Last night we went to see the latest offering at the Marriott Lincolnshire’s musical theater season, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.” I’m really glad I didn’t read the rave reviews in the Chicago Tribune or at Chicago Critic before seeing the show, because then I would have known going in just how big a triumph Guy Adkins has in his portrayal of Pseudolus, the wily and wryly funny slave of ancient Rome. I vaguely knew the story: it’s a pastiche of characters and situations lifted from classical Roman and Greek comedies, mostly from the works…
-
-
Okay, all 5 of you readers, I’m officially starting to panic. The fundraiser concert at Holy Moly is one week from today, and I have no frickin’ idea how many people are going to show up. I’ve dropped off flyers, I’ve posted announcements on craigslist and spammed musicians whose email addresses were available on the web. Here is the gist: they’re young, they’re talented, they’re bound for musical glory. It’s just a matter of time before they “break out.” And you can see them in an intimate setting, with “bright” acoustics, with a bite of dessert and a chance to…
-
ARRRGH! Just an hour or so ago I ordered a Calphalon One skillet at Amazon, too! Oh, well. We don’t currently have the storage space for a whole new set…unless we tossed a bunch of our current motley set of cookware. Anyway, the chef’s pan will be dead useful for making “Clamageddon” and “Whatchagot” pasta sauces. This is a really good deal, though: there’s a further discount operating in the month of August, as noted on Elise’s Simply Recipes site: There are a couple promotional offers associated with this sale. First, Amazon.com has a August promotion in which if you…
-
The other night, I was lying awake in the dark, drowsily contemplating something or other, and aaaalmost asleep. Faint cries came from somewhere outside, and suddenly I was listening intently. There’s something about the sound of a human distress call in the night that acts like a cattle prod – I was up and and listening at the window within a second or two. I could hear a woman’s voice, either angry or fearful or both, calling out from somewhere down the street. We live in a quiet, boring suburb. There’s usually no noise to speak of at night, other…
-
I was tinkering with the template (while humming the “Blacksmith’s Chorus”) and took out some stuff, may take out some more stuff, added in some stuff. Maybe someday (not soon) I’ll get past the “hey, here’s some cool crap to stick on the sidewall” stage. Check this out – now visitors get mapped. So where you at? It’ll show on the map. It’s pretty funny to zoom all the way in on satellite view. But funny ha-ha, or funny weird? Not sure yet, but click the new “gVisit Log” link in the right column and you’ll see a Googlemap showing…
-
Hey! Remember that Downing Street Memo thing? I blogged about it on June 12: I see via various blogs (BoingBoing and others) that the Downing Street Memo still hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention. The new website on the Memo has a lot of information on the issues surrounding the document, and also under the Take Action link, you can sign on to the letter to the President that asks the questions originally asked by Sen. John Conyers and 88 other members of Congress on May 5, 2005. There’s a link to a PDF copy of the actual document, with…
-
>BRANDON, Fla. – (KRT) – U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris is holding court in a crowded Republican Party headquarters in a strip mall east of Tampa, fielding questions from an enthusiastic crowd, eager to hear her thoughts on abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research. Then, from the back of the room comes the inevitable: “How do you plan on dealing with people still mad about the 2000 election?” The immaculately groomed woman in the perfectly tailored suit smiles. ”Do you think anybody will be?” she asks coyly. ”We simply followed the law.” Her audience applauds, delighted at the response from…
-
Brother Roger, founder of the ecumenical Taize’ community, was murdered Tuesday during a vespers service by a woman who is probably mentally disturbed. There’s not a lot of information, but it was a shocking, tragic end to a life of prayer and meditation and peace. This is a terrible loss to Christians everywhere, as Brother Roger was working to reconcile different streams of Christianity and lend support to the disenfranchised. The Taize’ community, founded in 1940 by Brother Roger when he was 25, became a safe haven for political refugees and people of all faiths, among them Jews fleeing the…
-
Flickr and Yahoo, those two cahootsers, are integrating even more by making it possible to sign in to Flickr using a Yahoo ID. This is supposed to make it easier to use and easier to invite people, and they’ve made the sign-up process even easier. So hey Timmy! Why don’t you sign up for Flickr and start putting some family photos up? How about everybody else in our far-flung family? I’ve been having a lot of fun with it lately and still have plenty of photos that I want to highlight there. I’m starting to join more group pools and…
-
Priest’s Pooch Welcomes N.D. Parishioners – Yahoo! News AAAAAH! I’ve been talking about starting a dogwalking club at Holy Moly. These guys get national PRESS because their priest brings his dog to Mass. Oh, man. We gotta get us some Episcopawlians.