Sweet Sweet Television

Don't judge me.

Clin's Stories of 2009

TV ON DVD:

Battlestar Galactica- RIP you wonderful show.

Cranford- Great BBC miniseries. Judi Dench can do no wrong.

The Tudors Season 2- Less sex, more heads being lopped off.

Weeds Season 4- Great change up with the family moving from their Little Boxes. Nice cliffhanger ending.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1- To introduce Jackie to it. Solid as ever.

Summer Heights High Season 1- They need to make a season 2 right now. Best show to come out of New Zealand since:
Flight of the Conchords Season 2- Looks like this is the last one. Enjoyed it while it lasted.

Long Way Down- Ewan MacGregor riding a motorcycle from the top of Scotland to the tip of South Africa.

Life on Mars- I haven't seen the American version but the BBC one is really good.

The Dollhouse (Seasons 1 and 2)- Interested idea- hard to pin down the tone.

Breaking Bad Season 1- Really great performance from the dad from Malcolm in the Middle.

United States of Tara- Arriving today on Netflix. I like Toni Collette though.

DVR/TV

Top Chef Las Vegas- Delicious

Project Runway LA- Okay

Real Housewives NJ- More table flipping!

Real Housewives NYC- Don't like Kelly. More Bethany.

Real Housewives Atlanta- Better in Season 1

Real Housewives OC- You're better off Jeana.

Lost- I miss Juliet.

Big Bang Theory- Sheldon rules

How I Met Your Mother- It's like Friends for the new decade

So You Think You Can Dance- I like you better in the summer

Glee- A+

My Life on the D List- Kathy is great

Flashforward- Needs to step it up

V- I hope I remember you in March

24- Jack was back and I liked the female president

The Amazing Race- Has won my heart.

Next Food Network Star/Next Iron Chef

American Idol- Better on DVR to fastforward boring results show. I think I'll miss Paula this season.

Modern Family- Brilliant

Better off Ted- Great writing

The Office- Still Great

Parks and Recreation- Gets better Fall of 09

30 Rock- Alec, Tina, Jack and Tracy= fun

Community- Has its moments

The Good Wife- Juliana is great- so are the plots.

The Soup- Summarizes everything else so I don't have to watch it.

What I Liked in 2009

Theatre

Cash On Delivery- (Hale WVC) Cause I was in it. They sanitized too much of it, but it was still a fun show with fun cast members.

All Shook Up- (Hale Orem)- Cause Jackie was really fun in it and a 3 friends were the director, choreographer and music director. Jackie looked great with a dead fox around her shoulders.

Curtains- (Hale WVC)- Great cast- great voices- ok script.

The Yellow Leaf- (Pioneer Theatre Company)- Ummm.... beautiful set?

Dial M for Murder- (Pioneer Theatre Company)- Fun mystery.

Miss Saigon- (Pioneer Theatre Company)- Great show (especially the leading lady as Kim).

A Chorus Line- (Pioneer Theatre Company)- My first time seeing it live- they were fantastic.

Is He Dead- (Pioneer Theatre Company)- Hilarious cast- made me want to direct it (again).

A Christmas Story- (Pioneer Theatre Company)- Cute.

Rumors- (Riverton High School)- Fun cast, fun set (to build).

Back to the 80's- (Riverton High School)- Awesome!

Charlotte's Web- (UVU)- Fun to go with Millie- nice director's concept that made the script better.

Children of Eden- (BYU)- Great singing and dancing- strange set and costume choices.

Thoroughly Modern Millie- (BYU)- Great singing and dancing- is it just me or is this show really long?

Wicked- (Broadway Touring Company)- This is time #4 for me. Great cast and they were really nice to my student afterwards.

Catch Me If You Can- (5th Avenue Theatre Seattle)- Fantastic- can't wait for this to go to Broadway. Aaron Tveit and Nobert Leo Butz were awesome.

God Of Carnage- (Broadway)- The whole cast was great, but Hope Davis was a great projectile vomiter and James Gandolphini was just funny.

