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| Thursday, November 19th, 2009 | | 9:50 am |
| | Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 | | 1:18 pm |
Bad web site! Bad! No cookie!
Every summer, Sharon, my mother, and I travel to Stratford, Ontario for their theater festival. My mother pays to be a Stratford member so that we can order tickets before most people. In the past, that's meant that she calls them at 8 AM on the appointed day, usually having to try several times (lots of busy signals), to place the order with someone who works in the box office. This year, for the first time, they're offering online ordering, and making it available to each tier of membership at noon on the day before they start taking phone orders. So it became my job to go to the Stratford web site at noon today. First, I had to figure out how to log in. I tried establishing an online ID. And was told that an account had already been established for my mother's email address. Didn't remember doing that, but OK. So I clicked the "forgot login info" link, entered my mother's membership number, opened a new tab, logged in to the web interface for her email account (luckily, I knew the password), got the info, returned to the Stratford tab, and logged in. Then I could order the tickets. The interface itself isn't too bad - it was easy to see which seats were taken, and click on the ones I wanted. The problems were that 1) it was incredibly slow (did anyone do a capacity vs. traffic evaluation?) and 2) once I ordered the tickets for one show, I had to go through three additional screens to get to the point where I could specify the next show I wanted. I finally picked out the seats for all five shows, and went to check out. Entered my mother's AmEx information and clicked the button. Waited a loooong time. Was told they couldn't process it, and would I please check the info and try again? Checked the info. Tried again. No luck. Called my mother, had her read me the credit card number again. It was right. Changed it to my Visa. It went through. Guess they're having a problem processing Amex. All in all, it took over an hour. I'm happy we got good seats (we're seeing Kiss Me, Kate, Jacques Brel, As You Like It, The Tempest, and For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again), but I'm feeling decidedly cranky. Time to go get lunch. Current Mood:  annoyed | | 10:00 am |
SYTYCD top 14
The best and worst thing about this week's So You Think You Can Dance is that there weren't any bad performances. Which makes for a great show, but makes it hard to pick someone to send home. Even Kevin and Karen, the only couple who were seriously criticized by the judges, did well technically and were fun to watch. It was, though, easy to pick a "best of the night". I don't always vote, but I did last night, for Ellenore and Ryan. I'm with Adam - that was the most moving routine of the season so far. My overall rankings, many of which are ridiculously close: Ellenore and Ryan Kathryn and Legacy Ashleigh and Jakob Noelle and Russell Mollee and Nathan Channing and Victor Karen and Kevin I'm guessing that my bottom two will end up in the bottom three, Karen and Kevin because of all the criticism, Channing and Victor because the routine was hard to connect to emotionally. (Adam is right on this one, too, in that the music contributed to the disconnect.) If Karen and Kevin are in the bottom three, Kevin is probably gone, though they might choose Nathan instead, given the chance. Not sure which woman will go - maybe Channing. ETA: Wow, nailed all three of the bottom three couples, and the two dancers who were dropped. That </i>never</i> happens. Victor and Karen are a potentially strong couple, if he can challenge her to raise her technique, and she can help his performance. | | 9:49 am |
| | Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | | 10:06 am |
TV stuff
Last night's Big Bang Theory was one of the funniest I've seen. All five cast regulars were given material suited to their characters, and ran with it. Kaley Cuoco, in particular, showed some amazing comic chops. And Kunal Nayar's mocking of the American accent was beautiful. (Yes, I had to look up both names.) Last night's Castle, on the other hand, was weak. Castle's characterization was way off, both in his ineptitude with his daughter and his stupidity in missing the obvious. (For some reason, this past week has been a bad one for mysteries. Both Bones and Monk had reeeeally obvious solutions, though the rest of the Monk episode was good, and it's always a pleasure to see Stephen Fry again.) I've been thinking about last week's Glee. Overall, it was a great episode. It was About Something (disability), but was relatively non-preachy, and showed that some things about the issue are big and obvious, but others are subtler. The one weak point, as it usually is for me, was Sue. I have trouble