Saturday, May 30, 2009

Well just some random thoughts before we go home


Well, just some random thoughts.  The wedding flowers were a little homage to us with the Los Angeles flower, the Birds of Paradise.  So there is a picture of us with them.  It was wonderful for them to think so much of us.  They were very nice about our coming.
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I was really touched.

This is Tommy Hass. And there is a fun reason I show this picture.
Ed got us credentials that allowed us into some areas that were closed off.  And the French Open is a lot smaller than most venues that have the big tournements.  So we watched Tommy on a small court.  Much later, we got onto the court in the press area as Tommy finally won in 5 sets.
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It was thrilling to see it.  And Ed captured the whole spirit in the win.
 

It's been quite a nice time.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Ley Ley at the French Open


So the French Open has been great. We saw Rafi Nadal, Maria Scharapova, Andy Murray andothers. It was a great day.
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And a any day with Leyton Hewitt close enough to grab is a great day.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

So it was a lovely wedding





We are on our way to Paris in a few minutes, but I wanted to share some pictures of the wedding.  It was a rare gorgeogous day in England.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Big Day and the Cold Sweats

Well, today is Laura's Big Day. So Lisa, Ed and I are getting ready (Laura and Jane are already at the hotel). And I am putting on the suit and tie and aleady getting the cold sweats from the suit.
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Ed just told me to put the suit coats in the garmet bag and we will put them on at the site. He said that I am like Trevor... if I don't actually see the suit coat maybe I won't freak out....
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Scary thing. He is right. I feel better now...

Friday, May 22, 2009

Butter and OxyContin

In my perusal of the electronic neighborhood, I happened across Red State Update - as I do.  I don't want to make you watch the whole thing for one joke, so I shall tell you it.
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Dunlop (above - next to El Rushbo) says he "I take my queues from Rush Limbaugh.  Well at least about butter and OxyContin."
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It made me giggle.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Gail and Claire came down from CT

Gail, who is Mike's wife, and Mike is Ed's old boss, and her friend Claire, came into New York for the day from Connecticut.  And they wanted to see a show and invited me.  Of course, I happily agreed.
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But what to see?  I suggested "God of Carnage" since it has been nominated for Best New Play, Best Direction of a Play and all 4 actors are nominated (and big names, Jeff Daniels, James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis.  Between them there is an Acadamy Award, 2 Golden Globes, a Tony, 4 Emmys and a 5 SAG awards.  I mean there are some serious acting chops out there.
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And it was suppose to be funny.

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Now this is where normally I would say, it did not meet expectations.  But it did.  It was hilarious.  Ed, who doesn't like "yelling" on TV or at the Theater would have hated it.  But Gail, Claire and I (and the entire sold-out house at a matinee) laughed our asses off.
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I gotta say that New York Theaters (like most London Theaters) are usually small.  Thank goodness, we got seats in the last row of the Mezzanine and they were still great.
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I was worried a little about James Gandolfini - who starts slow and unsure, but then it turns out to be a character choice he loses when the character relaxes.  I didn't review this for the web site, but I loved it.
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ps - our site reviewer also loved it and said he had seen it twice in New York (only once for free), once in London and once in Paris in the original French (which he didn't understand - but he laughed).

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fleets In!


It's Fleet week - we are leaving, but it's Fleet Week.  Randy is watching Trevor and Randy is a (how to stay this nicely)... "friendly"
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ABC Up Fronts: Jimmy Kimmel Slays 'Em!


I don't know if you are a fan of Jimmy Kimmel or not, as a rule, I am hit or miss.  But from what I read (and the whole thing is here), he was funny as hell at the ABC Up Fronts...
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I copy a little of it below for your enjoyment...
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After the drama clips, the presentation cut to a scene of Sally Field reading Jimmy Kimmel a bedtime story, which led into Jimmy doing a bit of standup. He broke the ice by saying that all of ABC's late night comedy talent is on one stage together, and the camera zooms out to show him standing alone. He started to throw out some random statistics, which he then said were total bullshit. He told the audience that he's going to get real, and that of the new shows they are hyping, "We're gonna cancel about 90 percent of them.... possibly more. I can't help but notice that right after we announce the new ones that we announce the midseason replacements. If we are so confident, why are we working on their replacements already. I'll tell you why... that's because we know most of them won't make it until Christmas." He's a prophet that one.

