Hi all.

I'm in a show that Previews tonight; "The Philadelphia Story" at Waukesha Civic Theatre on Main St. in downtown Waukesha. It's been loads of fun to work on so it's almost a shame to reach opening weekend because it means the experience is nearly over! Though I'm sure we're all looking forward to the prospect of having our evenings back to ourselves, so I imagine we'll get over it. ;)


Synopsis, etc. of the show from the WCT website:

The cast includes Ruth Arnell (Tracy Lord), Ramon Campos (Mac & Doctor Parsons), Ruth Caves (May), Jeff Davis (Willie Tracy), Eric Eggers (Sandy Lord), Will Elwood (CK Dexter Haven), Haley Gray-Hoehn (Dinah Lord), Beth Keller (Elsie), Jenny Kosek (Liz Imbrie), Ann Morrow (Margaret Lord), Mark Neufang (Mike Connor), Jeff Porter (George Kittredge), Jim Volden (Seth Lord), and Scott Wendelberger (Thomas).

Reva Fox is the Director. The production staff and crew includes: Costume Designer Aleta Bernard, Co-Properties Designer Kris Kingstad, Wig Master Anthony Mackie, Stage Manager Debi Mumford, Sound Designer John Santroch, Co-Properties Designer Monica Santroch, and Scenic Designer, Master Carpenter and Set Decorator Michael Talaska.

Two people I *must* make special mention of from that list: Michael Talaska and Haley Gray-Hoehn. Michael, the set designer, has once again accomplished weird and amazing things. When we all first saw this set finally pulled together we literally "Oooooh"ed and then broke out into applause. And that Haley girl playing Dinah Lord is an absolute doll. If you're receiving this email and you ever find yourself needing to cast teens (Donna: She sings!), the show is worth checking out if only to pre-audition her. Talented little pistol, this one, and takes direction like a dream.
Performances are Fridays - Sundays and run as follows:

	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Nov. 7-9	8:00 PM	8:00 PM	2:00 PM
Nov. 14-16	8:00 PM	4:00 / 8:00 pm	7:00 PM
Nov. 21-23	8:00 PM	2:00 / 8:00 pm	2:00 PM

Ticket info from the WCT website:

Individual tickets are regularly $19.00 ($17.00 for students and seniors.) Tickets may be purchased over the telephone with VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express during Box Office hours or Mail orders are accepted any time. Mail orders are processed in the order in which they are received. Specify show date and time, and mail order to WCT, P.O. Box 221, Waukesha, WI 53187. Please enclose $2 handling fee per order.

BOX OFFICE CONTACT INFORMATION
Box Office: 262.547.0708
Fax: 262.547.8454
E-Mail: boxoffice@waukeshacivictheatre.org

A side note on tickets:
I believe there are cheaper rush ticket options available, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about when they're available or how much they are. I would strongly recommend that you contact the box office by phone when purchasing your tickets to confirm the rush time/cost, and to confirm ticket availability before waiting to show up to get in. There is also a Pay-What-You-Can option during the final Saturday matinee (2 pm, Saturday November 22nd).

This is one of the friendliest, most amiable casts I've ever worked with. I'm proud of what we've all worked together to accomplish, excited about the opportunity to work with Reva (audition for her if you can!), and looking forward to sharing the fun with you. And if you should come out to the show, let me know you're there so I can be sure to pop out and say hi. :D

rustyangel : Any insight into why I think of you every time I hear, read, see, or think of a palindrome?

Saw this and especially thought of you:

I fell behind on my video blogging, and then I got tagged by Tia D and made three videos. See, Tia D? You're all it takes to get me on a(n obnoxious) vlogging roll!

Video #1: My response to Tia D.

The deal is you have to make a video response sharing 5 things about yourself. I s'ppose ideally you'll also tag other people to make response videos of their own, but I don't really know that many folks on YouTube likely to make a response video to one of mine so I guess you can consider this me tagging you if you like.

 

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In other news: The job search continues and I'm still painfully under or over qualified for every job I'm finding. People keep saying how there aren't that many job openings out there, but that doesn't seem to be the case where I'm looking. The problem for me so far is just that the jobs are all a poor match for my skill set. Not that I'd particularly mind being overqualified for a position if it was something I could just relax and enjoy, but 1) I know I'd go bonkers after two days of bagging groceries, and 2) those jobs don't pay enough to cover my bills. :S

Where's a good sugar daddy when you need one?

