Screen Door - Upscale Southern Cuisine

Prior to attending a performance at the new Winspear Opera Hall last weekend, we decided to have dinner at Screen Door conveniently located at One Arts Plaza - a very easy stroll down Flora Street.

I had been to Screen Door for lunch and found the restaurant rather expensive and plates too full of bread and potato starches. Dinner, though, was a different experience. While still being on the pricey side, we were pleased with our dinner experience with only minor issues.

We attempted to make reservations through their website powered by the very popular national online reservation service, OpenTable. We began accessing the site at about 11am and by the time we left for the restaurant, we were still met with a message "this restaurant is temporarily offline, check back soon." We arrived at the restaurant to be met with a bit of attitude from the manager for not having made reservations and asking for a table as merely a walk-in. Keep in mind their site states walk-ins welcome. Due to lack of un-reserved tables, we sat outside. Thankfully it was one of those very rare days in Dallas that sitting outside was absolutely enjoyable. At any rate, we told the manager that we had attempted for hours to make reservations online, but couldn't. He said it must be a temporary glitch - although as I write this post, their website's online reservation is still "temporarily offline" - some 72 hours later.

Our waitress was fantastic - very personable and very knowledgeable of the apparently new menu. What was offered on the menu at the restaurant hardly resembled anything they showed on their website. We began with Crispy Quail and Waffles. This gourmet take on a southern comfort good - chicken and waffles - was surprisingly good. Fried quail atop small triangles of waffles with maple syrup and gravy - topped with fried leaf of sage. The syrup and gravy actually complimented each other quite well.

For entree, I chose the Pepper Seared Duck Breast. Served medium rare, these were the best medallions of duck breast I have ever had. The duck was served atop braised cabbage and poblano pepper slaw with a light maple rum reduction. On the side was a small personal sized skillet of Spoon Bread - a very moist cornbread that is closer to pudding in consistency than bread requiring a spoon to eat it, hence its name.

Jim had a crab stuffed flounder - very tasty as well. We chose a half-bottle of King Estate Pinot Noir and Jim finished the evening with an autumn spice cake.

Something we learned from a staff member, the valet parking is $5 at One Arts Plaza while the Arts District parking garage one block away is $10 and valet even more. Considering the easy, one-block walk down the newly renovated Flora Street, it makes more sense to valet at One Arts, eat at Screen Door or one of the other nice restaurants there, and walk to your show - whether at the Meyerson, Winspear, or Wyly. Just keep in mind that the wait for your car after the show may be not quite worth the lower parking price.

As for Screen Door, we will most likely dine there again, but not anytime soon. For upscale, gourmet Southern cuisine, I still feel that Hattie's provides better quality dishes, provides the same upscale atmosphere (if not nicer/more authentic feeling), and for less money.

How about a Caps Lock on iPhone?

Computers for decades have provided a convenient caps-lock key on the keyboard. The folks at Apple seem to think that such a convenience isn't handy enough to have automatically available on their iPhones.

Considering today's security minded computer and internet use, many encryption keys and passcodes are case sensitive, with many using all caps for text. With this in mind, I find it outright ignorant of Apple to, by default, turn on the caps lock feature on the iPhone.

But as with most shortcomings on the iPhone, I have found the solution. You can turn on the ability to use caps lock on the iphone as follows: Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Caps Lock.

Again, I haven't a clue what they were thinking when they not only decided that you should have to turn the ability to use caps lock on and off, but to actually have it turned off by default. Climb out from under your rock, Apple, and witness the light of day.

Icon Mayhem

Over time I have added more and more "apps" to my phone - as I have said before, the ability to run various software applications on my phone was the only reason I decided get the iPhone.

As you add apps to the phone an icon for each application is placed on the page (similar to the "desktop" in Windows). Obviously, on such a small screen, it isn't long till you fill up the page and a new page is created to add more apps. In fact, only 16 icons can be placed on a page.

The way Apple's iPhone organizes these numerous icons is absolutely absurd. Remember the Windows 3.11 days? Remember your computer's desktop screen being filled with icons? Remember having to try and remember just where you placed the icon you are looking for? Sadly, some people still feel the need to dump icons all over their desktops, but most of us more computer-savvy folk have learned how to keep the desktop clean and application icons organized elsewhere. At any rate, the iPhone organization of apps is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. You simply have to remember where you have placed the icons - and on what page. It's not long till you may even fill 5 or so pages with apps - and then find yourself not only having to remember where they are, but having to do a ridiculous scroll through all the pages to get to it.

