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9.30.05 Out of the Closet, Part 3 He looks at the closet, I pull out my Beretta, he walks up to the closet, he comes up to the closet, now he's at the closet, now he's opening the closet (closet, closet)...
Item: Waterman Ideal fountain pen How long I've had it: Since 1986 Possible eBay value: Since it's still in the original box, possibly as much as $50-100 (a similar pen in mint condition just sold on eBay for around $130). Stay or go?: I haven't used this pen in probably 10 years; as I got more heavily into computers, I found myself using pens in general less and less. (I use Pilot rollerball pens when I solve puzzles. Fine fountain pens should never be used on newsprint.) However, it's classy, and I could use it when I need to sign things like 125 Records contracts. It could probably benefit from a professional cleaning; Google turned up a local pen-repair place called Penopoly, so perhaps if I am really, really bored after I finish the closet project, I'll run it down to San Leandro.
Item: Two small Lego sets How long I've had them: Since the mid-1990s Possible eBay value: The Black Monarch's Ghost set, including the box, recently sold for around $11; there are several up for bid now. Stay or go?: These are definitely going, but I'm too lazy to post them on eBay for such a small potential return. Any Lego collectors out there want 'em? Speaking of toys: For those who remember my fabled Hello Kitty collection, which I started assembling when I was in my 20s and young enough that it was still kind of cute and kicky to collect Hello Kitty, it's already gone. I donated it to the Shotgun Players' yard sale last week. Hopefully, it was snapped up by a new generation of Kitty collectors and generated a tidy profit for my favorite East Bay theater company.
9.29.05 Out of the Closet, Part 2 Yes, it's more trash, uh, I mean treasured keepsakes from the office closet!
Items: Three View-Master viewers and a lot of reels How long I've had them: Since childhood Possible eBay value: A mint copy of the Apollo Moon Landing reels recently sold for a whopping $3.25. Let's face it, everyone had these back in the 1960s and early 70s, and most people held onto them. Stay or go?: It's hard to imagine any of today's kids finding any pleasure in this low-tech toy, but who knows, maybe someday I can pass them onto one of my friends' children, as an antique curiosity or something. Or if space gets too tight, I may try to Freecycle most of the reels (I'll hang onto at least one viewer and the Swedish sets).
Item: "MTV Hot Hits from Cherry 7Up" audio cassette, featuring songs by Jody Watley, Taylor Dayne, Belinda Carlisle, ABC, and other 1980s hitmakers. I could probably fill several days' worth of "Out of the Closet" with "gifts" I've received from my friend James over the years. I'm sure he'll be pleased to read that I also came across my "Nobody's Perfekt" one-sheet today. The post-it note on the front reads, "Your very own gift from Big Lots! Don't unwrap it—it may be a collector's item!" Don't I wish... How long I've had it: It's dated 1988. Possible eBay value: Unknown. I Googled the title, and astonishingly, someone had posted a want ad on eWanted.com searching for this very item! The bad news: the ad had expired, so there was no way of contacting the person who posted it. Perhaps someone else had it and was willing to deal. Stay or go?: Is it possible that there are actually Cherry 7Up collectors out there who might covet this? Maybe I should list it on eBay—if it did bring me lots of money, who'd have the last laugh then, eh?
9.28.05 Out of the Closet, Part 1 For the past couple of weeks, I have been struggling with the arduous task of cleaning out the closet in my office, something that required removing absolutely everything that was in there (just like on "Clean Sweep"!). It can be very, very hard for me to part with things, but I'm making a concerted effort. Therefore, I'm introducing this exciting new Conical Glass feature, in which we examine things that I found in the closet, and I decide what to do with them. If there's pictorial evidence, maybe it'll make it easier for me to part with them.
Items: Autographed covers of two now-defunct publications, Melody Maker and Bam; signed by Rolo of the Woodentops and Stan Ridgway, respectively How long I've had them: Since 1986, meaning I've carted them around through at least six moves. Possible eBay value: None, as far as I can determine. The covers were torn off and taped to cardboard. Maybe they'd be worth, like, a nickel apiece if the magazines themselves were intact. Stay or go?: After 19 years, I think it's time for one final move—to the recycling bin.
