An Evening With the Beats

So in March, I took Leah up to DC for her birthday to see the Fresh Beat Band in concert.  We got the tickets from StubHub or something like that and we had a lot of fun—the concert was great.  When we heard they were coming to Richmond, Mike and I decided to pay for the whole family to get the backstage party package and for us all to go together.  We “liked” them on Facebook and got the pre-sale code, and as soon as the tickets went on sale, got tickets and passes.  The concert was last night, and I was lucky to have a number of friends who were going to the concert.  My friends Heather and Steve had a pair of passes and tickets for their daughter, so I gave Mike’s ticket to Steve and he joined me and Leah, and Leah’s little friend Kailee, her sister, and her parents were just two rows behind us.  I had mistakenly bought the wrong tickets and sold those to another friend, Heather M., so that she and her daughter could go to the concert as well, so there was a nice homey atmosphere about the thing.

We arrived early, planning to have dinner with Heather and Steve, and it gave us the chance to get a FREE parking spot on the street.  Leah decided there was NO WAY we were sitting in the car waiting for them, so we texted them and walked over to the theater.  After dodging the street vendors selling T-shirts, we got in line and waited, which didn’t thrill Leah a whole lot, but the time passed pretty quickly, Heather and Steve and Abby arrived, and we got our party passes and went in.  Somehow, I managed to score tickets dead center stage in the very first row.  I couldn’t get over how great these seats were.  Steve and I chatted and Leah ate popcorn and played with some glow sticks I had the good idea to remember to bring, thus saving myself $10 on a flashlight that she was destined to lose. (As you can see, Leah was way more interested in her party pass than in taking pictures!  Thank you, Abby for looking up :-D)

The concert itself was divided into two parts.  It was wonderful.  Very lively and upbeat.  The first half was great, lots of dancing, we knew the songs, good bits of humor.  At one point, “Marina” came over to us and put her hand down to Leah, and Leah gave her a high 5.  I thought we were living the dream then.  Little did I know!

During intermission, Steve appropriated his wee one Abby from Heather, saying he felt better having a kid with him in the front row.  As the show got under way, Abby was cutting the rug.  It was hilarious and adorable.  She was dancing her patoot off!  Leah and I had swapped seats, and Leah was just sitting in the chair, watching the show.  I did notice a few times that “Shout” had put the eye on her a little bit and seemed to be watching, and all of a sudden, he jumped off the stage right in front of us, scooped Leah up, sat in her chair with her on his lap, and continued singing to her. It lasted just a little bit, but I thought, “My kid, my awesome kid really hit the jackpot and she so deserves this moment.”  I was trying throughout much of the concert not to just start crying.  I wore Mike’s wedding ring around my neck and I could just about hear him singing along and I missed him so much.  At that moment, when Leah was in Shout’s lap, I wanted to lose it completely.  Apparently a lady behind us videotaped it and caught up with me afterwards and has offered to send me the video, so I hope she does so I can see it!

The concert continued and in all honesty, I think Leah’s favorite part was when they shot off the confetti cannons.  As we were making our way out, she was scooping up as much confetti as she could get her little hands on and shoving it in my purse. 

We got down to the hall where they were having the afterparty, showed off our fancy orange wristbands, and gained entry.  There were craft tables set up, although the coloring pages and stars were long gone before Leah got the chance to do much, but there were lots of tunnels, balloons and inflatable instruments and she invented her own game of golf and had a blast.  I was a bit disappointed in that there were lots of signs up that said NO AUTOGRAPHS—we had brought Leah’s CD liner to have autographed and they gave us a poster at the door, but I guess it takes too long.  Boo!

Soon our group letter for pictures with the band was called and we got in line with Heather and Steve.  The people ahead of us hugged the band—the parents did, and Heather asked me if I was going to do that.  I said, “I’m going to tell them our sad story and see what happens.”  We both kind of chuckled over that.

But I got to thinking about it, and I thought, “What would Mike do?  He would go up there and start talking to them like he’d known them forever.” And I decided to.  Leah was wearing her birthday shirt and when it was our turn, Shout yelled, “Leah, come here!” and the whole band said, “Hey, Leah!”  She toddled over obligingly, a bit nervous, but that generally makes her only more adorable and “Kiki” asked if it was her birthday.  I said, “No, we are here tonight, I want to tell you guys, we were supposed to be here with my husband, Leah’s dad, but he passed away a couple of months ago and these passes were the last thing he was able to buy for Leah.”  The smiles kind of fell off their faces, and they started hugging Leah, and I decided to continue.

“Every Saturday morning, my husband watched Leah so I could sleep in and their ritual consisted of watching your show.  Mike was blind and he was going deaf, but he knew all your music and I would hear them singing and laughing every Saturday morning.  I just want to tell you guys that I love you and thank you.  Her memories of her dad right now are of the four of you.”

 The four of them were literally speechless, and frankly, I couldn’t have said much more because I was getting a bit emotional.  Shout jumped up, tears in his eyes, and threw his arms around me and gave me a big hug.  Then Twist did the same, and while he was hugging me (and let me tell you, that guy can give you a bear hug and a half!), he told me some personal information about himself that was so moving, I just couldn’t get over it.  Then both girls gave me a hug, and Shout snuggled Leah just a bit more before we got a picture of the four of them with her.

I thanked them again and told them to keep up the good work, they wished us well, yelled “Good bye, Leah!” and we walked off.  I found Heather and Steve and I was talking with them and walking away when the event manager ran up to me and said, “Ma’am!  The band wants you to have this!” and handed us an autographed picture.

So Leah got her autographs after all!!!  What a sweet thing to do!  Then the manager said, “The band would like to know if they can have your contact information?” So I said “Sure thing” and he handed me a pen and paper and I wrote down our information.  I was hoping I’d be brave enough to actually go through with talking to them, so I had tucked a couple of newspaper articles about Mike in my purse, and I pulled them out and asked the manager if he would kindly give them to the band.  He said he would be happy to.  And that was that!

Leah appropriated an orange balloon to take home and then we left.  I’m not sure who they have working VDOT in Richmond, because we were leaving and there was an electronic sign up that said, “Roadwork, Left Lane Open” but what it SHOULD have said was “Two Left Lanes Blocked” so it took us a while to come home, but I didn’t mind.  I was floating on air.

What an awesome group of people.  What, if anything will come of leaving our contact info, I don’t know.  But it was a magical night and so special for Leah.  She has so much going on in her life right now and is doing her job of getting me out of bed in the morning admirably, and I am so glad we were able to go, and laugh, and have fun.  Anything else is the icing on the cake.

Fresh Beat fans for life!

Whirlwind Weekend

This is one of those weekend that got so busy and so crazy so quickly that you’re almost glad it’s Monday.  Except that I don’t have back up to keep Leah entertained on Monday. But it’s nice to have her to myself today!

Last Tuesday, we got the mail and in it was a little postcard from Lisner Auditorium.  I was sitting on the back porch when Penny brought the mail up and as I read the postcard, I yelled, “Holy sh**!” and ran in the house to buy my tickets for Cinematic Titanic, the live MST3K show.  I got a great seat and emailed my friend Joe and asked him to go with me, since we spent a good deal of college watching MST3K. 

