Day: February 23, 2008

Wicked Witches

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

The whole reason for my recent SoCal trip was to see Wicked. I’m not going to try to write a real review of of it; I’m no expert on stage musicals, and can’t really accurately say how it compares to anything else in the genre. I also haven’t read the book, so rendering a judgement […]

The whole reason for my recent SoCal trip was to see Wicked.

I’m not going to try to write a real review of of it; I’m no expert on stage musicals, and can’t really accurately say how it compares to anything else in the genre. I also haven’t read the book, so rendering a judgement on how well they did with a largely-gutted plot isn’t possible for me.

What I’ll say though, is that I loved it.

Read the wiki page linked above for a detailed description; in short, it’s a re-imagined Wizard of Oz, from the point of view of a mis-understood Wicked Witch. The re-imagined fairy tale is a well-mined vein, but it’s rich in possibility; everything from fractured fairy tales to Into the Woods have used the device, and we’re far from done with it.

I don’t know how many people have attempted a re-imagined Wizard of Oz; my personal favorite was PJ Farmer’s A Barnstormer in Oz, which included a soft-core-porn, midget-sized version of Glinda, and all sorts of bizarre steam-punk-clockwork characters. More recently you may have seen Tin Man on the Sci Fi Channel, which managed to be both deeply tongue-in-cheek and deeply over-serious, but was most memorable (to me) for the fact that a large number of the cast were wearing Utilikilts.

But I have to say, Wicked did a fine job.

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Hollywood and Boot Star

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

Since I’ve been on a shoe theme, I might as well show off my version of hollywood shoes. I’ve wanted a pair of boots from Boot Star for ages, but the last two times I was in SoCal I managed to miss going in; first because I kept showing up when they were closed, and […]

Since I’ve been on a shoe theme, I might as well show off my version of hollywood shoes.

I’ve wanted a pair of boots from Boot Star for ages, but the last two times I was in SoCal I managed to miss going in; first because I kept showing up when they were closed, and the second time, on the way home from Disneyland, I wound up having to ditch a trip through LA because of a carsick kid.

So my one agenda item for this trip, after martinis at Musso and Frank, wasa stop at Boot Star.

Now, I really didn’t mean to buy anything. Boots like these, which I’d kill a man for, go for nearly two grand; and I just can’t bring myself to spend that kind of money on footwear, even if I was still rolling in dotcom era dough. My intent was really just to shop and torment myself (kind of the shopping equivalent of a strip show, where you can look and lust but not actually get any).

Unfortunately, the lovely salesgirl (Heather, whom I’d let walk all over me in her patent-leather-cowboy-boots anytime), pointed out The Sale Rack. And I say ‘unfortunately’ because saving money is the best way to talk yourself into spending it.

Which is how I came home with these – because, you know, everyone needs a pair of hollywood shoes.

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Shindig at the Chateau

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

I sort of intended to blog about my short trip to hollywood as it happened, every stripper-encounter, every meal or drink in a local hot-spot, every random celebrity sighting. It didn’t quite work that way in practice; work chased me down over and over, and I spent the majority if the two-days-three-nights in SoCal fielding […]

I sort of intended to blog about my short trip to hollywood as it happened, every stripper-encounter, every meal or drink in a local hot-spot, every random celebrity sighting.

It didn’t quite work that way in practice; work chased me down over and over, and I spent the majority if the two-days-three-nights in SoCal fielding questions and answering email.

That’s not to say there wasn’t fun to be had; but I didn’t manage to write any of it down as it happened.

When I say fun, of course, I mean, well, a celebs-eye-view of paparazzi action.

The party mentioned here was going on in my hotel wednesday night; I walked through the middle of it as I came home from seeing a show, after waking past an absolute phalanx of paparazzi to reach the door.

I was sitting in my room later in the evening watching celebs like Paris and Nicky Hilton, Gary Dourdan, Adrian Grenier, Gene Simons, etc etc, leaving the party and getting mobbed – and note that all those links are photos taken that night, as I was watching it from the hotel side.

I didn’t spend a lot of time actually *at* the party, other than walking past Elvis Costello and Diane Krall, Natalie Portman, Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, Matt Leblanc, and likely several others. The real entertainment was the view of exactly how insane the papaprazzi swarm was. Even when I couldn’t recognize the particular people from the back as they left the party, I could tell exactly how big a deal they are at the moment by the number of flashes that went off as they walked down the driveway.

It’s a nutty life, being a celebrity; seeing it first hand from the inside really drove that home. And it’s funny to walk into a scene like that and have every eye go to you, asking the silent question are you anyone?