9 - 2005 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Opening Night

And so it begins … UPDATE: Opening night for the Cotton Patch Gospel at our church, with yours truly in the role of Matthew (the narrator and, so I keep…

And so it begins …

UPDATE: Opening night for the Cotton Patch Gospel at our church, with yours truly in the role of Matthew (the narrator and, so I keep being told, the star — which just seems wrong). The results?

THE GOOD

When we were in the groove, we were smoking. Great energy, great harmony great work.
Lots of good laughs, lots of applause after tunes (even some of the less well-performed ones), lots of enthusiasm from the audience.
Some of the really rough spots, even from last night’s final dress, were in good shape.
Lots of kudos from the audience after the performance. You’d think it was the greatest thing they’d ever seen — which, for some of them, I know it was not. But whether it was very vigorous politeness or real pleasure, it was quite gratifying.

THE BAD

A few line flubs. Nothing too bad (only one set piece really fell flat because of it), and mine were no worse than others. But despite the folksy nature of the dialog, and the general unawareness of the audience of 90% of the errors that the actors are aware of, there was definite room for improvement tomorrow.
The above included problems with some lyrics in the tunes, which is inexcusable at this point. One phrase in one song is particularly difficult for me to remember.
Energy level was very uneven. Our Second Act opening tune was just woefully underpowered>
My voice was not what it should be. I think a week-plus of nightly rehearsals is beginning to take its toll. I need to be careful.
My wireless mic was, evidently, out for at least 2/3 of the show. Fortunately, of all the folks in the cast, my projection is such that I need a mic least, but it was still a problem.

THE UGLY

There was at least one of the various a capella tunes, in close 3- or 4-part harmony, where I just plain ol’ started on the wrong note. This has been a real problem for me, because of my (a) lack of current musical training, (b) the lack of practice we did on them, (c) their absence on the soundtrack. Need to fix that tomorrow.
Some very inconsiderate parents (some of whom I was really surprised by). I don’t mind that the little ones, aged 3-6, wanted to dance in the aisles during the music. It’s actually kind of cute. But when (a) it moves into the “stage” area, and (b) it turns into general running around and wandering about and taking guitar stands and going up and down the aisles, whether it’s music going on or dialog, and (c) all it draws is a “Shep! Bad dog!” sort of useless posturing (as opposed to grabbing the kid and dragging them back to their seat, or even outside) — then it’s a problem.
Frustrating. And distracting (for us and for the rest of the audience.) Rrg.

IN SUMMARY
As Lynn would put it, “It didn’t suck.” Some great moments, a few not-so-great moments, but the finale and encore were on the money and the audience walked away very happy.

And, thus, so did I.

It will be better tomorrow.

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Library Day

And the aftermath thereof. It is cool that she’s enjoying trying to read. Even when the TV came on, she kept at it with the books. More on the Parent-Teacher…

And the aftermath thereof. It is cool that she’s enjoying trying to read. Even when the TV came on, she kept at it with the books.

More on the Parent-Teacher Conference tomorrow.

(this post enabled by airblogging.com)

Katherine and the eye exam. UPDATE: Despite initial screen at school and the pediatrician, the opthamologist declared Katherine was just fine. Slight far-sightedness and astygmatism, but perfectly normal for her…

Katherine and the eye exam.

UPDATE: Despite initial screen at school and the pediatrician, the opthamologist declared Katherine was just fine. Slight far-sightedness and astygmatism, but perfectly normal for her age.

So she may end up with glasses some day (I give it a 95% chance), but not today. Yay!

(this post enabled by airblogging.com.)

Embarrassed

So I’ve been noticing this bus stop bench ad which asks, “PREGNANT? EMBARAZADA?” Which set me to thinking … does the Spanish word for “pregnant” really fundamentally mean “embarrassed” (as…

So I’ve been noticing this bus stop bench ad which asks, “PREGNANT? EMBARAZADA?” Which set me to thinking … does the Spanish word for “pregnant” really fundamentally mean “embarrassed” (as I started applying all sorts of cultural stereotypes about stodgy / traditionalist / Catholic Spaniards)?

Well, not really. There are some amusing stories one can hear about this false cognate between the two languages, but there is, ultimately, a common root between the two terms which is only metaphorical to either connection.

It is an important characteristic of linguistic borrowing that once a word is ‘borrowed’ into a language, it becomes the possession of that language and its meanings can be changed to suit that language. Even though a word may be borrowed with its meaning intact, with time, words that once meant the same thing in the languages of both borrower and lender drift apart, meanings are dropped, new nuances are added; the words take on an individual life of their own. For example, embarrassed and embarazada came, ultimately, from the same root. Italian imbarrare, meaning ‘to surround with bars’ gave rise to imbarrazzare, which became French embarrasser and Spanish embarazar, meaning ‘to hamper or impede’, and these in turn passed into English — embarrassed.

The original meaning of embarrassed is partly retained in the more old-fashioned sense of ‘in a difficult situation’ and is mainly used to talk euphemistically about financial difficulties. Feeling awkward or disconcerted is now the most frequent sense in English. Meanwhile, the Spanish verb embarazar has retained the original hamper or obstruct sense, but has the additional meaning of to make a woman pregnant. The adjective which is derived from this has only the pregnant sense. Embarazoso is the word to use to translate the English adjective embarrassed.