Friday night, we met up at the Lisner and headed over to Bertucci’s for dinner.  It was a big night for us, every October on some nebulous date, we celebrate one more year of friendship, and this year we celebrated being friends for 16 years.  I brought him some fun cards and he paid for dinner.  Due to the crappy service at Bertucci’s, we sat around for 90 minutes, but it was a fun time to reminisce and talk about life now and I got to preview his new comic book, which is amazing.  (way to go, Joe!)

The show was spectacular.  I laughed for 2 1/2 solid hours.  The movie was predictably horrible.  Although the postcard read for something like “Battle of the Insects”, the real name of the movie was Genocide.  (But as they pointed out, who wants to say they went to the theater to see genocide, and even worse, who wants to say they laughed at it?)  When Joel Hodgson stepped out on stage, the whole theater erupted.  One of the cast members said, “MST3K fans are the best fans in the world.  You know why?  Because the show has been off the air for 12 years and you’re still packing auditoriums!”  WOO HOO!!!!

The movie was horrible—I was actually bored of it, although not of the experience, but I was just like, “Come on already!”  As the MST3K cast riffed on the movie, there was a chance for them to interact with the audience depending on how we reacted to their jokes, so it was just amazing.  Joe and I agreed to bookmark it and if they ever come back to DC, sign us up!

Afterwards, we got on line to get autographs.  I had dug out my old VHS tapes, which Joe was extremely impressed at their condition.  And I had picked up a couple of DVD’s at Borders the night before.  The line was quite long but moved rather quickly and it was exciting to get up there and talk to the cast.  Joel said hello and shook my hand (I’ll never wash it again! haha) and then signed my tapes and I moved on down the line.  For some reason, one of my DVD sets piqued their interest as none of them had seen it before.  Go figure!  It was awesome to meet Trace Beaulieu (unrecognizable without the crazy hair) and Frank Conniff, who looks exactly the same as he did as TV’s Frank.  I shook hand with all of them and they were all so nice.  Joe and I were beside ourselves.

I got home around midnight, and I was exhausted, but I knew the cavalry was coming.  Saturday morning, I got up and we got Leah ready to go to Woodbridge to spend they day with Auntie Melissa.  We drove her up there and dropped her and a pile of toys off and then came home.  Penny was waiting for us, and she told us she missed Leah as soon as we walked in the door! :-D    She had Homecoming on Saturday night, so she was excited to go dancing with her friends.  I spent the day cleaning up the house, which I am happy to report is still pretty clean even though Hurricane Leah has been home a full day now.  It only took me a few hours and then everything was more or less up to snuff—I need to wash the floors, but other than that, I’m in good shape, vacuuming, dusting, and surfaces all complete.

Penny’s friend Ashley came over around 4:30 to do her hair and make up and I sat down and watched a zombie prank on YouTube that my buddy Steve had posted to his Facebook.  I was laughing so hard Penny and Ashley came down to see what the heck was going on.  I don’t know where the Japanese get off making this kind of stuff, but it is HILARIOUS.  I was crying I was laughing so hard, mainly because I could totally picture Leah kicking the zombie in the back.  If you want to see it, click here.

Afterwards, we got Penny dressed and took a few photos before going up the hill to see the family of the young man she was taking to the dance, who happened to be Ashley’s cousin.  He was all dressed up and ready to go, so we all took a bunch of pictures and then Ashley, Penny, and JB headed out and Michael and I came home to go have a quiet dinner somewhere.  We decided on Ruby Tuesday’s.  We went to the one in Central Park, but it was JAMMED, so we took off and went to the one on Mine Road, where we had a delightful meal.

We came home and decided it was a perfect night to spark up the firepit and have some smores and our neighbor Jett came over to say hello while we were out there.  We chatted with him for a while till the fire died out and then retreated to the warmth of the house just in time to get the call that Penny was on her way home.  I downloaded the new Sara Bareilles song King of Anything, which has become my new anthem of the moment and when Penny arrived, we were debriefed on the fun of homecoming, at which it seems she had a great time, and that was confirmed looking at her pictures!

Sunday, Melissa brought Leah home, although Leah didn’t particularly care if she was brought home or not (between you and me, I think she enjoys the spoiling she gets up there).  We took Melissa out to lunch as a thank you for watching our girl and then she headed out and I made a big pot of tomato sauce for my family for dinner, since I was heading up to NPR.  I had planned to bake pumpkin cookies, but frankly, I fell asleep.  The only thing that woke me up at 4:00 was my mother-in-law calling to talk to Penny. :-)  Since I needed to leave around 4:30, it was just as well.  I got up and found Penny and called back to Rhode Island and got myself together and headed out to WAMU, with a quick stop to get gas.  I don’t know how it happened, but I saved 60 cents on gas at Giant, which was awesome.  I thought I’d save about 40 cents, which would have been good enough, but 60 cents is even better!

I got to WAMU at 6:10 or so and found my preferred table was back where I wanted it to be.  My sister walked in and a bat-shit crazy part of me was so happy to see her that I even smiled at her, which she completely ignored and sat elsewhere with her husband.  I found his presence interesting on a number of levels that I can’t really go into.  Anyway, it was a good night, we raised $35,000 in 3 hours.  I only took about 8 calls and not for big money, but a lot of people were getting small donations that apparently added up to a bunch of money in the end.  A place called Tonic (I think) provided the meal, which was a chicken pasta dish, bbq chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, salad, cupcakes and brownies.  The food was very good, especially the salad.  I picked up 5 or 6 new books from the table, which was cool, read a lot of my book club book, and I was home by 11:30.  I’m looking forward to the February campaign!

Good thing too since Michael’s carpool driver didn’t sleep last night (I know the feeling), so he had to get me up at 6:00 to go and take him to the train.  It was actually nice, though, as I got to spend some time with Penny before she left for school, and I was able to write out her note for missing a couple days for our upcoming trip.  I took a hot shower and now I’ve been able to fill in my blog updates! WOW!

By some miracle, it’s 7:45 and Leah is still sleeping!  It was most definitely an awesome weekend.  My father once told my sister that I didn’t understand the importance of feeding the soul.  Well I do, and this weekend, I fed it by just being me and having a whole lot of fun.  And can I just say, walking into a clean house is a real boon to the spirits!  I’ve been beating myself up mentally a lot lately, and this was just one of those weekends that let me put things into perspective.

Coming up, I will finish off my grad school applications—I am waiting on one more letter of recommendation—and we are heading out for my mom’s 60th birthday soon.  Penny and I will spend a day at Disney World, her first time there.  She has triple and quadruple invitations to Halloween parties, so she has to decide what she wants to do about Halloween and I have decided to skip the Rally to Restore Sanity to preserve my own sanity so I can take the girls to the pumpkin patch and we can carve pumpkins and whatnot.  The annual Kosior Fall Festival—I want it to happen! :)

Ta ta for now!

Stuff!