Items: Little pocket calendars How long I've had them: I thought I had one from 1986, but the earliest one I found was '87. Possible eBay value: Even less than the magazine covers. Stay or go?: These are a tough call; I used them to record all the concerts I went to (3/23/87: Hüsker Dü at Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C.) and, starting in 2000, all the books I read (101 that year, a record that I doubt I will ever surpass, but I was much more lightly employed back then). Nowadays, I keep track of most of those things on the computer, which is a great space-saver. I don't really want to take the time to enter all of that old information on the computer, but it's sort of fun to have (ah yes, Iggy Pop at Hammerjacks on 10/28/88... still the only show I've ever been to where a drunk guy has thrown up on my shoes). For now, I will put these in the "keep" pile.
Despite my rampant cynicism, sometimes, something comes along that makes me feel, dare I say it, exhilarated. Being one of the first people on the library hold list for Sue Grafton's forthcoming S is for Silence, for instance. And what about this—one of my idols, radio host Marty Nemko, whom I have mentioned several times in this forum, is going to be acting in the Agatha Christie play "Ten Little Indians" next month at the Chanticleers community theater in Castro Valley. Like any good mystery fan, I have read the book and know the outcome (Christie's solutions tend to be especially memorable), but I have never seen the stage production. By the way, did you know that Indians was initially published under a rather offensive title? I was shocked when I first heard that, but I suppose attitudes were quite different back in the 1930s. Eventually, the word "Indians" became taboo as well, so the current paperback edition of the novel is titled And Then There Were None. Really, you should read it if you've somehow managed to miss out. Community theater is nice and all, but it's doubtful that "Indians" will contain a performance as fierce as that of Trish Mulholland in "Owners," English playwright Caryl Churchill's 1972 work about a rapacious female landlord, now being staged by Berkeley's Shotgun Players. Mulholland plays Marion, the wife of a butcher with Neandrathal views about "the weaker sex"—he persistently fantasizes about chopping up his ambitious wife like so much beef. I found the play wickedly funny, and was delighted to see John Mercer again (he starred in my favorite play of '04, Shotgun's production of Tom Stoppard's "Travesties"). Mercer plays Marion's onetime lover Alec with an air of supreme detachment and a speaking voice that sounds uncannily like Ringo Starr's. "Owners" may begin by pitting owner against renter, but by the end, simply possessing inanimate properties isn't enough for Marion—she wants dominion over human lives as well. Shotgun always sells baked goods in its lobby, and perhaps as a tie-in with this English play, they were offering scones. Now, anyone who's gone to the theater in London knows that one of the best parts is that vendors come right into the theater during intermission to sell little cups of ice cream, which you eat with tiny wooden paddles. I couldn't get over how marvelous that was and I keep hoping some American theater will pick up that tradition someday. Anyway, by the time we got to the head of the line, they were sold out of chocolate scones. For shame, Shotgun! Next time, you'd do well to remember that Berkeleyans love chocolate just as much as they do British critiques of the capitalist society! In other news, the skeezy liquor store across the street from the Ashby Stage has closed. Perhaps it'll become a cute little café, well-stocked with chocolate treats, open late enough for aprés-theater tea and snacks.
I probably spend an average of 45 minutes a day solving puzzles, something I justify because it's intellectually healthy and allegedly helps prevent Alzheimer's disease ("I'm not just lying around doing the New York Times crossword—I'm actively maintaining my brainpower!"). My puzzling time has increased lately, thanks to the introduction of sudoku, which I first heard about back in June via Rog's blog. Due to their meteoric rise in popularity, most daily newspapers, including my own, now feature sudoku. (As a bonus, the West County Times got rid of the horrible "Lockhorns" comic strip to make way for the new puzzle.) At first, it took me forever to solve the easiest sudoku—they are rated on a scale of one to five stars, with five being the hardest. However, I finally got the hang of it, and on Saturday I actually managed to solve a four-star sudoku. I did today's one-star puzzle in just under four minutes. As a more word-oriented person, I will probably always prefer crosswords, but as a puzzle freak, I'm glad to have a new challenge.
