Scattershooting

Thoughts of commiseration to Sarah, suffering from a different, though no less painful, strain of omer-itis than yours truly.

Powerful op-ed in today's Times, from an American who served in the IDF. As someone whose politics skew militantly moderate (what, you thought being straight and a musical theatre queen wasn't enough of a contradiction?), I found his points hitting home pretty hard.

Coolest thing that's happened to us so far since we've told people about the upcoming arrival: Julie Garnye, one of the sweetest regulars at Cast Party, dedicating a kickin' rendition of "The Story Goes On" from Baby to us. We're a little scared of what Brian has in store for us when we make our piano bar return (this is a man who routinely writes and sings x-rated parodies of Disney songs, and who I will someday forgive for eternally ruining "Part of Your World" for me). I do know, however, that I've gotta find a unique cool hobby to do with the kid... too bad someone's already done beekeeping...

Very nice webcomic that I've recently discovered: Count Your Sheep, a sweetly sad/ sadly sweet piece of work that draws inspiration from the much-missed Calvin and Hobbes without being a knock-off (Adrian Ramos, the artist, also mentions Disney's Lilo and Stich as a major influence, and I guess it shows in the family structure). I'm actually considering putting down a couple of bucks for one of his drawings (This strip and this one gave me the serious giggle fits.

Let's go, Mets!

Holding (Out) Penalty

Well, there comes a point in a blogger's life when he realizes that he's been holding out. The main reason he hasn't been posting isn't that he's just lazy, but that: 1) there's some big thing in his life that he hasn't wanted to post about, and 2) said big thing so overshadows everything else that posting about anything else seems pointless. Well, it's time to get over this thing, so here goes:

Assuming that all goes well, come late September/early October, The Lovely Wife(tm)and I will welcoming a new member of the clan.

For our friends who read this blog and whom we haven't told directly, please forgive us. It's been a pretty wild few months: crying, laughing, freaking out, throwing up... and that's just me. TLW has wanted to tell all of our friends in person, which, for those who know her, means that the kid would be about ten years old before she got halfway through. It's time, though, for the word to get out.

We're excited, happy, and scared out of our gourds.

The big question of the hour, though: what's the proper title for the offspring of two theater queens?

Now, that's @#!#in' Drama!

David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross is brought to you by the letter "f." We caught the expletive-filled, high-octane revival last night, and I'm glad to finally have caught a Tony-nominated performance from this season. Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber are superb, and Tom Wopat (who I'll never really believe as a stage actor) turns in an inexcusably snubbed performance. Gordon Clapp was fine, and his big exit gets the applause, but Wopat's was the most fully realized character in the joint.

Come to think of it, the straight plays this season seem to have the musicals completely beat out... Doubt, Reckless, Pillowman, new productions of Virginia Woolf and Twelve Angry Men... can't really complain. Even if Scoundrels and Piazza aren't all that good, as John seems to think, we've got more new productions opening than any time recently that I can recall, and that can only be a good thing.

The Day the Music Went on Hiatus

Welp, Pesach came and went... well, there's still some remnants in chez Efrex, where the non-Pesach dishes are still in the closet (insert obligatory "closet" joke of your preference here), pending reversion of the kitchen back to "chometz" status, but the days of wine and matzah are definitely over, and the days of dieting are back on us (eight days, fer pete's sake! How does one get that far out of shape in eight days?).

The most irritating thing of post-Pesach, however, isn't the stomachache, the cleanup, or the "gotta get me a pizza now!" sensation. It's the realization that now starts the "music-free" time known as the omer. No live music for The Lovely Wife(tm) and myself for another four weeks, which means that we're gonna haveta do some serious running around to catch the Tony nominees this year, since we haven't seen any of the new shows and are only gonna have a week before the awards. Ah, well, such is life. Far more annoying is our missing out on a bunch of fun concerts happening around, including the "New Mondays" series at The 'plex, one of which will be featuring Julie Garnye, a relatively recent addition to the circle of insanely talented people who tolerate us for reasons beyond our comprehension. This also means no new cast recordings for me, which is going to make waiting for the new Sondheim CDs quite irritating.

On the other hand, I get a chance to re-read the Hitchhiker's Guide series again before seeing the movie... I've been seriously shortchanging my nerd credentials recently, so this'll be a good chance to catch up. Maybe I can finally learn all of my Scrabble stems, while I'm at it.