Well, my husband must really love me, is all I can say. This week, I'm out 4 nights. Sunday I had choir practice, Monday I had book club, tonight I am going to see the Harlem Globetrotters with the Heplers, and tomorrow I am going up to see my friend Debbie from DBVI for dinner. He has been so, so patient and taken such good care of Leah while I've been sowing my wild oats. Although, I will say, we had a little incident on Sunday that I thought was pretty hilarious.

I came home from choir practice, and he says to me, "Susan, Leah threw up on her shirt." I said, "Oh really? What did you do?" "I washed it off with a washcloth, but then it was wet, so I just took it off her and put her to bed. I covered her up nice." "Yeah, but what is she wearing? Did you put PJ's on her?" "No, I don't know how, I just put her to bed and covered her up." I went upstairs, and sure enough, there was Leah, sound asleep wearing nothing but her pants and socks. I turned the heat up a bit just in case it got cool, and let it go. But I thought it was hilarious and so new-dadish!

My in-laws stopped in for a quick overnight on Monday on their way home from Florida. It sounded as if Florida was a bit of a bust for them this year--much cooler temperatures than usual. Still, I'm sure they had their usual good time, and it was real nice to see them an extra visit, even if I was gone for most of it. Book club was a lot of fun, although it was awfully strange without Judy there for the first time in 5 1/2 years. I have heard through the grapevine that this may be a permanent state of affairs, so perhaps it'll be something I have to get used to, but I haven't heard anything about that as yet. We were hosted by Maggie at her house, and it was her book that we discussed, but unfortunately she got a call right as we kicked off and had to leave because her daughter had a little fall. It was great that she trusted all of us to be in her home without her, and fortunately she got good news about little Natalie--no broken bones! We did clean up after ourselves and got a nice note from her yesterday, so it reminded me again of what a family the club has become. Everyone really is there for you when you need them.

Yesterday I was feeling a little blue, so I texted Cindy and Wendy to see if they wanted to have lunch with me (Manda, do you text? If so, I need your number!). Cindy replied that I could come on over to her place, so we made plans to have lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then I would go to her house for a Cricut tutorial. Just as we left Chick-Fil-A, my phone buzzed and it was Wendy! She said she was free for lunch tomorrow (which is now today) and did I want to meet her at 12:30 at Chick-Fil-A. Hahaha Good thing they like us in there!!! So we are dining at CFA this afternoon. They have a wonderful greeter/drink refiller/hostess in there named Deborah and as we were leaving, I said to her, "See you next time!" Little did I know next time is 24 hours later!

Last night we had dinner with the Heplers at Chilis. I had to get my Globetrotters ticket from them and will meet them up north in Stafford today. The game is at North Stafford High, and since I have been to Stafford High for basket bingo and Colonial Forge for choir practice, I think I'll have covered the local high schools now and should know where all of them are.

LOST last night was amazing--not quite as good an episode as last week, but awfully good nonetheless. We really are getting down to the end, only 10 episodes to go, and they really are starting to make sense of the whole thing, even though there are still many unanswered questions. I am enjoying the hell out of it, and will be sad when it is over, but at least I have my DVD's and I can go back through and re-watch the entire thing from start to finish to see what I've missed and what makes sense now in light of later episodes, etc. I haven't kept up with Project Runway as much this season. I think last season was such a bitter disappointment, and this season I just don't seem to care. Isn't that awful? I was such a fan. And this season has been so much better than last season, I feel kind of guilty for not watching! I read the Project Rungay blogs to see who wins and loses, and maybe I'll catch up eventually, but just haven't felt like it lately. I also haven't felt like staying up to watch Hoarders, but at least I've been catching up with that on A&E's site.

For anyone who has asked, no, we still have not heard anything about our exchange student. We are just waiting to hear if the school will accept her. We were hoping to hear by the end of January, but then with all the snows in early February, we still haven't heard anything and here it is March! We would love to get in touch with her and start getting to know her a bit better, but I guess we just have to be patient and let things take their course.

In the meantime, we've decided to do some flipflopping of our house if we are able to. We are going to move the home office downstairs into the basement and make Mike's office upstairs into the extra bedroom. This makes sense for a number of reasons: 1. Caroline will have a closet! 2. When the baby wakes up at 6:00am and wants to play, I can take her downstairs and not have to worry about waking up a slumbering teen! 3. The guestroom is a bit larger than the upstairs room, so I could put up a desk for my new scrapbooking hobby! 4. Mike can go use the computers and radios as much as he wants at any time of the day or night without having to use his headphones or worrying about disturbing anyone. 5. At night when we are all doing our own thing, we will still be on the same floor and easily accessible to one another without having to holler up and down the stairs. 6. Our upstairs floors are really creaky and it won't keep anyone up any more if they are trying to sleep in the spare room if someone's moving upstairs and creaking around.

The two questions that will hold this operation up are: 1. can we get that room wired for ETHERNET and 2. can we get his radio antennas wired into that room. He's got a buddy from the ham club coming over to have a look, and then we'll ask our friend about the computer wiring. He could go back to using wireless, but I've been informed he does not want to do that.

Once we find out if it's possible to do this, I'll have to go on a marathon painting binge, since I'm sure Michael doesn't want a pink striped office. It was a lot of work and I enjoyed it and loved the stripes, but I think something a little more subdued will probably be better for a man cave with a wife-corner. I will probably also repaint the office, but maybe not. The color does match all the bedding we already have, so I may just leave it for now and if Caroline doesn't like it, she can help me repaint it. If anyone wants to help paint or move furniture, we'll pay in pizza, beer, or whatever else floats your boat!

We are excited that Mike and Lesley's niece is moving to DC this summer, so even though it's not Mike and Lesley, it's the next best thing :-) She is coming to stay at the Cookie Jar this April and I'm going to take her apartment hunting while she's here so she can get off to a good start when she makes the move in June. She is a great gal and of course we hope this will be an even bigger incentive for Mike and Lesley to move on up here too!!! :-) Damn the housing market is all! But I know they cannnot resist Leah's siren song, so I have a funny feeling they'll come on up sometime sooner rather than later, as Lesley said :-) Jennifer and I have been swapping emails back and forth to figure out a game plan, and we have just over a month to figure out what we want to do, so I know it will be great. I'm of course going to steer her towards living on the Virginia side of things, because we know how those Maryland types are. Haha!

As for Weight Watchers, well, it seems like I get going and then I get off track. I really did great my first week back, down 4.2 pounds, and then BANG! The snow storm hit and we sat around and ate brownies and cake and did puzzles and read books and stuff. Then the storm was over, and we went to Greensboro and enjoyed ourselves. Then we got back and I just couldn't face it the first week, and that week turned into two, turned into 3. I know it is something I need to do, I have made concrete goals for myself and I want the results, I just have to get into a mindset of where it's going to happen. I remember where it all went terribly wrong--we were up in Plattsburgh when my dad first had the attack and we went to the store, and I thought, "F*** this, I'm getting some Doritos." It's all been downhill from there. I know I can, and I know I will, it's just a matter of when! :-)

As for FlyLady, everything is just great! I do a quick clean every day, and my in-laws were SO impressed when they walked in Monday. They were like, "you have done a lot of work around here!" Between that and Michael's "It's a whole new Susan!" campaign, I guess I was a real slob before :-) But I'm happy with how things look and how easy it is to maintain. If I could just get Leah to pick up her toys...

