A little "Tales of Hoffmann" Anyone?

Cecilia and classmate at the NBHS Gifted Showcase singing an excerpt from the Offenbach opera. And to think my younger daughter/videographer makes fun of MY camera work!?! You might be better off listening with your eyes closed: less likely to get seasick.

To quote the duet "Live and Let Live" from Cole Porter's Can-Can:

I like Offenbach / I do not

So what! / So what?

So what!

"Ava Gardner: Touches of Venus" reviewed today...

...in the Washington Times!

The truth about my Vietnam War Era service

Given what has recently been revealed about Connecticut senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal's Vietnam War experience, I figure it was about time to come clean about my own. Despite what some may have written about my extensive and valorous stint as a soldier, I now must admit that, having been too young to cook or shave (much less enlist), I spent most of the war in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a Catholic elementary school.

Boy, it feels good to get that off my chest.

I have been a parent for 14+ years...

...and, if you add separately the second daughter, a total of 24+ years, and today I went to my very first sports competition that actually involved one of them, "The Hershey Track Competition" in New Britain.

Representing her elementary school, the younger daughter ran the girls' 200m. She didn't win, but she ran a fine race (steady and not petering out like some). The fact that she is just coming to the end of her 10th year and she was racing against 11- and 12-year-olds, some of whom seemed to have legs that reached up to her shoulders (!), didn't deter her.

I'm very proud of her and fairly certain that, if I had driven my car that far that quickly, I would've been tired.

Ava Gardner: Touches of Venus (Entasis Press) Amazon.com Sales Rank

5/17/10 301,778

It's May 17th, and your Cincinnati Reds...

...are sitting atop the standings of the Central Division of the National League.

Man, the summer's looking up!

I'm saddened by the cancellation of one of the great television series...

Law and Order (and I mean the original one not spin-offs like SUV, CI, etc...) by NBC.

However, given that, in the midst of our watching the most recent new episode this past Monday evening, both my wife and I commented on the number of actors they were re-using from the past (and NOT in recurrent roles).

We turned to each other and asked: "Are there really that few working actors in NYC that the producers need to re-use the guy from Perfect Strangers yet again?" Perhaps those working on the series are simply tired.

Looking back, the questions arise:

Were they always great shows? No.

Did some casts work much better than others? Yes.

Will I miss new episodes nonetheless? Definitely.

Well, we'll always have re-runs!

PS: If the original idea was to have a show that could be syndicated in two half-hour blocks (the first 30 minutes on the police investgation and then the next 30 minutes on the prosecution of the suspects), the show really should have been called "Order and Law."