Stratovania

It's been a pretty busy week, and a pretty rainy one as well. On Monday, Beth and I went to see The State perform live at the Palladium in Times Square, which I believe is where they filmed their show back in the 90s. Eight of the eleven are part of the Breakin' Hearts and Dippin' Balls Tour, and the new performance was a mix of sketches from the show with some new material, or sometimes old stuff repurposed for a new context, like the sketch about a college dorm safety lecture from people with tape on their faces instead became a talk about theater safety, Barry and Levon tried to sell reverse mortgages, and an expanded "Froggy Jamboree" gives the characters a dark backstory.

Older sketches included Louie at the Last Supper, the mailman who delivered tacos instead of mail, the Bearded Men of Space Station 11, and "Porcupine Racetrack," which was the closer.

While changing scenes, they played some bits from the CBS special and a pre-State project where they reenacted weird stories people told them. Since Michael Showalter was one of the members who wasn't there, they made a joke out of getting an audience member to play Doug.

Before the show, we ate at Jollibee for the first time, and I liked the chicken and the peach and mango pie. I wonder what their spaghetti is like. Beth saw the show again on Tuesday, while I stayed home to watch Clone Wars episodes (I've now finished watching the sixth season), play Animal Crossing, and write a post about monster shamans. Less exciting, to be sure, but I've come to appreciate evenings where I don't have to do anything, even if that thing is purely for fun.


Thursday was the fall event at Green-Wood Cemetery that I think we've been to twice before, but the name isn't always the same. This time, it was Nightfall: Danse Macabre. I can't say it was much different from before, but a lot of what you see depends on timing. Some performances repeat with only short breaks in between, while others are only at specific times. We saw fewer of the circus performances than in previous years, although we did see some fire eaters and someone playing what sounded like music from the Legend of Zelda soundtrack on a harp.

There were two different theremin performers, and a shadow puppetry performance about a girl who befriends some crows.

As usual, getting around was a little difficult, as it was dark and the paths at the cemetery twist all over the place anyway. There were lanterns marking the proper roads, but it was still hard to figure out which way we were going, even with a map.


On Friday night, we went to see the Middle Aged Dad Jam Band at City Winery. The band has David Wain on drums and Ken Marino on lead vocals, plus some of their friends and collaborators. Craig Wedren, who did music for The State and related projects (and is married to Thomas Lennon's sister), plays guitar, David's son Henry saxophone, and Amy Miles does backing vocals and some percussion. It's all very casual, but still sounds really good, and some of the people involved are professional musicians even if the leads aren't. They play covers (mostly from the sixties through the eighties, although a few later songs made their way in) and make a lot of corny jokes. They also had several guests who did a song or two, including Paul Rudd playing Gerry Rafferty (it didn't make a whole lot of sense even in context), David Yazbek, Kevin Allison, and, most exciting for me, John Flansburgh, who sang "Born to Run."

Amy introduced him as a friend of hers, and I actually was first aware of her because she and Flansburgh's wife Robin Goldwasser were in a band, The Last Car, that opened for They Might Be Giants a few times. I believe David met her on the set of Wet Hot American Summer; she was married to actor A.D. Miles at the time, although they've since divorced. In terms of connections, it's also interesting that Yazbek did a song from an upcoming musical about Elmer McCurdy, who was already the subject of one by frequent TMBG collaborator Brian Dewan. I've heard that Joe Lo Truglio had played Rafferty before, and that Weird Al has played with the band. It was a surprisingly long show, about three hours long with one fifteen-minute intermission. And it was mostly standing room (there were seats, but they cost a lot more), so it wasn't too kind on my feet. I also had my backpack with me because I brought it to work, but I might have used a smaller bag that day if I'd remembered about the standing.

