This evening I took a jaunt to our local community theatre for a combined play reading/production meeting.  I believe that the entire meeting lasted 45 minutes and in those 45 minutes all I recall accomplishing is finding out that work we have done for nearly 3 months has gotten us nowhere man.  In May, we were to submit by the end of June a proposal for the 2009-2010 season.  Fine, we do that;  HOWEVER, the board who was to vote on our proposal did not meet to vote on our proposal.  In fact, it sounded like one (maybe even two) of our proposals would be nixed.  One of the reasons presented for one of the shows to be axed is because an area high school may be doing it.  Why should this matter?  We are not a high school putting on an annual play.  I still hear people comment that they do not know of the existence of a live community theatre house even from those who live in the town.  High schools present shows to perform, mainly, for parents and grandparents (with some exceptions).  Community theatre attempts to perform for a broader audience: the theatre-loving audience… not just those people who come to see a show to see junior on stage.  It’s also nice when it can attract more non-traditional audience members.

My question is this: If we are to ax a show because a high school may be doing it in the same season, then are we to survey each school in the area to see if any of the shows are identical?  Who acquiesces and allows the other group to do the show?

Another issue was addressed on choosing directors for shows.  I was floored when I heard that another person wanted to direct a show that someone else was planning and ready to submit for approval.  How unfair?!  A person who was concentrating on independently bringing a show and then all of a sudden someone else wants to direct it?  This of course was one of the other possibly axed shows.  I just don’t know, but it sounds like we have a lot of geniuses at work here.

Casino Royale was the first Ian Fleming James Bond novel written back in 1953. Since then, the movie rights have been tied up in legal matters and just recently joined the ranks of the official Bond movie series. The 2006 movie was essentially a reboot of the franchise. It introduced a BLONDE Bond in Daniel Craig who I am having a hard time warming to. Hopefully with a new adventure arriving in November, he will grow on me. In any case, the lates movie opens in traditional fashion with a pre-credit sequence which illustrates Mr. Bond’s first two kills… thereby granting him his Double-O status. That is about as similar to most films in the series as it gets. This film is considerably darker but no less entertaining than the rest.

The plot of the movie concerns Bond and a female treasury agent (Vesper Lynde) on the trail of a weapons financier, Le Chiffre, who has a rather disturbing physical abnormality. Bond is entered into a literal life and death Texas Hold ‘Em tournament with the villain. The hope is to defeat Le Chiffre and force him to aid the British government in exchange for protection from his creditors.

I found the character of Bond to be quite interesting. He is not the seasoned super spy who has been out in the field thwarting the evil plans of countless bad guys. Instead, he is careless, untried, and has an enormous ego making M question her decision to promote him to 007. Along the way, Bond learns an important lesson in the espionage game both from experience and from the advice from his superior: “Trust no one.”

As usual, the action sequences are quite thrilling to watch. One of the most memorable scenes (in fact one taken directly from the novel) involves 007 being tortured by Le Chiffre in a way which would seem to decimate his manhood forever. In true form, Bond is able to make a quick though painful quip. Also like any good Bond film, is the double entendre and suggestive character name. Ms. Lynde’s cover identity is Miss Tiffany Broadchest.

Although dark in tone, Casino Royale does provide enough heart-pounding action to satisfy. I’m not entirely sure if this was a total reboot of the series. I hope we have not seen the end of original supporting characters like weapons master Q or flirtatious secretary Miss Moneypenny. Casino Royale ALMOST took itself too seriously.