Come on, Apple. You're supposedly smart - at least your propaganda ads try to convince folks that you are. The smart thing to do would be to allow folders or other virtual "containers" to be placed on a page as a shortcut to a group of app icons.

For example, the basic camera software that comes with the iPhone is horrible. I have no less than five third-party applications that I use in an attempt to make the iPhone camera somewhat acceptable in quality. Why can't I have just one category icon on a screen labeled "Camera" (or such) to be touched and then be taken to the group of all camera apps I have loaded on the phone?

Oh wait, a good friend of mine told me that this does exist - and once again a third party application. But it's not one Apple wants you to have to make their phone work better - its a third party application that you can only load onto a jailbroken iPhone.

Once again, I feel myself being pushed towards jail breaking the phone to make it more useful by overcoming Apple's flaws, shortcomings, and oversights.

Few Good Things and the Huge Disappointments

It's been over a month since I got my Apple-branded smart phone. As any of my readers know, I began pointing out the flaws and problems with the iPhone pretty quickly. I had a few pro-Apple folk that felt I should give it a few weeks before I really make an opinion. I can't think of a better than than after a month and after putting it to the true test on two different trips.

My first trip was to the northeast. I was excited to be able to access my email, access work documents, and stay better connected with my profession while I was gone. The experience was utterly disappointing. Within just a day, my phone would randomly, and without warning, crash and do a shut-down. The kicker is that it would never turn back on - no matter what I did. I would try the warm reboot, the cold reboot, all sorts of button-push combinations - even the pin in the hole method. Nothing. The only thing that would allow me to at least get something on the screen would be to plug it into the charger. Only then I would receive a "battery empty" graphic, and after a few more attempts the phone would finally do a reboot.

This phone crashed on me numerous times in the car, outside, indoors, and in the airport. You know, all the places that a mobile phone is most needed.

The Apple support folks were utterly useless, uninformed, rather ignorant, and seem quite pleased with themselves that they couldn't really help me. Long story short, I explained the issues and they only thing they could reply with was "do a reboot" - this, even after I made it extremely clear that a reboot is impossible. The second thing they recommended was plug it into the charger to get it to respond again. In the end, Apple support didn't care WHY my phone was crashing, but rather only that I was able to get it running again. Each time I got it running again, it crashed moments later. Apple had no help for me as to why this was happening or what to do to prevent it from happening. They were happy to dispense band-aids to cover the problem, but nothing more.

I have learned quickly that you are on your own with Apple products - I had the very same experiences with them when I called often regarding major problems with my iPod. I have finally given up and bought a much more stable (with extremely better software) MP3 player - the Zune.

Oh, I said "the few good things" in my title ... almost forgot. It is the non-Apple, third party applications that still make this phone only a little bit more useful than my old non-smart mobile phone.

The Hacienda on Henderson

In the building that was once home to Cuquitas on Henderson Avenue in Dallas is the newly opened The Hacienda on Henderson. We went with friends the day after it opened to give it a try.

Our group ordered the house margaritas - and upon the very first sip, we all got a strange look on our face trying to place the flavor. Ironically, two of us thought that they tasted just like "Dad's old fashioned menthol shaving cream". While I do prefer top shelf, non-mix margaritas, I don't mind "slumming" it from time to time drinking some really bad margaritas. This however, wasn't even worth drinking to me - as I left half the drink behind.

Hacienda's bar features "tequila on tap" with pineapple, strawberry, and habanero infused vodkas served up at a mere 5 degrees. I appreciated the fact that the tequila is infused with these flavors and not simply tequila mixed with syrupy sweet fruit juices. The habanero was fantastic - and I plan to have another soon!

As for the food, it was a mixed bag. Entrees ordered at our table included Surf and Turf Tacos, Brisket Tacos, and Mole! Mole! Mole! Chicken Breast. The seasonings, spices, and sauces were wonderful - and the mole could very well be the best in town. The mole was a perfect combination of chocolate and smoked peppers. In fact, it is the smokiness of their mole that sets them apart from the others in town.

