Today we do a run of BIRDIE, take lunch, then we start tech for TOMMY, which officially opens on Friday.

Last night, the US unexpectedly handed sovereignty to Iraq earlier than was expected.

This past weekend, a deeply affecting film reminding us why we need our own regime change became the first documentary ever to open as the number one film in America.

Tomorrow at midnight, several of my castmates and I will be attending the opening of SPIDER-MAN 2 regardless of how tired we are from tomorrow's tech rehearsal.

In about 27 days, I will turn 30.

Right now my back hurts thinking about how much work is ahead of us as we tech and open these two big shows between now and July 7.

Did I mention my birthday?

Yesterday was my last day off for the next three weeks. Thanks to the fact that TOMMY and BYE BYE BIRDIE will be running in repertory, we have tech for one of them next week and the other the following. Two tech weeks in a row will make me very, very happy when July 12 rolls around. Keep reading this entry for more on the shows.

My 30th birthday is just over one month away. My twenties will be a part of my past... not sure how that makes me feel yet. Maybe you can help ease my pain.

Shameless.

On a side note, we've been watching a lot of "Greg the Bunny" on DVDs which were obtained on ebay. It was such a hilarious show, and FOX people were morons to take it off the air. I hate TV... and not because I don't like TV, but because nothing good ever lasts and it's ever more apparent that they program to the lowest common denominator.

Now for coffee... and rehearsal.

BYE BYE BIRDIE looks to be an excellent show. I'm a bit swamped and anxious trying to LEARN it all, but... Definitely come see it. Anyone who's read this for any length of time will notice I don't say that about every show I do, even most shows I do. I'm especially critical of those shows I do which one might call "fluff", which BIRDIE unashamedly is. So, heed my words! Come see it!

TOMMY has some very strong performances in it, and has some fine moments as well. It's an acquired taste, even if you already enjoy the genre-sub-genre of "rock opera"... it's an interesting piece.

There is a third show in rep here (yes, a third!) which I am NOT involved in but which I will recommend heartily, and that's the already running production of "YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN." It's worth seeing just for the wonderful Anthony Palenscar as Linus. It's a strong cast, but Anthony... well, when he's on stage, it's his stage in that show. That show is presented for "children's matinees" and you should definitely check it out.

UPDATED: I've been getting a lot of hits lately, and I'd like to know who's visiting. If you go to my audio page, please let me know here! It also helps me track my bandwidth, which is at issue right now.

CD NEWS - since someone asked, I've been meaning to mention this:

The CD was to be ready by July 1, and to have them available in the lobby during BYE BYE BIRDIE. The tracks are all done. There will be five tracks on the CD, I believe three are "live" and two are ... not. There might be an early version of one of the tracks on the audio page...

The only issues that remain are manufaturing and printing, etc...

Financially I'm kinda held up on those for the near future. Professional demo CDs are still available by request, but I can't guarantee availability on the "for sale" CD anytime soon, until I can work out getting the actual discs made. Thanks for the interest, and keep an eye out - I might get these done sooner than I think!

Now that we've been rehearsing for what seems like a while (really only a few days) I think I can say that the energy for this process seems much more positive than the energy for the last rehearsal process. Things are never perfect, but certainly the overall dynamic is at present less generally negative than at this point in the previous rehearsal period.

Vacation is over. Rehearsal started today. Wrap-up coming soon.

The audio page is fully updated and ready to roll. Check it out.

The Officers Corps of the 501st marches in the STAR WARS parade. Their uniforms were expensive and... wait a minute, call me un-PC, but... well, having seen the movies, did anyone ever see any female Imperial officers? Here we have one, two, THREE... progress? If they were on track for this kind of equal opportunity advancement, maybe they weren't so bad after all. We never really knew enough about their policies to judge them, I suppose, other than their general unpleasantness. Is being unpleasant a crime? Well, I suppose the mass killings enter into it as well.

There are a LOT of pictures from SW weekend, I'll put them up as times goes by.  

Here, shortly after the big STAR WARS parade as STAR WARS weekend, Darth Vader confronts the lame MC whilst Mike Quinn (Nien Numb), The Emperor, and Warwick Davis (Wicket, Willow, etc.) share an uncomfortable moment.  

Yesterday was my STAR WARS WEEKEND day at Disney MGM. I had a blast and will be poasting som pictures soon, but... I had to leave early.

See, I got massively, violently ill gradually throughout the day and finally had to abandon any attempt at remaining in the park(s) after 3pm. So it was a wonderful day and night of lying miserably in the hotel room wishing I could go to sleep or just stop feeling so wretched. This morning, I feel a good deal better, but then I haven't really moved much yet. I'm probably taking today off from all the fun I had planned, which is no big deal as I was going to take tomorrow off and I'll just switch. Still, this sucks!

CAPTAIN HOOK: HYPOCRITE? Today I saw one of my personal heroes, Captain Hook, signing autographs and generally being a happy guy with crowds of children. I was hurt, disillusioned, and quite angry. Why wasn't he using hook? Why didn't he toss them off the... well, there were no "planks" or "yardarms" per se, but... he certainly could have just kicked them. Why, Captain? Why? 

Beetlejuice meets the Ghostbusters? How much fanboy fun could that have been? But no, it was terrible. It involved no special effects beyond a cheap medley of canned (probably Universal owned) pop music that Beetlejuice "forced" the "Extreme" Ghostbusters to lip-synch and dance to. The Ghostbusters came out, without their proton packs or any resemblance to the recognizable Ghostbusters. Except for the uniforms, and that one had glasses, one was black, and one (as you can see) had a cowboy hat. Oh wait, none of the Ghostbusters wore a cowboy hat. Today one did. At the end, they all simply danced off. This was a terrible, terrible show. Not terribly performed, mind you, this is not Six Flags or the like, this is UNIVERSAL. The performers were solid and credible and commited. The problem was, they were committed to this show. This kind of interpretation of their properties and franchises explains VAN HELSING.  

Today I saw this show. It is not the worst theme park show I've ever seen, but certainly by far the show with the most wasted potential. We saw a sign with the Ghostbusters logo and a showtime; it said "Franchise Demonstration." 

At long last, I finally got to pick up my power convertors from Toshi Station.  

FIRST DAY OF VACATION.