iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Today, some out of town friends from Ohio are on the East Coast for the first time. They want to visit Salem MA. I'm going to join them there this morning. I don't plan to dress up for it. Side note: I am descended from George Jacobs Sr. who at 83 was the oldest of the people they executed.

130

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

We're going through a very complicated commedia scenario called "Li Scambi". This is our third time through it, and it will take a lot of work to straighten it out, but I think it can be done. It is a high energy play with a lot is mistaken identity and letters.

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We looked at Act 3 of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida today. Somewhere in there was mentions a Tercel, so a second discontinued model of Toyota in this play. Are there more? I wonder if Avalon gets mentioned somewhere.

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I had a mostly good 24-hours. One downer was that a newish friend was in an emotionally fragile state, and tried to make a helpful comment that rattled me. I rejected her help. She needed some help to get back on track. I feel bad about that. Other things are terrific! -- more ->

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Recently got digital copies of some old pictures because my great aunt's daughter recently passed away. I can do all the sadness for the passing, no need to support me on that. While I still have no pictures of my great grandfather, here is a picture of his dog, Mr. Giggs.

220

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

So many women like sweet Basil because he brings free pizza dough.

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have just finished reading (in print, not as an audiobook) "Directing Intersectionally", which is a non-fiction book about practical approaches to inclusive theater. It's been helpful, and the authors seems to have similar ideas to my approach, but they also have the academic vocabulary.

130

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I caught a sniffle. It's been a while since I got one. Nice to know I can still outrun them.

021

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#CdAHistory we went through an odd play today, and luck brought one of the wonderful young people I met in Finland to the session. It's a gray wet day, but I am feeling very cheerful.

110

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I wish I could figure out what inspires me to get going on a project in such a way that I could contrive to make it happen more or less at will. I bring this up because today the muse whispered in my ear, and I am underway again. Coulda started four months ago.

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I finished listening to Moore's "Serpent of Venice", and have just begun "Shakespeare for Squirrels". So far it is also entertaining. Also today, I am going through Act 2 of "Troilus and Cressida" with my every other Thursday Shakespeare group.

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#CdAHistory This afternoon we went through an old play that had previously defied explanation, but on this pass through it, we made it all make sense. The title character of the play is a servant-girl named 'Perna' which suggests that we need some large round prosthetic buttocks for her.

000

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I went to see the puppet show. It was actually two 45 minutes shows, one with puppets, and another one with a man talking to his previously recorded self on a television. The first show was by a performer who used a wheelchair doing a show with a public domain Steamboat Willy era Mickey Mouse. more

310

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I have a mostly low-key day today, catching up on editing scenarios and maintaining a database, but this evening, I have a bi-monthly Commedia dell'Arte meeting, and also tickets to see a puppet show. Fun things tend to crowd together on my calendar.

001

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm listening to an audiobook. The narrator sounds like a young assistant pastor reading a long old testament lesson. The text holds my interest, but I may have been spoiled by listening to several consecutive well-narrated books before this one. No names. Not bad-mouthing anyone.

110

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I have felt unmotivated today. Did I eat too much dessert yesterday, or is it just that I'm listening to a slower, less witty audiobook while trying to exercise? Hard to know. Maybe it's none of the above. Press on!

031

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Going through the Shakespeare play "Troilus and Cressida". Some of the sexual imagery seems more obvious than usual. e.g. Act 1, scene 3, line 304, Nestor says of his young wife: "I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver". Is this the earliest known use of 'beaver' to mean lady parts?

100

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#CdATroupes We had a rehearsal last night for a play in which characters disguise themselves as other actors. These are always complex shows that take some time to work who knows that it is a disguise, and how do people react. It's good we have a lot of rehearsals. ... or do we?

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

#CdAHistory It's been a while since posting here, but things have been happening. Chiara and I just did the 2nd pass translation of a play called "The Four Fake Possessions" but in the play five people pretended to be possessed. It was similar to the Scala play of the same name.

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Considering their impact on the music world shortly before his emergence on the scene, you'd think there would have been more Beatles songs parodied by Weird Al Yankovic. There was Taxman -> Pacman, and a quick bit of Hey Jude in a medley... and this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0-...

youtube.com

"Weird Al" Yankovic You Never Gave Me A Tuneup

YouTube video by Rare Weird Al

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

One of my biggest worries about the next year has been relieved in a great way. I had been thinking that I'd need to use AI to help transcribe a really long old Italian manuscript, but a wonderful person I made as a friend last Winter is doing it faster and better than AI.

040

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Someone asked: How many Commedia dell'Arte have a prop that is a large box that someone hides in, and that it gets moved apparently with someone inside it (i.e. we need to use a stage magic trick to empty the box before moving it). Answer, I don't know yet, but many troupes needed such a box.

