The Indians thought that if they got Josh Beckett’s ex-girlfriend to sing the National Anthem, it would affect his pitching.
Beckett pitched 8 innings, landed 11 strikeouts, and only allowed seven guys on base.
Back to the drawing board, Wile E. Coyote.
Now I’ve seen it all.
Okay. They’re not Hallmark cards, but…
Three Squares Greetings is a new and unique line of greeting cards that expresses the sentiments of inmates as well as those on the outside who care about them. The creater founded the greeting card company as a result of not being able to find a suitable birthday card for a relative who was in custody that acknowledges his situation. Dissatisfied, she left store after store. Unsatisfied, and wondering about the similar disappointment she’d heard a great deal of inmates express too over the years about their desire for greeting cards that truly spoke to their situation acknowledging their situation, greeting cards that expressed their sentiments, as well as the sentiments of those communicating with them via a greeting card, she decided to fill a void in the greeting card business. Carving out a niche, we created the unique line of greeting cards with special messages for those who are incarcerated and for those who communicate with them.
He suggested that both the administration’s program of eavesdropping without warrants and its use of “enhanced” interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects, including waterboarding, might be acceptable under the Constitution even if they went beyond what the law technically allowed. Mr. Mukasey said the president’s authority as commander in chief might allow him to supersede laws written by Congress.
That’s right. The nominee for the highest law enforcement position in the country opined that the President may indeed be above the law.
What is this? The Twilight Zone?
A very nice profile of Dennis and Winston, the two guys who play "Audrey II", the plant in WSTA’s Little Shop of Horrors which opens tonight at SECCA:
WINSTON-SALEM — It’s a fairly safe bet that he’s the most popular carnivorous plant in the history of musical theater.Even though Audrey II, star of "Little Shop of Horrors," might have a life of his own, it takes two people to bring the strange and unusual plant to life in this musical presented by the Theatre Alliance of Winston-Salem.
Dennis Raley is the voice of the plant, while Winston Sims is the plant puppeteer.
"The interesting thing is the connection it requires you to have with your fellow actors," Sims said. "We have to be more in tune with what everyone else is saying or singing and how or if they’re interacting with the plant than if we were on stage beside the other actors."
Based on the super-low-budget 1960 sci-fi movie, the 1982 musical "Little Shop of Horrors" was the highest-grossing production in off-Broadway history when it closed after 2,209 performances, not to mention it snatched a Drama Desk award for Best Musical.
It’s the story of a nebbish named Seymour who works in a shabby flower shop on the wrong side of the tracks. He hides a passion for his co-worker, Audrey, who is in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend.
Everything changes, however, when he finds a plant just after a solar eclipse. The plant, which he names Audrey II, unfortunately thrives on a diet of blood and raw meat, and even more unfortunately, the meals have to be fresh.
Although he becomes an unwitting murderer, Seymour also gains Audrey’s affection and a certain notoriety in horticultural circles. But with Audrey’s appetite increasing along with his size, it remains to be seen how long Seymour will be able to keep up with his demands — or what will happen if they go unanswered.
The musical requires an Audrey II in four different sizes, and Sims is actually inside the plant in its two largest versions.
"It’s a big job," he said. "The biggest puppet, in particular, definitely gives you a workout. It’s not too hot in there right now, but we’re working without the stage lights, and I’ve always had time to come out and cool off. But I don’t have any down time once we’re running the show straight through."
Sims is actually playing Audrey II for the second time, having learned the ropes — or the tendrils, as the case may be — while in high school in Rockingham County. He’s now a senior at UNCG studying theater education.
"When acting with any kind of puppet, you have to learn to move and express yourself as you would as a person," he said. "(Director) Jamie Lawson has given me a lot of freedom to explore options. I try to be fairly consistent in my moves; switching it up too much is confusing to the other actors."
Sims and Raley have had to work together to coordinate their performances.
"I sit in front of him and do the lines and watch him," Raley said. "During rehearsals, I’m behind him, and for the performances, I’ll probably be back stage, so it’s our only time to study our pacing and timing."
The challenge, of course, is that they can’t see each other during a show. Sims is inside one of the plants, while Raley is singing off-stage. It’s the weirdest pas de deux imaginable because if Raley, for example, goes too quickly while Sims is in the largest and most cumbersome puppet, they will end up looking like a film played out of sync with its soundtrack.
