greyfeld

Super glad I didn't delete the txt file wherein I wrote it!

Sooooo how about that update?

After Tuesday's completely hilarious and by hilarious I mean "fucking hell brain I hate you so much" issues of my brain exploding (short version is that tired + stress + girltimes = Rina having a very very bad day), the week got a lot better.

Wednesday, work was super quiet. (That's what happens the day before a holiday, right?) I was on my way home in a vaguely cranky mood, because I hate packing and I had a lot to get done, and it turns out that Wednesday was Holiday Train day for the Yellow Line of the CTA.

For those of you not familiar with this quaint tradition of Chicago's public transit system, starting around Thanksgiving there are certain days when the CTA holiday train is available to ride. It's an actual CTA train, but it has a special flat car on which Santa rides in his sleigh, and the entire thing is covered in holiday-themed decals, brightly colored lights, and speakers pumping out Christmas carols. I saw it several times last week and this week during my commute, but Wednesday I got to ride it.

I was ridiculously delighted by the entire thing; they really went all-out on making this thing COOL. The light bars had been turned red and green with special covers; the ads that are ubiquitous on the CTA had all been replaced with faux holiday themed ads for time-shares in Florida featuring penguins in swim trunks, and the poles (for standing passengers to hold onto) were wrapped in candy-cane striping. Even the seats were holiday themed: instead of the usual dark-blue or dark-brown fuzzy that covers the CTA seats, they were holiday prints - Santas, ornaments, etc.

iT WAS SO COOL, YOU GUYS. I was squeaking happily the whole time.

Anyway. I got home, went to the bank to deposit first paycheck from new job (eeee!), and then went erranding on celeloriel's behalf, before stopping for dinner and heading home. I set up the robots to take care of the cats (I had gotten them a Drinkwell fountain and an automatic feeder thing, since I'm only gone a couple of days). Then I hurried off to O'Hare to pick up celeloriel (long story there, but suffice to say I was delighted to have a chance to see Cel.)

I came back home, packed rapidly, and fell into bed at 1 am. Then I got up to catch a cab to O'Hare at 8 am. I was petrified that there would be massive turbulence, with which I absolutely DO NOT deal well in any way, shape, or form, but it was a surprisingly smooth and easy flight.

I got started for real playing Crisis Core while I was killing time in the airport, and I have to say, I was having a ton of fun with it. I am typically not a fan of the FF7 Complication; I was never a fan of the original game, and mostly I like it for pretty brain-candy. (Advent Children is one of my go-to films when I just want to watch pretty and don't want to think.) But I do really love Zack, and Angeal tap-dances on my honour kink. Also, holy crap you guys this game is fucking MADE OF SLASHY. I mean I don't even have to LOOK for it. It's right there.

Anyway. So I got home, and got to see my mom. Sadly, I do not get to see rabbitbenrin this time, because he has a cold and so cannot be near Mom, but my Nana is here, and so is Aunt Snooze, and I got to see my godfather, and tomorrow I will see my second mom, so it's a pretty great Christmas all the way around.

Christmas loot was way super shiny awesome: I have multitudinous gift cards to Best Buy, and one to Banana Republic, and another to Target. SHOPPING AHOY. Any of you Chicago-based friends who want to have a day out with the shopping, let me know. :D

Most shiny and most awesome of all, though, is a toy I am playing with literally as I type. My parents got me a MacBook Pro :O :O :O

I think, ultimately, that switching to Macs is way easier for people who are not as accustomed to abusing the tricks of their PC as I am. For example, I have Notepad always pinned to my start menu, because I use it all the time to make quick notes on things I'm going to deal with or talk about later. (This led to me pouncing persona and going OH GOD HALP WHERE IS NOTEPAD.) Also I have just discovered that my keyboard lacks home, end, page up and down keys which is going to make me have to seriously revisit my browsing and reading key habits, and this mouse is confusing as all hell. But these are small stumbling blocks and OH MY GOD I HAVE A MACBOOK. It is so so so very shiny.

