Mission Temporarily Averted

First off:
I really wanted to be Cleveland, but whatcha gonna do?

Alright, now that that's out of the way...

So I had a pretty slow weekend planned. I also had a plan to storm my local Toys R Us tonight to do some shopping.

But then the 3-day weekend started developing. And I also forgot a little thing like my parents' anniversary. Oops.

So now I have a family dinner tonight with potential for toy storming if I get done with that early enough, toy storming tomorrow definitely, friendly get-together with my buddy Andi whom I haven't seen since last RenFest, a potential trip to Wisconsin Sunday or Sunday/Monday, and fireworks on Monday evening.

You know, this whole "taking advantage of a three-day weekend" think really cuts into the sleepin time...

In other news, the Hunt for Condo begins. I had my first meeting with a realtor(s) last night, and things are looking pretty promising. Wednesday night is going to be my first shot at looking at places, and we'll go from there...

Also, I was at Target this afternoon, as usual, and walking by the video section, when on the screen they put up an advertisement for "Are We There Yet?", the Ice Cube family comedy (and if five years ago you told me I'd be saying that phrase, I'd have laughed in your face). The voiceover is quoted as saying "From the director of Snow Dogs!" And you're telling me that NO ONE in the marketing department for this movie realized that that phrase isn't exactly a high compliment? or a compliment? or even a neutral phrase? It could be an Academy-caliber movie, but as soon as they say "From the director of Snow Dogs," I throw eggs at it.

Same with this new Martin Lawrence basketball movie. Not a movie I want to see in the first place, but saying "from the people who brought you Cheaper By The Dozen" doesn't exactly instill me with a lot of confidence.

Lagging a Tad

Okay, part of me feels bad for not blogging every day like I have been before. But then I realize that anything I'd have to say in the last few days is far from enlightening or entertaining, so I don't feel as bad about not exposing people to my boredom.

I got a haircut yesterday, for the first time since February. Hey, what can I say, when I get a haircut, I want to make it worth those 11 dollars, dammit! And then I ate at the new Chipotle that opened across the street from the Great Clips. Very good stuff, as always.

The next few days worth of blog should probably be a little more interesting. I'm meeting with my realtor tonight to figure out my options about a condo, so I should probably prioritize what I want to ask for sometime today. And tomorrow night I'm going out with Jenn for Noodles and Transformers, which are finally, FINALLY hitting the shelves of the Maplewood Toys R Us.

Just a little advanced warning about my total geekout in the next few weeks, as these toys'll be hitting the shelves. Plus I'll be seeing Fantastic Four sometime next week, reading HBP in two weeks, and going to two productions of Fiddler in the next month. You have been warned.

Long Weekend, Short Blog

So this is the first shot I've had to write in my blog since Friday. One reason is because I've been too busy to write, and the other reason is because, despite being so busy, I really don't have much to report.

Fiddler's done. Torn down and all that stuff. Now I have no shows scheduled between now and after I move.

Moving's moving a step closer to happening, I have the card for Dawn, a woman from the show whos also a realtor, so I'll be getting in touch with her sometime this week.

Otherwise not much. Lots of video games, no Cybertron yet. Nothing else new to report on any front. Nothing definite, at least...

So there is my blog. Bloody Brilliant.

Throat Day

Nothing quite like having half of your phone answering staff out of the office on a day where you have to try to not use your voice too much.

Geekboy Unfullfilled

Something occurred to me that has occurred to me in the past, but its still bothering me.

I go to a lot of message boards during the week, most of them focusing on what people within the realm call "genre" subjects. Basically stuff that deals in a sci-fi, fantasy, horror vein.

Whenever I read these, no matter what the topic is, 90% of the respondents respond to any new idea, any new product, by saying "wow, that sucks!" or "what the f*%$ are they thinking?!" or "wow, I could crap a better toy than that!"

It is my decision that geeks, despite their love of all things "continuity", attempt to reach for some unattainable level of perfection, finding faults in everything while ignoring what they liked and didn't like in the past.

A few recent examples:

- The first posting of Brandon Routh in the Superman costume. After years of complaining about Wolverines sans yellow spandex, rubber Batmen suits, and S&M Daredevils, they finally get a costume that is true to the character. So they start complaining about how dumb it looks.

- Brett Ratner brought in as a last-minute directorial replacement for X-Men 3. Not recognizing that a special-effects-laden movie that must be cast, filmed, post-produced, edited, and released by Summer 2006 doesn't exactly fit into Joss Whedon's calendar, X-Men fans automatically ring the deathbell for the franchise. They ignore the fact that Ratner has previous action movie experience, albeit action comedy, and has also directed some pretty dark movies in his time, too. They also ignore the fact that the director of the first two films in the franchise, who they now consider a sci-fi god, had no previous action movie experience, and was best known for a small, very dialogue-driven piece entitled The Usual Suspects.

