Haines His Way
Archives => Archive 1 => Topic started by: bk on December 16, 2003, 12:04:25 AM
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Well, I hope you enjoyed the first of our Countdown to Christmas notes - I felt they had pith and moment, didn't you? So, you know the topic so post away, dear readers, and I'll see you in a bit.
(http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/weihnachten/weihnachten039.gif)
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Pith and moment a'plenty, I'd say.
While not necessarily an odd word, I've always had a fondness for the underused perspicacity, particularly, of course, in the phrase imperturbable perspicacity. Another favorite phrase is mellifluous alliteration (a DR Ann's father reference, actually). Also enjoy the word obstreperous.
I'll surely come up with a few more after some sleep. Just have to channel DR Ann's father, for he is the king of pontificating with polysyllabic profundities (and yes, I'd say that "pontificating with polysyllabic profundities" is a rather mellifluous alliteration).
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So all alone here. No late-night posting frenzy tonight, it seems. Well then, goodnight to all, wherever you are!
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Ah, yes, good ol' obstreperous, synonymful with clamorous, which does not mean "loving clams." My first lover loved the word obstreperous. He loved to loudly declare that other people were being obstreperous, which was not nearly as effective as carrying on with a big schtick.
Der Brucer, on the other hand, is fond of the term oompityfratz, which I doubt can be found in any dictionary, but means "a really large number, the amount of which I can't remember offhand."
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DRJason - remember that in every city that OKLAHOMA! plays, they will be met on opening night by AE pickets. It's a pain and people look at us like we are crazy....I only did it for THE MUSIC MAN, but they are organized for every city!
It must be very disheartening to the actors - I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing!
Words words all I ever hear is words.....
One of my favorite words is Ubiquitous
Another is onomatopoeia
And my third favorite word in the English language is
PAYCHECK
Here is your Allison Hayes Picture of the Week - she is playing a night club singer in COUNTERPLOT!
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Thanks again to DRCHarlesPogue for his June Wilkinson story....and the thought of being friends with Mr Harlan Ellison makes me feel faint!
Dangerous Visions. Dangerous Visions, Again. And the BEST book ever written about television The Glass Teat!
Hoping not to offend our DR female readers....here is Miss Wilkinson in a modest pose.
Several weeks ago, Mr BK posted a lovely photo he had taken with her at the Ray Courts show! Thanks again!
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And here is the official website for Mr Harlan Ellison, a writer everyone should be familiar with.
http://harlanellison.com/home.htm
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Oh hell, I forgot what I was going to say.
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Up again at an ungodly hour. The notes were hilarious, though. Have never laughed so hard at 4:30 a.m. before. Words - my favorite topic. Having come to this language at age 8, I think I have a relatively unique view of it. Hungarian is totally phonetic. Once you know the rules, you can read it. Period. So to discover this strange and wonderful tongue at such a tender age was a shock, to say the least. I have lots of favorite words, but at this early hour the one that comes to mind is "pusillanimous" because of John Osborne's wonderful rant about it in LOOK BACK IN ANGER. In fact, if I had bothered to organize my books when I moved in, I'd take it off the shelf right now and quote some of it. But I'll never find the book, so that's YOUR job, DR's.
Oleaginous, bk? This probably wasn't a complimentary reference. (Why do we always remember those?) Although it may have been complimentary... "The oleaginous tones of his velvet voice were smooth enough to fry fish." I really should go back to bed.
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Pith and moment a'plenty, I'd say.
While not necessarily an odd word, I've always had a fondness for the underused perspicacity, particularly, of course, in the phrase imperturbable perspicacity. Another favorite phrase is mellifluous alliteration
When are we switching back to new notes in the morning? I get here early on Tuesdays, but find all my favorite words have already been mentioned:
mellifluous
perspicacity
pith
ubiquitous
nubile
Maybe DW Joy can post J.B.Biggley's curse.
I also like architectural terms, like lintel, which sounds, to me, like it could be a confection of some sort
And then there's Groucho's:
"With this house you can get stucco. Boy can you get stucco!"
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It's still early enough for me to post. (As soon as HHW starts loading up, my scrolling and inputting slow down to a molasseslike crawl.)
DR Panni: I've edited cookbooks and am unfazed by the likes of one-quarter pound and one-half quarter pound. How about: half an eggshell of firmly packed sugar? (Which is quite sensible when we're talking proportions.) So thanks for the Ibi Néni Cake, which I'm going to try. One clarification, svp: 2 bags vanilla sugar? I think I know these, but can you confirm about how much is in one bag?
I'll be heading over to Kensington Market and my favorite nut and spice shop, where I'll be sure to get very fresh walnuts. Years ago I took my mom to this store, and the Romanian woman who owns it - and crams everything anyone can desire into a place no bigger than Saddam Hussein's hideaway - has since assumed that my mom is the family baker and that I'm kind of helpless. In fact, I'm the baker (and a not-too-shabby one). My mom's last venture into this department consisted of making butter cookies for my second grade's bake sale.
My mom passed away about a month ago. It's been a very difficult time. When the woman at Kensington Market tells me, as she always does, that she's giving me the best and the freshest ingredients for my mother, I'm going to have to say that the baking torch has been passed on to me. I can just imagine her sorry look.
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Well, my dear Mr. JRand, I myself may not actually be friends with Harlan Ellison. But does getting lost while driving him to the Kalamazoo airport count?
And I must quote to you Harlan's first words upon our meeting: "Are you related to Bill Orr?" I, of course, replied "I am him!"
My really, all-time favorite pompous word is fulsome, because people think it means "full", whereas it actually means, "exaggerated and insincere." I've gotten a lot of mileage out of that confusion. As in, "Please accept my fulsome apologies." :P
Another very pretty word is squamous, as in "Lifestyles of the Rich and Squamous". ::)
And, as all biologists know, ontogeny recapitulates philogeny. But is it also true that ontology recapitulates philology?
Word, words, words... Oh, a Hamlet/Liza Dolittle reference!
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Dan-in-Toronto - I wrote you a longish note - which did not get posted - I got a WARNING instead. So here's the important info before you sign off, then I'll try the rest again. Vanilla Sugar -one bag is 9 g. (0.32 oz.) The brand I use is Oetker - made in Canada.
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What I said in the rest of my destroyed note, Dan-in-Toronto, is that I'm sorry to hear about your mother. It must be a very difficult time for you. No matter how prepared we are, no matter what the nuances of the relationship, this is one life passage that hits much harder than one could imagine. My condolences.
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For BK and all the dear readers everywhere, I present:
A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE
(http://www.marwen.org/images/cards/Partridge.jpg)
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Very funny story WFO! LOL thanks for sharing. Some good stuff already today!