The problem was the meat - all overcooked. The chicken breast was so dry that water or margarita was necessary to swallow the meat. The brisket tacos thankfully came with a dipping sauce (that was actually tastier than the meat itself) that acted as an acceptable lubricant to swallow the beef, and the shrimp were rubbery due to being overcooked.

Other than dry overcooked meats and horrible margaritas, the flavors of the entrees were good enough to have me wanting to try them again and hopefully cooking times for the meats will be less.

Apple Isn't Very Creative

Every time I hear a Microsoft vs. Apple argument, I nearly always hear the iHead say that the Apple is better for creativity. While I agree, it is great for creating graphics, what it is good at doing isn't necessarily a reflection of Apple itself.

It is one thing to create "creative" things via the software that happens to be running on an Apple, but it something completely different to be creative with the Apple device. The iPhone is a prime example.

I consider myself quite creative and visually oriented. And I feel strongly that creativity is achieved through customization. If every painted the same painting, would that painting be considered creative?

The Apple iPhone is far from creative because it is far from being customizable. As with all mobile phones, I hated each and every one of the phone's standard, built-in ringtones. Of course, one would think being as creative as iHeads believe Apple to be, a person would find a wealth of nice, creative, audibly enticing ringtones on the iPhone.

I bought new ringtones, synced them with the phone, and then learned that customization of phone sounds is nearly non-existent. In fact, out of all the alerts and sounds the iPhone can make, you can only customize incoming telephone calls and clock/alarms. You cannot use custom sounds for the items that I use most like incoming SMS messages, text messages, new voicemail, new email, sent email, calendar alerts, lock sound, or keyboard sounds. Rather, you are stuck with the few that Apple has determined most appropriate for you.

So much for creativity and customization. I remember even back in the horrible Windows 3.11 days of the very early '90's, you could assign any custom sound to any of the major windows events. In fact, my most recent, ver basic, not-even-a-smart-phone Sony WalkMan phone allowed me to assign custom sounds to nearly anything.

Beyond Apple's narrow mindedness on custom sounds, they also feel that you don't need to look any different from anyone else (creating the Apple droids I call iHeads) by customization of your phone visuals either. They seem to almost boast the fact that you can upload your own main photo/wallpaper. But in reality, how often or for how long do you even see that screen? You see your custom photo only in the second prior to unlocking your phone. After that, you go to the apps screen that looks like .... everyone else's. And to think that iHeads have long said that Microsoft computers were boring!

In order to customize much of anything visually beyond the initial screen is via a third-party app. Of course, this app can only be loaded onto a jailbroken phone.

In the end, I am left with just a couple of very nice sounding sounds on my iPhone and a lot of horrible sounding, built-in Apple sounds.

Having heard iHeads tout how creative and different Apple is, I really expected to find not only highly desireable sounds on their phones, but also a high level of user customization so that each person can feel - and be - different. Makes you wonder where the iHeads see creativity in the devices and makes you wonder even more just how "wonderfully different" Apple users are from anyone else.

Café Lago - Flavor? [UPDATED]

Yesterday we decided to give Café Lago in Casa Linda over here in east Dallas. We have noticed it many times while running errands, not to mention we have seen good reviews for it over the past few years.

Of considerable note to us was the policy of the Café to allow dogs on the patio - in accordance with new Dallas ordinances. Considering their love for canines, we felt and obligation to give them a try.

On this particular afternoon, the Café was rather empty - with many open tables - we timed it right between lunch and dinner. Decor is airy with nice artwork on the walls. The server was a very nice, attentive young man and the rest of the staff was warm and pleasant.

The menu was fresh and eclectic - a mix of various hot and cold sandwiches, an american-style tappas menu (not true spanish tappas per se, but quite a few smaller american appetizer type dishes), a few entrees, soups and salads.

We started off with their Corn Pudding with Pablano and then I chose to order the combo lunch which gave me a choice of half sandwich, soup, and salad. I chose the smoked salmon sandwich (came on pumpernickel bread), a mixed greens salad with their tarragon vinaigrette, and a cup of cold dill cucumber soup.

Overall, the dishes were fresh and presented well. My issue is that I expected some flavor with these dishes.

The corn pudding was nicely rich, but was rather bland. Most of the flavor that rose above the otherwise bland dish was pablano, and sadly, the amount of pablano in this dish was scant. I had to fish around to make sure I got a piece in each taste.

