Haines His Way

Without question, I would spend most of my dream vacation in my beloved Northern Europe. I would spend a month in Ireland and a month in England. I would spend two weeks each in Wales and Scotland then I would move across the Channel and spend time in Normandy, especially Honfleur. I would then move up to Belgium making sure to spend time in Brugges. I would move north even further into the Netherlands and then I would take a trip through the fjords. Leaving northern Europe, I would make a stop in Iceland then before returning to the states, I would finally spend some time in Canada, Toronto, Montreal, Banff and other places of beauty. I would then spend some time in the states, especially northern California and I would go back to the Grand Canyon. What a sight that was. I would like to see it again.

OK, I'm back from vacation. Time to move on.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was excellent. All around a quality show IMHO. It's a little long and needs some tightening and there is at least one musical number that could be dropped but overall, I had a great time. The music is well done (David Yazbek, who composed The Full Monty) and the book is very funny. It's a little crude at times but not enough to turn you away. There are some groaners in the book but as you watch the show you begin to expect them (and you're not at HHW so you can groan away). There are some funny lyrci rhymes also, who would have thought about Melanoma/Oklahoma. The cast is uniformly excellent. Norbert Leo Butz gets a very funny number in the first act, Great Big Stuff and Sherie Rene Scott has a wonderful entrance number. The big opening number does a good job of telling us what to expect, not a Comedy Tonight, but still a solid, funny number. John Lithgow, in spite of his somewhat weak voice, does a nice job with his second act ballad. It was a full house and the audience seems to enjoy it as much as I did. It will be strong competition for Spamalot, which is being billed as the next Producers (don't do that to a show, I wouldn't want that appelation stuck on my work). It's still got about 3 weeks of previews to go but I doubt that much will change other than tightening and perhaps dropping the cowboy dance number. I never saw the 1988 movie (or the 1964 movie with Marlon Brando for that matter) but I may seek it out just to see the source material. DRS was a very good way to begin my Theatre Week marathon.

On diegetic:

Swoody, it is a very frustrating word.  People use it in musical theatre, but it seems to have originated in film criticism.  I can find it in no dictionary, and all the on-line searches tell me what it means, but not its origin.  Appears to be Greek, doesn't it?  But who coined it?  [Shrugs his shoulders.]

But speaking of dream vacations, our neighbor to the North--not the Wicked Witch of the South--who is somewhere in her seventies, told us all about her recent trip to St. Petersburg yesterday.  She loved the city, found the Russian people very happy, prosperous, smiling (a change from the Cold War?).  

When she returned, we had that horrible cold snap in New York.  All her friends accused her of bringing it with her from Russia.  Fellow Newyawkers, take note:  Helen's to blame!

She stopped for a few days in Paris on the way back.  Gotta love that lady!  Recently she's been to Turkey and Morocco, and she has friends in all these cities.  That and playing poker on the Internet keep her very busy.  

YEAH tonight is the FINALE OF TAR!  2 hours.

Anybody care to make predictions?  Of course so much is based on luck.

But here is how i'd be happiest:

4.ADAM/REBECCA
3.HAYDEN/AARON
2.KRIS/JON
1.KENDRA/FREDDIE

Here is what i think WILL happen:
4.K&F
3.A&R
2.K&J
1.H&A

William F. Orr, I note that in your profile it says you know esperanto. I am soon about to watch the only film in esperanto, "The Incubus" starring the great Shatner. Have you seen this? I have read the esperanto is not great in it, but have otherwise heard this film is one of a kind, crazy beautiful.

Good Morning!

About to head back up to Fairfax in a few.  My alarm clock today was a phone call from my Mom asking about tickets to tonight's show.  Oops...  I forgot to put the request slip in last week.   I know we're only abour 1/2 full tonight, so... I left a message on the company manager's voice mail.

As for dream vacation:  Back to Australia, but this time I would like to make it up to the Reef, across the Outback, down to Tasmania and over to the west side of the continent to Perth (at least).  Of course, I'd have to stop in Melbourne and see DRs Tomovoz and Colin again, as well as meet DR ozderek.

OK - I need to run a few errands before driving back up.

Until I'm back in Fairfax...

Laters...

Oh, my! How could I forget Australia!!!??? TomovOz, I'm sorry. I'll be there to finally meet you face to face!

I think I've mentioned before that London has always been the dream trip for me, but I won't go alone. It's a city I want to explore with someone I love, so I have thus never been to London, and it doesn't look like there's a trip on the horizon there any time soon. Since it's a fantasy vacation, I'd spend time exploring the British Isles, too, once I had overdosed on London.

I have also never been to Hawaii and would love to spend time island hopping there as well.

I'm looking forward to watching MEDIUM later today. I watched CSI: MIAMI in high def last night and recorded MEDIUM which doesn't gain much in HD. I'll, naturally be watching it in standard defintion since that's all my DVR can record in.

Hello, fellow dear readers. Amazingly, we have a dial tone this morning. How long it shall last, we shall see.

Dream vacations: Hmm, pretty much, anywhere but Indiana (with apologies to JRand).

The word of the day is: FLATULENT!

As in "Remember the FLATULENT me a week ago?  Well, I got it fixed, and it rolls perfectly now!"

 

On diegetic:

Swoody, it is a very frustrating word.  People use it in musical theatre, but it seems to have originated in film criticism.  I can find it in no dictionary, and all the on-line searches tell me what it means, but not its origin.  Appears to be Greek, doesn't it?  But who coined it?  [Shrugs his shoulders.]

There's something about the word diegetic that makes it sound like something Karen Carpenter would have taken.

I first ran across the word in Stephen Banfield's tediously scholastic Sondheim's Broadway Musicals.  Still, it's handy as words go, particularly if you're conducting a sing-along.

Well I've never been to Spain...