That Guy.

Getty Images for the Critics' Choice Awards

Erlich, the name of the popular character T.J. Miller played on Silicon Valley until last monthwhen he departed the show in a blaze of whatever the opposite of glory isis a variation on ehrlich, the German word for honest that is also used as a stand-alone expressionEhrlich?meaning, Really?

This is, coincidentally, how much of humanity felt when we beheld this astounding profile of Miller by Vultures David Marchese, a profile worth reading in its entirety but whose deadpan brilliance is well-distilled into the following sentence:

The Mucinex seems to have no role other than satisfying the strange terms of his sponsorship deal; the facial mist he uses to punctuate the staggering stream of (possibly Aurelius-inspired) word salad to which he subjects Marchese and the world at large.

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This particular sort of pontificationname-dropping the Stoic philosophers and persuasion theory, issuing proclamations such as In the American Zeitgeist, you have to recognize that there is no Zeitgeist (yes, that is a direct quote)is a phenomenon you dont have to be a Heideggerian to encounter. Indeed, anyone who has been within 10 miles of a graduate school has met That Guy, a dude exactly like T.J. Miller: the first- or second-year Ph.D. student in comp lit or whatever whos just started reading Deleuze and thinks hes blown the universe wide open.

Of course, it doesnt take a Ph.D. to see that T.J. Miller is definitively The Worst and almost certainly full of horsenuggets, but I just happen to have a largely unused doctorate sitting around and can thus explain exactly, and to what extent, his particular brand of horsenuggets resembles the seminar-room stylings of every graduate programs That Guy since time immemorial.

Take, for example, his claim that Nietzschean moral relativism is frustrating, because its so dangerous. The only thing first-year grad students love more than Two-Buck Chuck is being so over Nietzsche whilst having read a negligible amount of him. Assuming that Miller is referring here to select snippets from Genealogy of Morals, I think hes talking about Nietzsches explanation of Judeo-Christian morality as a societal construct that came out of the slave culture of ancient Greece. While the masters had lives full of pleasure, the slaves had to invent a system of morality that honored sacrifice and suffering, whose rewards came in the afterlife instead of this one. This is all very controversial if you are a seminary teacher in 1887, but when I think of the current dangers to the world, Nietzschean perspectivalism probably falls somewhere beneath I think my roommate gave my parents HBO Go password to her shifty boyfriend.

Anyone who has been within 10 miles of a graduate school has met That Guy.

Then theres the part where Miller explains that his words have no teleological destination. Ah, yes. Teleological is pretty much grad students favorite word. It comes from telos, the Greek for end. In my own first year of grad school, I insisted to a guy I was dating that he neednt worry about me pushing for a serious relationship too quickly, because I viewed romance in, I quote, a phenomenological rather than teleological sense, meaning, in the most insufferable way possible, that I was more concerned with what I was experiencing in the moment than what might happen in the future. 1) I ended up marrying that guy. 2)Teleological destination means end-based end, a piece of actual gibberish that means nothing.

Later, when asked why he doesnt quit Hollywood, Miller rolls his eyes and proclaims: Contradiction is something to pursue rather than avoid. I lied: There is one thing That Guys love more than being over Nietzsche, and thats the gleeful embrace of contradictions. Toward the end of Kafkas The Trial, a priest all but rolls his eyes and informs Josef K., Understanding something correctly and misunderstanding the same thing are not mutually exclusive. I spent a good 40 pages of my dissertation yammering about that line, and Im not proud of it. Josef K. dies.

Speaking of bad Kafka parody, Miller probably hits Peak Grad Student when he tells Marchese, If nothing means anything, then anything can mean everything. This is, alas, Nietzsche again, straight out of On Truth and Lying in the Extra-Moral Sense, founding document (more or less) of language skepticism and what some people (me) might identify as the first tremulous step onto the slippery slope of poststructuralism. Language, Nietzsche insists, only works insofar as its users insist on believing it does. I suppose the designation full of shit is, itself, just a moving army of metaphor, a coin whose face has worn off but stays in circulation, but to be sure Id need to consult the dude in my narrative theory seminar whose thing is that he doesnt wear shoes.

It doesnt take a Ph.D. to see that T.J. Miller is definitively The Worst and almost certainly full of horsenuggets.