believing that anyone can compartmentalize empathy like that, showing true feeling for one small group while otherwise being such a greedy, self-serving, heartless monster. (Part of this, I think, comes from Jane Lynch's limitations as an actress. I've never seen anything to convince me she can show a softer side.) Looking forward, I hope they resolve the two "pregnancy lie" plotlines quickly and set them aside. Both were bad ideas from the start. Right now, So You Think You Can Dance belongs to the guys. None of the women has broken out as a star yet. My current rankings are Legacy, Jakob, Russell, Kevin, Ryan, Nathan, Victor for the men, and Karen, Ellenore, Noelle, Ashleigh, Kathryn, Mollee, and Channing for the women. We'll see how that changes tonight. | | Saturday, November 7th, 2009 | | 5:22 pm |
Movies, upcoming
Two quick notes: The trailer for Avatar is reeeal pretty, especially in HD. Even though the story only looks OK, I want to see it in IMAX. I had absolutely no interest in seeing 2012, aka "Roland Emmerich destroys a whole lot of stuff - again". But now that I've read this review, I'm thinkin' MSTy party. | | 5:07 pm |
Movies, current
Sharon's out of town for a few days, visiting a friend, so I treated myself to a couple of movies that I knew wouldn't interest her. Zombieland is incredibly gory, very violent, over the top, and one f*ck of a lot funnier and more emotionally satisfying than it has any right to be. The cast strikes a perfect balance, playing people who were quirky even before the zombie plague hit, but playing them absolutely straight, without a single wink to the audience. The fight scenarios are ridiculous and inventive, the script as a whole well constructed. The pseudo-science behind the zombies is complete garbage, of course (mutated mad cow), but other than that the logic of the world works just well enough to keep the movie going. The biggest flaw, I think, is that the character arcs were awfully predictable. In the end, though, I gave in to it and laughed a lot. (BTW, the filmmakers chose - wisely, I think - to front-load the gore. If you can get past the first fifteen minutes, the rest is fairly easy to take.) The biggest WTF of the evening was seeing a trailer for New Moon, the new Twilight movie. Where exactly is the audience overlap between gory zombie comedy and angsty vampire romance? Astro Boy has gotten mixed reviews, so I was pleasantly surprised. There's a real script here, with a plot that's more than a series of incidents, setups that lead to payoffs I didn't always see coming, plausible character motivations, and some nice plot bits. The CGI animation may not be state of the art, but it's close. The main characters are visually faithful to Tezuka's originals. The voice work isn't spectacular, but it's all solid. Good stuff, overall. | | Thursday, November 5th, 2009 | | 2:39 pm |
| | 8:58 am |
| | Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | | 2:27 pm |
Some of my friends will be interested in this
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has posted its 2010 Members Guide, with show descriptions, casting info, and a full calendar. Our must-see is The Tempest. My mother wants to see Kiss Me, Kate, so we'll go to that. Others that may end up on our list include As You Like It, Dangerous Liaisons, Jacques Brel, and For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again. (We see anywhere from four to six shows in one trip, depending on the offerings in a particular year.) What looks good to you? | | 8:15 am |
This week's SYTYCD thoughts
It was a week for confounding expectations, especially from those who looked weak going into the competition. Legacy and Mollee, in particular, earned every bit of praise they got from the judges. I don't think anyone could have predicted how fast Legacy would improve. Nathan and Mollee are going to be this season's Evan and Randi, the cute couple the audience loves. Fox did the right thing for both Billy and Brandon. Good for you, Fox. Last week, I couldn't see why the judges were gushing so much over Karen. I thought she was good, but not outstanding. This week, I'm a lot more impressed. Russell and Kevin were both great, but both were in their comfort zones. We'll see. I successfully called all four of the bottom group in advance, but that was partly from hearing the judges' comments, not just from their dancing. Then again, it was really obvious that Phillip was toast. Last night proved that he doesn't have the upper body strength to be an effective partner. I don't know if Peter will have the same problem, since his and Pauline's routine this week didn't have any lifts. Victor survived, but I don't expect him to last much longer. As good as he is technically, he has no personality when performing. Of the remaining women, I think Kathryn and Noelle are the blandest, and most likely to be overlooked by the voters. (Overall, this bunch has many more interesting personalities than we saw in season 5.) I was sorry to see Bianca go. I would have chosen Noelle, as one judge did. Bianca's was the one performance where I thought the judges were too harsh - it sure looked to me like she was into the spirit of the dance. I'll admit, though, that I don't think she could have gone all the way. There are too many who are better all-around dancers. Ellenore firmed up her position as my current favorite. I love her personality, and that tango was flawless. | | Saturday, October 31st, 2009 | | 12:20 am |
