Narcoleptic Squirrel

Hrrmmm…So I know I was going to go to bed, but then I was stalking people on the internets, and came across this, and well, here it is…

Your Birthdate: October 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech. In other words, you’re a total (brilliant) geek. It’s difficult for you to find people worth spending time with. Which is probably why you’ll take over the world with your evil robots! Your strength: Your unfailing logic Your weakness: Loving machines more than people Your power color: Tan Your power symbol: Pi Your power month: July

And then I realized I never posted about the birthday party that will live in infamy. Jesus, I am behind.

…last year’s Rent?
So, I’ve been getting flack from the readers (yes! That’s plural! I have more than one reader! Not including my husband! I don’t know what I’m yelling about!) about mentioning a movie review, then not making with the review. So, despite the toilet needing a scrub, I shall regale you with my take on Rent. Because I would rather put off the toilet scrubbing than the typing.
First off, a little background. Rent first caught my attention when it was transitioning from a wee off-Broadway show, to big kid Broadway. Some theatre peeps were talking, and we thought maybe we would do an NYC road trip to see this show that would surely take the world by storm. The trip fell through, but I started finding out everything I could about the show. At that point in time, I was but a 16 year old high school kid, who had recently realized that she didn’t want to be an architect, but wanted desperately to be on the stage. It was as though the mother ship had called me home. This show, Rent, somehow struck a cord in my 16 year old heart. I learned all I could about Jonathan Larson, and the origins of the show, and the style, and so on. I got my Grandfather to buy me the fancypants book about the show when it became available. Auditions came to my town. With next to zero notice, I got together headshots, a resume, practiced music…the night before (or the morning of, depending on how you look at it) the audition, I blew a head gasket on my car. I desperately called everyone I could think of to find a way to get there (for those of you who don’t know…the Motor City and public transportation have yet to meet). I couldn’t even get a ride to the classes I was missing, much less to the audition. Not meant to be. *sigh* This missed audition eventually came up in a screaming match with my father over my obsession with making acting my career, and how important that audition was to me. The touring company finally came to my town, and I bought tickets the day they became available, one for me, and one for my mother. She told me that the show had better be good after hearing me go on and on about it for so long. Before I saw it with my mom, I got a call from a friend on Easter, she had free tickets and wanted to know if I would go with her. The tix were in the twelfth row…and it was fucking amazing. When I saw it with my mother, it was just as good. She loved it. She realized what I was so obsessed with for so long. I bought a poster and a scarf, and practiced the choreography in front of my mirror. Fast forward a few years, and G and I saw a touring company perform the show again. I have to say, they were scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel with that cast. At intermission, we looked at each other with the WTF? look in our eyes.
So, we heard tales of this film version. Intriguing. Then I heard Chris Columbus was directing, and I thought he must be giving the right people blow jobs, or someone must have been huffing glue when they offered him that contract…but, I figured the foundation was good…he couldn’t possibly screw it up. Then, I looked on IMDB, and saw shit like an actress credited with the role of April. WTF mate???? G kept telling me to think happy thoughts and wait for the movie to come out…maybe it would be okay. I tried to ignore the early reviews that were coming in. So, we saw the film.
Well, all of the original cast members, while aged, were still obviously talented. However, Mr. Columbus and his team turned a rock opera into a musical. A ROCK OPERA into a MUSICAL. That annoyed the piss out of me. Then, he fucked with the time setting. Half-assedly, I might add. I mean, it’s one thing to take a full out concept and execute it fully. But, adding a year into the script, does not a concept make. Nothing else was changed, and there were a number of anachronisms in the film as a result. CC takes some liberties with the plot. Rearranges sequences, has characters do things that make not freaking sense. Ummmm, yeah. Mark would totally have sold out. He put Mimi in a regular strip club, where the women don’t take their clothes off. Did CC read the script? Was he familiar with the show at all? Mimi works in a freaking BONDAGE CLUB. You know, handcuffs, fetishes. the kind of club Roger might have actually set foot in, hence how he would have seen her. Could you really see Roger hanign out at the local Gents club??? And ummm…”The Cat Scratch Club.” Hello???? DO SOME FREAKING RESEARCH! (I would like everyone to note how I am curbing my profanity) Then, Mr. Columbus managed to take a show that is pretty tightly paced, and slow it down to snail speed. I mean, I don’t think there were enough fades, or added dialogue, and could he have maybe set more of the music in totally inappropriate places, and I don’t know, take all the emotion out of Angel’s death??? Oh, and the New Year’s as costume party…ummm…Maureen was wearing the cat burglar outfit because they already knew they were locked out…it wasn’t a surprise. And well, Angel just liked to dress up. Seriously, it didn’t have any affect on the run time to leave it the fuck alone. And ummm…don’t they have people on set and in editing who are there solely for continuity? Then maybe they should have made sure the menu board in the cafe during La Vie Boheme actually said what it was supposed to, instead of chaning every time the camera angle cut. Oh, and Roger’s big song…was CC high? Umm…Roger should, I don’t know be playing the guitar, and could there have been a worse angle for the camera to sit at? And could one of the most emotional chunks of the show have been made to be less affective and slow?
Now, not everything sucked. Setting the Santa Fe sequence in the subway worked very nicely (and let’s face it Jesse Martin could pull off anything, becaue he rocks). The April flashbacks actually worked in context. And Roger actually had the kind of car he probably would have gotten for hocking his guitar. But, overall, this film really missed the mark. It took a great foundation and leveled it. After the first two Harry Potterfilms, which were okay, but could have been great, and then this debacle…how does Chris Columbus continue to get work? I mean seriously? If someone could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it, because right now, I am baffled. And the more I think about it, the more baffled I become.
The sad thing is, I could go on and on, and pick it apart, and get totally worked up. But, I also need sleep. So, if you want to buy me a Jameson, I would be happyto elaborate…but I think you get the idea of how I felt about this film.
Now, I must sleep…but I do have two films that I loved (Narnia, and King Kong), to review. So, if you come back, I promise to be less hostile.