I realize my particular antipathy toward Millers posturing comes from the discomfiting specularity of self-recognitionor, in human language, because I, too, was once an early-career graduate student and probably this insufferably confident in my own intelligence. Luckily, I grew out of it, as do most other grad studentsbeaten down as we are by the realities of an employment future of $28,000 program-director jobs, not to mention the funny thing that happens where the more you actually learn about something, the less confident you get about how much you know (#Socrates).*

The trouble with T.J. Miller, of course, is that instead of languishing in obscurity in some doctoral program, spending his teeny stipend on flip-flops and Trader Joes frozen quiche, hes a rich-ass Hollywood actor with a massive platform, surrounded by sycophants (and one long-suffering publicist).

Miller will never see his precious unifying epistemology obliterated thanks to the equalizing misery of comprehensive exams. He will never come to the lonely, sobering realization that successfully finishing a dissertation is about 97 percent tolerance for drudgery and only 3 percent successful quotation of Rabelais and correct deployment of facial misting spray. Ehrlich, T.J. Miller is probably stuck this way, a teleological destination of his own making.

*Correction, July 26: This post originally misspelled the name of Socrates.

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T.J. Miller is the worst kind of grad-school bro. - Slate Magazine - Slate Magazine (blog)

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival ends its 26th season with an energetic revival ofTroilus and Cressida.In itstraditional end-of-summer romp, the festival strives to recreate the spontaneity of Elizabethan theater by staging a play after only four days of rehearsal, scrounging set, props, and costumes from other shows.

Shakespeares play is an unwieldy blend of HomersIliadand ChaucersTroilus and Cressida, a platform for lampooningthe values of love and heroism. Its a flawed work, and directors Patrick Mulcahy and Dennis Razze give the actors lots of freedom in trying to rescue this problem play from its cardboard characters and nihilism.

Especially in the first act, the actors move the show in a cabaret direction. You laugh at the antics of Ajax (Andrew Goebel), a blockheaded man of valor. Pandarus (Carl N. Wallnau) is in the spotlight, comical as the go-between whose very name suggests pimp. Later, Troilus (Brandon J. Pierce) and Cressida (Mairin Lee) are exposed as false lovers, and revered Ulysses (Greg Wood) is reduced to the role of vicious, scheming courtier.

Almost every character is an object of ridicule. Only Hector (Luigi Sottile) invites sympathy, but hes mainly a foil for revealing the treachery of heroicAchilles (Justin Adams). Thersites (Susan Riley Stevens) may be the voice of Shakespeare, a limping slave who keeps popping up to cuss everyone out, like a Greek chorus gone crazy.

In Elizabethan England,Troilus and Cressidamay have been performed only for the Queen, perhaps full of inside jokes only those in the monarchy understood. With the pessimism that followed World War I, there was renewed interest in the play, but it never became mainstream. Its too troubled, with scenes that dont climax, and two story lines that never meld.

At his best, no writer can match Shakespeares marriage of psychological insight and poetry. Over and over, his characters deliver lines at climactic moments that buckle your knees. But there are no such moments here.Troilus and Cressidamay hold up as poetry to read, but as live theater, the orations of its burlesque, one-dimensional characters are unaffecting.

Its interesting to compareTroilus and Cressidawith the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, 300 years later. He, too, liked to examine the soft underbelly of stated beliefs and values. But Nietzsches revaluation ofallvalues includes biting criticism of the kind of cynicism that underlies Shakespeares play, and Nietzsche resonates with the larger goal of overcoming nihilism.

The same instinct motivates this revival. Isnt overcoming nihilism the goal of cabaret? Actors improve the plays climax, rushing on and off stage to create a brilliant, choreographed image that unifies confusion of values with the chaos of war. But, short of rewriting the script, the show cannot escape the burdens this play imposes suffering without meaning, ridicule for the sake of ridicule, and undramatic poetry.

Troilus and Cressida. Through Aug. 6 at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Labuda Center, DeSales University, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley. Tickets: $25-$75. Information:610-282-9455,pashakespeare.org

Published: July 31, 2017 3:01 AM EDT | Updated: July 31, 2017 3:36 PM EDT

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'Troilus and Cressida' at Pa. Shakespeare Festival: Energetic attempt to breathe life into a flawed play - Philly.com

Pakistani society lacks philosophical synthesis. Today the nations that we see as global leaders, all of them have a long history of philosophical evolution and background. It was Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau who contributed to the French Enlightenment and were instrumental figures in the French revolution. The works of Voltaire and Rousseau influenced the modern Western educational and political thought to this day. Today France is among the most powerful states on the planet. Bertrand Russell, an English philosopher, opposed the wars, primarily the Second World War (WW2). He highlighted the problems of the world and set the direction for Britains political and social governance. Bertrand Russell in his book Fact and Fiction writes that the world is facing three dangers rapid population growth, the threat of a nuclear war and climate change. It is surprising to see what Bertrand Russell predicted and analysed decades ago is still relevant today. Russell denounced fears based on superstitions and said that overcoming fear is the beginning of wisdom. He was of the view that world can only attain peace if it is led by a single government.

