And now the movie, folks!
Mood:  cheeky

Well, now that I've settled back down to Earth, and recovered from my Turkey Day food coma (to which I give thanks to Alton Brown & his brined turkey recipe), I figured I'd blog a bit about the last two movies we saw: "Borat" and "Casino Royale".

"Borat" was absolutely the funniest & simultaneously most disturbing thing I've seen in years. It had me squirming in my seat from laughter, and gnawing my sleeve to keep from screaming out hysterically. I can't even begin to review it properly, so I'll just link you to Varley, who does it better justice than I ever could.

On to the casino... what can one say about a James Bond movie? They're formulaic to the extreme (improbable chase scenes, impossibly beautiful women, double crosses, gadgets, violence, sex, martinis and tuxedos...) You don't go for the plot, because it's always the same. You go because it's James BOND, dammit!

I am going to utter the most heretical statement a Bond fan can make:

Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever. 

Yes, better than Connery! He is cooler than cool (ice cold!), way more violent, even more charismatic, breathtakingly arrogant, and has a jawdroppingly hot body (that looks equally as good in a tux or a swimsuit... or birthday suit!) and as an added bonus - piercing blue eyes. He's everything Bond should be, and if you're the type who never understood the appeal of violent hypermasculinity, you might want to see this one... or steer very clear of it! 

Peter effing Dinklage!
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Pete

This is the Pamster speaking, we are currently cruising at an elevation of 15,000 feet above sea level...

Was it good for you too, dear?
Mood:  chatty

I’ve been remiss in posting, I know. It’s not that nothing interesting’s happening, it’s just that I’ve been too gosh-darn lazy to blog about it. So here’s the Reader’s Digest condensed version of the past couple of weeks: 

Had my 42^nd birthday, husband sent a huge bouquet of roses to me at work. Awww! Romantic evening - complete with clichéd (but very enjoyable nonetheless) making out in front of crackling fireplace - ensues…yum! ;)

Took my fave soulchild Cole to Olean’s comic book shop – just a couple o’ geeks hanging out, trying to decide what to buy. For some reason I kept thinking of Jay and Silent Bob. Stopped by my new favorite t-shirt place in Allegany and got two awesome new ones - Pink Freud & Frankeinstein.

Pleasantly surprised and honored by a nomination to fill in a vacated spot on the Board of Directors for BLT – this whole theatrical thing is starting to grow on me. Maybe I should see a doctor for some ointment or something… 

Peter Dinklage making out with Joely Richardson! Yum again! I swear by all I hold sacred that if I got the chance to kiss The Dink like that, not only would I donate a week’s pay to PETA, but I’d become a vegetarian to boot. Are you listening, Pete?? :D

But on the down side - would it have killed them to show us a little more?!? Apparently, the idea of a man with dwarfism having sex with a “regular size chick” is too much for Nip/Tuck. Funny, they don’t seem to be squeamish about showing anything else. :P

Halloween was sort of a bust – we normally get a couple hundred kids, but since it was drizzling all day & night, we got a lot fewer. But Cole “Doctor Strange” and Chance “Capt. Jack Sparrow” came over and handed out the candy for us in lieu of slogging thru the rain. And while they were doing that, Casey’s soccer team won their district playoff game and get to go on to the state finals!!!

Kevin had his 42^nd birthday, and to celebrate we went to the Century Manor for dinner where I had the most delicious escargot I have EVER had. They serve ‘em up in a roasted garlic cream sauce that is so good that had I been at home, I’d have picked up the plate and licked off every molecule. I had to satisfy myself with mopping it up with bread (and surreptitiously licking my fingers). The rest of the meal (Manhattan chowder, surf & turf, garlic potatoes) was just sublime. With food that good, I can forgive them for the unbelievably tacky neon palm trees out front.

So now I’m more or less caught up again. I’ll try to do better, I promise.

Life, The Universe & Everything Part II
Mood:  party time!

...And today it's my hubby's 42nd birthday! Yes, he married an older woman. By eleven whole days - and don't think that he doesn't take every opportunity to remind me of my comparatively advanced state of decrepitude during that eleven day period between my birthday and his.

Every

Freaking

YEAR!!

 

But I love ya anyway, Punkin! :) 

Life, The Universe, and Everything
Mood:  party time!

We all know the answer is "42".

Perhaps the question is "How old is Pam today?" 

Die Frau in der Hizzie
Mood:  special
Topic: BLT

As long promised, here is a link to some photos from the Bradford Little Theatre’s production of “Frankenstein”, with yours truly as Frau Mueller. If the pictures seem a little Pam-centric, it was my stage debut, and this is MY blog! If you don’t like it, go start one of your own.

 

Naughty Train Robot?!?
Mood:  lucky

Allow me to spend a moment reveling in pure fangirl glee… as some of you may be aware, one of my all time favorite authors is John Varley (hence the link to his excellent website – check out his movie reviews!) I’ve been reading his books since the tender age of 14, when I stumbled upon a copy of “The Ophiuchi Hotline” at my local library.