And here we have a new feature at Narcoleptic Squirrel. The Daily Squirrel. Or at least the Every-other-day Squirrel…something like that…

So, I finally got the tree decorated. This took a little longer than usual this year, because apparently I altered my lighting technique. When i first purchased my 6 foot faux tree, I also bought the recommended number of lights, which at this point was 500. The first year I assemble my tree, it looked lovely with it’s twinkling blue lights. WEll, the next time I assembled the tree, the lights didn’t make it all the way to the top. so I had to run out and get another string of blue twinkle lights before I was able to move on to ornamentation. Again, lovely tree. Last year, once again, I didn’t make it all the way to the top with my existing 600 lights. So, yet another string was purchased. The day after Christmas, G went out and purchased two more strings of lights. He figured that when I put up the tree this year, we would be all set. I was happy that I wouldn’t have to make another trip out, and could get the tree done in one day.
So, I pull out the tree, the lights the ornaments. I start lighting the tree. I got halfway up the tree with the number of lights I had in the house, including those that had never been used before. So, on my way home from work the next day, I stopped and picked up 4 more strings of lights. Not even close. I had G pick up two more on his way home. Didn’t do it. It took another two strings. Which brings us to a grand total of 1700 lights on the tree. A six foot tree. It could use another 50, but I only have another string of 100. That would be overkill.

Go into your archives and look at your first post of each month. Choose the last sentence (or last “line”) of each entry and post it next to the correct month.
January Unfortunately, Las has no inappropriate nickname, which is sad, considering she is the originator of the inappropriate nickname.
February If only I wasn’t beginning to despise my job…but again, more nonsense for a different day.
March Am I that much of a whore? I’d like an outsider’s feedback.
April While still cool, it’s a bummer not to have as much Noir.
May So, there is the Reader’s Digest version of my posts. I think that will get me caught up enough to actually start posting again. Maybe.
June (yes, spent…that shit is entirely paid for. And I wonder why I have zero dollars. And why I am unable to properly construct a sentence.)
July Alright, I am off to wash my mind’s eye out with some bleach.
August *Apparently I was too busy in August to post…imagine having the flu, opening a show, all my family coming in from out of town….*
September “It’s amazing how candleholders can be turned into shot glasses!”
October I’m off to lie down, and hoepfully my back will recover enough to wash a couple of loads of laundry. Excitement abounds…
November Which B-Movie Badass Are You?
December Super Strength, super-human speed, and the ability to pause time.