Similarly, John Locke, another great English philosopher and the father of modern democracy, gave the concept of modern government structure based on checks and balances. He was a staunch promoter of political freedom. Today Britain is well known for its democratic values and freedom of speech. Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher and a staunch critic of the Catholic Church, is famous for his remarkable works in the form of Beyond good and evil and Thus spokes Zarathustra. For Nietzsche, good and evil are just words and it has been used by powerful to justify their atrocities against their adversary by terming them as evil. Nietzsche along with Machiavelli is considered as the father of modern Realism, a prominent thought in international relations according to which every nation state tries to maximise her power. Today, realism along with liberalism is the base of the discipline of international relations. Many people do not recommend reading Nietzsche because he went insane and attribute him with the thought of depressive nihilism. But it was the superhuman of Nietzsche which he called Ubermensch that is full of love for life. Simone de Beauvoir, a leading proponent of Feminism, in her book The Second Sex wrote about the oppression faced by women in the society. Furthermore, her works also contributed to the rise of the second wave of feminism in which the women from around the world demanded equal property and voting rights. Though, Simone de Beauvoir never called herself a philosopher, her works are of vital importance in existentialist and feminist philosophy.

Pakistan today is facing the same problems once faced by Western nations. Democracy in Pakistan is facing many dangers and its youth is struggling in understanding the benefits of democracy because political leaders lack philosophical and political thought. The origin of our problem lies in the educational institutes. The curriculum of schools does not allow students to think beyond the artificial barriers made by society resulting in the decline of Philosophical thought. Furthermore, the other major hurdle to rational Philosophy is the believing in superstitions and dogmas. Moreover, violence against women is rampant in our society since decades and many feminists are active in promoting women rights through their respective platforms. But there is difference between feminists and feminist philosophy. It is due to the lack of feminist philosophy that Pakistani women lack clarity of thought. On other hand, it is the lack of realist philosophy that is creating hurdles in pursuing our national interests.

Similarly, just like European Renaissance which takes all its roots and inputs from Muslim demise, the importance of Western philosophy needs to be highlighted as West is home to those enlightenment philosophers who laid the foundation of the modern European political thought and were also responsible for European Renaissance and all reformist and revolutionary movements. Pakistan and specially its young generation badly need a philosophical synthesis for its unity to develop a worldview for its progress and national direction. Philosopher kings and leaders are missing from national discourse and narrative.

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Pakistan needs its Rousseaus and Voltaires - DunyaNews Pakistan (blog)

Few people during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources within them. There are deep wells of strength that are seldom used. Richard Boyd

I gathered with a group of friends a short time ago and our conversation diverted into the question of What If in our lives. Each of us took a look back at another time and place and thought out loud with the group, What if certain things had gone differently? In my own life, I discussed the choice of going to BYU instead of Columbia University where I had also been recruited to play football. What if I had gone on a foreign LDS mission and learned a foreign language instead of to Washington, D.C.? There are thousands of spur of the moments decisions in life that could have changed the entire direction of everything. What you majored in, jobs you took, the girl you married, places you chose to live, friends you became close to and a thousand other options.

Toward the end of George Bernard Shaws life, a reporter challenged him to play the What If game.

Mr. Shaw, he began. You have been around some of the most famous people in the world. You are on a first-name basis with royalty, world-renowned authors, artists, teachers and dignitaries from every part of this continent. If you had your life to live over and could be anybody youve ever known, the reporter asked, Who would you want to be?

Shaw responded, I would choose to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was.

What would have been your answer? Who is it you want to be? What is it you want your life to become? If you had your life to live over, what would be different? Pursuing your potential is not found attempting to be like someone else, or achieving what others have done, but by pursuing the untapped reservoir within you.

Elie Wiesel tells of a rabbi who has said that when we cease to live and go before our creator, the question asked of us will not be why we did not become a messiah, a famous leader, or answer the great mysteries of life. The question will be simply why did you not become you, the fully active, realized person that only you had the potential of becoming.

A rose only becomes beautiful and blesses others when it opens up and blooms. Its greatest tragedy is to stay in a tight closed bud, never fulfilling its potential.

The great storyteller Mark Twain told about a man who died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Realizing Saint Peter was a wise and knowledgeable person, he said, Saint, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me, who was the greatest general of all times?

Saint Peter quickly responded, Oh, that is a simple question. Its that man right over there, as he pointed nearby.

