Sunday, February 26, 2006

"Red Light Winter," yarn

So, yesterday morning I went on a bit of a city adventure, traveling to 82nd Street to check out a yarn store I'd never been to, The Yarn Company. It was a really cute place, with a lot of people sitting around with their children, obviously spending a beautiful Saturday knitting in the company of friends. There was a pretty wide selection of yarns, many of which I'd never seen before, so I was kind of like a kid in a candy store. I ended up getting a variety of variegated yarn called "Jamaica," which is a navy blue, a turqouise, a white/light blue, and a green all interwoven so as to make stripes. I also got a black yarn that's made from a mix of cashmere and merino wool. That's to make a nice, simple scarf. I finished a hat out of the Jamaica yarn today -- it's a bit small, but it fits and is quite attractive. Both of the yarns I got yesterday were difficult to work with, as they unraveled oddly.

Anyway, I also went to Times Square and attempted the lottery for Rent with no luck.

Then later last night, I went to the Barrow Street Theatre just off of 7th Avenue a little below Christopher Street to do student rush for Red Light Winter, a play (not musical) by Adam Rapp, the brother of Anthony Rapp. The buzz surrounding the play was good, and I was in the mood for a serious adult drama, so it was definitely a great night of theatre.

The play, which centers around a love triangle between a prostitute and two of her clients, freshman roomates ten years after college, all of whom become intertwined in the Red Light District of Amsterdam. All of the acting was sensational, but Christopher Denham as Matt (far left in picture) was definitely the most compelling as a self-proclaimed loser who falls in love with the prostitute and is unable to get her out of his mind.

It was one of those plays that leaves you pondering afterwards. I'll probably still be thinking about it for some time, and that's essentially what I usually use as a gauge for the quality of theatre. If it doesn't make you think at all, then it's simply entertainment, and, while there's value in that brand of theatre as well, it's usually not quite as compelling to me personally.

Red Light Winter is definitely highly recommended to anyone looking for a compelling drama centered around the relationships, both personal and sexual, between people. It was sort of like Closer in its tone, following an entanglement of lovers caught in each other's snares. Go see it!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Room, projects, big money

So, tonight, I solicited $1,435 in pledges for the School of Medicine.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get yarn for some various projects, including: a hat (or two) and a wristband watch.

Our room is going to undergo some major changes, resulting in David's bed being in the back pantry area, his desk and shelf outside, and the fridge/microwave being in the center of the room closer to where I sit at my computer. Essentially, it's going to be much better, because he'll get his privacy (if you know what I mean).

Tomorrow, I have to write a paper for European Drama as well, and I may see a show or play (possibly Red Light Winter or Rent or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or whatever).

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Anthony Rapp

So, yesterday after class I went to buy Rent on DVD, because Circuit City in Union Square had it on sale for $15, which is about the cheapest price there is. I also got Closer while I was there for under $10. I then rushed back to my room to get a response done that was due at 5 that I had forgotten about until around 2. Anyway, once I got that out of the way and ate dinner, I had perhaps the longest night in a long, long time It didn't even go on that late, but the sheer amount of waiting I did took its toll on me.

I went to a signing of Anthony Rapp's new book Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical RENT. He had done a signing at Hayden a few weeks back that I didn't go to because of work, so I went to this public signing instead, which was probably a bad idea simply considering the amount of people that came to this signing. I got to the Chelsea Barnes and Noble around 6:15, because the event started around 7 and just waited around for the time to pass. He started reading promptly at 7 and then answere a lot of questions and then began signing at 8. All during when he was talking, I couldn't see him at all, because there was a small section of people in chairs who had virtually camped out waiting for him and then the crowd stretched on throughout the CD racks of the music section. Anyway, it was about 9:40 when I got my book signed and got a picture taken. I was really hesitant at first to even stay for the signing considering the vast amount of people, but I ended up reading a pretty good portion of the book while I waited, which is quite good.

