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Review: 'In My Life' a bizzare love story...
...Jessica Boevers, sort of a younger version of Sarah Jessica Parker by way of Britney Spears, portrays his intended with equal assurance...

'Life' can't get much worse...
...Christopher J. Hanke and Jessica Boevers are fine as the central couple...

Lots of angels, but not quite heavenly...
...A twitchy Hanke and feisty Boevers are an endearing couple....

I like my review from yesterday better.

Family Post

I should probably be with the rest of my clan tonight, but I'm not, so consider this a somewhat less effective virtual effort. My sister has another Broadway opening tonight. I am ashamed to admit I have lost track of how many this is. It may be three, because she has had many more appearances than openings. I got struck on the train from New Haven to NYC and missed act one of A Funny Thing Happened of the way to the Forum, I did get to the show and the party for Oklahoma!, and this time I am sitting home in my office for the opening of In My Life.

Playbill News: Joe Brooks' In My Life Opens 0n Broadway Oct. 20

I guess the Broadway credits make Jessica the successful thespian in the family. My mom is no slouch herself, and I get by - and even got some work on Broadway, but my work doesn't really have the polish of Jessica's resume. I have a former student on this show too, maybe that should count for something.

The pre-opening buzz hasn't been great. So here I am hoping that they all had it wrong and that this very unlikely piece of text actually turns out to be a very special theatre experience. Wouldn't that be great? I always think the pre-opening press isn't fair anyway, I mean, the show hasn't opened. So it would be nice for everyone, not just my sister if they were wrong.

Failing that, I guess I would accept something like...

BROADWAY - IN MY LIFE - The greatest single thing about this terrible exercise in American musical theatre is the EXCEPTIONAL performance of the woefully under-recognized Jessica Boevers. She is a beacon shining without peer in what is otherwise a dark, dismal, dismaying evening of theatre - and the second assistant lighting designer Kathleen Dobbins did very well too.

Would that be too much to ask?

So, Jessica, break a leg. I may not be there, but I am thinking of you and have my fingers and toes crossed for your production and your performance, and here's hoping that everyone will appreciate you the way that I do.

What Did I Learn in College?

So we're in the middle of this process to rebuild the School of Drama curriculum from the ground up. Its been a fascinating project and we've been at it, well we've been at it forever.

We started by doing strategic planning for the school. After that we identified learning objectives for the school. We vetted the learning objectives through the whole faculty, current students, and alumni. The we completed mastery grids, sort of a "where am I" for someone pursuing a career. With the mastery grids and the learning objectives we identified some school wide course priorities. At the same time we were doing that last bit, we also started to look at how doing shows fits with teaching.

All just fascinating.

Lately I have been comparing the various models we've been coming up with to my own educational experience. Being a product of this program gives me a little bit of special perspective into the process.

It seems like we have so much more to teach now. I pulled up my transcript (the SIO Computer thinks I am still a student) to look at the courses I took and it was so very different back in the day. Sometimes I think where I leaned most about carpentry was the Wilmette Park District and my Dad. I know most of what I know about welding I learned on the job at the Rep. Everything I know about calcs and machinery I learned in grad school. My directing exposure surely comes from my Mother.

Stage Management, Props, Electrics, Administration, Costumes, & Paints?

Debi, Eloise, Stevie, Heather, Kelly, & Hedge. Dating taught me more than any course ever could have.

Sound - clearly I learned sound in college, that and that I didn't want to be a physicist.

Add that thread to the "can't teach that" thread and I really begin to wonder if it matters what a school teaches at all. A colleague has a quote they use for parent functions "the job of a university is to put talented people together and then to duck." Is it really that simple? Are courses secondary?

Can you tell I have a severe case of navel gazing? Maybe we should replace the entire set of course requirements with liberal arts, do a bunch of shows, and schedule a rigorous program of speed dating. Seemed to work for me.

Hey Carnival Cruises!

NO CHRISTMAS ADS UNTIL AFTER THANKSGIVING!!! It's not even Halloween yet for goodness sake.

I apologize for the all caps, the fever makes the impulses more difficult to resist.

Too ill to blog

That just about tells the story. I am going to miss two days of work in a row for the first time since - since I don't know. Maybe since 1998 when I broke my wrist and had to have surgery.

Its nothing special, unless maybe it's bird flu, but I don't think so. Just fever, stuffy head, scratchy throat, runny nose, headache...

You know, all the things that make life worth living.

I of course blame a student. Must have been one of them that gave it too me.

Now, where did I put the Nyquil?

Wheel, Of, Fortune !!!

$800... $200... $1000... BANKRUPT! Well, we have some very nice parting gifts for you. Do you think that next week, in order to keep pace with the new federal guidelines for bankruptcy that the people at Merv Griffin entertainment will make the black "Bankrupt!!" spaces on the wheel smaller?