- Everything Transformers. Every new toy posted, every new image posted for comics, for cartoons, every announcement made about the upcoming movie, is met with a cry of "why are they getting worse?!?". Quite honestly, I don't know what they're comparing these new things with. The original toys were crappy, blocky, non-flexible figures with hands and weapons that had to be removed and put god-knows-wherever, while the new toys are movable, posable, and completely self-contained. While the new cartoons are CGI-created and with large scope to their storylines, the original cartoon was terrible. I have the DVD of the first season, and it had episodes involving Incan jewels and time-travel to Old England, and had animation and dialogue that was sub-par at best. The new movie has an A-List studio (Dreamworks), the most famous movie producer on the planet (Steven Spielberg), and a director known for his incredible action sequences (Michael Bay). But its still not enough.

Geeks enjoy complaining, as you noticed by my previous few paragraphs. To fanboys and girls, only two things have gone right in the history of genre films:

1) Patrick Stewart cast as Professor X
2) Spider-Man's movie costume

Everything else, every little casting, every little toy, every little film, has been met with skepticism at best, downright bile at worst.

"This movie with Keanu Reeves about some computer world? SUCK!"
"Some horror director's taking our beloved Tolkien and pissing in his grave!"
"The guy who wrote Buffy's going to be doing an X-Men comic? TERRIBLE!"
"Some tall Australian we've never heard of is going to be playing Wolverine? He'll ruin everything!"
"A Welshman as Batman? HORRORS!"

All I can say is chill out, people!!! Take a minute to breathe, and recognize that geeks are getting a lot more in mainstream entertainment than ever before. Our fantasy movies are winning Oscars. Our comics are being written by top-line talent, with art that far surpasses anything from 15 or 20 years ago. Our toys are computer designed, highly-detailed, won't be missing a tenth of the pieces that we lost when we were first playing Transformers, GI Joe, or He-Man.

All is good in the world, calm down.

Or don't. I could make a mint selling ulcer medication on the Ain't It Cool News message board.

Ah, Much Better...

Nothing like taking a half-day off of work to get your senses back about you, and to evict a good amount of loogie from the throat. Even though, you know, our maintenence guys decided today at 7 would be a GREAT time to start mowing the lawn outside of the apartment building. So I didn't get to sleep in as much as I would have liked, but in this heat its tough to sleep for very long no matter what.

90's. Bleah.

Fiddler kicks back up tonight. Its gonna be tough to leave it on Sunday, if for no other reason than this may be my last shot at a part like Perchik. Another year or two and I'll be past the "young romantic lead" type (I'm pushing it as is). But, hey, I'll slowly start seeing a lot more roles opening up to me that I didn't see before. Leads in Camelot, Music Man, My Fair Lady, stuff like that. Hopefully.

But last night was a good time. Ever start doing an onstage dialogue, preparing for a song, when all of a sudden your nose starts clogging up? Oh, that was pleasing.

There's a rumor that a Toys R Us in Los Angeles is going to be stocking Cybertron today or tomorrow. So hopefully that means that ALL Toys R Usses will be stocking today or tomorrow. So I will be making my runs around on Saturday, and will hopefully be bouncing by Saturday night.

Tevye The Dairyman

I finished the book yesterday, which is the basis for Fiddler. It definitely expands upon the story and the characters, in some ways, but in other ways the play gives depth to a lot more characters. I'd say more, but I promised Carla not to spoiler her, as she wants to read it at some point. So mum's the word.

Scarface

"Say hello to my little friend." heheheheh

While shaving last night, I got a little too anxious with the razor and ended up laying a inch-and-a-half long slice across my right cheek. Nothing too noticeable, you kinda know how it looks when you have a cut and some of it gets smeared in a line? it kinda looks like that. But thank goodness I have stage makeup tonight, that'll cover it up nicely.

Still not as bad as the wound I gave myself at 5 am during the Crazy For You run, when I put a nice big dent in my forehead. But still kinda neat.

In other news, my voice is doing much better. I sang a little bit at home last night, half-power, and it felt alright enough where I'm gonna do my solos and lines tonight at pickups, but am gonna abstain from any choruswork for now. Still have some nice fun wheezing coughs, though.

Random fun fact: Twinkies originally had banana cream filling, but switched to their current filling during WWII due to banana shortages. I don't want Twinkies with banana filling, I can't picture it without anything but the white, "what the hell is this?" filling.

Incredible!

Evil Angels riding dinosaurs attacked Noah's Ark! It's true!

Hack

Boy, I hope this stuff clears up by Thursday. I'm not feeling sick, I'm just having a scratchy throat and am hacking up stuff that is probably best not described in this diatribe. I tried singing in the shower this morning and got VERY nervous. However, if I try it tonight it'll probably be better. Here's hoping, at least.

Worst-case scenario I'm dropping the octave Thursday. And I'm probably taking half a day off Thursday just to make sure I'm gonna be alright.

In other news... well, I don't know... lol I got a few PlayStation 2 games yesterday, but since my PlayStation's with Jenn, I'll be taking full advantage of them at another time.

And I got a wink on Match, woo hoo! I emailed her back, hopefully she responds soon, she sounds like the kind of person who I'd get along with quite well.

Oh, and Kate Holmes is not going to be in the next Batman, so that leaves the DA post WIDE open for whoever is to be cast as Harvey Dent. Guy Pierce? Sean Bean? Russell Crowe? I had a perfect one that I thought of a few days ago, but it has currently slipped my mind. Curses...

Missed a Day!

