Britain’s Got Talent – Shaheen Jafargholi

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVU4IkzMNIo

12 year old Shaheen auditions for the judges on Britains Got Talent 2009 singing Whose Loving You by Michael Jackson.

There’s a great lesson in this video clip. There’s a tendency to think of artists as having a certain talent level – like someone has great talent or mediocre. It all depends on the application; artists that excel in one area may be weak in another.

So the secret lesson for artists is this: Identify your strengths and weaknesses and try to place yourself in the area you shine most. Of course, you can also choose to be in the one that is most satisfying rather than the one where the bulk of your talent lies.

Being a musician my entire life I’ve had the unfortunate experience of doing performances that were not to my optimum level. I imagine every trade has that same experience. But with artists the mindset is so important to garner the vision and drive needed to push each project to success.

Proper selection is paramount. Go to where you are drawn to, where life is sweet. It will give you unimaginable strength to reach for the next plateau. And there is always another plateau available if you desire it.  🙂

Happy 60th Birthday to the People’s Republic of China

china-60-anniversary

Conrad Askland, from Mount Vernon, WA USA, is currently living in Macau (SAR) China while working with the Cirque Du Soleil ZAIA show at the Venetian Macao. In Asia he has also performed in Shanghai, South Korea and Japan.

October 1, 2009 – 中国加油,中国万岁

Happy Sixty Year Anniversary to the People’s Republic of China!

It’s a four day holiday for the locals here in China. When locals have holidays it usually means that I work more; doing entertainment shows to accommodate the tourists.

China’s last 60 years has been bittersweet with a unified people exposed to both hard living and the largest economic boom in modern history. At the end of my blog post there’s a link to a great CNN article by Jaime FlorCruz that gives an overview of China’s 60 years as The People’s Republic of China.

Continue reading “Happy 60th Birthday to the People’s Republic of China”

Guy LaLiberte Clowns Before Space Trip

guy-laliberte-092909

Canadian billionaire Quebec-born philanthropist Guy Laliberte, jokes as he puts on a clown nose as he speaks through the glass wall with his family and friends at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

Continue reading “Guy LaLiberte Clowns Before Space Trip”

Stephen Sondheim on Writing for Musicals

stephen-sondheim-studio

“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.”
– Stephen Sondheim

A dwarf can see farther than a giant if the dwarf stands on the giant’s shoulders. With that idea I turn to the mind of Stephen Sondheim for insights into creating new works for musical theater.

I also have the great gift that one of my current co-workers has worked with Sondheim and will purportedly give me more insight into his work habits and ideas.

Here are my favorite excerpts from the Stephen Sondheim interview posted at:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/son0int-1

Continue reading “Stephen Sondheim on Writing for Musicals”

Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween

hongkong-disneyland-halloween

Hong Kong Disneyland turns to a Halloween theme for the evenings of September 18-October 31, 2009. I’ll try to check it out and let you know if it compares to the Knott’s Berry Farm Halloween themes back in California.

Check out Disney’s previews at:
http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/html/Halloween/en_US/

Penn and Teller: Creationism

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BncRhS3NBfk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCWEpaLBa6U

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDxF3j4Q4g

The Creationism segment from Penn and Teller’s “Bullshit” show.

Includes footage of Duane Gish from the Insitute of Creation Research and also the Cobb County school board in their voting process to include creationism as part of the school science curriculum.

One of the other websites I run is a bible discussion website. The Creation vs. Evolution debate section of that website is located at:
http://forum.bible-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17

You can spend many hours there reading debates between “creationists” and “evolutionists”. The debates include specific points of biology and geology. I have been literally amazed to see the amount of effort and research members put into their posts. For me, the most telling element of these debates is to see which side consistently posts documented information to support their side; and to see which side consistently changes the argument mid-stream.

Many US residents are not aware that the creation vs evolution “debates” are primarily an issue solely in the United States. There is not such widespread conversation on this subject outside the USA; although it has begun to spread to Australia.

Penn and Teller are magicians from Las Vegas. They devote a lot of their time to bring up subjects they consider “Bullshit”. If you search their other videos on YouTube you might be surprised to see some of the other subjects they cover.

Continue reading “Penn and Teller: Creationism”