I guess that's about all the news that's fit to print from Fredericksburg. I am very nearly ready to break out my Cricut and get scrapping, just need to go get some pictures printed off at Walmart and then I'm going to town. I'm so excited. I'll post some pictures of what I create. I got a couple of extra cartridges at Joann's yesterday since they are 50% off right now, so I can use different fonts, etc. on the book. Cindy gave me a great tutorial yesterday, so I'm feeling pretty confident I'll be ready to scrap in no time!

Hope everyone else is doing just dandy :-) Drop me a line, update your own blog, let me know what's going on!

Something Silly for Friday

This is my favorite scene from one of my favorite movies growing up. I sing this song to Leah all the time. I guess because it is widescreen, you will have to click on it and watch it on the YouTube site to get the full image.

Musical Memories

One of the funny things that has happened since becoming a parent is that my parents have felt free to tell me all their memories of when I was a baby. I have enjoyed hearing these stories although I find it a challenge to think of myself as a little baby--looking at Leah it seems impossible to think that I was once at her stage of development, was once her size.

One of the things that is apparently legend from my young days is my love of a John Denver song called "On the Road". My parents both sing the line "Go home, said the Man in the Moon, go home!" as if to jog some latent memory I might have of this song. Apparently it used to put me to sleep with some regularity. I have no memory of it.

However, something about John Denver must have stuck because to this day I like his gentle music and find it very soothing when I'm in a certain frame of mind. I play it for Leah once in a while and she seems to enjoy it too. Her particular favorite song, however, is "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" which is no doubt due to my passionate "WOO! THANK GOD I'M A COUNTRY BOY!" shout at the appropriate moment. Seriously, this sends her into fits of laughter. I joke that my daughter will probably be the one African-American woman in the country to love John Denver, but so be it.

Tonight I was cleaning the house and for some reason started thinking about this song and wondering what it was about and if my brain would remember it if I heard it again. Since it's not one of John Denver's most well known tunes, I googled the one line I've been sung over and over again. I found the title and went on Amazon and found the song and downloaded it.

Ok, that line? It's sung exactly 3 times during the entire song, which I had somehow fantasized was something about the actual man-in-the-moon, maybe the song was about a fairy tale type of thing, I dunno. In fact, it's not, it's about a wandering family and the impressionable young son who's on a trip with his dad.

It didn't jog anything in my brain, although I will say, my parents sing the line with great precision, just the way John Denver sings it. I think I'll be attached to it for sentimental reasons and it's nice to hear it. I look forward to playing it for Leah tomorrow.

Back in 1958, we drove an old V-8.
And when it gone a hundred 'thou, we got out and pushed it a mile.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.

Heading down from Canada on a gravel road a mile from Montana,
then my Daddy read a sign and took us in the wrong direction.
I asked my Daddy, where are we going? He said we'll just follow our nose.
So I looked out the window and dreamed I was a cowboy.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.

Met a girl in a truck cafe, fell in love almost right away,
then the Mercury was ready to go, and I had to leave her.
Shooby dooby doo sha doo, shooby dooby doo sha doo, shoo doo.

Go home, said the man in the moon, go home.
Go home, said the man in the moon, go home.
Because it's getting sort of late, and I'll soon turn out my light.
Go home, said the man in the moon, go home.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.

An Evening With Spinal Tap

Last night, Michael and I went out for a BIG date. We've gone out a couple of times for an hour or two, but last night we were excited to go to Washington DC for dinner and a concert. We were heading to see Unwigged and Unplugged at the Warner Theater as our ultimate destination. After discussion about Metro, parking, food, etc. we decided to really make a night of it and drive into town, park, have a nice meal, enjoy the show, and go home. Because I haven't been to Washington since December, I was in a bit of a state over planning our night on the town once the decision was made. However, I must give the Warner Theater's website its due. That site has it all--directions, nearby restaurants, parking, etc. Turns out it's blind friendly too! I read through the nearby restaurants section and the words "Washington's authentic British Pub" caught my eye. I sent the suggestion over to Michael, who hopped onto the Warner website and agreed it sounded like just the ticket.

So it was settled. I picked him up at 4:00 at Quantico and we headed to Washington. There was a slight glitch with Jane (our GPS) who was under the impression we were at the Naval Surface Warfare Center or something, but she quickly righted herself and we were off! We got to Washington before 5:00 and found a parking space by some miracle, and so we decided then and there to take our time over dinner. We selected Elephant and Castle as our dining location, and it was exactly two blocks from the theater. When we arrived, the sun was shining and we decided to dine on the patio! It's been so nice to be able to get out into the open air--Leah's spent the last 3 or 4 days out on our front porch taking in the good clean open air and we've taken lots of walks. Michael and I are well aware that summer is quickly approaching and that means a lot more indoors time, so we are getting it in while we can!

We ordered a short appetizer of potato skins, and then my main entree arrived--stuffed Yorkshire pudding, hell yes! (I actually wanted to type "stuffed Yorkshire pudding, bitches!" but I don't want any of you to take offense :-D) Oh my God, was it good. It was not as good as the Yorkshire pudding that my mom and I make, but it was pretty freakin' fantastic Yorkshire pudding nonetheless. Is there even such a thing as a bad Yorkshire pudding? Doubtful. Michael got the Union Jack pub burger, and he said it was awesome. The mashed potatoes with my meal were real--they had big chunks of actual potato in them, and Michael thought his fries had been fresh cut. We were in heaven. We took our time eating. It's a very popular place and a lot of people who seem to be very impressed with themselves were eating there. But we were seated under a lovely tall tree and I don't think we would have noticed if the President himself had shown up, honestly.

After our main dish, a wind kicked up and I got a little chilly, so I asked our excellent waiter Chris if they had hot tea and he brought me a cup of English breakfast tea. Michael got a cup of coffee and then we decided to get some dessert to kill some more time, so I got an apple berry crumble and he got cheesecake. Yeah, we were totally living it up. I don't know (apart from the Melting Pot) the last time he and I lingered over dinner for two solid hours. It felt like such a luxury to reconnect. We did both admit to missing Leah and we phoned home once during the meal, but my father-in-law told us everything was just dandy and not to worry about a thing.

So, after supper we gathered up our things and went back to the theater. We went up to Will Call and got our tickets and then the security guard suggested we stay in the lobby so that we didn't get trampled when the doors opened. Everyone else had to wait outside!!! Talk about the VIP treatment!!! It was AWESOME! They opened up the main doors about 5 minutes later and then I decided to make one final trip to the ladies room and they let me use the main level restrooms instead of going downstairs because I had Michael with me! VIP treatment!!! A private bathroom!!! LUXURY! :-)

The ushers couldn't have been more helpful and we got to our seats. We were in row B, seats 2 and 4, smack dab on the aisle, so close to the stage we could just about taste it. When you request ADA seating, typically you get put in the back where a wheelchair can just pull up, but we got this wonderful, wonderful seating right in the front of the theater. I'm telling you, these were the best seats I've ever had to any show or concert, bar none.