Being a huge fan of smoked salmon, capers, and red onions - the sandwich was fantastic. It's rather hard to make a smoked salmon sandwich that isn't good.

The mixed green salad was fresh and the greens crisp. The problem was the dressing. Their tarragon vinaigrette seemed to be missing the tarragon altogether. Thinking it was just me, I had Jim try it too, and he taste nothing in the vinaigrette either. Thankfully, I don't mind the taste of the fresh greens as they overpowered the bland dressing.

The dill cucumber soup, served nicely chilled, was great in consistency and was absolutely refreshing to eat - especially on a hot and humid day in Texas. The problem, again, was that it was bland. I found it very difficult to taste the dill - and even with adding a touch of salt in the soup, it was still rather bland.

I feel that if you feature a particular flavor in a dish, you should make sure that it rises to the top levels of flavor. The Pablano Corn Chowder has nearly no pablano flavor, the Tarragon Vinaigrette had no tarragon flavor, and the Dill Cucumber Soup had nearly no flavor of dill.

We will most likely return to Café Lago to give them another try - and don't get me wrong, the lunch was not at all horrible - rather it was (and I can't believe I am putting these two words together) "acceptably bland." You can find Café Lago's website (here).

[UPDATE 8.3.209 - I just received an email from a friend with a slew of reviews on this place. Seems the two biggest complaints are slow service and fraudulent credit card charges. The latter is definitely enough to keep me from returning to give them another try. Seems the owner is not only rude, but allows the charging of what they feel is an adquate tip for themselves beyond the customer's knowledge. You can view the reviews (here). You can view more of the same horrible reviews (here) at TripAdvisor].

Contact Management Fiasco

Probably the most basic and most necessary function of any mobile communication device is contact management. What once used to be simply a quick listing of phone numbers is now inadequate as phones are able to send phone calls, text messages, and emails. As you can imagine, entering all of this info person by person at a time into any phone is tedious. Connecting to contact lists you have already created elsewhere is critical.

My experience with getting my contact information from Outlook into the iPhone began as a tedious task, then a frustrating task, and ended up being an anger-filled, time-wasting chore.

Apple tried to make the importing of such info easy - but as with other things I have seen from them, not at all intuitive. The Apple app was not only non-intuitive, but it also lacked absolutely necessary aspects of control.

If you are importing from Gmail, Yahoo, or some Apple app, it seems to be a breeze (but what professional actually uses gmail and yahoo as their contact manager), but with Outlook, you are left with importing all contacts or nothing. Apple didn't seem to feel the need to allow for selection of groups/categories of contacts or allow for even a "select each contact you wish to have imported" feature.

Being self-employed, I have over 500 contacts in my Outlook - and while others may want that many contacts on their iPhone, I do not! The import gave me no selective control, and once in the iPhone, the only way to get rid of the excess contacts was to delete one by one, each consisting of quite a few steps. It would have taken me hours to delete these contacts. Upon connection of my iPhone again, it duplicated and messed up other contacts in my Outlook. Further, Apple has provided no way of deleting all contacts at once to start over.

Because Apple proved to me that it's iPhone contact application can't be trusted to not destroy years worth of important information, I had use a non-Apple application, SyncInABlink (here) to not only rescue me from the contact import mess, but also to provide me with a much safer (and faster) way of managing my contacts on the phone.

In the end, I created a new gmail account, created an empty contact database, sync'd the phone with the gmail account (via SyncInABlink), then deleted all contacts the phone imported into the gmail account. Sync again to wipe out everything on the phone, then import -selected- contacts into Gmail, and then sync one last time. To work around Apple's lack of thought on this absolutely necessary chore, I now have to maintain a contact list in Gmail.

In the end, thumbs-down to the Apple contact management app, and big thumbs up to SyncInABlink! SyncInABlink configuration was easy, and syncing of info is fast.

iRant

Last week I finally broke down and purchased a smart phone to help me work more efficiently - especially when away from my office. With all things considered, I chose the Apple iPhone, though I worked hard at finding a different brand that would serve all my needs. But alas, the iPhone provided the features that I needed, and the other more appealing smart phones were not available on my wireless carrier's network.

I have held off on the iPhone for many years because of its massive shortcomings and flaws in the past versions. The 3GS model is the first that even comes close to being something that is a step forward than a step backward.

