I'm
sorry that it has been a while since I've updated my blog on Yahoo 360/Profiles and MySpace.com, but as you can imagine, I've been
busy with my
new job. It has been going well so far.
This
past weekend, Janice and I met former and current co-workers
at a fun party hosted by Donna S. It was the first time I had seen many of
these people since my layoff and Ken G.'s
fun Cinco
de Mayo
party
at the start of May. The excellent band of Donna's husband played classic rock,
the spread of food was impressive, and we were lucky to have a rare June day
without rain.
The
recent deaths of pop-culture icons such as singer Michael Jackson, actress Farrah
Fawcett, and pitchman Billy Mays reminded me not only of the ephemeral
nature of life but also the enduring influence of memorable people. On a
related note, in the past month or so, I've been catching up on musicals on cable
television and DVD.
Janice
and I belatedly enjoyed the Bollywood drama Slumdog Millionaire
and Across the
Universe, whose rearrangements of Beatles songs were surprisingly well
done. I'm more dubious, however, about plans to take Spider-Man to Broadway, despite a strong cast.
We
also liked Once, an understated movie
that I had borrowed from my parents. For insight into the artistic process, I
highly recommend Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts and Spectacle With Elvis Costello,
both of which feature unexpected pairings of celebrities. Live From
Abbey Road has featured some intimate performances in the famed British
studio.
Kenneth
Branagh's Love's
Labours Lost successfully set Shakespeare's romantic comedy in the late
1930s, while Ian McKellan's King Lear was a
powerful (nonmusical) drama. Branagh was good in the BBC/PBS Masterpiece Mystery:
Wallander, and I look forward to his take on Marvel Comics' Thor. I'm
also interested in seeing McKellan in AMC's remake of the late Patrick
McGoohan's paranoiac classic The Prisoner later
this year.
For
more than 20 years, I've relied on friends David I.S. and Corbin A.Y.'s
recommendations regarding music because our tastes are similar. I've been
watching VH1 Classic's That
Metal Show and enjoyed the concert film Iron
Maiden: Flight 666.
In
the coming weeks, I'll try to post about other genre entertainment and planned
visits by friends to the Boston area. What would you like to see?
Gene's Worlds 
