Notice on the right side of this page there are links to various things. There are of course links to the blogs I write, and comments people make about them (Hey, I like the comments, so keep them coming). I have links to other blogs. I now added a few links to other places. I will be adding more in the future. These are the places that have some interest to me.

Since I’ve given a good percentage of my writings to things that happen in and around our little theater group, I thought I should add that site too. I don’t go to it that often, because I often know what is going on there. I was going to write a little bit about the theater anyway.

Last year in or around February I celebrated my 10th anniversary with the theater. Funny, I can’t remember the dates of the show, but I do remember it was the first show of 2007. It was the 3rd show of the 2006/2007 season. At that time, we were known as ‘The Williams County Playhouse’, or in most cases, just the Playhouse. People who knew about it, knew what you were talking about. I’ve averaged participating in 2 shows a year since 1997. I wasn’t always on stage, sometimes I would just run lights or help building sets.

Me, I’m what you could call a character actor. I’ve only had a couple of lead roles. Most of the time I’m in a supporting or cameo role. I kind of like it that way. I can only think of a couple plays where I would really want the lead role. To my great satisfaction, I have played the lead in the one show where I really wanted that part. Too bad we don’t have a history section for the theater web site. As a local community theater we’ve been active for over 50 years. I did notice today, that I am in a couple of pictures for some of the shows I’ve been in. Didn’t remember taking some of those pictures, and I’m glad none of the “Run for your Wife” pictures got in there.

Anyway, what was I going on about? A yes character rolls. I can’t say I was much of a character my first year or so. I just didn’t have the confidence in my acting to really start having fun. I had fun during rehearsals and after the shows, just not during the shows. The turning point came in a show called “Wait Until Dark”. While the director wanted me to smoke, it was pivotal to the rest of the show, I never managed to look comfortable smoking. I never smoked a cigarette in my life before that one on stage. Even though I looked like a rookie smoker, I think that caused my comfort level on stage to make a turn. The next time on stage, I was adding a little more to my characters. I’ve played an old man, a young kid, a psychiatrist (three times), a few cops, husband, minister, gay neighbor, British Sgt. Major, Silent film Actor, card playing buddy, gentleman’s gentleman, and a friend to a 6′ 4 1/2″ tall rabbit. I’m sure I have left something out, but that should cover most of them.

My favorite role was that of Elwood Dowd in “Harvey”. My least favorite role, was that of one of the beat cops in “Arsenic and Old Lace”, but it was my first WCP show, and I was sick during the run. My most memorable show was one I was in the light booth for. The very first show after my wife’s death. It was a show that dealt extensively with death. It was pure, intense therapy. Theater, my friends, can heal the soul, calm the heart, and make life a bit more realistic.

Why talk about all this now? Well, I know our little theater is in a financial bind (nothing new here, but that is the way of things). I’m sure other community theaters are also on the lookout for cash. So, I guess I’m begging a little here. There is a very good chance that you live near a community theater. Look them up, stop by a show, support them. Yes, there is a little culture going on, and the people in the theater groups are doing it for fun (we don’t get paid folks), but it can be so much more. Have a laugh or a cry watching live theater…..

The advice in the title of my blog post sounds obvious in retrospect.  Mike Myers‘ new movie The Love Guru did not look funny, nor did it look like a good movie…  But date night this week found us in a neighboring town whose movie theater has a card club – you earn points every time you see a movie and earn rewards with the points – free popcorn, drinks, candy, movie tickets.  We were lucky enough to have earned movie tickets the other day, and when we realized this would probably be one of the last movies we’d see without a newborn baby along, we decided to make it a double feature with our earned tickets.  We had gone to the theater to see Get Smart, the latest Steve Carell movie.  Since the times lined up well and we wouldn’t have much time to kill between the movies, we chose The Love Guru (regrettably) for our second movie.

