I'm returning again to my mention the other day of how I heard that the creator of the comic strip "For Better or For Worse" had divorced from her husband. I said it made me sad as many of the strips seem to be autobiographical and be a recipe for a successful marriage.
I'm writing again because three specific strips illustrate what I was saying and are worth preserving here:
(NOTE: though these are spoken by a guy character, it's obvious the artist was a female as guys aren't normally capable of being so wise in their words.)
1. The husband walks in from work and looks at his wife. He says "Hi honey, you look beautiful". She responds with "AKKK!" (oh wait, that's more a "Cathy" phrase) "I look horrible. My hair is a mess, my jeans are stained, I don't have any make-up on", etc. He says: "I know...but I'm looking at you...and you look beautiful".
2. The couple is on a Caribbean vacation, walking along a beach. There are lots of beautiful 'babes' in bikinis. The wife starts to feel a little self-conscious and says "Wow...there sure are a lot of beautiful women on the beach." The husband says "You're right....and I'm with one of them".
3. The husband comes in while the wife is working at her desk. He says "It's a beautiful fall night. Let's go for a romantic walk, just the two of us". She protests, saying she has so much to do, a column due for the local newspaper, lunches to pack for kids, etc. He says: "If you were single and the man of your dreams called you and asked to go on a long walk together, what would you do?" In the last frame, you seeing them out for a walk arm in arm.
I feel those same sentiments toward my wife.
Mark
PS I learned from Kathryn that one of her friends in California has been following this blog for some time....just wanted you to know that made my day when she told me. I'm not a big commenter on blogs, nor do I expect many comments on my blog, but it's nice to know a few people enjoy my ramblings.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
An Autumn Drive in New Jersey
It seems like about once every early October I get to do a 2 hour drive in the northeast to a client meeting.... either north to Massachusetts or south thru New Jersey. Today, it was the southern route. It was just a gorgeous drive...full fall colors haven't completely set in, but just having pockets of color as an accent is even more beautiful. As I headed into Princeton, I drive over a river / lake that is really pretty.
To help the time pass on the New Jersey Turnpike (which is NOT a pretty part of the drive), I listened to my sound track from Damn Yankees. It made me think about the musicals I used to see when I first came to New York City nearly 15 years ago.
Damn Yankees is certainly one of my top two or three. While one might not think it is on the surface, it is really a classic love story and has the right moral. I saw the mid-90s Broadway version perhaps 5 or 6 times. I'm one for finding something I like, and taking all my visitors to it when they come to town. As Broadway goes, it was one of the cleaner shows, though a male actor dropped a towel in a locker room scene to expose a bare butt. (When I took BYU interns, they were shocked, horrified and felt like I had taken them to the type of shows that used to litter Times Square.) I did get to see Jerry Lewis in the role of the devil a couple of times and he was great. And it's just got fun peppy dancing and songs.
Another favorite was Crazy for You, which is like the Mamma Mia formula where they took a bunch of Gershwin songs and made a story around it. It was just so laugh out loud funny. The star at the time was a really good physical comedy actor. I'd pay to see that again anytime.
The Fantasticks is another show that I think is just brilliant. I saw it about 8 times down in the Sullivan Theater (I think that's the name) where it ran and held the record for longest running, consecutive showings. It did finally close...and came back to Broadway last year in a bigger theater, but that's one that had to be seen in the small intimate theater. I think it held less than 100.
One last obscure show I saw 3 times but have never heard of since: "Two Piano Four Hands". It's a two-man show of really great piano players who illustrate the life of pianists. They came in and out of roles starting with the piano teacher forcing the kid to do his scales, then moved to when they were teenagers to the point that it became an addiction of sorts and that's all they did was practice rather than play sports, etc.
The end has them playing "Piano Man" in a bar....because what else could they do with these incredibly developed, monotone talent, so to speak (in other words, they played the piano and excelled in that talent to the exclusion of becoming well rounded). Extremely poignant and funny. Never been able to find this performed elsewhere....it takes just the right actors to pull that off who have the musical training.
That's my Broadway Beat.
Mark
PS -- On a completely unrelated note, never estimate the power of a cardboard box. I suppose that's why it was actually inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. The three younger kids had the time of their life playing with the box that packaged the new dishwasher. Never seen them so happy or be so creative. Who needs real toys? (Oops...that's bad for me).
To help the time pass on the New Jersey Turnpike (which is NOT a pretty part of the drive), I listened to my sound track from Damn Yankees. It made me think about the musicals I used to see when I first came to New York City nearly 15 years ago.