On another note, the people at the signing were quite insane. Let me just tell you: I hate fangirls. As soon as he arrived for the signing, the girls were screaming and going insane. Then, while waiting to reach the signing table, a gaggle of girls behind me started singing Wicked songs that were starting to drive me nuts. People -- leave it to the professionals unless you're alone or in the shower.

Anyway, from the bookstore, I wandered around a bit, went to the ATM, and bought a Snapple and candy because I was so parched. I got to the Cutting Room, where Anthony was doing a concert with his band Albinokid, around 10. Anyway, the doors were supposed to open at 10:30, but they opened more around 11:30. They played for about 35 minutes and then I went home.

His band his quite incredible, and that part of the evening was worth sitting through the torture of the book signing. The fans who were at the concert were, for the most part, not crazy fangirlies luckily. He sung a cover of a Radiohead song and mostly original songs. The last song he did was a really amazing cover of "Seasons of Love" from Rent, which was probably my favorite rendition of that song ever, perhaps because it was exciting hearing it with a bit more edge than the usual arrangements.

One thing I have to say is this: America has no etiquette. When you go to a signing event, the rule should be that you bring only the item advertised to be signed and get that item signed. If you simply cannot follow that, you should really only bring one other item. Similarly, you should take one picture and take it quickly. And if it turns out poorly, you should just move on and not think on it. Too many people were holding up the line forever by being selfish about getting things signed -- insanity!

Anyway...

Here are some clips from "Seasons of Love" as sung by Anthony and Albinokid. Sorry I didn't record the whole song, but my camera only does 30 second clips and I didn't have my iPod recorder.

Clip 1 - "525,600 minutes / How do you measure, measure a year? / In daylights, in sunsets / In midnights, in cups of coffee / In inches, in miles/ In laughter, in strife / In 525, 600 minutes / How do you mea--" (AnthonySOL1.wav)
Clip 2 - "How about love? / How about love? / How about love? / Measure in love / Seasons of love / Sea--" (AnthonySOLChorus.wav)
Clip 3 - "Love / 525,600 minutes / 525,000 journeys to plan / 525, 600 minutes / How do you measure the life of a woman or a man / In truths that she learned / Or in--" (AnthonySOL2.wav)
Clip 4 - "--cried / In bridges he burned / Or the way that she died (out of tune) / It's time now to sing out / Though the story never ends / Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends / Remember the love / Remember the love / Remember the --" (AnthonySOLBridge.wav)
Clip 5 - "Love / Seasons of love / Seasons of love / [Guitar break]" (AnthonySOL3.wav)


Enjoy!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Knitting, "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life"

So quite a bit has happened since I last wrote.

Thursday night was Rainbow Knitting Circle, so I got some new yarn to prepare: green worsted weight for a hat and blue/white variegated sock yarn for a scarf. This really nice lady, Elanor Lynn, who actually has a book that just came out in January on knitting for babies, came in to teach us how to make hats. By now (Saturday), I'm about two-thirds done my first hat. Anyway, I've been having a lot of fun working on these new projects. They seem like, when they're finished, they'll go well together too.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with Emma, David, and Emma's friend, Josh. We went to Vegetarian's Paradise 2, which was quite surprisingly good. I had friend wonton stuffed with ground peanut and coconut and served with sweet sour. It was cheap and very delectable. We also looked around at TLA for previously viewed DVDs, but nothing really jumped out at me, and I usually like to wait for the good deals. Surprisingly, Virgin Megastore usually has the best prices on DVDs (or Amazon.com).

Today, I went to see Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life on Broadway. The show is closing tomorrow, so, for the last weekend, the show had a special deal that you could essentially see the show and pay whatever you could afford, because the show as an entity felt that it was a show essential for students and dancers to see. Anyway, Chita herself was absolutely spectacular. She's 73 years old and still able to execute steps for 8 shows a week. Plus, once the show closes, she's going on a national and international tour with the show.