The man said, You must be mistaken, Saint Peter. I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.

Thats right, my friend, replied Saint Peter. But he would have been the greatest general of all time if he had been a general.

Beware not to shortchange your potential. All people are created with the equal ability to become unequal. Those who stand out from the crowd have learned that all development is self-development. Growth is an individual project and the crowd will stand back to let a winner shine through.

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Steve Densley: Facing the 'what if' moment in each of our lives - Daily Herald

Shaw Festival

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Play dates vary.

For info and brochure, 800-511-SHAW (7429) .

shawfest.com.

Note: you need a passport or enhanced Michigan license to cross the border to Canada. Note: you need a passport or enhanced Michigan license to cross the border to Canada.

Editors note: This is part two of two articles about the Stratford and Shaw theaters in Ontario.

In 1962, a small group of Americans and Canadians produced eight weekend performances of George Bernard Shaws Don Juan in Hell and Candida in a hall of the Court House in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

From that modest beginning was born the only theater festival in the world devoted to the plays of Shaw, his contemporaries, plays set in his lifetime and, since 2009, modern plays that reflect his values.

Early in George Bernard Shaws Saint Joan, the Archbishop of Rheims defines a miracle as an event which creates faith. Even if you know how its done, he says, if it creates faith its still a miracle. Well, we know how actors prepare, but Sara Tophams performance is still a miracle.

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In 1428-30, village girl Jeanne dArcs heavenly voices directed her to repel the English from France and elevate the bullied Dauphin to the throne (as King Charles VII). Joan defied powerful churchmen and landed gentry alike, led troops into battle, secured Charless coronation and, in 1431, was executed burned at the stake for heresy, witchcraft and sorcery.

Shaws play humanizes The Maid, as Joan was known, without stinting on the harsh realities. His play is warm, affectionate and frequently amusing, qualities realized in director Tim Carrolls excellent production. Surrounded by a cast of superb character actors, Topham inhabits Joans reverence, her youthful self-confidence at 17 (or 19, shes not sure which), her warrior persona and her maturing into the threat to the establishment. Topham delivers a Joan we cheer on even as we ache to shield her from harm.

Whether or not you are familiar with the periods church/state conflicts or with the Hundred Years War, the tale is as gripping as any youll come across. Shaw, not wanting his history of Joan to end with her execution, has her former associates and antagonists acknowledge her 1920 canonization in a ghostly epilogue, which ends with Joans emotional O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long? As movingly as Topham delivers the speech, Shaw might have written it for her.

Director Carrolls approach to Shaws Androcles and the Lion is as different from his Saint Joan as the plays are from one another. Both deal with religious martyrdom, but where Joan is a serious play leavened with humor, Androcles takes a more casual, comedic approach.

On the run from Roman persecution, the Christian Androcles extracts a thorn from the paw of a distressed lion, played by an audience volunteer. Later, the same lion spares his life in the arena. Carrolls version includes the tossing of rubber balls onto the stage by pre-selected audience members (four in each act) at times of their choosing. The balls signal a cast member to sing or share a personal anecdote, or some such.

Improvisation is less a talent than a skill, one in which the Androcles cast is unschooled. One young actor related (with guttural sound effects) how he had been spat upon repeatedly by a bully in high school, which, he told us, made him a better person. Hearing about it did not do the same for me.

Ah, but the saliva soak was but a blip between Saint Joan and Me and My Girl. The 1935 musicals book was updated by committee in 1984, but every note of Noel Gays original music is blessedly intact.

Sparks fly when brash Cockney Bill Snibson (Michael Therriault) turns up as the long-lost heir to the Earldom of Hereford. Bills devotion to his Lambeth sweetie Sally Smith (Kristi Frank) conflicts with the snooty Hereford clans efforts to dump Sally in favor of a more suitable consort.

That Bill will win them over and stick with Sally is a given. How Therriault and Frank negotiate the process is a delight. Both are first-rate singers and hoofers in true Music Hall tradition, with up-to-date verve and style. If Therriaults take on the title song and Franks beautifully sung Once You Lose Your Heart dont stick in your head, youre tonally afflicted. And the rousing Lambeth Walk is a bona fide show-stopper. Director Ashlie Corcoran captures the shows joy and playfulness (her aim). She, music director Paul Sportelli, and choreographer Parker Esse are all perfectly in sync.

The performance I attended was suspended for 20 minutes during the first act for technical difficulties then played out on the interior set, which remained stuck in place. (A croquet match in the library? So what.) Audience members, none of whom left, were invited to re-visit the show during its run. If I lived in the vicinity I would have taken the offer. Spending two more buoyant hours with this Bill Snibson and his girl? Who wouldnt?