Get Smart
There is one reason why I would want to see this movie after never having seen the ’60’s tv show: Steve Carell.  The guy is a good actor who is always fun to watch, so we couldn’t resist checking out his latest work.  It wasn’t the best example of Carell’s talent, but it was exactly what I was expecting, plus entertaining and amusing.  The fictional gadgetry was clever and the action was plentiful; there were also some funny jokes thrown in (Bill Murray‘s cameo is one of the best parts), and overall it was a good time.  Anne Hathaway was good as Agent 99, but it makes me wonder what the character was like in the tv show…  And I wonder what else I missed since I’ve never seen an episode of the tv version of Get Smart?  Maybe I’ll some across one someday, but for now, the movie wasn’t good enough to make it a priority.

And because I don’t want to waste any time talking about The Love Guru, I’m just going to copy and paste someone else’s review from imdb.com which I think sums up the movie perfectly:
R.I.P. Mike Myers Career
I saw this film last night in a advance screening. I can say without a doubt it is the worst movie I’ve ever seen in the theater. It is simply a terrible movie. For every joke that’s funny (which are few) there is about dozen that are not. Then there’s all the jokes we’ve seen in previous Myers films that aren’t so funny the 4th time around when they appear in this flick. Many moments in this film will having you looking around the theater wondering if anyone else finds this movie as stupid as you do.
That’s really the bottom line. This movie is stupid. Take every fear you’ve had watching the trailer, times it by 10 and you will get an idea of how bad this film is.
By the way, the hockey in this movie will leave any one who loves the game sick to there stomach. The hockey portrayal left me in tears. Its brutal ! The film is a HUGE slap in the face to hockey. Thanks Mike Myers !
On a positive note though, Justin Timberlake and Stephen Colbert are hilarious. The only time i enjoyed the movie at all was when they were on screen. I never thought in a million years I would leave a movie saying ” Thank God Justin Timberlake was is it.”
In short : this movie is terrible ! Don’t believe me ? Then throw your money away and see for yourself.

HAHAHA – I especially like the part in the review, “I never thought in a million years I would leave a movie saying, Thank God Justin Timberlake was in it.”  So true…
At least we got in for free, though the movie was so bad, it was almost a waste of reward points!  But it was a short movie and any time together for husband and wife away from the kids is priceless by itself, so I can’t say it was a total waste – but seriously, don’t see it! 🙂 

One of those, I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed days. I’m hoping I’m not coming down with whatever my light booth double had last week. She needed at least a few days to get over it. I don’t have that kind of time.

Things I wanted to get done during the off days between shows, I didn’t get done. So I’m falling farther behind in things I need to do around the house. I’ll have to make some time this Saturday morning to get things going.

One more weekend of shows, and then on to Children’s theater for my youngest. I guess I will be seeing a lot of that theater this summer. And I haven’t been in a show yet. I know I will have to get going to make sure I help out with the show I’m a producer of. My life in theater is never done.

Good night folks, just a quick update.

Another of the AFI list of top 10 categories was Science Fiction (which some believe will be tomorrow’s “science fact.” I promise I will not bore and go into depth on each of the genre’s… just those I know a bit about from viewing.

Their List:

• Back to the Future
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Alien
• Blade Runner
• The Day the Earth Stood Still
• A Clockwork Orange
• E.T. The Extraterrestrial
• Star Wars
• 2001: A Space Odyssey

I will agree with the five films that I know well to a point. I’m not sure if I would include Back to the Future. Sure it is a fun time-travel movie that I have watched multiple times, but will people remember it 30 years from now. T2 is the best of the Terminator series and a wonder of film-making even 17 years later. Blade Runner is purhaps best summed up as a cult favorite (one of Harrison Ford’s semi-forgotten films… not by me, but…). Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back were far superior movies than their predecessors. E.T. almost could have been included in the fantasy category but should be included on either. And their top choice? I could not make it through the first 45 minutes of silence and a representation of the beginning of man set to the magnificent strains of Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra.
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SPOILER ALERT!!! – The following is a summary of Monday, June 23rd’s episode of The Mole – it contains outcomes and spoilers.  Do not read any further if you don’t want to know about past Mole episodes.

