don't fix what ain't broke?

I can appreciate a new, modern twist on a classic.  But even before I open my violin case I'm slightly defeatist about the contemporary Christian rock versions of traditional hymns that I will be playing for a Christmas eve gig.  I'm not against either genre as a whole; I quite like Christmas hymns and take prejudicial umbradge at the fact that they have been "modernized".  I'll have to wait to hear what it sounds actually sounds like, but I fear that the saying "don't fix what ain't broke" will apply to this music.

Still, there are much worse ways of making money, so I will stop complaining...now.

Poor Captain Hook, and some other thoughts

I finally saw a live-action non-musical movie version of J.M. Barrie's eternally youthful male Peter Pan.  I was only slightly acquainted with this story as a child and until now only saw snippets of the Disney version, the famous live-action one with a woman in the titular role, and Hook, which is more of a contemporary modernization of the show than a proper movie adaptation.

I don't tend to sympathize with the villian, but in this case I feel bad for poor ol' Captain James Hook.  His goal in life is to defeat a child-- a smug little boy-child!-- and he's lost his right hand to a ticking crocodile (symbolism of a biological clock or something?), and <SPOILER ALERT> he dies alone with no one (well, no female) to love or mourn him.  This guy's got it rough, and I pity the fool.  And there's some real Oedipal/Electraesque (Electracal? Electran?) about the fact that he and Mr. Darling, the father, are traditionally played by the same actor to better highlight the poignant struggle between children and parents when it comes to growing up.  It's not hard to see why this is a children's classic, but it's also so very tragic and heartbreaking.  It is true nostalgia, for algia is Latin for "pain", and nostalgia is to "remember with pain".  That is what it means to realize that you're not a child any more, and it's rougher than realizing that you're too tall to enjoy the McDonald's or Burger King play time area.

Still, I enjoyed the movie and think it was artfully directed.

Stages of grief: Christmas edition

http://www.nataliedee.com/121710/

By the twelfth day of this month I will have played about 20 hours' worth of Christmas music, which includes having played "Jingle Bells" sixty times.  This is not the first time this has happened, and I've already gone through enough Christmas shows to anticipate how I will feel about Christmas as a result of playing almost every song imaginable related to this most festive winter holiday:

1. Denial
At first I think, pfft I'll be alright, I've done this several times before.  I'm immune to Christmas fatigue, ha ha ha!

2. Anger
I will start to fantasize about roasting Rudolph over an open fire and punching Jack Frost in the nose.  The anger will translate into a brusque fortissimo on poor Julian Matthias, my violin.

3. Bargaining
I mark time with each piece and force myself to remember that I'm getting paid to play this music, and there are much worse ways to earn money.

4. Acceptance (I don't usually have enough energy to go through the real step 4 from the Kübler-Ross model)
Every song I play is so bad that it becomes good, and, ironically or not, I actually start to enjoy playing all that music and sing along when I can (despite my lack of singing voice).

Character sketch: My bully

Let's call her...Tabitha, because I don't personally know anyone by that name.  I met Tabitha in the third grade, and she was my foil, my opposite.  I am short, rather stocky, quiet and introverted but in classroom settings I am eager bordering on obsequious.  Tabitha was always the tallest girl in the class, with the slender but powerful muscles of a basketball player.  In class she was shy and always smiled and laughed nervously when called on to answer a question, save for (surprise!) gym class, in which she put down everyone with her athletic prowess.  I danced for a while but when it came to sports I always seemed to have two left feet and little to no hand-eye coordination.

On one hand, this sounds like it could be the classic case of BFFs who are complete opposites in that Abbott and Costello opposites attract kind of way.  But there was no way that we could ever be friends, as our interest were so completely divergent, and I was such a prime target for taunting.  She could've easily hurt me physically but instead, as is common with females, she verbally berated me when the teacher's attention was elsewhere and I was too much of a coward to stand up for myself or tattle.  And what would I be able to tattle her for?  It wasn't what she said but the way she said stuff to me, the way she made me doubt myself even when I knew I was right.  And that mocking tone she used when she'd ask, "Are you crying?"

