Review - The Submission

A few years ago, I was reading applicants for a playwrights program and a gal submitted a play with an intriguing premise.  I definitely wanted to read more of that play.  When I read the synopsis of The Submission, now being performed at the Lucille Lortel by MCC, I thought, hmmm, that sounds a little like that play I read a few years ago with the intriguing premise.  I should check it out.  So…I checked it out.

It turns out, there weren’t many similarities.  I definitely liked that other play better.  This one, I just don’t know.  It’s certainly been given a slick production, attractively and perfectly cast, but I just don’t feel as if the play ultimately succeeds.  It’s like it keeps scratching at something but never really gets there.  There is some witty dialogue, but a lot of it seems overly precious and ‘sitcom-y’ to me.  Scenes go nowhere; it’s as if we’re seeing the same scene over and over.  Which I guess could be the point, since many scenes take place in various, anonymous Starbucks across the country.  But if that’s the point, structurally, we didn’t get all the way there.

The cast is nearly pitch perfect, even though I feel like they’re mainly playing mouthpieces instead of characters.  Jonathan Groff is physically adorable, and his charm goes a long way, but his character is so repugnant, I couldn’t get behind him at all.  Which sort of destroys the journey of the play.  Sigh.  Rutina Wesley as the actress who gets involved in a scheme of Groff’s is very strong, and she’s certainly more sympathetic, but the lapses in logic of what she says one minute to the next is very frustrating.  Will Rogers as the best friend is quite likable and good (even if he overdoes the slacker persona at first) and Eddie Kaye Thomas is fine as the non-theater boyfriend of Groff’s.

I’ve been trying really hard to avoid discussing the plot in specifics, because spoilers will abound no matter what I say.  I guess if you read other reviews, you can figure out exactly where this play is going to go.  It’s run time is about 100 minutes long, but as the same scene kept unfolding time after time after time, I started to just want it to be over, though I’ll admit to my pulse quickening a bit during the girl’s final monologue (does this mean I WAS invested and just didn’t know it?) and I did start to cry when the hate speech really flew in the penultimate scene.  Perhaps I’m just an overly sensitive wuss, but there are some words that make me cry.  Too bad this scene has been blocked so that I couldn’t see anyone’s face.  All I could notice was my discomfort and horror since I couldn’t see anyone else’s on stage.  Bad directing choice.

I’ll admit to chuckling with rueful understanding at some of the one-liners about how hard it is to get a play produced in America, and I did laugh out loud at one line near the end (it referenced Bjork and that swan).  I will also admit to feeling a bit incredulous that the script they’re describing throughout this play would get chosen to be done at Humana (this is a BIG plot point).  Hello, I’ve seen plays at Humana.  THAT play would never get done there.  At least not with the most recent artistic leadership.  But I guess most of the audience wouldn’t realize that.  I'm also wondering what it means that two white men have recently written plays that feature characters discussing their belief that white men are now the most discriminated against minority.  I honestly don't know what it means, if anything...

I don’t know.  I guess I was just really frustrated.  Maybe I went in with my expectations too high—this play was chosen as the first (and only?) Laurents-Hatcher Award winner, and since Arthur was so crazy picky, I guess I figured this script would be the be-all, end-all of American theater.  It does raise some interesting points here and there, but it mainly just lays there.  For me, anyway.  There were others in the audience who were completely digging it.  So…there it is.  A completely unhelpful review.  Sorry.  J

Reviews and a little extra

Hi, all!  I saw two musicals last week.  Two musicals that probably run the spectrum of good vs evil, agony and ecstasy, sublime and ridiculous.  Have you guessed?  Yes, I saw Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and Follies.  J

A dear grad school chum sent me an e-mail telling me he had Tony tickets to Spider-Man and would I be interested?  Heck, yeah, I’m interested!  Most of the buzz and negative press have died down, so I figured we could just go, watch the show, and hopefully have a really fun time.  Well, I’m here to tell you THAT didn’t happen.  I did not have a really fun time (though it’s always fun to spend time with my grad school chum).  I just kept wondering how such a loud, expensive show could be so painfully dull.