6/23/08 – The focus tonight was on Clay and Victoria.  Since Victoria ended up getting eliminated, the episode’s emphasis on Clay put my mole-suspecting focus back on him.  That and his mole-y behavior.  Before the gold-brick-up-the-mountain challenge, Clay made sure to talk about how little money he wanted his team to earn.  He was so focused on getting up the mountain to win the exemption from the quiz that he specifically said that bringing bricks to earn money was not important.  That’s understandable, but then when they did get to the top of the mountain, and Clay already knew that his team had won the exemption, he was still making comments about how much money his team had won.  And his comments were about how the team won too much money for his liking.  Then, when it was discovered that the team had earned only one exemption and they had to decide which of the 3 got to use it, Clay both insisted to and bargained with his teammates in order to be able to use the exemption for himself.  That seems like something the mole would do in order to “prove” his or her “need” for the exemption – ie, throw others off his mole-y trail.

I hated how Nicole was Ahem-ing and blinking rapidly during the journal question activity at dinner, but then again, I hate many of the things she does.  I hadn’t really considered her for the mole until my husband brought up a very intriguing point – Take a look at Nicole’s name: NICOLE.  It’s very easy to change Nicole’s name to MOLE with a simple equation:  If you “add” the N to the I, it makes an M.  If you “add” the C to the O, it makes an O:  (N+I )(C+O) LE= MOLE
The show has been known for slipping in little clues like this in the past.  They will even highlight some of them in the finale once we find out who the mole is.  Now I am really starting to consider Nicole.  Her ultra-bitchy attitude could be a ploy for the cameras because she is the mole.  She was just the woman you love to hate, so as an audience member, you don’t want to think her awful personality if fake because you’re busy hating her.  But it’s just a thought for now; I will keep a close eye on her now, that’s for sure.  For tonight’s official guess, I’m going to have to go with Clay again.  Chris is still guessing Paul.  Though that Nicole hypothesis is a good one, I guess it wasn’t enough to convince him of Nicole’s role as the mole.  Until next week…

Those who know me may have different views of me based on where they see me most often. In the theater, I tend to show my more creative (silly, strange??) side. At work, I tend to the serious, more logical side. Some others will see me as a possible combination of the two. Which is the real me? Well, both are me. If you meet me, I tend to show the real me. I don’t believe in putting up fronts for anyone. But I do have many sides. The theater brings out some of the light hearted me. Computers will bring out my logical side. Friends can have get either, depending on the situation. Some may say I have a sinister side too. In a certain mood, I will talk in many different voices (I do a pretty good Stitch and Bullwinkle). Other times I tend to imitate Mr. Spock from Star Trek, not the voice, but the purely logical side.

Today, I’m leaning toward the Spock side of me. Somethings I read made me think about recent events in a logical light. I have read in many places where people who lose a loved one (especially widow/ers) have or receive ‘signs’ from their loved one. I don’t believe in that. I’m a logical skeptic in this. Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but most of the things I read about can be classified as coincidence or wishful thinking. After you lose someone you really care about, little things can bring a lot of comfort.

The one thing I heard about most often are pennies or dimes found. My first question was why these coins? Why not nickels, quarters, or Dollar coins? Why not some foreign coin I would never find around my house. I found coins of all sorts before any close loved one died, I found them afterwards too. People, including those who live in my house, drop small coins all the time without noticing them. I just happen to keep my nose to the floor looking for them. Coins really don’t seem to be a good sign.

Any other sort of natural occurrence fall in the same category for me. I have seen butterflies all my life and even had them land on me, having this occur after a death is just the same thing that happened before. Seeing birds, clouds, rainbows ect, all have happened throughout my life, happening again is just that for me.