Back to work. Oh well!
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DR Panni,
Thanks so much for your note. I was going to reply privately, but you don't include an e-mail address. Should you wish, you can send it to mine.
Are those Oetker products available in California? I think that one of the best things about multicultural Toronto is the immense variety of foods - at decent prices - both fresh and packaged.
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Dan-in-Toronto: I would also like to express my condolences for the loss of your mother. My mother passed away recently, also, and it's always the very simple things (like buying baking supplies) that make me miss her the most.
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I love words, and being an English teacher all those years, I was immersed in them, but, on the other hand, using a blustering vocabulary just for the sake of impressing or confounding people is a real turn-off for me. Anyone can comb the dictionary and come up with words which a majority of the population will not be familiar with. That is NOT good communication estecially for a critic who is trying to communicate opinions to a general audience. I had to look up "oleaginous" to find out what it meant. Why didn't the writer use 'unctuous" instead? It would have said the same thing and been understood by lots more people, I think.
My favorite word is "convoluted." I also like "parsimonious" and "protuberant."
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Dan I am very sorry to hear about your mother's passing. My thoughts are with you.
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Well, due to the kindness and generosity of DR Ron, I will now be able to see STRICTLY BALLROOM in all its glory, majesty and anamorphic greatness (with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, too). I will give a report sometime later today with my opinions of this film. I'm really looking forward to it, and again a BIG, heartfelt thanks to DR Ron for providing this opportunity.
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Oh, Dan, let me add my condolences as well on the loss of your mom. Those of us who have lost their mothers know exactly what you're feeling. I lost my mom in 1999, and there are still few days that pass that I don't think of her in some way, but always with a smile on my face. You will feel that way too one day.
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Laura & Dan: I'm so very sorry to hear about both of your mom's. My deepest symaphy for the both you.
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Good morning.
Words? I'll have to think on that one - actually, just need to wake up a little bit more. I'll post once I'm back up in Fairfax this afternoon.
Oetker products are actually popping up in more and more supermarkets than one would think. And, as I found out, some stores have been carrying them for years, but I just never noticed them. They are usually with the baking supplies, and some stores keep them in their "international aisle". Just check the shelves below eye level.
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Dan: I'm so very sorry about the loss of your mom. I won't say I know how difficult it must be because I don't, but please know that you and the rest of your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
My favorite words? Hmm...two different people have already used two of my favorites: Pith and Parsimonious. Superfluous is another good one...
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This is the guy I understudied in SCROOGE, and yes, that's the costume I wore, even though I'm half his size. I equated it to wearing a couch--both because it was HUGE and because it was made of upholstery material. The fur around the neck rubbed against my face and made my cheeks break out and during the evening performance I tripped on the underskirt (I guess that's what you'd call it) going UP the stairs!
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Dr Jason, you have a great word under your pic - "ecdysiast."
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You're so right! How could I have overlooked that one?!?! At these prices, I'm an ECDYSIAST.
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Dan-in-Toronto: I, too, offer my condolences. The day I fear the most is the day I'm no longer anyone's little boy.
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I taught journalism for five years in the military. And one of the phrases we'd have on a sign in our writing classes was:
"eschew obfuscation" -- meaning, "Keep it simple!"
Invariably there would be one student who, when the words were spoken, would say, "Gesundheit!"
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Though I'm sure I have my favourite obscure, elite, and pompous words (none of which I can think of at the moment), I'm more a words-in-combination guy. I particularly like alliterative phrases and often seem at my best when expressing contemptuous sarcasm or disdain.
What was that phrase...a movie line I think..."he never pushed a noun against verb unless to blow something up"...When I'm in a high dudgeon or consumed with visceral outrage, that's me...
Here's a little example from a memo I shot off a few years to the various heads of a studio and the producers after I watched a preview of a movie of mine they ruined...
"A mulit-faceted, multi-dimensional character-rich script had been reduced to one-dimension. And though the one dimension that remained was mine, it was in such tatters, it resembled the devoured, emaciated carcass of a once-full-bodied, glossy-hided, beautiful beast. What had been mature and dense was now simplistic and puerile."
"What happened? Howcum? WHY? Beats me. If all I had to do was fight battles of creative differences, I might know. Unfortunately, I have to waste most of my time waging war against a lack of rudimentary common sense...Do I need a soul-searing megaphone to shout down into the dusty, decaying stale corridors of torpid, tepid mentalities and hope that it finally resounds with some simple echo of clarity and intelligence?...I tried calm reasoning, cajoling, humour, rage, pleading, and weeping. Nothing stopped the simple-minded march to destruction.
"...And maybe it will make money. God knows it wouldn't be the first time a bad movie has turned a profit (and regardless of how much money it might make, make no mistake, it will always be a bad movie). Maybe [the star's] cachet is enough to turn this sad, sloppy-silly, slap-dash, mish-mash piece of hash into a money-maker. I personally doubt it. This labour of indifferent, insipid, uninspired film-making seems destined for critical contempt and audience ennui.
"But let's hope it makes money, for NO ONE CAN TAKE ANY SENSE OF ARTISTIC PRIDE OR ACCOMPLISHMENT IN THIS PEDESTRIAN PUDDLE OF PATHETIC, UNPROFESSIONAL, PANDERING POOP!"
It did not make money needless to say, though I did get a nice residual cheque for it the other day. Which since I ain't getting any artistic satisfaction from it, I'm glad to scrape the occasional financial one from it.
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Is anyone else dying to know what the name of this movie was?
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Well, I suppose we could offer a non-prize for whoever can guess it. I'll give you a hint, however. If it had been done the way it had been written and the way I intended. The tone would have been more Lord of The Rings rather than the rolling juggernaut of cartoon illogic it became, preceding LOTR in being a movie to take dark fantasy seriously and maturely.
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I have a feeling it isn't "Dr Zhivago."
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Oh, I think I have a t-shirt for "Dragonheart."
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One quick note before the trip begins and I don't post for 15 days (maybe I'll be able to sneak in a look at the board while I'm gone but probably not much more).
We leave at 8pm tonight for Merry Olde England. Now it's just waiting for the car to the airport. Anthony hasn't been out of the country so it's very exciting for him. I haven't been to Europe since 1992 so I'm looking forward to the whole thing. Friends in Nottingham, a cousin in Sheffield, a possible meeting with the host of the radio show on BBC Radio Wales (Beverly Humphreys). It's all too, too.
I'll be back, but not for a while. See y'all later.
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Good travels, DR Ben. Say hello to your namesake clock tower for me! :D
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Condolences to Dan!
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JRand53, DRAGONHEART was merely a disappointment; this one was a disaster.
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AHHHHHHHHHHHHH...okay.
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Oh....Kull the Conqueror....
