So... LoudTwitter automatically ships my "tweets" each day. It posts as friends locked, because that's my default, but I generally unlock them and make them public when I get a chance to stop by LJ.

Recently someone asked me to take them off my twitter filter which, if you read the above paragraph, you'll realize does not exist. But I figure if one person is irritated by the daily shipment of tweets, she may not be alone. Anyone else out there find it obnoxious? Should I turn off LoudTwitter? Alternately, does anyone out there love it and want them to continue?

I don't especially want to make a filter for these since a) it's not really what I wanted in the first place and b) it's just more hassle than I'm willing to go through--especially since they'd still show up on your friends pages between the time LoudTwitter ships them and the next time I log on to LJ.

I've been upping my use of twitter and twitpics lately as a quick and easy way of keeping everyone informed about the goings on in my life, since I've not been at my computer/online nearly as much the last few weeks. However, if the bulk of you are sick of seeing "tweets for today" posts (or just don't care one way or the other) then I'll cut it out.

Let me know.

• 11:22 First interview went well! #
• 15:22 Nailed interview #2. I have to go back in tomorrow to meet the owner, but it feels like it's mostly a formality. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

• 14:07 Safe and sound in VA. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

• 16:42 @theorajones I grew up putting milk in my tea, so I don't /think/ that's a specifically British thing. #
• 16:42 @theorajones Then again, my family's a bunch of anglophiles, so maybe? #
• 16:45 Conversations on twitter are weird. I'm still not sure if those last two should have been @theorajones or @jasra. #
• 18:36 Just missed a bus. At least the next one's an express. #
• 22:38 twitpic.com/44pt - #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

• 10:25 twitpic.com/3wa9 - Algy is helping me pack #
• 19:48 I'm SO SICK of packing! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

• 04:37 Packing, packing, packing! #
• 15:47 @tfullard "Natural-born citizen" ought to include anyone who's a citizen from the moment of birth, & both is parents were Americans, so... #
• 15:51 Finally found someone to take my bed. #
• 16:40 @jasra Wednesday night. So I'll only have 2 nights on the uncomfortable futon, which is better than I thought I'd do! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Can it be done? Ideally I'd like to put a feed in my blog sidebar below my profile info. Twitter theoretically has this option, but only supplies the codes for myspace, blogger, facebook and typepad. The "other" option just takes you to the flash widget for myspace. I tried putting that code in the custom that, but all I get is the link to my twitter home page (twitter.com/spookyhandle) and above that a line of text which reads, "Invalid video URL."

Any thoughts on how I can actually do this--as an RSS feed, or something, maybe?

Creature Feature announced a few new tour dates over the weekend.

Guess who's finally going to see them live? :D They're not listed on the venue's terrible website yet, based on the cost of their other upcoming shows, I expect tickets will be between $15 and $30, which isn't too bad.

This is the world of goth/horror rock affirming that the decision to move to VA was the right one. :D

librarywench just sent me this link to a Las Vegas chapel that does RHPS themed weddings.

My reply: I know this is so not your point... but those are some of the worst RHPS costumes I've ever seen. I mean ever. Those are worse than the crappy, mass-produced stuff they put out a few years ago. Except possibly the Riff and Magenta costumes which I think ARE the crappy, mass-produced costumes.

Seriously, that is a tragic, tragic wedding scenario.

[edit, 4:50 p.m.: I just noticed that it's not "The Rocky Horror Wedding Show" or Even "Rocky Horror Wedding," it's "Rocky's Horror Wedding." Well... it is a horror.]

Today's horoscope from tarot.com

Your giddy optimism turns more cautious today as the reality of what you want to accomplish finally begins to sink in. You could begin to stress so much about the completion of a project or a phase of your life that your goals slip farther away into the future. Relax and enjoy yourself for a while; you'll return to your work refreshed and raring to go.

...
...

I have so much packing to do.

It's no longer just an option. Now I need to make a Jägerkin costume

After we left Voltaire, Micah wandered off to find his friend Rachel again (who had arrived some time during WEBS) and I went upstairs to the hotel room to change back into jeans and a t-shirt, and, as it turned out, a top hat. Micah and Rachel arrived and Genevieve and Joe elected to spend the night at the hotel and see what mischief was left to the evening.

