bloggie blog

The first negative thing I noticed about LA was the billboard blight. To be sure, I didn’t think of the word “blight” right away, but as soon as I saw it used in the title of a blog dedicated to the issue, I knew it was the right word for the problem. It is an issue I am committed to taking action on. I’ve already called my councilmember on this matter, for instance, and I never do that sort of thing.

Now it’s gotten worse, with tenants’ lives put at risk in case of fire. Emergency exits are blocked by enormous vinyl ads. These aren’t exactly billboards, but they are wrong! The LA Times has finally spoken up, with a clear, concise editorial urging the mayor to act now. Heed them, Mr. Villaraigosa. It’s a question of good and evil. It’s one important and obvious way to make this city better — and better looking.

Just watched the 2nd episode of Battlestar Galactica season 4.5, which from Wikipedia I see is titled “A Disquiet Follows My Soul.” This episode seemed to skip over obvious plot points I wanted them to get to — but that’s nothing new to BSG — and mostly raised questions: What’s the timing of this in relation to The Face of the Enemy (the webisode thing)? Important because of the growing role that Felix Gaeta is playing. Sure, the overarching theme after discovering Earth is that things are falling apart, but what’s up with Cara Thrace and that argument with Felix Gaeta? When the episode doesn’t focus on Starbuck, she usually baffles me. What did they say about a Cylon getting killed? At the top, we kind of received confirmation about the gender of, and therefore we got confirmation about the actual identity of, the 12th Cylon, didn’t we? Finally, did I miss a step in the relationship between the President and the Admiral, or is this the episode where they finally let us know what’s been going on? Or is this the first time it’s happened between them?!

As a side note, I’ve discovered quizzes on SciFi.com that actually help explain things.

In all, this episode took some weird turns and might even be dissatisfying. Guess the episode is well titled. I hope that in a week or two it will make more sense, and my soul will settle down.

Obama was sworn in Tuesday, but something special happened as a follow-up late Wednesday. This just came to my attention: “There’s no formal name for what President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did last night.” Wha?! And on top of that, Obama said, “We’re going to do it very slowly.” Double wha?!?!

Is that the change we voted for? Take heart, all ye Prop 8 lamenters. Take heart.

Just saw Pope Joan, a new musical, at the Stella Adler Theater in Hollywood. An unholy trinity of Catholicism, Dark Ages history and sex, and my limited familiarity with said trinity, left me a little lost in tonight’s viewing. But my friend Whitney Avalon plays the title role, and it was a pleasure to see her perform. Two other leads really stood out, so even if the story and the storytelling were mysterious to me, I enjoyed those performances.

The show is a mix of Rafiki from The Lion King, silly monks from Spamalot, Che and Evita from Evita, the masses from Les Misèrables, and a sentence of Sondheim, too. All very serious, except for the parade of dancing monks. So while the show was all over the map, at least there was Whitney. She and I were in a show once upon a time, and I helped her prepare the music to audition for this show. Many congratulations to you, Ms. Avalon!

This is the first full day of our new president, and it’s an exciting new era, but I’d like to look back and observe that George W. Bush issued fewer pardons than any other 2-term modern president. I congratulate him and thank him very earnestly in this regard. Clinton left office in a flurry of pardons — 140 on his last day, almost as many as all of Bush’s — and that flurry included the pardoning of Marc Rich, an immoral act if there ever was one.

With GWB, some were hoping for pardons for Ted Stevens (barf) and Roger Clemens (poor baby). Others were hoping for massive pardons of everyone involved in torture (such shame). Where these hopers are disappointed, I am elated. Never a fan of the extent to which presidents can pardon, I am quite glad indeed. Thanks, Bush 43! I disagreed with most everything you did, but on this account, I thank you!

Earth? “FRAK EARTH”! So says some graffiti on the Galactica. But glory be for the Battlestar’s final half season. It’s off to a great start, and the episode ends with a question: Was that a dream on what’s-his-face’s part, or did we learn who the 12th Cylon is? Stay tuned, people!