I've got until mid-December to find work, at which point my unemployment insurance runs out and I'm up a particularly dense creek without adequate means of propulsion.

And now, a message to my politically minded friends (of which I have many) who keep sending me emails (by the terabyte) about the November elections:

Don't assume we're voting the same way when sending me politically themed emails, or that the praise you're forwarding for your candidate of choice sounds any less like the brainwashed silliness you complain about from "the other side." For every "My Party's Candidate Is A God Among Men!" link you send me that glows over your candidate of choice I have one that glows in an equally flashy and abrasive manner over mine while debunking everything your videos and links just plugged. Let's just leave it at "we're even" and assume nothing we say to each other will change the other's mind. Because let's face it: It won't.

I could really use some Easy Mac...

Got an email the other day from a fellow Spiraler with a link to a blog review by Russ Bickerstaff of "Wait Until Dark." It came too late to help the show, but we sold well and got some awesome feedback anyway, even in spite of a weird review in the Freeman, so who the heck cares? ;D

I'm just really encouraged by the fact that the writer of this blog/review still saw the show even though it'd be too late to post anything about it before we closed. I mean-- that's pretty cool, right?

Anyway- here's a link to the blog, and here's a big chunk from it:


Isn't that cool?! :D

I know Brian, Randall and Gloria are in something together that opens in a couple months, and Matthew's in something that opens around the same time. Don't know what Doug and Nate are up to, but when I find out, and when I get the details on B, R, G and M I'll definitely post it here so you can check these people out. They're great. :D

And then today- or was it yesterday?- I also received an email with a link to Russ's Year In Review pt. 2 blog post and man: I just can't stop smiling. :D Part two starts off with:  "Towards the end of last February, Spiral Theatre staged the single best romance of the year with Ruth Arnell and Ryan Dance in Butterflies Are Free..."

*grins*

Too cool, man.

And to Mr. Bickerstaff: Thanks. Really. Thank you so much. You've made my mom 'n' pop 'n' me smile very much this season with your reviews, and we've needed that. Thank you.

I have mixed feelings about last night's show.

A lot of weird things happened that had to be worked around, and I don't know if it was stuff you'd notice as an audience or not, but some of it really threw us on stage and it's got me nervous because our SM will be gone for our closing weekend so... yeah. :P

Also: The audience. Most of the time they were great. Vocally responsive at all the right times. Very nice.

But then they kept laughing- loudly- at the worst times. Like- really stressful, "scary" times where honestly: ain't nothin' funny going on here.

And it wasn't that short, clipped, nervous laughter like you get sometimes during suspenseful shows, but loud, prolonged, repeated laughter at the most distracting times that makes you wonder if you are totally sucking up the scene and doing everything wrong because why the hell else would the entire audience be LAUGHING at a moment like this? It makes you wonder what you're doing so poorly that suddenly a murder scene is funny, or whose fly is open, or what fell off the set wall when this is the first audience that has ever responded this way.

*sigh*

I asked my parents about it (they came last night, yay!) and they said they didn't get it either and found it distracting too. That's nice I guess. Means the cast weren't the only ones who didn't understand what was happening.

And then: The cell phone.

It's actually kind of surprising to me that this was the first time where we had a cell phone go off during a performance of this show, so in that respect we've been pretty lucky thus far.

But there we were, second to last scene, everything's finally boiling down to the final moments of *scare*, and this light, tinkly, fairy music starts to play in the front row of the audience. And then continues to play, and gets louder, as whoever owned "the phone too important to be turned off" retrieved it from their purse.

*sigh again*

Why don't people listen to the announcement at the beginning and turn their phones off? Why? I've heard people say as an excuse for this when its their phone that "I never get calls" and "I forgot I had it with me" and stuff like that. But that just seems irresponsible to me. Stop making excuses. If you never get calls then it won't matter that your phone's off because by your own admission you won't be missing anything if you're unavailable on it for 2 hours, and when the person giving the curtain speech mentions silencing phones and you own one, do yourself a favor and check to see if you have yours on you. "Forgetting you have it on you" is a stupid, stupid excuse and I absolutely don't accept it.

