Category: General

Finally, I’ve experienced the third and final installment of the Big Three musicals last night, Miss Saigon. Our party included my wife Karen, Jimmy, Andrew, Carol, Howe, Jeffrey, and Grace. Here is the rankings from one of the foremost authority on musicals, the James Lee Musical Meter:

1. Les Miserables
2. Phantom Of The Opera
3. Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon is like Freefall from Magic Mountain amusement park–it takes you slowly up to the top, then drops you down. For most of the musical, it seemed like a flat movie that plays, and for a moment I pushed myself to keep my little yawn in.

It starts with some spicy scenes deemed inappropriate for children under 18, so I wouldn’t recommend bringing your little nephew to the show. No dozing off here. Then strangely you start watching some acrobatic men in disturbing masks and dragon chasing the tiger. Just when you thought it was over the top, you get to see the overly enlarged face of Ho Chi Minh along with all his moles with facial hair growing out of it. Then you get the famous chopper scene, but with the blinking light and people falling, for a minute I thought “What tha…?!?” as it was taking out civilians. Then there’s some Elvis and Marilyn scene and more raunchy scenes in contrast to the dragon dance.

Then as you approach the end, you see the inevitable coming, and before you know it, you’re balling. Then the climax, and Bam! Game over. Thank you for using Saigon Eye Lubrication Services. There was not a dry eye in the theatre, except maybe Jimmy and Andrew who adopted an analytical approach to watching musicals. For the rest of us, it left us in a funky state.

What’s missing from Miss Saigon is recurring melodies. In Les Miserables, you hear similar melodies over and over again, rehashed in different forms, so that when you leave the musical, the melody sticks out of your nose and ears. With Miss Saigon, there was nothing. Dead silence on the way back in the car, well, except for Andrew getting shut down but that’s a different story.

As we were leaving the theatre, we noticed that Jeffrey and Andrew decided to show their brotherhood:

Good thing they’re guys. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering for two girls to wear twin outfits to a musical…

On the way back, we discussed how musicals sometimes need to substitute actors of different races, and that the evil dude who got wasted by Miss Sai was not Vietnamese. But it wasn’t as disturbing as the last Les Miserables that we saw, where Fantine unexpectedly became Fantina (black), which… kind of changes things.

Anyway, in the end, it’s still worth watching Miss Saigon at least once, but remember to bring your tissues so you won’t be wetting your pants with your tears.

How many hours a day do you spend online?  Actually, let me rephrase that question.  Do you spend enough time with family?  A Newsweek poll revealed that 73 percent of teens wants to spend more time with their parents, and families who watch little television find more time spending with one another in engaging and interactive activities*.  Cranium, anyone?  (as long as it’s not the Canadian version).

Apparently treating Internet Addiction Disorder is not as easy as it seems.  Check out this quote from a Forbes article written in the future (5/9/05):

Turning off the monitor won’t do the trick, say doctors like David Greenfield, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.  Greenfield worries that junkies are finding new ways to score a fix from their cell phones and Treos.

Before you descend to the state where you need to tap on the microwave digits to numb the pain, start turning off that computer periodically and spend that time with your family!

*”Teenagers want more…family time?” Christian Science Monitor 5/2/00

The board room in this week’s Apprentice was silly.  Imagine the boxing match Tyson vs. Peewee and you’ll get an idea what the board room was like.  One punch knockout. Come on, Bren, don’t pull a Samson and confess your hair as your weakness!  “Gee, I can’t take risks and I like to dig my own grave.”  I can only conclude that Bren seriously suffered from sleep deprivation and pulled a Verna, who simply gave up during week 2.

I think it’s pretty obvious who will win the Apprentice by now.  Kendra isn’t a team player.  Craig can’t communicate.  Alex is just flat.  That leaves us with Tana, who is mild tempered yet brings a whole lot of smartness to the table.  Tana will become the next apprentice by a mile, unless Trump tries to hire someone else just for the irony.  If so, it puts the public view of Trump’s judgment in jeopardy.  Besides, it’s about time for a female apprentice.

Remember Andy, the kid from Harvard in season two?  One of my coworkers actually roomed with Andy, and he said that the kid is smart but pretty lazy.  Well, a few weeks ago, he got his break when Trump decided to hire him.  He now reports directly for Trump and is doing real work, which is more than we can say about Bill Rancic.  Word has it that his job is a sham.

So I snooped around xanga and dusted the dust off an old entry on Carol’s blog.  It was titled “Do You Have A Type A Personality?”.  I answered the questions, and … (drum roll)…

You Have A Type A Personality

A You are hyper, energetic, and always on the mood You tend to succeed at everything you attempt And if you don’t succeed at first, you quickly climb your way to the top! You could be called a workaholic, but you also make time for fun As long as it’s high energy and competitive, you’re interested You have the perfect personality for business and atheltic success

I question the accuracy of this test, however, seeing that they can’t even spell “athletic” correctly.  🙄

In the latest round of American Idol elimination, Anwar bites the dust. The event was quite emotional, as my significant other shed a tear to his departure from the show, then proceeds to chew me out for causing this “fiasco”.  Apparently I didn’t cast enough votes for her “Anwar” Tuesday night–that I only casted, oh, 250 votes for Anwar (that’s 6 seconds per vote lasting about 25 minutes), not counting the dual-hand cell phone dialing action prior to that.  Then she vows never to watch American Idol again. Oh that’ll be the day!

Moving forward, I urge all of you to vote for Vonzell.  Sure, I used to be a Carrie supporter, but lately her performances have been quite insipid, especially all her moves–all one of them, the wiggling of her heinies.

There are four must-have qualities for the next American Idol: Star Appearance, Vocal Quality, Stage Presence, and Audience Appeal.  Scott and Anthony are eliminated for vocal quality, and Bo Bice for appeal.  That leaves us with Vonzelle, Carrie, and Constantine.  All the screen time for Constantine has catapulted him beyond what he deserves, as all the crazed voters, who can’t distinguish between on-key and off-pitch, call for Constantine just because of the sentimental influence of the garage scene.  That leaves Carrie and Vonzelle.  Carrie has that Star appearance and definitely the vocal fidelity, but possessing just one and only one move just kills me.  On the other hand, Vonzelle’s got it all.  Her vocal range exceeds Whitney Huston, her appearance is… acceptable, but her choreography is impeccable!  Have you witnessed the hundreds of moves she busts out on the stage?  She’s a natural performer, and she has definitely grown on me throughout this competition.

Vonzell for the next American Idol!