Blog for Choice Day 2009

The topic is: What is your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress?
And the President just took a terrific first step toward my hope by affirming his commitment to defending Roe v. Wade.
There is more to be done, but if he stands by the statement he made today, we are well on our way. I want the global gag rule gone, a process that seems to have been started. I want a woman in South Dakota to have the same rights and bodily autonomy as a woman in Chicago. And I want both of those women to have the same rights and bodily autonomy as any man.
I hope to return to this post later. This is all I have time for now.

Happy Birthday, Tad!

Merry Christmas Tad!

We miss you. All the best to you and Claudine. Be careful on that ice, and try to stay warm!

liveblogging the Tonys (from Mom's house)

Ok, so it's not exactly live, but I will continue to update this post as I watch the Tonys on CBS, starting at 8 PM eastern. Mom and I got ready by watching Legally Blonde: The Musical, as shown on MTV last year. Sure, it's not up for anything this year, but there was nothing on TV, and it was just sitting there on the DVR, staring at us. Mom and I did see a nominated show, but Cyrano is only nominated in 1 category: Best Costume Design of a Play (they were fabulous!). We were only able to see 3 shows when we were in NYC in December. Just going on instinct for the rest of the nominees. Honestly, South Pacific gets major nostalgia points, but how can you not root for In the Heights? You can check out all the nominated shows here.

7:55 PM: Just biding our time, watching Andy Rooney talk about how he's not really rich. Oh, for heaven's sake, he's finally done. Tony time!

Why are they opening with Lion King? Guess Whoopi's decided she's gotta do some Swahili singing?!?

Nope. She didn't get the memo, and came out doing her best Sebastian.

Original company of Rent! Woohoo! And ten years of Lion King, which explains it.

Featured Actress in a Play

Mom's & My pick: Martha Plimpton (because I played Angie back in the day)
Winner: Rondi Reed (not surprised, really)Plimpton can't be pissed, since she's a Steppenwolf member, too!

John Waters, Yeah!

Cry Baby Performance

Best use of license plates: Cry Baby!

Featured Actor in a Play

Mom's pick: Conleth Hill
My pick: Jim Norton
Winner: Jim Norton (Woohoo!)

Passing Strange Performance

Best use of call and response (also props to the tech who finally put Stew's mic back on the stand)

And the count at the commercial break is . . . Kelly: 1, Mom: 0

Best Direction of a Musical

Mom's pick: Sam Buntrock
My Pick: Thomas Kail
Winner: Bartlett Sherr (there's that nostalgia!)
Speech: Way to sneak the politics in there, Mr. Sherr!

Gypsy Performance

Best use of consonants: Patti LuPone! (and her vowels ain't bad either)

Phantom bit

Not bad singin' Whoopi! Much better than that Brightman hack!

Regional Theatre

Chicago Shakes (woohoo!)

Orchestrations

Mom's pick: Jason Carr
My pick (& the winners!): Alex Lacamore & Bill Sherman, In the Heights

Choreography

Mom's pick: Christopher Gatelli
My pick: Rob Ashford
Winner: Andy Blankenbuehler, In the Heights

Book of a Musical

Mom's & My pick: In the Heights
Winner: Passing Strange

Revival of a Play

Mom's & my pick (& the winner!): Boeing-Boeing

Original Score

Mom's pick:Cry Baby
My pick (& the winner!): In the Heights
Speech: Best Evah!

South Pacific Performance

Thought fer sure she was gonna wash that man right outta her hair!


And the count at the break is . . . Kelly: 4, Mom: 1 (Guess it pays to read the New York Times online)

Featured Actress in a Musical

Mom's pick: Loreta Ables Sayre
My pick: Olga Merediz
Winner: Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Speech: Awwww! Tall brunette gets a Tony!

Grease Performance

This should be familiar, since we watched the reality show religiously.
Yeah, they really haven't grown since the reality show. I can see why the reviews were so bad. Bor-ing!

Well, they only gave away one between breaks, and neither Mom nor I got it right, so the score's the same.

Featured Actor in a Musical

Mom's pick: Danny Burstein
My pick: Robin de Jesus
Winner: Boyd Gaines, Gypsy (4th Tony!)
Speech: Way to thank the stage managers!

Little Mermaid Performance

Bo-ring!

A Catered Affair Performance

Faith Prince is a delight, as usual.

Young Frankenstein Performance

Megan Mullally takes up the mantle with moxie. Although she reminds me a bit of Molly Shannon (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

So, again, only one award given, and we both missed it. We have obviously underestimated the appeal of Gypsy. We should have known better.

Best New Play Highlights

I love Rufus Sewell! Wish I'd talked Mom into The Seafarer when we were in the city, but Curtains was good.

Best Direction of a Play

Mom's & my pick & the winner!!!: Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County (not bad for a Broadway debut!
Speech: She's so young! Great speech!


Well, Mom and I each got that right, so . . . Kelly: 5, Mom: 2

Leading Actor in a Play

Mom's & My pick: Patrick Stewart
Winner: Mark Rylance (I almost picked him!)
Speech: WTF?!?

Leading Actress in a Play

Mom's & my pick: S. Epatha Merkerson
Winner: Deanna Dunagan (Broadway debut!)
So many good roles for women this season!
Speech: They shoulda let her go on a little longer!

In The Heights Performance

Best use of a Cole Porter reference! How would they ever take it on tour? Lin-Manuel Miranda's shoes would be very hard to fill! That shit was off the hook!


So, Mom and I were both 0 for 2 on those.

