Tag: las vegas

Mothers Day News Chum Stew

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Observation StewYou know you want to take your mother to dinner. But what will you talk about? Here’s a bunch of news chum stew items, accumulated over the last two weeks (I’ve been busy, what can I say) that might just do:

  • Size Matters. Here’s a great discussion topic for your mom… or for “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. A recent study has shown that, the larger your penis, the greater the likelihood that your wife will cheat on you. In particular, according to this study, every one inch longer penis increased the likelihood of women being involved in extra-marital partnership by almost one-and-half times. I think I’ll leave the subject at that and go on to the next subject…
  • Got Gas? Here’s some more useful information. Remember “Beans Beans They’re Good for the Heart”. Well, it turns out that lots of gas is a sign of a healthy biome in your gut. This reminds me of a joke from Jason Alexander. It seems there was this long married couple whose sex life was in the dumps (see item #1). The wife went to a sex counselor, who suggested they try 69. She came home and explained it to her husband. They got in bed and in the position…. and she ripped a good one. After the air had cleared, they tried it again… and she ripped another one. They were about to try it again when the husband said, “you think I’m going to do this 67 more times, you’re crazy”.
  • It’s the Place To Be. Yup, that Farm Living is the life for me. If this makes you think of Green Acres, you’re not along. There are plans for a Broadway stage play adaptation of the hicksville TV show originally starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor.  The rights to the property were acquired by director Richard L. Bare, who was one of the most prolific helmers on the original series, and by producer Phillip Goldfine through his production company Hollywood Media Bridge.
  • Cramming It In. Sony is working on new technology that will cram 3,700 blue-rays into a single cassette tape. Actually, that’s a little misleading — we’re not talking here about a C-60 or a C-90, but a specially designed cartridge. Still, the technology is intriguing: a whopping 148 GB per square inch, meaning a cassette could hold 185 TB of data. Sony uses a vacuum-forming technique called sputter deposition to create a layer of magnetic crystals by shooting argon ions at a polymer film substrate. The crystals, measuring just 7.7 nanometers on average, pack together more densely than any other previous method. The result is that three Blu-Rays’ worth of data can fit on one square inch of Sony’s new wonder-tape.
  • A Touching Story. Here’s a very touching story about a late night encounter in a supermarket, told by Mark Evanier.
  • Anything But Starbucks. A touching obituary for Herman Hyman, founder of the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf chain. This chain, which roasts its beans in Ventura County, started in a small store on San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood in the 1970s. I think, in fact, that it started not far from my first condo.
  • Buildings Up, Buildings Down. Two interesting buildings in the news. First, the plans have been announced for the former furniture store space across from the Pasadena Playhouse. Should be an interesting project; it will be interesting to see how it changes the character of that area. In Las Vegas news, approval has been given to finally take down the Harmon. If you aren’t familiar with the Harmon, it is the oval blue-glass coated skyscraper next to the Aria and Vdara, across from Planet Hollywood and the Cosmopolitan. It was built wrong and is unstable, but they can’t implode it because it is too close to other stuff. They have to take it down piece by piece. Now if only they could do something with the Fountainbleau, which is an even bigger eyesore on the N end of the strip (where the Thunderbird once was).

 

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We’re Alone in the Woods. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Evil Dead The Musical (V Theatre)userpic=las-vegasLast night, we saw our third show in Vegas: “Evil Dead: The Musical” (FB). This is a musical I’ve been wanting to see for a while — I’ve had the CD on my iPod since 2009, and I’ve gotten a hoot out of the 2006 original off-Broadway cast. Sirc Michael’s production (FB) of the show at the V/Saxe Theatre Complex (FB) in the Desert Passage Mall Miracle Mile Mall has been running a while (I think they said it is the longest running production of the show), and our visit was an opportunity to finally put the show with the music. I’m glad I did, and modulo a few problematic areas, the show is a hoot and well worth seeing. Be careful, however, if you are in the first few rows.

