There are more doughnut shops per capita in Canada than in any other country.

Ponder that, eh.

I felt like I had to change gears where the photos were concerned, so the pictures from The Wedding Party (Live at Caves Lounge) are up. I’ll resume posting the Road Trip photos shortly. I’m up to New Orleans, and there are only so many ways of saying “this is a house in the Garden District”.

Just when I thought there was some hope for American musical theatre, I read this:

Legally Blonde heads for Broadway

Just like every book doesn’t necessarilly make a good movie, every movie doesn’t make a good musical. In fact, very few live-action movie-to-stage show transitions are successful. (I’m purposely discounting Disney’s cartoon crossovers, because…well, no matter how badly Michael Eisner mismanages that company, Disney can still essentially print their own money.) “The Full Monty” is probably an exception, but bear in mind that “Monty” held the promise of full-frontal male nudity – something that always brings the crowds. And then, of course, there’s “The Producers” – but that was a case of all of the pieces (writing, acting, directing) coming together perfectly – and that rarely happens in ANY medium. (The fact that the movie predates the show by about 30 years helped too.)

I honestly thought that after a season that included “Caroline, or Change” “Wicked” and “Avenue Q”, the American musical was making a rebound. Man, I hate being wrong.

-Happy belated Birthday to Stacey.
-Congratulations to my boss James on his ordination to the post of Deacon in the Philadelphia archdiocese of the Catholic church.
-Part 6 of the Road Trip photos are up.

Sorry for the general lazy demeanor regarding updating the ol’ weblog, but, frankly, I’ve been in a general sort of funk for a while. I’ll get back to updating on a more regular basis – I promise.

Speaking of funk, pictures from Memphis have been posted. They’re in Part 5 (see sidebar). I needed a little time away from the hundreds of Road Trip photos, but I’m going to get my head back into the game and start posting more of them. (Graceland is next!)

Quick capsule review of “The Day After Tomorrow”: El stinko grande. Detail later.

Finally, a belated happy Memorial Day. I celebrated the memory of the fallen men and women of the US armed forces by cleaning my bathroom and doing laundry. (We all celebrate in our own way. Mine involves scrubbing bubbles and an iron.)

Normally, I can’t say enough good things about Apple Computer, the folks who brought us the iPod. But I’m really kinda pissed at them right now – they’ve published an update to the iPod that won’t actually update my iPod. (And it’s not just me – apparently many 1st and 2nd generation iPod users are reporting the same problem I’m experiencing.) And since the update is required to sync to the new update to iTunes…well, all I’m going to say is that I have faith that Apple will fix this, because right now, my iPod is a very sophisticated paperweight.

*pissed*

Get free ice cream! Register to vote! And maybe, just maybe, win an iPod!

Hey! Wednesday! BlogChat! You know the place!

…and if you don’t…um…ask someone.

Be there! Or…um…don’t?

M-D and Bry discuss The Big O:

M-D: Also, for some reason, Roger seemed much cooler in episode 1 than he did in the later episodes.
M-D: Of course, by the later episodes, it seemed like the show was more about the robot, and less about Roger.
Bry: which robot?
M-D: The Big O.
Bry: well. it was showtime.
M-D: “BIG O! SHOWTIME!”
Bry: see?
M-D: Yeah, but what if Roger was just trying to tell Norman to change the channel to Showtime? Big O would come crashing up through the floor, and the mansion would be ruined…
Bry: hahahahaah
M-D: Then Roger would get pissed at Dorothy for no good reason…
Bry: see? whole episode, right there.
M-D: Hmm. You may be on to something.

As of 11:00am Eastern Time, 1/31/04, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” is officially off the air. Again.

As a fan, I’d like to thank SciFi Channel for bringing MST3K back to TV after it was dumped by Comedy Central. But, at the same time, I want to take SciFi to task for losing faith and patience in the show, and pulling that old network trick of constantly changing the timeslot, then saying “the ratings are down”.

MST3K was the proto-typical cable show when it first came on the air in the early 90’s – it was cheap, it was reasonably quick to produce, but it had a hook that drew viewers in, not unlike one of my other favorite shows, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. It would be copied and imitated, but never equalled.

Hopefully, one day, my favorite “cow-town puppet show” will find its way back onto a cable channel. (One can only hope.) And so, on this extremely cold winter’s day, I salute Joel, Mike, and the Bots (and, lest I forget, Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank).

SA-LUTE!