It's a Mad Extravaganza!!

The only thing better than a trip to the theatre, is a somewhat impromptu trip to the theatre! This morning, I hopped in my car, drove to my friend's house and continued on from there to Hollywood to see La Cage Aux Folles at the Pantages theatre. The Producers are right...no matter what you do on the stage, keep it light, keep it bright, keep it gay! There was so much fabulous, I don't even know where to begin!
I guess I'll begin with the only thing that was not-so-fabulous. George Hamilton cannot sing. Other things George Hamilton doesn't do well? Dance, enunciate, and have regular-human-colored skin (the man looks like an elderly Oompa Loompa!) He may have been decent if Christopher Sieber and Michael Lowney weren't such incredible singers. Other than Mr. Hamilton's sub-par vocals, I have nothing else to quasi-complain about! Our cheap seats did not come with a cheap view and everything was wonderful and full of theatre-magic! This show does not allow you simply spectate, the audience is a very important character in this show...and we all played our part serving as patrons of the club. The cagelles were ridiculously incredible. I swear, those guys are ten times better in heels than I will ever be! Michael Lowney (Jean-Michel) was very talented, and had a sort of swoon-y Jo-Bro quality about him (and so full of charm for a straight kid!) Christopher Sieber (Shrek: the Musical, Into the Woods, Spamalot, Pushing Daisies [Smell of Success], worked with Olsen twins, etc.) was HI-LAR-IOUS as Albin/Zaza! His range was just...wow! His timing was spot on! AND I got to meet him at the stage door after the show.

I even got an autograph...well, sort of:

I knew the Playbill would be black, so I brought a silver gel pen...just in case! Well, gel pens are unreliable, and the blasted thing didn't work. Bugger.

My favorite takeaway line from the show comes from Zaza's song I Am What I Am, which closes out the first act:

"Life's not worth a damn until you can say 'Hey world, I am what I am'"

And I truly believe that! You've got to be yourself! Don't let others tell you what you should or shouldn't be. Don't let anyone tell you you've got to hide!

And of course being what I am...I cannot have an adventure without acquiring one of these:

 

Don't be jealous of my Vanna White skills! (Or my jammies, which have pies on them.)

It's hard for me to say nice things about the Central Valley, it being so dreadfully hot and all...but it'd be hard to make a 12 hour round trip excursion to Hollywood (that includes taking in a show) from anywhere else...

Let's just assume the rest of the answers will be Pushing Daisies related

...because, let's face it...you're getting bored, I'm getting bored-so I'm calling off the month of TV thing.

Boys and Girls Together

Day 14-Favorite male character, well I would have to go with Ned/The Piemaker here.
He is just so gawkily adorable. He is too cute, too sweet, and can bake a mean triple berry pie (which just happens to be my favorite). He is just so swoon-worthy it's ridiculous!! I can't help it, he pretty much embodies 'my type' to a T. I mean, he's played by Lee Pace who, like Matt Thiessen and John Krasinski, is tall, kinda skinny, and kinda nerdy...and I kinda like that!
Day 15-Favorite female character, since I can't seem to shake the PD bug, I have to go with Olive Snook. Not only is she played by the fabulous Kristin Chenoweth, but Olive is sass and sweetness all rolled into one. She says the thing that everyone else is thinking. She is a 4'11" powerhouse and is so much like the actress who plays her, it gets hard to separate the two. She is the perfect feisty sidekick for the unflappable Emerson Cod!


I really miss this show...

Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen...

Day 12-An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times I'll spare the blah blah blah...any and every episode of Pushing Daisies...easily; also the episode of Ugly Betty that Aaron Tveit is in...because he's so gosh darn dreamy!!
Day 13-Favorite childhood show. Full House was the show to watch until I was 8, and it went off the air.
But man, that show taught me so much. I will never forget how to spell success because of Danny Tanner's mnemonic device (double the 'see', double the 'ess' and you will always have success!) I think somewhere, my parents still have the VHS we taped the series finale on. Y'know, when Michelle falls off her horse and gets amnesia? That was intense!
Since we did 12&13 today...I'd like to take a moment to talk a little bit about twelve and thirteen year olds. I am sick of the question 'who else will be there?' Although, I don't necessarily blame the kids here, since just as many parents ask me that question as my students. It's just really frustrating. There is an event coming up that I have to register for by this Friday and I'm still getting 'SoandSo will only go if whatsherface will be there.' I don't care who will be there, I just need to know how many will be there by this Friday...