I find myself not wanting to use Twitter that much these days, even though I still have one-off thoughts that seem well-suited to that format. It just seems like nobody reads my tweets, and my feed is a lot less interesting. I don't think Elon Musk directly messed up my personal experience, but his general toxic, chaotic management has driven a lot of people away. Or maybe it's just my own perception that's changed. The change from the cute bird to a letter of the alphabet doesn't help matters; it just seems a lot less friendly now. I have a Bluesky account, but I'm not following that many people (and even fewer are following me), so it's kind of slow. I've also read some stuff recently on how Google (and probably other sites as well) has basically sold out to advertisers and donors with particular agendas that you don't even necessarily get results for the words you actually typed. Apparently you're more likely to get popular results that are sort of related to your search. It seems similar to how YouTube and apparently Tiktok have algorithms that constantly suggest related things that are selected more for being popular than relevant, and are sometimes actively dangerous. It appears to be how Musk wants Twitter to operate, too. I'm sure that, at times, it's just the computer program not working very well, but I think there's an undertone to the whole concept of not trusting the user to seek out these things themselves.

I feel like there's a general trend on the Internet of homogenization, like you don't see as many personal websites anymore. Of course, a lot of these sites were terrible and boring, but they were still personalized in a way that things really aren't these days. This makes it easier, in that users don't have to learn even the tiny bit of HTML I did in order to put stuff online, so it's not all bad. There's somewhat of a pattern of increased corporate control, but not always in ways I can specifically identify, so it's more of a general feeling on my part. And there's the current obsession with the word "content," as if writing, art, research, music, etc. are all just commodities these days.

Personally, when I make posts on my WordPress, I do so casually, but I want the information to be accurate and fairly thorough. Too often, I'll do a Google search and it will result in the Wikipedia page, some other sites that just copy Wikipedia, stubs on wikis, and unsourced conspiratorial stuff. I realize I could do some more thorough research, as I did learn something about that in school, but it's probably not worth it for a short post that will get maybe ten readers. I just feel that some of this can't be so obscure as to barely register on the whole Internet.

Happy New Year, everybody who uses the Gregorian calendar! Since our calendar is set up for the purposes of record-keeping and doesn't control what happens, I can't say 2020 ending has any particular symbolic meaning for me. It is kind of disappointing, though, as the number just sounds so cool. I can't say the year has been especially bad for me, personally, just inconvenient. There were events I wanted to attend and couldn't. On the other hand, I had an excuse for not leaving home much. I started working from home in April, which means I don't have to get ready in the mornings, or do laundry nearly as often. It looks like I might have to start going back to the office in mid-January, but not all the time. They say they're taking safety precautions, but does that mean I'll have to wear a mask for the entire work day, and not be able to eat at my desk? I suppose we'll have to see. Beth and I both had coronavirus for a while, despite rarely going out, but it was a minor case. But I won't pretend the year wasn't horrible for a lot of people. Unfortunately, I don't know that much can change. There are vaccines that are effective against the virus, and we'll have a President who likely won't constantly try to undermine the health experts. But will any of the systemic problems be addressed? Part of why COVID was so devastating, aside from Trump entirely ignoring the precautions Obama tried to put in place, was that people were basically left on their own. Some of us were allowed to work from home, but for those whose jobs wouldn't allow that, only very minor assistance was given. Restaurants were required to close, probably the right decision, but the people who worked there weren't given enough to support themselves in the meantime. Instead, we got politicians insisting that the best way to handle things would just be to reopen everything and let people get sick. But that's not new with the pandemic, but standard Republican philosophy.

I had considered going to Pennsylvania this weekend to visit my family, but I eventually decided against it, due both to health concerns with travel and just not wanting to drive all that way. That means I'll have to come up with another time to do that, though. Last night, we mostly watched The Brady Bunch, then after midnight I played Dragon Quest XI for a while. I finally beat that damned Arboreal Serpent, but with only two or three surviving party members. I've been doing some of the optional quests as well, although the ones that involve defeating a particular monster with a particular pep power are kind of difficult to set up. At this point, a lot of the rewards are pretty useless, but I can see wanting to complete the list.