Meh, its bound to happen sometimes, where I forget to post one day. I'm sure my threes of adoring fans are throwing themselves off rooftops in agony about a missed post.

Anywho, I did a new thing yesterday. Well, first the not-so-new thing. Father's Day was a good time, we had a bbq at my parent's place, the whole extended family was there. Well, the whole available extended family, which means the fam minus three Zigs. Ah, well. Free food is always tasty.

Afterwards, golf was discussed, but we decided it was too hot and would be too busy anyway, so we'll be trying that after Fiddler's done. So I ended up taking the evening to drive to Ikea to pick up some shelves for my DVD's, as they've started to become strewn across my entire living room area.

Ikea... big honkin furniture store. But I thought it was really cool, I hope I have a reason to go back sometime. Plus I got a bookshelf for 18 bucks, so you can't go wrong with that.

Nothing really to speak of so far this morning except that I HATE THIS WEATHER! It's gonna be in the lower 90's today. Gimme 50's, 60's, 70's, please. Unless they decide to allow shorts in the office which, yeah, ain't gonna happen.

Blog of Spoilers

Lemme get everything else out of the way before I go off on my spoiler-filled brainspurt.

First off, I saw Pajama Game at Eden Prairie. God bless the cast, they did their best with what they had. That being said, I REALLY didn't like the play itself, and the theater that they had to work with, was more or less ugh...

Also, I'm getting frustrated. Two Toys R Us's, Two Targets, Two Walmarts, and no Cybertron. Rrrgh...

So, okay, yeah... Batman... FANTASTIC movie, I suggest it to everyone.

Anything beyond that will be in spoiler territory. So if you want to see it, don't know what's going to happen, and don't WANT to know, stop reading now...













Okay, now that that's out of the way...

Batman Begins. Quite possibly the best superhero movie I've ever seen. Possibly topped by X2, but that's only because I have a love for the X-Men that Batman can't match.

That being said, some of the choices they made for BB were incredible. At least to me, that is. Making Liam Neeson into Ra's Al Ghul, very cool twist.

I read a lot of reviews coming in. Some said that it was too slow. Others said that the third act was too over the top. I disagree with both, especially in the case of the latter. Letting loose a fear toxin to destroy the city is a whole hell of a lot more believable than, say, unleashing a mutant-creating machine. Or making a miniature sun in the middle of New York City. Or even releasing laughing gas on Gotham. The way they explain its purpose worked fine for me, using the League of Shadows as a social extermination force.

I also read that there were too many villains. Ghul. Scarecrow. Falcone. That's fine, they all fit within the conext of the story, and all connect with each other more cleanly than any other villain "team-up" in the history of the franchise, if for no other reason than the fact that they don't have to explain its origins, only that they exist.

So what happens next? We know that The Joker is in the next one, and Two-Face is in the third. Beyond that, evertyhing's up in the air, because they've created a new continuity this time around.

In this Gotham, Batman did not create The Joker, as he did in every other continuity. No Red Hood, no acid bath. He's already left two victims and a calling card even before Batman sees the guy.

In this Gotham, the next person in line for the DA position is Rachel Dawes, not Harvey Dent.

In this Gotham, Wayne Enterprises is no longer run by Bruce Wayne, but by Lucius Fox.

In this Gotham, Scarecrow ran off into the fog on horseback, with no damage done except a taser to the face.

In this Gotham, Wayne Manor is burned to the ground, to be rebuilt, possibly more modern?

So what happens? How is the Joker to be explained? Did he exist before Batman came on the scene? Was he a creation of Crane's fear toxin? Or are they going to throw out the last scene of this movie and have Batman face Napier/Red Hood?

My guess is going to be the second, that Napier or Red Hood was locked in Arkham, got a high-intensity dose of the toxin, and it snapped his mind, creating the Joker. What's going to be really interesting is how Christopher Nolan approaches the Joker in his new, realistic world. And if they're going to play the "duality" nature, like they did in this one, as well as pretty much every previous Batman movie.

Also, because of Dawes' role in the DA's office, they're going to have to come up with a way to introduce Harvey Dent in the next movie, especially if they want to work his split-personality into things without rushing into it. They'll either have write Katie Holmes out of the picture (and she's not signed for the next one yet), or bring Dent in as a young upstart trying to take the post. Or they'll say that there's more than one DA, although I don't know how they'd put anyone but the head DA in charge of the Joker Trial in Batman 3.

So, yeah, I LOVED it. Everyone go see it.

Slow News Day?

Here's an article from CNN.com's front page. The headline section. Seriously, its not from The Onion, or anything.

Anyway, I finished Pratchett's second Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic, last night. I had read the first one, The Color of Magic, and basically read this one purely because I figured that "It HAS to be better than that, this is a really famous author." Well, at least now I can say that I'll be comfortable attempting the third one at some point. After Tevye the Milkman. And The Communist book. And Half-Blood Prince. And probably the next novel in Turtledove's Great War series.

And, as you can see, I can't remember the lessons I learned in grade-school English, about which titles are just capitalized, which are italicized, and which are quoted. I think I did it right...

