Things.

1) The Tony Nominations Happened?
Apparently they were announced today. I just happened to visit Playbill. I guess my body still has some sort of internal Tony clock that tells me when to check in. 
Anything of interest? Um... Newsies is up for Best Musical along with Once, but honestly other than that not much catches my eye. Peter & the Starcatcher is up for Best Play. Porgy & Bess is up for Best Revival. Yeah, I'll still check in at Tony time, but there's nothing here that really makes me want to keep up outside of those. Once received the most nom's this year clocking in at 11. Which doesn't surprise me either.
Sigh. In the Heights, I miss you. Miranda, come back. (Or Ahrens & Flaherty. Or Guettel. Someone, come back!)

2) It is May. And I hate May.
May, can we let bygones be bygones? You mostly don't like me. I mostly don't like you. You've set me into stressful fits of rage the last two years in a row. It's true, that was more related to work issues. The computer & whatnot. But let's just chill this year. Truce? Truce?

3) So you're preparing for Mother's Day, huh?
Actually, right now we're in a flurry of activity revamping our (entire) wedding process. It's becoming a huge investment all across the board and due to a sudden deadline we have to have part of it done by the end of this week. And then I need to update & revamp our portfolio. And then comb back over all our social media to see if it's a solid representation of us. And then make it through my wedding class in June - which I'm super excited about - but its still a touch intimidating.
Though I did learn that apparently all these classes are done only through the OKC center. Which means people fly from all over the nation to attend these classes. Cool!
And yes, Mothers Day is next week so that'll take precedence very soon. We're very busy for currently not having any daily work to do.

4) But I do get to see Holly tomorrow!
Holly and I are having a Trigun day. Season 1! The happy season! And then Phoenix Diner! It's a plan. I'm excited.

5) Again. My Kids are Freaking Cute. 
And just in case there was some part of you that doubted my kids are indeed the cutest. ever.

Pic shamelessly stolen from Amy. Great shot, Amy!

LOOK AT THAT FACE.

Seriously. Happiest face ever. I love this little now-somehow-five birthday baby. :)

6) The Moose is Back.
There is a theatre in NY called The Beautiful Soup who is reviving Moose Murders. Moose Murders, which opened in 1983, is the Carrie of plays. The big flop. The original of flop-dom. The show that played 13 previews, and opened and closed on the same night. 1 performance.

Personally, I love that they're doing this. Maybe it's just because I want to see Bring Back Birdie. But I've often thought I'd love to be near a theatre that once a season revived a major flop (or terrible show.) And whether they play it for laughs or try to attempt it legit, their intent could change depending on the show. Just giving it one more life.

They even made a trailer for it. I love it.



7) Oh, and speaking of "The Flop...."
There will be a cast recording of the recent Off-Broadway revival of Carrie! YAY! I'll get to hear Marin Mazzie tackle "And Eve Was Weak" which is very exciting.
Sadly, the song list does not include "Out for Blood." Somehow the song about hacking a pig got cut.
Oh, Carrie. You make me smile.

8) But Once Upon a Time doesn't.
This is actually the first time I've discussed Once on here I think. I almost hate to now.
Look.
.....
Look.
I've been watching this show all season. Because it's bad.
I'm sorry if you like this show.
But....it is bad. Laughably.
However, this weeks episode was not necessarily laughably bad. It was just downright painful.
And despite the fact that I've been watching this show because its bad, this episode was so bad that I don't even know that I'm willing to finish out the series. Even though we're only two episodes away.
Because it was THAT BAD.

Can you even comprehend that level of terrible? Because I sure couldn't

Thank goodness for the Dark Knight trailer.

Oh, the Arrangement....

So.

Tonight I began watching a show entitled The Arrangement that ran for a season last year. It's essentially a floral design competition. There's actually a lot of it that's irritating - the host is pretty insufferable, most of the designers are jerks and I still don't understand how someone with only "12 weeks" experience made it on there. But the arrangements are pretty fun to watch and I like seeing the materials they use.

However, in episode 2 their theme was heroes & villains.

And for some awful reason they had a hero named Captain Arrangement and they had to...decorate his mask with flowers? And give him a flower...weapon?
I mean, this theme had potential, but it was all done really, really badly.

BUT. That is not why I'm discussing this.

Because in the second half of the episode they had to design an arrangement that would be given to Jigsaw from the Saw series. And as part of their design they were able to go to a horror house and pick out material.
Okay, that's cool.
But someone picked out GOAT EYEBALLS.

I. kid. you. not.

I will spare you the gruesome details of what they did with the actual goat eyeballs because it made me gag.

I will be skipping the rest of episode 2 and flipping forward to episode 3 where their challenge is to use completely recycled materials.

That sounds much safer.

I hope.

