iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 7h

They also bought a witches hat from a street vendor. The vendor had one that looked sort of like McCoy's hat as Radagast the Brown, and I was tempted, but passed it up.

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John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 7h

A tour might have been fun. One of us was semi-ambulatory, and walking took a long time. From the train, we went about a mile to Proctor's Ledge first, and then came back to town and saw the many great Hallowe'en decorations on houses, and waited in line to go into a shop called Ascend.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

I got a lot of good advice and new comradery from a theater history professor and author in Georgia. Lots of directions to go in. I just need the time and manpower to go in some of the directions.

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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 ->

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

I think the dog is sitting on the chair and we see them on the seat. I could be wrong it is an odd picture, and the dog's fake beard keeps distracting me from the rest of it.

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

Maybe someone who is an expert in dog fashion could date this more accurately.

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

I don't know much about the picture. My great Grandfather died in 1922, so this picture is from before then. He was born in 1880, so this image has to be from after about 1900. It was probably taken in a studio in the back of a store in Newark NJ.

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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.

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

Note, the camera angle fails to show that the dough has a non-zero price, but it has no gluten.

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

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

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

I have reached out to one of the authors to try and schedule a conversation.

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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.

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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.

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

The play is unusuall for several reasons including it having magic, but not being a pastoral. And for Pantalone arranging for his daughter Ortenzia to marry Zanni.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

He didn't give his name, but it was "N8 Puppetry", so I'm guessing yes.

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

The man talking to his pre-recorded self was a very clever bit. I don't want to say more. Look for Evan O'Television somewhere on the performance circuit.

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

The Mickey Mouse character was a hotdog vender who couldn't bear working without weed, and in the process talks with his subconscious mind and transitions to being Minnie Mouse. The puppets were pretty gritty. The over-all impact was clever.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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

I'm seeing claims that Shakespeare was using 'beaver' to mean 'bevor' which is a face guard on a helm. There's a 1927 poem looking through a keyhole to see a lady stepping into a bathtub that might be the first use.

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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?

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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?

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I saw the movie. It was very good. I recommend it to people old enough to have seen the Roadrunner cartoons.

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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.

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

Ooof, we just did "The Exchanged Babies" which was also one of the first plays we did from this collection, back in late 2024, and it really needs some work to make it clearer.

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

Glorious moment, we have ten people today for the EET-CET group, including three new ones!

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

"The Modified Weapons" (or maybe The Altered Heraldry). This last is Tiziano and my first effort at a third manuscript.

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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:

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John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Verified. I feel let down by a tech bro.

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

We selected one. It's one no one has done in centuries, but it is a funny one.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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John A. (Jay) Cross @johnacross.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Hmmm. OK, a new analysis of the situation shows that it wasn't so much the 5000 simultaneous AI crawlers that slowed down our performance, but that some hackers used an exploit so that our server hardware was cranking out content for some Indonesian Gambling operation. Will be repaired soon.

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