Thursday was the Theatre, Friday was the movies and tonight is the author talk
I may be lonely, but I'm certainly busy!
Thursday night I saw Reviving Ophelia. Based on the book by Dr. Mary Pipher, writer Cherie Bennett, acclaimed writer of young adult plays and books, was handpicked to take this book of 40 essays about girls and adolescence and create a dramatic play. She succeeded immeasurably. She created 4 girls. They aren't archetypes or stereotypes. They are just girls. And we take them from 6-21. We see how they are influenced by society. Jill was the outcast. Adopted when she was 3, she was a Lakota Sioux, her adopted parents were white and always told her she was as good as the white kids. But kids are mean to kids who are different. Ophelia, Lia for short, had a cool mother but of course, Lia didn't think so. Everything with her mom was a teachable moment. However, Lia wanted to be a writer, just like her mother. Allie was the daughter of a minister. She was a true believer but wanted to be like the cool kids. And then there was Dawn. Dawn had been brought up to believe that her biggest value came from her body and her looks. Her mother had spent a fortune on plastic surgery and snagged a wealthy husband. Dawn is a child of the computer generation and began streaming herself to the web while still in high school. There were two boys in the cast. Zack and Alex. Zack was the good looking one, more sensitive then he appeared. Alex's mother, a college professor, walked out on the family when Alex was a very young teen. It destroyed his life but it took a long time for the effects to be seen. The cast, teens except for the people playing the adults, were wonderful. The play was brilliantly done. It didn't have a happy ending, or an unhappy one, it had a realistic one.
Girls are dramatically impacted by pop culture. When I was in college, Madonna was the rage. A decade ago, it was Britney. The role models get younger and push sex earlier. Or rather they push adulthood earlier on girls who can't handle their teens well. This play showed very clearly just how girls are impacted. Though there was no single character I could relate to, in many ways, I saw bits of myself in each of them. It was a marvelous performance. Writer Cherie Bennett and her husband are the head writers for the Young and the Restless. I met them both and they are lovely people. Unfortunately, they are moving back to LA to take up the head writers position.
Last night was Spiderman 3. I had read two, nearly identical, reviews. The Boston Globe and the Salt Lake Tribune. I have to say that the reviews were dead-on accurate. Both papers gave the movie 3 stars. I would agree. The special effects were incredible. Totally incredible. But the story, while it had its moments, had too much in there to get to any of it completely. Watching Peter under the influence of the aggressive alien stuff was amusing to a point. I didn't like Mary Jane in this episode. While Peter is an oblivious jerk, Mary Jane was so needy that I found her annoying. It was definitely the Harry Osbourn pieces that made the movie. The climactic fight scene was climactic. And was worth the entire movie. Peter does grow up in this movie. A lot happens. Too much. It would have been more cohesive to focus on only a few things.
On a side note. This was the 7pm performance on opening night. This was not the place for infants and toddlers. This is not a G-rated flick. I know you want to see it, but either get a babysitter or stay home. Don't torment the rest of us with crying kid. And for the 6 year old who kicked my seat repeatedly, he is just lucky that with stadium seats, it was too hard for me to turn around and hurt him. The younger children were "ewwing" over the kissing scenes and there were a number of those.
The Harry Potter trailer looked wonderful. We saw 4 trailers. Only the HP trailer looked fantastic. Or at least memorable. The theatre that I went to had assigned seats. I liked that.
Tonight is Ruth Reichl. Senior editor for Gourmet Magazine, former restaurant critic for the NYTimes, and author of at least three books, she should be a fascinating speaker. I am still debating about trying to go the Night-Flight Comics anniversary party afterward. I didn't RSVP because I don't know if I will make it before the mall closes at 9. It depends on what time the author talk is over. I think she's only signing for the people who paid for the special reception tickets. They were sold out by the time I made up my mind.
I have all new toys to talk about, but those will be topics for another post.
Thursday night I saw Reviving Ophelia. Based on the book by Dr. Mary Pipher, writer Cherie Bennett, acclaimed writer of young adult plays and books, was handpicked to take this book of 40 essays about girls and adolescence and create a dramatic play. She succeeded immeasurably. She created 4 girls. They aren't archetypes or stereotypes. They are just girls. And we take them from 6-21. We see how they are influenced by society. Jill was the outcast. Adopted when she was 3, she was a Lakota Sioux, her adopted parents were white and always told her she was as good as the white kids. But kids are mean to kids who are different. Ophelia, Lia for short, had a cool mother but of course, Lia didn't think so. Everything with her mom was a teachable moment. However, Lia wanted to be a writer, just like her mother. Allie was the daughter of a minister. She was a true believer but wanted to be like the cool kids. And then there was Dawn. Dawn had been brought up to believe that her biggest value came from her body and her looks. Her mother had spent a fortune on plastic surgery and snagged a wealthy husband. Dawn is a child of the computer generation and began streaming herself to the web while still in high school. There were two boys in the cast. Zack and Alex. Zack was the good looking one, more sensitive then he appeared. Alex's mother, a college professor, walked out on the family when Alex was a very young teen. It destroyed his life but it took a long time for the effects to be seen. The cast, teens except for the people playing the adults, were wonderful. The play was brilliantly done. It didn't have a happy ending, or an unhappy one, it had a realistic one.
Girls are dramatically impacted by pop culture. When I was in college, Madonna was the rage. A decade ago, it was Britney. The role models get younger and push sex earlier. Or rather they push adulthood earlier on girls who can't handle their teens well. This play showed very clearly just how girls are impacted. Though there was no single character I could relate to, in many ways, I saw bits of myself in each of them. It was a marvelous performance. Writer Cherie Bennett and her husband are the head writers for the Young and the Restless. I met them both and they are lovely people. Unfortunately, they are moving back to LA to take up the head writers position.
Last night was Spiderman 3. I had read two, nearly identical, reviews. The Boston Globe and the Salt Lake Tribune. I have to say that the reviews were dead-on accurate. Both papers gave the movie 3 stars. I would agree. The special effects were incredible. Totally incredible. But the story, while it had its moments, had too much in there to get to any of it completely. Watching Peter under the influence of the aggressive alien stuff was amusing to a point. I didn't like Mary Jane in this episode. While Peter is an oblivious jerk, Mary Jane was so needy that I found her annoying. It was definitely the Harry Osbourn pieces that made the movie. The climactic fight scene was climactic. And was worth the entire movie. Peter does grow up in this movie. A lot happens. Too much. It would have been more cohesive to focus on only a few things.
On a side note. This was the 7pm performance on opening night. This was not the place for infants and toddlers. This is not a G-rated flick. I know you want to see it, but either get a babysitter or stay home. Don't torment the rest of us with crying kid. And for the 6 year old who kicked my seat repeatedly, he is just lucky that with stadium seats, it was too hard for me to turn around and hurt him. The younger children were "ewwing" over the kissing scenes and there were a number of those.
The Harry Potter trailer looked wonderful. We saw 4 trailers. Only the HP trailer looked fantastic. Or at least memorable. The theatre that I went to had assigned seats. I liked that.
Tonight is Ruth Reichl. Senior editor for Gourmet Magazine, former restaurant critic for the NYTimes, and author of at least three books, she should be a fascinating speaker. I am still debating about trying to go the Night-Flight Comics anniversary party afterward. I didn't RSVP because I don't know if I will make it before the mall closes at 9. It depends on what time the author talk is over. I think she's only signing for the people who paid for the special reception tickets. They were sold out by the time I made up my mind.
I have all new toys to talk about, but those will be topics for another post.