Whine & Cheese

Friday Catch-All

Just one of those mish-mash posts:

Finally finished The City of Falling Angels last night.  I say finally since it seems like it took a while ... and it is not that I am a slow reader or that the book was not interesting, it just is hard to carve out time to sit down and read, especially this time of year. 

The book reminded me quite a bit of John Berendt's first runaway bestseller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Midnight centered around a murder and subsequent trial while introducing us to a handful of quirky characters in the "oozing atmosphere" of Savannah, GA.  Angels centers around the fire (accident? arson?) that destroyed the historic Fenice Opera House and the subsequent trial and bureaucratic mess of rebuilding/restoring it all while introducing us to a handful of quirky charactres in the "oozing atmosphere" setting of Venice, Italy.  So Berendt gets no points for stepping outside the box, but he is masterful story teller and once again proves that "truth is stranger than fiction."  Venice has to be the most unique city in the world and Berendt weaves in the nice mix of history and insider's view of living in a city that really should not exist.  Now, if I can just get there before it really gets swallowed up by the surrounding seas!

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As mentioned, we are off to see Evita tonight as part of our season ticket package.  Evita holds a special place in my heart since it was my very first Broadway show way back in 1980 or 1981.  Patti LuPone had left the show by that time (or at least wasn't doing the matinee performances), but I am pretty sure I saw Mandy Patinkin as Che. 

This is my 3rd time I am seeing it on stage.  I saw it one other time in the early-mid 90's when the show came through town here in Arizona.  That time I had one of my more funny audience moments.  When you have a season ticket package, you likely are going to see shows that you would not see on an a la carte basis.  Older folks seem to have the toughest time with some of the more groundbreaking or rockin' shows. 

I had an older couple next to me... and moments after the lights went up for intermission, the older gentleman turned to his wife and said of Eva... "Why does she have to sing SO LOUD?!"... that still cracks me up to today and I know I have repeated that story way too often over the years.

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WARNING:  Survivor Spoiler - Avert Your Eyes!

Interesting twist on last night's Survivor with playing up the "curse of the car."  Cindy had a tough decision and I can actually defend both sides... but as far as "outwit, outplay, outlast" it was pretty much a blunder.  Now that is easier to say given the result of tribal council, but I think Cindy would have pretty good shape if she made the choice to give the four other folks the vehicle... and, more importantly, ultimately having three of those folks on the jury. 

So as always, here are my fearless finale predictions based on what we know now (granted a lot could change thanks to any last minute backstabbing):

Danni vs. Lydia - Danni wins 6-1
Danni vs. Rafe - Rafe wins 4-3
Danni vs. Steph - Danni wins 6-1
Lydia vs. Rafe - Rafe wins 6-1
Lydia vs. Steph - Steph wins 5-2
Rafe vs. Steph - Rafe wins 7-0

So no surprise that I am not giving Lydia a chance, with Steph not falling too far behind.. while I think she is deserving she will definitely have the most daggers directed at her from the jury box... with Danni vs. Rafe being the most intriguing final two.

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Recently in my pronouncing my undying love of her cover version of "All I Want For Christmas," I admitted to not following Mariah Carey all the much in recent years. (Seen here at this week's announcement of Grammy nomination)

Can someone please tell me when exactly her breasts required their own zip code?

The Emancipation of Mimi?  More like The Emancipation of Mammary!

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Finally, it looks to be a very busy weekend of holiday preparations.  With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, it seems like time is really short... since we are robbed of an "extra" weekend to prepare for the big day. 

We still have to decorate our tree... and I really need to "deck the halls" a lot more since we will have a higher than normal amount of visitors this year.  In the past few years, we have had Todd's parents up for the day... but this year, his sister and brother's family will either be spending some time here or passing through.

Also, I need to wrap presents and get them ready to ship out early next week so they comfortably arrive well before the holiday for the family back East. 

