A conversation with Seattle
Where in American Utopias he seemed egged on by that self-same utopian urge, an impatient, footsore migrant of the ideal, on opening night he often spoke directly to the audience, sprinkled with reviewers, about the role of cultural arbiters, and how Ayn Rand initially slipped past those latter-day gatekeepers. Continue reading Mike Daisey: Are You Trying to Seduce Me, Ayn Rand?
“It has to do with class in America, her appeal to boot-strappers,” concluded Daisey, who sounded excited by the topic and yet restrained, keeping himself from launching into the monologue then and there. Continue reading Mike Daisey Takes on Ayn Rand, Utopias, and the Moon
Minute-for-minute, the show contains a greater torrent of convulsive laughter and insight than anything I think I’ve seen from Daisey before. The utopias encountered are Burning Man (one thing we all know with certainty, deep in our souls, says Daisey, is whether we need to go to Burning Man, or not), Disney World and his sister’s New Jersey annexation of its aesthetic, and the occupation of Zuccotti Park. Continue reading Mike Daisey Unmasks Our “American Utopias” at Seattle Rep
Earlier this year, The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman, himself creator of an epic Tesla v. Edison comic, heard about the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, the rather aspirational (at the time) name of a 15-year-old non-profit that hoped to reclaim Wardenclyffe, where Tesla tried for 17 years to build a massive wireless communications tower. Continue reading Internet Makes Progress Building U.S. Tesla Museum
One of the more compelling responses to Mike Daisey’s hilarious, blistering monologue, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (at Seattle Rep through May 22), comes from a surprising source: the “forgotten” Apple genius, Steve Wozniak.
The Woz told the New York Times: “I will never be the same after seeing that show.” Saying he was brought to tears, Wozniak offered this thumbnail review: “Mike was living the pain of what he was describing as he told it.” Continue reading An Apple Turnover From Mike Daisey’s Oven