Raley doesn’t mind the extra work because he has dreamed of this role since he saw the off-Broadway production more than 20 years ago.
"His job is harder than mine," he said. "I just have to concentrate on exactly what’s coming out of my mouth. It’s almost cartoonish — close, but not completely over the top."
Despite his name, the voice of Audrey II is supposed to be deep and booming, befitting the flavor of the Alan Menken-Howard Ashman songs, which are based on the "doo-wop" and rock ‘n’ roll hits of early Motown.
Raley lived in New York City for two decades performing in operas and concerts and theater, so he has that covered. Although he moved to the Piedmont in 2001, this is his first role in the area.
"We were both cast as Audrey II well before the plants arrived, so we had to wait to work on our roles," he says. "I’ve seen pictures of the plant from different productions, and some are mean-looking and some are friendly. That look decides how you approach the role. Our plants look friendly, and I’m happy about that because it’s better if it seems to be a game, if he’s not outwardly sinister."
After all, where’s the fun if your bloodthirsty and maniacal plant actually looks sinister?
Leslie Mizell has been covering the Triad’s theater scene for more than a decade. Her column runs weekly in Go Triad. Contact her at LAMizell@aol.com.
Frankly, I don’t know how Winston does it. After the "curtain" is down, he come out of that plant emaciated and twisted like a pretzel. But in the plant? The two of them are phenomenal.
Y’all got your tickets right?
October 19-21 & 25-28, 2007
Performed at SECCA, 750 Marguerite Street, Winston Salem
All shows at 8 pm, except Sundays at 2 pm.
FOR INFORMATION CALL 336.768.5655
With health care dominating the news, here’s a handy guide to the various health care policies and programs offered by the ’08 Presidential Candidates.
Not suprisingly, the Republican’s idea of "health care" reform boils down to tax cuts for employers, as well as certain individuals to defray the costs of insurance. Democrats are more in favor of expanding programs like SCHIP and, ultimately, moving this nation toward universal, yet affordable, health care. The Democratic programs seem to be more in line with what most Americans, including religious leaders, prefer.
A baby porcupine eats a banana (…and those little squeaks? He has the hiccups!):
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported Tuesday in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.
Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. The report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.
The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. That’s an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study.
Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this study focused on invasive infections — those that enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and can turn deadly.
Fortunately, we got a crack healthcare system in this country, so I wouldn’t worry to much….
UPDATE: Where did this staph come from? And why am I only hearing about it now? Damn thing’s already upon us:
A county in southern Virginia closed its 21 schools on Wednesday to clean them to prevent the spread of a dangerous bacterial infection that killed a 17-year-old high school student, officials said.
The student died this week from a drug-resistant staph infection known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which has become a worrisome public health issue nationwide.
RELATED: Well, this isn’t going to help matter any…
Sabrina Rahim doesn’t practice any particular faith, but she had no problem signing a letter declaring that because of her deeply held religious beliefs, her 4-year-old son should be exempt from the vaccinations required to enter preschool.
She is among a small but growing number of parents around the country who are claiming religious exemptions to avoid vaccinating their children when the real reason may be skepticism of the shots or concern they can cause other illnesses. Some of these parents say they are being forced to lie because of the way the vaccination laws are written in their states.
Especially if he means what he says:
Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey said Wednesday the president doesn’t have the authority to use torture techniques against terrorism suspects, a stance not taken by predecessor Alberto Gonzales and considered key to the nominee’s confirmation.
Mukasey repudiated a 2002 memo by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee that said the president has the power to issue orders that violate the Geneva Conventions as well as international and U.S. laws prohibiting torture. The memo was later disavowed and overridden by an executive order governing interrogation and treatment of terrorism suspects, which allowed harsh questioning but included a vaguely worded ban on cruel and inhuman treatment.
"The Bybee memo, to paraphrase a French diplomat, was worse than a sin, it was a mistake. It was unnecessary," Mukasey, 66, told the Senate Judiciary Committee under questioning by Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
And then there’s this:
And under questioning from the panel’s senior Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Mukasey said he’d have no problem resigning if the president ignores his legal or ethical reservations about administration policy.
"I would try to talk him out of it or leave," Mukasey replied, his American flag lapel pin mirroring Specter’s.
Measuring Mukasey’s independence from the White House has long been an ephemeral, but key, factor in securing support from lawmakers of both parties. Gonzales was accused of being a Bush ally unwilling or unable to stop underlings from broaching ethical and legal boundaries.