Speaking of Tevye, I just started it last night at dinner, and its hitting a dilemma with me. I'm reading the novel, obviously, because I want to read the story from which Fiddler originated (I'm doing it AGAIN!). However, the book has more than the Tevye story. It also has a section called The Railroad Stories, and also has a 40-page introduction. Normally I'd read a book cover-to-cover, but having gotten halfway through the intro, I've learned that the intro in this case is more of an analysis of the text, complete with spoilers.

Plus I currently have no interest in reading the second half of the book.

They're two completely different stories. I have to decide if it goes against my nature to skip the rest of the intro, read the first half of the book, THEN read the intro. Then move to another book.

Oy. The things you don't wanna read me bitch about, eh?

joy...

Things I learned at work today that I already knew:

- Just when the day couldn't get any slower, the next day happens.

- There's a lot more condos out there in my price range than I thought.

- Strippers make some damn good money.

Nothing much to report. Gonna go grocery shopping today, but after I go to TRU in Maplewood to do some Transformers scouting.

And one wonders why I'm single...

I Saw Batman

This afternoon.

On Nicollet Mall.

In sneakers.

What a city.

Anyway...

So there's nothing quite like playing an idealistic Socialist on stage to get the ol' Sociology juices flowing. I'm currently reading Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic, but I'm pushing to get through it, because I picked up a few non-fiction/partial fiction books at the library to start on.

First is Tevye the Dairyman & The Railroad Stories, by Sholem Aleichem. As you may have guessed, its the basis for Fiddler, and from what I've flipped through it appears to be written as a series of letters to Aleichem from Tevye. I honestly have no clue how much is fiction and how much is truth, but I'm gonna take a shot at it.

After that, barring a Harry Potter interruption, I picked up a history book about the Soviet Union: the origins of the Socialist and Communist systems in Russia, the rise, and the fall. Should hopefully be a good read.

Rant Averted... For Now...

Last night I felt a REALLY strong urge to rant hardcore today about some beef that I was hearing second-hand from a few kids who quit our show. But I'll hold off on that now, except to say that, since they stopped showing up without contacting anyone, pretty much the most pre-school thing someone can do in theatre, the fact that they're going around to many people who WOULD be seeing the show and telling them its crap is ludicrous. Especially since they stopped showing up without even knowing what they would and would not have been in. Hell, one of the kids would have had a bigger part than he had in the other show he did with that director, and the other one would have had plenty to do, too.

Okay, so that was a rant, sorry...

And, wow, maybe I should start naming names, because trying to keep this thing anonymous has made for some very confusing diatribes.

Not much going on here today. I missed a severe thunderstorm last night by making a trip to the Electric Fetus after work. There were apparently tornado warnings for my county, though, but thankfully my open windows didn't have any rain problems.

And, grumble grumble, the cd I wanted at the Fetus wasn't there. I was close to getting another one, Negativland or Tilly & The Wall, but decided to just wait for Trampled By Turtles to come in from backorder.

Well, hopefully the weather clears up sometime this week, I want to get out to the driving range, as I'm gonna attempt to do a Fathers Day outing with my dad for my first trip to the course since March of '04.

So a few websites today have posted some interesting tidbits about some movies that are being developed, in terms of casting rumors. First off, I guess the script for the Speed Racer movie is being worked on, with Vince Vaughn attached to star as Racer X. Interesting piece of casting, and it really brings up questions about what kind of tone they're going to set the movie in. Speed Racer could easily be done as a semi-serious, sci-fi movie, but with Vaughn I'm kinda nervous that they're gonna play it for satirical value, a la Starskey and Hutch.

The other interesting news came out of the Batman camp, where they're already discussing casting for the next movie in the series. Well, discussing it from the standpoint of saying they haven't been discussing it yet. All that is known for sure is that the main villain will be The Joker, and that they want a big name to take the role. They rolled the dice on Christian Bale and won, but they don't want to try their luck again. That's the reason there's so many big names in Batman Begins, because they didn't know if Bale would be enough to draw people in to see it.

Anyway, names that have apparently been tossed around in unofficial circles include Sandler, Williams, and Mark Hamill. Hamill would be an interesting, fan-friendly choice, considering he has been the voice of The Joker in the cartoon since the series began over 10 years ago, but he's probably not a very big name. And Crispin Glover's agent has apparently been contacting WB about wanting an audition.

In all cases above, I say no No NO! Glover would have been a prime candidate to play Scarecrow, or to play, say, a Riddler or Mad Hatter type character, but he's not ready for Joker. Hamill, again, it would be fun to see, but difficult to believe. As for Sandler and Williams, HELL NO! Too comedic, we'd be sliding down the same slope that led us to Batman & Robin.

Joker has to be darkly humorous. He has to be a character that can get a laugh out of you, but makes you wet your bed if he shows up in your sleep. An actor who has successfully played both sides of the coin. Here's what I think:

Kevin Spacey - would be a great candidate if he weren't already playing Lex Luthor.
Johnny Depp - ditto, if he weren't already in the Pirates series.
John Leguizamo - if he hadn't already played The Clown in Spawn, he'd be a fun choice.
Daniel Day Lewis - Perfect, but probably not a big enough "name."
Christopher Walken - would have been great 5 years ago, but has become a self-parody of himself lately.
David Boreanaz - Not a big enough name, but Angelus plus makeup might be able to pull it off.

