Creepy Doll -

I'm at my sister's wonderfully Halloweeny house. It is decorated fabulously and creepily. Tonight I want to share with you the creepy doll head parts. (And to make it even more thematic, here is Jonathan Coulton's "Creepy Doll" video to listen to you while you peruse.



You can also see another live performance of Creepy Doll with the addition of Neil Gaiman's menacing presence. Or see the lyrics here.)

Sketching in the Dark -

- or at least, the dim (it was *really* dark once the lights were all the way off). My daughter and I went to see a live production of Beauty and the Beast this evening. We had front-row balcony seats so I had this great view of the stage, which I attempted to sketch, on my knee, in barely any light, during the 15 minute intermission. (Straight lines and perspective on your knee? not so much...)

I *wished* I could have drawn more in the dark - I'm afraid I wasn't terribly captivated by the production. The costumes and sets were wonderful (and I would have happily sketched those if I could have seen my pencil) but we watched the Disney video of B&B 20 bazillion times when the kids were little, and most of these performances were not an improvement on the versions seared into my memory. They were adequate (with a few notable exceptions*) and pleasant enough I suppose. The additional songs felt mostly unnecessary. I think I fell asleep at one point. Not the most notable play I've attended recently.

(*Exceptions - the actor playing Lumiere was fabulous. I loved pretty much any second he was on the stage. (As much as I adored Jerry Orbach's incarnation of him in the Disney version, this *still* worked.) Also, the Wardrobe was played to great effect by Ellen McLain - she, who is the voice of GlaDOS, the computer from the wildly popular game Portal. My son kept trying to get me into Portal (I'm afraid it made me nauseous), but I must say that I adore the theme song - also sung by Ellen McLain, and written by Jonathan Coulton - which I will leave you with. Probably the more clever and enjoyable entertainment of the evening. I'm suddenly feeling a strange and compelling craving for cake):



(Or you can watch Jonathan sing it himself here).