He continued by telling the media buyers in the audience that the network lies to them every year. "Remember the time we got you to buy time on that bingo show?" Ha. I really should watch his show more often. He then got a little self-deprecating: "ABC was hoping I wouldn't be here this year. They wanted Jay Leno. I know that. They wanted to put Jay Leno on at 11:30 and move me to 12:30 and it actually looked like it was going to happen until the last second when NBC said, 'No, we will not allow Jay Leno to go to ABC, even if we have destroy our own network to keep him.' That of course led to their new show, I'm Your Boston Affiliate, Get Me Out of Here." Zing! But NBC isn't the only network he took a swipe at. "Over at Fox, they announced that 24 would be back. As you know, that show was within a head butt of getting canceled. Next year I hear Jack Bauer is going to have a sidekick who is going to follow him everywhere he goes... who I hear will be played by Kiefer Sutherland's probation officer."

He then returned to picking on his own network. "I'm hoping that Steve will listen to me for once and put the blind guy from American Idol on Dancing With the Stars. We did one leg... why not?" He then says that they have a new marketing opportunity available. "Next season on Grey's Anatomy, your product could actually kill Dr. Izzie. She could be crushed by a case of Coke Zero or smothered in a Slanket. Just depends on how much you want to pay." Anyone else out there want to take up a collection? He caps it off with the final thought: "Maybe some of these shows will work, maybe they won't, but who cares, it's not your money."

The Other Side: Why Israel SHOULD stop Iran from getting "the bomb"

Earlier, last week, I argued that I thought there was an analogy between the US / USSR nuclear show down in the 1960s and the Israel /Iran nuclear show down today.  I did say that i would entertain arguments to the contrary
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Funny enough.
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Well, there is the alternative argument, not Israel v Iran, but US v. Pakistan, made in Foreign Policy the other day.
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I am still not buying it as more than fear mongering (otherwise we live in constant fear), but in fairness I thought I should reference it.  The article is very good, very scary and easily applicable to Israel with Islamic fanatics hate as much as the US - and is a lot easier to hit.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sean runs with his eyes closed...?

Here is Ed's (and mine!) nephew, Sean.
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This is early in the race.  He is in the front, I would show you a picture from later in the race, but it is just him - he seems to have outran the field.  
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He is a great runner, but I don't know how he does it with his eyes closed.
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It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Sunny and Scooter has a sunny disposition.
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Won't you be... my neighbor?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

High Line Building Tour Today


Today we took a tour of the "High Line Building" which is under construction.
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So we got to see a lot of the "High Line" Park (which is the walkway in the picture) which goes through the middle of the building.
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In the yee olden dayees, freight trains ran down the high line railroad, and into the bottom part of the building (the old part) and the meat was processed in this refrigerated building (hence "Meat Packing District".
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It was a cool tour.
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The High Line looks really cool.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Food Fair on 9th


This is the 9th Ave food fair. They have a street fair where all the restaurants put up boothes and share their food wares.
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Eddie and I ate lunch there, very early and it was pretty lightly attended.
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But by the afternoon, it was swamped! Eddie took this from our 29th floor lunch deck, after walking by with the pup.

Friday, May 15, 2009

I SO want to see this....