Michael, Danielle, Micah, Rachel and I said our good byes and then caravaned to yet another diner for a late-night diner. When we'd all had our fill, we said good bye to Rachel, who headed back to PA, and Michael, Danielle, Micah and I went back to the apartment for a few hours sleep.

The following morning, Micah woke me up at 7:00 and then again at 8:00 to say good bye. He had plans back in VA that evening, and had to hit the road early. After he left I puttered about the apartment, being annoyed that I'd been unable to wake up properly at 7:00. Michael and Danielle woke up not long after and we all got dressed and went out for bagels--I will never stop missing diners, bagels and pizza*.

We took the food back to the apartment and watched Tabula Rasa and Once More With Feeling (BtVS) while we ate. Naturally this involved a lot of discussion about a) how horribly, anorexic and unhealthy most of the women on the show looked by the end of the series b) vampire anatomy and c) how much we all hated Kennedy.

Genevieve and Joe arrived 'round about Sweet's Song and whisked me off to NYC where I once again got on a MegaBus. We passed at least 3 accidents, but managed to arrive in Boston only half an hour late. I then had to deal with the MBTA, including the fact that Wonderland is, as previously mentioned, closed for unnecessary construction. I finally got home around 8:00, puttered about the apartment, called Micah, and, finally, crashed.

And now I'm at work all week--or at least Monday through Thursday. Boss 1 leaves on vacation today, and won't be back until the 14th. My last day at work is the 16th and I move on the 18th. Holy crap. I've got next to nothing to do here, and could really be using this time more efficiently back at my apartment. There's so much packing left to do.

*Contrary to popular belief outside of NYC/NJ, these things do not properly exist elsewhere.

After Dancing with jinmoonlight and the White Elephants, I headed back to the Main Stage to see Voltaire. I've seen Voltaire live before, but I love his music and always enjoy his brief monologues between songs. In my experience (and youtube evidence supports this) Voltaire only ever plays his more comedic pieces. These are frequently brilliant, but my absolute favorite Voltaire songs are Graveyard Picnic (have you seen my LJ layout?) and The Happy Song--neither of which are particularly funny or, in fact, very light hearted. The unfortunate conclusion here, is that I will very likely never hear these pieces played live.

He played a lot of his standards, and added a couple of new songs, including Death, Death, Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil Song--which I have reason to believe is on his up-coming album. He also played a parody of The Dresden Doll's Coin-Operated Boy (Coin-Operated Goy) which was quite funny. It's just a shame Brian Viglione had left earlier in the day.

Before I go any further, I'd like to ramble at you about music and magic. ( Don't say I didn't warn you. ) For my part, this is the reason that seeing The Dresden Dolls play Sing live is so powerful. There's an incredible energy in that song. You have not only Brian and Amanda's energy and the generally rapt attention of all these fans, but you have these same fans standing up and pouring that much more into this song--into being part of this magic.

It's a rare thing for a song--even played live--to be that powerful and to wield so much energy.

Voltaire, who grew up in NJ, surrounded by a few hundred people--no small fraction of which also grew up in NJ--very nearly matched it. With Bomb New Jersey. There is something both sad and fantastic about that.

At any rate, after the concert Micah and I got on line to talk to him and ran into lizzyfur and Casey. We chatted for a bit, and then the two of them wandered off to do their own thing, while Micah and I continued to wait. When we got to the front of the line--wait. No.

Earlier that day, Micah and I passed Voltaire in the hall and he pointed at Micah (wearing fake glasses, a white button down shirt which his Superman t-shirt was clearly visible through, and a flap of red fabric hanging out of the back of his pants) and said, "It's Superman!" I, being the fangirl that I am, turned to Micah and said, "Voltaire just talked to you!" I knew full-well that Micah did not need to be told this, but it was a bit of a vicarious thrill and sometimes my mouth does things without first consulting my brain. In any case...

