I’m trying something a little different this year. I’m starting my year off with a blog post that I’ll occasionally add to as the year goes on. My Playwright’s Journal 2026 is going to be a place where I’ll muse about various things such as plays and movies and writing and any other subject I want to talk about. Like butter tarts or the meaning of life. It might have lots of entries or only a few. Time will tell.

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OSCAR RACE RESULTS
Playwright’s Journal – Monday April 6, 2026 – Pinned Update

I finally got around to looking at the Oscar Race Results and the numbers are interesting.

The 2026 Oscar race results for Fastest Actor in a Leading Role at 100 metres were:

• Michael B Jordon at 12.3 seconds
• Timothee Chalamet at 13.5 seconds
• Wagner Moura at 13.7 seconds
• Leonardo Dicaprio at 23.6 seconds
• Ethan Hawke at 26.1 seconds

Tough race – but Jordon beat Chalamet by more than a second. Chalamet stumbled a bit near the finish line. Leonardo and Ethan were a long way off the pace but then it gets tougher the older you get.

The 2026 Oscar race results for Fastest Actress in a Leading Role at 100 metres were:

• Jessie Buckley at 13.2 seconds
• Emma Stone at 14.5 seconds
• Rose Byrne at 18.5 seconds
• Renate Reinsve at 19.0 seconds
• Kate Hudson at 23.3 seconds

Interesting to see that Jessie Buckley beat out Chalamet so that does suggest you could simply have a best actor category and not worry about gender. I mean all the women beat both Leonardo Dicaprio and Ethan Hawke. Something to think about for the future I guess.

The 2025 Oscar race for Best Picture in a 4 x 400 Metre Relay race were:

• One Battle After Another – 4 minutes 28 seconds
• Sinners – 5 minutes 12 seconds
• Sentimental Value – 5 minutes 30 seconds
• Train Dreams – 6 minutes 10 seconds
• Marty Supreme – 6 minutes 13 seconds
• Bugonia – 6 minutes 21 seconds
• F1 – 6 minutes 37 seconds
• Hamnet – 6 minutes 41 seconds
• The Secret Agent – 7 minutes 18 seconds
• Frankenstein – 8 minutes 32 seconds

Tough race a lot of the producers aren’t in as good a shape as the actors but tough event when you have Emma Stone running in both the 100-metre dash for best actress and the 4×400-metre relay for best picture. That’s hard. But just shows you how seconds can make a difference although the One Battle After Another Team really ran away with the thing this year. I mean they came in first well ahead of anyone else and wow big group in the 6 minute time frame.

I think they should publish the race results personally. Although, I guess you could say if you do that you take away the mystery of how the awards work.

Anyway you can get these Oscar Race results at RacefortheOscars.com. They have a free account right now but I’m sure it won’t be long before they put it behind a pay wall.

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William Pugspeare – Playwright’s Journal – Thursday April 23, 2026

Today marks the 410^th anniversary of the death of, the greatest of all canine playwrights, William Pugspeare. Who hasn’t studied Pugspeare? Who isn’t familiar with his many quotes and phrases?

• To bark, or not to bark: that is the question.
• A bone! a bone! My Kingdom for a bone.
• Is that a ball I see before me? Come let me fetch thee.
• Good Night, Good night! Barking is such sweet sorrow, that I shall bark all night till it be morrow.
• What is a name? That which we call a treat by another name would taste as sweet.

Okay, I jest. But it’s a remarkable thing for a writer’s words to live on – so long after his death. But does it matter if they do? Success in death doesn’t mean very much, does it? After all, you can’t collect royalties when you’re dead. You can only reap the rewards of success when you’re alive.

Of course, there’s also the idea that success isn’t measured by money or fame, but rather success is measured by following your heart and doing what you love. In that sense, whether or not you achieve financial success in life is of little importance. In that sense, if you pursue what you love you will be a success. For William Pugspeare that was playing fetch.

The hard part for an artist is actually making the time to write that novel, compose that song, or paint that picture. It doesn’t matter if you’re William Pugspeare, or August Wilson, or Agatha Christie, none of them would have had any success if they hadn’t finished what they started. So, pursue what you love, finish what you start and the finished work will be your legacy. Whether or not you make any money or achieve any fame are things you can’t control. All you can control is what you do with your time.

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Something Fresh – Playwright’s Journal – Wednesday April 22, 2026

The truth is most stories are just a remix of previous stories. It’s not often a play or a novel or a movie comes along that really presents a new way of thinking about things. I’ve been thinking about that a lot especially after watching Pluribus by Vince Gilligan because it really does offer a new take on the alien invasion story. I love Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul but Pluribus has me thinking about society and individual identity and what it means to be human. And I have to admit that most of what I’ve written are stories that owe their origin to all that has come before.

But last year I wrote something different. Something that I really think offers the world a slightly different way of thinking about things. Soon we’ll find out if the rest of the world agrees.

Today is Earth Day. What does that mean?

I think it should mean we recognize that there is no planet B. This is it. The earth is and will always be the one place we can exist in this universe. We will never have another home and if we mess it up then there’s no where we can go.

I am a firm believer in the rare earth hypothesis. I don’t think that life beyond microbes is abundant in the universe. I think that the conditons needed for life like us to evolve are a rare thing.

Having said that I do think intelligent life has developed many times over the billions of years of existence but it has also disappeared. We too will disappear. Mankind will cease to exist not because of anyting sinister other than the fact than all things be they a plant or a solar system or a galaxy or a universe – end.

Speaking of survival and endings I’m very excited to see Season Three of Silo. Apple just released the teaser for season three and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens.

Speaking of Season Three’s I’m currenlty watching the third season of Fargo and it’s great fun to watch and to pick out all the Calgary locations. And what a cast! Ewan McGregor, Carrie Coon, and David Thewlis. I haven’t a clue where it’s going but I’m enjoying the journey.

I haven’t had much luck writing so far this year. But that’s okay. The year is far from over. It’s not that I don’t want to write but rather I’ve had some things going on in my life that make it difficult to write.