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One of these days I'm going to get myself to England. It's a gift I haven't given myself yet, but one day!
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Have a good and safe trip Ben and Anthony!
Go away, but come back soon! ;D
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OH, Ben, I am envious! Have a wonderful, wonderful trip! And bring back lots of pics for us to look at!
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So, little Mister, how was the date last night?
What? You thought we wouldn't ask?
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Just finished my Speech exam, which thankfully was open book and fairly simple (oh, a Maury Yeston reference!)
Dan--I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. I can only imagine how painful that was for you. My deepest sympathies.
Charles--you astound me with your vocabulary. I mean, I've always had a fairly extensive vocab. but you put me to shame.
My favorite words are plangent, twee and idiosyncrasy.
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Good travels, DR Ben. Say hello to your namesake clock tower for me! :D
An understandable misperception. The namesake is not the tower, but the bell itself.
So go with bells on, Ben! We'll all look forward the the stories you ring bring back!
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Ha, ha! It was very nice. His name is George (not to be confused with DR George) and we dined on grilled salmon and topped it off with some delicious chocolate cake at Konditari.
Went back to my place and watched some Jack Benny and some Burns and Allen...my kind of guy!!! LOL!
It was a good date, and there will be more...of course he lives on the beach which is a two hour drive from Salem, so future dates may be far between, but such is life.
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Yes, it HAD to have been "Kull the Conqueror." I'd never have suggested "Dragonheart" because I thought it had an uncommon amount of heart to it.
And I love Randy Edelman's score, as well.
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They were hoping for a hit based on the stardom of...KEVIN SORBO? :P
- S. Woody (who wonders if KS uses a blade or electric razor, or perhaps Neet, to keep his chest so hair-free!)
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Buster, attentive pup that he is, is all aquiver (a very nice word, come to think of it). He has been looking through the front window and spotted...a squirrel!
Everybody SING!
It's a small squirrel, after all
It's a small squirrel, after all
It's a small squirrel, after all
It's a small, small squirrel!
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Dear Reader Dan-in-Toronto: My condolences to you on the recent loss of your mother.
Dear Reader Ben and DFO (Dear Friend of) Dear Reader Ben Ant: Bon Voyage! Have a wonderful trip!
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Rizzo: You hauled your cookies all the way out to the beach for some GUY?
Remember DR MATTH - there are NO new Federation steps!
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Regarding the topic of the day: do words borrowed from other languages count?
I've already gone on record saying that fahrblondjet, which comes from Yiddish, is one of my favorite words.
Another favorite of mine (in both meaning and sound) comes from the German: schadenfreude.
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I really hope that some Ebay/Nehaflix/Amazon.com/IndiaWeekly purchases arrive in the mail today!!!!!!!!!!
...but please Mr. Postman, don't bring my Visa bill! :(
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They were hoping for a hit based on the stardom of...KEVIN SORBO? :P
- S. Woody (who wonders if KS uses a blade or electric razor, or perhaps Neet, to keep his chest so hair-free!)
Maybe Charles was referring to the wonderfully talented and multiple Tony winner Harvey Fierstein, who was also in the movie!
As far as words are concerned, I like "Obsequious"
Jed, I also love Sondheim's "imperturbable perspicacity"
However, my most favorite new word is Dear Reader Maya's term, "Idiocracy"
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Ha, ha! It was very nice. His name is George (not to be confused with DR George) and we dined on grilled salmon and topped it off with some delicious chocolate cake at Konditari.
Went back to my place and watched some Jack Benny and some Burns and Allen...my kind of guy!!! LOL!
It was a good date, and there will be more...of course he lives on the beach which is a two hour drive from Salem, so future dates may be far between, but such is life.
This sounded sort of rueful...like it needed music, and this just popped into my head (to the tune of Cole Porter's "It's All Right With Me"):
It was a good time, in a good place
Oh! His face was charming, it's a good face
It's a beach face, but such a charming face
That it's all right with me
It's a good song, in a good style
Yes, his smile was lovely, it's the right smile
It's a beach smile, but such a lovely smile
That it's all right with me
It's the right game, with the right chips
Yes, his lips are tempting, they're the right lips
But they're beach lips, they're not convenient lips
But if some night he’s free
Then it's all right, yes, it's all right with me
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LOL Ron - dear Cole from Peru Indiana is smiling....it's all right with him.
And don't forget DR Emily's Canuckistan!
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Words I love:
sasquatch
splendiferous
Brobdingnagian
pachyderm
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And two words that are probably at the top of everyone's favorite word list: "Hainsies" and "Kimlets"
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I've now become obsessed with finding LOOK BACK IN ANGER on my shelves, so that I can quote one of John Osborne's wonderful rants on the word "pusillanimous." (See earlier post.) I've found all sorts of other Osborne plays - INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE, THE ENTERTAINER, TIME PRESENT, THE HOTEL IN AMSTERDAM - but no LOOK BACK. Now I'm starting to gaslight myself and am thinking perhaps I never owned a copy... Aaaargh.
Charles Pogue - great rant. But do you actually believe the people to whom you addressed it could understand it? They probably sent it out for coverage.
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Matt H., hie yourself hence to England, sooner rather than later...London is the greatest city in the world, oozing with history in every step you take and it simply has the best and most varied theatre anywhere.
Yes, the stinker was KULL. It started out as Lord of the Rings by way of I, Claudius and ended up as Red Sonja. One of these days I may get my wish to get an adult swashbuckler made.
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Another thought brought on by my earlier post (and the search of my shelves)... Interesting to note how many writers in the English language came to it as a second language. I start, naturally, with me. Then a few lesser beings like Joseph Conrad, Issac Bashevis Singer (although he was often translated from Yiddish) and, of course, Tom Stoppard. I would think most other languages are not as accessible. I mean how many Russian writers were born in Brooklyn or Madrid?
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Panni, the entire rant was some fifteen pages long, going through a very specific breakdown of what was wrong with the entire movie. I'm sort of famous for my memoes. There's one I sent Jeff Katzenberg that a fellow scribe touts as putting "The Esterhaus/Ovitz memo to shame".
Re: This particular memo on Kull, Marc Platt, who was head of the studio at the time, commented to my agent, it was unlike anything he had ever read before and that it "was accurate in everything it said all down the line."
Still, being right doesn't necessarily make you loved in this town and occasionally it makes you resented.
But my attitude is: Oh, you can screw me over, but don't think I'm going to pretend to like it and don't think you're actually getting away with anything. Let's call a screwing-over a screwing-over.
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Panni, I don't know about Singer, but what is interesting about Conrad and Stoppard...not only did they come to English as a second language...they are two of the most meticulous masters of it. Stoppard is one of my gods.
