my bout with ticketmaster continues

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we go to tahoe

we took our first trip to tahoe this past weekend and celebrated todd's friend's 30th birthday with some chilly but lovely weather. photos can be seen here, but i thought i'd highlight a few of my favorites.

scrapbook lovers know that if you're going to scrap anywhere, it'd better be in tahoe.

how does someone gas up 20 feet away from the pump?

should i have a moment of weakness and want to idolize mc hammer on the slopes, now i know where to shop.

for some strange reason, i had no urge to go buy bagels here.

todd whipping down the run at hansen's and almost taking out a 10-year-old around the corner.

and here i go!

no, my shirt and jeans didn't "go"-- they just got mildly damp tubing.

one of my favorite vistas. this one's from the far side of the tubing hill.

the ominous view from the highway on our way through rural sacramento.

SFB, Program 4, 3/12/2009

San Francisco Ballet
Program 4
Thursday, March 12, 2009, 8PM

With “Swan Lake” packed up, San Francisco Ballet is churning out several mixed bills, and last night’s opening of Program 4 presented timeless works and a more recent, yet questionable, addition.

Antony Tudor’s “Jardin Aux Lilas” melds intricate emotion and circular, unrestrained movement into a compact spin through love, lust, and gutrenchingly difficult life choices, all at a moonlit garden party. “Jardin” moves through streams of consciousness, throttling forward as Caroline, danced with raw emotion by Lorena Feijoo, wrestlesbetween her future and her heart. Sofiane Sylve played coy and jealous, showing added dimension as the strong yet possessive mistress of Caroline’s stoic husband-to-be, Pierre François-Villanoba. This marriage of convenience doesn’t seem convenient to anyone, really, but before Caroline and The Man She Must Marry walk down the aisle, she and her lover, Ruben Martin, share a passionate but unresolved goodbye. Tudor’s movement still rings fresh, some 70 years later, and violinist Roy Malan’s tearful and discontented final note rang true, reminding me that not all choices are for love and happiness, but sometimes for some other grand purpose.

Balancing “Jardin’s” sorrowful tone was Jerome Robbins’ “The Concert,” set to the music of Frederic Chopin, and staged by Jean-Pierre Frohlich. Sarah Van Patten’s hammy Ballerina immediately caused the audience to break out into boisterous, unapologetic snorts with her adoration and forceful slap-turned-bear-hug of Michael McGraw’s grand piano, and the good times just kept rolling with Erin McNulty’s prissy wife and Pascal Molat’s uncommitted but hysterical husband...

For more, go here.

San Francisco Ballet in Robbins' The Concert.
© Erik Tomasson

a whale of a time

in star trek IV, the voyage home, captain kirk and crew travel through time to san francisco (yippee!) where, after run-ins with the law and a screetchy blonde biologist chick, they return to the future with two humpback whales named george and gracie. the whales' song helps save earth from destruction, and all is well in the world post-ocean crash landing. so is it a coincidence that bart's synthesized voices, those which tell us about arrival announcements, train delays, and probably survival strategies should a major earthquake hit, are also named george and gracie? i think not.

the shopping cart song

while waiting to check out at whole foods the other day, i mentally composed a grocery-related rap. song. rhyming thing.

i got 'chu egg to the plant, some leeky leeky leeks,
some mush in the rooms, no potatoes- they go squeak
when you heat them in the oven
check it-- two kinds 'a tofu dogs
a bottle of tasty EVOO
and some yellow popcorn
[pause to review receipt and tap foot: 1-2-3-4]
gotta toast the israeli couscous over *bang* low heat.
then warm up some buns
made of honey whole wheat.
four meals for three* plus today's vegan soup lunch
add in some staples,
it came to seventy bucks.
not too bad
not too shabby
maybe now my tummy won't
be so crabby.

*me, todd, and his other appetite.

SFB, Swan Lake, 2/24/2009

San Francisco Ballet
“Swan Lake”
Tuesday, February 24, 8PM

San Francisco Ballet is known more for its ultra-cool contemporary works than the evening-length conventional story ballets, but Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson has invested a lot of time and money into a spectacular new full-length marvel that is sure to amaze everyone. And while “Swan Lake” has seen multiple incarnations-- including traditional white feathers, a corps de ballet full of beefy men, and techno swan lake on ice--, this most recent version tastefully merges the best of the old with the swankiest of the new.

One of the most streamlined additions is the Prologue, which Tomasson has added to give more depth behind why Von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, kidnapped and transformed Odette into a swan by day and an abducted princess by night. While short, the prologue provides succinct backstory, necessary for those new to the story or ballet and appreciated by “Swan Lake” veterans.

On Tuesday, Tina LeBlanc, who retires this May, danced the dual role of Odette/Odile with such confidence and emotion. Each step, attitude, and pirouette were so achingly perfect, yet it was her expression that hit a nerve for me. LeBlanc’s focus is never to just dance the choreography; there’s always something more, something grander and intricately divine emoting from within on stage, and this swan princess couldn’t have been anything more beautiful than on Tuesday. Her Odette blended just the right amount of shyness and affection, while Odile tipped the scales, dancing sultry and bold. Especially as Odile, LeBlanc’s fighting personality showed through, checking off 30 lovely fouettes after tearing her ACL less than two years ago.

for more, go here.

San Francisco Ballet in Tomasson's Swan Lake.
© Erik Tomasson

my motto? lotto!

one of my workmates just returned from buying her weekly lotto tickets, and she noticed that the tickets included a small line of text announcing that this week is national problem gambling awareness week. good job, tiny text. she noticed you. and she still bought five tickets.