The first review:

High times at Venice Theatre's Stage II with Reefer Madness by Kay Kipling.

Normally, I post reviews without commenting, but honestly I really can't be silent on this one. I don't see how Kipling could have watched our production through to the end and then forgot about David Walker's performance as Ralph. I understand wanting to perhaps avoid "spoilers," since a lot of Ralph's exploits are of the shocking variety and probably best enjoyed without warning. But, seriously, to not even mention his name? Really? I have to call a massive foul on that one. My best guess is that she left at intermission, since Ralph has very little stage time until the madness of the title gets into full swing in Act II.

But whether she slipped out at intermission or simply slipped on the sidewalk on her way out, I can't let this one go without claiming a big foul, not on the play, but on the critic.

Tags: commentary, theatre

Sometimes, I really should know better. But, what the hell, I figured "Harry Potter fans will love it," was more marketing than anything else, so I picked up Emily Drake's The Magickers on a lark with a gift card and finally got around to starting it.

( Spoilers and disappointments )

Seventy pages in, and I think I have quite used up whatever benefit my doubt had. I'm sure that there are enough differences to avoid copyright infringement outright, but whether they're meant to be winks to HP fans or poorly-masked analogues, either way it's just tired and derivative. Bleh.

Tags: books, commentary, fantasy

I think I'm pretty open about taking changes in stride when it comes to the rebooted Power Pack. I enjoy the new stories for the most part, and I've been having fun with the latest Power Pack: Day One retelling / update of the origin. It seemed concise to have Julie naming the Snarks, for example, and I was even digging on the new, more sarcastic Smartship Friday introduced in the most recent issue. That said, I can't help but be disappointed Fred Van Lente decided that Power Pack's alien mentor Whitey (originally a fan of Earth literature whose intelligent ship, Friday, took its name from Robinson Crusoe) now learns English by watching old movies, and his ship's named after His Girl Friday.

I guess it just seems sad to me that even advanced alien races apparently no longer read. For that matter, if we're updating things, is a 1940s movie really any more relevant to a young audience than a classic novel that still shows up on school reading lists?

Tags: comics, commentary, power pack

So, I'm skimming the blurb at Creative Loafing about Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, and I was happy to discover two of the local shops seem to be taking the outreach part of this day to heart:

[Y]ou can also get your sequential art swag at Sarasota County's Fruitville Library (noon-3 p.m., sponsored by Pop Comics and Games) or the North County Library (10 a.m.-noon, sponsored by The Dark Side). North County will have local artist Kent Bonifield on hand to show young and old how it's done.

I think part of the problem with getting new comic book readers is getting new readers in general, so it's nice that the stores are just as willing to tempt folks to the local library as they are to their own shelves. Good on them.

Tags: comics, commentary

My hopes for the Sweeney Todd movie continue to fall. I mean, Bonham Carter and Depp look downright bored in this clip of "A Little Priest". How the bloody hell can you be bored singing that song? It's the most deliciously crazy set of cannibalism puns ever set to oom pah pah music! *sigh*

Tags: commentary, hype, movies, theatre

Am I the only one not understanding the logic in this statement (from this week's Lying in the Gutters comic gossip column)?:

Of course, any creator willing to rise up against a lack of royalties for digital download sales would also have to be the kind of person who'd never illegally downloaded a single piece of content in their lives - or look like a hypocrite.

I can understand hypocrisy when folks who illegally download complain about the money out of their own pockets from other illegal downloads. I'm missing somewhere, though, how wanting to be paid for electronic distribution rights--instead of being subjected to Magical Accounting that always shows no profit--from what should be a legitimate publisher has anything to do with one's download habits.

Oddly enough, isn't this the primary issue in the current WGA strike? Is there a widespread counterargument I've missed where WGA members who have BitTorrent have been derided as hypocrites? Or is it just comic book writers who are supposed to be paragons of virtue in order to be paid fairly?

Tags: comics, commentary, writing

More crazed musings, but I'm going to try to sneak in some pictures this time, too.

While certainly Seymour and Audrey have the appearance of star-crossed lovers, I have my doubts that what Seymour feels is actually love. Don't get me wrong: I don't think he's just lusting after Audrey. Rather, given the loveless environment he was raised in, I'm not sure Seymour knows what love really is. He latches onto the first person who shows him kindness, and invests everything he has in her (let's face it, the name of his new plant is pretty much the sum total of what Seymour owns). I'm not so sure that's love as it is obsession.



