Max Fathers Day present

This is very very cool. Best Fathers day presnt I have received. Max has started a business of sorts. He is selling tie dyed T shirts. He took the time to go to the skateboard shop and he inked the deal/

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

lyrics and music by William Finn

book by Rachel Sheinkin

On the Main Stage

May 25 to June 27, 2010

The show started at crepuscule .Six kids face off in the battle of their lives. The competition is intense. The words are outrageous. Let the spelling (and the singing) begin! Three adults adjudicate the proceedings: a nostalgic former spelling bee winner, a mildly insane with a comb over Vice Principal and The Official Crapulous Comfort Counselor completing his community service to the State of New York. Both tender and sardonic, this hilarious Tony Award-winning musical of overachievers’ angst brings you inside the spelling championship to end them all. From the author of Falsettos and A New Brain. Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Fun stuff

• Rona Lisa Peretti: The #1 Realtor in Putnam County -Wacky Goofy kind of reminded me of Kristian Wiig's character on SNL. Showed great versatility when switching to other roles. 
• Vice Principal Douglas Panch: -Wonderful comb over quirky nerd ball.
• Mitch Mahoney: The Official Comfort Counselor. -Showed amazing versatility playing other parts.
• Olive Ostrovsky: -My favourite character. Under the frumpy farmer painter pants a super star ready to emerge or at least spell some difficult words.
• William Barfée - Ignatious from Confederacy of Dunces. Once again lovable and punchable.  Great interaction with Vice Principal Panch. pronounced Bar fay not Barfy.
• Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre - daughter of two gay parents. politically aware poking fun at Arizona and Sara Palin
• Marcy Park:-she knows six languages and is the star of her soccer team. She is sick of that success and is over whelmed when she mercifully misspells a word.
• Leaf Coneybear: -stoner of note who spells words in a trance and at the end realizes he is smarter than he though he was.

• Chip Tolentino -gets an erection mid bee while falling in love with somebody in the audience. later he plays  the perfect dropped from heaven Jesus who could give a rip about spelling bees.

In general a very enjoyable show from beginning to end.  The plays on word roll all night long. The music is fine addition to a somewhat predictable story with unpredictable punch lines and quirky twist of words and stage schematics. Jesus popping out of the ceiling was a quirky high light and the fast motion slow motion effect was fun as hell. Tonight's random guests were vivacious and blended well. One has got to love Portland center Stage. we are lucky to have it here in Portland. A mid week crowd of near capacity seemed to relish the show. Complex jokes were heard and understood by the crowd, the musical pieces came off great and the only real complaint of the night was the Hefeweisen before the show. Not even sure if I spelled that right.

From the web site I come to see plays to...

• to be challenged with new ways of thinking (43.0%, 266 Votes)
• to get wrapped up in an engrossing story (42.0%, 258 Votes)
• Laugh and escape for a few hours (29.0%, 175 Votes)
• to have a date night (13.0%, 82 Votes)
• to spend time with friends (10.0%, 61 Votes)
• to see my favorite actors perform (8.0%, 50 Votes)

For me its date night, laugh, escape, be challenged and enjoy the stage. To be quite honest we contemplated skipping the show tonight but we were glad that we did not. At one time in our lives we are meant for the stage and at other it is for us to enjoy and that we did.

And I kind of remember spelling along correctly with most of the words but that's the suspension of reality that goes along with the theatre.

crepuscule -- twilight

lugubrious -- mournful, dismal

omphaloskepsis -- contemplating one's navel

phylactery -- leather box inscribed with Scripture worn by Jewish men during prayer

pyrrhuloxia -- a bird related to the cardinal

acouchi -- a rodent in the Amazon rain forest

But obscure words are still a big part of the fun.

Links to the Show- Buy Tickets

Snow Falling on Cedars

Snow Falling on Cedars -Portland Center Stage

We took our 12 year son to this last night and it was surprisingly good.  Loved the book and hated the movie. I have certain visions from the book that were etched in my mind over the years and they actually brought it to the  stage. The one part of the book that was not represented on stage was Guterson's deep connection to the rare snow storm. That was a big part of the book to me but probably not to everybody.