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You are so right DRPanni - about English being a good second language for writers. And now that you mention it, I DON'T know of any English-speaking writers who gained fame in another language...but I don't get out much.
Of course we mustn't forget Alice Rosenbaum - the Russian immigrant girl who came to America and wrote THE FOUNTAINHEAD and ATLAS SHRUGGED - among other literature.
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Tom Stoppard - The Real Thing....
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Well, Beckett is Irish and achieved fame writing in French.
And while it is often said that Nabokov's first language was Russian, he insisted that he learned English from his governess before he learned to speak Russian.
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Charles Pogue - I think I'll get your screwing over philosopy embroidered on a cushion! Wonderful. And absolutely right.
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Gee DRPANNI - that's not a cushion, that's a whole sofa!
[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%] ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D[/move]
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And yes, Stoppard isn't just one of your gods. He IS a god. I once spent an entire WGA Awards Ceremony sitting right behind him and didn't realize it. (I was nominated and was so nervous, Jesus could've been at my table changing our water to wine and I wouldn't have noticed.) Anyway, that's the one time I regret not speaking to someone well-known.
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Jrand53 - The whole thing would be not only a sofa, but also a hide-a-bed and a love seat. I meant the last part: "Oh, you can screw me over, but don't think I'm going to pretend to like it and don't think you're actually getting away with anything. Let's call a screwing-over a screwing-over."
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I was privileged to see the original London production of The Real Thing the first week it opened in 1982 with Roger Rees and the wonderful Felicity Kendall. Wow! Arcadia is also brilliant, as is anything he writes. I'm a huge fan of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Is it Ben who's going to London this week? He really should make a point to see the National revival of JUMPERS which just transferred to the West End. It's gotten terrific reviews and Simon Russell Beale is playing the lead. He may be the best actor working on the London stage these days.
One of my favourite Stoppard lines from The Real Inspector Hound..."So you're the crippled half-brother of Lord Muldoon who turned up out of the blue from Canada just the other day, are you? It's taken you a long time to get here. What did you do- walk? oh, I say, I'm most frightfully sorry!"
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Yea, I wish I had had that in my resignation letter to the theatre group.
And isn't it funny that usually (though I guess not in DR CHARLES POGUE'S case....that the people receiving such a letter say: "I wonder what he is mad about?"
And Mr Harlan Ellison is also a master of the language - some of his rants are poetry.
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This has been a scintillating discussion, all, but I must leave the comfort of my Powerbook and go out into the world. One final, interesting note on language. For what it's worth, I think in English, dream in English. Hungarian only comes first on the rare occasion that I'm very sick and have a fever - I'll sometimes wake up babbling in Hungarian AND when I'm adding up simple figures. That's almost always in Hungarian.
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Calling Dr Freud, calling Dr Freud.
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Maybe DW Joy can post J.B.Biggley's curse.
Damn damn coal-burning dithering ding ding ding.
Or, if you're doing the show in a community theatre run by Moonies:
Darn darn coal-burning dithering ding ding ding.
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Dr. Freud here - what is it?
I've written a few missives in my time, and I've done some verbal assaults that are well-remembered by those said assaults were directed at. It' take a lot to get me riled but once riled I am unstoppable.
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DR JRand53, For a brilliant Harlan Ellison rant, may I suggest his essay TERRORISTS in the compliation book, SEPTEMBER 11: West Coast Writers Approaching Ground Zero edited by Jeff Meyers.
A sampling: "Why can't I get that portion of the human race to which I have access to uunderstand that it has been systemically gulled, hoodwinked if you will, had enough smoke blown up its kilt to refloat the Luistania by disingenuous egalitarian bunkum, into believing "Everyone is Entitled to His or Her Opinion" when, in truth everyone is only entitled to his or her INFORMED opinion; and all the witless upchuck devoid of fact or common ratiocination is merely the chittering of intellectually-arid humanoids swathed in Old Navy schmatahs."
It proceeds to take on and decimate those other religious terrorists Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and their ilk and those two cretins' opinion that 9/11 was the fault of liberals, homosexuals, abortion clinics, and every other thing they're against that doesn't move in lock-step with their narrow, rigid, peas-eye view of the world. Great stuff and, as always, with Harlan, hysterically, laugh-out-loud funny and right on the money.
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LOL, Joy, you crack me up!
However, my most favorite new word is Dear Reader Maya's term, "Idiocracy"
Wow, I didnt' realize I had become a lexicographer (another cool word)...thank you, George, haha!
Charles Pogue and Panni--I just read that Stoppard is set to do the screenplay for the movie adoption of the "His Dark Materials" books. Which I want to read.
Subtopic: What is everyone reading right now? I'm reading The Volcano Lover by Susan Sontag (a romanticization of the story of Lady Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson), and a comic fantasy novel called Sir Apropos of Nothing.
Another cool non-English word...apropos.
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I've been listening to all this about the upcoming Trial of Sadam--with or without Johnny Cockran for the defense--and the media tedium it will inevitably turn into, and I was wondering...
Shouldn't they try to get him on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" in give him a complete make-over?
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I have just made an incredible discovery - the USB Memory Stick. Have you seen this contraption? One of my editors just showed it to me. It's the size of a lipstick and contains more memory than a zip disc. You can put mp3s on it, you can put stuff from your computer on it and plug it into another computer and transfer stuff, and vice versa. I'm getting one this very evening, since I have a gift coupon at Staples.
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They bought everyone on the show lunch today and they're showing my episode to everyone. Isn't that exciting? Isn't that just too too?
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DR Maya, I am currently reading...as my seasonal choice for the year...Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. It is one of his loopy, hilarious Discworld, which are some of the funniest satire around. I am also reading a history about 1066.
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Actually watching those videos was a good test. I had a date with a fellow I met on-line some months ago, and during dinner I made some reference to a television character. After noting his blank stare, I explained what I was talking about, and he informed me that he didn't watch television OR movies other than an occasional foreign film or documentary. I knew we'd run of of things pretty quickly that we'd want to do together. He was also a vegetarian. I thought, "Strike three, fella. Out o' here!" Nice evening but not to be repeated.
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I think I mentioned it the other day, but I'm reading Patricia Cornwell's BLACK NOTICE right now. But I have a high stack of books to go to when I finish it.
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I have so many stacks of books to read I can't even begin to start naming them.
I'm a ba-a-a-a-a-a-ad boy!
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LOL - thanks DR Joy for the Biggley Rant!
MR BK can you get that lipstick memory in Fire 'n Ice?
OMG - thank you DRCHARLESPOGUE for the recommendation.....Mr Ellison has lost none of his fire and the world is a better place for it - I can hardly wait to read the rest. Does he talk the way he writes? I have only seen ONE television interview he has done and that was WAY WAY WAY back many years ago....in fact another lifetime, but he had on some groovy striped pants!