Simply, the book is sorta not good; the score has some nice melody here and there, but it all starts to sound like one long B side of a U2 single after awhile; who knows if the lyrics were any good since I couldn’t understand one bloody word they were saying/singing; the acting was committed and mostly well-done (there’s a special place in heaven for all the hard work Patrick Page does); and some of the stagecraft was spectacular.  I think I could tell the stuff of Julie Taymor’s that remained, because it was the most visually striking.  When Arachne first appears, and her minions are singing a very dissonant melody while swinging out into the audience on peach-colored ribbons and sort of making a web, the vision is gorgeous.  Arachne herself has a nice quality to her singing voice, but I’m telling you, putting lyrics across is not her cup of tea.  NO CLUE what she was saying.  Another Arachne scene that is gorgeous is when she comes to Peter Parker in a dream and she levitates towards him and he levitates up to her and they sing yet another unintelligible song while seemingly floating together (this was, I think, the only instance where the rigging was not apparent).  The scene with Peter and his visions of dozens of Spidermen, with moving mirrored panels, was also stunning, as was the bit where the Chrysler Building sort of came up out of the stage floor and we got the perspective as if we were looking down from the top.  That was pretty cool, I have to admit.

The flying was basically fun, though the huge rigging the actors wore was a bit off-putting at first.  I didn’t really enjoy, though, the climactic fight scene which was done right over our heads.  The first few seconds I thought, “Oh, that’s cool, they’re flying right over me.”  Then I thought, “Wait, are they just going to stay hanging over me while they’re fighting,” and then I started thinking, “Oh my god, I’m so uncomfortable, please make it stop!!”  It just creeped me out the longer it went.

I guess I could trash the show some more, but it doesn’t really matter.  The rest of the sold-out audience seemed to enjoy it and flew to their feet at the end.  I certainly see where all the money went, but unfortunately, it didn’t go into the story.  I think the best place for this production to run is at Universal Studios theme park.  It just doesn’t seem like a Broadway musical to me.  But, then again, I can be a snob.  J

I bought my Follies ticket quite a while ago, and I was so excited the wonderful day had finally arrived!  After having a fun dinner with some pals (well, they had dinner, I had tea, you know my rule…), we wandered over to the Marquis to settle in for a marvelous show.  Unfortunately, I did not have a marvelous time.  NOT because of the show, but because of my seat neighbor.  God love him, he took up all my personal space and made me very physically uncomfortable, and his infrared hearing device was turned up so loudly, all I could hear was the delayed dialogue and music coming from his device and not from the stage.  I tried plugging up my right ear to drown it out and listen to the show with my left ear, but it just didn’t work.  I was miserable in the extreme through the first act and just couldn’t concentrate enough to be engaged.  I found individual moments lovely, Jayne Houdyshell kicked a** and took no prisoners with “Broadway Baby” and Mary Beth Piel was terrific as Solange, when I could hear them without the interference from the guy next to me, but I just kept wishing I could move.

I asked the house manager to move me for the second act, and he very kindly let me sit in a box on the upper right side of the house.  Even though the box smelled overwhelmingly of mold, it was much better to be able to hear what was going on, while it was going on, and not filtered through a hearing device.  Plus, I was much closer to the beauty that was Bernadette Peters’ performance.  She’s so specific and so real, it’s heartbreaking.  For the first time ever, I thought to myself, she looks old.  And I know it was the acting and not the actress, who is ever youthful.   She’s really wonderful in the role.

Jan Maxwell is, of course, sublime.  Stunning, smart, icy, vulnerable—she’s got it all.  And she broke my heart when ‘looking’ at her younger self and realizing she had sold herself short and didn’t need to change so much for Ben.  Ron Raines sang magnificently, but could’ve mined a few more layers as Ben.  I’ve never really taken to Danny Burstein before, but I really got into his performance as Buddy.  Plus, he and the kid playing Young Buddy were so symbiotic, it was great.  All of the performers were terrific.  Terri White and “Who’s That Woman” rocked the house.  “One More Kiss” was stunning.  The gals playing the spectral showgirls were really walking a tightrope of stealing focus or phoning it in, and they played just the right feel throughout.

I did feel that the direction was a bit leisurely for my taste—although I enjoyed seeing such good actors really dig into and get their hands dirty during the scenework, I thought some of it took a little too long and slowed the inevitable pace that I was looking for.  The show didn’t ‘drive’ enough for me, and I think I place that at the director’s feet.  But I also enjoyed many directorial choices.

I just feel as if I didn’t really ‘see’ the show because of all the problems I had as an audience member.  I’m guessing I’m just going to have to get a night job and buy another bloody ticket.  Oh well.  Hearing that show more than once is no hardship, believe you me.   

