Saturday Nite Win/Fail

Last night was a Retro Dome double-header, though they sold it as two separate films. The Princess Bride Quote-Along was a hoot and a half, starting with a goody bag of little props to use at various places in the film. Some of them were very clever improvisations. Before the movie there was a short slide show to introduce the newbies to some key phrases to quote-along with. "Inconceivable", and of course "As You Wish" were among them. Way too many of us knew way too much of the dialog in the film.  It was a hoot and a half. It was totally old out, and they could not keep up with all the idiots who arrived at 7:30 for a 7:30 show, so it started about 20 minutes late. In the goodie bag:

• A small Popsicle stick
• A smaller Popsicle stick
• a small rubber band peanut
• A malt ball
• A black mask
• A sugar straw

The two Popsicle sticks tied together with the rubber band made a tiny sword for the many sword fights, the peanut was for a rhyme which ends "have a peanut", the malt ball symbolized the re-animation pill Miracle Max makes for Wesley, the sugar straw was the poison which went into the glass of wine (they handed out little cups of grape juice, but didn't make it to me until the scene was over). And of course the mask was for The Dread Pirate Roberts.

---

The second feature was a major FAIL. The Rocky Horror Picture Show featuring The Bawdy Cast. They totally ruined it. Aging, fat cast members (except for the delicious kid playing Rocky, who was probably jail bait), thought they were the show. They set up in front of the screen, spotlight pretty much obliterated the movie. Thank goodness they only mimed, at least the sound track was audible. They put together an okay goodie bag:

• Glow stick for "There's a Light"
• Bubble kit for the wedding scene (I tried it out before the movie, but the wand broke off when the scene came)
• Newspaper for the rain scene (folded real small)
• Confetti popper for the Frankie/Brad wedding scene
• A whole roll of toilet paper for "Great Scott!"
• Playing cards for the pre-finale number "Cards for sorrow, cards for pain"

Blocking the opening and closing lips sequence was a stripper.  She starts her act lounging on a giant leopard-patterned high heeled platform shoe. Let me just say she was Ruebenesque everywhere but on top. The good news is she really sold it, the bad news is I wasn't buying any. Way to piss me off right of the bat.

Time Warp gets so much audience participation, why not invent a dance for a tune in the movie which has dancing with no discernable steps? Let's make up a line dance style set of steps. What fun. NOT.

All the previous RHS shows I have gone to which had a live cast, they stayed on the sides, down on the floor level and in the wings, enhancing the experience by miming the action while they watched the screen. It's not really possible, IMHO, to do better than Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard "Riff-Raff" O'Brien, Peter "Rocky" Hinwood, Charles "No-neck" Gray and Meatloaf.

Long story short, the cast ruined the experience for me, and I will make sure not to go to an RHS with their name on it again.

Shoot, Leaves and Eats

Up way too late, photo shoot at 9:30 am in Mountain View. Texted I'd be late, but I wasn't. Organizer was. :-(

Model was a super-skinny, multiple-tattooed young woman who posed well but had to keep being reminded to keep her eyes open, and not look so grim. The best shot I got was of one of the female photographers. LOLz. Somehow I managed to take 200+ pictures, but will have to go through them to see if any are more than mediocre. One of her tattoos was very interesting, it was a minimalist drawing on the back of her arm which looked like Marilyn Monroe. Very clever. All her tattoos were clean and very legible, including the entire Serenity Prayer which took up all the space between just below her bust to her hips.

We went till a little after noon, several locations around Shoreline Park. I missed the best one (by the Bay) when  I had to take a restroom break. Tummy was bothering me ever since I woke up.

I would really have liked to have lunch at the Lakeshore Café, but I was very very tired. Home, took a nap, woke up with Domino laying on my upper right chest. Didn't even feel her. She bolted as soon as I woke up, as usual.

Still running a little late, wanted to get to Starbucks by 4 for the 5 pm date with Janice, but it was 4:30 at least, and did not finish the writing I was doing. Good chat with J. She liked the Starwars/Starbucks T-shirt I brought back for her from Thailand. August is not a good month for her, and this year is no different. She's holding up okay, but 'nuff said.

Home again, it was a bit of a challenge because there was an event at Shoreline Amphitheater, some country western young people's crush, and nobody was obeying the traffic lights or the "keep intersections clear" or "don't walk". They needed traffic police, but did not have any. I ought to send a nastygram. When there is an event at the city-owned venue, they need city traffic cops at the freeway exits and big intersections. Lately they have left that to the event organizers, who have not been doing enough.

I had not eated all day, except for the frap and banana nut bread at *$s, so boiled up some corn cobettes and put a cookie sheet full of wings and drumettes into the oven. Took twice as long as the package said. :-(

---

Got email from Anything Goes, I have no rehearsals until move-in. That sucks. Move-in is the 25th, the first acting rehearsal is the 27th.

---

Been watching the Olympics closing ceremonies. While the jerks on NBC are saying the athletes are coming in as "one world" not as one country, I am seeing athletes coming in as a national group, many of them waving their country flagettes vigorously, especially the Koreans who looks way stupid, no matter how well they did in the games. So many Bad Costumes™. I want to find the costumers and ask what drugs they are on, and tell them to flush them down. No theme, a mish-mash of music, a closing ceremony done by committee with an unlimited budget. I sure hope all those people on stage in the bad costumes are being paid well. They are working very hard.

The head of John Lennon was macabre. Whose bright idea was it to make it lying down like a sarcophagus? And Batman & Robin escaping an exploding yellow taxi-like cartoon car? Sheesh.

---

I did manage to get something useful done online at Starbucks. I looked up the Yelp reviews for movers, and it reaffirmed I chose the wrong company last time. Blame dyslexia. As with last time, the best reviews were for a company named Advanced Moving Company. I had chosen Advantage Moving and Storage. Not as big a mistake as it might have been, they basically slowed down and left the job incomplete when it was clear they would be over the guaranteed estimated time. They broke a lamp and left the pieces scattered on a bedroom floor, too. So tomorrow I'll phone Advanced and schedule a visit.

---

Plans:
Tonight: Go through the photo shoot pix, fix what ought to be fixed. Upload some to Flickr and the meetup site.
Tomorrow:
Work
Pick up bike from repair shop
BASFA
Look for slides from '89 and '75-6 of my work sites
Study my lines