Rapier's Wit

No, that is not me misspelling a word in the title. It's a play on the phrase. Sheesh. The weather has been less than agreeable given that it is late Spring. Today, it was a brisk 53 〫 at a local arts festival. Celebrate strawberries and jazz. At least it is referred to as the Strawberry Jazz Festival. In rebellion against the weather as it was, I wore what would normally be appropriate for this time of year when the temperatures are usually in the upper 80s and sunshine would be baking my shoulders: A sundress and flip flops. My fingers and toes went numb, but damn it! I proved a point to Mother Nature while looking like a fool in comparison to those dressed for the cloudy, chilly weather. Bah. Who cares. I don't embrace fitting in anyway. There were many art and food vendors. We went specifically for the live entertainment. I should mention this is the first outing the boy has made since graduating. Oy. Even with the cloud cover I hope we got a good dose of Vitamin D. ...

"The Wedding Singer" presented by our community theater ( kvta.org ) came and went without so much as a blog post from me. Why? Well, I was preoccupied with work, rehearsals, social-life. Wait, what? Did you just read social-life? Indeed you did. Now, don't get too excited thinking I found me a may-un. No, no. What resulted from being in a musical production of the movie by the same name is friendships. Say that one more time. Friendship. Local. Easily accessible. Let's back up a little bit because the performances of "The Wedding Singer" deserve some attention. I had the best time performing on a stage where my high school days were spent. Additionally, my son and niece were also in the show. Our little winter production even received a review from the newspaper. That hasn't happened in a long time. See, this presentation didn't come without some controversy. The Daily Journal called us "racy but worthwhile." Yep. For this theater gr...

It is the subject of a lot of yapping on Facebook: Glee's version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  If you read my post yesterday (of course you did), you're aware that I was disappointed in the casting of the show within the show. I'd given the writers a break by assuming it could have been due to a sub-plot story about censorship or decency.  If you watched the program then you know imposing a safety net on my judgment was correct.  There is no denying that letting a diva-esque girl fill the platforms of Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter was a stretch.  My son, who has never seen the original, enjoyed the vocals.  He said he could have done without the ensemble of the patent leather bustier and knee high boots.  I'm still peeved that Magenta's solo in "The Time Warp" went to Quinn (Dianna Agron) rather than the more salacious Santana (Naya Rivera). Hands down she could have given the tune the deviant edge it requires.  Milquetoast has no place in Rock...

Once again I was checking out amazon.com for MP3 bargains and freebies when the soundtrack to " Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory " soundtrack caught my eye.  Not long ago I was searching high and low for the song "Pure Imagination" after it was used in a commercial for a product I cannot recall.  It's a cute commercial ... for something.  Adorable, child like creatures parading around the city ... not a clue. I do know that I love the song and was at a loss because it wasn't available for legal digital download anywhere that I poked around on the web.  Now it is!! I'm willing to bet my last dollar that the use of the song for the product that does not ring a bell at the moment demanded release of the soundtrack.  According to the information on Amazon.com it was just made available digitally June 1, 2010.  It was always a wonderful family time at the Rapier household when the movie aired once a year.  Television, if you recall, wasn't like it ...

One of my new readers, CAT, reminded me in a previous post comment that I promised photographic proof of my theatrical hirsute glory. I donned the facial hair in STATE FAIR recently with Kankakee Valley Theatre Association. I was grateful to only have worn the thing for one scene. I will say, without a doubt, that I brought plenty of attention to myself. I loved the laughter and the reactions cast mates gave me each performance. On the final performance, prior to making my appearance, I stuck a pickle on a fork and then placed it between my boobs for later retrieval on stage. The smell of the dill was rising upward. I hoped no one would detect it. Near the end of this particular scene there are two male characters conversing. One, Charlie, says to Pat (the notorious ladies man newspaper reporter) "you must know every dame on the midway!" To that Pat replies, "Only the ( long pause as I approach ) refined ones." I made my presence known. I interrupted his line by sa...

I'm so happy it's Friday. It's unusual for me to be thrilled. Screaming TGIF doesn't have a normal spot in my vocabulary because, in my line of work, a weekend just doesn't take on the same meaning it does for those of you who work Monday through Friday. Chances are I'm not sleeping in on a Saturday. I'm waking up, slurping down java in haste and rushing out the door only to find myself sitting on the bench outside the store because the management thinks its exempt from being on time. *shew* This Friday is different! Due to my involvement in Kankakee Valley Theatre Associations production of STATE FAIR, I am off all weekend. Sure, I'll have my hair in curlers for hours prior to curtain time. I'll wear 3 times the average amount of make-up and a color totally unlike my natural skin tone. Aqua Net is dragged out of the 80's and sprayed feverishly. I'll be dancing in shoes that are clearly a modern day version of Medieval torture. However, none...

What do these three movies have in common? I mean other than the fact that they are from my favorite decade . My 13 year old son has taken a shine to these flicks. For Christmas, I bought him the double pack Ghostbusters. Prior to that, he discovered Robocop on cable OnDemand. This delights me to no end that he LOVES the same things I do. Well, at least we have similar likes in music and movies. I'm completely at a loss when it comes to learning Yu-Gi-OH! and the video games he plays. I question what's going on in his head when he's watching those anime' programs. I have learned that I need to keep an eye out for those. There are sexual undertones I don't care for him to watch. The characters are all seemingly young, but have in depth relationships with the opposite sex. All the characters seem to shout at each other. I get the heebie-jeebies watching. It's all just too much. I can see how it appeals to the video game generation. The Man-cub is amused when I ...