"Pete Rogers" in the 21st Century?

Allow me to speak off the topic of writing and storytelling for today’s post so I may tell you what transpired this weekend.

Bart and took another step into the 21st Century. Our 52” widescreen flat HDTV arrived. Hosah. We also now have a Blu-Ray player and HD TiVo (150 hours of HD storage). To quote Napoleon Dynamite, “SWEET!”

That’s what we did on Saturday…waited beyond the “window” of time for the delivery and patiently waited for it to be set up. As you may know from the cover flap of Peter Pan’s NeverWorld, Bart and I live on the third floor. It’s a walk up. Obviously we did not want to lug it up ourselves when we could have someone used to the task do it for us. But we’re the “recipients who care” as we had coffee, orange juice, multi-flavor bagels from ‘Einstein!’ and both regular and strawberry cream cheese spread. He told us that many folks don’t even offer water!

I’m not going to typing rave about how “sweet” it is…you all either know or can imagine.

But wowsers.

As of right now, we have to wait until tomorrow evening to actually get HD channels…or even cable stations like the Food Network (a favorite of Bart, my adorable cook.) It’s because of a lack of knowledge both on my part and on the part of our cable provider. The cable provider is notorious for making “customer service” an oxymoron. [Thanks to Mission Improvisational, see post here.] However, don’t think me a moron. My misunderstanding is caused by unfamiliarity. We no longer have a “cable box.” A “cable card” slides into our TiVo and it becomes both. So the card equals/replaces the box. Completely foreign and wacky concept to me. Cable Provider had told me "oh just plug it in!" but...NO. "Lied" to, again. They need to activate it somehow and cannot do so until Tuesday because not enough people are aware of how to do it. (The technology/procedure is “foreign” to many, including their own staff.)

Having a dual tuner TiVo makes it all the more wonderful. And Bart is truly astounded and satisfied with the amazing quality of Disney’s first Blu-Ray animated feature, Sleeping Beauty. (It’s his favorite.) I gave him the Blu-Ray of it (as well as the enhanced regular DVD version) for our Anniversary this past October. So only now (then) has he been able to experience its glory. [And, yes, I too relish said glory.]

Okay. Enough about the 21st Century upgrade at our place.

The rest of our weekend (when not seeing [and learning remotes and settings and such of] the magnitude) had its share of delights. We had a lovely meal on Saturday night at the home of a family which is friends with ours.

Sunday morning we brunched with Dragonfly and Tall Boy. We had them meet us at our place first, as they had not been told about the “new arrival.” Needless to say, they Oooed and Ahhhed. We then went on to brunch, choosing a place just blocks from where we live. For the weather proved rather unwelcoming. Yes, Winter has officially come to Chicago. We braved the sleet-like rain and wind, rewarded, thankfully, with a great meal and a lovely visit. Tall Boy regaled us with some inside information on The Ville, his live theatre soap opera. Even better, he told us about the opera he has conceived. It's marvelously inventive...and it had been inspired by something Dragonfly said. How great is that? I wish could explain the premise to you, but 1) it is not place to do so with an unestablished work and 2) it's something you'd be better off discovering. It's that imaginative. "Wow," said I with utmost weight and sincerity to Tall Boy. "Yeah," he replied, "I've been thinking about this for a while now." Let us hope that he finds the time and gumption to bring it to fruition!

Meanwhile, Winter progressed to horrendous as the day wore on into a nighttime snowy, icy mess. But it looks damn pretty everywhere!

I then spent much of the rest of Sunday cleaning up the den. Before the new TV came, we had been using the television I use to play Wii, for we gave our living room TV to friends who had a television a fraction of the size of most folks. (Circa 18”) Since they have two adorable little girls, we knew they’d enjoy receiving a bigger screen, too. They also inherited our all-the-bells-and-whistles DVD player. Hooray for sharing and caring. Thus, since the TV had been removed, I took the opportunity to dust and just generally clean up and out and entire room. It had become a tangled overstuffed mess. Incidentally, the den is also where the computer is and hence, where I do my writing.

All righty, thanks for letting me ramble about my lovely weekend.

I’ll be back on track with story/writing posts tomorrow with a review of the movie we watched in HD.

Mystical Elegance

- my two word description
of the set for Anung’s First American Christmas.

Yes, I returned to the theatre last night. (Twice, actually. But two different theatres - more in a bit.)

Let me say that my prediction had been correct. The results of the work done are wonderful. (Not that it had been any great feat to predict as such!) Walking in, I beheld a complete dreamcatcher. Even the “web” portion has been colored to match the sinew of the real dreamtime tool. Every detail certainly counts toward the whole effect.

