the best, baddest dog i've known

Lucy Coleman: loved to eat underwear, loved to hump laps, loved to cause general chaos, loved her people. Her intelligence and irrepressible spirit will be missed.

entertainment weekend

Friday night we saw the Silent Theatre Company's original play NOIR. We've been excited to see this company, as you can imagine, since we found out that they existed. It was a very different style than the boxer. There weren't any title or dialogue screens, instead there was the classic noir-style narration, but the narrator would also say the lines as well. There was very limited dialogue, which was true of The Boxer too, but it was sometimes unclear who was speaking. Where The Boxer was sweetness and light, this was dark, seedy and violent. Where we focused so much energy on precise movement and clear intentions and expressions, they were a little sloppy and when they started throwing tables and chairs at each other, we feared for their safety and the safety of the audience. Nothing could keep the audience safe from the unecessary full frontal MALE nudity. Call me a prude, but I think full frontal nudity of either sex is hard to handle in live theater. And there was no justification for this fella to thrust his junk in the faces of the front row other than shock value or, perhaps, he is an exhibitionist. I don't know. Instead of the nervous laughter it elicited, they could have gotten a nice, strong laugh with, say, a pair of ladies underpants or even tightie whities. They are taking this show to the fringe and I know that nudity gets you noticed in new york, but....jeez!!! And a 4 piece music section couldn't touch B. and Johnny for helping move the story along.

But, the entertainment weekend was saved Saturday morning when we contributed our $12 to the $75 million earned by The Dark Knight. It was wonderful. Really the best super hero movie I've ever seen (and I've seen pretty much all of them from 2000 on.) Real character development, real relationships and a great, GREAT villain in Heath Ledger's The Joker. It's unfortunate that he's not around to do another installment, because they really set up the essence of relationship of hero and villain - batman can't kill the villain because he's a hero and the joker won't kill batman because he's the reason for his villainy. great. So exciting. Good stuff.

Then last night we watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Very artistic film, lovely image, but unsatisfying because neither of the main characters, Brad Pitt as Jesse James and Casey Afleck as Robert Ford, were likable. Their performances were good, but the characters were mean and creepy, respectively.

So there are my entertainment revues for this week. My facial was lovely and certainly something that I wish I could do every week. Who doesn't want an hour and a half of face rubbing. They used a machine called a galvanic that send electric current through your skin to tighten it up. I could feel the shock and taste metal and even see bright impulses as she rubbed in over my forehead. weird. but if it keeps me looking young. I'm in!

Gremlins, not Goonies

In a previous post I said we were watching Goonies last night. That was dumb. I've seen Goonies maybe 20 times, and really never seen Gremlins. And even when I was posting it I was thinking "don't say goonies, don't say goonies" but I did anyway. It reminds me of one of my favorite moments on Scrubs. Where J.D. is repeating over and over in his head "don't say banana hammock, don't say banana hammock" and then he blurts "Banana Hammock!" for all the world to hear.



So we watched GREMLINS last night and it was pretty good. There was a bit of the upper level humor for the grown ups and then plenty of cute and gross creatures for the kids. I probably would have been scared if i would have seen it as a kid. It's funny to see 80's movies just on the cusp of special effects. All of the creatures were stop motion or maybe animatronic and you couldn't help but think how it would look today. I do have to say that there were characters and seeming plot points that just kind of disappeared after the gremlins came to life. Guess they weren't so much concerned with "plot"

Today I'm going to get my birthday facial at an Indian Salon - a very thoughtful gift from my hubby.

sometimes i'm reminded

that cats are nasty beasts.

so, lily threw up her dinner (turkey and giblets fancy feast) which isn't a big surprise, but was a big surprise is when i rounded the corner into the bedroom i saw that she had thrown up all over.....Rose.

yup, rose's shoulder blade and front right leg and foot were covered with vom.

what some of you may not know is from a very early age, Rose has had an insatiable hunger for Lily's puke. It is truly gross, but also truly true.

I deduce that she heard Lily's prep to puke (if you have a cat, you'll know the sound) and made a b-line to be right there to eat it fresh off the tap. I'm not sure she even noticed.