So you'd better start coming up with costume ideas. Here is what I'd be wearing, if I actually attended Halloween parties. Then Joe would have to wear this. Here's one for my mom. Hobie is a little devil. Finally, Paula gets this expensive costume.
While browsing at a Friends of the Library book sale last weekend, I noticed a copy of 14,000 Things to Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer on one of the tables. I imagine that it was donated by a cynic who doesn't feel that "the position of your head as you bite into a taco," "the ketchup that collects at the lip of the bottle" and "stickpins" (actual items from the book!) are things that should make one delirious with joy. I don't know if anyone ever wrote an "answer book" after 14,000 Things was published in 1990—you know, the way the business mega-smash Who Moved My Cheese? inspired Nobody Moved Your Cheese! and I Moved Your Cheese. But someone should have. It may have to be me. 40 Things To Be Unhappy About
I somehow doubt that anyone reading this is left hanging by the things I write about and then neglect to follow up on, but since I haven't had much to say recently, let's take a trip through some past entries: 9.9.05: I never did find anyone to go with me to the Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour. I need harder-drinking friends. Since I don't believe an unaccompanied lady should be hanging out in taverns, I skipped it. Boo! The Sazerac will have to wait until N.O. is open for business again and I visit it, which will happen someday. 8.22.05: Training Diary. Yes, I am still running. I'm not totally convinced that I will be ready to run 13.1 miles in just over a month—I have a 10-mile training run scheduled for Oct. 1, which I'm somewhat dreading—but I have upped my speed a little bit (I ran 5 miles in 50 minutes yesterday), which is good. I figure that if I get tired out during the half-marathon, I'll just take some walking breaks. I have a tremendous amount of stamina when it comes to walking, and hey, some people are walking the entire 26.2-mile marathon! In any case, I will finish. After that, I'm not sure if I'll try to train for a full marathon, or stick to shorter distances; I'm planning to run the Bay to Breakers 12K next May. 8.17.05: Eating the same thing every day: No, it didn't work. Most recent things I've eaten, besides Kashi: homemade pizza; leftover spinach & potato (see, I'm not completely off potatoes) curry from neighborhood Indian restaurant; whole-grain waffles and Morningstar Farms vegetarian sausage links. 8.15.05: Got the stickers for our Prius—it turns out you have to put four of them on your car, one on each side—and I love being able to drive in the car pool lane. Now if only they would add one on the San Francisco approach to the Bay Bridge. 8.2.05: Luckily, Hobie's paw healed after his course of antibiotics so he didn't need surgery, saving us $$$. 7.24.05: The roof replacement wound up starting late so by the time we got back from New York, it was done. It was surprisingly painless. I suffered through a couple days' worth of banging and clomping up on the roof, and then we went out of town, and that was that.
9.18.05 The Girl in the Gas Mask On most weekdays, I drive Joe to the BART station in the morning. Frequently, when I am heading home after dropping him off, I see a woman walking down the street wearing a gas mask. I can't help but wonder why she wears it. Is she worried about a sudden chemical attack? Does she have really, really bad allergies? While trying to find a photo of a gas mask on the web, I came across this Wikipedia article mentioning that "[a] small but significant number of people, particularly in the United Kingdom, have a sexual fetish about gas masks." There is even a web site called Rate My Gasmask in which people submit photos, presumably erotic in nature, of themselves wearing gas masks. The front page of the site warns that it contains adult content, so I decided not to venture farther into it. If you're interested, well, Google away.
