I just found this awesome website about the American Fifth Column. Did you know that socialists are in charge of almost everything you see and hear?? [link]

Did you know that socialists are in charge of almost everything you see and hear??

Did they clear that with the Trilateral Commission?

So I've started to prep Matilda for her school change by talking about all the different schools that I went to when I was growing up, and how we moved a lot in the military. And all the schools Emmett has attended.

So what's my next step in brainwashing convincing Matilda that this is a good idea?

Completely random gripe:

Someone in the office just said, "Life is not a dress rehearsal." Man, I hate that stupid lie. And no, the lie-ness of it doesn't even begin to touch my own personal belief that this life is in fact a dress rehearsal--it's purely my mostly-defunct actor self being cheesed off because the implied second half of the sentence is "...so don't blow it off or treat it like your actions are unimportant," when in fact a dress rehearsal is REALLY REALLY important.

It's your last chance to plug up the pacing holes, nail those line readings, get comfortable with the rhythms, make sure actors and crew and lights and sound system and set pieces are all dancing in and out among each other smoothly and elegantly. Fix that glitchy speaker, repair that prop that keeps falling apart, run the quick costume changes, make sure all the glow tape is stuck to everywhere it needs to be. A dress rehearsal is crucial, and nothing will make the rest of the cast and crew hate someone like fucking around and treating it like it's nothing.

I mean, I get why it resonates with a lot of people, but from an actual theater-person perspective it's totally ass backwards, and comes out meaning, "Life is not a dress rehearsal, so feel free to piss it away because you've got plenty of time to waste before the stakes get high."

So, does anyone else have some random platitude that totally rubs them the wrong way because the more you think about it the more totally wrong it seems?

The Secular Progressive, Democratic Socialist and/or neo-Marxist American Fifth Column ideology

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!

So if life is not not a dress rehearsal, what is it a dress rehearsal for?

Another opening, another night!

I mean, I get that dress rehearsals are the most important of the rehearsals, but they are still second to the opening night and the nights that come after that. So I do get the platitude--rock each night like there's a paying audience, not like anything less.

So I do get the platitude--rock each night like there's a paying audience, not like anything less.

Yeah, but the dress rehearsal is precisely the one where you're doing your damnedest to rock it like there's a paying audience.

I missed the Great Awakening question but got the rest.

And I know there are platitudes that annoy me, but my mind's gone blank on them all of a sudden.

I finally got the online Pew survey to load, and the questions they've selected for the online version are far and away the easiest out of the full 50+ question survey. (The full PDF is available here: [link] )