Hey... Sorry for the delay, but we had a long day in Delhi and I wasn't realy up to going back to the basement internet cafe near the hotel there, and didn't realize there was a free business center in the hotel in Varanasi.... I'm doing this from memory, so if it'll be an overview, and if I miss something, i'll come back to it when I can.... First thing in Delhi was a visit to Humayan's tomb. It was builtfor the 2nd Mughal emperor by his wife. it was originally intened to hold only him, but now holds 100 or so bodies. I walked around it, while Haviva walked up the stairs to the roof. After that we went to the Iqtub (okay, that's the wrong spelling) minaret which is really tall, and surrounded by ... read more

greetings from delhi, where everything seems to smell like cigarette smoke. flight was long, but since i had an aisle seat, not too unbearable. landed a bit early, and customs went fine, but then we had to wait for our luggage. thankfully, my luggage is distinctive, so it was easy to spot. about an hour's drive to the hotel, and we are not wandering from here, as the area around the hotel does not look like where 2 tourists should be wandering. i thought we had tomorrow morning free, but apparently we're meeting our guide at 11 am. security here is no joke, they checked the car engine when we came through the gates. and yeah, it's as crowded here as i was warned. i've been up for most of the past 24 hours, so gonna ... read more

At intermission of this musical biography of Charlie Chaplin, I turned to my sister and said "Tell me when the movies become color." One of the creative conceits of this show is that for the bulk of the time, the costumes and sets are shades of gray. Even the skin-tones of the actors are muted. To me, this effect got a bit tiring to look after a while; downright annoying during a scene incorporating Russian and US flags. Movies were shot in black and white (and silence) because of technical constraints not creative ones. And Charlie Chaplin might have worked in black and white, but his life was very colorful. Several marriages, moves from studio to studio, a partnership with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and others that gave us United Artists Studios (an event left out ... read more

well, first off, apologies to loyal readers. i didn't realize how far behind in reviews i had fallen. so this is going to be another mini-review session. Streetcar Named Desire- the "hook" of this production was that it was an "African American cast". To me, the color of the cast doesn't matter and didn't make a difference to the story. What did make a difference was that for some reason, this play, which I've always thought of as a drama, if not an all out tragedy, seemed to be hitting the audience as a comedy. Which made the rape scene in the second act come as an even bigger surprise to the audience than might usually be. I don't enjoy stories about women who stay with abusers, so in the end I was left unsatisfied by ... read more

Okay, I admit it, it's me. There must be something wrong with me. I don't get why Death of a Salesman is such a classic. Why it is studied in colleges. Why it is revived every 15 years or so. And most importantly, why I should care about any of these characters. Now please understand, I'm not looking for explanations, so please don't answer this with comments on how/why this play is so wonderful. I admit that the lack is in me. I did not enjoy a play where most of the time is spent watching people who lie to each other and to themselves. Mostly in support of a central character who is the biggest liar of all. Now, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays that liar quite well. Even as he contradicts himself, his conviction never ... read more