Les Misérables - Je Fus Misérable

Okay...so I don't speak French. But the handy dandy online dictionaries translate "Je Fus Misérable" to mean "I was miserable". Anyway...you get the idea.

Les Misérables is my most favorite musical of all time. I believe the count is now up to 5 viewings (Pasadena in 1994, Long Beach in 1996, Downtown L.A. in 2000, NYC in 2003, and today's viewing in Hollywood). As you can see, I try to see the show whenever it rolls into town.

Unfortunately, this time I caught it on the same day as about 200+ high school students, substituting the outing for their Winter Formal. While some 6 and 7-year-olds can handle sitting in the theatre for 3 hours, there are some 16 and 17-year-olds that cannot. Two of these teenagers were sitting in front of me.

From them there was fidgeting, talking, and way too much cracking of the neck. Suffice it to say, it was really hard for me to devote my full attention to the performance. Ah well...maybe I should work my way over to London and see it there...maybe a trip out of the country will help cool me off a bit. Grrr...

Mary Poppins - Ages 7 and Up

A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but if you're under 7, you may have to just rely on the Julie Andrews movie to teach you that lesson. According to Playbill Online, the producers of the upcoming stage version of Mary Poppins have decided to ban children under 3...and suggest that children under 7 should not come either.

I don't know how the masses feel, but I say bravo! I don't know about you, but I'm not about to spend upwards of $100 to place a squirming 2-year-old in a seat and try to keep them quiet for 2-3 hours. And...for those toddlers who would sit quietly, an even smaller subset would remember that theatergoing experience.

I know that children mature at different rates, so I think it's also a good idea to put in the 7 and under advisory. At that point, it's the parents' decision to see if it would be a worthwhile experience for the child (and in the best interest of those seated around the child).

The question remains...why can't more shows implement something like this? I know at least the West End would be a much better place if they implemented a ban on people 120 years of age and younger from Jerry Springer - The Opera. Can someone please shut that show down?

USC - Orange Bowl Bound!

We were thwarted from going to the BCS National Championship game last season (yet still managed to pull off the AP National Title @ The Rose Bowl)...but not this time. The BCS poll has remained in our favor for the entire season. There should be no doubt that we're #1...as we shall see in Ft. Lauderdale on January 4th. Oklahoma...you had better start practicing now!

BEAT THE SOONERS!!!

Fall Back

Whoever decided to move from daylight savings time to standard time 'round the same time as Halloween was mad. Sure, we got an extra hour to rise early in the morning, but Sunday evening was rough. I helped out with the Halloween event at church...three hours of bending down to teach children how to use a q-tip and a straw as a makeshift blow dart for candy. I managed to smile through it all, but I didn't get home until 10PM...which was really 11PM. I can tell you, I was ready for a well-earned night of sleep. Zzzz...

NaNo WriMo word count: 1,514

NaNo WriMo?

Time certainly does fly. This time last year, I was first learning of NaNo WriMo...and I actually signed up for it back then. However, I did not have the drive to write one word, let along 50,000. So, November came and went, and I was left without a masterpiece to call my own.

What is NaNo WriMo, you may ask? Well, it's a clever way they came up with to shorten "National Novel Writing Month". To my knowledge, this isn't anything "official", such as Black History Month, or Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In fact, it appears to be one person's ingenious idea, brought to the masses by the power of the internet.

The purpose of NaNo WriMo is for participants to write at least 50,000 words (aka a 175-page novel) within the month of November. It doesn't have to be a grand literary achievement...I don't think it has to even be moderately coherent. But it's a way to get your creative juices flowing and a way to allow you to say that you really have written a novel.

I decided to give it a go this year. We'll see if I make the 50k quota. Right now I'm up to 235. Yay...only 49,765 to go. Won't you join me?

Pac-10 Planning

Yesterday, I went to my 3rd home football game in the same number of weeks. It's safe to say that I pretty much have Trojan football running through my veins now. Of course...these past three games will have to hold me until Thanksgiving. Thinking back to our well-deserved win over Cal, our thrashing of Arizona State, and yesterday's walloping of the University of Washington Huskies...I'm already going through withdrawals.

I'm always anxious to see football season start, but this year, I had to wait until week 3 for a home game. Then I had another two-week drought before the three games in a row. We do have two games in November, but I can't go to the next one, since I will be out of town. So I will have to wait until our November 27th dismantling of Notre Dame.

To anyone out there who has control of the Pac-10 schedules...can the home games get spread out evenly through the season? Opening at home, with a home game every other week will suffice. ;)

Ah well...at least next week's game is on ABC. I'll just have to deal with screaming at the TV. FIGHT ON TROJANS...BEAT THE COUGARS!

