MUGWUMP

I'm sold

Give yourself a couple of minutes to listen to this speech. How can he not be our guy to lead us out of the darkness?

Taunting Obama can be hazardous to your campaign

movie season

Some worthwhile movies out there right now.  Lars and the Real Girl is bizarre but brilliant in the things it pulls off, Enchanted is a hoot, and Juno is this year's bittersweet feel good.

Gomboc

I want to play with one.

New York City

After my two weeks back home for Thanksgiving in Kentucky, I flew to NYC for a week so I could see some shows... and boy, did I.

First up was "Die, Mommie, Die", a play written by and starring Charles Busch who was behind "Psycho Beach Party" and "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife".  A fun evening full of camp and WAAAAAY over the top performances.  It was Sunset Boulevard on acid.

Next up was "Naked Boys Singing" and like the name, it was simply a cabaret of 8 guys, naked, singing 11 songs.  It was damn funny though and they really made the most of what could have been an extremely monotonous and repetitive show.

On Sunday morning I met up with my college friend Heather and we stood outside the Gershwin Theatre in the snow and cold to try our hand at winning the lottery for $25 seats for "Wicked".  Luckily, we won and ended up sitting in the front row of what had to be the biggest live theatre production I think I've ever seen.  The whole thing was like some huge machine timed and tuned to churn out this monster of a show.  I was kind of blown away although I do wish the songs were a bit more memorable (and also that I'd gotten to see Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda).

"Xanadu" was the other show I saw and it was by far my favorite.  It's a campy take-off on the movie with Olivia Newton John and it used all E.L.O. songs, roller-skates, and an audience full of glow-sticks.  Kerry Butler was spot on as the muse, and I kinda fell in love with Cheyenne Jackson, who I'd last seen on screen playing (gay rugby player/passenger) Mark Bingham in "United 93".  This is the one that I'd recommend anyone go see if they ever get the chance.  OH!!!  and if tickets are available, choose to SIT ON STAGE like we did.  The seats are cheaper (around $40 each), and they're the best in the house.