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WELDER is iPad crack for word nerds

Actually it's W.E.L.D.E.R., if you want to get technical about it, which stands for Word Examination Laboratory for Dynamic Extraction and Reassessment. It's an iPhone and iPad game debuted this month by Ayopa Games and Highline Games, a startup from some of the Rockstar NYC people. And it has been the largest single time-suck in my life for about three weeks now. Gameplay combines elements of Scrabble, Tetris and an old-school Jumble. And the touch-screen interface is so well-designed that it's just about impossible to put down. All the uncool kids are doing it.

When you start playing, you face a 64-tile board, much like Scrabble, only it's filled with random letters and a few blank tiles. Tap one letter, then another, and they swap places. The idea is to move them around to make a four-letter or longer word, generally using as few swaps as possible. Double-tap a blank tile and a virtual keyboard appears so you can chose a letter to fill it.

In the first round, it's only adjacent tiles that you can swap, but in subsequent rounds more complicated parlays are available. Each word you make disappears from the board, and random letters slide down to fill in, sometimes forming words on their own, like a Webster's pachinko machine.

Each round you get only so many swaps to make so many words, and the more creative you are in your choices, using rarer letters, the higher you score. More scoring buys you more swaps...

Non-word people are glazing over about now. But what's really addicting about this game - what's making it spread like wildfire, at least among my Bay State tribe - is the interface. The skin is a subtle mid-century Cold War modern, with peeling paint and big red and green buttons, like a word game in a missile silo. Here and there are touches of steampunk, like the brass-framed ticker scoring your words across the bottom of the game board. (Tap a word there, and you get a definition.)

And the sound design features two tracks. While you're thinking, there's an ominous ambient hiss and flutter, like the sound of slow decay in that missile silo or on early first-person shooter games. Feedback arrives as a clanging, dinging clamor when you make a word, reminiscent of the doors and gates sliding down on the opening credits of "Get Smart" or "MST3K." Over all the sense is of being a cog in a machine, combined with a meaningless Pavlovian payout each time you score. Why this is so appealing, I can't say. The sounds also annoy the crap out of anyone in the room with you, which may or may not be desirable.

The game's only real flaw is the dictionary, which misses some obvious words and includes others, while mostly  skipping swears that would really come in handy sometimes. But they're taking dictionary suggestions at words@weldergame.com.

Last I looked, WELDER was $1.99 on the App Store, but it's sometimes discounted to 99 cents. My phone is an Android so I can't say how it would play on that smaller screen, but on iPad it's an addictive joy. I'm stuck on Level 8 at the moment, and my wife greeted the news that I'd scored 670 for PURRS thanks to bonus tiles with the same kind of cheerful but not actually excited "awesome" that she gives when I call her in to see a sports highlight on the news. But by then I was already on to the next word...

 

Paragon Park musical opens in Hull

I like many Bostonians spent happy hours of my youth at Paragon Park on Nantasket Beach in Hull, involved in such educational activities as miniature golf, pinball and Skee ball. It was hell trying to time a windmill shot while the roller coaster circled overhead, full of screaming teenagers. But like many of its brethren, Paragon faded away, closing in 1984 to be replaced by condo development, although the famous carousel has been saved and moved to a nearby location. This weekend and next bring the premiere of "Where the Fun Begins," an original full-length musical by Cinzi Lavin set in Paragon Park.

Actually, "Where The Fun Begins"is the conclusion of the Nantasket Trilogy - yep, that's a thing - by musician and writer Lavin. She brought her talents to Hull in 2007 and, well, let's let her tell it, via email: I approached the Hull Performing Arts, the town's community theatre, and broached the subject with them. They said that the Weir River Estuary (a state-designated Area of Critical Environmental Concern here in Hull) needed to raise funds and awareness. It was then that it occurred to me that I could do a lot of good for the town (whose primary income is tourism) by fostering its three major tourist attractions: The Weir River Estuary, the Hull Lifesaving Museum, and the Paragon Carousel, all of which needed money and publicity.

Her first musical, "On This River," was about the estuary. It premiered two years ago and, she says, won a state legislative citation for outstanding contribution to Massachusetts arts and culture. Last year brought "Toilers of the Sea: The Life of Joshua James," about famed Hull lifesaver and patron saint of the U.S. Coast Guard, Joshua James.