Also, from a very early age, Rosie has enlisted her strong vocal cords to let us know what's what - mostly, when you try to physically make her do something she doesn't want to do.

Fortunately, today she was so ravenously interested in the vom, i was able to wipe her down with nary a squeak or squeal.

jeez.

an industrious squirrel

This weekend we had a great (but short) visit with the Geiter-Kerevens in Waukesha, WIS. We were so thrilled to meet my little cousin once removed.

Samantha Marie Kereven



She makes funny faces and poops a lot. guess that's what babies do :)


one of the highlights of our trip was a stroll in historic downtown Waukesha. Land of Antique shops. Very fun. I love antique stores and almost always find things that I think would be perfect for some play...some time. Like a mink stole with the faces and feets - there were about 8 of them and we really wanted one for Sunny and Eddie back in the day, but couldn't find one. Also old telephones, acordians and more glassware than you can possible imagine. Great big place. I found a treasure - a santa cookie cutter - a Geiter family tradition and a very special memento.

but the real find was outside the front window. As I was checking out, the attentions of everyone in the front of the store were drawn outside. The store had a cart with fliers on the sidewalk and there was a little squirrel putting on quite a show. Luckily, Matt was quick on the draw and got some shots of his escapades.



Here is his grabbing some fliers.




He folds them carefully and gets them in his mouth and dodges traffic across a fairly busy street.



Then he climbs the tree in front of of the Joke shop and takes the fliers to the nest.

unfortunately, we didn't get a good picture of the nest, but i would say it's about a foot and a half tall and maybe a foot wide with a lot of random materials mashed together.

we saw him come back across the street and back up the tree probably 3 or 4 times and he did the same exact thing every time, even with people gathered at the window and in the street watching him. he would not be deterred. Gotta get ready for his babies!

On the way home we came around a great deal on gas. Hold on to your hats, folks... you won't believe this one.... what a deal!

We're going over to the honeymoon friends' house to watch GOONIES tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure I've never seen it all the way through. I know, i know, how can i claim to be a child of the 80's?! I'm looking forward to it and hope it's totally cheesy and lame scary!

Assimilation

We've done it! We've decked out ol' Hyunni in brand spankin' new Land O' Lincoln license plates. And the slightly questionable "Chicago City Sticker." I think it has something to do with parking, maybe? All I know is there's signs all over about getting it before July 16 or else! Personally, it seems like a bit of a stretch for additional city revenue, but what do I know?

Now the question is, dear readers, what should we do with our Texas license plates?

so, I give you, my first BLOGPOLL!!! Please vote, pretty please?

It's actually what I'd call hot here now - finally summer. In the 90's the last few days, but cooling off nicely at night. As warm as 90 feels, I try to be still and remember what 7, 8 or 10 more degrees feels like on your skin. HOT!

There's a theater called The Silent Theatre here in Chicago and they do, you guessed it, Silent Plays. From what we understand, theirs are more noir than slapstick, but for the next two weekends, they're running the show that they're taking to the Fringe Festival this summer and we're really excited to see it! I will issue a review at a later date

Big Weekend

Sorry it's been a few days, friends. We had a big weekend and Matt was off work yesterday so I hadn't gotten around to it. I know you were all worried about me, but I'm fine.

More firsts this weekend - we had our first White Castle Hamburgers, First Giordano's famous stuffed pizza and saw our first Cirque du Soleil show.

The White Castle Hamburgers are tiny bits of yucky goodness. We're not sure how something can be gross and delicious at the same time, but White Castle has done it. Their big marketing campaign up here is "answer the crave" and you do kinda crave them, I must admit. But they kicked off a bad eating weekend, that our bodies have not been happy about.

also saw Hellboy on Friday night. Realized that we didn't eat enough White Castle to be full, so had some nachos. But, if you haven't given these movies a chance, i recommend. I didn't think I was going to like them - the trailers for the first one just didn't sell it to me - but they're very funny, beautifully designed and not too action-y. If you've see Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, you may recognize the style of some of these underworld monsters. Just beautiful and without too much cgi. Really fun.

