Friday, March 12, 2010

Now Playing @ The Temple for Performing Arts


"A salute to the Baby Boomer Generation, The Wonder Bread Years is a fast-paced, hilarious production that gracefully walks the line between stand-up and theater. Audiences across the country are enjoying a show that not only restores a much-needed sense of wonder, but leaves audiences laughing and savoring the past like never before."


If you're looking for a show that's going to have you laughing so hard your side hurts and you have tears in your eyes, this isn't the show for you. If your looking for a good way to spend 2 hours being entertained, while strolling down memory lane, then "The Wonder Bread Years" will do the trick.

It was apparent this show was for the baby boomers when I walked into the theatre and there were only a handful of people younger than my grandparents. And it was solidified when the star of our show (Pat Hazell, it's a one man show PS) made references to the manwhich jingle, clackers and wearing bread sacks; and while they went above my 22 year old head, the rest of the audience laughed knowingly.

BUT for the most part, the jokes were cross generational and I was able to laugh along, thinking of my own childhood experiences dealing with the kid who turned his eyelids inside out, recycled unisex halloween costumes, and dad's inability to babysit.

The description says the show gracefully walks the line between standup and theatre, but I would say it probably trips and falls more into the standup catagory. There's no real storyline, Hazell tended to follow the standup routine and skipped from topic to topic; ranging from childhood addictions to sugar to holidays. And he delivers it all in a conversational tone that made me feel like I was listening to someone tell a story, not watching a play.

What I enjoyed most about the show was it's ability to seemingly bring the audience together. Whether with his slideshows that featured ads from the 60's (well, I think it was the 60s.before my time anyway), the jokes that everyone got or just some comment he had. People knew what he was talking about, because they watched/played with or thought that exact same thing at some point in their life.

So overall, it was an enjoyable show. It wasn't best thing I've seen, but it wasn't the worst. I was entertained the whole time, laughed on ocassion and left happy.

So, if you're looking for something to do between now and March 21st and feel like taking a walk down memory lane, then I suggest taking a look at "The Wonder Bread Years."

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Take your sustainability and shove it, and I don't mean recycle it. I mean throw it away and let it rot in a landfill.

So, I support the whole going green movement as much as the next guy.

I recycle as best I can, I shut off the lights when I leave a room, WALK whenever possible, prefer paper over plastic and don't use bags from the grocery store whenever I can.

I believe that Global Warming is happening and that we could all work a little harder to "save the environment," but here's the deal. You can only push your sustainability agenda so far.

What do I mean?

Welllll, at SimpCo we have a handful of individuals who make manage to bring sustainability up EVERY chance they get and it's getting to the point where they make me want to burn styrofoam,use as MANY plastic sacks as I can and drive a hummer.

SGA heard over and over about this issue of "styrofoam cups in the grill and dining hall" and they're bad for the environment and bla bla bla. Everytime we heard this, we told them we'd look into it. We DID. We talked to the COLLEGE PRESIDENT about the issue, who told us he'd look into it as well and we let all of them know. But yet 2 days later we still get an e-mail sharing their concern as a result of reading the SGA minutes-which SAID we had brought it up to the president!!!

We're curently undergoing a change in the laundry facilities. SGA was informed of this decision and one of our little eco-warriors went off because the dryers weren't "energy star approved". WELL, turns out that's because energy stary dryers DO.NOT.EXIST!!

I do, I understand the importance of being green and doing those little things to help the environment. But that's exactly it. You have to pick your battles! I ASSURE you Simpson and SGA is doing what we can to help our school be green, but you have to remember it also means $$$ and time. And those aren't an endless resource either.

I give these eco-warriors KuDoS. I applaud them for being so passionate about an issue. I wish I could be more that way in an all honesty. And think more people could be. After all, it's the passionate that do change the world.......... However, I still have another suggestion.

Do more.

You come to us and say change the styrofoam cups, change the styrofoam cups, change the styrofoam cups but that's it. Do some leg work. RESEARCH, finds us facts and figures and numbers that show us why we should change, what it'll do for us and what the benifits really are. That's when the administration listens, trust me I know from experience!

And also, when you're in on SGA and in that meeting and you're pushing that Green agenda. Even if it is good for the school/environment/wildlife/whoever. The bigger question you need to remember, is this what your constituents want? DON'T FORGET, You're in that senator seat because of them. Yes, they've entrusted you with some responsibility that you'll know what needs talked about and you'll make the right choice. BUT you don't need to be pushing your own personal agenda everyweek, raising the same issue that we've heard the last 3 weeks. It's AnNoYiNg people and they're caring less and less.

So, yes. I agree. It's important to be green, it's important to do the little things to save the enviroment, but remember. We aren't captain planet, we can't canjoin 5 rings and make things happen. It takes time, money and people and these are some things that don't just come out of nowhere.