Life: Stripped, Avenue Q and All Consuming

~Live Performances~
Saw Eddie Izzard last weekend at the Chicago Theater. Excellent show, as expected. I know this is my third time seeing him live, but for some reason I'm having trouble remembering both previous shows clearly. They keep trying to congeal into one performance in my memory. (It was his Sexie and Circle tours, I think. Eric, if you read this, can you help me fill in the gaps in my memory? Thanks.)

I fell in love with Eddie watching his Dress to Kill show on HBO in the late '90s. That will always be my Eddie Izzard gold standard. My husband and I taped it and played it for friends over and over and over again. Then we met Wilko, who is English and loves Eddie, and he sent us audio CDs of Eddie's older performances. We've been part of this giant Cult of Eddie ever since.

As we were wandering around the Theater District after Eddie's show, hoping to run into a friend who was taking her Dad to see Jersey Boys, we passed the Cadillac Palace Theater, which is where we're going to be tonight when we see Avenue Q. Think Sesame Street for grown-ups with songs like "The Internet is for Porn" and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist". I'm really looking forward to this show. We saw Avenue Q in Las Vegas a few years ago and thought it was a blast, and can't wait to bring our friends now that it has finally made it to Chicago.

Which reminds me of this World of Warcraft machinima video to the song "The Internet if for Porn". It was probably the first machinima I ever watched. It's a couple years old now, but still fun.



~Now Playing in Theaters~
My husband and I saw Indiana Jones this last night. The plot has issues, and it's probably one of the weakest movies in the franchise, but it's still an enjoyable movie. And Indy always holds a soft spot in my heart.

That makes three out of four of the big blockbuster movies we've seen on opening night so far this month. Here's a breakdown of my ratings:

Iron Man = Excellent
Speed Racer = Lots of fun
Indiana Jones = Just enjoyable

Saw this interesting blog post about Speed Racer and some musings on why the critics panned it even though it's a fun movie. I think this author nailed his review. It *is* a fun movie. It should be viewed on the big screen.

No more immediate plans to see anything on the big screen. Kung-Fu Panda and Wall-E look intriguing.

I have no interest what-so-ever is seeing Prince Caspian. Even though I read the first few books of the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, I didn't cherish the books and the first movie left me kind of cold. It didn't engage me.

~Now Playing on DVD~
Speaking of didn't-engage-me, I watched The Golden Compass on DVD over the weekend and that totally didn't engage me. I can't put my finger on why it left me feeling distant and uncaring, but I think it was the characterization. The characters were thin and just moved along with the plot. Things happened because, well, they were supposed to happen. And, for the life of me, none of the characters' names would stick in my head.

But what did engage me was Avatar: The Last Airbender. My husband and I have been watching this program on Nickelodeon and have been hooked since Season 1. We thought the show was in hiatus, but a friend informed us that there are shows available on DVD that haven't been aired in the United States yet, picking up from the Day of Black Sun which aired last Fall. So my husband picked up Avatar: Season 3, Disc 3 at Blockbuster and we sat back and enjoyed a few hours of excellent storytelling. I guess Avatar: Season 3, Disc 4 comes out in about a month.

~On the Internet~
And now, after all this talk about what I've been consuming, here's a site I found this week called All Consuming. It seems to be a tool to catalog what you've been watching/reading/listening to. It's affiliated with 43Things, if anyone is familiar with that site.