The LOST Conclusion

Okay, so I'm sure some of you are sick of hearing about LOST, LOST, LOST.... We get it, you finished, that's great, blah blah blah. And I did post my thoughts over on Facebook, but in doing so I learned one of my earlier notes had been somehow destroyed. I do kind of hate to post it again, because really I hate risking spoilers, but truthfully: I'd really like to keep this one! I did save it, but to help ensure I can find it again I'm posting it here as well. Admittedly, more for my future reference than anything else. 

I've had several people ask what I'm going to watch now that I'm done with this one (a half a year later) and the truth is.... I really don't wanna. :) I am planning on watching Firefly again because its been so long since I've watched the whole thing front to finish and I really enjoy that series. But its only one season - and a short one at that - so I'm not that invested time wise. Actually, I don't like to watch a lot of tv and the fact that I made it through six seasons of anything is a lot for me especially in such a short span of time. But I do love Firefly and Brad & I have really wanted to catch up on Community so hopefully that'll happen. But not all at once. Mostly, I'd really like to read the Mistborn series this year and maybe Dune, both for the first time. So we'll see if that happens.

Anyway. LOST.

My short non-spoiler review is this: LOST has a lot of great moments, but the stakes are never completely clear and that's frustrating when you don't know why you're rooting for the characters. But you do root for them, because they're well developed and handled and you will absolutely love some of them. And that will be worth watching most of the show for, especially once you mix in the fun elements of some of the earlier seasons. And there are some episodes that are absolutely phenomenal television. So while I'm certainly not sad or upset I watched it, I also wish some of the most important points were actually made clear and not so vague.


The Longer Spoilerific Review:


I just finished watching LOST for the first time and this post contains pretty much every spoiler. So....if you ever want to watch the show and be surprised by it at all, don't read any of this. Go away. :)



See you in Another Life, Brotha.




I feel like I'm about to rag a lot on LOST and I want to state up front that I actually had a lot of fun with the series. Yes, it had a lot of problems, but it also had a lot of really awesome moments too. In fact, I was really impressed by how they managed to perfectly link up the Sideways world. While its true at times it was a little too forced, for the most part they really handled that incredibly well, especially at the end. I loved that Faraday was the piano player, I loved that Charlie remembered by touching Aaron, etc. They were just a lot of nice moments in that. For a show that was all about its ensemble, that was a great way of allowing all these characters their "moment." That was nice. And I liked that we saw our old favorites too. (Dang it, Charlie, I missed you!)

My biggest problem with LOST is that I never figured out why the island was so incredibly important in the first place. I remember about five episodes from the end it suddenly dawned on me I had no idea why they were going to all this effort. Throughout all the seasons the island is of dire importance - the island brought them there in the first place, the island is calling them back, the island needs a protector etc. etc. And if they don't go back, if they don't protect the island (and eventually, the heart), if they don't keep the Man in Black on the island....then what? The only answer I really remember is that there would be dire global events. What events? The light would go out in the heart of every man. Really? So....by removing this cork...there will be no more good in the world? So if we roll with that, then I want to see what happened to the rest of the world when the cork actually was removed. I want to see what those global events are.

I just never really understood why they couldn't allow the island to be destroyed. Sure, it has great healing properties and all this cool electromagnetic features, but in the end does it really matter? I just wish the stakes had been clearer. When Jack & UnLocke are battling it out in a pretty awesome looking fight on the side of the cliff, I at least want to know what they're fighting for. UnLocke is fighting to get off the island. That's great. Jack is battling for the island. But WHY. They've set it up that the loss of this island will have this monstrous impact on the rest of the world and I just never knew why that would be.
I mean, I only remember the Man in Black specifically stating that once he got off the island he would kill all the family members and friends of those trying to stop him. Don't get me wrong - that's awful - but I don't really remember what other kind of mayhem he was planning on causing. It was all just too vague and so I really didn't care that much whether they saved the island or not. And when that's your big boss battle, that's a problem.(Please tell me if I just missed why the island is so important. I'm still trying to recall back and piece everything together, so if I missed something just let me know and I'll reconsider.)

It's kind of like when they finally stopped pushing the button. Sure, there was a bright light, but....nothing really happened. (Again, please feel free to correct my memory - that was four seasons ago and a lot has happened since then.) Nothing happened because of they enacted the fail-safe? (I had to look that up. I actually couldn't remember.)

I actually really had fun with LOST and I can see why its totally re-watchable. I would like to see if there was any leadup to that last season. It actually reminded me a lot of how I felt initially about the ending of Harry Potter. You go along through all these books and then SUDDENLY dun dun dun.... these Deathly Hallows are incredibly important and you've never heard of them before. So in terms of LOST, SUDDENLY dun dun dun.... The Man in Black. Also, I probably have less of a problem with the ending because I wasn't emotionally wrapped up in the series as it went along. I didn't speculate for years what everything meant, like I did with Harry Potter, so I could totally see how a lot of people could really hate that loose of an ending. The end of HP really disgusted me for a long time because I had invested so much time in it and all it was for was a four page epilogue. (I'm better now.) So I totally get why LOST instantly blew up with so many people. I think I would have been angry too.  