The news lately has been that right quick, new legislation effecting the thresholds for different bankruptcy procedures kicks in. The lobbyists all got together for the banks and the credit card companies and got our representatives to decide that it needed to be harder for us to find relief if we had a disaster and went broke.

Can I just say this is the worst possible kind of government? Everyone involved ought to be ashamed. Government is supposed to be there to protect the interest of the little guy. Something tells me that even if most people didn't pay, Citicorp is going to be ok.

I do think, in general, that bankruptcy is a bad thing. The utilitarian in me thinks that when people declare bankruptcy that they are in some way getting away with something. So on the surface, you would think I would agree with making it more difficult to get out of one's financial obligations.

Except, really that's not what has happened here. Really what this is, is a corporate bandage for poor business practices and failures of government. If that's what were protecting, well, then the laws are upside down.

Do you know the best way to keep people from welching on creditors? How's this? Pay attention to who you are lending money to. At several times in my life I have had more available credit on credit cards then I had grossed in income for the prior 3 or 4 years summed together. What kind of moronic company looks at a potential creditor, gets to see all their other creditors and all their assets, and then gives them a credit line of more than 5 or 10 times their net worth? I'll tell you what kind, the kind that then lobbies congress to make it harder to declare bankruptcy.

I have to wonder how many people that are somewhat less insane about debt get into the same credit place I did, and what they let themselves run up. When I graduated from grad school, I owed thousands of dollars on credit cards - and that was after not having a job for more than three years. All the while through school I kept getting card pitch after card pitch. I would open one account to transfer the balance from another card I couldn't pay. They have to know we do this, shouldn't offering credit to people in those circumstances be their risk. If people wash out of school with mountains of credit card debt - well, I mean I know they spent the money, but what in God's name were the card companies thinking when they authorized the loans?

Want to protect yourself from people declaring bankruptcy while you are holding their note?

Don't write the note.

It's only going to get worse too, and once again it is hard to blame the consumer when the financiers are coming up with such crazy schemes. I've been paying on my house for a year now. Not a day doesn't go by without my getting some hit up for a home equity loan. Most of the lines of credit are far beyond the amount of money I have into the place. Yet I am sure each and every one of these institutions would love to write me a check. In some ways I'd be a fool not to take it, the interest is so much lower than a credit card.

Except this is really a mortgage. Taking a home equity loan is borrowing against your house. For most people that real estate is their financial anchor. These loans are predatory.

And speaking of mortgages, wait until some of these variable rate "interest only" or "fixed payment" loans really start to kick in. When I was shopping for a mortgage, I stumbled across someone that wanted to write me a loan at 1.5%. Luckily my "something for nothing" filter kicked in and I figured it out before jumping at what looked like a fantastic deal. You know how these work, yes? The monthly payment requirement is capped, but the interest rate is variable - and very volatile. So, if your rate goes up you don't have to make a higher payment... Wonderful, yes? No, because the difference between the new monthly payment and the capped payment gets added to the principal. Its like making a minimum payment on a credit card. You never catch up.

These products are all over media right now, and people must be using them. Why wouldn't you, rates are low, payments are capped, and you get twice the value for your money. As long as things stay peachy. Otherwise, you've sold your soul to the company store, so to speak.

If you will.

As it were.

I tell you what.

Oh, no you didn't.

Want another? (he says as the entry just gets longer and longer) Most bankruptcies in young people are due to lack of heath insurance. I broke my wrist playing ultimate fairly soon after grad school. I was lucky enough to have health insurance at the time. The care for that one injury was more than $15,000. How many 20-25 year olds do you know with $15,000 liquid? Trip on a stair... Poof! Broke. Bankruptcy?

The Federal government says "Not so fast!"

Here's an idea. Want to help financial institutions keep from losing money to bankruptcy? Two things:

1. When they are stupid with how they lend money, they ought to lose money. Some common sense would save them quite a bit of cash, and the people - although perhaps not being able to have that big screen they want - would be better for it.

and

2. Get off your collective asses and figure out how to make health care affordable.

Those things would help both the consumers and the lenders. What we'll have next week protects the lenders and screws consumers. That's not what good government is about.

Purchasing

Those of you that might be alums of my Technical Direction class, the purchasing project is coming up (Its still "Deano Approved"). If you've come across items or subcontracts in your professional life you think ought to be included in that exercise I'd love to have them.

Here's what I have so far:

• Water-jet Cutter Fabricator
• Large Format Inkjet Vendor
• Powder Coater
• Chrome Plate Applier
• Neon Fabricator
• Acrylic Fabricator
• Cut Vinyl Graphic Vendor
• Fiberglass Fabricator
• Steel Fabricator
• CNC Router Fabricator

for subs and then:

• FR Muslin
• Duvetyn
• Flame Retardant Spray
• Nicopress Sleeves
• ¾" Manila Rope
• 1" Diameter gold rope/cord
• Bar Grating
• Fog Fluid
• Rope Light
• SOSS Hinges
• Plastic caps for 1" box steel tube
• 27" Diameter Acrylic Tube
• #50 Roller Chain
• Cheseboroughs
• Trammel Points
• Nylon Cable Ties
• Plastic Shipping Pallets
• Fluorescent Lighting Fixture
• Wire Management Grommets
• Soft Good Hampers w/Lid
• Flexible Baseboard
• 10" Diameter Cardboard Tube

If you've got funny stuff, go ahead and post a comment. If you've got something you think is good send me an email so I can keep it a surprise.