One thing I never noticed or maybe never resgisters is the "Tale of Two Cities" martyr ending that takes place in the book. This stage version took me to the court room much better than the book. The imagery on stage was simple but effective. A single boat as a back drop with variations of the sky to set the tone, time and place. It was effective, creative and beautiful without distracting the viewer. 

The story was easy to follow with an effective approach of swithing form the present (the trial) to the past (taht being reviewed in the trial).  The dialogue was easy to follow with only an occasion scene where the acors could not be heard.

A really strong week night crowd at what is becoming one of my favourite venues in town. Hint : PreOrder your drinks before the show. Our 12 year old really enjoyed the show and he had alot of great questions after the show. and that says alot.

Here is a link to the PCS sight.

Last Night in Twisted River

Last Night in Twisted River
Dear Readers This is my twelfth novel. Only once before in The World According to Garp which was my fourth novel have I been able to insert the title of the novel into the last sentence. I don't always try to do that; I don't force it. But its usually an idea in the back of my mind, and if it works, I don't hesitate to do it.I always begin with a last sentence; then I work my way backwards, through the plot, to where the story should begin. The last sentence I began with this time is as follows: He felt that the great adventure of his life was just beginning as his father must have felt, in the throes and dire circumstances of his last night in Twisted River. And theres the title, waiting for you at the end of the story Last Night in Twisted River.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. I read this book on my Kindle. The book had such vivid description and one constant descriptor was the lonely pine on the the "Getaway" island in Canada. I was floored when I walked into the book store and had an actual visual of the tree. Quite stunning. The book has to be one of my favourite John Irving Novel's as each earlier description could be recalled vividly. The "inside Out"method of story telling was quite effective and held the story together well.

The story is a part of a parallel story and a story of the author himself, with his usual forays into Exeter, Wrestling, bizarre deaths and outrageous scenes. Its a story that shuns monogamy but still speaks of the depth of a relationship. The amazing naked lady that falls from the sky is a chapter worth reading and re reading again and somewhat predictably the amazing naked lady makes it back into the first scene or the last, how ever you wish to interpret it.

Irving descriptions of scenery in this book is beyond all his other books. Glimpses from the writers perch are simply stunning. This includes a tree on a blustery island as and a clock in a down town square. Irving touches some things in this book that were not even around for his previous book including, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 9/11 as well as a failed America.

Away We Go

This is a no brainer. Just go see it. I was lucky enough to actually go on a date with my wife at the historic HollyWood Theatre, which made the night even better.

Its a snappy breezy encouraging movie that somehow makes a insurance salesman appear hip. Maya Rudolph is just the bomb. She is about as real as they come.

The concept of built in grand parents is soon demolished as the only living parents decide to move to Brussels right before the baby birth.

I like the idea of a whirlwind tour to visit various defective families of North America to decide where to live to end the cycle of being a Fvck Up. Nobody in their right mind would move to Arizona and especially given the odd ball denizens encountered there. Madison albeit a lovely place, is inhabited by old zen yoga friends who give unasked for parental advice. The stroller scene is just funny as hell. Montreal, the logical place for anybody to move, is angelic and our parents to be claim too early that they are going to move here.

They not only decide where to live but how to live.

A sudden trip to Florida to aid a divorcing brother is a Malaprop (I think) and a reflection into family lost, which some how leads the couple to where they always should have been. I think. Exactly where that is purely speculation.

its a simple movie, its smart and its quirky. Just go see it Rob.

Wendy and Lucy

I picked up this movie with Max and I was a bit worried about the the Rating. The Rating said Rated R because the movie portrays how sad life really is. Well for once in my cinematic life I am happy Max and I watched this movie together.

I read the warning on the label and watched this movie always thinking that something was going to pop out of no where and say; "Turn This Movie Off". I hate horror and shock and I was expecting it with every twist in the movie. But that never really came.