In slightly sadder news, an icon of the Washington, DC area has passed away. George Michael (not the rock artist) was a staple of DC sports for decades; he has been covering sports in Washington, DC since before I was born, on NBC Channel 4. He was always hilarious, and always amazing, and I grew up learning about the Redskins from him as much as I did from my father. He always had amazing chemistry with the other anchors on NBC4, and he was a stand-up guy from all accounts (right down to, when NBC4 said "your show costs too much, fire some people" he said "nope, I'll leave instead.") I used to go look up clips of the Redskins Report even after I left DC, because I was just too used to getting my sports news there. RIP, George Michael. It'll never be the same without you.

Well, on that note, I think it's time for me to go to bed. I am way tired. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, whether you celebrate its religious significance or not.

(p.s. OMG I HAVE A YULETIDE STORY AND IT IS AWESOME AND I LOVE IT EEEEEEE PERSONA 4. I plan to do a ton of Yuletide reading and reccing in my pet fandoms tomorrow, so watch this space for Lost Odyssey and SMT linkspam. Somebody had to have written LO for Yuletide, right? ....Right??)

Not much other than movies this week, three in the theater and one on DVD. Though: heartfelt thanks to everyone who commented on my "Alicorn" story; I just wish I knew who wrote the unsigned comment.

"Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day" was silly gun porn. I enjoyed it a great deal more than I expected to, given that the first Boondock movie had left me VERY cold (though I was half asleep when I watched it; I may have to try again).

"Did You Hear About the Morgans?" is a mediocre movie with an AWFUL title. I like Hugh Grant; I generally dislike Sarah Jessica Parker. I generally liked Parker better in this film, which should give you an idea about how disconnected Hugh Grant was.

"Avatar" is great. It is beautiful, well executed, and the closest thing to hard science fiction I have seen on a movie screen in a LONG time (Ok, the flying islands were unforgivable. But they looked cool.) We saw the 2D version, but I am told the 3D is restrained and tasteful, which is a nice change.

"The Girl in the Cafe" is a 2005 Bill Nighy vehicle by writer Richard Curtis. It would seem to be an effort to use romantic comedy to call attention to global hunger and poverty, and fails at nearly every point. The movie's humor is of the "blink and you will miss it" variety, the romance produces the movie's best moments but is ultimately tragic, and the politics are both heavy-handed and simple-minded.

Uncle Hyena

Holiday debuggery

We know there were a few kinks with the holiday promotion. We've been working very hard to get them ironed out. If you have a paid/permanent account, keep on sending those coupons. Here's an update:

• If you were unable to send out multiple coupons at a time, please perform a hard refresh, and you should be good to go.
• If you redeemed a coupon to upgrade your account and the balance at checkout was $0 instead of $9.95 or $15, this means your upgrade did not go through (nor were you charged). We've straightened this out, so you can now apply your holiday coupon toward the purchase of an annual paid account.
• If you tried to redeem a holiday coupon and had trouble using a gift certificate to cover the balance of an annual paid account, we identified the root problem. If this happened to you, you can now use your holiday coupon together with your gift certificate.
• If the number of holiday coupons you have available suddenly goes up (instead of down), this might be due to recipients declining the coupons, at which point your pool of available coupons will be replenished and, therefore, increase.
• If you need assistance with holiday coupons or pretty much anything else (well, LiveJournal related), please open a support request and we'll be more than happy to help!

Tweaks

• There were some initial glitches displaying results on My Guests, but we've worked them out. We hope you'll check out who's been checking you out!
• Some of you reported formatting issues using the Rich Text Editor (i.e., line breaks were being removed incorrectly). We've implemented a fix! Thanks so much for your patience.

Give a little extra!

We're pleased to report that we've already sold over 100 virtual red ribbons in honor of National AIDS Awareness month. Remember, for each charitable vgift you purchase for $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of gross proceeds to IAVI.org (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) to fund the development of an HIV vaccine. Once again, we thank you for your generosity.

Celebrate with holiday vGifts!

Stop by the Virtual Gift Shop and share some holiday magic with your LiveJournal friends.

Photos of the week

We're back with more dazzling pictures from around the world. Congrats to marlenemcc, who has been awarded a virtual blue ribbon as the winner of our fourth photo contest. We hope you'll click over to LJ_Photophile poll and tell us your picks in pics!

