Nielsen's ra(n)tings

Politics, guns, homeschooling for the gifted, scuba, hunting, farming and somewhat coherent occasional ranting from your average Buckeye State journalist/dad/farmer/actor.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

A star is born!


Calm before the storm
Doc-wife, sitting on the beach last week and reading, will be making her first appearance on the Rabbit Run Stage this weekend in "Enchanted April," which also happens to be her first appearance ever in a starring role. She opens the show with what amounts to a three-page monologue...if she can get through that, the rest should be smooth sailing!

Changeover

Born Yesterday finished its three-week run last night at Rabbit Run Theater, achieving mid-sized crowds, but great reviews.

Tonight, we start tech week for "Enchanted April" on the RR stage. Opening night is Friday, with a preview performance Thursday that usually includes an audience with mentally disabled people from a local assisted living home. This performance can be somewhat challenging as the MD audience members have a habit of talking back to the actors on stage.

Weather forecast for next weekend: high 80s with a good chance of rain. Let's see...high temperatures, high humidity and the additional heat from the theater lights...all while wearing suits...the Rantmeister's gonna need a lot of towels this weekend. Look out folks in the front row...you're in the splash zone!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Shoulda shut his yap

I learned, via LGF, that Kofi Annan and much the rest of the United Nations bunch of ne’er-do-wells think Americans don’t support their shenanigans because we’re getting a skewed view of that august body from our governmental lapdog media.

Annan’s own lapdog, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, thinks he’s got the explanation, according to this article from the New York Times: Official of U.N. Says Americans Undermine It With Criticism.

Mr. Malloch Brown said that although the United States was constructively engaged with the United Nations in many areas, the American public was shielded from knowledge of that by Washington’s tolerance of what he called “too much unchecked U.N.-bashing and stereotyping.”

“Much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News,” he said.

Uh, here’s a clue, Brownie: We’re a free country with a free media, unlike so many of your other member states. We also have little tolerance for bullcrap being packaged as rose petals. When you can explain brutal dictatorships having seats on the human rights commission, diplomats profiting through Saddam’s Oil-For-Food scam while Iraqis suffered, U.N. peacekeepers turning strife-torn countries into their personal pedophilic brothels and the Security Council sitting idly by while Iran pursues it’s oft-stated goal of nuclear arms – then I’ll take the time to listen to your rantings, because Hell will have frozen over.

You want a little respect for the U.N., Brownie, you Rodney Dangerfield wannabe? Try earning it. Try accomplishing something…anything…useful. The U.N. is good at publishing papers and its oratorical prowess is unmatched, but why should anyone have a favorable opinion of what amounts to a full employment program for corrupt bureaucratic windbags and sycophants to tyrants?

Apparently no one bothered to pass along the world government memo to Mr. Brown either - Item: We’re a free country and we’re not interested in your vision of a world government…see, we have our own government and, despite its flaws, it works pretty well. We don’t like tyrants and sycophants hoping to legislate away our Constitutional freedoms, either, in the name of global unity, or using junk science to try to back up an income redistribution scam dressed up as environmental concerns.

See, Mr. Brown, here in the good ole US of A, we have a thing called the internet. And unlike citizens of many of your member states, our access to content is not filtered…we can find out the truth on any number of subjects. We don’t really need Rush Limbaugh and FOX News to point out the glaring problems with the United Nations…they’re apparent to anyone with any knowledge of world affairs. I think the real problem you’ve got with those media outlets is that you can’t spin their content to your liking as is possible with some of the more traditional media outlets which are apparently in awe of your grandeur.

Best idea? Shut your trap until you have something useful to say. Better yet, just shut your trap…remember that old saying “it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be considered a fool, than to open your mouth and confirm it?”

Words to live by, Brownie, words to live by.

Life's a beach


Feathered panhandler

Doc-wife and I had some free time yesterday with the children in South Carolina, so we headed to the beach for some reading (at 60 degrees, the water is still a little too cold for swimming.) Pictured is one of the curious gulls who were trying to find out whether we had any snacks to share. I read the new Dean Koontz book "The Husband" and doc-wife read one of her trashy romances. I could get used to that.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Drool time...another Gunrunner auction


Steyr Mannlicher Model L in .22-250

Holy crap! Another Gunrunner internet auction is set for the end of June and they've started posting items for sale. This Steyr Mannlicher Model L 22-250 really caught my eye. I had a chance to buy one of these in 30-06 a few years ago in West Virginia, complete with Zeiss scope, for $1,000, but passed. I've been kicking myself ever since. They are beautiful guns with outstanding craftsmanship. Double set triggers, of course. I'll be watching and kicking myself as this one passes out of my price range - which is pretty limited...remember my $50 gun from the last auction!?! I'm still wating to get that gun back from the gunsmith with the verdict on its caliber.

Horses for sale...downsizing


Annie and Rumplestiltskin

Here is Levies Fancy Annie and Rumplestiltskin out in our pasture (with far too many buttercups...where's my brushhog?) We're planning a dramatic restructuring/downsizing of our herd, so Annie (rebred to the same stallion for a 2007 baby) and Rumpie are for sale - $1,500 for the pair or best offer.

Opening night

“Overture, curtain...lights, this is it, we’ve hit the heights…”

Opening night is tonight for “Born Yesterday,” the first production of the year at Rabbit Run Theater. The production will run for three weekends at the old barn theater, which boasts having had Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and Dustin Hoffman on its stage during its long history.

The play is running pretty well. I play Senator Norval Hedges, a corrupt politician willing to sell out to the highest bidder (Senator DeWine, your office is calling!) Good (mainly non-local) cast, canny directing and cooperative weather should make for a good three-week run. We ran the dress rehearsal last night for residents of a local assisted living home and they seemed appreciative…we’re expecting a near-sellout of the 225-seat theater for tonight.

I guess we’ll know tonight whether the play is really funny or just plain scary.

Following this play’s run, I’ll then be appearing in “Enchanted April” at Rabbit Run, opposite the very-talented doc-wife, who has the lead role. My role in that play should be a joy to perform, though it will make for a very busy June.