:: Pedantic Platitudes ::

:: Sunday, February 12, 2006 ::

I came upon a CD-quality version of the soundtrack to Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams (the new 50th anniversary parade at Disneyland) and I am FREAKING OUT!!! I've been wanting something like this since I first heard the music when the parade officially premiered at the Disneyland press event on May 4, 2005, and now that I have it I am listening to it nonstop.

Last weekend was nice. I went into Boston and saw celebrity magician David Copperfield's latest touring production, which was in town. I've enjoyed David Copperfield's television specials since I was very young. His illusions are incredible, despite the objectification of women in some of his routines/jokes (however tongue-in-cheek they are).

I was downtown to buy tickets for an upcoming show (Spamalot, the musical based on the cult classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail) when I found out there were still student tickets for the Copperfield show, so I got one a couple minutes before the show started. I got a seat pretty close to the front, but very far to the side, which still was a great view. I liked this seat because I could see everything, but the unique angle allowed me to better figure out how he did some of his illusions.

The show was cool, though the illusions weren't exactly as flashy as some of his earlier ones with fiery explosions or life-threatening stunts. I really liked how he tied his illusions together with the theme of making dreams come true (winning the lottery, buying a car, reuniting with a loved one, going on vacation, etc.). It made the show much more enjoyable. After a long introductory film with clips about the awards he's won and references about him in pop culture, he appeared suddenly with a motorcycle in a previously empty box. In the next illusion, he passed through a sheet of solid steel.

Other illusions included getting a deadly scorpion to pick a previously selected card out of a deck of cards, predicting a string of lottery numbers selected randomly by audience members, making a live duck appear and disappear, levitating a large group of audience members and then making them disappear and reappear, transporting an audience member with him to Hawaii and back, making a Chevy convertible appear in the middle of the stage with audience members surrounding the whole thing, and disappearing from a platform outstretched over the audience. The show was really interactive, and he got the audience to really participate in everything. He also made a lot of funny jokes, although some I've heard before in his TV specials ("It's Copperfield, not cop-a-feel," he quips after a woman touches him onstage).

This past week, I enjoyed going to new classes as shopping period came to a close and the spring semester officially began. It's senior spring! On Monday, I screened the film The Exorcist for the contemporary Hollywood cinema course I'm auditing. I'm generally not shocked by little girls saying profane things, but even this film made me shudder, particularly in a gruesome scene involving masturbation with a crucifix. Yikes.

Since classes are just getting started and I have more free time, I have been working more hours at my job. It's pretty nice and all. I enjoy helping people with websites and computer programs.

Thursday night, my friend Kayt and I were going to go to senior bar, but when we saw how crowded it was, we turned back and made our own fun. Good times!

Friday night, my friend Marion and I watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Torino. Yay for pageantry and fireworks! I thought this opening production was better than the one in Athens, but not as good as the ones in Atlanta or Sydney. Those were summer games, though. This opening ceremony was at the least better than the one in Nagano, which was held in the daytime and was not interesting at all.

On Saturday, I had lunch and then went with Kayt and her visiting friend to downtown Boston where we did some sightseeing and shopping before the big storm hit. Later in the evening, I watched some of the Olympics and then visited my friend who was hosting a 20's-style speakeasy style party. Good times. We laughed, we told stories, we made merry. Later, I went to the Kong and had delightful Chinese food! Yay.

Today, I have been remarkably unproductive, having spent the entire afternoon in the dining hall chatting from brunch to the beginning of dinner. It's OK, though... there is so much snow outside that it's not worth going outside at all.

I am sad that Michelle Kwan can't compete in the Olympics, but it's really weird reading articles in the press that are like career obituaries.

Quote of the Day: "One should always be careful when discussing the sensitive subject of race." "Around Alex?!?"

"That's ridiculous! That's like putting on a condom to eat out pussy."

:: SL 11:32 AM [+] ::
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