By MARK SARDELLA
On the surface, Uncanny Valley is about a neuroscientist at a life-extension laboratory in the mid-21st century and her relationship with a non-biological human named Julian that she played a major role in creating.
But beneath the surface, Thomas Gibbons’ play, currently at Stoneham Theatre, is about much, much more. The term “uncanny valley” is well-known in the field of robotics. It is the idea that people are fascinated by an artificial being that is almost human-like. But the closer it becomes to being truly human-like, the creepier it becomes.
Continue reading ‘Travel to Uncanny Valley at Stoneham Theatre’
Filed under: Art, Opinion, Reviews, theater, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: artificial intelligence, DNA, future, human, Lewis D. Wheeler, life-extension, Mark Sardella, Nancy E. Carroll, play, playwright, robots, science, stage, Stoneham Theatre, theater, Thomas Gibbons, Uncanny Valley, Wakefield Daily Item, Weylin Symes
Gone to pot
How things have changed.
Not so long ago, it was a given that drugs were bad, the police were good and American soldiers protected freedom and liberty at home and around the world.
These were universal values that served us well for generation after generation. Nowadays, expressing ideas that wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow a few years ago could land you in front of the Human Rights Commission.
The legalization of marijuana was nothing but a hippie pipe dream a few decades ago. Now we’re about to see pot shops in every town.
Continue reading ‘Gone to pot’
Filed under: Columns & Essays | Leave a Comment
Tags: Colorado, COPS, crime, drugs, high, Human Rights Commission, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, medicine, money, music, News, opiates, Opinion, opioids, painkiller, paranoia, pharmaceutical industry, police, Politics, pot, Question 4, recreational, stoned, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed
By MARK SARDELLA
Israel Horovitz’s new play is something of a departure for the prolific playwright and Wakefield native. Man in Snow, at Gloucester Stage Company through Oct. 23, is a long way from the gritty, working class atmosphere of a Gloucester fish-packing plant or the romantic neighborhoods of Paris – and not just geographically.
Continue reading ‘Horovitz hits new heights with ‘Man in Snow’’
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Opinion, Reviews, theater, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alaska, Ashley Risteen, avalanche, Denali, drama, Francisco Solorzano, Gary Ng, Gloucester Stage, Israel Horovitz, Japanese, Mark Sardella, mountain, Mt. McKinley, Northern Lights, Paul O'Brien, play, Ron Nakahara Man in Snow, Sandra Shipley, snow, stage, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, white, Will Lyman
Primitive Social Media
Wakefield is getting good at hosting really big parties: Festival Italia, the Holiday Stroll and Independence Day are prime examples. Soon to take its place alongside those is the upcoming Halloween spectacular, “Haunted Happenings.”
But what if you can’t make it for some reason? What’s the next best thing to being there?
Continue reading ‘Primitive Social Media’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: books, Climate Change, comedians, Cyrus Wakefield, Facebook, Festival Italia, Fourth of July, History, Holiday Stroll, Humor, Inaugural Exercises in Wakefield Mass., Instagram, Internet, John S. Eaton, Mark Sardella, media, newspaper, Opinion, Paul D'Angelo, phones, poetry, Politics, press, social media, South Reading, Tritter, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, weather
The 8.8 percent solution
It’s even worse than I thought.
A couple of weeks ago, we discussed Voter Fatigue and the steps that our state and local governments are taking to aid us in performing that onerous civic duty known as voting.
But until Thursday, September 8, I had no idea that for more than 90 percent of us, voting is not just a heavy burden. It’s damn near impossible!
Remember all the crap Phyllis Hull took earlier this year for requesting the July 19 Special Election to fill a vacancy on the Board of Selectmen?
“It will be a waste of money!” the born-again fiscal conservatives fulminated. “The turnout will be abysmal!” they railed. “Nobody will show up to vote in mid-July!” they howled. “It should be held at the same time as the State Primary in September when there are more people around to vote!” they demanded.
Well, that “wasteful” and “unnecessary” July 19 Special Election drew 50 percent more voters than the recent State Primary. That July 19 Special Election brought 2,247 voters to the polls, a turnout of 12.37 percent.
In the September 8 State Primary Election, 1,613 of Wakefield’s 18,372 registered voters made it to the polls. That’s 8.8 percent.
Continue reading ‘The 8.8 percent solution’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: elections, Fenway Park, flyers, Humor, lawn signs, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, Phyllis Hull, Politics, primary election, selectmen, voter, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item
By MARK SARDELLA
GLOUCESTER — Imagine, if you can, an oligarchic takeover of a state led by a “Palinesque” Manchurian candidate with only a hapless, dying, Occupy-style activist standing in the way of her establishing a totalitarian regime.
