douglas brent smith

 "Is that what I think it is?" (she slams the oven door and grabs the bottle rocket out of the boys hand. She throws it toward the window but it bounces off the screen and lands amid the other fireworks.) "Is that cherry pie?" (she opens the oven and grabs the pie. It's hot and she nearly drops it but manages to set it on the floor.) "Yes. That was a close one." (a chain reaction of fire work sparklers light up the kitchen. Small popping sounds and Gilles. She grabs the boys hand and leads him in a gallop out of the kitchen. They both narrowly miss stepping in the pie on the way out. As soon as they are gone the whole kitchen explodes.) "Shhhhh." (She returns with a fire extinguisher and gets the exploding fireworks out. It's a mess. She picks up the miraculously in tact pie and carries it out. Wisps of smoke float gently around the kitchen. Pause.) "Delicious." -- douglas brent smith - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Context: 

  We just have to deal with it. It's not new. It's not going to change. The people who are younger than you feel the need to rebel against you. The people who are older than you care so much about their own generation that yours seems insignificant. It doesn't make any of it true, just present. We might as well deal with it by staying calm, mindful, and attentive to our own approach to multiple-generations. Eventually, if you live long enough, you get to be every generation cliche available. -- doug smith

Rough drafts lead to raw emotions. Raw emotions lead to truth. Truth leads to change. -- doug smith

  As an occasional actor I've been known to buy my own props. Sometimes it's part of my process (of becoming the role) and sometimes it's because the theatre I'm working with has a small budget.  This picture (above) is no doubt the result of a stalking retail site (you know who) sorting thru my purchases (and views) and deciding that yes, Doug you need this: this marvelous pair of glasses. I don't. Not at the moment. But I'll keep it in mind if a role requiring that lands in my lap. It reminds me of other funny props that I've worked with: mouse ears, beaver ears, a bell, a wine bottle, real food (beef stew from a can, yum), and that's not even mentioning the many props I've used with children's theater when I toured with Child's Play.  What were your most unusual tools of the trade? Did you master them? Did they bring you fully into your role and make you seem more alive? Funny props are more than funny. They facilitate fun. -- doug smith

The whole universe is in motion. Keep moving. -- doug smith 

Do you like reading and committing to User Agreements? Of course you don't. They are pure rubbish. .Designed to make you read them, but written so that you can't read them (because they are confusing and massively too long) we mostly end up pretending that we did read them just to get on with whatever we want to do. Not fair. Not designed to be fair. Designed to cover the butts of the people who wrote the User Agreement and to restrict the rest of us from being ourselves, from doing what we want and need to do, and from exercising our rights. In a perfect world, all of those user agreements are unenforceable. Maybe, even in an imperfect world. Is it really an agreement if we don't agree to it? If we don't have any influence on what goes INTO an agreement, how is THAT an agreement? Enough! We need some sanity.  I hereby propose a universal User Agreement Rider to invoke whenever you've had enough of an evil User Agreement.  No lawyers have been involved in the drafti

  Sketch from Journal #61 douglas brent smiyth The cat in the middle wonders what Tom was thinking about.

  sketch by douglas brent smith (c) 2022

  Sketch in June, from Journal #61, 14 June 2021

  sketch by douglas brent smith What have you drawn today? Why not take a moment and draw something, anything?

A person starts surrounded by and covered with boxes of all sizes. These are boxes that must be unpacked for that person to be free. The boxes contain limiting thoughts, assumptions, cultural restrictions, religious constraints, bigotry, fears - lots of fears, illness, affliction, authority, rules, regulations, anarchy, chaos, regional assumptions, ethnic blurring, ethnic purity, ethnic ethos, ethics, non-ethics, commandments, sermons, skewed exegesis, historical oppression, satire, sarcasm, judgment, broken relationships, damaged relationships, power, powerlessness, pain, lost love, stolen love, broken love, broken promises, broken dreams, forgotten dreams, forgotten lessons learned, forgotten family, estranged family, substance abuse, sugar stars and swings, animal distancing and objectivizing, sexism, racism, greed, slander, lust, deference, danger, risk, confusion, misunderstanding, brokenness, separation, turning away, turning against, ignorance, stagnation, sloth, sorrow, and may

Things -- and people -- well cared for need not go obsolete. Getting tired of something is a choice. Discarding the old is a choice. While we should continually improve ourselves, our materials, our technology, there is still value in preserving what lives on with quality. That great guitar. That classic car. That recipe that still tastes good. There was an episode of "The Twilight Zone" on this week about "Obsolete." Burgess Meredith plays a librarian who in some autocratic society had been judged (under penalty of death) as obsolete. The last forbidden book he pulls from hiding, as he awaits his execution, is a Bible. He was not truly obsolete. His value as a being was unquestionable and though thru cleverness he brings his executioner to fear at being himself on the edge of facing his own imminent death, locked in a room with a bomb, the librarian does allow mercy (in God's name) to prevail, setting free his captor even though he himself will perish. Like man