For the most part, it's a show about her life with songs from many of the shows she's been in interspersed. Sometimes, it feels a bit too self-important. Afterall, Chita may be well-known to theatre afficianados, but anyone walking in with little prior knowledge of her work would be a bit skeptical. Some of the songs were mediocre, but it was worth it just to see her perform about 30 seconds of "A Boy Like That," dance sections of "The Dance at the Gym" and "America" from West Side Story and perform "Nowadays" and "All That Jazz" from Chicago. Some of her other anecdotes about choreographers and performers were interesting, but, for the most part, I feel like this show should've been more about the music and the dance and less about the exposition. A lot of times, she'd throw in a song only to cut it short before it'd even gotten far in ("A Boy Like That" and "Somewhere").

In the end, she's to be forgiven. It's more the fault of bookwriter Terrence McNally and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who wrote two lackluster new songs for the show. Any show to showcase Chita Rivera, a legend of the American theatre, is to be applauded just for trying. I had the opportunity to see Chita Rivera when she was still in Nine with Antonio Banderas, and I remember wishing she had been showcased more. At least this show gave her a chance to shine on the Broadway stage (perhaps, sadly, for the last time?).

On a completely different note, my delightful Liza With A 'Z' CD came today, and I'm loving it! And Liza got a brief mention in The Dancer's Life during the section about The Rink, for which Chita won a Tony in 1985 for portraying Liza Minnelli's mother (she's only really 12 years older).

Anyway, Tuesday, I'll finally get to meet Anthony Rapp, and hopefully some other interesting stuff will happen during the rest of this four-day weekend (maybe I'll go to The View on Monday?).

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

"Something New."

So, today was an all right day. It was one of my long days with four classes, and I was pretty tired all day because it was hard for me to sleep last night. It wasn't even because I had anything specific on my mind (because that sometimes does that to me). I guess I just think too much about sleeping. In European Drama, a guy from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London came to talk to us. He had some really interesting things to say about some various theatre productions, including Guantanimo and Stuff Happens, as well as an interesting production he helped his students create called Lulu, where a converted warehouse was used as an interactive theatre space, where androgynous performers shocked the audiences. It sounded really cool.

I decided to call out of work today, because I was pretty exhausted, so I took a 2.5-hour nap. After dinner, I went to see Something New at the Regal at Union Square so David could have a bit of alone time with his friend Bryan. I had originally intended to see Nanny McPhee, but I figured a romantic comedy might give me a bit more impetus to change my status as a single man. I'm not sure that it worked that well, but oh well.

Anyway, the movie was pretty good. It was by no means one of my favorite movies, but it was okay. The main reason I'd write about it here though is just to mention how much I absolutely hate audiences both at shows and movies. Good grief! This girl in the row I was sitting in actually checked her voicemail during the movie (listened to messages that were audible). She also text messaged someone with the sounds on her phone sounding loudly with each letter. It pisses me off even more at live theatre, where you're paying more.

I have a desire right now to do something interesting. I either need a boy or I need to write something or I need to do something, anything big. I guess I'm just sort of in a rut: school, work, sleep, school, work, sleep. Of course, there are a lot of interesting events interspersed, but nothing significant. Ricky, get off your ass and do something!

Tomorrow is another day.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Theatre/opera news

Well, it was announced today that Chita Rivera's show will be closing this Sunday, which is too early for me to get a chance to see it. Perhaps that's all for the better, however, considering my budget.