As you may have surmised, “Evil Dead: The Musical” is a parody of all the slasher horror films, and particularly the Evil Dead franchise. Reading through the summary of the films (which I actually have never seen), it is about 80% of the original Evil Dead movie, 80% of the sequel Evil Dead II,  and perhaps 10% of Army of Darkness. The story concerns five college students: Ash, an S-Mart Housewares Employee; Linda, his girlfriend; Cheryl, Ash’s younger sister; Scotty, Ash’s best bud and friend; and Shelly, a girl Scotty picked up at a nearby bar three days ago. They are going off to break into an abandoned cabin in the woods for a weekend of debauchery. When they arrive at the cabin, they start to hear odd voices, and while investigating, discover a copy of the Sumarian Necronomicon (Book of the Dead), a number of weapons (axe, historical knife, gun), and a recording in the cellar. Playing the recording unleases the demons… and one by one each gets possessed and killed in various bloody and punny ways. That’s the basic story that come in from the original movie. The sequel comes in through the introduction of Annie (daughter of the cabin’s owner); Ed, her boyfriend; and Jake, their guide to the cabin. They eventually make their way there and discover Ash and all the dead bodies. Not surprisingly, they start to get possessed as well, and things get even bloodier. Eventually, Ash (who cut off his hand when it turned evil) mounts a chainsaw on his hand (hence, the picture) and starts killing every demon in sight. But demons never stay dead, do they?

Before I go into the production itself, a few words about the theatre itself. As you know if you know me, we go to theatre very regularly. When a show is called for a particular time, we’re used to being able to go into the theatre about ½ hour before the show. We’re used to getting a program that lists the actors and provides their credits. There was none of that here. We were told to arrive at 9pm to start lining up for a 10pm show. We arrived about 8:50pm, and were directed upstairs to the bar area (others arriving later were evidently lined up and had souvenir pictures taken — we’re glad we missed the pictures, but the V Theatre needs a consistent process). Eventually, the groups combined upstairs… and waited. The previous show, Zombie Burlesque, was running late. When you added in their picture process, we didn’t enter the theatre until around 10:15 pm, and the show didn’t start until around 10:30 pm. There was no communication of this delay to the audience. We entered the theatre — with no program being handed out (luckily, I learned from talking to a staff member that credits were available online). These are all correctable problems — and they should be addressed to provide a good audience experience.

Back to the show itself. This show is a cheesy and fun parody. If that’s the type of show you enjoy, you’ll get a kick out of this. There is loads of profanity, but words only — this is not risque in what you see (at least in terms of sex). The violence and gore is very cartoonish. As for the parody itself … I happen to enjoy parody musicals. I’ve seen quite a few, from Brain from Planet X, to Silence: The Musical, to Triassic Parc: The Musical, to … This is pretty good on the parody scale: it amps up the silliness of the original concept, grabs and exaggerates the recognizable parts of the original movies, and most importantly … it knows what it is. The cast has fun with this, playing with the puns and the humor. It is clear they enjoy their work, and get a kick about giving the audience a good show and a good time. This probably is why this show gets such reviews — it isn’t perfect, but it is fun. If you want polish, go see Elton John or Rock of Ages. One other thing that I appreciated is that, at least based on the cast album, this production included the entire show (including the intermission). This is rare for a Las Vegas Strip production — most of the shows do slightly cut-down versions for audiences that can’t sit for longer than 90 minutes with no intermission.

This show advertises itself as “4D”. That’s not a count of the deaths :-). Rather, it refers to the fact that if you are in the first few rows, you will get wet. They give T-Shirts to the official “splash zone”, but with the amount of liquid they drench you in, don’t wear something you care about. The actors seem to enjoy drenching the audience in the front. Note that there may be a little overspray, so be prepared.

The performances themselves were quite good. In the lead position was Ben Stobber (FB). Stobber has won awards for this performance, and it is easy to see why. I’ve written before about how I enjoy it when actors take a role, inhabit it, and have fun with it — and Stobber is clearly doing that with this role. Although he had one or two minor off notes, they get lost in the overall effectiveness of his performance. I also found it interesting to watch the height differential between Stobber and the rest of the cast: he seems to tower at least a foot over most of them. It creates this interesting image of this clean-cut good guy, towering over evil, chainsaw in hand, as he prepares to kick ass.

