Monthly Archives: February 2009

In other news

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  1. So what if they had to transpose Plácido Domingo’s arias down for his performance in the Met’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and the voice isn’t all it used to be? The fact that the man is 68 years old and still at it is amazing (although there is a time and place to quit, friend).
  2. Definitely not centrally intelligent.
  3. “Ben Wallace was right when he called Mo [Williams of the Cleveland Cavaliers] originally being passed over for the All-Star game a ‘shamockery,’ ” Cavs owner Daniel Gilbert said in an e-mailed statement. “But not naming him as the natural and obvious replacement for the unfortunately injured Jameer Nelson is stupidiculous, idillogical and preposterageous.” Heh. Wonder how long it took him to come up with that. It’s actually quite clever.
  4. Well of course he does, sweety. (And Al, I still say shut up.)
  5. If you’ve a mind to, bookmark this Rolling Stone article and read it when you get the chance. It is disturbing and bizarre, especially for those of us who remember the Watergate scandal. (Caveat: contains considerable profanity.)
  6. Hey, I haven’t mentioned this in a while! Delectable.
  7. What do you want to bet … this Toledo sheriff’s rant is going to get him in trouble, even though he was absolutely right. “Hey, it’s pushin’ 50 degrees outside — let’s go ice fishin’!”
  8. Please tell the Easter Bunny to bring me this. Santa apparently thought I was naughty last year. But I’m trying very hard to be good now.

Hey, guess what I’m doing today… ugh.

Fink out.

BTTH IV

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Yes, more spectral chicanery.

So I was sitting at the box last night, catching up on some emails. The Thriller came up from his office and asked, “Will it bother you if I turn on the TV?”

“Of course not, go right ahead,” says I.

Big mistake. Of course he turns on a spook show. (What was I thinking?) Enter three very serious-looking thirty-somethings; self-proclaimed “investigators” of the existence of the supernatural: stars of the new show with the brilliantly creative title, Ghost Adventures.

Digression: Does anyone else find it amusing (and, in my case, tiring) that many of these shows feature apparent “skeptics” of the paranormal, purporting to go out and disprove the existence of ghosties, only to find that, “Ooh, they really DO exist!” ? Hey, let’s tell people we don’t believe in ghosts, then flip out when we feel that blast of cool air in the dungeon… *sigh* Truly. It’s like a Sci-Fi Channel original movie script — the type that would make Ed Wood proud. [And if you’ve ever seen a Sci-Fi Channel original movie, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.] Anyway…

For the next hour, I was treated to the audio of the show, since I cannot see the TV screen from the parlor. I’ll try to paraphrase the more entertaining bits:

We’re measuring for EMFs — that’s electromagnetic field — which some believe can detect the presence of paranormal entities.”

“Dude, I felt something.”

“OK, Mr. Boots, I hear that you don’t like people invading your space. Well I’m here to tell you that I am invading your space, and if you don’t want me here, you need to come out and tell me.”

“Man, I don’t feel too good.”

“$^#%! Something just touched my hair!”

“Aaaah! Aaaaah! You guys, c’mere!”

“Lower the camera, lower the camera, lower the camera, lower the camera!”

“It’s lowered.”

Right. So. How do you think the spooOoOOky episode ended? Well, in this case, it appears that our pesky poltergeist Mr. Boots caused quite a stir. It seems, according to a blog I read this morning about it, that one of the final shots was of the tour guide having a conversation with the lead investigator, Zak. There was, according to this blogger who watched the show, a noticeable “blur” around Zak, but the tour guide appeared totally clear. Creepy.

And, of course, nobody ever edits film footage or adds production effects. I mean, that would be an attempt to scare or fool people. TV producers would never do that…

Hey, we finally have photographic proof of Mr. Boots’s existence. This from a Flickr account:

I’ve said before that if you watch this stuff purely to laugh at it, or to see great locales on TV, fabulous. But seriously, we all know people who get all buggy-eyed and whispery when they talk about these shows. I want to hug them; console them, make them hot cocoa.

I have a better idea, though. Wanna feel a little creepy? Read The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. That’ll get your imagination going.

Have a great weekend, my fiends.

Fink, hitting the books

Nice phone call

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I just got the nicest phone call.

I graduated high school way back in the 70s, and of course, being the little mini-diva that I was, I was involved in all the musicals and straight plays I could get into back then. My director was a fiery, crazy, loud, wonderful woman named Marla, who demanded the best from us and then some. She was never satisfied; she always pushed us to do more. She was my inspiration, and the reason I fell in love with musical theater.

She called me today.

Talk about a crazy throwback conversation! We talked for 40 minutes about everything — but mostly musical theater. It was great to hear from her.

Boom Boom – remember Marla? Was she still at the high school when you were there? I think she was.

Big thanks to fellow RtB reader Michael for telling Marla I was still alive…that was great!

Fink, off to study

Better

1 Reply

smilyratYes, I am doing OK. I believe the sun has come up and I am no longer fearful of barfing all over my truck. Not quite back to eating cheese yet, but the Rat is improving. Again, thank you to all who sent kind emails — I am taking Friday night to write you back and finish boring you to death.

~

Actually, I was fearful about getting through my tap rehearsal last night, but it was fun. I was also worried about so many tap “rookies” in my cast of 18, but I needn’t have bothered; they’re all going to do fine — even the two who were sick and not able to be there (and with what’s going around at my school, I’m surprised anyone was there).

I really did enjoy reading your opinions yesterday about the Phelps thing. Very interesting indeed. I’ll have to do that again sometime.

Aww…my boys will remember Candy Land, the board game. We played it all the time. Did you know they’re making a movie of it?

So, what are everyone’s plans for the weekend? I’ll start:

  1. Get back on the horse with reading and studying.
  2. Study.
  3. Call Lisa in Boston and beg her for more help.
  4. Check up on Todd, my other study buddy, and see if he’s still alive.
  5. Study.
  6. Study.
  7. Wish that Mad Men was on.
  8. Study.

Time for my scrambled egg. Priorities, you know.

Fink out.

Not ready for primetime

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But I’m going in anyway. We’ll see how the day shakes out, especially with a tap rehearsal until 8:15 p.m. Heh. Should be funny.

So today, since I’m already (still) weak and not the least bit certain that I’ll get through the day without passing out and making a fool of myself, I put the onus on you, my fiends. Here is a question for you today because I’m interested in your opinions:

Should we just accept Michael Phelps’s apology and get on with it? Or should there be consequences?

Weigh in if you like. All opinions will be treated with respect and open-mindedness (unless, of course, you’re smug about the Super Bowl results).

Fink (off to get ready for school, not without a small bit of trepidation) out.

:-)