And we need to start thinking about the holiday menu.  We are hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Yesterday UPS delivered our traditional Christmas Eve posole soup/stew mix from this place in Santa Fe that we have been using/happy with the last couple of years... the funny thing is the posole & seasonings $5.75 and I had to pay $5.95 for shipping (the lowest, non-rush price available)... that seemed pretty silly, but it is still worth it. 

Last night, we watched a hilarious episode of Paula's Home Cooking on the Food Network, Paula's banana & walnut stuffed french toast looked yummy... so maybe we'll give that a try on Christmas morn'.

And...oh, there's still gift shopping too!

And... oh... oh!   Another milestone here at W&C, this is my 700th post (yikes!) and also just passed the 600 mark with comments... and TypePad tells me I am nearing the 200,000 page view mark (just under 197k at the moment).

Ok, enough rambling... have a great weekend!

Weekend Update #50911

Here's just a mish-mash of thoughts from the weekend... so get a drink of your choice, sit down, read, relax...

Ended up being pleasantly surprised with the musical Movin' Out on Friday night.  As I mentioned in my last post, I am a Billy Joel fan... so that show had a leg-up in the "like" department going in... but despite being a little heavy handed at times (c'mon trying to interpret Vietnam and drug addiction to pop songs?!) it was really well executed.  There was no dialogue so the dancers had to tell the "story" through dance... you have to think that Twyla Tharp is some kind of genius to have choreographed every move for about a dozen dancers for a nearly 2 hour show!  (Though I had trouble getting Robin Williams' famous line from The Birdcage out of my head: "You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse!  You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham!  Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla!  Or Michael Kidde, Michael Kidde, Michael Kidde, Michael Kidde!  Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!").

And it surely made you appreciate the musical genius of Joel as well... his songs are definitely part of the songbook of my own life... so it was a blast from the past.  So if Movin' Out rolls through your town and you are a fan of Billy Joel, I would definitely give it a thumbs up... and, oh, yes the male dancers were pretty hot too!

We had a seriously elderly couple sitting next to us... I don't know how old they were, I mean my dad is like 70+ years old and these folks seemed waaaay older... but anyhow, when I saw them limping in I was thinking they were really not going to like this show... the band was already cranking up behind the stage curtain... so with the "rock" music plus no dialogue, this show was not one that was going to appeal to the senior circuit.  Sure enough they did not return after intermission.

Since this was also a new season, we also got new neighbors to the left of us.  There has been this older gay guy (not coupled, but usually rotating with another male friend) floating around us for several seasons, usually a row or two behind us... well this year they landed right next to us.  So after many years of "oh, there are some other fags" knowing glances ... we finally got around to chatting a bit.

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Today, I begin my withdrawal... from tennis.  Having watched (or at least had it on the TV) tennis for about 6-8 hours a day for the last two weeks of the US Open.. plus all the extended coverage of the lead-up tournaments for the past couple of months... tennis was my drug.  So I don't know what I am going to do now that there is not much (if anything!) on for the foreseeable future.

It was really a great tournament... and I could not be more pleased with the champions... Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer, arguably two of the nicest players on the tour... though I do have to say Roger is starting to sound a tad more arrogant these days (though deservedly so, but more on that in a bit).  But there were really some thrilling matches and storylines... 3 of the 4 men's quarterfinals went the distance while the ladies fought it out in the semifinals.  With the absence of the top-ranked American Andy Roddick (thanks to a shocking 1st round loss), the on-court success of James Blake and Robby Ginepri was nice to see... and although I have never been a big Andre Agassi fan, I have started to warm up to him... that usually happens when players get "old" like the 35 year old Las Vegan, ummm... not vegan, I am sure he eats meat... but you know what I mean!

But Roger is just amazing... he now has 6 Slams, only solidifying thoughts that he is one of the greatest male tennis players of all-time.  With a resume that already ensures him a first-round placement into the Hall of Fame, in my opinion, Roger just has to do one of the two things to ascend to "greatest" status... win the French Open or surpass Pete Sampras' 14 Slams.