And now that it sounds like I hated a theatre full of people last night, allow me to back track... ;)

They actually were a great house overall. Responsive, as I mentioned earlier, and appreciative and just very cool in general. And in addition to my mom and dad being there (yay!), Nicole G., Mark N., and CJ D. were there, as well as Beverly S. and Mary K.. Woo hoo! All people I like. :D

The option of going out to a number of different spots did come up last night after the show, but I mean to tell ya: You run around sweating like that in a show like this and tell me *you* don't feel ready to fall over into bed when it's over. I skipped it all and went home. That's right. Calm and boring, just the way I like it.

Actually, I really hate just going home when shows are over. Especially when I have friends there that I haven't seen in a while. What happened to me? When did I suddenly get so... old? *shudders uncontrollably for three minutes*

Maybe it'll pass...

"You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty."
Cecil Baxter

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke

"Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything."
Blaise pascal

Went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire on Saturday and, as usual, had a way excellent time, thanks in large part to the fact that the day was "hosted" by pureinpink  's family full of awesome people. I've got video clips of some of the acts, and a few pictures, but I haven't had time to pool all that into a video yet, so below is one I made out of a video I took on Friday evening when I was, uh... s'pposed to be working on my lines...

In conclusion: I *did* work on my lines that night, thankyouverymuch. Fat lot of good it seemed to do, though. Really biffed it tonight at dress. Ick. I am such an unprofessional boob.

Wishing I was a professional boob,

Ruth

.

Weekend Schmeekend

Saturday: Awesome storms. Absolutely awesome. And unlike many parts of the country I can say that and *mean* it and *enjoy* it because I wasn't getting flooded out of any place at any point.

I did wonder for a brief period of time on Saturday afternoon/evening if I ought to mosey on down to the parking garage under my building for fear of being too near a window when a tree branch came crashing into my home, but as it stands that didn't happen, so all is well.

Went to Fave Local Townie Bar on Saturday night with friends and the place was only "pleasantly full" instead of "annoyingly packed" due to the large number of people who usually drive out from Milwaukee who apparently decided it wasn't worth the risk to take the 25 minute drive out to the 'sha just for some decent drink prices and an overly crowded dance floor.

Woo hoo!

I have a response vid I want to make today about "things I love." (Thanks jallen285!) Here's hoping I get to it because it's silly-ish but fun. Then rehearsal at 7. Slightly less worried about the show, but still a bit paranoid. But what's keeping me busy during the day is that while searching for a new job I'm going to be helping my dad get some stuff started up so he can keep busy and working and all that. Don't know how it'll play out yet, but we'll get it all figured out.

Kind of a complicated arrangement, but everything works out. Sometimes it works out to where you're brought so low in the process that you almost can't fathom the losses, but it does work out. And I'm not afraid.

Viiiiiiernes

Mimi and my brother are flying to Niger this Monday afternoon. There's a huge part of me that wishes I could join them, but I just don't feel drawn to go for the same reasons they're going. That, and it's HOT in Niger. Did you know this? HOT. One of those "120 degrees in the shade" type countries.

Giraffes = Abundant? Yes.

Giraffes > Extreme Heat? No.

They have a stop in Casablanca. Cool, eh?

I found their flights and booked 'em a couple months back. In and out on Air Morocco. I'd like to visit Morocco one of these days. I priced it out on Sidestep and it's around $1,600 if you fly out of O'Hare and have a stop at some Mohammad Something Or Other airport in Amsterdam.

Man... I can't even imagine how much Dramamine I'd have to take to be able to handle a flight like that. Yowch.

Went out with Jen and her boyfriend Richard tonight. Had a drink and some mozz sticks, went for an hour long walk along the river in downtown Waukesha, went someplace else for another drink and a lot of sitting and gabbing. Such nice people. And luckily Jen's a talker like me. ;) Poor Richard. ;)

And now, exhaustion sets in and I bid you all good night. Sweet dreams to you all of rivers, midnight walks with friends, and trips to Morocco...



Ahhh- lovely. "Amazigh," even...

Also: I think it's time we all started wearing more lightweight white tunics during the warm summer months. Heavy denim jeans and tight fitting t-shirts? *pfft* Pure silliness!!

JAMES!!

I POSTED A VIDEO OF THE RACING SAUSAGES!!!!


Ta-da!!