The show kicked off around 8:15. It was supposed to be no photography, but tons of people were taking pictures, so I snuck a couple myself. Due to the fact I didn't want to draw attention to my clandestine activities, I turned off the flash and kept the camera low. So sorry about the dude's head in front of me. But you can see how close we were!



They played a huge variety of songs, mostly from Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind. I didn't know a lot of the songs, I've only seen Spinal Tap once, but I greatly enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the hell out of the stuff from A Mighty Wind. They did a brief Q&A session with the audience, during which we learned that Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy are now working to turn Waiting for Guffman into a Broadway show. I'm not so sure how it'll work, but I'll be interested to see what they do!

They are all tremendously witty, I'm sure that goes without saying, and there was lots of laughter and humor in the show. They made a special video themselves for the Stonehenge song, during which some Troll dolls "danced" around a miniature Stonehenge. They showed a couple of user submitted videos of their songs--one by some dude Reverend Stevie in Perth, Australia and another with the song being sung by Lego people--I have now seen a Lego mosh pit, and it is as cool as you think it could be.

Annette O'Toole (Michael McKean's wife) came out and sang a couple of songs as well, and then it was winding down. They did 2 encores, however, and when they sang "Old Joe's Place", the place went wild. The entire audience yelled "Ea a Oe's" at the appropriate place and then everyone busted up laughing. It was so great. It looked for a minute like they'd do a third encore, but they didn't, and the lights came back on so we headed out. We got home around 11:30 to a couple of rather harried grandparents--Leah gets into little fits at night. She's a perfect angel all day, but at night she kind of goes a little bonkers. Well, they hadn't seen bonkers baby, only angel baby, so I think they were glad we made it back! But they had done an excellent job putting her to sleep, so it was a grateful me who got to sleep all night.

What a great evening and what a treat to see these guys perform live! We left with great big grins on our faces. The Guest mockumentaries are something we've enjoyed since very early on in our marriage, and so it was kind of special to see these guys in person.

Here are a few more pictures! Again, sorry these are blurry--no flash and all of them dancing around, it was hard to get great pictures! (Oh and Harry Shearer kept looking the other way, so I never did get a really great one of him, but I've met him before, so I guess I can live with my disappointment!)

BOO HOO!

Ok, this is cheesy and sad, but I was so unhappy to hear the news today that CBS cancelled The Guiding Light. Back in high school, that was my soap opera. I remember my mom watching it, and I used to watch it sporadically. After a 72 year run on radio and television, it's over.

It's crazy, but I was kinda looking forward to watching it once I became a housewife. I loved following the evil Alan Spaulding, the crazy Lewis family, the Bauers, and the Coopers.

Dang it!

Well, at least Project Runway has officially found a new home on Lifetime. I guess I can console myself with that.

Reading & Watching Revolutionary Road

Last night, the General and I had a little Thursday night date night. We've both been a little (lot) tense about the adoption and needed something to do together that we could relax and unwind. We had both decided to sort of skip Valentine's Day this year--no need to purchase overpriced flowers and chocolates when we have so many other things to do with our money. But at the same time, we wanted to celebrate somehow.

I've spent the last 8 days of my driving life reading Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road. And of course, Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe for her portrayal of April Wheeler in this film. And although she didn't get an Oscar nod for it, many people thought she should. Well, as I was reading the book, a single thought kept coming to me: how the hell did they turn this into a movie?

So I finished reading it Wednesday (and, coincidentally, started on The Reader by Bernard Schlink, whose main character Kate Winslet did win an Oscar nod for protraying and she better win, darn it!) and decided I just had to see the movie. Now of course, I'm a wee bit behind the eight ball on this one--the movie's been out quite a while. So when I looked at the movie listings, I had exactly one time to choose from in Fredericksburg for Wednesday and Thursday nights before it left the theater: 9pm.

Well, this would have been OK for me, but it's been a long time since we've been to the movies and the General was hot on going with me and so we decided to turn it into a Valentine's Day date. We looked at the listings in Woodbridge and fortunately at Potomac Mills last night, it was showing at 7pm. We decided to kick it off with dinenr at the Silver Diner and then went to the 7pm show--getting home before 10 which allowed me to still do my workout :-)

So, a brief synopsis for anyone who doesn't know what the book is about. The story centers around Frank and April Wheeler (played in the film by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet), a young couple who move to the Connecticut suburbs after meeting in post WWII New York, falling hastily in love, and finding themselves expecting a baby. Frank takes a job at the same company where his father worked, while April busies herself as a housewife. Some years after, with two children, the Wheelers come to see their lives as a trap they've fallen into, and start to wonder if there is any kind of meaning in it, or if they can escape before it's too late.

I'm glad I read the book first, but I'm equally glad I saw the movie. The book spends the majority of its life plunged deep inside Frank's head, examining his thoughts and feelings about everything and everyone, and his motives are crystal clear. April's thoughts are clear, but only as an extension of Frank's own. There is very little actual 'action' to the book--Frank goes to work, April visits with the neighbors, Frank and April go dancing with their friends--the majority of it is truly their disappointment in their lives.

I don't know why, but in reading the book, I felt completely disconnected from the Wheelers. I didn't find them sympathetic characters, I didn't love them or hate them, I just felt total apathy. As they did certain things in the book, I was kind of like, "What the hell!?" but not in a way that made me seriously incensed by the fact that they'd done anything--just that in the overall scheme of things, nothing seemed like it was done because either of them thought that it would improve their lives.

This was the beauty of seeing the film. I was able to relate more to the characters and come to have feelings for them. I do quibble with the choice of Kathy Bates as the neighbor, Mrs. Givings, and frankly whenever I look at Leonardo DiCaprio, I see a 12 year old boy (hate him for that! He and Matthew Broderick never seem to age.), but the acting was excellent. I am pleased to note that Michael Shannon is up for an Oscar for his portrayal of John Givings, Mrs. Givings's crazy son. He was jaw-droppingly fantastic in that role. As was Dylan Baker as Frank's obnoxious co-worker, Jack Ordway.

I will say that the writers stayed as true as I think would be possible in bringing the book to the big screen. There were 2 scenes in particular that I had some issues with their changing, one of which was the very last 20 minutes, and the other which was when April and her neighbor Shep are in the car after a dance. The things that they left out were central to the very core of who April was, in my opinion and had they left in a couple of things, you would have gotten a much better sense of what was going on in her head.

That being said, seeing it acted out did make it all the better. There were times in the book when I would think, "They did what?!" But seeing it made a bit more sense. For instance, in the beginning of both the book and the film (and I'm not giving anything away here), Frank and April are driving home from a play in which April has acted and they start to argue. Frank pulls the car over on the side of the road and April jumps out of the car and the two of them proceed to scream at each other in a big dust up on the side of the road. And I remember the whole time thinking, "Seriously? People actually do this type of thing?" But actually, in the film, it doesn't really seem so weird.