Another notable performance was given by Lorie Palkow (FB) as Cheryl, Ash’s younger sister. Palkow originally caught my eye because I tend to be drawn to nerdy girls. Looking a little bit like Sarah Gilbert, she gave a performance full of enthusiasm and fun. She had a strong singing voice and handled the change in personality quite well. As with Stobber, you could just tell she was having fun with this role.

Rounding out the members of the cast drawn from the first Evil Dead movie were Jennifer Daquila (FB) (Shelly), Kolton Rostron (FB) (Scotty), and Lynnae Meyers (FB) (Linda) [it is unclear who played the possessed Candarian Demon moose]. Daquila (in her Shelly incarnation) captured the dumb blonde caricature well and with enthusiasm. Rostron also captured his caricature  of the dumb bro well, especially in his overuse of the “Stupid Bitch” line. Rostrom was particularly notable for his glee in drenching the first few rows of the audience with the blood from his intestines. Lastly, Meyers’ Linda was a beauty who drew your eyes when she was onstage, at least before she became demonic. All were good singers an performers. Lastly, Beau Rigbye/FB was an obvious Fake Shemp in his role as the dead headless Linda (the belly gave him away). [By the way, what is it with actors and concierges? Both Stobber and Meyers work as concierges at Aria; my friend Shae, who is also into performing, also works as a concierge.]

Turning to the cast members drawn from Evil Dead II:   Jennifer Daquila (FB) reappeared as Annie, discarding her dumb blonde for a more overbearing sort. Christopher Lyons/FB was her boyfriend and bit-part player Ed, and Greg Korin (FB) was good ol’ Jake. All played their roles well, and Korin in particular (if memory serves correct) enjoyed drenching the audience.

Lastly, rounding out the cast as performers according to the website, but with unspecified roles, were: Shawnnie Slaughter (FB), Big Sexy, Chris Weidman, Tori Imlach/FB, Kirsten Heibert, Evelyn Benitez, Jeremiah Riesenbeck, and John Tomasello (FB). Slaughter was fun to watch as some sort of zombie who was entertaining those waiting in the bar with some interesting improv, as well as seating guests in the theatre. As for the others, I guess that they are understudies, swings, and other unnamed people (such as the MC).

Turning to the technical side of things…. big sigh. Lets start with what worked: the sets (designed by Tim Burris) were simple, but they worked. This show apparently moves between theatres in the V/Saxe complex, which demands simple movable sets. What they had was sufficient for the job. Similarly, the costumes by Stephen C. Halford were effective and titillated just a little (although there were some continuity problems with Linda’s blouse); his  special effects were a little more cheesy (but that’s an artifact of the time they have to change in and out of them). No credit is provided for the lighting, but it worked reasonably well. The blood effects by LeeAnn Wagner were plentiful and smelled of cherry; I was glad I was not sitting in the front row.

So, you’re wondering, why the big sigh? The answer is the sound design of Thomas Chrastka. I understand the demands of having to shift theatres, and of coming in after a different show with different actors and different demands. Still, the actors were over-amplified, making it difficult to hear the clever dialogue and puns… and even worse, during the musical numbers, there was too much reverb which muddied the actor’s singing. The sound system needs some retuning to return it to the crispness required.

Rounding out the credits: the production was directed by Sirc Michaels (FB) — as I’ve noted before, I can never separate direction from the acting. Choreography was by Jennie Carroll, and it worked well — particularly during the necronomicon dance. Fight choreography was by JP Dostal, and could have been a little stronger during the shooting sequences. You can see the remainder of the credits (including technicians, publicity, and the like) at the Evil Dead website.

“Evil Dead: The Musical” (FB) continues at the V/Saxe Theatre Complex (FB) well, umm, until it no longer brings in enough money to cover the rent. Tickets are available through the V/Saxe Theatre Complex Box Office, and through numerous discount outlets throughout the city. I found it worth the money, especially if you are looking for a fun time and enjoy parodies. Note that the show runs very late, and watch out for the splash zone.