Speaking of DQ, I've been watching the new Dai no Daibouken anime. I've also started on The Clone Wars, the animated series. I am a little confused, though, because apparently there was an earlier 2D animated series that was deemed non-canonical and doesn't appear to be on Disney+, as well as a movie. There are a lot of episodes of this show, too. I've only watched the first six so far, and I like the newsreel-style openings for each one. Yoda just doesn't look particularly cute in this style, however.

I just got back from my second trip to Walt Disney World. The first time was with Beth for our honeymoon in 2008, which you can read about starting here. That was at the same time of year, as it was just our third anniversary, even though we've been married for twelve years. We didn't go FOR our anniversary, though. Beth had wanted to bring her Uncle John there, and her cousin Dorothea also came with us. Her uncle had never been there, and I think Dorothea only went once as a kid around the time Mickey Mouse turned sixty. Mickey and I share a birthday, but I doubt my sixtieth will be celebrated all year like his was. And he wasn't a baby in his first cartoons, so wouldn't he actually have to be older than that? I guess I'm getting into Don Rosa territory there. Also, Beth had been once without me in the interim. This time, we flew on Spirit Airlines, one of those budget companies that charges extra for everything. Fortunately, the flight was only about two and a half hours. We stayed at All-Star Movies, one of the budget resorts, which means it was still much nicer than most places I've spent the night. It was several buildings, and we stayed in the Fantasia one.

There's now something they use called Magic Bands, which is a combination park ticket, room key, and way to pay for stuff. The first park we visited was Hollywood Studios, and here's what I had to say about it on my first visit. Contrary to the comments on that post, Heather did not arrange our trip. We're still connected on social media, but I haven't talked to her much recently. It was Tavie who arranged most of the reservations for us. It hadn't changed all that much in twelve years, but it's definitely gotten more crowded at the same time of year. From what I've heard, there's really no off season anymore.

Both Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge were built since then.

In the latter, the new Rise of the Resistance won't even let people line up without registering ahead of time. We had three FastPasses, for the Tower of Terror, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (which is right next to the Tower, but they were for totally different times of day), and Fantasmic.

Aside from that, we went to Muppet-Vision 3D, which pretty much never has a long wait; the Alien Swirling Saucers, sort of a combination between a Whip and a Tilt-a-Whirl; and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show. The show was an abridged version of the movie combining clips, puppets, and live actors.

Fantasmic! (it officially has an exclamation point at the end, but I won't include it in other mentions in this post) was also a multimedia sort of thing including film clips, as well as fireworks and costumed characters. It took place within Mickey's imagination, and surprisingly featured a lot of content from Pocahontas. Fantasmic at Disney World started in 1998 (the Disneyland one opened in 1992), so I guess it was still kind of current at that point, although I don't know exactly what changes have been made over the years. Something I thought about was how themed attractions aren't always consolidated. I mean, I get that they can't just build anything anywhere, but Hollywood Studios has Star Tours, Galaxy's Edge, and the Star Wars character meet-and-greets in different parts of the park. A lot of movies or franchises are represented in more than one park, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Little Mermaid. We had dinner at the Brown Derby, which costs two meals on the dining plan. We were confused about the plan, as we thought it coincided with how many days we had park tickets, but it actually depends on the number of nights we were staying. This meant we had to cancel a reservation for Skipper's Canteen at the Magic Kingdom on Friday, but we also ended up having to burn up several snacks on the last day. It can be a bit difficult to arrange the non-reservation meals around everything else there is to do. At the Brown Derby, Beth had duck (does Donald approve?) and I had cioppino.

And that's pretty much it for that day, but not totally in order. That night, we learned that Stacey, the super-enthusiastic girl who hosted the Disney Must Do on the hotel TV, is still doing that. Apparently she's recorded one show annually since 2005. I can't find how old she is; I kind of assumed she was a teenager back in 2008, but I think she looks about the same now.

