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[bk]

Say hello to Ronni for me, FJL.

[FJL]

BK - Yes, I absolutely will.  

[bk]

No luck at the store.  More Hot Vibes, More Hot Vibes.

[TCB]

What is WIT?

[TCB]

FOR BK:

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~GOOD WALLET VIBES~~~~~[/move]

[FJL]

TCB - WIT is a Pulitzer Prize winning play that ran off-Broadway for a long time and was adapted into a TV film.  I found the following summary online:


"Wit" takes place in a University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center. The main character, Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., is a John Donne scholar who has stage IV ovarian cancer. Much of the action takes place in the last few days/hours of her life, although flashback scenes to weeks, months, even years before are interspersed effectively throughout the performance.

Waring has lived an isolated life. Her love is her teaching and research. She is a stern taskmaster, perhaps "non-humanistic" in her approach. Similarly, she faces doctors and a medical system that emphasize technique over caring. She does find, in the end, compassion from a nurse who prevents the medical team from carrying out a CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) attempt that she did not want.

Commentary   There's a lot more than medical action occurring in "Wit." Kathleen Chalfant, in the off-Broadway production (she played the Mormon mother in Angels in America--see this database) very ably gives two performances in one. She portrays wonderfully the bravado of a brilliant scholar who simultaneously is a nearly helpless patient; someone who has no idea of what to expect as she experiences her dying.


The playwright also allows us to feel playful with the work of John Donne, especially his Holy Sonnet X, "Death, Be Not Proud." One flaw is that the medical personnel are too unidimensional, although their flatness leads to some much needed humor in the production. The playwright, in this her first play, also has the main character call attention to the play's devices. This technique, along with the humor, allows for some relief from the more excruciating and existentially troubling aspects of the play.

[FJL]

More Wallet Vibes to BK.

[TCB]

Has anyone seen the commercial for the 2007 Dodge Caliber that has the winged-fairy flying around changing buildings and trains into storybook type designs, but being unable to change the Caliber?  Originally, a man walking his dog sees the fariy get knocked into the wall of a building, and says, "Stupid fairy!"

Well, apparently bending to pressure from gay rights groups, that line of dialogue has now been edited out of the commercial.  Rather a ridiculous tempest in a teapot.

[TCB]

Thanks, Fred.  I would have looked it up myself, but I thought that WIT were initials for the play's real title, rather than the title itself.

[FJL]

A slow news day, so here's a little number about todays topic, wallets.


I Left My Wallet in El Segundo Lyrics

My mother went away for a month-long trip
Her and some friends on an ocean-liner ship
She made a big mistake by leaving me home
I had to roam so I picked up the phone
Dialed Ali up to see what was going down
Told him I pick him up so we could drive around
Took the Dodge Dart, a '74
My mother left a yard but I needed one more
Shaheed had me covered with a hundred greenbacks
So we left Brooklyn and we made big tracks
drove down the Belt, got on the Conduit
Came to a toll, we paid and went through it
Had no destination, we was on a quest
Ali laid in the back so he could get rest
Drove down the road for two-days-and-a-half
The sun had just risen on a dusty path
Just then a figure had caught my eye
A man with a sombrero who was four feet high
I pulled over to ask were we was at
His index finger he tipped up his hat
"El Segundo," he said, "my name is Pedro
If you need directions, I'll tell you pronto"
Needed civilization, some sort of reservation
He said a mile south, there's a fast food station
Thanks, senior, as I start up the motor
Ali said, "Damn, Tip, why you drive so far for?"

(Well describe to me what the wallet looks like)

Anyway a gas station we passed
We got gas and went on to get grub
It was a nice little pub in the middle of nowhere
Anywhere would have been better
I ordered enchiladas and I ate 'em
Ali had the fruit punch
When we finished we thought for ways to get back
I had a hunch
Ali said, "Pay for lunch"
So I did it
Pulled out the wallet and I saw this wicked beautiful lady
She was a waitress there
Put the wallet down and stared and stared
To put me back into reality, here's Shaheed:
"Yo, Tip, man, you got what you need?"
I checked for keys and started to step
What do you know, my wallet I forget

Yo, it was a brown wallet, it had props numbers
Had my jimmy hats I got to get it man

Lord, have mercy
The heat got hotter, Ali stars to curse me
I fell bad but he makes me feel bad-er
Chit-chit-chatter, car stars to scatter
Breaking on out, we was Northeast bound
Jettin' on down at the speed of sound
Three days coming and three more going
We get back and there was no slack
490 Madison, we're here, Sha
He said, "All right, Tip, see you tomorrow"
Thinking about the past week, the last week
Hands go in my pocket, I can't speak
Hopped in the car and torpe'ed to the shack
Of Shaheed, "We gotta go back" when he said
"Why?" I said, "We gotta go
'Cause I left my wallet in El Segundo"

Yeah, I left my wallet in El Segundo
Left my wallet in El Segundo
Left my wallet in El Segundo
I gotta get, I got-got ta get it

[MBarnum]

I have seen that commercial TCB...and since the fairy get's her revenge anyhow, I can't see why it would have upset anyone...at least it never bothered me.

[Matthew]

I have a question about proper summer theatre attire in NYC.  What is the proper attire?  Are shorts ok?  I know jeans are ok, what else is frowned upon?  I have only ever been to NYC in December, never in July.  Any thoughts or insight would be greatly appreciated.  I'll post my intinerary soon!

