Would anyone happen to have a black cloak I could borrow for the weekend? And could pick up before Thursday?

Merci mille fois!

My "little sister" is coming into town tomorrow night. I'll be bringing her to Marie's. Anyone else gonna be there?
Can't wait to see how she likes it...

Oh, my gosh, this is brilliant and sweet and all kinds of wonderful!!!

Every time I reaffirm my vow that coincidences are just coincidences and that there is no fate, something weird happens that makes me wonder.
For example, years ago, a school friend (the editor of the school's lit magazine the year before I took it over, in fact) and I were discussing the issue and disagreeing on it. She believed in fate. I believed-- believe-- in random coincidence. We decided to continue our debate over ice cream, and drove over to the sort-of-local ice cream parlor in Princeton. (Halo Pub, if you're ever in town, puts Cold Stone to cowering shame. It's terrific. And all-natural. And cheap.)
We went inside, waited in line, and when we were about to place our orders, the girl behind the counter looked up at us and jumped.
"Oh, my gosh!" she said excitedly. "You're carasol and [friend's name]!"
We were both a bit startled by that. "Sorry, but do we know you?" my friend asked.
"You ran Tangents back at Lawrence High School!" the girl said. Now it was our turn to jump.
"How did you know that?" I asked her.
"Because I took it over my senior year!"
Apparently, she had joined after I graduated, but my friend's and my legacy had lived on, and she knew all about us. So there we were: three editors of the same high school literary magazine in one ice cream parlor... not even in the same town that we'd gone to school in. My friend turned to me and grinned. "What were you saying about coincidences?" she asked.
I still maintain that it was a coincidence.
But then today, I stayed late at work to finish up a project, even though I could have left it till the next day. When I walked out, I found myself next to a co-worker, so we walked to Grand Central together, not taking the route I usually take when I walk alone. Because I entered through a different door, I wound up at an area of the 7 platform I don't usually wait at.
I got on the train, and looked around for a seat. And I noticed a familiar face-- one I don't see often-- sitting across the crowded aisle from me. I wasn't sure it was her-- her head was bowed, and her hair was half-covering her face-- but then she looked up, and I shoved my way through the mass of people to stand in front of her, nearly shouting out her name.
Turned out, she was in town to visit family, and was getting ready to head home. And she had been planning on taking a subway that wouldn't get her to the train station she needed. I pointed this out, and we wound up going to the train station together to catch up until she had to go.
It was a terrific bit of serendipity... enough to make me question my "no fate" stance again. I don't believe in kismet, but sometimes kismet seems to believe in me...

Had a scary dream last night. I didn't write it down when I woke up, so I've forgotten most of it, but I remember it involved an office (not my real one, but some other job in the dream) and-- I think-- vampires. Or something. I shoulda written it down. I woke up pretty freaked.

Maybe it came from this week's Doctor Who episode, which I really want to see adapted for the stage. It was a classic single-room, small-cast, small-budget drama, and felt very theatrical. The premise was really simple: The Doctor went sightseeing on a very non-life supporting planet (super-intense radiation from the sun; no atmosphere for breathing outside of the trains that bring tourists to climate-controlled developments), and some invisible thing got into the transport. It took over the body of one of the passengers, and she began repeating what everybody else was saying, as though she (it) were learning the language and speech patterns. The delay between the original speech and the repeat got shorter and shorter... until she was speaking along with the other passengers, keeping perfect time, copying their inflections and rhythms. It was one of the creepiest things I'd seen in a long time. No special effects. No creepy-crawlie monsters. Just mindless repeating, and then speaking in tandem. Lesley Sharp, who played the possessed woman, did an amazing job mimicking the other actors, and the writing (Russell Davies, who I still adore despite some mediocre recent scripts) was very sharp. It reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" in its depiction of fear and paranoia.

For those who'd like to see it, the episode is up on YouTube:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Who got to interview Veanne "Best Amy in Company" Cox and Kathy "Shirley Markowitz" Fitzgerald about their hilarious turn in Damn Yankees?

Oh, yeah. Me!

Anyone feeling just a twinge of sympathy for Jesse Helms should read Jamie McGonnigal's excellent LJ entry.
I didn't know I could hate this sonofabitch  (no, that insults his mother) bastard (shoot, so does that) dangerous, malicious, uneducated, hate-mongering jackass anymore than I already did...

How appropriate that he died on Independence Day. But what a pity that he didn't die before he blocked so many Democratic motions in Congress.

Not safe for work at all, but damn funny.

For those who like computer-game music, here are some piano adaptations of songs from Final Fantasy.

I know this puts me in a minority, but I really love summer. I love the blast of heat after walking out of an overly air-conditioned building. I love not needing a jacket and hat. I love sipping iced drinks and relaxing outside.

But oy, today is just too damn humid. Maybe I was underhydrated. Maybe I didn't eat enough before going out to run errands. But when I stopped off at the local overexpensive coffee bar (not a Starbucks, but about the same price range), I suddenly felt very weak and dizzy. I sat down before the barista could make my latte, and a very nice waitress brought me a big glass of ice water. I felt much better after sipping cold drinks and cooling off my brow, but for a few minutes, I was pretty certain I was going to pass out in the middle of a coffee shop. Kinda scary.

Maybe I shouldn't love summer so much. It clearly doesn't love me back.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, mi querido Carlito!

Oh, my gosh... The DVD for Kiss of the Spider Woman is finally being released.

It's interesting: most people who like the musical hate the movie, and vice versa. I like 'em both, though I can easily see the flaws in each. The movie lacks a lot of the humor that makes the book so enjoyable, and it's the restoration of that humor that makes the musical work. But the movie does have some wonderful moments, like the pain on William Hurt's face when his character is told he could be released from prison. "And do what?" he wonders quietly. I really think it's that moment that won Hurt his Oscar.

Funny story, in a "not really all that funny, just kinda cool" sort of way: I actually worked on this DVD, and if the producer remembered his promise, I should be thanked in the documentary credits. Years back, I contacted the producer through the movie's official website, and we started a dialogue about the film. When he started work on the "making-of" documentary, he asked me to provide questions that he could ask John Kander, Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally and Hal Prince about the musical version. So I came up with a bunch of questions, and he said he was very pleased with them, and would give me credit for my contributions and send me a copy of the DVD when it was released.

That was five years ago, and I don't think I've heard from him since. I imagine he's forgotten all about me... but it'd be kinda cool if he didn't, and the documentary has some of the answers to my questions.

In any case, I already ordered my copy, and I hope they have lots of deleted scenes.

(This would only be funny to anyone who's watched Catherine Tate's Lauren Cooper character.)

"Am I bothered? Am I bothered, though? Look at my face. LOOK at my face. Face. Mine. Bothered? No! I ain't even bothered!"

(If you want to discover the insanity that is Lauren Cooper, watch this. Then this. And maybe a few more. And then, the best for last: this.)

Dody Goodman too?
Damn. God must be in need of a good laugh if He keeps taking all the funniest people...

George Carlin is dead.

Merde. (Can I say that one, George?)

I knew they were plotting something!

Hey, does anyone have a microcassette player I could borrow briefly?

Many thanks!

Courtesy of Kevin: "If cats had scales, no one would give a fuck about them."

I needed the laugh, too, 'cause today just sucked.

How does one go from a Type B personality to Type A? Kevin says it's all mental, and you simply have to decide to change. I'm not so sure.