October End of Month plus DVDs

 Well here it is the end of October and I'm getting this post in barely. My post count for this year will be at an all-time blog year low. Shoot!

Speaking of All-Time... A few weeks ago I got a package from the MLB Insiders Club of which I'm a member (I also paid a little extra to be a "Life-Time" member to get all the cool stuff) . I've been getting some of the books that they offer. You know the "Greatest hits of the century" Time-Life type of books. Inside the package was not a book but a DVD.

According to the back cover the special is an hour long of Major League Baseball All Century Team. This DVD apparently was first produced about 10 years ago from some of the images and info on it I found about it on the internet (DVDprofiler has the older version listed, but this version isn't in their database yet). For $10 bucks I figured what the heck?

Before I move on to the other DVDs I got this month I'll put in my .02¢ worth about the show I directed that is now closed.

Yes that's right I directed a production of the Neil Simon Play "The Odd Couple" for the Sandy Spring Theatre Group. The story of how two recently divorced men learn to cope with each other and their opposing life habits. The old slob vs. neat-freak story. The show was well received and everyone I talked to who saw it really enjoyed it. Most thought I had cast the show very well. As with all community theatre productions I made do with what I could find, and I was very fortunate with the actors I cast. 'Nuff Said on that for now.

Moving On back to the recent DVDs I got. On Saturday 30 October I went to Target and bought along with some pairs of pants for work and some jeans the following two DVDs.

"Predators" the latest installment from the sci-fi franchise about alien sport hunters. As with the Predator vs. Alien DVDs I got this one sight unseen. I'm confident that I will like this film even if it is terrible. I like the series.

I also got another sight unseen movie, this one a chick flick. "Sex and the City 2" the second installment of the 30 now 40 something gals from the HBO hit series. I know this movie is probably not worth the salaries of the actresses in it, but what the heck I liked the show even though it's a chick series. Oh the version I got was the only version that I saw at Target the special 2 Disc Special Edition "Target Exclusive". Apparently the 2nd disc was made exclusively for Target yadda yadda. I'm guessing there is also a special "Walmart Exclusive" version that turns out to have the same special stuff.

 

End of July?

 

Eek it is the end of July already. I haven't had much time to blog because I have been getting ready to start the rehearsal process for the production of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" that I am directing for the Sandy Spring Theatre Group (SSTG).

The show opens up in October. This past week we had auditions and Thursday was callbacks, with some more callbacks today (Saturday 31 July). I think I can get a full cast. I've locked in the two actresses to play the Pigeon Sisters. Yes there are two women's roles in The Odd Couple it isn't just Oscar, Felix and Murray (The Cop) with their three poker buddies Speed, Vinnie & Roy (Oscar's Accountant). The Pigeon Sisters (Gwendolyn & Cecily) are from England and live upstairs from Oscar they met in the elevator when the power went out.

Well at any rate more details about our production will eventually be added to the SSTG website. SSTG Home

Moving ON, IN or OUT?

Wow almost the end of August and I haven't updated here. That is mostly because of my move at the beginning of the month. All my time has been devoted to unpacking, well and also some rehearsing and performances of My Emperor's New Clothes. Did I mention that here? Well if not I guess I will someday in reminiscing about it. Anywho, due to scheduling errors and my cell phone being packed away in the moving truck I still don't have my cable/internet hooked up. Technically my cable should have been transferred to my apartment as a simple move, but I think the Comcast boneheads screwed it up. I know the guy I was going to have do the work, that my apartment complex uses was going to have me cancel my older cable and then start fresh. I ended up calling Comcast directly to get a clearer idea of what my new service would be, even though it will cost me slightly more than what the other guy was quoting. Why can't they offer the price he was offering? Anyway it is supposed to be just a simple transfer the cable and add the internet and now add a landline phone (apparently the 3-in-1 package costs the same as just having the twofer of cable and internet, weird).