Having been working with this phone for almost a week now, I have found many flaws and issues that prove to me that Apple isn't really as "intuitive" as they like to purport in their slick advertising.

The "iRant" feature in my blog will be a journey though iPhone ownership by someone that is not an iHead (I plan a future post where I define an iHead), with discussions on the associated hardware, software, and overall philosophies of the big ol' Apple monster.

Keen Waterproof Hiking Sandals

Considering that St. Croix beaches have large sections of sharp reef, I thought it would be wise to get some footwear that I could wear into the water. I considered water socks, but they look rather nerdy to walk around in after you get out of the water. I wanted something more versatile.

After some research online, I found snorkelers and hikers that were recommending Keen brand footwear - after reading about them, I knew they were exactly what I needed.

Keen prides themselves on community and environmental responsibility. They support many charities and use fully recycled material for their packaging. But the kicker is the quality of their footwear. They have an entire line of breathable waterproof footwear - the one I chose was waterproof leather!

Initially I bought their closed-toe waterproof hiking sandals Newport H2's (here) but returned them after I realized that walking in sandy reef and closed toe wasn't a great match - too much sand getting caught up in the closed toe. So, I ended up getting the open toe version you see in the pic above.

Waterproof leather, extremely comfortable (even right out of the box), they are completely washable (light detergent and air/sun dry), have a compression molded EVA midsole, and have metatomical low durometer EVA molded footbed wtih Microban. Microban embedded into the sole = no foot odor!

I wore these sandals every day in St. Croix - in the water, on the reef, and around town. They dry quickly and stood up to very sharp reef surfaces and had great traction. Here are some photos of them "in action" in St. Croix (here) and (here).

In the end, can't be any happier with my Keen Daytona Bison Sandals.

DiCAPac Waterproof Camera Case

Today I have spent many hour processing the hundreds of photographs that we took during our vacation in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. I am getting groups of them uploaded to my flickr page a little at a time.

While processing the photographs, I was very excited about the underwater photos most of all. Prioro the trip, I took the recommendation of a few divers and bought an underwater camera pack to use with my Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot camera.

The pack I purchased was the DiCAPac (here) and I have to say I was extremely pleased with its performance. After many hours of swimming and snorkeling on various days, the camera stayed absolutely dry and didn't even get misty inside. The optical grade lens in the pack allowed for crystal clear images.

DiCAPac makes various models to fit all sorts and brands of cameras - chances are you could find one to fit your camera too. And the pack doesn't just protect the camera under water, it also protects the camera on land as well preventing sand from entering the camera mechanisms.

I believe I paid about $28 for the pack through Amazon, and when comparing the cost of the DiCAPac to actual underwater cameras, it is a huge savings. I recommend this pack for anyone swimming, snorkeling, diving, or just out on the beach.

Chayote

For years I have seen these "ugly" little things in our local grocery stores, but never really knew what they were nor what to do with them. Though on a recent Bobby Flay television program, one of his guests from Texas swore that these things were wonderful tossed on the grill with simply some salt and pepper.

On the show I learned that this funky looking things is a Chayote Squash. But while the chayote is in the gourd family with squashes and melons, its consistency - and more surprisingly, it's flavor - is a lot more like a pear than any type of squash I have ever had. Maybe this is why one of it's alternate names is a "vegetable pear."

I bought two yesterday, quartered them, removed the soft seed, and tossed them in some olive oil, salt, and pepper. I grilled them and served them warm. They were very tasty - and again, tasted more like a pear and had a similar texture.

These were so good that I plan to find more uses for them, although, I know for sure that I will be tossing them on the grill again. Give them a try - bet you like 'em!

Grilled Crab Stuffed Jalapenos

Yesterday I made another batch of my grilled crab stuffed jalapeno for friends. Thought I would share not only the photo of them taken with my new close-up/macro lens, but also the recipe. A larger version of the photo is (here).

For these, you will need a dozen large jalapenos, one package of neufchâtel (or cream) cheese, lump crab meat, two large shallots, salt, pepper, and a cup of crushed tortilla chips.

First, slice the jalapenos length wise leaving the stem attached (try to slice through stem too to allow stem to remain on both halves). For those that don't prefer the full heat of the pepper, remove some or all of the seeds and membrane. Grill peppers until their skins begin to darken, they begin to wrinkle a bit, and they are softer. Remove from grill and let cool.

