(no subject)
+ Chris Evans-a-thon was a success! I was pleasantly surprised: What's Your Number was less about the slut-shaming than I was expecting, although I still find the idea of counting the number of people you've had sex with and equating that to an ability to find happiness in a relationship (married or otherwise) ridiculous and hypocritical, and somehow misogynistic - I mean, where's the judgment on men who do that? The interesting thing was that the women were far more judgey on that front in the movie. Plus, bonus mostly-naked Chris Evans. Our priorities: we're all talking and laughing, not paying attention to the opening scene, and then he appears just barely covering the essentials, and the room goes silent, our gazes glued to the TV.
+ I've been mulling over what to say about Theresa Rebeck's new play, What We're Up Against, which premiered at the Alley earlier this month. I got to go to a M&G with her and Scott Schwartz a few weeks ago (he directed the version of her Mauritius at the Alley a few years ago, and apparently she really liked that interpretation; he also directed Othello a few seasons ago, and I really really liked the way he used the set - or lack thereof), and it was interesting to hear the history. She wrote the opening scene twenty years ago, for a one-scene exercise. About three years ago, someone requested she submit a piece for a single-scene event, and that was the one she dusted off. Afterward, she realized that nothing had changed, and she wanted to revisit it, flesh it out. Fast-forward to eighteeen months ago, when the Alley was looking for plays in for their New Play Initiative. And here we are.
Schwartz's staging is genius. The play is performed on the Neuhaus Stage, completely in the round, and it's set up like a boxing ring, elevated and square. There's a drawing desk and an office desk set in on a lazy-susan-type set-up, and the furniture is rearranged and the stage rotates between each scene change, and each interaction really IS like a fight.
Basically, the play opens with two male architects talking (bitching) about the new female associate, and how she's a bitch, cunt, etc etc etc. That pretty much sets the tone, and tells you what the play is about.
I was torn between being enraged and howling with laughter, and I could see among my fellow audience members some suuuuuper uncomfortable men and angry women.
I'd like to go see it again, to have seats at a part of the theater so that I can see some of the actors' expressions that I missed in the first viewing, but I don't think I'll have time before it closes.
Go here for tickets, if you're interested in checking it out. Two cheers for non-profit theaters!
+ The French Open has started! JMDP and Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic are already through their first round matches, and FeVer is up two sets in his. Will it be Novak Djokovic who makes history (four slams held concurrently) or Rafa (seventh earning of the Coupe des Mousquetaires)? Or will Daveeed or Federer break their current strangle-hold on the Slams? I'd say that I'm going to spam y'all with pics, but probably I will end up spamming email chains and twitter with twitpic retweets.
+ I'm not really sure how I got there (maybe link-hopping from a handbasketnews post?) but I read Taken By The Sea by notamagnet.
The author's summary: Sidney wasn't looking for love, he was just looking to play hockey again, but he found Ryan anyway. Sidney Crosby/OMC with appearances by Evgeni Malkin, Colby Armstrong, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Jarome Iginla, etc.
You don't have to know anything at all about hockey or Sidney Crosby to follow this fic. I'm a Devils fan, and only have casual knowledge of Crosby as a Penguin, and I don't think that even that was necessary - half the time I was thinking of them both as original characters. READ THE WARNINGS: triggers for rape and PTSD.
Even though both Ryan and Sidney have their ~~moments, and I find it fairly difficult to believe that NHL players as a collective would be that accepting of an openly gay player (given the current environment of the average North American professional sports team and their marketing/PR), I really really enjoyed this fic. (Caveat: some wonkiness in punctuation/italicization not being consistent.)
+ Finally caught up on Criminal Minds and Castle. Still need to watch the last handful of Supernatural episodes.
+ Latest grant will be submitted on Monday. My responsibilities for it are COMPLETE. Thank fuck. Now I can get back to the other two projects I'm trying to wrap up. Just as the summer undergrad arrives and requires attention. \o/ /o\
+ OK, I should get off my ass and make some cranberry-white chocolate chip cookies for the BBQ we're attending later. ♥
+ I've been mulling over what to say about Theresa Rebeck's new play, What We're Up Against, which premiered at the Alley earlier this month. I got to go to a M&G with her and Scott Schwartz a few weeks ago (he directed the version of her Mauritius at the Alley a few years ago, and apparently she really liked that interpretation; he also directed Othello a few seasons ago, and I really really liked the way he used the set - or lack thereof), and it was interesting to hear the history. She wrote the opening scene twenty years ago, for a one-scene exercise. About three years ago, someone requested she submit a piece for a single-scene event, and that was the one she dusted off. Afterward, she realized that nothing had changed, and she wanted to revisit it, flesh it out. Fast-forward to eighteeen months ago, when the Alley was looking for plays in for their New Play Initiative. And here we are.
Schwartz's staging is genius. The play is performed on the Neuhaus Stage, completely in the round, and it's set up like a boxing ring, elevated and square. There's a drawing desk and an office desk set in on a lazy-susan-type set-up, and the furniture is rearranged and the stage rotates between each scene change, and each interaction really IS like a fight.
Basically, the play opens with two male architects talking (bitching) about the new female associate, and how she's a bitch, cunt, etc etc etc. That pretty much sets the tone, and tells you what the play is about.
I was torn between being enraged and howling with laughter, and I could see among my fellow audience members some suuuuuper uncomfortable men and angry women.
I'd like to go see it again, to have seats at a part of the theater so that I can see some of the actors' expressions that I missed in the first viewing, but I don't think I'll have time before it closes.
Go here for tickets, if you're interested in checking it out. Two cheers for non-profit theaters!
+ The French Open has started! JMDP and Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic are already through their first round matches, and FeVer is up two sets in his. Will it be Novak Djokovic who makes history (four slams held concurrently) or Rafa (seventh earning of the Coupe des Mousquetaires)? Or will Daveeed or Federer break their current strangle-hold on the Slams? I'd say that I'm going to spam y'all with pics, but probably I will end up spamming email chains and twitter with twitpic retweets.
+ I'm not really sure how I got there (maybe link-hopping from a handbasketnews post?) but I read Taken By The Sea by notamagnet.
The author's summary: Sidney wasn't looking for love, he was just looking to play hockey again, but he found Ryan anyway. Sidney Crosby/OMC with appearances by Evgeni Malkin, Colby Armstrong, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Jarome Iginla, etc.
You don't have to know anything at all about hockey or Sidney Crosby to follow this fic. I'm a Devils fan, and only have casual knowledge of Crosby as a Penguin, and I don't think that even that was necessary - half the time I was thinking of them both as original characters. READ THE WARNINGS: triggers for rape and PTSD.
Even though both Ryan and Sidney have their ~~moments, and I find it fairly difficult to believe that NHL players as a collective would be that accepting of an openly gay player (given the current environment of the average North American professional sports team and their marketing/PR), I really really enjoyed this fic. (Caveat: some wonkiness in punctuation/italicization not being consistent.)
+ Finally caught up on Criminal Minds and Castle. Still need to watch the last handful of Supernatural episodes.
+ Latest grant will be submitted on Monday. My responsibilities for it are COMPLETE. Thank fuck. Now I can get back to the other two projects I'm trying to wrap up. Just as the summer undergrad arrives and requires attention. \o/ /o\
+ OK, I should get off my ass and make some cranberry-white chocolate chip cookies for the BBQ we're attending later. ♥