The reviews for "Angels and Demons" have been uniformly bad bordering on hilarious (see salon here or NY Times here, title "Holy Mystery; Mayhem at the Vatican!").
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I can't wait to see it.  I think I am making Eddie take me tonight.
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I particularly like this comment in Salon, The action unfolds against constant narration: When a character indicates, in a parched whisper, that Langdon should get over to Castel Sant'Angelo fast, he hippity-hops on his way, but not before exclaiming, "The Castle of the Angel!" Every revelation in "Angels & Demons" has a "Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick" vibe. Whenever something bad is about to happen, Hans Zimmer's score flares up like a bad case of stigmata. "

An Odd Notion

Sometimes it takes a simple question to see the idiots for the trees.
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Moral Kombat
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
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John Stewart talks about water-boarding and generally shows the quotes that in matters like these we have to use every tool we have to fight terrorists.
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Then he contrasts that with kicking out yet another fluent Arabic linguist (the 54th so far) because he is gay.  So, to quote John, ""So it was okay to waterboard a guy over 80 times, but God forbid the guy who could understand what that prick was saying....has a boyfriend..
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It is an odd dichotomy.  That our politicians have gotten so caught up in Republican vs. Democratic that one side can say do everything to get a confession - including ignoring the Geneva Conventions you signed.  EVERYTHING to stop a bomb.  WEll, Unless the guy that can understand the enemy is a fag.  If the queer is the only person that can understand what the tortured man says, it is okay to ignore that "ticking time bomb" scenario and blow the city up.
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SO NO RANT, but listen for a second.
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Here is what this says to a liberal mind (like mine).
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EITHER the Republicans are lying about torture.  It isn't that we will do anything to stop a ticking time bomb.  Torture is only an excuse to slam the Democratic Party.
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OR the Republican hate fags SO MUCH that they are truly willing to sacrifice thousands of American lives in order keep the fags out of the military because letting them in would humanize them.
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There are no other answers.  If you were only afraid fags would make a pass at the men, you could segregate out the homos and just call them in as translators.  
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If you were afraid straight men would not fight along side fags you would not allow the US Army or Marines to fight with the Armies of England, Holland, Canada, Germany or France (all of which we fight right along side with in Iraq and Afghanistan).  So far no English fairies or Dutch pansies have destroy the morals of the straight American male.
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So really I am left with the assumption that merely humanizing homosexuals enough to allow us to defend the country is unacceptable to Republicans.  If there is another answer to the Either Or above, I would hear it honestly and sensibly without judgement.

Ding Dong, CrapWeasel's Gone!


Be gone Crap-Weasel, before someone drops a flying house on you.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Remember little Faith


Remember Ed's cute little niece Faith?
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Still cute, but not so little....
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She loves to dance (looks a little like Laura Hunt in this doesn't she?)

Lost Finale Kicked Some Serious Ass

I know that most people have given up on this show (or they say they did - I'm looking at you Mr. Harris).  But this finale totally kicked ass.
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It was like, wha..., wait, wha.... , wait, oh she didn't!, what!!!!!
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Amazing. (Recap here, but it makes no sense if you don't follow it.)