It didn't take too long for me to understand why she acted this way.  She was the youngest child of her family, with at least one older brother and sister, and her brother acted exactly the same way, with that pompous sneering attitude prevalent among tween boys.  She wasn't that bright, nor pretty or sociable enough to charm her way through life, so instead she exploited the weak in various ways through the years.  Although I understand on a very basic level why she acted out, I have to admit that I cannot entirely forgive her and let it go.  In high school she seemed to have toned it down a lot but in the few instances I was in a class with her I could still see her viciousness surface--toward other people, lucky for me.  I'd love to just forgive and forget, but I can still readily recall how hurt my little third grade self felt, and the face of the girl Tabitha who inflicted that hurt on me.

I'm probably reading too deeply into this...

It's startling to see what kids are reading and watching these days, but even more startling to look back at what books and movies children of previous generations were exposed to.  I think that kids picture books today are a lot more diverse and open-minded, generally speaking.  In the past month I have frequented a few yard sales and browsed through children's books from the 60s and 70s and I have been amused and discomforted by what I found.  Part of that discomfort is due to the fact that I, as a sort-of adult, see certain symbolism and themes that just go right over the heads of the kids who read them.

I'm thinking specifically about this book, which I bought at a yard sale today.

image source

Pretzel is a male dog, a dachshund-- the longest one in the world, one who has won a dog show and is lauded for his longness.  In the book he courts Greta, who doesn't really care for him or care about his extraordinary physicality.  But (spoiler alert!) when she is in peril he saves her and she agrees to marry him-- not for his length but for the fact that he saved her.

While I flipping through this book I thought the drawings were cute; the authors are the same ones who wrote the Curious George series.  But as I sat and read the book cover to cover I couldn't help but read more deeply into this children's book.  I doubt that there was any ulterior intention behind the story of the book yet I can't help connect some dots that may just be freckles/random spots: Pretzel is male, he is proud of how long he is but Greta the girl dog is not interested; because Pretzel plays the prince Greta decides not to be single any more and their story concludes with the birth of their five children/puppies.

But, as indicated in the title, I'm probably reading too deeply into this...

Nihilo sanctum estne?

Is nothing sacred?

I think of that line, from the movie Rushmore when thinking about holidays.  I wonder, is Veteran's Day the only pure American holiday?  I mean, sure, other countries have their own version of a Remembrance Day that's set apart to reflect on and honor those who died in wars.  And Veteran's Day, like all other holidays, has become an excuse to have a sale, to have a day off or get paid time and half. 

Lemme 'splain.
- Christmas.  Oh, it's only the most conflated capitalist holiday of the year.  You don't even have to be Christian to celebrate it.  And Jesus wasn't even born in December.

- Thanksgiving.  Once it was my favorite holiday of the year.  But what does it really celebrate? Genocide, or the start of the exploitation and marginalization of the people native to the Americas.

-  Fourth of July.  See: above.

- Memorial Day/Labor Day: The former comes close to Veteran's day but it's overshadowed by the fact that it's become the unofficial start of summer; the latter it's counterpart, the end of summer.

Veteran's day was once Armistice Day, the day that WWI ended, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Obviously this year was much more special because it's the eleventh year of the new milleneum and omg-the-ultimate-day-to-make-a-wish-blah-blah-blah.  So, in that sense, the 'true meaning of Veteran's day' was overshadowed.  But I still maintain that this day is still sacred.  But at the same time it's nice that this day was a nice day, that thousands died so that we could take freedom for granted.  So I suppose I am still of two minds about this topic...

lights out!

A 45-minute blackout isn't that bad, but when one strikes as a result of inclement weather there's no knowing how long it'll last.  I was anticipating having to wear a sweater or two to bed underneath my blankets in order to keep warm.  I was attempting to read by flickering candlelight.  I was wondering if I'd get to write a post tonight.  My mind invariably went to Weird Al Yankovic's parody of Gangster's (Gangsta's?) Paradise called "Amish Paradise"-- especially that line that goes, "I shun fancy things like electricity." 

I have a lot of respect for the Amish, but I have more for my electricity and modern technology.  No, I'm not glued to my (non-existant) smart phone, thank God, but I'm much more dependent on electronic devices than I'd like to be.  I fancy myself a Luddite, but I think I'm too much of a Gen-Xer to truly live without said devices.

inane thought for the day

Is everyone in heaven vegetarian?