Then we have the electrical malfunctions. Radios going on without warning, clocks that haven’t worked starting to work again. Well, I can’t say this ever happened to me before or after a loved ones death. For the time being proof/disproof of this sign is not available. If it happens to you, take it anyway you like.

Feelings of a person being in the room is one I have the easiest time explaining. I’ve had that feeling about many people in my life, some of the time they had died, other times they were just gone for a period of time. People are creatures of habit, we tend to expect people and things to be in a certain place at a certain time. Seeing them there when they aren’t there could just be replaying old memories. As I said, I’ve experienced this, but it never felt like a sign. Especially when I see my younger sister playing drums in my basement. This was my brother’s house before mine, and my sister would play the drums quite often. There are times when playing Beatles’ music, I will see her pounding away on the drums. In the same way I see other people (living and dead) where I expect them to be, even if they aren’t there at the moment. I guess it is sort of a deja-vu thing your brain/eyes do together. But instead of feeling something happened to you before, you re-live things that have happened to you.

The last one I’ve heard about are orbs or glowing sections in photographs. I can’t say I’ve seen things in pictures that I couldn’t explain or in the digital age remove by taking a new shot. Lighting, dirty lenses, reflections off all sorts of objects can cause the effects I’ve seen people claim as signs. Some people pushing an agenda could make these things happen on purpose.

It was said that Houdini wanted to get a sign from his mother after she died. He spent a great deal of time going to mediums and other mystics in hope of the signs. Everyone he went to, he proved to be a fraud. It is said that he had a sign specifically for his wife, if he should die first. There was a log of controversy as to if this happened at all.

In any event, my lovely wife knew of my logical frame of mind, and that the above ‘signs’ would never pass my skeptical frame of mind. If she can give a sign, she hasn’t given one that she knows will get through. I have a couple of small things in mind that would definitely prove to be a sign. My wife did know of them. In the four 1/2 years since her death, these things have not occurred. And in my mind it’s logical….

Recently, the American Film Institute (AFI) presented their list of 10 Top Films in 10 Categories. It seems that every year, the group presents their list of 100 Films in various specials (one was 100 Years 100 Songs). This year they decided to be diverse and focus on animation, sci-fi, gangster, fantasy, western, sports, mystery, romantic comedy, courtroom drama,

The top ten Animated as presented by the AFI:

Finding Nemo

Cinderella (1950)

Shrek

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Toy Story

Fantasia

The Lion King

Bambi

Pinocchio

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

I suppose there is always going to be something to be said for the achievement Walt Disney made in 1937 by creating the first full-length animated feature. However, I do not think that it should be considered the crowning achievement in animation. To me, Beauty and the Beast is an even greater accomplishment. It not only continued the resurrection of the animated feature begun by The Little Mermaid, but almost made me forget that I was watching an animated movie. The scene in which Belle and the Beast dance to the title song begins with what would normally be termed a crane shot (if it were not an animated feature). Beauty also holds the distinction of being the first animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.   It was also the first fully animated Disney film that I really thought would make a great musical on the stage (coincidence?). Every time I watch the film, I can imagine each of the characters being brought to life on stage; and yes, I have even imagined myself as my favorite character in the show. I am terrible audience member.

Beauty and the Beast (Disney Special Platinum Edition)