Update from Donald on the Road

Ed's Mom, Dad and Aunt are on the road.  Here is a quick update we just got.
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As all of you know Jo, Kathy and I are on a trip to San Francisco.  The trip is going well.  However, we have a star within our group.  Hang in there with me.  
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Our first night in Salt Lake City is not filled with great night life, if you know what I mean.  Therefore, we went to Temple Square which is the home of the Mormon church  to visit the Mormon Tabernacle and other sights.  We took a 30 minute tour with a bunch of young girls "sister" leading the tour.  We were recruited the entire time.  We saw the Tabernacle which was great for I even have seen it and all the great music that has taken place on tv..  Long story short.  
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On the way out to our car, a guy is getting out of his car and saw our Minn. plates and said "Oh Minn that is a great state" and I said it sure is, where are you from"?  (Editors comment here, What is it about you people from the Mid-west and "Oh where are you from?"  We don't do that in California.  Continue...)
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He was from this area and as a true Minnesotan I said what do you do?  Oh! I am the guest organist at the Tabernacle.  Big Deal to me, so I said oh my wife plays the organ.  After introductions he invites Jo to join him  for his practice time at the Mormon Tabernacle.  Kathy and I are just going nuts because Jo's mouth has hit the cement and of course she says yes.  Off we go to the practice.  
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Only then do we find out that our organist is the famous Dr. James Drake (that is big time for Labron James in the organ business).  These two get up there and act like long lost friends, pulling stops, peddling with both feet, changing manuals, and just acting like they been doing this all the time.  This guy is the guest organist at the Tabernacle and is on his way to London to play at St Pauls Catheral next week, so he played his stuff for us only after Jo had about 10 minutes of playing the Tabernacle organ in this great hall.  Visitors were coming through and clapping for Jo and Dr. Drake, not knowing who the hell they were.  
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Kathy and I had a ball watching this and especial ly Jo who was like a kid in the candy shop.  We took alot of photos, however, the best was the look that Kathy and I had of Jo when Dr. Drake invited her to play with him.  She is such a ham and Kathy and I feel like chop liver and are waiting on her hand and foot.  I thought you would get a kick out of this.  We sure did.  The organn has been part of Jo's life since she was 8.  
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ps - I gave the Church of Latter Day Saint all of your addresseds to receive the "message".

When in doubt, cover your ass

Let me just say this about that.
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Apparently one of our new leaders at work (parachuted in from another bank that had to be bailed out) has decided that different status reports are too hard to read!  I can't read them if they are different formats! I only get paid 12 gazillion dollars!  Boo de f'ing Hoo.
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So he has devised a "simple" format of 2 powerpoint pages to read.  "Simple" and includes all the project milestones, all the status, all the risks, all the schedules, the (deep breath) Program Name, Product Region, Business Unit Line of Business, Business Sponsor IT Sponsor, Start Date, Revised Start Date, End Date Revised End Date, Investment Level Investment Type, Investment Category, Executive Summary, Weekly Accomplishments, Next Weeks plans, Two weeks ago trends - and more.
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Simple
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And on 2 Power Point pages in an 8 point font.
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And they divided normal programs all up into impossible to track "projects".  So now the 1 thing I do is divided into (wait for it) 4 transitional products, 6 program projects, anywhere from 8 - 12 business projects and they would like this status report weekly.  That is 18 pages of weekly updated 8 point font slides (at a minimum) for my ONE thing.  Yeah, and for the Business Projects I got to call around the world and ask for an update.  "But you just got that last week."  "I know, I know.  Don't blame me, I'm getting laid off soon."
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How many to you think Mr. Potato Head reads?  Can anyone say covering your ass.  Oh yeah, by the way - they are laying off all of LA - so good luck in filling these out after September 1st.
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Richard Wad.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

If You Are in New York Sunday

If you are in New York Sunday afternoon - there is a rally for Marriage Equality and a Performace by the cast of Hair (select to enlarge).

On torture and torture pictures

This should be a non-partisan debate, I think.  It isn't a Republican or Democratic argument.
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Torture is wrong, doesn't work and is illegal as the United States has defined it (we handed down the death penalty for Japanese interrogators who used water boarding).  If people want they can debate that, but that is our law right now.
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If there are a bunch more pictures showing Americans torturing Iraqis during the war, I don't think there is any reason to release them.  From my perspective, we know what we did was wrong and we are working to make sure it doesn't happen again.
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If there is a trial and the pictures are evidence, then the pictures should be shown.  If it happens AGAIN after we have changed our policies, then new ones should be shown.  
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But don't show old pictures of torture we already agreed we wrong and off base, just to make a point that we did some horrible things.  We all know we did horrible things.
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Worse, from my point of view, is that we will be harming the Servicemen and National Guard people who were put in awful situations.  Many of them, National Guard volunteers, signed up to protect Americans, not run foreign prisons.
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If you run the pictures, put like inset pictures of Dick Cheney (who is still advocating torture), John Woo(?) the lawyer who wrote the memo's that approved this or Don Rumsfeld - the Secretary of State during the picture taking.
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My 2 cents.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Parallels in History