Although it seems to be one of (understandably) touchiest points, it actually doesn't bother me that they're all dead. If its that they all died whenever they died (and not all in the first plane crash) then you still have the island story intact and you don't really lose anything. I can live with that. I don't really feel like you lose anything there.  And it doesn't really bother me that lots of incidental questions didn't get answered. I can live with the mystery of the statue or the lighthouse or the random animals on the island. I can even live with the mystery of whether Lapidus, Kate and all of them actually made it off the island and what happened next. But I would like an answer to the importance of the island and the Magic Box. And the eternity water. (Can just anybody drink that water?) And the Smoke Monster. I would like to know why it affected Man in Black, but not Desmond or Jack. Neither one of them suffered "a fate worse than death" going down there. (Okay, and Eloise. I don't understand really why Eloise's character is important at all except she got them back on the island.) Those seem like important plot points to me. I would like those explained.

Speaking of the final moments, how did Jack get out of the cave at the finale? That really bothers me. I don't get it. How does he suddenly end up outside? I mean, its a great shot with Vincent, but he should be DEAD. (As should have been Juliet in the season 6 premiere. Hydrogen bomb just went off in YOUR FACE. You are INCINERATED.)

I feel like LOST just got too heavyhanded for its own good. I loved those beginning seasons because there were times when they let themselves be tongue in cheek and you could laugh and roll with whatever storyline they were creating because you knew they weren't taking themselves too seriously. I even usually like it when series' tend to get darker as they go, but here I just felt like it lost (ha) a lot of its charm as they went along. I totally get that by season 4 these characters would be totally traumatized and they probably wouldn't have much of a sense of humor left, but I still missed it.

Where I think LOST really shines is in its characters and their development. Not only are there so many characters, but most of them are really well developed which allows everyone to pick different favorites. I think that's one of the reasons it probably became a huge watercooler show - everyone I've talked to has different favorites and they all have valid reasons why. (Except Shannon. Find me someone that has a valid reason for liking Shannon.) My top three were easily Charlie, Sawyer & Faraday. I -adored- those three. I love that Sawyer made it to the end, because he was about the only character making me laugh in that final season (In referencing Jack: "And I thought he had a God complex before." Ha!) And when Saywer jumped out of the chopper at the end of season 4? Gah! Loved him.

By the end you're really rooting for these characters! They're now so strong and so individual you really want them to succeed even if you don't really know what on earth its for. I do love that Hurley became the ultimate protector of the island. I was disappointed when Jack took it at first because, as MiB says, "You were the obvious choice."

I do have to say this: the season 3 finale ("Through the Looking Glass") is absolutely phenomenal. That's worth watching over and over. I was so confused through the entire episode until at the end where its revealed to be a flash forward and I was stunned. Oh my goodness. That episode is absolutely fantastic. And Charlie's death? Beautiful. I'm really glad they gave him a very touching way out. Not Penny's Boat.

So. That's my thoughts on LOST. Now that you don't have to worry about spoiling anything for me, I would love to hear your detailed thoughts sometime, whether that's in person or here. I'm still mulling over a lot of it. I just thought this was the easiest way to get in touch with everyone I've been talking to about it.

Thanks for sitting through it with me! :)

We built this city....aw, now I have it stuck in my head.

Sporadic thoughts:

I am incredibly excited for Christmas this year. Incredibly.

The shop is doing well, we're just about perfect on our poinsettia count which is phenomenal considering we always have to throw out quite a few. We've also sold out of grave blankets, which is also unusual. While its true we have cut back on both, we've also just been selling well too so we're pretty happy.


I'm finally on the final season of LOST and.... oy. First episode, you were rough. I'm just really confused and I'm not sure how you're gonna drag it out a whole season, because right now you really only have one thing going for you anymore. Though Sawyer's line "Did we get captured by the Others again?" made me laugh a lot.

So.... the Rock of Ages trailer came out tonight.
What? There's a movie?
Yeah. Don't worry, I forgot too. Someone else needs to watch that though and tell me what they think. The musical has always sounded completely preposterous to me and I think its ridiculous to be chosen for a movie. And after reading the full synopsis of the musical, it sounds even more...ridiculous. (I do realize most of the silliness is intentional and all in fun and that's a good thing. I'm not knocking that.)
I actually can't decide if it looks awful or like a lot of fun. I don't really like aspects of it. And I suspect this may be one where the trailer is better than the movie, due to some of the scenes they flip through. (Catherine Zeta Jones leading a dance charge down the church aisle to We're Not Gonna Take It made me laugh, and I can't decide if I was supposed to.) I do like the smash up of We're Not Gonna Take It with We Built this City, but honestly I don't really care for the arrangement snippets we hear of the other classic songs.
 Anyway, it comes out summer 2012 if anyone's interested. The trailer bizarrely fails to mention that (or I just kept missing it?)