FUN FACT: Watching your team lose twice to the Indians [Monday (4-2) and Tueday (7-3)] on TIVO fast-forward is no less painful than watching it unfold in real time.
I have no empirical proof of this, yet I believe it to be true.
Also….
MEMO TO RED SOX: Your rare back-to-back-to-back home runs would have been soooo much cooler had you not allowed the other team to score seven runs in the previous inning!!!!!
Just sayin’….
Do I despair of the Red Sox?
Well, yes, frankly I do.
Does it comfort me that we have "been here before", most recently in 2004 when we were down three games to one?
No. Not in the least. I don’t care, nor do I believe, that’s how we roll.
Do I have confidence in Beckett for Game Five?
Yes. But that confidence doesn’t extend in to Game Six and Game Seven (even if it does send us back to Boston).
So is that it for Red Sox blogging for a while?
I suspect so.
Just like they did with the Frosts, no doubt Malkin & the right wing smear machine will start attacking the Wilkersons for this…
….but family doesn’t seem particularly concerned.
For the record, the Bo and Dara Wilkerson say they make $34,000 in combined income from restaurant jobs in St. Petersburg, Fla. They rent their house and the couple owns one car, which Bo calls “a junker.” […]
The Wilkersons said they are fully aware of the possibility that their finances and personal lives may be investigated by opponents of the SCHIP bill.
“We rent a house, we have one car that is a junker. Let them dig away,” Bo Wilkerson said. “I have $67 in my checking account. Does that answer your question?”
UPDATE: Well that didn’t take long.
In the Washington Post today, 12 former Army captains declare that “five years on, Iraq is in shambles,” and that “short” of a military draft, “our best option is to leave Iraq immediately“:
As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we’ve seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it’s like to be stretched too thin. And we know when it’s time to get out. […]
To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.
America, it has been five years. It’s time to make a choice.
Pretty strong stuff from people who ought to know.
Cue Limbaugh, Malkin, and others to start calling these guys "phony soldiers"….
Is it me, or is the (fake) "War On Christmas" starting earlier this year?
It’s coming!
You know it’s coming.
Like clockwork, the American Civil Liberties Union grinches will be out in force punishing those erecting Nativity displays, extending Christmas greetings and otherwise exercising their God-given, First Amendment-protected rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
But now you can fight back – and you don’t need a lawyer to do it.
Just check out WND’s online store for your personal "Christmas-defense kit." What you’ll find are three choices of bumper stickers:
- "This is America! And I’m going to say it: ‘Merry Christmas!’"
- "It is STILL a wonderful life – Merry Christmas!"
- "Merry Christmas! An American Tradition"
They’re all magnetized for seasonal use. Buy them separately or all together. Use them this year, next year and for many years to come.
In addition, there’s the "Reason for the Season Auto Magnets," also perfect for your refrigerator or office file cabinet or desk. Part of every purchase goes to Christian charities.
It’s the perfect way to make your statement this Christmas – that Jesus is the reason for the season. Buy one, buy 25, buy 50!
There’s one more component of your Christmas-defense kit: It’s the "Operation: Just Say ‘Merry Christmas’ Bracelet." They make great stocking stuffers, but why wait! Make your feelings about Christmas known to one and all. Wear them to pick up the kids, when you buy groceries and when you go to work. They’re guaranteed to ward off the evil spirits of the ACLU grinches.
Get your order in now, because Christmas will be upon you before you know it.
As I’ve written here before, the "War on Christmas" is a trumped-up war by some Christians and social conservatives in order for you to buy their shit.
Here. Read this, by the executive director of the Indiana ACLU:
When the angry phone calls and emails started arriving at the office, I knew the holiday season was upon us. A typical message shouted that we at the American Civil Liberties Union are "horrible" and "we should be ashamed of ourselves," and then concluded with an incongruous and agitated "Merry Christmas."
We get this type of correspondence a lot, mostly in reaction to a well-organized attempt by extremist groups to demonize the ACLU, crush religious diversity, and make a few bucks in the process. Sadly, this self-interested effort is being promoted in the guise of defending Christmas.
For example, the Alliance Defense Fund celebrates the season with an "It’s OK to say Merry Christmas" campaign, implying that the ACLU has challenged such holiday greetings. (As part of the effort, you can get a pamphlet and two Christmas pins for $29.)