For more fantastic user content, we'll meet you under the cut. ( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for reading. Here's wishing you the very merriest of holidays. We'll see you next year!

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/dear-reader-one-of-difficult-aspects-of.html

Dear reader,

One of the difficult aspects of this blog is that whenever we do a new show, the blog becomes a bit of an extension of the production. A new review comes out. I post it. Or there's an event. So, it gets a little boring. Sorry.

Also, I go for long stretches of the day where I'm not connected to anything electronic. I'm not a Luddite. I know that private time, alone time, needs to carved out.

So, when I do finally sit down to write a blog entry, the time is short. And I don't know what's personal and what's not. For instance, when we get a great review, it's very PERSONAL to us. We are rejoicing.

But when one posts these things, it just looks like promotion.

Boring.

People have been asking me about my music. So, in case I forgot to mention it, mark Jan. 13, 7pm on your calendar. It'll be a "pay what you can" concert, with very special guests. So, everyone can afford it.

I haven't played an actual concert in New York in forever, not since the big Last Session night 11 years ago. We did Big Voice, but I haven't just sat in front of an audience, with a piano, in concert, since then. I'm going to make an official press release for after the new year. So, I don't want to discuss it too much here.

Speaking of Jim, he thought he looked bad in the sequence where he's telling the story of the blackout. That's bad editing on my part. You know, these video diaries are my hobby. Putting them together helps me think. And time is also my enemy on them. In fact, I mis-numbered "Snow Day," calling it 5 when it was 7.

Before every show, Jim has a ritual, like many professional stage actors. He arrives at least an hour early to the theater and just sits on the dark set. It gives him a chance to feel the room, power down, focus and prepare for two hours of being Zero Mostel.

He also walks the set, checking to make sure everything is exactly as it's supposed to be. It makes him feel safe.

In the video, Jeramy talks about how the first thing he, as stage manager, remembers to set is the glass of pencils.

That's because the other night it was in the wrong place. Jim got up to move to the pencils, didn't see them, got confused, lost his place in the script, and jumped two pages, which he then had to reinsert later because an "act two pay-off" needed the "act one set-up."

For the stage managers running lights and doing sound cues, this presented a problem because, once he doubled back to get the next pages, they had to flip back in their books, too, in case a cue was called for during those lines.

Also, a phone ring was imminent. They didn't know if he would find his way to the exact cue or not -- and since the call is an interruption of a stream of dialogue, hitting it too early could throw everything off.

So, every night, Jim comes out front and sits in the chair in the dark and thinks through the whole play. He thinks I made look like crazy ol' grandpa out on the front porch disturbing the kids, which is, by the way, a role he'd relish."

So, he was doing his pre-show meditation prep, the crew had finished early, we knew a blizzard was arriving. It was a rare moment of perfect calm. I grabbed the camera. You know you have a happy team when the crew comes early enough for moments like this to happen.

Today is matinee day. An Internet reader is coming to the matinee with her mom. Then, tonight, we're taking the crew to Sardi's for Christmas dinner (actor's menu, of course!).

Christmas Day, Jim has two shows, and then two shows Saturday, and one on Sunday.

Now, I'm gonna start planning "Living in the Bonus Round 2010."

What a great time for new year.

Miscellanea:

Most of the Christmas shopping is done; Mike and I have mutually agreed that our Christmas present to each other is a PS3 (i.e. splitting the cost between us.) I'm really excited about this. *squeaks happily*

It's snowing again (big fucking surprise, this is Chicago) and I am petrified half out of my wits that there is going to be horrific turbulence when I fly home Thursday morning. DO NOT WANT. Crossing my fingers really hard.

Yesterday was Solstice. Praise the Goddess, the sun will finally return. I can't deal with winter up here.

Mike has been playing through the first Assassin's Creed. I make happy squeaky noises at the Crusades. We are both delighted at the thought of AC2.

I beat The Last Remnant; my review is at 1200 words and counting. I expect another 1500 or so before I'm done with the review.