Think about it (but not too hard).  So heaven is the place that you go after you die, and you live there forever (just go with me on this, yeah?).  Nothing in heaven can die, because then it wouldn't be heaven.  That's where you can do whatever gives you joy, and for some people (foodies, meat-lovers) that might include eating meals worthy of kings for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and second breakfast and elevensies, et al, if you have the appetite of a hobbit).  But since nothing can die, nobody is really eating meat, because meat comes from animals in various states of death (or sometimes, like in one episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, they are just recently dead; he ate a beating frog's heart in Japan).  So the people who think they are eating meat must actually be eating...some meat substitute?

Would you rather...?

I forget where I found this "would you rather...?" question, but I wanted to make it clear that I did not come up with this myself:

Would you rather live in a world where everyone thinks you are fantastic the moment they meet you and continue to adore you as they get to know you, OR would you rather live in a world where it is completely legal and socially acceptable for you, and only you, to sucker punch whomever you want, whenever you want?

Both are pretty dangerious propositions, aren't they?  That's what I like about this question; usually the two options are equally unfavorable and I pick the one that I dislike the least.  Everyone likes to be liked, but having everyone I meet think of me as fantastic is unproductive to my personal growth.  Then again, it would be highly convenient to be universally not disliked.  And the same could be said about being able to sucker punch anyone without fear of any legal punishment.  The question does not indicate whether that person will be punished for sucker punching me back, though.  I do not have a long list of people I would like to sucker punch, as I'm a pacifist and believe that there are more efficient ways of comportment that do not require violence.  But if it's completely legal and socially acceptable for me...

Yeah, I think I have to go with door number two.  As obsequious as I can be and have a tendency to want to make good impressions on people, I'd be highly annoyed if everyone I met were completely enamored by me.  I don't seek to be actively disliked but I've come to be less apologetic about my shortcomings.  Maybe.

It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

I'm dubious of fragrant candles, room sprays, and air fresheners.  They do smell nice and many actually do a good job mimicking the scent that they're inspired by, but I'm suspicious of the ingredients involved in creating them.  I watch those Febreze and Glade commercials and can't help but wonder, what exactly is it that they are inhaling?  I feel that all those scented things that get wafted into the air are filled with questionable chemicals and carcinogens.  I feel that it's a conspiracy against women, particularly against housewives who are active in maintaining the cleanliness of their households.

Okay, I don't actually think that companies are out to get these women, but I do really think that the products that are marketed toward women have weird ingredients that might get the job done but at the cost of the user's health.  I have the most beef with these types of products, but I'm also suspicious of the stuff (the preservatives and additives) in makeup and cleaning products.  Call me a crunchy hippie lady, but I prefer to use baking soda, white vinegar, and water for various disinfecting purposes because I know the chemical composition of those items and I know that they're all safe (and edible).

Dance= art + (sports- grunting)

I think that "Dancing with the Stars" as done a pretty good job showing America just how painful and difficult dancing can be-- and I'm not just talking about the footwear and costumes.  It's one thing to play a sport and get to grunt and show on your face how much effort and concentration you are putting into every move; with dance you have to convey a certain emotion and match your motions to music.  I feel ballet is particularly challenging because there's so much technique and specific restraint involved that is hard to appreciate from an outsider perspective.  Dance is definitely art, but this categorization makes it easier to pass of as a less serious occupation of time.  Aside from "Dancing with the Stars", I only see dance on TV on PBS; meanwhile you have five variants of ESPN and games are usually broadcast on the most basic cable channels.

The most compelling and hilarious hybrid of dance and sport: competitive aerobic dancing.

With the music, choreography, and goofy-happy facial expressions, I think this leans more on the side of a dance.  But there's no denying the athleticism involved in all those moves.  It's a pity that this seems to have been a fad and doesn't really exist in this form today.

Mini trailer review: People who seek retributive justice

Also known as avengers.  Teaser trailer has gotten many people excited, to say the least.

I've been skeptical about this project since it was announced, but having seen this I'm earnestly looking forward to it when it comes out in the summer next year.  Maybe a little tentative about how all these big characters will fit together for a cohesive storyline-- especially for Bruce Banner/the (Incredible) Hulk, for whom I have an inexplicable soft spot.  But, really, if it ends up as a 100-minute version of this GIF I'll be thoroughly entertained.

