Your "I'm Melting! I'm Melting!" Quizo Update

A WHOLE lot of things to get to this week, so let's get started.

Thing the first: let me quote, for a moment, the comic genius of Leonardo Leonardo from the abortive Clerks cartoon series when he told the Prime Minister of Canada: "NO! It's not evil spirits, it's just RAIN." Our attendance last week can only be described as piss-poor, which I must assume can be attributed to the fact that we had some weather. Trust me, folks, it won't hurt you. You can come to Quizo in the rain. No ill will befall you. Unless, of course, you are some manner of international superspy a la James Bond, in which case Dr. Chill may take offense and would attempt to befall some ill upon you. That strikes me as unlikely, however.

Thing the second: speaking of James Bond, I saw Casino Royale this past weekend. It is outstanding. I highly recommend it. I don't recommend it as much as Superman Returns, but still rather highly. Daniel Craig proves that ugly is the new not-ugly, and for the first time in the 21-movie series Bond points out the fact that martinis (vodka martinis especially) pretty much taste like lighter fluid no matter how you make them. And not the good tasting lighter fluid either, the really disgusting kind that kinda tastes like a martini. Note well that there will be... perhaps not a preponderance, but slightly less than a preponderance of Bond questions this week, because I really like James Bond movies and I really REALLY liked Casino Royale.

Thing the third: Thanks to Democrats finally getting their act together and winning control of the House and Senate two weeks ago, my theatre company's plans to produce Sam Shepard's "The God of Hell" - a play about the importance of Democrats getting their act together and winning control of the House and Senate - have had to be altered somewhat by the fact that we were in possession of a play written 18 months ago that is now dated and irrelevant. Instead we are now producing Euripides' "Medea," which (as near as I can figure after extensive research) has never been performed in Philadelphia. (Opening 8PM January 11 at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom, tickets $20) So I essentially have the Philly premiere of a play written 2500 years ago. The theatre is a cool business sometimes.

Thing the fourth: We put up our audition notice this weekend, and now the inbox for my theatre company has been flooded with headshots and resumes. Medea (opening 8PM January 11 at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom, tickets $20) is a 20-something woman, so I have spent all morning going over pictures of gorgeous actresses, deciding which ones I want to consider spending the next ten weeks with. The theatre is a cool business sometimes.

Thing the fifth: Someone needs to inform the Eagles that the NFL season is, in fact, 16 games long, and not 10. This will be the second year in a row where thanks to injuries the latter half of the season is essentially useless, which if nothing else makes scheduling rehearsals on Sunday afternoons in December and August a lot easier for me. We had a serious problem with our first show when we had performances on nights when the Eagles were in playoff games. As it was last year, this does not look to be a problem this time around (Medea, opening 8PM January 11 at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom, tickets $20). Come on, lottery pick! Oh, wait, wrong league.

Thing the sixth: My birthday is next week. Next Thursday, to be precise. My last birthday in my 20s. Just letting you know.

See everyone tonight.

JLK