One of the most asked questions we have received over our many years of existence is “Why do you call yourself “Accessibly Live Off-Line” when you are indeed on-line”?
The whole answer to that question is when we began back in early 1996, the internet as it’s known today was just getting its act together, and many folks really didn’t know what it was all about. Many bucked it off as a passing fad, while a few others called it something for computer geeks to give them something to do. Roughly speaking, it wasn’t anything a majority of the domestic population took too seriously. And since we here at ALOL wanted to embrace the internet for all it was worth, we wanted to present ourselves as a real source for news and information not really akin to CNN or the AP. So we called ourselves “Accessibly Live Off-Line”, taking the “Accessibly Live” name from a weekly TV talk program co-created and hosted by yours truly, and “Off-Line” stating that we were both available through e-mail and print–the off-line part! We never get around to changing our name, so that’s why we still use that moniker.
In spite that in middle 2015, the internet and all of its applications are now a way of life, the same as television and the telephone as those two mediums (among many others) go hand in hand with each other. One can watch TV through the ‘net with ar phone. One can make phone calls using a ‘net based connection. One can even watch TV, surf the ‘net, and speak on the phone all at the same time!
In spite of all of this cyber hullabaloo, not everybody is as wired as one would think, so so states a report filed by the Pew Research Center with an analysis of ‘net usage.
According to their report completed last July, some 15% of Americans do not use the internet at all. Corresponding to the study, Seniors (aged 65+) are the group most likely to state that they never go online; Four-in-ten adults 65 and older are off-line compared with only 3% of Millenniums–18-35 years old. Household income and education are also factors of a person’s likelihood to be off-line. A third of adults with less than a high school education do not use the Internet. The share falls as the level of educational attainment increases. Adults from households earning less than $30,000 a year are roughly eight times more likely than the most affluent adults to not use the Internet.
Although education, household income, and age do play a role, it was the acceptance of the ‘net that had people go online. For instance, in 2000 when the Pew Center started to conduct surveys dealing with technology, a little less than half (48%) of Adults 18+ stated that they do not use the internet. This was because of the practicality of gaining access to the net. High speed internet wasn’t necessary available, and if it was, it wasn’t cheap. It was mostly a dial up world. Although shopping for goods was one of the big lures of using the net, it took the time to understand and accept the art of buying stuff on-line, items either needed or otherwise!
So why not use the ‘’net? Another study asking the reason on staying off line noted that
34% of off-liners remain such because they had no interest in the ‘net or didn’t think the Internet was relevant to their lives. Another 32% of non-Internet users said getting online was too difficult to use. (8% of this group even said they were “too old to learn.”) Cost was also a barrier for some adults who were off-line, with 19% cited the expense of Internet service and/or owning a computer.
So if one wanted to break down a so-called typical off-line person based upon the results of the study on hand, that off-line person would be somebody 65 or older, making less than 30k a year, a high school dropout, and lives in a rural area.
On a side note, although those that are within their so-called “sunset years” are the part of the demographic that are not likely to embrace the internet, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they haven’t adapted. Many of those 65+ do go online. AARP has been encouraging their core members to not only get online, but to offer such aspects of ‘net only news, information, and even discounts through their web site. They even offer their own version of an electronic pad that they state is easy to use, and can perform the basic tasks as any electronic pad device could do. And the study notes that as of July, 61% of those 65 and over are online. In 2000, 86% of Seniors shunned the internet. (Ditto for those with less than a high school diploma. Fifteen years ago, 81% were off-line. Today, it’s 33%)
Of course, things don’t adapt themselves in an “overnight” fashion. When Television was starting to make its mark around 1948, a lot of folks didn’t grab a TV set right away. Many wanted until the middle-late 1950’s to own a TV machine. By the 1960’s, most folks had a TV set–but as a black & white unit. Color TV wasn’t fully penetrated until the middle 1970’s! And the most recent change of “new” television didn’t take place until the 2000’s, when high def flat screens started to take hold. When analog signals went off the air in 2009, the use of high def flat screen took off, while older CRT tube sets wound up in garage sales, Salvation Army stores, and even abandon on street curbs! Many working TV sets wound up as pre mature deaths because they could not embrace the internet became they were too “dumb” to do so!