I also saw the Steppenwolf production of Clybourne Park when I was in Chicago last week.  I wish I had seen the Playwrights Horizons production last year, but I’m happy to hear the show may come back to New York in the spring.  I very much enjoyed the production at Steppenwolf and thought the play was quite thought-provoking and funny.  I’ll admit that my expectations were probably sky high and maybe the play didn’t fulfill them, but I'm pretty sure that’s my problem and not the play’s.  The gent playing the father in the first act was fantastic, but the entire acting ensemble was very good.  If the performances were a little too stylized for my tastes, I think it’s inherent in the play, since the NY Times review mentioned this quality in the PH production as well.  And I think I quibble with the necessity of the coda, but again that’s probably me and not the play.  But I had a great time seeing the show with some friends—we had a lively discussion about it all the way back to Evanston, which is always fun fun fun!

The little extra:  yesterday was the Broadway Flea Market.  We've been manning a table at the Flea Market for the last six years (well, we skipped last year due to circumstances beyond anyone's control)--it's always a lot of fun and we clean out the closets, too.  We have some regulars who stop by every year to see which writer is signing autographs and to pick up copies of our magazine.  I was afraid it was going to rain all day, but, thankfully, the weather cooperated and it was a humid, long, tiring, but very fun day.  Our table doesn't generally make a lot of money, since we're mainly selling things for $1 or $5, but we did pretty well considering.  We made our third highest total, so...yay!  I've just got to convince more writers to join us--they're where the money is!  Enjoy the photos.

Race for the Cure

So...after all the mishegas this year, my gal pals and I decided quite a while ago that we'd be doing the Race for the Cure this year.  And then my sister decided she wanted to fly in.  And a wonderful guy pal decided to join us.  So what started as a low-key, low-ball fundraising effort turned into an amazingly fabulous day where we raised four times more than our goal!  How great is that?!?!


I was so happy that this Race was in the fall, and after my exchange surgery.  I had a really difficult time at the AIDS Walk last May with the humidity and the TEs, so I didn't finish.  I was very disappointed, because it was the first time in maybe fourteen years that I didn't finish the walk.  For this race, the weather was beautiful, with little to no humidity, and I had no stupid TEs to bother me.  Of course, this is a 5K instead of a 10K, but it was still much more manageable, not just because it was shorter in length.


One of my gal pals got a gig outside of town, so she couldn't join us and we missed her terribly.  But two other dear ones decided to join in and we all had a fantastic time.  It all seemed jollier and less crazy than the AIDS Walk for some reason.  The lines weren't as long, even though there seemed to be thousands of people walking, and there was more water along the route, which I appreciated.


My sister and I checked in, to pick up our bibs and t-shirts.  When I signed up, I said that I was a survivor, but didn't want to be designated as such.  My sister thought that was dumb.  Even though I honestly feel like I didn't go through as much agony as most women endure, my sister was right that I was fortunate not to have to deal with all that stuff, but that didn't make my journey any less difficult.  She was right, as always.  So I picked up my survivor's t-shirt, cap and bib.


After posting a lot of photos on Facebook, my sister reminded me that I was probably 'outing' myself.  Oops.  I hadn't thought of that.  Out of my maybe 300 Facebook friends, around 20 know about what I've gone through this past year.  I worried that I would start getting a ton of messages from people, but I don't think anyone even noticed from my photos.  Which is absolutely fine with me.  I've never wanted my life to become just about DCIS and fake boobs.  Which is sometimes what happens--it becomes all anyone wants to talk about or hear about.  I'd rather it be my choice when and where to chat it up.


My guy pal decided to run the Race, since he's been running regularly since the summer, so he got started first.  Then, after hearing from all the 'special guests,' we walkers got underway!  My sister got to high-five Senator Schumer when we started the race!  That was funny--he's not even her senator!  But then I got a nice smile and wink from Maurice Dubois.  It was a cute warm moment.  He is a little on the adorable side.


