Avenging Halloween

I can’t believe it is Thursday already. The days (and weeks) seem to be going by in a blur. Half the time I can’t even remember what I have been doing and the other half that I do remember aren’t really that great. But last week I did some fun stuff. So it is good to keep that on the brain.

On Tuesday I went to see a friend of mine do improv. It was really good. She has been doing it for a couple of years and I always manage to catch a show here and there. I always have a good laugh cuz it all ends up being so ridiculous and surprisingly witty. It is hard to come up with entertaining material on the spot. They also had this “It Sounds Like a Song” theme running through the performance. At any point an audience member could yell “It sounds like a song!” and they would have to make up a song about what ever scene they are in. I have to say those people are good at making up songs.

As you must have noticed I didn’t do a movie review. Well that is cuz I didn’t see one. I know it is such a travesty. But I had to choose what I was going to do last week for entertainment and since I had plans for that day that had been set almost 2 months ago I thought I would go with those. My friend had bought tickets to see The Toxic Avenger: The Musical.

I don’t do plays very often. I usually go for the over produced cinematic experience, as you know, but I am always up for something different. The last play I saw was Evil Dead: The Musical and the last thing I saw on stage was the Buffy Shadowcast at the Fringe Festival. Yes that was the musical episode too. There seems to be a trend. I see these all spaced out and it gives me time to forget how awesome the theatre can be. Live stage productions are interesting and innovative.

The Toxic Avenger: The Musical was great, a million times better than the movie. It was light, fun, and entertaining. The cast was phenomenal. The two leads were excellent but I have to give props to the supporting cast. They each played multiple characters (at the same time at points) and were hella good. I was really surprised to that they went for 2 hour straight. There was no intermission and I have to say that was a gutsy move on their part. That must have been hard on the actors for sure but it paid off well.

The music was good too but I find they weren’t particularly memorable. Usually I would remember the tune and a couple words or so but all I remember is the light heartedness and the humour but not what actually was sung. But songs like “Evil is Hot”, “Choose Me Oprah”, and “My Big French Boyfriend” were particularly entertaining. That last one may have been good simply because of the guys in drag. I don’t know what it is about a guy in a dress and bad wig that makes it hilarious but it was crazy funny.

I totally recommend The Toxic Avenger: The Musical. It is good to get some “culture”. Plus the tickets aren’t too expensive. They start at $15 which is not to much more than seeing a movie these days anyways. So why not try something different?

On Saturday was Halloween and for the first time in a long time I decided that I was going to participate. Not just because I had a party to go to but because I just felt like dressing up. I am usually way to lazy to bother or I just don’t think of something in time but after doing the zombie walk it got me in the spirit. I had been hemming and hawing about what I was going to be for weeks. When I woke up on Friday I had no clue but when I was reading one of my graphic novels it slapped me across the face.

I was reading “Batman: Death and the City”. It had Batman and Robin (of course) and a slew of villain including Scarface, Penguin, The Riddler, Joker and Harley. But close to the end of the book I turned the page and there she was, Zatanna.

She isn’t a well known DC character but she has been around for some time. If you don’t know (as I found many people didn’t) she is a magician. She is a part of the JLA and a friend of Batman who has taught him his escape artist tricks. Plus her costume was fun and pretty easy to pull off. I had a white shirt, a vest, and black boots. The other pieces were pretty easy to come by except for the top hat.

I have to say I did a good job with it but I spent half the night explaining who I was supposed to be. Almost no one knew who Zatanna or read comics. So it was not simple. But as soon as Batman was mentioned they just left it at that.

Well that is what I have been up to, getting cultured and walking around in fishnets.

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