This is probably one of the last posts I’m going to write about pregnancy.  As we get down to the end, there’s not much to report (I cannot physically do much TO report!), and I will definitely post pictures of the baby.  I started my weekly Dr. visits a few weeks ago, and today, finally we are starting to see some action.  The Dr. says my pregnancy is now officially full-term, and my body is preparing for birth.  At today’s Dr. visit, the baby was moving around lots while she was listening to his heartbeat, and it accelerated nicely while he moved.  The Dr. wants me to get induced the week before my due date because I have big babies (Taylor was only 7 lbs 2 oz, but the last 2 were 8 lbs 12 oz), but Dr. is off on Monday, so right now we’re looking at July 8 or 9.  I don’t have to decide until next Monday, but I think I’m going to go with the 8th since I’m so anxious – why wait if I don’t have to?  I have a few meetings scheduled that week, but I will have to miss them.  Besides, that’s a nice date for a birthday – 7/08/08 – since we have no hope of holding out til the 21st.  Our first 2 daughters were born on the 21st of their months, December and May, and then our third daughter was born a day early, on October 20…  sometimes I forget and celebrate her “month” birthdays on the 21st out of habit…  But baby Christopher will be no where near the 21st…  July 8th – that’s only 5 days after my birthday!  But I like the sound of it and can’t believe that it’s only 2 weeks away!  Time flies so fast, 2 weeks will pass in no time!  Good thing too because I get less sleep by the night.  I’m up going to the bathroom at least 3-4 times, and then I’ve been having trouble sleeping when I lay down again.  But since I don’t plan much during the day and my oldest daughter is out of school for the summer – she is a great big help with our youngest-for-now, I have been getting good naps for the most part.

Please send thoughts and prayers for our friend Cathy who is in the hospital after having a heart attack on Sunday.  We’re going to visit her tonight and hopefully she’ll be feeling well soon!

I think that I shouldn’t be in the light booth for this show Electrical gremlins have been following me. It started a couple months ago when two computers had some problems. One was just falling short on the power and would cause all sorts of strange errors when I started heavy processing. The second had problems with the video. I normally can get things going quickly, but it took a little time. Then I had 1/2 of a house circuit go out during a storm. Not the whole circuit with a tripped breaker, just 1/2 of it. Something caused the switch wiring to short.

Now on to the theater. Two bad spotlights were the start of it. Replaced a bulb and one still didn’t work. Strange happenings on one set of lights, they just didn’t want to work. Got that straightened out enough to run through the show, but it is a bit of a hassle. Today was the biggest gremlin. Our monitor system (let’s the booth and backstage hear what is happening) decided to have a lot of massive interference. Then I switched jacks and it would work for a bit, but it mostly gave up the ghost. We were running the lights based on stage locations and actions, not the words. I’m glad I didn’t mess up.

The gremlins stopped doing their electrical havoc, and decided the heavy rains needed to come inside. Yes during the middle of the second act, there were leaks over the audience. I hope for the last three performances, the skies stay clear, and the electrical gremlins stay far away.

A question mark you see….hmmm. They are coming soon provided the selections we made in our play-reading group meets with the approval of the theatre board. The small group assembled to discuss our selections decided upon the following for the 2009 season:

Over the Tavern

Honk

Lion in Winter

Little Shop of Horrors

Miracle on 34th Street

I am greatly familiar with three of the five shows. I had heard of Over the Tavern and recently read the play. Someone I used to work with has a nephew who played the young mentally challenged boy in an area production a few years ago. I am not really familiar with Honk but know that it is a musical based upon the tale of “The Ugly Duckling.”

I adore Little Shop… and definitely will audition for that (as well as most of the others, right?). I need to begin re-looking into that Howard Ashman and Alan Menken show. But it will be a fun show to do for the Halloween season. I am told that a frequent reader of this blog might consider venturing this way to audition (but I’m not sure if that would be possible…. D?).

Wrapping up our suggested season is the play Miracle on 34th Street. I do not think there is a better show that could bring in huge audiences and put them in the holiday spirit than this timeless classic.

We also began tossing ideas out for 2010 (The Year We Make Contact… according to the sequel to 2001). A few musicals were introduced: State Fair and Can-Can. State Fair is perhaps the least known of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals. Can-Can is a Cole Porter show (I KNEW IT as soon as I looked it up…. there you go, C.)

So, our job is done, it is now in the hands of the theatre board to approve or do better. (and I forgot to mention a suggested special engagement of Jesus Christ Superstar that I could post about forever).
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