We got to the front of the line, and Voltaire gives me the standard, finger-crook, come closer gesture. I lean down, and he puts one hand next to his mouth, as if to block Micah's view and says in a stage whisper, "It's Superman!" I acted shocked, and Micah glared and shushed... It's funnier than I think I'm managing to convey. In any case, I was disappointed to find that he did not have Deady Sings (the only one of his albums I don't own) and instead bought the Deady: Big In Japan comic, and had Voltaire sign that. While I love the man's music and think that he is, in general, pretty damned awesome, I'm not a huge fan of his comics. They're not bad, by any means, they just don't grab me the way his music does. In fact, this is why I haven't bought his Deady comics before, and why I've put off getting Deady Sings.

In retrospect, I rather wish I'd picked up a t-shirt too, but I'm trying to cut down on the amount of clothing and such that I own, so it seemed like a bad idea to buy a new shirt. But now I'm definitely kicking myself.

NEXT TIME on My Totally Normal Weekend: All Good Things...

After my show I went upstairs to Genevieve's hotel room and changed into my would-be after party outfit. Earlier discussion had made it seem pretty likely that we wouldn't be around that late, and in my heart of hearts, I really do love all the horrible, uncomfortable things society deems sexy on women.

It was about 3:00 by this point. My friends and I had none of us had a proper breakfast, and none of us had anything even resembling lunch. We briefly considered patronizing the hotel pub. On the one hand, the hotel was beautiful and its staff were fantastic. They treated us like human beings and everything--a big step up from the hotel staff and most events like this. It would be nice to give them a little additional business as a thank you for being so great to the whole Wicked crew. On the other hand, the menu seemed rather pricey and had zero vegetarian options. I could have gotten by with some sort of seafood, but Micah doesn't even eat that. So in the end, Micah, Danielle, Joe, George and myself all piled into Michael's car, and the six of us went to a nearby diner--were we were also treated like human beings, despite the fact that some of us were dressed a bit outlandishly--George was already in his full Viktor Devonne ensemble.

After our late lunch we returned to the hotel, and Micah and I were quickly abandoned by our friends involved in The White Elephant Burlesque Society. Left to our own devises, we browsed the vendors wares, visited the Tribes rooms, caught part of Lummi's set and generally just loitered around.

A little before 8:00 we made our way to the Secret Stage and I took a front row seat (between Padraig and the emcee's mother) and eagerly awaited the start of WEBS' set. And now I have a confession to make:

I've been pushing WEBS since the day I found out we'd both be at this event. In part, this is because I've heard great things about them and because the videos available on youtube are pretty entertaining. Mostly, however, it was because the directors and many of the charter members are very good friends of mine and I have every reason in the world to support them. Having finally seen them perform live I can only say that I have not been singing their praises enough.

The White Elephant Burlesque Society was amazing. Their numbers were all entertaining and innovative, many of them telling very clear stories. Most of the numbers were provocative and suggestive or, yes, downright sexy, but they were interspersed with a couple of more light-hearted comedy pieces that were more reminiscent of Vaudeville than Burlesque--not to mention, of course, Viktor Devonne's excellent emcee-ing.

After the final number and curtain call a final song came on (something by Gogol Bordello, I think) and invited the audience to get up and dance with them, which was much, much fun, and afforded me the chance to dance with someone I'd met that day (and who'd been sweet enough to come to Poison Apples earlier that day).

NEXT TIME on My Totally Normal Weekend: Death, Death, Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil Songs

After we checked in and I changed into costume, I ditched all my friends and wandered the event alone, trying to drum up interest in my show, which went up just two hours into the event. I met a bunch of people, made a new friend, and ran into a lot of people that I knew both from my days with The Home of Happiness and with RU Pagans. On my own personal time-line, membership in both groups had a pretty heavy overlap, but had very little over-lap in terms of the people involved. Of course now sleepymaggie and padmaclynne--who were members (and in Maggie's case, club president) for most of my time at RUPSA--are now members of HoH and it makes my brain a tiny bit melt-y. But that's beside the point.