Damn Yankees is certainly one of my top two or three. While one might not think it is on the surface, it is really a classic love story and has the right moral. I saw the mid-90s Broadway version perhaps 5 or 6 times. I'm one for finding something I like, and taking all my visitors to it when they come to town. As Broadway goes, it was one of the cleaner shows, though a male actor dropped a towel in a locker room scene to expose a bare butt. (When I took BYU interns, they were shocked, horrified and felt like I had taken them to the type of shows that used to litter Times Square.) I did get to see Jerry Lewis in the role of the devil a couple of times and he was great. And it's just got fun peppy dancing and songs.
Another favorite was Crazy for You, which is like the Mamma Mia formula where they took a bunch of Gershwin songs and made a story around it. It was just so laugh out loud funny. The star at the time was a really good physical comedy actor. I'd pay to see that again anytime.
The Fantasticks is another show that I think is just brilliant. I saw it about 8 times down in the Sullivan Theater (I think that's the name) where it ran and held the record for longest running, consecutive showings. It did finally close...and came back to Broadway last year in a bigger theater, but that's one that had to be seen in the small intimate theater. I think it held less than 100.
One last obscure show I saw 3 times but have never heard of since: "Two Piano Four Hands". It's a two-man show of really great piano players who illustrate the life of pianists. They came in and out of roles starting with the piano teacher forcing the kid to do his scales, then moved to when they were teenagers to the point that it became an addiction of sorts and that's all they did was practice rather than play sports, etc.
The end has them playing "Piano Man" in a bar....because what else could they do with these incredibly developed, monotone talent, so to speak (in other words, they played the piano and excelled in that talent to the exclusion of becoming well rounded). Extremely poignant and funny. Never been able to find this performed elsewhere....it takes just the right actors to pull that off who have the musical training.
That's my Broadway Beat.
Mark
PS -- On a completely unrelated note, never estimate the power of a cardboard box. I suppose that's why it was actually inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. The three younger kids had the time of their life playing with the box that packaged the new dishwasher. Never seen them so happy or be so creative. Who needs real toys? (Oops...that's bad for me).
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Are you listening?
From a talk I gave two weeks ago in the Bronx....
=============
"Hopefully I don’t embarrass the bishop too much, but one morning, I took a train to work that made stops in the Bronx. As I exited the train, I noticed someone that looked like Bishop Kelly. As the crowd edged forward off the platform and I got near to him, I wasn’t 100 percent sure it was him, because I’d only seen Bishop Kelly in “Bishop clothes” and he was dressed more casually. So to hedge my bets, I got within ear shot and simply said “Ian” (that felt safer than saying ‘Bishop’). I got no response, so I edged closer and said “Ian” again. I finally worked myself up to being right next to him, and I noticed he couldn’t hear me because he was groovin’ to his I-Pod. While standing right next to him, I said “Ian” for the third time, but to no avail. Not wanting to scare him by tapping him on the shoulder, I let the moment pass and didn’t say hello.
I use that only to illustrate a point, not to be judgmental, as the Bishop certainly is allowed to listen to an I-Pod. My point is simply to ask ourselves how many times Heavenly Father has attempted to communicate to us through his still small voice but there wasn’t an occasion throughout our day when we could receive the signal because of our "noise". The spirit might even increase his volume or level of intensity, but if we'd blocked off the receiver, so to speak, we won't get the message. And after trying to deliver it a handful of times, the spirit may simply give up, thus depriving us what we could have learned from or benefited from had we provided a "quiet zone" in our day to receive radio signals from heaven."
=============
"Hopefully I don’t embarrass the bishop too much, but one morning, I took a train to work that made stops in the Bronx. As I exited the train, I noticed someone that looked like Bishop Kelly. As the crowd edged forward off the platform and I got near to him, I wasn’t 100 percent sure it was him, because I’d only seen Bishop Kelly in “Bishop clothes” and he was dressed more casually. So to hedge my bets, I got within ear shot and simply said “Ian” (that felt safer than saying ‘Bishop’). I got no response, so I edged closer and said “Ian” again. I finally worked myself up to being right next to him, and I noticed he couldn’t hear me because he was groovin’ to his I-Pod. While standing right next to him, I said “Ian” for the third time, but to no avail. Not wanting to scare him by tapping him on the shoulder, I let the moment pass and didn’t say hello.
I use that only to illustrate a point, not to be judgmental, as the Bishop certainly is allowed to listen to an I-Pod. My point is simply to ask ourselves how many times Heavenly Father has attempted to communicate to us through his still small voice but there wasn’t an occasion throughout our day when we could receive the signal because of our "noise". The spirit might even increase his volume or level of intensity, but if we'd blocked off the receiver, so to speak, we won't get the message. And after trying to deliver it a handful of times, the spirit may simply give up, thus depriving us what we could have learned from or benefited from had we provided a "quiet zone" in our day to receive radio signals from heaven."
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