"The Winter's Tale" by Shakespeare

Here are some rehearsal pics of a Lisbon Players' production of The Winter's Tale, directed by Grant Shepherd and with costumes and set by yours truly. It will open next week (hopefully...) and you are all invited to come and join us in Lisbon.

Praising "Veronica Mars"

Veronica Mars is in its third year. Some might say it's just a serial about a girl who likes to play detective. It's not.
The show created by Rob Thomas has captured the deserved attention of scholars. Veronica Mars is the true inheritor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's art and wit: adolescence as a transitional period not as an eternal era of mindless fun and brief romances, a time when we find our identity and place in the world. It doesn't have the allegorical trait of Joss Whedon's creation, it has a confessional tone, but the moral and political discussions are there, called upon by this string of stories, events, and characters. "A long time ago, we used to be friends," tells us the song in the opening credits.
Veronica (Kristen Bell) is now in college. Successive campus rapes have made a group of radical feminists decide to hate confusing patriarchal power with "men" and a true criminal with a "scapegoat" - not her. To this I might add, e.g., the references to Abu Ghraib in "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week" (3.02) where Logan and Wallace and their colleagues participate in a Sociology class role-playing experiment as prisoners (with a secret to keep) and prison guards (with a secret to get).
Wasn't this supposed to be just entertainment? (Why just entertainment??) It never was.
Look again.
[Congrats on quitting smoking, Sarah. It must be hard. Hang on!]

'Ello, Guv's

Hi All,
Great to hear from everybody. So, as Steve wrote, we are living in Harvard Square and bracing for what looks like will be a cold winter. We are attending a Uni of Kent reunion for N. American students on November 9th right here at Harvard. We're pretty lucky it is so close to us. Should be fun, maybe we'll meet some Hothe alum?
Our one-year wedding anniversary is this weekend and we are planning a road trip up the east coast from Boston to Canada (passing through New Hampshire and Maine) in our 1992 Accord. Let us hope it makes it.
In other news, we found a legitimate chip shop/British pub in Brooklyn last month called 'Chip Shop' (font in the sex pistols fashion). I had a real Ploughman's Lunch (much to the horror of my brother as I munched on a huge chunk of bread, pickled onion, Stilton cheese, and Branston Pickle) and washed it down with a (proper 20 oz.) draught pint of Old Speckled Hen. The place is cool- it has a ‘take away’ section (complete with blue and white tiled walls) serving chips, cod, chip butties, kebabs, etc. that is open late night and a dining section serving your standard British fare. It was good fun.
As you can tell, I am missing the UK.
Well I hope everybody is well. I miss ya’ all terribly, hopefully we will all meet again soon. Thanks to Filipa and Sergio for starting this- nice job. Woody, you dropped the ball.
I am going to post some pics from graduation on the blog- Chris and Hyewon-do you have any?
Shout out to Jim- Happy Birthday next week!
One last thing- I quit smoking! Been hard but OK. Will be 1 month this weekend. And NO, Woody, I am not preggers :-)