The website WorldNetDaily touts a book claiming "a thorough and virulent anti-Christmas campaign is being waged today by liberal activists and ACLU fanatics." The site’s magazine has suggested there will be ACLU efforts to remove "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency, fire military chaplains, and expunge all references to God in America’s founding documents. (Learn more for just $19.95 . . . )
Of course, there is no "Merry Christmas" lawsuit, nor is there any ACLU litigation about U.S. currency, military chaplains, etc. But the facts are not important to these groups, because their real message is this: By protecting the freedom of Muslims, Jews, and other non-Christians through preventing government entanglement with religion, the ACLU is somehow infringing on the rights of those with majority religious beliefs.
In truth, it is these website Christians who are taking the Christ out of the season. Nowhere in the Sermon on the Mount did Jesus Christ ask that we celebrate His birth with narrow-mindedness and intolerance, especially for those who are already marginalized and persecuted. Instead, the New Testament—like the Torah and the Koran and countless other sacred texts—commands us to love our neighbor, and to comfort the sick and the imprisoned.
That’s what the ACLU does. We live in a country filled with people who are sick and disabled, people who are imprisoned, and people who hunger and thirst for justice. Those people come to our Indiana offices for help, at a rate of several hundred a week, usually because they have nowhere else to turn. The least of our brothers and sisters sure aren’t getting any help from the Alliance Defense Fund or WorldNet Daily. So, as often as we can, ACLU secures justice for those folks who Jesus worried for the most.
Game, set, match.
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
CONCORD, NH — Even New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner was willing to admit that today’s opening of the filing period was "unusual."
At 8:35 am ET this morning, Robert Haines became the first White House hopeful to come to the Secretary of State’s office here to file for the New Hampshire primary. But instead of filing, Haines launched into a prolonged rant that included several costume changes, attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton, and several threats to sue the state.
Haines — a Republican who has run in the primary before, and has had some recent run-ins with the law — rambled for nearly an hour before a patient Gardner began pressing him to actually file. It wasn’t until another candidate, Michael Levinson, appeared ready to file that Haines started to fill out the paperwork. Eventually, after arguments over points of election law, Haines produced a perforated credit card check in the amount of $1,000 to file.
By 11:00 am ET, state police escorted Haines out of the building. But he got his wish — he is technically the first candidate to file, pending approval of his payment. Levinson, after outlining his views and singing a song of peace in Hebrew and Arabic, eventually announced plans to pursue a write-in campaign rather than file and pay the fee. Another declaration arrived via FedEx, from Republican Jack Shepard. The AP reports that Shepard is a fugitive living in Italy.
"Yeah, this is unusual," Gardner said.
Usually, pre-show write-ups tend to be — oh, I don’t know — mundane. But I kind of like the writing in this one. It does a nice job promoting the play, but also the playfulness of the performers:
A darkly funny musical: Theatre Alliance to present Little Shop of Horrors
Sunday, October 14, 2007
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
At the Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance, edgy productions are the norm. Consequently, its last two shows, Hair and Bug, closed the doors to anyone who was under 18. Nudity, profanity, raciness or any combination of these kept the faithful happy and the younger set out.
Now, however, the company is mounting a musical comedy that’s fit for the whole family, and at recent rehearsals, the cast of Little Shop of Horrors looked as enthusiastic as those for racier productions.
Granted, Little Shop is not exactly your Disney variety of family fare – the center of the attention is a plant named Audrey II, who lives on human blood. But it’s good-natured fun, the songs are upbeat, and the plant, herself, is quite fetching in a gigantic Venus fly-trap kind of way.
“What I love about it is, first of all, the music,” director Jamie Lawson said with a big smile. “It’s the family-friendly version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Cast members nod their heads in agreement. “It’s got all the innuendoes to entertain adults and enough visual animation to excite kids.” On opening night, 50 people from Big Brothers/Big Sisters will be treated to the show.
The plot, basically, is an ill-fated tale of would-be lovers – beautiful Audrey (the person) and nerdy Seymour Krelborn. Both of them work in a flower shop in need of business on New York’s Skid Row. Audrey encourages Seymour to seek out some exotic plants to give sales a boost, so Seymour buys a large plant for $1.95 and brings it back to Mushnik’s Flower Shop. Problem is, the plant is so exotic that it can live only on human blood.