In large bowl, blend together the lump crab, thinly sliced shallots, cheese, seasonings, and 75% of the crushed chips. Once blended, using hand, roll small logs of the mixture and place into the open half of each pepper. Once all peppers are filled, sprinkle the remaining 25% of the chips onto the top of the peppers - lightly push them onto the mixture to make sure they stick.

Grill stuffed peppers for about 15 minutes being careful not to burn the peppers. Remove from heat and enjoy ... a nice tequila margarita or sangria goes well with them.

For those that may not like crab, I think this could also be made with salmon in place of the crab. Also, lately I have been using more interesting chips such as sweet potato corn tortilla chips - better flavor and more interesting color variation.

The Digital Photography Book

Since purchasing my new dSLR camera back in December, I have had few opportunities to play with it other than some nice photoshoots in and around my hometown in Marshall County, West Virginia. Since then a myriad of new projects, deadlines, pestilence, and sucky weather had pushed the photography fever to the backburner. But now with new growth in our gardens and a soon approaching vacation to the Virgin Islands, I am all about it again.

Some time ago, I purchased a few books about digital photography in an attempt to get a better sense of the various settings that can be used on both my digital point-and-shoot and my new dSLR cameras. Some were quite detailed in the theory and physics behind photography optics - while one other was the "perfect" how to get the shot book.

Scott Kelby is a professional photographer and author of other books such as The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers. He is also president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and editor-in-chief of two magazines.

His book The Digital Photography Book is perfect for me as often I want a quick education on how to obtain certain types of shots. Kelby describes the book as: "If you and I were out on a shoot, and you asked me, 'Hey, how do I get this flower to be in focus, but I want the background out of focus?' I wouldn't stand there and give you a lecture about aperture, exposure, and depth of field. In real life, I'd just say, 'Get out your telephoto lens, set your f/stop to f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away.' You'd say, 'OK,' and you'd get the shot. That's what this book is all about. A book of you and I shooting, and I answer the questions, give you advice, and share the secrets I've learned just like I would with a friend, without all the technical explanations and without all the techno-photo-speak."

I do feel compelled to learn the science behind the art, but in the essence of time, I can't always do that first. His advice on my favorite - macro shots (close-up shots), motion shots, studio shots, etc., are right on. And even better for me is that each page covers a different "trick" of photography.

If you want quick tips on how to take better photographs or achieve specific photo styles, I highly recommend this book as I have found it to be very helpful. In fact, I will probably be taking this book with me to St. Croix in a few weeks as a quick-reference manual.

My Thread of Life

Some weeks ago, I swabbed my inner left cheek, swabbed my inner right cheek, swabbed the front of my mouth, and sent the three off for DNA testing. Today I received my results.

The photo in this post is just a small section of my 46-marker Y-chromosome DNA chart. It turns out, my siblings and I belong to haplogroup R1b via our paternal Lewis lineage.

The R1b group is also known as The Artisans, who first arrived in Europe from west Asia about 35,000- 40,000 years ago at the dawning of the Aurignacian culture. This cultural was remarkable for its subtle yet significant technological progress, like the shift from random flint collection to the use of a single stone core to shape flint tools as needed. Aurignacian decorative beads and jewelry could also be the first sign we have of the uniquely human quality of self-awareness and adornment. Additionally, some anthropologists believe that the Aurignacian culture was the first to paint. Either way, the people of this time period left behind fascinating cave paintings in France, Spain and Portugal. Currently, about 70% of the R1b group lives in Southern England with other large populations of the group living in Wales.

Having just received my results, I can't say I have done much with it - let alone really know what to do with it. But I am excited and beginning the quest. Having been descended from Lewis on both my paternal and maternal sides of my family, the Lewis' lineage is of great interest to me. My first activity is to provide my results to the Lewis Surname Project - one of the largest DNA and genealogical studies in the world.

Susan Boyle. Voice of a Diva.

The network talent shows aren't something I like nor watch, which is probably the main reason why I haven't watched the numerous online video clips of Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent.

This 47 year old Scottish charity worker takes the stage for the short pre-performance interview with the judges. Her plain looks and cheekiness is immediately met by the audience and judges with scoffing and some jeering. She announces the song she will be singing is "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables - probably my favorite song from that musical. Immense doubt poured over the faces of the judges and audience alike.