…and not a very good thing. Yesterday at work, I noticed that the energy drinks in the cooler were starting to freeze. I informed the manager of this and she said she would check it out. This morning, I go in at 8AM and what to my wandering eyes should appear but a cooler with red slushie all over the bottom and glass door. Most of the drinks had frozen and burst all over. I was surprised that the glass door was in one piece. What made me think of fireworks? While I was cleaning out the cooler, I heard this popping sound that sounded like a firecracker exploding. I turned around and there was another can split open. Unfortunately, this happened the morning following a wax job on the floor. Sorry for whoever did that, but it did not look too bad after I cleaned up the mess and ran a mop over it. I was told that the cooler is fairly new (about 6 months old). I asked if there was not a temperature control on the case. There is but the problem happened before and the temperature gauge was adjusted to no avail. Can we say warranty issue? The maintenance guy who “fixed” the problem previously suggested turning off the case, letting it defrost, plug it back in, and keep an eye on it. Who wants to drink defrosted soda or energy drink? I enjoy a good slush as much as the next person but not so much cleaning slushie out of a cooler after it explodes? 🙁

One more post about Little Women.

We left a good portion of ‘stuff’ on stage after the Little Women tear down.  It belonged to various people and places that the director, and set designer knew.   They came back this morning to load up a truck with these items.  I volunteered  to help move it.

After figuring out how to get the various large pieces out the door, and moving all the small stuff into the truck the job was finished in under 1/2 hour.  The director of the next show (The Phantom Tollbooth — Children’s Theater) was there helping, and getting design help for her show.  So our theater will be seeing the designs of a very talented person two shows in a row.  I think it is too bad that these shows aren’t part of our regular season and will not be up for any awards.  I may have to talk to someone on whatever committee decides on that sort of stuff.  Maybe we could come up with a special award.  This of course depends on what the set looks like for the Children’s theater 😉 .   I’m sure it will look great.

In any event, look for more post on the up coming production, I’m in it again doing lights and sound.  My complaints, comments and praises will be here.

Ok… so I am a few minutes late posting a 4th of July entry, but I had an absolutely wonderful end of my day. I started out by putting in a fun-filled 10 hour day at work. Somehow for the most part it went by relatively fast especially when we had those few major rushes when I had 4 people in my line with carts and needed to call for reinforcements. Finally, the shift ended and I got to rush home (not before I overheard a few opinionated people loudly complain that we were closed already). Clearly marked on the door that we would indeed be closing at 6PM and it was 6:05 when we stepped out.

I ran home, changed into some other more comfortable clothes and headed to the country home of some other theatre cronies where we congregated, had a cookout, and enjoyed watching the sky light up with some very cool fireworks. I missed our local display last weekend for some strange reason. They usually run them the SUNDAY before the hoilday. This year, they decided to have a two day celebration and had the fireworks on Saturday night. However, I think the display presented tonight was quite exceptional and rivaled some of the best I have seen produced in our local park. I think the only thing missing was some great accompaniment of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with its thundering cannon or John Phillip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, Liberty Bell, Washington Post, or any other grand march  Maybe next year we can have the sound system hooked up.  But the chance to congregate with a large group of friends to celebrate our freedom, a birthday,  and the coming birth of a special guy was such a thrill.

Several years ago my church had the choir sing on 4th of July weekend, and this is one of the songs.  I pray that as you reflect on the freedom we have here in the US, you will reflect especially on the freedom we have in worshiping as we please.  There are many places now where there is no such freedom, and there will be a day that we will all have to go underground for a time before Jesus takes the world back from Satan once and for all, as God promises.

[Godtube]https://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=fd28e0f6fcdffbcdd760[/Godtube]

Tigers won, and I’m going to get some sleep.   Being in the eastern timezone, I hate these West Coast games.

Oh yes, this is post 100.

A somewhat mindless post of things I’m thinking about.

Took my youngest to a movie and to play putt-putt. I aways enjoyed the time I could spend with my daughters. I’m sure they’re getting a skewed view on life without their mother in it, but that is what it is. They get this skewed view, because my view is somewhat skewed. Not doing as well as I would like on putt-putt. On the little course closest to us, I have made a hole-in-one on all 18 holes. I should be able to get 2 on each and everyone of them. I get a little down when I get 3’s on some of the holes. Most of the time I don’t keep the putter down.

Stopped at a Coldstone Creamery. Wonderful stuff. Ice Cream, Sorbet mixed with stuff right in front of your eyes. It is very good ice cream.

