Research Libraries

For those of you in Texas, I just discovered a new way to get your hands on research books in libraries you normally can't borrow from.

Maybe you're already familiar with the Interlibrary Loan system, which allows any public library patron to request a book; your local librarian will then track it down somewhere in the country and have it mailed to your local library so that you can borrow it.  One time - no renewals.  I've only used this method one or twice for hard to find books when I didn't want to (or couldn't afford to) buy them.  I remember though that the book through the Loan System took a few weeks to arrive... from Wyoming!  And was exactly what I needed.

My usual number of books at check-out - public domain image

But I've discovered another way: the Texshare card is a three-week-long library card that lets you walk up to the check-out desk of member libraries and Check-Out! Books.  A limited number.  Today I did not actually end up checking out the book I was interested in - because I could take fast enough notes - but my spiffy crisp-new little Texshare card gave me the confidence to walz into SMU's Fondren library and demand to know where, just exactly Where! my book might be.  (I needed the help, it's a maze of a library spread over several buildings.)

So.

Research.  Easier than you think.

Faux Stone

Building believable fake stone is an art and a science.

This month's LiveDesign Magazine has an interesting article by Libby Slate on the building of Disney's new California Adventure Park's Cars Land (sadly, not available online), but I found some great photos HERE at themeparks.about.com.

According to LiveDesign, the basic structure for the faux stone tail fins of the 125 ft. tall Cadillac Range needed 4,000 pounds of steel as a framework.  Cement plaster was sprayed on this frame, then each fresh section was hand-sculpted for two hours while the cement was setting up.  Its carving characteristics changed, as you might imagine, during that time.

Layers of paint were later sprayed on, then tweaked by hand: first three basic colors - brown, gray, yellow - then up to 25 others in 4-6 washes.  Plus some silver leaf to reflect light.  The work took 25-30 artisans from all over the world.  I'm not sure for how long, but just experimenting with materials and techniques took two months.  (Wish I got that kind of time when I need to make faux stone!)

Carving faux stone - no idea where this photo comes from originally... 

if its creator objects to its use here, please let me know and I'll remove it.

Fake rock.  Real vegetation.

(Although Agentinian saguaros stand in for the endangered and protected regular ol' saguaros.)

Pretty spectacular scenery!

New Architecture Critic

A piece of good news in this morning's Dallas Morning News: a new architecture critic starts in April.

Finally!  Someone - Mark Lamster - to step into shoes left empty by the late, long-time Dallas critic David Dillon.  He seems like a distinguished critic... I'll be curious to read what Mr. Lamster has to say.

Talking about architecture is a good thing.

HERE's a link to his webpage.  (Photo from his profile at Architizer.)  An earlier post on criticism HERE.

Catch-Up

Lotso touristy goodness going on with me lately:

1)  A beach vacation in Galveston, Texas, a city with a fascinating history that includes Spanish explorer shipwrecks (Cabeza de Vaca); French explorer shipwrecks (La Salle); cannibals; pirates; early Texas troublemakers; numerous hurricanes; bootleggers, rum-runners, and illegal gambling; oil riggers; doctors; artists; Spring Break college kid troublemakers; and, nowadays, Caribbean cruise-goers.  Also delicious oyster po'boys.  And don't forget the Gumbo Bar's gumbo!

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science - believed public domain image.

2)  The new Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

A very interesting building - a sort of geological-metaphor of a structure.

 Architecturally I thought it had a beautifully clear design parti and well executed pre-cast concrete panels that suggest rock strata...  not so convinced by the west-facing plaza which will, I believe, be a broiler pan for afternoon visitors in the summer.  (Plus facing nothing-much instead of the main street, making the street-facing school bus entry look like the main door.)  Also problematic, for me, are all the one-material-just-slides-past-another gaps that recur in the building's detailing.  A cleaning crew nightmare: already little kids are dropping candy wrappers down these slots.  As often happens with such complex geometries, a few intersections of materials and planes are unresolved.  But traveling up and through the vertical circulation path is a kick.  The main ticket hall is a great space.  And I love all the glimpses of the city outside.  It's a very urban building.  

Some terrific displays (visit the dinosaurs and gem hall!).   My favorite detail is probably the giant amethyst geode that the visitor can crank a mechanism to open and reveal its crystalline beauty... a perfect microcosm of the building itself.

Amethyst geode from Wikimedia

Practicals

Any aspect of a set that works as in real life onstage is called "practical."

Doors and windows of a set can be mere illusion or "practical."  So can be any new-built cabinet door or drawer: it's "practical" if it actually opens and has insides to it, but many such cabinetry pieces are dummies  because that's cheaper and easier to build.  Any sink that runs water is "practical" (as in The Beauty Queen of Leenane) as would be any telephone, radio, TV, or other appliance that actually operates, rather than being faked.

A Bright New Boise will have practical cabinets, a sink, a microwave (well, maybe), and a Coke machine.

This will be "practical."  It'll spit Cokes.  But we're going to unscrew its light bulbs so it won't glow during blackouts.

ADDENDUM:  Well... maybe it won't be practical.  There's some concern about the hum of its compressor!

Show T-Shirts

One of the fun parts of theater is that there is often a "show" T-shirt.

Usually this is produced by the management.  Normally a black T so backstage crew can wear it, it'll have the show's and the theater company's names on it, maybe dates, often an image, sometimes a bit of an in-joke.  This can be pretty cool.  (Or sometimes really lame.)  I have a small collection, including a nice Shakespeare Dallas Twelfth Night T (black) with:

"Some are born great,

Some achieve greatness,

And some have greatness

thrust upon them."

But my new fav. is one designed by one of the actors in the recently closed God of Carnage.

This actor's character took a lot of grief throughout the play's run for fictionally setting his daughter's hamster free into the wild... or abandoning it in a gutter...  Pick one.  Anyway.  This fun T is his rebuttal:

Image by permission of Mark Fickert www.markfickert.com

Final Performance and Strike

In a funny coincidence, both my shows ended their runs last night.

Today is Strike for The Lucky Chance and I'm due at the Bath House at noon to help.  So I'm wearing my paintin' pants as I draw a little on the show that replaces God of Carnage, which is A Brand New Boise.

Stay tuned!

Last Weekend for The Lucky Chance

Alphra Behn's The Lucky Chance.   Get yer tickets now!  HERE  

Image courtesy of Echo Theatre