Monday, March 22, 2004

Weather: The ice on Middle Foy's Lake continues to shrink. Some water glazes over at night, but it melts by mid-day.

Wildlife: The water birds are beginning to set up housekeeping. Canadian Geese are building nests nearby.

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Media Watch: I'm reading a book that traces inventions, and perceptions of them in the pages of Popular Science from 1875 to 1975. Speaking of "nostalgia," my attention has been on subjects I dealt with thirty years ago and more:
Comic Books -- Out of the blue, I got an email from someone inquiring about the "Cosmic Aeroplane Pedigree."
What Da' Hail is a "Pedigree?"The Pedigree: an in-depth analysis

Theater: Some of my old "partners in grime" from the down-and-dirty road are on the Internet:
1) Footsbarn Theatre
2) Katie Duck; Katie Duck interview; Semi-current Advert; Mini-bio + Picture
3) Matt Child was in a move: Sudden Impact Cast
He's married to Caroline Noh, another actor: Noh Business Like Show Business
4) Hey! Our band morphed into it's own completely different group and it played here: Akbank Caz Festivali
5) This musician suffered as our manager, then built his own career: Mark Nelson's Shameless Self Promotion
6) This gentleman is/was a real delight: Peter Wear -- British Comedy Company; Here's some of his gigs with Katie, Jango, and Justin Case: London International Mime Festival/history
Here's Pete's friend Justin: Justin Case, Comedy Trick Cyclist
7) Here's the guy who got us to Europe, and more or less got the Festival of Fools in Amsterdam, Holland started (this site goes to yet another site): Jango Edwards' website
8) Charly worked with Jango off & on: Charly Jungbauer
9) How about our sponsoring organization?: De Melkweg
10) Here's a special friend of mine: Karen Quest, Cowgirl Tricks
11) These guys are good too!: Cheney and Mills
12) Patsy Droubay worked with Matt, Katie, and me. She's been doing a pantomime version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas around the Salt Lake libraries for about twenty years. Here's last Xmas' coverage in the local paper: The Salt Lake Tribune

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Weather: Spring is sneaking up on us -- some snow in the mountains, though, and cold mornings.

Wildlife: I fed the birds in the MORNING -- greedy-assed deer were munching too much at night.
Robins, Robins, Robins -- all over the campus -- beautiful singing!

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media watch: Kingdom Hospital gets weirder and weirder -- Diane Ladd is fabulous.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has an interesting new wrinkle -- Jai Rodriguez actually makes contacts for some of these ambitious people. Considering that Thom Filiccia's work is worth thousands of dollars, a little humiliation can pay big dividends.
This last guy was in the midst of his own changes, so he kinda resisted Carson Cressley's fashion tips -- but Carson was more wrong than right with this man's body type. Also, Ted wasn't able to throw him off-kilter in the kitchen -- he cooked a great meal! He was caught dragging his ass out of the bathroom when some of his guests were there, however.
Roxy Hart was on the satellite -- based on the 1920's play Chicago, it was better than the 2002 movie done from the play -- especially with Adolph Menjou playing the sleazy lawyer in a magnificent display of farcical over-acting. The costuming wasn't right -- it was made in 1943, and the women's clothes were NOT styled from the 20's. We later saw Adoph Menjou in a movie from 1923 -- he looked almost the same, and the REAL flapper outfits were a joy to see! William (Fred Mertz) Frawley was also in Roxy Hart -- what a fantastic actor!

Monday, March 15, 2004

Weather: Frost, but no pumpkins. (It's March gawdammit!) The roads and parking lots are showing their loads of sand, rocks, and dirt from the winter. My own car is showing rust spots from the salty de-icer they're starting to use here!

Wildlife: The geese and ducks are parking regularly on Middle Foy's Lake. No eagles for about a week.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Media Watch: I read FRANKLIN AND WINSTON: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham. It is an interesting point of view of the complicated events known as World War II.
I watched Karmen Gei, a Senegalese version of the Carmen story -- the male victim/lead was too passive, and not tragic enough in his hard fall from policeman to criminal and murderer. The Femme Fatale was excellent, though, as was the African music. California Newsreel - KARMEN GEI
Another thing I watched was Fleetwood Mac -- Destiny Rules, an interestingly-presented documentary of the current line-up (since 2003): Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood. There were two sponsors, and no real breaks in the show -- animated updates in the corners let the audience know what they were watching, the network ID, and who was paying the bills. Good idea!
Buckingham and Nicks were two-thirds of the front line of the absolutely best version of this ever-changing band.
I missed seeing Christine McVie, but she's doing something else, and she's earned the right to come and go as she pleases! Here's a fan site with bios of MOST of the bandmembers over the years: The Fleetwood Mac Legacy

At the College: It's time to edit some video!

Friday, March 12, 2004

Weather: Another spring-like day -- Morgan, one of our students, looks very nice in shorts, but I hope she doesn't catch cold!

Wildlife: The geese "slept over" at our lake, and took off as I went to work. It's getting hard to tell where the water ends anymore -- ice breakup soon!

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: The "straight guy" from this week's "Queer Eye" was skating on A&E -- John Zimmerman -- mostly in group choreography.
Lou Dobbs on CNN is still poking his finger at "Exporting America," meaning job losses and outsourcing -- good. Hobbes' Leviathan will eat up the world, and then starve to death if left alone. Half-baked, discredited ideologies are never effective substitutes for public policies.
I actually spent very little time in front of Da' Tube last night -- a discussion of Jewish history attracted my attention on an email list.

Geneological Talk: No, I'm not Jewish, but I have Swiss ancestors named Silverstein and Mangold on my paternal grandmother's side -- from Great-Grandmother Bushman, who married Great-Grandfather Rhodes.
Via the Rhodes family, I'm related to George Washington, the imperialist financier Cecil Rhodes, and have thousands of polygamous cousins in Central Utah, many of whom are also named Rhoades -- after a Mormon patriarch who was associated with a legendary "lost" gold mine. (Double-great Grandma Rhoades married a man named, uh -- Rhodes.)
OK, OK -- now that THAT quarter of my family tree is online -- how about my paternal grandfather?
His mom was Janet Buchannan from Rothsea, Scotland. She walked to Salt Lake, because the railroad wasn't completed yet. His daddy was Johnathan Evans, born in Salt Lake City, Utah to Mormon immigrants from Llanelly, Wales.
Both of my maternal grandparents were from Oslo, Norway -- they immigrated to Salt Lake City during WWI, along with hordes of other Norwegian LDS converts.
Even though I'm named Evans, I resemble my Norwegian grandfather named Waring (His father was named Larsen). None of my immediate family is associated with the Mormon church, especially me!

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Weather: Cold and bright -- maybe 40 degrees (F). People are risking brochitis the way they're dressed.

Wildlife: Flocks of birds migrating northwards -- checking out the pond at Middle Foy's Lake.

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Media Watch: Steven King's Kingdom Hospital again -- not bad -- 2 to 1 ratio between drama time and commercials this week. -- last time it was 1 to 1.
TV's 'Kingdom Hospital'

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Weather: Early Spring weather -- cool in the mornings, and warming up in the day to almost 50 (F).

Wildlife: Those pheasants were chasing off the deer in the front yard -- they want first peck at the seeds and cracked corn!

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Media Watch: A new Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was shown last night -- Thom, the interior decorator, sure has to do a lot of work! I also bought a Sarah Brightman CD called Classics. It has "La Luna" and "Nessun Dorma" -- my favorite songs from her concert last week. Here's a general discography:
Sarah Brightman