What happened next was indescribable - and actually brought a tear to my eye. If you haven't watched the video clip, you must. You can view the video (here).

Phantom - the Las Vegas Spectacular

During our visit to Las Vegas last week, Jim got us tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian Casino Hotel. Being a total Phantom of the Opera geek, I was ecstatic. I have seen the tour more times than I can remember well enough to count, and have enjoyed both its music and technical production since 1989.

The theatre in which Phantom is playing was designed and built specifically for this show. It is reminiscent of the Paris Opera House - the location of the story. The theatre was pretty amazing, but, of course, as all attest, the jewel of the theatre is the infamous chandelier. With modern theatrical rigging technology employed, sections of the chandelier swirl above the audience after the opening auction scene and eventually assembles itself into a single fixture high above the audience before falling later in the show at free-fall speed to just feet above the audiences heads. Even I - a theatre production person - gasped at its speed, closeness to the audience, and was given goosebumps when the theatre went completely dark just before what appears to be the chandelier slamming into the audience.

Other upgraded production effects include more pyrotechnics - bigger flames and the addition of fireworks over an exterior scene of the Paris Opera House. The traps and elevators in the floor seems to be much faster than I have ever seen during the Los Angeles run - which makes for a very effective, and surprising, curtain call at the end for the Phantom.

Seated in the front row, I was able to see all of this wonderful detail - but not all was so great. I was disappointed with the fabrics used, especially for the proscenium curtain. The detail looked to simply be printed onto the bottom hem of the curtain - a curtain that was so thin it bled upstage lighting. Also, I was disappointed with the sparseness of the Phantom's organ. If it were not for the moving bellows, you really couldn't even tell it was an organ. The Daae crypt inside the mausoleum was also very flat and unconvincing. Further, I felt that the costumes for Masquerade greatly lacked the color and interest found in the original production.

As for the talent, I was very surprised. Those that really stood out were those in the roles of Phantom, Raoul, Madame Giry,

Phantom: I had been spoiled having heard Michael Crawford many times in the role of Erik (the Phantom). While I still think I prefer his voice performance (knowing that feeling could be due to hearing it more often), I must readily admit that I felt Anthony Crivello's physical performance of Phantom is much better - in fact, the best I have seen. He completely sold me on the character, convincing of Erik's madness yet garnering heartfelt sympathy for him all the same.

Raoul: Honestly, I have never really loved this character in the show, probably because I tend to root for the underdog - and in the end the Phantom loses the girl to Raoul. But in this production, Andrew Ragone captured my attention from the very first scene we see him in his box seat. Manly rather than goopy-sweet, his performance caused me to "switch sides" and secretly root for him during the show. Both in voice and acting, he was right on.

Madame Giry: While not necessarily in the production, Madame Giry is actually quite a part of the core of the whole story of Erik. The actresses that have performed this role have never left a mark in my memory. Tina Walsh certainly broke the mould. Her build, her height, her voice, and her fascinating facial expressions mesmerized me and made me really take note of her participation in the story.

Messieurs Andre & Firmin: These two characters are often rather lost as well, though very much a part of the story. John Leslie Wolf as Andre was fantastic an elicited much laughter from the audience while Lawson Skala facial expressions were exceptional. Both vocal performances quite good.

I should also mention that I was very concerned regarding the running length - only 95 minutes versus the 2 hour 30 minute run time for the original production. I was a bit worried which numbers were being cut to make such a short production. As it turns out, every single musical number still remains in the show. In putting together the Vegas production, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Hal Prince, and members of the original creative team greatly tightened up the show - and they did it in such a successful way that I left the production not even realizing it was shorter than the original. All of the tightening resulted in a well moving show. Never once was there a lull.

In the end, I left mesmerized, "full of Phantom", and wanting to see it again. Just when I thought I had gotten my fill the last time I saw it in Los Angeles. You can visit the Las Vegas Phantom of the Opera website (here).

WCG Changes Name

The final separation of the new Worldwide Church of God from "all things Armstrong" occurred recently with the official announcement from WCG's new headquarters in suburb Glendora, CA that the church's name will now become "Grace Communion International."

