Whether tis nobler....

I just returned from seeing "The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged" performed brilliantly by an American touring company. Michael (of TIE fame) and I went and feel no shame that we plan to borrow or rather "distill" some ideas from it for our own show. The Bard plagiarized nearly everything anyway, so really, if you think about it, we're staying true to Shakespeare's methods. We got there a bit early and unexpectedly were invited into the VIP area (the guards at the door were associated with Millie--the musical I'm in that opens in 2 weeks) The VIP area is sectioned off from the proletariats by decorative mauve silk banners. Within, they serve complementary beverages.
The play exceeded my high expectations and renewed my passion for theatre, which hadn't been dwindling, but was perhaps muffled under the weight of the penguin suit. Hey mom, remember those Prince Pants you made for Into the Woods JHS 03 edition? Could you pack those and any other Shakespearean-looking garb or crowns into the next box? No rush. Also, if you have any rapper bling, we could use that. You know, like giant gold dollar signs, chains, Flava-Flave clocks, whatever's in your closet.

So then, back to life--I wrote an article for the Jacksonville publication "The Source." No word if it was fit to print. Any word, Jville people?

Our first TIE performance of Penguin is in 2 days! We're so ready. Last year's show involved a smoke machine. This year, it's a bubble machine. A week and 3 more Penguin shows later, we'll have our first Shakespeare show--Our favorite is the Macbeth song, done in a rock style, complete with mullet wigs. The choreography is much better than it was last year. There wasn't really any last year. Then on top of all that, we're rewriting the Movies show, which I "finished" in July, but it needs revamping.

Keeping up with all the potentials has been a challenge. I'm afraid if we attempted to have a pageant now, we'd have fewer contestants. I think I accidentally made one move to South Korea. Seriously, we went on a date and now he's moving to Seoul. Elvis has left the building, but he does that periodically. He'll be back. I'm sure he just couldn't handle the fame, feigned his death, and secretly moved to Uruguay. He's waiting for the appropriate time for a comeback tour.

Okay, I think I mentioned before about how I watch NBC Nightly News every morning and about how it sucks, right? I never realized how unsatisfactory it is until I compared it to the Chinese news which comes on right after. The Chinese anchors are so much better because they sometimes make subjective comments about the news. Also, they talk about actual news, not the "Making a Difference" crap that Brian Williams spouts. Does it make me a bad person that I don't care about a group of teens in Detroit, Michigan, driving around a van of vegetables to make it easier for people to make healthful choices?

So my question is: has the whole American/Chinese tire thing been on the news at all in the U.S.? It's on every day here. Every day. People here are screaming protectionism and violation of some sort of international agreement (clearly, I'm an expert on the issue). Just curious if any American news channel has addressed it.

Wow, the blog has gotten HEAVY.

I need something fluffy to balance...ah, Millie. 2 weeks, as I said. Millie hasn't challenged me much as an actor, but my math skills have improved. The young cast members help me with Cantonese--I help them with the Pythagorean Theorem. One guy came over and asked me to check his math homework. "Sure," I say. Then the heading of the page: "Differential Calculus." ha, right. Wade, if you're out there, all I have to say is, "Limit? What's a limit?"

Unfortunately, no monkey attacks this week. However, I have yet to venture to Monkey Mountain. Not sure how I managed to live here for a year and missed that one...
Also, as an anecdotal footnote, the spell check on blogger rejects "bling" as a real word. I have a complaint letter to write.