That’s the story as it stands as of this writing. Stay tuned to this news service for more “breaking” news on how people will embrace technology as they find it while remaining online–if they aren’t not too busy texting their little hearts out!
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NEWS AND REVIEWS
Theatre 40 of Beverly Hills presents DOUBLE DOOR, Elizabeth McFadden’s dramatic mystery/thriller about a senior woman of means who through her control of her home and estate, seeks revenge toward a new member of her family that exists from a different and underscored persuasion.
The setting is the stately Van Bret homestead located in the heart of Manhattan during the second decade of the 20th century, a time and place where many families of financial means had made their marks to become part of New York society. Victoria Van Bret (Rhonda Lord) is the prime executor of the family estate, who created their wealth from her long deceased father who bought property in the borough when that part of town was being developed. As a spinster, she in very dominant over how things exist within her way, not caring for anyone but herself. She keeps much of her fortune is a secret room–more like a walk in safe, hoarding objects of value. She bailey gets along with anyone within her home space. She treats her servants with minimal respect. That also goes for her own family. She’s been belittling her sister Caroline (Diana Angelina) for years. Things take a drastic turn when her much younger half sibling Rip (Ben Theobald) marries Anne (Annalee Scott), a nurse at the local hospital. Because of Anne not sporting a “pedigree” as Victoria holds, she disapproved Rip’s marriage as well as Anne herself. She discovers that Anne has a fault of her own. Victoria suspects that Rip’s spouse is having an affair with a resident doctor at the hospital, Dr. John Sully (Christopher Franciosa). This suspicion gives Victoria the revenge she seeks and a way to dispose of Anne no matter what it takes, and to keep what’s in her estate locked and sealed for good!
This play by Elizabeth McFadden blends the emotions of drama with perplexity, and add a thrill element to the story line. It’s inspired by an actual family that lived in New York during the gilded age where Manhattan was full of stately mansions and vast estates, long before it became the urban metropolis its best known for in today’s era. The play itself was first performed in 1933 where many family estates, both large and small, were either vaguely tarnished or totally destroyed during the Great Depression. As to this production, Rhonda Lord is the ideal performer to play the dominant Victoria Van Bret. She resembles a cross between Katherine Hepburn and Bette Davis, sans the charm and proper stance as Kate possessed, but keeps the cockiness at Bette did during her prime. Annalee Scott as Anne (Victoria’s rival) is sweet and charming, sporting a innocence within her. She has a career as a nurse during a time with taking care for the ill was challenging and even dangerous! These two struggles make this play what it is, a thriller that isn’t a traditional thriller per se unlike a “whodunit” style murder mystery, but holds enough drama to keep one interested from its opening scene to the final climax! Bruce Grey directs this production that keep its emotions ring throughout!
Because this is a period piece, there is plenty of visuals to take advantage of. Michele Young’s costuming shows the styles and fashions of the age it speaks for (1910’s), and Jeff G. Rack’s set design shows off a vast collection of furnishings and settings that were in style at the time, especially when that style has a lot of money behind it all!
Among the cast of characters that also appear in this production, those include as listed in their alphabetical order, Richard Carner, Harry Herman, Katharine Kimball, Elain Rinehart, Caleb Slavens, David Hunt Stafford, and Mr. Lucky as the Van Bret family dog Raffles.
DOUBLE DOOR can be called a classic thriller of a play. Although it did have a healthy run on Broadway some eighty plus years ago, it’s one of those older gems that could have gotten away but didn’t, thanks to Theatre 40, offering a vast selection of theater pieces throughout their season. The theater itself, located within the facility of Beverly Hills High School, but be a bit out of its way. But the journey is well worth the jaunt!
DOUBLE DOOR, presented by Theater 40, and performs in the Reuben Corova Theater located on the campus of Beverly Hills High School, 241 South Moreno Drive (off Santa Monica Blvd.) Beverly Hills, until October 19th. Showtimes are Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM.