A fourth of July weekend is in front of me. It is nice to get an extra day off of work. I’m looking forward to spending time with family and friends this weekend. Happy Birthday wishes to my oldest sister on the 4th. Never did get to put the sparklers on her cake instead of candles.

Tigers are on the radio right now. I don’t have cable, so I don’t get to watch much ball on TV, but Gameday on the Computer, and a radio near me, works well. Tigers are winning in the 7th.

I need to take the time this weekend to do the things I wasn’t doing during the time my daughter was in “Little Women”. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything, but I need to do more around here.

I saw a movie trailer today. It looks like they are making a remake of a wonderful Science Fiction Classic. A new “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is coming to the big screen again. This was a classic, and from the trailer, I think they found a way to ruin it. I’m planning on going just so I can really rag on the film. You are warned. Normally I don’t get preconceived ideas about movies, but this was a wonderful short story, a very good movie (classic in my mind), and it will now become a standard Hollywood space invasion movie… Grrr.

I’m waiting for the new Batman movie. One of the favorite comic characters, because he is a normal person. He was also a troubled hero. It makes the comic book a little more real when the hero has normal problems.

Should be a good 4th tomorrow. Getting together with friends for food and socializing, maybe some fireworks.

I need to try to schedule some additional time off work. It may be tough since we are in the middle of a major software change. Maybe I can get 1 day off a week for the rest of the summer.

That should be about it, for now

Tigers still ahead in the 8th.

This show has already be hit hard by the critics.  Again it was one I thought looked interesting in the reviews.  It was almost exactly what I was expecting.  There was a surprise or two in the movie, that I will not give away here.

Anyway the basic story is a superhero with a drinking problem.  Like superman he can fly, is very strong, and bullets don’t seem to hurt him.  He tends to do more destruction than most superheroes and is not in good favor of the city officials.  In fact there is a warrant for his arrest.

He does save a struggling ad man who decides to revamp his image. I liked the struggle Hancock had with his personal problems.  Even though he was physically superior to normal humans, his emotional levels are not up to normal human par.  A good portion of the movie is dealing with this emotional problems, and this did make it slow at times , but I did like that part   After Hancock works through his problems, the movie takes off again.  And into the couple of surprises I mentioned.

Anyway I think for adults this is just a fun movie.   It really won’t get you thinking, it is way to spend an afternoon or evening.  There is some adult humor, and some violence.  The main character is a drunk at the beginning of the movie, so that may be a factor in your viewing pleasure.

So all in all it is a good movie, not up to par with the best superhero movies, but definitely well above the worst.  If you don’t go into it looking for too much, you may have as much fun as I did.

The surprise plot twists are also interesting.

My parents returned Tuesday afternoon from their 2 week vacation to the Golden Gate State. Some of their highlights included: visiting San Francisco, San Diego (no zoo), the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. It also included a nine hour car trip to Santa Rosa where they visited my mother’s cousin who owns and operates a winery (Lauterbach Cellars) along with her husband. I asked if they could not bring back some wine so I could share with friends… Probably not.

I would say that the most memorable tale concerned their “guided tour” of the walk of fame along Hollywood and Vine. My parents and my father’s sister were approached by a gentleman offering to give them a personal tour of the stars for a grand total of $50. Apparently, they thought this was a steal (read on). My aunt produced the fifty dollars. The gentleman informed them that he had to get something, said he would return, and left. I’m not sure how long the three of them waited but they came to realize that they had just been swindled. Surprisingly, they somehow managed to encounter the thief along the way (probably attempted to pull the same stunt on other unsuspecting tourists). However when they confronted the gentleman, he quickly denied ever seeing them. They really got “taken” on a tour.  However, the trio did walk the stars.

Their return flight arrived in Indianapolis Tuesday morning at 10 following a five-hour layover in Atlanta. Needless to say, they were both exhausted and went to bed exceptionally early.