A final comment on the location of the show. The V/Saxe Theatre is in the former Desert Passage Mall, which wraps around the former Aladdin hotel. We were there for the ACSAC conference in 2003, and a number of the stores are still in the mall from that time (particularly Cheeseburger Mary’s and the Italian restaurant across from the theatre). Much as Planet Hollywood has tried to “Miracle Mile” the mall, the interior still screams Desert Passage, and the southern exterior is almost unchanged from the faux Arabian desert. I kept trying to remember what was in the V Theatre space back in 2003, but I drew a blank. I think, if PH wants to successfully transition away from the Aladdin legacy, they need to do something about retheming the mall whilst staying open and keeping vendors. A difficult problem. I did read that they are about to retheme the southern exterior.

[Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.]

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:  We have no more shows planned for while we are in Vegas, but it’s busy when we return: Saturday is a twofer day: “Hairspray” at Nobel Middle School followed by “The Lion in Winter” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The next weekend brings both “Porgy and Bess” at the Ahmanson and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at REP East (FB). The next two weekends are currently unscheduled: Karen is helping Erin move, and there’s not that much calling to me from Goldstar. June is busy. It starts with a CDF Conference for Karen while I see “The Fantastiks” at Good People Theatre (FB). We lose the following weekend to a Bat Mitzvah. The remainder of the month brings “Stoneface: The Rise and Fall of Buster Keaton” at the Pasadena Playhouse (FB) on June 22, and “I’m Not Just a Comic Genius” at Secret Rose (FB) on June 27. July will be busy: “Ghost” at the Pantages (FB) on 7/5, “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at REP East (FB) the weekend of 7/12, “Once” at the Pantages (FB) on 7/19, “Bye Bye Birdie” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on 7/26, and “Family Planning” at The Colony Theatre (FB) on 8/2. August then remains quiet as we work around vacations and such, but things start to get busy again in September and October. More on that later. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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Feeling Blue

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Blue Man Group (Monte Carlo)userpic=las-vegasBefore we went on this trip to Las Vegas, I asked my wife what show she wanted to see. Her response, “Blue Man Group“. This started a quest for decent discount tickets for the show. Online, I found some discounts at TravelVegas, but these seemed to lead straight to the hotel’s Ticketmaster site — meaning that on top of the ticket price, there would be the city taxes, venue fees, and Ticketmaster fees. No thank you. Instead, we ended up using the service we’ve used for all the shows we’ve seen this week: Tix4Tonight. I went down to the booth in front of the Aladdin Planet Hollywood yesterday, and got two mezzanine tickets for BMG for around $67, including fees. [I should note that we’re doing pretty good: Using Tix4Tonight, we’ve gotten tickets to three shows for around $260, meaning each show is roughly $40 on average]. Last night, we walked over to the Monte Carlo and saw the show. For $67, we ended up in the second row in the mezzanine in the center — perfect seats.

The show itself? In a word, spectacular.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe Blue Man Group. I started with the phrase “childlike wonder”, but shortly realized that the Blue Men are simply a fancy form of clowns. They like to explore silliness, make people laugh, and just play with things. They submerge their individual identities to personas to focus people on the laughter. This is the essence of clowning.

As for the show itself, it is hard to describe. Looking back, a number of things stick in my mind. First was the giant floating things that circulated through the audience before the show. There was the percussion and the lights, and the playfulness of creating instruments out of anything and everything. There was the audience interaction (I wonder if that woman in the first row ever got her credit card back). There were the robots. There was the playing with the food and the Twinkies. There was the GiPhone and the heavy use of lights. There was the penultimate ending, with balls floating everywhere through the audience and paper going all around. There was the actual ending, with the drums of color. In short… spectacular.

One problem with Las Vegas shows is that they never provide a standard program or credit. That’s too bad. For what makes BMG successful is not only the three blue men (who are always never named), but all the musicians and technicians and staff behind them. That was certainly true last night: the musical team behind BMG was just great, and the technical work that goes into the show — from sound to lights to timing to projections to programming to playfulness — was remarkable. They deserve to be credited, and I acknowledge their efforts.