Two at a Time

...it goes a lot faster this way. Besides, with most of my answers relating to Pushing Daisies, it just makes sense. As hard as I try, when dealing with the TeeVees, I just can't NOT mention that show.
Day 08-A show everyone should watch-Suprise
Day 09-Best scene ever-This one:

Favorite 'Olive Moment' of the entire series!!

Double Up

Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite t.v show:
I will spare the PD drill, only because I promised to lay off for a while...but if I were to go in that direction, it'd be a tie between 2.8-Comfort Food & 2.11-Window Dressed to Kill
I'll go with my favorite episode of Boy Meets World. It's not my end-all, be-all favorite show, but it's definitely up there. It is a show that defined and shaped my childhood (and gave me plenty of delusions as to what high school and college were going to be like, but then again so did every other show on T.G.I.F.)
So my favorite ep of BMW is 4.5-Shallow Boy.
Eric meets this pretty, albeit annoying, folk singer and hilarity ensues. When he tried to dump her, her songs turn dark and moody, so of course she gets a record deal and her songs that slam Eric get radio play, like, the next day...even more hilarity ensues. Cue touching music. Issue solved in half an hour NBD!
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
I can't hold it in, I have to go with a Pushing Daisies ep here. The second to last episode (2.12-Water & Power) probably bugs me the most. It's confusing, and sort of contrived (not that that isn't one of the most contrived shows, like, almost ever). I dunno...it's just not as witty, charming and fun as the rest of the show

I'm skipping 3 &4

Day 03-Your favorite new show (aired this t.v season)--I haven't picked up any new shows this season. Nothing really peaked my interest, so I'll stick to my regular shows.
Day 04-Your favorite show ever-see yesterday's post
Day 05-A show you hate, most "reality" shows, actually. Not the fun competition-y ones like Project Runway and ANTM, but the trashy, gross ones like Jersey Shore and other shows that make people famous for no particular reason other than the fact that they are they are orange. I would rather see a TV show about people who actually DO things that are useful. Or maybe a reality show about camp counselors...that could be fun too. I'd watch it!

Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching

This is tough...since I feel like the current shows I watch are pretty darn popular (Glee, L&O:SVU, Desperate Housewives-don't judge-, 30 Rock and The Office)
Two years ago I would have had the perfect answer for this...Pushing Daisies, of course.
Even though it's canceled, I still think more people should watch it. Seriously, I can't say enough amazing things about this show, it is my absolute favorite ever ever EVER!!The cast and characters are just so much fun!
Lee Pace is Ned, the piemaker with the ability to bring people back to life with a single touch.
Anna Friel is Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles, the alive-again girlfriend of the piemaker.
Kristin Chenoweth is Olive Snook, a waitress at the Pie Hole who is in love with Ned
Chi McBride is Emerson Cod, a detective who uses Ned's 'gift' to solve murder cases
Swoozie Kurtz and Ellen Greene are Aunt Lily and Aunt Vivian, formerly the synchronized swimming duo 'Darling Mermaid Darlings'; currently agoraphobic...

Okay, I promise I'll lay off PD for a while, or at least I'll try...

