Rufus Wainwright hops across the pond next week, to play the Vilar de Mouros festival in Portugal, on July 19. Sigh. Don’t even tempt me. (I’m doing a good enough job on my own.)
But let’s be practical: having my singer/songwriter muse dictate my travel destinations is so much easier than planning a vacation myself, n’est-ce pas? “What, Rufus? Portugal? Oh, fine, if we must.”
After work I went to Union Station to meet up with Subarna, who is heading out of town for the weekend, and with a couple of hours to kill before her scheduled departure, I suggested we walk to the Capitol and have a look around. We made our way around the construction to the west side of the building, and saw a band setting up on the steps. It turns out we’d arrived in time for an Army Band concert. Don’t you love serendipity? It was lovely–listening to the music in grand surroundings on a warm, breezy summer evening, and the setting sun casting a golden, then pink glow across the sky and the Capitol façade. Oh, and on the way back, we saw fireflies! Life is good.
Orbitz recently launched what must be one of the few (if not only) TV commercials exclusively targeting gay consumers. I saw it last night during So Graham Norton, appropriately enough. In the marionette-populated ad which puts a queer twist on its mainstream commercial, the Orbitz team needs to find a Miami hotel for a group of party boys, and their hotel hunters on the scene find one with an magnificent “view.” It’s all pretty subtle. In fact, I didn’t quite realize it was a gay commercial until the final frame, which contains Orbitz’s gay travel URL. Check out the ad at one of my favorite websites, Commercial Closet. (Related article here.)
I find this supremely fascinating: theater as art as New York scavenger hunt… The Angel Project by Deborah Warner, now playing as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. Check out the Times review. An excerpt:
As you follow the treasure-map-like route fashioned by Ms. Warner, you start to assume the astonished theatergoer’s gaze of someone visiting New York for the first time, when the city looks like a startling and impossibly exotic circus.
This isn’t true just in the specific rooms that Ms. Warner has populated with cryptic props and mute actors, located in everything from decrepit apartment buildings to aeries in gleaming skyscrapers, from a grubby former smut shop to a majestically shabby theater. Walking between these destinations, you start to think that everyone on the street is somehow in on Ms. Warner’s scheme, whether consciously or not.
Far out.
From IMDB’s Studio Briefing:
Affleck Looking To Buy Gay Drama
Ben Affleck is among those attempting to acquire movie rights to Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award-winning play Take Me Out, about the coming-out of a gay baseball player, the New York Post reported today (Wednesday). Affleck also hopes to play the role of Kippy, the player’s (straight) best friend, he told the newspaper. “There are four characters at the center of the play,” he told the Post. “I always considered Kippy the lead–he represents the audience’s point of view–but an argument can be made for the other three as well.”
(Thanks to Eric for the link.) Which reminds me, Take Me Out is definitely on the must-see list for my next New York jaunt, whenever that may be. Sigh. Why doesn’t Washington have a cohesive Broadway touring series like San Francisco‘s? Is it ’cause we’re close enough to New York that show tours tend to pass us by? I suppose it’s largely a matter of monopoly, though. In San Francisco, three of the major theaters are under the direction of the singular Shorenstein Hays-Nederlander group, so they have some collective power in bringing shows to town and promoting them as one series, which at least makes the theater scene look more robust.
Yeah, I know, D.C. has the Kennedy Center and the National and Warner Theatres–so I can’t really complain–but the Kennedy’s theater season is usually play (rather than musical) heavy, and for the latter theaters, it seems very ad hoc. You just wait and see what shows up. Anyway, a few of the upcoming shows: at National, Cats and Mamma Mia! this fall and Urinetown in the spring; and The Producers at the Kennedy Center next spring, along with a Tennessee Williams festival, which I’m really looking forward to.
Speaking of the arts, why does opera have to be so damn expensive? I got the Washington Opera subscription brochure in yesterday’s mail, and it’s taunting me. I want to see Die Fledermaus and La Cenerentola, both of which feature Jesús Garcia–whom I saw as Rodolfo in Baz’s La Bohème on Broadway–and Plácido Domingo will be Siegmund in Die Walküre, so I want to catch that as well. (Gee, does that sentence have enough italics and accent marks?) I guess I’ll spring for the cheap seats. The second tier side section at the Opera House isn’t so bad; I once saw La Bayadère from the front far-leftmost seat, and it was actually a good spot. Though, I don’t know about the cavernous Constitution Hall, the company’s current home until next March, while the Opera House is being renovated.
Ah, the sweet burden of good taste.
So, I’ve been poring over this comedic treasure trove: The Daily Show video archive. Is it so wrong that I’m watching more Jon Stewart than Jim Lehrer these days?
Speaking of comedy, last night I got around to watching Ellen Degeneres’ special on HBO, Here and Now. Totally hilarious. I was laughing so loud it’s a wonder I didn’t get any complaints from my neighbors. I’m still kicking myself for not catching her show when she was in town. Ah well, maybe I was just following her advice too closely: “Procrastinate now,” she says. “Don’t put it off.” Amen, sister.
Money moment of the show: Ellen, first reciting, then full-on rapping her old-school drive-time radio favorite, Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop“… oh, man. Priceless.
Has anyone out there done Urban Challenge, the (relatively) new city scavenger hunt? The one in Washington is at the end of August. Maybe it’s the Amazing Race-induced high talking here, but I’m really tempted to give it a go. Judging from the info on last year’s race, though, the clues they give to find the different checkpoints throughout the city can be really cryptic. Team Rebel Prince, anyone? Winners are eligible for the nationals in New Orleans this fall. Interesting…
Five design concepts for the California quarter have been sent to the U.S. Mint for consideration. I’m not that crazy about any particular one, but had I to choose among them, I’d go with John Muir at Yosemite. It’s simple and not too busy. Even just from a purely technical standpoint, I think it’s well-drawn. Though, I assume the ultimate design will be given a standardized line and shading treatment suitable for stamping on a coin. Like, I don’t think they’d be able to recreate the detail of the Golden Gate Bridge drawing, for example. I don’t like that one, anyway. I mean, I get the whole “look, it’s all of scenic California!” vibe, but maybe it’s a little too realistically drawn. No, the real Bridge doesn’t lead off into the Hollywood hills, but that’s the impression you get. And what about the “Waves and Sun” one? Those Hokusai-like crests don’t look particularly inviting. Who needs to worry about sharks when you have waves like that? (Calif. quarter link via kottke.org.)