Slate.com has President Obama’s first 100 days in the form of a Facebook News Feed (the old version, if I may note).
My personal favorites:
-“Rick Perry left the network United States”
-“Rahm Emanuel updated his Education and Work Info to Undersecretary of Go Fuck Yourself”
-“Tom Daschle left the group Cabinet.”
-“Paul Krugman is having an aneurysm.”
-“Arlen Spector joined the group Democrats.”
If that made you laugh, read the rest.
Things I Don’t Care About
-Zac Efron.
-Miley Cyrus.
-Let’s just say Disney Channel related celebrities.
-Miss California. This is being blown out of proportion. Leonard Jacobs, however, poignantly addressed the matter.
-What Glenn Beck did this week.
-Your hair for prom. Unless it’s unique, like this costume designer I know that had a rat tail with a big girly bow on it for prom her senior year.
-Your prom dress.
–Thomas L. Friedman’s moustache
Things I Do Care About
-“Ruined” winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
-Some guy being stupid enough to fly a plane low near Manhattan. I don’t care if this was okayed by the Department of Defense, that’s just stupid. He’s apparently been reprimanded by Rahm Emanuel. I want to know how he could have done that and not gotten reprimanded by Rahm Emanuel.
–Paul Krugman being right.
-Swine flu.
-The CDC tweeting about Swine Flu.
-Robert Gibbs’ forehead making me laugh throughout the press conference on Swine Flu.
–Swine flu All of the critics (notably Elisabeth Vincentelli and Charles Isherwood, who have the most scathing reviews) probably killing The Philanthropist, which didn’t seem that interesting in the first place, but now I’m really not going to see it.
–Impressionism closing. How did it manage to stay open this long?
-What Shepherd Smith said. So, we don’t torture in America?
-Jonathan Mann’s sung version of the waterboarding portion of the torture memos being more enjoyable than it really should be.
I am presently writing this from the basement of my house on my Blackberry.
Here in Eastern Iowa we have had severe thunderstorms all day and therefore I didn’t turn on the computer. The lights were flickering and the storms stopped for about an hour (coincidentally, it was while my mum and I were watching “Who Killed the Electric Car?”).
We are presently in a tornado warning here in the county I live in. I can hear thunder, rain, intermittent hail. The lights have been flickering in the basement.
I should be okay. My sister is at a cast party and is not getting the information I am.
I should also add that I am very neurotic about storms.
The Black Hawk Children’s Theatre and the Cedar Falls Community Theatre have announced their seasons. I’m going to add in the descriptions the theaters are providing, simply because they amuse me. I haven’t added or changed anything, except footnote markings.
Black Hawk Children’s Theatre
Charlotte’s Web–October 2-4
–Based on the best selling children’s book by E.B. White, it follows the life of that lovable little pig, Wilbur, who’s faced with becoming tomorrow morning’s bacon. Who can he turn to? The most unlikely of heroes, a tiny spider.
Ramona Quimby–November 6-8
–Based on what some refer to as “the gospel according to Judy Blume” you can’t miss this hilarious and classic tale* about that feisty little girl who makes everyone’s life exciting and more interesting
The Hobbit–March 3-5, 2010
–This one has it all. Adventure, Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Trolls, the wizard Gandalf, the creature Gollum and even the incredible Dragon Smaug. You won’t want to miss this visual tour de force.
Sleeping Beauty–April 21-23
–A heart felt adaptation of the Brothers Grimm’s classic fairy tale. This wonderful adventure will bring out the humor and the warmth in the story of a sad princess who is cursed to sleep for a hundred years, unless true love’s kiss can wake her from her spell
Cedar Falls Community Theatre
Kiss Me, Kate–June 12-14 and 19-21
–An instant hit with every cast and audience, Kiss Me Kate is full of melodious and sophisticated fun. Cole Porter’s wit meets William Shakespeare’s humor in this great Broadway classic that won five Tony Awards with book by Sam and Bella Spewack, creators of My Three Angels.