Again, the race didn't feel as crowded or chaotic as the AIDS Walk, which was very pleasant.  We used a nice leisurely pace, looked at the scenery, laughed a lot, enjoyed each other's company, and talked about all the pink stuff we should get for next year.  :)


My feet were pretty tired by the end (I haven't been working out like I should, and I didn't stretch my feet with my resistance bands, even though I should have), but the 5K went by pretty quickly.  Afterwards, I was disappointed that we couldn't find the post-race snacks, but that was ok.  We looked at the swag, picked up some free socks and tote bags, and had a great photo taken of our group.  All in all, it was a fantastic day.  I felt like it was a celebration of getting through all the crap, and sharing that celebration with the people I love best.  It made for a terrific Sunday.  I already can't wait to do it again next year.  I think my sister will bring my nephew, and my goddaughters may walk too.  Plus, there are other goals for next year:  I saw that the team that raised the most money raised over $400,000!  I wonder if we can raise 100 times more next year!  Ha!  Also next year--more pink!  :)

A week in Evanston

So much has been going on, I haven't had time to post!  I'm sure everyone is just sitting on the edge of their seat, wondering what's happening on the mystery tour...lol

Anyway, I recently spent a week in Evanston for work.  It was actually a lovely trip, even though I didn't enjoy flying out there on September 11.  We all got to the airport really early, thinking there would be extra security on the tenth anniversary, but there wasn't.  I did have to have the new full-body-scan thing, though.  I don't know if it was because of the new anatomical features or if I was chosen randomly.  But I feel like I should send a condolence card to the poor person who had to look at that scan.  The trip went quite smoothly, but I will admit to nearly having a panic attack and starting to cry when the cab was leaving O'Hare and driving to Evanston--planes seemed to be flying right toward the cab so they could land at O'Hare.  It was freaky and my least favorite part of the trip.

The work stuff went fine--the writers were nice to work with, our teachers were generous and fun.  There were definitely a lot of laughs during the week.  I'll just focus on stuff I did during our free time.  Oh, and stuff I ate.  Who knew there were so many great restaurants in Evanston?  I sure didn't.

Our first night in town, we ate at the restaurant in our hotel, Quince.  It was a lovely, quiet restaurant, with a limited menu, which isn't a problem for me.  I had studied the menu before I left New York, so I could have an idea of which vaguely vegan thing I could get.  The menu online mentioned a vegetable pasta, so I thought that would be a good choice.

We decided to share some appetizers at the table--a lovely heirloom tomato napolean, with an amazingly delicious tomato juice reduction/sauce.  The taste was so purely tomato, just like eating summer.  Our other appetizer was a stuffed squash blossom, topped with a beautiful pistachio foam.  Both dishes were incredibly delicious, along with being gorgeously plated.

They had quite a few delicious sounding entrees, but not the English pea tortellini I had read about on the website.  As I sat there and tried to decide if I wanted to go with a fish, our server came over and told us about the specials, which included a sweet corn tortellini.  Oh my.  I'm all over that.  I ordered that, and my friends got fish dishes.  May I say that sweet corn tortellini was one of the best meals I have ever eaten?  It was amazing.  It was beautiful, delicious, with lots of textures and depths of flavor.  I seriously could've continued eating it all evening.  It had an English pea foam on top, along with some roasted cherry tomatoes and a Parmesan tuile.  Those tomatoes were incredible--every time I bit into one, it was like getting a burst of tomato-y sunshine-y candy in my mouth.  I can't really describe how good they were.  And they went beautifully with the corn tortellini--the bright burst of acidity went well with the sweet softness of the corn and pasta.  I highly recommend you try this dish if you ever make it to Quince.   Here's a photo, along with a zoom shot for emphasis:

After such a delicious meal, I figured it would be hard to do much better, food-wise, the rest of the week.  But most of the restaurants did pretty well, even with such a high bar.

Our fearless leader learned a lot from last year's trip and built some breaks into the schedule this year.  On Tuesday, we had the whole morning to ourselves, which was awesome.  I walked over to Dawes House, which is where the Evanston Historical Society is housed.  It's a lovely house, which is unfortunately closed on Tuesdays.  But it was a very pleasant walk and there's a beach nearby.  I got lots of pretty photos during my morning stroll:

Tuesday night, we had a nice group dinner at Gio restaurant, an Italian restaurant very near our hotel.  We went there last year and had such a good time, we decided to return.  After the public panel, I called the restaurant and asked if I sent a group of ten over RIGHT NOW, could we all get served?  (they were closing in about 45 minutes)  The manager said sure, come on over.  When we got there, there was a nice table set up for us, in the middle of the restaurant.  They also stayed open an extra half hour or so, so our whole group could get dinner.  We appreciated their generosity.  Our server was also lovely.  I had the penne pasta, with roasted vegetables.  It was delicious.  If you find yourself in Evanston, head over to Gio.  The people are nice and the food is tasty.  And they have a nice wine list.  Thumbs up.