Well next Tuesday (26 August) is when Comcast is supposed to come by and install the internet and phone line and transfer the cable. Hopefully things will be OK then and I can forget about all these problems. Good thing I have credit on my Comcast account, but unfortunately I have the credit because I overpaid last time. UGH! Another weird thing is when I try to check things online it seems that my old account was plain canceled not transferred so if that is really the case I am more steamed, but since things should be fixed on Tuesday I should be fine after that.

Short Month And Avatars

OK so I haven't done much here for February. Partly because I have been stage managing a show. It should be one of the last times I ever stage manage, I am sick of doing Tech work in theatre. I'll stick with acting and directing thank you very much. Anyway to make up for lack of activity. I will post a couple of "caricatures" of me, I made this month, from a couple of websites that make fun avatars.

First up (and not very flattering since I couldn't find a good enough match for me there) is the Become an M&M (http://www.becomeanmm.com/ ) attempt.


I don't think they have enough options for some of the characteristics. And you have to have gloves, weird.

Then I tried to go to LegoLand (http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mini/flash/minifig.swf ) but got stuck in the TARDIS.

Me as a mix-matched Doctor Who.
So maybe I don't make a good M&M (at least not the peanut version, maybe I should have used the plain version. My Lego-me doesn't look to swell either, but I like it OK. They really don't have much in the way of costumes for them. OH WELL.

Late November Idiotic Babbling.

Have to get a November post in here sometime. Lately I've been up to my ears in doing other stuff. Some of it very productive and the rest of it like the rest of life, very unproductive but sometimes fun. I've been spending maybe too much time in some of my dabblings, especially the dabbling of my trading card collection. Trying to set up trades, or sell of some of the stuff I'm not that into anymore. The biggest problem with that though is that many of today's collectors go for the high end more expensive stuff, the game used memorabilia stuff, and autographs, how they can afford it I don't know, and most of my stuff is just old fashioned base. A lot of it Vintage (over 10 years old) or Old School (not quite as old as vintage). I also spent a few weeks running the lights for a theatre show a production of Little Shop of Horrors in Kensington, MD. Oh Speaking of musicals coming Christmas time the movie version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opens in theatres directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. So it ain't going to be all cheery and happy.

The End of October!

It's the end the end of October it's the end the end of a so-so month. Man I can't believe that the Red Sox sweapt up the Rockies so easily. They did to them what the Patriots did to my Redskins and what high school teams could do to my belove-ed Rams this year. It's also hard to believe that October has come and gone so fast. Well I haven't gotten much sleep lately because I am in tech week for Little Shop of Horrors with KAT (http://katonline.org) well got to go now. See you sometime in November same Bat-Time same Bat-Channel, or at least same Bat-Blogsite!

April Showers Bringing May Flowers

ACK! April is almost over, it feels like it just barely began. Baseball is in the air and the Washington Nationals are once again losing but are losing while going down swinging. They have got to pick up the pace, but then again the season is only what 3 weeks old. So there is going to be lots of flip-floping all around. OK Next!

I am in rehearsals for a show I am directing with the Sandy Spring Theatre Group (SSTG) to be performed at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn (GAB) in June. The show is Steve Martin's first play Picasso at The Lapin Agile. It is filled with laughs and is great fun. The basic premise is a fictional meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein at the French Cabaret named Lapin Agile (The Nimble Rabbit - specifically a male rabbit) in 1904 Paris, France. They discuss how their respective works may effect the history of the 20th Century. So as a result my May entries will be somewhat limited, and I might only get the one post quota I try to keep as my standard minimum. Hopefully I'll be able to do more, but we shall see.

April Showers Or Something

Hmm OK so this seems to be my first April Entry. Yay! I've got several things I need to do and should be doing and as usual no time to do it.

In the next few days/weeks I will be in rehearsals for a show I am directing for The Sandy Spring Theatre Group (www.sstg-home.org). The show is Steve Martin's Picasso At The Lapin Agile the preformances will be in the first three weekends of June in Gaithersburg. Right now I have most of the cast, there are two more male characters that I need to cast. The turn out for auditions a couple of weeks ago was dismal. I had to go searching for most of the actors I did get and have additional auditions a couple of times. Needless to say I will be pretty busy and might not have very many entries here in April and May, so what else is new.