My mom and I had such a great time. :D

Video #2: I'm trying to get a better view of a fight behind me when a baseball game breaks out...

"A satirist is a man who discovers unpleasant things about himself and then says them about other people."
Peter McArthur

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."
Douglas Adams

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One of the guys at the bar I go to had a birthday party there tonight. Yay Danimal! All my favorite peeps I've met from there were there tonight- it was great!

One of the girls carved out a watermelon and filled it with fruit and brought dip for it (that's her standing in the background of the watermelon pic), and the blonde girl to the left brought venison sausage (when I took my first bite she looks at me and goes "I killed that. Pretty cool, right?"), and there was a big ol' birthday cake, and two crock pots of pulled pork for sandwiches, and a plate of cheese and crackers to eat with the sausage, and Dan pre-paid for a bunch of beer for everyone, and there was free pool all night and... How stinkin' fun is that, man?! :D

It's weird how quickly this became my "Cheers" place. I never would have thought it would become my hangout when I first went there after a show, but it's always been great. The music's fun, the dance floor's very un-Mulligany in its absence of spilled drinks :P, the people who work there are all so welcoming and friendly, there's an upper bar that's open on busy nights, and they have the best beef jerky I've ever had in my entire life. Seriously. $1.75 gets you that much closer to heaven, dawg.

And it's wonderful getting to know these people from outside of the bar, too. Meeting their spouses and kids and pets, seeing their homes, learning about their jobs (some of them do really interesting things), meeting their exes(':O), hearing about their adventures as they go back to school-- I love it. :)

Here's a li'l vid I took there tonight. Happy birthday, Dan. :)


Yay!

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
Oscar Wilde

I'm watching 300 and marveling at my ability to eat so heartily after getting a cavity filled without totally chewing up my cheek.

My awesome impressions of 300:

• The wife has this weird mouth/accent/movement thing that reminds me of Keira Knightly and it's really annoying. Also, her speech to the council: how was that to be convincing? Cheap, trite, played little sayings. Her only good moment in that scene was when she killed that guy who sold out to Xerxes. All in all, she was fine but forgettable.
• And at least she didn't have big, fake boobs. I get kinda tired of that. Of super skinny actresses with impossibly large boobs.
• The armor plated rhino and elephants? Kickass.
• Xerxes? Gay.
• Leonidas? Weird pecs. But the yelling is inspiring I guess.
• The Immortals' arrowheads that look like insects? Very cool.
• Xerxes' face rings? Gay.
• The moldy looking hunch back guy who sells out the Spartans? Moldy looking.
• Xerxes' gold thong? Gay.

I wouldn't want to be married to a guy who looked like one of the Spartans. Can you imagine? Ick. You can't go out to eat with a guy who looks like that because seriously: what can you both eat that you'll both enjoy? And to get, and keep, a body like that today with jobs in offices and commute times and social lives you've pretty much got to spend every spare moment in the gym working out like your survival depends on it.

Physically fit? I'll take that, and how! But looking like one of these guys? I think you just have to give up too much of what makes you enjoyable to be around in order to have the time to gain this kind of build for it to be at all enticing to me. I see these muscles and immediately think: boring.

So yeah. The dentist. Awesome. I've never been afraid of going to the dentist. I've always kind of enjoyed it, actually.  And this new place was no different. My really sweet dentist's name is Rachel, and her assistant, Kamil, was great, and Amy the hygenist was a hoot. And thanks to my health insurance the whole thing only put me back like $70 bucks. Not bad, right?

For my video game loving friends.

Went out with Nicki (the brunette) and Angela (the redhead) last night for St. Patrick's Day.

Nicki is awesome. Angela is her awesome friend who went with her to see "Butterflies Are Free" the second weekend, which I thought was really sweet. :)

After a while we met up with one of the guys from work and his wife and a few of their friends at the HOG.

Good times, but our presence was required back at Hannon's, so we flew.

Mostly we just hopped around amongst 4 different places that are all right there next to each other and enjoyed the gloriously warm (35 degrees) night air before calling it a night around midnight or so.

I think I'm liking 300 better with the commentary underneath it.

It's good, but it's just not really my kinda flick in general. Big surprise, right? But hearing the people who made it talk about how they made it? That totally appeals to me. :)

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Dear Movie Stars:

WTF?

