A Little Bit Zombie, and a Little Bit Rock and Roll

I have a quart of mint-flavored fake blood and a snappily-dressed skeleton torso in my closet. The highlight of Thomas' night, last night, was finding a fake severed tongue for five bucks on ebay. We're not exactly normal people.

(I assure you, we're perfectly nice. Okay, maybe not perfectly, but nice. We're definitely nice. Just odd.)

Photo Credit: Mattel

So, a couple of years ago, we ran across this rag doll in a new collection called Monster High, we had to pick one up for our niece (she's not normal, either. She's just plain awesome). Niece went nuts for it, and even went as Frankie Stein for Halloween last year. Now, since she enjoys the brand so much, I tend to keep my eyes peeled for anything new and cool, especially with her birthday creeping closer. That's how I discovered that this existed:

Photo Credit: Walmart

Forget the munchkin; I want this one!!

She is Operetta, the daughter of the Phantom of the Opera (a mystery never fully explained). I promise, I will keep her in the original packaging, and place the box in a place of honor on the shelf in my office! She can keep me company while I practice singing! Please, please, please!! My birthday's first, you know!

*ahem*

Excuse me for that sudden outburst. My love of the Phantom goes back a long, long time, and runs deep. I apologize. 

The doll is gorgeous. She's styled in rockabilly fashion, which I think was a bold, amusing choice. Considering she's supposed to be a teenager, it makes sense she'd rebel against her father's love of classical music by embracing a wildly differing genre. Rockabilly is also so stylized that it borders on theatrical. A lot of careful thought went into her look, and it shows. 

I'm a fan of Monster High. The dolls are cute without being cookie cutter, and I feel like it teaches kids to accept each others' differences. It's those differences that make us special. There's also a coordinating book series, and I'm always up for anything that makes a child want to pick up a book. Plus, there's always a chance that they'll want to read about their favorite character's dear old Mom or Dad when they get a little older. Somewhere, I think Mary Shelley and Gaston Leroux are smiling.

Monster High dolls are manufactured by Mattel, and can be found at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and many other retailers. For more information, click here, or check out this forum here. If you want to lose a day, click here for a downright addictive dress-up game.

While I Was Out: Movie Musicals and My Very Own Weasley

I'm sorry to have run out on you guys like that. Since I disappeared for a couple of days, why not have another installment of....

WHILE I WAS OUT!!!!!

So, to start out, I had an audition on Monday and a shoot on Tuesday, and I am STOKED!! I have no idea if I got the job from Monday, so let's skip past that, shall we? Tuesday I got to hang out with ACE Hardware's Lou Manfredini and learn all about maintaining my home. And learn I did. I'm going home and brushing all the leaves off my air-conditioner, right now. I had a fantastic time, and really appreciate getting to be a part of their project.

Photo Credit: Broadway World

Tuesday night, Thomas and I had tickets to see the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies. It was a recording of a live theatrical production out of Melbourne, Austrailia, and was showing in one of the local movie theatres. Frankly, I'd been hearing rumors about this sequel since I was a kid, and as a "phan" of the original (I wrote a freaking term paper on it in high school, and one of the highlights of my life was getting to sing for a vocal coach who worked with Webber's Really Useful Company, and having him say I sounded like a young Sarah Brightman. I could have died happy right there. I've seen the show twice--touring and Broadway--and have performed pretty much the whole score in pieces over the course of my career, such as it is. You might say I like the show), I was terrified. See, none of those rumors had ever been particularly good. Plus, the reviews of the London production had been...well, let's just say they weren't very nice. Luckily, the Melbourne production was completely overhauled and completely gorgeous. The singers were phenomenal, the sets and costumes visually striking, and the plot and characters much more complex and mature than the original. It was also nice to see the Phantom and Raoul have a real, honest-to-God, gentlemen's argument, sans weaponry. Watching those two let each other have it verbally and on even footing was downright cathartic. This is also one of Webber's finest scores to date, and some of the most emotionally moving music I've had the pleasure of hearing. It's not a perfect show--there are one or two character/plot issues that, if you know the original, might be a little jarring and will definitely spark debate--but it works both as a sequel and a stand-alone. If you leave without tears or chills, there's something wrong with you. The DVD is set to release on May 29th, and is already available for pre-order on Amazon. I highly recommend it.

The biggest news, though, is that we got a puppy!! Okay, so he's a year and a half old, so not really a puppy. He's tiny and sweet, so it counts.

His name is Ronnie, and he's part chihuahua, part angel. Ronnie's already house-broken, understands (and occasionally acknowledges) the word "no", and loves to snuggle and play with his toy zebra. I adore this little guy. In case you're wondering, he came with the name, but since he kind of ginger-y (though you can't tell in the picture, darn it!) we decided he must be part Weasley and kept it. He also has a little white spot on the back of his head, shaped like a lightning bolt. It was meant to be.

So, that's where I've been. How 'bout you? Let me know what you've been up to in the comments.