Joker's tough to cast nowadays. Nicholson was a great casting at the time, as he walked that tightrope well. I'd personally say Lewis should be the Joker in the new movie, a perfect blend of talent, name recognition, and indie cred, but we'll have to see what happens.

Also, one of the producers has been quoted as saying Two-Face will be in the third one, as a creation during the trial of Joker. I'm personally throwing in my two cents to say they should bring Tommy Lee Jones back in, and to let him play Harvey Dent RIGHT this time.

Two Face is one of my favorite characters, but the screwed him up royally in Batman Returns, trying to make him into a new Joker. Well, thank god you can't have two Jokers in one film, so they'll have to play him as the stone-cold killer type this time around, as he should be.

But since they'll probably want to go younger, as Dent's a friend of Wayne, I'm hoping for someone like a Guy Pierce, Eric Bana, or Russell Crowe to play the role. All three would work very well, I think.

Wow, okay, I'm done.

Back Into It

*sigh* Okay, I'm REALLY gonna start feeling it in a few days. All of last week, because of rehearsals and performances, my body's been getting used to going to sleep at around midnight every night. So, of course last night, at about 11, I was still awake and far from heading to bed. ended up reading till after midnight.

Now, with the exception of this Saturday, I have nothing to do except work and clean. Joy to the world, I tells ya.

Oh, yeah, and wait for my toys, of course. Canada has them! CANADA!!! But not the US. Weird... well, I'm expecting to see them by the end of the week.

Anyway, the shows went well over the weekend, now I have until Wednesday the 22nd until I'm touching it again. Man, that's gonna bite.

Oh, and thanks again to Amber, Chris, Sarah, Carla, DJ, Moles, Julia, Allison, my Mom and my Grandma for all coming to see the show this weekend. Hope you all come back! even though, you know, none of you are reading this, but, eh...

Freaky Moments

So I was driving home from the show last night, and all of a sudden the car in front of me lights up with flashing police lights. About three seconds later, the car BEHIND me lights up. Nothing quite as unnerving a suddenly being surrounded by cops. I guess it was the truck in front of the first car, but it still threw me there for a few seconds.

Anyway, last night went well. The show was a little shorter than last time, I believe, and plenty of people who I knew showed up. This afternoon's performance is going to have a few people I know, too.

And since the rest of my life is pretty boring, I really don't have much else to say.

Openin Jitters

Well, the first night of the show has come and gone. The audience liked it, but, hey, it was a first night. Haven't decided what the biggest "rainbow hippo" would be, but it comes down to either the bottle dancer with the Aquafina or the curtain rising after act break about 3 minutes early, letting me and my onstage lady mark time in fake conversation during the entire overture before the houselights went down.

Good times...

Anyway, since today was my day off, and besides lunch with my friend Carla and buying makeup, I really don't have much to report. And since its 1 in the morning, I'm thinkin I'm done. So night, y'all!

Briefly...

I found a really well-written article comparing the big three Mikes in the last 25 years, and their downfalls:

When Mikes Were Kings...

Yay Friday!

Well, okay, not Friday, but it is for me! Due to my opening night tradition, I'm coming upon a 3-day weekend. Sleep, laundry, not talking... its a very good thing.

In "I haven't spent enough money" news, the first Transformers: Cybertron figures have been spotted, and purchased, at a Fred Meyer department store in Oregon.

So Batman Begins is next weekend, Harry Potter VI is next month, and Cybertron is on our shores. Ladies and gentlemen, my geek knob is slowly cranking its way up to 11.

"Pretty Boy" and Pretty Girls

Did you know there was a certain type of theater makeup for romantic leads? I didn't, either. Now that I am one I guess I'll be let in on the secret. Weird...

Oh, and my wipers had a loose screw. If they charge me for labor I'm going to be seriously upset.

Okay, so this new movie is coming out this weekend, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Looks like a good movie, its by the guy who did the Bourne Identity, which I loved, Brad Pitt's a guy I enjoy watching when he's not playing Mr. Heartthrob, and Vince Vaughn is always good for a few chuckles.

But hearing all the talk about the movie, seeing the trailer, a question once again rises in my head: What's with everyone's fascination with Angelina Jolie? So many men have to catch their jaws when they see her, and I know many women who have decided they'd go lesbian for her.

Whenever I get into a conversation about bad movies, one that always comes up is Tomb Raider. I personally consider it one of the worst movies I've ever been duped into buying a ticket for, but those who I talk to tend to respond by saying "But its Angelina Jolie! In skimpy outfits! And in the shower!"

Ummmm... so? I can name at least two movies where she's completely naked. Gia. Original Sin. Check them out, Jolie-lovers, you'll approve. The "sexy Jolie" component doesn't enter my head, especially in Tomb Raider.

Fine, okay, she's okay looking. But I can name at least a dozen other female celebrities that are much more attractive than she is. Here, because you didn't ask for it, are a few, please forgive spelling:

Natalie Portman
Scarlett Johanssen
Amy Acker
Amy Lee
Stacy Keibler
Allyson Hannigan
Maria Sharapova
Mandy Moore
Gwenyth Paltrow
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jennifer Aniston
Jessica Simpson
Elizabeth Hasselbeck
Danica Patrick
Sarah Silverman
Laura Prepon
Elisha Cuthbert
Jessica Alba

Hell, I can name many women who I PERSONALLY know who are more attractive than Jolie. I won't, because that would be potentially awkward, but I'm just saying...