We rearranged my apartment this weekend. Mike helped me drag the Blue Chair of Comfy Awesome Comfort out of my bedroom so it would actually get some use. (Ganon promptly peed on it. SIGH. Fortunately the cover strips off to be washed, and he didn't get the cushion.) We also dragged one of the bookshelves into my bedroom, relocated a dresser (I did that one all by my ownself!) and rearranged more stuff in my room. Both my bedroom and the living room look larger and more airy, which makes me happy.

More importantly, the TV in my bedroom is hooked up (more than a year after I moved in), and with it, the SNES. We can now play Super Mario Kart in bed. THESE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT, OKAY.

Still have not started Dragon Age: Origins. I will after the new year. I did pick up Super Mario Sunshine again, but I'm already frustrated with it, and unlike Galaxy it does not permit the fun and convenient "you have x many Shines? Final boss ahoy!" and instead requires me to get to like level 7 in every single area. Fuck THAT noise. (I will probably go back when I get bored.)

Now, snuggling, mango Smirnoff Ice, and more Last Remnant reviewing.

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/mark-evanier-remembers-arnold-stang.html

Arnold Stang died. He had one of the greatest voices ever committed to film or TV. It was both immediately identifiable, uneasily imitated, and always, always hilarious. A sadsack Daffy Duck.

Mark Evanier, whose blog is an essential, tells his story here.

He was a joy to work with. The only direction I gave him — the only direction you could give a guy like that — was, "Try to sound like Arnold Stang." He did so with ease, like he'd been doing it all his life and he was perfect. He was also gracious enough to record a message for my answering machine.

While I was recording with Arnold, Eddie Lawrence arrived. You may not know Eddie's name but he's a wonderful character actor and comedian who did a series of much-quoted records as "The Old Philosopher." His catch-phrase was, "Hey, is that's what bothering you, Bunky?" Anyway, he and Arnold were longtime pals, and when Arnold and I were done with his cartoon and he exited the booth, he and Eddie embraced.

Then Arnold looked him in the eye and sounding as serious as Arnold Stang could possibly sound, he pointed to me and said, "Eddie, don't give this young man any trouble. He's a fine director and you just do everything he says."

Eddie promised he would. That wasn't good enough for Arnold. He added, "If you give him any crap, I'll come back here and kick your ass." Then he handed me his pager number and said, "Remember...if he gets out of line, call me and I'll come back and kick his ass." This wasn't necessary but there was one moment when Eddie was giving me a little problem and I had to threaten, "I'll call Arnold." He immediately apologized and agreed to do it the way I wanted. The power of an Arnold Stang threat.

The notion of anyone being afraid of Arnold Stang is so wonderfully absurd. Thanks, Mark, for that story. Go to his site for videos and a sound clip.

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/zero-hour-in-ny-7-snow-day.html

Anticipating the first big snow storm of the season, we introduce Taylor and then spend time chatting on the stage of Zero Hour with the Jim Brochu and crew. Hilarious bits: Don teaching Steve how to do the pre-show announcements, and Jeramy imitating Jim answering the phone as Zero.



(Video is mislabeled "#5" but changing it is too much of a hassle, so it'll just have to stay as it is.)

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/good-day-of-rest.html

I don't think I left the bed all day long yesterday. I even called Mark Janas and told him, even though the streets had been cleared and transportation around the city was good, that I was going to, regretfully, miss the Salon last night.

Readers who expressed concern don't need to worry. This was all preventative. It was a case of me listening to my body. I have just learned, over the years, when I've pushed myself too hard -- and I had hit the wall. So, as we learned in our literature, I listened and I obeyed. It went against every impulse, of course. I would rather have been at the church and the Salon.

But, enough is enough. Opening this show has taken a big toll. Jim (and I) have been going from promotional event to promotional event, and though I tend to stay backstage during his performances (usually sleeping on the couch or reading a book), it's stressful and exhausting to be always on the go.

Steinbeck was particularly happy that I just cuddled up with him all day. I don't think he ever stopped purring. I love that cat so much.

And it paid off. Today I feel reinvigorated and rested.

