Sycamores, Porgy and Homer, OH MY!!!
Ok, so a few entries back, I ranted about how some genius at QU thought it would be wonderful to axe down yet another beautiful tree on my alma mater campus. On a recent visit, I noticed, to my horror, that my favorite sycamore was gone... and tonight as I was sifting through all the crap on my computer, I came along two photos that I took of this particular sycamore (pictured right). It really bummed me out, given how much I enjoyed just looking at that tree. I can remember attempting to climb it...as well as having a madrigal picture taken underneath it... How wonderful it would have been to have in a backyard...complete with a treehouse!!!
Alright...I'm officially a treehugger. Care to share some granola with me?
In other non-treehuggy news, I am still on the search for that apartment. I checked with my current landlord at Maplewood Village, and she says that my lease is up at the end of September, so I can move out anytime that month as long as they have my keys by Sept 30. I appreciate all the advice I've gotten so far (thank you, Stephanie!) and welcome even more.
Porgy and Bess is in full swing. Monday evening, I ended up sitting through a few hours of rehearsal just to stage my very brief appearance in Act 1, Scene 2. Keep in mind that I love to watch directors work with actors (especially since Ron Himes is new to me, and this show is just awesome to watch come alive), but in the time spent just sitting there, I could have accomplished some household chores or grocery shopping. Would it have killed the production staff to have a more detailed schedule? Oh well...nothing I say or do is going to change the situation. It is good to be involved at least since I'll get some decent scratch out of this gig....and I can always use apartment startup funds.
I saw The Simpsons Movie yesterday out at the Kenrick 8. It was delightful from beginning to end, and I'm glad to see that the writing was not a reflection of the series' current lackluster plots. Then again, I did come to see the film partly as atonement for seriously falling behind on the series...literally by seasons...the transgression is that bad.
I still love the Simpsons regardless. They've been a part of my life since 3rd grade when the show first premiered. I'll never forget the outrageous backlash the series got (and still gets) from conservatives. I'll never forget this one woman from my southern baptist church who was completely anti-Simpsons because she deemed it "unchristian" and considered it divine intervention whenever I missed the show (...did she not know that I could easily tape the show anyway?). I defended my animated series, and told her that I was going to watch all of my taped episodes and document a list of GOOD done by the characters on the show (i.e. Bart reuniting Krusty with his estranged Rabbi Father, Homer saving the town from a nuclear meltdown, Lisa's staunch environmentalism, Marge's efforts to get the family to church every Sunday) to present to her. After my research, I took that (lengthy) list to the woman, and all she did was barely look at it, then tell me to now write down all the BAD things on the show--of which she was sure would make a longer list. I gave up... and just kept watching the show without her trying to guilt me. The truth is that The Simpsons is actually brimming with morality if you really look for it, something this woman was either too stupid or closeminded to attempt.
That picture off to the left is me, simpsonized. If you go to simpsonizeme.com you can upload a photo of yourself and this website will magically generate a Simpsons character resembling YOU. Of course, mine didn't come out looking entirely accurate, so I did some slight modifications and came up with the resulting picture. You can have yourself posing in front of Springfield Elementary, Krustylu Studios, the Kwik-E-Mart, and other locales. It's a whole lot of fun!
Ok, I'm sounding like a complete Simpsons Shill, so I'll be going now...