King Tut, Caged Dames and Other Niceties

And it is Wednesday. I didn’t set my alarm for today but still ended up waking up at 7:30am. The final blogging class call stretched into an hour and forty-minute extravaganza. Mostly because I didn’t get to cover everything from the previous week.

Had a great time with my sister here. We went to the Tutankamen exhibit at the Field Museum. It was pretty good. She’s an amateur Egyptologist going all the way back to elementary school (how many 11 year olds read the Book of the Dead?). There were some absolutely stunning pieces but too many shabtis. Heather was annoyed that they didn’t provide all of teh context of Tut’s short reign. That this 19-year old king was bossed around by the priests with money. Tut was the guy that restored all of the old religion, art and language from before his predecessor Akhenaten. Now that was one of the best exhibits ever (at the Art Institute). That and the Nefertiti exhibition from a couple years ago.

Regardless, it is always humbling to face down an object that has been on this planet for 2500 years and try to reconcile your petty problems and worries with a massive gilded hand-carved sarcophagis.

Tut really is famous for few things 1) he died young 2) his tomb was found in the 20th century 3) he restored the previous culture pre-Akenahten.

I was also scouting out hieroglyphics for possible tattoo designs – though the eye of Ra seems to be overused. I thought a djed or was would be fun. Maybe the trinity of the ankh (life), the djed (stability) and the was (power). There’s a guy at the gym who has what looks to be an entire story inked around one arm. But he’s not Egyptian, he’s just a white boy.

Of course I cannot continute with out quoting the Birdcage:

Armand: You’re going to the cemetery with a toothbrush. How Egyptian.
(Nathan Lane throws his toothbrush – in a velvet bag – behind his shoulder)
Agador: Adio mio!

The Birdcage really is a rather fantastic movie. Mike Nichols loves actors. The dinner scene is unmuddled with obvious ‘directing’ and he simply lets a fantastic collection of 8 actors do their beset. I still think Calista was so much more endearing when she had meat on their bones.

And I want a movie with Dianne Weist and Annete Bening. Wouldn’t they be a great sisters team?

I hope Sigourney Weaver gives us just one more Alien movie before she kicks off. I think she owes it to us after the awful AVP movie (of which they are making a sequel). I still wish they’d just back out movies 3 and 4 and follow the comic book plots where Newt and Hicks survived. That or have a sequel with Jonesy the cat from the first movie.

Heather and I went to see Brigitte in David’s production of Caged Dames, a musical spoof of women in prison movies from the 40s and 50s. There’s a certain looseness to David’s shows that is evident since I’m a big theatre purist snob – but it is always overridden by my laughter at the constant stream of off-color jokes and situations. In this case, reference after reference about lesbian prison favors. "Enjoy your boxed lunch?" I think remains my favorite line. Brigitte was fantastic and it was so wonderful to see her in a starring role as the young pregnant ingenue that gets thrown in to jail for robbery (not unlike Jean Valjean) complete (replete?) with a ‘yearning ballad’ in Act 2 that she sings to a large puppet rat. The live orchestra was great to see and the cast was overall strong. Ed Jones of course did his best as the prison matron (though nothing can top his portrayal of Carrie’s mom/Piper Laurie in their spoof of Carrie – that massive wig he had was absolutely hilarious). We had dinner with Brigitte at a local restaurant and then headed home.

Heather is on a nearly all raw foods diet right now: no dairy, no yeast, no red meat. I was glad that she didn’t look skinny or underweight though she did say some days her jaws clench as she tries to choke down yet another serving of brocolli.

And yes, I’m absolutely delight about the elections from last week. I didn’t realize how influential Rahm Emanuel was in recruiting many of candidates (including "I wear skirts to show my Iraq stumps" Tammy Duckworth who didn’t win this time around but is too cute for words – and a tought broad at that). The Tribune featured Emanuel and I decided I like him because they write about how much profanity he uses and that he was a trained ballet dancer. Dancers know pain and endurance.

Ron and I ordered a DVD set of Les Ballets Trockaderos – an all-male ballet corps that delicate sends up the world of ballet with a repetoire from Swan Lake and other dance favorites. Know that it isn’t like a Leslie Nielsen satire free-for-all, these guys have pretty amazing technique and to see male bodies en pointe makes my ankles lock. There is a piece called the Dying Swan where a man in a tutu (and some hideous makeup) defoliates feathers all over the stage. Very funny. Not the super-broad comedy I was expecting but these guys have a deep commitment to sending up dance styles but also fulfilling them. The DVD box said they go through entire crates of oversides pointe shoes.

Ron is out to – crap, I forgot – I can never keep straight what city he is in when.

I feel like my skin aged a lot this year. I think it might also be from sleeping face down so many nights. Maybe I’m just paranoid/vain.

Trying to tie myself down to not making any new content for 2007, but to focus on implementation and repurposing and repackaging. To take the time to optimize my salespages, streamline my lead generation, all of that stuff.

I’ve been having fun moving my businessy blog into a tighter format http://andywibbels.com/

The Gay Bloggies come out today – regardless if I win or not – thank you to whoever nominated me – and to all that voted for me. We’ll take on the mainstream Bloggies next year!

Did I tell you guys I got measured at the gym the other week? Yeek: 187# @ 20% body fat. I’d like to get down to 160# @ 8% by my birthday in April.

And is it just me or do they kill/hide all the ugly people in Brazil?


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One response to “King Tut, Caged Dames and Other Niceties”

  1. Lyle Lachmuth - The Unsticking Coach Avatar

    Sweetie, I loves you just the way you are!!

    By the time you get to my age (I’m almost 2x your age pumpkin) you don’t give a shit about wrinkles and fat… you are just glad to be able to move, breath, and make love.

    LL

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