Just announced this morning:

Terrence Mann is nominated for a Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical!
Woo Hoo!

I've been a Mann fan since I saw him in Cats in 1983.
Couldn't be more proud. :-))))

So...

I chatted with Richard Schiff today on the streets of Washington, DC!

And before that, I saw him in a play at the Shakespeare Theatre!

What more could a fangirl ask for? Not much, I can tell you.

Richard is currently appearing in Hughie at the Shakespeare Theatre and I have been looking forward to seeing this since I first heard the news last fall. Hughie is a one-act play by Eugene O'Neill and it's about a a gambler named Erie (Schiff) who is staying at a fleabag hotel in NYC. He comes home late one night and regales the new night clerk with tales of his glory days as a gambler and of his friendship with the now-deceased night clerk, Hughie. Schiff was mesmerizing. I could not take my eyes off of him. His Erie was in turns boastful of his gambling triumphs, humorous, angry and sad about Hughie's death. Schiff portrayed all of these emotions with amazing depth. The play ran less than an hour and Schiff was on the stage the entire time and did about 95% of the talking. I was completely enthralled.



Despite being a fan for about 15 years and having met him twice before, this was the first time I've seen him on stage. Truly, it was worth the wait.

After the show, I walked along the street wondering if there was a stage door hidden around there somewhere, I couldn't find one and as I was walking back toward the theater, I looked up and there he was walking toward me! I was caught totally off guard. I said hello and told him that he gave a great performance. He thanked me and I told him I first met him back in 2001 when he was filming The West Wing in DC. He said, "I thought you were going to say you met me in Pennsylvania," he said because I was wearing my Pittsburgh Steelers jacket. I said, no, I wasn't from PA, I was just a Steelers fan.

Then I told him that I had been a long time supporter of the Shakespeare Theatre. ("It's a good venue,'' he said.) And then I told him it was a treat to see him on the stage. He asked, "It was freaky?" I laughed and said, "No, I said it was a treat." He laughed and said, "Oh, I thought you said it was freaky." LOL. He's adorable!!

I asked him if his family was with him. He said no. I said, "You probably miss them."  He said that he would be back home in a couple of weeks. (The show is scheduled to run through March 17th.

I did not ask him to pose for a pic or sign anything. I've done that in the past and this time I just wanted to enjoy his company. The best part is that he was very relaxed and was not in any hurry to go anywhere. He was really nice and charming and polite. Several times, he thanked me for coming to the show. I told him I would most likely be back before the run ended. And I am pretty sure I will. I LOVE THIS MAN!



This is one of my favorite scenes from the West Wing. It's from Season 1, Episode 10 - In Excelcis Deo
This scene touches me every time I see it and I am certain it is for his performance in this episode that Richard Schiff won the Emmy award that year.



Me and Richard Schiff at the National Cathedral, April 28, 2001.

That's easy.
Johnny Smith from The Dead Zone.
I am fascinated with his psychic abiltiies and empathize with his feelings of not fitting in. I also admire the way he deals with adversity and the problems that come with his gift.

Honorable mention to:
Ben Hanscomb, It
Stu Redman, The Stand

"It's a hard life wherever you go. And if we poison our children with hatred, then the hard life is all that they'll know."
-Nancy Griffith

It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go
Storms CD
1989

This has been my favorite line from a song for as long as I can remember. I love it because it gets to the root of most of the world's problems. We teach our children to hate - to hate people who aren't the same color as us, to hate other religions, to hate anyone who's different than us really. And it makes me nuts. I wish everyone in the world could hear this song.
 

 

This may be blasphemous to say, but I liked the Carpenters version of Ticket to Ride better than the Beatles version.
Also, I liked Elton John's version of Lucy in the Sky w. Diamonds better than the Beatles version.

Lee Tergesen - Chris Meloni on L&O:SVU 10 pm NBC

DON'T FORGET TO WATCH!!

It's a reunion 7 years in the making!!

/promotion

Sophomore year. She smoked (I didn't). She brought her (smoking) boyfriend over to stay overnight ALL THE TIME, stayed up late so I couldn't sleep. It was never resolved. She finally moved out after much arguing.

