pretty busy writing and re-writing the script for my play True Believers, but we finally start rehearsals today, so I'm pretty excited. Despite the gazillion pages I've written/re-written in the past week, I knew I still had a post due for Five By Five Hundred. I ended up scouring the YouTube comments on my Glenn Beck/J. Jonah Jameson mash-up video and found one particularly vocal YouTube commenter, whose breathtaking (really, the only word for it) diatribe I mined to create the "Found Poem" that makes up this week's entry. It does go a little past the 500 word mark — but it was all too priceless to pass up.
Oh, and also, please note: I did no copyediting of any kind. I simply add line breaks for emphasis. The text appears entirely [sic].
I'd like to take a moment to thank the Internet for providing ignorance with a voice, and providing the rest of us with a constant stream of entertainment and funny pictures of animals.