That was what you call an unplanned break. I apologize to anyone who doesn't use RSS and kept checking this page for new entries; I have been busy making some much-needed improvements to Interbridge/125 World Headquarters. Joe and I went to Chronicle TV critic Tim Goodman's annual fall preview night at the Parkway last night. Every year, Tim screens a few of the pilots for an audience of TV fans. Last year, he showed the full two-hour pilot of "Lost," among others; this year, it was all comedy, which seems to be making a comeback. Whether anyone will watch remains to be seen. Those of you lucky enough to have HBO should definitely check out Ricky Gervais' "Extras," which will make a cringe-inducing partner to "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The debut episode features an uproarious supporting turn by a very famous actress. I commented that "My Name Is Earl" could be called "Touched by a Redneck," since it features a guy who goes around helping people, just like that angel show! Except the guy is a no-goodnik who has spent his life lying, cheating and stealing, and is now trying to make up for it in the name of karma. It's not gut-bustingly funny, but it is well-written and interesting. Unfortunately, it's also up against "The Amazing Race" and "House," so it probably won't be seen again in our one-TV household. "How I Met Your Mother" is forced and gimmicky; it's also one of two shows we saw to feature an ex-"Buffy" player ("Kitchen Confidential," with Nicholas "Xander" Brendan as a pastry chef, is the other). "Mother" is about a guy in 2030 telling his two kids the story of how he... well, you know. Judging from the pilot, it's going to be one heck of a long story, with a number of shaggy-dog diversions. Alyson "Willow" Hannigan co-stars as the protagonist's sister-in-law-to-be, and Neil Patrick "Doogie Howser" Harris is the show's bright spot as an obnoxious friend who never leaves home without wearing a suit. "Kitchen" is based on Anthony Bourdain's nonfiction book of the same name, about a hotshot chef working at a brand-new restaurant in New York. It was nice to see former "Monk" co-star Bitty "Sharona" Schram in a small part as a Ruth Reichl-like restaurant critic. At heart, though, the show is your basic workplace comedy. Finally, "Everybody Hates Chris" is the buzz show of the season, kind of "The Wonder Years" as told by Chris Rock. It's based on his youth in Bed-Stuy, when he was the only black kid in a very white, very Italian junior high school (Corleone Junior High, ha ha). There were some funny moments, but I felt bad for li'l Chris, who is tortured by bullies and made to cope with a loving but somewhat chaotic home life. Of course, there's a happy ending—he did grow up to be a hugely famous comedian.
Yes!! Three San Francisco bars are now up on the Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour list. Anyone care to join me on Monday for a Hurricane or Sazerac? For now I vote for the Bubble Lounge due to its all-important proximity to BART (well, seven blocks, but couldn't we all use a brisk walk?). Note the dress code—I can understand no sneakers, but no sandals? I have some very nice, dressy sandals, and I can't imagine anyone objecting to them, but whatever. I'll check again in a couple days to see if any other SF taverns will be participating. E-mail me if you're interested and can be there between 5-7 PM. Has anyone else caught those bizarro late-night TV ads featuring Barry Manilow-loving gay mortgage broker Tom Kamb ("I'm gay, and I get it!")? What's really odd is that I keep seeing them during "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which I can't imagine has much of a gay following—Jimmy did spend several years on Comedy Central's beer-'n-boobs fest "The Man Show," after all. Perhaps Tom should save his media buys for, say, "Will and Grace" reruns, or anything on HGTV (which has featured many extremely tasteful gay couples on its home-decorating shows). Below is a blurry phone cam pic taken at the Powell St. BART station in San Francisco last night. UPN 44 has bought advertising rights for the entire station, which is now completely covered in ads promoting the upcoming syndicated run of "South Park." My favorite sign is the one you see from the escalator, which has a pic of the Satan character with the tag line, "Going down?"
My aunt and cousin report that FOX News's Brit Hume did a segment on charities last night, and the Salvation Army came out ahead of the Red Cross. The RC and United Way keep much more money for administrative costs, and their executives have way higher salaries. Yet another reason to give to a charity other than the RC. (I haven't given to the United Way in years, due to all the scandals that have plagued that organization.) My point is that so many people just reflexively get out their wallets and give money to the Red Cross because the RC has somehow managed to become the default charity whenever a disaster strikes. If you click on the "Donate to the Katrina relief effort" link on Google's home page, for example, the only option is to give money to the RC. I don't deny that they do good work, but they are not the only organization out there helping people in need.
