Saturday, January 31, 2026
A Night at the Opera
This week I fulfilled my dreams as an eight year old by attending a performance of Phantom of the Opera. The new national tour of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic based on the original production design, direction, and staging, thank you very much. (There was a Maury Yeston's Phantom incident when I was a pre-teen, I fear.) Now, you may be shocked that I somehow have not seen this already in the now forty years it has been in existence, but I was essentially raised as a Depression baby who would not waste money on frivolities like professional haircuts, much less New York theater. And then by the time I had my own disposable income I had to pretend I was sophisticated and spent my entertainment budget on four-and-a-half-hour Handel operas and such. Also I saw the movie version with Gerard Butler, which I feel certain took years off my life.
Anyway, with apologies to Langston Hughes, this particular dream deferred did not explode. Unless you count the actual explosions that occur throughout the show. (The Phantom is a bit of a close hand magic aficionado, it seems.) Even at two hours and thirty-five minutes of song and dance and largely inaudible dialogue, I was not bored. There was always something to look at, whether it was a giant prop elephant or an endlessly descending staircase or a gondola apparently furnished by Pier One or Christine's father's grave that the Phantom pops out of for some reason. And that chandelier! It is truly a shame they do not give out Tonys for fixtures. It rose, it fell, it shook violently in place, it flickered its lights on and off in sequence. The human performers were less animated by contrast. (Though they were in fact very good.)
At this point, it seems ungenerous and unnecessary to say that much of the show, if scrutinized, actually does not make sense. Or that the score is a bit florid and lands at only number four on my ranking of ALW shows, and likely does not make my top 25 overall. The point is that it has entertainment value, which I would even put in all caps if it did not seem shouty. The crowd went absolutely wild, even the elderly couple down the row that had brought binoculars (not opera glasses, like what appeared to be hunting binoculars, and not one pair, but two), and I was right there with them. I would see it again. Although i would probably pee during "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," as that intermission bathroom line was truly killer.
Sunday, January 25, 2026
The Oscar Race Begins
I'm not speaking of the race for people to try to win Oscars, though I'm sure Wagner Moura and Renate Reinsve will be tearing up the talk show circuit. No, I speak of my annual race to try to see all of the Best Picture nominees prior to the awards. Which are on March 15, apparently. That does not give me a lot of time if I intend to insist on continuing to work and eat and sleep and shower and so on.
Luckily, we were already at two when the nominations came out: Sinners and One Battle After Another. Generally one can kind of tell from the critical buzz (by which I mean whatever Emily Nussbaum is blathering about online) what some of the likely nominees are, so we were a bit ahead of the game on those. We did get thrown a curveball by Wicked: For Good (correctly, but somewhat surprisingly) not being nominated, but we'll deal with it.
We have now also watched Frankenstein and F1, both of which were available to us on demand. I enjoyed Frankenstein more than I thought I would based on my experience of being forced to read the novel in college and speeding through a lot of the more descriptive passages. I do think that del Toro tends to make very watchable movies; even that fish sex one that I watched on a plane several years back was watchable despite being repeatedly interrupted by the Dutch man sitting next to me who constantly had to pee. I'll say it again for the people in the back that I think movies that go more than two hours are definitely pushing it, but it didn't feel crazy long. The production design was stunning and Oscar Isaac brought the crazy. It's a true waste for Jacob Elordi to be in anything where his face is covered, but he was appropriately tall.
F1, meanwhile, was kind of a bop. Hard to dispute the entertainment value of a lot of fast cars. I'm not sure it goes a whole lot deeper than that and yes I do struggle with the whole Brad and Angie of it all, but it's not on me to fix America. (Who is that on now? Sophia Bush?)
Anyway, four down, six to go. We'll see...
Monday, January 19, 2026
Current Events
Because it's easier to post pictures than to think of words to say, here are some images from our year end and new year.
We got festive. This is the tree from our back porch, which blew over approximately 17 times a day, but looked pleasant when upright. (The same has been said of me.)
I came downstairs during work one day to find that Dolly had destroyed a coaster. Of course there is never any rhyme or reason to it. But if there was any doubt she's a fearsome beast, that should end.
