PASS THE SALT, PLEASE headed to Big Sur!

Our short film will screen June 30 in Big Sur, Cali. Very cool. Don't have the venue details yet - they're continually updating their site. Click here. I'll keep you in the loop. That's 2 of 3 festivals thus far! WHOO!

"Hey, Mom! I'm judging a beauty pageant!

FB users click here for video. Yesterday (Saturday). Springfield, IL. First experience. Got paid + 2 free meals + hotel. Ha, ha, ha. Laugh it up. Toured the Lincoln museum (which was excellent) AND "bumped" into the head of the Illinois Film Office - so I made a nice contact. The contestants ranged from babies (ugh) up to the 17-28 age group. Slim pickin's in the later group, though there was a beauty that I'm sure will take that crown (they were announcing the winners today but I had to get back to Milwaukee to tech the play I'm in - FOOL FOR LOVE at The Alchemist Theatre in Bayview, June 3-18...click here for details, then click "tickets" within that link on top left corner).

Like many people, I have an issue with babies and kids under - I don't know....10-years-old - and the whole pageant scene. Some of these little girls are dolled up wayyy beyond what I think is appropriate (JonBenet Ramsey-esque) and I did see an occasion where one mother jerked her daughter off the stage (the daughter wasn't finding her Cecil B. DeMille moment) and the mother was heard to say, "You just threw away your crown!". 5, 6, 7-year-old kid. Nuts.

I'd do it again. It's a paying gig. And did some networking. How different is contesting in a beauty pageant than acting on stage?

TGIF! presents...The Honey Badger!!

Thanks, Nicko! Hilarious...and there are more in this series. Come on, honey badger, you stupid little bitch! YOU ROCK!

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Separated at Birth? Bo Johnson & Eric Idle.

Bo Johnson, Milwaukee actor, director, musician, tech head (what else does this man do? - oh, he's directing me in FOOL FOR LOVE at The Alchemist Theatre...opening next week...click right here for tickets)...where was I? Oh, Bo Johnson with longer hair (top) and a younger Eric Idle from Monty Python. Don't be blind. It's uncanny. Eric Idle's directing me! I mean, Bo Johnson is directing me!

Ain't all good craic for Queen Liz.

Being an Irishophile, I get why Northern Ireland hates England. I think most people get that. When the Queen visited the Republic of Ireland last week - first time since a UK monarch has set foot there since the Republic gained its independence in 1922 - I wasn't quite sure why a UK monarch hadn't visited Ireland since 1922 until I read the accounts of Queen Elizabeth's visit. Most, I think, welcomed her. Many didn't.

In 1920, British troops opened fire on a crowd of people attending a Gaelic football match at Croke Park Stadium, killing 14. The killings, it's said, were a retaliation for the murder of 14 British intelligence officers by the IRA.

That's a long time for an independent Ireland to carry a grudge, though I do empathize. It's also a fucking long time for a UK monarch NOT to visit Ireland. What's their rationale for that? Still pissed and holding a grudge that Ireland gained its independence? Is that why England's still holding onto Northern Ireland?

Fuckin' Brit parliament. FREE NORTHERN IRELAND!

"Him".

“Him”

In the wind, I feel Him.
In the water, I see Him.
In the earth, I touch Him.
In the rain, I taste Him.
In a storm, I hear His thunder.

In Nature, I am graced by God.

(I left this note in a "guestbook" at my Aunt Ruthie's cabin in Lac Du Flambeau, 20 minutes from where we were fishing in Lake Tomahawk.)

Jeff Ircink's golfing tip #1.

Don't take your eye off the ball.

We just returned from our annual walleye fishing trip up in Lake Tomahawk, WI. It's the only time I golf. Got out twice and improved each day. I still suck. But the best part of my game is at the tee. Well...this shot isn't a good example. But I redeemed myself. You gotta watch the whole video - I'm last.

FB users click here. Golfers in order: Bruce Hranicka, Dave Hranicka (brothers), Jason Ircink (my brother), Uncle Fran Ircink (lefty, dad's youngest brother), and then me. Dad doesn't golf.

TGIF! presents....Anything by Gordon Lightfoot!

Headin' "Up North" to Lake Tomahawk tomorrow morning for my annual walleye fishing trip. Gone for a week. No phone. No internet. And that's good. Whenever I hear Gordo it makes me think of this trip...and of the woods, the outdoors, Nature. A poet for our times. Enjoy...see ya in a week.

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"Pass the Salt, Please" headed to Sydney!

Funny. I couldn't get my play, "Pass the Salt, Please", beyond the semi-finals at Short+Sweet/Sydney, but lo and behold, our short film, Pass the Salt, Please, has been officially selected to the 58th Sydney Film Festival, June 8-21. Here's the link to our film. Short. Sweet. Sydney.