Although, I am continuing to write my blog and I just finished doing an interview with Synthia Yusuf who is playing Catherine de Medici in Wildwoman by Kate Sandler which opens this Friday at Alberta Theatre Projects. I’ll be seeing the show and publishing my interview with Synthia about Wildwoman a few days later. Looks like an amazing show.

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Hurry Hard at Rosebud Theatre – Playwright’s Journal – Tuesday April 21, 2026

So, I just published my blog post about Hurry Hard by Kristen Da Silva out at Rosebud Theatre. I saw the show on Saturday with my son Graham. It was good to get out of Calgary and go for a drive. I like going to Rosebud. We left at 10:00 am and got home at 5:00 pm. So, it’s a seven hour day. But it’s a day where you share the experience and theatre above all else is about sharing the experience.

I’ve previously talked about seeing ET for the first time with an audience that knew nothing about the movie and how amazing that experience was. But even though I shared that experience with an audience I was alone when I went to the movie. There was no one I shared the experience with on a personal level. And that hurts a little. I mean life is about shared moments. Those bonds are what make life real to me.

Yes, we have all the independent – living my life maters mantras out there but personally I think life is about connection. Life is about sharing.

Sometimes I feel like a life unshared is hardly worth living at all. Now, I know that’s not true. And I’m sure there are some who would read that might feel a need to object but there are also others who would be indifferent and there are those who would contemplate the idea.

That’s what a shared life is. A chance to contemplate the idea of existence. A chance to share this fragile moment with another person. And when we don’t have that we feel like something is missing. At least I do.

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Saturday Night Cinema – Playwright’s Journal – Saturday April 18, 2026

Tonight’s Saturday Night Cinema was the 2015 Korean romantic comedy The Beauty Inside. It’s a wonderful little film built around the concept of someone who goes to sleep every night and wakes up as a different person each morning. They could be an old man or a young woman or even a child.

Back long ago when I was 50 years younger they had Saturday Night Cinema on PBS Spokane. It was one of the few places at the time to see old Hollywood classics without commercial interuptions. It was hosted by Bill Stanley who has long since retired. In fact, when he retired in 2012 that was certainly a marker for me in terms of recognizing my own mortality and how fast the years have gone by.

Anyway, last year there was a Saturday night where I sat down and watched The Menu starring Ralph Fiennes as a Chef who has planned a final dining experience for a group of high end foodies at his exclusive restaurant. While the characters ate various high end concoctions I had popcorn and I really enjoyed watching the movie and eating popcorn and it took me back to my younger days. So, now on occasion I make time for a movie on Saturday Night. And this Saturday it was The Beauty Inside. Check it out if you want to enjoy a thoughtful film about identity and love. It’s available on Kanopy.

Do you have a traditional movie night or popcorn night? I remember long ago when I was a kid and we had only two channels on our television that there was a once a week tradition to make a bowl of popcorn and watch a television show.

The earliest show I remember watching was The Red Skelton Show and then I believe we moved on and watched The Carol Burnett Show once Red Skelton had been cancelled. And I seem to recall Bewitched being in there as well. There was something fun about watching a weekly show and I’m reminded of that as I’m watching the last season of The Boys on Amazon and having to wait a week between episodes.

Not sure The Boys is really a popcorn show but the anticpation of waiting to see the next episode is actually making it a lot of fun. So, far I’m pretty happy with where the final season is going and it feels like they’re going to finish on a high note. The series finale is May 20th.

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Triple Play – Playwright’s Journal – Friday April 17, 2026

I have three plays I’ll be seeing in the coming weeks that I’ll be writing blog posts for. Hurry Hard by Kristen Da Silva at Rosebud Theatre, Wildwoman by Kat Sandler at Alberta Theatre Projects, and The Verdict based on the book by Barry Reed and adapted for the stage by Margaret May Hobbs that will be running at Vertigo Theatre. I’m looking foward to those.

In the meantime I’m watching the final season of The Boys over on Amazon Prime and I’m looking forward to catching House of the Dragon’s third season on HBO which comes out this summer. And for something a little lighter I’ll be watching the 15th season of King of the Hill when it comes out on Hulu.

I hadn’t watched King of the Hill when it first came out but I watched it on streaming a couple of years ago and found it to be a lot of fun. Hank is a good egg. And after a long hiatus season 14 landed on our screens last year and they nailed it. I wasn’t sure they would given the polarizing state of things these days but I think they reached down into a fundamental truth about people – most of us are happy to live our lives and let others live theirs. Everything doesn’t have to be a battle.

Still waiting for winter to release its icy grip. This winter storm left a foot of snow on the driveway yesterday. Current conditions at 6:00 am Friday April 17: -6 Celsius. Feels like -15 Celsius.

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Join Us Carol – Wednesday April 8, 2026

We finally got Apple TV for the first time and I’ve been catching up on all the great shows I’ve heard so much about like Ted Lasso, The Studio, and Pluribus. I was particularly excited to see Pluribus as it’s from Vince Gilligan the man responsible for two of my all time favourite shows: Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I love those shows but this one is truly ground breaking because it does something completely new and fresh with the alien invasion story. First, there are no aliens but there is an invasion. I don’t want to say anymore as I would not want to spoil this terrific show for anyone interested in watching it.

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Playwright’s Journal 2026 – Easter Monday – Monday April 4, 2026

Easter came and went. Easter dinner consisted of a Whopper Meal with a medium fries, coke zero, and a large onion rings. There was no family to gather. Although I did have dinner with my son and that was very much appreciated. The Whopper was good. Exceptionally good. I was hesitant to get the meal because the Burger King near us has not been great for a number of years but wow – a charbroiled burger that actually tastes charbroiled and crispy fries and crunchy onion rings and a perfect tasting coke zero. Now that was one tasty burger.

EASTER MONDAY – EARLY MORNING – NO EASTER BEAGLE ANY WHERE TO BE SEEN

Unfortuantely, Easter Sunday came and went and the Easter Beagle made no visit. There were no chocolate eggs to consume. No coloured eggs to hide. Not even a Hot Cross Bun to have with my morning tea.

