MY LIFE AS SPINNER DUDE

Posted by admin at July 31st, 2007

My guilty pleasure on TV lately has been “America’s Got Talent”. It’s like Ted Mack Amateur Hour, The Gong Show and American Idol all rolled into one.

Anyway, they are whittling down the competitors right now from 10 to 8 performing acts. There is a group of Rubenesque women that sings songs that aren’t bad, a ventriloquist (on of my faves), 3 guys that sing (I really like Cas), a beatboxer, 2 groups of tumblers/martial artists, one 14 year old girl country singer and a fiddle/banjo/guitar playing family band.

Last week the country bumpkin family band played “La Bamba”. OMG! Could they be the whitest, non-rhythmic group in the world? I was embarrased for them. They had no command of how to pronounce any of the Spanish words. It sounded so white bread (which is what they are). I was mystified as to how they got to the final 10.

There is one singer (the one with the nice guns) who is so off pitch most of the time. He’s flat! Jeez. Way annoying.

Then this week the kick boxer dudes pull out these little kids to do their routine with them. “X”. The leader got defensive because they were teaching the youth of America. Well, listen kick boxer dudes…your show tonight was kinda dumb. While I realize there are altruistic causes out there, a talent competition isn’t the place to show your benevolence. It bit big time.

I think people don’t give Pierce (one of the three judges of Sharon Osbourne and David Hasslehoff) enough credit. While I realize he seem may harsh to the general public, one who gets into show business needs to know that it’s a really tough life trying to break into the game. Most of the competitors seem to think that just because you show up, you should get a reward of some type. Wrong! You have got to be on 100% of the time especially if people are paying good money to see you in concert or on a performance stage.

Here’s my choice for who should be eliminated: Country bumpkin fiddle playing family and kick boxer dudes. Why? The fiddle players are so un-entertaining. Their rehash of old favorites is like elevator music for the local, yocal, toothless, moonshine crowd. And the kick box dudes, bad programming choice. They have enough material to put on a great show but they chose to dumb it down with non-talent kids. If they ever did that at a show I paid money to see, I’d ask for my money back.  They “show biz pimped” those kids for $1 million.  Shameless.

Posted by admin at July 31st, 2007

Lawyer Dude and I are in the habit of going to our local Cathedral of the Big Box and worshipping at the temple of mass consumerism. Tons of chicken breasts, loads of fake eggs, a seven year supply of dishwasher crystals, oodles of cheese, and as much toilet paper as you can handle. How can anyone not get sucked in? It’s also fun to sample all the little items. You can have dinner at this place just on those little samples!

Today was no exception. Our monthly trip included stock ups of charcoal, peanut butter and bagels. I also loaded up on lunch stuff as that pesky calendar is telling me that the school year starts soon. Yikes.

Posted by admin at July 27th, 2007

Now that I’ve had a chance to settle in, look through the schwagg (the distant cousin of “swag”) and set up the ComicCon Shrine of Geekdom (yup, we have it set up now!), here we go on more pics and pans of Nerdfest 2007.

This is one of the renderings from the Darth Vader collection. No need to ask.

Lawyer Dude with “The Chuckies”.

Me at the “Peanuts” display. Could this be more geeky?

And finally, in honor of the movie release, “The Barts”.

Posted by admin at July 26th, 2007

Hello, my name is Spinner Dude and I am a comic/sci fi geek. Echo back in unison, “Hello, Spinner Dude”.

Just returned from the San Diego Comic Con and boy did we have a great time. Lots of schwagg (a combo of schwing and swag), lots of good free stuff, lots to see and lots of achy feet. Lawyer Dude and I did ourselves proud.

First off, a note to Comic Con…..Can you organize things just a tad bit? Seems to me that you should know that hoardes of people will descend onto one place and that you should show them exactly what needs to be done to check in. You all had a lot off pissed of sci fi-ers on your hands.

In light of the long lines we were in the hall post haste, with badges circa 1.5 hours.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN! GRAB AS MUCH AS YOU CAN! GRAB AND DON’T LOOK BACK!

First geek alert. I saw Paris Hilton! She was flitting about the convention floor encouraging young people to continue reading and to fall in love with reading. The hoochie hair, clothes and make up were all gone and the freshly scrubbed girl next door look was in. It’s amazing what time in the slammer can do to you.

Then it was onto the Charlie Brown collection. Oh yeah baby! Some of my best childhood memories are from reading the anthology books of the Peanuts strips my parents bought for me. And….I GOT THE BOBBLE HEAD SURFER SNOOPY!

Note the look of glee on my face. I was grinning from ear to ear.

OK, onto more star sightings. Any fans of “Battlestar Gallactica” out there? Well, we bumped into Aaron Douglas who plays “Chief Tyrol” on the show. Now, note the look utter-geekdom-omg-squeal like a little girl on my face in THAT picture. I’m too embarrased to show it. Ahh…what the heck!

