Author: Chas.

eBay Excitement

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Duran Duran Into the Arena Board Game

Remember when I mentioned winning an eBay auction while stuck in traffic on the way to Charleston, SC? Well, here it is … Duran Duran’s Into the Area Board Game (released in 1985 by Milton Bradley). As you can tell by the graphics, this was released to coincide with the Arena live album and the Arena (An Absurd Notion) concert video. One of the super cool things about the game is that it’s graphics were designed by Assorted iMaGes (who had been doing all the designs for Duran Duran releases at that point).

I didn’t even realize there was a Duran Duran board game until I ran across a mention of it about a year ago. Since then I have been trying to find a reasonably priced copy. And, thanks to eBay, I scored a copy for just a little over $40 shipped. YES! Now I just need to find some friends to play it with.

Duran Duran Video Album
I also won an auction for a VHS of the Duran Duran video album. It contains the first 11 Duran Duran videos and was released in 1983 on Beta video, CED videodisc, LaserDisc, VHD disc, and VHS. I rented this A LOT from one of the local video stores (of which I can’t remember the name) back in the day. It’s a bit of a bummer that this hasn’t made its way on to DVD. The Greatest DVD release from 2004 has all these videos but it’s not quite the same as all the videos are viewed one at a time with breaks between them. The Duran Duran release has the 11 videos cleverly edited together for a continuous viewing experience.

And with that, my week of Duran Duran concludes!

eBay Excitement

Disappointed Excitement

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Duran Duran Rio 2 CD Limited Edition
So … I was super excited to find a new/sealed copy of the out-of-print 2 CD limited edition of Duran Duran’s Rio. This version was released in 2009 and comes in a “canvas” textured hard case with a 52 booklet containing notes and lots of photos of the boys in their 80’s hotness.

But … I was not so super excited to discover that, somewhere along the line, a huge new UPC sticker had been put over the one printed on the back of the hard case. Needless to say, this sticker is STUCK on there with no hopes of removal. Yeah, I know it’s a first world problem … but it’s messes with my OCD and need for pristine packaging!

Sticker Fuckery!!!
Grrrrrr. [Insert lots of swear words here.]

Disappointed Excitement

Anniversary!

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Star Wars 40th Anniversary
The 40th anniversary of the Star Wars this week is a bittersweet thing for me. Sweet because of growing up with the original Star Wars movies. Bitter because George Lucas is an fucking egomaniac that severely damaged his own creation. I won’t get started on a full on anti-Lucas rant as that could last for days. Suffice it to say that I have a love/hate relationship with Lucas’ creation. I wish it were all love. Here’s to hoping that Disney will pull off a DVD/Blu-ray release of the theatrical versions of the original trilogy. And here’s to hoping that we won’t have to wait until the 50th anniversary for it as my LaserDiscs need to be put to bed.

Anniversary!

Twin Peaks: The Return

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Twin Peaks: The ReturnIt’s been fun watching the internet meltdown this week over Twin Peaks: The Return. A lot of people seemed to be expecting a nostalgic return to the Pacific Northwest and not the full on David Lynch madhouse mind fuck that is Parts 1-3 (Part 4 settles down somewhat). I was expecting this … it is Lynch after all! I am firmly on board to see where the next 14 parts take us. Kudos to Showtime for being willing to let Lynch (and Mark Frost) do their own freaky thing.

Twin Peaks: The Return

Low Country Weekend

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The boyfriend has been on an internship in Charleston, SC for the past year. This past weekend was one of the few remain trips that I will make down to the low country before he moves back here to the mountains and starts his first post-doctoral job. Thankfully he has not (yet) insisted that I call him “Doctor.”

Charleston Weekend Highlights:
– Won an eBay auction while stuck in Columbia, SC traffic. Smartphones really are the best (and more on that eBay auction later)!
– Impromptu Friday Night Karaoke led to me singing “Call Me” (Blondie) and “Rock and Roll Band” (Boston). I won an inflatable guitar because the Boston song was deemed “air guitar” worthy.
– Saturday was a lazy day with lunch at Wasabi and a viewing of Alien: Covenant. The movie was about what I expected it to be (slightly lackluster but gorgeously filmed).
– I bought Goslings Black Seal Rum and Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer so I can make Dark ‘N Stormy drinks. Yum!
– Walked on the beach at Isle of Palms with David and Bowser (which was fun). I got four blisters for my feet (which was not fun).

Here’s me with a wet and sandy Bowser after the beach walk …
Chas. and Bowser

Low Country Weekend

Political Friday

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I had not realized how much George W. Bush bashing I did until looking back over the archives.

Will there be Trump bashing? Maybe … and maybe not. He’s such an easy target because of the sheer amount of stupid things he says and does. Now he’s off on his first foreign trip and is set to give a speech about Islam in Saudi Arabia. Based on just about every speech he has ever given, you have to wonder … what could possibly go wrong? And then there is the “witch hunt.” He’s says, “No politician in history … has been treated worse or more unfairly.” Honestly, if Trump has done nothing wrong, he should just let them investigate and quit whining about it. He certainly “doth protest too much.” It would look a lot better if he didn’t always take the bait and act like a spoiled child.

Okay. Enough political ranting.

I will leave you for the weekend with this meme …
Politics

Political Friday

Such Excitement!

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“What’s been happening?” you may ask. It was a pretty lazy weekend!

FRIDAY NIGHT:
Hung out with Shortlegs and gossiped a little and talked about more adult things (jobs, homeownership, home buying). I think I miss my 20’s when it was not so “adult” and was more about where and when I was going to get drunk again.

SATURDAY:
PT and I walked around the lake instead of hiking as the weather was pretty gross. I dropped into Best Buy and picked up the Bob’s Burger’s Music Album on CD. I would love to have the deluxe vinyl edition but I can’t really justify spending that much money. Then I napped all afternoon and ordered cheap and sleazy Pizza Hunt for dinner. Viva la Cheap and Sleazy!

SUNDAY:
Did a little bit of work during the day and also binge-watched the first season of Sense8. The show is pretty good and has a cast that is waaaaay too hot. Pictured below is that handsome German actor, Max Riemelt (shirtless, of course). He is in the show. Hubba!

Max Riemelt

And now another work week is underway …

Such Excitement!

Meanwhile …

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Pet Shop Boys Reissues/Further Listening
The announcement of the long-awaited new series of Catalogue reissues, including the track-listings of Further Listening bonus albums, has been delayed for a few weeks while a few minor copyright issues are being resolved. We now expect to make a full announcement later this month. Watch this space!

Stupid excited that we are finally getting more re-issues from the Pet Shop Boys.

Meanwhile …

Updating Update

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I do realize that with the blog break (i.e. I was lazy and let Instagram take over) there are a lot of events that got missed. I do hope to post some about the theater stuff I have worked on over that time (and going back to 2012) … especially since it’s been a big part of my life for a while.

If my memory is spitting out the right information, I haven’t really posted at all about (or very little about):
The Light in the Piazza (Director, 2012)
Avenue Q (Director, 2013)
Other Desert Cities (Director, 2014)
Urinetown: The Musical (Director, 2014)
Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike (Director, 2016)
*****
Death and the Maiden (Actor, 2015)
Company (Actor, 2015)
The Fox on the Fairway (Actor, 2015)
Twelve Angry Men (Actor, 2016)
Into the Woods (Actor, 2016)
God of Carnage (Actor, 2017)

Sheesh. That’s 11 shows in five years.

Updating Update