random bits

Guess-the-anonymous-poster update: One outstanding guess (paging aliza250), one where I had to be told (eclectic_1), all others identified. That was fun.

The stereotype is that smart people (including anyone whose job title implies serious analytical skills) don't get picked for juries, but I'm beginning to wonder. I've been called three times and picked twice, and our engineering director is currently away from work because he's on a jury. Do they just sometimes miss in the screening, or are the lawyers not really screening for this sort of thing after all?

A Texas judge has ordered that a person convicted of animal cruetly must post pictures of the animals she starved in her jail cell. Good for the judge! This is similar to the local story some months back of the hit-and-run driver who is required to carry a photo of the person he killed in his wallet during his probation. Such orders do no harm (it's hardly "cruel and unusual") and serve to put a human (or animal, in the one case) face on the damage done by these people. More, please. (And remember, we're talking about people convicted of criminal charges; I am not advocating haunting those who accidentally cause harm and don't try to hide it with such sentences.)

Do spammers really think that people still open messages with the subject line "URGENT"? Or that most of us think we even might know a sender named Brittany? Ah well; it doesn't fool the filters.

At my most recent physical my doctor called for a routine test that kicks in for women at age 40. (Am I being sufficiently delicate?) No surprises there; the surprise came when I called to schedule and the person said "oh, and no caffeine for two days before". After I moved from incoherent blubbering to actual words, I explained that this posed a difficulty and she relented. It turned out to be advice, not medical necessity. Don't scare me like that!

TV meme

Sure, why not -- it's short. ( Read more... )

Mary Stuart

On Sunday lorimelton and I went to see the play Mary Stuart, by Friedrich Schiller, at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. I probably wouldn't have gone to this show on my own (as evidenced by the fact that I didn't), but Lori had free tickets and an outing with her sounded like fun.

I'm glad I went. This was very well done in many ways, and even though I knew how it would end, I found myself being pulled into the tension and uncerainty. I imagine that anyone who doesn't know the history would be even more drawn in.

The set was generally sparse -- four benches at the corners of a square on a stone floor. The same set was Mary's prison or, with the addition of a throne (on rollers for easy moving), Elizabeth's throne room. (Also, for one scene, a garden.) There were three doors along the back wall.

The back wall was mirrored, and I wondered about the purpose of that at the beginning. The first time Elizabeth made an appearance they were put to good use, as she glided on in a heavily-jeweled gown that precisely lighted. In a later scene, the blocking was carefully done so that we saw Elizabeth reflected several times (in a scene in which she was, basically, arguing with herself). Nice effect. (The mirrors and doors were also used powerfully at the end of the show, but I don't want to spoil it.)

The O'Reilly theatre, where this was held, is three-quarter round, so they had to block so as to not exclude any part of the audience for too long. We were in the center section, but it looked to me like this worked; there was enough motion, and the accoustics were good enough, that I don't think there were any bad seats.

Someone reading this is almost certainly wondering how authentic the costumes were. Sorry; I couldn't see details from our seats (didn't bring opera glasses) and I don't really know a lot about Elizabethan costume anyway. In broad strokes it all looked right to me.

All of the actors seemed to be competent, and those playing Mary, Elizabeth, and Mary's nurse were very convincing. Mortimer and Leicester were pretty good, too.

The background music was mostly used appropriately; there were times when I thought it got in the way a little. Music was used to cover scene changes on a dark stage, and that worked well. The scene changes were very fast, because there were few moving parts.

The show runs through June 27. I don't know what tickets cost; you'd have to call PPT and ask. If you don't already know the history, and maybe even if you do, plan to read the one-page "the story thus far" description in the program and look at the family tree. It'll help.