See? This is the sort of language stuff I love — two words that really mean two different things, but that wound their own separate ways from another word whose meaning you can still see in both.

(For the record, a number of other sources indicate that avergonzado is a better to word to use for “embarrassed” in Spanish.)

At any rate, regarding my particular fondness for lexical trivia, I refuse to be embarrassed.

Brawny energy

Roger Ebert on Serenity: I’m not sure the movie would have much appeal for non-sci-fi fans, but it has the rough edges and brawny energy of a good yarn, and…

Roger Ebert on Serenity:

I’m not sure the movie would have much appeal for non-sci-fi fans, but it has the rough edges and brawny energy of a good yarn, and it was made by and for people who can’t get enough of this stuff. You know who you are.

He says, earlier in the article,

“Serenity” is an old-fashioned space opera, and differs from a horse opera mostly in that it involves space, not horses.

Which is, of course, ironic, given the criticisms leveled at the show by folks who couldn’t understand why Joss did put horses in there …

All of which reminds me of a Firefly quote from Julia’s page:

ZOE: You sanguine about the kind of reception we’re apt to receive on an Alliance ship, Captain?
MAL: Absolutely. What’s sanguine mean?
ZOE: Sanguine – hopeful. Plus, point of interest, it also means bloody.
MAL: Well, that pretty much covers all the options, don’t it?

Dunno how it’s going to happen, but I truly want to see this flick this weekend.

(via Doyce)

Politics!

You are a Social Liberal (70% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (60% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian The Politics Test It’s all DOF’s fault, even if…

You are a
Social Liberal
(70% permissive)

and an…
Economic Conservative
(60% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

The Politics Test

It’s all DOF‘s fault, even if the test results look fairly accurate (and eerily like DOF’s …)

Zeno’s Actors

Did a full no-stopping run-through of Cotton Patch Gospel last night. Not too shabby. About 45 minutes, each half, and while that will get expanded a bit by (one hopes)…

Did a full no-stopping run-through of Cotton Patch Gospel last night. Not too shabby. About 45 minutes, each half, and while that will get expanded a bit by (one hopes) applause and laughter, a few pauses and sound check problems will shrink it back down. Hopefully it will work out just right to fit on a 90 minute Digital Videotape that Margie will shoot.

Each time we run through this, we are significantly better. I’ve been joking that if we had another week, we’d be perfect to the point of boredom (and exhausted to the point of collapse). For better or worse, though, dress rehearsal is tonight, and opening tomorrow night.

Too busy to talk

Communication is essential, and whenever we don’t communicate, things get missed, misassumptions get made, and things go all higglety-pigglety. That said, not only am I finding that (a) my schedule…

Communication is essential, and whenever we don’t communicate, things get missed, misassumptions get made, and things go all higglety-pigglety.

That said, not only am I finding that (a) my schedule is getting double- and treble-booked with phonecons on any variety of subjects, project reviews, and the like, but (b) it’s nearly impossible to find in Outlook even a half hour that any given five people have mutually free, and (c) when I do so, invariably one or more folks subsequently have to cancel because of something else that’s come up.

I’d raise this as a discussion point at the weekly management meeting my boss has, but he’s had to call it off for the last six weeks because of his own schedule conflicts …

Writing sensible e-mail

Some great advice (and a bit that’s a tad finicky, too). I certainly (at least at work) need to work on the brevity bits. Others need a lot of work…

Some great advice (and a bit that’s a tad finicky, too).

I certainly (at least at work) need to work on the brevity bits. Others need a lot of work on coming up with succinct but informative subject lines.

There can be only one, doc!

Highlander. In 30 seconds. With bunnies. (via the Flea)…

Highlander. In 30 seconds. With bunnies.

(via the Flea)

Calling Captain Nemo!

Japanese scientists have gotten the first-ever photos of a live giant squid. Cool! (via BoingBoing)…

Japanese scientists have gotten the first-ever photos of a live giant squid. Cool!

(via BoingBoing)

Reduction

Many, many congrats to Marn, who’s cracked 150 in her weight goal toward health and happiness. Well done! Might I offer up the requested Hallelujah Chorus? (And, by the way,…

Many, many congrats to Marn, who’s cracked 150 in her weight goal toward health and happiness. Well done!

Might I offer up the requested Hallelujah Chorus?

(And, by the way, there’s a picture of her at her site far more svelte than this one. Good job!)

Monkey Tail Mail

The “@” sign is a natural in English, but has been imposed on the rest of the Internet-using world that doesn’t have a tradition of it or of the English…

The “@” sign is a natural in English, but has been imposed on the rest of the Internet-using world that doesn’t have a tradition of it or of the English word “at.” So various local names have cropped up for the symbol, including such fun bits as aapstert (monkey’s tail) in Afrikaans, zavinac (pickled herring) in Czech, snabel (elephant’s trunk) in Danish, and shablul (snail) in Hebrew. Cool.

