Chicken Scratch

(posted by weekend guest blogger...uhh...Charlie?? Charlie??)

Maybe we should check back a little later.

Next weekend perhaps??

Cluck for now!

(Happy Canada Day long weekend everyone - including those that started a little early...

Yet Another Brush With Fame (Canadian...)

I thought that I had already posted a link to my latest REM column, but looks like I didn't.

It is a chance to toot my own horn to some degree, and admittedly may be more relevant to Canadian readers, but what they hey - worth a read, I reckon!

Meeting Celebrities

Enjoy!

Chow for now...

11 - You Haunt Me...

It's bad enough when Mrs. That Dan Guy and I see 11's everywhere - now I've got my sister in on it!

Submitted for your approval - a screen shot of her own blog, indicating 111 posts. As I was loading that, I noticed on my dashboard that (even though it doesn't appear on my page here accurately) I currently appear to have 11 followers.

I really need to surf me some Google on this thing...

And, only 11 followers? I need to get on that!

Chow for now!

Hold The Door! Hold The Door!

Sorry, I was talking to Mrs. That Dan Guy. You can let the door go.

But thanks just the same!

(Chow for now...)

Who Needs Time In A Bottle?

For a few months now, time has turned back for me, never mind gotten stuck in some bottle somewhere...

People from my past have reconnected, and in some cases we've even managed to catch up in person. Pretty cool. Had dinner with an old pal last night as a matter of fact.

Funny. So many of them remember me in my prime - athletic, popular, charismatic, fluent in 16 languages, a full head of hair that would have made Rapunzel jealous, a natural musician that could play any instrument put down before me, poker champion, Spelling Bee grand master, amateur astrologist, Popsicle stick engineer, algebra tutor, juggler, and pet psychic.

I wonder if they still see those gifts in me when I pass them their order from the drive-thru window??

Chow for now!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Stage West Calgary - "The Marvelous Wonderettes"

Stage West Calgary

"The Marvelous Wonderettes"

For the first production of their 30th anniversary season, "The 39 Steps" had just a few short months ago set such a high standard I didn't expect another show would be able to match or even more unlikely, surpass it. After attending last night's production of "The Marvelous Wonderettes", I'd suggest that this is now the show to beat this season. Absolutely flawless - as professional an evening of theatre as you will see anywhere...

Four flawless voices. Four well-created characters. Music that spans several generations, and seemed well received by the different generations in attendance. Sheesh - I need to take a breath, I may get charged with gushing here...

I took more notes for this show than any other I've attended in the last few years, and I must apologize, I'm going to need to hang onto those to put together my "official" Calgary Herald review (I'll post a link here later when that's available for hard-copy purchase, or online viewing). I will just say that for almost every review I've written both for this space and the newspaper, I say something about how I hate to single any one performer out - but then I gleefully do so.

I can't this time. Every one of the actors has a chance to showcase solid, solid vocals - even when their role requires them to downplay their talents. Lush harmonies, true to each of the eras represented - you really will be transported back in time.

Musical arrangements, musicianship, stage design, direction - there isn't a single element that doesn't help in making this show convincingly win over the audience.

I am starting to suspect that Stage West Calgary has some sort of Dusty Springfield fetish (once again represented in the soundtrack)- but that's a good thing for listeners.

Ahh, I can't keep going on here, or I WILL use up some of the notes I need for my "official" review!

Check back later for a link to that, and to the interview I hope to have with the cast.

More to come - but get your tickets now. The show I attended was sold out - a trend I don't see slowing down once word gets out!

Chow for now! 

Learning Never Really Ends

Just like "Love Never Dies", learning never ends. And while LND didn't work out so great for Andrew Lloyd Weber, hopefully your lifelong learning experience is far more beneficial...

For example, I continue to learn:

1) Never, ever try to recreate a tightrope walk across a national landmark in your backyard with baling twine.
2) Always have Kleenex handy BEFORE you pop a nasal zit...
3) NEVER pop a nasal zit just before posing for your high school graduation picture...
4) Despite amble evidence to support my theory, I may never convince a barber to charge me for haircuts by the strand(s)...
5) You will never convince your spouse that you suffer from Stray Eye Syndrome while walking along a beachfront boardwalk in the summer...
6) Stray Eye Syndrome is the leading cause of Upside The Head slapping in North America.
7)Upside The Head slapping not only cures Stray Eye Syndrome, it may also help with popping nasal zits...

Always learning...

Chow for now!

Chicken Scratch

(posted by weekend guest blogger Charlie Chicken...)

Hello??

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

So, this is wut a hoom-iddy-frier looks like?

I don unnerstand how it works? Where's tha water? Where's tha hoom-iddity?

Where's ma car, dude?

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Hey!

Look Ma - I'm a pop-tart! A whack-a-mole!

OK, OK, enough fun fer one mornin' - I'll juss pull ma head out...

Uhh, I'll juss pull ma head O-U-T!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Fer cripes' sake...

Anyone got any butter??

A lil bit a can-ola oil??

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

NO! NOT A HAMMER!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Cluck fer now - (call 9-11!!).... 

Slept In

Well, had a longer post planned for this morning, but I fell back asleep after my last alarm, now scrambling to attend my last sessions of this conference.

So, ta-dah! This is my post now!!

Chow for now...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Never Trust A Smiling Maniac

That sure sounds like sage advice. However, how does one determine if the individual they are faced with is indeed a maniac, or simply an overzealous Type A personality?