From then on, business starts to boom, and Seymour is desperate to give Audrey II all the blood she requires, hoping, of course, that he will snag the real Audrey along the way. In the process, let’s just say, some people begin to disappear.
Cheri Van Loon plays Audrey. During rehearsals, she was decked out in a very blonde wig and red swishy dress packed with crinolines under its full skirt. “Audrey is sort of a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Goldie Hawn, but not as smart as either one,” Van Loon said. “Seymour works there, too, an incredibly sweet nerd who really loves Audrey.”
Van Loon has appeared in numerous local productions since moving here in 1990. Having taught drama for a year at Summit School, she moved on to Forsyth Tech where she has taught two courses, anatomy and physiology and medical terminology, for the past 10 years.
The best part about her current role, she said, is getting to play opposite an old friend, Gray Smith, who plays the role of Seymour. Smith most recently appeared as Malcolm in The Full Monty, giving a hilarious performance that holds great promise for his role as the nerd in the flower shop. The two actors have been in plays together since 1995, Van Loon said, but this is their first time they are playing opposite one another.
When Smith appears, the two immediately begin to laugh and finish each other’s sentences. Smith, like Van Loon, loves the music in the show, and he’s seen it several times regionally and on Broadway.
Smith, who owns Village Hair Designs in Reynolda Village, says that the show is “definitely family. There are barely three curse words in it, and none of them are bad ones.”
Van Loon got her start playing in La Boheme in the seventh grade; Smith says he started acting, alone, as a child in his family’s home in King. “Growing up, I’d do my own shows in my bedroom or the back yard.” And once he began playing in community theaters at age 14, his love for performing hasn’t skipped a beat.
He said he’s shy, always has been, but once he hits the stage, he’s a different person. “I try really hard to become the character, so I forget myself. I don’t feel shy anymore, because I’m somebody else.”
Neither Van Loon nor Smith wants to give away the plot, but knowing the plant’s voracious need for blood and Seymour’s zealous need to please, it’s not hard to imagine that things might not end up so cozily between the two of them in the play.
“Together forever,” Smith said with a laugh, “but somebody has to die.” The two actors nod to one another, take each other’s hands, then head for the stage, laughing all the way.
■ Little Shop of Horrors will be presented by the Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Oct., 25, 26 and 27 and at 2 p.m. next Sunday and Oct. 28 at SECCA, 750 Marguerite Dr. Tickets are $16, $14 for students and senior adults. For reservations, call 336-768-5655.
Yglesius makes a strong point:
Mickey Kaus’ long post here about John Edwards’ alleged affair with Rielle Hunter is almost self-refuting. Basically, we have an anonymous source saying Hunter said she had an affair with Edwards, versus Hunter, on the record, saying that’s not the case. Then there’s Edwards, also saying it’s not the case. But Kaus initially deems Edwards’ denial too vague and non-specific. But then:
[Banging my head against the wall] Basically what we have here is that if we assume the anonymous hearsay is true and the on-the-record first-hand denial is false, then Edwards is either mishandling the story by denying it too vaguely ("the story is false") or else is mishandling it by denying it too directly ("made up") but what if the story’s not true? No doubt by now we’ve had all the legitimate news organizations in the country looking into it and it seems that . . . nobody can come up with any evidence. As we saw with Scott Beauchamp, and the fake John Kerry intern affair story, if you just operate from within an assumption of guilt it’s very hard for someone to prove his innocence but that’s why we . . . don’t operate with an assumption of guilt!Update: The AP has Edwards adding "It’s completely untrue, ridiculous" and saying the story was "made up." By the Enquirer? Or by one of the people the Enquirer cites? Either way, it’s a direct attack on the integrity of someone (not necessarily a smart move for a politician in Edwards’ position). …
Atrios makes the same point, albeit with snark:
According to an anonymous source, Mickey Kaus regularly blows goats. Either he fails to deny this strongly enough, in which case his goat blowing proclivities are assuredly true, or his denials will impugn the integrity of my source which makes him a tremendously bad person. And, of course, a goat blower.
Thanks, Slate, for all you’ve done for our discourse.
Be sure to read the comments in both posts.
I ignored the Edwards’ affair story when it came across my transom last week. I think I will continue to, especially since the "source" is the National Enquirer, and nobody seems to actually admit it (including the supposed woman).
