Attended an International Commedia Zoom meeting hosted by old friend Kate Meehan. I made some new connections that I expect will prove helpful going forward.

I feel as though some part of our government would have to have changed the laws to allow ICE to do what they are doing, violating rights. Does anyone know who gave them that authority, and whether they in turn had the authority to give it? I bet they don't have it.

#CdAHistory As I go through, reworking the plays we did 5 or 6 years ago (Flaminio Scala), and performed decades ago, I'm reminded of how fun those plays were. I like the ones I'm working on from the other collections too, but I'd forgotten how much I liked these.

It's cold out, but I have errands that require leaving the house. First stop, get my TSA-PreCheck from AAA in Worcester. Next stop, the bank and grocery store. After that home for the rest of the day and try to warm up again.

#CdAHistory my current tedious task is going through the plays in my first two books, and changing them to better reflect how I now see they should be written, including some recurring names, and some things about the Turks, and slaves. 70 such plays. I'm hoping to do three per day for a few weeks.

I had a dream last night in which the house and senate were close to being able to impeach and remove. Then I woke up and saw that we weren't actually that close. There's too much pro-Putin/Trump Lügenpresse out there.

It's been a great few weeks with all the performances. Now to get back to the editing and review of the upcoming books (Summer 2027).

#CdATroupes Le Zanzare did a great show yesterday, and it was seen by my new friends at "Fork & Shoe Theater Cooperative" Through them I will be doing another show closer to Boston based on 4 six-hour sessions from March 28th through April 18th

#CdAHistory the UK group went through one of the messier plays and solved everything. It's a relief to solve those issues.

This is Peter Wolf & The J. Geils Band (Boston Area) covering Sonny Boy Williamson's song "One Way Out" (1962). This version is from 1968,, three years before the Allman Brothers Band made it a Southern Rock Classic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmY8...

With all the AI crap coming out about the Renee Good incident, I worry about a time in the near future when it comes out faster and significantly harder to dispute based on quality.

Here's a picture from 15 years ago of my youngest with a celebrity in an airport.

About a year and a half ago, I took down my Flickr account for some privacy reasons. Before doing it, I downloaded all the images, which are in ZIP files. Today I am looking for images of my recently late uncle. The long unzipping process has begun. So far, 7 of 335 archives unzipped.

I got another walk in with Andy. We walked part of the Rail Trail in Wayland. We talked about a lot of stuff, like who the second worst POTUS might have been.

I am optimistic about getting some help that will speed my big scenarios project a bit, and so I might finish recovering and publishing the 700 scenarios in less than 10 years. I'll have a much better sense of it by September.

Here's the video from last night! youtu.be/IKntyoBSKrs

Today's job is transferring all the media to my desktop and making a video, then upload and publicize the video. I have a few other tasks, like the weekly Zoom visit with my grandson, and perhaps seeing part of a football game before I fall asleep. It's Recovery Day! Happy Two to the Fifth, Rose!

Busy Day today. Friend's housewarming, play rehearsal, play performance, video recording the play. Plus, book editing. I started a new phase of editing yesterday, and it is slow getting into the rhythm. This phase should take 3 months, but I have travel in March and May, so, maybe longer.

This evening, I have a rehearsal for the group in Carlisle. Normally we do this on Wednesdays, but this week we had icy conditions making driving difficult. Tomorrow, I have a performance by the teenagers' group (Le Stelle di Bacco). Busy week.

#CdAHistory We went through a 2nd pass on a play that seemed problematic before today, and we found the things that made it magic. This will be a fun play to perform! In it, Pantalone gets to be especially grouchy.

Getting to the end of a big phase of my big project, with some daunting phases still to come. Today, I will finish the last of my available scenarios other than the ones I need to transcribe myself. In a couple weeks, another 65 will be available. They might be the final set. On to other work!

Yay! A library in Venice just gave me a reasonable quote to get digital images of a manuscript I need soon.

#CdAHistory I'm just starting to look at a scenario in the Vatican library, and one of the props is a bag with a live cat in it. I will be interested to see how this prop is used.

Do I get enough exercise? Not lately, but once a week, typically, I get 70-90 minutes of walking on local rail and aqueduct trails with my friend Andy. Today, we will once again try to get our walking done before the cold, wet, freezing weather falls from the sky. Thanks to the towns for the trails!

I had the grandson visiting, and a show to put on, and so had a slow weekend in terms of productivity on the usual projects. It's early on Monday, and I'm not feeling all charged up and ready to go, but I'll get there. Lots to do.

They, "Le Stelle di Bacco" did a show, it was chaos getting ready, but the show went very well. Next performance in a week. We had Cat Crow filling in for a player who dropped out a couple weeks ago, so not ALL teenagers this time.