Dining Notes: Before BMG, we ate a totally non-special dinner: Rubios in the Food Court. But before that was something spectacular: one of the few non-Starbucks coffee venues we’ve seen in a hotel: Sambalatte. Now I’m not a coffee drink, but my wife tells me that the coffee she had there was one of the best cups she’s ever had. Sambalatte has three locations. [I’ll note they were less spectacular for tea — they were using bags — but there are no spectacular tea shoppes in Vegas: there’s Teavana (which is Starbucks now), but they have limited non-flavored black tea options); there’s Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, which is always good but is more coffee focused; and there’s … umm … Starbucks 🙁 ).

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:  Tonight is our last Vegas show: “Evil Dead: The Musical” at the V Theatre in the Desert Passage Mall Miracle Mile Shops. Once we return, we’ve got a twofer day: “Hairspray” at Nobel Middle School followed by “The Lion in Winter” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The next weekend brings both “Porgy and Bess” at the Ahmanson and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at REP East (FB). The next two weekends are currently unscheduled: Karen is helping Erin move, and there’s not that much calling to me from Goldstar. June is busy. It starts with a CDF Conference for Karen while I see “The Fantastiks” at Good People Theatre (FB). We lose the following weekend to a Bat Mitzvah. The remainder of the month brings “Stoneface: The Rise and Fall of Buster Keaton” at the Pasadena Playhouse (FB) on June 22, and “I’m Not Just a Comic Genius” at Secret Rose (FB) on June 27. July will be busy: “Ghost” at the Pantages (FB) on 7/5, “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at REP East (FB) the weekend of 7/12, “Once” at the Pantages (FB) on 7/19, “Bye Bye Birdie” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on 7/26, and “Family Planning” at The Colony Theatre (FB) on 8/2. August then remains quiet as we work around vacations and such, but things start to get busy again in September and October. More on that later. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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Hair at Harrahs

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Jason Alexander (Harrahs)userpic=las-vegasYou may have noticed that it’s been quiet from this end of late — I’ve had some high priority projects at work sucking my time, plus we’ve been getting ready for a little vacation. On the vacation now we are (did you appreciate that little call-out to Star Wars in honor of 5/4) (even though I’m still working in the mornings 🙁 ), so I thought I would bring you up to date with my thoughts… plus I think I’m incapable of seeing live entertainment and not writing about it.

Every time I come to Vegas I realize how this town has changed from when I was here as a kid in the 1970s. Gone are the headline entertainers and the “dinner show” showrooms; gone are most of the production shows. Gone, in fact, is everything serving the great god of gaming — everything is its own profit center now. Still, when you’re in Vegas, you see shows (and there are a few I want to see, if the price is right).

One of the shows we discovered was in town was the end of Jason Alexander’s stint at Harrah’s. Now, I’ve never watched Seinfeld (I’ll repeat that, because you probably don’t believe it — I’ve never watched Seinfeld). However, I am a fan of Mr. Alexander from his work on the stage — he was in a number of Broadway shows, and we saw him give a great performance in The Producers in Los Angeles. We’re also aware of him from his movies — our daughter was a big fan of Dunston Checks In. Given that his show wasn’t that pricy, we went last night.

I’m glad we did. It was a very funny show. Jason combined music, musical parody, and great comedy observations to create a hilarious two-hour show. He riffed on a variety of subjects — Seinfeld (of course), hair, relationships, and sitcoms are a few I remember. We just enjoyed the show immensely. If you get a chance to see Jason Alexander, it is worth it.