"Where the Fun Begins" finishes her work with the story of "charming pickpocket" Sully Sullivan, the crime lord Voland, and the Clare family. It's a story of hard times, faith and redemption. There's nothing about bumper cars, as far as I can tell, but with a cast of 40 from Hull Performing Arts and Lavin on piano, it ought to be a time. Directed by Lindsay Clinton, the show features a dozen songs plus choreography by Plymouth's Nicole Hoole.

Performances at the Fort Revere Amphitheater on Farina Road in Hull are this Saturday and Sunday (July 23-24) and next weekend (July 30-31), all at 4 p.m., and the top ticket is $10. For more information, call 781-925-2406 or visit www.hullperformingarts.org.

Surprisingly, or not, when I went to Wikipedia to rustle up that postcard, I learned that there's another Paragon Park music in the works. The Company Theatre in Norwell is planning a summer 2012 premiere for their "Paragon Park: The Musical," with Book By Zoe Bradford & Michael Hammond, Music & Lyrics by Adam Brooks.

If either of these shows are half as much fun as I had riding down to Nantasket on a hot summer weekend ca. 1972 with Aunt Nancy in her VW bug with the sunroof open, it will be a fine thing indeed.

Robin Lane documentary gets Kickstarted

I knew Robin Lane only as a name from the 1980s Boston music scene, as in Robin Lane and the Chartbusters and the great single "When Things Go Wrong." I've just learned that her dad was Dean Martin's pianist and that she spent her adolescence hanging out in L.A.'s canyons in the 1960s, that she sings on Neil Young's "Round & Round," that she was married to one of the guys in the Police who's not Sting, and that she now leads songwriting and music therapy workshops for abused women. And she's the subject of the documentary "A Woman's Voice: The Robin Lane Story," being made by Tim Jackson, the Chartbusters' drummer, who is now a filmmaker and an assistant professor at the New England Institute of Art in Boston. Here's a taste:

Jackson directed the documentaries, “Chaos and Order: Making American Theater” and “Radical Jesters." Besides Lane, he has drummed for a wildly assorted bunch of artists including LaVern Baker, Tom Rush and Vas Deferens. He's also a sometime actor. The film is promised to be a story about women, music and creativity. Also, Neil Young, Andy Summers, Owsley and members of the Manson family. Also marriage, the music business and starting over.

Now here's where you come in. Jackson's raising money for this project on Kickstarter. I'm late to this game, so they've already reached their $10,000 goal, which will go to pay an editor to do a working cut, as well as song- and image-licensing fees. But it's a safe bet they'll find a way to spend more than the $10K, and the fund drive is open until 7 am Monday July 25. There are a variety of bonus packs for those who give more than the $5 minimum. Pledge a grand and you get a house concert and a producer credit. So fish around under those couch cushions and see what you can come up with.

Fake Whitey Bulger tweets = comic edgework

 I write today to praise a Boston fake, and no, I'm not talking about the CBS July 4 fireworks telecast. It's the @James_W_Bulger Twitter feed, written as far as I know anonymously. It's often as funny and sharp as any comic writing around today, and by the nature of Twitter highly topical and time-sensitive.

Before anyone gets outraged, let's acknowledge that finding humor in anything Bulger is a twisted exercise. The circus atmosphere around his capture should not be allowed to obscure the corruption and horror that Bulger inflicted on Boston. Read Kevin Cullen or Peter Gelzinis to be reminded, or just this powerful Op Ed by Michael Patrick MacDonald. The people peddling FREE WHITEY t-shirts online are greedy, thoughtless idiots. I don't expect those touched by his Southie reign of terror to easily see the humor in tweets from @James_W_Bulger. Probably a lot of other people won't, either.

But someone was going to do this, of course, perhaps inspired when the FBI announced his capture via Twitter. What's surprising is how well @James_W_Bulger is done. The writer channels Bulger's flip arrogance and brutality in a way that satirizes the very infotainment culture that has sprung up around his capture (including, of course, the idea that he's on Twitter).

He called out several pretenders: @James_W_Bulger: Im seeing fake Twitter accounts pretending to be me...if they had a copy of my resume they'd think twice. ...

This Whitey is surprisingly tech-savvy. @James_W_Bulger: If anyone has the Twitter names for Zip, Stevie, Kevin, and John Morris, lemme know. Im wanna try this Google Hangouts with them.

