An Offer I Can't Refuse

This past Wednesday, while at the Theatre, I went through my usual duties and, after the show had started, I took a seat to check my mobile phone. I had a missed call and a voicemail from my dear friend Les. I called her right back and we chatted a bit before she dropped the bomb.

"J & I talked it over and we'd like to ask you if you'd be Godfather to Lauren."

Of course I said yes. I was so honored that they asked me and it's the first time I'd be a Godfather to a girl (my previous 'Godchildren' have all been boys), so I was very moved. And, yeah, isn't she a cutie? (granted she's four and a half months older now than when the picture was taken, but still...)

Pirates- AAARRGH!!

Let me tell you about Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest- I saw it the day after my mom was taken to the hospital, and completely forgot about seeing it until this week when I emailed my friend Kiwihunter about it (this is basically what I wrote to her, but slightly expanded). My brother was arriving in the afternoon, so I took the day off and went and had my car serviced and, while waiting, I took my niece to see an early showing of it. It felt like the longest damn movie I’d ever sat through. I think the last hour and change was pretty good but other than that, I found it plodding and pointless with way too much emphasis on Turner and Elizabeth instead of Jack. I did like the character of Davey Jones (the pirate, not the Monkee), and was fairly surprised and impressed that he was completely computer-generated. Bill Nighy provided the motion and acting to the role and he was fittingly threatening, grotesque and funny. In fact, whenever the movie strayed away from the main throughline of Jack's reason for finding Davey Jones I got increasingly bored. I’m hoping the third one is as good as the first one. I had watched the first one again the week before I saw this and that may have actually spoiled my expectations since the editing, acting, and everything else were so tight(and that movie was over 2 hours, too) but "Dead Man's Chest" is not a movie I’m planning on watching again. Grade: C+

Blair Warner Is Evil

Check This Out.
Thanks to Joe.My.God. for posting.

Asking for Permission

Never Let Me Down

The past eleven days have been the most exhausting days I have had in a long, long time...

It all started with my mother’s hospital venture and then it was topped off with my boss at the day job telling us that he’s putting in his two week resignation. Granted my co-worker and I were v. happy for him and it’s a fantastic opportunity, but we were pretty much so shell-shocked that we ended up in a dive bar in Old Town drinking and smoking and lamenting the sad state of affairs of the office after he leaves. Granted, it’s also given us a bit of an incentive to really start looking for a job anyways (something both of us have been talking about for years it seems).

On a brighter note, last week I also got reconnected to a friend who I haven’t spoken with in at least nine years(!). He found me on MySpace and emailed me. Puss was someone I’ve known since college and ended up moving to DC in ‘92. After that we were damn near inseparable- he was Ethel to my Lucy or vice versa- even after I entered into my first long-term relationship. Four years later, we ended up drifting apart and he moved back down to the Richmond area and Brian & I broke up and I got caught up with work and then started up at the Theatre, which limited my free time on weekends, and we just stopped keeping in touch for some reason. But whatever, we’ve been emailing since last week and hopefully we’ll actually get to catch up in person, as I’m sure that there’s plenty of stuff to talk about and gossip.

I’ve also seen quite a few movies- Clerks 2 was just as entertaining as Kevin Smith’s previous films and, as expected, this one’s more sentimental and topical with Gen X-ers as we get older and start thinking more about our ever-changing lives. Rosario Dawson is a standout in this film (as she has been in every movie I’ve seen her in) and Jay and Silent Bob to provide some hilarious bits and even the whole donkey show aspect was in keeping with the previous movie’s outlandishness. Smith’s camera work is much more active in this film than in any other movie he’s done, so he’s showing some growth as a filmmaker and I’ve gotta give him props for including a Bollywood-style dance number to the Jackson’s “ABC” smack-dab in the middle of the movie. Grade” B+

Sunday afternoon I got together with WEW and Yermiyahu, who I haven’t seen in months (Buy his book), and we saw “Strangers With Candy.” While I am a fan of the Sedaris family, I never really got into watching the original television series, but I was familiar with the after-school-spoof premise and the film was v. funny for the first hour but simply just became tiresome. Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert are equally hilarious and have some hysterical one-liners, even if it does peter out towards the end. Grade: C+

Day 5

Mother update: After waiting all day to hear from her doctor, he just came by a short while ago (8 PM) to finally say that she can be released. So, things are definitely looking up.

Here's the final Superman (2006) image I'm posting. I'm actually holding onto my favorite for my movie review (I promise it's coming).

You're Not Going To Believe This...

An 11-year-old caucasian girl from Philadelphia singing Jennifer Holliday's "And I Am Telling You" (from "Dreamgirls") on "America's Got Talent" recently. Amazing, really...

Day 4

Update: my mom's procedure went well yesterday. The doctor thinks that, since he didn't find a stone, she had already passed a large gall stone and that's what caused all the inflammation and stuff. She'll need a follow-up in three weeks or so to remove the stent and make sure that her liver's draining on its own, but as long as she continues to improve, she'll be out of the hospital tomorrow.