Dining Notes: Before the show, we ate at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville at the Flamingo. We chose them because they were one of the few restaurants in walking distance with a gluten-free menu. Very good food, and fun entertainment.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:  While in Vegas, we’re also hoping to see Blue Man Group at the Monte Carlo, as well as Evil Dead: The Musical“. Once we return, we’ve got a twofer day: “Hairspray” at Nobel Middle School followed by “The Lion in Winter” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The next weekend brings both “Porgy and Bess” at the Ahmanson and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at REP East (FB). The next two weekends are currently unscheduled: Karen is helping Erin move, and there’s not that much calling to me from Goldstar. June is busy. It starts with a CDF Conference for Karen while I see “The Fantastiks” at Good People Theatre. We lose the following weekend to a Bat Mitzvah. The remainder of the month brings “Stoneface” at the Pasadena Playhouse on June 22, and “I’m Not Just a Comic Genius” at Secret Rose on June 27. July will be busy: “Ghost” at the Pantages (FB) on 7/5, “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at REP East (FB) the weekend of 7/12, “Once” at the Pantages (FB) on 7/19, “Bye Bye Birdie” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on 7/26, and “Family Planning” at The Colony Theatre (FB) on 8/2. August then remains quiet as we work around vacations and such, but things start to get busy again in September and October. More on that later. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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Is It Worth It?

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userpic=theatre_ticketsI’ve been doing some theatre planning for the upcoming months/trips. There are some shows I’m interested in seeing, but I can’t decide the best approach to take, given the cost. Here’s what I’m exploring: opinions are welcome.

  • Stoneface at the Pasadena Playhouse. Tickets are $34 to $39 on Goldstar, but have a service charge of $7.50 each. I’m not sure if the Pasadena Playhouse is worth $42-$45 per ticket (I don’t pay that much for tours at the Pantages). Still, it is French Stewart as Buster Keaton…
  • Evil Dead – The Musical at V Theatre, Las Vegas. Tickets are $29.95 for Saturday at 11:30pm, or $32.95 for Tuesday at 10:00pm, which is reasonable. However, they want to add service charges of $6-$8 per ticket. I’m not sure I want to pay that much for what is a parody show (even if it is funny). I’m wondering if I can get the tickets at one of the discount booths on the strip for a lower service charge.
  • Blue Man Group at Monte Carlo. Here I’ve found a deal for $59 a ticket… which is a good price. But they take you to the Monte Carlo box office (good), which uses Ticketmaster (bad)… meaning there are likely surcharges on the order of $10 per ticket. Again, I’m normally not in that ticket price range. Is it worth it?

 

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Saturday Stew: From XP to Exes, from New Coins to Old History

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Observation StewIt’s Saturday, and that means it is time to clear out the links for the week. This has been a busy week, with a major recorganization (which was more of an org chart relocation) at work (means loads of “all-hands” meetings full of sound and fury, saying little), loads of documents to review, and loads of stuff to catch up on. As a result, I rarely got time to look at the news over lunch, and have only collected a few things that didn’t them. Let’s get to them:

