Who is going to win Super Bowl XLIII? The unlikely Arizona Cardinals or five-time Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Arizona has a football team?? They're going to lose.
01/31/2009
10/28/2008
QotD: Cast My Ballot
The election is a week from today, who are you going to vote for?
Illinois has early voting, so I took advantage on October 17th. There was a short line, and I left the polling place within five minutes. Andy voted on October 27th and there was a line - it took him about twenty minutes altogether.
I'm an election judge, and not at my assigned polling place for voting, so I must vote early if I'm to be counted. Yes, I got my letter late last week. I thought perhaps I'd avoided duty this time, and truthfully I was a little relieved not to have to serve on what could shape up to be the busiest election day of my lifetime, but I agreed to do it in the end. I suppose I'm bound to be contacted since I'm a Democrat in DuPage County - I've heard that it's more difficult to enlist Democrats here, but you wouldn't necessarily sense that from all the Obama signs in the neighborhoods.
Oh, and to answer the question, I voted for That One Guy.
07/04/2008
Superior Donuts
As I left Steppenwolf Theatre last Tuesday night, I saw a couple dudes on the sidewalk, in telltale postures of the imminent beatdown. The near-fracas seemed to be over offensive verbosity as the audience exited the theater. The old, tan guy in the pink button-down shirt proclaimed Superior Donuts to be "total fucking bullshit," especially in light of the obviously fake fight (wait...stage fights should include real wounds and blood?), while the young man in the tshirt and shorts called it "a fucking brilliant play."
Yeah, well... They were both wrong.
Superior Donuts has a lot going for it. The writing was engaging, the single set was simple and authentic, and the acting was terrific, with Michael McKean in the lead. Perhaps I'm biased since I loved him in Spinal Tap and Best in Show, but I'm glad to have seen McKean live - he was damn good. The lighting was amazing - so well done that you really felt like it was daybreak, with sunshine streaming through the storefront window, stop sign and sidewalk outside. It was entertaining. I haven't seen any other plays by Tracy Letts, but Osage County won five Tony awards. I wonder if this play was a writing vacation of sorts.
The plot though...predictable. That's not to say that something that plays out the way one would expect is bullshit, just not the strongest play I've ever seen at Steppenwolf. I wasn't sold on a couple things: first, that Franco, the young, cool, cultured kid would try to impress Arthur. Arthur's the old, washed-up, draft dodger, heir of the donut shop opened by his Polish immigrant father. He's not witty or charming, and the shop hardly gets by. The exchanges merely serve as a convenient backdrop for what unfolds in the second act. The themes of friendship, loyalty, and the changing neighborhood, ring true when one understands the brief history of the two men.
And I admit, the final scene made me well up. I felt that the people around Arthur and Franco were genuinely hurt by what happened and wanted to show support. Surely not a loss of innocence given the characters' profiles, but another round of adversity to overcome. They also conveyed the mixture of anger and resignation that many of us feel when the old neighborhood changes. We all want progress, but not at the expense of history (I guess I'm beginning to understand the passion of the old Marshall Field's shoppers since Macy's has taken over).
I'm glad no one got hurt over Superior Donuts, a perfect show for those craving a lighter theater experience. And yet, I can't stop thinking about it.
09/24/2007
08/21/2007
08/08/2007
T-shirt for Miz Kristina
Since I can't get that country americana teacher shirt for Kristina, lest she travel all the way to Illinois just to BEAT ME DOWN, this one will have to do.
08/05/2007
Reunited after 20 years
We/I made it...
Last night was the long-anticipated Lincoln Park High School 20 year reunion dinner. What a great ending to several months of planning, including conference calls, hundreds of emails, and moments of noteworthy physical and psychological discomfort on my part.
It began last summer when Miki, Michelle and I had lunch in Chicago and decided to go for it - our class hadn't had a reunion yet and it didn't seem right to ignore our upcoming anniversary. Miki's life turned very complicated and she lives far from the action (she's an SFer), so she wasn't as available and I wasn't sure the party would happen - only because I'm terrible at asking for help when it's dead obvious I need it. In the end I asked people who had offered to pitch in to stuff envelopes and what-not, and we had six people working on it (including Miki - yay!), highly competent people at that, so the tasks were light and the planning went very smoothly.
On the way to the party, Andy and I stopped at a wine shop to pick up a few bottles as a token of my thanks. I felt funny about it - I didn't want to seem like the person in charge, thanking my loyal subordinates - we built this thing together in egalitarian fashion. But I decided thanking people with gifts is always ok. Plus, I love selecting wine (I gave Miki the Ménage à Trois from Folie à Deux in Napa - I hope it's good).
So....traffic on the Eisenhower parted like the Red Sea and Andy and I got to Venus early, yet all five of the committee peeps were already there - the place was all set, except for the banner Andy made. Once we hung the banner, we had almost an hour to drink wine and employ techniques to prevent hyperventilation. My god, I hadn't been that nervous since the night before my wedding, and I really thought I would end up hurling in the ladies' room. And yet, it was wonderful because we were ready. The people who volunteered to plan the event turned out to be the most fantastic humans ever - they made the process so easy the whole time, and each contributed something useful. Ray is a banker and set up a checking account for the reunion AND handled the deposits from the classmates, Yvi is a graphic designer and handled the invitations, I do events for the doctors so I know my way around event contracts, and so forth - EVERYONE gave wonderful input and made thoughtful decisions without belaboring the minutia. I knew four of them pretty well back then and liked them all. The fifth person, Lynn, is someone I got to know for the first time in the fast four months and am so glad for it - she's really cool.
Finally, people started arriving...
Wow - everyone looked fantastic. Way better than in '87 - are you kidding me? We were 80s oblong haircut Limited Express stretch pants drum machine dorks from hell. But now...rawrrrr.... Everyone seemed comfortable and happy, and VERY excited to see their old friends. As an added bonus, Helmut Stefan attended, everyone's favorite teacher - he was the rockstar of the night.
Just before dinner the committee said a few words of welcome, introduced the alumni association speaker, etc., and when I thought we were done, I slipped each person their wine. Then they announced that without me, the entire thing wouldn't have been possible and they slipped me a gift - the sneaks (tm Kristina R.). But it wouldn't have been possible without them so I accepted with humility. The gift was also amazing - "Boxed" by the Eurythmics. It was quite an honor to receive it - presented by Ray, the biggest Eurythmics fan on our planet, and a guy with whom I spent hours discussing the band during the first two years of school. I held it up after I unwrapped it and everyone reacted with big, knowing smiles.
The event was a huge success. There were many compliments on the dinner (Greek Cypriot cuisine) and the hospitality was excellent - the restaurant even gave everyone free drinks long after the party was set to end. I relaxed and enjoyed, only having to ask an occasional question of the restaurant, and it was all good. I heard of several other small gatherings outside the big party. I was glad that everyone who show up really wanted to be there - our party of fifty had some awesome energy.It's already a bittersweet memory. I'll miss the emails, the cellphone calls at the oddest hours, the contact with the committee people. I'm sad, man. I can't wait another twenty years to hang with these five.
So, my dear friends, Miki, Stacy, Lynn, Yvi and Ray, thank you for bailing me out and supporting me, for being so talented and smart, and especially for turning out so unbelievably cool. Please keep in touch. I ADORE you.
06/15/2007
06/14/2007
06/11/2007
Vox Hunt: *Smooch*
Show us a smooch.
Recent Comments