All I'm saying is, sure, fine, Jolie, nice-looking girl, I'd give her about a 6. But I don't understand what the world's obsession with her is, except as potentially the next Michael Jackson. I mean, think about it. Daughter of a famous actor. Oddly incestuous relationship with her brother. She married a guy named Billy Bob, and carried around a vial of his blood around her neck. She allegedly broke up at least one marriage.

All I'm saying is I personally think she's not the most attractive woman to walk the face of the earth, like many make her, and she's far from the most stable person who you could be with.

*SMACK* *snore*

oh, sorry bout that, I slammed my head on the desk and fell asleep. I got out of rehearsal at quarter to 11, which is earlier than some of the others. Got to sleep around midnight, was woken up at 4 am to a severe thunderstorm, and didn't go to sleep again after 5, being woken up again at quarter to 7 to my alarm and a sleeping hand. Ugh...

So I get another one of those things tonight. Thank God I'm taking Friday off, I was already feeling my throat tiring out last night.

Plus I got my car into the shop, I'll find out the damage soon enough. Hopefully nothing too bad, but the guy at the shop warned me that I might not get it back today if its a wiper-transmission problem.

But, in smaller, yet interesting, news, I got a look at the teaser for the RENT movie this morning. It actually looks pretty good, but I'm torn about them bringing back most of the original cast. It's great for the fans, and you can't say that they don't know the material. My only concern is the 90210 factor, watching actors and actresses in their late 30's playing characters in their early-to-mid 20's. Kinda brutal.

But one thing I did learn from it, which I should have known but didn't, was that the guy who plays Collins, my favorite character, I've seen do other work before. Jesse L Martin, he's currently one of the two cops on "Law & Order". Plus I saw him on the Tonys a few nights ago singing "Razz-Ma-Tazz" from "Chicago", which I'm sure they did because the number was originated by his old "L&O" co-star Jerry Orbach.

Wow, I'm tired AND rambly. I think that's enough for today...

The Good and The Bad

Using today as an example, I'd like to think that things even out, but, eh, what do I know?

First, the good:

- I had the meeting with my company's mortgage person today, and it turns out I'm in a lot better shape than I thought I was, both in terms of monthly payments and down payment. Great thing about working for a bank with a mortgage department, you get discounts, like 1000 bucks off of closing. *whew* so right now I'm thinking I'm moving right out of my apartment at the end of the lease instead of going home!

For now, at least...

- My dance partner is looking to be in much better condition as of last night. We did one of our dances more-or-less full steam, and that could even be used as the basis because of her character's lack of, um, experience. The other one she did fine on, too. So I'm feeling a lot better about Friday than I was over the weekend.

And the bad:

- Getting to drive into work today, I got caught in a severe thunderstorm, complete with hail, glorious hail. No clue if one affected the other, but soon after it cut back my windshield wiper started going on the fritz, the driver's side moving later than the passenger side and, therefore, getting stuck before going more than a few inches. So I got to drive to work with a water-soaked windshield. I get to bring it in tomorrow and get it checked out, so hopefully it'll be okay enough to get fixed by tomorrow evening.

Random Thoughts...

- If you walk through a deli/bakery/dairy convention with a Burger King bag, do they see you as the enemy?

- I must buy Trampled By Turtles. Great name, great band, and they're from Duluth. Now if only I had time to get to the Electric Fetus...

- Or, well, time to do anything at all. I drove into work today, and will be doing so all week, so I can get to rehearsal by 6:30. Should be interesting to see how I can handle things like, you know, food? Thankfully after this week its a big breather till the 22nd.

- Ratner's been officially announced as the new director for X3. Now we wait for Angel casting, and that should be everyone, unless they decide to cast a bigger name for Gambit, which isn't sounding likely.

- Plus I got my first look at the woman who's playing Shadowcat. Attractive, but just doesn't fit the mold. She looks too mature. Of course, since Rogue'll probably still be in the Kitty Pryde/Jubilee role of the next film, the cast member the teens can relate to, then I spose Shadowcat'll have to be older. Still, its gonna be odd, it woulda been nice to have someone for Bobby and Rogue to play older sib to...

- Nothing too thrilling happening around here. Like I said above, tech week for Fiddler starts today. Should be interesting to see how it goes, between new space, costumes and sets. Plus my dance partner's still on the mend, so we'll have only a day or two to make sure our dancing is down for Friday. Thankfully she's fine if she doesn't know what she's doing, since that's the way her character's supposed to be.

Fingers... So... Crossed...

Apologies in advance. My computer is being mucho slow, and I'm basically typing sentences at a time without seeing them. So if you see any typos that's why.

Well, I arrived at rehearsal last night to find my Hodel in an air cast. It's apparently a sprain or a strain, but she, our director, our choreographer, and our stage manager are 90% confident that she'll be fine by opening. But I'm getting nervous...

My director says he doesn't want to "invite trouble" by having any contingency plans in place, any understudies ready to go in case she swells up like a balloon or crumples during tech week. Apparently he was really close to calling a girl who we've both worked before. And one of the Mamas has a daughter who has played Hodel in the past. But that's not contingency in my mind.