Geeky moment
I was watching the second episode of White Collar, a new show on the USA network. They introduced a new character, FBI agent Lauren Cruz. She first appeared with her back to the camera. But as soon as she turned around and spoke, I said, "That's Wendy!" | | Thursday, October 29th, 2009 | | 4:33 pm |
TV ramblings
It's been a pretty good week for stuff I like. The less good, which isn't that bad: - Because of the World Series, there's no So You Think You Can Dance results show this week. That meant no viewer voting, so the judges chose who went home. I'm not too unhappy with their choices. And it meant more time to read last night. (Similarly, no Fringe tonight means more reading time.) - I forgot to record Dollhouse while I was at OVFF, and online reviews say it's a good and significant episode. No problem, I'll watch it online. - Dollhouse is being pulled for November sweeps due to lousy ratings, which almost certainly means it'll be over once the rest of this season's thirteen episodes finish airing. Too bad, it had gotten a lot better. The good stuff: - SYTYCD had a good first performance show. My favorite was Ellenore and Ryan's routine. - I recorded and watched the pilot of White Collar on USA, and it was more than good enough to get my attention for a few more episodes. It's a classic buddy formula. A smart, charming, handsome art thief and forger is let out of prison in the custody of the FBI agent who caught him, in return for helping with cases. What makes it work is the scripting, especially that the agent is also very smart and well educated. He had to be, to catch this crook. The chemistry between them, and between the agent and his wife, is already good. I hope it can maintain. - I also recorded and watched last Friday's episode of Monk. I hadn't done that in a while, hadn't even been watching consistently, since it had been going downhill. But this final season has marked something of a recovery, and this episode featured the return of Sharona. ( Monk fans will know what that means.) It was even better than I'd hoped, with great character work, laughs, some unexpectedly serious moments, and the possibility of more to come. If you were ever a Monk fan, find this one. - ABC just announced that my favorite sitcom, Better Off Ted, will be returning on December 8th. Strongly recommended. | | Monday, October 26th, 2009 | | 11:12 pm |
Joining the chorus
Like others who have posted, I'm home safe and happy. This year's OVFF was one of the best ever. Circles, socializing, performing, everything was . . . hell, it's late, and I don't have enough superlatives on hand. One thing for sure, I'm staying over for the dead dog every year from now on. Going around the circle in my head, and apologizing in advance to those I miss, thank you Mary, Ed, Mary Ellen, Ben D., Brooke, Ben N., Seanan, Sooj, Tony, Vixy, Debbie, Merav, Elliot, Phil, Dave, and Heather for an incredible evening. | | Saturday, October 24th, 2009 | | 11:34 am |
| | Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | | 11:32 am |
| | Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | | 2:30 pm |
| | 1:49 pm |
Things that make you go "Hmmm . . ."
On the road earlier today, I spent a few minutes driving behind a big, white, mostly windowless van. There were no markings on the sides, but on the back I saw this, in neat black letters: IGOR DISTRIB. CO. What would Igor distribute? Current Mood: bemused | | Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | | 9:34 am |
Little pleasures
Tuesday through Friday, my project team has an 8 AM status call with the customer. Today, I dialed in to find that the 8 AM was canceled, because we have a 10 AM call on another topic. So far, so good. I headed downstairs to have breakfast (one of the perks of working from a home office), which was the remains of the excellent omelet (chorizo chili cheese) that I had when we went out to brunch Sunday. Also a glass of fresh apple cider. As the omelet was heating, I turned on the TV for a little background noise, and found that Comcast just added a dozen new HD channels, including Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, IFC, Spike, Biography, and MGM. Not a bad way to start a Tuesday, all in all. | | Sunday, October 18th, 2009 | | 12:55 pm |
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