And Seymour's relationship with Audrey II would seem to bear that out. The plant seems harmless at first, though it certainly takes a great deal of his energy and attention. But then Seymour discovers that he can't nurture it by treating it well, but rather, he has to hurt himself to make it happy. Certainly it then thrives, but the bigger this symbol of his feelings for Audrey gets, the more it drains him, until it literally grows bigger than Audrey and Seymour themselves, and in the process becomes not just unhealthy, but downright deadly.

Tags: commentary, hype, theatre

Anyone who knows me similarly knows that I tend to think too much about things. Ah, well. Such is the way of things. And since I haven't new pictures to keep with my Little Shop of Horrors push, we'll go with my crazed ravings:

Audreys One and Two

The obvious reason that Seymour chooses to name his new plant "Audrey II" is because he's trying to flatter the girl he's got a thing for. And certainly that's one of the reasons. But consider, too, that both plant and woman are unique in Seymour's experience. He's never seen anything like either one, really. He started life in an orphanage on Skid Row, which--the show's song of the same name tells us--is a miserable place to be, filled with danger and depression. His "rescue" came in adoption by a man whose idea of generosity is letting a boy sleep under a shop counter instead of kicking him into the streets each night. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that a person who shows Seymour genuine compassion (Audrey) is likely as out of place and alien to the young man as a blood-sucking alien plant.

So, while clearly an attempt to impress, Audrey II's name also reflects the shared rarity of both plant and namesake in Seymour's world. Unfortunately, Seymour's not quite savvy enough to realize that uniqueness is not in and of itself a quality to be prized. But he's already set up the synergy with the names, already associated this alien plant with the woman who embodies everything good he thinks the world might hold. And in doing so, he opens himself up for a heaping helping of self-delusion as to the motives of Audrey's sequel. By the time Tooey talks, Seymour has already convinced himself that the plant is his friend, and as long as the plant can play to that, it takes precious little effort to get Seymour to do what it wants.

Tags: commentary, hype, theatre

I'm pretty lukewarm about the new Bionic Woman in general, but this Isaiah Washington stuff isn't helping. Putting aside the homophobic Grey's Anatomy controversy, his character's just stupidly redundant. What purpose does he serve? Let's take a look at what niche his appearances-to-date suggest he might fill:

Teaching her how to fight and survive in the field? No, Will Yun Lee's Agent Kim has that covered.

Finding out what makes Jaime tick, and probably using that to manipulate her psychologically and emotionally? Sorry, but you'll have to get in line behind Molly Price's psych expert, Truewell

Someone to tempt her to the dark side? Were you not watching Katee Sackhoff's Sarah Corvus kick ass and take names at that in the past few episodes?

I've got it. He's the authority figure she can butt heads with! Er, no, that would be Miguel Ferrer's Bledsoe

I have to say, I'm at a loss. I watched last night's episode, and literally every spot where they used Washington's character, another series regular would have worked just as well, if not better. And it's kind of criminal to shove Agent Pope in my face and leave Miguel Ferrer with little more screen time than it takes to say "we'll clean up."

Mind you, I'm not opposed to new characters that serve a purpose. Kevin Rankin's ascerbic "bionic mechanic" role has become quite fun to watch. But that's because he brings something new to the table, instead of just keeping everyone else's character chair from getting cold.

Tags: commentary, sci-fi, tv

We had an unexpected night off rehearsal last night, so I got a chance to see Noises Off at Manatee, which I hadn't thought I'd be able to do. Unlike the change made in the movie adaptation of the show, the actors last night had to maintain their British accents even when they were "out of character" (rather, when they were just playing actors, instead of playing actors who were simultaneously playing other characters. Yes, it makes one's head hurt, but that's part of the psychotic fun of the show).

I was especially impressed by the fact that the woman playing Dotty maintained two different British accents. Her "Mrs. Clackett" speaks with a thick cockney, while her actress Dotty smoothes out the harsh edges while still sounding distinctly British. It's hard enough acting through an accent and trying to keep it consistent, let alone maintaining consistency in two of them. And accents in general are tricky things, since it's easy to make a performance all about the accent, and lose character when all your effort goes to maintaining consistency.

It's one of the things I'm mucking around with in Little Shop. I think something as thick as Rick Moranis used in the film version has a tendency to overpower those moments when Seymour has to be genuine, so I'm trying to keep it toned down and subtler: leave enough in to make Seymour feel like the schmoe he starts the show as, but light enough so that when that schmoe falls away here and there--and the other facets of Seymour (both dark and soulful) eke their way up--the accent doesn't detract from those moments. Here's hoping I get it worked out.

Tags: anecdotes, commentary, theatre