Despite the fact that I don't follow opera, I was extremely excited to hear that a lot of great theatre composers and Rufus Wainwright will be writing operas for the Metropolitan Opera in an effort by the opera for its productions to go through a more intricate workshop and revision process. The artists who will be writing the operas are:

Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins, Myths and Hymns)
Jake Heggie
Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Hello Again, See What I Wanna See, Bernarda Alba)
Wynton Marsalis, jazz musician
Rufus Wainwright, contemporary singer-songwriter
Scott Wheeler, composer

and the writing teams of
Tony Kushner (Angels in America; Caroline, or Change) and Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change)
Michael Torke and Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss, book for The Light in the Piazza)
Rachel Portman and Nicholas Wright (who wrote the opera of The Little Prince together)

Quite a star-studded news story! I can't wait to see some of these, particularly the Guettel, LaChiusa, and Kushner/Tesori operas.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

"Love Actually"

So, Valentine's Day is rolling around once again on Tuesday, and I watched Love Actually last night on DVD to commemorate the day. It's quite a pretty movie, because it reassures one that love comes in many forms: marriage, dating, crushes, affairs, love for friends and siblings, etc. I recommend it both for those looking for a romantic date movie and for those who are currently unattached. I love how it's a romantic comedy, and, while certainly embellished, attempts to present love in a more realistic way. While it does present love in its blossoming, young form, it also shows (through the subplot with Emma Thompson, who is brilliant), how love can fall apart.

I also particularly love the soundtrack, especially a really great re-imagining of "Both Sides Now" sung by an older Joni Mitchell, "Turn Me On" by Nora Jones, and "Songbird" by Eva Cassidy.

The movie has a lot of great people in it as well, like Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, and Laura Linney. There are also a lot of great actors in other parts who just don't necessarily have recognizable names. Despite the fact that the premise (that all of the characters in the movie have intertwining lives) is slightly farfetched, I can't help but enjoy the movie.

Also, it is centered around Christmas, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it a Christmas movie. I'd say it's ultimately more appropriate for Valentine's Day.

"Love actually is all around."

Snow!

Snow
It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
Snow
I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Snow
I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
Snow
Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow

Where it's snowing
All winter through
That's where I want to be
Snowball throwing
That's what I'll do
How I'm longing to ski
Through the snow-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh, these lyrics from White Christmas just about sum up my love of snow that has been reignited upon walking through Washington Square Park today and seeing everyone delighting in the wintry weather. Despite the fact that it's a bit annoying getting around in the snow, it's still quite lovely. Pictures follow:






The walkway directly across from my dorm.














The bust of Holley, whose ears must be quite cold in this terrible weather who seems to also have a nice snow moustache.

















Washington Arch















5th Avenue in the snow. Missing: cars.
















An adventurous woman treks through the park on skis.

"Transamerica," snow

So, tonight David had a friend over, so I gave them some alone time to hang out, watch a movie, etc. by going to see Transamerica at AMC Empire 25 in Times Square, which has to be one of the most massive movie theatres in America. You have to go up about five flights to get to your theatre in some cases.

Anyway, I wasn't expecting very much in particular of the movie. I really like Felicity Huffman, and her performance has been so lauded that I figured it had to be good, so I went into the theatre with a very open mind.

It ended up being one of the most excellent movies I've seen in quite some time. Both leads, Felicity Huffman and Kevin Zegers give amazing performances, supported excellently by a terrifically funny (in a sad way) performance by Fionnula Flanagan as Bree's (Huffman) mother.

The story revolves around a pre-op (for most of the movie) transsexual who, on the even of her sexual reassignment surgery, discovers she has a son. The movie follows their journey across America from New York City to Los Angeles. It's in parts hysterically funny and at others tragic, but it is always human. I couldn't help but relate to Bree when she says, "I wish they would look at me just once and see me. Really see me." Bree's journey is, at least in part, like everyone's journey.

Anyway, it's up there with Match Point and Brokeback Mountain as one of my favorites of this Oscar season. It's definitely highly recommended.

By the time the movie was over, the streets were totally covered in snow. It was quite beautiful, but also more than a little wet and uncomfortable. I took a good picture, but it was taken on my camera's internal memory, so, since my computer doesn't have my camera's software correctly installed, I can't upload it. Ah, well. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get some good snow-related pictures.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Central Park, Ashley's birthday

So, today I woke up around 1. I had been thinking about working from 1:30 to 5 today, but I decided that would be a bit much considering I just worked last night. Instead, I figure I'll work Sunday night (in addition to working Monday through Wednesday).