Well, for one thing, you could look for whether or not they are carrying an axe. Maniacs frequently tend to wield dangerous objects, whereas keeners are typically just loud or pushy.

You should also be looking for wild hair, and wide, piercing eyes. Many maniacs resemble an electrocuted mad scientist. Actually, mad scientists are often maniacs, so do take note of possible overlap there.

Chow for now!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Well Hello There Summer!

Hey, it's almost the end of June - we may be able to finally shut our furnace off!

It's been a wet cool summer so far here - while most of (the rest of) Canada has been enjoying more typical seasonal temperatures. Toronto is actually in the midst of a brutal heat wave right now.

What makes matters worse is that our hometown of Winnipeg has had great weather for WEEKS, while we've been scraping ice off of our windshield in the morning, and wearing woolen sweaters under our parkas.

Pretty bad when mosquitos have it better than we do....

Oh well, at least we've got...

We've got...

Aww hell - just bring on the nice weather already!

Chow for now!

Save The Panters!!

I understand that panters are endangered now in China? We really need to roll up our sleeves and help prevent them from becoming x-stinks!

I didn't hear if panters were panting because of jogging, or some other sort of light exercise. I don't know if they pant because of their weight, or perhaps panters are actually dogs - but it seems to me dogs wouldn't be endangered, even in China.

Maybe I need a few more facts.

Leave this with me for a couple of days...

Chow for now!!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Technology - Go To Hell!!

And so my Monday starts, with yet more technology drama - will it ever end????

Is it too late to start drinking yet...

Chow for now...


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Today is "Try To Catch Up" Day

Ugh. Trying to balance all of my other commitments along with my day job is certainly proving to be entertaining, as well as a bit of a challenge. I can't even respond to my emails in a timely manner anymore...

Well, nobody said it was going to be easy, and neither of these issues can continue to suffer much longer - so, here's my proposed solution.

My clone "Tan" will now respond to emails on alternating days of the week. My automated cyborg robot will continue to come up with pranks to drive Mrs. That Dan Guy crazy.

Our educated teenage gorilla will begin posting here, and I defy you to see any difference from what's been posted here for years now.

Still working out a few wee kinks, but I can see this all working swimmingly!

Chow for now!!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start up my laptop...

Chicken Scratch

(posted by weekend guest blogger Charlie Chicken...)

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...........

Huh? Wut?

Documentary??

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Beat it, popperotsi!!

It's Saturday mornin' - an I'm sleepin' in...

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Cluck fer now...

Broadway Revival - Jesus Christ Superstar

I've been glued to the TV screen lately whenever I see televised excerpts for the latest revival of the mega-hit musical Jesus Christ Superstar lately, which is running right now on Broadway.

Several of the cast members are in my audio interview archives, so if you'd like to give those a listen to (for free), simply click on the link below, and snoop around in the archives for my interview with Melissa O'Neil (November 2009) and cast members of Motown Gold (December 2010).

thatdanguy's Podcast

My brush with future broadway stars!

Chow for now...

'Tis a far, far better thing I do...

...than this post today - wow, this one is pretty lame.

Even by my standards...

Chow for now!

The Hills Are Alive...

You'd think I was going to post something about the sound of music, wouldn't you?

I don't think this post is even going to be about hills, for that matter - the popular lyric just popped into my head when I started to blog, so I went with it.

I could talk about pills - which keep me alive. My daily intake of diabetes meds...

Unlikely...

What I will I have to do is scroll back into my archives once I do post this - I got a comment yesterday from a reader to "What Does Chihuahua Mean" - my enduring top post here in this blog space.

Not that it's a particularly brilliant bit of electronic scribbling - it's just an indication that someone is clicking through, and for some reason that one stays as the lead option.

No hills, no music...

False advertising!!

Chow for now...

LA Kings!

Well, well, well...

Good on you, L.A. Kings - congrats on your win, and congrats to head coach Sutter who finally found some players with fire in their belly. Validation...

Hey, isn't that the two # 11's hugging each other in the traditional post-game skate-by handshakes?

Mon dieu!!

Chow for now!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

Once again, we find ourselves amending our television viewing habits here in the Such Is Life household.  Some decisions by choice, others by necessity...

A couple of former fav shows we have recently dropped are Gene Simmons Family Jewels, and Storage Wars. Jewels had been a terrific show for many seasons, but in what we suspect is a bid recently to curry ratings, that show has become a poor man's Dr. Phil. And Dr. Phil has long been a poor man's Maury Povich. I don't need to know WHO the hell the baby's daddy is...

As for Storage Wars...well, we never even used to watch that show, until family members raved about it. I was then trapped by a marathon of episodes on a return flight from somewhere for my day job. Had to admit, I was hooked.

However, after what felt like a two-year break between last season and this recently launched new one, I lost interest again.

To be fair, in an effort to penalize our cable provider, we are about to slash our package dramatically, just for shiggles. We expect to switch away completely in a few days anyhow, but without a contract, we have been calling every few days to tinker with our plan.

Our latest amendment will be to drop many of the crappy channels that we never watch, but pay dearly for.

Soon, our new provider will give us (as part of an incentive) either a laptop or a tablet - I know they aren't actually giving us anything, we will eventually pay just as dearly as we did to the scoundrels we used to subscribe to.

But it won't be going to the scoundrels anymore...

Chow for now!