I did however watch Monty Phyton’s Life of Brian. The version on Amazon has been digitally remastered and enhanced and I say, “Thank God for that.” The film always looked crappy and the sound was hollow. It felt like the original location sound was recorded with the mic a block away or under a blanket. This wasn’t a new problem. I saw the film on opening weekend in the theatre all those years ago and I wondered why the movie looked and sounded so bad. In my opinion, the bad sound hurt the comedy because I had to strain to hear what was being said. But that’s all fixed now and I can sit back and enjoy the Life of Brian as it was meant to be viewed.

I’m not a big fan of the Biblical Epics but I do like Life of Brian and I enjoy Jesus Christ Superstar – and many years ago I dragged my family to see Ted Neeley in a touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. At the time he could still hit those high notes. He’s 82 years of age now so I doubt he’s still on tour. Anyway, those are good films. They’re entertaining.

On the other hand I find the Charlton Heston epics focused on long tedius spectacle where everything is resolved by God – who is basically a plot device know as the Deus ex machina rather predictable and boring. These aren’t characters they are archetypes meant to prove a theological view point. That generally makes for a boring story. The Ten Commandments in particular is a tough one to sit through. All those epics from the 50s with their Hollywood imaging of life in ancient Rome are a bizarre product of thier time. More a joke now than anything else. And yet they were successful films even though everyone knew all the spoilers. For a much funnier and shorter take on The Ten Comandments check out my short comedy Written in Stone.

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Project Hail Mary – March 24, 2026

I went to see Project Hail Mary with my son today and I’d highly recommend the film. This is a movie about the whole world coming together to solve a problem. It’s a movie about two astronauts coming together to save their worlds. It’s a movie free from politics and rage and everything that is so heart breaking about the world right now. It’s a movie filled with hope and kindness and human connection.

The film is based on the book Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir who is the author of The Martian and know for his gripping scientifically based stories. I enjoyed the book when I read it and I’ve been looking forward to seeing the movie ever since I saw the first trailer – and it did not disappoint. This is a fun and compelling film with an amazing sound track and it’s one of the few times I’d recommend seeing a film in the movie theatre because it’s a visual spectacle and seeing it on the big screen adds to the experience – especially if you’re seeing it for the first time and sharing that experience with someone.

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And just a short update. I went to see Project Hail Mary in the theatre last Sunday April the 12th with a friend and I liked it even better the second time. I love the soundtrack and I’ve been listening to it a lot while I work away on my computer. We had decided we’d go to a movie and rather than wait for something to see we’d just pick from what was playing and the best thing playing was Project Hail Mary. Which I’m happy about but it was the second weekend of the The Super Mario Galaxy movie and so many of the theatres in the multiplex were running that film. I suppose it makes sense since the theatre is all recliners and that certainly reduces the capcity per theatre compared to the past so when a big hit happens of course they’ll play it in more theatres.

I’m not seeing a lot in the release schedule I’m excited about seeing for the rest of the year. Although, I am interested in seeing Toy Story 5 and Supergirl. I’ve never been a big superhero fan but I really enjoyed last year’s Superman movie as it jumped right into the story and forgoes all the tedious backstory that we’ve seen a million times. Plus a great cast and a fun script.

I do see a lot of re-releases in the schedule which I think is a great thing. I mean why not bring back popular films for a one night or for a one week run in this age of digital theatre. It’s much easier to do now than it was in the past and it creates a great opportunity for audiences to see some classic movies on the big screen.

And I see Citizen Kane is scheduled for a Special Engagement re-release on July 5th. The first time I saw Citizen Kane was in the 70s at the Plaza Theatre with a packed crowd. The Plaza was where you could go to see Hollywood classics along with European and Japanese cinema. The fun thing was to see Citizen Kane with a crowd of people who had never seen it – including me. It was the most amazing cinematic experience I’ve ever had. Well one of two. The other was when I, along with a sold out crowd at the Brentwood Theatre, saw a sneak peak of ET. Again, a full house that knew nothing more about the film they were about to see than it was the new Steven Spielberg movie. What made those experiences so amazing was the complete immersion of the audience into the story. I have never experienced anything like that since. But Project Hail Mary – has echos of that immersion. It’s a really good positive film in a time of bitter conflict and hate that is being amplified by broken social media platforms.

Go see it. See it with a friend. See it with a spouse. See it with the family. See it with your dad or your mom or your grandmother. See it on your own. In fact, I might have to go see it again while it’s still in the theatre.

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Fourth day of spring – March 23, 2026

It’s the fourth day of spring. The 23rd day of March at 2:33 A.M. I love this time of the day. It’s quiet. The noise of the city is gone. The streets are empty. It’s dark and you can focus and concentrate on your writing or reading or just thinking about life.

On my desk I have two monitors. I’m typing this on one of the monitors and on the other one I’m playing Lucky. Lucky is a movie from 2017 that stars a 90-year-old Harry Dean Stanton. I’m watching it on Kanopy which is a streaming service provided by our wonderful Calgary Public Library.

I sometimes like to play it and let it run in the back ground while I’m working on things. It’s a contemplative little film with a solid cast including David Lynch, Ron Livingston, and Ed Begley Jr. Right now while Lucky is playing I’m working on this blog update and enjoying a clamato and beer as I ponder existence. On screen Lucky is enjoying a Bloody Maria while talking about President Roosevelt with David Lynch who plays Howard. President Roosevelt is Harry’s pet tortoise.

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So when you look back at your life did it go as planned? Mine didn’t. But then I don’t think most people’s lives go as planned. I’ve long thought that if you don’t make a plan you are planning for failure unfortunately there are a lot of times where you fail even with a plan. I think that’s partly because there are many forces at work in our lives that we can not see. And so we can never account for everything. Much is not in our control.

I do think however that life is partly about choosing to engage or disengage with different aspects of our world. So, take relationships, for example. Are we with healthy people or toxic people. Is our workplace positive or negative. What part of the online world makes our lives better or makes our lives worse. And while I think, in general, it is better to engage with the positive things in our life that doesn’t mean avoiding the harsh realities of life.