I got brunch (banana pancakes) and then decided to go to Central Park for a walk. It was just beginning to flurry as I go to the park, so that made for a really nice stroll. Whenever I go to Central Park, I always make a stop at Bethesda fountain, and, despite the fact that the park was unusually empty today and the fountain was lacking in some of its usual splendor (the water bordering the fountain's plaza was frozen, so the ducks were only visible in the distance), it was still nice to sit for a bit.

A big section of the Southern part of the park was under construction, and, reading the signs posted, it seems as if they're going to recreate a section of the park from the 19th Century featuring baseball diamonds.

I saw my favorite Bethesda ducks again as I walked around through the ramble, and I stopped to take a few pictures. Despite how odd this probably sounds, I really want to read something about ducks so I can go and watch them and have some understanding of what's going on. I find them quite fascinating and beautiful creatures.

Anyway, that's what most of my day consisted of. After walking in the park, I walked down Central Park East and then took the subway home.

Today is also Ashley's 19th birthday, so she should be congratulated on that! She's pictured at left at Boulder Field in Hickory Run State Park, where our group of friends had our (first annual?) camping trip this past summer. Unfortunately, she didn't come to New York to celebrate, but that's okay!

"Spamalot," work, other stuff

So last night (Thursday), I used my night off from work to see Monty Python's Spamalot on Broadway. Some of the original leads have already left the show; Simon Russell Beale replaced Tim Curry and Lauren Kennedy had replaced Sara Ramirez (both are pictured at left), so I was hoping that they would be worty replacements.

By all means, Spamalot was the hyped show of last season, so I had high expectations for it, having heard how brilliant it was. This kind of hype definitely diminished my enjoyment of The Producers when I first saw that on tour in Philadelphia, and it definitely also diminished my enjoyment of Spamalot.

It was by no means a bad show, but it was also by no means one of my favorites. I have yet to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail (though I borrowed it from Ally and will watch it soon), but it seems that if you liked the movie, you probably will like the show, or so was the concensus of the other people from Hayden who went to see the show.

I thought the performances of everyone were excellent, particularly Simon Russell Beale and Hank Azaria, but I just didn't feel as if the material was very good. The songs seemed like bad jokes drawn out to such lengths as to kill the humor -- they weren't so much songs as something resembling those odd interludes in cartoons that seem to have no obvious point, sort of like Animaniacs.

Lauren Kennedy was really good, and I like her voice a lot, particularly on her solo album, Songs of Jason Robert Brown. I'm told she wasn't as good as Sara Ramirez, who is definitely the standout of the cast recording, but she seemed like a suitable replacement.

Anyway, some parts were funny, as with the banter between Arthur and Patsy, particularly in the second act, but other parts were strained and too silly. I suppose that's just how Monty Python is. Anyway, I'd recommend the show to someone who has a real appreciation of Python humor. It seemed as if most people enjoyed the show very much. Personally, it was hard for me to sit in the Shubert Theatre and not think of the breathtaking performance by Bernadette Peters in Gypsy that I saw there just a few years ago. No contest.

I find it hard to believe that Spamalot won Best Musical in a year with The Light in the Piazza. What a crime! Piazza exudes elegance and craft of storytelling and character development the likes of which Spamalot should stand in awe of. On its own however, it was an entertaining enough evening at the theatre, and it got better in the second act than it was in the first.

Afterwards, I also got Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, and Simon Russell Beale, to sign a playbill (and one for Ally, who had so wanted to see Spamalot). I felt almost as if I was betraying her, having said so many times I had little desire to see the show and ending up seeing it when she was completely unable to come (as she went home this weekend). Hopefully, she'll accept the playbill at least as a token that I would have rather seen it with her (though I'm not sure I'd eagerly go again).