What can I say, I wanna play things safe. Get together with someonee during the week, teach them the dancing and the choreography. If they've played Hodel in the past then they know the music and the lines already.

What can I say, I just REALLY hope that she'll be fine. She has a fantastic voice, she's got the character down to a T, and she really fits the role, despite being only 14 years old. I don't want to see her replaced, but I also don't want to see the show go to hell if she has to sit out. Any other character could be alright with her condition, but she and I have to dance, its a plot element and I don't know how we could work around it.

Well, we have a week to make sure she's good to go. Less than a week. 4 rehearsals and one sit-sing. My fingers are SO crossed right now...

Quick Mental Test

Alright, for some reason I was trying to figure out if I could remember the lineup, starters, setup man, and closer for the 87 Twins championship team. Let's see how I do:

1B: Kent Hrbek
2B: Gene Larkin or Steve Lombardozzi
3B: Gary Gaetti
SS: Greg Gagne
LF: Dan Gladden
CF: Kirby Puckett
RF: Tom Brunanski
C: Tim Laudner
DH: Larkin or Al Newman

#1 Starter: Frank Viola
#2 Starter: Bert Blyleven
Setup Man: Jeff Reardon
Closer: a latin name I can't remember, Valenzuela?

Who I got wrong:

Lombardozzi was 2nd base, with Roy Smalley as DH. Straker, Niekro, and Smithson were the other 3 starters. Juan Berenguer was our setup man, with Reardon as closer (4 saves vs 31). Newman and Larkin were both bench players/utility, as were Don Baylor and Randy Bush.

Buicks and Mutants and Feet

Oh my! Sorry, couldn't help myself...

Anyway, I just finished reading Stephen King's 2002 release, From A Buick 8. Now, from what I had heard about the novel coming in, both from fans and from King himself, I wasn't expecting a lot. He had described it as Christine all over again.

After reading it, I didn't think it was bad. I enjoyed it, even though the ending felt somewhat strung out. And I'm still trying to piece together the Dark Tower reference, as I had a few ideas at first but none of them really panned out. Is the Buick a Low Man's car? Does it open up onto todash space? I keep forgetting that the DT series is over, so unless I re-read everything and find the answers there, then they'll never be answered.

Next up, there's a "source" being quoted on darkhorizons.com about the X-Men 3. First off, he threw out a few potential directors, neither of whom bug me or make me very excited. The guy who directed Behind Enemy Lines is one candidate, and Brett Ratner, who directed Rush Hour and Red Dragon, is the other.

However, what really struck me was his next paragraph. Here's the direct cut-and-paste from the article:

Avi Arad wasn't kidding when he called the film "controversial," either. Three major characters that absolutely should not die, die. Really dead, too. Not Spock Dead. And one mutant who should not lose her powers, loses her powers permanently. Really loses them, too. And the sex scene... when you see who does what to who... oh, boy. The entire X-MEN universe may face some incredible overhauls, and it's going to be fascinating to see what fandom does when faced with this stuff".

This is REALLY interesting me because, if its true, the writing team has basically has decided to throw comic book continuity out the window. And hear hear, I say. There were a lot of fans who came into the first movie and said "Wait, Rogue's a teenager, and she's hooking up with Iceman? Pyro's in the school? Mystique's naked? Blasphemous!" But I love it. The comic book reality shouldn't affect the movie reality, like the movie reality has affected the comic book. If one starts bleeding into the other, then it starts affecting how the story should be told.

I know that doesn't make a lot of sense when I say it, but I know what I'm talking about. Example, Michael Crichton releases the book Jurassic Park. In this book, the lawyer lives, the old man and the chaos theorist die. Spielberg makes the movie version of said book, where the lawyer dies and the old man and chaos theorist live.

After the movie is released, Crichton writes the next book, The Lost World. Instead of continuing where his last book left off, he alters his plotline to reflect the movie's chronology. He kills the lawyer off with a heart attack between books, and tells the reader that, no, the chaos theorist really didn't die. In fact, he's the main character of this story!

The movie version of the X-Men should be different than the comic book version. A writer of the movie should see where his story is going, and not be hindered by what the comic book history says is "right" or "wrong". And if that means he sees three characters dying, one losing her powers, and two more doing the horizontal mambo, then more power to him.

So I shall now lay out my theory as to what the hell the source is talking about.

Deaths:

1) Magneto. They're setting up a prequel for him, so it'd be a nice way to give him a Darth Vader-style tragic arc.
2) Storm. Halle Berry's been moaning about these movies for the last few years, so the best way to handle her character without re-casting her in any new sequels would be to just kill her off completely.
3) Cyclops, because no one's expecting it.

The only character I know who will NOT die would be Wolverine, who, like Magneto, they're planning on doing a new solo movie on in the future. So unless its a flashback movie, no go.

Power loss:

Well, first off, they say that the mutant will be losing "her" powers. Since there are only five women in the cast, that narrows the field down a bit.

1) Shadowcat. She made brief appearances in the first two movies, but they're re-casting her for a larger role in this one. Losing her powers wouldn't make a huge dent in continuity, so its either a good or bad call depending on how large of a role the writers are making the loss in the storyline.

