Reefer Madness

Hedda and I went to see Reefer Madness: The Musical Friday night. The musical was based on the original 1936 short film Tell Your Children, which consequentially became a cult classic for it’s bad acting, poor production values, and ridiculous portrayal of the physical and social effects of marijuana. Wikipedia has a pretty good history of the film.

The story centers around Jimmy and Mary, two young and naive all-American children whose lives run tragically afoul because of the Stuff. Solid performances are turned in by Andrew Sonntag as Jimmy, and Lawrence Redmond as The Lecturer (and several other humorous bit parts), but Lauren Williams absolutely shines as Mary Lane, the hilariously-too-innocent girlfriend. Her extraordinary facial control and body acting brings the character to life in exactly the right high-contrast, caricatured way. On any other show, it would be absurd over-acting, but in the re-make of the campy classic film, it’s absolutely perfect. And she smokes it, so to speak. The rest of the cast has yet to fall into that groove, and sometimes seem almost embarrassed to really play their parts. I don’t blame them – I might be, too – but, hopefully they’ll follow Ms. Williams’ lead and get over it.

The cast sounds good and harmonizes well, and it’s easy to hear on the small stage. The music is funny and fun, though mostly forgettable. The notable exception is the musical’s theme, which Hedda and I have been repeating to one another constantly since our attendance: “Reefer Madness…Reeeefffer Maaaaadness……Reefer Madness…Reeeeffffeeeer Maaaaaadnesss!” There isn’t much in the way of dance, except for a brief, well-done number “Down at the Ol’ Five-and-Dime”.

The run at the Studio Theater has just opened, and it definitely shows. Some of the rough edges include a continuing prop problem with a falling-over lamp, a follow-spot that can’t seem to find the leads in time, poor lighting and design (although it’s hard to tell: it could be the players missing their spikes), and not enough brownies to meet demand during intermission! There was also some – I’m not sure what else to call it – confusion about the set. The main stage was where all the action took place, and the only area ever lit, but there was what seemed to be another, smaller, set area off stage right. There were other set pieces – the refrigerator alluded to, prior to Ralph’s major munchies attack, for example – and at a few points, it seemed as through action was intended to be happening there. But since it was never lit, whatever it was was stillborn. It seems the production could have used another week or two of rehearsals to iron out the kinks.

Overall, it’s a fun show, as long as you go into it expecting it to be what it is. This isn’t the next great American Musical, but it is a fun evening nonetheless. Hopefully the wrinkles we saw will be gone by the time you see it.

Lucky Day

Go watch the short flick Lucky Day before you read on, so I don’t spoil anything.

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Back? Good. Now, for those of you who know him: Isn’t Nick the only person you know who could play a guy who tries to hang himself on a playground? On the other hand, I hear newspaper clippings can drive you to that….

Nice job, sir. I snap my fingers for you.

More Flickr Downtime – Let’s Hope There’s a Happy Ending

Flickr is down this evening. Similar to last time, hitting Flickr URLs yields a downtime massage – errr, message. No contests this time, but perhaps we can hope for a good old-fashioned happy ending instead.

Wii Downloading

The throbbing blue slit when I woke up tipped me off that the Opera beta for the Wii was released this morning. I downloaded it this morning, and it’s an interesting concept. The ridiculous intuitiveness of the Wiimote has the potential to finally make the web a living room activity, accessible to even the most Luddite grandmother.

There is a ways to go, however, mostly because of the content. The mental vision in our brain for how the web is supposed to work has been deeply tainted by a mouse/keyboard paradigm, perhaps irrevocably so. Televisions – even with so-called high definition – are very low-resolution, and tend to be viewed from tens of feet away rather than tens of inches. The information density on such a display has to be lower in order to not overwhelm the senses.

However, this post is really about the Wii download screen, specifically the progress meter. It seems that, in an attempt to be funny or clever, some user interface numskull has replaced the normal filling bar with Mario collecting coins and hitting blocks. I could try and describe how it works, but it will be faster if you just watch the video.

As you can see, this is a terrible idea, in both idea and execution.

