Back With A Vengeance

So...the show I'm directing in Darien opened this weekend. We had about 100 people in the audience over the three shows...but they LOVED it. I have an AMAZING cast that has done an incredible job with this very complex piece. If you're in the area between now and May 21, I highly recommend coming to see Book of Days by Lanford Wilson. Call 655-5414 for tickets.

Okay...with the shameless self-plug out of the way...

Phase One of the house reconstruction project is almost complete. In fact, the granite guys are here as I type putting in the master bathroom countertops. Monday the plumber returns to finish up stuff. Tuesday the tile guys do their final work. Then we just need to paint the room and get the shower door installed.

Meanwhile, Phase Two begins this week...with a new contractor who will be getting his stuff done before anyone arrives in June. At the same time we're repaving and leveling our driveway cause...well...it needs it...that too will be done before anyone arrives.

Have I mentioned that I now cry whenever I watch the Tom Hanks comedy The Money Pit. It's just not funny anymore after having lived through it.

But...there are things that still make me laugh...

Family Guy has returned from the graveyard of cancelled shows because of the successful reruns on Cartoon Network and the DVD sales of the first 3 seasons. Season 4 pretty much picked up where the show had left off over 3 years ago with Peter explaining that the show's been cancelled by FOX to make room for better shows. He then goes on to list these better shows and rattles off the names of every show that FOX has aired and cancelled since Family Guy left the air in February 2002. A great way to usher in new episodes. The show hasn't lost its sense of humor either. The season premiere featured Lois & Peter going on a second honeymoon and leaving "the kids" in the capable hands of Brian and Stewie. Pop culture references abound from Hitchcock films to The Passion of the Christ and all of them are funny. Can't wait to see this week's episode.

But wait...Family Guy isn't just a TV series anymore. They've got their own line of action figures (Death comes with his dog...the next series features Mayor Adam West and The Pope), a book (Stewie's Guide To World Domination) and a CD...Family Guy Live In Las Vegas. While I'd have preferred a CD containing some of the songs from the TV series, this is an amazingly funny substitute. Imagine a Rat Pack show full of fart jokes and F bombs and you'll get a pretty good idea of the material. Unchained from the shackles of Network TV Standards and Practices it's certainly not for kids. There is a clean version available...but why bother...

Done entirely in front of a "live" audience, after a funny intro by TV reporters Tom Tucker & Diane Simmons we get the whole Griffin family singing an extended version of the show's theme song. There's then a duet between Stewie and his babysitter Haylie Duff (Hillary's sister) entitled "Babysitting Is A Bum Deal". Brian then serenades us with "Dear Booze" before Patti LuPone joins Glen Quagmire for "The Q Man Loves Nobody" (yes...it's really Patti LuPone). And then we get the "showstopper" of the album. This song has not only been rattling around my head for over a week because it's so catchy, but it's been rattling around Natasha's head as well...and she's scared it may somehow become the first song Malcolm ever sings (we'll do our best to make sure that doesn't happen). "All Cartoons Are F----- D----" gives each of the family members (except Meg) and guest star Jason Alexander a chance to tell a story about a run in they had with other famous cartoon stars that paints them in a different light (we won't repeat what McGruff the Crime Dog does after 5pm when he's off duty). Brian then gives us "The Last Time I Saw Paris" before Peter & Lois sing a rather romantic yet raunchy duet called "But Then I Met You". Stewie & Brian then treat us to a medley of TV show theme songs (mostly from the 1980s). Chris explains how "Puberty's Gonna Get Me" and then Peter & Lois return for another romantic yet raunchy duet called "But I'm Yours". Brian returns again for a solo called "Slightly Out Of Tune" and then Herbert, the weird old man, sings "One Boy" (giving it the most perverted twist ever). The entire family plus Cleveland, Quagmire and Mayor Adam West finish off with "Quahog Holiday" (another catchy number).

The album's a hoot for the most part (Brian's solos are a bit blah...and Herbert's number is just creepy). There's plenty of "banter" between songs to keep things entertaining. Maybe the next album will be a collection of songs from the show.

Well...that's all for today. We'll be back sooner rather than later as things continue to calm down and settle...before everything changes again on June 19 (give or take a week or two).

Be seeing you.