At about 2:15 I took over the Main Stage. On the one hand, it is unutterably cool to be able to tell people that I performed, not only at the same event, but on the same stage as Voltaire, Lumi, Freezepop and a bunch of other amazing performers. On the other hand, it was a huge space with tons of seating and therefore my show felt very poorly attended although, in truth, I probably had somewhere around 20ish people in the audience. That's really not a bad turn out for a new show presented by someone as completely un-famous as myself. (And you'll keep snide remarks to yourself about the fact that roughly half of them were personal friends of mine.) Honestly though, this is an extremely small price to pay. The size of the playing space was daunting, but it was a room separate from the rest of the event, which meant that I had a real audience, not just people pausing to watch the crazy lady before they moved on to browse another vendor's stall.

I was nervous. Holy gods was I nervous. While I had rehearsed like a mad woman, this was the first time I'd ever written my own material, been my own director, or, in fact, performed a one-woman show for an adult audience. Any one of those would have made me nervous, but the combination of all three made me just about ready to puke. On the upside, I'm the sort of person who gets stage fright while I'm in the wings (so to speak) and then gets over it about 30 seconds after I actually hit the stage. Once I was past the Briar Rose opener, things went fairly smoothly.

Which is not to say that things went the way I'd planned them, just that I'm relatively fast on my feet. There were phrases and lines dropped that I'd noticed only after it was too late to retrieve them and add them back. I failed to rehearse the Snow White collapse in full costume and as a result the trip back up from the floor was a bit awkward. I think that I might pace a bit too much, but possibly not.

But on the whole it was a positive experience. At least a few people appeared to be completely engaged and involved in the stories. I got laughs in the right places, which was a great relief--comedy is much, much harder than drama. And afterward people who were not my friends, or even my acquaintances prior to that day, tipped (and some tipped very well) and stopped me afterward to tell me how much they'd enjoyed my show. In my book, that is a success.

NEXT TIME on My Totally Normal Weekend: WEBS or My Naked Friends

Friday after work I hurried on down to South Station, dragging a suit case and duffel bag, both stuffed to over flowing. I'm not generally such an over-packer, but I was nervous about my show and packed very nearly every piece of garb I owned--not to mention a few that empheliath owns. I packed all of my make up and a set of casual clothes for both Saturday and Sunday. "But what if we stick around for the after parties?" I thought. Better pack a cute little outfit for that too. I still live in the dark ages, which meant a discman and a book of CDs for the bus ride--not to mention an actual book for reading. Oh, and snacks.

I took MegaBus for the first time and heartily recommend them. They're cheaper than even the Chinatown buses (NYC/Boston tickets range from $1 to $10), and the buses are clean and seem to be pretty new. Both my drivers this weekend spoke unaccented* English, which meant that, for the first time since I stopped using Greyhound, I actually understood the whole of the departure/arrival announcements. Bonus, the don't make a 20 minute stop at Burger King which means 1) the trip is faster and 2) I'm not tempted to blow my diet on a huge order of onion rings.

I arrived in NYC around 11:20 or so, and met Tori at Penn station. We took an "express" train up town to her neighborhood and arrived at her apartment around 12:20. Please take not of the quotation marks in the previous sentence. Having been underground for roughly an hour I checked my voicemail and was glad to know that mostlybent and liquiddatura had not made their projected midnight arrival time and were therefore not sitting around waiting for me.

Tori and I hung out and talked for a couple of hours and Genevieve and George showed up to pick me up somewhere in the vicinity of 2:00 a.m. We gave my sister a quick ride a few blocks uptown to her boyfriend's apartment, and then were on our way to New Jersey. We stopped at George's house to pick up his costumes and some props for White Elephant's show, made another quick stop at Pathmark for some nosh and other necessities and then, at last, arrived at the apartment Genevieve, drownedmagenta and elmo_iscariot moved into just a few weeks before.

They're still, of course, in the process of unpacking and organizing, but it's a very nice space, and will be fantastic once they're fully settled in. Danielle and Michael were, wisely, already in bed, so I said good night to George and Genevieve, before retiring to the guest room and climbing into bed with the already-sleeping baronmind. Micah woke up enough to kiss me hello and then tickle me mercilessly. It's nice to know that even half asleep my boyfriend's instinct for harassing me is not dulled.

