what my summer vacation included (2011 version)

I'm about to tackle more stuff on my "Ack, summer is almost over! and I still haven't done..." list. Before I do, here's a quick overview of, well, cool stuff I did instead of what's on my should-do list.

( Yay, fun stuff all listified so I can remember someday that I did, in fact, do awesome things on occasion (and there are a few pics) )

I just posted a fill-in recap for SCC 2.16 Some must watch while some must sleep.

that Mormon musical and a question of principle

So there's this new musical out there. You may have heard of it: something about Mormon missionaries in Africa.

Okay, maybe you haven't heard of it, although it won a thousand Tony awards and has earned a billion dollars. (Those numbers may be a bit off--I was rounding.) It usually takes time for Broadway musicals to filter into mainstream culture, unless there's another medium involved: books to musicals, musicals to movies, albums by seventies Swedish pop sensations to musicals to movies, etc.

Nonetheless, even though I haven't seen it and don't know any of the songs from it, I have a totally principled stand to announce: I will not see The Book of Mormon musical. Nope. No way.

What's the principle involved? The principle that someone who doesn't enjoy South Park isn't going to enjoy a musical made by the same people. Also the principle of cheapness, since it's expensive to see a Broadway musical. I still haven't seen Wicked, even though there was a traveling production in a nearby city recently; the tickets were simply too costly.

Put those two principles together: why would I pay a lot of money to see a musical in which one of the running gags is the line "I have maggots in my scrotum"? To each his own; this is not my own.

( okay, I do have a bit more to say; read at your own peril, blah blah blah )