The most cooperative man in this world is a dead man. - Bela Oxmyx

Getting back into a theater kick, I've been able to check out Wicked, Mary Poppins, and, after last night, "Dead Man's Cell Phone" at the TBPAC. The Weekly Planet has a review here. It was a nice little performance with a couple of technical hiccups during the review showing (but entertaining enough to check out. Though I still very much enjoy larger productions, I still want to look more towards smaller shows.

Favorite line from the show, said to woman getting slightly older; "even if you're 39, remember your eggs are 40".

Life is not fair...it is, however, quite a circus.

I previously had planned to hit the Cirque Du Soleil show last week, however the plans had changed due to my own bad planning at one point, so I decided to take the opportunity to see it tonight before the busy July 4th weekend started. This was a great opportunity to stay late at the office since the show didn't start until 7:30. The building started to quickly empty around 1 o'clock after the office cookout and by 3:30 or so it was almost all but empty, so I was able to turn up the music for once and get through some decent reading of some old contracts that needed review. Since there is a stop just feet from the office, I took the Tampa Streetcar/trolley from the office to the Forum that was hosting the show. I've seen many of the Cirque shows in the past, including a good viewing of Ka in Las Vegas last March, however this was the first time I'd seen Saltimbanco, the oldest Cirque touring show.

After purchasing a low-price tier ticket at the box office I headed up to take my spot, however the usher of my section was handing out a few tickets for free, unsold seat upgrades, so I got to head back down to get a center row seat with an excellent view; so I ended up being quite pleased. Like the rest, I really enjoyed the show and the different acts and performances. I really enjoyed the first act with the large cast or acrobats jumping among the poles with style and finesse; looking like brightly colored, beautiful monkeys chasing a moth through a room. If you don't get a chance to see it, no matter the circumstance, there are numerous Saltimbanco video clips available to view.

If you haven't seen a Cirque performance, then check out this video clip from the 2002 Oscars award show that is among my favorites. It is a great introduction as it pulls acts from numerous shows that coincide with scenes from different movies. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/57414/cirque_du_soleil_oscars/

Good teaching is 1/4 preparation and 3/4 theater.

Although I missed the performance last year, I decided to attend the outdoor performance that American Stage puts on in St. Petersburg every year. This year it was a performance of 'Little Shop of Horrors' that most people recall from the movie with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis. The weather outside was great and getting there 90 minutes early allowed for the claim of a pretty good spot to lay out the blanket and picnic supplies.

It was a very lovely comedy and produced quite well with a limited stage. Audrey 2, as the focal point of the story, preformed quite well and stole the show. I wish I had more opportunity to visit the theater more often, but it is a pretty far drive from my home or office. Summer planning is going along well, though I still have more aspects to decide in order to make the most out of my 25 day trip.

Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with truffle pate', brandy and spam.

Last evening I attended the 'Spamalot' show at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center after having been invited by a friend. When it first started I thought it was just a complete rehash of Monty Python's 'Search for the Holy Grail'. I was wondering why the audience was laughing so much when one of the famous scenes came up; bring out your dead, King Arthur arguing with mud peasant on the aspects of government, etc. It is like constantly laughing at the first word of a joke when you already know the punchline. Thankfully though, things changed around enough to allow some new things, but still remain in familiar territory.

It was an enjoyable show ad there were a few funny new bits, so I'm definitely glad to have been offered the opportunity to check it out. I did miss two of my favorite bits from the movie that were not in 'Spamalot', mainly the clapping prisoner in the dungeon during the Camelot scene of the singing of 'Knights of the Round Table' and the slaying of the narrator at the end. Other than that, it was quite enjoyable and I hope this encourages me to see even more productions in the future.

The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat it.

The week was spent at the office trying to catch up on some insanely neglected accounting and paperwork with my evening working at the office until 1:30 in the morning Friday night. I overslept a bit and had to rush to get out the door to run through Orlando to pick up a friend to head over the Melbourne on the east coast to attend a holiday party (more of a pub crawl, but holiday themed at least). The event itself was a lot of fun, but I unfortunately left my camera in the truck when we changed vehicles, so do not yet have any pictures to share. We hit a couple of different spots with the end being an old theater called 'The Metro' that has a couple of different screens where they show independent and other artsy movies. There was food waiting for us as well as the hash tags and other give-aways. although not as many people showed up as were expected, it was a fun time.

After the hash group's time was up, apparently the next group was more of a gothic toned crowd with some S&M kind of displays. Apparently the highlight was a half-clad girl getting covered in plastic wrap and whipped cream so people could pay to lick it off. That was pretty much as boring as it sounds, so I went to the other side where a few bands were playing. I walked in half-way though the set list of a band called 'Lennex'. Apparently they came in fourth on some recent reality show called 'Rockstar Supernova'. I was really impressed with the vocals and music and enjoyed sitting there for a while listening. I wish they were coming through Tampa so I could hear the whole set, but unfortunately Orlando is as close as they'll be. AP was kind enough to house us for the evening and even made waffles in the morning!