My niece was in a very much overthought production of The Nutcracker. It may just be that this particular text does not bear too much explication. But she was great!
I wore overalls in my lawyer show. And a flesh-colored microphone. (That is not a growth.)
I also wore this very comfy prison garb and less comfy wig. I don't know if other people are just better at dealing with itch than me or if I've only encountered very cheap wigs.
Both my niece and nephew were in a production of Seussical Junior. The senior version of Seussical is presumably more sexy and full of foul language.
The Mayor of Whoville. Which is a far more powerful position than being Senate Minority Leader, as I understand it.
Sunday, January 11, 2026
Theatre Beat
My amateur theatrical for lawyers returned to the stage over the past few days. It is always a really fun time that ends up reminding me that I am approximately 100 years old. I have essentially spent the past two weeks rehearsing every night, getting super amped up doing dumb shit with friends, coming home and being unable to sleep, and then working a full day analyzing emails people should never have sent and de-italicizing commas. So today I feel like napping all day and watching the first three episodes of The Traitors, as clearly there is nothing else more important on which I need to catch up.
I am both a writer and performer for the show, so I get the pleasure of recognizing my failings in both capacities. Sometimes writing that seems amazing in June seems hopelessly dated in January, which is why topicality has never been a huge goal for me here on the b-log. Also, believe it or not, I can be verbose. Long sentences are much easier to type than to bring across in front of a crowd. And on the performing front, I'm not necessarily your guy to put across puns or do impersonations. Although I would love to be given the chance to play Lisa Rinna, should there not be a scarecrow available to take on the role.
The past few years we have been lucky enough to perform our law skits in a beautiful old theatre, which seems quite likely to be haunted by a man with half a face and a penchant for dropping chandeliers on people. It was built at the turn of the century (not the recent one, the good one) and saw some famous faces back in the day, all of which are now super dead. So it's a perfect spot for me to debut songs where I rhyme things with "public lice."
Anyway, that happened and it's done. Now back to regularly scheduled programming. I've got some serious hibernating to do before the Spring.
Friday, January 02, 2026
2025 Wrap Up
What a year it was, huh? Things happened, people did stuff, time passed. Here are some highlights and lowlights for me:
Highlight -- I start the year at EPCOT Center, America's most instantly dated theme park, with my family.
Lowlight -- I get intense motion sickness on Mission:Space, having ignored many highly conspicuous signs warning of same, as well as a video reminder featuring Gina Torres of TV's Suits.
Highlight -- Ian and I successfully watch all of the movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Lowlight -- Ian and I watch all of the movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Highlight -- We get our cuddly and gorgeous new beagle overlord, Dolly.
Lowlight -- We trade off spending nights at the emergency vet with Dolly for a week, as she has very real surgery for what turns out to be an incredibly imaginary obstruction in her digestive system.
Highlight -- I perform my annual one-man show to a sold out crowd at Davenport's.
Lowlight -- Davenport's cancels all live performances immediately following my show, never sends me my check, and eventually gets closed altogether for (alleged) zoning violations.
Highlight -- Glamorous work travel to Kansas City, San Antonio, and Washington, DC!
Lowlight -- Being stuck on a charter bus with my coworkers for hours while attempting to visit the Alamo during a parade that draws a crowd of millions.
Highlight -- Renovating my home office into a library that approximates my Beauty & the Beast fantasies. (Well, not the dirty ones.)
Lowlight -- Having strangers in my home building and breaking things for over a month.
Highlight -- Discovering the flop Bravo series from nearly two decades ago, Hey, Paula!
Lowlight -- Feeling genuine concern for Paula Abdul's health and well being and realizing that it's probably only gotten worse since 2007.
Highlight -- Attending a bachelor weekend that included both ultimate fighting and Weird Al, although not at the same time.
Lowlight -- Being trapped in a monsoon at the Weird Al concert, alongside Weird Al fans.
Highlight -- Working our way through Summer House.
Lowlight -- Carl and Lindsay.
I think that should do it. Wholly conclusive as to the year that was. Nothing else not listed here could ever possibly matter.
