The There There Letter: Zoom, Zorgamazoo, and Zinfandel
Three things from DAH.
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I write, organize, plan, produce, manage, direct, act, sing, promote, and make change (not the coin kind).
First up this week, Zoom …
I never dreamed that video-app latency and remembering self-muting would be issues in my life. But now we have the pandemic phenomenon Zoom. For work, for school, for virtual meetings of all sorts, for group performance work: everyone, it seems, is Zooming these days. The new words and concepts! Zoom-fatigue! Zoom-bombing! On New Year's Day, 2020 mentioning Zoom would have made me think about someone with a really fast car, maybe. Certainly not the online social sensation of COVID-19. Now I'm quite aware of latency (the lag in the internet system). And self-muting, and remembering to unmute if I want to be heard. We've collectively chased the White Rabbit of Zoom down a hole and into another world.
Why everyone you know is on Zoom
Second up this week, Zorgamazoo …
I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Lewis Carroll, with fabulous illustrations by John Tenniel). Some years ago I adapted and directed a stage version with some great costumes and really surprising choreography. That was such fun. Another of my favorite books is The Phantom Tollbooth (by Norton Juster, with fabulous illustrations by Jules Feiffer). Yes, these stories are similar: a young person is transported into a strange new world full of fanciful adventures through which they gain wisdom. There are other such books, but few with such whimsy (which is important to DAH). Well, I've just read one with whimsy: Zorgamazoo (by Robert Paul Weston, with fabulous illustrations by Victor Rivas). Zorgamazoo is alight with word-play and it's written in rhyme! Also, it is full of fun word art. And you'll learn about Dullbert Hohummer, the third, and his octomobots. Don't be too frightened of Doctor LeFang and his Cranial Puncturing Mincer of Mind! I found myself mouthing the rhyming couplets as if I'd self-muted myself in Zoom. I'm certain I looked mad enough to earn an appointment with the Doctor.
6 Delightful Books for Fans of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Third up this week, Zinfandel …
I'm frequently asked, "What's your favorite wine?" And I never answer succinctly. My "favorite" is tied so to the season, my mood, and the food. But Zinfandel, the red varietal wine, does hold a special place in my winey heart. It really expresses the place where it is grown, its terroir (unless it is a big winery California blend). I know people who complain about Zin. "It's too high in alcohol! It's too sweet and Port-like!" Just because it's Zinfandel; judging the book by its cover. I've also heard, "Gewurztraminer is too sweet!" And "Chardonnay is too oaky and buttery!" I love dry Gewurztraminer, and I readily appreciate leaner styles of Chardonnay. Zinfandel's can be many things, from fresh and lively and low-in-alcohol to big and ripe and jammy. I enjoy the variety, and the surprising journey Zin offers through California's various wine lands. But I resist moving my lips while I sip it. Too dribbly, which might stain the book I'm secretly reading while Zooming.
Zinfandel: California's Heritage Grape
And a little bit extra, with word art as the author intended …
… "How to Do Absolutely Nothing" by Barbara Kingsolver:
Rent a house near the beach, or a cabin
but: Do not take your walking shoes.
Don’t take any clothes you’d wear
anyplace anyone would see you.
Don’t take your rechargeables.
Take Scrabble if you have to,
but not a dictionary and no
pencils for keeping score.
Don’t take a cookbook
or anything to cook.
A fishing pole, ok
but not the line,
hook, sinker,
leave it all.
Find out
what’s
left.
That's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's poem "Sometimes" …
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I write, organize, plan, produce, manage, direct, act, sing, promote, and make change (not the coin kind).
First up this week, Zoom …
I never dreamed that video-app latency and remembering self-muting would be issues in my life. But now we have the pandemic phenomenon Zoom. For work, for school, for virtual meetings of all sorts, for group performance work: everyone, it seems, is Zooming these days. The new words and concepts! Zoom-fatigue! Zoom-bombing! On New Year's Day, 2020 mentioning Zoom would have made me think about someone with a really fast car, maybe. Certainly not the online social sensation of COVID-19. Now I'm quite aware of latency (the lag in the internet system). And self-muting, and remembering to unmute if I want to be heard. We've collectively chased the White Rabbit of Zoom down a hole and into another world.
Why everyone you know is on Zoom
Second up this week, Zorgamazoo …
I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Lewis Carroll, with fabulous illustrations by John Tenniel). Some years ago I adapted and directed a stage version with some great costumes and really surprising choreography. That was such fun. Another of my favorite books is The Phantom Tollbooth (by Norton Juster, with fabulous illustrations by Jules Feiffer). Yes, these stories are similar: a young person is transported into a strange new world full of fanciful adventures through which they gain wisdom. There are other such books, but few with such whimsy (which is important to DAH). Well, I've just read one with whimsy: Zorgamazoo (by Robert Paul Weston, with fabulous illustrations by Victor Rivas). Zorgamazoo is alight with word-play and it's written in rhyme! Also, it is full of fun word art. And you'll learn about Dullbert Hohummer, the third, and his octomobots. Don't be too frightened of Doctor LeFang and his Cranial Puncturing Mincer of Mind! I found myself mouthing the rhyming couplets as if I'd self-muted myself in Zoom. I'm certain I looked mad enough to earn an appointment with the Doctor.
6 Delightful Books for Fans of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Third up this week, Zinfandel …
I'm frequently asked, "What's your favorite wine?" And I never answer succinctly. My "favorite" is tied so to the season, my mood, and the food. But Zinfandel, the red varietal wine, does hold a special place in my winey heart. It really expresses the place where it is grown, its terroir (unless it is a big winery California blend). I know people who complain about Zin. "It's too high in alcohol! It's too sweet and Port-like!" Just because it's Zinfandel; judging the book by its cover. I've also heard, "Gewurztraminer is too sweet!" And "Chardonnay is too oaky and buttery!" I love dry Gewurztraminer, and I readily appreciate leaner styles of Chardonnay. Zinfandel's can be many things, from fresh and lively and low-in-alcohol to big and ripe and jammy. I enjoy the variety, and the surprising journey Zin offers through California's various wine lands. But I resist moving my lips while I sip it. Too dribbly, which might stain the book I'm secretly reading while Zooming.
Zinfandel: California's Heritage Grape
And a little bit extra, with word art as the author intended …
… "How to Do Absolutely Nothing" by Barbara Kingsolver:
Rent a house near the beach, or a cabin
but: Do not take your walking shoes.
Don’t take any clothes you’d wear
anyplace anyone would see you.
Don’t take your rechargeables.
Take Scrabble if you have to,
but not a dictionary and no
pencils for keeping score.
Don’t take a cookbook
or anything to cook.
A fishing pole, ok
but not the line,
hook, sinker,
leave it all.
Find out
what’s
left.
That's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's poem "Sometimes" …
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
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