9.7.05 Laissez les bons temps roulez! I can't think of a more perfect event for this blog to endorse than the Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour, a benefit for displaced New Orleans food & beverage industry workers. (God knows there must be a lot of them.) On Monday, Sept. 12, participating bars will offer special New Orleans cocktails at $10 each, with the proceeds going to a special tax-deductible relief fund established by the Museum of the American Cocktail. Unfortunately, at this time no San Francisco-area establishments are on the list, but there are many in New York, Philly, D.C. and Seattle. You can always make one of the cocktails at home; recipes are provided on the site. (Thanks to Ces for the link.)
I'm totally crazy about the RSS reader Sage, which Joe set up for me over the weekend. Now I don't have to be frustrated by blogs which only get updated once in a blue moon. When they do get updated, Sage will let me know. Sage rocks! If you want to make a non-Red Cross donation to help hurricane victims, this looks like a good one: Habitat for Humanity, which will be helping low-income families in the affected areas recover and rebuild. I also have a soft spot for First Book, which is providing books to children affected by Hurricane Katrina. When we were putting together a disaster-preparedness kit shortly after Sept. 11, one of the first things I put in there was a book of short stories. Even if the world was falling apart around me, I'd feel a lot better if I had something to read. Follow-up: We made donations to Habitat and the Humane Society, and I sent a little money to First Book as well.
After the Sept. 11 disaster, we immediately logged onto the Red Cross' web site and donated a few hundred bucks. For whatever reason, this time, we've been a little pokier. Joe's company has pledged to match donations to the Red Cross, and we want to do something to help, but... According to the latest figures, the RC has received over $350 million in donations since Katrina. Zillionaire T. Boone Pickens just donated another $5 million. Telethons, lemonade stands and garage sales are continuing to bring in cash. And I can't help but wonder... does the RC even need our money at this point? Will other charitable organizations that aren't hurricane-related suffer? (I'm very glad I've already reached my TNT fundraising goal.) Should we make a donation to another one of our favorite charities, like Project Open Hand? I had suggested to Joe that we give some money to the Humane Society's disaster relief fund, but he thought that might be unseemly considering how many humans are in need. So many Americans gave money in the aftermath of Sept. 11 that a huge controversy ensued. RC president Dr. Bernardine Healy wanted some of the excess cash to go to causes like preparing for future terrorist attacks. The objections to this eventually caused Dr. Healy to resign and after Congressional hearings, the Red Cross pledged that all funds would go to directly benefit the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Personally, I wouldn't have minded if some of the money we gave on Sept. 11 had been saved for a rainy day (like last week, perhaps). Is the aftermath of the hurricane so horrible that the Red Cross's needs are infinite? Are you giving to the RC, and if so, is it at the expense of your usual charities? In the face of such a horrible tragedy, is it wrong to divert some of your funds to help save animals? Thoughts??
Due to overwhelming demand, this blog is now available via an RSS feed. If you don't know what that is, feel free to keep up with it the old-fashioned way. I was a little disappointed this morning that my Sunday-morning ritual of listening to Work With Marty Nemko was interrupted by more hurricane coverage (with a bit of Rehnquist thrown in). It seems that the NPR coverage at this point consists mainly of interviews with survivors talking about how they have lost everything, their attempts to reconnect with loved ones, etc., and it depresses me so much that I have to switch it off and listen to something non-news-based. Ironically, on Friday I received the master of a forthcoming 125 release, and it contains songs titled "Flow Thee Water" and "Total Mass Destruction." I guess it's good that it won't be released until next year... This morning, I asked Joe which material object(s) he would choose to take with him if we had to flee suddenly. The only thing either of us could come up with was our computer. Thinking along those lines kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? All that really matters is making sure your loved ones (that includes animals, of course) are safe. I spent a couple hours today sorting through a few random boxes of stuff that have accumulated in the office, trying to throw away and recycle as much as possible. I have serious pack-rat tendencies, and a time like this offers a chance to ask myself, You don't really need to keep all that stuff, do you? Anyway, let's try to take a brisk trip through the rest of my New York A-Z, because it's