This name change not only seems to finalize WCG's destruction of Armstrong's church that started shortly after his death, but also seems to make both current new-WCG members and pro-Armstrong followers happy! For the new-WCG, changing the name is important to make final separation from all things Armstrong - and this name certainly does not ring of Armstrongism whatsoever. For the pro-Armstrong followers (and believe it or not, while very, very small in number, they still are out there), this has taken far too long. Since the former name was so connected to Armstrong, pro-Armstrongites felt strongly that WCG should lose it's name as nothing of any significance still remains in the current WCG that has anything to do with Armstrong except for a common history of some of its members.

As for me, I couldn't care less about either side of the fence, but I have to admit that the new name sounds like the Amway of Evangelical Churches. Many of the new WCG's have already renamed their own local churches - which has been allowed by the new denomination - to much more catchy names. But alas, somehow the new name was the choice of the majority. Or was it? Who knows.

One thing that the new WCG or Grace Communion International does still have in common with Armstrongism/old-WCG is non-transparency of finances to the public and a church leader that has no end to his term of office.

In my opinion, correcting these two issues would make the new WCG truly separate from its Armstrong roots more than a sticky-sweet name change.

You can read the announcement and the comparison of the name change to God's changing of Saul's name to Paul (hrrmm... not sure that really is a good analogy) (here).

Thunderstruck

If there is anything good about a sinus infection, it was that I had extra time to finish a book that I picked up before my flight to Las Vegas last week.

Perusing the books at Hudson Book Store, I came across another book by Erik Larson — who is quickly becoming my favorite author. The book is entitled Thunderstruck — and as with his other books, it is a non-fiction book based on true history that is written in such a talented way that it reads like some of the best fiction one can imagine for the time period.

In July 1910, a sensational news story spread around the world: An American doctor wanted in London for the gruesome murder of his wife was fleeing justice on an ocean liner headed from Antwerp to Quebec City. He was accompanied by a young woman, his lover, who was disguised as a boy. Another ship, bearing the Scotland Yard inspector in charge of the case, gave chase. Through the new technology of wireless communication, which miraculously allowed ships at sea to communicate with one another and with people on land, newspapers far and wide breathlessly reported the chase as it happened. In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the story of the events leading to this moment.

The book begins in late 1800's during a time when science was charmed by the magic of wireless communication and the electromagnetic waves that make it work. The book follows the life of Italian-Irish Marconi during this time and tells of the ups and downs of his attempt to achieve cross-oceanic wireless communication. Having a background in electricity and sound systems, this aspect of the story was absolutely fascinating to me. Despite many failures, Marconi's successes impacted organizations and governments worldwide. He gained the attention of England, Germany, Russia, Italy, and more. Sometimes hard to believe when considering he had very little formal education and was certainly not educated in science and physics - and he was horrible at mathematics.

The parallel story in the book is Hawley Harvey Crippen — a homeopathic doctor and a purveyor of patent medicines. Crippen was a quiet, docile man, short in stature with large bulging eyes that were exaggerated further by thicker-than-normal glasses. This meek man married a brazen, larger-than-life, domineering woman who believe herself to be destined to be the next big star of the stage. Towering above him, she demanded — and received — an unfathomable amount of expensive dresses, jewelry, and shoes. She exploited Crippen for most of what he had continually threatening to leave him for another man.

When the couple finally settles in London, after moving about quite often, he falls in love with a kind, gentle typist at his office. To "fix" his marital situation, he uses a powerful poison to do away with his abusive wife in order to marry the typist.

Unbelievable to all that knew Crippen could have done anything unkind to anyone, Scotland Yard eventually finds his dead wife buried in the cellar and the search — and race — was on. Crippen and the typist change their looks and leave England to eventually sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Through the use of the new wireless technology, the ship's captain learns of the true identity of his passengers and alerts, wirelessly, Scotland Yard. Inspector Dew boards a faster trans-Atlantic ship, the ship overtakes the other ship and arrives prior to Crippen's arrival in Quebec where the arrest takes place.

While the two stories are not woven together quite as seamlessly as the two stories in The Devil in the White City (here), they are none the less quite fascinating. And again, it is hard at times to keep in mind that this book is non-fiction as vividly as the stories are told. The lengthy bibliography of historical articles, writings, and memoirs is a quick and significant reminder.

Now I am anxious to read his next book.

Thanks Amy & Bridgett

“... those who grew up with sisters were more likely to be happy and balanced.”

~ University of Ulster

Interesting article over at CNN (here).