WHOO! That's a prestigious festival, dating back to 1954. All associated with the film feel like pretty little girls in our Easter bonnets. I'm kidding (maybe the director, Tat).

Among the celebs to be represented (on film) at this year's festival: actors - Gael García Bernal, Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Michelle Williams, Cate Blanchette, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Paul Giamatti, Peter Mullan; directors - Kevin McDonald, Paddy Considine; producers - Ridley Scott, Tony Scott. And, of course, our contingent - Fionnula Flanagan, Seymour Cassell, Tatjana Najdanovic, Radha Mitchell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Arthur Edstrom, Diana Jackson, Max Maksimovic and me.

No - I'm not attending. Not this one. Can't hit'em all and I expect there'll be more festival invites (knock on wood). Still...WHOOO!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

This is the first Mother's Day I've spent at home in something like 20 years or so. Our annual walleye fishing trip which normally falls on this weekend was moved to next week. Dee (my mom) will hate this picture. It was taken by Cindy Lesky at the staged play reading of my one-act in September 2010. But I think it captures my mother's essence well (and I can see she's intensely listening to the play reading).

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.

- George Cooper

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you.

Cindy Lesky's "Winter Treeline".

I commissioned Cindy to do an art piece as a giveaway (which doubled as my playbill) for my one-act staged play reading in September 2010 (click here to see that art piece). She took this photograph in Cedarburg or Grafton (I think), then did her manipulation magic that she does and posted it on her FB site. I've been looking for something above my bed but...easier said then done.

Until now. It looks as I imagined it. Perfection. And she has since informed me that the print is 1 of 1 - meaning it's one of a kind. Now - hanging it...that's another story.

Do you have any idea (unless you're Good Will Hunting) what goes into hanging a picture above a headboard properly?

Naughty nuns.

Nooooo....not the movie starring Kayden Kross (is there one?). This story.

Funny - the Democrats have been blaming everyone and their mothers for election tampering, fraud, blah, blah, blah and it was the nuns all while.

TGIF! presents...The Civil Wars' "20 Years"!

Check out this previous blog post on the band and some of their tuneage.

Fishing in days of yore.

Spring 2002. Me, Uncle Fran and Jason up at the Rainbow Flowage in Lake Tomahawk. We leave for our trip a week from Friday and we're all getting psyched - Jas, me, Dad, Uncle Fran, Gary, Dave & Bruce. 20 years now, I think? Something like that.

This picture hangs above my desk. This fish hangs in my office as well.

the sun'll come out tomorrow....

A beautiful end (flowers from garden) to a shite day. But as "Annie" says....there's always tomorrow.

Bye, bye.

BL is RIH (resting in hell). I don't know why but I'm suddenly thinking of this song. Big shouts out to our US military men who elimated this assface.

"Art". August 12 &13. Summerstage Delafield.

I was at the Milwaukee Art Museum yesterday to view the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit (which was excellent) and I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to have my picture taken next to this art piece.

Is it? Art? Jury's out and I ain't opening up that can o' worms. But I'm directing a reading of Yasmina's Reza's Tony-award winning play, "Art", this August at Summerstage Delafield (in Delafield, WI). Outdoor theater. BYOB (I think they sell beer there as well).

We all have opinions on "what constitutess art?". What's aesthetic? What's pleasing to our eye. A classic 1960 Ford Thunderbird. A custom-made long bow. A manicured lawn or lush, flower garden. A jar of homemade jelly (or homemade Wisconsin maple syrup - which you can buy for $12 per 12 ounce bottle). A crucifix in a jar of urine...you know.

"Art" humorously discusses this very subject. Come out to Delafield this August. Check out tickets at Summerstage Delafield. It's not too early to book your tickets. Limited lawn chair seating, you know. ;)

Airline "cuts" fees?? Watch for low flying pigs & Happy Monday!

Frontier Airlines (the airlines whose parent company, Republic, scooped up Milwaukee's beloved Midwest Airlines) is cutting it's fee IN HALF for customers who change their tickets AND is offering a $5 discount for passengers who check their bags online.

They've even continued offering a free, freshly made chocolate chip cookie (Midwest's idea). Now if we could just get the comfortable, Business Class seating back (again, Midwest's idea) I'd say we're in business. Oink!

In a related airline story, during my recent trip to North Carolina, TSA felt the need to search my checked bag - on the way out and on the way back. So head's up, travelers...if you're transporting maple syrup or wine. (I even told the TSA agent in Milwaukee about my maple syrup and he shrugged his shoulders like "I don't care". Apparently, your boss does care, ASSHOLE!

Happy May Day!

And now....to sacrifice a virgin! Or Edward Woodward - either one will do.