Sometimes we have to embrace grief and failure in order to move on. I think that’s important. We need time to process our failures and negative feelings, not deny them. Otherwise we end up suppressing our emotions and that’s not good either. It’s simply a matter of living in the moment and in the future at the same time. In other words, we live in a river of time. A flow of existence. And in this moment we may experience despair but we know in the future we will experience moments of joy. By focusing only on this moment we risk the despair becoming overwhelming because we aren’t thinking about the future. By recognizing we are not static in the moment but are instead moving through time this moment even though it is filled with despair is only a temporary state of existence. Of course the opposite is also true. If we are experiencing a moment of joy we know in the future there are moments of despair. Knowing this allows us to see life as a connected series of events that flow between the positive and the negative.

Speaking of moments, when you look back at your own life are there pivot points? Moments where you could have gone down a completely different path. Of course, we never get a chance to test those out. And a different path wouldn’t necesarily be a better path. Still, it’s fun to ponder these things. The what ifs of life.

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I See You: The UNTOLD Truth About True Connection – March 22, 2026

“Sonder is the profound realization that every random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, and worries. Coined by John Koenig in 2012, it highlights the shift from seeing oneself as the main character to realizing everyone is a main character in their own story.”

How much time have you given to your phone? Another wonderful video from the good people at Reflections of Life.

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Second Day of Spring 2026 – Playwright’s Journal – March 21, 2026

Do you plan out your day? Your month? Your quarter? Your year?

I’m having a hard time planning anything these days. Maybe that’s becasue I don’t believe much in legacy. A couple years ago I was going through old family photographs intending to digitize a bunch of them and then I thought who is this for? How much work do I want to put into this? They either end up in the city dump now or fifty years from now. Everything fades into nothing. So, why do anything?

I wrote a new play last year that deals with that question among others. It’s my Hail Mary play. Speaking of Hail Mary that’s a movie I plan to see this coming Tuesday with my son. I read the book by Andy Weir a couple years ago and really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. I’ve deliberately avoided the trailers and interviews and ads for the movie because I just want to experience the story without any spoilers.

Anyway, this new play I wrote last year is I think unique and different than anything I’ve ever written and anything I’ve ever seen on the stage. But I may be the only one who thinks so. We’ll know more by the end of the year as it makes it’s way out into the world.

I have three writing projects left on my bucket list. I have a lot more than three writing projects started but I have three that I’d like to finish before I get sent to the city landfill along with my family photographs. But I’m finding it hard to get motivated this year. There’s a part of me that just doesn’t care that much. It might be a matter of energy. I’m not just running out of time but I’m running out of energy. Maybe that’s all it is. I just don’t know if I have the energy left to finish what I’ve started.

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Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami – March 20, 2026

Before I dive into Norwegian Wood I just want to wish everyone a Happy Spring Equinox. Could the Summer Solstice be far behind? I’m guessing it’s about three months from now.

This summer I’m attending When Words Collide at the Hyatt Regency in Calgary. I’ve attended this festival many times before and two years ago I submitted a piece of writing to a panel of editors where all but one absolutely hated my submission.

It was one of the most amusing 15 minutes of getting feedback I’d ever experienced. I learned so much about the difference between book editors and dramaturges and theatres and publishers in that brief encounter.

The problem? Basically it was a language issue. I had taken a Quentin Tarantino/David Mamet approach to one particular character and the majority thought I was excessive in my use of the f word in particular.

Now, I’d attached a note stating that I understood the language would be an issue and I was really looking for feedback on how to transform a play of monologues into a work of prose. So, I was surprised when one of the editors proudly proclaimed they didn’t even read my note.

Okay — well I think they asked for a note in the submissions and so I provided one. Not my fault if you didn’t read it.

Anyway, it was great fun and one of the editors gave me the feedback I had requested and recommended I read Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk which is a first person narrative that she felt would help me in my quest. She even took a piece of my submission and rewrote in order to show me what it would be like to go from theatre monolouge to becoming a chapter in a book. And I’m very grateful for her feedback. It was just what I was looking for.

That was in 2024. I didn’t attend WWC in 2025 but I’m back again this year and I’m looking forward to some more feedback. I wonder if it will be as much fun as last time. And to be honest I hold no ill will towards any of the editors for their feedback. That’s what they thought. And as an editor they are thinking how can I make this commercially successful for the publisher. That I think is a bit of the differnce. In theatre the workshop and the dramaturge help the playwright to realize their vision. In publishing on the other hand you’re creating a product and you have to make that product something that your average reader will buy – and that means language is a consideration.

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Anyway, I finished reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. This is a very different book compared to most of the books that Murakami writes. He tends to write stories that are somewhat surreal in nature. As Google puts it: “Murakami is most famous for his magical realism and surrealist tropes – such as talking cats, alternate dimensions, and metaphysical mysteries – this novel is a more realistic coming of age story.”

It’s a good book. I found it enjoyable to read. And I see why it gets compared to Catcher in the Rye. I also understand why Murakami has been criticized for his portrayal of female characters in the story. He has even faced questions about his depiction of women on stage during an interview with Mieko Kawakami a popular female Japanese author often praised by Murakami and considered by him to be a friend.

I see no problem with people criticize how he writes female characters and pointing out that some of the attitudes in the book are out of date. I would hope so. A book written in the 80s and reflecting the values and thinking of a young man in 1969 shouldn’t reflect the thinking of today. Which is one of the things that makes the book interesting because it opens up that discussion. It lets us look at where we were and where we are and where we’re going. I mean we would expect a book from five centuries ago to have ideas in it that we would not agree with today, so why shouldn’t a book from forty years ago also have ideas and attitudes in it that we disagree with from today’s perspective. Plus, I’m willing to bet that many of our contemporary views, will in the future also be brought into question. No generation is free from the judgement of future generations.

Personally, I liked the novel because I found myself able to relate at many times with the story. I remember feeling very lost and adrift and disengaged when I was the same age as Toru, the main character in the book. Toru is disengaged from life and a big reason for his disengagement is the suicide of his best friend Kizuki. He and Kizuki, and Kizuki’s girlfriend Naoko, were close friends. As the story unfolds and Toru and Naoko head to college they become involved with each other partly because of their shared tragedy.