We woke up a scant four hours later, the first to stir in the apartment. I took a shower, we got dressed, and generally lounged about waiting for George and our hosts to get up. Eventually Michael, Danielle and I headed out first, but after a stop to pick up... we'll call it a soft prop, we ended up arriving at the hotel at almost exactly the same time and Genevieve and George. Michael and Danielle left to pick up kurgan_lyonesse, and Micah and I checked in and then met George in Genevieve in their room, which they kindly let us use.

*Everyone has an accent. When I say "unaccented" I mean that they spoke something reasonably close to American Standard English.

NEXT TIME on My Totally Normal Weekend: Poison Apples & Pretty Witches

I have a whole, huge post (or possibly a series of somewhat smaller posts) to make about the fantastic time I had at Totally Normal this weekend, but I don't have the energy to sit and write just now. However, I also don't want to forget to post this:

From A LETTER FROM JOSS WHEDON: "Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few."


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Yes, that's Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible. Yes, that's Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer. Yes, I will be watching this.

From Boston Casting:

Boston Casting is looking for Jugglers/Men Who Can Do Slight-of-Hand Tricks!

Boston Casting is holding a non-union open call on Monday, June 30th from 10am-2pm

Callbacks will be on Wednesday, July 2nd

We are seeking males, 25-45
*Need magician-level dexterity*

Can do some of the following skills:
*Flip coins across knuckles
*Do a card-shuffling trick
*Stack/unstack cups quickly
*Make balloon animals
*Other specialties


Boston Casting
129 Braintree St.
Suite 107
Boston, MA 02134
617-254-1001 X3

www.bostoncasting.com
There are a few lines / scripts are available on our website @ bostoncasting.com
password is our address (129braintree) all lowercase no spaces.

please forward this onto family and friends
Press : please contact Julie Arvedon / Julie@bostoncasting.com

In case you haven't seen the edit on my last post, it looks like I was right about Bebe Neuwirth's casting and that Nathan Lane has been offered the role of Gomez in the upcoming Addams Family musical. Because... Why exactly? Because he'll have such fabulous chemistry with Neuwirth? What?

Don't get me wrong. I think Bebe Neuwirth will make an excellent Morticia Addams. I also think that Nathan Lane--while entertaining in his own right--is flamingly gay and kind of one-note and will almost certainly FAIL at the role of Gomez Addams. It's a hard role to cast, and I can't, personally, think of any actor that would be "perfect" in the role, but I'm sure there are dozens and dozens of actors in NYC that could due it better than Nathan fucking Lane. I know he does a lot of Broadway these days, but this is practically stunt casting. He's going to be awful.

And the fact that I'm predicting this, isn't going to make me any less pissed about it when I see the show.

Nathan Lane as Fester? Okay. Still no perfect, but I could have lived with it. ...but he's so... well, he's so gay! (There. Political correctness, be damned.) And that's fine when he's playing, say, Albert Goldman or even a desk sargeant, but so much of the character of Gomez Addams is rooted in his passionate love affair with his wife. And unless Lane has a much bigger range than he's previously exhibited, nobody is ever going to believe that he's got even a touch of sexual chemistry with Bebe Neuwirth or any woman, for that matter.

I'm appalled by this casting.

"Two two-time Tony Award winners — Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane — will star in an upcoming reading of The Addams Family musical, according to a production spokesperson."

Read the full article.

"Although Lane and Neuwirth will be part of the August reading, no roles have been cast for the Broadway production, which is scheduled for the 2009-2010 Broadway season following an out-of-town tryout."

Although the article doesn't say, I'd wager that Neuwirth will be reading Morticia, and Lane... I dunno. Fester, maybe?

While I knew that this show was in the works, many thanks to haunted_spark for the link!

[edit, 2:45 p.m.: Bad news, kids. According to Perez Hilton, they've offered Lane the role of Gomez. I'm having serious problems with the idea of Lane as my favorite suave, eccentric billionaire. Thanks for the link, liquiddautra!]

x-posted in theaddamssource, addamses and my own journal