In this play-within-a-play ex-husband and wife Fred and Lilli are cast opposite each other in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew, and the sparks begin to fly on stage and off. Great song and dance numbers include “Another Op’nin, Another Show,” “Wunderbar,” “Too Darn Hot,” and “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.”^
Death by Chocolate^–October 2-4 and 9-11
–Paul Freed’s delightfully satirical script, Death by Chocolate, is full of Neil Simon-style repartee. This show has members of newly renovated Meadowbrook Health Resort dropping like flies – not the best advertisement for the eve of reopening of a spa whose motto is “Get fit or die trying!” It’s up to Manager John Stone to find the cause and the murderer. Stone finds himself teaming up with amateur sleuth/mystery writer Ed Parlor in a wacky race against time. The clues point to a sinister box of chocolates and the suspects include eccentric characters working for the resort, among them a flamboyant aerobics teacher and a panicy nurse.^
Nuncrackers–December 4-6 and 11-13
-I’m sorry, I’ll let you make your own assumptions.
They’re also doing Moon Over Buffalo. It will be running February 19-21 and 26-28, 2010
Okay, so a thought on BHCT’s season: “Charlotte’s Web” was the season opener when Tyler Hayes Stillwill stepped into the position as director and “Sleeping Beauty” was the season closer for that same season. This season he will not be the director.
Footnotes
*I can miss it.
^1 What about “I Hate Men”?
^2 That sounds more like crappy-comedy-farce than Neil Simon. Who wrote these? The people at the Old Creamery?
I saw two performances of the show. I took notes over one. But I’m not writing a review.
Why? Because I have to live in the same house as one of the actors for the next four months.
Otherwise, I would have written a review.
Theatre Cedar Rapids has announced their 2009-2010 season, which I will unfortunately not be able to see most of.
“Altar Boyz” will be done September 11-23 at TCR Lindale. This is pending, but October 16-25 they will be doing “Rock n’ Roll” by Tom Stoppard. Yes, you read that last sentance correctly. This makes me very happy because I was once asked by an employee at one of the theaters in Eastern Iowa what show I would love for them to do. I said anything by Tom Stoppard, which was greeted with a moan. (This was not at Theatre Cedar Rapids.)
November 20-December 6 they will be performing “Annie”, which I can’t stand, but it’s the quintessential family show. Also, I think TCR could do a pleasant production.
January 15-24 they will be performing “The Laramie Project” by Moisés Kaufman. That will be their last show in TCR Lindale.
February 26-March 14 the inagural show at the renovated Iowa Theater Building will be “The Producers.” This is probably the show I’m the most distraught about missing because I’ve loved that show for so long. And, yes, I saw it on Broadway.
April 9-18 they will be performing David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama “Proof”. I saw a production of it at the Waterloo Community Playhouse a few years ago and I’m amazed that this will be the first time TCR does it. Normally, TCR does a show and then WCP does it.
May 14-23 they will be performing “Still Life With Iris”, whis is about a girl who is separated from her family and loses her memory.
And the season finishes July 9-25 with “Hairspray”, which is also pending. After reading some of the reviews of the original Broadway production, I’m much warmer to this than I was before.
My father and I are going to New York City this summer, mainly to see plays.
While I’ve been looking at what show’s have high ratings on Critic-o-Meter, I need some help narrowing it down.
Any suggestions on what to go see? Particularly off-Broadway in late June-early July.
I’ve been really busy this week. I have less than a month left of school and this week I had a concert I needed to perform at, a restaurant I had to review, and three performances of two plays I needed to attend for my reviews.
Speaking of which, my review of the Black Hawk Children’s Theatre’s production of “Rumpelstiltskin” and my review of Columbus Catholic High School’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” should be up here between 10 p.m. tonight at 4 p.m. tomorrow.
It’s the type of creepy that I like. In a way, it’s a bit cheery, reminds me of a Bayer Asprin ad. You know, the one’s that were like “Pump pump pump/pump pump pump pump pump/pump pump pump/pump pump pump pump/pumps your blood.” But because of that, the echoing lyrics, and the juxtaposed text as a caption, it has a horrifying effect.
So, here it is. This is the same guy that did the Paul Krugman song.
The air conditioning in the journalism room, where I’m typing this from, is broken at the moment. It’s very warm in this room, which is on the second floor and has no windows that open. The door is wide open, but sitting in front of a window is not helping.
Especially if you’ve been sick recently.
I actually got a headache last night about thirty minutes before curtain for the invited dress for “Rumpelstiltskin.” (I’ll have that review up on Friday night.)
I wrote my review with a headache and that’s gone. But overall, I’ve been a bit sick.
I’m also taking breaks in my writing to fan myself with today’s New York Times.
In the meantime, why don’t we all sit around with some water or lemonade and read this article in today’s Washington Post on how the “Causes” application is not really helping non-profits.
Fragments 