The movie ended and the General said, "On the way home, you're going to have to explain a few things to me." And in fact, I did and to him that made the movie make a whole lot more sense. But because I had the novel's picture of what was going on in their heads, I was able to make sense of it for him and now he's interested in reading the book. So I think that will be a new project for him--I gave him the CD's to read.

If you haven't already seen the movie, do yourself a favor and read the book first. Despite my apathy towards the characters, I really, really enjoyed reading the book, and consequently, I really, really enjoyed the movie.

I'll have to see The Reader on DVD, as it doesn't appear to be playing around here any more. And I will probably miss the Oscars telecast as we'll be driving home from WV that day, but I'll be rooting for Kate all the way. She deserves it!

Question

Am I the only one who finds this whole Christian Bale thing incredibly pathetic and yet undeniably hilarious?

UPDATE: For my oh-so-out-of-it-pop-culturally friends, here's a link. It's NSFW. http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/02/asshole-of-day-christian-bale-nsfw.html. You may remember that last year, Christian Bale was arrested for allegedly beating up his mother and sister in a hotel room.

An Evening with Christopher Plummer

Last night, Elizabeth (of Sanctum Santoro--see link to the right) and I met up in DC to attend an interview and book signing with Christopher Plummer. It was one of those serendipitous evenings when I happened to be striking out on my own for the first time to see an author without my sister--an occurrence that is about to become a lot more common now that she'll be a mother--and Elizabeth's husband was working hard and she was hoping to find someone to hang out with on Monday evening. Well, I told her my plans, and as it turns out, she was a fan of The Sound of Music growing up also, so our plans were fixed. She got a ticket and off we went.

We had a slight hiccup with our choice of dining locations--they were closed at dinner time! So we wound up at the local Potbelly's, and then walked to the Corcoran where we got excellent seats in the third row from the little stage.

I'd never been to the Corcoran, but it's a really lovely building and the auditorium is quite nice as well. The color blue on the walls is just gorgeous and it is small, so there is a kind of homey feeling about it. The columns around the outside of it still give off a feeling of federal grandeur, however.

Just before it started, we looked around and Elizabeth commented we looked to be about the youngest ones there, which was true and funny! I suppose most people were waiting till this evening when Mr. Plummer was giving a free reading and signing at Politics and Prose, but I was happy to have paid and gone to this far smaller gathering. Those signings of 600-700 people are fun and have a kind of camaraderie that you can really only find among devout readers and fans of a particular author--and each of those crowds is vastly different depending on who the author is that you're meeting. But I suppose in my present state of mind, I was looking for something a bit more sedate and relaxed.

I was also fortunate that Elizabeth clued me in on the fact that Mr. Plummer is not a fan of The Sound of Music, and so I could be sure not to embarrass myself by asking any questions about that.

He was interviewed by some local theater bigwig, and I'm not really sure who it was. The guy asked fairly long winded questions that led into other questions until the original question was lost, and myself, I started to wonder, "Is there a question in there somewhere?"

Mr. Plummer made one observation that really stuck with me and I've given a lot of thought to today as I've pondered the evening. He said, "I've made over a hundred movies. Not all of them were good, but I've made over a hundred." I really liked this idea that while maybe not everything I've ever done was a homerun, at least I've done it. And I can take some pride in that fact.

So there was a Q&A after the 35 minute or so interview, and the first woman to go immediately asked a question about The Sound of Music, and Mr. Plummer made a face and explained that the movie was just not his "cup of tea, so there!" and stuck out his tongue, which was quite entertaining, although the poor woman asking the question blushed violently red. There were a good number of questions and then it was time for the signing. This turned out to be just a little bit of pandemonium.

Not as bad as Dog, The Bounty Hunter pandemonium, but pandemonium nonetheless. The table where you could buy books was right next to the signing table, and people who already had books were lined up in front of that, where people (like me) who were trying to buy books had to cut in front of them to buy them and then cut back out to get on line for the signing.

Finally, as we were nearing the conclusion of the event, everyone kind of "got it" and the signing line moved in front of the table where Mr. Plummer was seated and the buying line moved in front of the table where the books were on sale. Elizabeth went first so I could take her picture and then she took the camera and got some pictures of me, so that was pretty cool. And I managed to get one good picture of Mr. Plummer himself, as you see above.



It was a pretty neat signing, all things considered. He's something of a legend, and an engaging speaker, even at 78 years old. He was witty and fun, creating many laughs and giving lots to think about. I look forward to reading his book, In Spite of Myself, and have already skimmed a good bit of it and looked at all the pictures.

Next up on my busy DC cultural schedule is the Sixth and I Synagogue hosting Michael Ian Black, the one regular member of the cast of Ed that I didn't get to meet back in the day. He is doing a show at Sixth and I with a couple of friends, and I've got a ticket for that one. I will be going to that on December 2nd. My new culture buddy, Elizabeth, isn't able to attend, but if you are in the area and are free and would like to go with me, you can get a ticket by visiting the Sixth and I's website. I will go early to procure good seats :-)

NKOTB!

Well, it happened. It was last night. What can I possibly say? Where can I possibly start? I still can't wipe the grin off my face, and I am dead-dog, bone-weary exhausted. So tired, in fact, that I just had to re-type exhausted 3 times before spelling it correctly.

Let me just say this:

They've still got it. 150% have they got it. In fact, I would be willing to say it was better than when I saw them in the heyday of their youth. The heyday of my youth. Which in an instant, I regained last night for two glorious hours. From the moment I walked into the Verizon Center last night, 18 years fell away, and I felt 15 again.

It wound up being just the 3 of us: me, my hubby, and my sister. Melissa had to cancel last minute, Jacalyn wasn't sure about going (due to getting up there and back) so told me I could ask Lucas if he wanted to go, which he did, but then cancelled last minute due to insanity in the Senate. We got inside via the handicapped accessible doors and went to guest services to see about handicapped accessible seating. We got 2 accessible seats at street level, which was 1 level down from where our tickets were, so Judy had to sit solo up in our normal seats, unfortunately, but I think she was about twice as close to the stage and she said the seats were very, very good, so she had no complaints. The General and I were in section 104, directly straight back from the stage. We found our seats and I was sitting next to a girl my age who was gleefully expectant, as was I. She was with her friend, and the two of them were going to burst.

After I got the General settled, I went back outside and bought a program. And in perusing the various concert programs I have here and how much I have paid for them ($20-35), I have to say, this one was worth the money. Very heavy, lots of good stuff in it, excellent. I perused the merchandise table, and I was tempted to go on a little shopping spree, but I restrained myself due to the fact that our mortgage is due.

There was an opening act wherein the General and I had a panic attack because we heard what we thought was "Cobie" as in that chick who sings the song about "Starts in my toes, makes me wrinkle my nose" which we both HATE. Instead, some dweeby little dude strolls out on stage with 2 homeboys and they start singing and dancing, and they pretty much sucked. The girls next to me were cracking up as I said, "Well, at least we're not up front and we don't have to pretend we're interested." Finally he left the stage, mercifully only after 3 or 4 songs.