I won’t say more except to say that the book deals with youth, death, desire, love, and existential uncertainty. If you enjoy exploring those topics then it’s a fun read. It’s even more fun if you have a friend to chat with about the book. It seems to me that half the experience of reading is the sharing of it with friends who have also read the book. It invites discussion and exploration and an examination of our own life and beliefs.

So far this year I’ve read a variety of books including Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Verdict by Barry Reed, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, This is Not my Memoir by Andre Greogory, The Long Walk by Richard Bachman, and Friday the Rabbi Sletp Late by Harry Kemelman.

There are so many books available to read that you should read books you enjoy. And if you don’t enjoy it you don’t need to be mean about it. It just wasn’t your cup of tea. I find it odd on goodreads when I see someone lamenting the horrible torture they endured reading a book they hated.

From my point of view they must not have hated it that much otherwise they wouldn’t have read it. Instead, I think they must get some sort of perverse pleasure from the pain. After all, life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy, and if you enjoy torturing yourself then read as many of these awful books as you want.

Just remember on your death bed that there were plenty of other books you could have read that you would have enjoyed instead of the one you read and hated.

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Playwright’s Journal 2026 – Unlock Your Purpose: The Power of Doing What You Love – March 18, 2026

This came out five years ago. I watched it then and I have watched it a few times over the years. Most recently, I watched it this morning.

It’s meaning is different to me now than it was when I first watched it. When I first watched the video, it was an affirmation of doing what you love in order to bring meaning to your life.

This most recent viewing has me reflecting on lives not lived. Opportunities not taken. Lives that could have been.

Something like this is, for me, the best of what YouTube and social media can be. Reflection and connection. The pursuit of authenticity and kindness.

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The Flick Chicks – Playwright’s Journal – March 15, 2026

Although I’m rarely posting these days, and I’m working at reducing my time on social media and the internet, I always have time for the Flick Chicks.

Two thumbs up!!

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Off the Rails: Oscars 2026 – March 13, 2026

So, for a long time I’ve been wanting to come up with some sort of concept where I could just write up something quick if I was in the mood without having to come up with new characters and situations. You know more like an existing set of characters.

At times I’ve thought of writing a series of plays using the same characters and following them over time. Which isn’t unusual. I mean how often is that done when you have a detective? Most of the time if a writer creates a detective it’s not a one and done deal. No, there are many stories to tell. And once a character becomes public domain like Sherlock Holmes has then there are even more stories to tell.

Anyway, I think I’ve finally come up with a simple concept that will give me the freedom to write up something when I’m in the mood to write but don’t want to start from scratch and so we have Off the Rails with Ted and Fred. Ted is a retired schoolteacher and Fred’s best friend. Fred is a retired salesman and is Ted’s best friend. And the two of them have come together in Ted’s Rumpus Room in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to do a weekly podcast called Off the Rails.

Here’s the synopsis for the first episode:

• Ted and Fred are enjoying a slice of pizza from this week’s sponsor, Slice of Life Pizza in Kensington, while recording their weekly podcast and discussing their Oscar picks. When Fred admits he’s only seen one of the ten films nominated that leads, once again, to their podcast going slightly off the rails.

In this particular episode of Off the Rails I’m exploring the Academy Awards and modern movie culture while reflecting on how life is too short to spend time on things you don’t enjoy. The series itself follows Ted and Fred, two old friends, whose weekly podcast, Off the Rails, becomes a place where conversation, humour, and even disagreements reveal how friendship and human connection gives life meaning.

One friend pointed out that this particular episode would have a short shelf life and that’s true to some degree. It makes several references to the 2026 Oscars and those reference points will be lost in a year or two, but am I trying to write something that will last a generation? Or am I just writing something that, in this case, might be more like a Saturday Night Live sketch that is relevant at the time and less so later.

I’m not writing for legacy any longer. I think that’s a mistake. Very few authors last much beyond their life time. Their books are forgotten. They are forgotten. And truthfully we will all be forgotten. Even giants like Charles Dickens and Billy Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss will be forgotten in time. It could take a hundred years or a thousand or ten thousand. But at some point all will be forgotten so don’t fret about creating a legacy. That’s not a real thing. Every person and civilization ceases to exist and one day we will cease to exist. Even mankind will cease to exist. Instead of writing for legacy write for fun and for joy and to share the work with your friends and family and readers now.

After all when we look at a writer’s body of work often one or two stand out and the others don’t resonate as deeply with audiences. That’s true of movies and books and poems and paintings. Some reach a wider audience and gain a bigger cultural footprint. But those works that stand out don’t exist outside of an authors other work. In fact, in order to write the great novels that author had to write all their other books that didn’t land as well but were still enjoyed. Because books and characters and stories often cross pollinate and influence future stories. How often does an author come across their next story while working on their current story. The mind is always active always sifting thorugh ideas and it’s the particular combiantion of life expereince, creative work, and inspiration that results in new ideas.

Anyway, here’s a link to this ten minute play if you want to check it out: Off the Rails: Oscars 2026.

There will be more I assume although who knows maybe after all this talk it will be a one and done kind of deal. I’m actually thinking of turning it into a short story. A short story would give it a longer shelf life as you could provide more context to the story. That way I could add to my legacy.

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Posting Zero – Playwright’s Journal – March 8, 2026

Have you stopped posting on social media. If you have, you’re not alone. In fact, there’s a trend out there called Posting Zero. Basically, social media platforms are no longer designed for friends to share their lives and updates. Oh, sure that’s how it started, but the platforms today are designed to deliver you advertising.

That’s it.

They don’t care about you and your friends.

All they care about is selling your attention to people who will buy it. Even if you do post an update organic traffic has died and so few of your friends and family even see the post because Facebook favours the advertiser. This is why if you drop in on a friends home page you’ll often find it empty except for an annual barage of birthday greetings. People have decided that sharing their life with the world isn’t such a good thing.

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I think one of the more interesting things to emerge over the last few years are the Zero trends. There are currently five of them by my count and they are upending how the internet and social media work.