I painted this time - but all the “fun” parts had already been done. It’s best, anyway, to leave that to professionals like Laughter. But now, by my meager hand, the rest of the theatre floor is black, which sets off the…er…set. For the record, Laughter’s Cosmos is much more subtle than the photos I showed. He did have a plethora of pictures much the same, but it’s easy to see why he toned it down. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of shining stars and streaming wufts of color. Just not as prominent. And, of course, it works much better. All part of the elegance. The fabrics, too, have been fancified with hues. It’s marvelous.

I also saw my college prof, the one who wrote the show. (I suppose I should give him a name!) Very nice to see Sparrow again. We chatted about the show a little. Naturally, he asked about Peter Pan’s NeverWorld, too. Sparrow then showed Laughter and me the materials he’ll be using for the Installation. Vitalist Theatre is known for its elaborate ante-room presentations. And Sparrow goes to town on them, for they are his domain. Whether it be bits of literature, photos or actual pieces (in this case branches/trees, antlers, animal skulls, etc.) the decorative and informative display is a theatrical event all its own.

I also chanced to wander through the Green Room. Know what I saw? The puppets, masks and costumes! Wow! Bravo to everyone involved. The puppets are truly remarkable. They are adorable yet reverently realistic of the Animals they represent. I can’t wait to see them in motion. Exquisite work all around. And I’m too curious who wears what and when!

Mighty fine work. Oh, by the way, Laughter says the 40 foot silks are in fact 45 feet.

While Anung rehearsed, I attened The Ville, a series by Bare Boned Theatre. The brainchild of Dragonfly’s beau, Tall Boy (along with Sappho), The Ville is a madcap soap opera depicting the lives of gays and lesbians in Andersonville. Regrettably I have not been able to make every performance in the saga. (A new “episode” begins the first Monday of each month.) But I am quite glad to have seen this one, the musical season finale. Tall Boy wrote all the music and lyrics. He’s quite talented, skilled in not only varying the melodies and tone, but able to wittily convey the story through song. [You know, like an composer and lyricist should! ;) ] Bravo, Tall Boy! And bravo to Sappho and everyone else in the company. It’s quite the amusing show. And yet, for every purposeful over-the-top scenario is an undercut of poignancy and a deeper issue. It’s always a delight.

My first post about Anung's First American Christmas can be found here.

Misbehave? Down, Austin!

Last night Bart and I attended Ain't Misbehavin' at the Goodman Theatre.
Though it did not blow me away, it provided a great time.
Very strong voices, great dance routines, top notch music and a delightful set.

On the way home, Bart spotted Dragonfly and Tall Boy in a "greasy spoon" from the cab window.
This time the serendipity isn't so amazing, as Tall Boy lives merely blocks away from us and the diner isn't even a whole block away. Bart had an omelete. I ate his (unwanted) hash browns and had a root beer float. We misbehaved. Just a little...all in fun.

Another Culture Weekend

Once again we packed our weekend with much fun and culture. Bart and I went to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant with his sister Lage. Then Bart and I headed down to The Greenhouse Theater, a smaller space affiliated with the Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater. We saw a performance of five one-woman shows, the fruits of Tekki Lomnicki’s class on writing a one-person show. Sunshine attended this class before moving to Ohio and came back to perform her piece, Inconceivable! All in all it proved to be great. Each show had both charm and weight, true delights, relating issues ranging from insights into historical figures to dealing with ludicrous racism during 9/11.
Brava to them all!

After that Bart and I moved on to the Tony-winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater for their latest rendition of Comedy of Errors. Let me tell you, Bart and I have been subscribers for about four years now. We are always impressed, but this show had to be one of the best we have ever seen. Wow! Genius. Brilliant! The show did not just contain Shakespeare’s wacky classic, but another play erected on top of it. The concept took place in London during the 1940’s when a troupe of screen actors get together to film Comedy of Errors and only having 36 hours to do so. They filmed it gratis for the troops fighting Hitler. The new script shined with delicious characters and relationships “on the set.” Yes, it had the obligatory moments such as “CUT!” But it never overused such devices, either. The special effects (bombings!) were fantastic and it even began by staging the prologue as a screening, making it appear flickering and in black & white! Top notch performances (as always at Chicago Shakespeare) and a miraculously expanding set that worked well both as stage and movie studio pieces, complete with cameras and cinema lights [the kind on the stands] creating the perfect atmosphere. Ron West, who wrote the script for the Shepperton Studio scenes and Barbara Gaines (always love her direction!) are to be congratulated, measure for measure. (Sorry for that bad pun.) Just fantastic. If you are in Chicago, don’t miss this one. BRAVO! Not much time left - it runs until June 29.

Today is also Fathers’ Day, so a nod and shout to all our patriarchs out there!
We will be having a lovely dinner with Bart’s father.

Later tonight we’ll have Lage, Dragonfly and Tall Boy over to watch the Tonys. More culture! We of course will be using the magic of TiVo in order to watch.

So, hooray. Another lovely weekend.