A few days ago I discovered at work that another website I like to visit and use has been blocked by their silly security programs because the site promotes mp3 file posting, ugh. So now I can't update any of my stuff at CDcomplete.com while at work. I used to be able to at least look at my collection there, then I started noticing errors whenever I would try to look at a specific title (while at work). Then work blocked the site all together. Oh Well I still can get to rateyourmusic.com. I noticed they have updated that site since I had last used it. Now there are more cover images and they seem to have more titles. I was using that site only for my cassette and vinyl collections (with some of the special CD box sets) since the CDs were covered by the CDcomplete site. I only have a couple of tapes listed there and about 20 vinyl albums in my collection list, so I have to buckle down and get more entries there. For about a year and a half I only had about 24 titles listed there. I listed more of my CDs there on Thursday and Friday so there are about 100 of my CDs listed there now. I have a big task ahead of me there. I had the same sort of task when I had first set up my account over at DVDSpot.com it took me awhile (Like over a week) to enter my 200+ DVDs I had, now since I'm updated there whenever I get new DVDs I can add it to the list easily. I hope to be able to do that with CDs shortly, but it will probably not be completed until sometime in the summer. Also rateyourmusic has always been a little simpler to add to your list than over at cdcomplete. At cdcomplete you needed to know the UPC number to identify which version of a title you had. It isn't too user friendly when it comes to comparing different versions. Rateyourmusic is more user friendly and more community oriented sort of like over at DVDspot. All this reminds me that I am still only about a fifth or sixth of the way through with catalogueing my books over at bibliophil.org which I have a few issues with, but that is for another blog entry now isn't it?

Midnight Crisis?

Sometimes I think I'm going through a Midnight Crisis, er Midwife Crisis (Yeah right), that is Mid-Life Crisis. Problem is I don't see the crisis part, guess it ain't really there. Or is it? Let's not think about that part.

Oh man, this afternoon at work I came up with some rhymes that would probably make a great Rap/Hip-Hop song, and make Millions of $$$$, but I can't remember what they were, 'skuze me what Dey Wuz. It might have been something related to makin' copies, because that was what I was doing at the time. Hmm like that character that Rob Schneider played on Saturday Night Live "The Bradster is makin' copies, Bradarolla, The Bradinator, BradenjenthenBradenangelina, Mr. Pitt Makin' Copies" The first time or two I saw that character I hated it, I thought it sucked, but after seeing it a few more times and getting used to it, I grew to like those sketches. That is one of the problems of being a fan of the Original SNL many of the more recent returning characters are stupid. Then they get so stupid you start liking them not because they are funny but because they are stupid. Then there are the characters that just suck. Not to mention the sketches that start off as a sort of funny situation for the first 10 seconds and they don't know how to end the scene and it goes on for 20 plus minutes. I guess that is why it is called Sophomore humor, you have to be a sophomore to enjoy it, then you outgrow it at somepoint, or not.

Speaking of bad. I once saw a production of one of my favorite shows that was difficult to watch. Make that two productions of two of my favorite shows. For this second one in particular the direction sucked. Sometimes it was difficult to figure out what was going on, and I have seen the show a few times before and know the story (which is a well known story and show) The cast was a mix of talented and not-even-close-to talented people. The set was minimal, the show doesn't have to have a big set, but some productions of it have gone all-out for the set and costumes. Oh the costumes, well they didn't really help too much and also since it was modern attire, the costumes didn't help set the mood, or the scene. In some cases the costumes didn't even tell what the characters were, but for most of the important characters there was a little of something. What it was I don't know. It was a disappiontment, I still kind of enjoyed the show a little I guess. OH and one of the lead characters they cross-gender cast, meaning they cast a woman in a role written for a man. It confused things but wasn't as annoying as the Where are they going? blocking. If this had been the first time I had seen the show, I wouldn't have known what was going on in some scenes, and it wouldn't be anywhere near my favorite shows.