NOT John Krasinski's ringtone

This is not the ringtone that John Kransinski has in the New Era commercials but it's the first tune I could think of that even begins to compare.  The notes are very similar-- both go do-re-mi-do-la-- but the rhyme of the music is decidedly different.  I know this song because I watched "The Boondock Saints", and the only other similar music I own is the Riverdance soundtrack, which features more, well, dancey music.

These ads feature John Krasinski's phone rigning:
at the 0:11 mark


again, at the 0:11 mark


at 1:09

More thoughts on texting

Last text message I received: "<family friend>'s mother died yesterday"
First text message I received: "Got a curling iron"

I'm not much of a texter, and I really only send text messages when it's more convenient than just talking over the phone.  I don't have unlimited texting as part of my phone plan so my texts are usually terse and lack vowels.  The texts I receive, though, come in varying writing (or texting?) styles and are on a wider range of topics.  That first text message I ever received was from one of my close high school friends and in regard to that hair appliance that she wanted to use for her hair for prom.  I think she chose to text me rather than call because she didn't know if I was in class or not at that time.  That last message was texted to me probably because the sender primarily communicates through text.  I'm actually glad I got the information through text rather than over the phone because it gave me the chance to react privately, without having to audibly express my thoughts and feelings right then and there to the person on the other line.  And also I received the information while I was in a public bathroom, and...I just would not have liked to receive that kind of phone call while washing my hands, amidst the typical commotion of a ladies restroom (women washing hands, applying makeup, fixing hair, talking to stall-mates).

Sometimes it's better, nicer, to hear someone's voice and have a normal conversation over the phone.  I'm not a great phone interlocutor, though, because I tend to get excited and interrupt the person on the other side, and half of the art of conversation is reading nonverbal cues.  I like communicating through writing, so, logically, I should prefer to text and I should have taken to text-messaging easily.  Eh, I feel that in a couple of years I'll really get the hang of texting and feel more compelled to use it more often, especially after realizing that there are times when receiving a text is more preferable.

Purse-onal belongings

http://www.nataliedee.com/

I envy guys' ability to travel light and stow things in their numerous pants pockets.  I have a few pairs of cargo pants but they are not figure-flattering and I don't usually put things in the extra pockets-- the ones other than the standard three in the front/two on the butt.  It's just not practical for me, doesn't feel comfortable when I walk.

I tend to overpack.  And I'm a klutz.  And I'm a girl, a female.  Wherever I go I carry a purse or backpack with me; sometimes during the winter I'll go sans bag, but only if I'm on an errand and won't be gone long.  I can get away with this during the winter because I use the pockets in my coat, but still I feel lacking if I'm not carrying something with me when I leave. I never leave the house with my MILK essentials: money, ID, lip stuff, and keys (with flashdrive attached).  The bigger the bag, the more stuff I end up putting in it.  The contents of my backpack as of this writing:

- MILK essentials
- Moleskine weekly planner (pricey but worth it)
- pens
- travel-sized Band-Aids packet
- travel-sized Tylenol bottle
- notebooks
- books
- Metro (free newspaper)
- toothbrush
- travel-sized toothpaste
- squashed water bottle
- misc. backpack debris (trash, mustard packets, ticket stubs, Lifesavers)
- travel-sized tissue packets
- Banana Nut Odwall bar

All this is heavy, and it's not unusual for my backpack to have more stuff to add to the weight.  Hey, at least I'm lugging all this in a backpack, where the weight is evenly distributed across my small, sloping shoulders.  I half-cringe, half-groan when I see girls with massive shoulder bags, walking with a hobble to counteract the weight of what must be a small anvil on just one shoulder.  Even trendy backpacks aren't that trendy, I think a slightly hunched forward walk is preferable to the limping gait brought on by carrying the weight of the world on a single shoulder.  Okay, as much as I bash this practice I have to admit that sometimes I do this.  Why? Eh, bad planning, vanity/stupidity.  But sometimes it's better to be prepared and carry all that extra weight so that you're ready for any emergency/"emergency" situation.

Cold.

These books make me think of winter, pain, cold, and humanity.  Also, these are all books I read for the first time in the first half of this year.  Despite the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover", these covers do a good job representing the kind of story within-- note the lively color palette employed (Kidding, of course).