You raise your children to think they really are not like anyone else in any way, like they are special because of who you are. You cannot name them Susan. You cannot name them Thomas. You must name them Nahla Ariela. Because they are too unique to be called by a name anyone else may ever share. Or because you want them to grow up to marry the Lion King.

You people are too much.

Please quit.

Sincerely,

Getting Kind of Annoyed

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In other news... it appears she's always been kinda trampy, no? My dad said he saw some news story about her that said her sob story about coming from a "broken home" was her way of sharing the fact that apparently she crashed her dad's Porsche and cried at him to replace it and he wouldn't so she left home. Yeesh.

Attempted to see a basketball game after work today. One of my coworkers, E.E., is on a team through... something... and I told him I'd go see his game if he and his wife, S., came to my show.

Well as it happens he hurt his neck last weekend-- something with one of his sons' wrestling stuff at school-- so they didn't make it. But lest we forget: I'm awesome, so I still went to the game.

Except that the other team didn't show up.

So we just hung out at the elementary school gym watching E.E.'s team play a little 4-on-3 amongst themselves before heading to Famous Dave's for a li'l BBQ. Mmmmmmm-mm-mm.

Checked out four more DVDs from the library tonight. Picked up Finding Neverland, The Hours, Showboat, and Children of Dune. I'm watching Showboat right now and thanking the gods I don't live in such a world. Sure it's pretty enough, all that Technicolor, but the racism and corsets and throwin' random trash into the river would drive me to drink. And drink. And drink.

These women. Criminy.  And Kathryn Grayson? "Oh... Oh... Oh... I'm sorry sir... Oh... My, sir... I mean, that is... Oh... I beg your pardon, sir... Oh, but... Oh..."

Oh God and her voice!! Ugh! It's one of this wavering, quivering, weirdo Snow White things, but with an a broader range. Ugh ugh ugh. How and why was that ever a popular style??

And I do not for a moment buy that this woman has a white dad and a black mom. Sorry. Nope.

Old Man River
- Kern, Hammerstein

You and me, we sweat and strain
Bodies all achin' and wracked with pain
Tote that barge and lift that bale
Ya get a little drunk and ya lands in ja-ail
 
I gets weary and so sick of tryin'
I'm tired of livin', but I'm feared of dyin'
And Ol' Man River, he just keeps rollin' along

And now it's time for an unlocked entry.

*ahem*

Ah but I'm too tired now. :P

Okay-- the quick version:

Mandy and Caitlin came over last night to help me eat my huge stock pot (20 qt. pot from Pick 'N' Save for $9 bucks!!) of Taco Soup. We watched about an hour and a half of the original "Dune" before Caitlin had to head home, and Mandy and I just had to turn that darn thing off. I love it for what it is, but I can only take "what it is" for so long.

Alfred's doing well. He says hi.

There's more, so much more, but it's not really "necessary" and I really am beat so maybe I'll find a moment or two tomorrow during work to jot things into Notepad when I need a mental break, but I kinda doubt it. Been a really hectic time-- lots going on all over the place-- so as much as I need a li'l brain break some times I just don't see it happening any time soon. Or if it does I doubt I'll be able to actually write anything.

That's part of what's so great about being on stage again. My brain is-- I can't focus on writing very well right now. I just can't. My voice is different, really muffled, really tired. But when I'm on stage I can slip into a different voice a lot more easily than I can on paper because so much of it is body memory and sensation and energy just completely taking over so it's just wow, so therapeutic.

I just reread that final, very hokey sentence. Um... leave it in because it's true? Take it out because it's embarrassing? Ahh...

Leave it in.

G'night!

I am freakishly le tired.

I drove to my folks' place over lunch yesterday to go over my lines for last night's rehearsal and ended up passing out next to the dog. After rehearsal let out I went to bed about an hour earlier than usual, got up at my normal time, and now I'm ready to go back to sleep.

So far all of south eastern Wisconsin is sick except me.

*blink... blink...*

*searches in vain for wood to knock on*

It was one of the girls at work's birthday today and she's been dying to go to Jose's Blue Sombrero so we went there for lunch. She loves that place so I'm glad we went, but next time I'm invited out for Mexican food (and it's not a birthday or something like that, of course) I'm putting my foot down. I can't take it any more! I'm revolting!

