| Yesterday and this morning I did updates to the Highway Pages: I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. I'm taking advantage of the day after Thanksgiving to do an update. The following are any updates from backed up email changes, notes from my reading of the papers (which are usually posted to the Facebook group), as well as updates from misc.transport.road (which has become useless). This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research(1), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or Usenet) from Alan Mintz(2)]:Route 47(1), Route 72(2), Route 91(1), Route 118(1), US 101(1), I-80(1), I-710(1), I-405(1). Additionally, Mike Locke provided an update on the steepness of Route 4. Noted that past issues of California Highways and Public Works appear to be available online. One source is the Internet Archive; Nathan Edgars has also made them available via Wikipedia. I should note that the California Highways Wikipedia project is independent from this site: I do not work on the Wikiproject, although they may obtain information from my site. The editor of the Wikiproject, Nathan, has occasionally provided me with updates for my pages. Looked for updates for the legislative information page. There were no updates, except for a special session called to deal with water policy. Did something I've been meaning to do for over two years: a broken link check. A large number of links were deleted. This wasn't a small task, taking over 10 hours to check over 2,200 links, with over 500 of them being bad, and then identify where they were in the pages and remove them. Notable removables were Jeff Stapler's pages with Western Exits (the site has just disappeared), Joel Windmiller's highway pages that weren't preserved elsewhere (his original PacBell site is, surprisingly, still up, but his highwayman-routes is long gone, and he's never fleshed out Goldenstatehighways as promised), and all the Geocities pages (including Neuman Parada's third.cahighways.org and the original California Highways pages by David Stanek). I guess I'm the sole survivor in terms of route listings, no pictures. Caltrans has also moved a bunch of sites around, and newspapers, as they tend to do, have pulled source articles offline. I should also note that I discovered an error in Caltrans' Calnexus pages: they indicate that Route 75's page is 75.pdf, but that gives a 404. However, the older version of the exit list is still there at seventyfivenorth.pdf and seventyfivesouth.pdf. I checked the CTC Liaision page,, but there was not a November meeting of the CTC. The next meeting is the week of December 9, 2010. - Tags:roadgeeking
- Music:Bat Boy: The Musical (2001 Original Off-Broadway Cast): Inside Your Heart
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Better behavior on entry posting when over the tag limit Short, concise description of the idea
Instead of giving you no errors when saving, showing no tags, but displaying tags on the edit screen when you're over the tag limit and use mixed existing and new tags on an entry, the system should handle it better. Full description of the idea
So you have reached or passed the tag limit (if you created more tags than the tag limit before tags were capped, you may be over the limit), and you post an entry. You type in a tag you know you have, and a tag you think you have. You post. Success! You view your entry. No tags! You go to edit entry (not edit tags for some reason, because you don't feel like that today) and lo and behold, your tags are right there in the tags field where they should be. You view edit tags, and there are no tags. You ask Support, and someone tells you that the tags are right there in the entryprops.
This is (now) known bad behavior.
Obviously something instead of this should happen. Please shred the following ideas to pieces and contribute your own if you think of some.
Proposals: - Post with only the tags that already exist, not preserving any of the attempted tags. (Advantages: posts immediately which is good for Really Weird Clients and post by email. Disadvantages: no record of the tags you were trying to use.)
- Post only with the tags that already exist, but throw an inescapable (no-optout) email and inbox error that contains the tags you were trying to use. (Advantages: preserves tags, good for weird clients. Disadvantages: more notifications that people might ignore.)
- Post entirely without tags, with no error and no attempt at preservation. (Advantage: probably simple to implement. Disadvantages: legion.)
- Post entirely without tags, but sending error messages to email and inbox with the tags you were trying to use, all of them. (Advantages: immediate posting, tags preserved, possibly simple. Disadvantages include no tags, in addition to the above-mentioned problems with notifications.)
- On attempting to post, an error to the effect of:
"The following tag(s) could not be created, as you have 2,926 tags and the current maximum is 1,200:- this tag does not exist
- bunnies
- why me and frank the goat are homies
Please go edit before posting."
Advantages: a whole lot of information, consistent with other errors, tags preserved.
