Starstruck by Guy Kawasaki, Mary Pickford & P.S.69

I was totally starstruck today by three stars yesterday.

* Guy Kawasaki
First off, the great Guy Kawasaki (also known as Mr. Garage.com), left the symbolic first message on my blog yesterday. You can’t imagine how thrill I was. My WordPress blog was brand new and I got a comment from Guy already! Thats so cool. You see, Guy was extremely respected in the Mac/Apple community as he was the the Chief Evangelist and then Apple Fellow for Apple Computer. And Guy is also a founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures (official name of Garage.com, a seed-stage and early-stage venture capital fund.).

So the fact that Guy (someone that I read and admire for 14 years) actually took time to read my blog entry and then send me a quick note really gave me a lot of encouragement. And I thanked Guy in a heart-felt reply that I wrote here.

* “Mary Pickford” & “P.S. 69″
I was then starstruck by “Mary Pickford” and “P.S. 69″. OK, more precisely, I was starstruck by the stars in two 2006 Calgary Fringe Festival shows last night (Sat 19 Aug) and I was wowed by the superb performances. These days, I don’t praise performances too easily (previewing over 130 films for the wonderful Calgary International Film Festival does that to me). So I think these two plays really earned my praise here.

* Living Shadows — A Story of Mary Pickford
First off, my two good friends Quynh-Mi & Allan and I went to see the play “Living Shadows — A Story of Mary Pickford” . As this show is performed by only one person (as it happens, so is our other play), therefore it has a chance to really really really suck or be really good.

Fortunately for us, Living Shadows was really good. Tracey Power (Performer/Writer) managed to engage me totally and make me care about Mary Pickford. I know of Pickford’s important role in United Artists but nothing much beyond that. So making me care, entertained and interested in the Mary Pickford’s story is no easy task. And Tracey plays so many characters at the same time which truly shows her acting abilities and understanding of the many roles in the play. Thanks to the wonderful performance of Tracey and the wonderfully creative company behind the show, last night I experienced “the charm and determination that is Mary Pickford”.

* P.S. 69
Then we went to the critically acclaimed show P.S. 69 (“a very funny examination of life as a substitute teacher in a Brooklyn school”). And we were not disappointed. Susan Jeremy (Performer/Writer) was so good and so funny that I was laughing out loud badly and at the same time was wowed by the 24 great characters that she magically sketched and created in front of our eyes.

As Susan is a real life teacher in NYC’s public school, I kept thinking about another NYC public school teacher last night — Frank McCourt. Although Susan and Frank came from totally different background and experience, but I can imagine the wonder that these public school kids must have experienced in their classes. I can imagine Frank and Susan’s ability to inspire their students to learn. By the way, if you haven’t read Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man (2005). I highly recommend you buy or borrow a copy of the Book CD from your local bookstore or library. Frank McCourt is a true master story teller and you can hear him tell his wonderful story in his Teacher Man. It was almost like sitting-in on one of his classes.

* The I-may-get-into-trouble note
Note: If your city, town or community hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing these two great shows yet, what are you waiting for? (big smile) Email Tracey or Susan, and they may be able to arrange something. By the way, I haven’t asked for Tracey’s or Susan’s permission to do this and I don’t know how fully booked they are. But I figure it is better to ask for forgiveness than not do anything. I truly hope you will enjoy these shows as much as I did.

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