I think the whole "Iranian Nukes" debate and question might benefit from a historical review of a parallel issue.
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There was a time when the United States could have stopped the Soviet Union from building Atomic weapons (not from learning about them - they stole German scientists just like we did).
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And this is the analogous situation with Israel and Iran.  It isn't a perfect parallel, but it is instructive.  Kruschev stood at the Untied Nations, slammed his shoe on the podium and shouted that the USSR would bury the United States.  The stated goal of the Communist System (printed in  he manifesto and repeated constantly) was the violent overthrow of the capitalistic system in general and the United States in particular.  And yet we never preemptively stopped either the USSR or China from obtaining these weapons.
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So why are we thinking of doing this in the case of Iran.  Or why is Israel all but stated they plan to proactively attack Iran to prevent them from getting these weapons?  This sort of preventive action ONLY makes sense if it is 100% effective and a surprise and we are convinced that Iran will act in a non-logical way.  Any reasonable state actor would not use nuclear weapons against a nuclear state with a counter-strike capability.  And Israel has loudly proclaimed it's submarine based counter-strike weapons and it's hair trigger response.
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Assuming Iran is a realistic state actor, then a US/Israeli first strike would make sense only if we assume that Iran planned to give the weapons to a non-state actor (like Hamas or Hezbulla).  But why would they do that?  In our historical parallel, neither the USSR nor the USA gave these weapons to non-state actors, even as we fought proxy wars around the world.  Boht countries understood and stated that a nuclear attack from a proxy is tantemount to a nuclear act from the supportive country.
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To say Iran doesn't understand this same equation is simplistic.  Iran already holds back its more sophisticated and effective weapons from Hamas and Hezbulla - why would they suddenly cough up nukes?
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Perhaps it makes sense to strike Iran with enough force and in enough places to delay their nuclear weapons capability.  But it will cause a massive death count of civillians and be the very act of war that Israel is worried about.  I think more explanation and thought is needed here.

Princess Bride as The Beatles

So last night as I lie awake, I pondered.  And, as my thoughts traveled freely from place to place this is what I pondered.
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I think the Princess Bride is like the Beatles.  (Really, it is things like this that I ponder at night, pity Ed if you must.)  Odd, yes? But think about it.  The Princess Bride was the apex of most of these people's careers.  The Princess Bride was, as they say, lightening in a bottle.  Walk through this with me and see how easily the cast fit into the Beatle roles.
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 First you have the lovely Cary Elwes as Paul McCartney.  He was the hero of the Princess Bride.  The dreamy eyes and pretty hair.
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Truly, he was lovely in the Princess Bride.  Okay, he has put on some weight in  the intervening twenty years, but he has produced a nice steady output of work.  Some good, some mediocre, some terrible.
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The Crush and Bram Stoker's Dracula represent the "Linda McCartney" influence (if you know what I mean), but Men in Tights and The Cradle Will Rock  are totally classic Wings.  They stand on their own.
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And then you have Robin Wright as John.  The beautiful albeit moddy Robin Wright.  Who took her fame reluctantly.
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Robin Wright (now, but soon to be formerly, Wright-Penn) became the true art-teast of the group.
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I mean she did White Oleander, Empire Falls, Nine Lives, The Singing Detective.  All great amazing works.  Yet none are really relatable at all, come on... who has really watched more than 30 minutes of White Oleander?  Anyone... Buhler?  
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Totally John Lennon post break up, releasing album after album of stuff you know you were suppose to like, but just couldn't quite make it through.  FYI - that makes Sean Penn the Yoko Ono of the group, which is, in and of itself, enough parallel right there.
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George Harrison of Princess Bride?  The do-gooder...
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Clearly Fred Savage.
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Every now and then Fred pops in in something and everyone is like, "Wow!  Is he still alive?"  Just like people used to do with George Harrison.  Well, for a while, because George isn't alive now, but you know what I mean.  George died in 2001 from Cancer, but Fred is alive.  Remember when he (Fred, not George) popped up in Austin Powers, Goldmember?  No - don't remember.  See, George Harrison.
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And that leaves Ringo.  Ringo is the Beatle that will show up anywhere, do anything, because he used to be big.
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I hesitate to include this trio as Ringo, since Andre the Giant has passed on.  And since Mandy Patinkin used to be amazing.  Really, I saw him onstage as Che Guevera in Evita and he totally WAS Che (until Antonio Banderas played Che in the movie.. Antoino couldn't sing but was way hotter than Mandy).  
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You say I am being harsh?  Mandy once did the movie The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland - I am not sure even Ringo would touch that bad boy.
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So there you have a portion of my night.  "It is very messy up here", he said pointing to his brain.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Post Morteum on Gentle Irony