  • The Death of XP. My RSS feeds are full of dire warnings about continuing to use XP after support stops on April 8. As it is, I have three XP machines at home: two that are just sitting, turned off, and one that is used solely as a print server. Still, I am thinking about replacing it, and two articles caught my eye. The first looks at 3 Linux alternatives to upgrading Windows–I’d seriously think about upgrading at least one to Linux if it can work as a print server on a Windows network. The second talks about how Microsoft is offering special deals of $100 for those upgrading from XP. With some Windows 8 machines in the $200-$300 range, this brings systems to the noise level.
  • Challenging Coins. Two interesting articles on coins this week. The first talks about the new £1 coin Britain is introducing. It will be 12-sided, and incorporate different-colored metals, for a faux gold and silver look, instead of the mostly copper blend now in circulation, and boast a high-tech anti-forgery feature used in paper money. It looks like it is complicated to make. Even more complicated is a new domed collectable coin being made by the US Mint: a domed coin commemorating baseball. Evidently, it was very hard for the mint to manufacture, and took a bit of experimenting to get right. What’s interesting here is reading the comments — there are a large number of people who do not understand that collectable coins and stamps make the government money.
  • Training For It. About a week or so, I had set aside a story about a railroad club in Orange County that had their trackage stolen, intending to send them a little something. Turns out I wasn’t the only one: the club has received thousands of dollars in donations. A nice reminder that there are a lot of good people in the world.
  • Bad Design. Here are two articles about some bad designs. The first is about a new device you can slap on a milk carton–it uses nanotechnology to indicate visually if the milk is good or bad. So what’s the problem? According to the article, “red” is good, “green” is bad. This is the opposite of how red and green are nomally used in interfaces, and I predict people will get sick from the “green is good” hardwiring. The second is about golfing: it appears that titanium clubs striking rocks can create sparks that start brush fires. Perhaps they should give golf clubs to people on Survivor.
  • Out of This World. I’ve had this article sitting for a few weeks, but nothing seems to want to pair with it. Baker is a dying town — once home to the largest thermometer in the world, it is now slowly fading into the desert. But the owner of Alien Jerky wants to change that — and one way is to build a flying saucer shaped hotel.
  • The Jewish Valley. I’m into history. I’m into Judaism. So naturally, I’m into the history of Jews in the San Fernando Valley. Many years ago, Rabbi John Sherwood and I even toyed with the idea of writing a book on the subject. So here’s an interesting article in that vein: it explores the early days of the Valley Jewish Community Center, which became the Conservative synagogue Adat Ari El. This is the synagogue that was the parent of most Conservative synagogues in the valley, just like Temple Beth Hillel was the first Reform congregation and was essentially the parent of most Reform congregations in the valley.
  • Marital Success. What makes a successful marriage? Is it your partner? It is living together before you get married to work out the problems? Is it “murder frequently, divorce never?” According to this article from Atlantic, it is being mature when you get married. An exploration of the science of cohabitation shows that the older people are when they make their long-term commitment as a couple, the more likely that couple will stay together. The study found that individuals who committed to cohabitation or marriage at the age of 18 saw a 60 percent rate of divorce. Whereas individuals who waited until 23 to commit saw a divorce rate that hovered more around 30 percent. I got married when I was 25, and next year we will have been married for 30 years. As they say, you do the math.

 

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Evolution in Action

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userpic=caduceusToday’s lunchtime (well, I meant to post this at lunch, but the day got away from me) news chum post deals with evolution, in various forms and shapes:

  • Evolution of… a Musical. In a couple of weeks, I’m going to be seeing “Harmony“, the new Barry Manilow musical at the Ahmanson. The story of how this musical came about is quite interesting. You see, although Barry Manilow is involved with this musical (writing the music), it isn’t a pastiche of existing Manilow music. This musical goes back to when Manilow met Bruce Sussman at the 1972 BMI Musicals Workshop (before Manilow was a pop star), and it tells the the little-known true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a vaudevillian German sextet that rose to wild superstardom in the 1930s. But three of the group’s six members were Jewish, and by 1935 they had been forced to flee to the United States after the Nazis dissolved the sextet, destroyed all their albums and burned their 12 movies. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.
  • Evolution of… a Meme. Slashdot is reporting on a study about the way that memes evolve on Facebook, and it turns out they evolve in a manner similar to the ways genes evolve. Specifically, memes spread, mutate and evolve in ways that are mathematically identical to genes. However, there are important differences too. The authors of the study say that understanding this process can give deep insights into the way information spreads through cultures and the way individuals change it as it spreads. BTW, in other Facebook stuff, Wired looks at our obsession with online quizzes, and even includes their popularity back in the days of Livejournal.
  • Evolution of… the Vegas Marquee. When the Las Vegas strip started in the late 1940s, marquees were nothing. There might be a signboard announcing artists and a pool along US 91. Then the Flamingo added the champagne tower, and everything took off. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was neon everywhere. But go to the strip these days, and you’ll find very little neon. What’s replaced it? Gigantic LED high-def displays. The Las Vegas Weekly has a nice article looking at this evolution.
  • Evolution of… the Coffeemaker. First, you should know that I don’t like coffee. Coffee, to me, only belongs in ice cream or covered in dark chocolate. But there are those that like it. Growing up, my mother did… and she always had a percolator. You never see those any more. They were replaced by drip coffeemakers (“Mr. Coffee”), and then French Presses (or cold brew setups like my wife uses). Nowadays, we’re all into the waste of the K-Cup and the Keurig. Keurig wants to be the HP or Canon of coffeemakers… and by that I mean they want to make you captive to their cups (think cheap printers and expensive consumables). How are they going to do this? DRM in the K-Cup, meaning the coffeemaker will only work with Keurig-produced K-cups. I think I’ll stick with loose-leaf tea, thankyouverymuch.