The Giver by Lois Lowry.

image source

I know, it's a children's classic! I had chances to read it in elementary school, and my favorite middle school English teacher recommended it to me, but I didn't read it until this year, I know.  It's shocking, to read a children/preteen book as a non-child/non-preteen.  The controversial topics that are brought up within its pages!  And the slight science-ficiton twist/quirk/turn of this story make it particularly creepy.  It's not winter througout the story but snow falls heavily and plays a big part in the story at the end.  A great read, not too long but not light fare, not by any means.  There's so much to discuss and an added factor when given repeated readings as one gets older.






Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

image source

I think the title says it all: 'winter' and 'bone'.  Protagonist Ree Dolly is gritty, tenacious, a no-nonsense kind of girl because she has to be and has no other choice.  Set in the wet, wooded Appalachia area, you get a sense of hopelessness and inertia, which makes our heroine's efforts all the more remarkable.  Comments have been made about this story as a modern day Antigone, and having read that play this year I can readily make out the parallels.  Ree has to find her crank-cooker father before it's too late, and the cards are really stacked against her.  The story is simply and well-told, with fairly short chapters that are neither titled nor numbered. 







The Road by Cormac McCarthy

image source

This book, too, has chapters that have no title or number, but they almost aren't even chapters.  The dialogue bits don't even have quotation marks around them, that's how bleak this book is.  Does that make sense?  Eh, well if you've read the book it makes sense.  Each book in this list is more haunting, cold, and bleak than the last, and The Road really takes the cake.  You don't even learn the names of the main characters, a father and son, who make slow and sometimes steady progress through the landscape of a post-apocalyptic United States.  You don't even really get a good background as to all this happened and how our characters ended up on this journey, but that adds to the whole aspect of these two survivors just trying to stay alive.  This book made me shiver.  This is not the kind of book to warm up to after a long day slogging through snow, not the kind of book that I would read by the fire with a mug of cocoa or tea, because no amount of heat will really thaw the bitter frost that this book exudes.  Devastating, this is, and a very good read.  Author Cormac McCarthy also wrote No Country for Old Men.

Scarred my childhood

These are some of the movies that terrified me as a child:

ANACONDA

the whole thing.  Now it seems absurd.  Owen Wilson was in it?! And first time seeing J.Lo.  Jon Voight is a much better actor thant to have to be in that movies, but has to make a living.  It was so terrifying to me, yet I couldn’t look away.  I remember sweating while watching the movie and my cousins sort of teasing me for it, that I had gotten so into it.  Shortly afterwards, when talking about it with a friend it became less frightening and more of an interesting anecdote, esp. the part where the snake swims past the camera and skeleton bulges out of the body, the view accompanied by dramatic music.

The Empire Strikes Back

Luke gets his hand cut off; also blends in my mind with Darth Vader getting his mask taken off.  When I first heard of the phrase “back of the mind” that hand slicing scene comes to mind; it was years before I realized that right after that came the famous (and misquoted) line “No, I am your father” because that scene was so traumatizing and when I thought of the scaries thing I had ever seen it came to mind.  Now Star Wars V is easily one of my fav. movies.

Nightmare before Christmas

Don’t remember much except that I was terrified.  Yes, it is a much beloved movie but to this day I still have a kneejerk queasiness.  I should see it again, I know.  I just couldn’t handle the humorous-macabre style of the animation and songs and visual effects.

ET

A little bit.  I remember eating rice krispie treats while watching this movie for some reason.  I cried at the end, but some scenes are really terrifying—i.e. when ET has technically died and is mummified and chalky?!

Raiders of the Lost ark

End scene when everyone melts except Indiana Jones and Marion.  Temple of Doom not as much because I saw it when older and could stomach it better.

Numbers

Today is September 11th, 2011.

Yesterday was the 10th, or, as Americans also write it, 9/10/11.  It doesn't entirely make sense as to why we in America put the date as month/day/year; I'm sure there's some fascinating (to me, anyway) story about why we do it this way but it's still not logical.  I think that in Europe they go from smallest to largest (day/month/year) and I can't speak for Asia as a whole but in Korea the date is listed by the year first, then the month, and finally with the day.

Nine, ten, eleven.  Most of the world uses base 10 in counting, and makes a big deal about anniversary years that are multiples of 5 and 10.  But we all start with one.

1: the beginning.  Everyone wants to be number 1.  Number one also refers to urination (why?)

2: can refer to defecation (again, why?).  Silver medalist, not bad at all.