When I was on the speech team in high school (acho-GEEK), I did a Programmed Reading piece on Irony. I took it to state finals in San Francisco and saw my first peep show at 15... so geek on that homie.
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Anyway, my stuff was from Winnie the Pooh (regarding Eyeore's response to racing sticks of Pooh and Piglet) and some Thurber.
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It occurs to me, in retrospect, that gentle irony is a lost art today. There is no room for gentle irony, a form of communication wherein parties agree that each other are worthy of respect and still can take a joke.
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Instead, we have become a mean sarcastic Greek chorus to the rubes on reality TV. If you have a moment, go back and read a Winnie the Pooh story. Take a look at old Dr. Seuss. Even Pee Wee Herman employed a gentle, pleasant ironic face to the world to make daily life better.
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These have been replaced by the irony free zones for kids (teletubbies) or hip sarcastic heroes like Captain Underpants or Johnny Neutron. Graduation from youth to young adult moves from this to raunchy, literal and mean spirited comments (listen to hip hop - I dare you).
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I think that this lack of irony in real life is one of the reasons why I enjoy some situation comedy that uses gentle irony without making the characters look like idiots. I like How I Meet Your Mother for just this reason. And, I like The Big Bang Theory when it doesn't stray into mean territory.
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As for the written word, irony is a lost cause. Blogs, twitter and partisanship prefer to hammer people over the head with opinions rather than allow thoughts float to the surface, revealing their meanings slowly. Even popular fiction has lost the gentle banter and give and take of irony.
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Sometimes I think the loss of self-deprecation and gentle joking will ill serve us in the future. We have become painfully literal and earnest, with no tolerance for other opinions, no matter how stated. Irony used to be a way to gently disagree - not a sledge hammer the piont home.
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Just a random thought.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mickey on Grey's

Mickey was in the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Look how cute he is in the picture...
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Father Mickey - you've touched my heart. (And where you touched Gavin we don't want to know).

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Sherie Rene Scott


Ron and I went and saw Sherie Rene Scott in Everyday Ratpure.
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It was a GREAT one woman(ish) show about here journey from Kansas and a Menonite youth to Broadway.
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I can't really say too much about it that doesn't sound silly or hokey, bu t it was a really nice evening.
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In case you don't remember, she was the original "other" woman in Aida. She has a wonderful voice.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Stress and HeartBreak

