Point Made

 From the foremost comedian and all-star knowledge personality, Alexa Why did the toothbrush cross the road? (Check the end of the post) Truly a fantastic demonstration of art, performance, and imagination. This is what happens when I can't fall asleep. Male rite of passage markers: The baby becomes a child. No longer in need of a diaper. Can piss in the pot and hit the target most of the time. Poops in the pot. Attend school with girls.   Not sure of the difference yet. All-day school. Figures out quickly that girls are more intelligent. Middle school. Finds out girls are really a lot smarter Can’t figure out why girls are bigger than they are. Highschool. Parents start putting pressure on boys to succeed. They keep talking about being a doctor, lawyer or financial genius. They remind you how much money athletes make. Drivers license. The bedroom is on wheels. Graduation from High School. Enlist in the military, enter college, technical school, invent something like Facebook ...

I found a photograph on Instagram of a survivor in Ukraine. It inspired me to paint this. It's not there yet, but it's coming. Reality Sucks At my age, I have lost the capacity to worry about my life, direction, and purpose. Don't get me wrong. I'm not suicidal. I just realized that I don't have that much to give anymore. Since I've passed the baton, I'm now a spectator in a never-ending race. I like this time of my life.  I did catch myself forgetting about reality the other day. I've been watching a British comedy,   Twenty Twelve . It stars Hugh Bonneville. At the opening of each episode, he is riding a 20" foldable bike through London traffic. He's always on his phone, and the narrator (David Tennant) is setting the scene. When he arrives at his office building, he tucks the phone under his chin, folds the bike and walks into the building. It's just so cool. My mistake was jumping down the rabbit hole to see how much one of those bikes m...

  This is the inspiration for the term Catnap. If there is a sense of panic in your household, it's likely to be because you're looking at the catalog of films presented by The Milwaukee Film Festival. You have purchased a six-pack or two of tickets and are torn between the many selections. Even if you can't afford to take off work from April 21 -to May 5, buying a Pass that allows you, in theory, to see everything, the decisions can be gut-wrenching. Alone most of your decisions are tough enough, but many of us are also attending with other people.  Then there is the Film Festival Curse. This is where you are in one of the many queue lines outside the theater, waiting for your first-come, first-served seating. You're chatting with the people in line about what you've seen or are intending to see. Five out of six of the people in line mention a film you haven't selected and begin salivating about how good this film is. Here's how it goes Yes, it's genera...

  From the Master of finding all kinds of stuff on the internet, Dave Nitz Is March performing its Lion to Lamb function? On March 1st, the wake-up temperature ( Between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning. ) was 43 degrees. On March 31st, it is 35 degrees and snowing. Enough said. Question of the week. Please accept Will Smith's apology for being a dick and move on? Second Question Now, do you understand why I dislike the Award shows so much? I think we can all agree there thing true about award shows. No matter who wins an award, not everyone will be happy. Think about the individual awards. There is no such thing as the Best actor or best film or best ________?  The perception of the Best is like the cliche definition of pornography. I'll know it when I see it.  It's like calling something a classic when it's just been created. It can't be done. Ticket sales are no indication of the quality of the films. Pundits and film critics pick out their top ten productions ...

 Let's qualify the title by adding the word, Lately. My friend Micelle and I attended the opening night performance of New Age.  The Rep is presenting the world premiere written by Dael Orlandersmith and directed by Jade King Carrol. It features four actors on stage representing women of various ages speaking about their experiences, conclusions about the effect of these experiences, and what matters. We meet the older black woman, who is a writer. Then the middle high society woman (her definition, not mine) who was rejected by her husband because she looked too old. Onward to the forty-something vamp who needs affirmation for her many attempts at being something other than what she is. Finally, we meet the gritty, emerging, the newly adult musician who has a message in song for the world. The characters perform monologues that flit between them with the speed of a team playing catch with a ball. Sometimes one woman ramps up on the previous story, or they put a new thread int...

  Two Dogs Resting Oil by Jeff Jordan 9 x 12 on canvas board For my Granddaughter Violet Referenced a Pastel by Carol Rhode-Curley. The dog on the left could be my Lucy. During my rehab from my four knee surgery. Lucy and I became closer. I always had to watch when I moved because she was near. I don’t fault Maria for putting her down. Lucy was a sick puppy, and it was the right thing to do. I’ve maintained that if we could have cloned her, we could have made hundreds of people happy. The Theater Bad News I will forward the following notice to the marketing and public relations people with the various theater companies in Milwaukee. You, my friends, read it here first. This is to advise you that I am no longer be writing previews for Urban Milwaukee.Com. Urban Milwaukee will continue to publish reviews by Dominique Paul Noth.  I appreciate the help and support that all of you have provided me. I hope you will continue to include me on your mailing lists; however, I can no long...

 I received an email this week from a friend who was putting his frustration and despair on display. There is little doubt that we older folks are leaving behind some problems we might have thought were in the rearview mirror. But unfortunately, recent events have proven that we haven't moved the needle far enough on issues like racism, social justice, gender equality, income disparity, infrastructure neglect, healthcare availability and cost, and voter protection. After forty years of slurping the 'trickle-down economy theory' a teaspoon at a time, we recognize its toxicity too late. We literally drove ourselves over the cliff with the climate crisis. Electing a black man as our president did not make things better for all blacks in our society. In fact, it flipped over the rocks and what crawled out was a layer of animosity and fear that was always there but not exhibited. As a result, our roads, sewage systems, electricity grid and freshwater systems are so far in debt i...