And he's not afraid to tweak that other Bulger brother: @James_W_Bulger: Can someone help me post a Craigslist Ad? Here's the title: " WANTED: Non Chicken-s*** Attorney" & here's the body: "Contact Billy Bulger"

He even has a few things to say about the Red Sox vs. Orioles dustup. @James_W_Bulger: After watching last night's Red Sox game, I would like to extend an offer to Kevin Gregg to come work for me.

It's the best anonymous riff since Joe Klein was revealed as the author of "Primary Colors." I suspect the writer behind @James_W_Bulger is in the media too. In addition to a predictable hatred for Howie Carr, he has a very special feeling for a certain Fox 25 anchor. @James_W_Bulger: Doesnt matter what happens in court today bc @mariastephanos is now following me on Twitter. My day is complete.

This will lose its luster if the author is ID'd, of course. And soon it will start getting old. Probably best for him to fade away...at least until the trial. Less is more. But for the moment it's dark comedy gold. And one final irony. When I search his profile for tweets to use with this post, Twitter suggested some "similar" feeds I might want to follow. Yikes.

Whitey Bulger in jail. Eddie Coyle on stage.

I went to bed early Wednesday night. Before I went downstairs this morning, I picked up my phone to check email and saw a fresh message from playwright Bill Doncaster. “A little overwhelmed by the karma,” he wrote. “When I started this, would never have predicted Higgins' work would be back on the rise, the Bruins would win the cup again, and Whitey would  get pinched. A little surreal.”

 Wait, what? I read it again to make sure he wasn’t joking, then ran to turn on the TV. Sure enough, a couple of days after the start of a new FBI ad campaign, they’d finally caught Whitey Bulger.

Doncaster wrote a stage adaptation of George V. Higgins’ classic 1972 Boston crime novel, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” which limns the same Irish-and-Italian mob scene where James “Whitey” Bulger ruled before he went on the run 16 years ago.

“I was more shocked than when they got Bin Laden,” Doncaster said by phone later in the day. “I heard his name and thought, they’re not still reporting on that ad campaign are they? And then I heard the word arrest.”

Doncaster’s play was cheered in a staged reading at the Burren in Davis Square last November, with Higgins’ widow in the audience. And he recently announced that a full production of the play will begin performances Dec. 8-Jan. 15 at the ART’s Oberon venue on the edge of Harvard Square. (Doncaster notes that while Bulger was a Southie phenomenon, the fictional Coyle came from Cambridge's Central Square.)

The play is just one sign of a Higgins resurgence, the biggest being that Brad Pitt spent part of the last few months filming an adaptation of “Cogan’s Trade” in (alas) New Orleans. Doncaster is putting together a non-profit to finance his production and will sart raising money sometime next month. You can go to www.thefriendsofeddiecoyle.com and sign up for email updates.

Doncaster and I had already joked recently about the timing of the Bruins championship. One of the best remembered moments in Peter Yates’ acclaimed “Coyle” movie is when Robert Mitchum, as the drunken hood Coyle, cheers on “Number four! Bobby Orr!” The last Bruins’ Stanley Cup triumph was in… 1972. But the Whitey capture takes karma to a new level.

One of the key characters in “Coyle” is Dillon, a felon who is the silent owner of a bar (like Bulger and Triple O’s), a government informant playing both sides of the street (like Bulger) and, it turns out, a killer (like Bulger). Doncaster said that Higgins, although he’d been a federal prosecutor, always maintained that Dillon was an invention and not based on Bulger.

"I get asked about that pretty frequently,” Doncaster said. “With the similarities…it’s easy to jump to that conclusion.”

In Doncaster’s production, Rick Park plays Dillon. I’d recently asked Doncaster to put me in touch with Park on an unrelated matter, and when he emailed me this morning, his original intent was just to make sure I’d heard from Park.

“Very, very strange,” Doncaster said with a laugh.

Not as spooky as the real thing, though. Doncaster met Bulger “for two seconds” back in the 80s. “My girlfriend at the time lived in the neighborhood. Scary guy, even in a brief meeting.”

Natasha has her say. So does Natasha. And Natasha.

"The Natasha Plays" at Charlestown Working Theater, tonight through Saturday, comes with an intriguing back story. Russian playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich is still in her early 20s, but has been produced several times in her homeland and Europe. This triptych of monologues by three different Natashas puts a spotlight on the youth of modern Russia, but at the same time it's universal, says Jennifer Johnson, one of CWT's three co-directors. Abandonment and identity, the price of celebrity, the worship of fame ... not so far from the America of reality TV, Lady Gaga and mall culture.