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Maya my Lexicographer Papaya....kind of has a ring to it.
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DR Ron, love the bitch-slappin' logo. Gave me a good laugh for today.
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Is this a major lull or what? :(
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I taught journalism for five years in the military. And one of the phrases we'd have on a sign in our writing classes was:
"eschew obfuscation"
Now that I find very hard to believe. Have you ever seen a military press conference. It's all obfuscation!
A sign on my desk says eschew cliché
and I've used a couple of your words in recent lyrics: splendiferous referred to Jerry Bock's melodies, and
If a pack of pachyderms can take the Midtown Tunnel
What does it say about my fate?
Sold quite a few Our Wedding - The Musical CDs today, and they're arriving in time for Christmas
www.Wedding Musical.com (http://www.Wedding Musical.com)
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DRs Joy and Noel:
Listened to your cd today. It is lovely.
DR Joy you have a beautiful voice!
I especially loved the bestman's song at the end. She also has a lovely voice. And I liked DR Joy's song right after that.
Really touching cd.
DR Noel, very good job.
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I've just come back home/office and have been catching up on the tail-end of the rant discussion. I must admit that, talented as he is, I'm not a huge Harlan Ellison fan, not in large doses anyway. But I have to say that I truly admired him at the 2001 WGA Awards where those in attendance were asked to wear "work clothes" rather than the usual formal wear, in recognition of the horror of 9/11. Ellison, who was presenting, showed up in pajamas and a bathrobe, saying, "This is what I work in."
My fave ranter was Terry Southern. He was totally outrageous and wildly original. Some magazine (Newsweek?) called him"a hip social anrachist and comic pornographer with a moral sense." Right on. For those interested in reading a collection of his writings, you could try NOW DIG THIS: THE UNSPEAKABLE WRITINGS OF TERRY SOUTHERN, 1950-1995.
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No LULLS
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Why are there movies like CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN being made...movies that I don't even think would amuse me much....and yet I can sit and watch DINNER AT EIGHT on TCM and still laugh and marvel at the skill of some of the performances. Rhetorical question, I guess.
MATTH did you watch STRICTLY BALLROOM yet?
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Now that I find very hard to believe. Have you ever seen a military press conference. It's all obfuscation!
Oh, I quite agree. But the folks who write THOSE statements never attend our school. We trained the folks who did the base newspapers.
"Speechifying" is a specialty that seems to have a language all its own...and so many different folks have a hand in what you ultimately hear, is it any wonder that it's double-talk that reveals nothing but a talent for gobbledygook?
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LOL, Jrand!
Charles Pogue--oh, I've heard wonderful things about Terry Pratchett! My sis keeps bugging me to read that one book he wrote with Neil Gaiman...damn, I can't remember the name of it now...it's right on the tip of my tongue...ah, well it will come to me.
I try to balance heavy and light reading...like I'll read a classic alongside a fantasy novel or something. Have you ever read "Gloriana" by Michael Moorcock? It's the historical fantasy based on the life of Elizabeth I...very raunchy and piccaresque, but also very literate. Highly recommend it!
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That's another awesome word...piccaresque, however you spell that...
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Does Harlan talk like he writes? Well, he can certainly go off on a tear and is very quick-witted, of course. My wife says I do a great impersonation of the way he speaks. I'm surprised you never caught his many appearances on Tom Synder and on the old Bill Maher show, Politically Incorrect. In fact, the essay I mentioned is centered around a performance request from that show.
Though I wasn't in attendance the year did his "work-clothes" walk-on at the WGA Awards ceremony, I did hear about it in advance...but I had been on the Board the four previous years and the novelty of the awards dinner had by then worn off for me. The first year we were seated next to Jon Voight. It was never that good again.
Long before I became buddies with Ellison though, I remember his hilarious appearance at a WGA rally at the Sportsman's Lodge during the prolonged 88' strike. Not only he got up and spoke but Richard Brooks and a host of others. Talk about rants against the man...one of those times when I felt most proud to be a writer.
Actually speaking of strikes and Harlan, he just called a little while ago to ask about my thoughts on the WGA pattern of demands for the contract negotiations coming up....and to express again his mortification at missing our party. Ellison and I are both Creative Rights men in the guild. We believe money follows power, so get power. And neither of us much like people screwing around with our words. I'm known as the Pit Bull of Writers' Creative Rights.
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Charles Pogue--oh, I've heard wonderful things about Terry Pratchett! My sis keeps bugging me to read that one book he wrote with Neil Gaiman...damn, I can't remember the name of it now...it's right on the tip of my tongue...ah, well it will come to me.
Maya, the whole title is "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" and Terry Pratchett is the main author (as far as library cataloging goes). I read it when it first came out in 1990 and loved it. I had read a few months ago that it's been optioned for a movie. When I read the book, I really felt like it was written with that in mind...of course, it's now 13+ years later, but finally it might be happening. I highly recommend it! :D
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DR Maya, I have read a small bit of Moorcock, but not a lot. I actually know his friend Jim Cawthorn, an illustrator/writer with whom he has on occasion collaborated...Jim sends me a wonderful Christmas card every year with an original drawing in it...We all more or less know each other through our Edgar Rice Burroughs connections...It was, in fact, at a Burroughs convention out here that I met Ellison (who is also a friend of Moorcock's...It's all so incestuous).
The Gaiman/Pratchett book you're probably thinking about is Good Omens. Have it, but haven't read it yet. Pratchett is one of the few living authors I actually read (as well as Ellison and our own BK, of course). Most of my favourite writers are dead guys.
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Charles - you might be amused by the Private Message I sent you this evening...
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I have been following the fascinating discussion in today's posts, but I am afraid I have nothing to add to the mix. My walking pneumonia has returned, only this time it has apparently decided to sit down. My brain, which seems to be floating in a bowl of cranberry punch, is incapable of contributing anything to this enjoyable diatribe. Therefore, I shall sit back and enjoy the posts until my head finally comes to rest on my keyboard.
However, let me express my sympathies to Dan-in-Toronto on the loss of your mother.
Favorite word: loquacious, which I am anything but, today.
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More hot posts, more hot posts. I ate way too much mediocre food at our catered lunch, and everyone seemed to enjoy the screening of episode one. Still some tweaking to do and network notes will be coming tomorrow.
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Fumfer is one of my favorite words. As is snot.
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DRs,
First, thanks to the members of this wonderful group for expressing their condolences. The support of friends, old and new, has gotten me through this hard time. My mom's death was not unexpected. A few weeks before she passed away, she said she was ready to move on. "Why?" we asked. "So I can make my own sandwiches again!" Still, we miss her terribly. It's been sad, but also sweet, going through the letters she saved and the notebooks she kept over her rich life.