Disadvantages: Complexity to implement, may cause issues with Weird Clients (some clients will take error messages, some aren't so good at it) and/or email posting, entry is not posted immediately.
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| OK, Folks, you know the drill. Allright everyone, let's gather in front of our large, 13", Black and White TV set, and watch as a tall, lanky man in a khaki uniform strides out, introduces himself as Sheriff John, and pulls out his accordion, and then starts singing the Birthday Cake Polka for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) magicpacket: Put another candle on my birthday cake
We're gonna bake a birthday cake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today
I'm gonna have a party with my birthday cake
Come on and take some birthday cake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today | | We'll have some pie and sandwiches
And chocolate ice cream too
We'll sing and play the day away
And one more thing I'm gonna do
I'll blow out the candles on my birthday cake
And when I do, a wish I'll make
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today
Happy Birthday to You
You're another year old today. |
[Yes, it's here. The 5th Annual Birthday Song Poll. So, if you want to make sure that the Sheriff sings the song you want, please fill out the poll. Note that if you want the birdie to be able to inform the Sheriff about your birthday, you need to make sure your birth month and day is in your profile, and it is visible to your friends. If you are a Facebook user and on LJ, please make sure I can connect your Facebook name with your LJ name. If you are a Facebook only user, you can’t vote in the poll until Facebook does OpenID, so get an LJ account!]- Tags:birthdays, birthdays-2009
- Music:Side by Side by Sondheim (1976 Original London Cast): Beautiful Girls - Ah, Paree! Buddy's Bl
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Mailer Daemon / Failed Delivery Test For Inactive Accounts Short, concise description of the idea
Send a mass e-mail to inactive accounts. For those where a mailer daemon / failed delivery message is received back, flag the journal for deletion. Full description of the idea
There are currently 22,025,963 accounts that are not active in any way (calculated using http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml). Many, of course, are names that people want but can't under the current method of treating inactive accounts.
So, why not do some sort of test to see if an account is truly inactive, abandoned, and does not have a proper owner?
My suggestion is for LiveJournal to put together a population of inactive journals. (Start with no comments / posts / few log-ins.) For the inactive journals, send a mass e-mail......a friendly one that says how we've missed you, how to delete accounts if they are no longer wanted, it's LiveJournal's birthday, etc.. (And as pointed out in the comments, this should be advertised all over the place so users know this is occurring.)
For any journal for which a "Mailer Daemon" message is recieved (a bounce message / failed delivery message), flag the account for deletion.
If there is no "owner" over the account, then that account should be deleted / purged and then made available to others. An ordered list of benefits
- Cleaning up abandoned accounts
- Make names available to those who want it
- More revenue for LiveJournal with rename tokens
- Bring back old members/people who forgot they had accounts
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
- Potential that an "abandoned" account is someone who died (depending on the populations the e-mail is sent to)
- Someone may want their account but forgot to update their e-mail address
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| I hope that everyone enjoys their roast eagle, with all the trimmings:
The Luncheon Under The Trees
Narrator: Needless to say, the luncheon there under the trees was a great success, and a good time was had by Puritan and Indian alike. Everything came off beautifully with the exception of one minor catastrophe.
Mayor: What do you mean you cooked the turkey, Charlie?
Charlie: Well, I cooked the turkey, that’s all.
Mayor: You put our national bird in the oven. Is that correct?
Charlie: Yeah, well I, uh …
Mayor: And all of us had our mouths set for roast eagle with all the trimmings.
Charlie: Yeah, well I, uh …
Mayor: You did a thing like that?
Charlie: Well, the two birds were lying there side by side.
Mayor: The *turkey* was for the centerpiece, Charlie, I mean …
Charlie: Well, they looked so much alike that I, uh …
Mayor: Well, we blew it now. They’re all sitting down at the tables out there.
Charlie: Yeah, yeah.
Mayor: … starting on their little nut cups already. Just have to switch the birds, that’s all.
Charlie: Yeah, well …
Mayor: Serve them turkey instead of eagle. But it’s kinda scrawny-lookin’, isn’t it?
Charlie: Yeah, well I thought I’d stuff some old bread in it and make it look a little fatter.
