Posted by David LeMaster on Apr 9, 2010 in
Day-to-Day While watching this week’s episode of Breaking Bad, which I will review in an upcoming post, I was delighted to see an old friend, casting director Shari Rhodes, as a wheelchair-bound woman accosted by a pair of drug-cartell villains. Then, at the end of the show, as I looked for Shari’s name in the credits, I was crushed to discover the show had been dedicated to her memory.
Shari Rhodes was a casting director, acting coach, genuine cheerleader and good spirit. Her credits include cating Jaws, Ragedy Man, and The Man in the Moon. More importantly, her credits also include teaching and encouraging young actors of all kinds. I cannot express how much Shari’s spirit, charm, and enthusiasm will be missed.
Thank you, Shari Rhodes, for the encouragement and friendship. I will miss you.
Posted by David LeMaster on Mar 16, 2010 in
Day-to-Day The three-minute montage of the life and marriage of Carl and Ellie Frederickson in the opening minutes of Upmight be the best animated sequence I’ve ever seen. I’ll admit being wary of the film; despite the great press and reviews, the dog and the dodo bird in the ads made me suspect Up would be the typical Disney schmaltz complete with silly jokes and sentiment that has dominated the production company since Walt’s death. However, Up is beautifully crafted and highly emotional without being sentimental at all. It will go on my list as a favorite film from last year, and it bumps Up in the Air from the “big five” films that I believe should have been nominated for Best Picture.
The strength of Upis its ability to tell a story and examine the human condition despite using animated characters. Frederickson, brilliantly voiced by Ed Asner, struggles with growing old and losing his wife, a subject never explored, as far as I know, by the art of animation. This makes the film unique, but it also gives it an extra challenge–using a medium normally reserved for “cute” to create both pathos and drama in a Chaplinesque flirtation with the tragicomic. The result is a tight, well written, well edited film that appeals to both adults and children. The journey, both physical and metaphorical, for Frederickson, results in his discovering himself again after losing the thing that kept him going for decades. We cheer for Frederickson, not out of pity, but out of our own experience with what is uniquely human.
The most interesting thing about this film for me was the occasional parallel to the Don Quixote story. An old man (Frederickson/Don Quixote) sets out on a quest (for Frederickson, it’s to go to the place he and his wife always dreamed of going, thus fulfilling a promise; for Don Quixote, of course, it’s to battle evil in all forms) and is accompanied by a much shorter, less trim, alter-ego (Sancho Panza, who craves an island in the novel; Russell, the boyscout yearning for a Aiding Senior Citizens badge in the film). Like Don Quixote, Frederickson’s quest is full of misadventures (a house lifted into the air with balloons–something I believe Cervantes would’ve given for Don Quixote had such a concept been possible at the time–seems an awful lot like a dragon that turns into a windmill to me) all in the name and spirit of a woman who cannot appreciate his work (for Don Quixote, Dulcinea El Toboso is simply unaware of his love and disinterested in his personage; for Frederickson, the maiden on the pedestal is dead). The Don Quixote elements also include the marvelous soundtrack, an ethereal, dreamy sound, which reminds me greatly of Charlie Chaplin’s musical composition accompanying his classic film, City Lights.
Although I greatly enjoyed the film, I found the entire subplot with Christopher Plummer as Charles Muntz and his pack of wild dogs distracting. Although Plummer’s character was essential to the story, the dogs did not work, providing Disneyesque “comic relief” (Alpah Dog speaks like a chipmunk when his translator shorts out; a dog who “turns good” sounds straight off a Looney Tunes cartoon). In short, I hated the dogs. They were the throwback to the cutsie “kid’s” stuff the Disney company seems obsessed with having in every motion picture. It’s distracting and took a way from an otherwise nearly perfect film.
The dogs, however, aren’ t enough to ruin Up. It triumphs anyway, despite the dogs. Up is touching, emotional, and beautiful. As a film, it is an extraordinary achievement.