I mean… I'm forming a revolting, not I'm revolt-- nevermind.

Basically: I can't eat Mexican food but every time people want to go out it's like that's all they have a taste for and I'm getting kind of tired of ordering off the kids menu when for $3 more at almost any other type of restaurant I could get a normal sized meal that wasn't half comprised of french fries.

Don't get me wrong: I think Mexican food tastes good too. But if I can't eat it without wishing I'd been born without intestines then how on earth are you gonna expect a girl to jump for joy at the prospect of sitting down to arroz y frijoles, know what I'm saying?

Today's foray into the world of children's food brought me two chicken tenders and half a plate of waffle fries (I ate three of them) for $4. For another $5 on Sunday I got a grilled cheese sandwich with a single slice of cheese, $0.55 worth of avocado slices, and a bunch of french fries which I didn't really eat then either.

Everybody can cilantro themselves to death, but I want no part of it.

And complain all you want about my requesting we go out for sushi. I know you'll just say no and we won't go, or we'll go and you'll order some boring thing you have no desire to eat because it's all they have on the menu that's cooked and you'll say the whole time how 'see we shouldn't have gone for sushi there's nothing i can eat here!' But doggonit!! The same thing happens to me when people invite me out for Mexican and I just keep going and either spending the rest of the next day and a half sicker than a dog, or I leave hungry when two chicken tenders don't quite do the trick.

So La Estacion, Jaliscos, Chi Chi's, Jose's, La Perla-- y'all can kiss my Applebees!!

Maybe I am revolting...

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Also: a piece of my car fell off last week.

Yep.

About a year and a half ago I was turning from a street parking spot into a driveway and I didn't pull forward in front of the driveway far enough  so I dragged the underside of my car along the curb for about a foot (just on the right side). I realized immediately what I did so I slowly backed up in the exact same path and discovered I'd peeled off this runner thing that protects the metal frame of the car underneath. I popped the piece into my backseat and headed home where James helped me reattach it (read: reattached it for me while I tried in vain to light the area with a small and ineffective flashlight). And it stayed on (mostly) fine. Until late last week.

I was driving to rehearsal and the roads were a nightmare and I was on 94 heading east into the city and I was somewhere around the Hwy 100 overpass when I heard this scraping sound. I thought it was a plow. Then I thought it was a truck next to me. Then... it dawned on me. Am I dragging that plastic runner?

But the roads were so bad that there was no way I was going to pull over, even if I'd been able to do so, which I wouldn't be. I just needed it to stay attached long enough to reach an exit where I could... safely... silence. The scraping had stopped.

And somehow I thought that perhaps I had just been hearing some other vehicle making noises. Maybe some poor guy was dragging his muffler or something. And then I forgot about it. Until today.

I was walking up to my car after lunch when I noticed an exposed white piece of plastic-- the kind that had formerly been holding the runner onto my car.

Shoot.

So now I've got a dent on the back panel from when a coworker left a truck in drive when they turned it off so it rolled down the parking lot and hit me, a crack in my windshield from a piece of freeway debris so tiny I didn't even see it hit me, a scuff on the front left corner of my bumper from when I overestimated the size of my parking space at Monterra Ridge, my brakes make a ton of racket but the guy at Midas said they're still good they're just noisy, and a missing plastic guard runner on the right side of my vehicle.

Poor little Joy. It's been a hard year for her. :(

"The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action."
Frank Herbert

"A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece."
Ludwig Ehrhardt

So... Boy... That Super Bowl sure was... um... over? About an hour ago? *shakes head* I could never be a sports chick. No matter how hard I tried. I can get excited if it's a team that people I care about care about, and I can enjoy grilling food for sporting event parties, and having a game playing in the background inside while I'm outside drinking beers and swatting flies off my potato salad with my friends. But I just don't see myself ever really getting into it. Nope.

LUNACY

In other slightly more frightening news, check this out:

Quarter of Brits think Churchill was myth: poll

LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth. And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist. Three percent thought Charles Dickens, one of Britain's most famous writers, is a work of fiction himself. Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi and Battle of Waterloo victor the Duke of Wellington also appeared in the top 10 of people thought to be myths.

Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

UKTV Gold television surveyed 3,000 people.