• Zero Posting.
• Zero Scrolling.
• Zero Clicking.
• Zero Liking.
• Zero Sharing.

In addition to Zero Posting, many people no longer share or like posts. Instead, they lurk. Have a look. And leave. One of the main reasons for not engaging with any content beyond a look is to avoid giving the platforms any information it can use to sell your attention. And people are still talking to their friends and family but these discussions have moved to personal networks rather than public networks.

The new trend I hadn’t heard about is zero scrolling. Basically, you don’t scroll. You don’t get caught up in the phone in the first place. And you don’t like or share so you don’t engage and give the algorithm data.

Which brings us to Zero Clicking.

This is actually a slightly different trend.

AI is replacing the old Google Search where you get a list of websites that contain your information and you click on one or two of those websites to get your answer. With competition from CHAT GPT Google has moved fast and they now feature an AI Mode. And with AI the answer is already given to you, so you don’t have to click on the website.

The result – The Traffic Apocalypse.

This is a good example of the unintended consequences of technology. Who knew three years ago that AI would result in Zero Clicking which would fundamentally alter the business model for most online websites that rely on advertising revenue.

As far as posting goes I’m not entirely practicing Zero Posting. Instead, I’m rarely posting. And all my posts on social media are usually related to the theatre and my work not my personal life. Which is something I’ve been doing for a long time now. I still want to have a social media footprint, but I don’t want to spend much time on it.

Have you noticed any of these trends?

Do any of these trends impact your current plans and strategies?

Do you find you’re posting less? Are you staying off social media in favour of personal networks. What about your family and friends. Are they posting less?

I wonder how all of this is going to shake out.

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Rich Little – Imposter Syndrome – March 5, 2026

Do people even know who Rich Little is anymore?

Well a few do.

Those that find my joke funny do.

But those who don’t would probably say, “Who the heck is Rich Little?”

Well, Rich Little could have been one of the stars of Orson Welles last movie – The Other Side of the Wind. Welles began production on The Other Side of the Wind in 1970 but the film was left unfinished after Welles died in 1985.

Rich Little left the production and a substantial portion of the film had to be reshot and his part was recast using Peter Bogdanovich. Ironically the part was originally based on Bogdanovich so having him in the film makes a lot more sense. After decades of legal and financial problems getting the film finished, Bogdanovich actually helped complete the film in 2018 and it’s available to watch on Netflix. Bogdanovich is probably best known as the writer and director of The Last Picture Show and was considered a Welles protégé and a close personal friend of the director.

The fabulous John Huston, who was a friend of Welles, and an iconic Hollywood director known for adapting and directing the Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart, plays an old Hollywood director by the name of Jake Hannaford, and we learn about him and his life in one alcohol fueled night of birthday celebrations.

It’s a film within a film.

Intercut with scenes from the birthday celebrations are sections of the film Hanford is trying to finance and finish. Welles was specifially making fun of the pretentious European art house cinema. And he does a fine job of it. I stumbled across a film from that era a few years ago. And Welles had completely captured the style and feel of that type of cinema. I think I watched it on Kanopy but I wasn’t able to find it just yet but when I do I’ll put a link to it here ( Future Link to the film I saw two years ago but can’t find now.) Wish I could remember the title. I just remember a lot of young people and trees and lingering shots and nonsensical narrative wanting to be profound.

In the meantime The Other Side of the Wind on Netflix is worth checking out if you like Welles, or Huston, or Bogdanovich.

Oh, and Rich Little is an impressionist and voice actor. He was a household name at one time. But his fame has faded. And a great many of the people he imitated are mostly forgotten. But you can still catch him in Vegas. Although, I just checked his website and no upcoming shows are listed.

When you look back at all the iconic actors that Little used to imitate one of the things you notice is they all had really distinct voices and mannerisms. George Burns. Groucho Marx, Jimmy Stewart. James Cagney. Humphrey Bogart, James Mason. Jack Benny and many more.

Each of these actors was unique and memorable.

Today in some ways it feels like we’ve traded the unique for the uniform.

We are living in the age of the Veneer.

So many of today’s actors look and sound like they came out of the same mold with a perfect nose and blindingly white teeth, a perfect jaw line, and a six pack.

They feel unrelatable to me.

They certainly don’t feel human.

And they have so little body fat that their face looks skeletal and can’t convey any emotion beyond shock and a pearly white smile. To compensate most of their acting they try to do with their eyes because their face is frozen in place. Botox and plastic surgery and extreme weight loss are the enemies of microexpressions.

I think to some degree that’s the Hollywood machine imposing its standards of beauty and masculinity.

So, I understand. Hollywood treats these actors as a product. Something to be packaged and sold. It’s one side of the business.

It just feels weird to me.

On the other hand, there are still a lot of actors who feel human. Paul Giamatti, Olivia Colman, Jesse Plemons, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Maggie Smith, Frances McDormand, and Jessie Buckley. To name a few.

I very much admire people who embrace their wrinkles. It seems to me that such people offer a positive role model to the rest of the world. We all grow old. We should embrace it.

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Train Dreams – Playwright’s Journal – February 22, 2026

The more I watch Train Dreams the more I like it. It’s a beautiful film. Simple. And honest.

Like the movie Perfect Days, it’s a simple film about an average man that provides us with a deep exploration of life.

It’s a quest.

A decades long journey that tries to make sense of life.

It’s shot simply. The music is gentle. The story is told with a sense of realism that gives it more weight.

Here is a simple man. Here is this man’s life.

I don’t want to say much because I don’t want to give away any spoilers as I think there are many profound moments in this film – many of them passing by without us realizing the connection between that moment and the sense of connection we feel between the story of Robert Grainier and our own life.

And maybe that’s it. The reason I can watch this film over and over is because as we experience Robert Grainer’s life it is much as we experience our own life and place in the world and our attempts to make sense of what it all means.

The movie is based on the book of the same name by Denis Johnson. It’s a novella. Originally published in 2011. Johnson died in 2017 at the age of 67 from cancer. That’s a shame because of course that means he didn’t live long enough to see this beautiful film based on his original work.