Mayor: You do that, OK?
Take an Indian To Lunch
Take an Indian to lunch this week
Show him we're a regular bunch this week
Show him we're as liberal as can be
Let him know he's almost as good as we
Make a feathered friend feel fed this week
Overlook the fact he's red this week
Let him share our Quaker Oats
'Cause he's useful when he votes
Take an Indian to lunch
Two, four, six, eight, who do we tolerate
Indians, Indians, rah; rah; rah
Take an Indian to lunch this week
Let him sit right down and munch this week
Let's give in and all do the brotherhood bit
Just make sure we don't make a habit of it
Take an Indian to dine this week
Show him we don't draw the line this week
We know everyone can't be
As American as we
(After all, we came over on the Mayflower)
Take an Indian
(Not a wooden Indian)
But a real, live Indian
To lunch! | |
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automatic ?date=YYYY-MM-DD links for paid users after ?skip=1000/2 weeks Short, concise description of the idea
Show link to view friends page by date for paid users after they have reached the ?skip=1000 / 2 week limit on their friends page. Full description of the idea
Paid users can view their friends pages by date, but this is little-known and not intuitive to reach. Similar to how you are offered date links for your journal in most styles once you've reached the skip limit, this should be offered for the friends page as well.
This revisits the concept from http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/740622.html, which was made before the ?date= feature was offered. An ordered list of benefits
- Better feature discovery for paid users
- Ease of use = more people using it regularly and getting hooked on it = more incentive to maintain a paid account
- Fewer support requests and suggestions from paid users who don't already know about this
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
- The friends page uses server time to build itself, so there could be some confusion about seeing entries with a stated date that differs from the server date they were posted on. (This goes double for comms, where Date Out of Order does not exist.)
- Overlap between the trailing ends of ?skip= and the beginning of where ?date= starts, unless ?skip=1000 happens to happen at exactly server midnight.
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Generate correct embeds for Youtube videos in Atom/RSS Short, concise description of the idea
Livejournal should generate correct HTML in RSS/Atom for LJ entries which contain Youtube videos. Full description of the idea
When I make a Livejournal post with a Youtube video in it, the RSS and Atom feeds that LiveJournal generates for it are wrong.
Instead of including the original EMBED or OBJECT tag, LiveJournal is instead including the LJ-EMBED tag only.
The entire point of RSS feeds is to be able to present those items in feed readers and on other sites. And other sites, pretty much *by definition* do not understand the LJ-EMBED tag.
The fix is trivial. Livejournal should simply include the un-altered source of the post in the RSS feed, rather than the "sanitized" version. Include the version of the HTML that one sees when one does "edit".
Here is an example:
My post: http://jwz.livejournal.com/1122617.html
What I see when I "edit source" on that post: What is included in the Atom and RSS feeds at http://jwz.livejournal.com/data/atom -- This is, quite simply, a bug. But "support" replied to my email with a brush-off telling me to make a "suggestion" that this bug be fixed, so here we are.
An ordered list of benefits
- The RSS feed of my journal would be useful and correct.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
- I guess if you like it being broken, this would be a drawback.
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Make the profile 'Journal Entries' link go to the calendar Short, concise description of the idea
Link to the journal calendar in the profile, using the 'Journal Entries' link Full description of the idea
I always expect the '#### Journal Entries' link in the profile of a journal/community to take me to the calendar. It feels weird to click on a link text that says '7,036 Journal Entries' and get sent to just the latest 20 on the journal homepage.
Also, there's a link to the journal homepage just above, at the very top of the profile, in big letters. And as far as I can see the calendar isn't linked to anywhere. If it's not in the journal sidebar or similar then you have to know the URL structure to get to it.
Suggestions:
1) Use the 'Journal Entries' link to send you to the calendar, which after all is the only reasonable way of navigating the total number of journal entries displayed in the link text
2) Alternatively, add a link to the calendar somewhere else on the profile page. I think it makes sense in that line of links to tags and memories and other ways of navigating non-recent posts, but that might be just me. An ordered list of benefits
- Consistent way of finding the journal calendar, regardless of whether the journal style has a link to it or not
- More people using this really very handy feature
- Better use of space in the profile by not linking to something that is already linked to (and otherwise very easy to find)
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
- Confusion for users who have learned to click on that link to get to the 'Recent Entries' page, of which I'm sure there are many
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Better "success" message for when a message has been sent. Short, concise description of the idea
Include the username(s) and/or subject in the success message after sending a message from the inbox. Full description of the idea
After a user sends a message from the inbox using http://www.livejournal.com/inbox/compose.bml , they are shown a generic message that says "Your message has been sent successfully."
