Paranormal

a Sci-fi Comedy

February 27-March 7

The Factory Theater

791 Tremont Street

Boston MA

8pm

"I am K'Tharr, a Grulark Warrior-Bunny from the planet Trepmalthok, and I would give my life to defend you!"

With those words from a six-feet tall bunny-shaped alien, Krista Maclay, burgeoning psychic, is thrown on a journey beyond the human world in which she meets Elvis-impersonating aliens, invisible annoying bodyswappers, a moody yet endearing psychic boy, and a long-dead former best friend who forces her into an epic psychic battle for free will.

"Paranormal" is a sci-fi comic fantasy juggernaut for everyone who doesn't see why someone couldn't be a zombie, a pirate, and a telepath at the same time.Featuring Laura DeCesare, Timothy Hoover, Neal Leaheey, Crystal Lisbon, and Nick Zendzian. Sound design by Neil Marsh. Written and Directed by Carl Danielson.

For tickets, call (866) 811-4111 or go to "Paranormal" at TheaterMania:
http://www.theatermania.com/boston/shows/paranormal_151611/

Please also visit:
Unreliable Narrator

Soundtrack of the day

On Twitter, I decided unconsciously to tweet the song that played in my head at the moment. Selections have included "Jacob's Ladder," the "theme from the first season of Pokemon," and "Atomic Dog."

It's amazing what songs will waft through your head at odd moments. I get some interesting responses, since my tweets are also displayed on Facebook.

Rossi should be blogging?

Joe Flint at the Paley Center blogged on January 16th about Lou Grant moving into the new millenium.


As a huge fan of the series, "Lou Grant," I nearly died at the changes he suggested. Let go of Charlie Hume, Art Donovan and Animal? No company car? Focus on celebrity news!!!! Never mind no mention of Billie of Mrs. Pynchon in this reorg. Will Billie get farmed out to fashion dos and don'ts?


I noted some tongue in cheek regarding this post, which does ask the question if the Tribune could have survived in the new millenium. The series was cancelled in 1982 or so before blogging and citizen journalism and Facebook and fax machines that did not need special paper. While celebrities grabbed their share of headlines in 1982, they did not dominate the way they do in 2009.

Hot shot young reporter Rossi would now be one of the old guys he was not always so kind to in the series. I wonder how he would deal with it.

What would they think about the endless stream of cases of plagiarism and fabrication? A failure of journalism school or of people in the trade?

The blog post is here:
http://www.paleycenter.org/rossi-should-be-blogging-remaking-lou-grant-for-the-21st-century/

The alleged dolls

While I understand Michelle Obama's concern, I don't know that the dolls look that much like them. The skin tone and the hair are wrong as is the nose.

"Sasha" is a common enough name that the manufacturer could argue that it's not the one of First Daughters, but it would be a flimsy arguments.

Dover Books has published a President and Family paper doll series for years and they feature all of the presidents, including the G.W. Bush family. I do imagine that they did so with permission.

The Baby Ruth candy bar was allegedly named after President Cleveland's daughter.

I think that Michelle has to understand that she will have only a certain amount of control over the image of herself and her daughters and that she has to pick her battles.

However you know, I do understand the frustration that they must feel. What gives anyone the right to provide information on any detail about anyone's life?

Original article:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/nightlinedailyline/2009/01/closing-argu-11.html#comments

January 20, 2009 - A Great Day

I don't have a lot of words for this except that:

• Yes, I taped it.



• I think many people walked with their heads held a little higher.



• Michelle needed to have something on her head-it was too cold!



• I am glad that I lived to see it and that those who could not be here, saw it through my eyes.



• Streaming is awesome.



• It was a curious collective experience



• Enjoy the honeymoon, the nitty gritty of marriage begins tomorrow.

The more things change...

The more things I focus on and update, the more it seems I still have left to do. I accomplished some of the updating I wanted to do on my personal projects. Now I get to go to work and get through until 5pm.

Admittedly, I am enjoying finally seeing "Whale Rider," the 2002 film that has a lot to say about faith and when it makes sense to see that not all change to traditions that are thousands of years old is not bad. What I like about this film is that it quietly and beautifully unfolds its tale and never disrespects its characters or its plot. Some may call it a 'chick flick', I suppose since the main character did not wrestle the whale in a spectacular water battle with CGI enhancements, it is of no surprise that it did not get nominated for anything at the

I just saw the end of tonight's 7:30pm airing of 'The Simpsons,' where Maggie ends up being the goddess of what looks like an Aztec tribe. Maggie will rule us all...

Obama should have asked her to be Secretary of Defense.

The Winter Season of Masterpiece Theater Classic

I caught the promos for the upcoming offerings for Masterpiece Classic last night during 'Waiting For God.' I was disappointed in it even more than I was in my January 4th blog post concerning the upcoming season.

I am not so much disappointed in the 'Celebration of Dickens,' taking place from February-May. With the exception of 'David Copperfield,' (a version that has future 'Harry Potter' stars Maggie Smith and Daniel Radcliffe-a clear bit of shameless tie-in with the 'Half Blood Prince' movie coming out this year) and 'Oliver Twist,' I am pleased that they are airing adaptations of stories by Dickens that aren't as read nowadays as they might have been in the past. An example being the 'Old Curiousity Shop,' which caused a sensation in its day not unlike the 2007 midnight release of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.' In those days, Dickens published his tales in periodicals in monthly installments and ravenous readers had to be patient as each chapter unfolded at what we would consider now to be a slow and maddening pace. The oft-told story concerning 'Old Curiosity Shop,' is of people rushing to the docks in America as the periodicals were being delivered and asking if 'Little Nell was dead.'

Instead of the umpteeth adaptations of 'Oliver Twist' and 'David Copperfield,' I feel they should have included in their place both 'Bleak House,' (a Dickens adaptation that resuscitated the Masterpiece series recently) and the docudrama that produced in 2002 based on Peter Ackroyd's biography called simply 'Dickens.' Not only was the latter a well done insight into the art and the life of its subject, it also included clips from the film and tv adaptations of his novels, which were used here to also shed some light on certain aspects of his life.

I am disappointed that the upcoming Masterpiece Classic offerings include yet another adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights' and yet another adaptation of 'Sense and Sensibility.' Admittedly, the latter was a part of last year's well received celebration of Jane Austen (known as The Complete Jane Austen), which also resuscitated the Masterpiece franchise in 2008 and so I understand wanting to go with a winner. However, I don't understand the need to air yet another adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights.' I cannot imagine that there were not other adaptations that could have been commissioned or that exist out there that PBS could not use for this series that would not be 'more of the same.' Per the PBS site, they work with "producing partners in the UK" to develop content for these "seasons."
Great Britain is a place of quite a bit of diversity and it seems to me that one way to keep Masterpiece "accessible" and exciting would be not to again, "show more of the same."

There are clearly no stories about 'Hong Kong' between 1912-1997 or of India in the 1840s or of the British colonies in Africa where the protagonist is not Caucasian because:

A) It would mean acknowledging the imperialism of UK's past and
B) it is still a truism that many people will not put themselves in the shoes of someone whose culture is so foreign to them or that they cannot relate to or so it is believed.

I expect I will watch 'Little Dorrit.' According to Wikipedia, the actor that potrayed Charles Dickens in the 2002 docudrama 'Dickens' (Anton Lesser), will be in this version of 'Little Dorrit.' He was very good in the former and as an avid Dickens fan, I expect he will be as good in the latter. It is something to look forward to I suppose.