While I like the idea of an audience poll for The Simpsons, I don't think Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel really work as a couple. I mean, I thought it was a fine idea for one episode, and maybe could last a few more if the writers have enough ideas, but keeping them together doesn't really seem right. Then again, I supported Edna and Principal Skinner as a couple, and the writers decided to do away with that one. I haven't voted, though, I guess because I don't want to get in the way if a lot of fans really DO want Ned and Edna to stay together. As for the episode itself, I liked that several of the characters who mentioned having been with Edna actually had in previous shows (Comic Book Guy in "My Big Fat Geek Wedding," Moe in "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story," Joey Kramer from Aerosmith in "Flaming Moe's," and of course Skinner over the course of several seasons). With that in mind, though, it's odd that they apparently forgot Ned had been on a date with Edna before, although it was really just to make Skinner jealous. And even if we ignore that, Ned should at least know Mrs. Krabappel, since they interacted a fair amount in "The PTA Disbands." I guess I'm just a much bigger geek than anyone involved in making the show. {g}

Also aired on Sunday (although I didn't get around to watching it until today) was Family Guy's take on Return of the Jedi. The show included a whole lot of jokes about this one was kind of half-assed, and maybe it was, but I still thought it was pretty good. I do think that, by this time, they've used up most of their good Star Wars jokes, but they still did quite a bit that worked. I remember when I saw the last FG Star Wars parody, and discussed with revme how we hoped they'd work in a reference about all the weird relationships, like Stewie playing Chris and Lois' father. They never actually did, though, which was kind of disappointing. Oh, well. I'm also not sure what was up with the interminable head-nodding scene, but that's probably just because I don't remember that part of the original movie very well. Also, since they brought in American Dad and Cleveland Show characters, it's kind of weird that a major player like Joe would have still been available to play Jabba the Hutt. Or did he play other characters in the first two parts?

Isn't it a bit late in the game to do a Simpsons episode promoting American Idol? The show has been on for years now, and just about every joke you can make about it has been made, many of them on Idol itself. Simon is mean, Randy spouts a lot of slang, and there's a shit-ton of product placement. It was mildly amusing, but didn't really have much to say, and would have made more sense a few years ago. Especially considering that Simon is supposedly leaving Idol, and he was the main guest in the episode. Did Kara even get a joke? Mind you, she's dead weight on AI anyway. The thing is, the rest of the episode was pretty good. Homer had already gone through a golf phase, though (in the seventh season's "Scene from the Class Struggle in Springfield," to be specific), so that scene didn't make much sense. And the ending, with a topical joke inserted at the last minute over the animation of Jay Leno, was rather awkwardly done. Oh, well. Since I think bethje and I are the only people on the Internet who don't watch Lost, we're probably the only ones who watched it anyway.

And since the Family Guy homage to The Empire Strikes Back has been out on DVD for a while now, we might be among the last FG fans to watch that. I can't say I liked it as much as their first Star Wars parody, as too many of the jokes fell flat. You would think Cookie Monster playing a Wampa would be funny, but they just didn't do enough with it. As for the FG counterparts for other characters who first appear in Empire, Carter Pewterschmidt as the Emperor worked, and the chicken as Boba Fett was all right for the short while he appeared (I never quite got why Boba is such a popular character when he hardly does anything; I guess it's all about the costume). But otherwise, it kind of just seems that they ran out of regulars. I don't see any particular reason why Mort was Lando, and while I'm sure I've seen the character who played Yoda, I didn't recognize him. But I did like that they continued to mock some of the dumber lines and scenes from the movie, and some of the observational jokes were also effective. The car interrupting the lightsaber battle, the obnoxious couple following Luke to Dagobah, and R2-D2's niece's violin recital all come to mind.

As for the rest of the weekend, I did a little bit of census work on Saturday, and we had dinner at Charlie Brown's Steakhouse that evening. I actually still have some carrot cake left over. And at night, Beth and I went to Atlantic City. All we really did was walk on the Boardwalk, but that's enjoyable, aside from having to listen to and get out of the way of all the drunk people there. And those guys with the carts just won't leave anyone alone. Come on, if I want a ride, I'll come to you, dudes.