The Jon Blog

Sad News with a Silver Lining

My grandmother passed away this morning. I'm not asking for any sympathy. In fact, I'm happy for her. Ever since her husband passed, she's been really lonely without him. And now she's back with him again, in peace.

I'll get to see some wonderful people, though, my parents, my dad's brothers, many aunts, uncles, and cousins. And my favorite baby cousin will end up getting to spend his first birthday with his grandmother, an unexpected treat.

However, my blogging schedule will not be what I expected it would be.

Thanks! Back soon.

Toilets In The News Day!

Since, for "Security Purposes," I can't really talk about what's been going at work (which has been 99.9% of my life these past few days), I bring you two lovely news article. (Although I will tell you that I myself even made the news!)

Student Charged With Clogging Toilet

and, drumroll please,

Legislature Considers Urinal Wafer Ban. Little. Pink. Noxious. Who knew?

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Photos from England!

There was something about this sign that I just couldn't resist... so here's its photo for you:

Back With a Vengeance

OK, maybe not.

But I'm back, at any rate. I also have shitloads to do, what with work, the Republican Convention (I'm not a Republican, duh, but it still means more to do being a Manhattanite in the Hotel industry), and I haven't even unpacked yet...

So please know that I'm home safely, I have a cute quote for you up in the title section, I hope you like it, and I hope you haven't missed me too much...

The Land of Higher Learning

So the Shakespearean vibe of Stratford got me wanting to read Shakespeare, but the pure academic air of Oxford just has me wanting to learn...

I've therefore decided that I need to spend at least a bit more time doing educational things with myself. I've started by making the decision that I will read at least one book per month which is not a schlocky paperback (even though I enjoy these...).

I started today. Touring at Christ Church College at Oxford and having Lewis Carroll's college apartment window pointed out to me inspired me to pick up a copy of "Alice in Wonderland." I am enjoying it immensely.

I also picked up a book on linguistics which looked rather fascinating, and I have also been very intrigued as of late by the House of Tudor, so I picked up a book on Henry VIII. (All I can think to quote about this man is: "Single? Single my ass! He had six wives!")

So that's sort of what's going on here.

Oh, and I did attend a rather astonishing choral concert in the chapel of one of the colleges this evening. It was really lovely.

Last night, the restaurant where I dined had live jazz. There was this British girl who sang standards backed up by a keyboard and a bass. She sounded good most of the time, but I couldn't help but laugh when she tackled "They Can't Take That Away From Me." Because she did it with a British accent, of course:

No, no, they can't take that away from me. With that long 'a' sound like in "caught" or "taut." No, no, they "caun't" take that away from her!

Anyhow, tomorrow I'm off to London and the 9 actor version of "Sweeney Todd."

Just an aside? Did you know that on British keyboards, they put the @ where the " is supposed to be. And they have £ and $ and € way easier to get to than we do. I can understand £ but was rather astonished about the $...

An Oxfordian Salutation!

Hello from Bloody Oxford, in other words.

Actually, it's lovely here. (Why did I just flash on Kristen Chenoweth at "Encores!"?)

I'm rather enjoying myself. Two days spent in Shakespeareland, aka Stratford-Upon-Avon, which has reinvented itself as a Bardian theme park village, made up for by excellent fish and chips and even better theatre.

Saw a lovely "Hamlet" starring Toby Stephens (I have no clue who he is except to say that he was very good in what was generally an excellent production. I felt that his madness was very calculated which was rather interesting. I have to say, though, it's been a desire I've had all my life to direct a production of Hamlet and to play with, at least in rehearsal, the homoerotic undertones I always feel that I find between Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Plus, given my passion for Stoppard's "R&G Are Dead," I tend to give them more importance than they probably need.) That was Friday night.

Saturday night was longer and harder to watch. "King Lear" starring Corin Redgrave. Harder to watch for a couple reasons. First off, I don't know Lear as well as a play. I haven't read it since high school, don't remember it well, and I've actually worked on two productions of "Hamlet" - one at university, and one at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, for which I was on the crew (in rep. with a production of "R&G Are Dead" - helps me know bothshows better)... so although I knew the basic story and remember seeing at least a couple scenes of a rather horid production we did when I was a grad student, "Lear" is more uncharted waters for me. It was also hard to watch because it was a rather gruesome production... Gloucester's eye-gouging was particularly horrid and he had blood dripping down his face the entire night.

The evening was also thrown off by smoke. The theatrical 'fog' which helped intensify the storm also set off the theatre's fire alarm, so we all had to evacuate the theatre, creating a rather over-long evening: show started at 7, intermission started at 9, with fire drill, didn't end til about 9:40, show ended about 11:20. It was hard to stay awake the whole time. Maybe I'm jet-lagged!

Anyhow, I am now in Oxford which is really a beautiful town. I have a nice hotel room and am very much enjoying myself so far.

I'll have more to report soon, I'm sure, and lots of photos when I get home.

And There's No Cure Like Travel...

Hehe... A double meaning in the entry title tonight. First of all, I'm hoping that the rest and relaxation I get on the trip will help my back heal the rest of the way. I'm doing great, by the way. Bending is a lot easier and I feel generally a lot better. I intend to do some walking and such to help get the muscles moving more.