A better success message would say "Your message to [list of users] regarding [subject] has been sent successfully." or "Your message to [list of users] has been sent successfully." An ordered list of benefits
- Better user experience.
- Better troubleshooting options when a user reports problems that may just be cache.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
- Most of the other success messages are generic, so until those are corrected this would look out of place.
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| This year's Thanksgiving menu is pretty traditional and a little less ambitious than usual, a reflection of the things we have learned in past years about desire vs. time vs. my physical ability. It will be no less awesome for being less ambitious, though! We're still going to be eating for days. Sausage cheese balls
Crab-stuffed mushrooms
Mushroom-chevre mini tarts
Cheese, olive, & salami plate
Salt-roasted turkey
Unstuffed stuffing*
Mashed potatoes
Ain't-No-Giblets-in-This Gravy
Creamed broccoli with parmesan
Brown butter ice cream**
Cupcakes***( To Do )* Better known as dressing** Inspired by byronium's recent amazing rendition*** Delivered by the CupKates Truck | |
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| 
Tweaks and enhancements
- In order to improve site security, we've temporarily suspended the ability to change passwords for old email addresses that haven't been used for over six months. For further information and support, please visit our customer care page.
- We've launched a new mobile site with an enhanced UI at m.livejournal.com. View spotlights, post to your journal, read and post to friends pages, and more, no matter where you roam! Please let us know what you think, since this will eventually replace our existing mobile interface. You can update your mobile preferences on your account page.
- We've upgraded from Beacon to Facebook Connect to improve dual posting. If you've already signed up for Facebook Beacon, you're good to go. If you wish to update your Facebook Connect setting, visit Account Privacy settings and scroll down to the option labeled: "Send information about my updates to Facebook." You can choose Always or Ask each time. Remember to save (on the bottom left corner of the page). To learn more, check out FAQ 249. While we're on the subject, if you happen to be visiting that side of town, please join our Facebook fan page for a touch of home away from home.
- You'll now receive the Writer's Block Question of the Day in the body of email notifications. To sign up for Writer's Block notifications, visit
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) writersblock and choose the Watch Community option. Next, update your Writer's Block notification settings by checking the box to the right of "Someone posts a new entry to writersblock."
- Paid and permanent users can now view, add, and edit Notes of commenters. Notes will appear beside the username of comment posters (instead of stars) on S1-themed comment pages.
Send some lovin' thanks to your friends with our holiday vgifts!
Photos of the weekWe're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.
Check out this week's photo poll and more fantastic user content after the jump!
( Read more... ) CurtainsThanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you! | |
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| So, I made 2 key lime pies using the Nelli And Joe's on the bottle recipe and 2 pumpkin pies using the Libby's pumpkin recipe...I realized this morning that I accidentally put evaporated milk in them versus sweetened condensed milk...I had grabbed the wrong cans at the store.
So, will they taste okay?
Anybody know? I'm almost ready to cut into them to taste test and see if I need to remake them. I'm bringing 8 pies tomorrow and this is half of them. Anybody? | |
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| My daughter is going crazy.
No, not literally. But stress-wise, yes. She's at school from 7am to 7pm, constantly working on homework (luckily, we don't have to remind her to do it), studying, studying, studying. She comes home, takes a nap, and then works to midnight and does it all again. In tenth grade, she's occupied with two AP classes (stats and world history), honors classes, and working on the technical crew for the performing arts program.
Gee, I didn't have that schedule until college.
So, over lunchtime, I've been wondering what we're doing to our high school students. Certainly, this isn't the 1950s idyll of high-school that we saw in movies like Grease, American Graffiti, or popularized in TV shows like Happy Days. Who has time to hang out at the burger joint? It doesn't fit my recollection of high-school in the 1970s: I don't remember that much stress or work, and certainly not as many AP classes. We had perhaps four for the entire school, and kids didn't start taking them until 12th grade. Most kids didn't do AP (I never did).