I know you're not s'pposed'ta, but that's the full article 'cause it's worth reading but I figure most folks prolly won't follow the link. And you know: we should really know when percentages like that exist because we drive on the same roads as these kinds of people, we trust these kinds of people to fly planes, operate heavy machinery, etc. People like this? All over the danged globe. We need to know what we're surrounded by. We need to know...

*sigh*

LUNCH

Had lunch at La Estacion today with Nicole (thisangelhurts), Corey, Karin, and Nicole's friend Mara. Good times. Our waitress looked at me funny when the rest of the part ordered margaritas and dishes with lengthy Spanish names and I ordered a Coke with a grilled cheese and french fries, but I can't eat Mexican food! I just can't! Stuff haunts me for days. Bleagh. :P Anyway-- good times. Great people. I like them. :)

Nicole: I won't be able to see your show until the final weekend because of "Butterflies," but let me know which night you'd rather I came out and I'll aim for then. Thursday night'll be a bit tricky (if not impossible), but anything's an option so long as I'm able to make it out! I want to see it!

LOLITA

Rented "Lolita" through Blockbuster Online. The 1962 Kubrick/Sellers/Mason/Winters version. Took me about two days to get all the way through it. It just kept losing my interest. Or rather, other things, like getting up to put away the socks I'd been folding while watching it, grabbed my interest more strongly. I mean-- it was good. I liked it. I just-- I think I'm a lazy movie watcher. I think that's what it is.

Peter Sellers' performance as Clare Quilty was worth making the movie for, I figure. I mean-- he was really and truly genius in this thing. The opening scene with him and James Mason? Gold. So real. The most realistic, understated *drunk* I have ever seen. Detached from reality, but marvelously coherent... and drunk... and gut wrenching. Perfect.

Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze kinda bugged me. I know a lot of that's probably from how annoying her character was, but even the delivery-- just so fake. And I know the person she was portraying had a strong lean towards the melodramatic, but even so: Winters herself was just unreal to me.

James Mason as Humbert Humbert was fairly kickass at times-- like when he reads the mom's "be gone by the time I'm back or I'll know you love me too" letter-- but I had a hard time justifying his grounds for being upset with Lo. That aspect just wasn't built up enough for me to buy it. Karin suggested that was possibly done on purpose to mirror the way you didn't talk about such things at the time the story takes place, and I guess that makes sense. But still: he's a seemingly well adjusted middle aged man who throws his life away for... for what? I mean-- we just don't get to really see any chemistry between him and the girl. There's are snippets of conversation, awkward moments, etc. But-- I don't know. It just didn't create something *real* for me.

Humbert Humbert. *snickers* Mr. Swine? Mr. Cuddles? Camp Climax? Oh dear dear dear...

Sue Lyon in the title role was, um, well she was abrasive and bratty and cute but obnoxious and... Hm. Yep. I really don't think too much about her performance. It wasn't bad. But it also didn't really strike me.

And now I suppose I'll go out and read reviews of it that says that Lyon and Winters (heh... lion in winter...) gave stellar performances and they're worth studying for technique and blah blah blah crap like that. But I ain't buyin' it. I didn't like either of 'em.

I read somewhere that Nabokov, who wrote the screenplay for the 1962 version of the movie, didn't think it really conveyed the guts of his novel; that he felt there was something missing. And I know they had to leave a lot out to get it past the censors, and that any book written about the inner workings of a middle aged man's psyche is going to have to lose a lot if it's to be presented as anything other than two hours of pure narration, but still: I wish he wouldn't have cut whatever it is that made the novel so monumental and lasting. I feel cheated.

To see a trailer of the 1997 version, which already looks to me like it'd be more what I'd hope for in a movie version of this story, go here.

2/4/08, 8:09 am ETA: Shop pulls Lolita bed for young girls

A chain of retail stores in Britain has withdrawn the sale of beds named Lolita and designed for six-year-old girls after furious parents pointed out that the name was synonymous with sexually active pre-teens. Woolworths said staff who administer the web site selling the beds were not aware of the connection.

In "Lolita," a 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, the narrator becomes sexually involved with his 12-year-old stepdaughter -- but Woolworths staff had not heard of the classic novel or two subsequent films based on it.

