urinetown, diarist.net awards

Allison and John yesterday afternoon.



Urinetown was one of the most entertaining musicals I've ever seen, and was nothing like I expected. I hadn't realized how much satire was involved, and how self-referential the writing would be; the opening number, for example, is called "Too Much Exposition", and admits that the name "Urinetown" is a terrible name for a show.

It pokes fun at Broadway musicals in general; the more experience you've had with musical theatre, the more you'll appreciate this show. It was fun trying to identify musical quotes and styles; I'm sure I missed quite a few. I definitely recognized Les Miserables in the first act finale (which is literally called "Act One Finale") and West Side Story in another number, for example.

Though Allison might disagree, I have to say that the show will likely not be as appealing to someone who hasn't seen many musicals; I would suspect those people who tend to see Urinetown as a rather silly and over-the-top production without being aware of the underlying irony. It might also be a disappointment to those who are looking more for "heart" than clever writing, though I'm usually one of those types and enjoyed Urinetown tremendously.



For those who aren't aware of it, the Diarist.net awards are a quarterly special series of awards given by web diarists to web diarists, "highlighting the best and brightest the genre has to offer." Anyone with an online journal can nominate sites, a jury picks finalists, and open voting determines the winners. In order to nominate and vote, you have to have a web journal, diary, or personal weblog. I've volunteered to serve on the Diarist Finalist Selection panel in the past because I was curious about the process, and was impressed by the amount of work and effort that goes into the selection process.

The current round of voting is now in progress. For those interested, here are the current site award nominations, and here are the current nominations of individual entries.

If you have an online journal of any kind, please consider casting a vote. Like the Pegasus Awards in filking, the more people that participate, the more representative the awards will be.



Came across this harpist on my run yesterday morning.


Interesting links:

Ultimate folding technique: I watched this a few times but I'm still not sure how she does it. This refers to shirt-folding, not origami, by the way. Thanks to my friend Ray for the link!

Some AMAZING examples of origami from Hojyo Takashi. Be sure to check out the "My Works" section. Thanks to Jeff for the link!

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