I haven't been in much of a posting mood, but it's been good to lurk. I've had some excellent laughs. Thanks. The few times I did post, it's been a pain. Since HHW introduced its new format, I've found it next to impossible to scroll or to type on the site (and on a few others). I've checked with my computer guru. He spent a long day defragmenting and then told me it's a cookie problem, a temporary file problem, and a time to send-the-computer-to-upgrading-camp problem.
The good news is that I can now maneuver like a normal person, thanks to eBay's help line. The problem, it turns out, is that one of my Internet option boxes was checked and it shouldn't have been. (Options/Accessibility/Format Documents Using My Style Sheet.)
As for today's topic. Years ago we belonged to a temple, where there was no love lost between the rabbi and the cantor. When the rabbi left for a new congregation, he gave a parting speech in which he thanked everyone and said he would long remember the cantor for his "ubiquitous contumaciousness." The cantor kvelled (which is Yiddish for swelled with pride).
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Fumfer is one of my favorite words
One of mine, too, but go try and find it in a dictionary.
I once dated a girl who told me the word fumfer didn't exist and this so enraged me I dumped her forthwith. Go question my command of the English language, will you . . . so there!
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THANK YOU, CHARLES! Yes, I absolutely must read Good Omens.
Noel...that anecdote just reminded me of the part in Kissing Jessica Stein where Jessica is on a date and they guy she's with says that he's very self-defecating....and then there's the part where she's sitting at the table with a group of friends and her friend's date says someone is malcompetent. Jessica gets a complete look of disgust on her face, it's great.
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I'd have to say one of my favorite words is recalcitrant. As in "The RECALCITRANT Lulu has been away from HHW for quite awhile."
And, I fear, I shall be recalcitrant for awhile longer, for tomorrow morning I am headed up north for the wilds of central Indiana, where I will dance a jig and an hora while wearing the Official Hat of Indiana, which, as everybody surely knows, is the bowler.
I don't believe I'll have internet access while there, so my recalcitrance shall continue unabated until, possibly, the New Year. So Happy Holidays, everyone! Eat some ham chunks and cheese slices (or even ham slices and cheese chunks) for me.
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Noel...that anecdote just reminded me of the part in Kissing Jessica Stein where Jessica is on a date and they guy she's with says that he's very self-defecating....and then there's the part where she's sitting at the table with a group of friends and her friend's date says someone is malcompetent. Jessica gets a complete look of disgust on her face, it's great.
And, if I recall correctly, Jessica was criticized in the film for being too picky because she rejected those prospective suitors for their misuse of the language. And I thought to myself, "You go, girl!"
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[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]Come back, Lulu, come back![/move]
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Yes Lulu, Indiana wants you....some come on home for awhile.
Thank you DR CHARLES POGUE for the Harlan Ellison insights. Had I read the listings, I am sure I would have watched him on Snyder and Maher....grrrrrrrrrrr....the things you miss.
Watching STRICTLY BALLROOM on IFC....DR MATTH did you see it yet???
No NEW Federation Steps!
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DR Jay: What, are you makin' like Ed Norton all of a sudden? Don't sleepwalk over me, okay...I ain't worth it. ;)
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DR Jay: What, are you makin' like Ed Norton all of a sudden? Don't sleepwalk over me, okay...I ain't worth it. ;)
Actually, it was my Brandon De Wilde imitation.
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TCB - My father told me last night that he's got pneumonia, too... coincidence??? I think not! :D
Am currently enjoying a yummy bit of BK's Wacky Noodles, along with some also yummy cheese-garlic bread.
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A favorite combo of mine, whether it's legit or not:
post-tumescent
And I'm fond of
smarmy
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Fershluganah has become a regular part of my vocabulary. A very fine word, that one.
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In honor of the 100th Anniversary of their first flight....you can go to this website, and if you have MacroMedia Shockwave - you can make the simulated Wrights Bros. flight. It's noisy and scary!
http://firstflight.open.ac.uk/takeoff04.html
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Favorite Cheesy Films:
One of my very favorite "cheesy" movies is "Grease II" -- don't ask me to 'splain it. I can't. But I love it, love it, love it! And I love the "I'll Be Your Girl For All Seasons" number.
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Does anybody else think it's strange that we ain't head from TomFromOz today?
And where the frell has Jennifer gone to?
Did everyone "go shopping" and forget to come home?
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I saw The Last Samurai today. It is not without its flaws. Tom Cruise comes across as Tom Cruise in a big epic Western dropped into mid-nineteenth century Japan, and the film is riddled with historical inaccuracies. That said, this picture is mighty engrossing. Even at two and half hours, the pace of the film never drooped. Ken Watanabe is superb as the Samurai leader. The battle scenes--and their deaths--are downright operatic, which, in my book, is a good thing.
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I, too, was just wondering where our friend from down under was. Come out, come out, wherever you are, Tom!
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Perhaps Australia is suffering a heat wave--a tropical heat wave--and Dear Reader Tomovoz is doing the Can-Can.
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Good evening to esteemed, svelt, well-catered, fumfer-ish, and elfinlike BK --
I'm glad your segment was viewed with liking and approval today.....did they have any shrimp cocktail shrimp on that catered food spread today?? While I was on my crazy work schedule this past weekend, I ended up eating shrimp cocktail shrimp 3 times in a row....and they were all really good!! :o
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By the way BK, we really do have our very own truly real Pear Tree, in our very own truly real yard. What's more, at least 2 times a year, we get an entire family of quail that lives in and around our yard.
Alas, so far, no partidges........I'll trade you a "keith" for a "laurie."
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As far as favorite odd words.....
many of my favorites have been named; however, very high on my list has always been to refer to some little uninformed sniglet as "a poseur." It must be said with both the tone and the attitude of a combination of Franklin Pangborn, and Edith Evans.
DR MBarnum....so glad to hear that your date was fun. Does that guy have any idea what a catch you are ??!!
Bon Voyage to Ben & Ant...our love goes with you, and travel home safely.
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Some network notes came back - just some general stuff, which I'll be addressing over the next couple of days. Just adding a few things and subtracting a few things - nothing major.
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TCB - Feel better. Tell your pneumonia to sit down and go away.
BK - Network notes that are easy. Wow. Gratulálok (That's "Congratulations" in Hungarian)."
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I forgot to say that Dan-in-Toronto's sandwich story was funny and touching. There must be a sandwich motif when it comes to Jewish Canadian mothers. The mother of a friend of mine in Montreal died last year (in her nineties). After the graveside services, her four children left a very meaningful memento on her grave, something she would love -- an egg sandwich.