The Shaw Festival also features The Madness of King George III, Dancing at Lughnasa, an adaptation of Dracula, and others through mid-October.

If you go: Shaw Festival is located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and play dates vary. For info and a comprehensive brochure call 800-511-SHAW (7429) or visit shawfest.com.

Note: you need a passport or enhanced Michigan license to cross the border to Canada.

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Joan of Arc, Cockney tap-dancers at Shaw Festival in Ontario - The Oakland Press

On a GAA-related visit to Carlow recently, I stopped into a pub called, of all things, The Irishmans. Curious about the name, which seemed a bit superfluous, I learned that it derived accidentally from a previous proprietor, in the days when the business was known as The Railway Hotel.

The gaelgeoir owner, Micel Nuallin, had his name thus printed over the door. So ever afterwards, the pub was identified locally as The Irishmans, as if to confuse tourists.

Among the better-known guests to have stayed in the Railway Hotel was George Bernard Shaw, who became intimately connected with the town. This is because an uncle bequeathed substantial properties in Carlow to Shaws mother and, through her, to his six stepsisters, provided that these remained unmarried, which none did.

So the properties devolved instead to a reluctant Shaw, with whose socialist beliefs landlordism sat uneasily. Over time, he donated them all to the people of Carlow.

As well as being a socialist, Shaw was also famously a vegetarian. And in a county whose natives are nicknamed the scallion-eaters (a vestige from the 19th century when Carlow supplied Dublin and much of Leinster with onions, while presumably making do with the leftovers itself), he might have expected some sympathy for his condition.

But on his 1918 visit to the hotel, as he would later recall, the woman of the house offered him a join of Carlow pig. Shaw declined, primly, on the grounds that he did not partake of dead animals or their product. To which the woman replied: You wont last long without.

In fact, he lasted another 32 years. And theres a story that shortly before he did expire, he had been given soup containing meat products, although being 94 at the time, it could hardly be blamed for killing him.

That Mchel Nuallin was a Dubliner. And the pub he was most connected with, certainly in later years, was known as The Confession Box, for reasons including its proximity to Dublins Pro-Cathedral.

But speaking of confession boxes, one of the many things I learned at the recent Flann OBrien Conference in Salzburg was the German word for gratuity: trinkgeld. I first noticed it written on a box at my hotel reception counter. And I had just enough German to work out that it meant: drinking money.

At first I thought this a local joke, until I remembered that the French have something similar. There, a tip is a pourboire (for drinking). Other European countries have their own versions. In Hungary, the word is borraval (for wine), while the Poles say napiwek (small beer).

Im told that in Germany and Austria, trinkgeld is also used by street beggars, if there are any. Which seems admirably frank, given that in Ireland and Britain, social convention demands that even the most abject Buckfast-drinker must pretend to need the money for a cup of tea.

But then I learned that trinkgeld need not imply any planned dissipation at all. In Austro-German ears, it has long shed the smell of alcohol. It just means small change, more or less, which was even more disappointing to hear after I had dropped a tenner in the hotel box.

The word frank, by the way, comes from that part of the world, being associated with the eponymous Germanic people who ruled much of western Europe at one time. The original Franks derived their name from the Latin francus, meaning free. Since only they had full freedom in their empire, frank-with-a- small-f came to be an adjective for unguarded speech.

It was a then King of the Franks, Pepin the Younger, who promoted the career of the Irish St Fergal, aka Virgil the Geometer, Bishop of Salzburg, mentioned here yesterday. Pepin the Younger was also known as Pepin the Short: a suitably frank nickname. And that tradition continued with two of his successors: Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat.

Charles was a big name in the dynasty, which also included Charlemagne, Pepins son. Interestingly, given where this column started, Pepins other son was called Carloman. But of course the aforementioned Virgil was not a Carloman, in any sense. On the contrary, before emigrating to Salzburg, he had been an abbot in what is now Laois.

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An Irishman's Diary visits The Irishman's pub - Irish Times

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

The Shaw is one of two major Canadian theater celebrations, the other being The Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Both are professional, high quality venues.

The Shaw, as Canadians refer to it, is a tribute to George Bernard Shaw, his writing contemporaries and modern plays that share Shaw's provocative exploration of society and celebration of humanity.

Many Clevelanders take the four-hour drive up to Niagara-on-the-Lake to participate in theater, tour the "most beautiful little city in Canada," shop, and eat at the many wonderful restaurants. You can even play golf and go on a rapid ride on the Niagara River.

