Blogging Malaise

It had been a long time between posts here. I'm not sure what happened. I was enveloped by some kind of malaise and had trouble pulling myself out of it.

I did contribute a few items to my other blog, though. In case you missed them, I wrote about "The Big Lebowski" and its real-life inspirations, new books by Toby Barlow, John Meaney and Mark Evanier, and the passing last week of Arthur C. Clarke.

I'm particularly happy with the Clarke tribute. The Chronicle gave me a decent amount of space in the paper and, thanks to StumbleUpon, my blog post pointing to the online version was one of my most popular entries ever.

The next couple of weeks promise to be super-busy and stressful. I don't know whether I can regain a regular blogging rhythm. I'll do what I can, I guess.

ACT Nabs "Rock 'n' Roll" for Fall '08

No surprise, really. Back in January, Carey Perloff strongly hinted she would soon produce Stoppard's latest play at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. Today it was announced that it will be the season opener for '08-'09. Excellent!

One of the great advantages of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is the opportunity to see some really first-rate theater. I'm especially excited by Berkeley Rep's next season, which will feature Martin McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and "Yellowjackets," a world premiere by Itamar Moses about Berkeley High School in the Nineties.

The redoubtable Shotgun Players also have an interesting season ahead of them. I'm looking forward to their version of "Beowulf.

I'm unsure whether a trip to Ashland, Oregon, is in the cards this year. Nothing in the 2008 season besides "Fences" really grabs my attention. (And they're staging "The Music Man in '09? What's up with that? I don't need to travel six hours and pay $60 a ticket to hear "'Til There Was You.")

Now I just have to find the spare cash to see all these plays...