It was a dark movie for the most part. It was also stark. We suddenly realized the film was shot 4 miles from our house. The movie was shot in the Industrial district of Portland with some scenes in what we believe to be down by the river in St. Johns. It could have also been in Forest Park. That was part of the fun.

I never know actresses and actors but the leading lady (: Michelle Williams,)in this film was fantastic. She is a goth dropout nomad heading to Alaska searching for her dream. Who can blame her for that. She finds no luck along the way. She also loses the other star of the movie that being Lucy The Dog.

But somewhere along the line she finds a seven dollar friendship that is the borderline beautiful. This from a rent (Wally Dalton) a cop guarding seemingly nothing in the middle of nowhere.

As a parent the movie industry kinds of guides us toward the movies we see with our kids. This one was a stretch to see with my son. Ironically there is a bit of a lesson here that life isn't always perfect. There is beauty in failure and despair.

From the real movie critics.

Synopsis: On the heels of her critically lauded OLD JOY, Kelly Reichardt delivers another deeply resonant portrait of a dying America with WENDY AND LUCY. In OLD JOY, two men provided the heart and soul of... On the heels of her critically lauded OLD JOY, Kelly Reichardt delivers another deeply resonant portrait of a dying America with WENDY AND LUCY. In OLD JOY, two men provided the heart and soul of the story. This time, the film is centered on a young woman, played with utter conviction and selflessness by Michelle Williams (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN). Williams is Wendy, a down-on-her-luck woman who has driven across-country with her dog, Lucy, in search of a better life in Alaska. Wendy can barely support this journey, and when her car breaks down in Oregon and she becomes separated from Lucy, her predicament becomes even more dire. In a world that doesn't seem to know she even exists, Wendy befriends a local security guard (Wally Dalton), who gives her a tiny fraction of hope. Considering this film together with OLD JOY, it's obvious that Reichardt has shot up in the ranks of American auteurs. She is becoming a master of minor features that feel like the best short stories, a sort of cinematic Raymond Carver. Credit is obviously bestowed upon the marvelous Williams, who is in almost every shot of the film, and who delivers an astonishingly honest performance. But everything about this film reeks of truth, most noticeably Sam Levy's restrained but beautiful cinematography, and Reichardt's patient editing. WENDY AND LUCY is a tribute to marginalized characters that the movies, and the real world, would usually rather ignore

You Shall Know Our Velocity

You Shall Know Our Velocity
By Dave Eggers

David Eggers wrote the screenplay to Away we Go which I have not seen yet. I had started this book years ago and Icouldn't get through it.

Readers Block - I invented this word as I guess I was blocked when I read this. I was probably going through a hard time or something. Well these are easier times to get through books.

You Shall Know Our Velocity is thought provoking and funny as hell. Two friends are given a bunch of money they really do not want and set out on a trip around the world to give it away.

I was discussing this book with my wife and we are thinking of making a similar trip in the near (not so distant) future.

Just the sponteneity and cast of characters encountered are intoxicating and Eggers does an excellent job of describing the pace and mood of each destination. it reads kind of like a sane Hunter S Thompson novel (thats oxi-impossible)

"...And there is a chance that everything we did was incorrect, but stasis is itself criminal for those with the means to move, and the means to weave communion between people."

This novel does just that, it encourages us to move and see the world, it tugs us to push the envelope and have fun along the way.

Notes

On the other hand, Eggers is a hero to writers. At least, he's a hero to me, bucking his publishers, firing his agents, demanding this and that as he travels around -- I love the guy. It's a reliable measure of his ego, I guess, that when he formed his own publishing company he called it "McSweeney's Books" and not "Eggers' Books," and that his foundation to teach writing to underprivileged children in San Francisco -- where he lives, damn it -- isn't called "The Eggers Project" but "826 Valencia," after its address. I doubt I'd have the energy to do what Eggers does even if I weren't twice his age, or feeling like it when I look at his résumé.