Wednesday, we had the afternoon off.  I went to have a late lunch at a Thai noodle restaurant, since I was seeing a show at Steppenwolf that night (and you all know I don't eat before going to the theater--maybe I should do a post on all my stupid superstitions and quirks!!).  The udon noodle soup was quite tasty and much too much.  I saved it and finished it off after we got back from Steppenwolf.            

Thursday, we had dinner at a steakhouse, which was my most disppointing meal of the week.  I should've gone with my gut instinct and gotten the crab cakes, but I went with the scallops instead.  They were rubbery, and the accompanying butternut squash were limp and thinly filled.  I got the sauce on the side, so maybe that affected the preparation, but still.  

Friday, we went into Chicago to check out hotels for a future conference.  One of the hotels offered us lunch, so we could see what kind of food they provide.  I choose this hotel so I can have this salad repeatedly:

This was a delicious watermelon salad, with a salty sheep's milk cheese, arugula, frisee and an amazing port wine reduction.  Oh man.  I wish I had that salad RIGHT NOW.    

  

OK, so now I'm having issues with attaching photos.  Perhaps someone up there is telling me I add too many photos.  I'll just close with some photos of the beautiful churches around Evanston.  I love me a good church.

Oh, and a picture of the fire trucks from the night we had to evacuate the hotel (false alarm).  Sigh...

Goodbye, summer Fridays! I'll miss you!!

So, last week was the last of the summer Fridays.  Sigh.  I will miss them so.  I think we should have them all year--it's summer somewhere, right??

Anyway, for my last museum day, I decided to go up to The Cloisters.  I can't believe I have never been there before, but so be it.  I didn't feel all that well, but I thought, it's a beautiful day...go for it!

After a shorter-than-I-imagined subway ride up to Fort Tryon Park, the bus was just pulling up to the bus stop outside the subway station, so I hopped on.  Even though it's only one stop on the bus, it's sort of a long trek to the Cloisters entrance, so I'm glad I took the bus.  Might as well save my energy for walking in the museum, instead of using it all up getting there.  I didn't notice any of my Diner Deck restaurants listed in that neighborhood, so I decided to skip the lunch.

The Cloisters is simply magical.  I'm an idiot for never having been there before and I must go back again.  Soon.  The buildings and the gardens are spectacular and the medieval art is amazing.  There was so much to see, I know I didn't see everything.  It seemed as if around every corner was something amazing and gorgeous.  There were chapels, stained glass, sculptures, tapestries, ancient texts...you name it, it's probably at the Cloisters.  I took over 150 photos and will have to make a separate album just for the beautiful shots I got.  I'll just share a few of them here, though.

When you enter, you climb a drafty stone staircase, and then you're suddenly in a large airy room, filled with art.  I don't know what I expected, but I was certainly blown away by my first glimpses of what was inside.  It felt very hushed, damp and European.  I love that feeling.  The museum was also surprisingly full.  I don't know why I'm always freshly surprised by all the people in a museum, but I am.  It's very heartening.

I picked up a floor plan, but I wandered rather aimlessly through the rooms, stopping for quite a long time in the Unicorn Tapestries room.  I was fortunate enough to see some gorgeous tapestries when I was in Bruges (there may have been one that was part of the Unicorn series, or I'm making that up), and I really enjoy looking at them.  Thankfully, there isn't glass in front of the tapestries, so you can really get up close and look at the craftsmanship and the detailing of the stitching.  Gorgeous.


Also thankfully, you can take photos throughout the museum, as long as you don't use flash.  I gratefully took advantage of that, both with my camera and with my iPhone.  I think my iPhone may have better color than my camera, even though it has less pixels.  God love the iPhone.

I really enjoyed my wanderings through the Cloisters--but, at one point, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by all the gorgeousness, so I went to sit down in the little cafe.  It surrounds a garden, so there was more gorgeousness there.  I had a tasty homemade chocolate chip cookie, checked the tennis scores, and rested up for some more art-loving.  Before I went back into the building, though, I wandered through the gardens.  They are also gorgeous.  They grow many herbs, fruits and vegetables that are representative of medieval gardens.  There were pomegranates, some lavender, medicinal herbs and lovely flowers.  It was a bit hazy outside, with the humidity, but I did get some very pretty shots.  