 

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Saturday Clearing O’ The Links

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy1 Comment

userpic=observationsIt’s Saturday, and you know what that means — time to clear out those links that couldn’t form into a coherent theme over the week. That doesn’t mean this are incoherent links, but … umm … perhaps we should just get to the links:

  • Theatre Stuff. This has been a busy week theatre-wise — based on some good reviews in the times and some timely discoveries, I’ve now filled out my June theatre dance card. You’ll see that in tomorrow’s review of Priscilla, but I do have a few theatre items. First is a very interesting review of Scottsboro Boys at the Ahmanson… written by a resident of Scottsboro AR. His take is very different than some. Second, I’ve become a tag at Bitter Lemons! Perhaps I should explain: Bitter Lemons is a theatre site here in Los Angeles that aggregates reviews and writeups of local shows, and then uses them to ascribe an overall “lemon” score — from sweet to bitter — on each show. They evidently like my writeups enough to include them in the meter, and I’m honored by that inclusion. I’ve even more honored that Colin, who runs the site, wrote a wonderful response to a post I did a while back regarding critics and their place. I also really liked their advice to the aspiring critic; I’ll take a number of those items to heart. A PS to the good folks at REP East: You should pay attention to this post about getting your shows in the Lemon Meter.
  • Your Net Worth. Two different posts looks at the question of what you are worth to different groups. Yes, you. First, have you ever thought about who was the most valuable patron to a casino: a pennyslot player or a blackjack player. The answer may surprise you – the pennyslot player. What about on Facebook? How much are you worth if you “like” something? Read this post, and you’ll be very hesitant about “like”-ing in the future.
  • The State of Affairs. A couple of state things. First, an interesting map that shows if you are in “dog” or a “cat” state. This is based on the percentage of pet ownership of each type. I’m in a neutral state, it seems. What I’d love to find is a map that categorized cities as “east coast” or “west coast” — and this isn’t a geographical distinction. Perhaps one day I’ll explain it, but I’ll give my two favorite examples: LA and KC are “west coast”, San Francisco and St. Louis are “east coast”.  Second, the city hall in St. Louis is slowly deteriorating, and no one is doing anything about it. It’s not that St. Louis doesn’t have city pride; it’s that they don’t associate it with their city hall.
  • Conference Concerns. I’ve been involved with the ACSAC conference for many years (in fact, training submissions are still open — you have until Monday to get something in). Thus, I’m worried whenever incidents such as the recent IRS boondoggle hit the news — it makes people start seeing conferences as frivolous. It also leads to bills such as those mentioned in this article, that would ban travel to “fun” places. Conferences can be useful and cost effective, if GSA guidelines are followed and the organizers focus on technical content and quality. As always, perception is everything. The important thing to remember is electronic interaction cannot replace face-to-face interaction, just like recommendations from Amazon cannot replace browsing at the bookstore.
  • An Interesting Kickstarter. The SCGD mailing list alerted me to an interesting Kickstarter: A group of gamers is attempting to start a Board Game Cafe in Glendale CA. I love the idea, but I’m less sure about the location — I think it would do better in Westwood (near UCLA) or Northridge (near CSUN). Still I may decide to support them. Basically, the idea is as follows: customers visit the café and for a small cover charge they get access to an extensive board game library (which often runs into hundreds of titles) as well as food and drink options from the café. There is no establishment like this in Los Angeles. There are game shops, but that’s a different atmosphere. The question is: Will it be a destination? It might — after all, they have pie. (All I know is the pie sold me — I’m a supporter. Please help them make their stretch goal so I get pie!)

Music: Folk Era Mini CD (The Kingston Trio): “Tom Dooley”

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