cahwyguy | Reading

neonvincent

I used another image for 'The Pitt' edges 'Severance' for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards.

Current Mood: full
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: Paleontologizing Twitch Stream

andrewducker

Facebook reminds me that we had norovirus on this day in 2021 and 2023. Jane has spent the last 24 hours with D+V. What are the odds?

fauxklore

Sorry for the long delay in getting this post finished. I had underestimated the impact of an absurd amount of (domestic) travel on my getting things done.

This year’s National Puzzlers’ League convention was in Minneapolis. I planned things so that I stayed on a couple of extra days, enabling me to check off another AAA ballpark - namely, CHS Field, the home of the St. Paul Saints. I'll write about that part of the trip separately, since it will be a bit picture heavy.

The main hotel for the con was the Courtyard by Marriott. However, I reserved too late to get in there so ended up at the overflow hotel, which was the Aloft about a half mile away. It wasn’t a terrible walk, but it wasn’t at all scenic and was remarkably deserted at night. I also found the Aloft substandard as Marriott brands go, largely because of the lack of 24 hour coffee / hot water in the lobby. Lesson learned: I should book the hotel right when registration opens.

Anyway, I flew to MSP on American, which was fine. I took the light rail from the airport to downtown and it was a short, easy walk to the Aloft, though I had a wait before I could check in. Once I did, I walked up to the Courtyard for the con picnic (and to say hello to various people). The picnic was actually an indoor food event, the only thing of which I remember was that there was pizza. I would normally hang out and play games with other NPL people, but I wanted to call into my Book Club meeting so I walked back to the Aloft for the discussion of Long Island by Colm Toibin.

Thursday morning started with getting a breakfast of croissant perdu (i.e. French toast made from a croissant) at Mother Dough Bakery. Then I took the light rail down to the Mall of America, where a group of us were playing The Great Big Game Show. This involved two teams, who competed in a variety of games . For example, we started with having to build the tallest structure out of foam blocks. There were some trivia games, e.g. one called It’s Elementary which was roughly based on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. I was nervous about representing my team in Drawing in the Dark but, fortunately, I was able to draw a flashlight while blindfolded. Overall, it was fun.

I browsed the mall briefly afterwards and had lunch, before taking the light rail to downtown Minneapolis. I had to get a photo of the Bob Dylan Mural at North 5th Street and Hennepin Ave.

From there, it was a short walk to the Mary Tyler Moore statue.

I returned to the Aloft and rested for a little while before walking over to the Courtyard to meet up with a group for dinner. The Thursday night foodie dinners, organized by Neuromancer, are an NPL con tradition. The group I was with had chosen to go to Mama Safia’s Kitchen, a Somali restaurant. We ordered a bunch of different dishes - basically flatbread and rice with various types of meat (goat, lamb, chicken, beef) and a couple of plates of appetizers (a deep-fried dough called mandazi and sambuza). Everything was very tasty.

The official con program started shortly after we got back to the Courtyard. There were three games on the official program. The first one, Compound Sentences was an ice-breaker in which everyone got a card with a word on it and people had to connect their word with other people’s words to form a sentence. The tricky thing was that some words were a lot harder to use than others. Next up was Jibber Jabble! which was, essentially, a version of a commercial game and was fun to play. The final one, Segues, was a word association game and I have to admit I don’t remember anything specific about it. I know I played some unofficial games until late in the night, but I don’t remember which things I played which nights.

I won’t write in detail about Friday night and Saturday afternoon’s puzzles and games. The most notable thing about Friday night’s official program was that my storytelling friend, Sufian, joined us for the evening. This was a world that was completely new to him, but he seemed to have a good time. And he may have inspired me to work on a story about puzzles. For example, the unforgivable sin in my household when I was growing up was to enter anything into the Sunday New York Times crossword before Mom had given up on finishing it.

I spent part of the day on Friday co-solving con cryptics. I did Slik’s ConCryptic Junction with Nimbus and TMcAy’s Double Play with Needy. Both of those were really enjoyable and I found the latter particularly satisfying because we started out feeling intimidated but, once we got a few answers, things fell into place fairly rapidly. That aha moment is a lot of what I find so satisfying about cryptics.

The Saturday night extravaganza is always a highlight of con. This year’s was called Twin City and was based on the premise that when Romulus founded Rome, Remus founded Reme. Each of those two cities had a suite of puzzles associated with it. There were some particularly fun puzzles among those. One, called Puntheon, was so completely in my wheelhouse that it could have been custom written for me. For example, a dog breed that gets into minor fights at a Catholic service would be a mastiff.

I am also always impressed by the creativity that people put into the games they bring. Silk’s Jeopardy game was high on that scale, with a mixture of trivia questions in unusual categories and various gimmicks involving things like matchbox cars and, well, really you had to play it for yourself to appreciate it. Noam’s Jeopardy game was more normal, but he always has fun categories with interesting trivia. Bonus did a game of Faster, which had been invented by Dart, and has the gimmick that each round has the same answers (with different questions) and decreasing time to get through them. I’m generally useless at Trash by Ember because pop culture is not my forte, but there were a few Broadway-related topics that were involved, which is one of my strong suits.