***Our Town- (Off-Broadway)- Best show of 2009. I'm so glad we got to see David Cromer (the director) as the Stage Manager. A production that stays with you a LONG time.

Shrek- (Broadway)- Really fun show- would have liked to have taken the girls to it.

Next to Normal- (Broadway)- Very touching, powerful show. A backup show for our trip in 2010 with students.

The Norman Conquests- (Broadway)- So glad I did the marathon 3 shows in one day. Amazing cast, script and direction. Not gonna be done for a long time so I'm glad I saw it.

Les Miserables- (Riverton High School)- Awesome cast, crew and pit.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged- (Utah Shakespeare Festival)- Fun to run around on stage back and forth with the actors.

Tuesday's With Morrie- (Utah Shakespeare Festival)- Great cast- many sniffles from all around me (except the obnoxious girl next to me that kept texting and leaving the theatre).

Movies

I saw a lot- here are just a selected few:

The Princess and the Frog- Great classic Disney animation. Ellis only had to leave the theatre once to pee (and Jackie and her missed a great song) and she ate an entire large popcorn pretty much by herself. A-

Harry Potter and the 1/2 Blood Prince- Another one we saw in an actual theatre. Really good.

A-

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist- Great scene in the bus depot. A-

Religulous- Sucked. D-

Let the Right One In- Creepy- especially the ending scene at the pool. B+

Rachel Getting Married- Like watching a car crash/interesting. B

Milk- Great performances and an interesting story. B+

Slumdog Millionaire- Loved it. A

Vicky Christina Barcelona- Started a solid B and ended up with a solid C. Penelope is an A though.

Frozen River- Intense and very believable. A

The Reader- Conflicted. B-

Revolutionary Road- Kind of like MadMen- great performances (especially from the mental patient) B+

The Wrestler- I think Mickey was playing himself. B

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- OK. B-

Coraline- LOVED this film. A

I Love You Man- I love you too. Paul Rudd is brilliant. A

Wendy and Lucy- Sad and touching. AState of Play- Interesting story. B+

Knowing- No Thanks. D

Appaloosa- This is not the film that will revive the western genre. C

Away We Go- I kind of liked it. Great soundtrack. B-

Drag Me to Hell- It was fun (possessed goats?). B

The Taking of Pellham 123- kind of silly. B-

Wallace and Gromit Loaf and Death- Genius. A

500 Days of Summer- More romantic comedies need Hall and Oates musical numbers. A-

The Proposal- a B to the film, an A for Betty White. More romantic comedies need Betty White.

The Cove- More tense than Duplicity with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. A

The Hangover- An ok film (would have been worthless without Ed Helms who can do no wrong). B, but getting Jackie to watch the whole thing? A.

Public Enemies- should not have been this long and slow. Not with this cast and director. C

That's all I can remember right now. What I want to see over Christmas Break? Paranormal Activity, Sherlock Holmes, Avatar are at the top of my list. Next post- TV (cause this post is too long.).

Ho Ho Ho 2009

Right now, it looks like Santa overdosed on eggnog and vomited Christmas cheer all over the front room. The girls toys are everywhere (and migrating to all areas of the house). The girls only want to wear their Disney Princess nightgowns (even to church)- and, Christmas was basically (to quote their Uncle Tim)- an explosion of pink and princesses.

The best sight is looking into the new dollhouse and seeing Dollhouse "Dad" sitting at the kitchen table with Sleeping Beauty while Dollhouse "Mom" is driving the baby twins in the minivan with Snow White in the passenger seat. I'm assuming with her great house cleaning abilities that she's the nanny. I also guess that Dollhouse Mom and Dad have a very open relationship when it comes to fairy tale royalty.

Tonight we froze to death at Temple Square and we all had a dinner of hot chocolate, cookies and gourmet popcorn. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. In memory of Christmas 2009, on Dec. 23rd, after watching 2 episodes of Leverage (new episodes start this Jan. 15th), and falling asleep during Dollhouse, Jackie announced she was going to bed. A few seconds later, she screams "Clin! Get up here now!" I go upstairs to find that Ellis is completely naked and has peed all over herself, the bed, blankets and pillow in her room (we're not sure on the sequence of events).

