The Belly Rules the Mind

Truer words have never been spoken. I am notorious for my hunger-based mood swings and my family has dubbed me "crankabetic". The term is eerily accurate. When I wear my 'The Belly Rules the Mind' t-shirt (yes, I have one) I get more comments from passersby than a wallflower is ready to handle. People all over the country have agreed wholeheartedly with the notion. The idea popped into my head becaue I've had a stretch of really tasty meals this week. I don't get out much, so a stretch for me is two, three if I count the Ballpark frank I broiled for dinner the other night. Last night I had a wonderful calzone from an Italian restaurant that I had never tried called Cosi Cucina. The calzone was fabulous; the dough was made in-house, the sausage was from one of our most favored local Italian meat and cheese suppliers named Graziano's, and it was baked in a wood-fired oven. It had the right balance of gooey cheese, spicy sausage and pepperoni, and peppers and onions. To top it off, I decided to have dessert since I was not paying and the weight maintenance challenge I signed up for at work doesn't start until next week. I went with the hot apple cake because I cannot resist anything involving apples. The cake was moist and sweet, topped with a butter pecan caramel and homemade cinnamon ice cream. Oops, just drooled a little on the keyboard during this taste memory. And the deliciousness does not end there. Today's lunch was IHOP pancakes, my excitement about which is probably best described by the fact that I was genuinely disappointed that I was not able to use my free birthday meal voucher on my actual birthday last week and instead had to wait a week to coordinate a time when all attendees could be present. That's right, I love my buttermilk pancakes almost as much as the double happiness IHOP provides when the receipt comes with an opportunity to get a free buttermilk short stack by just filling out their customer survey. I've done it before and I'll do it again. Keep it coming IHOP.

Is This What Too Much Sun Does To A Person?

How could I pass up an opportunity to see La Cage Aux Folles? It is a Broadway classic and, given the frequency of revivals and the average human lifespan, this was probably my only opportunity. Unfortunately, I'm a little hard up for cash so I got a cheap but not completely nosebleed inducing seat at our local venue. Cage is just starting its' national tour from the Broadway revival that won three Tony Awards in 2010. It's a great show, not nearly as groundbreaking as it once was but the music holds up and the sentiment is strong. The Cagelles were fantastic, those guys were a better group of dancers than I've seen in any production. Christopher Sieber, as Albin, did the heavy lifting for this production and was more than up for the task. Which brings me to the unfortunate fact that it had to become such a lop-sided show because Sieber's costar, George Hamilton, was useless. Hamilton, though he has done some film and television work, is mostly known for being tan. Tan does not cut it in a Broadway show. His singing voice was more the 'talk-sing' type and he seemed to be suffering from some sort of painful arthritis because his movements were as robotic as his delivery. It was difficult to watch him move so slowly and awkwardly that he became two to three beats behind the rest of the cast when they were doing very simple footwork. Those years in the sun and the tanning booth seem to have fried his brain and cooked his muscles down to nothing. It is easy to see that without Hamilton, the production could really take off. The set, lighting, direction, and cast are equal to the task and if the producers could find a costar as talented as Sieber then this tour could continue for years to come. I highly recommend you catch it if you can, just do not spend big bucks if George Hamilton is still in the show.

Just Joshin'...Not!

Cedar Rapids is not a new release but I have gotten continuous enjoyment out of its' characters and story. Thank goodness for RedBox because I do draw a line - it was full price at Target yesterday and I passed it up, so Amazon here we come! But I digress... I love Cedar Rapids. Ed Helms' portrayal of the innocent Tim Lippe is hilarious, heartfelt, and heartbreaking. The audience wants so much for Tim to wake up and enter adulthood that it is both sad and funny to watch him tell a prostitute about the dangers of smoking (it will increase your premiums) simply because it does not even enter his mind that she is anything other than a perfectly nice person. But the scene stealer here is John C. Reilly as Dean Zigler, whose boldness and politically incorrect humor run counter to everything Tim knows. Reilly gives the audience some of the biggest laughs in the movie. The ASMI-azing Race sequence, particularly the swimming pool word scramble, is laugh out loud funny. I have watched and immediately backed up and watched again the end cabin sequence because Reilly's reaction to lighting his fart on fire is priceless. I admit to enjoying some low brow humor, but don't let that deter you from this movie because this is not a bathroom humor movie. Cedar Rapids is, at its' core, a traditional coming of age story about one man's journey to adulthood and the friendships that get him through it. The fact that the person coming of age is a forty year old man, well, it just makes the story that much more amusing.

Watch This, No Thinking Allowed

There should be no shame in admitting that you enjoy what most people call trash TV. I love trash TV and relish the opportunity to indulge. My most recent indulgence is Lifetime's Dance Moms. The premise is ridiculous, the behavior is deplorable, and yet I can't get enough. Dance Moms follows the mothers and daughters of the Abby Lee Dance Company and all of the drama that seems to be a requirement to be a member of the dance studio. Abby Lee Miller, the instructor, treats the mothers and daughters terribly and the mothers match her barb for barb. And, of course, despite all the talk from the moms that they will not put up with Abby's behavior anymore, nobody goes anywhere (except cuckoo Cathy who, as a dance instructor herself, decided that she knew better and took her daughter back to her studio). For me, the hour is equal parts feeling sorry for those poor girls getting emotionally abused and counting my lucky stars that I did not have to go through anything like that when I was growing up. Outside of one tumbling class in kindergarten, I had no inclination to dance and if you ever see me awkwardly jiving on the dance floor you'll understand why. Dance Moms is low on the totem pole of trash TV. It's not a Project Runway or a Top Chef, both of which I love and both of which, at their best, focus on the talent of the contestants. Dance Moms is all about the drama, but sometimes there's nothing like entertainment that does not make you think, not even a little.

Every Heart is a Package

Watching Josh Ritter perform makes me grin from ear to ear. I discovered his music in 2009 thanks to NPR Music and I've been addicted ever since. If you are lucky enough to have a chance to see him perform live, I highly recommend it. I've seen him three times in the last few years and I am heartbroken that he did not make it back to my area this year (my brother gets props for the best birthday present ever:  last year he gave me tickets to the Josh Ritter show at the Slowdown). Watching him and the Royal City Band give everything they have and seeing them love every minute of it heightens the audience's experience. Plenty of performers are enthusiastic, but rarely have I seen someone whose enthusiasm is so genuine that I actually want to be up there with him because he's having the most fun of anyone in the place. He and the band recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live and played off with "Kathleen" which is always a crowd pleaser. I finally got around to watching the entire performance online and if this does not make you happy then I don't know what will. I mean, just look at that smile on keyboardist Sam Kassirer's face. How can you not click the play button?

Think Happy Thoughts

What makes you smile? I finally decided to take the blogging plunge because of the very simple notion that it is important to recognize what makes me happy. The crew over at NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour inspired me with their "What's Making You Happy" segment in which the panel discusses what is making them happy each week; it may be big, small, family-related, work-related, anything at all. The other inspiration comes from Amy Sedaris, who spoke at an event I recently attended. During the audience Q&A portion (I don't know how people in her position put up with the bizarre things people want to know), she was asked if she had any advice for young people who wanted to break into a creative field and she simply said, "Do what you want to do." I have always wanted to write, and I finally decided to stop imagining that I'll someday be able to quit my job for a hefty advance on the book I have not started writing and actually start writing something, anything. So here I am. It's a simple premise, I plan to use this space to discuss what makes me happy. It could be anything from a show I've attended, a book I read, or a restaurant I've visited. So, I guess I'm off and running.