I have the novel on hold at the library. Both the physical book and the audio book. I want to listen to the audio book because the film narrator is the same person that did the audio book – Will Patton – and his voice – is so perfect and so gentle and filled with such wisdom.

Funny enough, I looked up Will Patton and discovered he is in the Apple TV science fiction series SILO. How do I know…I recognized his voice – after three episodes and looked it up on Google. Never noticed this guy before and then there he is the narrator of this wonderful film and one of the main actors in season one of SILO. My son Graham and I started watching SILO a few weeks ago and we’re halfway through season one and really enjoying it. I love Rebecca Ferguson. She’s terrific.

Anyway, I would highly recommend Train Dreams if you enjoy movies like Perfect Days or Past Lives or Tender Mercies. These are all gentle films that explore life’s mystery.

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Train Dreams stars Joel Edgerton as Rober Grainer, Felicity Jones as Gladys Grainer, William H. Macy as Arn Peeples, and Nathaniel Arcand as Ignatius Jack. Directed by Clint Bentley and adapted for the screen by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, and Denis Johnson with cinematography by Adolpho Veloso and music composed by Bryce Dessner.

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I had thought of making this my last update for a few months, but that turned out to be a momentary feeling of disengagement. Although, I do find myself often feeling disengaged with the world these days. Do you ever feel like that? Which I suppose just shows you how life can take us in strange directions.

There are a couple plays coming up I’m looking forward to seeing including The Verdict at Vertigo Theatre. I love the film version starring Paul Newman and I recently managed to source a copy of the original novel by Barry Reed and gave that a read. It’s definately a product of it’s time but I’m very curious to see how the story is adapted for the stage. That will demand a blog post. I’ll definately have some thoughts about the play and the novel and the movie and the production.

Speaking of blog posts, I’m not sure how many more blog posts I’m going to write. I’m not sure how many more years I’m going to keep this website. Last summer I renewed the hosting package for another three years but it left me thinking about the day I won’t renew. The day this webiste disappears and everything on it. It’s almost like death. It was here and now it’s gone. Traces of it remain but the original is no more.

In additon to seeing some theatre, I’m hoping to get back to doing some writing. I have been distracted. Worried. Unable to focus. But I’ve decided maybe I still need a bit of writing time every day in order to maintain some level of engagement with the world. Even if it’s my inner world.

A year or two ago I began to narrow down what I wanted to write because I know I don’t have enough time to write everything I’ve started or even not started and want to write. Of course one never knows – instead of finishing the story I’m currently working on I could be seized by a new idea for a story that demands my attention – demands to be finished – demands that I drop everything I’m working on and concentrate on it.

Perhaps our stories even have personalities – I’ve been thinking.

Some are easy to get along with and a joy to work on and others are a pain in the ass and difficult to deal with.

Right now I have four writing projects that I’d like to finish before I die. Last year it was five. Last year one of those five was a new story that came to me and demanded my time and attention. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written and this year I’m introducing that story to the world and – I guess – we’ll see what happens. Of course, if I finish all four of my priority projects and I’m still here, there are a great many more unfinished and unstarted stories left to work on.

As far as reading goes I’ve got Train Dreams on hold at the library and I’m looking forward to reading it. In the meantime, I’m currently reading The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson and I’m about to start A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin.

Plus, I just figured out that: This is the bad place. And I’m going to need some time to process that information.

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YouTube Channel Recommendations – Playwright’s Journal – February 20, 2026

So, these days people continue to make movie and book recommendations, but I was thinking I spend a lot of time watching YouTube and there are several channels I subscribe to on YouTube that I really enjoy and so I thought why not recommend them on occasion. And so here in no particular order is my first YouTube channels recommendation.

Dami Lee Architecture @DamiLeeArch.

Dami Lee is a licensed Architect and owner of Nollistudio which creates videos whose goal it is according to her website “to help people develop a general appreciation and understanding of our built environment, its impact on society and culture, and the hidden beauty beyond what the eyes can see.

Dami launched her channel on May 16, 2020, and has 2.25 million subscribers and has created 306 videos that have generated 289,316,417 views.

Check out Dami Lee’s recent video from January 29, 2026, where she explores a new theory about how the pyramids were built which currently has 6.6 million views. And no, it wasn’t aliens.

It never was aliens.

It’s never been aliens.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that no aliens have ever visited our fair solar system as the astronomical distances, fuel requirements, self repairing technology, and odds of them and us being alive at the same time and within discovery distance is so unlikely that it makes any such flight highly improbable.

I mean right now it would take Voyager the fastest man-made object ever around 75,000 years at it’s current speed to reach Alpha centari which is the closest star to us.

And so, this video provides a very interesting and logical explanation as to how the construction of the pyramids might have been accomplished.

Oh, and also. No slaves. This was a public works project – like building a Cathedral in the Middle Ages.

Smart people those Egyptians.

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Inpirational Quotes – February 6, 2026

The world is filled with inspirational quotes about going after your dream or never giving up, but dreams don’t always work out and sometimes if you don’t give up it can cost you your physical and mental health, your relatiohnships, and your financial well being. Of course, it depends on what your dream is. I think peace of mind is worth pursuing. Fame not so much.

I myself have a new work that came into existence last Janaury and I spent much of last year working on it and now I am introducing it to the world. The first great challenge, of course, is finishing something. Be it a book. A painting. A poem. So, we shall see what happens. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. What life it has beyond the hard drive on my computer is a journey that I am less master of and more passenger.

And speaking of writing and dreams and never giving up, I did write a play called – Never Give Up – Every mother thinks their kids got talent. It’s the story of Nigel Davenport who despite behing an awful playwright is determined to one day win the Short Cuts Playwriting Festival and make his mother proud.

Do you ever think of giving up? Sometimes it’s the right thing to do. In fact, Seth Godin wrote a terrific little book called The Dip which is about the importance of knowing when to quit something or when to stick with something. He argues that successful people quit things all the time. Godin says that every new project or job starts out fun and then things get hard and you reach a Dip – which is a temporary setback that can stop you unless you push through. However there are times when the best choice is not to push through but to quit and start something else. It’s a fun little book with some great advice.