I had hidden some presents (gourmet popcorn to be placed out Christmas Eve morning on the sofa for the girls to discover, and Christmas Eve pajamas for all) in the laundry room for the night and told Jackie not to go in there. While I was bathing a screaming Ellis at midnight, Jackie comes into the bathroom and says "I went into the laundry room. I only saw some stuff." She then proceeded to go into Ellis's room, change the sheets while swearing and saying "I'm taking all of Christmas presents back. We overspent. I hate this mattress. I hate this bed. We don't need Christmas gifts! ARGH!!" (direct quotes). With Ellis's screaming waking up Millie, she stumbles into the bathroom, puts her hand on my shoulder and says "I love you Dad. It smells like pee."

After getting Ellis to smell like gingerbread, we put her back to bed- but unfortunately her blanket- THE blanket (the only one she HAS TO HAVE to sleep) is urine-soaked and in the washing machine (with the gourmet popcorn on top). She has to settle for another blanket which causes her to scream for an hour. During the screaming, Millie periodically yells from her room, "I can't sleep with Ellis screaming". Jackie periodically yells to Millie "Be quiet!" and I yell, "I'm calling Santa if you don't fall asleep RIGHT NOW."

So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Memorable Gifts

• A fake Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas sometime in the 80's. The head looked Cabbage-Patchy but the body was different. I think I liked it.


• Skelator's Castle (with a working drawbridge with sound effects). I think Battering Ram (whatever his name was) was included. Really cool. Somewhere around age 11 or 12. He-Man was awesome.


• A Sony Walkman. Around age 13 or 14. Perfect for those drives down to Orem in the back of a station wagon.


• An assorted box of chocolates. My sister Emily bought this for me at Pic-&-Save (or something like that). There was a reason it was only $3.00 (for about 100 chocolates). The centers of these chocolates contained colors and flavors not found in nature. I got sick after eating them. (I also remember giving my brother Nate a gumball machine that year with tons of gumballs in it. That afternoon he took a bath with it. The water caused all the color to melt off the gumballs turning the water grey. No more gumballs for Nate).


• On my mission, we went out as district to eat at Claim Jumper restaurant. Someone at a table by us bought our table an entire Motherlode Chocolate Cake (those of you that have eaten at Claim Jumper know that an entire cake could probably feed 20 people). Everyone was full to the point of barfing so me and my companion (Elder Wagstaff) took it home. It took us about 3 weeks to finish it (and even then we threw most of it away).


• My first Christmas on the mission, we were feeling sad on Christmas Eve so we went to 7-11, each bought a magazine (I think mine was People and my companion's was Sports Illustrated) and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. I then dyed my hair that night (a gift from friends). My companion confessed to the mission president later that week. I didn't bring it up.


• A mission companion (Elder Bunker) crocheted to relax. I joked to him to make me something for Christmas- and he made me a bright blue crocheted jockstrap. I used it as a plant holder in college.


• 10 years ago this Christmas, Jackie made me- by hand- a huge thick maroon quilt. It's very cozy- and Jackie always uses it downstairs when we're watching tv. I haven't gotten to use it for 5 years.


• Jackie got me The Art of Shaving badger-hair shaving brush and really nice shaving lotion. Unfortunantly (and fortunantly), I just got cast in Fiddler on the Roof at Hale Center Theatre so I'm not allowed to shave until April 10th, 2010.


• A piano. Although I'm the one that bought it, it was memorable. Especially when I had to use my sister to trick Jackie into getting out of the house.