I haven't really had a lot to blog about recently, truthfully. Did I ever tell you I saw the Muppets? I saw the Muppets and it was really well done. You should go see it. But if you're planning to you might want to avoid spoilers! Just go and have a good time. It's very fun. :)

Eh, I need to talk about something besides movie junk....

I plan on doing a countdown to New Years with my end of the year list. I love end of the year lists! I wanted to wrap up 2011 with a one. So we'll see if that happens.

Oh Cecilla, you're breaking my heart...

In the middle of running out the door this morning I suddenly realized this song was playing on repeat in the back of my mind. Not that I mind since it's certainly catchy but what a random choice, brain. Also, did not know it was written by Simon & Garfunkel until just now. The more you know.

Yesterday we wrapped up another open house at the shop. These past few weeks at the shop have just been a little stressful at times, so we struggled to get this one up on its feet. (Though admittedly, that's pretty typical.)  In fact, to give you some idea of how our mindset has been, I can tell you that for this very open house we almost sent out flyers to businesses without our name on them anywhere. No name, no address, no phone number, ha. Just a flyer proclaiming an open house somewhere! Good luck! Special prizes for those who find it!

Four of us proofread it and didn't catch it until the very last minute. Ha.

Then I sent out a rushed mass email Thursday night with all the information, sales, prizes, blah blah blah. Only to receive several replies the next morning reading "Sounds great! But when is it?" and "Did I miss the date & time?"

.... oh yes, my friends. I had sent out this mass email without the date or time mentioned anywhere. I laughed a little hysterically, responded to the individuals, and somehow despite all of our apparent attempts to fail our own open house it went off, I think, pretty successfully. Plus, they did very little advertising this time. So yay! Done!

It's certainly not a huge event, but it is something we start considering and developing in August. So while its a nice kickoff to the holidays it's always a small relief when its over too. Now onto poinsettias, grave blankets and Thanksgiving.

As for life outside of work, well... that's pretty much what I've been wrapped up with lately. I'm on disc 3 of season 5 of LOST, putting me about halfway through the season and almost finished with the series. (There's six seasons total.) It's currently getting pretty convoluted. I will certainly finish it out - I mean, I'm so close - but I can certainly see why the fans started calling foul at this point.

I did see Brigadoon recently for the first time. Man, that's a dumb show! How did that ever become a classic? (Apologies to all fans of the miracle island.)

See? Fish in a barrel.

I love Community. I just watched this weeks episode and, particularly the the Firefly reference, was way too perfect. I laughed so hard. Especially with all the Firefly commotion that just popped up this week.

I disappeared. I just haven't had anything of interest to post in awhile.

Sooo...check out this awesome Lego Victorian house!

Wait, a link post? We're getting a link post? That's it?

Mm. Yeah.
I don't keep up with most sports, but I love this story about the new winner of the Daytona 500, Trevor Bayne! Rumor has it he didn't even know where victory lane was. I'm happy he won.

No really, I've been busy, just not with much noteworthy material. My steering wheel controls are fixed now? Yay for me. Boring for you.

Though I did watch a basketball game played with three - five year olds this week. That was pretty awesome. And super cute. And then I watched Ashia play basketball, which was also awesome, because she's incredibly fast.

Spiderman: Turn off the Dark is still in previews if you're interested. And now this: a musical named Spiderman Smackdown is planning to open a day earlier than the current opening date for S:TOTD with a budget of $0 and a restriction of getting the show up within thirty days.
"In a statement Moran said, "How important is $65 Million in making good theatre? We’re going to develop a story, write a complete musical score and script, design sets and costumes, cast, rehearse, advertise and ultimately mount the production on March 14th."

Last week when we had those first 70 degree days? That's when Nowata, OK saw a 100 degree change of temperature in one week.

Honestly, it's been kind of a strange week, simply because of its sense of normalcy. Two weeks ago we were having blizzards. Suddenly I wasn't always at work, or if I was it was because my boss picked me up, or we couldn't get flowers in, or we left and came in at odd hours. Until this past Sunday I hadn't been to church in three weeks. Last week was Valentine's and wildly trying to prepare since the snow had chopped up our preparation time and then making it through the rest of the week with the shop slowly getting cleaned back up and us recuperating. This week? Our first normal week in almost a month. Bizarre.

And now we're back in the 70's. I wore flip flops for the second time this month tonight. It was glorious.

See? A link post. Fish in a barrel.