Rough week
This week has been rough in my menagerie. Pierogi, my rat, died on Tuesday. I knew that morning that she wouldn't make it through the day. She was a sweet rat & I'll miss how she'd run to me whenever I went into her room. I'll also miss the insane cuteness of seeing her and Risu snuggled up together. She had a good and long (for a rat) life. Yesterday I discovered that one of my degus, Willow, had died. That was unexpected. I've had the degus longer than I've had Risu, and they were a couple years old when I got them. Buffy, her cage mate, is now alone. Degus are social animals and I'll need to get her another buddy. Risu has stopped visiting the degus because they were always skittish whenever he did.
My Little Brother & I went to Powderhorn yesterday so he could participate in a soccer clinic run by a former pro and World Cup player. The clinic was fun to watch. It had many similarities to drills I ran when I coached at a youth basketball camp. Afterward I introduced him to geocaching, We found 2 caches in the park. A third cache is in there but it appears to be on the island. He enjoyed the activity and now we've got something else we can do together.
I saw a crapload of theater this week starting Monday with Dominic Orlando's excellent "A Short Play About 9/11." This was no jingoistic response to the attacks, instead it showed genuine reactions to them and to the subsequent jingoism. Wednesday I saw "The Book of Liz," a fantastic show that was perfectly cast and deftly directed by scotmoore. Thursday I attended a preview of "The Pride" a gripping story that contrasts gay life in England between 1958 and 2008. Clarence Wethern was brilliant in his roles.
Then my streak came to an end. Friday's "Leonce and Lena" was perfectly adequate but nothing special. It had standout performances by Josh Hazel & Kelsey Cramer; they were worth the admission price. I'm a fan of minimal staging yet something about this production was lacking.
I was deeply disappointed by "Zafira the Olive Oil Warrior." For the most part I felt that the acting was fine given the script with the exception of the soldiers who I wanted to laugh at for being so over the top cartoonish and hence depthless. They'd have been stronger if they built up their power instead of storming on from the get-go. A giggly HS girl made no sense either; this was another one-dimensional character. I tend to be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. This script jumbled together way too many causes and didn't really clarify or expand on any of them. The barracks scenes were more like coffee klatches than prisoners in a camp, so Zafira's post-camp PTSD does not follow from that experience. I came away thinking that Zafira is a deluded woman with revenge fantasies that never get realized. There really wasn't much of an arc to the plot either. There's a powerful story in there somewhere it just didn't make it out in this script.
I wrapped up the night by attending "Yarrrh! The Lusty Busty Pirate Musical" at Open Eye. The production differs from their Fringe show with one new cast member and new songs. The show was a load of fun and an excellent finish to a long week.
My Little Brother & I went to Powderhorn yesterday so he could participate in a soccer clinic run by a former pro and World Cup player. The clinic was fun to watch. It had many similarities to drills I ran when I coached at a youth basketball camp. Afterward I introduced him to geocaching, We found 2 caches in the park. A third cache is in there but it appears to be on the island. He enjoyed the activity and now we've got something else we can do together.
I saw a crapload of theater this week starting Monday with Dominic Orlando's excellent "A Short Play About 9/11." This was no jingoistic response to the attacks, instead it showed genuine reactions to them and to the subsequent jingoism. Wednesday I saw "The Book of Liz," a fantastic show that was perfectly cast and deftly directed by scotmoore. Thursday I attended a preview of "The Pride" a gripping story that contrasts gay life in England between 1958 and 2008. Clarence Wethern was brilliant in his roles.
Then my streak came to an end. Friday's "Leonce and Lena" was perfectly adequate but nothing special. It had standout performances by Josh Hazel & Kelsey Cramer; they were worth the admission price. I'm a fan of minimal staging yet something about this production was lacking.
I was deeply disappointed by "Zafira the Olive Oil Warrior." For the most part I felt that the acting was fine given the script with the exception of the soldiers who I wanted to laugh at for being so over the top cartoonish and hence depthless. They'd have been stronger if they built up their power instead of storming on from the get-go. A giggly HS girl made no sense either; this was another one-dimensional character. I tend to be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. This script jumbled together way too many causes and didn't really clarify or expand on any of them. The barracks scenes were more like coffee klatches than prisoners in a camp, so Zafira's post-camp PTSD does not follow from that experience. I came away thinking that Zafira is a deluded woman with revenge fantasies that never get realized. There really wasn't much of an arc to the plot either. There's a powerful story in there somewhere it just didn't make it out in this script.
I wrapped up the night by attending "Yarrrh! The Lusty Busty Pirate Musical" at Open Eye. The production differs from their Fringe show with one new cast member and new songs. The show was a load of fun and an excellent finish to a long week.