Of Strange, Bizarre Ironies and the Wizards Who Must Cope with Them

I cannot begin to tell you how hard it has been not to be able to do any blogging hither! There is a reason, after all, why I have chosen to grant this particular blog the status of my long-described Diary of Magecraft: namely, so that I can finally have the durned thing to fall back on, if I so choose. Well, this is what happens to you when you must confront the horrifyingly gruesome plague called irony. And so, in this page of the ol' Diary of Magecraft, I want to share with you a few of the strange, and deliciously bizarre ironies I've had to stumble upon of late.

We'll start with the best of them so far: the night that yours truly paid a clandestine visit to Studio 8H --- the ultimate playhouse of NBC's familiar homebase of 30 Rock. Here of old, Toscanini, that furious old conductor, led the NBC Symphony Orchestra week in and week out. Nowadays, every Election Day, NBC News uses ol' 8H as the prime setting for its all-night national election coverage. It should be noted that last year, for the first time, America's News Leader decided to expand beyond the realms of 8H, transforming virtually all of Rockefeller Center into what they called Democracy Plaza (what a gimmick that was, eh what?).

But of course, on nice, normal weekends, if ye can call them such, Studio 8H can only mean one thing to those who are cool enough to be in on it all:

S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! Night!
S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! Night!

Well, you know the rest of that tune without my having to share the original lyrics, but Master Richard wrote some other words to the tune. They are as follows: "Listen to the rhythm of the rock-n'-roll/On Saturday night, Saturday night/With comedy so crazy you might lose control/On Saturday night, Saturday night/Aye-aye-aye, I just can't wait/Aye-aye, I've got to celebrate/It's the good old rock-n'-roll comedy show/Here we go!/Saturday Night (Live!), Saturday Night (Live!)/Break it up, work it out, do it all, have a ball/Saturday Night (Live), Saturday Night (Live!)/It's just a Saturday Night (Live!), etc."

And on this particular S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! Night, your Dragonmaster encountered the incredibly hot rock band Green Day. I almost didn't make it in, as the twits of NBC security dropped the ball by failing to know the difference between a Wizard's staff and a lethal weapon! Those of you who know me from my two home Renaissance Faires, you know by now that I always keep me trusty staff peace-tied at all costs! Still, the Green Day crew had fallen in love with me Dark Chambers website, and they would not rest until they had personally encountered the genius responsible for same (that, of course, would be me!). And the lads weren't content to simply talk to me --- they videotaped their audience with me; and one may assume that the Green Day website has highlights of the said footage! Huzzah!

Also, to be a little bit serious, in the wake of the recent funeral for Pope John Paul II comes news of the passing of another of the world's greatest champions of faith: His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos died this past Sunday at Stamford Memorial Hospital in Connecticut. He was 93. Having just marched in New York's Annual Greek Independence Day Parade that very Sunday, His Present Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios wasted little time in issuing a statement:

"I have had the great honor and joy to know Archbishop Iakovos for more than 50 years. He has been a superb Archbishop who offered to the Church an intense, coninuous, multifacted and creative pastoral activity. He has been a true and whole shepherd to his people, trying day and night to teach them, to guide them, to comfort them, to encourage them, to edify them in Christ, and to lead them as a loving shepherd to the 'springs of the living waters' (Revelation 7:17) of faith and life with God."

While learning of Iakovos' passing, I have ironically discovered that Demetrios' Big Boss in Istanbul --- that would be His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew --- has finally fixed up his official website .... and probably made it even cooler than Demetrios' own pages! To which your Dragonmaster utters, with proper respect, of course: "It's about time!"

And just yesterday, thanks to New York University film student, Rich Monaghan, I previewed his 10-minute saga of my adventures to date, which he entitled simply Portrait of a Dragonmaster. Bring this little short together with the Green Day session of a while back, and --- well, let's simply say that I've a potential for receiving more buzz than I ever imagined possible! Incredible, huh?

Well, anyway, let's just hope I can make another public appearance without being silly about it all. That, and maybe I can stop meself from screwing up whole sentences! Ooooh, I hate when I do that!

Well, until next time, my dear Mortals,

I remain your most humble servant,

Fearlessly yours,

Master Blackwolf