Blocked

Whatever the blahs are that nearly every other blog author I read currently has seems to have found me as well. I have a list of things that at one time or another struck me as blog worthy, but right now - less so.

I could bore you with pages and pages about the ins and outs of the top to bottom curricular revision and the wonderful political dynamics wherein - but really, its boring - even more boring than listening to me ramble about politics.

I could do another 5 flashearth targets, but alas, I become bored with that as well.

What about rambling about politics? ugh. Just read this: Zac Attack. That probably does as well as I would tonight.

Doesn't float your boat? Hit the Newsbeat. Plenty to read there, including how CMU didn't win $2 million.

No? Well, I got nothing either. There's always Spider solitaire or sleeping.

Flash Earth Answers

Site #1: Carnegie Mellon University. Purnell Center, Chosky Theatre roof DSR if you are Captain Anal.
Site #2: Paris Hotel/Casino, Las Vegas. For the Captain: Eiffel Tower observation deck.
Site #3: Former Site of the World Trade Center, Manhattan.
Site #4: EPCOT Center, Florida. Showcase Plaza if you are some kind of freak.
Site #5: Cloudy day at Mount Rushmore
Site #6: This would be the house I grew up in.
Site #7: The Pentagon, Arlington
Site #6a: The cathedral at the USAF Academy, Colorado Springs - that was for my Dad
Site #7a: B'hai Temple, Wilmette IL
Site #8: This is the only one I am not sure about because I couldn't get the thing to behave. I believe this is the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico.
Site #9: Saint Peter's Square, The Vatican. It isn't square, is it?
Site #10: Sydney Opera House. Resolution very disappointing.

Ben Peoples got the closest. Everyone that got my childhood home I assume was guessing, unless that first anonymous post is someone from my past.

It's interesting what you can see and you can't, where there is no imagery and where there is. There even appears to be a disparity between Google and MSN. One of them has crystal clear views of all of Area 51 and the rest of Nellis - on the other its just blacked out. Although, a true conspiracy theorist would assume that the pics you can see are in some way false. I don't recommend flying over it yourself to check.

How did you do?

School Days

I haven't talked about a book in a while. Truthfully I haven't read a book in a while. I took one with me to Jamaica - took three - but only succeeded in getting it wet, which made it hard to read. Plus, thankfully, Jamaica provided more to do than read. Perhaps Val should not go there. There's been a new OSC book sitting on my shelf for forever, and the last two books I read before that are sitting in a "put something about this in the blog" pile.

So as far as "Shadow of the Giant" - the aforementioned OSC book - I will say that the entire Ender series continues to be strong. I also think that in many ways the "Shadow" books have been a more interesting series than the later Ender books. Sometimes I wonder if someone starting the series now should read them chronologically by release date or chronologically according to the plot. If you are one of these people I think I would suggest the latter, except that doing so in the former mode at least allows you to always know that eventually you go back to Battle School, which is the most endearing part of "Ender's Game."

The other book was a Doctor Who novellization "Superior Beings." What would say the most about this is that without looking at the synopsis on the back cover I couldn't have told you anything about the book. Not really high praise. Still, having had the refreshment of my recollection I do remember it being a satisfactory read, especially if you are a fan. I am a fan.

I don't know why I haven't been reading more. It bugs me a little, like one of those things that you know you should be doing, but never seem to get around to. Still, when Amazon sent me my advance email that there was a new Parker book I dutifully clicked on "order" and when it arrived I polished it off in one sitting. More like a positive review...

"School Days" is the latest from Robert Parker. He's returned to Spenser. As much as I have liked Jesse Stone and Sunny Randal I guess I will always be partial to Spenser. The book has everything one has become accustomed to as far as plot, an underdog and reluctant client, the requisite twists, he continues after being fired. This one even falls back on Spenser's last rule of crimefighting: "When stuck without a lead just follow anybody." That rule was better applied the first book it appeared in, but was nice to see it make a comeback.

The down side is what there isn't: no Susan to speak of, no Hawk, no Vinnie, no Quirk, no Henry, pretty much no Belson, no Healy, almost no cooking, almost no drinking... Many of the things that make a Spenser book a Spenser book are absent. There's a fair amount of Rita Fiore, and there's a local cop who is in the mold who helps some, and quite a bit of Pearl. People must like Pearl the Wonder Dog. I am not a dog person. I could do without.

Still, it is definitely a story in the mold of the others, and a very good read, well worth the couple of hours it takes.