Month: April 2020

  • Enveloped

    Dreaming of my days traveling and exploring the oceans. Like here in Palau, getting ready to submerge for a night dive with one of my best friends. Underwater, you are profoundly yourself. You rely on your skills, on the integrity of your mind. There are no doubts. There is only peace and focus. Your buddy…

  • Masks

    The German tendency to have everything well-organized and structured has irritated me ever since I can remember. To be fair, amazing things come of this kind of ingrained discipline. German craftsmanship, efficiency, and timeliness, for example are indisputably amazing. I see my German roots in my own behavior. Always on time. Perfectionist. Disciplined. Hard working.…

  • Boo, Lara, and Bocelli

    Thinking of this little family today. I found them in a pet store in Macau, in 2010. They had just been rescued from the street. A cat with three kittens. All of them were horribly sick. They had any infection you could think of… cat flu, ear infections, eye infections, ringworm, etc. One of the…

  • Entertainment With a Splash: a History of Aquatic Shows

    Ever wondered when the first aquatic theatres with moving lifts were built? When the first performer fell off a bridge into an artificial lake beneath? Or how it felt to be underwater with wild circus cats, goats, and pigs? Aquatic circus shows are technological wonders of our time… or so we think. In this stunning…

  • That Immortal Spark

    We can only ever find happiness in the moment, can’t we. Nothing ever lasts. All happiness we feel we have attained can be taken away in an instant, at any time, by circumstances, or even by the people we love and have learned to trust with all our heart… Unless we have found that immortal…

  • Under the Big Top with Zirkus Knie: Birth of a Passion

    Come run away with me to the circus… in my article on TheatreArtLife, pondering the intricacies of life backstage… In the words of Geraldine and Franco Knie: “This is our life. It’s what we grew up with. We don’t know anything else. We learned from an early age that the show takes priority over anything…

  • ‘Revenge is Sour’ – an Essay by George Orwell

    Recently, I read “The Situation is Hopeless But Not Serious” by Paul Watzlawick. In his book (which I can highly recommend), the author at one point quotes passages from an essay George Orwell wrote after the 2nd World War… Here is one quote from ‘Revenge is Sour’: “But what this scene, and much else that…

  • ELĒKRŎN – The Fast and the Voltaic

    In my latest article on TheatreArtLife, let me lure you into the fast and furious world of ELĒKRŎN, the arena stunt show I worked for in Macau from Nov 2018-July 2019. “Our performances were a potpourri of color, flying popcorn, and smoking tires, and they came alive with an atmosphere of joyfulness and audacity.” Read…

  • Couches

    I’m having a tough time today. Last year in October, I lost my home. How I miss my beautiful, quiet little sanctuary with a view of the ocean, warmth, sun-flooded rooms, a gorgeous rooftop beneath the stars, and a charming neighborhood. I miss the sweet smell of egg tarts wafting through open windows in the…