On Saturday night I attended Missionary Position by Steven Fales at the Celebration Theater. It’s a small theater, maybe 60 seats, and it was mostly full. There were 3 women there. I attended with an old friend and his partner. It wasn’t that long ago (May 2007) that I saw Confessions of a Mormon Boy, Mr. Fales’s other production, in Boston with my friend Amy who describes herself as a “recovering Mormon.” The demographics there were skewed, too, but less so. Now, I can recall only once in my life having seen a show with notably different audience demographics that was a strong show, period: Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Huntington in Boston. Such shows are often strong for that demographic only. Not that your typical theater-going audience owns artistic excellence, not that seeing different audiences in theaters isn’t something I relish, it’s just that when everybody’s gay or black or this or that, and they love the show but said show doesn’t take off and receive general acclaim … well, that’s all I’m saying.

Anyway, the short review of Missionary Position is this: Confessions was better.

Mr. Fales has interesting comments to make if you’re gay or Mormon or ex-Mormon or intellectually curious about such matters. In context, it’s quite lovely to hear about the phone call he had with his father wherein his dad told him he didn’t have to go on his mission. All the straight-forward earnest moments, and most of the coyly presented ones, are quite great, and are the reason I attended. But he’s also a little too in love with himself, his flights of fancy, and his body. The physical struck me as gratuitous in both shows. Furthermore, he’s not quite strong enough of an actor for his own work. Along those lines, some lines and transitions were a little bumpy — but that’s not a big deal and not really what I mean when I criticize his acting, and I wouldn’t have mentioned it had it been opening weekend.

But here’s the big difference between the two shows. His first show would be eye-opening and mind-opening to lots of Mormons. Maybe he crossed a line to the conservative ones with the grisly details about his gay-prostitute exploits, but I still say those conservative ones are the ones who most needed to see it. Missionary Position, on the other hand, would offend pretty much every Mormon I know. Worse, it did so in an exploitative fashion that was artistically weak. Even the guy who had no Mormon history in our group agreed it was exploitative. Mr. Fales is pissed about Prop 8, and rightly so. But this artistic outlet isn’t helping. He puts on the Mormon temple clothes and takes off his other clothes. It’s shocking but quickly becomes more about his prancing around in a way where you wonder if you’ll catch of glimpse of this former member’s member. (You don’t.) Regarding Prop 8, this tacked-on part of the show is simply petty revenge, doing the one thing Mormons don’t want you to do.

Though I’ve changed a lot, I would still hate for Mormons to go to this show not knowing about its contents. To be fair, he “warns” such people up front that this show might not be for them by (a) the title and (b) undue swearing. The big swears. Oooh. How naughty. But he’s not very good at swearing. (On this account I empathize, and further note that many actors who grew up swearing don’t cuss well on stage.) Late in his show, he points out that the temple ceremony allows people to back out at a point where no one really would. Similarly, those sitting there, $25 ticket in hand, probably aren’t going to leave when he screams the word f*ck repeatedly in the first minute, but some might if they knew that at the end — where it makes no sense in the story line! — he will put on all the temple clothing. When I read The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, I searched high and low for anything that might merit the rage behind the fatwa ordering his death. I didn’t find it. Those unfamiliar with Mormonism will probably feel the same way, so I provide this notice mostly for those with Mormon history.

Okay. This review is half-baked. At a minimum, it needs a better ending. Mr. Fales found a good ending for his show, imagining a moment where he takes his children to Portugal, his field of service as a Mormon missionary, and tells them this is where he “grew up.” While this review needs a good ending, too, I gots things to do today! I’ll check in with an update later.

From Lost In Space in The Atlantic (Jan/Feb 2009): “Time to find out whether that Snark is really a Boojum or not.”

Yup. More Battlestar Galactica posting! My third post in as many days. But I had to! You see, as a subscriber to The Atlantic, I was happy to crack it open and read about BSG there. The author of this little article has a love-hate relationship with the show — or he’s preparing to be let down easy. As am I. As we should be with any such show.

In any case, I quoted from this much-recommended article, and offer a quiz: Who knows the reference to Snarks and Boojums?

Read the article, and read his (earnest?) prediction that the 12th Cylon will be … L. Ron Hubbard!

I am 1:50 into Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy and I exclaim out loud, “Wha?!” in a rather high place in my register. Did I miss something before, or did they just introduce a new concept into the BSG world? Not a new concept per se, but in that world. Did I miss previous man-on-man action?!

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

This is one of the most popular articles on the NYT site. So far this year, I’ve had 4 of the 11 foods I supposedly am not eating. (I’ll let you guess which ones.) Check ’em out!