The abridged rules of movies

My wife and I are sans children for the week (our older daughter is in Europe for a couple more days, and the younger one spent the week with my parents), so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to treat ourselves to an evening out. Unfortunately, in all the fuss and bustle of the last few weeks, there really wasn't any time to make any plans. So, I wasn't terribly hopeful of finding something when I went looking to see what was available. I was pleasantly surprised so find that seats were still available for Completely Hollywood (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company at the Kennedy Center. The reviews for the show were positive, so I bought the tickets and last night we enjoyed a nice dinner out and made our way into the city.

My wife was concerned that much of the humor of the show would go over her head, as she doesn't watch nearly as many movies as I do. As it turned out, this wasn't a problem. While the show is full of references to a long list of movies (197, in fact, crammed into a 100 minute show!), knowing the movies is not essential to the fun. If you've never heard of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, they specialize in condensing works into antic anthologies (beginning with their first show: "The Complete Works of Wm. Shakespeare (abridged)"). The stage is bare, and the three man cast is highly creative in bringing the essence of Hollywood to the stage. The laughter continued almost non-stop for the entire show. If laughter is the best medicine, then I should be healthy for the rest of the year. :o)

If you have the opportunity to see this show (or any of their other shows, I suspect), be sure you take advantage of it. I think you'll be glad you did.

(no subject)

I'm watching the local news (instead of getting the sleep I know I need...), and there was piece about the opening of Donald Trump's newest golf course: the Trump National Golf Club, Washington, DC. This course used to be called the Lowes Island Golf Club and is located out in Loudoun County, in a subdivision that was under construction when I was still an active volunteer with the Sterling Rescue Squad. I remember visiting this golf course back when it was brand new, driving an ambulance along the golf cart trails as we tried to evaluate our access to the course if we were dispatched for a call there. I guess the original golf club was a victim of the economic downturn, which allowed Mr. Trump to acquire the property and invest in it. It sounds like he's trying to attract a PGA tournament to the course...it will be interesting to see if he can be successful.