A win at the French Open would give Federer a career Grand Slam... only 5 players have accomplished that (most recently Agassi) feat and only 2 have done it one year, though not in the "open era" of men's tennis... Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969).  Although he has never gone beyond the semifinals (Federer reached that round for the first time this past year), he is certainly capable of winning on the red clay at Roland Garros... something that was never a reality for Sampras.

So can Federer win more Slams than Sampras?  Potentially.  At age 24, Federer is the same age as Pete when he won his 6th Slam... Sampras won 14 Slams over a 12-year period, in 4 of those years he won 2 Slams... Federer has won his 6 Slams in a 3-year period (1 Slam in 2003, 3 in 2004, 2 this year, and was just one point away from 3rd in Australia)...  so I am leaning towards giving Federer the chance at the all-time record...  he is a serious threat in all 4 and, if nothing else, seems just as invincible as Pete was at Wimbledon.  But you just don't know what new players are on the horizon... or if the more physical rigors of tennis these days will give Federer that same kind of longevity.  Stay tuned!

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Finally (!) speaking of "old"... I have been dealing with a lower back thing over the past week or so.  Last weekend, I tweaked my lower back, which was only exacerbated by some work-related stress on Sunday and Monday... it was there but okay for most of last week, but it was (pardon the pun) back with a slight vengeance this weekend.

The best way I can describe it is that if my back is an accordian in 'stretched out' mode... it feels like my lower back is crunched down... this makes bending or getting up/down a tad difficult... has anyone else experienced anything like this?  What is it? What do you do?  I have had this happen before and it usually just works itself out... but just curious if anyone has any feedback.

Oh... one more thing (I see that eye roll!)... Can. not. stop. making new W&C banners... yet another one is in the rotation... if this blog needed to be a little more gay... there is a new "Divas" banner... so wait for it to pop up... or, if you are too impatient, check it out in the banner archive.

... AND!!   Entertainment Weekly finally posted their latest Matthew Fox cover in their archives... so I replaced it with my not-so great quality digital camera pic ... this one is much better! ;-)  Click here.

Friday Follies

Just some more random stuff for this TGIF:

Kaysar Is Back!
Okay, for those non-BB watchers who may I have saw my posts last week... America voted (and voted and voted!) and Kaysar was overwhelmingly voted back into the house!  He garnered a whopping 82% of the vote... so 4.1 million of the 5 million votes that were cast!  Really quite amazing.  Now we'll see what will happen...

Thought last night's eviction of Sarah was kind of wasted... I believe "our" side (the non-Friendship folks) would have have benefitted much more from getting rid of Ivette (nicknamed Evil-ette, Vom-ette, and one of the Mag-ettes by snarky BB fans).

As expected with Kaysar going back in the house, the battle for HoH is/was an endurance competition.  I will NOT give away any spoilers... but, from what little I read, it is being fought for mightily!  All the houseguests were still in the competition as of midnight PST and there were/are only 2 hamsters left as of 6 a.m PST this morning... wow!  I am guessing I will probably find out who won before Saturday's show... but please do NOT give anything away if you choose to comment!  Thx!

[UPDATE: Ok, I already know who the new HoH is... lips sealed!]

Feed Me Seymour
Tonight is our last Broadway Across America show of the 2004-05 season...  Little Shop of Horrors.  I am anticipating that it will be a really fun show, so looking forward to it... will try to write up a little review of it some time next week!

We don't have that long of a wait until the 2005-06 season begins... just a month away will be the first show... Movin' Out.  Being originally from the NY/NJ area, Billy Joel was pretty much THE man while I was growing up... so I am looking forward to that one as well.  Now we just have to get out tickets... yesterday I realized that we had not received anything yet... so I am hoping they are just cutting the mailing a bit close!