And speaking of advice I think it’s time for me to quit writing this blog post and time for me to get back to get back to work on my time machine. Today’s task is sourcing some plutonium for the time drive. How hard can that be?

And speaking about time travel check out my time travelling comedy which started out as a play and I adapted into a short story that you can read right here on my website: Elvis is Dead – Saving the world takes time.

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2026 Oscar Nominations – Playwright’s Journal – January 22, 2026

Well, another year, and another snub from the Oscars! I never get nominated. What am I doing wrong?

Speaking of Oscar nominations, does anyone even care anymore about who wins an Oscar? Having said that, I hope Jessie Buckley wins for Hamnet. Hamnet is the story about about the death of Shakespeare’s son and is based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell.

Jessie Buckley gives amazing performance after amazing performance after amazing performance. Grounded and real and emotionally centered. So, other than her winning an Oscar I don’t really care who else wins. So, best of luck to all the nominees and who knows, maybe next year, I’ll get a nomination.

Hamnet stars Jessie Buckley as Agness, Paul Mescal as Will, and Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet. Directed by Chloé Zhao and adapted for the screen by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell with cinematography by Łukasz Żal and music composed by Max Richter.

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2026 Reading Challenge – Playwright’s Journal – January 10, 2026

Good news. I completed my 2026 Reading Challenge. I’ve read one book of my goal to read one book. At this rate I might even have enough time to read another one.

I read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Have you read it? It’s considered one of the cornerstones of dystopian science fiction.

It was written in 1933 and caused quite a stir when it was first published. In contrast to 1984 by George Orwell where violence, punishment, and fear are used to control the population – Brave New World is about a society that uses pleasure as the key method of control. People are happy. They get drugs to make them happy, and they no longer have the responsibilities of raising children, family, or long-term relationships and are encouraged to enjoy a sexually promiscuous life free from guilt and shame.

You know one of the most charming things about the book is the fact that in the future – the very distant future – elevators still have elevator operators. That’s how you discover a book is always in some manner attached to the time it was written.

In 1933 elevators were still mostly run with an elevator operator. Elevators could be automated, but people were uncomfortable with the idea of an elevator operating without a human at the helm. What changed? The 1945 New York City elevator strike changed things. The operators went on strike, and they proved themselves obsolete because many of the buildings simply started using the already installed automated elevator systems, they had available.

I’ve heard the transition to automatic elevators compared to our transition to self-driving cars today. They are coming. In fact, they are here. And the freedom they offer is incredible. Plus, studies show that 94% of fatal car accidents are caused by human error. If you can eliminate human error you’ll save millions of lives. Just as computers are now better than us at chess it seems computers are also better than us at driving cars when using LiDAR.

And just think, as our population ages, how many seniors would love to have the freedom of jumping in their car and having it drive them to the market or the doctors or to lunch with their friends or to their grandchild’s birthday party.

Plus, my own personal preference would be to have every self-driving car outfitted with an ejection seat like the ones they have on fighter jets. How could that go wrong?

Anyway, I like the ideas in Brave New World a lot more than how the story was told. One of the strengths of 1984 is that the story is told through a more personal account focused on Winston Smith’s view and experience of the world and that immerses us in the story. Whereas in Brave New World we never get that more direct personal perspective and so we often feel outside the story and more like we’re being told what’s happening. There’s a lot of explaining about how the society works which means it’s more tell than show.

I would love to see Brave New World told from a first-person viewpoint. Perhaps several viewpoints. Much like how George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is told. That’s why I think 1984 is a better known and more influential work. It’s all in how the story is told. Which I suppose suggests that making the story personal and immersive makes it resonate more with your readers.

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Norah Jones – Come Away With Me – January 5, 2026

Now that we’re a few days into 2026 I’m planning on taking a bit of a break. I’m going to keep a low profile. Focus on my writing. Go for walks. Get my life in order. But first, I wanted to share one of my favourite songs with you from Norah Jones that captures a bit of how I’m feeling at the moment. I never grow tired of listening to this song. There’s just something so hypnotic, deeply satisfying, and peaceful about it.

Come Away With Me
by Norah Jones

Come away with me, in the night

Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me, on a bus

Come away where they can’t tempt us
With their lies

And I wanna walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won’t you try to come

Come away with me, and we’ll kiss
On a mountain top
Come away with me, and I’ll never stop loving you

And I wanna wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I’m safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me, in the night

Come away with me

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New Year’s Resolutions – Playwright’s Journal – January 1, 2026

So, a new year. Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking some time to think about the coming year and how you’d like to spend your time. After all, if you spend an hour a day scrolling through social media or exercising or walking – at the end of the year that’s 365 hours. You can accomplish a lot in 365 hours. You can transform your health. You can read a lot of books. You can have a lot of family dinners. You can watch a lot of YouTube videos.

365 hours is equal to about 46 eight-hour workdays. That’s equal to nine work weeks. That’s a significant amount of time and all it takes is a daily practice. That’s why the momentum of a daily practice builds over time. Whether you’re meditating or learning how to play the guitar you’ll be transformed after a year. And if you miss a day don’t let that defeat you. If you miss a week don’t let that defeat you. Just start again. Life happens and sometimes our plans go sideways.

Last year I decided I was going to write for a minimum of two hours a day every day for the year. Did I do that? No. But I did write for 240 days and logged more than 900 hours at my desk working on my blogs, plays, short stories, and novels. Of course that doesn’t include the thinking time which would easily more than double that number. And of course none of that work would have existed if I hadn’t made the commitment at the start of 2025 to write every day. You see an amazing thing happens. If you put in the time the work arrives. That’s the one thing I’ve learned about writing. The blank page gets filled by just making the time to fill it.

So, whether or not you want to write a novel or learn to play the piano or spend more time with your children or learn to be a better cook or renovate your home or work in the garden – make the time to do the things you love – the things that make your life worth living.

PLAYWRIGHT’S JOURNAL DAY 1 OF 365

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