As I walked down the main street in a t-shirt emblazoned with, "I liked Cleveland even before it was cool," I was greeted with many "Go Cavs," "Go Tribe" and "great shirt." I was even stopped by a couple from Detroit who were going to stop in CLE on the way home and wanted a list of places and restaurants to visit. Gee, I should get a job at Destination Cleveland.

This is an especially good year to go, as I found out on my recent visit. The U.S. dollar value is high against the Canadian currency (as of early August, $1 American=$1.24 Canadian). And, this season's theatre offerings are excellent.

New Artistic Director Tim Carroll has instituted an inclusion policy. Patrons are met by eager volunteers at each venue. Before each show a member of the cast comes out and introduces himself/herself. For one show, Carroll himself was our host.

In many of the productions, members of the audience are involved in the staging through interactions with the cast beforehand or actually coming on stage to be part of the goings-on. The lion in "Androcles and the Lion" was played by a young lady who indicated she had always wanted to be on stage, but never had the chance. The children of audience members were involved in "Wilde Plays."

The involvement worked well in many shows but using it in all productions is probably not a good idea. It was a major distraction in staging of "The Madness of George III."

If you are planning on going to the prettiest little town in Canada, it's a good idea to make both theatre and lodging reservations early, especially with the B&Bs on weekends. Our home away from home is the beautiful and well-placed Wellington House (www.wellington.house@sympatico.ca), directly across the street from The Festival Theatre, within easy walking distance of all the theatres, where the breakfasts are great and the furnishings lovely. For information on other B&Bs go to http://www.niagaraonthelake.com/showbedandbreakfasts.

There are some wonderful restaurants. My in-town favorites are The Grill on King Street (905-468-7222, 233 King Street), Ginger Restaurant (905-468-3871, 390 Mary Street) and Niagara's Finest Thai (905-468-1224, 88 Picton St.).

Having just returned from the Festival, I offer these capsule judgments of some of the shows: (To read the entire review of any of these, go to http://www.royberko.info.

"Me and My Girl" -- It's impossible to sit in the audience and not be carried away with The Shaw's "Me and My Girl." It is a charming, dynamic, fun-filled must see-production. (runs through October 15)

"Saint Joan" -- "Saint Joan," under the direction of Tim Carroll, is a masterful piece of theater. The production is clear in its intent and purpose and compels the audience to be a part of history. Bravo! (runs through October 15)

"Androcles and the Lion" -- The Shaw's "Androcles and the Lion" is a total delight while leaving no doubt of the writer's negative views about organized religion and oppressive politics. The entire production is free of pretense, is audience centered, fresh, and a must see for anyone interested in experiencing inclusive theatre at is finest. Of the 2017 season's shows, this is probably my favorite! (runs through October 7)

"Wilde Tales" -- Christine Brubaker's direction is creative, the casts are excellent, and the over-all effect is fun, educational and stimulating. This is a wonderful example of children's theater for those of all ages. (runs through October 7)

"The Madness of George III" -- In spite of some questionable directorial decisions, "The Madness of George III" is a play well worth seeing. The script provides a fascinating view of a historical figure not often exposed to the public and Tom McCamus gives a tour de force performance in the lead role. (Runs through October 15)

Shows I didn't see because they were in previews or haven't opened, but are part of the season are: "Dracula" (through October 14), "1837: The Farmer's Revolt" (through October 8), "An Octoroon" (through October 14), "Middleton," (through September 10), "1979" (October 1-14).

For theater information, a brochure or tickets, call 800-511-7429 or go online to http://www.shawfest.com. Ask about packages that include lodging, meals and tickets. Also be aware that the festival offers day-of-the-show rush tickets and senior matinee prices.

Go to the Shaw Festival! Find out what lovely hosts Canadians are and see some great theater!

Don't forget your passport as it's the only form of identification that will be accepted for re-entry into the U.S.

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BWW Review: A Clevelander's View of the Shaw Festival - 2017 - Broadway World

Remember when the early weeks of August saw a lull on the Central Florida theater scene? Not anymore.

Six count them, six adult theater productions open this Friday, Aug. 4. Thats in addition to several shows that will continue their run. And these shows offer a wide variety of entertainment from comedy to drama to musical, from old-school to modern, from child-friendly to adults only.

Heres a sampling:

Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park opens Good Kids. Set in a Midwestern high school, the contemporary drama explores what happens when a casual sexual encounter goes wrong, in part because of the pervasiveness of social media. Although the word kids is in the title, dont be fooled. Because of its themes, this show is not for children. Good Kids runs through Aug. 13; go to breakthroughtheatre.com or call 407-920-4034 for more information.

