Thomas Pibal Blog

 To employ means to use. I like being useful but I don’t so much like being used.  I read once that Will Smith said “there is no need for a plan B, it will just distract from plan A.” I think Will Smith is a yutz and it seems like an oversimplification like so many other pithy quotes but it holds some truth in it and that’s why it has stuck in my head. The most successful entrepreneurs have their 3 or 4 things that they HAVE to get done today no matter what and they don’t let ANYTHING get in the way.  I’ve heard the same thing about writers. Sometimes I hear stories about Hunter S. Thompson for example, writers of various stripes who have the most ridiculous routines and I think “how in the world are they functional or successful at all?” You can research the routines of various writers and find incredible variation in their day to day lives, but you know the one thing they all have in common? They write.  They don’t just talk about writing, they don’t just pla...

Here is part two of my essay about Jesus Christ Superstar. If you haven't read part one, go read that first and come back. I'm sorry I couldn't release all the parts as a whole, I didn't have the time.  Another person I spoke to about the play said “The songs can be kind of entertaining to listen to…when we were kids…at least one of the songs gave us kids nightmares. I don’t heartily approve of it on the whole because it ends with Jesus’ death. Like now you are just supposed to be depressed…I don’t think there is any blasphemy in it, at least not in the original.” I sent this person a link to the article I referenced earlier to clarify some easy examples of blasphemy: denying the deity of Christ, calling Mary Magdelene a prostitute who slept with Him and portraying Jesus as not understanding God’s reasons for sending Him to die a substitutionary death are pretty straightforward examples.  Someone else I spoke to said “I haven’t listened through in a few years but I ...

 The following is PART ONE of my FIRST DRAFT of an essay I've been working on. In a perfect world I'd like to spend more time working on it before publishing but I am pushing myself to publish once a week even if it's not always the best I feel I can do. I did not know how long the piece would be when I first started writing it, I would have been happy with a mere 1,000 words. It turns out I have a lot to say about this so it's going to take me a while to write it, so please be patient while I work on finishing it. Without further ado... I was recently asked if I wanted to play piano for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. I had not ever seen it-either the stage production or the film adaptation. I had heard snippets and one or two songs a few times but I was very unfamiliar with the source material.  It struck me that I may have a very unique perspective of the musical and how appropriate it would be to participate in it. Well spoiler alert: I didn’t end up doi...