BilmBlog500

Seen Sunday evening June 26, 2008 at the Studio Theatre, Washington DC, the Metheny auditorium. 4 slithy toads. For several years now, the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC has been my second home for live stage, often as a second chance for shows I regretted missing in New York or was lukewarm about seeing but for a slightly more modest ticket price or as part of a weekend away or just because the Studio had chosen them ultimately seemed worth a look. Their current 2nd Stage production of Jerry Springer, The Opera, is the biggest production they've ever done, with over 30 cast members and an orchestra. It may very well be one of the best productions they've ever done. When the only complaint you have is that the curtain call wasn't really sufficiently long enough to give sufficient love back to the cast, well then I think you're in love. This wasn't a second chance or a lukewarm. Jerry Springer had opened in London five years ago, and while I had never seen the t...

The Dark Night, seen Sunday July 20 at the AMC Empire 25, Screen #6, 4 Slithy Toads Mamma Mia!, seen Sunday July 20 at Clearview's Ziegfeld. 3 Slithy Toads After 44 years of waiting, I can finally say I've seen a good Batman movie. And in fact not just a good Batman movie, but a truly great one. Wow! The first Batman movie of my acquaintance, the '60s one spinning off from the Adam West TV show, is not bad for what it is. It fairly faithfully replicates the considerable pleasures of the TV show. But it's more an extended TV episode than anything else. The 1989 Batman wasn't very good. I remember it being the launch movie for Dolby Digital sound in New York City, and I saw it at the Toys R Us in Times Square, or the Criterion Theatre as it was known at the time. I've always been very fond of the Dolby Digital "sounders," those spikes being driven into the train tracks and then the train driving thru the theatre. 1992's Batman Returns, I'm...

... but he couldn't have him. Wall-E, Seen Sunday June 29, 2008 at the AMC Loews Kips Bay 15, Auditorim #9, 3 Slithy Toads I might have enjoyed Wall-E a lot more if it hadn't been surrounded by such showers of critical acclaim. It's a very good movie, but I didn't think it was a masterpiece. The animation is glory to behold, achieving more of a filmed quality than anything else I can imagine. Compare what's on the screen here to what I'm seeing in the coming attractions for Disney's upcoming Bolt, and there's just no comparison. They were trying to get the look of the sf masterpieces, and they succeeded. It's different, and it's somewhat daring. How many animated animals are we supposed to endure? The Hello Dolly thing is an example of this. A lot of films harken back to some other film with the poster in the bedroom or the movie showing on late-night TV, but it's never something like Hello Dolly that most of us have forgotten. There...

For the first time in a long time, much longer than I can remember and this is probably not a good thing, I took four days off where I did not once check e-mail and tried to minimize the amount of time I even spent thinking about the job. I did have around 100 e-mails waiting when I got back, but the world and JABberwocky seem to have survived. This was to Connecticut to visit with my family. My parents came up for a few days, and the entire family (less one niece in Israel) got together Saturday afternoon for a seven-week preemie celebration of my mother's 80th birthday. I got her the 40th birthday card I neglected to obtain for her the first time around; that's the kind of guy I am. My mode of transport to CT is usually Metro-North Commuter Railroad to New Haven then Amtrak to Hartford. I could take Amtrak from Penn Station in NY, but Penn Station is such a pit of existence while the New Haven train station is so nice that I'd rather have time to kill in New Haven if ...

I haven't done one of these in a while. If I'm doing one, it means I haven't had time to read any comics in a long time, and thus have a stack I've caught up on, and I'd rather not be there. Oh well; I did spend some time over the holiday weekend immersing myself in a stack of comic books. I did change the rating system, which back then went from 1 to 5 slithy toads and now goes from 0 to 4, so if you compare you need to subtract a toad from before. Continuing Titles: Infinify Inc. #11. 2 Slithy Toads. Still holding on my buy list. No crossover to drive me away. The younger superheros are still acting their age, which is a good thing, and the artwork is viewable, and it's holding it's own. The new issue has some disconnects. I'm not sure how it hooks up with issue #10, the script jumps around a bit without clear progression from person to person and place to place, and I'm not sure if the New Gods connection here matches up with the recen...