Now, I’d been cutting my teeth on Heinlein and Ellison, so please don’t be shocked or alarmed at this revelation. (Varley’s work tends to be highly sexually charged. Though hopelessly backwards socially, I was in every respect a highly sophisticated reader of SF from an early age.) Varley is often compared to Heinlein; I won’t go into detail here – I suggest this very good Wikipedia article – but for me, Varley is far more appealing. His ability to write strong, fully realized, appealing female characters is what drew me in initially, and his indescribably vivid language will keep you riveted. Perhaps influenced by his love of motion pictures, his stories seem to unreel themselves in Technicolor past your mind’s eye.

So why the fangirl glee? Because Mr. Varley has decided to part with some of his massive collection of toy robots on eBay – and yours truly has managed to nab the very first one offered. Not only that, but I got actual emails from Lee & John – and they said that that checked out this blog!! Now that is just too awesome for words!

(So if you haven't read any of his stuff, go grab a copy of "The John Varley Reader" or "Titan" or "Steel Beach"... or if you ask nicely, you could borrow mine...)

"Bad Unagi"
Hmm, that would make a good name for a metal band... okay, reflections
on Tuesday's Nip/TuCK:



WTF!?! Are we actually supposed to LIKE any of these nutcases??? Or find
their lives believable??

I'm not filthy rich, supernaturally good-looking, an adulterer, or a
resident of South Beach - so there's absolutely nothing here I can
relate to. So far, with the exception of Marlowe, the baby, and that
nurse who got her kidney stolen, I can't say I feel sympathy with any of
the characters on the show. Were it not for Peter Dinklage, I'd have
never watched it and not regretted a moment.



Ah, the Dink... nobody can do more with less screen time, though.
Looking forward to Marlowe's return. Maybe he'll get a whole FIVE
MINUTES next time, sheesh...



(Unagi is my favorite kind of sushi, by the way. It's freshwater eel,
it's fully cooked and utterly delicious. Just in case you didn't know.)

"Tell me, where does all the magic go...
Mood:  special

When the curtain falls to end the show?

Do the clowns always cry
When they pack up the paper sky?
When the champagne is being poured,
And the lock is on the old stage door…
Will there still be a clown in the sky for me?"

-MST3K

It's all over, I did it and I survived! I hadn't wanted to blog much about the play while preparing for it – one, because I was too busy and tired to actually blog about anything, and two, because I didn't know who would be reading this and didn't want to accidentally spoil anything for them if they went to the show. But wow… what an experience! I wound up pulling triple duty yet again. During "An American Daughter" I started out with just a radio announcer bit part, then became Propmistress, then finally Assistant Stage Manager. This time, I thought I'd go easy on myself and just take a small on-stage part so I wouldn't have work so hard and be there all the time.

:::cue maniacal laughter:::

Not only did I have my on-stage part, I also helped to scrounge up props, and then I volunteered to apply Chuck's creature makeup every night… which meant I had to be there an hour before call. So once again, I found myself there all night, every night. But oh, the end result was worth it! The show had the third largest attendance ever for a BLT non-musical production, and people just loved it. The cast was composed of some incredibly talented and unbelievably devoted people, and during those times when I was so fed up I felt like quitting, I knew I owed it to all of them to keep going on. And they did not fail me. So I would like to thank everyone involved, but especially the following folks:

HRH Diane Kerner-Arnett (Producer extraordinaire and ambiguously gendered grave robber) for always being there to listen to my bitching and keeping me sane. She wore far far too many hats to count, but always had time for me.

Katie Zapel (the BEAU-tiful 'Lizabeth) for sharing her endless energy and infectious good spirits. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her and I'm glad she was in both of my scenes to keep me on script!

Marlene Kijowski (Costumer par excellence) for creating the most incredibly beautiful garment it has ever been my pleasure to wear – and making it just for me! That gown allowed me to really "be" the character. I didn't feel like I was acting, I think the dress knew what it was doing and just took over! 

Charles "Chuckles" Church (Bullwinkle the Moose The Creature) for going above and beyond the call of duty by letting us shave his head for the part, for wearing nothing but makeup, underwear and bandages on stage, and for letting us hoist him 15 feet into the air - and for being so unbelievably good natured and patient about the whole damn thing. A true gentleman and possibly the nicest man I've ever met.

Cole Vecchio (William) for his dogged ("Heeere Fritz!") determination, for making me laugh when I needed to, and for always being an inspiration to me. And mostly for being the bestest soul son I ever had! 

And most of all, my wonderful, incredible, adorable husband Kevin, for having the tolerance to watch me do this (again!) and to hold the house together in my absence. Love you Schweets!!

Pictures to follow soon...

Reports of my demise Redux
Mood:  not sure

Ok, on the one hand I'm totally stoked that tonight's dress rehearsal went so well. We had an audience of about 150 or so high school students in to see the show and they seemed to really enjoy it. Many said that they'd never seen a live theatrical production before, so hopefully we made a good impression on them. 

And also, both the Bradford Era and the Olean Times-Herald had nice articles and photos about the show, so that was rather excellent.

But on the downside, some of you may have heard about the layoffs at Zippo. Neither Kevin nor I was affected, but you can imagine that it has cast a pall of gloom over the whole Twin Tiers area. So my feelings are rather mixed right now.