Shrinking Violets

The studies and science behind shyness. In a study published early this year, Dr. Marco Battaglia of San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy, recruited 49 third- and fourth-grade children and…

The studies and science behind shyness.

In a study published early this year, Dr. Marco Battaglia of San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy, recruited 49 third- and fourth-grade children and administered questionnaires to rank them along a commonly accepted shyness scale. He showed each child a series of pictures of faces exhibiting joy, anger or no emotion at all and asked them to identify the expressions. The children who scored high on the shyness meter, it turned out, had a consistently hard time deciphering the neutral and the angry faces.

What’s more, when he recorded brain activity using electroencephalograms, Battaglia found that those with higher scores for shyness had lower levels of activity in the cortex, where sophisticated thought takes place. That suggested higher levels of activity in the more primitive amygdala, where anxiety and alarm are sounded. Shy children, Battaglia concluded, may simply be less adept at reading the facial flickers other kids use as social cues. Unable to rely on those helpful signals, they tend to go on high alert, feeling anxious about any face they can’t decipher. “The capacity to interpret faces is one of the most important prerequisites for balanced relationships,” Battaglia says.

Thats … very interesting.

(via Kottke)

Mixed media

I always thought of Mario and Luigi as much … cuter than this. (via Kottke)…

I always thought of Mario and Luigi as much … cuter than this.

(via Kottke)

Sounds like something Dave Hill, International Man of Mystery, could have used

How to get your name off the no-fly list….

How to get your name off the no-fly list.

Having their cake and eating it, too

If, as most software companies assert, they are not really selling us the software, but only a license to use it, and thus can place all sorts of limitations on…

If, as most software companies assert, they are not really selling us the software, but only a license to use it, and thus can place all sorts of limitations on how we use it, back it up, or even try to sell it to someone else when we’re done with it — if, in other words, we’re just buying a service from them, not an asset …

… then how come we have to pay sales (and property) tax on it?

Unserene

Serenity opens up on Friday. The movie I’ve been looking forward to since, oh, when it was first hinted that it might happen. This Friday. The chances are passing slim…

Serenity opens up on Friday. The movie I’ve been looking forward to since, oh, when it was first hinted that it might happen. This Friday.

The chances are passing slim that I’ll be seeing it then.

Let’s see — I work in the morning. Life’s way too busy at the office now (he said in the same gift of understatement by which he referenced Hurricane Katrina as ‘that spot of weather down south’) to play hookey.

In the afternoon? Ah. Parent-Teacher Conference for Katherine. Followed by eye appointment for Katherine. (There’s a good possibility that the, oh, 100% chance that she’s going to suffer from both sides of the gene pool’s vision woes, is, in fact, going to come true.)

In the evening? Oh, nothing much, except opening night for the Cotton Patch Gospel. Y’all come now, hear? Unless, of course, you’re going to Serenity. Or MirrorMask, for that matter.

After that — say, 9 p.m. Friday night?

I have no idea. Except, of course, there’s the sitting thing (we’re raising Katherine as geekily as we can, but I suspect Serenity is a scosh over her age bracket), and there’s the Holy frell, I’m exhausted thing. Either of which can possibly be overcome, but, to be honest, I really don’t have the time or energy to do so.

(“Pity me, pity me,” he wailed.)

Ah, well. Maybe Saturday afternoon. Or Sunday night.

At least I was there for the first sneak peak showing. Otherwise I’d really be torqued.

Keep ’em flying, folks.

Words mean things

A fun BBC article about some interesting foreign phrases that don’t make it into the guide books or language classes. One of my favorites: the Japanese katahara itai, which means…

A fun BBC article about some interesting foreign phrases that don’t make it into the guide books or language classes. One of my favorites: the Japanese katahara itai, which means laughing so much you get a stitch in your side.

Good fodder for writing, as well as for roleplay.

(via BoingBoing)

Teaching lessons

Just to show that what’s legally permissible is not necessarily a good thing … A 14-year-old student was expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians, the school’s…

Just to show that what’s legally permissible is not necessarily a good thing …

A 14-year-old student was expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians, the school’s superintendent said in a letter. Shay Clark was expelled from Ontario Christian School on Thursday.

“Your family does not meet the policies of admission,” Superintendent Leonard Stob wrote to Tina Clark, the girl’s biological mother. Stob wrote that school policy requires that at least one parent may not engage in practices “immoral or inconsistent with a positive Christian life style, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship,” The Los Angeles Times reported in Friday’s edition.

I think the school in question has every right to be as persnickety and restrictive in its admission policies as it wants. And I think that parents who find this sort of action on the school’s part abhorrent have every right to withdraw their kids from the school, too.

And the only other bit I have to say is that it’s a good thing that Christ didn’t decide the only folks worthy of association with were those who “did not engage in practices immoral or inconsistent with a positive Godly life style.” In fact, I sort of recall he hung out with just the opposite … but, then, that was then and this is now and I’m sure he’d agree with Ontario Christian School having to maintain, well, standards about whom they invite to their educational table. Otherwise, who knows what sort of riff-raff, thieves, tax collectors and prostitutes they might have to rub elbows with? Gads!

(via Ginny)

Month: September 2005