important to finish what you've started. Glengarry Glen Ross: This is the reason we decided to go to New York in the first place—because Joe wanted to see the revival of his favorite play, starring Alan Alda and Liev Schrieber in the main roles. I was disappointed that Jeffrey Tambor, star of two of my all-time favorite TV shows ("The Larry Sanders Show" and "Arrested Development") was not there on the day we attended, though his understudy did an excellent job. I'm just sorry I found out about the "GGR" eBay auction after it had already ended. The producers sold parts of the show's magnificent set on the online auction site. If only I could have purchased Ricky Roma's briefcase or ashtray; wouldn't they have made the best birthday present ever? Hershey's Store in Times Square: This, to me, represents the worst in Times Square commercialization: a store that sells the same Hershey's merchandise you can buy at any Walgreen's in the land, except more attractively packaged, as well as Hershey's mugs, T-shirts, etc. We went in because I was intrigued by the store's magnificent façade, and it was absolutely packed. I'm sure most of the customers were tourists buying gifts for friends back home. "Look, I went to New York and bought you some Reese's cups, but they're in a collectible tin!" JetBlue: When you want to fly across the country at the spur of the moment without spending an arm and a leg, you'll probably wind up on JetBlue, which is so popular now that it has an entire terminal to itself at JFK. JetBlue's big selling point is that they offer free DirecTV service, so you can watch cable TV while you fly. Generally, I spend my in-flight hours either reading or solving crossword puzzles, but another distraction is always welcome. Unfortunately, it's mostly a case of 57 channels and nothing on. I did enjoy Animal Planet's "K9 Karma," a goofy but fun show about the adventures of a yoga instructor and her beloved mutt Charlie (yes, she offers "doga" classes as well as ones just for humans). But mainly, daytime cable TV is nothing to write home about. And it figures that the episodes of "Queer Eye" and "Clean Sweep" that were on were ones I'd already seen, when there are tons of eps that I haven't seen. Library Hotel, The: This is my new favorite hotel. For one thing, it's small; there are only six rooms per floor, so the usual problem I run into in NYC hotels (noisy people whooping it up in the halls while I'm trying to sleep) was eliminated. I still had to sleep with earplugs, though, since midtown Manhattan isn't exactly a quiet place, even when you're 10 floors up. But mainly, the hotel was a serene oasis of calm in the city that never sleeps. A large lounge/library area on the hotel's second floor offers complimentary daily breakfast (mmm, New York bagels!) as well as a nightly wine and cheese reception. They even have a huge, fancy espresso machine, and hot water and tea bags are always available. There were several copies of the day's New York Times to read, and to top it off, a free computer with internet access. I must admit that as a die-hard library fanatic, the hotel's name drew me in, but its quality made me want to go back. (By the way, the hotel is located two blocks from the main NYC library, and each of its guest rooms offer a themed collection of books; we stayed in the journalism room on the General Knowledge floor.) Panhandlers: On our first day in New York, I had a spare sandwich that I popped in my bag, figuring I'd give it to the first panhandler we encountered. Imagine my amazement when we didn't see any of them. How unlike San Francisco and much of Berkeley, where there are homeless people sleeping in doorways and folks hitting you up for money on every single block. Finally, after an entire day in the city, we were in the charmingly named Hell's Kitchen, which is where "The Daily Show"'s studios are located, I walked into a park and found someone who looked down on his luck, went up to him, and offered him the sandwich. In five days, we traversed neighborhoods including Battery Park, the East Village, Chinatown and the Bowery, and I think we saw two panhandlers the entire time. San Francisco has been trying to solve its homeless problem for years, with no results. Someone should send a delegation to New York and find out what happened there. I remember the New York of old, which was run-down and threatening; for years, I wouldn't go near the subways, because they reeked of urine and I felt unsafe sitting in the graffiti-laden cars. That's not the case anymore. If you've been avoiding New York due to what it used to be like years ago, visit the New York of today; you'll be amazed by the changes. Producers, The: With rare exceptions like "Evita" and the works of Stephen Sondheim, Joe is not a big fan of musicals, which is why we mainly stick to plays, both here and in New York. However, his younger sister Melanie was coming up from Pennsylvania to visit us for a couple days and she had never seen a show before. I felt she should see something big, so I bought tickets to "The Producers." This show has everything you'd expect from a good old-fashioned Broadway musical—jokes, dancing girls, huge sets, toe-tapping songs. Even Joe enjoyed it. It's corny and the humor is broad, but you'll laugh and applaud in spite of yourself. I was a big Mel Brooks fan when I was a kid, and I remember renting the tape of the originals "Producers" movie. For days afterward, I went around singing "Springtime for Hitler"—"Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party!"