Sam Crane
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Laozi’s Biography
It seems that there is a new biography of "Laozi" published in China. I haven't seen it yet, but Francesco Sisci reports that it is a "quasi-novel" by Yu Shicun. That sounds about right – quasi-novel – to me, but… Continue reading
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Return
We're back from Ireland, just as the Daodejing would predict: Return is the movement of Way, and yielding the method of Way. All Beneath heaven, the ten thousand things, it's all born of being, and being is born of nonbeing. … Continue reading
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In Ireland
The blog will be quiet – or quieter – the next twelve days or so. I'm taking a trip to Ireland: Dublin and Galway. Not sure what web connectivity will be, since I'm not bringing a laptop. Let me leave… Continue reading
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Plagiarism and Confucianism
In recent months a plagiarism scandal has roiled Chinese academia. It seems that Wang Hui, a prominent "new left" intellectual, was accused of copying the work of others without proper attribution in his dissertation, written in 1985. There have been… Continue reading
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The Last Airbender
I have a review of the movie up over at Big Questions Online. Let's just say that I am underwhelmed but looking for something positive… Continue reading
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Ephemera
The show is over. We had our last performance yesterday. It was a great day – the Governor of Massachusetts was in the audience! – and a great run. It was a marvelous five weeks. But it's over now. By… Continue reading
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More Thoughts on Taoism and Acting
We have settled into the stretch run of Our Town: seven performances over the next five days. Some nice photos over at our Facebook page. The work has thus shifted from developing characters and relationships to consistently reproducing those characters… Continue reading
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It’s not Zen, it’s Taoism
Atul Gawande has a beautiful piece in last week's New Yorker on hospice care and end of life issues. Having had end of life experiences in recent years with my son, my mother and my aunt, it really hit home… Continue reading
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Running “Our Town”
Blog silence for the past week has been caused by the crazy culmination of rehearsals and the first performances of Our Town. It has been, to say the least, exhilarating and highly instructive. I've been a bit coy up to… Continue reading
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“Inception:” Zhuangzi on Steroids
We saw the movie, "Inception," last night (reviews here and here). It was fun. An exploration of the dynamics of dreaming and the boundary between dreams and reality. Visually stunning but not all that challenging philosophically (or should I say… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 