I would very much like to go back and take the tour of the gardens and hear about all of the different varietals and how to grow them in a modern garden.  Another time.

After returning to the building proper, I wandered into the Treasury room.  Here were religious relics, along with some secular objects, that needed to be cased and dimly lit, so as not to fade the gold/paint/print/whatever.  It was harder to get a sense of things in this room, since everything was exhibited so closely together, and under glass.  I mean, it was lovely, and I completely understand why texts from the 12th century need to be protected, but it just makes the museum experience for me a little more difficult.  I can't immerse myself as much as I'd like.  And that is my problem, clearly, not theirs.  :)

(fyi, I'm having a hard time linking the photos as I get further into the posting, sorry)

My favorite parts of the museum were the chapels and the stained glass.  I just thought it was all so beautiful and so reminiscent of churches in Europe.  Not that there aren't beautiful churches in America, of course there are. 

But the most beautiful ones I've ever seen were in Europe.  So that's what I compare beautiful art with.  One of the chapels made me feel like I was back in Rome, so that was fun.  Since I'm having such a hard time posting photos now, I'll just put some stained glass and some chapels at the end.  :)     I was at the museum past their closing time--they were very nice not to kick anyone out.  They just didn't let anyone else in.  I was probably there two and a half hours, but it wasn't enough.  You really need to leave yourself at least three hours, if not more, to see and experience everything at The Cloisters.  At least, that's what I needed.  Of course, if I hadn't taken my cookie break, maybe I could've spent more time in the galleries.  But a girl has to have a cookie every now and again. 

I'll miss my summer Fridays.  I think I'll try to do a different experiment next summer--like a continuing education course, or a lecture, or something on Fridays.  Even though I love to lie on my couch, I also like feeling enriched somehow by an experience I've had.  May the summer of 2012 be even more experimental (or something like that).  Enjoy the stained glass...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (part two)

Friday, Mom and I spent the whole day at the qualies.  It was a beautiful day, weather-wise, the calm before the storm, I guess.  Hurricane Irene was on its way, just a couple of days away.  But we had ourselves some fun on Friday.

There were ladies practicing in the Grandstand and Louis Armstrong, so we opted to watch a gent's match first.  Mom decided she wanted to watch Michael Yani play his second round match--she liked him when we watched him Wednesday.  Because it rained nearly all day Thursday, poor Michael (and most of the other players) had to play two matches on Friday, just to get into the Open.  We watched both of Michael's matches.

Like Wednesday, Michael played a smooth, smart match and didn't get any resistance from his opponent, Pablo Galdon from Argentina.  Probably luckily for him, it was a pretty quick straight-set win, since he would have to play his third-round a few hours later.  He conserved his energy, played tough when he needed to get the break, then served out each set.  I sadly admit that I remember next to nothing about Galdon's game.  If he had a weapon, I don't remember it.  I guess I should've paid better attention.  :)

Next, we stopped by our favorite, Court 11, to watch Laura Robson from Great Britain.  She had split the first two sets with a very young American, Taylor Townsend.  I've watched Robson quite a few times on tv--she gets a lot of airtime during Wimbledon (she won the girls title there at 14), and seems a nice girl.  She played Maria Sharapova extremely tough this year at Wimbledon, so I was glad to see her live. 

Robson has a deceptive lefty serve and a wicked forehand.  She was playing pretty recklessly at the beginning of the set and was quickly down a break to Townsend, who was really going for broke.  She was smacking winners all over the place, but when it came time for her to serve out the match, that's when Townsend's youth and inexperience came to play.

I think there's quite a bit of upside to Townsend's game, but in the end, she couldn't handle her nerves and serve out the match.  Robson finally won in a third set tiebreak.  She won her third round match later the same day to qualify for the Open.  That speaks well for her fitness and mental focus, I think.  She's rather slight, though, so many if she gets a bit more muscle on her, she will be more formidable.