"Failure is not the only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others."
Jules Renard

Bad news, James. Your girl Shannyn Sossamon's new movie is getting mercilessly panned. It's *up to* 0% on Rotten Tomatoes right now, actually. So not only is she unfortunately faced and utterly lacking in remotely human bathroom etiquette, but her performance in "One Missed Call" is apparently "leaden." Them's the breaks, I guess...

Seeing swadhyaya and some other folks tonight out in the Falls. Been a long time. Been too long. I like that girl. This should be a good time.

Finding one of the four links listed below really made my morning. Can you guess which one it was?

1. German Jews Protest Star of David Pro-Smoking T-Shirt.

Hm.

2. Jessica Alba Says Pregnancy is "Awesome"

*pfft*

3. Miley Cyrus Reveals Her Stage Magic

It's not all real?

4. Wisconsin Employer's Guide to "Determining if a person qualifies for benefits and calculating how much can be paid to the worker who does qualify"

*facedesk*

Oh my gosh! I got the *best* voicemail from highbard last night!

RAYMOND!!! Too stinkin' funny, man. ;)

Sorry I couldn't answer. I heard my phone ringing and ran all over looking for it and- naturally- I found it right after it stopped ringing. Not that I could've really taken the call then anyhow. My brother was over with his girlfriend to exchange a few Christmas presents (sushi rolls and Season 3 of The Office!!) so I was busy.

But oh man-- I'm totally glad I ended up not being able to answer the phone because now I have the happiest voicemail ever saved into my phone. :D

It's saved along with one of my mom singing "Oh Ruthie you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind! Yay Ruthie! Love you too, Ruthie!"

Isn't she great?! =D

So anyway- yes I got your call, sorry I couldn't take it, and you can leave me a message like that ANY ol' time!

"i date like a man. i wish men still did."

N. Gorski

Dear masadarada:

Have I ever told you how much I enjoy the music of your people?


I wish I was something cool instead of just a Nazi, 'cause Nazi's ain't cool.

Wait-- they're still not cool, right?

So I'm at Midas tonight getting my tire patched, right? Right. And the guy behind the counter is this guy I've "known" through Midas for a long time and one of the guys I always deal with as far as our work fleet, my own car, etc. Good guys at that Midas. Good guys all of 'em. We chat on the phone sometimes. Mostly older guys with families. Nice guys. Every time I go in there there's a new thank you note full of customer accolades propped up on the counter. Friendly guys. And the girls who work there are a hoot!

So I've just finished meeting with Christy who works for the kindly socialists insuring my vehicle, and I'm sighing about the $500 I've got to come up with to get my car fixed. I go into Midas and tell Counter Guy to be nice to my poor car 'cause she's been in an accident since I saw him two days ago. He tells me one of their guys does body work on the side for cash if I'm interested. Sweet.

30 minutes later he comes in to tell me the tire's been plugged ($21) and that he was able to get out almost all of the dent in my bumper.

...

What?

I'm sorry-- What?

Yeah, he says. He "just popped off the front fender blah blah moved the something or other and reshaped the blah. Blah blah wasn't able to get rid of all the scuffs but got some of it... not perfectly reshaped but mostly there blah blah got rid of some of the scuffs from the other side too (I noticed today that I was also swiped on the right side of my car at some point) so it's not 'good as new' but it's a lot better than it was before..."

Yeah. No kidding. Dude has my car for a half hour and what's he do? Hundreds of dollars worth of body work/labor for FREE.

It's a bit hard to see how much better it is from the picture because the scuffs are a bit misleading, but I kid you not: Get rid of the scuffs and you can barely tell anything happened at all.

I am buying treats for the guys at Midas and telling everyone I know how awesome they are.

Also: I leave town tomorrow morning around 7 am and won't have access to the internet until... uh... Well we're aiming for Springfield, MO for the first leg of the trip and if our hotel has internet then I guess I'll be online tomorrow night. It's about a 9 hour drive as the crow... uh... drives... so we'll probably stop a few times during the day so I can stretch a bit- not really used to this kind of trek like my dad is- so if you need me, call me. Same thing for Thursday.

We don't have internet at the apartment, and we won't have internet at the new office until end of next week or beginning of the following weeks, so if I'm online it's because I've managed to get away for a few minutes to someplace with wifi. And that's pretty much how it's going to be for the next few weeks. So yeah- if you need me: call me. After 9. Unless you're really important, or want to tell me I'm really important. Then you can call any time.

One love,

Lucky