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I'm not doing this to up my posting count - although I DO want to become a/an? HHW Goddess - but I remembered something else I wanted to say. Funny word - "mouflon" (a kind of wild sheep).
When I was a kid in Toronto, one Saturday my best friend, Carol Solomon, and I went to the zoo. On one of the cages we saw the identifying sign which stated that in the cage was a MOUFLON. Both Carol and I thought this was the funniest thing we had ever heard. We could not stop laughing, I mean burst a gut, pee your pants laughing. (And we weren't smoking anything strange.) Each time one of us would stop, the other would say "Mouflon!" and we'd be at it again. All the way home on the streetcar we were howling like maniacs. The driver almost threw us off -- the stares we got. To this day, all I have to do is call Carol up - and she's a very straight and proper lady now - unlike me - and say "Mouflon!" and she's roaring.
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Dan-in-Toronto, you said you wanted to e-mail me. I didn't get anything.
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So, Dear Reader Panni--
When can we expect a book or a film of your life story? The few glimpses you have provided us on this here site (almost the most popular site on all of the internet) have been most intriguing. Do tell!
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Has anyone seen any saucers?
I cannot fathom any other reason for the strange disappearances we seem to be experiencing.
I fear Tom from Oz, and Jennifer, and now MattHwhosaidhewouldwatch"StrictlyBallroom"andgetrightbacktous, have been snatched, kit and caboodle, by little grey menschlings and have left our atmosphere.
They may not even be in our solar system any more!
Tis a heinous rash of missing personages!
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Well, DW Joy has gone off to view The Sequel That Shall Not Be Named, leaving me all alone. I tried viewing the Previous Installment last not but gave up after an hour.
I hope that Jennifer's E & T because she's so enraptured by her recent purchase
(the CD of Our Wedding - The Musical www.WeddingMusical.com)
that she can't tear herself away from it and join what few of us that are here.
Usually, she's ubiquitous (there's that word again!)
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Oh, yeah!
caboodle is another favorite word.
Funny, though, that it seems used only in combination with kit and.
No one ever kvetches about how tired his caboodle is today. I'm not even sure the caboodle can get tired.
I wonder if it can be sore?
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DR Jed, I also had Wacky Noodles for dinner tonight...in fact just now finished slurping them down! Yuuummm! I mad a ton of it last week and put most of it in containers in the freezer...just micro and eat!
Jennifer might also be gorging on Peanut Butter M&Ms if they arrived!
TCB...get to feeling better soon! OK dagnabit!
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Dagnabit is a favorite word, and so is rankled.
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Sorry to have been away for so long. It's been a long night of movie and TV watching with nary a break in between.
STRICTLY BALLROOM was strictly fun: a gorgeously appointed, smoothly filmed, and very engaging lark of a movie. Surely Baz was aware that his story was nothing but unending cliches from beginning to end, and so he just had fun with them. Other than the very real talent on display with the exquisite dancing, he seems to have embraced its very predictability and wallowed in it.
I'll say it; I much preferred this movie to MOULIN ROUGE. It seems superior in almost every way and much more appealing in getting to take long, lust-filled looks at the people and scenes without having one's head snapped away with cut after endless cut for stylistic reasons than lessen the impact of what the talented people are doing.
I'm SO pleased to get to add this DVD to my collection, and once more thanks to DR Ron for recommending the film in the first place and providing me the best quality means to experience it.
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Off to bed now. It's late here on the East Coast, and I have some cooking to do tomorrow for a pot luck dinner I'm invited to.
Hope to see all back here tomorrow. Good night.
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Back from a fun-filled day. I had lunch with my friend Jennifer and then went to see the new film BIG FISH, starring Ewan MacGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup and the amazingly gorgeous Jessica Lange (she's never looked sexier IMHO). I really enjoyed the film...it's quirky and very fantastic (in the sense that most of it is a fantasy) and I bawled like a little girl for the last ten minutes. It was a good time.
After the movie I visited the Gap and purchased the sweater that I've been eyeing for weeks. As predicted, it was on sale for 50% off the original price, so I snatched one up and used my wonderful birthday gift card to pay for it. Yay! After that, I went to work at the Met.
Did I mention that I got the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Mr. Stephen Schwartz's WICKED today? Well, I did, and I can't wait to go see the show again. The score gets better with repeated listenings, and while the two leading ladies don't come off as brilliantly on CD as they do onstage, most of their stuff is pretty thrilling. "Defying Gravity" (the act one finale) gives me chills every time I hear it...the CD is worth it just for that one song, but the rest is pretty darn good, too. I'm quite happy with the purchase, though I feel the sound levels could have been tweaked just a bit to bring out the vocal tracks a little more, but what do I know about producing?
Anyway, I'm debating whether I should go into MTI tomorrow or not. I've been asked to work a dress rehearsal at the Met on Friday, so that would mean I'd only get two days of work in this week at MTI and I don't know if it's worth the effort. I should call them and see if I could just wait and come in the week after Christmas...
Another fun word: Canoodle.
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Well, DW Joy has gone off to view The Sequel That Shall Not Be Named, leaving me all alone.
They made Kull II!?!?!?
:P :P :P :P :P
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caboodle is another favorite word.
Funny, though, that it seems used only in combination with kit and.
NEWS FLASH!!! The next Bond Girl will be named "Kitten Kaboodle!"
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I feel we need a posting frenzy right about now.
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All righty, let's NOT have a posting frenzy. I forbid it. I forbade it. I see ONE post and there will be hell toupee.
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DR Jay - When you will see my life story is never. That's up to other people on this site (THEIR life stories, not mine.) You know who you are.
Like every writer, I'm always writing about aspects of my life in everything I do. Even Tarzan. But, it's one thing to relate a story on HHW, it's a whole other thing to actually write it as a screenplay or book. Over ten years ago I started to write an autobiographical play - a Simonesque comedy. On the strength of the first act it was optioned by two theaters - one in LA, one in Vancouver. I have never been able to finish it! Too close to home. Maybe one day when I'm REALLY old. My daughter has promised me major hallucinogens in my twilight years. So perhaps when I'm high as a kite, it'll all come spilling out on paper. I'll be the Grandma Moses of autobiograpy. ...Does that answer your question? Are you sorry you asked?
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POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY
POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY
POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY
POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY
POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY POSTING FRENZY
Bruce, I Laugh (http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/lachen/laughing-smiley-011.gif) at your "let's NOT have a posting frenzy" edict. Hey, that's an interesting word. "Edict." It sounds like a mispronunciation of "Edith," like Edict Bunker from "All In the Family."
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Good evening.
