the rake's progress

summarized in one word -- huh?!

tom loves anne, and wants to marry her. i am not sure why she agrees, as he wears low-quality wrangler-looking jeans and denim jacket. not sexy. however, she comes from a rich family (you wouldnt know it based on the homely blue gingham dress she she runs around in), and he is of course your typical impoverished protagonist. or so you think.

before they marry, tom is lured away by a stranger, shadow, who tells him he has inherited a vast estate from a dead previously unknown uncle in london. tom leaves anne, and promises to send for her when hes ready to get married (and she falls for it. not the brightest crayon in the box, are we?).

tom goes gallivanting about with some random whores (including the head cougar whore), then becomes a coke head and marries a bearded lady (sick dude). anne comes looking for tom, but he rejects her. then tom tries to kill his bearded lady wife, and goes financially insolvent by trying to sell a machine that turns rocks into bread (what a moron). anne comes looking for tom again, and follows him back to america (what a sucker she still is).

shadow, who has served as tom's assistant for a year by this time, finally reveals himself to be the devil/a demon (im not quite sure which) and demands tom's soul as payment for his services for the last year. yeah, like you didn't see that coming. old dude was creepy as hell, and looked kinda like a vulcan. tom wins a card game to save his soul (seventh sign style) but the devil takes his sanity (a crappy consolation prize, if you ask me).

tom then ends up in an insane asylum, and thinks hes adonis (yes, the famous greek lover/god). he awaits his lover, venus (weird, cos adonis was greek and venus was roman. did someone not study up on their ancient pagan history? yes, im talking to you mr. stravinsky) anne visits him and pretends to be his venus for a few minutes, then leaves him. tom stays crazy. end

oh, and then the epilogue -- "idle hands do the devil's work." what the hell does that mean? maybe i am not smart enough for this particular opera. it was even in english and all. the flow was weird, and i never cared a lick about any of the characters. they never mention any interest in greek/roman mythology at any point in the show, so even tom's insanity is fairly random. all i can say is huh?!

so far, im 0-2 for the operas i wanted to see. i thought macbeth and the rake's progress were going to be great. neither moved me. i hope le petit prince next year isn't a letdown. that would suck.

detroit trades for marlins

e-love told me this. and i agree. detroit already has pudge, maggs, and jacque jones (who's going to have the typical i-sucked-with-the-cubs-and-then-was-traded-and-will- now-have-a-breakout-year). if they get cabrerra and willis in trade with the marlins,

the white sox are not going to win the AL central for the next 100 years.

this is provided, of course, that cabrerra doesnt put on another 100 lbs in the next 2 years or that willis doesnt have to serve jail time for another DUI. or both.

ohman trade

so at the MLB winter meetings today, the cubs traded bullpen pitcher will ohman and omar infante, who we just got for jacque jones in the trade with detroit, for Jose Ascanio, a pitching prospect for the braves .

i dont know much about ascanio, but people think hes going to develop into a pretty decent setup/relief guy. and infante never played a game, so who knows what he could have done right/wrong?

im torn about the trading away ohman. i know he was persona non gratia (did i spell that right) after his statement about the trainers letting him get demoted even though he was "injured" and had to retract it later. but before that, he was a leader in the clubhouse (maybe not as much as d-lee or demps). but a leader nonetheless. on the other hand, i never thought he was a very good pitcher. and he always looked so scraggy, like they picked up a homeless guy off the street and put him in a uniform. wuertz is much better in short relief. and doesnt nearly look quite as scraggy.

i can still picture his combination look of pain and scowl when he gave up a homer to barry bonds last year. thats all i really picture him doing. kinda reminded me of homer simpson in some way - DOH!

austin powers

i love the life i have created for myself out here (with some help from cuz, of course). this morning i had one of those moments that reminded me how lucky i am.

b, bbq and i made plans to go to the oakland farmer's market this morning (per me and b's in-town saturday routine). somehow, the idea of a personal theme song came up, and bbq played his for us, as it was handily available on his iPhone. its the theme from austin powers (the musical number at the beginning where everyone dances in the streets). fitting right?

anyways, when we heard the music, the three of us suddenly started dancing on the sidewalk in oakland near b's house in the wacky austin powers fashion. we weren't synchronized, or very good at re-creating the movements from the movies. i actually think those movies are not that funny and kinda lame. but we were all laughing and completely unashamed in our goofy dorkiness as we walked over a major bay area freeway in full view of saturday morning traffic. we were simply 3 people having a good time with good friends.

it was a great moment. not to say that it couldnt have happened at some point of time in chicago, but it definitely wouldnt have happened this weekend as its in the 20s and 30s with icy conditions and biting wind in the greater chicagoland area right now. my laugher wasn't just over the situation, i laughed out of sheer joy and happiness (who even knew i was capable of feeling those things?). that doesn't happen very often, and i'm glad i was able to recognize this instance for what it was.

:)

a night with the cast of dallas

last night was weird. seriously weird. but not for the apparent reasons.

bbq and i made plans for me to venture into the city last night, and for the 2 of us to make an appearance at adrian's going away happy house. we figured we would show up, have a beer, and then head to the gym for some friday night climbing. then we would partake of yummy sushi at blowfish, bbq's new favorite sushi place in the mission.

things didn't quite go as planned.

what ended up happening is that we skipped climbing, tried to change our reservations to 4 people to include larry hagman and sue ellen, and ended up going someplace else altogether for mediocre mexican food.

i knew larry hagman was going to be at the bar. i was looking forward to seeing him, since he's going through the rough patch, as i will choose to refer to the current state of affairs. what i didnt expect was for sue ellen to be there. and for the 2 of us to have an awesome conversation at mars bar that culminated (organically, as b says) in me asking if the 2 of them wanted to join bbq and myself for dinner. i was sober (mostly), so it wasnt the liquor talking. i really did want to continue to hang out with them. they did end up joining us, even though we were not able to have blowfish sushi. we ended up at some other place (JB something?). later, i dropped them off at home as the 2 of them felt as though neither was capable of driving.

it should have been weird and awkward. the weirdest part of the evening was that it wasn't weird at all. the 2 of them are a great couple and a ton of fun to be around (especially when both have a few drinks under their belts).

im confused. i felt a little disloyal to cuz for thinking that sue ellen was so nice. but she really was. i really enjoyed hanging out with her. i dont understand why this rough patch is what it is. everyone involved is a rational, logical, intelligent adult.

i did tell cuz about everything, and of course she was great about it. i think she may be just as confused about the situation as i am. which means im not alone in my confused state. and i have to say, she's handling every thing with dignity and poise. i should get a separate tutu (from the one hey you is thinking about getting her for when she climbs) for her for the gracefulness she exudes in dealing with everything marcus throws at her. she deserves it.