no more bedhead

Wow!!!! That was totally amazing!!!

When I was working right after college I was able to head to New York City on several (borderline many) occasions.  I would always pick up a copy of the Village Voice while I was there, just to get a feel for what was going on in the city and maybe find something fun to do.  One thing that I saw often was advertisements for Blue Man Group. Unfortunately, whenever I was there I didn't have the time or the means to go see the show.  Except for one time, when everything fell into place - that time, naturally, Blue Man Group wasn't performing.

The upshot is - I've never seen them, despite having had the means, motive, and opportunity.

Fast forward, ahem, 20 years or so, to last night.  As a birthday present to Beenie (who is as into the Blue Men as I am, and also hasn't seen them live) we went to see Blue Man Group in Cleveland.  It was, as I mentioned above, totally amazing!!!  The sights, the sounds, music, action, humor, and social commentary. I couldn't have asked for anything more.  Probably the two things that I first saw the BMG perform on tv/video was the Drumbbone and the Paint Drums. To give you an idea of the show, I'm adding a video that shows both of those pieces. The other thing you will notice in the video, that I was unaware of, is that they are accompanied by a live band. The band is behind what appears to be a metal scrim so you can't really see them unless they are lit properly.  However, they perform under blacklight, and their costumes and instruments are covered in fluorescent paint, so that they look like cartoon/stick figures.


But...the best part of the evening was after the show was over. Beenie and I had already left the theatre, when he informed me that he had to make a pit stop before the hour long drive home. We turned around and headed back to the theatre, and were able to re-enter.What did we discover but the Blue Men milling about in the lobby, greeting patrons.  Beenie was able to get in and have his picture taken with a Blue Man, who then wiped some greasepaint off his head, and made a thumbprint on Beenie's cheek.  Way too cool!

It's been a while since I posted, so I'm taking the easy way out.  Twice.  That's right...it's a video two-fer.  But be warned, one of 'em will make you cry.

Mandalas: Buddhist monks making a mandala over a 6-day period




Leave Me - the story of a broken camera


Leave Me from Daros Films on Vimeo.

This is one very cool video.  It was posted on Facebook by a friend of mine, I reposted it for my other friends, and now two of them have passed it along as well.  The story goes that this woman won "Ukraine's Got Talent" with her Sand Animation.  In this video, she is telling the story of when the Germans invaded the Ukraine in World War II.  It's something you have to see.




This reminds me of something I saw at General Convention.  The Diocese of Los Angeles event was an "emergent church" service, which I really wanted to like.  Not so much.  But, one of the very cool parts was a guy who was on stage painting as the different Bible verses were being read and the "sermon" was being delivered.  The special thing about this was that he was painting with tempera paint on glass that was lit from behind.  It glowed.  When he would finish a painting, he would take a picture of it, then dip a squeegee in water and wipe the glass clean (or at least move the paint around on it to give himself a new canvas).  It was very cool.