Saturday we tried another diner on the corner for breakfast and it was pretty good, ran errands and went to place called Wolfy's for lunch - burger for Matt, hot dog for me. We're having to get used to so many places being cash only up here. We very rarely carried cash in dallas, but we've found ourselves counting pennies at the cash register, which is embarrassing.





Then Saturday night was..... Cirque. Du. Soleil.



Loved it! It was and wasn't what I expected. I expected it to be beautifully produced - lights, sound, set, costume - it was. I expected that the clowns would be more weird than funny - they weren't - they were Great! and I expected to be entertained by the acts - that's an understatement... I was blown away. It blew my mind! it did! It blew my mind! Matt and I sat literally breathless during some of the acts and I couldn't believe the skill and talent these folks have. the juggler was amazing. I've seen circus acts before, but this was extreme. Love it. and we had a pretzel for dinner....Thanks to a sweet friend for the tickets.

Sunday, Matt went out and wrote and i did a little more painting on the trim in the living room. and Sunday night we had yummy Giordano's pizza.



People have been telling us since we got here and before that this place was the stuff. It's big and deep and full of goodness. layers and layers of cheese and meat with the tomato sauce on top. Awesome.

So we ate poorly all weekend, but had a great time. Also discovered the AMC original series Mad Men. It's about advertising execs in the 1950's and, unbeknownst to us, won the golden globe for best drama. So far, so good. Love the costumes and the sets. I think I could have worn those great Donna Reed dresses, though the male/female - husband/wife dynamic they're setting up doesn't ring my bell. I'm glad to be a modern lady even though the clothes aren't as nice.

fireflies

i forgot about fireflies. walking around in the evenings here the streets are filled with fireflies. It reminds me of my childhood when angie and i would chase fireflies, catch them and then brutally rip their bottoms off and rub the glowing goo on our finger nails. weird kids.

but i don't remember seeing this many fireflies in texas, which makes me wonder if it's a weather thing... They are beautiful and magical and it is so great to see from the end of our block all of the twinkle lights around the grass.


I keep forgetting to take my camera with me places. it's sitting here by the computer, but i need to remember to put it in my purse. So here's the only photo of my birthday gathering.



i look like a crazed maniac, but really, we found ourselves all alone in the horseshoe restaurant and i ran behind the bar and posed quickly.. i was terrified of being caught... i'm not sure what I thought they'd do.

anyway, I had a good one. I'm all 30 now and i think i feel the rheumy coming on...

Today is my birthday

i'm all grown up at 30 years old. I've been anticipating it all year of course, but there is a little more introspection than most birthdays. The changing over from one decade to another makes you think about the last 10 years and the next 10 years. I really don't remember what I felt like when I turned 20. I know i'm different now. This is also a bit of a low key birthday compared to last year's big 7.7.07 bash and the previous year's surprise party thrown by youle and matt, and this is the first year since 2004 that I've not been involved in the FIT festival at my birthday - we almost always had tech on my birthday - joy! But, we're having drinks with a few friends and celebrating that little kimmie was born 30 years ago this evening.

As for the 4th of july - my favorite holiday - very interesting here in chi-town. Number one - i wore a sweatshirt and wrapped up in a blanket to watch the fireworks.... anyone see anything wrong with that? I can't remember ever being cold on the 4th. (well it was actually the 3rd.) We had a picnic with the honeymoon friends and had a great time visiting. We wished we had cheesburgers (or at least something warm) instead of our cool fresh picnic food. The fireworks were unfortunately obscured by some pesky buildings, but all-in-all, a good night.

On the actual 4th, we stayed in our neighborhood, which at sundown sounded like a war zone. This doesn't happen in dallas, but people in all directions were setting of loud, big, bright fireworks that exploded high in the sky twinkling down or sounded like cannons. It was amazing. We stood in the park and saw from south to north around us, 6 different sets of fireworks. there were even people in the park setting them off. The cats thought we had moved them to Afghanistan.

We had a theater buddy from big-d stay with us this weekend while he was taking an improv workshop at Second City and he and his new theater company, Audacity Theater Lab, are going to commission an original matt lyle play. So watch out dallas, you can get rid of the bootstraps, but you can get rid of the matt lyle comedy!!!