My trip home is coming to a close all too quickly. Said some family goodbyes today since I’ll be taking off before some of them leave work tomorrow. Jasmine is joining me on the first leg of the flight home (she’s on her way to Sacramento to visit her boyfriend before he leaves for a 2-year Mormon mission in Spain). Then it’s back to work. Boring, mind-numbing work.

Anyway, I understand I missed the tiger excitement in San Francisco.

To no one’s surprise, PETA is calling on the SF Zoo to phase out the Tiger exhibit. I tend to support PETA more often than not, even when they’re being fairly radical. Still, I think they make a better than usual point this time. Tigers simply don’t belong in small zoo spaces. They should be raised in their natural habitat, Las Vegas. Or better yet, huge jungles.

Anywho, I really, really need a new phone. My battery is now going dead after 5 minutes of conversation. Unfortunately, I spent too much money on tickets to our group New Year’s Eve plan (Sarah Bernhard at the Castro Theater). I may hit the store again tomorrow and at least pick up a new battery.

Posted: December 27th, 2007 under Mi Familia, San Francisco, miscellaneous outrage and/or amusement, utah.
Comments: none

This was an unusual holiday. For the first time, the number of adult children versus still-living-at-home children in the family has caused severe disruption to our usual traditions. So we began opening presents at 8:00 am, took a break, started again at 10:00 when some of the others showed up, went to my grandparents house where we opened some more gifts with my cousins, then came back to my parents house with almost everyone finally here and finished opening presents. We didn’t finish opening the last of the gifts until almost 4 pm.

Almost everything I got this year came directly off my list, so I have no complaints.

The big hit gift of the day was a Nintendo Wii for my sisters. My mom ordered it in early October. Everyone had fun tonight designing their Miis and we broke in the game system with a couple family rounds of Wii bowling.

Posted: December 25th, 2007 under Mi Familia, utah.
Comments: none

The last few days have been busy and fun. I’ll have tons of pictures to share once I get a faster connection. Lots of family time, and I’m not regretting any of it.

On Saturday, I got together with my friend David, who I wish I’d had more time to get to know before moving, and we ate sushi before going to see Sweeney Todd. 

My thoughts, well, it’s sorta like the movie version of Rent. Yes, the stage play is infinitely better. Go see the stage play (preferably along the lines of the original staging–not some crappy concept that scales everything down to a minimalistic actors-play-their-own-instruments mess).

That said, the movie did it’s job. It took a huge score, a huge story, and larger-than-life characters and packaged them for a broader audience in about half the time allowed on stage. The movie had to jettison some of the more subtle plot lines (i.e. Judge Turpin’s growing obsession over Johanna, including the masturbation/flagellation number), and I can understand why some of the songs had to be cut for pacing (i.e. “Parlor Songs” with the Beadle), but I really think it was a mistake to remove the chorus from the movie. Not only did it lose “the moral compass” as some critics have noted, but it also lost some of the deeper social commentary of the musical, the grandiose and operatic Victorian melodrama that defines the genre Sweeney Todd celebrates, and some of the most emotional moments in the show (in particular, the way the chorus of mad asylum escapees overrun the city singing “City on fire!/ Rats in the streets/And the lunatics yelling at the moon!/ It’s the end of the world! Good!/ City on fire!/ Hunchbacks kissing!/ Stirrings in the graves/ And the screaming of giant winds!/ Watch out! Look!/ Crawling on the chimneys,/ Great black crows screeching at the/ City on fire!” and the way it helps build to the sudden eerie silence that begins the endgame).

I won’t say Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter were bad singers, but they weren’t served well by the exceptional casting of all the other roles in the show. Listening to Depp sing in duet with Jamie Campbell Bower was especially painful for Depp, and Carter wasted the golden opportunity when the first notes out of her mouth were a very pretty, slightly demure, and slow-paced ”Wait! What’s your rush? What’s your hurry?” Listen to Angela Lansbury sing those first three lines, listen to HBC sing those lines, and then tell me who has a better handle on Mrs. Lovett.

On the other hand, Sacha Baren Cohen was amazing as Pirelli and Ed Sanders almost stole the show as Tobias.

Bottom line, Sweeney Todd the movie isn’t as good as the stage production, but it’s worth seeing anyway. Also if you’re as phobic about blood as I am, be prepared to avert your eyes a lot.

After the movie, David and I visited Triangles where I bumped into a couple former committee members from Pride who wanted to bitch about this past year and doing Utah Pride without me. That was a nice boost to my ego (as if I needed it).

Anyway, I spent Sunday doing family things and not much else, but at least my niece Callie has finally decided I’m not too scary to hang around.

Posted: December 24th, 2007 under Mi Familia, movies, theatregeekery, utah.
Comments: none

Fridays tend to be quiet days at Casa Keys. Since my sister has Fridays off, my niece and nephew don’t come over, and all my still-at-home siblings are taking to break from school as an opportunity to nap all day.