Anyway, I've bought quite a few plays in the past few days, including:

The Emigrants by Slawomir Mrozek
Art by Yasmina Reza
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee
The Zoo Story and The Sandbox by Edward Albee
Shopping and Fucking by Mark Ravenhill
Love Letters to Stalin by Juan Mayorga
and
Hamletmachine by Heiner Muller

I also bought Anthony Rapp's new memoir, Without You at $12.50, because I bought a review copy at Strand Books. I love that place! I'm going to his signing a little later in the month, so I wanted to buy the book at as cheap a price as I could find so as to avoid paying the Barnes and Noble price at the signing. I'm quite excited for the signing, and I kind of regret missing his signing at Hayden. I hope to finish his book before the signing so I know what he's talking about at the event.

I've been working a lot this week, putting in extra hours to qualify for my $50 bonus, and I'm thinking of putting in some time this weekend to add to my next paycheck. I'm at a point now where I'm beginning to enjoy my job, so it's beginning to feel less like work than a challenging game with goals that must be met. Since a lot of the veteran callers are gone, I've been entrusted with some better calling pools, includying lybunts and sybunts (gave last year but unfortunately not this year/some year but unfortunately not this year). Those people, who have given in the past and are usually inclined to continue giving, are so much nicer to talk to. I feel less like a shyster attempting to rip off working class people and more of an extension of NYU's hand to its willing contributors. (Heh, that was quite cheesy).

I have a new list of shows that I really want to see. I got tickets to Bernarda Alba at Lincoln Center, so I have that one already planned out. I also want to see (in order of how much I want to see them/priority due to time restraint):

1. Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life - It's in its last weeks, and, though I previously had no desire to see the show, I now feel it'd be worth the rush price to see this legend, perhaps for the last time. She was spectacular in Nine, and she performs a lot of great songs in this show ("All That Jazz," "Nowadays," "America")

2. Three Days of Rain - This play, a revival of Richard Greenberg's play, stars Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd, two of my favorite actors, so I really hope that the show as standing room so I can get a chance to see it.

3. The Drowsy Chaperone - It was just announced that The Woman in the White will soon be closing, and the next tenant at the Marquis Theatre is a new show with Sutton Foster called The Drowsy Chaperone. The show is about a musical theatre enthusiast who listens to one of his favorite cast recordings and allows the show to play itself out in his mind (and integrate itself into his life, if I've read the synopses correctly). Anyway, I saw some models of the sets, and it looks like a really charming show that's a little bit nostalgia and different from most of the shows currently on Broadway.

4. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Now that Jonathan Pryce, Rachel York, and Norbert Leo Butz are the three leads (and Joanna Gleason continues in her supporting role), I really want to see this show. It's one of the shows I should have seen by now but just haven't. I tried the lottery once before but lost.

5. Threepenny Opera - Starring Cyndi Lauper, Jim Dale, Alan Cumming, and Ana Gasteyer, this is the one revival of a musical I most want to see (that I haven't yet -- Sweeney Todd was amazing and will be hard to live up to). I don't know much at all about the show, but I hear it's spectacular.

6. The Pajama Game - Starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara, another show I don't know much about but just looks like a charming, light good time. I love Kelli, though. She was fabulous in The Light in the Piazza.

7. Lestat - What can I say? I love Elton John and his theatrical scores, so this one intrigues me. Plus, what I've read of The Interview with the Vampire was very interesting, and this show stars Hugh Panaro and Carolee Carmello. Despite the fact that this show has been plagued by backstage rumors, it still looks compelling.

8. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - I've done the lottery twice for this show and lost, but it seems really funny, and I love the score. It's not quite as urgent I see this show though, simply because the cast isn't as important to me.

Money permitting, I hope to see most of these shows by the time summer comes. I doubt I'll see them all, but we'll see.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Poetry reading, latest scarf

So, on Sunday, I went back to Purl, my favorite knitting store, and got some extremely pretty yarn. Two days later, I have a completed scarf. The fact that I used thin yarn and medium-sized needles made the scarf really cool and open-looking.