I do not have dandruff.
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This will come as a shock to anyone who has seen me lately in a black shirt. I look like PigPen from Charlie Brown - only covered in Los Angeles Fire Ash.
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No. I have inherited from my father many things, most of the bad. Charm, used primarily to get me out of jams and (in the old days) into young men's pants. And ability to judge a jealous spouse from 40 paces. A propensity towards belly fat that has reared it's head in my advanced years and this....
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The Heartbreak of Psoriasis.
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Funny thing about Psoriasis.... Okay, two funny things. Okay one funny thing and one sadly ironic thing.
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Funny thing: Psoriasis is an OVERactive response to skin irritation. That is, Psoriasis is when your body makes new skin cells faster than they are needed, pushing older, healthy skin cells off, often bringing your capillaries close to the epidermis (a fancy way of saying that you bleed if you scratch your head too vigorously). Most medicines are not concerned with fixing positive responses.
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Second thing - this is the sadly ironic one: My Psoriasis gets worse as I get stressed. Like say I have to have an interview. Or look good for a wedding. Or have a big meeting that I am not really ready for. Suddenly my shoulders look like I am wearing little white epaulets.
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That is the good thing about my Psoriasis, and I knock wood every time. It is much better to have it on your head, where it looks like you have uncontrollable dandruff, than on visible skin. My relatives had it on their shoulders, arms and chest. Where it looks like white scabs. It is not attractive.
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I note this now because, as you might have guessed, the looming date of September 1st is making me uncomfortable. And my body is reacting poorly. Every where I go I seem to travel in my own little snowglobe of flakey skin.
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I never should have given up smoking weed. (You know had I done it in college, which I didn't.)

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Saw "Nine to Five" Last Night


Last night Ed, Ron and I went to see "9 to 5, the Musical" on Broadway.
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I wrote up a review (that I won't copy here, my reviews are about 500 words or so) - but basically we had a great time.
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It is a big fun show that doesn't demand much but a smile. It was a really fun way to spend and evening. I hope it does well, even though it didn't garner many Tony nominations (although Aida never did either).
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However, the show was full, and it plays in a really big house - so maybe it will be okay. Never underestimate the pull of Dolly Parton (who WAS nominated for a Tony for the music and lyrics).

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

WOW! Talk about your Bad F'ing Timing!!!


So today they laid off a shitload of people.
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Yes, I have my date. As of today it is September 1st.
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Pretty crappy timing on "Take your child to work day!"
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Show them the joy of working your ass off to make the company better and then be laid off without even a kiss good-bye.
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Click to expand, but my favorite line is "... a chance to discover the possibilities for their own future." Here's your future, put your head between your knees and kiss your ass good-bye.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Art and Fashion Collide (Dozens Hurt!)

So the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in a rather crass and obvious bid for bucks, has a new show all about Art and Fashion (it is moving the "Fashion Collection" from Brooklyn to Manhattan).  (Full Slide Show Here.)
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And, what would a show to raise money be, without the fame whores that show up to work the runway (and hopefully donate).  Some of my favorite....

First, last and always is Madonna.  Apparently running from London she has landed on the Upper East side.  It appears all of her clothes haven't arrived yet, so she had to wear a costume.  Actually it is some Marc Jacobs number, but she added the bunny ears herself.  Really.


And because you can't have a fashion photographer without Daddy Long Legs Stiletto'ing her way to the front of the line, it's Posh Spice.  It seems our Mr. Beckham wisely decided to stay in Italy.  I am not sure why a cocktail dress needs a train....  Maybe it was a long dress, and she cut most of the skirt off and didn't know what else to do with the pieces.

This is Zac Posen and model Helen Christensen.  I don't know who the hell they are, but HE designed what she is wearing, which is probably how she got invited.  And when asked why it said "VOGUE" across it, she said "..so I can remember what party I am at."  Which is funny because it wasn't a Vogue party, even though Ana Wintour was a co-host.
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But I love what he is wearing, kind of the kicky Hugh Hefner circa 1968 pajama number with the ubiquitous Palestine-esque scarf.
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pps - If you haven't been assaulted by the Rachael Ray  / Dunkin Donuts Palestine scarf yet, you will be soon (remember that brouhaha).

STELLA!!!!