Hmmm... Did someone put a bitch-slap sound effect on this board? I could have sworn when I loaded the first page of posts for today, I heard a <slap> - ??? I thought it might have been linked to the new bitch-slap icon - which I love! Who knows? Maybe it was something that slid off my desk, but I swore the sound came from my speakers. Ooooohhh... Aaaaahhh... Hmmmmm...
Well, my plans for waking up early today and getting some baking done were abandoned when I didn't get up until a little past 10:00. Ah, well. We're off again on Thursday this week, so I'm planning on baking then. I actually had a semi-productive morning/mid-day - just going through some mail, checking to make sure my bill payments were up to date, sorting through some papers, etc. I headed back up to DC around 2:30-ish after making a stop to pick up some holiday butter cookies at this great French bakery in Richmond, Jean-Jacques. -At least I still brought baked goods. ;)
Well... I was still about an hour away from DC, when I got a call from the assistant stage manager. Our Merlyn was out sick with the flu - as well as our stage manager. So, they were going to have a put-in rehearsal at 4:00. Well, it was already 3:40, and I was still about an hour away. However, there were scenes to run and blocking to review, so by the time I got there we were able to run the musical sections that needed to be run - which were minimal. Apparently, everyone had their cell phones off today - or were out of range, and people lost track of who was called and who wasn't. Even my conductor didn't realize what was going on until he got to the theatre (he had his cell phone off all day). But, as it turned out, it wasn't a "major" deal, and both our Merlyn understudy and the male swing did a wonderful job tonight. Now let's just hope the other people in the cast who were starting to feel under the weather tonight are able to rest and get better for tomorrow night's show....
[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]!!!!Good Health Vibes!!!![/move]
Again, we did have a great show, and tonight was also the first night of our holiday fundraising campaign for BC/EFA and Food & Friends. After the show, members of the company sang carols in the lobby while accepting donations - we used the helmets from the show as buckets - and they were also selling autographed show posters. From the looks of the overflowing helmets and baskets, we had a very generous audience tonight. Let's hope that generous holiday spirit continues throughout the week.
As for words.... Well, a bunch of them have been mentioned already, so... But, off the top of my already-sleepy head:
egregious - Thank you, Ms. Andrews!
perspicacity
tumescent - and now the afore-mentioned "post-tumescent" :-X
hirsute
lackadaisical
cajole
smugging - First came across this word in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, referring to the playground activities of some lads.
DR Jason - Any more progress on your missing mail?
DR Dan - It is so nice to know that you have many happy memories of your mother. Maybe the next time you go to the market, you can share them with the lady who runs the shop.
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Smugging?
What is this smugging?
What does this smugging mean, please!
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Am I seeing POSTS? I don't want to see no stinking POSTS. We are NOT having a posting frenzy so knockwurst it off.
I just saw the finished interview for our first Unseemly Interview in ages - which hopefully will be up on Friday. It's a fantastic interview with Miss Stephanie J. Block, star of The Boy from Oz, and the original Elphaba in all the workshops and readings of Wicked. It's very honest, and sweet and fun and she holds nothing back. I was almost ready to cancel doing the interview because one with her showed up on another site. But, what we do here is unlike anything on any other site, and I'm very proud of our Unseemly Interviews - they really are special.
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Jose: No mail today. One of the people I ordered from is sending me a replacement copy of the CD and this time they're sending it FedEx to ensure it gets here. I think that's the Lansbury GYPSY. The Tyne Daly recording had a delivery confirmation on it and it seems to have been delivered on Nov. 24 at 8:42am, but since it wasn't a signature confirmation, I have no idea who signed for it. I just know they claim to have delivered it and I don't have it. What a pain in the arse...
...Still loving the WICKED CD!
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Did you know there were sixteen guests just a minute ago? C'mon, you guests, join in the merriment and mirth and laughter and legs BUT do not POST. We want no hot posts tonight because we are NOT having a posting FRENZY!
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Good evening.
Hmmm... Did someone put a bitch-slap sound effect on this board? I could have sworn when I loaded the first page of posts for today, I heard a <slap> - ??? I thought it might have been linked to the new bitch-slap icon - which I love! Who knows? Maybe it was something that slid off my desk, but I swore the sound came from my speakers. Ooooohhh... Aaaaahhh... Hmmmmm...
JoseSPiano: Here's the (odd) thing. The official bitch slap sign is a .gif and is actually an audio .gif.
It's the same audio of Carol Kane doing her schtick in "Scrooged" as the fairy ghost who bitchslaps Bill Murray every time he turns around. I added it as though it were my photo and the sound didn't work when I tried to double-click on it. But since it's part of the gif, maybe it randomly sounds off.
Sort of like a serendipitous bitchslap when one least expects it! :)
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Smugging: If memory serves me right, is what some of the schoolmates were doing on the playground, when it was cold, winter in "APotAaaYM". ??? It's actually not explained in the book, but I did ask my teacher, a nun, about it at the time, and she said it referred to a sort of "mock, playful kissing". I've actually never looked up the work in a dictionary, but that definition was good enough for me. And the fact that it came from a nun still "impresses" me! ;) And just the way the word sounds pleases me too.
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Well, Ron, I guess I did hear the slap then! Whew! I'm not going crazy.. well, crazier...
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Jose: I'm happy to allay your fears.
Of course, if you hear it again while you're waiting for a cue during a performance of "Camelot", I'm afraid I won't be much consolation to you.
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Isn't it funny? I mention 16 guests and instantly ten of them clear out. Makes a feller wonder but then this feller says what's the use of wondrin' if they're here or if they're gone, or if they want to lurk or never post, oh, what's the use of wonderin' if they're here or if they're gone, they're our hainsies and we love them more than Donny Most.
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Ron, I should think you'd be very interested in Miss Stephanie J. Block's interview, since she spends a good deal of time talking about all the readings and the workshops and the heartbreak of being told Idina Menzel would be doing the role for B'way.
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And I very much look forward to reading the interview with Ms. Block!
It's always sad to hear someone tell how someone else gets a part that might have been a big break for another. A billion tears have been shed, I'm sure.
I'd love to believe that each person who has a sad tale will always have a happier one to tell later, but that's not the reality.
I'm glad you're running the interview here, 'cause it's highly unlikely I'd be reading the other one elsewhere.
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Time for bed. Big day tomorrow. Taking Miss Vickie to her boarding kennel. Then I have to stop by a UPS/MailBoxesEtc. to ship a package. Then, HOPEfully, it's back here to pack and then relax until tomorrow evening. My flight back east leaves at 11:40 p.m., pst, and I'll arrive in SC at 9:40 a.m. est.
I'll be reading every day (or almost every day). Will post iffen ah kin. Depends on whether I'll be taking away any of my mom's time. Of course, I can reimburse her if I put her over.
I'll be posting tomorrow, of course. Until then...good night!