Fiona's Radio Show starts in about twenty minutes: Snow storm, Christmas cookies, tree, sisters http://ad.vu/qcca

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/steve-is-staying-home-today.html

I never miss a "performance," but this morning Jim talked me into staying home. I was supposed to sing for the Sunday morning service at St. Clement's. But, last night, the snow storm hit just as we were leaving the theater after the evening performance.

Jim, however, will go on as Zero today.



When I wrote to Rev. DeChamplain, I simply told her that my immune system, as strong as I feel from day to day, just isn't up to this. I know. I played the AIDS card. I hate doing it. But I have come to respect the fact that I have limitations. I don't like it. Anyone who knows me knows I never turn down a chance to sing.

So, I'm staying warm, and I'm taking it very easy today.

Jim, however, will be at the theater. He will go on!

My muse sobered up briefly yesterday morning, and I have a new, very short piece of fiction to show for it. It is really a bit of background for a larger story that I have been working on VERY slowly for a long time. It's only about 750 words; tell me what you think.

http://unclehyena.livejournal.com/270251.html

Uncle Hyena

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/friends-of-zero-mostel-panel-discussion.html

If you're a theater lover, I think you will enjoy this stimulating discussion about Zero Mostel held at the Barnes & Noble book store at Lincoln Center in New York. So much theater history here, and frank talk about how Zero could be a very challenging person to work with, and to be around.

Famed lyricist of "Fiddler on the Roof," Sheldon Harnick, actress Frances Sternhagen, Lynn (Mrs. Burton) Lane, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, Jim Brochu and host, Peter Filichia.

http://bonusroundblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-bangla-desh-friend.html

Recently, a friend of mine from the web introduced me, cyberly, to a young man from Bangla Desh and it brought to mind an incident from my days of being the ship's pianist on the Galileo, where I met Jim.

On the ship, there were distinct classes of workers. At the top of the rung were the authoritarian Greek officers -- most of them despicable pigs, but some of whom were warm and beautiful human beings. (They also lived on the upper cabin floor.)

Down in the bowels of the ship were makeshift cabins where I, and the other entertainers (British) and casino crew (Italian) lived. My cabin consisted of four pieces of sheet metal, a bunkbed, a sink, and an overhead lighting fixture.

My one precious piece of civilization was my typewriter. Yes, kids, this back in the 1980s, when the "Internet" was barely even an idea in the mind of a sci fi writer. I would write journals and lyrics and whatever came into my mind.

So, all of us who worked on the ship were isolated from the outside world.

The ship itself was a microcosm of the world, but with all the 70 nationalities distributed, high to low, in distinct classes. The only two Americans were myself and the (also gay) Greek-American cruise director named George Francis.

(Since I was unaware of how to act in a class system, knowing only the Dolly Partont on the Johnny Carson Show, on meeting the queen. "I'd say howdy and shake'r hand!", it never occurred to me to think of this Bangla Desh young man, very dark skinned with features that reminded me of Indian, but less aquiline, as anything other than just another dude.)

But, he and the other Bangla Desh cabin stewards slept 8 to a room. The room consisted of two sets of bunkbeds with a sink. Barely enough room for the sink (situated door the door, and between the bunks. It looked like slave quarters.

As I got to know him, I learned that he had a sister to whom he sent his money, and to whom he wrote long letters. He told me he was Muslim. He was one of the most gentle persons I ever met, like the folks back home in Buna, Texas.

So, I gave him permission to sit alone in my room and write letters whenever I wasn't around. To just use the room as a getaway.

Well, it was like a revolutionary act. There's even a name for it: egalitarianism. I'm no better than you and you're not better than me. A person's a person. For me, it was also tied up in Americanism, a concept that has gotten a lot of abuse.

Oh, I was so "You're a worker! A worker should be respected." It's grass roots country thinking. Fairness. Equality. Respect. It's so basic, I can't grasp any other way of thinking.

Soon, the Italians, who previously only cursed and abused the cabin steward, were finding themselves with a little rebel on their hands, standing up for himself.

It's funny how different real life can be from what we're told it's supposed to be. Letting someone use your desk to write letters, when you're not using your room, is some kind of revolutionary act?

How great is that.