For those of you who are How I Meet Your Mother Fans (and have watched it already).. what do you think?
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Stella?
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Really?
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I mean, if you are going to twist the girlfriend / time continuum then why not Robin?
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True, you have to admire someone who has made an entire career from filling in for Rosanna's daughter for a year... but Stella?
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And if Stella is the woman, then where is her older daughter? I never see her on the couch - and Ted is a dad that would always include the older daughter as his own....
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Unless......
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Unless this whole "right place at the right time" thing is a set up....
AND
Unless the whole...."Your mother had a yellow umbrella" thing means that he gives someone else the Umbrella next week and
..
KA-BOOM
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plot twist and that is how we meet your mother?
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I hope so because otherwise I just have to keep yelling....
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STELLLLLLAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Late Seats


Here is the odd thing about New York. Odd and GREAT.
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Nearly every play has "producer" seats that are held for either the producer's friends or for the "premium" seats. The ones you can by for triple cost.
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Well, if they don't sell these seats they release them, usually sometime the day of the play.
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So yesterday I checked for South Pacific seats. South Pacific (at the Lincoln Center) won a lot of Tonys last year.. Best Musical Revival, Best Actor (left, Paul Szot) and others. For some reason, a lot of the original cast is back in the show for a short time (including Paul Szot and 3 other Tony nominees).
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Anyway, back to the Producer Seats. At 4:00PM yesterday I checked for seats, and they had just released great seats. Now granted, I paid full price - but not premium price. And we sat (honestly) 3rd Row Center! It was amazing.
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And the show WAS great. People were right, and it didn't suffer from expectation setting (as many shows billed as "great" usually do). The guy, Paul Szot, is an Opera singer from Brazil and he kicked ass.

Lynn Likes the Okapii....

This is fluffy - the 27 foot long pythoon.
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I don't know why I started with this, but I thought it was pretty cool.
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Anyway, Lynnie went to the Colombus Zoo and liked it. I leave it to her (without any comment on the Okapii Tongue thang..)....
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I took most of the day off yesterday and took my niece Megan and her friend to the Columbus zoo. It was my first visit to this zoo and I was very impressed. Most of the animals had very large areas to roam around in and more often than not there were at least 3 or 4 in the same exhibition area. Sometimes they had 2 or 3 different animals in the same exhibition, e.g. the bison was with a bunch of goats. The only animals I saw in smaller enclosures were snakes. It was a good zoo day - not too hot so the animals were quite active. The highlight of the visit for me was the new baby elephant who has yet to be named (they let you vote on 1 of 4 names - I voted for Sidhartha, Sid for short). He's still small enough to stand underneath mama Phoebe which seemed to be his favorite spot - mama kept moving and he would run to catch her and then run between her back legs...too cute. The elephant2 picture is Phoebe with her first baby, Bodhi, also born at the Columbus zoo.There were also lots of baby monkeys that were equally adorable.They have some beautiful big cats, a pair of grizzly bears that were raised at the zoo after their mama was killed, and a 24-foot python named Fluffy.
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Some of my other favorites were the silverback gorrillas, the timberwolves, and the okapi (who has a VERY long tongue and can, so the sign says, lick its own eyelids).
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Megan's favorites were the otters who have an beautiful playground complete with a large pond (with an underwater viewing window), water slide and a big romping area and romp they did.
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A good time was had by one and all.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Mascot of the Month: Aaron Tveit

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So far Lisa, Ed, Chuck and I have all seen Aaron Tveit (pronounced "Tv8") and marveled at his talent. We all saw him in Next To Normal (although we didn't go with Chuck, we talked to him later).
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The picture above is from Next To Normal. Aaron is the son in the picture here. He has an amazing stage pressence. It is very bizarre, because you always kind of watch him... even when he isn't the focus of the scene. He is always involved acting and reacting.
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Originally Eddie just chalked it up to cuteness (why I liked him). But after seeing him act he totally gets it.

He played Fiero in Wicked on Broadway for a short time, between "Saved" (below) and "Next to Normal" above. I didn't see him thee, but he was a hit with the screaming girls accroding to websites.



He is inthe background in the picture above, from the off-Broadway show "Saved". I saw this with Gail (Ed's old boss' wife). We had a great time.



Although I don't watch it, he has apparently guest starred in Gossip Girl (which is shot here). This is from Gossip Girl (for those of you who can't get to Broadway).