Here's the next Supes image:

Day 3 (Four Days Later)

It's never fun when your mother has to go into the hospital for an emergency gall bladder removal, but that's what my weekend's been full of. She's doing better, but still in the hospital since she still has a temperature.

Anyways, here's Superman image #3:

Day 2

Here's image 2 in series of Superman pics. Also, I'm sorta surprised and amazed at how many comic blogs by gay bloggers there are out there. My world just got a little bit brighter.

Starting Here...

So, since I've had Superman on the brain (and I know I haven't written a review of it yet, but I'm seeing it in IMAX this weekend, I figured I'll review after my second viewing), I had the fabulous idea of posting a different Superman image a day for the next five days. To begin, the man who left a legacy, Christopher Reeve:

Which Are You?

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

I guess Green Lantern's good enough, but at least I tied with Superman and it's good to know I'm not as conflicted as Batman...

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.


Green Lantern- 85%
Superman- 85%
Spider-Man- 65%
Hulk- 60%
Robin- 59%
Supergirl- 57%
The Flash- 50%
Catwoman- 45%
Batman- 45%
Wonder Woman- 42%
Iron Man- 35%

Toilet Paper Makes Me Feel So, So...

Well, amorous is definitely not the emotion that first pops up, but according to this manufacturer & its advertising, luxurious toilet paper is kinda like viagra.

Friendly Advice from Clark Kent

Make It Readable

NYC Happenings- the Cliff’s Notes ® Version

So, two weekends ago, I went up to New York along with The Gay Dads^® (but I didn’t drive with them because T’s ex-wife was joining them) and I stayed up on W. 95th Street. Here’s what I saw:


Friday night, I saw Forbidden Broadway: SVU. Just Shows to Go You & I got together to see this long-running revue, as I’d never seen it before. Some of it went on too long, but there were enough recent (“Jersey Boys” & “Sweeney Todd”) and classic (“Les Mis” & “Chicago”) show parodies that tickled the funny bone to make it a very enjoyable night. Grade: B-



Saturday afternoon, I caught Jersey Boys, which I had no real interest in seeing it until the reviews came out and JSTGY said he loved it and, of course, by that time tickets were hard to come by so I actually paid full price about 5 months ago to see this. And it was a really well done production. The four leads (of which I saw one understudy) were tremendously talented and the back-story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons is fascinating, but it amounts to no more than a VH1 Behind The Music episode. The book was well-written, the songs infectious and joyous and the direction seamless and cinematic; although there were a couple of odd-bordering-on-the-ridiculous staging moments, but thankfully they didn’t last long and the show continued to be entertaining and. If I hadn’t had “Dreamgirls” on my mind, I think I would have been more amazed, but I honestly did enjoy myself in spite of it’s faults. Plus, it seemed like they bussed in all of north Jersey for the matinee. Grade: B+

Saturday evening, I went down to the West Village to catch Duncan Sheik’s musical version of Weidekind’s “Spring Awakening,” a show I had been looking forward to since the first time I heard of it last year. Chronicling the passions and frustrations of adolescence in late 19th century Germany and using rock music to signify their confusion and rage, I found this to be very stimulating, akin to watching “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” to first time. Again, it’s not without its faults but the choreography and music simply mesmerized me and I was swept by the piece. The Atlantic Theatre is very akin to The Theatre in size (about 160 seats) and it seems that their mission is similar to ours as well. Grade:A-

Sunday turned out to be Gay Pride Day in Manhattan, much to my chagrin, but I met up with my friend Jamie (not Ellen’s son, but a full-fledged adult) at Foodbar for brunch. I figured I might as well do something gay that’s not theatre-related, but afterwards, I went to see “The Wedding Singer.”

I realized halfway through the show that I don’t think I’ve ever seen the entire movie, only the last 30 minutes over and over, so the story was fairly unfamiliar (even though the ending was spoiled). Since the show’s composer and lyricist worked at The Theatre on a show that I quite enjoyed years ago, I was happy to attend their Broadway debut. And, while it’s a romp through the 80s with fun pop songs, it’s also quite bloated by at least half an hour. Laura Benanti plays the Drew Barrymore character and she has no chemistry with Wedding Singer Stephen Lynch (who is so cute and charismatic) and I don’t think she’s right for that part. She’s got a lovely soprano but her voice and lack of humour just don’t mesh with the piece. Other than that, it was a cute. Grade:C+

And then it took me six hours to get home. I blame the gays. Simply because it took one hour of waiting to get to the Holland Tunnel because they had to cross the street to get to the piers for whatever circuit party was going on that night. I then encountered construction on the Turnpike and it started pouring rain once I got into Maryland, which slowed down traffic. Luckily, our new offices got flooded and we didn’t have to go to work the next day.

Yum

More thoughts very soon...