—which got me in trouble with my mom, who felt that the subject matter was nothing to joke about. Who would have guessed it would eventually be turned into a Tony-winning musical? Of course, the gag is that the two producers, Bialystock and Bloom, are Jews (so is Brooks), and their show is supposed to be a catastrophic failure. The actor hired to play Hitler in the "Producers" film is a ridiculously over-the-top flower-power hippie played by Dick Shawn. In the musical version, "Springtime" director Roger De Bris does double duty by playing Adolf. The big "Springtime" production number is like nothing I've ever seen before; it's the kind of thing that makes your $100 ticket (or $53 if you wait in line at TKTS) seem like a bargain, because what's up on stage looks like a million bucks. Purses, counterfeit: There may not be panhandlers, but there are certainly a lot of street vendors. Battery Park had dozens of them selling "designer" purses—Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. The funny thing is that these purses were so ubiquitous that whenever I saw a woman carrying a logo'ed handbag, I assumed it was a fake. How much would it suck to spend $500 on an authentic Gucci purse only to have people figure you probably bought it from a guy on the street or at a purse party for $25. Spamalot: You have a better chance of buying a Spam and cheese sandwich at a kosher deli than you do of scoring tickets to "Spamalot." Needless to say, we didn't see it. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin (star of the wonderful "Fool Moon") in the starring roles were reason enough to see this show, but I was curious about it because it's a classic I had only heard about. There are no goats in this one, just lots of marital mind games and fussin' and fightin', with a younger couple caught in George and Martha's increasingly boozy crossfire. I can understand why it was so controversial in its day. Even in 2005, when married couples battle it out on "Dr. Phil" and reality TV shows, the events that transpire over the course of three acts is still pretty eye-opening. This would make a lousy first-date (or second, or third...) play, but I'd imagine that even the most combative twosome would leave the theater thinking, "Well, at least we're not that bad." Zorbing: OK, I'll admit it—I still haven't zorbed. Someday, I hope.
9.1.05 We Interrupt This Travelogue It seems really superficial right now to write about naughty singing puppets or ferry nachos when there's so much tragedy in this country right now. I've been listening to NPR almost all day, and the stories of devastation are just overwhelming. Worth reading is Richard Roeper's column for the Chicago Sun-Times headlined, "Paper's hurricane predictions were frighteningly true." In it, he quotes from a 2002 series that appeared in the New Orleans Times-Picayune (love that name, by the way) about the devastation that could result if a hurricane hit the state's gulf coast. It reminded me of a two-part series from the East Bay Express back in February called "It's Not Our Fault": "With local faults primed for a large quake, a region lives in denial." Just like New Orleans, the San Francisco area is only one natural disaster away from death and destruction. The only difference is, with an earthquake, we won't have any warnings. Now, I love it here and am fully aware of how fragile it is. I choose to stay, and hope that if and when the big one hits, I will be in a safe place. Our building was retrofitted a few years ago, but what if you happen to be on the BART, driving on the Bay Bridge, or shopping in an unreinforced-masonry building? And if it's a really big quake, especially on the Hayward Fault (which runs perilously close to my home), I doubt anyplace will be safe. In a situation like that, the best case scenario is that you wind up homeless, but alive and well. My friend Sujata's husband's family lived in Metairie, one of the hardest hit areas. They've lost everything. Sujata's mother-in-law will soon be on her way to Baltimore to move in with them permanently. I don't know what will happen to her brother-in-law's family, which is currently staying with friends in Mississippi. I wish I'd had the opportunity to visit New Orleans. It was on my list of places I hoped to get to someday. What will it be like in a year, five years, a decade? Will people ever want to move back, risk starting over in a place that could be hit by a hurricane again... a place that, no matter how much money is put into rebuilding it, will never be the same? |
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