I came back Sunday afternoon with just enough time to get to the TBPAC to see the performance of 'The Serpent' that was produced by the Jobsite Theater Company. Being more of an abstract performance art piece rather than a typical play with a dialog, plot, and other normal aspects, it is hard to provide a synopsis, so if interested just check out some of the links. Since we hadn't done anything in a while, I invited my dad to join me, though I'm really not sure what he thought of it since I do not think that he had never really been previously exposed to something like that. After the show I walked around downtown for a while enjoying the wonderful weather while I waited for a friend to finish errands to meet at Channelside for some sangria at Tinatapa's. Overall it was a great way to end the weekend. The past couple of weeks have been really stressful with work and other aspects, so I really needed that chance to relax and wind down.

My old high school friend Jason will be coming down from Charleston for a week's stay at the end of the week. Besides some of the usual stuff, we'll probably take the kayaks over the Crystal River one morning and do some swimming or paddling with the manatees.

The thrill is not just in the winning, but in the courage to join the race.

I suppose I can no longer say that I have never won anything. I received a call today from Creative Loafing (publisher of the 'Weekly Planet') to say that I won two tickets to a performance at the Tampa Jobsite Theater for Sunday afternoon. It'll be nice to be able to check out a new performance, especially after I promised myself a few weeks ago to start attending more productions after enjoying the play in St Petersburg a few weeks ago.

Good teaching is 1/4 preparation and 3/4 theater.

I was at work yesterday trying to finish up some projects and get the place organized when I get a sudden whim to go out and do something that I had not experienced in a while. After taking a look at the local happenings on the TBT website, I decided to go check out the American Stage Theater Company's production of "All the Great Book (Abridged)". The basic premise was that th audience is in a remedial literature class so they can pass the requirements necessary to graduate, which is in about 2 hours. The coach, drama teacher, and a student teacher thereby cover 89 classic books in this time period into what turns out to be a very funny performance. I had seen the same company in only a single previous performance a little over a year and a half ago. About 30 minutes before the show there are rush tickets available at half price, so I arrived about 15 minutes before show time and was able to get a great seat in the third row. I thought the performance was well done and really enjoyed the show and am looking forward to attending others in the future at not only American Stage, but also MAD Theater, Gorilla Theater, the Carrollwood Players and other production companies in the area.

Faith, hope and love can work wonders, but ruby slippers can't hurt either.

When scanning the weekend happenings section of the newspaper, I noticed that there was going to be a showing of 'The Wizard of Oz' at the Tampa Theater. For those that haven't been, the theater is an exquisitely designed both inside and out. You can see get a virtual tour on the tbo.com website (http://tour.tbo.com/tour/stops/tampatheatre.htm)It is historical in that it was built in the 1920s and was the first commercial building to install air conditioning!

It was all rainy out, so I decided that it was a perfect time to go. There were a lot more people there than I was expecting, including a lot of families that were dressed up as some of the characters, much like one would see at a showing of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' or any other cult classic. It had been a long, long time since I'd seen the whole movie and I was still impressed by the visual effects and story line of a film made in the late 1930s. Overall it was a nice experience and interested me in checking out more classics (such as Casablanca, Mary Poppins, and Gone with the Wind) and other such movies that are shown there.

A moving (out) neutrino gathers no mass.

I joined my friends Christen and Jessica (along with some of their associates and work mates) at the 'Moving Out' performance at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. We met at the parking garage where we happened to start the Red Dress Run this weekend in Hyde Park and then went to eat and have a few glasses of wine at The Wine Exchange. Both of them work at the TBPAC and thus had extra tickets and were kind enough to invite me. Though the evening was great, I wasn't too impressed with the show as I more thoroughly enjoyed the company of friends. It really wasn't too much more than a bunch of Billy Joel songs with a dancing theme for the visuals. The dancing was really good at least, so I still had a lovely time. There was no dialogue in the least to aid a story and the whole show, including intermission, was less than 2 hours. After the show I went back to the Hyde Park area and walked around for a while scouting the area since I am setting trail for tomorrow's Wednesday night hash.

"Something wicked this way" ummm "doesn't come."

After getting several good reviews from friends, I decided to try to get some tickets to the show 'Wicked' at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. The shows have been sold out for a while, however the day of the show they have a lottery drawing for 26 tickets. I got there a bit early, but was still denied in my quest since a lot of people started showing up at the last minute. Oh well, I'll try again each day over the next couple of days to see if I can get access. I might have to break down and get a regular ticket and locate my old pair of binoculars. At least the lottery is early enough so that I can still attend the hash, swing lesson, or other activity if I don't make it inside.