So, I was just remembering this book that I read as a kid (in the fourth grade…the whole class read it together), and I can remember some plot points, but the title eludes me. It involves a family, and they decide to raise a turkey to eat for Thanksgiving dinner. The little girl says “turnkey” instead of “turkey.” thgey raise the turkey, and I’ll stop there, because there is a twist that only a children’s novel could provide. So, you’ll just have to tune in and find out.
The reason that popped into my feeble brain, was that G and I bought a turkey and prepared it yesterday evening. Well, I prepared it, though G carved it. Thus, I realized that I was sorely lacking in T-day coverage. And thus you have been wondering, “Did the Turkey come out okay?” “Did she make her homemade cranberry sauce?” “Was the table properly set with linens and fancy dishes????”
The suspense must be killing you.
Well, first of all, T-day promised to be more low key. I had a nice mood upswing late summer/early fall, which of course had to be followed by a downswing. So, I just was not in the mood to go elaborate this year. it was going to be G and I, but we did invite the BIL to come, and put feelers out for orphans. Then, the day before, I was pretty low, and wondered if I even wanted to have a turkey, or cook anything. But, since we had already mentioned it to people, I figured we should go full steam ahead.
So, Thursday rolls around, and we do some cleaning, so our place at least looked respectable for guests. The turkey was in the oven, I managed to make real mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce (from a new recipe, which I added my own twist to), corn, dressing (Stove Top. I have yet to conquer my fear of dressing. once I do that, I will consider stuffing), a mini salad bar…I skipped the yams this year. Last year, I made a wonderful recipe which was baked sweet potatoes in a maple/clove/vanilla sauce. It was delish, but apparently not so many peeps are up for yams. G made his rice, since he isn’t such a potato fan, and Pillsbury supplied the poppin’ fresh bisquits. and I let the Cub foods bakery supply the pumpkin pie (I also have yet to conquer my fear of pies. Baby steps.)
The table was more low key, as well…but I did have to make it festive to some extent. So, I used the basic ivory tablecloth and napkins. I pulled out the depression glass, and *gasp* used it! I managed to find pieces that would work for dinner, salad, cranberry sauce, dessert, and na beverages. The crystal goblets were pulled out, but alas, not used…though I’m pretty sure they enjoyed coming out of the china cabinet for a day. I also managed to light taper candles, and dug out my harvest napkin rings so it looked more harvest-y. Not quite teh Martha Stewart I pulled last year (which invloved making placemats the morning of thanksgiving, hosting a pre-dinner brunch, and general craziness).
So, it was a small affair, but I managed to pull it off, which to me is a huge feat, considering I was a crying heap on the couch the night before.
Our friend benq came over apres-dinner for som T-day tv and flickage. We had planned to see Rent. We called the peeps we thought would be interested. One of who actually had brought it up in the first place, thus we planned to see it T-day night. The showings were at weird times, but we found one that would work. To pass the time we plopped on the sofa, and watched “My Name is Earl,” “The Office,” then popped in “The Tick.” Funny stuff. Then Rent, then bed.
I am going to post my thoughts on Rent in a separate post, since I don’t want anyone to fall asleep and drool on their keyboards, causing a short.

Since the original friday fiver is no longer in business, I took this one from a local BB.
Who is your favourite superhero? Batman
If you were a superhero, which one would you be? Robin (either of the female Robins kick major ass)
Justice League or Injustice League? I’d like to say Justice League…but really, it would be Injustice League
Which supervillain would you be? Poison Ivy all the way.
If you could have superpowers, what would they be? Super Strength, super-human speed, and the ability to pause time.