2) Mystique. Right now there aren't a lot of Brotherhood members, so taking her powers would be kind of limiting to future storylines. Besides, keeping Stamos in full-body makeup is probably good for ticket sales, so that's probably out.

3) Jean Grey. Makes too much sense in her character, so it probably wouldn't draw the source's response of "absolutely shouldn't lose them." If they're going with Dark Phoenix, then that'd be the best way to take her out in the end would be to make her lose her powers.

Which leaves two characters, both of whom would make a lot of sense:

4) Storm. For the same reasons that killing her off would make sense: Berry doesn't want to come back unless she has a major role. And, sorry Halle, Storm has NEVER had a major role in the comic book or the movies, so its difficult to find a place for her at the top of a food chain that's already crowded with Wolverine, Jean, Magneto, Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, Pyro, and...

5) Rogue. Makes far too much sense, again, but its also something that would throw comic book fans. Rogue should NOT lose her powers because, more than any other character, her powers define who she is. She has emotional attachment issues because of the physical limitations. The reason her relationships, with Gambit in the comics and with Iceman in the movies, are more interesting because we know that any touch could kill the guy.

Taking Rogue's powers would be the ultimate "gift" to Rogue the character, but would change her character and also remove the commentary about the limitations that mutations can cause.

As for the sex scene... well, that one I'm not going to touch, because there's too many potentials for odd combinations or weird ways to go about it. Rogue/Iceman, Wolverine/Jean, Mystique/Wolverine, even Storm/Nightcrawler. We'll have to see what happens, I guess.

In other news, we have our first major concern for Fiddler. Our Hodel, my Hodel, has a potential stress fracture in her foot and had to be carried out of rehearsal last night. Hopefully its nothing too serious, something that can be Ace bandaged, but we'll have to see what happens.

Okay, Nevermind...

I was gonna do some writing about Michael Bay here, but there's really not much to say. Basically, I wanted to talk about his desire for Transformers to be his "family-friendly" film, which I think could work, just so long as he remembers that, quite frankly, there's probably more Transformers fans over the age of 20 than under. Most kids I've talked to aren't big fans of the new toys, and the fact that the new TV series in the last few years, RiD, Armada, and Energon, weren't exactly huge draws. It can still be family friendly, but hopefully its a hard PG, borderline PG-13, like a Jurassic Park or Batman, or else I don't think it'll draw very well.

Just so long as he avoids a Jake Lloyd-type human character, I'll be alright. The way its been discussed we're looking at a 16- or 17-year-old human lead, which is fine, just so long as he avoids the "golly gee" factor.

Wow, that made no sense. I'll stop now.

Really nothing else going on here. I'm getting together with the mortgage person from my company on Tuesday, so by the end of next week I'll have made a decision about where I'm going in September.

Two Long Ones

Alright, I was planning on going into some geeky stuff here, but first I need to get something off my chest. I'm getting REALLY frustrated with the show, Fiddler, right now. It has nothing to do with the directors. Well, maybe enough to do with the directors to say that I feel sorry for them. It has to do with focus.

I've done a lot of community theater. Half of the shows I've been in have had younger casts. In EVERY instance, frustration sets in on my part. It's a lack of focus on the task at hand. And that boils down to a lack of respect for the directors, for the audience, and for the rest of the cast. There's at least a dozen people in the cast currently that can't keep their mouths shut for 5 seconds, despite being asked 30 times a night... literally...

My director has threatened to kick people out of the cast. If I were in his position I would do it. What this cast doesn't realize is that there are very few people who aren't expendable. Especially the main perpetrators, the cast members under the age of 18.

The leads are very difficult to get rid of. So are the dancers. The Russians are tough to get rid of, because there's so few of them. Ditto with the Papas and, to a lesser degree, the Mamas. But the ones who are the least necessary, the ones who are the most plentiful, the ones who would be missed the least if they were thinned down, are the ones who SHOULD be thinned down.

I don't know if this is ever going to go past my rant here. If it doesn't, that's fine. If it does, I'm sorry. But there are some people who deserve the wrath of the director, and if I were less nice than my director, whom I consider a friend, I would lay the smack down, and there would be a half-dozen fewer kids in the cast.

There, that's out of my system... for now...

A few quick geek things, both of which will be expanded upon as more news develops. First off, Matthew Vaughn is off of X3, citing personal issues, not professional or creative ones. There will be a new director announced in the next few days, as well as the final casting for the role of Angel, who will apparently have a large role in the film, probably of a similar size to Nightcrawler in X2.

Also, there's a big article being posted in the next few days for the movie version of Doom, with The Rock and Karl "Eomer" Urban. Again, more later...

You know what, I'll write about my other long thingy (mind out of the gutter!) tomorrow. It deals with Michael Bay and some of his comments about the upcoming Transformers movie. But I think this is enough to read for tonight.

Ahh, The Bus...

So you can see some odd things when you're riding the bus. Today there was a kid who got off at DeLaSalle who was carrying a shield. Not just a little piddly toy thing, either. This sucker was about 2 or 3 feet tall, metal, with two big arm straps on the back. I was looking to see if it was a class project (most likely) or if he was a Festie, or something. Very neat, though...