Our children are stressed (and we then wonder why they snap). They can't have fun on their summers: they have to build their resume to get into a good school (as well as making money to attend it). Extracurricular activities are measured not in the energy but in the points for college. They can't explore what they want to do; they have to make up their minds earlier and earlier.
So why are we overstressing our youth? Is it to prepare them for the stressed business world? Is this really the lesson we should be teaching? How does the life of a high-school student today differ from when you went to school (and I know I have folks reading this who were in high-school in the 1960s if not earlier, as well as folks who are currently in high-school or just graduated) - Tags:education
- Music:Cabaret (1966 Original Cast): Perfectly Marvelous
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| Whoa I fail epically! scatterheart translated this for me a long time ago for Sweet Charity, but somehow due to my epic fail I either never saw it or forgot about it. :( :( But here it is finally! It's a German translation of my second-person John/Rodney blowjob porn, How to distract your scientist when he's not paying any attention to you. Haha, enjoy!Titel: Wie man seinen Wissenschaftler ablenkt, wenn er dich nicht beachtet Fandom: Stargate Atlantis Character(s)/Pairing(s): John/Rodney Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 1707 Übersetzer: scatterheartDanksagung: Dank an let_fate_decide und waterofthemoon für den Beta. Disclaimer: Ich wünschte, Rodney und John würden mir gehören. Leider tun sie das nicht. Notes: Diese Story schwirrte mir im Kopf rum, seit ich vor einiger Zeit dieses Bild sah. Dann machte ich das Bild zu meinen Desktop-Hintergund und wurde im Unterricht ständig von nicht jugendfreien Ideen abgelenkt, und jetzt habe ich sie endlich erfolgreich auf's Papier gebracht. Vielleicht kann ich mich jetzt auch wieder auf die Schule konzentrieren. ;p Oh, und ich glaube, das ist das erste Mal, dass ich in der zweiten Person geschrieben habe? Die Geschichte wollte sich einfach nicht anders schreiben lassen.Teaser:Als du dich nach vorne beugst, stößt du dir den Kopf am Tisch, ein, zwei Mal, und du zuckst zusammen, aber irgendwie schaffst du es doch in eine gute Stellung zwischen Rodneys gespreizten Beinen. Langsam lässt du deine Hände seine Oberschenkel hinaufwandern, deine Balance mit festem Griff haltend, und deine Daumen pressen in das weiche Fleisch der Innenseite seiner Schenkel, streicheln in kleinen Halbkreisen, während du dich hinaufbewegst. Der Stoff von Rodneys Hose schiebt sich gegen deine Finger und Daumen, als du dich hinaufarbeitest, erhebt sich in kleinen Falten, über die du deine Finger ziehst.( Seit einer halben Stunde versuchst du, McKay abzulenken, mit wenig Erfolg. ) | |
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| Hi, folks. This is probably the first of many Thanksgiving Turkey posts.
Last year, I brined my turkey and followed Alton's recipe to the letter and had a great turkey experience. However, my living situation has now changed. I'm living alone (no pity, I love it!), so this year I have a three-pound boneless turkey breast that I'd love to brine. Does anybody have a recipe for a brine that goes well with a 3-pound boneless breast?
I bought dark brown sugar, Kosher salt and apple cider, if that helps.
Thanks in advance! | |
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|  As I wrote yesterday, we saw two productions on Sunday. The first was "M*A*S*H" at Repertory East Playhouse. The second, which is the subject of this review, was the latest installment of Steve Allen's Meeting of Minds at the Steve Allen Theatre. This month we had Episode #7, and our guests were: Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)..... Ernie HudsonCesare Beccaria (1738-1794).... Joe MantegnaEmpress Tz'u-Hsi (1835-1908).... France NuyenMarquis de Sade (1740-1814).... Richard GillilandSteve Allen (1921-2000).... Gary ColeThe script was updated slightly from the original 1979 script, including references to the health care debate and President Obama. The person who was given credit for suggesting the Marquis de Sade was changed from Claire Boothe Luce to Rush Limbaugh. Even without updating, some interchanges were truly applicable today: STEVE: Why do you think, Signor Beccaria, that progress in this area has been so painfully slow?