In "Natasha's Dream," the speaker is an orphan (Julia M. Smith, pictured) who attaches herself to an interested journalist with disastrous results. In "I Won," we hear from an upwardly mobile teen (Sarah Lloyd) who's not going to let anything interfere with her chance at fame. And in the short "Epilogue," recently added, another teen (Shannon McPhee) composes a love letter to a pop star.

"Each of the characters is named Natasha, but they are vastly different. The whole idea is that these young Russian women are products of their environment and their upbringing," she said. "It will be interesting to see how audiences correlate the same kind of themes to the American experience."

The actors are current or former masters students in the theater program at Towson University in Maryland, home to the New Russian Drama Project, and the production was developed there with The Center for International Theatre Development. Center director Philip Arnoult was aware of CWT's interest in international projects, and one thing led to another. The production is directed by Stephen Nunns, translated by John Freedman.

Of course, none of this would matter if CWT hadn't also found an audience that shares its interest. The best sign of that may be that CWT sold out three of last week's four performances of "Caesarian Section" by Poland's edgy Teatr Zar. That was a show of movement and meaning, but not especially linear. Johnson says "The Natasha Plays" is text-based narrative, more traditional in form. Despite the distance between Boston and these teenagers' lives, it should be quite accessible.

"Tons of people came to see Zar, they were very, very exciting events, made more exciting by the tornado on Wednesday night, which was their closing night. It was so crazy," Johnson said. "Weirdly and inexplicably our lights flickered...but it sort of went with the performance.

"The audience at CWT typically stays (after shows), we really try to make it an opportunity for people to talk to each other and the artists, particularly if we have artists from other countries," she said. "But it was such crazy weather, basically no one could leave. So we just were there forever, but we had a lot of wine, so that was OK."

Now that's my kind of theater.

"The Natasha Plays" runs tonight through Saturday at Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill Street, Charlestown. It's accessible by the Orange Line from Sullivan Station or Bus Lines #92 and #93. Tix are $10 tonight, $15-22 the rest of the week. Call 866-811-4111 or click to www.charlestownworkingtheater.org.

Photo: Jay Herzog.

Noir Nights at ArtsEmerson

Rare films noir on view via ArtsEmerson's Noir Nights on June 9-12 provide more than a shadowy, morally ambiguous counterpoint to all the bright summer weather and shameless outdoor fun that will not doubt go on at the same time. They're also a reminder that Boston's long tradition of cinephilia survives quite strongly if you know where to look. (Street cred: The first movie I remember seeing, aged approximately 4, is Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" on the big screen at the old Harvard Square.)

True, the heyday of the revival house is long gone, along with the Orson Welles and other temples of cinema that reigned in the 1960s and '70s. But for those who aren't satisfied with "Hangover II," we have the Kendall Square, the Coolidge Corner and the Brattle. And those who want to drink deeply from one particular cinematic well at a time can find plenty of choices over the course of a year at Harvard Film Archive and the Museum of Fine Arts, among other non-theater venues.

ArtsEmerson is bidding to be part of that group with programs in the Bright Family Screening Room, in the Paramount Center, 559 Washington St. The 170-seat venue room is named for the family of Emerson alum and "Friends" producer Kevin Bright. And for those four nights the room's state-of-the-art projection equipment will be put to use in the service of twisted sisters, dark crime drama, tortured guilt and irresistible corruption. Yay!

Noir Nights is inspired by - and uses pristine new and archival prints from - Noir City, the Noir Film Foundation’s annual Los Angeles celebration of film noir, screened on 35mm. There are some big names in the six films - Olivia DeHaviland, Ray Milland, Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson and Joan Fontaine - as well as directors Robert Siodmack and Fritz Lang. But of most interest to cinephiles is the fact that these films are comparatively little seen today, in large part because they're not available on DVD.

