Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in markbernstein's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, July 4th, 2009
6:37 pm	Movie recommendation: Moon For all the genre movies being made these days, hard science fiction films are still rare. Intelligent ones, rarer still. I had to go out of my way to see Moon (the nearest theater playing it was an hour's drive away), and it was well worth the trip. The plot is, by sf standards, basic. Sam Bell is the only human resident of a moon-based automated mining station. He's only a couple of weeks from the end of his three year contract, when there's an accident. And then . . . well, anything more would be a spoiler. Thanks to a smart script by Nathan Parker (especially noteworthy these days for having the courage to leave some things up to the viewer to figure out), solid direction by Duncan Jones, and a truly outstanding performance by Sam Rockwell, Moon succeeds almost completely. Does the science work? I honestly don't know enough to say for sure, but I was able to suspend disbelief while watching. There are a couple of fairly minor questions that remain unanswered. But overall, I recommend searching it out. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
8:40 am	Treading the boards again Last night was the first cast meeting and read-through for my latest show, the Ann Arbor Civic Theater production of "The Producers". Looks like big fun. I'm in the chorus, with a couple of minor roles. I tried out for Max and Franz, and was called back for Franz. Unfortunately, I found out in the callbacks that the big ending of "Haben Sie Gehert Das Deutsche Band" is a little higher than my singing range, hitting a series of Gs when my voice tops out at F, maybe F# on a really good day. So it goes. At least I got to administer the Siegfried Oath a couple of times. :) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, June 29th, 2009
6:15 pm	Overday! Only some of you will understand this, and that's OK. At a cost of $9.99 per month, it's way too expensive, but my inner adolescent is sooo tempted. The Ghoul is online. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
11:25 pm	Hugo Sundays: Novels This is the seventh and final entry in my review of my votes on this year's Hugos. ( The big one ) And that's a wrap. I have until Friday to submit my ballot, and I'll probably take care of it in the morning. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
11:32 am	My new religion No, I haven't found religion. I've decided to found one. Fandom hasn't had a new religion emerge since the creation of Pastafarianism a few years back, so it's time. In flipping channels a few nights ago (and where else should a religion come from, these days?), I chanced on a rerun of a newish (and, sadly, inferior) depiction of a true modern-day prophet. In that recent version he was portrayed by Harry Anderson, but for true inspiration one must go back to the definitive interpretation by James Stewart: Hearing those words again, it occurred to me, after years of fannish personalities, politics, and flamewars, in person, in print, and online, that what fandom could use is a little less smart and a whole lot more pleasant. I therefore declare the establishment of the Church of Elwood P. Dowd of Latter Day Pooka, aka Harveyism. Harveyism: We Recommend Pleasant. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
10:32 am	A recommendation Tonight at 9:30, ABC will be showing a new episode of "Better Off Ted", my favorite new sitcom of the last several years. Worth checking out. (Yes, the video is related to the show. Veridian Dynamics is the company that's the setting for the show, and they run a fake commercial like this in each episode.) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
8:40 am	Old joke. New variation Gotta love the classics. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 12th, 2009
2:52 pm	Stratford reviews Here's a little something for those interested in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Robyn's Reviews is a Stratford-centric blog. Not only does Robyn write her own reviews, she sets up links to all the various newspaper reviews. One-stop shopping! So far, this year's trip (July 10-12) is looking good. Of the five shows we're seeing, two have opened. The reviews for Three Sisters have been good to very good, and the reviews for The Importance of Being Earnest have ranged from very good to outstanding. The other three, Cyrano, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and Ever Yours, Oscar are all opening on June 19th and 20th, so I'll be checking in with Robyn after that. (Comment on this)
10:42 am	My favorite summer show This week was the first live performance episode of So You Think You Can Dance, by far the best reality-based show on TV. Here's a sample, featuring my current favorite among the male dancers. (Don't have a favorite among the women yet.) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
4:03 pm	Ducks. Row. My upcoming convention calendar, with notes: July 2009: Confluence, Pittsburgh. I'm there as part of the Dorsai crew. Arrangements have been in place for a while. Check. August 2009: Anticipation, Montreal. Membership purchased over a year ago, plane tickets purchased almost a year ago, hotel reserved months ago. Check. October 2009: Conclave, Romulus (Detroit airport). Commuting, so no hotel reservation needed. Do I have a membership? Need to check. Also October 2009: OVFF, Columbus. Just made the hotel reservation, for the full Thursday through Monday. Sending the membership and banquet money will have to wait for next month's budget. January 2010: GaFilk. Got plane tickets a couple of months ago. Just made the hotel reservation. Checking to see if I already have a membership. (Note: After OVFF, will have enough Priority Club points to pay for one night at GaFilk, as both are at Crowne Plazas.) Also January 2010: ConFusion, Troy, MI. Just made the hotel reservation (I usually do the hour's commute, but the filking looks especially good this time), and bought a membership through PayPal. Check. That's as far ahead as I care to plan right now. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