I’ll tell more later about this extraordinary day. I’m going to sleep now and the new Surfer Snoopy plushy is going to guard over us.

Posted by admin at July 24th, 2007

Last Saturday marked the culmination of planning, organizing and managing the SDMC contingent for the SD Pride Parade. My great committee was comprised of Rene, Dustin and Tom. Let me tell you…these guys were awesome. Our theme was “Equality In Any Language” and our float had international flags, red posters of the word equality in different languages, a white bunting background and we had a t-shirt designed for the event, complete with coordinating business cards we handed out to the parade watchers. Thanks for the red/white idea Dustin. And Rene, the globe looked great. Thank you Tom for building the rails and running around at the last minute getting everything together.

Then it was onto the SDMC performance at the SD Pride Festival. Our set began at 1:45 pm so the logistics of tearing down the float and getting to the stage was a little on the tight side, but we managed. After our set, we grabbed lunch with friends Don and Larry, then took in the crowd at The Festival.

Lawyer Dude and I then headed back to Escondido to rest our aching feet and to gear up for a Pride cocktail party at our friends Skip and Andy’s home in Kensington. It was nice to relax from the days activities and have cocktails and great snackies with people from the chorus and others celebrating Pride Weekend. Their patio had a cool ocean breeze wafting over us and the apple-tinis weren’t bad either. The caterers had this dessert called “A F*** In The Face”. It was a cream cheese ball, slathered in cinnamon and then dipped in chocolate fondue. The caterer made sure she served it up on a skewer and personally fed it to you. I was in heaven. So was Lawyer Dude, only 2x’s over. Mental note…LD likes chocolate.

Just finished Harry Potter as well. I am a little sad that my boy from Hogwarts has bid us his final adieu. I will miss Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and all the rest. Very sad and intense reading. However, I am pleased with the book and all the speculation on how it was to end was just that…speculation. Thanks Ms. Rowling. I enjoyed our last 7 years together.

Posted by admin at July 15th, 2007

Today I am feeling the effects of inconsistent yoga class attendance.  Just sit me in a chair and attach the ibuprofin in a slow drip IV.

The perky lady kicked my ass yesterday.   Lawyer Dude…another double martini, please.  Note to self…bought the yoga mat, use more often. 

Posted by admin at July 13th, 2007

The mercury on the Casa Citracado thermometer says it’s 86*.     Bernadette Peter’s in “Sunday In The Park With George”  says this, “It’s Hot In Here”.

I agree.

Posted by admin at July 11th, 2007

I found myself at 12:01 am midnight, at a local theater in great anticipation of the new installment of the Harry Potter movies. The movie was a little darker, a little angrier, a little bit of an edge. All the characters are growing up and it’s nice to see them progressing through all the usual stuff. Daniel Radliffe looks like a seasoned veteran all decked out in his urban hipster outfits. Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) and Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) stole the show.

My calculations led me to these  facts.    The younger fans in line with us were in the 3rd, 4th or 5th grade when the first books came across the pond. That was circa 1998. Nice to see that those kids were out in droves cheering on their favorite wizard. They care about these characters but they don’t want their ultracool friends to know about their alternate fancies.

Again, the plot was shortened due to the constraints of making a movie. I, myslef, would sit through a longer show if it was true to the book, but that’s just me. As is the case with many movies these days there is a soft pedaled message of a government that refuses to listen to the citizenry. Hmmmmmmm…..

My review? 5 out 5 broomsticks and an enthusiastic wands up!

Posted by admin at July 8th, 2007

Caught the run of “Ave. Q” at Spreckel’s Theatre in Downtown SD on Friday night with Lawyer Dude. The tix were my birthday present from him (Wow!).

Having grown up here in SD, I’d forgotten how ornate the theatre is. It brought back some wonderful memories of movies and shows I’d seen at the venue.

Anyway, the puppets with an edge were even better this time because, well, I saw the whole show and didn’t walk out of an abbreviated version like I did in Vegas (long story). The gal who sang lead was very talented and the male lead was great, too. The puppets and how they are staged is very interesting conceptually and it did have a nice little message of hope at the end. The catchy lyrics (“It Sucks To Be Me”) will live in my head forever.

Having said that, this show was on the same 2004 Tony nominee slate as “Wicked” and I’m sorry….the green skinned girl and the blonde still get my vote.

Thank you Lawyer Dude for a great present. I had a grand night.

Posted by admin at July 8th, 2007

Monday — Gym, Chorus rehearsal

Tuesday — Ratatouille

Wednesday — Prep the Casa for company, hosted barbecue for friends, previewed IPhone, fireworks downtown

Thursday — Cleaned the beach with Surf Rider Foundation, added to my shinies collection (car base stand for Ipod), gym (note shorter haircut…it’s the summer ‘do).

Friday — Gym, Ave Q, Drinks at No.1

Saturday — Gym, barbecue at friends, fell in love with puppy.

I’ve had a busy week! Life is good.