Now, about 3 months ago, I came to the conclusion that I needed to break out of my rut and start listening to the music "the young people are listening to these days", so I started trying to find a station that wasn't too namby pamby, but wasn't too edgy either. In Fredericksburg, your choice is B101.5. I have, after listening to them for 3 months, come to the conclusion that they have purchased approximately 10 songs and they just loop them. However, this stood me in good stead last night with opening act number 2: Natasha Bedingfield. I actually knew 2 of her songs. And I have to say, she was really very good. I enjoyed her a lot.

Well, she sang 7 or 8 songs and then got off the stage. The girl next to me said she had heard rumors that NKOTB wasn't going to take the stage will 9:50, which gave me a few flashbacks to the Magic Summer Tour in 1991 (I think) when I saw them in concert and Dick Scott in his wisdom decided to pimp his products before his most successful product and NKOTB had 5 opening acts. So, I can say I have seen Perfect Gentlemen in concert, but when you tell most people that, they think "Um, who the hell is Perfect Gentlemen?" On the plus side, I also got to see Tommy Page in concert, and prior to parting ways, Judy and I shared a little "Wouldn't it be awesome if Tommy Page opened for them again?" But 'twas not meant to be.

And good thing too. For I was not in the mood. I was ready to see New Kids. And I suspect the others there were ready to see New Kids. The audience was 99% female and 99% in their 30's. Most of the men there had beer. :-)

Well, at 9:00pm on the dot, everyone was in there seats, and it was show time. Thank God we did not have to wait another hour beyond that. And it was pandemonium. From the minute the little video show went up on the screen for the next 2 1/2 hours, I relived my youth. I was on my feet with everyone else, and we were all screaming, clapping, dancing, and singing at the House of the Block.

And let me tell you: they have not lost their touch. They have only gotten better. 150% showmanship, 150% fun, 150% music and sound, 150% gorgeous. If anything, they're all better-looking. I got a message from one of the girls in my book club who attended and she summed it up thusly:

OMG that concert was AWESOME. I went bat sh*t crazy when Jordan had his shirt off.

Yeah, me too, and I was not even a Jordan Girl, I was a Jon Girl.

Now, about a decade ago, probably even a bit more, my sister and I took my dad to see The Beach Boys, who were giving a concert in Watertown, NY to support D.A.V. (they must have owed someone a BIG favor). And I remember watching my dad dance around and sing and clap and thinking, "Gee, Dad's back in the '60's." And afterwards, my dad said, "Well, you can tell they're getting old, they stand there and sing and they let the hot chicks do all the dancing."

If I had one quibble with the concert it was that NKOTB had hot chicks doing some of the dancing. Let's be frank here, Jon is the oldest and he ain't turning 40 till next November (no, I did not have to look that up--pathetic). They are all in terrific shape. They did not need hot chicks dancing up there. But I didn't really care about that either. It was petty niggling.

The really moving part in the concert was when they all got back to the main stage and I thought sure they were going to do Step By Step, since they were all lined up on a staircase, but instead Donnie came down and he was preparing to make a little speech, but instead we all started screaming and he couldn't really say much. After 2 or 3 minutes of this, he started speaking about how people have been saying "Thank you" to them, and then we all started screaming again, and then he actually started to look choked up. Finally he just put his hand over his mouth and ducked beneath his Celtics cap for a bit. I know, I know, he's an actor, it could have been a charade, but I really don't think so. It appeared to be genuine emotion. I would imagine that the whole lot of them are probably somewhat surprised that this comeback has worked out so well--I was on their tour page this morning and they have dates scheduled all across the US, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. (Including Providence, which I could go to and stay with my in-laws, and Connecticut, which I could go to and stay with my uncle.)

Anyway, they wound up doing two encores--the first being Step By Step and the second being Hanging Tough, and the place was really going wild. It was unbelievable. The screaming, I haven't heard screaming like that since I saw them the first time--and I was just as guilty of screaming as anyone else. In fact, it is now 3:00 and my throat is only just starting to feel better.

It was magic. What a night. This morning, I ordered their new CD off Amazon, plus one of their old ones, which was only $4. If they do the tour again, I'll be there. I've got "I'll Be Loving You Forever" stuck in my head. Judy was impressed Jordan could still hit those notes and we were both impressed at Joe's improved stage presence (now that he's not 14 any more, plus he had Dancing With the Stars to help him out--and he did some dancing on stage last night which was GREAT).

So there it is. I took a few pictures and shot a little video, but I'm speculating they didn't come out that great. We'll have to see. If they're worth anything, I'll post 'em later.

Blockily yours,
K/S

PS: WW Thought: How many AP's do I get for dancing for 150 minutes?

Bwahahaha

So funny! Thanks, Bri.

Pictures

I didn't manage to get anything great, but here are the few pictures I did score! Hope you enjoy.

Eric Idle

Last night, Melissa and I returned to Wolf Trap in triumph to see Eric Idle perform his new oratorio, Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), based on the Monty Python film, The Life of Brian. I can now say I've sung Always Look On the Bright Side of Life with Eric Idle, although there are thousands of other people who can say the same thing :-)

The show was fantastic. The soprano in particular could really sing the hell out of a song. It was witty, it was hilarious, it was inspired.

I took a couple of pictures which I will post tomorrow when I remember to bring my camera out of the car. But mostly I was just totally captivated. I am going to pop in my VHS of The Life of Brian this weekend and watch it again--Melissa already has.

For what other show are you going to see singing sheep, bagpipers, and a musical leaf blower in one place?

Here is a recent article about the piece: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080717/ap_en_ot/people_eric_idle_2

I really hope they turn it into a full out Broadway show. Melissa and I going to have to make it a point to see Spamalot now. We're going to keep our eyes out for it to come to DC again... I thought about seeing it in Las Vegas last year, but just ran out of time.

Interesting Python-related tidbits about me:

1. The first time I ever saw anything Monty Python, I was 22 years old. I rented Monty Python and the Holy Grail while I was living in Connecticut and working as a nanny. My computer was on the blink and in for repair and so I needed something to do and got a Blockbuster membership. I was prowling the shelves and decided that since I'd never seen Holy Grail, I'd take a crack at it. I nearly fell off the couch and wet my pants, I was laughing so hard.

2. When I lived in Little Rock, in order to economize, I didn't have cable, and I didn't even have rabbit ears for my TV. So I went to Suncoast Motion Picture to get some tapes to watch, and I wanted to get something that would give me a little bang for my buck. So I picked up one season of Flying Circus. It was a lovely little box set. And I fell in love. It was uproarious, no matter how many times I watched it.

Soon that one set turned to two, and then two to three. I would love to have the whole set on DVD. They were definitely awesome.

