Random Olympic thoughts

• Seeing people achieve their dreams is very inspiring



• Hearing about censorship, fakes at the opening ceremonies and sweeping violent crimes under the rug by the Chinese government is depressing
  


• Switching back and forth between the Canadian and American networks coverage of the games is entertaining



• Reading/hearing all of the negative comments about the Canadian medal performance in the first week of the games swing to support and celebration after several great days and performances in a row is pretty ridiculous.



• I love Simon Whitfield for putting it out there that he wanted to be on the podium, almost forcing Triathlon Canada to put up or shut up and celebrating when it all came to fruition...how Uncanadian of him :-)



• I never look forward to the Olympics at all and then get swept up in watching for the entire two weeks every single time



• I have picked up many, many Olympic boyfriends including but not limited to Michael Phelps, Adam Van Koeverden and Alexandre Despatie

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You are welcome for the gratuitous photos

In Theatre news this week

Avenue Q had the serious potential to be a let down. Only because I've been waiting to see it for so long! The first time I tried to get tickets was in New York in 2005, but I wasn't really surprised when there were none available at the TKTS booth since it had just surprisingly won the Tony the year before. But surely, when we where there in April of 2007 there would be tickets available, right?? Well, I went up to the board to see what was up for grabs and of course I was out of luck. I came back to my friends in line and said I apparently wasn't meant to see this musical at which point the gentleman behind us in line informed me that it was "always" there and had been available just the day before...so not helping! Anyway, just after we arrived back in T.O. last spring Dancap Productions announced it's line up and lo and behold it was coming to Toronto! After purchasing the tickets almost a year ago, I finally got to the show last night.

And I'm seriously happy to report that even with my (admitedly) high expectations the show did not disappoint. Funny, raunchy and surprisingly sweet with great performances across the board. I wasn't sure how the whole puppet thing was going to come off but the actors performing (often with their faces right next to the puppets they were playing) were great. The dual movements actually seemed to add to the experience. And if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed that some of the folks were playing the multiple roles on the stage.

Ads for the show loudly proclaim that the material is inappropriate for children...muppet looking puppets aside. And anyone expecting anything different with songs like "Everyone's a little bit racist", "The internet is for porn" and "Sucks to be Me", not to mention the puppet nudity and a character named Lucy the Slut, would be in for a big surprise.

If you were giving thought to the idea of seeing it before it moves on at the end of the month I'd highly recommend getting off your ass and going. I'd hazard to say it may be one of the top 5 musicals on my list!