DOUGLASS: Progress, my friend, is always slow.
BECCARIA: Yes. It seems to me that the intellectual enlightenment of a nation is usually about a century in advance of its actual practice.
DOUGLASS: Again and again through history we see precisely this same process. The brighter, more civilized individuals in a culture begin to perceive that something is wrong, about a specific custom. They very tentatively, carefully--even fearfully--begin to question that custom.
BECCARIA: (He nods) Perhaps--as I did--they publish their writings anonymously, out of fear of vicious reprisal. A quite justified fear, may I add.
Then, at a second stage, one man's modest gesture encourages another, so that gradually there emerges a body of opinion--at least among certain intellectuals, scholars, and reformers--that more outspokenly criticizes the prevailing custom, whatever it might be, whether we are talking about slavery, burning people alive, or whatever.
DOUGLASS: But generally at this stage a backlash takes place. A great conservative groundswell attacks the reformers, questioning not only their arguments but their intelligence, even their loyalty.
If their arguments prove difficult to assail, then they personally are attacked, sometimes even physically.
STEVE: But many people ask: why not? Such disturbers of the peace--they argue--deserve to be punished!
DOUGLASS: It is not the peace they disturb, Mr. Allen; it is the status quo. But this reactionary backlash in turn stimulates its own opposition--generally because of its unfairness and cruelty--and this, in turn, encourages a still small but now growing number of people who perceive that their society does indeed need to be additionally civilized. And so this slow, glacial process occurs--sometimes speeded by revolution, sometimes not.
That is why necessary progress is usually made so painfully slowly. Now, this discussion was relating to the stopping of torture for minor crimes, but applies equally well to health care or the gay marriage debate. It is why these program as so timeless: the thoughts and philosophies are as timeless today as when conceived by the speakers, or when written as a script by Steve Allen. The Episode #7 discussion was a bit more focused than most, exploring the history of the speakers as well as the notions of torture and its appropriateness, and how free man should be to inflict pain and cruelty on other man. Is it something, as deSade argued, that should be freely permitted with consent, or is it something that goes against general moral law, as Beccaria argued? It is right to kill or torture because you disagree with someone or see them as barbaric, as the Empress believed? Is it right to subjugate and exploit people for financial gain, as was done with slaves, and as the western societies tried to do in China? This was the topic of discussion. Viewing the production as theatre, there were strengths and weaknesses. As usual, Gary Cole was obviously reading the script cold, as he had a lot of line stumbles. France Nuyen conveyed her character well, but spoke a bit softly, requiring the sound engineer to have to raise her amplification noticably. Erine Hudson was a forceful but calm Douglass, improving as the episode went on. Richard Gilliland gave a stunning and playful performance as de Sade, and was quite entertaining to watch (especially in his interplay with Joe Mantegna as Beccaria). As always, the production was directed by Frank Megna. Dan Lauria, who bears an uncanny resemblance to President U.S. Grant, introduced the program, and reminded attendees of the goal of bringing this program to college campuses. He noted the well-known Hollywood actors who have already participated in the program (such as Ed Asner as Karl Marx), and the ones who will be in upcoming episodes, such as Keith Carradine as Pres. Thos. Jefferson or Lou Diamond Phillips as Emiliano Zapata. It was nice to see Mr. Lauria back doing the introductions. "Meeting of Minds" is now produced approximately monthly by Opening Minds Productions. They will be starting a regular schedule in 2010: Meeting of Minds will be the third Sunday of every month at 7:00pm at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood, starting January 17, 2010. Upcoming Theatre: Thanksgiving weekend sees us back at the Pasadena Playhouse for “Baby Its You” on November 28. The next week brings us to Van Nuys HS for “ The Taming of the Shrew” (12/3, 12/4, and 12/5; we’ll likely be going to the Friday, December 4 performance). I fly out to Hawaii for ACSAC on 12/5 (hint: registration is now open and we have a great technical program -- so come to the conference).I return 12/12 (and, alas, this is why we can’t see Equus at LA Valley College the weekends of 12/3-5 and 10-12). December 20 brings “ Mary Poppins” at the Ahmanson. We’ll be going to the movies on Christmas Day (as well as having Chinese food), and the likely movie is “ Nine - The Musical”. As always, I’m looking for suggestions for good shows to see, especially if they are on Goldstar or LA Stage Tix. Disclaimer: In light of the upcoming rules, you should know that nobody paid me anything to write this review. In fact, I receive no remuneration for any reviews I write. | |