George Carlin is gone. I am so stunned. I never would have predicted he would die at such an early age. It may sound weird, but I don't think of thin people being susceptible to an early death. Yeah, I know he did drugs and had heart problems, but my Dad is still kicking so I'm surprised George isn't.

George Carlin is my favorite comedien. He has been all my life. My Dad and I used to watch him on HBO in the late 1970s. We bonded over George. My Dad LOVES to laugh and he's a got a loud boisterous laugh, which I inherited.

George is going to be sorely missed.

...this Sunday, the 21st, at the NFC championship game, which starts at 3 pm! Whoo hoo!

Go Chris!

Just think - a year no one knew who the heck he was. *G*

Thank you, google alerts.

I'm doing the annual heartwalk for the second year in a row. The whole company participates, which is a very cool thing. It takes place on November 4th in DC.

Here's my donation page. I'm a little behind the eight-ball this year. So if any of you are able to donate anything, I would be extremely grateful!

ETA: Thanks to drkcherry for the first donation!

I just realized that I had neglected to thank my (other) anonymous pal for the LJ gift certificate that was sent back in December! A thousand apologies for my rudeness. Apparently, if my head was not attached, I would leave it at home.

Thanks so much!

to my anonymous valentine for the virtual chocolates!

They were delicious!

*G*

Did anyone else mutter "gag me" to themselves a dozen times or so while watching this episode?

( This has to be the sappiest Smallville ever but still I enjoyed it.Collapse )

Borrowed from latxcvi and nifra_idril, the five fictional characters you most want to punch in the face.

Greg Stillson from the Dead Zone - He's evil and he's smug about it. And not in a good way, like, say, Vern Schillinger.

Omar from Oz - who has to be the single most annoying character ever to grace t.v. land. And another punch for McManus for "not giving up on him." Puke.

Det. Beau Felton from Homicide - He's got this skeevy air about him and he's just ugh. Makes me shudder when he's on the air.

Amy Gray from Judging Amy - She's so damn judgmental and self righteous. Shut. Up. Please.

Carol Brady from The Brady Bunch - she was too damn saccharine perfect for me.

Oh wow. It's beta appreciation day and I didn't even know it. It's been so long since I've written a fanfic story, you all probably forget I even used betas, right? ;) heh.

Let's see, where to start? That's easy. maverick4oz! She was my first-ever Oz beta and she has always been there for me when I needed her. She's smart and she's blunt and she's good. Not only that, but she seems to be able to read my mind and gets me back on track when I forget where I'm going. *G* She's also done a dS story of mine. rustler has also betaed one of my Oz stories (a surprise for Mav) and she did a fabulous job as well. Also, thanks to darthrami for input on several stories in many fandoms.

In Smallville, my main ladies are justblue0162, alyt and jfc013, all of whom come through for me when I need them. callmeri also betaed a longish SV story for me in a crunch, for which I am extremely grateful. Also thanks to lexalot, blissfulvanilla, juno51, oxoniensis, rosesmove, reetchick (where has she disappeared to, anyway?), and sparklebutch, who each helped out on a story or two.

data785 volunteered for the rather enormous task of beta reading my very long Sentinel story, Edge of Something Deep, all in one shot! I still don't know how she slogged through it, but the story is better because of her input. I am also grateful to belidibabe and ekaterinn for their betas of my TS and dS stories.

Many thanks to you all.

I apologize if I forgot anyone.

This one is for the American Heart Association on Oct. 29th. My company is one of the sponsors and our president has offered us four hours of paid time off if we participate. Bonus. *G*

I'm walking this one in honor of my Dad, who has been fighting hereditary heart disease for 22 years and he's still kicking. Every male member of his family has died before the age of 68. Most of them died in their 50s. My Dad is 67 years old and is the only one to have bypass surgery - twice.

If want to sponsor me, go here. I thank you in advance.

Oh my GOD! How did we not know this?

I was reading my t.v. guide and got to the description for L&O tonight (which I usually never never EVER read) and then I saw Lee's name and I did a double take, thinking I was reading about some repeat of CI or something, but NO. Lee is on L&O tonight!! And the only reason we don't know this is because Diane is on vacation and has no computer access!

Gah!

10 pm EDT, NBC

I'm heading off to New York City tomorrow for the Komen Race/Lee's Peeps weekend as I like to think of it. I'm so very excited to see everyone. doctorevel is going to be there and I'm going to get to meet evelina69 after spending so many hours on the phone with her. And I get to see solamentenic and slip_f18 again. First time since last November. And hopefully, callmeri will make an appearance. And Jay and Tesa and a bunch of other folks I don't even know.

Unfortunately, inthekeyofd was hoping to come but is unable to make it. It's the third time she's missed a Peeps gathering. I swear that chicka has some funky karma hanging around. ;) And Lee is still in L.A., so he won't be there either. Nevertheless, we will still all have a lot of fun, I just know it.

Team Tergesen had done a great job on fundraising and I've had to keep upping the goal, which is cool. And we still haven't counted the folks who've been fundraising at home and plan to donate when they arrive. Thanks to everyone who has so generously donated their hard earned cash.

If you still haven't made a donation and you want to, go here.

If I'm lucky, I may get tickets to see Lennon, which co-stars Terrence Mann, my favorite Broadway singer.

Yay for weekends with friends!

inthekeyofd just called me to let me know that CKR is on t.v. right now in Supernatural on the WB. Not sure if it repeats.

You may recall that a few months back I bought season tickets to the Shakespeare Theatre. Weeeeeellll, today I saw the first one. Othello! Oh my God, it was soooooooooooo good.

I was so excited to see Avery Brooks play that part (and he was good), but the actor who really blew me away was Patrick Page , who played Iago. He made Shakespeare's words just roll of his tongue in the most natural way. It was just amazing. He was funny and sexy and amazing talented. You *know* how I get when I see an actor I admire. I cannot say enough good things about this guy.

I've read Othello many times and I've seen several movie versions but this guy gave line readings that made me think, "I don't even remember Iago saying that." He just has this whole new way of playing this character. I was blown away.

This is what Washingtonian magazine wrote about him: "As Othello’s nemesis, Iago, Patrick Page is brilliant. He is sinister but intriguing in the way he turns Othello and Desdemona’s idyllic romance into a nightmare. He does this not with bravado or bold speeches but by insinuation, lies, and manipulation in a voice that sometimes growls. “I am not what I am,” he says. Evidently. As players, Brooks and Page are well matched, making this the most well-balanced production this reviewer has seen."

And the GW Hatchet, which was not crazy about most of the other performances, wrote: "An exception to the forced acting is Patrick Page's performance as Iago. Each line of Page's is immediately understood by the audience; he makes it seem as if speaking in iambic pentameter has not gone out of style." Yes, yes, yes!

He also gave his portrayal a slashy slant. You know that scene where Iago is talking to Roderigo and telling him that Desdamona is basically a whore who's looking for the next hot thing? Well, the whole time he's telling Roderigo how Desdamona will eventually tire of Othello and Roderigo can have his turn with her, he's rubbing Roderigo's belly and whispering in his ear in a suggestive voice. Then, in other scenes, he was slapping the other guys on their asses or leering at them. And a few times, the actor who played Cassio (a gorgeous little blue-eyed, blond-haired fellow named Gregory Wooddell) turned around and gave Iago a confused look. It was quite hilarious.

The audience gave them a standing ovation, which was well deserved.

So, I finally got to see Othello performed on stage and it was a wonderful experience!

Plenty
by Sarah McLachlan

I looked into your eyes
they told me plenty
I already knew
you never felt a thing
so soon forgotten all that you do
in more than words I
tried to tell you
the more I tried I failed

I would not let myself believe
that you might stray
and I would stand by you
no matter what they'd say, I would have thought I'd be with you
until my dying day
until my dying day

I used to think my life
was often empty
a lonely space to fill
you hurt me more than
I ever would have imagined
you made my world stand still
and in that stillness
there was a freedom
I never felt before

I would not let myself believe
that you might stray
and I would stand by you
no matter what they'd say, I would have thought I'd be with you
until my dying day
until my dying day

Well since mkitty3 insists:

For 5 of your fandoms, name:
1. The first character you first fell in love with:
2. The character you never expected to love as much as you do now:
3. The character everyone else loves that you don't:
4. The character you love that everyone else hates:
5. The character you used to love but don't any longer:
6. The character 'ship everyone else loves that you don't:
7. The character 'ship you love that everyone else hates:

( I only really have four but I put Firefly in just for funCollapse )