Of course, the major reason I’ve prioritized the NPL con over other things I could do is the people. I won’t attempt to name names because there are too many to include. I will note that the kindness of NPLers really came to the fore in handling a situation with one person who was having difficulties due to memory issues and how people went out of their way to help him throughout the con.

I’m looking forward to next year in Bloomington, Indiana and 2027 in Philadelphia.

neonvincent

Again, I decided I only needed the acceptance speeches in John Oliver examines Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC after winning two Emmy Awards.

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Current Mood: awake
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: birds and traffic noise

neonvincent

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: full
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: birds and traffic noise

neonvincent

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: full
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: Paleontologizing Twitch Stream

cahwyguy

If you’ve been reading the news the last week, you know childhood vaccines—and the childhood vaccine schedule—is back in the news. RFK Jr.’s new panel has pushed back the age for the MMRV (MMR + Chickenpox); they punted the vote on the Hep B vaccine for newborns, and they added medical consultation (but did not require an ℞). I mention this all because it demonstrates the timeliness of the play that we saw last night at the Pasadena Playhouse: “Eureka Day”, which is about a war in a day school over vaccines.

The setting: Berkeley California, in 2018-2019. Both the setting and the year are important. The setting is important because of the nature of Berkeley, home of the campus of UC Berkeley, and an extremely progressive city. The year is important because, well, it is just before COVID-19 enters the conversation.

The action takes place in a private day school, and focuses on the Executive Board of the school, which operates by consensus. We see this established in the opening scene, where they are debating the order and selection of options for the entrance application regarding racial characteristics. They want to be respectful and do not want to offend anyone. If one was Conservative, you would think this is a parody of the “woke” school boards of Berkeley; if you’ve known folks from Berkeley, you know this is just how Berkeley folks are.

Then a child in the school gets sick. Then two. Then more. Mumps. For those unfamiliar with the disease, it is very contagious, and can result in loss of hearing, sterility, and even death. Serious stuff. A letter is about to go out to all parents from the Berkeley Public Health department, advising them the school is quarantined and temporarily closed, and that students should not return unless they have already had and recovered from mumps, or have had the MMR vaccine. Naturally, the “crunchy” board calls an emergency meeting to address the letter. As you might expect from Berkeley, there are those that support science, those that support “natural” cures and body purity (i.e., anti-vax), and those undecided. The board doesn’t get anywhere, and so they decide to call a community meeting (which is a live-stream because of the quarantine).

This is where things go hilariously off the rails. The “background” chat during that meeting is one of the funniest things I have seen. From there, battle lines are drawn between the board members who are strongly anti-vax, and the board members that are strongly in favor of requiring vaccines before the school can reopen. But, remember, in order to change policies, a consensus is required. I’m not going to spoil it from this point, but suffice it to say that this is one of the funniest shows we’ve seen in a while—but funny in a very different way from the recent “Shucked”. This isn’t flat out jokes: it is situational and personal dynamic humor. I also think it is something that folks on either side of the vaccine question will find funny. Overall, I think the show reaches the correct endpoint, but for a while I wasn’t sure and the path was bumpy along the way.

Performances were outstanding, especially Camille Chen as Meiko (and my wife did confirm she was actually knitting and making progress on her scarf, although clearly a novice); Rick Holmes as Dond, Cherise Boothe as Carina, and Mia Barron as Suzanne. In particular, watch Boothe’s facial expressions as Carina throughout the show.

“Eureka Day” won a Tony this year for Best Revival of a Play, and it was reported last week that “Eureka Day” was the third most produced play of the 25-26 theatre season. Charles McNulty, in his LA Times review, notes: “The play, which is having its Los Angeles premiere at Pasadena Playhouse, seems like it could have been commissioned to skewer this destructive, benighted and completely mortifying anti-science moment. But Spector wrote the work before the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed our political demons and made stupid great again.” I don’t fully agree with McNulty’s characterization of the performance (but I often disagree with him), but I did like that paragraph.

In short: This play is timely. This play is funny. And the ending is perfect. Go see it.

“Eureka Day” continues at the Pasadena Playhouse through October 5. You can get tickets through the Playhouse Website.

Credits

Eureka Day. Written by Jonathan Spector. Directed by Teddy Bergman.

Cast: Mia Barron Suzanne; Cherise Boothe Carina; Camille Chen Meiko; Nate Corddry Eli; Rick Holmes Don; Kailyn Leilani Winter.