Overeaction to the EXTREME!

Here's my disclaimer to those who don't watch Survivor: this is a mini-rant on who got voted off in last Thursday's episode.

I know that people need to beware of their competition on this game...and should be wise not to trust too many of your teammates, especially when everyone is playing for one shot at a million dollars. But it's really sad when someone gets voted off because a one-sentence miscommunication. Lisa Keiffer...you were shafted, and I hope that more people in your tribe don't fall under the guillotine of Ami, the barrista/model.

To sum up what happened...Ami was going to gather food, and Lisa said that she wanted to go with her "in case..." That's when Ami flew off the handle and finished off the sentence for her, "what...in case i get voted off?" Lisa never said anything of the kind, and I believe that was furthest from her mind. But, Ami decided that Lisa couldn't be trusted, and staged a coup to get her ousted from the island.

I think Ami got rid of a strong ally, and I hope this decision does not catapult her to success in the game. Getting rid of Lisa shows that Ami is too suspicious for her own good...I hope that the other players will see that and vote her off early.

Not Such A Pal After All...

I suppose there's something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way. Businesses relying on online payments through PayPal have been tearing their hair out lately. As of today, things are mostly "fixed"...but due to a botched architectural release last Friday, users were having problems paying and receiving money through their accounts. Here's a message directly from their website:

Site Issues Resolved: 10/14/04
Many of you have experienced problems using PayPal over the last few days. We would like to apologize for the way this has impacted your buying and selling activity and, for many of you, your businesses. PayPal functionality has been restored and users are able to resume normal activities. Thank you for your patience during this process.

I hope people who use PayPal as a means to pay bills had enough money in their piggy banks!

Jam Anyone?

I found the following article on Playbill today.

Ållo? French Approve Use of Cell Phone Jammers in Theatres
By Robert Simonson
12 Oct 2004

Leave it to the culturally sensitive French to finally come up with a practicable way to rid theatres of the irritating chirp of an active cell phone.

The French government's industry minister Patrick Devedjian, backing up a decision by the Telecommunications Regulation Authority, gave to go-ahead Oct. 8 on a motion to allow theatres, cinemas and concert halls install mechanisms which would jam cell phones.

The one proviso is that the hardware permit emergency calls to get through.

Cell phone use at theatres, movie houses, concerts, museums, libraries and galleries was banned in New York City in early 2003, despite resistance from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. However, even the law's supporters admit it is virtually unenforceable. Unwanted cell phone interruptions remain endemic in Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres.

Now why haven’t we thought of doing this yet? We’ve gotten along centuries without cell phones, so 2-3 hours without it during a movie, play, or musical is fine by me. When someone forgets to turn off their phones, they tend to ring at the most inopportune moment. When I went to see Spider-Man 2 earlier this year, there were two people who answered their phones in the middle of the movie, while another individual sitting behind me was playing a game on their phone…with the sound effects on. Where’s a good cell phone jammer when you need one?

Faith <> Salvation

For the past few weeks, we have been going over the book of James at church. Last Sunday, we went through chapter 2, verses 14-26. The verse that catches my eye the most is verse 17:

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied
by action, is dead.

I would imagine some people are prone to take this out of context as argument that one must work for their salvation. But salvation and faith are not synonyms for one another:

salvation:
NOUN: 1a. Preservation or deliverance from destruction,
difficulty, or evil. b. A source, means, or cause of such
preservation or deliverance.

faith:
NOUN: 1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or
trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.

One of my favorite passages can be found in Ephesians 2:8-9:

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is gained through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal savior, believing that He died for your sins, and committing your life to following Him. Salvation is gained because you have a confident belief in the truth and value of Jesus.

What we decide to do once you have been saved is what James is referring to. God wants us to fulfill our purpose of making disciples and to love one another, despite any differences we may have from each other. Without works/working for our purpose, aside from saddening our creator...there's no external proof that we have been saved. Salvation cannot be taken away, but life on Earth would be a hollow existence for us, if we did not put our beliefs into action.

Is Anybody Listening?

So began the chorus to a song from the new musical I saw this evening...The Ten Commandments, starring Val Kilmer. Yes folks...Val Kilmer can sing...and he does a pretty good job too. He had some power behind his first few solos, but started fading in the end of the second act. But, I don't fault him for that, since he's not a fully-trained actor in musical theatre. After all, he did perform the Friday evening prior, as well as a matinee earlier on Saturday afternoon. I'm really curious to see this again near the end of the run to see if Mr. Kilmer has built up some stamina in the role. I have much faith that the cohesion of the show will be much improved by then.

