The Phantom of the Drama

You might remember the director of the courtroom play, and the horrible backstage shit that she sparked. She has returned. She's working backstage on the annual kids show. I can only assume this is a test to see if she's salvageable.

I had little problem with her during rehearsals, but things fell apart during performance week. She lost her shit over an actor who wanted to direct, and she took it public in emails, and she went nukulur on the stage managers. We had a coffee chat a few weeks after the show closed, and it was pleasant enough when she wasn't harping on the stage-light debacle. She gave me prints of DVD captures to show other cast members and prove her argument. It was my understanding that she alienated a good stage-manager team, a number of actors, and the president of the theatre. Maybe this is a one-time deal.

Actually, as I think on it, the director of the kids show was the script-committee member who gossiped about her the most. Now they're working the same show, and I wonder if the director had any say in the matter. Getting tech crew for this theater's shows is often a struggle. Perhaps she was desperate for help.

I've been asked to compile my list of script preferences for tonight's meeting. I've read 30 scripts so far, and hopefully, we'll only get a few more to read; I know we're asked to consider The Rainmaker as a drama.

Picture of the Day

Decor Concerns

Bed Bath and Beyond carries this wall plaque, and it cries to join my theme bathroom:



Might be too much. I'd like to cobble together some pictures and souvenirs from my previous shows and hang them in a display box. I couldn't find any fancy towels and bath mats to fit the theme, so I'll have to settle for color coordination.

The script meeting was bumped to later this week, and we once again fired up the grill to make burgers. We've grilled four times within a week. Your Sis is almost getting the hang of it.

We Scrabbled again under customized rules. It helps her stay competitive. You'll be shocked to hear that she's going to school during the week.

Decorating the Throne

Your Sister received a motorcycle learner's permit so she can legally test drive scooters. If she takes a community-college driving class, she can skip the driving test for the license. I think that's how it works.

I decided to start the redecoration of my bathroom. I've tossed around a few ideas, but I focused on colors taken from pages of Vanity Fair. It's a good source for fashion and modeling photography, and I've clipped pages for years now. Recently, it started running full-page images of Broadway casts. I decided to frame three of them for the room's largest object and base the towel colors around that.



These are two of the images, minus the print accessories, and I like the look of the printed pages more. They have a standard section headline and decorative word boxes. That's Young Frankenstein up top and Gypsy below it. I also have a photo from Boeing Boeing.

I have a star-shaped bank from my decade-ago production of Barefoot in the Park, and I'll see how tastefully I can push the stage theme. Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftover Vanity Fair images.

I got the frame and matte board at Michael's, and that store will assemble the whole thing for me. Yes, I finally got someone from their framing department to talk to me. The clerk also showed me how they attach frames to paintings, and that will be my next little project.

Summer has become busy with vacation plans, doctor's appointments, teacher parties, and movie releases. We made a deal to see Mama Mia the same weekend as Dark Knight. We also have tickets for Avenue Q that Saturday.

Mom has an appointment with a therapist friend with the legal wrangling calms down. I'll have to drive back home to sign some credit papers for Dad's materials. She's starting to wonder what to do with the rest of her life; she and Dad had specific retirement plans. She could still pursue them, in time, but she needs to stick around people she knows for now.

July 4 Weekend

We got an early start as I stayed home Friday and slept late. Scattered rains allowed me to sleep in and ignore the garden, at least until Saturday. We watched Wanted Friday afternoon because Your Sister was dying to see it.

"It looks just like The Matrix, I said.
"And would that be so bad?" she asked.

So off we went. It's more like The Matrix, meets Fight Club, and no, that's not so bad. It has some nice photography choices too. This director could make some significant movies in the near future. The movie has little to do with the original comic, and that's to the film's advantage. It wasn't a great book.

The town held its annual holiday street fare, which I hate and despite and detest and loathe. The sounds of synthesized pan flute covers of '90s ballads overpowered everything else, and this is why there's a waiting period to buy guns. The festival also makes leaving town a protracted exodus.

We accidentally met up with some teacher buddies and had a leisurely dinner. A last-minute drive to find decent space to watch fireworks was for naught. We even scaled the high-school bleachers to see them, but the fog obscured them. No big deal. We went home and watched the various holiday specials on TV. I was horrified to see Keith Lockhart direct the Pops through a country version of Life Is A Highway, and I almost reached for the salvation of beer to dilute the pain. We didn't sleep well that night; the neighbors shot their fireworks until 2:30.

I fertilized the garden Saturday morning. Everything looks good. The corns is spindly, but we should get a few good ears before fall. We will have tons of squash. I may have planted the garlic upside down.

A quick haircut followed, and we drove to Greenville for the wedding of a former co-worker. He was my editor at the weekly, and I knew his bride from before I moved to Mayberry. I met up with them once in Boston during New Year's in 2005. This was our first wedding since we were married; we must have attended a half dozen when we dated. The little flower girls sparked another conversation about kids (survey says: no), and the new husband suggested I contact him at his new paper for possible illustration work. It was a lovely and cool wedding. They used the theme of Hawaii for the groomsmen (they lived there for two years while he worked for another paper), and bride designed her own dress (just like Your Sis). It rained buckets immediately after we got into our car to to drive to the reception.

It continued to rain most of Sunday. We tracked down documentary DVDs at the local movie shops for Your Sister's AP class and watched the men's final of Wimbledon. It lasted approximately three weeks. We also spent much of the weekend watching Olympic trial coverage, highlighted by runners diving across the finish line to make the team. We ended the weekend with Scrabble for the first time since, I think, we moved in the house. I'd like to play more of that. Or Guitar Hero.

We're now scheming a weeklong vacation around your ECU ceremony, and we're looking at doing touristy things at the Outer Banks. We might take surfing lessons. But we first must work on our base suntans, lest we turn lobster. Also? We might eat lobster. I don't think I ever have. You, Mark, and we will get together for a meal during that week. And, no, I'm not trying to set you up with him. Honest.

Mom is OK. I continue to have weird Dad dreams. I told Your Sis that I'm still digesting the past month in case she thought I was mad at her about something.

Picture of the Day
Dying dying dying to see Dark Knight.