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| So! I know that the end date/time for my Garage Sale has passed, now! Unfortunately, I'm swamped with last-minute freaking-out grad school app stuff atm. But I will try to email the following people to-morrow: spoonerknife, thingswithwings, ms_erupt, ezazahaz, eruthros, lavvyan, and nataliadarimini. metalphoenix & fonz, you've both already communicated w/ me about payment & pickup, so you won't be getting emails. ;p Everyone else, I am trying to think how best to handle the shipping costs. I went to USPS and did estimated shipping costs for everything (I weighed it all last weekend), but I'm also not sure if I'll have enough boxes (of correct sizes) in the basement to use for shipping, so might need to buy some at the post office as well, or something. Maybe we could do item donations first, then I could ship things and tell you all how much the shipping cost, and you could do a secondary shipping payment? But I'm not sure if that would cause trouble for any of you. Oh well, I guess we can work this out individually over email! LOOK OUT. | |
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|  Sunday was a busy day, with two theatre activities back to back. The first of the productions was "M*A*S*H" at the Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall. Now, after all these years, you may think you know the story of "M*A*S*H", but you probably don't. "M*A*S*H" was originally a book by Richard Hooker writing loosely about his experiences during the Korean war. It was a series of incidents that took place at the 4077 MASH (and, by the way, there were a number of subsequent books of lesser quality that followed this group through further adventures). Hooker's book was adapted into a screenplay that took some of the incidents and wove them into a coherent story, and on into the successful movie. The movie story was then adapted, a subset of characters selected, and turned into the long running ensemble comedy that most people know. Early in the TV show's run the agglomeration was adapted into a stage play by Tim Kelly. This production was an adaptation of that adaptation, and combined some elements from all the different sources. So although it was set in the same universe, there were some changes from what is known and loved: Hawkeye was faithful to his wife (although he did enjoy watching) -- it was Duke who was the lothario. Burns didn't hang around; he was sent to the looney bin. Hot Lips' father wasn't a general but a cook, and so on. For those familiar with the various sources, however, these changes weren't too jarring. They all led to the same end point: that war environments are hellacious environments, and for those in them, the pressure relieves itself in various ways. This production pulled together an number of different incidents, and roughly covered the timeline from Hawkeye and Duke's arrival until their departure 18 months later. It thus covered their assignment to the 4077, the suicide of Painless the Puller, Hot Lips and Frank Burns, the War Correspondent, part of the football game, Ho-Jon's injury, and the departure of Hawkeye and Duke. This led to a long production (and evidently, one that was even longer in rehearsal). I personally felt that it was too long, and that the script could do with some additional tighening and cutting that could further enhance the point (for example, at this point, the entire football storyline could be cut without significant loss, given that the end of the game was cut). All the scenes and all the actions led to one of the largest casts seen at the REP (it was just one smaller than The Full Monty's cast). It was also a true ensemble, with the players all demonstrating strong talent, improvisational skills, and playing well off of each other. There were a few occasional line hesitations, but those should go away as the run continues. The Ensemble consisted of: Ransom Boynton (Capt 'Hawkeye' Pierce); Joe Roselund (Capt. 'Duke' Forrest); Daniel Lenchæ (Col. Henry Blake); Jarod Scott (Capt. 'Trapper' McIntyre); David Kenny (Cpl. 'Radar' O'Reilly); Bill Quinn (Maj. Frank Burns); Jillann Tara (Maj. 'Hot Lips' Houlihan); John Morris (Fr. John Patrick Mulcahy); Tony Cicchetti (Capt. 