Forget trying to imagine it. It’s been done for you! Playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s over-the-top, absurdist, dark comedy The Totalitarians, currently at Gloucester Stage, presents just a scenario.
Continue reading ‘Totalitarian coup at Gloucester Stage’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Reviews, theater | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alex Portenko, Amanda Collins, Breean Julian, campaign, elections, Gloucester Stage, Howard Zinn, Jeff Zinn, Lewis D. Wheeler, Mark Sardella, Occupy, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, play, Politics, radical, review, Sarah Palin, The Totalitarians, theater, theatre, vote, Wakefield Daily Item
Voter fatigue
You’ve got your work cut out for you this fall.
It’s called voting, and you’re going to have to do it not once, but twice.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
Hopefully you’ve recovered from voting in the local Special Election on July 19 and have spent the summer resting and building up your strength for the State Primary on Sept. 8. Thankfully, the Presidential Election is two full months after that, so you’ll have a little time to recuperate from the Primary before you have to cast yet another ballot.
I know voting must be very hard. Why else would the state have enacted a whole set of “reforms” in 2014 designed to make voting “easier?” These reforms are set to go into effect with the Nov. 8 Presidential Election.
Continue reading ‘Voter fatigue’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: ballot, Ben Franklin, candidates, drivers license, early voting, election reform, elections, Humor, Mark Sardella, Opinion, primary, Registry of Motor Vehicles, students, town hall, transgender, Voter ID, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School
Let’s be clear
To paraphrase the late, great Dan Hicks, “How can we miss them when they won’t go away?”
Just when you thought it was safe to go to the Post Office on Saturday morning, they’re back like a bad penny – or three or four of them. The Wakefield Civic League, those guardians of our local democracy, have returned to lecture us on the true meaning of government transparency.
What outrageous scandal has prompted their latest sermon?
Continue reading ‘Let’s be clear’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Albion Cultural Exchange, Board of Selectmen, Boston Globe Spotlight Team, correspondence, Dan Hicks, Gov. Charlie Baker, government, Hallmark Health, Humor, information, Jean Nicholson, KENO, letters, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Lottery Commission, News, Opinion, Paul DiNocco, Politics, post office, Rep. Donald Wong, Rep. Paul Brodeur, town hall, Town of Wakefield, transparency, Wakefield Civic League, Zoning Board of Appeals
By MARK SARDELLA
We all know how social media has affected our own lives. We see it every time we check Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and a host of new networks springing up every day. Even those who have succeeded in resisting social media can’t avoid it entirely.
But how is social media impacting the corporate world?
Wakefield native Catherine Turco decided to find out.
In her new book, The Conversational Firm: Rethinking Bureaucracy in the Age of Social Media, she looks at how one company adopted the open communications of social media as a model for its organizational structure.
Continue reading ‘Catherine Turco authors “The Conversational Firm”’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, News, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: book, business, Carherine Turco, Christine Beagan, communication, Conversational Firm, dialogue, Diane Lind, economics, ethnography, Facebook, firm, Harvard College, Harvard University, High Tech, Joseph Neale, Mark Sardella, marketing author, MBA, organizations, Sloan School of Management, social media, sociology, Susan McDonough, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, workplace
Summer checklist
Have you looked at a calendar lately? It’s Aug. 18 already! Wasn’t the July Fourth Parade was just last weekend?
Summer’s slipping away, and we are rapidly approaching the point where even Daylight Saving Time will not be able to stave off the encroaching night. Even Saturday’s Festival Italia will conclude in darkness.
But if you’re like most people (and after all, who isn’t?) you still haven’t done most of the activities on your summer to-do list.
As for me, I didn’t make a list of things to do this summer. That’s what the internet is for. So with two weeks to go until Labor Day weekend, I figured I’d better Google a list of recommended summer activities and see where I stand.
Continue reading ‘Summer checklist’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: balloon, bicycle, Brightview Senior Living, calendar, camping, concert, crane, cycling, Daylight Saving Time, drive-in movie, drought, farmers' market, Festival Italia, fireflies, fracking, gasoline price, grass, hiking, Humor, July Fourth, Labor Day, Marco Polo, Mark Sardella summer, Martha Stewart, Mazda, mosquitoes, Olympics, Opinion, plastic bags, Politics, rain, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Words with Friends
Mark Sardella 