130

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Tomorrow, I'm going with friends to see "Coyote vs. ACME" in the late morning.

100

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Another day of much Commedia dell'Arte. I have sessions at noon and 7:30PM for going through plays ("The Exchanged Babies", and "The Pageboy and the Letters"). In between I have a translation session from anther manuscript ("The Interested Lover"), plus a first translation of newly transcribed:

310

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

In half an hour I have a meeting with the teenagers about which Commedia dell'Arte scenario to do this Autumn. I've got a coupe of good ones, but they'll need to trim them to remove a couple characters.

140

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Yay! Getting back on track! Today Chiara and I translated Act 1 of play 1 from the next collection. The play-through teams will get this play probably in December or January, but I have a few steps to do on it before we do that. I feel less like a dry leaf in a November gale.

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Here's another clip from a year later. This show resulted in some new rules at the theater, the first of which was inspired by this scene. See if you can guess what the rule is.

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Here is a short video clip from 15 years ago, with several of us who are involved in an upcoming Commedia dell'Arte symposium next May.

000

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I have a few non-commedia dell'arte things on my calendar in the next week or two (e.g. going out to vote), but aside from them, It's full steam ahead for many weeks.

000

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

For anyone curious about that Astronomy forum, here's the link to the freshly updated and decorrupted forum: forum.cosmoquest.org

forum.cosmoquest.org

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I've been moderator/admin for a big astronomy forum for twenty-something years, and it looks like it is about to end. AI bots are crawling the forum so often that each http request takes a large fraction of a minute to respond. Forum software can't defend itself. We're probably going read-only.

220

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I don't usually remember dreams in the morning. I won't bore you with details, but I have relatively vivid recollections of three last night. They all involve trying to stay polite while waiting. [Highway on CT-NY boarder area, Friends gathering before roadtrip, Pizza].

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I am listening to a series of audio-books while exercising. The series is "Dungeon Crawler Carl". It is a very easy listen.

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Today I have a meeting planned. I'll say more about it after the meeting, but it is potentially an incremental (but big to me) step in my business, and a pathfinder for similar steps. Thanks in advance to CS and BG (full names later) for suggesting it.

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I'm not going to link to any for fear of propagating them, but FB is sending me lots of cute looking cartoony videos that all suggest that marriage is bad, wives are bad, and young men are much better off single.

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I now have less than a year to my self-imposed deadline for a bunch of books I am planning to publish. I'm thinking I will do the best I can, and not kick myself if some of them come out later than planned. Eventually, I'll need to schedule book tours. That'll be based on any new deadline.

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

... But here's a vague thing. Some people I know and like did a brave thing a few years ago. It was brave because it was dangerous and could affect people's lives, but could also have helped someone in a very fragile situation. It went very bad, but I care about all parties.

010

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I haven't posted here in a while. I've been out camping. Things I report on here are starting to happen again. I'll be posting non-vague things soon.

010

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Still not quite packed. I have a Zoom meeting to look at the play "The Fake Husbands" with the UK group. That's from 1 to 3. My plan is to be in the car driving West by 3:15, and spend the night in Buffalo.

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Had lunch at a local fast food restaurant. There was a non-white man at a table clearly having a business meeting on a phone, and otherwise being pleasant. The guy behind the cash register looked like an angry J6er, and was killing time by giving threatening and angry looks at the suit-guy.

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Getting ready for two weeks away. Gotta set my daily stuff up to not run out till after I get back. I still have some packing to do, but I think I've only got a couple hours left of that to do.

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Today, I am thinking through problems and ambiguities from last night's play. The solution is there somewhere. Basically there is a letter about one (or two) young woman/women from the mother of at least one of them that resolves the issue of who can marry whom.

000

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Currently going through a play for what seems like the eighth time. There are two versions of the play in the collection, and this is one that we are rehearsing for Pennsic. By the end I will have a solid understanding of this one, beyond most other plays.

010

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Busy day, and more days ahead. I leave for a big camping trip on Friday.

030

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

We had a great Shakespeare session today. We did Act 2 of Antony and Cleopatra

040

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

The UV index this morning has to be near zero. The thick smoke is blocking the shortest wavelengths.

110

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I watched a miniseries on Hulu about Genghis Khan. It was good. I realized that I didn't know how short-lived the Mongol expansion was.

120

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

On August 11th, we will start rehearsing for an in person Commedia dell'Arte show for the weekends of October 16th and 23rd. This is an unusually long advanced notice for us. Will we use this to do better on publicity? Show and venues are still TBA. We're waiting to see who is in the cast.

020

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Today, I plan to take the tour of a new rail trail segment that might get built. Later, I'll call my sister and wish her a happy birthday.

000

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

With the UK Group we are doing the five act version of the three act play that i Sebastiani and Friends will perform at Pennsic in three and a half weeks on August 4th. These people are hilarious!

110