For ticket reservations or for more information, call (310) 364-0535, or via online at http://www.Theatre40.org
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Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre opens their 2015-16 season with Don Nigro’s CINDERELLA WALTZ, a somewhat bent fairy tale that gives a new slant to the oft told saga of a poor young woman who gives up her chance to attend a royal ball, only to show up in a grand style!
Cathey Marks plays Rosey Snow. She is a standard version of a protagonist found in a typical fairy tale. She’s a vision of purity, fair skinned. properly mannered, and congenial. There’s only one fault that she has–something to do with her family. Mainly, it’s about her two step sisters Goneril (Michelle Pare) and Regan (Juliana Desai-Parsons), and her step mom and dad, known as Mr. and Mrs. Snow. (Joe Oliva and Susan Stangl respectfully.) Mrs. Snow is a bit pushy, while Mr. Snow is a bit lost, down to never finding his missing clothing, only wearing red long johns! Meanwhile, the local prince of the community of Cinderville, Prince Alf (Adam Fox), announces he’s throwing a royal bash that features dancing. Rosey meets her fairy godmother type-Mother Magee (Julie Hinton) that gives her the ability to attend. However, Rosey befriends a rather unlikely candidate that may be her real ticket to her happiness, if not for the dancing scene. Zed (Scotty Crowe) has been known around those parts as the village idiot. But he’s far from being a person with limited knowledge! At first he grunts and makes funny noises in order to speak. But he eventually possess the gift of gab, as well as a magical music box that give this pair an opportunity to present a waltz.
This play by Don Migro takes its own unique spin on “Cinderella”–assuming one could not guess what fairy tale this play catches. It creates a sense for the style of creation to the Brothers Grimm, the two siblings that hold credit for creating many of the modern fairy tales that have been told and retold way too many times. It’s expressed in an adult nature that other epics, but there isn’t anything raunchy or racy depicted. The cast that appear in this production hold plenty of comical timing. They speak in farceful tones, as well as present themselves as comedy material, right down to their clothing they don thanks to Christina Garcia’s creative costume design. But the laughs and zaniness are too far in between. This isn’t the fault of the players or the creative team behind it all. One can only set liability to the playwright, although that same writer holds a lot of merit to his work.
Directed by William Wilday, CINDERELLA WALTZ is still a charming theater show that is very amusing. However, this show isn’t really for young kids, just for those that are youthful in sprit but are of a mature age bracket. Experiencing this show at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre proves that intimate community theater still holds up. 2016 will commemorate fifty years sine this theater company made its current location its home base. Many other theater companies since then came and went. For this theater troupe, they have their waltzes down pat!
CINDERELLA WALTZ, presented by the Morgan-Wixson Theatre Guild, and performs at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, until October 18th. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 PM. Special talk back sessions where the cast and crew discuss their performances as well as take questions from the audience, takes place after the performances held on Friday, October 2nd, and on Sunday, October 11th
For more information as well as ticket reservations, call (310) 828-7519 or via online at http://www.Morgan-Wixson.org.
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AN EDITORIAL
In our editorial article entitled You The Readers Speak: Letters To The Editor that appeared in Vol. 20. No. 37, we noted that a photo was to be embedded within the article, attempting to prove a point that was being stated.
We have been receiving notes from our readers from our e-mail mailing list, as well as through the Accessibly Live Off-Line web site since the article was released, stating that no such photo was to be seen! Upon checking our servers (among other things), we discovered that the photo posted never came through and thus, was never posted!
This is why this here news service does not post any graphics or related elements on our pages, in spite of the fact that other news services do such. This is fine for them. However, we concentrate in providing you printed news and reviews that one actually has to read in order to know what’s going on!
Although this is no offense to those that need pictures or illustrations to get the article’s point across, we here at ALO-L strive to provide the news and reviews you the readers seek. Photos are ideal, but we have been a text service since we began nearly twenty years ago, and since that form of delivery has been working for us since way back when, why bother to switch? After all, if it ain’t busted, don’t fix it! And it’s working quite fine–thank you every much!
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Don’t forget that our e-mail address has changed!
Send us a line at AccessiblyLiveOffLine@twc.com or at Details@AccessiblyLiveOffLine. We would love to hear from you!
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