Play

Mom's pick: The Seafarer
My pick & the winner!!!: August: Osage County
Speech:The entire Steppenwolf Theatre Company is on stage

Scenic Design of a Play

Mom's pick & winner!!: Todd Rosenthal
My pick: Peter McKintosh

Scenic Design of a Musical

Mom's pick: Sunday in the Park with George
My pick: Robin Wagner, Young Frankenstein
Winner: Michael Yeargan, South Pacific

Costume Design of a Play

Mom's & my pick: Gregory Gale, Cyrano (only one we saw!)
Winner: Katrina Lindsay, Les Liasons Dangereuses

Costume Design of a Musical

Mom's & my pick & winner!!!: Catherine Zuber, South Pacific

Lighting Design of a Play

Mom's pick: Ann G. Wrightson
My pick: Howard Harrison
Winner: Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps

Lighting Design of a Musical

Mom's & my pick: Natasha Katz
Winner: Donald Holder, South Pacific

Sound Design of a Play

Mom's pick: Simon Baker
My pick: Adam Cork
Winner: Mic Pool, The 39 Steps

Sound Design of a Musical

Mom's pick: Sebastian Frost
My pick & the winner!!: Scott Lehrer, South Pacific


Ok, time to catch up on the count . . . Kelly: 8, Mom: 4

Sunday in the Park with George Performance

Nice speech from Sondheim, via Mandy Patinkin. It's hard not to compare them to Peters and Patinkin (and find them lacking).

Revival of a Musical

Mom's & my pick & the winner!!!!: South Pacific!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speech: Way to thank the House Managers and the Staff!

Xanadu Performance

Have to say, I loved that movie back in the day. After all, it had Gene Kelly!
Best musical on roller skates since Starlight Express! As Mom said, "He's got an awesome voice." To which I replied, "Not a bad body either!" Call me Cheyenne!

Count stands at Kelly: 9, Mom: 5
And we are so sick of the pharma ads!

Rent Performance!!!!!

I love that the audience of stars seems as psyched as I am! Singing along. Beautiful tribute.

Leading Actor in a Musical

Mom's pick & the winner!!!!: Paulo Szot ( Mom is so excited!)
My pick: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Speech: yeah, Liza's unbelievable, alright! Happy Birthday Mom, indeed! Nice sneak of politics in there.

Leading Actress in a Musical

Mom's pick: Kelli O'Hara
My pick & winner!!: Patti LuPone (only her 2nd Tony?!?)
Speech: She's not bitter . . . much! She thanked her Thelma Ritter. Love any All About Eve reference. How dare they try to drown out Patti LuPone. Never!

Count stands at Kelly: 10, Mom: 6

Musical

Mom's & my pick & the winner!!!!!: In The Heights
I still think Miranda should have won the Actor Tony, too.
Speech: Shortest speech of the night?!?
Oh well.

Love the Theatre indeed. Good night. I'll try to clean this up at some point.
Oh, and the final score . . . Kelly: 11, Mom: 7

RIP Tim Russert

Tim Russert died today, but I don't have to believe it if I don't want to.

The video is an episode of Charlie Rose. The first segment is an interview with Russert about his book, The Wisdom of Our Fathers. As someone who has spent more years without her father than she had with him (he died when I was 15), my heart goes out to the entire Russert family, especially Tim's son. And to Big Russ, Happy Father's Day. I know it must suck to outlive your son.

From My Inbox

Mom sent me this awhile ago, and I'm finally posting it. She doesn't normally send me forwards, but she said she "just had to." I guess you could consider this a Fat Acceptance post.

I think I've found my new philosophy.....

love this DOCTOR!!!!

HEALTH QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... Don't waste them on exercise . Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.


Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.


Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!


Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.


Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!


Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: You're not listening...Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?


Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit- ups if you want a bigger stomach.


Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable. It's the best feel-good food around! !


Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.


Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape! ! Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:
'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intentionof arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'WOO HOO, What a Ride!'

Happy Mothers Day

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Julia Ward Howe, Boston 1870
Writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and founder of Mothers Day for Peace, with the above proclamation. Let us not forget the true meaning of Mothers Day.

At what temperature does low country boil?

So, I've been busy lately. I'm still determined to post about the events of the last week or so, even if I am a little late. Last Saturday (September 8) I joined other Brunswick readers at the Kick off event for the Big Read. It was a low country boil, and local and national big wigs were there. Cap Fendig made a proclamation on behalf of the county commissioners. Mayor Bryan Thompson made a proclamation on behalf of the city. Superintendent of Schools Michael Bull was there dressed as Catcher in the Rye. I came as the happy Medium from A Wrinkle in Time. The NEA even sent a representative from Washington to little old Brunswick. Please enjoy the following photos:

Mountains are pretty!

This is a view from one of the overlooks on the Blue Ridge parkway (the area near Mt. Mitchell, I think). I'm sure you're all (like I have so many readers) wondering, "Where all the political posts at?" Well, since the big political story of the moment involves accusations of interest in sex in a public bathroom, and I have an unfortunate connection to Mayor Robo-potty, I'm staying away from all things political at the moment.

He's Alive!

So, Mother's Day came and went with no word from my brother. We were disappointed, but not surprised. Tad has not always been the best about sending cards or calling on Hallmark days. Just got a call from Mom. Mother's Day card from Tad came in the mail today! No return address. Postmarked Chicago. No real details, but he's okay! I'll take what blessings I can, thank you very much. I still hold out hope that we'll see him again soon, but it does feel good just to know he's okay. We Love you Tad! Hope you are happy. Our best to everyone there.

Have You Seen This Man?

This is my brother, Tad Dobbin. My mother and I have had no word from him or of him since November 2006. We believe he has moved to Chicago, but we have no way to contact him, and he has not seen fit to contact us. If he doesn't want to have contact with us, I guess we understand, but we do want to know if he's alright. If any of you have seen him or know anything about how he's doing, it would be really great if you would comment here. I just want to know that my little brother is ok. Thank you.