The professor grades the movie
Acting: Can you grade acting in an animated movie? A
Directing: A
Script: A-
Special Effects: A+
Entertainment Value: A
Miscellaneous: A
Final Grade: A
S0 far on my blog I’ve mostly talked about films I like. There is a reason for this–they were films for the awards season! I must admit, this was one of the strongest years in recent memory, and I would have been happy seeing any one of the Big Five films win. This is not usually the case; i.e., last year’s winner Snoopdog Millionaire–er, Slumdog Millionaire, was one of the biggest pieces of crap ever to be nominated for an Oscar. I’m still recovering after sitting through that piece of drivel. Oh, horrible, horrible, most horrible.
Posted by David LeMaster on Mar 16, 2010 in
Day-to-Day Does anyone else have problems with getting overly sore after exercise? Maybe I pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve, but something happend after a short workout with 8-pound handweights, and I can’t move. Couldn’t have been after an impressive lift, over a hundred or so?
Posted by David LeMaster on Mar 12, 2010 in
Day-to-Day When I was diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson’s, I realized I could do one of two things: give up, or live life. I began doing things I always wanted to do–and one of them was to work with photography.
And it ain’t easy.
The adventure began with an Olympus pocket-camera to take snapshots. It had “image stabilization” capability, but one problem remained: you could only choose that capability alone. Any other special ability (night shooting, closeups, etc.) had to be disabled to get the stablization effect. While that may work for some people, for a Parkinson’s patient, the image stabilization must be on all the time.
Posted by David LeMaster on Mar 7, 2010 in
Day-to-Day 
Posted by David LeMaster on Mar 6, 2010 in
Day-to-Day I’ve moved my blog here, to Word Press. My podcast will launch this weekend as well. Podcasting includes commentary on Parkinson’s, movies, theater, sports, academics, living with disease, and how to be a healthier, happier person.
Stay tuned for The Lost Hamlet, a complete performance of my comic radio play, written with Derald Mabbitt, and published by Brooklyn Publishers.
Posted by David LeMaster on Feb 22, 2010 in
Day-to-Day The most difficult part of this is the little piddley things that are, at first, merely a nuisance, but with time, become clearly part of the affliction and add themselves to the giant, growing list of problems other people don’t have.
Posted by David LeMaster on Nov 17, 2009 in
Day-to-Day The “pill roll” occurs when a body part, usually a finger, moves when it’s supposed to be at rest. When I was in high school I played Mark Twain, and the pill roll was all I knew about growing old. I tried to create the Parkinson’s shake with my right hand when playing Twain, but it’s the left hand that shakes now.
I will type the following paragraph without correcting myself when I make mistakes. Notice the bizarre use of the left forefinger, and the multiple spaaces from the left hand? Okay, so you’re only noticing a acouple of mistkes (until now). That’s becaue you can’t turn it on and off, and when you get nervous or conncentrat harder, it gets worse.
Sometimtees it makes i t tough to rtt. Write.
Posted by David LeMaster on Oct 30, 2009 in
Day-to-Day For me, it was a simple twitch in the left forefinger, and the sensation that I couldn’t stop stretching my legs when I got in bed.
Posted by David LeMaster on Oct 25, 2009 in
Day-to-Day If you accessed this blog through my website, you know me as a playwright or prose writer. If you found this site another way, you may not know me at all.
The situation is simple. I’m 43 years old. I teach English at a Community College. I do a great deal of writing.
And I have Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease.
I’m not a household name like Michael J. Fox, and therefore can’t bring my celebrity into the fight as he has. I’m fairly average in most other ways, apart from having an incurable, degenerative disease. . . but I do have something else in common with Mr. Fox besides being ill–I’ve realized that Parkinson’s is a challenge, not a curse, and I’ve been placed in a unique position where I can try to use my situation to help others. And using Mr. Fox’s positive attitude and great ambition as one of my inspirations, I’m going to do everything in my power to do just that.
The adventure for me began in March of 2007. It took me a little while to come to terms and decide what I wanted to do. But now I know.
So, welcome to my blog: The Parkinson’s Playwright, and Adventures in Parkinson’s. I’m your guide through this frustrating, heart-rending, nasty, but wonderful, challenging, life-affirming adventure. I hope somehow I can provide support and encouragement for my readers. Whether you’ve discovered the site out of curiosity or desperation, whether you’re on a journey similar to mine or you have nothing in common with me at all–I hope you’ll get something special out of my blog. By all means, whoever you are, join me, and share your own story with me as well.