The teenagers "Le Stelle di Bacco" are doing shows this weekend and next. For next weekend I am testing out using tickets for the first time. Here's a link to the event that makes tickets available: events.eventgroove.com/event/Le-Ste...

Brief pause and slowdown in the translating of scenarios. Doing an analysis of Act 4 of "The Merchant of Venice" which includes the big Quality of Mercy monologue. Additionally, this is the weekend coming up with the first performance of the teenagers doing "The Treasure".

#CdAHistory I've started translating a scenario, "The Metamorphosis of Pulcinella" from about 1730 (very late), but it has a LOT of notes attached about how the players played it that year. One of those notes is a sample monologue by the Dottore. I'm pleased that it sounds like my work.

#CdAHistory A few scenes into act one of the play I'm working on now, and the maidservants and young male lovers are trying to figure out how one of the female lovers can get an abortion. I don't know the date of the manuscript, but it is probably between 1650 and 1750. I might know better later.

#CdAHistory Tomorrow, I will finish the first pass of translation on all of the scenarios where I've found other transcriptions published (not counting another 65 I'll get at the end of January), so great progress. After that I have about 170 left to transcribe. 2026 will be busy.

#CdAHistory I just finished my first translation pass on a scenario that is about a man named Don Giovanni, who is careless about 'taking the honor' of young women, and in the end goes to hell. This is an early telling of this story, but I doubt it is the earliest.

#CdAHistory I am continuing to go through plays from some later collection. Most of these plays are operas (no music given, just scene outlines). I've found 17 of these that have already been transcribed, so I'm translating those as my first pass at the scenarios. Very different.

When did Paul write his epistle to the Ephesians? Was it before, or after "Rubber Soul"?

On this day in 1572 (not correcting for Calendar Reform) Johannes Kepler was born. I used to envision this in the context of the advancement of astronomy and scientific mathematics. Now I am wondering if Tycho Brahe (Kepler's first employer) ever saw a Commedia dell'Arte play.

#CdAHistory I just finished my first translating pass at a play outline called "The Atheist Blasted by Lightning". It's a little moralistic, and ends with choirs of Angels and Demons singing about the pleasantness of heaven, and the torments of hell.

#CdAHistory I have started going through a collection of commedia dell'arte scenarios (Ciro Monarcha) that seem to reflect a much later time in history. I haven't found a concrete date for them yet, but interestingly, not many of them are comedies.

I have applied for a 1.7 billion dollar grant to aid my research. The chances are very low that I'll get it, but they aren't zero, and I'll know tonight if I got it.

Here's a seasonal novelty song from several years back: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wsb...

Going for a walk on rail trails with an old friend. We've been doing this usually on Tuesdays for a few months ... but today might get cancelled because of the threat of snow making my drive home unsafe.

Irritating click-bait "JUST HAPPENED: URGENT UPDATE: The PATRIOTS have released a VERY SERIOUS OFFICIAL STATEMENT — and it's serious!" That's the whole headline. plenty of room there to have SAID something about what the statement was about. On principle, I didn't watch the video.

Here is a video of people dancing. The music is possibly the catchiest dance song of 1980. If you know of a song from that year that is more inclined to make you want to dance, please post it in a reply. www.youtube.com/watch?v=asb_...

I had a great meeting with the Fork & Shoe Theatre Co-op. Something still-to-be-determined is going to happen.

I had a nice conversation over latkas with an old friend. It felt nice, and I am still experiencing a lifted mood.

#CdAHistory I've started my first pass translating a Commedia dell'Arte Heroic Opera that represents the highlights of "Orlando Furioso". The character list is about 45 people, and the props list looks to be over 100 objects. Not a show you can bring in a wagon and perform on a platform stage.

It's getting close to the Holidays, and so it is difficult getting people together for the workshops. We'll see how today goes.

#CdATroupes Le Zanzare had a great rehearsal this evening. Still some work to do, but it will be a terrific show. I'm too excited now, can't get to sleep. Show is Jan 17th.

This was a fun bit I remember from a movie I saw as a pre-teen. I'm trying to think of ways that we could do something similar in a non-beach setting on stage. Would the singer/speaker have to be hanging upside down behind something? Thoughts? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvi4...

I have a small car (a Corolla), and am starting to be carrying more theatrical stuff around. I plan to acquire a small van sometime in a year or two (looking at the PV5 right now, but who knows what will be available in two years). I see relief in the future, but today, I need to squeeze stuff in.

I'm currently getting started on a collection of 103 plays, of which 22 have been previously transcribed. This collection seems to have been written down in 1618, and is much wordier than the other play outlines, giving insights as to how certain scenes were performed.