If youre looking for a show suitable for children, St. Lukes Theater is opening Disneys Beauty and the Beast at its brand-new performing-arts venue on Apopka-Vineland Road in southwest Orange County.

Each summer, the Methodist church offers a big musical; Beauty and the Beast will once again be directed by Steve MacKinnon. Most are familiar with Disneys version of the fairy tale and the fun Alan Menken-Howard Ashman songs, including Be Our Guest.

Beauty and the Beast runs through Aug. 13. For more information, go to st.lukes.org/beautyandthebeast.

Music is also onstage at The Abbey, in downtown Orlando, where Florida Theatrical Association is opening the new musical comedy Joyce Jacksons Guide to Dating.

Set in 1958, Guide to Dating spoofs the eras gender roles while parodying an actual dating guide published at the time. Kenny Howard directs the show, which runs through Aug. 14.

For more information, go to http://www.TicketFly.com.

Theres more comedy in Lake County, where the Melon Patch Players of Leesburg will open The 39 Steps. The show takes Patrick Barlows spy novel (turned into an Alfred Hitchcock film) and re-imagines it as fast-paced farce. A cast of just four portrays all the characters in the plots twists and turns.

The 39 Steps runs through Aug. 20. For more information, go to melonpatchplayers.org or call 352-787-3013.

Tom Hurst/courtesy

Sheryl Carbonell (from left), Stelson Telfort and Johnny Lee Davenport star in "Fences" at Mad Cow Theatre.

Sheryl Carbonell (from left), Stelson Telfort and Johnny Lee Davenport star in "Fences" at Mad Cow Theatre. (Tom Hurst/courtesy)

Two Orlando theaters have family in mind.

The Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House is opening Daddy Issues. In the new comedy, set in the 1980s, a gay man enlists a neighbor kid to pretend to be his son in a desperate effort to get along with his parents.

The production, directed by Tim Evanicki, will be the first time the show has been seen outside New York City. For more information, go to parliamenthouse.com/footlight-tickets.

Finally, Mad Cow Theatre opens August Wilsons Fences. Set in the 1950s, the story follows Troy, a garbage man who struggles to keep his family afloat while battling his disappointment over missing out on a career in professional baseball.

Tony Simotes will direct the award-winning drama, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film.

Fences runs through Aug. 27. For more information, go to madcowtheatre.org or call 407-297-8788.

Meanwhile, Winter Park Playhouses Some Enchanted Evening continues its run (click to read my review of the show).

And three other productions enter their final weekend.

The Music Man, that great musical about a lovable conman who loses his heart to a prim librarian, is onstage through Sunday at the Sonnentag Theatre at the IceHouse in Mount Dora. Go to icehousetheatre.com or call 352-383-4616.

Jeremy Seghers production of Saint Joan wraps its run on Saturday. In the play, George Bernard Shaw dramatically recounts the story of Joan of Arc, the medieval peasant girl who became commander of the French army before being burned at the stake at the age of 19.

Saint Joan is playing at the Fred Stone Theatre on the Rollins College campus in Winter Park. For more information, go to eventbrite.com.

And Playwrights Round Table closes its Summer Shorts on Sunday. The program consists of a variety of short, newly written plays. Its running at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando; for more information, go to orlandoatplay.com or call 407-761-2683.

mpalm@orlandosentinel.com

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You want theater? We got theater - Orlando Sentinel

Osh (, osh) is a Buddhist priest (in charge of a temple);[1] honorific title of preceptor or high priest (esp. in Zen or Pure Land Buddhism). The same kanji are also pronounced kash as an honorific title of preceptor or high priest in Tendai or Kegon Buddhism and waj as an honorofic title of preceptor or high priest in Shingon, Hoss, Ritsu or Shin Buddhism.

Osh is the Japanese reading of the Chinese h shang (), meaning a high-ranking Buddhist monk or highly virtuous Buddhist monk. It is also a respectful designation for Buddhist monks in general and may be used with the suffix -san.

According to the Kjien Japanese dictionary and the Kanjigen dictionary of Chinese character source meanings, it is originally derived from the Sanskrit upadhyaya, meaning "master" in the sense of "teacher".