3: good things come in threes?  Bronze medalist, just made it to the podium.

4: in Chinese this number is bad luck because it sounds like the word for "death". 4-1-1 refers to info.

5: halfway to ten! Number of fingers on a hand, toes on a foot (usually).

6: Sixth is "sexto" in Spanish.  From Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss, the toughest tongue twister: the sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick"

7: Lucky number in American/Western lore.

8: Homophone of "ate".

9: Almost at ten.  Why do the digits 9-1-1 refer to emergencies?  Why these three digits?  I wonder what the number for emergencies is in other countries. Which reminds me of this silly little clip from another one of my beloved BBC/Channel 4 sitcoms...

10: Back to seriousness.  The big one-zero, the first of the double digits if we go by Arabic numerals.  A decathalon is ten events, a decade is ten years, December is the...twelfth month.  Again, things don't always make sense. 

Again, it's hard to make sense of this world.  But there's still hope...

Stream of consciousness: embarazada

A cognate is a word that sounds the same and has the same meaning in different languages.  Examples: in Spanish the words medicina, dormitorio, chocolate mean medicine, dormitory/room, and chocolate in English, respectively.  But, I think I've mentioned before, there are false cognates, or words that sound or seem the same but don't directly translate.  One case that's brought up often and used to comic effect is the Spanish word embarazada.  You would think that it means "embarassed", right? Wrong: it means 'pregnant'.  Can you imagine the hilarious accidental situations in which a novice Spanish speaker might misuse this false cognate?

But why is it so?  Why does the Spanish word for "pregnant" sound like the English word for "deeply ashamed"?  For generations, eons, woman's purpose in life was to procreate (after having been legally married, of course); it would only make sense that showing signs of pregnancy would be cause for happy emotions and celebrations, and not shame...unless it were an "illigitimate"/"bastard"/"unexpected" birth.  That's the explanation I can think of right now.  Today we see female celebrities dressed very stylishly throughout pregnancy, showing off the progress of their baby bump.  There's even a show called "Pregnant in Heels" that, to my knowledge, features a pregnancy concierge to help an expecting mother look fabulous throughout her term.  But it's only been recently that the pregnant woman was seen as beautiful or remotely sexy.  There's a lot of negativity directed at female bodies in general.

Take the word "hysteria" too.  Another word with the same suffix: hysterectomy, which is the surgical removal of the uterus.  Coincidence? No; I think it was in Victorian times that it was thought that the womb/uterus floated around a woman's body, and that this movement made a woman so disturbed that she was hysterical, experiencing hysteria.  Recently the trailer for a movie of the same name came up, and I have high hopes for it.  Not a serious-face period drama, but that's what makes it enticing, to me: it's a comedy-- a sex comedy at that-- which is set in a traditionally stuffy time period, and it focuses on an...interesting subject matter.

On a 9/11 musical, sort of.

In an earlier post I professed my love for the UK television program "Skins".  I've only seen the first two of three seasons; the last season features an almost entirely different cast.  Anyway, the second episode of the second season features a 9/11 musical, with the cast occupying various roles on and off stage. 

I think there was an off- Broadway or off off-Broadway musical on the same topic, titled "Clear Blue Tuesday" or something of the sort.  I believe that the musical in this show is called "Osama: The Musical!" (or, again, something of the sort).  Oh, the show is available to view on Hulu. I haven't the time or energy to rewatch it but I clearly remember how incredibly tasteless it was...and that was sort of the point.  In the show, the school's director wrote the musical himself, and though he is British he claims that he's a New Yorker at heart.  Yeah, right.  One of the lines from the main song is "Then came the day Osama blew us away/oh yes he blew us away", and in the opening number "hey girl" is made to rhyme with "bagel" (it works better if you try on a British-ish accent).  Like I said it's incredibly tasteless, tactless, and therefore hilarious in a sort of twisted way.  Don't get me wrong, I find little humor in the events of that day, it was devastating to say the least.  The musical as produced in this show is deliberately cartoonish and exhibits the worst of all the cliches and hallmarks of cheesy jazz-hands Broadway musicals, and that is what makes it darkly, bitingly funny.  It's nevertheless haunting, though, to remember the events of that day, even in this setting.

I bring this up because September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday in the second full week of the month, just like today.  But today was mostly overcast.