Also on Sunday, I went to a poetry reading by David Lehman (my poetry teacher last semester) and Jim Cummins (both featured below, DL at foreground). Their book of sestinas, Jim and Dave Defeat the Masked Man is quite good. It even got an "A-" in Entertainment Weekly, which usually has pretty tough critics.

The reading was held at the Bowery Poetry Club, which had a really interesting feel. I particularly liked the mural (seen at right) that was still being completed to the left of the stage for the poets.








The following are pictures of my latest knitting project:

Left: All of my scarves to date. You can tell that the one on the far left is quite choppy on the edges. I'm quite happy with the green and blue one. Of course, my favorite is the latest one, on the far right.



Top: Me wearing my latest scarf.

Left: Detail of the stitching.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Sarah Kane, "Spamalot"

So, today I woke up around 11, much earlier than yesterday (4PM). I had a really nice brunch of French toast, bacon, and sausage and then went to the library to take another shot at learning how to navigate its neverending shelves. Anyway, since the book I was looking for, The Complete Plays of Sarah Kane was on reserve for my class, I was able to take it out for two hours (enough time to read it) and then leave. I had to read Blasted and 4.48 Psychosis from that book, and both of them were quite sexual. In Blasted, there is masturbation, oral sex, heterosexual rape, homosexual rape...the list goes on. It was an interesting play, and the characters were engaging, but I'm getting tired of reading plays with so much sex in them. 4.48 Psychosis was a pretty incoherent play about depression and the motives behind suicide. There was no delineation of characters, and the piece is usually produced with three actors. There are random strings of numbers and words strewn throughout. I enjoyed some parts, particular the listing of the patient's medicines and their effects on the patient, but overall it was a bit too "out there" for me.

Anyway, after that, I had dinner at Upstein with Jaron, John Frederickson, David, and Josh.

I'm seeing Spamalot on Thursday, which I'm quite excited about.

Anthony Rapp is coming to Hayden on Monday, and, if the books are free, I may be going. If not, I'll probably go to his signing later in the month at the Barnes and Noble in Chelsea.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Phonathon pledges

To date, I've solicted pledges totaling approximately $4,172. I'm pretty impressed with that. I tallied them up after getting $466 in pledges tonight!

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Anthony Rapp is coming!

So, yesterday was a relatively normal day; the most interesting thing that happened is that I found out that Anthony Rapp is coming to Hayden. That's right. Not only is one of the stars of Rent coming to New York, not only is he coming to NYU, he's coming to my dorm building! Oh, the luck. It seems like all of my favorite gays are appearing for signings -- first Sondheim and now Anthony Rapp.

I just finished my latest scarf. This one is green and blue, and it looks pretty good considering it's my second one. I put a lot of effort into it and even redid a lot of rows that didn't turn out well, which can be tricky considering you have to reset the needles in certain ways to go about fixing them. Tonight is the Rainbow Knitting Circle here at NYU, so we'll see how that goes. I'm supposed to get free yarn and needles, so I'll probably be starting my next project tonight. I'm really hoping the color(s) are to my liking so it's not just like I'm starting something new to keep myself occupied at the circle.

Anyway, I'll keep posting updates. This weekend should be relatively quiet. I'm not able to spend too much money until my next paycheck rolls along, so I'll probably do a lot of walking around and reading and sleeping. I'm probably also working tomorrow night so I can make sure I get my much-needed $50 bonus this month.

The following is a quote from the Bloomberg.com article on the Sweeney signing. I thought it was really cool that I actually witnessed this following quote first hand. The woman involved was the person directly behind me:

"I wrote you a thank-you note,'' she said as she handed the envelope to Sondheim. "It's really short.'' "It's a summons actually,'' the lyricist and composer said, while putting it in his pocket. "Very cleverly done.''