Although I haven’t seen a lot of attention to this in blogland, reporters recently dug a little deeper into Mitt Romney’s claims that he “watched” his father “march with Martin Luther King.” It’s all a pack of lies. The elder Romney was a champion of civil rights, sure, but there’s no evidence he ever actually marched alongside MLK. Putting that aside, there’s no way the Mittster could have “watched” the marching. Mitteroni now claims that he was speaking “figuratively” about the time - sorta like he was speakng fguratively when he said he’d do more for gay rights than Teddy Kennedy?

I’m guessing that Mitt is trying to distance himself as much as possible from the Mormon church’s long-time failures on racial equality and civil rights. Y’know, like how it’s a doctrinal truth and core belief that if a group of people is wicked enough, God turns them non-white.

Anyway… I was feeling a bit better yesterday evening, so I went to the QSaltLake holiday party where I had a good time talking with old friends like Joselle, Michael, Tony and Don. Unfortunately, it snowed like a mother yesterday and it’s been a long time since I’ve been behind the wheel of a car in that kind of weather (or any other kind of weather for that matter) and I became the super-annoying guy who wouldn’t go faster than 25mph and braked way too early.

Posted: December 21st, 2007 under Mi Familia, politics, utah.
Comments: none

Since I was last in town, my brother-in-law has upped the security on my parent’s wireless network, meaning the only access I’ve had to the internet has been when I can elbow my way onto the famly machine during the day. I finally got the passwords and clearance I need to set up my laptop, so I can get back to looking at porn blogging and keeping up with world news.

Anywho, I’ve spent a lot of time with my niece and nephew. Callie is still shy around me, but Craig has latched on to me and wants my attention every moment we’re together.

I was able to drop in on some friends yesterday and do some shopping today. However, I’m feeling a sore throat and a bit of a cold, so I may not get to go out and see people as much as I’d hoped to. We’ll see.

New pet peeve: comic book stores that bag and board all their new issues. I’ve discovered many new comics simply because I was able to browse interesting comics, and sometimes I’m not sure from the cover if I’ve read an issue or not - so I have to flip though a few pages to be sure. When the entire stock is bagged, I’m far less likely to buy anything new. I stopped by 3 different comic stores in Salt Lake today (because everyone seems to be sold out of the new chapter in X-Men: Messiah Complex) and all of them were doing this. When I slipped one bag open just to check the price (printed on the back) of a new release, I got yelled at by the store manager (I left and did not buy anything from that store). Look, I know serious collectors are obnoxious about this - that they won’t buy something bent or wrinkled - but I’m a read ‘em and toss ‘em in the pile kinda guy, and a very loyal comics shopper, too. Today’s comics shopping experience was so unfriendly and uninspiring, I don’t think I’ll bother next time I’m in Salt Lake.

Posted: December 19th, 2007 under Mi Familia, comic books, utah.
Comments: none

Scene 1
Our hero prepares for his voyage to the city near the pestilent lake. A television set, barely watched during packing, issues dire warnings.

Anchor: Travellers Beware!!! Weather problems!! Lines of doom!!! New restrictions at security checkpoint!!!

Me: Oh, okay. {sets alarm clock an hour earlier than planned}

End scene 1.

Scene 2
Our hero sleeps peacefully.

Alarm Clock: BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEmotherfuckingEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Me: Oh, okay. {gets up, showers, packs remaining toiletries}

End scene 2.

Scene 3
Our hero departs. He approaches the bus stop that will carry him and his heavy luggage to the BART station.

Bus: Look, he’s coming. Go, GO, GOOOO! See ya, sucker!

Me: Oh, okay. {Starts walking the 1/3 mile distance to BART station}

End scene 3.

Scene 4
Our hero arrives at the BART station.

BART marquee sign: You just missed it. The next train to the airport will be here in 12 minutes. No wait, let’s make that 8. Ha, just kidding, 25.

Me: Motherfucker. {begins to panic}

End scene 4.

Scene 5
Our hero arrives at San Francisco International Airport.

Brain: You heard the news, lines of doom! No time to smoke. No time to wait. Run, hurry!

Southwest Ticket Counter: Hi, welcome to our line. As you can see, there isn’t one. Please step right up and be helped by the amazingly friendly counter agent.

Me: Oh, okay.

Brain: It’s a trick! You’ve still got to make it through security.

Security: Hello, fine traveller. We’v enoticed that you, and all the people before you in line, are surprisingly well prepared for this. None of you have packed prohibited items that will cause us to get into an argument. You all know the jacket-and-shoes drill. And you all seem to be willing to let people cut around you if it’s taking a little longer than you expected to remove your laptop from it’s bag. As a reward, we’re going to open yet another metal detector line even though none of the already-open lines have more than 4 people in them. Step right this way.

Me: Oh, okay.

Southwest gate agent: Dear travellers, I regret to tell you that our flight has been delayed by half an hour. And since we have this new boarding procedure, there’s really no reason for any of you to be here yet. Why not go shop or buy a day pass for interet access, because you now have at least 90 minutes to kill. I’ve already checked, none of you will miss your connecting flights in Las Vegas, so relax and enjoy.

Brain: Get me coffee.

Me: Oh, okay.

End scene 5.

To be continued…?

Posted: December 17th, 2007 under travel, utah.
Comments: none