theatre review: boeing-boeing and spring awakening

in this review, for the sake of brevity and fairness, i will reduce my review for each of these shows (now playing, for a limited time, on broadway) to one sentence.

boeing-boeing


classic madcap, farce-style comedy yields one of the surprisingly funniest things i have ever seen live...period. A

-------

spring awakening



a 19th century german emo kid reads a book about sex and the knowledge, inexplicably, destroys the lives of everyone in the show. C-

all i want for christmas

...is more debt.



for years, car makers and credit card companies have tried to convince us that a new (often luxury) vehicle is the perfect christmas holiday gift.

but with the current global financial uncertainties, coupled with the fragile state of the american automobile industry, i can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, these already unrealistic ads should be tucked away on a shelf this year.

is it just me?

the facts are these...

the other shoe has dropped.

pushing daisies has been canceled.

at least now, i can watch BOTH hours of the biggest loser uninterrupted.



UPDATE: of course, in the light of this story...the cosmic entertainment universe has taken a giant step toward righting itself. with the canceling of one clever and witty show...the pseudo-redemption of another clever and witty (so...naturally, canceled) show looks to be a done deal. funny how that works.

"have it your way" - a play in one act

scene - a burger king drive through. a man drives his car up to the speaker box to place his order.

speaker box voice - may i help you?

man - yeah, i'd like a number ten with ketchup only...and a dr. pepper.

speaker box voice - that's a number ten with ketchup only and a dr. pepper. is that all for you?

man - yes.

speaker box voice - that will be $6.08 at the first window.

the man pulls forward to the first window. another worker sticks his head out of the window

window worker - that'll be $6.08.

the man in the car hands the window worker a $10 bill.

window worker - (brief pause) do you have 8 cents? or a dollar?

man - excuse me?

window worker - do you have $1.08?

man - (looking around the car) i have a dollar...but not 8 cents.

window worker - (pause) are you sure?

man - (confused) yeah...i am. i only have like 4 or 5 pennies here.

the man hands the window worker the dollar and there is about 20 seconds of silence

window worker - you don't have 8 cents?

man - no.

window worker - how much did you say you had there?

man - what? oh...like 5 cents.

another 7 seconds of silence

window worker - let me have that.

the man collects the 5 pennies and reluctantly hands them to the window worker.

window worker - next time...you owe us 3 cents.

man - excuse me?

window worker - (handing the man a $5 bill) you owe us 3 cents next time you come by. comprende...i mean, do you understand?

man - uh...sure.

man pulls up to the second window and gets his food. then leaves, bewildered, vowing never to return to this burger king again.

hmmm...

my scalp is abnormally dry and itchy.

i have found myself, more times than not, wearing my fleece socks around the house.

when i left work tonight, it was dark out and the air smelled like cold pine trees.

[sigh]

yep...it's winter.

cade factor: article 1 paragraph 3

we haven't dipped into the fabled cade factor on here in quite some time. while it is true that most factor issues deal with me traveling (airports, hotels, etc.) it is very important to remember that the entire reason the factor exists in the first place...is because i always tend to get screwed over in restaurants.

in fact, right out of the gate in section 1, the factor addresses specific food service issues that waiters and cooks can reference when it comes to me being their customer. for instance:

article 1

all meals should be treated with a basic level of carelessness. ideal situations would include dropping, abandoning or altering without permission as seen fit. service and/or preparation personnel are encouraged to forget or lose orders or institute any other sort of hindrance that would lead to longer than normal waits.

so, take the last sentence of that paragraph, couple it with a brand new (and not THAT crowded) p.f. changs and what do you get? a nearly 2-hour lunch experience, of course.

we never got a full explanation why we weren't getting our food and those around us were finishing up and leaving. only a lot of apologies.

...and the whole meal (plus dessert) comped.

so, i guess they made up for it by giving us everything for free...but they have only been open a week. they probably just don't know any better.

hooray science

imagine the things that mankind can tackle now that we have a cat...that glows....under a blacklight. what a breakthrough!

it's a proud day for science.

of course..

video

words really fail me. but it seems that spending a lot of money on something that you claim the bad men are just going to take away might not make the most sense.