1. It is almost impossible to figure out what’s going on.
2. Even if you figure out what’s going on, the information portrayed is inaccurate, at best.
3. There are whole generations of people who have never even seen the original Super Mario Bros, and will be utterly confused.
4. It is so freaking annoying! The urge to put my face into a box with glue and nails is almost overwhelming.

Please, Nintendo, fix the Wii download screen.

Nintendo Replacing Wii Remote Straps

In some games, playing the Wii can be very physical. Wii sports, for example, takes its cue from real sports: The harder you play, the better you’ll do. However, to the shock of its Japanese designers, we Americans have been taking things to the extreme. As usual. There have been many reports of Wii remotes flying out of sweaty hands, breaking their protective wrist straps (meant just for this purpose), and wreaking all sorts of havoc – ranging from smashed television to dented walls and broken light bulbs.

You don’t need to swing that hard, people!

Despite us, Nintendo is doing the right thing and freely replacing the straps. They have an online Wii strap replacement form, and they even allow you to obtain more than one strap – in case you have managed to wrestle another Wiimote from a mobbed store. You will probably want to order four no matter what, in case you are planning on buying more controllers in the future, and they happen to come with old, crappy straps.

Wii Remote Uses Bluetooth – Simple Hack Controls Your Mouse

I accidentally discovered that the Wiimote uses Bluetooth for its wireless capabilities. Way cool! Using some instructions I discovered online, it was possible to control my mouse cursor by tilting the remote in various directions.

With the Wiimote using standards-based communications mechanisms, there are so many awesome possibilities suddenly open. Can you imagine MythTV using the Wiimote for on-screen manipulation?

Trade Wii Codes With Me

I finally got my grubby little hands on a Wii, thanks to Chris and Katie. It’s pretty sweet, but I’ll save my thoughts for later.

For now, are there any of my friends out there who have one yet? Drop me a note so we can exchange Wii Codes!

My Life Philosophy in Comic Form

I think this xkcd comic, entitled Nihilism, perfectly describes my personal life philosophy.

Now you know me a teeney bit better.

Opera Browser Security: What Exactly Are They Protecting Me From?

Although I am a FireFox user, I have never heard anything bad about the Opera web browser. It is supposed to be fast, powerful, secure, and all-around one of the best browsers out there. I never tried it, though, because it cost money.

Recently, I learned that Opera no longer charges for their PC browser. I’m not sure how long this has been the case, but it definitely has prompted me to give it a try. I have downloaded the installer, and I’ll poke around with it a bit and maybe report what I find here, if anything.

While I was browsing their site, however, I clicked on the link to the page highlighting Opera’s security features, and I was struck by the silliness of the pictures in the banner.

It seems the average Opera user is a pensive, impeccably-dressed, high-finance banker with a major case of five o’clock shadow; and the average Internet cracker is a gay S&M biker who, judging by the shameless leer on his face, is looking to anally rape our poor banker avatar. Fortunately for us, Opera’s myriad security features will save our collective bums from the impending travesty.

Seriously, Opera should consider just giving away free condoms like DC Snacks.

New Music: The Format – Dog Problems

Unlike most of the people who frequent Murky with their laptops, I normally do not put on my headphones unless their is no music playing, bad music playing, or obnoxious people talking loudly. I enjoy the exposure to the new and different groups, albums, genres, and styles that the ecclectic mix of people behind the counter choose to play; most of the time it is nothing too special, but occasionally I discover something new.

I was working there a few days ago, and I found my concentration consistently broken by the music playing in the background. I approached the counter and inquired as to the artist and album, and was informed that it was “Dog Problems” by The Format. I quickly purchased the tracks on my favorite music store, and have given it a more thorough listening.

Verdict: Damn Good. Highly recommended.

Their sound is a crisp alternative rock, with some great instrumentals standing out in every part of the music. Think of the clever instrumental use by Modest Mouse, and then make it a bit less edgy and a lot more integrated and harmonious. The tunes are catchy, the lyrics are intelligent and interesting, and the rhythms are clever.