Day 01- A show that should have never been canceled

I bet you were expecting me to say Pushing Daisies. I kind of expected myself to say that too, after all, it's the most creative, whimsical show that has ever existed. The wonderfully quirky characters on this show were delightful, and the writing was genius. A 'forensic fairy tale'...it's so novel and innovative. The show was bright, colorful and witty and I do miss it a lot. However, if Pushing Daisies had never been canceled, Kristin Chenoweth wouldn't have been able to do Promises, Promises which means a)I wouldn't have been able to cross 'seeing Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway' off my 'things to do before I die' list; and b)I wouldn't have gone to New York for my birthday. That 36 hour trip was probably one of the craziest things I've ever done...and it was fantastic.
I also could've gone with Ugly Betty, because it too, was an endearingly cute show that probably could've gone longer...but for this category I choose the short-lived FOX show Reunion.
It came on after The OC my Sophomore year of college. This show followed the lives of 6 friends and the things that they have gone through in the twenty years since they graduated from High School. What we find out in the first episode, is that one of them has been recently murdered and (presumably) another one of them did it. The show flashed back and forth between present day (2006) and a different year each episode (the first ep was 1986/2006; the second, 1987/2006 and so on)...but NOT so on, because the show was canceled after 9 episodes, and it took us the first 6 just to find out which friend was murdered. Most of what bugs me about this is that we never find out who did it and why. Yes, the acting was terrible. And the make-up crew had their hands full trying to get these twentysomething actors to bounce between high school/college aged students to their present day 38 year old selves...
I don't even know of anyone besides me and my college roommates that even remembers this show, much less watched it.

"Try on time is over, Ned"

Since I don't have cable in my new place yet, I've been watching my 'Smallville' DVDs...(only the first 4 seasons, before that show became 'the thing that needs to die'). I used to be super obsessed with that show--mostly because of Tom Welling, I'm sure--but I liked other things about it too. I had forgotten how much I liked that show, specifically the character of Chloe Sullivan. Chloe is the Olive Snook to Clark Kent's Ned.
Which brings me to the subject of this post--the 'maybe friend'. Chloe and Olive are 'maybe friends' to Clark and Ned respectively. That is to say if Lana Lang and Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles weren't in the picture they'd maybe have a chance with the guys they are pining over. The complication comes from the fact that these ladies are good friends with the objects of their affection, and when you're friends with someone it makes them that much harder to get over.
Sometimes I feel like I'm Jon's 'maybe friend'. I mean, we are good friends...and there are times where I feel like maybe if there wasn't a 'Mandy'...or I'm delusional.
Also, I said I wasn't going to blog about him anymore, but I fail...a lot

He loves me not

The Promises, Promises website has this cute little ap that allows one to click petals off of a cyber daisy to determine if the one you love loves you back (a tried and true test that is always accurate)
Things were off to a great start:

Then I got to the final petal and...well:

I suppose I could 'try again' like the clickable at the bottom suggests...but the daisy has spoken, and confirmed what I've known all along.
Well, not that 'Jon' doesn't love me...just not in that way
It's like in one of my favorite episodes of 'Pushing Daisies'(Window Dressed to Kill) Olive & Ned are 'playing fiances', then Ned tells Olive she's been fun to 'try on' and she responds with the best Olive Moment of the series:
"Try On? You try on a sweater at the mall. You try on your best friend's bra and you smile on the inside cause yours are bigger and better. You don't TRY ON a person" She then makes the announcement that Ned never loved her to which he replies "I love you Olive, as a friend"...yep, that seems about right.

On a different note: almost every awesome person I know right now is at camp, and I'm bummed because I have to be a grown-up. Some people run away to join the circus, well camp is definitely the kind of circus I would love to run off an join. I'm so homesick for Jeffery pine trees and a place where I can wear my quirks on my sleeve.

Mr. Monet

Carrie had Mr. Big, I have Mr. Monet*...(in the wise words of Cher Horowitz, "from far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess"). There have been many incarnations of Mr. Monet over the years, and they have all been pretty much the same. Handsome, charming (tallish, brunette--I have a type)...but lean in a little closer, and underneath that flirty exterior is kinda a jerky guy.
The current Mr. Monet (we'll call him 'Jon') is not as Monet-ish...which is step in the right direction for me, I guess more of a Mr. Degas (still impressionistic, but a little less messy). Jon is guy I used to work with, he is handsome and charming, funny, goofy and sweet--and he has his moments of pure Monet-ism. Sometimes, though, I see him as a photograph as opposed to a painting. A clear snap-shot of his true personality will come through from time to time. Maybe I'm blinded by my feelings for him, but I think the 'Monet' IS the exterior in Jon's case...
or maybe I'm just being silly

*I should point out, though, that my Mr. Monets have never made it past the 'crush' stage (less Carrie & Big, more Olive & Ned)