The next fact is that the title is a lyric from a show which I plan to see in London...

And the other fact is that I need travel to keep me sane... which is why I've also just booked another trip. I'm going back to Texas. I had so much fun when I was there in April/May. I especially enjoyed the chance to visit my alma mater. And since I found a way to finagle a few extra days off from work (getting nice colleagues to cover my shifts, mind you), I am going to be able to go to my Homecoming/10 Year Reunion which is taking place the first weekend of November.

Yay!

The Two Most Glorious Words in the English Language

That's right, Peggy Sawyer.

I'm talking 'bout Musical Comedy.

So now you know what show I saw last night.

And the coolest thing? I walked from work to the theatre! Took a taxi home, though.

I have to say, I really love the sap Broadway schmaltz part of "42nd Street." Tears come to my eyes during Julian's big speech leading into "Lullaby of Broadway." And I was the first person who clapped for the line... the LINE, mind you, "Sawyer, you're going to go out there a youngster, but you've got to come back here a STAR!"

God, I'm a sap. But at least I have fun watching cute boys tap dance their asses off.

The funniest moment of the show, though?

Billy Elder did an entire scene, dancing and all, with his pants unzipped. I couldn't help but laugh, along with many others who could see what was going on. A few people didn't get the joke and didn't understand why I was laughing. But I couldn't stop!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parent's wedding anniversary.

They wed some thirty-odd years ago, and still seem to be happy together... most of the time. Gotta give 'em credit.

Funny omen in their wedding: the night before the ceremony, there was a tornado which tore the house off the place they were supposed to get married in. So they ended up getting married in my grandparent's house instead. How's that for strange?

Anyhow... they're great parents and I love them. And I hope they haven't found this blog! I think that would be strange.

Why?

And another theatre is lost to the evil heathens.

Arrgh! Why can't they actually make musical theatre? Why does it all have to turn into bullshit for tourists? I'm so sick of shit like this I could puke.

Our Fearless Leader. Part 999,999,999

"President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog of 'Bushisms' on Thursday, declaring that his administration will 'never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people.'" - via CNN.com.

And isn't it odd to think that if it wasn't for the Convention, he wouldn't be coming to NYC at all?

Because I Know You Care...

Here are the results of my ticket buying spree for my upcoming London trip.

I now own tickets for:

Hamlet (at the Royal Shakespeare Co. in Stratford-Upon-Avon)
Sweeney Todd (the new 9 cast member version)
When Harry Met Sally (I think Molly Ringwald is starring, egads!)
The Old Masters (directed by Harold Pinter)
Old Times (written by Harold Pinter)
Bat Boy the Musical (because I suck and didn't see it in New York)
and an art exhibition - Edward Hopper at the Tate Modern.

Yay. It (sort of) doesn't suck to be me!

I also intend to have the hotel concierge get me a ticket for "Anything Goes" starring none other than John Barrowman (no good tix on Ticketmaster). I saw "Anything Goes" once before - at the Beaumont, with good ole Patti LuPone.

I also saw Miss Patti in "Sweeney" at the Lincoln Center concert version.
I have seen "Sweeney many other times as well; it's the only show on the list I've seen before (aside from "Hamlet," which I've seen a lot, now that I think about it.)

I've seen "Sweeney" at a community theatre production in Ohio
In a college production in Texas (well, does being in it count?)
At a community theatre in Houston
At the Lincoln Center Concert
At the Kennedy Center, the BSM and Christine Baranski version
At the New York City Opera, in a rather crappy rehash of the original production.

I've seen "Hamlet" in college (and was also the set painter),
In a production I crewed at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival
At NYSW with Liev Schrieber
And probably a few other times, too.

OK, maybe it does suck to be me.

Yawn

I went to bed at 9:00pm yesterday, because I felt tired. I thought, I'll probably wake up at 11 ready to have some dinner or something.

Yeah, I woke up at 11. This morning.

Egads! I guess I'll mention it to the Doctor this afternoon when I go in for my follow up visit. That's a lotta sleep, yo.

It's Capitol Barbie!

Heheheh!

I just watched Legally Blonde 2 on Showtime courtesy of my beloved TiVo.

What a great movie! Sally Field was perfect as the evil Congresswoman, and of course, what homo can't love Bruiser and his adoptive mother, Miss Elle Woods? I loved the Gay Dogs of America booth at the Million Dog March. What a hoot! Very fun movie. I'm sad I waited so long to see it!

Anyhow, the back is sort of improving. I went to another doctor on Monday who prescribed a different muscle relaxant (Flexeril in case you care), and cold packs rather than the heating pad preferred by the first doctor. Then again, the first doctor has an autographed photo of Liza on his wall, and wrote me a script for Percocet. (Hey, it helped with the pain, seriously!).

Follow up visit on Thursday. Maybe I'll even be able to walk more than four blocks by then!

Rethinking the Advertising Strategy

Did she pay for the Coke?

(Thank you, CNN!)

Eat My Shorts!

Guy Trebay on "Skivvies" in the Times.

Honestly, though, who says "skivvies" anymore? Still, a nice article about eye candy. Made me feel almost like a kid in a candy store.