I was also able to get a small group of people together (57, to be exact) to see this show with me. We split up and had about 1/3 in the Parterre and the rest in Mezzanine 3...so I'm pretty antsy to discover what everyone's reaction was to this "musical spectacle". Since I'm sure no one would be pleased to receive a phone call this late/early at night/morning...I suppose I will have to wait until church to ask them about it. Until then I can happily go to sleep with this tunes still swimming in my head...

Where's Waldo Banned?

I know I'm a little late on this, but Banned Books Week is from September 25th to October 2nd. A friend of mine sent me a link to a website listing some of the more commonly banned books of the past 15 years. I was surprised to find some of my childhood favorites (as well as some books that were required reading from school) made the top 100 list:

• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Blubber by Judy Blume
• How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

Poor Waldo...what did he ever do to deserve this?

Ahhh...

For those of you who know me...work has been pretty stressful lately, and probably will be until the end of the year. (And for those of you who don't know me...how did you find this blog?) I think the powers that be realized the stress we were all in...and decided to bring in a couple of massage therapists to appease myself and my weary co-workers.

I've never had a professional massage before, and have been wanting one for quite some time. It's was only 20 minutes...but it worked wonders. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the day...so I had to go back to my desk and work afterwards. Ah well...at least I was more relaxed in my chair.

The funny thing was...she spent quite a lot of time on my right arm. I think she was trying to relieve the tension I have from using my mouse...too bad I'm left-handed. ;)

The Engrish Language

There's a lot to be said for translators. Without them, communication between cultures would be stifled.

Then again...attempts to translate things may prove quite entertaining. My friend reminded me of Engrish.com this past evening. Talk about English gone bad...

This website has pictures from around the globe of real buildings, signs, documents...you name it. The picture to above held the prestigious honor of "Engrish of the day". Take a gander at the website and see what gems you may uncover. And remember...if you must fall into a river...do it very carefully...

Swing Vote --- Bad

Here's a Survivor tip for you...it's never good to be the swing vote. AND...when you are the swing vote - never ever publicize it. People who are confident in the fact that they're not getting eliminated because they have "voting power" more likely than not, end up on the chopping block themselves.

Poor Dolly...I guess she should just stick to Sheep Farming. But, at least she's saved the grief of all the fighting that's bound to happen in the next episode. This season of Survivor has it's share of characters, and so far it hasn't been dull!

Little Shop...Little Shop of Horrors...

I finally had a chance to see this musical on stage last Tuesday night, and let me tell ya...it's just a touch darker than the movie. I guess the magic of tinseltown strikes again!

Aside from the themes of abuse, as well as murder for personal gain...the show was pretty cute. Yes folks...this is a comedy. For those of you who aren't familiar with Little Shop of Horrors, it was written by the same creative team behind Disney's Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Like those Disney favorites, Little Shop's tunes are quite catchy...with moving melodies.

I was surprised that the cast was so small. Aside from the principles (Seymour, Audrey, Mr. Mushnik, Orin, and a doo-wop trio...and Audrey II, if you count the plant), there were only about 5 other cast members. The actor playing Orin was pulling overtime or something...having to perform 3 additional characters parts in one scene. The small casting works for this show...it's just not something I'm used to when I see a National Tour.

Congratulations Chip & Kim!!!

Prior to this season of the Amazing Race, my favorite teams were 0 for 3 in winning top honors. (To those die-hard fans...sorry...I didn't start watching until season 2) However, this time around, Chip & Kim came through and won the one million dollar prize!

This show's film editing always messes with my mind, so I didn't get my hopes up until they actually stepped on the mat. Even then, it wasn't until the host announced that they were the "official winners" that I physically got up and started jumping up and down, cheering in front of the television. I know...I'm addicted to the show.

I was sorry that the "Bowling Moms" team didn't make it to the final leg though. I wasn't too fond of them in the beginning of the season, but they accomplished so darn much that I really wanted them to be successful. But at least they got to see the Philippine islands on their whirlwind "vacation".

Thank you to the eleven teams that competed this season...you really made it a fun show to watch. Special kudos to Chip & Kim...you proved you were up to the challenge and never gave up hope. Again...congratulations!

What IS This?

What is this blog all about, you may ask? Well...this is my first one, so I suppose we'll discover the answer to that together. My co-worker told me that I could rant and rave about NCAA Football...FIGHT ON TROJANS! So you may see a little of that. I love musicals and see more shows than my pocketbook would wish...so there may be some reviews here as well.

I guess it will be filled with whatever I feel like writing when I remember that I have a blog. Since this is my first entry, I suppose there won't be much for you to read...so take a look at the sidebar and spend some time listening to my radio station on LAUNCH in order to occupy your time. It's a mix of Show Tunes, Christian Music...and an occassional 80's Pop Tune for nostalgia's sake...so have at it, and let me know what you think!