[MBarnum]

What does bother me, however, is the no matter how much I try it looks like I can no longer sqeeze myself into a pair of size 32 slacks...so I was forced to go to JC Penney's (where they are having a HUGE...no pun intended...1/2 price sale on men's clothes). So I bought a few pairs of work Docker's slacks that fit just nicely...but I was really hoping I could get myself to be able to wear the pants I already owned (by hitting the gym more often).  

[MBarnum]

Additional wallet vibes to BK...what you are going through is what I hope never to have to go through!

What a pain.

[MBarnum]

I must now hie myself to my mom's and help her and my sister unpack, arrange furniture, plug in computer, VCRs, etc.

[Ben]

Matthew, people do wear shorts to the theatre in New York now, although one reason not to do it might be air conditioning. Many times the AC is turned up very high and it can be quite chilly in New York. As times change, attitudes change and there is little that is now "taboo" regarding attire for the theatre. I've seen ratty t-shirts and cut-off shorts and flip-flops next to people in business casual next to people in suits. I think a nice pair of khaki shorts and a polo shirt (or something along those lines) would be acceptable. Stay away from flip-flops though.

[bk]

Reader's Digest current cover blurb: Identity Theft - New Ways To Steal Your Identity - oh, man.

[PennyO]

Oh, man - indeed! Resigned to it - that's all there is. Do the tasks to get up and running again, mourn the loss of the photo... onward.

[PennyO]

Maybe there is another copy of that photo somewhere? Does your daughter have one? The ex? (oy) The other things can be replaced - but the talisman of a beloved photo, never. My deepest condolences over that loss, Bruce.

[PennyO]

I'm locked in by a continuous heavy downpour. Been reading my book. I even started a fire in the woodstove. I might make soup. Oh, rainy days. Don't like 'em.

[bk]

Just put the permanent block on the ATM cards and I'll have new ones by Friday.  The good news about the Kritzerland account and card is that the address is different than my home address - so I'm pretty safe there.  Tomorrow I'll call the credit ratings place and they put it on their computer and dispatch the info to all the other credit places so that if anyone tries using my social to get anything, they'll not only be stopped, they'll be able to maybe even go after them.  Then the DMV and the Social Security office, and I think that's all I have to deal with presently - I can do the other cards later in the day - the Staples card, the Von's card, the DGA, SAG, and AFTRA cards, the NARAS card, the auto club card, and I can't really remember what else I had in there.

[Matt H.]

Good afternoon!

What a beautiful day it continues to be! Though it's 83 outside, it doesn't feel quite that warm, and sitting on the porch has been very nice. Got laundry done too, another chore out of the way.

[Matt H.]

WIT was made into an HBO film starring Emma Thompson. It was a glorious adaptation that won several Emmys. Emma didn't win the Emmy she was nominated for, however; she happened to be in the same category as Judy Davis who played Judy Garland in that masterful adaptation of Lorna Luft's book ME AND MY SHADOWS that same year.

[Matt H.]

While preparing lunch, I watched "Circus," the first installment of Gene Kelly's INVITATION TO THE DANCE film. I had forgotten how simply thrilling Ivan Youskevitch's dancing is in this segment. Kelly is eh in comparison.

[Matt H.]

Then, I watched DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE. A basically clever plot gets spoiled by a ton of contrivance, but I have to admit it's still entertaining. Picture and sound (I chose the DTS option) on this remastered DVD is superb.

[Matt H.]

Then, I got about 30 minutes' worth of THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN watched. I hadn't seen this in many decades, and though the print is in fairly dire shape, I'm glad to have a record of this show I do remember from my childhood and now seeing in color for the first time. I don't like the rhymed dialogue much, but the songs based on Grieg's music are OK.

[George]

What does bother me, however, is the no matter how much I try it looks like I can no longer sqeeze myself into a pair of size 32 slacks...so I was forced to go to JC Penney's (where they are having a HUGE...no pun intended...1/2 price sale on men's clothes). So I bought a few pairs of work Docker's slacks that fit just nicely...but I was really hoping I could get myself to be able to wear the pants I already owned (by hitting the gym more often).  

Speaking of sales, I went to Fred Meyer yesterday and they had shirts for sale...some up to 40% off!  Well, I only bought one.  But, I have the Fred Meyer rewards card, where with every purchase you get "points" and at the end of every quarter, you're sent coupons for specific departments and some general $ off coupons, all based on how much you spent that quarter.  Anyway, I picked a shirt that was marked 40% off, then I had a coupon that was for another 20% off of one item in the apparels department, THEN I had a $10 off coupon and a $2 off coupon and a $1 coupon AND they could all be used at the same time on the same item!  So, the brand new shirt that originally cost $38 only cost me $6.50!  Now that's a bargain!

[elmore3003]

While preparing lunch, I watched "Circus," the first installment of Gene Kelly's INVITATION TO THE DANCE film. I had forgotten how simply thrilling Ivan Youskevitch's dancing is in this segment. Kelly is eh in comparison.

No offense, but I think you may mean Igor Youskevitch, great star of the Ballet Rousse de Monte Carlo and American Ballet Theatre.  When I was a kid, the RCA BOOK OF THE BALLET had a zilion photos of him in various roles.

[Cillaliz]

Wallet come home vibes to BK!!!!!!

[Cillaliz]

Think I'll go start peeling potatoes and boiling eggs for my Dutch Lettuce. Mmmmm can't wait