Rebel Prince

If you haven’t watched at least a few episodes of Dawson’s Creek feel free to skip this entry. I won’t hold it against you. (As long as you don’t hold it against me that I actually just spent two hours watching Dawson’s Creek in the first place.) Move along. Nothing to see here.

So, the final episode of the series aired tonight. Some of it was a little too self-referential. Not in a clever way, but in a “let me hit you over the head with a two-by-four of reconstituted ‘I can’t believe it’s not wit'” way. We’re five years into the future, and Dawson is now executive producer for a TV show based on his youth called The Creek, which airs Wednesday nights at 8. How cute. No, not really.

I’ve been watching Jack for a while now, to see where the writers take him–one of the few gay recurring characters on network television–and I thought it a little too convenient to have him hooked up with Doug, the only other gay character on the show, almost as if to say, “Hey, the two gay guys, of course they end up together,” regardless of any emotional connection between the two, which was absent in the episodes leading up to the finale. (Then again, the fictional town of Capeside isn’t exactly the Castro, so in a town that small I guess it could happen.)

But other than a few nitpicks, I admit to a certain feeling of loss, not the least of which is caused by Jen’s death. The commercials had made it all very mysterious and gimmicky (“One of these friends will die…”), but in the end it was handled pretty well, resulting in a minimum of eye-rolling on my part.

I actually found the finale kind of affecting. The show has had its ups and downs over the years–we have a love-hate relationship–but I’m sad it’s over.

To follow up on yesterday’s entry: I’m out of the loop again. I knew Les Misérables was closing on Broadway, but I didn’t realize it was this weekend! Of course all the remaining performances are sold out. I first saw the show in San Francisco, back in my high-school days, and fell in love with it. I was obsessed. My friend Steve and I would debate the merits and dissect every nuance of the various cast recordings: London, Broadway, international symphonic… I even have the original French concept album somewhere. (A great place to find obscure cast albums and soundtracks is Footlight Records in the East Village. I keep reminding myself to get the Italian recording of Rent there.)

So yeah, I never got to see Les Miz on Broadway. You know how it is… you visit New York, and given limited time, you don’t make a point to see the old standards, which you figure will be around forever or tour to a theater near you. It would’ve been nice to see it again for the first time, as it were, but oh well.

I used to be more tuned in to Broadway (and not Beltway) buzz, so this sort of sneaked up on me: the Tony Award nominations were announced yesterday. The shows with the most noms are Hairspray, Movin’ Out, and Nine; and the top nominated play is Long Day’s Journey into Night. Radio City Music Hall is once again the venue for the awards on Sunday, June 8, broadcast on CBS. Aside from La Bohéme and Man of La Mancha, I haven’t seen any of the other nominated shows. Must remedy the situation.

As for the local scene, I’ve been meaning to see some Shakespeare. Lots to choose from this month. This weekend the Royal Shakespeare Company wraps up its production of As You Like It at the Kennedy Center, and Richard III closes at the Shakespeare Theatre. The latter company follows up with the annual Free for All; this year’s play is Hamlet, to be presented May 29 to June 8.

I like the concept of a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a restaurant, but does it have to be yet another “reality” show, with all that ad hoc casting and so forth? It’s sort of like a culinary Making the Band. I’d be just as (if not more) happy with a show profiling the development of a real restaurant and the real people who run it. I suppose that kind of special-interest, documentary programming (read: real “reality” TV) gets relegated to public and cable television, not prime-time networks. (Cf. “24 Hours at the Golden Apple,” This American Life, Nov. 17, 2000.)

Today’s major accomplishments: I woke up at 8 a.m. (that’s earlier than I get up on weekdays!); did two loads of laundry (what an ordeal; let’s just say our laundry room simply does not have enough washing machines to support an apartment building of this size); and lastly, inspired by my current reading, Jacques Pépin’s The Apprentice, which has recipes sprinkled amongst the chapters, I went to Fresh Fields for ingredients, came back home, and cooked up the first dish in the book, stuffed eggs (dubbed “Les Oeufs Jeannette” after Jacques’ mother). It was quite tasty. I was impressed. Paired with a glass of champagne, it’s perfect for a Sunday brunch, Mother’s Day no less. (See recipe below.)

Since I don’t cook often, I now have so much more garlic, parsley, etc. than I can possibly use in the course of my weekly routine. Having a stock of raw ingredients, though, just as an artist keeps a spectrum of paints–the tools of creation, if you will–should inspire me further, so I suppose this is good. I’ll just find more recipes, and keep on cookin’.

I received a birthday card from my dear friend Caroline, who notes that we’ve known each other for twenty years now. Wow. Yes, since kindergarten in Daly City. (I wish I had pictures with me to scan in, but let’s all save ourselves some dignity. Oh, who am I kidding; we were cute little tykes.) We attended different middle schools, and then coincidentally reunited a couple of years later at the same high school in San Francisco. It was heartening to see a friendly face that first day, when as a wide-eyed freshman making a transition from public to private school, I had thought I wouldn’t know a soul. Those high school years were some good times.

We both have May birthdays; hers is a few days before mine. Happy birthday to you too, girl.

This week’s Friday Five:

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not?
I think I’m organized, but not necessarily neat. I’m a piler, not a filer. I like to see where everything is, even if it means being a bit untidy, rather than having them out of sight… and perhaps out of mind.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly?
No. I used to have a cell phone with a built-in Palm interface, and I loved having my entire address book so accessible and customizable, but I never used the calendar functions. I need to see an entire week or month at a glance, and a small PDA screen isn’t ideal. It’s not like I have a demanding work or social schedule anyway, so my multi-purpose, pocket-sized notebook suits me just fine.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now?
At work, yes, considering there’s very little to organize at the moment. Ask me again in a few weeks, when the desk will seem to have been completely replaced by a slowly drifting glacier of paper.

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter?
No. But I do try to organize CDs and books by genre. As for DVDs, I own so few that some kind of order wouldn’t be significantly more useful than their current random state.

5. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to organize?
More a project, than individual items: a few years ago, when I interned for a Silicon Valley PR agency, I had to recruit retail sponsors for a local science fair. It was an unwieldy project, especially for just one person to handle–making contacts, negotiating promotional offers, etc.–but my anemic efforts at business persuasion seemed to have some positive effect. In the end, the event turned out rather well.

So, when are we really grown up?
University of Chicago survey says adulthood begins at age 26

CHICAGO (AP)—The law may imply that you’re a grown-up when you’re old enough to vote, serve in the military or drink legally. But most Americans really think adulthood begins at age 26, according to a new study from the University of Chicago. The study said most people don’t consider a person grown up until they finish school, get a full-time job and start raising a family.

Full story here. Well, I guess this is somewhat true for me, but only because I happened to have a new job coincide with my twenty-sixth birthday. So unlike some other less eventful birthdays when I haven’t felt any different, this time, I actually do feel a bit older. But as for getting married and buying a house, yikes. I agree with one of the interviewees in the article, who’s much more “come what may” about it: “I don’t think those factors are important in defining yourself as an adult… There’s more of an attitude that ‘It’ll happen when it happens.'” Exactly.

Thanks to Tom G. for the link. And regarding this entry’s title: please tell me you’ve all seen Swingers. The scene in the diner?