'Painless Pole' Waldowski); Jill Kocalis Scottæ (Lt. 'Dish' Schneider); Johnny Schwinn (Pvt. Lorenzo Boone); Zac Bygum (Ho-Jon); Harry Bennett æ (General Hammond); Amber Van Loon (Capt. Scorch); Samantha Strickland (Lt. Leslie); Dave Forster (War Reporter); Erik Klein (Capt John 'Ugly' Black); and Eric Bush (Capt. 'Spearchucker' Jones). I really can't single anyone out: all were excellent. [æ denotes members of  Actors Equity ]This is a very busy play (just like the war environment), with lots going on in lots of different locations. The set by Jeff Hyde did a good job of providing those locations in a flexible manner; still at times the multiple locations was a little confusing. The direction by Ovington Michael Owston and Marlowe Weisman (who also helped with the script modifications) did a good job of bringing order to the chaos... most of the time. Sound and lighting design were by long-time REP regulars Steven 'Nanook' Burkholder (sound) and Tim Christianson (lights). Lauren Pearsall was the stage manager. "M*A*S*H" continues at the REP East Playhouse until December 12. Shows have been selling out. Tickets are available through the REP Online Box Office; they are often available on Goldstar Events. The REP has announced their 2010 season, which looks to be a strong one: Lost in Yonkers (January 22-February 20); On Golden Pond (March 12-April 10); 12 Angry Men (April 23-May 2); The Wedding Singer (May 21-June 19); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (July 9-July 24); Side Man (August 13-August 28); Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (September 17-October 16); and Amadeus (November 12-December 11). Subscriptions start at $120 adult, $110 senior/student (which appear to be the same as the 2009 prices). Upcoming Theatre: Thanksgiving weekend sees us back at the Pasadena Playhouse for “Baby Its You” on November 28. The next week brings us to Van Nuys HS for “ The Taming of the Shrew” (12/3, 12/4, and 12/5; we’ll likely be going to the Friday, December 4 performance). I fly out to Hawaii for ACSAC on 12/5 (hint: registration is now open and we have a great technical program -- so come to the conference).I return 12/12 (and, alas, this is why we can’t see Equus at LA Valley College the weekends of 12/3-5 and 10-12). December 20 brings “ Mary Poppins” at the Ahmanson. We’ll be going to the movies on Christmas Day (as well as having Chinese food), and the likely movie is “ Nine - The Musical”. As always, I’m looking for suggestions for good shows to see, especially if they are on Goldstar or LA Stage Tix. Disclaimer: In light of the upcoming rules, you should know that nobody paid me anything to write this review. In fact, I receive no remuneration for any reviews I write. | |
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| Migraine in the morning.... "M*A*S*H" at Rep East in the afternoon... and Meeting of Minds in the evening... Reviews will come out over the week. | |
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| so I may be on tv tomorrow night, I am not going to lie.. I am a bit nervious now.. Long story short i had to read lines for Dinner, Drive Ins and Dives for work.. the episode airs tomorrow... *eep
I work at Bartly's Burger Cottage in Harvard Sq. in Cambridge, Ma.. Lets hope they didn't leave my line on the cutting room floor.. Want to see if I'm camera friendly.. lol | |
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 Applying Knowledge of Chemistry in the Kitchen Is This Filmmaker-Turned-Star-Chef's Recipe for SuccessThe Food Network cooking show "Good Eats" has a good-sized following ... not least because of the good chemistry that lies behind this science-minded chef's every move. Our Mark Strassmann went to see him in action:
( Read more... ) | |
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| A) My chest reconstructive surgery fund-raising garage sale post is still up, and will remain open until Monday at 11:59pm EST (whoops, I said am originally but meant pm; post has been edited now). Past then, I may move things to a new post to leave them up, but probably not, since I think that with everyone's donation bids so far, and other donations, I should be good to cover my travel expenses. :D Thank you so much to everyone!!! (And after the garage sale ends, I will definitely be making a more official thank-you posts, and probably trying to create some kind of other thank-yous for people as well.) B) In related news, a friend of a friend is also trying to raise money for surgery, and is selling these really cool t-shirts. I think they are adorable and thought I would pass this on. :D | |
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