One of my favorite sketches was the one where Michael Palin is reporting on deja vu. "That most extraordinary feeling..." hehe

Seeing Eric Idle live, in person, was such a thrill. And he was HILARIOUS. I will share one little joke. He said, "If any of you acts up tonight and gets a bit naughty, I will jump off this stage and slap you, just like Amy Winehouse. Did you see that three weeks ago? She literally jumped off stage and hit someone in the audience. It was a literal case of the shit hitting the fan." :-)

Pictures tomorrow.

-------------------------------------------------

And with that, I've completed a triple threat, posting on all 3 blogs in one night. I am good. :-)

Sue's Reviews: Mamma Mia

I just got home from seeing Mamma Mia and I must say, it was much, much worse than expected. Since I expected it to be great, I have to say that I am totally and completely disappointed.

It has been so long since a movie has come out that I actually wanted to see. And this summer, there are quite a few out that I'm suddenly excited to see--one of which was Mamma Mia.

We got home and Lucas asked for a rundown of what was wrong with it. In a nutshell:

* The singing (Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan should never, ever open their mouths again)
* The acting (Colin Firth looked distinctly uncomfortable in his role at the end and at other times you could clearly see him thinking, "What am I doing? I'm one of the premiere actors in Britain!")
* The dancing
* The choreography
* The sets (apart from the fact that it was built into a hill, I can't honestly tell you what the place looked like, and at one point I leaned over and said, "I thought they were in Sweden?" to which Judy replied, "No, I think they're in Greece." Tell you anything?)
* The lighting
* The cinematography (during a scene in which some people are looking at old photos, the photos get cut off and are shown only for seconds once they are framed properly)
* The lip synching (several times, everyone was basically like "Screw the lip synching, let's just dance!" and let the music do the talking)
* It was quite raunchy, and not in a good way

The only thing that saved it was the audience. Two gay men in front of us were having the absolute time of our lives. After a particularly supposed-to-be-poignant seen where Meryl is singing "The Winner Takes It All" to Pierce, some people behind me actually started crying, and I just totally lost it. I busted out laughing and then tried to stifle my laughter and wound up laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my cheeks. So, I guess I can say it moved me to tears too.

There was a reviewer who said something about it being like a train wreck--gruesome and horrifying and you know you shouldn't be watching, but you can't tear yourself away. I'll liken our experience to that.

It was a round stinker. I am hoping and praying that The Dark Knight, The X Files, Swing Vote and Get Smart are better. Oh and I saw the preview for the new Ricky Gervais movie, which I don't know what exactly the title is, but it's about a dentist, and I am really looking forward to seeing that one. Nothing can be worse than this one, seriously.

Runway Starts Tomorrow!?

It seems rather hot on the heels of the last season... But oh well, I don't care. I am SO EXCITED! I've just watched 2 previews and read through the description of this season--it's gonna be hot. Can't wait to watch what happens!

Fun Movie Night

Last night Michael and I sat down to watch a movie together. I wanted to pick one I thought he'd love, and with the price of gas and the price of groceries and living in the DC area and all its attendant stresses, I selected an oldie but goodie I hadn't seen in a while: Falling Down.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, Michael Douglas plays Bill, a Defense Department employee in California who is having a seriously bad day. And he goes on a little rampage, beating up gang members, trashing a convenience store, etc.

Recently, I"ve had a bit of a beef with my local food stores. The quality of the food I am buying is not up to par. I went grocery shopping on Monday, threw some meat in the freezer, defrosted it on Friday, and it was rotten. This happened two weeks ago with meat from a different grocery store. The produce is all soft and has funny spots on it, it's about impossible to find a decent green pepper, and I'm not shopping at Bottom Dollar here, people. I'm shopping at higher end stores (Giant, Super Target).

The prices are crazy too. So when Bill walked into the convenience store and proceeded to put the smackdown on the inventory that was overpriced, I was cheering and laughing my head off. When he got out of his car and left it sitting in a construction-created traffic jam (which I got stuck in at 10:00 at night on Wednesday!), I applauded. When he shot up a fast food chain for giving substandard product, I was on his side.

Unfortunately, the movie kind of has an unsatisfactory ending for me, but for anyone who is kinda pissed at the way things are right now, this movie is a welcome diversion. :-) Michael loved it too.

Wolf Trap Magic

Last night, the General and I went on a little date night to Wolf Trap. This year marks 15 years since the first time I heard and fell in love with the dulcet tones of Kenny G's saxophone and saw him in concert for the first time, so when I found out he was coming to Wolf Trap, I decided what better time to go see him again? Plus, he hardly ever comes to DC, instead playing various jazz festivals and such. The closest one here is in Maryland, and I don't do Maryland--Maryland is what I have to drive through to get home.

So anyway, I got the General and me some premium tickets--13 rows back in the orchestra, and I was ready to roll. Told my dad we were going, since he had first taken me to see him that balmy June of '93 as a present for graduating high school. My dad remembered a lot more about the concert than I did, including that Kenny strolls the audience a few times during his shows.

So we get there around 7:30 (the show was at 8:00) and I parked the General on a wall while we waited for them to open the amphitheater so I could go up to the top of the hill to get a program. I climb up there and get on line at the little souvenir booth and I about wet my pants. Kenny G himself was manning the souvenir stand.

Well, I couldn't let the General miss this one. I ran back down the hill and asked the General if he wanted to meet Kenny G. Of course he did! So together we trucked back up the hill (Thanks, Weight Watchers, without you, I would have surely perished!) and got on line at the stand. We bought a CD and he came over, greeted us, we greeted him back, he signed our CD's and we went back down the hill. I was like, "OK, this is living."

Seriously, I about floated. So we get in to the concert and it's going great, he's playing all his old hits, playing some stuff off his new album, and then he started playing my favorite song "The Joy of Life". I love this song, and the strange thing is, the first time I heard it was when my grandfather died. But it's always been a favorite and in fact, we used it on our wedding CD.

So this was the moment for him to come off stage and start playing to the people and it was like literally watching the Pied Piper. Wherever he went, swarms of people crowded towards him. Well, I was in seat M1, right on the aisle, 13 rows back from the stage. When he started playing "The Joy of Life", I couldn't help myself, I jumped to my feet and started dancing. And when he finally came to our side, I stepped into the aisle and he stood there as I danced, bobbed the sax in my direction a few times and kept on going... So yeah, I danced with Kenny G last night.

Unfreakin' believable. I didn't think about a single damned thing going on in my life while I was there last night--it was the best. That music has seen me through the worst moments of my existence. Awesome.

I Just Wanna Say...

It's official...

We got tickets thanks to my good pal Melissa and her magical Amex card. :-)

Hell yeah. HELL YEAH.

My goal is to wear my old Jonathan Knight T-shirt to this concert on 10/12.

Will it happen? Hell if I know... I have to find it first.

But I am oh so excited.

NKOTB Coming to DC

Who's with me?

It's official: the pre-sale begins tomorrow at 11:00AM. I don't have an AmEx card, so I'll have to wait to get tickets till next Sunday... But I'm gettin' 'em and I'm going!

Anyone else want to go? They'll be here on 10/2 at the Verizon Center. I'll buy the group tickets if you swear to reimburse me :)