Look at the big brain on Junior!

Don Hall has deemed me worthy of the Thinking Blogger Award. What does this mean? Mainly that Don Hall is unaware of the already oversized ego I hide through witty self-deprecation. (See? Do I really mean that? Am I joking? The mind reels!) It also means that Don Hall is generous as hell, because my inconsistent ramblings often seem to me to be nothing more than me trying to make the world make sense and only finding further questions, falling farther and farther behind the pack -- and then hitting upon occasional revelations that most people would look at and say, "And? Did that really take you 24 years to realize, kid?" So thanks, Don (and everyone else who comes to visit this e-tourist trap), it's heartening to know that I'm not quite as lost and drowning as this thing makes me feel sometimes. Or at the very least that we're all clinging to seat cushion flotation devices together.

This is the important stuff that Thinking Blogger etiquette deems proper to display:

The origin of this award is The Thinking Blog.

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (you have a choice of a silver version or a gold one).

(I picked the silver one!!)

Ah, but here's the tricky part: my nominees for the Thinking Blogger Award. I'm a little torn, because a lot of my initial choices have already received the award (and rightly so). I want to stay true to the spirit of the award, but I also want to point out others who should have received this praise long ago. So I'm going to compromise -- 2 old and 3 new:

Theatre Ideas by Scott Walters.

• Scott is utterly unafraid of new ideas and, even moreso, speaking his mind on new ideas in relation to the old. He gets a lot of flack for falling on the side of down and dirty argument rather than polite disagreement, but I think it's a fine quality. Unleashing a little asshole now and then keeps the world revolving, and Scott never seems spiteful in the long run. I can't fault passion.

An Angry White Guy In Chicago by Don Hall.

• "But he's the one who gave you the award! That doesn't count!" Yes, he is the one who gave me the award. He was also the first theatrical blog I read all of two months ago, and the reason I started one of my own. I don't always see eye to eye with the guy, but on the days I do, it's like he's driven a shaft of clarity straight down my spine. Cuts through the shit like white on rice. Don't question my metaphors.

Parabasis by Isaac Butler.

• I know he's been nominated already, but Isaac hasn't officially accepted the award yet, so's I'm calling him a 'new'. Whereas Scott digs in deep on topics of great interest to him, Isaac is one of the greatest theatrical bloggers in terms of facilitating discussion. He gives snippets (and plenty of them on plenty of topics) and then waits for community to emerge. And emerge it does -- Parabasis provides genuine warmth and invitation for all reading.

Mink Tails by Ming-Zhu Hii.

• Passion, passion, passion! This girl means it; every word. Ming-Zhu is remarkably open -- reading her blog is like a secret passage into her desires, hopes, dreams, and fears. It's a fantastic quality and I'm envious as hell.

David Alan Moore Is A... by David Alan Moore, of course.

• David Alan Moore is many things, among them intelligent, grounded, frank, and extremely supportive. I haven't had a chance to talk a whole lot of theatre with him thus far (I blame whitewater rafting), but based on the little we have discussed, I look forward to much more.

P.Rekk
2007