2:12 pm	What's on Broadway This year's Tony Awards show was the most technically ambitious I've seen, and I've been watching them every year for a long time. The opening number ran over eleven minutes, and included music from all four Best Musical nominees (Billy Elliot, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages, and Shrek), all four Best Revival of a Musical nominees (Guys and Dolls, Hair, Pal Joey, and West Side Story), the only nominee for Best Score of a Musical that wasn't also a Best Musical nominee (9 to 5), and the one musical nominee for Best Special Theatrical Event (Liza's at The Palace). That's an insanely difficult thing to pull off, and they did it beautifully. I could nitpick that there were a couple of sound glitches, and that I didn't think the songs from Pal Joey and Next to Normal went together well at all, but that really is just nitpicking. (If you're wondering, yes, Elton John wrote the music for Billy Elliot, and Dolly Parton wrote all the songs, music and lyrics, for 9 to 5.) Here's part 1: And here's part 2: (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
2:28 pm	Ow. Ow. Ow. Wow, three in one day. ( Enter at your own risk ) (5 Comments |Comment on this)
2:24 pm	Grump of the day (minor) Waking up suddenly after four hours of sleep because the power has failed and the CPAP is no longer delivering air flow is Not Fun. (All's well now. Power, which was out for several hours, is back. I got more sleep, just without the CPAP. Sharon and I went out for an excellent brunch at Zingerman's Roadhouse.) (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
5:37 pm	Hot Lunch! From the "Things that make Mark smile" file: (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
12:39 pm	Taking the low (tech) road A few years ago, Sharon and my mother collaborated to give me a Bose Wave Radio as a combined Hanukah/birthday present. (Last year, Sharon added the CD changer.) I like it very, very much, and use it mostly to play CDs while I'm reading. I now have an iPod (a purple Nano), which I also like very much, and use when I'm walking. It occurred to me that being able to play downloaded albums on the Wave Radio would be a nice capability to have. So I checked Bose's web site and found this neat little gadget. Looked nice, but $99 seemed a little extreme. So the other day, I went to Radio Shack, where I picked up a cable that runs from the headphone jack on the iPod to the auxiliary input on the Wave Radio. I don't have a fancy remote that controls everything, but I have the basic functionality I wanted, and the sound is fine. For eight bucks. Sometimes, simpler is better. (Comment on this)
12:38 pm	Ow What do Daleks say in Scotland? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
8:27 pm	Great weekend The last few days have reminded me that the world is a cool place, in all sorts of little ways. Thursday, I found out that the the new season of professional touring shows coming to Detroit has six shows that I've never seen on stage before, and want to see. That's rare. Friday evening, I attended a house concert by SJ Tucker, aka s00j. It was a huge success - I counted fifty people in the room, and Sooj was so energized, she did two full hours without a break. The friends who raved about her were right. Her concert was wonderful, the fire-spinning demonstration was way cool, and she's a really, really neat person besides. If you get a chance to go to one of her concerts, go. (She's also going to be Filk GoH at ConFusion next January, and Peter Beagle is Author GoH. I think I have to get a room - the filk circle should be amazing.) Saturday afternoon, Sharon and I saw Up. It's not as flashy as WALL*E or The Incredibles, but it's some of the finest pure storytelling I've seen from Pixar, which is high praise. I laughed, I cried, I cared about the characters. Saturday evening was a party given by the woman who played my wife in Follies this past January. It was great to see my theater friends again. The house was all sorts of cool, with a huge room devoted to model trains and Legos, a collection of old pinball and video game machines, a barn with two friendly horses, and other attractions. I even enjoyed the karaoke (I sang "Rainbow Connection"). This morning I caught up on a couple of DVR'd shows, a silly, in-jokey, and very funny episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold featuring Bat-Mite, and the latest installment in the always-wonderful Pushing Daisies. For lunch, I went downtown to this years Taste of Ann Arbor, and stuffed myself on all sorts of good food. And this afternoon, I was Productive. The laundry is done, the bills are paid, the random stacks of CDs have been put away in order, and the papers have been cleared off my desk and either tossed or filed. So, yeah. Life? Good. Current Mood: happy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
8:05 pm	Hugo Sundays: Novellas Sixth in my series of postings on how I'm voting for the Hugos. This is probably the toughest category, and I may change my mind and rearrange the list before I vote. ( The long view . . . ) Hmm. I just realized that my top choices in each of the three short fiction categories was published in Asimov's. Interesting. The seventh and final installment, Novels, may not be ready by next week. I've read four out of the five nominees, but I just started Anathem, and I may not have the spare time to finish a thousand-pager in one week. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
9:18 am	Ow Today's Bizzaro: (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
7:36 pm	A note on Michigan politics Michigan's current governor, Democrat Jennifer Granholm, is term limited, so she can't run for re-election in 2010. Michigan's attorney general, Republican Mike Cox, announced today that he's running for governor. (He made the announcement on Twitter. Quote from NPR: "He says using social media to make the announcement is an example of his ability to look to the future for Michigan.") The most likely Democratic candidate is the current lieutenant governor, John D. Cherry, Jr. Cox and Cherry. The bad jokes just write themselves, don't they? (4 Comments |Comment on this)