Our Own Houseguest
Finally, we will spend part of the weekend preparing for the arrival of a houseguest early next week... my sister-in-law is coming for an extended visit... well, umm... I guess I should clarify... it is Lucy the pug.   So our pet population will increase to 5 for about a week or so.  Lucy definitely brings a heightened energy (and I mean that in a good way) to the house... so it should be a fun time.

You Never Know Who Will Find You!
Breaking News!  Well, was just checking my hits... and stumbled across an interesting link to W&C.  Long time readers may remember Aaron Crumbaugh from The Amazing Race 6 stumbled across my entries about him... now we have another chapter to add to the "You Never Know Who Will Read Your Blog Entry"... and this one is probably equally embarassing (remember hetero Aaron was on my Fine Wine list)! 

Mark Trietel one of the writers from the Situation: Comedy finalist script "The Sperm Donor" found my recent entry about the show and linked to it to it in his blog.  Now, I wasn't terribly kind in my reaction thus far to both of the S:C scripts...  saying that "neither are shows that I ultimately think I would watch or enjoy" and added a somewhat ornery "pretty ehhh"... AND (!!) said that sitcoms were on life-support and these shows were not helping that prognosis... Whoops!  Someone was Mr. Grumpy that morning! 

Now Mr. Trietel was nice enough to note that my post had "some interesting observations about our friendly show."  I think I can safely interpret "interesting" to be the equivalent of a group of guys inquiring about what a blind date looked like and getting the response "she has a good personality"... so I will just sheepishly thank him for the link and promise to keep an open mind as the series progresses!

Have A Great Weekend!

Dumb Blonde (And Some Hairspray)

The weekend was filled with preparations for my parents' visit this coming Saturday (eek!). House cleaning, yard work, old furniture removal...and of course, self-cleaning!

Since we got hair clippers this past Christmas, I have been cutting my own hair (with some help from Todd)... given that my hair cut is fairly uncomplicated it has worked out fairly well. I certainly don't miss my friends over at SuperCuts. Usually during the warmer months, I throw some blonde into my brown locks (as well as the grays that are increasingly creeping in). So I decided it was time to freshen up my hair color for my parents' visit as well. In the past, the hair coloring has never been dramatic - in fact, the last time I did it I hardly noticed any difference.

I guess you know where this is going? After rinsing, shampooing, conditioning, and drying on Saturday night my hair was completely and utterly blond. Well almost, some signs of my original brown remained...but for the most part it was/is shockingly yellow! If my parents arriving in six days, I probably would just live with it - but I think it is way too much for them to handle (it is borderline too much for me to handle)! So on Sunday I bought some light brown hair color in hopes of getting it back to my more natural tones. I have yet to do it... I am fearful of what two dye jobs in such a short period of time will do...but I know I should do it in the next day or so...so I have at least a couple of days to move onto "Plan C" if this fix fails. Granted I don't know what Plan C is at the moment! Wish me luck! I think it is pretty funny, but I definitely am feeling like a dumb blonde at the moment!
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We went to see Hairspray on Friday night...it was really a fun show, even
though tries tackles the "serious" issue of racial integration (it takes place in 1962) as well as weight discrimination. Echoing those review blurbs, I would say the show is "Infectious!" and "Joyful!" Keala Settle who played Tracy was simply wonderful... spunky, lovable and charismatic and what a voice (take that you American Idol wanna-bes). Bruce Vilanch as Mom Edna was great too... obviously this role is not meant for comedy and not singing ability...Vilanch made for one ugly, overweight woman (which, I believe, is totally the point!).

I think I have seen something like 50+ different musicals in my lifetime...and I have to say that 80% of the newer shows are crap...so it was nice to see one that bucked the trend. I don't know if I would call Hairspray "great" -- but it was definitely not crappy...and that easily puts in my recommend column if the show rolls into your town or if you are headed to the Great White Way.