The literal meaning is "self-taught Buddhist monk/teacher"[web 1] The Chinese term "he-shang" is derived from the Sanskrit word upadhyaya or acharya:

As the new Buddhist students and scholars, who eventually became teachers and practitioners, had to give a name to themselves, they came up with a name in Khotanese dialect that supposedly translated the Sanskrit word upadhyaya which

meant 'teacher". It is also possible that it is a translation (or transliteration) of the Sanskrit word acharya, an Indian word that has a higher connotation--a teacher of religion, or the truth itself.[web 1]

The standard English translation of osh has become priest, it has a somewhat different connotation in Zen:

While priest may be associated with ceremonial functions which cause many Western Zen practitioners to balk there is another way to read the term, simply as a "technologist of the spirit." Within the Zen tradition, this would suggest a certain mastery of one or more of the Zen arts of contemplation. If we consider the word priest literally means elder, from the Latin presbyter, a Zen priest would be both a trained technologist of the spirit and an elder with the community.[web 2]

According to the Kjien, the two characters making up the word are actually pronounced osh only in the Zen and Pure Land sects. For example, they are read kash in the Tendai sect and waj in the Shingon sect.

Osh became an honorific title for Zen-masters", meaning "harmonious respect":

When the Zen masters referred to themselves, or their disciples addressed them, they would often use this word, heshang. As it originally meant simply a "self-taught Buddhist monk/teacher" Zen masters would often speak of themselves in this vein - "this old heshang is going to sleep now."--indicating a kind of self-deprication in front of their students - as if "I am just like you, not more advanced or better, just a student really." But as it is with disciples, this is hard for them to accept, the master is of course much more evolved, much higher. When a Zen disciple used this word heshang to address his master, it took on a much more reverential connotation, as if combining high respect and love simultaneously.[web 1]

An example of its use is in Rinzai's teachings:

29.a. Followers of the Way, I hold the transmission of the generations from Mayoku Osho, Tanka Osho, Doitsu Osho, Rozan Osho, Sekikyo Osho. All have gone the same way. Nobody could believe in them, all were reviled.

Doitsu Osho's actualization was pure, it was not coarse. None of his three hundred or five hundred students could make out his meaning.Rozan Osho was free and true, master of his actualization, whether adapting it or going contrary. But none of his students could fathom his vast horizon and were startled.Tanka Osho played with the pearl (of wisdom, hidden in the sea), sometimes hiding it and sometimes revealing it. He was slandered by all students who came to him.[web 3]

In St Zen, to become an osh, teacher, two more steps are to be taken after dharma transmission, namely ten-e and zuise.[web 4]

Ten-e means "to turn the robe":[web 4]

Unsui (training monks) are allowed to wear only black robes and black o-kesa [...] [T]en-e is the point in the career of a Soto monk when you are finally allowed to wear a yellow-brown robe.[web 4]

After zuise one becomes an osh, whereafter one may become the resident priest in one's own temple.[web 4] Hereby one can gain the highest rank:

After you become the head priest at your own temple and hold a practice period there for the first time (with one student acting as the shuso), you will finally reach the highest rank of dai-osho.[web 4]

To supervise the training of monks, further qualifications are necessary:

The relatively low status of dharma transmission means that in and of itself it does not qualify one to accept students or to train disciples. According to the regulations, Zen students should be supervised only by a teacher who has attained supervisory certification (i.e. sanzen dj shike status), that is, someone who in the popular literature might be called a Zen master. To attain supervisory certification requires not just high ecclesiastical grades and dharma seniority but also at least three years' experience as an assistant supervisor at a specially designated training hall (tokubetsu sd), during which time one undergoes an apprenticeship.

The term became well known in the west when Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh started to call himself Osho.

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Osh - Wikipedia

The Sky Blue Stars gaffer is still confident his side can still escape relegation this season despite going seven games without a win

Remo Stars coach Fatai Osho insists his side still have until the last day of the season to avoid relegation from the Nigerian topflight.

First half strikes from Nwagua Nyima and Sikiru Karma condemned the relegation-destined Sky Blue Stars to a 2-0defeat to Kano Pillars at the Sani Abacha Stadium.

And the former Crown FC handler has blamed fatigue and his players' inexperience for their loss to Ibrahim Musa's men and poor run this season.

"It's another bad result for us but regardless of the situation we may have found ourselves, we will fight till the last day," Osho told media.

"It's not easy playing with these set of players in the NPFL and at this level you have recruit the players yourself and work on them.

"I am not taking anything away from those players, this is first time most of my boys are playing at this level. We had some of our U19 boys in the senior team.

"Though we flew to Kano but the stress was still there because we came into Kano like three hours to the game.

"Until we are mathematically out, we shall continue to fight. I think we played below average against Kano Pillars, the boys are far better than this but I think they looked tired.

"We had to change tactics in the second half, it was like a damage control, we left them to play and tried to contain them if not, it would have been a complete disaster."

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Osho not giving up on Remo Stars' relegation battle - Goal.com