Production and Creative: Teddy Bergman Director; Wilson Chen Scenic Design; Denitsa Bliznakova Costume Design; Elizabeth Harper Lighting Design; John Nobori Sound Design; David Bengali Projection Design; Ryan Bernard Tymensky CSA Casting; David S. Franklin Production Stage Manager; Brad Enlow Technical Director / Production Supervisor; Davidson & Choy Publicity Press Representative; Lisa Toudic Asst. Stage Manager; Jenny Slattery Assoc. Producer.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, and 5-Star Theatricals. We’re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at — it hasn’t been the same since Rep East died (it’s now The Main, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn’t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren’t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

September: ♦ One Man, Two Guvnors at A Noise Within. Possible productions: Just Another Day at the Odyssey (simply so I can go up to Dan Lauria afterwards and ask if he’ll ever bring back Meeting of Minds, which stopped when he went off to do Lombardi many years ago); Real Women Have Curves at Kentwood Players.
October: ♣ Fly Me to the Moon at The Soraya; ♦ Hairspray at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ ha ha ha ha ha ha at Pasadena Playhouse
November: ♦ Jaja’s African Hair Braiding at CTG/Taper; ♦ Paranormal Activity at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Suffs at BIH/Pantages;
December: ◊ ACSAC Conference; ♣ Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular at The Soraya; ♦ Stereophonic at BIH/Pantages;

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Vaccination Wars | "Eureka Day" @ Pasadena Playhouse by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

andrewducker

We went up the hill. There were roses. Nobody knows why. Gideon has theories involving dead people.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

neonvincent

Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at ABC suspending Kimmel was already long enough.

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Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of towns
Current Music: Sims 4

cahwyguy

Apples in Honey 2024. Generated via AI generator at https://app.giz.ai/ userpic=tallit Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts at sundown Monday, September 22^nd. Thus, it’s time for my annual New Years message for my family, my podcast listeners, my real-life Blog, Facebook, Universeodon, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky and AARoads friends (including all the new ones I have made this year), and all other readers of my journal:^*

L’Shana Tovah. Happy New Year 5786. May you be written and inscribed for a very happy, sweet, and healthy new year.

For those curious about Jewish customs at this time: There are a number of things you will see. The first is an abundance of sweet foods. Apples dipped in honey. Honey cakes. The sweet foods remind us of the sweet year to come. Apples in honey, specifically, express our hopes for a sweet and fruitful year. Apples were selected because in ancient times they became a symbol of the Jewish people in relationship to God. In Song of Songs, we read, “As the apple is rare and unique among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved [Israel] amongst the maidens [nations] of the world.” In medieval times, writes Patti Shosteck in A Lexicon of Jewish Cooking, apples were considered so special that individuals would use a sharp utensil or their nails to hand-carve their personal hopes and prayers into the apple skins before they were eaten. And the Zohar, a 13^th-century Jewish mystical text, states that beauty – represented by God – “diffuses itself in the world as an apple.” With respect to the honey: honey – whether from dates, figs, or apiaries – was the most prevalent sweetener in the Jewish world and was the most available “sweet” for dipping purposes. And as for the biblical description of Israel as a land flowing with “milk and honey,” the Torah is alluding to a paste made from overripe dates, not honey from beehives. Still, enjoying honey at Rosh HaShanah reminds us of our historic connection with the Holy Land. Although the tradition is not in the Torah or Talmud, even as early as the 7^th century, it was customary to wish someone, “Shana Tova Umetukah” (A Good and Sweet Year).
(Source: Reform Judaism Website)

Rosh Hashanah Images Another traditional food is a round challah. Some say they it represents a crown that reflects our coronating God as the Ruler of the world. Others suggest that the circular shape points to the cyclical nature of the year. The Hebrew word for year is “shana,” which comes from the Hebrew word “repeat.” Perhaps the circle illustrates how the years just go round and round. But Rosh Hashana challahs are not really circles; they are spirals… The word “shana” has a double meaning as well. In addition to “repeat,” it also means “change”. As the year goes go round and round, repeating the same seasons and holidays as the year before, we are presented with a choice: Do we want this shana (year) to be a repetition, or do we want to make a change (shinui)? Hopefully, each year we make choices for change that are positive, and each year we will climb higher and higher, creating a spiritual spiral. The shape of the Rosh Hashana challah reminds us that this is the time of year to make those decisions. This is the time to engage in the creative spiritual process that lifts us out of the repetitive cycle, and directs our energies toward a higher end.
(Source: Aish Ha’Torah)

There are also apologies, for during the ten days starting Saturday evening, Jews examine their lives and see how they can do better. On Yom Kippur (starting the evening of Wednesday, October 1^st), Jews apologize to G-d for their misdeeds during the past year. However, for an action against another person, one must apologize to that person.

So, in that spirit:

If I have offended any of you, in any way, shape, manner, or form, real or imagined, then I apologize and beg forgiveness. If I have done anything to hurt, demean, or otherwise injure you, I apologize and beg forgiveness. If I have done or said over the past year that has upset, or otherwise bothered you, I sincerely apologize, and will do my best to ensure it won’t happen again.

If you have done something in the above categories, don’t worry. I know it wasn’t intentional, and I would accept any apology you would make.

May all my blog readers and all my friends have a very happy, healthy, and meaningful new year. May you find in this year what you need to find in life.

————
[*: Image generated via the AI generator at https://app.giz.ai/ as I have no artistic ability. It took a while to generate as most of the free generators are crap. I tried to find one via image search, but there were no good updated images out there. Alas, the Westhost update took away my ability to use emoticons in new WordPress titles or posts.]

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as L’Shanah Tovah – Happy New Year – 5786 by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.