The films are: "Dark Mirror" (1946), directed by Siodmack, with DeHaviland playing twin sisters, one of whom is responsible for "a grisly murder"; "Cry of the City" (pictured above, 1948) also by Siodmack, with Richard Conte as a vicious New York hood and Victor Mature as his childhood friend, now a cop; "So Evil My Love" (1948), noir transplanted to Edwardian London with Milland as a con man; "Alias Nick Beal" (1949), a Faustian tale with Thomas Mitchell as a DA dragged down  by Milland's mysterious tempter; "Tight Spot" (1955), with Ginger Rogers as a gangster's moll turned witness under tight guard; and "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" (1956), directed by Lang, with Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine in the tale of a main who gets himself framed for murder in order to discredit capital punishment.

More fun than beach volleyball, right? Tickets are $10, or $7.50 for members, and are available in advance at www.ArtsEmerson.org or 617-824-8400.

Boyle's Frankenstein at the Coolidge, live from London

A couple of years ago the Globe sent me off to see a movie about the Mumbai slums with a cast of mostly unknowns. Truthfully I expected it to be an "eat your vegetables" cinematic experience, but as you've probably guessed, the movie was "Slumdog Millionaire," the eventual Oscar winner for best picture. I fell completely under its spell at the screening and went off happily to interview director Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days") at the Ritz afterward. His enthusiasm for India was contagious, and I got to write about "the mingled scents of saffron and sewage," in my story. So I would pretty much follow him anywhere.

Boyle's "127 Hours" is in theaters now, with sleepy-eyed Oscar host James Franco. But another interesting Boyle project that will be on view at the Coolidge Corner Theatre twice in the coming weeks. Boyle is directing a buzzed-about London stage version of "Frankenstein," with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. And two performances of "Frankenstein" will show live in high-definition at the Coolidge, allowing you to have your choice of monsters.

The 7 p.m. telecasts on March 17 (with Miller as Frankenstein and Cumberbatch as the Creature) and April 4 (the other way around, as pictured) are part of the popular NT Live series at the Coolidge featuring National Theatre productions from London. They've pretty much sold out since the opener last season, "Phèdre" with Helen Mirren. So get your $20 tix in advance if you can, at www.coolidge.org/ntlive or the box office.

At ICA, Oscars take it in the shorts

The Institute of Contemporary Art once again presents the year's Academy Award-nominated short films in separate programs of animated and live action shorts. These are two Oscar categories in which most folks don't get the see the nominees. Each program will include all the nominated short films from their respective category, plus a few short-listed films that didn’t make the final cut.

The animated program - suitable for ages 7 and up - features "Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage," "The Gruffalo" and Bill Plympton's "The Cow That Wanted to Be a Hamburger" (pictured). It runs Feb. 21, 24, 27 and March 3, 5 and 6. The live action program, not for the kiddos, includes "Wish 143," "The Crush" and "God of Love" (pictured below). It runs on the same dates except not on March 5. Tickets, $10, and show times at icaboston.org, the box office or (617) 478-3103.

Coolidge goes national with Science on Screen

The indie/arthouse/revival theater scene is not what it was for movie fans back in the day - shed optional tear for the Orson Welles here - but Boston still has some smart programmers. Exhibit A: The Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Science on Screen program will spread to other non-profit moviehouses this year thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Now in its seventh year, Science on Screen pairs feature films and documentaries with presentations by scientific and technological experts. It makes learning fun and sometimes draws a sellout crowd. Discussions have ranged from a talk by MIT music-and-media guru Tod Machover with the documentary "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey" (right) to an explanation of the function of zombie brains in "Night of the Living Dead."

On Wednesday at the fourth annual Art House Convergence gathering in Utah, just before the Sundance festival, Coolidge leaders will announce a program to provide $7,000 grants to six to eight theaters that want to implement Science on Screen on their, well, screens. The money can be used to rent films or to pay for speaker honoraria or travel expenses, since not every community theater has institutions like MIT and MGH close at hand. The money can also be used for marketing, staff time or other costs associated with the program.

The theaters must present a minimum of three Science on Screen events during the year, and are expected to pitch at least one program idea of their own. The Coolidge is distributing a sort of Science on Screen how-to guide and will mentor them along the way; the grant will also support the program at the Coolidge.

All this comes about thanks to the Sloan Foundation's program for improving public understanding of science and technology through the media.

The Coolidge's next Science on Screen presentation will feature Dr. Jonathan Shay, who will introduce Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (left) on Jan. 24 with a talk on combat trauma. Shay was a staff psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Boston, where he treated combat veterans with severe psychological injuries. He retired from clinical work to devote himself full time to prevention shortly after winning a 2007 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant."