When did live theatre become just like a movie theatre??

Sorry, there is no punch line, it was more of a rhetorical question, but I'll tell you why I ask.

It wasn't that many years ago that going to the live theatre meant showering, shaving, and dressing up, you certainly wouldn't be caught in any less than "golf attire". Things have apparently changed, and for the worse! You could say jeans(yes jeans!!!) are more comfortable, but I ask if jeans are more comfortable than a dress?? Well I've never worn a dress(that I'd like to tell you about:)), but I assume that since it's much closer to naked than jeans that it must be. Now what about men?? White collar workers always tend to wear either a suit or Khakis, so would it be much of an imposition to wear them to the theatre?? I DON'T THINK SO! As for all the blue collar workers that head home after a long, physically demanding day, THIS IS A SPECIAL EVENT, is it that hard to find something better than jeans?? REALLY!

OK, now let me qualify that a little! I will say that it should be more of a production based dress code, I'll admit that may sound weird, but hear me out anyways. I wouldn't expect ANYBODY going to see Les Miserable, Phantom Of the Opera, ETC.... things that would be considered ""productions", or "epics", IN JEANS, but I'm afraid that might just happen ..... I guess they should impose a dress code, and I always thought there always was one, it was just "unwritten". Now what about productions like Rock of Ages and The Toxic Avenger, something more in the vein of "modern" theatre productions. OK, I guess I can understand where NICE jeans are acceptable. Now we're not talking worn out, acid washed jeans, we're talking the darker more expensive dark jeans ....... sorry the proper definition escapes me, but you know what I mean:) When paired with a nice top and proper shoes the look can be quite acceptable, so I'll accept it:) although I'd still prefer more proper attire:) I think where the question arises is in more middle of the road productions, things like Jersey Boys, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Raincoat ...... let's make this simple, ALWAYS ERR ON THE SIDE OF BEING OVER DRESSED INSTEAD OF UNDER DRESSED!.

Now where did this come from?? Well I had to do some thinking both after seeing "The Toxic Avenger", where I saw more than a few pairs of worn out jeans and runners(OH MY!), and "Rock Of Ages", where I saw lots of the "better" jeans.

So what did I think about the productions AFTER I got past the jeans dilemma?? I liked em both, certainly having a group with me made seeing ROA more of an evening out, and it's always fun when you see your close friends, something that doesn't happen as much as I'd like:) ROA was certainly a step up in terms of production quality, and since I knew pretty much all of the songs I could always get into that. What I did notice is BOTH productions tended towards audience participation just a little.

So, my rating would be

Rock of Ages .....80% .... loses points for a weak story and trouble with incomprehensible dialog .... probably something to do with hosting a rock show in a century old theatre!

The Toxic Avenger ..... 73% ..... I said in my review(Nov 09) that I might have been a little giddy after seeing my first production in years, and gave this an 80%, I guess I was:) .... Not the greatest premise for the theatre, but some good original songs and lots of fun ... too bad it never caught the interest of the public!

Next production ..... Jersey Boys ....... and you can bet it WON'T be in jeans!

Brent

Sandra Bussin Ward 32 councillor what a disaster In my opinion:)

I know, "Brent, you live North of the City, why do you care about issues in Toronto?", it's not my place but It upsets me when people are power hungry, and it's even worse when they represent other people. You want to be an ass and it only affects you?? GO AHEAD! When it affects others, people that voted you into office, then that's wrong. It's kinda like committing suicide and taking as many others with you as you can or simply taking your own life.

Now back to Sandra;

Do you remember a while ago when I rallied against Sandra B over her Knowledge of what constitutes "art" and whether a mural painted on the side of a building, paid for by the building owner in order to stop constant "tagging", was art. Also remember that she decided that it wasn't ... she be real smart like:), so the owner was forced to remove it ALL BECAUSE OF HER!

No onto the most recent scandal, and rather than filling in the blanks I will simply post this with thanks to Sue-Ann Levy and the Toronto Sun

"""Andrew McVeigh worked for the Boardwalk Pub as a chef on and off for six years — including during 2006 when Councillor Sandra Bussin took another run at office.

The 29-year-old trained chef says he was looking for more hours during that time when he was approached by the head chef to do some work outside the pub.

“He did a catering business so I thought I’d be doing some extra catering for him,” McVeigh said Monday.

To his surprise, he and another employee were taken to Bussin’s campaign office on Queen St. E. near Northern Dancer Ave., where he was put to work on the phones, distributing campaign brochures and erecting signs.

He remembers working for about five hours a day for three or four days. McVeigh said he was told that he’d be paid $10 an hour for his services but that to anybody who asked, he was a “volunteer.”

The money was added to his regular paycheque from Tuggs Inc., as if he was putting in the time at the pub, he said.

While it struck him as “very odd” that he was asked to work on the councillor’s campaign, McVeigh said he was warned at the time that if he told anybody he’d “lose his job.”

He has since left the Boardwalk Pub and is pursuing a career in construction. He told me he decided it was time he spoke up after he heard the series of media reports on the controversial deal with George Foulidis, owner of Tuggs Inc., that would give him a monopoly over food, beverage and liquor sales in the Eastern Beaches for the next 20 years.

McVeigh said he didn’t know until recently he wasn’t supposed to be paid to “volunteer” to work on a councillor’s re-election bid.

“I feel duped.”

Bussin did not respond to calls to her cellphone, her office voice mail or to a fax sent to her office for comment.

Foulidis couldn’t be reached either, despite efforts to contact him on his cellphone, through an e-mail message, as well as a fax and phone call to his pub.

This is yet another chapter in the ongoing soap opera surrounding the controversial council decision to award Foulidis the exclusive rights he has enjoyed since 1986 to sell food and beverages not just at the Boardwalk Cafe but at Kew and Balmy Beaches as well as at D.D. Summerville Pool.

That decision came late in the evening of May 12 when only 28 councillors were in the chamber. Bussin, herself, declared a conflict.

According to a report prepared by licensed private investigator Bert O’Mara of Mosaic Investigations, Foulidis’ ties with Bussin do not stop there. They include a variety of contributions to her re-election campaigns in 2003 and 2006.

In 2003, O’Mara traced some $4,000 to friends, family and business partners of Foulidis; in 2006 he found that Bussin received $8,250 from what were then friends, family members, officers of Foulidis’ company and his employees.

O’Mara said Monday he couldn’t comment on Tuggs Inc. employees actually working on Bussin’s campaign.

That said, at Tuesday’s meeting, council will have the opportunity to approve a motion from Frances Nunziata asking that the matter be reopened and the contract be put out to tender.

The 16 councillors missing on May 16 were contacted Monday to determine how they would vote. Rob Ford, Karen Stintz, Peter Milczyn, Chin Lee, Cliff Jenkins, Mike Feldman and Cesar Palacio all indicated they’d support a reopening. Raymond Cho said he hasn’t made up his mind. Giorgio Mammoliti, Shelley Carroll, Janet Davis, Case Ootes, Michael Thompson, Michael Walker, John Filion and Adam Giambrone did not respond to Sun enquiries."""

OH MY! do we see a possible conflict here?? I won't even comment on the contract given to George Foulidis, but even that looks bad on the other councillors, and is very short sighted seeing as this City is growing quickly .... who knows in 10 years what will be done on the boardwalk, and ALL of this goes to Foulidis to, in essence, do what he want's to do!

Goo

I want to cry!

I've never in my life felt sicker that I do when photos started coming in from the South coast of the United States from the BP oil disaster. What amazes me even more is the people that don't think twice about buying things(vehicles mostly) after seeing these photos and hearing the stories.

I don't know how 1 person could look at these photos and go on with their day. I actually had a physical reaction(a small scream) when I saw these photos, and the thought of taking a leave from work and going to try and help went through my head. Now I'll tell you I don't have the finances in order to afford that, NOR the Visa that allows me even enter the U.s. anymore.

If anybody read my post earlier this month you'll notice that I said something along the lines of "without humans this planet would be able to find equilibrium, but it's humans that run that and the planet would be better without us here" ...... Guess what?? this BP disaster is more proof!

OH, guess what ...... that Pelican was JUST removed from the endangered species in the last year .... welcome back to the list!

I try the best I can! Why can't you?

Am I asking too much really??

Are you happy with the mass slaughter of innocent Dolphins?

What about the mass slaughter of hundreds of whales in the name of science ......That's what they say, but we know the difference!

What about a bowl of "shark fin" soup where the slice off the fins, and throw the rest back in the water and the shark is still alive!?

What about the continuous massacre of some of the most important species in nature for the simple thought of finding a great aphrodisiac??

If you willingly, freely buy goods made in China then you support ALL of these things AND MORE

I know, it's all about the mighty buck, spend as little as possible to get as much as possible ..."Hey I can buy 3 of these crappy products whereas 15 years ago I could have gotten just 1 for the same money" Never-mind that they break 3 times as quickly!

I have to say, and I've said this before. that WHEREVER possible look for a LOCALLY made product before buying crap shipped on slow boats! Mind you, how many parents still buy their kids toys painted with lead paint from China, and then blame the manufacturer? or complain when they have to spend more the following year because the manfacturer decided it was better to bring things back to NA for safety reason, so I don't really expect you to care!

BUT, and here's the real question, what's your reaction when you hear of another creature being wiped off the planet? Are you sad, do you say "oh well", DO YOU REALLY CARE?

I'm really getting sick of all these people more worried about toys, and acquiring wealth(including the toys), and aren't at all worried about the world around them.

Here's a post from a site I regularly visit

"Are we more valuable to this planet than anything else?? I'd say NO.

We are the only people to scr_w each other over for anything, animals kill for survival, we kill for fun, we use resources(interesting word) in any fashion we please!

Just ask yourself what the planet would be like without us here ......everything would be in perfect balance. It's the humans that have ruined that balance.

OH, and to the person that said we could handle plenty more people ...... please do some reading, find out how long until we use up all the natural resources, ruin our water and then spend trillions building plants with oil run machinery to build turbines and wind mills for energy, and for plants to clean the water that WE polluted.

Me oh my, we DESERVE to be wiped out, yes even the good ones!"

This was in a discussion with the subject "save 1000 near-extinct giant pandas (cute) or 1 human life??

This was posted by ME, and it's the truth!

Seems I haven't been keeping up:)

This should be my first post EVERY month, since it seems that it's about a month between my posts, and then it's about 4 posts on that one day!

I guess you could say I am busy, and while that's true, but really , it only takes 10 minutes to right a post. Why I don't do this more often is simply because a thought worth posting comes along so rarely that I usually forget about it before I sit down:)

OK, Here's little gripe of mine;

My car hit 7 this year(Happy Birthday!), and I was seriously looking forward to seeing the new Civic, maybe not buying one right away, but getting an idea whether it was on my list. Well guess what?? They decided to hold off until "sometime" in 2011, all I ask if PLEASE give me an idea of whether you're doing a Civic hatchback(please!), and what the other Civics will look like.

So my list seems to be growing, lots of other good cars either coming out or will be soon, among them;

Ford Fusion, Fiesta(bad "B" pillar location though) and Focus
Mazda 2,3,6(6 is a long shot)
Fiat ..... the really little one:) ..... please don't rename it a Chrysler, PLEASE

Trust me when I say there will also be a few more in the running, I seem to remember Buick will be coming out with a compact based on the European Astra ....... oh no, add another:)

Brent