• Yesterday during our ward Sacrament Christmas Program, while the choir was singing something about angels, my little angel (Millie) was on my lap. She got mad at me, threw her head back and one of her butterfly hair clips punctured my cheek. As a geyser of blood shot out of my face, Jackie motioned to me to go to the restroom. Now it looks like I have a huge zit on my cheek-bone. Millie is no longer allowed to wear her butterfly clips to church.
• Though this wasn't really a gift, when I was 16 we went as a family to look at the lights downtown at Temple Square. On our way out of the city, Nate (probably 10 years old)announced that he had to pee NOW. My dad pulled into Hardee's on 300 South (now Carl's Jr.). Nate ran out and then ran back really quick. We asked how he did it so fast and he replied that he didn't have time to go in- he just stood in front of the wall of windows and peed in the bushes out front. That story is a gift by itself.

I'm sure there are a lot more things- if you gave me a memorable gift write it in the comments section.

Things I Like (School)

• I like it when students are prepared for their classroom performances. That way I can give them more notes than, "memorize."


• I like it when students go to a theatrical production somewhere and tell other students to not climb over seats or put their feet on the chair in front of them.


• I like it when students say that they are so excited for our New York trip that if they think about it too much they can't sleep.


• I like it when one of my drama club officers who works at In-&-Out burger brings me 2 Double-Doubles before the restaurant is open to the public.


• I like it when I can send my musical theatre students into the auditorium to rehearse without me and I go in to find them actually rehearsing.


• I like that Millie can attend pre-school at my school, meet Santa Claus there and tell him that what she wants for Christmas is "a secret."


• I like it when Film Studies student turn their papers in early- and when they all write on different movies and not just Forrest Gump.


• I like it when students say on their quiz on the film Tootsie that the main social issue in the film is NOT cross dressing.


• I like watching our school Improvisation Team perform with Laughing Stock for a charity performance. Very funny to watch a student pretend he has no bones.


• I like reading students play critiques- especially when they don't like the show.


• I like it when Theatre 1 students, after the voice and diction unit, call me Mr. EaTon- with a T.


• I like it when our musical makes enough money to buy another microphone.


• I like that I only ended up with 1 negative letter about Les Miserables (the letter wanted to know why I didn't do the high school version of the show- I'll take it as a compliment that they thought I did the Broadway version).


• I like it that Millie and Ellis feel comfortable enough around the MDT students to go up to them and a: demand to be played with or b: sit on their laps without warning.


• I think I like it when 3 students and 1 alumni are with me at callbacks for Hale Center Theatre's Fiddler on the Roof.
• I like it when students get nervous about auditions (as long as I know they're prepared).
• I like it when my students work with college professors, choreographers or professionals and do not embarrass myself, themselves or the school.


• I LOVE my fellow faculty (esp. performing arts- but Brent Cox in Yearbook knows he is an honorary member of the Performing Arts Faculty- and his wife Amanda too) and staff. It's why I'm staying at Riverton instead of Herriman (that and the fact that I now have a music library worth over $4000...)

What I've Been Up To...

So though I'm very excited to see this over Christmas Break, this is what I"ve been up to:

Directed Les Miserables at the school. They (the students) did great and we sold out (1315 seats) on Monday night- which was a fun way to close. It was great that my parents and inlaws (and lots of other people) came. What makes me laugh is that I've gotten letters from offended patrons for the following shows: Ten Little Indians (brandy drinking), Anything Goes (costumes and language), My Music, Dance, Theatre revues, Once Upon a Mattress (pregnant out of wedlock), and others--but nothing on Les Miserables.

What I've been watching (TV): Amazing Race, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Top Chef, Modern Family, The Good Wife, Glee, The Office, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation.

What I've been watching (movies): Dollhouse (Season 1), Food Inc. (interesting to watch after Thanksgiving dinner...), Wallace & Gromit (Loaf and Death- great), Lost in Austen (never-ending), Little Dorrit (great!), The Taking of Pellam 123 (OK...) and other sad documentaries.

In the meantime, I'm taking students to: Children of Eden (at BYU), A Christmas Story (at PTC) and I just bought tickets to the tour of Avenue Q- nothing says Merry Christmas like full frontal puppet nudity.