Next, we had to get some lunch.  Hungry hungry.  Mom and I are big fans of the waffle fries at the Open, so we got ourselves some fries and split a sandwich from the Carnegie Deli booth.  $13.75 for a sandwich (without fries) is a bit much, though the sandwich did have a lot of turkey on it (ok, sue me, no veganism again) and the bread was very fresh.  I just think some chips or fries should come with it at that price.  OH, and the pickle was delicious.  :)

I really wanted to see Roger practice, and they had it down on a schedule that he would be practicing on practice court 1, but the hoards of people dissuaded me.  I can't really stand to be in crowds anymore (too much jostling) and I figured my annoyance would outweigh my enjoyment, so Mom and I went to watch a recent Roger opponent, Vasek Pospisil from Canada.  Roger played Pospisil in Montreal and thought the kid acquitted himself well.  I read the kid's post-match interview and thought he sounded cute, so we went to check him out.  Cute, he was not.  He was a crankypants.  He argued every call and didn't show a lot of respect towards his opponent, Charles Brezac from France.  So--not a good first impression and I may not follow his career very closely.  You know me.  I hold a grudge.  :)      

Next, we went to watch a NICE Canadian (see what I did there?  I held a grudge), Frank Dancevic, take on a young American, Bradley Klahn.  They had split the first two sets, so we settled into good ole Court 11 to watch the third set.  Clearly, Dancevic has more advanced skills than Klahn, who has a perfectly nice game, but nothing very threatening.  Dancevic has a fairly big serve and he'll occasionally serve and volley, which is always fun to see.  So he took the third set pretty easily and seemed to appreciate the crowd's fair-minded support of both players.  Sometimes, the American matches can seem like Davis Cup matches, with lots of yelling, but this crowd was very respectful.  Good on 'ya, court 11 peeps.  

Mom and I were extremely hot by this point (I'm still pretty sensitive to heat and over-perspiring), so we stopped and got a frozen lemonade and then went to the grandstand to see who was practicing.  The grandstand is very shady in the afternoon, so there were a lot of people there, cooling down.  Unfortunately, there was no practicing going on.  There was, however, Hawk-Eye testing going on.  There were guys setting balls up around the court, testing the technology, then they put the balls down in a very interesting manner:

  I wonder if you have to have a special skill or take a test to do this job--make sure you can put the balls in equal distances apart, or be able to hit a line nine times out of ten.  Anyway, whatever they have to do, it was sort of interesting to watch.  And we were in the shade, so that was a good thing. 

After watching this for about 45 minutes, finally some players came in  to practice.  We got to watch Viktor Troicki, Serbia, practice with (I think) Florian Mayer, Germany.  They were NOT fooling around.  They were practicing full-out and hitting the ball really hard.  I don't know how good an idea that was, considering the pounding sun, but they seemed to get a lot out of it.  They didn't interact much with each other, so I don't think this was a 'friend practice with friend' sort of thing.  Though I could, of course, be wrong.

We wandered into Armstrong and watched Robin Soderling, Sweden, practice with Jurgen Melzer, Austria, for a bit, but the sun was just too much for me.  So we didn't stay there long.  We decided to find Michael Yani's third round match.  And, by coincidence, he was playing Rajiv Ram, who we enjoyed watching on Wednesday night.

Michael took awhile to warm up and pretty quickly lost the first set.  I was worried that he was tired after playing his second round match just a few hours ago, but he started to find his groove in the second set.  Rajiv Ram was again the more aggressive player, and again found it hard to place his first serves. 

If he had been able to get those first serves in, he might've won.  He probably should've won--he served for it in the third set.  But Yani held his nerve better and won.  He had quite a lot of fans again in the stands and there was lots of lusty respectful cheering throughout.  I was actually surprised that Ram didn't have more followers--the Indian community is quite large in Flushing and he had quite a bit of support in the match we watched on Wednesday night.  Ram did make it into the Open's main draw in doubles, so at least it wasn't all bad news for him.

Interestingly, Yani drew a player that I watched in last year's qualies as his opponent in the first round of the Open:  Bernard Tomic.  I knew that Tomic had a bigger game, so I wasn't surprised that poor Michael went out in straight sets.  But at least he got to play one match in the main draw, even if it didn't end the way he most likely wanted it to.

I'll finish with more serving photos.  Mom and I had tickets to see Saturday's Arthur Ashe Kids Day, but they cancelled it, because of Hurricane Irene.  Probably best, though I was disappointed to miss it.  We had fifth row seats!  I've never sat that close in Ashe Stadium!  When I post pictures from my annual Open visits, you'll see where my view is usually from... ;)